We Are What We Think
The question begs to be asked of each of us every day of our lives…. ”are there areas of our lives, where we are living as though the victory Jesus accomplished, is still undecided”? Areas where we speak, and act as though the Lord has not already won the battle?
There’s an old saying that "If one person calls you a horse's rear-end, ignore it. If two people call you a horse's rear-end, look in the mirror. If three people call you a horse's rear-end, it’s time to buy a saddle”.
"To talk to some Christians, you would think it made no difference that Jesus has declared….”It is finished”!!!! That means “He has done everything He needed to do, now it’s up to us to take His finished work into the enemy’s camp and take back what he’s stolen. He is far from finished, but the victory He came to give to us, has been accomplished!
Colossians 2:10 When you come to Christ, His victory, comes to you, too. His power extends over everything. v11 Entering into this fullness is not something you have to figure out or achieve. It's not a matter of keeping a long list of do’s and don’ts. No, you're already an insider – you’re not brought in through some secretive initiation rite but rather through what Christ has already gone through for you, destroying the power of sin. v12 If it's an initiation ritual you're after, you've already been initiated by submitting to Christ.
Think of it! All sins are forgiven, v14 the slate is now wiped clean, the guilt and condemnation is canceled and nailed to the Cross of Jesus. v15 He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their stolen authority at the Cross and caused the triumph to be shown openly, for all to behold their defeat. v16 So don't put up with anyone pressuring or putting you in bondage over religious rituals, or holy days. V18 They're a lot of hot air. v19 They're completely out of touch with the source of life, Jesus Christ...”
So, what is it that causes us to continue to struggle and strive so much if the battle is over and we have won…. Is it, that something in us is not really convinced that it is already accomplished, finished and done with, or is it that we haven’t really processed the reality of it yet? Sometimes we can know a thing and yet not really know a thing…..
A farmer hired a man to work for him. He told him his first task would be to paint the barn and said it should take him about three days to complete. But the hired man was finished in one day. The farmer set him to cutting wood, telling him it would require about 4 days. The hired man finished in a day and a half, to the farmer's amazement. The farmer sent him to the wheat field to harvest the wheat, and expected it to take all week, but he finished in 3 days. The next task was to sort out a large pile of potatoes. He was to arrange them into three piles: seed potatoes, food for the hogs, and potatoes that were good enough to sell. The farmer said it was a small job and shouldn't take long at all. At the end of the day the farmer came back and found the hired man had barely started. "What's the matter here" the farmer asked. "I can work hard, and I can get a lot done whatever work I’m given, but I’m no good atmaking decisions!"
If you don’t make the tough decisions in your life, someone else will! Life is full of things you choose or things that are chosen for you.
John 8:31-32 “ Jesus said unto them, "You are truly my disciples if you live as I tell you to, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." The problem many have is what to do withtruth..... Pilate was confronted by Christ with the truth that would be able to transform his life, and his question was “What is truth?”.. He had twisted the truth to fit Rome’s definition of it so long, that he wasn’t sure what truth was anymore. But truth cannot be adequately explained, recognized, understood, or defined without recognizing God as the ultimate source of truth.
Like Pilate, The truth is....Sometimes we are afraid of what will happen if we really give God control of our life. And what we’re feeling is, "I don't want anybody controlling me." Who are we kidding? We're being controlled all the time. Too often we're controlled by the opinions of other people. Too often we're controlled by hurts we can't forget. We’re controlled by our baggage, our habits, hang-ups, other people’s agendas, or even our own ego! (come on, it’s amen or oh me)
Sometimes you have to plunge in and not look back, set your course and move forward, come hell or high water! There are some decisions you don’t have to keep making. Once you’ve made them, it’s done, it’s decided. I will be faithful to my wife, I will put God first in my choices and decisions, I will treat my body as the temple of God, I will treat others as I would want to be treated….once you make these decisions, you don’t have to keep making them, they’re now just a part of who you are.
Don’t clutter your life, your mind and spirit with a lot of undecided, unresolved issues, that’s what keeps you awake at night. Make your choice, make up your mind, and move forward! You’ll sleep better and you’ll get it behind you, so you won’t keep running into it. Sit down somewhere and just ask yourself, what issues in my life, have I not made a clear, concise, decision about, and make it in God’s favor.... For example, when I was a meat cutter, I decided that I would not work on Sunday so I could put God first on Sunday, and be in His house with my family. I didn’t have to keep making that decision, once it was made.
I see this in Joshua 24:15, he stood before the people and said…“ If it seems evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom you will serve….but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD”. Charles Stanley says that we should ask 4 questions when making good decisions and deciding on the best choices.
1st. Is it biblical? So many say they want God’s will, but they seldom crack open a bible. God’s Word is our paradigm for the way we do life. I’ve said before that the Word of God is our firstlanguage.
2nd. Will it help accomplish the goals I have set for my life? Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you”. When we take care of God’s business, He takes care of your business!
3rd. Is it a wise stewardship of my resources? Andrew Jackson said,
“It may be true that there are two sides to every issue, but it is also true that there are two sides to a sheet of flypaper, and it makes nodifference to the fly which side he chooses, He’s going to get stuck”. Bad choices are only bad, if you insist on staying stuck there. It’s OK to admit you made a bad choice and then make the right one and move on. That’s wisdom.
There is a museum in a Deadwood, South Dakota, with these final words left by a desperate prospector: "I lost my gun. I lost my horse. I am out of food. The Indians are after me. But I've got all the gold I can carry!" Life wants to convince us that we are stuck, but when Peter was stuck in his guilt from failing Jesus... the answer Jesus gave him was “Follow me”... When the rich young ruler was stuck in his greed, Jesus answer to him was the same, “follow me”.....
4th. Will it glorify Christ?
Jesus is praying to the Father in our next scripture.... He says... John 12:27 “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this cause came I unto this hour. 28 Father, glorify thy name”. Whatever we go through, whatever we find ourselves in, the prayer we are to pray, “Father, glorify Your name in this”.....
We all need to find a quite place on a regular basis, and soak in the 23rd Psalm, and let ourselves be saturated with it’s truth… It speaks to our spirit and addresses how we are to live…..and the attitude we live with...
“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. v2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters. v3 He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. v4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for You are with me; Your rod and You staff they comfort me. v5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies: You anoint my head with oil; my cup is overflowing. v6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the very presence of the LORD forever”.
We can shout in spite of the turbulence, strife and fear that arises… “The Lord is my shepherd. I am satisfied with Him!! I do not want. I am satisfied with His promises!! He makes me to lie down in plenty, peace and fullness. I am satisfied with His presence!!!!” I look at what is and then declare what He said it could be!!! If there’s any way to do it, He’ll get it done!!! I am satisfied, He is with me all the way, in every way!
Don’t confuse decision making with problem solving. I think we all at times in life, confuse the decision-making phase with the problem-solving phase. When John F. Kennedy announced publicly, "We're going to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade." That was the decision. Had all the problems been solved when he made that decision? No!
If you're a good manager you know you never confuse decision making with problem solving. Kennedy said, "We're going to do it, and every resource will be made available to accomplish it" then it was everyone else’s problem to figure out the details. They didn’t have to make the decision, they just needed to make it happen. If God sends you to do it, then God is responsible for making it happen. “What is impossible with man is possible with God”.....
At the age of 12, I made the personal decision to give the Lord control of my life. Since then, I have been sending out change of address cards to my past, saying, ”My future has moved me again, and I am leaving no forwarding address”!!! My past shouldn’t limit my future…, I don’t live there anymore, I’m not that person anymore....That's not the new me, that's the old me, my shepherd has given me a new address."
Philippians 1:6 “And I am sure that God who began the good work within you will keep right on helping you grow in his grace until his task within you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns”.
When Moses led the Jews out of Egypt and they came to the Red Sea, they got stuck, with nowhere to turn. The Egyptians were coming up behind them and the Red Sea’s flood waters were in front of them, and the mountains were on either side. They were stuck, but God’s solution to them was, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. To stand still, is about checking your reasons for doing what you do. Are you judging the situation accurately, and are you seeing clearly. It’s about making sure you’re fighting the Lord’s battle, not your own. Some battles God won’t fight, because they are not His fight. If the battle is the Lord’s, then it’s already won before it begins. Are you fighting your own fight, or His fight?
Someone here feels today feels stuck, you feel you have no place to turn. I want you to know, that the first thing you need to do is check to make sure you are where you are, because you were obeying the Lord. Because God won’t fight for you in the place of disobedience. Check where you’re standing and make sure it’s a fight God can fight and you will see the salvation of the Lord because He never loses a fight!
Do what you know to do until He shows you something else!
Does that mean everything in your life is perfect? Absolutely not. It means that God has checked your heart, and sees that your heart is right towards Him.... and He's going to be liberating your mind, your emotions, your soulish desires, and freeing your spirit so He can rule and reign in your life…, once you’ve made the decision, all the resources you’ll ever need, have been made available in Christ…victory is inevitable if you don’t give up!!!! .
Job said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him”
An orphaned boy was living with his grandmother when their house caught fire. The grandmother, trying to get upstairs to rescue the boy, perished in the flames. The boy’s cries for help were finally answered by a man who climbed an iron drainpipe and came back down with the boy hanging tightly to his neck.
Several weeks later, a public hearing was held to determine who would receive custody of the child. A farmer, a teacher, and the town’s wealthiest citizen all gave the reasons they felt they should be chosen to give the boy a home. But as they talked, the boy’s eyes remained focused on the floor. Then a stranger walked to the front and slowly took his hands from his pockets, revealing severe scars on them. As the crowd gasped, the boy cried out in recognition. This was the man who had saved his life. His hands had been burned when he climbed the hot pipe. With a leap the boy threw his arms around the man’s neck and held on for dear life. Those scarred hands had settled the issue.
The scarred hands of Jesus, paid the price so we could be His forever and Our life is safe in those nail scarred hands.
IT’S NOT ABOUT THE SIZE OF YOUR FAITH, BUT IT’S ABOUT THE SIZE OF YOUR GOD! It’s not about your power, but God’s authority that backs you up! Your faith doesn’t have to be “perfect” to get results
Oh, by the way, God doesn’t measure us by results, because results are
His department, He measures us by our obedience. When we obey, He is in charge of the results.
So, let’s believe and declare what He calls us!.... He calls us blessed, justified, free from the law of sin and death, joint-heir with Christ, new creature in Christ, chosen, holy, and blameless, seated in the heavenly places, God’s workmanship, complete in Christ, friend of God, beloved of God, blessed with every spiritual blessing….winners, not losers….OH MY!!!!
Colossians 2:9&10 says, "For in CHRIST dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And we are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power."
All we need, is embodied in us through the work of Christ, the mind of Christ, the faith of God, the authority of God, the love of God. We have in us the very life of God, because we are in Christ Jesus.
Deuteronomy 28:1 If you listen obediently to what your God is saying, and heartily obey what He speaks to you today, Your God, will place you on high, and give you favor above those around you. v2 All these blessings will come down on you and spread out beyond you because you have responded to the Voice of your God”.
There’s no luck here, this is all about God’s successful outcome in your life and guaranteed blessings! Our job is to develop a lifestyle of listening. One day Tony Evans says he was trapped along with a group of people, in an elevator in a high rise tower. The car he was riding in got stuck in between floors way up near the top floors. He noted that some of the people in the car began to panic. They began to beat on the door hoping to get someone’s attention. Others began to yell in the hopes that their voices would get someone on the surrounding floors to come to the aid. But nobody heard their noise or their cries.
Then Evans quietly made his way to the front of the car, opened a little door in the wall and pulled out a telephone. Immediately he was connected with someone on the outside. He didn’t need to beat on the wall to get their attention. He didn’t need to speak loudly in the phone to receive their help. He could have whispered and they would have heard him. When you’re stuck, don’t forget you have a direct line to the owner. That’s what Adonai, the name God gave us to call Him, actually means. He’s the Land lord of the earth, and we are tenants who live here.
He is also known as Jirah, the provider.... Shalome, our peace....Rapha, our healing.... Nessie, our victory.... and while everyone else is panicking, we have direct access... Even before we call, He answers!
When we feel stuck, we need to .....
MAKE A QUALITY COMMITMENT TO ACCEPT ALL THAT THE LORD’S SACRIFICE HAS MADE AVAILABLE TO USTHROUGH THE PURCHASING POWER OF HIS OWN BLOOD, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
ACCEPT GOD’S WAY AS YOUR NEW STANDARD FOR LIVING.
ACCEPT GOD’S WILL AS YOUR OWN GOAL FOR YOURLIFE.
ACCEPT GOD’S POWER AS THE SOURCE OF YOURSTRENGTH. That’s about ownership...He owns it all, including the place you’re stuck in... If God is our owner, then our problems are His, our struggles are His, Our delays and barriers are His.
I believe this is your time to recover what Satan has stolen from you, what the deceiver has delayed in coming to you, and what he’s blocked from getting to you that God says is yours!!!!
When Jesus shouted from the cross…”it is finished”….He made it possible for us to get plugged in to all the power we will ever need. It’s waiting to be released and it’s all available through faith in Christ….
Sometimes the entire mountain moves, and sometimes it’s moved a truck load at a time….but it will move!
Let us Pray together….“Heavenly Father, today, we come before you expecting this to be the greatest day of our life. A day filled with unique opportunities to share your love with every person we meet. We thank you, Lord, for the favor which will flow through us today and for this to be a day in which you will be glorified by what we think, say and do, in the strong name of Jesus. Lord, we thank You for freedom in being a mouthpiece for You, for fearless confidence, for cheerful courage, and for boldness with supernatural assurance.
We command stolen blessings to be restored seven fold for every blessing we have missed in Jesus name. We have angels assigned to minister and strengthen us in Spirit so that we can do those things that God has called us to do, who go before us to protect and to guard us and bring us to the place that God has prepared. We are of good cheer for the Lord has overcome the world and given us His victory. We have been made more than conquerors in Christ.
Lord, You enable us to come forth victorious and be raised to a higher place as we receive full understanding of our rights, privileges, and authority in Jesus. The lord sets us on a path of ever increasing success so that the latter days of our life are much greater than any previous time. We now leave the past behind as the Lord brings us into the wider place of His abundance. We walk in happiness, peace, Divine favor and good fortune.
Our families are blessed and anointed and our possessions are secure, because the limits have been taken off and we overflowwith God’s covenant of fullness. We declare that we are in total and complete health because You have taken away sickness from our spirit. Your word says we are the healed in Jesus’ name. We boldly declare that we are made whole, spirit, soul and body, for the power of sickness, infirmity, disease or deformity is no longer has any place, in Jesus’ name!
We declare that the Lord sustains us, even in our old age. He gives energy, vitality, health and rescues us from feebleness and calamity. We now receive His ability, power and anointing, that we may be established in His covenant design and plan. We cancel premature death and receive the full number of our days and the ability to pass on wealth and honor as an inheritance for the next generation. Lord, may You be honored and glorified as all these things come to pass, in Jesus’ Name, AMEN!!!!
