The Sweetest Gift

Posted on by conquerorshots

The Sweetest Gift

posted Dec 18, 2011 1:06 PM by Darrin Payne

When I was a child I loved to eat tootsie rolls and Swedish fish.  I would go to the corner store or Mr. Buddy’s and get me some penny candy.  A quarter would get me enough for myself. $.50 was enough for me to share with my friends.  I loved to eat that candy.  When I became a teenager I did not eat candy that much and even today I don’t eat candy often. However, I graduated to eating cakes, pies, cobblers and cookies.  That is my weakness.  I have learned to modify the quantities so that I am not killing myself through hefty indulgence.  But I love well-prepared, home-made desserts.  Oh, and then there is the occasional indulgence for ice-cream.  Lord knows that is a “guilty pleasure.”   Umm umm umm!!!!!


Yesterday, I participated in a fund raiser and I baked cookies for the first time.  To my surprise I have good skills in this area of food preparation.  The event was not well publicized and we did not have a steady flow of patrons.  Yet the ones who did buy and eat the cookies in my presence, they all seemed to really enjoy them.  There was one patron who actually ate one in front of me and ended up buying 4 more.  There was mild over-indulgence going on. 

 The idea for this entry came to me during a particular exchange yesterday.  A lady was eating the cookies and she said now this is a sweet gift. ” I could buy these and give them out”, she stated.  However, she hesitated because of her concern about eating them all herself.  That got me to thinking.  She coined my cookies as a “sweet gift” because of the pleasure she got from eating them.  The reason for my love of sweets is because of the instant gratification I get the moment that food hits my tongue.  My love affair for sweets is in effect at that moment.  There are times when it is so good I don’t want to swallow – but I have to so I can eat some more.  When it is good – the more I get the more I want. 

 Ephesians 2.8 says ” For by grace you have been saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God NASB

During this holiday week ahead, it is really important for me to realize I have the “Sweetest Gift” of all – JESUS CHRIST. I was introduced to faith in Christ at an early age.  It was good for me to have the knowledge of Christ and my Salvation early but it was also a hindrance.  I took it for granted.  I thought that because of my salvation I was free to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted and however I wanted and I would still go to Heaven.  No one could separate me from the love of God and  nothing could make me loose my salvation.  That type of “spiritual irrationality” kept me sin-sick for MANY years.

  I needed to have the experience where the knowledge of salvation begins initiating a desire for my salvation spiritually.  
Knowing about Christ is not enough to live a victorious Christian life.  Conquerors, walk by faith and not by sight.  Faith comes by hearing and receiving the Word of God in your spirit – not in your mind.  Whenever the Word of God is heard and processed in the mind it is on the same basis of acquiring knowledge from any literary or reference source. We read and hopefully comprehend the material.  While comprehension happens in the mind, the spirit of man is not necessarily influenced by the words – only the soul.  The new life begins as the information travels from the head to the heart.  Some say that distance is further than a trip from NYC to LA!!!
When you get to where you have developed a desire in your spirit for the salvation you know about to actually be at work in you via spiritual regeneration, you experience the sweetness of Christ resonating in you from the inside out.  One example may go something like this:
You thought you were going to get a check in the mail that would be used to buy groceries for the family.  The check does not come. You are tempted to call up the issuer and “bless them out verbally” but your spirit moves you to turn the problem over to the Lord in prayer instead.  You may even cry over it to the Lord in prayer.  Afterwards, during the continued course of your day you notice a flyer that is in your mail. It informs you that there is a free ham and groceries for a week and a $50.00 gift certificate available for you if you go to the location at a certain hour.  The sweetness of your Savior is manifesting.  Then you get there and to your surprise there is no line.  You just walk in and get what the flyer advertised.  However, in addition to the expected outcome there is an additional bounty of goods that is more than what you could have even imagined.  The sweetness is now making you have visceral responses – praise in your mouth, hands, feet, etc.  Then you get home and begin to put the free groceries away and someone starts knocking on your door.   One of your neighbors comes by to hand you mail that mysteriously showed up in their box.  You thank them and close the door. On your way you discover that the check is there after all.
NOW THE SWEETNESS IS OVERWHELMING!!!!!!!
Jesus is the “SWEETEST GIFT” ever.  Once you receive Him “for real for real”, He is the kind of gift that just keeps on giving.  Just like I used to eat candy, and still enjoy eating desserts, I LOVE TO TASTE AND SEE THAT THE LORD IS GOOD.  It is a blessed experience to have when you TRUST in Him.
Remember to keep Christ in your Christmas celebration.

A Cause for Prayer

Posted on by conquerorshots

My grandmother was a woman of faith.  She stood for Christian principles and if you knew her in any way you were in the presence of victorious Christian living.  I learned many lessons of faith, hope, determination to follow God, standing on the promises of God’s word and “being more than a conqueror” that I realize from week to week.  Her daughter, my mom, continues to be a beacon of light into these lessons and His word by continuing to stand for the truth. We all have access to truth when we read the Bible. Who was the first person who read the Bible to you?  Did they have you to read the passage or did they read it? Can you remember what passage it was?

I started out doing video blogs. There’s a link to that google site. A particular video blog there was the first difficult experience I encountered posting.  There were numerous problems I had to work through to get it accessible.  Amazingly, the more difficult it became the more determined I was to get it done. And to God be the glory it IS posted – “PRAYER CHANGES THINGS”.  
sites.google.com/site/beingmorethanaconqueror85
When you are faced with difficulty what is your immediate response? 
 I know that “letting go and letting God” is not always a first response.  Trial and error is sometimes necessary to arrive at the place where you know your are in need for Heavenly intervention. You can get so animated that you just “look up”.
Prayer is not a hardship but I know what it feels like when it is.  The causes of my unwillingness to pray are rooted in my human nature.  There is a constant warfare present in all of us that is between doing it my way and doing it God’s way.  Romans 7 is written to address this dilemma.
I have found out that a synergy between the two wills – soul and spirit – is possible only when the Holy Spirit is actively in control.  I give Him that control when I pray, when I read the Bible, when I meditate on Scripture, when I sing hymns, Psalms and good gospel music and when I fellowship with other children of God. When these activities are not present I am left with all of the appeal of the world as a poor substitute.  So I have a responsibility to CHOOSE which way I will direct my thoughts and actions from day to day.  
 Being More Than a Conqueror becomes your identity when you choose God’s way and not the way of the world which is natural.  

Get the best Gift Ever for FREE – Jesus

Posted on by conquerorshots

(Romans 8:37) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

(Romans 8:38) For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,

(Romans 8:39) Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Everyone wants to have a happy holiday season. Whatever your celebratory practice may be, you want the experience to be pleasurable.  Let us not take our blessings for granted.  

I am shocked that there are record breaking shopping statistics this holiday season in the retail market but our national economic status is that of a recession.  This implies that there are many people without work.  If you are not working then money is scarce.  So how are you shopping like there is a surplus of jobs, money and wealth nationally?

Debt is dangerous.  But people accumulate debt simply because they are motivated to give in order to have a pleasurable experience over the holidays.  Consequently, some may even have such expectations on the receiving end.

 The commercial appeal that this holiday maintains is assuredly designed for the sole purpose of removing Christ out of Christmas.  

You decide which way you want to celebrate. However, you decide know this; 

JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON.  

The season is destined for Joy when He is in His rightful place.  Money does not determine this reality.

May your holiday season be forever inclusive of the presence of Christ.  

Help Is Here

Posted on by conquerorshots

 

 There is a song for Psalms 121.  The first time I heard this song I was singing in the choir of my church home here in Georgia.  Miss Carol sang the song so beautifully and I was absorbed by the spirit of the song as I was learning it in rehearsal.  At that time in my life I was transitioning from my home state of New Jersey to Georgia.  It was a tumultuous time in that I was separated from my wife and children for what I thought would be indefinite.  
This was a valley experience and there were steep hills and mountains all around me. I was overwhelmed with the devastation of the situations that led up to our separation.  Dealing with failure, powerlessness and unmanageability honestly for the first time in my life, this was the beginning of the tearing down of some major strongholds in my life during the end of 2000.  I had to get real with God about the issues that were destroying the goodness that He provided in my life.  I would go to church every Sunday and the more I showed up the more I heard  The Spoken Word of God.  My sin-sick soul needed to get the willingness to let that Word penetrate from my head to my heart.  It took the repetition of being around the Word of God during those months in order for it to become alive and at work in me.  These were painful times but they were Heavenly times.  
The song presented me with the truth of the source of my help.  It gave me the confirmation that all along my journey to get to that place of healing, the Lord was my keeper, the Lord was my shade upon my right hand.  He was preserving my soul even forever more.  MY HELP, MY HELP, MY HELP COMES FROM THE LORD.  
At that time I needed help to get up and walk by faith and not by sight.  Life had beat me down to where I was not walking spiritually.  I was crawling because of the affects of manifest sin at work in me.  When you do not stay in fellowship with El Elyon – The Most High God — The Possessor of Everything Heavenly and Earthly – by way of His Word, you are destined to live in sin.  Over time, if you are His child, that lifestyle makes you have to yield to Him.  In those moments of initial ascent towards Him you will be met with God’s Help.  He desires to help his children always.  
Being more than a conqueror means having the acceptance that God is God all by Himself.  He does not need you to guide Him; YOU NEED HIM TO GUIDE YOU!!  He makes it possible for you to realize just how proficient He is at leading when you begin to abide in Him by staying in His Word and allowing His Life to affect EVERY aspect of your life.  This is how you live as “MORE THAN A CONQUEROR”.  
This song ministers to my spirit the message of God’s Determined Will at taking care of His children.  Though it was addressed to the Nation of Israel, the principles of God depicted in this chapter are applicable to us today as Christians since we are ALL God’s children today because of the Blood of Jesus.  

Perseverance is Boss

Posted on by conquerorshots

 I continue to experience the reality of God’s Sovereignty in and over my life.  You know what I mean? There are times when things come up and you have to immediately respond.  Sometimes you may deal with the change willingly – with a peaceful tone; but when you are engrossed in the current situation and God allows something to surface that requires your immediate attention, a harsher response is often times the case.  Why is that? 

Change is not comfortable.  Change is not always the best choice.  However, CHANGE IS NECESSARY.  If one is not changing that begs the question “are you living?”   In my life the matter of change can surface with simplicity.  I can be walking one moment and needing to sit down the next.  Now I want to continue to walk but pain will cause me to have to stop walking.  There is nothing I can do about that other than SIT DOWN.  Amazingly, I have put myself through so much more difficulty because of this dilemma of not wanting to change.  See I had worked hard at gaining the momentum in my mobility. I had a particular goal in mind and my walking was required for me to arrive at the planned destination.  So I learned the importance of perseverance.  
That principle helps me to keep God present during the hardship and endure it like a soldier engaged in battle.  When the battle becomes intense the soldier can’t just lay down and say “I am not going to fight any more!!!”  He has to stand in the circumstance, realize his mission and persevere through the intensity and employ all of his skills and training to emerge victoriously.  Being More Than A Conqueror means that, just like the soldier, you too stand in the situation – REALIZE YOUR MISSION (trust God, stand on His Word), ALLOW THE HOLY SPIRIT TO INFLUENCE EVERY THOUGHT, DECISION, PLAN AND GOAL, and  BELIEVE THAT, just like Christ resurrected from the grave, WE ARE ABLE TO CONQUER ALL HARDSHIPS VICTORIOUSLY.  “If God be for us, WHO (what) CAN BE AGAINST US.
You know how you get when you are NEEDING to call someone and talk?  The friend I call on is Jesus  I did not get to complete my message about “MY Friend”.  Just review the words to the hymn “What a Friend We Have In Jesus”  
  1. What a friend we have in Jesus,
    All our sins and griefs to bear!
    What a privilege to carry
    Everything to God in prayer!
    Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
    Oh, what needless pain we bear,
    All because we do not carry
    Everything to God in prayer!
  2. Have we trials and temptations?
    Is there trouble anywhere?
    We should never be discouraged—
    Take it to the Lord in prayer.
    Can we find a friend so faithful,
    Who will all our sorrows share?
    Jesus knows our every weakness;
    Take it to the Lord in prayer.
  3. Are we weak and heavy-laden,
    Cumbered with a load of care?
    Precious Savior, still our refuge—
    Take it to the Lord in prayer.
    Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
    Take it to the Lord in prayer!
    In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
    Thou wilt find a solace there.
  4. Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised
    Thou wilt all our burdens bear;
    May we ever, Lord, be bringing
    All to Thee in earnest prayer.
    Soon in glory bright, unclouded,
    There will be no need for prayer—
    Rapture, praise, and endless worship
    Will be our sweet portion there.
I pray that you will develop a thirst for the Word and a hunger for His Presence. I also hope that you will continue to support this ministry as it develops.
God bless you.