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Psalms 18:39 NLT You have armed me with strength for the battle; you have subdued my enemies under my feet.
For most of us, our battles aren’t natural. To the ones who are fighting natural battles for our country, He’s given you strength. (Also, thank you for your service.)
For the rest of us, all of our battles are spiritual. 1 Timothy 6:12 says, “Fight the good fight of the faith” and Ephesians 6:12 says, “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”
God not only equipped us with strength for natural battles, but spiritual ones too. These battles include battles with depression, battles with alcohol, battles with pornography, and battles with suicide ideation. Whatever spiritual battles we’re facing, He’s equipped us with strength to fight. We don’t have to let these things dominate our lives. And if we’re committed to focusing in on God’s word and doing what it says, He’s guaranteed us the victory (2 Cor. 2:14).
Don’t let Satan keep feeding you lies. You can win, you can overcome, and through Christ, you’ve already gotten the victory.
Some believers have done an excellent job at explaining scriptures away. They’ll see a scripture, in context, and explain how that doesn’t mean what it clearly says.
For instance, some will see Isaiah 53:5 which says, “by His stripes we are healed” and say this is related to our spirit’s being healed and not our physical bodies. They see how every believer is not physically healed so, they explain how this scripture can’t mean we’re healed in our bodies.
Isaiah 53:5 is referring to being healed in our physical natural bodies. We know this because in Matthew 8:17, Jesus fulfills the prophesy of Isaiah when He heals the physical bodies of a man with leprosy, the servant of the Roman Officer, and Peter’s mother-in-law.
Another example is in 2 Corinthians 8:9 which says, “You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich.” Some read this as well as Psalm 112:3 where it says, “wealth and riches are in our house” and explain that this is spiritual wealth and riches. Nothing about either of these verses have to do with spiritual riches. It’s referring to natural riches.
Just because believers aren’t experiencing what the scriptures says doesn’t mean we need to explain what it clearly means away.
It’s a fact, certain scriptures have been taken out of context, but not everything. Let’s read the scriptures, in context, and not explain it away based on what we’ve naturally seen or experienced.
2 Timothy 2:15 NLT Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.
Galatians 5:16 AMPC But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God).
In the world, there’s always been this do what you feel and let your flesh have its way mentality. That’s to be expected because they’re without God. However, some of that mentality has come into the body of Christ.
Despite Hebrews 10:25 where it says, “let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do,” if some don’t feel like going to church, they won’t. Although Jesus lets us know we can’t serve God and be ensalved to money, if our flesh wants to withhold our money because we’re skeptical about giving, some of us will. Even though we’re instructed to forgive in Ephesians 4:32, some of us choose to go through life with unforgiveness in our hearts.
Obviously, there is no law under Christ so, I’m not trying to condemn anyone, however some of us need to get back to a place where God’s word is more influential than how we feel. Just because our flesh desires something or we feel a certain way doesn’t mean that it’s beneficial to our lives.
We can go to heaven without stepping one foot in a church, but why wouldn’t we want to collectively worship our Savior and share our talents in His church? God will still love us even if we didn’t give a dime, but why wouldn’t we want to advance His Kingdom with our financial support? We don’t have to forgive, but studies have shown that unforgiveness negatively impacts our physical bodies.
Let’s not operate based on how we feel. If God’s word says it, we must believe that it’s good for us and it brings glory to Him.
1 Corinthians 6:12 NLT You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything.
Through Christ, we have the freedom to do anything. We can stay up late, eat whatever we want, go to a club, drink alcohol, or work 80 hours a week. But like the scripture says, everything is not good for us.
Staying up late gives us sleep deprivation. Eating whatever we want could cause health issues. Going to a club could cause us to engage in activities that don’t honor God. We could become dependent on alcohol to get through the day. And working 80 hours a week will cause serious fatigue which impacts our immune system.
Some of these things aren’t sinful on the surface, but they’re definitely not beneficial to our overall wellbeing. The point is, we must be mindful of the things we’re doing. We don’t want to allow our flesh to be in control and we don’t want to put anything before God.
As always, it’s best to be led by the Spirit in all situations. If He allows us to stay up late, go ahead and stay up late. But if He instructs us to go to bed (since He knows everything about us and what we’ll have to experience the next day), it’s beneficial to obey. Same thing with the club. If He allows us to go, go ahead and go, but if He tells us to stay home, please stay home. He could be protecting us from getting into an altercation.
Be led by the Spirit and don’t be deceived by the freedoms we have.
#freedom #in #Christ #Spiritled
2 Timothy 4:6 NLT As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near.
Our lives should be an offering to God. How we live, how we serve, how we parent, and how we treat one another should be an offering to God.
Part of our offering should be ministering the gospel of Jesus Christ in some way. We can minister to people in person or create a social media platform where we minister the gospel.
We can be the hands and feet of Jesus by feeding the hungry, ministering to prisoners, providing shelter to the homeless, and helping the sick (Matt. 25:35-40).
We can encourage and be accountable to one another. It’s difficult for some to stay encouraged or be motivated to do the right things by themselves (1 Thess. 5:11).
Another part of our offering is denying the flesh to honor God. If we know what we’re doing or about to do dishonors God, we should choose to honor God with godly behavior.
Our offering to God will be a sacrifice. This doesn’t indicate we run ourselves ragged giving God an offering, but it may not always be convenient. Let the Holy Spirit guide you on what to offer God and when to offer it to Him.
#sacrificialliving #Spiritled #sacrifice #to #God
Religious people will say no one knows who will make it to heaven. They use sin, behavior, and lifestyle as a reason why a person may not make it to heaven.
Our salvation is not dependent upon our behavior or the sin in our lives. Our salvation is solely based on our belief in the Lord Jesus.
When we’ve made Jesus Savior and Lord over our lives, there’s a guarantee we have eternal life. It’s not because of our goodness or the lack of sin in our lives. It’s by belief only.
Don’t ever wonder if you’re going to make it to heaven or not. Just believe in the sacrifice that Jesus made for sin and we’ll have eternal life.
1 John 5:11-13 NLT And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.
#eternity #through #Jesus
Psalms 147:10-11 NLT He takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse or in human might. No, the Lord’s delight is in those who fear him, those who put their hope in his unfailing love.
The reason God takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse or in human might is because it pushes Him out of the picture. God wants our total dependence on Him.
Unless God directs us, He doesn’t want us working 3 or 4 jobs, He wants us to depend on Him for provision. Unless God directs us, He doesn’t want us taking a crazy amount of medication, vitamins, and visiting the doctor multiple times a year. He wants our dependence on Him for good health. He didn’t even want our efforts in keeping the Law in order to be righteous. He wants our righteousness to be based on our belief and dependence on what Jesus accomplished on our behalf.
Whether we’re building a business, desiring protection, or raising children, when we start with God, continue with Him, and end with Him, then God is pleased with our actions.
#depend #rely #trust #God #alone
John 2:1-2 NLT The next day there was a wedding celebration in the village of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the celebration.
At the wedding celebration, Jesus turns water into wine (John 2:3-11). This was the first recorded miracle of Jesus. The miraculous wouldn’t have happened if Jesus, wasn’t invited.
For believers, we have the luxury of having another comforter and helper always with us. We have the Holy Spirit. He’s not coming and going. The way we “invite” Him to events is by acknowledging and being sensitive to His presence. Like the wedding, when we acknowledge Him and His presence, miracles could happen.
This acknowledgement and sensitivity to His presence shouldn’t be limited to church functions. The Holy Spirit’s invitation should be for every area of our lives. We could be at our child’s basketball game, but since we’re sensitive to the Holy Spirit, He could tell us to pray for a parent who is struggling financially. At the grocery store, He could tell us to lay hands on that person in a wheelchair. He could tell us to introduce Jesus to that unsaved person at work.
When going through life, be sure to acknowledge and be sensitive to the presence of the Holy Spirit.
#invite #acknowledge #HolySpirit #Helper
Habakkuk 3:17-18 NLT Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
When nothing seems to be going right, we can either focus on all that’s going wrong and become sad, depressed, and feeling defeated or we can choose to be joyful because we have a great opportunity to trust God.
Unfortunately, most people, believers included, tend to focus on the negative. We magnify how bad it is instead of focusing on how good God is. A lot of us feel sorry for ourselves and want others to pity us too. People do face difficulties, but pity doesn’t help.
When things aren’t lining up the way we desire them to, we need to rejoice. We need to get in God’s word and rejoice over His promises. Rejoice that through Christ we’re healed if we’re sick. Rejoice that He supplies our needs if we’re in lack. Rejoice over the deliverance of our children if they’ve gone astray.
We can look only in the natural and feel down and depressed because of our circumstances. Or, we can look in God’s Word (which is spiritual, but can change the circumstances in the natural) and then rejoice over the upcoming changes. The choice is yours.
#rejoice #breakthrough #is #imminent
John 14:31 NLT but I will do what the Father requires of me, so that the world will know that I love the Father. Come, let’s be going.
Jesus knew His assignment. His job was to save the lost by sacrificing Himself for the sins of the world (Luke 19:10). How did He know His assignment? How did He know what’s required of Him? By spending time with God.
We all have assignments while we’re here on earth. Life is more than working at a job, having a family, then dying. There’s a purpose for us all.
To know our assignment, we must spend time with the Father. He’ll reveal what’s required of us. Once revealed, we should obey. It could be to feed the homeless, to help stop sex trafficking, to change our nation by going into politics, or to minister to young married couples.
The assignment usually is bigger than we can handle on our own. God is necessary to start, maintain, and fulfill our assignment. Our impact will last longer than our lifetime.
Get with God to see what’s required of you. It doesn’t matter if you’re older than 70 or feel like you’ve made too many mistakes in life. There’s something you can do for His glory and to advance His Kingdom.
#for #His #glory
Psalms 150:6 NLT Let everything that breathes sing praises to the Lord! Praise the Lord!
The common theme throughout Psalms is praise. We praise when things are going well, and we praise when things could be better. We praise when we’re in a happy place and we praise when depression attacks. In any situation and in any circumstance, we’ll always have the opportunity to praise the Lord.
Our flesh will not feel like it sometimes, but if we override the feelings of our flesh, we’ll find any reason to praise God.
We can praise God for sight even if we’re paralyzed in a wheelchair. We can praise Him for family even if we don’t have a dollar to our name. If the closest person to us dies, with tears in our eyes, we can praise God because they’re in the presence of our Father.
If we can breathe, we can praise. Don’t let circumstances dictate your praises. Give God glory no matter what season you’re in.
#praise #the #Lord
Psalms 149:4 NLT For the Lord delights in His people; He crowns the humble with victory.
When we think we don’t need God to handle this or that, that’s not humility. That’s stupidity. Our flesh may not like how God handles certain things or we may feel like God is taking too long, but we can’t argue with His results. Everyone benefits. He gets the glory and we get a solution.
When we feel like we know all there is to know about a subject or something, that’s not humility. Even if we’ve done something 1,000 times, we must still position ourselves to hear from God and be teachable. This is especially necessary for believers who’ve been saved for a long time. If we feel like we know something because we’ve heard it or done it before, we tend to tune out a person when God is speaking through them. There’s always new revelation in God’s word. As we listen to God, we can get another degree of wisdom.
We don’t and we won’t know it all. True humility is recognizing we need God in every area of our lives. As we learn how to continously and consistently humble ourselves, we’ll experience greater victories.
#experience #greater #listen #godly #wisdom
Psalms 148:14 NLT He has made His people strong, honoring His faithful ones— the people of Israel who are close to him. Praise the Lord!
Whether we know it or not, as God’s people, we are strong. We’re not strong because of how disciplined we are or how focused we can be. We’re strong because of Him. We have the God of the universe living inside of us and through Him, we can do all things (Phil. 4:13).
Through Him, we can overcome bad habits, we can change our personalities, and we can discipline our flesh. Using His power working through us, we can stop literal storms, change atmospheres, and raise the dead.
The only thing that holds back the strength we have is our ignorance, unbelief, and doubt.
Ignorance: If we don’t know we have certain strengths, we’ll never use them. Get in God’s word and see what type of strength and authority we have.
Unbelief: If we see ourselves as only human and don’t believe we have the strength to do something, God’s power will not flow through us. Meditate in God’s word about the strength we have in Him until unbelief becomes faith.
Doubt: Doubt is similar to unbelief. It’s faith that has been tainted. Maybe we’ve tried to use our strengths in certain areas, but for whatever reason, it didn’t work. Doubt then enters our hearts and short circuits our strength. Hear and meditate on our strengths in God’s word until convinced of our authority. Don’t let experience change the truth in God’s word.
As God’s people, we are strong. Know and exercise your strengths for God’s glory and to make this world better.
#we #are #strong #in #Christ
Psalms 147:3 NLT He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.
The transition of a loved one, a divorce, or continuous issues in life can leave us brokenhearted. We may not know where to go and we may not feel like living anymore.
It’s during these difficult times when we need to see God as a loving Father. He’s not just the God of the universe, but a loving Father who wants to care for us and help us through tough seasons.
We can tell Him everything we’re going through and everything we’re feeling. Even if we’re mad at Him, He’s able to take it.
After venting, if we rely on Him during these moments, He’ll provide comfort and give us strategies to get through each day. Eventually, we’ll get to a place where the memory of the event is there, but the pain is gone.
He’s a healer of not only our bodies, but our emotions too.
#God #heals #restores #redeems #renews
Psalms 146:3-4 NLT Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them.
Presidents, Prime Ministers, kings, queens, and other politicians have made promises to people. Unfortunately, a lot of people have put their confidence in the promises and plans of these powerful people. So much so they’re willing to literally fight for their political party and in some cases, take the life of another person. This is carnal.
Psalms 146:5 But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God.
As we can see from verse 5, our hope should be in God. If the title is removed from these individuals, they’re just basic people with flaws. God has been and will always be perfect. He has no faults and He has all the best answers.
Based on that, wisdom should tell us to put our hope in God instead of people. Even if they’re currently powerful, their power is miniscule compared to God. If our hope is in people, we’re only looking in the natural, which is carnal. Our hope should remain in God.
So regardless of what a “powerful” person does or doesn’t do, we’re not shaken. We can still maintain friendships and be cordial with people regardless of their political association because our hope is in God.
#hope #trust #in #God #alone
Psalms 145:2 NLT I will praise you every day; yes, I will praise you forever.
Every single day, there’s a reason to praise the Lord. Here’s a list of the most basic reasons to praise God:
Jesus’s sacrifice
Air to breathe
Food
Clothes
Functionality of our limbs
When facing challenges, the devil tends to magnify the challenges and minimize the blessings we currently have. If we fall for this trap, it can seem difficult to praise the Lord.
There will always be a reason to praise the Lord and nothing should stop us from giving Him praise.
Every morning and throughout the day, continously praise our God.
#I #will #praise #God
Psalms 144:1 NLT Praise the Lord, who is my rock. He trains my hands for war and gives my fingers skill for battle.
It’s our decision to allow God to be our rock. A rock is stable ground that is impenetrable and can be built upon.
When everything around us is shaken, we can place our hope in the rock. We may not know where we’re going to get the money or how we’ll recover from these health issues, but we can find peace in the rock.
Everything else around us is sinking sand. The economy, the promises of politicians, the medical field are all unstable. The only thing that we can truly depend on is God Almighty.
If we find ourselves worried, stressed, or confused, it’s because we’re depending on something other than the rock. Depend on and maintain your dependence on our Father, Who is the rock.
#depend #on #God
Psalms 143:4 NLT I am losing all hope; I am paralyzed with fear.
Psalms 143:7 NLT Come quickly, Lord, and answer me, for my depression deepens. Don’t turn away from me, or I will die.
During our time with God, it’s highly beneficial to be honest, open, and transparent with our emotions. With God, we don’t have to act like we have it altogether. We can tell Him our fears, worries, and concerns. If we can’t be real with God, Who knows everything about us, who can we be real with?
We don’t just vent to God and get everything off our chests and leave. We wait and listen for His comfort and solutions.
For instance, after expressing our concerns to God about what the doctor said about our health, we wait for His comfort and solutions through the Holy Spirit. His comfort and solutions may sound something like this…
It’s okay. No need to concern yourself with what the doctor said. I have already made healing available for you through Jesus. Find and read every scripture in the Bible about healing. Do this for a week. Don’t tell anyone else about your health concerns. Just declare you’re healed.
If we’re honest with God and follow His instructions, we’ll experience peace in the midst of a difficult situation. Secondly, we must choose to not let those concerns or fears back in our lives. Every time a concern enters our minds, we must declare what the Word says about that subject. When we do what God said, we’ll experience the manifestation of what we desire.
#castcares #on #God #gain #peace
Psalms 142:2-3 NLT I pour out my complaints before Him and tell Him all my troubles. When I am overwhelmed, you alone know the way I should turn. Wherever I go, my enemies have set traps for me.
People like to say don’t tell God about your problems, but tell your problems about God. There’s a time for that, but it’s advantageous for us to initially give all our problems to God (1 Peter 5:7). We do that during our time of intimate fellowship with Him.
When life puts us to the test and we feel like we’re at our wits’ end, we can turn to God and tell Him all about it. We can tell Him our worries, cares, concerns, and fears. Once we vent and get our cares off our chest, we need to wait and listen for His guidance and direction. We can even write down His instructions.
There’s no need to complain about life to our friends or family. And unless God instructs us to, it’s unnecessary for us to go see a therapist. We can get all the help we need from God.
Maintain your peace, joy, and sanity by consistently having intimate fellowship with God where we tell Him about the problems we’re facing. But be sure to wait on His guidance and direction.
#therapy #sessions #with #God #heals
Psalms 141:5 NLT Let the godly strike me! It will be a kindness! If they correct me, it is soothing medicine. Don’t let me refuse it. But I pray constantly against the wicked and their deeds.
We’re living in a time where it seems like no one wants to be corrected. As a result of this lack of correction, some children are acting out in schools because they can’t be corrected by teachers and they rarely receive correction from their parents. Certain adults can’t keep a job because they can’t accept correction. And some marriages are ending in divorce because some view correction as an attack.
Scripturally, correction is a good thing. When our brothers and sisters correct us in love, it’s beneficial to our character. Correction is helpful to our spiritual development, it helps us be more tolerable, and helps us be more useful in the Kingdom of God.
Let’s put down our pride and ego and learn to receive correction. It only make us better.
#godlycorrection #profitable
Graced To Do God's Will 