Tag: Spiritual

¹ In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. ² And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god. ³ Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility, ⁴ youths without blemish, of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. ~ Daniel 1:1-4

The enemy always tries to take us back to the land that the LORD has rescued us from. The LORD called Abram out of Ur of The Chaldeans. And now, several generations later, the people of Israel gave into temptation, and the LORD handed them over into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. He then goes on to not only take vessels from the Temple and put it in the temple of his gods, but he took the young men of Israel who were wise, well-educated, good-looking, and understand learning. He took the best of the best back to his land to reteach them and indoctrinate them.

He took them back to the land that God had called them out of. He not only took them back but tried to re-education them. He taught them the language and the literature of the Chaldeans. The literature isn’t just funny stories; the literature would be filled with their religious beliefs and rituals. The same religious beliefs God called Abram out of, yet Nebuchadnezzar dragged them back into it.

Even when we think that we’ve overcome something, if we slip in one area and refuse to repent and turn away, then the Devil will have a foothold in our life and will pry open enough room so that he can drag us back into our past. He will try to re-educate our religious beliefs, our very language. Our language is the way we communicate; it’s our impact on the world. If the Devil can change our language, then he will change our actions, and we will fall back into our old habits.

But don’t be discouraged. Even though Daniel was taken as a slave back to the sinful land his ancestors were called out of, he wasn’t overcome by sin. He overcame sin. Even if you have given in to sin and you have been dragged back into the generational curses of your past and/or ancestors, if you turn to God, you will overcome. You could be thrown in the fiery furnace like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and God will be with you. You could be thrown into the lion’s den like Daniel, and God will be with you.

Don’t let the past have any say in who you are today. Instead, call upon the name of Jesus, repent, turn from your sins, and you will be saved. You may not be pulled out of Babylon the moment you repent, but you will overcome Babylon the moment you repent because Jesus has overcome your past for you. All you have to do is follow Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pray Even In Babylon.

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¹⁴ Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him. ~ 1 Samuel 16:14

When the LORD rejected Saul, the Spirit of the LORD left him, and a harmful spirit filled him instead. Saul did not do all that the LORD had commanded him to do. He heard the words of the LORD. He was anointed by the LORD. He was king of the people of the LORD, yet when he refused to obey the words of the LORD, it was as if he gave the Spirit of the LORD an eviction notice. And because the Spirit of the LORD departed from him, another spirit, not of God, took up residence in him.

Our body is a house that must remain full. This is why Jesus tells us we cannot serve two masters and that we must abide in His love. If we obey Him, we will abide in His love, but when we live in disobedience, we are evicting Him from our life. When we evict the LORD, then we welcome unclean spirits into our lives. We welcome sin, torment, stress, pain, anger, evil and wickedness of all kinds.

When the LORD left Saul, he was never the same. Fear, anger, regret, and envy overcame him. What do we allow to overcome us by disobeying the LORD? Sin is crouching at the door, just waiting for the opportunity to move in and take control of our lives. We have to stay on guard. We have to obey the commands of the LORD. We have to seek righteousness, holiness, and goodness. Because what we seek, we will find. Most of all, we have to seek the LORD so that our house is never empty.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Keep Your House Full.

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⁷ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it. ~ Genesis 4:7

As God told Cain, Sin is constantly at our door. There will never be a time when sin isn’t attacking us until Jesus returns for His bride. But we can defend ourselves against sin by doing what is just and right. And sin’s tactics haven’t changed from the beginning. With every sin, it’s the second glance, the second look that opens the door to the crouching sin. And all it needs is a small crack, a tiny little opening and in it comes like a flood.

This is where sin gets us, in our thoughts. In our fantasies. Because someone will say, I’m only looking to see, not to find. There is nothing wrong with looking as long as I don’t touch. Just remember, sin is crouching at the door, and its desire is to get in and devour you. If you don’t shut it down at this point, you’ve 95% lost the battle.

We have to tear down every thought, opinion, word, and desire that is displeasing to God. We have to crucify the flesh with all of its pleasures and desires. We have to stand firm on the Word of God and make the firm decision to follow Him. That is the only way we will ever be able to overcome evil with good.

Dear LORD God, please give us the strength to overcome. Give us the desire to overcome. Let our hearts and our eyes not be swayed by the things of this world, but instead, may our heart’s desires be for You. May we strive for Your presence and Your love. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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¹ In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. ² It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. ³ And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” ⁴ So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. ~ 2 Samuel 11:1-4

Today’s laxness breeds tomorrow’s failures. King David had become lax. He wasn’t where he should have been, which led him to the sin he then committed. The Scripture says that it was the time when kings go off to war. Back in those days, it was the kings who led their armies into war. The king himself, or the emperor like Alexander the Great, led the charge themselves, slept in the field with their troops, ate the MREs, and were away from home and family along with their soldiers.

David led his army bravely as well, but on this occasion, he was not where he was supposed to be. He wasn’t with his troops. Instead, he stayed back at home and sent Joab out to do what he should have been doing himself. We, too, will fall into temptation when we are not doing what we are supposed to be doing.

We can liken this situation to a failure in his private time. This is a big one. When we fail to have private time, that is private prayer and worship and mediation; we will fail to have a public time. No one excels publicly until he/she first excels privately. The same is true in that no one falls publicly unless they first fall privately. What we do in the dark will be brought to light. Good or bad.

LORD God, help us to prepare ourselves privately that we might manifest Your light publicly. Give us the desire to worship You behind closed doors so that out in the open, others might see You through us. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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^12b But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me. ~ 2 Timothy 1:12b

Paul doesn’t say he knows of whom he has believed in, but rather, he says he knows whom he believed. Making it a personal connection. It’s not like he just heard about God or that he knows God from a distance. It’s not like how we say we know the latest movie star or the popular musicians. We know about them, but we don’t actually know them, and they don’t know us.

But Paul, on the other hand, has a personal relationship with Jesus. He knows Jesus personally, and Jesus knows him personally. They have a personal relationship. This is the knowledge we need to have. Not what Jesus has done for someone else, but what He has done for me. We need to know God, like how Paul knew God.

Every day is a new battle for our souls, and every day someone will win that battle. Who we seek after and what we seek after will determine the outcome of each battle. We have to make sure that we are constantly seeking after God, just like we would our best friend, because there is no greater friend than God.

LORD God, please help me to seek You and love You as You alone deserve. Help me to yearn for a relationship with You like Paul and the early Church did. Help me to truly know You so that we might have the faith to stand each day in confidence, knowing who we believe. So that when trials and tribulations come, we can stand firm, unwavering from our faith in You. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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⁵² “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. ⁵³ Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? ⁵⁴ But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” ~ Matthew 26:52-54

Jesus could have used His divine power to achieve His objectives, but then He wouldn’t have been functioning as fully man, but as God, and God is not our Kinsman Redeemer, Jesus is our Kinsman Redeemer because of how the law of Kinsman Redeemer works, and I’m saying this without challenging the fact that they (the Holy Trinity) are one and the same yet are all separate individuals.

Instead, He chose to act as a servant and use the Name of God instead of His own name or power. But before His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, He basically told His disciples something new, something better is coming your way; just wait and see.

Jesus took the impossible path so that we didn’t have to. This is where the work of the Holy Spirit comes in, as we invoke and use the name of our LORD Jesus. Because when we call on the name of Jesus, mountains move, demons flee, wounds are healed, and we are made new. Jesus gave us His name and His Holy Spirit so that we wouldn’t be left vulnerable and defenseless. When problems come, call on the name of Jesus. He overcame the world so that we could overcome through Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Move Mountains.

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