Don't Drink Dirty Milk

God promises His mercy is new this morning, and that surely His goodness and mercy shall follow each of us today!  How do we receive this great love and walk in what we have been given?

Every year, for the past 30 years, we do a school chapel toward the end of October entitled, "Don't drink dirty milk."  The whole point is to help the students discern the difference between the things of God and the things of the devil.  Clearly the spiritual battle intensifies during this season when death, fear, skeletons, witches, creepy and scary things are on display in many places.  The world acts like it is nothing to glorify the powers and traits of darkness.  

There was a father who was asked by his children if they could go to a popular R rated movie because many of the other kids at school had gone and "everybody" was talking about how good the story was.  The children claimed it only had a couple of "bad" parts in it.  So the father answered by making some of their favorite brownies.  He then added an unusual ingredient, a little dog poop.  When the brownies were ready, he invited the children to enjoy one.  "It only has a little dog poop in it."  As you can imagine, the point was well made and they declined the treat.  

In Hebrews 1 it states that because Jesus loved righteousness and hated lawlessness, God anointed Him with the oil of gladness more than any of His companions.  Many places in Scripture we are instructed to love good and hate evil.  Jesus says if you love Me, you will obey My Word.  Then, in 2 Corinthians 6:14 and following, the Word points out the total disparity between light and darkness, good and evil, Christ and Belial, the temple of God (which we are) and idols.  He declares that if we separate ourselves from evil, and touch nothing unclean, He will be a Father to us and treat us as His sons and daughters.  In short, He is so pleased that we choose Him over the temptations of the world, that He will allow us to experience His fatherly love.

God gives His mercy to start new each day and His goodness to keep us filled with His presence.  Don't let the spirit of Esau, who compromised His godly position and inheritance just to satisfy his appetites, cause you to settle for less than the abundant life you enjoy in the Lord.  Don't drink dirty milk.  

Greatest Time on Earth

Christians from 47 states got together at the Communion Colorado gathering yesterday in Colorado Springs, which was set up by Lou Engle and a host of Christian leaders.  The goal was to reconcile the church and to take authority over the powers of darkness through our unity and Scriptural declarations.  It was awesome, inspiring, and most importantly, exactly right.  God gave the church, the Ekklesia, the right to rule the earth.  Jesus declared I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.  Likewise, Psalm 8 and Hebrews 2 point out that God created man "a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor and have set him over the works of Your hands.  You have put all things in subjection under his feet."  Admittedly Adam and Eve lost this authority to the serpent, but Jesus defeated the devil and has restored this "all authority has been given to me" for the body of Christ to execute on the earth.  

Therefore, we are coming into the greatest period on earth, when we see the church use our weapons which have divine power (2 Corinthians 10:4) to tear down strongholds and everything that opposes the knowledge of Christ.  Two of those weapons are prayer and the blood of Christ.  

Revelation 5 speaks of the bowls of incense, the prayers of the saints, being full before Jesus opens the seals of His perfect plan to establish "His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven" and destroy everything that hinders love.  In 1980 there were only a small handful of 24-hour prayer centers, but by 2018, there were over 20,000.  God is stirring up the body of Christ to pray.  Every time we pray the prayer Jesus gave us, the Lord's prayer, we cry out for this restoration to happen. Thy kingdom, come!  In the words of my English teacher, that is an imperative sentence and a direct command calling God into action.   

Secondly, the blood of Christ was shed to reconcile all men to God and each other.  Jesus made a strong statement in John 17:21, "that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me."  There is something so powerful about being one that causes unbelievers to acknowledge God's Son and plan.  God also shows His pleasure when brothers are in unity, stating in Psalm 133:3 that there He has commanded the blessing.  At the table of the Lord, the bread and the cup, celebrate the power of His body broken to make us one, and His blood shed for the forgiveness of sin.  As we apply the blood of Jesus and are reconciled to God and every man, we not only have effective prayers, but also we defeat the power and attacks of the evil one who has deceived the whole world.  What an awesome time when Revelation 12:10 and11 is fulfilled, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death." 

We can't accomplish this victory by ourselves, and God won't do it without us.  It is His grace to include us in this partnership. Therefore, He is waiting for us to agree with the finished work of the blood of the Lamb and to unashamedly declare His triumph in the face of every attack and lie of the enemy.  

May the Lord set our hearts (your heart) on fire with the fresh anointing of the Spirit to allow the blood of the Lamb to cleanse and reconcile you with Him and with every person who comes to mind.  Then rather than just try to survive the attacks of the world, we stand together in prayerful unity to fight the good fight until we see the glory of God revealed in triumph on the earth. What a privilege to be a part of what the Lord is doing in this greatest time on earth.  God who calls you is faithful and also will do it!

Possess Your Possessions

  We are the most blessed forever according to Psalm 21:4. The Lord Jesus Christ has made us whole, given us His faith, His righteousness, His wisdom, allowed the Holy Spirit to release the same power that raised Him from the dead in our bodies, and has given us the mind of Christ.  He promises to always be with us and to never leave or forsake us.  We are overcomers, always led in triumph, and have the assurance that no weapon formed against us shall proper.  We can walk "just as He walked" 1 John 2:6.   All the promises of God are yea and amen.  No wonder the Lord asks "What more could have been done for My vineyard?"  

 This same victorious revelation is given in Psalm 65:4. "How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You to dwell in Your courts.  We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple."  Jesus states the fact that He chose you and appointed you to bear fruit.  He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it.  Twice in 1 Timothy 6, Paul tells his spiritual son, Timothy, to take hold of eternal life.  Later in 2 Timothy 1:14, he instructs him to "Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure that has been entrusted to you.

 The point is that we are blessed beyond our natural ability to know and understand.  Yet God has sent the Holy Spirit to reveal His mind and lead us into all truth.  Just as the children of Israel were brought into the promised land, it was up to them to use God's power and anointing to defeat the enemies and possess the land, so we have been given this eternal inheritance won by Jesus Christ on the cross and through His resurrection.  He then tells us to use the authority and power in His name to make known His Gospel to every creature on the earth and to be His light in the darkness of this world.  

 As a man thinks in his heart so is he.  Obviously, if we don't take time and focus on what the Lord has done and given us, we will be deceived into thinking we are not good enough, not overcoming, and will still fail.  The battle is in our mind.  The good news is we have weapons with divine power to take every thought captive and overthrow everything that exalts itself above the knowledge of God.  My admonition this morning is to ask the Holy Spirit, our helper and counselor, to teach us how to use prayer, the Word, and the authority given in the name of Jesus to keep our mind and heart filled with the truth and peace of Christ.  

 God has given us (you) all that you need "for life and godliness" and through His Word provided the great and precious promises to escape the lusts of the flesh and partake of divine nature (2 Peter 1:3-4).  God made it possible for you to be a mighty warrior equipped for every good work, and promises to be with you to help you bear eternal fruit.  Choose to hear and receive the promises that the Spirit is saying to His people (to you!).  Let him who has ears to hear, hear.  As you read carefully and continue to think and reflect about the Word, as you "let the Word dwell in you richly," you will realize what the Lord has given you.  Deliberately let that awesome truth and goodness fill your mind and heart so you can possess or have what is actually yours. Possess your possessions.