When you were born again, you weren't half-reborn, you weren't made half-righteous or a quarter righteous. You were made the righteousness of God in Christ! You were made a "joint-heir with Him." According to Strong's Concordance that term joint heir refers to "a personal equality based on an equality of possession."
Did you catch that? He said all who live godly lives are going to suffer persecution. Not just the super-saints, not just the missionaries in hostile lands—but all.
If you're going to live for God, you're going to run into persecution somewhere along the line. The devil's going to make sure of it!
Now I'm not saying that to frighten you or to depress you. I'm saying it because I want you to be prepared.
When you're wise to the strategies of the devil, it's harder for him to use them successfully on you to confuse you and get you off track.
Is it possible to live free from fear in this dangerous and unpredictable world? Yes, it most definitely is! Because protection is a solid promise of God.
But it's not a promise that's offered to just anyone. It is promised to those who abide in the Lord. To abide means "to dwell, to remain and to continue." To abide in the shadow of the Almighty is to live in continual union with Him, keeping His Word and obeying His voice. Those who abide in the Lord can live without dread of what the devil will do.
Someone once said that the reason I can live like I do is because I have "special faith." But, you know, that's just not true. I don't have "special faith." God has given me the same measure of faith He's given to you and every other believer. The only reason my faith looks like it works better is because I use it!
Compassion. That’s the one thing people need more than anything else in this world. They need someone to reach out to them with the compassion of God.
Compassion is a deep yearning that responds to the needs of people. It’s much deeper than sympathy. Sympathy can just sit around feeling sorry for people. Compassion has to do something for them.
I used to worry about making decisions for God. I used to be afraid to step out on faith and declare I was going to do something new that He’d shown me to do. I’d think, What if I fail? I was so scared of failing, I’d muddle around in indecision for weeks. Then one day I found out it wasn’t my power that was going to carry it out anyway. But it took my decision to move God in on the scene. Once I decided what I was going to do, and committed myself totally to it, God backed me!
Till we all come in the unity of the faith. What this scripture means is simply this: If we’re ever going to become truly powerful in the kingdom of God, if we’re ever going to be any great threat to the devil, we’re going to have to grow up—together.
It won’t be enough for just a few of us to grow up on our own and say, “Too bad” about everyone else. It doesn’t work that way. We’re a part of each other. The Bible calls us one body...the Body of Christ.
If you’re going to live in divine health, there are going to be times when you’ll have to be downright extreme about the Word of God. Times when you may be facing a sickness so severe that you need more than just a few moments in the Word and a quick prayer to receive your healing.
I want to tell you, in very practical terms, what I would do in a situation like that.
We are commanded to pray for our country and our leaders. But having prayed, God expects us to act. The elections in the United States are vital to the future of this nation. Our country is in the midst of a spiritual outpouring, and it’s vitally important that the right people be elected. We must see to it.
Jesus came to earth and gave Himself as a sacrifice for sin in order to buy back for you everything that Adam lost. He came to destroy all the works of the devil...sickness and disease included. Once you receive Him as Lord of your life, all the rights and privileges God originally intended you to have (the right to things like fellowship with God, health and prosperity) are restored.
But you are the one who has to exercise those rights!
Jesus compares the workings of the kingdom of God to planting seeds in the earth. “When the seed is sown,” He said, “it grows up....”
Notice He didn’t say that it would occasionally grow up. Or it grows up if it’s God’s will. He said, “It grows up and becomes greater.” Period.
God’s economy isn’t like ours. It isn’t up one day and down the other. It’s always the same and it always works perfectly. If you have good earth, good seed and good water, you’re going to have growth. It’s inevitable.
So, if you’re facing a need, don’t panic...plant a seed!
If you feel like you’re under pressure these days, you’re not alone. Satan is putting more pressure on more people right now than ever before. He’s pressuring us mentally, financially, emotionally and every other way he can. The pressure has gotten so great everywhere that governments don’t know what to do. Businesses don’t know what to do. Families don’t know. Churches don’t know.
But praise God, Jesus does! He says we can give our way right out from under any pressure the devil brings to bear.
If you were to look up the Greek word that’s translated “knowledge” in that scripture, you’d find out that it means more than just a mental understanding of something, more than the kind of knowledge that can be gained through your senses. It means exact knowledge. Knowledge that’s been revealed directly to your heart by the Spirit of God. I call it revelation knowledge.
If I were to ask you to make a list of a hundred things you need to do to please the Lord today, you could do it, couldn’t you? In fact, you probably have so many spiritual “dos” and “don’ts” cluttering up your mind that you’d hardly know where to start.
But you can relax. I’m not going to suggest you make a list of them. Instead, I’m going to help you simplify things by giving you only one: Abide in Jesus.
The one thing you’re truly responsible for is your union with Him. If you keep your union and fellowship with Him intact, everything else will be taken care of.
The company you keep has such an influence on your spiritual life. Fellowshiping with godly people will help speed you on to victory, while fellowshiping with those who are ungodly will drag you down to defeat.
That’s why the Bible has some things to say about your friends. That’s why it tells you to separate yourself from the world. Because evil companions will corrupt you.
Now, I’m not talking about ministry. Jesus Himself ministered to sinners. You have to mix with them to preach to them and pray for them. What I’m talking about here are the people you choose for friends.
Whenever things around you get dark and you feel the devil is about to overpower you, remember this: You have the Light of the world in you, and try as they may, all the forces of hell can’t put it out!
Even when you’re at your weakest, even when you feel like the light within you is small, the devil’s darkness is no match for you.
Someone’s done you wrong! Sooner or later it happens to all of us. Somewhere along the way, we all get hurt or cheated or lied to or abused.
It’s as predictable as it is painful. Yet when it happens most of us find ourselves strangely unprepared. In our outrage, we often cry out to God against the one who wronged us. We ask for justice, or even vengeance, and end up making things tougher on everyone involved—including ourselves.
If that’s been true of you, it’s time you found out how you can put the power of God to work for you the next time someone does you wrong.
This is the key to holding on to the blessings of God. When pressure comes, when troubles and trials are bearing down on you, remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead!
Remember that when Jesus arose, you arose. When He came out of hell and defeated the enemy, you came out of hell and defeated the enemy. His victory is your victory because you’re in Him.
Under the circumstances…. Have you ever caught yourself using that phrase?
“I suppose I’m doing pretty well under the circumstances.”
If you’ve ever said something like that, I want you to kick those words out of your vocabulary right now. Because you, as a victorious child of God, don’t have any business living your life “under” your circumstances. You don’t have any business letting problems and situations rule over you.
In Luke 6:47-48, Jesus said: “Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.”
That’s probably a familiar scripture to you. But today I want you to do something new with it. I want you to put it together with what Jesus said in John 15:17: “These things I command you, that ye love one another.”