The Law Of Strength

Donna Braman

THE LAW OF STRENGTH


You are who God says you are.  The difference between a weak Christian and one with strength is his belief in what the word says he is.  If we could ever get these spiritual laws into our hearts and minds the churches would not be filled with Christians of lack. People who live God's principles do not go lacking and today I'm going to give you some scriptures that I hope will change your self image and begin to live in the principles that make you soar with strength like the eagles.


When Jesus came and gave us the new blood covenant those physical laws changed into spiritual laws.  You see, when the High Priest in the Tabernacle in the Old Testament sacrificed an animal blood offering once a year at Atonement, their sins were just covered. That's why the shedding of the blood of the red heifer had to be done once a year.  But in the new covenant Jesus' blood did away with the sin nature once and for all in us by His spirit. So in that reference Jesus fulfilled the natural law.  Now that's the difference in trying to change man's nature through the physical law and the spiritual law.


I'll show you what I mean, let's look at what it says about this in Romans 8:2-4, "because through Christ Jesus the law of the spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.  For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.  And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.


We have the power to be free from natural laws.  We have the power to be free from a negative mind.  God says, I created the spirit of the lips. And with that spirit you can create things into being.  The words we speak can be our worst enemy. They can work for us or they can work against us. God himself created that spiritual law. Read Joshua 1:8 again which confirms this biblical truth.


The law of the spoken word and thoughts are closely related. The words of our mouth and the meditation of our hearts should reflect God's thoughts about us. God is a positive God and if you want change in your life you'll have to learn to put this spiritual law into practice. We gain insight and strength when we have in our mind and heart's what God's word says.  In Psalm 27:1, David said, "The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid?"


The next time the devil tries to scare you just open your mouth and say, "Yeah, He will strengthen me in the face of the doctor's report! Yeah, He will prosper me in the face of debt! Yeah, He will bless my children, my home, my marriage, my church! Because Christ in me is my STRENGTH.


On the other hand, sin will produce weakness in your life.  Did you know negative thinking can even make you physically sick?  With sin, you're operating in the law of death.  You can not have the law of life working for you if you keep dabbling in sin.  It will steal your life, destroy you and eventually kill you. You will soon find yourself without any confidence in God. 1 John 3:21 tells us what happens when we say to ourselves, oh this little sin won't hurt my walk with Christ. Paul says, "I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie comes from the truth."


Negative thinking like this where you are trying to fool yourself kills your confidence. If you get involved in carnality and sin, your heart will condemn you and you will lose your strength.  That's what happened to Sampson. He thought his little sexual sin would not hurt his strength or confidence. That devil laughed all the way to Delilah's house!


1 John 1:7 tells us "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin."  The more you gain knowledge of what God's word tells you of the truth, the more knowledge and success you will have in walking in your spiritual life.  You will always go around the mountain over and over until you begin to walk in these spiritual principles.


When we let the sin nature go we begin to walk in biblical truth and go from glory to glory. Then Jesus begins to sanctify you.  We have real fellowship then, and without it we have no real fellowship with one another but a self righteous cleaned up people on the outside still with same stinking thinking.
Oh, but with God's strength we are more than conquers. Christ in us is the hope of Glory! He is our divine union, and nobody can stop that life flow he gives us.


Let's look at the biblical precepts of the concept of spiritual strength.


1. Where Does Our Strength Come From?


God gives strength to his people.  Look at Psalms 27:1, Psalms 27:14. Isaiah 40:31 says,"but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like the eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."


Are you walking as a Christian or are you running?  I want to be like the song says, "I feel like running my last mile home." Now that thought and meditation will turn a lukewarm pew into fire where the smoke of God's presence swirls around your head, and a shout comes off your tongue, "I'm coming Lord to meet you in the air!" When His word moves you and comes alive in you then you know you've have revelation and you're grown in your spiritual life and full of strength.


Reading and meditating on God's word makes us mature.  Babies have to have nourishment to grow as it is with our spiritual growth. 1Peter 2:2, Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good."  Show me a stagnate Christian and you will show me a person who does not crave the word, but is content to suck on the pacifier of carnality.


The word will do what it says it will do. I know because it healed the gapping wounds in my own heart after I fell on my knees weeping at the misguided thinking that had dictated a sinful life and robbed me of my spirit until I was lifeless without any capacity for real love or inner strength. It gave me a contrite heart and showed me how broken I was.


Pastor Nelson said, "if I can get the word into you, it will transform you, and you WILL grow and be a strong Christian." The word is powerful and cuts through bone and marrow. We have to have a real love of the word to be renewed into His likeness. Without a thirst to know him through his word is to be unappreciative of his life force and strength he has given to us as a precious gift. Jeremiah 15:6 says it like this, "You have rejected me, declares the Lord. You keep on backsliding. So I will lay hands on you and destroy you; no longer show you compassion."


So you see the Lord has the power to give you life or to destroy you. One who fears God's power to let you breathe or let you die is the beginning of wisdom from the word. He also has great joy to give to those who love Him.  That joy of the Lord is your strength. Delight in Him and He will give strength to your soul.
John 15:16 tells us, "You are called by God Almighty." That knowledge alone should strengthen you just to know that Jesus called you out. 1Corinthians 3:2


Never boast of your strength because of your spiritual gifts, but real strength is revealed by your fruit. You can be gifted by the Holy Spirit and not produce fruit.  A Holy Spirit gift can and does get abused.  You need to stay anointed and that comes from producing fruit.  You can't put water in your gas tank and expect it to keep running. Neither will sin work in your Christian walk.  The fruit of the spirit is produced by following the spiritual laws together with using your gifts.  


David was gifted and anointed at age 16, yet we see him in the Psalms praying for anointing again. You have to keep fresh oil in you and keep dipping yourself into the oil of the Holy Spirit. If you think you need only one refreshing then the devil is going to really love you, for you are really full of yourself and carnality. There's gifts in a lot of Christians and they don't even know it because they never ask for more anointing or a refreshing by the Holy Spirit. They never learned how to live in covenant and they are deceived by Satan and his false teachers. 


Daniel 11:32 says, "with flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him." Learn the law of obedience and the law of disobedience in Duet.
People who are obedient do exploits unto God. The stronger they are in the Lord the more they will do great things for God.


2.  Spiritual Laws Have One Source of Strength - The Word Of God.
Pastor Nelson said his most frequent prayer is that of more revelation of the word. "God gave me revelation of the treasures that the church has lost.  I took a long look in the word of the first church and the disciples teachings about prayer, fasting and righteousness and how we are empowered by Christ's teachings, and realized the church has lost that truth."  We have to get back to the basic principles of the bible for there is where the power of the church is and we have to focus on the law of Strength as it says in Philippians 4:13.


I'll give you a scripture now that will make you want to get up and shout. In Isaiah 41:10-15, it says, "Do not be afraid for I am with you, do not be dismayed by anything, for I AM Your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous hand.  All who come against you will be put to shame and disgraced. Those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. I will take hold of your right hand so do not fear. Do not be afraid O worm Jacob, O little Israel, for I MYSELF will help you declares the Lord, your redeemer, the HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL. I will make you into a threshing sledge, new and sharp with many teeth.  You will thresh the mountains and CRUSH THEM." David had that truth in his spirit and that truth gave him confidence and strength as he faced Goliath.


Have you really gotten it into your spirit that Christ is seated at the right hand of God? Now don't tell me again how strong the devil is.  The next time you hear him knocking behind your door, take your foot and kick it in.  He won't come in, he will flea and scatter into the air where he is the prince only! John 6:63-64 reminds us that, "The Spirit gives us life, the flesh counts for nothing.  The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. Yet, there are some of you who do not believe." We have to get away from having a form of Godliness but not believing in its power.


You don't have to be a bible scholar to have God's word in you, or memorize a zillion scriptures.  The Holy Spirit will bring remembrance to you concerning the word if you have it planted in your heart and spirit.
The word is powerful! John 1:1 said, the word was in the beginning and Jesus was the word become flesh. Never forget the Holy Ghost is your best friend. He puts things in your spirit everyday that is truth and we must desire to follow that divine guidance from the comforter. The law of the spirit manifests amazing things in your life like transformation, healing and miracles and a desire to please the Lord that destroys desire for sin. Romans 8:11.


I see so many people who have lost that life force, without hope, whose spirit's are buried deep in a miry pit of darkness and pain.  We are the light that shines into their soul and I want to show them what Jesus gave me that day at Calvary when I began my new life in him.  I want them to know the resurrection power of the blood of Jesus and that precious mercy and grace and forgiveness that lifts us up into the light of truth and sows a seed of newness in us that  strengthens us and draws us into HIS SPIRIT. Well, Glory!


How do we get these spiritual laws in our spirit? By getting back to the basics, prayer, fasting, reading the word, meditating on it's truth, walking in its truth and getting carnality out of our homes and churches. Bring back the foot washings so we can get in our spirits what true love for another and fellowship really means.  You have to feed your faith and let the flesh die. Psalm 118:14.


This bible teaching was taught by Rev. Jerry Nelson at Westmoreland PHC in Wilson, N.C. at Wednesday night's bible study along with my commentary.  If you would like to have a CD of this teaching you can send an email to djbraman@gmail.com and request it or go the church web site at www.westmorelandphc.org