dickbraswell

Word for Today:  December 16

God has given us weapons

 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds,) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.   2Cor 10:4-6

They are mighty weapons through God to the pulling down of strongholds  … they are not carnal and they are not natural … they are Supernatural and they are efficient and they are effective and they work.

They are given to every believer in order that every believer might overcome the attacks of the enemy. These weapons are for warfare. They are not for vacation. They are for pulling down and destroying and they are to be used.

The reason we have these weapons is that we might overcome the powers of darkness…. that we might stop the devil. If we do not use them, they will not work, and we will not stop the devil. If we do not exercise them, we will not break through and put the devil on the run.

God gave them. God gave them to Believers. God gave them to Believers in order that Believers might confirm what Jesus did to the devil.

Jesus destroyed the works of the devil. Those works are still destroyed. The Bible says that

…to as many as received Him to them gave He power to become…  John 1:12.

You have the power and authority to become whatever God has purposed for you to become.

This is why Paul says… “I can do all things though Christ…”

Word for Today:  December 15

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:19

How do we get God’s abundant supply to our need?

We need to understand the Natural World as it relates to and exists with (alongside of) the Spiritual World.  Most people do not realize that there are literally two worlds existing (in the present) side by side.  One is the Natural World (the world we can see and touch and taste and hear and feel).  The visible, natural, physical world.  This is the world we live in.  The world that our mind (soul) and our body relates to.  This world is easy to perceive because it relates to our reasoning… our senses… our sight.   It can be experienced and understood by the natural faculties of man.

However, the “natural” man cannot receive (understand) the things of the Spirit of God because they are “spiritually discerned…” they relate to the Other World…The Spiritual World.

But the natural man(psuchikos) receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Cor 2:14

But he that is spiritual (pneumatikos)  judgeth (investigates, examines, searches and discerns) all things, (as to whether they are Truth or Fact). 1 Cor 2:15

Believing God begins in the Spirit and manifests in the Natural.  It effects change in the Natural World because it is reality in the Spiritual. World.  What we make as a determined and conscious act of our human will starts things happening.

The Spirit of God and the Truth of His Word are always more Powerful in operation than the natural and physical facts that are happening all around us.

When our Believing explodes as a Revelation coming out of our Spirit, it produces change in the physical, natural world.

His supply will always satisfy our need

Word for Today:  December 14

One Factor.

There is only one factor that gives credibility to any legitimate ministry.    There is only one factor that guarantees the success of Kingdom work.  There is only one factor that makes preachers really preach and churches really produce lasting results.  Effectiveness and productiveness are not the result of man’s effort, ingenuity or education.   Success is not correctly measured by size.  Bigger is not always better.   And smarter is not always wiser.   Breadth is never as important as depth.

In Kingdom Ministry it is the Anointing that produces results.  Without the anointing all our efforts are but sounding brass and tinkling symbols.  Where there is no anointing, there is no Life.  It is the anointing that breaks the yoke and sets the captive free.  It is the anointing that brings revelation and produces conviction.  It is the anointing that moves the heart and rends the soul.

With all our getting, preachers, let us be certain we get unction.  Education is good, but it can never substitute for anointing.   Personality and popularity and acclaim are good, but they can never accomplish what the anointing can accomplish.  The coming Millennial Kingdom will operate in limitless anointing.  This anointing will change nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues.  The anointing will bring glory to God and honor to Jesus.

In all the years of ministry, I’m not so sure as to exactly what the anointing really is, or how to adequately explain it, but I can surely tell when I haven’t got it.  And so can you.

• The anointing gives credibility to ministry.
• The anointing eradicates human limitation.
• The anointing speaks the truth.
• The anointing breaks the stronghold of the enemy.
• The anointing ignites the hearts of complacent Christians and impregnates the barren church to produce children.

We must have the anointing

Word for Today:  December 13

God has given us weapons

 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds,) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.   2Cor 10:4-6

They are mighty weapons through God to the pulling down of strongholds  … they are not carnal and they are not natural … they are Supernatural and they are efficient and they are effective and they work.

They are given to every believer in order that every believer might overcome the attacks of the enemy. These weapons are for warfare. They are not for vacation. They are for pulling down and destroying and they are to be used.

The reason we have these weapons is that we might overcome the powers of darkness…. that we might stop the devil. If we do not use them, they will not work, and we will not stop the devil. If we do not exercise them, we will not break through and put the devil on the run.

God gave them. God gave them to Believers. God gave them to Believers in order that Believers might confirm what Jesus did to the devil.

Jesus destroyed the works of the devil. Those works are still destroyed. The Bible says that

…to as many as received Him to them gave He power to become…  John 1:12.

You have the power and authority to become whatever God has purposed for you to become.

This is why Paul says… “I can do all things though Christ…”

Word for Today:  December 12

Worship God.

Come before His Presence.  Stand in Awe of His Glory and His Goodness and His Power.  Be still.  Listen.  Wait.  Be quiet.  Weep.  Tremble.  Fall on your face.  Bow down.  Kneel. Worship God.  Get lost in God.  Get “caught up” in God.  Stand before Him.

When the Glory filled the temple in the Old Testament the priests could not minister so powerful was the Presence of God.  On the Day of Pentecost in Acts, the saints who were filled with God staggered as drunk men and spoke in unlearned languages.

All around them people knew that something supernatural had taken place.  Some were amazed.  Some were confounded.  Some marveled.  All were moved by the awesome Presence of God… They Worshipped and God responded.

I walked into a convention center filled with over 1000 people 40 years ago and was met by an overwhelming Presence of the Holy Spirit.  Those present were mesmerized in True Worship.  They were singing in the Spirit.  They were praying in the Spirit.  Some were standing with uplifted hands, others were kneeling…. They were weeping and rejoicing and dancing and many were prostrate on the floor laying at the feet of their Glorious God.

They were as one and they all were literally “drunk with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2).  It was the most moving and emotional meeting I had ever experienced in my entire life.  It was at that moment God let me know I could have More of Him than I had ever received.

This revelation came in the atmosphere of True Worship.  I remember rushing to the altar for prayer.  I remember a saintly Episcopalian Rector who laid hands on me and gently prayed for me.  I was literally flooded with the awesome and Real Presence of the Holy Spirit… and my life (and ministry) was forever changed.

Word for Today:  December 11

Regeneration.

Regeneration is the God-ward side of Salvation.  In Regeneration, the dead human spirit is Quickened and brought to life by the Spirit of God and man is restored and made righteous.

The genetic signature of your spirit is “re-gened” with the identical genetic structure of God Himself.

Notice:

• The New Creation is redeemed from the curse and penalty of sin.
• The New Creation is made Righteous. The New Creation is restored to favor with God (Reconciled).
• The New Creation becomes an Heir of God and Joint Heir with Christ.
• The New Creation is provided Power to live in victory.
• The New Creation has access to all God’s Provisions:
• The New Creation Overcomes the World. I John 5:4

And as a result, the New Creation man will love:

• The Brethren: And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. 1 John 4:21
• God: By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 1 John 5:2
• God’s Word: O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.119:97
• The Church: Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;  5:25
• His enemies: But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;   5:44
• The Lost: For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:   5:14

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.  2Co 5:17

Word for Today:  December 10

The Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth… John 1:14.

He is more than a HELPLESS BABY wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

He is more than a once-a-year Christmas celebration.

He is more than a mere Carpenter’s Son.

He is more than an itinerant wandering Preacher.

The world saw Him (and still does) as a religious radical.  A revolutionary fanatic.  A miss-guided dreamer.  A disillusioned Jew and a false messiah.

Religion sees Him as a handy Crutch to lean on.  A “last minute” and last resort for panic and pain.  A “security blanket” to embrace when times are tough.

He is greater than Adam.  He is greater than Abraham.  He is greater than Moses.  He is greater than the angels.  He is greater than the prophets.  He is greater than the apostles. He is the Epitome of Perfection.  He is GOD.

• He is the BREAD of LIFE
• He is the LIGHT of the WORLD
• He is the DOOR into the FOLD
• He is the GOOD SHEPHERD
• He is the PRINCE of PEACE
• He is the MIGHTY GOD
• He is the EVERLASTING FATHER
• He is the ROSE of SHARON
• He is the BRIGHT  and MORNING STAR
• He is the LILY of the VALLEY
• He is the RESURRECTION and the LIFE
• He is the TRUE VINE
• He is the INTERCESSOR and ADVOCATE
• He is the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE
• He is the ALPHA and the OMEGA
• He is the GREAT I AM
• He is KING of kings and LORD of lords

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.   Isa 9:6

THANK GOD for JESUS

Word for Today:  December 9

Jesus breaks the shackles of dead religion.

In spite of the horror of a world without God, Religion flourished.  Religion does not need God to flourish.  Most religion is without God anyway.  It is true today and it was true 2000 years ago.

In the Inter-biblical Period, (the time between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament) the Judiastic system continued on its path of rule and regulation and legalism.

Jesus makes us free.

• Free from dead religion and man’s traditions and denominational customs.
• Free from laws and rules and regulations.
• Free from bondage to carnal deacons, elders, ungodly church leaders and unscriptural church government.

Jesus said that we would and could know the Truth (the Gospel) and the Truth would make us free.   John 8:32

The Jews in Jesus’ day lived in total subjection to:

• The Law of Moses
• The sayings of the Prophets and
• The Writings that had been handed down from generation to generation.

There were 613 separate laws, commandments, rules and regulations that every Jew was required to obey and keep.   Every day.   That is why Jesus said of the Scribes and Pharisees:

“They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born and lay them on men’s shoulders: but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers…”  Matt. 23:4

Jesus came from heaven to earth to break the shackles of dead religion.

• Religion builds walls. Jesus builds bridges.
• Religion separates. Jesus joins together.
• Religion kills.

Jesus gives Life

Word for Today:  December  9

There is something better on the way.

A woman diagnosed with a terminal illness called on her pastor to plan her funeral.  She had some ideas about what she hoped would happen, but she was insistent about one thing:  “I want to be buried with a fork in my hand.”

Her incredulous pastor demanded an explanation.  “Oh, it’s quite simple,” the woman said.  “In all my years of attending church socials and potlucks, I always remember that, when they clear the dishes, someone will say, ‘keep your fork.’  It’s my favorite part, because I know something better is coming.  So I want people to see me there in that coffin with a fork in my hand and know her best is yet to come.”

Present suffering, pain, heartache, rejection is NOTHING compared with the “glory which shall be revealed in us…”

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Rom. 8:18

Keep your fork

Word for Today:  December 7

The Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth… John 1:14.

He is more than a HELPLESS BABY wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

He is more than a once-a-year Christmas celebration.

He is more than a mere Carpenter’s Son.

He is more than an itinerant wandering Preacher.

The world saw Him (and still does) as a religious radical.  A revolutionary fanatic.  A miss-guided dreamer.  A disillusioned Jew and a false messiah.

Religion sees Him as a handy Crutch to lean on.  A “last minute” and last resort for panic and pain.  A “security blanket” to embrace when times are tough.

He is greater than Adam.  He is greater than Abraham.  He is greater than Moses.  He is greater than the angels.  He is greater than the prophets.  He is greater than the apostles. He is the Epitome of Perfection.  He is GOD.

• He is the BREAD of LIFE
• He is the LIGHT of the WORLD
• He is the DOOR into the FOLD
• He is the GOOD SHEPHERD
• He is the PRINCE of PEACE
• He is the MIGHTY GOD
• He is the EVERLASTING FATHER
• He is the ROSE of SHARON
• He is the BRIGHT  and MORNING STAR
• He is the LILY of the VALLEY
• He is the RESURRECTION and the LIFE
• He is the TRUE VINE
• He is the INTERCESSOR and ADVOCATE
• He is the WAY the TRUTH and the LIFE
• He is the ALPHA and the OMEGA
• He is the GREAT I AM
• He is KING of kings and LORD of lords

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.   Isa 9:6

THANK GOD for JESUS