Having a Encounter

“But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.””

‭‭Ruth‬ ‭1:16-17‬ ‭NIV‬‬.        

Read chapter 1 of Ruth

What Will You Give Up? Know:

If you seek to walk in the supernatural with God, there will always be a moment in which you must make the same choice Ruth made. If you will make it, you may proceed with God … and have abundance and blessing, too.

If you will not make this choice, you will go backward. Back to the old ways, the old land, the old misery.

Staying still is not an option.

So what’s the choice before you? Only this: What will you give up for Christ’s sake?

Ruth was willing to give up everything. She left her family behind. She left her culture and traditions behind. She left her home behind. She abandoned everything that the outside world valued, all for the sake of following the way of God.

So what are you willing to give up?

Will you give up your right to worry about your circumstances, and decide to trust God and speak in faith no matter what?

Will you give up your right to be right, in order to humble yourself under God’s mighty hand?

Will you give up your right to do what you want with your time, in order to seek God with your time?

Will you give up your entitlement to good treatment, in order to complete the sufferings of Christ in your own life?

Mark 8:34-37 says:

“When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, ‘Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?'”

There is a choice that you and I must make. We must make it once, and then we must make it daily. That choice determines whether we will be disciples of Christ or merely fans of Christ.

What will you choose today? Ponder your answer. Meditate on it. Don’t take this decision lightly. Then talk to the Lord about it, and verbalize your choice to Him.

Pray:

“Father God, in Jesus’ name, I choose this day to make Jesus the absolute, 100% Boss of my life. I choose to bow and yield my all to You. I choose to obey You in everything. Please help me carry out this choice every moment of my life from this time forward and forevermore. Convict me and help me as I walk with You. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

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Seven ways to make the devil flee

“The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven. The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless you in the land he is giving you. The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him.”

‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭28:7-9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Seven Ways to Make the Devil Flee

God has promised us that He will cause our enemies who rise against us to be defeated before our faces. 

But we can get in the way of our blessing and leave room for the enemy to stand in our faces rather than fleeing seven ways. With that in mind, here are seven tactics to make the devil flee seven ways.

1. Diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God

2. Repent before you engage in battle

3. Know that God is on your side

4. War from a position of victory

5. Praise your way through

6. Take up your armor

7. Pray always and be watchful

Breaking the power of vicious circles is often a matter of making better choices, but when it’s a demonic cycle you need to identify the imaginations and wrong thought patterns that are allowing wicked spirits to wreak havoc on your life. 

Go forth, spiritual warrior, with praise in your heart and prayer on your lips, dressed for battle. The battle belongs to the Lord, and the devil will flee seven ways. 

He has no choice when you submit yourself to God and resist him. No demon in hell is stronger than a will aligned with the Word of God. God’s grace floods the soul that seeks first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Spiritual Battle

DAY 2: The Spirit of Jezebel

The spirit of Jezebel seeks to seduce and often works through teaching and prophecy. This spirit seduces the saints into idolatry and immorality. 

This spirit may use control and manipulation to do it, but ultimately that’s not the end game. Jezebel’s end game is murder. 

The wages of sin is death, and Jezebel leads people into sin.

Pastors, Leader or anyone, for that matter—who fall into sexual sin are among Jezebel’s trophies. If you are doing anything at all for God, 

Jezebel wants to cut off your voice. If Jezebel can’t cut off your voice, it will try to pervert your voice by seducing you to defile yourself by tolerating its activity.

Jezebel is not something you can tear down once and for all, but you can break agreement with it and refuse to tolerate it.

Father, I repent for tolerating Jezebel and ask Your forgiveness, in Jesus’s name. I ask You to heal my heart of any detected or undetected hurts, wounds, offenses, pains, pride, rejection, rebellion, or any other open door that may have let or could let Jezebel into my life.

I break Jezebel’s witchcraft, controlling powers, flatteries, deception, word curses, fearful assaults, false accusations, polluted prophetic utterances, subtle seductions, sorceries, intimidations, and other foul operations, in the name of Jesus. Amen

“Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 

I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 

I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.”

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭2:20-23‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Battle Plan

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6:10-15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

DAY 1: The Battle Against Evil

When I got saved, I thought I’d spend my life walking beside still waters and lying down in green pastures. I had no idea embracing Jesus as the captain of my salvation meant I was enlisting as a soldier in the army of God.

I’ve since learned that believers are soldiers and Jesus did not come to bring peace but a sword. I’ve discovered that I’m more than a conqueror in Christ, which also tells me ungodly and unseen forces are trying to conquer me.

Keep this truth in mind: the enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy. Every demon has the same mission. How they go about it—their strategies and tactics—are different. 

A spirit of fear attacks your faith, for example, while a spirit of rejection attacks your identity. Satan is strategic. 

His army is highly organized, and he is sending specific spirits against believers to derail them from their kingdom purpose.

My prayer is that you will gain discernment to identify spirits opposing your life—and the lives of those you love—and develop spiritual skills to battle back. 

Spiritual bondage can manifest in many ways, but the good news is that victory can be ours. By walking in our God-given authority, we can effectively do battle and win in warfare.

Book of James

Read :James 1:1-20

I hate temptation. I hate it when it comes my way. It may be temptation to blow up on someone. It may temptation of saying something that I should not say, doing something that I should not do. However, temptation comes my way, every day in some sort or fashion. 

Yielding to temptation is a choice that I make and you make. We reap consequences when we yield and fall in to Satan’s traps. We reap benefits when we follow God’s word to the tee and avoid temptation. It is now time that we begin the process of discipling our converts and reach more for the kingdom. How are going to handle temptation from the Devil? Let’s dig in!

TEXT

I. Count it Joy when you are tempted!

a. As a believer, you should be joyful when you are tempted to sin, it is a sure sign that you are God’s!

b. As a believer, if we have a sad disposition all of the time, we will be vulnerable to the actions of the devil.

c. Trials and Tribulations will come your way. They will be of various types. No one person is able to avoid these things.

d. Everything works together to help shape us and mold us into what God wants us to be.

Remember Job, he suffered everything imaginable to any human being. Although he suffered, lost family members, and went through these things – his faith remained in God.

Job 1:21

The Lord giveth and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord.

He realized who was in control and in charge. This is further emphasized in Job 42 where Job says:

Job 42:2

I know that thou canst do everything, and that no thought can be withheld from thee.

e. If Job can make it, you and I can

II. When tempted, Be Patient!

a. The key to defeating the devil, is not to fall into his traps.

b. Temptations come our way to make us stronger. We cannot be strong in our own devises. We must depend on God. There are reasons that the Word tells us that we should be patient in the trying of our faith.

i. Romans 5:3-4

1. But we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope.

c. Notice in verse 4 – “Perfect patience”

i. Hebrews 10:36

1. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

d. Commentaries state that perfect patience is only achieved after enduring the trials that have been put in front of us. In addition, after we have gone through the tribulations, God has transformed us into a “complete” Christian.

i. After thinking about that for a few minutes, it makes sense.

ii. Being a Christian is not easy! We must endure all types of criticsm, all types of threats, all types of garbage – Why?

1. Because God Loves Us and We Love Him.

2. At this point and only at this point – we make our commitment to walk for Him no matter the obstacle. Perfect patience is achieved at this point in time.

3. Verse 12!!!!!

III. Get into the Word of God!

a. If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God!

b. Isaiah 40:8

i. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand forever!

c. His word will stand the test of time.

d. Go to His word, read, study, apply it to your life.

e. Not only will you receive help, you will be transformed into being all that God wants you to be.

i. For many years, I left the apply part off. Yes, I was a Christian, but not one who was being firm in the Word. I was as the wavering man in verse 6-8. If one person wanted to hear one thing, I told them it – if another wanted to hear the opposite, I told them that. It didn’t take long for me to realize that this would do nothing but get you into a pickle.

ii. A person is to be firm in their beliefs.

iii. A person is to be firm in their word

1. A yes must be a yes. A no must be a no. There is no in between.

2. All decisions must be carried to the Lord in prayer – there are no in betweens. He is in control, we are not.

3. When a decision is made, stick with it – don’t waver.

based out of the book of James.

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f. By knowing the word of God, you know what Christ was like and His recommendations for our life!

i. We are to be joyful, loving, peaceful, patient, gentle, good hearted, faithful to Him, meek, even tempered.

ii. We are to live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit.

g. I must be honest with you, I have heard many sermons in my life. Most of which, I can tell you little about. Many people have heard the word of God, but few actually apply it. Until I got into the word, my life didn’t fully change. When I got hungry for God’s moving in my life, I got into the life-changing power of His word.

How do you avoid temptation? You don’t. It’ll be there every step of the way. It’s actually worse for an non-Christian. They don’t have an arsenal to say no with. They don’t realize that there is a protector that is ready to help them survive this crazy world.

Can I endure temptation? You can.

Give your life to Jesus Christ, totally, not a wavering commitment, but a solid, firm commitment of your life.

Trust Jesus to help you get through each and every trial of every day.

Trust God’s word to help give you the road map to successful living.

Trust an accountability partner to share your trials with. I guarantee you that you’re not by yourself. Not only will you be strengthened, but their faith will also grow stronger.

“I must tell Jesus all of my trials. He is a kind compassionate friend. In my distress He kindly will help me, make of my troubles quickly an end. I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, I can not bear my burdens alone, I must tell Jesus, I must tell Jesus, Jesus can help me, Jesus alone.”

Have you given your life to Christ – only He can save you – only He can help you

– Only Jesus