I Have the Nature to Do it Right ( by Fenny West)

I Have the Nature to Do it Right
Not by my power or by my might
But by the power of the Spirit in me
And by His dynamic Word living in me.

I have the nature to do it right
Because by His grace I am light
By His power I have the light
So by His Word I will shine bright.

I have the nature to do it right
In any contention, in this faith fight
I walk by faith and not by sight
When it’s time to fight or flight, i’ll fight.

I know It is my nature to do it right
Whether it is in the day or in the night
Despite the obstacle, no matter the plight
faced with choice to do right or wrong I’ll do right
Josh24:15
Ezek36:27
Deut.30:19
Phil4:13
2Pet.1:3-4

Pass the Test You are Set (by Fenny West)

Pass the Test you are Set

In your journey of life

Be like Joshua and Caleb

See through the eyes of God.

See the exceeding goodness,

Of the Promised Land,

Despite the giants in the Land.

If God be for you,

Who can be against you?

There will be temptation

To take sides with the foe

And magnify the problems

To bring an Evil Report:

“The people are stronger;

We are just not able.

The cities are walled.

We are like grasshoppers

In ours eyes and in their sight.”

Don’t fall

Pass the test you are set

Forty is a number for test

Rebel not against the Lord

Do not doubt your calling.

Do not see Egypt as option,

Or worse still better than Canaan.

Do not trigger your tears

Or look for sympathy

Throw not a pity party.

Be not a misery gut.

Do not start a rebellion

Or an insurrection.

Be like a soldier of Christ

Say what He said about you

“I can do all things through Christ…”

If God be for me, who can be against me?

The Lord is my light and my salvation.

The Lord is the strength of my life.

When my enemies come to eat up my flesh, they stumble and fall.

When war breaks out against me I will remain confident.

He makes my wars to cease.

He breaks the bows of my enemies in two, and burns their chariots in His fire.

He tells me, “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted amongst the nations.

God is my refuge and strength;

My ever-present help in trouble

Though the mountain be carried

Into the midst of the sea

I shall not be moved or perturbed.

Yes though I walk through

the valley of the shadow of death

I will fear no evil because God is with me.

No weapon fashioned against me, or contrived against me shall prosper or prevail.

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the almighty.

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress; my God in whom I trust.

His faithfulness will be shield and buckler. He will cover me with His feathers and Under His wings I find refuge.

Surely He will save me from the fowler snare and from the perilous pestilence.

I will not be afraid of the terror by night or the arrow that flies by day or the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

A thousand may fall at my side,

Ten thousand at my right hand,

But no evil will befall me.

Because I have made the Lord my dwelling place and my refuge, no harm will befall house.

He has given His angels charge over me

As ministering spirits, to serve me at all times.

I give them commands and they obey.

They lift me up with their hands and I do not strike my feet against any stone. I do not stumble or wobble, in Jesus’ Name.

Because He had said:”I will never leave you, nor forsake you until the end of the age.” Therefore, I can boldly say, I am not alone. And will never be alone. God is with me, in me and for me.

Because, He had said “All things work together for good to those who love God and who are the called according to purpose, all things are working together for my good. I will never be disadvantaged. The Helper, Standby, intercessor, Strengthener, Guide and Teacher resides in me. He gives me the advantage and cutting edge. He makes me ten times better than my peers. As He is so am I in this world. Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. I am the Head and not the tail. Whoever is born of God overcomes this world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, even my faith. I walk by faith and not by sight. Through my God I shall do valiantly. He is the One who treads down my enemies. Nay in all these things, we are more than conquerors. Therefore neither death nor life, nor height nor depth, nor principalities nor powers nor angels nor things present nor things to come, nothing shall separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Christ in me, my hope of glory. I am Sufficient in His sufficiency. The battle is not mine but the Lord’s.

The Lord delights in me and every place the soles of my feet treads is mine. He has gone ahead of me to make every crooked parts straight. When I go through the rivers I will not drown. The Everlasting Arms are underneath. When I go through the fire, the flame will not kindle on me. Like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, I am coming out with the , refined like gold. The fires will set me free to not only fulfil vision but cause unbelievers to see the Son of God in my circumstance and give Him praise and surrender to Him.

Besides, my resilience will bring about my testimonies and promotion and legacy for all time.

Psalms 139:14

“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”

I am complete in Christ. I am God’s masterpiece created for good works foreordained for me.

I shall not fail. I was born to win. Thanks be to God who always causes me to triumph. I am God-inside minded. I will whip any Goliath that rears his head, like David of old. The Kingdom of God may suffer violence, but the violent take it by force. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their testimony, that they loved not their lives unto death.

Christ is my life. If the Spirit of He who raised Christ from the dead indwells me, that same Spirit who raised Christ from the dead will vitalize my dream, my body, my business, my bank account, my vision, and my purpose. I shall not die but live to declare the works of my God. I shall fulfill my dream and my purpose. No foe can dislodge me. I am focused on Jesus-the Author and Finisher of my faith. And the good work He has begun in me, He will bring to fruition. Forward ever. Backward never!

I am going from glory to glory and from strength to strength. The glory of this latter house shall surpass the former and God will give His peace in this place-nothing missing and nothing broken-Shalom, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Learn the Lesson of Forty ( by Fenny West)

Learn the Lesson of Forty

Noah was in the ark and rain fell

for forty days and forty nights.

It was a test for Noah

who must have wondered,

“Has God forgotten us here?”

But the time came and the water assuaged

and he saw dry land.

God does not forget.

For forty years they wandered

In the wilderness

To get Egypt out of them

It was a test that only a few passed.

The Red Sea was a test which they failed.

But God was merciful. and the crossed over.

Moses left for forty days

It was a test but the people failed

They made idols and worshiped them

Thinking Moses had overstayed.

They courted God displeasure.

Learn the Lesson of Forty

Twelve spies were sent to spy

The Promised Land, the Land flowing

With milk and honey.

They went for forty days.

It was another test

But unbeknown to them.

Only Joshua and Caleb passed the test.

The rest flunked it with distinction.

They preferred Egypt, bondage, slavery…

They spouted an evil report

That was beyond imagination.

They saw through the enemy’s eyes

Rather through the eyes of God.

The exaggerated the negative,

spread doom and gloom.

They made the heart of the people melt;

Made the majority wail, lament

Dispirited, depressed and desperate.

27 Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
28 Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there.
29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the South; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the mountains; and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.”

31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.”
32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature.
33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

How did Joshua and Caleb pass the test?

30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” Num13:

6 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes;

7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land.
8 If the LORD delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’
9 Only do not rebel against the LORD, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them.” Num14:6-9

And when it was time to distribute the Land, Caleb did not forget what God had promised him 45 five years previously. He maintained his confession and reminded Joshua what God had said:

“You know the word which the LORD said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh Barnea.
7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart.
8 Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the LORD my God.
9 So Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children’s forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.’
10 And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years, ever since the LORD spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old.
11 As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in.
12 Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the LORD spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the LORD said.”
13 And Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as an inheritance.
14 Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the LORD God of Israel.(Josh14:6-14)

Learn the Lesson of Forty

Goliath came and tested Israel for forty days.

The soldiers including King Saul

Quaked in their boots.

They were hopeless and hapless.

They saw no way out.

Fear gripped them, emasculated them

And almost strangulated them.

It was a test they failed until David showed up.

David had a different spirit.

He knew who he was.

He knew he had a covenant with God.

He knew God was with him.

He knew Goliath was uncircumcised.

And hence vulnerable.

He knew it was a test

And was determined to pass the test.

“Who is this uncircumcised Philistine

to defy the armies of the living God?

“You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.
46 This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
47 Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’s, and He will give you into our hands.”

David used what he had

and spoke what God said about him and won.

He used his sling and stone

And soon Goliath was toast,

He bit the dust.

David turned the light of Israel on

When he cut off the head of Goliath

Just like he had said.

God fought for him because he took sides with God

and saw through God’s eyes.

Learn the Lesson of Forty

Thank God for Jesus, our heavenly David

God’s beloved Son.

He was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit

where He was tempted by the devil for forty days.

But He knew the end from the beginning.

He knew it was a test

and He passed His test with flying colours:

“Man shall not live by bread alone

but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Thou shalt not tempt the Lord your God.

Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve.”

He whipped the devil, left right and centre and passed the test for us.

Learn the Lesson of Forty

Forty days after He rose, He ascended to heaven. The disciples were tested sore. They went into hiding, afraid of their lives. Jesus appeared to them after He rose from the dead- three days after His death, just like He had said. He appeared to them at various times for forty days, when He ascended. And ten days later, the Holy Spirit came and now indwells those who received Him.

This is why we will not fail. Because it is not by might nor by power but by the Holy Spirit.

The Comforter- Another One like Jesus- is inside of us.

He is the Standby, the Strengthener, the Advocate, the Helper, the Intercessor, the Teacher, and the Guide. He is the Greater One who dwells in us. Through Him, we are overcomers, more than conquerors. He gives us the advantage, any day, anytime, anywhere.

Thanks be to God who always causes us to pass any test and triumph through our tests.

When you are hard-pressed, know that you will not be crushed. and when perplexed, be not in despair or despondent or depressed. when you are persecuted, you are not abandoned. He said I will never leave you nor forsake you until the end of the age.

Through your tests, testimonies will abound. When you are knocked down, know that you are not knocked out. you are still in the race. Press on for the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus. Always look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith.

Say to yourself, ” No temptation has come to me but that which is common to man. And God is faithful who will also through the temptation, make a way of escape, that I will be able to bear.”

Remember, Job was also tested and in the end, we know:

10 And the LORD restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
11 Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the LORD had brought upon him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold.
12 Now the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.
13 He also had seven sons and three daughters.
14 And he called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch.
15 In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
16 After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations.
17 So Job died, old and full of days.

He also said:25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; Job19:25

… I will wait, Till my change comesJob14:14

10 But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
Job23:10 29 When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person. Glory!

Learn the Lesson of Forty!

God Will Deliver You Ere Long ( by C.H. Spurgeon)

God Will Deliver You Ere Long

“He was sore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst?” Judges 15:18

Samson was thirsty and ready to die. The difficulty was totally different from any which the hero had met before. Merely to get thirst assuaged is nothing like so great a matter as to be delivered from a thousand Philistines! but when the thirst was upon him, Samson felt that little present difficulty more weighty than the great past difficulty out of which he had so specially been delivered. It is very usual for God’s people, when they have enjoyed a great deliverance, to find a little trouble too much for them. Samson slays a thousand Philistines, and piles them up in heaps, and then faints for a little water! Jacob wrestles with God at Peniel, and overcomes Omnipotence itself, and then goes “halting on his thigh!” Strange that there must be a shrinking of the sinew whenever we win the day. As if the Lord must teach us our littleness, our nothingness, in order to keep us within bounds. Samson boasted right loudly when he said, “I have slain a thousand men.” His boastful throat soon grew hoarse with thirst, and he betook himself to prayer. God has many ways of humbling his people. Dear child of God, if after great mercy you are laid very low, your case is not an unusual one. When David had mounted the throne of Israel, he said, “I am this day weak, though anointed king.” You must expect to feel weakest when you are enjoying your greatest triumph. If God has wrought for you great deliverances in the past, your present difficulty is only like Samson’s thirst, and the Lord will not let you faint, nor suffer the daughter of the uncircumcised to triumph over you. The road of sorrow is the road to heaven, but there are wells of refreshing water all along the route. So, tried brother, cheer your heart with Samson’s words, and rest assured that God will deliver you ere long.

Overcoming Temptation ( by Charles Spurgeon)

Overcoming Temptation

By Charles H. Spurgeon

“And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from Him for a season” (Luke 4:13).
Beloved friends, we have very much to learn from our Lord’s temptation. He was tempted in all points, like as we are. If you will study the temptation of Christ, you will not be ignorant of Satan’s devices. If you see how He worsted the enemy, you will learn what weapons to use against your great adversary. If you see how our Lord conquers throughout the whole battle, you will learn that, as you keep close to Him, you will be more than a conqueror through Him that loved you.
From our Lord’s temptation we learn, especially, to pray, “Lead us not into temptation.” Let us never mistake the meaning of that petition! We are to pray that we may not be tempted, for we are poor flesh and blood and very frail. It is for us to cry to God, “Lead us not into temptation.” But we also learn a great deal from the close of our Lord’s great threefold trial. We find Him, afterwards, peaceful – ministered unto by angels – and rejoicing. That should teach us to pray, “But, if we must be tempted, deliver us from the evil,” or, as some render it, and very correctly, too, “Deliver us from the Evil One.” First, we pray that we may not be tempted at all and then, as a supplement to that prayer, yielding the whole matter to Divine wisdom, “If it is necessary for our manhood, for our growth in grace, for the verification of our graces and for God’s glory, that we should be tempted, Lord, deliver us from the evil, and especially deliver us from the impersonation of evil, the Evil One!”
It may be a long time, when you are suffering from his attacks, before he will hold his hand, for he will try all that he possibly can to lead you into evil and to destroy the grace that is in you. Still, he does come to an end with his temptations sooner than he desires, for, as God has said to the mighty sea, “Until this time shall you come, but no further; and here shall your proud waves be stayed” (Job 38:11) – and so says He to the devil. When He permitted Satan to try the graces of Job and to prove his sincerity, He let him go just so far, but no farther. And when he asked for a further stretch of power, still there was a limit. There is always a limit to Satan’s power and when he reaches that point, he will be pulled up short – he can do no more. You are never so in the hands of Satan as to be out of the hands of God. You are never so tempted, if you are a believer, that there is not a way of escape for you!
“When the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from Him.” When the Lord had foiled him at every point – had met every temptation with a text of Holy Scripture and had proved His own determination to hold fast His integrity and not let it go – it was not till then that the enemy departed. O brothers and sisters, if you can hold out, if you can stand against this and then against that; if you are protected against frowns and protected against flatteries; if you are protected against prosperity and against adversity; if you are protected against sly insinuations and open attacks – when you have won the day, as by God’s grace you will do, even as your Master did, then the enemy will depart from you!
He leaves God’s people very quickly when he sees that they are sustained by superior grace. He hopes to catch them when grace is at a low ebb. If he can come upon them when faith is very weak, when hope’s eyes are dim, when love has grown cold – then he thinks that he will make an easy capture. But when we are filled with the Spirit as the Master was, (God grant that we may be), he looks us up and down and he presently leaves. Like an old pirate who hangs about on the lookout for merchant vessels, but if he meets with ships that have plenty of guns on board and hardy hands to give him a warm reception, he goes after some other craft not quite so well able to resist his assaults. O brothers and sisters, be not merely Christians, only barely Christians, with just enough grace to let you see your imperfections, but pray to God to give you mighty grace, that you may “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might” (Eph. 6:10), so that, after the devil has tested you and found that the Lord is with you, that God dwells in you, then you may expect that, as it was with your Master, so it will be with you – Satan will leave you.
Cast Your Burden upon the Lord
Again, I doubt not that Satan leaves us – no, I know that he does – when the Lord says to him what He said in the wilderness, “Get you hence, Satan.” And He does say that when He sees one of His poor children dragged about, tortured, wounded, bleeding. The old Hell-dog knows his Master and he flies at once. This voice of God will come when the Lord sees that we cast ourselves wholly upon Him.
Let me remind you of a story of a gentleman who, riding along in his coach, saw a packman carrying a heavy pack, and asked him if he would like a ride. “Yes, and thank you, sir.” But he kept his pack on his back while riding. “Oh,” said the friend, “why do you not take your pack off and put it down in front?” “Why, sir,” he said, “it is so kind of you to give me a ride that I do not like to impose upon your good nature, and I thought that I would carry the pack myself!” “Well,” said the other, “but, you see, it makes no difference to me whether you carry it or do not carry it – I have to carry you and your pack – so you had better unstrap it and put it down in front.”
So, friend, when you cast your burden upon God, unstrap it! Why should you bear it yourself when God is prepared to bear it? Beloved, there are times when we forget that, but when we can come and absolutely yield ourselves right up, saying, “Lord, here I am, tempted, poor and weak. But I come and rest in You. I know not what to ask at Your hands, but Your servant has said, ‘Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain you: He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.’ I lie at Your feet, my Lord. Here I am, here would I be. Do with me as seems good in Your sight – only deal in tender mercy with Your servant.” Then will the Lord rebuke the enemy! The waves of the sea shall be still and there shall be a great calm.
Watch and Pray
I close by reminding you of the limitation of our rest. Satan left Christ “for a season,” or until a fit occasion.
Dear friends, if we have peace and quietness, and are not tempted, do not let us become self-secure. The devil will come to us, again, at a fit opportunity. And when will that be? There are a great many fit opportunities with you and with me. One is when we have nothing to do. You know Dr. Watts’ lines – “Satan finds some mischief still, for idle hands to do.”
He will come and attack us when we are alone. I mean, when we are sad and lonely, and are sitting still, and moping by ourselves.
But Satan also finds a very fit occasion when we are in company, especially when it is very mixed company – a company of persons, perhaps, who are superior to ourselves in education and in station – but who do not fear God. We may easily be overawed and led astray by them. Satan will come then.
I have known him frequently come and find an occasion against the children of God when we are sick and ill, the old coward! He knows that we would not mind him when we are in good health, but sometimes when we are down in the dumps through sickness and pain – then it is that he begins to tempt us to despair.
So will he do with us when we are very poor. When a man has had a great loss in business, down comes Satan and insinuates, “Is this how God treats His children? God’s people are no better off than other people.”
Then, if we are getting on in the world, he turns it the other way, and he says, “Does Job fear God for nothing? He gets on by his religion.” You cannot please the devil and you need not want to please him! He can make a temptation for you out of anything!
I am going to say something that will surprise you. One time of great temptation is when we are very spiritual. As to myself, I have never been in such supreme danger as when I have led some holy meeting with sacred fervor and have felt carried away with delight in God. You know that it is easy to be on the Mount of Transfiguration and then to meet Satan at the foot, as our Lord did when He came down from that hill.
Another time of temptation is when we have already done wrong. “Now he begins to slip,” says Satan. “I saw him trip. Now I will have him down!” Oh, for speedy repentance and an earnest flight to Christ whenever there has been a grave fault, yes, and before the grave fault comes, that we may be preserved from falling!
And Satan finds a good occasion for tempting us when we have not sinned. After we have been tempted and we have won the day and stood fast, then he comes and says, “Now, that was well done on your part, you are a splendid saint!” And he who thinks himself a splendid saint is next door to a shameful sinner, depend upon it! And Satan soon gets the advantage over him.
He will tempt you when you have obtained some blessing that you have been thinking was such a great gift. Just as you have secured the thing that you are seeking, then comes a temptation – to which all I have to say is this – “Watch.”
“What I say unto you, I say unto all,” said Christ, “Watch. Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation” (Matt. 26:41). And by the conflict and the victory of your Master, go into the conflict bravely and expect to conquer by faith in Him, even as He overcame!
Condensed from the sermon, “Satan Departing, Angels Ministering.”

Winners Never Quit, Quitters Never Win (By Fenny West)

Winners Never Quit, Winners Never Win

You Beat the Odds
When many did not
In the ‘First Race’
To reached the goal.

You faced many hurdles
But you beat them all
Despite the challenges
You kept on going.

Yes, you kept pressing on
Till you burst through.
A new life began
You disembarked in the earth.

And now you still face the odds
And all around is darkness
You are tempted to pack it in.
Winners never quit, winners never win.

Cast Down but Unconquered

⁷But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

⁸We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

⁹persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed — Seeing the Invisible

¹⁶Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

¹⁷For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,¹⁸while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

2Cor4:7-9,16-18

⁹But as it is written: ” Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

1Cor2:94

God’s Everlasting Love

³¹What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

³²He 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?

³³Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.

³⁴Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

³⁶As it is written: ” For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

³⁷Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

³⁸For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,

³⁹nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom.8:28,31-39

©Fenny West2013

Spiritual Warfare: Supply

Word for Today

Bob Gas

THREE LEVELS OF ATTACK (1)

‘…command that these stones become bread

.’ MATTHEW 4:3

The Bible says, ‘…Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil’ (Matthew 4:1 NKJV). This seems to be God’s standard operating procedure. Why? Because He’s a good general; before He puts you into battle He puts you into boot camp. Imagine it: you’re up at dawn, running for miles with a heavy backpack, crawling under barbed wire barriers with bullets whizzing over your head, taking orders from authority figures you don’t know and probably don’t like. But if you pass the test; you get to wear the uniform. On the threshold of His ministry, God led His Son into a situation where He would face three levels of attack. You will face them also. Let’s look at the first one: The attack over the bread. Did Jesus need bread? Yes, He’d been without food for forty days. But He knew that His greatest need was not for natural food but spiritual food. So He told satan, ‘…”Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’ (Matthew 4:4 NKJV). Only when you’re convinced God will take care of all your material needs, will you start putting spiritual things first in your life. Until that happens, you’ll think you have to take care of yourself. As a result, you will walk in fear and not faith. That’s not how God wants you to live. ‘…seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you’ (Matthew 6:33 NKJV). When you worry, you don’t trust God. When you trust God, you don’t have to worry. The choice is yours.

Presumptuous Sins

Charles H. Spurgeon

“Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins.”Psalm 19:13

Such was the prayer of the “man after God’s own heart.” Did holy David need to pray thus? How needful, then, must such a prayer be for us babes in grace! It is as if he said, “Keep me back, or I shall rush headlong over the precipice of sin.” Our evil nature, like an ill-tempered horse, is apt to run away. May the grace of God put the bridle upon it, and hold it in, that it rush not into mischief. What might not the best of us do if it were not for the checks which the Lord sets upon us both in providence and in grace!

The psalmist’s prayer is directed against the worst form of sin —that which is done with deliberation and wilfulness. Even the holiest need to be “kept back” from the vilest transgressions. It is a solemn thing to find the apostle Paul warning saints against the most loathsome sins. “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

”What! do saints want warning against such sins as these? Yes, they do. The whitest robes, unless their purity be preserved by divine grace, will be defiled by the blackest spots. Experienced Christian, boast not in your experience; you will trip yet if you look away from him who is able to keep you from falling. Ye whose love is fervent, whose faith is constant, whose hopes are bright, say not, “We shall never sin,” but rather cry, “Lead us not into temptation.”

There is enough tinder in the heart of the best of men to light a fire that shall burn to the lowest hell, unless God shall quench the sparks as they fall. Who would have dreamed that righteous Lot could be found drunken, and committing uncleanness? Hazael said, “Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing?” and we are very apt to use the same self-righteous question. May infinite wisdom cure us of the madness of self-confidence.

Watch and Pray

Watch and Pray

Psalm 39:1

I will take heed to my ways.

Fellow-pilgrim, say not in your heart, “I will go hither and thither, and I shall not sin;” for you are never so out of danger of sinning as to boast of security. The road is very miry, it will be hard to pick your path so as not to soil your garments. This is a world of pitch; you will need to watch often, if in handling it you are to keep your hands clean. There is a robber at every turn of the road to rob you of your jewels; there is a temptation in every mercy; there is a snare in every joy; and if you ever reach heaven, it will be a miracle of divine grace to be ascribed entirely to your Father’s power. Be on your guard. When a man carries a bomb-shell in his hand, he should mind that he does not go near a candle; and you too must take care that you enter not into temptation. Even your common actions are edged tools; you must mind how you handle them. There is nothing in this world to foster a Christian’s piety, but everything to destroy it. How anxious should you be to look up to God, that He may keep you! Your prayer should be, “Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe.” Having prayed, you must also watch; guarding every thought, word, and action, with holy jealousy. Do not expose yourselves unnecessarily; but if called to exposure, if you are bidden to go where the darts are flying, never venture forth without your shield; for if once the devil finds you without your buckler, he will rejoice that his hour of triumph is come, and will soon make you fall down wounded by his arrows. Though slain you cannot be; wounded you may be. “Be sober; be vigilant, danger may be in an hour when all seemeth securest to thee.” Therefore, take heed to thy ways, and watch unto prayer. No man ever fell into error through being too watchful. May the Holy Spirit guide us in all our ways, so shall they always please the Lord.

Is This a Down Fall?

After he rose tall

Is this a down fall?.

It’s jus like Saul;

Lesson for us all.

After the victory

Beware the Valley

Near, in the alley

That floor many.

It can be you

Can be me too

If you are careless

If I am careless.

So friend beware

Of the snare that’s there

To rubbish your win

Dump it in the bin.

No one is immune

Me or even you

Avoid the ruin

That comes so soon.

You have an enemy

Often i-ni-me

He live in you

And that is true.

He is called, Flesh

Allowed, he will thrash

Defeat the New Man

The inward man.

So hold tight your nerve

Flesh, do not serve

Finish very well

The Gospel tell.

It can happen to

any man

Any woman

Any company

Any celebrity

Any business

Any actress.

Mind the yawning gap

After the victory lap

Waiting to floor

the joy in store.

²⁶“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath,

²⁷nor give place to the devil.

Eph4:26-27

http://wp.me/p1eApa-Nh

https://inspiration4generations.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/in-this-brand-new-year-2/