It is written…
I am blessed indeed! (Psalm 128:1-2)
God’s hand is upon me! (1 Peter 5:6-7)
He enlarges my territory! (1 Chronicles 4:10)
He frees me from a life of pain! (Psalm 34:18)
He wipes away every tear in my eyes! (Revelation 21:4)
Greater is He/Jesus who is in me than he who is in the world! (1 John 4:4)
I live by the Word of God that proceeds from His mouth! (Matthew 4:4)
God is able to do exceedingly above all that I can ask or imagine! (Ephesians 3:20)
The Word of God is in my heart and mouth; they are Life and Spirit to me, and health and healing to my body! (Proverbs 4:20-22)
In Jesus’ Name, Amen!
It is written…
You are a new creation in Jesus Christ! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
You are fashioned to be like Jesus;
as Jesus is, so are you! (Romans 8:29, 1 John 4:17)
You are as God’s beloved child! (1 John 3:1, Ephesians 5:1)
You are an heir / co-heir with Christ! (Romans 8:17)
You are prosperous and successful, and whatever you touch shall prosper! (as Joseph, Genesis 39:2-3)
You are fully known and deeply loved, you are restored to favor! (Psalm 139:1-4, Jeremiah 31:3, 1 John 4:9, see Job 42:10, 1 Peter 5:10)
You are surrounded by His grace and glory! (Psalm 3:3, Psalm 5:12)
You are accepted in the Beloved! (Ephesians 1:6)
You are a victor, you are not a victim! (Romans 8:37, 1 John 5:4)
You are shielded and protected, no weapon formed against you shall prosper! (Psalm 91:4, Isaiah 54:17)
You are surrounded with open doors of opportunities and ministries! (Revelation 3:8, 2 Corinthians 2:12)
You are seated and strongly established, you will not be shaken! (Ephesians 2:6, Psalm 16:8)
You are helped in times of trouble, you will not be moved! (Psalm 46:1-2, Psalm 121:2)
In Jesus’ Name, Amen!
And that’s what we shared yesterday. I mean, after a nice, longer worship session of 6 songs total (which we may bring down to 5 or 4 longer ones), I went straight to speaking the Word.
I picked up from the songs we led. I didn’t find it an accident that one of the younger folks in our team was the one who took point in leading Hosanna, the older song by Hillsong. I particularly appreciated how it was a member of our younger generations, speaking and singing, declaring new generations rising up – ‘to take our place’, sure, but I told everyone within the sound of my voice, that our goal isn’t merely to have them replace us – No, we want these kids better than us.
Second, for our March celebrants, I found it fitting that we sang the old hymn No Other Name – well, the chorus, mostly – because I felt the need for them to take heart and be more amazed by the peerless, matchless name of the Lord Jesus Christ, over every other circumstance and situation that aims to discourage, demoralize, or otherwise rob them of focus and clarity. And, well, if you happen to be celebrating your birthday this March, I’m proclaiming that now, more than even, Jesus is the greatest Name over all things concerning you, and all things you are concerned about. Run to Him, for His name is a Strong Tower where you find certain safety.
Right after this I went ahead and led our congregation to speaking the Word, coming from their own mouth. I noticed the last time we did this exercise it was just us Pastors who did the talking… here, I wanted them to speak. So, that first set of verses? I told them to proclaim and declare those words for themselves – out of their own mouths, for everyone around to hear, and most importantly, for them to hear them saying it as well.
I then told them to look for a partner, and had them take the second set of verses, so they edify each other with what Scripture says.
And, yes, I’ve posted them here to increase my word count so that anyone who stumbles upon all of this would take them in their own lives as well.
And speaking of the Word, well, I attempted to pass the mic to my good pastors, but it eventually fell upon our good Pastor Joedy. He had a speaking arrangement earlier in the day here in the mountains, so he decided to pay us a visit.
Little did I know that the Holy Spirit had more than just a couple of minutes reserved for him on the mic. It’s always awesome to hear him minister to the congregation, by way of exhortation.
Two things that he shared which stuck, and which I believe I will reiterate next Sunday:
First is, to speak. The enemy of our souls wants us silent. We need to take in our identity as sons and daughters of the Most High, and we live out our identity by speaking His Word.
Oftentimes we observe our brethren and we hear their observations and complaints – that if God is true to His Word, then why haven’t we been healed? Why haven’t our circumstances been improved?
To this, I usually tell folks, to continue to wait on the Lord, and to continue trusting in Him, knowing that as we trust in Him, we ultimately will not be put to shame. Now with Pastor Joedy’s message in mind, I believe it doesn’t hurt – and, rather, it really does help our situations and circumstances out if, while we wait, we take in the Word for ourselves, and speak out the Word to our circumstances. If I was to make any emphasis here, it’s for us, as always, to remain vigilant by way of waiting with the Scripture on hand, reading it, meditating on it, speaking of it on our terms and timing, so that when encounters (‘good’ or ‘bad’) come we are equipped and ready to respond according to the Word.
Second, the blood. Pastor Joedy told of the story of David Livingstone, missionary to Africa. Running out of supplies, he had no choice but to agree to the offer of a tribe he encountered – To save his life, he had to enter into a blood compact with the chief. David agreed and may have immediately regretted his decision because as soon as the agreement was sealed in blood, the chief asked for his only goat – which I assumed he kept as a beast of burden, and a critical source of milk.
In exchange for the goat, David received the chief’s spear. Sure, it was 7 feet long, but David was a missionary, not a warrior. David was nevertheless saved, and kept on going.
When David encountered another tribe, they threatened to take his life and all he had, but as they approached, David, not really knowing what to do, raised his spear (in surrender or a last ditch effort) – and as soon as the warriors saw the spear, not only did they stop, but they bowed down, they took David and fed him, and told him, ‘we are your warriors‘.
The spear represented the authority of its original owner, the chief. And Pastor Joedy thought it important to close with this story because he wanted to emphasize that we have a ‘spear’ of our own – that is, we have with us representation of authority; We have the blood of Christ.
Scripture says without shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness of sins. Well, here, through the blood of Jesus, not only do we have forgiveness of sin, but reconciliation with God, much so that we have been made His sons and daughters… and we have the blood of His Son, representing His authority, His supremacy over this reality.
Now, sure, I’m still in the process of matching Pastor Joedy’s enthusiasm over the power we have in this wretched existence, but I believe we have common ground in the absolute importance of the Word of God, and, here, the blood of Jesus Christ.
It’s no accident that John wrote, in Revelation 12:11 – And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.
And seeing that second part of the verse… I believe it is true for us in the body of Christ, because we have everlasting love lavished upon us by the blood of Christ, the Lamb, a love greater than the love we have for our own lives; We have a Word that stirs in our hearts to testify, which stands and emboldens us, even in the face of death.
We do not merely overcome, but we conquer the enemy of our souls, and all who would call themselves our enemies, by way of the Word, by way of the blood.
I think I got a sort of confirmation of this, yesterday. See, after the service, I wasn’t feeling very well. Thankfully, Mom made her own way home, so all I needed to do was to drop my team off at town, before heading home myself.
Soon as I got home, I spent some down time on this here PC, even played a bit of Stronghold Crusader, before noticing I was dozing off on this computer chair… My head was hurting, and I thought I’d turn in, far earlier than I’m used to.
Changed my bedsheets, changed to sleep clothes, even got an ice pack for my eyes, and applied a bit of White Flower on my ‘stache. All to counter the headache, the throat and its phlegm, and the runny nose.
I’m not sure why I had a hard time relaxing. I thought it was probably because I didn’t eat the entire day, something I intended on doing so I’d enjoy fasted cardio, today. For some reason I had the songs we led in the service earlier on repeat on my mental playlist, volume on high. It wasn’t helping that the ice couldn’t ‘reach’ the pain, which felt like it was deep inside my head.
I was tossing and turning for around 4 hours. Then I thought to take a pain pill. Then I thought to take herbal supplements to bolster my blood, in case this was dengue fever. Then I thought, with all that in my gut and nothing else, I needed to break my fast, as an emergency – so I took a banana which I found out to be unripe, and a cold slice of cheese pizza.
Throughout all this time I was thinking of the Word, praying in the Spirit, reminding myself of all we talked about earlier.
Thankfully, by the blood, I found myself at one point entering a state of relaxation, with the meds probably kicking in… then, a little later, I felt the pain was gone, and I remember saying ‘thank You, Lord’…
…and next thing I know, it’s morning.
This ordeal tells me that the enemy really doesn’t want us to speak the Word, or to take advantage of our ‘spear’ – the blood of Christ. Through it all, I’m also remembering a verse which gave me peace here, and so many nights ago, when my brother left for Japan and it was just me in our vast bedroom: In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.Psalms 4:8
It’s noon on Monday, and I have Pastor Joedy playing in the background; He’s live and starting his initiative to do confession of the Word. Just taking notes here.
Christ is in us, the Hope of Glory. Because of Christ, we have received a glorious inheritance – indeed, we are co-heirs with Him.
It is our prayer that we would all continue to know and take in this same power that raised Christ from the dead. As Paul spoke to the Philippians, it was his desire to know the power of the resurrection.
I believe this is something for us to celebrate on the first Sunday of April, which I believe is Resurrection Sunday.
Pastor Joedy clarifies: Confession of the Word is not magic. It’s not us naming it and claiming it (something our good Pastor Andrew Farley likes to mention), but it is literally speaking power.
It’s not convincing God. If anything, it’s more of us convincing ourselves.
It’s agreement. It’s aligning our beliefs with what the Lord has said.
Confession is something we ought to continue doing in the body of Christ; It’s the cycle of speaking and believing – we speak, and we believe; we believe, and we speak. It’s a cycle demonstrating our righteousness, our right-standing with God (the ultimate Authority), righteousness unto eternal life, here and now.
It is written:
I am a New Covenant Christ believer.
I am Redeemed by the Blood of Jesus.
I am Raised up & Seated with Christ at the right hand of the Father.
I am the righteousness of God in Jesus.
I have Authority & Covenant rights.
Whatever Jesus paid for is mine.
So I enforce healing, victory, prosperity, Divine health, Peace Joy and Righteousness in the Holy Spirit over me & family and all loved ones.
I have Power, Love and a Sound mind.
As Jesus is so am I in this world, so I bind and destroy all the works of the devil in my life, family and declare that no weapon formed against us shall prosper, for the blood of Jesus covers me and my family!
In the name of Jesus, amen!
So here I was thinking I’d write a little on what happened yesterday, to start off our daily devotional looking into Psalm 30 and Proverbs 30. Looks like we have a lot for this to be treated as a mere ‘intro’.
Posting this now, and then making another post very soon.
God bless us all. God bless you!
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