By: Hanny Lynn Stearns
Fish N Loaves Ministries, Inc.
“Multiplying God’s Word Around the Globe”
Repeat Message Due In Season
Thanks Be to God Who Always Causes Us to Triumph
2 Corinthians 2:14 (KJV)
Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
I opened to the following at church today –
2 Samuel 22:40-51
40 For thou hast girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up against me hast thou subdued under me.
41 Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me.
42 They looked, but there was none to save; even unto the Lord, but he answered them not.
43 Then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of the street, and did spread them abroad.
44 Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people, thou hast kept me to be head of the heathen: a people which I knew not shall serve me.
45 Strangers shall submit themselves unto me: as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto me.
46 Strangers shall fade away, and they shall be afraid out of their close places.
47 The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation.
48 It is God that avengeth me, and that bringeth down the people under me.
49 And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.
50 Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name.
51 He is the tower of salvation for his king: and sheweth mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed for evermore.
Today I weighed myself and it was at an all time (since my teen years) low – 129.4! Glory to God!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I never could have reached this without His help. Thank You Lord! He restores my youth like the eagle. Blessed be the Lord my Rock!
At church we are on the series titled, “According to Your Faith.” It is excellent. We cannot hear it too much.
Sister (Pastor) Phyllis came out first as always and she talked about getting ready for a big day – like a prize fighter or a star athlete. They would not wait until the day of the big match or game to get ready. No, they have to train and get ready long before any big deal like that. And so it is with us. The only reason I am getting the victory I am seeing in my life which is greater than I have ever seen before is because I have been placing my faith on the word of God and am saying it out loud over my life every day. This is something that the Lord was trying to show me all the way back to my Joyce Meyer days. I read the word and sometimes I believed it – but I was not saying it. The words of my mouth are now coming to pass.
I have been seeing mighty signs and wonders right here in my home of late - more than ever. Why? Because obedience releases the blessings. I opened to this in my little scripture book…
Acts 26:16
But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;
Matthew 19:26
But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”
The miracle of reaching this weight goal is far beyond my human capability. I tried in the flesh for years and all I was doing back then was fighting a losing battle. The devil had gotten into my soul realm with a spirit of gluttony. I never had this growing up. It came after getting into my former husband’s family. Then over time I picked up a spirit of addiction, and later, a spirit of infirmity. The only thing that could set me free is Jesus. He sent forth His word and healed me…
Psalm 107:20
He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
I had to place my faith in His word. I had to focus on His word. I had to renew my mind with His word. It was my responsibility to respond to His word. The book I am now reading by Kenneth E. Hagin, titled, “The Triumphant Church” is excellent and should be mandatory reading for every believer. I have only read two chapters so far and already the Lord has opened my eyes to things I had not seen or understood before. To start to really understand who we are in Jesus Christ, and the power that we have been given in His name and with His word, is to come to a place of total victory in our lives.
Disobedience, living in sin, etc. will open wide the door for the enemy to invade the Christian soul and dominate their lives. This is what was happening to me. The devil cannot get into my regenerated spirit. That is the real me – the spirit. That is what got born again. But it is the soul, (mind, will and emotions) and the flesh (our body) that does not get regenerated at the new birth. This is what we must buffet and put under every day for the rest of our lives. Look at this…
1 Corinthians 9:27
But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
Jesus, Paul and the rest of us all have a responsibility as long as we are alive on this earth to crucify our flesh each and every day that we live. Jesus did it perfectly, and as a man, just like you and me! To let our flesh have its way is to tell the devil in essence, “Here I am satan! Come and have your way with me.” And to that, he will respond like “Johnny on the spot!” Many Christians are running from meeting to meeting and asking others to pray for them. But they go home and keep living a carnal (flesh led life) and what they get as a result is more trouble. We need to grow up and do our own praying. We need to do our own crucifixion of the flesh every day. Nobody can do it for us.
We have to stop dwelling on the past – another open door to the enemy, and we need to start focusing on God’s word day and night. We need to make it our goal to do what the word of God says, not just read it and go our way. Look at this…
Joshua 1:1-8
1 Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying,
2 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.
3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.
4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.
5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest.
8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Friends, our promised land is here! The cross is behind us. We must always appreciate what Jesus’ journey to the cross meant, but that is not where He is at now! He is sitting down at the right hand (favor) of God right now, in heaven, on the throne of victory! He finished His work on earth and His blood has paid for our sins – once and for all time.
Hanging around the cross is to dwell on a place of death. We are alive unto God; right here, right now. Living in a place of defeat is to forgo every blessing that we have been given by our Father in heaven through our Lord Jesus Christ. Living in our past is to crash going into our future.
We need to take His words seriously and meditate on them. If we want to fill our minds and spirits with television, newspapers or watching the news and other non-essential things that will not enable us to grow spiritually, then we are basically saying, “I am really not interested in putting forth any effort. Ya’ll just pray for me, will ya?”
It is foolishness to think anything good will come from the efforts of the flesh. The Bible makes that clear. It is time for the church to rise up and be the triumphant church that we are saved to be and stop allowing the devil to fill our minds with lies and negative, defeated thinking.
The minute that trash enters our minds we have to slap it down and replace it with what the word of God says. We will get back what we put our effort into. If we sow to the flesh, we will reap from the flesh. If we sow to the spirit, we will reap from the spirit. This is a large devotional today, but after all the unnecessary struggle that I went through with an addiction to food that never should have happened in the first place, my heart cries out to the people of God to wake up and receive the blessings that God has for you! Friends, I have seen such an outpouring of miracles this year that I could shout from the highest mountain top! Glory to God.
He showed me that in the beginning of this year I began to say out loud that this was going to be the great year of wisdom, self-control and progress in my life and for me and my husband collectively. And because I have been saying it over and over, all of that statement is coming to pass in my life (and ours) – glory to God! Then I finally understood about picking out the verses that would help me with the issues in my life that I was dealing with. I made up a list and I say these declarations out loud every single day. I have found the treasure in the word of God for the first time in my life and I am almost 61 years old! Hey, better late than never.
Now what is my calling? It is to stand up on my feet and tell you about the things I have seen God do in my life. And there will be more revealed as we go along. He showed me these verses yesterday…
Matthew 13:11-23
11 He answered and said unto them, “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, by hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:
15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
17 For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”
Friends, the bottom line to all of the above is a willing heart. Why? Because a willing heart makes a hearing ear. If we are not willing to listen, if we are not willing to “eat the word of God in our spirit man, the real us, if we are not willing to crucify the flesh and honor God with every part of our lives, then we will not hear what we need to hear, no matter how many church meetings we go to!
When we get a good word from the Lord, the devil is right there wanting to steal it away before it gets a chance to get down deep in our hearts. If we allow that, then we miss the blessing. We miss the lesson, and whatever the Lord wanted to do in us at that moment. Many go to church for social reasons and it makes them feel good – but they are not willing to do the work that is required in order to be a disciple of Jesus. It is hard work friends; the flesh hates it! But the spirit is willing. That’s why Jesus commanded us to watch and pray.
In the above passage, He assured us that to those of us who have, more will be given. What I have now is great – but I want more! I am willing to take more. I am making it my goal to be a doer of the word, how about you? Are you willing to work the word? Will you put faith in it and do what it says? If so, you can have the full hundred-fold fruit bearing blessing.
The thirty, sixty, hundred-fold blessing means to the level that we understand the word, that is the level at which we will bear fruit. Some understand little and bear little fruit. Others understand a bit more and bear fruit of the sixty-fold measure. Still others have even greater understanding because they are really applying themselves and they are bearing maximum fruit. The choice is yours and mine friends. What do we really want?
I want to share with you what happened yesterday so that maybe it can help you. A couple of things really. It started in church. While I was sitting there I began to get very sleepy. Then thoughts started to come to my mind about lunch and what we were going to have at the restaurant. I rejected the distraction and silently asked the Lord for help. He told me to keep looking up at the screens rather than looking down too much at my Bible – this would keep my eyes alert. In my mind, I also rejected the distracting thoughts of the food.
I was not even hungry and I was busy getting fed the word of God. Oh but friends, our flesh and the devil will follow us to church, make no mistake. The doors of the building will not keep the imps assigned to us away. They are spirit beings and closed building doors will not keep them out of our mind – only the word of God will.
The Lord gave me the victory and my faith was strengthened by listening to the message about faith – in God, what He can do; and His word. Hallelujah! The next thing that has been on my heart is that Thanksgiving is coming up. Since I have reached a new goal on my weight, I am not at all interested in back sliding on Thanksgiving just because it is a day when most folks think is an excuse to binge on the food like a drunk in a saloon! Really there is no difference – overeating or over drinking. It is all the same in the Lord’s eyes. So, I began to be watchful and pray, ahead of time.
What I heard from the Lord is this in John…
John 2:5
His mother saith unto the servants, “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.”
When I flipped my Bible open that lays beside my bed, and there are many Bibles in this house because we want to hear from God as much as possible, this is what I opened to. There was my answer. When that day comes, I will be praying that He shows me what to have and what to avoid. I always like to have turkey and dressing for that day. I enjoy a roll and some veggies with lots of gravy. But this year is different. I Have come to realize that this is how it is really supposed to be:
Gas for the car
Food (fuel – the right kind!) for the body
God’s word for the soul and spirit man
If I place the importance on pleasing my Master, and then on loving and enjoying the people I am with, my focus will not be on how much food can I stuff down into my stomach that can only hold so much anyway. Rather than trying to comfort myself with food (Idolatry!) I can feed on His word that morning and spend the day giving Him thanks for all He has done for me. At the end of the day, I do not have to spend the night with heartburn, gastro intestinal problems and a broken heart because I let the Lord down yet once again. I will be able to lie down and sleep in perfect peace with my mind stayed on Him. My stomach will feel good right along with my heart.
So why am I telling you all this now? Because we have to be aware of what is out in front of us. Like the prize fighter or the star quarterback going to the superbowl, or the Olympic champion, training does not begin the day of the event. How absurd! No, as God’s children we have to train our minds and our bodies well in advance of the battle. To do it any other way is asking for defeat.
And friends, we have to pray for ourselves. We have to have our own faith in God. We have to do the work ourselves. No one can do it for us. It is up to us. Working the word is like lifting spiritual “heavy weights” It will build us up so strong in the Lord that we cannot fail. Will you get ready for the fight that is heading your way by working the word right now – day and night? It will work for you if you do! Glory to God!
2 Corinthians 2:14
Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
