Claim You Winnings

Life is full of winning and losing. It would seem that every aspect of our lives is about one or the other. I suppose I have always seen life as a game because, I have always said "I am not as survivor, I am a victor".

The word survivor has always, seemed to me, to have a negative connotation. It is good to survive....don't get me wrong. But, it is wrong to always see ones self as a survivor instead of changing that thinking, eventually too, I live in victory. If I am continually surviving, I have not conquered my ordeal.

Salvation is a gift from God. Not one to believe, once saved always saved, I see keeping my salvation as being a winner.

Someone whispered to me the other day, in their moment of torment, that they were going to lose their salvation. Life is never simple, but we must pick sides. To either be on the winning side or the losing side. Black or white, right or wrong, truth or the lie.

I have a brother, whom once was on the winning side. He praised God. Was born again and now walks around losing the game. He has chose to change sides. He sees my side as losing.

It is, at times, harder to be on the winning side. Victory never comes easy. One must keep the mentality of striving. You can see this thinking in any game. In baseball for example. The side that is winning has an attitude of security. But, the challenger keeps up the pressure and one false move on the part of the winning team and all can be lose. So, the pressure is always on.

Staying on the winning side of life, brings challenges. The losing side is always after the winning side. The winners must stay alert and cautious. Salvation is not to be toyed with. Satan and the world views are always waiting for a mis-step so they can have the victory. Like baseball, there is a winner and a loser. Like war, which is what we are in, there is a victor and a loser. What is your mentality? Are you a victor? Or do you survive?

Living in victory bring joy and a assurity of the outcome of the game. A victor knows that they will win where a survivor has no such assurance. As Christians we should know that victory is ours and that each battle we fight is ours. It is already won. But, if I am in survival mode, then I am lazy in my thinking, tired and stuck. Walk out of survival and claim victory over life and the games that tear you down. Life is to short to just survive. Find the attitude of victory and claim you winnings.

Fall from Grace

Sometimes it feels as if you can only watch as Satan grabs and destroys. He sneaks up on people and steals their joy, love and their very life. His tactics are subtle at times and we can be in the arms of his evil before it is recognized and then we have to start to fight our way back to the security of God.

Why do good people, people who love God and worship Him with their lives, succumb to his evil plans? Are we not alert enough? Are we not truly following the plans that God has for us? Where does it all go wrong?

The temptations of the world, I suppose, can come upon us and we lose our grip on God. But, that seems such an easy answer. You could say, that people who fall into sin were truly never saved. But, that would be a way of alleviating the chance of my own fall from grace. We have all heard the excuses and causes of believers falling from grace, but, right now, for me, it is all just that, an excuse. Where in lies the truth? Why do God's beloved children turn from His very presence and instead choose to do evil?

It seems to me, to be such a foreign thing, turning from God. To deliberately create a situation in my life where I fall into the arms of hell. But, I have learned this weekend, that thinking that one could never choose evil over God, after knowing Him in an intimate way, is an unsafe way of thinking. I have seen the righteous fall from grace and I find it all to much of a slippery slope.

How easy it can be to move closer to Satan and further from God? Pretty easy. It does not even take much thinking. Suddenly, their you are following the one who destroys life and leaving the one who gives life. Does not matter the years of knowing God, nor the depth nor intensity of that relationship disaster can come. As day turns to night, the light of God begins to fade. The call into a life of darkness begins to control our every thought and soon the voice of God fades into the darkness of that long cold night.

I struggle with the whys in life. I see the righteous fall into the darkness and I weep, I wail, I feel the pain of God and I scream, I intercede, I fall on my face. My tears dry up and I feel lost. Not understanding how a life so abundant in the Lord can suddenly be controlled by the dark. Are we really so vulnerable to the evil of this world? Can all our lives be, in the twinkling of an eye, swallowed up by the schemes of Satan?

But, why? Where is our strength? Why do we walk away from our refuge? What is it in us that would choose to leave glory and walk into doom? I break inside whenever I think of our vulnerability. Do not delude yourself and think "I could never walk into darkness". The dark is only one thought away.

RAHASIA bagian - bagian dari MANUSIA (Roh, Jiwa, dan Tubuh)

Seringkali kita mengatakan “tubuh, jiwa, dan roh”, padahal cara pengucapan Rasul Paulus berbeda, Paulus mengatakan “roh, jiwa, dan tubuh” (I Tes 5:23), karena memang bagian yang terpenting dari manusia pertama-tama adalah rohnya, baru kemudian jiwa, dan sesudah itu tubuh.

Marilah kita belajar membiasakan untuk mengucapkan: roh, jiwa, dan tubuh; karena dengan demikian akan menimbulkan kesadaran dalam hati kita bahwa kehidupan rohani manusia itulah yang paling diperhatikan oleh Tuhan.

RAHASIA bagian-bagian MANUSIA, mulai dari yang paling penting:

1. ROH, di dalam roh manusia terdapat ruang-ruang:

1. Suara Hati – kemampuan untuk membedakan mana yang baik dan yang buruk.

2. Intuisi – kemampuan untuk merasakan / melihat kehadiran mahkluk roh.

3. Penyembahan – kemampuan untuk menyembah Allah dalam roh dan kebenaran.

2. JIWA, terdapat dari 6 ruang:

1. Pikiran

2. Kehendak

3. Emosi

(nomor 4,5,6 yang mengaitkan tubuh dan roh)

4. Alam Sadar

5. Alam Bawah Sadar

6. Alam Tidak Sadar

3. TUBUH, terdapat organ-organ tubuh yang penting:

· Otak, Jantung, Kelamin, dll.

SAYA MELIHAT YESUS (Rev. Kenneth Hagin)

Untuk pertama kalinya saya menatap ke dalam mata Yesus. Setiap kali saya menceritakan pengalamanku ini, maka semua orang selalu bertanya,”Bagaimanakah bentuk mataNya?” Yang dapat saya jawab hanyalah bahwa mataNya itu nampak bagaikan sumur kehidupan cinta kasih. Nampaknya seperti dapat melihat sampai setengah mil jauhnya ke dalam latar belakang mataNya, sedangkan mataNya begitu lemah lembut tak dapat dilukiskan dengan kata-kata. Pada telapak tanganNya terdapat bekas luka-luka di salib berupa 3 lubang yang ditembus paku. Setiap lubang dapat dimasuki jari, dan saya dapat melihat cahaya yang tembus dibalik lubang itu.

TAKHTA ALLAH (Penglihatan Rev. Kenneth Hagin)

Hal pertama yang sangat menarik perhatianku adalah terbentangnya pelangi di sekeliling Takhta Allah. Pemandangan itu sangat indah. Hal kedua yang saya perhatikan adalah mahkluk-mahkluk bersayap yang berdiri pada kedua sisi Takhta. Mereka merupakan mahkluk yang aneh kelihatannya, dan sementara saya berjalan bersama-sama dengan Yesus, mahkluk-mahkluk itu merentangkan sayap mereka. Mereka seperti mengatakan sesuatu, tetapi kemudian berhenti dan melipat sayap-sayap mereka. Mereka memiliki mata bagaikan api yang membara di sekeliling kepala mereka, dan mereka dapat melihat ke segala arah sekaligus. Saya berdiri bersama Yesus di tengah-tengah, kurang lebih 18-24 kaki jaraknya dari Takhta. Saya melihat pelangi terlebih dahulu, lalu kedua melihat mahkluk-mahkluk bersayap, lalu saya mencoba untuk melihat Dia yang sedang duduk di atas Tahkta, tetapi Yesus mengatakan kepadaku agar jangan memandang kepada wajah-Nya yang sedang bersemayam di atas Tahkta. Saya hanya dapat melihat semacam bayangan, bentuk Dia yang sedang duduk di atas Tahkta.