The last thing I want to share is this. You need to make some plans of action to bring change. Because here is the bad news. Until you change nothing will change.

We want our circumstances to change. But we want to remain the same person we always were. Sorry it is not going to happen. The change must take place in you.

You will need to get better, otherwise things are not going to get better. Your starting point is to learn to walk in the Spirit.

The flesh will always rob you of blessing, and sin comes easily. Overcoming sin needs knowledge and experience. And God needs to deal with you, so that you can eventually overcome the sinful habit patterns in your life.

Getting in the Spirit is quite easy. Again, I have taught that. Do you know how easy it is? All it takes is a decision and it happens instantly. I decide and say,

"I am going to stop just listening to my body and I'm going to submit to the Holy Spirit within me."

I make that decision and say,

"Lord, in the name of Jesus I submit myself completely to you now. I ask you to live your life in me and help me to walk in the Spirit."

I am in the Spirit right now. That is how easy it is, but you might say,

"I have been struggling with sin for so long."

Stop struggling and just walk in the Spirit. He will empower you in a new way.

Listen and Journal

You can listen and you can hear your spirit. How do you hear what is in your spirit?

One of the best ways to hear is through journaling. When you journal, you are getting into a flow, because you can only listen to one voice at a time.

You see when you try to do it with your mind, you have all these voices coming around you. You have the voice from within your own heart, and somewhere in the middle is the tiny little voice of the Lord and you can't hear Him.

But when you journal you focus in. You first submit and get in the Spirit. Then you listen to that one simple voice, and you write as that voice speaks to you. You are walking in the Spirit and you will get pure revelation.

Journal on the Run

You must learn to do this on the run.

You might say, "I don't really have time to journal. I need to get ready quickly in the morning and get to work on time. By the time I'm finished my activities in the evening I am so tired I just collapse into bed. I really don't have time to journal."

You could journal right now while you are reading this. How long does it take to journal?

There are apps you can get on your phone that will help you capture your journals. I built one into my new Bible app and it is right there. When I need anything from the Lord, I just pick up my phone.

It is awkward to type on that keyboard. But I don't need to say a lot and He doesn't need to say a lot back.

So, when you are tempted to spend money you can journal.

While you are standing in the shops looking at that beautiful piece of clothing, you might think,

"I am going to look so awesome in that. Who cares how much it costs? I'll find the money somehow. We can go without food if we need to."

That is the flesh talking. But you can journal and say,

"Lord, do you think I should get this? What do you think?"

Be ready to hear what He says, otherwise delay the purchase until your emotions calm down a bit. If you don't do that your emotions will speak louder than the Lord.

Direction from My Journal

The Lord told me recently that I should get away from my desk, because I spend all day there. It is bad for my health, it's frustrating and I end up not having time with the Lord. I am not productive because I am always working.

The rest of the team have these little portable laptops that they can carry around with them. I thought,

"I have my laptop. It's a nice quality one; the larger MacBook Pro, but it has been sitting on my desk and being used as a desktop for years."

When I finally picked it up, because the battery had continuously been on charge it no longer worked. It would last about an hour and would start to go flat so I thought,

"I can't work like that. I need something better than that. I need a new laptop. I need one of the nice new ones, not the crummy little ones like they have. That is obsolete. I want a better one; something that is a bit more powerful."

I could see myself sitting with my new laptop. It would be so awesome. I went to the shops and checked out the prices.

Then I said to everyone,

"Come and see the laptop I am going to get."

But you see I couldn't afford it then, so I started to put out my faith for my new laptop. I could get it over 24 months at a reasonable price per month. Some of my debts were just starting to end now, so within the next month or two I would have enough to buy it.

I started to get excited about it. But I realized I was getting into an old syndrome, where buying things met an inner need in me. I was starting to fall back into that vortex.

Be very careful because the flesh is subtle. So, I journaled about it and the Lord said,

"You need a laptop to work on. I will provide it for you."

I thought, "Awesome!"

Well I wasn't going to wait for the Lord to provide. I was going to wait until the debts dropped off the next month and I was going to get it. I just couldn't wait for the end of the month.

But the Lord was clever. He said to me,

"Take your existing laptop and just work on it in the meantime. Do it so you get the feel of working on the laptop, even though it only lasts about an hour or two at the most on the battery and the keyboard is all stuck."

It had been sitting there for four years, and I never used the keyboard, so the keys were all stuck. So, I started to work with those stuck keys and let the battery run down. I put it back on charge and let the battery run down again.

Then something amazing happened. The keys started to loosen, and the battery started to last longer. Within a week or two I looked at it and thought,

"I don't need a new laptop. This is top of the range. It may be old, but it is still top of the range. It's the biggest and fastest one with the biggest screen and now it is working."

The Lord delivered me from getting myself into debt again. And you know, I think I would not have had the emotion or the strength of willpower to hold back if I could have got it already. But the Lord knew. It was a learning experience for me.

So, I don't condemn you if you struggle with these things. But I just want to share my experience with you.

Ultimately, I needed a laptop that I could carry around with me and to work anywhere. It's wonderful. I can work in bed now. And while everyone else is sitting in the lounge with their laptops, I can sit there and work with them.

It's a whole new atmosphere instead of sitting at my desk. It has really liberated me. I'm starting to write and getting a flow of new things in my writing.

What I am sharing with you now came on the laptop as I was journaling. It is awesome stuff. So, learn to journal. Learn to listen and learn to hold back on that temptation.

When you have a strong desire to eat, is it because you are hungry? Most of the time it isn't. Most of the time you might think,

"I am feeling frustrated and bored. Life is dull, and a nice meal would make me feel much better right now. I don't just want any meal like ordinary vegetables. No, I want something exotic; something nice. My favorite meal would definitely make me feel better."

The Lord smiles on us and He lets us do it. But if you want to lose weight and be healthier, you will need to discipline yourself sometime.

I found that as I began to walk in the Spirit and to hear His voice, I stopped thinking about food. The restlessness within me ceased so I didn't need food to satisfy it anymore. Then I could naturally think,

"I'm feeling a bit hungry now. It's coming up for a mealtime. Let's go and have something to eat."

I wasn't rushing off to get something exotic then. I just wanted to eat something that was healthy. After I had finished eating it, I felt good, and I could get back to walking in the Spirit and doing what God wanted me to do.

Don't underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit in you to overcome all these things. He can do it.

Listen to the Spirit

When you are feeling too lazy to be active, get in the Spirit and journal. I find it easy to do something when the Lord tells me to.

Most people who succeed physically never did it on their own. They hired a coach who said,

"This is how you should do it. That is what you should do next, and don't you dare do that! Do it now."

"But I don't feel like it."

"Do it now and do it twice!"

Well the good news is you get a coach for free. He lives inside of you and He is the Holy Spirit. He's the counselor and the comforter. If you will get into the Spirit and listen, you will feel Him nudge you.

He doesn't push you. He's gentle, but He will nudge you and say,

"Get up and do this for me. Do this because you love me. Do it because it will benefit you and will lead to blessing."

Wrapping it Up

I have covered a lot of ground, but I want to end off now and just sum it up.

Take time each day to find new ideas that will improve your health and your wealth. Get into the Spirit and journal it.

Sometimes in your journals God gives you a rhema word; a word of wisdom and something that you should keep and hold onto like a promise of God. You need to record those and keep them.

In my Bible app I have made a place to record my rhema's. I can pick up my phone any time, go to my app and read some of my latest journals. I have a place to put in revelations and dreams as well.

Sometimes when I read those journals and see that the Lord has told me something powerful, I move them into the rhema column and read those rhema's.

The Scripture says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the rhema of God. It doesn't only take Scripture to produce faith. The rhema that God gives you in your journaling has the power to produce faith in you and faith is dynamite. It can accomplish great things in your life.

Review these often. Speak them out loud and practice them daily. You will get better and better all the time.

Your life will take on new meaning. You will accomplish great things in this life and for the Kingdom of God. You will come to a place of being settled and content. And ultimately you will start to live the abundant life.

My Prayer

"Thank you, Father, for your word. I pray that you will take it and challenge each one of us to live the abundant life that you have designed for us Lord.

I ask now Lord that you would move upon each one who is reading this. I pray that you will bring conviction, and that you will encourage each one to step out of the flesh, to walk in the Spirit and to listen to your voice.

Help them to obey your voice and to rise up and claim their inheritance. You don't want us to be sick and you don't want us to be poor. You want us to be abundant in all things.

I pray that you will take each one that is struggling financially. I ask that you not only break them out of their financial lack, but you will make them to be in a position where they become a source of blessing to others because they have such abundance.

Make each one of us kings and queens to reign with you Lord and to live in abundance the way you designed us to. Thank you for it now in Jesus' name."