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We
have
a
super-
natural
anointing
for
peace,
rest,
quietness,
and
confidence.
~
Before
we
can
come
into
our
inheritance
in
Christ
we
must
make
ourselves
come
into
peace!
~
Make
a
determinate
decision
to
receive
and
attain
unto
the
peace
that
God
has
provided
for
you
24
hours
of
every
day!
~
There
is
no
doubt
about
it.
We
have
to
enter
into
His
rest!
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Peace is going to pass all understanding in the reality of our experience
in 2005 and forevermore. Let John 14:27 penetrate into your spirit, and
from there into your soul and body. "Peace I leave with you; My [own]
peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to
you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop
allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit
yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled]" (The
Amplified Bible).
God's blessing of peace to us is so important, He
made it a part of His covenant relationship in the Old Covenant, and
brought the fullness of it into the New Covenant through His Son, Messiah,
Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace! His covenant of peace is given in
Numbers 25:12, Isaiah 54:10, and Ezekiel 34:25, which foretells of Christ,
Who is the prophetic fulfillment of the gift of God's peace to us (spoken
forth in Isaiah 9:6, and ratified in Luke 1:79; 2:14)! Therefore, we have
a supernatural anointing for peace, rest, quietness, and confidence.
When you were born-again, you were born-again into this
wonderful covenant of peace. Luke 1:67 describes for us that not only are
we to be delivered from our enemies, but we are to serve God without fear
- without intimidation, insecurity, or timidity. We are to serve our God
Almighty with love, power, and a sound mind. Overcoming fear means we must
be established in God's peace, firmly, purposefully, and continually.
The Gospel is called the "Gospel of Peace," and peace
is a predominant characteristic of God's message and of His messengers
(which we are)! Where are we going to get this peace? We have it, because
we have Him. He is in us, and we are in Him, but we have to walk in it on
purpose, we have to loose Him and let Him go!
We have to understand ways to have that peace that
passes understanding to manifest - not just know it is part of our legal
standing - but living life in God's peace. Believers are learning to live
life by taking the Word of God and making a happy life out of it ~ a good
life!
Jeremiah 29:11 begins like this, "For I know the
thoughts and the plans that I have for you, says the Lord. Thoughts and
plans for welfare and peace" (The Amplified Bible). "Thoughts and
plans for welfare and peace." God continues to bless me with
understanding as I have pursued the study of peace since the New Year's
Conference preceding 2004 in which I ministered over the course of five
services on peace.
When the Israelites were fully organized as an army of
Almighty God to cross the Jordan River (to take possession of the Promised
Land and step into their awesome inheritance) before they could take one
step, the blessing of peace had to be ministered to them. This blessing is
found in Numbers 6:22-27, and is called, "The Priestly Blessing" which
finishes with, "...and give you peace." The peace of God was the
final capstone that completed their preparation and sealed them to launch
forth to be victorious.
It is no different today. As we understand more of the
peace of God, it becomes clearer and clearer that every other anointing
and gifting in Christ is released properly and fully only when we have
come into His PEACE! God says, "It is time to enter into rest and into
peace."
Saints, it is time to quit comparing, competing,
feeling insecure, feeling left out, or that you are doing nothing and a
nobody ~ it is time to come into His rest! When you have the peace of God,
you know, "I am somebody in Christ, and whatever I accomplish it is what
God wants me to accomplish. I can do all things through Christ Who
strengthens me!"
Make a determinate decision ~ unequivocally, with no
going back, to receive and to attain unto the peace God has provided for
you to ABIDE IN 24 hours of every day in 2005.
We refuse "LESS" than what our King has provided for us that we might
exemplify His glory to a watching world and draw others to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is worthy of no "LESS!" Consider Job 22:21-30:
Acquaint now yourself with Him [agree with God and
show yourself to be conformed to His will] and be at peace; by that [you
shall prosper and great] good shall come to you. Receive, I pray you, the
law and instruction from His mouth and lay up His words in your heart.
If you return to the Almighty [and submit and
humble yourself before Him], you will be built up; if you put away
unrighteousness far from your tents, If you lay gold in the dust, and the
gold of Ophir among the stones of the brook [considering them of little
worth], And make the Almighty your gold and [the Lord] your precious
silver treasure, Then you will have delight in the Almighty, and you
will lift up your face to God.
You will make your prayer to Him, and He will
hear you, and you will pay your vows. 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.
When they make [you] low, you will say, [There is] a
lifting up; and the humble person He lifts up and saves. He will even
deliver the one [for whom you intercede] who is not innocent; yes, he will
be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.
The Amplified Bible
In this verse, "Acquaint now yourself with Him, and be at peace," peace
here is not the Hebrew word "shalom," with which we are so familiar
(meaning peace, prosperity, nothing missing nothing broken - and
encompasses so many other things). This Hebrew word is "shalam."
The principle meaning of "shalam" is completion and fulfillment. It can
mean simply restitution or repayment. So God is saying, "Acquaint yourself
with Me and come into this peace, and then you will have restitution and
repayment according to Joel 2:25. Everything that the locust, the
caterpillar, the cankerworm, and the palmerworm has eaten and stolen from
you I will repay. I will restore all into the remaining days of your life,
no matter how old you are, for I will put it altogether and lump it into
the remainder of your years." The focus is on being whole with no
fragmentation in your spirit, soul, or body. It means "to be sound," "to
be solid," "to be established," and "to be safe."
STEP ONE: If we are going to walk in the peace that we
have legally, we are going to have to be acquainted with God ~ for
ourselves. We are going to have to know Him and not know about Him. Be
intimate with Him! Slow down, get into rest, and shut the door - lock it -
and spend time with God. Any place can be holy if your attitude and your
motive is holy.
"Shalam" means "to be peaceful, and to live in harmony with God." Can two
walk together except they be agreed? You will always be walking with God,
because you will be in harmony with Him. Peace, friendship with God, and
friendship with those with whom you are supposed to be friends. The day is
over when those that deplete and control you are going to be your friends.
In Psalm 23:1, because the Lord is my Shepherd, "...I
shall not want." I will not lack any good thing! The word for
shepherd is the Hebrew word "raah," which is all-inclusive as shepherd,
captain, ruler, leader, friend, and feeder. When I did the message on
false friends in the '80's, the Lord led me to that verse, and immediately
when I studied the aspect of the shepherd as our "feeder" I also saw the
operation of the opposite, the false, and the counterfeit in
relationships.
I saw a tomato plant growing in the garden. Sometimes
out of the plant there comes a shoot that is called a "sucker" and that
sucker sucks all of the vitality and all of the life out of the tomato
plant. Neither the sucker nor the tomato plant produces fruit. A tomato
plant with a sucker will both just grow, and grow, and grow - but no
fruit! The sucker is the opposite of someone who is feeding you. They are
hooked up with you, yet they are sucking all of your life and your
strength (even the very ability for you to bear fruit) out of you! They
often puff you up through flattery, and all you do is just get bigger, and
bigger, and you produce no fruit!
You cannot walk in harmony with everyone. Each one
chooses the path they will take. You can minister to people and love
everybody, but those who do not receive the Word by implementing the Word
for themselves and in turn bearing fruit, cannot continue to be
accommodated. They have chosen to make either themselves or others an
idol, evidenced by the fact they are putting more confidence in what they
do or don't do, and who they are or are not, rather than in what God
Almighty can do with and through them. Forget about yourself, forget about
them, take up your cross, and follow JESUS!!
The Lord is the God and the Father of all peace. In
Romans 15:33, God is named, "..The God of peace...." In Romans 16:20 Paul
asserts, "And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet
shortly!" It is going to come by PEACE ~ the devil being bruised
under your feet is going to come by PEACE!
The umpire of your life is peace. Colossians 3:15 tells
us that peace will be your judge and make your decisions. Peace will make
you inaccessible and unmanageable to the devil!
"Shalam" also means "to be uninjured," where people are unable to offend
you, and because you cannot be offended you cannot be slowed down,
hindered, or stopped. It means to "keep safe." He will keep you safe when
you acquaint yourself with Him, He will hide you in the secret place of
His pavilion, and He will hide you under the shadow of His wings. When you
acquaint yourself with Him, He will usher you into a place of
soul-security, for "shalam" also involves "to make secure," all insecurity
and rejection leave you. You can judge how much you know Him, not by how
much you say you know Him, but by how secure and at peace you are in every
situation, circumstance, and choice.
Before we can walk into our inheritance in Christ
Jesus, we have to make our spirits, our souls, and our bodies come into
peace! Yes, I said, "make!" We have to enter into His ordained rest.
Isaiah 30:15 tells us, "...In returning [to Me] and resting [in Me] you
shall be saved; in quietness and in [trusting] confidence shall be your
strength" (The Amplified Bible). Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still, and
know that I am God," and this verse in the Moffatt translation says, "Stop
and cease from your striving and struggling...."
Have you ever accomplished anything from striving and
struggling? Have you ever accomplished anything by trying to make other
people do anything? No. I know this because neither have I!
The Word tells us that our God does all things well. He
speaks what is true and does what is right every time! When God does
something, He does it perfectly. When God does something, it is an eternal
work. As we continue to trust in the Lord God Himself, the Author and
Finisher of His work in and through us, He will move upon someone else to
do that which we cannot do. He will move on someone else to help get the
job done. There is no doubt about it ~ we have to enter into His rest.
Hebrews 4:9-11 says it like this:
So then, there is still awaiting a full and
complete Sabbath-rest reserved for the [true] people of God; For he who
has once entered [God's] rest also has ceased from [the weariness and
pain] of human labors, just as God rested from those labors peculiarly His
own. Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently
to enter that rest [of God, to know and experience it for ourselves], that
no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience
[into which those in the wilderness fell].
The Amplified Bible
Jesus tells us to "keep on" daily and not to stop when "a" need is met. We
are totally dependant on God and our "keeping on" reveals our faith,
trust, confidence, and dependence upon Him.
Keep on asking for something to be given and it shall be
given you. Keep on seeking, and you shall find. Keep on reverently
knocking, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking
for something to be given, keeps on receiving. And he who keeps on
seeking, keeps on finding. And to him who keeps on reverently knocking, it
shall be opened.
Matthew 7:7-8 The Wuest Translation
And this is the assurance
which we are having toward Him, that if we keep on asking anything for
ourselves, [which is] according to His will, He hears us. And if we know
with an absolute knowledge that He hears us, whatever we are asking for
ourselves, we know with an absolute knowledge that we have the things
which we have asked from Him.
1 John 5:14-15 The Wuest Translation
Keep On!
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