More on this book
Kindle Notes & Highlights
Read between
July 24 - August 14, 2016
attitudes of rebellion and discord in our lives open us up to demonic influence and give the prince of rebellion a foothold in our lives, relationships and ministry.
Our authority comes from the love of the Father toward the Son, which has been passed on to us through Christ’s death and resurrected life. Our revelation of the Father’s love (which is different from knowledge about it) is what allows the fullness of God to dwell in us.
Authority that comes from abiding in Christ allows us to minister out of a sense of the generosity of God’s love.
Insecurity and pride are two things that set themselves up against walking in godly authority.
When we don’t look to God to meet our needs, we become insecure and dependent on those we wish to serve, looking to them to provide us with a sense of affirmation and to keep our painful sense of inadequacy from hurting.
Bringing our insecurity to God for healing sets us free, and repenting of pride allows Him to empower us with His grace.
When we don’t recognize His love, we remain stuck in a slavery mentality and obstinately become not only the greatest hazard to ourselves, but the greatest obstacle to the good that God intends.
For some of us, the breakthrough revelation is that God loves others so much that He’s even willing to use us to reach them. It’s simple. We can get caught up thinking that we have to wait until we are holy enough or anointed enough, and then God will use us, or we can realize that we are told to go—go now.
If you have thoughts like, I’m too broken; I’m too sick; I haven’t been healed myself; I have issues, then you’re missing the point. Using wounded healers is how God strikes back.
Our problem is not other people or God refusing to heal. He has already given us everything we need—He has given us Himself. Our battle is against the spiritual powers of the dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm
Unbelief and doubt are not the same. Doubt doesn’t separate us from the love of God. It doesn’t keep us from doing the things Jesus did. It doesn’t keep us from being His disciples. It doesn’t disqualify us from His calling. He said “Go” and “I am with you always.” As you go, as you do, as you obey, your beliefs will change. Your beliefs follow your actions.
All throughout Scripture we see that God’s heart is moved by men and women who take hold of His promises and contend for them.
To engage these words of God is to engage in relationship with God. His promises are not the ending of the story; they are the starting place of the adventure He wants to accomplish through us and in us.
Satan will try to keep your focus on you and keep your thoughts focused on justifying your unbelief about why you can’t do things or how you aren’t qualified. You have God with you, though, and as you step out with Him in doing the things He did and reaching out to the people around you, He will equip you.
God increases what we have as we give it away. We’re always saying, “Increase it first, and I’ll give it.” That wasn’t how it worked when Jesus fed the five thousand, and that’s not how it works with us.
Even doubt has at least a portion of
faith mixed in.
If we won’t do whatever we can, how can God do what we ...
This highlight has been truncated due to consecutive passage length restrictions.
never know what God is going to do or where we’ll see breakthrough happen when we least expect it. As His children, we just walk in confidence that where we are, God is. Our job is to step out and expect God’s best to step in.
did Jesus know He was the Son of God? I believe He knew it through faith, the same way we do. As a human, He had never been to heaven. He related to God the same way we do—by spending time alone with Him and being built up in His presence.
When Satan can get us to question the character of God, everything else unravels. That’s what unbelief is.
Truth activates faith; lies destroy faith. When we speak truth to Satan’s lies, we destroy them. That’s why the Word of God is called a sword. Even as we step out in doing the things we’re called to do, we’re clearing the way for our faith to grow.
Jesus says it’s more about our identity than the miraculous. God’s idea of success is our obedience. The results are for Him, not us. God is after our obedience. When we’re “pushing to failure,” it helps take our focus off the results as our measure of success. If our ministry is based on “results,” there’s a danger that the ministry can become about us.
It’s in the impossible that God reveals Himself and calls us forth into what we are meant to be.
There’s no risk-free way to do this and still see stuff happen. If you’re going to go for it, just go big. Don’t shrink back. It helps to remember that none of us can heal anybody. Only God can do that. In my personal paraphrase of Mark 16’s Great Commission, God says, “You go, and I’ll show.”
When it seems as if nothing’s working, we have no idea how God is at work.
Every time we pray, something is happening, whether we can observe it immediately or not.
Faith is simply one step of certainty against the onslaught of uncertainty.
The question isn’t, are we willing to die for Christ? The question is, are we willing to live a life of risk for Him?
We get so caught up in wondering what God’s will is, but we’ve already been given a pretty tall order in Scripture—God wills for His Son, Jesus, to live out His life through us. He’s given us the Holy Spirit, He’s given us power and He’s given us authority to carry on in Christ’s ministry of reconciliation, proclaiming and demonstrating the Kingdom of God and destroying the works of Satan.
We don’t have to fear pursuing the Kingdom too hard. It’s our inheritance; it’s what we were made for.
Elijah poured the water down the sides of the altar, filling the moat. It was a sacrifice that cried out to God, “We need You more than water!”
