The power of God - released through intimacy with Him!

Triumphant Victorious Reminders
Inspired by the Holy Spirit
Written by: Teresa Criswell

Photograph from Google Images

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
~ Galatians 5:22-23 ~

This season of my life has been filled with opportunities to learn like never before from the greatest TEACHER of all teachers and that is by the Spirit of God through His Word. 'Opportunities' to utilize His Word through situations that would attempt to knock us out cold!  I have come to this amazing revelation that Satan does not have the power to steal our joy - however, he does have the ability to deceive us.  How does he deceive us?  By convincing us that God's joy, God's peace, God's love is gone because he stole it from us and all the while he takes us off course as we believe his lies and as a result no longer walk by the Spirit of God Who reveals the Word, Who provides life!  With Satan's many deceptive tactics he can use anything from offense, rumors being spread about us, circumstances, the busyness and distractions of life, anxiety, fear, death, etc. to take us off course. When we allow the deceptive liar to continue to talk to us, we end up forfeiting the promises of God by forfeiting ourselves of what the Spirit of God desires to produce in our lives and that is God's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control!  Again!  This is what the Spirit of God produces in us as we become aware and and realize that it is by God's Spirit that is within us that we are able to operate in His fruit!  It is not by what we produce, but what the Spirit of God produces in us and through us. 

I plead with myself and each of you to remember that Satan is crafty and subtle in his tactics. The majority of the time he comes into our lives and makes us feel bad about things that have nothing to do with the Kingdom of God, causing us to be unaware of his tactics.  And he does this when we least expect it.  Don't focus on his craftiness, but begin to focus on the face and Names of God!  It is no wonder The Holy Spirit warned us as recorded in I Peter 5, to "be sober and vigilant, watch out for your great enemy, as he is seeking whom he may devour"!  He is so crafty that he even gets other believers to devour one another...this only echoes Satan's kingdom and that is death. This is an incredibly raw question, but I'm going to ask it anyway - "Are we going to allow spiritual 'cannibalism' to take us over because of unnecessary offense which causes division and strife and only ends in destruction?"  We must take every thought, insinuation, and speculation, and take it captive, bringing those things to the obedience of Jesus Christ!  Even if those thoughts are good ones, it does not  necessarily mean they are GODLY ones!  We must handle situations according to God's Word and His Word alone, not according to our experiences, whether good or bad or our own opinions - as our opinions do not set anyone free, but only by the Word of God!  We must allow Him to have the last word in our lives! 

As we begin to become intimate with God and become familiar with the Promise of His Name and Who He is we become incredibly humbled. The power of God's Promising Name as He IS The Great I Am!  He is Provider! He is Protector! He is Shield! He is Refuge! He is The Strong Tower! He is The Rock of Ages! He is The Everlasting Shelter!  He is the Mighty Banner!  He is The Covering!  He is The Husband!  He is The Father!  He is The Mother of the motherless! He is The Commander of the Armies of the Heavenly Hosts!  He is The Maker of the Heavens and the Earth!  And His names go on for eternity.

As we remember and are constantly aware of God's Names we realize that this life in Him is no longer about 'wanting' to do what God has commanded - but finally DOING and BEING what He has commanded!  Think about it - I can 'want' to do what is right all day long - but 'wanting' to do what is right doesn't get me anywhere. For instance, I can 'want' to climb Mt. Everest - and guess what?  I'll be in 'want' all the days of my life and still not even attempt that climb.  We cannot be only 'wanters' of God's truth...but finally doers, partakers and partners of God's truth with action.  In addition to this, we can 'try' and 'attempt' to partake and partner with God on our own intellect, by our power and our might but this will only leave us frustrated and walking along the dead end path.  It is by the Spirit of God that we are able to be and do what God has commanded!

The Triumphant Victorious Reminder today: we can only live this life He has commanded by His Holy Spirit!  It's all about relationship through intimacy with the Father through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit of God - The Ancient of Days!