1 John 2:14 - I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one., who is the image of God, should shine unto them
Man was created to be a winner. The Bible tells us so. We read in Genesis, for example, that man was originally put on this earth as a dominating lord. God gave him dominion over the earth and everything that crept flew crawled and breathed there.
Man didn't even know what losing was until he separated himself from God through disobedience in the Garden of Eden. When that happened, he ran headlong into defeat. He was forced to accept failure as his lot in life, lowering himself to a subordinate position—a position he was never meant to occupy.
It's a sad story. But if you're a born-again child of God, your story has a happy ending. Through faith in Christ Jesus, you've been made a winner once again!
In fact, God has guaranteed your success. Let me show you what I mean. Imagine you're about to tackle a really tough job, and before you even get started on it, God speaks to you right out loud and says, I just want you to know, I'm going to personally see to it that this project you're working on succeeds.
Well, let me tell you something. You do have God's promise that you'll succeed. He said in His Word that you're an overcomer! In Him, you can overcome any problem the world throws your way (1 John 5:1-5).
It doesn't matter how much you feel like a loser. It doesn't matter how many times you've failed in the past. If you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, then you've become more than a conqueror in Him (Romans 8:37).
Does that mean you won't have any more trouble? No. It simply means you can go through that trouble and emerge triumphantly.
If you've been feeling like a failure lately, renew your mind to the Word of God that says you're a success. Every time a challenge comes up, respond by saying, "Well, praise God, I can beat this thing because I'm an overcomer in Jesus!" Let that Word from God abide in your heart. It will make a winner out of you.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 - If our gospel be hidden, it is hidden to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them
Since God doesn’t save anyone against their will, does it really do any good to pray for people who consciously refuse to receive Jesus as Lord?
Yes. Yes! Yes! It does!
You see, in spite of the fact that most all unbelievers who have purposely refused to receive Jesus as Lord think they’ve made that decision of their own free will, the truth is, they haven’t. The Word of God says they’ve been blinded by Satan. He’s blocking their perception of the truth. So their decision hasn’t been freely made at all.
That’s important for you to grasp. Because through the prayer of intercession, you can interfere with the satanic forces and help take those blinders off! You can also change circumstances with your prayers and help create situations that will bring them in contact with the Lord. You’re well within your spiritual rights when you do that.
I prayed with a friend of mine once who’d been praying for his lost brother for years. Jesus said in Matthew 12:29 to first bind the strong man and then enter his house and spoil his goods. So we said, “You spirit blinding the eyes of __________, you stop what you are doing to keep him out of the kingdom of God. In Jesus’ Name, you stop now!”
Jesus also said in Matthew 9:38, “Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.” So we prayed, “Lord, send someone to ______________ with the Word of God. You know who he will listen to. We claim __________________ for the kingdom of God. We believe we receive his salvation and deliverance. In faith, we praise You for it.”
In almost no time at all his brother called him. “What have you been doing up there?” he asked. “In the past few days, everyone I’ve come across has started preaching to me!”
Our prayers had interfered with the forces Satan had been using to blind this man to Jesus and created the circumstances to bring him into the kingdom. Sure enough, within a few days, he was born again.
Use this same prayer for your loved ones and believe when you pray and you’ll see the same results.
Don’t sit by and let the devil take your friends and loved ones without a fight. Pray. Pray! Pray! Come against the “god of this world.” Take off the blinders and open their eyes to the glorious gospel of God.
Ephesians 3:20 - Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us
As a believer, you have the power of the Holy Spirit inside you. But that power won't go to work until you put it to work!
The Holy Spirit won't just muscle in on you. He won't come in and turn down the television set and jerk you up off the couch and say, "Now you listen to Me."
No, He's a gentleman. He's sent to help you to do the will of God, to strengthen you, to counsel you...but He won't do a thing until He's asked.
That's why the book of James says if you're in trouble or afflicted, pray. It's prayer that puts the power within you to work.
Just think about that. The Spirit of Almighty God. The Spirit that hovered over the face of the deep and carried out God's Word at Creation, that same Spirit is inside you—waiting for you to call on Him!
If Jesus came into your house and sat down at your table, you'd put aside everything to talk to Him, wouldn't you? You wouldn't just rush through and say, "Jesus, I'm so glad to see You. I wish I had the energy to talk to You, but You wouldn't believe what kind of a day I had today. I mean, everything in the world went wrong and now I'm just too tired to do anything but lay here and watch TV. Maybe we can spend some time together later."
You wouldn't do that, would you? No! If Jesus were sitting there in your room where you could see Him, you'd fall on your face and begin to worship Him. You wouldn't care how tired you were or what kind of day you had. You'd jump at the opportunity to fellowship with Him.
The Holy Ghost is in you. He's waiting on you. He's ready any time of the day or night. He's saying, "I'm here to help you and strengthen you. I want to comfort you today. You know that problem you've been having? I want to help you get that out of your life.
The Holy Spirit has some things He wants to show you—things you've been trying to figure out on your own. He's waiting there with the power to overcome every obstacle in your life. Take time to pray. Pray in the spirit. Pray with understanding. Pray and activate the power that works within you today.
Philippians 3:13 - But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before
Failures and disappointments. Aches and pains from the past that just won’t seem to go away. Most of us know what it’s like to suffer from them but too few of us know just what to do about them. So we limp along, hoping somehow they’ll magically stop hurting.
But it never happens that way. In fact, the passing of time often leaves us in worse condition—not better. Because, instead of putting those painful failures behind us, we often dwell on them until they become more real to us than the promises of God. We focus on them until we become bogged down in depression, frozen in our tracks by the fear that if we go on, we’ll only fail again.
I used to get caught in that trap a lot. Then one day when I was right in the middle of a spell with depression, the Lord spoke up inside me and said:
Jonah your problem is you’re forming your thoughts of the past instead of the future. Don’t do that! Unbelief looks at the past and says, “See, it can’t be done.” But faith looks at the future and says, “It can be done, and according to the promises of God, it is done!” Then putting past failures behind it forever, faith steps out and acts like the victory’s already been won.
If depression has driven you into a spiritual nose dive, break out of it by getting your eyes off the past and onto your future—a future that’s been guaranteed by Christ Jesus through the great and precious promises in His Word.
Forget about those failures in the past! That’s what God has done (Hebrews 8:12). And if He doesn’t remember them anymore, why should you?
The Bible says God’s mercies are new every morning. So if you’ll take God at His Word, you can wake up every morning to a brand-new world. You can live a life totally unhindered by the past.
So, do it! Replace thoughts of yesterday’s mistakes with scriptural promises about your future. As you do that, hope will start taking the place of depression. The spiritual aches and pains that have crippled you for so long will quickly disappear. Instead of looking behind you and saying, “I can’t,” you’ll begin to look ahead and say, “I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me!"
I Samuel 30:6 - David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. BUT David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.
I read a fable about a dog who loved to chase other animals. He bragged about his great running skill and said he could catch anything. Well, it wasn’t long until his boastful claims were put to the test by a rabbit. With ease the little creature out-ran his barking pursuer. The other animals, watching with glee, began to laugh. The dog excused himself by saying, “You folks forget that I was only running for fun but he was running for his life!”
Motivation and encouragement make a difference in almost everything we do. In fact, it determines the way believers live their lives in the Lord. In the above scripture, David was greatly disappointed because the enemies took his wives’ and children including those families who were staying with him. So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. Furthermore, David was greatly distressed and discouraged because the men were talking of stoning him. My dear ones note the David reaction towards this situation. The word states “but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. With that encouragement along with few of his men he pursued the enemy and destroyed them completely. The Word also states that “nothing was missing, young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken”.
My friends, I don’t know your situations, positions, and dispositions. You may be battling with some addiction/ sin or behavioral problems. Added you may be greatly discouraged with your actions and condemning yourself. These actions would not produce any good result in you but get you into further discouragement. My dear ones, our Lord is waiting for you to supply His strength. David found no hope in him but he encouraged himself in the Lord his God. This should be our attitude and we must encourage ourselves in the Lord. Then the joy of the Lord would become our strength (Nehemiah 8:10).Proverbs 24:16 states” for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again”. Surely dear ones we will rise again and our God has not and never will give up on us. Therefore, encourage yourself in the Lord and overcome those sins and troubles.
In his testimony, Dotson spoke directly to Christian workers. “Continue on in your ministry with people like me,” he urged,” no matter how frustrating. We may have lots of setbacks. But don’t give up; there is power for change in even the most frustrating person through the sacrifice of Christ, the One who really sets us free”. And he closed with this “Thank you for not giving up on me”.
Instead of giving up on a person, give that person to God.
[ecko_quote source="2 Timothy 2:3"]Endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ[/ecko_quote]
Times of hardness are inevitable. You need to know that. It's true that we've been redeemed from the curse, and there's nothing Satan can do to reverse that, but he is going to challenge you on it.
So don't be surprised when things get tough. Times will come when you have to stand strictly by faith when you'll have to speak and act as though what God says is true even when you can't feel it or see it happening around you. There will be times when everything looks terrible. That's when you must endure hardness as a good soldier.
So many people hear the word of faith about healing or prosperity and they think, Hey! I'm going to try that. Then when the hard times come, they give up and cave in.
Let me warn you, living by faith is not something you try. It's a lifestyle. You do it when it's hard. You do it when it's easy. You do it all the time because you're not doing it just to get in on the benefits. You're doing it because you know that faith pleases God (Hebrews 11:6).
Things may get a little rough at times, but let me assure you, you'll always come out on top if you endure hardness as a good soldier. If you refuse to faint and fall away, you will have the victory. The only defeated Christian is the one who quits!
Image Source:
[http://jonah.uec.nz/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/maxresdefault.jpg= Kenneth Copeland
[ecko_quote source="John 3:3"]Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God[/ecko_quote]
Born again. Do you know what Jesus had in mind when He said those two words to Nicodemus? He was talking covenant talk. He was telling Nicodemus what it meant to have a covenant with God.
Let me paint the picture I believe was in Jesus’ mind. Imagine a baby, a little baby born of an unwed mother. No one knows who its daddy is and no one wants to know. He is a child no one wants. He doesn’t belong to anyone.
Now, picture the best kind of family you can think of. A family that loves God. The man has a good job. They’re blessed financially. They’re givers and lovers of people, and they fall in love with this baby. Before long, they adopt the baby.
What’s happened? That baby was reborn. He got a new set of parents. Through adoption, he has now become an heir. Why? Not because of anything the baby has done. Those parents didn’t say, “I want you to look at that baby. I’m so impressed with all that that child has done for us. He has certainly earned our love and respect.”
No, it’s a baby. It couldn’t have done anything to earn its new life. This man and this woman agreed together out of the love in their hearts and bestowed grace on that child. Now he has access to everything they have. When they offer him a bottle of milk, he doesn’t knock the bottle away and say, “I’m so humble and undeserving. Just give me water.”
Of course not. That baby acts like part of the family—and not just part of the family but the best part of the family. Because in Jesus’ day a covenant or adopted child had the same birthright as the firstborn son.
That’s what Jesus was talking about when He said, “You must be born again.” He was talking about grace. He was talking about a new relationship of favor. A new family. A new authority. A new power.
If you feel unworthy to receive the rich blessings God has for you today, think about that. Meditate on it, so instead of worrying about and struggling with the needs in your life, you can just walk boldly into the throne room of your Father and receive help to get those needs met.
Discover what it really means to be a blood-bought child of Almighty God with a big brother like Jesus. Discover what it means to be born again!
Image Source:
[http://jonah.uec.nz/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/born-again.jpg]= Kennith Copeland
[ecko_quote source="2 Kings 6:17"]And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. [/ecko_quote]
King of Syria planned a war against King of Israel several times. But when the information and details about the war were passed onto King Israel, the King of Syria was greatly troubled; and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not show me which of us is the King of Israel? And one of his servants said, “None, my lord, O King; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the King of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom”.
So he said, Go and see where he is, that I may get him. And it was told, saying “Surely he is in Dothan. Therefore, he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. And when the servant of Elisha arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And Elisha’s servant said to him, "Alas, my master! What shall we do?" So he answered, "Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
To the servant, this must have sounded ridiculous because there were thousands ready for battle all around the city. As far as he could see, there were only two - Elisha and himself - who are standing against this great army. Elisha was not young in the faith. He was seasoned with the things of God and sensitive to the Spirit of God. He had learned that the power of God is not diminished because of the great appearance of the enemy. Instead of reacting to what he saw and stepping into fear, he acted upon the word of God and stepped into faith. It coincides quite well with what Faith is all about. It's about believing in things we cannot see and blindly placing our trust in God.
Elisha prayed, and said, "Lord I pray, open his eyes that he may see". Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. As the story continues, the Syrian’s were struck with blindness (v18) and the story ends with a victory. The great and mighty army of God did not arrive when Elisha prayed. The army of God was already there; it was just invisible. When Elisha prayed, the young man’s eyes were opened, and he was able to see what had been there all along.
My dear ones, I do not know your situation, but one thing you must always remember is that "the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world" (1 John 4:4). There are angels all around us ready to help us out. When we walk by faith and base our actions on what God says; instead of walking in fear looking at the appearance of the enemy/situation. We will soon realise that this is when the power of God will be manifested, and we are bound to see victory.
Image Source:
[http://www.thearisingchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/elisha.jpg]
[ecko_quote source="Luke 17:32"]Remember Lot’s wife.[/ecko_quote]
I read a story about a relay athletic who was participating in the final 4x100 meters relay at one of the Olympic Games. The team was going strong and had high prospects of winning. As the race started, the team was well ahead up to the 300 meters’ mark. However, the one who is to hand over relay baton was not looking at the fourth runner who was supposed to take relay baton from him. He was looking towards his friend who was participating in another competition in the adjacent athletic track. The third runner could not hand over the baton properly and it fell down as the race was almost over at the 300-meter mark. The entire team was disappointed and so was their country and supporters on the field.
When Jesus was speaking of His coming back and our readiness, He spoke about Lot’s wife. He cautioned us that we won’t even find time to get anything from anywhere and it would be too late. Therefore, He asked us to be watchful and give our undivided attention to Him. Looking at Jesus is a fundamental principle in our Christian journey; or else we will never progress in our walk with God. Often times, I have seen Christian people focusing on other people/troubles/health and the needs of this world. Jesus said, “but seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33).He said He will surely take care of those matters but we must seek Him and Follow Him with all our heart.
Further, some believers constantly keep observing what others are doing in the Fellowship/Church. Particularly, if they have enmity or disagreement they focus their attention towards them. They act and react on others' behavior. They follow closely (through Facebook/WhatsApp/Twitter...) and note every posting they make. These things only produce hate, jealousy and anger towards them. They are bound to ruin their peace and fill their hearts with hate. They would not progress in any way. They would keep defending their position and cause. I consider them lost in following others. My dear ones please remember, Satan always lets you keep your attention on everything but Jesus. Forsake that behavior and follow the Lord, then the peace of God will reign in your heart.
If your brother and sister have hurt you, your reaction should be leaving your burden at the foot of Jesus, He will take care of it. Furthermore, it is said in the scripture “do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written “it is mine to avenge; I will repay” says the Lord” (Roman 12:19-NIV).
Our only job in this world is to follow Him with our undivided attention. No excuse permitted…Remember Lot’s wife! Apostle Paul summarised our Christian walk in this way “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2).
Image Source:
[http://thethoughtsofasimpleman.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/focus_on_jesus1.jpg]
[ecko_quote source="Romans 8:32"]He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?"[/ecko_quote]
In the fourth chapter of Philippians, Paul declares that God will “supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (v19). When we read that passage, and apply it our daily lives, we must be careful to interpret it correctly.
For that to happen, it’s imperative that we understand the difference between needs and desires. A need is something that is essential in order for you and me to each become the person God desires us to be or to accomplish the things He called us to do. On the other hand, a desire is something we believe will bring enjoyment, which describes a temporary pleasure, we tend to desire things that will bring us happiness for a season but then fades away.
It is important to note that there is absolutely nothing wrong with a desire, as long as it’s within God’s will and is an outflow of a Spirit-filled life. God is a wonderful, loving heavenly Father who loves to shower His grace upon us (Matthew 7:11). However- and this is critical – we must remember that God never promises to supply all of our desires. He surely provides many of them, but only at His discretion and for His own glory. Therefore, your inability to acquire a large-screen television, for example, is not an indication that God is unfaithful.
What do you need in order to become the person God has called you to be? What do you desire that will help you gain more enjoyment in life? Keep a list of these things, and make both categories a regular part of your prayer life.
[Image Source:http://jonah.uec.nz/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/car.jpg
