"The joy of the Lord is your strength." (Nehemiah 8:10). Joy: A Very Real Force. Joy. It's not a warm, happy feeling you're supposed to have now and then when things are going well. It's much more than that. Joy is one of the most powerful spiritual forces in the world. Look again at Nehemiah 8:10 and I'll show you why. If you were to diagram that scripture and remove the phrase "of the Lord," you would find what it's truly saying is this: Joy is strength. The two are interchangeable. That's what makes Joy so crucial. You can't live a life of faith without being strong in the Lord--and when God wants to make you strong, Joy is what He uses to do the job! Joy is not just a state of mind. It is not a fleeting emotion. Joy is a Very Real Force, and the devil doesn't have anything that can stand up against it. Just as fear has to yield to faith, discouragement has to yield to Joy. Since Joy is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, you already have it residing within you. But you must develop it, confess it, and live by it if you want to enjoy its Power. Whatever circumstances you are facing today, you can be full of Joy. You can be strong in the Lord. You can draw on the supply of the Holy Spirit within you and come out on top. Rejoice! In Jesus Name. Amen.

"And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." (Rom. 12:2). Behold the Lord. Inside, you're perfect--born again in the image of Jesus Himself. But outwardly do you find yourself feeling frustratingly short of the perfection? Is there a solution? Yes! The secret lies in "the renewning of your mind." Romans 12:2 tells us that if you'll renew your mind, you can actually be "transformed." That word "transformed" is translated from the Greek word which we get the term "metamorphosis." It's used in Scripture in two other places. One of those places is when Jesus was "transfigured" on the Mount as He spoke with Moses and Elijah. The other is found in II Cor. 3:18. It says, "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are "changed" into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. "Changed, transformed, transfigured!" Those are powerful, exciting words and they describe what will happen to you as you spend titme Beholding the Lord in the Word and in prayer. As you spend time renewing your mind, your outer being will be transformed in much the same way as a catepillar is changed into a butterfly. Instead of comforming to the image of the world, you'll begin to oonform to the image of the reborn spirit within you which is created in righteousness and true holiness. Take time to get away from the world and study God's Word. Meditate on it and let it change you from the inside out. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind and release the beautiful spiritual butterfly that's livin in you! In Jesus Name. Amen.

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the Throne of Grace, that we may obtain Mercy, and find Grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16). Don't Stop at the Gate. When you made Jesus the Lord of your life, one of the priviliges you received was the right to come to the Throne room of God any time you want to. Think about that! You have the right to go boldly before God and obtain whatever you need. Even though that's clearly what the Bible says, many people don't go boldly into the Throne room. Instead they think, "I could never go in to where God is. I'll just stand out here and yell and hope He hears me." I used to be guilty of that myself. I remember one day I was in prayer, begging and pleading, bombarding the gates of heaven for revivial. After I'd been at it a little while, the Lord spoke to me. "What are you doing?" He said. "I'm bombarding the gates of heaven with prayer for revival," I answered. How big is My city? He asked me. "As far as I can tell from what the Bible says, it's about 1200 cubits or somewhere around 1500 miles square and 1500 mile high." Then why are you bombarding the gates? Assuming that My throne is in the middle of the city that leaves you about 750 miles short! And by the way, He added, "those gates aren't locked. Why don't you quit bombarding them and just come on in?" After I repented for mimicking old traditioanal prayers without thinking. I remember that the Word says, "Come boldly to the Throne" and I've been coming boldly ever since. Do you need to receive something from God today? Don't waste time standing around outside Heaven's gates. Through Jesus you belong in the very throne room of God. So come right on in. The door is always open for you. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

"Choose you this day whom ye will serve." (Joshua 24:15). The Choice is Yours. Choosing to side with God's Word is a continual challenge. It's not something you do just once. It's a process of choosing to believe and act upon the Word of God over and over in every circumstance. That's what everyone has to do. Years ago I decided I waas going to choose Jesus. Since then I'd had go choose Him again and again in situations every day. I've choosen Him as my Lord and Savior. I've chosen Him as my Healer. I've chosen Him as my Financier. I've chosen Him as head of my household. I've chosen Him as head of my ministry. And I still have to choose Him moment by moment. Sometimes that choice gets tough, but God has promised it will never get too tough. In Cor. 10:13 He says, "There hath no temptation taken you but such is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able." What the Lord is saying is that He will not allow you to be subjected to a temptation you're unable to overcome. With every temptation, He'll make away of escape. He'll ALWAYS make sure you have a choice. The devil doesn't come tempt you while God is off somewhere else, unaware of what is happening to you. The Spirit of God is constantly there with you, providing you with the way to overcome. In other words, God matches even the toughest temptations with the weapons and power you need to conquer them. He always makes it possible for you to choose life. So choose to walk in love. Choose to walk by faith. Choose to live by the Word. Jesus is the way! Choose Him! In His Name. Amen.

"But (God's Grace) is not made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel" (II Timothy 1:10). Better Things to Come. Have you ever wondered what it will be like when your body dies and you go to Heaven? Well, according to the Word, when that time comes, this flesh and blood tent you live in will die, but you won't feel a thing. You'll just take off the cloak of your flesh, lay it down and go to a better place. Believers who have died and come back say that they have no sensation of loss--no sting. Their minds stay intact, and they even have arms and legs, but they are spirit and not flesh. One man said he couldn't even tell he wasn't in his body until he tried to grasp something. His hand would just go right through the material object. He was spirit and not flesh. According to the Apostle Paul, to be absent from the body is to be present with God (II Cor. 5;1). So, when God calls you home, you'll just abandon your fleshly body and go to be with Him forever. It's interesting though. God doesn't even refer to our old, abandoned bodies as being "dead." He says they're just asleep. Why? Because He knows that just as sleep is temporary, so is the death of the body. He's planned a day when our sleeping bodies will be awakened and raised up in Glory just like Jesus was. Hallelujah! There's coming a day when not only our spirits have victory over death, our physical bodies do too! Death is not the end for you. It's only a change to a Better place! In the Glorious Name of Jesus. Amen.