[I didn't have a chance to post this on Sunday, but I wanted to share what I got yesterday anyway].
And the costliest! It took the Israelites 40 years in the wilderness to get it! What is that asset? Humility! How rare is it? Just look around you. I look into my own heart and life, and I'm not even sure it's there. But one thing I do know, I've been through the wilderness (seems like 40 years anyway!), and now that it's time to enter the Promised Land. I'm hoping the wilderness experience did it's job, and I will be able to walk humble and not stumble.
"And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not." Deuteronomy 8:2
The blessings and requirements of the Promised Land demand the character of humility! We won't be able to stand, much less bring glory to God, if we are in pride. The Lord makes it clear that the temptations to pride will be great in our new territory. Just think: He has to remove seven mighty "nations" to make room for you! He will be so big in you that He's going to have to take down a lot of the works of the devil that you encounter in your new land to make room for you and His work! Seven - a completed number - He won't leave anything there to torment you if you will totally submit to Him and follow His directions! This is good promise here!! Grab it! Hold on!
In Luke we get a great picture of Jesus honoring humility: Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Luke 7:44-48 NKJV
Worship Jesus in humility, and it's a sweet-smelling fragrance to Him and to others!
One key to humility is remembering the works of God in your life - staying thankful for His grace, salvation and forgiveness. One hindrance to humility is condemnation! This might sound contradictory, but it's not. Pharisees and other hypocrites join right in with the devil in seeing us in the sin of our present and past, and naming us with it. This does not help us stay humble, it gets our eyes on our self and lies to us - so don't join it, rebuke it! No matter what your past is, He's got a good plan for you. When Jesus calls us "Forgiven" we are forgiven. He called us that on the cross! It's up to us to believe that, grab a hold of it, thank Him for it, and walk in the freedom from our sin that He bought for us.
Humility in our heart will keep us in constant dependency on God, and impel us to remain current with our repentance. We may be maturing in the Lord, but we still need forgiveness - and we still need our feet washed. If Jesus could allow a woman with a "bad reputation" to wash His feet, we can certainly let Him wash ours!
Agreeing with God is the essence of true humility. Agree with Him about His promises to make you great in the heavenly Kingdom. Agree with Him about His lordship, your need for Him, and His "always rightness".
Walk humble, and you won't stumble.
Showing posts with label wilderness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wilderness. Show all posts
Monday, March 28, 2011
Saturday, May 15, 2010
May 15, 2010 Goliath Is Whatever Defies God
The concept of "safety in numbers" doesn't hold up when we're dealing with our own personal nemesis. The armies of Israel were terrified of this one giant. Perhaps that fear came down from the top, as King Saul was afraid too. The challenge was to fight this giant one-on-one, and nobody wanted to do that.
The truth is, we really stand alone against the world, the flesh and the devil. Are you thinking, "that's not right!" Did you ever think about the fact that Jesus Himself stood against Goliath in the wilderness-- alone? ("And the Philistine drew near and presented himself forty days, morning and evening." 1 Samuel 17:16) Goliath isn't just the devil, it's anything that defies God. Dares you to get past it. Intimidates you.
I say that David had already faced his nemesis, and found his Champion! The Scriptures call David a prophet, and I can see why. In some way or another, he saw Jesus in the wilderness defeating the very giant David faced in the Valley of Elah. Seeing himself covered by the Lord, he could easily stand in confidence to face each and every Goliath in his life, and become a champion himself.
This is your destiny! This is your champion mindset; this is what you say to your giant: “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world." John 8:23
You are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus! Find yourself in Him! He has already conquered your nemesis; therefore, there is nothing that can defeat you. You have the five stones of the grace of God. And all it takes is one.
The truth is, we really stand alone against the world, the flesh and the devil. Are you thinking, "that's not right!" Did you ever think about the fact that Jesus Himself stood against Goliath in the wilderness-- alone? ("And the Philistine drew near and presented himself forty days, morning and evening." 1 Samuel 17:16) Goliath isn't just the devil, it's anything that defies God. Dares you to get past it. Intimidates you.
I say that David had already faced his nemesis, and found his Champion! The Scriptures call David a prophet, and I can see why. In some way or another, he saw Jesus in the wilderness defeating the very giant David faced in the Valley of Elah. Seeing himself covered by the Lord, he could easily stand in confidence to face each and every Goliath in his life, and become a champion himself.
This is your destiny! This is your champion mindset; this is what you say to your giant: “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world." John 8:23
You are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus! Find yourself in Him! He has already conquered your nemesis; therefore, there is nothing that can defeat you. You have the five stones of the grace of God. And all it takes is one.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
March 20, 2010
Have you ever been "in the wilderness" experiencing God's spiritual feast while you are distanced from earthly things? I believe it's a necessary place to be in preparation for ministry. Jesus was there, and while He was, Satan came to tempt and test Him. I see three areas He was tempted in: 1) His physical existence, 2) His purpose, and 3) His identity. In any one of these areas, He could have reacted according to the flesh, but He walked in the Spirit and overcame with God's Word. We can all do the same, with His help.
In the area of physical existence, we are constantly challenged to rise above the worldly way of living and follow God's instructions. He is to be our source in every way. The wilderness shows us where we are relying on things other than God to sustain us and meet our needs. As a personal example, when I fasted from shopping I became aware of how I was using it to cope with anxiety.
In the area of purpose, did you notice the theme of "authority" being expanded? That again could be a whole blog in itself! Let's just think about Jesus' purpose. He knew what He was supposed to do, but it was obviously not to be done the way Satan suggested. It looks obvious here to us as we read it, but our enemy tries the same approach on all of us-- it just seems more subtle when we're in the middle of it.
We have to be on our guard, particularly when we feel we are clear on what our calling is and we are headed for it. Satan will try to avert us from the path of truth and get us to accomplish, in our own strength, whatever God has told us to do. If we didn't pass the "physical existence" test, we will be easy prey in this area. Look what happened to Balaam. It seemed that he had repented from his oracle-for-pay lifestyle, but today we read that he was responsible for a despicable plan to bring Israel down. He was slain in the vengence against Midian. What a reminder to maintain the fear of the Lord and not be driven by greed! I'm sure greed is the reason many called prophetic people err, and even become false.
If the enemy can't stop you with the first two assaults, he will aim at the heart of your being. "Who are you, really?" "Why would God ever do that for you?" I have many times, during this kind of test, felt like a delusional person while the enemy taunts me with "you are nobody" and "you're just nacissistic." When my pastor shared that Jesus' last reply was "It is said," Luke 4:12, it revolutionized my understanding of the wilderness experience. It's when the Lord has applied Scripture to you, or given you a vision, etc., and you've received it in your heart ("You are my child." "This is what we're going to do."), that you can use Biblical truth to overcome the lies of the enemy. Just quoting Scripture isn't going to do it if you don't believe the Word in your heart. And it doesn't have to be written word-for-word in the Bible if it's truth from God (you should test everything you hear or see against Scripture to make sure).
Again, you can use whatever God had said to you, or shown you in any way, as part of your warfare. Here's an example. During my second pregnancy, the Lord said to me "Your baby is going to come early, but it's going to be alright." Not long after, I had a dream (or vision) of my son grown up. There were many times, during the course of labor and delivery, two months early, and afterwards while my son was very ill or had problems, I held on to the words and vision from the Lord. Scripture all backed me up in my faith, of course, but it was the strength of direct revelation from the Lord that kept me going in the middle of distress. Many times I had to refuse to follow advice from "experts." Now, my son is grown up and married, and he is a wonderful, talented and successful man of God. And I know that God's not done fulfilling His word. Praise the Lord!
That was a lot of words to say: embrace the wilderness-- because when you come forth, having been tried by fire, you will see the word of the Lord fulfilled.
In the area of physical existence, we are constantly challenged to rise above the worldly way of living and follow God's instructions. He is to be our source in every way. The wilderness shows us where we are relying on things other than God to sustain us and meet our needs. As a personal example, when I fasted from shopping I became aware of how I was using it to cope with anxiety.
In the area of purpose, did you notice the theme of "authority" being expanded? That again could be a whole blog in itself! Let's just think about Jesus' purpose. He knew what He was supposed to do, but it was obviously not to be done the way Satan suggested. It looks obvious here to us as we read it, but our enemy tries the same approach on all of us-- it just seems more subtle when we're in the middle of it.
We have to be on our guard, particularly when we feel we are clear on what our calling is and we are headed for it. Satan will try to avert us from the path of truth and get us to accomplish, in our own strength, whatever God has told us to do. If we didn't pass the "physical existence" test, we will be easy prey in this area. Look what happened to Balaam. It seemed that he had repented from his oracle-for-pay lifestyle, but today we read that he was responsible for a despicable plan to bring Israel down. He was slain in the vengence against Midian. What a reminder to maintain the fear of the Lord and not be driven by greed! I'm sure greed is the reason many called prophetic people err, and even become false.
If the enemy can't stop you with the first two assaults, he will aim at the heart of your being. "Who are you, really?" "Why would God ever do that for you?" I have many times, during this kind of test, felt like a delusional person while the enemy taunts me with "you are nobody" and "you're just nacissistic." When my pastor shared that Jesus' last reply was "It is said," Luke 4:12, it revolutionized my understanding of the wilderness experience. It's when the Lord has applied Scripture to you, or given you a vision, etc., and you've received it in your heart ("You are my child." "This is what we're going to do."), that you can use Biblical truth to overcome the lies of the enemy. Just quoting Scripture isn't going to do it if you don't believe the Word in your heart. And it doesn't have to be written word-for-word in the Bible if it's truth from God (you should test everything you hear or see against Scripture to make sure).
Again, you can use whatever God had said to you, or shown you in any way, as part of your warfare. Here's an example. During my second pregnancy, the Lord said to me "Your baby is going to come early, but it's going to be alright." Not long after, I had a dream (or vision) of my son grown up. There were many times, during the course of labor and delivery, two months early, and afterwards while my son was very ill or had problems, I held on to the words and vision from the Lord. Scripture all backed me up in my faith, of course, but it was the strength of direct revelation from the Lord that kept me going in the middle of distress. Many times I had to refuse to follow advice from "experts." Now, my son is grown up and married, and he is a wonderful, talented and successful man of God. And I know that God's not done fulfilling His word. Praise the Lord!
That was a lot of words to say: embrace the wilderness-- because when you come forth, having been tried by fire, you will see the word of the Lord fulfilled.
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