Topic: “I Want a Mind Change” [Joyce Meyer’s Devotional Tuesday September 4, 2018]

Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble. — 2 Peter 1:10 (NKJV)

I find a great deal of comfort in thinking about who I used to be and who I have become. It helps me not to be discouraged when I make mistakes or find that I still struggle over some issues. I’m greatly encouraged when I consider where I started and where I am now.

In Ephesians 2, Paul described those outside of Christ. He wrote that unbelievers follow the prince of the power of the air, who is Satan, and they follow the way their master leads. In verse 1, he pointed out that all were once dead through their sins, but believers are now alive in Jesus Christ. He tells us we’re not governed or led by our lower nature—the impulses of the flesh.

Many Christians have trouble in this area because they haven’t learned to control their thoughts. A lady once told me, “It simply didn’t occur to me that I needed to direct my mind and keep it healthy and positive. If ministers preached or taught about the control of our thoughts, I never heard it. One day, however, I read an article about the power of thoughts, and God convicted me. That’s when I knew I needed to change my thinking.”

This lady said she drove down the street of a busy city and she spotted a sign, a cartoon of a car with big eyes for the front lights and tears flowing, and the words, “Please help me! I need an oil change.”

As she passed by, she thought, I need a mind change. I don’t like being the way I am, letting my mind go wherever it wants. Part of my responsibility as a child of God is to keep my thoughts healthy and strong.

“I want to make it clear that I went to church,” she said, “and I had been active for years. I knew a lot of Scripture, and I even did some volunteer work at the church. But I didn’t control my thoughts. Even when I sang in church, my mind jumped from subject to subject. We’d be singing about joy and grace, and I’d think about the dishes still in the sink, the unfinished laundry, or what I wanted to eat for lunch.

“I attended church and I was faithful, but I was not faithful in attending to the Word. I listened when the preachers quoted Scripture. I usually followed along with my own Bible, but I didn’t really think about what I was hearing or what my eyes were reading. I was doing the right things outwardly, but I wasn’t thinking the right things. My mind was a mess, and I didn’t know what to do about it.”

“I need a mind change,” she suddenly said aloud to herself. Just then, she actually pondered the words she had spoken. She was like the car on the sign—she needed a change—a mind change. She needed to let the Holy Spirit direct her thoughts instead of the devil. As she prayed, she felt confident there would be a positive change.

She thought to herself, Is there anything I am supposed to do? She realized that if she didn’t make lifestyle changes, the devil would soon make the new thinking as muddy and gunky as the old thinking was.

For the next several days, she looked up all the scriptures she could find that used the word study or meditate. She also looked up scriptures that talked about the mind or thoughts. She read those verses, wrote them on slips of paper, and pondered them.

Here are three of them:

For as he thinks in his heart, so is he… (Proverbs 23:7 NKJV).

And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude] (Ephesians 4:23 AMPC).

My hands also will I lift up [in fervent supplication] to Your commandments, which I love, and I will meditate on Your statutes (Psalm 119:48 AMPC).

The more she meditated on the right things, the less trouble she had with Satan trying to control her thoughts. That’s how it works with all of us: The more we focus on God, the less often the devil can defeat us.

Prayer Starter: Father, thank You for the power in Your Word to renew my mind. Please help me to stay focused on You and choose positive, faith-filled thoughts that will propel my life in the right direction. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

If you missed yesterday devotional, please click to read “Joyce Meyer Daily Devotional HERE’’

From Joyce Meyer’s Ministries.

Strive to Improve by David Ibiyeomie

Topic: Strive to Improve

God hates stagnation. Life is supposed to be progressive and dynamic and not static.

Prov.4:18 -But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

What many people are celebrating today will become obsolete tomorrow. Success you don’t improve on will become failure tomorrow. God wants you to improve on daily basis. What may be termed flashy today may become shabby tomorrow. What you are celebrating today as a result may be disgusting tomorrow; never settle for mediocrity.

On the road of excellence, there is no speed limit. To strive for continuous improvement on your road to excellence, you must avoid complacency and embrace continuous self-education. Schooling is different from self-education. School gives you information while self-education gives you transformation. Self-education is personal discoveries that can make you to recover your destiny in life. Great men succeed via self-development. You have to go beyond what school has taught you.

Another way to strive for continuous improvement is to major and improve on your comparative advantage. Your comparative advantage is your unique selling point. Continuously improve on your strength and not your weakness.

Judges 20:16 – Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men left-handed; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth, and not miss.

The men in the above scripture were chosen because of their peculiarity; not because of their uniformity. If you want to continually improve, sharpen your strength and stop going for your weakness. Don’t do something everybody is doing; do something you can easily do and sharpen that skill. Your comparative advantage is in that your strength; that is where the world will know you from. Keeping improving on what you have proved and not in some other person’s area which you have not proved. David refused to use Saul’s armor to fight Goliath because he had not proved Saul’s armor. What brought David to limelight was a sling and a stone; not a military weapons.

1Sam.17:39 -And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him.

Striving to improve is simply looking at your unique selling proposition; using your energy to develop it. So, strive for excellence in the area of your strength. Stop celebrating your weakness and start encouraging your strength. May your strength announce you to your world in the name of Jesus!!

Furthermore, you have to embrace paradigm shift. A paradigm shift is about how we think, how we see things and how people see things differently. Don’t be blinded by your success of yesterday; rather improve it with what is happening today. Many people allow their successful pasts block the vision of their future. Thus, you need to open your mind to new ideas and be willing to exploit different ways of doing things; you must always open yourself to new things.

Success is a progressive realization of a worthy goal; it is not synonymous to rigidity and dogmatism. Success will become failure if you refuse to change with new ideas.

Isaiah 43:18-19 -Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

If God is embracing new things, you cannot afford not to embrace and do new things. You need a paradigm shift. It is not possible to make continuous progress when you are not teachable and correctable.

God bless you

Also Read: Other Inspiring Messages by Pastor David Ibiyeomie

Flatimes Notice Board: Until you are born again, God ever abiding presence will never be with you. You must be born again to enjoy continuous victory. Please say the displayed prayer below in faith:

Lord Jesus, come into my life. I accept You as my Lord and Personal Saviour. I believe in my heart You died and rose from the dead to save me. Thank You Lord for saving me, in Jesus name Amen.

If you just prayed the prayer of salvation online please send your testimonies and prayer request to [email protected], 07026385437 OR 08141320204.

Topic: Let God Be Glorified [Kenneth & Gloria Copeland 4 September 2018 Daily Devotional]

And Jesus went forth…moved with compassion…and he healed their sick…. And great multitudes came unto him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus’ feet; and he healed them: Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel. – Matthew 14:14; 15:30-31

Religious tradition says that God gets glory when we bear up nobly under the agony of sickness and disease. But that’s not what the Bible says. It says God gets glory when the blind see and the lame walk and the maimed are made whole!

In India or Africa where people haven’t been taught those kinds of religious traditions, when someone stands up and announces, “I come to you as a messenger from the Most High God,” people believe what he has to say. When they hear that Jesus, the King of kings, shed His blood for them; when they hear that He’s sent His messenger to tell them that He’ll deliver them from sin and sickness and death today, they get excited. They don’t argue with the Word of God. So you know what happens?

People begin to get healed. People start throwing away their crutches and flinging off their bandages! When we learn to hear the Word of God like that, the same thing will happen to us. God is no respecter of persons. His Word works for everyone. It’s how we receive it that makes the difference!

Scripture Reading: Acts 17:1-11

If you missed yesterday devotional, please click to read “Kenneth and Gloria Copeland’s Daily Devotional Here’’

This message was written by Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, the leader of the Kenneth Copeland Ministries (www.KCM.org) that specializes in teaching principles of bible faith – prayer, healing, salvation and other biblical topics.

Topic: Beyond the Stars [Our Daily Bread 4 September 2018 Devotional]

Read: Psalm 8:1–9, Bible in a Year: Psalms 143–145; 1 Corinthians 14:21–40

You have set your glory in the heavens. Psalm 8:1

In 2011, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration celebrated thirty years of space research. In those three decades, shuttles carried more than 355 people into space and helped construct the International Space Station. After retiring five shuttles, NASA has now shifted its focus to deep-space exploration.

The human race has invested massive amounts of time and money, with some astronauts even sacrificing their lives, to study the immensity of the universe. Yet the evidence of God’s majesty stretches far beyond what we can measure.

When we consider the Sculptor and Sustainer of the universe who knows each star by name (Isaiah 40:26), we can understand why the psalmist David praises His greatness (Psalm 8:1). The Lord’s fingerprints are on “the moon and the stars, which [He] set in place” (v. 3). The Maker of the heavens and the earth reigns above all, yet He remains near all His beloved children, caring for each intimately and personally (v. 4). In love, God gives us great power, responsibility, and the privilege to care for and explore the world He’s entrusted to us (vv. 5–8).

As we study our star-spattered night skies, our Creator invites us to seek Him with passion and persistence. He hears every prayer and song of praise flowing from our lips.

Prayer: Loving Creator of the universe, thank You for being mindful of us.

The greatness of God is evident in His awesome vastness and intimate nearness.

If you missed yesterday devotional, please click to read “Our Daily Bread Devotionals HERE”

This message was written By Xochitl Dixon [Our Daily Bread Ministries.]

Topic: God Is Not A Man To Lie [Seeds of Destiny 4 September 2018 Daily Devotional]

Scripture: God is not a man that he should lie; neither the son of man that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Numbers 23:19

Thought For The Day: God is too truthful to lie, too reliable to reverse, too dependable to deceive and too faithful to fail.

Lies and deceits are major elements of the decadent and fast degenerating system of the world. Most systems of the world are built on lies, deceits and falsehoods. We live in a generation where what most people say may appear true but are actually lies. Many business transactions and day-to-day activities of some people are based on falsehood or falsification of certain information.

However, it is important to know that we serve a God who is not a man to lie. Unlike man, God is too truthful to lie, too reliable to reverse, too dependable to deceive and too faithful to fail. Our God is a lie-less God. The lielessness of God also means the faithfulness of God.
Now, how do you experience the lie-less-ness of God? In other words, how do you see the manifestation of the truthfulness or faithfulness of God in your life? (Psalms 18:25).

1. Be Sincere with God
If you want to experience the sincerity of God, you must be sincere with Him. You must be dependable; let God be able to know and predict you (Psalm 18:25).

2. Be Authentic as a Christian
Being authentic means refusal to be hypocritical. There are many fake people today. Do not be fake. Let people see the authenticity of God in your personal life even if they hate you.

3. Be Truthful in Word
Do not say things that you don’t mean. To develop a high level of faith is to be a man of your words. You are truthful when you make promises and keep them.

My counsel is, mean what you say and always say what you mean; be authentic and sincere, both to God and to man.

Remember this: God is too truthful to lie, too reliable to reverse, too dependable to deceive and too faithful to fail.

Assignments:
1. Make up your mind to be sincere with God.
2. Be an authentic Christian in word and in action.

Prayer: O Lord, I ask that You forgive any area of lies, falsehood and deceit in my life. I receive the grace to be sincere, authentic and truthful in Word and in action, Lord, in Jesus’ Name.

FOR FURTHER UNDERSTANDING, GET THIS MESSAGE: GOD IS NOT A MAN TO LIE.

Amazing Fact: The world’s largest passenger plane is the Airbus A380. It is a double-decker four-engine jetliner. It made its first flight on April 27, 2005.

Today In History: 04/09/1882 – Thomas Edison’s Pearl Street electric power station began operations in New York City. It was the first display of a practical electrical lighting system.

Daily Reading: Ecclesiastes 7:1 to 9:18, 2 Corinthians 7:8 to 16, Psalm 48:1 to 14, Proverbs 22:17 to 19

Quote: A lying tongue portrays a certain wrong realm of life – the realm of insincerity, and falsehood. Culled from ‘WHO ARE YOU?’ By Dr Paul Enenche.

Don’t Forget To Attend: The two power-packed communion services tomorrow by 4:45 pm and 6:30 pm. Come with your friends and loved ones.

Also Read: Seeds of Destiny by Pastor Paul Enenche

Today’s devotional was written by Pastor Paul Enenche of the Dunamis International Gospel Centre (DIGC), headquartered at Abuja, Nigeria, with Pastor Paul and Becky Enenche, as the Senior Pastors. It is a power-packed arena where God’s Presence, Principles and Power are at work for the salvation, healing and restoration of human destinies and dignities

Flatimes Notice Board: Until you are born again, God ever abiding presence will never be with you. You must be born again to enjoy continuous victory. Please say the displayed prayer below in faith:

Lord Jesus, come into my life. I accept You as my Lord and Personal Saviour. I believe in my heart You died and rose from the dead to save me. Thank You Lord for saving me, in Jesus name Amen.

If you just prayed the prayer of salvation online please send your testimonies and prayer request to [email protected], 07026385437 OR 08141320204.