I am in the middle of some stuff that has been tough on the flesh, but I am recognizing it as what it is….A chinning bar for me to grow up in the Lord. All the present sufferings and trials are just mere possibilities to stretch my faith and grow up!! He is preparing us to walk totally by Faith and not depend on our finances or people or our own mindsets and to allow the spirit to be in control of our minds and Holy Spirit to be in control of our spirit. I have to admit, my flesh has had moments where it has been throwing a fit and not liking it one bit, but I consider that the present sufferings shall not even compare to the glory which will be revealed through this. I have had to rise up in my spirit and determine that I will not allow that flesh to rule this spirit within me. If the WORD OF GOD says it is possible to have victory over this flesh then by golly, we shall have it! I have waited too long to say “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH” Our worst enemy is SELF!!! We are to reckon the old man DEAD (Romans 6) and that is what I am trying to walk out. Anyway, in the last few weeks, we have been coming against things that are contrary to the Word that we know to be true. We have had crazy days, but they have been good days. We have come against sickness and attacks and stood on the promises of God. We know that there will be days where we don’t see the evidence right away, but we know this: GOD IS FAITHFUL even in the midst of an attack. The Kingdom of God suffers violence, but the violent take it be force! If Jesus Himself said in Luke 10:19 – 20 that He has given us authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt us, then why do we not believe it with our minds? Hmmm…. Ok, so I have been thinking this is the reason: I HAVE ALLOWED MY FLESH TO RULE AND REIGN INSTEAD OF THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD LIVING ON THE INSIDE OF ME! Right? I am thankful instead that God is rich in Mercy and Loving-kindness that leads me to REPENTANCE. I am taking back what the enemy has stolen from me!! I am declaring that Jesus Christ has overcome this world and because HE LIVES IN ME THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD, I shall be more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37). I shall allow my spirit man to be strengthened and be in control through the power of the Holy Spirit! Come what may, I am not giving up! Ok so anyway, I will share what happened the other day that has got me to thinking about how I view things. I realize that for a while, I have allowed fear to creep in over things at times. Last year around this time, my husband lost his really good paying job with benefits and had to go to work at KFC. Our income (which was already lower middle class) was dropped by 20,000 a year. We then had to cut out all ideas of having college money saved up or Christmas present money or any other savings for that part and we had to cut costs drastically. So, we were brought low in this perspective and have been reminded that GOD IS FAITHFUL!! He has always been Jehovah Jireh (the Lord who provides) and HE WILL ALWAYS BE!!! This week was the lowest we had been in a while. We had went to Cracker Barrel on Friday night and then took a fellow who needed some extra love with us to Burgess Falls and to the Big E’s BBQ in Rickman on Saturday night thinking we had plenty to do what we needed. Technically, we had it in there, but we got a little lower than I like to see the account get so I was a little concerned. We haven’t been to faithful to keep up with our register everyday so it was a little scary until I made sure that we had enough to cover the outstanding debits. So, when fear tried to come and I heard things like “you were so stupid to go out with your family to Cracker Barrel and why did you go out this weekend?” I had to stop and rebuke myself (YES, MYSELF) See I don’t think Satan has authority over my thought life. I have been set FREE from the power of the enemy and he no longer controls that part of me!! I know that I have been controlled by him (through my own foolish choices to let SELF reign) but not this time!!! I said out loud “Staci, you need to suck it up and go on. Your God is faithful and He has never depended on your wise choices to bring you provision. You have everything you need to do what you are called to do. Lord, I praise you for being my Jehovah Jireh. I thank you that we are the righteousness of God through Christ Jesus and that you will withhold no good thing from those that love you! I thank you that you are teaching us a more disciplined life and I thank you that you are FAITHFUL even if I am not.” I just began to worship Him for being our provider and remind myself WHO HE IS AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN. I began to remind myself of all the times I foolishly spent money when I was married before and that we were making even less back then and God still provided miraculously. He is still the same God yesterday, today, and FOREVER. We came through that and we will come through this. I asked for His wisdom in this situation and let HIM have it. I thank you Lord that you can be trusted with all that I have because it is ALL YOURS anyway. All I can do is seek you and do what you call me to do. That is not changing here! Well, then about an hour or so later, Tim calls me and tells me that a 300.00 Dr. Bill that we owed is being written off and we don’t owe it! WOW!!!! Was that God teaching me or what???!!! I believe what He taught me was that it doesn’t depend on my abilities to handle the money as much as it depends on my belonging to HIM. I am HIS and HE IS MINE. He provides for HIS OWN. If He didn’t, He would be a liar and THAT HE IS NOT!!! My daddy owns the cattle on a thousand hills and takes care of me. Hallelujah!!! I am learning to REIGN WITH HIM and I am starting with my mind and my voice. We need to declare with our mouths the oracles of the Lord. We don’t need to be passive against the enemy of our souls. If someone were coming into your house and robbing everything you had, would you just sit there quietly and not protect your family and all your blessings? Why do we stand by quietly while the enemy comes in. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord raises a standard against him, (WE HAVE THE SPIRIT OF GOD IN US) We, by the power of the HOLY SPIRIT, need to be raising a standard of the Lord against the enemy when he comes. We need to keep away from grumbling and complaining about our situations and recognize them as opportunities to build faith muscles!!! Amen?? I am going to get there someday. I may stumble in the process, but I am going to suck it up and go on. I have been around this mountain once before, and I am determined to get to the top this time with my daddy cheering me on all the way. He is my greatest cheerleader. Since Him and the cloud of witnesses that surround us are watching me, I am going to run my race with endurance and keep my eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith. I am one blessed woman of God. Oh beloved, that we would search His heart and see that He is a good Father who takes care of HIS babies and His teens, and His adults!!! We are all precious to Him!!! So, then today, I am reading “Come Away my Beloved” by Frances Roberts and want to share this one. May you all have a blessed day and may your hearts be drawn to the Father today:
LEARN TO REIGN
Let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. Hebrews 13:15
Call My people to repentance. Call them to their knees for prayer and fasting, for confession and vigilance—for this is a strategic hour. The enemy is rejoicing already over his anticipated victories. You can disappoint him and thwart his evil designs if you lay hold on the throne of God in steadfast, believing prayer.
Yes, you must do even as the devil has done and anticipate your victories. You can do MORE than the enemy at this point. You can claim the victories in the Name of Jesus, and all that you claim in that all powerful Name is sealed in Heaven before it comes to pass on earth. The enemy is defeated, even before the actual battle.
Lay hold of this, My people. This is not only a glorious truth in which to rejoice, but it is absolutely vital to your victory. How do troops go to battle in earthly warfare? No without preparation, ample ammunition, and intensive training. I do not expect you to meet your adversary unequipped, unarmed, or undisciplined. Do not count on Me to deliver you by some kind of magic. I give you orders and you must obey; otherwise you will suffer intolerable defeat. You do not face light skirmishes in which you can look for easy victories. I remind you that you are not contending with flesh and blood and matching wits with me; you are being ambushed and facing open attack from the very enemy of your souls, Satan himself.
He is not out to torment. He is out to destroy; not to hurt you, but to crush you. Your strength is no match for him. You must learn how to lay claim to the throne of God. I have met him and won already as I hung on the cross. Now YOU must find the way of victory yourselves—each one individually—so that My victory already won can become a present victory in operation for you.
Do not cry to Me in the hour of crisis and distress as though I would extend some miracle in answer to prayer. Of course, I do answer prayer, and I can perform miracles and bring deliverance, but if I do this, I have only rescued one of My own out of trouble while you have won no victory at all! I want to teach you how to circumvent the enemy—to drive him out of the arena; how to subdue kingdoms and how to truly reign in the kingdom of heaven. I want you to experience Jerichos, not Ais. You must be over comers if My work is to be accomplished.
You are not qualified to be used for My purposes as long as you are being harassed by the enemy and I keep needing to rescue you from a constant parade of distressing predicaments. You are more than conquerors as the apostle Paul said, and it was by My Spirit that Paul was taught this (see Romans 8:37)
Rise up, then, and lay claim to the power that is yours, because I am in you, and you are in Me, and as I was in the world, so are you. I was victorious, and you too may be victorious. I withstood every encounter with the devil, and you too can stand against him. I healed the sick and wrested tortured bodies out of the grip of evil forces, and you too can do the same.
Learn to reign, for I have made you to become kings and priests. I have intended that you should come into that place where you share My authority so I will be able to manifest My glory through you. This is My greatest joy—to lift you out of the enemy territory and seat you in the heavens with Me. And where am I? At the right hand of the Father who sits upon the throne. He has invested in Me all power in upon the throne. He has invested in Me all power upon the throne. He has invested in Me all power in heaven and earth and under the earth; and you are seated with Me, far above all principalities and powers. Through Me you have inherited all. And you can lay claim to that inheritance now because I have already died. Because I have already died, you can enter in now. You do not gain an inheritance when you die, but when the testator dies. Take it, My people. It is yours now. It is yours because of Calvary. When you think of Calvary you think of My love; and this indeed is the tie—in between Calvary and this sharing of My throne life. I want you with Me. I want you seated beside Me because I want you near Me. Because I love you.
Where do you expect to see a queen? Beside the king. I have not spoken of you as a queen, but you are my Bride. A queen is subordinate to a king, and he reigns while she merely stands nearby. No, ours is a closer relationship, for I have vested you with authority also. You reign with Me if you recognize your privilege to do so, and if you move out in the power of the Spirit into that realm where I want you to live and move and, yes, to have your very being. For I would have a people who live in Me continually, not moving in and out of this place at will. I would have you live continually in the center of the kingdom of God, just as I have placed the Kingdom within the very center of your being. You bring this kingdom into operation in your own life by an act of faith, yes, by a constant attitude of faith. In the last days, I will have a people through whom I can manifest My glory. There are works I must yet do through My body, the Church, which I could not possibly have accomplished through My own physical body in My earthly ministry. I am even now bringing this body together, uniting the individual members, breathing My breath into it, empowering it with gifts and ministries in order that through it I may do My work—so that when the time comes for Me to take the Church out of the world, I may be able to say again, “It is finished” (John 19:30).
Know that there are also sufferings yet to be accomplished in the body of the Church that I was not able to suffer on the cross. Did Paul not write that you fill up “what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ” (Colossians 1:24)? Be patient, hold steady through the days that lie ahead, and know that the trials and suffering are working toward a consuming glory.
Praise Me, O My people, praise Me. Praise Me out of a heart full of love. Praise Me for every blessing and every victory. Yes, praise me when the most difficult thing to do is to praise. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even your faith, and praise is the voice of faith. It is faith rejoicing for victories claimed in advance. The song of praise is made of the very fabric of things hoped for. It becomes evidence of unseen things. It is the raw material in My hands from which I fashion your victories.
Give it to Me. Give Me much. Give to Me often. I dwell in the midst of the praises of My people. I dwell there because I am happiest there. As surely as you make Me happy with your praising, you will make the enemy most unhappy. He has no power whatsoever over a praising Christian. He cannot stand against a praising Church. This is the most powerful weapon you can use against him. So praise is like a two-edged sword: One side brings health to your own spirit while the other side cuts down the enemy!
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