Don't be confused about the future! God is the Lord over all of the earth! When Jesus died for this world He paid in full for its redemption and return to its former owner, the Creator and God of all heaven and earth. When something is paid for at the grocery market you do not leave with only a couple of items, you leave with the whole order! It has been paid for! It does not belong to the store anymore it belongs to you! All of it! To many believers think and live in such a way that makes a statement that says they still are trying to wrestle it out of the hands of the former owner. Wouldn't it be ridiculous for the manager of Fred Meyer to run after you and try to take out of your hands what you had just paid for? Telling you that it wasn't really yours! You wouldn' t buy it for a moment! Then why do so many who are rightful owers of the promises of God just give back to the devil what God has paid in full for? The enemy has no right or ability to keep you from every promise of the Word of God. It has been paid for and the reality is that the whole earth must honor that! We have a "receipt"! The kingdoms of this world have now become the kingdoms of the Lord and His Christ! Revelations 11:15. This is not the future this is now! Now is the time! Now faith is! Its time to recover all!
Take some time today to make some confessions about what is yours in Christ! Remind yourself of the promises, write them down and declare out loud all of them yours! Keep repeating yourself until you get it deep down in your spirit! There will be a release of joy and faith when it takes root!
Be strong in the power of His might!
PB

21 days of devotion! It is hard for me to believe we have been on this journey 21 days already. Knowing that this will be your last day of fasting in whatever way you have chosen, it is time to reflect on what God has revealed in your heart. How has this experance framed the kind of year you will have? Take some time and write the lessons in your journal or on some paper that you can put in your Bible or other safe place to look at again and again. I know God is pleased with those who search for Him like He was a precious treasure and the reward is always satisfying!

Psalm 100 says we should shout to the Lord all the earth and serve the Lord with gladness! Let your asking this day be one filled with shouts of joy and celebration, and keep a smile on your face as we serve the Lord with gladness together. It is often the case, and very natural to seek the Lord in times of difficulty or need, longing for His comfort, care and direction. Faith however also has a side that expresses itself when all is well and in a moment when we are awe struck by the wonders of life. Joy rises up in our soul or a laughter from deep within us surfaces! These are also the time to shout to God with the voice of triumph! Happiness is a pathway to the throne of God.
This morning as I write this I am seeing the light of the dawn beginning to frame the beauty of Mount Hood. The sky line is filled with the many colors of the daybreak and I just shake my head. I'm telling you it is so beautiful I want to stand up, pump my fist into the air and say Father you are INCREDIBLE! Can I get a witness!

Also, thank you for the wonderful feedback I have been getting! Please share what the Lord has done for you on the comments or at the prayer / praise option on the website. What a God we serve! I'm outta here! See you at the "House" later! I have to go stare at the sunrise! PB

Your mind is the fertile field that successfully grows whatever is planted. Your thoughts are what is sown. The right thoughts in the right soil is the way to walk in the blessed and flourishing life. Jesus likened the mind to soil with four different conditions, with only one having the ability to sustain the seed or thought, nurtue it and bring the correct harvest. Read about it in Mark 4 and let the Holy Spirit speak to you. Paul strongly urges us to renew the spirit of the mind. That means doing a soils test today to check the condition of your soil. Is it hard, rocky, weedy, or well prepared to cause the Word of God to produce His blessed harvest for your life. Once the soil is right make sure that you are sowing the right thoughts into your mind, thoughts that align with the Word of God. And if you still find yourself thinking some thoughts that are negative, sad, or condemning, do what Paul said in 1Corinthians 10:4 and 5, cast them down and replace them with the Word! Happy gardening! You are going to flourish and be blessed!

Tonight begins the Freedom Encounter for over 100 people. They will experiance God like they never have! I am very excited and believe each one will experiance radical transformation by His power. Please pray for each one to be open and ready! "Power" is the word that keeps rising in my Spirit. Ask today for the Power of the Holy Spirit to come upon you again and fill you with His anointing to do the good work of the Kingdom.
Have a wonderful Sabbath and remember to be a "Come and See" person this week. Bring someone to a service this weekend that needs to experiance the love and grace of God!
PB

I am getting more and more excited about this weekends Freedom Encounter! The Encounter is a life changing experiance as each one has a face to face encounter with God. More of God and less of me! This is the transformation that pleases the Lord. As you ask for the outrageous, make sure one of your outrageous requests is that God transform your heart outrageously! Ask Him to take you to deeper places in Him, give you a hunger for His Word, His presence and His love. Ask Him to radically change everything about you that needs changing. Remember that the greatest joy we can bring the Father is a desire to be more like Him. Hosea 6:1 is a great verse. Some would say it is a verse of God's judgement but I see it as His great love. He is the Great Physician and sometimes a surgery is required to repair what is broken or remove what is causing sickness. The surgeon opens us up and then binds us up so that He can heal and we can be raised up to live life as we were supposed to. This is what it says:

"Come, and let us return to the LORD; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up.
2 After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight.
3 Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth."
Hosea 6:1-3 (New King James Version)

During the Encounter this is what happens. Verse 2 says that after 2 days He will revive us; on the third day He will raise us up. Get ready for a release of ressurection power on the third day! For those of you who have already been to an encounter take some time today to reflect on the things God did for you when you attended and feel His anointing again like the warm sun!
Have a life changing day! PB

Hey I just read a great scripture to take with you to work. John 6:27 says "Do not labor for food which perishes, but for food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you".
Isn't it awesome to know that you work today for the cause of Christ and the Kingdom! Many people work for their own cause or to build their own kingdom and they find it empty and unfulfilling. When you go to work knowing that what you are doing is ultimately building God's Kingdom and providing the resources to supply His purposes, suddenly "work" takes on the eternal perspective and will reap you great eternal rewards as well as blessings now!
Enjoy the journey! PB

Jesus encouraged the disciples in Luke 18:1 to pray always and to not lose heart. This power combination is a great theme of the Bible instructing us to have the faith of God that taps into His Word and power through prayer and then having the patience and tenacity to stay focused through the proving times. The key is that they go together, you have to mix them to get a reaction. I have seen people praying all the time but going around with a "woe is me" attitude and wondering why the breakthrough they are looking for isn't anywhere in sight. Then there are those who just go busting ahead without consulting God and end up discouraged that the outcome is not what they expected. As you pray and seek the Lord with thanksgiving, submitting your requests to Him and reminding Him of His promises, never lose heart, don't give up, stand up in your heart and have faith in God. In His presence you will begin to sense more and more the authority and dominion that you have in Him through the Word, the Blood and the power of the Cross, which in turn will elevate your faith level and change the countenance on your face to one of satisfaction and victory with joy! As God sees the look on your face it will bring Him pleasure and He will reward! Enjoy a "rewarding" day! PB

There is a great inheritance associated with todays door of anointing, humility. The fear of the Lord has a wonderful effect on a life, it causes you to be humbled as you consider and know the incredible greatness and scope of our God and Creator. An observant Jewish person will not even write the name of the Lord with every letter out of reverence and respect, choosing to write G-d instead. When I think about the Lord as Creator, Keeper, Healer, Savior, Deliverer, etc. to infinity, I am struck by my smallness. Remember that the path to great usefulness in His hand is to humble ourselves, for God is opposed to the proud. 1 Peter 5:6 says "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you at the proper time. There is a moment that is coming, a time that He will use you, bless you, even exalt you to accomplish His plan and purposes. God is waiting for us to deal with our"selves", that is to get the part of us that is only self-seeking under control so that He can use us greatly on the earth. When self is in the way God will not use you, so deal with your self so God can exalt you! I hope you got that! The psalmist says in Psalm 112, (read it today), that the descendants of those who fear the Lord will be mighty on the earth. Jesus said "blessed are the humble, meek, gentle, for they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5
In your sabbath reflection knock on this door of humility and pass through with a humbled heart and expect a great inheritance as you walk in the fear of the Lord!
See you tonight or tomorrow! PB

Blessed

The anointing of counsel is two fold. It is the ability to give good counsel but also the openess to recieve good counsel. The Hebrew defines counsel as advice consultation, purpose, project, plan and design. All fitting for our journey in Christ. No one can advance the Kingdom without the direction of the Holy Spirit. When we were born again the Holy Spirit came into us. (John 20:22) Jesus promised that He would then guide us, teach us, and show us the future. Thats good stuff. But is didn't stop there. He knew we would all need power to follow the direction, authority to teach transforming truths, and faith to step out of our every day attitude and step into the dynamic future He has for us. Being baptized by the Holy Spirit fills us with a power that fuels the direction given by the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2) Today take some extra time and thank God for the Holy Spirt and the power He brings.

On another note, the Encounter always impacts lives in a powerful way. I would like to hear what God did for you. It doesn't matter how long ago you went through, I would love to hear your story. Thanks PB

Transformation is the goal. Romans 12 verse 1 and 2 encourage us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. As you keep knocking and expecting new anointing, the door to knock on today for your life is for an anointing of understanding. The hebrew meaning is "insight, prudence, and intelligence". What a blessing to know that God has anointed us with divine insight, the ability to make great decisions, and higher levels of intelligence. Everyone of us have felt like we are not smart enough in some areas to move into arenas that are unfamiliar to us. As God moves you into new areas He will guide you, teach you, and lead you to information you need, give you the ability to learn that information and new skills neccessary to continue to rise to the top! Stop confessing your lack in any of these areas and begin to declare that you are smart, sharp, filled with understanding and good looking too! (Just had to add that!) Look in the mirror and say it till you believe it! God Bless, enjoy the snow, and be safe!

Keep Knocking

Knock and it shall be opened! Our God is the one who opens doors for us and on this second day of this week of knocking I am filled with great anticipation for the opportunities He will open for you today. Be ready to respond when He opens an opportunity to you. Even if you step out towards what you thought was a door and it wasn't actually there, the Father loves that we are looking for that opportunity and desiring to be obediant and move with Him. As you look for the opportunity to be a blessing in small ways, God is setting things up for you to be a great blessing in a big way!
Moses was running from Egypt after he had struck down the Egyptian beating on a Hebrew. He had run to Midian and was sitting by a well probably wondering what he should do when he saw the shepherds mistreating some young ladies trying to water their fathers flocks. He had to step in and defend the daughters of Jethro just because it was the right thing to do. This little opportunity turned into a big blessing as it opened the door to finding a wife, a trusted counselor in his father-in-law, and a opportunity to learn the ways of the desert and have an even more important meeting with a burning bush in the process.
A small door to be a blessing can lead to a major life changing opportunity in God! Be Ready! Check it out in Exodus 2! Enjoy, PB

Seeking

God Bless you this day! Here's what is in my spirit this morning. Seeking God first and keeping on with the search every day keeps us from our own natural self seeking ways. We want what will taste good to us, we want what looks good to us, we want what will satisfy ourselves. (Boy do I want a Gingerbread latte!) That nature is the very thing that begins to take second place and needs to as we set our faces to seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness. Today as you do, say, and live in a way that will look good to our Father first, remember that the Kingdom of God is not meat nor drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy! Let you heart be filled with those things from above and the knowledge that you are doing what is pleasing in His sight setting you up for coming answers to prayer. 1 john 3:22, hebrews 12:11, romans 14:17 See you tonight where the "family" gathers! Remeber to look for an opportunity to do a good deed for someone! Praise God!

I am having a time with this process! Please forgive me if some of the thoughts overlap. Sometimes I think it didn't work so I re write and then it pops up as a post. Amazing! Thanks for the comments also, they are awesome!

Our Father responds to the things we do in secret. The sermon on the mount taught us to pray, give and fast in a way that doesn't get recognition from man but from God. If we do any of these things to be seen by others or to impress someone we miss out on the reward God had been waiting to give us. May you find Him today in a wonderful way and thank Him for the reward He is preparing for you. Smile! PB

Record the journey

One of the greatest things that you can do is to keep a record of the things that God speaks to you, the direction that He gives, and the answers you receive from the Lord. Get a journal and write down the things that come to your heart as you seek the Lord, scriptures will come to your mind, ideas, thoughts of great victory and visions of God using you in a mighty way. God is equipping His people for great things and for attaining a whole new level. Don't be alarmed if you feel some unusual pressure along the way, every mother knows the birthing process is at times painful. if you are going through something painful remember God will use your moment of pain to bring you great gain! Stay with it! James 1 tells us that the trials we go through with joy cause us to be made complete lacking in nothing! Check it out and keep seeking Him! Blessings, PB

We're rockin !!! Sorry for the delayed post. I'm still a rookie at all this but God is good and we are ready for the greatest 21 days of our lives. The first thing I want to say is that I am so proud of all of you who are joining me for the 21 Days of Devotion! As we begin, take some time today to look up the definition of "devotion" from a dictionary today. I know it will bless you and stir your heart as you begin the 7 days of seeking during this first week. Then read Psalm 27 and think about the emotion and love that is in David’s heart as he describes what he longs for and is seeking after. As you begin to sense what was in David’s heart and make that your hearts desire also you will come into a real special place. Dwell there for some time and be blessed. See you tomorrow PB