What if I told you……

that if you are born again you have changed kingdoms?
that you are just as righteous as Jesus?
that your spirit is a new creation?
that you are seated with Him in heavenly places?
that you are filled with His Spirit?
that you are adopted into His family?
that His love was poured into your heart?
that you are called to reign in life?
that God wants to give you abundant life?
that He has given you every promise in order to escape the corruption of the world?
that you have the God kind of faith inside of you?
that you can hear God?
that you can see the unseen?
that you can pray believing and receive in His Name?
that you can submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee?
that as He is, so are you in this world?
that you have the keys to His Kingdom?
that He will freely give you all things?
that the gifts of His Spirit are for you to help others?
that healing is your covenant right?
that Job isn’t your example, Jesus is?

If you are born again and I told you all of this, it would simply be basic Christianity. It is the message of freedom from guilt and condemnation. It is the message of victory, joy, peace with God and love. It is a message that knows God is not schizophrenic, moody, mysterious or cruel. It is a message of the Father’s love for mankind and His provision for every need. It is the simple gospel.

Barry Bennett

What Motivates You?

 

Every morning we all get out of bed and draw upon strength and energy to make it through the day.  We must choose from where we will draw our strength and energy.  For some, their energy comes from obligation rooted in boredom.  For others, their energy may come from the excitement of new challenges.  How many of us actually face each day drawing from the life of God within us?

 

He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increases strength. (Isa. 40:29)

 

If you are a born again believer, you have an infinite supply of God’s grace within.  His grace includes His provision, His strength, His equipping, His wisdom and His vision.  We can choose to face each day by drawing on our own limited strength and resources, or we can stir up the grace of God that is within us, give thanks, speak words of life, and step into all of the possibilities that exist in that day.

 

Realizing how much more potential I had in Christ, versus my very limited future without Him has only made me hungry to be fully given to His purpose in my life.  His resources are continually available to me if I will only choose them.

 

I’ve had days of low energy just like everyone, but now I understand why.  I was facing those days in my own strength, with my own limited vision, and meditating on my own limited resources.  No wonder I dreaded those days.

 

If that sounds like you, it is time to realize that you have a hidden energy source.  The Greater One lives in you!  You don’t have to dread the day.  Choose to trust in the grace of God within you and approach the day as a conqueror, not a victim!

 

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.  (Isa. 40:31)

 

Barry Bennett

The Most Beautiful Words

 

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.  But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isa. 53:4-6)

 

Certainly these are some of the most beautiful words ever written.  The Spirit of God inspired Isaiah and revealed the depth of God’s love for man, a love so profound that it was willing to give His Son (and the Son was willing to give Himself) in order to restore us to our original place in Him.

 

Jesus understood our grief, sickness, pain and trauma.  He understood the devastating power of sin that has created darkness and suffering for humanity.  Not only did He understand, He came to walk among us and demonstrate His love and compassion for the hurting.  But He didn’t come only to see and touch man’s need,  He came to take upon Himself the curse of our separation from God and all its manifestations.  He took the iniquity of every person on earth, every person who would ever be conceived.  He took our physical pain and sicknesses.  He took our depression, sadness and fears.  He took the full weight of every curse of sin.  In fact, He became a curse and He became sin as He hung on the cross.

 

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  (Mt. 11:28)

 

The invitation is for all.  Rest and peace are for all.  Healing is for all.  Deliverance from every trauma and grief is for all.  Jesus did this for you.

 

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 brokenhearted, 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.  (Luke 4:18-19)

 

Take time to let your spirit feed on these verses.  Hear Him speaking.  See Him healing you.  Let Him restore you and give you life, peace and joy.  That is the gospel.

 

Barry Bennett

God is kinder than you think

 

He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (Rom. 8:32)

 

What if our lives are mostly a reflection of how we see God?  If you see God as easily angered, condemning, stingy, unwilling to let go of His blessings, or always wanting to test you, you will live like the slave of a temperamental master.  You will never know if you are good enough.

 

What if God is kinder than you think?  What if His reputation has been ruined by men who didn’t really know Him?  Let’s look at some verses that paint a different picture.

 

Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water. (John 4:10)

 

– The gift of living water.

 

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38)

 

– The gift of the Holy Spirit.

 

they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.  (Rom. 5:17)

 

– The gift of grace and righteousness.

 

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,  (Eph. 2:8)

 

– The gift of salvation by faith.

 

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. (James 1:17)

 

–  Every good gift.

 

Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  (Luke 12:32)

 

– The gift of the Kingdom.

 

Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you  (John 14:27)

 

– The gift of His peace.

 

“And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.” (John 16:23)

 

– Whatever we ask in His Name.

 

as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,

4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:3-4)

 

– The gift of His promises and all things that pertain to life.

 

Do you have enough faith to believe in his goodness?  Faith begins when God’s extravagant goodness is embraced.  All you need has already been given.  He is that good!