And the Victor is…?

On February 9, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

1 John 4: 18

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 

When we receive a full revelation of love we will no longer have fear. We will also find that anger, resentment and other powerful negative emotions disappear because the truth is that those negative emotions are based in fear. We are afraid of losing face, afraid of someone taking advantage of us and so on but when love becomes perfected in us, we will have no consideration for those things. Trust will prevail, an unyielding trust in God’s willingness and ability to take care of us.

We often find it difficult to live in this unbridled trust. Too many of us hear judgment and recrimination in our imaginations of facing the Lord but that is only because our revelation is still being exposed. We fear punishment for our shortcomings because we have not fully embraced the truth of who God is and what Jesus has done for us. Perfect love casts out fear because when we allow that perfect one to explode within us then we see only grace and beauty. Even when we botch things, His face shines on us as a proud parent who thinks we are awesome despite our mistakes. He takes us gently in His hands to teach us so that we don’t err again but this isn’t out of anger but rather out of love. He wants to save us from making the same mistakes over and over again. Then as we learn to trust Him we get better at hearing His instruction before we act and then we don’t have to make as many mistakes in the first place. He leads us so that we place our feet on the right path rather than rambling around in the brambles.

We need not fear punishment. We need fear no thing because our God is not a God of fear. The author of fear lives in hell and he is a defeated foe. All fear belongs to him but Jesus has already cleaned his clock so we need not have any part of him, including his infamous weapon of fear. Love conquers fear. Always has, always will. That is what today’s verse is really saying. With God alive inside of us we do not have to endure the enemy’s tortures. So, focus on the love. Meditate on love. Look up love scriptures. You will find that love is your strength and the mightiest weapon of all.

Back to Top

Warfare Made Easy

On December 18, 2014   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

2 Chronicles 20: 15, 17

Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s.   You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear or be dismayed.

How easy is a war that you don’t even have to fight in and yet you prevail? That is exactly what happened for Jehoshaphat and Judah. They were living peaceably when three nations rose up against them. Do you know what they did? They prayed, yeah, that was their great strategic ploy. Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, stood before the assembly and magnified God and sought God’s solution. And God answered, “Don’t worry about it. This battle isn’t yours. I will fight it for you.” And that is exactly what He did. The next morning as the three armies rose against Judah God moved and the three invading armies ended up killing each other. When Judah arrived there were bodies strewn all over. Among the slain soldiers were weapons, clothing and “articles of value” (v. 25). In fact, there was more booty than they could carry.

Sometimes people wonder what relevance the Old Testament has for modern Christian believers. Well, here you go. This is the model for spiritual warfare. You face battles almost every day. Think about it. How often do you feel like you are fighting an uphill struggle? Well, no longer. Today God is giving you a battle strategy. Wisdom recommends that you read the prayer that Jehoshaphat prayed before the assembly. It will probably inspire your thinking and your prayer. Next, assemble your crew whether that be your family, your office, your employees, your church or your team. Whoever will be impacted by the result of the battle should congregate with you. Then you, as the leader, stand in the name of the Lord and pray the prayer of faith. Let God and everyone else know upon whom you rely. Then just cast the entire problem into His hands. In the example from today, the Holy Spirit alit upon one of the assembled who prophesied telling the nation of Judah what it should do. Today’s verse is taken from that declaration. The next thing you do is to follow God’s instructions. If He says march around the city, do it. If He says get out your guitar and sing, do it. His ways are not our ways and we do not need to question His logic. Just accept it and obey. And if it sounds a little bizarre, it probably is God because the spiritual realm operates in an almost diametrically opposed manner as does the worldly realm. Part of the beauty of the assembly is that if you have doubt you can take the pulse of the crowd. “Did that resonate in your spirit as the instruction of God?” I would ask this question too; if the instruction you receive sounds odd like going and washing in the river what would it hurt you to do it? Marching around Jericho had to sound pretty nuts to Joshua but they won the city without a fight. 

So, today the battle is yours. The hard part is not in battling the enemy. The part that challenges us is standing up as a leader and doing what we should do. “Dare I pray in front of my whole family or my employees?” Well, this is why many of us do not live in the victory that Jesus bought for us. There are still things that we must do that challenge us on the inside. But Jesus will help us to grow and accept these new responsibilities with grace. The first prayer might just have to be, “Jesus, help me.” He will be with you all the way and you will win every battle because Jesus has already overcome. Now, we just have to stand in the power that grace has provided. Go win your battles today in the might of the Lord.

Back to Top