At times (much too often) I seem to let the things of the world get to me and make me stressed out or depressed. This really should not happen. Why? Yeshua has already overcome this world and so have we through Him!
When life gets us down it is usually because we do not respond to the issues of life properly. We need to make a knee-jerk reflex to the issues we face in life of just remembering of who we are, what we have obtained and were we are going, it is a spiritual battle and we need to keep our focus on the spiritual realm.
Carman (a Christian singer - one of my favorites) has a song called “prepare to die”. The entire theme of the song is that knee-jerk reaction we should all have when life’s storms come against us.
In the song it talks about different situations where the battles come. It starts out with the David and Goliath and how Goliath laughed at David and bragged about how great he was, but David did not take it and responded with “Prepare to Die” by the power of God and obtained the victory.
The next part goes moves to us facing our giants that face God’s people and how we often feel discouraged or fear as our giants say to us “Do you know who I am? I am depression I am your enemy, the power of death is within my command. I am Leukemia, open your eyes, I can bury you right were you stand. I am your ultimate nightmare, your reality of fear, my threats have been intimidating people for years. You dumb religious fool, just get on out of here, cause I am cancer”.
The song continues: Then something will hit your soul, a revelation so it seems
and a holy anger will drill you
and boy you’ll be spittin’ mean
And it will shoot right through your spirit like a beam
And all across the countryside everybody will hear your scream
Prepare to Die
Cancer, prepare to die
I’ve got a message from the Good of whom you have defied
You come against me with your weapons from Hell
You come against me with your fearful evil spell
But I come against you in the name of the God of the armies of Israel
Prepare to die
Luekemia, prepare to die
Disease, hatred, jealousy, enemies of the cross
Prepare to die!
The point here is that when things come against you it is time to remember first who you are in the Messiah. You have been born-again, you are a new creation and old things have passed away and “all” things are made new. Can you get your mind wrapped around that fact? You are a “new creation”!
Yes, I understand that situations in our life from the past are not gone, but our way to view them new. We no longer have to be concerned about how we were raised (good or bad), or what we did in our past, or how that can affect our lives.
We have been bought with a price, we are not our own, we are God’s property. As such we simply need to keep faith in Him that He will protect and take care of His property.
In Colossians 3:1-4 it says that if we are a Christian, we need to put our affection on the things above, that is on spiritual plane where Yeshua is, not on the things here on earth. When Yeshua returns we will be with Him in Glory, spotless, blameless before God! If that does not stir a little shout within you, I am not sure what will!
Yeshua has taken away ALL your transgressions! Psalms said, He has removed your iniquity as far away from you as is the east from the west, which is an infinite amount as you can keep going east forever and never reach east, it is a direction not a place. In Jeremiah, it is said God has “chose” not to remember your sin any longer! Isaiah said though your sins be scarlet, they shall white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Are you getting there yet?
In the book of 1 Peter it says we are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation a peculiar people (I know a few of those ; ) ), that we should show forth the praises of God who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light! It says we are now the people of God who has obtained mercy!
In Colossians it says we are partakes of the inheritance of the saints in light, that God has delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom Yeshua! In 1 Corinthians it says that eye has not seen, ear has not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love Him.
In 2 Timothy, Paul tells Timothy that he needs to remember and stir up the gift of God that is in him. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind! In Ephesians it says that God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think according to the power that works in us!
Remember that in Ephesians it says our battle is not with flesh and blood against principalities, powers and rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high place. It is a spiritual battle not one of flesh. If you are being attacked by someone unjustly, it is a spiritual attack and you should not respond in the flesh, but in the spirit. In Romans it says vengeance is God’s to repay as He wills, not ours. We are to pray for those that offend us, we are to overcome evil with Good. Resist the devil and he will flee!
How can we get the victory? We need to stay close to God. In James it tells us a promise that if we draw closer to God, He will draw closer to us. Want to move God, you move closer to Him!
How do we do draw closer to God? First, we humble ourselves before Him and make sure there is nothing standing between us such as any sin we have not dealt with or things as simple as unforgiveness.
Next, we need to seek God’s face, which can be done by reading His Word, prayer, worship and praise with thanksgiving. God inhabits praise. You want to feel the presence of God, read your Bible to get your mind focus, ask God to fill you with worship and pop in a praise and worship CD and sing along with the songs. It should not take long before you fill the hunger in your soul. If you really have a serious blockage, you might want to add fasting to the list.
In Ephesians it says not to be drunk with wine, but instead be filled with the Spirit (notice that is the big ‘S’). People often stop reading at that point or do not pay attention to the rest of what is being said, it continues to tell us how to be filled with the Spirit, by speaking to ourselves in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things unto God along with submitting ourselves to one another in the fear of God.
God is with us, whom shall we fear. We need to lift up our heads and rejoice over all that God has already done for us and what He will do for us along with the fact that Yeshua is coming soon! Do not let the enemy rob you of your joy, take it back by bringing to memory remembering our Great God!
A little humor for this Valentines day:
http://www.reverendfun.com/index.php?date=20070214