Succeeding through Christ

God wants us to be a hit in our Christian life. He outlines success as turning into the person that He wants us to be and realizing the goals that He has set for our lives. His Word tells us that godly feat starts with our thinking (Proverbs 23:7 KJV). Why? Because God has designed our mind to be a tough tool that impacts our angles and our actions, both toward Him and toward other people.

The godliness of our minds determines to a giant degree the godliness of our lives. The Scriptures let us know that before our deliverance, we were divided and antagonistic in mind toward the things of God (Colossians 1:21). So our old way of thinking is of tiny price in our turning into the person God wants us to be. That’s why the Bible indoctrinates us to be made new in the perspective of our thinking (Ephesians 4:23) and gives us direction on what to dump from and add to our minds (Ephesians 4:31-32).

Antagonistic thinking is to get replaced by the truth of the Word.

Reasoning God’s way means to “set our minds” on the things of God. Each day, we are to pick to have the Lord’s perspective; we must also reject any thinking that leads to conformity with the planet’s tactics (Romans 12:2). When we fix our attention on who God is, on His plan for us, and on a way to please Him, we’ll start thinking His way. To be successful in the dominion of God requires “kingdom” thinking.

If you consistently struggle to pardon folk who have wronged you, you will consider yourself incapable of that sort of forgiveness. Many of us are convinced that forgiveness is just a feeling that may be experienced in the face of conflict. What a poor understanding! True forgiveness isn’t a feeling, but an action.

If you find it difficult to pardon other people, take an active role in the midst by following these suggestions: recognize and confess an unforgiving spirit. No, it isn’t always straightforward to pardon somebody. We are occasionally the targets of enormously harmful offenses. However, we aren’t in charge of folk’s behavior; we are responsible for our own.

God commanded us to be loving, forgiving folks. If we are unforgiving, that is our problem and nobody else’s - we must repent of this sin and ask God to help our unforgiveness. Release the other person.

Make a conscious decision to release the offender in your mind. When you end up reliving the small print of the annoying behavior, force yourself to stop. Pardon the offender forgetfully. When you keep the details fresh in your mind, you trap yourself in a cycle of pain.

Select instead to split the individual from the distressing memory. Pardon with finality. True forgiveness is complete. This implies that you can’t “forgive” somebody and then continually bring the topic up. Pardon them and go on. If you’ve been nursing a grudge against a particular person, ask God for the will to pardon. Then, do it!

And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18 KJV

1.   Rodney Howard Browne teaches that when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, He brings us into a greater revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ

• The Holy Spirit is the way to the Father.
• He is the way from the Father to us.
• He is like an Artist—He paints Jesus upon the canvas of life and makes Jesus real to us.
• The more we are filled the more we recognize and depend upon Jesus.
• The Holy Spirit brings us into a life of personal union with and constant dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

N.B. To be filled with the Spirit is to be filled
with Jesus.

2.  Pastor Rodney Howard Browne teaches that the Holy Spirit cuts us off from the life of self and sin and brings us into a life of holiness, righteousness, and obedience.

• Exodus 40:34-35 AMP - Then the cloud [the Shekinah, God's visible presence] covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle! 35 And Moses was not able to enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud remained upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
• This is the picture of a Spirit-filled man—full of God’s glory—leaving no room for the flesh.

3.  The Holy Spirit brings us into joy and fullness of joy.

• John 15:11 KJV - These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
• John 17:13 KJV - And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
• After Jesus had spoken of the promise of the Spirit and that we should abide in the Vine (in Him), He told of the joy that would follow. He said, “My joy will remain in you and your joy will be full.”
• The fullness of joy wipes out the pain, doubt, fear and sorrow.

4.  There will be a release of the Fruit of the Spirit from the heart of the Spirit-filled man and woman.

• Galatians 5:1-26 NKJV - Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. 2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. 3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. 4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. 7 You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? 8 This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump. 10 I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is. 11 And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. 12 I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off! 13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! 16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 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. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
• The fruit of the Spirit springs spontaneously from the fullness of the Holy Spirit, in your spirit, working in and affecting spirit, soul, and body.
• When your life is full of God your life will be   full of godliness.

5.  When you are full of the Holy Spirit, there will be an outflow of the Spirit of God—a tangible presence—affecting every area of your life.

• Speech – Ephesians 5:18b-19 KJV – Be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
• Actions – you are made a blessing unto many.
• Circumstances – everything God’s presence touches is set in order.

Many people in the religious world pray “Lord, if it be Thy will, heal Sister Bucketmouth. Lord, if it be Thy will, heal Brother Doodad.” But we know from God’s Word that healing is the will of God. We need to settle this issue in our hearts.

Yet some folks say, “If healing is God’s will, why doesn’t everybody get healed?” That’s like saying, “Why doesn’t everybody get saved?” Are we going to throw out salvation because not everybody gets saved? Even though people turn down salvation, it’s not going to stop me from preaching salvation. Even though people might turn down healing, it’s not going to stop me from preaching healing! Salvation and healing are set in the Gospel!

They have been paid for and purchased by the blood of Jesus and by the stripes He bore at Calvary! “I don’t understand why some people receive their healing and some don’t, Rodney.” Well, there are a lot of things that we don’t understand, and every case is different. There are reasons why you don’t always see instantaneous miracles, but I’m not going to debate why one person is healed instantly and the next one isn’t. That is an issue between them and God. I’m going to go for it like God will heal everybody every single time that we pray for them. If I didn’t believe that, I would never pray for the sick.

Rodney Howard Browne teaches us to remember that God’s Word is true, regardless of our personal experience. “Well, what happens if we pray and they die?” If they’re born again, they will go to heaven. Death for the child of God is not a problem. For the child of God, death is a blessing. The only ones who have a problem with death are the ones who are left behind, but if they are believers and the person who died is a believer, we do not mourn as those who have no hope. (See 1 Thessalonians 4:13.) We know we will be together for eternity.

Is healing God’s will? There are several phrases that I want you to note from the ministry of Jesus. “He healed all that were sick.” (See Matthew 8:16.) “He healed them all.” (See Matthew 12:15.) “He healed their sick.” (See Matthew 14:14.) ‘As many as touched Him were made perfectly whole.” (See Matthew 14:36.)

Even though when Jesus went to Nazareth He could do no mighty work because of their unbelief, He still healed some people. In other places He usually healed every single sick person in the place. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

And his fame went throughout all Syria; and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those that were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

MATTHEW 4:23-24

When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and he healed all that were sick.

MATTHEW 8:16

But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence; and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all.

MATTHEW 12:15

In Nazareth, Jesus healed a few sick people of minor ailments, but could do no mighty miracles because of their unbelief. In other places, mentioned above, He healed and delivered everyone who came to Him. What was the difference? It was not Jesus — He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. The difference between miracles and no miracles was the faith — or unbelief — of the people. So which do you want to believe God for?

I believe another way to increase the anointing is

to spend much time reading the gospels and following

closely the ministry of Jesus. Jesus said, “The Son can do

nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do”

(John 5:19). I believe we will only do what we see Jesus

do.

The disciples followed Jesus and saw the signs

and wonders and miracles that He did. He said to them,

“He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do

also; and greater works than these shall he do: because I

go unto my Father” (John 14:12).

Rodney Howard Browne teaches that God sent the Holy Ghost to empower them that

they might go forth and do His works. Later, when Peter

and John were taken in front of the chief priests and

elders and commanded not to preach or teach in the name

of Jesus, they said, “We cannot but speak the things

which we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20).

You Will Be Like Those You Hang Around

You will only do what you have seen and heard. If

you hang around a ministry that does not believe in

healing and in the power of the Holy Spirit, then you will

be just like that.

When people come to me and say, “I don’t believe

in miracles,” or tell me that miracles have passed away, I

tell them that they have come too late to convince me.

I’ve seen God move. I believe in miracles.

Something that has been a blessing to me is

reading about one of the miracles Jesus did. Then I close

my eyes and watch what He did, picturing before my very

eyes how exciting it would be to attend Jesus’ crusades

and to witness the miracles He did.

Looking For a Man; Missing Your Miracle

Let’s look at the story of the man Jesus healed at

the pool of Bethesda found in John 5:1-9. The Bible says

there was by the sheep market a pool, in the Hebrew

tongue called Bethesda, having five porches. In these

porches lay a great multitude of blind, halt, and maimed

people, waiting for the troubling of the water. At a certain

season an angel would come and trouble the water and

whoever stepped in first was made whole of whatever

disease he had.

If you can, for a moment, picture the events that

transpired. An angel would come down and trouble the

water. Imagine how frustrating it must have been for

those who had been waiting for years for their miracle.

While they were coming, someone else got there ahead of

them.

Jesus arrives on the scene and walks up to a man

who was powerless to help himself. He asks him a

question. “Wilt thou be made whole?” That seems a

ridiculous question to ask a man who is sitting by a

healing pool waiting for an angel to trouble the water. If

he was from New York he might have said, “Of course, I

want to be healed. What do you think I am sitting here

for, my health?”

Jesus was provoking the man to see where he was.

The man gave Jesus a ridiculous answer in response to

the question. He said, “Sir, I have no man. While I am

coming, another steps down and is healed in my place.”

Jesus didn’t ask him if he had a man. He asked him, “Wilt

thou be made whole?” In reality, Jesus was saying, “I am

your man. Rise, take up your bed, and walk.” The man

arose and walked.

Looking for the Missing Pieces of the Puzzle

Anyone reading this passage of scripture would

say to me, “Well, Brother Rodney, isn’t it wonderful that

the man was healed?” Yes, it is wonderful. But when I

read this scripture, something bothered me about this

whole story and I couldn’t put my finger on it.

I read and reread this passage of scripture and I

could not help wondering, If all those sick people were

there, why did Jesus only heal one. I could not understand

why others around this man didn’t shout out to Jesus and

ask Him to come over and heal them as He had healed

that man.

After praying about it, the answer suddenly

dawned on me. It was so simple I could have kicked

myself for not seeing it sooner. The reason the others

were not healed was because they had a man to help them

get into the pool. They were so busy looking to their man,

they missed their miracle. Their miracle came into the

midst of them, and then left. They were untouched

because they were too busy to see what had happened

right in front of them.

As we spend time in the Gospels and follow the

ministry of Jesus, we begin to see it without the cloak of

religion and in the power of the gospel.

Foundation Scriptures: Exodus 2:11-15; Exodus 3:1-22; Exodus 4:1-17

Exodus 2:11-15 tells us that Moses killed an Egyptian who was beating an Israelite, but when he rebuked one Israelite for beating another, they got mad at him. They did not recognize nor acknowledge his divine call at that point. When Moses realized that everyone knew what he had done, including Pharaoh who now wanted to kill him, he fled and took refuge in the land of Midian. Moses was destined to deliver Israel from their bondage in Egypt, but by God’s power and in God’s time, not by the arm of the flesh.

Exodus 3:1-22 says that one day while Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, on the backside of the wilderness, he led the flock to Mount Sinai. The Angel of the Lord appeared to him there in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush that burned with fire, but was not consumed. As he approached the bush, the Lord began to speak to him, “And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters and oppressors; for I know their sorrows and sufferings and trials. And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand and power of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a land good and large, a land flowing with milk and honey [a land of plenty].” (Exodus 3:7-8a AMP)

Then the Lord said, “Now behold, the cry of the Israelites has come to Me, and I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth My people, the Israelites, out of Egypt. And Moses said to God, Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? God said, I will surely be with you; and this shall be the sign to you that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain [Horeb, or Sinai].” (Exodus 3:9-12 AMP)

Then Moses asked God what he should say to the Israelites when he told them that the God of their fathers had sent him to them and they asked him, “What is His name?” The Lord said, “Tell them I AM!” Then He told Moses that He would give the Israelites favor and they would not leave empty-handed. They would strip the Egyptians of their belongings - jewels, articles of gold and silver, and garments - which were the payment owed to them for their years of slavery.

Rodney Howard Browne explains that Moses still did not think that the Israelites would believe him or obey him, so God first gave him two signs – the rod turning into a snake and back again and the hand turning leprous and then healthy again. Then God gave him a third sign. He said, in Exodus 4:8-9 AMP, “If they will not believe you or heed the voice or the testimony of the first sign, they may believe the voice or the witness of the second sign. But if they will also not believe these two signs or heed your voice, you shall take some water of the river [Nile] and pour it upon the dry land; and the water which you take out of the river [Nile] shall become blood on the dry land.” Moses still argued with God about his inadequacies and inability to fulfill this great mission and the Lord became angry with him, however, God told Moses that Aaron, his brother would go with him and help him to speak to Israel and to Pharaoh.

1.  This story of Moses and the burning bush is a type and shadow of God anointing us for service in His Kingdom.

a.    Moses, in a moment of anger, resorted to the arm of the flesh, killed an Egyptian, fled the land, and ended up looking after sheep on the backside of the desert. Even though God had called Him to deliver His people from bondage and captivity, he felt like a failure.

b.    How many of us, in the past, have been hasty and resorted to the arm of the flesh only to find ourselves out of the plan of God and on the backside of the desert?

c.   All is not lost however – God could still visit you with a “burning bush experience”.

? Moses was empowered at the burning bush

? God anointed him with the power to do signs and wonders

? The signs were the rod, the hand in his bosom, and the water poured out and turned into blood

? God told Moses that He would be with his mouth – He would help him to say what he was commanded to say

d.    God said, if they would not listen to the voice of the first sign or the second sign, there would be a third sign – a sign speaks

2.  It is important for each of us to have a burning bush experience.

a.    If we are to be used by God, we need to first have an encounter with God

b.    I do not have any proof of this, but I believe that when Moses stood in front of Pharaoh, Pharaoh saw the flames of the bush reflected in Moses’ eyes!

c.    When Moses spoke, it was like God speaking: Let my people go!

3.  This week is an opportunity for you to press in and allow the Lord to touch you with His anointing.

a.    How hungry are you?

b.    How thirsty are you?

c.    My testimony – my “burning bush” experience - occurred when I got intensely hungry and thirsty for God in July 1979 and He touched me with His fire

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6 KJV

“Give me a break! Lift the pressure. Do something.” Have you ever cried out to God in this way? There are many people who live and work in situations in which there seems to be no relief or way out of the hardship. They experience a constant, crushing strain. Perhaps it’s caused by physical discomfort from an illness or by poor family life.

God promises His children a practical and readily available source of strength. When we are in need of great might, God provides a supernatural energy that expresses itself intellectually, morally, physically, and spiritually in the life of the believer. What is the source of our strength? Jesus Christ. When we by faith received the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, He came to dwell in us in the person of the Holy Spirit.

Rodney Howard Browne teaches that we do not have to beg and plead for God to provide us with the strength to face difficult circumstances; He has already given us the gift. Our acknowledgement of weakness and our confession that we need Christ opens the door to the unsurpassable power of God flowing through us. Declaring that we have come to the end of our own capacity allows the Lord to demonstrate His provision and protection over his children.

There are experiences in life that are beyond our control and certainly beyond our limited strength to endure. If we don’t know the key to persevering, then we will tumble and fall. So, it is essential that we continually grow in our Christian life through studying God’s Word and seeking His will.

• 1.
• Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia:

• 2.
• Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

• 3.
• Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

• 4.
• Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

• 5.
• For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

• 6.
• And whether we be afflicted , it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer : or whether we be comforted , it is for your consolation and salvation.

• 7.
• And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing , that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

• 8.
• For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life :

• 9.
• But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves , but in God which raiseth the dead:

• 10.
• Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver : in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;

• 11.
• Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.

• 12.
• For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.

• 13.
• For we write none other things unto you, than what ye read or acknowledge ; and I trust ye shall acknowledge even to the end;

• 14.
• As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus.

• 15.
• And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that ye might have a second benefit;

• 16.
• And to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way toward Judaea.

• 17.
• When I therefore was thus minded , did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose , do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea yea, and nay nay?

• 18.
• But as God is true , our word toward you was not yea and nay.

• 19.
• For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.

• 20.
• For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

• 21.
• Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God;

• 22.
• Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.

• 23.
• Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth.

• 24.
• Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand .

In these 2 chapters of one Kings, we see the results of slovenly parenting most of the boys emulated the malignant deeds of their fathers. As followers, we certainly try and guarantee our children don’t inherit sinful tactics from us, but we’ve got to be similarly committed to modeling right behavior. The following are 5 questions for oldsters and grandparents to ask themselves about their influence on family : If our children walk in our techniques : What place will Jesus, the Bible, the church, and prayer have in their life? Is God’s will going to be the determining factor in their call making? Will they develop powerful godly relationships? Will they put the best effort into their vocation and handle their cash wisely? Will they spend perpetuity in heaven or separated from God?

When children are growing up, the environment folks create has the capability to impact them adversely or definitely. Everything girls and boys see, hear, and experience will make an amazing impression on their lives. In their adult years, how our children think about themselves, God, and other folks will be linked to their childhood and family influence.

Whether we are folks, parents-to-be, or grandparents, we are in charge of the life practices our boys and children learn from us. I challenge you to hope over these questions and make the obligatory changes the Lord discovers. If you do, I guarantee your children will thank God for you.

Don’t love your life more than you love Jesus

And Jesus answered them, The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified and exalted. 24 I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains [just one grain; it never becomes more but lives] by itself alone. But if it dies, it produces many others and yields a rich harvest. 25 Anyone who loves his life loses it, but anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. [Whoever has no love for, no concern for, no regard for his life here on earth, but despises it, preserves his life forever and ever.] 26 If anyone serves Me, he must continue to follow Me [to cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying] and wherever I am, there will My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. 27 Now My soul is troubled and distressed, and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour [of trial and agony]? But it was for this very purpose that I have come to this hour [that I might undergo it]. 28[Rather, I will say,] Father, glorify (honor and extol) Your [own] name! Then there came a voice out of heaven saying, I have already glorified it, and I will glorify it again. 29 The crowd of bystanders heard the sound and said that it had thundered; others said, An angel has spoken to Him! 30 Jesus answered, This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sake. 31 Now the judgment (crisis) of this world is coming on [sentence is now being passed on this world]. Now the ruler (evil genius, prince) of this world shall be cast out (expelled). 32 And I, if and when I am lifted up from the earth [on the cross], will draw and attract all men [Gentiles as well as Jews] to Myself. 33 He said this to signify in what manner He would die. John 12:23-33 AMP

Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just one grain – it never becomes more – but if it dies, it produces many more and yields a rich harvest. There is always a price to pay to see a harvest. Jesus had to die – sown as a seed – to reap the harvest of millions and millions of people. Hebrews 12:2 AMP says that Jesus, “for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

There is a price that we have to pay – there is a seed that must be sown - to see the harvest of souls come to the Lord in this generation. Rodney Howard Browne teaches that we must follow Jesus and conform to His example in all things. No, it is not possible, neither is it necessary, for us to be crucified in the same manner as Jesus. He had a specific purpose in dying and was the only one who could die to save us from sin, but if we want to be used by God it is important that we do take the steps necessary to crucify our own flesh. We must lay down our own life and allow our flesh, plans, desires, will, opinions, and selfishness to die. As we give up our life into God’s hands, only then can He anoint us and use us to further His kingdom on this earth.

And the word of the Lord came to me: 3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and put the stumbling block of their iniquity and guilt before their faces; should I permit Myself to be inquired of at all by them? 4 Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Every man of the house of Israel who takes his idols [of self-will and unsubmissiveness] into his heart and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity [idols of silver and gold] before his face, and yet comes to the prophet [to inquire of him], I the Lord will answer him, answer him according to the multitude of his idols, 5 That I may lay hold of the house of Israel in the thoughts of their own mind and heart, because they are all estranged from Me through their idols. 6 Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. Ezekiel 14:2-6 AMP

Self-will and unsubmissiveness are idols and are as unacceptable to God as much as idols of silver and gold. Anyone who loves their life too much to lay it down and to give it into God’s hands will lose it. If you have no respect for your eternity and are too focused on the world and your life in the world, you will lose your life and see hell. Jesus was completely unselfish and utterly yielded and obedient to the Father. Jesus did not love His life more than He loves His Father or more than He loves us. He was willing to obey God and lose – give up - His life for our sakes. If you will lay your life down, if you will have no love or concern for it, you will find it. If nothing on this earth, in this world, is more important than Jesus, than God’s will for you, you will find your life and see heaven.

You must be prepared to make the sacrifices that are required in order for you to be like Jesus, follow after Him, and continue to do His work on the earth as you represent Him to the world. The Father honored Jesus for his obedience and sacrifice. If you will make the sacrifices, He will do the same for you!

In Genesis, God created man – Adam and Eve - and gave them authority and responsibility over the earth. Because they were tempted by the devil to relinquish their authority to him, Jesus had to come to buy it back by shedding His blood and by His death and resurrection. He conquered and defeated the devil, took all earthly authority away from him and took back the keys of death and hell. Jesus, before He ascended back into heaven, restored this authority to every believer.

If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you have the right to use the Name of Jesus to walk in divine authority over devils and circumstances! With this authority comes a responsibility to do not our own will, but God’s will. God uses people to carry out his will on the earth. If you are a Christian, you are God’s representative on the earth. You are His instrument – His mouth, His hands, and His feet - if you don’t do His will on the earth it won’t be done. If you don’t say it, pray it, and do it, it won’t be done! How important is it to obey God promptly and exactly? Saul learned this lesson, too late.

Then came Amalek [descendants of Esau] and fought with Israel at Rephidim. (Exodus 17:8 AMP) And the Lord said to Moses, Write this for a memorial in the book and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens. And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord is my Banner; And he said, Because [theirs] is a hand against the throne of the Lord, the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. (Exodus 17:14-16 AMP)

In Moses’ day, God spoke to Esau’s rebellious descendants, the Amalekites, and promised that every remembrance of them would be blotted out from under the heavens.

Samuel told Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people Israel. Now listen and heed the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, I have considered and will punish what Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way when [Israel] came out of Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. (1 Samuel 15:1-3 AMP) And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, Blessed are you of the Lord. I have performed what the Lord ordered. 14 And Samuel said, What then means this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? 15 Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but the rest we have utterly destroyed. 16 Then Samuel said to Saul, Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me tonight. Saul said to him, Say on. 17 Samuel said, When you were small in your own sight, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed you king over Israel? 18 And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites; and fight against them until they are consumed. 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord, but swooped down upon the plunder and did evil in the Lord’s sight? 20 Saul said to Samuel, Yes, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag king of Amalek and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took from the spoil sheep and oxen, the chief of the things to be utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal. 22 Samuel said, Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim (household good luck images). Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king. (1 Samuel 15:13-23 AMP)

Saul was God’s chosen vessel to carry out His judgment on Amalek. However, Saul did not obey God – he did not kill every living thing as God had ordered - he left the king and the healthy animals alive. God was furious. He had made a declaration to Amalek and He always keeps His word. In Saul’s disobedience, he made God out to be a liar – which He is definitely not! Because of the seriousness of this offence, Saul lost both his anointing and his throne. How many times have you asked God to come through for you with something specific in a specified time frame? Who did God use to answer your prayer on time? Aren’t you glad that they obeyed God? What would have happened if they had not? We waited six months for a new van in 1988, because five people were disobedient to the Lord. Finally the sixth person obeyed God and helped us get a brand-new van! We sure were happy about it!

What has God asked you to do that may have been the answer to another person’s prayer? You most likely had no idea what they asked for, just that God told you to do something for them or say something to them. As you obey God immediately and specifically, you carry out His will and His plan in the earth. If you don’t, you make God go out and find someone else. Rodney Howard Browne teaches that if you continue to disobey God, He will cease to call on you and you will lose your rewards. Don’t be the one God has to bypass – be the one that God can depend on to carry out His will and purpose in the earth.