They have joined the ranks of those who have overcome. They have joined the ranks of those who are following the King of kings and Lord of lords. They have been picked and chosen people. They are chosen because their spirit is yielded to the living God. They are those who are a part of that great army of God. They listen to one Master. They respond to one beat. They are not distracted. They are not caught up with anything else. They move as a company.

I see a spirit of dread. I see a spirit of dread.  I see a spirit of dread over them for the enemies of the Lord thy God is running because the unashamed are coming together. I see a company of people who are fierce, bold and determined to fulfill the Master’s call, and God is choosing them from across the nations. They will not yield! They will not die! They will live!

The Spirit of the Lord is saying I am here. Will you join My beat? – Apostle Anthony Nelson

Last week JetBlue Flight 191, departing from New York and bound for Las Vegas was privy to a new experience. The pilot was locked out of the flight deck and not allowed to return. He had been acting strange and the co-pilot decided that it was in the best interest and safety of the passengers and crew not to allow him back into the command position.

In the ensuing melee, the captain was subdued by passengers and the flight crew while he ranted and raved in the passengers’ section. It was agreed by all that the hero of the day was the co-pilot. It does take courage and determination to do what you have to do. He decided to do something that is not easy to do and not a common thing in a flight deck.

1 Cor 16:13-14:  Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love. NIV

He started the flight as a co-pilot, not knowing that in the midst of it he would be the one in charge. The Christian life is like that sometimes. We started out believing a whole bunch of stuff that was taught to us or we just took for granted. But along our flight of faith in God, we begin to realize that something is not right about what we believe. The Spirit of God and His Word begins to stir our hearts and our discerner begins to get very uncomfortable.  

James 1:2-3: My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. NKJV

There is a definite problem brewing in your flight deck and you have to do something. This relationship has become very toxic to your faith and walk with the Lord and you don’t know what to do. They are senior to you in the faith; they have been there for you all the time and have given you counsel and a sense of security. It’s not easy and not a decision to be taken lightly, but like Paul says we have to lay aside some weights to run our race. You are going to have to shut some doors and decide to trust that God has another plan for your relationship. 

 2 Cor 1:9-10: Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead NKJV

 Martin Luther, a German monk, of a past generation had to make a very courageous decision to trust what God’s Word said and shut out the organized religion of his day. It meant he could no longer teach in their schools and that he was excommunicated from fellowship forever. But he became the father of the reformation and saw many others come into a new relationship with God and Christ because he dared to shut that door and trust God’s Word for his life. 

  Heb 2:13: And again:”I will put My trust in Him.” And again:”Here am I and the children whom God has given Me.” NKJV

Sometimes the door you have to shut is your past experience with God and with people. We don’t live our Christian life in a sterile environment where nothing of the past comes in. We all have a past, good or bad and sometimes we depend on it too much to define our future. It might have helped you before, but at approximately 30,000 feet the co-pilot suddenly had to decide to make a decision that had nothing to do with his past. When God gets ready to move in your life, you have to trust him for the future and shut the door to the past. 
 
You might think you are not qualified to make a decision for your future and the lives of those you are trusted with. That’s where faith in God’s Word comes in. It’s true and can be trusted with your future. It may be that you think your experience and knowledge are enough, but not when nothing is under your feet and you have to truly walk by faith and trust what God is saying to you.

Heb 10:38: Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”  NKJV

Some of you, dear friends, have been pilots over your life for far too long. God is in the flight deck, but He is not in control of your finances and future. You panic when the bank account drops below a certain amount; you have fear of disaster when life sends a little turbulence your way. You are deluded into believing that somehow you really are in control of this life that God has given you and get very nervous when you are not in control of your future.
 
I have come to encourage you to shut the door to fear, panic and anxiety.  He who keeps Israel will not slumber neither will He let you fall. We may have started out as the pilot, but it’s time to let the real Pilot take over our life and ministry. Let’s trust Him and His word in every area of our lives. He really is more than able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond our wildest dreams. So have a great flight and relax! He is in control.  – Apostle Anthony Nelson

I call them the frozen few, the petrified prayer party. They have this ability to tell you everything that is wrong, point out the situation as they see it, and leave you thinking all is lost. They seem to think that God has given them special discernment of your situation and they intend to let you know that how they see it, is how it is.

They carry a bucket of cold water around and throw it on your flame of hope, bursting in the heart of God’s people. They believe that doing nothing is tantamount to waiting on God. They don’t know what to do, but they sure know what won’t work. Have you met anyone like that in your Christian experience? If not, I guarantee you will and knowing how to respond to them is critical to your survival.

In the book of 2 Kings 7:1, 2, we see Elisha facing a frozen chosen one who was an officer of the king. The man of God had just spoken a word of hope and life to the situation. But this officer quickly makes ridicule of the word spoken and rejects the man of God’s word. Elisha’s response was not silence, but another word to contend and override the negative word of doubt and unbelief.

Overcoming Principle #1: There is a word that proceeds every situation in your life. When you know it, speak it in faith, and watch what God will do.

Right now you might be facing a no-win situation and every door seems shut, every road seems to lead to a dead end, and you feel hopelessness creeping up on the inside of you. I want you to hear me right now as I share this truth for your life:  YOU DON’T HAVE TO STAY WHERE YOU ARE AND DIE WHERE YOU STAND!

The four leprous men in 2 Kings 7 read their situation right and made a choice to move towards where they knew  provision was. Too many of us are not willing to rightly discern our situation and with faith in a great God, move out and trust Him to do what only He can do.

Overcoming Principle #2:  Rightly discerning your situation is the first step towards victory.

If you allow hopelessness and others to share their doubt and unbelief in your life, then their reality will become your reality and you will die sweetly saved in the same place that you started from. But not me! Like Paul the apostle, I believe there is more in God than what I have attained, and I am willing to move from this place to receive it.

Overcoming Principle #3:  Where there is no faith-filled action, God has nothing to use to move on your behalf.

You see, saints, I would rather be one of the four lepers that were cast out, willing to face death and move from where they were than to sit in the company of spiritual and physically starving people who just don’t believe that in one day God can turn the situation around.  So I am learning to choose my company more wisely today than I used to.

What about you? Are you willing leave the frozen chosen and enter into a new place in God?  I know I am, so let us leave this place and change our place of rest. 

Deut 28:8-11: The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.  The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you.  And the Lord will  grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your  livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord swore to your  fathers to give you.

- Apostle Anthony Nelson 

]]> http://www.apostolictraining5.org/rhema-word/why-stay-where-you-are/feed 0 http://www.apostolictraining5.org/rhema-word/this-is-not-the-promised-land http://www.apostolictraining5.org/rhema-word/this-is-not-the-promised-land#comments Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:12:54 +0000 Editor http://www.apostolictraining5.org/?p=986 I feel the Lord impressing me to say to the Body of Christ that this is not the Promised Land. This is not the place of His promise of eternal blessing. Where you are is not why God sent His Son to die for you and me. His love for you far exceeds what you are experiencing right now.

There are times when we can be easily deceived by our present situation and place spiritual labels on specific situations in our journey with the Lord. Like the children of Israel in Ex. 15:22-27, they left Egypt but Egypt did not leave them. Their cry was “What shall we drink?”

Uppermost in the minds of the Israelites wasn’t how to please God but “What shall we eat?” and “What shall we drink?’” According to Jesus, these questions reveal an anxious heart, not a trusting heart (Matt 6:21, 25-33), and this can lead to all kinds of problems.

A single day in the wilderness without water would be tolerable, two days would be difficult, but three days would be impossible, especially for the children and animals. And then to be disappointed by finding bitter water would only have made the situation worse. (The word “Marah” means “bitter” and is related to the word myrrh.) But God was testing His people, not because He didn’t know their hearts, but because they didn’t know their own hearts. People often say, “Well, I know my own heart,” but they forgot that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9)

The Lord tests us to encourage spiritual growth and bring out the best in us, but the devil tempts us to bring out the worst in us and to encourage spiritual immaturity. The attitude that we take toward our difficulties determines which direction life will go, for what life does to us depends on what life finds in us. If we trust God and obey His Word, we’ll pass the test and grow; but if in unbelief we complain and disobey the Lord, we’ll fail the test and remain immature (James 1:12-18; Heb. 12:1-11).

You see friends, the children of Israel received fresh water and were led to a restful spot with twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees and they camped there. It was a wonderful place but it was not supposed to be the end of the journey. I wonder how many of us have prayed and cried to the Lord and He provided for us a pit stop. Instead of thanking the Lord and setting our sights on His plan, we camped out right there. No more fresh revelation, no enemies, no Egyptians. I can hear us say now “I am blessed; He loves me and I have all I need. But you feel the stirring in your heart as the Lord reminds you that this is not your final destination. There is more for you than this. I have a place of inheritance that requires more of Me and less of you. Is your heart open to leave the springs of that teaching, that great fellowship and move on in your spiritual journey? Do you love comfort and ease so much that you will disqualify yourself from the rest of your blessing?

“The people of Israel were experts when it came to murmuring and complaining (Ex. 16:1-12; Num. 14:2,27-29; 16:41; 17:1-10; Deut. 1:27; Ps. 78:17 ff; 106:14). While God was testing them, they were tempting Him by their attitude and their words. To tempt God means to deliberately adopt a disobedient posture and dare Him to do anything about it. On more than one occasion in their wilderness wanderings, the Israelites invited the judgment of God by their obstinate attitude and their persistent grumbling. Our Heavenly Father is long-suffering and gracious, but sometimes He has to “spank” His children to teach us how to behave.” (from The Bible Exposition Commentary: Old Testament © 2001-2004 by Warren W. Wiersbe. All rights reserved.)

Remember He is our Father and we are His children. Where you are is not where God intended for you to stay. Get up from that place of spiritual ease, pack your bags and be prepared to move on and if none go with you, go any way. If none in your family and church decide to go further God will provide some group just like yourself who are on a journey to go deeper in Him.

Have a wonderful journey with Him. Why? Because the best is yet to come. - Apostle Anthony Nelson

I am your Exceeding Great Reward. I am the Glory and the Lifter of your Head. I am the One that takes you from and takes you through and takes you to for I have called you to become. I have called you to become. I have called you to become and so as you become, My children, what you speak is what you will become because My life is in you. My life is in you, but I need to come out of you.

Speak My Word! Sing My Word! Decree My Word! Live My Word and you will become like Me. I overcame. I overcame through My Son. Will you allow Me to come out of you so you can overcome as My children? – Prophetess Cheryl Nelson