I STOPPED BY TO TELL YOU…

“David answered, ‘You come at me with sword and spear and battle-ax. I come at you in the name of God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel’s troops, whom you curse and mock. This very day God is handing you over to me. I’m about to kill you, cut off your head, and serve up your body and the bodies of your Philistine buddies to the crows and coyotes. The whole earth will know that there’s an extraordinary God in Israel. And everyone gathered here will learn that God doesn’t save by means of sword or spear. The battle belongs to God—he’s handing you to us on a platter!’” – 1 Samuel 17:47 MSG

David did not say “You come at me with sword and spear and battle-ax, so I come at you with the same.” it says “I come at you in the name of God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel’s troops,” and he added this truth, “The battle belongs to God—he’s handing you to us on a platter!”

It is with this attitude of victory and prayer I share the following with you:

At St. Marks MBC of Redding (http://freesites.ourchurch.com/s/SaintMarksMissionaryBaptistChurchofRedding/) I often heard the phrase, “I stopped by to tell you…” when someone was giving a poignant testimony or when Pastor preached a special point in his sermon.

Brothers and Sisters in the Lord, today, in this blog, I stopped by to tell you…”We have ALREADY won!”

“A song of praise. Sing a new song to the Lord, because he has done amazing things! His powerful and holy right arm has brought him another victory.” – Psalm 98:1

I stopped by to tell you…”Our victory happened IN THE PAST!”    It is not waiting until we are perfect.  It is not something we look forward to when we get to heaven.  It has ALREADY happened!

“Because everyone who is born from God defeats the world. And this is the victory that has defeated the world: our faith.” – 1 John 5:4 CEB

“The victory that HAS (past tense!) defeated the world”.  We already have it.  We have  ALREADY won!  Can it be that simple?  “What about when things happen in my life,” you ask, “troubles, sorrow, pain, and such.  Where is the victory in those?”

“I have told you these things, so that you can have peace because of me. In this world you will have trouble. But be encouraged! I have won the battle over the world.” – John 16:33 NIRV

You see, even in the midst of trials and troubles we can have peace because of Jesus.

Brothers and Sisters, today, I stopped by to tell you…”He has ALREADY WON the battle over the world!”

ARE YOU “IN THE GROOVE”?

“Until you change your thinking you will always recycle your experiences.” –Leon & Renee Patillo

A friend of mine who illustrates Christian comics came up with one that has stuck in my mind for over twenty years.  His main character, a fish, is walking along and then he gradually gets lower and lower in the ground until only the top of his head is showing.  The caption underneath stated, “Have you been stuck in a rut and realized you finally found your groove?”  This is one of the images I remembered today while listening to my Pastor’s sermon.  He shared that the word “mindset” means an established set of attitudes held by somebody.  He showed the difference between a natural mindset and a Godly mindset.  Natural mindsets reject everything they do not understand.  The Godly mindset, on the other hand, accepts the impossible as possible.  

The natural mindset leads to death.  Look at Proverbs 14:12 in the Easy Read Version (ERV), “There is a way that people think is right, but it leads only to death.”  The Message Bible (MSG) is even more blunt, “There’s a way of life that looks harmless enough; look again—it leads straight to hell.”

The Godly mindset is a guide to life.  “For who has known the mind and purposes of the Lord, so as to instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ [to be guided by His thoughts and purposes].” (1 Corinthians 2:16 AMP)  The Message makes it a bit clearer, “The unspiritual self, just as it is by nature, can’t receive the gifts of God’s Spirit. There’s no capacity for them. They seem like so much silliness. Spirit can be known only by spirit—God’s Spirit and our spirits in open communion. Spiritually alive, we have access to everything God’s Spirit is doing, and can’t be judged by unspiritual critics. Isaiah’s question, “Is there anyone around who knows God’s Spirit, anyone who knows what he is doing?” has been answered: Christ knows, and we have Christ’s Spirit.”

“Natural mindsets need a radical transformation.” –Pastor Gail Edward Craig

So it behooves us to lose the natural mindset and gain the spiritual mindset.  The above quote by the Patillo’s makes it clear what happens if we do not release/let go of our natural mindsets; we will essentially be stuck in a rut and our past will always play havoc with our current lives.

Have you ever noticed that when you are stuck reliving a past experience the devil is always there with his degrading accusations about how you will never measure up to God’s standard?  He can get his hooks in us again and again because those past experiences are old “natural mindsets” which we have never dealt with.  When he tries to drag us down with something from our past we need to turn to God and get His spiritual mindset on the issue.  Spiritual mindsets speak divine revelation and prophetic understanding.  Natural mindsets get you stuck in a rut; spiritual mindsets get you “in the groove” with God.

“So prepare your minds for action, be completely sober [in spirit—steadfast, self-disciplined, spiritually and morally alert], fix your hope completely on the grace [of God] that is coming to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:13 AMP)

(A big THANK YOU to Pastor Gail Edward Craig of Freedom Church, Billings, MT and to Leon & Renee Patillo of Las Vegas, NV for sharing the Word of God in their own special ways to stir my heart in growth in the Lord "from glory to glory".)