There’s more to the Holy Spirit in us than just bearing the fruit of the spirit, there is power and there is authority. We have been given  victory and authority over the devil, sickness, sin and the curse. This authority we have been given is from God and is to be used to enforce His kingdom in our lives and in the lives of others just as Jesus did! The Holy Spirit isn’t the One who will do the enforcing however. We do the enforcing. We command, uproot, heal, deliver, bind and loose the things that are permissible in Heaven here on earth all in the name of Jesus! We are God’s representatives.

We talk about Jesus being our “model” in living and in that, we teach about forgivness and unconditional love-as we should- but…

We fail to emphasize the importance of the power and authority we have to do the “greater works than these” that Jesus spoke about in the Gospels.  There is a connection however that needs to be established between  “power and authority” and “obedience” to God…

Just as we are to walk in love and forgiveness and follow Jesus passionately and zealously, just as we are abide in Him… we are also called to obedience.  Jesus said that those who love Him, obey Him; that those who love Him are truly His disciples.

Ephesians 4:17-24

Living as Children of Light

¹⁷ With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. ¹⁸ Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. ¹⁹ They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.

²⁰ But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. ²¹ Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, ²² throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. ²³ Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. ²⁴ Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.

Romans 12

A Living Sacrifice to God

¹ And so, dear brothers and sisters I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. ² Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

There is a revelation of our authority that comes when we choose to consecrate ourselves to God and walk in obedience to His ways.  I don’t claim to know why that is exactly but my best answer is when we have devoted ourselves to God to be used by Him, we can be trusted to accurately handle the power of God.  Every Christian is called to enforce through authority everything Jesus died to give us. That should be the “norm” and not the exception. But then, obedience should be the norm and not the exception also.  When we entered into a relationship with God, we chose to give up our rights and take on obedience to God; we chose to surrender our life to God in exchange for eternal life and freedom from sin. That was the deal when we confessed Jesus as “Lord” of our life.  To pray the “sinners prayer” and have no inner unction or desire to change and to go on and live a holy life through the power of the Holy Spirit raises a red flag.  Did we really make Jesus “Lord” and repent of our ways or did we mentally acknowledge that we don’t want to end up in hell so we pray some words and think we’re in?  It sounds harsh but reality is just that.

God does love us unconditionally.  He does accept us as we are when we come to Him.  But we come to Him ready to give up who we are and ready to become someone new.

Jesus set captives free! He opened blind eyes! He raised the dead, healed the sick… and He took tax collectors and prostitutes and made them saints. Notice something about the sinners who came to Jesus… they repented of their sin.  They walked away changed.  They didn’t stay the same… they turned from their former ways.  There’s something worth pondering there. So often we embrace the sin along with the sinner and give our stamp of approval on things that Jesus never said were OK.  Jesus embraced the sinner, they chose to repent, He empowered them to go and sin no more…

Jesus healed multitudes and rebuked demons who caused physical and mental illness. He undid all the works of the devil and we are to continue enforcing that!

This world is overcome by sin. We are the only answer God has to bring salvation, restoration, victory and eternal life to it! The Holy Spirit is alive and active IN US! Jesus has handed us the baton and has told us to run with it… We are God’s representatives.  If we are God’s representatives then we should represent every aspect of God through a lifestyle of obedience and victory, and power and authority over sin . We’re missing it and not understanding the awesome power of the Holy Spirit in us and the grace of God available to us if we aren’t living what we confess and bringing glory to God. Our lives should so contrast but also attract the world  that  they should look at us and wonder how is it possible?

The bible says you will know  they are Christian’s by their love… true thing.  Christian’s should possess the love of God in their hearts.  Understand the love of God by reading the Word of God and you will discover what the love of God truly is.  Many understand the love of God as unconditional love that accepts all forms of sin. Not so.

God hates sin. God hates it because it destroys lives, Christians and non-Christians alike. Go back and re-read the gospels and see the pattern.  Jesus embraced the sinner- they repented- He commanded them to go and sin no more.  The epistles tell us repeatedly to turn from unGodly behavior and renew our thinking through the Word of God to find out what is acceptable and pleasing to God. Understand that this isn’t coming back under the law… this is every bit about receiving the strength and ability  through the power of God to live how we couldn’t through our own power,strength, and ability.

The love of God set captives free from the bondage of sin and went on to empower them to live a Godly life… That’s the love of God.  We are to set captives free and teach them that sin no longer has authority over their lives; they are no longer a slave to the power of sin but a slave to righteousness (right living) . That is the love of God! The love of God brings healing, wholeness, and victory to every area of our life. God hasn’t left us victims… He has made us victors!

Now… all that to say, how are we doing with all this?  Are we making choices that are Godly?  Are we enforcing the kingdom of God in our life and over our circumstances?  Are we taking authority over our flesh or are we being led by it?  Are we renewing our minds by the Word of God?  Do we choose to do the Word?  Does God have first place in our life?   Is God God in our life or have we made ourselves (lower case) god by picking and choosing what we obey? Ouch. That one stung a little…  You see, God has done His part. The very cool thing about God… He helps us overcome the devil, the world and our flesh and His mercy is new everyday. We need to do our part however and that comes by everyday choosing be led by the Holy Spirit and give God first place in our life. We choose to obey the Word of God and do the things it says… we let go of offense, bitterness, pride, resentment… we turn away from backbiting, gossip, discord.  We have nothing to do with  adultery, fornication,  idolatry, division and strife… We choose obedience to God and rejection to sin.

It all comes back to a Lordship issue.  Is Jesus  truly “Lord” of our life?  Do we love obedience to God more than we love the things of this world, more than the flesh?  Are we truly thankful to God?  And do we worship God acceptably with reverence and awe?

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.

The world should see the totality of God through His children; Love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, joy, peace, power, authority, wholeness, righteousness, holiness, goodness… Godliness!

If you don’t know God, anyone could tell you a lie about Him and you would believe it. Satan lies to us about God all the time by tossing fiery darts or thoughts that are meant to deceive us.  To offset him, be consistent about spending time with God building the relationship while you are reading the Word to get in faith.  The more you do these, the less the devil will be able to deceive you.

Here’s something you need to understand: mental assent simply agrees that God’s Word is true while revelation knowledge brings you to a place where you know that you know that you know God’s Word is true. Now back that up with knowing God from spending time in fellowship with Him and the devil will have a hard time convincing you that God’s isn’t faithful to fulfill His promises.

Maintaining fellowship with God will give birth to a solid trust in His ability and His integrity; it will revolutionize your prayer life!

Here’s the problem as I see it: Most Christian’s won’t prioritize spending time with God and it falls to the wayside of business.  We construct our lives around “life” instead of building our lives around fellowship with God then when we do find some time to spend with Him, it’s a quick prayer of talking at God before dashing off to our next appointment…  Notice I said talking at God and not talking with God? It doesn’t require much time to lay out your wants and needs as it does to sit down and give someone your undivided attention.  Yet isn’t that exactly what we do?  We want God to be ready on a moment’s notice to hear our prayers and answer them yet, we are quick to overlook that He may have something He wants to say to us.

Fellowshipping is abiding, it’s being vitally connected to God, aware of His presence, and in constant communion with Him.  It’s not about taking a posture of prayer on bent knee with folded hands sitting in your lap; it’s about knowing the voice of the Holy Spirit and being “in tune” to whatever He is communicating to you.

We think that because we are Christian’s we know God. Not true. We can know all about God and not know Him at all.  God is like we are in that He has thoughts, feelings, emotions, likes, dislikes, a sense of humor…  In other words, He can be known as any person can be. Really.  Sadly, very few Christian’s go on to cultivate a friendship with God where they begin to experience Him this way and the ones that do will be the first to say that it is the difference between a nominal Christian life and an extraordinary walk with God.  The bible says that if we will draw close to God, He will draw close to us. In other words, God wants us to want to spend time with Him enough to… spend time with Him!

Now that fellowship with God has been thoroughly stressed, let’s go back to talking about faith and having an effective prayer life. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. You simply gotta understand that you can’t separate God from His Word. The Word of God is backed by the One Who spoke it… God! I know that sounds like a no-brainer but we tend to think something like this… If Jesus were to suddenly appear at the foot of my bed and speak to me, I would believe everything He had to say! Yet, God wrote it all down for us so we would know what He has to say… if we would just believe Him. Faith comes by and only by the Word of God moving from your head to your heart. And that only happens by time spent reading and studying the Word.  A once a week perusal of the bible just doesn’t cut it when it comes to building faith.

It all boils down to what we prioritize and consider important in life.  What we prioritize, we make time for. What we consider important, we elevate.  It is just that simple. If we want to have an effective prayer life, we will make the choice to do what it takes to have one. If you aren’t willing to do what it takes to have one, well, you really have no room to complain.  (Insert smiley face here)

Paul was given a vision from God and it set the course of his life. If you follow Paul’s ministry through the book of Acts, you will find that there were many opportunities for Paul to “question” God and the vision he was given…

“Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.” – 2 Cor. 11:24-27

And then you read how Paul responded to these hardships…

In Acts 16:25 Paul and Silas were singing while they are actually in prison. They have just been stripped and severely beaten, with their feet in stocks.  And in that condition, they sing to God and see God move in a miraculous way.

In Acts 14,¹⁹ “But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. ²⁰But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered the city, and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe. ²¹When they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, ²² strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”

When Paul was shipwrecked, he used the opportunity to minister to the natives. When bitten by a deadly scorpion, he simply shakes it off his hand and keeps right on preaching. And to the numerous times he is threatened, stoned, flogged, thrown in prison…

“I have worked much harder,” he insisted, “been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again” (2 Corinthians 11:23).

BUT

“For Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).- Paul’s passion for Jesus drove him to press on, persevering even when he despaired even unto death… and yet he knew that in his weakness, God would show Himself strong on Paul’s behalf.

“On him we have set our hope,” wrote Paul, “that he will continue to deliver us.”- Paul trusted God to deliver him and to fulfill the calling on His life and the vision God had given him.

When weakness set in…

“I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.”- Paul knew Who his source of strength was.

Bailing on God was not a consideration for Paul. Giving up wasn’t in his vocabulary!

How many of us in the trials and tribulations, the questioning and the difficulties, the persecution that comes with giving God first place in our life, respond by throwing in the towel and telling God it ain’t worth all this!

When circumstances are contrary to what we believe they should be, when the suffering for Jesus seems like more than we can bear, when difficulty or obstacles set in, do we like Paul choose to sing to God or do we get mad at Him and doubt if He even loves us at all? It’s a fair question.

All this led me to the book of James. Particularly James 1.

²²But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth].
²³For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror;
²⁴For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like.

²⁵But he who looks carefully into the faultless law, the [law] of liberty, and is faithful to it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who forgets but an active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life of obedience).

Being a doer of the Word means we obey what it says in Joshua 1:8-

“Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.”

How do we become discouraged? Beaten down? Depressed? Doubtful? Questioning?

We take our eyes off our Source and His Word and looking away from it, we allow the circumstances, people, adversity, persecution and challenges to be the voice that influences us.

God’s Word says,

1. God is wise. (Proverbs 3:19; Romans 16:26-27; 1 Timothy 1:17)
2. God is righteous and just. (Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 11:7; Psalm 119:137)
3. God is faithful. (Deuteronomy 7:9; Psalm 89:1-8)
4. God is true and truth. (Psalm 31:5; John 14:6; John 17:3; Titus 1:1-2)
5. God is good. (Psalm 25:8; Psalm 34:8; Mark 10:18)
6. God is merciful. (Deuteronomy 4:31; Psalm 103:8-17; Daniel 9:9; Hebrews 2:17)
7. God is gracious. (Exodus 34:6; Psalm 103:8; 1 Peter 5:10)
8. God is love. (John 3:16; Romans 5:8; 1 John 4:8)

And that is just to name some. If we believe God is faithful, we will believe Him to come through for us. If He has given us a vision with a promise, settle it now that God is not a liar and He will bring the vision to pass. If we believe He is wise… trust in His timing. Trusting God means submitting our patience to Him. We trust that Dad knows best and has our best in mind. If we trust that God is love… we will trust Him with our heart. We know that this is a fragile, vulnerable thing but we know that God loves us and He will not fail us.

We know that when fear comes, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. We can be courageous and bold in faith because we have victory inside of us. We don’t have to bow down to  adversity… we uproot it by the Word of God and authority. We overcome.

Joshua and Caleb are two perfect examples of what I’m talking about. They possessed a spirit of faith, they believed God when He told them to go in and take the land. They didn’t “see” the giants. They “saw” the victory because they were “listening” to God.

It all comes back to trusting God and submitting to God and His Word. You have to be ruthless in this. You have to be diligent. Victory doesn’t happen without a battle but it’s knowing you’ve already won that makes you steadfast.

Paul says in 1 Cor. 9:24,  “Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!”

We have our part in the “win”. We have to take what it says in James 1:22 and  “do the Word”. Doing the Word means we mediate on it day and night and get it from our head in our heart where faith is- that’s being obedient to Joshua 1:8. We believe God and take every thought captive that is contrary to God, His promises, and His nature- that’s being obedient to 2 Cor. 10:5! We stir up the victorious spirit God has given us and we persevere- that’s believing 2 TIM . 1:7. See the pattern? If God says it, I believe it… case closed.

This is how to persevere. This is what it takes to SEE the vision come to pass. It will take work. There’s nothing “easy” about this. Don’t fool yourself into thinking it’s a walk in the park… You’ll have to be diligent and you’ll have to discipline yourself. You have to “guard” the vision and pursue it. But, if you don’t give up or grow weary,  if you learn to trust God and depend on Him… you win.

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Most any Christian would agree with that statement. So why aren’t most Christian’s completely surrendered to God? If you were to put the question out there, most Christian’s would say they are.  What I have discovered however is that God’s idea of “sold out” is powerfully different than what I used to believe and what is widely believed today by most Christian’s.

God’s idea of complete surrender is the heart of the one who has given himself completely over to God and goes on to cultivate the most intimate relationship they will ever experience in this life. He throws himself completely on God’s mercy with an expectation to not be left the same way he came to Him. He loves God with a fervency that makes the religious people squirm in their seats. He’s forsaken all things for the One he has found. He has counted the cost of being Jesus disciple and without looking back says “He’s worth it”.

Psalm 42:2- My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?

So many of God’s children haven’t been touched by Him in a way that sets the course for a deep, abiding, satisfying and passionate relationship with Him. The concept of such is so foreign for most that they wonder if it is even possible… but now let’s look at why.

There are those who put a cap on their relationship with God. They give Him what they are comfortable giving and take what they feel they can handle. Their story is that they may hit church but it is usually because they have messed up and deep down they know God is the answer so the come back and try God for awhile but the world and its “fun” still has too much of a hold on them to really give it all up for the greater Treasure and eventually they return to their old ways. Long sentence, I know.

Still others attend church regularly and know all about God from their Pastor’s Sunday sermon and the religious books they read. But they have failed to come to know God in a deep and personal way and though they would like to, they never quite get around to opening the box to explore the possibility. They have God, church, family and they are content. If they happen to catch a glimpse of “something more” in the life of a brother or sister who is deeply knitted to God, they are curious and perhaps even wishful but never enough to do what that person did to have get there.

God says those who follow Him must love Him in a way that most find unsettling:

“If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison–your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters–yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.”

“Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me”

God is telling us that our love for Him must be such that our love in comparison for someone else is like hating them. How many Christians can actually claim that about their love for God? But that is what God is saying! Why would people be willing to die a martyrs death for the name of Jesus Christ? LOVE. Love. Think about that. Would you?

God calls us all to be His disciple. Many sadly tell God no by their very heart towards Him. He has a place in their life but it isn’t first place. I’ve taught before on being “on fire” for God. God says I would rather you were cold or hot but the lukewarm I will spit from My mouth. I know more lukewarm Christians than any other kind- most are deceived about their spiritual state… and it’s to them that I continue to strive to bring messages that will hopefully inspire them to seek a “hot” relationship with God.

Loving God also means being obedient to God’s word. This is a touchy thing I have found out. People would rather defend their sin than press in and be victorious over it. It’s true. I’m not condemning anyone by saying that, I am stating it as I see it. There is forgiveness in God if you have given  your life to Him. There is also grace and mercy to be received in our times of need. There is an expectation however that comes from God and that is that by sending the Holy Spirit to live inside the believer, we are now empowered and led by the Spirit and not by our flesh. Read the epistles. We are told numerous times to live a life that brings God glory. We are told that sin shall no longer have authority over us, that we are to be holy as God is holy. We are told in 1 Peter 1:14 to live as obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance, Ephesians 4:22 says in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

I could go on and on and on… and the sad reality is that a lot of Christian’s actually get upset with this. This isn’t what I’ve said. God said it. It’s His expectation. We are not helpless or powerless to the temptation of sin any longer.  We are over-comers! This is good news!

Someone recently brought up to me what Paul was “saying” in Romans 17:5- “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate…” and then said- Paul struggled with sin and was still used by God. God loves us and He has mercy…

I didn’t disagree with them but I did pick up my bible, look up the text and read to them the following:

Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?

Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you… Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.

So here was how I explained my point to them:

Paul was saying a few things here… The flesh will always want to pull us in the opposite direction of the Spirit. So if Paul was depending on his flesh to “do right”-keep the law-, he was bound to fail. The whole plan after being born again is for us to be led by the Spirit- Gods “law” written on our hearts. I was telling them that though we will always “struggle” with the flesh, we are over-comers.

I asked them this question: Which brings God more glory… a Christian who is victorious… or a struggling Christian who can’t over-come?

Then I continued by saying:

So often I see that first part of scripture used as an excuse to remain struggling indefinitely or used in defense of sin. Yes, we are forgiven. Yes, there is grace. But now, what is grace? God’s ability where our ability stops. Gods grace empowers us to live above sin. Not always successfully, but then no longer are we a slave to it either. God’s mercy is there for us when we fail  but Paul tells us that we are to present our bodies a living sacrifice to God and that we are to renew our minds. God is not going to do anything about our mind or body. When we were born again, God recreated our spirit. It is now up to us to no longer let sin have dominion over us… we choose to take authority over the flesh and tell it no. We choose to renew our mind and find out what is pleasing to God.

1 cor. 9:27- No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
Titus 3:3– At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another…
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, …

You see what I’m saying? There is a victim mentality that still wants to say that we just can’t help ourselves… but that doesn’t line up. the truth is that many don’t want to “give it up”.

God doesn’t contradict Himself. He says we are eternally forgiven and righteous through faith in Jesus alone. But He also says, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
Is it a process? Yup. But a lot of people avoid getting on board with “the process”.

I don’t want to encourage people by telling them… “It’s Ok, God understands your weakness’…” and just leave it at that. I tell them… “God does understand your weakness and that’s why He tells us to come boldly to His throne to receive the grace and mercy you need to start overcoming them!”

We don’t need to settle for less than God’s best. Not in any area of our life. Certainly not in the area of intimacy with Him. This life just isn’t it. It’s a quick ride and then it’s over. What are you chasing and why? What are you doing with your time and is it making an eternal difference? Will you know God when you return to Him or will you finally be realizing you missed it? Sobering questions, I know.

Really, what is keeping you from forsaking all things for the One Who saved you? At the end of the day, is God worthy of our complete surrender and our complete devotion? Enough to make the changes? Enough to live a life of radical obedience? Enough to do what the other “great men and women of faith” have done to get there? Will you do it for Him? Turn a 180? Humble yourself?

If for no other reason than… He’s God.

Our lives lived out victoriously matters. It matters that when we say we are a Christian, the world see’s something totally different than itself. Learning to live beyond ourselves is living selflessly. We are putting effort into “the process” because we want the world to see that Jesus Christ is alive and that life can be different. People are looking for what is “real”. They are seeking answers and they are looking for hope. Don’t call yourself a Christian and then embrace the ways of the world… show by overcoming the world and its ways that the love and the power of God is the real deal!

2 Tim. 1:7- For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.

Worry is the opposite of faith. It is not from God; God did not create worry. God did not create something that provokes fear. God created faith. satan cannot “create” and so he perverts and that is what fear is… a perversion of faith. Worry stems from fear.  Identifying the source by which worry came helps us to recognize that it is not something we should tolerate or put up in our Christian life; it is something that operates in the world system but not in the kingdom of God!

Making Jesus Lord of our lives  means we’ve made Him our King, our Master, our God… when our Lord says “do not fear” “don’t worry”  we need to heed that as His will for us.

Faith comes by hearing the word of God. Fear comes by hearing the word of satan. Worry is the enemy’s “seed”. he plants a thought that is contrary to the word of God in our mind’s.

The enemy’s number one fear tactic: What God promised won’t come to pass.

You will die of cancer. You will never change. You aren’t going to make it. You aren’t going to have enough money to pay your bills. Satan plants a fear thought in your mind to get you in worry. He want’s you to meditate on it,  roll it over and over in you mind . Fear and worry go hand in hand. If you are in fear you won’t be in faith. Fear creates worry. Faith creates peace.

God gave us a sound mind. When you’re worried you don’t have a sound mind. You are double minded, tossed back and forth. You are in fear, not trusting God. People worry when being introduced to a contrary thought by an outside source. Worry tolerated contaminates faith. It isn’t productive, it is destructive and it immobilizes.

Deception comes when Christian’s believe that worry is “natural”. There’s nothing “natural” about worry. Worry came by sin. God did not create it therefore it is not a “natural” thing. Worry puts you in bondage and oppression. satan needs access into your life in order to operate in it. Worry and fear open the door for him to come in and kill, steal, and destroy. What does worry do? It steals your joy. It steals your peace. It kills faith. If you are sick, worry and fear will work in opposition to your being healed by faith. If you are in lack, worry and fear will keep you from believing God’s promise that HE will provide all of your needs.

So you see why it is detrimental that worry be dealt with head on. For every worry, we need to proactively seek out what God has to say. When worry comes, STOP! Stop everything, take the thought captive and look to the word of God for what He has to say over your situation. This isn’t something we can be passive about. The enemy isn’t going to back down. We need to shut the enemy’s piehole by countering his “seed” with the word of God! We’ll have to work at it, not grow weary, not give up and not give in.

When worry comes, we have two options. We can sit around worrying all day, grow anxious, sick and ornery or we can get our minds renewed by the word of God and have peace, joy, and victory right in the middle of the storm. You will reap the “fruit” of which ever of these you choose.

The body of Christ has given fear and worry a place in their lives and it is time to get serious about obeying God when He tells us:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow!

Hebrews 12: 14-24

“Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; 16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears. 18 For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, 19 and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore. 20 (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.” 21 And so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I am exceedingly afraid and trembling.”) 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24 to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.”

Make sure you don’t fall from grace. The apostle Paul talks about this same thing in Galatians 5:4-

“You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”

“Estranged “ in another translation means “Christ is of no effect”.  Literally meaning, the work of Jesus produces no result in your life.

Let’s begin by defining grace:  God’s ability where ours has ended.

When the prostitute encountered Jesus she was touched by His grace, His gift of no condemnation.

“is there no one that condems you?” , “No one, my Lord, she answers” , “then neither do I, go and sin no more.”

Jesus offers a prostitute the gift of no condemnation and she receives it. She is touched by His grace. This grace empowers her to go and sin no more.  When she in her imperfection- her sin- came in contact with His perfection and she received it, she was touched by grace.  It was the gift Jesus offered, the gift of “no condemnation” that actually “loosed” her from sin and its control or authority over her life.  She found value in herself through Him. Her heart was changed.  It set the course of her life in a whole new direction. That is what grace does.

Paul says that sin no longer has authority over the believer.

Colossians 1:13-

“For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son”.

Satan is the lower case god of this world. He has dominion here. The whole world is under the sway of his darkness.  When you are born again, you are transferred out his kingdom into the Kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the polar opposite of the kingdom of darkness, it makes sense then that our lives would manifest a change in kingdom “culture”.

We haven’t been forgiven of sin to remain in bondage to sin and keep on living a life of sin. Our spirit man is born again, our mind needs to be renewed by the word of God and our flesh needs to be ruled.  And God says,

 “Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.”

Now we can “spiritualize” this and say He is talking only about eternal forgiveness.  And though that is true, we have eternal forgiveness of sin, the freedom of God’s grace also extends into the physical. Sin in our life is now an authority issue. We have been forgiven of our sin past, present, future and released of its bondage and its authority over us today. Will we still fall short and sin sometimes? Yes, I’m not saying we will conquer sin entirely in our flesh. But, we do have the “grace” to not be ruled by it.

For instance, when you got born again, you were given “new desires”.  These new desires manifest in ways such as: I used to enjoy my life of sin, but now I no longer desire to live that way.  We’ve received a new nature. God’s grace then empowers us to change. It empowers us to leave the life behind we once lived, a life that was “worldy” where “sin” abounded  and was no big deal , we didn’t see a problem with it.

Romans Chapters 6 and 7 is all about teaching that believers already have everything we will ever need for victorious living due to the blood of Christ shed on Calvary and His resurrection.  It’s just that most believers do not know all that is theirs.  It is like having one million dollars in the bank put there by a man of wealth.  If one is unaware of that storehouse of wealth at one’s disposal, one will not enjoy it by living life in accordance with such benefits.  One will live lower than one actually has to.

Romans 5:21  That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

Paul then said,
Romans 6:2-7  God forbid! How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [in the likeness] of [his] resurrection:  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with [him], that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.  For he that is dead is freed from sin.

Romans 6:12 says that we are not to let sin reign in our flesh.

So, although most believers say that Paul’s lesson does not mean that we can live above sinning, upon careful reconsideration the honest soul will find that it does.

Romans 6:12  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

He wrote the above statement as a logical conclusion to the truths he presented in the previous verses, which are:

Romans 6:8-11  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

Paul related his personal battle with sin in Romans Chapter 7 in order to explain what he meant in Chapter 6.  Sin made Paul’s flesh commit sins, according to:

Romans 7:14-17  We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.^c For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Paul wrote about doing. Doing what?  Sins.

Paul said in Romans 7:15-17, he wanted to “do” good.  And since Chapter 7 is an explanation through personal experience of what he taught in Chapter 6, we know that Chapter 6 is an answer to the weak life of  “doing” sinful things.  There is more victory in Christ than simply repenting every time we supposedly inevitably sin.

Since Paul had a dilemma of not wanting to sin, but sinning anyway, he cried out for deliverance from doing sin, and claimed God would deliver him from doing sin. And that deliverance was through Christ!

How is it that “through Christ” God delivered him from doing sins? The answer is what Chapter 6 is all about.

Romans 6:1  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

Romans 6:2-7  By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

5If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,^a that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

11In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

So back now to the very first statement I made…

Romans 8:3-4  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:  That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

God did for us through the Holy Spirit what the Law could not do.

 So get the picture.  Paul wanted to stop a life of doing evil, or committing sins.  He watched himself commit sins when he wanted to do good — he wanted to obey the Law.  And he realized that the root of sin was not himself as such, but something in his flesh.  Sin made the flesh a problem since sin was in the flesh.

Whenever Paul read a commandment, and tried to obey that commandment and do good, evil was right there with him, and made him do evil instead.  It happened every time!  It was like a LAW.  It was a miserable repeat of failure every time he tried to do good.  He delighted in the Law of God and wanted to obey it, but another Law was at work within him.  And it caused opposite deeds to work that the good Law of God spoke against.  It warred against the Law of God.  And it won the war and made Paul sin rather than do good.

And in the midst of such agonizing defeat of wanting to do good, but sinning instead, Paul cried out!

Romans 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Who will help Paul be free from a life of sinning, when he wanted to do good?  This life of sinning is a life of dying.  He said formerly that he would try to obey the Law, but the Law which was meant to give life, caused death instead (Romans 7:10).  How could he be free from it?  His flesh contained sin, and as unrealistic as it may sound, there was still no other way to be free from such a lifestyle of sinning other than to be free from that body itself!

Death was the only answer!  But what good would it be to physically die?  One could never hope to do good by experiencing death!  One would simply be out of commission.

But wait!  There was one way!  Somebody else had to deliver Paul, for he certainly could not deliver himself.  And there was another!

Romans 7:25  I thank God…

God could deliver him!  Paul could thank God, for God is the one who can deliver us from such bondage.  How?

…through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 There is a complete deliverance is Jesus Christ. We are free from sin and the manifestation of sin. Spirit, Soul, Body. We are righteous before God in our spirit. We then have the mind and the body to deal with. The mind must be renewed by the word of God and the body must be controlled by the spirit. The spirit takes authority over the body of flesh.

That is what Romans 6 tried to teach us.  We died with Christ.  And it was this means that God used to deliver us.  When Paul wanted to stop sinning and stop committing the evil, God delivered him, and God did it through Jesus.

What the Law could not do, God did.  Paul was given a Law to obey in order to do good, and to be righteous as a source of that “good-doing”.  But Paul got nowhere with that Law.  The Law could not accomplish its purpose.  But God did what the Law could not, by sending His Son.

God had Jesus die in our places on the cross.  And though we did not literally die, that death occurred as our deaths.  It was a proxy death.  It was a vicarious death.  Vicarious means it was done for our sakes as though we experienced it.  Since the benefit of death is freedom from sin (Romans 6:7), then we are freed from sin now since we died with Christ.

You might think, “If I am freed from sin, then why do I sin sometimes?”

The answer is in the fact that we really do not “know” we are dead as we should know it.  Notice that was Paul’s repeated issue.  “Know ye not?”  It has not hit us yet. We have not renewed our minds to know what is good, what is acceptable, what is pleasing to God and then we have not realized the power available through the grace of God nor do we exercise the authority we have been given over sin.

When this “clicks into place” in our hearts and we see it as true, then we have to start applying that and living life based upon these facts.

If we expect to sin, thinking we can’t help but sin, we will sin.  We will live life based upon that expectation to sin.

But if we realize that we are dead with Christ since He died as us and we have accepted that, then we will realize we are freed from sin.  This “freed from sin” empowers us. It lifts us up and out. When we KNOW that, we will truly apply that to our lives instead of expecting to sin.  How do we apply it?

Romans 6:11-13  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield your members [as] instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members [as] instruments of righteousness unto God.

Paul tells us to reckon ourselves dead “indeed”.  Then he tells us to not let sin rule in our flesh.  Sin is still there, but get above it.  Remember, where sin abounds grace does much more exceedingly abound.  Do not make yourself available for sin to use your body.

And here is the “how”!

Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.

You might say, “Huh?  What does that mean?”

The word “give” means “yield” and also to “present”.  It is the same greek word used in Romans 12:1 when Paul said to “present” your bodies a living sacrifice.  When you are convinced that you are dead to sin, then it is easy to see that you are also risen with Christ from the dead.  It doesn’t matter what you feel like.  Go by the Book, and not your feelings!

Then present yourself to God.  You are alive and you have the right to receive power from God to live above sin because He said that you are freed from sin due to your death with Christ.  And since I am risen with Christ, then the same Spirit that raised up Christ from the dead must now quicken me so that I can live above sin.

Paul was not throwing our victory ahead to life after death as most people think of it.  He said that now we are dead with Christ.  There is life after death, but we already are in that category!  We died with Christ and we are now living a life after death.  We have newness of life.  Now we must walk in it.  Enjoy all its benefits.

Stop yielding to sin, because that is exactly what you are doing if you think you cannot live above it.

Sin worked when Paul tried to do good by keeping the law.  So stop trying to keep the law and instead receive GRACE. Expect His Spirit to empower you to live victoriously!  Expect the Spirit to lift you up.  We yield to the Holy Spirit and we are led by the Spirit. Be led by the Spirit and you won’t give in to the lusts of the flesh. YOU CHOOSE who you yield to. The bible says that what you yield to, you will become a slave of. God doesn’t force freedom on us, it’s there, but we must choose by faith to believe what we have been given and walk in it.

Make sure you don’t fall from grace. This life we live, we live by the grace of God, having faith in Jesus Christ and the righteousness we have through Him. We walk by faith, choosing to believe God, choosing to surrender to God, choosing to submit to the Holy Spirit and choosing to walk in victory and authority over sin. Jesus wrought for us a complete victory but we are responsible for receiving it in every area of our life. If your heart is broken, Jesus is your healer- He is the one who has made you whole. If your body is broken- Jesus bore your sickness and diseases. If you have addiction in your life- Jesus has delivered you- receive and take authority over it. If you are struggling with jealousy, bitterness, anger, etc…  Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to empower you, to produce in you the opposite of these things. You are responsible of repenting and choosing to do what pleases God.

You must choose to use your authority to speak to the area in your life where sin has dominion.

The victory we have over sin is that we are forgiven and in right standing with God. And that is the very thing that enables us– empowers us- to have authority over sin! You need to understand the very workings of grace. Grace gives power. If we don’t believe this, we will continue to struggle under the dominion of sin- it will continue to exercise authority over our lives. Our victory over the flesh is walked out by faith in Jesus Christ. Your righteousness- your right standing in God produces in you a victorious spirit. Your spirit has authority over your flesh.

That is something to grab hold of.

What I am trying to do here is give you hope. You are not without everything you need to rise above and out of the sin that you are trapped in. God has made provision. He has given back to you the power and the authority to walk a healthy, whole, victorious life. The power of our risen Lord and Savior is our inheritance. Your salvation began the day you made Jesus Lord of your life and is meant to be lived out in the here and now.

Now, here’s something else to think about. You gotta let Jesus in. Amen? You can beat around buried issues that need “to be understood” and use it as an excuse to put off first time obedience to God with sin in your life. You can adopt that mentality and die in the wilderness, never seeing victory nor bringing Him the glory that wins souls to His kingdom. There comes a point when “understanding a thing” isn’t really what is needed but letting Jesus in and receiving His grace is. The prostitute didn’t dive into a therapy session with Jesus as to why she was the way she was. She was touched by His grace and it set her free! She went on, I presume, healed, whole, delivered, and on fire for God! Was there a “process” involved? Sure. And she entered in.

I don’t believe for one minute that I am a victim of anything and if you are “in Christ” than neither are you. You are of His kingdom and His kingdom has all authority and all power. That authority and power has been given to you. Use it!

You see, I don’t want to just know about God… that’s not even the start of a relationship. I don’t want to know God perimeterly ( don’t think it’s a real word so work with me)- like an acquaintance. I don’t even want to have a good relationship with God- I have some real good friends.

I want a friendship with God so intimate that God is able to share His secrets with me.

Breaking new ground with God means entering a greater level of commitment. Paul said he died daily to his flesh. Daily he made the choice to submit to God. Daily he made the choice to be led by the Spirit. Daily he chose the “better thing” and walked in obedience. Daily he chose to draw closer to God and cultivate the relationship to the point that the man lost total sight of himself and was able to declare, “it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me…”.

Abraham was a friend of God. He trusted God to raise his only son- the son he loved- from the dead and was willing to be the one to drive the instrument of death through the young man’s chest! Whoa. WHY? Because of his over-the-top love and trust for God.

Moses wasn’t satisfied to know God from the vantage point he already knew God… he wanted more! Thus the ardent bold request for God to show Moses His glory was petitioned! Frankly, I believe God was pleased by the old man’s want and He gave him what he wanted.

I will be as close to God as I want to be. He says, draw close to Me and I will draw close to you- That’s an open invitation to know Him and the degree of knowing lies in the level of our want. God’s saying, draw near. We sing the song, “I am a friend of God” but I think we lack a true revelation of what that means. Being His friend in the truest sense means loyalty- on our part. Commitment- on our part.  Faithfulness- on our part. Trust– on our part. We are loyal, committed, faithful, and trustworthy toward God, maybe not perfectly so but that is how our heart is bent and we strive without ceasing. Your heart has turned over for Him and no person comes anywhere close to the place in your heart reserved solely for Him. He is in the literal sense  your best friend and your closest companion. You protect the friendship. You guard it. You’re like a watchman, only you’re guarding against anything/anyone that may try to come between you and He. He’s who you receive from- He’s the one you turn to- run to- rest in, He’s the first person you share your life with… It’s you and God. And then you have your iron sharpens iron friends- your “inner circle” who are the closest people to you on this planet but still there’s a cut off. They are on a different level of friendship than that which you have reserved solely for God.

You can walk intimately close with God in a way that is amazingly supernaturally… natural. This isn’t some kind of flaky deal where you become a spook and lose touch with normality. I’ve seen people who do that. It’s weird. I don’t check in with God to make simple decisions. I don’t check in with God to ask Him, should I buy Cheerios or should it be Fruitloops? That would be weird. I don’t check in with God to see if it’s OK that I cut my hair or change my hair color. If I want to go for a bike ride… I go for a bike ride. Now, if I have a check in my spirit about going on a bike ride, you can bet I’ll obey it and put the kick stand back down. And yet sometimes, God suggests, “Hey- why don’t you go for a bike ride…”.  Being close to God means being “in tune” to Him. Listening. Communicating. Living. Loving Him. Protecting the friendship. It’s not a complicated deal, but like I said at the beginning, it does come with a cost. Are you sold out to Him? Are you passionate about Him? Love Him more than your own life? Are you one with Him? Can God trust you?

Amos 3:-

Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?

Enter into this level of relationship with God and truly experience heaven on earth. Not only will you experience Him in a way that is deeply satisfying as nothing else but you will take on His heart. Your ministry will explode.  What you have cultivated with Him will flow out of you into every life you come in contact with.

You have set yourself apart- for Him. You watch the influences in your life.
You become a blessing, an instrument through which His compassion and power will change lives- change this world!

Think about it!

You are beautiful beyond description
Too marvelous for words
Too wonderful of comprehension
Like nothing ever seen or heard
Who can grasp you infinite wisdom
Who can fathom the depth of your love
You are beautiful beyond description
Majesty enthroned above
And I stand, I stand in awe of you
I stand, I stand in awe of you
Holy God to whom all praise is due
I stand in awe of you.

I question how many Christian’s really have an understanding of what it means to make Jesus Lord of their life. The reason I question this is because there seems to be a lackadaisical heart and mindset in the body of Christ today where so many side with “Jesus loves me just the way I am” and in that, are never really coming up higher. In fact, I hear that most often used as an excuse to stay just the way they are. If there is a desire to change, it falls short of going through what it takes to make the change- there’s no substance behind the conviction. Acknowledging a need to change and actually changing are two different things. We see in the word the areas in our life where we are living contrary to God’s standard, but instead of seeing it and doing something about it, we see it and tend to put it off and the buck stops there.

I know the phrase “we’re in a process” is true but the truth about being in a process is… being in it. So many never step into it. They don’t “enter in”. We work with the Holy Spirit to change. He brings an area of our life to our attention that needs to change but then we have to choose to yield to Him and allow Him to bring about the necessary changes. There is a Lordship issue involved in all of this. You see, when we get born again, we make Jesus “Boss” of our life. Boss. He is our God and we are His children and we become His disciples. Disciples follow and obey. Look what Jesus said in Luke 9:23

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him…..take up his cross daily, and follow me”

John 15:8 – “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”

John 8:31 – “If you abide (continue) (one’s dwelling place) in my Word, you are my disciples indeed”.

“By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another”

In our pursuit to become disciples, we make decisions every day that will either encourage or discourage our spiritual growth.  We begin each day either being led by God or pursuing our own agenda. In dealing with others, we choose to forgive or to harbor a grudge.  We choose to pray or to worry.  With each choice we will either progress or regress, advance or retreat, in our quest to be His disciples.

There is a discipline that happens in all of this and we are the ones who execute it. Every day we are choosing to discipline our flesh and renew our mind by the word of God or we are choosing to be ruled by our flesh. Every day we are choosing to fellowship with God, constantly aware of His presence, communing with Him on the highest level no matter what is going on around us or we are going about our day unaware of Him completely. We can work and play and be “conscious” of the presence of God. When we cultivate His presence this way, we nurture the relationship we have with Him and execute the Lordship He has over our lives. In essence, we are bringing God into everything and every moment.

People say they can’t hear God. They don’t understand why it is so hard… I have to ask, are you cultivating His presence? Do you want to hear what He has to say all the time? Sometimes we have “selective” hearing. In other words, we want to hear… what we want to hear. And we turn a “deaf ear” to what we don’t want to submit to. Ouch! We have allowed our flesh and our reasoning to rule and have grown dull in the spirit and it is to our spirit that God communicates.

Surrendering our life to God means just that, surrendering. We submit, yield, lay down arms. Not my will God, but Yours… be done in my life. “I submit to You my right, my power, my last word…and learn to do things Your way.”

We first surrender or submit, we then renew our minds. That is “the process”. We find out what God has to say about everything and we line our lives and conduct up to it. Submission isn’t “mental agreement”.  Submission is changing our mind and bringing our actions into alignment with God.

So much of what I see missing along these lines in the lives of Christian’s today has to do with a general lack of reverential fear and worship of God. What we don’t elevate, we don’t bow down to. When we aren’t elevating God and His word to the highest place of authority over our lives… we aren’t reverentially fearing and worshipping God!

Crucifying our flesh is a daily decision. If we think it’s a one-time deal, think again. The devil will bring tons of opportunities for us to indulge in the flesh. If we aren’t cultivating and growing in habitual surrender to the Spirit, the devil we eat our lunch!

The devil goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

If you leave an open door, he’s going to devour you. If you dance around, side-step, or flat out ignore the word of God, you’re flirting with the devil and you’re gonna get burned.

God wants good for us! He has good for us. He has already given us all things. He’s not holding out on us. If you want peace in your life, if you want untold blessings overflowing, if you want prosperity, wholeness, promotion, wisdom, knowledge, if you want to walk in the fullness of God you must first choose to yield to God! Give Him first place! Value and esteem Him! Uphold His word and be transformed by it! Find out what He has to say about stuff and do it! This is Lordship.

I think we sometimes see God as something or someone we can handle. How pridefully deceptive. There is desiring to change, desiring for God to have total Lordship over our lives and working in that by His grace, sometimes falling in the process yet never giving up and always trusting in His faithfulness… and then there is outright flippancy and disregard. There are unrenewed minds seeking renewal and presently working in what they know and then there are lackadaisical, half-hearted lukewarm who know they need to change but don’t regard God enough to do anything about it.

God see’s the heart. He knows how it is bent towards Him. He knows the difference between a heart that needs to be healed by Him and doesn’t know how to get there and a heart that has no desire for Him. The first He can work with, the second He can’t. One wants and accepts God’s help, the other may acknowledge the need of help yet rejects the offer…

God is God. He is all or nothing. He demands all or nothing of you in that you are either hot or cold. There is no “place” in between. You are either in or you are out. Black and white. Cut and dry. Don’t be deceived in this. Don’t heed the warning and choose to ignore it. Don’t take it as being too radical or too extreme, it’s bible. And if you don’t believe it, it proves the point of needing your mind renewed…

God doesn’t demand perfection but He does expect obedience. He expects us to believe and trust Him. He expects desire. He expects commitment. We in turn expect His love. We expect His faithfulness. We expect His grace and His power. We expect His presence within us. We expect His promises.

Do you elevate the word of God? Do you care about what He says and thinks? Enough to bow down to it?

Why revere and worship God?

because… He’s God!

Now that’s vision!

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations!

You know what I think? I think that is our reasonable service. Jesus told us to go and make disciples of all nations. Step out of our realm of influence and believe God to enlarge our territory. I remember when the book, “The Prayer of Jabez” came out and the outrage it caused in certain circles. I look back on that today and wonder why? What was so wrong with what Jabez prayed? To the best of my discernment, Jabez’s prayer pleased God. It got mentioned right in the middle of a looong list of forgotten men.

The Prayer of Jabez comes from the Bible. In 1 Chronicles 4:10, we read: “And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that Thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that Thine hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested.” The prayer is composed of four parts. First, Jabez asks God to bless him. Second, he asks God to enlarge his territory or increase his responsibility. Third, he prays that God will be with him and stay close. Lastly, Jabez asks that God keep him from harm so that he will be free from pain.

I think Jabez knew something about God that a lot of Christians today don’t. God loves ardent bold powerful prayers! Frankly, He seems please by Jabez’ request for God to bless him, enlarge his influence, remain with him, and keep him from evil or harm/protect him…

I love it!

God loved it! He still loves it today. He wants us to believe Him for the abundantly more than we could ever ask, think, or imagine. He wants us to believe Him for blessing… Why? To be a blessing and bring God glory! How can we help the poor and finance the kingdom of God without the sufficient means to do so? How can the world look at the people of God and proclaim “they are the people of God” just by looking from the outside in? God is Good! He is all powerful, all sufficient, all knowing, and He is pleased with the prosperity of His servants!

The problem is that we’ve taken on the world’s culture about prosperity! We want the prosperity- a little for ourselves and a little for God. The prosperity becomes our security. It becomes our pride. We begin to feel “taken care of” and “successful” because of it.  It becomes our resource instead of God being our resource. And in a mindset that sounds like and feels like humility, we have denied prosperity believing it isn’t altogether Godly lest we be trapped by it!

Barely getting by isn’t Godly… it’s lack! It’s insufficiency!

God isn’t holding out on us… we are holding out on God! We aren’t lining ourselves up to be blessed. Whether our hearts desire is bent toward selfishness or simply unbelief… we are not receiving God’s best!

When our heart is pure in its desire to bring God glory and to use His sufficiency to bring Him glory, to enjoy the blessing of God with thanksgiving and in turn give to others, we line ourselves up to be blessed.

I think “the body of Christ” needs to understand “the curse” listed in the book of Deuteronomy and then understand that Jesus bore the curse for us!

We are a redeemed, set-free, blessed, loved, highly favored, people of God! Why get all religious about it?

Is this a message that will step on religious toes? You betcha.

Am I one of those “prosperity teachers”? Define that please.. but

YES! YES I AM!

I know what God has revealed to me in His word and I know what the Holy Spirit has brought to me by revelation. I live to bring God glory! I long for people to SEE the goodness of God; to accurately display His lovingkindness, His mercy, His provision, His power and His grace in and through my life! I won’t settle for seconds. I eat daily at the banquet table and partake of the riches that my Father is well pleased to LAVISH upon His children! And I’m not full yet!

Is it a mind-tilt? Well of course! Do I deserve it? In and of myself- NO. In and of my Savior- YES!

God recently revealed a verse to me that spoke on darkness covering the earth yet out of the darkness shone the light of the glory of God revealed through His church! Where will those on the outside turn when they are seeking truth? Where will those living in darkness turn to find answers? To find help? To find healing and deliverance? To find release from their bondage of sin and death? Where will they turn to find God??

The answer is “the church” but the church needs to believe God and get on board with revealing the Kindgom of God! Jesus was the exact representation of God… He went about doing good… healing, delivering, setting free, revealing the Kingdom of Heaven.

The apostles told Paul when he was called to the ministry to not forget the poor… Paul emphatically responded with that was his very heart’s desire! We, the church, can’t help the poor if we ourselves are the poor!

Interestingly enough, many of the same people who deny prosperity as a blessing of God, also deny healing, total and complete deliverance, baptism of the Holy Spirit, praying in tongues, and many of the gifts of the Spirit. They deny faith in these things. Yet, Jesus did these things, He is the baptizer of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Giver of gifts. God is the same yesterday-today-forever. God blessed Abraham, Isaac, Jacob… God blesses His people. He looks for those He can pour out His blessing upon. He looks for mouths that are open to His goodness. He looks for hearts that ardently desire Him in His entirety. He looks for those who possess His heart towards people and will do something about it!

He looks for faith.

He looks for hearts sold out to Him. He looks for hearts that WILL take the world by storm and take ground away from the devil.

Trust me on this.

And all the resources and power of God are available for His children to do it!

I love Him!

IN CLOSING… 2 interesting facts about the prayer of Jabez…

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez,^[c] saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” ¹⁰ Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.

BAM!

It is or should become a very sobering question to answer.  As answers will vary depending on what you believe about this life and the one to come, one thing stands true: you are making an impact. You are impacting those in your sphere of influence either toward God or away from God. There is no other impact that we make. For no matter what you believe, you are influencing people toward an eternal life with God through Jesus Christ or you are not. That is the sobering part.

The first question to ask  yourself is simply, where am I headed? What is my destination? And then be sure of it. We can be sure of our salvation because of what the bible says eternal life is.

And this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. – JN 17:3

Eternal life is knowing God. And knowing God in this context is knowing God intimately. It is heart to Heart, spirit to Spirit.  The verse isn’t saying eternal life is “knowing about God” but knowing God through an intimate relationship with Him.

I’m speaking of much more than just intellectual knowledge. It can be seen in hundreds of Bible scriptures, like, “Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain”(Gen. 4:1). Adam didn’t just know Eve intellectually. That won’t produce children. He had an intimate, personal experience with her. This was speaking of a knowing between a man and a woman in the most intimate way possible.

Likewise, when Jesus said eternal life was knowing God, He was speaking of having an intimate, close, personal relationship with God.

The next sobering question:

Do you know God this way?

How do you know you’re saved? You know God. You’ve entered into a relationship with Him through faith in Jesus Christ; you’ve made Jesus “Boss”. Now, you may be a new Christian and have just begun this process. That’s OK. Keep growing in it. But if you’ve been a Christian most of your life or even the past 10 years and you can’t honestly say that you know God…

Knowing God isn’t merely possessing knowledge of God. The devil possess knowledge of God. The religious pharisees possessed knowledge of God. Neither have/had an intimate relationship with God. I believe this is one of the reasons people randomly question if they are truly saved. Now mind you, the enemy does come against us with doubt and fear of about our salvation and attacks our minds in this way but, it is vitally important- if you understand and believe what the bible says about eternal life and that you will spend it in one of two places- that you know that you know you are truly saved.

People put on their “Sunday face” meaning they go to church on Sundays and believe this in and of itself means they’re a Christian. Not so! Don’t be deceived. These same people may not have not entered into an intimate relationship with God which results in a changed life. They may fool the crowd and even themselves but God is not mocked. What a man sews… that is what he will reap.

If he sows wheat he reaps wheat, if he sows barley he reaps barley; no man can expect to reap another sort than what he sows; and if it is good seed he may hope for a good crop; and if he sows bountifully, he shall reap bountifully; but if he sows sparingly, he shall reap sparingly; and if he sows nothing, he can never reap anything. Let’s bring this into our spiritual walk…

—Matthew Henry commentary.

So, with that point established, assuming you are a Christian with the perfect understanding of what that means…

How are you influencing those around you to be on fire for God?

That is the call of every born again believer… to be and to impact those around you to be on fire for God. Nothing less than that is even acceptable.

Revelation 3:15-16

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm–neither hot nor cold–I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

That’s a strong warning to Christian’s across the board today. And it leads us to the sobering definition of someone who is lukewarm:

You go to church. You are quite content though with life as it is. You have your family, your home, your comforts, your friends, your activities. You are a relatively good person meaning you aren’t as bad as some people but you aren’t as on fire for God as some people are either. You say you love God. Would encourage others to go to church. You are  kind of dependent of God but then you are fairly independent. There really isn’t a lot of conversation about God, about the relationship you have with Him.

and..

You are not so passionately in love with God and His purposes that your entire life is wrapped up in Him and driven by the fervency of that love! Your relationship with Jesus Christ isn’t one where He is the top priority of your life and their are no (little case) gods before Him. He hasn’t taken such a hold on you that there is no turning back and you are now running the race set before you as the apostle Paul describes in 1 Cor. 9: 24,26-27-

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

I once asked God what was the secret of Paul… He knew what I was after and His answer to me was so simple yet so profound and endless in meaning. HE said:

Paul lost sight of self.

You need to take that and roll it over a few thousand times. Let God reveal to you the depth of that statement.

Paul lived for Jesus Christ. Paul himself no longer lived meaning, Paul gave up all control- all of himself- over to God. He gave his heart, his soul, his body. In essence Paul said, “Here I am- all of me- do with me what you will!” Paul lived to bring God glory.

Now, some may reason, I’m not Paul. I’m not called to be an apostle. It isn’t required of me to live in such a way as the apostle Paul did!

Though not all of us are called to be apostles, nor carry out the role he did, we are ALL called to live a life of passion for Jesus Christ! Anything less than that God considers lukewarm.

So many of us sit back admiring those who love God in such a way. We admire them but we don’t become them. We don’t follow their example in living and doing and if anything, we consider them a little “over the top”, a little “zealous”.

Don’t confuse what God calls “on fire” for Him with a self-made religious fanatic. The first stems from an abiding in God… the latter stems from a religious arrogance. Big difference between the two!

Radical obedience to the word of God is produced from a radical love for God and that comes from a radical intimate relationship with Him. Why do we obey the bible and do what it says? Because we love God! Because we trust Him. Because, like Paul, we no longer are sitting in the drivers seat being our own little god… God Himself is God of our life! If He says do this, we do it. If He says, don’t do that, we don’t do it. We have chosen the better thing and that results in an on fire life for God. Amen, we are zealous!

So back to the question at hand…

How are you influencing those around you by your own personal relationship with God? Are you drawing the people around you toward God? Do they see what you have and want it for themselves? Do they see the fire in your eyes at the mention of His name?

Do they see His very presence when they are around you?

If you don’t think this is a relevant word I encourage  you to read Revelation 3:15-16 again.

In short, and this by the mouth of God Himself…

You’re either hot or cold. You’re either in or you are out.

Eternal life is an intimate relationship with God… and in that  lies your eternal destiny.

Check your heart. Are there idols in your life? Those things that you are more passionate about than God Himself? An idol is anything that comes before God or takes the place of God. Idols can be people or activities.. they can be spouses, sons, daughters, friends, golf, hunting, running, habits even… anyone or anything you turn to before God.

Where your treasure is there your heart is also…

Who or what is the treasure of your heart? There is your answer!