No, I'm not attacking another person or group of people. Today I begin my war on a kingdom. Today I stop being part of a company and advance to the front lines. Today, I move to attack in a way that hurts and drive out any enemies from my own camp. Today, I declare war on evil, on demonic spirits, and on Satan himself.
This may sound hokey to some. I don't care. There is a kingdom of light and a kingdom of darkness and while some don't want to believe it, this kingdom of darkness is where lack comes from. This kingdom of darkness is where depression comes from. This kingdom of darkness is where sickness comes from.
Today I claim my right as a child of God and come boldly before his throne. Today I drive out and demonic influence in my home and declare that it must leave and never come back. Tonight, this night, this very night, sleepness nights will end and be banished forever. Tonight, temptations to sin in ANY way have no place in my home. Tonight my home becomes a home of peace, rest, and unity.
One thing about going to war is that you have to have weapons to fight with. Tonight, I begin building my arsenal finding out who I am in Christ. With this arsenal, I can fight the common cold, depression, lack of finances, disunity, and every other evil thing that comes into this life because I am a child of God. This is NOT because of who I am or what I have done but because of what Christ has done in me.
What is making me sad here is that I have taken so long to declare this war. I have had the tools available to me for 8 years now and am only now fully taking advantage of them. I have gone to a good church where this is taught and been saved for seven years now and thus far have only done baby stuff feeding off of the sincere milk of the word.
It is now time for me to grow up and begin to feed on the meat that is available to me. It is time for me to go from being a follower who is being coddled and protected to being a leader who is available to attack and defend. The fire has been lit in my life and will continue to be fed through daily bible reading and prayer and confession of God's word and church. I will continue forward and I will not look back.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
God is good...
Okay, I know I just did this topic, but I don't feel like I completed it. I keep seeing so many instances where people just aren't getting what is from God and what is not as people are often confusing disaster with God testing us.
Yes, God does test us. We see this when God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son on the alter. This is the same son that God gave to Abraham when he was by all natural standards too old to have a son and this was his only son. Abraham did take his son with him fully prepared to sacrifice his son. My pastor has painted a fantastic picture of this describing how Isaac must have helped carry the wood. We see where Isaac asked where the lamb for the sacrifice was and Abraham answered that God would provide a lamb. We see that Isaac allowed his father to tie him up and must have known at this point that he was to be the sacrifice made. How hard this must have been for Abraham prepared to do this in obedience of God.
I will take a moment to point out that this was not judgment against Isaac or Abraham. We see nothing here where they were being punished for a sin against God, and yet Abraham was fully prepared to obey.
Now we come to the point where Isaac is bound and Abraham is bringing the knife down to kill his son and the angel of the Lord stayed his hand. A sacrifice was still made that day with the ram in the thicket that God had provided.
If interested, you can find this full account in Genesis 21 through 22. This is an instance where a man was tested. This also, incidentally, established the covenant for God to provide His only son as a sacrifice for us. That, however, is for another blog post.
When a person's home is destroyed or a family member is taken, that is bad and not from God. It is not a test. It is not a way of getting the person to lean more on God. It is bad.
When 9-11 happened and thousands died, it was not the wrath of God for the sins of America. It was evil and was not judgment for our sins.
Does God judge? Emphatically yes, however, when we see this happen, it is only the person who sinned who dies or is punished. We see this as Lot's wife turns to salt when she turned back as the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19. We see judgment against Ananias and Saphirah as they lied about what they sold their house for in Acts 5. We see it when Korah rebelled in Numbers 16.
In all of these cases, it is individuals sinning against God, it is never a whole punished for the actions of a few. In fact, we see examples of this when Lot leaves to separate himself and when Korah is punished. An angel specifically tells Lot that he cannot destroy Sodom and Gomorrah until Lot has left. Moses also tells the people to separate themselves from those being judged so that the do not suffer for the sins of Korah and the others rebelling with him.
People even blame the weather on God when things happen like killing crops. Truth is that even rain was a result of our sin. Before that, mist rose from the ground to water the plants. In fact, the first rain to ever happen was the one the flooded the earth. Think of what Noah's neighbor's thought when he said he was building an ark because it was going to rain. They must have all wondered about the crazy man talking about this thing called rain that was water that fell from the sky.
Well, that's enough on that for now. As my pastor often says, we are never really done, we just take a break. I may continue on this topic on my next post or move onto a new topic.
Yes, God does test us. We see this when God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son on the alter. This is the same son that God gave to Abraham when he was by all natural standards too old to have a son and this was his only son. Abraham did take his son with him fully prepared to sacrifice his son. My pastor has painted a fantastic picture of this describing how Isaac must have helped carry the wood. We see where Isaac asked where the lamb for the sacrifice was and Abraham answered that God would provide a lamb. We see that Isaac allowed his father to tie him up and must have known at this point that he was to be the sacrifice made. How hard this must have been for Abraham prepared to do this in obedience of God.
I will take a moment to point out that this was not judgment against Isaac or Abraham. We see nothing here where they were being punished for a sin against God, and yet Abraham was fully prepared to obey.
Now we come to the point where Isaac is bound and Abraham is bringing the knife down to kill his son and the angel of the Lord stayed his hand. A sacrifice was still made that day with the ram in the thicket that God had provided.
If interested, you can find this full account in Genesis 21 through 22. This is an instance where a man was tested. This also, incidentally, established the covenant for God to provide His only son as a sacrifice for us. That, however, is for another blog post.
When a person's home is destroyed or a family member is taken, that is bad and not from God. It is not a test. It is not a way of getting the person to lean more on God. It is bad.
When 9-11 happened and thousands died, it was not the wrath of God for the sins of America. It was evil and was not judgment for our sins.
Does God judge? Emphatically yes, however, when we see this happen, it is only the person who sinned who dies or is punished. We see this as Lot's wife turns to salt when she turned back as the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19. We see judgment against Ananias and Saphirah as they lied about what they sold their house for in Acts 5. We see it when Korah rebelled in Numbers 16.
In all of these cases, it is individuals sinning against God, it is never a whole punished for the actions of a few. In fact, we see examples of this when Lot leaves to separate himself and when Korah is punished. An angel specifically tells Lot that he cannot destroy Sodom and Gomorrah until Lot has left. Moses also tells the people to separate themselves from those being judged so that the do not suffer for the sins of Korah and the others rebelling with him.
People even blame the weather on God when things happen like killing crops. Truth is that even rain was a result of our sin. Before that, mist rose from the ground to water the plants. In fact, the first rain to ever happen was the one the flooded the earth. Think of what Noah's neighbor's thought when he said he was building an ark because it was going to rain. They must have all wondered about the crazy man talking about this thing called rain that was water that fell from the sky.
Well, that's enough on that for now. As my pastor often says, we are never really done, we just take a break. I may continue on this topic on my next post or move onto a new topic.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
God good, Devil bad
God good, Devil bad. This is something I have always essentially known, but it took simplifying it to a preschool level for me to really get it. Literally, I learned this lesson in a preschool room when I was much older than preschool age.
I was actually learning to be a preschool teacher at my church and one of the preschool teachers named Amber got asked to teach at the last minute and didn't have a prepared lesson. She, therefore, taught the kids to understand and say "God good, Devil bad." On that Sunday morning, I really started to "get it".
This is also something that not everybody does get. If everybody did get this, we would not have insurance companies calling the destruction of people's home acts of God. We would not have people saying that God took a person's life. We would not have people saying that being impoverished may be a blessing in disguise or that God may be trying to teach us something.
I know that saying this may be twisting or even putting a hole in some peoples doctrines. My pastor likes to say that if you are going to create a doctrine, you should find 2 or 3 scriptures that support it, and that they preferably be from the new testament, so let's take a look.
We see in James 1:17 that "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."
I'll take a tangent on this one here and point out that not only is God good, but he doesn't change. We can see this not only here, but also in Hebrew's 13:8 that says "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."
Let's continue to look at James 1:17 a moment. One word that really sticks out to me in this verse is the word every. I'm a very logical person and have taken some college level classes on the topic. In a logical proof, the word every means that there is nothing being left out or nothing left over. This essentially means that if it is good, it cannot come from any other source but God.
Let's now look at John 10:10 that states "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full"(NIV) I also really like the 2nd part of this verse in the New Living Translation that says (My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
I'd like to put this verse in context for those unfamiliar with this part of scripture, however, I would also encourage you as the reader to study this out in your own Bible as well. Jesus often told parables, or stories, to illustrate his points. In this parable, he uses a sheepfold, a gatekeeper, and a thief to illustrate his point. Jesus Christ is the gatekeeper in this parable through which you come into and out of the sheepfold. The thief is actually not the devil in this parable, but more a false teacher that comes into the sheepfold to steal away the sheep. The sheepfold is actually the local church as Jesus speaks of how there are many other sheepfolds. The word only in this verse indicates that there is nothing else that the thief does. He uses different methods to accomplish this, but the goals are always the same.
Finally, I'll take you over to 1 Peter 5:8 in the Amplified Bible that says "Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring[in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour."
Later, I'd like to write a post that speaks about some of the tools that God gives us to defend against Satan and his devices that according to 2nd Corinthians 11:2, we are not to be ignorant of. I'd also like to write a post of some of the tools that are available to study the Bible.
For now, I would like to come back to the way I started this post. God good, devil bad. If it is good like honest money, a good job, food available to eat, a happy family, it is from God. If it is bad like not having enough money, strife in a family, crime, pain, agony, defeat, it is from the devil.
Can there be choices between good things like which job to take and one not be the right choice? Absolutely, and that is where listening to the Holy Spirit comes in. But that is for another post.
I was actually learning to be a preschool teacher at my church and one of the preschool teachers named Amber got asked to teach at the last minute and didn't have a prepared lesson. She, therefore, taught the kids to understand and say "God good, Devil bad." On that Sunday morning, I really started to "get it".
This is also something that not everybody does get. If everybody did get this, we would not have insurance companies calling the destruction of people's home acts of God. We would not have people saying that God took a person's life. We would not have people saying that being impoverished may be a blessing in disguise or that God may be trying to teach us something.
I know that saying this may be twisting or even putting a hole in some peoples doctrines. My pastor likes to say that if you are going to create a doctrine, you should find 2 or 3 scriptures that support it, and that they preferably be from the new testament, so let's take a look.
We see in James 1:17 that "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."
I'll take a tangent on this one here and point out that not only is God good, but he doesn't change. We can see this not only here, but also in Hebrew's 13:8 that says "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."
Let's continue to look at James 1:17 a moment. One word that really sticks out to me in this verse is the word every. I'm a very logical person and have taken some college level classes on the topic. In a logical proof, the word every means that there is nothing being left out or nothing left over. This essentially means that if it is good, it cannot come from any other source but God.
Let's now look at John 10:10 that states "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full"(NIV) I also really like the 2nd part of this verse in the New Living Translation that says (My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
I'd like to put this verse in context for those unfamiliar with this part of scripture, however, I would also encourage you as the reader to study this out in your own Bible as well. Jesus often told parables, or stories, to illustrate his points. In this parable, he uses a sheepfold, a gatekeeper, and a thief to illustrate his point. Jesus Christ is the gatekeeper in this parable through which you come into and out of the sheepfold. The thief is actually not the devil in this parable, but more a false teacher that comes into the sheepfold to steal away the sheep. The sheepfold is actually the local church as Jesus speaks of how there are many other sheepfolds. The word only in this verse indicates that there is nothing else that the thief does. He uses different methods to accomplish this, but the goals are always the same.
Finally, I'll take you over to 1 Peter 5:8 in the Amplified Bible that says "Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring[in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour."
Later, I'd like to write a post that speaks about some of the tools that God gives us to defend against Satan and his devices that according to 2nd Corinthians 11:2, we are not to be ignorant of. I'd also like to write a post of some of the tools that are available to study the Bible.
For now, I would like to come back to the way I started this post. God good, devil bad. If it is good like honest money, a good job, food available to eat, a happy family, it is from God. If it is bad like not having enough money, strife in a family, crime, pain, agony, defeat, it is from the devil.
Can there be choices between good things like which job to take and one not be the right choice? Absolutely, and that is where listening to the Holy Spirit comes in. But that is for another post.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)