Intro

Much of our world is focusing on finding happiness. As I began my study on joy, In our library alone I found books about the science of happiness, yoga for happiness, the happiness project, exploring happiness through brain science and much more. Hi this is Dorette Schaal with an encouraging word for your day. Of all the secular resources I looked at and skimmed through, the main emphasis in all of them is to change your thinking to change your life. It sounds like the world’s system is catching on to something we’ve heard from the Bible. We know the route to a joy filled life is to know Jesus first, and then to begin renewing your mind to the Word. Here is your encouraging word about joy filled living for today.

Monday

There are so many scriptures in the Bible on Joy. It is mentioned in almost every book of the Bible, and in all about 215 times. WOW! It you add all of the scriptures about rejoicing, being joyful, being glad and gladness, there are almost too many to count! Here are a few of my favorite Joy Scriptures:

We are to count it all joy whatever our circumstances as it says in James 1:2.

God will fill you with joy in His presence, and at his right hand are pleasures forevermore in Ps 16:11

With joy will you draw water from the well of salvation. From Is 12:3

Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be full John 16:24

For the kingdom of God is not just eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost Romans 14:17

One thing that Christians have as a big advantage emotionally is the strength to live in the Joy of the Lord. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances look like, we can still be joyful. We’ve read the end of the book, and we win! Even if life is tough this side of heaven, we still have heaven to look forward to!!!!, And earth is short, while heaven is long. Life is more than just a pursuit of happiness, it is living in the joy of the Lord on a daily basis! We get to enjoy the journey, on the way to our fabulous destination. So can you have more joy in your life everyday? Yes you can! Why not make today the day you start discovering how you can experience more of the joy of the Lord?!!

Tuesday

I have told you this so my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete is what John 15:11 says. What did Jesus tell us before he made this marvelous promise of complete joy in this verse? If we love like God loves, and obey His commands, then our joy and gladness can be filled to the top, complete and overflowing! We can make choices everyday. Our choice to love and obey God that will propel us to our destiny, and our love and obedience will be a source of overflowing joy for everyday living. What does complete, overflowing joy look like? Fullness of joy to me is being so filled with joy that it just flows out of us, much like the river of life that flows out of us as Jesus spoke of in John 7:38, when we are filled with the Holy Spirit. There is an endless supply available to us if we let it flow through us!

I say these thing while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them is what John 17:13 says.

I Thes 5:16-18 tells us that we can be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.

What is the secret to a joy filled life? There are lots of people looking for the answer to that question. Do you know that the Bible tells us the secret? Jesus was praying for his disciples before he ascended into heaven and he knew there would be great sadness when he was no longer with them. He knew the secret! The source of joy was for them to the grasp the full measure of his love for them, for them to experience the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and them to walk in unity. Those sound like things that we can experience today! When we do, we can rejoice always, whatever the circumstances!

Wednesday

As children of God we are rightful heir to the blessing of overflowing joy. When we choose to obey God’s Word, and walk in his will, joy unspeakable and full of glory is ours! When you think about what joy is, think about this definition. Joy is the deeply entrenched, unshakable belief, that is the result of sustained right thinking and dwelling on and experiencing the character and nature of God. Once we are saved, we are changed from the inside out. After salvation what need to be changed by us is how we think. We are to renew our mind to a new way of thinking. It is how we are transformed, the Bible tells us in Romans 12: 1 and 2. The amplified Bible says to be transformed by its new ideals and its new attitude so that we can walk in God’s good, acceptable and perfect will for our lives. We can live by faith in the joy of the Lord. Joy is an outward sign of our faith in the promises of God. Just as we choose to walk by faith, live by faith, and operate in faith, joy is the path we choose day by day. Joy is within us, but it is up to us to release it! You might have discovered this that living a life of joy requires mental discipline. We have to be diligent and proactive about capturing thoughts that are not of God, and replacing them with thoughts that line up with God’s Word. It’s sound funny to think about, but truly our thoughts are showing! What we think about is how we speak and how we act. How you think is what you will be!Thoughts become words, and words become actions. So what are you going to think on? Read Phil 4:8 and we’ll talk about it tomorrow!

Thursday

In Philippians 4:8, Paul tells us to think on some specific things. Do you remember what he told us to think on? The list is short, but powerful. He said, Whatsoever things are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. Anything contrary to this list needs to be replaced! That takes mental discipline doesn’t it. Part of the renewal process for us is learning to be self disciplined. It would be great if we could have the “thought police” inside of our head warning us when our thoughts are not on what is true, noble, just, pure…..etc. If the siren would go off, we would immediately change the direction of our thinking. But we have to do it on our own. Immediately when we begin thinking thoughts contrary to God’s word, we have to capture them, and replace them with the truth. Because no area of life is untouched by your thoughts, we have to be disciplined and diligent in this area. Most of life’s challenges begin in the thought stage. Problems develop as we let our thoughts go to worry and fret. We need to rein them in! It takes work, but what a better way to live. Worry and fret are really like faith in the opposite direction. Because faith is the evidence of what we hope for, and worry is like evidence of the things we dread. And it all begins in our thoughts. So to have joy overflowing in your life, look for possibilities instead of problems. Think on God’s goodness, and His faithfulness to you. Dwell on the positives of life, and what is more positive than choosing to think on Phil 4:8! Meditate on things that mirror God’s character! Think on these things!

Friday

Discover Your Joy – Find it! Develop your joy – fulfill it! And Defend your joy – fight for it! To discover your joy, we must believe that God wants your joy to be full. Jesus is the joy of our salvation, and only in Him do we experience true, satisfying, complete joy. Once we are saved, we make a choice to think on the things listed in Phil 4:8. That means disciplining our mind to think on things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report. If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, we are told to think on those things. To discover our joy, we have to choose to over ride past negative programming. Sometimes that means being introspective and finding out where the negativity came from and dealing with it so you can move on to living a joy filled life. Once we have found our joy, we must develop our joy – it is up to us to fulfill it! We choose to forgive ourself and others. We choose to act today how we want to feel. Because how we think is so important, and our emotional stability or instability reveal the quality of our thoughts! So think on the right thing! Lastly, let’s defend our joy , fight for it! We can’t allow others opinions to steal your joy. Authentic joy takes a leap of faith. We act joyful before we see the evidence or manifestation of changed circumstances! That takes faith! And we actively seek good company and positive influences if we want to live a joy filled life, every day of the year.

Saturday eword for kids

One wonderful thing about kids is your ability to laugh. You could teach us adults how to live more joyfully, just by laughing more. Do you know the Bible talks about joy and gladness so many times? Sometimes we think serving God is hard, and serious, but I like to think about God laughing! The Bible tells us that He does! He smiles on us, and even sings over us. It sounds like He is pretty joyful. In fact, I think of heaven as a place where joy abounds. To be able to live a life of joy, we have some choices to make. The best choice is to ask Jesus into your heart, and be saved. Immediately we have a well of joy to draw from. The next choice that is so important if we want to live a joy filled life is to choose what we will think on. Philippians 4:8 tells us to think on things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. It takes a choice to let go of bad thoughts, negative thoughts, or even foolish thoughts. Another choice that you get to make is to choose to act how you want to feel. Sometimes we just let ourselves get wrapped up in thoughts that make us discouraged or depressed, or even just sad and lonely. But we choose to act how we want to feel, that means we smile more, we laugh more, we choose joy and find good things to say and do. So when you chose Jesus, we chose to live a life of joy. Let’s live a joyfilled life, 24/7/ 12 months of the year, for every year of your life!

Sunday

I want to encourage you to experience joy filled living throughout the year. Find ways to increase your joy, day by day, month by month, and year by year! In a quick overview, I will share 12 areas in the natural to focus on so you can have a year of joy filled living. Number 1 is energy , number 2 is love, number 3 is enjoy your work, number 4 is enjoy your children, or if you don’t have children, enjoy mentoring someone, number 5 is relaxation and finding ways to renew your spirit, number 6 is relationships, number 7 is your finances, number 8 is your future, number 9 is your passion, number 10 is mindfulness, number 11 is contentment, and number 12 is putting it all together. In the next week, I will talk about each of these areas, but I want you to consider, how is your joy level? Are you living in the joy of the Lord? Is your life overwhelmed by circumstances and negative influences? I want you to make a choice to live on a higher level. Jesus died to bring us life abundant, so let’s live there. As silly as it sounds, accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative is a great place to start. Rid yourself of negativity in your thought life. Surround yourself with people who are pursuing the purposes of God in a positive way. And believe for your circumstances to change! God is at work within you, helping you to do what He wants in your life. So live joyfully, 24/7 12 months of every year, and every year of your life!

Get more sleep, exercise better, reduce Clutter, be more energetic and act the way you want to feel. 2) Love -

Quit nagging (kids and husbands)

Give praise and appreciation (lavishly)

Resolve conflict (quickly)

Give a love gift (often)

March-work

Aim Higher (excellence requires it!)

Learn something new (old dogs need new tricks!)

Be more efficient

Enjoy today

April-motherhood

Sing in the morning (or all day long!)

Make happy memories (help your kids have a happy childhood)

Do a project

Smile more (eyebrows up, mouth turned up, teeth showing!)

May-relaxation

Find more time for fun

Be silly

Introduce a new activity to try

Start a collection (or give one of yours away!)

June-friendship

Make a birthday calendar (facebook helps!)

Be generous to a friend

Speak kind words (is it nice, a good question to ask)

Make a new friend

July-finances

Indulge in a modest splurge

Pay it forward

Do a one week “shopping” fast

Be generous to a stranger

August-destiny

Start a gratitude journal

Write a bucket list

Write your own obituary

Meditate on God’s word for 10 min each day

September-passion

Volunteer for an organization you are passionate about

Illuminate time wasters

Do what you love

Read a book about your passion

October -mindfulness

Keep a food diary

Practice awareness to needs of others

Speak peace to your soul (no worries!)

Renew your mind to God’s thoughts (think on these things!)

November-contentment

Laugh out loud

Use good manners

Have your own quiet spot (Jesus chair)

Give compliments (bring positive into other’s lives)

December-Live Joyfully

Choose joy today (everyday!)

Be yourself (God wants you to be you)

Act the way you want to feel

Love lavishly

When we look at a year of living joyfully, we can see that simple little things really do matter. Take time today to ponder ways your year can be more joyful. Use my list, or modify it to better suit you. Most of all choose joy TODAY!

Sing for joy, Dance for joy, Shout for joy, Clap for joy – Let’s do it! Let’s live joyfully today!

Intro

During this week, I want to talk about the importance of giving God’s Word high priority. Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with an encouraging word for your day. From reading the Word, to taking time to study it, to meditating on it, and to memorizing and living it out, God’s Word is our guiding force. To make right choices, and to live the victorious life God has for us, let’s give God’s Word preeminence always! This week we are talking about the importance of believing God’s Word. Here is your encouraging word for the day.

Word for the Week: John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abides in me, and I in him, will bring forth much fruit…without me, you can do nothing.

Monday

Believing alone is not enough! It is by grace we are saved through faith, but belief always has corresponding action. That action brings about change and growth in our lives! When we really believe, our actions and our words will change! It sounds like selfless living in our only option.We are dead to self, and alive to God! Living the fruit of the spirit is our goal, as it says in Gal 5:22. Living a life of love is our aim. Obedience to the Word of God is what we strive for. Imitating Christ, by acting like Him and doing what He would do is what we desire to do.

If you have evidence of your faith – there will be a fire in the fireplace that will show outside! That’s the way it is described it in book of James. Once we’re saved, we keep growing – keep developing – keep changing to the likeness of the Father. To believe His Word, we study to show ourselves approved, and make the shift from just head knowledge to heart knowledge. Belief is at our core, in the center. Belief is more than just a good idea, it becomes a part of who we are. When we place a priority on getting the Word of God into our core, we will change from the inside out. And, when we begin to believe right, we will begin to act right!

Tuesday

Words affect us and they affect others. What have we heard? What have we said?

Words framed the world – words bring life or death – one word from God can change your destiny – His Word doesn’t return void. When we believe and act on His Word, circumstance change. Have you ever thought about this? We know that God’s Word doesn’t return void, and neither does ours – once it goes out of our mouth it produces positively or negatively. Think about that! There is power in the tongue. What we believe comes out through our mouth.

Here is a great thought! The further we develop and mature in our Christian walk and our belief in the Word of God, the more fruit we should be producing! – Just as a tree matures – there is more fruit and the fruit gets sweeter.

So we get to be like TREES!

Planted by living water

Roots that go down deep

Not blown over by any gust of wind

Storms may come but they still stand

The longer they stand, the firmer footing they get

The root system becomes as big as what you see on top

A tree that produces!

As we grow deeper in the Word of God – there should be more evidence in our life that His Word is hidden in our heart, so we will not sin against Him. I want to encourage you – get your roots down deep. Be firmly planted in the Word. Know Who you believe in! Know what you believe! Then out of the abundance of your heart, your mouth will speak believing words. You’ll be able to stand, and overcome in this life!

Wednesday

Looking good on the outside is no good unless you have the inside character to back it up. Too many Christians (or people in general) try to dress up bad attitudes and hurts with a happy face and a good look.

God can see right through that, and people can to! Some might be fooled for a while, but truly your “sins” will find you out. There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed!

Have you ever seen a beautiful girl turn unattractive in a moment by filth or venom coming from her mouth? Sounds like bad fruit.

Bad Outside influences to fruit

Bugs Little foxes that come to destroy

Weather Storms that come to destroy

Mankind Bad influences – wrong choices of friends

The devil and his demons come to distract and destroy

Lack of moisture Not being watered by the Word

Soil erosion Not tilling our own soil

Fire Destruction sent to ambush our life

Good influences to fruit

Good moisture Being watered by the Word – river of life

Good soil Breaking up our own fallow ground

Good sunshine Spending time in God’s presence

Good weather Enough warmth, with out too much

Bug control Taking care of little things before they become big things

What kind of fruit are you producing? I hope it is good fruit in abundance!

We look even better on the outside, by staying true to the Word on the inside. Get the good influence of the Word on the inside of you and the outside will shine!

Thursday

With some pine trees intense heat or even fire is necessary for reproduction. The seed in locked in the cone until intense heat expels it. Devastation of a woodland by fire has a huge negative impact, but out of the ashes new life can be produced. Awful circumstances in life can be what propels you to live again – and success can be birthed from failure. Some people call it failing forward. If your past has negative circumstance in it, or if your present does, it doesn’t mean you can’t survive and then thrive tomorrow.

I am always so inspired by those who have walked through great difficulty and come out better on the other side. The enemy attacked them, and they stood strong, and their test, produced a testimony! Their tragedy was turned to triumph. They didn’t become victims, they were victorious! What the enemy meant for evil, God turned around for good! When we believe God’s Word, even in the worst of circumstances, He is on our side and is making a way in the wilderness. His living water sustains us in the desert. His living bread is sustenance to our soul. He nourishes us in the presence of our enemies, and even if we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we don’t live in fear, for God sustains us. When we get the good stuff (the Word) on the inside, we will come out stronger on the other side. That’s encouraging!

Friday

How do we get more faith? That is always an interesting question to ask, because you’d be amazed at the answers. The Bible’s answer is this….Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17 Have you ever noticed how often Jesus repeated this saying, “If you have ears to hear, let him hear.” Do you have ears to hear? Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. It is more than just hearing with our natural ears, we need the ears of our spirit attuned to God’s voice. When His Word speaks to us, we need to say just like Samuel said, “speak Lord, for your servant hears you”. Then because we believe, we put action to our faith. We strengthen our faith muscle by exercising it. Just like a natural muscle, we have to use it. You never get to stop using your faith. The Christian walk is a faith walk. It is a life of faith. The Bible says that the just shall live by faith. Let’s be “believing” believers! Let’s take what God’s Word says and believe it, act on it, live by it, and share it. Why keep it all to yourself? With the great message we have, something that has changed our lives forever, why not tell everyone! We can change the world, one life at a time. How encouraging!

Saturday Eword for Kids

Do you know that believing and faith are like the two sides of a coin? You really can’t use a coin if one side is defaced or absent. Coins are only usable currency when both sides are intact. Faith is like that too! To be able to use our faith, we have to add our belief to what God’s Word says to us. Just like when you were saved, one side of the coin was faith, and the other side was belief. Once you believed, your faith hooked up with the promise of God’s Word that you could be born again. Then you used your mouth to confess or to speak about what you believed in your heart. Faith turned to action. Then you began changing and growing as you continued to put God’s Word in your life, and made choices that lined up with the Word of God. God directed your path, and gave you wisdom and insight and you continued to change and grow. Then you began to be fruitful for the kingdom of God, and became a witness of the wonderful life you have in Christ. What is so cool about faith and belief is that when you share your faith, others can believe. You get to be God’s voice to your world! How cool it is to see your friends see the change God has made in your life, and they decide to follow Christ too. That is fruitful living, and that is what believing the Word will do for your life. How cool is that!

Sunday

Did you know that there is a heart and mouth connection in salvation? The Bible tells us to believe and confess, or to believe and speak. What you believe is what you speak, as it says in Matt 12:34. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak.

What is in your HEART?

What do we believe?

God is good and brings life

The devil is bad and brings destruction

Jesus conquered the devil on Calvary

In salvation we have everything we need to live victoriously on the earth

We choose to follow Christ, to obey His Word, and live by His commands

Has this belief system, based on God’s Word, really changed our life? Was it a drastic change? Or, are negative habits so established in your life that there is no difference between you and a non- believer?

The next big question to ask is do you want to change? If our belief system has changed our life, it should change our actions. How should we act? Here are some things to consider:

Gossip is not an option

Reacting in the flesh is not an option

Speaking before you think is not an option

Saying everything that comes to mind is not an option

Disobeying the law of love is not an option!

I hope you are encouraged to keep on growing. Keep on becoming more like Jesus, the Word made flesh!

Intro

Starting this year, we celebrate 400 years of having the Bible written and printed in English! The KJV of the Bible was first printed in 1611 and how thankful we are that we can have multiple copies of the Word available to us. So to commemorate the anniversary, I want to talk about the importance of giving God’s Word high priority. Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with an encouraging word for your day. From reading the Word, to taking time to study it, to meditating on it, and to memorizing and living it out, God’s Word is our guiding force. To make right choices, and to live the victorious life God has for us, let’s give God’s Word preeminence always! We’ll start this week by talking about reading and studying God’s Word. Here is your encouraging word for the day.

Word for the Week: John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abides in me, and I in him, will bring forth much fruit…without me, you can do nothing.

Monday

Believing alone is not enough! It is by grace we are saved through faith, but belief always has corresponding action. That action brings about change and growth in our lives! When we really believe, our actions and our words will change! It sounds like selfless living in our only option. We are dead to self, and alive to God! Living the fruit of the spirit is our goal, as it says in Gal 5:22. Living a life of love is our aim. Obedience to the Word of God is what we strive for. Imitating Christ, by acting like Him and doing what He would do is what we desire to do.

If you have evidence of your faith – there will be a fire in the fireplace that will show outside! That’s the way it is described it in book of James. Once we’re saved, we keep growing – keep developing – keep changing to the likeness of the Father. To believe His Word, we study to show ourselves approved, and make the shift from just head knowledge to heart knowledge. Belief is at our core, in the center. Belief is more than just a good idea, it becomes a part of who we are. When we place a priority on getting the Word of God into our core, we will change from the inside out. And, when we begin to believe right, we will begin to act right!

Tuesday

Words affect us and they affect others. What have we heard? What have we said?

Words framed the world – words bring life or death – one word from God can change your destiny – His Word doesn’t return void. When we believe and act on His Word, circumstance change. Have you ever thought about this? We know that God’s Word doesn’t return void, and neither does ours – once it goes out of our mouth it produces positively or negatively. Think about that! There is power in the tongue. What we believe comes out through our mouth.

Here is a great thought! The further we develop and mature in our Christian walk and our belief in the Word of God, the more fruit we should be producing! – Just as a tree matures – there is more fruit and the fruit gets sweeter.

So we get to be like TREES!

Planted by living water

Roots that go down deep

Not blown over by any gust of wind

Storms may come but they still stand

The longer they stand, the firmer footing they get

The root system becomes as big as what you see on top

A tree that produces!

As we grow deeper in the Word of God – there should be more evidence in our life that His Word is hidden in our heart, so we will not sin against Him. I want to encourage you – get your roots down deep. Be firmly planted in the Word. Know Who you believe in! Know what you believe! Then out of the abundance of your heart, your mouth will speak believing words. You’ll be able to stand, and overcome in this life!

Wednesday

Looking good on the outside is no good unless you have the inside character to back it up. Too many Christians (or people in general) try to dress up bad attitudes and hurts with a happy face and a good look.

God can see right through that, and people can to! Some might be fooled for a while, but truly your “sins” will find you out. There is nothing hidden that will not be revealed!

Have you ever seen a beautiful girl turn unattractive in a moment by filth or venom coming from her mouth? Sounds like bad fruit.

What are some Bad Outside influences to fruit?

Like Bugs or Little foxes that come to destroy

Like adverse Weather and Storms that come to destroy

Like Bad influences – and wrong choices of friends

Like the devil and his demons come to distract and destroy

Like Lack of moisture and not being watered by the Word

Like Soil erosion or not tilling our own soil

Like Fire or other kinds of Destruction sent to ambush our life

What are good influences to fruit?

Moisture like Being watered by the Word – river of life

Good soil and continually Breaking up our own fallow ground

Good sunshine Spending time in God’s presence

Good weather Enough warmth

Bug control by Taking care of little things before they become big things

What kind of fruit are you producing? I hope it is good fruit in abundance!

We look even better on the outside, by staying true to the Word on the inside. Get the good influence of the Word on the inside of you and the outside will shine!

Thursday

With some pine trees intense heat or even fire is necessary for reproduction. The seed in locked in the cone until intense heat expels it. Devastation of a woodland by fire has a huge negative impact, but out of the ashes new life can be produced. Awful circumstances in life can be what propels you to live again – and success can be birthed from failure. Some people call it failing forward. If your past has negative circumstance in it, or if your present does, it doesn’t mean you can’t survive and then thrive tomorrow.

I am always so inspired by those who have walked through great difficulty and come out better on the other side. The enemy attacked them, and they stood strong, and their test, produced a testimony! Their tragedy was turned to triumph. They didn’t become victims, they were victorious! What the enemy meant for evil, God turned around for good! When we believe God’s Word, even in the worst of circumstances, He is on our side and is making a way in the wilderness. His living water sustains us in the desert. His living bread is sustenance to our soul. He nourishes us in the presence of our enemies, and even if we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we don’t live in fear, for God sustains us. When we get the good stuff (the Word) on the inside, we will come out stronger on the other side. That’s encouraging!

Friday

How do we get more faith? That is always an interesting question to ask, because you’d be amazed at the answers. The Bible’s answer is this….Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. (Romans 10:17 Have you ever noticed how often Jesus repeated this saying, “If you have ears to hear, let him hear.” Do you have ears to hear? Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. It is more than just hearing with our natural ears, we need the ears of our spirit attuned to God’s voice. When His Word speaks to us, we need to say just like Samuel said, “speak Lord, for your servant hears you”. Then because we believe, we put action to our faith. We strengthen our faith muscle by exercising it. Just like a natural muscle, we have to use it. You never get to stop using your faith. The Christian walk is a faith walk. It is a life of faith. The Bible says that the just shall live by faith. Let’s be “believing” believers! Let’s take what God’s Word says and believe it, act on it, live by it, and share it. Why keep it all to yourself? With the great message we have, something that has changed our lives forever, why not tell everyone! We can change the world, one life at a time. How encouraging!

Saturday Eword for Kids

Do you know that believing and faith are like the two sides of a coin? You really can’t use a coin if one side is defaced or absent. Coins are only usable currency when both sides are intact. Faith is like that too! To be able to use our faith, we have to add our belief to what God’s Word says to us. Just like when you were saved, one side of the coin was faith, and the other side was belief. Once you believed, your faith hooked up with the promise of God’s Word that you could be born again. Then you used your mouth to confess or to speak about what you believed in your heart. Faith turned to action. Then you began changing and growing as you continued to put God’s Word in your life, and made choices that lined up with the Word of God. God directed your path, and gave you wisdom and insight and you continued to change and grow. Then you began to be fruitful for the kingdom of God, and became a witness of the wonderful life you have in Christ. What is so cool about faith and belief is that when you share your faith, others can believe. You get to be God’s voice to your world! How cool it is to see your friends see the change God has made in your life, and they decide to follow Christ too. That is fruitful living, and that is what believing the Word will do for your life. How cool is that!

Sunday

Did you know that there is a heart and mouth connection in salvation? The Bible tells us to believe and confess, or to believe and speak. What you believe is what you speak, as it says in Matt 12:34. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak.

What is in your HEART?

What do we believe? Here are some things the word says we should believe.

God is good and brings life

The devil is bad and brings destruction

Jesus conquered the devil on Calvary

In salvation we have everything we need to live victoriously on the earth

We choose to follow Christ, to obey His Word, and live by His commands

Has this belief system, based on God’s Word, really changed our life? Was it a drastic change? Or, are negative habits so established in your life that there is no difference between you and a non- believer?

The next big question to ask is do you want to change? If our belief system has changed our life, it should change our actions. How should we act? Here are some things to consider for the person who is filled up with the Word and believes what the Word of God says:

Gossip is not an option

Reacting in the flesh is not an option

Speaking before you think is not an option

Saying everything that comes to mind is not an option

Disobeying the law of love is not an option!

I hope you are encouraged to keep on growing. Keep on becoming more like Jesus, the Word made flesh! Let’s celebrate the Word of God by being a doer of what it says!