Philippians 1, part 2

(Start with part 1 for context...)

We are a 3-part being, and in that lies the key to our power and sonship. When we unite, spirit, soul, and body, with the power of God, we are unstoppable, we are invincible. Notice that most of the devil’s attacks against us are to keep us disunited? Whether worry, or fear, or an attack against your health, or your finances--all designed to keep the schisms alive. Your mind, wracked with worry, contradicts the peace that wants to reign through your spirit. Your feelings, gripped with varying emotions, run off quickly when your spirit wants you to get a grip. That dis-unison is the main reason why we lose! The attacks are always so beatable-- we must learn to master ourselves and stay “one”.

When our being is united in proper order, and functioning that way, we line up with what God said of Himself: “The Lord your God is One; though shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength”. David in the psalms and Jesus in the gospels strengthened this, by repeating the same: “Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.” Mark 12:30, and Luke 10:27 says “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence”.

And if we are to love this way, then it follows that we should fight this way too!

So line up your being with this word, your true created destiny, and start speaking and exclaiming your way into God’s desired reality for others and for yourself.

Next thing here, another key:

“There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.” -Phil. 1:6 The Message

It hit me this way: one who is full of the complete range of exclamations to God is also one in whom doubt finds no room. Amen! I believe that. Look at it again: never the slightest doubt in my mind. Doubt, like fear, takes up space. And for fear, it’s love that displaces it and kicks it out of doors:

“There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror!” 1 Jn 4:18 the Amplified.
For doubt, it is faith that does the displacing-- THIS kind of expressive, obedient, active faith, a faith that speaks and exclaims through a united vessel. United in spirit, soul and body. Displace your doubt NOW!

Philippians 1, part 1

Philippians 1 caught my attention when I was reading it in the Message. I’ve always said that I want a life that I can be proud of. But I also want a life Jesus can be proud of! I want bountiful fruits from the soul, a life that makes Jesus attractive to all, and to get everyone I reach involved in the praise and glory of God. Nothing less!

I preached from here last Saturday night, and so many truths became so clear to me.

We all want verse 9-11 results in our lives. It reads:

9-11So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.

But let's get the entire context figured out, so all the nuances become clear. I believe the path to having that fruit starts in verse 3-6:

3-6Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God's Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.

Exclamations to God! This is it! Our ACTIONS of exclaiming opens up the gateway to prayer. I realized how much I do this, when I think of someone, when I get a text message, or hear how someone is doing, there is a matching exclamation. Sometimes in thanks, but oftentimes with other emotions. Like the time I heard a brother was sick, I got angry on his behalf, and started to exclaim out loud in rebuking that sickness and calling in his healing at that very moment. Or the time I remembered another brother in a distant land, I started speaking exclamations of peace and safety, to surround him with the love of God and with strength for his soul.

The first key to our exclamations having power and significance, is that they are done with full cooperation of our entire being. Said OUT LOUD, originating from unction in the gut and with oomph from the soul. And the kind of prayer this leads to is not wishing or hopeful prayer; it is powerful creative prayer that accomplishes the very word it sets out to do. Prayer using the keys of the kingdom--whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever you loose shall be loosed in heaven--Jesus, Matt. 16:19. Imagine, the more we pray like that, how much will be done, how much will be transformed, how much will be energized into existence in someone else’s life! This is key!

I recognize that the other key to these exclamations is the ORDER in which we connect our mouths to the rest of our being. Do we have our mouth connected to our minds directly? Then we will say any old thing that pops in there, and have ineffectual words. Do we have our mouths connected to our souls? Then we will give expression to any feeling, without any sifting, and we will walk a very erratic course of life, a life tossed to and fro based on whatever blows our way. And we then will be beings whose substance constantly leaks out, open for anything else to fill us. Not good! Connect your mind to your spirit, and connect your soul to your spirit. Then your spirit, the eternal part of you, the part that hears God clearly, the part that discerns without error, can direct your mouth. Your spirit should sit as umpire! Shouting “safe!” or “you’re out!” to feelings and thoughts that desire your expression. Saying “foul!” when one of those tries to sneak its way to the creative portal called your spoken word. See, the devil knows the source of your power, and the importance of your tongue. In his strategy, all he needs to do is get you expressing these unsafe and unaimed or foul things, and you will be basically shooting yourself in the foot, and he doesn’t have to do anything else to sideline you. Get ahead of that and defeat his strategy by connecting your parts properly.

The power is ALWAYS in the spoken word! Get your mouth open, get your mouth connected to your God-inhabited spirit and SEE the change!