You are currently browsing Shoe's articles.
I was listening to Overcome by Jon Egan and the Desperation Band. The following verse is a bridge that’s sung over and over in the song. As I was worshiping, the words of this verse really came alive and began to speak to me.
Revelation 12:11 (NKJV) “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”
So how do we overcome?
1. The blood of the Lamb
This is the fulfillment of the law of God that breaks satan’s legal right and claim to us. “And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. “ (Heb 9:22, NKJV) When we’ve been washed in the blood of the Lamb, we are forever the possession of God himself. There is much that could be said here, but that’s another post.
2. The word of their testimony
This is where we can break the power of sin the enemy holds over us. This is where the rubber meets the road.
Proverbs 18: 20-21 (NKJV)
20 A man’s stomach shall be satisfied from the fruit of his mouth; From the produce of his lips he shall be filled.21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.
What we claim – what we speak – is what will fill our stomachs. Interesting picture as the stomach is essentially where digestion of our physical food begins after we eat. So it goes with the words we speak. When we speak words, we listen, we hear, we believe – we digest – those words. “You are what you eat,” directly applies here!
It’s time to begin confessing the words of life. Even if it’s not evident yet, speak it. “I was a hypocrite, but God has helped me overcome.” or “I was an angry man; but God has helped me overcome.” Speak what God has or is making you.
The word of your testimony is what breaks the power of sin in your life, but only if you’ve been bought by the blood of the Lamb.
1. Are you legally God’s? This is critical and the first thing. Without #1, you can’t do #2.
2. What is God helping you overcome in your life? Speak it OUT LOUD! verbalize it! Hear yourself say it audibly!
Luke 8:1-15 (NKJV)
Now it came to pass, afterward, that He went through every city and village, preaching and bringing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with Him, 2 and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities—Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons, 3 and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others who provided for Him from their substance.
The Parable of the Soils
Matt. 13:1–23; Mark 4:1–20
4 And when a great multitude had gathered, and they had come to Him from every city, He spoke by a parable: 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 Some fell on rock; and as soon as it sprang up, it withered away because it lacked moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. 8 But others fell on good ground, sprang up, and yielded a crop a hundredfold.” When He had said these things He cried, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
9 Then His disciples asked Him, saying, “What does this parable mean?”
10 And He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, that
‘Seeing they may not see,
And hearing they may not understand.’
11 “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 13 But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away. 14 Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. 15 But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience.
I have become fascinated with the phrase “Kingdom of God” and “the Gospel.”
Jesus preached the gospel. (See about a dozen or so verses in Matt, Mark & Luke) That means my definition of “the gospel” and what Jesus preached are likely two different things… given that Jesus had not died or risen from the dead yet (key points in my definition of “the gospel”)… so what is it?
Jesus spent his time preaching about the good news (preaching the gospel) of the kingdom of God.
It was verse 10 that caught my attention… that Christ said the mysteries of the Kingdom of God had been given to us. This is just the first post. I have much to dig into…
15 They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right. (Romans 2:15 NLT)
I’ve been contemplating (on and off again) the role of the mind in our transformation. I’ve written about it a few times on this site about the mind being the control center and such. I recently heard a teaching that the “gates of hell” could possibly be the mind itself.
I think this verse lends itself to confirming the importance of the mind. All too often, we’re asked as Christians to turn off our mind in order to walk in Faith. I don’t believe that accurate. I believe God built into the DNA of mankind His truth. This passage adds credence to that thought.
I’m still processing it. It certainly adds weight for me to “renew my mind” (Rom 12:2).
Still chewing on it…
Genesis 35
I was struck by the fact that God held Jacob’s feet to the fire. Back in chapter 28, when Jacob was in a pinch, he made a promise to God.
Gen 28:20-22 (NKJV)
20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, 21 so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. 22 And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”
Guess what? Everything Jacob vowed – all the “if God will…” – came true. God was faithful to completely deliver in it. Now it is time for Jacob to hold up his end.
Jacob either had forgotten about his vow – I mean it had been at least 20 years – but God did not forget. Not only did God remind Jacob to go, he prevented Jacob’s enemies from attacking (Gen 35:5), blessed him again and changed his name to Israel (Gen 35:9-14).
Isn’t that just like God? He wants to bless us, just like any good Father would… but he also wants to teach us to be men of integrity… to finish what we start… to fulfill our commitments and vows… to be men of Honor…. no matter how long ago we made the promise
We’ve all done it. “God, if you’ll just ___(Fill in the blank)___ then I will ___(Fill in the blank)___.”
Challenge: Ask Father what vows are unfulfilled in your life.
Daddy, I open myself to you. I ask you to show me any unfulfilled promise I’ve made to You or anyone else that I need to make right, so I might be a man if Integrity, a man of Honor.
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Gal 2:20, NASB)
As I was driving to G8 this morning knowing I was going to share the gist of yesterday’s post, I was really contemplating the effects of being crucified… being dead to myself.
Dead men…
- … don’t have any rights to get stepped on
- … don’t have any expectations to go unmet
- … don’t have any fears to bind them
- … can’t worry about yesterday, today or tomorrow
- … can’t compare their lives to those around them
- … can’t carry the weight of the world
- … can’t believe the lies of the enemy
… and as I was enumerating this list, God said something kinda funny but poignant. He said that dead men can’t believe the lies of the enemy because “dead men can’t hear” and I kinda laughed, but realized that is HUGE! This is a big deal because not only is my enemy a LIAR, when I am dead – I CANNOT HEAR HIS LIES.
This is a good test. The devil and his minions are always lying about me, who I am, how I will be, what I will or will never be, etc. When I can hear the lies – then SOME PART OF MY FLESH HAS CRAWLED OFF THE CROSS.
Daddy, may I always be deaf to the lies of my enemy and my spirit be in tune with yours.
“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36, NIV)
How does this happen? How am I free “indeed”?
Our enemy is relentless (1 Peter 5:8). He is continually at us. He is the master deceiver. John 8:44 tells us his native tongue is falsehood. That is who he is. So every morning when we wake up, our enemy is looking for some deception for us to grab hold of; some falsehood of who we are; some fallacy saying that who we WERE is who we ARE; some cock-and-bull story about some bondage we’ll never shake, some addiction we’ll never kick, some fear we’ll never be rid of. ALL OF IT LIES.
Jesus said “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Jesus said it. So I ask again… “How?” Enter Galatians 2:20:
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” (Gal 2:20, NASB)
Check this out. If I am dead. What power does anyone hold over me? What power does any thing hold over me? What power does any addiction, any fear, any bondage hold over me? None. If I am no longer alive, then I have no more worries to haunt me, no more fears to paralyze me, no more rights to be stepped on, no more expectations to be let down, no more LIES to BELIEVE.
That, my friend, is good news.
I am studying the occurances of the word (0r form of the word) “leaf” in the Bible. God is stirring up something of a message in it.
As I read several passages about leaves tonight, God kept bringing up the words of Christ saying “I am the vine. You are the branches.” found in John 15:5 (for further reading check out a writing I did November 2006 called “Remaining In (John 15:1-17)“) That verse is:
John 15:5 (ESV) 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Because it’s become obvious in my studies that I cannot study the leaf, without also studying the branches and the fruit. According to this verse, I am a branch plugged into the true vine (or think trunk, for a tree). So my question is becoming this:
What is the “leaf” vs. what is the “fruit”?
Several places in the Scriptures, the word “fruit” is often associated with the words “in season,” which would imply there are times that we do not produce fruit. (See: Num 13:20; Ps 1:3; Hos 9:10; Matt 21:34; Matt 21:41; Acts 14:17 as a few examples of fruit associated with season).
This opens up a whole line of questioning about what I’ve always defined as “fruit” – think the Gal 5:22-23 “fruits of the Spirit”. If there are seasons of no fruit by definition, then “fruit in season” can’t mean what I’ve thought it meant, because I should be producing the fruits of the Spirit, year round, regardless of the season.
Thoughts?
Genesis 34
This is the account of Dinah’s rape by Shechem.
Three things stand out.
1. Soul Tie?
v3 “3 His soul was strongly attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke kindly to the young woman.“ Is this a soul tie?
2. Generational Curse?
Funny how the sins of the father become the sins of the sons… Jacob was a deceiver. So here are two of his sons who deceive the man who raped their sister. Here the deception leads to much more than just a blessing. Here these two men murder all the men of a community and take all their possessions.
3. An Honorable Rapist?
Simeon and Levi deceive Shechem and his father Hamor saying that they will cross-pollinate with their countrymen if all the men of their city/province would get circumcised. For whatever reason, they they do.
v 19 “19 So the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter. He was more honorable than all the household of his father. “
The “young man” referenced is Shechem. HE IS MORE HONORABLE? What is up with that? I don’t understand. It must not say much about Hamor, his father.
vv 25-31
25 Now it came to pass on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came boldly upon the city and killed all the males. 26 And they killed Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went out. 27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because their sister had been defiled. 28 They took their sheep, their oxen, and their donkeys, what was in the city and what was in the field, 29 and all their wealth. All their little ones and their wives they took captive; and they plundered even all that was in the houses.
30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have troubled me by making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and since I am few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and kill me. I shall be destroyed, my household and I.”
31 But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a harlot?”
Who’s right here? Simeon and Levi who avenged their sister’s honor and innocence or Jacob whois now fearing for the life of himself and his family/clan?
Genesis 3:7
7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
OK, I missed this form of the word “leaf” as it was the plural, “leaves”.
I find this verse interesting that Adam and Eve used leaves to cover themselves after the fall. That was the best they could come up with to cover themselves. God’s solution required the death of an animal – the spilling of blood – as does his requirement for all sin.
Thus, the leaf, in this verse could kinda be a picture of the fruit of their fallen life. The best they could come up with. It would never be good enough, however as the leaves would eventually dry up and tear, and they would just have to be getting and making more. Of course, there was no death at this point was there? They likely hadn’t seen any dead leaves at this point. They may have thought they would be a long-term solution, but it wouldn’t be.
So, I guess this could paint a picture that the leaf is evidence of what our life is about. Evidence, in this case, of a sinful life.
I am going somewhere with this series …
Today the Lord has had me praying and fasting for the men on Quest and the staff (as you know two of our ironsharpeners on serving). I have a family member on Quest and that’s how I’ve spent my day today. No huge revelations.
Shoe
mhaney85
benjammen
jgbiebig
chandlerp
relek95
Recent Comments