November 2015 Spirit Food

This month, let’s focus on seeing ourselves in Christ.

Ephesians 1:3 - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ

God does not see us as we see ourselves. We tend to see ourselves by how we feel, what other people think about us, and focus on what our history has been. When God looks at us, He sees us as fulfilling His plan for our life. The fact that many Christians are not walking in His plan for their life, is unfortunate for them while they’re on this earth.

When a person accepts Jesus as LORD of their life, His will for them is to develop a relationship with Him, by getting to know Him through the reading and meditating on His Word and a daily “walk” with Him via the Holy Spirit (which came to live inside of you when you accepted Jesus). When you communicate with Him through prayer (by speaking words), your relationship develops. Developing this relationship is vital to living a good life on this earth. Communication with Him goes both ways, He’s attempting to communicate with us as His children all the time. The issue is, in our society, people are not taking the time to listen to the Holy Spirit within them. They’re more interested in listening to their iPod, radio, CD, or watching TV programs/DVDs, where the focus isn’t on Jesus.

Consider Abraham, he was a childless 100-year-old man. His wife, Sarah, at 90 years old, was dead in her womb (Genesis 17:17). Yet, God saw him and talked to him as if he were already the father of many nations.

God wants you to see the way He sees. Right now, you may see yourself going through a trial in your marriage, work, finances or health. But God sees a blessed marriage, success at work, supernatural provision and a healed body. He tells you that you are already blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

God sees you in Christ. So when you see yourself in Christ (who is outside time), you step into the timeless zone. In that timeless zone in Christ, any needs and trials of yours are already removed, repaired, restored or resurrected! In that timeless zone in Christ, you are already blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places!

As you develop in your relationship (and remember, Our Heavenly Father, Jesus Our LORD, and The Holy Spirit, are a trinity, i.e. all in one), through your daily walk in this life, the Holy Spirit within you will lead and guide you in your activities. With us being in Christ, He is made unto us wisdom. Wisdom is the principle thing (Proverbs 4:7). When the Holy Spirit reveals Our Father’s wisdom to us, our daily decision making process is affected, and we make the correct choices in life. When we listen to the Holy Spirit within us, our thoughts change from being self-centered, to fulfilling Our Heavenly Fathers plan for our life. As a result, the words we speak (which brings things to pass in our earthly environment), have the ability to change our situation/environment in life. This, followed by our corresponding actions, results in moving towards the goal of the words we speak. Enabling us to see good, positive change in our current environment. Remember, this world was created by the speaking of words.

John 14:27 - Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you…Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

The night before Jesus died, He gave His peace to His disciples—“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you…” This peace was not just for His disciples, but also for us today. We have been granted His peace, now we just need to ensure we receive it.

The moment you made Jesus Christ, the LORD of your life, He, who is the Prince of Peace, came to live inside you. And when the Prince of Peace resides in you, every blessing that you will ever need pertaining to your soundness and wholeness is already inside you. Receive it! Act upon it! You have the God given ability. Implement it by making the decision to follow His wisdom!

If you are in an undesirable place in life, seek His wisdom. It is in His Word and a relationship with Him. Why are many Christians in an undesirable place? The answer is most likely a troubled heart. That is why after Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you,” He said, “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

A troubled and fearful heart (I’ll use this analogy), works like fingers that clamp down hard on a water hose. The supply of water is flowing from the tap, but little or nothing is coming out at the other end of the hose. God’s ever-present supply of blessings toward you is like the water flowing freely from the tap, but you don’t see the blessings when you allow your heart to be gripped by worry or fear.

So when fearful, anxious thoughts come, remind yourself of Jesus’ words: “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” Even when things appear to get worse, say, “Lord, I refuse to worry about this. In the midst of all this, I see the finished work of Christ. He said, ‘It is finished!’ So my child’s healing is accomplished. My marriage is blessed. My debts are cleared. I will let not my heart be troubled by these things.”

I cannot “let not” for you. Your family and friends cannot “let not” for you. Only you can “let not your heart be troubled”. So guard your heart from being troubled. You don’t have to guard your career, reputation, children or even health. When you guard your heart, God will guard everything else for you!

Remember, our Heavenly Father sees you blessed in every way. As we develop our relationship with Him, His perfect will, will come to pass in our lives. Our assignment on this earth, is to share what He has done, by Him sending Jesus to come and die on the cross for us (mankind), redeeming mankind back to Himself. Man was created to be in His image, to commune with Him. He desires a relationship with each one of mankind, individually. When you accepted Jesus as LORD, you became part of His family. Like any good father, He desires His children to be at peace and be well blessed in every area of life … and He sees you that way through Jesus, because Jesus paid the price to redeem mankind.

Acts 1:8 – “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Jesus wants you to know the value of the Promise of the Father because He said, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me...” He did not say, “You shall do witnessing,” but “You shall be witnesses”. In other words, your very person will be a witness about Him!

This is because the power you receive when you are baptized in the Holy Spirit is the same power that so anointed Peter that the sick were laid on the streets for his shadow to fall on them and heal them. (Acts 5:15) Even handkerchiefs and aprons from Paul’s body were so saturated with the anointing of the Spirit that when they touched the sick, people witnessed diseases and evil spirits leaving the sick! (Acts19:12)

Beloved, when you are baptized in the Holy Spirit, you will be a witness to others. No problem, trial, disease or sickness is a match for the power of the Holy Spirit within you!

The Holy Spirit came to reside within you when you accepted Jesus as LORD in your life. You just need to receive it and activate it by developing the relationship with Him. He’s waiting …