Good Morning Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
I pray you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Week with your family and close friends. I sure did. Enjoying my wife and all of my children (includes my sons and daughter-in laws) and grandchildren is a tremendous blessing. I couldn’t help but think of Deuteronomy 28:1-14, Psalm 112, and Psalm 91, which I speak often over my family, and I thanked my Precious Father God for such wealth and riches. Divine and blood covenant protection, deliverance, prosperity, and health. I thanked, and I thank, God all of my children and grandchildren would, and will, serve their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ with all their heart, mind, and strength. Praise God!!
Today’s message will be quick. As my wife and I read together this morning from the Gospel according to Luke, our Father God impressed upon me, once again, the power of The Word. In Luke 4, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the Wilderness to be tempted of Satan. I’ve addressed this in previous messages, but why would the Holy Spirit lead Jesus INTO temptation? Simply put, Jesus had to pick up where Adam, the first man, failed. Jesus, the Last Man, had to overcome the three temptations Adam was tempted with by Satan in the Garden: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (Genesis 3:6). You see this in Luke 4:3-12 when Jesus was tempted by Satan with the same three temptations: lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. However, where the first man, Adam, failed, Jesus, the Last Man succeeded, praise God!!
Notice Jesus was NOT led into temptation until He received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Prior to this baptism, Jesus had Spiritual authority (exousia), but He had no power (dunamis). Once He received the Holy Spirit, He now had the dunamis and went forth carrying out God’s plan for His life on earth.
Acts 10:38
How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: Who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him.
Notice Jesus was not able to go about doing good and healing (mentally, physically, emotionally, financially, materially) all that were oppressed of the devil UNTIL He received the Baptism of the Holy Spirt. Have you received the Baptism of the Holy Spirt? This is for another message.
“Anointed” means “to be endued with the power of God so that you can do things in the flesh that only God can do.” Until Jesus was anointed by the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, He couldn’t do the signs and wonders and preach The Word with power. Neither can you if you haven’t received the Holy Spirit Baptism.
A couple of years ago, our Father God really impressed upon me “HOW” Jesus addressed temptations, sickness, disease, demons, financial lack, addictions, etc. – the “mountains” Jesus spoke of in Mark 11:23. Jesus addressed every situation with The Word and with a command. How many times did I years ago, and I hear so often today from Sisters and Brothers in Christ, pray and plead with SO MANY WORDS TO GOD. And I was left to wonder why my prayers went unanswered. Why did Jesus use so few words? Because He BELIEVED. If you truly believe, you give a command – NOT A DIATRIBE. God, our Father, made it very clear to me that if one prays to Him for the help, instead of addressing the “mountain,” OR one addresses the “mountain” with many words, they don’t understand God’s Word and they lack faith. Their prayers will not be answered. My prayers sure were not. I was too busy speaking TO God about the mountain, and not speaking TO the mountain directly as God instructs us in Mark 11:23. And I would drone on and on about the “mountain” and about how I knew God could heal and wanted to heal and yadda, yadda. This was just me trying to convince myself I believed. It was an “ineffective, powerless” prayer or decree.
It is simply this – and we hate to hear this because it puts it all back on US – either you believe The Word of God, or you don’t. Sisters and Brothers, there is nothing else to be said. Either we are fully persuaded, or we are not. There is no grey area, no third rail, no middle of the road, no third choice. If a decree or prayer is not working, it is US – not God. God has given US everything to be victorious, more than conquerors, to always triumph in Christ. God cannot lie (Titus 1:2), so if God says He will do something for us if WE believe, God CANNOT break His promise. So, rather than give up or get angry with God, get angry with Satan and the curse, get angry and give a command in faith. Satan is trying to steal The Word from you so he can kill your hope (certainty) and destroy your belief.
Matthew 11:12
And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
This is exactly what Jesus was describing in Matthew 11:12. The “violent” are those that learned The Truth, became fully persuaded, and then decreed, or demanded by decree, their blessings. When are you going to get “violent” or angry that you are being robbed of your heritage, your inheritance? When are you going to say, “enough is enough. I’m going to believe, no matter what the world says, or my emotions say, or my head says. I’m going to believe with my heart, and I’m going to have my Father’s promises for me!” God is for you, not against you. But He cannot break His Word. And He doesn’t need to do so because His Word overcomes ANYTHING of Satan and the world.
In Christ,
Larry