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The enemy is at work to undermine your confidence by accentuating what you have labeled your failures. Rise up and refuse to accept these lies, which open the door for reproach against you. You have not failed Me, says the Lord. Yes, it seems at times that you have fallen down, but falling is not failing. Seek Me for truth and wisdom, and then rise up in the Spirit and resist the enemy.
James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
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Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us." - I John 5:14 (NKJV)
When it comes time to pray, sometimes the same people repeat the same prayers and everybody just assumes, "That issue/concern is taken care of!" But what if that prayer doesn't line up with God's will? The Apostle John tells us in the preceding verse "We can expect God to listen to our prayers whenever we ask, just as long as what we're petitioning for lines up with His will." There's a big difference between asking in line with God's will, and seeing God as some kind of genie that comes out of a bottle to grant our every wish. Many prayers reflect our will more than God's. Take for example the following:
The Trivial Prayer - We pray for good weather for our weekend outing, when God's got a bigger agenda. Maybe it hasn't rained and the farmer down the road needs water! Look for God's purposes in the reversals of your life and you'll turn them into stepping-stones to wisdom and maturity.
The Self-Centered Prayer - James 4:3 says "You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures." One woman at a recent prayer group said, "My boyfriend's army unit just got called to the Middle East. Please pray he won't have to go." Now we can certainly understand her concern, but her request is a little misguided. He's a soldier; why should others go and not him? Our lives often include risk and hardship, so God promises protection, not immunity and comfort.
The Controlling Prayer - Jesus said, "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." (Luke 11:10) Why ask God to make people conform to your wishes when He doesn't even force them to conform to His?
Jesus taught us to pray "Your will be done." If it appears that God is not answering your prayers, you should ask yourself if you're praying "according to His will."
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"Don't get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil." – Proverbs 4:27 (NLT)
Nothing, absolutely nothing, is more important to your future than personal integrity. Webster defines it in one word - honesty! And you can only hide your lack of it for so long. Eventually like a faulty foundation in a storm, the cracks widen, the roof caves in, and everything you've worked for is gone.
"Getting away with it" can actually be worse than getting caught because it encourages you to believe that you can continue operating in two different worlds: reality & fantasy. Listen to the words of the prophet Jeremiah: "Like a bird that hatches eggs she has not laid, so are those who get their wealth by unjust means. Sooner or later they will lose their riches and, at the end of their lives, will become poor old fools." (Jeremiah 17:11).
Please don't be misled into thinking that you can do whatever you want in small things and be okay as long as you have no major lapses. It's your first lie that makes you a liar. And whether you steal one dollar or one million dollars, you're still a thief. Phillips Brooks says, "Character is made in the small moments of our lives." Integrity always puts character over personal gain, people over things, service over power, principle over convenience, and the long view over the immediate.
Every time you break a moral principle, it becomes more difficult to act with integrity. Everything you've done in the past, including the things you've neglected to do, comes to a head when you're under pressure. That's why developing and maintaining integrity requires constant vigilance and discipline. John Weston says, "Live by the following rule; don't do anything you wouldn't feel comfortable reading about in tomorrow's newspaper."
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Today I had an experience that could have, if I had really let it, cause me to stumble and fall totally out of my character. But, PRAISE BE TO GOD WHO IS THE HEAD OF MY LIFE, I did not allow the enemy any room to let that happen.
This morning I had an interview for a job through our local school district and this was for a cafeteria worker. I had been told by another lady that worked in the office that the manager over food service had a 'Really' bad attitude and that she could really make a person fall out of character because of her attitude. LOL! I thought, "Wow, surely it can't be that bad!" Umm...well...that was in understatement for sure!!! When I got there, I walked into her office and she said, "May I help you?" I told her I was there for an interview at 8:30 and told her my name. She immediately, before I could say another word, said, "I CAN'T HIRE YOU!" And when I say she said it in CAPS, she said in in CAPS! lol... I was shocked, but politely asked her, "May I ask why not?" She said, with an ole stand attitude,:-D , " Because you have an arrest on your background report!" To my shock, I asked her when and where and what was it for, because I had no idea what she was talking about. She snatched up my application, with an attitude and looked at it and tossed it back down and said, "Back in 1991!" I said, "Are you kidding me, something minor 17 yrs ago and nothing else on there, and you can't hire me for that?" She flat out looked me in my face with this smug kinda smirk on her face and said, "NO! Sorry!" OH MAN!!! YESSSSS, I WAS MADDDDDD!!! She sat down and went back to work as though I was not still standing there. I gathered my Integrity up, instead of going off, and said, "thank you" and walked out the door. Of course, when I got to my car and got in and sat down, I began to cry. I wasn't angry at her, I was mad at the devil!!! After she told me that, I could not believe that after all these yrs, the devil brought up something wayyyy back from my past to try and label me again. I was heated!!!!!!!
I cried for a minute, called my husband,(Oh Thank You Father for this man, because he so encouraged me this morning and told me not to worry about it because it must not been the job wanted me to have) and after talking to him, I felt better. But still, I was angry. How dare the devil try to use something from 17 yrs ago in my past to try to bring discouragement to me and to try to make me look bad. I came to the church and went to the prayer room, and I began to talk to the Lord about that and just told Him how I felt...and I was not nice about it!!! lol!!! I WAS MAD!!! This is what He begin to show me, "You are the Rightheousness of God. No one can label you, not even the devil. Just because of your past doesn't mean that you are still that person. You have my seal upon your head. Not the seal or the label of the enemy. Though the facts are there on paper of your past, but, the Truth of who you are 'Now' remains!" Wow!!! What a revelation to me!
4:11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which [he had yet] being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:
Even though the devil wanted to label me again from my past, God wants me to know that that is not who I am now. I am the Righteousness of God! Forget what the devil thinks or what he says about me, I must cling to and know who I am in Him! My heart is enlightened. My Daddy knows me, and He loves me for who I am. He don't even care who I was then, all He knows is who I am now and what I am going to be!!! 5:21 For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Because I chose to walk out of her office in my integrity and not go off and act like the devil wanted me to act(of course my flesh show wanted to) I truly believe that God is going to honor that.
Proverbs 20:7 (Amplified Bible)7The righteous man walks in his integrity; blessed (happy, fortunate, enviable) are his children after him.
I refuse to allow the devil to label me for anything in my past!!! Hahaha...I sit back and laugh at him now, because you know what? HE IS A JOKE!!! My Father has a good plan for me! I will wait! I will be patient! But most of all, I will remember....I AM THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD!!!
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| You don't have to put up with the devil's oppression any longer. God has empowered you with the anointing to remove burdens, destroy yokes and to be an overcomer. The devil is a burden that can easily be driven away by exercising your God-given authority. God has given you His Word and His Spirit as a defense against the devil's schemes. You've been clothed in the armor of God so "...that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil" (Ephesians 6:11). You have everything needed to defeat the devil whenever he shows up at your door. He will keep showing up because you possess something that he desperately wants-your God-given authority to rule and reign in the earth. When God created Adam, he gave him dominion and authority over the earth (Genesis 1:26, AMP). However, when Adam rebelled against God, he turned his authority to rule over to the devil. Satan then had control over everything except the throne of God (2 Corinthians 4:4). Since Satan contaminated the ground with sin, God couldn't destroy Adam and make another man from the dust of the earth. Aren't you thankful that He had plan? He came to the earth as a man. Through Jesus' death and resurrection, he defeated Satan and took back our authority to rule (Hebrews 2:9, 14), and we have been restored to our rightful place of authority. Jesus has all power and authority in heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18). Since we were raised with Him, we have all power and authority as well (Ephesians 2:4-7). Therefore, do not neglect your right to rule and reign in the earth. Every time the enemy tries to attack you, consider it an opportunity to exercise your power over him. You have the authority to declare what is lawful and unlawful in this earth, and to permit or to forbid things on the earth-even death (Matthew 16:18-19, AMP). I challenge you to begin making demands in Jesus' name. John 14:13-14 says, "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it." The word ask means "demand." What you demand in Jesus' name (from the Word), He promises He will do. Understand that when you make a demand, you aren't demanding that God do things. Instead, you are demanding that the devil submit to the Word, to loose his hold and to stop his operations against you. Faith is involved in exercising your spiritual authority. You must base your faith on what the Word says, not on circumstances. When circumstances do not change immediately, some people become discouraged and begin to speak doubt and unbelief. This only gives the devil dominion over their words, which ultimately defeat them. Don't hand over your authority to Satan through your words. Instead, break the power of the devil by walking in your authority!
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