TODAY! 21 day devotion by: H.R. Lister
Day 21: “Winning God’s Way”
Nobody wants to loose…….
-We hate loosing, we want to be on top, we want to be the best, we want our kids to be the smartest, prettiest, most talented and most successful. We want to live in the best, drive the best and be the best at all we do…. And the ones who say they don’t have in actuality just came to a conclusion that it’s not worth the effort because there will always be somebody better than you…..
-I’ve stopped being an Arkansas Razorback fan several times, JUST BRIEFLY, because I hate to loose!!!!!!
-People have gone to extreme lengths just to win, just to be the best, risking life and limb.
-Taking harmful drugs to win, cheating to win, killing to win….
(in fact the Worlds first murder was over wanting to be the best, winning in the area of sacrifice.)
-God was pleased with Abel’s Sacrifice because it was in obedience to His Word and Law…
-God wasn’t pleased with Cain because his sacrifice was not what God required but what Cain wanted to do….
-God’s not looking for people who do it their own way, but that obey His Word!!!!
(Famous Words in our home to our kids) “Don’t do what you want to do, do what we say to do”
Cain was living life out of Selfish-Ambition, not Obedient-Sacrifice….
-The World teaches us to WIN at life with Ambition not Obedience….
Philippians 2:3-4 “Let nothing be done through SELFISH-AMBITION or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4) Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.”
Galatians 5:26 “Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.”
James 3:16 “For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.”
-The way the Word of God reads is that NOTHING GOOD comes out of the worlds way of WINNING……
-You can see it plain and clear in the latter years of a persons life… If they’ve stepped on, lied to and manipulated every person in their life to get ahead, they will be lonely, hateful, and confused at the end… No matter the Worldly success they accomplished…..
We want to WIN God’s way, not the World’s way!!!!
-God wants you to WIN, He has gone to great lengths to assure that His Church doesn’t come in Last…. But is TRIUMPHANT OVER ALL THINGS!
Deuteronomy 28:12-14 (READ)
-God wants you on top, not on the bottom, He wants you to be the head and not the tail… God wants His people WINNING, and He says the Key to WINNING His way is how well you line up with His WORDS, not how ambitious you are!!!!!
In Matthew Chapter 4 The Devil was trying to tempt Jesus with Selfish-Ambition as a means of getting what He needed and wanted….
Verse 4 Jesus Says: “It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every WORD that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
-Jesus was telling the Devil, “Just because I have the ability to manipulate this situation to get what I need, I choose to obey the Word of God over selfish-ambition.”
-Yes, we have needs for life but if we choose to live our life trying to obtain worldly needs by worldly methods we’re not living the life that God intended. We’ll just be living the life that ambition produces!!
-We need to see every Word that comes from the Mouth of God as important as every drop of water that we need to drink in a day and every crumb of food that we need to eat….
Why is it that important????
II. Just like you are what you eat….You also are what you say!!!!
-The Words you consume will be the Words you speak and the Words you speak will be the life you create…..
Kenneth Hagin “Words make us or break us. Words heal us or make us sick. Words destroy us or make us full of life, happiness, and health. Our words-the words we spoke yesterday—made life what it is today…”
Jesus Himself said: “You shall have whatever you say you have…”
Mark 11:23 “….Whoever says to this mountain, be removed and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says…..”
-You say that this only works with the positive things of God but I’m hear to tell you that doubt is just “FAITH IN REVERSE”…. Just like your words of Faith work if you believe it in your heart and speak it with your mouth… So does DOUBT!!!!!
Jesus said in Matthew 12:37 “By YOUR WORDS you will be justified, and BY YOUR WORDS you will be condemned.”
-It works both ways!!!! You can’t just say whatever you want and it not mean something to God, God takes WORDS seriously, He understands the power of Words because everything that He made, He made with Words….
Hebrews 11:3 “By faith we understand that the WORLDS were framed BY THE WORD of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible…”
Let’s go back and read Matthew 12 in the (AMP) “34) For out of the fullness (the overflow, the superabundance) of the heart the mouth speaks. 35) The good man from his inner good treasure flings forth good things, and the evil man out of his inner evil storehouse flings forth evil things. 36) But I tell you, on the day of judgement men will have to give account for every idle (inoperative, nonworking) word they speak. 37) For by your words you will be justified and acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned and sentenced.”
Proverbs 18:21 “Death and Life are in the power of the tongue.”
III. If you want to change your output in life, you have to change your input…
Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.”
-If all you input is fear, worry, doubt, death, sickness, and words contrary to Who you are and what you have in Christ, then you will not be WINNING God’s way….
-If you want to WIN God’s way you are going to have to Win With Your Words!!!!
-What you say is directly connected to what you meditate and dwell on….
Philippians 4:8 “Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy- meditate on these things.”
Winning With Words is:
Changing your input from the World to THE WORD
Changing your Meditation from the World to THE WORD
Produces a Change in your OUTPUT (What you say)
-You’ll be WINNING God’s way when you’re Saying what God Says….
Say what God Says:
In your home
to your kids
to your spouse
on your job
to your business
When you’re sick
When you’re broke
WATCH YOUR MOUTH AND SAY WHAT GOD SAYS!!!