Archives for September 2018

Fight Back!

September 29, 2018 by Bill Leave a Comment

Given September 2018

I know that many of us are facing difficulties. Habits, addictions, relationships, past sins, whatever it is, we feel the effects of the attack. And it is an attack of the enemy who wants to steal, kill and destroy us, (John 10:10).

This week, I got three “pictures” of what it means to fight back and I want to share them with you, hopefully, for your encouragement. The first one was from a praise song we sang at my church, Zion Family Ministries, “My fear doesn’t stand a chance when I stand in Your love.” (Stand in Your Love by Josh Baldwin). I saw my dark fear surrounding me which came from the devil but then, there was Jesus with the bright, shining aura of His love and I moved over into His love and stood there with Him. My dark fear dissipated. Move over beside Jesus.

Then another praise song, Living Hope by Bethany Wohrle, had this lyric, “Out of the silence, the roaring Lion declared, ‘The grave has no hold on me’!” This is what I saw: The devil standing outside Jesus’ tomb laughing because he thought he had won. But then, here comes Jesus, like a roaring lion, out of the grave and stomps the devil into the dirt! “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” (Romans 16:20). Notice that? Under OUR feet. “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19). You have the power…fight back!

And finally, James 4:7 – “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Picture this: The devil is harassing you, you feel the weight of his attack as you face him. Then you turn around and see Jesus, He’s holding His arms out to you. You turn and walk over to Him and bow down, submitting to Him. He reaches out and touches you on the top of your head. As he does, power like a lightning bolt flashes all around you and enters you. Wow! Then, infused with the power of God, you turn and face the devil who sees this power all over you. As you take one step toward him in resistance, he, with a terrified look on his face, turns and runs away quickly!

You have the power! Fight back!

Will You Be Soaked?

September 14, 2018 by Bill Leave a Comment

Given August 12, 2018

I was standing for praise and worship in my church, Zion Family Ministries, this Sunday morning and since my wife and I sit in the back, I can see all the people in front of us. I’ve noticed before that our people display different postures during this time; hand positions, clapping, moving to the music and, of course, singing. Now, we have a great variety of folks in our congregation and even though we are considered to be a Pentecostal church, we have members who have come from all kinds of different church backgrounds. So we’re free to do anything the Spirit leads us to do as we worship our Lord and Savior. I, for instance, was raised and saved in a Baptist church which was, as I remember, pretty calm and reserved during the service. So as I look over our congregation, I see people with their hands raised all the way up, palms facing forward or in, I see folks with hands raised half way up, I see some clapping, some moving their feet with their hands up and so forth. But I also see some who just stand there; no hands raised, no movement. Now, let me be clear; I do not condemn those who are not emotional and free because I don’t know what kind of praise and worship they have in their heart. And some people are just uncomfortable expressing themselves in public; they may just be shy. So I am not faulting anyone here. “Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.” (Psalm 96:9)

But here’s the thought I had this day. We were singing a song asking for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and I noticed several people who had their hands up in a receiving stance like an open vessel wanting to be filled. And I saw others with hands down to their sides. Again, I’m not judging but the thought came to me, if the Spirit was being poured out like rain, would some be willing to be soaked without reservation and would there be any who would put up an umbrella? I think, in our church, no one would raise an umbrella! We want to be filled and soaked with the Holy Spirit!

Then, another thought came to me. In the day of the Great Flood in Noah’s time, the Bible says in Genesis 7:11, “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.” The water that caused the flood came from the ground AND the heavens; there was a ground swell and an outpouring. This is what I saw this day in church; an outpouring of God’s Spirit from above and a ground swell of the Spirit from below. When this happened, the people could not help but be soaked! Since that day, I have been praying this for every service; that God would pour out His Spirit on us from above and soak our feet and legs from below. We need to be soaked and anointed by God’s Spirit so we can more effectively do the work we have all been called and gifted to do. #picturethis

Obstacles

September 10, 2018 by Bill Leave a Comment

Given August 2018

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

This should be an encouraging word from Jesus but, many times, we forget it. He’s saying, “Don’t worry, chill out, fear not, calm down…I’ve got this!” This would be a good declaration to pray every time you face an obstacle or a temptation.

In church in May, God showed me something that I made note of to share and today is the day. It was about a wall and darkness. I want you to picture in your mind these two scenes especially if you’re facing an obstacle right now. Picture this:

You’re on a path, the path of life I guess, and you’re moving on pretty well. Then, as you round a steep curve, there in your path is a giant wall. Now, you can have three reactions: 1. Turn around and go back. 2. Try to get over or around the wall yourself. 3. Ask jesus for help. Now whether you know it or not, if you’re a Christian, God is there with you and He’ll let you quit or try it on your own; He’s not going to force you to do anything. But He will suggest, direct, or guide you by the Holy Spirit in you to let Him help. Remember the Israelites at the Red Sea? They faced a great obstacle and God told Moses to tell the people, “Now therefore stand and see this great thing, which the LORD will do before your eyes.” (1 Samuel 12:16). So in this scene, see yourself saying, “OK God, you take it from here.” Then either the wall will topple, disappear, or you’ll suddenly be on the other side, God’s choice. Or, He might make you climb over it, with His help.

The other vision I got that day was of someone in a small pitch-black room, total darkness. They were afraid to move because they might trip or bump into something. They didn’t know which way was out. Instead of just sitting there, they called out to God. He flipped the switch and they weren’t in a small room, but a giant auditorium and His light dispelled the darkness! Our vision and thinking are so small, so limited…God’s is so big! Your obstacle???

Go and Sin No More

September 4, 2018 by Bill Leave a Comment

Given May 2018

Our pastor, Wayne Hager at Zion Family Ministries, preached a sermon recently about the woman caught in adultery, (John 8: 1-11) . One of the things that stood out to me from his message was a statement Pastor made after he told of the woman’s accusers who, one by one, dropped their stones and left the scene. Pastor said that Jesus was the “last man standing”. If we’ll allow Him, Jesus will be our “last man standing” when we’re in trouble. I was thinking about this scene recently while driving and God showed me some more lessons in this story. Again,this is where “Revelations from the Road” comes from; things God speaks to me while on the road.

Well, from this story, God showed me three lessons that I had not focused on before:

Number 1 – If you’re near Jesus and He’s on your side, you’ll be alright. In this story, the woman was brought to Jesus and “deposited” at His feet. The “religious people” were making all kinds of accusations about this woman, which were true, and demanded that Jesus do what was right according to the law. I thought, what would have happened to the woman if Jesus wasn’t there? I’m sure she would have been stoned to death. But Jesus was there, He was near the woman and she was at His mercy. Lesson: Accept Jesus, get Him on your side and draw near to Him (James 4:8).

Number 2 – The devil uses people to accuse you. The Bible says that the devil is the “accuser of the brethren”, (Revelation 12:10). Many times we cry, “Oh, the devil is doing this or that to me.” Well, the devil, Satan himself, is not omnipresent; he cannot be everywhere. There are many demons who were cast out of Heaven with Satan, (Revelation 12:9), and they’re all over but be sure that Satan and his demonic forces will use people to accuse us and do other dastardly deeds from hell. So Satan uses people to accuse us; to remind us of our past, to lie on us and take advantage of us. It’s not always demons working for Satan against us but people who have been enlisted by Satan to do this work.

Number 3 – What about the man? This question comes up often when this story is told. The woman was caught “in the act” of adultery which means she was caught having sex with a man who was not her husband. So why was the man not brought before Jesus too? The Bible doesn’t say. We can speculate on all kinds of answers: Women were treated differently in that day than men. The man ran away. Maybe the man was a church leader and they let him go. We don’t know but the man wasn’t there and was not even mentioned. Jesus told the woman, after her accusers left and no one was there to condemn her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.” (John 8:11). I can imagine if the woman would have asked, “Thank you Master, but what about the man?” Jesus might have answered, “Don’t worry about him, I’ll take care of that.” “You just go on, accept my mercy and sin no more.”

Another idea that came from this sermon and story that I have used often when temptation tries to influence me is the boldly stated phrase, “NO MORE!” Jesus told the woman to go and sin NO MORE and, I’ve found, that this statement is a good deterrent to temptation. #nomore

Archives for September 2018

Fight Back!

Will You Be Soaked?

Obstacles

Go and Sin No More

Thanks for reading

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Archives for September 2018

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