Christ Will Rescue You: April 2023

Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Use the Keys

Ephesians 6:11(NLT)
“Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.”

1John 4:8 tells us that God is love, and it also says that a person who doesn’t love doesn’t know God. Human beings are God’s creation. We were made from His love and He expects our lives to be the very essence of His love. Ephesians 2:10 says that we are His masterpiece, His finest work, and He created us to do the good things He planned even before the foundation of the world. In case you didn’t know it, God has a plan! And because He knows the end at the very beginning, His planning skills are off the chart! He’s brilliant beyond brilliance, and magnificent beyond magnificence. His plan is so magnificently brilliant that we can behave poorly, make all kinds of mistakes and bad calls, and spend our whole lives on ridiculousness, and none of that will alter His plan one bit. He hopes that we will go along with His Will so that we can receive all the blessings that come with it, but this is a choice that He leaves completely and utterly up to us.

God commands us in Ephesians 5:2(NKJV) to “walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” To walk in love is to first understand what love is. Christ is our example of what it means to live in Christ-like love, so we need to always keep our eyes on him. To walk in love conveys the reality that love is action. It is not stagnant or stale. It does not sit around and wait for action. Love is defined by the nature of our God, and by its very definition, love motivates, creates, and changes things for the better. Love does not push or shove. God tells us in 1Corinthians 13:4-5(NLT), “4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.”

God makes it clear to us in 1Corinthians 13:4-5 that love has a beautiful nature and a high standard of care, compassion, and do-rightness. God didn’t make this difficult for us to understand. In truth, it’s easy to comprehend how love behaves, and we’ve been empowered by God to duplicate love’s behavior and actions. We should all aspire to love in the way that God has instructed us, and we most certainly should stand flatfootedly on what He has said and not invest in a significant relationship where someone loves us less.

Deep down, most of us realize this. We know that we deserve to be loved well, but in some cases, the person we love begins to behave as if they don’t love us. They abuse us. Sometimes they push and shove, physically and/or emotionally, and it’s painful and heartbreaking. When domestic violence and abuse imprisons our existences, we don’t feel as though we have a key that opens the door to our freedom, but indeed we do. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 16:19(NLT), “And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.” Jesus Christ has given us access to the Kingdom of Heaven. We have the key! And no one can ever take it away from us.

The act of abusing another living being is not logical, rational, or natural. Abuse doesn’t come from the Kingdom of Heaven, but from the realm of darkness. It is confusing and chaotic for both the abuser and the person being abused. Trying to make sense of it by anything other than darkness and oppression isn’t possible. However, what you can do is make sense of your own life, because the truth of God’s Word makes it crystal clear that your life is supposed to make sense. When things are chaotic, Jesus Christ has given us a heavenly approach, and it’s not complicated, we just have to use the keys!

Everything is spiritual
John 4:24(NLT) tells us, “For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” God is Spirit, and everything He does and everything He creates has its origin in His spiritual realm. From this, we can know that everything begins with the spiritual. Through prayer and faith, we draw it down and transfer it into our physical or natural realm on earth. So, to use the keys, you must be aligned with who God is and who He has made you through Jesus Christ. To do this, there are three things you must believe wholeheartedly in your mind and heart. The first of which is in Hebrews 11:3(NLT), “By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.”

Everything, from the rooter to the tooter, came from something that cannot be seen with physical eyes. We cannot see faith and we cannot see the Spirit of God, but through His faith, God made everything, and we can see His handiwork of creation. Hebrews 11:3 affirms that everything was formed at God’s command. Therefore, everything is spiritual, because everything in the entire universe was made by God. If we understand and believe this, we are poised to take possession of our peace, love, power and authority in Christ.

The Spiritual is more real than the natural
We must never forget that God is our Creator, and He created everything. Often, people think of this world as being more real than the spiritual realm of God, but nothing could be further from the truth. 2Corinthians 4:18(NLT) says, “So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” This three-dimensional world is temporary. It will not last forever, but God’s Kingdom will never end. The Spiritual realm of God is more real than the world our physical eyes see. This is the second truth we must wholeheartedly believe. When this is firmly anchored in our hearts and minds, we’ll understand that the keys that Jesus Christ has given us are infinitely more powerful than anything this earth has to offer.

God’s Spiritual Armor never fails
Weapons made by human hands and techniques developed by human intellect will not defeat a spiritual enemy. The fight is a spiritual one. Ephesians 6:12-13(NLT) tells us, “12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, put on every piece of God's armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.” You are a spiritual being having an earth experience, not the other way around. Many of us are in a spiritual battle, and we don’t even know it. We’re trying to fight a spiritual war without God’s spiritual armor, and that won’t work.

The keys give you access to the wealth of heaven, but if used on the wrong door, they can also give you access to the exact opposite of God’s blessings. Jesus Christ said in John 10:9(NKJV), “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” Jesus Christ is the door you want to enter. Your willingness to stop leaning on yourself and others, and to lean solely on him is what allows you to walk through that door.

Confusion and chaos are the enemy’s territory, but Christ has given you the keys to victory and peace. Make a commitment to cooperate and give your full attention to him. Use the keys with faith! Say what he says and think what he thinks about you. Speak good things over your life and do the loving and kind things that Christ does. Build yourself up in his strength by feeding your mind the scriptures. Stay off social media and stay in the promises of God’s Word. Let the power of God work through you and trust that you will accomplish more for your life through your faith in Him than you ever could without it. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Rejoice in Your Inheritance

James 2:5(NLT)
“Listen to me, dear brothers and sisters. Hasn't God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith? Aren't they the ones who will inherit the Kingdom he promised to those who love him?”

As His people, the Lord calls us to always keep our eyes on the greatness of His glory, love, power, and majesty. He is a sovereign God, and no other in all of eternity can compare to Him. He requires us to keep our minds on His goodness, and this prompts us to stay in the present, and not get ahead of His guidance. God knows the end at the beginning, and the events of life and history unfold the way they do because every Word that proceeds from His mouth is true. It’s a done deal. If God says something is going to happen, it is going to happen. He is not moving us about like robots, but His prophecy will unfold exactly as He has spoken, and every drop of what He has spoken in His Word has either already come to pass, or it will do so in the future. He knows everything there is to know about everything, so we can place our total trust in His protection, provision, and care, because our future is in Him, and indeed our future belongs to Him.

God said in Jeremiah 29:11(NIV), “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” You and I don’t know our futures, but God does. We can’t predict what is going to happen, but even before the foundation of the world, God knew every detail of our existences. Nothing we do is a surprise to Him. What is important to God is that we are with Him and have faith in His love, strength, and power.

In Jeremiah 29:11, He tells us that He wants us with Him for a very, very, very long time. He is the only One that can give us a future, and He reveals His plan to us. His plan will not harm us, but instead give us hope and a future with Him. He secured that future for us when He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to earth to give his life as a sacrifice for our sins, and then He resurrected Christ from the dead. Through the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God made good on His promise to give us a future and a hope. He’s given us an inheritance in Christ, so He has even more treasures to share with us? His giving and goodness never ends!

God’s Will and desire for us is to have a wonderful present and future, enjoying our relationship with Him. In the past, before we gave our lives to God through Jesus Christ, we were in rough shape. Ephesians 5:8(NIV) tells us, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.” We were in the dark before we knew the light of Christ, and for some of us, that darkness was one struggle after another.

A while back, I read the testimony of a woman in an abusive marriage. After an adulterous affair, her husband left her and their three children, but refused to give her a divorce because he didn’t want to pay support. Afraid of what he might do to her, she felt imprisoned in a home she couldn’t afford on her own. She was afraid that he could come in at any time and reap havoc on their lives and abuse her even more. She was desperate, and for the first time in her life, she prayed and asked the Lord Jesus Christ to come into her heart. After that, things were very challenging for a while, but she discovered that through Christ, she was much stronger than she thought, and many doors began to open for her and her kids. They escaped that terrible situation, and now they no longer live in fear, but in the light of Christ.

We must believe and trust God that we can come out of the darkness and into the light where His love and strength abides. He doesn’t want us to struggle and live a painful existence; that’s not His Will. Jesus Christ said in John 14:6(NIV), “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Jesus Christ is the way, and if we will allow him, he will lead us out of darkness so that we can see the blessings that God has for us. In the dark, we can’t see, but when we accept Jesus Christ into our hearts and as our personal Lord and Savior, the light gets turned on. We leave the old in the past and welcome the new!

God is showing us what it means to be wrapped in His love. It means that He gives us the bounty of His spiritual goodies now, and He still has an inheritance waiting for us to receive even more. 1Peter 1:3-5(NLT) says, “3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance--an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.”

In our relationship with Heavenly Father, He wants us to enjoy the communion and fellowship we share with Him. We can’t do that if we’re worried, anxious, and afraid about our futures. If we’re panicked with uncertainty, we wouldn’t delight in Him in the way He deserves. In Peter 1:3-5, He lets us know that He’s taken care of all our worries about the future. He guarantees a wonderful inheritance for all those who love Him and have accepted Christ, and to give us assurance of this, He’s placed His Holy Spirit inside us. Ephesians 1:13-14(NLT) says, “13 And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. 14 The Spirit is God's guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.”

Romans 8:17 says that we are children of God and fellow heir with Jesus Chris, our Lord. We are in Christ because we accepted the salvation God offered us through him, and Christ is in us because his Spirit lives on the inside of us. God is showing all the treasure that is in Christ because through Christ, He is dwelling in us. Our Heavenly Father wants us to know that when we look in the mirror, we are seeing His best because we are seeing Christ. God is not hiding away. He’s in us! And there’s so much more on the way. So, let’s never give up hope. Learn about all that God has given you and rejoice in your inheritance. Your completeness is in Christ, and as you awaken your mind and heart to your reality in him, his brilliant and everlasting victory on the cross will transform your life! ■

“Rejoice in Your Inheritance”, written by Kim for https://rescuefromdomesticviolence.blogspot.com© 2023. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

Everything You Lost, Returned!

Zechariah 9:11-13(NLT)
“And you, because of my blood covenant with you, I’ll release your prisoners from their hopeless cells. Come home, hope-filled prisoners! This very day I’m declaring a double bonus – everything you lost returned twice-over!”

If something precious to you is lost, or worse, it’s taken or stolen from you, you’ll probably try to get it back. It’s not a stretch to say that in the future, you will also take a few measures to ensure this doesn’t happen to you again. It’s no secret that in life, we lose things that are very important to us. Whether it’s material treasures, a job, house, car, or a relationship, these losses can be devastating. Sometimes, despite our best efforts, it can appear as though we’re not going to get these treasures back and that is a challenging thing to accept. God reminds us in Zechariah 9:11-13 that when we lose a treasure, we are not without hope. He is our hope! When our trust is firmly placed in God, He restores, replenishes, and gives us back everything we’ve lost twice-over.

Trust bigger
Ephesians 3:20(NKJV) says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” This verse tells us that God’s power and willingness to help us is exceedingly abundantly above anything that you and I can think or imagine. Therefore, we should never measure a problem by our own ability to deal with it. Our losses, troubles, and obstacles should be measured according to who will be handling them. Our all-powerful, brilliant and perfect God is the One that handles everything that seeks to hold us back or keep us down, and our faith should be firmly planted in Him.

2Corinthians 9:8(NKJV) says, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.” The job, house, car, money or relationship is not the source of our happiness. If we think that, we’re sadly mistaken. God is the Source of all good things. He’s our sufficiency and Provider, and we need to fully grasp this truth so that our faith is increased. Again, our Heavenly Father is all-powerful and all-knowing, and His love for us is unconditional and unlimited. He is always on our side, and no problem is too big for Him to solve. God can do anything, and He doesn’t want us to make the mistake of going to other sources. He wants us to lean totally and completely on Him.

Our trust in God should be bigger than our fear and doubt. Our faith in Him should be bigger than any other reality in our lives. This is an important lesson to learn. In the past, instead of relying on God, we have relied on ourselves and that is not a successful strategy. God’s Holy Spirit is in us, and he is working on the inside, supplying us with the strength to do God’s Will. So, we must decrease in the flesh, and allow the indwelling Holy Spirit to increase so that we are cooperating with the Will of God for our lives.

Be thankful for what you have
God does not take away our blessings or cause us to lose them. Our blessings are stolen or hindered because we have an enemy, the devil, and Jesus Christ tells us in John 10:10 that the devil’s game is to steal, kill, and destroy. When the enemy plays his tricks on us, our response must be a strategic one. Ephesians 6:12(NLT) teaches us, “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” This war that we’re fighting is spiritual warfare, and we can’t use weapons of the flesh to fight a spiritual enemy. We must put on God’s spiritual weaponry, so that we are fully equipped.

The Word of God is the Spirit’s sword, and we must put it on in our minds and hearts to remain spiritually strong. 1Thessalonians 5:18(NLT) tells us, “Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” Rather than being worried, upset, or angry about what you’ve lost, thank God for what you have. Thankfulness is an attitude that pleases God. It conveys our trust in Him, and in the reality that no matter what has gone wrong, He alone will make it right.

Confess and affirm God’s Goodness
One thing that I learned many years ago was to speak life over my circumstances by confessing and affirming the promises of God. I taught myself to focus my mind on the victory I would receive in my situation. Even though things looked like that weren’t going to work out, I make the choice to place my faith in God and to trust Him no matter how things looked. This is always the choice before us when we’re dealing with problems, loss, and other issues. We can sink low in our minds and hearts and give up, or we can have faith in God, which is what Jesus Christ has commanded us to do.

God tells us in Proverbs 18:21(KJV) that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” We are made in the image of our Heavenly Father. Genesis 1:3(KJV) tells us, “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” God spoke light into existence by the power and authority of His Word. He has given us this same ability. When it comes to the tricks and plots of the devil against us, we must make a habit of saying the same thing that God says. We must come into agreement with God through the power of His Word. He tells us in the passage of Zechariah 9:11-13 that He will return what we have lost when our faith is in Him. Therefore, our continual confession should be, “Thank You, Heavenly Father, for blessing me beyond my expectations. You are good and glorious in every way, and according to Your promise, I declare that nothing I have lost will compare to what You will restore and return to me. You are the God of the exceedingly abundantly, and I will increase my faith to expect Your portion of unlimited supply. I receive it all according to Your promises, in the wonderful and powerful name of Jesus Christ!”

God is so good that even those in cells, imprisoned by their circumstances or wrongdoing, are prisoners of hope, because their hope and faith in God will always be rewarded. Romans 5:5(NKJV) tells us, “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Our hope in God through the Lord Jesus Christ will not fail. If we are committed to put God first and understand that He is a God of the exceedingly abundantly, our hope in Him will yield the manifestation of His promises and power in our lives.■