victory

That Watershed Moment

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I will give you a scenario and then you can find out if you’re anything like me or if I really do need more pills. Here goes.

Tonight, I was debating internally whether or not I wanted to make the long trek downtown to work with the homeless at Set Free Nashville. Part of me wanted to go, but part of me wanted to not be bothered and stay home and veg.

The lazy part almost won. I had almost talked myself into not going, but then I went.

Guess what? The pastor was preaching to me. It was exactly what I needed to hear at that moment. If I hadn’t gone, I would have missed out on a big blessing.

Maybe you’re in a place where you’re debating on whether or not to give up a Saturday to go serve meals to the homeless. Maybe you’re deciding whether or not to go to a Bible study even though you’re feeling wiped from a long day of work.

You will find every excuse not to go. You will have no trouble rationalizing staying and thinking of all the other chores you could be doing and/or all that rest you could be getting.

You might have a strange resistance to going and it will almost feel like you’re walking into the wind if you step out in faith.

I think that what you’re experiencing is spiritual warfare. The devil does not want you to go and receive that blessing, so he is trying his best to get you from going. Though sometimes you and I do just fine on our own for finding reasons not to step out.

One word: go. Get up off the couch, put down whatever suddenly seems so urgent and pressing, get in the car, and go.

I promise you will receive a blessing. You will receive a very precious word from God that you would have missed if you had not gone. You will serve, but find yourself receiving so much more than you give. You will find that you saw Jesus in the eyes of the least of these that you spoke to and served.

You will have the joy of knowing that God called you and you chose to obey and got to be where He was moving in power.

Go.

 

 

Who Looks Out for You? For Whitney: Part II

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

I got to thinking more about what Kevin Costner said at Whitney Houston’s funeral. Something else he said resonated with me on more than one level.

He spoke of how he decided to cast her in the leading female role of The Bodyguard. He not only chose her, but he fought for her when the bigwig studio execs wanted another actress with more experience than Whitney (and who was white, although they never explicitly said so).

Kevin was even willing to wait a year until she finished her concert tour. He believed in her for the role to the point that he made her believe in it for herself. The result is history– a mega-blockbuster movie and a soundtrack that sold a gazillion copies.

Do you have someone that fights for you like that? Do you have someone in your corner willing to speak on your behalf with that kind of tenacity? One that won’t quit even when you have?

When the Bible calls Jesus your advocate who goes before the Father on your behalf, that’s exactly what it means. He fights for you– not against God– but as God in human skin.

When the devil claims you because of your past, Jesus points to the cross and says, “That’s taken care of. This one belongs to me now and you have no more claim over my child than you did over Me at the cross or the grave.”

When the world says you’re beyond saving, Jesus says, “I have called you by name and redeemed you. You are never beyond My reach and never, ever gone for Me to be able to save. It’s never too late for Me to step in and transform you into My image.”

When the voices in your head say that you’ll never amount to anything and that you are a waste of space and effort, Jesus says, “I know what plans I have for you and I won’t ever stop until I’ve finished what I started in you.”

When your failures and mistakes tell you it’s hopeless and you are nothing more than all your worst sins, Jesus says, “You are not what those other people says you are. You are not the names you call yourself in your darkest moments. You are who I say you are, and that is Beloved Redeemed Beautiful Transformed Child of the King of Kings.”

I wish someone could have spoken up for Whitney in the last days of her life. When all she was hearing was how the drugs would finally kill her and she was hopelessly spiralling out of control, I wish someone could have told her, “I believe in you. I believe you can beat this. I believe that God in you is stronger than anything you’re facing right now and I will stand by you, no matter what.”

Maybe you can speak for someone right now. Maybe you can be the voice for those who have no voice and take a stand for those the world has forgotten or discarded. Maybe you can believe good things for someome when they can’t believe for themselves.

Remember above all that Jesus speaks for you always. His love trumps your greatest fears and failures. He has already defeated anything you have or will ever face in your life.

That’s Who looks out for you.

 

Thoughts on Fighting From Victory (And not For It)

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 4 Comments

chariots of fire

Today, God reminded me of something I knew but had forgotten. Lately, I’ve been praying for peace and stronger faith and for strength to overcome temptation and negative thinking.

I think what God was reminding me was that I already have these things in Christ. In Christ, I have everything I need for life and godliness, as it says in 1 Timothy. So maybe instead of praying for peace, I will claim the peace that passes all understanding.

Instead of praying for stronger faith, I will claim the promise that when I am weak, Christ is strong and that His strength works best in my weakness.

Instead of praying for the power to overcome temptation to anxiety and negative thinking, I will claim the verse that I can take every thought captive and take it to Jesus and leave it there. I’m not saying that I can claim a Bentley in faith and I will receive it. I am saying that God says to those who lack wisdom, to ask.

God says to keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking, and keep wrestling with God until He blesses you. The victory is won. The enemy is a defeated foe. Never forget that. Death no longer has the final word and the grave is only a temporary resting place. Jesus holds the keys to death and the grave and hell.

Live out of the victory that’s already yours and fight from it and not for it. Believe in faith the promises of God not only for yourself, but for those around you.

Pray strong for someone when that person can’t pray for themselves.

Above all, if we are the winning side, we should be the most joyous, grateful people on the planet. Our thankful hearts will be what gets the attention of the world around us who is still looking for meaning and hope.

They are waiting to see someone whose testimony is not just talked out, but walked out, too.

Something Beautiful

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

First of all, I love Needtobreathe and I totally stole this blog title from one of their songs (which I love, by the way). Just so you know. Not that it has anything to do with the rest of the blog.

One of the most beautiful things I’ve seen lately is a group of believer who are fully coming alive to who they are in Christ, who are learning that they have all the authority and power of Christ in them, and they can do what everyone else says is impossible, because for God who lives in them, all things are possible. They have a God who lives in them who relishes making impossilbilities into possibilities. It’s His speciality.

I love seeing my brothers and sisters in Christ waking up to their sonship and daughtership (if that’s a word) in Christ, watching as the chains of past failures and hurts fall away, as strongholds and addictions are broken, and as the love of Christ cleanses and heals and restores and makes them whole. I love seeing fear turn into joy, mourning into dancing, ashes into beauty, despair into confidence, and defeat into victory.

The absolute most beautiful thing to me right now is believers who share life together, who break bread together, who bear each others burdens and laugh and cry together. That kind of love is what turned the 1st century world upside down, and is what will turn this 21st century world on its head if we ever can come together in Christ as one.

Now is the time to come together in unity and love with crazy radical love. Now is the time to be all in for Christ and to embrace His vision of who you are and accept what He has already said about you. Revival comes to hearts that are not just a little hungry and thirsty and needy, but to starving, parched, desparate people who will wrestle with God and not let go until true revival fire falls.

Let those things be our desire and our prayer. Don’t wish for something beautiful to make the world fall in love with Jesus; let your transformation be that something beautiful that will draw them to the God who can change anyone and to Whom no one is ever past hope or a lost cause.

Amen and amen! Come, Holy Spirit. We need you now!

Fighting From Victory

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 5 Comments

chariots of fire

I was reminded once again in a Bible study on Wednesday that we fight not for victory, but from victory. That may sound like semantics to some, but to me it is huge. Fighting for victory means it’s all up to me and that it will be an uphill all the way kind of battle with the ending very much in doubt. Fighting from victory means:

1) The battle has already been won. There is no  doubt Who the Victor is and which is the winning side. The only real question is: are you on it?

2) The enemy may scare us and threaten us, but he can never really touch us (1 John 5:18). As long as we are wearing the armor of God and standing firm in His finished work, we are protected from the enemy.

3) You don’t have to live defeated anymore. You can start living out of victory now. You are an overcomer now. Even in the midst of struggle and trial, you can know for sure the promises are true and they are for you!

4) You want to make it very clear which side you’re on. Don’t play both sides and be a follower of Jesus on Sundays and a player the rest of the week. The time has come to be hot or cold, not lukewarm. Those days are over.

5) You never give up on anyone else who is seeking after Jesus, because Jesus never gave up fighting for us until He secured our destiny. You never despair of anyone because if Jesus defeated death and hell, nothing else will ever be impossible for Him to overcome.

6) You don’t let the opinions and actions and attitudes of others dictate how you live. You live now for an audience of One, the One who won your heart forever!

7) You can finally cease striving and be still and rest in the love of Jesus, because that love is more powerful than any hate or power that ever came up against it or will ever face it. Period.

So live out of that victory and claim it every second of every day. Don’t let failure rob you of this truth. Victory is yours and mine– not later at some indistinct point in time, but NOW!

Amen and amen.

Stream-of-consciousness thoughts on spirituality

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 2 Comments

As believers in Christ, we don’t fight for victory; we fight from victory. The battle is the Lord’s and He has overcome. The battle is won!

The moment we choose to rebel against what we know to be true is the very moment we open the door to demonic activity in our lives. Peter is a good example of this when he opposed Jesus’ going to Jerusalem and to the cross. If we are under attack, maybe the question to ask is, “What am I believing that is a lie?” or “What am I not believing and acting on that I know to be true?”

God doesn’t want all your activities and programs and to-do lists as much as He wants your heart. And that does not mean a still-beating heart on a silver platter. It means that God wants your heart surrendered to Him. He wants your affection, your emotions, your devotion. In essence, He wants you to fall in love with Him all over again like you did at the first. God is not mad at you or disappointed in you. He knows you better than anyone. He knew who you were and who you’d turn out to be when He created you. Nothing you do is a surprise to Him. But what He’s about to do in your life will be a great surprise to you (and better than anything you could have dreamed of). As I heard someone say, God will use you unless you choose not to be used.

Some of Satan’s modes of attack is accusation and condemnation. That you are not good enough. That you are not nearly up to the task He has called you to. Remember that God doesn’t call the equipped, but equips the called. He wants your availability, not your ability. Another mode of demonic attack is to divide and conquer, to get you isolated and vulnerable. If you are cutting yourself off from fellowship with other believers, beware. You are walking straight into the devil’s trap. But every story of deliverance starts with admitting that I am helpless and that I need Someone to come to my rescue. And God is in the business of rescuing.

God wants your heart. God wants your availability. Believe it or not, God wants you. God still wants me, after all I’ve done wrong and how I’ve often been a walking billboard of reasons not to believe. Rest in your Abba’s love for you. Wherever you are and wherever you’re headed, you can always turn around and come Home.

Praying the Blood

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Jesus, I believe You. I believe Your blood has covered all my sin and vanquished every lie and broken every chain. You have overcome, and the victory is won! I am more than a conqueror through You who loved me.

By the power of Your blood, I renounce the lie that I am alone and that no one wants to know me or hear what I have to say.

By the power of Your blood, I renounce the lie that I don’t measure up or have what it takes and that I am just in the way.

By the power of Your blood, I renounce the lie that I have nothing to offer and that I might as well not even exist.

Jesus, You don’t come to me to tell me the truth. YOU ARE THE TRUTH! You don’t come to show me the way. YOU ARE THE WAY! You don’t come to give me a better life. YOU ARE MY LIFE!

You make my brokenness beautiful and my woundedness a balm of healing to others. You don’t make me good, or better, or my best. You make me ALIVE!

I will never ever find the words to tell You how good You’ve been to me. May my life be a living prayer of thanksgiving back to you. Amen.