bible

How To Spot A Counterfeit

Posted on by Denise Harper

When I worked in retail one of the things they taught us was how to identify fake currency. You might think that staring at fake bills would help to spot other fakes but this is what they told us: study the real deal. The more familiar we are with the look and feel of authentic currency – the more readily we will recognize the forgery.

And so it is in life. Our enemy, the devil, has a counterfeit for nearly everything. Counterfeit gifts. Counterfeit opportunities. He will even use people to try to throw us off of our pursuit of God and our purpose. The enemy’s goal is to distract us and ultimately destroy us. Some of his counterfeits are so recognizable we will spot them right away. Others are much harder to detect. Revelation 12:9 (ESV)calls him “the deceiver of the whole world”.

Jesus told us in John 10:10 (NLT), “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” The best way to identify a counterfeit in our life is not to study the tactics of the devil because as the deceiver he will attempt to disguise them in a million ways. When we spend our days and give our complete attention to studying the life and ways of Jesus….as we identify and really know the authentic Savior of our soul we WILL detect and resist the enemy of our soul. Jesus’ promise to us who know Him is life…abundant life! Recognizing the authenticity of Christ in and around us will keep us following close after Him all the days of our life and we will be far less likely to fall for the fake.

Talk About It Again

Posted on by Denise Harper

One thing I have come to count on over the years of being married to my husband, Ken, is that if we put something on our calendar, he will bring it up in our conversations nearly every day until it comes to pass! I’ve come to learn it’s not because he’s afraid he will forget. It’s not even that he thinks that I might forget (although I’ve been known to forget a time or two!). While I used to get tired of having that same conversation over and over again I have come to recognize that it’s important to him and he’s looking forward to us doing whatever it is — together!

Have you ever thought – God must get so tired of hearing me pray about this over and over and over again?! Or should we treat our prayer time with God as a one-and-done kind of conversation? Essentially believing that God is God and we only need to bring it to Him one time or we run the risk of insulting Him or giving the impression that we don’t trust Him. When we bring things to God over and over do we come close, at times, to the persistent cries of the Israelites in the desert who certainly had short memories of God’s miraculous power and provision? Remember when Moses went up to Mount Sinai, the Lord descended in a cloud and confirmed, “I am the Lord God. I am merciful and very patient with my people”. Exodus 34:6 (CEV)

God is the same then – as He is now – and will be forever more. His very nature is patience! So when we continue to talk to God about what is on our heart, our repeated prayer is really our admission that we’re not trying to do it on our own. What is it that your heart is crying out to God to handle? Begin to thank Him for hearing your prayer and answering. Be ready. God rarely answers the way we anticipate! But it is not our responsibility to figure out the “how” of the need. It is our responsibility to bring every thing that is concerning us to Him. All of it! When we do, it can actually free us, to anticipate what God will do.

The Sound of a Heavy Rain

Posted on by Denise Harper

Have you ever been so sure of something that you went way out on a limb to boldly say it to another? There have been a few times in my life when I had zero doubt that God was going to do something specific and I shared it with others with bold confidence. When it happened I was not at all surprised.

So when I read 1 Kings 18 recently about Elijah boldly proclaiming to the King that heavy rain was on its way, after three years without ANY rain in ALL the land, I noticed part of a verse that I’d never considered before. In verse 41 of 1 Kings 18 (NIV) Elijah tells King Ahab to “Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain.” Did I mention that it hadn’t rained there in almost eleven hundred days?! But God had allowed Elijah to hear the sound of good drenching rain!

The king went to eat and drink and Elijah went to the mountain to pray. In fact, Elijah got into a posture of prayer that resembled that of giving birth. That was a serious prayer time! And while he prayed, Elijah sent his servant to look toward the sea for the rain. Seven times he sent his servant to look as he continued praying. What kept Elijah so confident that the rain was coming? God had allowed Elijah to hear the sound of a LOT of rain! When the servant returned the seventh time and said there was a little cloud the size of a man’s hand rising from the sea that’s all it took for Elijah to send word to the king that he had better hitch up his horse and chariot and skedaddle or he was going to be soaked!

What does the sound of answered prayer sound like in your life right now? When you’ve prayed and prayed and you keep watching… and still there is no sign of the answer… Keep remembering the sound of that answered prayer that God gave you. Keep praying. Keep watching. Remember the sound of Elijah’s heavy rain!