EXPECTATION

Rejection and disappointment are two of the major culprits for causing a poisoned sprit. Both Jesus and Paul understood the need for people who were receiving rejection to experience the opposite, both from people and God, if they were to be healed and restored.

After Peter had denied Christ three times, (just as Jesus said, ‘before the cock crows’), he told the others he was going ‘fishing’. This was a return to his previous life He was on a backward journey. His heart had been so disappointed in himself, and in Christ. He ad previously had every confidence that he would easily eclipse the devotion of the other disciples under pressure. He was sure he would never deny Christ. He had even announced his superiority of commitment to Jesus in front of the other disciples;

Matt 26:33-34 “Peter declared, ‘If everyone else deserts you, I won’t.’ Jesus told him, ‘The truth is that this very night, before the cock crows at dawn, you will deny me three times!”

We set ourselves up for a fall as soon as we become conceited in our opinion of ourselves. We also set ourselves up fro disappointment when we have expectations on ourselves that are too high. Expectations can come from:

• What others expect of us
• What we imagine others expect of us
• What we think God requires of us
• What we expect of ourselves

Peter had failed Jesus, and himself, and the others. They were all discouraged over their seemingly fickle commitment. Not one had seemed to remain as true as they would have liked. Yet the Healer of the broken heart knew that Peter needed some attention. This wound to his spirit needed to be resolved.

When Jesus appears to the disciples on the shore, he exposes the wound and then heals it by asking Peter if he really does love Him (more than the other disciples) He asks him three times, and each time reassures Peter of His love for him, and his acceptance with God, and that a great purpose still awaits him. When the interview was finished Peter was healed, yet this was not what we could call a supernatural, miraculous healing. It was the healing that happens when we know we have failed, yet we are still loved and accepted by God. This in turn helps us to accept and love ourselves in a healthy way.

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HEALED

All of our life springs from our spirit, therefore it is vital we are in good spiritual health. A troubled life can only spring from a troubled fountain, That is an unwell spirit.

Prov 4:23  “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”

The word used here, (Hebrew =’leb’) means ‘heart’, or the ‘centre’. It is referring to the centre of our lives. This needs to be guarded, because our whole life flows form here. The sprit that is wounded causes us to limp through life. There are many Christians who have simply died out on the battlefield and never been revived or raised back to life in Christ.

Just as our physical body needs food and water, our spirit must receive nutrition. Acts 3:19 speaks of ‘times of refreshing from the Presence of the Lord’ and in the Amplified Bible, “recovery as if from the effects of heat and reviving with fresh air’. However, the upkeep of our spirit is a two-way process and we can choose to let God into our lives or not. It’s a choice we make.

The hope for believers whose spirits have been broken is only in

1. The intercession of other Christians. It is incumbent upon the ‘mother’, the church, to intercede and bring God to bear upon these people who have simply died.
2. A direct encounter with God Himself
3. The Spirit of God reviving them, bringing them back to life. This is why it is so imperative for us to allow the Holy Spirit to have His way in our gatherings as Christians, because He alone brings fresh life into the Body of Christ. This is especially true for those slain in the harvest field or in the inevitable battles every Christian faces.

If we are able to deal with, resolve, and heal these illnesses before they cause great damage, we have a far greater chance of enjoying a victorious Christian life There is healing in Christ. There is always a way through!

If you are in need of healing we would love to meet and pray with you, click here to find a service near you!

TRANSFORMED

Paul declares that because of the cross, the world is now dead to me and I am dead to the world. I am no longer under the domination of whatever is happening in the world because I have been transferred into the kingdom of God. In fact, Paul calls it a ‘translation’:

Col 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son..

We too have be supernaturally “caught away” from one place and landed in another. We have been ‘translated’ from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. We are no longer under the dominion of the darkness of this world, but rather we are now dominated by light.

The word ‘power’ in the verse above is translated from the Greek word exousia, which means ‘privilege’ or ‘authority’ (i.e. force, capacity, competency, freedom, mastery, magistrate, superhuman, potentate, delegated influence, jurisdiction, liberty, power). What ever controls the world no longer controls us. The spirit that is at work in the people of the world no longer holds any power over our lives.

Noah’s ark is another very clear picture of God’s people being set free from the world. Whatever calamity might come on the world, we are able to escape it through being in Christ. All those who believed God and got into the ark were saved from the terrible disaster that covered the earth. It seemed as though there was no way whatsoever to escape the flood. But God had called a man to prepare a way out. Those who accepted God’s way were delivered; those who did not were drowned in the catastrophe.

Remaining in Christ means staying free from the world. Christ gives us the power to separate ourselves form the world. As we remain focused on Him, we are set free from its enticements. It no longer chains us to either its pleasures or its pains

See you in Church! click here to find a service near you!