Luke 9:23-24
(23) And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
(24) For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.
Hebrews 12:1-2
(1) Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
(2) Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
In Luke 15 we have the account of three men – a father and two brothers.
Prodigal son was met by his father, and the older son was met by his father.
The father met both because he loved them both equally.
However, the prodigal son had a son mentality, but was willing to be a servant – Luke 15:17-20, “(17) And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! (18) I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, (19) And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. (20) And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him” (KJV).
The elder brother had a slave mentality longing to be a son – “All these years I’ve worked like a slave for you” (ISV).
We need a revelation of the Father’s love.
“Jesus, give me a revelation of Your love for me.”
Without a revelation of the Father’s love we will try to somehow earn our place in His family,
Children don’t earn a place in the family – they are born into the family, and we are born into the family of God.
The new birth puts you in the family of God.
What does it mean to be a bastard and not a son?
What does it mean to be illegitimate in the eyes of God?
The church is a family.
When Jesus says I go to prepare a place for you, He is preparing a place for His Bride, His Church, His family.
Why?
So that where He is there we will be also.
Relationship
Relationship demands proximity, it demands closeness.
It’s that “where I am there you may be also” intimacy found in healthy relationships.
The devil’s tool for destruction is isolation.
To put a gap between you and God.
Sin will surely do that, but so will your inability to see yourself as a son.
You need to be confident in your identity = I AM A CHILD OF GOD.
To be unaware of your true identity and all that comes with it — the benefits of sonship is – detrimental to you.
Know the benefits of carrying His name
Ephesians 3:14-21
(14) For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
(15) Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
(16) That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;
(17) That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
(18) May be able to comprehend [to understand] with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
(19) And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
(20) Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
(21) Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Verse 18-19
- You are the temple of the Holy Ghost
- The Church of God is a building: a heavenly house, a habitation for God to dwell in through the Holy Spirit
- The Love of God for His Church is wide and long and deep and tall.
- Length = Love is eternal.
- Breadth = All people have access to His Love in every place, age or nation.
- Depth = His love will find people at their lowest point.
- Height = His love will take people to the highest state of glory in Christ.
I remember laying in the top bunk at the age of 11 or 12 with my Walkman cassette player on listening to the Imperials and crying as I told God
I’d do whatever He wanted me to do,
go wherever He wanted me to go,
and be whomever He called me to be.
I can still feel the wetness of the tears as they pooled in my ears.
I don’t remember the exact song, but I remember the moment of calling, response, and commitment I made on that top bunk with my pillow wet with salty tears.
It was there I took up my cross to follow Jesus.
After that night, the devil worked to destroy my young heart, innocence and pure desire.
You may think that devil ain’t worried about a child’s commitment, future, destiny, or ordination.
You would be wrong
The Antichrist Spirit in Herod tried to kill the Christ, and did indeed kill many children in the process.
Abortion is a satanic tool to destroy the hope and future of our next generation.
All the OT youth: David (lion, bear, giant), young Joseph betrayed, Josiah barely escaping Athaliah’s treachery.
Moses in the bulrush escaping death.
New Converts – young babes in Christ – fighting for their spiritual lives against an enemy who seeks to kill, steal and destroy.
The devil will sift because he wants to destroy, but what he sees as victory is actually God blowing away the chaff that hinders you from fulfilling your purpose.
“The 3D Strategy of Satan: Detour, Distract, Delay.”
-Ken Gurley ?
The devil will try to put a false cross on you if you let him.
This weight might be a legitimate concern that the devil inflates into an illegitimate cross.
The burden he wants to saddle you with doe not lead to victory and resurrection power,
But it leads to hopelessness and despair.
He seeks to get you isolated in order to plague you and burden you down the inner struggles and secret parts of your life,[1]
There – Alone – feelings of depression, desolation and inadequacy overwhelm us.
We then keep the struggle of this False Cross to ourselves and tell ourselves the lie, “This is just my cross to bear.”
That’s a lie.
You have a cross to bare, but this ain’t it.
If you carry this illegitimate cross you’ll be worn away.
Your true cross will lead to full and complete deliverance, power and victory.
The true cross will lead to death, yes, but also to true resurrection:
Philippians 3:10, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings…”
Take up your cross and follow Jesus.
Stop carrying the false cross of weights and sins.
Quit listening to the voice of the serpent whispering in your ear.
The devil is a LIAR, and the father of all lies.
Because of this, whatever he tells you is a lie and an attempt to get you to believe what he knows is untrue.
So, anytime the devil tells you something just ask yourself, “what is the exact opposite?”
When you find out what that opposite is, it’s a good indication of where the Lord is likely taking you.
Also, if the devil tells you he’s going to kill, destroy, ruin, harm, rob, etc.
You can be certain that he will not do that because he doesn’t have the permission to do it.
If he did then he would have already done it and wouldn’t warn you.
When he speaks it is a play to intimidate and a sign that you are safely in the protection of God.
Praise the Lord[2] -The Imperials
When you’re up against a struggle that shatters all your dreams
And your hopes have been cruelly crushed by Satan’s manifested schemes
And you feel the urge within you to submit to earthly fears
Don’t let the faith you’re standing in seem to disappear
Praise the Lord, He can work through those who praise Him
Praise the Lord, for our God inhabits praise
Praise the Lord, for the chains that seems to bind you
Serve only to remind you that they drop powerless behind you
When you praise Him
Now Satan is a liar and he wants to make us think
That we are paupers when he knows himself we’re children of the King
So lift up the mighty shield of faith for the battle must be won
We know that Jesus Christ has risen so the work’s already done
2 Corinthians 2:11
Four Attacks of Satan
“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.”
John 10:10
“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
- Obsession
- Compulsive preoccupation with a fixed idea or an unwanted feeling or emotion, often accompanied by symptoms of anxiety.
- A compulsive, often unreasonable idea or emotion.[3]
- Oppression
- The act of oppressing; arbitrary and cruel exercise of power:
- “There can be no really pervasive system of oppression… without the consent of the oppressed.” -Florynce R. Kennedy
- The state of being oppressed.
- Something that oppresses.
- A feeling of being heavily weighed down in mind or body.[4]
- The act of oppressing; arbitrary and cruel exercise of power:
- Depression
- A mental state characterized by a pessimistic sense of inadequacy and a despondent lack of activity.
- Sad feelings of gloom and inadequacy.
- A state of depression and anhedonia (the absence of pleasure or the ability to experience it) so severe as to require clinical intervention.[5]
- Possession
- The state of being dominated by or as if by evil spirits or by an obsession.[6]
Seven Weapons Against Satan’s Attack[7]
Isaiah 59:19b
“When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.”
- The Blood of Jesus Christ.
- Revelation 12:11, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
- Exodus 12:13, “And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.”
- Our Testimony.
- Revelation 12:11, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
- The Name of Jesus.
- Mark 16:17-18, “And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.”
- Colossians 3:17, “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”
- The Written Word of God.
- Matthew 4:1-10, “1Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungered. 3And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.”
- Prayer and Praise.
- Philippians 4:6, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”
- I Thessalonians 5:18, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
- Angels of the LORD.
- Hebrews 1:13-14, “But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”
- Psalm 103:20, “Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.”
- The Holy Ghost.
- John 14:18, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”
- Acts 1:8, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
- Galatians 5:16, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”
[1] Kenneth V. Reeves. The Angels, Demons & People (Vol. 1). p. 20
[2] https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/6616995/The+Imperials/Praise+The+Lord
[3] The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 4-20-2005.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=obsession
[4] Ibid. http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=oppression
[5] Ibid. http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=depression
[6] Ibid. http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=possession
[7]Kenneth V. Reeves. The Angels, Demons & People (Vol. 1). p. 33-47.
The Pillar and Ground of Truth 