* * * * *
Dear Heavenly Father,
I come to You and ask that I become aware of Your presence as I focus on this material.
I ask that You give
me “ears to hear,” what Your Holy Spirit is saying to me.
Father,
I know I am weak therefore,
I also ask for the help of Your precious Holy Spirit
here and now
.
May the time I spend here contribute to my walk with You today.
I present this request to You
in the Name of my Brother Jesus Christ.
Amen.
* * * * *
Purpose and Theme of this
Material;
Moving from;
sin,
slavery,
condemnation and shame,
to being
Clean and Pure
as a Son
of the Living God.
* * * * *
* * * *
* * *
* *
*
In all of scripture,
there is no victory shown to us like the victory
that Jesus experienced on the Cross.
Yet,
in the Garden of Gethsemane,
Jesus clearly reveals His feelings concerning
all that He was about to face.
There we are allowed to observe
Jesus in prayer
to His Father,
(Our God is our Father)
asking Him to find another way.
For He knew that what was being expected of Him
was by far the most difficult
experience of His earthly life and ministry.
As we know,
Jesus’ request was denied.
For all that needed to be accomplished,
the total fulfilling of all the laws
and
just as importantly all the prophecies
of the Old Testament,
down to the last detail,
nothing could be altered.
So our Father God
(Our God is Immutable, meaning: He is Unchanging.)
did not change the plan in any way,
and Jesus obeyed.
The main reason our Father God
(Our God is Omniscient, meaning He is All Knowing)
would not change His mind is
because
He never viewed what happened at the Cross
without also seeing
the Resurrection that followed.
And,
that Resurrection
was nothing less
than the complete confirmation
of the greatest victory
in all of history.
What should be the take away
for each of us concerning
this model Jesus lived out
in part for our benefit?
What are we to personally
learn as we obey our Brother Jesus
to die to the world,
our flesh,
and
the devil within our lives?
Yes,
dying to these three influences
in each of our lives
will not be in any way easy.
The fact is,
it is more than likely
that our obedience
to our Heavenly Father
will be like that of the obedience
Jesus showed us.
That obedience
will be the most difficult experience
of our earthly life,
yet
like Jesus
we must learn
to keep our eyes on the
Resurrection that will follow.
For as we are obedient
to our Heavenly Father,
this Resurrected Life
will bring about the full life
Jesus speaks of in
Also,
the good plans that
talks about in his book,
…the good plans,
…the hope and a future,
will begin to come to pass
as we are obedient to Him.
I say this again,
it is more than likely
that our obedience
will be the most difficult thing
we will ever experience
in our earthly life.
So first,
the Holy Spirit is showing us
that we must die to certain things
that are in our lives.
Then and only then
will we experience
the Resurrected Life our
(Our God is Omnipotent, meaning: He is “All Powerful.”)
has for each of us.
Now,
what is important to see
within our Lord’s triumphant victory
over sin and death
is that it is a direct result
of His oneness with His
(Our God is our Triune God)
Jesus did absolutely everything
His Heavenly Father
showed Him to do.
We see this clearly
in the Gospel of John,
This is where Jesus is speaking of the
“how’s” and “whys”
of what He was doing,
He says;
“I tell you the truth,
the Son can do nothing
by himself;
He can do only
what He sees his Father doing,
because
whatever the Father does
the Son also does.
Therefore,
to obtain the victories
we desire in our lives,
we too must enter into a
closer relationship
with our Father God.
(Our God is Omnipresent and Immanuel, meaning: our God is with us.)
* * * * *
Is there any other example
for us to follow within scripture?
Yes!
In the Old Testament
we see someone who experienced
many battles in his life.
And
yes he had failures,
yet,
he also had great victories.
That is King David.
King David,
like Jesus,
had an active,
vibrant,
abundant,
intimate relationship,
with his Lord and God.
Let’s see what David experienced
because
of this close relationship!
You can read about this in,
2 Samuel 22 and/or Psalm 18,
(one or the other for they say exactly the same thing).
Now after reading this
“Song of Praise”
by David,
you quickly realize that
King David is the last person
you would want to mess with.
For the relationship
David had with his God
was such that when David would
(Teaching)
to his God,
his God would listen
and
act on David’s behalf.
More importantly,
let’s see what his God
“gave” and “taught”
and
“brought to pass”
within David’s life.
Lets dig out
some of what this
shepherd boy lived out
because
of the relationship he had
with his One True God.
Tucked within this
“Song of Praise,”
we see that David
was given his God’s/our God’s
“Shield of Victory.”
This is the very shield
that each of us is after
for our own life.
Also,
these scriptures say that;
…David was made great to the point,
that
…he stood strong,
that
…his feet were placed on a level path,
so that
it would be less likely
that he would
fall or stumble
anymore.
To
“stand strong,”
to have help
so that it is less likely
that you will
fall or stumble.
The reality is,
this is what happens
when we do what
our Heavenly Father
tells us to do.
What else do we see in this
“Song of Praise?”
We see that;
…his way was made perfect,
that;
…he was strengthened
also,
…he was trained for battle.
It is important that we study this
“Song of Praise,”
for within it
we see what we are after
for our lives.
Which is complete
“Victory.”
Complete “Victory”
does not mean that
we will never be
tested,
tried,
or
tempted anymore.
What it means is,
because
our God has
“…trained us for battle,”
we will be trained for
“Victory”
in what we may face
in our daily walk concerning
the world,
our flesh,
and
the devil,
complete “Victory” means:
not being controlled by
sin
or
bondage
or
addiction!
Complete “Victory” means:
fully destroying all
(Teachings)
within our lives,
destroying
all the lies we have believed.
Also destroying any
fears,
shame,
condemnation,
or
rejection
that has had control over us.
This is the
“Victory”
our Father God has for each of us,
the “Victory”
our Brother Jesus obtained for us at His Cross.
(12 meditations on “The Cross of Jesus)
Complete “Victory”
means:
walking in the fruit of the Holy Spirit,
especially the fruit of
Self – Control
within our lives,
and
for us men
dealing with our sex drive.
That means we control
our minds and bodies,
not
our minds and bodies
controlling us.
What does it say in,
…thanks be to God!
He gives us the victory
through
our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the goal of our Heavenly Father,
to “give” us this victory!
Now,
one last thought
concerning King David.
It is in Acts 13:22
that we see King David
eventually became known as
…a man after God’s heart.
For this is what our Father God
had written about King David in
“…I have found David son of Jesse
a man after my own heart.
This too,
needs to be our goal.
And
we need to see
that the relationship
between
Jesus and His Heavenly Father
was like that of
David and His Triune God.
These are the two models
we are to follow.
For in copying these two models,
we too will enter into an
active,
vibrant,
abundant,
intimate relationship
with our Father God.
Plus,
with these two wonderful examples
to guide us,
we also will learn
total obedience
and
we will experience the
Victories
our hearts hunger for.
What does the last line of
Acts 13:22 say?
…he will do everything I want him to do…
This is the pathway to Victory.
* * * *
So, where do we start?
* * * *
How do we become
…trained for battle?
* * * * *
* * * *
* *
*