They Conquered The Devil With Words

                                                When The Door Slams 

            This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the Devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, welcome the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and depart in a time of testing. As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and produce no mature fruit.                                        (Luke 8:11-14 HCSB) 

            Few of us realize that our faith imprisons us. The right kind of faith will set us free. It is not only our thinking; it is our words, our conversation, that builds power or weakness into us. Our words are the understanding in the kingdom of faith. Our words snare us and hold us in captivity or they set us free and become powerful in the lives of others. It is what we confess with our lips that really dominates our inner beings. We unconsciously confess what we believe. If we talk sickness, it is because we believe in sickness. If we talk weakness and failure, it is because we believe in weakness and failure.

            We get in the habit of confessing our weakness, and our faith adds to the strength of our weakness. We confess our lack of faith, and we are filled with doubts. When we realize that we will never rise above our faith, we are getting to the place where God can really begin to use us. We confess that by His stripes we are healed; when we hold fast to our faith, no disease can stand before you. 

            Whether you realize it or not, you are sowing  spiritual words, just as Jesus said in Luke 8:11: "The seed is the word of God." The Sower went forth to sow, and the seed he was sowing was the Word of God. This is the seed we should sow. It is when we confess the Word of God, and declare with emphasis that" by His stripes I am healed" or "my God supplies every need of mine," and hold fast to our faith that we will see deliverance. The politician and religious leaders are sowing negative seeds of fear and doubt.  

            Our words sow faith or doubt in others Revelation 12:11 declares, "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony." They overcame him with the Word of God that was in their testimony. They conquered the Devil with words.

            Think about this: Most of the sick that Jesus healed during His ministry were healed with words. God created the universe with words: faith-filled words. Jesus said, "Your faith has made you well" (Matthew 9:22). His word raised the dead. Satan is overcome by words; he is whipped by words. Our lips become the means of transportation of God's deliverance from heaven to man's need here on earth. We use God's Word. We whisper "In Jesus name, demon, come out of him." Jesus said, "In My name you will cast out demons; in My name you will lay hands on the sick and they shall recover" (read Mark 16:17). 

            Affirmation: But the seed in the good ground--these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, bear fruit (Luke 8:15).  

Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the LORD and thank Him for His forgiveness.                                   

                                                            Never Rest Ministries

Defiance, Resistance, Violence, And Retaliation Are Now "The American Way."

                                                 When The Door Slams

In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.                                            (1 Peter 5:5-7 NLT). 

            God speaks clearly of the evil, the wickedness of falsely accusing another person, of giving untrue testimony on the stand in court, of lying or twisting or exaggerating so-called "facts" into misrepresenting the truth.....

            The American way is a talk-back, fight-back, get-even society that is ready to resist--and sue--at the slightest provocation. Instead of the obedient Minute Man representing our national image, a new statue with a curled upper lip, an open mouth screaming obscenities, and both fists in the air could better describe out times. Defiance, resistance, violence, and retaliation are now our "Style."

            Those leaders who break the commandment in this way are every bit as committed to a life of crime as the other varieties professional thieves and bandits. There are so many ways to get money by having people give false testimonies that we stumble over new ones day by day. We need the Ten Commandments as a measuring stick to see where we may be tempted to simply shrug our shoulders and ride with the tide with an attitude of, "What does it matter, we can't do anything about it anyway!"

            Think about this: I fully realize there are times when resistance is needed. We would not be a free nation had we not fought for our liberty. Furthermore, the lawless would rule over the righteous if we allowed ourselves to be walked on, stolen from, and otherwise taken advantage of. There are times when there must be resistance and a strong determination to defend one's rights.... My concern is the obvious erosion of respect for needed and fair authority...the lack of submission toward who should be over us, who earn and deserve our cooperation. A man can never be the same after hearing God's truth spoken in the power of God's Holy Spirit; he will either obey and go forward, or ignore and die a little each day.  

            Instead, there is a growing independence, a stubborn defiance against any authority that attempts to criticize, correct, or even caution. No one can deny that this self-centered rebellion is on the rise. My desire is that we see the difference, then respond correctly to God-given authority with an attitude of true humility, the mentality mentioned in the New Testament modeled so beautifully by Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 5:6-7). 

            Affirmation: You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1: 8-9).

Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the LORD and thank Him for His forgiveness. 

                                                Never Rest Ministries

True Believers Of Christ Have Found The Secret Of Life

                                                 When The Door Slams

For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, In his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.                                                                                                                  (Ephesians 2:14-16 NLT)

            The struggle we have with a holy God is rooted in the conflict between God's righteousness and our unrighteousness. He is just and we are unjust. This tension creates fear, hostility and anger within us toward God. The unjust person does not desire the company of a just judge. We are at war with Him unless or until we are justified. The religious and unjust go to church every Sunday but there is no true repentance. Only the justified person can be comfortable in the presence of a holy God.

            The Apostle Paul sets forth immediate benefits--fruits of justification. In...Romans he explains what happens to us when we are justified, when we are covered by righteousness of Christ that is by faith: "Since we have been made right with God by our faith, we have peace with God. This happened through our Lord Jesus Christ, who has brought us into that blessing of God's grace that we now enjoy. And we are happy because of the hope we have of sharing God's glory" (Romans 5:1-2).

            Think about this: The first fruit of our justification is peace with God. To the ancient jew peace was a precious, but elusive commodity. The present-day turmoil in the Mid-East seems like a replay. Every time they get close to finding the peace found only in Christ, Satan steers them away. Blinds them. He throws up a smoke screen. He bluffs them. And they miss it! But true Christians have found it--forever! We have found the secret of life.

            "The unjust don't know how to live in peace," the apostle Paul says concerning the human race (Romans 3:17). As we look around, we find that there is little personal, domestic, social, economic or political peace anywhere. Why? Because we all have the seeds of suspicion and violence, of hatred and destruction within us. 

            Peace can be experienced only when we have received divine pardon. When we have been reconciled to God and when we have repentance within, with our fellow man and especially with God...Christ has made peace with God for us and is Himself our peace. If by faith we accept Him, we are justified by God and can realize the inner serenity that can come to man through no other means.

           Affirmation: He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far from him, peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come the the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us (Ephesians 3: 17-18). 

 Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the LORD and thank Him for His forgiveness.