All posts by : Joel Phillips

Way before she was born

Two and half years ago my daughter and son-in-law gave my wife and me some amazing news: “We’re gonna have a baby!!!”

It wasn’t long before we began making preparations. Rooms in both our houses were converted to fully appointed nurseries. Car seats and strollers were carefully chosen, purchased and put in our cars. We got the cutest clothes and shoes we could find. We stocked our kitchens with the healthiest foods available.

And there were lots of personal embellishments; you know, those little things that give a special touch. Things like homemade linens for the crib, specially selected outfits for the homecoming, artwork in the nursery done specially by a family member, etc. These kinds of things took our preparation from just being ready to welcoming this special new addition to our family.

Then came the day…Poppy Yael Pester was born!

What a joyful day that was! She was the most incredibly perfect, beautiful little baby ever! And since that day, two years later, Poppy has never had to worry about a thing. Every one of her needs was carefully thought through and prepared for way ahead of time.

We didn’t provide what Poppy needed out of a sense of duty. We did it because of our love. It’s the kind of love that makes sure everything is covered. Nothing missing, no corners cut, and definitely nothing low quality.

When you love someone it’s just natural to want to give them things. That’s exactly what we did for Poppy. And that’s exactly what God did for you.

Done before you were born

The Bible tells us in several places that God not only knows us while we are still in our mother’s womb (Is. 49:1; Gal. 1:15), but He knows us before we were even formed in our mother’s womb (Jer. 1:5). And before we were formed, God already loved us and chose us.

Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ. (Ephesians 1:4, NLT)

That’s amazing news! But it gets even better! Way before you were born, way before the world was made, and way before anything good or bad could happen; God already provided everything you could possibly need. You don’t need to worry about a thing. Not believing this is actually dangerous.

For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.” (Hebrews 4:3, NKJV)

God got angry with those who didn’t believe that He had taken care of everything for them. But for us who will trust that He has, we can experience rest. There’s nothing to worry about. There’s nothing to stress over. Every one of our needs was carefully thought through and prepared for way ahead of time!

David could sense the guys were a little nervous

The cave they ventured further into was gigantic and dark. “It’s okay,” David assured them. “I’ve been in this cave a few times. I’ve had to rescue some of my sheep from in here.” He went on to say, “And, I can guarantee you there aren’t any lions or bears in here. I’ve killed them all!”  Someone quipped, “Yeah, and now you can add a giant to the list.”  They all laughed.

The men breathed a little easier. It wasn’t long before they were all asleep. They needed to rest. But David couldn’t sleep. His mind raced with all the horrible things King Saul had done and said to him. It was so confusing. David never meant anything to hurt, offend, or anger Saul. In fact, he loved Saul and his son Jonathan. But now Saul and his whole army were hunting him like animal.

The son of Jesse was branded an outlaw

“Those who hate me without cause are more than the hairs of my head.”
(Psalms 69:4)

David tossed and turned.  He lay staring up at the torchlight reflections on roof of the cave. A song he had written in a cave came back to his memory…

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”
(Psalm 27:1)

Then a couple more songs came to his mind.  He began to sing them,

“Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in you…” (Psalm 56:3)
“My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth…” (Psalm 121:2)

The acoustics in the cave were amazing

David’s beautiful voice was now ringing through the cave. He was starting to feel better. The men were listening to their leader; they loved it when he sang.

Suddenly the torchlight was put out. The man on watch whispered loudly, “Quiet!” David worked his way over to the watchman’s post. The watchman pointed toward the entrance of the cave. There was someone there. Reflections off the armor gave away that it was soldier. David and his men watched as the man made his way into the cave and laid down. In a few moments they could hear him snoring.

They moved closer to the sleeping soldier. There was enough light coming from the cave’s entrance that they could make out the man’s clothing.  They could tell by the colors of his garments and the ornate embellishments on his armor that this was no ordinary soldier. Then David spotted his sword. He knew who it was, and so did all of the men who were with him.

“Slit his throat!” one of them said. David stood staring King Saul sleeping. He moved near him and pulled his knife out of the sheave. The men were thrilled as they expected to see Saul killed. But David cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.

The guys were totally confused. David quietly moved to the back of the cave.  The men could hear him talking to himself.

“I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”
(Psalm 23:4–5)

David knew God would help and protect him

This was not something he learned that moment, nor had it just occurred to him.  He knew how God had watched over him in countless other dangerous situations, and knew He would watch over him now.

You might not be in a literal cave, but you feel surrounded by darkness. The enemy threatens from the shadows. Fear and confusion are growing. But the same God who protected David, and everyone else who has learned to trust Him, is with you and will never leave you!

So go ahead, give God praise! Do it out loud. Let it become a song. You’ll be amazed at the acoustics in your cave!

God has been speaking to Kathie and me about sowing financial seeds. Last month we took money that normally would’ve been spent on non-essential items (surprisingly a lot), and gave it to various people as the Lord directed us. We put the cash in cards, wrote some things the Holy Spirit had directed us to write, sealed the envelopes, and gave it away.

Thinking we would hear back with great words of appreciation (only one person sent us a thank you card), we moped around in disappointment. Then God spoke to us…

“This wasn’t about them. It was about you.”

This challenging act of obedience for us led to a breakthrough in our thinking. And it’s a lesson every Believer must learn: cultivating a heart that is willing and obedient where giving is concerned, regardless of the recipient’s response.

How we give goes to the core of our character. Are we a cheerful giver, or do we give with reluctance? The Word says God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7), but why? Because giving cheerfully demonstrates that our hearts are in our giving. It shows that we aren’t just giving out of obligation, but because we love God and want to bless Him.

Giving doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Like everything in His kingdom, God works through relationships. He wants us to be a bless others, and be blessed by others. However it’s the sowing of blessings into other people that sets us up to receive the harvest of blessings back.

“While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease.” (Genesis 8:22)

This law of seedtime and harvest governs the Kingdom of God. For this reason, we must not selfishly hoard what we receive. Instead, we need to get in the flow of God’s system of doing things so we are in a position to experience the reaping of real blessing.

The simple act of giving has the power to multiply blessings

Giving freely opens us up to receive far more than what was given. We can’t judge our giving as losing something. When we give, we are actually sowing an expression of love into another person’s life. And God takes into account every act of sincerity and love. He is looking at whether we give with strings attached, or if we don’t care if we ever get anything in return.

“One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed” (Proverbs 11:24, 25, NIV)

Don’t think that sowing or giving to someone comes only in the form of money. Any seed we sow with a loving and giving heart will reap a harvest. It doesn’t have to be financial. The words we speak, and our actions, are also seeds.

Whatever a man sows, he will also reap

We will reap a harvest of joy if we sow joy. We will reap a harvest of peace if we sow peace. When we sow into another’s life, we are, in essence, sowing God into their lives.

Working to get our hearts right when it comes to giving is a continual process. It involves aligning our motives with the Word, and changing our thinking regarding loving others the way God commands. Love is the key to experiencing fulfillment and satisfaction, and should be the motivation behind every seed we sow.

When you allow yourself to be released to give, you will be challenged to overcome your flesh. Kathie and I were certainly challenged when God spoke to us to sow our money. However, if you obey His instructions, the return will be more than anything you could imagine…including thank you cards.

There are always things to do

It seems never ending all the little projects there are around the house to fix, install, or upgrade. It’s nice to have that sense of fulfillment when you’re done with something, not to mention accolades from someone who noticed. But the best reward is getting the project right.

One project that I find particularly tricky is hanging curtain rods. They have to be the right height, positioned correctly, and level. The combination of those things is critical, and it all hinges on the proper mounting of the curtain rod hangers. The hangers have to be strong, and they have to be in the right place. Not strong enough and the curtains come down. Not in the right place and the curtains can’t do their job.

Jesus was asked a trick question

The religious Jews didn’t like Jesus. He threatened them. So they sent one of their best minds, a lawyer, who asked Jesus a tough question…

“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”
Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:36–40, NLT)

Besides the micdrop on the smug lawyer, Jesus reveals an incredibly important principle: everything in God’s kingdom hangs between and on love. On one side there’s our love for God. And on the other side there’s our love for people.

If you love God, but not people, or vice versa, you love is not real. (“If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar.” 1 John 4:20). But there’s even more at stake.

Back to the curtain rod

Envision a curtain rod with curtains hanging on it. The curtains are beautiful, colorful, and useful. They represent all the things that are ours through Jesus: salvation, faith, worship, ministry, etc. Yet, they are totally dependent on the on the two rod hangers, which represent the love mentioned earlier: our love for God, and our love for others. If the curtain is used without both sides being strong, the whole thing fails.

The wonderful thing is that God is the one who places these two essential elements of love in our lives. We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19), and then as a result we love others (1 John 3:14). He sets His love in our lives as anchor points for everything else, and this is something only He can do.

No wonder hanging curtains is so difficult.

All that Jesus offers us is delivered by faith

Faith is the most important force in the entire universe. Jesus said, “All things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:23). Faith empowers us to operate in the very realm of God.

Nothing comes from heaven except by faith.  As free as salvation is, it comes to us by faith.  Every provision in redemption is only deliverable by faith.  Without faith it is impossible for us to access our inheritance.

Faith is not a mere biblical principle, nor is faith a religious theory or logic. Faith is actually a powerful spiritual force.

Faith is our access to God

When the woman touched the hem of Jesus’ garment, Jesus felt power go out from him. Faith draws on the power of God and imparts it to our lives. Faith confers God’s power to humans and is the platform for breakthrough and victory.

And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. (1 John 5:4)

Faith comes not just by hearing the Word of God, but principally by hearing from God. Hearing God is how faith is made strong. The voice of God is the cure to unbelief. All great stories of faith are traceable to, “God told me”.

Hearing from God is the stronghold of faith

Hearing the voice of God is the greatest cure for the doubts of life. If you have access to God’s voice there is a freedom and confidence unlike anything else. Even when it seems impossible in the natural, faith combined with what God has said is unstoppable.

The strength of Abraham’s faith was from hearing the voice of God. The strength of Moses’ faith was from hearing the voice of God. The strength of Jesus’ faith was from hearing the voice of God.

God still speaks today

Jesus said,

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. (John 10:27, NLT)

Hearing the voice of God is a privilege that the Bible says belongs to every believer (Rom. 8:14). We get familiar with God’s voice by knowing His Word. And that understanding of the written Word that will fine-tune our ears to the voice of God, which in turn will make our faith strong to act on what He has said.

Great faith, like great strength, is revealed by the ease of its workings. Weak faith comes from failing to hear God’s voice. And hearing from God isn’t a matter of whether He’s talking, but rather, whether we’re listening.

It sounds like work!

“Breaking free from bondage.” Just that the sound of that phrase brings a certain amount of dread to most of us. It’s what’s needed to be free, but it’s so strenuous and downright uncomfortable. For the people trying to break free from long-term habits, stubborn issues like losing weight, or reaching a health or fitness goal, freedom equals pain.

The reason change often seems so difficult is that we are trying to make it happen backwards. We begin with the denial of a particular act or item, but the Bible says, “as a man thinks in his heart, so is he”, (Proverbs 23:7). This means that if you are ever going to experience freedom in any area, you are going to have to start seeing yourself, and thinking about yourself, as free on the inside before you see it on the outside.

A lasting change in any area takes place right in between your ears, in your mind. Our enemy, the devil, attacks us in one primary area—our minds. He does so with lies and deception that traps into thinking that we are, and always will be, slaves to the bondage that is in our lives. He knows that as long as he can get you to believe you are a slave to a certain habit, behavior, or thing, you will never be able to break free.

Counter that lie!

The truth is that Christ came to set us free from ALL bondage! In fact, if you are born again, the Bible says you are ALREADY free.

Whom the son has set free, is free indeed. (John 8:36)

This means that when you ask Jesus to come into your life, you THEN are free from the power that sin once had over you. Like a person who was in a jail cell with the door locked, Jesus came and unlocked the door, and said, “come on out, you’re free!”

But just as you are making your way out of the jail cell of your old life, Satan says, “Wait, who told you that you could leave? You are not really free, and you never will be. You will be in bondage to this thing, habit, or lifestyle forever!”

And so, many people stay in the jail cell, with the door wide open, when all they needed to know is that they have been set free and are able to step out into freedom!

Steps to freedom

Stepping out of bondage and into freedom does require action on your part. You have to initiate the process.

The first step is to confess to the Lord what you are in bondage to. The word “confess” (homologeo) means “to say the same thing.” In other words, you are to be in agreement with what God has said about the area you are in bondage to. You are to admit what you have been doing is wrong, sinful, and that you don’t want it in your life anymore. He then responds with forgiveness and the power to make changes.

The next step is knowing what the Word of God says. It’s from this step that God begins renew your mind through His Word, and help you to see yourself as the overcomer that He has created you to be. Knowing what God’s Word says also greatly empowers your prayers so you can specifically address the things your desire change in with hope of what God has promised.

This process of walking into total freedom can happen instantaneously, but often happens in steps and stages. The reason for this is simply because many of us have lived in bondage to things for many years, and it takes time for our minds to be renewed and our hearts to respond to the Lord and change.

The important thing to remember is that God has already given you everything you need to walk in total victory and freedom in every area of your life. The step that has to keep being taken is seeing yourself as you truly are in Christ…totally and completely set free!

A bad report

They were young. They had money. They had success. They had everything a person could want, except what the doctor had just told them,

Mrs. Cox, I’m afraid you have enlarged heart.

That report may not sound too serious, but in 1928 is was basically a death sentence. The couple listening to the doctor’s report was my great-grandpa and great-grandma, who our family affectionately called Dad Cox and Nanny.

The doctor, who was the best in Missouri, pulled my great-grandfather aside and advised him to move himself and Nanny to sunny California so that she could at least live out her last few years of her life in a pleasant climate. They heeded the doctor’s advice, sold everything, and moved to Beverly Hills.

It wasn’t long before they began to meet people in their new neighborhood. A lady named Lucy invited my great-grandmother to go see a woman everyone was talking about. This woman was a preacher who had a reputation for doing some crazy things.

The place was packed!

Lucy and my great-grandmother arrived late to a Sunday night service at Angelus Temple. There were thousands of people already there. The ushers apologized that they would have to seat them separately. One of the ushers took my great-grandmother towards the front of the auditorium to an open seat in the second row.

The young preacher-woman was already speaking. People were shouting out, “Amen!” and “That’s right Sister!” Nanny was not a churchgoer, and couldn’t remember the last time she had been to church, so this was all pretty surreal to her.

As Nanny was shuffling her way to the seat, everything went silent. She thought, “Uh oh, I’m interrupting the speech.” She tried to duck down. She only had a few more people to get by before she could sit. As she was focused on getting to the empty seat, she thought “I’m gonna kill Lucy!”

Then a person nudged here and said, “Look, Sister Aimee is talking to you!” Nanny turned around to see Sister Aimee Semple McPherson looking straight at her. As all eyes were now upon my great-grandmother, Sister Aimee pointed at her and said,

“Honey, the Lord’s healing you right now.”

Sister Aimee went back to preaching. The people went back to shouting. Nanny finally made it to her seat. As she sat she felt something happen in her chest that she later described felt like a knitting needle poking her chest and popping it like a balloon. She was instantly healed and lived to be almost 100 years old.

As a result of that one healing, our entire family was affected. Five generations later, not only does our family serve God, but also fervently believes in the power of God to heal.

And we live in California, not Missouri. God is good!

A predominant thought in many Christian circles is that poverty is a characteristic of humility. A verse like, “…it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (Mt. 19:24), is often used to teach that the righteous are not be wealthy.

Job’s life is also referred to as a model of how God can use a life that is poverty-stricken, sick, and afflicted. However, the entire Book of Job happened within a period of nine months. And the last chapter of Job tells us, “the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10).

Redeemed From the Curse

13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), 14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith…29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:13, 14, 29)

This passage tells us that we have been redeemed from the curse of the law. What is the curse of the law? In the first five books of the Old Testament, which is called the Pentateuch, or the Books of the Law, we are told that the curse, or punishment for breaking God’s law, is threefold: 1) spiritual death, 2) no protection from attack or sickness/disease, 3) and poverty/debt.

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of spiritual death—we do not need to fear death. He as delivered us from the attacks of the enemy and/or sickness and disease. And He has delivered us from poverty and debt.

Just as the curse is three-fold in nature, so is the blessing. First, there is the promise of salvation (spiritual blessing). Second, there is the promise of physical protection from sickness and from attack. Third, there is the promise of financial blessing.

The Jews inherited the blessing through their father Abraham. It was not the Jews’ blessing or promise, or even Israel’s blessing. It is Abraham’s blessing! And that blessing is now given to those who are in Christ.

Destined to Rule and Reign

God created everything, and then He made man, and gave him dominion over all of it. God made it all for Adam. He gave Adam dominion over the cattle on a thousand hills, over the silver and gold, over the world and the fullness thereof.

But Adam committed high treason and sold out to Satan. Jesus, however, came to redeem us from Satan’s power and dominion over us. Romans 5:17 says, “For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.” The Amplified version of the scripture reads, “They shall reign as kings in life, by one Jesus Christ.”

We are to reign as kings in life. That means that we have dominion over our lives. We are to dominate—not be dominated. Circumstances are not to dominate you—you are to dominate over circumstances. Poverty is not to rule and reign over you—you are to rule and reign over poverty. Sickness and disease are not to rule and reign over you—you are to rule and reign over sickness.

The Heart of the Father

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? (Matthew 7:11)

How many of us who are parents want our children to go through life hungry, sick, under attack, or never having enough money to make it? No parent wants that! In fact, we work and sacrifice to try to help our children get a better position in life than we had.

God put all the cattle here, all the silver and gold, and is it reasonable to think that He did all of this only for the ungodly? Certainly He loves the sinner, but does He love the sinner more than His own children? No. God put all these things here for His people. He said to Israel,

If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. (Isaiah 1:19)

God wants the best for His children!

Love,
Pastor Joel