I am tired of Christians falling for lies that keep them weak and non-effective with the gospel. Do we have any idea who it is that we worship? We say we do yet we have no expectations. Oh, we have desperate longings and a very weak hope that borders on wishful thinking instead of certainty but we do not have the faith that is required to live as people of power in this place. We cannot hope to understand this power in us unless we are willing to see God for who he is, the Mighty One and our relationship with him through Jesus Christ.
There is a psalm that describes the effect it had on the world when God rescued and established Israel as a nation and in this psalm we discover an understanding of the authority of God that we fail to grasp in our lives:
When Israel came out of Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,
Judah became God’s sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.
The sea looked and fled,
the Jordan turned back;
the mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs. (Psalm 114:1-4)
the Jordan turned back;
the mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs. (Psalm 114:1-4)
When we look at what God did through this tiny group of people who had been rescued from slavery we can see the God of the impossible doing the impossible. This small family overcame entire nations, not by their skill but by their faith and trust in the living God. No one can stand against God. The psalmist asks the question:
Why was it, O sea, that you fled,
O Jordan, that you turned back,
you mountains, that you skipped like rams,
you hills, like lambs? (Psalm 114:5-6)
The answer should be easy for us to answer and it probably is but I don't think we have the revelation of this truth:
Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
who turned the rock into a pool,
the hard rock into springs of water. (Psalm 114:7-8)
Do we not understand that we have the presence of the Lord in us always, wherever we go and whatever we are involved in? The psalmist tells the earth to tremble at this same presence and yet we walk around in our weaknesses, allowing our weaknesses to dictate to us, failing to recognize the powerful presence of Jesus in us through the Holy Spirit. Nothing has dominion over us. No addiction can control us. When we accepted Jesus we were given victory over everything and all we have to do is claim it, speak to it, walk in it through the relationship we have with Jesus Christ. Read these words slowly and carefully, and ask for a revelation of its truth:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
You are not a victim; you can't be, because you have authority over everything because he who has overcome is in you. We allow the lies of the enemy to come in through people and through our own fears. Regardless of where they come from they are lies. I refuse to live by the rules of this world along with its fears because I have been made new and made different. For far too long we have allowed things that no longer have power over us to continue to push us down. God has done it all, he has given us every victory but we must make the decision to walk in that victory.
Israel was given victory over every nation but they had to operate in that victory. They had to speak to it, claim it, walk in the knowledge it was theirs. The moment they doubted who they were and who God was and what he had promised, and failed to act upon it, they were defeated. The refused to enter the promised land because of fear, they did not trust God's promises. Every time they faced defeat in the Promised Land it was because they forgot God. They started as slaves and re-entered slavery because they forgot God and were overwhelmed by their enemies. We too face defeat and slavery to our enemies when we fail to remember who God is, who we are in him and what he has promised us. Victory is promised and it is promised to us by the Living God, Creator of all things.
I don't care what you are facing, financial struggles, health issues, relationship issues, understand that you have been given authority over those things. You have been given victory already. Remember who God is, remember who you are in Christ, remember his promises and walk in it. What has taken dominion over you? Have you given authority to pornography, gambling, drugs, tobacco, sex, television, music or anything else that dictates to us, that you are not in control of? Then take that authority back. I said take it back! Remember who Jesus is, who you are in him, what his promises are and walk in it. It is time to take possession of the promises and you will have to take on your enemies that God has promised you victory over. Nothing has dominion over you.
Tell the seas to roll back and the mountains to skip because the presence of the Lord God Almighty is in you, and everything must bend its knee to his authority. That's who you are so it is time to grow up and walk in the truth.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. (2 Corinthians 1:20)
I can do everything through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:13)
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