No Time for Self Pity

Many of us have experienced life changing challenges in 2009. Challenges that we wish we didn’t have to face, challenges that made you want to run and hide, even challenges that may have put doubt in your heart about God. Some of us are at the breaking point where we can’t take anymore.

Last night I was thinking about some of the challenges Tracy and I have and are facing and I just wanted to breakdown but God told me that this is not the time for self-pity. God is saying to all of us that this is not the time to break down but rather the time of breakthrough. He is saying that He knows what you are going through and He is right there with you in the midst of it. He is saying some of the challenges you are facing were allowed by Him to strengthen you and mature you as His child. Once you get to that point of break down that is when breakthrough occurs.

If we hinder ourselves through self-pity we delay the breakthrough from happening. Each challenge that we face is used for good. It’s time to look at yourself in the mirror, look at that challenge head on and God will direct you as to what it means and why it’s there. 2010 is a year of order and restoration.

Nahum 1:7 (KJV)
The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in Him.

Through the midst of your challenge your stronghold is and always will be God.

Remember: The breaking point is the break through point.

I pray that this has been a blessing on your lives.

Daryle Houston II
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

Consume Me

Today as I was in worship a prayer sprang up out of my heart, it went like this…






Consume me O’ Lord
I surrender completely to you

I desire to do Your will
I desire to fully walk in Your ways

I give myself to you completely
Let your love take over

My heart is Yours
My mind is Yours

I give it all to you O’ Lord
I trust in you O’ God

Take me Lord
Produce through me

No holding back
Everything I am is Yours

Consume me Lord
Consume me

God is looking for people that will come before Him and surrender, who will say consume me Lord. He is looking for people He can use here on this earth who will say like Jesus did…

John 6:38 (NLT)
For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.

Luke 22:42 (NIV)
…Not my will, but yours, be done.

God knows better than we do, who He created us to be. He knows better than we do the things that we are supposed to do here on the earth. He knows better than us what lies ahead. So it is time people of God to begin to be fully used by God, but the only way that is going to happen is if we let God consume us totally. We must put aside ourselves, and say ok Lord, here I am, use me in any way You see fit. Lead me to anywhere I’m supposed to go, not my will Lord, but Yours be done in my life.

We should not look at relinquishing our lives and control to God as a bad thing. He already knows the things we both need and desire. I believe too many people think that if they give God total control He will send them off somewhere crazy where they don’t want to be, doing things they don’t want to be doing. Or they are too worried that it will delay the plans they already have. #1 God will always place you where you fit, where your puzzle piece belongs. Not saying that some of the things He has you do won’t be out of your comfort zone at first because they probably will be, but believe me once you are there, you will say, Yes! This is it! #2 as far as our own plans, can they be greater than God’s plans for us? Not at all. So I just want to encourage each of you out there today to take a look at yourselves and ask yourself, has it been you running the show in your life, or God, and then be bold enough to trust God, to seek Him, and to allow Him to consume you, so that you may do exactly what you were purposed to do.

God bless!

Tracy Houston
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

The Command

Matthew 14:25-28 (NKJV)
Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.” And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.”

I am in a place right now in God where I am being taught and trained in His ways. He is teaching me about patience, gratitude, peace, love, kindness, longsuffering, meekness, and temperance. This is my time for training to be sent out to follow His commands.

When we first started the ministry God showed us these wonderful visions of things to come, and we are very excited to posses those things which God has for us. But before we can posses, we first must be trained and then commanded. I am the type of person that doesn’t like inactivity; I always like to be doing something especially when it comes to something I am passionate about. When God revealed to Tracy and I these visions I was ready to go for it right away, but it wasn’t time yet.

God gave me a vision concerning what I was feeling on the inside; He showed me a dog on a leash that had a steak in front of him. The dog wasn’t trained so he was lunging at the steak, resisting his master and hurting his neck. Next God showed me a trained dog that was patiently sitting next to his master off of his leash waiting for the command to get the steak, when the master gave the command to get the steak the dog calmly stood up and walked to his reward.

In this vision the dog represents me, in the first representation the over excited out of control dog is me trying to lunge out and possess the vision God gave us concerning our future in ministry. The calm dog in the next vision represents how God wants me to be concerning the vision He gave us. He wants us to be trained up and patiently waiting on His command. (Now I’m not trying to say that God see’s you as a dog, this is just how he communicated one of His principles to me)

Luke 5:1-4 (NKJV)
So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

The above scriptures both accurately detail this principle God gave me. The first scripture tells us how Peter walked on the water when he saw Jesus. Peter was able to walk on the water because he was commanded to, if he were never commanded to walk on the water he would have sunk. The second scripture explains to us how Simon launched out into the deep and gathered a net breaking boat load of fish. This would have never happened if he weren’t commanded to do so.

Many of us sometimes take it upon ourselves to launch out into the deep without a command from God and we end up at the bottom needing to be rescued. We all have purpose and reward in this world, and in order for us to accurately posses all that God has for us we first must be trained up and commanded to go out. Wait for the command child of God.

Remember waited time is not wasted time.

I hope this has been a blessing on your lives.

Daryle Houston II
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

The Holy Spirit

John 14:26 (NKJV)
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to you remembrance all things that I said to you.

As believers we all know that God sent the Holy Spirit down to earth to be our comforter, to lead us and guide us in the ways of truth. As Christians it is:
1. Our job to let that happen.
2. Not to become so religious that we think we can do anything we want and think the Holy Spirit will deliver us.
3. Respect the guidance that we get from the Holy Spirit if it doesn’t line up with what we want to do.

Sometimes as Christian believers we can often blame the Holy Spirit for some of the unintelligent decisions we make. We bring upon our own selves unnecessary suffering that we think we have to go through because we think we are doing God justice and we think by going through unnecessary sufferings that God will like us just a little bit more. God likes you just the same no matter what you’re going through. Even when you didn’t know God, He still liked you in all of your mess because He created you. You are His child.

First it’s up to us to let the Holy Spirit have His way in our lives; for some this is not an easy process because this means that you are giving up full control to something you initially cannot see with your natural eyes. This is why God instituted what is known as faith, faith to believe in something you can’t see. Faith to believe in His deity and faith to believe in His purpose for coming to this earth in the form of a man, Yeshua (Jesus). Once we come to the revelation where we know that we cannot live in this world successfully without the correct guidance from the Holy Spirit, we then have to come to the revelation of respect for the Holy Spirit if that has not already happened.

Secondly the Holy Spirit is not a genie in the bottle and in order to effectively flow in the Holy Spirit you have to use Gods wisdom. A lot of people put themselves in detrimental situations thinking that the Holy Spirit will rescue them. When the tempter came to Jesus after His forty day fast one of the things He said to Jesus was if You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. He wanted Jesus to throw Himself off a cliff and have angels come and rescue Him from death. Jesus answered and said “You shall not tempt the Lord your God”. The same reigns true today, don’t tempt God just because you’re righteous. If you are walking down the street at night in a bad neighborhood and you say I’m going to walk down this dark alley because I am a child of God and He is protecting me and will rescue me from anything. I would first say use a little wisdom, don’t deliberately put yourself in a bad situation where you would need to be rescued from your own stupidity. The Holy Spirit is here to teach us, to lead us and guide us into all truth; it’s not the other way around.

Third, you have to respect the guidance of the Holy Spirit even if you don’t understand it. Holy Spirit knows more than you do about yourself. If the Holy Spirit says turns left, turn left no questions asked. Questions beget curiosity, curiosity begets doubt, and doubt begets disobedience. Don’t be like Adam in the garden and get too curious about something that the Holy Spirit is leading you away from. Is it ok to ask the Holy Spirit for confirmation about certain things; I think so just out of experience. But as you mature as a Christian your level of trust will increase and questions and curiosity about certain things that you used to question will no longer boggle your mind.

Just flow in the Holy Spirit and give Him total and full control of your life.

I pray that this has been a blessing on your lives.

Daryle Houston II
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

Flow in Your Gift!

Romans 12:4-8 (NLT)
Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are all parts of his one body, and each of us has different work to do. And since we are all one body in Christ, we belong to each other, and each of us needs all the others. God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out when you have faith that God is speaking through you. If your gift is that of serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, do a good job of teaching. If your gift is to encourage others, do it! If you have money, share it generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

Each of us has been instilled with unique gifts and abilities that God has given us. Paul is saying here that whatever gift we have been given then we should put it to use. Sometimes we can get caught up in comparing ourselves to others…I could never do that, I could never speak like that, I don’t have resources like they do, etc.

But what we have to remember is that we are not anyone else. We shouldn’t compare ourselves to anyone else. We have our own gifts inside. There are people out there that we can touch because of what God has put on the inside of us. If we are trying to be someone else then we will miss those opportunities.

The scripture says that we all have a different work to do within the body. An arm can’t be a foot, and the shoulder can’t become the hand, etc. We each have to function in our appropriate places otherwise the body does not function together.

I want each of you to remember you are all unique and different. You each have your own special gifts and talents, so embrace those and be who God created you to be. It’s time for each of us to rise up and begin to flow in our own gifts.

Tracy Houston
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

You ARE Beautiful!

Many of us have grown up with the pressures of the world all around us. On television, in magazines, on billboards are endless images of what “beauty” is. Many of us have grown up not feeling good enough, not pretty enough. Some have been called fat, or ugly. Some have been told that they would never amount to anything, or they were good for nothing. Some have been abused, neglected, and rejected. As we grew up, images and words have shaped our worlds. As we became teens and adults many times those things have held us back from fully becoming who we were created to become. Some have not been able to see past those images and words, and see the true beauty of who they are.

As we have gone through these pressures, many of us have tried to make ourselves beautiful by the world’s standard; some through makeup, some through plastic surgery, and some have starved themselves. Other’s have tried to find their validation in other people, finding someone to make them feel like they are beautiful or worth something. The problem with these things is that they are just temporary fixes. Makeup will wash off, once you start with the plastic surgery, you will find more and more “flaws”. People can leave, and when they go, the sense of beauty and self-worth go with them. It’s time for us to begin to believe what God said about us, and begin to let Him renew our mind (Romans 12:2), and let Him frame our world (Hebrews 11:3), instead of allowing the media and people to frame our world.

Remember we were all made in God’s image (Genesis 1:26), and He said that what He created is GOOD (Genesis 1:31)!

Psalm 139:13-14
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

1 Samuel 16:7
But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For [the LORD] does not [see] as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

I am here to tell you today that each and every one of you is beautiful. You were created with a purpose, you were chosen by God before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4)! God does not make mistakes, He is a master creator! He is the ultimate artist! Everything He has created is beautiful, we just have to begin to see beauty by God’s standard, and not see beauty by man’s standard. Only an awesomely creative God could make so many different people and make them all unique and distinctive. How boring would it be if we all looked alike! I want each of you to begin to celebrate who you are, celebrate what God gave you. If you have not been able to see the beauty within yourself before, ask God to show you. Ask Him to reveal you to yourself through His eyes. Allow yourself to see the beauty that He created which is YOU!

I’m going to leave you with this song by Jonny Diaz called More Beautiful You…

Little girl fourteen flipping through a magazine
Says she wants to look that way
But her hair isn’t straight her body isn’t fake
And she’s always felt overweight

Well little girl fourteen I wish that you could see
That beauty is within your heart
And you were made with such care your skin your body and your hair
Are perfect just the way they are

There could never be a more beautiful you
Don’t buy the lies disguises and hoops they make you jump through
You were made to fill a purpose that only you could do
So there could never be a more beautiful you

Little girl twenty-one the things that you’ve already done
Anything to get ahead
And you say you’ve got a man but he’s got another plan
Only wants what you will do instead

Well little girl twenty-one you never thought that this would come
You starve yourself to play the part
But I can promise you there’s a man whose love is true
And he’ll treat you like the jewel you are

There could never be a more beautiful you
Don’t buy the lies disguises and hoops they make you jump through
You were made to fill a purpose that only you could do
So there could never be a more beautiful you

So turn around you’re not too far
To back away be who you are
To change your path go another way
It’s not too late you can be saved
If you feel depressed with past regrets
The shameful nights hope to forget
Can disappear they can all be washed away
By the one who’s strong can right your wrongs
Can rid your fears dry all your tears
And change the way you look at this big world
He will take your dark distorted view
And with His light He will show you truth
And again you’ll see through the eyes of a little girl

There could never be a more beautiful you
Don’t buy the lies disguises and hoops they make you jump through
You were made to fill a purpose that only you could do
So there could never be a more beautiful you
There could never be, a more beautiful you.

God Bless!

Tracy Houston
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

Renew your mind

Romans 12:2 (NKJV)
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Yesterday I was thinking about the human mind and what it is capable of. The human mind is one of the most mysterious places in the universe; the human mind is capable of doing things that we cannot even conceive right now. As humans we only use a fraction of the percentage of our minds.

The bible says that we are to renew our mind to the things that concern God using His Word as a tool for doing so. When people read this scripture I think they overlook the seriousness that it entails, it is telling us to renovate our minds, to get out all of the things that have brought harm into our lives through wrong thinking and teaching, and be totally transformed in our beings. Renewing your mind is way more than just reading the Word of God and applying it but rather reading the Word of God and living it, becoming it. The Word is made flesh through you and me.

Just think about it for a minute; why are terrorists, terrorists’; because someone or something changed their minds to conform to what they know now. Why is a member of the KKK a member of the KKK; because they were taught to hate. Why don’t atheists believe; because they were never taught or because they were taught wrongly. Why are you the way you are (not saying that’s a bad thing) because when you were young you were taught the traditions of your family and you essentially became what you saw or were taught. Some people became what they saw or were taught and it wasn’t good, they became alcoholics, abusers, abused, etc… on the other hand some had a good upbringing and became loving members of their households as a result of good examples.

What I am getting at is that whatever you continually allow your mind to be consumed with that is what you will become. It’s very powerful. As Christians we have to be renewed and transformed by the Word of God like never before, let God’s Word totally engulf your being and your thoughts. It takes more than just reading but rather living it also.

I pray this has been a blessing on your life.

Daryle Houston II
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

What do you desire?

Next Friday we will be celebrating the birth of Jesus. Many people use this time of the year for the own desires of their flesh. Since beginning to have the revelation of relationship with God and what that actually means I notice that some of the things that I once desired with my heart, I no longer do. Psalm 37:4 tells us that if we delight ourselves in the Lord that He will give us the desires of our heart.

What does this mean? The first part of the scripture says that we are to first delight ourselves in the Lord. This means more than just singing and praying and feeling happy that God is in control. The word delight there means to be soft or pliable. So in order to obtain our hearts desires first we must be at a point where we are ready and willing to be molded by the Lord no matter what that entails.

Now, before I came to this revelation my hearts desires consisted of a new Mercedes Benz cls 550, a big house, a lot of money; you can figure out where this is going. As a result of being in relationship with the Lord I still do desire these THINGS but there not my heart’s desire anymore. The desires of my heart now consist of do the will of God for my life, helping people all over the world through the preaching and teaching of the Word of God, I want to do what God wants me to do.

I could have only come to point in my life by letting God mold me into the man that He called me to be. Now as for the material THINGS, God knows what we like and what we want and He is providing them for Tracy and I, but there’s an order you must go through if you consider yourself to be on Gods team. Matthew 6:33 tells us to first seek the Kingdom of God and all His righteousness and all these THINGS will be added unto you.

So as we enter the Christmas week let’s really think about the things that we desire that are in our hearts. The key words there are “in your heart”.

If you look at the life of King Solomon, God asked Him one day what He wanted. Solomon answered the Lord correctly and asked for wisdom that he may judge Gods people, and as a result the THINGS that people work for so hard for like wealth and riches were added unto Him effortlessly. 2 Chronicles 1:11

I pray this has been a blessing on your lives.

Daryle Houston II
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

Through Tough Times

Hello KVM family! I just wanted to bring a word of encouragement this morning. In this last month or two I have been hearing many stories of struggle and loss. From financial, to marital, to family, to children. People have been laid off, lost homes, and lost loved ones, and just been going through some stuff.

I know through these tough times some people have distanced themselves from God, or become bitter, angry, depressed, or felt like they had lost their faith, but I’m here to tell you this morning that no matter what you’ve been going through God is with you and your faith is intact. Even if you haven’t felt His presence in the natural, even if it seems as things have only gotten worse. He has been by your side through this whole process, and I want us as we go through these things to begin to take a different perspective. Let us be like the three Hebrew boys in the book of Daniel. They did not follow the norms of the world, they would not bow down and worship an idol, no matter what the world said for them to do, and no matter how bad things had gotten.

We must have this same attitude, that no matter what happens in our lives we will not conform to the ways of the world, we will not listen to the people of the world’s advice on what to do when things go wrong, we will not have bad attitudes in tough times, we will not try to hustle and go out there making things happen on our own, we will not let go of God and begin trusting in man, instead let us do as they did. They did not complain, they were not angry at God, nor did they forsake Him when they were being persecuted, instead this is what they did when Nebuchadnezzar threatened them…

Daniel 3:16-18
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that [is] [the case], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver [us] from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up."

Then the three of them were thrown in the fire, but instead of being burned up, this is what the king saw…

Vs 25
Look!" he answered, "I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."

Then the king called them out of the fire…

Vs. 27
And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king's counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.

After that the King blessed God because he saw what He had done, and made a decree that no one could speak against God, and then the Hebrew boys were promoted. So we can see from this story an attitude of total trust in God. They knew that no matter what they were going through that God would be there with them, and He was. So through this matter not only were they delivered and came out free and not smelling like smoke, through watching what they went through the king and the people of the land came to God and blessed Him, and not only that, after their ordeal was over they got promoted!

Glory to God, it’s all about attitude and trust today people of God, just as God delivered these three Hebrew boys He will deliver each one of you! So continue to walk through, continue to keep a good attitude as you go through because whether you realize it or not you are ministering to the people that are watching you, and through your actions they could be drawn to God just as the king was. And know and believe that God has something Good for you; He has plans to prosper you just as He did with the 3 Hebrew boys. So be encouraged people of God, we will make it through and we will come out the other side even greater! God bless!

Tracy Houston
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

Signs and Wonders

Signs and Wonders are acts that God uses to display His power. I think that signs and wonders are more for the non-believer and the new person in Christ than they are for the mature believer. Just think about it when you first came to Christ, you probably needed a little convincing.

Some people are drawn in by a miraculous event, say you were sick and instantly you were healed. As a result of that move of the power of God, you believed. Some of us didn’t have to see anything to believe, we just believed the words that the person ministering to us were indeed true.

There are believers in the church today that base their relationship with God off of signs and wonders. They’re always looking for something supernatural to happen, and when they don’t see any of that, they say that the presence of God wasn’t there in the place. When they pray they beg God for a holy visitation and when they do experience something like the presence of a glory cloud or something supernatural then their extra happy because “God showed up”.

This kind of behavior and thought process is immaturity on the behalf of that person. God does use natural manifestations such as glory clouds, sweet smelling scents, and other supernatural events from time to time. I believe that theses manifestations are more for the non-believers in the crowd because God knows that most people need to see first before they believe.

My standpoint on the matter is this: whether or not I experience those supernatural manifestations I know who God is and that He is real, and most importantly I know who I am in Christ and that I have a relationship with my creator. When I pray and if I don’t see a natural manifestation come in the room like a glory cloud I’m not down and out because I didn’t think God showed up. God is always around, when I am praying, when I am sleeping, when I am in church, when I am in my home. I don’t need a supernatural event to prove that God is with me.

When we come to that revelation that God is the I Am that I Am we will begin to experience God on a whole new level whether we see manifestations of Him in the natural or not.

Just because you experience signs and wonders this alone doesn’t make your relationship with God increase. The children of Israel experienced signs and wonders every day, yet they still defied God and turned their back on Him. So don’t get stuck on the supernatural, get caught up in the relationship instead.

I pray that this has been a blessing on your lives.

Daryle Houston II
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

Rekindle the Flames

Lately I’ve been listening to this song by David Crowder called “How He loves”. It is a powerful song that gets into your spirit about the love of God. A few of the lyrics go like this…

Yeah, He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves.

When you begin to allow God’s love to wash over you it is an amazing experience. It is freeing and cleansing. You begin to see God and yourself in a different perspective. You begin to truly understand what God has done for you and the sacrifice that Jesus made with His own life (John 3:16). You begin to open your heart to God. You begin to hear God more clearly. Your life changes when you allow God’s love to consume you, and when you release back your love to Him. It becomes a love affair between you and your Creator. If you’ve felt like you’ve become distant from God, or have gotten away from that place of passion like you had when you were first saved then it’s time to rekindle the flames. Just as in a natural relationship if you’ve been with someone for years sometimes things can get routine or the passion can begin to dwindle, or you can begin to take that person for granted and not do the things you used to do. The same happens with many people and their relationship with God, they get comfortable in routine, they lose the fire and the passion, and they don’t do the same things they used to do with and for God. So just as you have to make an effort in that natural relationship to get things back to the place they used to be, as do you in your relationship with God. You have to begin again to get to His heart. You have to begin again to spend time with Him just bearing your all to Him. You have to spend time listening to Him. You have to sing to Him and worship Him. Remember that no matter what, He loves you and He is right there just waiting on you; His desire is to be close to you. So I just want to encourage everyone out there today that might have lost the passion, or maybe it’s just died down some, to rekindle the flames today, allow God’s love to saturate your being, and be changed.

God bless!

Tracy Houston
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

Why? Why? Why?

I think this is one of the most common questions that people ask God; why, why, why? Why God did you let this terrible thing happen to me? Why God am I being challenged so hard? Why God did you let my family member die? God I thought you loved me, I thought that you were my protector and comforter. Why Lord why?

Throughout life many situations take place, some good and some bad; for believers especially we think that because we are on Gods side that we are totally removed from challenges in the world, not true. Situations may happen to believers that are indeed unjust, cruel, and just plain evil. When situations happen to us that we feel aren’t supposed to happen, instead of asking God or blaming God, how about we do a self analysis.

1. Is this situation a result of something I brought on myself?
2. Could this situation have been avoided if I would have asked God first?
3. Could this situation have been avoided if I obeyed Gods command in the beginning?
4. Is this situation indeed from God to teach me and mature me?
5. Or is this just something that happened as a result of living life?

As Christians we always tend to put the blame on God for letting certain things happen to us when in fact some times we are the ones to blame. Now, there are times when things happen and you had nothing to do with it; maybe in fact it was something unjust. Does being a Christian make you exempt from unjust situations; no not at all. Many people in the Bible were victims of unjust situations, Stephen was killed unjustly. Now, does this mean that we are to live in fear of challenges in the world; no not at all because greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.

We’ve been reading the book The Shack lately and this was a quote from the book that kind of ties into why things just happen sometimes. No it’s not from the Bible, but it gives a perspective that makes you think…

God talking..."Nobody knows what horrors I have saved the world from 'cause people can't see what never happened. All evil flows from independence, and independence is your choice. If I were to simply revoke all the choices of independence, the world as you know it would cease to exist and love would have no meaning. This world is not a playground where I keep all my children free from evil. Evil is the chaos of this age that you brought to me, but it will not have the final say. Now it touches everyone I love, those who follow me and those who don't. If I take away the consequences of people's choices, I destroy the possibility of love. Love that is forced is no love at all."

God wants us to live glorious lives full of peace, joy, and righteousness. When something negative does happen to us, because of His love for us, there is always something that God uses in that situation to our benefit (Romans 8:28).

Psalm 55:22 (NKJV)
Cast your burden on the Lord, And He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.

Whatever happens to you in the world never let it take away your peace, or your joy. God is and will always be on your side. Don’t live life inside of a box thinking that you’re going to be protected. Get out and live life to the fullest, it’s ok to go out and have fun. What non-believer wants to look at a boring, religious Christian as their example of Christ?

Know that God has your back.

I pray that this has been a blessing on your lives.

Daryle Houston II
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

Self-Righteousness

As believers sometimes we may believe that what we have worked for all of our lives and what God has blessed us with is a sign of our righteousness with The Father. We have to be careful not to cross the line of self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is exactly what it says it is; a person is self-righteous when they start judging their good standing with God with the things they have accumulated on this earth.

In the book of Job, this was a mindset that Job had and it took repentance on his part to change his thoughts about God.

Job 19:9 (NKJV)
He has stripped me of my glory, And taken the crown from my head.

When Job went through his trials and everything that he worked so hard for throughout his life was no longer there, he immediately attributed that to his not being righteous in the sight of God anymore. The things on this earth that you have gained don’t make you righteous. You might say, “but God has given me all of these blessings.” Absolutely true, God has indeed poured out blessings on your life, but that is not what makes you righteous. When a person gets in the mindset of self-righteousness after that mindset comes another mindset, the one in which you think God owes you something.

Job said that God had stripped him of his own glory. It’s was never our glory to begin with, it is and will always be Gods glory that is upon our lives. Job also says in 31:4 (NKJV) “Does He not see my ways, And count all my steps?” Job is saying, isn’t God looking at all the good things I do on this earth; this is a form of pride that Job is displaying. Again you’re not righteous because of your good deeds, if that were the case no one would be able to hold onto Gods righteousness because we all have sinned.

You are righteous before God because when you decided to dedicate your life to His ways, you were created in it (Ephesians 4:24 NKJV). When God made you He accepted you because you were formed by Him and God don’t make junk. Throughout life God may not approve of some of the things you do, but that doesn’t change how He views you as His child.

So I’m saying if you have experienced some sort of loss or mishap in your life don’t think that God is not with you and that He has given up on you. As long as you seek Him, He will be found by you. Every experience we go through in life, good or bad; there is something to be learned. That’s what life in Christ is about; learning, maturing, and being obedient to God.

I pray that this has been a blessing on your lives.

Daryle Houston II
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

Who You are in Christ

One out of many things we can learn from Jesus is that He knew who He was. In the body of Christ and in the world we are stuck in an identity crisis that is why we are not walking in the fullness of who God created us to be. Jesus knew who He was in all aspects that is why He could speak with boldness, that is why He could heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out demons. That is why He could preach and proclaim things with wisdom and knowledge, all because He knew who He was. As believers before we can truly help others to the fullest capability in which we were created to do, we have to begin to know who we are and accept who we are in Christ…

You are righteous- Philippians 3:9
You are free from condemnation- Romans 8:1-2
You are free from sin- Romans 6:6-7
You are healed- 1 Peter 2:24
You are loved- 1 John 4:9-10
You are chosen- Ephesians 1:3-8
You are God’s workmanship- Ephesians 2:10
You have been redeemed and forgiven- Colossians 1:13-14
You are free- Galatians 2:4
You are created for good works- Ephesians 2:10
You are an heir of God- Romans 8:17

These are just a few of the things that each one of us becomes when we give our lives over to Christ. I want to encourage each of you as you read the word see yourself in it, meditate on it, and begin to discover who you now are in Christ so that you can begin to walk in the fullness of who God created you to be.

God bless!

Tracy Houston
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

Free to Choose

To me, what makes God so awesome is that He gives us the freedom of choice, to follow Him or follow our own vanities. I remember when I was younger and I thought if I had everything I wanted that I would be happy. I went out trying to find happiness in all sort of things; from money, to different women, drinking and partying, material things, status, friends, the list goes on. Every time I would try something new my flesh would be satisfied for awhile but then I would go back to feeling unhappy and depressed.

All along the answer to my eternal happiness was right there all the time just waiting for me to come to the acknowledgement of Him. In all my highs and lows God was always continually speaking to me; sometimes I listened and sometimes I didn’t. The times that I didn’t listen I usually brought some negative situation into my life that I usually ran straight back to God for. When I would ask Him for help He would supply but the help was usually in the form of peace from within.

When we get into bad situations that we bring on ourselves we usually ask God to rectify it for us. Say for example you’re deep in credit card debt and the collectors are calling left and right, we ask God for help and he supplies it, maybe in the form of a strategy to help pay down the debt, or he gives us peace that the situation is going to be ok. On the other hand we were looking for God to miraculously cancel the debt in one instant. God surely can do that but what does that teach you, all that does is enables the same behavior that got you in debt in the first place.

We are Gods children and He is our Father; and as our Father one of the things He does best is teaches us/matures us. I had reached a point in my life where I was tired of messing up, so I took a stand point that from that point on I would ask God before leaping out on my own and trying to gain happiness through vanities. Since I started to do that my life has totally changed, I’m happy when I’m down, I have joy in the times of trouble, and I have more understanding of God and my purpose. Do I still make mistakes, of course I do; but I like to think that I avoid more mistakes than making them.

For me it all boils down to this:

Ecclesiastes 12:13 (NKJV)
Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.

It’s just that simple, and through the sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ we are now redeemed from the curse of death (spiritual death), ain’t life grand? Not too hard to live by, everything else will come into alignment.

Vanity: The futile emptiness of trying to be happy apart from God.

I pray this has been a blessing on your life.

Daryle Houston II
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

Promises

2 Chronicles 15:2 (NKJV)…The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.

The other day I was thinking about all of the negative situations that are taking place in the world right now; from the different types of diseases to the fighting that is going on in the different nations. As I begin to think of the root of some of these calamities it dawned on me of where most of this could stem from.

The first thing people want to do is blame the devil, people say that the devil is causing all of the chaos and evil things. I beg to differ; I believe that as a result of people forsaking God this is just a result of what happens. The Bible is full of promises from God, but we tend to only focus on the ones that are good to us. We only see the ones that talk about wealth, health, and prosperity. In the Bible there are what I call consequential promises.

Consequential promises produces by-products of not obeying the condition of the original promise stated. The Lord says that He will never forsake you, He will never forsake you if you walk in His ways and follow His ways; if we don’t obey Him and do not walk in His way and put Him to the back of our minds than a consequence of that action is produced as stated in the above scripture in 2 Chronicles 15:2.

Now, if you are obedient, walk in His ways than you produce the good fruit of the promise; He will never leave nor forsake you, you will be blessed, and you shall prosper. The more you pour of yourself into God the more He pours Himself into you. The more attention you give Him, the more attention He will give you. The Bible says if you seek Him than you will find Him.

Just take a look at all of the nations that have forsaken the one and true God. North Korea for example is not a Christian State and they are very poor, the people suffer under the works of evil; now let’s look at their neighbors to the South. South Korea has a strong Christian following although they are not the wealthiest nation around but they are blessed and much further along than North Korea. Take a look at the countries in the East that are mostly Muslim; there’re going through some of the worst times in their existence; they have forsaken the one and true God.

Even though these nations don’t seek God as a majority there are a small few who do recognize God, and Jesus as their Lord and savior; the Word is being preached and persecuted at the same time. I think it’s very important to pray for those in those persecuted nations that are preaching the Word of God.

Now, let’s look at our house. North America is one of the wealthiest nations in the entire world. I don’t think this is just by coincidence. This nation was founded on the principle, “One Nation Under God”. The founding fathers of the United States may have not known their true identity in Christ but they did know without God it wasn’t possible. Today many North Americans have swayed away from that very key principle and as a result many people in this country are lost and wandering searching for the meaning of their lives. The meaning of life is simple, its one word; God. We have been blessed as a nation and we will continue to be blessed because there are many in this country that believe in the power of prayer and who recognize God as the one and only God.

God is raising up many people to take His Kingdom message all over the globe, those countries that once persecuted Christians will begin to accept Us and moreover have their minds renewed to the word of God.

We have to start seeing the earth as God and His angels see it, even though there is much destruction going on, God and the angels of Heaven don’t see that, they know what’s going on but they are saying “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory (Isaiah 6:3 NKJV)

I pray that this has been a blessing on your lives.

Daryle Houston II
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

FYI… If you are indeed in the Chicago area, I will be speaking this Thursday 12/3/09 at CRC (Crossroads Restoration Church) in West Chicago at 7:00pm. The address is 245W. Roosevelt Rd. West Chicago, IL 60185, (630)562-3073.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to email us at: lifeword@kingdomvizion.org

Your Seasons

Leviticus 26:3-5 (NKJV)
If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them, then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, and the vintage shall last till the time of sowing; you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.

In life as a believer we go through times of seasons as the bible states, we usually think when we are going through something negative in our lives that it means we’re in a season of drought. I don’t think God ever planned for His children to ever go through a season of lack and not have sufficient provision.

In the above scripture God is making a promise to His children. He is basically saying that you will have a season of rain, where He will pour out of Himself into you both spiritually and naturally. I co notate this season of rain as God pouring His word into your life. The season of rain will produce a harvest in your life. During this time of harvest you are to take what is harvested and some you live of off and some you store, making sure you gather the seeds of the harvest to plant when it’s time. After the harvest, next comes the season of sowing. In this season you are supposed to take the seeds you gather from the harvest and plant them into the ground so when the season of rain comes back around the cycle will continue.

This is the plan God created so that you will always be spiritually and naturally sound in your life. This only works according to one condition, you must walk in the ways of God and keep His commandments. Being the New Testament church we know God isn’t referring to the law of Moses when it comes to us. Jesus gave us two commandments to keep. One, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind; two, love your neighbor as yourself. He then goes on to say that on these two commandments hang all the Law of the prophets, (Matthew 22:37-40 NKJV).

Now if you’re a believer and you are saying where you experience seasons that you think are full of lack, depression, and drama, go over the plan that God laid out and see if you’re missing something or not putting into action the plan that is laid out. In your season of rain are you soaking it all up with your heart or are you letting it runoff which causes a little harvest which produces lesser seed to sow? In your harvest season are you being responsible with your harvest or are you wastefully using it and not storing up enough provision to carry you through the sowing season? In your season of sowing are you really sowing the seeds that God provided or are you keeping them tucked away out of fear of them running out. Remember if you don’t sow the seed you can’t reap a harvest off that seed. A seed not sown is no good to anyone.

This plan God laid out for us to follow is fail proof and will never leave you in a season of lack and poverty. We just have to first, fulfill the conditions to make it work and then we have to work it for ourselves.

Daryle Houston II
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Family! We are so thankful for you all! Each of you is a beautiful, wonderful, unique gift of God to this world, and we are just so thankful to the Father for each one of you!

Today we just wanted to share what we are thankful for this day, and we want to hear what you are thankful for, so please share with us…

Today I (Tracy) am so thankful to God for saving me. I’m thankful that Jesus willingly and lovingly gave up His life for me. My life used to be in such darkness, and His light came into my life and rescued me from depression and pain, so I am thankful for God for deliverance! I am so thankful for my husband, a year ago I wouldn’t have even imagined I would have this wonderful man in my life, but God has given me the desire of my heart in Daryle, he is above and beyond all that I asked for and even though of, and I am so blessed! I am thankful for my family. I love them so much, and I see how God has really moved in my family in the last four years since I’ve been saved, and I know He is going to continue to bless and save all of my family members. I am thankful for the freedom to praise and worship God, in many places they have to meet in secret and are banned from reading the bible, so I am so thankful that I have the freedom to worship Him whenever and wherever I please. I could go on and on, but I just want to say thank you Father I love you so much and I just thank you for everything that you’ve done for me!

I (Daryle) am thankful for the one who made it all possible for me through His sacrifice (Christ Jesus). I am thankful for God being so patient with me over the years and sparing my life many times over and over when I wanted to do my own thing and go down my own path. I thank God for my family and this moment of reawakening for us all. I thank God for all of the people that are truly doing Gods work throughout the world. Lastly I thank God for all of you that have supported Tracy and I and Kingdom Vizion Ministries, you all are more a blessing than you know.

Let’s make today a day of giving thanks for the ultimate sacrifice he paid for you and I. Without God we would have nothing to give thanks for.

Father I thank you with all my heart for your love, your kindness, and your being. In you I live, I breathe, and I worship. Words cannot explain how much I am grateful for you and your sacrifice. Your son, Daryle; I love you.

Even though today is Thanksgiving and we have shared what we are thankful for this day let us remember that thanksgiving should never cease in our hearts it is a daily practice.

I Thessalonians 5:18
"In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

Have a blessed thanksgiving, and have a wonderful day with your friends and family!

Daryle & Tracy Houston
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

Give Me Give Me Give Me

How do you view the Lord? Do you view Him as the One who will give you all of your hearts desires? Do you view Him as the One who will take care of all of your pains and sufferings? Indeed, God is all of those things, but so much more also. We want God to give us everything and when we pray often times it is for God to give us something, or to remove a negative situation from our lives.

We should not look for God to just give us something without any teaching and maturity. In every situation we go through, good or bad there is a lesson to be learned. Instead of always asking God to give, give, give, we should ask Him to teach, teach, teach, and to make us into that person that He has called us to be.

The Bible talks about prosperity, wealth, and riches and how as being Gods children that we have this already given to us. Instead of us asking God to work a miracle and drop a million dollars into our bank account overnight, we should first ask Him to impart the wisdom to handle wealth; then ask Him for a strategy that you can use that would make you acquire the wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18). If we have a negative situation in our lives, our prayer shouldn’t be to just ask God to remove it. The situation is there for a reason. Let’s start asking God first to reveal the clarity of this situation; is there anything inside of me that doesn’t need to be there that brought this situation into my life and if so, Lord what needs to be done within me to remove it. It’s time to begin to focus on being made and not just on being given all the time.

Let’s look at the story of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32 (KJV). In verse 12-13 it says…

And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

Many of you know the story after he went away he spent all his money and had to work at a pig farm, but even then he had nothing, they wouldn’t even let him eat what the pigs were eating. And then he had a revelation in verses 17-19…And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

So you can see the son went from give me and going out on his own will and not using any wisdom, he lost all his money, then he went through a tough time which caused him to get understanding in which his heart became right, and his mindset went from give me to make me, as you can see he matured.

It is a time for maturity in the body of Christ we already have the inheritance just as the prodigal son did from the beginning, his mindset and his heart just weren’t in the right place. It’s time for us to come to ourselves, accept that which God has already given us when Jesus went to the cross, stop worrying about how and when and where everything is going to manifest, and trust that God has already aligned everything for us. Let us begin to focus on our inner man, let us begin to say, God make me the person you created me to be, etc. once the inside is aligned correctly, we will see things begin to manifest on the outside.

We pray this has been a blessing on your life.

Daryle & Tracy Houston
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

It’s Time for a Relationship

I believe in this time God is calling His people back into direct relationship with Him, we are to walk with Him as Adam did in the garden. For many people it’s hard to grasp that concept that we are walking and in relationship with God all day long. Some people say they are too busy to talk to God, some think of God as this far away God that we can only talk to while we are in church. I’m here to tell you that God is with you at all times. He is sitting with you, He is walking with you, He is there when you are at work, or at home, when you are exercising, or in school, at all times He is there, and at all times you can talk to Him.

We have to stop being so religious and begin to recognize God for who He is. You can talk to God at all times just like you would talk to your friend; He wants to be included in everything, not just your problems. Talking to God is not some religious ritual, it is not some religious prayer, it is being who you are; talking just like you would to your best friend. Be open, be real, and share everything with Him. As you begin to walk with God like this you will begin to hear Him clearer, and you will begin to open your heart to Him in a way like never before. You will begin to really fall in love with Him.

Let me give you an example; if you were dating and you met this new person and you all start hanging out, don’t you always want to talk to that person, don’t you want to get to know them personally, don’t you always want to hang out with them, don’t you want to hear what is on their heart, don’t you enjoy doing for them? This is how we are to be with God, we’ve gotten great about knowing His Word and going to church, etc. but we haven’t gotten to know God personally.

We will sit around hoping we get a word from a prophet or our pastor. We look to others to tell us what God has to say to us, and what He has for us, but what about receiving it for ourselves. We don’t have to go to anyone else; He desires to walk with us like He did with Adam in the garden. And in the garden God spoke to Adam about everything, Adam didn’t have to run to anyone else to get a word from God, it was just Him and God. When Jesus died on the cross for us, didn’t He restore that relationship between us and God…?

Colossians 1:20-22 (NLT)
and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross. This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

Before He left the earth didn’t He say that He wanted us to be one with God…?

John 17:21 (NLT)
My prayer for all of them is that they will be one, just as you and I are one, Father--that just as you are in me and I am in you, so they will be in us, and the world will believe you sent me.

It’s time people of God to walk in that which was provided for us. It’s time people of God to walk as Adam did. It’s time people of God for us to begin to hear God for ourselves. So open yourself up, don’t be afraid of God, He desires to hear your heart, your thoughts, and He desires to share His heart and His thoughts with you.

God bless!

Tracy Houston
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

The Sunday Morning Crowd

Ezekiel 33:31 (NKJV)
“So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain.

In the above scripture God is speaking to Ezekiel and he is describing what I call in today’s language a typical Sunday morning people. I read the Old Testament with the understanding of the new covenant of the New Testament, but there are still some Old Testament issues that we still face as a people today. There are many people that go to church but still have an Old Testament mentality.

God is describing a people in the above scripture that go to church to hear a good Word from the messenger. The Word that is being delivered is straight from the heart of God through the mouth of the prophet, pastor, preacher, teacher, evangelist, or apostle. The people hear the Word, get excited, leave church and go back to pursuing the desires of their own hearts and not the desires that God has for them from His heart. This is what I call “The typical Sunday morning people”

It is one thing to hear Gods Word and it’s another to actually implement it into your life. What good is hearing a good Word and doing nothing with it because you’re too preoccupied with doing whatever you want to do without including God in the plan. Than when we experience bad situations in our lives that’s when we turn to God for direction; not saying that there is anything wrong with that, God is so loving that He will save you even if you did push Him to the side once before.

My case is this; how about we include God in every aspect of our lives before we get ourselves into these ruts that we can’t get out of. I’m not saying get all extra religious and start doing incomprehensible acts to try to gain Gods protection or favor, because you already have it. I’m just saying if you already haven’t; begin an intimate relationship with God, talk to Him like you talk to your family and friends. You might say that sounds silly, just talking to someone you can’t see. The amazing part about it is when you talk to God, He talks back.

Jesus said in Matthew 4:4 that we should not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. God knows all your dreams, desires, needs, and wants; just make Him number one in your life and do what His words says instead of just hearing.

I pray that this has been a blessing on your lives.

Daryle Houston II
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

You are a Finished Work

Ephesians 2:10 (NKJV)
For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Many individuals today face the problem of not feeling accepted by God. They tend to let their past sins affect their future, and what they think that God thinks about them. In the above scripture it says that we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works. When God created you He created the blueprint for your life and it is good. God already knows what you are to do in this world, He sees you as accepted and righteous in His sight even if you don’t.

No matter what the situation may look like now in your life; if you are battling an addiction problem, if you’re going through an abusive relationship, if you don’t feel a purpose for your life, if you think that no one loves you, whatever the case may be God is right there with you. He sees you as worthy and glorious. The plan for your life has already been approved by the ordinance board; all you have to do to bring that awesome plan to fruition is to just walk with God.

We don’t have to try and bring the plan to light ourselves, if we just walk with God and trust God then the plan will take care of itself. We have a decision to make, even though the plan for our lives is already constructed and the end is good, we still have a choice.

Deuteronomy 30:19 (NKJV)
I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

And there it is; we have a choice between life and death, blessing and cursing. God made the answer easy, He says choose life. Many of us want to choose life but we want to choose the path that we take, it’s plain and simple, some people don’t trust God with their lives and well being; they think that they know what’s best. They turn right when God says turn left, because the right hand turn is already calculated in their minds and they have already planned it out. The left hand turn is mysterious and they don’t know all the details; it’s called faith my friends.

No matter what happens in your life, God has already decided the end and it is good. The reason why a lot of people leave this world in such bad situations or without fulfilling their purpose, and never got a chance to see that blueprint God designed for them come into fruition is because they veered off of the path God designed for them to take and they stopped in the middle of their own path before making it back to Gods path.

So I urge everyone today to choose life, choose Gods path for your life; at times it may seem like a confusing one, one that you don’t understand; it’s all for a purpose, just have faith in God that He won’t lead you astray. Remember your blueprint has already been designed for you; all you have to do is walk it out.

I pray that this has been a blessing on your lives.

Daryle Houston II
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

I'm Only Human

The saying “I’m only human” is usually stated when someone has made a mistake based upon how they felt at that given moment. There are two types of people that live in the world; we have believers, and non-believers. Yes, we are all human but the believers of the world have an advantage over the non-believers of the world; we are human with Christ residing in us.

So, those mistakes that the non-believers of the world make, usually out of ignorance of self can be avoided by the true believers of the world. To me, saying that I’m only human is an excuse for a person’s inability to control their flesh. Does this mean that people that believe don’t experience situations everyday that would have once had the ability to push them over the edge; no not at all. It only means that this time the believer is able to handle that situation from a Christ point of view instead of a self point of view.

In order for me to be able to try and impart godly knowledge into you I think I have a responsibility to be transparent, and not try and paint a picture of myself as a holier than thou person that never makes mistakes or has a negative thought enter my mind. We all pretty much go through the same things in life, situations may be different but all of the same emotions have been tapped before. Don’t think of emotions as being a bad thing, God created those also. If God never implanted emotions in our lives we would be a boring creation, kind of like the Vulcans in Star Trek, if you’re a Star Trek fan you know what I’m talking about.

What we have to learn to do is take dominion over those emotions and learn how to present them at the right time and in the right moment. Someone that doesn’t believe or even for someone that does believe and does not know how to tap into the power of Christ within; this becomes a hard challenge. This is why people need yoga, therapy, meditation, etc…, not saying anything bad about those things; I’m just saying don’t use those things as a supplement for the Christ in you.

When I experience situations that tend to make me mad or frustrated, the first thing that my flesh wants to do is breakdown and have a fit. In my mind a four letter word may present itself; yes I said a four letter word, just because I’m saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, righteous before God, and living a Holy life does not mean that negative thoughts don’t present themselves. It’s my part to cast down those thoughts and not to act or release those thoughts into my life or onto the person who made me mad or frustrated.

Because I have an understanding of Christ living in me and through me I have to tap into Him. Instead of saying or acting on negative thoughts I say “I have the mind of Christ”, and I know according to 1 Corinthians 1:24, that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. So through Christ I have the power over any situation that presents itself in my presence, and in a situation that would make me want to rant, rave, or swear, the wisdom of God says according to Ephesians 4:29, that I am to let no corrupt word proceed out of my mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.

When I am in a situation that makes me want to go off the deep end, I just tap into Christ that is within and the wisdom of God tells me in Proverbs 14:29, He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, But he who is impulsive exalts folly. I guarantee it will work every time you apply it. I am still learning myself how to live totally in this state of mind, but as long as you honor God by applying His power and wisdom in your life, then He will honor you by being there for you 24 hours a day 365 days a year.

I pray that this has been a blessing on your lives.

Daryle Houston II
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

Do you really know the Lord?

Each day as I mature more and more in the Lord, He reveals to me a deeper side of Him that I never knew. The most recent lesson that God has and still is imparting into me is one of relationship with Him. I never knew what true relationship with God was. I always viewed God as the Almighty (which he is) that could only be approached or thought about in a certain manner. In my case it was the King James manner, when I used to pray I use to approach God with only a King James dialect; since that was all I knew or thought about God, that is how He spoke back to me.

God has dawned a new light on my thinking, He told me that He is inside of me always so He knows how I really am and I don’t need to put on a show for Him. He just wants us to be ourselves; we are to always remember that He is the Creator of all but look at Him as a counterpart. God needs us just like we need Him; He uses man (humans) to do His work; so the relationship is a partnership. To be in true relationship with God there has to be intimacy. Talk to God like a husband talks to his wife, don’t be afraid to open your hearts to God because He already knows what’s on them, He already knows what you are struggling with. For there to be a relationship there needs to be communication and communication is a two way street. God wants you to be able to talk to and walk with Him in your most comfortable manner.

If you are Australian, guess what; God will probably talk to you in an Australian accent. God has a sense of humor; whenever I am feeling super relaxed I’ll go to God and say “What’s good pops” and He’ll respond and say “What up dude”. God is funny, God is love, God is humor, and God is in you. In able to get to this realization of relationship we must get past the point of just hearing of God to actually seeing God. We have to remove the Blue Blockers of religion that has covered our eyes from seeing God. The most enlightening moment for Job was when he repented; this is what he said.

Job 42:5 (NKJV)
I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You.

Many of us hear about God every week at bible study, Sunday morning service, we even might catch a word on TV throughout the week. We hear of God always but do we really know Him for ourselves?

Isaiah 5:13 (NKLV)
Therefore my people have gone into captivity, Because they have no knowledge;

In the above scripture God is saying His people are being captured because they don’t really know Him. This prophecy reigns true today, many people fall into bondage of the cares of the world because they don’t really know God. They have heard of Him but don’t really know Him, this frustrates a lot of people because they have been taught through generations and generations of religion that God can only be a certain way, and that He only talks to you a certain way, and you have to dress a certain way when you go to church, or you have to pray or sing a certain way, or there is only one way to experience the Holy Spirit. For generations people have been limiting God and have not been experiencing the fullness of relationship with Him, so they live lives that are no better than a person in the world, and in some cases even worse. So let’s refuse to miss out on experiencing God in full relationship while we are here on earth. Let’s not let the traditions of religion hinder us.

I pray this has been a blessing on your life.

Daryle Houston II
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

Fear Not!

Fear is one of the most detrimental spirits that causes major havoc in a person’s life, and is a gateway for the enemy to come into your habitation.

Job 3:25 (NKJV)
For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me.

In the Bible the word fear is referred to in two different contexts. One meaning of fear when referring to God is of reverence and respect. The other meaning is the way we normally refer to it, which is being afraid or terrified.

When we allow fear to come into our lives in a manner of being afraid or terrified; then that which we fear usually manifests naturally in our lives. Fear is not of God, and the Bible is flooded with words directly from God that reassures us that we should not fear, it states in 2 Timothy...

2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

The devil has used this tool to cripple many non-believers and many believers that aren’t aware of their true identity in Christ. Take for example the new deception of the 2012 end of the world calamity. There are people in the world that are terrified of this approaching date that was discovered from a Mayan calendar. To me this sounds a lot like the talk about the new millennium, and how everything was supposed to crash. Now all of a sudden everyone is looking to the ancient Mayans for wisdom about the end of the world, instead of looking to God. People all over the world are in a state of fear because of this; but we know that according to the Word of God that no one knows the date or hour of the end except God Himself (Matthew 24:36, Mark 13:32). We should have no fear about the end of the world, our concern should be getting people the Word of God so they will be spiritually prepared for the end, whenever it comes.

You may be someone that says “I’m not foolish enough to believe that, I have no fear.” Well what about something that hits closer to home, if you’re in a bad marriage are you in fear and constantly telling yourself that it’s not going to get better, or are you in faith and speaking positive words over a negative situation? If you’re sick, are you in fear and telling yourself that you feel horrible and you don’t know what is going to happen to you, or are you in faith saying that by His stripes I am healed (Isaiah 53:5)? If your job is going through layoffs, are you in fear and saying that “I’m next”, or are you in faith saying “A thousand may fall at my side, and ten thousand at my right hand; but it shall not come near me” (Psalm 91:7)? Maybe you’ve been laid off, are you in fear saying that time and money is running short, or are you in faith saying “That my God shall provide all of my needs according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19)?

We have nothing to fear because God is on our side; we have to realize that when fear comes in like in the case of Job that we are actually submitting ourselves to another power other than Gods. God will only move on our behalf if we allow Him to, He can’t force us not to do anything we don’t want to do; this includes fearing. So I want to encourage you to just continue to stand in faith and be reassured of the power of God through the reading and studying of His Word.

Fear or faith…the choice is up to you.

I pray that this has been a blessing on your lives.

Daryle Houston II
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org

You Can't Manipulate God

Many believers often misconstrue their faith with manipulation. Many of us have come from a background where we were taught to name it and claim it. Whatever you want, go to it and name it, claim it, believe God for it, and it’s as good as yours. There are many of us that practice this concept constantly and we have seen results sometimes and sometimes we haven’t.

I know when I was first beginning my walk with Christ I named and claimed many things; from cars to houses, etc… I did a lot of naming and claiming but not a lot of receiving that which I named and claimed. This puzzled my mind for awhile and it came to me that many have unknowingly used manipulation in the place of true faith. We see something we want, usually something material, and we pick a scripture in the Bible to stand on in faith and we inadvertently tell God, “Hey you promised this to me with this scripture, I’m using my faith for it, now you must follow through”. We try and force Gods hand to give us something that we might not be ready to receive in the first place.

Another thing we do; we say “I’m going on a fast this week because I need to see the hand of God move”. So we proceed to go on a fast for whatever we want to see God do in the natural and we’re seeking and expecting God to look upon us and say “Oh, he or she is so faithful, there’re not eating because they want Me to move on their behalf; such good children I have”. My question is; would God not move on your behalf whether you fast or not? God is God no matter what and He will always go to bat for you according to His will if you ask Him. When we fast it has more to do with us internally than it has to do with making God move. I don’t think God is taking pity or pleasure watching you not eat. Fasting is a subduing and dominating practice to break through any areas of weakness that can hinder you from maturing as a Christian, and help you to hear God more clearly.

Many might ask, “Well if you say that’s not the way to receive than what is?” I say just trust in the Word of God, believe that His Word is true, and that it is active and at work in your life. I say talk to God about those things that you might desire, but do it from a stand point of seeking His wisdom concerning it. Don’t tell Him this is what I want, and I want you to give it to me right now. The approach should be more like this…

Father you know that I desire a brand new house with all the amenities. I am seeking your direction concerning it. If it is in your will for me to move into a new home right now, will you show me when, where, and how I should acquire this home? I’m seeking your wisdom concerning this, and I receive that wisdom right now by faith because you said if any one lack wisdom that they should ask and it will be given to them (James 1:5). Thank you Father. In Jesus Name. Amen.

Then you wait for God to speak to you and give you direction. If you don’t hear anything then that might mean it’s not time yet, and if it’s not time then you do not want to do something outside of the will of God because it won’t work. If He speaks to you and says I want you to call up this realtor and ask for the property on Maple lane, that will be your new house, and you will get a great deal on it. Then you can stand on that Word in faith and believe that the house is yours because God specifically told you it was. It was a rhema Word from God just for you. But you can’t make up your own rhema word and give it to God and expect Him to act on it. Sometimes He might give us those things when we do it that way, but I believe when that happens it is His grace in action because we don’t know any better, but once we know better we’ve got to do better.

We have to remember it is all about His will, His direction, His wisdom, His guidance because He knows better than any of us what we want, and He knows better than any of us how to acquire those things that we want. He says in Psalm 37:4 “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Here the word delight means: to be soft or pliable. That means that we have to be soft and pliable in the Lord not rigid before we will get those things that we desire.

The scriptures also say the just shall LIVE by faith (Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38). We are not to live by faith in the things we desire, we are to live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us(Galatians 2:20). Do I like nice material things, yes of course I do; do I desire some of those things, yes of course I do; am I focusing on those things, no I am not. My focus is and will always be directed toward my Creator and His sacrifice for my life. God knows the things I want, we have talked about it already and He has assured me that they are mine.

Remember before we can receive some of the things we desire there is a path that we have to keep on, a path of righteousness and also maturity. Some of the things we desire we’re not ready to receive yet because we haven’t reached that level of maturity and as we continue to walk down the path God designed for us, things will be added unto us; Why, you ask; because the scripture says “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33 NKJV)

I’m not against going out and looking, feeling, touching, driving, whatever material thing you desire. It’s good to have a vision of what you desire, just don’t make it your complete focus, the focus should be on the Creator, not the created. It’s funny also because most of the time when we desire something material, say a new car or house, after awhile we see something that we like better that changes our minds about the initial thing we we’re naming and claiming. So seek God and His wisdom concerning all things. I thank God for His patience.

We pray that this has been a blessing on your lives.

Daryle & Tracy Houston
Kingdom Vizion Ministries
www.kingdomvizion.org