3 depressed men. WORD of God Jan 25th. Sign up!
Hello! Have you signed up for our next session yet? It’s approaching! Saturday January 25th at 8am is the date and time! Sign up here! The session is called the “WORD of GOD” and it’s tied to the 2020 WORD “ASCEND” that I shared in the first blog of the year. Read it here.
Over the past several months I have had conversations with 2 different men who both diminished to not just tears, but deep sobbing as I spoke with them. One man was about to put his dog down. He was going alone to do it. He started out stoic in the conversation, until I mentioned God. The other was just betrayed and left by his wife after 25 years of marriage. He started out complaining, until I mentioned God. Neither were believers in God to my knowledge. My conversations with each were different; but a common “WORD” I said to each was, “I will pray that God comforts you, that you know you are not alone.” With those words, emotion broke through. The intensity of their emotion surprised me, but I took it as a holy moment, and prayed for their souls while they released pain. Each were in desperate need of a sustaining WORD from God.
While searching for a picture for this blog I found this one without copyright restrictions. The man who took the photo made this comment about what it means- “…I always keep a wide smile on my mouth, but sometimes I feel that I am lifting mountains of depression on my chest. Wondering why? My keyboard will run out of alphabets if I answered that question! MAY GOD HELP ME!”
That’s a big unspoken confession. Mountains of depression! Prayers alone, without the WORD of God, are they enough to sustain us? See below on 4 temptations of Jesus. How did Jesus reply, with prayer or in another way?
Each of us, no matter our circumstances, need a sustaining WORD from God… as regularly as the meals we eat! Jesus was clear that we do not live on bread alone, i.e. on things that sustain our flesh. But we live by every WORD that proceeds from the mouth of God. What is the last sustaining WORD that God has spoken to you? Can and do you quiet yourself to hear it? Do you need to practice sitting quietly with God to receive it? Is the hustle and bustle of life preventing you from taking a good hour to be with God and His WORDS? If so, sign up for January 25th!
The first handful of scriptures in the Gospel of John tell us that the WORD (Jesus) “was” already. In the beginning, Jesus already “was”. Therefore, Jesus is eternal. Jesus is self-existent, just like God the Father. Before the beginning, Jesus was with GOD the Father. And Jesus is God. John tells us that Jesus is the Source and Creator of all things. In Him is life. He alone possesses life. His life is the source of light to all. Therefore, if you do not have his life in you, you do not have light in you. His light overcomes darkness. Darkness cannot lay hold of his light; it cannot overtake his light. Darkness can only be transformed by his light.
Here are the actual scriptures of John 1:1-5:
In the beginning was the WORD and the WORD was with God and the WORD was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were made through Him, without Him nothing was made that had been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines through the darkness and the darkness does not comprehend it.
John chapter 1 goes on to say that the WORD became flesh and dwelt here on earth among us… If the WORD of God became flesh in Jesus, it is to become flesh in us! You can practice that with the group who is already signed up for January 25th! Sign up!
Why practice? Because you are a target for attack. If you look at the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4 ,and drill it down to Satan’s strategy, what do you see? You see that Satan attacked the identity of Jesus, the Son of God. And what did he tempt Jesus to do? This is not an exclusive list, but there are 4 big things that I saw as I meditated upon it this week:
- Prove yourself.
- Satisfy your flesh.
- Harm yourself.
- Forfeit your soul.
How many of those can you identify as attacks you have faced, are facing? How hard are you working to prove yourself? How are you driven by your flesh at the expense of your soul health? What thoughts or actions are pervasive and causing real harm to yourself or others? How consumed are you with things of the world at the detriment of your soul?
“If you are the Son of God…”
Jesus when tempted by Satan, responded with the WORD of God that was in Him. He told Satan that man does not live on bread alone but on every WORD that proceeds from the mouth of God. He didn’t need bread to feed his flesh. He himself was the WORD that sustains. He himself is the WORD that sustains you.
For a WORD from God, Jesus wants us to consume His WORD. He wants us to hide it in our hearts so that we do not sin against Him. If Jesus had to battle using the WORD of GOD, we do also! Is His WORD in you to quickly refute and overcome lies, temptations, anxiety, fear, hopelessness, anger, judgment, self-obsession, self-hatred, pride? How do you battle and gain victory over the negative thoughts and temptations that entice your flesh desires? Or are you giving in to temptation?
Jesus has a sustaining word of the Spirit for you. A WORD from God sustains! A WORD from God heals. A WORD from God reaches into the deepest places within to restore, renew, and reframe our mind.
What is the last WORD from him that sustained you? That fed you?
The session on January 25th is about taking our eyes off of what can be seen. Because what can be seen is temporal. Instead we will focus our eyes on what is unseen, because what is unseen is eternal. We are to focus on the invisible. Looking up, reaching up, climbing up, ascending to the realm of God’s WORD. His supernatural WORD descending in us to raise us up in the power of the Spirit. Sign up for January 25th! Tell a friend!
