Prosperity is not just financial prosperity, it is also spiritual prosperity.  Prosperity is not always tangible.  The inheritance we leave to our loved ones is not only our abundance, but our lack as well.  Spiritual prosperity only comes through faith in Jesus.  Turning OUR life over to the Lord is easy, but what about turning someone else over to the Lord?  Many times it is harder to trust God with the life of a loved than it is with your own life.  Seeing someone we love hurt or struggle brings out the Mama bear in even the toughest men and women.  Our flesh takes over, our hearts break and our tempers flare . You can run over me but you can’t run over mine!  Worry, fear and anger are not spirits of God.  Realizing that “our” loved one actually belongs to God is a peace that can only come from the Holy Spirit.   As Christians, we know how much the Lord loves us but we can’t forget He loves them just as much.   We don’t have to “beg” God to take care of them, they are His children also.  We pray for them, we love them, we help them when we can and then we stay out of God’s way.   Truth of the matter is, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,” John 3:16.  Our souls AND our loved ones souls were bought and paid for at a very high price.  This price was not paid out of greed.  This price was paid so “that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” 3 John 1:2.  Going even deeper, “our” loved ones are not “ours” at all.  We did not pay for them therefore, we do not own them.  They are gifts from God.  They are in our lives to show us the love of God.  We cannot love them more or protect them better than God.  The only way we can really protect them is to lead them to the Lord and let Him do the rest.  As a Christians, we accept the mantle God has trusted us with by leaving them with an inheritance that will last them into eternity; an inheritance of believing in Jesus and trusting in God.- Donna Warren

God doesn’t justify what happens to us but He REDEEMS us from what happens to us.  We’re all in this world together, the believers and non-believers.  Our testimony is the fruit of who we serve.  Do we moan about the world or the testify of our redemption from what the world dealt us?  When we testify of our redemption, our testimony becomes the light of the world.  Our testimony is a direct reflection of God’s glory or the world’s tragedy.   When the Lord redeems you, go testify – go be a light.  Someone out there needs to see your light shining brightly today!! – Donna Warren

LET FREEDOM RING!!!  Our Nation was founded as “One nation under God”.  Our Forefathers built this country with the Word of God as its foundation.  Our soldiers throughout history and right now at this very moment are fighting for this country.  We are truly blessed to be a citizen of the United States.

God blessed us to be born of this nation with freedom of religion.  Anytime God blesses us we are to share those blessings.  With the Word of God as our foundation, God lifted our nation up to be the greatest nation in the world today.  He put in the hearts of men and women to go out and defend our freedom – we call them soldiers.  The soldiers, OUR soldiers, are a reflection of God’s glory and grace upon this nation.   Even the soldiers in our military today who do not proclaim Him as their God, He is using them to reflect His glory on our nation – “One nation under God”.  God bless our soldiers, for the Lord  has given them the heart of the Gospel “no greater love has any man, than to lay down his life for his friend.” John 15:13

No matter where we stand politically, we must stand as “One Nation Under God”.  While we respect our authority we must stand on our foundation, the Word of God.  Be “fervent in spirit” Romans 12:11 so others catch fire as well.  Catch a hold of that fire and begin to live in the heavenlies; begin to live as a child of God.  We don’t bring God’s Word to our level, we rise up to His level!  Thank you God for this nation and our brave soldiers who defend it!  We are blessed, live blessed.  – Donna Warren

Praise and worship – do we really understand it?  Do we really feel it?  Do we know why?  Do we go to church on Sunday mornings, sing the Lord’s praises, hear His Word and then check that off of our list of things to do that week?  Then we wake up Monday morning and the “world” gives us a big dose of reality.   What happens when we do everything we’re suppose to do and our prayers are still not answered?  Are “we” doing something wrong?

It is through a personal relationship with God and knowing His Word that that these questions are answered.  It is His Word that says “Be not conformed to this world…” Romans 12:2, when the “world” slaps us in the face.   We don’t let the world conform our reality, we let the Word of God conform our reality.   The Bible says “For the Lord corrects and disciplines everyone whom He loves…” Hebrews 12:6.  When we feel God isn’t answering our prayers, is He trying to show us something, to teach us something or maybe even protect us from something?  There is a difference in “practicing” sin and the process of learning.  As Christians, we will always be in the process of learning.  It is what we do with what we have learned that matters.  Do we use the revelation we received to glorify our flesh or do we praise God for giving us the understanding?  When we pray for God’s will in our life, we also must pray for understanding the difference between His will and our will.  His will is unlimited, ours is limited by our circumstances.

The enemy is defenseless against all of our spiritual weapons but he can easily defend against carnal and religious traditions.  God’s grace and mercy is all around us.  It is only when we “understand” God’s grace that we can actually “see” His grace.  I had a lady, Sister Margaret Burford, pray for me one time.  While she was praying she prayed for God to “give me understanding”.  As soon as a word from God is spoken, the devil immediately comes and tries to take it away.  Therefore, at first I was confused – I thought I did understand – I didn’t understand what I was suppose to understand!  God is not a God of confusion though.  I too began to pray for understanding.  That is when I began to “see” why we praise and worship Him.  I began to “see” His grace flowing through others.  I also began to “see” the enemy working through others but “understood” it was the enemy using them and they needed God’s grace too.  If we as Christians don’t show them God’s grace, the enemy certainly never will.  Many of you already have the understanding and see God’s grace.  But for many, they don’t “understand” it is God who is holding them up, lifting them up and teaching them;  that they too are in a learning process.  We praise God because He loves us enough to teach us His ways even when we think our way is better.   We praise God for giving us the understanding we need and keeping His hand on us until we see.  – Donna Warren

How do we limit God?  We limit God when we limit ourselves.

The god of this world is satan.  The gospel is really simple.  Jesus came to this world in the flesh, sin free and perfect.  He was crucified for sins He did not commit, our sins.  While on the Cross He willingly limited  Himself in the flesh and died to pay, once and for all, our sin debt.  Jesus’ resurrection proved to us there is a God in Heaven who loves us. (John 3:16)   The enemy knows the power of God.  As soon as Jesus fooled the enemy by willingly “giving up the Ghost”, satan realized our God in Heaven would resurrect Jesus, exalt Him and all of the enemy’s deceit and lies would be forever exposed.    Satan realized, as god of this world, he was defeated.

Just as satan realizes he is defeated, he wants us to believe we are defeated as well.  What do we believe? Do we believe what we can see with our own two eyes; what we hear, smell, taste and can touch?  Our circumstances, the tangible things of this world, quickly become what we believe when we limit God.  However, there is that “sixth sense” if you will, that gut feeling, instinct, longing for more than the tangible things of this world are offering.  THAT is our God in Heaven speaking directly into our spirit.  THAT feeling, which is completely intangible, is the Holy Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are a child of God.  When we believe in what Jesus did for us at the Cross, our spiritual eyes are opened and we begin to see the “gut feeling”, that has been there all along,  is the life God wants us to have.  The enemy has caused too many of us to limit God for too long by making us believe in the tangible things;  by keeping the blinders on our spiritual eyes.  Don’t make the gospel harder than it is.  By accepting Jesus as our Saviour, we are not just making mental assent, we are believing who He is – the Son of God, and what He has done for us at Calvary.  “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,” Acts 16:30-31 .  Until we believe, we will remain spiritually blind.  As long as we are spiritually blind, that “gut feeling” remains in our gut forever and we can never live the life God intended for us.  The god of this world, satan, has been defeated.  Don’t let him convince you that you are defeated as well.  Listen to your gut .  – Donna Warren

Why do bad things happen to good people?  This is something I have often wondered and could not understand.  Then I read Isaiah 53:9 “And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.”  Jesus was not crucified because of His violence and deceit but because the ones who slew Him were wicked.   As Christians, not perfected and not worthy yet still justified through the blood of Jesus are also persecuted by the works of the enemy everyday.  The enemy uses people, the ones we call wicked, to cause pain and grief to the children of God.  We are told to “…Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” in Matthew 5:44.   Yes, the wicked; the precise ones that torment us, we are to pray blessings on them.  Why?  They need to know the love of Jesus and the Grace of God as well.  The power of praise and blessing the “wicked” can bind the enemy who is working through them.  Minister to them by showing them your Jesus through your love and grace.  Praise God in the face of the enemy and the enemy will flee!  The wicked crucified Jesus and immediately realized they were defeated.  They knew Jesus had no part in the kingdom of darkness.  The enemy fully understood at that moment Jesus had willingly given up His Spirit, that He allowed them to crucify Him so He could show the world there is no death, only eternal life as a child of God.  As Christians, we must take up our cross and bear it daily, for we too are children of God.  Bad things do happen to good people, but Jesus was sent as proof that God overcomes the forces of evil and eternal life is for ALL who believe in what Jesus did at the Cross.  – Donna Warren

The Christian charity is that of giving.  Giving of our resources, time and money.  God loves a “cheerful giver”.   How can we be cheerful when our resources are scarce, there is not enough time in the day to get done what we have to get done and money, well – will we ever have enough?  Giving is having compassion on the poor when many of us feel poor ourselves.  Poor not just financially but spiritually; the weak, those who are fighting a battle also.  We all fight battles, they are just different.  My weakness, may be your strong point.  Your strong point, your strengths, are what God gave you.  2 Corinthians 8:13-14 “For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye burdened: But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want…”.   As Christians we give to show our sincerity.  We are not weak, we are humble.  We are humble because we know without God giving us His Son Jesus Christ, we would in fact be weak.  We are bold and courageous.  We now have authority over all that comes against us because of Jesus and the Cross.  As Christians, we have been given God’s Grace.  God’s grace is our strength.  God’s grace is not just given to us; it is for us to share with others.  We glorify God when we give to others.  Giving is grace, never hoard your grace.  – Donna Warren

LOVE – Love is hard to do sometimes.  It is hard to love someone who is driving 35 mph in a 50 mph zone and you are already late.  Even harder is loving someone who you know is wrong, be it lying, cheating, stealing or what ever the case may be.  Well, we must love them too.  Why?  The main reason is we are commanded by God “…That we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another,” 1 John 3:23.  Although we do believe in Jesus, that loving one another part can still be tough.  Furthermore, we are to “…not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:18.  So we can’t just say we love them?  Nope!  We have to love them in spite of.  We have to love them because they too are born of sin and are not yet made perfect.  We love them because God loves us in spite of our iniquities.  Just like we make conscious decisions everyday to do what is right, we have to choose love instead of anger.  Anger , frustration and fear is not a spirit of God, so why do we accept them and rebuke the “bigger and badder” spirits of the enemy?   The spirit of fear will invite his buddy, the spirit of frustration, who invites his buddy the spirit of anger and so on and so forth.  The Spirit of God, Truth, Love and Freedom – The Holy Spirit – is a gentleman.  The Holy Spirit only dwells where He is welcome.  He, the Holy Spirit, doesn’t hang out, do business with or deal with the spirits of the enemy.  If He doesn’t feel welcome, He will quietly leave.   Whatever spirit you allow to dwell in your soul is the spirit that will overflow into the world through you.  Rebuke the spirit of anger, believe in the name of Jesus and choose the Spirit of Love – the Spirit of God! – Donna Warren

Warfare:scary subject for this “child in Christ” but it pertains to everything we, as believers and non believers, deal with daily.  Our nation has sent many courageous men and women into war.  As a nation, our government has studied and invested in some of the highest, most complex strategies in order to obtain victory over the oppressors of this world.  The United States has been and is victorious in natural warfare.  The United States was founded as “one nation under God”. Then we have the separation of church and state.  The separation of church and state was meant to keep the government out of the church, not the church out of the government.  The spiritual warfare of our Forefather’s is what lead us through all the natural warfare.  Today, in our modern world, we hear much about the natural and absolutely nothing on the spiritual war that is going on all around us.  From the battlefields in Iraq to the battlefields in small town Alabama, we walk around defenseless in the matters of spiritual warfare when we are not steadfast, deliberate and absolute in our faith in Jesus and what He did for us on the Cross.  As Christians, we know and understand the authority we have over evil.  We don’t focus on evil, we focus on our faith in Jesus.  While we walk with our battalion of fellow Christians, we must also walk with our brethren in whom the enemy is devouring.  Every word in God’s Word is meant for all.  Walk in this world today on the winning side of the spiritual war and “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 5:16  – Donna Warren

CALL HEAVEN DOWN!! We must call Heaven down over our life, our family and our loved ones.  We don’t sit back and allow satan to defeat us and we don’t have to sit back and allow him to defeat our loved ones either.  Place the blood of Jesus over the lamp post of your household.  When adversity strikes pray for God to reveal Himself.  Use the authority God has given us through intercessory prayer and claim their souls. Take dominion over constant attacks on the weak with the boldness of righteous anger.  Many of us have heard the last part of Acts 20:35 “…It is more blessed to give than to receive”.  However, when studying the entire verse it reads “I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.”.  Giving is not always money.  Giving is also our time and our prayer for others; for the weak, downtrodden and broken.   Giving is our thankfulness for the strong, upright in the Lord and righteous.  Giving is being a gatekeeper by opening our mouth, releasing our faith and declaring the Word of God over all! – Donna Warren