Ten Power Exhortations - April 17, 2019

Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV), "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

The Lord is inviting you to rise up in faith and see the path before you with faith-filled eyes. The Lord is taking you to a higher level of trust in Him, knowing He is ordering your steps. He is calling you to rest in who He is and to trust in His faithfulness. He is calling you to have faith to believe what He has spoken about the path ahead, even if all the pieces are not yet in place. We are to surrender to His timing, knowing He will align the path before us. It is not by might, nor by power but by His Spirit.

1 Thessalonians 5:24 (ESV), "He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it."

To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, "In the Lord, the wrong road never becomes the right road." To get back on the right road, we need to go back to where we missed the turn, which is called "repentance."

Our goal is to get closer to the Lord, to abide in Him, and find HIS PURPOSE IN CHRIST FOR US.

God created you to rule over all the earth and everything the creeps in it. Thus, if the earth in any way is dominating you, you are malfunctioning.

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and OVER ALL THE EARTH.." - Genesis 1:26

When we catch a glimpse of this new identity we have in Jesus Christ, we see sin to be the boring, useless, and stupid thing it really is and we turn more easily away from it.

This other side has to do with the rich inheritance that we share in with Jesus Christ as co-heirs (see Romans 8:17; Ephesian 1:7, 11). We need to spend much more time confessing, not our sins, but who we are in Christ according to the teachings of the apostles.

"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful" (Hebrews 10:23).

We are not here to take a vacation. Our lives are not even our own -- they were purchased and given back to us for stewardship (our DESTINY).

There is indeed a holy radiance surrounding a true Spirit-filled Christian. But when you harbor sin, "your light" becomes "darkness". The devil can traffic in any area of darkness, even the darkness that still exists in a Christian's heart.

"So be very careful that your light never becomes darkness." - Luke 11:35

"My beloved spoke, and said to me, 'Rise up my love, my fair one, and come way' " (Song. 2:10).

God is the initiator. He speaks to us. We still need to get started by responding to Him. So in that sense, it starts with you. How hungry are you? Set a time to meet with God. Set a place. Rise up! Purpose this in your heart and say, "God you are my God! Early will I seek You!" Don't wait for the grace to pray. Pray for the grace to pray. Rise up and say, "I will stir myself up to take hold of God."

By not speaking, desiring, nor reasoning, we reach the central place of the inward walk -- that place where God speaks to our inward man. It is there that God communicates Himself to our spirit.

"For God alone my soul waits in silence." - Psalm 62:1

"And, I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none." - Ezekiel 22:30

May we respond to the Captain's call and STAND IN THE GAP, whether it's a good time for us or not, whether we understand it or not, whether we see the answer or not, whether we know the person or not. May we pray with Him and intercede for what is precious to Him.

You were created to serve God. You were placed on this planet for a special assignment. (Ephesians 2:10)

To set your mind on the higher realm, strategize about how to live in it. Purposely pursue it. Ask the Holy Spirit to anoint your thinking. Keep your mind busy with practical, heavenly thoughts, taking "captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5)

"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- fill all your thoughts with these things." - Philippians 4:8

Before you step into the next level God has for you, you will have to face your Goliath head on and take it down. Your giant will try to intimidate, limit, and constrain you from possessing what is yours in God.

ALBERT FINCH MINISTRY
http://afministry.ning.com/