Anyone like to fish? I used to go fishing with my dad and he would bait the line for me. In many ways, that is how we are to fish for souls—we listen to the Holy Spirit, allow Him to bait the line (give us the words to say, tell us what to do), and we obey Him. It’s really not complicated when you trust the Holy Spirit’s leading.

Jesus said that He would make us fishers of men–that means all mankind. (Matthew 4:19) “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” (NIV). 

God cares about every person. He allows our paths to cross so we can impart Truth, impact others through God’s love, and leave a lasting legacy of knowing God and making Him known.

When we discover the greatness of God’s power within, we are moved to obedience through passion and purpose. In order to make the kingdom of God our first priority as Jesus taught us, we must choose to cut through the mystery surrounding it and find out what God wants to reveal to us through His Word. 

We can only go as high as the revelation we have received, so we must continue to renew our minds daily in the Word of God. The gospel of Jesus Christ turns the timid into the bold! 

In Matthew 3, John the Baptist begins to preach about the two kingdoms.

“In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:1).

John called people to repent (to turn away from sin and their old way of doing things), and to seek God and His way of doing things. God is calling all to come out of the kingdom of darkness. 

As believers, we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16), but we must CHOOSE to live by the Spirit of God and function from His mind instead of our natural, carnal, stinking thinking. It is only with the mind of Christ that we can walk in the supernatural power and goodness of God. 

When we follow Jesus, we will be confronted by the enemy. We cannot avoid it. The Bible makes it clear: “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12). When we face hardships, attacks, and persecution, we must remember it is going to be a time for miracles—a time for God to show His Power to the world around us. There is no need to fear–God is with us, and never back down.

We need miracles in America. The Bible reminds us in the book of Daniel, King Darius had signed a law making it illegal to pray to any God or man. Daniel 6:10 says, 

“Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.” 

Daniel didn’t hide his faith, and he didn’t try to avoid confrontation. He faced it head on and chose to obey God in the midst of a time when the law went against God. Satan cannot continue to steal, kill, and destroy because the Kingdom of God reigns over the kingdom of darkness, and like Daniel, we choose to work God’s system—by saying what He says about us and doing His Will.

Obey God’s Word, obey all His instructions to you, and He will change the world through you—one person at a time to the nations.

Jesus is LORD over all! Elevate Him and watch miracles happen! 

DEBORAH STARCZEWSKI

“But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” (1 John 3:17, ESV). 

God is calling us to be helping hands to those in need. Helping hands reveal the heart of our Father God

Faith links us to the supernatural Creator, and we now have a “super” attached to us as believers in Christ. We walk and live in a natural world, but God does not want us to be bound by that reality. He desires that we walk in faith and in love—showing God’s love to the world around us. His design is for us to come into agreement with His Word, His Ways, and live a surrendered life to Him. We are ambassadors of Jesus Christ to reveal the love of God to others through acts of kindness, reaching out to help others through practical ways. 

The people we can help may be a friend or neighbor, a child, the elderly, a stranger down the street, your parents, brothers and sisters in family, the weak, rich, poor, sick people, needy people, fellow Christians, non-believers, helping in the community or in the church. 

Luke 6:38 says, “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you” (ESV). 

God met Abram’s needs. In Genesis 14 we find Abram’s nephew Lot in trouble. Armies had come to take Sodom and Gomorrah and their king and all the other kings with them. They took Lot and all his goods and left. As soon as Abram learned of the tragedy, he took over three hundred trained servants to pursue, catch, and defeat them. 

Look at verse 16:

“And he brought back all the goods and also brought back again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.”

Abram and his men not only got the women, the men, and the children back, but they got the goods as well.

The Bible continues:

“And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king’s dale. 

And the king of Sodom said to Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. 

And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich.” (Genesis 14:17, 21-23).

Abram was following the rules of God’s kingdom. Abram didn’t want to appear that anyone had made him rich but God. It is Almighty God that causes us to prosper and He is the One who provides. 

We are called to pursue God, point others to Jesus through revealing God’s love, and live victoriously through our Savior who died, was raised, and ascended to heaven, and is seated at the right Hand of God, interceding for us that our faith will not fail. We have a Blood Covenant that cannot be annulled through the shed Blood of Jesus—the Lamb of God.  

Because Abram was honoring God and operating according to His Kingdom principles, we see Abram receiving God’s great promise:

“After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield and exceeding great reward.” 

If we absolutely trust God, we are at peace. We are to “occupy till Jesus comes” and that means we help people and take one city after the next for God. God wants the kingdom of God to be  spread throughout the whole earth. 

God is raising up an army of believers that abide in Him—and that will not tolerate Satan taking over this earth or those in our path. God has chosen His people to bring heaven to earth. His favor is upon us. People will see what heaven is like by seeing how we talk, how we walk, how we act, how we respond to those in need, and how we think.

“The secret things belong to the Lord, our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever. That we may do all the word of this law” (Deut. 29:29)

When we have a revelation of the secrets of the kingdom of God and live accordingly, the world will see the difference in our lives. We will become witnesses as ambassadors of Jesus Christ, and we will take back this earth—one person at a time, one city at a time, to one nation at a time. 

It takes someone special to extend the heart of God. Be the hands and feet and heart of God to someone in need today. Ask God to show you someone in need—He will do just that! From acknowledgement, encouragement, to practical ways of helping people in need, that is our calling as believers. 

Arise and shine. Open your hands and heart! Wrap your arms around someone today and let them know our Savior’s love—Jesus.

“A friend loves you all the time, but a brother was born to help in times of trouble” (Proverbs 17:16). As children of the Most High King—we are the family of God. 

The Holy Spirit kept bringing some dear friends to my heart that were on a two week vacation during Easter away from their home—so I prayed for them and waited till they returned to touch base. When I called, I could hear from the sound of my friend’s voice that she was very upset and something was wrong. She began to describe the mess they found when they returned home. Their hot water heater had burst and nearly their entire home had been ruined, along with all of this couple’s old pictures of family and friends. Their entire kitchen had to be gutted, floors ripped out, as well as walls and some sub-flooring as well. 

When she entered a guest bedroom, her heart sank as the entire ceiling had caved in and had destroyed everything of value in the room as well. The water that kept pouring in created weak spots and the ceilings caved in on everything under it. 

Her husband shared how a neighbor saw water coming out of the foundation of their home and went to their well to turn off the main water supply when he noticed water running into his own lawn. My friend’s husband shared that if this neighbor had not noticed and turned the water off, the entire house would have had to be bulldozed away. 

Because they were insured, this precious couple has moved out until the insides is torn out, replaced, and made new again. That is what happens to us as believers—we must get out of the way and allow the Holy Spirit to change us from the inside out.

As I listened and reflected, I began to think about how we can take nothing with us to heaven but the souls we touch for Jesus and that everything in this life will pass away but the Word of God. That nothing of value here on earth from possessions, positions, power, professions, not even pictures of people gone before us will go with us. Only the people who are born-again and made brand new by the Power of Jesus Christ will spend eternity with God. 

While we have celebrated passover and the resurrection, it would be wisdom to remember a vital part of the full account of what happened during the Passion week of Jesus in smaller pieces to help us recognize that we all have weak spots that need surrendering to God.

Take time to read Luke 22:3-6, (also Matthew 26:14-16; Mark 14:10-11). 

God will separate his obedient followers from pretenders and unbelievers. The real evidence of our belief is the way we act and how we treat others. 

Why on earth would Judas agree to betray Jesus? Judas, like the other disciples, expected Jesus to start a political rebellion and overthrow Rome. Judas, as treasurer, obviously assumed that he would be given an important position in Jesus’ new government—or did he have fear of losing the place he had attained in power, profession, and possessions? What drove Judas to betray Jesus?

Judas realized that Jesus’ Kingdom was not political or physical but spiritual. Judas’s greedy desire for status and money could not be realized if he followed Jesus, so he betrayed Jesus in exchange for money and favor from the religious leaders and authorities. How could Judas not see that his wrong desires had put him in a position where Satan could manipulate him? While all along, Judas was manipulating and maneuvering for money and position, Satan was at work and entered into Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve disciples. 

Judas went over to the leading priests and captains of the Temple guard to discuss the best way to betray Jesus to them. Can you imagine the delight they had as Judas came to them to help them, promising to turn Jesus over for some kind of reward they promised him? What betrayal.

He began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus, the Son of God, so he could be arrested quietly when the crowds were not around. What deception. 

It was with a kiss that Judas betrayed the Son of God—Jesus. Betrayal comes from people close to us–not strangers. Jesus warned of this happening in Matthew 24:10. 

Satan’s part in the betrayal of Jesus does not in any way remove the responsibility from Judas. No matter what Judas might have thought, it was obvious he was not surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. 

Never forget that the enemy of our souls—Satan—is good at finding our weak spots and trying to use them for his evil purposes. 

For this reason, we must each surrender and yield every part of our lives to Christ. Choose to recognize your weak spots and yield them to Jesus’ power. We all have them…. 

Each day, we must practice surrender by humbly coming to the foot of the cross in the spirit of repentance and faith, fully surrendering our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. 

Commitment to Christ and surrender are two different things. Commitment is a term where you can have control of the reigns and is something you do. Surrender means giving up control, no manipulation, turning over all to the Master Jesus Christ. Practice daily surrender! It will be well worth it for all eternity. 

The surrendered life is the foundation under everything. Bend the knee and lift your hands toward heaven in an act of surrender of all today.