Sunday, April 30, 2017

There is No Battle

Galatians 2:20 NKJV
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

So many believers waste efforts daily battling with Satan. They memorize scripture to throw at him. And yet where is the battle?

If we are walking in the spirit there is no battle. The only battle is Satan trying to control the dead man.

We are alive in Christ. He already won the battle. As we stay in the flesh And allow a battle to go on we have walked away from who we are in Christ.

There is only Christ in me and I in him. As I read his word and communicate with Him my old mind is renewed and there is no battle with Satan.

So when Satan attacks we don't go on the defensive. We remember who we are in Christ and repeat those scriptures getting out of our old way of thinking and into who we are in Christ.

Thank you Jesus for winning the battle at the cross. Thank you Jesus for abiding in me.

Saturday, April 29, 2017

Work Effort

Our work effort in the world is a reflection of our relationship with our Heavenly Father. He wants us to serve our fellow man and Him enthusiastically. He wants our best in all we do. ~ DickEvans.org

Thursday, April 27, 2017

Resist

As believers, we have the power to resist temptation to sin. Error still tries to creep into our lives, but we can say no, get behind me satan and he has to leave us alone. With Holy Spirit we have the power to resist. ~ DickEvans.org

Pointing Fingers

It is so easy to point fingers at others before judging ourselves. Yet every finger pointed condemns another. It is far better to place an arm around another person then to point a finger. We need to encourage; not discourage. We need to light up the paths for others to travel on; not place obstacles in their way. ~ DickEvans.org

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Support

God made each of us with different skill sets. He made us to fit together with others. Together we support and fulfill each other towards the goal He has for us, the purpose He made us for. But without the head, Christ, we are incomplete. With Christ, there is nothing we cannot accomplish. ~ DickEvans.org

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Change Us

As believers we are each striving to be more Christ like, to change. But just because we allow ourselves to appear changed does not mean that we have. The Apostle Paul not only spoke the truth, he lived the truth. He is tells us to do the same. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us and change us. ~ DickEvans.org

Monday, April 24, 2017

Encourage

I believe God wants us to use the deposits He has made in us and for them to be reflected in the words that come out of our mouths. He wants us to be encouragers that nourish lives in the world today. ~ DickEvans.org

Sunday, April 23, 2017

Revival

There's many a thought about what it means to have a revival. Quite often a church will hold one once a year and invite outside ministers to preach for a series of days. I guess the whole idea is to restart the fires in each believer. Get them excited once again about their new life in Christ. And when the revival is over hopefully many of them continue on in their claimed relationship with Jesus. Perhaps even some newcomers who would attend the services might become saved or at least churched once again.

 We each have the Holy Spirit in us, if we are born again believers. And we are that, if we believe Jesus is the son of God who came to earth as a human, died on the cross, and was resurrected to life. As Jesus told his disciples, the only work there is is just to believe in he who the father sent. (John 6:29) So we believe in Jesus and he sends the Holy Spirit, his spirit to reside in us.

 So there's no way we can get another Holy Spirit. (2 Corinthians 5:5) He is already in us and yet many keep him hidden. Many operate out of their soul and their mind, never having been awakened to the fact that we have a whole spirit life to live.

So revival to me is reviving our spirit life. It is letting the dead stay dead. When we received Jesus we received our new life. Our old life is dead and yet we still want to walk in it. (Colossians 3:3)  And as we walk in our old life, our old ways of doing things, the ways of the world, we are not allowing our spirit to live. So I guess revival is really reviving the spirit who is in us and allowing him to lead us in all that we do.

This doesn't take a special preacher or special music or special prayer. It takes us practicing the presence of He who is in us. It is letting go of this old earthly life, these old memories, these old habits, these old traditions, and moving in the direction Holy Spirit leads.

 Thank you Father God for sending the Holy Spirit to live in me. Thank you for the spirit of Christ being alive in me and leading me in all that I do and all that I think. Thank you for helping me let go of the old, for renewing my mind by the word of God so that I can walk on the path you have for me to walk for the rest of my life. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Saturday, April 22, 2017

Billboards

Others may get a glimpse of Jesus in who we are; in how we react. They can see Him in our day to day lives. We are a billboard on display for the world to see. Are the words on our billboard letting the world know that we belong to Him? Are we really who we claim to be? ~ DickEvans.org

Friday, April 21, 2017

The Proof

Remember that old saying; the proof is in the pudding? Well that is what happens when someone witnesses a miracle. I remember the first time I saw someone with an obvious physical problem have hands laid on them and they were instantly healed. I saw it happen with my own eyes. The proof was in what was done in Jesus name. ~ DickEvans.org

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Pray Up

Leadership needs our prayers. And that includes leaders in our government, our vocations, our school, our families, and our church. We need to pray up; pray for those that we look up to. We need to take time to ask God to open the doors for others to bring His light into their lives and for the opportunity for them to light up others lives as well. ~ DickEvans.org

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Weapons

The Apostle Paul tells us that we use God's mighty weapons, not mere worldly weapons, to knock down the enemy's strongholds. With His weapons we break down every proud argument that keeps people from knowing God. With His weapons we conquer rebellious ideas, and we teach obedience to Christ. ~ DickEvans.org

Monday, April 17, 2017

Be Ready

As believers we spend most of our time with other believers; away from the darkness of life. We have forgotten or perhaps have never known what it is like to live in darkness. But He wants us have more than a few candles and flashlights lit. He wants us to look around and shed more of those remaining dark things from our lives. He wants us to share His light with others. He wants us ready for Him to return. ~ DickEvans.org

Sunday, April 16, 2017

The Proof

The world wants proof. God wants faith. With proof, there is no faith

Salvation is not about proof, it is about faith. We are saved because we believe in that which we cannot prove. We know that we know that we know; Christ lived and died and was resurrected on the third day. He came to show us the way, save us and bring us eternal salvation. We cannot let satan shake our faith; to question our “knower”.

The Old Testament foretold the coming of Christ and what He would go through here on earth. This is foresight. The New Testament is the story foretold. We are living in the age of hindsight. We can look back and link the Old to the New based on what we know today. This is the advantage of hindsight. As we read the New, the truth in the Old is revealed to us. Thank you, Jesus for the truth revealed to us by the Holy Spirit as we faithfully read our Holy Bible.

The communities of christians acknowledge daily in their walk with Jesus what He did and died for at the cross. Once a year the church publicly acknowledges His resurrection Easter Morning. Thank you, Jesus for providing proof to the world that you are who you say you are. Thank you for what you did for me in that one act. Thanks to you, I am free.

Happy Easter!

Saturday, April 15, 2017

His Army

God wants us to enlist in His army, but not as a weekend warrior. He wants us full time. For if we are not full time ready and able to march forth at His command, we cannot fully serve Him. He wants all us, all of the time. ~ DickEvans.org

Thursday, April 13, 2017

To Serve

Our new birth occurred so we could have a new purpose; to serve Him. To do that with all our heart and all our will, we must be tight with Him; we must pray without ceasing. We must be humble before Him. If we give it all to Him, then we can give all we have to His purposes; to what He has destined for us to do to further His Kingdom while we are on this earth. ~ DickEvans.org

Can't Convince

When one is blinded by untruth, our words of wisdom will not change their mind. There is no logic to the truth and when we try to convince someone with just the right words as we would do in a debate, it just does not work. Better to dust off our sandals and move on to tell another and then another, searching for those that have been made ready by God. ~ DickEvans.org

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Choose His Character

Whenever we allow our old nature to step out in front, we are allowing doors to open that should stay shut. But we cannot help it. Our character flaws are usually not fixed until they are revealed. But once revelation comes, we can choose to change. We can choose to take on His character in that area and move on. The Spirit who lives in us is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. ~ DickEvans.org

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Take Charge

Our immediate family is the first place of ministry in our lives. Yet how often do we think of our church as that? We spend hours making sure what happens at church is done just right; in proper order with just the right people in charge of each event. God knows the truth and He expects us to take charge of our daily church, which is our own household, first. ~ DickEvans.org

Monday, April 10, 2017

Gifts

God's gifts to us come from a never ending supply. He has all that we will ever need; all that we can hope for. Our expectation mixed with faith is all that we need to reach out and grab a hold of each and every one. God’s grace, mercy, peace, and love are never ending. So be happy with all you have already received and start each day with your eyes wide open in expectation. ~ DickEvans.org

Sunday, April 09, 2017

In the Flesh

Anything we do to satisfy our fleshly desires is walking in sin. It is taking our eyes off of Jesus.

James 1:22-24 NKJV
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

When we look in our Bible, the word of God, it is like looking in a mirror. We should be reflecting the word of God in all we do. It is who we are and we should be just like it.

John 4:24 NKJV
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

The only way to do that is to walk as Jesus walks. We are born again, risen from the grave just as Christ rose from the grave. And anytime we take our thoughts off of who we are in the spirit, we are walking in the flesh. We are walking as a dead person. And yet how often are we guilty of walking as a dead person?

2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Every time we do something to satisfy an earthly desire, we are doing it out of the dead person; the person we used to be before we were born again. That person has passed away. We are alive in Christ and we need to walk that way. We need to walk in spirit and truth. That's who we are. We are no longer that person we used to be. The enemy would like us to fall back into our old ways, to walk as we used to. But when we were born again we no longer had the desire to do those things. We still have the memories and the enemy will use those to tempt us into jumping right back into a fleshly mode. And then we are not who we became when we were born again.

We are in Christ. Let's walk in that truth.

Saturday, April 08, 2017

Differences

We say that there are no class distinctions in our society, but how often do we reject those that are not living like we do because they make us uncomfortable? Do our remarks make them seek alternate places of worship? God wants us to welcome every one of His children. What we do for the least of them, we do for Him. ~ DickEvans.org

Friday, April 07, 2017

Opportunity

God makes a way each day for us to testify to His work; to what He is doing in our lives. These are the true opportunities in life. ~ DickEvans.org

Thursday, April 06, 2017

Evil Pleasures

When we found the truth and accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we turned away from those evil pleasures and got back on the path to life. But we must be ever mindful that the evil one is at every street corner trying to entice us back to him; back to what gave us earthly pleasure. But that is the path to destruction. We must stay focused on Him not letting ourselves get caught up with those people and things of the past. ~ DickEvans.org

Wednesday, April 05, 2017

He Waits

God just waits patiently for us to come to Him. His door is always open and no appointment is necessary. He waits for us to listen and hear His voice; to have us allow the Holy Spirit to direct us. As we take a risk and step out in faith to do what He tells us we see the miraculous and grow in Him. ~ DickEvans.org

Tuesday, April 04, 2017

Victory

When things go wrong we point fingers looking for someone to blame. I believe many of the circumstances we see and feel are the result of battles we cannot see. There are battles being fought in the heavenly realms. But the victory is already won; it was won at the Cross. Our job is to proclaim the Gospel and enforce that victory. ~ DickEvans.org

Monday, April 03, 2017

Direction

Effective conversation leans heavily on direction of the Holy Spirit. Often we are so involved with what we can say to defend a position on something someone else is saying that we miss what they are saying it for; we miss their deep issues and the chance for Holy Spirit to minister to them. ~ DickEvans.org

Sunday, April 02, 2017

What We Think

We talk about how important our words are. We read about that in James and other places. What we speak is prophetic. Curses and praises out of our lips set things in motion.

And yet how often are we not verbalizing our thoughts? How we think is important to our well-being. Are we thinking with the mind of Christ? Or are we thinking out of our old mindset?

Whether we are sleeping or awake what do our thoughts tell us? Are they encouraging or discouraging? Are we dwelling on who we are in Christ or on what we can accomplish on our own?

Our day-to-day thoughts should line up with the word of God. And yet it is so easy to slip back into the way we used to think. And temptation comes our way that moves our mind away from Jesus, Away from the mind of Christ and the way He thinks.

Father God help me to keep my inner words positive and encouraging.


Saturday, April 01, 2017

Depend on Him

We can be easily swayed and sometimes get off track by listening to the wrong people, reading the wrong books, and attending the wrong meetings. It is God's Truth we must follow and that is found in His Word. As we depend on Holy Spirit to lead us and then let Him do it, we will stay on the narrow path that leads to the narrow gate. ~ DickEvans.org