Many things in
this life comes down to who has the biggest guns in the west, who has the most
money to win in politics with advertising, who has the most money to fight the
custody court battles or to get away with murder like O.J. Simpson, who has the
cutest body, the Prada purse and clothes, who is the most intelligent, or has
the best education and opportunities. That is the “kingdoms of this
world.” This world system.
Satan offered
Jesus the kingdoms of this world if he would bow down and worship him (Matthew
4:19). When Jesus went before Pilate, he told Pilate that his kingdom is
not of this world or his servants would fight for him (John 18:36). Jesus
told Peter he could call a legion of angels on his behalf (Matthew
26:53). Yet, right before that he told his disciples he had a legion, he
told them to go buy swords (Luke 22:36).
Who really has
the biggest guns?
Obviously, if
Jesus could call on angels, and he had stripped his rights as the son of God to
walk on this earth (Philip 2:8), it leaves me to believe that we can call on
angels too. There were times that is it documented that angels ministered
strength to Jesus and that was in the garden and in the wilderness.
Then the devil
left him, and angels came and attended him. Mathew 4:11
An angel from
heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. Luke 22:43
Are not all
angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?
Hebrews 1:14
I’ve experienced
these “strengthening’s” from God. One
time was when I broke my ankle from my stairs at my house, and the Lord told me
to get up, and walk on it, and put my boat up right away that evening not to
wait until the next day. I did not experience the excruciating pain of
that fractured ankle for at least 45 minutes, until I finished driving and
putting my boat away (unhooking it), and even walking up several stair steps.
When I came back home and was finished with my task is when the full
force of the pain hit my ankle and I was miserable.
This “second
wind” or strength reminds me of when Samson had “the spirit of the Lord” come
on him and he killed a lion, pushed on pillars of a building and tore it down,
and killed several of Israel’s enemies. It’s been times in my life where
I was exhausted or needed a “spiritual touch” or anointing to help me
accomplish a task in life ---it was a supernatural strength.
I have had a
number of incidents in my life where I’ve had those “near miss” car accidents,
and then at times I’ve been wondering if my angels are asleep or something.
Except on a fender bender about one year ago in turning left in front of a
semi-truck, my friend had a sprained foot from bracing herself, I was fine, and
the man who hit me turning left, only had a sprained hand. The same thing
happened to my daughter when a truck drove out in front of her suddenly and she
totaled her car (airbags and all) and she only had a sprained hand. I had
a word of knowledge that morning to pray for my children so it was a “warning”
that something was going to happen to one of them when I woke up. I
started praying in the morning, and the car accident was around 2:00 p.m.
Do you think I
cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than
twelve legions of angels? Matthew 26:53
There are many
times that God allows me to see that my warfare is a spiritual battle, and my
kingdom (my life) is not of this world. It is a good time with our
economy to increase our prayer lives. When Peter took his eyes off of
Jesus when he was walking on the water, and looked at his circumstances (the
winds and the waves) is when he started to sink. Elisha asked for
his servants eyes to be opened when his life was being threatened by a king and
his chariots.
And Elisha
prayed, "O Lord, open his eyes so he may see." Then the Lord opened
the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots
of fire all around Elisha. 2 Kings 6:17
We don’t always
see into the spiritual realm, but when I first was married to my husband I had
a night dream that evil men had our house surrounded with guns pointing at our
house. I have been studying spiritual warfare and there is a term called
“box them in” where an army boxes the opponent in and then they eliminate a
person one by one. I’ve experienced this “boxing in” at times with losing
family members to death, but also in the Body of Christ with the lack of
cooperation with people in general. Job had the same trial when he lost everything
he had in one day, including the support of his wife, “Curse God and die” and
his friends accusing him of sinning.
Battle lines are
drawn, and friends and family come and go with either affliction in life (death
or divorce). At times, I’ve gotten disconcerted in life about the number
of friends and family I have lost in divorce and the same in death that people
take sides, but Jesus warned about this:
Do not suppose
that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace,
but a sword. For I have come to turn "'a man against his father, a
daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law--
Matthew 10:34-35
He replied to
him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" Pointing to his
disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever
does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and
mother." Matthew 12:48-50
So rather than
getting disconcerted about the number of people who have come and gone through
the trials in my life, I am counting sheep (the number of blessings) of the
people that are still in my life or new people there are now. Paul had
the same thing happen to him and so did Jesus with people leaving them.
Remember in the scriptures that Jesus had 70 disciples and then it came down to
12 disciples and he asked his 12 if they were going to leave him too when
things started getting tough:
From this time
many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him. "You do not
want to leave too, do you?" Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered
him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. John
6:66-68
Many people have
gone through life it seems rather unscathed
when it comes to trials. I’ve had men tell me they met their wife in high
school or college. All that tells me is that you may have a lot of things
handed on a silver platter, but you may have never spread your wings and
learned how to fly. As long as we have the safety net of the banks,
the government, our parents, our spouse, we really don’t know what it is
exercise our faith or learn self-control (to say no) to all the indecent
proposals that may come our way. The encouragement for using our wings is
found in:
Consider him who
endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and
lose heart. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the
point of shedding your blood. Hebrews 12:3-4
The interesting
thing about babies is that all they know is their own world. Sort of
reminds me of that movie that Jim Carrey made “The Truman Show” where a world
was created for him, but it was not the real reality. Many people only
see the world through their five physical senses (touch, taste, feeling, sight,
sound, and smell).
There is another
reality and that is the realm of faith. It says that the “just shall live
by faith” and we “walk by faith not by
sight.” Thomas had a problem with faith. He had to put his hands
into the holes of Jesus hands and touch him and see him before he would believe.
Even when he touched and saw Jesus, Jesus told him to still “believe.”
That it’s possible that even when a great miracle is done in a person’s life
(you could actually see Jesus physically), they still will not believe.
Then he said to
Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put
it into my side. Stop doubting and believe. Thomas said to him, "My Lord
and my God!" Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have
believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." John
20:27-29
The disciples
asked Jesus to “increase our faith.” What increases our faith?
Jesus quoted them the “move the mountain” verse. If you have no mountain
to move in your life like finances, death, divorce, marriage problems and
problems with children, etc. than what mountain are you going to speak to?
Trials increase our faith, because that is when it gets exercised.
The apostles
said to the Lord, "Show us how to increase our faith." He replied,
"If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this
mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you. Luke
17:5-6
Paul talked
about people who never grew up spiritually. Maybe they were great about
holding down a good job, providing for their family, but they never developed
in their spiritual walk to become the spiritual leader of their household
--never took an interest in helping the community and the church to teach and
help others.
In fact, though
by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the
elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid
food! Hebrews 5:12
Believe I Can
Fly
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