Who Is In Charge?
The Spirit of God has been speaking to me for a while regarding control and whom we serve in the Body of Christ. The honest question we must ask ourselves is this: Is The Holy Spirit of God in control, in charge of every area of my life (and that includes our thought life)? Am I serving Him in every aspect of my life? I realized from searching the scriptures that the Lord is very frank about who we serve. We can be Christians and be in bondage (in other words serving the enemy of our lives) to certain things in our lives. One of the greatest bondages I see in all of us is fear in one or more areas of our lives. And we know that fear is of the devil. So in that sense, we would be serving the devil in the areas that we fear. It is not that we are not saved. It is not that we are not children of God, but we serve the one whom we give the most thought and attention to.
There are two areas of fear in my life that I have turned over to the Lord. He is helping me because I have made Him Lord of those areas, by the words of my mouth and by the thoughts of my mind. I may not “feel” any different where those two areas of fear are concerned, but I know that the Word is true, and when I turned it over to the Lord, that is it. As far as I am concerned He is now Lord of those areas. Joyce Meyer tells us in one or more of her books that we are to do it afraid. In other words, we are to confront our fear and do that which would overtake that fear. It is probably one of the biggest things we as Christians must do. Why is that? Because fear contaminates our faith and we won’t receive from the Lord. We have to remember that it is only faith that pleases Him and it is only faith that will bring to us what we need.
What a deception the devil has perpetrated on all of us by introducing fears in our lives and seeing how we would respond. He knows that he is the author of fear, the king of that realm of darkness, and if he can get us to buy into a fear, he is then the one in charge, actually the lord of that area of our lives. And that is a tragedy that Jesus does not want to happen.
I always thought Jesus was very harsh with Peter in Matthew 16:23 (when he said to Peter, after Peter had rebuked Him about going to Jerusalem and fulfilling what He was called to do) Get thee behind me, satan: you are an offence unto me: for you savor not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. In the Amplified Bible it says: Get behind Me, satan! You are in My way [an offense and a hindrance and a snare to Me]; for you are minding what partakes not of the nature and quality of God, but of men.
That is a very strong statement that Jesus made. What He was saying was this. Peter, this is serious business when you mind the things that are of men and not of God. When we pay more attention to the things that are of this earth, when we give our thoughts to things that are earthly, we are placing ourselves in satan’s hands to do with us as he pleases. That is why God is so adamant about placing our thoughts on things which are above and placing our lives in the arena of seeking first God’s kingdom (His way of doing things).
You know, there are areas of every one of our lives in which we, with out thoughts and our actions, are serving ourselves and not God. What we are doing is playing right into the hands of the enemy. Two of the biggest areas we must guard our hearts are in the area of our bodies (sickness and disease) and in the area of our pocketbooks (finances). Those two areas are the two that trip up most people. They involve trust. By our actions, can people see who we are trusting where health is concerned? Can people see who we are trusting where our finances our concerned? God is to be our source in everything. I have been asking myself these questions lately. Do we depend on our paycheck or do we depend on God? Do we depend on the doctor’s report or do we depend on God’s report (His Word)? It is a trust factor. And it is a big one.
I have had an awareness in my spirit man of the sadness that God must feel when he sees us struggling with areas of fear and unbelief. He has an abundance set aside for us in all aspects of our lives. And so many Christians never have access to that abundance until they go to heaven. What a waste of the spiritual resources God has placed at our fingertips as a result of the death of His Son on the cross. Yes, it is a fight to maintain what Jesus has purchased for us because we have an enemy. And he does everything he can to keep us from having what our dear Savior purchased for us. But we have a Savior Who is greater than our enemy. We will trust Him.
There are two areas of fear in my life that I have turned over to the Lord. He is helping me because I have made Him Lord of those areas, by the words of my mouth and by the thoughts of my mind. I may not “feel” any different where those two areas of fear are concerned, but I know that the Word is true, and when I turned it over to the Lord, that is it. As far as I am concerned He is now Lord of those areas. Joyce Meyer tells us in one or more of her books that we are to do it afraid. In other words, we are to confront our fear and do that which would overtake that fear. It is probably one of the biggest things we as Christians must do. Why is that? Because fear contaminates our faith and we won’t receive from the Lord. We have to remember that it is only faith that pleases Him and it is only faith that will bring to us what we need.
What a deception the devil has perpetrated on all of us by introducing fears in our lives and seeing how we would respond. He knows that he is the author of fear, the king of that realm of darkness, and if he can get us to buy into a fear, he is then the one in charge, actually the lord of that area of our lives. And that is a tragedy that Jesus does not want to happen.
I always thought Jesus was very harsh with Peter in Matthew 16:23 (when he said to Peter, after Peter had rebuked Him about going to Jerusalem and fulfilling what He was called to do) Get thee behind me, satan: you are an offence unto me: for you savor not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. In the Amplified Bible it says: Get behind Me, satan! You are in My way [an offense and a hindrance and a snare to Me]; for you are minding what partakes not of the nature and quality of God, but of men.
That is a very strong statement that Jesus made. What He was saying was this. Peter, this is serious business when you mind the things that are of men and not of God. When we pay more attention to the things that are of this earth, when we give our thoughts to things that are earthly, we are placing ourselves in satan’s hands to do with us as he pleases. That is why God is so adamant about placing our thoughts on things which are above and placing our lives in the arena of seeking first God’s kingdom (His way of doing things).
You know, there are areas of every one of our lives in which we, with out thoughts and our actions, are serving ourselves and not God. What we are doing is playing right into the hands of the enemy. Two of the biggest areas we must guard our hearts are in the area of our bodies (sickness and disease) and in the area of our pocketbooks (finances). Those two areas are the two that trip up most people. They involve trust. By our actions, can people see who we are trusting where health is concerned? Can people see who we are trusting where our finances our concerned? God is to be our source in everything. I have been asking myself these questions lately. Do we depend on our paycheck or do we depend on God? Do we depend on the doctor’s report or do we depend on God’s report (His Word)? It is a trust factor. And it is a big one.
I have had an awareness in my spirit man of the sadness that God must feel when he sees us struggling with areas of fear and unbelief. He has an abundance set aside for us in all aspects of our lives. And so many Christians never have access to that abundance until they go to heaven. What a waste of the spiritual resources God has placed at our fingertips as a result of the death of His Son on the cross. Yes, it is a fight to maintain what Jesus has purchased for us because we have an enemy. And he does everything he can to keep us from having what our dear Savior purchased for us. But we have a Savior Who is greater than our enemy. We will trust Him.
posted by Rev. Kialeen Potterton @ 6:53 AM
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