If your life feels complicated, stressed and out of control. . .you may need to simplify your lifestyle.

I realize that the word simplify is not in the King James Version of the Bible but we’re definitely directed to live a life free of complications, confusion, stress and anxiety.

Simplify means:  “Remove anything that complicates your life and preventing you from freely pursuing your purpose for living. . .while enjoying the journey.”

When we were in the process of selling our home once. . .my fine wife Bev had done an excellent in “feng shuing” (Chinese term) the house. . .which means removing the clutter and simplifying the look. . .so the room has an energy. . .thus allowingg potential buyers to see themselves living there.  Bev calls her process Holy Ghost "shuing" it because the Holy Spirit helped her make the decisions thus empowering the appearance of the room.

Here are seven ways to simplify your life.

1.  Remove spiritual clutter which causes confusion

According to dictionary.com clutter is defined as:

“to fill or litter with things in a disorderly manner; a disorderly heap; a state or condition of confusion.”

God would never do anything or for that matter. . .want you to do anything which would create confusion or clutter in your life.

1 Corinthians 14:33 in the Easy-To-Read Version says:

In a time of special prayer for our partners. . .God allowed us to see the intense spiritual battle faced by many His children.

Like others. . .you may have prayed for change. . .about birthing a new habit. . .turning lack into more than enough. . .and accomplishing your goals for 2022.

Suddenly. . .God directed my attention to Daniel 10:12-13 where He drew a direct parallel to what happened to Daniel and what may have happened to you.

“Then he said to me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your mind and heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come as a consequence of [and in response to] your words.”

Let's talk about the seven keys to getting your prayers answered, that were  underlined in these two verses.

1.      Fear Not

If a quarterback's timing is off...he's going to have a bad day with more interceptions than touchdowns.   That's clearly evident in every National Football League game you watch and that's true in the Super Bowl which was just played.

If a basketball player, whether high school, college or professional, has his timing off. . .he won't be able to make a free throw. . .no matter how big the rim is.

In life. . .if your timing is off. . .you can miss possibilities. . .and opportunities for success.

Timing is critically important in life.

Something can be a good idea. . .it can be a great idea. . .it can be a God idea but for it to be successful it must be in God's timing. 

Here are seven facts you ought to know about His timing.

1.      The Holy Spirit gives you the timing.

Have you ever wondered if it was the right time to make a career change. . .to ask someone to marry you. . .to present your ideas to your supervisors?

Knowing when to speak. . .is equally important to what you’re going to say.

Acts 1:7-8 in the Message Bible says:

Sickness is evil. . .so how can evil come from God?

We never see God introduce it in the Bible.  We only see it show up after Satan comes into the picture.

There are some well-meaning and devoted Christians who feel it is a cross God wants us to bear, I just can’t find that backed up with scripture. 

James 1:17 says:

"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."

According to Strong’s Concordance the Greek word for good is G18 and it means:

“of good constitution or nature; useful, salutary; good, pleasant, agreeable, joyful, happy, excellent, distinguished”

If it isn’t obvious that we’re living in the end-times. . .just read the headlines in your local newspaper about COVID19 and other attacks of the enemy.  You can also check out your favorite internet news source.

There’s an old Ray Charles song entitled “If It Wasn’t For Bad Luck.”  One refrain of the song says:  “if it wasn't for bad luck y'all. . .Oh! I wouldn't have no luck at all.”

It seems the news media has adopted that philosophy and terminology.  If it wasn’t for bad news. . .there would be no news at all.

We’re not minimizing the troubles in the world. . .they are plentiful. . .but we don’t need to get caught in despair over what’s happening around us and to us.

Here are seven ways to overcome the pandemic and every other attack of the enemy.

1.      Don’t RSVP The Pity Party

In 2 Timothy 3:1-4 it states:

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

² For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

³ Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

⁴ Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God….”

And Timothy goes on to list more of the problems of his times … which we can all pretty much agree … are the problems of our times.

When we became born again believers, we were called to Kingdom business. 

We may or may not be looking the end of the world in the face but that essentially doesn’t matter because no matter how much longer the earth remains… we have all been called to do Kingdom business. 

What we are doing in the here and now will be what we are judged for in the by and by.  And the by and by is going to come sooner or later for all of us.

I’m pretty sure that as Nazi Germany was attacking countries and gathering Jews across Europe, they felt this had to be the end of the world. It certainly looked like the end of theirs. 

It is said that 3 million people were annihilated in Poland alone, one of the few countries that had always been open to the Jewish population.  It is said that half of those killed were Christians who aided in trying to protect the Jews but that is often forgotten or put in the last sentence of the article.

Jesus’ disciples also felt the end was imminent.

Early. . .very early one Sunday morning. . .I was pondering a question that demands an answer.

Do we want to succeed enough to plan our actions and then act on the plan?

It’s one thing to think about what we want to do. . .and that’s good. . .just not good enough.

It’s another thing to talk/speak/confess what we want to do. . .that’s good. . .just not good enough.

It’s something else to plan what we’re thinking about. . .and that’s good. . .just not quite good enough.

However, what we’re thinking, speaking and planning will never become a reality until we actually act on what we’ve been thinking, speaking and planning.

Here are seven reasons success can be yours now.

Action # 1 Think about something. . .good.

Proverbs 23:7 says:

“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. . .”

THIRTEEN POWER QUOTES BY DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed - we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.”

“If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.”

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

"Let no man pull you low enough to hate him."

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness:  only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

"There comes a time when silence is betrayal."

“Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.”

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

“Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just
take the first step.”

“The old law about "an eye for an eye" leaves everybody blind.”

“Most of these people will never make the headlines and their names will not appear in Who's Who. Yet when years have rolled past and when the blazing light of truth is focused on this marvelous age in which we live -- men and women will know and children will be taught that we have a finer land, a better people, a more noble civilization -- because these humble children of God were willing to suffer for righteousness' sake.”

“Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illumines it.”

“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

One of my favorite signs says:

“Good morning!  I’ll be handling all your problems today.  So relax and enjoy your day.  Blessings, God. P.S. I love you.”

Someone once said:

“Do not face the day, until you have faced God in prayer.”

When you woke up this morning. . .did you expect this to be your best day ever?

What was your expectation for the day?  Was it different than yesterday or the day before?

Did you have any expectation for today or were you just glad you made it through another night?

Do you expect to feel better today than you did yesterday?  And, just as importantly, do you expect to feel even better tomorrow?

Do you expect God to move in the lives of your loved ones?

Do you see your days filled with previously unknown opportunities where you can tap into previously unused potential?

Do you expect to make divine appointments or supernatural connections?

Do you expect to receive divine revelation or direction during your morning prayer time?

One of my favorite scenes from the classic Christmas movie It’s A Wonderful Life in which George Baily, played by the late great Jimmy Stewart, begins to pray.

He starts: “Dear Father in heaven, I’m not a praying man, but if you’re up there and you can hear me….

At that moment, Stewart begins crying and then says:

“Show me the way. . .show me the way.”

Truthfully, that’s what God wants to do for each of us . . . show us the way.

The movie contains so many life lessons that we need to be reminded of that watching it yearly is a great idea. 

The purpose of tonight’s teaching is not to create a review of It’s A Wonderful Life but we encourage you to watch it yourself with your family or friends.

It’s A Wonderful Life has a message that’s timeless which brings me to tonight’s teaching.

Many years ago now the Lord gave me an amazing Christmas sermon. My fine wife Bev, my parents and I had taken a long weekend get-away to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina.

We started looking for a hotel room and were unable to find one.  We traveled for over 60 miles along Interstate 40 but nothing was available.