Jeremiah 51:15 – “The LORD has made the earth by his power, he has established the world by his wisdom, and has stretched out heaven by his understanding.”

The theme of my heart today is God’s immensity, His deep love, and our responsibility before Him and to ourselves and others.  Sensing our responsibility to God is readily apparent to most.  Sensing or knowing our responsibility to ourselves is visible to many.  But others?  That is a horse of another color. 

We sometimes allow stinkin’ thinkin’ to prevail.  We say things like, “Do you know what they did?  Do you know they are not living, right?  Do you know, they keep making the same irreligious mistakes?  My responsibility to others, what is that?“

We need to see that anything in God requires us to see what Jeremiah declared, God is the Creator with all power and wisdom.  He knows everything. 

Jeremiah 51:36 – “Therefore thus says the LORD Behold, I will plead your cause, and take vengeance for you; I will dry up the sea of Babylon and make her springs dry.”

God pleads our case, and when retribution is proper, He exacts vengeance – WE DO NOT!  But we sometimes try to, and we pray against them rather than for them!  That is a vast difference. 

We discover in Romans 12-15 that the consistent message is that the strong spiritually care for the spiritually weak. That is taxing and requires more effort, compassion, and patience than most have learned.

If, as Romans 12 declares, I belong to God totally and have a gift or gifts from Him, my purpose is peace and nurture of others.  In Romans 12:18, he says, “If possible. So far as depends on you, be at peace with everyone.”   We protest, “But Lord…”  Romans 13:10 reminds us that love does not do evil against others.  Love for God, which allows us to love ourselves rightly, is translated into loving the unlovable and the loveable.   Hard?  Yes, but commanded by God.   Not manufactured or pretended but an outflow of the love in us.

Romans 14:1 instructs us to accept the one who is weak in faith and not judge them or look down on them. Remember, we were weak and still are in some areas.  We live for, in, and through Christ.  In that respect, we live for others and are our brother’s keepers.

Romans 15:1 – “Now we who are strong ought to bear the weakness of those without strength and not just to please ourselves.”  It is not about us!  Romans 15:7 tells us to accept one another JUST AS Jesus accepted us. 

It is critical to remember that we accept, but we do not endorse or justify evil.  We pray for, love, and provide godly examples rather than spewing forth condemnation and judgment.  We are not God.  We, too, have flaws. 

Romans 16:17-20 is powerful and revelatory.   A professing Christian who causes division and dissension is to be noted.  They cause others to stumble and war against the body’s unity.  We do not embrace or enable evil, BUT we love and pursue peace (God’s peace, not just an absence of conflict).

We are to focus on our responsibility to God, to ourselves and, get that in harmony with God’s Word, and respond to others JUST AS Jesus. Then…  Romans 16:20 – “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.”   Peace will come to our house (our homes, businesses, and churches).

• A correct view of God and our purpose is step one.
• A correct view of who we are and how we are to live and think is step two.
• Strengthening the weak, encouraging everyone, and demonstrating the Love of God to everyone is step three.

We should ask the Father to help us to prioritize rightly and relate biblically and godly.  Ask Him to transform us into manifestations and demonstrations of Jesus.   Then, we can declare, “Father, I give myself to You.” 

Today is the day of a new journey that produces God’s Peace and Power.  No weapon can stand, and no stronghold can remain.  We bow to God and set our hearts to be Who He says we are!  

May Heaven’s rich and bountiful blessings flow to and through you today!

Hebrews 11:16 – “Without faith, man cannot please God: for he who comes near to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.”

I feel compelled to declare, “What a Difference a Day Makes!”  Today is a new day with new opportunities, victories, and revelations.  The blessings of God are new every morning, every afternoon, and every evening.  The flow of God’s Love never ceases.  HE IS and IS a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

When I read passages like that in Hebrews 11:6, I often ask, “What about those who do not?”  I do not want to be one who does not diligently seek God.  I do not want to be one who does not believe in the Is-ness of God.  I want to believe, and I do believe!

God IS!  That is a powerful thought that is all-encompassing.  He IS! 

• 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that God IS Faithful. 
• 1 John 1:5 tells us that God is light and there is no darkness in Him. 
• 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that God is not slow in keeping His promises and is patient with us. 
• Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the Word of God, which is God, is ALIVE. 
• James 1:17 tells us that God is the giver of good gifts.
•  John 4:24 tells us that God is Spirit. 
• Numbers 23:19 tells us that God is not a human being and has no capacity to lie or fail. 
• Psalm 116:5 tells us that God is Gracious and Righteous and full of compassion.
• Psalm 84:11-12 tells us that God is our sun and shield. 
• Job 12:7-10 tells us, “In His hands is the life of every creature.”

GOD IS!  He is with us and has promised never to forsake us.  Tragically, we sometimes envision Him as over there, up there, or out there rather than being here and in us!  We are IN Christ, Christ is IN us, and He Never Ever Changes! 

My prayer today is, “LORD, enlighten our hearts to believe in the presence of God!  Help us to see what You are doing and hear what You are saying.  Help us to have a renewed deposit of awareness of the IS-NESS of God and walk in the confidence, assurance, hope, and power of Your Presence.” 

We do not serve an abstract but THE LIVING GOD!   God is with us All the Time!  He knows everything in our lives, hearts, minds, and hands.  He desires to guide us and has promised to do just that.  He wants to protect us and has promised to do just that.  The Father wants us to have the Kingdom and be anointed and empowered to do the works of Jesus and the greater works He planned. 

Isaiah prophesied about Jesus, and Jesus revealed that the prophecy was about Him.  He has given us the authority and power to operate in His Name.  Therefore, this prophecy also applies to us if He is IN us, and we are One with Him.

We must allow it to become part of our consciousness that The Spirit of the LORD is on me and you, BECAUSE…  Because?  Yes, because He has anointed us to proclaim the Good News to the poor.  He has sent us to proclaim freedom for the prisoners.  He has sent us to bring recovery of sight to the blind.  He has empowered and anointed us to set the oppressed free.  He has anointed us to proclaim the Ultimate and Total Victory of the Cross.

Jesus sent the disciples out with power and authority.  He confirmed that this is for all who believe and will obey.  We are to bring the sick to His healing, the dead to life, the lepers to cleansing, and those possessed and demonized to liberty.

Mark 16:15-18 – “And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my Name, they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

WOW!  It is time to believe in the ISNESS of God and, rather than preach and testify of theory, become Doers of the Word.  If God is the same past, present, and future, Why Not Now?  We have a world to win, and the world is not interested in our theories about God; they want to see the Living God Living in Us! 

God Is, God, Does, God Can, and God Will.   We must ask the Father to help us see Him as the LIVING GOD and the Present God.  We need Him to enable us to see ourselves as He sees us, not as the devil says we are, nor as the world says we are, nor even as we think we are, but AS He sees us!   We need Him to clothe us with the Holy Spirit and free us from limited thinking and defeatism. 

Although some live in pessimism, some in optimism, some in what they call realism, and others in fatalism, I challenge you to choose to believe in GOD ISISM.  Our God IS!  Our God Lives!  Our God Reigns!  Our God is THE LIVING GOD!  Shake yourself, put off the old thinking, put on the new view of God, and live as if He is telling the truth because He is!

I pray that your day will be filled with the presence of the Living God and that you will experience His perfect peace!

John 21:15-19 – “So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus *said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you ^[f]love Me more than these?” He *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I ^[g]love You.” He *said to him, “Tend My lambs.” ¹⁶ He *said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you ^[h]love Me?” He *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I ^[i]love You.” He *said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.” ¹⁷ He *said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you ^[j]love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you ^[k]love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I ^[l]love You.” Jesus *said to him, “Tend My sheep. ¹⁸ Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.” ¹⁹ Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He *said to him, “Follow Me!”

I find this account incredibly inspiring and deeply troubling at the same time.  This account in John 21 is exciting and inspirational. Some have suggested that Jesus asking the same question three times was a reminder of Peter’s three denials.  That is possible, but I believe there was a much deeper purpose and one that applies to us today.

Jesus asked, “Do you Agape Me?”  Peter responded with the word Phileo.  Phileo is the brotherly kind of love that may be deep but not the zenith of love.   It leaves room for self and selfishness.

Jesus asked two more times, and I believe He was nudging Peter to see the deficiency in his profession of love and to move to the ultimate love that is unconditional and unshakable – Agape. Peter was filled with himself (like us).  Peter had denied Jesus in an attempt at self-preservation.   Peter was impulsive and reacted to external stimuli.

I believe that Jesus was molding Peter’s thinking to equip him. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.  The question is germane: How deeply do we genuinely love the Lord?  Jesus said IF you Agape Me, you WILL keep my commandments.  The measure of our love is revealed in what we do, not what we say.  However, what we say flows out of what is in our hearts. 

When our hearts, words, and deeds align, we know Him fully and manifest Him.  We can live in a way (outwardly) that says we are something.   We can speak with words that suggest we are something.   We can do deeds that seem to indicate we are one thing, but the heart is the key, and God knows the heart.

We must know God; to know God, we must know our hearts.  We can choose Agape or Phileo.  In that choice, the door opens wide to know Him in the power of His resurrection, the fellowship of His suffering, and become conformed to and transformed by His death.  We die to ourselves in choosing to live unto Him.

Love is a choice, not just an emotion.   Love grows; it is not a one-time deposit.  Love strives to honor its object.  Love liberates.  Agape sets the heart free because it eliminates the need to protect itself.  It fully surrenders, and in that surrender, it discovers life to the fullest.

The question for each of us is, “Are we alive?”  Do we Agape?  If we see the Cross, we see Agape.  If we believe in the Cross, we receive Agape.  If we receive Agape, we begin to be transformed and become vessels of God’s power.   We become Who He said we are through Agape, the ultimate and unconditional love.

There is no time like the present for us to begin the journey into learning to Agape!  Today is our day to Agape!  Today is our day to close the door on the past and discover the depth, breadth, and height of your purpose and power in God.  Refuse to be less than complete.

May the Lord richly bless you as you move into the realm of Agape and experience God’s Love more powerfully in your life!

Hebrews 2:14-15 – “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, ¹⁵ and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.”

Death is not in the Christian’s future. It is in our past.   The Bible informs us that, as believers, we have passed from death to life.  If that is true, and it is, then we have moved from death (past tense) to life (present tense). Death was, it will not be. 

Let me challenge you with a new thought.  A Christian does not die; they change addresses.  That gives a new twist to “its appointment unto men once to die…”  If we have already died, we won’t die again.  For the lost, that’s a different story, but for the Christian death, it is past tense. 

Since we can’t die again, why fear death?  We will experience the body stop working, but that is not death. It is a transition.  However, multitudes live with trepidation of the time when our bodies stop working.

We would comprehend eternity if we understood time as a helix (circular) but always moving up a notch rather than linear. Eternity has no beginning because God has no beginning.   If we are IN Him, we have no end.

We live focused on how much time we have left.  How much?  We have Eternity!  Not on earth, but as a Christian, you live eternally.  My point is that since you will not die, why not begin to live?  Whatever is in your heart is not contingent upon time.  So, you have already died, so stop focusing on the end because it is not the end.

Age is a moot point and important only to the carnal mind.  If we see the Cross and realize we have already died and now we are living our eternal life in this location, we stop categorizing by chronology.

That’s why the patriarchs did exploits late in their chronology.   They saw something we do not.   Job said, “In my flesh, I will see God.”  So, my dead but alive friends stop thinking linearly and start thinking circularly.  Think of your life as a helix and that you move one thread on the bolt higher every year.  From glory to glory.  

What I’m saying inadequately is that you have died and now live, and in that life, you are As He Is.  One day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.  Time or chronology is meaningless to God.  You are living but dead, so don’t be dead while living on this earth.   You are part of the eternal realm NOW!  That is why we can bind and loose from heaven to earth. 

I will conclude with encouragement because what is in my heart and mind would take a book to explore fully, and then it would be incomplete.   I encourage you to begin living with an understanding that you are seated with Jesus in heavenly places.  You died and now live never to die again. 

May the Lord help us to change our view to match His Truth, which is your truth!

Psalm 84:10-12 – “For better is a day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere.  I would choose to stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. ¹¹ For Yahweh God is a sun and shield; Yahweh gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold ^[h]from those who walk blamelessly. ¹² O Yahweh of hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in You!”

It is God’s purpose to transform us.  The desire of God is the uniting of our hearts to His.  He desires to live in us and through us.  In our singleness of heart, we can Do what Jesus did and the greater works.   Most people quote that with no thought, hope, or expectation.   It is theory and a place they will reach in heaven.  NO, IT ISN’T.  We will not do those works in heaven. The works are for Earth!

Psalm 84:10-12 is incredible.   If we read it not as a concept but as an attainable reality, it stirs something in us. The indispensable value of God’s presence is revealed.  Nothing the world offers compares to God’s presence.

God is both our sun and shield.  He is light or revelation (understanding) as well as protection.  Capture that thought in your mind; the Creator is protecting us.  Who would know better how to protect us and what we need protection from?

He gives grace and glory (favor).  He does not withhold any good thing from the faithful.   He is with us in all we encounter.   He takes all the things we encounter and uses them to transform us.  If we trust (demonstrated by our lives, not just our words), we are blessed. I encourage you to think about what being Blessed by God means and entails.

Psalm 86:11-12 – “Teach me Your way (singular).”   The Psalmist is saying the result of that revelation will be that I Will Walk in Your Truth.   Truth is in God’s way.

A word that arrested my heart was “Unite.”   The prayer was to unite my heart to fear (reverence) Your Name.  The word unite is (yachad) = make one.  Make singular?  Remember that thought in the New Testament?  Double mindedness!  The divided heart does not have God’s presence, walk in His power, or enjoy the promises in their fullness.

A united heart values the presence of God and knows that it is in that presence that transformation takes place.  The transformed will see the harvest, bind the strong man, and enforce the victory of Calvary. We must stop being theoretical and abstract in our faith.   We must realize, value, and pursue His presence.  

My prayer is, “Lord, open our eyes to see, our ears to hear, and our minds to comprehend.  Transform us and give us a Yachad (united, singular) heart.   Help us no longer straddle the fence, doubt, and live theoretically.  From this day forward, help us to live Your reality as enforcers of victory.   Help us to speak and walk with authority.  Make us victorious!  Amen!”

It would behoove us to remember that no ability is developed without training, practice, and application.   Step out and do not fear failure.   Your struggles are God’s fertilizer to make the fruit of your life grow.  Become what you are!  It is your time!

God bless you as you embark on your new spiritual journey into His fullness.

Lamentations 3:22-24- “The lovingkindnesses of Yahweh indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. ²³ They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. ²⁴ “Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I wait for Him.”

In Lamentations 3:22-24, read words that make my heart leap for joy as I am reminded that God’s love and mercy NEVER ends!   The compassion of God is without measure.  His love, mercy, and compassion are new every morning because He is faithful, and He is our portion.  We see the prophet’s broken heart in Lamentations 3:49 –“My eyes pour down unceasingly without stopping.”  Then he set a time on it – “Until Yahweh looks down from heaven and sees.”  The idea was that if God sees, He will.

1 Corinthians 3:21-23 contains an indispensable catalyst for right thinking, producing right living.

“…For ALL THINGS belong to you.” (v.21). He repeated it at the end of v.22. In v.23 -, “and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.”

We worry and fret over stuff.  We see our troubles, needs, lacks, powerlessness, and inadequacy, but we are reminded in this passage that Everything Belongs to Us! 

With every Promise, there is a Problem:

The problem is that we do not always believe it.  We believe it theoretically, but it is not who we are.   It is true that we profess because it is in the Bible, but we do not see it as ours experientially.  We do not see ourselves as worthy or spiritual enough.  Satan steals our hope and faith, and we relegate that truth to the super saints or to be enjoyed in eternity rather than now.

If it is true, that All Things belong to us because we belong to Christ and He belongs to God – Why Do We Struggle with The Promise?

It is vitally necessary that we have our minds reprogrammed.  The only way to do that is to guard our lips. Protect our eyes and ears (what we watch & listen to).  Be careful how and what you allow to come into your consciousness.

We have to change how we talk.  We must train ourselves to say what God says, not what we see or hear from the devil, others, or circumstances.   Say what God says.  We agree with God.  The reality is that whatever we agree with, we give power to.

The Bible says that Abraham believed in hope!  Not that he believed in the activity of hope, but that he believed with hope!  He hoped in what he believed.  It was hopeless & and impossible, But God Said, and he chose to agree with God.

Let me challenge you today to decide that no more defeatist words or thoughts will come out of your mouth!  Determine that if God said it, no matter what you see, you will agree with God even to death.  Nothing will shake you from your confidence in Him.

This is a new day of victory; rejoice!  May the Lord richly bless you today!

Malachi 1:6 – “A son honors his father, and a slave his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is the fear of Me?’ says Yahweh of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. But you say, ‘How have we despised Your name?”

In Malachi, God states a fact, “A son honors his father, and a salve his master. Then He came to the point.  He took their own words and challenged them.  He still does today!  “IF,” as you declare, I am your father, where is the honor you should be giving me?  He was not looking for words but the commitment of heart and obedience.   Words have power but can be empty if the heart is not in the words.  They continually said the words but kept back their hearts.

Next, He said, “You call me Lord (master); IF I am, then why don’t you have fear and respect for Me?”  They were dumbfounded.   After all, they attended church and said all the right things, wasn’t that what was required?

There was defiled food on the altar. What is that?  It was giving God the second best and leftovers.  Spare Change (money and heart).  Tipping living.  They were allowing the profane to thrive and not shutting it out.  Feasting at tables, they should be overturned.   God accepts no offering that is not pure (whole-heart commitment).

Malachi 2:17 – “You have wearied Me with your words.”  His statement is penetrating, “You say evil is good, and everybody and everything is okay.”  Calling evil good and good evil incurs God’s disfavor, not blessing.

Malachi 3 speaks of the tithe, but it is more than just the ten percent tithe. It is about obedience, commitment, love, faith, and revelation.   God invites us to put Him to the test and prove to ourselves and the world His faithfulness.

Obedience in faith produces an open heaven.

The blessings promised are “until it is Beyond Enough.”  Beyond enough indicates abundance and even lavishness.  But God goes beyond that and promises that the devourer will be rebuked and restrained.   That is a promise of protection from corruption.   That means we have pure offerings that invoke more blessings and greater protection.   It becomes a perpetual cycle.  For His Glory.

Money is not the object.  God is!  Fulfilling the purposes of God is.  The harvest is.  Functioning in power is.

Paul told Timothy to fight the good fight of faith through the personal prophecies he had received.  He later spoke of imparted gifts through the laying on of hands and prophecy.

We have a commission, and Malachi reveals a pathway to God’s person, provision, and power.  Timothy reveals how to function in that.

God is saying to us, “Give Me Your Whole Self.”  Give Me all you are and have, and I will give you Myself, all that I am and have.  I will open heaven, and NOTHING will be impossible or withheld from you. 

Our Part is Obedience and Faith.   We must train ourselves to expect My promises to become a reality NOW!  GOD will not receive superficial offerings but will bless and multiply pure-hearted offerings.  We must learn to Speak to our problems, the Word of God.  Give God your best, and He will do the rest.

May God richly bless you today and every day!

Job 33:14-16 – “Indeed God speaks once, or twice, yet no one perceives it. ¹⁵ In a dream, a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber in their beds, ¹⁶ Then He opens the ears of men, And seals in their discipline.”

Elihu, the fourth man who had come to Job, was chastising Job.  In his critique in Job 33:14-16, something interesting leaped off the page and captured my thoughts.

He spoke of a way God communicates with people.  God communicates in a dream and a night vision.  (Not the same). While we sleep, God speaks to our unencumbered spirits where there are no distractions.   There, in sleep, God opens our ears and seals our discipline.  

Job 34:3-4 – “For the ear tests words as the palate tastes food.  Let us choose for ourselves what is just; Let us know among ourselves what is good.”

The question is, what words do we test?  We consciously test people’s words but also God’s.  How do we know what is just and good?  God’s Words!  We fail to hear God’s words in dreams and night visions because we lack understanding and expectation.

Often, people think it is unusual to have dreams and visions, so they do not expect them.   However, since God always speaks, what better time to communicate than when our minds and spirits are not distracted?

If we go to bed expecting God to communicate, He will.  It may take time to recognize and respond. Sometimes, we are unaware that He has communicated, but the answer or wisdom emerges as we encounter various situations.  Where did it come from?  God.  God communicated to our sleeping minds. 

I suggest that every night, each one commits their heart and mind to hearing and seeing what God is communicating.   It will change your life.  We must hear God clearly and regularly.   This is yours from Him. Receive it. Expect it.  Utilize it.

Wisdom is available for everything.  James 1:5, why not ask for it? 

May the Lord bless you richly as you pursue Him and His purposes in this life!

Revelation 4:1 – “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven…”

While there are many paths I could take with this text, I only want to pursue one: “Heaven’s Open Door.”  A few years ago, as we were traveling, my wife and I were listening to some old Gospel Music, and “I’ve Never Been This Homesick Before” made its way into the rotation of songs, and this scripture came to mind. 

That song says, “I can see the Father standing at the door.”  That reminded me of the parable of the Prodigal Son and how the father saw the returning wayward son at a great distance and ran to meet him.  That suggests that he was always “looking” for the return of his wayward child and possibly standing in the doorway of his house looking over the way, hoping that his son, that which was lost, would return. 

I can imagine our Heavenly Father looking over His creation at the doorway of Heaven and longing for us to “return to Him with a whole heart.”  At times, I can almost hear the sobs of the Father and my Lord Jesus as they weep over the condition of mankind in this day that we live.

When I think of a “Door Open in Heaven,” several things come to mind.  That tells me there is “open access” to God’s throne through prayer and how we must take advantage of that invitation and opportunity.  It suggests that God eagerly awaits us to petition Him and is willing to dispatch help to us at a moment’s notice.

The picture that comes to my heart and mind is that of a loving parent watching over their children and ready to protect and nurture them if there is a need and willingness to let them spread their wings to learn to fly.  I sense that there is a “Door Open in Heaven,” and God is extending a personal invitation for us to “enter in” through the vehicle of prayer and commune with Him and receive from Him His supply.

Whatever you do as you go through this day, hold in your heart and mind that there is an “Open Door in Heaven” for you right now!  

I pray that God will be with you and bless you richly today and every day!

Romans 8:10-12 – “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. 12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh…” 

We are, in a biblical sense, the “Living Dead.”  I am not talking about Zombies, even though Hollywood seems obsessed with them.    When I say the “Living Dead,” I am talking about people who have “died to sin” and “risen to life” in Jesus Christ through the Power of the Blood.  It is a beautiful place to be – the Living Dead!

Paul informs the Roman believers that “IF” the Spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead lives in us, that same Spirit will give us Life in our mortal bodies.  We are then Dead but Alive, and that is because we are not controlled by the “flesh” but the “spirit.”  As a result, we are no longer under the Obligation to Live According to the Flesh. 

That leads me to more questions – “Why do we?  Why do we allow the Flesh to have so much power daily?  Why do we allow the Flesh to be such a dominant force in our lives?  WHY?  There can only be one of a few possibilities.

• We are uninformed as to our position and condition in Christ.
• We are willing participants with the Flesh.
• We are so underdeveloped spiritually that the devil easily sways and overcomes us.

None of those are conditions that are required or that we are obligated to.  When Jesus came, lived a sinless life, died sacrificially on the Cross, rose on the third day, and ascended to the Right Hand of the Father – the devil was defeated.  That is not a maybe or someday; somehow, when we all get to heaven, he will be – he is defeated now! 

Jesus said that All Power, All Authority in heaven was given to Him, and He has given that to us.  Therefore, we have authority and power over the devil, meaning that the Flesh is to be subject to the Spirit of God, not vice versa. We are under No Obligation to succumb to the temptations or whims of the flesh.  We are More than Conquerors through Jesus; We can do all things through Christ!  That is our Covenant, Heritage, and Promise from the Lord Himself, so why not employ it and enjoy it?

Therefore, as you go through this day, go in the strength of the Power of the Spirit of God and walk in Victory!  God bless you richly, is my prayer!