“For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, nor did their own arm save them; but it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of your countenance, because you favored them.” Psalm 44:3

The characteristic of an overcomer is someone who does not give up despite many setbacks and adversity. And, this person does not attempt to overcome on his own; he relies on Christ Jesus.

The Israelites could never have entered the Promised Land or defeated their enemies without God. They stood still and watched the salvation of the Lord.

This was an act of faith. They did not give credence to what they saw with their eyes or trust their strength to overcome the power of their enemies. They believed our perfect God calls things that don’t exist as if they did.

The light of the countenance of Christ shines on those who walk by faith. This brings the favor of God!

How big is your God? Is He a fairy tale or a living reality in your life?

If you are a believer, you can dismiss self effort because it will get you nowhere with God. The righteous shall live by this powerful truth of God; “It is not by might nor by power but by My Spirit.”

You can be confident in Christ because He has overcome the world and lives so you can have an abundant life!

 

“These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.” Isaiah 29:13-14

God spoke to me today about His anathema (strong dislike) towards religion and supplied me with this scripture to support His feelings.

Most believers have a superficial view or attitude about the Living Christ. They understand His deity but are blind to knowing how to walk with Him.

You cannot learn who God is through rules of conduct or religious rituals. And, you cannot please Him through works.

Jesus died to abolish all rules! Religion cannot accept this truth and attempts to brainwash you with rules which cause you to be led astray from the heart of God. Religion wants to define your walk with God. Christ wants to set you free to know Him!

Your words of praise have no value to God unless they come from an open heart.

Someone with an open heart is seeking out God for who He is and not what they can get out of Him. This person is asking Christ to be his destiny. He lives to know Christ and understand His purposes.

The rules of religion circumvent you from finding the transfigured Christ. In actuality, you are attempting to replace the importance of faith with rules to obtain the favor of God.

Christ died to set you free from all rules. He wants you to live with Him by faith!

He alone is worthy of your praise!

 

“For I am the Lord, I do not change” Malachi 3:6

God never changes or reacts to the vagaries of the world. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

You and I live in a changing world and face new challenges every day of our lives. How can we abide in the impervious nature of Christ?

Christ has to live in the fullness of your inner being through the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Christ and He wants to dwell richly in you and work through you.

The solution is to be grounded in Christ through prayer, His Word, and the Holy Spirit. It is easy to find God through worship but then He slips away as you enter into the nuances of your day.

To maintain a oneness with Christ you have to be connected to His Spirit. There is no other way.

If you are a believer yielding to the Holy Spirit, the laws of God are engraved in your heart and your steps will not stumble. You can be as confident as Christ himself!

The conflict is between your self nature and the Holy Spirit. The moment you attempt to satisfy self desires you distance yourself from Christ. And, this is so easy to happen.

You can become impervious to the influences of the world by living in the promises of God and trusting Him for your every need. Allow God to satisfy you and worship Him in Spirit and Truth.

Invite the Holy Spirit to have authority over your thoughts, words, and decision making. Consult with Him throughout the day and when you face uncertainty pause and ask for His wisdom!

Christ is your sanctuary and His presence can be found in the Holy Spirit.

He lives so you can live!

 

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” James 1:17

God is perfect! He never changes. You and I have to change to adapt to His personality and mind set.

How do you change to be like Christ?

Give Christ freedom to do as He pleases in your life without restraints.

Take your eyes off what Christ is doing (or lack of doing) and focus on your walk with Him.

You cannot blame Christ for your troubles. He is perfect.

Make your faith in Christ a living discipline in everything you think, and speak, and do. Live by faith not by sight!

Live in oneness with Christ Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

Come to God to inquire of Him for wisdom and guidance for your every action in life. He wants to be in both the simple and big decisions of your day.

Be still and open yourself up to God. Ask Christ how you can be more like Him?

Don’t take Christ for granted! His ways are not your ways.

Expect the unexpected with Christ! He is not a predictable God.

Live in the moment with Christ.

Pray you can be a beacon of Living Water touching those who desperately need Christ.

For in Him, we live and move and have our being!

 

 

“For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit” 1 Peter 3:18

The Cross is a provocative work of God. It stirs up your human nature and deliberately causes an annoyance to your lifestyle. And, it never stops!

The Cross is your only expiation to God. The definition of expiation is “the act of making amends or reparation for guilt or wrongdoing”. In the biblical sense it is an act of atonement.

It is closing the gap existing between man and God and should be a fixture in your daily life. This is because although you may feel “squeaky” clean before God it is impossible for you to see what God sees below your consciousness. And, it is not a pretty picture.

The Cross gives you the ability to live in harmony with God as an imperfect soul. There are no secrets or hidden motives in your relationship with God.

The Cross is much more than just forgiveness for sins and restoration to God. It is a way of life. You are giving God permission to crucify your self nature and to live for Him.

It is allowing the stellar nature of Christ to invade every aspect of your personality. The work of God always begins within you and then surfaces into your thoughts, words, and decisions. Change will never come from actions of self.

This is why it is so important to be in a close relationship with God through the Holy Spirit. You cannot see the depth of your personality or character defects and must rely on the wisdom and omniscient abilities of the Holy Spirit to stay on track with Christ.

The Cross gives you the ability to see the difference between light and darkness and demonstrates how God wants you to respond to the various influences in your life.

The darkness in the world is an opportunity for a believer if you are harnessed to the Holy Spirit. You can function powerfully for God without getting drawn into the miry pit.

Don’t be afraid or reticent to open yourself up to God. It is the pathway to finding the will of Christ!

 

“The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
And His ears are open to their cry.” Psalm 34:15

God spoke this spiritual truth to me several times last night!

You can’t consciously do ungodly things and expect God to favor you. He will be against you and His mind will not remember you.

To understand the substance of this oracle, you have to see God’s point of view. All of us are self driven people and we are more preoccupied with satisfying our needs than seeking out God’s purpose in our lives.

God overlooks this human characteristic because He understands your genetic engineering. But He will not excuse you for wantonly doing things which you know are wrong.

As a starting point, you and I have to come to God with a contrite and humble heart and allow Him to disclose those deep things inside our personality that block the power of God.

Secondly, the righteousness of God cannot be earned and will not come to you through any works. It will come to you through walking by faith and obeying the voice of God.

Walking by faith is believing the promises of God regardless of your situation in life. It is living by faith not by what you see with your eyes.

The concept of obedience does not mean striving to adhere to the commandments of God which are impossible for all. It literally means listening to the voice of God and complying with His instructions.

Abraham heard the voice of God and believed Him. He took radical steps in His life at the direction of God and without any evidence.

The faith of Abraham was his entitlement to the righteousness of God.

As a disciple of Christ you can expect many afflictions however God is close to those who approach Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit.

The secret to finding the favor of Christ is simply living by faith and obeying His voice. This will cause the Lord to hear your prayers and deliver you out of troubles.

 

“It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.” Acts 1:7

God does not like predictability. He is a sovereign God and prefers not to disclose His order for your life or the future times of the world.

The disciples gathered around Jesus and asked Him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

Jesus responded: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.”

Jesus does not like to share His timelines with believers. If you have a timeline you don’t really need to live by faith and you tend to take a relaxed attitude about God.

Jesus wants you to respect His authority, forget about times or dates and trust His timing is perfect.

Jesus told the disciples I will not disclose My timelines in your life but I will give you the power of the Holy Spirit so you can be My witness to all those around you.

We build our lives around timelines but time is really of no consequence to Christ. He wants you to be a light touching those living in darkness.

You and I have to live in the moment with Christ and forget about His timing. He is a perfect God!

 

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 1 Corinthians 3:17

The title for this message along with the scripture came from God early this morning and is probably the most important thing you and I can do to find the freedom of Christ.

Living in the presence of Christ Jesus is the perfect solution to your every challenge in life but it is very difficult to do.

There is the conflict between the tensions of the world and the life of Jesus. And, sometimes God does not choose to make your path smooth and this adds more tension and frustration.

At times, the platitudes of Jesus lose their power and just act like a rerun of an old movie.

The challenge is to live in the presence of the Living Christ and not allow the tensions of the world to suffocate the life of Jesus.

The starting point is to recognize you will never be able to conquer the world and your only hope is in Christ.

You and I have to develop a heart attitude that God can do as He pleases and we have no right to question Him or try to hold Him accountable for His actions in our lives.

If you give God permission to reign in your life (without preconditions) you will find freedom and the tensions of the world will lose their power.

The method of living in the presence of God is to worship Him in Spirit and Truth. You do this through praise, prayer, meditating on His Word, and listening to His voice.

This will bring you into the presence of Christ but it will be short lived unless you are able to live in oneness with Christ through His Spirit during the rest of your day.

The glue that holds everything together is the Holy Spirit. This is because He is alive and lives in you. He goes with you at all times and desires to fill you with the life of Jesus. He gives you ability to live with Christ in the moments of life when you are dealing with all kinds of issues.

Give the Holy Spirit authority over your life and ask Him to be your best friend. He will help you stay in touch with Christ and will be there when you stumble.

 

“You did not choose me, but I chose you” John 15:16

God has chosen you for His purposes. He takes you on a journey through life without any consciousness on your part of His ultimate purpose.

You have to live with God without a compass. He wants you know Him intimately without any understanding of His purposes for your life.

Just when you think you are in the perfect will of God He will abruptly take you in a new direction. This is to let you know He is God and you are not in charge of your destiny.

It is difficult and uncomfortable to live without a compass. It creates insecurity and sometimes confusion.

This is where many step in and take control. They make the mistake they can best determine how to live for God. This is a mockery to Christ.

God’s mission is for you to live by faith in His promises. Your works or religious activities can easily cause a hindrance to knowing Him. How can you work for God when you haven’t lived out His values in your life?

A genuine ministry for God has to be born of the Holy Spirit. It has to originate in the heart of God and not through the wisdom or desire of man.

You and I have to live one day at a time yielding to the authority of the Holy Spirit. This is how you can impress the heart of God.

God is most concerned with how you appropriate His values into your thoughts, words, and actions. This is a learning process and it takes many years to grasp how to walk with God.

Don’t come to God with your expectations. They get in the way of a Christ follower. Come to learn from Christ and live out your life through His resurrected power!

 

“I lay down and slept;
I awoke, for the Lord sustained me.” Psalm 3:5

Christ is is a Living God. There is nothing distant or vague about God. He is very approachable! And, He wants to be invested in your every thought and action!

You and I go to sleep at night and awake the next morning because the Lord sustains you with His life.

Every day is new. You and I have to choose the role Christ will play in our life today. The ways of God are perfect but the ways of living for self will lead to destruction and misery.

Faith is trusting God to fulfill your every need. You wake up as an empty vessel and God wants to fill you with His life.

The salvation of the Lord is about living with God today. Ask Christ for His strength, wisdom, and joy.

Don’t try to figure out God or question His motives. He’s too big to comprehend!

As a believer, keep it simple. Commit your works each day to God and ask for His thoughts to fill you. Inquire of the Lord for wisdom in dealing with all the challenges in your life.

Most importantly, ask God for His agenda for your day and to bring to your attention anything that displeases Him.

God looks at your motives in dealing with Him as well as your decision making. This is where most go astray of His ways.

Seek God out for who He is and not what you can get out of Him. He wants to give abundantly to you but the priority of Christ is your loyalty to Him. And, loyalty does not relate to material blessings.

Your decision making will please God when you are yielding to the Holy Spirit and seeking His authority over all your actions.

What happens is you and I inadvertently slip out of oneness with the Holy Spirit and self muddies up your decisions.

Invite Jesus to be your God today!