(this was a letter that I wrote to my dad to encourage and lift him up in God's truth)
Just before Moses' death, God gave him some last words to write down for the future generations. He says in Deuteronomy 30:19-20 - "I
call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set
before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life,
that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord
your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him,
for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell
in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, to give them."
Notice that God basically tells him "There will be many times in your life where you're going to have to make a choice: Life or Death. CHOOSE LIFE!"
I
know that might seem obvious, but I think a lot of Christians miss the
significance of this (I've sure missed it more than once in my own
life!).
Take the example of when God was leading His people into the promised land (Numbers 13).
When they finally reached the promised land, it wasn't sitting there on
a silver platter for them. They were going to have to "possess" it.
BUT, the land was already inhabited by giants. Moses sent out 12 spies
to survey the new land that was waiting for them. When the spies came
back to the camp to give their report of what they had found, God's Word
says that their report was "evil".
10 of the 12 spies basically said "The
land indeed is rich with resources, but it's inhabited by strong people
and giants, and the walls are large and tall. We are not able to go
against these people. They are too strong for us. We feel like
grasshoppers in the sight of these people".
But Caleb and Joshua said "Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to take it in battle!".
I wanna point out something very important: The "evil report" that was given by the 10 spies was pointing out the truth of the circumstances. The land WAS
filled with strong people and giants, and the likelihood of them taking
the land in their own power was slim. And they probably thought that
Caleb and Joshua were nuts (as most people in that circumstance would've
thought).
But
Caleb and Joshua were speaking/acting in faith. The reason that Caleb
and Joshua believed that they could possess the land is because they
believed in their God; the God that they had seen deliver them time and
time again in past impossible situations.
Whenever I hear people say things like "The doctor said there's no cure!",
it's really hard for me to listen to because it's not how our minds
have been reprogrammed to think (and it's not how God wants us to
think).
The
bible says that when we accept Jesus as our savior, we become a new
creation and that all our old traits have passed away and all things
have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The bible also says that we're not supposed to be conformed to this
world, but we're to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2).
God says that He created us in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:26). That means that we're supposed to succeed in this life by following His example. Romans 4:17 says that God "calls those things which do not exist as though they did".
And Jesus told us that we're to speak to the circumstances in our life
that don't line up with His will. He not only gives us an example with a
fig tree in Matthew 21:18-22, but he also uses the analogy of a mountain in the same chapter.
The
sickness that has come against your body is not God's will. It's a
mountain that can be (and should be) chopped down with words (God's
Words).
When
satan tried to tempt Jesus, he spoke to Him with lies and perverted
truths. And every time he did, Jesus responded by saying "It is
written!...". Jesus defeated the devil with WORDS! (God's Words)
There
are more verses in the bible than I would have time or space to
reference in this email, but I'd like to list a couple that directly tie
in with what I'm talking about (and these are to be spoken as
declarations over ourselves):
Romans 8:28: "Father,
Your Word says in Romans 8:28 that all things work together for good
for those who love You and are called according to Your perfect
purpose. That's ME!"
Jeremiah 29:11: "Lord,
Your Word says in Jeremiah 29:11 that You know the thoughts that You
think towards me. Thoughts of peace and good, and not of evil, and that
You desire to give me a future filled with hope."
Have you ever heard of "The finished works of Jesus"? The last words Jesus spoke before He gave His Spirit into The Father's hands were "It is finished!".
His declaration means that our healing, deliverance, prosperity,
victory, joy, peace and everything else that His Will desires for us to
have is already finished and ready for us to claim. We're not waiting
for God to heal you, He's waiting on you to receive it. Healing is
received in the same way that our salvation is received. We believe
that God's Word is true and we receive it.
Revelation 13 tells us that Jesus was "slain from the foundation of the world". So God provided everything we would need before we were ever born (our healing for example). 1 Peter 2:24 says "Who
His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being
dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by Whose stripes you were
healed". Before we were even born, Jesus paid for our healing!
When we "get saved", there's no magic token or anything that we can show people that says "Look, I'm saved!". The only "evidence" of our salvation is our "faith" (Hebrews 11:1 says "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.")
Some
people can receive their healing by faith and see it manifest
immediately. But others don't always see it the moment after they
believe and confess it. That's when it's critically important for us to
not say or do something that is contrary to the truth of God's Word
that we believed and confessed (because Proverbs 18:21 tells us that "Death and life are in the power of the tongue" - we can speak death by agreeing with the lie of the enemy, or we can speak life by agreeing with the truth of God's Word).
As
long as we live in this world, we're going to have times when the devil
will attack us. BUT, we can overcome him every time if we stand in
faith and exercise the authority that Jesus died and rose again to freely give
us.
In John 10:10, Jesus gives us a contrast/comparison of satan's plan vs God's plan: "The
thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am
come that they might have life, and that they might have it more
abundantly."
Jesus tells us in Luke 10:19, "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you."
We have to act in faith and stand in faith (Ephesians 6:13-17 says "Therefore
take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in
the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having
girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of
righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the
gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you
will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take
the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word
of God").
I could go on and on, so I'll stop and let you digest all of that, lol.
Bottomline: I love you more than I could ever say in words, and I desire for you the same thing that Jesus desires for you (3 John 1:2 - Beloved, I wish above all things that you may prosper and be in health, even as your soul prospers).
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