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Thursday, December 4, 2014

The Enemy loves to Push our Buttons – Time to Push Back! Remind him of the Cross. Part II



The reality is if we follow the Spirit we will achieve exceptional victory, inner transformation,  deeper agreement with righteousness and experience  the love of Jesus powerfully

The Lord has set up the enemy to lose.  We are set up to win.  The Devil is the stupid one in all the struggle scenarios we face.   We are actually set up to receive more and breakthrough.   Time to Push BACK!


When you encounter him ---as you walk in the Spirit and your divine assignment in power – crush him with the message of the cross lived out in your very life!  



The Cross = Total victory and defeat of dark forces
Satan gleefully agreed to degrade, punish and unleash every furry on Jesus and then shame him before the world in the cross.  He used his weapon, the fallen governments of both Israel and Rome to tumble mighty stones down upon Jesus.  Heavy weights of judgement, shame and condemnation were rolled on him but to no eternal effect.  He was sinless and a perfect Lamb sacrifice.   Satan foolishly unleashed the worst torture and degrading personal unraveling of flesh known to humanity.   He thought he had the set up for winning over the Father’s plans.  He is a stupid criminal.   In fact with his participation and that of the fallen governments which were to work for good (   ) Satan put everything he had on the line……and LOST.   Total defeat.  




And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.




The enemy is so easily drawn in by hate, greed, power and deceit that he cannot see past those things to the immanent victory Jesus has planned in the conflicts and struggles we face.

 

The Cross speaks a perfect word to the principalities and authorities of the cosmos.  Total defeat.  




So how does that play out for us as we walk in the Spirit?   

Today many spend a great deal of time focused on the enemy, his plans, how he works, what he is doing.   The apostolic community had no regard for this.   Neither did Jesus.  Jesus focused on his relationship with the Father and the Father's will.  He was led by the Spirit to plunder the gates of hell.  We are led by the Spirit to do the same.  The disciples went and did what the Spirit compelled them to do.  They were led by the Spirit to go here and go there and preach the power of the Kingdom of the Lord.  They did not calculate the outcomes.  They obeyed the leading of the Spirit.   They added to the world through believing things like this.



1)      All things are possible in fact Nothing is Impossible with God.  And they saw miracle after miracle as people were set free in the power of the Kingdom.



2)     They Carried the Presence of God with them and the rule and reign of Jesus – his Kingdom manifest – everywhere they went.  They were atmosphere changers. They changed the situation with compelling love and power.  They did not bow down and worship when the music played and Nebuchadnezzar said bow!  They brought the Kingdom into the world by receiving it and preaching it.



3)     They established a Culture of Love in the family of the Lord.  They let the fruit of the Spirit grow.  They focused on love and all that it called out in them for one another.   They witnessed to the ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, and ONE BAPTISM in their relationships with other believers and churches.  They wanted the rule and reign of Jesus to shine.  LOVE was the way.  




“Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 16We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”  I John 3:15-16





At times this produced, for some,  a level of conflict much like the Lord’s with governments and powers and authorities.  But even in death they achieved victory.  How?  Through worship and obedience they confronted the powers with the truth of the love of God and their own eminent and coming end.   They demonstrated in this world what was true all along.  They were dead to it.  Alive as new creations of a new Kingdom.  They were new creatures alive in Christ and raised up to new life.  They were now discovering their eternal life hidden in Christ Jesus.   This world was not their home.  They were citizens of a new country whose author and perfector was Christ himself. 



Our Father set all humanity free through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus in the cross.  


having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.





Jesus made a perfect sacrifice for all eternity vrs a few hours of the world's judgment.  He defeated the powers, healed mankind by making a new creation made a way for ever abiding presence and eternal life for all who would believe on HIM.   

The Cross is a finished work.  So what is finished? 



Sin is finished.
WE have access to Abba Father
“and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”  Col 1:20




For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.



New Life in Resurrection power is in us.




May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.




We were crucified with him and are FREE!   Live as free people.




We have to enter into the journey with Jesus.  Pick up your cross.   Run free. 



Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.


 
Satan is nothing.  Focus on Christ Jesus.
He has no ability to alter what is finished by Jesus.   He has no ability to alter what God desires in your life.  He lacks power.   Turn on the power of Christ in you and you will give no place to the Enemy.   Sow to the Spirit and defeat the flesh.   Fill up your life with the presence of God and run in freedom. 

He can only resist the progress of the glory of God in this world.  And that is a futile resistance.  The very world he is seeking to “show up as amazing” is “passing away” as we speak.  


“and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away.”  I Cor 7:31




Push Back – How? 

1)      By receiving the Kingdom of God in the fullness of power and love (Matt 10:40)

2)      By picking up your cross.  You are already dead.  (Col 3:1-4)

3)      By Following Jesus  (Mark 4)

4)      By walking after the Spirit  (Eph 5-6)

5)      By making a bonfire of sacrifice out of your life.  (Rom 12:1-2)

6)      By carrying his presence everywhere and demonstrating the rule and reign of Jesus in your life. Matt 28:20

7)      By believing nothing is Impossible. (Matt 19:26)

8)      By making your life a culture of Love (Gal 5:22)

9)      By Preaching the freedom, power and love of the Kingdom of God to this fallen and fading world. (Matt 28:19)

Push back by advancing the Kingdom through receiving it.

Push Back by Loving your neighbor.

Push Back by laying down your life.

Push Back by caring for the poor.

Push Back by speaking words that encourage, buildup and honor

Push Back by loving what Jesus loves



Don’t push back by focusing on Satan.  He is a distraction that is defeated.  



When you encounter him ---as you walk in the Spirit and your divine assignment in power – crush him with the message of the cross lived out in your very life! 




Thanks for all the comments and =1's.  
I love the dialogue.  You are adding to the beauty of his name.  


Brother Jeff
Jeff Reynolds  apostolic servant
Capstone Christian Fellowship 

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