Resistance

Are you feeling any RESISTANCE in your life?

Resistance = opposition, struggle, obstruction, a barrier, something holding you back

Resistance is experienced when there is MOVEMENT.

Have you ever tried to run in water? There is no Resistance until you try to Move. 

The Holy Spirit is always moving. His desire is to Move in our lives and for us to follow where He leads. As we begin to grow in Relationship with Jesus and obey His Word (Scripture) we most certainly will encounter Resistance.

The greater the work the Lord wants to accomplish in you, the greater the Resistance often will be.

The key is to keep our Identity in Christ, not focusing on our own abilities and plans. 

Acts 17:28a

For in Him we live and MOVE and exist.

In Him. 

In Him, in Jesus, we live and Move.

If you are truly in Him, and He is in you, the Resistance is because you are Moving!

Expect it! Look for it!

It is in the Resistance that we are Strengthened!

Have you ever lifted weights before? Muscle and strength is forged through the Resistance!

Now consider this: If God is working in your life through His Word being founded in your heart, and the Holy Spirit has begun Moving in your life, who is causing the Resistance?

1 Peter 5:8

Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

We sometimes think, If I am a Christian, no troubles will come my way. This is not what the Bible teaches. We must heed this warning to Stay Alert!

In fact, we are told to turn the Resistance on to the devil as he tries to drag us down!

James 4:7

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

The first key here is to Submit yourself to God. This means to give in, to yield to, to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus in your life. If we are submitted to God, we are choosing to obey His Word, rather than fall into the devil's plan for our lives.

That is how we resist him. Then the scripture promises this will send the devil fleeing from us! Running scared!

An un-submitted, disobedient child of God will not see victory in his life.

So get into the Scriptures today. Stand on His Word and Resist the Enemy. In time, you willsee Victory.

1 John 5:4

For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this Victory through our Faith.

Be Still

The other night as I was lying in bed, the Lord spoke to me about the prophet Elijah.

In 1 Kings 18 Elijah has one of the greatest victories over evil in a spiritual battle and confrontation with the so-called prophets of Baal. 

One Prophet of Yahweh vs. 450 prophets of Baal. 

The CONTEST: Whose God can send Fire from Heaven to burn the Sacrifice?

Victory: Elijah

It is an amazing story as Elijah defeats the prophets of Baal. You should read it today!

If that were not enough, he then prophesies to the king that a 3-1/2 Year drought will now end with a great rain storm.

Victory: Elijah

But Wait! There's more!

He then runs 15 Miles from Mount Carmel to Jezreel FASTER than the king's horse and chariot!!

Victory: Elijah

Then we turn the page...to chapter 19.

The king tells his infamous wife, Queen Jezebel, that all her prophets were defeated and executed by Elijah. She is so furious she issues a Death Warrant on Elijah.

Elijah turns and runs for his life!

He finds himself in the wilderness. The Bible says in 1 Kings 19:4,

He prayed that he might die, and said, "It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!"

Wait a second. Isn't this Mr. Victory we are talking about? He just scored a Hat-trick on the devil! 

Now he's running scared and wants to die?!!

Can you relate? 

We go through times of God's blessing in our lives that can be quite amazing...but eventually challenges do arise. 

I can imagine Elijah's victories, though exhilarating, left him drained and weary. 

The Good News is that God was not going to leave Elijah in that state. He did not bring Elijah that far to leave him now.

An Angel came and ministered to him, feeding him and giving him a drink. This food was supernatural as he did not have to eat or drink again for 40 days! 

He journeyed all the way to Mount Horeb, also known as, Mount Sinai, where Moses had received the 10 Commandments!

There he had another supernatural experience. 

The Lord asked him, "What are you doing here Elijah?"

Elijah replied, "I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life."

When we feel overwhelmed in life, we have a tendency to isolate ourselves from others and paint a picture of reality in our minds that is often exaggerated. 

11 Then God said, "Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord." And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord,
but the Lord was not in the wind; 

and after the wind an earthquake,
but the Lord was not in the earthquake; 

12 and after the earthquake a fire,
but the Lord was not in the fire; 

and after the fire, a still small voice.

Again the Lord asks what Elijah is doing there. Elijah answers again with the same words of defeat.

However, God was not finished with Elijah! He gave him new direction and encouraged him that Elijah was NOT ALONE. There were actually 7,000 others still faithful to Yahweh!

Elijah went on to defeat his enemy, Queen Jezebel. 

The Lord wants to bring us to Victory over our enemies as well! (Not people, but spiritual victory over our true enemy, the devil).

King David had written this Psalm; as I was meditating on the story of Elijah, I felt I received a new personal revelation about it.

Psalm 46:10 (NKJV)

Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!

What the Holy Spirit showed me was first, what this DOES NOT mean.

• To Be Still does not mean: Give Up
• To Be Still does not mean: God will do whatever He wants so...Que Sera Sera 
• To Be Still does not mean: Stop Engaging your Faith

To Be Still and KNOW that He IS God, is to Still and Quiet your Emotions and Feelings and Thoughts that are contrary to the Promises of God and His Nature.

To quiet your Doubt and to come to the intimate knowledge of your Savior's willingness and plan to deliver and rescue you no matter what problems in life you are up against.

Most of us are not in the situation of an Evil Witch-Queen declaring a death sentence on us.

We cannot Know He is God when we are lead by our feelings. 

Matthew 11:28 (NLT)

Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."

Be still.

Deception

Have you ever considered the topic of Deceit?

As Christians we all know being deceived is the last thing you want to happen to you. We have all seen others that were deceived and the path of destruction in their lives as they pursue something other than the Truth.

The problem is, when you are deceived...you don't know you are deceived...because you are...

Deceived.

It almost seems a deceived person is not responsible for what they do, if they don't realize what they are doing is wrong.

I know this may be a bit philosophical...

I am reminded of the Apostle Paul before his encounter with Jesus on the Road to Damascus. Paul was a Pharisee, a Religious Leader, filled with more Zeal for God than any other...

Yet, he was TOTALLY deceived into thinking that Jesus (the True Messiah and Son of God), was the leader of a false religion.

His deception caused him to pursue arresting and putting Christians to death.

Wow. 

So how do we as Believers keep ourselves from falling into Deception that leads us away from Christ?

Look at this scripture:

Proverbs 12:20 NLT - Deceit fills hearts that are plotting evil; joy fills hearts that are planning peace!

There is a clue here as to one way Deceit enters the heart...through the Plotting of Evil.

This often begins with Jealousy & Envy as we see another person doing well in life.

Here is a Serious Scripture in James to consider:

James 4:1-6 (NLT) - What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don't they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can't get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong-you want only what will give you pleasure. 
4 You adulterers! Don't you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. 5 Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit he has placed within us should be faithful to him. 6 And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say,

"God opposes the proud
    but gives grace to the humble."

He is writing this to Christians!

He answers the question: "How does a Christian get to the point of being murderous or adulterous?"

Obviously, one in this state has been greatly Deceived.

Here in these Last Days before the Lord's Return, this is a very serious issue. Scripture teaches clearly the Deceit of these Last Days and the hatred that will fill the hearts of men, causing some Christians to even fall away from the Truth.

Consider this final scripture:

Proverbs 6:12-15 NLT- What are worthless and wicked people like?

They are constant liars, 13 signaling their deceit with a wink of the eye, a nudge of the foot, or the wiggle of fingers. 14 Their perverted hearts plot evil, and they constantly stir up trouble. 15 But they will be destroyed suddenly, broken in an instant beyond all hope of healing.

Serious Stuff!

However, we need not fear if we continue to pursue Jesus and Love Him with all our Hearts, Minds, and Strength! And Love our Neighbor as ourselves!

Lord, we Humble ourselves before You today. We choose to rejoice when others are blessed by You. We thank You for Loving us and caring for us. We pray You make us effective in Your Kingdom as we reflect your Love to others.

Amen!

Human Effort

Do you know the Story of Israel?

Israel was the Grandson of Abraham. His name was originally Jacob, which in the Hebrew means, "Heel," or "Heel-Grabber" or "Supplanter."

He was named this because he was the 2nd born of twins. As his brother Esau was born, Jacob grabbed his heel.

This would become the theme of his life, as later through lies and deception, he stole Esau's position as firstborn and the Spiritual Blessing reserved for the firstborn.

Living as a Liar & Deceiver, things actually seemed to go really well for him for a good while.

So many people are willing to do sinful things to get ahead of others...to gain and promote themselves...to obtain and to enrich them-selves...but in the end, How satisfying is it to Gain through Living a Lie?

That was Jacob's Life.

In the end, living out of his Human Effort was lame...and you also end up...Lame...living this way.

Jacob had an encounter with God one night as he found himself in a wrestling match with an "angel." I believe this was actually Jesus Himself showing up in the Old Testament. You can study that on your own.

It was through this encounter that his hip was made lame, and he walked with a limp the rest of his life. Yet, he realized he had been face to face with God Almighty and no longer had to live the Lies, in his Human Effort.

The Lord gave him a New Identity!

It is so much better to live from Godly Favor than your Human Effort!

Question: are you enjoying what Christ has made you, purely by His Divine Plan for you, rather than your Human Effort?

Colossians 3:1-3 (NLT)

3 Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For *YOU DIED TO THIS LIFE, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.

*(living by your Human Effort)

We now Identify with Christ's Death and Resurrection! We are a New Creation in Christ Jesus!