Kings and Priests, Part 2

In this second part of our study on kings and priests, let’s look at our role as priests of God while we are here on this earth.

Let’s look at our foundation scripture once again in the Amplified Bible.
Rev. 1:5,6
And from Jesus Christ the faithful and trustworthy Witness, the Firstborn of the dead [first to be brought back to life] and the Prince (Ruler) of the kings of the earth. To Him Who ever loves us and has once [for all] loosed and freed us from our sins by His own blood,
6 And formed us into a kingdom (a royal race), priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the power and the majesty and the dominion throughout the ages and forever and ever. Amen (so be it).

We not only have been made kings (as we studied yesterday) but we also have been made priests to God our Father.

What does a priest do? A priest has an intimate relationship with God. He is able to stand in God’s presence and worship Him, praise Him. He offers up to God that which is pleasing to Him. In the Old Testament, it was a system of animal sacrifices. In the New Testament, it is a sacrifice of praise, an offering of praise with our lips. We must see here that sacrifice is another word for offering, not a word for something hard to do. Our English vocabulary has translated the word sacrifice into that which is something difficult that we do, regardless of how we feel. Sacrifice in God’s realm has to do with that which we offer to Him; it’s an offering. Our praise is our offering to Him at all times.

1 Peter 2:5 Amplified Bible
[Come] and, like living stones, be yourselves built [into] a spiritual house, for a holy (dedicated, consecrated) priesthood, to offer up [those] spiritual sacrifices [that are] acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.

Since the veil has been torn in two when Jesus died on the cross and since Jesus’ blood is on the eternal Mercy Seat of God in heaven, we as God’s children have the unlimited access to God’s presence. We can come in and go as many times as we want and always have an open ear from God. Of course, we come with respect and reverence and with clean hands before Him, washed in the blood of Jesus and cleansed of all unrighteousness by His blood.

The priest made offerings to God and came into the Lord’s presence. We also make offerings of thanksgiving and praise and worship with our lips and with our mouths filled with praises of Him Who has made us, Who has purchased us, Who has set us free, Who has given us the right to adore and love Him forever.

We have the right to an intimate relationship with God because there is no longer a wall of partition between us. There is nothing between us but love. We are in union with God and Jesus is our High Priest Who sits at the right hand of God ever making intercession for us (and He has to do that when we miss the mark and get off the track on which He has put us).

Have you stopped to consider recently that you have been given the privilege to enter into the Presence of Almighty God and minister to Him? Have you pondered how He sits, waiting for your coming to enjoy Him? What an awesome honor we have bestowed upon us! We have access to the Great God Who created everything, including us, any time we want. He is never busy. He doesn’t have an answering machine that says: Your call is important to us. All our lines are tied up right now, but we’ll get to you as soon as we can. Please stay on the line. Someone will be with you shortly. When you cry out, He says: Yes, my child, what can I do for you? When you come to Him, He says: Welcome, I’ve been waiting for you. Let’s talk.

A priest is one who is set apart and designated to stand and worship or adore God. That’s you and me.

Kings and Priests, Part 1

In Revelation 1:5,6 we see that for those of us who have received Jesus, He has made us kings and priests; He has made us His royalty, His kingdom of royal people and He has opened up the way for us to minister to God in His Holy presence as priests.

In the Amplified Bible it reads as follows:
Rev. 1:5,6
And from Jesus Christ the faithful and trustworthy Witness, the Firstborn of the dead [first to be brought back to life] and the Prince (Ruler) of the kings of the earth. To Him Who ever loves us and has once [for all] loosed and freed us from our sins by His own blood,
6 And formed us into a kingdom (a royal race), priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and the power and the majesty and the dominion throughout the ages and forever and ever. Amen (so be it). Emphasis added.

In the King James Bible verse six of Revelation 1 says that Jesus Christ has made us kings and priests.

And in 1 Timothy 6:15 Jesus is called the King of kings and the Lord of lords.

God is the ultimate King who has given us the right, the privilege to be kings in His kingdom, a position that was purchased by the blood of Jesus and offered to us as children of God as our inheritance. It is an everlasting, eternal, unending position and status in God’s kingdom. We have royal status; we have a spiritual place of royalty in God’s Kingdom because of our union with Him as His children. We are in union with the royal One, God Almighty Himself; we are His heirs, His descendants, so to speak. As sons and daughters of God, we have inherited the ultimate kingdom, the kingdom of God.

And just what have we inherited---Romans 14:17 The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. So we see that this kingdom operates in the Holy Spirit. We are made right with God through the blood of Jesus and kept right by the power of the Holy Spirit of God. The same is true of His peace, which is not the type of peace that the world gives, which is dependent upon circumstances. God’s peace is a steadfast wholeness in every area of our lives. And as a result of knowing that we are right with God, that we are whole, we have joy which no one can take away. It is our strength and our fortress. When all around us seems to be operating contrary to the Kingdom of God, we have the joy of knowing that He prevails every time. He brings us out on top every time.

This position of king is one of supreme authority. We have inherited it forever, for life, as God’s personal representative. It is a position of power, authority and majesty. He has given us dominion, authority over all this earth as His representatives. It is our kingdom, given to us as a gift, which our ancestor Adam allowed to be taken away. But we have a greater One Who came and took it back for us----Jesus Christ.

BUT NOW, we are the ones in charge, under the King, Jesus Christ. He has given us the authority to rule and reign here on this earth. He has given us the power and the right to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19). He has given us back everything that was stolen from us. We are to rule and reign wherever we are. What an honor! What a privilege!

We each need to ask ourselves these questions today. Am I ruling and reigning over what God has given me? And if I am not, why not? And what are my excuses? A king is without excuse when his kingdom gets messed up, because he is the one in charge. If it is messed up, the finger points back to him who has all the power to make things right, the one who is in charge. He has the ability to give orders and they are to be carried out. Today let’s take inventory of the kingdom God has given us.

Christ Has Risen - Announce Your Freedom

On Easter morning we say: CHRIST HAS RISEN; HE HAS RISEN INDEED. Well, since He has risen, that means we are free from sickness and disease, poverty and spiritual death. And since we are free from those things, we need to announce our freedom to the demons of hell and satan. We need to announce our freedom every day when we get up, when we go about our day and when we go to bed at night.

We need to announce our freedom when a pain comes to our body. We need to speak to that pain and say: Pain, you’re not welcome here. This is a free body, free of pain, free of sickness and disease, free of all the curse of the law. Body, you are free from anything that the curse of the law might try to bring to you. Body, you are the temple of the Holy Spirit and no sickness and disease can dwell in the same place with the Holy Spirit. Body, you are healthy and healed and whole and well. Body, you are free from the tiredness and weariness of the world. You are free. We need to declare our freedom instead of letting satan handcuff us with sickness and disease and carrying us into his jail cell of bondage and misery. We need to declare, decree, announce with boldness and praise and thanksgiving that we are a free people.

We need to announce our freedom to our pocketbooks and bank accounts and investments when lack and a devouring spirit of want comes knocking at our door. We need to speak to that lack, that want, that devouring spirit and say: No, you don’t. This pocketbook, this bank account, this investment is blessed. Pocketbook, do you know what that means? That means you are overflowing with cash at all times. Bank account, that means you are abundantly overflowing with money. Investments, that means you are the best investments that anyone could have. You bring me great return, at least 100-fold because I am a tither and I am a giver. I am blessed. I am blessed coming in and going out. I am the lender and not the borrower. I am above only and not beneath. I am blessed.

We need to announce our freedom from every bondage that has been set against us. We are a free people. We are not subject to prison and slavery any longer. We are free. Let me quote again my oft-quoted scripture in HEBREWS 2:14,15. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy (render completely incapacitated, make of no effect, bring to nought, make void, render inoperative, render powerless, break the power, reduce to zero) him that had (past tense) the power (dominion) of death, that is, the devil; and deliver (release, redeem, set at liberty, set free) them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to (dominated by) bondage.

And then how about the scripture in COLOSSIANS 2:15.
Amplified Bible: God disarmed principalities and powers that were ranged against us and made a bold display and public example of them, in triumphing over them in Him and in the cross (stripped them of their weapons, unclothed them, deprived them of their possessions by force, stripped them of their authority and led them in triumphal possession).

And then how about the scripture in 1 JOHN 3:8b.
For this purpose was the Son of God manifested, revealed, that He might destroy, loosen, undo, dissolve the works of the devil.

ISAIAH 60:1 Arise from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you (change your position, your posture), shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.

Is that enough to shout about! We are free. We are free. We are free.

Spend the rest of your day speaking, shouting (if you have a place to do that): I AM FREE! I AM FREE FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW! THAT MEANS I AM FREE FROM SICKNESS AND DISEASE! I AM FREE FROM PAIN! I AM FREE FROM POVERTY! I AM FREE FROM SPIRITUAL DEATH! I AM A FREE MAN/WOMAN!

Life In The Overflow

The last part of John 10:10 in the Amplified Bible tells us that Jesus came that we might have and enjoy life, have it in abundance, to the full until it overflows.

I have several questions to ask you today. Are you enjoying life? Do you have abundance? And even greater, do you have so much abundance that it is overflowing and you don’t have room enough to contain it? And if your answer is no to these questions, why is it no? And if it is no, why aren’t you doing something about it?

I have been asking myself these questions and the answer is: No, I don’t have abundance to the overflow so that I don’t have room enough to contain it. Kenneth Copeland and Kenneth Hagin, both men of God that we have respected, said that this was a year of overflow. Jesse Duplantis has talked about overflow much of the year.

We have had the teaching, but like so many other things we are taught, we hear it and are not doing it. The Bible says in James 1:23 that if we are hearers and not doers, we deceive ourselves. The Amplified Bible makes it even stronger by stating that we betray ourselves into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth. Now that is heavy duty. I don’t want to think anything contrary to Truth, which is the Word of God. I don’t want to do anything contrary to Truth.

Jesus said that He came that I may have life in the overflow and that is my goal. What kind of life is He talking about? He is talking about His Life, His nature, His ability, His Kingdom living. God’s life, called zoe, is a life lived on a much higher level than the low level of earthly existence. And we can live that life while we are here on this earth.

In John 1:4 we see that in Jesus was life and that life was the light of men. This is the same kind of life that is in us today as God’s children. It’s God’s life, His vitality and strength that was breathed into you as His child, spoken over you by your Father in heaven. Over and over in the gospels, we see that Jesus came that we might have eternal life, a life that is never changing, never subject to change, always the same. And what causes us to walk in that way of life---the Word of God, which is called the Word of Life. Jesus said that His words are spirit and life.

As we enjoy life, joy is active in us, producing strength. Strength and joy are forces of God that push the devil and his oppressive, depressive thoughts and situations right on out of our lives. So, we are not only to have life, we are to enjoy life. We are to enjoy it so much that we are bubbling over with the goodness of God and spilling all over into other people’s lives to make their lives better. I’m aiming for this overflowing, joyful, enjoyable life. How about you?

Strongholds

What are the strongholds in your life that are hindering your walk with the Lord?

Stronghold is defined in the dictionary as a fortified place, a fort. It is a place of strength, a place of security, built to guard something. It is a house constructed of thoughts and it develops a pattern of thinking.

What places has satan entrenched himself in your life as a place that he has a strong grip, a strong hold on your life? Do you know that God is also spoken of as a stronghold in the Bible? We want God entrenched, locked in tight with our lives where He is the One with the strong grip, the strong hold on our lives.

In 2 Corinthians 10:4,5 we see that the weapons of our warfare (You say, is there a warfare? Yes, there is a battle to enforce in your life personally what Jesus has purchased for you when He sweat blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, when His back was lacerated and torn at the whipping post and when He hung on the cross----all of it for you, as your substitute.) are not carnal (They’re not physical weapons of flesh.) but our weapons are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.

In verse 5 we are given instructions on how to tear down satan’s strongholds in our lives. Cast down imaginations or reasonings that are contrary to God’s Word. Cast down everything that would exalt itself against the knowledge of God. And where do we get the knowledge of God? We get knowledge and understanding of God through studying, speaking, meditating, confessing His Word day and night, continually. We bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, the Anointed One and His anointing.

You say, Kialeen, that is too hard. Well, do you want to get rid of those strongholds that are continually bringing you heartache, destruction, ruin, and death? Then do what the Word says: Bring EVERY THOUGHT INTO CAPTIVITY TO THE ANOINTED ONE and then His anointing, His power will flow in your life to overcome, capture and take back for the Lord the areas of defeat and failure in your life.

In Psalm 28:8 in the Amplified Bible tells us that the Lord is our strength; He is the stronghold of salvation to us, His anointed. Here we see that the Lord Himself wants to be our strength, our stronghold of salvation. Remember that salvation is a word that takes in a lot of territory. Salvation means deliverance, safety, health, wholeness, security, protection, preservation, inclusive of all the blessing of God in Christ. That is the stronghold we want—the stronghold of salvation, the strength of salvation. Nothing can come through or penetrate God’s stronghold, God’s fort. No enemy can overtake God’s fort. Come inside into God’s fort. It is truly a fortified place.

Remember in Psalm 91 that in v. 2 we say of the Lord: He is my Refuge (Place where I am safe and protected, my hiding place from all danger), my Fortress (My place of strength, my defense against all enemies), my God; on Him I lean, on Him I rely and in Him I place my confidence. He is the One in Whom I place all my trust, all my confidence. My trust is in nothing else. He alone is the One Who holds me up and takes care of me.

In a little known book in the Bible, Nahum, chapter 1, verse 7 we see that the Lord is good; He is a stronghold in times of trouble and He knows the ones who trust Him, who take shelter, who take refuge in Him.

And how do we develop trust in someone? How do we develop trust in the Lord? We get to know Him. And how do we get to know Him? By the words He speaks, by the things He does.

How about you? I want to know Him in the fullness of His Presence, to get lost in and bask in His infinite love and desire for me. I want to know Him in the fullness of His resurrection power and glory. To know Him is to love Him and to love Him is to trust Him and to trust Him is to live a life of rest and peace in a world full of chaos and turmoil.

Turn Around Your Losses

Out of a great time of sadness and a sense of loss of one I loved very dearly in my life has come great truth that the Lord taught me. I would like to share it with you. I know what David meant when he said that he cried from the depths of his soul. There was a cry in my heart that went so deep that no other human being could understand. Only my Papa, my Father God, could understand the depth of my cry.

There has been a great deal of a sense of loss in my life in the past several months---friends, ministry friends, and now my “sis.” She was more than a sister-in-law; she was my friend who had been with me through many difficult moments in my life when my first husband, who was her brother died.

We can take loss and wallow in it or we can take God’s Word and throw it in the devil’s face and say, No, you don’t. You don’t have any say-so in my life. And we can begin to praise God for what He has done for us and what He is doing and let His Word roll off our tongues in the midst of heart-wrenching sobs. You know, it is one thing to talk about the Word of God working in our lives; it is another to experience it personally.

I deliberately and on purpose spoke the opposite of everything that I was sensing and feeling today and kept on speaking it, even through my sobs, and kept on speaking it and kept on speaking it and praising and praising and praising. And the sense of God’s presence became so real that what had been overwhelming me in my emotions was replaced by the overwhelming power of God’s Presence. You, too, can experience the same thing in your own life. You know what it takes: Pure, gutsy determination in the midst of whatever it is you are going through. You plow through to the other side, believing that you will go through.

The greatest power in the universe is God, Who is Love, Who made you in His image to operate in the forces that come out of Him, namely, love, life, faith, hope, which culminate in a manifestation of His Presence in the form of Light if you could see it. You and I have within us today as born-again children of God, THE ULTIMATE SOURCE, THE ULTIMATE POWER, THE ULTIMATE GOD HIMSELF! He is God, and He is in us. Love is in us. Life is in us. Faith is in us. Hope is in us. Grab hold of this and it will transform your life. This is real! This is true! God is real and His Word is true for you and me, for us, for you. It is true! It is true! It is true!

He has given us His love. Romans 5:5 says that His love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. In the book of John, Jesus said that the love that the Father had given to Him was in us. He said that the same love with which the Father loved Him the Father loves us with.

He has given us His faith. We are told to have the God-kind of faith in Mark 11. We would not be told to have the God-kind of faith if God had not made it available for us. And that faith becomes real as we hear and hear the Word of God because we are told that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

He has given us His hope. 1 Peter 1:3 tells us that His hope is a lively hope, an ever-living hope. What does that mean exactly? It means that God hope is different than earthly hope. Earthly hope produces nothing but disappointment. God’s hope is living; it is full of life.

It is said of Abraham in Romans 4 that when all means of earthly hope was gone, he hoped on in Bible hope. God’s hope is alive, produces the basis for faith to give substance to. What is our hope in? My hope is in Jesus coming through for me every time. I focus on that. I dwell on that, regardless of how I feel or what it looks like. I FOCUS! My hope is in His Word being true for me, regardless of how much I think it doesn’t work for me. My hope is in Him and His Word. And that hope gives the foundation for faith.

Without hope, there can be no faith. And here is where people are missing it. They are trying to have faith and don’t even have Bible hope yet. Get a good portion of hope and exercise your faith to put substance to it. Just what is this Bible hope? It is an earnest, white-hot expectation that God is working on your behalf in spite of what you see or feel in your life.

Where do you get this faith and where do you get this hope? They are both found in the same place----God and His Word. Dwell therein day and night. Keep on and keep on and keep on until you have complete, shouting victory. And don’t back down, back off until you do have victory. That’s called determination to take back what is yours from the devil.

And just how do you exercise faith, release faith? Your mouth is your exercise piece. Speak it. Speak the opposite of how you feel. Speak the opposite of how it looks. The best time to speak God’s Word is in the face of totally contradictory circumstances. God loves to take what looks like an impossible situation and put His mark on it and turn it around for absolute victory. Go ahead and do it. You will love the results.

Now I ask you what else do we need?

Precious

Let’s talk about the word “precious” today.

The dictionary defines precious as: Of great price, costly, of great value or worth, very valuable, highly valued, much esteemed.

Now we are going to look at scriptures with that word.

In Proverbs 3:15 we are told that wisdom is more precious (valuable) than rubies, and nothing you can desire can be compared to wisdom. God’s wisdom is available to help us in any situation in which we find ourselves. We will know what to do if we yield to His wisdom. We will have a sense of how to handle everything.

In James 5:7 we see that God the Father waits patiently for the precious fruit of the earth, the harvest of people for His kingdom. He wants everyone back home again in His Kingdom while they are here on the earth. He doesn’t want to have to wait until people die for them to enjoy what He has for them.

1 Peter 1:18 & 19 states that we have been redeemed, purchased, ransomed from our useless, fruitless way of living, our old lifestyle, with the precious blood of Christ, the Anointed One and His anointing. Just think, the blood of Jesus Christ has been shed that we might go free, be redeemed, paid for with a price, bought with a price and we are not our own. He has purchased us from the pawnshop of satan where we were in bondage.

1 Peter 2:7---For those of us who believe in Christ, He is precious. Christ is valuable, of a great price beyond measure. He is the most valuable part of our lives. His relationship with us is measureless, no price great enough to place on it.

In Isaiah 28:16 and 1 Peter 2:6 Christ is called the cornerstone, the sure foundation which is precious. A cornerstone is that which is the basic foundation stone for that which is built. Our life is to be built on Jesus Christ as the chief foundation of our existence, of our entire being. He is our all-in-all. He is our everything.

In Isaiah 13:12 and 43:4 the Israelites and mankind are called precious in God’s sight and loved by God. You see, you are very special to God the Father, to Jesus, to the Holy Spirit. You are loved, regardless of how unworthy you think you are or how awful you think you are or how much you have done wrong. You see, your worth is not based on what you think or what you have done. You worth is based upon what God thinks about you. Your worth is based upon the price that was paid for you.

Finally, in 2 Peter 1:4 God’s promises, His Word, is called precious. His Word is the most valuable, the most precious, the most priceless thing you have available to you, the most necessary element in your life, for you to live in this world and not only to live, but to live victoriously while you are here.

In Summary, Christ, the most precious Son of God, the precious cornerstone of life, shed His precious blood because He saw you as precious; and, in fact, saw you so precious that He gave you His very precious Word, everything He knows and walks in Himself and left you His precious Wisdom to use. Now if that doesn’t get you excited, you need a blood transfusion. Yes, maybe you need a transfusion of the Blood of Jesus. Take a big dose of it today.

God's Word of Life and Health, Part 3

As part of our study on God’s Word of Life and Health, today we are going to look at Proverbs 4:20-22, a very familiar scripture to most of us. But you know sometimes a scripture can be so familiar we lose sight of its power and impact for our lives.

This scripture passage is really our instruction on how to live life here on this earth God’s way. And if this is God’s instruction to us, then we need to sit up and take notice. We are told here that God’s Word is life to us, health, medicine, healing to all our flesh. God’s Word is creative power for His abundant life to be made active in our lives.

You and I were created to be speaking spirits. God breathed into us His Spirit; He spoke His life into us. Just like our Father, we speak, and things happen. At least, that is the way He intended it to work. But then along came satan and messed up the way man speaks and taught man how to speak negative words of doubt, unbelief, fear and death. It has gotten to the point now in the life of mankind that if you and I speak words of faith, words which are positive and uplifting, people look at us and say something to this effect: You had better watch what you say; you don’t want to be part of that “name-it, claim-it, blab-it, grab-it” bunch.

What is wrong with naming yourself and your family as blessed, as healthy, as prosperous, as whole in every area of their lives? What is wrong with blessing your neighbors and your family and your church and your nation? What is wrong with speaking positive, uplifting words over yourself and others? What is wrong with it, I ask you? I tell you what is wrong with it. People have been used to hearing the opposite for so long that they are actually afraid that if they speak the right stuff, they will be abnormal. Satan has really done a number on mankind. What does God’s word have to say about speaking life?

In John 6:63, Jesus said that His Word was SPIRIT AND LIFE.

Now here in the Old Testament passage of Proverbs 4:20-22 we have these instructions.

Keep God’s Word of Life, His Word of health, ever before you. Pay attention to His Word. Give God’s Word your attention.
Keep God’s Word of Life, His Word of health in your ears all the time, continually.
Keep God’s Word of Life, His Word of health in the center of your heart.

The life of the flesh is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11).
The life of God’s Spirit is in His Word.
God has placed His life in His Word to feed our minds and spirits and conform them to Him, that our minds and spirits might be in agreement with His Spirit and the way He thinks and acts.
The life of the blood keeps our flesh alive and healthy. The life of the Word keeps our spirits alive and healthy.

Psalm 91:4b in the NLT states …His faithful promises (Word) are my armor and protection.
God’s Word gives us protection at all times.

Joshua 1:8 states: The book of the law (God’s Word which is life and health to all our flesh) shall not depart out of our mouths but we shall meditate on it day and night that we may observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then we shall make our way prosperous (going to the highest place in something we desire, excelling in something we desire—and remember that God gives us the desires of our hearts; He places His desires in those who are close to Him.) And then we shall have good success, deal wisely in all the affairs of life.

2 Timothy 3:16,17 states that: Every Word of God is God-breathed, given by His inspiration and profitable for instruction, reproof, conviction of sin, correction of error, discipline in obedience, training in righteousness, training in holy living, training in conformity to God’s will in thought, purpose and action. Why? So that we may be complete, prepared, proficient, well-fitted, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

God's Word of Life and Health, Part 2

Since Jesus has been made unto us righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30), then Jesus is speaking in Romans 10:6-8 as righteousness. And look at what righteousness says about your mouth and your heart. The word of faith is in your mouth and in your heart.

Now, let’s move to verses 9 and 10.

If you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and will believe in your heart that God has raised Christ from the dead, you shall be saved, delivered, protected, healed, preserved, made whole.

Do you believe the Word of God? Do you see what your command is here? Speak the Word and believe the Word. Speak the Word and believe the Word. Just take God at His Word. You do that for human beings. And God is not a man that He should lie. Has He not spoken it and will He not do it!

Confess the Word with your mouth. Confess means using your mouth to bring forth, to declare a thing in order to establish or confirm it. What are you doing when you confess God’s Word? You are bringing forth, declaring, establishing, confirming, agreeing with what God says. You are in agreement with God instead of in agreement with the world and the words it brings forth.

Believe in your heart. Believe means to accept as truth, to accept as true. God’s Word is true; His Word is Truth. You can stand on the solid foundation of His Word of Truth. So what if the circumstances are screaming you’re not going to make it. So what if your body is screaming you’re not healed. So what if your kids don’t seem to care about God and His ways. So what if your marriage looks like it is falling apart. So what!!!!!! You have a better word. God’s Word says: You’re healed. God’s Word says: You’re more than a conqueror. God’s Word says: You can do all things through Christ which strengthens you. God’s Word says: Your children are disciples taught of the Lord and great is their peace and undisturbed composure. God’s Word says: Your husband loves you as Christ loves the church. Your wife respects and honors you and esteems you and loves you exceedingly. Is that enough to make you shout today!!!!!

For with your heart you believe unto righteousness and with your mouth confession is made unto salvation (soteria, from sozo), safety, deliverance, health, being rescued, and includes all the blessing of God in Christ. These two actions bring salvation to me: confession with my mouth and believing with my heart.

So, let’s summarize these verses 6-10.
The Word is on my lips and in my heart, that is, the Word of faith. I acknowledge, I confess with my mouth, my lips that JESUS IS LORD over my life, over all the circumstances of my life, over my children, over my marriage, over my family, over my home, over my job, over my neighborhood, over my community, over my church. In my heart I believe, rely on the Truth that God raised Christ Jesus from the dead and I am saved, delivered, healed, protected, preserved, made whole. With my heart I believe, adhere to, trust in, rely on Christ and am declared righteous, acceptable to God. With my mouth I confess, declare openly, speak out freely my faith and confirm my salvation, rescue, safety, deliverance, health, including all the blessing of God in Christ.

If you can’t get excited about that, your wood is wet. Let’s praise Him today the rest of the day for what He has made available to us. We are the victorious, overcoming ones!!!!!!!!

God's Word of Life and Health, Part 1

We make many choices every day of our lives. Over the next several days we are going to talk about the choices we make of what thoughts we choose to think, what words we choose to speak, and what actions we choose to take as a result of our thoughts and our words.

I choose to think on God’s Word, speak God’s Word and take action on God’s Word. I choose to believe God’s Word above what my physical senses tell me and what circumstances scream at me. I choose to place Jesus and His Word as the Lord of my life, above all earthly circumstances and cares and worries and anxieties. I choose to make God’s Word the final, supreme authority in my life.

Today we are going to look at Romans 10:6-8.
In verses 6-8 righteousness based on faith is speaking. Remember that righteousness is right standing with God, right relationship with Him because of Jesus and what He did for us on the cross and when He arose from the dead and ascended into Heaven.

What is righteousness saying? Don’t say this in your heart--------
Who will ascend into Heaven to bring Christ (The Anointed One and His anointing) down?
Who will descend into the deep, the abyss to bring Christ (The Anointed One and His anointing) up again from the dead?
Rather this is what you say in your heart-------------
You don’t have to look for Christ all over the place. He gave you His Anointed Word, full of His Life, full of His anointing, which is near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that is the word of faith, which is preached.
That if you will confess with your mouth
And believe in your heart
That God raised Jesus Christ from the dead,
Then you shall be saved.
We must remember that that word saved is the Greek word sozo which means deliver,
protect, heal, preserve, save, do well, be (make) whole

So righteousness is saying that if you will confess with your mouth that God has raised Jesus Christ from the dead and believe it in your heart, then you are delivered, protected, healed, preserved, saved, are made whole, do well. In other words, as you confess with your mouth what God says and believe it in your heart, this is your consequence: Deliverance, protection, healing, preservation, salvation, wellness, wholeness.

Righteousness is God speaking because we see in 1 Corinthians 1:30 that Christ Jesus Who is of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Jesus is the righteousness of God and He has made you the righteousness of God.

You might say: Well, Kialeen, it isn’t working for me. Oh, yes, it is. The words of your mouth are working very effectively. You just said it wasn’t working, and it isn’t.

A “Word-of-God” speaking person has to be tough. In the fact of contradictory circumstances, you choose to stand up and say: This is what the Word of God says about my life and I choose to see it only that way. Regardless of what anyone else may think or say to you, the ultimate authority in your life is God and His Word. What does He say about it?

If you don’t know your Bible very well, if you spend little if any time in it, then how do you know what God is saying? You say you don’t have enough time for that. You have enough time to wait hours in the doctor’s office. You have enough time to wait in bank offices to figure out a loan. You have enough time to wait in the attorney’s office for bankruptcy. We could avoid many of those scenes if we made a quality decision to take time for God and His Word every day. I am in the same boat as you are—that quality decision is going to take some determination and effort on my part to do. Busyness is the main robber of all of us today.

Who Are You?

What is your answer when someone asks you who you are?

Well, let’s make a list of answers.

I am a blood-bought, blood-washed child of the Living God, a child of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The blood of Jesus has cleansed me of sin, and freed me from sickness and disease.

I am the redeemed of the Lord. I am redeemed from the curse of the law. That means I am redeemed from sickness, disease, poverty, spiritual death. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

I am the healed of the Lord. With the stripes that wounded Jesus I am healed and made whole. The Father sent His Word and healed me. The Holy Spirit dwells in me to give life to my mortal body.

I am the prosperous one of the Lord. The Lord wants me to prosper and be in health, even as my soul prospers.

I am forgiven.

I am free. I know the Truth and the Truth has made me free. He whom the Son sets free is free indeed.

I am restored. He restores my soul.

I am whole. With the stripes that wounded Jesus I am healed and made whole.

I am walking in the fullness of God. Jesus Christ, Who is the fullness of God, fills me.

I am rich. Jesus was made poor that I might be rich. He gives me the ability to get wealth that I may establish His covenant on the earth.

I am set apart unto the Lord.

I am reconciled to my Heavenly Father.

I am one who walks in the love of God.

I am one who walks in the life of God.

I am one who walks in the light of God. He is the Light of the world and He told me that I was to be the light of the world.

I am living a life of overflow all the time.

I am resting in the peace of God. He told me that He has come that I might have His peace, which is beyond understanding.

I am full of joy. The joy of the Lord is my strength.

I am strong in the Lord.

I am empowered through my union with Him.

I am blessed!!!!!!!!!!

Thank You Lord

I just want to say, “Thank you.”

When was the last time you said “thank you” to the Lord for all He has done for you and is still doing for you in the present time, every day. I realized today that it had been a while. This is a reminder to all of us to thank Jesus for coming to this earth in the form of flesh to dwell among us for a time, to show us the way to the Father.

Thank You, Father, for sending Jesus, Your only Son, the living Word to this earth to heal me, deliver me, set me free from destruction, from death.

Thank You, Jesus, for coming and being an example I can follow in my walk with You. Thank You, for going to the Garden of Gethsemane and resisting satan on my behalf to the point you sweat great drops of blood. Thank You, for giving Your back to the smiters that I might be healed and made whole. Thank You, for allowing the nails to be placed in your feet and your hands that I might walk free and whatever I do is blessed and prospers, that whatever I set my hand to prospers. Thank You, Jesus, for allowing the crown of thorns to be placed on Your head that I might have freedom from the curse of poverty and have a clear mind. Thank You, Jesus for allowing the spear to be placed in your side that I might have Your life and that more abundantly. Wow, Lord, you have done it all for me. Thank You.

Thank You, Holy Spirit, for coming to dwell in my physical body and make it Your Holy Temple. Thank You, for choosing to dwell in me. I know it must be tough sometimes when you see my lack of faith in what You can do for me. I know it must be frustrating when You have so much You can do for me, but I tie Your hands with my doubt and unbelief and fear. Forgive me, for doing that. Help me to become the man/woman of faith that You designed me to be.

Thank You, Father, for helping me to make You real to others in a positive way. Help me not to get in the way with my ideas, but rather help me to bring the Truth of Your ideas to others. Help me not to judge or criticize others based on my concept of the way they should be, but rather, help me to see them through the blood of Your Son, Jesus, through Your eyes of Love.

Help me, Lord to love as you love, to live as you live and to be Your light in this world. Thank You, for Your Life; thank You for Your Love; thank You, for Your Light.

Thank You, Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit for building me a wonderful home in heaven. I have an address in heaven already. Thank You.

Thank You, Jesus, for coming! It’s opened up a whole new world for me!

Are You For Real?

Are you for real?

Have you ever have someone ask you that question? Jesus, in essence, was asked that question over and over while He was here on this earth. “Are you really who you say you are?” He was asked by so many.

There was a group of people who didn’t ask Him that question. They were the ones who had heard of His miracles, His works, the words of faith He spoke and were hungry for what He had. The crowds of people gathered around Him to hear what He had to say. They gathered because they were sick; they were tired; they were weary; they were broke; they had needs. And He seemed to have the answers.

They didn’t understand what we understand today of His provision. They just knew He was different. He had answers and solutions for life’s problems that they had been facing for days or years. It didn’t matter how long their problems had existed. He was the answer. The “common” people knew that.

But do you know who missed the time of His visitation----the church people of that day—the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Scribes and those who “knew” the ways of God. My greatest desire is that I don’t get caught up in what I know about Him and miss Him.

Many times our Lord is standing quietly beside us, waiting for a time of fellowship and we are too busy doing the work of the Lord to hear Him. I know in my heart that the greatest thing I can do today is be intimate with Jesus by the power of His Holy Spirit. He longs for union and communion with us. Our works don’t impress Him but our desire for Him catches His attention.

There were another two groups of people that didn’t miss His time of visitation—the praying Anna’s and the older generation of Simeon’s who were waiting for Messiah. They were still enough before the Lord to hear His voice in the slightest whisper. “It is I. Bid me come to you.”

When Pilate asked Jesus what was truth, he didn’t understand that Truth Himself was standing in His midst, the One Who had said: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

Let’s make a decision today that we will not be like Pilate or the Scribes or the Pharisees or the Sadducees, but that we will be like Anna, like Simeon, like those who were hungry for a word from Him, a touch from Him because they KNEW He had their answers.

Let’s make that quality decision to make time for Him in our day, every day, time to sit at His feet as Mary did and have intimate communion. And remember that a quality decision is one from which there is no turning back and no changing one’s mind.

I have made that decision. How about you?

Fan The Flames

I am excited about what God is doing in the earth today. There is a fresh wind of His Spirit blowing across the land. That wind is stirring the embers of those who have almost had the fire of His anointed Presence extinguished.

Fire is very interesting. It takes oxygen to burn steadily and dies down when it is not being supplied. What was once a small glowing ember can become a blazing fire when fed and blowed upon. I am asking the Holy Spirit to blow the wind of His anointed Presence into people’s lives in whom the circumstances of life have quenched their fire.

The Holy Spirit wants to stir you to move into new heights of His Presence. That is accomplished by spending time with Him, doing nothing but waiting upon Him. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

Joy is the oxygen that will fan the flames again. And the joy of the Lord is our strength. Stir up the excitement of being with Him like the excitement you had when you first got born again. Do you remember the wonderment of being with Him? Do you remember how exciting it was to talk with Him and walk with Him? Do you remember getting up early just so you could be with the One Who loved you so much?

It’s time for all of us to respond to the love of our life. His name is Jesus and He is One Who loves us without condition and beyond measure. He is so kind and so patient and never tires of waiting for us to come to His side for a time of rest and refreshing.

Let us all make a fresh commitment to come into His Presence for no other reason than to be with Him, to sit at His feet, to listen to His words of encouragement and instruction, to read His Word quietly and ponder what He has done for us. It definitely will take an eternity to consider all that He has done and is still doing for us. For starters, consider this: He loved us so much that He died for us, suffered unmercifully for our sakes and purchased our life back from an enemy who was a tyrant.

I don’t know about you, but what Jesus did for me has become a fresh and new realization for me once again. What a God we serve! What a loving Savior we have! What an ever-present Holy Spirit we have as our indwelling partner!

For the next week, purpose in your heart and mind to spend just 10 minutes a day quietly considering all that the Lord has done for you and continues to do for you. It will make a gigantic difference in your life. For one thing, it will cause you to walk in life with a much more positive attitude and outlook. He does change the way we think.

Pure Word - Pure Heart

The pure Word of God produces a pure heart, without impurities.

Psalm 12:6 The words and promises of God are pure words, like silver tried in the furnace of earth, purified seven times.

Psalm 119:140 God’s Word is very pure, tried and purified.

Proverbs 30:5 Every Word of God is tried and purified.

James 3:17 Wisdom from above is pure.
His Word is His Wisdom from above. Jesus is made wisdom unto me. Jesus is called the Word.

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart.
In other words, the pure in heart are blessed, empowered by God to prosper, succeed in life.

1 Timothy 1:5 Love springs from a pure heart.

1 Peter 1:22 By your obedience to Truth through the Holy Spirit, you have purified your hearts for the affection of the brethren---love one another fervently out of a pure heart.

As you can see from the scriptures listed, God’s Word is pure, purified by Him for us to take in to our lives, our hearts, to become pure ourselves. As we renew our minds daily with the Word of God, as we wash with the water of Word, we become pure in heart; we become blessed; we become sanctified, set apart unto God from the world and its pull on us. Yes, it is possible to live a pure life, even in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.

Remember that the way the Word of God becomes reality for you is listed in Romans 10:17 – Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God and Proverbs 4:20-22
Your ears hear the Word—your mind receives the Word.
You meditate, ponder, think on the Word and it goes into your heart.
The Word comes from your heart to your mouth.
Faith increases because you have heard the Word from your mouth.
The Word is producing faith.
Life in the Word moves on out from your spirit, in the spirit realm, to the physical realm and becomes physical reality.

This is the way you overcome the world, the flesh and the devil.
The Word becomes your lifestyle, your way of life, every day, speaking, confessing, meditating the Word of God.

Remember that in Joshua 1:8 the Lord instructed Joshua that the Word, called the Book of Law at that time, was not to depart from his mouth. He was to meditate on it day and night. Why? So that he could do what the Word said and then he would make his way prosperous, deal wisely and have good success,

God never changes. If He gave that command to Joshua, then it is a command for us as well.
The way to success, to wisdom, to prosperity (that is not all about money, but about a consistently successful life in all areas), is to meditate the Word of God day and night and that is the Word that comes out of your mouth 24-7, not something else. Don’t speak your circumstances. Speak what God’s Word says about you. Your ultimate victory lies in your mouth. And the victory of your mouth lies in your mind. And the victory in your mind lies in thinking only on the Word of God in your life.

THE WORD OF GOD DAILY, DAILY, DAILY. OH, YES, IT’S WORKING IN YOU NOW!

The Power of His Presence

In Psalm 16:11 we see that in His Presence is fullness of joy. And Nehemiah 8:10 tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength. So you can see that we draw our strength from being in His Presence. We also see in Ephesians 6:10 that we are strong in the Lord; we are empowered through our union with Him; we draw our strength from Him. And in Acts 3:19 we see that times of refreshing come from His Presence.

One of the most profitable things you and I can do is to spend time in the Presence of the Lord, even if it is for a short period of time. We get our refreshing; we get our strength from spending time with Him, preferably first thing in the morning, before our day begins.

Everything we need is found in Him, in His Presence. Our health, our joy, our peace, our sense of well being, our empowerment to do what we are called to do resides in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has told us that the Holy Spirit was sent to give us the power that we need to live this life here on this earth successfully and victoriously. In Acts 1:8 Jesus told His disciples that they would receive power after the Holy Ghost came upon them. That power is translated as ability or might. In other words, they would receive God’s ability to do what they had to do.

We also receive God’s ability, might to do what He has called us to do. We receive His power to live our daily lives. I think what most of us forget is that there is an ability to live every day in victory, regardless of what we are facing, regardless of what comes our way that day. God’s power is not just for the BIG things. His power is available for our daily living, when we are running late for an appointment, when the children are cranky when they get up, when our spouses are “out of sorts,” when it just seems like everything is going the wrong way. God is there. And the stress of those kinds of things is “de-stressed” by the power of His Presence.

Even after our initial quiet time with the Lord, during the day, we can picture Him with us, helping us to do whatever we are doing, whether it is at work, at school or at home. He is our ever-present helper. Remember the Holy Spirit is called our Helper, One Who is called alongside us to comfort, encourage, strengthen, direct, take care of us.

The Lord is ever present with us. What we have to do is to realize that and receive the empowerment of His Presence. He is always there, never leaving us or forsaking us, always there to help and encourage, regardless of how we feel or how bad the situation may be.

And, you know, He is also there to share in our successes and our victories. How He rejoices with us over a job well done or a battle won or just living daily successful lives. The ultimate goal of the Lord is that we live daily lives in peace and wholeness, not moved by anything that comes our way, casting the whole of our cares on Him, for He cares for us.

Our dear Heavenly Father loves us so tenderly and so completely and totally. When we fix our gaze on His love for us, when we have an understanding of just how totally He wants to take care of us, our days of fretting are over. Why? Our days of fretting are over because we let Him handle our lives 24-7, taking our direction from the Lord, allowing Him to be in total charge of our lives.

Today, at various points in your timeframe, take a few moments and simply in quietness, in stillness, invite the Lord to come and love on you. Be quiet. Don’t talk. Just be. He is waiting for those moments.

Rain

We have just come through a dry season in our part of the country. The rain was a welcome sight when it came. It brought refreshing even to the air. The grass turned green again. The flowers perked up. The leaves on the trees were no longer drooping. Rain is necessary for the life of the plants. They cannot survive without water.

Even so, we cannot survive without the washing of the water of the Word, without the rain of His Spirit upon us. The Spirit of God brings a refreshing to us and a welcome growth. His Word waters our spirit with a refreshing like nothing else we can read or speak.

In Isaiah 58, when the scripture was referring to fasting and doing what is right for others, verse 11 refers to the results of our doing what the Lord asks us to do for others. In the Amplified Bible we read this verse as follows: “And the Lord shall guide you continually and satisfy you in drought and in dry places and make strong your bones. And you shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters fail not.”

When a person feels dry or like a drought is coming in his or her life, it can usually be traced to one thing---he has not been spending time with the Lord in His Word and waiting in the presence of the Holy Spirit, We are told that the Word of God washes us like water. (Eph. 5:26)

So many times I have heard people say that they are going through a dry spell. That is a Christian phrase that never should be in the life of a child of God. If we sense that the Presence of the Lord is not as sweet as it was, then we have moved away from Him; He has not moved away from us. Troubles have overtaken us and problems have overwhelmed us to the point that we are not allowing the power of His Presence to overtake us.

There are times when we have to just about literally take ourselves by the ear and sit ourselves down and say: Self, you are going to rejoice in the Lord. You are going to read the Word. You are going to speak your scriptures. You are going to praise and worship the Lord. And before long, that wonderful sense of His Presence is there again. It is a choice we must make, sometimes a daily choice. Yes, even sometimes it is a minute-by-minute choice.

In this life, it is all about choices we make every day. Our choices determine not only our destiny, but also our daily well-being. You and I make a choice to rejoice in sorrow. We make a choice to consider not a situation or circumstance that is screaming you’re not going to make it. We make a choice to make time for Him. We make the choices ourselves. God is always there with the rain of His Presence. Whether we access the rain is our choice. The clouds of His Glory have gathered the fullness of the rain of His Presence. Whether those clouds dump rain on us is determined by whether we stand in our place of worship and are not moved off our position of trusting Him (faith) for everything in our lives.

Who Are You - A Body or a Spirit?

Your body is not you. It is the house you live in while taking temporary residence here on this earth.

I guess you wonder where we’re going with this one. Your body is simply a vehicle for God to use here on this earth to get His job done of bringing sons and daughters back into Father’s Kingdom, Father’s family. It is really all about family, you see. God wants everyone in the household again, and He has sent us to get them back.

With that in mind, why do you think that satan attacks your body so much? If he can get rid of you, he has gotten rid of a potential hundreds or maybe even thousands or possibly millions, if you are Billy Graham or Reinhard Bonnke. You are probably saying to yourself: “Well, I am certainly no Billy Graham or anybody else that is going to bring that many into God’s Kingdom.” Why are you limiting yourself and God’s plan for your life?

One of the things I have noticed—just my observation, but you will more than likely agree with me—is that when you are launching on something big for God, symptoms come in your body of varying degrees. That is where the Word of God comes in and the time you have already spent with the Lord. What I am going to talk about for the next few minutes is a prescription of preventative medicine of God Almighty.

We all know that in order to stay here on this earth, we have to have a physical body to dwell in. That is a must. Let’s take a look at this body. God made your body and breathed the breath of life into it. That’s what makes your body important; of itself, it has no value. It is simply an instrument used to exist on this earth. It is for God’s work. We are told in the scripture that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. They are for Him.

We must take care of our bodies physically—getting the proper exercise, rest and food. But outside of that, we are to let the Lord take care of them. How do we do that? We dwell in the Word of God and allow the Holy Spirit to guide our lives, to direct us. Our focus is not to be on our bodies 24-7 but on the things of the Lord and His Word.

Here is where many of us get sidetracked. A symptom comes of pain or of what we perceive as a lump or some other “sign” of something. Instead of asking the Lord what to do about it, we either run to the doctor immediately or we in panic start quoting the word of God like a machine gun, in fear. Neither is correct. We must ask the Holy Spirit what our approach is to be. He will tell us.

Do what the Holy Sprit tells you to do and get on with your life. If it is a serious condition, do what God tells you to do, whether it is go to the doctor, get medication, do a nutritional route or surgery or set aside a week to closet with the Lord and His Word and learn how to receive your healing. Your God is the One Who made your body and He is the One Who will keep it. Here is an area all of us need to work on.

The preventative route is to stay in the Word of God and spend time with the Spirit of God every day. Every day listen to something on healing and speak scriptures on healing and deliberately, on purpose see your body as whole, healthy, well, realizing that the real you is your spirit which is inside your body. When you and I finally get the picture that we are the ones in charge under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and not our bodies, we are on our way to victory and health.

Our spirits are in union with the Holy Spirit, in Whom there is no sickness and disease. When we finally grasp this concept, our days of sickness and disease are over. A symptom comes, and we take authority over it, knowing it has no way of taking charge of a body that has a job to do for the Lord. Never should we allow satan to evict us from our bodies. God intends for us to exit this earth by simply laying down our earth suits or bodies and telling everyone we’ll see them when it is their turn to come home. And we vacate our bodies for homecoming until we come back to those bodies which will be glorified with the glory of God forever. Meanwhile, let’s let the glory of God dwell in our spirits while we are here on this earth and that will take care of our bodies. It is a decision every hour, every day, every week, every month, every year. The Lord needs you.

How Much Are You Worth?

I woke up this morning with a question presented to me.
How much are you worth?

I’m worth all that Heaven has. My Father gave His very best to rescue me from my enemy and the bondage in which he held me. The blood of Jesus was the best that Heaven had to offer, the most precious gift the Father had. Before I was ever conceived in my mother’s womb, my Heavenly Father had already formulated a plan to purchase my release from satan’s clutches.

I am rejoicing this morning because I am free, free from everything that satan would try to bind me with. What are the chains that he is trying to lock around you this day? I want to remind you that you are free, free from sickness and disease, free from lack, free from poverty, free from worries and cares, free from fear, free, free, free.

And you are probably thinking as you read that previous paragraph—yeh, right, I’m free alright. Kialeen, you don’t know what I am in the middle of. No, I don’t but Jesus does, and He has already made provision for your release from that mess. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you the way out of that dark place. He will flash the light of His Presence on the way of escape. And you know what your flashlight is—the Word of God, which is called a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path. Get out that flashlight and use it.

Jesus paid the ultimate price for your freedom, but it is up to you to maintain it personally for yourself by keeping your mind renewed to the fact that you are free. Every second of every day you must remind yourself that you are free, even in the midst of the worst of circumstances.

Keep on and keep on and keep on because you have the fruit, the force of patience in you to overcome any obstacle of time that might be thrown in your way. And remember that patience is not, “I’ll hang on until I can’t hang anymore and then I’m done for.” No, patience is a force; it is that fruit of your reborn spirit, put there by the Holy Spirit of God, that is steadfast and consistently the same, regardless of how tough the situation. And what keeps that force of patience strong—the Word of God.

Yes, the Word! I always come back to the Word, don’t I. Is there anything else? Is there anything else that will maintain victory in your life, a life that Jesus purchased for you from satan. He redeemed you, released you, purchased you from satan’s pawnshop. Satan had you bound and Jesus set you free, as the song goes. You are free today. Remember the price that was paid for your freedom and don’t treat it lightly by your unbelief and fear. The blood of Jesus is overcoming blood that guarantees your victory every time.

Remember how much you are worth. You are worth everything to your Heavenly Father. He loves you with a love that is unquenchable. Nothing changes the way He loves you. You can commit the most heinous crime and that does not change His love for you. You can walk in total rebellion and He still does not stop loving you. That is how much He loves you. Are there consequences to rebellion, or committing crimes or any other thing that you do that is contrary to God’s Word? Of course, but His love never changes.

What you and I must do is respond to that love with our faith, confidence in our Heavenly Father, in Jesus, and in the Holy Spirit to move us into a place of love, acceptance and forgiveness. What a wonderful thing to know—you are a most valuable treasure of the greatest worth, a priceless gem in God’s heart. Yes, you are of great worth to Him and always will be. His life He laid down and His blood He shed was the demonstration of that great worth. You are free today because of that blood. Don’t ever take it lightly again.

Resurrection Power vs Unbelief

What does Easter mean to you?

Is it about Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection?
Is it about new Easter clothes?
Is it about coloring Easter eggs?
Is it about going to someone’s house to eat an Easter meal?

Even if you answer that Easter means Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, is His resurrection power operating in you today? Do you know what it means to have His resurrection power working in and through you? How many of us many times glibly answer a question with what we think is the right answer, but it really is not working in our lives and it is just a head answer and not a heart answer?

I have been observing much lately and watching what we as “Christians” are doing. The Holy Spirit is having me to take a good look at my own life and the results of His indwelling me.

Jesus’ sole purpose for coming to this earth was to reconcile a Father and His children. We were away from Father’s family and He wanted His children back. He wanted the family restored. He wanted His “kids” back, who had been kidnapped by an interloper into the family relationship. The real Father wanted His children back. He wanted them to know that the one they were in relationship with was not their real father. Of course, we are talking about Father God and satan. Satan did and still does deceive mankind into thinking that they don’t need anyone but themselves. Self-sufficiency is satan’s greatest weapon. He uses it on non-believers and believers.

If we’re born again, if we have come back into Father’s house, we still try to do it ourselves. The old expression that a two-year old says is very applicable---“I do it myself.” For those of us who are “doers,” the greatest hurdle we have to overcome is letting Father do for us that which He loves to do---taking care of us, through good times and trying times. His resurrection power is sufficient.

The biggest challenge I see in the Christian world today is simply unbelief. The root of working to receive what God has for us is unbelief. We think we absolutely have to do something to get what God has provided for us. Surely, there is something we have to do. And all along, the Lord says, I have already done everything that needs to be done. Believe it.

Do we really understand how deadly unbelief is? The scripture calls a heart of unbelief an evil, wicked heart. Unbelief is the root of all sin—not believing that God can take care of the temptation, the situation, the circumstance, the sickness, the lack, the heartache, the problem in our family or our marriage. The very foundation of unbelief is fear, which activates satan and his kingdom like faith activates God and His kingdom. Unbelief and its accompanying fear makes satan the lord of that situation and circumstance. That is hard to accept, but sometimes we must come face to face with the stark truth.

And we do want solutions, answers for our challenges in life. This is evident in the rise of the need for human counseling---man seeking from man only what he can get from God----man looking for a quick fix for an eternal problem. As long as one is in unbelief, all the counseling in the world until Jesus comes won’t fix the problem. There is only one fixer—the One Who made the original product of you and me. When we turn to the Lord and seek Him with all of our heart, He is right there to take over. It is a matter of surrendering ourselves to Him and being teachable enough to let go of old ways and old ideas that are contrary to His Word. He wants you to live victoriously in this life much more than you want it. It’s time to let go and let God, as the old expression goes.

Hebrews. 3:12 Amplified Bible
[Therefore beware] brethren, take care, lest there be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving heart [which refuses to cleave to trust in, and rely on Him] leading you to turn away and desert or stand aloof from the living God.

Heb. 11:6 Amplified Bible
But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out]. (Emphasis added)

And what is faith? It is believing God and His Word. It is believing that God has already provided for you everything you will need to live this life on this earth successfully and confidently. Thank your Father for what He has already provided for you and be specific in your thankfulness. You need only reach out and receive of God’s vast storehouse of abundant supply.

Things - Words

I heard Dr. Creflo Dollar on Kenneth Copeland’s Believer’s Voice of Victory television program say: Words are things. In the Hebrew language, there is the same Hebrew word for “words” and “things.” We see this in Psalm 145:5 and 1 Samuel 3:17.

Psalm 145:5 KJV
I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. In the footnote for the word “works,” it says Heb. things, or, words.

1 Samuel 3:17,18 KJV
And he said, What is the thing that the Lord hath said unto thee? I pray thee hide it not from me: God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide any thing from me of all the things that he said unto thee. Once again, in the footnote for things we see: Or, word.
And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good. The footnote for every whit says: Heb. all the things, or, words

When I say a word, I release a thing but I don’t physically see the thing when I say it. I hear the thing before I see the thing. Once it’s spoken, it’s got to work its way into the physical realm so I can see the thing I said.

What I heard from Dr. Dollar triggered the following:

You give birth to the word you speak.

In Hebrews 11:1 we see that faith is the substance of things (words)…. Faith is the spiritual substance that creates the physical substance. Faith is having the CONFIDENCE in God to do His Word for me. Jesus was able to see faith (Matt. 9:2), just as we are able to see physical things with our physical eyes. So, also, we can see faith with our spiritual eyes when we are in the spirit. Faith is substance.

God is the ultimate Creator Who created us as His speaking spirits. Faith is believing and trusting God-----His Word activates His ability to create the physical substance. We are creators with Him in the sense that the way He set up His Kingdom of God system was to teach us how to speak as He did and see things created. He spoke—it became. So He wants us to speak, and then have the confidence that what we speak comes to pass, because He, our Father, is backing what we say, when it is His Word we are speaking. We speak the Word-------He makes it come to pass, puts actual physical reality to His Word which we speak. The Word is the raw material we give God to release His power to create for us.

The whole Word of God is what He has given us to live very successfully and wholly on this earth.

This Word is our supply basket. Out of the supply basket of the Word, we take out whatever we need for that time. So, faith is the connector between the Word and its actual producing an earthly reality. The Word is my toolbox. I pull out whatever tool (Word) I need to get the job done. My faith is what uses the Word tool like my hand is what uses an earthly tool, like a hammer or a screw driver.

This whole Bible, the Word of God, is ours, given to us by our Father, its usage demonstrated by His Son, Who is called the Word of God. Jesus showed us the way to live. When we believe the Word of God to the point that every word in there is full of the life of God, waiting to be activated by His Holy Spirit, Who came to dwell in us and guide us and teach us, then we will see great results in our lives. We will have a freedom that draws others to come and see what it is that we have that makes us so successful and happy in this otherwise miserable world of sin and lack.

God’s Word is the answer to anything we are facing today. What we have to do is immerse ourselves in Him and His Word until everything else dims into the distance and all we have before us is Him and His Word, forever engraved on our hearts and minds.

Jesus, The Father and Me

I have a wonderful faith confession to give you to meditate on and to speak over yourself until it becomes reality in your life. It is taken from James Riddle’s The Complete Personalized Promise Bible: Every Promise in the Bible From Genesis to Revelation, Written Just For You Copyright 2000, 2004 by James R. Riddle and Published by Harrison House, Inc. on page 593, based on John 17:6-26 KJV and the following other scriptures: Hebrews 2:11; 4:15,16; 7:25; Romans 8:14-17; 28-30,38,39; John 3:3; 6:37-40; 8:23,28,42; 10:28-30,38; 14:1-3,7-14; 15:9,19; 2 Peter 1:2-4; Titus 3:5; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 5:17-21; Psalm 22:22; 91:3; Matthew 28:18-20; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 John 1:3; 5:18-20; Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:14.

“Jesus has manifested the Father to me as He truly is.
I belong to my Father and He has placed me under Jesus’ legal guardianship. Jesus alone, through mighty deeds, including the sacrifice of His own life, has earned for me the right to stand in the Father’s presence without any sense of guilt or inadequacy.
My life is in Him and I keep His Word faithfully.
I know and understand that I belong to my Father---that He has made Jesus my substitute and has placed me in His care.
All of the Words that Jesus has given me came directly from the Father. I have received and accepted them, and know of a certainty that Jesus came forth from the Father and that the Father did send Him.
Jesus is continually praying for me because I belong to the Father and have been made a part of His royal family. I am fully secure under the guardianship of my elder brother (Jesus).
All that belongs to Jesus is the Father’s.
I belong to Jesus and He is glorified in and through me.
I am kept (held secure) in my Holy Father’s name and just as the Father and Jesus are One, I also am one with my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Jesus keeps me and preserves me in the Father’s name. I shall never be lost. I am continually guarded and protected, and I shall never perish.
The joy of Jesus is fulfilled in me. He has made me to experience continual joy, gladness, and heavenly bliss, for I am now a born-again child of God and an eternal heir together with Jesus.
I hold fast to the Word even though the world despises me for it.
It is through the Word that I have become a partaker of God’s divine nature.
I am no more of this world than Jesus is. I am a true, reborn and regenerated son/daughter of the living God.
I am guarded and protected against the schemes of the evil one. There is nothing that he can do that can harm me in any way.
I have come into a new class of being and am no more of this world than Jesus is.
I am sanctified (set apart from the ways of the world) through the Word. God’s Word is my reality.
Just as the Father sent Jesus into the world, Jesus has sent me into the world. My mission is the same as His; to proclaim the present fact of the kingdom.
Jesus sanctified Himself so that I may be sanctified through the Word.
I have come to know and rely on Jesus through the teaching of His disciples. I do all that He taught them to do. All that He declared they had is now mine as well. I have become one with the disciples of two thousand years ago, and in truth, I have become one with six thousand years worth of believers. Just as the Father is in Jesus, and Jesus in the Father, we all are one in them so that, through us, the world may be convinced that Jesus was sent from the Father.
What a glorious truth it is to know that I am one (in perfect union) with almighty God!
Together, with all of my brothers and sisters in Christ, I have become a partaker of the glory and honor, which the Father gave Jesus.
In Jesus, I am now one with the Father, Jesus is in me, He is in the Father, and we three are one (perfectly united) so that the world may know that Jesus came forth from the Father and that the Father loves me just as much as He loves Jesus.
It is Jesus’ desire that I be with Him where He is, so that I may experience His glory which the Father has given Him, for the Father deeply loved Jesus before the foundation of the world and His glory is unlike anything this world has ever known.
What a wonder it is to know that I have entered into that love and that the Father loves me just as He loves Jesus.
As Jesus knows the Father, I have come to know Him as well, and I fully understand and believe that Jesus came forth from Him.
Jesus has made the Father known to me, revealing to me His very character and the reality of His love towards me. The love that He gives to Jesus, He now gives to me as well, and Jesus Himself dwells within me.”