The Kingdom of God is in conflict with this world and will be until Jesus puts all his enemies under his feet.
"then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and
Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. 25For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26The last enemy that will be abolished is death.…" I Cor 15:24-26
In the mean time we are.....
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| Satan's capture at the end of the age |
- Welcoming the Kingdom in others - Phil 2:29; Matt 10:40; Mtt 18:5; Matt 25:40
- Welcoming the Kingdom servants - Matthew 10:41
- Honoring the Lord's Servants and Leaders - Rom 12:10;
- Living in, by and through Faith - Hebrews 11:1,6
- Patiently enduring with a vigorous Hope
- Zealously serving the Lord -
- And doing this awesome this from I Tim 6:11
Paul goes on and give us more encouragement. I Tim 6:11-21
Fight
Take Hold
Keep
Guard what has been entrusted to your care
Turn away
An awesome reminder in words of action.
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| Flowering of snow peas |
The enemy sow weeds into the gardens anywhere and everywhere he can. Weeds grow easy and early. They seems to require very little to sprout and grow fast. Fruit on the other hand has to grow in a plant that matures to the point of flowering. The delicate flowers put off a fragrance. Worship and abiding in Jesus produce flowering fruit.
These Three will hinder any garden and infest the soil of all you do. Let the Spirit reveal their presence in your life and with his power and help - KICK EM OUT!
Kick these 3 things out of your life and thrive in the Kingdom, abide in his presence and grow at a rapid pace.
I Peter 1:3-9
1) Fear - raw fear.
It is deadly to walking in, through and by faith. Which means its deadly to pleasing God. (Hebrew 11:6) It comes in so many packages. Fear hold us back. Even from things we know that we know that we know God has asked us to do. It is nearly impossible to RISK - Rise Into Significant Kingdom ACTION with fear running free within us. It distorts our vision. Tells us things about the future that are not informed by the Holy Spirit (John 16:12-14). Fear sometimes causes us to simply freeze up. To Stop. To not do anything in the Spirit. Fear has to go.
Simple approach: Ask this question to the Holy Spirit just like this. (John 16:12-14; Ps 139) It's not magic. Just helpful.
Make sure you have a journal or something to write with. Write down what the Lord speaks to you. Wait on him. Work through the process and ID all the fears he chooses to show you.
Then: Repent - specifically naming the fear and inviting the Spirit to give you new understanding to replace the fear.
Then: Search the Scripture for the truth - it sets you free. (John 8:32)
Then: Write the Kingdom truth that puts that fear away and kicks it down the road.
Here is the question:
"Holy Spirit, are there any fears in my thoughts, heart, mind that I am allowing to hold me back from fully walking in all that you have for me?
2) Unrighteousness
Ok. So we stumble. We fall. We fail. We give in. We know we should not do that stupid thing but our desire mixed with the flesh mixed with the world mixed with the enemies direct temptations mixed with disappointment, discouragement, sometimes stumble us. At every stage of this process we can escape. We need to know that. There is always a way to escape and the power to do it through Jesus.
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.1Co 10:13
Yet, even knowing this we fall sometimes. What happens next is so important. I've learned that the Devil does not take off after we fall. He sticks around and then tells us a whole bunch of other lies to keep us down. Here is one that seems to recur.
- You are not worthy of the Lord's forgiveness. He has given you so much and blessed you so well and now you do this? HUGE NOTE to SELF - this is condemnation. (Rom 8:1)
- Answer: True I am not worthy of the blessings of Christ. While I was a sinner Christ died for me. (Rom 5:1-5) In the Blood of Jesus my sins are cleansed (I John 2:1) and I have an advocate before the Father that speaks in my behalf. I can repent and receive mercy directly. Right now in fact. So do that.
- Never delay repentance. Run back to the light no matter how far you feel away from God.
- The enemy knows you can be forgiven and restored in a moment.
- He seeks to divert you from doing what started your salvation in the first place.....believing in Jesus - confessing your sin - receiving his mercy and grace and forgiveness. Believing grants you access to all the benefits of his work on the cross.
Agreeing with the Devil that you are not worthy and therefore to get back in good graces with God you need to beef up your acts of righteousness and save yourself through your excellent walk in religion will deposit a religious mindset into you directly.
3) Intimidation -
Many of the spiritual attacks that plague the believers these days relate to intimidation. Meaning:
INTIMIDATION (noun)
The noun INTIMIDATION has 4 senses: 1. the act of intimidating a weaker person to make them do something
2. the feeling of discouragement in the face of someone's superior fame or wealth or status etc.
3. the feeling of being intimidated; being made to feel afraid or timid
4. a communication that makes you afraid to try something
The noun INTIMIDATION has 4 senses: 1. the act of intimidating a weaker person to make them do something
2. the feeling of discouragement in the face of someone's superior fame or wealth or status etc.
3. the feeling of being intimidated; being made to feel afraid or timid
4. a communication that makes you afraid to try something
(1/8/2015, http://www.audioenglish.org/dictionary/intimidation.htm)
Through people, the Enemy, difficult experiences, challenging circumstances we have come to a point of backing down in the assignment and calling the Lord placed on us. We feel the fear of reprisal if we take that steps required to move forward or step out in faith. This is a key tactic of the enemy. Often it is successful and we don't recognize the reasons for our backing down.
All across America Christians who are not persecuted or forced to stop have backed down in sharing the gospel and the love of God in the public square. In any given city the number of active believers preaching the gospel and sharing the love actively with neighbors, family, work associates etc.. would probably stagger the mind.
Find out if you are intimidated. First sign fear. Reach out with the express purpose of sharing the gospel with those around you. Do you feel fear? That is intimidation at work.
Imtimidation tends to relate to the "possible loss of something" if we take a certain action.
Like the loss of a job if we express our faith at work.
Like the loss of friends if they really see us live for Christ.
Like the loss of family if we decide to make a clear commitment to worshiping and following Jesus before them.
There are plenty of people willing to intimidate those who want to follow Christ with everything they have. Surrendering all. Obeying his teaching and abiding in his presence with an undivided heart.
So how do we navigate intimidation?
1) First identify it in your life. Back to identifying fears and limitations based on fear. Jesus spent everything so that we could know him in his fullness and walk freely in the Spirit. God is not intimidating us. The world, the flesh and the Devil all counter the will to surrender all to Christ.
2) Get the right posture. We are called to abide in the Lord. Constantly be in prayer and to walk in the Spirit. The first fruit of the Spirit is love. God is love. Everything he does produces the fruit of love. So get centered in the presence of the Lord and put first things first. LOVE is first.
3) Get the right weapons to wage battle. II Cor 10:3-5. Anger, power/control, condemnation, judgement do not save the world or help foster a true witness of the love of Jesus. As much as we would like to "overpower" those who intimidate us this is using the world's weapons. We need to join Jesus in "overcoming" the world not overpowering it with its own weapons. The divine weapons are mighty through the Spirit and foster the growth of the Kingdom. One of the greatest weapons in the Spirit is surrender and first love for Jesus. A second amazing weapon is obedience to the leading of the Spirit. I guarantee you that if you walk in the leading of the Spirit you will find yourself acting in ways that break intimidation off your life, open doors for your Kingdom assignment and provide avenues to exercise faith through obedience.
As I got going on writing this it kinda took off on me. I really enjoyed going farther than I expected on this one. I hope it is encouraging and helpful. There is much more that can be said about these topics. Here are some books that I have found helpful.
Breaking Intimidation - John Brevere - link to my site if you like to purchase at Amazon.
Holiness, Truth and the Presence of God - Francis Frangipane
Unmasking the Jezebel Spirit - John Paul Jackson
Comments? Ideas? Feedback? Thank you for re-shares and +1's.
The comments and dialogue are exciting and amazing.
We are in this together. Any help, inspiration we can give each other as well as encouragement is worth it.
Stand Strong in the Lord and Walk Boldly in your Heavenly Assignment.
With much love in Jesus,
Jeff Reynolds. "Brother Jeff"
www.mycapstone.org
www.jeffreynoldsministries.com
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