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God Allows U-turns
Hiccups and missteps in life are distractions of the enemy, but they can also be signals that we are close to veering away from the path that God desires us to stay on. We’ve stated this often, but it’s such an important statement that it needs to be repeated as much as possible. We have…
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God’s Goodies
God is up to something good in your life, on this you can most assuredly depend. One of the greatest things that you and I can do with our time is to seek Him until we understand exactly what He has in mind. The truth is that sometimes we just don’t know what He has…
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God’s Hedge of Protection
Sometimes, without even realizing it, we can begin to drift backwards. I don’t know about you, but for me this is one of the most alarming realities of spiritual life. In the beginning, when a new Christian is spiritually immature, and the hiccups of life catches them off guard, God surrounds them with what can…
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Divine Secrets to Success
We can learn so much about the ways of life and living through God’s Immutable Laws. These laws cannot be broken. They will not yield to our whims; they will not bend to our prerogatives. Take the Law of Gravity for instance. Gravity is a force, and we don’t have to understand the dynamics of…
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Trust the Blood of Jesus Christ
John 14:6 is one of the most popular and known verses in the Good News of Jesus Christ. In it, he tells us that he is the way, the truth, and the life; and that the only way to come to the Father is through him. We are living in a time in human history…
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We Are God’s Prized Possessions
A relationship is a two-way street. Just try maintaining one with someone that isn’t the least bit interested in it. The communication is poor because you don’t fully understand the other person, and they don’t care to understand you. Trust is an issue because there’s no foundation to build it. So, you have a situation…
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Brace for Impact!
True story: Two Christian friends from the same neighborhood, in the same town, graduated from high school at the same time. They both applied for similar jobs at the same company and began working there. There’s a lot of ‘sameness’ in this real-life scenario, except after ten years, one person had been promoted to an…
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The Empire You are Destined to Birth
To our faithful members who read our offerings each week, some of you have been with us since we began online some 16 years ago, and we so appreciate you. We pray for you often, and we endeavor to encourage you to grow higher and greater through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You’ve partnered…
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“Must Have” Affirmations of Faith
God’s divine order should and can be maintained in our lives to such a degree that we are continually and blissfully fulfilled. When His order becomes our true focus, we will see the most magnificent blessings come into fruition; be assured of this! It should serve as motivation to continue stepping in alignment with the…
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Reclaim What Has Been Stolen!
The Fall Issue of the SMS Magazine is entitled, “Taking It All Back.” In it we explore the spiritual requirements to enter the battlefield and take back what has been stolen from us. We know that the enemy is a dastardly evil thief, and we are often surprised by the degree to which he steals…
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You’re Almost to the Finish Line!
Life is a journey, and we’re on it! Each of us is in a race that God has placed before us, and no two are alike. Right this very moment, you’re in one of three lanes: 1# You’re waiting for a specific prayer request to come to fruition in your life; 2# You’re transitioning to…
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Don’t Get Weary: Holding On When It Gets Hard
Sisters, we hear you! Your responses to “Keep Pressing, Don’t Get Weary, Let the Haters Hate” came in loud and clear. Understandably, the aspect of the teaching regarding getting weary struck a chord, particularly with those of you that are single and facing the challenges of life without a partner in your right-now circumstances. You…
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Dealing With Depression
In Psalm 143, David was praying and crying out to God, as he had done many times before. I don’t know about you, but David reminds me of a brother who has a very desirable and exquisite combination of being both sensitive and strong. He was no doubt a great and brave warrior, and boy…
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Keep Pressing, Don’t Get Weary, Let the Haters Hate
As Christians, we all try and put on a happy face every day. There are many who count on us to be that shoulder to cry or lean on, and there are others in our corners who are rooting for us and just want us to succeed in life. They are watching and trusting that…
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Is Your Family Living Under A Curse?
I’m originally from a small rural community in the south. I grew up in a Christian home, and I thought everyone else did as well. It wasn’t until I was an adolescent that I began to notice some things that caused me to question this. There were a few families in this small community that…
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That Which Flows from God
We’ve heard it said, particularly in this age of the outpouring of God’s Spirit, that Christians should now be at a stage of spiritual maturity where we operate out of the overflow. We’ll talk about operating out of the overflow a bit more, but even if we do not understand all the facets of it,…
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A Deeper Knowledge of Yourself
A sister-friend of mine is notorious for retreats. I can get with that. I need to take them far more than my schedule allows. The thing with her is that her preference is to take retreats alone. When I first learned of her sabbatical-hunger for alone time, I thought it was strange, a tad bit…
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Moldable Like Clay
Let no one tell you differently, emotions matter. How you feel emotionally from one day to the next is very important to your overall existence. God designed us in such a way that we live from the inside out, and not the outside in. With every choice and decision you make, you are building the…
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When the Pressure Is Too Much
It doesn’t matter who you are or how long you’ve been on this Christian journey, there’s bound to be a time in your life when the pressure seems way beyond what you think you can handle. You know that God has your back, and that you can do all things through Christ, but there are…
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Too Busy to Slow Down
One of the things that many of us struggle with today in life is differentiating between what is relevant and what isn’t. All too often, we get consumed with what’s happening on a reality TV show, or the next thing poppin’ on social media, and we kinda get lost in that world. We begin to…
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Know Your Worth
We all know the precious verse in Proverbs 31:10 (NLT) that says, “Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies.” God is so incredibly gracious to have placed this prized gem of wisdom in His Word. He knew that at every rotation of change, and at every level of…
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Preparing for A Rainy Day
No one could have anticipated some of the things we see going on around us. They are pretty incredible to say the least, but there’s one thing that we know for sure as Christians; we know who holds tomorrow. No matter how outrageous the world and its major players seem to get, God is in…
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The Blessing Zone
Hebrews 11:6(NKJV) tells us, “6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” I’d like to focus on the last part of this verse for just a bit. The bible is…
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Help Us Help Quiyana!
Quiyana wrote to me because her best friend passed away almost two years ago, and it has caused the kinds of problems in her life that she never in a million years suspected she’d encounter. Quiyana is conflicted because she has feelings for her best friend’s husband, who is now a widow. He is raising…
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The Synchronized Timing of Your Blessing
There is no way we can get to the place God desires us to be without taking a brutally honest look at ourselves every once and a while. The goal of doing this is to widen a space in our consciousness that will allow the Holy Spirit to point out a few adjustments. These adjustments…
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Don’t Give Up, Reach Out and Climb Higher!
The answer to the question, “Where is God taking me?” will be the same for every born-again believer. He is always taking us to higher spiritual heights. This brings the blockers in our lives front and center, because Jesus Christ made it crystal clear that we have an enemy that seeks to knock us back…
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The Pain of Death, The Joy of Life
Dorothea lost her mother the middle of last year. I don’t know her personally, but all of us can imagine how truly devastating it is to lose a parent. Recently, within the span of three months, both her older sister and her son also died unexpectedly. An acquaintance of Dorothea’s phoned me last week with…
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Being Super Woman
We’ve all faced our share of hard times and disappointments, and some of us have experienced some doozies. Whether it’s a letdown at the job or possibly a major heartbreak in our relationships, at some point in our lives many of us were crushed beyond what we believed to be our threshold. As uncomfortable as…
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Building Faith Muscle
Romans 5:3-5(NLT) “3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us,…
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Your Cup Overflows
God desires to do a brand new thing in our lives, and because this world is corrupting moment by moment, we sometimes lose sight of this. Things within our everyday existence can become very stale. If our diet isn’t packed with the nutritious substance of God’s goodness and Word, we will find ourselves feeling…