The third smooth stone that God has given us that quickly brings down the giant opposing us is praying in the Spirit. Jesus Christ himself said that it was better for us - more expedient - more profitable for us that He would go to the Father so the Holy Spirit could come individually to each one of us. The Holy Spirit is called the Promise of the Father, the Comforter, our Teacher, the one who leads and guides us into all truth and the one who brings to rememberance what Jesus Christ has said.
According to 1Cor. 14 (which describes the gift of the Holy Spirit and the power of praying in tongues), verse 2 says,"He who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God." Verse 4 says,"He who speaks in a tongue edifies (means builds up, strengthens, fortifies) himself." Verse 5 says,"I wish you ALL spoke in tongues." Verse 14 says,"For if I pray in a tongue my Spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful." This means praying in the Spirit bypasses my natural mind and is the Spirit of Christ within me praying through my earthen vessel. Psalm 81:10b says,"Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it."
Also, 1Cor 15:16-17 notes while I am praying in tongues I am blessing well and giving thanks well. Our mouths are given to us to bless and to thank - to praise and to encourage so praying in the Spirit is accomplishing these very important purposes. In verse 18, Paul thanks God that he speaks in tongues MORE than you all. Paul is expressing gratitude for this gift of God that brings strength, power, wisdom and love to me.
The gift of the Holy Spirit was given to us by Father and is the gift of the Spirit of His Son - Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit brings with Him all of His gifts as well, which according to 1Cor 12 are word of wisdom, word of knowledge, gifts of faith, gifts of healings, gifts of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues and interpretations of tongues. Verse 11 says it is the Holy Spirit's good will to work these things severally and individually. This means that it is the good will of God to have each of these gifts personally and in abundance. God is NOT stingy with His gifts, but is lavish and bestows them for the profit of you and the other humans in your life.
This gift from the Father is so vital to our mission and quality of life that our enemy opposes it in every way he can connive. Your enemy will try to make you think it is you or jibberish or contrived or unnecessary or unprofitable or perhaps even "from the devil". This is the slant he puts on this gift so that you will not employ it. His purpose is ALWAYS to keep you under him. Praying in tongues edifies you and puts you over - over the circumstance, the enemy, your natural ability to think through the situation in your own understanding, etc. The Word cautions us not to lean on, rely on or depend on our own understanding, but in all our ways acknowledge HIm. Praying in tongues acknowledges Him. Speaking in tongues is the Spirit of God speaking, is a language, is from God, is for you, is necessary and is hugely profitable.
Jesus Christ died to purchase this gift of speaking in tongues for you. Do not let your flesh or your enemy diminish the power and purpose of this gift. You NEED to speak in tongues regularly. You NEED to exercise this gift. This is one way the Holy Spirit supplies your NEEDS. Praying in tongues is a key lifeline. Do not leave off doing this very important and valuable activity...it is a privilege granted to you by Christ. Praying in the Spirit is the ultimate love language - you loving Him and His love flowing to you. Any time the enemy tries to diminish the value of this gift in your eyes, know the OPPOSITE is true and push through to the treasure. Don't give up - you can do ALL things because Christ is supplying His strength to you!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Slaying the giants in your land - Smooth Stone #2
Smooth Stone #2 is Giving God Thanks. Being grateful is health to your body and health to your relationships between God and between other humans. When you give thanks, you overcome the evil of discontent , envy, jealousy and self pity. Gratefulness is the ancedote for those distructive poisons. Thanking other people and thanking God is an action that repells Satan.
Praising God and Giving Thanks are the quickest way to bring down the giants that are trying to take you captive. These two smooth stones are so highly effective because your enemy will never praise God or give God thanks - so when you do, he flees. Praising and thanking is opposite to Satan's nature so that's why it's so beneficial to you.
Don't wait to thank until you recieve something you deem "thank-worthy". Start immediately to voice what you have or see or even believe to see. Start with phrases like, "Thank you for the sunshine!", "Thank you for shoes on my feet", "Thank you for drive thrus", coffee, good books...anything! Often we just recieve these things and don't thank for them. We are worse off for not giving voice to our gratitude. Giving thanks is the difference between being a consumer instead of a receiver. A consumer takes - takes - takes, but a receiver receives and gives thanks.
Giving thanks changes how you feel (for the better)! One of the reasons giving thanks changes how you feel is that giving thanks repels the opporession of the enemy. Often times our enemy pushes "feeling buttons" that are not truly our feelings, but are intrusions into our world to make us think in wrong ways and go down wrong paths. These wrong paths end in trashed relationships, bitterness, squelched opportunites, walking according to the flesh, etc. These erroneous thoughts and feelings feed our flesh and quench the Holy Spirit's work in the very situations we're hoping will work out well.
The One we should be quenching is not the Holy Spirit, but the kingdom of darkness. Thanksgiving quenches, thwarts and destroys the agenda of that dark kingdom AND makes the way for the good will of God to be accomplished in our situation. The Bible says to give thanks to God for all things for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Many people think you are thanking God for the circumstance and thinking the circumstance is the will of God for you. That's what religion has done to this passage. The TRUTH is that giving thanks is the will of God for you and giving thanks changes you and your response to the circumstances and often the very circumstances themselves.
It is nearly impossible to start saying words of thankfulness without a smile overtaking your face and soon, your disposition. So open your mouth and GIVE THANKS and PRAISE - this sends your enemy packing and brings the joy of the Lord.
Praising God and Giving Thanks are the quickest way to bring down the giants that are trying to take you captive. These two smooth stones are so highly effective because your enemy will never praise God or give God thanks - so when you do, he flees. Praising and thanking is opposite to Satan's nature so that's why it's so beneficial to you.
Don't wait to thank until you recieve something you deem "thank-worthy". Start immediately to voice what you have or see or even believe to see. Start with phrases like, "Thank you for the sunshine!", "Thank you for shoes on my feet", "Thank you for drive thrus", coffee, good books...anything! Often we just recieve these things and don't thank for them. We are worse off for not giving voice to our gratitude. Giving thanks is the difference between being a consumer instead of a receiver. A consumer takes - takes - takes, but a receiver receives and gives thanks.
Giving thanks changes how you feel (for the better)! One of the reasons giving thanks changes how you feel is that giving thanks repels the opporession of the enemy. Often times our enemy pushes "feeling buttons" that are not truly our feelings, but are intrusions into our world to make us think in wrong ways and go down wrong paths. These wrong paths end in trashed relationships, bitterness, squelched opportunites, walking according to the flesh, etc. These erroneous thoughts and feelings feed our flesh and quench the Holy Spirit's work in the very situations we're hoping will work out well.
The One we should be quenching is not the Holy Spirit, but the kingdom of darkness. Thanksgiving quenches, thwarts and destroys the agenda of that dark kingdom AND makes the way for the good will of God to be accomplished in our situation. The Bible says to give thanks to God for all things for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Many people think you are thanking God for the circumstance and thinking the circumstance is the will of God for you. That's what religion has done to this passage. The TRUTH is that giving thanks is the will of God for you and giving thanks changes you and your response to the circumstances and often the very circumstances themselves.
It is nearly impossible to start saying words of thankfulness without a smile overtaking your face and soon, your disposition. So open your mouth and GIVE THANKS and PRAISE - this sends your enemy packing and brings the joy of the Lord.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Slaying the giants in your land - Smooth Stone #1
Putting God's Word into practice - that's what we want to do. When David was facing Goliath, he first went to the river bed, picked up five smooth stones and put them in his bag. Why FIVE smooth stones? Goliath had four brothers. In your life, God has give you five smooth stones. They are in your bag and they will subdue Goliath and all his brothers.
The first of the five smooth stones is PRAISE. God instructs us to praise Him not because He has a big ego and needs to hear how great He is. No! He tells us to praise Him because WE need to hear how great HE is. Plus our enemy needs to be told what we know about God and His power. Praise is us saying what God is and what He has done. Praise is not warm fuzzies and emotional dribble about how we "feel" about God. There is a place for that emotional display, but praise is something very different.
Praise is you telling you Who God is and What God has done. When you praise God, your inner ear hears the Truth which will subdue what your eyes are seeing (i.e. the circumstance). This is putting into practice "walking by faith and not by sight". Praise is re-MINDING you of the power of God over those circumstances you are looking at and over the emotions you are feeling. Because Jesus Christ stripped the devil of all his powers, deceit is the enemy's ONLY option. Using deceit, the enemy plants thoughts and pushes emotional buttons to try and get you to be your own worst enemy and act contrary to God and to your best interest. DON'T TAKE THE BAIT! It's not you - it's your enemy. Recognize the difference. Then, use praise to send the enemy packing! Praising God is your trump card - it beats the enemy every time.
How does the smooth stone get from you to the giant's head to bring him down? The slingshot that give velocity and direction to that smooth stone is your very own mouth. God provides everything you need - you just need to open up your mouth and SAY IT!
Next blog will reveal smooth stone #2!
The first of the five smooth stones is PRAISE. God instructs us to praise Him not because He has a big ego and needs to hear how great He is. No! He tells us to praise Him because WE need to hear how great HE is. Plus our enemy needs to be told what we know about God and His power. Praise is us saying what God is and what He has done. Praise is not warm fuzzies and emotional dribble about how we "feel" about God. There is a place for that emotional display, but praise is something very different.
Praise is you telling you Who God is and What God has done. When you praise God, your inner ear hears the Truth which will subdue what your eyes are seeing (i.e. the circumstance). This is putting into practice "walking by faith and not by sight". Praise is re-MINDING you of the power of God over those circumstances you are looking at and over the emotions you are feeling. Because Jesus Christ stripped the devil of all his powers, deceit is the enemy's ONLY option. Using deceit, the enemy plants thoughts and pushes emotional buttons to try and get you to be your own worst enemy and act contrary to God and to your best interest. DON'T TAKE THE BAIT! It's not you - it's your enemy. Recognize the difference. Then, use praise to send the enemy packing! Praising God is your trump card - it beats the enemy every time.
How does the smooth stone get from you to the giant's head to bring him down? The slingshot that give velocity and direction to that smooth stone is your very own mouth. God provides everything you need - you just need to open up your mouth and SAY IT!
Next blog will reveal smooth stone #2!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
To quench or not to quench...and WHO to quench; that is the question.
Dear Ones,
You have been given the greatest gift on this planet...the Holy Spirit of Christ IS the gift of God to us. Christ Jesus thought it so important for you to have the Comforter. He said that this gift would be what would make us different from all others on this planet. When you have the Holy Spirit, you ARE a new creation, i.e., a human being with the very Spirit of Christ living in your earthen body; that had never before happened in the history of this world. Yet, I see many Christians living without allowing this power to transform them and their situations. God told us in 1 Corinthians 14 the value, the perks, the benefits of having this gift. But our enemy tries to do the "Jedi mind trick" by saying things like, "You need to think this through.", "You need to figure this out.", and all other such LIES. The truth is that the Holy Spirit is the only one who knows what you should do and he communicates that to you by by-passing your mind and speaking to your spirit...that what speaking in tongues is--building you up in faith, giving you courage and direction.
The one you need to quench is the father of lies, Satan. His kingdom of darkness will never help you out! He always means to do you harm no matter how fancy he dresses up the lies. I often see Christians letting him talk unhindered. Throughout the day, they listen to his thoughts, reasonings and arguments until they end up adopting these thoughts as their very own. Soon, they are being directed by this mindset into the very pit they need to avoid. All the while, the Holy Spirit is available to that very same human so that they may overcome Evil with the Good that God has given us. The Holy Spirit is good. Praying in the Spirit is good. It is good for you. It is good for the Kingdom of His dear Son. The Holy Spirit will always benefit you. Every transaction with Him will result in good.
For instance,when you "bring a thought captive" to Him, you get wisdom and truth instead of the stinky lies the enemy was trying to pawn off on you. When you "cast your care" on Him, you get peace instead of the turmoil the enemy had planned for you.When you "give thanks" rather than complain, you get power going that will actually change the circumstances for the better! Complaing opens the door for the Destroyer to work against you, but thanks giving slams the door on destruction and makes the way for God's GOOD will to come into your arena.And, best of all, when you praise Him, you send evil FAR from you-praise is your best tool to "resist the devil." Notice how many quotation marks are in the last few sentences...that is because these are quotes from the Bible! These are instructions from God's very own Word that tell us how to overcome.
Being do-ers of the Word results in lfe, life, life(there is the abundant life He came to give us!) but, the enemy desires us to squander that life by worrying, fearing, complaining. Wake up. Shake off those heavy bands, lift up those Holy hands and praise the Lord!! Let ALL God's people Praise the Lord. Say His praises with YOUR mouth. Cleanse the atmosphere around you by praise and thanks.
You have been given the greatest gift on this planet...the Holy Spirit of Christ IS the gift of God to us. Christ Jesus thought it so important for you to have the Comforter. He said that this gift would be what would make us different from all others on this planet. When you have the Holy Spirit, you ARE a new creation, i.e., a human being with the very Spirit of Christ living in your earthen body; that had never before happened in the history of this world. Yet, I see many Christians living without allowing this power to transform them and their situations. God told us in 1 Corinthians 14 the value, the perks, the benefits of having this gift. But our enemy tries to do the "Jedi mind trick" by saying things like, "You need to think this through.", "You need to figure this out.", and all other such LIES. The truth is that the Holy Spirit is the only one who knows what you should do and he communicates that to you by by-passing your mind and speaking to your spirit...that what speaking in tongues is--building you up in faith, giving you courage and direction.
The one you need to quench is the father of lies, Satan. His kingdom of darkness will never help you out! He always means to do you harm no matter how fancy he dresses up the lies. I often see Christians letting him talk unhindered. Throughout the day, they listen to his thoughts, reasonings and arguments until they end up adopting these thoughts as their very own. Soon, they are being directed by this mindset into the very pit they need to avoid. All the while, the Holy Spirit is available to that very same human so that they may overcome Evil with the Good that God has given us. The Holy Spirit is good. Praying in the Spirit is good. It is good for you. It is good for the Kingdom of His dear Son. The Holy Spirit will always benefit you. Every transaction with Him will result in good.
For instance,when you "bring a thought captive" to Him, you get wisdom and truth instead of the stinky lies the enemy was trying to pawn off on you. When you "cast your care" on Him, you get peace instead of the turmoil the enemy had planned for you.When you "give thanks" rather than complain, you get power going that will actually change the circumstances for the better! Complaing opens the door for the Destroyer to work against you, but thanks giving slams the door on destruction and makes the way for God's GOOD will to come into your arena.And, best of all, when you praise Him, you send evil FAR from you-praise is your best tool to "resist the devil." Notice how many quotation marks are in the last few sentences...that is because these are quotes from the Bible! These are instructions from God's very own Word that tell us how to overcome.
Being do-ers of the Word results in lfe, life, life(there is the abundant life He came to give us!) but, the enemy desires us to squander that life by worrying, fearing, complaining. Wake up. Shake off those heavy bands, lift up those Holy hands and praise the Lord!! Let ALL God's people Praise the Lord. Say His praises with YOUR mouth. Cleanse the atmosphere around you by praise and thanks.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Comforted, not condemned
Religion paints the Holy Spirit as the one who convicts us...that nagging - pointing finger that says what you did wrong, what you didn't do well enough, where you fell short again, etc. But God tells us the Holy Spirit has been given to us to COMFORT us, not condemn us. The condemning words are being fed to us by the one who masquerades as an angel of light that sounds pious, but under the thin veil is condemnation.
After listening to the enemy, we are ready to give up and throw in the towel. You feel like you want to shrink away and withdraw because you just can't seem to get anything right. Those feelings and thoughts are the tell-tale sign that the enemy of our soul is talking to us and it's not the Holy Spirit speaking.
The Holy Spirit is given to us as a gift from Father God to comfort us, to give us strength and to give us a steady supply of faith, hope and love. He's the conduit of grace and strength and wisdom. He is extremely generous to us humans. Sometimes we unknowingly quench Him and frustrate His grace because we do not discern WHO is talking to us. When you listen to the enemy, you are quenching the Holy Spirit. When you listen to the Holy Spirit, you are quenching your enemy!
The "business" of overcoming is one of the major reasons we are on this planet. The Holy Spirit is the means that God has chosen to get strength to us to overcome. No wonder the enemy tries to discount and discredit His counsel to us, but when you listen to the Holy Spirit, you want to follow God. When you listen to religion (one of the kingdom of darkness's greatest facades), you feel discouraged, dirty, unworthy, hopeless, etc.
Another tactic of the kingdom of darkness is to get us to leave off praying in the Spirit. The enemy tries to get to us to forget, put off, think it is foolishness, to feel silly - he will use all manner of distractions to keep you from enjoying the power that comes from praying in the Spirit. Remember the enemy is liar and he does not want you to have the power that comes from praying in the Spirit.
In 1 Cor 14, God tells us how valuable the gift of the Holy Spirit is to our daily living. He says praying in the Spirit strengthens us with pure, unadulterated faith. Wow!!! Praying in the Spirit is how we tap into the faith-flow that is always coming from God's throne of grace.
When you don't know what to do and the enemy is trying to confuse you - pray in the Holy Spirit. It won't be long before you'll have an impression or a knowing of what to do (which God will confirm through His words as well).
Next, He tells us that praying in the Spirit bypasses our natural understanding because it is directly from His Spirit, not our minds. You are not making it up (a favorite accusation of the enemy), the Holy Spirit is talking to you and through you.
There are so many benefits of praying in the Spirit. Paul says that when we are praying in the Spirit, we are "blessing well" and "giving thanks well". We are designed by God to thrive by those two activities - giving thanks and blessing. Our mouths are supposed to be filled with words of thanks and praise both to God and toward our fellow humans. It is no surprise the enemy would rather we complain, murmur, are unkind in our words, ungrateful to God and to the other humans. Those are the enemy's speech patterns and when we are talking this way, it is because our hearts are full of his garbage thoughts (remember out of the abundance of the heart, our mouth speaks).
Do you see the contrast between the Holy Spirit and the enemy? The Holy Spirit "talk" is giving thanks, blessing, praising, encouraging, etc. The enemy's talk is cursing, blaming, criticizing, finding fault, discouraging, etc. You will be filled with power, strength, courage, hope and faith when you are praying in the Spirit. Conversely, the enemy will rob you of those very things if you don't press through to keep that supply line open. It is there for you - it is a gift and it's yours!
After listening to the enemy, we are ready to give up and throw in the towel. You feel like you want to shrink away and withdraw because you just can't seem to get anything right. Those feelings and thoughts are the tell-tale sign that the enemy of our soul is talking to us and it's not the Holy Spirit speaking.
The Holy Spirit is given to us as a gift from Father God to comfort us, to give us strength and to give us a steady supply of faith, hope and love. He's the conduit of grace and strength and wisdom. He is extremely generous to us humans. Sometimes we unknowingly quench Him and frustrate His grace because we do not discern WHO is talking to us. When you listen to the enemy, you are quenching the Holy Spirit. When you listen to the Holy Spirit, you are quenching your enemy!
The "business" of overcoming is one of the major reasons we are on this planet. The Holy Spirit is the means that God has chosen to get strength to us to overcome. No wonder the enemy tries to discount and discredit His counsel to us, but when you listen to the Holy Spirit, you want to follow God. When you listen to religion (one of the kingdom of darkness's greatest facades), you feel discouraged, dirty, unworthy, hopeless, etc.
Another tactic of the kingdom of darkness is to get us to leave off praying in the Spirit. The enemy tries to get to us to forget, put off, think it is foolishness, to feel silly - he will use all manner of distractions to keep you from enjoying the power that comes from praying in the Spirit. Remember the enemy is liar and he does not want you to have the power that comes from praying in the Spirit.
In 1 Cor 14, God tells us how valuable the gift of the Holy Spirit is to our daily living. He says praying in the Spirit strengthens us with pure, unadulterated faith. Wow!!! Praying in the Spirit is how we tap into the faith-flow that is always coming from God's throne of grace.
When you don't know what to do and the enemy is trying to confuse you - pray in the Holy Spirit. It won't be long before you'll have an impression or a knowing of what to do (which God will confirm through His words as well).
Next, He tells us that praying in the Spirit bypasses our natural understanding because it is directly from His Spirit, not our minds. You are not making it up (a favorite accusation of the enemy), the Holy Spirit is talking to you and through you.
There are so many benefits of praying in the Spirit. Paul says that when we are praying in the Spirit, we are "blessing well" and "giving thanks well". We are designed by God to thrive by those two activities - giving thanks and blessing. Our mouths are supposed to be filled with words of thanks and praise both to God and toward our fellow humans. It is no surprise the enemy would rather we complain, murmur, are unkind in our words, ungrateful to God and to the other humans. Those are the enemy's speech patterns and when we are talking this way, it is because our hearts are full of his garbage thoughts (remember out of the abundance of the heart, our mouth speaks).
Do you see the contrast between the Holy Spirit and the enemy? The Holy Spirit "talk" is giving thanks, blessing, praising, encouraging, etc. The enemy's talk is cursing, blaming, criticizing, finding fault, discouraging, etc. You will be filled with power, strength, courage, hope and faith when you are praying in the Spirit. Conversely, the enemy will rob you of those very things if you don't press through to keep that supply line open. It is there for you - it is a gift and it's yours!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Remote Control
You know how you have a remote control that gives you control over what you're seeing and hearing from your TV? Well, God has given you a remote control that regulates what you hear and see in life...the stream that is coming into your life. Just like muting an annoying, unwanted commercial.
God showed me the mute button that He has provided to silence the barrage of yuck, fear, doubt and unbelief that come from the kingdom of darkness. Our mute button that silences these things is PRAISE and GIVING THANKS. This silences / mutes our enemy's taunts and torments.
Praise and thanksgiving cut through - slices through - all the enemy's arguments and defeats his best-laid plans. Giving God praise IS our mouths saying what He is and what He has done. For example, God is love. God is slow to anger. God overflows with mercy. His compassions NEVER fail. He is the God that is with us, for us and not against us. He loves us! He forgives us. He is our rescuer. He saves, heals, gives wisdom, takes away our sins and gives us His life, wipes away tears and comforts us.
These are all good things about our God that we need to say with our mouth to our enemy who desires us to feel abandoned, alone, helpless and without hope in the world. Remember Satan is The Liar and Jesus is The Truth. Saying the truth with your mouth defeats the liar.
Giving thanks and being grateful is your way to silence that selfish spirit that tries to ruin your life. The sweetness of being grateful and giving thanks to God, counteracts the sour / bitter water of selfishness and pride! Your mouth must say out loud, words of truth and faith. Faith is giving thanks for something you have not seen with your eyes.
Giving God thanks and thanking the humans is how you wrestle against and overcome those principalities, powers and rulers of darkness. You know you need to use the remote control when you feel your peace threatened or it has altogether vanished.
God showed me the mute button that He has provided to silence the barrage of yuck, fear, doubt and unbelief that come from the kingdom of darkness. Our mute button that silences these things is PRAISE and GIVING THANKS. This silences / mutes our enemy's taunts and torments.
Praise and thanksgiving cut through - slices through - all the enemy's arguments and defeats his best-laid plans. Giving God praise IS our mouths saying what He is and what He has done. For example, God is love. God is slow to anger. God overflows with mercy. His compassions NEVER fail. He is the God that is with us, for us and not against us. He loves us! He forgives us. He is our rescuer. He saves, heals, gives wisdom, takes away our sins and gives us His life, wipes away tears and comforts us.
These are all good things about our God that we need to say with our mouth to our enemy who desires us to feel abandoned, alone, helpless and without hope in the world. Remember Satan is The Liar and Jesus is The Truth. Saying the truth with your mouth defeats the liar.
Giving thanks and being grateful is your way to silence that selfish spirit that tries to ruin your life. The sweetness of being grateful and giving thanks to God, counteracts the sour / bitter water of selfishness and pride! Your mouth must say out loud, words of truth and faith. Faith is giving thanks for something you have not seen with your eyes.
Giving God thanks and thanking the humans is how you wrestle against and overcome those principalities, powers and rulers of darkness. You know you need to use the remote control when you feel your peace threatened or it has altogether vanished.
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