The knowledge you have about the spiritual realm will help you hit the right opponent when you war for your physical and spiritual inheritance on earth. I must confess that this process is not the best of exercise but it’s worth the exercise, trust me. For you to deliver whatever you’ve conceived, for you to lay hold of your inheritance on earth, it takes rascality and rascality intimidates “fear”.

(Matthew 11:12 – And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force).

The extent you want to go in life, believe me,  is how far the enemy is DETERMINED to discourage and distract you, even,  wage war against you by introducing his most powerful weapon, FEAR! If I’m to define fear from my own perspective, it’s a mirage! Mirage, (simply put), is an appearance that seems real but it’s unreal. When you travel on a very sunny day by road,  look as far as your eyes can take you, you’ll notice that the road looks very wet (calling for extreme caution as you approach that scene), but you’ll  find out that the road isn’t wet, even when you could have sworn  on the appearance you’d seen. That’s how fear works. The enemy – devil has a way of magnifying people’s problems, making them seem different and bigger than they are, and the moment you fall for his tactics, you struggle through like a non swimmer who finds himself in an ocean. The best way to fight fear is to stand up to it, face your fears and you’ll see that beneath fear’s garment is a non-existing image. David was anointed as a king 20 years before he ascended the throne, why? Even though God knew how well he tended to the flocks of sheep and prevented them from been attacked by wilder animals, God wanted to prepare him even better to stand up to fear and so He made David stand up to “his” Goliath, the Philistine army, who had put the people of Israel in fear, the man who would have prevented David from ascending the throne if he hadn’t been brought to nothing by David. (Read, 1 Samuel 17).

David faced his mountain to move to the next level because it was at the instance of standing up to Goliath that he was announced. David refused to live in fear like everyone in Israel, David hated that the people of Israel were in fear and he knew that someone had to stand up to that fear to conquer it. God could have taken care of Goliath for David; instead, he equipped David to fight Goliath. David looked fear in the face and said “I KNOW YOU ARE NON-EXISTENT, TODAY, I WILL EXPOSE YOU”. 2 Timothy 1:7 – For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. The Spirit God placed in you and I is not of fear, but of POWER (not weak, not timid, not of cowardice), and it takes the activation of that Spirit for you to see it produce results. The issue of fear has robbed great men and women of the possessions, it has prevented many from taking giant steps that would have brought about radical change, like David. Let this mind be in you; Everything you fear, everything you fear in an ungodly manner is a foothold for the enemy to penetrate into your life and he’ll not stop manipulating and destroying you until he’s finished with you – ask* Job in the Bible. Job 3:25 – What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. The source of fear- the enemy, knows what you fear the most and what you dread, he then throws arrows at you using those things you fear knowing that they’ll get to you because you’re seen as weak in that aspect and whenever you’re weak, the devil gains entrance through your weakness. I want you to realize who you are in Christ Jesus, the authority you have been given as a child of God (1 John 4:4), and the Spirit that is at work in you; exercise authority over your fears and rebuke the enemy, the enemy loses his grip over whatever area he’s dominated and flees. There may be oppositions in your life today – strongholds of the wicked, threats from men, household oppositions, oppositions from friends, threats and oppositions from rulers and authorities in high places, fear of passing your exams, fear of advancement in life, fear of the unknown, etc; and you’re completely hopeless and weak thinking you’re all alone, no you’re not for ONE WITH GOD IS MAJORITY. It doesn’t matter how many they are, it doesn’t matter how strong they may seem, just say to yourself, I HAVE MORE ARMIES, I HAVE STRONGER ARMIES, I AM NOT ALONE!

 2 Kings 6:15-18 So one night the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city. 15When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha. 16“Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “FOR THERE ARE MORE ON OUR SIDE THAN ON THEIRS!” 17Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire. 18As the Aramean army advanced toward him, Elisha prayed, “O Lord, please make them blind.” So the Lord struck them with blindness as Elisha had asked.

For you to attain any level in life, spiritually and physically, the truth is, you have to face the Goliath in every level and the only reason you cannot advance to the next level is fear, fear of defeat, fear of failure, fear of disappointment, etc. THE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE THE BATTLE TO FIGHT  ISN’T GOD’S PLAN FOR YOU BUT MAKING DECISIONS TO STAND AND FIGHT THE BATTLES THAT WILL BRING YOU TOTAL FREEDOM…………

Cont’d…..  http://ogochukwunwokeji.blogspot.com/2011/04/fear-undressed.html

Shining Perspective

I opened the door and my son yells from upstairs, “Hi Momma! Come up here!” Intrigued by the excitement, I drop my bags and head up the stairs. He continues, “I got on BLUE today! And look, I got this!” (Let me take a moment to explain that since school resumed from the winter break, his kindergarten teacher has implemented a color behavior chart system. On this chart blue means: he had a great day!) “Wow! You made it to the treasure box?” I ask.  “Yeah, I got this airplane from the treasure box!” He replies. “That’s awesome honey, I am so proud of you!”  He was thrilled to fly his little airplane around as if it were the most expensive, most extravagant toy on earth. But he was more excited to share with me his achievement and receive praise for a job well done.

I have entered a season I’m going to call the season of pressure. Every direction I turn, I’m involved in something, responsible for something, have to do some part of something and well, I’m not really sure what down time looks like anymore, because all of mine is dedicated to some kind of project. Something is always waiting for my attention. So I am becoming friends with pressure. I can’t get away from it and I can’t get out from underneath it, because my friend pressure is filling every area of my life.

Pressure can be a good thing. My son now has a little pressure to work harder on his behavior. He doesn’t want to end up on yellow, or orange or red for the day, but has incentive to stay on green or work towards blue or purple which results in a tangible reward.

As our evening of celebration continued on, Isaiah was enjoying some hard earned video game time. I joined him while he played. He wanted to show me that he could do a certain “trick” on the game. As he was playing he said, “Come on, I want to make mommy proud.”

What? (I asked myself.)

Doesn’t he know how proud I am of him?

Doesn’t he believe me when I tell him how much I love him?

Does he think I won’t be proud of him if he doesn’t do this “trick” on the video game?

And then, God spoke to my heart. “Do you think I’m not proud of you? Do you think I won’t love you if you don’t get all of those “things” done on your list?”

When does pressure become a bad thing? When pressure makes me forget about God’s grace, love and mercy-it’s a bad thing. “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair.”~ 2 Corinthians 4:8. If pressure makes me forget that the God who created the universe is with me every minute of every day, guiding me, strengthening me, and enabling me, it’s a very bad thing. But when I remember that: “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” ~Psalm 46:1, the pressure will disappear.

I’m not six years old. I know what grace is; I experience it and live it and am saved by it every single day. It’s God’s grace that is typing each of the keys on this keyboard at 3:30am in the middle of my insomnia battle. It’s by God’s grace that I will make it through the day, today and every day that He gives me to live. It’s God’s grace that will balance out my to-do list, my responsibilities, my commitments and my trials, which all seem overwhelming right now. And it’s by God’s grace that I know He is in control of this season of pressure and is using it to teach me things I can learn no other way. God will meet me in my weakness as He always does. Maybe I can learn a little more about depending on His grace alone, which is sufficient. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” ~2 Corinthians 12:9

There is nothing Isaiah can do that will make me love him more. Nor is there anything he can do to make me more proud of him. Today he was on green and I was just as proud of him as I was when he achieved blue. I know how he struggles and where his challenges are and I know he gave his best effort for the day. I love him just the same today as I did when he had a bad day and came home on red last week.

In the same way, there is nothing I can do to make God love me more. God loved me when I was a horribly angry, drug using, alcohol abusing, completely lost, and empty woman. I met Jesus while I was walking on a path that could only end in destruction. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”~Romans 5:8

God doesn’t love me more just because I don’t live that way now. I’m not treasured because I teach Sunday school or write blogs, or attend church or bible study. It is because God loved me that He saved me from that life. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” ~Ephesians 2:8. It is God’s grace that is making me new everyday and it is God’s grace that transforms me and carries me through every minute of this new life in Christ.

Have you let Jesus Christ save you? Have you let God’s promises conquer all of your pressures?

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ~Romans 10:9

1 Samuel 17:45-47 (New International Version)
David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

David proclaimed victory in God’s name before he even defeated Goliath.

I remember hearing the words “I proclaim victory in God’s name and satan has no power over me(you).” from a born again friend of mine. She was the wife of my boss at the time. I was not saved at the time and did not understand these words. And sadly I have forgotten these words until reading my devotion today.

She told me all those years ago that she would continue to pray for our (myself and my husband at that time) salvation. We would giggle. We were so young and dumb. We thought these radical born agains were just too much. Well her prayers were heard. Myself and my ex-husband have both been saved and love the Lord. And now I know why she was so radical. I am proud to be so radical about God the Father. And I thank you, Father God, for bringing Darlene into my life to pray for me.

So remember no matter how big or small that problem seems to be. You already have the power to overcome it. You are one in Jesus Christ the Lord. Proclaim your victory over your Goliath today in the Lord’s name.

I pray for myself and all of you for your victory over your Goliath. Satan is a defeated foe and we have victory in Jesus Christ. Amen!

God Bless you.