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THE MAIN BATTLE IS ALREADY WON , BUT WE HAVE TO KEEP FIGHTING IT THROUGH TO OUR FINAL VICTORY!
This is one of the most important lessons I have learned this year (2007) during my Year of the Word. I made a commitment
to the Lord at the beginning of 2007, that I would dedicate this year to spending as much time as I can in the Word, and making
that my focus of 2007.
As I entered into October, I can look back and see that I made a wise decision. This year, my times in the Word of God have
been awesome. I have learned some awesome things, and step by step the Holy Spirit has led me from one thing to another in
my studies and devotions during my daily private ,personal prayer and devotions time.
My relationship with the Holy Spirit has been strengthened, my faith has been strengthened, and vision increased manifold.
I have experienced an increase in receiving more revelation knowledge of God's Word, and am learning how to fight the good
fight of faith, laying hold on eternal life.
I am walking in victory daily, and when some ugly thing lifts up its hideous face trying to drag me down, I know how to counter
it with the word of God and faith, and send Jesus to answer the door, instead of trying to fight it off in my own strength.
Knowing that the battle is already won, knowing that Jesus has already gotten the victory over Satan, who is also the dragon,
serpent, beast, gives me the faith to keep moving forward to consolidate and establish the Kingdom of God on Earth, and wipe
up any pocket of resistance left by the devil and his ilk.
The spiritual war is still intact, and Satan will not give up, even though he has already lost. 2000 years ago he lost his
authority and was strIpped of his power, and now he only goes around wandering from place to place as a roaring lion seeking
who he can devour. Still threatening, still dangerous, still insanely refusing to give up and surrender, even though he has
already lost the war.
In Eph it 6 says:
[10] Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.
[11] Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
[12] For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world
rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
[13] Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
[14] Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
[15] and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace;
[16] besides all these, taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one.
[17] And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
[18] Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making
supplication for all the saints,
[19] and also for me, that utterance may be given me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, (Amplified
Bible)
These verses tell me that Satan has no authority in this physical world anymore. He has been stripped of his
authority on the earth, and cannot directly affect things any longer by his will, as he could do before Jesus came.
This also tells me that Satan only has power as much as we give it to him in our thoughts and heart, and the decisions we
make that are influenced by him. This tells me that the spiritual war is in our minds and hearts now, and that this is the
only way Satan can gain access to our lives is through our thoughts, which are directly linked to our emotions and actions.
We are the ones who decide how much authority Satan has, by the choices we make, and the thoughts we think.
This verse also tells me that the only way to be protected from the influences of the devil and his angels is FAITH in God,
having a close relationship with God, by first being sure of our salvation, and knowing we are the Lord's. Knowing who we
are in Christ, knowing the truth, laying hold on salvation, claiming the rights to our inheritance as children of God, to
be strong in the power of His might and strength and not our own power, and lastly but not least, and in fact the greatest
of all is to take the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God for ourselves and also share the Word(the equipment of the Gospel
of peace) with others.
I believe it is because I did this and put the word of God first in my life this year I received many many blessings and there
were many victories in my life and the lives of my family. The results are awesome, considering how I was reeling and wavering
in my decisions and actions before.
Of course I was studying the word and putting it first, but in 2007 I really focused on it and made it a priority in my life
to "seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness" and everything else was just added to me effortlessly.
Every month was very special, and had it's special moments and victories. I felt my spirit getting stronger, and as the battle
raged on, I knew that the only way to victory was to keep moving forward no matter how hard I was getting hit.
Things that I thought were impossible and were obstacles to getting our needs just melted away as we called the devil's bluff
and went ahead by faith on things we would not know the outcome of until later.
Studying the Word, meditating on it and applying it really makes a huge difference in how you react to the world around you,
and how you approach problems and situations. It gives you more of the mind of Christ and wisdom of God in handling things,
whatever comes your way, and strengthens you for the daily battle of the mind and heart.
The only place Satan can harm you is in your mind and heart , if you let him, and one of his favorite ways is through fear
and uncertainty of the future, fear of the present, and fear and remorse of the past.
Understanding this principle , this doctrine of devils, that Satan teaches unsuspecting minds, will help to overcome and live
a victorious life. Because if Satan can get you to THINK you are defeated and that there is no hope and you might as well
give up and accept whatever situation you are in, then you are already defeated and will never rise up out of your situation
to a better one.
I wanted to share with you some of the ways that the blessings of God were manifest in our lives this year.
In my own personal life, I know that things are different in the Spirit now than they were at the beginning of the year. This
is referring to both physically AND spiritually. I feel stronger, healthier, happier and more energetic, for one thing.
Needs have been supplied that took a combination of God's blessings and our believing His promises to take action on things
we felt the Holy Spirit was leading us to move on by faith, which quality study of the Word and also prayer, spending time
with the Lord, I believe tipped the scales on these things in our favor, and we saw the victorious results and increase of
materially as well as spiritually.
These blessings occurred in new employment opportunities,new housing and very convenient location, better vehicle, food (eating
better), new relationships, equipment, starting to
establish a chapel (still in the pioneer stages but progressing) communications with family and friends improving, more opportunities
to get the Word out, more boldness and power to witness and share the Gospel with others and minister personally both in person
and by Internet, various ways to study and research the word not being limited by one viewpoint or mind set, but having the
freedom to explore and search and check out what different translations of the Bible say, and learning to use many Bible study
tools available on the Internet or in software, e - Book, or bounded book form.
As far as stats go, I don't concern myself with stats. I look at the fruits and results in my life and others, and accomplishments
and victories and blessings and count them. When you get into counting stats and how many of this and how many of that, it
can be encouraging to some, but also misleading, and can give a somewhat inaccurate evaluation of things.
Remember that David was punished for numbering Israel, because the Lord already knows who is His, and you can do just as well
estimating, if you need to, but the REAL accomplishments are the ones you can see and feel, and you KNOW for sure are the
Lord's fruits.
In fact, the Lord is not that much concerned with so many accomplishments as He is in having a close relationship with us.
If I accomplished that, than that is really the whole matter now isn't it?
Loving God and loving others, learning how to have a close relationship with the Holy Spirit, and learning how to hear His
voice, and follow it.
That is probably the greatest accomplishment anyone could make, and it is an ongoing one too. No one can truthfully say that
they have arrived at that and that they have finally learned how to faultlessly hear the voice of God.
Jesus said "My sheep hear My voice" so we DO hear His voice if we are His sheep, but we don't always know it. If anyone has
gotten to the point where they know and are conscious of the fact that they are always hearing and obeying His voice, it would
be awfully difficult living with a person like that.
It's much better to have an attitude of faith, where you know you are hearing His voice, but you also know that you don't
always recognize it, and do miss it many times, but are learning and growing in that area of your relationship with the Lord.
God is not the one who needs to learn to communicate with us. He does just fine with that and is always broadcasting to us.
we just need to learn to tune in our spiritual receivers, so that we can receive from Him.
That takes an ongoing effort to learn and study and practice by whole heartedly and by faith entering into a relationship
with the Holy Spirit, who is always right there, when you lie down and when you wake up.
The Lord impressed upon me the importance of spending these last three months reviewing the things I have learned in 2007
through His Word, and meditating on them so that I will consolidate my gains and won't lose the precious revelation knowledge
of His Word He has blessed me with.
One of the ways I do this is by writing it down, making little classes, devotionals, or statements and declarations of faith.
Cutting and pasting scriptures that spoke to me. Marking my Bible and now I will spend some time reviewing, consolidating
and organizing those notes I jotted down here and there,and try to get them into some order.
Studying the Word to me is such a joy, and this year I believe I have developed some good habits that have helped me to absorb
what I read and study better. I am also going to make a continual effort to improve my study habits even more, in order to
get as much as I possibly can out of the Word.
One of those ways I believe is to spend time in daily communion with the Holy Spirit, who connects us to the Father and Jesus.
Speaking in tongues during your time with the Lord for however long you are led, is a wonderful experience, and so enhances
your time with the Lord that you can come away from it with a greater edification and revelation knowledge of the Word you
were studying, than if you researched volumes of material.
The revelation knowledge of the word can just explode after a spending a good session with the Lord in communication praying
in the Spirit. (see 1 Corinthians 14)
Another factor in helping you to get a deeper understanding of God's Word is reading and studying it from the perspective
of God's unconditional love for you. When you can understand that God is pleased with you and desires you to have a revelation
knowledge of His Word, boy, that sure breaks down a lot of walls and barriers that block the mind from receiving things from
God.
Then you know that God wants to give you good things, He desires to give you good things, and He has , in fact , already given
you all things in Christ Jesus, but it is we who have to learn and practice how to receive these things. There is nothing
wrong with God's giving, but there could be something wrong with our receiving.
If we think that God wants to withhold his goodness from us, we will have a resistance to His word and voice speaking to our
hearts , and will doubt His unconditional love , because we know we could never earn it by our poor performance.
That is why it is important to have a revelation of God's unconditional love for you. Know that God loves you regardless of
your performance, and that our performance is something that will never be perfect and will never earn us any brownie points
with God.
Our performance for God should be a by product of our love for God, because of what He has already given us through Jesus,
and not something that we think we can earn by our own righteousness or good works.
The good works are just the fruit and not the root of our relationship with God. The relationship has to come first, and then
you will start producing the works automatically out of love and thanks to God.
That is how it works and not the other way around , where you will be caught up in a vicious cycle of works and condemnation
for not being good enough to please God.
The only thing that pleases God is faith. (Hebrews 11:6) Not our works. The works come as a by product of our faith and relationship
with God.
I hope these few little basic lessons have helped you as much as they have helped me. But still, you will not fully get what
I am saying here unless it becomes an experiential knowledge for you and not just an intellectual knowledge.
What I mean is that you have to experience it yourself in order for it to do you any good. Just merely reading someone's testimony
of their victories can be very edifying and inspiring for the moment, and you can praise the Lord and say "that's good".
But it won't do anyone any lasting good unless you take it to heart and try to apply it and let it become your OWN experience,
your own revelation and not just someone else's. You have to have your own relationship with God, and not just go on the faith
of someone else's.
You have to experience it for yourself, and taste it for yourself in order to get the full benefits.
So I would suggest , if you haven't already done so, make the year 2008 your year of the Word. Make it your year that you
pursue a close relationship with God and make ever effort to develop good habits to study the Word of God. You can't really
have one without the other if you want to make progress and grow in your spiritual life and walk with the Lord.
You may be saved and born again, but you will be saved and stuck like so many Christians are today who can't get any further
in their relationship with the Lord because they are depending upon the teachings of someone else, and it is not their own
revelation knowledge taught to them by the Holy Spirit.
You can learn loads from someone else, don't get me wrong, but it will not become your own revelation until you get an experiential
knowledge of it yourself, and learn how to apply the principles you are learning yourself. Other wise they will just be lost
in your short term memory and forgotten.
God's love had to first become an experience , experiential knowledge, not just mental knowledge. You have to know it and
experience it in your daily life, in order for it to become your own experience and not just something someone else is teaching.
May God bless you beyond your wildest dreams and give you the revelation knowledge of His word as you pursue a closer relationship
with Him.
And Please remember: THE MAIN BATTLE IS ALREADY WON , BUT WE HAVE TO KEEP FIGHTING IT THROUGH TO OUR FINAL VICTORY!
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