They have difficulties adjusting prior commitments to ministry with their new responsibilities. . What a marvelous value system to hand to our children. and balanced way for the sake of our family, the church, and most of all, the kingdom. reasoning are further explained here: normative involvement in the Body of Christ.
Table of contents
- Top Sellers
- Intercession and Spiritual Warfare
- Matthew NABRE - II. The Proclamation of the Kingdom - Bible Gateway
- Scripture Reading – The Paralytic Healed
I have never seen a person so happy, so content, so full of life and love. He knows that He will reach out His hand in just a moment and touch me and the healing, compassionate love and power of Almighty God will flow through Him into my body, completely restoring me from the inside out. For no sickness or infirmity can withstand the power of His touch! His light, His life, His joy will permeate every nook and cranny of my being and all darkness will leave. Emotional darkness, physical darkness, the darkness of sin and of evil spirits.
All darkness will flee in the light of His glory. All darkness will simply evaporate. As I was being lowered down, I heard the scribes and Pharisees arguing with Jesus. They were so self-righteous and proud and know-it-all. I have been like that sometimes, but not today. Today I want a touch. A touch of His compassionate love. I just want to be bathed in His presence. Let His streams of living water wash over me and cleanse me of all that I am. My pride, my judgmentalism.
I just want it all washed away. Why did it have to happen to me? What did I do to deserve this? I cried out to You. I got so angry at You! I was angry with myself too - that I even allowed this to happen in the first place. I could have taken more precautions. I could have loved more. I could have been more careful in everything I did and everything I ate and in… well… the list just goes on and on.
And Lord, if I am going to be healthy and deserve Your healing touch based on my righteousness, then there is no hope.
Because I know that I am a sinner. The law showed me that. It showed me that I could not keep it, try as hard as I could. And then You deepened the law and said it is not just about my outer sins, it is about the attitudes of my heart. The iniquities within my own heart. Whatever is not of faith is sin. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Well, I have experienced so much fear, so much lust, so much anger. Lord, I need Your cleansing. I need Your blood to wash over me. I need Your garment of righteousness to cover me, because the best of my works are simply filthy rags in Your sight.
I am so glad that all the commandments and laws which I was unable to keep no matter how hard I tried were all nailed to the cross and removed, and I no longer live according to the law. Now I live by Your Spirit, soaking up Your underserved grace. Your sacrifice on Calvary canceled out the chastenings that are due me. Thank You, Lord, for Your grace! Yes, My child, I am here. I am here to meet your needs.
I hear your cry. I see that you have abandoned your own righteousness and thrown yourself on the altar of My forgiveness. It is a gift of grace, so no one can boast. I will take your sins and bear them Myself. They will be nailed to a cross. My blood will be shed and ALL your sins will be washed away. As a matter of fact, they are now.
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- Touching Jesus in a Healing Meditation.
Your sins are forgiven. I stand clean before Christ. I see myself decked out in Your sparkling robe of white, just like a bride on her wedding day. She wears a beautiful garment of white, and she looks so breath-taking, and pure and clean. You are putting on me a robe of pure, spotless, sparkling white — Your righteousness, which YOU purchased for me. Lord, I receive it. I receive Your righteousness. Remove all my judgementalism, my Phariseeism, my anger and my self-righteousness.
I stand complete in YOU! Lord, my eyes are totally on YOU. On what YOU have done, when You died on Calvary, and You took my sins and my iniquities and my angers and fears, and failures, and wickedness. You washed it all away. You even took the chastisement I deserve. I release all chastisement I deserve to You. I release my guilt to You. I surrender totally and completely before Your presence. Whatever You want to say and do will be fine with Me. I trust You completely. I am found in YOU. I forgive myself for all my weaknesses and shortcomings.
I forgive the Pharisees standing around for their judgementalism. They just have not yet seen the light. I forgive You, God, for allowing this infirmity in my life in the first place and for remaining so quiet as I cried out to You day after day, and I did not receive Your answer. What I know now is that I need to get into Your immediate presence.
I need to experience Your waves of compassion washing over me. For Your healing power rides on the waves of Your compassion. To experience Your waves of compassion. I just want them to roll over me. My hands are outstretched. My heart is open. Just sweep over me with wave after wave after wave after wave…. What is this grumbling in the background that I hear?
Sounds like some of my own thoughts. You are still responsible for your sins. You are still the one who messed up. This is just another man. Nothing has really happened. I do believe; help my unbelief. Child, OK, I am here to help. Because not only have I removed all your sin and judgementalism and fear and anger and … whatever else was necessary, BUT, when I went to the cross for you, I also bore your sicknesses.
I allowed My body to be whipped, and by these stripes, you have been healed. My body was destroyed, so that yours could be made whole. I did this for you. I did it in Joy, because I loved you so much, and I wanted so much for you to walk in My peace, My blessing and My prosperity, and that included the gift of divine health.
So today, I offer you not just complete forgiveness of ALL your sins, all your guilt, all your anger, all your fears, all your judgmentalism, and all your inadequacies, but I am also reaching out My hand and extending to you My compassionate healing touch, so that your body may be completely healed. You may touch me with Your healing power and Your compassion. My heart is wide open. My arms are outstretched, my faith is enlarged. Touch me now and let Your healing power transform every cell of my being.
Lord, I am ready. Jesus reaches out His hand and touches me and as He does I can feel His fingers touch my body, and His divine energy and incredible compassion are both felt in the touch. I just feel loved. I feel compassion and mercy and love flowing into me through the touch of His fingers. Powerful, amazing energy, is pulsating through my body. I see intense light penetrating the area that is infirm, transforming it, driving out demons and darkness, normalizing the cells, restoring them to balance. I feel hot, I feel tingly, I feel overcome. God is touching ME! Healing power is flowing.
I bask in this touch. Thank You that You love me! You are changing me from the inside out. From the core of my being, out. You are changing me. Lord, I stand here in Your presence, in Your ocean of love experiencing waves of Your compassionate presence and touch. I stand, simply worshipping, simply saying Your name over and over and over. Stand up, take up your bed, and walk.
Do what you could not do before. I speak healing to my spirit. I speak healing to my soul.
Top Sellers
I speak healing to my body. There is no place for you. I come out of agreement with you. I no longer want you. His light floods my being. His peace floods my being. His energy pulsates through my body, calling all cells back to their perfect function, and into perfect alignment, and into full restoration and operating order. All cells come back into full alignment, full health and full operating order.
Jesus, Your light is flooding through me. Wave after wave of divine light. All I have to do is smile, and relax and celebrate as Your healing compassion and power pulsates through every cell of my being. I choose to relax and absorb Your healing rays. I put a big smile on my face. Thank You, Jesus, for Your touch. It is so warm, so healing. It is like a lightning bolt which pulsates through every cell of my being, vibrating and adjusting and calling them all into alignment. This lightning bolt is bringing everything back into alignment.
It is healing all. I speak to my body. Test it out and see what you can now do with your new body. For as you step out in faith, believing you can, you can. Jesus did not overcome the devil by rebuking him out of this world. Satan had a right to be there based on the sin of man. Jesus cast out many demons operating in the earthly realm, but there is not an account in the Gospels where Jesus directly taught His disciples to initiate battles with unseen principalities and powers. His instructions were to preach the gospel of the kingdom in all of the earth.
As men and women submit their lives to Jesus, the kingdom of darkness diminishes and the kingdom of God increases. The kingdom of God is manifested where men and women are obedient to His lordship and follow His commands. Because of the separation and deception that sin brings, God initiated in the Old Testament a plan for intercession mediation by instituting priests who could stand in the gap between Himself and His people. The High Priest was the highest and most important intercessor among the people.
Every believer in Jesus Christ is an intercessor by virtue of His priesthood. Every believer is to be involved in the ministry of intercession. God could not save because of sin and the absence of an intercessor. In this passage God could find no one to intercede. God had intercessors in the form of prophets and priests, but evidently they too were a part of the problem rather than the solution. The people of Israel were involved in violence, iniquity, lies, gossip, deception, weaving and fashioning lies, reproducing and hatching vipers, evil thoughts, plans and acts of murder, and a lack of justice.
Therefore the curse had been released and the people were being destroyed. God could find no one to stand in the gap and plead for truth and justice in order to bring reconciliation and peace between God and man and between man and man: Anyone can and will do that. No, Jesus is looking for those who can see beyond the problem and seek the solution.
It is not the job of intercessors to pray judgment and destruction upon sinners and rebels but in every case to plead the mercy of God until repentance and restoration come. Even if sinners refuse to repent and God executes judgment, the heart of a true intercessor will weep and mourn for those who have suffered this fate Lamentations 3: The Bible is clear: Jesus defeated the devil on the cross and stripped him of his power to hold us in bondage based on our sin.
Paul stated in Colossians 2: And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. Satan still has power, but his legal authority based on our sin has been taken away through the cross. Jesus declared in Matthew Jesus said in Mark In My name they will cast out demons. We do not have to fear the power of the enemy as long as we operate within the boundaries of the authority and power given to us. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, says the Lord.
It is designed to cause us to drop our shield of faith. If we give in to fear we surrender our authority over him. Mature intercessors understand that God alone has all divine authority and that He delegates His authority to whomever He wishes. Delegated authority is always given with expressed parameters and boundaries. For example those who are granted authority as law enforcement officers in one city do not have the same authority in another city. Law enforcement officers must operate with a clear understanding of where the boundaries of their jurisdiction begin and ends.
When entering another jurisdiction, they must cooperate and work under the authorization of those in authority there. A person who has been given the power of attorney is authorized to conduct legal transactions in the name of another person. They do have no legal authority to do whatever they want. To do so would be illegal and result in tragic consequences. As ambassadors of Christ, we are commissioned to represent our Homeland Heaven.
When He created this earth He also created man and gave him authority: The Word of God also defines our boundaries in spiritual matters. The Word of God is our written authorization. When Satan appeared as the serpent in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had the authority to exercise dominion over him.
But rather than using their authority to represent God, Eve chose to act independently of her husband and Adam chose to act independently from God. As a result, they came under the slavery of sin and the devil. It is important to see that the forbidden fruit represented something that lay outside of the boundary lines of authority.
By choosing to eat the fruit, they chose to step outside of their delegated boundaries. Knowing your God-ordained boundaries is vital in intercession and spiritual warfare. Just because we have power over the enemy does not mean we can start blasting our spiritual canons. Jesus has given us authority much like a Sheriff does a deputy. But any deputy knows that he must still look to the Sheriff for regional assignments and for specific authorization to perform certain tasks.
We need to seek the Lord for divine strategy, timing and specific authorization in spiritual warfare. Again, the key is not to act independently from God. Entering battles that God has not assigned to us is presumptuous. Needless to say, operating within our God-ordained boundaries helps keep things from getting confused in the heat of battle. In spiritual warfare presumption can be deadly and ignorance is no excuse. God worked His plan of redemption through men and women who would yield to His divine authority over their lives.
In the same way today God has chosen to delegate His kingdom authority and power through those who will come under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. When men and women yield their lives in obedience to Jesus, the kingdom of God His authority and power is manifested in the earth.
When men and women yield their lives in obedience to sin, the kingdom of Satan is manifested in the earth. The great conflict in the earth revolves around who will have authority. Because of the high level of spiritual activity and revelation received during intercession, intercessors must be on the alert for the development of spiritual pride in their heart.
Intercessors must avoid the temptation to elevate this ministry above what God ordained it to bea ministry of the priesthood of all believers. However, because of time or the direction of the Lord, some will have a greater involvement, anointing, and effectiveness in intercession. Pride was the sin of Lucifer that caused him to rebel against God Isaiah Pride is the sin of thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought. Those who have become deceived by pride cannot see their error because their views of themselves and the principle of authority becomes distorted.
They do not perceive their thoughts and actions to be rebellious because they have already assumed a position in their heart where their actions would normally be appropriate. God created Lucifer a beautiful and magnificent angel Ezekiel Yet he elevated himself in his own heart to a place equal with God. Because of pride, his rebellious reasoning seemed totally appropriate to him. In fact, there is no evidence in the Word of God that he has changed his mind. Pride can be very stubborn and unrepentant.
Pride always leads into deep deception. People who are deceived do not know they are deceived.
If they did, they would not be deceived. The nature of pride is to lift us beyond the boundaries and placements of God. This results in rebellion and in a fall from the place where we once stood Proverbs It also leads to the judgment of God: Our only defense against pride is to walk in humility before our God and to resist the temptation to think of ourselves more highly than we ought. If God chooses to promote us, it is in our best interest not to strive to take it by our own power, but to wait until God confirms and establishes our boundaries through legitimate and proven leadership.
Then we become responsible to walk in within our boundaries in humility as a servant of God. Intercessors are warriors in the spirit realm. They must be aware of the domain they have been given and not seek to lift themselves up beyond their calling. Intercessors may see into the spirit realm but this does not make them prophets. They may battle principalities and powers, but this does not make them apostles. They may see what God wants to do in the church, but this does not make them pastors.
Those who operate in the spirit realm must not assume more than what God has given into their hand. Pride comes when we stop being thankful within the measure of rule that God has assigned to us. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance.
He did not fear another taking it from him for God maintained his lot. Unfortunately Korah, Dathan, and Abiram did not have this heart. They became envious of the portion assigned to Moses and Aaron. Although God had given these men the great privilege of serving daily in His tabernacle, it was not enough. They rose up in rebellion to take the priesthood also. Moses said to them: And are you seeking the priesthood also? It is of great importance to see that they did not perceive their actions as rebellious.
They had already lifted themselves up to be priests in their heart. To them, the issue was clear: Moses and Aaron were controlling and full of pride. What they thought they saw in Moses and Aaron turned out to be the reflection of their own heart in the mirror of pride.
We must beware lest this same temptation and deception can come to us! Familiarity with the anointing and presence of God has a way of making us think more highly of ourselves than we ought. It is like being chosen by a king to be one of the servants in his house. At first we are in awe of this privilege and of our new surroundings! After a while we can become desensitized to the great privilege we have entered into as we begin to resent our lowly place. Rather than being promoted, the king sets us aside for a new servant who is grateful for the opportunity to serve in his house.
As God allows us to carry His authority and anointing, we can be tempted to receive part of the glory and praise of man for ourselves. We may not say it, but inside our heart can begin to swell. In our heart we subtly begin to see ourselves higher than we really arejust like Lucifer.
If unchecked we too can begin to step beyond our boundaries and grab for what has not been legitimately given to us. When God raises a person to a new level of authority He will seal it with the recognition of earthly authority. Spiritually, David was anointed to be king by the prophet Samuel.
But it was years later before he was recognized and anointed by the people to be king. Yet Saul was still king. David kept his heart submitted and served thankfully and faithfully in the measure of rule given him until the day he was appointed by the people to be king. As a result, David has become a model through which God has chosen to establish His kingdom authority in the earth. Accountability is one of the most important things intercessors need when becoming involved in spiritual warfare. Intercessors are prime targets for the devil.
Sadly I have seen and heard testimonies of how anointed intercessors were led astray and shipwrecked by the devil. This could have been avoided if they had allowed themselves to be accountable. Let me share with you what seems to be a typical progression for intercessors unwilling to become accountable. Without proper accountability intercessors can get flaky and out of touch. Their family life often suffers. Without accountability intercessors can begin to feel that they are above natural duties such as cleaning the church, serving in the nursery, and helping others in need.
Nothing matters anymore but prayer, and they alone must do it. They feel that anything organized must be unspiritual. They begin to think others, rather than they, are out of touch. As a result they can judge others as unspiritualeven their pastors and leadersand begin isolating themselves. This can lead to a deeper and deeper digression into deception.
They begin to feel that everyone is against them. No one is worthy of his or her submission. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. Accountability is necessary for our protection from the deceitful plotting of the enemy. When confronted we do just like Adam and Eve and shift the blame to everyone else but ourselves.
Yes, others may be involved, but we will never be free until we stop blaming others and making excuses. God had to get Adam and Eve to confess their guilt. When they did He covered their flesh in the blood skin of a lamb. Sadly, like Eve, it is easier to blame the devil or someone else than it is to fall on our face before God and repent. Sadly the same is true for many Christians. Guilt, shame and fear keep them locked up in an emotional and spiritual prison. It is very difficult to reach people who justify themselves while blaming others. What are the works of the flesh?
Paul states clearly in Galatians 5: Paul goes on to tell us in Galatians 5: Against such there is no law. Before we begin to blame the devil, we must get rid of any smoke screens of the flesh.
Intercession and Spiritual Warfare
Flesh is not removed by spiritual warfare and rebuking demons. When we get rid of the flesh, we automatically get rid of the demons that feed on the flesh. We will never have lasting victory over the demons in our lives until we get rid of the flesh they are feeding on. We must humble our pride and die to the will of the flesh if we are going to avoid becoming a casualty in spiritual warfare. When people deal honestly with their flesh through repentance and dying to self, the demons have no more room to operate.
No amount of spiritual warfare will prevail when the flesh remains alive and in operation. God has promised us in Proverbs We cannot intercede sincerely for those we have not forgiven from our heart. Forgiveness is an area where intercessors must excel, especially when entering intense spiritual warfare. During intense counter attacks of Satan even small offenses left unforgiven can become magnified greatly. Many times when intercessors feel tempted to pray judgment rather than mercy it is because they have become personally wounded in battle.
They fail to realize that they have removed themselves from the seat of intercession to sit in the seat of a judge. Obviously there is a problem in our heart when we feel compelled to condemn, judge, and destroy those for whom Jesus died. Intercessors who begin warring against flesh and blood in their prayers will also be judged themselves Matthew 7: Because of the racial tension between the Jews and the Samaritans, the Samaritans refused to let Jesus pass.
Intercessors must insure that the beam of judgment in their own eye has been removed before attempting to remove the splinter from the eyes of those for whom they intercede. We are really never able to intercede for those we are not willing to die for. We need to ask God for a revelation of His love for those for whom we pray. Most problems that separate human beings are usually small matters splinters that have become magnified beams in our eyes.
Ceasing our criticism and judgment of others can bring the problem back down to splinter size so that we can deal with truth rather than distortions. Intercessors are to plead for mercy and salvation even when the ones for whom they intercede turn against them. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Another area that has led to casualties in intercession and spiritual warfare is competitive jealousy between intercessors. We must remember that we are not competing against one another. We will each stand as individuals in our own race.
What is important is not how we compare to each other, but how we compare to the measure of Jesus. Competitive jealousy enters when individuals get their eyes off of Jesus and on each other. Anytime this happens people can become puffed up, envious, dissatisfied, or threatened by others.
Matthew NABRE - II. The Proclamation of the Kingdom - Bible Gateway
Insecurity and the struggle for significance can make this a difficult thing to overcome. Competitive jealousy can become very cruel when slander, gossip, lies, and even flattery are used to deceitfully undermine the position, character, influence, and favor of others. When we begin to compete for greater power and influence within the rank and file we sacrifice the team for the sake of personal gain. Competitive jealousy undermines the foundation of trust and good will needed to maintain unity.
We must overcome this work of the flesh through repentance, reconciliation, and getting our eyes back on Jesus.
Scripture Reading – The Paralytic Healed
We must then keep competitive jealousy out through preferring one another in love. David had an army of mighty men who could do greater things than him, but they complimented and strengthened each other rather than competing with each other. Intercessors must understand that they are not lone rangers but are part of a team.
God is bringing forth His army in these last days. Armies, rather than individual soldiers, are raised up to possess territories. There is no spiritual precedent for the John Wayne or Rambo mentality that operates in the minds of some believers. Unity and interdependence in the army of God are key elements involved in taking cities, regions, and nations. Jesus stated in Matthew However that is more easily said than done. I have noticed that almost every time the church begins to take ground from the devil, an issue will arise within the church or between key leaders to bring division.
Issues are important, but not usually at the cost of division. Most issues fall into the area of offense. It is important in spiritual warfare that we do not wear our feelings on our sleeves. If we are easily offended, we will have many opportunities. We must choose to walk in love, unity and forgiveness.
It is not our cause for which we fight. It is the cause of Jesus Christ. Armies deal severely with personal squabbles within the rank and file because it threatens the survival of the entire unit. The same is true in the army of God. Division cannot be tolerated in the realm of spiritual warfare. Any church or intercessory prayer group divided cannot stand. We must relinquish all personal battles to the Lord for the sake of the kingdom knowing that righteousness and truth will always prevail in the end.
Witchcraft is listed among the sins of the flesh in Galatians 5: Witchcraft is an attempt to control others in any of three ways: The simple work of the flesh is bad enough, but when spiritual forces are implemented it can become diabolical. Thus we have the medieval concept of witches casting spells and hexes in order to control others. When Christians enter into spiritual warfare in a fleshly manner to push their own agenda, the same results of intimidation, manipulation, and domination can begin to manifest.
It can destroy individuals, homes, and the church. God is not obliged to protect those who would enter into such independent and selfish activity. God is looking for those with a humble attitude who will submit themselves under the mighty hand of God to do His will rather than their own. True intercessors have a loyalty and a respect for those in authority over them. They understand that God has positioned these authorities and will perform His will through them Proverbs People therefore must continually walk under submission to authority.
No, on the contrary, intercessors must be careful not to think of themselves more highly than they ought lest they become puffed up with pride and launch out in areas outside of their God-ordained boundaries. It is important for intercessors to remain in submission to the authorities in the home and in the church in addition to being subject to God, for God has established all of these authorities. Great harm has been done when intercessors have fought against rather than mediated for the leadership in their homes and in the church.
True intercessors pray in line with the vision of the house. They are not interested in praying their own vision. Witchcraft prayer, on the other hand, sets ambushments against the leadership of the house. Not all encounters with demonic forces are fought on the same level. As previously noted, there are different ranks of spiritual forces working around us.
We must understand what level of demonic activity we are encountering if we are to wage war effectively. There are three basic levels where demonic forces operate:. It is at this level that we wage war through salvation, repentance, and by casting out demons.
This is the most common type of demonic encounter that Jesus faced while on this earth. Every believer has authority and power to operate on this level in setting people free. Curses release the voice of demons to begin speaking in our minds and in our hearts. Blessing changes the inner voices. The first sign that occult level warfare is engaged against an individual or congregation is when people begin to hear and voice cursing.
These critical voices will keep a person or congregation from hearing what they need to hear. When we refer to people on the basis of their race we bind them into their cultural genetics after the flesh rather than referring to them as saints, which releases the spiritual genetics of the new creation. If we do not engage the occult level voices through prayer and blessing, then it will destroy the people involved. Casualties in this area can be avoided by staying free from offence, bitterness, rebellion, and pride. The heart and mind is the chief battleground in this level of warfare and the tongue is the chief weapon.
Daniel 10; Mark 5: This level of warfare engages principalities and powers that directly influence and control lives in that region both in the political and religious realm. These demonic forces do not usually go away but they can become weaker. While believers have authority over these powers, territorial spirits have deep-seated roots in the sins of the forefathers. In this type of warfare, rank and file unity within the army and strategic operation in the army seems to be of great importance in order to avoid unnecessary casualties of war. Rambo-type intercession at this level can be very dangerous and costly.
Identificational repentance and confession of sin Daniel 9 , submission under the mighty hand of God, and the preaching of the gospel of peace and of the kingdom of God to those who live in the territory are the most biblical and effective ways to weaken or to uproot these principalities and powers. Binding and loosing spiritual activity at this level must be orchestrated from the throne of God: Casualties in spiritual warfare can take place by warring with the wrong type of revelation.
Intercessors must be careful where they receive their revelation for prayer. Understanding where certain revelation is coming from will help us avoid misguided intercession. There are three basic spheres of revelation 2 Corinthians While this type of knowledge may be important, it can lead us into inaccurate intercession.