Victory is Ours for the Taking!

It's not big news when I say that Jesus died on the cross.  It's not big news when I tell you that in dying on the cross, He died to take away our sins and make a way straight to Him that isn't through sacrifice.  But when Jesus died, crying out, "It is finished," (John 19:30) what was He really saying?

I'm sure there are many different things that Jesus meant when He cried out these words.  He could've meant that His reason for being on Earth was done or that He knew it was His last moments.  What I think it means - well, one of the meanings of this phrase - was that He had given us victory.  That when it was finished, the victory, over situations in our life, battles, is ours. 

See, as a Christian, we are in constant battle with Satan's forces.  The devil will come against us faster than we can think.  He tells us lies, very convincing lies, brings us down, strikes us with fear and sickness, but we don't have to live that life.  Why?  Because the battle has already been won!  When Jesus died, He took care of that for us!

When God sent His Son, Jesus, to die for us on the cross, He knew that with His death we would have victory.  So why are we still fighting these battles that have already been won?

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:57)

It's simple.  We're human, and we want to do things on our own.  We want the doctor to fix our aches or medicine to take away the depression.  But we have to learn to let that go.  Reach out and grab your victory.  It's there for the taking.  

God wants us to live a life of honor and glory in His Name.  That also means that we can use His Name to proclaim our victory because it gives GOD the honor He's so deserving of.  We have power in the Name of Jesus to overcome devils, make mountains move!  That means that our mountains, the things that cause us to stumble or completely stop us from having faith because they are weighing us down, will MOVE simply because we have victory through Jesus!

Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: (Zechariah 4:7)

Put your faith into that victory.  I know that it's hard, but if we have faith as a grain of mustard seed  (That's about the size of a poppy seed.), we can move mountains, casts trees into seas, and they will have to obey us because we are speaking this in the Name of Jesus.  (Matthew 17:20, Luke 17:6) 

That's not a lot of faith that is required of us if you think about it, but somehow, we make it into a lot.  We make our molehills mountains instead.  Step back, take a deep breath, and step over that molehill before it becomes a mountain.  Who art thou, O great mountain?   Who is this mountain to stop us?  In the Name of Jesus, it will be nothing but a plain - flat land for us to walk across instead of being stopped by a gigantic rock.  

Step into faith and cast away that mountain.  WE HAVE THE VICTORY!  CLAIM IT TODAY!


For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.  (1 John 5:4)

It's a Relationship, not a religion!

Too often we focus on the religious aspect of church instead of a relationship with God.  We go to church, sit there and listen to the songs and preaching, and then leave, forgetting what the sermon was even about.  This isn’t what we need to be doing.  We need to develop a relationship with God instead of just being religious.

How often do you read your Bible?  Every day?  How much do you read a day if you do?  A few verses?  We need to get in the Word and stay in the Word!  It needs to be in and on our hearts, our lives.  We need to live in the love of God – forgetting the traditions of man.

Mark 7: 5-9, 13

Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?  He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.  Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.   For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.   And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition….Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

We cannot rely on men to make our lives better!  How much better to live in the love of God, to live a relationship with the almighty than to focus on our earthly and worldly lives?  What can that life bring us that God can’t abundantly give us?  Absolutely nothing – nothing but heartache and pain. 

This is what happens to us when the things of man are in our hearts: Mark 7: 21-23

For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:  All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

These are what come out of hearts if God isn’t what’s occupying our hearts.  We need to push all of this aside and focus on what God wants for us to do.  He wants us to love Him, not just like Him on Sundays, to lay aside all earthly feelings, doings and focus on Him.     

We need to actively seek a relationship with God.  Talk to Him.  Love on Him and let Him love on us.  We need to wake up every morning, talking to God and knowing that without Him our life would be nothing.  We don’t want to live in what Mark 7: 21-23 says we will if we don’t have God in our lives or hearts.  We want to be blessed, and if we actively seek that relationship with God, we will. 

Deuteronomy 6:5

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

The other night, Eddie James came to visit our church.  He sang a song, Nazarite Cry, on his new CD Shift, which I strongly suggest buying.  When I heard it and as I was worshiping to it, I had this thought:  We need to love God as much as a lover loves.  We need to be a lover of God.

Here's that song:  I think it goes well with this devo.  Take some time to listen to it and let it soak in.  Focus on God and worship him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xuh_pUUr6-0

Worrying. What good does it do for you?

I’ve always considered myself a compulsive worrier, and honestly, sometimes, I still fight that worrying.  Worrying used to consume my mind – and body for that matter.  I couldn’t stop thinking about the things that I couldn’t control.  But why should I worry?  What was worrying actually doing for me?  Absolutely nothing except for taking my focus off of God.

I think the devil uses worrying to keep our minds off of that God has promised us.  See here in Matthew 6: 25-33:

                   Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?  Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?  Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?  And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:  And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?  (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.  But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

God says that He knows what we need.  If we just seek Him, he will give us everything that we need.  So why are we worrying about these things?  God has already promised us that we’re going to get them.  We just have to seek Him.

John 16:24

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.

The other day I came across something in James that had me thinking, and this was my thought: Worry is a sin.  Think about it.  When we worry, we aren’t putting our faith where it needs to be in God.  We are doubting that God will take care of our every needs. 

James 1: 6-8

But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.  For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.  A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

These verses in James are talking about asking for wisdom, but I feel like we can apply this to everything that we ask for.  Ask in faith, don’t waver because if you do, you’ll be like a wave, tossed here and to.  Don’t think that you can’t receive anything from the Lord.  The Lord supplies all our needs!  Just read back to what He knows that we need.  He will give us these things!

Philippians 4:19

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

This verse doesn’t say whatever we need.  It says God will supply ALL our needs!  God knows what He’s doing.  God knows what we need.  Just sit back and put you faith where your worry is!  Take out that worry and doubt and substitute it for faith!  What have you got to lose?

Disappointing God

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

Genesis 6: 5,6

This are pre-flood verses, right before the Bible states that the only righteous humans left are Noah and his family. 

Have you ever thought about the implications of these verses?  God was sorry that he had ever made humans.  Adam and Eve had betrayed him, and now, every other man was following in their footsteps.  They were sinning, and the only thoughts that they had were to keep sinning and thinking evilly.  Satan had his hooks in, and it caused the Lord to have to destroy the world and all the humans except Noah and his family. 

I’m not going to recount the story of Noah and the ark at this time.  Most of us know it by now.  If not, you can read the rest of the story in Genesis.  What I am going to talk about is disappointing God.

God knows that we’re only human.  He understands that we’re flesh driven bodies, but it doesn’t mean that we have to disappoint God.  Sure, we screw up.  We always do, but when we sin and just keep sinning, how do you think that makes God feel? 

I, mean, we're turning our back on Him.  We're not listening to Him, and all He wants to do is help us.

I’m not sure that He’s sorry that he made all of us, and there are more than eight righteous people in the world right now.  However, could you imagine making God so upset that He regretted creating you? 

I want you to sit still for a moment.  Take in a deep breath and close your eyes.  While your eyes are closed, imagine tears from God falling down onto the earth.  And we’re the reason why. 

It’s heartbreaking, isn’t it?  My heart breaks to think of the reasons why God would cry over us.  And we’re the ones doing it.  We cause it.  We know right from wrong, yet we’re silly humans and do things that cause God to grieve. 

I urge us all today to work on making ourselves better.  We’re not perfect.  We’re to strive for perfection though, to follow in the footsteps of Christ. 

And that is what will keep God from being heartbroken, from regretting making humans. 

But, this is where God’s grace comes in.  Oh, He’s a loving God!  He forgives our sins and casts them “as far as the east is to west”!  He erases our mistakes and fills us with His love!  That is something to praise Him for!  No matter how disappointed He feels in us, He will always love us and will always forgive us.  No matter how much we mess up.  After all, He is our Father.  

My Faith Shall Be My Eyes...

There's a song by Chris Tomlin, "I Will Rise," that like gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.  Our praise and worship team at church sings it, and I just feel God in that song.  If you haven't heard it, listen to it now.

Now, there's a part in the song that says, "There's a day that drawing near.  When this darkness breaks to light.  And the shadows disappear.  And my faith shall be my eyes."

Well, that part had me thinking about how we need to be walking in faith, not by sight.  Easier said that done, right?  Of course, but isn't the important part about "faith" not seeing what you're believing for?

Hebrews 11:1 tells us that "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen."  

We've got to be blind to see.  Sounds crazy, I know, but hear me out here.  A blind person walks by faith every day.  He has to believe that he won't run into something; he has to believe in his own abilities to get him from here to there in complete darkness. 

So instead of having the ability to literally see, the blind man has to see by faith. 

"My faith shall be my eyes."  We need to take that example and start letting faith dictate our lives.  What is the point of faith if we can't believe what we've asked for?  God isn't going to give us something simply because we ask.  He has to know that we BELIEVE HIM for whatever we're asking for. 

I challenge you to start putting the faith of God in your everyday life.  Let your faith be your eyes.  Forget your empty bank account.  Forget the symptoms of the sickness you have.  Forget what is in front of you that is terrible.  INSTEAD, SEE the outcome you want.  BELIEVE for the outcome you want.  NOT what is in front of you. 

It doesn't have to be hard.  We make it hard.  We make it impossible.  Not God.  God is faithful and just to give us what we ask for.  We just don't believe hard enough. 

Let me leave you with this verse.  1 John 5:4 says, "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith."

Notice what is says here.  OUR FAITH overcomes the world!  We have the victory!  It says so.  We just have to have faith!

Let faith be your eyes, and you can overcome the world and have victory! 

Guest Post: I Was... (The Story of Amos)

In the Old Testament, there is the story of a prophet sent to warn the Israelites of God's anger about what they were doing.  The prophet's name was Amos, and his story is contained in the Biblical book by that name.  One part of this story struck me recently as I have been contemplating what it means to be a Prophet -- someone intent on sowing God Seed. 

First, read the passage in which Amos has been brought before Amaziah and is about to be cast out of the region for prophesying there.

                Amos answered Amaziah, "I was no prophet,
                nor have I belonged to a company of prophets;
                I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores.
                The LORD took me from following the flock, and said to me,
                Go, prophesy to my people Israel." 

                                                --Amos 7:14-15

What I love about this passage is that God didn't call the high priest or the people in the Temple.  Instead, he called a local businessman to proclaim His intentions.

I so remember a wonderful friend of mine shortly after I got immersed in God stuff.  Now we had been going to church since we were babies, but somehow we got taught that "God stuff" was for those who knew what they were reading.  It was "over our heads."  To be fair, a lot of the God stuff was really under our feet and in our hearts--it was the way we lived and treated others.  But reading the Bible? Understanding the Bible?   

That was for someone much more qualified than we were.

So she called one day when we were in our 20's and she said, "What're you doing?" To which I replied honestly, "Reading the Bible, and this part is fascinating."  She got very quiet and literally said, "Oh, we're not supposed to read the Bible like that. Don't you think we need someone else to explain it?"

Thankfully I didn't laugh out loud at her though I probably came very close, and in the ensuing many years, we have laughed together about that conversation many, many times.  Yet it still always kind of bothers me that we sometimes get the message that "God stuff"--understanding and wisdom--is for someone much more learned than we are.

That's why I love this passage.  In effect, Amos is saying, "Look, dude.  This isn't about me.  I didn't pick this calling on my heart, God put it there. I'm just following what He told me to do.  I was a shepherd and a tree mender.  Trust me, this whole prophet thing is way outside of what I ever thought I would be doing too.  But God called me, and here I am."

I feel like Amos a lot actually.  Who am I to be seeing insights in the Bible or in what others say?  Who am I to understand things that don't have solid, concrete, real-world, everybody-can-see-it qualities?

I don't know.  All I know is, like Amos, I was a simple housewife.  I was a high school teacher. I was just someone off the street, and then God called me and here I am.

If you've ever felt that way, know that you're not alone!  God doesn't call the qualified.  He qualifies the called, and just like Amos and me, you may well find yourself going, "Look, this isn't about me. It's about God.  He called me, and here I am."

And in all honesty, it's not such a bad place to be once you get used to saying, "I was..."

Copyright Staci Stallings, 2012

Staci Stallings, the author of this article, is a stay-at-home mom with a husband, three kids and a writing addiction on the side. She is a #1 Best Selling Christian author and the founder of both Grace & Faith Author Connection and CrossReads--a site where Christian readers and authors can connect.

For Two Days ONLY Buy Staci's #1 Best Selling ebook Deep in the Heart for only 99 Cents!   Plus, check out dozens of other great Free and bargain Christian titles at the CrossReads March Madness Sale!   Click here to see all the titles available Including Deep in the Heart and Read Me Dead by Emerald Barnes, the author of this blog. :)