In my daily bible reading Ephesians 6 was in the mix and it Got me thinking about Ephesians 6:16 which in the New Living Bible says "In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the firey arrows aimed at you by satan".
Here's was rushed off my pen: The only weapon the devil has from an already defeated position is distraction (Damon Thompson quote). Faith sees, believes, and walks out what God says and has promised regardless of the circumstance for as Eph 6:10 indicates our real battles are not earthly but they are in the spirit. Faith in God does not view the distractions the enemy throws at you and the negative circumstances of life as true reality, but rather as another opportunity to grow and become stronger. By using faith in God and his word to shield yourself from the distraction the enemy intends to create with negative circumstance you keep yourself on the fast track to purpose and destiny in Christ, and you live life to the fullest free from the shackles of anxiety and fear. In other words I see the circumstance and I'm walking through it with the victory already in my hand so I have nothing to trip about. I see victory in the realm of the Spirit and I'm not worried, I'm not afraid I simply press on! God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of POWER, LOVE, and a SOUND MIND 2 Tim 1:7
That's good stuff right there. Thanks Holy Spirit!
Love y'all,
Chad
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
No Weapon
The Bible says in Isaiah 54:17 the no weapon formed against me shall prosper. For the believer this is an inheritance! The bible also states in Romans 8:28 that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. This scripture is also an inheritance of the believer telling us that situations, challenges, issues to be dealt with, as well as attacks from the enemy will never be able to defeat us as children of the most high God! What a revelation and truth that we can hold onto in time of turmoil! It's awesome to know that we have access to all the promises contained within God's word to humanity...the Bible.
But the Bible also says in Galatians 4 that the heir, as long as they are a child differ not from a servant, but are under tutors and governors until the time appointed by the father...telling us in terms of practical application to our Christian lives and the inheritance of God working in our lives that we are responsible for coming into a state of maturity in our walk with Christ in order to have access to all of our inheritance. I don't believe maturity in the realm of the spirit has much to do with how long you've been attending church, because I know people who have attended church for 40 years who are spiritually immature, and their lives, their actions, and their words reflect it. But I also know people who have only been saved for a short period of time who have come to great levels of maturity in that short season. Damon Thompson defines spiritual maturity this way: Doing the basics of Christianity daily. I believe this is a very simple yet profound definition because it gives us insight into the fact that our Christianity is not based on what we do Sunday. It's based on what we do everyday. The fact that spiritual maturity is a daily process also indicated to me that it's never done. As believers and disciples of Jesus we should be constantly growing. The reason the majority of the church world gets stuck in a rut, experiences a measure of the power of God in their lives but not it's fullness, and ultimately fails to live out the fullness of their purpose on this earth I believe is that they decide they have reached maturity and stop growing. The moment you stop growing in Christ, the moment you come to the decision that you have it all figured out and this is how God works...this is how church works...this is how ministry works ect....is the moment you forfeit your destiny. Certainly there are foundational truths in scripture that we DO NOT compromise...that's a given! What I'm saying is that we must always have an open heart to the things that God would want to teach us, about his word, about ourselves, about himself. The definition of repentance is literally to change your way of thinking. If as the body of Christ we would be humble enough to admit we don't have it all figured out and be willing to change even if it's uncomfortable and even if the people who think they've come into fullness in maturity don't like it very much, I believe we would begin to access greater measure of our true Godly inheritance on the earth!
Well...I was originally talking about no weapon formed against us prospering...Again this is our inheritance! But to access that inheritance we must have a certain level of maturity I believe. Because I've been around people who quoted the scripture, then turned around after their prayer didn't get answered in exactly the way they saw it in their own mind being answered or wasn't answered immediately and decided that the battle was God trying to teach them a lesson and sunk into mediocrity, and ineffectiveness. Can God teach us something through a battle or an adversity? Yes! Does the Lord test us at times? Yes. Does God put pain into our lives or cause bad things to happen to someone who is walking in communion with him? I believe that the answer is No. We lived on a cursed Earth. Bad things are going to happen all around us because we live amongst fallen humanity, and frankly because of the decision WE make at times bad things happen. God never intended for us to accept pain, sickness, poverty, lack, or any other negativity of life as out lot in life. He always intended for his children to overcome adversity! As Jesus said "with faith the size of a mustard seed you can say to this mountain move and it will be cast into the sea." Was he talking about a literal mountain? Probably not that would be a little weird and we would probably have no more mountains left on the Earth by this point 2000 years later. What he is saying is that with even a little bit of faith you can speak to situations, you can speak to obstacles, you can speak to the issues of your life that are not of God and command them to be removed. Is that abracadabra? A magic potion that makes our life easy and without struggle? No, because faith at it's core is a fight the bible instructs us to "Fight the good fight of faith". So our faith is not necessarily a magic wand that we wave over a situation (although I do believe, and have seen and experienced miraculous signs and wonders that DO happen in a moment!). Many times we have to walk our faith out...! Malachi says that SUDDENLY the Lord who you seek will come to his temple, so even the signs and wonders come to those and to situations that have qualified themselves with a seeking heart. So I believe that walking out a life of faith in God's word and properly reacting to situations that life, other people, or we our self bring our way
is all part of coming into the level of maturity that God desires us to walk in. If faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen...then it's not the answer to the prayer, what the bible says, or the miracle. Faith is what we do, and how we respond. We show our faith regardless of how we act or speak or thing about any given situation. Either we have faith in God, or we have faith in the negative that could happen. Choose God! Respond to all situation is Faith! Not denial...mind over matter is merely humanism and should not be taught in the church, but true faith sees that situation for what it is sometimes there are emotions that go along with that...but faith chooses to see what God says and believe what God says. Choose faith today!
Wow that turned into a long blog!
Love ya!
Chad
But the Bible also says in Galatians 4 that the heir, as long as they are a child differ not from a servant, but are under tutors and governors until the time appointed by the father...telling us in terms of practical application to our Christian lives and the inheritance of God working in our lives that we are responsible for coming into a state of maturity in our walk with Christ in order to have access to all of our inheritance. I don't believe maturity in the realm of the spirit has much to do with how long you've been attending church, because I know people who have attended church for 40 years who are spiritually immature, and their lives, their actions, and their words reflect it. But I also know people who have only been saved for a short period of time who have come to great levels of maturity in that short season. Damon Thompson defines spiritual maturity this way: Doing the basics of Christianity daily. I believe this is a very simple yet profound definition because it gives us insight into the fact that our Christianity is not based on what we do Sunday. It's based on what we do everyday. The fact that spiritual maturity is a daily process also indicated to me that it's never done. As believers and disciples of Jesus we should be constantly growing. The reason the majority of the church world gets stuck in a rut, experiences a measure of the power of God in their lives but not it's fullness, and ultimately fails to live out the fullness of their purpose on this earth I believe is that they decide they have reached maturity and stop growing. The moment you stop growing in Christ, the moment you come to the decision that you have it all figured out and this is how God works...this is how church works...this is how ministry works ect....is the moment you forfeit your destiny. Certainly there are foundational truths in scripture that we DO NOT compromise...that's a given! What I'm saying is that we must always have an open heart to the things that God would want to teach us, about his word, about ourselves, about himself. The definition of repentance is literally to change your way of thinking. If as the body of Christ we would be humble enough to admit we don't have it all figured out and be willing to change even if it's uncomfortable and even if the people who think they've come into fullness in maturity don't like it very much, I believe we would begin to access greater measure of our true Godly inheritance on the earth!
Well...I was originally talking about no weapon formed against us prospering...Again this is our inheritance! But to access that inheritance we must have a certain level of maturity I believe. Because I've been around people who quoted the scripture, then turned around after their prayer didn't get answered in exactly the way they saw it in their own mind being answered or wasn't answered immediately and decided that the battle was God trying to teach them a lesson and sunk into mediocrity, and ineffectiveness. Can God teach us something through a battle or an adversity? Yes! Does the Lord test us at times? Yes. Does God put pain into our lives or cause bad things to happen to someone who is walking in communion with him? I believe that the answer is No. We lived on a cursed Earth. Bad things are going to happen all around us because we live amongst fallen humanity, and frankly because of the decision WE make at times bad things happen. God never intended for us to accept pain, sickness, poverty, lack, or any other negativity of life as out lot in life. He always intended for his children to overcome adversity! As Jesus said "with faith the size of a mustard seed you can say to this mountain move and it will be cast into the sea." Was he talking about a literal mountain? Probably not that would be a little weird and we would probably have no more mountains left on the Earth by this point 2000 years later. What he is saying is that with even a little bit of faith you can speak to situations, you can speak to obstacles, you can speak to the issues of your life that are not of God and command them to be removed. Is that abracadabra? A magic potion that makes our life easy and without struggle? No, because faith at it's core is a fight the bible instructs us to "Fight the good fight of faith". So our faith is not necessarily a magic wand that we wave over a situation (although I do believe, and have seen and experienced miraculous signs and wonders that DO happen in a moment!). Many times we have to walk our faith out...! Malachi says that SUDDENLY the Lord who you seek will come to his temple, so even the signs and wonders come to those and to situations that have qualified themselves with a seeking heart. So I believe that walking out a life of faith in God's word and properly reacting to situations that life, other people, or we our self bring our way
is all part of coming into the level of maturity that God desires us to walk in. If faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen...then it's not the answer to the prayer, what the bible says, or the miracle. Faith is what we do, and how we respond. We show our faith regardless of how we act or speak or thing about any given situation. Either we have faith in God, or we have faith in the negative that could happen. Choose God! Respond to all situation is Faith! Not denial...mind over matter is merely humanism and should not be taught in the church, but true faith sees that situation for what it is sometimes there are emotions that go along with that...but faith chooses to see what God says and believe what God says. Choose faith today!
Wow that turned into a long blog!
Love ya!
Chad
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