#58  KICK IT UP A NOTCH CHURCH

It is One Thing to Make It To Heaven.  It is Another Thing to live a victorious life daily.  Jesus paid the price for everyone to have abundant life (John 10:10); a life of fullness in every sense of the word.  He is our example.  If anyone can produce good fruit it is Jesus Christ.  Since he is our example we are to produce good fruit also.  Do we?  Do we on a daily basis?  Do we even check the fruit in our lives periodically and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal what we need to know. 

Note:  If we are raising the bar daily as taught by Dr. Mike Murdock and other  mentors; and exemplified in their lives; we will be doing a lot more than an inner search with the help of the Holy Spirit.  Being led by the Holy Spirit is a daily challenge.  He is our teacher and will help us.  Yet we are accountable to him to establish the changes in our lives that he requires.  He won’t change.  He does not have to change.  We do.  Bottom line…we are not yet perfected, we are in the process as our mind continues to be renewed with the Word of God. 

The more our mindsets line up with the Word of God the better able we are to live a life of victory.  Live a life whereby we daily look forward to seeing the hand of the Lord at work on our behalf.  When we have eyes to recognize this happening life becomes exciting.  We are expectant, exuberant, exhilarated, as the joy of the Lord floods our soul, our innermost being.  The soul: our mind, will, and emotions. 

Unfortunately many Christians do not recognize the hand of the Lord at work on their behalf.  Consequently, for them life is not full of joy.  Furthermore it has been my experience that when many of them witness someone with much joy, they become aggravated.  They recognize fruit that is not in their life and often become jealous, or accusatory.  Neither stand, benefits anyone.  An unhappy person can resent a happy person.  Do not let the enemy use such a person to stomp on your joy.  Resist negativity.

If a “Reacher” becomes determined to get some of that joy, he/she can easily have some as well!  There is an abundant supply.  So if you happen to be one of the non-joyous souls, chin up….you CAN be.  “With God all things are possible.”  “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”  You need joy and your desire to have joy is from God.  It is His desire for you as well.  So how do you achieve this victory?

Get mad at the enemy.  Get mad at mediocrity, lukewarmness, sameness, and do something different if you expect different results.  My heart is stirred because I am encountering more and more Christians with less and less joy and it is grievous to me that they are so robbed.   If you read or hear my recent testimony of God opening the windows of heaven and blessing me by doubling my income, and more…. you could say it is easy for me to have joy.  May I remind you…with love, you don’t walk in my shoes; having joy is a decision I made and do my best to maintain a high level of joy with God’s help.  I spent too many years not smiling, without joy.  God turned things around when I obeyed His instructions. 

The truth is, prior to my recent blessing, I had the joy of the Lord on a regular basis.  I am a Senior, and to the glory of God a University Student was astounded at the strength and joy that I have even on the hottest of days this summer.  She was dragged out, tired on a daily basis, no energy.  I have much energy and for that I give God glory.  It is one thing to recognize a difference in someone’s life.  It is another thing to do something about it so that what you admire can become part of your life.  Allow me to help you see spiritually.

Rather than just go your own way, same ol’ same ol’ I encourage you to get stirred up enough to do something about your lack of joy.  If someone steals from you, do you get upset?  I would expect so.  Well be equally upset over your joy being stole because as Dr. Jerry Savelle’s books states:  “If the enemy can steal your joy He can get your goods!”

It is up to you to get with it, take authority spiritually.  Decide that “Enough is Enough”.  Instead of living a hum drum, boring life, half hearted about all you do, get out of that mindset and recognize how you have been deceived by thinking things can’t change or won’t ever be better for you.  Those are lies of the enemy, the father of lies.  Rebuke them.  Those words are sharp arrows to your mind which is the battleground.  When you use you shield of faith and resist those thoughts that come, your mind will be protected and you will definitely see and feel a huge difference….for the better!  The decision is yours.    

“We wrestle not against flesh and blood.”  It is a spiritual battle.  When joy gets smothered by words of defeat, lies that condemn; in time this weighs you down until you feel listless, tired all the time as the oppression takes hold.  Put a stop to it.  Bottom line….Jesus gave you the power over the enemy, satan.  He told everyone to take dominion over the enemy, put him under our feet.  Don’t wait for God to do it.  Too many people are sitting around complacently waiting for God to DO something.  Dhaaaaah.  He did all He is going to do when He sent His Son…John 3:16.  Jesus Christ paid the price on Calvary when he took the keys to the Kingdom of God back from the devil.  Now you have those keys and a responsibility to use them.  I am sounding the trumpet:  “Wake up church”.  Too much has been lost because of the body of Christ not using those keys.

You can kick oppression, depression, listlessness, the weights and cares of this world….right out of your life, out of your home by taking spiritual authority.  When is the last time you cleansed your home spiritually? You clean house regularly.  What about spiritually, whether it is one person or several that live there, this is a wise thing to do.  Anoint each entry and exit with oil, pray over those entries, cover your home in the blood of Jesus and everyone that is ever… in your home; as well as every ….thing….. that is in your home.  Pray only those God wants there will come in….others will be redirected and blocked from entry as you are protected.  “Safety is of the Lord.”  Despatch angels to guard your property, surround the perimeter. 

               

Take authority over any evil demonic spirits that are lurking in the home.  Rebuke them in the name of Jesus and evict them from your home as you would an intruder.  Just because you can not see them, does not mean nothing happens when you pray accordingly.  It is important, just as important as it is to keep your home clean and orderly.  No clutter.  God is a God of order.  Besides, your home is a reflection of you.  Hmmmmm.  (Yeah, or ouch.)

One thing that might help inspire you to either keep things in order, or to begin to do so and remove clutter is with this image.  Imagine Jesus coming to your door.  If you saw him in a natural body, what would you do?  What changes would you want to make?    Can his presence be felt when people enter your home?  Does your home have anything in it that you would not want Jesus to see?  Get rid of it now.  That is an area the enemy has got an opening where he can increase it subtly without your knowledge like a pie wedge that increases, so do something about it now.  Your life is a result of decisions you make.  Do not blame anyone else. 

If you are married, become a team doing this together and see the power of God be magnified in your life as you experience this:  “one puts to flight one thousand; two put to flight ten thousand”.  If you are single, Jesus is your spiritual mate so invite his help as you proceed.  We need to believe what the Word of God says.  That is all there is to it, and when we do, these are things we will be doing on a regular basis.  Not only that, we will be able to help others see spiritually, and get their lives and homes in order.  Seeing Jesus at work in your life daily is Tremendously Inspiring!!

How great does it feel when you walk into a living room that has just been vacuumed, everything dusted, clean, windows sparkly clean, not a crease anywhere, no spots or stains, fingerprints, etc?  You feel refreshed to step into a room where things are in order.  Your mind grabs the peace and pleasure when you survey your home and this is what you find.  Confusion is gone and your prayers of clarity result in more than one breakthrough.  In ten minutes you can do these things and I recommend following the cleansing with a time of praise and worship unto the Lord Jesus Christ.  How pleased he must be when His Children are obedient and his suffering was not in vain.  The blood he shed was not in vain.  Laying down his life for you and I, was not in vain.  Nothing he did was in vain.  Obedience to the Word of God always benefits you.  Always, and God honors obedience.  You are doing yourself a favour when you obey God.

Okay, this is what was on my heart tonight.  Heaven only knows just what I will do with it because it is surely too long for a blog.  I wrote it nonstop and can hardly get the words out fast enough.  It just tells me that the Lord Jesus Christ wants us ALL to live in victory, wants us to have joy, strength, a sense of well being, satisfaction, deep inner peace as well as a home where he is welcome all the time.  Also, a heart where he is also dwelling….not coming and going because the welcome mat is removed on occasion.  Dwelling!  So please take charge in your homes because it is for your own good and that of anyone else that lives there, or visits. 

These things you do are not restricted in any way by color of skin, nationality, race, so just follow through and know that the Family of God is a Family where healing runs in our Family.  Let this become part of the process.  Sometimes it is a simple thing we do that makes a huge difference to us and to God.  Kind of like a simple change, repeated, becomes a good habit…resulting in major changes.  It is easy because it is done once step of obedience at a time.  Life does not have to be the school of hard knocks all the time.  Take charge.  You have authority in the Name of Jesus and when you use it, your spirit will be uplifted as well because you are acting in obedience to the Word of God.  Fear has no place in the life of Christians, except for the healthy fear of the Lord.  Sickness has no place in the Family of God.  I better not get started there… so for now: God bless each person that reads this and I do pray you implement the suggestions I made. 

#THINK about this:  No home….can be too Joyous, too Peaceful, too full of Love!  THAT’S a given.  So if you could use a little more, welcome the Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ into your home in a greater way by evicting darkness and by welcoming the Holy Spirit, honor His Presence.  You will be glad you did.  If anyone knows how to please you, bless you, give you the desires of your heart, and more, he does!  After all, he put those desires in your heart so be expectant…joyful…worship him…and sleep in peace as your home truly becomes a haven of rest, peace, love, and joy. 

When your faith is in the Word of God and in Jesus Christ, you are pleasing Him.  Keep your confidence in Christ.  Kick it up a notch as your raise the bar higher in your home, a “Home Sweet Home” in the truest sense of the Word.  The word ‘WELCOME’ will take on a whole new meaning and your visitors will see and experience the changes too.  You are blessed to be a blessing.  Aim to make it to heaven and enjoy abundant life while passing through on this earth.  I challenge you:  BE A BLESSING!  BE A BLESSING….to the glory of God!! 

Written By: Linda Lou Jones

                    PS.45:1 My tongue is the pen

                    Of a ready writer. 

                    Glory to God.

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