monday musings

Did you know the number 20 in Hebrew means “Mouth?” So when we entered 2020, we entered a decade prophetically about our mouth. Yet, so much in the natural has tried to close our mouths. That is no accident. It’s time to open them! Let’s talk about how on today's Monday Musing.

Scripture holds more power than we often realize. One of its greatest powers is that it increases our faith. And when faith meets the word powerful things happen! Let’s look at it together, on this Monday morning.

It should be no surprise that a world that doesn’t know Jesus would be moved by fear. But shouldn’t the follower of Christ live differently? So, where is your expectation today? Are you expecting collapse? Hardship? Or are you expecting to see God do mighty things? It might do us all good to stop for a moment on this Monday morning and take a look at who or what we are expecting to make the next move. And if you know someone struggling with fear right now, this might encourage their heart today.

I don’t know about you, but often times when I’m reading the Bible I wonder, “Why did you put so much detail in here?” But I think there is something powerful to discover today in those passages we often skip over.

Have you noticed how many labels are flying around lately? It seems if we can label something a name we don’t like then we can discard them. Christians have been labeled with many different names through the years. Maybe you’ve labeled Christians a time or two yourself. What if instead of labeling people so we can cancel them, we got curious about them. Listen today, and maybe you’ll discover something about Christians you hadn’t thought of.

Somedays scrolling through Facebook or watching the morning news can convince your heart that darkness has taken over. The death. The division. The disease. But there is a much different way to look at what is happening in these times we are living. Let’s talk about it together, on this Monday morning. And if you know someone else who needs this encouragement, feel free to share.

When is the last time you’ve heard a message on fasting? Many of us have never heard one. However, there is so much to be encountered with Jesus. That is why, I believe, the enemy keeps so many people in the dark about this powerful weapon.

What if you never had to even step on the battlefield? What if you could win the battle without lifting a finger and only by lifting your voice? It might be worth listening to know how others have done it. And if you know someone else going through a battle right now, you might want to share it with them.

Chains of steel. Doors of Bronze. Bars of Iron. Satan can often hold our hearts captive behind any one of these things. But not one of these hold any power against worship!

Worship has a power in spiritual warfare that is often underestimated. Yet in a moment it can release your heart from the heaviness you may be feeling. So take a few minutes today to remind your heart of the power that worship has to change your very trajectory, and if this musing has ministered to you – please share it with a friend.

Do you feel like nothing is working out well right now in your life? That anything that could go wrong is going wrong? Leaving you weary? Confused? Could it be that you’ve stepped outside of His umbrella of protection because you are no longer submitted to His purposes and plans? Living this way limits the power of God’s authority because you are instead trying to live by your own self-sufficiency. Let’s talk about the power of submission and what it affords us to fight the battle the enemy brings.

It has become even more clear that the hearts of our children are in a war zone from the womb to the college dorm room and everywhere in between. No greater responsibility exists in this life as a parent than raising our children. If 2020 did anything, it gave us more time as families and allowed us to realize that ultimately the people responsible for the stewardship of their hearts are their parents. How are you warring for the heart of your child in a world that is battling for them relentlessly?

Even with a new year there are a lot of battles raging right now. But, you and I as followers of Christ are given some powerful weapons. We do not live in a day and age where we can afford to leave any of our weapons of spiritual warfare on the table. So, we need to be fully awake, fully watching and fully armored for the battles that we face!

No one ever begins a lifestyle of sin by jumping right in. Usually, it happens increment by increment. A poor decision here, a dangerous decision there. Until eventually what was just a moment of the enemy trying to steal from us becomes a place of real destruction in our lives. This picture of the strategy of the enemy is real. However, it doesn’t have to be the end of any of our stories. Why? But God…But God came so we could have life, and not just a little life, but a super-abundant life. We get to choose. But first, we need to recognize how the enemy is actually stealing from us.

Over and over scripture reveals how involved angels are in this cosmic battle that we live. They battle for us. Minister to us and sometimes we even entertain them unaware. Yet, we rarely talk about them. Let’s take a few minutes to ponder how real and present they are in the workings of even our everyday lives.

One of the greatest deceptions the enemy has gotten our hearts to believe is that we are natural beings living in some spiritual world. But, that is the complete opposite of what is true. Believers in Jesus are spiritual beings living in a natural world, yet because we don’t live this way we often fail to realize the demonic assignments that have been set against us. But, worse than that we don’t realize the power that we have to defeat the demonic assignments coming our way. God has no equal! So, that situation in your life where the enemy is trying to take you under has to bow its knee to the authority that God has given you!

Often, we forget that every single promise in the Bible is ours. As a follower of Christ, we hold possession to those promises. And one of those promises is that we are conquerors over all the things that come into our life that battle for our peace, our hearts, our minds and our joy. The only way these things are allowed to be stolen is if we hand them over. So, just in case you forgot through all the challenges that were 2020, let me start this year by reminding you, you are a Conqueror!

As we step into this beginning of a New Year it feels like much of 2020 is still going with us. But what if we offered up the first of our year in a new way to recalibrate our hearts. To slough off the old so we can hear the voice of the Lord for what’s to come. Maybe you need to renew your first love. Maybe you need to renew your mind. Maybe you need to renew your heart. There is no better time than the beginning of a new year.

As we close out this most monumental year let’s take a few moments to make sure we aren’t leaving it like we entered it.

We’ve heard of this church many times. The one Jesus couldn’t tolerate. The one He wanted to throw up. Wow! That’s serious coming from Jesus, but it is also reflective of the church of the final age before He returns. This one. The one we live in now. In this final church, The Church of Laodicea, Jesus calls them The Lukewarm Church. Neither hot nor cold, He’d rather have one or the other. As we head into the week of Christmas, when we celebrate the greatest gift that deserves hearts that are on fire, let’s ask Jesus if there is any place in our life that needs to be ignited. The gift of His life deserves that kind of love.