dickbraswell

Word for Today: September 30

Conflict

The more active you get and the more vocal you become for God, the greater the conflict.  As long as you are satisfied being “average” and “normal” and “sensible” and “reasonable” there will be little or no opposition.  When you get determined, so does the devil.  The fact that you and I are threats… serious threats… to hell and hell’s mission, makes us the focus of satanic activity.  However, the

Weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds… 2Cor 10:4

God has equipped us for victory.  Our weapons are not natural, man-made or physical.  They are Supernatural and never-failing.  When we operate in the offensive, our Spiritual Weapons will tear down and destroy every fortress and stronghold the enemy has placed in our lives.

Every attack of the devil is a challenge to the God in us… he is fighting the God in you (therefore he is fighting a losing battle).  The battle you fight is not yours.  It is God’s.  The devil hates Him and when he sees God in us, he is foolish and dumb enough to come against Him.  Remember David?

This is the reason the devil hates you… you are where God is.  When he see you he sees God.  He hates God and defies God.  David realized this in his confrontation with Goliath.  He declared:  “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”  Notice, he did not say that Goliath was defying the armies of Saul or the armies of Israel… but instead, the armies of the living God.   Now, Who is the Champion?  Who is the Stronger One?  Who is the Victorious One?

It is God Who lives in you.

If He wins, you win.

If He can’t lose, you can’t lose.

If He overcomes, you overcome.

He has made you a Champion

Word for today:  September 29

Problem areas.

I have discovered that there are three main problem areas in the lives of Believers.  These problem areas, if left alone and not controlled, will prevent any Christian from living and walking in victory.

The problem areas are:

• The Flesh… which needs to be crucified and kept crucified.
• The Mind… which needs to be renewed and kept renewed.
• The Mouth… which needs to be controlled all the time.

The flesh is constantly warring against the spirit.  I do not need to tell you this.  You experience it every day.  It rebels against the spirit.   It is at odds with God.  It hates the Word.  It resists the Holy Ghost.  It likes to run loose.  It demands attention.  Uncontrolled, it causes misery, guilt, condemnation, and failure.

The Bible tells us how to have victory over the flesh.

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. Gal. 5:16

The way to overcome flesh is to walk in the Spirit.  It is our flesh that is constantly giving us trouble.  It is our flesh that causes us the most grief.  Flesh is not sinful in itself.  It was created by God.  It is when we allow flesh to be controlled by a carnal mind and an uncontrolled will that we are tempted to sin… and usually yield to it.

To walk in the Spirit means to have your total life (spirit, soul and body) controlled by the Holy Ghost, the living Spirit of the Most High God, Who lives in you.

The flesh lusts.  It is the nature and character of the flesh to lust.  Lust after food.  Lust after rest.  Lust after gratification.  Lust after comfort.  Lust after pleasure.  Lust after money.  Lust after attention.

In order to prevent lust from having its fulfillment our lives need to be controlled by our Re-created Spirit.

Problem solved

Out of control.

Paul declared that he was wretched, miserable and frustrated because he could not seem to get control over his natural, fleshly, carnal desires.  (Rom 7:24)  They were ruling and controlling him.  They were overpowering his spirit man and leading him into bondage and condemnation.  He needed help.  Just like you and I need help.  And there is help… Thank God!

God understands our dilemma. He knows that we are “but flesh.”  He understands our failures and frustrations.  He wants us to draw from what He has provided so that we might live in victory and peace.   There is conflict between the flesh and the Spirit.  It is a war.

Paul says that this is a Law of Sin and it is continually warring against the Law of our mind.  The law of sin fights against our will.  What we will to do is overpowered by the strength of sin (the flesh) and we find ourselves defeated and overcome.

In order to overcome the strength of sin that fights against us, the human will must come into play.   If you overcome the flesh, you must want to overcome the flesh.  You will never get free unless you want to be free.  God will not work against the human will.  What you will and what you want, God will respect.  He will not intervene or force Himself into your life and your plans.  If you want out, God will get you out.  If you want to stay under the control of your flesh and continue to suffer the consequences… God will not stop you.  Your deliverance is up to you.  Not me.  Not the church.  Not some prophet or evangelist… or anybody else…. Your deliverance is dependent on you.

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 1 John 5:4

Let not (you have the power to “let” or to “let not”) sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Romans 6:12

It’s up to you

Word for Today:  September 27

God is moving.

A “Quick Work” is coming that will leave the world’s head swimming.  It is beginning.  It will continue day by day.  It will increase.  It will gain momentum.  It will escalate. There will be a crescendo.  There will be a shaking.  There will be a shocking.  There will be an uprising.

Where there has been social and political unrest… there is now an unrest in the Spiritual Realm.  A stirring.  A moving.  A release of Divine Energy.  You feel it.  You feel it here.  You see it.  You see it here.  It is happening NOW.  It is happening across the earth.  All Creation is standing on tip-toe waiting for the Revelation of the Sons of God.   Listen to this:

 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. Rom. 8:19

Now, guess who the Sons of God are?  The Church.  You and me (if you are saved).  Those who are Born Again.  The Body of Christ.  And, according to the Word of God, we are going to be Manifested.   Revealed.  Shown and displayed to the entire Creation.  Both animate and inanimate.  To the heavens and to the earth.  To all flesh… believers and unbelievers.  To all races.  Creeds.  Cultures.  To everything and to all things.

The neat thing about all of this is that it is God’s Plan.  And it is a Grand Plan.  And there is absolute nothing the devil can do about it.    It. Will. Happen.

The New Testament Church is where it is happening and the “happening” that is within the Church will surge outward like waves created from a pebble tossed into a pond, until it breaks forth and every nation and every kindred and every tongue on this planet is covered with the Glory of God.

For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.  Hab 2:14

There’s A Great Day Coming

Word for Today:  September 26

If you are Born Again, you are the Elect.

God Himself calls you His Elect.  (Mat 24:31)  You have been selected and elected.   You have been called and chosen.  You have a divine and holy destiny.

You were born with a Plan inside.  A built-in Plan.  A divine Plan.  A God Plan.  This plan has been in place before you were conceived inside your mother’s womb.

This Plan was not formulated at the time of your conversion… it was set in place before the foundations of the universe were laid.  (Eph 1:4)

This is why satan has fought you since you were born.  Just why do you suppose you have experienced such attacks and afflictions and circumstances?  The devil knows about The Plan.  he does not know what it is but he knows it is in there.   And it just might be The One.

The One that ultimately spells his defeat in this dispensation.

You are Significant

Word for Today:  September 25

The things of the world are becoming less and less important to us.

The purpose for our existence is coming into focus.

There is a new intensity in the Body of Christ.  A new determination.  A new diligence.  A new resolve.  I have never seen so many with such a sharp focus and such a determined objective.  To Know Him.  To be conformed into His Image.  There is a quest in the Body of Christ to come into the Fullness of God and accomplish the purpose of our Redemption.

The powers of darkness are screaming to distract us.  The forces around us are vying for our attention.  The noise is loud.  The sights are glittering.  The temptations are real.  And strong.  But we will not turn aside.  We will not be distracted.  We will not be lured away from what God is calling us into.

We know what we want.

We have tasted and discovered that the Lord is Good.  We want what He has to offer.  We know what it is.  It is more.   It has been good but we want more.  It has been wonderful but it is not enough.  More.  We want more.  More of God.  More of Jesus.  More of the Holy Ghost.  More Word.  More anointing.  More Revelation.  More Power.  More Love.   To be more like Jesus.

Others know also.  They may be in the Far Country.  But they Remember.  Just like the prodigal son… they remember how good it is to be in Father’s House.  What they have tasted they can never forget.  And they will return.

As this universal Pull of the Holy Ghost covers the earth… they will come home.  They are coming from the north, the south, the east and the west.  They know what they want the world cannot satisfy.  The flesh is too shallow.  The pleasure is too temporal.  The peace is too fleeting.  There is unrest.  There is dissatisfaction.  There is turmoil in the soul.  There is unhappiness and stress and anxiety.

Those who have wandered off will come home.  The prodigal will “come to himself” and return to Father’s House.

This is the Day of our Visitation

Word for Today:  September 24

You know and I know Something is about to happen.  It’s got to.

There are indications everywhere.  There is a witness in the heart of every turned-on believer.  You feel it.  God is moving.  The earth is responding.  The world is waiting.  The church is looking.  This is the hour.  Something is about to happen.  Something Big.

The Holy Ghost is reaching into the hearts of men (all kinds of men) and drawing… attracting… pulling them toward a confrontation.   A spiritual happening.  It is relentless.  It is miraculous.  There is Hunger.  And this Hunger is indicative of the Divine Plan and Purpose of God in this hour.

You can feel the drawing.  It (your relationship with Jesus) is changing.  It is deepening.  There is an inner dissatisfaction that is driving you to seek His Face and to be conformed more and more into His Image.

The things of the world are becoming less and less important to you.   The reason for your existence is coming into focus.  Your purpose for “being” is that in this time of His Visitation, you may Know God and Glorify God.

All things are coming together.  The signs are everywhere.  The world is waiting.  Nature is groaning.  Believers are expecting.    Rom 8:19

You are changing.

A contemporary Reformation is at hand

Word for Today:  September 23

We must be missing something.

And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Eph. 3:19

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Eph. 3:20

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.  2Cor. 4:7

There must be something we have not understood about this.  Do we really know what these verses mean?  Have we come into a Revelation of the awesomeness of these statements of fact?  How is it that we have settled into such wimps and weaklings when all of Heaven’s Power is in us?  What is wrong?  What has happened?  Where have we missed it?

God has made an awesome investment in you.

• God has confidence in you.
• God believes in you.
• God’s Miracle Power is in you.
• You have the potential to change anything that needs to be changed.
• You can even change you.
• Nothing is too hard for God and God lives in you.

The Word says that with God all things are possible.  Paul wrote:

 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me…  Phil 4:13

The Word declares that if:

 You can believe all things are possible to him that believeth…”  Mk 9:23.

When you got saved, God made a Divine Deposit in you.  Your body became the Temple of the Holy Ghost.  You are no longer your own because you were bought with a price…

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.   1Cor 6:19-20

Your “earthen vessel” is a mine filled with priceless treasure.

Mine your Treasure and enrich your life

Word for Today:  September 22

The Truth and the Lie.

There are two primary principles involved in living and not dying.  One is Truth and the other is “the lie.”  Operating in Truth results in Life.  Operating in “the lie” results in Death.  Jesus said:  I am the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE…  (John 14:6)

In the 17th chapter of John, Jesus declared:  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.  Sanctify them through thy Truth:  thy Word is Truth…  (16-17).

Every person has the option of living by Truth (the Word) or living by the Lie.  The Lie is from hell.  It is authored by satan.  It is the operating principle of the kingdom of darkness. Unfortunately, it is the primary governing force in the world today.  But it can be cancelled by Truth.

demons operate by the lie.  Everything in hell operates by the lie.  Pain, lack, fear, sadness, depression, worry, sickness, disease, poverty, anxiety, stress, condemnation, guilt, dread, bondage, no hope, no joy, no happiness, no satisfaction, no purpose, misery, uncertainty, terror, death….All these operate by the law of the Lie.  But the Law of the Lie is cancelled by the Law of the Truth (John 8:32).

We are empowered to stand and not fall when we live by Truth.

Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth…  Eph 6:14

Word for Today:  September 21

Understanding.

When you were Born Again you received the Character, Nature and Attributes of your Heavenly Father.  That is why Jesus said, Except a man be Born Again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God… John 3:3.   The word “see” means to “know” or “have knowledge of.”  It means to “perceive” or to “understand”.

Jesus was not talking about Heaven in this passage.

He was talking about living and functioning in God’s Place and in God’s Kingdom on this earth before we die and go to heaven.

If you are Born Again you have had God’s power transferred to you.  You receive God’s Power by getting Born Again.  If you are not living in God’s power it may be because you do not understand how to.  You can have God’s Power and yet not live in God’s Power.

Thousands of Believers are right there.  Maybe you are one of them.  You can have God’s Power and yet not activate it and release it.

God’s Power will do for you exactly what God will do for you.

The awesome power of God is in you.  And this Power is activated and released by your Faith.

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us…   Eph 3:20

When you determine to activate that power by your faith, you bring God to the scene of your need.  The Word becomes flesh.  The Kingdom of God comes.

And hell has to move over