ARTICLES
What Are You Looking At? Part 2
IS EVIDENT BY WHAT YOU ARE SAYING!
by Jeanniene Lee
In last month's issue, Part 1, we established the fact that God has created man with the ability to choose and He has also granted man with the freedom to choose.
God created man in His image and after His likeness (Gen. 1:26). Man is a tripartite being. He is a spirit. He has a soul, and he lives in a physical body. The soul of man is the headquarters of his mind, will and emotions -- his thinker (mind)...his chooser (will) ...and his feeler (emotions)!!! It is here, in his soul, that God gave man the ability to choose.
It is in your soul that you make the decision as to what you will look at! It is in your soul that you make the decision as to what you will allow to come out of your mouth - what you will speak.
With the blessing of freedom to choose, granted to man by God, comes the awesome responsibility of accountability. Accountability for what you choose. Although we have been granted the freedom of choice, we must daily guard against making the wrong choices. The wrong choice can cost you your very life.
Deuteronomy 30:19
19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I HAVE SET BEFORE YOU LIFE AND DEATH, BLESSING AND CURSING [indicating that He has given you and I the freedom to choose for ourselves]: THEREFORE CHOOSE life, that both thou and thy seed may live.
Today, like everyday, you will have the opportunity to choose God's plan of victory for you or the devil's plan of defeat.
This very moment you are faced with choices. You may be confronted right now with the pressure of circumstances. Circumstances that are contrary to what God's Word says concerning you. IF YOU CHOOSE to agree with the circumstances, continue to focus your attention on those circumstances and continue to talk the circumstances, versus what God's Word promises you concerning that situation, you will absolutely, positively reap the death and destruction that the devil has purposed for you through those circumstances.
One thing I want to make perfectly clear to you is this the devil can not override your will. The old cliche "the devil made me do it" is a lie. You chose to do it yourself, and you are accountable for your own choice.
Dear reader, do not let the circumstances cause you to fling away your confidence in God and His Word. By looking at the circumstances, you are developing fear; but, by looking at the Word of God, you are developing faith. Faith comes by hearing and continuing to listen to the Word of God, and fear comes by hearing and continuing to listen to the lies of the devil.
Romans 10:17
17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the WORD OF GOD
WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?
You must take a stand RIGHT NOW and declare that "this is the day which the Lord hath made [for you]; WE WILL [you will] REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT (Psalm 118:24).
"We will" indicate that a choice to rejoice and be glad has been made. These words "we will" indicate that a decision has been made, the decision to rejoice and be glad today.
Psalm 118:24 is a psalm of decree. One of the Hebrew definitions of the word "decree" is to decide. This implies a choice, a decision. Look at what Job 22:28 says: "Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways." I also like the way this verse reads in the Amplified Version: "You shall also decide and decree a thing, and it shall be established for you; and the light [of God's favor] shall shine upon your ways."
What the writer is saying here in Job 22:28 is that once you make a decision, choose a particular way, the way you choose will bring about an "established," visible manifestation in your life based upon the choice, decree, decision you have made. That choice not only has brought an established presence (whether good or bad) it has determined a "way," a direction you are going. Look at Job 22:28 again.
Job 22:28 (Amplified)
28 You shall also decide and decree a thing, and it shall be established for you; and the light [of God's favor] shall shine upon your ways.
What is being said here is, you shall also decide and decree a thing, and it [that thing you have decided and decreed] shall be established [come to be] for you; and the light [of God's favor] shall shine upon your ways [only if you have chosen His way as outlined in His Word]. When you make a heart decision, it will reflect in your conversation; thus, decreeing is not only deciding it is speaking out audibly what you have decided and settled in your mind and established in your heart.
Psalm 118:24 verifies this twofold decree: "This is the day which the Lord hath made; WE WILL REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT." The entire book of Psalms is a collection of Israel's poems which were prayers and praises to God. These psalms were usually expressed audibly which confirms our twofold decree A DECISION EXPRESSED AUDIBLY!
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT... FOCUSED ON?
II Corinthians 4:18
18 While we look not at the things which are seen [visible to our senses], but at the things which are not seen [visible to our senses but visible to our inner spirit man]: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
God's realm, which is the realm of the spirit, is more real than the realm which is visible to your senses, the natural realm in which we live and operate on a day-to-day basis; for, God is a Spirit (John 4:24).
You can choose to accept what God has for you or what the devil wants to give you. What God has promised you in His Word belongs to you as a reborn Christian; however, it will not just come to you automatically you must violently take it by force by believing and speaking what the Word of God says in the face of contrary circumstances.
Paul exhorted the Corinthians in II Corinthians 4:17 & 18 not to look at and accept the devil's offer of defeat but to keep their eyes on the promises of God which always guarantee victory. Read II Corinthians 4:17 & 18.
The writer is not saying to deny the existence of the circumstances, He is saying we must focus our attention on God's Word. Get some faith! Faith comes by hearing God's Word. Faith will activate God's hand. When His hand is activated on your behalf, He will remove the contrary circumstances and replace them with the manifestation of His promise that you are standing on and believing Him for.
To walk by faith does not make sense because it is NOT CONNECTED TO THE SENSES.
II Corinthians 5:7
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight [what is visible to the senses].
How can you walk by faith in the face of or in the midst of contrary circumstances? By having your heart FILLED with God's Word. God's Word in your heart will produce faith; for, "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17). CONSTANT EXPOSURE TO GOD'S WORD PRODUCES FAITH, BUILDS FAITH AND KEEPS IT STRONG; and, when you have faith in your heart, you will walk straight through contrary circumstances unaffected. You will begin to see circumstances as simply opportunities to exercise your faith and put it to work.
THE PRICE OF THE WRONG CHOICE!
When your heart is filled with faith, you will see circumstances as simply opportunities to exercise your faith.
For example, if the doctor has diagnosed you with having a serious medical disease for instance, cancer, heart disease, AIDS, or a skin disorder; don't just sit around and meditate on that "bad report." Go to God's Word and look up some scriptures which promise you healing and health and look at and meditate upon those scriptures until faith arises in your heart. Say them aloud audibly. For example, like this: "Father, I thank you that I will not die, but live, and declare your works (Psalm 118:17). I thank you that by your stripes I was healed and that no disease or germ can dwell in or upon my body (I Peter 2:24, Psalm 91:10)."
Whose report are you looking at and listening to today? The wrong choice can cost you everything.
The Lord said to Moses in Numbers 13:2 that He had given the land of Canaan to the children of Israel; but, a wrong choice caused them to wander forty years in the wilderness, caused them to miss going into the promised land and cost them their very lives. Their wrong choice cost them everything!
Numbers 13:1, 2
1 And the Lord spake unto Moses saying,
2 Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, WHICH I GIVE UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL ...
If you read Numbers chapter 13 and 14 you will see that although God HAD GIVEN the land of Canaan to the children of Israel, they had a VITAL part to play to actually possess it ~ they had to choose to believe God and the words He had said unto Moses versus believing the circumstances which said that the land was possessed by someone else that appeared stronger than they. Only two of the twelve spies that were sent into the promised land, Joshua and Caleb, believed God's Word over the circumstantial report.
Numbers 13:25-28, 30-33
25 And they returned from searching of the land ...
26 And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel ... and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.
27 And they told him, and said, We came into the land whither thou sendest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
28 NEVERTHELESS THE PEOPLE BE STRONG THAT DWELL IN THE LAND ...
30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, LET US GO UP AT ONCE AND POSSESS IT; FOR WE ARE WELL ABLE TO OVERCOME IT.
31 But the men that went up with him [the other 10 spies, except Joshua] said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
32 And they brought up an EVIL REPORT... saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature.
33 And there we saw the giants... and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Notice that the twelve spies were able to get a glimpse of the fruit and abundance available to them in the land God had promised them; but, the evil report of ten of the spies kept them from entering into what God had promised them. Abundance was already theirs because God HAD given them the land, but looking at the stature of their enemy kept them from entering in. Ten of the twelve spies that were sent to spy out the land refused to keep their eyes on God's promise that He had given them the land - rather they chose to believe the circumstances which was evident by what they spoke ~ an evil report. Choosing to believe and speak the circumstances not only cost them everything but their negative report influenced the whole congregation, all of the children of Israel and contributed to robbing them of entry into the promised land as well.
Numbers 14:1-2
1 And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
2 And all the children of Israel MURMURED... the whole congregation...
STAND FIRM IN THE FACE OF CIRCUMSTANCES
Joshua and Caleb, however, kept their eyes on God's promise that the land was theirs no matter who was occupying it "temporarily" and no matter how strong they appeared in the natural. Remember, what is seen is "temporary" and subject to change (II Cor. 4:17, 18).
Numbers 14:6-9
6 And Joshua... and Caleb...
7 ...spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.
8 ...a land which floweth with milk and honey.
9 Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.
What kept Joshua and Caleb from bringing back an "evil report" to the congregation? What kept Joshua and Caleb talking words of faith rather than words of fear? THE WORD OF GOD (HIS PROMISE) WAS IN THEIR HEART. GOD'S WORD IN THEIR HEART PRODUCED FAITH. THEY SPOKE THE WORD OF GOD WITH FAITH.
The "evil report" that the other ten spies brought back to the children of Israel cost them their lives.
Numbers 14:36-38
36 And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to MURMUR against him, by bringing up a SLANDER upon the land,
37 Even those men that did bring up the EVIL REPORT upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord.
38 But Joshua... and Caleb... which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.
Remember, life and death are in the power of YOUR TONGUE and you will certainly reap a harvest of return for EVERY WORD YOU SAY whether good or bad.
Proverbs 18:21
21 Death and life are in the power of the TONGUE: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
Matthew 12:3 7
37 For by thy WORDS thou shall be justified, and by thy WORDS thou shall be condemned.
What will keep you talking words of healing and health rather than sickness and disease in the face of the doctor and his report that says there is no hope? What will keep you talking prosperity and abundance rather than poverty and lack in the face of a heap of bills and threatening phone calls from your creditors? What will keep your heart filled with hope and you talking hope in the face of the news media that says the situation in the world is hopeless? THE WORD OF GOD!
What kept Joshua and Caleb from believing and talking doubt, fear and unbelief? THE WORD OF GOD. The only way you can maintain faith in the midst of contrary circumstances is by keeping your eyes focused on God's promises which are clearly and boldly stated throughout the Bible. Circumstances are only opportunities to exercise your faith and allow it to grow.
Circumstances which are light afflictions, are temporary, they are passing (II Cor. 4:17, 18); but during the time you are facing them, you have an opportunity to exercise your faith and allow it to work to remove the circumstances and bring into manifestation in your life God's promises. God's Word is forever settled and so is His promises which are outlined in His Word. All you have to do is CHOOSE not to allow the circumstances to fill your heart with fear. CHOOSE to use the circumstances to put your faith to work.
The more you meditate the Word of God and speak what it says concerning your situation, the circumstances will change and will line up with the Word of God.
Everything that you need to live a complete and fulfilled life ~ spirit, soul and body ~ has been made available to you through the blood and the very life of Jesus Christ! Will you choose to receive it and walk in it today? What are you looking at? The circumstances or the Word of God? Keep your eyes on the WORD OF GOD, speak the WORD OF GOD and CHANGE THE IMAGE WITH THE WORD OF GOD!
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