Taking Hold of Life — How To Enjoy Strength of Days and Length of Days

by Gloria Copeland

Faith Fundamentals

Editor’s Note: The following article was published in the Believer’s Voice of Victory magazine in January 2005. You can purchase Gloria Copeland’s new book Live Long, Finish Strong: The Divine Secret to Living Healthy, Happy, and Healed at the kcm.org online store.

Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of your life shall be many…. Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go; guard her, for she is your life. —  Proverbs 4:10,13 Amplified

The Bible is called the Word of Life. There’s not another book like it in the world that can teach us how to live out the full number of our days in the blessing of God. By taking hold of His instructions, we can experience longevity, which means of great age; long life; great span of life; length of days. And not only that, the Bible also teaches us how to live a good life — to have a life worth living!

Whether we live long and strong, or short and weak, is up to us. It depends on what we do with the Word God speaks to us. It also depends on what we do in our natural lives. No one can expect to live out the full number of his or her days as a glutton, a drunk, or by eating only junk food. Research and studies about longevity have proven that to be true. Not surprisingly, God already knew that, and His Word addresses those issues (and others) so we can live long, productive lives!

Bouncing Back

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread is hosted by Les Lamborn

READ: 1 John 1:5–2:2

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. —1 John 1:9

On January 18, 2012, the longest winning streak in US intercollegiate varsity sports history—252 consecutive victories—ended when Trinity College lost a squash match to Yale. The morning after the team’s first loss in 14 years, Trinity’s coach, Paul Assaiante, received an e-mail from a friend, a prominent professional football coach, who wrote, “Well, now you get to bounce back.” Ten days later, that football coach’s team lost in one of the most widely seen athletic events—the NFL Super Bowl. All of us must cope with defeat.

The feeling of failure after an athletic loss mirrors our greater self-condemnation following a spiritual collapse. How can we recover from grieving God and others, along with disappointing ourselves? The apostle John wrote, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9). God forgives us because Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins (2:2).

How to Wait on God's Promises

IRIS DELGADO

 

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God’s promises are yes and amen, but they’re often far from instant. What do you do while waiting? And how do you know if He actually promised something? Bible teacher Iris Delgado explains the art of diligently handling a divine vow.

I learned a secret a long time ago from my mother. We lived in a hell-hole of a home while I was growing up, where it was normal to feel fear and intimidation. Child abuse was a secret, and promises were seldom kept. Through those years, Mother often used a phrase that went over my head: “I am trusting God and His promises. Thank you, Father, for Your promises are yes and amen.”

I had no clue at the time what she meant by this “yes” and “amen” about God’s promises, but it was an oft-quoted, familiar phrase in our home.

One day, my father came home in an unusually quiet and pensive mood. A demonic entity had clouded his mind. He glared at my mother and said, “Tomorrow, get ready because I am going to massacre the entire family. If your God is able, you better tell Him to save you!”

11 Things to Do While You Wait on God

IRIS DELGADO

Iris Delgado

• Every day, present God with a sacrifice of thanksgiving (Psalm 107:22), of praise (Hebrews 13:15) and of joy (Psalm 27:6).
• Enlist someone’s prayer support—someone who really knows how to pray.
• Make a list of the three most important priorities in your life. Pray over them daily.
• If you’re married, discuss the priorities with your spouse. Agree together.
• Pray specifically but without begging.
• Speak the Word; don’t go by feelings or negative thoughts.
• Ask God for wisdom and discernment.
• Write out the Scriptures and promises that minister to you.

How God Reveals His Power When You Offer Praise, Thanksgiving and Joy

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The only sacrifices mentioned in the New Testament are the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving and the sacrifice of joy. I don’t know about you, but this was liberating news for me. I don’t have to sacrifice by begging, confessing, memorizing prayers and Scriptures, fasting, going to all the church services, keeping a serious face all the time, or abstaining from certain things. God loves us and He loves our worship and praise and our thanksgiving and joy.

To sacrifice is to offer something to God. To sacrifice means, “to give up something of value, to make an offering, to surrender, to kill, to give up, to dedicate, consecrate, devote, and to benefit.” A sacrifice will cost your time, focus, killing the flesh, surrendering your will for a higher cause. The benefit we receive can never be calculated. Every sacrifice we make is compensated and backed up by all of God’s promises and treasures.

Let His Spirit Work

Is this one of those nights when, although you feel all right physically, mentally and emotionally, you spiritual strength just isn't up to par? Does it seem that no matter how you try you can't pray?

Maybe you "go through the motions" and mouth the words you think you should say, but your heart just isn't in it and it's hard to believe you're "getting through." You might even become downright tired of trying.

What should you do when this happens? As usual, God has the perfect solution: Let His Spirit do the work! That's what He has come to do...to help you in your weakness, including your weakness in prayer.

Paul tells us: "...the (Holy) Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance" (Romans 8:26, AMP).

No More Dying to Do

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." (Hebrews 2:9)

Death. It's not a popular topic--even among believers. In fact, a great many are just plain scared of it. Oh yes, they talk about having eternal life. Yet when the devil tries to threaten their earthly survival with sickness or calamity, they panic.

Why? Because they haven't learned to look at death through God's eyes. Even though their spirit has been made immortal, they haven't renewed their minds to include that truth. If they had, when the devil tried to push their panic button, they'd just laugh and say, "You can't scare me, devil. I've done all the dying I'm ever going to do!"

Worthy of Praise

Revelation 5:1–14

This passage points to a major shift that is beginning to emerge in redemptive history—the visible reign of Christ on the earth. It represents the culmination of the work of God and the sacrifice and faithfulness of the stewards of God. It is a call to worship. It is a call to walk now in the way of Christ. Says theologian Lee C. Camp:

Worship leads us to become a particular kind of people, a people who reflect the ways of the God we worship. Worship develops, forms, and shapes a particular kind of people. The important question then, who or what are we truly worshiping? The New Testament points us, consistently, to recount the story of a God who has delivered through a crucified Messiah. That storytelling, that recounting of God’s redemptive work in human history, becomes our story, our identity, and our profession of allegiance. 

In biblically informed worship, we become a part of the people of God who celebrate this way of victory, this way of conquering, this way of defeating enemies. The New Testament celebrates not merely that God has won in Christ, but that God has won in the crucified Christ.

Keep The Change

Julie Cosgrove

Take today’s next step: Try something new – take the 35 Day Challenge

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17)

Do you like change? Not many people really do. Change brings on a cluster of butterflies dancing in the stomach or a taut rubber band of tension in the neck. It quickens our breath and makes our minds swirl with “what if’s?”

Change can be exciting. Do you recall your first day of high school? Or college? The day of your wedding, or when you discovered you were pregnant? Do you remember the day your child left home? What about the day you retired?

There are other times when life changes in a blink of an eye, and perhaps not for the better. We get a pink slip. We get the call at two in the morning that every parent dreads. The weather warning horn blares minutes before our neighborhood is destroyed. The tests reveal cancer. Our husband’s attorney serves the papers.

Rachel : The Woman in Whom Romance and Tragedy Were Blended

Scripture References - Genesis 29; 30; 31; 33:1, 2, 7; 35:16-26; 46:19, 22, 25; 48:7; Ruth 4:11; 1 Samuel 10:2; Jeremiah 31:15; Matthew 2:18

Name Meaning - Rachel was the first person in the Bible to have a proper name derived from the brute creation. Wilkinson remarks, "that, for the most part, the formation of a human name from that of an animal is traceable to some peculiarity either observed or desired in an individual, which would thus be most intelligently expressed in a rude and simple age." 

Rachel, the name of Jacob's beloved wife means "ewe," employed more or less as a title of endearment, just as the word "lamb" is among ourselves. Laban, accustomed to tenderly nursing the weak ewes as they were born, thought "ewe" to be a fitting name for his second daughter.

Family Connections - Rachel was the daughter of Laban, the son of Bethuel and Rebekah's brother. Rachel became the second wife of her cousin Jacob and the mother of his two sons, Joseph and Benjamin. (Compare material under Leah.)

Share His Nature

What do the promises of God mean to you?

I have become concerned over this much misunderstood topic. For when God's purpose in giving us these promises is misinterpreted, His Word becomes misused, underused, or not used at all. Then many of you lie awake wondering why His promises have failed!

Once you understand the underlying reason that God longs for you to lay hold of His promises, you will never neglect them again. Neither will you use them with the wrong motive. The Apostle Peter explains to us, "...He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape (by flight) from the moral decay...that is in the world because of covetousness...and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4, AMP).

How incredible! Peter is telling us that every time you partake in one of God's promises, you partake of Him. When you lay hold of His promise for healing, you lay hold of Him as your Healer. Every time you share in what He has for you, you become more like Him.

Breath Of The Spirit Message By Morris Cerullo

Mar 24, 2013

Morris Speaks To Standing Room Only Crowd in Los Angeles!

On Sunday, March 24, Morris Cerullo spoke about his life to a packed, standing room only crowd in Los Angeles. With several never-before-told sections of this excerpt, Dr. Cerullo shares with the crowd step-by-step details of how God miraculously saved him as a Jewish orphan, called him, and how God is calling you to fulfill your end-time destiny NOW!

Please click below to hear this inspiring message from Morris Cerullo! If you would like to read the excerpt, please scroll below.

Do You Want to be Used by God?
by Dr. Morris Cerullo

Prophecy Over New America 2013 And Beyond

Redesign, Realign, Rebuild and Restore America

Read This Timely, Prophetic Word for America!

Partners and Friends,

I received this prophetic Word from another ministry and wanted to share it with you. Email me your thoughts at partnerservices@mcwe.com.

The Church in America has assumed there has been a systematic power shift from God’s House to the White House. The enemy has had the Church deceived to believe this lie, forcing them to accept a place of defeat in the spirit realm.

This is further compounded by the Church’s divisive line around political ideologies and personalities. The Church has taken their basic human right to choose who they are to vote for into the self-agenda and humanistic realm.

Did where Jesus sit at the Last Supper have significance?

By Dr. David R. Reagan
Founder & Director, Lamb & Lion Ministries

I hope you've been enjoying our latest series on our television program Christ in Prophecy, demonstrating how biblical archaeology makes the Bible come to life. After leading over 40 tours to Israel, I've learned first-hand how by just being in the land of the Bible you experience so many more insights into God's Word. Truly understanding the manners, customs and times of the Bible will make it come alive for you.

While you may not be able to make it to Israel anytime soon, you can this week via "Christ in Prophecy." To help me bring Israel to you, our special guest has been Dr. James Fleming. Jim is one of the most knowledgeable teachers of Biblical Archaeology, having lived and taught in Israel for 37 years at Jerusalem University College and at the Hebrew University. His first claim to fame is that he discovered the ancient Eastern Gate buried beneath the current one. Jim's walked or motorcycled about every square mile of Israel, and is so familiar with Israel past and present that Israeli tour guides come to him for training.

Here I Am, Lord

by Pastor Mark Jeske

The Bible is the very Word of God. But these words were not given to mankind all in one gulp, all at the same time, all through one person, all in the same style. The Bible was revealed to us over the course of 1,600 years and utilizes quite a variety of literary styles: history, law, sermons, poems, libretto to a musical, wisdom sayings, drama dialogue, letters, and prophetic visions. Almost all of the Bible is presented in a style that brings information from God to us.

Except the Psalms. The content of the Psalms came from God, but he couched much of the book in first-person language to give us a vocabulary for speaking to him. The Psalms are first-rate devotional literature, guiding our thoughts and emotions as we give God our praises, petitions, groans, laments, puzzles, confessions of sin, cries of pain, and pleas for protection, forgiveness, guidance, and healing.

Faith vs. Fear

Ariel Allison Lawhon, She Reads Co-Director

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you."
Deuteronomy 31:6 (NIV)

Devotion:
Our pediatrician told me that my baby had a collapsed lung. The baby I'd given birth to just an hour earlier.

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the presence of faith."

They weren't the words I wanted to remember in that moment, but they came to me as I sat and listened to the doctor's news, jaw clenched and blinking back tears.

Finding Order in the Chaos

Ron Phillips

M. C. Escher was a Dutch graphic artist, known for some of the most interesting art of the 20th century. Two of his works, Relativity and Waterfall, are classic examples of his work, which combined art, architecture, and optical illusion. He once said that…

 “We adore chaos because we love to produce order.”

Sounds a lot like man’s relationship to God.

Our world --- devoid of God --- is chaos. At Adam’s Fall, the world was plunged into disarray. Yet, each time one of us makes the decision to leave the chaos of death for life in Him, He takes what was confusion and disorder, and turns it into a beautiful paradox… a life that was seemingly going nowhere that now has eternity as its open road.

Not sure which way is up? Just reach out your hand to Jesus. As imperfect and chaotic as your life may be, He still adores YOU!

When You Feel Like You Can’t Breathe

Sharon Jaynes

“All Scripture is God-breathed,” (2 Timothy 3:16 NIV).

“Let’s go scuba diving!” a friend exclaimed one hot summer day.

“That sounds great,” I said. “But I don’t know how.”

“Just leave it to me,” he said.

I was 17 when I decided to go scuba diving with some friends. I had no training and should not have been in deep water, but I was young and threw caution to the wind. The friend who took me below the surface of the deep strapped an oxygen tank on his back, a mask on his face, and flippers on his feet. I only had a mask and flippers.

“Where’s my oxygen?” I asked.

“I have it,” he answered as he patted the tank on his back. “What we’re going to do is jump into the water. I’m going to take a breath through the mouthpiece and then pass it to you. You’ll take a breath and pass it back to me. It’s called buddy breathing.”

God's Sheepdogs: Goodness & Mercy

Max Lucado

Our moods may shift, but God's doesn't. Our minds may change, but God's doesn't. Our devotion may falter, but God's never does. Even if we are faithless, he is faithful, for he cannot betray himself (2 Tim. 2:13). He is a sure God. And because he is a sure God, we can state confidently, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life."

And what follows the word surely? "Goodness and mercy." If the Lord is the shepherd who leads the flock, goodness and mercy are the two sheepdogs that guard the rear of the flock. Goodness and mercy. Not goodness alone, for we are sinners in need of mercy. Not mercy alone, for we are fragile, in need of goodness. We need them both. As one man wrote, "Goodness to supply every want. Mercy to forgive every sin. Goodness to provide. Mercy to pardon."

Goodness and mercy -- the celestial escort of God's flock. If that duo doesn't reinforce your faith, try this phrase: "all the days of my life."

HE'LL DO IT AGAIN

The other day I was looking through the aisle of the CVS store when suddenly arms from behind were embracing me. I turned quickly to find a young lady that worked there that had attended the women's crusade in April. 

 It was indeed a pleasure to see her and most of all wanting to hear how she was doing. She had been powerfully touched at the crusade and The Lord delivered her from some serious issues, but the look on her face the her body language quickly revealed the state she was in. So I asked, " how are you doing?" She proceeded to fill me in on the raging battle that she was in and how difficult it had been for her. 

But, I loved the ending comment; "I refuse to give up and lose what God did for me at the crusade." Well, enough said, that's it! I told her she had just scored at that moment because what she spoke out of her mouth has the power to keep her free.

"Passiveness... A Dangerous Detour"

Habakkuk 2:3 "Write the vision make it plain on tablets so that they that run may see it. For the vision is for an appointed time."

I can't seem to get this word, "passive" out of my head....I'm sure God has a word for someone reading this devotional. Not only has this been a word for me, but sometimes it helps and is extremely encouraging to have someone say, "Hey God has a word for YOU!" To define the word "Passive" it simply means....lacking in energy or will. I was reading a book a couple of days ago and came across that word.

Immediately I heard in my spirit, "Don't allow passiveness to overtake you in waiting!" A couple of weeks ago I shared a devotional on prayer. Is God really listening to us? What about an unanswered prayer? So if you are waiting on God for something, then this devotional is for you.......

When we are waiting for God to come through for us, the enemy really works on our weariness! Waiting is difficult and while we are waiting there are many detours that we will be tempted to take. Suddenly I thought about being passive and then I realized that, that was one thing that I most definitely did not want to engulf me.

Greater Works Than He Does

Written by Dr. Bill Bright

Are you struggling to understand God’s word? Talk to a mentor.

“In solemn truth I tell you, anyone believing in Me shall do the same miracles I have done, and even greater ones, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask Him for anything, using My name, and I will do it, for this will bring praise to the Father because of what I, the Son, will do for you.”(John 14:12,13)

For many years, during and after seminary, I asked leading theologians, pastors and students, “What does this passage mean? How can I and other believers do the same miracles that our Lord did when He was here in the flesh – and even greater ones?”

Surely there had to be some mistakes in the translation of this passage, for I saw little evidence of this supernatural power in the lives of the Christians around me or in my own life.

Weed it and Reap

Written by Ann-Margret Hovsepian

Someone has said: “It is not enough for a gardener to love flowers; he must also hate weeds.”

Tell me about it. Boy, do I hate those weeds in my garden. I see my poor, little flowers being choked and smothered and I just want to yank out those nasty weeds and shake them and . . . and . . . well, some of them are too hard so I just leave them there. It’s just too much effort. I guess I’ll have to settle for a less-than-perfect garden. Maybe if my flowers turn out really nice, people won’t notice my weeds.

Okay, I’m just joking. But sometimes it is easier to ignore the weeds. Because I’m new at gardening and not strong enough to pull out those deep roots, I actually have to break the soil and sort of dig out the weed (or ask my dad to pull it out!)

Responding to God Sense-sationally

Psalms 148—150

Which of your five senses is most important as you express to God your adoration and praise? Which is most likely to stir you to worship? Perhaps you’re an auditory person. If appreciating and/or making lovely music is your thing, does your praise accompany the rendition? Psalm 98:4–5 invites us to “burst into jubilant song with music,” to praise God instrumentally—in one way or another to “shout for joy to the LORD”!

Do you take particular delight in the beauty you take in visually? Does the sight of a sunset, a waterfall or a masterful painting prompt you to hold your breath as your soul exhales its gratitude? Are your spiritual eyes fixed on God (see Ps 141:8)? In the words of Psalm 19:1–3, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 

3 Biblical Tips When You’re At a Crossroads

By Jolene Engle

My eyes welled up with tears when I read the first email.  The words on the screen said, “Appointment to meet with a publisher.”

I felt gripped by fear thinking, “who was I to be writing a book?”  And mixed with my insecurities was the reality that my book wasn’t even finished yet.  I felt like a failure before I even started this whole process.

‘Delete’ went the email.

But I was haunted by my reality.  I needed to make a decision because my deadline was moving closer and closer.

A week passed by and another email came by the same person.  I opened it and there was that pit in my stomach, again.  Why?  Because I don’t feel like a writer.  It’s not something I have pursued or dreamed of doing.  I don’t have a book proposal.  No polished pitch.  Nothing.

Are You Running From Nineveh?

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Like Jonah, many of us struggle to embrace God's will for our lives. Don't let reluctance prevent you from fulfilling His purpose.

Jonah the prophet was a man who heard the voice of the Lord. The Bible tells us that God spoke to him and gave him clear instructions: "'Go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me'" (Jon. 1:2, NKJV).

But Jonah had a problem: He didn't want to do what God was asking him to do. Instead of obeying, he "arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord" (v. 3).

Basically, he said no to God and ran in the opposite direction.