Journey to see God: speak what you mean; mean what you say

The word of God is powerful. “But only speak a word and my servant will be healed.”

The Roman centurion spoke to Jesus in such great faith that Jesus marveled, “I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” (Matthew 8:5-13) What did the centurion do that made him one cut above the others who sought help (healing and deliverance) from Jesus? The centurion’s understanding and acknowledgment of the power in Jesus’ words.

How did he know the word of Jesus had power? He had paid attention to what Jesus had spoken and done. Many others noticed and witnessed the same. The difference was that the centurion chose to believe and not doubt the power of Jesus’ word.
Even Thomas, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus told the others that “I will not believe.” He was a typical natural (not spiritual) man. He could not believe unless he saw, and touched. He ‘willed’ not to believe that Jesus would be raised from death. Jesus had spoken this prophecy and told them beforehand that He would resurrect after death. Thomas chose to put his own senses above the word of Jesus.
But Jesus was right. He was raised from death just as He had spoken. His spoken word was life and spirit. When His words are spoken, the spiritual realm changes. The physical will follow.
For those spiritual navigators who want to differ from others in sailing through this span of vast and uncharted waters, it pays to pay attention, understand and believe the word of God. The word is our only sure compass.

So here are more gems today from the riches of the heavenly treasury._____________

‘SIMPLE’ – this is a ‘neutral’ word with two practically opposite meanings. The word can mean ‘stupid’ which is unacceptable. The word can also mean ‘innocent’. Being simple concerning evil is acceptable. On the other hand, you need ‘wisdom’ in what is good. (Romans 16:19) The deciding factor is the object of one’s action: evil or good.
How does one transform from being simple to wise in what is good? The words of God transform.
Psalm 19:7 “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.”
Psalm 119: 130 “The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.”
_____________________
‘SPEAK’ – this is the most powerful action word. God speaks. Jesus speaks. The Holy Spirit speaks. The prophets speak. The apostles speak. When God’s words are being spoken they come into physical existence. God spoke light and there was light. God spoke and framed the world by His word, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. Words cannot be seen. But they are real. ‘Speak’ is the action word that brings forth physical reality of spiritual truth. Speak faith. Faith in the unseen. But speak anyway.
Here are some powerful Biblical applications:
Jesus: John 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”
Believers: Romans 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” 10 “for with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Apostle Paul: Acts 9:20 “Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.”
Perfect man: James 3:2 “For we all stumble in many things, if anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.”
Positive words spoken by faith by Apostle Paul:
Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” 18 “Indeed I have all and abound.” 19 “And my God shall supply all you need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians 1:3 “God…has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” 5:30 “For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.”
Galatians 3:26-27 “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus…baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” 2:20 “…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.”
1 Corinthians 2:16 “But we have the mind of Christ.”
2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” 5:17 “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
Romans 5:5 “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” 8:1 “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” 26 “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses…makes intercession for us…” 34 “It is Christ…who also makes intercession for us.” 37 “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” 31 “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Jonah’s journey: wavering from spirit to soul to spirit again

Jonah was an evangelist

who refused to follow the Holy Spirit. He knew the divine nature of God. He heard God clearly. He conversed with God. He knew how to turn to God even in his ‘near death’ experience. He knew God would save him so he had no fear of death. His prayer could go up to God, into His holy temple. However his knowledge of God and firm belief in the power of proclaiming God’s word did not deter him from walking by the flesh, following his own soul dictate, not wanting God to save his nation’s number one enemy!

But Jonah also realized he was not God. He could not run away from God’s purpose for him. So God saved him upon his repentance and obedience to the Holy Spirit. 

What have we learned today?

1. A spiritual man must live by the Spirit and not by flesh.

2. Spiritual gifts do not guarantee that one becomes useful to the Lord.

3. Living by the Spirit requires: knowledge of God plus obedience.

4. The words of God spoken through the prophets were the power of God. Today, all Scriptures are the words of God. Apostle Paul thus declared in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe; to the Jews first, and also to the Greek.”

————————————————————

Here are the verses from Jonah 1-4 with some notes:

Jonah 1-4 (NKJV)

God started the initiative of sending out Jonah to preach the gospel to the perishing. He called Jonah and told him what and where and to whom he should go. He also told him how to preach. There was urgency, as the report of wickedness of the city had reached God and the appointed time for judgment (or salvation) had arrived.

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ² “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

[but Jonah refused to carry out the mission]

³ But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

God sent a storm

⁴ But the Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.
⁵ Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.
⁶ So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”
⁷ And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. ⁸ Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”
[Jonah knew God had not closed this case; he knew what needed to be done. He remained composed and instructed them to throw him into the sea and the storm would calm down.]
⁹ So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
¹⁰ Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. ¹¹ Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous.
¹² And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.”
¹³ Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. ¹⁴ Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, “We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You.” ¹⁵ So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. ¹⁶ Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord and took vows.

Jonah’s Deliverance from death, Prayer & Vow

¹⁷ Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

2 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly. ² And he said:

“I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction,
And He answered me.

“Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
And You heard my voice.
³ For You cast me into the deep,
Into the heart of the seas,
And the floods surrounded me;
All Your billows and Your waves passed over me.
⁴ Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight;
Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’
⁵ The waters surrounded me, even to my soul;
The deep closed around me;
Weeds were wrapped around my head.
⁶ I went down to the moorings of the mountains;
The earth with its bars closed behind me forever;
Yet You have brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord, my God.

⁷ “When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord;
And my prayer went up to You,
Into Your holy temple.

⁸ “Those who regard worthless idols
Forsake their own Mercy.
⁹ But I will sacrifice to You
With the voice of thanksgiving;
I will pay what I have vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord.”

¹⁰ So the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

God sent Jonah a second time to the sin city to preach the salvation message. This time God reminded him of specific instruction:
“preach to it the message that I tell you.”

3 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ² “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.” ³ So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. ⁴ And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

The People of Nineveh Believed God. The word of God was the power of God. There was repentance actions and 100% conversion to the Lord from idols. God saw and forgave them of their sins.

⁵ So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. ⁶ Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. ⁷ And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying,

Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. ⁸ But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. ⁹ Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?

¹⁰ Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.

Jonah’s conversation with God. He could not help but continuing to proclaim God’s nature: gracious, merciful, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and is faithful to forgive those who repent.

4 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. ² So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. ³ Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!”

⁴ Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
⁵ So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. ⁶ And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant. ⁷ But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. ⁸ And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
⁹ Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
And he said, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death!”
¹⁰ But the Lord said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. ¹¹ And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?”

Overall message: God is good to us. He does not want anyone to perish. he wants all to repent and turn back to Him. This explains the following verse from Romans 8:32, “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”

Sunday message: living by the Spirit; tongues; martyrs; Te Deum

Whilst preparing the following post, the watchman was led to the YouTube site and listened to the performance of “Te Deum”. He listened, continued to type and prayed in the spirit. Then he realized that he spoke some distinct words in unknown languages. So he wrote them down. After posting the blog, he had a bit of time and checked through the meanings (using online translator) of the distinct words. He was pleasantly surprised to find that the Spirit of the Lord told his spirit to “download-choir-others-see“. (In the short sentence four languages were used: Norwegian, Turkish, Lithuanian and Albanian. ). He did not know then but his spirit knew and obeyed! The first sound he uttered was ‘Sabbath’ which was English but he could not understand this utterance then.
Further revelation note inserted here on 6-4-2013: It dawned on him today that the day this tongue (above sentence ) was uttered was a Sunday while he was preparing this blog. The full sentence of the sound (tongue) he uttered while listening to the presentation of ‘Te Deum‘ on YouTube by Franz Joseph Haydn, Te Deum n.2 in C, and drafting the blog was: “Sabbath- last ned -koro- kito- sheh” (which means: “Sunday download-choir-others-see“, based on separate meaning of each individual words in four languages; when combined they formed one complete sentence which his spirit understood and obeyed!).
This confirmed an earlier question the watchman asked the Lord (in the preceding few days) about whether all sounds spoken in tongues have meanings. After this amazing revelation he was led to read 1Corinthians 14:10 which further confirmed this revelation: 
“There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification.” (KJV)
“There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning,” (ESV)
____________________
Excerpts from download on martyrdom:

________________Excerpts from download:
On February 5, 1597, twenty-six Christians – four Spaniards, one Mexican, one Indian, all Franciscan missionaries, three Japanese Jesuits and seventeen Japanese laymen including three young boys, who were all members of the Third Order of St. Francis – were executed by crucifixion in Nagasaki on the orders of Hideyoshi Toyotomi.^[1] These individuals were raised on crosses and then pierced through with spears.
Persecution continued sporadically, breaking out again in 1613 and 1630. On September 10, 1632, 55 Christians were martyred in Nagasaki in what became known as the Great Genna Martyrdom. At this time Catholicism was officially outlawed. The Church remained without clergy and theological teaching disintegrated until the arrival of Western missionaries in the nineteenth century.
While there were many more martyrs, the first martyrs came to be especially revered, the most celebrated of which was Paul Miki.
Drawn from the oral histories of Japanese Catholic communities, Shusaku Endo‘s acclaimed novel Silence provides detailed accounts of the persecution of Christian communities and the suppression of the Church.
(Excerpts from Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
_____________________more excerpts from same source:
Paulo Miki (Japanese: パウロ三木; c. 1562^[1] – February 5, 1597) was a Roman Catholic Japanese Jesuit seminarian, martyr and saint, one of the Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan.
Biography
Paulo Miki was born into a wealthy Japanese family. He was educated by the Jesuits in Azuchi and Takatsuki. He joined the Society of Jesus and became a well known and successful preacher – gaining numerous converts to Catholicism. The Japanese daimyo, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, fearful of the Jesuit’s influence and intentions began persecuting Catholics. Miki was jailed, along with others. He and his fellow Catholics were forced to march 600 miles (966 kilometers) from Kyoto to Nagasaki; all the while singing the Te Deum. On arriving in Nagasaki, the city with the largest Catholic population in Japan, Miki was crucified on February 5, 1597. He preached his last sermon from the cross, and it is maintained that he forgave his executioners, stating that he himself was Japanese.
____________downloaded as instructed by the Lord Holy Spirit:

Te Deum, which was translated into English in the 19th century as “Holy God, we praise thy name.”

Franz Joseph Haydn, Te Deum n.2 in C
http://youtu.be/PXNGqgNTNIQ

Latin text

Translation from the Book of Common Prayer

Te Deum laudamus: te Dominum confitemur. Te aeternum Patrem omnis terra veneratur. Tibi omnes Angeli; tibi caeli et universae Potestates; Tibi Cherubim et Seraphim incessabili voce proclamant: Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt caeli et terra maiestatis gloriae tuae. Te gloriosus Apostolorum chorus, Te Prophetarum laudabilis numerus, Te Martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus. Te per orbem terrarum sancta confitetur Ecclesia, Patrem immensae maiestatis: Venerandum tuum verum et unicum Filium; Sanctum quoque Paraclitum Spiritum. Tu Rex gloriae, Christe. Tu Patris sempiternus es Filius. Tu ad liberandum suscepturus hominem, non horruisti Virginis uterum. Tu, devicto mortis aculeo, aperuisti credentibus regna caelorum. Tu ad dexteram Dei sedes, in gloria Patris. Iudex crederis esse venturus. Te ergo quaesumus, tuis famulis subveni: quos pretioso sanguine redemisti. Aeterna fac cum sanctis tuis in gloria numerari. [added later, mainly from Psalm verses:] Salvum fac populum tuum, Domine, et benedic hereditati tuae. Et rege eos, et extolle illos usque in aeternum. Per singulos dies benedicimus te; Et laudamus Nomen tuum in saeculum, et in saeculum saeculi. Dignare, Domine, die isto sine peccato nos custodire. Miserere nostri Domine, miserere nostri. Fiat misericordia tua, Domine, super nos, quemadmodum speravimus in te. In te, Domine, speravi: non confundar in aeternum.

We praise thee, O God :     we acknowledge thee to be the Lord. All the earth doth worship thee :     the Father everlasting. To thee all Angels cry aloud :     the Heavens, and all the Powers therein. To thee Cherubim and Seraphim :     continually do cry, Holy, Holy, Holy :     Lord God of Sabaoth; Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty :     of thy glory. The glorious company of the Apostles : praise thee. The goodly fellowship of the Prophets : praise thee. The noble army of Martyrs : praise thee. The holy Church throughout all the world :     doth acknowledge thee; The Father : of an infinite Majesty; Thine honourable, true : and only Son; Also the Holy Ghost : the Comforter. Thou art the King of Glory : O Christ. Thou art the everlasting Son : of the Father. When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man :     thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb. When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death :     thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers. Thou sittest at the right hand of God : in the glory of the Father. We believe that thou shalt come : to be our Judge. We therefore pray thee, help thy servants :     whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood. Make them to be numbered with thy Saints : in glory everlasting. [added later, mainly from Psalm verses:] O Lord, save thy people :     and bless thine heritage. Govern them : and lift them up for ever. Day by day : we magnify thee; And we worship thy Name : ever world without end. Vouchsafe, O Lord : to keep us this day without sin. O Lord, have mercy upon us : have mercy upon us. O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us :     as our trust is in thee. O Lord, in thee have I trusted :     let me never be confounded.

Journey to See God: God loves you and wants you free from fear

Knowing and believing God is

love and He loves you to the point of what He proclaimed and actually did in the history of mankind, is today’s most powerful message. Know and believe today.

In a recent vision, an intercessor saw cages in which individuals sat and huddled together. Dark creatures (spirits of death and fear etc.) stood outside the cages. But the cages were not locked. The humans could walk out anytime but they were crippled by fear and remained captives!

Somebody needs this message today. Receive. Be saved. Be healed. Be set free from oppressions and depressions. Be set free by love. The love of God.

(Above reading from Mark 9:23; 11:22-24; 1John 4:15-19)

Here is the message about the power of God’s love for you.

Romans 8 Amplified Bible (AMP)

8 Therefore, [there is] now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit.

² For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law of sin and of death.

³ For God has done what the Law could not do, [its power] being weakened by the flesh [the entire nature of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the flesh [subdued, overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice],

⁴ So that the righteous and just requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the ways of the flesh but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not by the standards and according to the dictates of the flesh, but controlled by the Holy Spirit].

⁵ For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit.

⁶ Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].

⁷ [That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot.

⁸ So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him.

⁹ But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the [Holy] Spirit of God [really] dwells within you [directs and controls you]. But if anyone does not possess the [Holy] Spirit of Christ, he is none of His [he does not belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God].

¹⁰ But if Christ lives in you, [then although] your [natural] body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the spirit is alive because of [the] righteousness [that He imputes to you].

¹¹ And if the Spirit of Him Who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.

¹² So then, brethren, we are debtors, but not to the flesh [we are not obligated to our carnal nature], to live [a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates] of the flesh.

¹³ For if you live according to [the dictates of] the flesh, you will surely die. But if through the power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really and genuinely] live forever.

¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

¹⁵ For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father!

¹⁶ The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.

¹⁷ And if we are [His] children, then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ [sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are to share His glory.

¹⁸ [But what of that?] For I consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in us and for us and conferred on us!

¹⁹ For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God’s sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship].

²⁰ For the creation (nature) was subjected to frailty (to futility, condemned to frustration), not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of Him Who so subjected it—[yet] with the hope

²¹ That nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an entrance] into the glorious freedom of God’s children.

²² We know that the whole creation [of irrational creatures] has been moaning together in the pains of labor until now.

²³ And not only the creation, but we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the firstfruits of the [Holy] Spirit [a foretaste of the blissful things to come] groan inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies [from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal] our adoption (our manifestation as God’s sons).

²⁴ For in [this] hope we were saved. But hope [the object of] which is seen is not hope. For how can one hope for what he already sees?

²⁵ But if we hope for what is still unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure.

²⁶ So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance.

²⁷ And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God’s will.

²⁸ We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.

²⁹ For those whom He foreknew [of whom He was aware and loved beforehand], He also destined from the beginning [foreordaining them] to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness], that He might become the firstborn among many brethren.

³⁰ And those whom He thus foreordained, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified (acquitted, made righteous, putting them into right standing with Himself). And those whom He justified, He also glorified [raising them to a heavenly dignity and condition or state of being].

³¹ What then shall we say to [all] this? If God is for us, who [can be] against us? [Who can be our foe, if God is on our side?]

³² He who did not withhold or spare [even] His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely and graciously give us all [other] things?

³³ Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect [when it is] God Who justifies [that is, Who puts us in right relation to Himself? Who shall come forward and accuse or impeach those whom God has chosen? Will God, Who acquits us?]

³⁴ Who is there to condemn [us]? Will Christ Jesus (the Messiah), Who died, or rather Who was raised from the dead, Who is at the right hand of God actually pleading as He intercedes for us?

³⁵ Who shall ever separate us from Christ’s love? Shall suffering and affliction and tribulation? Or calamity and distress? Or persecution or hunger or destitution or peril or sword?

³⁶ Even as it is written, For Thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we are regarded and counted as sheep for the slaughter.

³⁷ Yet amid all these things we are more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.

³⁸ For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers,

³⁹ Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8 New Living Translation (NLT) 

Life in the Spirit

8 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. ² And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. ³ The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. ⁴ He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.

⁵ Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. ⁶ So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. ⁷ For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. ⁸ That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.
⁹ But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) ¹⁰ And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. ¹¹ The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
¹² Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. ¹³ For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
¹⁵ So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” ¹⁶ For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering. 
The Future Glory

¹⁸ Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. ¹⁹ For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. ²⁰ Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, ²¹ the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. ²² For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. ²⁴ We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. ²⁵ But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

²⁶ And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. ²⁷ And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. ²⁸ And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. ²⁹ For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory. 
Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s Love

³¹ What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? ³² Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? ³³ Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. ³⁴ Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

³⁵ Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? ³⁶ (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) ³⁷ No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
³⁸ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Secret of answered prayers: ‘Lord, give him utterance, let Thy Word run’

Jessie Penn-Lewis, Prayer & Evangelism

“Prayer is work, and a work which, in its accomplishment, is the expression of the will of God.” (Jessie Penn-Lewis, Prayer & Evangelism, 1995. Page 7).
“Many are willing to give themselves to the work of talking—but how few to the work of praying? If you will stand at the back of someone you see has a real message and pray, ‘Lord, give him utterance, let Thy Word run’—that is the WORK of prayer.” (Penn-Lewis, 1995. Page 16).
“Many Christians attend the prayer meeting to get right with God, or to get in communion with God; they ought to have lived in that all day, and should go to the meeting for definite work.” (Penn-Lewis, 1995. Page 17).
“An unclouded personal relationship to Christ is the very foundation of answered prayer.” (Penn-Lewis, 1995. Pages 22-23).
“A great secret in maintaining a life of personal victory is to ‘keep short accounts with God’—to quickly seize the weapon of prayer and pray, no matter how you feel. Whatever may be the circumstances, however you may think you are in ‘defeat’, PRAY!” (Penn-Lewis, 1995. Page 24).
“The fundamental personal conditions for a life of continual answer to prayer are therefore: (1) A cleansed heart—no love of sin; (2) ‘planted into His death’ as your permanent footing; (3) union with the Living Christ; (4) His Word abiding in you as your innermost food and life; (5) petition governed by the will rather than the feelings; (6) faith; (7) no self-motive; and (8) praying in spirit by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Penn-Lewis, 1995. Page 34).
“It takes a deeper spiritual life to pray than to work, for the flesh can be very active for God and apparently accomplish great results. Lack of power in prayer drives us to human resources. To ‘only pray’ seems folly! This is simply because we have no power in prayer.” (Penn-Lewis, 1995. Page 37).
>
“The powers of darkness must be met on their own ground. We may account ourselves ‘dead indeed unto sin’ and yet give the strong man much advantage by walking after the life of nature, i.e. our own thoughts, our own plans, our own energy. The natural cannot contend with the supernatural (see 2 Corinthians 10:4). It may appear to do much, and the enemy will go so far as to cause apparent ‘fruit’ if by such means he can keep us striving on a plane where the results are only exterior and bereft of spirit life.” (Penn-Lewis, 1995. Pages 68-69).

Derek Prince, Secrets of a Prayer Warrior
“When we learn to pray, then we are qualified to rule.” (Derek Prince, Secrets of a Prayer Warrior, 2009. Page 22).
“Just as the Holy Spirit leads us to understand God's will in Scripture, so He leads us in praying it back to God.... Additionally, if these ones shall symphonize—come together in perfect harmony—concerning anything that they shall ask, then it will be done for them.... He has tied Himself only to those who are led by the Spirit of God to come into His name.” (Derek Prince, 2009. Page 68).

Isaiah 60:18   “you will call your walls salvation, and your gates praise.” (NASB)

Psalm 100:4   “Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name.” (NASB)

“The instrument that most people mean when they talk about ‘prayer’ is petition, asking for physical and material needs to be met. But remember: Praying is not just thinking of anything we want and asking for it. Praying is discovering God revealed purpose in Scripture, and then praying for the outworking of that purpose.
“Look again at 1 John 5:14-15: ‘Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we ask of Him.’ ” (Derek Prince, 2009. Page 74).
“It is not just asking that is important, but asking and receiving. I have seen this many times. God touches someone with a healing touch, but the person does not receive it. One way not to receive an answer to a petitiion is to go on praying for it. Some people pray themselves into faith and then pray themselves out of faith.” (Derek Prince, 2009. Pages 74-75).

Mark 11:24   “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them…” (NASB)

“Notice this, though: Receiving is not the same as having. Receiving is settling it; having is the experience that follows. The actual experience of having what we have prayed for may have to wait, but by faith we receive what we pray for when we pray.” (Derek Prince, 2009. Page 75).
Prince goes on to describe the essential ingredient between receiving and actual experience: “Keep the plug in.… How do you do that? Basically, by thanking God. If you have made a petition regarding physical healing, for instance, you say, ‘Thank You, Lord. Your supernatural power is at work in my body.’ And as you respond that way, the healing is completed.” (Derek Prince, 2009. Page 76. Get the book, there are examples following.)
“Intercession is one of the highest arts of Christian life, one of the most difficult instruments to play. It requires a lot of practice, a lot of skill, a lot of maturity. To intercede means literally ‘to come in between.’ The intercessor is one who comes in between God and those for whom he is praying.” (Derek Prince, 2009. Page 79).
“the most influential people on earth today are those who know how to get their prayers answered.” (Derek Prince, 2009. Page 105).
“Something happens in our spirit when we let that attitude of reverence express itself in our prayers.” (Derek Prince, 2009. Page 109).
“Through the new birth and through the grace of God we can be released from that prison of self-centeredness and into a relationship with Him in which what God wants is more important than what we want.” (Derek Prince, 2009. Page 110).
“Prayer is not a way for us to get God to do what we want. A lot of Christians think it is. It may work out that way, but that is not its purpose. Prayer is a way for us to become instruments for God to do what He wants. When we become aligned with God's purpose, we are going to pray prayers that are irresistible. There will be no power, human or satanic, that will be able to resist the outworking of our prayer.” (Derek Prince, 2009. Page 115).
“There are only two alternatives about prayer. Either God answers prayer or He does not. If He does not answer prayer it is foolish to pray, and if He does answer prayer it is foolish not to pray.” (Derek Prince, 2009. Page 119).
“When you find your place in the Body, then your allotted proportion of faith that God has given you will make you successful in that place.” (Derek Prince, 2009. Page 125).

Daniel 10:12-13   “Then he said to me, ‘Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.’...” (NASB)

“Notice also that the initiative is with earth, not heaven. Daniel started the whole thing moving. And I venture to say, in certain respects this remains true today. We are not waiting for God; God is waiting for us. When we move, heaven will move. Then will come the conflict, and our prayers on earth will settle it. We who are believers and know how to pray are much more important than most of us have the faintest idea.” (Derek Prince, 2009. Page 132).
Prince makes another important statement concerning the quote above from the book of Daniel: “This shows that earth's empires have their counterpart in Satan's empire. In other words, Satan seeks to control the empires of earth through its rulers in order to make its leaders and governments instruments of his will. We must pray for our governments in order to frustrate Satan and to bring our governments under heaven's control.

“That is why Paul said first of all—before you pray for the sick, the missionaries, the evangelist, even your family—to pray for the government. As we have seen, anyone who criticizes the government is telling the world that he has failed in his prayers. He has not done his job.” (Derek Prince, 2009. Page 134).

Revelations 12:11   “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony. And they did not love their soul until death. ” (MKJV)

“The key words are testimony, Word and blood. You testify personally to what the Word, that is Scripture, says that the blood of Christ does for you. To make it effective you must make it personal. To whom are you testifying? To Satan. This is not a believer's testimony meeting! This is where you and I come face-to-face with the enemy of our souls. We speak directly to him in the name and the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we tell him what the Word of God says that the blood of Jesus does for us.” (Derek Prince, 2009. Page 150).
“When Scripture speaks about a glorious Church, it means a Church that is filled with God's glory, a Church that has within it the manifest, visible, tangible, personal presence of Almighty God. It is not a Church that is living on naked faith without any manifestation, but a Church that, through faith, has entered into a relationship with God where His visible, personal, tangible presence is with His people. The Bible says that is the kind of Church for which Jesus is coming. It is the Church for which we pray.” (Derek Prince, 2009. Page 183).

Charles G. Finney, How to Experience Revival
“To pray effectively you must pray with submission to the will of God. Do not confuse submission with indifference. No two things are more unlike. I once knew an individual who came to a revival. He was cold and did not enter into the spirit of prayer. When he heard the brethren pray as if they could not be denied, he was shocked at their boldness. He insisted on the importance of praying with submission. Yet, it was plain that he confused submission with indifference.

“If the will of God is not known, submission without prayer is tempting God. For all you know your prayer may be the thing on which an event turns. In the case of an impenitent friend, your prayers may be the key to his being saved.

“Christians often amaze themselves when they look back on their ardent, bold prayers spoken in a moment of intense emotion. Yet, these prayers have prevailed and obtained the blessing. And many of these people are among the holiest people I know in the world.

“The temptation to have selfish motives is so strong that there is reason to fear a great many parental prayers never rise above the yearnings of parental tenderness. That is why so many prayers are not answered and why so many pious, praying parents have ungodly children. Prayer for the unsaved must be based on more than sympathy. Missionaries and others often make the mistake of praying only about those going to hell, forgetting prayer about how the unsaved also dishonor God.” (Charles Finney. How to Experience Revival. Pages 44-45.)
Discussing the conduct of the revival in Evans Mills Finney states: “The means used where simply preaching, prayer, and conference meetings, much private prayer, much personal conversation, and meetings for the instruction of earnest inquirers. These, and no other means were used for the promotion of that work.” (The Autobiography of Charles G. Finney. Pages 68-69.)
“I have said more than once that the spirit of prayer that prevailed in those revivals was a very marked feature of them. It was common for young converts to be greatly exercised in prayer. In some instances they were so burdened that they were constrained to pray whole nights, until their bodily strength was quite exhausted for the conversion of souls around them. There was a great pressure of the Holy Spirit upon the minds of Christians and they seemed to bear about with them the burden of immortal souls.
“Not only were prayer meetings greatly multiplied and fully attended, not only was there great reverence in those meetings, but there was a mighty spirit of secret prayer.” (The Autobiography of Charles G. Finney. Page 104.)
“In offering the Lord's Prayer, ‘Thy kingdom come,’ it is plain that sincerity is a condition of prevailing with God. But sincerity in offering this petition implies the thorough consecration of all that we have and all that we are to the building up of Christ's kingdom. To utter this petition in any other state of mind involves hypocrisy and is an abomination.” (The Believer's Secret of Spiritual Power. Page 127.)

“We must evaluate our prayer lives to see if we are meeting these conditions of prevailing prayer:

1. “The inspiration of the Holy Spirit. All truly prevailing prayer is inspired by the Holy Spirit. ‘For we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with the groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God’ (Romans 8:26, 27). This is the true spirit of prayer. This is being led by the Spirit in prayer. It is the only really prevailing prayer. Unless believers are taught how to pray by the intercession of the Spirit in them, they cannot prevail with God.
   
2. “Fervency. A prayer, to be prevailing, must be fervent. ‘Confess your faults one to another, and pray on for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much’ (James 5:16).
   
3. “ Perseverance or persistence in prayer. See the cases of Jacob, of Daniel, of Elijah, of the Syrophoenician woman, of the unjust judge, and the teaching of the Bible generally.
   
4. “Travail of soul. ‘As soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.’ ‘My little children,’ said Paul, ‘of whom I travail in birth again, till Christ be formed in you.’ This implies that he had travailed in birth for them before they were converted. Indeed, travail of soul in prayer is the only real revival prayer. If anyone does not know what this is, he does not understand the spirit of prayer. He is not in a revival state. Until he understands this agonizing prayer, he does not know the real secret of revival power.
   
5. “ Specific prevailing prayer. It is offered for a definite object. We cannot prevail for everything at once. In all the cases recorded in the Bible in which prayer was answered, it is noteworthy that the petitioner prayed for a definite object.
   
6. “Meaning what we say. We make no false pretenses; in short, that we are entirely childlike and sincere, speaking out of the heart, nothing more nor less than what we mean, feel and believe.
   
7. “Believing the good faith of God to keep all His promises.
   
8. “Guarding against everything that can quench or grieve the Spirit of God in our hearts. We must watch for the answer in a state of mind that will diligently use all necessary means, at any expense, and add entreaty to entreaty.”
   (The Believer's Secret of Spiritual Power. Pages 138-139.)
   

Journey to see God: a message for the mature

Lately the 5am Bible reading group of brethren in Christ have been praying for spiritual breakthrough. They asked the Lord to further open the eyes of their spirit, to know God and Jesus in the Spirit. Having been led through the key chapters on the Holy Spirit in the gospels, Acts, Romans 8, 1 Corinthians 2 and 2 Corinthians 3, having prayed and read in depth and in meditation of Ephesians 1-3, they were led to read Philippians.

The Epistle to the Philippians is a very different kind of letter from the rest. Paul wrote with tenderness, warmth, and affection. He presented an informal and intimate diary of his own spiritual experience, revealing that Christ is his sum and substance of life. To know Christ was his highest aspiration and goal. He revealed that he was still working at attaining the utmost goal of gaining Christ, the power of God!
Why are we urged now to read this book? The revelations from key verses received by the group are excerpted as follows. Do join us, brethren in Christ round the globe!
__________________the key word is Christ. Be in Christ. Christ is the power of God. The upward race for us is on all the time and completes only when Christ Jesus returns just as He has promised.
A bit of background observation:

1. Paul was a mature Christian leader (an Apostle) when he wrote this letter. He had personally encountered Jesus the risen Christ. He received and was filled with the Holy Spirit when Ananias laid hand on him at conversion. After his conversion to Christ the had been raised to heaven and knew that heaven is real! He spent three years in the desert alone with Christ and received all his revelations first hand from the Lord.
2. When he wrote this epistle he was in prison. However, his letters were circulated among churches as instructed and preserved till today. He has remained credible and accepted as inspired by the Lord (Holy Spirit) in all his epistles which are included as the Bible.
3. His letters were read by many Christians then who knew of his plight. They would not have accepted and preserved these documents if they had not also witnessed the power he had walked in and the reality of God in his life. Observations and revelations from the verses: Philippians 3, and other epistles of Paul.

Paul declared that he was still pressing on to attain Christ, to know Him and His power. The power of His resurrection.
The same power is prayed for in Paul’s prayers for the Ephesians Christians. Take note that he used the word ‘Christ’ prominently (as compared to the word ‘Jesus’). Christ is the resurrected and risen Jesus. The Son of God who had defeated the power of death and sin and now sits at the right hand of God in heaven.
Paul continued to press on to attain this ‘Christ the power of God’. Why? He had already experienced Christ’s power (in the Holy Spirit). He had described many types of trials and challenges he went through successfully. He remained undaunted and alive! Even the physical environments and oppressions had not deterred him from completing his assignments from God. He walked so close with the Lord in the Holy Spirit that he knew when he would be released from prison. Even the other apostles and disciples knew and acknowledged his credibility as an apostle of Jesus Christ. Reading all his letters we could see how much he had known about and indeed already experienced in the Lord. All the other Christians who were living at that time knew too.
But Paul pressed on, because he knew he was not already perfected. He knew because he was joined to the Lord and was one spirit with the Lord (1 Corinthians 6:17).

Philippians 3:10-13 

10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
Ephesians 1:19-20
19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
Ephesians 3:16, 19-20 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, 19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
Paul spoke of this same power in the resurrected Christ in many other verses:

Romans 1:4  and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

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

1 Corinthians 1:17-18 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

1 Corinthians 1:24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

1 Corinthians 2:2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

1 Corinthians 2:4-5 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

1 Corinthians 4:20 For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.

2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

Galatians 2:20 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.

Galatians 5:24-25 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Galatians 6:14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

Colossians 1:11 strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy;

Colossians 1:29 To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.