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!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
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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