2007

Jan 29, 2007 Agree with God not the Devil Kathleen Maples

Php 2:1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the
Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
Php 2:2 Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one
mind.

If you have found your consolation or comfort in Jesus Christ, in trusting your
soul and your life into His hands, and if you have found comfort in knowing He
loves you, and you have experienced the compassion and merciful intervention in
your life of the Holy Spirit, you are a very blessed person. If you have found the
love of God shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost, you are blessed indeed.
Not only the love God has for you, but the knowledge you have gained of HIM that
has stirred within you a fervent love in return FOR God. Paul is saying, if this is
your experience in Christ, it would make my joy complete if you have that attitude,
that intention, to show others that same comfort, that same compassion and
mercy you have been shown in your failures. In your time of need when the Holy
Spirit has ministered strength and comfort and love to your troubled heart, have
that same mind toward others in the Body of Christ, and those around you who
are lost and dying without HIM.

Php 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other
better than themselves.

Whatever you do for the Lord, or for others, do not do it with ambitious
competition, striving to outdo someone else, and gain a reputation. Do not seek
material gain, or men's praise as reward for your service. That is vanity. That's
how the world does things. We are not to fashion ourselves after the world. We
must serve with meekness, considering others and their needs before our own,
trusting the Lord to meet our needs. It's a hard thing to say, and our carnal minds
will not like it, but we must let the Lord help us realize He's already promised in
Php 4:19 that He would supply all our need or necessity, and in Mat 6:33 we are
told to seek first HIS kingdom, and all these other material necessities would be
supplied. He wants to relieve us from that burden that consumes those in the
world, and much of the church world, so we can concentrate on HIM and the
abundant, surrendered life He wants us to have, one filled with the and ruled by
the Authority of His Holy Spirit. We need our thoughts reprogrammed-if you will,
to think as He would.

Php 2:4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

There are a lot of different ways this can minister to your heart. I believe this
Word is going to step on my toes hard today. I pray as it cuts, that the uncleanness
will be released to flow out of the wound as a lanced boil, and the Holy Ghost
poured in as the balm of Gilead with purifying fire. To say I hate the way the (my)
carnal mind works and rebels against the precious Word of God is an
understatement. What do we do when we are presented with a need? When you
are out among the masses of humanity, and you pass someone who is disabled, or
perhaps you run into an acquaintance, or neighbor, or backslidden friend and
they have an obvious need. Perhaps their child is sick and burning up with fever.
Perhaps they have gotten bad news from the doctor. Or maybe you go to the
hospital to visit a sick friend or family member, and while you are there, you see
another family, people you don't know, and you hear the Critical Care physician
deliver a stunning blow to this family, and you watch as they erupt in grieved
cries, despairing over an impending loss of a loved one who is dying. You stand
there, and the Holy Spirit of God in you stirs and urges you to approach them and
offer to pray. Immediately, fear assaults your mind, and doubt on its heels. You
stand there paralyzed with indecision, torn between wanting help and being
afraid of looking foolish if nothing happens. After all, you are not Apostle Paul or
Jesus. You've never worked a miracle. Maybe it's not that serious a situation.
Perhaps you run into a friend, one you've been praying for, and you know their
home is in turmoil, and their spouse is very much against them serving God and
going to church and rocking the boat, but they are on the way to the hospital or
doctor with a feverish child. That Holy Spirit stirs in you, urging you to ask if you
could pray for the child. You look at the spouse, and see the dislike for you in their
eyes, ( or perhaps that's just what the enemy wants you to think) and you feel like
if I even mention it, he's going to get mad and she's got enough to deal with so let's
not make it worse. What if you pray and the child doesn't get better immediately?
They'll think you are a phony. You will look stupid. Why would God answer your
prayer? You are pretty messed up yourself, you haven't prayed like you should,
you haven't read your Bible like you should, so who are you to pray for their need,
and expect God to come through for you? Fear and doubt causes you to waiver and
it's over. You walk out the door, on your way to church, or about your business,
with a "I hope every thing's going to be ok." and you are swamped suddenly with
shame, and a sense of failure, and you hear the devil laughing in your mind, at
your weakness and fear.

Php 2:4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Don't look at yourself. Don't look at your weakness. God already told you in His
Word unlike the devil who uses the smart and tricky things of this world, the
LORD uses the weak and foolish things to confound the wise. (1 Cor 1:27). And
perhaps, in hindsight, that wasn't an "I don't like you" look the spouse was giving
you, but a scowl of the enemy trying to intimidate you into doing exactly what you
did, and the person whose face was animated was totally unaware of being used.
He was just a worried and stressed father, lost without Jesus, trying to survive in
a dreary world, trying to make it with the Divine Help he and his family so
desperately need. Ouch.
When you see a need in your family, in your community, in someone's life you
know, and you are confronted by that need in an immediate way, the devil will try
to attack your mind with fear and doubt because He doesn't want you realize the
Word of God works, and God honors His Word when somebody believes Him and
stands on it. Especially if that somebody is a blood washed saint of God, who has a
sincere desire to serve God in truth and in spirit, and is battling powers of
darkness they don't really understand. But Paul tells us in 2Ti_1:7 God did not give
us a spirit of fear, but of love and of power and of a sound mind. That fear and
doubt that hits your mind and tries to cause indecision is NOT from God, it comes
not from HIM that calleth you. This attempt at persuasion comes from a very
devious adversary who is out to steal, kill and destroy any and every body he can.
He doesn't want you or anyone else to know that God's Word really works!

Php 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

In 1Co_2:16 we are told we have been given the mind of Christ. It's written in the
Word of God. We've been given the Holy Spirit to help us understand it. We've been
given the access we need to the Throne of Grace to find the help and the wisdom
and the power to live and walk as He would, and did. In victory, not defeat. We
have to let this mind be in us and we do that, I believe by devouring the Word of
God, praying for understanding, and praying for God to perform His Word in us,
which I know He wants to do. Remember the old saying, you are what you eat? Eat
the Book. I mean meditate and pray about what you read.

Oh, God help us next time we are faced with a situation like that, where there is
some soul in need of a witness of Christ, that we don't fret over looking foolish. We
are not to make of ourselves a reputation anyway. Jesus didn't. He pointed all
back to God, with humility and meekness. In 1 Cor 4, verses 9-10, Paul said God
made us a spectacle to the world, to angels (including the devil) and to men. He
said we are fools for Christ's sake. Every child of God is on display, whether we
realize it or not. Others watch. And they hear the accusing voice of the devil when
we mess up. If we let him provoke us to react in the flesh, with wrath, which never
works the righteousness of God then he has grounds to accuse us not only to God,
to our selves, to other men. He will mock and say 'yeah, where's your God?
Where's all that power you are supposed to have?'

Only when we are fully under the authority of God, can we ourselves have the
authority OF God working in and through our lives. I've read that, I've heard it
preached, and I believe it.

Php 2:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Php 2:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in
the likeness of men:

The Lord walked this earth in the flesh and knew He was still the Son of God, part
of the Divine Trinity that created this earth and breathed the breath of life into
man and made him a living soul. He worked miracles, He fed the poor and hungry,
He raised the dead, healed the sick, cast out devils, cured leprosy, but He did not
seek fame or fortune, or men's praise. NO.

Joh 2:24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,
Joh 2:25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

He did not lean on the wisdom of men, He did not seek the advice or counsel of
man, because He knew, just like He told Jeremiah in Jer_17:9, the heart of men is
deceitful, and can't be trusted. The carnal mind will deceive even the man himself.
He never promoted Himself or asked for money from the people. He never sold
anything. When that woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of His
garment and was healed, do you think He started selling pieces of His clothes to
the poor and sick with the promise of healing? Not on your life. He gave freely to
those in need, needing nothing from their bank accounts. He never sought
prestige, though none was ever more worthy. He never sought to be honored,
though He alone among them all was deserving. HE was and is our example, folks.

1Pe 2:21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example,
that ye should follow his steps:

When you look at these Scriptures carefully, you see Christ humbled Himself, and
set the example, and then was exalted by God.

Php 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross.
Php 2:9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

When we suffer, yet we patiently endure, as the Scripture exhorts, and we wait on
God, trusting Him to work everything out and being content with how He chooses
to work things out, then He can exalt us when it pleases Him. When we will be able
to glorify Him in the eyes of others and not try to take the credit for what He does.

Amo 3:3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

That's a great question. Who will you agree with? When you are away from
church, and you're out on the job, or at home, at school, or at a family reunion, or
something, it could be the office party for so and so's promotion. Whatever your
difficult place is, when you are there, and you are on the firing line, and the enemy
has his guns loaded and is shooting those fiery darts at you as you are faced with
those around you who are lost and dying without God-because the wages of sin is
death, and those without eternal life in them are walking dead people. Now you
are faced with this trial, and you get the hard looks from the cynical unbelievers,
who almost dare you to mention the Bible or Jesus to them and you sense it by
their body language or expression, or they flat out tell you. Remember this: that
devil already has them convinced there is no hope, which is why they often behave
so badly. Inside they are pressed and desperate, and afraid. They feel alone, but
put on a false smile, and lie and pretend to be strong when inside they are terrified
and tired. They have been convinced there is truly no way out, nothing better for
them, and no hope of being free from the chains that bind them. But, saints, WE
have hope in us, we have CHRIST IN US their only hope of glory, and we too often
give in to fear and don't let HIM rule from the throne in our hearts. We know the
Word says we have been made acceptable in the Beloved. (Eph_1:6) That devil will
tell us we are not because we have failed somehow, and we let his lies keep us from
the One who died for us, and sustains us every waking hour. This must stop, and
I'm preaching to myself, here, too. I know I am guilty and I hate it. I thank GOD for
helping me see the light! He said awake, and shake thyself from the dust (flesh)
and Christ will give thee light. He wants to give us a revelation of who He is and
what He can do if we just let Him. The devil doesn't want us to step out in faith and
obedience to the Word of God because when we submit to God, and obey His Word,
then He is glorified. When we refuse to bow to the fear and doubt the devil throws
at our minds, and stand up and say to those in need, "can I pray for you? God can
help you. God loves you." When we can do this, without fearing that God will let us
down and leave us in the lurch looking like we are crazy, people can see the glory
of God, that hope that is found only in Jesus Christ. When we see this around us,
this terrible needs of those who are lost, and desperately need HIM and we do
nothing, we don't pray, we bow to the lies of the devil in defeat, and out of fear,
don't act, we are consenting with the thief. We let the devil shoot down and
discredit the Word of God in the eyes of those who need so badly to see the life of
Christ in us, by our indecision, and timidity, which is the result of a lack of prayer,
and lack of spending time getting to know God ourselves.

Psa 50:17 Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.
Psa 50:18 When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with
adulterers.

If we never pick up His Word, if we never seek to understand what He had written,
what cost the lives of many of the saints of old whose testimonies are there for us
to read, and we don't stand up to the devil, in the name of Jesus Christ, and stand
against his dark works and destructive power raging in the lives of those around
us who don't know they can be free, who don't know their harsh taskmaster was
defeated, and made a show of openly at Calvary, then we consent to his deeds. We
are what might be called silent partners. We are consenting with the thief who
would steal the glory from God and trick us into bowing before the fear and doubt
he fires at us with, when we are faced with a need that God wants to move in.
Remember His own deliverance in our lives, and know that He wants to do the
same thing for others. He saved us when we couldn't save ourselves. He washed
and cleansed His people when they could never have cleaned themselves. He
snapped the chains and fetters that held us bound when we had no hope of ever
being free. He wants to do that for those around us. We are His witnesses. And
there is HOPE.

Eph 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

I find it interesting that Jesus gave the disciples authority to heal the sick and cast
out devils in Luke 10. He sent them out to preach repentance for the kingdom of
God is at hand. BUT when it come to being witnesses (martyrs, human sacrifices
for the glory of God, by letting the Spirit of God walk and talk and minister
through their earthen vessels) they had to be endued with power from on HIGH.
That is what we need-to be filled with the Holy Ghost. That is not an optional
suggestion-but a command. He would never have commanded this were He not
willing to perform it because we cannot fill ourselves.

Wait, wait, wait on Him. We must have this. We need Him. Agree with what the
Word says about who we are and what we possess. When we don't understand it, I
know He just desires we come to Him and let Him enlighten us. He knows we need
to know. Jesus knew. We can know. The question is will we make time, and seek
God for the answers and the revelation of who He is and who we are in HIM that
we so desperately need? Will we present ourselves to Him as a living sacrifice and
let Him burn up the chaff and make us meet for the Master's use?