We Are Hard Pressed, Struck Down; But Not Destroyed
By Jesus Stripes We Are HealedArchive for November, 2008
We Must Hear And Activate God’s Word
We must hear God’s word and put it into action.
Luke 7:47. “I will show you what he is like who comes to Me and hears My words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug deep down and laid the foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built”.
We must hear God’s word and then take the action step by putting those words into action in order to activate God’s miraculous intervention. Like the woman with the issue of blood who said if I can touch the hem of Jesus garment, I will be made whole.” She hears the word, that Jesus could heal her, she took the action step of touching His Garment and she was made whole. This woman was desperate, and had spent absolutely all that she had. She had no choice but to put her faith in the Lord. But more importantly, she believed that by acting on her faith she would be made whole and she was.
God sometimes wants us to take action steps in order to activate His word. There are many examples of this in the Bible. We don’t know why He wants us to take these action steps; it is not important. We only know that God is God and He works through Jesus Christ and supernaturally He has a plan, a formula for us to follow.
When you purchase a cell phone we must call in to activate the phone. It is not enough to purchase the product and it works, no we must activate it. Like wise you must hear the word, discern it and by faith activate it. You must take this step in order to insure that the word is released in your life. This is God’s Gift of Faith For our lives.
God’s Upholds The Rights of The Oppressed
When prejudice rears it’s ugly head, we are confronted with the specific inhumanity of man. Rather than look at the character of the heart; we are content to judge, promote and award based on outside shallow appearances of the person. We fail to understand that our physical earthly bodies will pass away like the wind. Like a mirage, we are here today, yet gone tomorrow. All that matters is the eternity of God’s kingdom through Jesus Christ.
Yet Christ was dispised and rejected by men as well. In Jesus time on earth many failed to heed His message and look inside His heart.
“He upholds the rights of the oppressed and gives food to the the hungry”… Psalm 146: 7
Secular Philosophy Has No Foundation
Philosophy has a certain place in society however distant and meaningless its message. It has existed since the beginning of time, using logic to concur absolute truths. Absolute truths and human logic or despite current beliefs, not concrete. They are laced with secular thinking that will not withstand the test of time. They are weak arguments that try to explain everything from our existence to the ills of this fallen world. They are man made and they crumble.
These are the real absolutes…………………..
- God created Heaven and Earth
- God made Abraham the father of all nations and we share in that legacy today, through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
- Jesus Christ redeemed us from eternal damnation by Grace.
- Jesus will return to give all who believe eternal life.
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood: “Do this whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me”
I Corinthians 11:25
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Use Emotions to Spread the Good News of Christ
I read an interesting article about the range and scope of the human condition. The article touched on the Godly emotions that we are all equipped with that compliment our daily lives and activity. You know emotions are at our command to change. God equipped us to turn them on or turn them off. We have a hand on the lever and we have the control over them. Yet sometimes we can use our emotions for the betterment of God’s kingdom.
There are quite a list of vibrant feelings and emotions that many biblical characters revealed with passion. I think of Paul how he turned his emotions, through actions steps, to teach others about the Good News of Christ. The range of our concept of our love and emotion went from Like, the weaker emotion, to Love the stronger emotion. Paul channeled these emotions to further the understanding of the Good News of Christ and His ultimate message of salvation in the wake of the devastation of this fallen world. Through his act of Love, Paul helped the church to understand what it truly means to be a member of the Body of Christ.
Many men and women felt great sorrow when Jesus Died on the cross. James, John, Jesus mother Mary, were just a few of those who followed Jesus and suffered great Sorrow over His death. They felt the range of emotions from Sadness to Sorrow. When Jesus arose from the dead, three days later they displayed the profound emotion of Joy. It did not stop here they focused their feelings of Joy on spreading the word to all they knew that despite Jesus crucifixion on the cross, that he arose from the grave and He is alive; yesterday, today and forever.
Think about the emotions that over take you when you think about the Love and protection of Jesus Christ. How can you take an action step and use that emotion to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ?
Faith is The Substance Of Things Not Seen
In the fallen world that we live in there will be turmoil . There will be confrontation, there will be devastation and there will be rampant inhumanity toward man , by man. These are absolutes, because we live in a fallen world. The first man, Adam, made sure of that; so we must be practical and diligent in how we exercise our faith.
Hebrew 11: 1 says that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Faith is not a solid object that we can reach out and touch. It is not even a earthly concept. It is more a state of mind. It is our point of view. Faith is developed and refined. It is like the fermentation of a yeast when you make bread. It rises to gigantic proportions supernaturally. That is faith. We don’t quite know how the bread rose… all we know is that it did.
So it is with prayer, when we engage in prayer, it is faith in action. An action step and we wait for the evidence of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. We take the action of prayer, because we believe that this unseen action step (prayer) will be heard by God, through Jesus Christ. That is a powerful leap of faith. We have no guarantees, No man or woman gave us a certificate and said that it would happen. Yet we believed strongly enough that we focused on Jesus Christ and the Cross in prayer and presented our request to God and we believed that the evidence of the act would come to pass.
We never know when it would happen. We don’t know how it would happen, We don’t know under what circumstances that it will happen. We don’t know where it will happen. But we take God’s word that it will happen whenever we exercise our faith through prayer. That is what true faith is.
To you have true faith? Do you truly believe that God will do what he said he will do through his Son and our Savior Jesus Christ? Activate your faith, by focusing on the Kingdom, The Body of Christ; The Father the Son and the Holy Ghost. Activate this focus with the action step of prayer and remember. Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Walking in Tune and In Step With The Lord
Walking in line or in step with the Lord is often a difficult challenge for all of us. With the influences of this simple and yet complicated world, we are still faced with challenges to walk a straight and narrow path with the Lord. The key to knowing and walking with the Lord is to meditate on His word. From His word we we know the true nature of the Lord. He is not like us and our human logic is useless in understanding the will and purpose of the Lord.
The only way that we can become competent in understanding the word of the Lord is to read his word in the old testament and new testament, that means that we must read the entire books of the Bible. We must also be very aware of the consequences of our actions. When we follow the word of the Lord, then there are positive results from during this. Be in tune with the Lord by knowing the rewards of living your life with the
Lord… this will give you a blueprint and road map to receiving more blessing from the Lord.
Likewise, when we do not comform to God’s word, if we are in tune and pay attention, we can see the negative consequences of not following his word. God has provided a road map, a blueprint, a heart to heart discussion on how we are to live and also have we are not to live. It’s called the Bible. It is your friend; read it everyday , not just on Sunday, that is not enough. Know the word of God.
God’s Power and Grace Reflected
“Lord, my legacy is in your hand, like a painting, a portrait you orchestrate my life. Sometimes you use bright florescent colors other times more subdued less intrusive colors that mirror life’s situations. But all the time your paintings are magnificent in their texture, there is a vibrancy and there is warmth. I look forward to running the race for you and the color of triumph I’ll receive when done.”
“ When our mountains are moved, we see a wondrous miracle, something that validates the power of the Lord. His message is one of truth of optimism of results. We look forward to great expectations that only the Lord can provide, through his promises…. Through his word knowing full well that mustard seeds are small….but pack an awful lot of faith.”
I made it still to another day. Like the song, “I’m still here”, I celebrate life, especially my new life in Christ, knowing that the breath of life is profound and meaningful. I now know my purpose is to love the Lord with all my soul, all my heart and to share with others the Good News of the Lord and Savior…
Jesus Word Will Not Return Void or Unproductive
So my word that goes out of my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Isaiah 55:11.
This verse along with many others in the Bible explain the fact that Jesus power is everywhere. He does not have to be present for you to receive His Gift. His Grace and His word is sufficient to deliver all that you need. In other words if Jesus said it, then it is so and whatever you ask in His name, so shall you have. Once the word of the Lord is sent out, it will not return void.
This is a spiritual truth that many believers have used over the years, by memorizing and saying the words of Jesus, many have been healed of afflictions, many have overcome some of the most dire circumstances imaginable. You know Jesus word is matter of fact. There is no need to think bout it. There is not need to contemplate whether or not He meant it. There is no need to debate the merits of it. Trust Me. There is no need because His word is real and what He says is true.
Jesus makes a way when it appears to be no way. He works through people as He worked through Peter. Acts 9:30 “Peter sent them all out of the room then he got down on his knees and prayed. Turning toward the dead woman, he said, “Tabitha get up” She opened her eyes and seeing Peter she got up. Peter exercised the powers of the great commission that Jesus gave to the disciples. He commanded her to get up through the awesome power of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
You must release the power of Jesus within you and through you when confronting the dangers of this satan filled world. His word as given to us in the Bible will never, ever return void and unfulfilled. You can bank on that revelation for eternity.
Spritual Overdrive System “SOS”
We often fret about the characteristics of this fallen world. Why does it seem that somehow the most ungodly people seem to get the promotions at work? Why do the most uncaring people seems to reap the most reward at work? Sometimes we seem to feel that we are passed by for raises and promotions, yet someone who could care less about the Lord seems to make their own way and prosper. Yes sometimes it gives us room to pause and ask…………………………Why?
We must know in these situations that God is in control and we must operate in what I like to call a “Spiritual Overdrive System” Lets’ call it SOS. We’ve been equipped with it for a long time. If we have accepted Christ as our savior; the SOS can be made operable in us. You do it by activating the Holy Spirit. You don’t push a button like in an SUV to put the car in overdrive. No we did not come equipped with a mechanical overdrive system, but we did come equipped with a Spiritual Overdrive System, SOS, that supernaturally kicks in through the Holy Spirit who lives in us and guides us.
The Spiritual Overdrive System does not come with a warranty. It is guaranteed for eternity. You don’t have to keep a record of maintenance,because God has supernatural record keeping system. You don’t need a password or User name to activate it. You just need to believe in the Lord and ask him to give you strength to overcome buyers remorse. You know sometimes we need a spiritual tune-up, particularly when we get down and depressed because we see the wicked prosper. That means we’re living too much for and in this fallen world. There is a place we can go at that point.
We can go the index of the God’s instruction manual, the Bible, and we come to these instructions.
1) We can refuse to allow the success of the wicked to undermine our confidence in God’s Justice and goodness. It’s always there,God always promises it, simply because “That’s the Way God Rolls”. (That’s God’s Gift To Us).
2.) We must know that God has a game plan to even the score; it may or may not be in this life time; but we have eternal life in Christ so we will obtain our reward either in this life or in our life after we leave this earth. That’s up to God.
With this revelation we have a brand new outlook on life. A brand new computer chip that is friendship and nourishment to our souls. A lifestyle of righteous living that is far superior to the idol of promotion, the idol of raises, the idol of merit awards, or anything else that is a product of this fallen world. We must learn to live above this fallen world and grab hold of the gift of grace that Jesus Christ gave to us on Calvary. That is our gift of eternal life. A gift that keeps on giving. Far superior than some company generated merit award.
Do let earthly values contaminate your Spiritual Overdrive System, which allows us to operate above our circumstances through the Holy Spirit. Get a daily tune-up through God’s word and you will no longer worry about co-workers, but try to bring these people to Christ, then your reward will be much more greater than anything anyone in this fallen world could give you or offer you.
God Has Got Our Back
God is our refuge. He is our shield. His shield protects us. The lord promises the covenant when we trust in him. It is better to put confidence in the Lord than to put confidence in earthly things. God wants us to place our trust in him and not in earthly idols. But those whose trust in the Lord cannot be moved. Psalm 125: 1- Says that those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion. Mt. Zion was like a fortress- a place through him where we can take refuge from our enemies..
Every word of God is a shield or refuge for those who put their trust in him. What the Lord is doing is giving us instruction, a blueprint, or prescription, to protect our lives from harm. God provides a deep, impenetrable protection to those who rely on him. That is God’s word, that is God’s protection. You want find this any earthly institution. You want find this from psychologist. In Isaiah 26: 3. It says the Lord will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast and constantly in the Lord.
We must trust in the Lord for he is our refuge and our strength. The Lord is passionate, fervent, and heated on our behalf. When you need an enforcer. You need an outspoken advocate in the Lord. In other words, “He’s got your back” If you’re in God, Guess what? He has got your back!
God will illuminate our case, isolate it, bring it clear and forward for all to see. You have all the above when you trust in the Lord. You don’t need to know what it is. Just trust in the Lord and He will bring it to pass. Everything you think, God will bring it to you if you commit to trust Him and He will bring it to pass. Don’t worry about what it is. That’s God’s business, but he’s ready to give it to you. He’s Got You back, no matter What it is.
