Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.
I’ve said that one of my
most difficult areas to grow in has been deliverance from FEAR. It’s hard to rejoice or be calm when you have
unreasoning fear clouding your horizons.
On the other hand we are supposed to fear God and while some say it just
means we are to reverence God, I’m not exactly sure what their definition of
reverence is. The ancient rabbi
Maimonides believed you ought to be afraid of God and if you are then you are
just beginning to approach true revelation because only in a state of fear of
the creator of the universe can you even attempt to serve Him as He is due and
requires.
Verse 4 says we’re to
rejoice in Christ always and that seems straight forward enough. In another religion I can think of, you are
to blindly obey god the unknowable one.
In our faith, you are to trust Him, don’t worry that serving Him seems
counter intuitive (is your intuition that developed?) It goes on to say He will direct your paths
(Proverbs 3:5-6). Our God has made
Himself known. The heavens declare His
glory. The stars speak His name. All 66 books of our Christian Bible are
centered around one theme, the redemption (buying us back from the bondage of
sin) of mankind.
People who leave
Christianity often do so because they really didn’t understand God and failed
to learn of Him personally. Sadly, they
often followed us as we followed Christ and we led them astray. How much will I have to answer for when I stand
before Christ and see the replay of my life.
Not that could be a fear generating thought.
Back to my original
thought. If we are not to fear our life
in Christ (though a healthy fear of our heavenly Father is warranted just as a
healthy fear of our earthly one is), and the first chapter of Joshua seems to
make that a foregone conclusion, then we need to know as much about our God as
we can. Last year was a making year in
the Body of Christ. Many people
completely missed it and just thought things were hard. This year is a entering in year but if you
missed last years preparation phase, you will find it difficult to hear God and
enter in.
One great way to solicit
God’s assistance in this area is to rejoice in Him. God inhabits the praises of His people. He loves to hear our praise. When we rejoice in Him we will have an
audience in Heaven and probably an angelic choir or two offering accompaniment. Have you missed the preparation season? Don’t despair; ask God to forgive you and
make the changes on the fly this year.
Yes, it might be exceedingly difficult, but you will reap the rewards if
you don’t faint. Consider this as well;
every praise you utter and every prayer you speak is being offered against a
tremendous tide of Satanic attack, spiritual sorceries and concentrated demonic
lies and deception. Just that fact that
you are reaching out to God shows you are not a loser or a wimp. It’s easy to sin; we’ve made the entire world
a factory of it. Doing the right thing
is not so easy though.
Philippians 4:5 Let your moderation be known unto all
men. The Lord is at hand.
I was listening to Joyce
Meyers one day and she said, “Shhhhhhh.”
Shut up. Listen and you might
just recognize the voice of the Lord you have been longing to hear for so long. We can get so frazzled and desperate for
God’s input that we begin to cry aloud and spare not thinking God will be moved
by our passion and many words. Prayer is
a scalpel and a sniper rifle; not a shotgun.
God is moved by the state of your heart.
When He said, “This people honor me with their lips but their heart is
far from me;” he was speaking of just that sort of people.
God wants your heart to be
turned to him and your lifestyle to be full of grace, holiness and truth. Trying to squeeze a few extra bucks out of
your taxes by fudging can cost you far more than the tax man will charge. It will destroy your integrity before God and
prevent you from entering in. Your blessings
come from God. In all of history, no
king or country ever prospered by neglecting God. Even Babylon honored the God of Israel and
when they finally became sure of their own greatness, God either made them
crazy or allowed them to be destroyed.
Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in everything by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto
God.
Now finally, be at peace in
Christ. Be ANXIOUS for nothing. The Bible says that in the last days men’s
hearts will fail them for fear. Fear can
be a good thing if it motivates us to … “pray and offer supplication with
thanksgiving to God.” If it only
terrifies you into immobility it has not had the desired effect. God is not trying to ruin your life but to give
you life more abundantly. That is the
main reason Christ came.
Study, pray, worship, cry
aloud and spare not. Let your integrity,
your unwillingness to take the easy way out, begin to raise you to greater
heights.
Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which passeth all
understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
There is a peace that
passes all understand and human comprehension.
God says, “It will be great!
Trust Me!” If you press in, there
will come a time when Satan tries to attack you with fear and anxiety and you
will shrug it off and say, “Not my will but thy will be done Lord.” On that day you will rise above and say,
“Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world!”
Some of you may recognize
this lesson. I was going through some
lessons and found this from two years ago.
It caught my eye because I have been under attack of the enemy lately in
this very area and am persuaded that I am not alone. If you ever get bored and have the great free
bible program “E-Sword” or one of the other programs, do a study using “fear
not” with the quotation marks. The
phrase “fear not” in the King James Version is found 63 times. Of those, several have nothing to do with
God’s provision but most do. You can
actually go through them and find out how many times God has admonished us to
cease from fear and trust Him.
Though our God is not human
and does not have our physical passions and problems, He cares enough for us to
understand us and know what we are made of.
Through Jesus He can even be touched by our infirmities. We are affected by upbringing, hormones
(masculinity & femininity), sorrow, pain, joy and greed. The deadly works of the flesh as found in Galatians
5:19 on are able to flow through us like water through a pipe. It is only our born again spirit that is able
through God to overcome this character weakness.
We must die to self and awaken
to discover that we are who we faith to be.
I know that Christ in me is my only hope of glory. Where I am weak He is strong and I am weak
everywhere. This is why I must die to
self and gain Christ. This is why I must
pray without ceasing. This is why I can
rejoice evermore in Him and fill Him with joy because He has made me accepted
in the beloved (Ephesians 1:6). My only
hope is to rest and live in Him. I have
to keep busy by accomplishing whatever my hands find to do (and right now that
is writing lessons and speaking into lives when I can). I pray you will do the same. Fear not!
Blessings my beloved.
Bishop J
No comments:
Post a Comment