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2 Peter 1:1-8 (NKJV)
1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, 3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord has been stirring in me a desire to rebuild or strengthen the parts of my spirit,soul and body that need to be prepared for His Plans and Purposes being fulfilled in my life and The Church. At the same time our church is teaching on fighting for what The Lord wants for us in the days ahead. Not fighting as a struggle of trial, but to win and to take The Promised Land The Lord wants us to occupy.
I believe that the two go hand and hand. A time of rebuilding and fortifying our lives and a time to fight for the victory as we do. I hope the images, and words of this post, not only bless you, but help you fortify the walls of other peoples lives as well. We are one body working for a common goal to be a people that cause God to be glorified. We are appointed to have God answer our prayers in such a way that the righteous rejoice and the wicked gnash their teethe.
Psalm 65:5 (AMPC)
5 By fearful and glorious things [that terrify the wicked but make the godly sing praises] do You answer us in righteousness (rightness and justice), O God of our salvation, You Who are the confidence and hope of all the ends of the earth and of those far off on the seas;
As we enter into agreement with The Lord about rebuilding the walls of our lives, that have been weakened or torn down, we will face resistance. Our enemies do not want our hearts healed, the devil does not want your soul restored and strong, and even some people will not want you to place guards on the walls of your mind and body, closing the gates to their carnal way of living.
So to be successful in this Holy, God ordained mission, we must be wise builders like Nehemiah. Read the following verses and allow The Holy Spirit to speak to you through them. What enemies have tripped up your progress before? Where are there weak spots in your being that need to be guarded as you rebuild the fallen walls and restore the plundered gates?
Ask The Lord to reveal them to you. Ask a Spiritual Mentor, a Pastor, a Christian Counselor to help you see the broken things that you may be blind to.
Nehemiah 4:16-23 (AMPC)
And from that time forth, half of my servants worked at the task, and the other half held the spears, shields, bows, and coats of mail; and the leaders stood behind all the house of Judah. Those who built the wall and those who bore burdens loaded themselves so that everyone worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other hand,
And every builder had his sword girded by his side, and so worked. And he who sounded the trumpet was at my side. And I said to the nobles and officials and the rest of the people, The work is great and scattered, and we are separated on the wall, one far from another.
In whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us. So we labored at the work while half of them held the spears from dawn until the stars came out. At that time also I said to the people, Let everyone with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that at night they may be a guard to us and a laborer during the day.
So none of us—I, my kinsmen, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me—took off our clothes; each kept his weapon [in his hand for days].
I have been a target of the enemy since before I can remember. My earliest memories, the very first memories I have, became so ingrained into my heart and soul, are memories of fear, pain, rejection and abandonment. One was a reoccurring nightmare that I began having before I can remember anything else until I was 8 or 9 years old, the other was an event that would scar me and leave me with a tormenting "spirit" until I was into my thirties.
I don't want to share these things here, I only mention them because these things caused cracks in the foundations of my soul. I tried for many years to fill them with so many things, even to build upon that compromised foundation with spiritual things, good things and even ministry things, but God never wants us to have a broken foundation. He wants us strong from the ground up. Your soul matters to Him. Your body matters to Him. Your mind matters to Him.
He wants to help you rebuild what has fallen, strengthen what has weakened and restore what has been removed.
Isaiah 54:11 (NLT)
11 “O storm-battered city,
troubled and desolate!
I will rebuild you with precious jewels
and make your foundations from lapis lazuli.
How do we "rebuild a life"?
How do we strengthen the "walls of our soul"?
How do we "fortify the guard towers" of our mind and life?
How do we "close the gates" of our lives once and for all to The Flesh, The Devil and The World?
By His Grace, His Wisdom and by being and active participant in His Church. Fully engaging in the study of The Word. Fully taking part in our own discipleship and growth. Making permanent, solid decisions to eat healthier, be more active and seek the help we need, and if we are honest, want , from our Pastors, Christian Counselors and even Mental Health Professionals,(Spirit Filled, Bible Believing Doctors) in order to accomplish these things.
I cant stress enough how much The Lord loves you. He paid a price we cant possibly fully understand on this side of glory in order to purchase you from darkness, Spirit, Soul and Body. It is time we yield all of our members, all of our being, all of our hopes,dreams and passions to His Plan for us and His Church.
Are you ready to close the Gates of your life once and for all to the influences that have kept you from walking in all He longs for you to walk in? Will this year be a year of amazing adventures in Christ , not just for you, but His Church?
It is up to us to simply say YES LORD!
I am going to end this post with these questions stirring in your hearts. Take them into your prayer place and seek The Lord. My next post will be very practical, but powerful ways for us to take every piece of land The Lord has ordained for us to take.
Smith Wigglesworth used to repeat over and over "FAITH IS AN ACT".
Get ready to ACT , and watch how God brings great glory to the Name of Jesus. His Name shall be honored and respectfully feared again throughout the seen and unseen world. It will all start with His people deciding to rebuild and to fight anything that tries to stop us.
Acts 19:17 (NLT)
The story of what happened spread quickly all through Ephesus, to Jews and Greeks alike. A solemn fear descended on the city, and the name of the Lord Jesus was greatly honored.
