A POETIC PROMISE – Which I Chose to Believe

Things can change within a day.. a week.. a year.. or even within an hour!

Things are going to change…

The wall – even  that wall standing in front of you – WILL come down!

Like the Berlin Wall – your wall also will be torn down….. (HOW??)

As believers – we just decree what God has said/shown us!

For there is enough power in any word that God speaks.. to bring it to pass…

Your part and mine – is to decree what God has said..  which means that we speak in line with what He has said… regardless of what we hear or see!

That’s what II Corinthians 4:13 refers to as “the spirit of faith speaking”….

We speak because we believe… and then wait and watch Him do the work!

He will do the thing He promised!

And here’s a “poetic promise” He spoke to me some time ago…

“I will perform it.. and you will see..

I will perform it – that which I promised thee!”

And things will change!  Just dare to believe that I mean what I say…

Things will turn – even from the things of the curse to a blessing!

Indeed – the power of life and death are in the tongue.. (Proverbs 18:21) – and those who love it will “eat the fruit thereof…

Forget it not…and you will see..”life” rise up in place of death… according to all that you will – in Jesus name – believe and decree!

 

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And just to let you know — this “poetic promise” — for me came to pass (big time!).. exactly 4 months to the day..after it was given to me!  I believed it, received it, and decreed it… The result being that it came to pass…It happened because this is a spiritual law that God Himself set in place and God’s word is always true! 

(Note that there are both longer and shorter times we wait to see our promise come to pass – but you can know that from the moment you set yourself to believe, God goes to work… He works to influence for good.. move things around or out of the way, and otherwise work to bring that promise to pass!)

 

 

Things to Know About Bringing Light Into Darkness

Romans 8:37-39 tells us something that is pretty incredible… where it says that we “are more than conquerors through Christ” – and “that there is nothing that can separate us from His love!”  And I John 4:16-18 tells us that.. if we “know and believe” this love that our Father God has for us.. then we can walk free from fear… which means that we do not have to live and walk in the oppression of the things that come against us from the enemy….

And when we know  that all the promises of God are “Yes and Amen” in Christ Jesus (i.e. they are forever settled in God’s mind)…Then we can “hold forth” the words which God has spoken..and begin to overturn the operations of darkness that our adversary the devil (I Peter 5:8) sends to work against us to rob us of what God has promised…. Because when we speak  in agreement with what God has said… we “let God arise and His enemies be scattered!”

This is because God is one with His word… If He says it He means it.. and He purposes to bring those things which He says to pass!  Indeed, He watches over His word to perform it… He just needs our agreement with those things which He has said to us… (He needs our “agreement”because God gave dominion and authority on the earth to man – for a season….Genesis 1:27,28 & Psalm 115:16).

And if something is working contrary to what God has said, then it is indeed an “enemy” to His will!… And that is where (and why) we come in and speak His word over that situation… Thus we “let God arise” – to begin to scatter those things that are opposed to His word/His will for that area of life…. Indeed.. when we speak according to God’s word, we are saying – in effect – “Father, let Your will be done in this situation”….  Thus we bring the light of His word and His will into the areas of darkness!

 

Building the Trust Factor Between You and God’s Word

“In the beginning was the Word.. and the Word was with God.. and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.”  (John 1:1-3)

The Word was God..??  God spoke the Word – and all things were created.. They were created according to the Word that He spoke… “Light be”.. He said in the beginning – and light was”…. And in the same way ALL things were  created..  (Genesis 1:1-31 & Hebrews 11:3).. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Rhema (spoken)Word of God.. so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”…..

If you have a problem believing that.. it could be for a couple of reasons – one of them  being that you may have tried to understand who God is.. based on the way your life has been lived… Another reason being… that you may not have stopped to consider – “that the heavens declare (enumerate, tell, make known – and even celebrate) the glory of God.. The sky that is visible to your eye.. displays His handiwork/His operations!”… And right at our feet – the grass that we appreciate and care for… have you ever considered that with all our knowledge and technology.. no man has yet been able to produce (“from scratch”) a single blade of that grass?!!  Plus take a good long look around you at all the order of the natural things we can see in the universe… And after that good look and some thought – can you still believe that something as diverse and ordered as what you just saw and considered.. began as a single cell (where did IT come from?).. or had its start from an explosion of gases?!!  I’m not trying to mock anyone – I just want you to THINK… Because it all started somewhere .. from something/someone that is ALIVE – and able to impart LIFE.”…

The Word was a living thing as God spoke it to create and make all things.  That is because the Word IS a part of God Himself.. God and His Word are one.  What God says “IS”... What God says WILL BECOME… because.. behind every Word of God is His integrity.. If it were not so, we could not depend on night and day.. or seedtime and harvest.. the four seasons.. or all the other things which He spoke the Word to set in place to continue… “as long as the earth remaineth”… They continue this day according to the Words that God spoke… (Genesis 8:22;  Psalm 119:89-91)… And God upholds all things by the Word He has spoken concerning it.  (Hebrews 1:3)

What does all of that have to do with our lives today??  That is a good and legitimate question.  Psalm 119:89,90 assures us that “Forever, God’s Word is settled in Heaven.. His faithfulness to all generations.”  God’s Word is the same today as it was in the beginning when He created the heavens and the earth by His Word… And today.. when the Spirit of God “quickens” a promise from the Word of God to us,  we can know that it is “a seed” waiting to be received by us into the good ground of a believing heart/our spirit …And as we “hear” and keep that word…it will “bear fruit” that looks like the promise God gave us!   (Luke 8:11-15)

Our part is to keep that word in our heart… hold on to what God has said .. and not allow our human reasonings… based on sense knowledge… to cave in and turn loose of the word when the enemy/aka the devil comes to  convince us that “it won’t work/things won’t change for you”, etc. etc.  (Luke 8:11-15).   The Word that God speaks has His life and ability in it.. to bring those things that the Word promises to pass! …. That is why God still “sends His Word” (Psalm 107:20).. TODAY.. to heal, deliver, and otherwise minister His grace and provision to those who take hold of that Word to keep it in their heart/spirit while it imparts the faith we all need to receive!….

And that process of keeping and holding forth that Word in the face of all the things to the contrary that we might see..or hear.. or feel – is called “fighting the good fight of faith.”  And that may take half a day – or – it might take half a year… But the experience of receiving things from God’s Word this way builds faith and trust in us… Because many of those things we believe Him for.. and receive.. are things that looked impossible any other way! And it brings you to the place that the “trust factor” between you and God gets stronger and stronger year after year… because faith in God grows as we interact with Him and His Word…

 

The Tactics That Satan Uses to Deceive Us

I Peter 5:8… “Be sober, be vigilant – for your adversary the devil – walketh about, seeking whom he may devour!”…. And we can take note here that the very name of what he is (the devil – which means “false accuser, slanderer”).. tells us what he does so well .. Indeed – in John 8:44 – Jesus identified the devil as “a liar.. and the father of lies.”…

Okay.. the devil (aka Satan) is a deceiver… and realizing that – shouldn’t we then always be able to recognize him “at work”?  We could…. except that the problem with deception is.. that it is so “DECEPTIVE”!!  And since Satan is a being from the spirit realm, that makes it easier for him to carry out his deceptions generally undetected…. And that is even greater reason for us to identify and learn to understand the tactics he uses to get in to our thinking.

I have often heard it said that “Satan’s ONLY weapon against us is deception” – but did God give us any info in His Word to shed some light on “HOW” to recognize when we are being deceived?  Yes, He did… Because He wants us to LEARN how to recognize deception.. and to understand the tactics  that Satan uses to get into our lives with this deception.

The first piece of information that I would like to share about this is in Romans 8:14-16 & I John 2:27.. which tell us about the “witness of the truth” that God gave us in our born again spirit… And.. how the Spirit of God (aka the Spirit of Truth/The Holy Spirit ) has been sent to lead and guide us into all truth..(John 14:16,17 & John 16:13,14) ….He is the One who bares witness in our born again spirit.. He bares witness of truth.. and of error…. This “witness” in our spirit – along  with the information which we are given about “our adversary the devil” in the Word of God – is our greatest ally as we.. LEARN.. to recognize that witness in our spirit – and these “tactics”which Satan uses to gain entrance into our thinking.   

We can find a lot of information concerning those tactics in the Parable of the Sower – which Jesus used to teach the multitudes the “mysteries of the Kingdom of God.” In that parable in Mark 4, Jesus informs us of several very important things we need to  know IF we are to truly understand how the Kingdom of God operates…

( FYI – A parable is.. a short simple story of comparing one thing that we are familiar with.. with another thing which we are trying  to understand…. In the case of the Parable of the Sower..in Mark 4.. we see the operation of the Kingdom of God.. compared to the familiar subject of the planting of a seed to produce a harvest…. In other words.. the Kingdom of God operates like the planting of seeds works in the natural..to grow and produce a harvest!)

  • The “seed” that the sower in this parable sows – is the Word of God – v. 14
  • People receive (or not) in different ways (verses 15-20)…. but one thing is the same for all of them – which is this – “Satan/aka the devil – comes immediately to snatch away the Word which had been sown in their heart”/spirit… v. 15
  • He comes to take away the seed (aka the Word of God)  BEFORE  we understand the value of that Word – i.e. – That, as we RECEIVE and KEEP that word.. it imparts into us the very “life” that is in every word which God speaks (Hebrews 4:12)… The life that is in that spoken word  produces “fruit” – fruit according to the thing which God spoke to us about in that Word. (v. 20.)…. It is helpful to recall…that God spoke, and the worlds were created by His Word (Hebrews 11:3 and John 1:1-3)…. No word that He speaks is without power to come to pass – including the words that He speaks to us – which come to us as “a seed”…We don’t have to understand altogether “HOW” this works…. only that it does (v. 26-28!!)
  • Satan comes immediately to snatch away the Word we hear…and these are the 5 tactics that he uses to get into our life to do that…..:
  1. Persecution (v.17) – to pursue to harass or injure
  2. Afflictions  (v.17)…i.e. pressures, anguish, trouble
  3. Cares of this world  (v.18,19) ..Cares produce in us one or more of these things:  anxiety and disquieting of the mind by worry & fear,  grief,  weighed down by responsibilities (which can be either “genuine” – or false ones we’ve taken on)
  4. Deceitfulness of Riches  (v. 19)…is woven around the line of thinking that having wealth will solve all things
  5. Lusts of other things  (v. 19)….revolves around an excessive desire to gratify the senses or bodily appetites

Those are the tactics which the devil uses to bring deception and thus some form of defeat in an area of our lives….The ultimate goal of the devil being what we see in John 10:10… which is that the devil/aka our adversary – only comes to kill, steal, or destroy…Everything he does is aimed at accomplishing  something from one of those three categories….

BUT.. The good news is that we have been redeemed out of the hand of this our enemy.. .Psalm 107:2 and Colossians 1:12-14 express that very well…. And being AWARE of that – and of the tactics that the devil endeavors to use to get into our thinking and thus into our lives…is our best guard against living in some form of deception….So would it not be good to take some time to thoughtfully and honestly …Go over the list of those 5 tactics that he uses – to see if any of those tactics are things that he regularly uses to get into your life.. to bring in deception… Because as it is often said.. “Forewarned is forearmed.”… We are not to be ignorant of the devil’s tactics!