God's victory: The key to victory is to practice “threshold thinking.”

“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."                                                         1 Corinthians 10:13

“Anabel Gillham tells a story of the time when she was cooking dinner and heard what she thought were her two young sons at the front door. She called out, ‘Come on in, dinner’s almost ready.’ However, it wasn’t her two sons. It was a vacuum cleaner salesman. Once he entered the house it took them almost two hours to get him out.

  We have all unwittingly invited intruders into our minds. Once we allow a tempting or deceiving thought to enter, it is very difficult to get it out…

  The spiritual battle is in the mind, and if we don’t renew and discipline our minds by choosing the truth, we will likely lose the battle. The stakes are huge. To lose could mean personal destruction, alienation and bondage. It is a battle, not a game, and Satan is determined to inflict as much damage as he can.

  The good news? God has promised to provide a way of escape for every temptation. We are promised that no temptation will come our way that is not common to everyone else, and God will enable us to withstand every one. The key to victory is to practice threshold thinking.

  Every temptation comes by way of an initial thought to your mind. It matters not whether the thought is from your own carnal nature, the world or the devil. If you ruminate on that thought and consider it an option, you will eventually act on it, and that’s sin. Instead, Paul instructs us to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ (see 2 Cor. 10:5b). The first step for escaping temptation is to apprehend every thought as soon as it steps through the doorway of your mind.

  If it isn’t true, don’t think it.

  The way of escape is to choose the truth when any tempting, accusing or deceiving thought first enters your mind…Having the Word of God tucked in your heart and on the top of your mind will help you choose the way of escape.

  We have to practice the presence of God and assume 24-hour responsibility for our thoughts. Hannah Whitall Smith said that our thoughts are what we feed on and what determines our spiritual vitality. Hannah wrote:

   ‘Very few persons realize the effect of thought upon the condition of the soul, that is in fact its food, the substance from which it evolves its strength and health and beauty, or upon which it may become weak and unhealthy and deformed. The things we think about are the things we feed upon. If we think low and corrupt thoughts, we bring diseases upon our soul, just as we bring diseases upon our body by eating corrupt and improper food. If we will take the words of God, that is, His revealed truth, into our lips and eat it; that is, if we will dwell upon His words…we will find that our soul-life is fed and nourished by them, and is made strong and vigorous in consequence.’

  Have you understood how important your thought life is for living a responsible and victorious life? What negative patterns of thinking get you into trouble or weigh you down? Can you identify these thoughts and stop them at the threshold of your mind?”

One Day at a Time Mike & Julia Quarles page 332-334 also The Bondage Breaker, Neil Anderson, p 138 and The Common-Sense Teaching of the Bible, Hannah Whitall Smith pp 25-28

Belief in God

Greater is the One who is in you than the one who is in the world. 1 John 4:4

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set you minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. Colossians 3:1-3

  “When I (Neil) was a boy on the farm, my dad, my brother and I would visit our neighbor’s farm to share produce and labor. The neighbor had a yappy little dog that scared the socks off me. When it came barking around the corner, my dad and brother stood their ground, but I ran. Guess who the dog chased! I would escape to the top of our pickup truck while the little dog yapped at me from the ground.

  Everyone except me could see that the little dog had no power over me except what I gave it. Furthermore, it had no inherent power to throw me up on the pickup; it was my belief that put me up there. That dog controlled me by using my mind, my emotions, my will and my muscles, all of which were motivated by fear. One day I finally gathered up my courage, jumped off the pickup and kicked a small rock at the mutt. Lo and behold, the mutt ran!

  Satan is like that yappy little dog, deceiving people into fearing him more than God. His power is in the lie. He is the father of lies (see John 8:44) who deceives the whole world (see Rev. 12:9), and consequently the whole world is under the influence of the evil one (see 1 John 5:19). He can do nothing about your position in Christ, but if he can deceive you into believing his lies about you and God, you will spend a lot of time on top of the proverbial pickup truck!

  You don’t have to out shout or out-muscle Satan to be free of his influence. You just have to out-truth him. Believe, declare and act upon the truth of God’s Word, and you will thwart Satan’s strategy. Truth is the liberating agent. The power of Satan is in the lie, and the power of the believer is in knowing truth.

  Many Christians are not living a victorious life because they focus on negative thoughts and circumstances (yappy little dogs) instead of fixing their eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith (see Heb. 12:2). When people focus on the dogs, their emotions follow suit and they feel powerless and defeated. If they feel like that long enough, they begin to believe that’s the way it is, so they continue to live that way.

  Scripture has a different order. We have to know the truth; then believe the truth; then live accordingly, by faith, and our feelings will follow. When our Christian experience doesn’t match the truth, we wrongly ask, “What experience must I have in order for that to be true?” Experience will never get you there. You walk by faith according to what God says is true, and your experience will work out.

  The same order applies to our relationship with God and our works of service. I don’t labor in the vineyard, hoping that someday God will accept me. I am already accepted by God; that is why I labor in the vineyard. I don’t do the things I do, hoping that God will someday love me. God loves me; that is why I do the things I do. Remember, it is not what you do that determines who you are. Who you are determines what you do.

  Paul admonishes us in Colossians 3:5-14 to put to death whatever belongs to our earthly nature; to rid ourselves of anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language; to refrain from lying and to practice compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; and, most difficult of all, to bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances we may have. How are we going to do that?

  The first three verses of Colossians 3 tell us that we should set our minds on the things above and our new life within. If we set our minds on the truth that our old self has died, that a new self has been raised up with Christ and that Christ is now our life, then we can walk by faith. The remnants of our old self will fall away and we will become more and more like Christ.”

One Day at a Time Mike & Julia Quarles pp 344-347 also The Bondage Breaker, Neil Anderson pp 23,24.

Grace - God's grace

Your failure cannot overcome the grace of God.

The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more. Romans 5:20.

  David Seamands tells a story that illustrates the point Paul made in the passage for today. It’s about a turning point in the spiritual life of a teenager in his church. The young man had already made a personal commitment to Christ. He tried hard, but like most adolescents, he was plagued by ups and downs in his Christian life. It wasn’t uncommon to find him coming forward when an invitation was given after a church service. After one evening service, Rev. Seamands prayed with the young man once again. The young man’s face was sober as he affirmed his determination “to make it this time.” Then he asked, “But what if I fail? What happens if I fall?”

  Seamands replied, “Steve, I’ve come to know you pretty well, probably better than anyone in the church. So I think I can guarantee one thing-you will fail, you will fall. So what?”

  The young man looked up at the minister a bit shocked. He had expected assurance that he would never fail again. He turned Seamand’s response over in his mind. Then a light dawned on the young man’s face. He began to smile and nod his head. “Hmmm,” he said, finally. “I think I see what you mean. I think I’m catching on. Of course I’m going to fail; sure I’ll fall. But that really doesn’t make any difference, does it?” And then the smile lit up his whole face.

  Rev. Seamands said that although the young man subsequently showed significant growth, that moment proved to be his initial discovery of the grace of God. Discovering the truth that failure isn’t the end changed his life. Seamands later wrote that it was a joy to watch the young man grow in grace. “He became a dispenser of grace as a pastor for eleven years, and now teaches about grace as a professor of systematic theology in a seminary. Are you wondering about my strange reply that I was sure he would fail because I knew him so well? That’s because I happen to be his dad!”

  Is there a limit to God’s grace? Is there a point at which God says, “All right, that’s enough, no more”? God will never give up on us, although He will discipline us and allow us to suffer the natural consequences of our own sin and irresponsibility. He may even call some of us home if the course of life we are pursuing is self-destructive and damaging to ourselves and others. But He does call us home to be with Him (1 Cor. 11:30)

  Is God surprised when you sin? Does He look down from heaven and say, “I can’t believe he did it again?” No. How could He be surprised if He has nailed all our sins on the Cross? But it grieves God to see us sin again and again, because He knows what that will lead to in our lives. God will never say, “Look, we need to talk. Some of the sins you committed were so bad we didn’t put them on the Cross.” His grace is sufficient for all we have done and will do.

  Paul writes, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). The Greek work for condemnation carries with it a sense of judgment. There is no more judgment for the Christian. Why? Because we have already been judged when Christ paid the penalty for all our sins. He took all our punishment on Himself. (see Rom. 8:31-34)

  The point that God is hammering home is that if He has done everything necessary to acquit us, justify us and make us right with Him, who is qualified to bring further charges? Who is going to condemn?

  “No one!” God thunders to us.

  So who is bringing the charges? Who is accusing and condemning? “Satan, who leads the whole world astray…who accuses [the brethren] before our God day and night”(Rev. 12:9,10).

  The old hymn says it well: “Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within; grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that is greater than all our sin.” The grace of God is not a license to sin, it actually is a gracious means not to sin. (see Rom. 6:1,2) By the grace of God we don’t have to sin. We can live righteous lives in Christ.

  Have you believed the lie that your failure and sin can overcome the grace of God? Has that believe caused you to doubt God’s love, so you live in condemnation and defeat? Renounce that lie and affirm the truth with the following affirmation: I renounce the lie that my failure and sin can overcome the grace of God. I announce the truth that Christ died for all my sins, past, present and future, and that all my sins have been placed on the Cross, and I am forgiven. I now choose to believe there is no more condemnation because I am in Christ.

ONE DAY AT A TIME by Mike/Julia Quarles pgs 222-224 with quotes from Healing Grace by David Seamands and “Grace Greater Than Our Sin” by Julia H. Johnston.

Gospel - what is it?

   “The gospel is not a call to do something, but an announcement of what has been done.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16

   Victorious Christian living comes by accepting what Christ has already done for us, understanding who our heavenly Father is and who we are ‘in Christ’ and then choosing to live by faith in the power of the Holy Spirit, according to what God says is true. ...no amount of human effort can accomplish what Christ has already accomplished for us.

   The Christian life cannot be lived by our own strength and resources. God in His goodness and His desire for us to learn the truth will bring us to the end of our resources in order that we may discover His.

   There is only one Christian life, and that is the life of Christ.

   The disciples asked Jesus, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’ Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent’ (John 6:28, 29)

   Are you depending on what you do to live the Christian life in freedom or on what Christ has done?”

One Day at a Time Mike and Julia Quarles page 14-16

I have a problem, God has the answer

     Most of us with problems wish we could change our circumstances, family, work situation or spouse. It must be someone else, Lord; surely you do not mean me!

   As the song said, “Not my brother, not my sister, but it’s me, Oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.”

   Someone else or something else may not change, but we have a Savior who does not need to change and has already acted decisively and dramatically by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to live, die and rise from the dead, just for you. The following benefits are just a few of the many you received from your heavenly Father:

1)      You have been forgiven and made righteous (Rom. 5:1).

2)      You died with Christ to the power of sin in your life (Rom. 6:1-7).

3)      You are free from condemnation (Rom. 8:1).

4)      You have become united with Christ by God’s doing (1 Cor. 1:30).

5)      You have received the Spirit of God into your life that you might know the things freely given to you by God (1 Cor. 2:12).

6)      You have been given the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16).

7)      You have been bought with a price. You are not your own; you now belong to God (1 Cor. 6:19,20).

8)      You have been established, anointed and sealed by God in Christ and have been given the spirit as a pledge, guaranteeing your inheritance to come (2 Cor. 1:21, 22; Eph. 1:13,14).

9)      You have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer you who live, but Christ lives in you (Gal. 2:20).

10)  You have been made complete in Christ (Col. 2:10).

11)  You have been blessed with every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3).

12)  You have been redeemed and forgiven, and you are a recipient of His lavish grace (Eph. 1:7,8).

13)  You have been made alive together with Christ (Eph. 2:5).

14)  You have been raised up and seated with Christ in the heavenly places (Eph. 2:6).

15)  Your life in now hidden with Him in God, and Christ is now your life (Col. 3:1-4).

   We do not have to plead for God to do something about our problem. God has done something. We can rest in the finished work of Christ. It is our choice to believe what He has done for us and start walking by faith according to what He says is true.

How is your walk today?

Excerpts from One Day at a Time Mike/Julia Quarles page168-9

Who has the problem?

Who is the answer?

“Not my brother, not my sister, but it’s me, Oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.”

God's answers to our struggles

How many of the following characteristics describe your life: inferiority, insecurity, inadequacy, guilt, worry and doubt?

Read what Scripture says about your feelings.

 Do you feel insecure? Your God will never leave you nor forsake you (see Heb. 13:5).

Inadequate? You can do all things through Christ (see Phil. 4:13).

 Guilt? There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (see Romans 8:1).

  

Worried? God has offered His peace for your anxiety (see John 14:27; Phil. 4:7;

1 Peter 5:7).

Do you doubt? God provides wisdom for those who ask (see James 1:5).

Which of the six negative characteristics listed have you struggled with the most, and why?

Further reading and study One Day at a Time by Mike and Julia Quarles page167