I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Paul was a person just like you. He ate, slept, worked, had fellowship with friends, etc. The big difference was that he had come to the point that he wanted God to rule his life instead of only doing things to please himself.

Material things of the world no longer had any real satisfaction for him, and the love of money had lost its hold on him.

He had found that the world could not satisfy him like God could. The more he saw God work in his life, the easier it was to separate himself from the vile things of the world. Paul wanted to be connected with God in every way, and not give his own fleshly desires any roots to develop. More than anything else he wanted to follow God with his whole heart, mind, and strength.

For many years I thought it a very difficult thing to be crucified with Christ. I desired it very much, but it seemed like it was always out of my grasp. It seemed next to impossible to actually be dead to sin and live an everyday life where I worked a job, interacted with people, and did all the everyday activities that took much of my time. I imagined myself as having to live a secluded life with very little interaction with anyone else and just read my Bible and pray all day – in other words not thinking about much else but biblical things.

Naturally, I found that it was impossible to live in that way.

But gradually I found that the more I let the Holy Spirit control my life, the more I could be dead to sin and not let my fleshly desires control me. I found that the things of the world were very boring when compared to what I saw God doing in my life. It is amazing how He can change your heart and mind about something that you previously thought was very important, and make it very unimportant to you.

I certainly cannot say yet that I am completely dead to the world, but the more I am obedient to Christ, the more the world becomes more inadequate to satisfy my deepest needs. I no longer want to do the same things that I thought were so exciting years ago.

Romans 6: 6-11

Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

For he that is dead is freed from sin.

Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.

For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

“Dead to” and “crucified to” were common expressions among the Hebrews, Greeks and Latins.

To die to a thing or person is to be totally separated from or have nothing to do with it or them.

To live to a person or thing is to be wholly given up to and have intimate connection with that person or thing.

Having the old man crucified means that one has no further dealings with him.

We as Christians no longer have to let sin rule over us. We can choose to let the Holy Spirit be our guide and walk in obedience to what He tells us to do. The more we make the choice to do this, the more we will be “crucified to” our old way of doing things and our fleshly thoughts, emotions, and actions will not be able to control us anymore.

Don’t settle for anything less than God completely controlling your life to use as He pleases. I promise, the things of the world will become more and more boring when you start to see the supernatural works of God at work each day before your very eyes.

I know I never want to go back to the way I used to be, and I don’t think you will either once you see God at work in your life.

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All they had to do to obtain the victory was follow God’s instructions exactly. If they had only walked around 6 times or put the soldiers first instead of the singers, they would have been defeated.

God had specifically told them not to take anything personal from Jericho. This first city was to be His and He gave them exact instructions as to what to do with the bounty. It didn’t matter if His instructions made sense to them; they were just expected to obey.

Achan saw all the rich bounty and thought maybe he could get away with a few things and hide them in his tent. After all, who would notice when there was so much bounty. It was probably pretty easy to stuff them under his shirt or hide them easily with all the people concentrated on getting everything out.

Nobody obviously noticed that he took anything for himself, but the most important person – GOD – saw him. Then the whole tribe had to suffer a terrible and humiliating defeat at a small place called Ai. I’m sure that was an awful thing to endure after their glowing victory only a few days earlier. This small place should have been very easy to conquer after the hugely fortified walled city of Jericho.

As Joshua sought God about their miserable defeat, the truth began to come to light and desperate measures had to be taken to get the Israelites back into fellowship with God. He had told them specifically before they went into battle that the city of Jericho was “accursed” (doomed or dedicated for destruction) and that if they did not keep themselves from the “accursed” thing they would become “accursed” themselves.

Achan had already been told there would be consequences for his actions, but undoubtedly he thought he would be exempt from them or would never get caught.

The Israelite troubles actually began before they went into battle the next time, but it didn’t show up until they had resoundingly lost what should have been an extremely easy battle.

Joshua 7: 1 says “But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan… took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel.”

God would no longer be with them until they got rid of the accursed things, so they had to take drastic measures to be right with Him again.

Achan and his family paid the ultimate price for disobeying God. He took a beautiful garment, 200 shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of 50 shekels weight. Those are small things compared to the extreme price he had to pay in the end. PLUS his sin not only affected him, but every member of his family had to pay the ultimate price.

All Satan wants is for you to give him a very small opening and he will keep poking and prodding until he has enlarged it enough to form a huge stronghold to hide behind. He wants to make it as large and strong as possible so that it will take much time and effort for you to get rid of. He knows that if he can do this many people will just give up and accept the consequences, thinking it is much too hard to tear down the stronghold.

We now look at Joshua 8: 1-8 and see that God truly does give second chances when we get rid of our pride and do whatever it takes to get rid of our sin. The Israelites were able to take the city of Ai easily with God working supernaturally on their behalf.

Have you thought you could handle things on your own and messed everything up terribly?

Israel messed up and lost the battle with the little city of Ai. They thought they could do it on their own and found out the hard way they couldn’t.

God never wants any man to take the glory that is His, but He wants you to live your life in such a way that you are willing to walk in obedience to whatever it is He wants you to do.

He wants to work in a supernatural way in your everyday life to do things that only He can ever get the credit for. You may have done some bad things, but His mercy and grace are so astounding that He truly wants to take your messes and turn them into awesome victories for His Kingdom.

You are greatly loved and uniquely special to the LIVING GOD and He truly does have BIG plans for your life.
NEVER give Satan even the slightest opening to cause havoc and destruction in your life or the life of your family. As soon as you realize you have gotten off track, immediately swallow your pride and repent before God.

Satan will put every excuse in your mind as to why you should not repent. Some of the ones I have faced are:

Wait until a better time
Everyone will think you are weak
People will make fun of you or talk behind your back
…And the list goes on and on

Satan will do anything to keep you from having a close relationship with God. He doesn’t mind if you believe in God – even if you radically believe in God. He just doesn’t want you to live your life in a way that you can be USED by God.

If you already have a huge stronghold, it is not too late to start tearing it down. The Holy Spirit can give you direction and guidance as to how to get started and keep at it until you have the victory.

Don’t let Satan win even one more day. If there is anything standing between you and God get on your face, get forgiveness, and start in a new direction.

I can tell you with certainty that Satan won’t like it a bit, but you don’t have to let him win any longer. Choose obedience to God over everything else and let Him give you victory over any area where Satan has gained control.

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We all live in darkness until we let Jesus come into our heart through salvation, but as I look at the picture above I am reminded that many Christians seem to have as many dark areas in their lives as those that are illuminated by the white light.

The white lines and spaces seem to billow on top of the black ones as if they are trying to cover them up, which is what I was doing by trying so hard to always show my best to others.

I grew up trying to be a people-pleaser, so it was especially important for me to make people think I was a really good person and always show them my best side. I was a good person in the sense of never causing my parents any major problems, or never experimenting with drugs or alcohol, or never getting involved in anything that was majorly bad.

In the past I have been much more concerned over what others thought about me than what God thought about me. Because of this, deep down I think I may have developed an attitude of thinking that God was pleased with me because of all my good works.

But in reality my life was like the picture above – full of bright white light on the top and then had a lot of the black spaces below. I hadn’t even realized some of the areas where I needed change. It’s funny how we can talk ourselves into believing just about anything, or choose to only concentrate on the “good stuff.” It is easy to compare yourself to another person and think of yourself as more spiritual or holy.

I  learned quickly that the Holy Spirit can be very good at revealing those things that keep you from having God’s best, but you have to genuinely want Him to do it; AND the process is (what shall I say) less than fun.

Because of pride we sometimes try to keep those dark areas hidden so that no other person knows who we really are. We seem to forget that God knows and He is the most important one.

I challenge you right now to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal things in your life that are holding you back in total surrender to God. Then in a few months you will be able to look back and see that God has been able to use you more and more as you have gotten rid of the stuff that has been holding you back.

Life will never be boring again if you will surrender to God’s plan and get in on His way of doing things.

******************

Tom was gracious enough to let me borrow his photo, so I wanted to put a link to his site so you can check out his really great art:

http://www.tomgraffagnino.com/

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I have never done any really bad things such as breaking the law and getting caught, or things that others would look upon as being really bad. I know I wasn’t the perfect child, but I never lived in open rebellion against my parents and caused them much distress like some children have. In school, my classmates used to laughingly call me a “goody two shoes” because I was too scared to do many rebellious things. My parents have always supported me in everything I have done, and I didn’t want them to be disappointed in me.

I think if you have lived your life being a “good person” it can be very easy to not see yourself as you really are. After all, you haven’t done really bad things so you don’t think of yourself as grieving God or the Holy Spirit with the ordinary things you do each day.

I have already admitted to being a people-pleaser in my younger years, so I was devastated when I realized how much I had taken the Holy Spirit for granted in my everyday life.

I found I had started to take for granted that He would always be there and I could just ask for wisdom and direction when I needed it. How could I take God so for granted when He has and continues to do so much for me? The last thing I ever wanted to do was grieve Him in any way.

Realizing this has changed my life. I don’t ever want to forget these particular words of Charles Spurgeon, so I have copied them off and put them in a place where I will see them on a regular basis. You might want to do the same thing, especially if you see yourself and your own life in these words.

====================================================

Oh, my friends, when I think how often you and I have let the devil in, I wonder the Spirit has not withdrawn from us. The perseverance of a saint for a single day is a multitude of miracles of mercy. When you consider that the Spirit is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and yet he dwells in the heart where sin often intrudes, a heart out of which come blasphemies, and murders, and all manner of evil thoughts, what if sometimes he is grieved, and retires and leaves us to ourselves for a season?

It is a marvel that he is there at all, for he must be daily grieved with these evil guests, these false traitors, these base intruders who thrust themselves into that little temple which he had honored with his presence, the temple of the heart of man.

=====================================================

I fear I have taken much too lightly what Jesus did for me when He died on the cross and rose again. By going back to heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father, He made it possible for the Holy Spirit to come and reside in the heart of every person who believes in Him as their Lord and Savior.

If you have asked Jesus into your heart, you have the awesome gift of the Holy Spirit who lives inside you and wants to lead you in the right direction, but He is so much more than that. He is your comforter in time of trouble, the provider of your every need, and He always has your best interest at heart.

First thing each morning, thank the Holy Spirit for who He is and what He has done in your life. Also thank Him that you don’t have to make decisions on your own any more. It is a sad thing to live your life without His leadership and guidance because He is an awesome gift that has been given to every believer in Christ.

Please ask Him to reveal areas in your life where you need to change or grow and be obedient to His direction. Your life will truly take on new meaning.

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There once was a man named George Thomas, pastor in a small New
England town. One Easter Sunday morning he came to the Church carrying a
rusty, bent, old bird cage, and set it by the pulpit.

Eyebrows were raised and, as if in response, Pastor Thomas began to speak…

“I was walking through town yesterday when I saw a young boy coming
toward me swinging this bird cage. On the bottom of the cage were three
little wild birds, shivering with cold and fright.

I stopped the lad and asked, “What do you have there, son?”
“Just some old birds,” came the reply.

“What are you going to do with them?” I asked.
“Take ‘em home and have fun with ‘em,” he answered. “I’m gonna tease
‘em and pull out their feathers to make ‘em fight. I’m gonna have a real
good time.”

“But you’ll get tired of those birds sooner or later. What will you do
then?”

“Oh, I got some cats,” said the little boy. “They like birds. I’ll take
‘em to them.”

The pastor was silent for a moment. “How much do you want for those
birds, son?”

“Huh?? !!! Why, you don’t want them birds, mister. They’re just plain
old field birds. They don’t sing. They ain’t even pretty!”

“How much?” the pastor asked again. The boy sized up the pastor as if
he were crazy and said, “$10?”

The pastor reached in his pocket and took out a ten dollar bill. He
placed it in the boy’s hand. In a flash, the boy was gone. The pastor
picked up the cage and gently carried it to the end of the alley where
there was a tree and a grassy spot. Setting the cage down, he opened the
door, and by softly tapping the bars persuaded the birds out, setting
them free. Well, that explained the empty bird cage on the pulpit, and
then the pastor began to tell this story:

One day Satan and Jesus were having a conversation. Satan had just
come from the Garden of Eden, and he was gloating and boasting. “Yes,
sir, I just caught a world full of people down there. Set me a trap,
used bait I knew they couldn’t resist. Got ‘em all!”

“What are you going to do with them?” Jesus asked.

Satan replied, “Oh, I’m gonna have fun! I’m gonna teach them how to
marry and divorce each other, how to hate and abuse each other, how to
drink and smoke and curse. I’m gonna teach them how to invent guns and
bombs and kill each other. I’m really gonna have fun!”

“And what will you do when you are done with them?” Jesus asked. “Oh,
I’ll kill ‘em,” Satan glared proudly.

“How much do you want for them?” Jesus asked.

“Oh, you don’t want those people. They ain’t no good. Why, you’ll take
them and they’ll just hate you.. They’ll spit on you, curse you and kill
you. You don’t want those people!!”

“How much? He asked again.
Satan looked at Jesus and sneered, “All your blood, tears and your
life.”

Jesus said, “DONE!” Then He paid the price.

The pastor picked up the cage and walked from the pulpit.

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After Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, we were separated from God and had no way to reach Him on a personal level until Jesus died on the cross. He bridged that great gap and made it possible for us to have a personal relationship with the Living God once more.

The photo above gives a wonderful word picture of what Jesus did. He reached down and grabbed mankind with one hand and reached up to grab the Hand of God with the other. He became our intercessor and bridge to God when there was no other way to reach Him.

We can now come to our Heavenly Father without being afraid or ashamed, because Jesus is always interceding on our behalf and always has our best interest at heart. It is truly an amazing love that He had for mankind to endure the torture and suffering of the cross.

Don’t throw away what Jesus did for you on the cross. Run to Him, tell Him all your problems, and let Him intercede to the Father on your behalf. If you have asked Jesus to come into your heart, the Spirit of the Living God (Holy Spirit) lives inside you and is patiently waiting for you to ask Him to give you guidance in everyday situations.

Learn to hear Him when He speaks to you and be obedient. You will find that you never want to do things your own way again. There is so much peace and comfort in knowing that God only wants to give you His Very Best. That will be something different for each person, but it will always be exactly what you need at just the right time.

Check out my other sites:

Handbook for Victorious Christian Living – practical ways to learn to live a victorious Christian life

Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living

Power of the Living Word

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Oh that we could really understand the scope of what He accomplished through His death on the cross. It would radically change our lives forever. I pray that God will truly help me understand!

Amazing Love Video

Check out my other sites:

Handbook for Victorious Christian Living - practical ways to learn to live a victorious Christian life

Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living

Power of the Living Word

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What more can you add? This says everything!!!

Check out my other sites:

Handbook for Victorious Christian Living – Practical ways to learn to live a victorious Christian life

Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living

Power of the Living Word

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1. Dwell on truth and the things of God.

Sometimes you have an eery feeling that you are walking into a trap, but you just continue on with what you are doing hoping it won’t lead to disaster.

When you feel your conscience telling you something isn’t right, do the following if you are a Christian:

Stop what you are doing

Pray about the situation

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you the truth in the matter

Open your mind, ears, and heart to really hear the truth, instead of trying to justify what you are doing.

This last sentence  reminds me of a particular part in the movie Passion of the Christ.  The Pharisees were trying to get Jesus out of the way because they had a lot of power and were well respected among the Jewish people. The people were burdened down with a huge amount of laws, though.

When Jesus started teaching them His truths, it was like a huge burden being lifted off the shoulders of each person who followed Him. Naturally the Jewish hierarchy didn’t appreciate losing their influence among the people, so they plotted to get rid of him permanently.

They had him brought before the court. Because the Romans could not find Him guilty of doing anything to break their laws, they shuffled Him back and forth not wanting to deal with a religious battle that might make the people angry with them.

Jesus finally ended up in the court of Pilate, who detested being at this Jewish post, but didn’t want to rock the boat too much hoping that he could eventually be advanced to a better position. He was in a dilemma as to how to handle the situation. Even though Jesus hadn’t done anything wrong, the people demanded He be crucified like a common criminal.

The night before Pilate was to make his decision, his wife had a dream that Jesus was the real Savior the Jews had been seeking for so many years and that Pilate should not deal with Him harshly. She told her husband about the dream and tried to get him to do the right thing, but he was a politician and knew it might kill his political chances for advancement if he took her advice.

When his wife knew he would not hear the truth, she said these words to him in the movie:

“If you will not hear the truth, you will never know it.”

If you are in the position of the cat in the above picture, you have to make the decision to get rid of your pride and truly hear and obey truth. If not you will continue to walk blindly along the fence right into certain disaster.

From now on when the Holy Spirit pricks your conscience to let you know that something is not right, stop what you are doing and find out immediately what you need to do to change the situation. You will definitely be glad you did!

Check out my other sites:

Handbook for Victorious Christian Living – Practical ways to learn to live a victorious Christian life

Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living

Power of the Living Word

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1. Sin can make you fall into a trap quicker than you think!

Oh, if we could just see what an Awesome Savior Jesus truly is!

This has been one of my favorite songs since I was a child. I don’t think I fully understood it then, but more and more I am understanding now what Jesus did when He died for my sins on the cross.  He sacrificed everything for me, and I can never repay Him for bridging the gap between man and God so that I could have personal access to the Father.

If you have never heard this song, please listen to the powerful words and let it minister to you. If you don’t know Jesus as your Savior, you truly don’t know what you are missing. He truly is a Wonderful Savior!

Cathedrals – Oh What A Savior

Check out my other sites:

Handbook for Victorious Christian Living – Practical ways to learn to live a victorious Christian life

Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living

Power of the Living Word

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