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“Redeemer,” one of the many names for Jesus,  means Jesus is our redemption. Jesus paid our debt that we owed to God’s law so that we could have a place in His family.

One of the marvelous joys that we experience throughout our Christian life is the joy of our salvation. David wrote in Psalm 51:12, “Restore to me the joy of my salvation…” David had lost his joy after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and then having her husband killed to help conceal that sin. The prophet Nathan was sent by God to expose David’s sin and bring him back into fellowship with Himself. That’s grace. Confessing our sins to God and Him forgiving our sins and cleansing us from all our unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

The joy that is in our salvation is knowing that we cannot earn God’s redemption – it is a free gift. The price of sin is death and that price was paid by Jesus shedding his blood on the cross. Our joy comes from knowing that while we were yet sinners, Christ loved us and died for us so that we might live.

As I think about this joy for my own life, I see that  joy is grace and grace is joy. When I think about true joy, I am thinking about God’s grace toward me – a sinner forgiven, and when I think about God’s grace, well,  that brings me joy. So no matter what each new day brings, I know that I have the joy of my salvation in my Redeemer, Jesus!

El Shaddai is one of the many names for God in Hebrew meaning “God Almighty, God of the Mountains, The All Sufficient One.” To know when I am praying and fellowshipping with God that He is my everything is comforting. What more do I need? Nothing!

There is a sweet joy in knowing that when I call out to “El Shaddai” I am calling to the one true God, the God of the universe. The God who so loved me that He sent his only son Jesus to pay the penalty for my sins so that I might be reconciled unto to him. And that’s just the beginning.

God is also my sufficiency. Philippians 4:19 says that “He supplies all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” I am finding great joy in being satisfied with God’s sufficiency through Christ Jesus. There is nothing to big for God. No matter what trials this world has to offer, I belong to God. He is my king and Lord – of whom or what shall I fear?

I long for the day when I get to bow down in His presence in Heaven and be swallowed up in His glory, and to worship Jesus my Lord and Savior.

John Piper wrote in his book “Future Grace,” that the reason we sin is because at the point of temptation, we believe in what sin promises more than what God promises. This is a serious indictment to the Christian, especially me. I know that when I examine my life, there were times when this statement was so true. I caved in to temptation and sinned because of the temporary pleasures it brought. And those pleasures were only good in the moment.

It is sad to think that I would settle for a momentary pleasure than for what God has in store for me. God’s promises are not only perfect for us but are also guilt free. Sin in its season may be good at the time, but the consequences are deadly. In contrast, God’s promises not only fulfill the desires of our hearts, but leave us with a peace and contentment that only God can give. Jesus said in John 10:10, “I come so that  you may have life and have it more abundantly.” This not the prosperity gospel that is being spewed out from the false teachers of our day. Rather, its abundant pleasures that come from a life devoted to serving Jesus and sharing His gospel to this lost and dying world.

Words cannot describe the feeling of  joy when we put on the mind of Christ and love others the way Jesus loves us. Of course, it is easy to love some people, but what about the those that are not so easy to love? This is where we must persevere with the strength of the Lord. It is a daily choice to live out our lives fulling the 2 greatest commandments – to love God with all our hearts, our souls and our minds and to love others as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39). And the consequence of pursing God? Joy! Being satisfied with all that God is for us in Christ Jesus.

The time change took place this past weekend and I am still trying to catch up. I don’t understand why we can’t leave the time alone, oh wait, it’s a government thing – never mind.

Time is very important. If you put yourself in the same group as Albert Einstein, Bill Gates and Thomas Edison you will have one thing in common – time. We all have the same 24 hours in a day. It’s what we do with that time that makes a difference in our lives. Especially when we spend “quality” time with Jesus.

To often we spend very little time with God in prayer and reading His Word. I know that I am guilty of “red light prayers” – praying while driving somewhere. Not that you can’t pray while driving, but I have been known to let my life get so busy that I hit the floor running in the mornings and cram God in when I can. Not a good move on my part.

God deserves so much more and I need so much more of Him. It is a much sweeter day when I have spent that quality time with Him in prayer and reading the Bible. That doesnt’ mean that the day will be without difficulties, but it does mean any problems are much easier to handle. If fact, quality time with God leads to taking God with you all through the day. Too many times we compartmentalize our day and leave God at home when we should be walking and talking with Him all day long.

It is time that I (we) give God the time that He deserves. After all, we love Him because He first loved us.

The last 14 days has been filled with spiritual blessings from God along with many trials and demonic oppression. Any time you make a conscience choice to draw near unto the Lord, you can be assured of Satan’s efforts to disrupt that most precious fellowship between you and Jesus.

I am reminded of what the apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:8-10 – “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.”

What joy comes knowing that if God is for me then who can be against me. Certainly not Satan! Oh he can try, but I have  victory in cross. I am a sinner saved by grace for the glory of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It’s funny sometimes how we believe and know that God answers prayer but seem surprised when He does. Today was one of those days for me.

Still experiencing back pain – though it feels better – I had a magic show performance where I would need to carry a couple of cases containing the props for the show. I was not sure how well my back would do and if I would be able to stand for more than an hour. I received a text message from a friend who was praying for me during the time of the show and I also had prayed that I would be able to perform without any problems. God not only answered the prayers for my back but the my show went off without any problems even though there were difficulties with the 2 opening acts.

The bible says in Matthew 21:22, that whatever we ask in prayer, believing, we will receive. The key word here is believe. This is an action word that indicates moving as if we have already received our request. I believe this in so many ways in my life and yet there are those times that I am weak in my beliefs.

My prayer is that I will continue to grow in my faith and trust God knowing that all my needs are met according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus – to live day by day in faith and for the glory of God.

I was blessed with the opportunity to perform strolling close up magic for a Father/Daughter dance at a middle school tonight. What a blessing it was to see dad’s with their daughters. I was also pleasantly surprised to see these young girls grab their dad’s hand and drag them onto the dance floor. I figured that the girls would want to just hang out with their friends and be cool but it wasn’t like that at all. Everyone truly had a great time.

On my way home, I begin to think about how God wants to hang out with us just like the fathers and daughters at the dance. I know God desires to have fellowship with us since He did pay the ultimate price – sending His son Jesus to die on the cross paying our debt so that we could come to Him. How wonderful it is when we run into the throne room of God and grab His hand and say “come dance with me.” I know that we would not really be dancing but, we would be in joyous fellowship with the Father.

My desire is to fully satisfied with God and to delight in spending time with Him. To share a dance and to be embraced by the grace and love of God the Father through His son Jesus Christ.

I am in day 3 of severe back pain and was able to make an appointment with the Chiropractor. This was my first visit and adjustment. I have heard many people tell of what good comes from the hands of a good Chiropractor and of the horror stories. My story was one of the good ones.

After an examination, the Dr began to do her magic. Then came some very painful adjustments. The pain seemed worse than the original pain. But, just a few hours later, I was feeling awesome. I still have some discomfort but I feel so much better. I have to go back tomorrow and continue for about 12 weeks.

The Lord really spoke to my heart today with this experience. There are some discs in my back that have slipped out-of-place and it will take several adjustments to get every thing back in alignment. This is much like our Christian walk.

When we sin, we slip out of fellowship with God and we  need to confess our sins to God and plead the blood of Christ. Then comes the adjustments, and sometimes they hurt. We also need to be adjusted every day. How? by spending time with the Great Physician – Jesus. Daily we need to adjust our thoughts and desires according to his purpose. We need to daily read the scriptures and spend substantial amount of time in prayer.

It’s very easy to twist or bend over in the wrong way and cause a disc in our backs to slip out-of-place,  and so it is with sin. Sin is always crouching at the door of our hearts ready for us to make a mistake and let sin slip into our life and cause us pain. We must be diligent to pray and feast on God’s word – daily adjusting our minds and hearts for His Glory.

It’s easy to trust God when things are going well in your life. But when the storm on the horizon closes in can we still trust in the Lord?

I have had severe back pain since yesterday morning. I can hardly move without pain shooting through my lower back and running down into my right leg. It is here where I must lean on the everlasting arms of Jesus. I am going to the doctor in the morning but I am also trusting in God  for my healing. I am also praising Him in my time of trouble. It’s not easy to give thanksgiving in the bad times but this is where we can find God – right there with us.

As I grow in the joy of being satisfied with all that God is for me in Christ Jesus, I find myself praising His holy name and giving thanks for all that God has blessed me with including the back pain. His grace is sufficient. I look forward to spending an eternity in Heaven with there will be no more pain.

“The devil made me do it” was a phrase made popular by the comedian Flip Wilson on his TV show in the 70’s. In an effort to be humorous, the character that he played would do something bad and he would say, “the devil made me do it”, as if to say that it was not his fault.

There is no doubt that Satan and his demons are working hard to tempt us to sin and trust in what sin promises more that what God promises. But sometimes, it’s our own sin nature that gets us in trouble and out of fellowship with God. The apostle Paul tells us in Romans that no one is good no not one. Not only do we have to contend with the devil but we also have to deal with our flesh. We are fighting a battle on two fronts. How can we survive and win with so much against us? The answer is obvious and yet no so easy.

We must first come to realize that we are sinners in need of a Savior. That Savior is Jesus Christ. We must submit ourselves to him by confessing our sins and by living holy lives for the glory of God. Then, and only then, do we have the power to persevere in this life and the attacks from the devil and have the power to submit our flesh under the authority of Jesus. See, salvation is the obvious part, and the not so easy part? Well,     that ‘s pride – the part that says “we can do it” on our own. Another subtle lie from Satan.

Jesus tells us in John 15:5 that apart from Him we can do nothing, but with Christ we can do all things (Philippians 4:13). There is great joy in knowing that we are not alone, that Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us and that we have an advocate with the Father – Jesus, who not only lived on this earth in the flesh, but he overcame all the temptations living a perfect life. Jesus knows what we are going through and it’s Jesus who gives us the power to live for the Glory of God.