Words of Encouragement

The love of the father for the son. This is a picture of my father hugging my brother. If a earthly father can love his son, how much more can the heavenly father love his children?

He must increase, but I must decrease. - John 3:30

You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth. - Psalm 52:3

Let those who love the LORD hate evil, for he guards the lives of his faithful ones and delivers them from the hand of the wicked. - Psalm 97:10

More Jesus. God's love. When one has not release or yielded the "self", love cannot grow. The heart will love evil and what is false will be the ruling law in the heart. But when you decrease, God can increase and in that process his love will become greater in your heart. Those that love the Lord hate evil and will take measures to guard against doing that which is wicked in the eyesight of God.

Those that love the Lord, are protected by God and he will deliver them from wickedness. We must decrease in every area of our lives. We must decrease in seeking our own things, and allow God to increase in us as we seek godly things.

This week as we go to worship let us go seeking to allow God to increase in us so that as we grow older, we can also grow closer to God and more of him can show forth. I seek us as we go to prayer this week to pray for the churches. As the people of God we should have a different look. Pray that God would increase himself in his people and to help us yield ourselves to his will and his way. May God have complete control in his house.

Words of Encouragement

This picture created by Joselyn Williams has many colors and from different angles people can see different pictures. This is what our lives should be. We should not be one dimensional. When people look at us, they should see the different facets of God within us.


He must increase, but I must decrease. - John 3:30





The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. - Genesis 6:5





These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. - Deuteronomy 6:6



More Jesus. A godly heart. I am excited today! I am excited as I have been walking this lesson this week. I have seen what happens when you let go of your own power, will and thoughts to God. What you find is freedom to serve God his way.

To make sure that all of these things work together, it must first start in the heart. The Lord saw the great wickedness upon the earth and the heart of man. We must not be fooled into thinking God does not see the wickedness of our hearts. God sees and knows everything. This is why he tells us that we must decrease. As we allow God to increase in us, it changes our hearts more and more toward him.

Today, God says to us, allow my word to become part of your heart. The life giving blood in our body must flow through our hearts. If there is something wrong with the heart, the blood cannot flow as it should. This is the same thing with our ability to do as God says. If our spiritual hearts are not right before God (broken spiritual valves), they cannot allow the life giving blood (spiritual understanding) to flow correctly. That is why we must allow God's word to saturate our hearts so that it can be healthy and the life giving substance can flow; love, joy, peace, forgiveness, etc.



Today, I pray for us that God would increase our hearts capacity for him and decrease our capacity for the desire to sin. Lord, create a clean heart in me and renew the right spirit within.

Words of Encouragement

A penny for your thoughts. Have you heard that saying? Yet, we want to freely give away our thoughts to God so that he can replace them with his.


He must increase, but I must decrease. - John 3:30





In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God - Psalm 10:4

How great are your works, O LORD, how profound your thoughts! - Psalm 92:5


More Jesus. God's Thoughts. It is quite difficult to figure out the things that trouble you without God's input. Image your thoughts running but never coming to rest on God? The prideful as the word says has no room for thoughts about God. This statement is true because the prideful are only thinking about themselves. Where is there room for God if everything you think about is related to me, myself and I?

Those, however that allow themselves to decrease understand the wonder of the thoughts of God. Lord your works are so great that they completely astonish me! I am amazed at the things you reveal to me of your thoughts. They are far greater than anything my little "pea" brain can come up with!


That is what decreasing in our thoughts look like. We begin to go less and less on what we think and more on what God's thoughts that are revealed to us. Lord, we want to have your thoughts!


I pray for us today, Lord help us to think your thoughts. Decrease my thoughts and increase your thoughts through me. When I think as you direct, I will be always in your perfect will. Help me to find myself in that place.

Words of Encouragement

There are two ways to go, you can go to the right or the left, which is right? Often in life, you have more than one way you can go. It is at these intersections of life that you must stop and ask God to increase himself in you by showing you his will.


He must increase, but I must decrease. - John 3:30





Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother." - Mark 3:34-35



More Jesus. In His Will. As I continue to study this increasing and decreasing I find some things or some beliefs that I do not understand. Is there a time when I stop decreasing and allowing God to increase in me? Does it stop when I reach a certain age then I am no longer required to allow God to change me so that I can be effective for the time and era I dwell in? This I find is the belief of many.



Yet, as I read the word of God I see one set standard for all of God's people. Those that do the will of the Father belong to the family of God. Jesus says those that do the will are my brother, my mother and my sister. If you are willing to let go of your will, God says he will fulfill his will in you.



What really is my will? Will is the desire to have things my way. If I have lived a certain way, done things in a certain way all my life, that has been my will. While in general that does not mean what you have been or who you are is wrong, but if you come to a time that God says, "let it go", then are you willing to let it go? If God says to you, "do you love me" and you say yes, then his response to you is then, "feed my sheep" do you do it? How then can you feed the sheep, if you do not know where the sheep are at?

Letting go of my will means I will allow myself to be humbled to come down to reach the sheep where they are at. That is what Jesus did. He lowered himself to come down and meet us where we are. When we let go of our will and allow God to have control, he can fulfill his will completely in me. It should be our desire to please God and help others, more than holding on to our rights, those things we have earned or that we are entitled to. Jesus was willing to be spat on so that we could be fed, what an example of living the Father's will.



I seek to gain clearer understanding of God's will for my life. This means I let go of my ideas, my agendas, my attitudes, my behavior, etc. Everything that belongs to "me" I let go of.



Today, I earnestly pray with a humble heart that God's will be completely fulfilled in the lives of his people. Lord, help me first of all to understand what your will is for my life and then help me in your own way to help others to do the same.

Words of Encouragement

NAIC Convention. Many women come to learn how to decrease so that God can increase in them. Seeking God for his help is the source for strength.


He must increase, but I must decrease - John 3:30





"God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him? - Job 36:22



More Jesus. His power not mine. As I sat in service today, this scripture came to mind. I thought about what does this really mean for the life of the believer. What does this call for you and I to do. As I sat I wrote on a piece of paper. Then I drew several arrows pointing up. At the top of the arrows pointing upward I wrote, JESUS.


I then drew a number of arrows pointing downward and at the top of those arrows I wrote, ME. Under each of the arrows going up and down I wrote several things. The first arrow was power. The up arrow had "His Power" the down arrow had "My Power".

In order to decrease, something has to get smaller. In this setting that which gets smaller has to be me. When I want to show myself powerful, I actually am weak. I am weak because I want to walk in my own way and in my own understanding which is limited. When I humble myself or decrease my power (let it go) it is then that I become powerful.

I become powerful because God's power is functioning within my life. He teaches me and instructs me in his ways. I do not have to be afraid to let go of my positions, my agenda, my ideas because he will make me great in his own way. Too often as believers we are afraid to let go of things because they are "mine". We want to hold onto those things that we believe we are entitled to and in doing so we weaken our vessels. When we let things go, we become strong in what God can do and our vessels are not tainted by the stuff of this world.


Today, I pray that we let go of doing things in our own power so that we can truly hear what you are calling us to do. Have mercy on us today, help us to stop fighting for titles and power. It is not the power but the purpose that you want us to seek. Give your people clear vision today.