The Bible teaches that as believers, you and I are to occupy until Jesus comes. Occupy is a military term meaning to hold possession, or control, of conquered troops and territory. If we're to do that effectively, most of us are going to have to change our attitudes. We're going to have to recognize that Jesus has already won the victory.
That's right. Satan is already defeated. He was whipped at Calvary. We're not on the defensive—he is!
There are times when you know what God has called you to do, but you just don't feel you have the inner resources you need to do it. Somehow you've simply run dry. You know the Word says that "out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38). But, during those times, you can't even find the creek bank, much less the river.
The Word of God tells us how to handle those situations through a clear command: "Stir up the gift inside you."
Do you want to know why the Body of Christ has been in such a mess over the past few years? Do you want to know why the devil has been able to make a public display of our weaknesses? Do you want to know why, instead of being unified and strong, we've often been torn apart by division and criticisms that come not from without but within?
It is because, as the Lord said in Hebrews, the people of God have need of milk and not of strong meat. They're babies! The people of God for the most part don't know His ways.
Man was created to be a winner. The Bible tells us so. We read in Genesis, for example, that man was originally put on this earth as a dominating lord. God gave him dominion over the earth and everything that crept, flew, crawled and breathed there.
Man didn't even know what losing was until he separated himself from God through disobedience in the Garden of Eden. When that happened, he ran headlong into defeat. He was forced to accept failure as his lot in life, lowering himself to a subordinate position—a position he was never meant to occupy.
God has raised us up to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus! That's what the Word of God says. Very few of us have actually dared to believe this. We've uplifted Jesus. We've exalted Him—and rightly so! But at the same time, we've unwittingly belittled what He did by not allowing Him to bring us alongside Him.
That was God's purpose at Calvary: to bring us alongside Jesus. To make us what He already was.
What is God's reason for prospering His people? Is it so we can watch bigger TVs? So we can buy finer houses and more luxurious cars?
Establishing God's covenant on the earth and giving to those in need: Those are God's purposes for prosperity!
When Jesus said those words, He wasn't just giving us a prescription for getting to heaven. He was telling us how to live a superior life right here on earth.
You see, there's a high life that we can live right here, right now. But to get in on it, we have to lay down the way of life that most of us are accustomed to. We may have to let go of the very things we've been trying so hard to latch on to. We have to set our hearts instead on doing what God wants us to do.
Is there actually a divine purpose behind the bad things that happen in your life? Could it be that the sicknesses and calamities you experience are somehow a part of God's plan for you?
Compassion. That’s the one thing people need more than anything else in this world. They need someone to reach out to them with the compassion of God.
Compassion is a deep yearning that responds to the needs of people. It’s much deeper than sympathy. Sympathy can just sit around feeling sorry for people. Compassion has to do something for them.
When you made Jesus Christ Lord of your life, you became what the Bible calls a “new creature.” Inside, you’re not the same person you were before. You have the nature of God born into you. But it’s not enough for you just to have that new nature on the inside. You have to let it take over the outside as well.
Don’t expect that to happen automatically. You have to make a decision to bring your body into obedience to the new man within you. You must determine to do what Romans 6:12 says and “let not sin...reign in your mortal body….”
Right now you and I are standing face to face with situations in our nation that need to be changed. Some of those situations look totally impossible. But they’re not. Because this country belongs to God.
He’s the One who brought the United States of America into existence. He had a special purpose for it. He needed a country where the gospel could be preached freely and not suppressed.
The Greek text of that scripture would literally read, “I give you the keys of the kingdom. Whatever you declare locked on earth is locked in heaven and whatever you declare unlocked on earth is unlocked in the heavenlies.”
The heaven Jesus was talking about there isn’t the heaven where God resides. He was talking about the battle zone, about the heaven where Satan’s forces are operating.
He was telling us that God has given us power to bind the wicked spirits in heavenly places and to loose the angelic powers of God to work in our behalf.
Whenever things around you get dark and you feel the devil is about to overpower you, remember this: You have the Light of the world in you, and try as they may, all the forces of hell can’t put it out!
Even when you’re at your weakest, even when you feel like the light within you is small, the devil’s darkness is no match for you.
That verse is clear, isn’t it? The instruction is plain. Yet even in these tumultuous days when our nation is so desperately in need of God’s guidance, most of God’s people don’t do what that verse commands.
Why not?
I believe it’s because most of us are overwhelmed by the problems we see around us. How could my prayers make a dent in the national debt? we think. How could my faith affect foreign policy?
In other words, we fail to pray because we fail to realize just how powerfully our prayers can affect this country.
Isn’t it exciting to realize that you can hold the thoughts and feelings and purposes of God’s very own heart in your heart? Isn’t it thrilling to know the Creator of heaven and earth wants to be one spirit with you and transmit His thoughts to your mind?
The Word tells us that God shows Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are "perfect" toward Him (2 Chronicles 16:9). That word perfect doesn't mean that we have to do everything just right and live without making a mistake. Thank God, we don't have to do that. It means "devoted"—a heart consecrated, dedicated, loyal and faithful to God.
The mistakes we make will not stop God from working in our lives. Only our lack of faithfulness can do that.
Since God doesn’t save anyone against their will, does it really do any good to pray for people who consciously refuse to receive Jesus as Lord?
Yes. Yes! Yes! It does!
You see, in spite of the fact that most all unbelievers who have purposely refused to receive Jesus as Lord think they’ve made that decision of their own free will, the truth is, they haven’t. The Word of God says they’ve been blinded by Satan. He’s blocking their perception of the truth. So their decision hasn’t been freely made at all.
What a time of monumental decisions and changes we’re living in. If there ever was a day when you and I must know God’s will and purpose for our lives, it’s now.
In fact, nothing else is going to work! God is changing and rearranging things, lining them up for the end-time move of the Spirit. If you’re going to keep up, you must know God’s perfect plan for your life—and how to carry it out in His power!
How do you do that? Through prayer.
I know from personal experience that when people start to criticize you and persecute you because you live by faith, your natural human response is to want to strike back. You want to start dishing out a little criticism of your own. Maybe if they get a taste of their own medicine, they’ll shut their mouths, you think.
But you know what? They won’t. Your words will just add fuel to their fire and they’ll criticize you harder and louder than they did before.
You’re running the race set before you, moving full-speed ahead with God’s blessing overtaking you at every step. Then suddenly, wham! You hit the wall. It may be a wall of sickness or financial trouble, of spiritual failure or family problems. But, regardless of the form it takes, the effect of “the wall” is always the same. It stops you cold.
The question is, once you hit a wall like that, what will you do? You’ll be tempted to quit, to turn back in defeat. But don’t do it. Because God will enable you to break through that wall and keep right on going.