Tag Archives: Holy Spirit

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No Longer An Enemy

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Titus 3:3-7 (NIV), “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”

We look at the world and think, “Oh, my…,” but it wasn’t that long ago that we were just like them. In fact, not only were we deceived and foolish, disobedient and enslaved, God says we were His enemies.

Romans 5:10 (KJB), “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”

The Good News, for us and them, is that while we were still His enemy, He loved us so much that He paid the price to reconcile us to Him. The New Living translation says we were “restored.” That’s a big deal. Our sin separated us from God. Nothing else can.

Romans 8:35-39 (NIV), “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? Just as it is written, “FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Jesus became sin, so that we could bridge that gap that our own sin put between us and our Father. Then God, in His love and mercy, went a step further. He made us brand new. That old us has passed away, if we have truly accepted Jesus as our Lord. Now instead of His enemies, we are His children. We are no longer slaves to sin, we are free in the family of God. We are heirs and joint heirs with Christ! We can do what He did while on this earth, and according to John 14:12, even greater things. At Christ’s death and resurrection, He ascended to Heaven and left us the Holy Spirit. Now with His help, the Holy Spirit’s, we can do even greater works.
We just have to believe. Most of us have no problem believing that Jesus did miracles. Our issue is not belief in His power, or ability, it is unbelief in who we really are. We think we are still His enemy, still a slave to sin, still captive in this world, but we are not. We are no longer an enemy to God. As His dearly loved children, He has given us authority! Miracles should be happening where ever God’s children are! We should be seeing salvations, (the greatest miracle of all), blind seeing, deaf hearing, lame walking, addicted delivered, and lives transformed.

It teaches and preaches easier than it is walked out. I know. However, even though I haven’t reached that place yet, I am walking in the right direction. My steps may be baby steps, but they are forward. I am not standing still. Truthfully, the only way to get confident in our place is to listen to what God has to say through His word, through preaching and teaching, and through His Holy Spirit speaking into our lives. Then we stand on it, step out in faith, sure our knees may knock and our stomach may contain a few butterflies, but we do it. One pastor said it this way, “So what if you are scared. You still have to do it. Do is scared!”

I have done so many things scared! It is even comical to think about some of the things. But, I am growing stronger in the things of the Lord. I used to be shy and introverted (unless I was under the influence of a mood altering substance). I hated new schools, moving, meeting new people or anything that took me out of my comfort zone. I hated all forms of confrontation, even the good, healthy kind. Now, I am not shy. I love meeting new people. I can talk to anyone with ease. I may still get a little shaky if I have to get up in front of a lot of people, but even then, after the initial few minutes, the ease comes. I know that I am doing what pleased God, how can we not be confident in that place?

Don’t you think the rest of the world should know that they don’t have to stay His enemy?

Jesus, thank You for reconciling, and restoring us to our Father. Whenever I feel small, unworthy, or lost, I will remember that I am His child, that He loves me dearly, and that You left me Your Spirit to guide me.

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His Word is Settled

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Matthew 24:35 (KJB), “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

I am so glad that I have the Written Word of God!

The more I read and study His word, the closer I get to Him, the more I find out about who He is and how He sees me. His word is a plum line for my life. If I hear any voice that doesn’t line up with His word, I ignore it, or rebuke it.

A good Pastor or Teacher uses His word, without watering it down, or changing it. They do not leave out parts and skip over others, never taking it out of context to make a point that is their own doctrine and not the doctrine of the Lord.

His word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, (Psalm 119:105). It is sweet! (Psalm 119:103). His word is true and they stand forever, (Psalm 119:160).

One of the greatest aspects of His word is that it is settled in Heaven.

Psalm 119:89 (NAS), “Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven.”
(NIV), “Your word, LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens.”
(International Standard Version), “Your word is forever, LORD; it is firmly established in heaven.”
(ESV), “Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.”

No matter what translation of the Bible you read Psalm 119:89, it just gets clearer and more concrete. God’s word is fixed, stands firm, is firmly established, it is settled. Have you ever heard someone say, “That settles it!” What they mean is there is no more questioning, no more argument, no more reasoning, studying, putting up with something less. We can’t argue with His word, can’t change it, can’t shift or shake it. The only thing we can do is ignore it, but it is still there. Ignore the mosquitoes and see how well that works for you.

For me, this is a promise of God that I can stand on. No matter what the circumstances, no matter the situation, His word is firmly established. That’s why we can confidently stand on His word. That’s why at His word things change! They have to.

Jesus told us to pray, “Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.”(Matthew 6:10)

Why? Because His word is His will. Nothing less than His will is done in Heaven. That’s the plan for earth as well. However, we ignore, pollute, and poison His word. Some so called Christians even use it for harm instead of good. They use it to beat people up instead of building them up. They in fact cause people to turn from God, instead of run into His loving arms. What we should be doing is looking to His Kingdom, into heaven and asking ourselves, “What is allowed in heaven?” If it isn’t allowed there, why would we ever allow it here? Stand on His word. Declare what He has to say.

It’s settled!

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What is Love?

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I John 3:16 (NIV), “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”

Jesus showed us what love is.

So why do we try to settle for less? Why do we offer shallow, self-centered love to others? The love of God comes with no strings attached. Our love seems to have gargantuan ropes attached. We have a hard enough time sacrificing for our own flesh and blood families, what about those that are our brothers and sisters in Christ?

I John 4:10 (NAS), “Beloved if God so loved us, we ought to love one another. No one has beheld God at any time, if we love one another God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.”

How do we know God dwells, abides, in us? By our love for one another. It’s His love that is perfected in us. Not that shallow, self-centered, perverted love I spoke of before. His perfect, unrestrained, passionate love.

I John 4:16-17 (NAS), “And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us, God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in Him. By this, love is perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as He is so are we in this world.”

It can’t get better than perfect. Perfect is complete, fully functional, lacking nothing.

If you think it is hard to love, then ponder on this for a while…

“We love because He first loved us.” John 4:19 (NIV)

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Choices

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Reading over what I have written, I can’t help but notice some re-occurring themes. God loves us, we have a God given purpose, there is a real enemy trying to stop us, and it’s all about choices. We have to choose how we are living our lives, choose to accept what God has for us, what Jesus has done for us, and where the Holy Spirit is leading us. It’s all a choice. God has given us free will, and then in His perfect plan, we line up our will with His.

Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (KJV), “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

Joshua 24:15 (NIV), “But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

God doesn’t curse us. Our Senior Pastor puts it this way, (I am paraphrasing), “Every choice we make plants a seed. When we plant a good seed we get exactly what that seed packet shows in the picture of the mature plant. If we plant bad see, we get that as well.” So let’s say you have a package of corn seed, the picture outside shows a juicy cob of yellow corn. That shows you what you will get, the outcome of the choice of planting that seed. If you chose to plant poison oak, (thank God you can’t buy those seeds!), you would expect to get what is on the outside of that package. When we plant the bad, God holds up that package and say, “this is what you planted.” The good news is that in His mercy and Grace, we can pray for crop damage. Living that way isn’t acceptable though. Paul says His grace doesn’t give us a license to sin.

What do you want in your garden?

I choose to plant good seeds, seeds that will come to fruition and glorify the Father, seeds that will bless, nourish, and benefit others. We plant, God waters, and His light nourishes. The harvest will be huge!

I Peter 1:13-21 (ESV), “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”

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Evil For Good

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Psalm 38:20 (Holman Christian Standard Bible), “Those who repay evil for good attack me for pursuing good.”

Psalm 109:5 (NIV), “They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my friendship.”

Have you ever tried to help someone, it was even something laid on your heart by God, only to have it backfire? You poured out your love and in return they called your good evil, or repaid your good with evil? Maybe they slandered you, lied about the whole situation, tried to make you look bad? Maybe caused you some sleepless nights and some grief?

Join the club!

David is in this club. You can tell by some of the things he writes in Psalms. Some of his close friends and his very own family turned against him. They kicked him when he was down, shook their heads, and behaved as if they were ashamed of him. They lied about him. They returned his good for evil and his love for hate.

Jesus is in that club. He came to save God’s chosen people, along with the rest of us. Only to have them shake their heads, mock Him, and to call Him a liar and a blasphemer. People accused Him of everything, they still do.

Isaiah 53:7 (KJB), “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.”

1 Peter 2:23 (NIV), “When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”

I am a member of this club. I’ve paid my dues. Not on the scale of David or Jesus, but it didn’t hurt any less. I have had evil repaid me for the good I have done. I taught school for thirteen years. It happens in the classroom all the time. Students lie about their teachers to cover their cheating, poor work effort, etc. In almost every instance their smart parents brought it up during parent teacher conferences, and the students were found out. However, that didn’t take the sting out of what they said. Some of the parents spread the lies and chose to believe their children. Those students ended up leaving our school and things didn’t turn out so well. The others, fessed up, and still treat me with love and respect when they see me. I have had people live in my home, family members, abused wives, abandoned teenagers, and foster kids. Most of them left with attitudes and slandered me and my husband. The few who accepted our love and our wisdom still stop by, they call, and they come for holidays. One is officially part of our family now. As an elder in the body of Christ, I have people talk bad about me. Sometimes they misunderstood something; sometimes they are just trying to take the heat off of themselves. It happens.

We can’t stop helping others. For my husband and I, after several not so good experiences with sharing our home, we decided we were done. Then a visiting prophet spoke over us that we were going to open our home up to those who needed love and help. My husband was going to love them unconditionally, he is good at that, and I was going to impart wisdom and tell them what they needed to do to get their lives right. Needless to say, we weren’t thrilled with that word! I can laugh about it now, but it wasn’t funny at the time. We had just come out of an ugly situation where we had to have a sit down with about three families and our Senior Pastor due to the lies that had been spread about us. But God knows who and when we need to help. So we trusted Him. I now have a family member in our home. My husband does the love thing, and I am doing the accountability thing. So far this is looking like a good outcome.

David didn’t stop helping. He asked God for help. He resorted to prayer. He continually put his hope and his trust in God.

Psalms 109:1-4 (AMP), “O God of my praise! Keep not silence, For the mouths of the wicked and the mouth of deceit are opened against me; they have spoken to me and against me with lying tongues. They have compassed me about also with words of hatred and have fought against me without a cause. In return for my love they are my adversaries, but I resort to prayer.”

We can’t hold it against them, no grudges. We have to forgive and love them. Keep them in our prayers. Jesus forgave.

Luke 23:24 (NAS), “But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.”

Doing anything less gives Satan the upper hand. He is the one who tries to bring division in the Church and in families. We have to do what we know we are supposed to and know that God preserves those who fear Him, those who trust Him. He preserved David and his household, all the way through until His own Son, Jesus, sat on the throne of David forever.

Do we live as doormats and allow people to walk all over us? No. Jesus didn’t rail against the people or even open His mouth to defend Himself at His trial. That is true. But we cannot allow division in the Church, (Satan’s divide and conquer technique) and as a teacher I couldn’t allow disrespect in the classroom. Those things weren’t Kingdome building behaviors. I called every one of them on the lies. I went through proper channels, parents with the students, pastors with the adults. Most of the time dealing with it directly brings repentance and forgiveness, which is a wonderful way to restore relationships. It keeps unity. The Apostle Paul had to deal with some bad behavior. It’s part of being a family. I am pretty confident that every Pastor, teacher or anyone who has opened up their home to help others has or will get burned. It’s human nature. But we now have God’s nature and we need to rise above that kind of thing. We are warned by Paul to not give up.
Galatians 6:9 (KJB), “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
Love people. Help them. Be quick to forgive and slow to anger. Don’t hold a grudge, ever. Live like Jesus. Open your heart and if God calls you to, your home, and He’ll take care of the rest.

Romans 12:18 (Holman Christian Standard Bible), “If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone.”

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Who Can Save Us?

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The world looks to all kinds of places, people, and possessions for their salvation. We all at one time realized that our lives weren’t the best. We tried to run and hide, we tried to find an escape, if only for a short time, we tried to cover up our mistakes, change our address, get a new job, or get a new spouse, only to have to face the hard truth, our lives were a mess. Some tried drugs, alcohol, relationships, immersed themselves in work, or in serving others, and still couldn’t find fulfillment. Others went to doctors, psychologists, counselors, palm readers, and fortune tellers, consulted our horoscopes, the stock exchange, googled, twittered, and tried to re-invent ourselves. But when we looked in the mirror, or looked at the condition of our soul, we were sorely disappointed, the change wasn’t there, was only skin deep, or wasn’t enough, or worse yet, we had changed so much that we weren’t even us anymore.

So where do we place our hope? Who can save us?

Psalm 62:1-2 (AMP), “For God alone my soul waits in silence, from Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my defense and my fortress; I shall not be greatly moved.”

Romans 5:8-9 (NIV), “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”

We can’t fix us. We can’t even clean us. We end up being white washed graves, looking good on the outside, but full of death on the inside. A doctor, a psychic, a teacher, or a religious leader, can’t change us. A ten step process, a secret formula, or some new “spiritual” phenomenon, won’t change us, not fully, or completely. Bull dog tenacity, strong willed perseverance, nor stiff necked stubbornness, can’t get us what we need, what we so long for.

We need a Savior. Who can save us?

There is only One who can. In fact, He already did. Not two thousand years ago, but before the beginning of time! We just have to accept it. Apply what was purchased on the cross, by the very blood of the Son of God, to our lives. Then He doesn’t give us the “wash and wax” or just to a make-over, He makes us brand new, something never seen before, not put together out of old junk, no Frankensteins here, just a complete new edition. It’s a miracle, plain and simple. All the work, the time wasted, the pain and brokenness, all for nothing. We hurt ourselves and others trying to do it on our own, and it’s time to stop.

Maybe you are still living in the living hell of this fallen world. Just give up, surrender your heart to Him. He knows what you’ve been through, and He knows what you need. He sees your brokenness, your hurts, your faults, and frailties. Only He knows how. Nobody knows you like He does. You can trust Him with your life and with your heart. He is trustworthy. He is faithful.

Psalms 62:5-8 (ESV), “When we give Him our heart, truly and completely, then we can say with David, “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah.”

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Off With Their Head

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Did you ever watch “Alice in Wonderland,” of maybe read the book? There is an evil character in that story, the queen of hearts, that likes to scream “Off with their heads!” I think she got that idea from Satan. He wants to separate us from our Head. The bible is clear, we are the body of Christ and He is the Head, (I Corinthians 12.) God’s word is also clear about the fact that He will never leave us nor forsake us, and that nothing can separate us from His love. Our enemy cannot “be-head” us. He, Jesus, will not allow Himself to be separated from the body, so, Satan has to get us away from our Head. Does that make sense?

How does he do that? He has several tactics, none of them new. One is distraction. He will bring everything, including the kitchen sink, against us. We tend to get our minds fixed on our problems and not on God and His solution. We fight that by rebuking our enemy and his plans against us, and speaking God’s word over our situation. Another ploy is to get us in discord or dis-unity with those around us, our family, friends, and our church family. We get so caught up in the drama that we lose sight of God’s purpose, His vision, in our lives. It can destroy a marriage and a church. We combat that by not listening to gossip, not spreading lies, and by building strong, healthy, Godly relationships. When people know us, they won’t believe any lie that is spoken by others about us. If you hear something that is untrue don’t repeat it, and don’t allow it to continue. Call the person who is gossiping on it! If needed go to the elders of the church. Promote unity! Pray for God to bind us together with bonds of peace and with love. Satan is the liar, have no part in his ways.

This one is a favorite of our enemy; he tries to convince us that God is keeping something from us, or that we have to work to receive from our Father. That’s the original lie that Adam and Eve believed. We wear ourselves out trying to get, earn, rob, grab, acquire, obtain, something that God, in His love, just wants to give us! Sounds pretty crazy, but I’ve bought into that one more than once, thinking the doctor could heal, the bank could bail me out, that the grass was greener… Don’t buy into that lie. God is good, He wants to bless you abundantly, and His gifts are free. They were already paid for by the shed blood of Jesus.

We don’t live in a fairy tale, and out enemy isn’t a misguided, misplaced card out of some strange deck. Our enemy is real, and we are cautioned not to be ignorant of his devices.

II Corinthians 2:11 (God’s Word Translation), “I don’t want Satan to outwit us. After all, we are not ignorant about Satan’s scheming.”

I Peter 5:8 (NIV), “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

Did you catch that part, Who he may devour? We don’t have to let him!