Blessed Freedom

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I have not written a ConquerorShot in quite some time. My life’s journey has allowed me to realize new opportunities to write, speak, teach and live the Conqueror Lifestyle. Yet I have missed this outlet to share truth relative to life situations and how we experience the “more” in Romans 8:37 . This month’s principle is INTEGRITY. Today, in my awakening, the resounding voice of truth of the blessed freedom we, children of God, possess, gave me clarity of mind and spirit as I reflect on God’s faithfulness. I pray that every reader and follower will rejoice with me in knowing that John 8:36 says “So if the son sets you free, you will be really free.(NET)”  “Our God IS FAITHFUL.“

On Tuesday morning my awakening was a source of thanksgiving and reflection. Often times family matters between husband/wife, father/son, father/daughter, brother/brother and brother/sister offer challenges that affect us to the core.  The saying is true “no one can hurt you more than family.”  I can testify to that from both perspectives – the hurt and the hurtful. “Yet I have come to realize in my reflection that God is ALWAYS in control of ANY given situation and my readiness to acknowledge His Sovereignty in ANY gut wrenching situation is how I continue to experience His blessed freedom. The Conqueror Lifestyle© can preserve and provide you with this outlook on any given day.” (Rev. D)

I was awakened by a phone call from my daughter (progress) “Daddy, I need you to come here… I WAS IN AN ACCIDENT… HURRY DADDY!”  As the urgency in her voice called me to immediate action to “get there” I rushed to my 2 car garage (progress) and got in my car (progress) to go and see about my “baby girl.”  I was too “busy” to pray, ponder a principle, reflect on Scripture or anything concerning my spiritual hygiene and therefore it was on “auto.” Similarly, I had not brushed my teeth, washed my face or showered my body. My call to action only gave me time to “get there.” When I pulled up I immediately noticed her car.  Then I saw her standing there on the side of the curvey, 2-lane, slippery road. To my surprise she was standing, tall, unharmed in any way from this obvious loss of control with life-threatening potential. I had to contain myself concerning my visceral response to what I realized driving up. As I hurried over to her my heart was pounding with overwhelming joy for God’s faithfulness. “He protected my daughter once again!”

My 1st image of my daughter's 1st accident
My 1st image of my daughter’s 1st accident

 

As I grabbed her into my arms I could feel her tension as she was in shock. Her embrace was firm until she exhaled and sobbed in anguish over what she had just experienced.  The obvious loss of her car was annunciating  her regret as she was just starting to get used to her freedom of having her own vehicle in her fourth week. As I listened to her lament over this apparent “MTaC” moment, the Lord reminded me of this passage of scripture:

7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear Him, And rescues them. 8 O taste and see that the LORD is good ; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!(Psalm 34:7-8 NASB)

While I was on my way to “get there” God and His angels “were already there!”  There was no other way to help her than to share my thanksgiving for the faithfulness of God concerning my daughter and His child. He gave His angels charge over the entire aspect of her first accident. What I knew as I drove up was she was driving in the same direction I was, yet her car did not hit the tree HEAD ON! The impact was TOTALLY absorbed by the rear of her car as it amazingly was ‘TURNED AROUND.”  She could not explain how it ended up in that position as she described the spinning experience as she braced herself for impact. But God was fueling my spirit with the POWER, THE SAME POWER, that managed her miraculous outcome. He was the reason for her protection, safety, and most of all her blessed freedom to walk away from that accident without ANY injury to her body.

I COMMENCED PRAISE & THANKSGIVING by testifying of His goodness, grace and faithfulness all around that accident scene and reminded her of the evidence as she was standing there, tall and beautiful, unharmed with no visible scars. There was no need to visit the ER and, as she would later prove, she was in good enough condition to go on to school later that morning and take a physics test, pass it and maintain her A average. There is Blessed Freedom in knowing God IS able!!!

In the same manner, I am fortunate enough to have an ongoing experience with Blessed freedom as the Conqueror Lifestyle continues to make my pathway straight. I told you I had not performed any spiritual hygiene or bodily hygiene as I rushed to “get there”  But the fact that I have routinely upheld my responsibilities towards personal and spiritual hygiene daily prior to the accident, there was evidence of it as I had to interact with my daughter, the officers, the tow truck driver and even myself. The qualities of a conqueror include being prepared to walk in the freedom that is realized as I maintain my position In Christ. His blessed freedom is possible because I continue to trust in, rely on and believe that His Power is in me. If you know Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior, He will sustain you, protect you, provide for you, mature you and most of all bless you with “more than you could ever ask or think of.”  We serve a Mighty God with unlimited resources. It is in your best interest to allow for your integral attachment to the Spirit of Christ, through His death, burial and resurrection to sustain your integrity in Him on a daily basis. The results include Blessed Freedom to realize His faithfulness.  “John 8:36 says “So if the son sets you free, you will be really free.(NET)” 

 

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A Choice To Serve

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Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Choices
Choices (Photo credit: Sky Noir)

Every day you realize you are awake and able to live another day, you have a choice to make.  In addition to the choices about what you will wear, what you will eat and what you will do first as you survey your list of options, you are responsible for an even greater choice. If you are not willing to make this choice, your decision is made for you. You can thank Adam for that. Whether you are God‘s child, or not, the life you live will always present opportunities for you to become willing to make a choice to serve the God who created the Heavens and the Earth or the gods of this world.

The choice is found in who you will serve –  who you will work for through the service of your life.  We all are destined to be used by God – goodness and evil are all manifested by God’s Sovereignty. Many of you seperate good from evil and designate good as being of God and evil exclusively being from Satan.  We need to consider Psalm 24:1 A Psalm of David and I Corinthians 10:26 An Epistle of Paul’s – “The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein” – EVERYTHING THAT IS HERE AND EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS HERE IS BECAUSE OF THE LORD’S SOVEREIGNTY. If you fail to accept this truth then your choice will always be manipulated by your own ideas.  Even the evil that manifests through you is under the authority of Christ today. 

Joshua was nearly at the end of his life when he delivered this sermon in Joshua 24. It gives attention to doctrine and application.  The doctrine is represented by all of the deeds in which the Lord God Almighty provided for His people. From the calling of Abraham, the birth of Isaac, the deliverance out of Egypt and through the Red Sea and their warring victories into the Promised Land, God proved His determined will and put it on display for the world to know. The Hebrews were recipients of the consistent manifestation of God’s Sovereign Power.  They had proof to know that no other god is comparable to the God of the Heavens and the Earth.  But it is the application of the sermon where we find the purpose of the choice to serve.

Your acquaintance with good and evil notwithstanding, it is a fundamental Biblical truth that when your flesh is controlled by sin you can not please God. You sow seeds of sin through all types of lifestyle choices.  Every decision you make is based on your pursuit to manifest and fulfill the desires of the flesh.  Joshua was reminded of Moses who declared the importance to choose life with a heart that loves the Lord, His Word all with a willingness to serve Him daily. Read Deuteronomy 30:11-20.  You can offset any affinity towards sin when you make a choice to serve God by praying for the knowledge of His will and the power to be all that He has created you to be. You can be of maximum service to God, realize the Conqueror Lifestyle  and serve Him and others effectively, when His power is working in you and through you conforming you to the image of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But you can make this choice to serve God only because of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ which gives you access into His grace.

Others realize your choice by every word that comes out of your mouth, every deed of your hands and every direction that your feet move towards. The heart decides which choice is to be made.  A heart that is willing to freely surrender to God’s Sovereignty is a direct result of a quickened spirit connected to the power of the resurrection at work in you. It’s not hard at all to make Jesus your choice when you accept all that He has freely done for you.  You willingly desire to serve Him because of how effectively He serves you.  Stop trying to be your best you independent of God’s spiritual blessings at work in you. You will know true service as He manifests His good works in your life when you make the choice to depend on and serve Him in all that you say and do. Agree with me and Joshua and make your choice THE LORD.

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Simple, Spiritual Self-Service

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1.Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1-2 (NASB)
Self-service kiosk
Self-service kiosk (Photo credit: melitroncorp)

Self service is a common part of human services that we realize throughout the course of every day. Whether it is at the ATM, airport, gas station, supermarket, workplace, etc., there is always some type of self service facility where you can serve yourself.  It has become the basic standard of service that we as Americans have come to expect. It is a simple, time and cost effective service tool which provides us with a new level of independence.  You can go, choose what you want and quickly keep it moving. It’s that simple!

 

The key to spiritual self-service is the acceptance of Christ’s unconditional service to humans, through His birth, life, Earthly ministry, death and resurrection, thereby establishing and fulfilling a Divine plan of redemption through the forgiveness of sin.  His Service to us At the Cross was unconditional work because He was born to provide us with the means of spiritual salvation  that we all can benefit from Eternally.  Whether we choose to believe in Him or not, His service to us is forever established. When we surrender our bodies to our Heavenly Father because we need forgiveness of our sins on a daily basis, we begin the process of spiritual self-service. True holiness is realized through your own personal identity with your need for forgiveness.  Spiritual self-service is that simple!!

 

There is Spiritual power of unknown proportions available to you when you are willing to present your body to God on a daily basis, totally surrendered to His Sovereignty over your life. His Power is revealed in your walk, your talk and your manner of life. Through every opportunity that makes up your day, you can experience the spiritual freedom of the conqueror lifestyle.  You see, when you choose to start your day, or in some cases re-start your day, by surrendering yourself under God’s authority, you are securing His leadership over every aspect of your day.  However, if you go through your day without this simple, spiritual self-service,  you are living a life that is solely reliant on your own abilities. Every idea, desire, motive and goal is born out of a spirit that is quenched by a soul that is sickened by unconfessed sin. Your body becomes a host for evil rather than God’s goodness. Unconfessed sin is a breeding ground for a swarm of complications that are designed to continue to distract you from His goodness as the world’s appeal demands your attention.

 

Your life can greatly benefit from the simple, spiritual self-service of surrendering to the saving grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ daily.  The reasonable service begins with a mindset to pray without ceasing, having a thankful heart and mind willing to submit your body, mind i.e soul and spirit to Him all reliant on His will for your life from day to day.  A healthy prayer life and daily attachment to His Word completes the simple, spiritual process. It is a simple process that can humbly begin every time you wake up from rest you are blessed to realize. It gets you going spiritually!

 

Find out how I was trained to realize the importance of this self-service model in my new book     “A Conqueror In Training“

 

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Let Him Lead You

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"Lead Me, Guide Me" by Doris Atkers
Verse 1 
I am weak and I need Thy strength and power,                                        
To help me over my weakest hour. 
Let me through the darkness Thy face to see, 
Lead me, oh Lord lead me. 
Chorus 
Lead me, guide me along the way, 
For if you lead me I cannot stray. 
Lord, let me walk each day with Thee. 
Lead me, oh Lord lead me. 
Verse 2
Help me tread in the paths of righteousness.
Be my aid when Satan and sin oppress. 
I am putting all my trust in Thee: 
Lead me, oh Lord lead me. 
Verse 3 
I am lost if you take your hand from me, 
I am blind without Thy light to see.
Lord just always let me thy servant be,
Lead me, oh Lord lead me.

“Where Your Feet Are IS Where You Are”

Solid as a rock
Solid as a rock (Photo credit: Joybot)

     For years I struggled with the TRUTH in the slogan above.  Furthermore, for decades I maintained enormous opposition against the idea of “God‘s leading” over my life. As I look back over my life I can now see that all of my struggling with the prospect of surrendering to God’s will for my life was due to me wanting to be in control, my ego leading me in the fulfillment of the desires of my flesh and my human affinity towards being a product of this world rather than a servant of the God who created me. I could not “Be still and KNOW THAT GOD IS GOD” and appreciate all of the goodness that He brings into my life through His Sovereignty over my life. The best I could do was to continue spinning my wheels of human potential landing in life situations where I ultimately got stuck in ditches that got deeper and deeper over time. I could not appreciate the joy in the journey because I was always frustrated with one aspect (or another) of my life’s reality where I kept coming up short. 

     Along the way to the point of realizing God’s mission for my life, I came to appreciate all of the hardships, pain and suffering, grief, loss, guilt, shame and remorse my life manufactured. Today “I do not regret the past nor do I wish to shut the door on it.” Like Iyanla, “I did my work.” The evidence of the task is soon to be realized publicly with the release of the books. Today I can be grateful for where my feet are because my heart and mind are humbled under the “mighty hand of God.” There is a consistent awareness of God’s presence that sustains me. The reason for the presence of peace, love, joy, thanksgiving, faith and hope that wakes me up every day and preserves me throughout most of my days is because GOD IS LEADING ME. The essence of His leadership in and over my life is realized in the Conqueror Lifestyle that He prepared just for me. 

God has a Conqueror Lifestyle prepared just for you as well. To find out more about the Conqueror Lifestyle follow me on twitter @ConquerorShots.

 Darrin D. Payne

 

 

 

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