The desire to survive, and keep “self” alive, keeps us from
experiencing the power of God in our lives that He intended for us to walk in
because:
·
It keeps us at a mediocre level.
·
It eats away at our convictions until we are
willing to compromise.
·
It leads us to make decisions that will please
people rather than God.
·
It drives us to excuse our ineffectiveness and
lack of fruit.
·
It robs us of the freedom and joy that are in
Christ.
·
It hinders us from complete obedience to God.
Luke 9:23-24
23 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come
after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For
whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me
will save it.
Galatians 2:20
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live,
but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son
of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Are you a survivor or a dead man?
Survivors look after
themselves, dead men trust God.
Some examples of people who looked after themselves rather
than trusting God:
·
Genesis 25:29-34 – Esau sold his birthright to
satisfy his belly
·
Genesis 13:8-18 – Lot chose to live among wicked
men for the sake of wealth and lost it all
·
1 Samuel 13: 11-14 – Saul violated the Lord’s
commands for his own purposes and the anointing was taken from his life
·
Matthew 19:20-23 – the rich ruler opted for
wealth over eternal life
·
Acts 5 – Ananias and his wife chose the honor of
men over the honor of God and forfeited their lives
What all of these have in common is that they lost the very
thing they were trying to keep. Survivors
take on a philosophy of life that says, “I want to stay alive at any cost,”
even if it means they must deny God. Are
there areas of your life where you are looking out for number one and
compromising the principles of God rather than trusting Him? Let go and trust God!
Survivors follow the
crowd, but dead men follow God.
The survivor is always seeking the path of least resistance,
the wide road, the easy way.
·
Are you a survivor at work?
·
Does anyone know you have taken a stand for
righteousness?
·
How about at school young people?
·
Do you bow to the crowd when the heat is on?
Matthew 10:32-38
32"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also
acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33But whoever disowns me before
men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. 34"Do not suppose that
I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a
sword. 35For I have come to turn " ’a man against his father, a daughter
against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law-- 36a man’s
enemies will be the members of his own household.’ 37"Anyone who loves his
father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or
daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38and anyone who does not take his
cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
Daniel 3:10-12
10 You have issued a decree, O king, that everyone who hears
the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music
must fall down and worship the image of gold, 11 and that whoever does not fall
down and worship will be thrown into a blazing furnace. 12 But there are some
Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon-Shadrach;
Meshach and Abednego-who pay no attention to you, O king. They neither serve
your gods nor worship the image of gold you have set up."
A young man applied for a job as a farm hand. When asked for
his qualifications, he said, "I can sleep when the wind blows."
This confused the farmer, but he immediately liked the young
man and so he hired him. A few days later, the
farmer and his wife were awakened in the night by a violent storm. They quickly
began to check things out to see if all was secure. They found that the
shutters of the farmhouse had been securely fastened. A good supply of logs had
been set next to the fireplace. The farm implements had been placed in the
storage shed, safe from the elements. The tractor had been moved into the
garage. The barn had been properly locked. All was well. Even the animals were
calm. It was then that the farmer
grasped the meaning of the young man’s words, "I can sleep when the wind
blows." Because the farm hand had performed his work loyally and
faithfully when the skies were clear, he was prepared for the storm when it
broke. Consequently, when the wind blew, he had no fear. He was able to sleep
in peace.
If you follow God you can sleep when the wind blows! Are you going with the flow and following the
crowd on issues that you believe God has instructed you differently about? Forget the crowd and follow Jesus.
Survivors run and hide; dead
men stand to fight.
When you don’t have to survive you can stand and fight and
even endure a losing season because you have no place else to go, you don’t have
a plan “B”, there is no safety net, and no hiding place.
2 Corinthians
11:23-29
23 Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am
more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more
frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the
Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I
was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the
deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of
waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the
Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the
sea, in perils among false brethren; 27
in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting
often, in cold and nakedness— 28 besides
the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the
churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not
weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? 30 If I must boast, I will boast in the
things which concern my infirmity. 31
The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that
I am not lying. 32 In Damascus the
governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a
garrison, desiring to arrest me; 33 but I was let down in a basket through a
window in the wall, and escaped from his hands.
West Point’s "Harder Right" This quotation is from
the "Cadet Prayer." It is repeated every Sunday in chapel services at
West Point: "Make us choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong,
and never to be contented with half-truth when whole truth can be won. Endow us
with courage that is born of loyalty to all that is noble and worthy, that scorns
to compromise with vice and injustice and knows no fear when right and truth
are in jeopardy."
Are you a quitter just because the path God leads you on is
difficult? Do you envy the idle masses that seem to have an easy life? Come out of hiding and face the challenge of
real Christian living!
Survivors all
eventually die; dead men find eternal life in Christ.
Philippians 2:5-11
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ
Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God,
did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking
the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He
humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of
the cross. 9 Therefore God also has
highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on
earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Revelation 12:10-12
10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have
come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority
of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God
day and night, has been hurled down. 11They overcame him by the blood of the
Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death. 12Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in
them!
In the first part of the fifteenth century a French peasant
by the name of Joan of Arc was called to save her country from its enemies. On
one occasion she said to one of her generals, “I will lead the men over the
wall.” The general said, “Not a man will follow you.” Joan of Arc replied, “I
won’t be looking back to see if they are following me.”
Are you clinging to a life that does not satisfy you for
fear of failure or ultimately death?
Let go of your life, release it to God and find what living
really is.
A life filled with power, is a life lived in the power and
the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Acts 1:8
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is
come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all
Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
Every professing Christian should be experiencing the Spirit
filled Life. Jesus didn’t shed his blood
just to save you from your sins. That blood is the introduction into the life
of the Spirit. How it must grieve Jesus,
for us to stop short of what He paid so high a price for us to have. To be filled with the Spirit was not a mere
suggestion, but rather a command to His disciples, which we are if we continue
in his word.
Luke 24:49
And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but
tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high.
Ephesians 5:17-20
17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will
of the Lord is. 18 And do not be drunk
with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and
hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the
Lord, 20 giving thanks always for all
things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
The will of God is that you be filled with the Spirit. The will of God is actually that we become
the channels through which his spirit flows through, that we become ministers
of that anointing.
2 Corinthians 3:5-6
Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as
of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; 6 Who also hath made us able
ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the
letter kills, but the spirit gives life.
John 7:37-38
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood
and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38 He
that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water.
Ezekiel 37:7-10
Here we find the picture of the New Testament believer, the
power filled Christian life.
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied,
there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to
his bone. 8 And when I beheld, lo, the
sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but
there was no breath in them.
9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy,
son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds,
O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came
into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great
army.
Notice how everything from a natural standpoint may look
perfect, but from God’s perspective it is dead until the Spirit has come upon
and into. It is the Spirit that turns these bones into an army.
Too many people sit in the pews of churches week after week
who are dead in the spiritual sense.
Everything looks great on the outside, everything appears to be in
order, and it seems as though they have it all together. But they are dead because the Holy Spirit
cannot blow upon their lives because they refuse to die to “self.”
They have some kind of beef with someone that they just can’t
seem to let go of. Some man or woman in
the church has hurt them, someone has stepped on their feelings and they just
can’t seem to get over it.
My grandfather wouldn’t go to church because when he was a child the pastor of his parent’s church blamed him for something he hadn’t done and he got a whipping for it. He never got over it. He used it as an excuse to stay out of church for the rest of his life. He detested men of God and spoke ill of them whenever given the opportunity. And eventually at the age of 100, he died without Christ.
My grandfather wouldn’t go to church because when he was a child the pastor of his parent’s church blamed him for something he hadn’t done and he got a whipping for it. He never got over it. He used it as an excuse to stay out of church for the rest of his life. He detested men of God and spoke ill of them whenever given the opportunity. And eventually at the age of 100, he died without Christ.
Has someone hurt you?
Do you have an issue with your brother or sister in the Lord? Maybe you have a problem with your pastor,
whatever it is you need to get over it and die to yourself if you want to
experience the power of a Holy Spirit filled life. God cannot pour His Spirit into vessels that
are already filled with envy, strife, slander, gossip, or greed.
Empty yourself of “self” today and be filled with the Holy Ghost. Then where now flows poison that drives men from God, He will cause streams of living water to flow that will draw men unto Him.
Empty yourself of “self” today and be filled with the Holy Ghost. Then where now flows poison that drives men from God, He will cause streams of living water to flow that will draw men unto Him.
Christ’s life, His blood, is the only life and blood that
has room to flow in the life of a true follower of Jesus.
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