Defeat

This is not going to be a typical Real Lifer.  The Lord has placed something on my heart that needs to be brought forth at this time.

 We need to “get back to basics,” as far as teaching others about Christ.  What is being taught about God and His ways?  I stop and wonder if we ever taught the basics.  We seem to be, for the most part, trying to outdo each other and our focus has been taken off the very ones who need to hear the saving grace and overcoming victory of the Gospel.  Because of the defeat I hear and see in people’s lives, I can only conclude that believers are not being taught the real “meat” of the Word and the upshot to this is they are not being able to hear from Heaven in order to understand what they need to do in and about their lives. 

I was taught one on one by the Holy  Spirit what I have learned about God.  He has been faithful to teach me step by step so that I could absorb and understand what I was learning.  All hell was unleashed on me so I must have been doing something right, on top of learning what I should have.  What I have learned through walking with Christ through my life has given me the victory.  I had defeat in every area of my existence.  I didn't know anything about God or His ways.  I started very simply by just going to God and asking Him to help me.  Then I got a Bible I could understand.  I needed to understand God in a very elementary way.  Don’t be ashamed if you are like this too.  Sometimes I believe that we are so tangled up in programs and the like that we forget whom we have as a Father who is waiting to give us wisdom in a simple and clear manner.   I needed to learn about God’s ways getting His wisdom on life because clearly, I didn’t have any…. as smart as I thought I was.

It doesn’t matter what you are going through, where you are, or what station of life is your path; we all still need help.  God has helped me come to terms with who I am and to understand the gifts I have, which were buried so deep inside I couldn't see them.  He taught me to be an over-comer so I could be a winner but it was not easy.  None of this is easy.  I don’t see anywhere in the Bible where anyone following Jesus had it easy……. 

In order to get what God has for you, it will take time and effort.  You do not have to stay defeated but it will be up to you to go after what it will take to have victory in your life.   First, victory of the Cross is your salvation that was paid for by so dear a price.  But, then the victory of running the race and crossing the finish line will be up to you.  You will have to be the one to spend time with God.  It is never-ending and you will face some mean devils along the way, but you have the authority as a believer to combat them.  It will be a process and God will give you what He wants, when He wants, how He wants.  Don’t shut anyone off who is trying to tell you about Jesus.  Listen to them and then if you feel funny about something they say, take your concerns to God.  Let Him be your Father…that is what He does best.

Defeat will only come if you quit.  And the basics?  Turn to God and begin talking to Him about specific things you are dealing with.  I am not trying to con you ….the answer couldn’t be anymore clearer or simpler.  Then, wait for God to talk to you about the very things you took to Him in prayer.

Today I want to talk openly and honestly about faith.  I want to explain what I have learned faith is and give instances of what my faith has produced.  I have prayed and believed for a home for myself and daughter and I received it.  I opened a business with only $88.29 and had no idea where the first month’s rent was coming from.  When someone sowed $600.00 in my life, I took it and rented an apartment and had no other money to fall back on.  I had to believe for everything, including silverware, food and furniture since I moved into this apartment with literally nothing.  I have had to stand on my faith having the Lord heal my body of everything from cancer to other health issues.  When “a word” was delivered to me to stop smoking cigarettes and taking all of my medications, I stepped out in faith and believed that I would be delivered from these things.  I have used faith anywhere and anytime I felt it necessary, which over the past fourteen years has been 85% of the time.  I KNOW what faith is and more importantly, I KNOW what faith isn’t.

Sometimes God will "test" you to see if you will "step out in faith" believing Him for what He is putting on your heart.  My advice to you in this area is if it is something that isn't going to hurt anyone and doesn't go against the Word of God then do it.  You won't always know the outcome of every single thing but you must try.  You won't ever know what true faith is until you experience it for yourself.  Not to try is to fail.  But, if God is allowing you to step into the unknown then He is trying to show you something and it is your job to be obedient.  

I was in a social setting several weeks ago and I was talking to a Pastor.  He told me his wife had quit her job and now he wondered where the money was going to come from to pay all the bills.  He asked me, “Do I just write the checks, send them out and believe the money will be there?”  Immediately the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “That is not faith.  That is stupidity.”  I repeated verbatim what I had been told.  Then what came to my mind were the times that I did the same thing he did.  The last time I tried to “test” God and that is what you are doing whether you think so or not, He allowed a couple of checks to bounce causing me to have to pay some stiff overdraft fees.  Well, the lesson was learned and I didn’t do that again.  There had been a time or two when He covered the checks but He wanted me to understand that that “was not the norm” as a way of believing for a child of God.  I recounted my stories back to this Pastor and he listened.  What I came away with from that conversation upset me.  It made me realize that people do not really understand FAITH.  They don’t know how to exercise it.  They have been misled and that in turn, causes them to live an up and down existence instead of “digging their heels in” and working hard doing whatever God has called them to.

In conclusion, a Pastor is leading a flock of God’s children.  If he doesn’t know what faith is, then how will he lead?  How many others are there out there just like him?

My definition of faith?   "Firm Assurance In The Holy One."

Until next time,

Molly