"Follow Christ Regardless of the Storm" Part 2

[Dr. Dorothy E. Hooks, PsyD]

 

 

I remember years ago reading this book, “This Present Darkness” by Frank E. Peretti; it is a book about spiritual warfare, an excellent book which really opened my eyes. It shows that the forces of good and evil are battling in the spirit realm, although we do not see it. The book also shows that the power of prayer will prevail over evil. Although the book is a novel, I believe the message is true because Frank wrote the book from the scripture of Ephesians 6:12:

“For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms (absolute or tyrannical government), against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of THIS PRESENT DARKNESS, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere”(www.biblegateway.com - Amplified Bible – emphasis by me).

God loves us but until we accept Christ as our Lord and personal Savior, He will not intervene in our life; He allows us to make our own choices until something brings us to a point of surrender to Him. We need to choose God or the devil; we can’t serve both.

When we are living in sin, we belong to the devil, he is our father. But when we renounce the devil and all his tools, and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and personal Savior, He immediately comes in, and God begins to intervene for us and becomes our Father. Also, God gives us access to Him and His Kingdom and we become heirs and joint-heirs with Christ. We receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit and with fire; the Father God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit lives in us. God is the reason “for in Him we live and move and have our being…we are his offspring” (Acts 17:28). In other words, Father God totally takes control of us (by invitation – He does not force Himself on us) and lives in us. But as I said before, this does not mean we will not have trials and tribulations (John 16:33). Remember also that Jesus said in that same scripture, He has already overcome the world. Since Jesus is in us, the Holy Spirit with fire is in us, and the Father is us – the Holy Trinity is in us  as I said before – we cannot fail; greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).

As David said in the Psalms 23:4: “Yes, though I walk through the [deep, sunless] valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me; Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort me,” we can say the same. But we can go farther than that, we can say God is not only with us but He is IN us – He lives in us; our body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, no matter what storm arises in our lives, it will not destroy us; we will not drown.

What sets us apart from the world is when we go through storms (trials and tribulations), we will not fall apart and operate out of fear, but we will operate through faith in God. It is the God within us that keeps us from falling apart, from overdosing on drugs, from becoming alcoholics, from committing suicide, and from turning to the world’s system to bring us out. We WILL NOT bow to the world, we only bow to the true and living God Almighty, who is our Father, the Great I Am, the Alpha and Omega (Beginning and End), and the Creator!!!

 

We must put our trust in God (which gives us peace) so He can bring us out of whatever we need to come out of; we will not act like the world but we will show the world Jesus which is the more excellent way (love of God) . We will win because “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Romans 8: 37). In that same chapter of Romans 8, Paul stated in verses 38 and 39:

^38”I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,

^39”nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (www.biblegateway.com – NKJV).

Follow Christ Regardless of the Storm Part2.pdf

Be blessed,
Dr. Dorothy E. Hooks

Other Scripture References Used Throughout Message:
John 8:44
Matthew 6:9
Hebrews 4:16
Romans 8:17
Matthew 3:11
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
1 Corinthians 12:31

1 Corinthians 13

 

 

 

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