Law Of The Spirit

In our human experience on earth, things change constantly. Social norms change with the times. Even laws change. But God’s spiritual laws never change. They have always been in motion since the beginning of time. Jeremiah‬ ‭17‬:‭10‬ ‭says, “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” We are all held accountable for our choices and actions, good or bad. It is a spiritual law that is unavoidable. We cannot escape it. Unfortunately, some people are deceived and believe they can escape the consequences of their sinful actions through their own human means. 

God has given us the only escape, which is through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. When we surrender our sinful life, we accept that Christ took the penalty of our ungodly choices and actions. Through Christ, we now live by a different set of rules. We live by the law of the Spirit. Romans 8:2-4 says, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” As much as we may try in our human efforts, we cannot live up to God’s standard of goodness and holiness. We live a life of holiness by the  supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. Thanks be to God for giving us the gift of the Holy Spirit! 

Prayer 

Heavenly Father, thank You for pouring out Your Spirit so I can live holy unto You. Cleanse my heart by the blood of Jesus so I would desire You and Your ways above all things.

Sea Of Forgetfulness

The truth of God’s redemption through the sacrifice of Christ can be hard to grasp with our human minds. Our brains store memories of the good and bad events in life. We remember wrongs that have been done to us. We remember the sins that we have committed and the wrongs that we did to others. This is where the supernatural power of the blood of Christ comes into play. When we repent and receive cleansing by the blood of Jesus, God remembers our sin no more. Psalm 103:12-14 says, “As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” We cannot just forget our sins. It is the supernatural work of God that causes us to have a new mind in Christ. 

Hebrews 10:17-18 says , “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” And Micah 7:19 says “He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” When God says he is casting our sins and iniquities in the depth of the sea, it means it is out of sight, not to be remembered. Not only does He not remember our sins because of Christ, but He also erases them from the memory of the earth. There is a time to share our testimonies of where God has brought us from. But we have to be careful not to constantly bring up what God has cast away and forgotten. We are literally new creations in Christ. We will continue to be transformed into the image of Christ as we daily receive His cleansing flow of blood so our minds are renewed, casting all sin in the sea of forgetfulness. 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for cleansing me by the blood of Christ and remembering my sins no more. Thank You for making me a new creature and restoring me to perfect fellowship with You.

The Blood Of The Lamb

I’m sure many of us have heard sermons with 5 or 10 points on how to be an overcomer in this world as a Christian. From Genesis to Revelation, God gives us the tools and strategies for overcoming. He does not make it complicated. In fact, God sums it up in Revelation so we have no confusion. Revelation 12:11 says, “And they overcame him (satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”

The blood of Jesus is the foundation of our faith. It is only through the sacrifice of Christ that we have salvation and eternal life. And salvation does not just mean going to heaven. It means salvation in every area of our lives here on earth. When we daily confess the saving power of Christ over lives, we are overcoming. The last part of that scripture refers to loving the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30). This is the first commandment. If we keep this commandment, we will most definitely be an overcomer. Death has no sting. Even if we die for the sake of the gospel of Christ, we win. We have heaven to gain. The blood of Christ has made a way to the Father.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Christ to be my salvation. I confess that I am an overcomer because Christ defeated death, hell and the grave through His blood and resurrection from the dead.  

Prayers Of The Righteous

The Lord has been really hitting the point that prayers have no boundaries. God’s power has no boundaries. When we pray God’s Word, the Holy Spirit carries the Word out into the world and it reaches to the ends of the earth. James 5:16-18 says, “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”

To be clear, Elijah was led by God to pray for the rain to stop and start again. He was an ordinary man that was filled with God’s Holy Spirit and obeyed the Word of the Lord. When we pray according to God’s will, things will happen. It may not happen when, where and how we think it will happen. But we know that God’s Word does not return void and it will accomplish God’s will (Isaiah 55:11). God can do the impossible. He is the creator of the heavens and the earth. Our prayers are not too big for Him. 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, help my unbelief. I want faith to believe in You for the impossible. I want salvation for those who appear to be too far gone. I want solutions for problems that seem unsolvable. Holy Spirit, fill me with boldness to pray for mountains to be moved.

Victory In The Wilderness

We all go through wilderness experiences in life. These types of experiences are times of trial and molding of our character. We may feel like these experiences are solely an attack by the enemy and we get into fight mode. But Jesus has given us so much insight into the wilderness experience. After Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit immediately drove Jesus into the wilderness. Jesus then fasted for 40 days. At the end of the fast, satan came on the scene at a seemingly vulnerable time for Jesus. He tried to tempt Jesus three times. Each time Jesus shot back with the Word of the Lord, the Sword of the Spirit. Satan had no chance. Jesus was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Luke 4:13 says, “Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time.”

But the story does not end there. Luke 4:14-15 says, “Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.” The wilderness experience was a place of battle and victory. That victory was then carried out into the world to set people free. So our wilderness experiences are crucial for our own spiritual growth but also for others. The wilderness experience is a temporary place. We are not meant to remain there permanently. When we submit to the Holy Spirit and His Word, we come out of the wilderness in His power and authority. 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I submit to You in this wilderness experience. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Put Your Word in my mouth to overcome the evil one. Cause my life to shine with Your Glory to be a witness for You in the earth.   

The Weapon Of Peace

The Bible gives us an example of the power of God’s peace. Peace is a weapon of warfare. When chaos and trouble is around us, peace is our goal. We want things to settle down. We want the situation to be resolved but we also want our emotions to be calm and in control. In Mark 4, we see a situation brewing. Jesus and the disciples get into a boat and set off to cross over to the other side. While traveling, a big windstorm came and water started getting into the boat. The disciples are panicking but Jesus is sound asleep. They awoke Jesus and asked if He cared that they would perish. Mark‬ ‭4‬:‭39‬-‭41‬ ‭says, “Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

Shalom is the Jewish word for peace but it also means harmony, wholeness, completeness, prosperity, welfare and tranquility. The disciples had Peace Himself with them. They had the One who had all authority to push back the chaos. We have the Prince of Peace inside of us through the Holy Spirit. We have His authority to declare peace over our lives and every situation. He expects us to exercise His authority of peace over every storm in life.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for peace that surpasses understanding. Your supernatural peace fills my soul and I am not moved by anything.

The Righteousness Of Christ

As we seek to be closer to the Lord, we will walk more in the Spirit and less in the flesh. The blood of Jesus continues to cleanse us of sin and the righteousness of Christ shines through us. However, the  flesh can be very sneaky. We can start to take pride in our good behavior and look at others with a judgmental eye when they are struggling in their walk with Christ. We may start to forget that without Christ we would be lost. We may lose sight of the fact that we had a rough beginning in our walk with Christ. 

‭‭Romans‬ ‭3‬:‭23‬-‭26‬ says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” It is the power of the righteousness of Christ in us that causes us to do good and have pure intentions. Our flesh is constantly at war with the Spirit. Even if we do good deeds in the flesh, our intentions may be unholy. ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭64‬:‭6‬ says, “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags.” We have no pure goodness and righteousness apart from Christ. It is humbling to acknowledge this truth and it brings us back to the Cross, where our spiritual journey began. He made a very unfair exchange for our benefit. He gave up His life so we could have eternal life. He poured out His mercy and righteousness, through His blood, so we would not have to face eternal damnation. 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank You for the righteousness of Christ. Thank You for Your divine plan of redemption and filling me with Your righteousness by the blood of Jesus.