New Birth, New Position

Ephesians 1:17-23 is talking about our new birth, our new position with Christ in heavenly places, our position of righteousness with Jesus Christ at the right hand of the Father, a position that is far above any power or authority on this earth.

In this position, we have been given the same resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead, to raise the dead places in our lives and the lives of others.
Example: Lazarus raised from the dead.
That same resurrection power is in us, who believe.
That same resurrection power is for us, who believe.
This resurrection power has been given to us through Jesus Christ.

In this position with Christ in heavenly realms, we have been given His authority and His power to operate in this earth. That power is released through our mouths, a product of our recreated spirit and our renewed mind of Christ, holding His thoughts, purposes and feelings. That comes about as we spend time in His Word and in His Presence DAILY.

This position is not an automatic working position with the Lord. We must believe what God says about us and act accordingly. We can be born again and seated with Christ in heavenly places and do nothing about the resurrection power that is operating in us. We must KNOW and UNDERSTAND and SPEAK and ACT.

Speaking is greatly involved here. God gave us mouths to be one of the major places of offering to Him. I know that when we speak of offering, we usually think of money, but there is far more to the word “offering” than money. One of the greatest offerings we can give God is our praise, thanksgiving and worship.

In Hebrews 3:1 we are told that Christ Jesus is the Apostle (sent One) and High Priest of our profession. That word “profession” can be termed “confession” in this passage.
Amplified Bible
SO THEN, brethren, consecrated and set apart for God, who share in the heavenly calling, [thoughtfully and attentively] consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest Whom we confessed [as ours when we embraced the Christian faith].

What does the High Priest do? He accepts the sacrifices that are brought to be placed on the altar before God. The word “sacrifice” means “offering.” Our lips offer the sacrifice or offering now (Psalms 116:17). We give sacrifices of praise, of thanksgiving, of righteousness (Psalms 4:5), of prayers. We offer up spiritual sacrifices (1 Peter 2:5). We ask the Lord to keep the door of our lips (Psalms 141:3). He creates the fruit of our lips (Isaiah 57:19). By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to (confessing to) His name (Hebrews 13:15).

You were born again not only to be a receptacle of God but a giver of His power (which is His Love in demonstration) to the world. Open your mouth and praise Him and confess His goodness and Love for you and all of mankind. Open your mouth and offer Him the fruit of righteousness. Open your mouth and tell others what Jesus has done for them and how God has given them the power to carry out their purpose on this earth. You have a new position. It is one of authority and power to do what you are called to do. Love Him and love others. The results are astounding! Life is beautiful!

The Strength of God's Victorious Power

As God’s child, you have access to something others cannot enjoy. It is God’s victorious power. It is the strength of His victorious power. Behind every power demonstration of anything is the strength that produces that power. God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit are both the strength and the power of our lives.

God gives us His strength. His insides are the fullness of Himself. He is in us with His fullness. As we yield to His fullness instead of meditating on the weakness of our situation, we will operate in victory through His power being demonstrated. What a power source we have not even begun to tap into! Herein lies the essence of walking in victory here on this earth. It is God’s power; it is God’s strength; it is God’s victory that we have available to us 24-7. We don’t tap into it because we are too busy thinking about what is wrong and what we consider the insurmountable problem.

If we would do something as simple as rejoicing instead of pondering the immensity of our situation, we have strength. The Bible tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). We read in Psalms 84:7, Amplified Bible, that we go from strength to strength, increasing in victorious power. Look at that. We will go from one place of strength to another place of strength, and along the way we will increase in victorious power. I like that phrase----not just power, but victorious power.

How do we do that? Here we go. Are you ready for the answer? We do it by choice. Everything we as mankind do is by choice. We make decisions every day. God created us with the capability of making decisions. He gave us a will. He gives us choices. It is our decision, not God’s decision. He has already made the decision that all of mankind has access to His Kingdom through His dear Son Jesus Christ. All of us have access to all of God. The degree of God and His power that is operating in us is dependent upon our choice. We can either choose to focus on our problems. Or we can choose to focus on the One Who gives us His strength and His power to move on through to victory.

No one said that making these choices was always easy, particularly when the enormity of the situation is screaming in your face: ”What are you going to do? What are you going to do? What are you going to do?” Of course, we all know who the author of that voice is----none other than our enemy, satan himself. He knows he is a loser, but he tries to convince us that we are the losers. No, sir, we are the winners. We won when Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. We were raised with Him from the dead situations of our lives. Look satan straight in the face and say: “I am a winner and not a loser!” We need to make these declarations if we are ever going to walk in God’s VICTORIOUS power.

I conclude today with Psalms 84:12, Amplified Bible, to remind us where we get our strength and victorious power.

O Lord of hosts, blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who trusts in You [leaning and believing on You, committing all and confidently looking to You, and that without fear or misgiving]! We look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). He started it and He can finish it without any difficulty.

Here are the key words to God’s victorious power operating in us: Leaning on Him (instead of our own puny efforts), believing on Him; committing all; confidently looking to Him; no fear or misgiving about His care for us.

TOTAL TRUST, BELIEF, COMMITMENT, CONFIDENCE, AND FAITH IN HIM!

The Righteous, Blessed Ones

Psalm 112 tells us about the righteous ones, which you are if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior. Today we will speak that Psalm over ourselves. It is a very specific description of who we are and what we have in the midst of a world full of wickedness. Meditate on this Psalm until you see yourself as that person God describes in this scripture.

I praise You, Lord. I am blessed as a man/woman that reveres and worships You, Lord.
I delight greatly in Your commandments (Word).
My seed, my offspring shall be mighty upon the earth.
I am upright and my generation shall be blessed.
Wealth and riches shall be in my house and my righteousness endures forever.
Light arises in the middle of the darkness for me as God’s righteous one.
I am gracious and full of compassion and in right standing with God.
It is well with me. I show favor, deal generously and lend.
I conduct my affairs with justice and discretion.
I will not be moved forever.
I as God’s righteous one shall be in everlasting remembrance.
I shall not be afraid of evil tidings.
My heart is firmly fixed, trusting in the Lord. I am leaning on Him and I am confident in Him.
My heart is established and steady.
I will not be afraid, until I see my desire upon my enemies.
I have distributed freely. I have given to the poor and needy.
My righteousness with God endures forever.
My horn, emblem of excessive strength and power, shall be exalted with honor.
The wicked man will see it (my righteousness and power and authority) and be grieved and angered.
He will gnash his teeth and disappear in despair.
The desire of the wicked shall perish and come to nothing.

What do we see in this Psalm? We as God’s righteous children do not have to be afraid or troubled. Our hearts are to be firmly fixed and trusting in the Lord.
He alone is the One with the power and strength and authority, and He has given it to us.
We do not have to fear the wicked, for they shall perish and come to nothing.

We can praise God and worship Him and delight greatly in His Word. He is our Light and our Salvation.

Holy Ghost Residence - The Secret Place

You as God’s child are the resting place, the abiding place, the Holy Ghost residence of the Most High God. He has taken up residence. He is not just a renter. He is a home owner. He is in us and we are in Him. Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. He dwells in us. We are His people. He is our God. He desires to be the One Who takes care of us. He is a wonderful caretaker.

We also are to dwell or abide in Him. Let’s look at Psalm 91:1.

We dwell in the secret place of the Most High and abide under the shadow of the Most High God. We live in God. Our lives are immersed in His life. His Life is flowing through us. His Love is flowing through us. His Light is flowing through us. He doesn’t stop that flow. We are the ones who can stop it. I am learning that I must consistently stay focused on what God’s Word says about me, regardless of what I feel or whether it appears to be working in my life. The Word is not true because it works in my life. The Word is true, period, end of paragraph! I must have this mindset: God’s Word is true for me and it will work for me. He is no respecter of persons.

What is this secret place of the Most High God? It is His covering, His protection, our shelter from the enemy, and our place of His abiding Presence. It is His Word. It is His Presence. It is God’s place. I’m living there. Psalm 31:20: God hides us in the secret place of His Presence. He hides us. He keeps us secretly in His pavilion, covering, shelter, defense and hedges us in, shuts us up and protects us from the evil one. In this secret place we are inaccessible to the enemy. It is forbidden access to him.

I am fixed in this secret place. In this place in God (which everyone has who is born again, whether they know it or whether they act on that knowledge) we are stable; we are unalterably settled; we are set; we are firm; we are steadfast; and we are established. Established in what? Him and His Word and faith in Him performing His Word in our lives personally.

I am fixed under the shadow of the Almighty. What does this mean? I thought there was no shadow with God. This is our English translation’s way of saying “covering.” God’s glory is this covering. It is a canopy of divine love and protection. It is God. We know that His glory is His Love (Power) expressed or manifested on earth. He allows us to see His glory. His glory is His Presence. When our spiritual eyes are open here on earth, we can perceive God’s presence and power expressed in our personal lives, as well as in corporate gatherings. When we get to heaven, we will have the spiritual ability to see Him and His glory all the time. The only reason we cannot see it here on this earth all the time is that we don’t walk in the spirit all the time. Flesh has to be dealt with continually. The flesh cannot see God nor perceive Him.

The Holy Spirit is here to help us stay in the spirit and still live a normal life here with his “super” on our “natural.” I love living supernaturally in this natural world. It is so much fun. It is a carefree life. We are God’s responsibility. We do what He tells us to do. He performs His Word on our behalf and for those to whom He sends us. It is an effortless life of sweatless victory. What produces that kind of life? Trust and confidence in God’s ability and capability of taking care of us.

If you are like me (maybe you are not) it is difficult to have the patience to wait on someone else to do something when you think you have the ability to do it so much faster. I believe that many times we have this mindset about God. We have this concept that it takes forever to receive from Him. It is all this work and pressure and stress and strain. He didn’t put those thoughts in your head. It is satan, because he knows that once you and I know that God does things much better than we can ever do them (and God will do them for us), he has “had it.” He won’t be able to harass us anymore.

We dwell, remain stable and fixed in the secret place of the Most High and are established, unalterably settled under God’s glory which is a canopy, a defense of divine love and protection of the Almighty God Whose power no foe can withstand.

Trust

When we put our trust in the Lord, and seek Him, we are blessed (Psalm 2:12).

Trust is a simple word but it carries with it all the power of The Blessing of God. When we trust God in any situation and with any challenge in our life, we are releasing Him to pour out on us The Blessing. What is The Blessing? It is God’s fullness of His Kingdom which is given to us on this earth. It is God Himself pouring out on us His prosperity and goodness. To prosper is to succeed in every area of life whether it is in our bodies or our finances or our relationships.

God has declared His Blessing upon us. He decreed it over Adam and Eve, and even when they lost it, He had a plan to reinstate His decree over mankind. He blessed us. That means He gave us the ability to prosper. He gave us His power to succeed. His power is given to us to excel, create and achieve.

The result of His Blessing is fruitfulness and multiplication which is not just for us but for all those around us. God’s Blessing spills over onto those with whom we come in contact. Wherever we as born-again children of God are, He is there with His Blessing. People are blessed in our workplace. They are blessed in our communities. They are blessed in our nation because we are there. It really has nothing to do with us other than the fact that we are vessels of the Most High God, allowing Him to pour out His Blessing on us and others.

I looked up the word “trust” in the dictionary and in the Greek and Hebrew language and found one word that seems to be common as a definition of the word----confidence. When you and I have confidence in what God can do for us and that He will do it for us, we are trusting Him. Blessed is the person who puts his trust in the Lord.

Regardless of how it seems, we are to trust God to take care of things for us. Even when it looks like everything is going the opposite of what we need, we must trust Him. The devil wants us to doubt God’s desire to do what His Word says, and particularly for us. He started in the Garden of Eden by convincing Eve to doubt the truth of what God said. He has never changed. He says to you and me all the time: “Has God said? Did He really mean what He said? Nah, I don’t think so. Go ahead, you can’t trust God to come through for you.”

Deliberately, on purpose, choose to trust God. Make a quality decision that no matter what happens, you choose to trust Him. Make a commitment to Him that you will remain true to Him and believe His Word. That commitment is not dependent on whether you see results or not. It is a decision you make to believe God and His Word, regardless of what happens in your life. That is what honor is. Honor does not depend on whether you have everything great in your life. Honor is what you choose to do. Respect and esteem God for Who He is and not for what He can do for you.

Oh, yes, as you honor Him and His Word, you will see results. You will walk in the blessed life. You will experience breakthrough and turnaround. God looks to and fro throughout the earth to find those who are committed to Him and His Word, not because of what He does for them, but because they love Him with all their hearts and want to please Him and honor Him.

Trust God! He loves you so much. Today and every day show Him how much you love Him and trust Him.

The World Behind Me

In 1 John 2:12-17 and 1 John 5:21 (Amplified Bible) the Apostle John has some very specific instructions for all of us, which I think applies particularly to the days in which we are living. Some of these instructions are to fathers, children, and young men, but I think every one of us can heed these words of wisdom.

I am writing to you, little children, because of His name’s sake your sins are forgiven [pardoned through His name and on account of confessing His name].

I am writing to you, fathers, because you have come to know (recognize, be aware of, and understand) Him Who [has existed] from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have been victorious over the wicked [one]. I write to you, boys (lads), because you have come to know (recognize and be aware) of the Father.

I write to you, fathers, because you have come to know (recognize, be conscious of, and understand) Him Who [has existed] from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong and vigorous, and the Word of God is [always] abiding in you (in your hearts), and you have been victorious over the wicked one.

Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world----
the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification],
and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind]
and the pride of life [assurance of one’s own resources or in the stability of earthly things]----these do not come from the Father but are from the world [itself].

And the world passes away and disappears, and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it; but he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his life abides (remains) forever.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols (false gods)----[from anything and everything that would occupy the place in your heart due to God, from any sort of substitute for Him that would take first place in your life].

As I look at these verses for a personal evaluation of myself, I am asking the Holy Spirit to reveal to me any areas in my life that would keep me from knowing God intimately and putting Him first place.

We may think that we don’t have any idols in our lives since we think of idols as little carved icons or whatever, but what about the thing you spend the most of your time on. Is it Jesus or is it something which steals all of your time from Him?

What John tells us here in these verses is strong. We are not to love the world or the love of the Father is not in us. In the world are things that would gratify our senses (sense of touch, seeing, hearing, smelling, speaking). In the world are things that would satisfy the longings in our mind. In the world is self-assurance and faith in earthly resources to solve our problems. Self can sometimes be our biggest hindrance to faith in God. Most of us have been taught to depend on our own abilities since we were small. But God-------!

God wants all of us. He wants to completely take care of us and has already supplied our needs and wants. What we must do is “let go” of all these earthly comfort zones on which we rely and trust. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal those places in your heart that belong to Him but which you have not been able to give over to Him. He is waiting! He will help you to become totally free of the world’s way of doing things and reliance on your own self-efforts.

God's Spirit of Power and Love and a Sound Mind

God has not given us a spirit of fear, of craven and cringing and fawning fear, but He has given us a Spirit of Power and of Love and of a Sound Mind (2 Timothy 1:7, KJV and Amplified Bible).

No, God has not given us a His children a spirit of fear. That spirit of fear is from satan. It is his method of operation. Fear is more than being afraid. It is having faith in satan’s ability to harm you and take away from you. We are instructed here with a very specific instruction. God has not given us a spirit of fear.

Here is what God has given us. He has given us His Holy Spirit of Power. He has given us His Holy Spirit of Love. He has given us His Holy Spirit of a Sound Mind.

Let’s look at these three forces we have been given: power, love, a sound mind.

God has given us His Spirit of Power. The Greek word for power here is dunamis. It is the same word as Paul used in Ephesians 1:19 to describe the working of God when He raised Jesus from the dead. It is resurrection power. It is the pure power of God. There is no power greater than His power. It is the mighty power of God that is inherent in Christ, that is fixed in the Anointed One and exists in His anointing. It is the same power that has been given to us, that resides in us.

In Romans 8:11 we are told that the same Holy Spirit that raised Christ Jesus from the dead dwells in us. He is in us. He lives in us as Christians. Christ is in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). God’s power is in us. So what is the problem? Why aren’t we seeing more of the demonstration of God’s power in us on this earth like His power was demonstrated in Jesus? As with everything with God, it takes faith; we must believe His power is available and operating in us; we must have confidence His power is working in us. Nothing will happen until we choose to believe that God’s power is personally working in us.

In Ephesians 3:20 we see that God will do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think, infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes or dreams in consequence of or according to the action of His power that is at work within us. It is our choice. We can choose to believe that we are dynamic powerhouses for God, or we can choose to believe that we can’t make it. God gives us choices all the time.

God’s power is there in us and is available for us to walk victoriously.

Secondly, God’s Love is in us. Romans 5:5 tells us that the love of God has been shed abroad or poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. In 1 John we are told that God is Love. His Love is His power source. He is all Love. We are all Love if we are His child. We are Love if we are His child. God has given us a Spirit of Love, His Love.

Thirdly, God has given us a sound mind. He has given us the mind of Christ, to hold the thoughts, feelings and purposes of His heart (1 Corinthians 2:16). When we look at the words “sound mind,” they come from root words that mean to fence or enclose, stop, silence, to rein in or curb. Figuratively, they mean feelings or understanding. God has given us His mind to silence and stop the thoughts of the enemy that continually bombard us. He has given us His mind to rein in or curb, cast down, and bring into captivity every thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. When we take on His mind, we are in obedience to Him. We align our feelings and understanding with Him.

There is only one way to take on God’s mind. He has given us this Word of His, which expresses His whole way of operating His Kingdom. It is the direct opposite to everything we see in this world. We must come into obedience to His Word and to Him in order to thrive in this present world. We can either being just surviving with our head barely above the water, or we can thrive in spite of what is going on around us. Once again, it is a choice, not just daily, but sometimes moment by moment. Choose you this day whom you will serve: We choose God and His Word.

God's Vision

God sees through different eyes than the world. His vision is pure and lovely and clear and perfect. His vision is love vision. His vision is pure power. He is Love and that is the way He sees us. He doesn’t look at things the way the world looks at things. He sees people and value in them. He doesn’t see what they can do for Him. He sees their worth as individuals.

God’s vision is one of redemption and wholeness. He sees us as His again, bought with the blood of His Son Jesus Christ----redeemed at last, free, delivered, once again His own. We have been bought with a price, the highest price the Father could pay, the blood of His Son.

Without God’s vision, we perish, we are made naked, we have nothing and are nothing. In fact, that is exactly what Proverbs 29:18 says: “Where there is no vision (no redemptive revelation of God), the people perish (are made naked)." When we don’t understand Who God is and what He has done for us, we perish, and we are naked, devoid of anything of value or worth because He is our all in all.

Paul prayed for us in Ephesians 1:18 that the eyes of our understanding would be enlightened or that the eyes of our hearts would be flooded with light. He was talking about us understanding God and His Kingdom. Oh, yes, it is possible to do just that very thing. God wants us to be able to understand Him. After all, He is our Father. We are His children. He wants our hearts to be overflowing with His Light; He is Light. He said in Genesis 1: “Light, be.” In other words, I Who am Light be in this earth. And the earth was filled with Him. He wants us to understand how He operates, so that we can imitate “papa” and be exactly like Him.

God wants our eyes to be opened to turn from darkness to light and from the power of satan to God Himself (Acts 26:18). He wants us to open our eyes to behold wondrous things out of His Word (Psalm 119:18).

It was a sad day for the Lord when the man and woman He had created, submitted to the deception of the devil and hooked up with him. Three things happened to Adam and Eve when they ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (1) Their eyes were opened to evil. Their eyes were opened in the wrong way. It was never God’s intent that they know anything about the devil’s ways of evil from the devil’s perspective of tricking them into submission to him. I fully believe that God would have explained the ways of evil to them, if they had waited on their Father to talk to them about it. He is a loving Heavenly Father. And, if He thought it was best that they never know about evil, that would have been OK also. They should have allowed their Father to handle it. He had given them an instruction to obey. Their disobedience opened up the temptation of the whole world of the devil and his evil ways. (2) They knew they were naked. They perceived that spiritually first. They realized that the light of God’s glorious presence on them was gone. Then they saw physically that their bodies were no longer clothed in that presence. They looked for something to cover them. (3) They were afraid. (Genesis 3:7,8)

This is the condition of the world today without God. They are open to evil. They are not clothed in God’s robe of righteousness. They are full of fear.

Unfortunately, that is the condition of too many Christians. They don’t know that they are righteous and can walk in a new way with the Lord because they are back in their rightful position of being right with Him again through Jesus (righteousness). They don’t know that they are royalty in the Father’s household, with all the rights and privileges of the household. They are full of fear of so many things----cancer, heart attacks, terrorism, losing their jobs, families falling apart. They are in no better place than the people of the world, except they are going to heaven, which is a wonderful thing to know. But, oh, the benefits of serving the Lord while we are right here on this earth.

My prayer today for you is that you will take on God’s vision and understand the hope to which He has called you, the richness of your inheritance, and the very resurrection power that God has given you, which seats you far above all principality and power and all earthly titles and names. Hallelujah!

Leave No Room

I have been considering a verse in Ephesians 4 for some days now. Verse 27 tells us to leave no room or foothold for the devil and to give no opportunity to him. We know we must take this verse in the context of the chapter in which it is written and look at the verses before and after it and realize that it is talking about being angry and sinning not with that anger. We are not to let the sun go down before we let go of that anger.

Today I want to look at the idea of giving the devil no room in our lives. What gives him room in our lives and what gives him the opportunity to mess with us? What gives him the right to even touch us because 1 John 5:18 tells us that the wicked one touches us not? What opens the door for him? What triggers his operations in our lives?

We as human beings are designed with a “believer” called our spirits. God placed in us the ability to believe and the right to choose what we believe. He gave us a soul to help us make choices. That soul is made up of our mind, our will, and our emotions. Each part of our soul can contribute to our choices many times. Ideally, our spirits direct our choices and our souls agree with those choices. But here is what happens many times. We may get emotionally involved with fears and concerns and worries. We may think and ponder the wrong things, such as: What are we going to do? It looks like it is not working. Oh, my, I’m afraid I’ll not make it. That is the wrong thinking. Then our wills get involved and we make decisions out of fear.

What is the solution to overcome the emotional distress, the wrong thinking and the fear-driven choices? The Word of God! It’s that simple, huh. Really, it’s that simple. But that is too simple. Isn’t there more? No! God created us with the Word. He is the Word. All of creation responds to Him Who is the Word. What He speaks, it becomes. We are like Him. We are His children. We have His attributes. When we speak, it should become. So why doesn’t it become when we speak?

God has no fear in Him. He has no doubt or unbelief that what He says will not work. He is all faith. We, too, are designed to have faith. The problem is that we have a mixture sometimes of fear and faith, and we get exactly that----a mixture. The solution to that mixture is the purity of the Word of God. Every day we make choices based on what we believe. If we make the wrong choices, we need to fix our believer system. In Deuteronomy 30:19,20 we are told that God has set before us life and death, blessing and cursing. We are to choose life, that both we and our children may live. We are to choose God’s life, God’s way of living, God’s way of doing things. That choosing goes contrary to everything in the world’s way of doing things. It is an uphill battle sometimes to choose God’s way.

Every one of us is designed with a built-in believer. We will believe something. There is no such thing as a human being who does not believe. Even atheists believe something. They believe there is no God. That is a form of believing. What we believe is what we choose to accept as true for us in our personal lives. Let’s look at some natural examples: We choose to believe that the chair will hold us when we sit down. We choose to believe that our car will start and take us to our destination. We believe that when we pick up the telephone it will work. We believe that when we turn on our computer or our television or our ipod, it will work. We believe that the water will come out of the shower when we turn it on.

What if one of these natural things do not work one day? Do we then say that it is no good and turn away from it? NO, we get it fixed. Well, the same thing is true where God and His Word is concerned. If it does not seem to be working for you, get it fixed. What is keeping it from working in your life? Find out and fix it. Is there fear in your life? Are you doubting God’s ability to perform His Word in your life? What is the problem? Ask the Holy Spirit to show you and then obey what He says, not questioning how long it will take or “throwing in the towel” and saying it does not work for you. It will work for whosoever will put it to work.

Today, make a quality decision that you will choose to believe God and His Word will work for you personally in your life. Give the devil no place in your life or opportunity to come in!

The Father's Will

Jesus’ greatest desire and pleasure while He was here on this earth was to do His Father’s will. He always delights to do His Father’s will. In fact, when we look at John 6:38 Jesus said that He came down from heaven, not to do His own will, but the will of the Father that sent Him. He goes on to say in verses 39 and 40 that the will of the Father is that people believe on Jesus and receive the Life of God into their lives.

In verse 40 in the Amplified Bible we read: For this is My Father’s will and His purpose, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in and cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up [from the dead] at the last day. In verse 47 Jesus said that He that believes on Me has everlasting life.

Our greatest desire and pleasure is to do the Father’s will while we are here on this earth. If you are having trouble determining what the will of the Father is for your life, here are some scriptures for you to confess over yourself daily. You do know your Father’s will. You are His child. What you must do is allow Him to pull that information up from within you to your mind, so that you can see clearly the path that you are to take in life. My rule of thumb has always been this: I do not do anything until I have heard from the Lord and have a peace inside me that doesn’t waver. Until that time comes, I do nothing except continue to do what I am presently doing. Some people may find that a little slow and want to move faster, but I have found that in God’s realm, time is no factor to Him. It is only a factor to us here on this earth.

1 John 1:9,7
If we freely admit we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (righteous) true to His own nature and promises to forgive us our sins and continuously cleanse us from all unrighteousness (everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought and action).
I have had my sins forgiven.
God is faithful and true to His own nature and Word.
He continuously cleanses me from everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought and action.
Therefore, I am in conformity to His will in purpose, thought and action.

1 John 2:29
Christ is absolutely righteous, conforming to the Father’s will in purpose, thought and action. Everyone who does righteousness, is therefore in like manner conformed to His divine will, is born of Him.
Christ, the Anointed One with His anointing, is in me as a born-again child of God.
He conforms to the Father’s will in purpose, thought and action.
Therefore, I conform to the Father’s will in purpose, thought and action.

Ephesians 5:17
I am not vague, thoughtless or foolish, but I understand and firmly grasp what the will of the Lord is.

God has a perfect plan for each one of us on this earth. We were born to fulfill that plan. That is His will for us. I cannot tell you what the specific will of God is for your personal life. You will have to seek the Lord until you know. Each of us must spend time with Him to hear His voice and to proceed in the direction in which we believe He is leading us. What if we make a mistake? What if we don’t hear clearly? That is the wonderful thing about our Lord. He will guide us back into the right path. But if we never go forward, how will we ever accomplish anything in our lives. Forward motion produces action. If that action is incorrect, God will correct our course. He is an excellent course corrector, as well as the author of our course. He is the Architect of the plan. He is also the Builder. He is the Master Architect and Builder. We can trust Him to steer us in the right direction.

The Tongue

The human tongue can either be used to bless or to curse, to be on fire for the Lord or to be set on fire by hell. In the book of Proverbs and Psalms we see scriptures regarding both our mouth and our tongue.

First, let’s look at what we don’t want our tongue to do. James has much to say about the tongue. Look at chapter 3, verses 5 and 6. The tongue is considered a little member of the body and it can boast of great things. Even so, a little spark is a small thing, but it can set ablaze much wood or a great forest. We have all seen the damage that forest fires do to acres and acres of timberland. The tongue can set so much on fire when we use it to speak the wrong thing. With the tongue, we can set into motion much iniquity, contaminating and defiling our whole body. The entire cycle of our life can be ruined by a fiery tongue. James says that a tongue which speaks evil is set on fire or ignited by hell.

But our tongue as Christians should not be one which sets on fire a world of iniquity and is ignited by hell, spewing out bitter poison and anger and animosity and cursing and slander. Our tongue should be a gentle tongue, tempered by the Holy Spirit to speak forth blessing.

No man can tame the tongue, but God can. He is the master at tongue taming. The Holy Spirit teaches us how to give a soft answer to turn away wrath. He teaches us how to be gentle in our words and comforting with the words of our mouth. He demonstrated the power of the tongue set on fire by heaven on the day of Pentecost when they were assembled in the upper room, waiting on the Holy Spirit to come to them. When He came, He demonstrated Himself as visible tongues of fire, flames of white-hot fire of the Lord God of heaven, the pure power of Almighty God. Yes, our tongue is to be used by the Spirit of God to speak and bring into existence great and marvelous works of the Holy Spirit, which the Lord Jesus Christ released by His resurrection, and which the Father ordained before the foundation of the world.

Now, let’s look at some scriptures about the positive aspect of our tongues. The tongue of the wise brings health and healing (Proverbs 12:18). Look at that! Our tongues can bring health and healing for ourselves and others. Healing is a wonderful gift from God. We see here that it can be brought about by the words of our mouth. The tongue of the wise utters knowledge in the right way (Proverbs 15:2). Every one of us wants to speak forth the knowledge that we have in the right way. I love Proverbs 15:4 (KJV and Amplified Bible): “A wholesome or gentle tongue (with its healing powers) is a tree of life.”

Here’s a scripture we all know about, but do we really KNOW it? Death and life are in the power of the tongue and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof (Proverbs 18:21). Do you see this? Death (the cessation of life) and life (the fullness of God Himself) are in the power of that little member in your body called your tongue. This is so big! Whether you live or die is as close as your tongue, what you are speaking. Death and life to anything is in the power of your tongue----relationships, marriages, finances, ministries, and, yes, our physical bodies. I have seen people turn around their whole life by purposing to speak only life over their situation. The sick are healed. Financial troubles are turned to financial prosperity. Marriages are revived. Children come home. Relationships are restored. All because of that little member called the tongue. It is amazing to me the power of the tongue, such a small part of our bodies, yet such a powerful part of our bodies.

Finally, in Proverbs 21:23 we are told that we who guard our mouths as well as our tongues keep ourselves from trouble and actually keep our lives. What a statement! Guard your mouth and tongue and keep yourself out of trouble. How many times have each one of us wished we had not said something? Words spoken are so laden with power, especially words of born-again believers. Our words carry tremendous power not only for ourselves but also on this earth. We MUST GUARD or KEEP our tongues and mouths full of only the Word of God. That way we keep out of trouble. What an instruction for all of us to “take to heart.”

Understanding Brings Confidence, Part 2

Let’s finish our study from yesterday on understanding Godly Wisdom, which brings us confidence in God’s desire and His power which He gives to us to overcome challenges in this world.

Every time we as God’s children speak that we are getting Wisdom, we are actually speaking that we are getting the Wisdom of God, Who is Christ the Anointed One and His anointing, Who is the Holy Spirit. With the getting of the Wisdom of God, we are getting understanding of the Word. Understanding brings confidence or faith.

People are trying to achieve confidence in the Lord or develop faith in Him to get results when they don’t yet have the understanding of the Word that they are confessing for results. Here is where we have missed it: Looking for results from mechanical speaking of the Word without understanding and, thus, without confidence. The first time something comes our way to test the confession of that Word, we fold and ask; “Why? I don’t understand what happened. I was speaking the Word.” There is our clue----I don’t understand.

What we must do when a situation comes where we don’t have confidence that we will come through to the other side, we ask the Holy Spirit to bring understanding to us of the Word that is Jesus Christ, Who is the Wisdom of God.

Then, when the understanding comes, or we may call it rhema, (which produces Bible hope), we are ready for the next step, the confidence level or faith. Then, when we speak the word out of our mouth, we release the Holy Spirit, or the anointing, to bring the results or manifestation in our lives. Since we then know that it is not our much doing that will produce the results, we are then confident and rest in Him regardless of what is happening. We know that He is taking care of it. We have confidence in Him, not what we are doing on our own. We are no longer fretting and fuming and agitated and worried about what WE ARE GOING TO DO.

We have missed it by attempting to get results without the first step of understanding. Even in the natural world, mechanical doing of something without understanding can produce mistakes. But when you have understanding of how to do your job, there are not the mistakes that occur with doing it because somebody simply told you to do it, without any explanation of it.

When you hear a teacher or preacher preach the Word of God, he/she has the understanding. What he/she is doing is putting it out there for you to take personally and dig and get the understanding for yourself, not just to parrot what he/she has said. It is a personal walk of confidence or faith, not based on what he/she has understanding of. It is based on your understanding of what you have been taught.

When you get the understanding, you have the confidence in God and His Word for your difficult situation. You know He will bring you through, in spite of the impossibility of it or how long it takes to resolve it. You know He has already taken care of it in the spiritual realm. It is simply a matter of it being accomplished in the physical realm for you personally.

Legally, in the spirit realm, it is already a finished work, a done deal. Jesus has purchased everything we will ever need to live victoriously here in this earth. Personally, in the reality of the earth’s realm, that finished work must become a personal understanding for you in your situation. That understanding brings the confidence you need to withstand what the enemy brings against you. You stand and don’t get ruffled by time passing or the sense of nothing happening. You stand confidently in that finished work for you personally, knowing it is not your job to produce the results. That responsibility belongs to the Holy Spirit. Meanwhile, you stay very close to Him, intimate in your relationship, and heed His directions to you; obediently doing what He tells you to do.

Understanding Brings Confidence, Part 1

Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all your getting get understanding (Proverbs 4:7).

We as God’s children must know that God’s Wisdom is what we must acquire in order to operate effectively in this world. Get wisdom. With all your getting of wisdom, you will get understanding. Understanding of how God operates His kingdom is what we need in order to be successful and walk in victory in our lives. Understanding brings confidence to us regarding God’s desire and total ability to take care of us. Yes, God greatly desires, longs for and passionately wants to be the One Who is allowed to give us everything He has----health, prosperity, love, joy, peace, contentment, happiness, and days of heaven on earth in our relationships.

God is not holding back anything from you and me. What happens is that we don’t always understand how to let Him do what He loves to do. He loves to pour out on us His whole kingdom. The challenge is not in His giving. The challenge is in our receiving. We get annoyed when things don’t happen AS we want them to happen, WHEN we want them to happen. We blame God and get upset with those who teach that He is a good God and rewards faith.

God’s Word is true for you and me whether we see it operating in our lives or not. If it is not operating, it is not God’s fault. When we finally accept that fact and swallow our pride and admit that we missed it, then in our humility we can ask the Lord to show us how to receive. We lose battles because we are not assured in our inner man that God will come through for us. After all, we reason, He has not done anything for me so far, and it’s been a long time. It makes no difference how long it has been, God still is waiting with the answer for you. It’s still there. Don’t give up now, when you are so close to winning.

When we say the principal thing is Wisdom, we are saying in essence that the principal or main thing is Christ because He is the Wisdom of God. “But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). (Christ) “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:4).

But whoso hearkens to me [Wisdom] shall dwell securely and in confident trust and shall be quiet, without fear or dread of evil (Proverbs 1:33, Amplified Bible).

We see here in Proverbs that when we listen to Wisdom (Christ) we will be confident in the Lord. We must daily ask the Holy Spirit of God to guide us with His Wisdom, the Wisdom of God. He guides us in what we read, what we say, where we go, and how we do things. He is our Guide and Teacher and Helper. It is His desire to give us what we have asked for. He desires to give us more than we desire to receive. But desire is not enough. It is a starting point, but we must go beyond that to faith and love and patience. Yes, patience, which is consistently believing God is willing to perform His Word for us and not only willing to but WILL perform His Word for us.

So what if it has been a long time. So what if His Word has not seemed to work in our lives. That does not change the effectiveness of His Word. His Word is still true for you and me. How many times I used to question God and tell Him that I did not understand and get so upset with Him and those around me who seemed to be getting their prayers answered. This is a word in due season for someone. Don’t give up. Never give up. Always go forward. God is there for you. I know from experience that He will not fail you. Continue to trust Him, even when it looks like it is not doing any good. Trust Him. Believe Him. Have confidence in Him. Decide to love Him and believe Him, if you never ever get one prayer answered. He is more important than one answered prayer. Your relationship with Him is vital to your sense of peace and well-being. All of us must come to the point where He is more important than anything we will ever receive from Him. When that happens, the receiving is easy. Love makes receiving easy.

We will finish this teaching tomorrow.

The Peace of God

We need the peace of God right now to live in this world as Christians, as God’s children, His little anointed ones, His little kings, His little lords, His empowered ones. The Holy Spirit has empowered us to live in the peace that Jesus left us. Empowered----what does this word mean? It means to give the power you have to someone else to carry out their duties or assignments. So, the Holy Spirit has given us the power of God to accomplish our God-given mission here on this earth. Yes, every one of us is born with a mission. We have a general mission and a specific mission. Our general mission is to bring salvation to people. Our specific mission is how we carry out that mandate. It is our part in the overall mission of God.

Jesus gave us His peace. We see that in John 14:27, Amplified Bible.
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.]

That was a Messianic blessing that Jesus was pronouncing upon His disciples then and us now. The Greek word is eirene and the Hebrew word is shalom. He was declaring wholeness, with nothing missing or broken from our lives. He was proclaiming that all is well with us. He was saying that He was giving us restoration for our hurts and brokenness. What a proclamation to leave for us.

In John 17:33, Amplified Bible, we have another strong declaration of the peace of God.
I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence.
In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration;
but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]!
For I have overcome the world.
[I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]

What an assurance we have here from Jesus. He is telling us that in Him we have peace and confidence. In the world, we have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration all around us. Where are you today? Are you in Him or are you in the world? We as God’s children are here physically in this world, but it does not have to be in us? We are in Jesus Christ. Tribulation, trials, distress, and frustration is all around us. We have to deal with them. BUT, and here is the wonderful other side of the word BUT, be of good cheer, be courageous, be confident, be certain, be fearless and bold. WHY? Then Jesus gives us the assuring state. I have overcome the world (FOR YOU, is the implied sense of this statement), and I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.

What an assurance. Jesus has conquered the world and its tribulation, trials, distress and frustration for us. He has deprived all of it of the power to harm us. He has conquered it for us. That is the reason we can say that we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. Yes, we are more than conquerors. He won the battle and handed us the spoils of the battle----health, prosperity, well-being, faith, love, joy, peace, just to mention a few of the spoils or benefits we have been given. The battle is over. The only battle we will ever have to participate in is the battlefield of our minds. Jesus has even taken care of that. We can exercise His mind in us. We have the mind of Christ and hold all His thoughts, feelings, and purposes (1 Corinthians 2:16).

We close with Philippians 4:6,7 in the Amplified Bible.
Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God, and God’s peace [shall be yours…], that peace which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

In every one of these scriptures, we see that the action is on our part. Jesus has already done all that He is going to do. The rest is up to us. It is a choice we make moment by moment and day by day. Oh, yes, pressure is applied by satan to keep us from making the right choices, but we must apply the pressure of the Word of God to him. He is not greater than the power of the Word of God. God is greater. Choice----we hear a lot about freedom of choice these days. But we as God’s people know about the real choices in life. Our will is one of the strongest elements in our person. God gave us a will to choose. May we choose in line with His Word, regardless of the pressure or disappointment or disillusionment or discouragement that satan attempts to apply to us to keep us from making the right choice.

God's Overcoming Power

“I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration, but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]” John 16:33 Amplified Bible

These words were spoken by Jesus thousands of years ago when He walked the earth. They could be words He would speak to us today, if He were here in a physical body walking in the earth. His Word is eternal and everlasting, always true. This scripture verse is as vibrant and life-giving for us as it was for His disciples who heard it for the first time.

These words are God’s assurance to you and me. Jesus says: In Me you may have perfect peace and confidence. So, the opposite would be true. When you are not in Me, you do not have perfect peace and confidence. That is an obvious conclusion. Here is our first instruction for difficult times----IN ME! You and I must focus on Jesus and what He has already done for us. We must focus on our Heavenly Father’s care for us. We must focus on the Holy Spirit’s ability to take care of us, whether times are difficult or easy. Either way, He is taking care of us.

I have heard a number of people lately say that the Word does not work for them. They don’t want to know anymore because it has brought them so much trouble. My dear reader, trouble comes, because you live here on this earth. The moment you accepted Jesus as your Savior, you were a target of satan’s efforts to convince you that you were not born again, that you had it better before you got saved. Well, I don’t think I would want the consequences of not being saved. But if we are going to have the logic of being better without the Word, then our logic would need to go in the same direction as far as salvation is concerned. You were saved because of the Word and prayer on someone’s part.

Hear the words of the Lord. IN ME YOU MAY HAVE PERFECT PEACE AND CONFIDENCE. Be confident of your Lord’s care for you, regardless of what it looks like to you in the natural. You don’t know what is going on behind the scenes in the spirit realm. Every time you back off and say it doesn’t work, you stop God’s operations for you.

Let’s read on: In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration. Look at this. These are Jesus’ words. In the world (Are you in this world?), you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration. This world is full of these things. Yes, it is. Yes, you are surrounded by these challenges, every day, all your life. BUT, here is the other side of that coin. But be of good cheer. Take courage. Be confident and certain and undaunted. Why? FOR I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD.

What is Jesus saying to you and me here in this verse? You’re surrounded by challenges in this world, but be unmoved by them because I have already overcome all these problems for you. I have overcome the world. I have deprived it of its power to harm you. I have conquered it for you.

Remember the verse that says that we are more than conquerors through Jesus Christ. More than conquerors! That is someone who feeds on the spoils obtained by the conquering one. Jesus is the conquering One. Not us! This is where most of us have our difficulties. We try to do things ourselves, and then when it doesn’t seem to work, we blame God. God is such a convenient One to blame. If there is any blame, it lies with us. But our pride will not let us admit that we may not know enough or didn’t know how to operate in what we know.

My lightning fast brain has discovered something. If it didn’t work, it was not God’s fault. I missed it. But here’s the good news. If you have missed it, ask the Holy Spirit to show you how you missed it and what you can do to correct it for the next time. He is so good to us. He is our Teacher. He is our Guide. He will direct us. Lately, I have seen so many times that I have had to be willing to say: “You know what, Kialeen, you need more instruction and more intimacy time with the Lord. He will show you the way.”

He never fails me. He is always there. Whatever you may be encountering this very day, it is not too big for God. Your anger and frustration toward Him never phase Him. He understands your very being. After all, He did create you. You have not because you ask not or you ask and receive not because you ask amiss. Keep on pressing in until you have the answer. God delights in those of us who will not quit or give up and stick in there, even when it looks like we are a complete failure and complete idiot to everybody else. You are never a failure when you depend on the Lord. He is your only hope in this world. Why? Because He has overcome its power to harm you and has conquered it for you. PRESS! DON’T LET GO! BELIEVE! NEVER BACK DOWN!