Fill With Him

43 When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation. ~ Matthew 12:43-45

Each one of us is a house. We are each a soul with many rooms. Each room must be filled with the Spirit of God or something else with fill it. See, we have the power through the name of Jesus to cast out unclean spirits, but unless we fill that empty room with the LORD God, the room won’t remain empty. Why? Because we are only made alive through Him. We are only freed from our record of debt, as well as the legal demands that come along with it.

Each unclean spirit taking up residence in our lives has legal right to be there. Whether through doors we have opened or doors our ancestors have. They have the legal right to be there. That is why it is only at the name of Christ that they must leave. And it is only at His presence that they must not return. Look at how Paul puts it in his letter to the Colossians.

13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him.

Colossians 2:13-15

He disarmed the rulers and authorities that had legal demands over different parts of our lives. The only way to overcome, therefore, is through His name. The only way to stay free is to invite Christ into every aspect of our lives. That is the only way to break their legal demands. That is the only way to revoke their right to enter. We must fill ourselves with the one who is above all.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Fill With Him. 

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Bridle And Block

21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. ~ Proverbs 18:21

This is a really weird verse to me. Not the words exactly, but how we react to them. We quote it. We throw it at others. We even throw it at ourselves, but we rarely take it seriously. See, we really only think this verse applies to certain things that are blatant, but not to the majority of what we say. For instance, something I have personally experienced 10/10 times is if I’m having a good time dancing, playing around, etc. and there are older people around, they will tell me something along the lines of enjoy it now because when you get my age or when you get older, you won’t be able do this or you won’t be able to do that. Or if my weight gets brought up, they’ll tell me how I won’t be skinny forever and how much weight I’m gonna gain when I hit a certain age. It happens each and every time.

The way the older generation speaks to the younger generation has drastically changed from the time of the ancient Israelites to us today. The older generation made sure to bless their children before they passed on. The blessing from the father and, later on, the mother was an essential part of their culture. Today, instead of placing blessings on the next generation, we speak curses on them without even thinking about it. From generation to generation, growing old becomes less of a blessing and more of a painful, dare I say, punishment.

I want you to notice how the proverb goes, because I’ve only recently realized I’ve been misquoting it this whole time. The Proverb is that “death and life,” not “life and death,” are in the power of the tongue. That means death is chosen above life by those who eat of its fruit. Just as Adam and Eve could have chosen to eat from the Tree of Life at any point in time, but still chose to eat from the forbidden tree that led to death, so can we choose words of life every day, but often times, most times, we choose words of death instead.

James gives us this warning in his letter:

And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

James 3:6-12

The LORD said that we will be judged by the words of our mouths. Why? Because He has placed before us life and death. Therefore, choose life. And when someone tries to speak death on you, try what I do. I smile, chuckle, and then rebuke their words in the name of Jesus and speak life over myself. Then I thank the LORD for hearing me and begin praising His name. No one has ever taken offense to it. In fact, they usually think I’m joking, but I mean each and every word.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Bridle And Block.

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Clear The Rubble

The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. He is no respecter of persons. So, what are we to do? We get our strength from the LORD God. What does that look like? Join Reverend Kenny Yates as he encourages us with victories of the past in his message, Clear The Rubble.

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A Dangerous Test

18 And say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. 19 You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, 20 but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”’  ~ Numbers 11:18-20

The people of Israel have left Egypt and are now on their way to the Land of Canaan, but they have complained and grieved the LORD time and time again. This time, they complained that they missed meat. They even brought up the food they ate in Egypt, as slaves, I might remind you, going as far as to say that it was better for them as slaves in Egypt. This angered the LORD so much that He didn’t just give them what they whined and complained for, He turned it into a punishment.

It’s difficult for us to understand why the People of Israel were the way they were, but the Church today, really isn’t much different at all. We, just as the people of Israel, often return to or desire to return to slavery. Not physical slavery, but spiritual slavery. Paul wrote to the Romans:

15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Romans 8:15

Sometimes, we look at the things that were easy before Christ, before we were freed from the passions and desires of this world. We overlook how we were slaves to sin. Slaves to the passions of this world. And now that we have been freed, and have across to carry, a race to run, and a battle to fight before we reach our eternal Promised Land, we begin to grieve the LORD, just as the People of Israel did in the Wilderness, but instead of giving us so much meat that it comes out of our nostrils, He gives us over to our own passions. Paul gives the example of a first level of punishment:

When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 5:4-5

18 This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, 19 holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith, 20 among whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.

1 Timothy 1:18-20

Then there is the final punishment from the LORD that comes from not just desiring your past sin, but justifying, affirming, and pushing those sins.

21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Romans 1:21-32

It’s easy to look at the sins and mistakes of others and ignore our own. The sins of the past aren’t for the judgment of the future, but so that we might learn from them. Jesus said a very simple, but powerful statement/warning while being tempted in the Wilderness by Satan.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Do Not Put The LORD To The Test.

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Love God First

34 Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36 And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. ~ Matthew 10:34-39

These words are hard to grasp. In fact, I’d venture to say this is one of the hardest teachings Jesus has given us. It’s not just denying our own flesh but choosing Him above all others, including those we love most. See, a common theme we have in the Church today is Christians standing firm on the Word, until a loved one decides to live in sin. So, instead of loving the person, not the sin, they embrace the sin and begin to justify it, even by twisting and cherry-picking Scripture. Their love for that person overrides their love for God. When we choose others over God, we end up causing ourselves to never truly love anyone.

God is love. Without loving the LORD above all, we fail to truly love anyone. That love we feel we have for our loved are living in Sin that causes us to affirm their sin, isn’t true love. True love doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but in Truth. Christ is Truth. Teaching what the Spirit of Truth authored through the Scribes of the Scriptures is Truth. Someone’s feelings, emotions, thoughts, or desires aren’t Truth. And affirming these things isn’t love. It is hate in disguise.

Hatred will disguise itself as love and lead many to Hell. It will convince you that to do anything other than to accept and affirm is hatred. False love. Loving others more than the LORD God leads to a reprobate mind. The LORD demands we love Him above all, not because He wants to divide the family, but because He understands that He alone is perfect and is love itself. So, when you love Him first and put Him first, you will learn how to truly love others, just as God loves the World.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Love God First.

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Identify To Root

25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it: “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” 26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.28 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”29 So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” ~ Mark 9:25-29NKJV

I have really bad allergies. I suffer all year round with no break. From Spring to Winter, allergies. So, I always have allergy tablets with me. In fact, usually, three different kinds at all times. Why? Because one size does not fit all. It all depends on the root of my issues in that moment, whether it’s pollen, some type of grass or plant, trees, or even food. Different root issue, different tablet. It doesn’t matter how many tablets I take; if it’s not the right kind, it will not work. The symptoms might all be very similar or even the same, but the source or root is the key.

See, my symptoms often present as a cold or flu, but again, no matter how many cold and flu tablets I take, my symptoms are not going away because they are never addressing the root or source of the problem. The spiritual realm is exactly the same way. No matter how many times you pray, if you do not fast, that mountain is not going to move. No matter how many times you pray, if you never worship, that harassing spirit is not going to loose you. No matter how many times you go to church, if you never spend time with God, you are not saved. There is no one-size-fits-all. No, one verse for every situation. You need to first identify the issue and then the source or root.

Too often, the Church just blindly says let’s pray about it and nothing else. Or come to church, and Jesus will fix it all. Yes, the Church is intended to be a hospital, but just like a physical hospital, you cannot cure each sickness, each illness, with the same prescription. You have to first identify the issue and then attack its root or its source. You can’t just say a prayer and expect everything to be fixed. Some things take fasting, some worship, others Scripture, others communion, others confession, and all overcoming is rooted in faith, prayer, and a relationship with the LORD Jesus Christ.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Identify To Root.

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Plug Your Ears

Lamentations 1:12-16

[12] “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger. [13] From on high he sent fire; into my bones he made it descend; he spread a net for my feet; he turned me back; he has left me stunned, faint all the day long. [14] My transgressions were bound into a yoke; by his hand they were fastened together; they were set upon my neck; he caused my strength to fail; the Lord gave me into the hands of those whom I cannot withstand. [15] The Lord rejected all my mighty men in my midst; he summoned an assembly against me to crush my young men; the Lord has trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah. [16] For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears; for a comforter is far from me, one to revive my spirit; my children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed.”

Jeremiah starts the book Lamentations mourning for Judah going into exile and Jerusalem being destroyed and ransacked. Then he says to the people “Is it nothing to you, all who pass by?” Jeremiah then switches his focus to himself and those pass by him without care, worry, or concern.

See, Jeremiah had just spent years prophesying warnings to the people of Judah and they did not listen, now God’s judgment had fallen on them. He had been persecuted by their own hands for his prophecies, and now that they have come to pass, they still have no care for him. Today, the Church is very similar.

Missionaries go to places we don’t want to go in order to share the Gospel, yet we, as a whole, have no care for them or their anguish. Some of us even belittle them and if they die, say it’s their own fault. It has become nothing to us to see the Church persecuted, oppressed, and/or killed.

We turn a blind eye to it. Why? Apathy. If it does not directly affect us, we don’t care. Our love has begun to grow cold. Jesus said, “They (the world) will know you by your love for one another,” yet, we love only ourselves. We are like those who passed by Jeremiah without even giving him out the situation a second thought.

See, apathy lulls its victims to sleep so that they never even feel their own spiritual death. It’s like the scene in the Jungle Book. Mowgli is lulled to sleep by Kaa so that when Kaa went to strike and devour Mowgli he was unaware. Completely subdued, unable to fight back or defend himself. It takes Bagheera intervening to save Mowgli.

Apathy is a dangerous foe. It doesn’t beat you down like other strongholds. It plays the ally as it seduces you. So, quiet its lullaby. Follow the words of Christ and love your brother/sister. Pray for missionaries and the Underground Church. Don’t turn a blind eye to them or their pain.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Plug Your Ears To Their Lullabies.

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Beware The Other Attack

So Moses told the people of Israel what the LORD had said, but they refused to listen anymore. They had become too discouraged by the brutality of their slavery. ~ Exodus 6:9 (NLT)

Notice what the verse says: they refused to listen anymore. It’s not that they couldn’t. Or that they struggled to. It’s that they wouldn’t. They flat-out refused—they would not listen anymore because of their dire situation.

Sometimes your situation and your circumstances can push you so far down. You feel like you can’t even get back up. It certainly did to the Israelites. They had become too discouraged. They didn’t feel like going to church. They didn’t feel like getting involved. I’ve got too much going on, brother. You don’t know what it’s like. You haven’t experienced this before.

That is what discouragement does—but God’s promises don’t stop speaking, even though we stop listening. Discouragement is one of the enemy’s favorite weapons—because he can’t. He cannot stop God. So, he tries to stop God’s people from listening and believing, and so he brings in discouragement. Things always seem to get worse just before they get better.

For Moses, slavery worsened. The people turned on him. Pharaoh’s heart hardened. See, discouragement makes us stop listening. It makes us doubt. It spreads like gangrene. Look at how it made the Israelites react. They stopped listening. I don’t care what you have to say, Moses. I don’t want to hear it. I’m done. They had lost hope.

See, if the enemy can get you to stop listening, he can get you to stop hearing, and when you stop hearing, your faith is stolen. So, keep your eyes on Christ. Keep your eyes on your promise. Don’t let the enemy steal your hope. Keep going. Fight for the promises the LORD has given to you.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stop The Enemy From Stealing Your Promises.

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Pay Attention To What You Do

Exodus 34:6-7

[6] The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, [7] keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

There’s currently a bit of an imbalance in the ecosystem of Florida. Burmese Pythons, Anacondas, Lion Fish, and even Green Iguanas have negatively impacted Florida’s ecosystem. Why? Because they have no natural predators, so they breed and eat freely without restraint. That means that they are multiplying faster than other species in the area and they are consuming more than other species in the area. A 2012 study found that populations of raccoons had declined 99.3 percent, opossums 98.9 percent, and bobcats 87.5 percent since 1997. Marsh rabbits, cottontail rabbits, and foxes effectively disappeared over that time.

How’d this begin? A few exotic pet owners let their exotic pets go in the wild, fully believing it would have no impact on anyone else. When we introduce a foreign organism to an ecosystem that cannot sustain, that foreign organism begins to take over. The spiritual realm is no different.

When we open doors in ourselves through our actions, it affects more than just us. It affects those around us as well. And depending on the door we open, generations to come. So often we see generational curses plaguing families. Generation after generation. Alcoholism, abuse, addiction, greed, violence, anger, depression, anxiety, fear. We pass down spiritual doors that we don’t even realize. Things we turn a blind eye to because we don’t think it affects anyone but ourselves. But it does.

There is no such thing as an action that affects only you. Generational curses are real, so be careful the doors you open in your life and the lives of those around you. And those who will come from you in the future.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Pay Attention To What You Do.

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Stay In God’s Plan

Matthew 7:21

21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

I recently heard a Catholic exorcist say, “God has a plan for you; so does the Devil.” This is an interesting concept. We often think about the LORD having a plan for us, but we don’t really think about the Devil having a plan for us as well.

See, the Devil’s plan doesn’t always seem evil. In fact, a lot of the time it seems good. It seems like a good idea. Like our own idea.

It could be as simple as staying home instead of going to war (King David) or numbering the kingdom (King David). These in themselves, weren’t evil, but because they weren’t a part of the LORD’s plan, they were evil and brought great consequences upon David and his household.

Sometimes the Devil’s plan looks a little more mischievous like saying you sold something for one and amount when you really sold it for another amount (Ananias and Sapphira), and as innocent as making a sacrifice instead of being obedient from the beginning (King Saul).

The Devil’s plan doesn’t always seem evil. It doesn’t even have to be an evil action. All he really wants is for us to be outside of the will of the LORD. Why? Because Jesus warned us that it’s only those who do the will of the Father that will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. So, be careful not to be distracted by the enemy. Be careful not to miss God’s plan for your life.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Stay In God’s Plan.

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