dickbraswell

Word for Today:  January 29

Restoration

Restoration of the Image of God is an established fact that takes place at the time of Conversion.

To be “in Christ” is to be “out of” Adam.

The restored Image (Righteousness) is what God sees when He looks at us.  Our death-doomed nature has been changed.  We have been “re-gened” (regenerated) with the genetic signature of our Heavenly Father.  God does not look on the sin of our “old man”, in fact, He does not even see them.  They have been removed as far as the east is from the west.  God does not remember them anymore.  (Psa 103).

The image of the Old Man is what satan wants us to see and what Religion shows us and keeps before us.  Any image that is less than the Image of God is to be “cast down”… “casting down imaginations…”   (2Co 10:5).

As we Act on the Image of God (our Righteous Nature) in us the Word becomes flesh.

We should See (know and be aware of) the Image of God that is in us.

And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear:   (blepo:  see what you hear).   (Mark 4:24)

When we see the Image of God in us we develop a concept of Righteousness… we become aware of our Righteousness and boldness and confidence is produced.

We are never to “cast away” our confidence.  (Put aside our concept of Righteousness).

Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. (Heb. 10:35)

Do not allow your “heart” to condemn you!

For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.  (1 John 3:20)

If you are Born Again, you have been Restored!  That which sin destroyed has been reestablished and transplanted into your spirit and you are now a “New Creation.”

Restored.  Recovered.  Redeemed.  Renewed.

Word for Today:  January 25

God Chose.

Man could never Know God unless God chose to reveal himself to man.

Our God so chose.  He wants us to KNOW HIM.  The real miracle of all ages is that God Revealed Himself to Man.  He continues to reveal Himself to us… we are continually discovering more about God and His Nature and His Redemptive Work and His Word and His Ways.

God reduced Himself to the common denominator of humanity so that we might know Him, love Him, be like Him and enjoy Him.

How can we find out about God?  How can we discover what God is really like?  Is our concept of God accurate?  Does what we know about God line up with the Word?  If God reveals Himself to man… how does He do it?

There are basically seven ways God reveals Himself:

1. Through the Word.
2. Through Creation
3. Through JESUS CHRIST Who is the Perfect Revelation of God.
4. Through the Church: The Body of Christ.
5. Through miracles.
6. Through individual believers. Every Believer is a reflection of God to the world.
7. Through personal experience. How you experience Him in real life situations.

The fact that God, by and through His own Will, chose to reveal Himself to His Creation is a Miracle of the First Order and an indication of His immeasurable Love for you and me.

That I may know him…    Phil 3:10

Word for Today:  January 24

Words are carriers.

We speak words and the words we say become carriers.  When our words agree with God’s Word they will carry God’s Power with them.  When our words agree with the negative world system, they will carry the power of the world system with them.

If we could ever learn to talk right, speak the Word and only what the Word says instead of what we see and feel and think, we could experience a radical transformation in our situations and circumstances.

The Devil and his demons must submit to the Word of God that we speak.  When we come to see that all the death stuff that is happening to us is caused by the devil and his demons and then get a real revelation of the Power of the Word of God we will be on the road to recovery.  We will be positioned to change things in us and around us.

But as long as we set our tongue in agreement with death, we will have what we say.

We can Search out and find those God Words that contradict our particular problem.  They are in the Bible…. Find them!   If we are sick, look up scriptures about healing.  If we are afraid and depressed, look up scriptures that promise peace and assurance.    If we are struggling financially, look up scriptures that promise God’s provision for us.  If we are held captive by habit or addiction, look up scriptures that promise us deliverance and freedom.  Then we make those scriptures a vital and strategic part of our language.  We begin to articulate audibly and forcefully with our mouth what God has already said about us in His Word.

When we do this, we will begin to see immediate changes.  God honors His Word above His Name.  God sends His Word to accomplish and create His purposes.

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish (create) that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Isa 55:11

Word for Today:  January 23

The Glory of God.

The GLORY of GOD is the atmosphere of heaven.  You breathe it but you also absorb it.  It is the sustenance of your spirit.

AIR is the atmosphere of earth.  You breathe it and you absorb it. It is the sustenance of your natural life.

When we come into the Glory of God we are raised up into the atmosphere of heaven.

To come into God’s Glory is to come into His Literal Presence… to be Engulfed and Exposed to the Brightness and Effervesce of His Person.

The Glory of God has a destination.  It has a purpose.  It has an objective.  It will accomplish something.  There is a story behind the glory.  And we must go all the way to Genesis to find the beginning of that story.  Creation is crowned with the Glory of God.  Creation declares the Glory of God.

And God desires to share His Glory.  His Glory is the epitome of all that He is and all that He has done.  You cannot separate God from His Glory.  God and Glory are inseparable.  Where God is His Glory is.  Where His Glory is God is.  And God wants to share His Glory.  This is the reason behind Creation.  He created the Heavens and the earth as a demonstration of His Glory.   They are crowned with His Glory.  The Work of His Hands demonstrate His Glory.

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.   Psa. 19:1

The heavens and the earth and all that is in them can declare and demonstrate the Glory of God BUT they cannot share His Glory.

Only Man can share His Glory.

Word for Today:  January 22

What we desire, we acquire.

Our life is governed and controlled by what we value.  Those things we value most occupy most of our time and energy.  Those things we value least are things that are generally ignored.  I am assuming that everyone has placed a very high value on Knowing God.  Notice the extremes in the Scriptures regarding things we value (love) and things we devalue (don’t care about).

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ…   Phil 3:8

When Paul explained his Value System, he said compared to Knowing Christ, everything else he counted as loss and considered them nothing more than dung (nice word for a commonly used expletive).  Jesus touched on the vast chasm between Loving God and even loving family members…

If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Lu 14:26

Compared to the Value placed on Loving God, the value placed on loving family members is almost off the page in the opposite direction.  Knowing God (really “knowing” in an intimate, intense and complete way) is the key to receiving and releasing the Gifts and Callings that have been given to us.

Knowing God is the way to receive “all things that pertain to life and godliness…”

According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge (epignosis: knowing with understanding) of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 2Pe 1:3 

He made known his ways (methods) unto Moses, his acts (deeds) unto the children of Israel.  Ps 103:7

Understanding the “Ways” of God comes from Knowing God.

Understanding the “Acts” of God comes from Knowing About God.

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation (a disclosure of Truth) in the knowledge (epignosis: knowing with understanding) of him. Eph 1:17

Word for Today:  January 20

It’s up to you.

• You will never do what you do not decide to do.
• You will never get what you do not decide to get.
• You will never get what you do not make up your mind to get.
• You will never receive what you are not committed to receive.

It is up to you.   God has given it.  Jesus has paid for it with His Blood.  Now, refuse to waver, to be moved aside, to take your eyes off your goal.  Refuse to back down. Refuse to compromise.  Refuse to be nice to the devil.

Refuse to “calm down” or “understand”… Be determined… get mad and be violent.  The “Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force…”   (Mat 11:12).

Just how mad are you at the devil?  How determined are you to take back what he has stolen?  How ferocious are you in this pursuit?  How enraged are you at the deeds of the devil and the kingdom of darkness? How much do demonic forces fear your resolve to overcome?

“Let not the sun go down on your wrath…”  In other words this can mean “Never let the sun go down on being mad at the devil….”

The ONLY legitimate avenue to release your wrath is to release it on the powers of darkness.

Word for Today:  January 16

Faith produces Resurrection Life.

It produces the same kind of Life Jesus had (and still has) when He came out of the grave.

But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal (death-doomed) bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you…  Rom 8:11

Supernatural Faith moves the believer into the realm of Resurrection Life.   We are no longer in the grave-yard stage or the mortuary stage, we are in the Life Stage… the Supernatural Life stage… The Eternal Life stage!

Supernatural faith negates the power of death and energizes the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus (Rom 8).

It is by this law that every believer should live.  And if they do, they will be continually swallowed up in victory.

… Death is swallowed up in victory.   1Cor 15:54

Word for Today:  January 13

God’s heart has never changed.

His heart has always been inclined toward man.  It is now and it always has been.  Man was originally created in order that God might have a family.  God wanted companionship.  God wanted fellowship.  God wanted relationship.  God wants to love and He wants to be loved.    God wanted to have a family to love and to bless and to keep unto Himself.

This is the Heart of God.

God wants to have children that will reciprocate His love.  God is Love, God loves and God wants to be loved.  Do you realize that God made the heavens solely for the benefit of earth? Do you know that God made the earth solely for the benefit of man?  Can you believe that God created all animal life and plant life solely for the benefit of man?  Everything and all things that God created by His power, were and are created for the benefit of man.

And God made man for Himself.

All of creation is designed to sustain human life.  Scientists are now beginning to recognize that the entire universe has been created and calibrated to support and sustain human life right here on earth.   The original Plan God had is still the same.   Even though satan entered and Adam sinned and death was brought into the earth, God has Eternally Purposed for Man to be His Own.

You belong

Word for Today:  January 11

Most Believers give up too soon.

Christianity has not been weighed in the balances and found wanting, it has been TRIED and found to be too difficult and rejected.  Patience and Endurance and Persistence are necessary… Quitters never win and winners never quit.  Many are lacking right now because they got tired and discouraged and gave up.   Crybabies do not win great battles.  Wimps never take home the Gold.  Cowards quit because they lack resolve to press through.

All the Heroes of Faith in Hebrews chapter 11 did not have access to a complete Bible.  They did not have the freedoms we enjoy.  They did not live in the comfort and security we have.

Today we have God’s complete revelation in the Word of God.  We have nearly 2000 years of historical experience as the victorious Body of Christ.

The heroes in Hebrews accomplished their mighty works through a persistent faith.  A faith that did not quit.  A faith that did not ease up, let up, back up or give up…  They endured as seeing Him Who is Invisible… Heb 11:27

When you see the Invisible you can to the impossible

If you are struggling with fear, depression and disappointment and are suffering from the Juniper Tree Complex (1Kings 19:4),  I have some suggestions for you:

1.  Wake Up.  And get out from under the narcotic effect of the Juniper Tree Complex.  Repent for wanting to be inoculated and anesthetized so you can sleep and run away from reality.  Throw away your baseless speculations and suppositions.  Muster some courage.  Stand up.  Face the Problem.  Confront it.  Deal with it.  Attack it with the Word and  DO IT NOW.

2.  Shake Yourself.  Get all the grit and dirt of depressing stuff off.  Jolt yourself loose from the chains that are holding you in bondage.  Quit feeling inadequate and weak.  Stop calling things hopeless.  Shut off your “reasonings” and get real.  Refuse to stay stuck in the muck.  Remember…You are God’s habitation. You are God’s property.  Your problem is HIS PROBLEM.  He will deliver you… if you will only Let Him.  Shake Yourself!  

3.  Consider Jesus.  Heb 12:3. Become aware of what He has provided for you by His Redemptive Work at Calvary.  By His miraculous defeat of death and His Victory over the grave.  Stop complaining and refuse to give in to introspection.  Refuse to “enjoy” being negative and pessimistic.  Don’t keep company with the Nay-Sayers, instead join the ranks of the courageous and committed.   Get up.  Take off the garments of heaviness.  Strip off the clothes of confinement.  Step out of the shade of the Juniper Tree into the Sunshine of God’s Indescribable Grace.  And then

Rejoice