Mark 6:47-48 – “As night fell, the boat was in the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on the land. The wind was against the disciples, and He could see that they were straining at the oars, trying to make headway.”

A reality gripped my consciousness as I read, prayed, and pondered the Word of God today.  It was a reminder that we all need to be reminded of frequently.

Something powerful unfolded in Mark’s account of feeding the 5,000 with two loaves and five small fish.   After the miracle, Jesus sent the disciples away to sail to the other side of the sea.   He sent them into life without His physical presence.   This was a teaching experience.  We must learn to function in His authority in life.

Mark 6:47-48 is a powerful reminder of the realities of life.   Life is filled with adversity.  When the winds of adversity come, there are two distinct possibilities for the followers of Jesus.   What was happening to them depicts us too frequently.   We strain at the oars, trying to make headway.  Human effort produces human results, which are always inadequate or deficient.

Jesus saw them!   He knew they were struggling!   He could have spoken to the storm and calmed the waters from the shore but didn’t. Why?  The storm was a classroom session.  They were missing a revelation that we must embrace to walk victorious.

Jesus came to them in their darkest hour, saying, “Don’t yield to fear. Have courage. It’s really Me – I AM!”   He got in the boat, and immediately, there was calm.  This left them awestruck!  Their natural thinking blocked the revelation that would have transported them through the storm.  Mark 6:52 reveals, “Their doubting hearts had not grasped His authority and power over all things in spite of just having witnessed the miraculous feeding.”

They saw it but saw it not as an example of the authority He gives the believer but as something He did.   

• We forget that He said the works He did and greater works we are to do.  
• We forget that He said ALL authority over the powers of darkness is ours through Him. 
• We forget that He said NOTHING is impossible to the one who believes!

Therefore, we strain at the oars with human natural effort and ability rather than with the tools He has given.  Victory is in Who He is, What He says, and Who we are in Him.  The victory is in believing Him!

What path will we take? Will we strain at the oars or roll it all onto Him? Will we try to do it, or will we be it through Him?   It is in what we see and perceive!  We are more than conquerors IN Him.  We are weak humans with inadequate ability without Him.   Which will we be?

Choices are ours; choices have benefits and consequences, so choose wisely.

Lord, help us to cease straining at the oars of life in our own strength and allow Him to be our strength!

Deuteronomy 27:9-10 – “Then Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel: “Be quiet and pay attention, Israel. Today, you have become the people of the Lord your God. ¹⁰ You must obey him and keep his commandments and statutes that I am giving you today.”

As I read, prayed, and meditated on the Word, I was challenged to the core of my being.  In Deuteronomy, I saw some revelatory things.   In Deuteronomy 27:9, Moses made an interesting statement at the end of the 40 years of wilderness: “Today, you have become the people of the LORD your God.”   It is interesting that he deemed them the people of God not while in Egypt or after deliverance (a type of salvation) but after the wilderness experience.

In Deuteronomy 28, we have the blessings and curses associated with God’s commandments. Verse 2 – “ALL these blessings will come to you in abundance IF you obey the LORD your God.”    In verse 15, we see the converse. “But if you ignore… then…”   In verse 34 is the revelation, “You will go insane from seeing all this…”   The calamity resulting from disobedience will drive you mad.

In Deuteronomy 29:9, we read the promise of success in EVERYTHING that comes with explicit obedience.  In Deuteronomy 30:1-2, we find God’s promise to reverse the curse when we return to Him.

Deuteronomy 30:6 reveals, “The LORD your God will also cleanse your heart and the hearts of your descendants (generational blessing) so that you may love Him with all your mind and being and so that you may live.”    It is like the song, the longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows.   The more that I love Him, the more love he bestows.

The ability to love God totally requires the work of the Holy Spirit, which transforms the heart and purifies our minds.   The promised blessings and presence of God are for NOW!

Deuteronomy 30:11-20 gives a fantastic revelation.  This place of promise and presence is attainable NOW!   In verse 12, we read, “It is not in heaven, as though one must say, ‘Who will go up to heaven to get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?'”   In verse 14, we read, “For this thing is near you – it is in your mouth and in your mind so that you can do it.”

Then, in verse 15, we discover, “Look! I have set before you TODAY life and we prosperity on the one hand and death and disaster on the other.”   We have choices!  We choose!   God offers we choose!

Jesus’ model prayer includes, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done ON EARTH as or Just As it is done in heaven.”    This is not for the future but for now! It is present tense, not someday!

We complain about our difficulties and times of struggle, but remember this – You can’t get to the Promised Land without going through the wilderness. In the wilderness, we become the people of God.   We become kings and priests.  We mature and manifest Him.  We learn victory through struggle and become more than conquerors.   The trials are just bumps in the road, not roadblocks.

So, I encourage you to “Choose life!”   God has set the table and is at the end of the wilderness! Victory is ours, for He has purchased it for us!

Let’s determine that we are going to live in Explicit Obedience and enjoy the fullness of His Promises.

Deuteronomy 11:8-9 – “Now pay attention to all the commandments^[r] I am giving you today, so that you may be strong enough to enter and possess the land where you are headed, ⁹ and that you may enjoy long life in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.” 

As I read, prayed, and pondered the Word of God today, something from Deuteronomy and John meshed and brought conviction and hope to my heart.   In Deuteronomy, God repeatedly said, “Pay attention to my words, commands, and instructions.” The provision for obedience and the penalty for disobedience produced a sense of awe in my heart.

Notice the emphasis on “All” in the text.    Then He gives the provision of that command – “So that you may be strong enough to enter the land the LORD promised to give your ancestors.”  Just as there are generational curses, there are generational blessings.  Those blessings are not earned but obtained by obedience!  The dreams and promises in my heart may see their fulfillment in my grandchildren if they walk in obedience to the Word!

Deuteronomy 11:13-15, the promise for obedience is the rain of refreshing.  In verses 11:26-28, there is the revelation that it is our choice to live in blessing or curse.   Obedience is not a rigid compliance to a set of rules, but out of love for God, we become one with Him and manifest Him.

The blessings in this life for living harmoniously with His directives are incredible.  But even more remarkable is the Eternal Promise of a life lived in harmony with His Word.  John Chapters 14-15 are filled with promises that should be our daily meditation and objective.

The victory won at the Cross opens the door for the obedient believer on a level few attain. Why is that the case?   Often, it is self-condemnation and a flawed comparison to Jesus.   We see Him as God and relegate His earthly ministry to Him being God.   We forget that He was 100% God but also 100% man.   He walked in complete obedience, empowered by the Holy Spirit, demonstrating the life that is possible for us.

• In Him, we can do all things!  
• In Him, we are overcomers.  
• In Him, we have authority over evil and over our emotions.  
• In Him, we represent and manifest the Word in a visible demonstration of Authority!

Today, each of us should reconsider our condition and reexamine our expectations.   We should place everything on the altar to Him and die to ourselves so that we can live to Him in total obedience and enjoy His total provision.

Today, let’s Pay Attention to God’s Word and Words and follow the directive and leading of the Holy Spirit into the fullness of our Victory in Jesus!

2 Chronicles 7:13-15 – “When I close up the sky so that it doesn’t rain, or command locusts to devour the land’s vegetation, or send a plague among my people, ¹⁴ if my people, who belong to me, humble themselves, pray, seek to please me, and repudiate their sinful practices, then I will respond from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. ¹⁵ Now I will be attentive and responsive to the prayers offered in this place.”

The Holy Spirit quickened my heart to consider “Who Jesus Is,” not just what He does.   I contemplated and meditated on Who He Is, What He Has Promised, and the condition of our present world.   I thought about the war in the heavenlies and our role in that struggle.

Over the past few months, there have been what seems to be an excessive number of people I know (believers) who have been taken home.   The sense in my heart is that God is about to do something incredible in the face of the terrible works of the devil.   

God seems to have decided to allow those (some too young) to come home to protect them from what’s coming.  Yet, others remain to experience the chaos and the outpouring of the Spirit.   I do not believe that is without purpose.   

It means that those of us still here have a specific assignment.   I believe that means we need to be alert and carefully listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.   This means we need to pay careful attention to our assignments, which include equipping, training, encouraging, and interceding.   Moses was on his face before God in intercession for 40 days and 40 nights.   2 Chronicles 7:14 is our commandment and answer.

Jesus is the “only” answer.   He is the Light of the world.   As believers, we are not to be fearful of what’s coming.   The world has reached a new depth of depravity.   The Biblical descriptions of the Last Days are so apparent that a blind person could see them. 

Tragically, too much of the church is compromised, and its focus is numbers, programs, and notoriety.  Individuals are adopting the lifestyles of the world and justifying their actions.   When Jesus lives in the heart as not just the forgiver (Savior) but as the LORD, our lives undergo a radical transformation, and the Ten Commandments become a natural outflow of life.

We are to love others as ourselves and love the LORD with our all.   All selfishness must die.   Shaking and revival are here.  The only question becomes, “Which camp will we be found in?”    Victory is for today!

Lord, help us to allow Jesus to be the Only Answer we need for today’s problems!  

Numbers 33:50-53 – “The Lord spoke to Moses in the rift valley plains of Moab along the Jordan, across from Jericho. He said: ⁵¹ “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ⁵² you must drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images, all their molten images, and demolish their high places. ⁵³ You must dispossess the inhabitants of the land and live in it, for I have given you the land to possess it.” 

The Holy Spirit reminded me of the importance of practicing the four keys to victory in life.   That was found in our text, Numbers 33.  Those four Keys are Drive Out, Cleanse, Dispossess, and Possess.

Those four elements are keys to a life of spiritual fullness.  When the Children of Israel transitioned from wilderness wandering (a type of life of sin before Jesus), they were instructed to “drive out” the occupants of their place of promise.

Sadly, too many modern believers try to coexist with the devil.  In the world, we rub shoulders with evil, but in our place of promise (hearts), we cannot!    We must “drive out” all that is not holy from our hearts. We cannot be double-hearted, but our hearts must be free of the forces of darkness.

Next, they were to cleanse the land.   That cleansing involved removing the carved images (idols – all that hold the heart that is not God).  They were to remove all the molten images and demolish the high places of idol worship.   God must be the only occupant of our hearts.  We cannot live with one foot in the world and its offering and one in God and His Kingdom.  

The directive is to “Love God with our ALL, body, soul, spirit, and strength!”  In my East Texas lingo, it is “Be all in or not in!”  God does not share our hearts with the world.

One would think that driving them out would satisfy the third directive to “Dispossess the inhabitants of the land.”    However, since God worded it the way He did, there must be something beyond the initial eviction to note.     Driving out implies the initial act, and dispossessing indicates the legal action of not just evicting and cleansing but serving notice that our hearts are under new management.

We Dispossess to Possess.  Once the initial act or experience of Salvation comes, there must be a thorough cleansing and purifying of our hearts, minds, and hands.   The Bible reveals that a house left unfilled invites the old tenants to return with a larger contingent of evil.  We drive out, cleanse, and dispossess (serve legal notice), then we possess the place of promise and the promise.

Trying to coexist with the devil is to fail to become!   In the world, we work with and associate with evil.   We are to separate from it.   We are different.   But in our hearts, we must seek to be pure!   Only through the Holy Spirit’s purifying can we be thoroughly cleansed.

Whenever a hint of greed, envy, jealousy, lust, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, ungratefulness, or selfishness reveals itself, we must cleanse our hearts.   We drive out those thoughts, feelings, and emotions, dispossessing them, and by God’s grace, possess our hearts in purity.   God can trust us with His power, presence, and provision in that purity.

When we make that full surrender of Everything to Him, He opens the door to His fullness.   Remember, the kingdom is ours.  The promise is ours.  The provision is ours.  The power is ours.   Jesus said, “Come unto Me, and I will…”

Are you tired of feeling like the devil seems to be getting the upper hand?   Then, drive out, cleanse, dispossess, and possess.   Simple?  Only through God!  Is it possible? Only Through God.  We have been called to Abundant Life.  Why not have it NOW?

Have a victorious day Possessing the Promises God has made to you!