ENJOY LIFE

Did you know that Jesus told us that He came so that we may enjoy our lives and enjoy all the things He gives us?  Enjoyment—-what a word to ponder.  I would venture to say that many of you reading this today are not enjoying life to the fullest.  Why not?  Are you born again?  Yes, then what is the problem?  You say:  Things are not going so well.  Bills are unpaid.  Health is not so good.  Children are straying.  Marriages are full of strife.  At some point or another, we all have said these things.  “I am tired of believing.  I am tired of waiting for my answer.  I don’t see my results.”

I have one question to ask all of us today.  Do you believe the Word of God is true?  Do you believe God cannot lie?  Well, listen to this.  These words are in red.  Believe the red.  Jesus said them.  This is what He said.

John 10:10, Amplified Bible

…I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).

Then we read in 1 Timothy 6:17 that we are to trust “…in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.”  In the Amplified Bible it reads this way:  “…set their hopes on God, Who richly and ceaselessly provides us with everything for [our] enjoyment.”

Here is what we are to focus on and say every day when we get up.

“I am enjoying life.

I trust in the living God.  I set my hopes on Him.  I don’t put my trust in man and his way of thinking.

I have and enjoy life because Jesus came and gave it to me.

I receive life in abundance.  That means that I receive health in abundance;  I receive prosperity in abundance; I receive a marriage made in heaven; I receive children taught of the Lord and obedient to His will; I receive the good life of God in every area of my life.

I have the joy of life to the full and overflowing.

I have so much life that it overflows into others’ lives.

I am a person who fully and completely enjoys life.

God, my Father, through Jesus His Son and my Brother, richly and without ceasing provides me with everything for my enjoyment.

I have everything in abundance and overflowing.

The abundant flow never ceases.  It is mine all the time.

I enjoy life because it is the Life of God in me that causes me to enjoy my living here on this earth.

I am living in the Life of God all the time.  He gives me great joy and I enjoy every minute of my day every day.

I know that my God takes care of me.

I seek Him first and His way of doing things and I shall be filled to the full with His life always.

REDEEMED FOREVER!

Today we wrap up our teaching on redemption with a vivid picture of what actually happened from the garden to the cross to the tomb to the resurrection.  Let’s remind ourselves once again of what redemption really is.  It is the freeing of someone who is held hostage, in bondage, as a slave to a slave master.  The slave master is a kidnapper who demands a price be paid for the freedom of the one he is holding.  The ransom is the price paid to free the person.

All of mankind was held hostage by satan.  We were slaves on his slave block.  He had gotten us and used us for his purposes, tempting and tormenting us with ungodly thoughts, motives, and actions.

Then Jesus came to this earth in a flesh and blood body, so that He could have a legal right to be here.  He walked among men and experienced things that we experience and gave us an example of being an overcomer in this world.  At the appointed time, Jesus gave Himself to the enemy.  He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane and sweat great drops of blood as He surrendered His will to the Father to take our place as our substitute.  He would become sin and pay the full price for sin and its consequences, with all of its horrors known to man.

Jesus not only took our place but also He paid in full with His blood the ticket to free us.  We were freed not with the corruptible things such as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Jesus.  He paid the price to take us out of the slavery of sin and its consequences.  He bought us and then said:  You are no longer slaves.  You are no longer in bondage.  Go and be free.  Enjoy life once again.

Jesus carried our sin, and all that it involves, into hell, and satan and all of his demons thought they had finally gotten him.  He was theirs for the taking, they thought.  He was in hell.  They tortured Him unmercifully.  BUT, on the third day, the voice of God the Father boomed down through the portals of hell:  ENOUGH!  THE FULL PRICE IS PAID!  ARISE!  The Holy Spirit entered Jesus’ body; He stopped by paradise to pick up the saints held in Abraham’s bosom and up they all came.  It sort of “freaked out” the people of Jerusalem when they saw their dead kinfolk walking the streets on their way to heaven.

Jesus took His blood to the Mercy Seat in heaven and placed it there forever.  That blood speaks day and night to and for each of us:  LIFE!

The price has been paid.  The blood of Jesus has taken care of our sin forever.

Now that is TRUE LOVE!

And that is what we call REDEMPTION!

I am the redeemed of the Lord and I say so.  I AM REDEEMED FOREVER!

REDEEMED, SAY SO

Psalm 107:1,2, Amplified Bible

O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever!  Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has delivered from the hand of the adversary.

We are the redeemed of the Lord.  We are the ones who have been set free.  Freedom is ours.  We are free from slavery.  We have become sons and daughters of God.  WE ARE FREE!

What are we free from?  We are free from the curse of the law of sin and death; that means, we are free from sin, sickness and disease, poverty, lack, want, disappointment and discouragement ruling our lives, cares and anxieties dogging our tracks.  We are free.

I can hear your wheels turning.  Doesn’t look like I am free!  Who said anything about how it looks.  This verse tells us what to say.  We are to say:  “I am delivered from the hand (the power, the strength) of the adversary (the enemy, the one who is in opposition to me, the one who has enmity in his heart toward me).  I give thanks to You, Lord, for You are good, for Your mercy endures forever.”  That’s what we are to say.

We are not to say how we feel or how things look and what we think is going to happen.  We all know that is sometimes EXTREMELY hard to do.  What we want to do is tell everyone how bad it is and get someone to listen to and sympathize with us.  I have done it so many times.  But we must look at who we are because of Jesus.

We are free from all the negative junk that satan does his best to put on us.  We are mightier than he is because of Who is in us.  He cannot put anything on you and make it stick.  It is like water off a duck’s back.  The oil of the Holy Spirit keeps us slippery and nothing satan does can stick to us.  That’s truth.  What a wonderful God we have!  What a loving Father!  What a giving brother (Jesus)!  He laid down His life so that I could take up His life and truly live the victorious life while I am here on this earth.  Earth is getting tough but God is greater.  Focus on who you are in Him!

I am the redeemed of the Lord and I say so!

REDEEMED TO BE CHILDREN

 Galatians 4:4,5

But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

We are children of God.  We have been adopted by God Almighty.  Not only are we born again but also we are adopted.  That is a double entry into the household of God.  I am so thankful that I am a member of the family of God.

I did nothing to become God’s child other than to accept what Jesus has done for me.  He has set me free from all the stuff that the earth tries to put on me and cause me to worry and be anxious and take on care.  I think it is pretty neat that I am a child, and children don’t have to concern themselves about what they will do.  They know that daddy will take care of it.  Jesus told us to become as little children.  Little children don’t even think about how something is going to be taken care of.

We are now fully children of the Mighty God.  We are no longer slaves to the law of sin and death.  That law is finished for us. No more sin and no more death hanging over our heads.  Jesus has set us free.  Hallelujah!  I am free to bask in my heavenly Father’s love for me.  He is free to love me fully, being able to spend time with me.  I am free to spend time with Him.  What a privilege we have.  Today, thank Jesus for what He has done.  He has freed you to be His brother and sister in Father’s household of faith.

I am a child of God by adoption and birth because Jesus set me free from the curse of the law.

REDEEMED BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS

1 Peter 1:18,19

Forasmuch as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation (useless, fruitless way of living) received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot;

Titus 2:14, Amplified Bible

Who gave Himself on our behalf that He might redeem us (purchase our freedom) from all iniquity and purify for Himself a people [to be peculiarly His own, people who are] eager and enthusiastic about [living a life that is good and filled with] beneficial deeds.

News reports are swirling of catastrophes and riots and government takeovers and economies shaking and people taking on fear all over the whole world.  We are living in the worst of times, and we are living in the best of times.  We as God’s people are living in the best of times, because He will take care of us.  If we start looking at all that is happening around us, we can become very discouraged and frightened.  I have been reminded almost hourly in the last several weeks to keep my focus steadily fixed on Jesus, not looking to the left or to the right.

Jesus Christ has redeemed you and me from the curse of the law into the blessing of Abraham.  Part of the curse is uncertainty of our future.  We have been redeemed from that.

How have we been redeemed?  We have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus from this world’s way of living.  Jesus Christ gave Himself up for us, on our behalf, to purchase our freedom from satan’s plan for our lives.  His blood washed away satan’s strategies, purposes, plans, schemes, tactics and maneuvers from our lives.  Psalm 91 tells us that we will stand and see people fall on both sides of us but we will still be standing firmly.  Now is the time that we put action to what we believe.  God’s Word is true for us, regardless of the diagnosis, whether it is a doctor’s diagnosis or a government’s diagnosis.

Jesus has paid the ultimate price with His life for us to be free to live a life that is good and filled with benefits.  In God’s Word we read that He daily loads us with benefits.  The world’s benefits seem to be fading away; they are only temporary.  But God’s benefits are eternal, forever.

Encourage yourself in the Lord.  Christ has purchased your freedom with His precious blood.  We will live in our freedom!

REDEEMED FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW

Galatians 3:13,14

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us:  for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangs on a tree:  that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Christ is not Jesus’ last name.  it is the Greek word for Anointed One.  The Anointed One (God Almighty in the person of Jesus, with the anointing of His Holy Spirit, through the Father) has redeemed you and me.  What does it mean to be redeemed?  When someone is redeemed, they are bought back from captivity or bondage.  An individual is holding them as hostage and demanding a ransom for their freedom.  Satan was holding every human being hostage to his sin and death.  Jesus came with a ransom price for our freedom—-His precious blood.  He paid the full price to set us free.  Now satan has no legal right to hold us hostage because we have been redeemed, set free.

The Anointed One has set us free from the curse of the law.  The curse of the law and the blessings are set forth in Deuteronomy 28.  We can read what the curse is in that chapter.  The curse is sin and its consequences such as sickness and disease and poverty.  We see the blessings in the first verses of Deuteronomy 28.  We are blessed everywhere we go.  God commands the blessing on us and our storehouse.  Our enemies flee before us.  Our children are blessed.

The word “blessed” holds so many meanings.  It basically and simply means God’s fullness of Himself poured out on us—-all that He is and all that He has.  That is it “in a nutshell” as my grandmother used to say of something which was all  inclusive.

We are blessed.  We have access to all that God has for us, through faith.  Faith, that word that so many people have trouble with.  Once again, the simple definition of faith is:  having confidence in God, trusting Him.

I AM REDEEMED FROM THE CURSE OF THE LAW THAT THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM MIGHT COME ON ME!

THE LIFE FLOW

There is a river of life flowing through each one of us as God’s children.  That life is flowing all the time, 24/7.  It is the life of God which was released by Jesus when His blood flowed out of His body on to the ground of this earth.  That blood flowing so freely released a stream of life straight from the throne of God.  It is the river of life that flows in heaven.  It came to earth when Jesus came.  He released it when He died and rose again.

When Jesus carried His blood to the Mercy Seat of Heaven and placed His blood there, He released all of us from sin and its consequences. He was THE sacrificial lamb Who took away the sins of the world forever.  He paralyzed satan who had the power of death; He conquered death; He conquered the principalities and powers of hell; He took all our sicknesses and diseases.

Forever we are free because of what Jesus did.  Forever we can flow in the river of the life of God right now, right here on this earth.  It is available for us.  All we have to do is learn how to receive God’s life flow.  That life flow is ours.  Our mouth is the access to it.  As we speak life, which is contained in God’s Word, revelation comes of Who Jesus really is and what He really did.

Jesus told us when He was here on this earth:  I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.  In this statement He was telling us that He Who was life had brought His life with Him and was releasing it for us.  In Leviticus we read that the life is in the blood.  Jesus’ blood was the carrier of the life of God, not the life of man.  When He was placed in Mary’s womb, the seed of life came from His Heavenly Father, not an earthly father.

Now, we as God’s children are the carriers of life; His life is to flow out of us all the time.  His Zoë life is in our bodies; it is in our spirits; it is in our souls.  Hallelujah!  We are carriers of the river of life.  His life is flowing through us right now!  Glory!  What a privilege.  God’s life is flowing in you!  Accept and receive the fullness of that life—-health, healing, strength, joy, prosperity of every kind, financial security, love, peace.  It goes on and on.  God’s life is the essence of Him, His entire nature.  My prayer for you today is that you will receive a revelation of this truth as you never have before.

THE BLOOD OF JESUS IS THE LIFE FLOW OF GOD!

YOU ARE A CARRIER OF THAT LIFE FLOW!

HIS BLOOD – HIS LIFE

When Jesus’ blood was shed in the Garden of Gethsemane, at the whipping post, with the soldiers who plucked out His beard and crushed the crown of thorns on His head, and at the cross, the life of Almighty God was being poured out all over this earth for you and me to be free.

That blood is the life of God.  The life is in the blood.  That life of God cleansed us of all sin, of all sickness and disease, of all bondage, of all poverty, of all anxiety and frustration, of everything that came with the curse.

The very life, the very essence of God Himself was released on this earth for you and me to have and enjoy while we are here.  His life is here for us.  It is ours.  We have been cleansed and set free of all that satan brought about by stealing Adam’s authority and relationship with God his Father.  We are clean through God’s Word, Jesus Christ and His shed blood.  I have to repeat this:  We are clean.

Well, then, what brings impurities into our lives if we are clean?  Let me use an example that we all understand.  Our bodies are made clean when we wash them with soap and water.  But there are germs and bacteria here on this earth that make us dirty again.  And we wash again.

Even so, there are germs and bacteria in the spirit realm called demonic forces, principalities and powers, rulers of the darkness and wicked spirits in heavenly places.  It is their job to present trouble to us in the form of sickness and disease, poverty, lack, want, brokenness.  They know that we have been cleansed and made whole through the blood of Jesus.  We are no longer broken.  Our lives are whole in our spirits, our souls and our bodies.

The spirits also know that the acceptance of trouble comes with the mouth, what we speak.  These evil spirits, therefore, put pressure on us to speak what is wrong with us. It is our job to put pressure on them by speaking the Word of God to stay cleansed and free of the curse.  Jesus told us that we are clean through the word. He was telling us that the Word of God spoken out of our mouths will keep us free.

Every day there are opportunities to speak contrary to God’s Word.  A pain comes.  A symptom comes.  The checkbook looks empty.  The job is no more.  The children look like they are straying.  The marriage looks like it is failing.  We have a choice at each of these points to speak what we see in the natural and agree with it or to speak what God’s Word says about us.  The blood of Jesus has cleansed us of all that sin and death brought.  The Word of God keeps us cleansed.

How powerful!  THERE IS LIFE IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS!  THERE IS LIFE IN THE WORD OF GOD!  Let’s speak His Word and keep the life flow going strong in our lives

HE BORE IT ALL

When Jesus took our place as our substitute on this earth (from the time He was born until He was resurrected), He had a mission. Come and get my kids back for me. That is what the Father was saying to Him. I want my family back. I want to be able to fellowship and enjoy my children. Let’s restore them to the position of family members again.

The only way that we could become family again was for someone to take our place and bear the consequences of our disobedience. Someone had to pay the price, and that is exactly what Jesus did for us. God provided His Son to be our substitute. Jesus was born to be our substitute. I think it is time we looked closely at what He did for us, because I believe that so much of the time we take it for granted. What He did was BIG!!!!!

God had to punish sin. Jesus took the fullness of that punishment. God punished Jesus (Who became sin) for you and me. We must see Jesus on the cross being judged for our sin, smitten with our sicknesses and diseases and taking on the fullness of poverty and stress and heartache and the challenges of life here on this earth. When He punished sin in Jesus, all the consequences of sin were dealt with. No more sickness and poverty for us. It is gone. It is still in the world, but we are not of the world. We are of the Kingdom of God, where sin has been taken care of.

God punished Jesus with sin and with every effect of sin. Jesus Christ was punished with our sins, our diseases, our stress, our mental anguish, our anxieties and cares. Disease, poverty, lack, failure, etc. has lost its legal right to be in you or on you or around you. It is finished as far as you are concerned. Selah, pause and think on that for a while.

God cannot punish sin twice or He would be unjust. He cannot demand payment twice for the same debt. He demanded payment of Jesus. That is it. That settles it. He will never demand payment again. So why are you trying to pay for and work for your health, your prosperity, your peace of mind. It is PAID IN FULL!  DEBT CANCELLED!

MY DEBT TO SIN AND SICKNESS AND DISEASE AND POVERTY AND FAILURE IS CANCELLED, GONE FOREVER!

DEFEATED FOE

Deuteronomy 28:7, Amplified Bible

The Lord shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

What enemy are you facing today?  Is it lack?  Is it sickness and disease?  Is it broken relationships?  Is it fear?  Is it doubt and unbelief?  Is it depression?  Is it stress?  Whatever the enemy is, God has already defeated that enemy for you through Jesus Christ.

As we see in this scripture verse in the Old Testament (which, of course, was before Jesus came to this earth to defeat satan and his foes forever), God had already provided for our enemies to be defeated right in front of us.  He assures us that they may come against us in one direction but they will flee before us in seven directions.  I think that is very reassuring.  How much more assurance we should have now.  Jesus rendered satan powerless (Hebrews 2:14,15).  He stripped principalities and powers of their authority (Colossians 2:15).  He destroyed the works of the devil (which would be the enemies that attempt to attack us) (1 John 3:8).  And the Father delivered us from the control of darkness and delivered us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, Jesus Christ (Colossians 1:12-14).

Jesus has already faced defeat for each person on the face of this earth.  He has already defeated satan and his demonic forces.  He, the Father, and the Holy Spirit are One in me to continually enforce that defeat for me personally.  Every day I am victorious because Jesus is my victory.

VICTORY IN JESUS!