I was so excited when my husband told me the news.  He found a red cardinal nest in one of the bushes at the front of our house.  I would have been happy to hear that I could look out my livingroom's picture window and watch any nest of birds, but that they were red cardinals was extra special.  They are my favorite. In fact, I have several red cardinal decorations around my house.

The babies must have just hatched when he discovered them and each day we have peered through the window at them to check their safety and growth.  Almost every time we look at them, one of the parents is there feeding them or the babies are alone and waiting with opened mouths for a delicious mouthful of worm to be deposited.  

I noticed the babies don't seem too stressed out about where their next meal is coming from.  They just lay there with expectation that their parents will provide. In fact, they are so sure it's coming, they have their mouth ready to receive...

Did you watch the royal wedding?  Did you find it to be a joyful event or does watching something like that make you feel discontented with your own life? 

I remember one time many years ago when I was working at a golf tournament as part of my job.  The company I worked for was a sponsor and so we were helping to run some of the activities.  The money was flowing that day.  These businessmen came to support a good cause and they were throwing money around like it was just paper.  At the time I was late on my rent and my car and with two little children, I wondered what I would do if we became homeless or if I lost my only transportation to get to work, both very real possibilities at the time.  The extravagance of the businessmen in the face of my extreme money issues was more than I could handle.  I pretended to be sick and said I had to leave.  

So, maybe you watched the royal wedding and the extravagance of the whole event was...

• you just...

In part one, we started discussing some rights you have as a child of God.  Just as a citizen in the US has certain rights protected by the constitution and the Bill of Rights, citizens of Heaven have certain rights protected by the Bible and Jesus' blood.  Last week we talked about our rights to freedom and healing.  Let's renew our minds to some other rights we need to know we have so we can expect them and walk in them.

 3. You Have the Right to Prosper

“And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will
always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.” –2 Corinthians 9:8

Some people have the wrong idea that prosperity is just talking about money and that it is really greed.  But biblical prosperity is to be blessed and increase in all areas of our life (except our waists :)  I always like to add that in!).  Yes, it includes money and I'm so glad it does.  God knows it takes money to...

Did you know that you have rights as a child of God?  They are legal spiritual rights that you can exercise if you know about them.

Just like being a citizen of the US with a constitution and a Bill of Rights, has the right to expect to be treated a certain way or have access to things, you as a citizen of heaven (which you became when you were saved) have rights that are outlined in the Bible - rights to everything in the Kingdom.  There is a covenant between Jesus and God, signed in Jesus’ blood, which provides these rights for you.

People have been willing to fight and even die to protect our natural rights that belong to us.  People today are fighting for what they think is rightfully theirs—an opportunity, a personal belonging, a raise, a promotion - but in spiritual things, they tend to just roll over and give up instead of fighting for what is theirs. 

Many people think like I thought in the past, that I just had to wait...

Who among us hasn't wished they could get in a time machine and go back in history to do something differently?  Moments of regret have plagued my life from my role in a high school musical not being good enough, to not supporting my husband's original career choice, to moments of raising my children.  Add on top of that my failures at personal holiness and you have a recipe for stress and a lack of joy in life.  Although I wasn't living in secret sin, I had shame over the sins that were present and discouragement over who I wasn't.

It's hard to rule and reign in life as God intended when you are carrying around the heavy baggage of your past.  Being weighed down by shame, condemnation, fear, disappointment, and discouragement is the power of sin.  And although your sinful past really happened, there is a greater reality: your forgiveness in Jesus.  

Oh, I always knew that if I asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins, they were forgiven.  But the...