Mike Wilkins Ministries

PROVERBS 27:1 NIV 1 Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.

Do what you need to do today.

Don’t wait to receive Jesus. Don’t put off doing the will of God. Don’t wait to tell someone you love them.

JAMES 4:13-15 NIV 13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

You don’t know what tomorrow holds — or even if you will be here tomorrow.

Keep your focus on God. Trust in Him, and do His will today.

2 CORINTHIANS 6:18 NKJ 18 “I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.”

I am truly sorry if your earthly father was not a good father. But there are good fathers — and certainly God is one.

Have you really thought about what it means to have God as your Father?

Think of His power, His wisdom, His wealth. Then remember that God loves you more than anyone else has ever loved you — even more than you love yourself.

No earthly father ever loved his children more than God loves you.

Are you living your life in the light of this knowledge? Or, are you acting like an orphan and worrying like you have no one to take care of you?

JOHN 14:18 NIV 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

JOHN 6:37 LB 37 But some will come to me–those the Father has given me– and I will never, never reject them.

People may reject you. But Jesus won’t.

Jesus died for sinners. He loves them and will help them — if only they will come to Him.

Jesus didn’t come to condemn us, but to help us. Think of the Bible account of the woman caught in adultery.

JOHN 8:11 NIV 11 “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Religious people will reject you for any number of reasons. The length of your hair, the food you eat, or the clothes you wear are only examples of reasons they may reject you.

But Jesus is different. He will accept you just as you are.

Many people think they need to clean up their life and get their act together before coming to Jesus. But they have it backwards. They should come to Jesus now, and let Him “clean them up.”

If we could make ourselves perfect — we wouldn’t need a Savior.

ROMANS 5:1 NLT 1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.

God offers righteousness as a free gift to everyone who receives the Lord Jesus Christ.

Righteousness means right-wise-ness, or being right. So righteousness is right standing, or good standing with God. It does not mean human “perfection.”

Righteousness is a gift from God — not something you can earn or achieve. God simply declares that you are innocent, as far as He is concerned, because you believe in Jesus, and that makes you righteous.

1 CORINTHIANS 1:30 NKJ 30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God — and righteousness and sanctification and redemption

You ARE righteous if Jesus is your Lord. In fact, Jesus IS your righteousness. As a believer in Jesus, you will never be more righteous — no matter what you do.

Romans 3:10 is a well known verse on this subject that is often misunderstood. It is a quote from the Old Testament, and is part of a passage that continues on to say that NOW we can be righteous through faith in Jesus Christ.

ROMANS 3:10 NKJ 10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;

ROMANS 3:21-22 NKJ 21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God which is through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;

Romans 10 gives instructions on how to become righteous.

ROMANS 10:9-10 NKJ 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.

2 CORINTHIANS 5:19 NIV 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

The Good News is about reconciliation between God and man. Jesus Christ accomplished it.

Mankind was estranged from God. We had gone our own way, were lost, and couldn’t find our way back to fellowship with God. Fortunately, God loved us and did something to help us.

Two extremely important ideas are presented in the above verse.

First, God is not holding people’s sins against them! As far as God is concerned, Christ’s sacrifice paid the penalty for all sin — and God considers the world reconciled back to Him.

Second, this wonderful good news of what God has done has been committed to us. Human beings must tell it. If we don’t — it won’t be told.

People can live and die and never know the glorious truth that God is not holding any sins against them — if no one tells them. They need to know they are forgiven, loved by God, and welcome to come back into fellowship with Him through Christ.

Think about this: God is interested in reconciliation. Not in shutting you, or others, out. He is inviting humanity in, saying all is forgiven.

MATTHEW 17:20 NKJ 20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, `Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.

If you have faith — you will do something — according to Jesus. You will speak!

Faith and authority are exercised through words. You must open your mouth and speak in line with what God says.

All we receive from God must be received by faith. (See Romans 5:2 & Galatians 3:14.) So, you will only receive God’s blessing in line with the words you speak.

What you say is what you believe. Or, we could say, you believe what you say.

If you want to know what someone truly believes, just listen to what they say — especially when they’re under pressure. Then the truth will come out.

MATTHEW 12:34-35 NKJ 34 “Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.

Your mouth speaks forth what is in your heart. So to bring forth good things in your life, you need to speak good words. To speak good words, they must first be put into your heart in abundance. You know what that means. Get into the Bible and get it into you.

1 THESSALONIANS 5:18 NKJ 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Are you giving thanks to God today? You should. If you want to be happy, you must. For, without being thankful, you will never be happy.

Just because things are not going the way you would like is no excuse. The Bible clearly says that God’s will for you is to be thankful — always.

The Bible does NOT teach that we’re to thank God for evil, because God is not responsible for evil. No, God is not guilty of any wrongdoing.

What the Bible does teach, is that we should always be thankful — even when evil happens. Being thankful is part of an attitude of faith, and faith will overcome evil.

Although the Bible does say we should give thanks to God FOR all things, that only means the things for which God is responsible. For example, if a guest at your home said, “Thank you for everything,” you wouldn’t think they were thanking you for what someone else did.

God doesn’t do bad things to people. He’s not the one who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. That’s the devil, and people motivated by selfishness and demonic influence. So you have the devil “to thank” for the bad things in life.

Yet, during the bad things in life, we are to continue thanking God, no matter how we feel. This helps us keep our eyes on God and keep things in perspective.

No matter how dark and hopeless the situation may look — give thanks. This is God’s will for you.

Thank God for the opportunity to see His deliverance. Thank Him for His mercy and grace. Thank Him for His faithfulness. Thank Him for defeating the devil and setting you free in Christ. Thank Him that Jesus is Lord. Thank Him that your name is written in Heaven. Thank Him for loving you and taking good care of you. Thank Him!

1 PETER 5:7 NLT 7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you.

Probably the biggest temptation most believers face is the temptation to worry.

What is worry? Worry is thinking that leaves God out. Worry is the opposite of faith. Instead of expecting God’s help — you expect the worst.

1 PETER 5:7 CEV 7 God cares for you, so turn all your worries over to him.

The Bible has much to say about not worrying. Worry is not appropriate for a child of God.

MATTHEW 6:32 CEV 32 Only people who don’t know God are always worrying about such things. Your Father in heaven knows that you need all of these.

PHILIPPIANS 4:6 ICB 6 Do not worry about anything. But pray and ask God for everything you need. And when you pray, always give thanks.

JOSHUA 1:8 NIV 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

If you desire to succeed, here are the instructions.

You may follow other plans that promise success, but you have no guarantee they will work long-term. People may give you advice that works for awhile — but can you be sure it will not fail you someday?

With God you have an eternal guarantee: His Word will never fail. Heaven and earth will disappear before even the smallest detail of God’s Word will fail.

Look at God’s success instructions again. Study them in detail. Surely if anything is worth your time, this promise of God is.

First, speak in line with God’s Word. Isn’t it interesting that the first instruction from God for success has to do with what you say? Some people proclaim that what you say doesn’t matter, but God puts it at the top of the list.

Second, meditate on what God said. This is the opposite of worry. This is more than just reading the Bible. (Although if you never read it, how could you meditate on it?) This is thinking about what God says and how it affects everything.

When are we to think about God and His Word? When it is day, and when it is night. That does not leave any time when you should shut God out of your thoughts.

Look at what God promises will be yours if you follow these instructions: prosperity and success. What everyone wants, but few are willing to do what it takes to achieve.

Of course you can ignore these instructions. But why would you?

MATTHEW 12:36-37 NIV 36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Few people realize the importance of the words they speak.

There is almost no way to overemphasize the importance of what we say. Yet most people give it almost no thought — usually speaking without even thinking.

Jesus came from Heaven and revealed to us that words are important. Very important. The Bible has much to say on this subject. We ignore it at our own peril.

You may not be familiar with what the Bible says about the importance of words, but if you knew only the verse above, Matthew 12:36-37, that should be enough to convince you. Your judgment will be determined by the words you have spoken.

Certainly, this is not a negative message. When we understand the importance and power of words, we can use them for good. The Bible says death and life are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). Just as fire can cause great destruction, tamed and controlled it can be a great blessing to us. So it is with words. Life is in the power of the tongue. That means life is controlled by words.

I repeat: life is controlled by words. Words release authority. Words determine the course of events. Words matter.

What should you do about this?

First, you need to study what the Bible says about words. Jesus said if you continue in His Word you would know the truth and the truth would make you free (John 8:31-32).

Also, you need to ask the Lord to teach you and help you to speak correctly — because we must have God’s help to tame our tongue.