Achieving the Victories in Our Lives

By Thomas Denegre

Reading from Genesis 3

Spies are the most dangerous people as they can possess the secret knowledge to win wars or destroy nations. Just as equal, God warns us in the Book of Hosea, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge.” (Hosea 4:6)   Jesus also warned us that “the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have come to bring life, and bring it abundantly.” (John 10:10) Our Lord so much desires us to have an abundant life because “the truth (Jesus) will set you free,” (John 8:32) from oppression, self-imprisonment, despair, falsehoods, and self-destruction.

Are you ready to accept knowledge to save you, and give you the victories in life you desire?

Considering this hidden knowledge, I learned the fall of man was due to his lack of knowledge in his strengths, his weaknesses, and the wiles of the enemy.  As a former U.S. Navy Commander and pilot we were required to study “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu.  Written over 2,000 years ago, the military strategist stated, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” So, lets begin by learning more about our own self to enable more victories in our life.

In the beginning God said, said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.” (Gen 1:26). We know God has three attributes Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.  In the same way, man was given three attributes; spirit, soul, and body.  For the Apostle Paul states, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thes 5:23)

The spirit, soul, and body of man contain their own attributes. One must understand how these attributes work together along with their given priorities; otherwise we are doomed.  When God breathe life into Adam, he gave him spirit and life. Man’s spirit is eternal (yes, we are eternal entities) and designed to be in life-union with God.  Our spirit has three attributes; communion, intuition, and conscience. In addition, our soul has three attributes; mind, will, and emotions.

When Adam walked with God, he was walking spirit-to-spirit with Him. Adam lived in a state of innocence whereby his spirit controlled his soul and body for he knew no shame when he was naked.  Then the fall of man occurred. “So, when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate.” (Gen 3:6) Letting down their defenses, pride (self-centeredness) entered Adam and Eve which enabled their body and soul to dominate their spirit. They ran away from God as the death of their spiritual relationship with God brought fear and shame.  Sadly, they entered that lying business of political correctness by claiming to be victims and blaming someone else for their own responsibilities. Some things never change.

Today we are fortunate because we can have our sins forgiven when we run to the Lord with repentance and humility. Thankfully, our savior Jesus the Christ gave us this grace from Calvary.

Today’s world is no different, we see the enemy attacking our spirit, soul and body to severe our spiritual relationship with God.  If our spirit is not in life union with Jesus (John 15) then our lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6) will doom us to a sinners’ life. Here are just few ways the enemy can attack us.

·         Take this beauty cream and you’ll look ten years younger (vanity)

·         She is so much prettier than I am (envy)

·         I can’t take my eyes off that person at the gym (lust)

·         I make my decisions based on my conscious views and not by the Word of God (rebellion)

·         If they stand that way politically, then they must be evil (anger)

·         I want my pound of flesh.  I want my revenge. (unforgiveness)

·         By my title, (vice president, elite college graduate, doctor, software programmer) I am better than you (pride)

·         I trust my bank account not God (greed)

·         So, I weigh 300 pounds.  Food is my comfort (gluttony)

·         Hey, I deserve to live on welfare all my life. It’s not my fault. (sloth)

The natural order of life is for us to walk in life union with God and have His words live powerfully within our mind and spirit (John 15:7). By this manner, our spirit will control our soul which then controls our body and not vice versa. By living in the spirit, we can be assured of our victories through Jesus our Lord.

Paul the Apostle states this very well; “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (Rom. 8:5-6)

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” (Gal. 5:16) “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” (Gal.5:22-25)

MAN’S SPIRITUAL ATTRIBUTES

·         INTUITION – Knowledge from the Holy Spirit - 1 Cor 2:11

·         COMMUNION Worship in the spirit - John 4:24

·         CONSCIENCE – Cleanses our consciences Heb – 9:14

MAN’S SOUL ATTRIBUTES

·         EMOTION - The believer and emotion – Matt 22; Affection – Ps 42:1; Desire – Psalm 73:25; A life of feeling – 2 Cor 5:7; The life of faith – Rom 1:17

·         MIND - The mind a battlefield – 2 Cor 10:5; The vulnerabilities of a passive mind – 2 Cor 11:3; The way of deliverance – Col 3: 9; The laws of the mind - Rom 8:6

·         WILL - A believer’s will – Luke 22:42; Passivity and its dangers – 2 Tim 1:7; The believer’s mistake – Hosea 4:6; The path to freedom – John 8:32

MAN’S BODY ATTRIBUTES

·         BODY - The believer and his body – 1 Cor 6:13; Sickness – Matt 8:17; God as the life of the body – John 10:10; Overcoming death – John 11:25-26

Eat and Drink

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

I grew up in the Catholic church, so at the age of eight, I began receiving communion at least once a week depending on how many times we went to Mass.  There’s no doubt that over the years, I have taken communion for granted.

Even as an adult, worshipping in the Lutheran church, I don’t always stop to think about what I’m doing.  Once a month, I get up when instructed, eat the bread, drink the wine and sit back down.  Am I humbling myself before taking on the body and blood of Christ?  No.

Imagine what it must have been like for the disciples to receive their friend’s offering.  How special that meal must have been!  But because we weren’t there when Jesus broke the bread and took the cup, we may feel like we aren’t experiencing the same supper that Peter, John and the others did.  But we are!

Every time we accept the bread and wine, Jesus is with us.  Catholics and Lutherans believe that during communion, the bread IS Jesus’s body and the wine his blood.  They are not symbols, but the real deal.  That’s why it’s so important that we take time to pause and acknowledge what’s happening.  We are taking on Jesus.  He is becoming part of us and we are experiencing Him in a way that’s uniquely different than reading the Bible or praying.  This sacramental encounter has the power to transform us like no other.  We must not take it for granted.

Father, thank you for giving us your Son who died and offered us his body and blood.  May we remember how precious a gift the Eucharist is and acknowledge your presence.  “For when we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your death, O Lord, until you come again” (Liturgy of the Eucharist).  Amen

Faith That Moves Mountains

By Tom Denegre

Do you trust God to have faith in His Word?

Today’s scripture reading states that faith comes from hearing the Word of God. “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” Romans 10:17 (NIV)

Perhaps it not as simple as this scripture states.  For example;

·         Lucifer knew the Word of God.  Look how he turned out. 

·         Billy Graham acknowledged that perhaps only 10-15% of the people who attended his crusades accepted Jesus.  They too heard the Word of God. 

·         When Jesus shared the parable of the sower of the seeds, he too acknowledged that only one out of four people will hear the word of God and have faith in him.

·         Today there are so many rebellious Christians who advocate the murder of unborn children while aggressively promoting sexual immorality.  Clearly, their actions and beliefs are contrary to the Word of God.

·       All share a similar pattern, their unbelief is focused on talking to themselves and not God. Being filled with pride and self-centeredness they are unteachable; a self-destructive virtue. Unwilling to hear and accept the Word of God.

I came across The Passion Translation, and this version states, “Faith, then, is birthed in a heart that responds to God’s anointed utterance of the Anointed One.” Romans 10:17 (TPT)

Well isn’t that a much different translation! Faith comes from hearing God’s Word while opening your heart to it. The reason Jesus scorned the Pharisees, is because intellectually they knew the Word of God, but it didn’t live in their hearts.  Or, another way of looking at it, the Pharisees acknowledged God from their soul (mind, emotions, will), but not from their spirit (Communion with God John 4:24, Intuition or spirit to spirit communications with God 1 Cor 2:11, and Conscience with God Hebrews 9;14).

I learned from experience that I must trust someone to believe in them.  Without trust I will have doubt and unbelief.  Equally important, to have a relationship with a person comes from the heart and not from the intellect. 

Therefore, by trusting completely in God’s Word I accept the large faith that God’s promises and provisions can be depended upon.  Jesus once said, “If you obey my commands, you’ll live in my love.” John 15:10.

To obey I must trust.

Knowing that I am radically loved by God, because he died for my sins, I can trust his word into my heart. By living in life union with Jesus I discovered that his love will nourish and empower my faith.  More so, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, will infuse the faith, knowledge, revelations, and love that I will need to believe in the unseen.  So, Jesus encourages all of us to open our hearts and our mind to accept and taste His Words.   Then we will have the faith to move mountains!

I Am His

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

News Flash:  You can’t live as you please.

WHAT?!?  That certainly doesn’t match what the world tells us.

Read out of context, You are not your own; you were bought at a price, is sure to rile a few. They might argue, “How can that be, especially after so many have fought for so long to be valued and not seen as possessions?”

While I support those who are champions for equality, I/we can’t ignore the fact that God owns us – body, mind and soul.  And because of that, we are to respect ourselves as “temples of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus paid the highest price for us – he died - and in return we are called to honor Him.

Romans 7:4 states, So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.
    
Our bodies are more than just skin and bones to go through life, they are gifts from God and we are to use these precious gifts to bear fruit for Him.  God sees us all as models.  Beautiful bodies, wonderfully made to exhibit His way.  Jesus used his human body to open the heavenly kingdom.  In return, let us use our bodies to honor his sacrifice and model for others the true meaning of being a follower of Christ.

The Endless Meal

Luke 22:7-20

Though called “the Last Supper” it was truly the beginning.

Luke 22:19-20 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you….” NIV

Reflecting on my childhood, I recall a large, rectangular, paint by number Last Supper picture that hung on the wall of my grandparents’ home near the kerosene heater my grandfather called “the oil burner.” It warmed their modest living quarters, and kept my grandfather busy monitoring the level of the oil.

 My grandmother patiently followed the number chart, intricately stroking the robe and face of each disciple. I saw the completed painting as a masterpiece. Gazing up at the scene from a mere three feet, my perspective was one of awe, respect, and admiration. I imagined what it would be like to have been at the table sharing bread with Jesus himself.

My observation was one of a young child of God, seeing the surface event rather than the long-standing, symbolic meaning it truly held.

Imagine the perspective of Jesus during this “supper.” Food and drink were not the focus, but instead, the undeserved reward for us, the children of God. The promise of eternal life for the multitudes not even born yet, as he prepared to sacrifice his body and blood.

Communion with other believers is our opportunity to re-enact this historic event. To honorably recognize the sacrifice of the Trinity, and acknowledge the meaning of “given for you” and “poured out for you” is a tremendous privilege. 

May the image of this meal be etched in our minds as not a social event, but the beginning of something new.  A pledge of God’s endless love.  Because we are his children, he will forever nourish us with this “Endless Meal.” 

Read/Listen to Luke 22:7-20