John 14:12-14 - “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it."
As I sat in the quietness of my living room this morning, writing in my journal, praying, taking time to sit & listen to the Holy Spirit... I was reminded of a story.
A close friend of mine in college was a new believer. She had recently accepted Jesus as her Lord and jumped whole-heartedly into a relationship with Him. She began to dive into the Word of God. She began to seek Him with all her heart. Her simple passion and love for Jesus was refreshing. It was innocent. It was pure. You could see it in her zealousness, she was hungry for more of this Jesus that she had just met.
She began to devour the Word, learning and reading about Jesus, memorizing scripture, learning the stories and acts that Jesus did when He was on earth. She came from a divorced home. I remember her telling me of how her mom dabbled in other things, things that did not line up with the Word of God. Her mom would prophesy to her about strange things, things that did not line up with the Word. Now, her brother had been into drugs and hung out with the wrong group of people. Sometimes when she looked at him, she was sure that he was demon possessed. The look in his eyes, the way he did things, he was most definitely off balance and not right.
As I remember the story, one day she was at her mom's house. Her brother had just arrived, and through a series of events began to run at her with a knife. She ran through the house trying to get away from him as he chased her with this knife. As she slammed a door behind her, it was all that she could do to keep the door closed from him pushing it in. In her desperation, when most people would call upon "Mom" or "Dad" for help, being from a broken and unstable home, she did not do that. As a new believer, the only name she knew to call on was the name of Jesus! She stood on the other side of that door, as her brother was trying to push it in and all she knew to do was yell, at the top of her lungs, "JESUS! JESUS! JESUS!" She continued to yell, "JESUS!"
The next thing she knew, her brother was gone. He had fled the house, dropped the knife. Ran out through the garage door and was running down the side of the road. He had fled! At the name of JESUS, he could no longer be in the presence of her yelling it.
James 4:7 - Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Ephesians 6:12-13 - For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places]. 13. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
That was but ONE of the stories she had of a PERSONAL experience of spiritual warfare. But what a powerful reminder about the POWER in the NAME OF JESUS! Above ALL names, there is POWER in that name!! As we see above in John 14, Jesus himself was talking and reminded us, "And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." He said, whatever we ask in HIS name, that is the name of JESUS that he would do it! I take this so seriously that even at the end of a prayer, I don't say, "In your Name, Amen." I make sure to say, "In JESUS Name, Amen!" Such power in that ONE word, in that ONE name, Jesus!
Whether on an airplane, Psalm 91:5 reminds us, "You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day." I want my relationship with Jesus to be so close that at the FIRST sign of danger, my IMMEDIATE and first response would be to yell, "JESUSSSSSSSS!!!!!"
Psalms 91 is such a GREAT promise for protection! I like to personalize this... check out how powerful the Word of God is, in regards to our safety. This is verses 7-12.
A thousand may fall at my side, And ten thousand at my right hand; But it shall not come near ME! .... Because I have made the Lord, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, my dwelling place, No evil shall befall me, Nor shall any plague come near my dwelling; For He (God Himself!) shall give His angels charge over ME, To keep me in all my ways. In their hands they shall bear me up, Lest I dash my foot against a stone.
What GREAT news!!! I remember the first time, as a new Christian, that I learned about these verses! I was in Costa Rica, away from home. I woke up in the middle of the night and there were cockroaches in my BED! YES! My bed! Cockroaches! Crawling by my ears, crawling by my head. I was petrified! I immediately freaked out, began crying and called my mom. As she woke up in the middle of the night to answer the phone, I began crying and just said, "Mom, there are cockroaches in my bed!" I was bawling. Mom directed me to Psalm 91. :) What comfort that brought me. That was the last night there were ever cockroaches in my bed.
Whatever it is that you are doing, take the Word, take Psalm 91 and allow the WORD, allow GOD Almighty and the ANGELS that He has given charge over YOU, to be your protection!
Be blessed today!
I would say Good Morning... but it's really good afternoon. I guess if you are reading this at night, Good Evening! :) Buenos Noches. How are you doing this fine day? I am blessed. My alarm went off this morning and after snoozing about 3 times, I finally shut it off all together and slept. AND, my boy continued to sleep too!! God is SO good to me to give me such an awesome boy!! We have been very thankful for Grandma & Grandpa's Christmas money to him. :) He has gotten a lot of new clothes! Yippee! Thanks Grandma & Grandpa! Your gift is coming in handy now, when it is needed!! :)
Well... there is always more and more to be found in the Word. It is very humbling! Just by looking up the original Greek or Hebrew meanings to just a single WORD can bring a whole new meaning to a verse!! Like, for example.. we aren't going to plant on this verse... but check out this verse and see what you think: "The conies are but a feeble folk, yet they make their houses in the rocks." Proverbs 30:26. So... what is your thought about that verse? First of all, what in the world is a coney? Second, "feeble"... I guess they are weak? And my thoughts continued with this, if these weak animals, I pictures older people that couldn't walk good... if these weak animals are walking in the cliffs and rocks and mountains... why? Why would they do that, they could fall?? Well... looking up ONE word changed the whole meaning! In this verse, the use of the word "feeble" means the following: mighty, vast, countless, strong in number, numerous. Whoa! So my original picture of little, old, animals walking with canes and almost falling off the cliff was a totally wrong picture! And, coney... I thought goat. But, no. When I looked up coney... coney is a rabbit, a rock badger.
We could go on and on. But all that was just BONUS for you! :) hehe! Just some things I found interesting. We'll call it some "extra credit" study. :) But wasn't it interesting?! Would you have thought the same as me about "feeble" and "coney"??
Let's get rolling in our word for the day.
Proverbs 30:32 - If you have done foolishly in exalting yourself, or if you have thought evil, lay your hand upon your mouth.
Proverbs 31:26 - She opens her mouth in skillful and godly Wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness [giving counsel and instruction].
Let's look at some of the Hebrew definitions for the word "foolishly" in Proverbs 30:32. It could read like this: If you have fallen down, become faint or lost one's strength, If you have drooped or faded as leaves on a vine fall, If you have lacked in firmness, resilience, vigor or energy becoming stupid & dull - My take on that... if you have screwed up. If you have really messed up. Your shoulders are drooped over. You know you have messed up. You have sinned, you have fallen short. Maybe it is a sin that has continued to pop it's head up and you just want to overcome it. You feel low. You feel upset. Disappointed. You just don't know how you can overcome this on your own strength. You have let yourself down and you feel like you have let God down too. How could you mess up again. That word... again... ringing through your ears. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!
If you have exalted yourself, put yourself above others, bragged on yourself, given yourself a better position than others... you have become first and others last. If you have thought evil....the Hebrew further describes as this: If you have fixed your thoughts upon, considered, purposed, planned, devised, plotted with evil intent. If you have done these things... if you are considering or planning out evil, lay your hand upon your mouth. Why would you lay your hand upon your mouth? Seriously? Why lay your hand on your mouth?
WORDS WORDS WORDS! At this point you have only gotten to the "thinking" stage. Your words have not been released. They have not been given LIFE! As soon as WORDS are released, they bring life! They either bring life or death. Your words either employee the action of angels or demons. If the words of evil that have been going on in your mind... that you have been considering... if those words come out, you then employee demons to work on your behalf, to bring those thoughts or plans to life! To bring them to pass. (Is. 55:11, Hebrews 1:14, Ps 103:20, Eph. 6:12, Jude 1:6) Angels obey the Word of God. We need to SPEAK it to give them their assignment! To bring to pass God's Word! Employee them with your words! Don't just have them sit around doing nothing. They are ready to help bring God's word to pass... they need to be employeed with the WORD.
Our Proverbs 31 friend is speaking Words of power. Wisdom. What comes out of her mouth sets a good example for us to follow. If evil thoughts have come into her mind, she has covered her mouth. The WORDS that come out of her mouth are filled with LIFE. Kindness. Love. She speaks words of LIFE.
What a HUGE topic that we could study for a long time!! The POWER of our WORDS! Satan can not read our minds... he can try to place thoughts into our minds, but he can not read what we are thinking. The moment WORDS are released, he is filled in. When we speak the WORD, we speak what God would have come to pass. When we are sick, but we speak, "BY JESUS STRIPES, I AM HEALED", we speak the ANSWER to come to pass. We line up our WORDS with GOD'S WORD and with GOD'S WILL! We are lining our words up with LIFE. Proverbs 18:21 - The tongue has the power of life and death... Let's bring LIFE! Sometimes that may mean just covering our mouth. Sometimes that means getting our words in agreement with the WORD OF GOD.
Who is your employee today? Angels or Demons?
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Some good books:
- Hung by the Tongue by Francis P Martin
- What you Say When you Talk to Yourself by Shad Helmstetter
