Covenant of Peace - Part 2

We are continuing our study on peace today.

Yesterday we ended our conversation by saying that it requires great faith to live. Now why would I make such a statement? This world system is under the dominion of satan. We live in this earth, which is mainly operated through the world system. We are operating through the Word system, God’s method of operation, God’s way of doing things, God’s way of thinking. His thinking in counter to the way the world thinks and does things. And that is where we run into so much resistance and so much pressure from the world to do things the world’s ways. Even our Christian brothers and sisters sometimes, out of their concern for us, want us to do things the world’s way. The world’s way is quicker and puts a band-aid on the problem immediately. God’s Word way gets to the root of the problem and permanently heals it. No band-aids allowed in God’s world. We don’t need them.

Let’s continue talking about God’s covenant of peace. He says it won’t be removed. Covenant is forever. Once a covenant is made with someone else, it is a forever connection, a forever binding between two people and all those who come after them in the generations to come. It is not a lightweight agreement. It is a forever agreement. It is not a contract with loopholes. It is forever.

Concerning the covenant of peace, I think the Lord says it best in Jeremiah 31:3. Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn you. He draws us through His agape-hesed love to Himself so that His peace can become a part of us. When we know how much He loves us, we will not question His care for us in all situations, regardless of how impossible they may be to resolve. All things are possible with God. And all things are possible to those who believe. Believe, and receive.

The Old Testament word for peace is shalom. What an abundance of words are listed in the Hebrew-Greek Study Bible for shalom, which originates from shalam. First let’s look at the original word shalam---to be whole, to be sound, be safe, to be uninjured, to keep safe, to make secure, to be peaceful, to live in harmony with God, to be complete, finished. “The principal meaning of shalam is completion and fulfillment. It is the desirable state of wholeness in which relationships are restored.”

Now let’s look at shalom: health, security, tranquility, good condition, success, comfort, well, peaceful, whole, secure, safe, happy, friendly, healthy, sound, wholeness, safety, soundness, health. “Shalom is clearly depicted as a satisfied condition, an unconcerned state of peacefulness, on the part of Abraham’s ancestors. It is a sense of well being. In Gen. 26:29 it means to be unharmed or unhurt. …And so, shalom is a harmonious state of soul and mind, both externally and internally. …Though shalom can mean the absence of strife, it usually is much more. It expresses completeness, harmony, and fulfillment. To wish one shalom implies a blessing, but to withhold it implies a curse.”

Let’s look once again in the New Testament and close our Pearls with these scriptures.

Philippians 4:6,7 we are told not to fret or have any anxiety about anything and the result will be this. The peace of God that passes our human understanding will guard us, keep our hearts and minds calm. Remember that great peace have those who keep their hearts and minds stayed on Him. This is an exercise of our will, our decision-making mechanism, our choice maker.

Once again, in Colossians 3:15 we are told to let the peace of God rule in our hearts, staying in a peaceful state.

I Peter 3:11 tells us to seek peace, to pursue it, not just to desire it but to go after peace with everything in us.

And then in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 we are told that the very God of peace will sanctify us through and through. He will set us apart for Himself. He will separate us from the things that are not of peace so that our spirits, souls and bodies are whole and preserved (kept from destruction, kept intact, which is untouched by anything that harms, left complete and entire) and found filled up with no part lacking, free from impurity.

I don’t know about you, but I am going to pursue peace with everything that is in me. I challenge you to do the same.

Covenant of Peace

In John chapters 14-17 Jesus told us many things regarding how we are to live on this earth and live successfully as His children in His Kingdom reality while we are here. These instructions He left us are very specific. They are such instructions as: He that has my commandments and keeps them loves me. I am going to prepare a place for you. Where I am, you may be also. He that believes on Me, the works that I do, He shall do also and greater works than these shall you do. I believe the Holy Spirit has an assignment for all of us. Read these chapters and meditate on them and do them. I am seeing the way to successful living in these chapters.

Today the Lord has told me to focus on John 14:27 (Amplified Bible). Jesus left us something when He left. This is what He said. Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled].

God is very precise in what He does. He does things very accurately. So, when Jesus said that He was giving us peace, that is a big thing. Not only did He say that He was giving us peace; He said that He was giving us His own peace. This statement tells me that peace is a big deal----and not the kind of peace that the world tries to give and work out on their own. If Jesus gave us His own peace, then we need to receive what He has given us. Obviously most of the Christian world has not received His peace or they would not be in so much fear and anxiety when things happen in their lives that are contrary to peace.

Peace from Jesus will keep us in faith and in joy because all of these are fruit which come from the Lord Himself. They are what we have in us when we accept Jesus as our Savior. What has happened is that we have not made the decision to exercise peace in our lives.

The word peace here is the Greek word eirene, which means untroubled, undisturbed well-being, rest, a state of peace that is a divine promise brought about by the mercy and grace of God whereby distress is removed and freedom is the result.

Do you hear that? It is God’s promise of His peace. Why? Because of His great unfailing love for us (mercy and grace). And why is peace so important? By and through peace, distress is removed and freedom comes.

If there is one thing the enemy of God’s children does not want them to grab hold of, it is freedom. Through peace freedom comes because we are not troubled. We do not take on cares. We do not become anxious. Why is that? We do not become disturbed because we know that Jesus is in charge. He is taking care of everything.

In the Old Testament Isaiah 53 talks about Jesus, the Head of the Body of Christ. Then in Isaiah 54 we hear God speaking prophetically to the Body of Christ. And one of the promises He makes is this in verse 10 (Amplified Bible). For though the mountains should depart and the hills be shaken or removed, yet My love and kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace and completeness be removed, says the Lord, Who has compassion on you.

And then in Psalm 89:34 we hear these words: My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

God is not a covenant breaker. If He said it, He will do it. He has spoken. His covenant of peace and completeness shall not be removed ever. Everything else can be removed, but not His peace. So what is the problem? Why are people in the Body of Christ not more peaceful? It is like everything else with the Lord. We must receive by faith what we have been given by God Almighty. And sometimes there is a stand of faith, where we don’t bow and we don’t burn. When the pressure is on from our enemy, we want to bow, we want to buckle, we want to give up, we want to cave in and quit. As the old expression goes: It is much easier to die than to live. Living requires faith in a great measure. Let’s talk more about this tomorrow.

Our Good Shepherd

Psalm 23 tells us that the Lord is our Shepherd. Today, we are going to talk about Him being our Good Shepherd.

What does a shepherd do? He takes care of sheep, who depend on him totally for everything. A sheep is helpless without the care of the shepherd. The well-being of a sheep depends on the kind of shepherd that sheep has to take care of him. A good shepherd is watching out for the sheep, keeping predators away, leading the sheep to water that is still (a sheep likes still waters, and not rushing, rolling waters) and to green pastures on which to feed.

This Psalm 23 is an image of Christ as our Shepherd in intimacy, a personal Friend Who desires not only to meet our needs but also to overflow His Blessing, His abundance on us, His beloved ones. He is pictured as One Who takes care of everything and thus develops with us a trusting, peaceful relationship.

Jesus as our Shepherd is our Supreme Provider of all our needs. We do not lack for anything. We lack for nothing. All is ours. In fact, that is what 1 Corinthinans 3:21,22 says. All are yours. Jesus is such a wonderful provider.

I want you to stop and really see, understand what this Psalm is saying to us today as God’s children, and this was in the Old Testament before Jesus ever came to take on our sins and sicknesses and diseases. This was before Jesus took our place and took the guilty sentence that really belonged to us. He took it all for us so that we could have complete freedom from all of the consequences of sin and satan’s destruction.

Jesus as our Good Shepherd feeds us and guides us and shields us. He gives us food to sustain us (His Word). He guides us by His Holy Spirit. He protects us from all evil. The evil one touches us not as God’s children because Jesus protects us.

Jesus leads us into peace in the midst of turmoil.
He revives life in us when we think we can’t go on.
He brings a refreshing to our weary lives.
He delivers us from fear.
He comforts us, not with a casual comfort, but a deep, permanent abiding love.
His unfailing love is ours all the time.
He brings His heavenly fellowship to us at all times.

With Jesus as our Shepherd, we don’t want.
We don’t want for forgiveness.
We don’t want for righteousness.
We don’t want for fellowship with Him.
We don’t want for being cleansed.
We don’t want for being made holy.
We don’t want for being made right in His sight.
We don’t want for peace for our mind.
We don’t lack strength.
We don’t lack healing and health.
We don’t lack for long life, days of life to finish our course and do what we are here to do.
We don’t lack for money, finances to accomplish what we are called to do for Him.
We don’t lack for days of heaven on earth.
We don’t lack for anything.
Why?
He is our good Shepherd and He supplies all our needs according to His riches in glory. And where is His glory? In us. Remember the scripture that says Christ in us, the hope of glory. Christ, the Anointed One with His anointing, is in us the earnest expectation of glory, His Presence (which is in us) manifested.

Meditate on these thoughts all day concerning your Good Shepherd. He loves you.

Confess The Word

Let’s make a good confession today. Periodically we have to stop and think what we are saying and what we are doing as a result of the Word of God we have available to us as God’s children. So, today, let’s confess the following. And think about what you are saying as you make these confessions. These are simple statements, but if you grab hold of what you are saying, it will change your life forever.

I am led of the Spirit of God.
I am a person of faith.
I am righteous.
I am healed and healthy.
I am whole in every area of my life.
I am rich.
I am anointed.
I am renewed in my mind and body.
I have the mind of Christ.
My youth is renewed as the eagle’s, strong and powerful and soaring like the eagle’s.
I choose Wisdom.
Wisdom Himself, Jesus Who has been made unto me Wisdom, dwells in me.
In Him, Wisdom, is length of days, long life and riches, wealth.
He, Wisdom is the Word of God.
The Word of God gives me Wisdom, wisdom to live a long life, wisdom to get wealth to establish His covenant on the earth, wisdom to have a good marriage, wisdom to know what to do on the job and in my relationships, wisdom to raise my children in a godly manner, wisdom for all I am doing in my life.
I choose to believe.
I believe I receive______________.
I choose faith.
I believe I have faith.
I believe I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.
All things are possible to him who believes.
I believe.
Therefore, all things are possible to me.
I believe all things are possible for me.
I act on my belief as the Holy Spirit directs and guides me.
I hear the voice of God as He directs me.
And I quickly obey His voice without questions or wonderings.
Be it unto me according to Your Word, Lord.
Jesus, You are Lord of my life, Lord of my mouth, Lord of my mind, Lord of my emotions, Lord of my will, Lord of my body, Lord of my spirit, Lord of all.
My body is Your temple, Lord, for you to live in.
Lord, Your Word is alive, full of Your Life.
As I speak Your Word, Your life is active on my behalf.
Your life is flowing through me and around me and out of me today.
Wherever I go, there is a difference.
I make a difference because of the Holy Spirit Who lives in me.
He leads me and He guides me into all truth.
I choose life today.
I choose the way of truth today.
I choose to live according to what the Word of God says.
I choose to believe the Word of God.
I choose to act on the Word of God.
I choose to be a person of faith.
I choose to believe I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.
I choose to believe I am strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
I choose to believe I am God’s child and He loves me dearly.
I CHOOSE TO BELIEVE. I AM A BELIEVER. I BELIEVE I RECEIVE.

The Word of God Is Alive!

THE WORD OF GOD IS ALIVE!

I have looked at the scripture in Hebrews 4:12 for years and have confessed it many times over my life, but it took on revelation for me yesterday regarding its “aliveness.” I want you to think about this. When you say something is alive, what do you mean? You mean it is full of life. It is living. It is pulsating with energy and vitality. When you pick up an insect or an animal which is alive, you can feel the life in it. It moves and demonstrates that it is alive. The Word of God is the same way. When you pick it up with your tongue, it is alive and pulsating and moving with the life of God.

THE WORD OF GOD IS ALIVE!

Look at the scripture in Hebrews 4:12, Amplified Bible.
For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.

The Word of God is alive and full of power. It is active and not passive. It is operating and not lying useless. It is full of God’s energy, full of God Himself. The Word is God Himself according to John 1:1. And the Word is effective; in other words, it produces results. Results-----isn’t that what we are looking for when we pray. Pray the Word and He will produce results.

The Word of God is alive. God’s Word is going to stay with you into the next life. It’s eternal, not subject to change. It’s a solid foundation to build upon. It is like a fire (Jeremiah 23:29, Jeremiah 5:14, Jeremiah 20:9). It’s pure like silver that has been tried in the fire already. (Psalm 12:6) When silver is tried in the fire, all the dross is burned off and all that is left is purity. That is the way God’s Word is. It is pure, without any death, without any fear, without any doubt, without anything to contaminate it. His Word is pure.

God’s Word burns up all other words. All that’s left is The Word, Jesus, God. Our words and works burn in the fire of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. God’s Word is eternal. Our words are temporal, temporary, subject to change; therefore, receive the Word of God and not the word of men (1 Thessalonians 2:13). Why be confessors and doers of the Word of God? We will give an account of every word spoken in this life (Matthew 12:36,37) Thank God for the blood of Jesus which washes away our own idle and inoperative words. I have spoken crop failure more than once to words that I have spoken. When we speak God’s Word, there is no chance of that word being idle because He says in Isaiah 55:10,11 that His Word goes forth and accomplishes what it is sent forth to do. Every time I speak God’s Word, it is giving the Life of God to me and my life and my situations which need His Life imprinted upon them. Let His Word be the imprint on you today.

God put flesh on His Word---made His Word and its workings visible through Jesus Christ. (John 1:1-4)

God has committed us to His Word (1 Corinthians 5:19)

We sow the Word of His Kingdom into our hearts by our confession and meditation and study of His Word (Mark 4, Matthew 13:19-23, Luke 8:15).

Hold fast to God’s faithful Word (Titus 1:9). His Word which is Himself is faithful because He is faithful. His Word will produce the same way the same time for whosoever will believe and receive it as their own and act like it is true in their lives.

What Is Joy?

Joy----so many people equate joy with happiness and they are two totally different entities. Happiness is a human emotion that goes up and down with the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Joy is a steadfast quality of God that never changes, regardless of what is happening to us. Joy is a force that flows out of us. Joy is God. God is the very expression of joy. Actually His joy is an expression of His nature, His Presence. It is an out-plosion of His glory. You will notice that I have coined a new word. I don’t have any other way of saying it and the Holy Spirit just gave me that word to describe the joy of God Himself. It is one of the fruit of the spirit.

In Romans 14:17 we are told that the Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Joy is part of God; it is part of His domain; it is part of His realm; it is the way He lives. It flows forth from Him all the time. He is the essence of joy. Joy comes from choosing to see God in everything and knowing that He will take care of us, regardless of how desperate a situation may appear to us. Joy will carry us through when nothing else will.

So what is this joy? And how do we get it? And how do we maintain it?
Well, first of all, joy is a fruit of the spirit that is part of the nature of God Who comes to dwell in us in the person of the Holy Spirit when we get born again. Joy is expectation of good and enjoyment. It is to choose to delight in. It is a choice, like all of the other fruit. It is a choice we make to yield to joy. We choose to delight in the Lord, even when we don’t feel like it. We choose to expect good, even when we don’t think there is any good. We choose to expect to enjoy our day, even when we don’t see anything to enjoy in that day.

What are we saying? God is full of joy. It is our choice to yield to Him and to His joy in the midst of what may not exactly be a joyful place in our lives. When money is tight, when disease seems to be resistant to our prayers, when children seem to go the opposite of what the Word says, when our marriages seem to be less than what we want, when all appears to be contrary to the way God said it was to be in His Word, we choose to rejoice in Him and in His Word and in His Presence. Remember, in His presence is fullness of joy.

So how do we maintain the joy we have been given at our new birth? We maintain it by staying real close to God. Why should we do that? In His Presence is fullness of joy----fullness. Did you catch that? Fullness. F-u-l-l-n-e-s-s. Fullness of what? Fullness of joy. What is that again?
J-O-Y! JOY, JOY, JOY, JOY, JOY, JOY!

Repeat after me:
I have the joy of the Lord.
His joy came to me when I got born again.
His joy is in me right now. It is a fruit of my reborn spirit.
I yield to His joy right now.
His joy is mine right now.
I refuse to see anything but good in my life and rejoice in the Lord my God.
He is my joy.
In His Presence is fullness of Joy.
I choose to stay in His Presence.

Keep saying that and meditating on the fact that you have joy, until it becomes a reality in your life, not just today, but every day.

God fills you and me with joy. His joy is fullness of life, His life, in me. We are to stay focused on being filled with joy. There is nothing satan hates worse than to see a joyful person, who loves life and loves God. He can’t stand it, so go ahead and give him fits. Make him so disgusted with you that he leaves you alone and goes looking for a gloomy Christian somewhere else. He thrives on doom and gloom and dread and misery. That is the perfect environment for his schemes to hatch. Get over in the God environment where love and joy and peace and all the other fruit are working. Let God’s environment of light overtake satan’s environment of darkness. Rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

In His Presence Is Fullness Of Joy

In His Presence is fullness of joy. His Presence fills me with joy.

Today I want to talk about joy in God’s presence. That is the title listed in my Bible for Psalm 16. Psalm 16 is loaded with wonderful promises for you and me. As we stay in His Presence, we realize that these promises are from Him for us to enjoy-----protection, safety, strength, a rich heritage, His blessing, His counsel, His instruction, fullness of the God Life, which is a result of being in the presence of Love Himself. And from that fullness of His Presence and all that it brings to us, we overflow with joy unspeakable and full of glory (His glory).

In verse 1 we read in the Amplified Bible: Keep and protect me, O God, for in You I have found refuge, and in You do I put my trust and hide myself. Where have we heard that before? In Psalm 91: 1,2 we say: I dwell in the secret place of the Most High and remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty. His power no foe can stand against; His power no foe can withstand. Well, who is our foe? It is satan. He is our adversary, our enemy, our foe, the one who is against us. He cannot withstand the power of God. Satan has no power. He has been stripped of his power. The only way he obtains any power is what he borrows from us. He attempts to siphon our power for his benefit.

In verse 2 we are to say something, and when we say that something, the rest of Psalm 91 God does for us. I will say of the Lord: He is MY REFUGE, the place where I am safe and protected, my hiding place from all physical danger. He is MY FORTRESS, my place of strength, my defense against all human enemies. He is MY GOD. On Him I lean and rely. And in Him I confidently trust. What I am saying here is that God is my safe place, the place where I am protected, the place where I get my strength. I can rely on Him. I can completely trust Him to take care of me.

In Psalm 16:2 we say the same thing as we say in Psalm 91:2. I say to the Lord, You are my Lord; I have no good beside or beyond You.

In verse 5 of Psalm 16 we see that the Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup. He maintains my lot, my destiny. He alone is my inheritance, my cup of blessing. He guards all that is mine. He determines my destiny and it is up to me to walk in it. He won’t make me walk in what He has designed for my life. I have a good heritage.

In verse 7 I will bless the Lord Who has given me counsel; yes my heart instructs me in the night season. In the night season wisdom comes to me (NEB).

In verse 8 I have set the Lord continually before me. Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

And here is the part we wanted to get to today. In verse 9, therefore, my heart is glad and I rejoice. My body is resting, and I am confidently dwelling in safety. Verse 11, He is showing me the path of life, His path of life, the path of His Life, of zoe life, the God-kind of life, which is the God-love kind of life. In His Presence is fullness of joy. At His right hand, which is where I am, are pleasures forevermore. According to Ephesians 1:20 Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. And In Ephesians 2:6 we are told that the Father raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together with Him in heaven, giving us joint seating with Christ. Wow! That is something to meditate on the rest of the day and week and a lifetime. We are in the same place Jesus Christ is, and He is in the same place we are. Remember that verse 8 said that He is at our right hand.

So where does this put us? Right smack in the middle of the joy life. And He has already told us in Nehemiah 8:10 that the joy of the Lord, His joy, is our strength. His joy is our sustenance. His joy is our sustaining force in life. His joy keeps us when nothing else will. Joy is a force of the fruit of the spirit that propels us into the fullness of God. Let’s talk some more about that force tomorrow.

Redemption - Part 3

Today let’s look at Deuteronomy 28 concerning the blessing and the curse. Let’s look in depth at this chapter of the Bible.

The first 14 verses are devoted to the blessing and the other 54 verses talk about the curse. Four times as much emphasis is put on the results of the curse as on the blessing. Why is that? What do you think the reason for that is? I believe it is that God knew that we would be tempted and pressured by our enemy satan to give in to the curse, to walk in the curse by default when the way got tough and when we were weary of fighting the good fight of faith. So God is spelling out in detail to us what the curse is. The blessing is a simple matter. Everything that God has, He has given to us now.

The Lord shows us that there is a key to the blessing and a key to the curse. In verse one of this chapter we read that if we diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord our God, if we observe and do His Word which He commands us, then the blessing will be ours to walk in. So there is the key: OBEDIENCE. In verse 15, we are told that if we do not obey the voice of the Lord our God, being watchful to do His Word which He commands us, then the curse comes upon us and overtakes us. Of course, that is the case because the curse is here on this earth and is a part of the world system which is under satan’s control.

Look at the blessing. My, my what a list. In fact, confess this for yourself today. Some of this confession is taken from the Amplified Bible.

I diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord my God.
I observe and do His Word which He commands me.
I am blessed in the city and blessed in the field.
The fruit of my body is blessed and fruit of my ground is blessed and the fruit of my cattle is blessed and the increase of my kine is blessed and the flocks of my sheep are blessed.
(What this verse is saying is that everything you do and have is blessed and multiplies.)
My basket and my store is blessed (bank and savings and investment accounts).
I am blessed when I come in and blessed when I go out.
The Lord causes my enemies who rise up against me to be smitten before my face; they shall come out against me one way, and flee before me seven ways.
The Lord shall command (Did you see that? He will COMMAND.) the blessing upon me in my storehouses and in all that I set my hand to do. He shall bless me in the land which He gives me.
The Lord shall establish me as a people holy (separated unto) to Himself as He has sworn to me, if I keep His Word and walk in His ways.
All the people of the earth shall see that I am called by the name of the Lord (Christ-ian---little Christ or little anointed one with His anointing) and shall have respect for of me.
And the Lord shall make me have a surplus of prosperity, through the fruit of my body, of my livestock, and of my ground, in the land which He swore to my fathers to give me.
The Lord shall open to me His good treasury, the heaven, to give the rain of my land in its season and to bless all the work of my hands; and I shall lend to many but I shall not borrow.
The Lord shall make me the head and not the tail; and I shall be above only, and I shall not be beneath.

What a list.

The curse goes on and on. We will list some of them and you can see the rest for yourself.
Everything that was blessed in the previous verses is cursed in these verses. There are all kinds of diseases listed with even verse 61 saying that every disease and every affliction not written in the Bible. It says your children shall serve others. It says you will be in poverty and want of all things. You will serve your enemies. And in the end you will be destroyed. This is what satan wants for every one of us. But God wants the opposite. That is proven in John 10:10. Jesus said that He has come that we might have life more abundantly and the thief satan comes to steal, kill and destroy.

In all these verses on the curse we see the words “God will.” That means that God has to stand by and allow the curse to work in you when you are not in obedience. He has given each one of us choice just like the first man and woman Adam and Eve. If we choose to obey God and His Word, His commands, we will live a long and prosperous life. If we choose to disobey, things will not go well with us.

Of course, as we have said before, it is a fight to obtain and maintain the blessing for our lives because we do have an enemy who does everything he possibly can to keep us down and take the fight out of us. Not any more. Jesus is the powerful One in us, the Greater One in us who is greater than he that is in the world. Remember that, the next time the enemy comes against you and says you are not going to get what God has for you. Stand up tall and say this: I am not going to get something I already have. My Lord will fight my battle for me. I already have the blessing of God operating in my life and for me and on my behalf. Get out of the way, satan, because I am coming through. That is the kind of determination each of us must have. Satan has lost already and the only power he has to operate in is what he borrows from us. Don’t let him borrow any more. Don’t give it to him. God’s power is for you as His child. Use it. Walk in it. It’s yours today.

Redemption - Part 2

It says in Ephesians 2:4 and 7 in the Amplified Bible that God provided this redemption because He was so rich in mercy. He provided it because of His great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us. He did it so that He might clearly demonstrate through all eternity His immeasurable, limitless riches of His free grace in His kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus. Jesus took the entirety of the curse that mankind had chosen for himself. He took it upon Himself in its fullness and let go of His purity, His righteousness, so that we could go free. That is such a big thing that my mind cannot comprehend it. My spirit can, but my mind which is limited by the finiteness of the earth cannot take it in. It is too much for me.

I am a part of the Body of Christ, and as a part of the Body of Christ I have been redeemed, loosed from the curse of the law because Jesus loosed me. He set me free. He gave me freedom. It is like a big heavy chain had been attached to me and Jesus came and loosed me from that chain tying me down. It even says in 1 John 3:8 in the Amplified Bible that the reason the Son of God was manifest, made visible to us was to undo, destroy, loosen, and dissolve the works the devil has done. You and I have been loosed from the works of the devil. And what are the works of the devil? Sin and all of its consequences. Sickness and disease. Lack and poverty and want. Failure and defeat. Doubt and unbelief. Failed marriages and failed relationships. Children gone astray. It is all listed in Deuteronomy 28. The blessing and the curse is listed.

Jesus opened up the way to the blessing of God when He became a curse for us. He literally absorbed that curse into Himself, soaked it up like a sponge absorbs water. It became a part of Him so that the blessing could be absorbed by us, become a part of us. The minute we accept Jesus as our Savior, we have taken up the blessing into ourselves. We have become right with God. We are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Sin has been washed away by the blood of Jesus and what we have is the blessing because Jesus loosed it for us, loosed us from the clutches of satan and the curse. Hallelujah! That is shouting ground! Spend the rest of eternity thanking Him for what He has done.

In Deuteronomy 30:19 we read that there is set before us life and death, blessing and cursing. We are to choose life that both we and our seed may live. In Deuteronomy 11:26 we read that God has set before us a blessing and a curse. We choose the blessing by obeying Him and His Word and not turning aside from the way in which He commands us to go.

According to verses 11-16 in Deuteronomy 30, God’s Word is not hidden from us, but His Word is near us, in our mouths and in our hearts that we may do it. He has set before us life and good, death and evil. He gives us a command: Love your God, walk in His ways and keep His Word. When we keep His Word, we live and multiply and we are blessed. We see in the New Testament in Romans 10:8-10 the same Word. Righteousness says that the Word is near us, even in our mouths and in our hearts, that is, the Word of faith. Who is Righteousness? Christ Jesus the Lord. If you will confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God has raised Christ from the dead, you shall be saved, delivered, set free. For with your heart you believe unto righteousness and with your mouth confession is made unto salvation, deliverance, freedom.

In these verses we see the way to obtain and maintain the blessing in our lives. It is a direct command. It is a very straightforward command. Do this and you will walk in the blessing that God bestowed on all mankind. He has set His life before us. He has shown us the way: Love God, keep His Word, obey Him. Keep His Word in our mouths and in our hearts. Confess it, believe it. That’s it. The word confession here means using the mouth to bring forth, to declare a thing in order to establish or confirm it. Salvation is the word soteria which means rescue, safety, deliver, health, save, inclusively of all the blessing of God in Christ. It is from sozo which means deliver, protect, heal, preserve, save, do well, be (make) whole. What more do we need?

Here is the “what more do we need” part. We personally have to DO WHAT THE LORD COMMANDS US. WE MUST BE DOERS OF THE WORD AND NOT HEARERS ONLY. A hearer believes. A doer puts that belief in action. That action is a result of faith, trust in God.

Redemption

In Galatians 3:13, 14 and 29 we read that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. And if we be Christ’s, then we are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

In different translations of verse 13 we read that Christ purchased our freedom, that He ransomed us, that He bought our freedom, that He released us from the curse of the law. In one translation I read, it said that He absorbed the curse for us. I have such a vivid picture of that. Can you picture it yourself? Jesus Christ, the Anointed One with His anointing, the pure and spotless Lamb of God, took into His very being the absolute opposite of His entire nature. He absorbed sin for us that we could absorb His righteousness, His pure, sinless nature. He gave us of Himself, His very own nature, and we became new creations, a new creation of God, with a new nature. Our spirits were born again.

I want you to picture this in your mind. Jesus voluntarily took upon Himself all the ugliness of this world, knowing that He would be playing right into satan’s hands. He knowingly took on everything for us so that we might go free. He bore the consequences of all our sin forever in His body on the tree. And why did He do that? He did it so that the blessing of Abraham might come on us. He did it so that we might have the choice to receive the blessing that Jesus was opening up for us. What a Savior! What a God!

When we talk about the blessing of Abraham, we must go back to the original word that God spoke over mankind in Genesis 1:28. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. That is the blessing that God spoke over Adam, over mankind. Adam rejected the blessing by his choice he made in the Garden of Eden to disobey God. That decision cost him the blessing of the Lord.

But God couldn’t stand for the man that He had created to go without His blessing. So He found a man, Abram who later became Abraham, who accepted by choice what God was offering to him by covenant. And the blessing was once again available to Abraham and all of his descendants.

Then Jesus came and by his living and dying and rising again, He made available for all mankind the blessing that was originally given to Adam. Fruitfulness, multiplication, replenishing, dominion, subduing is once again ours in this earth. We are given dominion over all the earth but not over one another. We are given God’s ability to multiply in everything we do. Everything our hand touches is blessed and multiplies and flourishes.

You might be saying to me right now: You know, Kialeen, that is all well and good, but I don’t see it in my life and it certainly is not operating for me as a Christian. Yes, the blessing doesn’t seem to be operating in many people’s lives. And why is that? For lack of knowledge my people perish. When we don’t have the knowledge of what is available to us and are willing to fight for it, we will not walk in it.

The blessing of God is ours the minute we are born again and become His children. Accessing it personally for our lives on a daily basis is something we must be willing to stand and fight for. Our enemy satan is determined that we will not walk in the blessing of God. He does everything he can to keep us from our heritage. It is our job to stand up in his face and say: No, you don’t steal my blessing. It belongs to me. It was purchased for me by my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and I refuse to let go of it. It does not belong to you satan. It is mine and I take it by force. I keep it by force. I stand on my covenant rights. Health and healing, abundance and prosperity, success and victory are mine. Jesus purchased them for me and paid for them. They are already paid for. They are mine. The blessing is mine. I take it and I keep it every day of my life.

My Body - God's Abiding Place

My body was created to be the abiding place, the resting place, the temple of God, the container of His glory, of Love Himself. And my body is the carrier of God’s glory to the world, a visible expression of God Himself and His glory.

In 1 Corinthians 6:19,20 we read:
What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holly Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
For ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
In the Amplified Bible we read that our body is the very sanctuary of the Holy Spirit. He lives in us. We have received Him as a gift from God. We are not our own. We have been bought with a price, purchased with a preciousness, paid for, made His own. So then, we are to honor God and bring glory to Him in our bodies.

Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price of His life and shed His blood for us. His life is precious life; His blood is precious blood. And His life and blood was the price He paid to purchase us from the slavery of satan. Only one price would do, and it was the highest price that could possibly be paid. Jesus had to take our place and take our punishment so that we could go free. We are free today because of what Jesus did for us. Therefore, we are no longer our own. We are His. And it is not a bondage of not being our own. It is a freedom indescribable. It is freedom like we have never experienced before.

And then in 2 Corinthians 6:16 we read that we are the temple of the living God. God said that He would dwell in us and walk in us and be our God and we are His people.

God chose to make Himself available to live in us and guide us, to direct us in everything we do, by the power of His Spirit dwelling in us. His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is dwelling in our bodies. In fact, remember Romans 8:11. The same Spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead dwells in us and quickens, gives life to our mortal bodies. We are talking here about power. The Holy Spirit is dwelling in us with the power, the glory of God. In fact, we are His Holy of Holies here on the earth now. We are His temple and He dwells in us in the Holy of Holies on the inside of our spirits. He considers our spirits a sacred place. We also must consider our spirits a sacred place. We must consider our bodies a sacred place. We must consider our souls a sacred place. Wherever God comes to abide, to dwell, to live is a sacred place because He is there.

I want you to think about this today and every day you live for the rest of your life. God Almighty, God Himself, Love Himself, the very power of the universe, the very glory of heaven is inside you if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, if you have asked Him to take over your life. He is in there. The Spirit of God is dwelling in your mortal body.

We must go to Ephesians 3:16-21. I know it is a very familiar passage, but let’s look at it in terms of the Spirit of God dwelling in our mortal bodies, directing our minds, helping us to make the right choices with our wills, orchestrating our emotions to stay in tune with the fruit of His Spirit. Look what it says in verse 16. May He grant you out of the riches of His glory, the treasure house, the preciousness of His glory to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in our inner man (our spirits). Think about this: God is granting us out of the riches of His glory in heaven to be strengthened with His power by the Spirit of God Himself abiding in our spirits, living and dwelling in us forever.

Then verse 17 states it again in a different way. May Christ, the Anointed One with His anointing, dwell in your hearts (spirits) by faith. He is in there. The anointing to do whatever you are called to do is in there. He has already fixed the circuitry of your spirit to respond to Him and to do what you are supposed to do to fulfill what He has called you to do. Isn’t that wonderful! You are already wired to do what you are supposed to do, what you were born to do. Let Him do the directing and the orchestrating of your life to complete the job. He is good at what He does. He has been doing it for eternity. Selah, Pause and think on that forever.

My Spirit And God's Glory

My spirit was created to be a depository of God’s glory, of God Himself, of Love Himself.

Paul made a profound statement in Colossians 1:27. He said that there was a mystery hidden for ages and generations from angels and men, but now it is revealed to us. And that mystery is now made known to us. That mystery is made known from the riches of His glory. The mystery is this: Christ, the Anointed One and His anointing, is in us. And His anointing in us is the hope, the earnest expectation of His glory, His Presence made real, manifested to us.

I don’t think we really get it. When we were born again, God Almighty, God Himself in the person of the Holy Spirit came to dwell in our spirits. He is in there with all His power, all His presence, all His glory, everything He is. All that God is, has been deposited in us as His children, His offspring. He is our Father. We have the same spiritual genes that He has. He gave them to us. He gave us His very own nature, all that He is.

In 2 Peter 1:4 we are told that we are partakers of God’s divine nature. We are sharers in His nature. Starting with verse 3 we read that God’s divine power has given us all things (Not anything was made without the word. John 1:3) that pertain to life and Godliness through the knowledge of Him Who has called us to His own glory and excellence or virtue. Through His glory and through His virtue He has given us His precious promises so that through them we are partakers of His divine nature and are given the means of escape from the corruption that is in the world.

We are partakers of God’s nature. And what is His nature? Who is God? What does He have? As I said in the first sentence, God is love. That is Who He is. That is Who I am if I am born again. I am in God and God is in me. And because Love Himself is in me, then I must yield to the Love that is in me. His glory is revealed and His power is revealed as an answer to love, as an outflow of love. Power and glory is the result of Love Himself given place and honor. The power is the result of love yielded to.

I am God’s vessel. My spirit is the place where God dwells, abides, makes His home when I am born again, when I become His child by spiritual birth. In John 14:17 Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would dwell in us, be in us forever. He is the one Who comes to us as God’s children. When we accept what Jesus came and did for us by shedding His blood for us to enter into covenant and for taking our place and becoming the curse for us, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our spirit. In John 15:4 Jesus said that He would abide in us and we would abide in Him as we let His Word abide in us. His word goes into our spirits and changes us, conforms us to His image.

In John 17:20-23 once again Jesus made some very powerful statements. He said that He was not just praying for those to whom He was speaking but for all who would ever come to believe on Him through His Word. He was praying for us, for you and me at that very point in time, those of us who would later believe because we heard His Word taught and preached. He prayed this prayer so that we may be one just as the Father and Jesus are one, that we would be one with them. Why? So that the world may believe and be convinced that the Father sent Jesus. This is the statement I wanted to get to: I HAVE GIVEN THEM THE GLORY WHICH YOU GAVE ME THAT THEY MAY BE ONE AS WE ARE ONE. That is a very powerful statement. Then He said: I in them and You in Me, Father, that they may be made perfect in one (united) that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them as you have loved me.

Jesus gave us the glory which the Father gave Him. Do you understand what I just said? The glory that the Father gave to Jesus, Jesus gave to us. THE GLORY, THE GLORY OF GOD HAS BEEN GIVEN TO US BY JESUS, TO ABIDE IN, REST IN US. People stand around singing about letting the glory come in, about letting the glory fall. The glory came in when you walked in. He is in you. Let Him out.

In the Amplified Bible in 2 Corinthians 3:18 we read: And all of us with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.

Each day, as we yield to the Lord Jesus Christ and do His Word, we are being changed, transformed into His very own image, displaying His very own nature for all the world to see and come to Him. You and I are His calling card to all the world. Let’s purpose to let Him do a makeover with us every day. We will be a continuing makeover show like those shows on secular television where they change the person and they look so much better.

Well, I can tell you that you look so much better with the glory of God shining out of you and being displayed than you did before He came to dwell in your spirit. Let Him shine forth for all the world to see. He is the best thing that will ever happen to them.

God's Will - My Will

My will was created to choose God. God gave me a will so that I would be a living being, created in His image, to choose to love Him, to choose to serve Him, to choose to obey Him. There is this wonderful part of God that would rather risk being rejected than being loved in a robotic manner. When someone gives me choice, they run the risk that I will choose the wrong thing.

And, of course, that is exactly what Adam and Eve did. They made the wrong choice. But, whoa, wait a minute before you get all uptight and condemning about them. We make wrong choices where God is concerned also. We make the wrong choice when we choose to believe the lies of satan rather than the truth of God’s Word. We make the wrong choice when we choose to believe that we can do it better than God can. We make the wrong choice when we listen to, respond to, act upon anything that makes us worry, get upset and anxious. That is choosing death, just like Adam and Eve chose death when they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Death (separation from) works in any situation in which we “choose” to go any way other than God’s way as spelled out in His Word. That may sound rather restrictive to you, but it is the path of freedom that cannot be understood until you have experienced it.

As we grow in the wisdom and understanding of God’s Word, the Holy Spirit of God directs us to make the right choices. There is that knowing inside us that we are to do a certain thing a certain way. If we choose to ignore that voice of God, we have not chosen God's life operating on our behalf in that situation. Thank God for His mercy which prevails many times in spite of our wrong choices because of His lovingkindness. But there are consequences to wrong choices and there are consequences to right choices.

In Deuteronomy 30:19 KJV we read: I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.

In this verse in the Old Testament we see very clearly that the result of choosing life is blessing and you and your children living. And I might add, living the good life.

Every day we make choices based upon what we are thinking and what we have been reading and hearing and who we are around. God created us as creatures of choice.

The will is that part of our soul that actually controls how we think and how we feel. The will in turn is guided by the spirit of man. If man’s spirit is guided by the Holy Spirit, then the will makes Godly choices, in line with the Word of God. If man’s spirit is guided by himself, then the will makes choices in line with the world’s way of doing things.

Ephesians 1:9 tells us that God has made known His will, His plan, His purpose. It is not a secret that He is withholding from us. It is God’s desire that we know His will for the overall plan of mankind and also for His specific plan for our lives as individuals. When Jesus was here on the earth, He said that He sought the will of the Father and then did what the Father showed Him to do and to say. His good pleasure was to do the Father’s will. That should be the expression coming from our hearts and out our mouths. My pleasure is to do the Father’s will every day for my life. I choose the will of the Father. His will is good for me.

In Colossians 1:9,10 we are told that Paul prayed that each person might be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding so that each of us might walk in a way pleasing to the Lord and being fruitful in every good work. In Hebrews 13:20,21 we read that the God of peace would perfect us in every good work to do His will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ. We make right choices with the help of the Holy Spirit because of the way that has been opened for us through Jesus Christ and His blood. We read in Romans 12:2 that we renew our minds to be transformed so that we can prove what is God’s perfect will. God’s will for us is perfect and wonderful. What we have to do is choose God’s will by choosing His Word. His Word is His will every time. And the Word which is alive and full of power will divide (show us the difference between) the soul and the spirit and discern the thoughts and intents of our hearts.

My Emotions

My emotions were created to be an expression of God Himself. They were created to be an outward expression of my soul’s response to the love and the joy and the peace of God, to His faithfulness and goodness and kindness and gentleness and mercy and grace, to His loving care for me. My emotions were not created to respond to the devil and my fleshly desires and the world’s temptations. My emotions were created to exalt and magnify the Lord with everything that is in me. They are the outward expression of the inward man’s response to God and His awesome love.

My emotions were created to be a response to my own spirit blessing the Lord.
Psalm 103:1-5 tells us to bless the Lord with all that is within us. We are to bless the Lord and remember all His benefits. He forgives all our iniquities. He heals all our diseases. He redeems our life from destruction. He crowns us with lovingkindness and tender mercies. He satisfies our mouth with good things so that our youth is renewed like the eagle’s, strong and powerful and soaring like the eagles’s.

My emotions were created to be a response to God and not a response to the world, not a response to my flesh, not a response to the devil’s torment. I was created to express God on this earth. My emotions are a vehicle to do that. They are not bad. What we allow them to do can be bad, but God through His Word and through His Holy Spirit can channel our emotions into the right path as a expression of His goodness.

My emotions should be that part of my soul that responds to God, that responds to His loving care for me as His child, for His loving training of me as His child, for His wonderful vibrant life pulsating through my being. My emotions were given to me by God as a form of expression in response to Him.

My, my what a wonderful God. He has given us so many tools to praise Him and to worship Him. When emotions are under the control of the Holy Spirit, they are holy and acceptable to God. They are guided by His tender, loving hand of control.

Anger is an emotion that few understand. It is not to be a worldly anger in reaction to someone doing something to us that we don’t like. It is to be an anger toward the devil and toward what he has done to people in this world. It is to be directed toward righteously enforcing the defeat of satan and his demonic forces in this world against God’s created human beings. Jesus had righteous anger in the temple when he turned over the tables of the money changers. “This is My Father’s house,” He said, “and you have turned it into a den of thieves.” That is righteous anger. Righteous anger is not reacting to your husband because he said something you didn’t like. Righteous anger is not being angry with a friend because you found out they spoke against you when they were not in your presence. All of those reactions are worldly reactions. It is only when it is a God-directed anger toward the work of the enemy that it is righteous anger.

Love is another emotion that few understand. God’s love is a decision we make to love someone, regardless of what they have done or continue to do. Love is a choice. The emotions line up with that choice when it is done God’s way. The problem is that most people express what they consider to be love when it is merely emotion, not backed by any decision or choice, just in response to someone treating them kindly or unkindly. When it is earthly love, the first time that person disappoints us or gets angry with us or talks sharply to us, we respond in anger or sharpness ourselves. No, Godly love is the same all the time, regardless of how we are treated. The emotions will follow.

Our emotions were not created to express the works of the flesh but the fruit of the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in our spirit. Galatians 5:22,23 KJV But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
There is nothing which can stand against the fruit of the spirit, bring a charge against you and succeed. Remember that love never fails, and if you allow God, Who is Love, to express Himself through you, there is nothing that can cause you to fail. Let your emotions be led of the Spirit.

My Mind Is Not The Devil's Playground

My mind is not a playground for the devil.

God created me to think Kingdom of God thoughts, to think as He thinks, to put into my mind His Word and His concepts and ideas. In 1 Corinthians 2:16 in the Amplified Bible we are told this:
For who has known or understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of the Lord so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge? BUT WE HAVE THE MIND OF CHRIST (THE MESSIAH) AND DO HOLD THE THOUGHTS (FEELINGS AND PURPOSES) OF HIS HEART.
We have the mind of the Anointed One and His anointing. We hold in our mind the thoughts of Jesus Christ. We hold His feelings and His purposes in our hearts.

We who are born again know that we have the mind of Christ, but why do we so often give way to thoughts that are negative and anxious and worried thoughts of doubt and unbelief and fear? The secret lies in renewing our minds to the way God thinks. And the way He thinks is provided for us in this book called The Bible, God’s Word of instruction to us concerning His Kingdom, His way of doing things. Every day we must renew our minds to what He says, how He operates, because each day will bring new challenges to our new way of thinking God’s thoughts. We are surrounded by a world which thinks the opposite of the way God thinks. We live in that world and we are bombarded with the world’s thoughts, from television to movies to music to our neighbors and friends. Yes, even our friends can give us wrong ideas, not based on the Word of God.

It is so important that our first line of thought each morning when we open our eyes is the Word of God. “Good morning, Father. Good morning, Jesus. Good morning, Holy Spirit. This is the day that You have made and I WILL rejoice and be glad in it. My mind is conformed to your way of thinking. I think only thoughts that you think. Today every thought I think will be true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of a good report. I refuse to fret or be anxious about anything. I refuse to worry. Instead, in every circumstance and every situation, I choose to trust You, Lord. I choose to believe Your Word and not the word of the world.”

When this is your attitude, when this is the way you train yourself (yes, I did say train), then when that negative doctor’s report comes, it is just a report of the world or when that negative financial situation comes, it is just a report of the world or when that negative situation arises in the family or the friendship or the marriage, it is just a report of the world. We so blithely say: Whose report do you believe? Oh, we believe the report of the Lord. We say it so lightly and so casually. If we truly do believe the report of the Lord, then why do we fret when we get a report contrary to that? I’m asking every one of us a question this morning. Do you and I truly believe the report of the Lord? Do our responses and actions demonstrate that?

If our responses and actions do not demonstrate that we believe the report of the Lord, what are we doing about it? Do we resort to doubt and say that it doesn’t work for us? We have been confessing the Word and doing everything we know to do and it doesn’t work for us. Do we allow fear to grip us around the middle and give way to panic? Or do we dig in our heels and say: Bless the Lord. I am an overcomer. I am forging ahead with the Lord. He is successful in my life and it is being demonstrated.

You know what it takes. When we get to the point that it doesn’t make any difference what may or may not be happening in the natural, we CHOOSE to believe that God’s Word, which we have been putting in our minds and hearts is working, even when we see no evidence of it except what the Word says. Do you believe God? Do you believe what He says? Then act like it. Act like what He says is true in your life. Who cares what others think? This Word is true for you the minute you speak it and recognize it for your life. This is God speaking. This is the One Who cannot lie Who is speaking to you through His Word written down on paper.

We are TRANSFORMED, CHANGED by renewing our minds to God’s ideas and ways of doing things. Romans 12:2 Today, start focusing on His Word as the final Word for your life, regardless of the situation in which you find yourself right now.

God's Keeping Power

The keeping power of God is our assurance, our promise. He will keep us, regardless of the situation in which we find ourselves. He will keep us safe if we find ourselves in a place of danger. He will keep us healthy if we find ourselves in a place of disease. He will keep us wealthy if we find ourselves in a place of lack and want. He will keep us loving when we find ourselves in a place of hatred. He will keep us in faith when we find ourselves in a place of fear.

God’s power will keep us, take care of us, be more than enough to do what is necessary to live a victorious life while we are here on this earth. In Psalm 121:7,8 we read: The Lord will keep, preserve you from all evil; He will keep your life. The Lord will keep, preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. He is the One Who will protect us from our enemy, the devil and all of his demonic forces. The Lord is the One Who will watch over us as we go about our day’s activities. He is the One Who will keep our life. He gave His life so that our life may be free from harm of any kind. What a God we serve!

In the Old Testament, in Jacob’s dream at Bethel, in Genesis 28:10-15, God made a promise to Jacob in v. 15 that He would be with him and keep him, watch over him with care, take notice of him wherever he went. If God made that promise in the Old Covenant, how much more does He promise us in the New Covenant since Jesus came! He is with us. He never forsakes us or leaves us. He is always right there all the time.

In Proverbs 3:26 in the Amplified Bible we see that the Lord is our confidence, firm and strong. He will keep our foot from being caught in a trap or hidden danger. We can have confidence in God. We can have total faith in Him keeping us from danger. He will reveal to us anything that is hidden from us. The Holy Spirit came to show us things to come, to reveal to us the future. He is the revealer of God to us as God’s children. It is the Holy Spirit Who brings the hidden things to the surface so that they are out in the Light of God, out in the open. There is nothing that will be hidden from you when you are walking with Him.

In Isaiah 26:3 we are told that the Lord will keep us in perfect peace as our minds are kept on Him, stayed on Him, committed to Him. We can trust Him forever. He doesn’t change. He is forever our Jehovah, our covenant keeper. He keeps covenant with us forever. He is our strength, our rock, as we talked about in a previous Pearls of Wisdom.

In the New Testament in Philippians 4:7 we are told that the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. God’s peace will keep us. Of course, there is a preamble to that in verse 6. We are not to fret or worry or have anxiety about anything. Instead, we are to be thankful at all times, with a heart of gratitude. If you are saying that it is not possible to be worry free, the Lord would not have had that verse in there if it were not possible. Whatever He says we can do, we can do.

Then we have that wonderful scripture in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 and 24 which states that the God of Peace Himself will sanctify us totally, completely, wholly. He has the keeping power to preserve our spirits, souls, and bodies completely blameless. That is powerful right there. Do you know what the word blameless means? It means to be without fault. Now how is that possible? Remember the blood of Jesus. His blood washes away all sin, all fault, all guilt. And then verse 24 tells us that God is faithful to fulfill His call and keep us. What promises these are!

And I love 2 Thessalonians 3:3. The Lord is faithful. He will establish and strengthen us. He will set us on a firm foundation and keep us, guard us from the evil one. He is ever on watch, guarding us, keeping us, preserving us. He is our Keeper.

We finish with 2 Timothy 1:12-15. I know in Whom I have believed. I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed to Him. I hold fast to His Word in faith and love in Christ Jesus. I guard and keep with the greatest respect that which has been committed to me by the help of the Holy Spirit Who dwells in me forever.

Psalm 91

Summer is here and people are traveling and enjoying vacation times. With that in mind, let’s confess Psalm 91 today and every day for our protection. You and I should develop a habit of making Psalm 91 our scripture we confess every day over ourselves and our families. It is loaded with protection especially to be considered for the days in which we live.

Let’s make our confession. We are going to personalize it for ourselves. I am using the Amplified version of the Bible as my foundation.

I dwell in the secret place of the Most High God, and I abide, dwell, live, remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty, Whose power no foe can withstand.

I will say of the Lord: He is my Refuge (Place where I am safe and protected, my hiding place from all physical danger) and my Fortress (My place of strength, my defense against all human enemies, my stronghold), my God; on Him I lean and rely and in Him I confidently trust.

For then He will deliver me from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence, plagues, malignant, contagious, infectious epidemic diseases which are deadly and devastating.

Then He will cover me with His feathers, and under His wings shall I trust and find refuge. His truth and His faithfulness are my shield and buckler.

I shall not be afraid of the terror of the night nor of the arrow, the evil plots and slanders of the wicked that fly by day.

I shall not be afraid of the pestilence that stalks in darkness nor of the destruction and sudden death that surprise and lay waste at noonday.

A thousand may fall at my side and ten thousand at my right hand, but it shall not come near me.

Only a spectator shall I be, myself inaccessible in the secret place of the Most High, as I witness the reward of the wicked.

Because I have made the Lord my refuge, the Most High my dwelling place, there shall no evil befall me nor any plague or calamity, blow, infliction, stripe, stroke, wound come near my dwelling because with the stripes that wounded Him I am healed and made whole.

For He will give His angels especial charge over me to accompany, defend, preserve, guard, protect and keep me in all my ways of obedience and service.

They shall bear me up on their hands, lest I dash my foot against a stone.

I shall tread upon the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent shall I trample underfoot.

Because I have set my love upon You, You will deliver me. You will set me on high because I know and understand Your name. Your name, Lord, is a strong tower and I as Your righteous one run into it and I am safe, high above evil, strong, set aloft. I am in Your tower of protection.

I have a personal knowledge of Your mercy, love and kindness, trust and rely on You, knowing You will never forsake me, no never.

I shall call upon You and You will answer me. You will be with me in trouble. You will deliver Me and honor Me.

With long life will You satisfy me and show me Your salvation in every area of my life. In my pathway is life and no death.

The Rock

A sermon by a guest minister at our church on Sunday triggered this Pearls of Wisdom today.

Let’s talk about The Rock.

In Deuteronomy 32:4 in the Amplified Bible we read:
He is the Rock, his work is perfect, for his ways are law and justice. A God of faithfulness without breach or deviation, just and right is He.
Then in the New Testament in 1 Corinthians 10:4 in the Amplified Bible we read (regarding the Israelites):
And they all drank the same spiritual (supernaturally given) drink. For they drank from a spiritual Rock which followed them [produced by the sole power of God Himself without natural instrumentality], and the Rock was Christ.

From both the Old Testament and the New Testament we see that God Himself, The Anointed One with His anointing is our foundation. He is our stability. He is our stabilizer. He is our place of unshakeable power when all around us is being shaken. When sickness and disease attempt to attack our bodies, when lack and want try to take over our finances, when strife and division try to slide into our relationships, when fear speaks in a loud voice that we are not going to make it, God Himself assures us that through the strength of His power, we will be victorious. We are overcomers in this world through Him. Remember that we overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony.

A rock is immovable. It is set in place. A big rock is there to stay. God is definitely our Big Rock.

One of the things we must realize when we are talking about The Rock is that The Rock, God, is also called the Word. In John 1 we read that in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. God is the Rock. God is the Word. And I might add that God is Love. The power of the universe Himself is love. So why do you think his command, his order is that we love one another as He has loved us. It is because the whole thrust of our lives depends on Him. And if we are not walking in love, we are not walking in Him. And we are out there in this world of the curse of the law with all of its sin, poverty, lack, want, doubt, unbelief, sickness and disease. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I choose that kind of life. I am choosing to love, regardless of how I feel toward someone or how badly they have treated me. I choose love because when I choose love I choose God. And when I choose God, I choose His power to be operating on my behalf. His power is what makes way for health, happiness, well-being, prosperity, wealth, good relationships, Godly marriages and a life worth living.

Let’s look at other scriptures on The Rock.
In Psalm 18:2 Amplified Bible we read that The Lord is my Rock, my Fortress, and my Deliverer, my God, my keen and firm Strength in Whom I will trust and take refuge, my Shield, and the Horn of my salvation, My High Tower.
A horn is a symbol of strength. This is an excellent scripture to confess over yourself and your family. We see over and over in this scripture the Strength of the Lord. He is the Strong One Who takes care of us (if we will only allow Him to do so). Remember that He is a Mighty God.

In Psalm 92:15 we see that the Lord is upright and faithful to His Promises. He is our Rock and there is no unrighteousness in Him. .

In Psalm 31:3 and 71:3 we see that God is our Refuge and Fortress, where we dwell, a shelter for us, a Stronghold for us, our Rock, where we can go for safety, security, salvation, deliverance. He is our place of protection from the enemy.

There are so many scriptures on The Rock. Do a word study for yourself. There are some good confessions in these scriptures for us in our everyday life and for us when we are in a tough place. Look to the Rock, Who is higher than you are.

The Authority Of Almighty God

Once again today I was reminded of the authority we have been given by our Heavenly Father, Almighty God and by Jesus Christ, His Son. And that authority is executed by the Holy Spirit on our behalf. But the Holy Spirit will not execute that authority, except we as God’s children release Him to do so by the words of our mouths and the thoughts of our minds.

Jesus made a very powerful statement while He was here on this earth in Luke 10:19 and 20. He said that we were to see, behold that He has given (past tense) us (that means you and me as children of God) power (This word in the Greek means authority.) over all the power or strength of the enemy and nothing (no, nothing, not anything, nothing in the least, never, no never) shall by any means or in any way harm us or hurt us. But then He goes on to say in verse 20 that we are not to rejoice that the spirits are subject to us but rather, we are to rejoice that our names are written in heaven. In other words, He was saying that our rejoicing should be in our salvation, in our having access to the Father, in the reconciliation to God, in our ability to choose being born again.

To me it’s a big deal to have authority over the demonic powers, but Jesus treats it as a matter-of-fact circumstance for us. The big thing was that we are born again. Why did He put such an emphasis on our names being written in heaven? Well, let’s explore that.

When our names are written in Heaven, we have the Greater One in us, Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit. And He has all authority over all demonic forces. In Matthew 28:18 right before Jesus left this earth, He said: All power (all authority, full authority) has been given to me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore….. He was saying: Since I am in you, and I have all authority, go and do what your assignment is. I will be there to take care of any demonic assignments that come up against you.

However, many Christians are sitting waiting on God to take care of their situations when He is saying: Don’t be passive; be aggressive. Take that authority I have given you and use it like I used that whip to drive the money changers out of my house. Drive your enemy out of your temple, out of your body, out of your finances, out of your relationships, out of your life. Jesus has given us His authority. We have full access to the power and authority of God. It has been given to us. My question today is: What are we doing with it?

We are in covenant with Almighty God through the blood of Jesus. Those who are in covenant cannot be touched by the curse or by satan or by his demonic forces. All he can do is intimidate and coerce and attempt to get us off course. But when we know that we are in covenant with God and that we have been given His authority and that we are seated with Him in heavenly places and that He is in us and we are in Him, it is a done deal. We are victorious whether we feel like it or not, whether the circumstances line up or not. We are victorious. Why? Because the Word of God says we are. Period, end of discussion.

We must take our authority as a weapon and take charge of the enemy, resist him and he has to flee. But there is a preamble to that. Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to us. He is the One Who has released His authority on our behalf. He is the One Whom we want to stay very close to. Why? Because the authority comes from Him to us. It is a life flow back and forth. That’s why he tells us in Ephesians that we are seated in heavenly places with Him. He is the One with the might (power) which He has given to us. We are super(natural) people! He puts His super on our natural and we are a team working together.

Whenever you come under attack, find out the specifics of the battle plan from your Commander-in-Chief and take your ground and maintain it. A person in the military knows his level of authority. The centurion proved that when he came to Jesus and said that he understood authority. He was a military man.

You have authority from Almighty God. Use it to walk in the victorious life.