October 6, 2021

Wednesday

1 Peter 5:5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for

“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”

You measure your humility by how you are towards other people. That’s how God sees your level of humility. Humility is a correct evaluation of oneself. We are all equal in the eyes of God. 

1 Peter 5:6-7  Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

This explains how. You have to do it yourself. The way up in the kingdom of God, is down. If you humble yourself, He will be the one to exalt you. 

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

What makes us devour-able is when we take cares. We all have responsibilities. God knows that! Its right to work and provide for your family. But the enemy knows that too. He comes in and begins to place more weight on these areas. In dealing with our responsibilities, things don’t always go perfect. This can obviously be frustrating. But the enemy is right there watching. He will throw every circumstance on it, to make your responsibilities heavier. He is piling cares on top of your responsibilities. These cares resemble anxiety and worry. The devil can’t read your mind. He is limited. He does not speak to you audibly.  But that does not mean he isn’t speaking. Those thoughts can become empowered with emotions and imaginations. It is not the will of God that we carry around these worries and anxieties. We can go about our lives taking care of our responsibilities, but when it reaches a point of worry or anxiety, we are in the wrong. Don’t allow yourself to become weighed down with the cares. If you find yourself asking, “when is it going to get better?”, “when will this be over?” etc. That is the enemy weighing you down with cares of this world. The first level of attack is oppression. He comes at you from the outside with circumstances. If you let yourself dwell on that too much, it enters your thinking and you become obsessed with it. It pushes all the hope and truth out of your mind. Your cares become bigger than your answer and what God says about you. This can even affect your physical health! We are not built to carry these cares. You have to rest and position yourself in a way that the Lord can restore your soul! He can remove those burdens if you get quiet in His presence. 

The enemy is smarter than you. He has been around longer than you. And he has studied humans for a very long time. Around 6000 years or more. How long have you been on earth? Nowhere near 6000 years. In dealing with people, and studying them, if you think he is not smarter than you, you are wrong.  His number one tool is deception. His ideal position is to get into your life in such a way that you do not recognize it as him. God never designed a life for you that is oppressed day and night. It is not normal. If you are feeling that you are dealing with the devil. If you are moving towards God in any way, there is going to be an adversary. There is going to be opposition. But, when you recognize his tactics, and respond correctly, he has no choice but to back off. He devours you through the cares that you take on! The Word tells us not to worry about anything! Everyone must deal with this. He will make you feel all alone! They are lies that he is shouting at you in the spirit. Don’t accept it! Don’t accept thoughts of uselessness or hopelessness. You will feel despair and fatigue even in your physical body! He hurls these thoughts at you then stands back and watches for your response. Your response is everything! The word says, “Rejoice in the Lord, ALWAYS.” Why do you think it says that?  When trouble comes, the enemy is looking for a response. When your countenance goes down, he will only attack stronger.  But if you respond in joy and praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, the enemy will back off to get you to stop! At that point, you have effectively defended the attack. Don’t stop! Your countenance is the mirror to the inward man. Smile! Laugh! Laughter is medicine! Be thankful! You cannot be thankful and depressed at the same time!

Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 

Worries and anxieties will put you in an early grave! It’s good to laugh! It lifts the burdens! Don’t speak out your mouth the cares! The adversary is watching! Just because you feel it does not mean you should say it! Watch your mouth! Life and death are in the power of the tongue. You future or your funeral is on the tip of your tongue. Humble yourself before God! Spend time in His presence and turn the burdens over to Him! Do it DAILY! You can’t do it without Him. The only way to combat the enemy is with the wisdom of God! It’s the only way you will outsmart him. If you don’t have the wisdom of God, he will take advantage of you! He has studied your life and knows what trips you up. The wisdom of God is the only effective counterattack. Without it, you are limited to a natural man’s defenses. 

Jesus came to give us the God kind of life. With joy and peace! We have been promised life! God can’t do His part until we do ours and refuse to take the cares! You can do ALL THINGS through Christ. You CAN win! 

James 1:2-3 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces [patience.

There is a difference between natural human patience and God’s patience. He tells us to count it all joy because it is not the natural human response. Remember, the enemy is looking for your response! When you purposefully respond in joy and thankfulness, He must back off. Thank Him and be joyful! Even if it feels fake in the beginning, it’s better than crying and sharing your problems to everyone around you! 

Cheer up! Brighten up! Smile & laugh! The devil don’t know what to do with someone who laughs at him! 

Fellowship

September 26, 2021

Sunday

John 14:1-6 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Jesus went to prepare a place for us! Jesus went form the cross to the grave to hell then to heaven. He made the way of salvation available. He took us with Him! He made a place for us at the right hand of God. We now have access through Jesus to the Father. There’s no greater miracle outside of salvation. Salvation made that possible! We have access to Almighty God no matter the time or day. We only have to learn how to access that place. 

Proverbs 7:1-5 My son, keep my words,
And treasure my commands within you.
2 Keep my commands and live,
And my law as the apple of your eye.
3 Bind them on your fingers;
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
And call understanding your nearest kin,
5 That they may keep you from the immoral woman,
From the seductress who flatters with her words.

Wisdom is a person. We see the emerging of two different women.  The immoral or strange woman, and the virtuous woman representing wisdom. They are opposites. It represents two kingdoms or systems. It can be compared to death and life. They are both after you. They want your affection, mind, body, your very life. 

Proberbs 7:6-15 For at the window of my house
I looked through my lattice,
7 And saw among the simple,
I perceived among the youths,
A young man devoid of understanding,
8 Passing along the street near her corner;
And he took the path to her house
9 In the twilight, in the evening,
In the black and dark night.

10 And there a woman met him,
With the attire of a harlot, and a crafty heart.
11 She was loud and rebellious,
Her feet would not stay at home.
12 At times she was outside, at times in the open square,
Lurking at every corner.
13 So she caught him and kissed him;
With an impudent face she said to him:
14 “I have peace offerings with me;
Today I have paid my vows.
15 So I came out to meet you,
Diligently to seek your face,
And I have found you.

The strange woman (world system) is coming out of her home to find you. Constantly pursuing you. She lays in wait to pounce on you at any moment. The woman of wisdom is the opposite. You must pursue her! Every morning when you wake up, these two women are available. And you must choose which one you will partake in that day. The strange woman will appeal to your weaknesses. She will go after every unsanctified part of your life. 

There is a place of exchange available to us. It a place available regardless of what is going on in your life to exchange your weaknesses for His strengths. You can go daily to lay down your inabilities and pick up His strength. Its available to every born-again child of God. Regardless of what you are going through, you don’t have to let your heart be troubled.  He does not promise to do away with trials and troubles, but He does promise that His grace is sufficient.  He will give you everything you need to walk right through it. The reason people don’t go to this place of exchange to get what they need is because they are self-sufficient. In all reality it is pride. When you worship God, it increases the capacity for His love to come in greater measures. When that starts happening, it fills empty place in your life that you aren’t aware of. 

1 John 1:1-4 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

Joy comes through fellowship. There is a difference between a relationship and fellowship. You can have a relationship and not spend time together. The very essence of fellowship is spending time together. God is offering a partnership and wants you to be a partaker of the benefits, but it will not happen outside of fellowship. You can have a solo audience with God Himself at any time you want! You have to adapt the attitude that you cannot face a single day without that fellowship with God. Jesus Himself had that attitude; how much more do we need it! 

Self-sacrifice

September 22, 2021

Wednesday

Luke 9:1-2(TPT)  Jesus summoned together his twelve apostles and imparted to them authority over every demon and the power to heal every disease. 2 Then he commissioned them to proclaim God’s kingdom and to heal the sick to demonstrate that the kingdom had arrived. 

We need this working in our lives and in our churches! Why don’t we have this power working more readily? How we live our lives is a huge key to this power.

Luke 9:23 (AMP) And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to follow Me[as My disciple], he must deny himself [set aside selfish interests], and take up his cross daily [expressing a willingness to endure whatever may come] and follow Me [believing in Me, conforming to My example in living and, if need be, suffering or perhaps dying because of faith in Me]. 

If we truly want to be His disciples, we have to give up our lives in complete sacrifice. Jesus first heard these words from His Father. God had asked everything of Jesus. Jesus gave His very life.  Then He turned around and asked of us the very same thing that the Father asked of Him. It is not asking too much of us.  When you become a believer of Jesus Christ, and you reach the point of wanting all that He has for you, you should be willing to lay down anything He asks. It looks different for every individual. We have different cares and passions. He wants you to be willing to give up anything for Him. 

Luke 9:24a  For if you choose self-sacrifice, giving up your lives for my glory, you will discover true life. 

This is something else that Jesus heard His Father say! Jesus did what He did for the Glory of the Father. If you live a self-sacrificing life for His glory, you will discover more and more true life. Do you want to know what true life is?  How did it work out for Jesus? His life worked out like it needed to. He is now seated at the right hand of the Father. He is now the King of Kings for all of eternity. The Father asked Him to lay down His life for just a few short years and went through a lot more physical torture than any of us will ever have to. The Father does not ask any of us to go through what Jesus went through. Jesus went as a fore-runner to show us what it looks like to live a self-sacrificing life. 

Luke 9:24b  But if you choose to keep your lives for yourselves, you will lose what you try to keep.

Doesn’t that make the choice even more simple? What you try so hard to hang onto, you will ultimately lose.  Once again, Jesus heard this from His father first! He heard everything first from the Father. Jesus loved people. He went to the cross and died for the sinners. He died for people who couldn’t love Him back, nor obey the word of God.  He died for people who couldn’t give Him anything!  There is pain involved in self-sacrifice. The pain that you experience is when you lay down your will for His. It takes faith to do that! Because Jesus lived a self-sacrificing life, He had the Father’s power. The only way to have the life that God-designed for you is to live that self-sacrificing life.  You must take up your cross daily! Your cross is whatever is in you that keeps you from going to Him daily. It is different for everyone. What keeps you out of His presence? Only you can answer that. 

Luke 9:25 Even if you gained all the wealth and power of this world, and all the things it could offer you, yet lost your soul in the process, what good is that? 

Everything that we chase in our natural lives is wrapped up in pride. We all have to deal with pride. It would be to our benefit to learn to recognize and deal with it within ourselves. You either belong to the devil and he owns you, or you belong to God, and He owns you. 

Luke 9:26 So why then are you ashamed of being my disciple? Are you ashamed of the revelation-truth I give to you?

“I, the Son of Man, will one day return in my radiant brightness, with the holy angels and in the splendor and majesty of my Father. On that day I will be ashamed of everyone who has been ashamed of me.

Shame comes from that pride. If you live your life for yourself, you are not only directly disobeying, but you are saying that these words are not absolute truth. Which they are! It is pride! How terrible it would be to have Jesus ashamed of you on the day that He returns.  But if you have not lived a self-sacrificing life, what other result could you get? These verses talk very plainly about it! It will either be your best day, or your worst day. Here’s the best part. He does not expect us to use our willpower to accomplish this. It’s simply not strong enough. If you will surrender that area of your life and ask for His help, His grace and ability will give you the empowerment to put that behind you! You don’t have to do it all yourself! 

Luke 9:39-40 An evil spirit possesses him and makes him scream out in torment, and hardly ever leaves him alone. It throws him into convulsions, and he foams at the mouth. When it finally does leave him, he’s left with horrible bruises. 40 I begged your disciples to drive it out of him, but they didn’t have enough power to do it.”

41 Jesus responded, “You are an unbelieving people with no faith! You twist your lives with lies that have turned you away from doing the right things. How much longer should I remain here, offering you hope?” Then he said to the man, “Bring your son to me.”

Jesus’ response was strong! Can you imagine Him saying that to you? If we really believed, we would give it all. Why don’t we believe? We are twisted up with lies. We all lie to ourselves about how we live, and how much we give up.  Lies and pride go right together. Pride tells lies and believes lies. It’s the nature of the devil.  When we don’t live a self-sacrificing life, we are basically saying that we want to be our own god. Wasn’t that the very reason Satan was kicked out of Heaven? Don’t live a lie and be one of the people Jesus is ashamed of. It does not necessarily mean you won’t go to heaven. But won’t you wish that you were one of the ones that Jesus is pleased with? 

Luke 9:42-45  As the boy approached, the demon slammed him to the ground and threw him into violent convulsions. Jesus sternly commanded the demon to come out of the boy, and it left immediately. Jesus healed the boy of his injuries and returned him to his father, saying, “Here is your son.”

43 Everyone was awestruck and stunned to see such power and the majesty of God flow through Jesus. 44 Everyone marveled, trying to process what they had just witnessed. Jesus then turned to his disciples and said, “Listen carefully and let these words sink into your hearts. The Son of Man is about to be betrayed and surrendered to the authority of men.”

45 But the disciples could not grasp the meaning of what he was saying, for it was a veiled mystery to them, and they were too embarrassed to ask him to explain it.

Jesus was trying to prepare them for what’s ahead. Do you see the pride in verse 45? These are the very reasons we don’t have power and authority in our lives! Because we are willing to live with the lies!  We are willing to live with the pride!  The greatest enemy to growth is the satisfaction of being where you are.  There is more in God that we have not experienced yet. What is your part? No one can do it for you. We are all responsible for ourselves to live the life we are called to live. Jesus Has the right to be everything to us. He bought and purchased us on the cross and we accepted that purchase the day we became born again. We owe Him all! It’s not too much to ask for us to give all that we are back to Him. He is looking for ways to bless you and bring you deeper into the glory of God! He has no other motive! The Holy Spirit is your helper! No one can help you more than Him. He is with you every moment of every day! As soon as your ears are tuned in to hear Him, He will tell you anything you need to hear. He is not withholding anything!  

Luke 9:46-48  The disciples began to argue and became preoccupied over who would be the greatest one among them. 47 Fully aware of their innermost thoughts, Jesus called a little child to his side and said to them, 48 “If you tenderly care for this little child on my behalf, you are tenderly caring for me. And if you care for me, you are honoring my Father who sent me. The one who is least important in your eyes is actually the most important one of all.”

These disciples were walking with Jesus Himself, and can you see how pride and lies have infiltrated their minds and hearts?  Without God, that’s who we are. In the latter part of this passage, you find the combat for human pride. You must serve the people who can’t do anything back for you.  You must serve. It’s not as hard as we make it. You can serve in your home, your church, etc. Then move out from there. Serving humbles you and gets you off your mind. You give out, and He flows in. It’s how it is set up! Start where you are! Look for places to plant seeds of service! Begin small! And eventually your whole life will be impacted. 

Phillipians 9:1-10  Look at how much encouragement[a] you’ve found in your relationship with the Anointed One! You are filled to overflowing with his comforting love. You have experienced a deepening friendship with the Holy Spirit and have felt his tender affection and mercy. 

2 So I’m asking you, my friends, that you be joined together in perfect unity—with one heart, one passion, and united in one love. Walk together with one harmonious purpose and you will fill my heart with unbounded joy.

3 Be free from pride-filled opinions, for they will only harm your cherished unity. Don’t allow self-promotion to hide in your hearts, but in authentic humility put others first and view others as more important than yourselves. 4 Abandon every display of selfishness. Possess a greater concern for what matters to others instead of your own interests. 5 And consider the example that Jesus, the Anointed One, has set before us. Let his mindset become your motivation.

The Example of Jesus Christ

6 He existed in the form of God, yet he gave no thought to seizing equality with God as his supreme prize. 7 Instead he emptied himself of his outward glory by reducing himself to the form of a lowly servant. He became human! 8 He humbled himself and became vulnerable, choosing to be revealed as a man and was obedient. He was a perfect example, even in his death—a criminal’s death by crucifixion![f]

9 Because of that obedience, God exalted him and multiplied his greatness! He has now been given the greatest of all names!

10 The authority of the name of Jesus causes every knee to bow in reverence! Everything and everyone will one day submit to this name—in the heavenly realm, in the earthly realm, and in the demonic realm. 11 And every tongue will proclaim in every language: “Jesus Christ is Lord Yahweh,” bringing glory and honor to God, his Father! 

Jesus came to serve and give glory to His father. Then He turned around and asked us to do the very same thing.  He wants us to end up where He is experiencing the power and glory of the Father! It is worth it! 

Tongues

September 19, 2021

Sunday AM

Deficit: Lacking, not enough of, shortage, insufficient. 

There is a deficit of the wisdom of God in people’s lives. There is a big difference between man’s wisdom and God’s wisdom. 

Proverbs 1:1-7 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:

2 To know wisdom and instruction,
To perceive the words of understanding,
3 To receive the instruction of wisdom,
Justice, judgment, and equity;
4 To give prudence to the simple,
To the young man knowledge and discretion—
5 A wise man will hear and increase learning,
And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel,
6 To understand a proverb and an enigma,
The words of the wise and their riddles.

7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

When you need an answer, what you are saying is that you need the Wisdom of God. Wisdom is not just something that God gives you, it is a Person! Wisdom knows everything! Father God – Jesus – and the Holy Spirit totally agree, yet they are three separate entities. 

People are so caught up in the spectacular that they do not do the fundamentals. The fundamentals make you win in life!  There are three things that God wants for every believer. 

 1.     Born again

2.     Filled with the Holy Spirit

3.     Mature

God wants every human to be born again. Until that moment, you are spiritually dead. Its not just about going to Heaven or Hell. It is more than that. When you are not born again, you are limited to human knowledge and your own intellect. If you are not spiritually alive, you cannot understand and grasp spiritual things.

God also wants every human to be filled with the Holy Ghost. A common teaching is that you were filled when you got saved, but that is incorrect. You were born of the Spirit, but you are not filled until you ask for it. Until you are born again, you are not a fit temple for the Holy Spirit to live in. Many churches and religions think that speaking in tongues is not for today. There are many lies surrounding this topic. A few of those lies being, “tongues has been done away with,” “tongues is of the devil,” “there has to be an interpretation.” When you’ve been taught something wrong in church, it is very hard to overcome and un-learn. To un-learn you have to have someone smarter than you. You have to be willing to lay aside things you have heard or been taught that does not line up with the Bible. 

After steps one and two, you begin a lifelong journey of maturing and growing. The greatest enemy of growth is being satisfied with where you are. God wants you to be the best you can be! Steps one and two are completed in minutes, but maturing is something you will do the rest of your life. 

Acts 19:1-6 And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples 2 he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

So they said to him, “We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”

3 And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?”

So they said, “Into John’s baptism.”

4 Then Paul said, “John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”

5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.

Notice in verse 6, the Holy Spirit didn’t speak in tongues, they did. He gives you utterance, but you have to speak! You have to yield to Him. There is a deficit of the Wisdom of God because there is a deficit of praying in tongues. People today are wrapped up in things that engage their mind. Speaking in tongues leaves your mind out of it! This is one reason it can be so hard for people. Gods wisdom comes from communication between your spirit and God’s spirit. 

1 Corinthians 14:2  For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.

When you hear someone speak in tongues, you cannot understand what they are saying. Why? Because they are not speaking to you! They were talking to God! They are not speaking your language; they are speaking God’s language! What is a mystery? It’s something you don’t know. But if you will pray in the spirit, and speak to God in His language, He will reveal to you those mysteries. This is the answer to every problem you will ever have, but it will require something of you. It’s harder for people who have not been exposed to it. You have to do it daily! And you won’t if you don’t set aside time for it. The Holy Spirit is the Person sent from heaven to live in you and bring the mind, plan, and will of God into your life! Make time for Him! When you pray in the Holy Spirit, you are giving Him what He needs to go ahead of you and move things off of your path that need to be moved and moving things onto your path that need to be moved on! So that when you get there it is ready for you and will work out! 

1 Corinthians 12:31 But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way.

The Holy Ghost will lay dormant in you until you treat Him as the person He is. He is God! He knows everything! He won’t perform His ministry in your life until you want Him. 

Sheep need a Shepherd

September 12, 2021

Sunday

Matthew 9:32-38 As they went out, behold, they brought to Him a man, mute and demon-possessed. 33 And when the demon was cast out, the mute spoke. And the multitudes marveled, saying, “It was never seen like this in Israel!”

34 But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.”

35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. 36 But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few.38 Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

Sheep have to have a shepherd. 

2 Timothy 3:1-4 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 

People left to themselves will self-destruct. People love themselves, money, and pleasures more than God. He isn’t referring to the people of the church. He is writing about the people of the world.  Society teaches to love yourself above all. But the Bible teaches to love God & then to love people before yourself. 

2 Timothy 4:1-2  I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 

We will all have to stand before God. Have a look at what Paul was able to say:

2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Nothing you obtain in this life will go with you. At the end, nothing will matter except what you did for God. We live in a society that models a glamourous worldly life. It is a lie! God’s plan for you is far better than the worlds, or even your own plan! Every sheep needs a shepherd. Every Christian needs a church! We need a church to become planted and part of a family so that we can grow and mature. No better place to grow than in an environment of people who are just like you and believe just like you. God puts you in the right environment for growth! We all need someone in our lives to lead and help us.  There is no one on planet earth that has God’s word for you like your pastor does. No one can pray for you like your shepherd can. God supernaturally put that in place. You will never understand your pastor until you in your heart make him your pastor. He’s not just your pastor when you are agreeing with him. He’s your pastor even when he does things that you don’t necessarily agree with! We all need guidance! Your pastor keeps you thinking right and tied to your purpose! Like a stake and a tomato plant.  People left to themselves self-destruct! God does not call a sheep without a shepherd. God is the one who should pick your shepherd and your church. God knows better of what you need to grow than you do! Growing and maturing is a lifelong journey. There’s always new levels of faith and glory to move into.  He always has more prepared for you!

John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

It wouldn’t have specified that He is the TRUE vine if there weren’t other vines. There are many vines you can plug into. 

John 15:5  “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

This verse can revolutionize your life. Jesus is the vine. We are the branches. The result of abiding in Him is the Fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5. The branch cannot bear fruit unless it is connected to the vine. The life is in the vine. If you are weak and hopeless, it is because you are not firmly connected to the vine.  You will never be able to experience real joy without Him. You cannot live the christian life without Him! 

2 Timothy 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus,

There is a life that Christ has promised His people that is only found in Him! It is a life of faith! That life can only be found by faith! It must be experienced through union with Christ Jesus. If you look around and are truly honest with yourself, you will see your need for a shepherd. The union is strengthened by your daily communion with Him! Christianity is not a law, it’s a family. It’s not a religion, it’s a life. The faith you are really wanting to experience, is so much better when you have His life added to it.  When all hell is breaking loose around you and you are trying to stand in prayer and faith, it is much easier when you have His peace to sustain you. That only comes through union and fellowship with Him. “Give us this day our daily bread.” The bread represents life! Just like food is energy to your natural body, the Word is food to your spirit! It is a necessity! You won’t have what you need for each day if you haven’t sat down with Him. You will run into situations each day when you need help! You’ll reach up on your branch to get the peace or joy, etc. And the fruit will not be there unless you have spent time connected to the True Vine!  When you spend time with Him first thing in the morning, you are telling Him that He is more important to you than anything else! If you are not doing this, it is because you are full of pride! Every morning you are presented with a choice. The kingdom of God, or the world system. What you choose in that moment will decide what happens in your life that day.

Foundations of Faith

September 5, 2021

Sunday

Luke 18:1-5 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, 2 saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. 3 Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying,  ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ 4 And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, 5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’ ”

The enemy does anything he can to block your prayers and block the answers to those prayers. So, He is encouraging here not to be discouraged or lose heart. This passage is not pointing to the obvious. It does not mean if you are persistent, you will annoy God into hearing you. That is not the story or the teaching. 

2 Timothy 3:6-7 For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, 7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

God wants us to be able to receive what He has provided for us. You can sit in church for years and learn so much but never come to the knowledge of the truth. No one can do the learning for you; it is completely up to you. We want to get to the place that we can get our eyes off of man and what man can do for us and get our eyes on God. God set laws in motion long ago and He won’t change or alter those things. We have to come in line with His ways in order to receive. He wants us to get the answer but there is a way that answer comes. The parable in Luke teaches that if we learn how to pray and not faint, we get an answer every single time. 

Luke 18:6-8  Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. 7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

 God is not a god of delay. Religion teaches that sometimes God says yes, sometimes no, sometimes wait. That is not in your Bible. That is not the God you serve. We have to rid ourselves of this thinking. You have to be as selective of what you hear and watch as you are about what you eat. What you hear and see is having far more effect on you than what you eat. When God looks at you does He see you in faith? When you lose heart, it is in the area of your mind. In this parable, you have God, the widow, and the unjust judge. The unjust judge is your soul. The soul has no regard for God nor man. What makes the soul unjust is it will take information from any source as the truth. Most of the time, the hinderance is in the area of our soul. Faith is not feelings. Faith is of the heart, not of the soul.  

You are a Spirit, you have a soul, and you live in a body. Your soul has a voice just like your body and spirit have. Feelings is the voice of your soul. You cannot base your life on feelings. You cannot base your faith and receiving from God on feelings. Faith is always based on what God says, not your favorite preacher or author. You have to know what God says! It is the will of God that you get an answered prayer immediately every time, if you pray according to the will of God. The way the widow prepared herself before going to God is what we need to learn how to do. We are guilty of praying for people too quickly. If you pray for someone who is not properly prepared and the manifestation does not come instantly, it damages their faith and their hope. Faith is certain, there is no wondering in it. Receiving from God is as simple as believing with your heart and saying with your mouth. The problem is, between our heart and mouth, is our mind. You have to go to the Bible and get your facts of law straight. You have to know exactly what God says about the matter. You don’t pray the problem; you pray the answer. Don’t contradict your faith by talking the problem after you have prayed for it! 

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Without faith it is impossible to receive from God. Everything you receive from God will be by faith. The widow didn’t just speak her feelings and pain, she spoke law! And she spoke it continually! Don’t get weary from negativity before you. Don’t let it enter your soul. You have to walk closely to God, and to do that you’re going to have to be a person of prayer and a person who knows their Bible. God and the Bible are inseparable. You have to decide what kind of believer you’re going to be. Your soul will try to talk to you and bring up circumstances and evidence to prove to you that God won’t do it. This is where you have to rise up! You are not a soul! You are a spirit! The real you is the part that was born again. 

Ephesians 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

Everything we need has already been provided! EVERY spiritual blessing. There is only one way to get the blessings down here on earth from the spiritual realm. Faith. Here is what you need to learn about faith:

 1.     What is faith? 

2.     How do I get it?

3.     How do I get it to work?

 What does God say faith is? Because no other definitions matter!  Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith gives substance to things that you hope for. Faith is NOT hope. Hope is based on what you see. Faith is what you know. This is why you have to KNOW what God says. Faith is of the heart; hope is of the soul. It takes both! When you get hope in your soul and faith in your heart working together, you see results!  Without hope, faith has nothing to give substance to. Hope is in the future; faith is in the now! Hope is a good attribute but a poor receiver. 

Truth trumps facts. It may be true that you aren’t feeling well with sickness in your body. But what is a higher truth? By His stripes you are healed. Feed on the truth! Not the facts! 

September 1, 2021

Wednesday

Matthew 15:29-31 Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there. 30 Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them. 31 So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.

If there were a church in America where you could get healed or experience these types of miracles, you think there wouldn’t be a multitude of people there? This is sadly foreign to us. Why? Because we do not believe it is possible. Our unbelief needs to be dealt with. If you can’t produce it, it means you don’t believe it yet. Unbelief does not come out without prayer and fasting. If we can believe, God can do anything. 

Jesus didn’t do anything as God. He laid aside His divine privileges and deity and became a man. Jesus of Nazareth took on a body and lived as a human. God anointed a normal natural man from Nazareth. In His ministry Jesus operated as a man anointed by the Spirit. What is the difference between Him and us? His church services and ours? We aren’t getting the results He is getting. You must believe it to have it. He left us with an image. Something we can look at to pattern our lives after. It forms a hope and a vision in us. You become what you behold. Your soul has the ability to transform you into whatever you subject it to the most. Jesus Christ never healed anyone. He said, “I can of my own self do nothing. The Father that dwells withing me does the work.” It wasn’t Jesus, it was the Father in Him using the vessel. This is your inheritance. This is the promise land as a son or daughter of God. Your inheritance is the life of Christ!

Hebrews 1:1-3 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person,

Jesus was the visual representation of the invisible Father God. It was the life of God in Jesus that healed.  Jesus was the image of God. If you’re blind, God wants you to see. If you’re deaf, He wants you to hear. If you’re missing a limb, He wants it to grow back. God IS healing. Jesus came to show us what the Father looked and operated like! When you got saved you got more than just a ticket out of Hell! You got the very life and nature of God in you. The same that was in Jesus! God can use you just like He did Jesus! 

What were you doing when you were 12? Most likely living a standard childhood with school and playing and friends. Jesus was praying. He was developing even as a child. And He stayed subjected until He was 30 years old, learning and feeding on His Father’s business. When He entered out into the world, He was ready with much preparation and full of God’s life. You have to grow and develop just as Jesus did! Spiritually speaking, you can’t do the miracles that Jesus did without the same training and development! Many come into the Christian life and expect to walk the life of Jesus immediately, it does not work that way! It’s not the way the kingdom of God works. Jesus had to grow and mature in Spirit. He had to develop an established prayer life! He had to learn how to navigate rejection. His own hometown rejected Him and His ministry! If you experienced the same without some spiritual maturity, that level of rejection would mark you in a way that you never recover! But Jesus got right up, went to Capernaum and did so much good regardless of the rejection. He turned that city upside down! He had something working in Him from all those years of processing and preparing. Preparation time is never wasted time. It is necessary. You have to develop your spirit because that is where the life of God resides.  

We are sitting and waiting for God to come and do something sovereign and incredible in our churches when God has put His very life in you. God does not dwell in temples made with hands. He dwells in human temples. We have the same life in us that Jesus had in Him. Then why does the life in me not produce the same that was in Him? Because He developed it. And you should be working on developing it. Just because you are not there yet does not mean you cannot get there! It won’t happen naturally without effort! You must know the will of God. Faith always begins where the will of God is known. God didn’t leave us here on earth to live in defeat and just survive until we make it to heaven! What you do spiritually is more important than what you do naturally. To be spiritual you must do spiritual things! 

In our current day we have fear, deception, confusion, sickness & disease thrown in our face daily. It’s on an outrageous level. People are afraid to leave their homes. There is no place for sin in the life of a christian who has been set free from sin. The blood of Jesus didn’t just forgive you. It washed, redeemed, and freed you from sin. Sin has no place in dominating the life of a believer. Just like you have been set free from sin, you have been set free from fear also. What defeats you is subjecting yourself to the fear that’s being projected constantly! Don’t let your mind and soul feed on that negativity! You have to know the will of God concerning these areas in your life. How do you know the will of God? The Bible is God speaking to you. It is His will for your life.  The word of God is the will of God. You are a child of God, do not remain a sinner in your thinking. Healing was provided on the cross! In your inheritance, the salvation package, healing was provided! You are not the sick trying to get healed! You are already healed! It is finished! Life and death are in the power of the tongue. Your future or your funeral is right on the tip of your tongue! If you talk death and sickness, that’s exactly what you’ll have. Thank God you are the healed of the Lord and if any sickness comes to you, RESIST IT. Resist it in your God given right! Do it through the Word of God and the Name of Jesus. 

What's most important to you?

August 29, 2021

Sunday

God gave His heart and mind to Malachi for the nation. His heart was heavy and grieved for the nation. The people’s heart was turned away from God. The human heart is very deceiving. Israel was God’s chosen people and were to be a picture and a light to the rest of the world. They were to show the goodness and blessings of God in comparison to the gods of foreign nations. But Israel had turned from God and were worshiping and entertaining the very gods they were supposed to be above.  The church today has the very same problem. It is very hard to differentiate a christian from the world. They dress the same, talk the same, live the same. God never called us to be a segregated people, but He did call us to be a people who are separated. Not from people, but the world system. We are to go into the world and shine the light. We must get a look at and see ourselves  as God sees us. Even in the church we have created a false image of God and the things of God. We have let man form an image of God to us. We must see ourselves the way God sees us. 

Malachi 1:1-2 The burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.

2 “I have loved you,” says the Lord.
“Yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?’
Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?”
Says the Lord.
“Yet Jacob I have loved;

God loves you. God loves His people. There is nothing more valuable on the planet to God, than people. He values people because they are eternal. In this verse you have two brothers. Out of those two, God chose one. Esau was evil and a man of the flesh. Jacob was not perfect. But there was something in his heart that God could use. 

Deuteronomy 7:6-11 “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. 7 The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; 8 but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

9 “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; 10 and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face. 11 Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them.

God chose them because He loved them and to keep His promise to Abraham. All God was asking in Malachi is that they love Him too. You must ask yourself, “who or what do I love more than God?”  You can’t love God and never spend any time with Him. We are living in a world that is offering you everything.  Society’s picture of success has become more important than God. God wants to bless us, but when anything comes to a place of higher importance than Him, your life isn’t right. Anything that gives you more enjoyment than spending time with God, is showing you that you’re not where you need to be.  He loves you more than anything, and all He is asking is that you love Him too. People want God to put them and their problems as His priority when He is not their priority. If you put Him first, He will take care of all the problems.  You don’t run to God only when you have a problem, you run to Him daily because you want Him! To God, your actions mean more than your words. There is no such thing as Sunday worship, if there isn’t worship every other day. Because we should need Him and want Him as much on Monday as we do on Sunday! Love is not a feeling it is a choice. And if you will choose to do it, the feelings will come with it.  If you’ll choose to love God the way He loves you, that love will grow and develop. But you must do it daily! Because we live in an unredeemed body that wants to do its own thing! 

If you look at our nation and do not see the trouble it’s in, you are in denial. The condition of our nation mirrors the condition of the church. It’s easy to point fingers at the government, but we are the ones with the authority. It’s easy to see that some things need change. 

Malachi 2:1-9 “And now, O priests, this commandment is for you.
2 If you will not hear,
And if you will not take it to heart,
To give glory to My name,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“I will send a curse upon you,
And I will curse your blessings.
Yes, I have cursed them already,
Because you do not take it to heart.

3 “Behold, I will rebuke your descendants
And spread refuse on your faces,
The refuse of your solemn feasts;
And one will take you away with it.
4 Then you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you,
That My covenant with Levi may continue,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
5 “My covenant was with him, one of life and peace,
And I gave them to him that he might fear Me;
So he feared Me
And was reverent before My name.
6 The law of truth was in his mouth,
And injustice was not found on his lips.
He walked with Me in peace and equity,
And turned many away from iniquity.

7 “For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge,
And people should seek the law from his mouth;
For he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
8 But you have departed from the way;
You have caused many to stumble at the law.
You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
9 “Therefore I also have made you contemptible and base
Before all the people,
Because you have not kept My ways
But have shown partiality in the law.”

When you look at the leaders of our nation, you can see the lost confidence in them. It is no different with the pastors of our churches because they speak out of both sides of their mouth just like the politicians do! As a leader, your people should be able to come to you, and get the truth even if it hurts.  The pastor has a responsibility to share what God is saying whether you like it or not! 

God does not want your leftovers or lame offerings. He wants your best because He gives you His best! It is not a money issue it is a heart issue! You can live your life with an open hand or a closed hand! Be a giver! There is no shortage of money or provision. God will take care of you! 

Malachi 2:11-15 Judah has dealt treacherously,
And an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem,
For Judah has profaned
The Lord’s holy institution which He loves:
He has married the daughter of a foreign god.
12 May the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob
The man who does this, being awake and aware,
Yet who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts!

13 And this is the second thing you do:
You cover the altar of the Lord with tears,
With weeping and crying;
So He does not regard the offering anymore,
Nor receive it with goodwill from your hands.
14 Yet you say, “For what reason?”
Because the Lord has been witness
Between you and the wife of your youth,
With whom you have dealt treacherously;
Yet she is your companion
And your wife by covenant.
15 But did He not make them one,
Having a remnant of the Spirit?
And why one?
He seeks godly offspring.
Therefore take heed to your spirit,
And let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth.

This is a picture of leaving your first love. God gave these laws to them that they were not to marry any foreign people. It was not a race issue; it was a foreign god issue. If they intermarried, other gods would enter the relationship. A good example of this is Abraham and Sarah with Ismael.  

Malachi 3:6-7 “For I am the Lord, I do not change;
Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
7 Yet from the days of your fathers
You have gone away from My ordinances
And have not kept them.
Return to Me, and I will return to you,”
Says the Lord of hosts.

Return to Him, and He will return to you. Place value on your relationship with Him! 

Malachi 3:16-18 Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another,
And the Lord listened and heard them;
So a book of remembrance was written before Him
For those who fear the Lord
And who meditate on His name.

17 “They shall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts,
“On the day that I make them My jewels.
And I will spare them
As a man spares his own son who serves him.”
18 Then you shall again discern
Between the righteous and the wicked,
Between one who serves God
And one who does not serve Him.

God is saying, after all these things He has pointed out, that He loves you! Even if you have turned away, all you must do is return to Him! God loves you that much! And He deserves your love! He is watching and recording names in the book of remembrance! Judgement is coming! Are you ready?

Wisdom Of God

August 25,2021

Wednesday

Revelation 2:1-5 “To the angel of the church of Ephesus write,

‘These things say He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: 2 “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not and have found them liars; 3 and you have persevered and have patience and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. 4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.

The word angel in verse one is the messenger or the Pastor. When God gets ready to speak to a people or region, He always speaks to leadership first. God does not speak to the sheep for the Pastor, He speaks to the Pastor for the sheep. The 7 stars represent the 7 churches. Those stars being in the right hand shows that He is responsible for taking care of them and those leaders are accountable to Him. Jesus visits churches and He observes how the people are reacting and listening. He has personal knowledge of everything going on in your life. This church has a lot of good things in place. They have a lot going in the right direction. But you see in the 4th verse that He has one thing against them. Have you ever asked the Lord if He has anything against you?  The church at Ephesus had strayed from their first love. If you compare your love to when you first met the Lord, are you more in love with Him than that day? If you don’t love Him as much or more than back then, you have fallen. Thank God He does not condemn us every day. He does not condemn, He convicts. Condemnation shows no way out, conviction points to the solution. 

There is a shortage of the wisdom of God in the local church because there is a lack of praying in tongues in the current church of today. If you want the wisdom of God, you can have it. All you must do it move your tongue! The first thing you should turn to in the face of calamity is the Word of God. Get God’s truth on the matter! If you need clarity on what you are reading in His word, that is what the Holy Spirit is for. He is our helper! You Need to understand so that the enemy cannot bring confusion before it is established in your life! The Holy Ghost wrote the Bible, not man. He knows exactly what it says and what it means. He will tell you what it means if you will let Him do His ministry in your life! You can have the wisdom of God as much as you want. We the church are not walking with God as we should. The enemy is capable of blinding even believers! How he does that is by keeping you mentally active all the time. When you are mentally active all the time, you get caught up in his world. The tool that he uses most in our day and time is social media. If you can’t turn everything off and get with God for even 15 minutes, you are in trouble. 

The days of going through the motions at church, are over! God has held back His hand of judgment for so long.  God is the Just Judge and His judgement is always right. God does not look at the earth from a liberal or conservative point of view. He sees it from His righteous point of view. He has held back His hand of Judgement for His people. And according to the Bible, judgment has to begin with His people. The church is sitting back wanting God to straighten out what is unjust, when God is looking at the church. He will not violate His word. And His word states clearly that the judgement begins with us. 

Noah preached faithfully year after year as he fulfilled his God given assignment to build the ark. People either laughed or mocked, or just refused to commit. That is until the almighty God shut the doors of the Ark and the flood began. Then absolutely everyone wanted on board. No one was laughing then, and they were all ready to be fully committed. But in the truest sense they missed the boat. We are watching people do the same thing today. We are also seeing believers who have cooled spiritually until they are completely out of fellowship with the Lord. And they too are about to miss the boat.

If there is anything in your life that you enjoy more than Him, then you are not where you need to be. Start with yourself. Here is how you know: What is it that you enjoy doing the most?

Luke 14:25-27 Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 

If there is anything that you enjoy more than Him, you are not His disciple.  That means a hobby, entertainment, material possessions, even your own family. When God compares your commitment and love for him and your commitment and love for your family, it should look as if you hate them! He loves you with a love that you have no understanding of. He will always love you that way and because of that, He wants you to love Him the same way. If you don’t, then you cannot be His disciple. He’s not asking you to give up loving your family, He’s asking you to love Him first! If you will put Him first, you won’t lose them, you will win them! They will want to have that kind of commitment because they see what it has done for you. You’re going to face mountains and troubles in life that are bigger than you! And when you get to that point in your life, you’re going to need God. If you will commit to Him in the good times, you have Him in the bad time! Commit your whole life to Him!  Take up your cross! There are things in you that don’t want Him. You have to see to it that whatever it is, it dies! Don’t just go through the motions! Love Him like He loves you! 

Reinforcement

August 22, 2021

Sunday AM

Psalm 91

Psalm 27

We are not to be afraid of anything. Most definitely Covid-19. You should read these Psalms daily to combat the negative fear we are fed every day from media and society. 

—————————————————————————————————————

“Over the last few years I have travelled the world collecting samples of fallen trees. Each one of them is completely unique. The rings of the tree are like fingerprints from mother nature. No two are exactly alike. Each tree tells its own story from a place and time. Where some have grown quickly, with thick rings, I see a story of abundance and little opposition to growth. Other trees show years where rain was scarce, and it had to conserve its energy in order to survive. The growth in the tree rings at this time is nearly imperceptible. To me these are the interesting stories. The trees that show prudence in the face of hardship. Interestingly, they are also the trees that grow the strongest wood. There is wisdom for us in the stories told by these trees. They tell us that the best way to respond to a crisis is to slow down and focus on what matters most. This is how you get through uncertainty. “

-       Quote from a logger in Washington

When we look at the world today, we see uncertainty and crisis. We need to focus on what matters most, which is our walk with God. Give your time and attention to that, you will not only make it through, but you will be stronger. 

Matthew 16:13-19  When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”

14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

This is where Jesus gives Peter a new name.  He was first called Simon Bar-Jonah, which meant “like a reed blowing in the wind”. Which was accurate to how he had lived his life up until that point. But Jesus saw that he had received something from Heaven that has made him firm and would be different from then on. He gave him the name Peter which means “rock.”  It’s all based on hearing what Heaven has to say about the situation at hand! Someone has to be hearing from Heaven. Jesus, when He entered Caesarea Philippi, He asked, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”  There were three responses.  Even though they had answered they were not accurate. You have man saying something and you have God saying something. 

2 Corinthians 4:3-5  But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

In context this is speaking about people who are not born again, but it goes beyond that. You can be born again and still be lost. You have to believe you can have victory here on earth! You don’t have to wait until you’re in heaven to have it! 

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

So, we get to make the choice.  You can say what man is saying about your life, or you can say what God says about your life. God says the gates of hell shall not prevail! But, in order for you to prevail, there are some thing you have to know and do! Again, you get to choose whether you go with what God says or with what man says. The outward man is temporary. The inward man is far more important! Because in tough times, you have to focus on what is more important! What’s most important? The inward man and the eternal things! There are two sides to life. There is a natural side, and a spiritual side. The natural side is fleeting and temporary. It will not last forever! One day we will step into eternity! We give so much time and attention to the world we can see. The enemy is the god of that realm. He is striving to program your mind! Everything of that world is engaging your mind! We have to start giving our attention to the spirit! Everything that happens in the natural realm is governed by what happens in the spiritual realm! It’s more real than this natural world, you just cannot see it with your eyes! The devil blinds your mind! As long as you’re blind to the Spirit, you won’t be able to operate from where God wants you to operate from! Quit listening to what man has to say and tune into what God is saying! You have to think right, in order to believe right, and to talk right, and live right! Don’t walk around talking sickness and disease all the time! Don’t talk fear! 

Matthew 16 explains that the gates of hell are not to prevail against the church that Jesus builds. You have to get in church! It’s never been more important to get planted in your local church. You need people around you that believe like you and will support you in your walk with God! Stay connected to what connects you to God! Spending time on social media drains you of that very connection! You don’t realize the affect it is having on you! It is the will of God that the enemy not prevail in any area of your life. Jesus has already prevailed! 

Revelation 5:1-5 And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it.

4 So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll, or to look at it. 5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.”

 Jesus already conquered, overcame, and defeated all the powers of the enemy! 

Revelation 5:8-10  Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying:

“You are worthy to take the scroll,
And to open its seals;
For You were slain,
And have redeemed us to God by Your blood
Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
10 And have made us kings and priests to our God;
And we shall reign on the earth.”

He gave us the victory! It does not mean we won’t face situations, but it means when those things come, we are to prevail over them! Hell prevails in your life when you allow it! Jesus turned and gave the keys to us! The keys represent our authority! 

Colossians 1:12-14  giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Luke 10:17-19 Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.”

18 And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Mark 16:17-18 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

The devil is defeated in your life to the degree that you enforce his defeat! This is why we must be focused on the spiritual things of life! Your mind will defeat you! This is the importance of strengthening the inner man. We aren’t fighting people of flesh and blood. And though we are in this world we are not of it! 

1.     You have authority!

2.     You must know and use that authority!

3.     If you don’t, nothing will be done