Do You Know the Truth?

They didn’t know the water they had been drinking, bathing in, and cooking with was packed with chemicals and carcinogens.

But then the symptoms started to surface.

You’ve probably heard at least one news story about contaminated water.

A million marines and sailors and their families exposed to carcinogens after the military allegedly dumped fuel and cleaning agents near two drinking wells in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina from the 1950s through the 1980s.
So many people sick and dying in Hinkley, California that the small town is now nearly nonexistent.
More than 400,000 residents from the greater Milwaukee area infected and 100 people dead after bacteria that causes gastrointestinal illnesses invaded the water supply—making it the largest documented waterborne disease outbreak in U.S. history.

Where am I going with this?

(Stick with me. There is a really good spiritual point coming.)

Last year, during weekend services at Faith Life Church, I asked for a volunteer to help me out with an illustration—someone who would like to make a quick $20.

I asked one woman who had raised her hand to come up front, where I opened a brand new bottle of water and asked her to take a drink. She did.

Then, I told her I was going to add something to her bottle of water—a sample of water from a dirty pond behind our church building.

The water was nasty!

Then I asked her to drink it.

Of course, she refused.

And, of course, I still gave her the $20.

The point was made though—no one wants to knowingly drink contaminated water.

But without knowing it, many people are.

Friend, here’s where I stop talking about water contamination and start talking about the things that might be contaminating your soul, your mind, your body—your LIFE.

Because the culture is out to get you—to contaminate you—“to make you impure by exposure to or addition of a poisonous or polluting substance.”

Satan is out to get you—to contaminate you. He is set on killing, stealing, and destroying (John 10:10).

Are you unknowingly “drinking the water?”

I love this illustration our son, Tim, once gave using the game of Jenga®.

Have you ever played it? Basically, you have a big tower of blocks that’s been stacked in opposite directions to allow pieces to be poked at and pulled out one by one without having the tower collapse. Only, you have to stack the blocks you’ve pulled out on top of the tower, which means the block tower gets more and more unstable as the game goes on, because it’s getting taller and balancing on less and less stable blocks.

At some point during the game, the tower collapses.

Some of us are building our lives like that. We think we’re building this strong tower day after day and year after year.

But Luke 22:31 tells us that Satan desires to sift all of us as wheat. Too often, we forget we’re in a spiritual battle, and we don’t take the spiritual adversary we have seriously. We’ve seen too many TV shows and cartoons all of our lives that downplay the enemy to just some creepy guy with horns and a red cape. But Satan is alive and demons are real, and they don’t want to see you prosper and live the destiny God has for you.

Satan wants you to fail. So he’s always looking for loose blocks to poke and pull at—those little areas of your life that aren’t so sturdy and stable; those little areas that are contaminated—in his effort to make your whole tower collapse.

And he knows he doesn’t have to come at your tower of blocks with a full-on wrecking ball. That’s why the Bible tells us to watch out for the little foxes.

“Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.” – Song of Solomon 2:15

Here’s the thing: Satan uses a lot of little foxes, a lot of tactics, to try to trick us out of our dominion. He knows that faith—your heart being in agreement with heaven—is the currency of the Kingdom. And he knows that if your heart holds onto the Word, it’s going to produce. He also knows that it’s imperishable and it’s always going to produce after its own kind. Guess what? He doesn’t like that. He claims this place as his. So, he has tactics he uses to get you to agree with him—to contaminate your life with what he says instead of what God says.

And, he’s pretty sly. He takes a little bit of the principle of God, a little bit of the Word of God, and twists it. He uses it to deceive, to contaminate. But, if we know the truth, we can discern for ourselves.

But if you don’t know the truth, as Satan works on knocking out loose block after loose block, there are more openings in your tower, more places for him to get a foothold, more opportunities for him to make the whole structure—your whole life—more rickety and ready for collapse.

And that’s the point.

Satan is after your fruitfulness. He’s after your assignment. He’s after your purpose. He doesn’t want you to be useful to the Kingdom of God. He wants to prevent you from being a demonstration of the Kingdom of God to other people.

So he keeps going after your heart.

Just drink this little bit of contaminated water. It won’t hurt you.

Our culture, the earth curse system, is full of perverse ideas that they say won’t harm you.

That’s a lie.

What you think about, what you feed yourself, and what you look at all put images into your heart, for good or for bad. If you’re contaminating your heart, it’s going to be drawn away and produce what you’re putting in it.

You have to CHOOSE to turn your ears to the Word of God and CHOOSE to guard your heart, or you’ll begin to buy into the lies that the enemy and our culture are constantly screaming at us.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What you think about, what you feed yourself, and what you look at all put images into your heart, for good or for bad. So, without realizing it, you might be contaminating not just your body, but your soul, your mind—your life.

You have to know the truth and know how to protect yourself.

Get your instant digital download one of Gary's most powerful, honest, and hard-hitting series, The Antidote: Finding the Cure to the Human Condition, now and learn the truth you must know so you can combat the lies of the enemy and the culture, protect yourself, and qualify for the success God has for you.

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The Power of Choice: How to Choose Happiness in Every Situation

By Gary Keesee • 08 May, 2024

Reading Time 3 mins 43 secs – Are you happy right now? Or are you feeling a little grumpy, or negative, or sorry for yourself? We’ve all been there. Years ago, I had one of those months. Yes, I said months , not days. I was negative. I was feeling sorry for myself. The weight and pressures of life and certain situations were bearing down on me. For some reason, during that time, I went to a conference I really didn’t feel like going to, and the speaker got up and said he was going to talk about being thankful. Great , I thought. Just what I want to hear. What I really wanted was for someone to join me in my pity party. But that wasn’t happening. Because God knew that wasn’t what I needed. He knew I needed someone to tell me the truth. See, I had taken my eyes off of all of the blessings of God. I had stopped remembering all of the amazing times He had come through for me. I had taken my focus off of His promises and put it on my problems. That message was just what I needed. The Holy Spirit dealt with me right then about my heart and how I had been ungrateful. I had to repent. God set me free that day. Here’s the thing: studies show that when you’re happy and thankful , you have 17% more friends. When you’re happy, you live longer and you have less health problems like heart attacks, strokes, colds, the flu, and even pain. Being grateful also strengthens your emotions, makes you more optimistic and less self-centered, improves your sleep, increases your self-esteem and your energy, helps you bounce back after a setback, reduces feelings of envy, helps your marriage, makes you look better, and makes you more productive. Proverbs 17:22 (KJV) says, “ A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones .” See that? Happiness is like medicine. Discouragement sucks the life out of you. Are you reading this and thinking, “ Gary, you don’t know what I’m going through. I have serious problems” ? I understand. But here’s the thing: happiness is not circumstantial. Happiness is a choice you make. I hear it all the time… “Gary, you don’t understand. I hate my house.” Sell it. “Gary, you don’t get it. I hate my job.” Quit it. Find a new one. “Gary, I just hate my life.” CHANGE it. You’re not stuck. You have options. Every single day, you make choices to do something or NOT do something. And you have plenty of reasons to be happy. Stop thinking you can only be happy when everything seems “perfect.” Because “perfect” is really rare, and I do mean really rare. In fact, odds are there will always be something in your life that isn’t “perfect.” The good news is, no matter what you go through or deal with in life, you can still be thankful and happy, because you can always trust God despite your circumstances. Philippians 4:6 (NIV) says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God .” Wait. Did you see what that said? Notice it didn’t say, “Only be anxious about the big things you can’t handle on your own.” Nope. It says don’t be anxious about anything . It also says by prayer—and with thanksgiving —present your requests to God. That means you should be thanking Him for all He’s already done and for what He’s about to do in your situation. You should be thanking Him before your answer shows up, because He’s faithful and good. Look at Judges 20:19–25. There, we see the nation of Israel suffering great loss after a huge battle. They had lost 22,000 men. 22,000. Can you even imagine? I’m sure you’ll agree that that was a really bad day. Then, on the second day of battle, they lost 18,000 more men. 40,000 men lost in two days. The Bible tells us they took a day off at that point. They stopped and regrouped. Then, in verse 26, we see that the entire army presented offerings of thanksgiving to God. Things had gone really wrong, and they needed to remind themselves that God was for them, that He is good and faithful, that He was with them. And the next day, they went out and won the battle. So, what about you, friend? Do you need to stop? Do you need to take your mind off the negative and remind yourself that God is for you, that He is good and faithful, and that He is with you?

5 Steps to Release the Kingdom in Your Life

By Gary Keesee • 10 Apr, 2024

Reading Time 2 mins 13 secs – In John 6, we read the story of Jesus feeding 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish. Do you know it? It’s where we see Jesus teaching the disciples how to release the Kingdom of God into the earth realm. Basically, a large crowd was following Jesus, listening to Him teach, and watching Him perform miracles. It got to a point where the people needed to eat, and Jesus asked the disciples what they planned to feed the people. Of course, Jesus knew the disciples would freak out. They couldn’t feed 5,000 people. In fact, they started talking about how it would take more than half a year’s wages to buy just a bite for that many people. Jesus was teaching the disciples, and He was teaching us— the Kingdom of God has all the answers you need . How can you release the Kingdom of God into your life? Here are the five steps Jesus took. 1. Look at what you have. Jesus asked the disciples what they had to feed the people. What do you have in your life that you can give God to work with? Jesus multiplied bread into bread and fish into fish. What do you need multiplied in your life? Find some of it. That’s your seed. Also, remember that money can be named. You don’t sow money to believe for more paper or digital money. Money represents your life and can be named to be the thing you need multiplied. 2. Make sure you’re in faith. “To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see” (Hebrews 11:1, GNT). You have to know how to judge whether or not you’re in faith. How? Do you have the right picture? When you close your eyes, what do you see? Do you see yourself with the thing you’re believing for? Can you defend your position? Why do you believe it? Prove it! Because you can be sure that between the “Amen” and the “There it is!” the enemy is going to contend for it, so you better be able to defend it. Do you have joy, expectancy, and peace? Are you in agreement with your spouse? 3. Confess over what you have, and release it in faith. Be specific. Say exactly what you’re believing for and release the seed to God. 4. Get the plan from God. Be ready for new direction, new ideas, and new concepts by revelation from the Holy Spirit. Carry a notepad and a pen. Write everything down. 5. Act quickly! When God gives you the plan, MOVE! It’s wise to have counselors and get wisdom, but you need to act swiftly on any direction you receive from the Holy Spirit.

Want Growth and Success? Here Are 10 Steps to Help Take You There

By Gary Keesee • 13 Mar, 2024

Reading Time 2 mins 34 secs – How can you make sure you’re equipped for the growth coming your way this year? Here are my 10 steps to posture yourself for opportunity and success. 1. Ask yourself how you’re handling your current responsibilities. Don’t run from your responsibilities. No matter where you are or what you’re doing, you should be a success. People will still see the evidence of God even if you think you’re in the wrong spot. 2. Detox your life of the things that keep you from having time to think. We live in a fast-paced world. There are plenty of things that can keep you distracted. But it’s in the moments that you stop to think that you’ll find ways to solve problems, and that’s where the opportunities are. So figure out what is consuming your time. Start saying no to some things. Find time to think. 3. Don’t hang around people who are always losing. I know people hit rough spots, but if the people in your life are chronically losing, it’s time to expand your circle. Hang around people who are better than you are, who don’t see things as impossible, and who have vision. It may be uncomfortable for you, but their influence will cause you to think differently. 4. Write down EVERY idea that you have, no matter how strange it seems. Most people filter opportunities and ideas through what they perceive their ability to be. This means most people discard ideas by the dozens because they don’t think they can do them. But God isn’t limited to what you know how to do. The ideas He gives you might seem so weird to you that you can’t process them fully. Write them down so you have time to think about them. 5. Research. Research. Repeat. You don’t need to know how to do something; you need to know how to learn how to do it. Research until you find what you’re looking for. 6. Count the cost before you jump. A lot of Christians hear God and jump out too soon, resulting in catastrophe. There are seasons for everything. God will prepare you for where He wants you to go. Be patient. 7. Always be in agreement with your spouse. Never, ever march out into battle without your spouse being in total agreement and your faith aligned. 8. Ask God for direction. Ask Him to help you, to show you where to go, and what to do. And always remember that prophecy from other people shouldn’t lead you; it should only confirm what God has already said to you. 9. Commit to never quit. Quitting is not an option. Once you’ve moved, don’t move again until God speaks to you. Stay with it. Walk it out. Don’t quit. So many people have so much potential, but they get uncomfortable and they quit. If you want to win, you should always be stretching. 10. Get ready to embrace bigger things. Your ability to see the big picture will keep growing as you change and grow on the inside. You’ll pick up on even more opportunities. For more principles, check out this FREE video on success.