We have to learn to stand on the word of God, hold fast to our faith and declare the word of faith even when we cannot see the evidence.

In 1 Kings 18:1, God told Elijah to go and show himself to Ahab because he was going to send rain. No rain had fallen in Israel for over three years because the people turned away from God. After Elijah’s demonstration of God’s power through fire on Mount Carmel, he told King Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is a sound of heavy rain.” (1 Kings 18:41)

Ahab had such confidence in what Elijah said because he had seen the work of God displayed that he went on his way to eat and drink. Elijah then went to the top of Mount Carmel and knelt down with his face between his knees before God. He sent his servant to look up towards the sea to see if he saw any sign of rain. The servant came back and said he had seen nothing. Elijah sent the servant to look seven times and it was the last time that he reported seeing a cloud as small as a fist rising up from the sea. He instructed the servant saying, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.’” (1 Kings 18:42-44)

At this point in time there was not even a drizzle and the only physical evidence that Elijah could see was a small cloud. Yet he was willing to bet his life on what God had said. Yes his life because the King and Queen wanted him dead. He had prophesied about the drought and he was now prophesying about the rain. So if he said it was going to rain and then it failed to rain, the King and Queen would want Elijah’s head.

I want to have the same confidence to stand on the word from my God and in the face of adversity declare what he says. It is about to rain in your circumstances and where there is dryness and barrenness, God is about to send heavy rain. God will heal, deliver, set free and restore where we have suffered losses. Believe in what God has promised you and continue to confess his word over your life. “I hear the sound of abundance of rain.”

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I sometimes reflect on celebrities that end their own lives and my conclusion is that money and success alone does not guarantee happiness. I think of the concept that people use about people “selling their souls to the devil.” I do not think people are necessarily engaged in a satanic ceremony renouncing their faith and pledging allegiance to Satan. I do think that very often in the pursuit of fame and success, people gradually let go of their values and principles.

The soul is described as the seat of the conscience and emotions. If we have to deny our convictions and values in order to reap success then this must be what selling one’s soul means.

We need to remember the Lord God in all that we do because he teaches us and gives us the power to gain wealth to confirm his covenant to our fathers. (Deuteronomy 8:18)

God wants us to prosper and be in good health and if we trust in him he will teach us how to gain wealth. We have to trust God to do it his way and not conform to the methods that the world uses. We commit our work to the Lord and he will cause our plans to succeed. (Proverbs 16:13)

You can succeed when you trust God to lead and follow in his footsteps. Let him direct you and he will help you to succeed.

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We are a chosen people, from a royal priesthood and the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead lives in us. We walk in that authority as children of God knowing who we are and who we belong to. God is our father and he calls us his children. He gives us power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over every power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means harm us. (Luke 10:19)

Challenges are a part of this life’s journey and difficulties are along the road to success. God told us so many times in his word to not be afraid. The Psalmist declares that we will not be afraid though the earth be removed and carried into the midst of the sea. (Psalm 46:2)

God is our refuge and fortress and his promise to Joshua was that every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, ‘I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses.’ (Joshua 1:3)

Whatever God has promised you, wherever he has planted you, take authority there because he has given you the land. God has blessed you with this job, this promotion, this opportunity, this marriage. No man can pluck out of your hands what God has given to you. It belongs to you so take authority where you stand and claim your inheritance.

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Twice Habakkuk complained to God about the work of evildoers around him. Habakkuk was unsettled about all the evil and wrongdoing which he observed and he was convinced that God was not doing enough to resolve it. He was angry about the workers of inequity who seemed to prosper from doing wrong. They went around oppressing the poor and unfortunate while they seemed to gain wealth and success. (Habakkuk 1)

In Habakkuk’s first complaint he seemed tired of his constant cries to God for help and asked God how long he needed to cry out. God communicates with Habakkuk and told him of the work that he was doing. Habakkuk was still not satisfied and lodged a second complaint. This time Habakkuk reminds God of who he was and spoke of his sovereignty. Habakkuk told God exactly how he felt and asked if he would sit idly by and look at traitors and remain silent while the wicked swallowed up the righteous. (Habakkuk 1:12-17)

God responds to Habakkuk and told him to write the vision on tablets so that those who read it may run to perform it. God reassures Habakkuk that although it felt like things had been delayed, that the vision would come to pass at the appointed time. Although it seemed slow to be accomplished God would do what he had promised. (Habakkuk 2:2-3)

You maybe waiting a long time for a promise of God to be accomplished. You maybe frustrated while you wait as the wicked seem to prosper around you. Write down your vision and pray for God to establish it at the appointed time. Even though it’s been delayed it will come to pass.

In the end Habakkuk prayed to God and blessed him for his works and declared praises to his name. (Habakkuk 3) I love that Habakkuk had a relationship with God where he felt able to be bring his complaints. And God was faithful to not only listen to Habakkuk but to respond to what he said.

The truth is that God can handle our difficult emotions and we can be honest with him about how we feel. We may have experienced relationships where it didn’t always feel safe to speak our minds, but this is not the way God is.

Tell God how you feel about the injustices that surrounds you. Pour out your heart to Him about the things that makes you angry and upset and listen for God to give you an answer to your questions.

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God is always speaking to us as his people and we have to become still enough to hear. When we ask God for direction, the Holy Spirit will speak to offer guidance. We don’t need to be anxious about anything, but pray about everything and allow God to guide our decisions. (Philippians 4:6)

The best recipe for success is asking God for direction and waiting for an answer. God will train our ears to hear him and when we listen he will speak. God longs to show us what he wants us to do and to download strategies and supernatural insight to us concerning his mysteries.

God wants us to prosper and succeed and when we hear him, his voice brings peace and comfort. Fasting and prayer is a time to wait on God for answers and to listen for direction. The steps of a just man are ordered by the Lord and he delights in his way. (Psalm 37:23)

And Isaiah said to the people that when they hear God, “then you will dishonour your silver-plated idols and your gold-covered statues. You will throw them away like clothing ruined by stains. You will say to them, “Get out!” The Lord will give you rain for the seed that you plant in the ground, and the food that the ground provides will be rich and nourishing. When that day comes, your cattle will graze in large pastures. (Isaiah 30:22-23) Isaiah’s message was that hearing God would cause the people to forget about their idols and draw closer to Him. Hearing God would also bring blessings and prosperity for his people.

Today we continue to pray and then we listen and heed to the voice of God. Hearing God will bring true success.

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There is a cost to everything we do and our lifestyle choices produce results and consequences. Human ambitions with strategic planning and sustained effort often bring about success and accomplishments. We have to determine the cost of our pursuits to our family life, health and our relationship with God. The relentless pursuit of wealth and fame at any cost can cause some areas of our lives to be affected by our choices. At times our family life can suffer at the cost of economic success and career development. Other times it is our spirituality and relationship with God that is affected by other choices made for success.

Jesus spoke to the multitude about the cost of being a disciple in Luke 14. Jesus spoke of every person being willing to take up their cross and following after him. He said in verse 28, For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Jesus continues that if the man starts the tower and then is unable to finish it, others may mock his attempt to start something he could not finish. Jesus used the parable to show that the decision to follow Christ and to live by his example comes at a cost.

Living a life for Christ determines how we choose to live. We cannot make the same choices that others will make. We have to constantly deny those desires that do not come in alignment with the will of God. We have to consult God about our plans and decisions and be guided by the Holy Spirit.

Choices made for God can at times appear on the surface to be unpopular and not as enticing. But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. (2 Corinthians 2:14)

Living for God is the best way to live. He leads, he guides and protects. He leads us beside still waters and prepares provision for us. He teaches us to win and to profit and trusting in him guarantees that our plans will prevail. God also gives us the power to gain wealth, so we trust in him and do not lean on our own understanding. Living for God isn’t always the most popular way but it is the best way and it guarantees success.

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We are not perfect and are unlikely to reach perfection while on earth. As our relationship with God grows deeper, we are being transformed into the image and likeness of God. We don’t always relish the idea of change and many modern philosophies encourage us to be our ‘true selves.’ There is deposited within each of us, a unique set of traits to be used to fulfil our purpose and destiny. We also have faults and failures that God will strip away from us to make us into who he created us to be. It is our relationship with God while beholding his glory which transforms us into his image and likeness.

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Change can be a painful process and our old selves want to remain the way we are because it is easy. There are seasons when we reach a crossroads and it is either we change or we remain stagnant. There are some habits, hang ups and old ways of thinking and living that requires change for us to transition into a new season. There maybe old relationship patterns and career lifestyles for example that makes us unwell and cause us to remain stuck at the same level year after year.

Many times we ask God for more and we require that he takes us into a new season and new destinies. We ask God for increase in blessing and favour and this oftentimes requires change and transformation. We cannot take the same mindset into a new level as having a different life from the one we have now will require us to make different decisions.

God created us in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27) It is sin that distorts us from God’s image and purpose as the enemy tries to distort God’s plan for our lives. We have to surrender to God’s will and allow him to remove the layers that sin has created to transform us into his image.

There are seasons when God will pull us away to himself to strip off some old layers. Some layers may represent relationships and habits that we need to change and we have to allow God to complete the work in us. When God starts to show us those areas where we need to change we can either retaliate against him or allow him to transform us into a new person.

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We often interpret this scripture to mean that it is ungodly and unrighteous to feel anger. Anger is actually a healthy human emotion, that helps us to identify danger and threats to ourselves from others. It is unregulated anger, that results in rage and bitterness, which is dangerous and which God considers sin.

So what kind of anger is appropriate and how do we channel this emotion, in a way that is healthy? There is a term called righteous indignation and the anger Jesus felt, when he used a whip to drive out the money changers and people selling animals for sacrifice. “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!” Matthew 21:13

I am not suggesting that we take the whip, to anyone that we consider, to be showing behaviour that displeases God. What I am saying is, that God expects us to feel anger when there is injustice in the world. This injustice should move us, towards prayer and action.

St. Thomas Aquinas, in the question on anger of his Summa Theologiae, quotes the Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum, “he that is angry without cause, shall be in danger; but he that is angry with cause, shall not be in danger: for without anger, teaching will be useless, judgments unstable, crimes unchecked.”

God is faithful, forgiving and merciful but he is also a God of justice and vengeance. (Romans 12:19) God also loves justice and hates robbery and wrongdoing. (Isaiah 61:8)

God expects us to be moved, by wickedness and corruption in our world. He does not expect us to walk around, singing and pretending, that everything is ok while, we wait to spend eternity in heaven. We were created for a purpose, and the thing which stirs up a sense of injustice, within you is what you were created to help resolve. It is ok to be angry but do not sin.

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Throughout the bible we are taught strategies for war and engagement against the enemy. We seldom go out with physical armour looking or a physical battle. We are aware that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12)

As such we wear the full armour of God, to be able to stand against the attacks of the enemy. (Ephesians 6:11) We understand the power in the word of God which is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

For it was the word of God which Jesus used to win, against the temptations of the Devil, when he tempted him in the wilderness. We also know the power that is in the name of Jesus, as God has given him a name which is above every other name. And at the name of Jesus, demons tremble. (James 2:19)

Fasting and prayer is also another powerful strategy against spiritual strongholds. When Esther learnt of the threat against her people, she called a fast and prayed for three days and gained victory over the enemy. (Ester 4:16)

This was a corporate fast which prevailed, due to the strength in numbers and the people of God coming together in unity. Jehoshaphat also called a fast when the great armies came up against his people and they prevailed over them. (2 Chronicles 20)

So as believers when we feel threatened and harassed by the enemy, do not sit down and cry and wait for the attacks to come. Arise with strength and put on the full armour of God. Use the word, the name of Jesus and the blood of Jesus and seek God in fasting and prayer. These are the strategies that God has given us to wage war, and the final caution is do not fear. God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power love and a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)

So rebuke the spirit of fear and use the strategies that God has given us and stand in authority against the enemy. Be strong and very courageous because we are victorious.

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Life will present many challenges that can feel like mountains in our path towards fulfilling our purpose and destiny. Mountains can represent stumbling blocks, or themselves represent an inheritance from which to stand on top of in victory having ascended to the highest point.

Caleb was one of two spies who were sent to view the promised land in Numbers 13 and brought back a good report. “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it” (Numbers 13:30). This while the other spies brought a report of defeat and fear and caused the people to rebel against God.

Unfortunately for Caleb the people did not have the faith he had to go forward and take possession so he had to wait another 40 years before he could take possession of his promise. God’s anger was kindled against the children of Israel, so that generation did not inherit the promise. But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it (Numbers 14:24).

And now the time had come for Caleb to take possession and he reminded Joshua who was now leader of the promise concerning he and his people. We have to keep in remembrance what God has promised us for our work of faith and endurance and when the time is right to move forward and take possession.“And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God’” (Joshua 14:9).

Ask God if the mountain or hill country ahead belongs to you and is a part of his promise. If God confirms that it belongs to you then move forward and take possession. God will drive out the inhabitants who are occupying territory that belongs to you. Be bold and strong and move forward in the strength of the Lord and go possess that land.

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