Fasting is a form of bodily sacrifice. For the intention of clarity, we fast from all food and pray to hear God’s voice. Fasting is not just giving up coffee for 3 days! Fasting is when we crucify our flesh. When we say NO to our desires, we deny the flesh. It is the abstinence of food and pleasure. To walk in confidence by faith, we offer our body as a living sacrifice. “Here I am, use me, Lord.” May the wisdom of the Holy Spirit give you right words to speak, right actions to take, and the courage to stand strong. Fully equipped, you have the awesome power of God abiding in you. Be still and tap into His power. Be renewed in your mind and spirit as God’s living Word encourages.  Decree His presence, His Word, and His anointing. Be His feet, hands and light.  Be healed in mind and body and spirit. Think, act, and fight Biblically. The “weapons of our warfare” remain mere theology if we don’t obey God.  Never take your armor off. The devil never sleeps. 1 John 4:4 “You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” With belt, helmet, shield, and sword, fight and celebrate victory.

I declare that I will be spirit-led, not soul-led. My emotions, or how I feel, does not change my eternal destiny! Therefore, I choose not to get caught up in what is wrong in this world, because this world is not my home. Counting my blessings one by one, at the age of 73, is a most wondrous way to begin my day. God has given me another day to be of good cheer. I can see, talk, walk, think, write, drive, and feed myself. I live to glorify God and celebrate the purpose of my salvation. I get to pass on the glory of having lived to get grey hair. The wisdom that only shines through all my faults and failures comes from my Father. Matthew 6:17-18
“When you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” AMEN ❤️

SPIRIT, SOUL, AND BODY
God created humans as tri-part beings:

1) SPIRIT (pneuma)

2) SOUL (psuche) Mind, emotions, psyche.

3) BODY 1 Thess 5:23.

Our SOUL is the part of us God created to relate to the natural realm/world around us through our intellect, knowledge, wisdom, logic, FEELINGS, our five senses of sight, taste, smell, hearing.  The most common word for “the word of the Lord,” is dabar. God’s words do more than inform us; they have power in them to perform or accomplish what they say. We release God’s power by speaking His Word.

Our spirit was made to house God’s Spirit and the life that relates to the invisible, spiritual realm. In our spirit is where we discern, hear God‘s voice, and where faith resides. Before the Fall, the spirit of Adam and Eve WAS most dominant. Initially, both were led and influenced by their spirits, NOT the soul. They sinned in the garden and died in their spirit.

THE REVERSAL – When Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, spiritual death came to their spirits, and dominance was transferred to their souls. With a dead spirit, they were left to figure it out in their mind/soul.  At that point, rather than being led and guided SPIRITUALLY – by the INFLUENCE of GOD in their spirits, they were led by their souls – by what they could see, hear, learn, and figure out naturally. As a consequence of their sin, we are all born in sin and LED by our souls, not by our spirit. Be ye reconciled. 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” AMEN

When we are saved and our spirits come alive, we receive God’s Spirit and life. He begins teaching us how to be led by and manifest the FRUIT of the spirit; love, peace, patience, self- control, kindness. Walking in the Spirit our fruit is evident.  Walking and speaking in the Spirit, we bring God’s Way and His kingdom into each day. We speak blessings and not curses. We are salt and light. Galatians 5: “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” If you bite and devour each other, watch out, or you will be destroyed by each other. Walk by the Spirit, and you will NOT GRATIFY the desires of the FLESH. For the flesh desires, what is CONTRARY to the SPIRIT.” Our spirit and flesh are in CONFLICT with each other, but we are warned NOT to do WHATEVER we want. The deceiver says, “Dont worry, eat whatever, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may die.”

Once we are born again, our spirits are infused with new life immediately. Our souls, however, are transformed progressively; they must be renewed and transformed. Romans 12:1-2; James 1:21. This means that after the new birth, we have the POTENTIAL to become SPIRITUAL people, LED and motivated by our SPIRITS; but for the most part we are still soulish people, motivated from our souls.  Galatians 5:7-8 “You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.” An internal power struggle begins. John 15:26-27 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—He will testify about ME. And you also MUST testify, for you have been with ME from the beginning.” Decree Truth.

God created us with a soul that connects us with the natural realm. We feel the wind, we cry, we laugh and we operate based on what we see, and understand. However, the soul does NOT connect with the spiritual, unseen world. Our emotions will continue to struggle with accepting what it cannot see or explain: Faith, miracles, hearing God speak, the power of speaking God’s words, sowing and reaping, heaven, hell, needing to be born again. Our soul weakness must be overcome if we are to operate in the spiritual realm and according to God’s design and plan that we submit to the Holy Spirit.

There is a FORCE of life in us we cannot see or explain. There is a POWER in us we cannot see or explain. There is a power in GOD’S ‘s WORD we cannot see or explain. There is an AUTHORITY we have that we cannot see or explain. There are DEMONS and ANGELS operating in the world around us that we cannot see or explain. Do NOT allow your SOUL to keep you from being LED by your SPIRIT. Do NOT allow your emotions to limit you to natural solutions. Many believers miss out on the supernatural realm. We were created to operate in the world as spiritual beings, be led by the spirit.

THE LAWS OF THE SPIRIT

We must study the Word to learn the principles and laws governing the invisible spiritual realm.God calls us to present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to Him. We are to dedicate our lives to God and live out our faith through action. It’s time to stop straddling the fence and fully commit to living for God’s purpose.  Our Father gave us authority, power, faith, and His Word.  Jesus used a fig tree to teach His disciples the power of a spoken word. Jesus cursed the tree, and it immediately died. His amazed disciples asked how that occured. He said, “Truly I say to you, IF you have FAITH and do NOT DOUBT, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even If you SAY to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, BELIEVING, you will receive it all” Matthew 21: 21-22

On another occasion, Jesus was amazed at the FAITH of a CENTURION. The soldier’s servant was paralyzed and in great torment, and the centurion asked Jesus to heal him. Jesus said He would go to the man’s house and heal his servant. The centurion said, “Lord, I am not worthy for You to come under my roof, but JUST SAY the WORD, and my servant will be HEALED. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it” Matthew 8:8-9

Jesus was amazed at the centurion’s “great faith”. This man’s military training had enabled him to understand how the unseen spiritual principles of AUTHORITY and FAITH were released by VERBAL COMMANDS. “Just SAY the word.” PRAY for FAITH and self-discipline.  Father, IF I am to become the full extension of Your Kingdom rule, I must understand the spiritual realm and how to operate in it. Holy Spirit give me full understanding of my spiritual power, faith, authority, and how to release it. Help me to bind and cancel negative thoughts, doubts and demonic activity. Lead me through open doors and give me discernment to close doors that lead to certain destruction. I ask with the authority You gave me, that Holy Spirit corrects me when I am operating based on intellect or feelings and NOT in the Spirit.

Give me eyes to see what cannot be seen and ears to hear what cannot be heard. Remind me to speak words that release the spirit and the life. Teach me to release spirit words that originate from my spirit and that carry Your life. The Spirit quickens and gives life, and it is my hearts desire to walk in the life-giving spirit realm. I want to operate in the spiritual! I want to move mountains, calm storms, and release more life. Move me into this higher realm of revelation, I ask this in Jesus’ name and I decree with my voice of authority:

I declare that I will be spirit-led, not soul-led, and will therefore be Spirit-led. Counting my blessings one by one, at the age of 73, is a most wondrous way to begin my day. God has given me another day to be of good cheer. I can see, talk, walk, think, write, drive, and feed myself. I live to glorify God and celebrate the purpose of my salvation.  I get to pass on the glory of having lived to get grey hair.  The wisdom that only shines through all my faults and failures comes from my Father. AMEN ❤️

Listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying. I am strong and courageous as I walk  fortified in my spirit. 🌺 Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, or  admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—THINK about such things. Listen to your self chatter and eliminate ALL negative statements. Take an honest inventory of your thought life. You are responsible for how you feel, think, and act. Capture and control any soulful, selfish thinking.  Treat all others with kindness, mercy, patience, and grace. FOCUS on the Spirit of God and expect good, and look for His goodness in all things.

Intentionally choose to release words of power. Be quick to listen, issue grace and forgive yourself. Praise God that you are not the same as you were last week. As His students, we learn something new each day. Speak with confidence, “I am excited to be a child of God”.  I choose to shift my FOCUS and decree and declare things as if they already were.  Speaking Truth, is to POSITIVELY AFFIRM that I agree with what God says, and I believe and TRUST HIS PURPOSE in giving me such power.   Choose to reflect Christ, His hope for glory, each day.

We have immense POWER and AUTHORITY over Satan’s plans and false accusations. Jesus is interceding on our behalf as angels guard us. If we fail, we are NOT a failure in our Father’s eyes. Regardless of the circumstance, express thanksgiving for the power we have as children of God.

It is a growing relationship of trusting Him, not my feelings. His grace enables me to surrender my way to adopt His. In Jeremiah 29:13 God promises us, “You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart.” All that is required of me to experience God is time and energy set aside to seek Him. This truth dove deep into my heart. Holy Spirit instilled faith in me. Holy Spirit restored my relationship with God. Holy Spirit engages my mind of Christ, and He enables me to discern good from evil.  By God’s Word  be transformed, edified, led, healed, encouraged as your mind is renewed. Experience the living, active, most high God right now because He desires us to know Him. He longs for us to spend time with Him. His greatest desire is for us to talk with Him, and to trust His Way over the ways of this world. He waits for us to ask Him to reveal Himself in His fullness. His joy overflows and cannot be contained as we radiate His light and speak truth. He asks us to come to Him boldly, and to believe His ways are not our ways.There are 2 kingdoms.  God’s Kingdom of light, wisdom and truth. Satan’s Kingdom of dark, delusion, and deception. I choose to reside in Satan seeks to kill and destroy my faith in Jesus, the Christ. Therefore, I choose to Seek God, and invite Jesus to search my heart, and reveal any wicked way in me. When I ask Holy Spirit to show me His truth, He does. I choose to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and quicker to repent.  I choose to act and speak according to what He says, not how I feel. I am a child of God who consistently and fully experiences His Presence.  Every breath is the sound of YAH WEH. I encounter God because He desires to be encountered by me, not because I possess some special ability. I experience His Presence because He longs for me to know Him, not because I am are more holy than any human.

We welcome another year with genuine gratitude. Our laugh lines increase, as our humor is steeped in magnificent wonders. We wear wisdom instead of worry and our capacity for silence makes us the best listeners. Our age transcends all fashion trends. Our appearance becomes secondary as we eagerly anticipate the 2nd appearing. Age does not exist in eternity, but oh, at the planned BANQUET, we delight in our imagination of all the saints that will greet us. The truth is that age is a monumental blessing. The bad news never trumps the good news! Celebrate 🥳 God is with us, God is for us, and His Spirit is in us!!! Our Father chose us to be His ambassadors and so we declare His splendor every day. Since our youth, the Holy Spirit has taught us many valuable lessons. Choose to declare His marvelous deeds. Determine not to allow the world to make you whacky!