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Meekness is a required trait for God’s people! We’re called to be mild and fair. God’s people are supposed to be emotionally calm and stable and not have tantrums or outbursts.

And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!  Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;  and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4: 4-7

The solution to this gentleness is found within the above verses. The scripture tells us to rejoice in the Lord always. It doesn’t tell us to rejoice in our circumstances, neither does it tell us to rejoice in people. On the other hand, we always have a reason to rejoice in God! When we choose to rejoice in Him, it changes our attitude and mood. It takes us from a place of defeat, frustration, or sadness, to a place of serenity, calmness, and contentment.

We are admonished to make our gentleness be evident to all. That means we are not only gentle with those we like/need in our lives, but we are also gentle with those that are difficult or rude. We shouldn’t change based on the person we are interacting with.  If God has truly developed meekness in us, then we will continue to exhibit and portray God’s nature regardless of the circumstances around us.

In verse 7 above, it tells us not to be anxious about anything. Sometimes the lack of gentleness comes from being anxious. When we think we can’t control/change something, it can lead us to being rough, edgy, and short with people. The scripture tell us to submit and surrender our anxiety to God and give him thanks for who He is and what He has done in our lives.

Surrendering our anxiety gives us the ability to gain His peace in spite of our circumstances. People and situations may not change right away. We may still not understand why things are happening the way they are, but we can have a peace that goes beyond our understanding. Where in the past we may have blown up on innocent friends, family members, or coworkers, the changed state of mind, spirit, and emotions helps us to be gentle even in tough situations.

Praise God for His word and His grace carrying us through life!

For comments, please email me at karlinefischer@yahoo.com

God bestows upon every believer gifts and abilities to be used for His purpose and glory. It takes a lifetime to see those gifts and abilities unfolded and brought to maturity in our lives. A believer can also receive a special and unique calling from God which becomes their lifelong assignment.

For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Romans 11:29 (KJV)

I love this scripture!  The Lord declares that he does not regret inviting us to His banquet table, making us part of His family, and bestowing the gifts that He has given us. He is a generous Father who out of His loving kindness has given us all things.

Since God has given us the gifts and the calling, He will ensure that they are utilized in the way He sees fit at the right time. We don’t have to wonder, strive, or push to make something happen. It’s His project, and He is the greatest project manager ever in existence! He doesn’t waste time, gifts, or talents.

The process of building our character takes a long time before we can handle the weight of the gifts we are carrying! Nevertheless when look at it in the light of the fact that God does not regret giving us rich and powerful gifts, it motivates us to stay on the potter’s wheel, so He can develop us to such a level that everything we do represents His excellency!

God called the Biblical characters in different ways. He called Moses by speaking to him through a burning bush, and His assignment was so large that only God could accomplish it. David was anointed to be the future king, but everything that happened after this event went completely opposite of someone getting ready for the throne. Daniel never got a vision or a dream from God about his special calling. He just found himself captive by the Babylonians and then trained in their ways before he entered the kings’ services.

For individuals such as Abraham and Joseph, God’s assignments came years prior to them getting fulfilled. These individuals didn’t seek a calling; God found them and spoke of their calling. At other times, for people such as Ruth and Esther the circumstances dropped them in tough/unique situations. It was through their intimacy and obedience to God and those around them that they were able to fulfill their calling and assignment to God.

The beauty of all of this is that we don’t have to worry or be anxious about our calling or whether our calling is getting fulfilled in the right timeframe. God is the initiator, and He is the one who will fulfill the calling. Our part is to yield to Him, be in tune with Him, and stay connected to His people. This will allow us to hear Him if/when there is a change of direction and respond accordingly.

Because we belong to Him, His DNA flows through us. As a result, we have the privilege and the opportunity to represent Him regardless of whether we know our specific calling or not. Thank you Lord! Let’s represent Him well today!

For comments, please contact me at karlinefischer@yahoo.com.

The calling of God is tied to our identity in that we cannot come to full understanding and obedience of our calling until we are saved and renewed in our identity. However, it is different because the calling for the most part is established on the foundation of our identity. The call of God is a three-fold calling.

The Call to himself

First and foremost God calls us to himself. It is an invitation to get to know Him. The more we get to know Him, the more settled we become. The more settled we are, the easier it is to abide in Him and yield to Him. John 3:16 is an invitation to “whosoever”. God sends out the invitation to all who have been destitute, helpless, broken down, and weary. He desires for people to come home, get settled in the Father’s house, and enjoy His banqueting table. This is the place that God changes our nature, so we can identify with Him rather than our past.

The Call to become like Jesus

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Romans 8:29

The call of God is His desire to exhibit the nature of God in us. The fruit of the spirit is the nature of God. He uses people and circumstances over a period of time to form the fruit of the Spirit in us. The more we develop the fruit of the Spirit, the more we look like Jesus. This is the internal fruitfulness, and it is a very important part of the call of God in our lives.

The Call to the Great Commission

The third part of the call of God is the call to the Great Commission. We are called to advance His kingdom by telling others about Jesus, seeing them set free from bondage of sin, and discipling them into obedience and maturity (See Matthew 28:18-20). This is an external fruitfulness where the fruitfulness is helping others change and become more like Jesus.

It is important that we respond to the entire call of God. If we don’t develop intimacy with the Lord when He calls us to Himself, we will operate in our old nature. That’s when people become performance driven because they are not yielded to God’s leading; they just want to do good works because it makes them feel significant and is impressive to others.

We all need to allow the Holy Spirit to develop the fruit of the Spirit in us, so we can truly represent the Lord well. For example, we may be great at sharing the gospel with our co-workers, but we don’t like to work hard at our jobs. This makes one look like a hypocrite because while the person is working on the Great Commission, they are not working on developing the fruit of spirit by becoming faithful in their jobs. That makes one’s words and actions not to match up.

Lord help us to respond to your entire call in our lives. Amen!

For comments, please contact me at karlinefischer@yahoo.com.

And He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts. These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness;  and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble. Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.” Mark 4:13-20

Jesus, His love, and His work on the cross are the foundation of our identity. Now we we partner with Him to allow the new identity to truly take root in our souls and in our lives. This allows us to get grounded in God’s character and His definition of us and has a stabilizing affect in our attitudes and actions.

The stage of identity development is also a place where the enemy comes in and tries to steal, kill, and destroy the seed of life in a believer’s life. The parable of the seeds given by Jesus to his disciples suggests that not everyone who has received the seed of life will be become fruitful.

Comfort in old lifestyle

There are some people who end up having an arrested development in one or more areas of their lives because Satan has deceived them into believing lies or half-truths. It’s possible that they’ve held on to certain comforts as a counterfeit to true spiritual security and contentment. This causes a believer not to be open to change and nor experience much spiritual progress.

Driven to succeed

Another group of people may try to rush through this stage of development. They attend every church activity and get involved in various ministries in order to hurry their spiritual growth. This leads them to believe that they are more mature than they really are, and it develops a shallow/faulty foundation that becomes their Achilles heal. When pressure arises, they can’t admit they need help because their identity is centered around doing. Additionally, they don’t want to show weakness in fear of losing their ministry. This eventually leads them to a fall or walking away from Christ.

Chaos Oriented believers

There are some believers who because of their past experiences are more comfortable with chaotic life than a peaceful life. As a result there is usually an emergency situation going on in their lives that chokes their time, focus, and attention. They continually hope that when things slow down and become saner, they will focus on making God a priority, but that time never comes. They tend to gravitate towards being busy or feeling overwhelmed. These individuals are comfortable being the rescuer and that makes them think that they growing and maturing. However, they are just using their gifting without allowing themselves to get grounded in the word and become stable spiritually.

Conformity for identification sake

Sometimes individuals have such a great desire to belong that they take on conformity to new rules or a new group as an indication of change of identity. While the change maybe for the better, but their identity is tied to someone/some people rather than the Lord. This may grow the person to a certain level, but they eventually will reach a plateau because they are only willing to change so long as their change is approved by others. Sadly, when someone hurts them or lets them down, they are devastated. They may go back to who they were originally because the change wasn’t motivated for the right reasons. They just conformed for a season.

There are no short cuts to developing a strong and real identity. We maybe older, have impressive degrees, or notable positions, but none of those can speed up what only God’s process and timing can do develop in us. We all need to grow and mature if we are serious about our walk with God.

New believers need to be taught that their faithful obedience, character, and consistent walk is more important than anything they can accomplish for God. The foundation that is built on the rock will sustain them for the long haul. When storms and difficulties of life come, they will not cave in under the pressure because they know whom they are and whose they are. This kind of life will produce the fruitfulness that Jesus described and its effect will be eternal!

How is your identity developing?

For comments, please contact me at karlinefischer@yahoo.com

Our identity is about who we are and whose we are. The identity and calling are tied together, but they are separate from each other. Without true identity we will not know our calling and/or have a desire to pursue it.

Before we knew Christ, our identity was mostly tied to our family of origin and our accomplishments. When we come to know Christ, He rearranges everything in our lives in the line of eternity and His kingdom. We become a new creation and as a result we join a new family; we become a citizen of a new kingdom. This is the family of God, and the kingdom of God.

Our new identity has a two-fold development to it. The first part is receiving Jesus as our Lord and Savior and becoming a new creation. We are legally adopted by our heavenly Father into His family, and we are given a legal right to become citizen of heaven. The seed of life is planted in us, and God reveals himself to us as Abba Father.

The second part is to allow the new identity deposited in us to grow, take shape, and become stronger. This is our sanctification process. Over time the new identity should be more visible in us rather than the old nature. This is a very critical part of our development and one that we can’t rush nor can we push to make it happen by doing more spiritual activity.

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” Matthew 27:24-27

Jesus told us that we must build our foundation on a rock. God is rebuilding our lives from the foundation of sand to foundation of rock who is Jesus Christ. That takes time, patience, and our cooperation.This is an important process and one that can be lengthy because it is changing of one foundation and replacing it with another. The things that were important to our family of origin may not have any significance in the new family. The rules of the heavenly kingdom are very different than the laws of the natural government. As a result, we have a long process to unlearn and relearn new priorities. This process will help us to be shaped according to God’s word rather than by our past experiences or our family of origin. We learn to honor what He values, and love what He loves.

The sanctification is primarily our yielding to God’s promptings and allowing the word of God to wash us and nurture us. The Lord uses the Bible and the counsel of the Holy Spirit to become our teacher and to coach us in this new life. This process is the method God uses to grow the seed of new identity, so hopefully it can bloom someday. This is a critical stage of development that every one of us has to go through, and to some degree we will continue to go through as long as we are in this earthly shell.

I will continue with the subject of identity in the next devotional.

For comment, please email me at karlinefischer@yahoo.com

In the last devotional, I wrote about “True Honor”, one that is established on what the Lord deems important. In this devotional, I’m going to address “False Honor”, the kind of honor that doesn’t please God!

Empty words are a lip service to honor

These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. Matthew 15:8

Many act like they honor God because they have the right words, but their actions don’t follow suit. They have been around church long enough that they have the perfect language. Unfortunately, people can get so good at saying the right things that they start believing their own report. We can’t get distracted with all the religious pump and circumstance. Some think that if they are teaching and preaching the word of God, then they are living it. Sadly, some deceive themselves as to the true condition of their heart!

The above scripture is very revealing because it tells us that we can speak and act right but not necessarily be right with God or with each other. While we can’t change others or try to determine their motives, we have a responsibility to keep our hearts in congruence with our mouths. Otherwise we are in the danger of just growing in religious hypocrisy rather than being transformed by His power! That’s false honor to God.

Being partial to certain people is false honor

You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. Leviticus 19:15

When we are drawn to honor those who seem powerful, we become partial in our judgment! We build them up as more important in our minds. We perceive the weak and the poor as less significant and their lives not as important. One can deem the actions and the words of the mighty as more weighty than others and miss out on the great blessing of getting acquainted with someone who doesn’t have the worldly accolades.

God is not pleased with the kind of honor that is based on worldly value system. That’s false honor.  God’s heart for us is to look after the orphans and the widows and be a voice for the voiceless. He commands us not to be partial towards the poor. The poor are those who have very little or no protection/provision.

If we are too busy to fit in with the popular/powerful, we will intentionally or unintentionally dismiss those who are important to the Lord. Potentially, we may have the power to assist in their situation if we gave our ears to listen to their predicament. They may also bless us by their testimony and their ability to overcome hardship.

The media is saturated by the news of the popular and powerful. The world honors the superstars who are perceived to be the heroes and examples to the rest of the population. At the same time, the Lord is not on their list of honor and neither are the elderly (parents) nor the marriage unit. As people of God, we are called to set the example of what truly is worthy of honor and give honor where honor is due according to God’s priority!

For comments, please email me at karlinefischer@yahoo.com.

The word of God speaks much about honor to prepare and equip us for giving the right kind of honor to God and others. The Bible also makes us aware and watchful of wrong type of honor and misuse of honor that is all around us.

God Deserves honor above all others

“You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory, honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.” Revelation 4:11

All honor, glory, and power belong to the heavenly Father. It is only in honoring God and esteeming Him that we find our bearing in life and have a healthy perspective of ourselves.

At the end of the age, the true magnificence of God will be revealed. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. The culmination and exposure of true honor and glory that He has deserved from the beginning of the age will come to fruition. Praise God!

Honor Parents

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. Exodus 20:12

The Lord very much cares about the established order in the family, and He is the one who chose our parents for us. By us honoring them, we honor God and recognize His sovereignty for choosing them to be our parents. We also respect the sacrifice they have made to protect, provide, and nurture us over the years. For the cases when the parents have been absent/unhealthy, we still choose to honor them as an act of declaration of our trust in God and His redemptive power over our lives.

Honor Marriage

Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Hebrews 13:4

The covenant of marriage was instituted by God, and it is to be honored and respected among all people. For believers, marriage has a greater meaning because it displays Jesus’ relationship to His bride (the Church). This principal of marriage comes directly against our cultural and fantasy-oriented definition of marrying the prince/princess charming or the knight and shining armor.

The scriptures calls the men to love their wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. The wives are called to honor, respect, and submit to their own husbands (Ephesians 5:22). This means we are not called to honor and submit to another man in the same way that we are called to submit ourselves to our own husbands. That’s because our relationship with our husbands reflect our relationship with Christ more than any other relationship!

Both men and women have responsibilities that can be challenging. However, by obeying God, He shapes us and breaks down the inherent selfishness in us! He uses the circumstances/situations of our lives to make us more humble, gentle, loving, & forgiving.

How are you doing with honoring those that God has placed in your life?

For comments, please email me at karlinefischer@yahoo.com.

In the last devotional, I wrote about Freeing up the mind by tearing down strongholds and doing a major house cleaning. While the spiritual house cleaning is a foundational work in a believer’s life, the more difficult part of the recovery is the disciplined and hard work of thinking differently from now on.

Our thoughts affect our emotions and how we feel about our circumstances, those around us, and even ourselves. The scripture in Romans 12:2  tells us to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind..”. It doesn’t tell us to renew our emotions but our minds. What we think, does affect our mood and emotions. If we think right, our emotions will follow suit. It is very important not to allow thoughts to passively enter our minds and start controlling us. Our mind needs to come under the control of the Holy Spirit and His truth. How can we love God with all our mind if it is occupied with thoughts that are not from Him?

Finally, brethren, 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. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9

The word “think”:  Greek (G 3056 lo-g?’-zo-m?) to reckon, count, compute, calculate, count over, to take into account, …., to impute, a thing is reckoned as or to be something, i.e. as availing for or equivalent to something, as having the like force and weight to number among, reckon with.

The word “think” in the above scripture is not an opinion, or “mind over matter”. It is a reckoning whereby it is so tangible that you can count on it like money in your bank account. You can cash it in. It is not wishful thinking nor is it a fantasy.

According to the above scripture and the definition associated with the word “think”, we are exhorted to see what is true, praiseworthy, and of good report as the real thing. That means if we are entertaining a lie, a presumption, a self-defeating thought, or a critical thought about someone else, we need to hold them captive. Then, we find a better thought to think about.

Because the negative thoughts have given us false security in protecting us, letting go of them will challenge us to a higher place of trusting God. If protection or defense is required, He’s got our back, and we don’t have to do it in by entertaining negative thoughts, arguments, or strongholds.

There are times that the situations or circumstances don’t look or feel good, so it is hard to think good, noble, and praiseworthy thoughts. In those situations, we look to the Lord and think of His goodness, nobility, and praiseworthiness. We press into faith and declare God’s character and His purpose over our situation. He is lovely, and what He does in our lives will produce good.

We remind ourselves that the Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever, so He will come through again. We worship him in the beauty of His holiness even when our vision is clouded with darkness, and we can’t see anything beautiful. The more we focus on Him and His goodness, the higher we rise above our circumstances. Those negative thoughts can’t control us any longer because we have brought everything to the obedience of Christ. Praise God!

Catch your thoughts today, and put the above scripture to practice when the negative ones cross your mind.

For most of us, our minds is a highway of thoughts and imaginations that run to and fro buzzing around causing havoc to our soul and bodies.

Each of us comes with a certain preconceived ideas of what life, relationships, marriage, and a whole host of other things look like. We have built protection mechanisms against those things that have harmed us in the past to ensure we won’t get hurt again. We have learned to fight certain issues, run from others, and oblige to certain situations/people. Some of these are strongholds, and the Bible has a clear solution to them.

Living life as orphans in a sinful world and having our own sinful nature, has caused all of us to develop strongholds along the way that will challenge a believer. In order for a Christian to live a victorious life, he/she must confront the strongholds in his/her life, and free the mind from anything that causes disobedience to the will of the Father.

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.  For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds,  casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 2Corinthians 10:3-5

The Bible tells us that we must hold every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. In order to hold something captive, we need to catch it first! Our thoughts and especially the strongholds are tricky to catch because they have become habitual to us. We have certain patterns of thinking that are very familiar and comfortable to us. These can be either miserable or arrogant thoughts such as: “Nobody likes me.” “Everybody hates me.” I’m never heard.” “I’m not important.”  “Why is she always the popular one?” “I don’t like him.”  I’m the best.” “I should be the special one!” “I have to go first.” “I will prove that I’m right.”, etc.

The best way to catch familiar thoughts is to recognize them in two ways. The first one is the frequency of which we have them. Some of those strongholds may not look as damaging until we see the fruit of them in our lives because we keep thinking the same thing over and over again. The second way we can catch them is when we feel fearful or proud. This is when we pay attention to the thoughts that crossed our minds. Those are the thoughts that seem to protect us, but in reality hold us captive in our fortress with a certain way of viewing life and other people.

Once we recognize them, we need to repent. Forgive those that have caused pain in our lives. Forgive ourselves for the sins/mistakes we committed and uproot the strongholds. A spiritual house cleaning is a necessity for every believer. Strongholds, arguments,  and vain imaginations need to be identified and cast  down. The spirits associated with these strongholds have to be bound and cast out as well.  Any thought or attitude that has controlled our lives and held us in bondage from obeying Christ must go!

I will continue with this subject in the next devotional.

If you have any questions about spiritual house cleaning, removing strongholds, and associated ungodly spirits please contact me for more information at karlinefischer@knowhisways.com.

Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. John 5:5-9

The paralyzed man was focused on scarcity of the situation. Scarcity is bound to produce competition because there is so much available resources. People are motivated to jump on the opportunity and elbow those around them to make sure they get there first. However, since the paralyzed man couldn’t compete, he just felt victimized by it.

God is not the God of scarcity while He allows lack in certain seasons for His purpose. It is in the place of scarcity that we must press into faith and look to God who owns ” the cattle on a thousand hills” (Psalm 50:10). His resources never come to an end. He is able to come through for us via natural and supernatural resources. He can overrule any scarcity in our lives! Thank you Jesus!

Jesus asked the paralytic man a simple but profound question. ‘Do you want to get well?” This question is important in two respects. First of all, this man had created a lifestyle out of being paralyzed. He had new routines and new friends at the pool that he could commiserate with. He could even possibly get some monetary assistance from others. If he really desired to get well, he had to put all these things behind him and start fresh. The society, his family, and his friends would start expecting more from him.

The second factor with Jesus’ question is that He never addressed the people or the lack of opportunity to get into the pool. That was not His focus. The man’s healing was connected to God’s will and timing rather than the pool and the people!

If we desire to see change in our lives, we need to be willing to say good-bye to victim mentality and come out of the mindset of being stuck because of people or circumstances. No one can make us feel stuck unless we give them power to do it. Instead of focusing on the problem or the person, we keep looking to God to help us overcome the situation. He will give us the grace and the wisdom to help us rise above it. We hope for His deliverance, His way, and His timing!

Jesus finally told the paralyzed man to take up his mat and start walking. The mat was a representation of everything he leaned on and depended on up to that point. No longer was he going to need the mat. He was now free to walk, move away from the pool, and start living life fully. Scarcity overruled! Praise God!

Are there certain situations or people who make you feel victimized? Do you have any “mat” that you have learned to depend on? What will you do about it today?

For comments, please email me at karlinefischer@yahoo.com