dickbraswell

Word for Today:  June 4

Intel

In natural warfare, any nation engaged in conflict is advantaged when they have knowledge of and about their enemy.  This is the reason our country has the CIA.  This is an agency established for the express purpose of gathering intelligence regarding all aspects of our enemies.  Who they are.  What they do.  Where they live.  How they operate.  What to expect.  When they move.  How to counteract their attack strategies and negate the destructive purposes they design against our country.  Intelligence is vital to our defenses and ultimately to the safety and security of our nation.

This same thing is true regarding the conflict every believer has with the devil.  he is our enemy.  he wants us dead.  Defeated.  Overcome.  Sick.  Sad.  Broke.  Depressed.   Every believer needs Intelligence as to how our enemy works.  We need to know his strategies.  Once we know this, we can plan our offense and our defense.  Notice:

• Satanic attacks are the norm for the believer (not the exception)
• Conflicts come when we declare our Faith in Jesus
• Satan defies the God in us… and the Word in us
• The devil messes with our mind…. Leads us into wrong thinking. (Remember… the carnal mind is enmity against God. Rom 8:7)
• The ONLY way the devil can harm any believer is by making them believe his lies. He is the Deceiver.  The Liar.

If you KNOW the Truth (the opposite of the Lie) the Truth will make you Free.  (John 8)

The Truth is the believers INTEL.

Word for Today:  June 3

We win.

The Allied victory at Normandy in 1944 is much like the victory we win in our spiritual conflicts.  The enemy was entrenched and holding a secure beachhead. The Germans knew that if they lost here, they would lose the war.  It was do or die.  Win or lose.  Succeed or fail.  It was D-Day.

I believe that some reading this are ready to attack and take the beachheads satan is holding in their lives.   It’s D-Day for the devil.  he thinks he has you pinned down and whipped.  he has relished the day that he will win the ultimate victory in your life.  he is poised for the final push and the final attack.  It is D-Day now… and it is time to celebrate your Victory over the Devil.   

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.  1Jo 3:8  

D-Day was a crucial turning point in the liberation of France and the entire world from the crushing brutality of the Third Reich.  It forever changed history.  Many of our troops paid the supreme sacrifice… others were wounded and scared and suffered from the vicious intensity of the battle.  Blood flowed on the sandy beaches and down the lofty cliffs of Normandy.  But we won.  And the world was changed.

We still win.  We are winners and not losers.  We win because we Know God and because we refuse to quit.  We live in freedom and security because of the victory on D-Day.  We have the wonderful privileges of liberty… the rights guaranteed to every American citizen because of the blood.  The blood of countless fallen warriors that purchased our freedom.

The Blood of the Sinless Son of God purchased our victory over the powers of darkness.    And we have the wonderful privilege of experiencing liberty and freedom from sin every day in every way over every demon and devil because God has made every Believer a winner.  Jesus captured and destroyed the devil at Calvary.

The battle has been won

Word for Today:  June 2

Eternal means forever

Eternal means without end.  Timeless.  It is very hard (practically impossible) for anyone to comprehend the meaning of Eternity.  We are creatures captured and held hostage in a span of time.  We live in submission to time.  We are controlled by time.  Time can be our enemy.

We are destined to die because we are subject to time.   Seconds.  Minutes. Hours. Days. Weeks. Years. Decades. Centuries. Millennia.   All these become defining terms for the passing of time.

Everything in the human experience is related to Time.  Everything we know about has a Beginning and is rushing madly toward an End.  Such is Life.  Stuff gets old because of time.  We get old because of time.  We are so immersed in “time consciousness” that it is all but impossible for us to become “eternal conscious.”

I am challenging you now to think Eternal.  Think Bigger and larger and greater than you have every thought.  Let your Imagination soar to new heights as you consider the Vastness… the Expanse… the Unsearchable and Indefinable scope and size of Creation.

Every Mortal Being, saved or lost, is Eternal.  Not the body, but the mind (soul) and the Spirit.  Where the body is “mortal,” the mind (soul) and the spirit of man is “immortal.”  They will last forever.

If one is Born Again, that person will Live forever.  If one is not Born Again and dies in his sin, that person will Die forever.

Life is a dress rehearsal for Eternity

Word for Today:  June 1

God’s Greatest Enemy is not the devil.

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.  1 John 3:8

The devil is already whipped.  He is not God’s greatest enemy.  God’s greatest enemy is the carnal (unrenewed human mind).  Only here, (in your mind), is what God has done and can do for you limited or brought to pass… manifested.

When you think wrong you believe wrong.  Your “believing” will never exceed the bounds of your “thinking.”  In other words, if you can’t “think it” you can’t “believe it.”  And, when you can’t “believe it” you won’t have it.

When our minds are renewed with the Word we are “transformed” or “transfigured” from the worldly, natural manner of thinking to the spiritual, supernatural manner of thinking.

And as you “think” in your heart, you are.

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.   Rom 8:7

The carnal mind is enmity against God…

It is God’s biggest enemy

Word for Today:  May 31

What are those things that plague us?  What is it within the Human Experience that brings pain and grief?  What are the things that are burdens and problems to us?  It is precisely here (where we hurt) that God focuses His Grace.  His Provision.  His Relief.  We have seen just how these provisions are met in the Covenant He made with us and that is guaranteed by the Blood of Jesus Christ

What is hurting you?  Where are you broken and wounded and sad?  What has come into your life that produced fear and dread and pain?  What are those elements in the Human Experience that make your life miserable?  Do you understand that every misery and pain in life is caused by the devil?  By the powers of darkness?  By those spirits in high places that purpose to kill, steal and destroy?

If we can come to know God’s Purpose for us, we can get our lives in agreement with it.  Once we come into a living agreement with the Purpose God has for us, we can experience the Abundant Life Jesus promises in John 10:10.

Everybody wants the abundant life, but that will only happen when we are in agreement with the Purpose God.

And until this takes place, true fulfillment in life is impossible.

Word for Today:  May 30

What is involved in Salvation?

God has a part and we have a part.  God’s part is called Regeneration and our part is called Repentance and Faith.  When we repent of our sin and believe in our heart that Jesus is Messiah and openly confess our heart-belief, we become Born Again.

God impregnates us (natural man) with His Life (Spirit) and we are made Supernatural Men.  God’s Life comes into us along with all the other God Characteristics and we become the Sons of God.  “As many as received Him to them gave He power to become the Sons of God…”  We receive God’s Life, God’s Power, God’s Authority, God’s Love, and God’s Faith.   His Word becomes flesh.  In us.

All these come INSIDE of you when you get Born Again.  God purposes this for you.  God wills this for you.  God has prepared this for you.   Your body literally becomes the Temple of the Holy Ghost.  You are bought with a price and you belong to God. You have been Born, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible seed, the Word of God.

Salvation has responsibilities.  It is free but it is not cheap.  It is received by Faith but it is outwardly expressed in works.  We are not saved by works but works will follow salvation.  We are told to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling…” and this means we are to work out what God has worked in.  Salvation will be demonstrated by and through a changed life.

If any man be in Christ he is a new creature (creation) old things are passed away and behold all things are made new…   2Cor 5:17

Eternal Salvation is the greatest miracle available to man

Word for Today:  May 29

Somebody is going through the fire today.

Fires are common to all Believers.

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice….  I Peter 4:12

There are several things you can do when you find yourself in the fire.

• You can run away
• You can try to put out the fire
• You can surrender and get burned up
• You can beg for help or
• You can rejoice, trust God and stand

We need to understand some things about fires.

• They are not caused by God
• They are not used by God to “teach” us something
• They are not punishment for something you did or did not do
• They are not terminal or fatal for the believer
• They are not unquenchable

Above all taking the shield of FAITH wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked…  Eph.  4:16

Who through faith… quenched the violence of fire… Heb. 11:33-34

It’s neat to know that God will not only deliver us from the fire but will walk with us through it…  (Isa 43:2)

And where He is I will always be OK

Word for Today:  May 28

Life at its BEST.

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10 

“Life” in this verse is the word “Zoe” which is a Greek term that describes a quality of life, not quantity, but quality of life.  It is the word that describes the very same kind of life that God has.  Jesus is saying here, “I have come that you might have life and that life will be the same kind of life that I have and the same kind of life that God has… ”

This is abundant life that Jesus has given to you and to me.  It is not simply “living and existing” or “natural, physical” life, but it is the same quality of life that God has.  The same type of Life God has.  It is the “God Kind” of life.

Can you imagine God being worried?  Can you imagine God being afraid?  Can you imagine God being sick?  Can you imagine God being in a bad mood?  Or having a “bad hair day?”  Can you imagine God being poor?   Can you see God being depressed or stressed?  Or sad, or melancholy or “blue?”

God is not saving up for a rainy day.  God is not getting ready to go to the hospital.  God is not tired out or “wore” out… God is not planning on anything bad happening to Him.  He never has and He never will.  God is just fine.

If God is OK then you are OK.

Word for Today:  May 27

Declaration Precedes Manifestation

Declare your intentions.  Speak with your mouth words that make things happen.  Faith words.  Word words.  God Words.  Heaven Words.

You and I will never exceed our declarations.  Our declarations determine our direction. Our declarations determine our destiny.  What we speak out of our hearts will create or destroy.  Words are instruments of creation or destruction.  Words make things.

There are Life Producing Forces (seeds) inside every believer.  These forces are put in us by the Work of the Holy Spirit at the time we are Born Again.  They are seeds destined to grow and produce.  They are forces that need to be released into the world.  Into our families.  Into our relationships.  Into the total experience of our lives.

They are in you.  They are in every Believer.  However, seeds are worthless unless they produce.  One seed is not sufficient to sustain life by itself.  It takes many seeds which are planted in good ground to bring forth a crop that is sufficient to sustain victorious living.

The real challenge is to grow these seeds into maturity.  As God plants these Seeds in us, the enemy plants weeds. The purpose of the weeds is to choke out the seeds.

These seeds are the building blocks of the Kingdom of God.  Jesus prayed for the Kingdom to come and for the Will of God to be done ON EARTH just as it is presently being done in Heaven.  These Seeds will produce God’s Kingdom on earth when and if they are planted in good ground and if proper conditions for growth are present.

Seed Time produces Harvest Time

Word for Today:  May 26

The Church.

Jesus gave a powerful prophesy concerning the Church in Matthew chapter 16.  He said the Church would not be intimidated or overcome by the powers of hell.  He said He would build His Church and when He had it built, it would withstand and overcome all the powers of darkness.  He said His Church would be built on the revelation that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God… the Savior, the Messiah, the Promised One, the Redeemer and the Conqueror!  Notice four basic facts about this Church:

• Jesus will build it.
• It will be built on the Revelation that Jesus Christ is Messiah.
• It will have and exercise power over the kingdom of darkness, over hell, over demons and over the devil.
• It will have in its possession powerful Kingdom Keys that Believers can use to bind and loose.

When Jesus foretold the Birth of His Church, He said:

Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you, but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with Power from on High….  Luke 24:49

Therefore, one major characteristic of His Church is POWER from on HIGH.  That “power from on high” is still to be the means of changing the world.  “Not by (human) might or by (human) power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord…”

What the Church did then, is what the church is to do today.  How the church did it then is how the church is to do it today…

With Power from on High