There's Only Now: Part 8

This is our bubble of protection – there is only now and now is a blessing. Do not let your past steal your present joy. This is a commandment from God. He tells us not to let our hearts be troubled (John 14:27 NKJV). God also tells us not presume on tomorrow. This perspective – God’s perspective – allows us to construct proper priorities. People are in jeopardy of destroying their future because they are freaking out about tomorrow. This is a tactic of the enemy. Because we have a now, we can reign over Satan, sin and death. As we walk by faith, God leads us. The enemy tries to get us to abort our now by deceiving us to thinking only about ourselves. Without proper priorities, no one can win. God knows everything. He is preparing us for what is going to happen right now.

To have proper priorities means that you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. (Matthew 6:33, 34) If you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then you will never have to worry. You need to stop worrying about tomorrow. Worry, dread and fear about tomorrow is how Satan keeps people immobilized and out of the will of God.

Remember, you’ll have to answer to God. This focus gives us the ability to set up proper priorities. If you seek the counsel of God that always stands, then you will make plans that always succeed (Proverbs 19:21). We will be tempted but God as given us the grace to do whatever we need to do (Proverbs 23:17-18). Every day we encounter we are to be in the fear of the Lord. If you stay in the fear of the Lord all day long, your hope will come to pass and it will not be in vain.

Ask yourself: What will last? (Matthew 7:24) The love of the world will not last, but the counsel of God and the wisdom of God last forever. Some areas to examine when you ask yourself this question include your thoughts and conversation. Ask yourself: Are my thoughts the will of God? We don’t have to worry about the carnal things if we are not living in them (2 Corinthians 10:3-6). Our thoughts need to line up with the Word of God. You should meditate on the Word day and night. We don’t war in the flesh. Our senses are there as warning mechanisms to protect us so that we know when to release our faith. How are you talking? On the judgment day, you will have to give an answer for your words that are contrary to the Word of God (Matthew 12:34). Paul was a truthful, honest and authentic believer (2 Corinthians 4:8). He called things that were not as though they were. Similarly, because we believe, we should say so.

There's Only Now: Part 8

This is our bubble of protection – there is only now and now is a blessing. Do not let your past steal your present joy. This is a commandment from God. He tells us not to let our hearts be troubled (John 14:27 NKJV). God also tells us not presume on tomorrow. This perspective – God’s perspective – allows us to construct proper priorities. People are in jeopardy of destroying their future because they are freaking out about tomorrow. This is a tactic of the enemy. Because we have a now, we can reign over Satan, sin and death. As we walk by faith, God leads us. The enemy tries to get us to abort our now by deceiving us to thinking only about ourselves. Without proper priorities, no one can win. God knows everything. He is preparing us for what is going to happen right now.

To have proper priorities means that you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. (Matthew 6:33, 34) If you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then you will never have to worry. You need to stop worrying about tomorrow. Worry, dread and fear about tomorrow is how Satan keeps people immobilized and out of the will of God.

Remember, you’ll have to answer to God. This focus gives us the ability to set up proper priorities. If you seek the counsel of God that always stands, then you will make plans that always succeed (Proverbs 19:21). We will be tempted but God as given us the grace to do whatever we need to do (Proverbs 23:17-18). Every day we encounter we are to be in the fear of the Lord. If you stay in the fear of the Lord all day long, your hope will come to pass and it will not be in vain.

Ask yourself: What will last? (Matthew 7:24) The love of the world will not last, but the counsel of God and the wisdom of God last forever. Some areas to examine when you ask yourself this question include your thoughts and conversation. Ask yourself: Are my thoughts the will of God? We don’t have to worry about the carnal things if we are not living in them (2 Corinthians 10:3-6). Our thoughts need to line up with the Word of God. You should meditate on the Word day and night. We don’t war in the flesh. Our senses are there as warning mechanisms to protect us so that we know when to release our faith. How are you talking? On the judgment day, you will have to give an answer for your words that are contrary to the Word of God (Matthew 12:34). Paul was a truthful, honest and authentic believer (2 Corinthians 4:8). He called things that were not as though they were. Similarly, because we believe, we should say so.

There is Only Now: Part 7

This is a message of deliverance, and deliverance always brings power. You are not hindered by the past or your future. Never lose focus that there is only now. Because you are a conqueror and have already won through Christ Jesus.

Through this series, we are gaining God’s proper perspective that we’re not to presume on the future nor be held back by something in the past, but rather come to understand that our time as we know it is nothing but a vapor. This life is a rehearsal for living an eternity. You don’t have mercy for tomorrow. The Bible teaches that mercy is new each day, so you’re only going to get the mercy you need for the time you’re in. The past can’t be an anchor, you have to live now. Anyone truly in Christ has no regrets – you aren’t permitted! So just appreciate and be content with such things as you have because God said He would never leave nor forsake you. Proper priorities come from a Godly perspective. You can’t call something a priority if it lives in a box. We are called to only one priority, and that is to seek God first.

Matthew 6:33, 34; Proverbs 19:21 – Remember that you always have to answer to God.
The only thing that will last is God’s wisdom and counsel.

To set these proper priorities, ask yourself: What’s going to last?
Ø Are my thoughts in line with what is eternal? (Proverbs 24:9, 23:7, 4:23; and Corinthians 10:3-5) Dealing with your thoughts is the first place to begin in setting your priorities. If you think down thoughts, you will be a pessimist. If you think positively, you will be an optimist. God gave you mighty weapons through Him to pull down the strongholds in your mind. A stronghold is anything contrary to God’s Word. You have the power to pull down those strongholds, to use the weapons of God to destroy the fortresses that the enemy has erected in your mind to dominate the way you think.
Romans 8:1 – Add a period after “…in Christ Jesus.” Strike all other text that follows. If you’re not free from condemnation, you cannot be expected to walk in and fulfill Christ’s liberty. Get out of your spiritual hospital bed! Because of Christ’s paying our price, we are free! Think on the Word; there won’t be room for ungodly thoughts.

There’s Only Now: Part 6

A priority touches everything in your life. Whatever you are seeking or chasing is your priority. Everyone’s priorities are known by what they say and do. How does one set proper priorities? The answer is to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. We need to check our priorities every day. People are being distracted out of the truth that there is only now because of their fear. People are fearful of what does not exist; they fear nothing. We should allow God to instruct us how to set up our lives. If we establish proper priorities, we won’t be shipwrecked and distracted. Remember, you will have to answer to God. You don’t want to be ashamed giving your answer to God. Anyone who is not bold before God will raise suspicions. If you have right priorities, you will be bold before God.

God made His wisdom available and He showed us how it will come out first (Proverbs 19:21 NKJV). If you follow God’s instruction, you will be fine. The covenant is God’s counsel and His will is that we not be ignorant. God told us that we win up front. Those who hear God’s Word and do it are building on God’s covenant. God promised that if we do what is right now then tomorrow is coming with blessings. In obeying God, there is temporary pain but a very long time of blessing. Hang up your schemes, but hold in to your desire. God doesn’t need our help. He is love and love does not seek its own. You need to fire yourself, cease from your own works and enter into God’s rest. We tell God with our actions whether we trust Him and believe Him.

Everyone is spending their lives on something. What are you investing your life in? You could be investing it in the wrong area. Ask yourself: Soul, what will last? You ask your soul this question because you have to live eternally and you have to give an answer to God. God can only be found in the now. Things that will not last are the love of the world and the things in it (1 John 2:16-17). We need to stay away from the love of these things. God will give these things to us when we make Him our priority.

We should build our lives on God’s counsel (Proverbs 8:23). If you want what you want, then get wisdom. We should not go for the promise of gold, silver and rubies, but we should go for God’s wisdom now (Proverbs 8:10-11). If we pick up God’s wisdom, we are strong (Proverbs 8:14). God loves those who love Him (Proverbs 8:17). This is a choice. We need to get in love. At the beginning of every endeavor you should seek wisdom diligently. Don’t take the money up front, get paid! (Proverbs 8:18-21). What good is riches and honor without righteousness? God is the doer, not us. The price that we pay is our heart. God wants to bless us according to His riches and glory, not according to our need.

One area that we should examine is our thoughts. Ask yourself: Is what I am thinking wisdom or is it my way? Is what I am thinking going to last? Foolishness is going about your life like there is no God (Proverbs 24:9). People accused Paul of living in the flesh because he did not live religiously (2 Corinthians 10:1). Though we walk in the flesh, we don’t war against the flesh; we get our minds right. We have to have the mind of Christ. We have to bring everything into God’s counsel. We have our senses to tell us how to walk by faith. We need senses to tell us how to live.

There is Only Now: Part 5

There is only now in which a person has an opportunity to do or decide anything. All we have is right now. As you spend time in the Word, it will become overwhelming clear that God speaks to you in the “now.” We are dealing with this subject because of the situations you’re facing right now. God isn’t caught by surprise by anything – He knows everything you will face even before you’re conscious of it. How much of what you fear actually comes to pass anyway? God has not given us the spirit of fear, but His spirit of love and power. Fear is from the enemy, and begins as doubt, grows into unbelief, and before you know it, you’re losing health, sleep, hair, and faith.

Proverb 27:1 – Our commandment is not to brag about tomorrow. God lives in perpetural “now.”
James 4:13, 14 – Our affliction is but a moment. Every day thank the Lord for salvation. God is training us to live eternally, starting now. People who don’t learn to obey God will have a rough go when the “vapor” is gone and they stand before God.

Luke 12:16-21; Matthew 6:33, 34 – "Self" is a problem, and must be your old ways. You cannot go in two directions. You can’t live then and live now. And if you’re in fear, you’re living in then.

1. Seeking God first means constantly depending on God. Dependence is not knowing a Bible verse, or only turning to God when you’re in trouble, when it’s convenient or on Sundays. You are a soldier and should never relinquish your weapons.

2. If it’s a priority, it touches every thing else in your life. There is but one instruction in the Word.

Ephesians 5:21-25 – You submit yourself to others if you love God. This extends to our spouses, bosses, and everyone we come in contact with. If you are unruly and think you can act any way, you can’t profess to love God, too!