Nov 6 2011

A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words

Each morning I begin my prayers, “Heavenly Father, I praise You and worship You. You are the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. You are merciful and loving; You are Holy and Just.” Then I think, almost without fail, that those words are never enough to describe who He is to me. Words are never enough to truly reveal the glory and majesty of our Creator.

Moses, Daniel, Isaiah, David, and many more wrote of the wonder of our God in the Old Testament. Their words, inspired by God Himself, make up ¾ of the entire Bible, which is no small book. Still, for all the prophets spoke and wrote of God’s love, mercy, and holiness, the people didn’t completely understand the majesty of God because our languages are insufficient for that task.

I was thinking about this during my prayer time one morning, and the children’s book Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney came to mind. It is a story about Little Nut Brown Hare and his dad Big Nut Brown Hare. Little Nut Brown Hare tells Big Nut Brown Hare how much he loves him: “I love you as high as I can hop!” he says. His father responds, “Well, I love you as high as I can hop,” which is, of course, higher. Throughout the story they try to describe how much they love each other as Little Nut Brown Hare is getting ready to go to bed. Just as he is drifting off to sleep, the little one says with a smile, “I love you to the moon!” After he is off into dreamland, his loving father says, “I love you to the moon . . . and back.”

Then I heard God say, “I love you to the cross . . . and back.” A thousand words and more can’t adequately describe the love of God. But this one picture — of Jesus on the cross, of His bleeding brow ringed with a crown of thorns, of His bleeding side — portrays it so well.

I believe that’s why the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. Words alone were not enough to portray His love. He had to come down from Heaven and show us. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” 1 John 3:16 (NIV).

I know I love God, but I also know that He loves me and you more. He loves us to the cross . . . and back.

This post was originally posted on my blog, Linda Kruschke’s Blog, and is offered here as a reminder of how much God loves the broken believers of the world.

Mar 24 2011

The Blood: A Crash Course, A BB Classic

I believe there are three things contained in the Blood of Jesus – forgiveness, deliverance and protection. Many Christians only know about the first one – forgiveness. They have no idea that there are two other things available to them that will enable them to live a victorious and overcoming life in the Lord while still living down here on this earth. I will briefly discuss each of these three things.

1. Forgiveness

As Christians, we all know there is definitely forgiveness in the Blood of Jesus. This is the basic central message of true Christianity – that God the Father sent His one and only begotten Son Jesus Christ down to our earth in the flesh to physically die on a cross in order to save us and give us total and permanent forgiveness for all of our sins.

Without Jesus dying and shedding His blood on the cross, there would be no forgiveness and no remission of any of our sins. Here are some extremely powerful verses from Scripture specifically telling us this:

“For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:28)
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)
“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been made near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13)
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood … for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” (Leviticus 17:11)

Notice the emphasis on the word “blood” in these verses. There is no question that in these verses, and others in the Bible, that the blood that Jesus personally shed for us on the cross, which caused His physical death, is what leads us to being able to receive eternal salvation, the forgiveness of all of our sins, and entrance into heaven when we die and cross over.

2. Deliverance

Now what are the Scriptural grounds that will give us the legal right to be able to use Jesus’ Blood when taking on any attacks that may come our way? As you will see in some of the stories in the Testimonies section of our site, you can Plead the Blood of Jesus against specific types of attacks such as attacks from demons or other evil people, any kind of physical illness or disease, or any kind of addiction to drugs or alcohol.

Many Christians are not aware of this second component that is in the Blood of Jesus which will entitle us to be able to use His Blood to go on the offensive against any adversity that may come our way.

Something else happened that day when Jesus died on the cross for all of our sins. The Bible tells us that Jesus also defeated Satan and all of the powers of darkness that day! Here are several good verses from Scripture proving this point to you:

“… that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” (Hebrews 2:14)
“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13)
“Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.” (Colossians 2:15)
“For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8)
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” (Revelation 12:11)

What defeated Satan and all his dark powers? The physical death of Jesus on the cross. And what did Jesus do when He died that day on the cross for all of us? He shed His Blood!

This is why Pleading the Blood of Jesus works so well in real life combat situations when it really is needed to defeat attacks that are coming against us from the dark side.

Many Christians are not fully aware of this second fact about the Blood of Jesus – that the Blood of Jesus can also be used to engage with our enemies when they do try to launch any kind of an attack against us. I believe that all of the above Scripture verses definitely tell us that the blood that Jesus shed that day on the cross has totally defeated Satan and all of his dark powers.

The only thing remaining is for all Christians to fully realize this incredible fact, and to grab a hold of this powerful truth and not to be afraid to use when they need it – especially when demons or other bad and evil people are attempting to come against them with any type of unjust action or attack.

Here are four more powerful verses from Scripture showing that all Christians now have God’s supernatural power and anointing available to them to use when they will need it to engage with the dark side of this life:

“Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19)

Notice in this verse we have God’s power over all the power of our enemies, not just against some or part of their powers. This means we have the ability to come out completely victorious in some of life’s battles and struggles, but only if we learn how to properly use what is now available to us.

“Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” (Luke 9:1)

Notice in this verse that Jesus gives the twelve apostles power over all demons, not just some of them. If we have God’s power available to us to defeat all demons, then I believe that we also have God’s power to defeat any and all humans that may try to come against us with any type of unjust action or attack.

“… but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.” (Daniel 11:32)

“Knowing their God” means that we have spent quality time in establishing a good, intimate, personal relationship with the Lord. If we do this, then this verse is telling us that God will strengthen and empower us when we need His power to be able to carry out great exploits and great adventures for Him.

“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9)

This verse is telling us that God is actually looking for people that He can anoint with His power and show Himself strong through, but the implication appears to be that He really cannot find many people who are willing to pay the price to be able to really walk with His anointing.

As you can see from the way all of the above Scripture verses are worded – true Christianity is not a weak, wimpy, or passive religion. As born-again believers, we all have the Holy Spirit literally living and dwelling on the inside of us.

As a result, all of our bodies have now become the temple in which He now lives in. His supernatural power is now fully available to all of us in order to help us handle some of the storm clouds that can come against us in this life.

Learning how to properly Plead the Blood of Jesus for any deliverance and protection that you may need is just one part of our arsenal. I will be doing other articles in the future covering some of the other aspects on this part of our walk with the Lord.

3. Protection

As you will see in the next section, you can also Plead the Blood of Jesus on specific things that you want protected before any kind of adversity could strike them – like your body, your house, your car, your finances, etc. The goal is to Plead the Blood of Jesus on those things in order to protect you before any kind of adversity could ever come your way.

If the above verses are showing us that we can Plead the Blood of Jesus against any attacks that may have already come our way when we need God’s deliverance and/or healing power to set us free, then I also believe it only stands to reason that we can also go one step further with the Blood of Jesus – and that is to use it for protection before any actual attacks could come our way.

In this case, you simply Plead the Blood of Jesus on whatever you want God’s full protection on before any attacks could possibly come your way.

I believe there is something else in the Bible that gives us another clue that entitles us to be able to Plead the Blood for this specific purpose. In the Old Testament, God the Father had it arranged with His chosen people, the Jews, that in order for them to be able to enter into a covenant relationship with Him, they had to have some kind of temporary covering for their sins. Jesus had not come yet, so there was no full remission for any of the sins that had occurred back at that time

What God the Father had set up was the sacrifice of blemish free animals such as bulls, goats and lambs. Their blood had to be shed once per year on what was called the Day of Atonement. The shedding of these animals’ blood was what gave the Jewish people a temporary covering for their sins so as to enable them to enter into a covenant personal relationship with God the Father.

This is why Jesus is called the “Lamb of God.” He is an extension of the lambs used by His Father in the Old Testament to give the Jewish people a temporary covering for their sins. Once Jesus had come to shed His own blood on the cross, there was no more need for any more animal sacrifices. His death on the cross had completed and fulfilled what His Father had started in the Old Testament with the sacrifice of these animals.

Now watch this analogy. In the shedding of the lamb’s blood on the Day of Atonement, there was a temporary covering for the sins of the Jewish people. Then Jesus comes in the New Testament, and the shedding of His blood now gives all believers complete and total forgiveness for all of their sins.

Now here is where I feel that something else occurred back in the Old Testament that may entitle us to be able to use the Blood of Jesus for divine protection. In the story of the Passover, God had sent His servant Moses to rescue the children of Israel from their captivity to the Egyptians. God had thrown ten whopper plagues at the Pharaoh in an effort to try and get him to release His people from his rule.

On one of those plagues, God tells Pharaoh that He is going to allow an angel of death to come through their camp to kill all of their firstborn children. However, before God sets all of this up to occur, He tells His people to shed the blood of a blemish free lamb and to put that shed blood on the doorposts and lintels of their houses.

God tells His people that the angel of death will bypass their house if he sees this shed blood put on their doorposts and lintels. This angel of death will thus not kill any of the Israelites’ firstborn – but only if he sees the blood properly applied to the doorposts and lintels of their houses.

In other words, the blood of this blemish free lamb was being used for divine protection before this attack would come their way. Had each person not properly applied this blood on their doorposts, their firstborn children would have also been killed, along with the rest of the firstborn children of the Egyptians.

Here is my argument on this. If the shed blood of the Old Testament lambs used for the temporary covering of sins eventually leads to the shedding of Jesus’ blood for permanent and total forgiveness of all of our sins – can we also use that same analogy and say that the shed blood of the lambs used in the Passover for divine protection could also lead to the shed Blood of Jesus having divine protection in it?

I personally believe the answer is yes, and that is why God the Father seems willing to honor and work with any believer who will plead the blood on whatever he wants protection on before any attack can come their way – just like He did in the story of the Passover with His own chosen people.

Taken from “The Blood of Jesus for Deliverance and Protection”. Much more can be found at this site:

http://www.bible-knowledge.com/Blood-of-Jesus-How-to-Plead-for-Protection-and-Deliverance.html

Nov 24 2010

The Art of Begging

The poor in the spirit

Jesus looked at his followers and said,
“You people who are poor are blessed,
because the kingdom of God belongs to you”.

Luke 6:20, NCV

It is an astonishing thing, to have Jesus look at you. His steady, focussed gaze is transformational, He sees me, and in this huge mass of people Jesus has picked me! It’s like He takes His ‘spiritual highlighter’ and sets me apart from everyone else. Amazing grace!

But this is not arrogance or even wishful thinking. We’ve been selected to be the special ones, not so much in an elite way, but in a way that glorifies only Him. Scripture emphasizes this by stating ‘the weak are chosen’. As I stood in this teeming crowd, I was surrounded by some very attractive and muscular people. They preened and postured, but that wasn’t what He was looking for. When He saw me, He stopped, and then He picked me.

Those who have been ‘chosen’ are definitely not superheroes material. We are the weak, and blind, and very foolish. There is ‘zero attractability’. In the classroom, we are the nerdiest of nerds. (We are nerdisimos.) In the spirit we have a ‘less than zero’ rating. In a sense, we’re not even ‘choosable’, we are so pathetic.

Disciples are often elevated to sainthood even before they die. We find someone that seems to have figured out how to put it together. Then we go ahead and put our ‘mark’ on that person and then become loyal followers. But if we extend ourselves to hear the Spirit (who by the way, is very easily heard) we find that our choice is a Saul, and not a David. In other words, he is very close but is disqualified.

We are Christians because Jesus chose us to be. We come into His presence because He left the doors open for us to squeeze in. We enter in because Jesus has been ‘bled out’ for us. Everything was drained when He died. He stepped into our ‘nightmare’ to allow us to escape into the light. Without His presence, we would decay into a dark and perpetual night.

And now He stands directly in front of us. He looks (it seems He is always looking) and says something to us that is very absurd and silly. ‘Those who are poor will become those who are very, very blessed’. Quite strange and bizarre. Like the guy sitting on mass transit right next to you, who is talking to himself, and then answers! He simply doesn’t mesh with what is real. He has lost touch with reality.

The kingdom is up for grabs! Anyone can snatch it and bring home something substantial. Poor people, those who are at the level ‘of very little account’ have been moved ahead in the line, right up to the front. Suddenly, those in the back become envious. This envy becomes jealousy and then rebellion. But it changes nothing.

The ‘poor in spirit‘ have just inherited the Kingdom of God. It has become theirs and it won’t be something that can be overturned. The ‘ultimate’ has become fully available to the ‘least’. Those out there who are starving, will be those who get the most.

Sep 16 2010

Spelunking Into the Presence

“Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.”

(Hebrews 10:22)

I have never really understood “spelunking”. Some consider it a sport, but I guess I really don’t see the athleticism of it. People actually seem to derive some satisfaction and thrill from exploring muddy caves in the dark. I guess I can try to grab the basic idea of it, but to me it’s a whole lot like “parachuting”. Why jump out of a perfectly decent airplane, when you can sit in a Starbucks with a vanilla latte? It doesn’t compute.

But there is a sense about caving that resonates with the hunger in a man’s or woman’s heart. Hebrews tell us that we are to enter the presence of God. The keys will be sincerity and trust. In other words, a honesty, and a trust that will open up the passage. Spiritual spelunkers in a quest for His glory.

Sometimes something will block a person. Depression is a barrier for us. Essentially it effects our passion and strength. Our pursuit of God is nullified by the corrosive facets of depression and melancholy. There is no longer any zip or zeal for His presence. The fire of zeal we once had just fizzles out. But to reach our goal, we need to squeeze beyond the blockage. There is a spiritual resistance. Our infernal enemy is working against any progress.

So much involves patience and humility. A person must continue to probe ahead but slowly and patiently, taking their time and monitoring their progress. Humility is necessary. An awareness of self and our dimensions in tight spots. “Am I small enough to squeeze through that hole?”

Our scripture tells us that we have a key to the throne room of God. Our guiltiness and our defiled conscience have both been cleansed or sanitized from anything that would corrupt us. We haven’t done a thing. And we are exhorted to be very bold. Jesus has made us pure. We are clean.

Sep 4 2010

The Giant Mocks Us

The Giant is Mocking Us

From 1 Samuel 17

Young David stood and looked at Goliath face-to-face. Physically there was hardly a comparison. Goliath was almost 10 feet tall, a warrior since birth, armed to the teeth, we read of his armor–he was like a human tank. David was nothing, a pesky boy, nothing more. Goliath preened and strutted into the field of battle, and David was stepping up for his first try.

Goliath begins to blaspheme. He boasts and mocks. In his mind he is superior. His arrogance knows no bounds. The center of the universe is the Philistine army, and he is their champion. Nothing can compare, the glory is his.

“As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground”. 1 Sam. 17:48

I find David to be exceptional. His reaction to the human mountain of Goliath was to run directly at him. This is astonishing. Goliath is a human wood chipper. Everyone who has faced him has been destroyed. There have been no survivors to speak of.

Many of us face a giant called “despair”. He has marched out on the field of battle confident of his ultimate triumph over us. We have been tutored that there are enemies that can destroy us. We’ve been indoctrinated to accept the inevitable slavery with a spirit of meekness.

The concept and milieu of going to war has not been something that didn’t get passed on to us. The enemy-giant of despair is real and brutal. Our destruction is inevitable in his mind. Despair believes he will destroy us. Its just a matter of time.

So many believers, cowed and intimidated, surrender to the boastings of the giant Despair. Hope, and faith are drained out of our being, and we become a empty spiritual shell. The “warfare” dimension gets nullified, and soon irrelevant. Despair reaches us and has the full intention of taking total control.

David ran to the battle. He passed through the dark intimidation and influence to approach Goliath. There was no passiveness or doubt to cloud his mind. David took a spiritually aggressive position, he took on the confusion and ran directly at the giant Goliath. His spirit was untouchable.

As believers, we struggle and pout. We turn our hearts over to despair. We become available to the enemies workings. And the confidence we might have through faith is dissipated into doubt and confusion. But the victory we have in Christ allows us the liberty, through the Blood of Him who defeats the goliath of despair.