Saturday, March 17, 2018

Give Yourself to the Word


Hello everyone,

According to scripture there is a battle that is being waged over the well being of your life.  The Word of God says that the devil, your enemy, has come to kill, steal and destroy everything concerning you.  The good news is, Colossians 2:15, says that because of the finished work of the cross, “[God] disarmed the principalities and powers...” and has taken away their power to harm us.  That means the only legal way our enemy, the devil,  can harm you or me, is by causing us to open the door of our lives to give him free access to do so.  

How do we give him the power to harm us?  We give the enemy free reign through the way we think!  When it comes to the battles and conflicts we face in this life, the human mind plays the role of the strategic control centre of every battle.  Romans 6:16 says that whoever we give our minds to, will become our master.  Our minds are the battle fields where the very heart beat of the war that wages on over the well being of our lives takes place. The devil’s strategy is to bombard our minds with worrisome, fretful thoughts.  As he manipulates circumstances around us, it becomes easy to pay attention to those negative thoughts, which in turn, causes us to feel anxious and fearful.  Before we realise what has happened, fear has crept into our minds and is able to begin its destructive work, from the inside out.  

No matter who we are, where we live or what our earthly circumstances are, if we are in this world, we are going to rub shoulders with incidents that have the potential to make us fearful. Fear is a destructive spiritual force that has the power to paralyse our ability to reason, send our emotions into turmoil and neutralise our faith - causing it to become inoperable. As believers who are promised a life of abundant peace, joy, provision and protection - how is it possible for us to live free from fear when the potential to be touched by it is all around us? 

Well, it’s really quite simple.  If the devil has brought the battle to our minds, then it’s up to us to take control of the battlefield and enforce his defeat!  Romans 12:2 urges and instructs us to make sure we are constantly renewing our minds to the truth of God’s Word.  It’s the only way we are going to flush out those dreaded, fearful thoughts that hold our minds and bodies captive.  It’s also the only way we are going to be infused with God’s supernatural inner strength to overcome. As we spend more time meditating on the Word of God and in prayer that is influenced by the truth we find in it, our trust in God grows stronger than the fear that’s trying to overcome us.  And when we are more convinced of what God’s Word says concerning us, than what those fearful thoughts are saying, our freedom and victory comes.  

The fact of the matter is, this must become our continuous practice.  Our peace and joy and ongoing victory over fear is not secured by us only paying attention to God’s Word once or twice a week.  No, we have to get to the place where the Word of God is constantly in our minds and hearts, feeding us truth and giving us life and peace.  This way, any time, or at any moment a fiery dart, in the form of a fearful thought, enters our minds, it will be extinguished by the water of God’s Word.

In other words, we have to live in the safety of the Word.  

Psalm 91:1-3 says, He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable and fixed under the shadow of the Almighty [Whose power no foe can withstand]. I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress, my God; on Him I lean and rely, and in Him I [confidently] trust! For [then] He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.”

Freedom from fear is a solid promise from the Lord, when we choose to abide in Him.  The word abide means “to dwell, to remain and to continue.”  If we are to dwell or abide in the secret place, or the shadow of the Almighty, we must live in continual union with Him.  That means keeping His Word in our minds and hearts so that we think like He thinks.  When our minds are flooded with God’s thoughts, we speak like He speaks and do what is in line with His perfect will -which is always to our benefit!  What happens to fear?  There is absolutely no room for fear in our lives when the Word has taken over our thoughts, words and actions!  God’s Word in us produces the powerful force of faith that causes every promise of God’s Word to become our reality.  And without faith operating like this in our lives, it’s impossible for us to please God.  After all He has done for us through the finished work of the cross, how can we please Him if we fail to gratefully take what He has handed us, and live short of the life He has provided for us?  How can we fail to respond to the freedom He bought for us because we were too lazy or busy to draw near to Him and live in His truth?

Now it’s important to understand God’s promise of provision, protection and freedom from fear, doesn’t guarantee that the devil will leave us alone. It does mean that when we choose to abide in the Lord, and have His truth saturate our minds, we will have a way to combat the devil’s attacks and overcome every problem, each time we are faced with one.  

Look at what Proverbs 22:17-19 says, “Listen (consent and submit) to the words of the wise, and apply your mind to my knowledge; For it will be pleasant if you keep them in your mind [believing them]; your lips will be accustomed to [confessing] them. So that your trust (belief, reliance, support, and confidence) may be in the Lord, I have made known these things to you today, even to you.”

As we meditate on God’s Word, it will stir up an expectation in our hearts to see His goodness more and more in our lives.  It’s going to revolutionise the way we think, and the way we speak and respond to things in our lives, because of the faith that it produces.  2 Corinthians 4:13 says, “Yet we have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, I have believed, and therefore have I spoken. We too believe, and therefore we speak,”

Our faith filled words hold more power than we bargained for!  They carry the Word of God that never returns empty handed, but always produces exactly what it was sent out to produce in our lives (Isaiah 55:11).  So what are you waiting for?  Become the warrior God’s has made you to be, give yourself to His Word and take the reigns over what you allow to become a part of your thought life and belief system - that way faith will become your stronghold and fear will have no choice, but to flee.

Much love,


Jenny

Monday, March 5, 2018

Find God in His Word

Hello everyone,

We are all living in a world where trouble and hardships abound.  There is devastation and calamity in every nation and hopelessness is easily found.  More than ever, evil is on the increase and the hearts of people, everywhere, cry out for mercy and justice.  In all of this heartache and desperation, where is the God we profess to know?  How can we find Him amongst all the chaos and despair?  And in all this hopelessness, how can we possibly say He is good?

I cannot recall her exact words, but I once read something Gloria Copeland  wrote.  She spoke about hopelessness not being devastation and famine, nor is it a collapsed economy, poverty or loss.  Hopelessness isn’t even the devastation and destruction people suffer from natural disasters, senseless wars, or the wicked greed of evil men.  Rather, Hopelessness in not knowing God in this world, and being a stranger to His covenant promises.

In a world where God’s goodness is constantly being placed on trial, we, His children, should be the greatest advocates of His good nature.  We should be so confident in expecting, knowing, and experiencing His goodness for ourselves, that our lives become a shining beacon of hope in this dark world.  How do we expect and know His goodness?  We find Him in His Word!   And the more we renew our minds to its truth, we begin to see Him as He really is.  The eyes of our hearts become enlightened so that we can know Him in a way that transcends just mental knowledge.  When we find God in His Word, our spirits are energised with His truth and it begins to fill and flood our lives until it overflows and influences every part of us.  By His Spirit, we begin to see God as He really is and to know and experience His goodness towards us.  As we start tapping into how good God’s Word says He is, we draw from it the revelation of His true character, and that can never be taken away from us.

 Ephesians 1:17-18 says, “[For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him.  By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones),...”

Finding God in His Word, by His Holy Spirit not only satisfies and saturates our souls, it brings on a faith filled expectancy to see His goodness everywhere we go, in spite of what is going on in the world around us.

It’s the goodness of God that ransomed and redeemed us from the one who was stronger than us (Jeremiah 31:11; 1 Peter 1:18-19).  Its the goodness of God that causes His powerful love, that never fails, to be poured into our hearts by His Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).  It’s God’s goodness that has His Spirit constantly work within us, doing His perfect will and fulfilling His good purpose (Ephesians 3:20).  And it’s His goodness that always causes us to triumph, giving us victory and making us conquerors in Him, regardless of what is going on around us (1 Corinthians 15:57).  

Now how would we ever know this, or have faith to believe it, if we were ignorant of what His Word says about Him and His good intentions concerning us?  And if we never knew about His goodness for ourselves, from His Word of truth, how could we ever be beacons of hope for others who are lost and searching for the truth?  Philippians 2:13, 15 & 16 says, “[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight...That you may show yourselves to be blameless and guileless, innocent and uncontaminated, children of God without blemish (faultless, unrebukable) in the midst of a crooked and wicked generation [spiritually perverted and perverse], among whom you are seen as bright lights (stars or beacons shining out clearly) in the [dark] world. Holding out [to it] and offering [to all men] the Word of Life,...”AMPC

Why not take time this week to meditate on the scriptures I only gave reference to and didn’t type out, concerning God’s goodness towards you.  Remember, the goodness we can confidently expect from Him is based on the credibility of the good He has already done for us!  Romans 8:31& 32 says, “What then shall we say to [all] this? If God is for us, who [can be] against us? [Who can be our foe, if God is on our side?] He who did not withhold or spare [even] His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all [other] things?”AMPC.  Confidently expect and enjoy His goodness today!


Much love,


Jenny