Supernatural Forces at Work

When we speak God’s word, supernatural forces go to work on our behalf.

Bless the Lord, you His angels, mighty in strength who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word! Psalm 103:20

After fasting and being alone in the desert for 40 days, the devil tempted Jesus three times. Each time, Jesus spoke scripture from the Torah (Old Testament) to defeat the devil. This is one reason it is important to read the bible. It is a very powerful tool in our life.

There is one catch. You must speak these words with some degree of faith. Ask God for this.

Believe and Advance

God speaks to us to advance us. We must couple what we hear with belief.

And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord. Luke 1:45

Read the bible and ask God to take you into the words, to speak to you. When something really seems to connect with your heart, that is God speaking to you. Unite that connection with your belief, wait and persevere through all the doubts and wondering that follow. That is faith.

Don’t try to be too specific in how you apply this heart-felt connection to the events in your own life. We rarely see God’s big picture. Also, it’s hard to hear clearly for matters of our own life because biases, hopes and fears  cause us to filter and twist our interpretation. We need help. That’s why Paul wrote…

In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. 2Cor 13:1

So look for the intersection of your own experiences along with others speaking to you unaware of your circumstance.

Who are You?

Do not be defined by your sin.

I know from my own experience, that when I have a nagging sin that I cannot get victory over, I tend to get a sense of self condemnation and unworthiness. But I can’t do it myself. The illusion that I can, the attempt to do so makes me self-righteous. The truth is, even in our best moments of righteousness, we fall way short of God’s righteousness.

For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment… Isaiah 64:6

Rather, see yourself as already righteous. See yourself as God already sees you. How’s that? As a believer in Jesus Christ, Father God sees you through Jesus’ blood of atonement. He sees you as He sees Jesus — perfect, whole and complete.

Jesus was crucified alongside a two thieves — both guilty as sin. One saw Jesus, by faith, as his Savior. Jesus said to him, “today you will be with me in paradise”. We too, as believers, see ourselves should see our selves the same. As worthy of life with Him. The Apostle Paul had the same view…

…and [we] may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith…” Phil 3:9

It is our own vanity that wants to build a bridge to righteousness. Why? So we can be in control. That is the opposite of faith.
God does want us to pursue righteousness…

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 1 Timothy 6:11

If your righteousness is not built on this foundation of the faith through the blood, through the cross, then it is destined for repeated failures and the accompanying corrosive emotion of condemnation. That’s no way to live.

Faith Based Age

Last night I was watching the Teen Choice Awards. Things haven’t changed much since the sixties, except that it’s all now just been branded.

This morning the Lord told me not to interpret my age in the context of contemporary culture. My age says I am out of date, unable to connect, irrelevant. Hollywood will not accept me as a relevant producer. God’s word says different…

A grey head is a crown of glory; it is found in the way of righteousness. Proverbs 16:31

So I must train my mind to not see myself in the negative, even though Hollywood does discriminate. But God… He does not conform to culture, and He does not expect us to, either. He is the grand exception to the world system. That is one way our faith comes into play. We must believe that we, too are the grand exemption. But the exemption only happens when we are standing, thinking, doing by faith.

So too, do not allow yourself to “think” that your faith makes you irrelevant to the people. The irony is, it does in fact make you irrelevant to the culture, but your are not irrelevant to people; you are actually more relevant.

Do not play the voices of other people in my head, what I think they are saying about me… they wag on and on about my weaknesses and faults. Or they complement me in my carnal vanities, reinforcing my fallen nature. Either way, they separate me from what God thinks about me. And, God thinks I am wonderful. Train your mind on His word, what He says. For example, as lost and fallen, apart from his blood, He loved me enough to die for me. As a believer, under His blood, God sees me perfect, righteous and actually “unfallen”. God has made me a joint heir with his son Jesus Christ. I am entitled to everything He has given Jesus. I am now a child of the King.

I really should “think” that way.

Can We Know God’s Will?

Not like we want to.

We cannot know God’s will for our life, but we can walk it perfectly. How? By faith. We ask God and believe that he is leading us sight unseen. But there’s more. (more…)