Whose report do you believe?
We shall believe the report of the Lord!
Whose report do you believe?
We shall believe the report of the Lord!
His report says, I am healed!
His report says, I am filled!
His report says, I am free!
His report says, VICTORY!
Do any of you remember this song from the mid 80’s or so? If you do, then you remember that it was a pretty lively song. People would shout, they would dance, they would march, they would believe? Something happened to change all of that. Slowly and with consistent accuracy, the enemy began to systematically alter our belief in the validity of the report. Why is that do you suppose? I mean, it is biblical and scriptural sound. So why? Why do we not believe the report any longer?
I am going to attempt to give you my opinion (that is all that it is) based on my own experiences to why that is? I want to go back on a mini journey through time to see what we find there that holds us here. I would love for you to take this journey with me and hopefully in the process we can reclaim the “zeal of The Lord’s house” in our lives.
One Step forward and a Million Steps Backwards
The first step backwards in any scenario is an automatic signal to our enemy that we are in retreat.
If you have ever watched a movie about war or a sporting event such as football you know that there is only one way/direction you can go. Forward. failure to do so in either event causes serious consequences for you. Your opponent sees this as a decisive move on your part and responds with a counter move of his own. There is nothing more dramatic than a clear wound to the back, as in war, or scoring points for your opponent in the other. One is fatal & one is humiliating.
So with that in mind consider the words of the Apostle Paul in Hebrews 12:1-2 to lay aside besetting sins, running with patience the race before us, always looking to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. These scriptures alone should give us hope for they tell us who is working out the details. We are requested to run while Jesus fills in the blanks. What greater motivator could we possibly have? Jesus the author and finisher, WOW what hope. The report belongs to him. We would do well to remember that. He wrote it and He will fulfill it.
Our greatest enemy often is within us. We call it faith, while God calls it pride!
When you move anywhere with God based on your own ability, you’ve been invaded with the virus called pride.
This perhaps is the greatest known enemy we have with very little cure rates. This is due to the fact that it is within us like cancer. It is a silent killer that overtakes the body in a stealth like quietness until that fateful day of exposure. Sadly, it is the greatest killer of our society because it is often diagnosed to late and the disease too widespread to overcome. Oddly, the cure is often worse than the cancer itself.
I see this manifest throughout the body of Christ today. It is clear in my life as well. I’m not pointing fingers here. We start off our journey just grateful to be included. The next thing you know we get a bit haughty feeling pretty good about ourselves. Before you know it we are so full of pride and arrogance we think we are doing God a favor by showing up at all. This is when it is at it’s worse stage. It’s not always incurable but it’s getting there. People at this stage of the game are so blinded by their own supposed brightness, rarely can you show them the Truth.
I am reminded in scripture that pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18. Yet even knowing this we tend to believe at this stage we had a hand in writing the report. That the report is exclusive to ourselves. Whose report will you believe? Yours or Gods’?
All is not lost, there is hope!
If we confess our sin He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I John 1:9
These perhaps are some of my favorite verses in the bible. It takes a load off of my shoulders. Easing the burden of my guilt when I have fallen short of the mark. John gave us hope that if we could see our sin and confess it as such, that God is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse. God responds in faithfulness and justness to our guilt and our destructive fall.
Can you find anything, anywhere as extraordinary as those words. With shaky hands and wobbly knees, He allows you to get up, dust off and He hands you the report again. Exhorting you to finish the race, forgetting those things which are behind you. Not once will He bring up anything contrary to His decree to forever clean your slate. Not once will those loving hands hinder your path, not once will He alter the course to do exactly as the report states He will do.
I will leave you with these words of scripture:
Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
SO????
Whose report do you Believe?
Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Isaiah 53:1
Stand up Oh man of God. Arise Oh daughter of the most high! Put off your pride as a you put off a garment. Lay aside your arrogance like you would your shoes. Walk in the pathway of His righteousness. It’s a narrow road to be sure, but it’s a road that leads to life to all who find it! Tell your enemy Oh children of our God, that God is on your side you will not fear! Tear up the playbook of lies you’ve carried around for so long.
The enemy is nothing more than a plagiarized copy-cat of our Lord Jesus. Our enemies words are lies straight from the father of them. Cast them down and cast them out! Pick up your sword once again, clothe yourself in the armor of Holy God. Receive your instruction from His Holy Word. Move with confidence among those who believe and with love toward those who do not. The report is true.
I am healed: Isaiah 53:5
I am Filled: Psalms 126:2
I am Free: Romans 6:18
I have Victory: I Corinthians 15:57
Isaiah 55:12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
I’m hid with Christ!
Shawn
Searching Gods Heart 