If you ever wondered about your identity, remember that our identity is in Christ Jesus!
Identity: To establish
Establish: To set as permanent
Persevere with God, set your God identity at permanent!
In a time of such uncertainty, have faith that God will always meet our needs.
When we apply our faith, He will supply our every need and will multiply what we have.
2 Corinthians 9:10
God will never fail.
Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
God has perfect timing. When you pray and are believing for something, whether that be change or manifestation etc. it is easy to place a timeline on when we expect this change to come. We also may have an expectation on how it will come. This is putting God in a box.
In the period between believing and receiving, we can fall into doubt and feel frustrated that it has not come to pass. But all that will be done, will be done in God's time and in His way.
Another hard hitting sermon by James Alexander.
If you are struggling with fear, have a listen to this message to see how we can replace fear with faith and why it is so important to do so.
2 Timothy 1:7 - For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
John 14:27 - Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Romans 8:37-39 - Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor 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.
Matthew 5:8
We've all heard that God is coming back for a glorious church. One that is pure, without spot or wrinkle.
How do we prepare for this?
Know how to exercise our faith. We are responsible for developing our faith. We can seek guidance and training from our pastors. Ultimately, it is up to us to seek it. 2 Corinthians 5:7
Be confident in our identity in God. We are children of God, made in His image. Heirs of God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ.
Be confident in our authority. Luke 10:19 - Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Know how to effectively use our weapons of warfare. Not physical weapons, but spiritual weapons. 2 Corinthians 10:3-4, Ephesians 6. The Word of God is an offensive weapon. Living and powerful declarations etc. Heb 4:12 - living and powerful and sharper than and two edged sword. We can speak the Word out into our lives, declare His blessings.
All of which are required to be an effective warrior.
Last of all, we need to make sure we are right with God. Living pure and holy lives.
Pure in heart - Matthew 5:8. This is accomplished by being in His presence all the time.
How do we hear what the Holy Spirit is saying?
Give Him the priority He deserves (prayer, reading the word, meditation etc.)
Be vigilant of what God has done
Ask Him to reveal things to you
Take regular time off social media
Our lives are very busy, with distractions around us every day. Such makes it easy to give God the backseat.
Remember to recognise what God has done in your life. Take your focus off of what is happening in the world and direct your attention toward God’s word.
If you’re struggling with hearing from the Holy Spirit, ask Him to teach you how to hear. Take time to read the word. It doesn’t matter where in the bible you begin, the Holy Spirit will eventually reveal something to you.
1 Kings 19:11-12 – Still small voice.
It doesn’t always happen straight away and it often requires practice. Gary Clements once said to put yourself in the shoes of the Service Leader. Think about the atmosphere. What do you see? What do you hear? If you were going to give a word, what would you say?
We need to realise that we are the sons and daughters of God, seated WITH Jesus Christ. God demonstrates His power through us. It’s one thing to be born again, and baptised. We also need to be baptised in the Holy Spirit and fire - Matthew 3:11, Hebrews 1:7.
When we are fired up, it’s noticeable. People can see it on you, the passion and excitement are tangible and can be felt by those around you. It’s associated with God’s presence.
Last of all, build yourself up. Remind yourself that the Holy Spirit likes you. The Holy Spirit likes being around you. It doesn’t matter where you are, or what you’ve done. God can bring you back and reignite the fire.
In Ephesians, Paul writes to a young church that is fired up and passionate for God. In the first chapter, Paul explains our redemption through Jesus Christ; “our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”. This is to encourage them and to help them know who they are in Christ Jesus.
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
Therefore, equip yourself with the full armour of God. Remember that we are overcomers, conquerors. We are blessed in the city and in the country, blessed going out and coming in. We are the head and not the tail, above only and not beneath.
And finally, pray. Some call this the 7th piece of armour. The most important.
While we are called to serve, we should be careful that we don’t burn ourselves out. Take time to rest, and remember that we can rest in Jesus. Recharge. We are easy targets when we are tired and weak.
We are called to move forward push out darkness with light, fear with faith, hate with love.
Most people would have heard of Jesus, and they would likely have heard that “He is our Saviour”. But what has He saved us from? Many have heard of heaven and hell, but what does Jesus’ sacrifice really mean?
Through His sacrifice, he has redeemed us. In this context, it means to regain possession of something in exchange for payment. Jesus regained possession of us at the price of being lashed 40 times with a whip which was designed to lacerate and tear the flesh of the victim, by wearing a thorn crown which was pressed into his skull, and having His hands and feet and nailed to a cross which would be stood on Golgotha.
Why would He need to do this? Well, before we were under the old covenant, also referred to as the curse of the law (read Deuteronomy 28) where an annual sacrifice was required to atone for the sins of God’s people.
This is no longer required through Jesus’ sacrifice. Pastor Lisa gives us a deeper understanding of what this means for us in this Sunday’s message. Have a listen!