Stand Firm In The Faith

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devil, distractions, faith, Father, Firm, help, Jesus, power, stand

Our faith is most precious because without it we cannot please God.  It is therefore of the utmost importance that we guard it with our entire being. There can be no breaks when it comes to guarding our faith.  We must be alert and on our guard at all times. 

The devil is constantly trying to get us to move out of faith because he knows that we cannot possess the land without faith.  The children of Israel didn’t possess the promise land when they could have because they had no faith.  Likewise, we cannot possess all that Christ died for us to have if we have no faith.  I Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”  Make no mistake it’s the devil who is walking about seeking whom he may devour not people or things.  He will use whoever and whatever lends itself to him to come after your faith.  Guarding your faith may mean that you will have to separate yourself from people, places and things in order to stay stedfast and firm in your faith. David separated himself from his army and encourage himself in the Lord after the enemy had invaded Ziklag and captured their women and children. I Samuel 30:6, “And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters; but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”  David had to remove himself from all the negative talk and space in order to hear from God.   Peter said “be sober, be vigilant.” About what you ask?  About knowing who we are, what we have, and what we can do in Christ.  For a person who knows who they are; what they have and what they can do in Christ cannot be devoured.

Faith is both offensive and defensive.  We use it to gain and to defend.  I Peter 5:9, says “whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.”  Notice it says, “whom resist stedfast in the faith”.  While we are using faith to lay hold on the things of God, we are also using faith to resist the things of the devil.  Our faith rejects and resists the things of the devil and accepts and receives the things of God.  This is why the devil comes after our faith so hard.  He knows that if we stand firm in faith we will accomplish our goals, realize our dreams and fulfil our destinies.  We need only remember that our Father God has never failed or gone back on His word.  He has proven over and over again His faithfulness.  As we read and reflect on God’s faithfulness it strengthens our faith and empowers us to stand firm on His word.  You are not alone.  All who will to possess the things of God are faced with the same distractions and many are standing firm and possessing all.

Separated From Evil

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evil, God, Jesus, love, Separate, Truth

This world is full of evil. Jesus said in praying to the Father in John 17:15, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of this world, but that thou shouldest keep them from evil.” How will the Father keep us from evil? Jesus tells us how in verse 17. “Sanctify them through thy Truth, Thy Word is Truth.” Jesus Christ is the living Word of God and the Word of God is the Truth that will sanctify or separate us from all the evil that’s in the world.

Evil is of the devil. It is right there in his name. Jesus called him a murderer, a liar, and the father of lies. Therefore, we can say that all evil is based on lies. Evil entered the world because Eve believed the lie the devil told her in the Garden of Eden. If you are doing anything evil whether morally, ethically, or physically it is because you have believed a lie. Somewhere at sometime you believed the lies the devil has told you. And know this, you will continue to be imprisoned by the evil that you are doing until you know the Truth. Jesus said, “And ye shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free.” John 8:32.

The devil will tell you lies about who you are, what you have and what you can do. He’ll tell you that you are not loved. That your mother doesn’t love you, your father doesn’t love you and most of all that God doesn’t love you. When you believe these lies not only will you practice evil, but evil in the form of sickness, disease, depression and other mental illnesses will come upon you. All of these are evils in world from the devil. Now here is the good news! John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but should have everlasting life.” That’s the Truth! Believe it and hold on to it because it is the Truth that set you free. It doesn’t matter what your background is, whether you’ve been abandon or abused. Knowing this Truth will set you free from the lies of the devil and all the evil that is in the world.

Take The Challenge – Gentleness

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fruits, gentleness, harsh, Jesus, take the challenge, weakness

Hi there,

This week we are challenging ourselves in the fruit of Gentleness.  Gentleness is one of those fruits that we don’t talk a lot about simply because we tend to think of it as a part of love but not so much as a fruit by itself.  So let’s look at gentleness.

According to Vine’s Expository Dictionary gentleness comes from two words epi, “unto” and eikos, “likely,” it denotes “seemly, fitting”; hence equitable, fair, moderate, forbearing not insisting on the letter of the law; it expresses that considerateness that looks humanely and reasonably at the facts of a case.  In other words, gentleness takes into consideration another’s inabilities and weaknesses.  Christ is gentle with us because He knows our inabilities and weaknesses.  Hebrews 2:17-18 says, “Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.  For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted.” 

While you may not be able to relate to a person on every level Christ can because He’s experienced it and conquered it.  And when we look at Christ we know that if it were not for His grace it could be and would be us.  For example, if you’ve never been an alcoholic it might be hard for you to relate to the struggles someone with an addictive habit might have it might be hard for you to sympathize and have that gentleness that looks humanely and reasonably at the facts of their case.  But when you look at them through the eyes of Christ you can consider humanely and reasonably the facts of their case and remember that you too are but flesh.  Psalms 78:39 says, “But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not; yea, many a time turned He His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath.  For He remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.”

The Holy Spirit is always producing in us the fruit of gentleness we simply need to allow it to flow through us.  Our natural gentleness is not enough; it’s limited to our experiences whereas Christ has experienced everything man would ever experience and can relate to man’s weaknesses.

Paul says this in I Thessalonians 2:7-8, “But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children; so being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.”  This kind of gentleness could only be from God.   This is what the Holy Spirit produces in us gentleness that looks beyond one another’s faults and meets the need.

I challenge you this week not to strive to be gentle in your own might but as a branch on the vine allow the Holy Spirit to flow through you unto others the gentleness of Jesus Christ.

The Works That I Do

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Doing what Jesus did, great commission, greater works, Jesus, Working for Jesus

John 14:12
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”

It never ceases to amaze me that the only prerequisite for doing what Jesus did is to believe on Him.  When we believe on Him the works that He did we can do.  So what are those works that He did? He healed the sick, He raised the dead,  He cast out devils, He opened blind eyes, and He caused the lame to walk.   All of this and more He said we can do when we believe on Him.

When you believe on Jesus you’re not just believing on one aspect of Him, when you believe on Jesus you believe on Jesus.  All that He is and all that He does.  St. John 1:14 says, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”  I love this verse!  Jesus is full of grace and truth.  Jesus is full of grace to save, heal, deliver,  provide and protect.   Whether you believe it or not it’s who He is and what He does.  And since He is the Truth it is undisputable, and unchangeable.  All you need to do is receive it.

Jesus has given us His name to go and do the works that He did.  All of His grace and truth is in His name because He is His name and His name is who He is. St. John 14:14 “If ye shall ask any thing in my name I will do it.”And St. John 15:16, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you.   Notice Jesus said  “I will do it” and then “He (the Father) may give it you.” In other words the Father gives and His Son does.  The Father has given us His Son to give us whatever we ask.  Jesus is the power of God (I Cor. 1:24).  Therefore when we use the name of Jesus it is as though we are saying, Father according to the power you used when you created the heavens and the earth and all there is therein I command the sick healed, blind eyes opened, I cast out devils and I receive everything I need.  Just think we’ve been chosen and ordained by Christ to not only bring forth fruit, but to receive from the Father whatsoever we ask.  All we need to do is believe on Jesus and ask.

Today, not only can you do the works that Jesus did but you can do even greater works. Go forth in His name and work!

God Expects You To Receive!

Tags

Gifts, Jesus, Lengths, Receive, Sacrafice, Thanks

Isaiah 53:5

“But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed.”

Giving implies that someone will receive.  Even if you really don’t want to give or assume that the person will not receive there is still the expectation of someone receiving and when you really want someone to receive something you will go to whatever lengths to see to it that they get it.

This is exactly what God did for us.  He sent His only Son into this world to take our sins upon Him and receive the wrath and punishment of sin and die on the cross so that we could receive His life.  God crushed His only begotten Son to give to us His life.  That’s how much He wanted us to receive; and His giving was born out of His love.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).  God gave to us with the expectation that we would receive.

However, the devil wants you to believe that God really doesn’t want you to receive.  He wants you to believe that God has a tight hand, and that He’s not as free giving as He says He is.  Or that God only gives based on your efforts and merits.  If you’re good you might get it and if you’re bad you can forget it.  He wants to block you from receiving what God has freely given.  Because if you think that God doesn’t want to give or that you have to work to get it you might not receive it.  Romans 8:32 says, “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”  God crushed His own Son to give to us His life.  That’s how much he wanted us to receive.

So why do you take so little when He has given so much?  Receive ALL because He expects you too.

Rain, Son, Harvest!

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abundance, Harvest, Increase, Jesus, Rain, Son, Sun

Joel 2:23

“Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God; for He hath given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain in the first month.”

God knows how to give us rain.  When the earth is dry, He sends the rain and after the rain He sends the sun, and after the sun, He sends the harvest.  Rain and sun will cause any seed to produce.

Jesus is our rain and He is the Son of the living God.  When God gave us Jesus He not only rained upon us but He shined upon us with the light of His Son.  Think about this, when the children of Israel where in the middle of the wilderness, a place where they could not go to the local market and buy bread to eat, God caused it to rain down manna from heaven which was a foreshadow of the bread of life that would rain down upon us.  Jesus said “…I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst” (John 6:35).

Therefore, with Jesus being our rain and sun (because He is the light of the world John 1:4) we can expect an abundant harvest.  The prophet Joel said because of the rain that would come down which is Jesus, that our floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil and all things would be restored to us and we shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord our God, that hath dealt wondrously with us and we shall never be ashamed (Joel 2:24-26).  Praise the Lord!  Jesus is the seed, He’s the rain and He is the Son.  God has rained down His Son and given us an abundant harvest!

Cry Out To Draw Out

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Ask, Cry, Cry out, Draw out, grace, Jesus, power, pray, prayer, Receive

Mark 10:50-51

“And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.  And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?  The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.”

Everywhere Jesus went there was someone pressing upon Him to receive something from Him and Bartimaeus, was no different.

As Jesus was leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus was sitting by the highway begging as he usually did every day he had no idea that that day would forever change his life. 

When Bartimaeus heard the noise of the crowd he asked the reason for the noise and when they told him it was Jesus he began to do something that turned heads, he cried out.  Mark 10:47 “And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me.”  The scripture says that many told him to hold his peace but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me (Mark 10:48).  His cries didn’t go out in vain it got Jesus attention.  “And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called…” (Mark 10:49).  When Bartimaeus was told he got Jesus attention, he cast away his garment, got up and went to Jesus.  And Jesus said unto him “what wilt thou that I should do unto thee?”   Bartimaeus received his sight because he called upon the one who was passing by.

Today, Jesus is not just passing by but He lives in you. He walks with you and talks with you.  He’s given us His word that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb 13:5).  But like Bartimaeus we have to cast away our garments, our righteousness, our way, our works, our life and receive what He came to give us, His righteousness, His way, His works, His life.

When we cry out to Him, He gives us the same answer He gave Bartimaeus, “What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?”  The one whose sole purpose is to bless you is asking you today What do you want me to do for you?   There were many in Bartimaeus’s day that had needs but they didn’t cry out, to draw out what was in Jesus to give.

Beloved, you are not alone on this journey, Jesus is with you.   Whatever you need today cry out to Him and He will pour out to you whatever you ask of Him.

God Is Bigger Than That!

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Big, Bigger, challenges, God, Great, Greater, Jesus, No body greater

Psalms 34:3
“O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.”

To magnify something is to make it be bigger.  When David said “O magnify the Lord with me…” he was saying let’s make the Lord bigger.

The question is bigger to who?  Not bigger to God for He knows who He is  and surely not bigger to the enemy for he too knows how big God is having been in the presence of God.  It remains then that there is a need for us to make God bigger to ourselves.  How we see God is how He will be in our lives.

Look at David when he went up against Goliath.  Saul and all of Israel were looking at Goliath, his height, his weight, his armour, his spear and all that  they saw was all that they talked about.  Unless you have a revelation of the truth you will not be able to speak life when confronted with death.  What you see is what you will speak.  Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:13 “… we believe therefore we speak.”   When David went before Saul Saul said “…Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth” I Sam. 17:33.  As Saul magnified Goliath David begans to magnified God “Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.  David said moreover, The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine…” I Sam. 17:36-37.  What David was saying was my God is Bigger than that!

Child of God, don’t look at the problem confronting you, see Jesus and what He has done. Notice when David went into the camp and Goliath presented himself David didn’t even mention Goliath (I Sam. 17:23).  It wasn’t that David didn’t see and hear Goliath, it was just that he saw his God being bigger and heard the voice of his God louder.   Because David saw God bigger, he saw Goliath defeated and he was ready to collect his reward (I Sam 17:26).   No matter what you’re facing today, God is bigger than that and the reward is yours!

That They May Know

Tags

His name is great, Jesus, Jesus is Lord, knowing God, Name of Jesus

Isaiah 37:20
“Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou only.”
A person’s name is made great by the life that he lives and the work that he does.  It doesn’t matter if you where born with a great name, somewhere in your blood line someone had to do something great to give you a great name.  The name of Jesus is great because of the life He lived and the work He did for us at Calavary.  Because of His work Philippians 2:9-10 says “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth and things under the earth and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  All because of the work He did for you and I.
Every time we call on the name of Jesus and the sick are healed, devils are cast out, and people are saved and set free, the name of the Lord is great in that place and the world knows that God is God and Jesus is Lord!
Look at Hezekiah, when Sennacherib sent him a threatening letter, he called on the name of the Lord and the Lord delivered him out of his hand.  Hezekiah said “…save us from this hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou are the Lord, even thou only.  In other words that you may be glorified.
God delights in meeting our needs, prospering us and delivering us out of trouble because when He does, His name is made great in that place by us and the world sees that our God is God.   Therefore, be confident in knowing that when you call on the name of Jesus you will not be disappointed or ashamed.  His name is great to save, heal, prosper, and deliver.

Eat And Enjoy!

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Eat, Eat and enjoy, enjoy, free, good things, house, Jesus, land, Live, take

Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

When the children of Israel went into Babylonian captivity the word of the Lord came to them through the prophet Jeremiah to build houses and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them (Jer.29:5).  In other words they were to build and plant before they could eat.

Likewise, when their Fathers where in Egypt they too had to build house and plant vineyards before they could eat.  But when they came out of Egypt to go into the land of promise God told them He was giving them a land that was filled with great and goodly cities, which they didn’t build and houses full of all good things which they didn’t fill and wells they didn’t dig, vineyards and olive trees which they didn’t plant (Num. 6:10-11). They could live in the houses, enjoy the good things and eat till they were full.  In other words, they didn’t have to build or plant before they could eat.

God through Jesus Christ has placed us in a land where we no longer have to build or plant before we eat.  He has done it all.  He has build us houses, and planted us vineyards, and dugged wells for us to drink from, and all we have to do is eat and enjoy.

David said in Psalms 23:1 “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.”  I think sometimes we separate the first phrase from the second.  We say the Lord is my Shepherd but the I shall not want part we leave to ourselves to fulfill.  No my friends, it’s because the Lord is our Shepherd that we do not want.  David also said “…there is no want to them that fear Him” (Psa. 34:9).

God has given us all things through Christ Jesus.  It’s only when you are captive that you build and plant before you eat.  Jesus has set us free.  Eat and enjoy!