By: Hanny Lynn
Stearns
Fish N Loaves Ministries, Inc.
“Multiplying God’s Word Around the
Globe”
October 31, 2016
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 is 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.
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