TALK…TALK…TALK By Gloria Copeland
Satan is like a salesman. He makes you a presentation and tries to sell you a bill of goods. He tells you God doesn’t really love you. He tells you the Word won’t work this time. He tells you that you don’t have the strength to go on. He’ll even try to sell you on the idea that it would be easier for you just to curl up and die than to see this trial through in faith.
All he does is talk…talk…talk! And lie…lie…lie…, and we don’t have to listen.
Now that talk can get very annoying, but remember, that’s all he can do! He doesn’t have any real power or authority over you.
According to I Peter, he walks around as a roaring lion, “seeking whom he may devour.” It doesn’t say he is a lion. He just acts like one. Therefore, he can’t devour you, unless you let him.
I Peter 5:9 says we are to resist the devil steadfastly! That means you have to use patience to resist him. He is, after all, a persistent fellow. He may pester you a thousand times a day, but if you’ll resist him every time, he will flee from you every time (James 4:7).
He and all the low-level demons he sends to aggravate you have already “come to naught” (I Cor. 2:6). Jesus has stripped them of all their power and authority and left them with nothing (Col. 2:15).
So the next time Satan starts his sales pitch. Talk back.
“I am a new creature in Christ Jesus. I am born of God. I am filled with the Holy Spirit Who proceeds from the Father. I am endowed with the Name of Jesus, which is “far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named. Not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.” Ephesians 1:21
“Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world.” 1 John 4:4
“Leave my presence in Jesus’ name!” James 4:7
“I resist the devil steadfastly. He will not devour me, because greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world!”
I Pet. 5:8-9 I John 4:4
You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by. Job 11;16
Trouble comes to all of us at one time or another. For some it may be the loss of a child, a sudden loss of a job, unexpected doctor’s report. Whatever it may be we do have the promise, “this too shall pass.” We sang a song here at New Life-’troubles they don’t last always for there is a friend in Jesus who will wipe away your tears-with Jesus I can take it with Him I know I can stand no matter what may come by way my life is in your hands.”
Let us consider Job. He was a man who knew about trouble. When he lost everything, his wife told him to curse God and die. He refused and instead, responded to God in faith. In the end Job was given twice as much as he had before. The enemy of our souls wants to wear us out and to wear us down. He does this in very subtle ways little by little day by day. He wants you to believe that it is always going to be this way. But God-He restores double for your trouble! “Even today I declare that I will restore double to you.” Zechariah 9:12
You may have been through some trouble, or are going thru some trouble but God is the One Who brings restoration. Isaiah 61:7 says, “For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.”
I need to prophesy to somebody and tell you that today is your day for a turn around. And I decree to you that in the very same place that the enemy said it was going to end, you’re going to step into a new beginning and the greatest blessing of your life. That thing that has been troubling you is only a launching pad to breakthrough. Just that quick I believe things are shifting in your favor!!!
PRAY FOR FLORIDA from Andrew Wommack
Again, we are mourning the loss of innocent lives as the result of a violent school shooting. I join with you in praying for all those injured and those who have lost sons and daughters. I pray that the Lord would comfort and draw them to Himself for the strength only He can give. He is our only hope.
I’ve heard total despair from a number of people today as to how we solve the problem. They feel that this is the new norm that we just have to get used to. I don’t believe this is so. I didn’t grow up with this as the norm, and the young people of today don’t have to either.
Although there isn’t a quick fix and many things need to be done, I believe the root of the problem is simple. There is evil in this world that our nation has systematically been releasing by our departure from morality and the fear of God. Disrespect for God, authority, and life in general is being promoted in multiple ways, and this is the consequence.
“Psalm 36:1 “The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.”
The lack of reverence for God has removed the restraints on the devil, and this is the result. The answer to this isn’t easy, but it’s simple: we need to return to God as a nation. That’s where we believers come in. We must speak out and let our light and salt be the preserving influence God ordained.
As we pray for those affected, let’s also renew our commitment to sharing the good news of the Gospel, which is the only thing that will change the hearts of people and stop this carnage. Most will look for things in the natural that need to be done, and while we don’t deny the natural, the only cure for this is spiritual, not physical.
Prayer: Father, use us to counter this evil in our culture. Give us boldness to speak out and get involved. Give us Your wisdom about how to address this, and we pray your comfort and strength to everyone affected. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
“So we may boldly say; The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” Hebrews 13:6
Confidence in God’s presence and His promises is the real reason the writer of Hebrews can quote Psalms 27:1 and Psalms 118:6. God’s Word is forever settled in Heaven. In the verse before the one above the writer remembers the promise that said “I will never leave you nor forsake you; no never.” Our “work” we must fulfill is to know God, believe in and know Jesus, and do His will for us.
Is there a person you trust enough to do everything they tell you to do? That would challenge me if I had to answer that question. I know some people I would trust to help me in any situation, but to say that I would feel comfortable doing everything they told me to do would be questionable. The reason would be that I don’t believe that they know everything necessary to be sure I could trust them. Hosea wrote of God saying, “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.” Humans, at best, are not perfect in thought or performance but I know one who is, Jesus. As one with God we can put our trust in all they say and all they do.
Hosea also said, “Because they have rejected knowledge, I will reject them.” Our primary task in life is to learn how to know and trust God in everything. That only happens when we learn the Word of God and yield our will to the Holy Spirit. To know God’s Word helps us to realize how much we are blessed to be His child. We must trust God enough to believe for ourselves that He will never leave nor forsake us and He supplies all our need according to His riches in glory through Jesus Christ. I must realize that I am God’s favorite child and Abraham’s blessings are mine. YOU must do the same.
DON’T BE BANKRUPT!!!
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all His mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere.
So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut, doesn’t have a swelled head, doesn’t force itself on others, isn’t always “me first.” Doesn’t fly off the handle. Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, doesn’t revel when others grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth. Puts up with anything. Trusts God always. Always looks for the best. Never looks back. But keeps going to the end. I CORINTHIANS 13:1-7
John 3:16 “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.”
God gave because he so loved. It was this love he had that caused him to give and when he did it was his very best.
Agape is the Greek word in the Bible for love. It is undefeatable benevolence and unconquerable good will that always seeks the highest good of the other person no matter what he does. It is the self giving love that gives freely without asking anything in return and does not consider the worth of its object.
God simply loves us and does so by choice not because we deserve it or can earn it. There are no strings attached in getting God’s love. We don’t have to perform for it or try to earn it by works.
The love our Heavenly Father has for us as his sons and daughters is a love by choice.
JESUS CALLING February 3 devotion
I AM WITH YOU AND FOR YOU. You face nothing alone–nothing! When you feel anxious, know that you are focusing on the visible world and leaving Me out of the picture. The remedy is simple; Fix your eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. Verbalizing your trust in Me, the Living One who sees you always. I will get you safely through this day and all your days. But you can find Me only in the present. Each day is a precious gift from My Father. How ridiculous to grasp for future gifts when today’s is set before you! Receive today’s gift gratefully, unwrapping it tenderly and delving into its depths. As you savor that gift, you find Me.
Romans 8:31, 2 Corinthians 4:18; Genesis 16:13-14 (AMP
The Bible is the Word of God and we must believe that. But, we cannot believe it just to suit ourselves. Scripture says we must rightly divide the word of truth. We cannot interpret the word of God without ALL of it agreeing with our conclusion. Scripture cannot be interpreted by our way of thinking what is right. To understand the Bible we must learn to think like God and not use our human emotions or ideas to come to any conclusion. We cannot think like most humans think. How does one think like God? We are given that ability when the Spirit of God is abiding in our spirits.
One example is how God and man view sinners. God loves the sinner and desires that all men be saved. He loves no one more or less than anyone else. Even saved people can tend to hate or dislike sinners because of the way they live. They may even believe that the sinner should be the victim of God’s immediate wrath and base it on some scripture verse. But, Jesus said that He did not come to destroy life but to save it. He said He did not come into the world to condemn man but to save him.
The point I am trying to make is that we should not interpret any Scripture until we know that it can agree with all other Scriptures.
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