Rainbows in the Sky. What do they mean?

And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” And God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth.” Genesis 9:12-17

The people closest to me know that I love rainbows. It’s not just the colors or the brightness of it when it comes out right after a sun shower or a rainy day, or the almost majestic way it sits in the sky and seems to stretch so close that you can touch it that intrigues me. It’s what the rainbow stands for that leaves me in awe and the beauty of it is just a perk. Before I tell you what the rainbow stands for (for those of you who don’t know), I would like to share something with you.

On my blog page I have a layout with beautiful mountain scenery and a rainbow that crosses over the front of the mountains. I think its peaceful scenery describes God’s serenity. Well I was showing a friend of mine my page and she asked me about the rainbow and told me what it meant to the world. It so happens that to the world the rainbow is the symbol of gay pride. Needless to say I was beside myself when I heard that and told her what the bible says about the rainbow. When I think about it, it is just another way Satan has tried to take something that God has meant for good and twist it to associate it with something sinful, but he is a liar and the father of them and God is still on the throne and always will be.

The people of Noah’s time had turned their backs on God and were very wicked. The bible says that the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great and the intent of his heart was only evil, and He was sorry He had made man and grieved in His heart. (Gen. 7:5-6 paraphrased) God saw that there was a man who found grace in His eyes. That man was Noah. So the Lord spoke to Noah and had him build an ark for him, his family, and seven sets of every clean animal, bird, and creepy crawly thing on earth and one set of every unclean animal and bird. While Noah built the ark he preached to the people and told them to repent for judgment was coming but the people would not listen and thought Noah was crazy. The day came when God told Noah to take his family and the animals and to go into the ark. Once they did, the heavens opened up and it rained for forty days and forty nights, till there was nothing living left on the earth except for those in the ark. When the rains had stopped and the earth dried, Noah, his family, and the animals came out of the ark and Noah offered sacrifices to the Lord and the Lord when He smelled the sweet aroma said in His heart that would never again curse the ground for man’s sake. Henceforth the rainbow!!

The real meaning of the rainbow my dear friends is the “covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is in the earth.” It is the covenant that He made with Noah and every living creature with him to never again destroy all flesh with flood waters. The rainbow is the sign of promises! Whenever I see a rainbow, I am reminded that God is the God who keeps His word. He is the God of covenants or pacts. When God makes a covenant with you, you can be sure that whatever He promised will come to pass! Hallelujah!! When I see the rainbow, I am reminded of the promises God has made to me and mine and I am filled with gratitude and hope because I know that He keeps His word! Praise God!

My friend suggested that I write a devotional about the rainbow so that whoever comes across my page on the web will not get the wrong idea about me because of the rainbow. I am writing it to let everyone know the true meaning of the rainbow and what it means to me. The word says “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6), and I wanted everyone who comes across this page to know what it really means and that God is a promise keeper! He keeps His word and it never returns to Him void but fulfills the purpose for which He sends it.

My friends, whenever you see a rainbow in the sky, remember the promises God has made over your life and be reassured that they will come to pass and you will rejoice on they day of their fulfillment.

Don't lose Heart

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18

“If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?
Jeremiah 12:5

Of all the Apostles, Paul knew what it was to suffer for the cause of Christ. Of all the Prophets, Jeremiah is recorded to have cried and endured the most. Both of these men suffered horrible things to preach the word of God. Paul preached the Gospel to the Gentiles and suffered at the hands of his own people as well as the Gentiles. Jeremiah suffered at the hands of his people because He was the mouthpiece of God and the people did not want to hear what he had to say. Yet when you read these scriptures, you see that there is hope. How you might ask? Allow me to break it down for you.

In Jeremiah 12:5, God is speaking to Jeremiah concerning his suffering and weariness. Jeremiah was getting tired of the rebellion and violence of the Israelites who were worshiping false gods and did not want to heed the voice of the Lord. And he questions the Lord on how long will He endure the wickedness of these people. He asks God why doesn’t He just kill them and be done with them because they don’t have Him to think about. Pretty bold huh? Jeremiah knew that God had the power to knock these people off like flies, yet when God answers him, He shows His infinite mercy by asking Jeremiah (in my words): if you are tired of dealing with these people and they are still in their homeland, how will you deal with them, the enemy, and the things that will happen when they are in captivity? If you are weary of speaking the word and interceding during times of peace, when you thought all was well, then how will you manage when war rises up and it’s time for you to battle and stand in the gap? In other words God is saying if you can’t handle this (and I am not saying that it was easy), how will you manage the ministry that I want to put in your hands? When we complain we need to examine ourselves and remember that God backs up those whom He calls. When He called Jeremiah, He told him that He would always be with him, he would not be alone.

In the same way God uses Paul to encourage the Corinthians. Paul had been beaten, whipped, shipwrecked, and so close to death many times in journeys to preach the Gospel. He faced opposition on all sides, yet he tells these people that what we suffer is but a light affliction! Can you imagine being whipped one lash short of the death penalty and looking at it as a “light affliction”?? But Paul was a man who loved God and was sold out to Him to do whatever God wanted him to do and endure whatever he had to endure to get it done. Paul goes on to say that though the outward man perishes, the inward man is being renewed day by day. Praise the Lord!!! Though our physical bodies are tired and worn out, our brains are drained of thought and our emotions are weary from the battle, the inner man – our spirit man – the one that is born of the Spirit is renewed daily in Christ Jesus!! So why stress it? Every light affliction brings us to another level in glory. Everything that we go through brings ever closer to the Father as we draw near to Him in our afflictions. We are vulnerable and open to what God wants to do with us when we are afflicted or when we are in a trial. That is not to say that we should not seek God or that we don’t seek God when things are good, but there is something about pain that draws you closer to the Comforter, the One who can heal and restore you, the mender of broken hearts. We know that He provides our needs, He protects us, but when we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. That is why Paul says that the affliction that is but for a moment is working for us a far more exceeding glory because we are looking at the things of the spirit when we are looking at the things unseen because what we see is temporary. Praise God!

Lord helps us to endure our light afflictions like good soldiers and see the unseen that is eternal so that we will not lose heart. In Jesus name Amen!

Don't be Anxious!

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

Anxiety seems to plague the population these days. How many people do we know or have heard of who are suffering from anxiety, people who suffer panic attacks due to anxiety, people who are stressed out due to anxiety? Some are on medication and others are trying to cope with it, while others are oblivious to the reason for the tension in their bodies. The definition of the word anxious is: full of mental distress or uneasiness because of fear of danger or misfortune; greatly worried; solicitous: Her parents were anxious about her poor health. It is derived from the word angere which means to strangle, pain, distress. (www.dictionary.com)

Anxiety is a tool the enemy uses to cause you not to trust God. Jesus used a parable about seeds that were thrown in four different types of ground – the wayside, the stony ground, the thorns, and the good ground. When we become anxious, we forget the promises of God. We forget that God has promised to provide for our needs. We forget that we are children of the King and He is the owner of the silver and the gold. He is Jehovah Rafa our healer. He is Jehova Tsidkenu our righteousness. When we become anxious for our needs or anxious about our future, we become like the seed that was sown among the thorns, that the cares of this world choked its growth. When we become anxious our trust is no longer in God and it affects our health, our finances, our relationships.

Ahhh but when we trust in God and make our petitions known to Him through prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, we are guarded by His peace that surpasses all understanding! People may not understand how you can be so calm and your refrigerator is empty or your rent is overdue and you don’t have the money to pay it. They will not understand how you can keep it together when you have just been diagnosed with a terminal disease! The reason you can is because through prayer and supplication, you have made your request for healing known to God with thanksgiving and He has filled you with His peace because you trust Him! You have asked for provision with thanksgiving knowing that He is faithful and He will provide for you! This is the reason why you can be calm and you can keep it together when you are facing diverse circumstances. The God that you and I serve is very aware of our situations and when we come to Him and put all of our trust in Him, He will make a way where there is no way for us! Praise God!! Be anxious for NOTHING, but in EVERYTHING make your petitions known to God. He is never early, never late, but always ON TIME!! Glory to God!! Thank you Jesus for Your faithfulness and Your peace.

No Weapon Formed Against You

No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
Isaiah 54:17


We all know this verse and most of us quote it frequently but usually we only quote the first part of the verse. What about the rest of it? This happens to be my brother’s favorite verse and one morning we were sitting at the table, having a conversation and he began to quote this verse but only the first part of it, and I quoted the rest and he said “there’s more to that verse?” He had not committed to memory the entire verse because he thought that was all of it. Sometimes we focus on part of a verse and not the whole verse because we see the promise in that part but the promise is actually in the whole verse. For example James 4:17, many focus on the part that says resist the devil and he will flee from you. But the first part says submit yourselves therefore to God, and then you read the promise. For this verse in particular, you can not resist the devil if you don’t first submit yourself to God. In Isaiah 54:17 the promise is no weapon formed against you shall prosper AND every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall condemn. THIS is the heritage of the SERVANTS OF THE LORD, and their righteousness is of me, says the LORD. What is the promise? The promise is no weapon formed against you shall proper and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. So what’s the catch? You have to be a servant of the Lord! The heritage is for the servants of the Lord and their righteousness is of me. In other words He makes His servants righteous. It is a wonderful promise to know that when we serve the Lord, nothing that the devil tries to do to us will prosper! When he uses people to speak against us, to tear us down, to judge us wrongfully and criticize us, we shall condemn them! Why?? Because it is not us that they are speaking against but the Lord whom we serve, when they come against us with hostility and hatred for what we stand for, it is not us they come against but the Lord we serve. He fights the battle for us and with us. See, the devil hates the image of Christ in us. He hates us because we have something that he can never get back and that is a relationship with God the Father through His Son Jesus Christ. He knows that if Christ is in us and we are faithful, that nothing he throws at us can keep us down, but he won’t give up which is why we have to remain alert. Praise God for His mighty power, because He is like a powerful giant in front of us and at our side in battle. If you look at the last part of the verse, it says their righteousness is of me. We are not righteous by our own right but He makes us righteous through Him that saved us! He puts His righteousness on us and calls us His, this is the heritage of those who serve the Lord! Praise God!! Let us remember that no matter what comes against us that no weapon formed against us shall prosper and those that speak against us are not fighting us but are fighting God and we shall condemn them because woe to him that tries to harm any one of God’s little ones! His righteousness is our heritage. God is awesome!!

Abundant Faith or Lack of Faith – Which do You Have?

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6

Faith is an interesting concept but what is faith exactly? Hebrews 11:1 says “now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. The dictionary (http://www.dictionary.com/) has several definitions but the one that stuck is this one: the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved.

So how do we obtain faith? What you believe and what you put your faith in is up to you. The Bible says that faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of God. You have to hear the word of God to obtain faith in Him and once you have obtained that faith, you have to strengthen it continually through the word of God. If you are hearing and believing anything that is not the word of God, then your faith is misplaced and you have believed and trusted in lies. When we come to Christ, the measure of faith with which each one of us believed may vary. For some of us, we have believed wholehearted and continued to strengthen that faith by soaking up the word of God. We are feeding our spirit with the word and our faith gets stronger. For some of us we may have believed with a mustard seed of faith and struggle to develop it as we should because maybe we don’t know that our faith grows as we soak up the word. If that is the case, let me encourage you. You can strengthen your faith in God and see His glory in your life. Spending time in God’s word and in prayer are essential to your spiritual growth. If you have a hard time understanding the Bible, no worries, you are not alone! None of us understand the Bible the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 10th time we read the Bible through! It takes time, meditation, guidance and illumination from the Holy Spirit and determination on your part to keep reading and memorizing even when you don’t get it. One day you will sit down to meditate and study the Scriptures and a light bulb will go on in your mind and spirit and you will say “Wow! I must’ve read this verse a hundred times and now I get it!” As you memorize Scriptures and you speak the word of God, you are reaffirming your faith and establishing the word of God in your life. Make it personal! Apply it to yourself and your situation and see what happens! Praise God!

The second verse today is in Hebrews 11:6 – but without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. When we were God’s enemies (living in sin) we could not please Him because our faith was not in Him, we didn’t care much about the consequences of our lifestyles because we were pleasing our sinful nature at the time; but once you come to Christ, it is your responsibility to seek God, pray, study His word, and build yourself up in faith. If you neglect these things and you have a mustard seed of faith, it is quite possible that that seed will shrivel up and you will find yourself back where you started because you could not believe. Friends, God wants intimacy, friendship, and trust from His creation. When we believe that He is who He says He is we are showing trust in Him. When we commit our lives to Him and are obedient to Him and do what His word says to do we are saying that we trust Him, we believe Him. When we trust Him, we love Him. He knows what we are made of. He knows what we are going to think before we think it, what we are going to say before we say it, He knows what we are going to do before we do it. His plan for us was written before we were born, everything we do and go through in this life does happen without His knowledge. He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him! If you seek Him daily you will find Him! God is infinite, He is everywhere but He longs for us to invite Him in. To humble ourselves before Him and seek His presence, His counsel, His love, His conversation, sometimes just His ear! If you seek Him you will find Him! You have to be persistent and consistent. Don’t get discouraged because you sought Him today and you didn’t get the answers you wanted, or you didn’t see what you wanted to see. God does things in His time and He will reward you for being diligent in your pursuit of Him by answering your petitions, by speaking to your heart, by comforting you, by whispering in your ear, by revealing Himself to you. But He does everything in order and if you are not ready for what He has for you, He will wait till you are and you have to keep pressing on. Let us take up our shield of faith that can only be activated and exercised, used effectively, when our faith is grounded and founded in the word of God. Praise the Lord! As the Lord told Jeremiah to eat the scroll, I tell you eat the word of God! Eat the book and feed your spirit! Of course I don’t mean literally eat it but read it, study it, meditate on it, ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate your mind and bind all spirits that would try to keep you from feasting on the word of God, because when your mind is soaked up in the word your faith is strengthened and you are able to take up your shield of faith and quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. Hallelujah!!

Soar Like an Eagle

Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's. Psalm 103:1-5

This is one of my favorite Psalms. It expresses the gratitude that is in my heart for all the Lord has done for me. When I am going through a trial, I think of the first verse and tell myself, regardless of what my surroundings look like, I must bless the Lord with all my soul. I can’t forget where He brought me from, all that He’s done for me, how He placed my feet upon a rock. Some of us were born and raised in the church and that in itself is a blessing, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t experience things that people who weren’t raised in the church experience. For this reason we cannot forget all His benefits. We can’t forget how He saved us, washed us, restored us, healed us, gave us a new name. We cannot forget these things because though we are saved and Holy Ghost filled, we are human; and as humans we are prone to imperfection. We are prone to forget the good things God has done for us. We are prone to forget that because He loved us, we should love others. We are prone to forget that He who called us is faithful to deliver us from anything and everything. You see, we forget sometimes that God is with us when we are struggling. We forget that He is with us when we fall and don’t know how to get back up. He is right there with His hand stretched out saying get up, I got you. When I think about that it fills me with awe, gratitude, and amazement that God is so patient with His children. I would’ve lost patience with myself a long time ago, but God is not impatient. He continues to love us, lead us, correct us, and mold us into the people He has chosen us to be; a holy nation and a royal priesthood. That is who we are to Him. He forgives our sins; He heals our bodies, souls, and minds. He redeems us from the price we should have paid for our sin. He crowns us with loving kindness and tender mercies! He is awesome!!! He is ever loving and merciful towards us, even when He is correcting us; He does it with mercy and love. Hallelujah!!!

Bless the Lord Oh my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name!! Glory to God!! I get excited when I think about what He’s done for me. He gives us good things and when we are tired and weary from the battle and the struggling, He gives us strength to fly like eagles. The word says He satisfies our mouth with good things so that our youth is renewed like the eagle’s. God is just amazing! To renew us like the eagle is to strengthen us so that we can continue will full force like the eagle when he soars in the sky. There will be days when we will soar in the glory of the Lord. When we will be so high and full of Him, that we may think nothing can touch us and we praise Him. But there will be days when we will be weary and we will have to battle and on these days we need to praise Him even more because He is the one that renews our youth in those times. Praise be to God Almighty!!