Some Naked Truth

I'm about to share some "naked truth" with you.  Some of you already are turned off by the title of this blog so let me remind you that the term naked truth is only alluding to a fable from the late 1500's where truth and falsehood bathed together.  Falsehood decided to dress in the Truth's clothing but Truth refused to take on the clothing of another.  So truth went naked.

Stay with me as we expose this falsehood clothed in our modern day, American mindset.

At that very hour, Jesus rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit....Luke 10:21

I think we have to start by asking, what was going on that caused Jesus to rejoice with such great joy? Well, let's see, the 70 that Jesus had sent out before him on a specific mission had just returned. They were so excited to come back and tell Jesus how the power of God had been demonstrated through them, and that even the demons obeyed them when they used His name. Now, before we get all religious and start throwing stones, let's just all stop and admit, that had to be pretty exciting.  They had just partook of the works of Jesus alive and working through them and lives were being changed. Jesus was obviously excited as well but his excitement rested on the fact that their names were recorded in heaven for without that none of these other things could even be accomplished.

Although all that is good.  What brought me here was a message I heard by Bill Johnson that sent me on a search through the word.  I wanted to know for myself what the word had to say about this. What I found was, the Greek word for "rejoiced' held amazing revelation as to the person of Jesus Christ.

The Greek word used here for rejoiced is “agalliao”.  The literal definition of the word means to be so glad one jumps in celebration, to jump for joy, exult, to rejoice greatly, and to be exceedingly glad with exceeding joy.  The word agalliao comes from another primary root word which means “to jump, to leap, and to spring up”.

I hope you're seeing this in the context I'm presenting.  Right here before us we have a picture of Jesus showing such great excitement in the Holy Ghost that He rejoiced with leaping and jumping for joy.  I'm sure some of you are automatically disturbed by that statement because you already have a biased view of what exuberant worship such as this looks like and you have set your mind that you don't like it.  However, you're now having to face a "naked truth", that the Jesus you love was just that.  He was an exuberant worshiper.  He rejoiced with leaping, jumping, and great zeal.

To make this even more awesome (if it can get better than that), I found 10 more occurrences of the Greek word agalliao in the Bible and every single one of them refer one way or another to rejoicing in salvation (Matthew 5:12, Luke 1:47, John 5:35, John 8:56, acts 2:26, Acts 16:35, 1 Peter 1:6, 1 Peter 1:8, 1 Peter 4:13, and Rev 19:7).

To go a little bit deeper, we'll need to dig into the Old Testament and there you'll find that in Psalm 13:5b-6 the word says, "My heart shall rejoice in Thy salvation.  I will sing to the Lord because He has dealt bountifully with me."  The Hebrew definition for rejoice here is "to spin around (under the influence of any violent emotion), to rejoice, be glad, and be joyful".

Look at that.  The word rejoice when used in reference to our salvation many times in scripture means to spin around under great emotion, to leap, jump, and be exceedingly glad. Jesus rejoiced in this manner, and  according to the verses above Abraham, David, Mary, Peter, and the jailer whose entire household was saved all rejoiced with "dancing".  According to Revelation 19:7 the Bride of Christ will rejoice in this manner as well.

Revelation 19:5-7,  Then a voice came from the throne, saying, “Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!”And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!  Let us be glad and rejoice (agalliao) and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” (emphasis added)

Now what? What do we do with this truth?  What do you do with this truth? It's time we make a decision, do we really believe the Greek and Hebrew language holds secrets that our modern day translations just didn't reveal and if so do we continue to clothe ourselves with falsehood or do we decide to allow truth to be naked and take off the clothing of falsehood?

I can't help but wonder how different our lives, churches and work places would be if we were moved with such passion and exuberant rejoicing over our salvation. For some of us it's no problem to have this kind of zeal at home but take us outside of that protection and well I'm not so sure about it.  For others, we haven't even got it at home much less in the church building or outside the church. Overall we all are faced with some naked truth right now and it's up to us to receive it and dive into a new level with Christ.

Almost Persuaded

Do you ever feel like this whole Christianity thing is not as real as people say it is?  Maybe you've prayed the "sinners prayer" a thousand times but you've never had the life transforming experience others talk about.  You've tried everything you know to do, you've cried and you've wanted what so many others claim to have but it's never happened for you so you just stopped trying. 

That was me about 7 years ago.  I had all but given up on God until the demonic attacks became life threatening to me and I knew I had to search for this God everyone seemed to know but me.

I'm going to share with you a small portion of the message I heard from Bro Steve Ross that changed my life forever.

In Acts 26:24-32, Paul is sharing his testimony with King Agrippa and Festus, he's trying to persuade them to see truth. 

Read with me in Acts 26:24-32
24Now as he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, "Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!". 

25But he said, "I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason.  26For the king, before whom I also speak freely, knows these things; for I am convinced that none of these things escapes his attention, since this thing was not done in a corner. 27King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do believe." 

28Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You almost persuade me to become a Christian."

29And Paul said, "I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains."

30When he had said these things, the King stood up, as well as the governor and Bernice and those who sat with them; 31and when they had gone aside, they talked among themselves, saying, "This man is doing nothing deserving of death and chains."

32Then Agrippa said to Festus, "This man might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar."

King Agrippa had to make a decision; he had to decide to either be for or against Jesus Christ. He knew what had happened.  He was familiar with Jewish customs, traditions and teachings, the word says he was an "expert in all customs and questions which have to do with the Jews....."  He knew the teachings about the Messiah which is why he wanted to hear from Paul. 

"For the king, before whom I also speak freely, knows these things; for I am convinced that none of these things escapes his attention, since this thing was not done in a corner." Acts 26:26

Agrippa understood exactly what Paul was talking about when he said "this thing was not done in a corner". He knew he was talking about the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Paul said he was convinced that NONE of these things escapes his attention.  The crucifixion was still fresh on their minds.  He knew the words spoken at the mock trial ("I find no fault in you").  King Agrippa couldn't explain the crucifixion and resurrection, he couldn't explain the miraculous.  The Holy Spirit was touching the heart of Agrippa. 

So why was he "almost persuaded"?

The first thing I see is SIN......If I've heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times, sin will take you further than you ever wanted to go and cost you more than you ever wanted to give.  Sin stood in King Agrippa's way.

"The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the audience room with the high-ranking military officers and the prominent men of the City. At the command of Festus, Paul was brought in." Acts 25:23

Pomp means a dignified or splendid display.

Bernice was King Agrippa's sister.  Flavius Josephus a historian scholar stated that rumor was King Agrippa was in an incestuous relationship with his sister, Bernice.  Agrippa obviously didn't want to deal with his sin.  He wasn't ready to give it up. 

People love sin, don't we?  It's appealing to the flesh and a lot of times we just don't want to call it what it is. 

When I heard this message, Bro. Steve proposed these questions:
What one thing is worth spending an eternity in hell for? 
What is one thing worth giving your soul for? 
What is one thing worthy of you spending an eternity in eternal fire forever and ever and ever? 
Is one passion, one moment of pleasure worth it? 
Premarital sex, possessions, drugs, power, money, pride? 
What would you give in exchange for your soul? 

Matthew 16:26 says, "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?

King Agrippa was almost persuaded to be a Christian.  He almost turned from his sins and excepted Christ but sin stood in his way.  

The second reason King Agrippa was "almost persuaded" was because of Fear......He was afraid he would be classified as crazy just like Paul had been. (vs 24)

Have you wondered what people will say about you if you get totally committed to Christ?  Have you wondered if you'll lose your friends, have you wondered if you'll be made fun of?  We are so concerned with what others think about us but is it really worth giving your soul for?

The third reason he was "almost persuaded" was due to Cost..... He knew it would cost him something to follow Christ. He saw the chains that Paul was wearing.  He knew the position Paul was in for following Christ.

Salvation is free but it's definitely not cheap.  It's not easy, it's hard but it's worth it in the end.
If you think that you can say a prayer and keep living life as usual than you've missed it all.  Salvation will cost you your life as you know it.  It's a surrender to Him and His will.  Are you willing to pay the price?  Are you willing to lay down your sin for Jesus?

The fourth and final reason was he wasn't willing to surrender his Will....King Agrippa was unwilling to surrender his will to Christ.  He wasn't willing to be saved, it felt good, his eyes were opened but he rejected the gospel. He was almost persuaded but decided not today.

Salvation is so much more than an intellectual, emotional experience.  If all you ever do is cry and weep about how you want Christ as your Lord and Savior but you're never willing to surrender your will to him, you have nothing more than an intellectual knowledge of who he is.  You haven't found that transforming life that comes through knowing Christ as your personal savior yet.  You have to be willing to give him your all.  That means your desires, your wants, your life, your sin and allow him to use you as he designed you for from the time you were formed in your mothers womb.

In closing I pray if you don't really know Jesus as your Lord and Savior that you will after reading this.  The youtube video I've posted below is a video I did years ago after hearing this message for the first time.

Identity Theft

The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy.  That is his goal.  Early on in my walk with Christ I discovered that the enemy really liked to remind me of my former life, he wanted to tell me what he thought my worth was and I would allow his lies to become truth to me.  Some precious Saint told me to take the truths of God's word and put it on notecards and start speaking those words over my life and so for a long time I carried notecards with me everywhere I went.  Some days I would just lay there and read those cards over and over until my mind could realign with the truth of God's word.  Before long I had a whole little book of truths stored up in my heart that I could recall when I needed them.  I than dedicated an entire page in my bible to my most favorite verses on who I am in Christ which I have listed for you below.  I encourage you to find your favorites and begin this journey of knowing who you are in Him so that when the enemy comes in with his lies you have a way to combat him with truth of the word.  Let's protect our identities in Christ from the enemy  once and for all.

MY IDENTITY IN CHRIST

 

It is not I who lives, but Christ lives in me, Galatians 2:20

God has not given me a Spirit of fear, but of power, love & sound mind, 2 Timothy 1:7

I am greatly loved by God, Romans 1:7, Ephesians 2:4, Colossians 3:12, 1Thessalonians 1:4

I am called of God to be the voice of Praise, Psalms 66:8, 2 Timothy 1:9

I am firmly rooted, built up, established in my faith and overflowing with gratitude, Colossians 2:7

I am forgiven & washed in the blood, Ephesians 1:7

I am the head and not the tail, above and not beneath, Deuteronomy 28:13

I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, 2 Corinthians 5:21

I am an ambassador for Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:20

I am an overcomer by the blood of the lamb, Revelation 12:11

I am more than a conqueror through him who loves me, Romans 8:37

I am a joint heir with Christ, Romans 8:17

I am alive with Christ, Ephesians 2:5

I have the mind of Christ, 1 Corinthians 2:16, Philippians 2:5

I have the peace of God, Philippians 4:7

Greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world, 1 John 4:4

I have the power of the Holy Spirit, Mark 16:17-18

I have no lack, God supplies all my needs, Philippians 4:19

I can do all things through Christ, Philippians 4:13

No weapon formed against me shall be able to prosper, Isaiah 54:7

I am chosen by God, John 15:16 (handpicked)

I am sustained by God, Matthew 6:30-32

I am established by God, Deuteronomy 32:6

I am a part of a chosen generation, 1 Peter 2:9

I am the light of the world, Matthew 5:14

I am healed by his stripes, Isaiah 53:5

The joy of the Lord is my strength, Nehemiah 8:10, Psalms 28:7

I am a friend of Christ, John 15:15

I am established, anointed & sealed, 2 Corinthians 1:21-22

I am adopted as his child, Ephesians 1:5

I have purpose, Ephesians 1:9 & 3:11

I have access to the Father, Ephesians 2:18

I am not alone, Hebrews 13:5

I am dead to sin, Romans 1:12

I am victorious, 1 John 5:4

I am set free, Romans 8:2, John 8:32

I am not helpless, Philippians 4:13

I am delivered Colossians 1:13

The Saints Win Again, Comeback of the Century

The biggest misconception I think most of us have is we think we're alone in the battles we face. I mean no one who really is right with God has to deal with some of the things I'm going through, right?  These thoughts that go through my head can't be going through other peoples minds because they are "tight" with the father that is for sure.  Surely they don't have to hear all the thoughts that I have to deal with daily.  We convince our self that even if we only listen and agree for a minute we have to be much weaker than everyone else because other people just don't have to battle self-hate like I do.

The truth of the matter is we all have different battles that we face; different circumstances, different situations, different size battles but all in all we all have battles. Some of us battle thoughts of loneliness, grief, hurt from past experiences, feelings of insignificance or we think we're untalented and have nothing to offer, some of us even feel unintelligent and unworthy of anything from time to time.  The list could be endless of the battles we face from divorce shame, to lust, financial hardships and so on but nonetheless we all have something that we have to battle in our minds.

All my life I have battled self-hate for one reason or another.  I recognize the problem after months of wanting to give up and throw in the towel and I think I've got this, if this happens again I'm going to know how to fight.   Than it happens again, and of course the same thing happens all over again.  With each failure, I become more defeated in my mind than I was the last time I fought the battle.

What I've discovered is the enemy is well equipped for the game he plays.  He comes to the game suited up, he's studied the playbook, he knows what he's up against and he knows just what plays to run so he can get a quick score on each one of us, mostly because we come to the battle exhausted.  We're tired, we forget our gear, we haven't studied our playbooks like we should.  We've heard some of the plays the opposing team may throw at us because we've studied a few films and made some notes here and there but overall we've come to the game unprepared.  Sometimes we even come to the game knowing what plays they're going to go with but honestly we're too exhausted to care.  We know how good they are and well we just don't think we stand a chance so we go out on the field but we don't really play to win.  Actually, we play to lose, we don't even put up a fight anymore.

Sadly, that's how most of us, myself included come against the enemy.  He comes at us fully prepared, knowing exactly what to hit us with. We may begin the battle combating the enemy a couple of times with the word but we don't have much endurance built up so he just has to give us a couple more blows and he can take us out of the game.

With all that in mind, I guess we as Christians need to figure out how to win the game already.  How do we claim victory and make a comeback?


1. Know Who You Are-We must know who we are in Christ and rehearse it OUT LOUD.  This is an area for me that I have to rehearse over and over.  Knowing your identity in Christ is critical.  I have a whole page written in my bible of who I am in Him, I have note cards that I have to get out and read over and over until my mind, mouth and heart can all line up together.  We can have all these other things laid out before us but if we don't know who we are in Him, we will fall every time.  It's only through Christ that we have the authority to fight the enemy, it's only through him that we can win the battle.  The blood of the lamb wins every time.

2.  Know Your Opponent- Know who you're up against and know him well.  The enemies tactics are many and diverse but one thing is clear, he's out to destroy us.  Recognize your opponent and his plays.

Ephesians 6:12 says, 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.

1 Peter 5:8 to STAY ALERT!  Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

John 10:10 The thiefs purpose is to kill steal and destroy.

3. Study the Playbook- Read the bible.  Know what God tells us to do.  There are so many examples I could give here.  Jesus taking authority over demonic entities, Jesus speaking the word directly back to Satan when he was being tempted by him.  Over and over in the word we are told fear not, be not discouraged, trust...trust...trust....God in every situation but how easy it is for us to forget that or feel forsaken when things don't go as we think they should. (Blog post coming on finding joy in reading the word soon)

4. Have the Proper Gear- We have to go to the game with the proper attire on.  If we go into the game without our armor on, you can guarantee you're going to get hurt, bruised, injured and may even be taken out of the game for awhile.  We have to get the armor of God on daily.

Ephesians 6:11 says, Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Read Ephesians 6:10-18 where it talks about your armor and what it is. To paraphrase the word tells us to take on the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, shield of faith, sword of the Spirit, belt of truth, and shod your feet with the gospel of peace.

5. Stay Focused- and Get Your Head In The Game -We have to recognize the thoughts that come into our mind and take them captive immediately.  This is the hardest thing for me because a lot of times I recognize but I don't take them captive. I just give the enemy full reign to run around in my thoughts for days, sometimes weeks which than quickly turns into a demonic oppression or depression whatever you prefer to call it.  However, I know and I'm sure you know that that is not the way to win the game and it's definitely not what God intended on us doing.  The word says this in the Passion Translation which is one of my favorite translations out there.

"Although we live in the natural realm, we don’t wage a military campaign with natural weapons; using manipulation to achieve our aims. Instead, our spiritual weapons are energized with divine power to effectively dismantle the defenses behind which people hide. We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God. We capture as prisoners of war every thought and insist that it bows in obedience to the Anointed One. And armed with such dynamic weaponry we stand ready to punish any trace of rebellion, as soon as you choose complete obedience. "
2 Corinthians 10:3-6 The Passion Translation

I hope this has helped you recognize the battle we're in and know that you're not alone. The enemy is fighting all of us, in all different ways and we have to be prepared for what he is going to throw at us.  Like Joyce Meyer says, the mind is the battlefield.  The battle starts and ends in our minds.  We as Christians have a lot of garbage floating around in there, old battle scars that we like to show off and some pretty intense injuries that need healing.

I encourage you to make a game plan and be ready for the game.  It's coming to each of us daily whether we want to acknowledge it or not, we all have a battle to face.  Find what game plan works for you to win and claim the victory in Jesus Christ Name.  The word says Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the father interceding for you right now.  We have a cloud of witnesses in heaven rooting us on to win the race, so let's win!

  “1The Lord is my Fierce Protector

and my Pastor.
I always have more than 

enough.
   2He offers a resting place for me in 

his luxurious love.
His tracks take me to an oasis 

of peace, the quiet brook of 

bliss.
   3That’s where he restores and 

revives my life.
He opens before me pathways 

to God’s pleasure,
and leads me along in his footsteps 

of righteousness
so that I can bring honor to his 

name. 

   4“Lord, even when your path takes 

me through
the valley of deepest darkness,
fear will never conquer me, for 

you already have!
You remain close to me and 

lead me through it all the way.
Your authority is my strength 

and my peace.
The comfort of your love takes 

away my fear.
I’ll never be lonely, for you are 

near.
   5You become my delicious feast
even when my enemies dare to 

fight.
You anoint me with the fragrance 

of your Holy Spirit;
You give me all I can drink of 

you until my heart overflows. 

   6 “So why would I fear the future?

For I’m being pursued only by 

your goodness and unfailing 

love.
Then afterwards—when my life 

is through,
I’ll return to your glorious presence 

to be forever with you!” 

Psalms 23 The Passion Translation

Living Water

I wanted to start a blog basically that covers anything and everything that we may walk through in life.  Good days, bad days, boring days, and sad days.  We have them all but ultimately we have to face them all.  My prayer is to help you have victory as I share my stories, my thoughts, my failures and my triumphant with you. 

God Bless

Jesus stood and shouted out to the crowds—“All you thirsty ones, come to me! Come to me and drink! Believe in me, so that rivers of living water will burst out from within you; flowing from your innermost being, just like the Scripture says!” [John 7:37-38] TPT