Crosslines

We need to have an understanding of the difference between God's protection and becoming a martyr. Is it true that God protects at times, but at other times allows believers to be martyred? It is not that simple. As a believer, situations will arise that will try to take your life prematurely, but God always promises a way of escape. Being a martyr is a choice between you and heaven, but many do not know we have a choice. Jesus said, "No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily." God's promise of protection and deliverance stands. He does not want our life and purpose on this earth stolen. But when the time comes, and our purpose on earth has been completed, we have the choice to lay it down willingly. (Our apologies for the quality. This is an older recording from before we were releasing teaching online.)

Arrogance causes us not to ask God, even though it is God's nature to give. When we try to handle everything in our own ability and intellect, we close ourselves down from receiving. James 1 tells us to ask God for wisdom. God will never twist things on you, and He will give wisdom unconditionally if you ask. Our carnal mind demands to be in control, to know everything before we trust God to do anything outside of our comfort zone, but Proverbs tells us to "lean not on our own understanding." It's not our own, earthly understanding that will help us. Our wisdom has limits, but God's Spirit has none. Could it be there is no limitations with God but our ask? 

Nehemiah received an assignment from God, and the enemy sent people to attack what God had commissioned before they even started building. The enemy tries to come and beat all the good out of what God has given you to accomplish. He wants to burn you so bad that you never think about doing ministry again. But we cannot allow the enemy to scorch the goodness of what God has given us. Even harsh reality can be overcome by commanding and forbidding. Truly, the joy of the Lord is our strength. 

Protect everything good in your life. There is an attack that comes like a plant being exposed to too much sun. Everything becomes scorched at once. The devil will even try to steal the good memories and feelings from your past. This is warfare. It is like putting your hand on a hot stove. The enemy will try to keep you numb, but keep your joy. Fight for your joy, and the goodness of God will quickly return.

You have to give God something to work with to win in spiritual warfare. Think of the boy who gave Jesus his lunch. Jesus adds to and multiplies what we give Him, but the devil subtracts and divides. Many times, we are so consumed with what we need from God that it never once crosses our mind what God wants from us. Could it be that giving something you already have is the key to what you are asking God for? There are no excuses with God when He is offering us everything in return. 

Do you know how to use what God has given you so you don't end up powerless? A promise from God is something God does, but authority from God is something we do with what God has given us. Authority is us taking the Word of God and doing something with it. God intends us to use the sword, which is the Word of God, to defeat the enemy.  This is how we move from ignorance and powerlessness to growing in our God given authority.  

There are different arenas in which we can choose to do spiritual warfare. There is civilian (agricultural), courtroom, and battlefield warfare. God truly wants prayer to be preventative in our lives. We can have things theologically that we don't yet have experientially. Intercession is meant to bring what we have theologically into reality. Jesus and His 12 never experienced sickness, tragedy, or loss. They were always on the offensive, solving other people's problems, healing the sick, and casting out demons. God desires for us to live in a place of security and safety so we can go out and fight other people's battles, rather than being stuck fighting our own. 

With Rebekah and Isaac and the blessing about to be passed down to the wrong son, there might be a better course of action for Rebekah to have taken, but at the very least, she acted on the Word of God that had been given to her. No action would have been the worst thing she could have done. 

Can we trust Jesus, pray, and do nothing? We all know that action out of the flesh causes problems, but does a Word from God provoke action in us? A group discussion on the theology of Rebekah and Jacob and the "ethics" of what they did to Isaac and Esau to yank the wheel of history toward the Word God had spoken at Esau and Jacob's birth. 

In certain situations, the Bible commands us to be shrewd. Rebekah with Jacob is a timeless example. The Bible commands us to be shrewd towards evil, in emergencies, and when something is about to go down wrong. If you want to have success against evil, you will need to become shrewd. You must have the ability to outthink your enemy. Christianity is not a competition about who has the best ethics. It is about furthering the kingdom of God in the face of evil.