Last night I had the honor of facilitating the Prayer Meeting at our church. It's always a humbling thing to me to have the opportunity to speak to God's people.
I always want to say exactly what He wants to have said but part of me struggles to say something in my own words that has the power to change lives! I know if I'm saying exactly what He wants to have said, it will change lives and if I say my own words I'll probably just offend or cause stumbling!~ So I struggle to say what He wants said and not just what I want to say! Anyway, this is what I shared~
"Last time i shared here I spoke about being Active or AWOL, does anyone remember?" (some did remember!)
"Anyways, now I want to share a little more about the idea that we are soldiers in God's Army.~
First, I want to encourage us to start seeing ourselves as we are called to be. We all need to see ourselves as Prayer Warriors, because we are called to be Prayer Warriors! We are God's feet, His voice and His hands on Earth, we are His body.
Jesus told us of the power that we should be walking in~
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. John 14:12
And because we are in Christ we can claim these verses~
But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ(by grace you have been saved)., and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly place in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-6
"The Word in Ephesians 2:6 is past tense. God has already raised us up and made us sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We will rule and reign with Christ in this life now-if we'll exercise our rightful authority.
Our position in Christ is already an accomplished fact. But we need to exercise the authority that belongs to us in that position of reigning with Christ over principalities and powers before it will profit us.
Our position as believers is one of joint-seating with Christ in heavenly places that may not always be our circumstance , but that is our position.
If we want to rise above our circumstances, we must take advantage of our position in Christ.
When we get the revelation of our position in Christ, what a difference it will make in our lives! We will no longer be the defeated Church We will take our place as the triumphant Church, which was God's design from the foundation of the world." Kenneth Haggin
Scripture tells us that what we loose on Earth will be loosed in Heaven and what we bind on Earth will be bound in Heaven.
"Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. "Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst." Matthew 18:18-20
We need to be using this authority! We need to be cashing in on this! If we were given a visa gift card we'd take it right to the store and cash it in, we should be cashing in this promise that Jesus gave us!
We are familiar of binding things because we bind enemy spirits from having any power in our lives, but what does loosing mean? How do we loose things?
"Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity." Luke 13:12
Secondly, we need also to always put on our armor, daily! When we start praying and battling in the spiritual realm we need to take the steps that our Heavenly Father has given us so we aren't just sitting ducks! The armor is given to us to protect us because our battle is not against flesh and blood.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, Ephesians 6:10-19
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Do It While It's Easy!
I have a question for you today, my question is why do people set themselves up to be broken?
Are they either ignorant or deceived? Sorry, I know ignorant is a harsh word, but what else could you call it? Ignorant isn't actually as bad as we have come to think of it, it simply means the lack of knowledge, I am ignorant in the field of chemistry, and many others for that matter. So either people are ignorant to the fact that God is at the center of life and the creator of all things and without Him they are hopeless and helpless, or they have been deceived into not believing that He is all powerful or even exists?
Either way, I think people that know God, do know that they need Him and they need as much of Him as they can get! They know they are hopeless and helpless without Him! They know that if they walk in their own power they are courting disaster! They know that outside of His grace they are future road-kill!
But back to the question and people that don't know they may be future road-kill...are they deceived or ignorant? Maybe both?
If the people are ignorant, we can help them with teaching. Ignorance is just the lack of knowledge, it's not the desire to not have the knowledge.
The tougher of the two is the deceived group! They believe their thinking is right. To help these people will take a lot of prayer and a lot of wisdom from God. We will have to overcome the spirit of deception, pride, scoffing, arrogance, etc., but we have to start with prayer!
The question that first started this thinking in my mind was, "Why do people set themselves up to be broken/" God doesn't want to have us go through trials to refine us, but for some of us, we create our own situation that "breaking" is the only way to get through to us. We won't take the easy road of refining, readily throwing away our bad ways and embracing God's good ways, we have to be broken to the point that God is our "last hope" and then we're willing to let go of the things that don't belong in our lives when we are God's children.
You can see it in people's lives, they don't need or want God in their lives until they become ill, or until they have a family crisis or they have a financial crisis....it's always a crisis that finally gets their attention and then they are ready to hear about God's love.
Why can't we learn the easy way? Why don't we turn from our selfish ways and embrace God? Why do we blame God when we are the ones that chose the path that led us to a crisis?
This is where I run into trouble, too many questions! But maybe my questions can encourage someone to take the easy path, the path where the only issue is your own self will to wrestle with. but at least no crisis!
Be encouraged to turn your will to God's will, let them run together, let them become one and avoid the crisis that you will eventually enter your life into without God's wisdom, and the self created crises that will drive you to your knees to find God's will. Do it while it's easy! God doesn't enjoy a crisis anymore than we do, His grace will often direct us around the problems in life that we can run ourselves into. Look to Him, Lean on Him and Trust Him, without Him we're all roadkill! ~
Are they either ignorant or deceived? Sorry, I know ignorant is a harsh word, but what else could you call it? Ignorant isn't actually as bad as we have come to think of it, it simply means the lack of knowledge, I am ignorant in the field of chemistry, and many others for that matter. So either people are ignorant to the fact that God is at the center of life and the creator of all things and without Him they are hopeless and helpless, or they have been deceived into not believing that He is all powerful or even exists?
Either way, I think people that know God, do know that they need Him and they need as much of Him as they can get! They know they are hopeless and helpless without Him! They know that if they walk in their own power they are courting disaster! They know that outside of His grace they are future road-kill!
But back to the question and people that don't know they may be future road-kill...are they deceived or ignorant? Maybe both?
If the people are ignorant, we can help them with teaching. Ignorance is just the lack of knowledge, it's not the desire to not have the knowledge.
The tougher of the two is the deceived group! They believe their thinking is right. To help these people will take a lot of prayer and a lot of wisdom from God. We will have to overcome the spirit of deception, pride, scoffing, arrogance, etc., but we have to start with prayer!
The question that first started this thinking in my mind was, "Why do people set themselves up to be broken/" God doesn't want to have us go through trials to refine us, but for some of us, we create our own situation that "breaking" is the only way to get through to us. We won't take the easy road of refining, readily throwing away our bad ways and embracing God's good ways, we have to be broken to the point that God is our "last hope" and then we're willing to let go of the things that don't belong in our lives when we are God's children.
You can see it in people's lives, they don't need or want God in their lives until they become ill, or until they have a family crisis or they have a financial crisis....it's always a crisis that finally gets their attention and then they are ready to hear about God's love.
Why can't we learn the easy way? Why don't we turn from our selfish ways and embrace God? Why do we blame God when we are the ones that chose the path that led us to a crisis?
This is where I run into trouble, too many questions! But maybe my questions can encourage someone to take the easy path, the path where the only issue is your own self will to wrestle with. but at least no crisis!
Be encouraged to turn your will to God's will, let them run together, let them become one and avoid the crisis that you will eventually enter your life into without God's wisdom, and the self created crises that will drive you to your knees to find God's will. Do it while it's easy! God doesn't enjoy a crisis anymore than we do, His grace will often direct us around the problems in life that we can run ourselves into. Look to Him, Lean on Him and Trust Him, without Him we're all roadkill! ~
Which Path Do You Choose?
This morning is an early one! I have been quiet for awhile in writing because God has been quiet with me, but now I am awake and I've been give a couple of questions to ponder and to expand on.
The first question is have you ever prayed against your own self will to the point of sweating blood? I can honestly tell you that I have not! In this context I am very self satisfying, I deny myself very little that I want!
Yet my Saviour did deny His own will and prayed for help to do it! And at the same time He told His disciples to pray for themselves. I had always thought He was asking for them to pray for Him in His struggle. but in Luke 22:40 Jesus told them to pray for themselves for strength against temptation.
I am being transparent, that's a new buzz word in the Christian world that means "honest" about my own life, so I'm being transparent or honest with you in telling you that I sometimes forget to pray for strength against temptation!
I do daily pray Jesus' blood as protection and put on the Spiritual Warfare Armor, but I do need to remember to pray to not enter into temptation and for the strength to deny it if I chance to encounter it, and odds are that I will encounter temptation. Our society is full of temptations and we need to actively prepare ourselves for those daily encounters.
When we do encounter temptation, do we fight it? Do you remember that old saying "the devil made me do it"? People would say that and laugh like that should remove their guilt in something that they chose to do. Come to think of it, that's even what Eve said in the garden, it didn't remove her guilt and they still got kicked out of the garden!
On the other hand, when faced with a situation that He could have side stepped because His own will might have led to a different path, Jesus followed through with His Heavenly Father's will. He struggled with it, He prayed His way through it...even sweating drops of blood! Have you ever struggled with temptation to the point of sweating drops of blood? I unfortunately have not. I have given in to my own will and let myself make some very bad choices.
Now I purpose to set my will to live God's will, even when tempted to take the easy path, I do purpose to follow the path that may lead to prayers of sweating blood, do you join me? If it was the path that my Saviour took then it is the path for me.
The first question is have you ever prayed against your own self will to the point of sweating blood? I can honestly tell you that I have not! In this context I am very self satisfying, I deny myself very little that I want!
Yet my Saviour did deny His own will and prayed for help to do it! And at the same time He told His disciples to pray for themselves. I had always thought He was asking for them to pray for Him in His struggle. but in Luke 22:40 Jesus told them to pray for themselves for strength against temptation.
I am being transparent, that's a new buzz word in the Christian world that means "honest" about my own life, so I'm being transparent or honest with you in telling you that I sometimes forget to pray for strength against temptation!
I do daily pray Jesus' blood as protection and put on the Spiritual Warfare Armor, but I do need to remember to pray to not enter into temptation and for the strength to deny it if I chance to encounter it, and odds are that I will encounter temptation. Our society is full of temptations and we need to actively prepare ourselves for those daily encounters.
When we do encounter temptation, do we fight it? Do you remember that old saying "the devil made me do it"? People would say that and laugh like that should remove their guilt in something that they chose to do. Come to think of it, that's even what Eve said in the garden, it didn't remove her guilt and they still got kicked out of the garden!
On the other hand, when faced with a situation that He could have side stepped because His own will might have led to a different path, Jesus followed through with His Heavenly Father's will. He struggled with it, He prayed His way through it...even sweating drops of blood! Have you ever struggled with temptation to the point of sweating drops of blood? I unfortunately have not. I have given in to my own will and let myself make some very bad choices.
Now I purpose to set my will to live God's will, even when tempted to take the easy path, I do purpose to follow the path that may lead to prayers of sweating blood, do you join me? If it was the path that my Saviour took then it is the path for me.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
My Testimony
I have a testimony to share.
Recently I was standing on a chair hanging a decoration on the wall, this is something that I should have waited for my tall, handsome husband to do, but I was impatient, so I did it myself!
As I stepped back to the floor my foot twisted under me and I heard a loud crack. I thought it sounded bad, but I also knew, and know, that my God is a God of miracles. I ever so gracefully slammed into the wall and slid to the floor, with a mixture of shock and disbelief competing to take first place in my mind.
By the time I actually reached the floor I took a couple of deep breaths and then grew angry. I know that God has a purpose for me and this felt like an attack to detour me from my purpose! I started decreeing! I am God's daughter! I am a child of the King! I am covered by Jesus's blood! I said a binding prayer against any spirit that would try to separate me from my calling! I cast aside the voice that kept reminding me of the cracking noise. I cast aside everything that was not belief in God's hand over me.
I had a choice at that moment to make, blessing or curse. I chose blessing and rejected any thoughts or words of curse. We face many moments in our day when we make this same choice. I encourage you to always choose blessing!
I refused to say my foot was broken, I said it was injured. By the next day my foot was still injured so I went to the doctor to make sure that everything was in the correct place. The X-ray came back showing a crack in a bone, but it was already reset in the correct position, and it was a bone that doesn't have movement.
I am growing in faith, moving from faith to faith, I believe if I was more mature in my faith, the bone would have already been healed, but God did bless me and my prayers in the whole situation. In my growing faith I had the best in the situation!
I have seen many people have to wear casts for months, or stay off of their feet completely, or walk on crutches. I only have a little stiff soled boot to wear for a couple of weeks at which time I can switch to my regular shoes, and while I was told to not be on my feet too much I'm still free to take care of the daily essentials!
The purpose of my testimony is to encourage you as you face challenges or even daily events, choose blessings! Take authority and repeat to the universe and your enemy who you are!
I am the blessed! I am God's child! I am a daughter of the King!
Recently I was standing on a chair hanging a decoration on the wall, this is something that I should have waited for my tall, handsome husband to do, but I was impatient, so I did it myself!
As I stepped back to the floor my foot twisted under me and I heard a loud crack. I thought it sounded bad, but I also knew, and know, that my God is a God of miracles. I ever so gracefully slammed into the wall and slid to the floor, with a mixture of shock and disbelief competing to take first place in my mind.
By the time I actually reached the floor I took a couple of deep breaths and then grew angry. I know that God has a purpose for me and this felt like an attack to detour me from my purpose! I started decreeing! I am God's daughter! I am a child of the King! I am covered by Jesus's blood! I said a binding prayer against any spirit that would try to separate me from my calling! I cast aside the voice that kept reminding me of the cracking noise. I cast aside everything that was not belief in God's hand over me.
I had a choice at that moment to make, blessing or curse. I chose blessing and rejected any thoughts or words of curse. We face many moments in our day when we make this same choice. I encourage you to always choose blessing!
I refused to say my foot was broken, I said it was injured. By the next day my foot was still injured so I went to the doctor to make sure that everything was in the correct place. The X-ray came back showing a crack in a bone, but it was already reset in the correct position, and it was a bone that doesn't have movement.
I am growing in faith, moving from faith to faith, I believe if I was more mature in my faith, the bone would have already been healed, but God did bless me and my prayers in the whole situation. In my growing faith I had the best in the situation!
I have seen many people have to wear casts for months, or stay off of their feet completely, or walk on crutches. I only have a little stiff soled boot to wear for a couple of weeks at which time I can switch to my regular shoes, and while I was told to not be on my feet too much I'm still free to take care of the daily essentials!
The purpose of my testimony is to encourage you as you face challenges or even daily events, choose blessings! Take authority and repeat to the universe and your enemy who you are!
I am the blessed! I am God's child! I am a daughter of the King!
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