Tag: Christ

In Him: We Are More Than a Conqueror

So what is the definition of a conqueror?

  • Someone who overcomes an adversary

Romans 8:37 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

In Him we are more than conquerors!

More than a conqueror means you have such confidence that no matter what comes up in your life, you know that through Christ you can handle it. You know before you are ever faced with a problem that you’re going to have victory over it! You don’t dread things, you don’t fear the unknown. 

FACT: We are not fighting for victory, we are fighting in victory.

1 Corinthians 15:57 “ Thanks be to God, which gives us the victory”

FACT: God can’t fail so we can’t lose

Just as Paul started out Romans 8:37 as a ‘No’ We begin today with a NO. This No is standing between you and your enemies. This is you stopping everything that intimidates you, No more intimidation, No more fear, No more anxiety, No more depression!

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How is all this possible? It’s only through Christ!

Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”

Are You Acknowledging Him?

JOHN 1:12–13

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

How great it is to be called a son or daughter of the Most High. Every season of Christmas I am reminded of not only the Promise of Jesus but the invitation that He gives freely to everyone to receive Him. It is an invitation for all. “That no one should perish”

I’d like to mention that we can receive many things in life and people without actually acknowledging them. We take everything for granted at times, I know I do. Anyone who is of God has already received Him, but are we acknowledging Him? In our everyday? Are we showing it with our actions, on how we treat others, show love and our lives presenting Christ?

Receive definition: be given, presented with, or paid (something).

Acknowledge definition: accept or admit the existence or truth of.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Proverbs 3:5-6

When we received Him, we had said “God I can’t do life on my own, I need your help, forgive me of any wrong in my life and help me everyday to live a life for you.” That is acknowledging Him!

Our victory, hope, healing, peace and joy is in acknowledging him for what he done at the cross.

SO ARE WE DECLARING WHO WE ARE IN CHRIST EVERYDAY? ACKNOWLEDGING THE POWER THAT IS IN HIS NAME WHEN WE RECEIVED HIM AS LORD OVER OUR LIVES?

OR ARE WE DECLARING WHAT OUR PROBLEMS ARE INSTEAD OF WHO WE ARE.

WE ARE WHO HE SAYS WE ARE:

WE ARE: 

Victorious.

Righteous.

Holy.

Blameless.

We are royalty.

<p class="has-text-align-center" value="<amp-fit-text layout="fixed-height" min-font-size="6" max-font-size="72" height="80">We are his.We are his.

Moses & The Burning Bush

Join me in the coming weeks as we start the new series of Moses. God has spoken to me in the past months about the character of Moses and the Grace that was shown towards His children and still is. I have so many notes that needs to be shared. You’ll never see Moses like you’ve never seen him before!

 

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Act Justly. Love Mercy. Walk Humbly

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What are God’s 3 requirements for you?

ACT JUSTLY. LOVE MERCY. WALK HUMBLY.

Can it be this simple?

ACT JUSTLY.
(Your personal morality is drawn from God’s Word)

– Justly means the act of God declaring men free from guilt and acceptable to Him and counting them righteousness.

Let’s begin in Micah 6

1  “Hear what the LORD says:
Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice.
2 Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the LORD,
and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the LORD has an indictment against his people,
and he will contend with Israel.”

3“O my people, what have I done to you?
How have I wearied you? Answer me!
4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt
and redeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam.”

5 “O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised,
and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.”

6 “With what shall I come before the LORD,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?

7  “Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

8  “He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
(Micah 6:1-8 ESV)

God is reminding His people how blessed they are. After asking for the facts – why they were so constantly opposed to Him and His way of life, which was really to their best good, God gave His side of the story.

1. I brought you up out of Egypt.

2. I redeemed you from the house of slavery and hard bondage.

3. I sent Moses. Aaron, and Miriam before you to bring you into this wonderful land.

4. I protected you from the curses of Balaam and suffered him not to harm you.

5. I gave you a true revelation of Myself and My way of life. I made it clear that I do not require costly sacrifices to atone for my sin.

6. I did not require your firstborn for forgiveness of your sins, nor any fruit of your body for the sin of your soul.

7. I showed you the righteous principles of life what is good;  and all I require is for you to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly before Me.

8. I revealed My laws and penalties so that you could know them and the One who has meted out punishment.

9. I cannot but demand just weights and measures, and hold every man accountable for his sins, punishing you with sickness, desolation, war, and calamity because of them.

10. You keep the statues of Omri and the works of Ahab, and walk in their wicked counsels instead of obeying Me and My laws.

We may think at times that we are giving up too much to live for Christ, really?

I am not going to list the pros and cons of living for Christ because there is no pros and cons to debate which life is better; the sinful life or the Godly life. We all know the punishment for sin is death, how can you debate over that? Not possible. While some people try to negotiate with God, why they want that sin in their life; is no excuse.

Those who are in Christ are justified by a righteous, holy God. We each are held accountable for our actions and deserve the outcome by what we have done.

LOVE MERCY.
(Show the same patience and forgiveness to the fools and sinners around you that God has shown to you.)

– Mercy, what better way of explaining mercy than someone who can forgive another by what act they had done.

As we read in Micah, God is having a controversy with Isreal. Micah in similar fashion to other prophets such as Hosea and Amos, proclaims a message of judgement to a people persistently pursuing evil.  He presents his three oracles, or cycles, of doom and hope as if he were in a courtroom.

Micha’s concern can be summarized in what God wants to see in His people: Justice and equity tempered with mercy and compassion as the result of a humble and obedient relationship with the Lord.

~ His kindness leads us to repentance.

WALK HUMBLY.
(Everything good in your life is God’s gift of love to you.)

It is a state of mind well pleasing to God; it preserves the soul in  tranquility and makes us patient under trials Biblically speaking, humility is  the opposite of pride.

A humbled life can lead to so many more opportunities in God than one can think. How can one learn without being humbled? How can one lean in the direction of God without being humble? And how can one have the right kind of relationship with God without being humble?

Being humble is key to breaking strongholds in your life as well. My years of preaching at an AA clinic; i would see this all the time, those who had pride and did not want to do anything with God, all they talked about was the rules. Their hearts would be hardened each time that they turned away the opportunity to be set free. Having this kind of attitude and pride is dangerous in a life of a Christian. We must be humble in all that we do.

6 Things God does not require in coming before Him and being accepted by Him.

1. Bowing self before Him.
2. Coming with burnt offering’s
3. Bringing thousand’s of animals to Him.
4. Offering Him 10,000 rivers of oil (v7)
5. Giving the firstborn for transgression.
6. Giving the fruit of the body for the sin of the soul.

3 Things God does require.

1. Every man to do justly.

2. To love mercy

3. To walk humble before Him

Does He ask too much from us? by living in Him, no. It’s the least we can do!

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You Sought me

you_meYou Sought me

” Behold I stand at the door and knock.”

~

I have been reading a book from 1859, by an author named Henry Ward Beecher, the book “Views and Experiences of Religious Subjects.” Henry who was a minister had written these small articles that were put in the New York Independent newspaper, he thought they would be more tempted to read an article rather than a lengthy book. How different would this World be if what you had just read was an article contained in every newspaper in America?

The Author of the book explains the metaphor of the urgency of Christ to every sinner.

“Christ comes to the soul-house, and stands there and knocks. On getting no answer, he goes away only to come and knock again. He waits at the door, and listens for a voice within, and goes away. He comes again, and waits, and goes away! He knocks, not at one door, but goes around to every door, and waits for an answer. As one who returns to his dwelling in the night, after a journey, and finding it locked, knocks at the accustomed door of entrance in the front, and getting no answer goes to the door in the rear, then to the side door – if there be one – and then to every other door, in order, if possible, to get into his house; so Christ, who longs to enter into the soul, goes to every door in succession, and knocks, and listens for an invitation to come in, and leaves not one chamber in the soul-house unsought, or one door untried! He knocks at the door of Reason; at the door of Imagination and Taste , of Benevolence and Love, of Conscience, of Memory and Gratitude! He does not neglect a single one!” – Henry Ward Beecher

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Just like He sought us, years ago before we opened that door of Salvation, when we finally stepped out of our dwelling, our houses of shame, burdened with grief and past failures that followed us into every room not letting the memory leave us. Where would we be if we had not opened that door for Him to come in and rearrange our dwelling, our life?

My years of having Him wait outside as I scurried in the inside trying to fix the broken parts that kept breaking before me; I gave up and let Him in. We all need that professional to take care of things that we are not able to do. Why should we attempt to fix what we are not capable of?

Pride

Every one has had pride or some still do I am sure of, pride is what leads to destruction. And for some, it’s so hard for them to give their problems to someone else, it’s the ego, the human nature saying “I can do this” no we can’t! it’s the words of Christ that assures us “I can do all things through Christ” by putting our faith in the finished work of the Cross.

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“If he be admitted, joy unspeakable is in the house, and shall be henceforth. The dreary dwelling is filled with light from the brightness of his countenance, and every chamber is perfumed from the fragrance of his garments. Peace and hope, love and joy abide together in the house – for Christ himself takes up his adobe therein. But if, after his long knocking at the door and patient waiting for entrance. his solicitation be refused or neglected, by and by there shall come a time when you who have denied him, shall be denied of him. For when you shall knock at the gate of Heaven for admittance into the mansions which he has prepared from the foundation of the world, he will say unto you, as you said unto him, Depart! But that dreadful day has not yet come, and he still stands at the door – his locks wet with the dews of the morning and waits to be invited into the chamber of your soul. Hear his voice once more.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me!” – Revelation 3:20

It was 1859 when this book was published. Who are we to think His coming is going to be 10, 20 or more years away, when Henry was anticipating His coming in 1859? This World has gotten so much worse since 1859.

I urge anyone who has not yet opened that door to Him, to not walk to that door but run. Some think the Christian life is boring, ha. Who is to think that when all you need is Jesus, you will find out that outside your dwelling after Christ has come in and re decorated your soul with his presence that none other can compare. He seeks the lost and finds the door of the soul, he knocks profusely until you answer.

Back slider – You had once opened that door to Him, He once was the center of your life, now due to complacency; little by little He has been pushed out of your life and onto the streets as He is fervently knocking at your door again.

Will you answer or ignore the Master?

Men who neglect Christ, and try to win heaven through moralities, are like sailors at sea in a storm, who pull, some at the bowsprit and some at the mainmast, but never touch the helm. – Henry Ward Beecher

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