In the beginning was the Word........

and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Have you ever really sat down and thought about how Almighty God, the Creator of all things could humble Himself and become flesh? I must admit I don't understand how that happened. I know the human egg needs sperm to begin the journey of life. Somehow the Word became a real human being in a real human womb, was born and grew up in a family. The angel told Mary that she would conceive in her womb and bring forth a son. When she asked the angel how this could be as she had not known a man, the angel replied. 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, the Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God...' Luke 1:35. So the Word became the egg, and the Holy Spirit became the catalyst for the conception? As I said I don't understand it, but I believe Jesus was born of a virgin supernaturally, and that He is fully God, and fully man.
As I was pondering this I thought about what happened to us at new birth? The Holy Spirit came upon me and the power of the Highest overshadowed me, and I was reborn. Was I reborn into a perfect human being? Or was there more to it, and I need greater revelation. Was I reborn into a son of the Most High, a son of God? Have I the same genetic make up as Jesus in my spirit? Am I in fact a chip off the old block?
Isn't it exciting travelling along with the Holy Spirit? It's a blast.

All things are possible.........

The man's son had a dumb spirit and he brought the boy to Jesus for deliverance. In the course of the discussion concerning the boy, the father says. 'But if you can do anything, do have pity on us, and help us.'
And Jesus said, '[You say to Me], If you can do anything? [Why,] all things can be (are possible) to him who believes!' Mark 9:23. The man admits his un-belief, a crowd is gathering, so Jesus casts the demon out of the lad.
What a provocative statement. All things are possible to him that believes. 
All things are possible, but they are determined by what we believe. As a man thinks in his heart so is he. Strongholds of lies block the possibility of change, block the possibility of victory; and seek to steal our inheritance. Strongholds must be torn down and our minds renewed to truth. The Lord gave me an illustration this morning that helps me here.
A snake has a process of shedding it's old skin, the butterfly has a process emerging from the chrysalis. The process of change for us is not easy, it will take discipline, and determination to start and continue in the process. But there is no other option if we want to walk in the victory Jesus bought us at Calvary.

I don't believe................

John 14:12. He that believes on Me will do the works that I do... Jesus places tremendous emphasis on believing. In John ch. 6 When asked what they should do to do the works of God, Jesus told His listeners to believe on the One whom God sent. If I'm not doing the works that Jesus did, on a day to day basis, is it as simple as not believing? Jesus told the congregation in His home synagogue that He was anointed by God to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners, recovery of sight to the blind, to release the oppressed, and to proclaim the Lord's favour. If Jesus is in me, He is still anointed to do these things? If He is not doing these, His father's works through me, is it as simple as I don't believe?

Eureka

Have you had one of those Eureka moments lately? You know when the penny finally drops and you see something clearly. I am so grateful to God my Everlasting Father that He knows me so well. He knows what I need to know before I do. He knows what He needs to get to me to move me along the journey I'm on. It's the same for you if you are a christian. One thing I've always been thankful for is having people in the body of Christ to look up to. God will put someone in my life that I will look at and say to myself. 'Well if it worked for them then It'll work for me.' Or 'If God has done it for them, then I can be sure He can do it for me.' Before I went sojourning on the Algarve I bought a couple of books to take with me. They were written by a woman in ministry of whom I have always had a great deal of respect, but I hadn't had any contact with her ministry for ages. But God knew I needed to re-connect with her teaching again.
This lady and I have such a lot in common. But God has worked in her life in an amazing way, and reading her books has encouraged me so much. If He has done it in her life, and He has, then He will do it for me. God has always been able to use books in my life. I got saved with the help of books, as well as the Bible, and I've always been open the the written word. Which brings me to my Eureka moment this morning. For my life to change, I first have to believe the truth. But more importantly I am the one that has to take authority over my mind. We have always been told the battlefield is between the ears, and it really is. But sadly I've been negligent in bringing my mind into line with God's truth. Now that has to change and together with Holy Spirit I am the one that has to be determined to do it.
For my life to straighten out, my thinking has to straighten out.

You will know (as a reality) the truth, and the truth will set you free......

Jesus said His words were spirit and they were life. I also look at them as keys. Keys to unlock potential. Deception is always emphasised by fear, fear and lies exist side by side, so truth and freedom must co-exist; it's what we choose to believe makes or breaks us. Let me ask you a pointed question. Why is the church not noted for good news? It is my perception, and I may be wrong, but consistently the church has offered the world a sin based, fear based message. I don't believe God looks at the world the way His church does, and we really need to alter our thinking to align with His.
For example. Why do we not emphasise that it's the goodness of God that leads to repentance. If they knew God loved them  it's pretty reasonable to assume that most people would want to follow Him. Jesus never looked at the outward appearance of people, He only looked at their hearts. I believe Jesus was as bonkers over the people of His generation, as He is over our generation. For me the root issue is acceptance. Ask any christian, does God accept people, and I expect you will get a variety of answers. Check it out on yourself. Does God accept the average Joe and Jane in your neighbourhood? See what your answers is, and check it against scripture.

Success

Bearing in mind that the world's value systems are founded on deception it shouldn't take too long to realise that the way the world looks at success is different from the way God looks at success. The world will tell us from an early age that we will only be successful if we are pretty, slim, wealthy, clever, talented, or the new one for this generation a 'celebrity'. Every message relating to success will be based on what we do, or what we can achieve by our own efforts. All worldly efforts to achieve success, and happiness are external rule based performance. Sadly often the 'church' falls into the same trap as the world and promotes flavour of the month christians whose ministry is visible, or who have written the latest best seller, or recorded a new CD.
True success in God's eyes is relational. If you are a son, or a daughter of God, through believing on Jesus; YOU ARE A SUCCESS. Your success is not based on what you do, but what God has done for you through Jesus. I am successful because God loves me. He chose me before the foundation of the world in Christ. Why? Because of His mercy, and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loves me.
My success is not based on my behaviour, or my performance, but on my sonship in Christ.
How I need to renew my mind to this daily.

Strongholds 5

Little coal shunter

In discussing strongholds we must never forget they are deceptive thought patterns, lies originated by the father of lies, and peddled continuously to the human race. Being born into deception by definition means we believe and live our lives in deception. Jesus came to set us free and to give us abundant life, by bringing us into truth. Two issues in my opinion are very important for all christians. 

1). Identity.

2). Success.

Sometimes the issue of identity can seem a little removed from us as we consider ourselves to be 'new creations', what does it really mean? For me the journey is coming into the reality of who I am in God's eyes. He recreated us at new birth into the image of His Son Jesus. Every time I cry out to God that I want to be like Jesus, He tells me that I am. As He is so are we in this world John tells us in his first letter to the church. Paul, the great theologian, writes in Romans ch. 8v29 the Father's plan is for us to be molded into the image of His Son. So as christians we are like Jesus in our inner man, and on top of that He lives in us by the presence and power of Holy Spirit, that's GOOD NEWS.

Consider with me for a moment the idea of success. What is true success? Well the world will tell you one thing, and the Spirit of Jesus will tell you something different.

More on this later.

Strongholds 4

Proverbs 23:7  For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: from the KJV. This is a very important verse for us to be aware of. Basically it teaches us that whatever inner picture we have of ourselves, we will out work it in our lives. I do what I believe, so If I believe lies about myself then my life will reflect that in relation to the world around me, and in my relationships with people. So it is imperative to take authority over what I'm thinking, and to start to deliberately change my belief system. Every culture has a world view, but we must change our world view to aligne itself with the truth of God's word.  
it may seem to take a long time, and I may slip up along the way, but I'm placing my hope in He who has started a good work in me; and I'm not going to quit.

Strongholds 3

Having touched on the thought that when strongholds have been identified, they have to be countered with truth, lets add a little more practicality. In his letter to the church James admonishes them to 'Get rid of all uncleanliness and the rampant outgrowth of wickedness, and in a humble (gentle, modest) spirit receive and welcome the Word which implanted and rooted (in your hearts) contains the power to save your soul...' James 1:21 My emphasis. (Amp). The problem with strongholds is they are buried deep in the heart of man, and the word has to be implanted and rooted in the heart to replace the lies of the devil. Referring to Ed. Silvoso once more he uses another illustration to make this point, you can probably come up with a better one.
Image you have a wall on your property to demolish, you have a sledgehammer to do the work with. How many times are you going to strike the wall in exactly the same place until a crack appears? When the crack does appear, how many more strikes will it take before the wall starts to fall? The wall will come down, but it will take considerable effort on your part.
Replacing the lies with truth will take considerable effort, but it can be achieved. Remember you are not alone, Holy Spirit is committed to getting you to a place of freedom. Jesus said that He came that you might have life, and have it more abundantly.

Strongholds 2

Having accepted the fact that we may have strongholds, we really need the discernment that Holy Spirit brings. He is the one who will highlight them for us, and He is the one who will show us what needs to be done to break them down. It is not relevant for me to list the three strongholds that me and the Lord are dealing with, but to help us see the need to have them dealt with otherwise they will continue to sabotage our walk with Jesus. Basically the lies must be replaced with truth. Simple? Yes. Easy? No. Godly principles will work for everyone. Replacing lies with truth will work for everyone, but what truth are we going to use? If people use worldly 'truth', which is in fact still deception no progress will be made in their lives. Only the truth found in God's word will bring the required victory, and freedom. I remember those times I listened to a secular psychologist, looking back I realised he had no truth, but a secular framework to work from that didn't help me one bit.
Needless to say believing the truth about Jesus and being born again by the Spirit of God, is the starting place. But as the Spirit reveals the strongholds, He will also guide you to the truth in scripture as an antidote to the lies.

You will know the truth and the truth will set you free..............

Actually Jesus said, 'If you abide in My word(s) you will know the truth and the truth will set you free... John 8:31 During my recent sojourn to the Algarve the Holy Spirit began to give me clear indication to the direction He wanted me to take during our times together. The subject of 'strongholds' came up. Paul mentions them in 2 Cor. 4. Strongholds are deeply entrenched lies we believe that are embedded deep in our hearts. I remember Ed. Silvoso teaching on this subject many years ago, and it is still fresh in my memory. He likened strongholds to those large sea mines that were deployed during the last war to protect harbours, and naval installations. They were very large steel spheres packed with high explosives, jutting our from the mine were the sensitive 'rods' that were used to detonate the mine. These sea mines were anchored to the sea bed with a wire and the mines were allowed to stay in position some fathoms below the surface, hopefully undetected. As enemy shipping approached the idea was that the hull of the vessel would catch a pressure point and the mine would explode, and sink the ship.
Our strongholds are like that. Lying undetected below the surface of our lives they have the ability to 'detonate' and sabotage us by prompting the behaviour that stems from the lies we believe when certain pressures are put on us.
It is worth saying at this point, and I say it with humility; if you don't believe you have any strongholds then my friend you are deceived.

I must get to it.........................

I must get around to updating some of the stuff the Holy Spirit has downloaded to me this week in Portugal. Of course it's pretty personal but then I can expect most folk can identify with what's been going on in my life as it will resonate with them. So when I get home maybe that will be a good time to start.