Author: Pastor Mike

From the Kitchen Table

Victorious Living Day 39

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”           Romans 1:16-17

Here’s something to think about today.  What we believe defines us and defends us.  Paul writes, “I am not ashamed of the gospel…”  There are a number of words that can define us and shame us such as fool, fraud, failure, frustrating, floozy, fearful.  Those are a lot of “f” words that we can earn while searching for acceptance, affection, and accomplishment.  However, there’s something that can change all that and it’s called the gospel of Jesus Christ.   But the power of the gospel only works for those who believe in it for their lives.  It’s only as we let our faith, what we are convinced of and convicted by, work in our lives that our faith begins to refine and redefine who we are.  The gospel (the good word of God) has the power to save us spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically and so on when we place our faith in God and His good word.  And that word has the power to not only define us but defend us if we will not only desire it but decide on it for our lives.  That God word will defend us from every shameful word of the enemy.  I am not ashamed of the good God word and I don’t have to be ashamed because it works for all those who live by faith in God’s good word.

From the Kitchen Table

Victorious Living Day 38

But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.              1 Timothy 6:11-16

One of the greatest helps to our Christian faith is just someone else who believes and believes with us.  Why?  Because we have to fight for this faith.  This way that we’ve found is not the way of this world where we find ourselves.  We have to fight for our faith because there’s a constant force against it and it’s not the devil throwing new things into our lives as much as using old things out of our lives and we don’t know it because we’re so used to it.  Real growth in our Christian life happens through relationships where we share together, pray together, discuss together and care for each other in the way.  Relationships are important because it’s there that we are equipped to fight for the faith.  Many people go for the inspiration of the faith in large worship gatherings but it’s in smaller groups and conversations that we are instructed in the faith.  The Bible says that bad company corrupts good morals (1 Corinthians 15:33).  Timothy had a relationship with Paul that encouraged and equipped him to fight the good fight. If we’re going to walk this walk in victory, we must walk this walk in the company of other believers.   It’s God’s way!

From the Kitchen Table

Victorious Living Day 37

In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.  When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ​‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”         Matthew 21:18-22

Things are just like we judge them.  How will we judge the things we see and do today?  Jesus said, “if you have faith and do not doubt (judge), you will …”  Doubting God is judging our thoughts more right than His thinking, our words better than His words.  Faith opens the door to the supernatural power & privilege of God as we judge, determine, that God’s word is right and real and right for our situation.  If forgiveness is the key to heavens door and thanksgiving is the handle that faith opens the door with, then prayer works as the hinges of that door.  Believers who pray, are the ones who judge God’s word as right and real.  Faith in God and His word stops to look at the tree, judge it according to God’s word and pray.  Faith opens the door to God’s supernatural generosity through prayer.  Judge God’s word today as right and real for you and your life.

From the Kitchen Table

Victorious Living Day 36

And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”   Mark 9:20-29

This life with Jesus not only involves faith, it insists on it.  Forgiveness is the key and thanksgiving is the handle to heavens door but faith is what opens it.  It’s faith that opens the door to the greatness and generosity of God.  “All things are possible for one who believes.”   This life of Jesus happens in and through those who are convinced in Him and live with His convictions.  Convinced and convicted we pray.   Convinced by the words, walk and work of Jesus we live in the convictions of His word, work and will.  And prayer is where we learn to place our faith in His power and presence.  This pleases God who is pleased to please us.  This life insists on faith and faith insists on prayer.  It’s where we take hold of the hand of God so that we never have to walk alone and afraid on this earth.

From the Kitchen Table

Victorious Living Day 35

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.                    Romans 5:1-5

We’ve been justified by faith!  We’ve been made just because we’ve become convinced in the work, words and will of God.  We now live convinced in and convicted by God and His word through Jesus.  Convinced & convicted, we hold to God and His word as absolute truth and now we live in His peace, His promises, His power, His perspective, sharing His personal qualities.  That’s how deeply we are convinced and how powerfully we are convicted by His word, work, and will.  Our spirit lives by faith, what it believes to be true, not what we feel about truth.  Our spirit operates in what it believes to be true and if what we believe isn’t true, it won’t be trusted.  It’s a principle in life that we can only trust in what we believe in.  This all begins in our spirit and it happens through what we hear to be true.  Let’s live today in what God has said so that we can live today in what God has done.  It is our peace and prosperity.

From the Kitchen Table

Victorious Living Day 34

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”  So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.                Luke 15:1-7

Heaven deals with reality and heaven rejoices over what is real, not just religious.  Looking for “joy”?  Get real about what’s wrong.  Repentance is about getting real about what’s really, wrong.  There’s nothing wrong with being religious unless being religious is about covering up wrong.   It’s so easy to be religious in our attendance, our attentiveness, and our appreciation for things that should be appreciated and miss the “joy” of heaven.  And it’s so easy to be accepting of religious attendance, attentiveness, and appreciation for things that should be appreciated that pretty soon the room is filled with what is religious, not real.  Don’t go there or don’t stay there.  Repentance is about being real with God, ourselves and others about what’s real and what really works.  There’s joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.  Sometimes that’s me and here’s what I know.  If I want the joy of heaven, here, it comes through repentance.  When we get real about what is wrong, we don’t have to be wrong about what is real and that’s where we find joy.  Repentance brings joy in heaven and around here.  Don’t be afraid to be real with God, yourself, and others and, by the way, don’t be wrong about being real.   This all happens best when it happens in love.  Just look at the lost sheep.

From the Kitchen Table

Victorious Living Day 33

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah Psalm 32:1-5
We can’t turn from something if we don’t turn to something else and we can’t conquer what is wrong if we don’t call it wrong. This thing of speaking is so significant. With our mouths, we call and call forth the life we live. It’s powerful! Conquering sin involves calling it what it is. When we call out wrong as wrong, we call forth right as right. There may be a lot of reasons why we did what we did but if we want to be free and forgiven, we must call wrong, wrong and right, right. There’s no freedom in calling out, cutting down or complaining about others. If we’re not happy, the problem is within ourselves. Wrong likes to cover itself with all the right excuses. The Psalmist said, “I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover up my iniquity…” Until we call it what it is, we will keep it as it is. We can make all sorts of excuses and blame whoever we want but if the house sticks, it’s because we’ve got a skunk in the mudroom. Admit it. God is ready to do the right thing in us and through us.

From the Kitchen Table

Victorious Living Day 32

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”                     John 1:14-15

There’s an important point to make, lesson to learn and it’s this, we turn to what we trust in.  That’s what repentance is, it’s turning away from one thing to turn to another because we trust in that other thing.  Jesus isn’t asking us to finally feel sorry and ask for His forgiveness, He’s asking us to turn away from our way of living and to His way of living.  Repentance is something we all must do at the get-go and it’s something we must be willing to do as we go.  This life of God begins with repentance and continues with repentance.  Walking in the supernatural presence and power of God will involve of repenting of our old ways of thinking and living to live in His way of thinking and living.  But we won’t turn away from something to nothing.  We can’t!  Our spirits live by faith.  We all believe something.  God is asking us today to believe, not only in Him, but in His gospel.  The gospel is God’s promise, perspective, purpose and practice for a life that is free, fantastic and forever.  The secret is to turn away from the world’s way to live in the God way because we’ve decided to trust in His way.  The secret to living this life is to choose His way over our way.

From the Kitchen Table

Victorious Living  Day 31

For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter         2 Corinthians 7:10-11

The Bible says that godly grief (sorrow) produces repentance.  It’s godly grief!  It’s the sorrow, shame, and suffering we feel when we’ve chosen death in some area of our lives and we’re able to acknowledge that we’ve been duped by the devil to live in death rather than life.  But because God is involved, we can be involved with God.  This sorrow isn’t about disappointing mom, it’s about disobeying the Master and this godly grief is something that’s going to happen.  Remember, because God is involved, we can be involved with God.  We get involved with God through what the Bible calls “repentance”.  Repentance is the process of exchanging our perspectives, passions, purposes, and practices for God’s perspective, passion, purpose, and practices.  It’s what happens when we confess our selfish attitudes, appetites, and ambitions as sin and we choose God’s word, way and will for our lives.  Repentance is not a one-time event in life but a lifetime exercise for life.  And remember, if God is involved, we can be involved with God.  When we repent, we can receive because He will respond.

From the Kitchen Table

Victorious Living Day 30

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.        Acts 2:37-41

Cut to the heart.  That’s deep, that’s significant, that’s life-changing.  It’s what happens when we realize that we are in the wrong and what we did or are doing, hurts.  We live in a world of hurt that keeps hurting because the One who came to stop the hurt, we hurt and killed.  Yeah, we did that and do that with our stupid, selfish, stunts.  I don’t mean to be vulgar but our sin put Jesus on our cross and our sin will kill what Jesus wants to do in our lives if we don’t repent.  Repentance involves replacing what we’re thinking, what we’re doing and what we’re wanting with what God saying, doing and wanting.  Old habits die hard and that’s why we need to let God’s word cut us to the heart.  There’s going to be some pain but it’s for a greater promise.  God is doing something bigger and better in the lives of believers who are willing to replace their way of believing and behaving with His way.  That’s called repentance!  Here’s something to think about.  Where revelation ends, repentance stops.  When we quit  seeing and hearing God, we will quit honoring and serving Him too.  That’s what leaves us in a world of hurt.