It’s been a while since my last post, but we come to the end in this short series, ‘Get Ready’. We spoke about access to God through Jesus and to all the power His death on the cross accomplished. We unpacked being anchored in His presence and that every word is true – steady through all the storms of life. What I have spoken about has been a people that YIELD, that lose themselves and find Him and surrender to His truth and love. But now we WIELD.
In Luke chapter four Jesus stands up in the synagogue and reads from Isaiah 61
‘“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He has ANOINTED Me
To preach the gospel to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”
All eyes were fixed on Him as He sat and then He said, ‘TODAY this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing’
TODAY we behold the Son of God, anointed – set apart, filled with the Holy Spirit. It is so interesting. Earlier in the book of Luke, God confirms Jesus’s sonship and that He has full access; then in Luke chapter three Jesus clings to every word that His Father has said and makes it through forty days of fasting and satanic temptation. He is anchored. AND now He stands up filled with the Holy Spirit and begins to minister in power and authority. He walks as God’s anointed.
When we peer into Revelation chapter four, we see the heavenly places. The throne of an Almighty God revealed. Indescribable, a sea of glass before it, radiating like a myriad of precious stones, elders bowing low crying out Holy, Holy. A clear view of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
What else do you see?
Can you see yourself seated in heavenly places with Christ? Can you see who you REALLY are in Christ as one BORN OF THE SPIRIT?
‘You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you’. Romans 8 v 9(a) NIV
If you are a born-again believer, you are NOT in the realm of the flesh. You are a spiritual being. First and foremost, you are of the Spirit. Your REALITY is a spiritual one. A supernatural one.
‘You are a Spiritual being – a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit].’ 2 Corinthians 5 v 17 AMP
Are you God? No. Are you in Him? Yes. Are you of Him? Yes.
In John, Jesus says that His Kingdom is not of this world and in Colossians that God has brought us into the Kingdom of the Son He loves. Translated into a Kingdom that is other wordly. Spiritual.
Why would it be strange to consider spiritual things?
Starting in Genesis and all the way through we see the supernatural. In the beginning the Spirit hovered over the deep and said, ‘Let there be light’ and light pierces the darkness. No wait it starts before that. Angels, actual angels fall from heaven ‘like lightning’. Real spiritual powers and beings. Enter creation and a serpent speaks, Enoch is taken by God, angels visit Abraham, fire falls from heaven and destroys cities, Jacob wrestles with the ‘Angel of the Lord’, a burning bush that is not consumed.
Ten plagues. I mean come on people – rivers to blood, frogs and darkness so thick you can’t see your hand! The Red Sea parts. When was the last time your pool parted so you could clean the bottom of it … right? Pillars of clouds and fire, manna, water from rock. Do I go on? I think I will. An angel visits Gideon and with only three hundred men an entire Assyrian army is thrown into disarray. Does this sound ordinary in anyway?
Elijah taken up by chariots of fire. An angel shutting the mouths of hungry lions and Daniel is unharmed. Three men walking in a fire that did not burn them and then the fourth man. Enter Jesus. A virgin birth, water to wine, blind eyes see, deaf ears hear, and the dead RAISED.
You are a spiritual being full of His power. The same power that raised Christ is in you. Born of the Spirit. Your spirit is ALIVE.
Is this too much for us to hear? Do we freak out and say no, no, no you are placing burdens on us, making us feel less because we don’t walk on water? Well, this is more than taking short cuts across lakes.
It is about FREEDOM. Living in POWER. His KINGDOM COME.
‘…[spiritual] life [is actively at work] in you.’ 2 Corinthians 4 v 12b AMP
What do you believe?
‘Yet we have the same spirit of faith as He had, who wrote in scripture, “I believed, therefore I spoke.” We also believe, therefore we also speak.’ 2 Corinthians 4 v 13 AMP
SAME SPIRIT OF FAITH AS HE HAD
Impossible?
Steve Backlund, a pastor from Valley Church affiliated with Bethel ministries, made this statement ‘when you are born again, you believe in Jesus but once you are born again you believe LIKE Jesus’.
Jesus said greater works you will do. He modelled what it was to live in an earthly tent called our bodies and yet live as a spiritual being, to SEE what He Father was doing and to do it. To walk anointed.
wield
Was chatting to my husband Mark about certain struggles and unpacking this. He had a tough week and was miserable. Feeling miserable was true to him but was it the truth? In the Psalms it says, ‘Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy’. What Mark was experiencing was true to him but not the truth. What would he believe?
I am facing a monster of a project at work. We have to hire and onboard six hundred odd new employees in the far north of Mozambique by the first two weeks of September working with some difficult characters and to be honest I have experienced great fear and despondency. What does the Word say? In the second book of Timothy in chapter seven it says that I do not have a spirit of fear but of love, power and a sound mind. What I was feeling and thinking was true to me but was it the truth? What would I believe?
‘Above all, lift up the [protective] shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.’ Ephesians 6 v 16, 17 AMP
Shield of faith up. WHAT DOES GOD SAY? Sword wielding. SPEAK TRUTH. Jesus spoke the Word. He modelled what it was to be renewed in the spirit of the mind speaking the Word in contrast to what was seen. We need to believe the truth – plant the Word into a fertile imagination. When you imagine you see. Through faith see the Word being true. See healing life flowing through to the one you pray for. See provision as you put in your tithe, declaring that He will protect you from the devourer. The Word has power. The Word declared to your thoughts, circumstances, in ministry has power. It is spiritual engagement. A two-edged sword friend. Wield it.
What is our expectation?
I had this interesting engagement with the Holy Spirit when pondering this message. Playing things over in my mind and I thought about how we often pray ‘Holy Spirit move in this place. Holy Spirit move in this place’ and I heard Him say ‘you move’.
Pardon?
‘You move in this place. See what I am doing. See where I am hovering. Get up and partner with Me. You move. See the unseen’. ‘
Jesus only did what He saw His Father doing. What is the Father doing? What is the Holy Spirit doing? Let us move in response to the Spirit fully confident that our spirits are filled with His power and able to execute on spiritual things. As a born again believer you get to say ‘let there be light’. To speak life, to take authority over principalities and powers, to speak healing.
What do you believe?
Fill your vision with Him.
What do you see?
TODAY, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing!
Prayer
Precious Holy Spirit help us to move from simply acknowledging Your Word, Your truth, or just agreeing with it. Holy Spirit that we may believe! Please help us to see the unseen active and operating on earth. Your Kingdom come, not only in our hearts and minds but expressed on earth so others may see Jesus. Your spiritual ones taking of what is heaven and bringing it to earth. Those in Christ, anointed to preach good news to the poor, heal the broken-hearted, proclaim liberty to the captives and sight to the blind. To set captives free and proclaim this is the year of the Lord!
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