When we speak God’s word, supernatural forces go to work on our behalf.

Bless the Lord, you His angels, mighty in strength who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word! Psalm 103:20

After fasting and being alone in the desert for 40 days, the devil tempted Jesus three times. Each time, Jesus spoke scripture from the Torah (Old Testament) to defeat the devil. This is one reason it is important to read the bible. It is a very powerful tool in our life.

There is one catch. You must speak these words with some degree of faith. Ask God for this.

God speaks to us to advance us. We must couple what we hear with belief.

And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord. Luke 1:45

Read the bible and ask God to take you into the words, to speak to you. When something really seems to connect with your heart, that is God speaking to you. Unite that connection with your belief, wait and persevere through all the doubts and wondering that follow. That is faith.

Don’t try to be too specific in how you apply this heart-felt connection to the events in your own life. We rarely see God’s big picture. Also, it’s hard to hear clearly for matters of our own life because biases, hopes and fears  cause us to filter and twist our interpretation. We need help. That’s why Paul wrote…

In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. 2Cor 13:1

So look for the intersection of your own experiences along with others speaking to you unaware of your circumstance.

Do not be defined by your sin.

I know from my own experience, that when I have a nagging sin that I cannot get victory over, I tend to get a sense of self condemnation and unworthiness. But I can’t do it myself. The illusion that I can, the attempt to do so makes me self-righteous. The truth is, even in our best moments of righteousness, we fall way short of God’s righteousness.

For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment… Isaiah 64:6

Rather, see yourself as already righteous. See yourself as God already sees you. How’s that? As a believer in Jesus Christ, Father God sees you through Jesus’ blood of atonement. He sees you as He sees Jesus — perfect, whole and complete.

Jesus was crucified alongside a two thieves — both guilty as sin. One saw Jesus, by faith, as his Savior. Jesus said to him, “today you will be with me in paradise”. We too, as believers, see ourselves should see our selves the same. As worthy of life with Him. The Apostle Paul had the same view…

…and [we] may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith…” Phil 3:9

It is our own vanity that wants to build a bridge to righteousness. Why? So we can be in control. That is the opposite of faith.
God does want us to pursue righteousness…

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 1 Timothy 6:11

If your righteousness is not built on this foundation of the faith through the blood, through the cross, then it is destined for repeated failures and the accompanying corrosive emotion of condemnation. That’s no way to live.

Last night I was watching the Teen Choice Awards. Things haven’t changed much since the sixties, except that it’s all now just been branded.

This morning the Lord told me not to interpret my age in the context of contemporary culture. My age says I am out of date, unable to connect, irrelevant. Hollywood will not accept me as a relevant producer. God’s word says different…

A grey head is a crown of glory; it is found in the way of righteousness. Proverbs 16:31

So I must train my mind to not see myself in the negative, even though Hollywood does discriminate. But God… He does not conform to culture, and He does not expect us to, either. He is the grand exception to the world system. That is one way our faith comes into play. We must believe that we, too are the grand exemption. But the exemption only happens when we are standing, thinking, doing by faith.

So too, do not allow yourself to “think” that your faith makes you irrelevant to the people. The irony is, it does in fact make you irrelevant to the culture, but your are not irrelevant to people; you are actually more relevant.

Do not play the voices of other people in my head, what I think they are saying about me… they wag on and on about my weaknesses and faults. Or they complement me in my carnal vanities, reinforcing my fallen nature. Either way, they separate me from what God thinks about me. And, God thinks I am wonderful. Train your mind on His word, what He says. For example, as lost and fallen, apart from his blood, He loved me enough to die for me. As a believer, under His blood, God sees me perfect, righteous and actually “unfallen”. God has made me a joint heir with his son Jesus Christ. I am entitled to everything He has given Jesus. I am now a child of the King.

I really should “think” that way.

Not like we want to.

We cannot know God’s will for our life, but we can walk it perfectly. How? By faith. We ask God and believe that he is leading us sight unseen. But there’s more.

Does our life have a purpose?

Absolutely. It’s a purpose so profound that it was set at the creation of the world. But it can be so hard to know. Some things we do know. To be thankful in all things. To keep his commandments. To love your neighbor as yourself. But it’s hard to know the specific purpose for our life. Why does it feel like we’re in a dark room tripping over the furniture of life? Others describe it like walking a maze blindfolded. Confusing, uncertain and frustrating.

We can’t fully know it.

Yet, we know God is working in our life. All believers in Jesus Christ seem to be able to look back hours, days weeks and months and see hand of God working in their life. Working in many good ways that we never could have predicted or orchestrated. Yet, we are frustrated about not knowing the future. We can’t know it. At least not fully. Look at these two scriptures…

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us. Ephesians 3:20

But we can do it.

How? By faith. That is the way to connect to God. Ask for wisdom and believe you have it. Then walk it out. But remember, his path is not a straight line. It can take many years to walk what seems like a short distance because he prepares our character.

Goals are important.

If you have both a strong desire to accomplish something and it advances the kingdom of God, then it’s probably a God given goal. The most fundamental and profound goal is to be married, love your spouse and raise your children in the love of God, whereby they will freely choose to raise their children knowing that same love. That’s why he created us. For companionship.