Overcoming the Spirit of Defeat and Living With The Spirit of Victory

We all remember The Roadrunner. Who hasn't seen it. Every Saturday morning I would be glued to the TV and watch the usual line-up of cartoons and this was one of my very favorites. I don't know how many episodes were ever produced (probably hundreds) but, while the story was always the same, it was also always entertaining: Wiley Coyote relentlessly in pursuit of the ever-elusive Roadrunner. We were always intrigued with Wiley's newest methods and plans to capture Roadrunner. However, no matter how hard he tried, he would go down in the flames of defeat ...only to try again. "A" for effort, "F" for results! Poor Coyote. How he made us sigh and, mostly, smile and laugh.

The Roadrunner makes a great metaphor to speak about some deeper things on a spiritual level. Don't we all know of some people, even Christians who are like Wiley Coyote? Always trying to reach some goal with lots of effort but, in some way and on some level always being defeated. They seem very determined but also bound to fail.

Don't we also know other people who are like the Roadrunner? They go through life and no matter what they face, succeed nevertheless. They have victory. Despite opposition and circumstances, they just seem to triumph and overcoming the obstacles. Sorry to get so serious about something so enjoyable like The Roadrunner; however, it is an interesting study in victory vs. defeat.

Tragically, there are many Christians who, though knowing Christ, seem to live their day-by-day lives in defeat. They are like Wiley Coyote. Always trying, yet never really succeeding. For whatever reason, things just don't seem to work out. As a matter of fact, life itself just doesn't seem to work out. Though knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior, for some reason, there seems to be a disconnect between faith and real life experience. How can this be?

Perhaps you know of someone like this. I know I was like this. Even though a born-again believing Christian, for about the first 25 years of my walk in Christ, I lived with a spirit of defeat - not victory. I knew Jesus as my savior and lord, but honestly, I didn't know His sustaining and empowering victory in my life. I was so use to defeat that I didn't even know I was walking in it, because it was my normal. Like Wiley Coyote, lots of effort, but few victorious results. Life under the dark cloud, living with a spirit of defeat.

However, the good news is that we don't have to be like Wiley Coyote. We can live life like the Roadrunner. We can know victory and overcome defeat. Truly there is a spirit of defeat. It is manifested by a pattern of  continual failure, fear, oppression and it can even "smell" or "feel" like death.

Question: where does it come from? Answer: the enemy...the devil.

Question: How did we get it? Answer: By allowing it to happen, by giving the devil a foothold (Ephesians 4:27), allowing satan and his lies to speak to us and dictate to our lives instead of standing on God's Word.

Question: What do we do about it, how do we overcome it? Answer: First - repent of any sins and unbelief. Next, be renewed in your mind and spirit by God's Word (Romans 12:2)- standing on His promises and, in God's strength, walking in victory (Hebrews 10:36). Second - rebuke the devil (James 4:7). Tear down every thought/imagination/stronghold that does not agree with and conform to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5-6) and is contrary to the promises of God. Break any bondages the enemy may have on your life by claiming/accepting/calling forth the blood of Jesus upon your life (Romans 5:9-11). Third, understand that there is a warfare going on and your life is the battleground (2 Corinthians 10:2-4). Wage this warfare by developing a habit of continual prayer, as well as by standing, confessing, proclaiming God's Word over your life and situations. Put on the armor of God to be strong in the power of His might against the enemy (Ephesians 6:10-18).  Fourth - be accountable to and seek the help of your spiritual oversight. Let your pastor minister to you and pray for you. Be rightly related to your leadership because your pastor is your shepherd and cares for you (Hebrews 13:7, 17; 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13).

This is how you get the victory! It is God's will for your life and your right, as a child of God, to have it and walk in it. Because of Jesus, we are more than conquerors in Him (Romans 8:37). We have all the victory in Christ, He is our victory (2 Corinthians 2:14). He has set us free from sin and death (John 8:36, Romans 6:22, 8:2) to love, obey, serve and walk victorious in Him.

As you do these things and persist until you gain the victory, you will overcome the spirit of defeat. This is how to say goodbye to being like Wiley Coyote and become an overcomer like the Roadrunner.

Beep..beep!

Uh Oh! Be Careful Not To Judge!

"It is a sobering thought to think that you will become like who you judge -- God help us!"

Rom 2:1 "Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things."

Matthew 7:1-2 "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.


"When we criticize and judge another person, we are not only full of pride, but we are exalting our self over God; who has given us, by His grace, everything good we have and are."

Romans 15:1 "We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves."

1Peter 4:10 "As each of you has received a gift (a particular spiritual talent, a gracious divine endowment), employ it for one another as [befits] good trustees of God's many-sided grace [faithful stewards of the extremely diverse powers and gifts granted to Christians by unmerited favor]."

James 1:5 "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness (aptness to alter), neither shadow of turning."


Geri McGhee
Abiding Life Ministries
http://www.abidinglifeministries.org/
Irvine, TX

Why Knowing God's Word Is So Important

"Fill your head and your heart with the Scriptures. Memorize passages from the Word, with the name of the book, the chapter, and the verse, so that you can quote the Scripture correctly in addresses or in open-air meetings.

As you do this, you are sowing in your heart seeds, which the Spirit of God can germinate. He can bring to your remembrance from time to time that which you have once memorized. You must be so soaked with the Word of God, you must be filled with it, that you yourself are a living epistle, known and read of all men.

Believers are strong only as the Word of God abides in them. The Word of God is spirit and life to those who receive it in simple faith, and it is a verifier of all who own its sway. Know your Book, live it, believe it, and obey it. Hide God's word in your heart. It will save your soul, quicken your body, illumine your mind. The Word of God is full and final, infallible, reliable, and up-to-date, and our attitude towards it must be one of unquestioned obedience.

If a thing is in the Bible, it is so; it is not even to be prayed about; it is to be received and acted upon. Inactivity of faith is a robber, which steals blessing. Increase comes by action, by using what we have and what we know. Your life must be one of going from faith to faith."

Smith Wigglesworth

Excerpt from "Smith Wigglesworth - Apostle of Faith." Author: Stanley Howard Frodsham.

The Awesome Power of the Presence of God - Part 2

The Awesome Power of the Presence of God - Part 1

Kathryn Kuhlman shares so well about the confidence we have about the presence of God in our lives. You will be very blessed.

The Language of Faith

The worst enemy is the flesh. The flesh and natural human reasoning will try to limit you to your own ability.

You look at the circumstances, the influences, the problems, the cares; the tests, the storms, and the winds of adversity, and you say that you can't be an overcomer. The language of doubt, the flesh, the senses, and the devil is, "I can't. I haven't the ability or the opportunity or the strength. I have been limited and deprived in life."

But the language of faith says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13). Paul wrote that to one of the churches.

Some might say, "But Paul was an apostle." Just because Paul was an apostle doesn't mean he had more strength than you do. Being an apostle didn't give him any extra strength. Preachers don't necessarily have any more to draw from than others do. They just have a ministry and an anointing to fulfill that ministry. But ministers have to face the same storms of life that each lay member does.

Paul said, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil 4:13). Paul didn't say he could do all things because he was an apostle. He said he could do all things "through Christ." You are "in Christ" just as much as Paul was.

Second Corinthians 5:17 says "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." If you have been born again, you are a new creature in Christ too. Christ didn't belong to Paul any more than He belongs to you.

The language of faith says, "I can do all things through Christ. My Heavenly Father strengthens me. I cannot be conquered and I cannot be defeated."

You can do all things through Christ, just as much as Paul could. I'm speaking from a spiritual standpoint. If a test or trail comes against you, it can't whip you, because there aren't enough natural forces in all the world to conquer the Greater One who dwells in you.

1 John 4:4 - "greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world."

This verse declares that you are fortified from within. I've learned how to put the Greater One to work for me. I've learned how to put Him to work in me. Not only am I born of God and made a partaker of His love, but I have dwelling in me the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead.

Therefore, I have God's wisdom, strength, and ability in me. I am learning how to let that wisdom govern my intellect. I am letting the Greater One who dwells within govern my mind and speak through my lips. I am daring to think God's thoughts after Him. I am daring to say in the presence of all my enemies of faith, "God is my Ability".

Psalm 23:4,5 - Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Psalm 27:1 - The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear?

1 John 4:4 - You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you in greater than the one who is in the world.

Psalm 23 is for us. You need to make these confessions daily:
1. God prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies. Thank God, the Lord is my ability.
2. He is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world.
3. In Christ, God has made me greater than my enemies.
4. God had made me to put my heel on the neck of weakness, fear, and inability. I stand and declare that whosoever believes on Christ shall not be put to shame (Rom. 10:11)
5. I cannot be put to shame. The strength of God is mine and in Christ I am greater than my enemies.

I am not trusting in my own strength because the Bible never said a word about my being strong in myself. Paul writes to the Church at Ephesus and said, "Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His MIGHT" (Eph. 6:10). God is your strength and your ability! So many people have the wrong idea about this. They are struggling, trying to put themselves over in life (in their own strength).



This is taken from the Faith Bible Study Course, Chapter 20 "Actions That Correspond With Faith" pp. 148-149, written by Kenneth E. Hagin

Do you want to change the world? Then pray!

We can do nothing without prayer. All things can be done by importunate prayer. It surmounts or removes all obstacles, overcomes every resisting force and gains its ends in the face of invincible hindrances.

- E. M. Bounds

Are You Facing An Impossible Situation? So What! God Loves To Do The Impossible!

"Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees, and looks to God alone; laughs at impossibilities, and cries it shall be done!"

-Charles Wesley



Mark 11:23-24 - I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart and believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Being Filled with God is at a Price

Where Do You Live?

You might be thinking that I'm asking about your street address; the place where your mail is delivered. No, not quite. I'm actually asking about the place where your heart resides.

What do you value most? What are your hopes and affections set on? This is the most important question you will ever ask yourself. Why? Because whatever you set your heart on becomes your focus and that will lead you down the path of either your success or your failure. Don't kid yourself; whatever your heart is set on drives your values, goals and path in life.

Because of His great love for you, God wants you to find your home in Him – to abide in Jesus Christ. Many people say they know God; have accepted Him as Lord and Savior. That's truly great! But, do they abide in Jesus? To abide in God means to remain (no matter what), to not depart, to endure, to wait for, to remain as one.

Why is abiding so important? Because, abiding is the difference between merely touching Jesus and actually becoming one with Him. When you abide with Christ, you are so interwoven and fused with Him, and He with you, that the two become one. His presence and anointing will find a home in your life because they are welcomed. He will fill you and move through you because there is nothing in you to hinder Him.

Jesus used the example of a vine when talking about abiding in the Book of John chapter 15 verses 1-11*. This is a very rich and appropriate way to describe the principle of abiding. He makes it clear in verse 5 that if we remain (abide) in Him, like the branches, we will bear much fruit. This is because the branches that are strongly connected to the vine receive continuous and increasing strength from the nourishing sap. It is God's desire that every branch be strongly connected to His life-flow.

Why is it that many Christians live such weak lives? Because they haven’t learned to abide in Jesus. The more you abide in Christ, the more you receive the very life-flow of God in your life. This is the secret to having a strong/vibrant life with purpose, passion, and destiny. By abiding in Christ, everything in your life is radically transformed. You go from weakness to strength, fear to faith, sickness to healing, confusion to clarity, depression to joy, despair to victory, etc.

Look at how King David abided. He said: "I run in the path of your commands, for you have set me free" (Ps. 119:32), "for I delight in your commandments, because I love them" (Ps. 119:47), "I have sought your face with all my heart" (Ps. 119:58), "As the deer pants for the streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God" (Ps. 42:1), "Because you words are better than life, my lips with glorify you" (Ps. 63:3), "I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His word I put my hope" (Ps. 130:5).

Because King David knew how to abide in God, he was wiser than his teachers, more blessed than other around him, and was called "friend" by God (there is no greater honor than that).

So, where is your home? Where do you abide? If not in God, you are being robbed. However, if you are abiding in Him, everything that He is will transform you, cause you to triumph, and you will have EVERY spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). Isn't God great?!

*John 15: 1-10 says - (1)"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. (2)He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. (3)You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. (4)Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

(5)"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (6)If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. (7)If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. (8)This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

(9)"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. (10)If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. (11)I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

Whose Voice Is Gaining Your Attention?

When coming to God for salvation or healing, it is essential for each one to decide whether he or she shall allow the hiss of the serpent to rise above the voice of God. (1)

Blessed are the ears that hear the pulses of the Divine whisper , and give not heed to the many whisperings of the world. (2)

Footnotes:
(1) F.F. Bosworth, Christ The Healer, p. 112
(2) Thomas a' Kempis

"A person who fears the Lord need never doubt God's leading. As he continually turns from evil, he is kept on God's path."

Geri McGhee
Abiding Life Ministries Lindale, TX
www.abidinglifeministires.org

PSALMS 25:12 "What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose."

PROVERBS 10:17 "He is on the path of life who heeds instruction, But he who forsakes reproof goes astray."

PROVERBS 8:13 "The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate."

"....and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil."
Proverbs 16:6

Who Is This Christ?

Isaiah 53

1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before her shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
And who can speak of his descendants?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was stricken.

9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the LORD's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

11 After the suffering of his soul,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

(Note: The Book of Isaiah spoke about Christ, the Messiah, 700 years before He was born)

The Cross Is The Best Evidence of God's Love

The God on whom we rely knows what suffering is all about, not merely in the way that God knows everything, but by experience. In the darkest night of the soul Christians have something to hold onto that Job never knew. We know Christ crucified. Christians have learned that when there seems to be no other evidence of God's love, they cannot escape the cross. "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?"(Rom. 8:32) … When we suffer, there will sometimes be mystery. Will there also be faith? Yes, if our attention is focused more on the cross, and on the God of the cross, than on the suffering itself.

D. A. Carson
Theologian
Trinity Evangelical Seminary
Deerfield, IL

The High Price of Sin

"When we violate the Word of God through the sin of compromise, we open doorways of destruction not only affecting us, but our children's children."

Geri McGheeAbiding Life Ministries
Lindale, TX
http://www.abidinglifeministries.org/


NUM 14:18 "The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation."

2TI 3:16 "ALL scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness."

"The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe."Proverbs 29:25

God's Call To His People At This Hour Is Concerning The Priority of His Presence

God desires that you overcome today. David gives us the proper focus in Psalm 27:4 when he says, "One thing I have asked of the Lord and that I will seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple."

He underscores the high priority of God's presence staying focused on the place where His glory dwells with us. I believe today God is saying on the basis of His word, you and I need to arrive at that place of decision - a place where we take a stand with the Lord and seek His presence. He says, "follow these steps on your way to seeing greater confidence living an overcoming life." He says, "Fear no man; make no room for evil and ask what you would that I could do for you. I will do mighty things even greater that what you could ask me for." 

Stand today in the fearless abode of a loving Father who desires to publish abroad a miraculous testimony through your life that rescues, heals, and delivers.

Kyle Nees
Grace Missions Ministries
www.abidinglifeministries.org
http://kyleneesgracelife.wordpress.com

Don't Judge Based On What You See

"May God give us eyes to see from His point of view and may He deliver us from a temporal value system."

Geri McGhee

Abiding Life Ministries

Lindale, TX

www.abidinglifeministries.org

JOB 10:4 "Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?"

PSALMS 18:28 "For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness."

PSALMS 19:8 "The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes."

Ephesians 1:18 "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints."

His Name Is Above All Names!

"The answers you are looking for are as close as the mention of His name."
Pastor Kyle Nees

JOHN 16:24 - "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full."

LUKE 11:9 -"And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."

A Good Reason To Forgive Our Parents

"In every area our parents failed to train us up according to the Word of God, we will have an anger issue. It will manifest inwardly or outwardly as a button pusher until we forgive our parents for each failure."

Geri McGhee
Abiding Life Ministries
Lindale, TX

EPH 6:4 "And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

Thot: If you have a problem with anger in your life or feel blockage from receiving God's blessing examine your heart and ask God if you need to forgive your parents.

Faith, Not Fear

"Instead of faith in God, fear is faith in what satan is telling you. If God has not given us a spirit of fear, the devil has?"

Geri McGhee
Abiding Life Ministries
Lindale, TX

HEB 10:38 "Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him."

2TI 1:7 "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."