Jesus, Your Mediator

Jesus, Your Mediator
'There is one...mediator between God and men...Jesus.' 1 Tim 2:5 KJV

Michael Spencer writes: 'The truth that Jesus is the one mediator between God and human beings knocked me to the floor and suspended me over the truth that God had done all things necessary for my salvation. He had paid the debt and become the necessary sacrifice.

 He had loved me to the uttermost. He had given all this to me as a gift.

I had nothing to do but simply stop ignoring His gift and receive it.

I was a drowning man whose rescue depended on stopping all efforts to swim and trusting someone who was not going to make me a better swimmer, but who would drown in my place. This experience...demolished the idea that I could be anything other than what I was: a broken, sinful, wounded, failing, hurting human being...

To try to make myself presentable or acceptable made me less capable of receiving the simple gift of Jesus' mediation on my behalf. Jesus was not clearing the road so that I could ride victoriously through life. He was becoming the road that would carry me through all the garbage, falls, failures and disasters that were the inevitable results of my existence.

In trying to make myself lovable, I had been distancing myself from true love. In pretending to be a leading candidate for the religious life, I was abandoning the life of grace.

In seeking to be a good Christian, I was deserting the truth that there is no Gospel for good Christians, because the Lamb of God was nailed to an altar for those who are not good, and who are no good at pretending to be good.' 

Source with permission: UCB: The Word for Today Monday, 17 March 2014  http://www.thewordfortoday.com.au/ 

Do you feel like you are under attack?

"Knocking Out the Light."

 It was about noon when I heard the news. Fortunately, I was safe in my office. All the power was out at Newark Airport. Now, I had used that airport so many times I could very well have been one of those poor travelers who I saw on the evening news groping their way through a totally darkened terminal. There was no electricity to the terminal for an entire day. What a mess! No lights, no computers, no baggage equipment. It was a good day to be in my office. And the reason there were no lights? A pile driver that was being used on an airport construction project somehow punched right through the main power line. With the power and lights out, it was just a very dark day.

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 22:31-32, where Jesus says to Simon Peter, "Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."

Okay, now here's Peter, perhaps the brightest light of the disciples. And basically Jesus is saying, "Satan wants to knock you out, man." And he wants to do that to anyone who is a light in a dark spot-like you maybe.

See, if it's dark where you work, you're Jesus' light there if you belong to Him. And the enemy wants the light out so it's totally dark. Maybe it's dark in your school, your area, your family, but God has installed a light there-you. And Satan's trying to knock out the light. He wants to sift you as wheat, and God may be preparing you to spread the light to an even larger circle of people. 

Don't be surprised if you're suddenly taking a pounding from hell's pile driver. The enemy's only hope of keeping his prisoners in the dark is to knock out the light. So does this explain maybe some of what's been hitting you? You're making a difference, or you're about to. And the forces of darkness want to destroy or at least dim your light.

One wise old preacher gave a young evangelist this advice. He said, "The ferocity of Satan's attack upon you will increase in direct proportion to your potential usefulness for Jesus Christ."

So the difficulties and feelings and temptations you've been dealing with lately may not mean there's anything wrong at all. In fact, there may be something wonderfully right. You're starting to make an impact for Jesus. You've attracted attention in hell. You're not wrestling with flesh and blood but against principalities and powers-spiritual forces.

There's no reason to be afraid. There's no reason to be discouraged. 

 According to Colossians 2:15, Jesus has "disarmed the powers and authorities. He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by His cross." Wow!

Remember the simple principles of winning against any attack from the dark side.

Number one; depend on spiritual weapons to win spiritual battles. That means prayer and fasting. You need to recruit a team of prayer warriors to cover you now with daily prayer as you're becoming a make-a-difference person. You're a target now, and God's people praying for you will cover you with the blood of Jesus and a hedge of His protection.

Number two, regularly put on the spiritual armor of God. Read-memorize if you can-Ephesians 6:10-18.

Thirdly, don't give the devil a foothold. Remove any sin, any compromise that your enemy can use to get into your life. And number four; keep your power lines strong. Don't miss a day of being with Jesus through His Word.

Yes, Satan may desire to have you. But Jesus says, "I prayed for you." Your enemy wants the people around you to spend this life and forever like those people at the airport that day. He wants them stumbling in the dark. He has only one way to make this happen-knock out the light.

If you wander away from Jesus, they'll go there with you. You're either going to be a reason for somebody to be attracted to Jesus or say, "He doesn't really work." There's a lot riding on you keeping the light on. So stay close to the awesome power of the Lord Jesus Christ, who Himself is the light of the world.

Source: Ron Hutchcraft - 'A Word With You' March 13, 2014 www.Hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You

~~~~~~~~~~

Spiritual Awareness & Protection

Spiritual Awareness and Protection

Once you become an effective prayer warrior by praying in God's will you will attract the attention of the spiritual forces of evil in the spiritual realms.

 It is written in Ephesians 6:12:
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

You must, therefore, become spiritually aware so that you may recognize when you are under attack from the evil ones. You must also learn how to defend yourself against any such assaults.

Recognizing Spiritual Attack

Spiritual attacks can come in the form of physical assaults or emotional assaults. Recognizing these different forms of attack is very important. Here are some common physical symptoms of spiritual attack:

• Excessive yawning (especially during the day). Yawning is the result of oxygen deprivation to the brain. The evil can consume the oxygen around you causing you to yawn frequently.
• Sneezing when there is no obvious cause (allergies, pepper, etc.). Ever wonder why we say, "God bless you" when someone sneezes?
• You may get the chills for no apparent reason.
• Headaches (especially severe ones like migraines)
• You may suddenly feel aches and pains with no rational explanation for them.
• You may also feel extremely tired and drained of energy.

Here are some common symptoms of an emotional spiritual attack:

• The evil have the ability to strongly influence your thoughts. They can plant suggestions in your head to do things or say things that you wouldn't normally do. Be aware of any strange thoughts that enter your mind that you would not normally think of.
• The evil can also influence your emotions in a strong way. You may suddenly experience severe depression or extreme anger. Sometimes you will be very tense and short tempered for no good reason.

Defending Against Spiritual Attack

If you ever believe you are under attack you should always call on the Lord and ask him to help you. In addition, there are many things which you can and should do each day in order to ensure that you have sufficient protection against the spiritual forces of evil.

• You must put on the full armor of God morning and night by praying to the Lord and asking him to put the armor of God on you. Refer to Ephesians 6:10-18 for more information about the armor of God.
• You must ask for forgiveness of sins
•  You can simply say, "Lord I give my complete will to you for the next 24 hour period, not my will but your will be done in my life."
• You must read Psalm 92 both morning and night; start praising.
• Whenever in need speak out scriptures and; say aloud "Praise the Lord" nine consecutive times followed by, "O my soul praise the Lord!"
• Read your bible eg. read the first 5 verses of the book of John or Psalm 91 as a means of forcing the evil to back off of you. 
•  
• Source: Author Unknown - Sorry I am unable to put source as this message was sent to me in 2011 by a sister  who recently died.