Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot; 1 Peter 1:18-19
It's a sorrowful thing to dismiss the power in the blood of Jesus because of ignorance. As a Believer, you can't. The blood is one of the most important things to know about in our relationship with Jesus, because without it, none of the promises in God's Word would be ours. That's why in this post I want to give you some information to bring you into the light on this subject.
From the above verse, we know the blood of Jesus is precious. It's something to be treasured. Why? Because there is never going to be anything else like it. Jesus' blood will not be shed again, and it will not be reproduced in this earth. It was shed once, and that one time was enough to cover all the sins we'd ever commit and bring into the Believer's possession all the promises of God. We need to prize the blood of Jesus and what it's accomplished for us.
The blood of Jesus has redeemed us, or freed us, from sin. (Ephesians 1:7) In the Old Covenant, a high priest would enter in to the Holy of Holies to offer the atoning sacrifice for his own sins as well as for the Israelites once ever year. The atoning blood of these sacrifices only covered the people's sins, which was why the ritual had to be repeated annually. There was always a reminder of their iniquities hanging over their heads. The annual sacrifice. But Jesus, a Lamb without blemish and without spot, being our High Priest, offered up Himself as our sacrifice into the Holy of Holies of heaven, once on the cross to redeem us eternally. Let me explain it this way. Whereas the Israelites had a reminder of their sins, the blood of Jesus has completely washed away our sin. It's no longer there. As far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
1John 1:9 says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The Israelites had to have an annual sacrifice to receive forgiveness and cleansing. Jesus only had to shed his blood once and we have an everlasting flow of cleansing blood washing us free of all iniquity. Now don't mistake me and think that gives you a free right to sin. No! It doesn't! We are to desire to be pleasing to our Father in heaven who has loved us so much that He's provided a way for us to be forgiven and freed from sin and cleansed of all unrighteousness so we could come before Him boldly without any sense of guilt, shame, or inferiority. Because of the blood of Jesus we can stand in Almighty God's presence and ask for whatever we may need and know that he has heard us and is willing to give to us what we've requested because we're clean in His sight. That is nothing to think lightly of. Jesus' blood differs completely from that of goats and bulls, for His blood that was shed was not atoning blood but remitting blood, and purges our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. (Hebrews 9:12 AMP) It's not giving us a right to sin, but is giving us a right to live on this earth in the presence of God the Father. This is only one thing the blood accomplished. There's so much more!
-We've been purchased by the blood of Jesus. (Acts 20:28) In Genesis, when Adam committed high treason against God by bowing his knee to Satan and giving the devil the authority over the earth that God had given him, man's nature, which was that of God's very own, was changed to the nature of Satan. But when Jesus shed His blood, he purchased us back to God. When we are born again, our nature is changed and we are born of God.
-We've been cleansed by the blood, as I've stated already, and are no longer stained by sin. (Revelation 1:5)
-We've been emboldened by the blood to come before God's throne of grace ( Hebrews 10:19)
-We've been reconciled unto God by the blood of Jesus. (Ephesians 2:13) We have fellowship with Him.
-We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. (Revelation 12:11) Satan has been defeated by the blood of Jesus. And when he attacks us with trials and our minds with doubt, we can throw his defeat in his face by testifying what the blood of Jesus has accomplished on our behalf. Our sure and already gotten victory.
-We've been justified by the blood of Jesus. (Romans 5:9 AMP) Which means we've been brought into right relationship with God. And lastly, but certainly not least,
-We have peace by the blood of Jesus. (Colossians 1:20)
These are just a few major points about what the blood of Jesus has accomplished for us. I encourage you to go through the Word of God and study these scriptures and find out even more. I'd love to hear what the Lord shares with you. Check back often, because next time I'm going to post on one of my favorite topics about what the blood has given to Believers. The Blessing.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Sunday, October 9, 2011
David: A Champion of God (A Man of Victory-Part 3)
And he took his staff in hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine. 1 Samuel 17:40
A while back, I began a short series about David. He was just a boy going to take his brothers some substance from home while they were on the battlefield and he ended up participating in the battle. Goliath, a giant and an enemy of Israel, came out by day and night, taunting the Israelites, trying to persuade one of them to duel with him, and David was the only one courageous enough and with enough faith in God to take Goliath up on his offer. The outcome of their duel would determine the fate of the Israelites.
Now from the above passage, we see that David didn't go to Goliath with the usual tools of warfare. He went with some rocks, a staff, and a sling. Then he went up to that Philistine as if he were the most confident man in the world; in a way, he was. The Bible says in verse 42 of the 17th chapter of Samuel, that when Goliath saw David, he disdained him. And in verse 43 it states that Goliath cursed David by his gods.
Verse 44-"And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field."
Now imagine yourself standing in front of a man heads taller than you, older than you, more experienced than you with that sword in his hand, bedecked in armor, angry and cursing you by his gods, and finally stating, very convincingly I might add, that when you go over by him, he's going to give your flesh to the birds and the animals to eat. Would you be shaking in your boots? Most men would probably hear what Goliath had to say, look down at that little sling in their hand, drop it, and run for their lives. But Goliath didn't scare David one bit. If anything, he made him mad. Remember, David knew he had a covenant with the God of Israel and he had faith that God was with him.
David says, verses 45-47-"Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands."
I want you to see what David's doing here. He's talking right back at his enemy, and he's confessing the outcome of their duel. David is confessing his victory. As Believers, we have an enemy, his name is Satan, and like David, we have every right to talk right back at that devil and confess the outcome of whatever situation we may be facing. Instead of allowing him to put those thoughts of doubt and unbelief and fear in our minds, we can say, The Word of God says in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 that God always causes me to triumph. Now it may look bad, but I win. I confess my victory. The Lord will deliver me! Because He's said so.
Jesus said in Mark 11:23 that we can have what we say. (Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea: and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.) There's more to it though, than just speaking what you hope will come to pass. See, you have to believe it in your heart that it's already so. That's what faith is. Faith is now, not hoping sometime in the future it will be. Faith says when you're feeling sick, By Jesus' stripes I was healed, and if I was healed, I am healed right now even if it doesn't look like it. Faith doesn't go by what your physical eyes see, but by the eye of faith. We have to learn to see with our eyes of faith. When David was looking at Goliath, he was looking through his eye of faith. He knew that he knew that he knew that God was going to deliver him. But how do we get that way? How do we see through our eye of faith instead of by what our physical eyes are showing us? It's as simple as this. We allow the Word of God to put an image in our hearts.
Don't stop reading now and think I'm crazy, because I'm not. This is one of the things that makes your faith work.
"Well, if I confess it enough, it's supposed to work," one might say. But that's not necessarily true. If you're not believing what your confessing, you're not going to be speaking those words in faith. There will be doubt in your heart, and Jesus said that when we believe we have what we say we'll have it. Not if we just think we might have it, it will come to pass. Do you see the difference?
The moment you felt a pain in your body, doubt would come up in your heart and any faith you had would be gone. Your victory won't come with doubt.
The proper way of putting your faith to work would be to get that scripture your standing on, in this case it will be 2 Peter 2:24, sitting down with it, reading it over and over, thinking about it in your mind, By His stripes I was healed, and allowing that word to paint an image in your inner self of you being healed from whatever sickness you have. Then once that image is there, you speak it out and speak it out and speak it out until it's manifested. And it will be. God doesn't lie. His Word is truth. Jesus healed you when He took those stripes on His back and shed His blood. We just have to take it because that enemy of ours doesn't want us to have it. We have to take it by faith.
So getting back to David, he saw himself as a covenant man. When he stood before Goliath, he saw himself defeating that lion and bear all because of God and that image in his heart built his faith. He was fully persuaded that God was going to deliver Goliath into his hand. And when you're operating this working, living faith, fear won't be able to keep you back. The Bible says that after David spoke Goliath went to meet David in their duel and David hasted and ran toward that army of the Philistines to meet Goliath and he hadn't even gotten out his stone yet! David ran, pulled out a rock from his pack, put it in his sling, shot the stone, and it hit the giant right in the head! Like a bullet that rock was, sinking into Goliath's forehead, and Goliath fell face down. David had won.
In closing I want to say this. Know your covenant with God. Walk by faith in His Word. Allow that Word to put an image inside you. Confess your victory. And act on your faith. You will be a champion of God.
A while back, I began a short series about David. He was just a boy going to take his brothers some substance from home while they were on the battlefield and he ended up participating in the battle. Goliath, a giant and an enemy of Israel, came out by day and night, taunting the Israelites, trying to persuade one of them to duel with him, and David was the only one courageous enough and with enough faith in God to take Goliath up on his offer. The outcome of their duel would determine the fate of the Israelites.
Now from the above passage, we see that David didn't go to Goliath with the usual tools of warfare. He went with some rocks, a staff, and a sling. Then he went up to that Philistine as if he were the most confident man in the world; in a way, he was. The Bible says in verse 42 of the 17th chapter of Samuel, that when Goliath saw David, he disdained him. And in verse 43 it states that Goliath cursed David by his gods.
Verse 44-"And the Philistine said to David, Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the field."
Now imagine yourself standing in front of a man heads taller than you, older than you, more experienced than you with that sword in his hand, bedecked in armor, angry and cursing you by his gods, and finally stating, very convincingly I might add, that when you go over by him, he's going to give your flesh to the birds and the animals to eat. Would you be shaking in your boots? Most men would probably hear what Goliath had to say, look down at that little sling in their hand, drop it, and run for their lives. But Goliath didn't scare David one bit. If anything, he made him mad. Remember, David knew he had a covenant with the God of Israel and he had faith that God was with him.
David says, verses 45-47-"Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands."
I want you to see what David's doing here. He's talking right back at his enemy, and he's confessing the outcome of their duel. David is confessing his victory. As Believers, we have an enemy, his name is Satan, and like David, we have every right to talk right back at that devil and confess the outcome of whatever situation we may be facing. Instead of allowing him to put those thoughts of doubt and unbelief and fear in our minds, we can say, The Word of God says in 2 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14 that God always causes me to triumph. Now it may look bad, but I win. I confess my victory. The Lord will deliver me! Because He's said so.
Jesus said in Mark 11:23 that we can have what we say. (Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea: and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.) There's more to it though, than just speaking what you hope will come to pass. See, you have to believe it in your heart that it's already so. That's what faith is. Faith is now, not hoping sometime in the future it will be. Faith says when you're feeling sick, By Jesus' stripes I was healed, and if I was healed, I am healed right now even if it doesn't look like it. Faith doesn't go by what your physical eyes see, but by the eye of faith. We have to learn to see with our eyes of faith. When David was looking at Goliath, he was looking through his eye of faith. He knew that he knew that he knew that God was going to deliver him. But how do we get that way? How do we see through our eye of faith instead of by what our physical eyes are showing us? It's as simple as this. We allow the Word of God to put an image in our hearts.
Don't stop reading now and think I'm crazy, because I'm not. This is one of the things that makes your faith work.
"Well, if I confess it enough, it's supposed to work," one might say. But that's not necessarily true. If you're not believing what your confessing, you're not going to be speaking those words in faith. There will be doubt in your heart, and Jesus said that when we believe we have what we say we'll have it. Not if we just think we might have it, it will come to pass. Do you see the difference?
The moment you felt a pain in your body, doubt would come up in your heart and any faith you had would be gone. Your victory won't come with doubt.
The proper way of putting your faith to work would be to get that scripture your standing on, in this case it will be 2 Peter 2:24, sitting down with it, reading it over and over, thinking about it in your mind, By His stripes I was healed, and allowing that word to paint an image in your inner self of you being healed from whatever sickness you have. Then once that image is there, you speak it out and speak it out and speak it out until it's manifested. And it will be. God doesn't lie. His Word is truth. Jesus healed you when He took those stripes on His back and shed His blood. We just have to take it because that enemy of ours doesn't want us to have it. We have to take it by faith.
So getting back to David, he saw himself as a covenant man. When he stood before Goliath, he saw himself defeating that lion and bear all because of God and that image in his heart built his faith. He was fully persuaded that God was going to deliver Goliath into his hand. And when you're operating this working, living faith, fear won't be able to keep you back. The Bible says that after David spoke Goliath went to meet David in their duel and David hasted and ran toward that army of the Philistines to meet Goliath and he hadn't even gotten out his stone yet! David ran, pulled out a rock from his pack, put it in his sling, shot the stone, and it hit the giant right in the head! Like a bullet that rock was, sinking into Goliath's forehead, and Goliath fell face down. David had won.
In closing I want to say this. Know your covenant with God. Walk by faith in His Word. Allow that Word to put an image inside you. Confess your victory. And act on your faith. You will be a champion of God.
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