Satan | Grace and Truth

September 13, 2019
by GraceandTruth Leave a comment

The Old-Fashioned Power of the Blood

“Old-fashioned” but never-ending

source:wordlive.org

“Old-fashioned” but never-failing

“Old fashioned” but ever speaking

Give me the old-fashioned power of the blood, that old rugged cross and the exaltation of Jesus Christ as Lord and there’s nothing that can stand in my way as a blood-bought child of God.

The old fashioned power of the Blood of Jesus Christ is still there on the mercy seat in Heaven before the Father. It has never been removed, it has never lost its power and it never will.

But the devil doesn’t want the Church to know the power of the blood. In particular there has been a sustained effort to cover it up over these last few decades. So let’s have a look at it.

What power does the Blood have?

What gives the Blood its power?

And how can we experience the Blood’s full power in our lives?

The Power of the Blood of Jesus

Peace is made between man and God Colossians 1:20

“and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”

Forgiveness of sins Colossians 1:14

“in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.”

Eternal Life John 6:54

“Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Satan is Overcome Revelation 12:11

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”

Continual Cleansing from all Sin 1 John 1:7

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

Set Free from bondage to a Guilty Conscience to Serve God Hebrews 9:14

“how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

Liberty to Enter and Remain in the Holy of Holies of God’s Presence Hebrews 10:19

“Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,”

What Gives the Blood its Power?

sacredsharingsforthesoul.blogspot.com

Like the old hymn says “There’s power, power wonder-working power in the Blood of the Lamb”…

The Blood of the Lamb surely has power even now. We can testify to its power to cast demons out of people, save people and set them free..

But it is the power of the blood of the Lamb.

Jesus Became the Lamb of God

Not a mighty warrior, a conquering superhero, but a Lamb. A lamb has a meek and humble disposition. A lamb doesn’t fight. A lamb is led to the slaughter quietly, a lamb doesn’t protest.

It is the power of the blood of the Lamb

“So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Rev 7:14

Jesus became the Lamb of God, who took away the sins of the world. He was the final Lamb in fulfilment of all those thousands of lambs in the Old Covenant that were killed on the altar for man’s sin.

He literally became the physical Lamb as an atonement, but it was more than that.

The Disposition of the Lamb

He was also the Lamb in disposition. Jesus was meek and unresisting. In total submission to the Father He allowed man to do whatever they wanted to Him and He didn’t fight back, He didn’t resist, nor protest. He yielded the whole time, even to death.

“And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Phil 2:8

“He’s not merely the Lamb because He died on the cross, but He died on the cross because He’s the Lamb.” Roy Hession

Hebrews 9:14 says “how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God…”

Truly Christ was so humble that He offered Himself to God as the Lamb, willing to do whatever the Father wanted.

It was because of this disposition of utter self-denial, of the complete surrender of the Lamb and of His deep humility that God exalted Him and gave Him the Name above every name.

So we see how valuable this disposition is to God. This was the disposition He was after when He created Adam. But Adam rebelled against his Creator and took the path of Self instead. Thus all mankind has followed Adam down this path of Self and rejected submission to our Creator and God. This is the essence of sin: self and pride.

But God found that disposition in one Man: the Man Christ Jesus.

And His shed blood is the ultimate expression of this humility.

“It was because the shedding of His blood so supremely expressed this disposition that it is so utterly precious to God and so all-availing for man and his sin” Roy Hession

How can we Experience the Blood’s Full Power in Our lives?

Just as the shed blood’s power comes from the Lamb’s disposition, so too in our own lives, the power of the blood becomes available to us as we follow the Lamb and partake of His divine nature.

Just as He submitted fully to the Father’s will and yielded up His life to Him, so we too can know the full power of the Blood as we submit to the Father, willingly and quietly obeying His will, laying down our own wants, desires, rights and ambitions. As we offer up our bodies as a living sacrifice to Him, He fills us with His Spirit and the disposition of the Lamb becomes ours.

Lord, help us to truly submit to You. To lay down our life for you as You lay down Your life for us. As we do, fill us with your Spirit and may the fruits of the Spirit, such as meekness, gentleness truly become evident in our lives. We thank you for becoming the Lamb who took away our sins, may we become lambs now and follow You wherever you go. In Jesus’ Name, Amen

*Based on teaching from Roy Hession’s book “The Calvary Road”

July 24, 2015
by GraceandTruth 12 Comments

Street Preaching & Something the Devil Doesn’t Want You to Know

I’ve just come back after preaching on the city streets this morning with two other ladies. The thing that has impressed me most is this : there is power and authority in the Name of Jesus Christ.

The devil knows it. But he doesn’t want us to know it.

The devil was trembling and tried everything to stop us going in today. He wasn’t fearful of us. He was fearful of the gospel being preached in the power of The Name. I had horrible nightmares last night, two ladies who were supposed to come with us got sick, the road into the city was literally blocked and our usual car park closed off.

Within minutes of being there one of the young ladies with me was reduced to tears after a conversation with someone.

I knew it was the devil trying his hardest to stop this girl from preaching the gospel. I advised her not to take it personally, the devil is doing his best to stop us and her in particular. She has just recently turned from sin and God is moving powerfully in and through her. So praise God she kept going. And wow, she preached today! First time ever on the PA and she preached the gospel! Praise God.

A severely handicapped man tried to unplug me as the anointing fell. I politely told him to remove his hands from my property.

Another man tried to shut us down because we didn’t have a permit. (We don’t need a permit).

I think Satan was particularly scared because yesterday as I prayed and fasted about street-ministry today Holy Spirit gave me this scripture:

“…You are to cross over the Jordan today, and go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the descendants of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the descendants of Anak?’ Therefore understand today that the Lord your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and bring them down before you; so you shall drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the Lord has said to you.” Deuteronomy 9:1-3

I am here to tell you that there is power in the Name of Jesus. At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord! The devil cannot stop the gospel going forth. No man can stop it. There is no power on earth that is more powerful than the blood of Jesus Christ! Hallelujah to the Lamb! He is a great and mighty God and He is mighty to save. The devil is aware of his own defeat at the cross, but he would like to stop us from finding that out.

“Satan cannot stand against us when we dare to believe God and claim the power God has for us, the same power God showed when He raised Christ from the dead and gave Him a place above all principalities and powers.” Joshua – Victorious by Faith, Theodore Epp

Do not fear. People are just people. They are not nearly as scary as we imagine them to be. What can man do to us? Kill us? Maybe, but we will go to be with the Lord and the gospel will go out even stronger.

But God is God, and He is calling each one of us to go forth in the power of the Name of Jesus and wage war against sin.

All honour praise and glory to the Lamb!

October 27, 2014
by GraceandTruth 1 Comment

The Anointing, the Devil and Preaching

Sorry….I just had to…

Friday morning 3 others and I went into the city to preach.

Beforehand in prayer the Holy Spirit gave us Joshua 2:24:

“And they said to Joshua, ‘Truly the Lord has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are fainthearted because of us.”

Something the Body of Christ needs to know:

The demons indeed are fainthearted when the gospel of Jesus Christ is preached.

CT Studd said “If you don’t want the Devil to hit you, hit him first, and hit him with all your might, so that he may be too crippled to hit back. ‘Preach the Word’ is the rod the Devil fears and hates.”

Why? Because Jesus Christ has “disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross.” Colossians 2:15

When the Word is preached, it is the proclamation of the public spectacle over all the powers of hell, over all the powers of sin and darkness, which was accomplished by Christ at the cross.

But. And there is a “but”… preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ needs to be done in the power of the Holy Spirit. The preacher needs the anointing of God.

Why?

Because it is essential to be able to preach to the “back of things” as T Austin Sparks would say.

We are not preaching merely at men and women. We are preaching to the spiritual realm at the back of all things. I would say that primarily we are preaching to the unseen realm. And this requires power – the supernatural power of the Holy Ghost.

The greatest anointing I have experienced whilst street preaching is when I knew I was preaching directly to Jesus Himself. That is when the anointing fell and folks were literally stopped in their tracks.

I have also known when I am preaching to the unseen powers of darkness. This was in the Battle with the Hare krishnas. I knew that the victory of Jesus Christ was to be enforced over the principalities and powers. They fought and they tried, but Christ has “already lead captivity captive” and is already the victor.

When we are under the anointing of God we are standing in Christ’s stead, we are His ambassadors.

“Now, then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you, be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20

If we don’t have the anointing we are working merely in the flesh, the physical realm. We may have the correct doctrine and the right words but we are merely skimming the surface of things because the unseen realm is left undisturbed. As a consequence nothing of much value is accomplished.

How is that ice-addict to be freed from the grip of Satan? How will that young woman bound in witchcraft be made to see when the god of this age has blinded her eyes? The devil has to be dealt with first. Proclaim the victory of the cross of Christ, in the power of the Spirit, and his grip will be loosened enough for them to be able to hear the gospel.

With the anointing anything is possible. By the power of the Spirit when the gospel is proclaimed, the devil trembles and knows he is defeated already.

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8

May God bless you!

October 17, 2014
by GraceandTruth 12 Comments

Oppression, Anointing and Street-Preaching

I was under massive oppression all day today. I felt like crying, like giving up, I felt condemned, useless, hopeless.

And so I almost didn’t go into the city to street-preach tonight.

But when my wonderful husband said “I think “someone” is trying to stop you going in there tonight…” my will-power kicked in. Why should I be trampled down when my Jesus says “Behold I give you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions”?

So in I went.

And boy, I am glad I did.

There is a Jehovah’s Witness Convention on in the city this weekend and those JW’s were everywhere tonight! I know this because they wore purple badges.

Anyhow, there was a real anointing on the preaching tonight. People stopped and listened. Lots of people. Lots of teenagers, lots of Muslims. Lots of conversations were had. Praise God.

The JW’s didn’t stop though. They kept walking in their well-trained, don’t-make-eye-contact way. They wagged their heads at me, particularly when I quoted John 1:14 and proclaimed that Jesus IS God. They didn’t like it when I said that as Jesus hung on the CROSS the people wagged their heads at Him.

Someone else actually paid me $5 as I preached. That’s a first. I am not actually sure whether that’s a good or a bad thing. Anyway I gave the money away because it just felt too weird.

Again someone tried to unplug me as I preached, but I caught the young man and gave him a good scolding as only a mother can do.

By the third time I preached the devil tried to stop me. An angry atheist was sent to my left belting out antagonisms and an unstable person to my right continually tapping me on the shoulder saying “Do you have a minute?…Do you have a minute?”

My voice is hoarse now, my body shaky.

My oppression – ALL GONE!

Would you do service for Jesus your King?

There’s POWER in the blood! Power in the Blood!

Amen. Praise the Lord.

Bless you

February 10, 2014
by GraceandTruth 8 Comments

Satan’s Tool in the Emergent Church

This post follows on from The “Emergent”-cy of Post-Modernist Christianity where we saw that philosophy can and does shape reality. Just like any other movement in society, the Emergent church movement is underpinned by a system of philosophy. I would like to look at this philosophy, called “de-constructionism”, in order to discover its roots and where it is leading. The outcome of this philosophy is very REAL and is taking hold in the Church right now. I believe it is very important for every Bible-believing Christian to be aware of how the enemy is working, because none of us are beyond deception.

What is De-Constructionism?

“De-constructionism” is: “a philosophical theory of criticism (usually of literature or film) that seeks to expose deep-seated contradictions in a work by delving below its surface meaning” http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=deconstructionism

De-constructionism is a “fascist world-view where all authority is rejected and truth is denied by attacking language”. (see “Where’s Truth?” on “absolute truth”). Its roots are from ex-Nazi Heiteger but developed by French philosopher Jacques Derrida. As Nietzsche had previously asserted that “life is meaningless” (known as Nihilism) so this philosophy carries nihilism further – into literature itself, and says that:

Language is meaningless
Language contradicts itself
Language is lying
Literature lies

By applying this philosophy to a book, poem, paragraph or sentence the text is de-constructed and it is found that every word contradicts itself, contradicts the other words and contradicts the whole work itself.

So to write : “The sky is blue” for example, may not actually really mean that the sky is in fact blue. It could mean that the sky is another colour, but we just call it blue. It could mean that the sky isn’t blue or even a colour at all. It could mean that I am not even really talking about the “sky” after all, but something else entirely. “The sky is blue” cannot be understood because all words are meaningless and contradict themselves.

So we see how de-constructionism has removed absolute truth from literature.

What would happen if this method was applied to the Word of God, ie the Bible?

What would happen if Christians adopted this method of studying the Bible?

The Emergent Church

Unfortunately they are both already in full-swing, within the Emergent Church. Many of the Emergent Church’s leaders (whom are Evangelicals, not Liberals!), such as Tony Campolo, Rob Bell and Brian Mclaren, have studied and adopted de-constructionism as their method of studying the Bible. Here is what Leonard Sweet, Brian Mclaren and Jerry Haselmayer wrote in their book “A is for Abductive”:

“Traditional modern interpretation is fond of finding the one “true” meaning in a text while de-constructionists do not give any one reading privileged status, but rather are interested in hearing the interplay of many interpretations that arise from within many different interpretative communities.”

So in essence, they do not view the Word of God as the ultimate authority – all opinions, views and interpretations are equally valid. This would mean the Koran and other ancient non-Biblical texts are just as valid too. This is classic relativism denying the absolute truth and authority of the Bible in their drive to be :

“relevant” to a new generation and
palatable to non-believers

The First De-Constructionist

In fact this is not a new “literary technique” at all. It is as old as time itself! Satan’s aim, as the world’s first de-constructionist, has always been to cause human-beings to doubt God’s Word. We see that his tactics haven’t changed since the beginning of time.

In Genesis 3:1 he said to Eve: “…Has God indeed said…?”

And that is essentially what Christian de-constructionism is – has God really said…?

The denial of the authority and truth of God’s Word has led to the demise of the preaching and expounding of God’s Word within the Emergent church and rather “dialectics” are now being encouraged. Dialectics is discussion, analysis, criticism, contrasting ideas etc. Absolute Truth is side-lined while each individual’s opinions, interpretations and views are held in high regard. And in the light of relativism, each opinion is equally valid and opposing “truths” are ok.

Ultimately Satan’s aim is to break down “absolute truth”. Why?

Because he is paving the way for a One-World religion, getting ready for the Anti-christ. How?

By combining a “thesis” with an “antithesis” and making into a “synthesis”.

A thesis is a “proposition (of truth) to be maintained or proved”, such as Christianity. An antithesis is a “contrast of ideas; direct opposite of”, such as Islam as the opposite to Christianity. A synthesis is the “combining of elements into a whole.”

It looks like this:

THESIS SYNTHESIS ANTITHESIS

Christianity Chrislam Islam

Chrislam is gaining momentum outside of Nigeria now, and Wycliffe Bible Translators have just translated the first “Chrislam” Bibles (that remove or change terms deemed offensive to Muslims and thus creating a Muslim-friendly Bible).