Jesus did not come to give us a happy life, nor did He come to give us an easy live…
He did come however to give us an abundant life (Mat 6:33), which only can happen when we plug into God’s purpose for our life.
God’s first purpose is that we be conformed into the image of His Son and also to train us to do spiritual warfare, in order that we may effect a rescue mission to save as many as we can, snatching them out of Satan’s hands, with the Gospel; and in the process to take authority over the “turkey” and put him under our feet (Rom 16:20).
Jesus speaking: “I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world!”
— John 16:33
“For those whom He foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He (Jesus) might be the firstborn among many brothers.”
— Romans 8:29
MAY 31
My Utmost for HIS Highest
PUT GOD FIRST
Jesus did not commit Himself to them…for He knew what was in man.
— JOHN 2:24-25
Put Trust in God First. Our Lord never put His trust in any person. Yet He was never suspicious, never bitter, and never lost hope for anyone, because He put His trust in God first.
He trusted absolutely in what God’s grace could do for others. If I put my trust in human beings first, the end result will be my despair and hopelessness toward everyone.
I will become bitter because I have insisted that people be what no person can ever be— absolutely perfect and right.
Never trust anything in yourself or in anyone else, except the grace of God.
Put God’s Will First. “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God” (Hebrews 10:9).
A person’s obedience is to what he sees to be a need— our Lord’s obedience was to the will of His Father.
The rallying cry today is, “We must get to work!
The heathen are dying without God. We must go and tell them about Him.”
But we must first make sure that God’s “needs” and His will in us personally are being met.
Jesus said, “…tarry…until you are endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49).
The purpose of our Christian training is to get us into the right relationship to the “needs” of God and His will.
Once God’s “needs” in us have been met, He will open the way for us to accomplish His will, meeting His “needs” elsewhere.
Put God’s Son First.
“Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me” (Matthew 18:5).
God came as a baby, giving and entrusting Himself to me. He expects my personal life to be a “Bethlehem.”
Am I allowing my natural life to be slowly transformed by the indwelling life of the Son of God?
God’s ultimate purpose is that His Son might be exhibited in me.
Putting on the mind of Christ, for Christians, is especially important at times like this…
Right is still right and wrong is still wrong!
And the Bible says, in Isaiah 5:20,
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”
The young man in the video is obviously acting out his anger and feelings of frustration, and understandably so, of a long line of injustices, against a seemingly prevailing and precieved ideology (from the Black point of view) that, to quote the modern phrase, “Black lives matter,” with the obvious preceved intent that, at least from the white perspective, that the opposite is true, that their lives don’t matter.
There is an old saying that, “You can’t understand someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.”
The person who first uttered this American saying is lost to history; but the fact that it’s so well known is a good indication of the importance of our learning to empathize and try and identify with that other person before judging them, be they male or female and regardless of the color of their skin.
The point is, you can never really understand a person until you consider things from their point of view, until you climb inside of his or her skin and walk around in it for a while.”
As Christians, I believe that we’re called to do just that.
Matthew 5:9
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”
Is that not what Jesus did, when He humbled Himself and became a part of His own creation, in order that He may give His life as a propitious offering for OUR sin?
Listen to what the Spirit is saying to the Church, in what our attitude should be at times like this — times exactly like what we’re going through now.
In all things in life, Jesus is our example; and the admonishment of scripture is that we learn each day to put on the mind of Christ.
The Apostle Paul put it this way:
Philippians 2:1-18 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
Above all things be loving, humble, united
2 1-4 Now if your experience of Christ’s encouragement and love means anything to you, if you have known something of the fellowship of His Spirit, and all that it means in kindness and deep sympathy, do make my best hope for you come true!
Live together in harmony, live together in love, as though you had only one mind and one spirit between you.
Never act from motives of rivalry or personal vanity, but in humility think more of each other than you do of yourselves.
None of you should think only of his own affairs, but should learn to see things from other people’s point of view.
Let Christ be your example of humility
5-11 Let Christ himself be your example as to what your attitude should be.
For He, who had always been God by nature, did not cling to His prerogatives as God’s equal, but stripped himself of all privilege by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born as mortal man.
And, having become man, He humbled Himself by living a life of utter obedience, even to the extent of dying, and the death He died was the death of a common criminal.
That is why God has now lifted Him so high, and has given Him the name beyond all names, so that at the name of Jesus “every knee shall bow”, whether in Heaven or earth or under the earth.
And that is why, in the end, “every tongue shall confess” that Jesus Christ” is the Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
God is himself at work within you
12-13 So then, my dearest friends, as you have always followed my advice—and that not only when I was present to give it—so now that I am far away be keener than ever to work out the salvation that God has given you with a proper sense of awe and responsibility.
For it is God who is at work within you, giving you the will and the power to achieve His purpose.
14-18 Do all you have to do without grumbling or arguing, so that you may be God’s children, blameless, sincere and wholesome, living in a warped and diseased world, and shining there like lights in a dark place.
For you hold in your hands the very Word of Life. Thus can you give me something to be proud of in the day of Christ, for I shall know then that I did not spend my energy in vain.
Yes, and if it should happen that my life-blood is, so to speak, poured out upon the sacrifice and offering which your faith means to God, then I can still be very happy, and I can share my happiness with you all.
I should like to feel that you could be glad about this too, and could share with me the happiness I speak of.
The teaching of the Bible and more specifically from the Apostle Paul’s perspective (found in 2 Cor 2:11) is that, as Christians,
Lest Satan should get an advantage over us, that we should not be ignorant of Satan’s devices (his strategies and modus operandi).
And Ephesians 6:12 tells us:
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this world’s darkness, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
Who is the real “instigator” behind racial bigotry and prejudice, in order to cause this division and separation between the races?
As Christians, we already know the answer to that question — it’s Satan!
As Watchmen on the Wall prayer warriors, we should be able to see what the enemy’s strategy is and what he is doing in our society today, to put forth his agenda.
Divide and Conquer
To divide and conquer is one of the oldest strategy of War that we have.
In political and sociological warfare, it entails the gaining and maintaining of power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into smaller pieces that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy.
The use of this technique is meant to empower the instigator, which in this example is Satan, to control the population, or factions of different interests, who collectively might be able to oppose his rule and authority.
What about the black on black violence, that we see in certain places across our country.
[NOTE: According to the FBI’s uniform crime-reporting data for 2016, 90.1 percent of black victims of homicide were killed by other blacks, while 83.5 percent of whites were killed by other whites.
While no life is inconsequential, the statistical evidence shows that—just as for blacks when it comes to black-on-black crime—whites are mostly victimized by other whites, with the vast majority of white murders committed by whites]
Also there are strong indicators that many of the agitators, in these inner-city conflicts are paid and come from outside the area.
As happened in Ferguson, MO a few years ago, in the inner-city rioting that took place there.
The following was taken from an article from the Kansas City Star:
“The people causing all the trouble, they aren’t from Ferguson,” said resident Mike Marion, 26. “They’re from all over.
They’re not trying to make things better or stand up for Michael Brown. They’re just taking advantage of the situation.”
It was a sentiment shared by dozens of residents interviewed by The Star on Monday afternoon after arguably the worst violence in a week of unrest broke out the night before.
While laying much of the blame for the strife at the feet of police, they say peaceful protests are being hijacked by people with other agendas.
“People of Ferguson are getting punished for the actions of outside agitators,” said Kenny Murdock, 47, who hosts a show on a St. Louis radio station.
Antonio French, a St. Louis alderman who had been documenting the protests and the security response on social media, pointed via Twitter to a small group of people who “cannot be defined as protesters/demonstrators. They are more like fighters/rebels/insurgents.”
Who’s the source of this wanton violence and where are these paid outside agitators getting their funding?
Does the name George Soros ring a bell?
No, as Christians we need to have a more discerning spirit, in order that we recognize what’s really going on, and not let the enemy manipulate us; and divide us.
The scripture tells us that Jesus came to undo ALL the evil works of the Devil, but we as Christians must learn to resist and do spiritual battle with the enemy the way Christ instructs us.
1 John 3:8b
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy ALL the works of the devil.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
“The truth is that, although of course we lead normal human lives, the battle we are fighting is on the spiritual level.
The very weapons we use are not those of human warfare but powerful in God’s warfare for the destruction of the enemy’s strongholds.
Our battle is to bring down every deceptive fantasy and every imposing defence that men erect against the true knowledge of God.
We even fight to capture every thought until it acknowledges the authority of Christ.”
Jesus told the following parable, discribing the cunningness of the enemy and his worldly followers, in devising wicked schemes:
Luke 16:1-8
The Parable of the Unjust Steward
16 He also said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.
2 So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’
3 “Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me.
I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg.
4 I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’
5 “So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
6 And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’
So he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’
7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’
So he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’
And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’
8 So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly.
For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light.
And Jesus also said,
Matthew 10:16
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”
24 “The God Who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth.
He does not live in buildings made by hands. 25 No one needs to care for Him as if He needed anything.
He is the One who gives life and breath and everything to everyone.
26 He made from one blood all nations who live on the earth. He set the times and places where they should live.
27 “They were to look for God. Then they might feel after Him and find Him because He is not far from each one of us.
28 It is in Him that we live and move and keep on living.
Some of your own men have written, ‘We are God’s children.’
Read the lyrics:
As the mountains are around Jerusalem,
The Lord is all around His People.
As the mountains are around Jerusalem,
The Lord is all around His People.
From this time forth, and forevermore,
The Lord is all around His People,
From this time forth, it shall always be,
The Lord is all around His People.
Like Mount Zion in the midst of Jerusalem,
We cannot be moved, we cannot be moved.
Like Mount Zion in the midst of Jerusalem,
We cannot be moved, we cannot be moved.
From this time forth, and forevermore,
The Lord is all around His People,
From this time forth, it shall always be,
The Lord is all around His People.
From this time forth, and forevermore,
The Lord is all around His People,
From this time forth, it shall always be,
The Lord is all around His People.
The Lord is all around His People.
Wherever you are and whatever you’re going through, know that God always surrounds His covenant children.
Jesus’ invitation is that we come follow after Him…
John the Baptist said, “It is necessary for Him (Jesus) to increase and for me to decrease.”
If we are so full of ourselves — our thoughts, our habits, our way of doing things — then we have no room to grow.
We must of our own free will and volition empty our vessel in order that Jesus may fill it.
Another way of putting it is, we must learn to relinquish more of our self nature in order that we may experience more of God’s nature and God’s power in our lives.
He’s the Good Shepherd and we must choose each day to trust in Him, with all of our heart (not leaning on our own understanding); and then to follow Him, by faith (meaning we cast the whole of our life and our life’s circumstances upon His reliability and trustworthiness), because He alone knows the path that He has destined for us to follow (see Rom 8:28-29; Eph 1:11).
As Christians, we are no longer guided by our self interest, because we realize that because of Christ’s propitious sacrifice on Calvary’s cross, our life no longer belong to ourselves.
Galatians 2:20
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”
Every Christian is now called to live by FAITH, which by definition is the action we take, based upon our belief and reliance upon God and the truth of His Word; which action is sustained by our confidence that when God promises something He is well able to perform.
His promise is that He is with us ALWAYS, to help us in our daily problems and difficulties; but we must learn to cooperate with Him, taking His yoke upon us daily (Mat 11:28-30), meaning we must sign over the deed of our life and give Him the keys to our life, making Him Lord over every area of our life.
Jesus’ promise is that He never leaves us, but we must learn to cooperate with Him each day, through the Holy Spirit.
5 Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have];
For He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support.
[I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]
6 So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified]. What can man do to me?
And our Marching Orders require that we strive each day to become more like Christ.
Romans 8:29
“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”
As we grow closer to Jesus, as we daily are growing in our knowledge of Him and His work, by our daily immersing ourselves in His Word, then we will find ourselves having a longing to become more like Him; and this is God’s goal for all of us, in our preparation for eternity.
The Bible tells us that our purpose in life is that we become like Jesus, to be conformed to His image — to think like Him, to speak like Him, and to behave like Him in every area of our life.
Living a Repentant Life
We do this by allowing the Holy Spirit, each day, as we immerce ourselves in God’s Word, to rewrite the corrupt programing we’ve all have received from this corrupt world system.
By our practicing the presence of God, in our lives each day, we are putting away our old habits, patterns, and passions and are replacing them with new and better habits, patterns, and passions.
We need to learn to live for Christ, from the moment we wake up each day to the moment we fall asleep; to live in such a way that we draw attention to Jesus and bring glory to His name.
We need to learn to live as Christians, to love as Christians, and to serve as Christians — and to do all we do in a distinctly Christian way.
1 John 2:6
“Whoever claims to abide in Him (Jesus) must walk as Jesus walked.”
This is our God given assignment each and every day — To Practice the Presence of God and to learn to walk as Jesus walked, as we meditate and study in His Word.
We all want blessings, happiness, and fulfillment, and we associate a happy condition with a certain amount of ease.
Jesus promises blessings and fulfillment to those who follow Him (John 4:14), but many people have been surprised that the way of Christ is not as easy as they had hoped.
Sometimes, following Christ can be downright difficult.
John 16:33
Jesus speaking: “I have told you these things (in the Bible) so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world!”
So let’s get our heads on right this morning and every morning that to follow Christ means that we must learn the importance of denying ourselves and living for Him — living for Christ every single day.
Matthew 16:24
Jesus speaking: “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross (symbol of our death to self will) and follow Me.”
This is what it means to be a follower of Christ — it means as act of our will, by faith — that we, by faith, seek to live for Him every day.
This is our mission and our assignment today and every day, if we choose to accept it, which means that we each have to choose to die to our self will daily, and to live for Christ.
God Gives What Is Good
1 The Lord says, “All you who are thirsty,
come and drink.
Those of you who do not have money,
come, buy and eat!
Come buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend your money on something that is not real food?
Why work for something that doesn’t really satisfy you?
Listen closely to me, and you will eat what is good;
your soul will enjoy the rich food that satisfies.
3 Come to me and listen;
listen to me so you may live.
I will make an agreement with you that will last forever.
I will give you the blessings I promised to David.
4 I made David a witness of my power for all nations,
a ruler and commander of many nations.
5 You will call for nations that you don’t yet know.
And these nations that do not know you will run to you
because of the Lord your God,
because of the Holy One of Israel who honors you.”
6 So you should look for the Lord before it is too late;
you should call to him while he is near.
7 The wicked should stop doing wrong,
and they should stop their evil thoughts.
They should return to the Lord so he may have mercy on them.
They should come to our God, because he will freely forgive them.
God’s Word to you today…
The Oracle: The Jubilean Mysteries Unveiled
by Jonathan Cahn
“Now,” he said. “Never another time. Never tomorrow.
You can only come to Him when the time is now. No other time is real. So the only one who can come is you . . . the only place is here . . . and the only time is now.
“And so the voice of God would now call to the one who is here and now and to each one who would hear His voice wherever and whenever they are . . . The voice of God would say to you this . . . I have known you from the beginning, from before you took your first step, before you breathed your first breath, before you were even conceived.
I have seen all your tears and have known all your sorrows and wounds and pains, all your longings and hopes, all your fears, your dreams and heartbreaks, your burdens and weariness, your times of asking Me why, your cries of loneliness and emptiness, your times of separation, your mourning for what was lost, your weaknesses and failings, your wanderings, your sins and shame . . . And I have still loved you with an everlasting love . . . And now I call you to leave the darkness and all that is passed and all that I never willed or purposed for your life . . . that the days of your separation would come to an end. It is time now to return. It is time to come home . . . to enter the inheritance of blessing you never knew but were born to enter. It is time for your Jubilee.
Come to Me. And I will not turn you away but will receive you. And I will wipe away all your tears. I will forgive all your sins. I will heal all your wounds. And I will turn all your sorrows into joy.
And you will forget your days of darkness and wandering, the days of your separation.
And I will make all things new. And I will bring you into a land where the crippled walk, where deserts bloom, where the blind see, where the defiled become pure, and where that which was lost is found again.
I will bring you to a place you have never known and yet have always longed to be, to your Promised Land.
And I will never leave you. And you will never again know what it is to be lost. For in that day, you will have come home. You will be Mine, and I will be yours . . . forever.”
“He didn’t say a word after that. Nor did I. I couldn’t. It was enough to just take it all in.
And there was nothing I could think of to say that wouldn’t have sounded inappropriate or inadequate in the wake of what had been spoken.
There was nothing else to say. “So we just sat there in silence as the wind swept over the mountaintop and as the light of the rising sun broke through the cloud beneath us.”
(from The Oracle: The Jubilean Mysteries Unveiled – pages 269 – 270)
JESUS (Heb: Yeshua) is Our Savior, Our Refuge and Strong Tower…
Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Proverbs 18:10
The name of the Lord is a strong tower;
The righteous run to it and are safe.
Understanding the POWER in the Name of Jesus
The name of Jesus is so powerful that ignorance of it is robbing many of God’s blessings and fulfilment in life.
The enemy will do anything to keep man in the dark so that he can continue to oppress him. The truth is that the power in the name of Jesus brings deliverance from all oppression of the devil and delivers dominion to mankind.
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved
— Acts 4:12
And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
— Acts 3:16
God understanding the power of names carefully chose the name of Jesus to reflect His purpose while on earth and after resurrection. The name of means saviour
Salvation means
Deliverance from sin and its consequences.
Preservation or deliverance from harm, ruin, or loss.
Therefore, there is no deliverance from sin and its consequences nor preservation or deliverance from harm, ruin, or loss except through the name of Jesus.
For you to enjoy the benefits, including healing in the name of Jesus you need to understand the power in the name.
Therefore what to know about the name Jesus:
1. His name gives us our identity
“… And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” Acts 11:26
As a Christian, you are identified with God because you believe in the name of Jesus and are expected to live like Him
2. Jesus’ name is above every other name.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philip 2:9-11 (KJV)
The name of Jesus is above the name of any sickness or disease or situation. Whatever has a name is below the name of Jesus and must give way to it, no matter where it may come from: heaven, earth or hell.
3. Only through His name can you get anything from God
And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full – John 16:23-24 (KJV)
God has designed it that after the death and resurrection of Jesus, no man can relate with Him for any reason whatsoever except through Jesus. He is now the gateway to God and His blessings: you can only go in and get your blessings, including healing through Him.
4. Everything Jesus is and carries is in His name
And these signs shall follow them that believe; in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover – Mark 16:17-18 (KJV)
Whatever Jesus can do, the power in the name will do it when you use it. Whatever God can do you can do in the name of Jesus. You can say – let there be in Jesus name and there will be. We exercise our God-given authority only in the name of Jesus.
5. His name is at work 24/7
I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death – Revelations 1:18 (KJV)
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen – Matthew 28:20 (KJV)
Because Jesus lives forever and He is with us always, His name is never on break. Look for Him, or call Him anytime, anywhere and the power in the name will work.
6. The enemy knows and understands the power of names, most especially the name Jesus.
He trembles at the name Jesus.
And behold, they shrieked and screamed, What have You to do with us, Jesus, Son of God? Have You come to torment us before the appointed time?
— Matthew 8:29 (AMP)
The devils trembled at the presence of Jesus. They still tremble at the name of Jesus
And she did this for many days. Then Paul, being sorely annoyed and worn out, turned and said to the spirit within her, I charge you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her! And it came out that very moment
— Acts 16:18 (AMP)
Command healing or deliverance over your life or loved one in the name of Jesus and the spirit of infirmity will leave immediately.
7. The name of Jesus is a strong refuge.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe – Proverbs 18:10 (KJV)
The power in the name provides protection, covering for them that believe in it. When you call His name in time of danger, Jesus quickly shields you from any imminent evil.
8. His name commands instant delivery.
And Peter said unto him, Æneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed. And he arose immediately.
— Acts 9:34 (KJV)
When you call His name for help, the answer is dispatched immediately.
Most of the time you see instant manifestation but some other times you see the result after a while as you walk in obedience to God’s word.
9. The power in the name of Jesus is invoked through faith
And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
— Acts 3:16 (KJV)
If you call Jesus’ name in unbelief or carelessly, it will not work.
Therefore, anytime you are mentioning Jesus’ name do it in faith and with the understanding of the power that lies in His name.
Don’t call His name in vain; it is not acceptable unto God.
10. You are qualified to use His name only if you are born again
Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying,
We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified
— Acts 19:13-17 (KJV)
It is very dangerous to use the name of Jesus if you have not identified with Him. You have to give your life to Jesus first before you can exercise the power in the name.
In conclusion, there is healing, deliverance among other things in the name of Jesus.
With all you have read above, you are now in a better position to exercise authority over that illness or situation in Jesus name.
God has His way of stirring up our nest, in order to force us out of our comfort zone, on to the path He has destined us to travel.
Do you remember when Jesus took a young child onto His lap and told His disciples that unless they become as this child they cannot experience the Kingdom of Heaven (Mat 18:3).
Children are like sponges, always looking for new experiences, always trusting, always teachable.
We were like that once ourselves, what happened?
The older we get, as a rule, most people do not like change.
They would rather stay in the safe harbors of their nostalgic past, where they feel most comfortable, where they are no longer challenged or forced to learn new things.
This is NOT God’s way at all!
As Christians, if we are to be used of God, we have to be prepared to flow with the Spirit and to launch our faith out into the deep, wherever He leads us.
Jesus was constantly challenging those who counted their religious traditions on a par with God’s word; those old religious practices that have long ago gone stale, their original meaning long forgotten and now have become empty ritual.
You don’t want to be an old wineskin.
“No one puts new wine into old wineskins: otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins: but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins”
— Mark 2:22
Catch the imagery in the following verses regarding the eagle:
“He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.
Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, the LORD alone guided him, no foreign god was with him.”
— Deut. 32:10–12
Moses penned these words at the end of his life. In his final song, his parting words, Moses likens God to an eagle stirring up its nest.
Likewise, God often will stir our nest up, to make us uncomfortable, in order to get us to move.
In the Bible, we find that God NEVER does a miracle the same way twice, He’s always doing things differently, so we also have to be willing and able to adjust to whatever He’s doing and the way He does it.
John 3:5-8
5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.
So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
None of us, as Christians, are built for safe harbors; we all need to learn to launch our faith out into the DEEP because that’s where the Spirit is moving today.
The Winning Walk
YOU CAN’T STAY WHERE YOU ARE
There is one place that God will never let you stay…and that is the place where you are.
Once God touches our life, we can be certain that we will never be the same. He will move us; He will change things; He will shake us up to get us where He wants us to go.
For the Christian, there is simply no such thing as status quo.
Change was the hallmark of the early church, but many churches today resist change.
Someone has said that the seven last words of the church are: “We’ve never done it that way before.”
When God revealed His plan to spread the Gospel to the Gentiles, the Jewish Christians were faced with the need for radical change.
Old beliefs and attitudes had to die so that new ones could take their place.
The Christians at Jerusalem were content to be a Jews-only brotherhood, but God had other plans. Change was in order.
There is a chorus I have sung with thousands of teenagers over the years on beach retreats.
I never get tired of it. It challenges me as much as it does them:
“Will you stay where you are, or will you reach for a star?
Play the game? Be a fraud? Or die to self and live to God?
This could be victory’s hour, claim His grace, claim His power. Will you stay where you are, or reach for a star?”
Memory Verse
II CORINTHIANS 5:17
Therefore if any man is in Christ he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.
Jesus said… “Enter by the narrow gate; for wideisthe gate and broadisthe way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
Because narrowisthe gate anddifficultisthe way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
— Matthew 7:13-14
Which road are you on?
Being born-again is not a religious experience, and neither is it simply about saying a” “sinner’s prayer” either, unless that prayer is preceded by true faith and repentance (changing the way you think), that results in a changed life, that now is guided by faith and obedience to God’s Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit.
No, we are not talking here about a RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE, which tries to earn something the Bible says CANNOT be earned, but rather we’re talking about a TOTAL change of life experience.
This is what Jesus is saying, in John 3:5, where He said, “That unless you are born of both WATER and Spirit you cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!”
Our being born-again means that we are born of both WATER and SPIRIT.
John 3:3-8
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he CANNOT see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of WATER and the SPIRIT, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
In Acts 2:38 we are told to REPENT, be BAPTIZED and you shall receive the HOLY SPIRIT.
To REPENT means literally, in the Greek, to change the way you think.
In other words, allowing the Holy Spirit and God’s Word to rewrite the corrupt code, the programming that we all have received from this world; and the BAPTISM is not just a symbol or religious ritual (because that by its self won’t save anyone), but rather the baptism that Jesus is talking about was illustrated when the children of Israel left Egypt and passed through the Red Sea; they were literally leaving the bondage and slavery of the past (their old life); and as they passed through the waters of the Red Sea, they were passing into a new life, where the sins of the past (of Egypt) were all washed away.
So where are you on these journey, which road are you traveling on, the narrow road that follows Jesus; or are you on the wide road, where everyone is doing what seems right in their way of thinking, but gives no thought or consideration to what God says, or what God’s plans are — which by the way is what the nature of sin is.
Isaiah 53:6
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Whereas you CANNOT purchase or earn your salvation, as the Bible is very clear that we are saved ONLY by grace through faith (Eph 2:8-9); there is however a cost to our being a disciple, a follower of Jesus, and that cost is that we must deny ourselves and pick up our cross (the symbol of our death) every single day (see Matt 16:24and1 John 2:6).
The importance of our allowing the Holy Spirit to change the way we think…
[NOTE: The word REPENT, in Greek metanoéō, means to change the way we think]
The Bible tells us to fear NOT and be anxious for NOTHING!
Here’s a quote taken from John Wayne, in a movie called “In Harms Way” (1965), that tells it like it is,
“All battles are fought by brave men, who are scared and would rather be some place else.”
Fear and apprehension are a part of life; and the things you worry about appear to be real (FEAR = False Evidence Appearing to be Real).
However the fact is many of us allow our fears to torture us with thoughts and scenarios that just aren’t in touch with reality, and 90+ percent of the things we worry about never come to pass.
All that worrying is just a waste of our time, that does not change our circumstances at all, and the worrying only causes us harm.
So what’s the solution?
As Believers, we are NOT to allow our fears to control us; we are instructed rather to live by faith and not by sight, learning to cast our cares upon God (1 Pet 5:7).
Listen to what God said to Joshua, after Moses was graduated to Glory and God was handing off Moses’ baton and mantle to Joshua:
Joshua 1:6-9
New Living Translation (NLT)
6 “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them.
7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you.
Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left.
Then you will be successful in everything you do. 8 Study this Book of Instruction (the Bible) continually.
Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it.
Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. 9 This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For theLordyour God is with you wherever you go!”
SB SALT AND LIGHT MINISTRIES 