Conquer
What does God need you to conquer for him?
This is a question our Pastor Chief Apostle H.C. Gunn asked us a few weeks ago during service.
He also asked us a while back: What does God require from you today? Sometimes we take the comfortable answers: praying, fasting, tithing. (Although we often fail to even do these things at the minimum - I know I have been guilty.)
But what if God's requirement for US today is to "conquer you?"
To defeat your flesh!
To defeat your attitude!
To defeat your opinion!
To defeat your unwillingness!
To defeat your bitterness, unforgiveness, blame!
To defeat your lust and forwardness!
To defeat your selfishness and stinginess!
To defeat your compromise and half-heartedness!
To defeat your pride and stiff-neck!
To defeat your love for the world or your past!
To defeat your ambition and covetousness!
To defeat your fear and anxiety!
To defeat your doubt and shame!
To defeat your controlling, abusive, using ways!
To defeat your rebellion and disobedience!
To defeat your self-righteousness and arrogance!
To defeat your greed, gluttony and insatiableness!
To defeat your addictions and temptations!
To defeat the way you neglect God and his word!
To defeat your failure to give God your whole heart!
To defeat your vain thoughts and unclear motives!
To defeat your disrespect and disregard for the pastor and the household of faith!
All of us, including myself, can find something we need to conquer on this list! And we have the tools to do so if we choose Christ 100 percent and for real in our hearts, souls, conscience, desires, daily lives, etc.
1 John 5
4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
Probably almost a year ago, the Lord told us through Chief Apostle Gunn to recover all. We normally read about recovering that which was stolen or the spoils of war when God sent his people on a faith mission to battle their enemies and oppressors. We have been taught that sometimes our worst enemy and oppressor is ourselves. And the only person stronger than our self-inflicted enemy is the Lord.
Deuteronomy 20
1 When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you.
2 When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army.
3 He shall say: "Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be terrified or give way to panic before them.
4 For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory."
How do we conquer? Our pastor gave us some very simple solutions: We decide to trust God to deliver us and stop trying to play god ourselves. (Our pastor calls it playing me-sus, when we try to replace Jesus and serve ourselves.) A lot of times, we are stuck in our sin and flesh because we don't really believe in the spirit. We don't really believe that the Holy Ghost can do what God said: comfort, heal, teach, guide, empower, inspire and so much more. So, we try to find convenient ways to handle life ourselves and that leads to the next solution. Follow the instructions God gives and sends through his word. The reason we have not been able to overcome in so many areas of our lives is because we don't take the word seriously, we don't take what God says seriously, and we don't want to be told what to do. But what is crazy is that we do exactly what our bosses, doctors and others tell us to do when we want to achieve an expected outcome.
Romans 8
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God has an expected outcome for us and an expected level of closeness we are to have with him, so why won't we let him guide and direct us to it?
People often throw the scripture Jeremiah 29:11 around for comfort: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end"
We say it when we want things to go our way or turn out good, but do we really believe God has plans for our lives and that his plans are the best plans. If we believe, we will do whatever it takes to see his plan come to pass and that means laying down our way and picking up his. If we want to have a life of victory, then we first have to defeat the enemy looking at us in the mirror - self.
We often say we want God to use us in a big way or to bless us beyond measure, and believe me he wants to, but he has got to be able to trust us to conquer what he says to conquer and the best way to show him we are ready is to first conquer the parts of us that are not available to him or that will not follow him because of sin, because of the wrong mindset, because of a lack of faith, because of disobedience, and because our eyes are fixed on the world or someone/something else instead of him.
Go forth and conquer!
Listen to last week's replay of "You Shall Recover" on the FORREAL RADIO BROADCAST with Chief Apostle Gunn below.
Sowing into the right ground is also a part of conquering the flesh. We give so much of our money unto ungodly/unnecessary things, let's support what counts! Don't let another moment pass without sowing into the man of God and the ministry work he is doing around the world. If you know you have been helped by the ministry of Chief Apostle Gunn, we are showing our appreciation this September 19 and we invite you to join us by sowing a seed of faith online or by mail by September 16. Thank you!
Luke 6:38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.
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