The last few months we have been sharing a variety of godly, faith building confessions that you can use to speak over your life. We have great confidence that faith in the word of God will not return unto us void, but will accomplish that which pleases You and prosper in the thing that it is sent forth to do. (Isaiah 55:11)
The Holy Spirit reminds us that the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)
As you have stood in faith to see the truth of God’s word change the circumstance, you may have felt a barrier holding back the goodness of God from moving powerfully in your life. Pressing in and seeking wisdom from the Holy Spirit He brought me over to James 4:2-5. “You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet, you do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adultresses!
Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity of God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the scripture says in vain, ‘The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously’?” Our carnal nature is at odds against the person Jesus envisioned we were when He died upon the cross for each of us.
The belief we speak when we confess the word of God is brought into the earth as we work with the Holy Spirit. As we ask and decree and declare, we check our hearts to make sure we are not asking amiss. In this season, God is calling His children to walk in His ways. In order to do that we ask for His grace to help us as we speak the word of God into our circumstances.
We recall that our Lord’s grace is His divine influence upon our heart that has a reflection of Christ in our lives. James 4:6 tells us how to believe for God’s grace in our lives. “But He gives us more and more grace (power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully). That is why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace [continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it).”
Begin to ask the Lord to help you run from participating in envy and strife. Ask for His grace to meet this evil tendency. When we participate in strife and self-seeking we extend an invitation to Satan into our lives. James 4:16 explains what happens: “For wherever there is jealousy (envy) and contention (rivalry and selfish ambition), there will be confusion (unrest, disharmony, rebellion) and all sorts of evil and vile practices.” Let us lay aside strife, envy, and block every evil work from our lives. Let’s be sure to watch our tongues so that we do not defile ourselves and the whole body of Christ. Pride and jealousy can spring up in our lives as they are a favorite ploy of the enemy successfully used to ruin lives for centuries. Strife is another one of Satan’s destructive favorites.
All of these are traced back to fear, and feeling as an orphan rejected, rather than a beloved child of the King of Kings. Kris Valloton from Bethel Church mentioned this, “When I refuse to change my character or sinful patterns in my life, I am really saying ‘Jesus what You did on the cross was not good enough for me.’ It is rejecting the power of the cross, and the grace of God.” Stay on the wall watching closely for the deceptions that the enemy wants to deploy into your life.
Prayer: Father, by faith in the finished work of the cross, I place my heart and soul before You. Please change my heart. Heavenly Potter, please take the dust of my life and breathe on these dry bones where my carnal nature has permitted a stronghold to be established. As You bring forth the beautiful new wine skin in my life, please help me to forever close the door to these sins. Protect me with Your great love so Satan cannot feed and establish a presence in my life on the dust of my carnal nature. Help me Holy Spirit to no longer tolerate these sins in my life. May I overflow with the new wine of the Holy Spirit. By faith I receive Your amazing grace to remove the dross from my life. Replace the old ways that I have processed life through so that my life reflects the new nature in my re-created born again spirit. In Jesus name I pray.
Amen,
Blessings from your prayer team
