The Believer's Greatest Danger

The believer's greatest danger is to lapse from the Light of the Word to the light of the senses.
 
Luke 11:35, 36 explains this: 35 See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. 36 Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted,
 as when the light of a lamp shines on you." NIV
 
You have seen faces illumined with the Glory of God upon them. That is the result of the Life of God flooding the very being of that person. Joy fills them, laughter, praise, songs and shouts of GLORY is the result of the 
infilling light of life within the believer.
 
 
Living and walking in the Light of the Word is the most beautiful and thrilling experience known, but to walk in the senses and to trust in the wisdom of the senses is dangerous.
 
 
 
But one is tempted to do this because everyone around him perhaps lives in the sense realm and they look upon him as fanatical because he dares walk in the Faith realm, the Love realm.
 
You dare practice love when everybody else practices selfishness. You live the Jesus Life while they live the self-life.
 
You give and they criticize your giving. You deny yourself while they live in self-gratification.
 
They cannot understand you. (They didn't understand Jesus.)
 
Those most intimate with Him didn't understand. Neither did they understand Paul and Peter and John in those early days. Then don't expect them to understand you because you live the God kind of Life.
 
You are walking in the Light of the Word instead of the light of the senses.
 
The “light” or the understanding that is in them is darkness. They are walking in darkness. They know not where they are going, but you walk in the Light of Love.
 
There is no habitual stumbling in you. You act like Jesus; you talk like Jesus.
You have the Jesus Nature in you, and that Jesus Nature is dominating your spirit.
 
You find joy that is unspeakable and full of glory. They have found all kinds of trouble, and they are ever advertising their trouble. You live in the Light as He is in the Light.
 
Now you can understand what He means when He says "I am the light of the world”.
 
When you follow Jesus, you will not walk in the light of the senses but will have the Light that comes from Eternal Life.
 
You can't have the Light of Life without having the Love of Life, the new kind of love that Jesus brought.
 
You can't walk in Love without becoming a seeker after the lost, a burden-bearer of the weak, and a comforter of those in sorrow.
 
Eternal Life is a wonderful thing. It is a solution of all home problems. Yes, it is a solution of the human problem. Men who have Eternal Life can never take advantage of the weak, but rather, become their burden-bearers.
 
You will always count it a privilege and a pleasure to deny yourself in order to help someone else. Jesus becomes big in you. I can understand now what Paul meant when He said to the Galatians church:
 
 
Gal 4:19-20
19 My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20 how I wish I could be with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you! NIV
 
Notice verse 19 in the KJV…"My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you."
 
 
The Life of God had not gained the ascendancy in those men who had just left heathenism and embraced Christ as Savior and Lord.
 
Paul yearned over them, longed to help them know their place in Christ. Christ being formed in us is Christ being built in us through our acting and doing the Word.
 
For Paul, His prayer for them was like child birth, it was like labor pains. He Travailed in birth again for them so that Christ would be formed in them.
 
Romans 8:29
 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. KJV
 
Prayer for those God puts in our lives is scriptural. Travailing prayer is scriptural; Paul and His 
companions did it all the time.
 
Colossians 4:12-14
12 Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured. 13 I vouch for him that he is working hard for you and for those at Laodicea and Hierapolis. NIV
 
Philippians 2:16-18
16 as you hold firmly to the word of life. Then I can brag on the day of Christ that my effort was not wasted and that my work produced results. 17 My life is being poured out as a part of the sacrifice and service I offer to God for your faith. Yet, I am filled with joy, and I share that joy with all of you. 18 For this same reason you also should be filled with joy and share that joy with me.
 
As we become "doers of the Word" the Life becomes manifest in us. A new day has come. The Life of God ruling in men, Jesus men with the Jesus nature, the Jesus conduct.
 
The old struggle with sin nature is past. Man knows what his Redemption means, knows that Satan has no dominion over this New Creation.
It is not religion; it is the very life of God holding sway in man, this New Creation man.

WALKING IN THE LIGHT OF LIFE

 
ONE of the most illuminating sentences that God ever gave is in John 8:12: "I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in the darkness but will have the light of life." This is one of Jesus' many 
affirmations of what He was.
 
You will remember that He dared to say….
 
"I am the good shepherd."
"I am the Bread of Life."
"I am the way."
"I am the door.”
"I am the Life." And now He said:
"I am the light of the world."
 
You remember that 1 John 1:5 says:
"God is light and in Him is no darkness at all."
 
God was light. God is the Source of light.
 
Now Jesus declares that He is the Light of Life. Then we understand this beautiful fact: that this 
God is light and light is Love.
 
If one walks in this Life, he walks in Love; and he walks in the Light and the wisdom of the Word.
 
Walking in the light means walking in the Word, acting on the Word.
 
Walking in the Light of Life means walking in Love. This Life is an inner light of the spirit. It is the Life of God, and our spirits are radiating love. 

Jesus said : "I am the way, the truth, and the life." The three are all in Jesus.
 
Jesus was reality or truth.
Jesus was the Way into the Father's presence.
Jesus is reality in every phase of this Divine Life.
 
The Word living in us is God living in us.
 Living means "doing", "acting."

I AM WHAT GOD SAYS I AM

 
THIS is a militant confession. This is declaring war on defeat, failure, and weakness. This is carrying war over into the enemy's camp. This is taking the initiative from the enemy.
 
Colossians 1:13-14: "Who delivered us out of the authority of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love; in whom we have our redemption, the remission of our sins." It is God talking and He says: "I delivered you out of the authority of Satan. He has no more dominion over you than he has over My Son. I delivered you out of the authority of darkness."
 
Darkness means uncertainty and lack of assurance. It means halting, hesitant walking; it means that the light has been extinguished and you are not sure of the next step.
 
You have been delivered out of that, and you have been translated into the realm of light.
 
Jesus said: "I am the light of the world. He that follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
 
You have been delivered out of that darkness. Now declare it. Now confess it.


Confession Of Faith:         
“I am delivered out of the authority and dominion of darkness. Satan cannot rule my life because God is the very strength of my life; and greater is He that is in me than the demon forces of darkness."
 
You dare to make that confession, hold fast to it, and refuse to yield a single moment.
 
You have been "translated into the kingdom of the Son of his love in whom you have your redemption." That wipes out everything that you have ever done. That is more than forgiveness. The slate of the past has been wiped clean. You stand complete in Him.
 
Now in the face of your enemies you dare to make your Confession of Faith: "I am what He says I am. 
If He says I am redeemed, I am.
If He says that I am a New Creation created in Christ Jesus, I am.
If He says that He has translated me into the kingdom of the Son of His Love, I am in the Love realm under the Love law.
Then as a New Creation I am no longer under Satan's dominion. Jesus is My Lord”.
 
Ephesians 2:10 says that I am His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. "God has imparted to me His Own Nature-His Own Life. "I am now a member of Christ's Body. This New Creation has been born out of the Heart of God."
 "I have received God's very Nature and Life. I am a partaker of the Divine Nature."
 
Can you hear John say in 1 John 5:13: "These things have I written unto you, that you may know that you have Eternal Life, even you that believe on his name."
 
You see, if you have partaken of God's Nature, God's Life, and the very Substance of His Being, 2 Corinthians 5:21 is true to you "Him who knew no sin God made to be sin that we might become the righteousness of God in him."
 
As surely as Jesus was made sin for you, you have been made righteous by receiving the Life and Nature of God.
 
He says that you are His righteousness in Christ.
 
You dare to say that you are what He says you are, and you will see that it places 
you in the realm of victors.
 
You begin to confess that God has told the truth about you, and you will thrill Heaven.
 
Instead of telling people of your failures and weaknesses, now you can boldly confess you are what God says you are and you can do what God says you can do. All because of His Son Jesus!
 
You will fill the heart of the Father with joy. You will be repeating John 1 :16: "For of His fullness have we all received and grace upon grace."
 
Sense Knowledge cannot walk in this realm.
 
Sense Knowledge cannot even get you through the gate that leads into the Fellowship where you are walking with God.
 
Ephesians 3:16-19
16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of 
all the fullness of God. NIV
 
2 Corinthians 3:4-6
 
4 Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. 5 Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. 6 He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant- — not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. NIV
 
 
 
Here God becomes our sufficiency; our ability. He told the disciples to tarry in Jerusalem until they received power from on high. The word "power" comes from the Greek word "dunamis" which means ability. Jesus said, "I want you to tarry in Jerusalem until you receive God's ability."
 
He is calling that ability "sufficiency" now. He has become your ability, your sufficiency.
 
Now you can understand Philippians 4:13: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Or, "I can do all things in Him who is my ability, my sufficiency, my strength."
 
You understand that you are taken out of the realm of natural ability, out of the realm of Sense Knowledge ability into the supernatural realm of God.
 
God Is Now Not Only The Strength Of Your Life, But He Is Your Ability.
 
You can understand 1 John 4:4: "You are of God, my little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world."
 
This is the surpassing grace of God. Weymouth's translation of Romans 5:17 is illuminating : "For if through the transgression of the one individual, Death made use of the one individual to seize the sovereignty, all the more shall those who receive God's overflowing grace and the gift of righteousness reign as kings in life ,through the one individual, Jesus Christ."
 
You have received God's overflowing grace and the gift of righteousness. That enables you to reign as a king in the realm of life through Jesus Christ.
 
What would that conception of Christianity do for the millions of earnest men and women who are struggling to get faith and to get wisdom so that they may walk well pleasing in His sight?
 
They have no knowledge of the Word. This is a revelation of the grace of God to us who are in the Body of Christ.
 
Let us notice further Phil. 4:13. One translator says : "I have strength for anything." God is my ability; He is my wisdom; He is my righteousness; He is my perfect redemption from weakness, fear, and lack. I stand complete in Him, a victor over all my enemies. I think the 20th Century Translation of Phil. 4:11 fits here "I have learned in whatsoever state I am, therein to be independent of circumstances.
"I know what it means to live on short rations; I know what it means to have an abundance. In all things, in every place, He is leading me in triumph in Christ."
 
2 Corinthians 2:14 is true: "Thanks be unto God who always leads me in triumph in every place."
 
He is making Paul a victor, a conqueror, an over comer; and is enabling him to write this revelation, most of it behind prison bars. Paul was the spiritual conqueror of the ages; and what Paul was in Christ you are in Christ.
 
Now we can live Isaiah 41:10-13
 
We ask that the Holy Spirit reveal this prophecy and promise that belongs to the Church and open our eyes to see what the Spirit is saying to us right now!
 
Isaiah 41:10-13
10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.(That is Jesus)
11 "All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. 12 Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. 13 For I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, 
Do not fear; I will help you. NIV
 
Jesus is God's right hand of righteousness, and He whispers to us: "Fear thou not, for I am with thee."
 
If God is with you, then He is for you. And if He is for you, who can be against you?"
 
But the next sentence is the one: "For I am your God."
 
Think of the Creator of the universe speaking to you like that !
 
This should make you know that you are more than a conqueror. You see, this is the truth in regard to what we are in Christ when He says: "I will help you, I will uphold you and I will be your strength and ability."
 
You are not afraid of anything. Fear has lost its dominion. You and Christ are walking in triumph.
If you have Eternal Life, you have God's Nature.
 
If you have God's Nature, you have God's righteousness.
 
If you have God's righteousness, you can pray the prayer of the righteous man.
 
If you have Eternal Life, you are God's son.
 
If you are His son, you are Satan's master in Jesus' Name.
 
If you have Eternal Life you are a "branch of the Vine." Then you can bear vine-fruit; you can do the works of God.
 
You are grafted into Christ, and Christ is God. The Vine and the Branch are one. The Vine is hidden, the Branch is seen, laden with the fruit. Men see the vine life in you.

 

A Wrong Confession

 
A wrong confession is the confession of defeat, failure, and of the supremacy of Satan.
 
Talking about your combat with the devil, how he has hindered you, and how he is holding you in bondage and keeping you sick is a confession of defeat.
 
It is a wrong confession. It glorifies your adversary. It is an unconscious declaration that your Father-God is a failure.
 
Most of the confessions that we hear today glorify the devil. Such a confession continually saps the very life out of you. It destroys faith and holds you in bondage.
 
Proverbs 6:2 NKJV
2 You are snared by the words of your mouth;
You are taken by the words of your mouth.

 
The confession of your lips that has grown out of faith in your heart will absolutely defeat the adversary in every combat.
 
Proverbs 18:21 NKJV
 21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
And those who love it will eat its fruit.

 
The confession of Satan's ability to hinder you and keep you from success, gives Satan dominion over you, and fills you with fear and weakness. But if you boldly confess your Father's care and protection, and declare that He that is in you is greater than any force around you, you will rise above Satan’s influence.
 
 
2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

 
Every time you confess your doubts and fears, you confess your “faith” in Satan, which is not really faith it is fear, and deny the ability and grace of God.
 
When you confess your weakness and your disease you are openly confessing that the Word of God powerless.
 
He declares that: "With His stripes you were healed"; and "Surely He bath borne our 
sicknesses and carried our diseases." (Isaiah 53:4)
 
Instead of confessing that He has borne our diseases and put them away, many confess that they still have them.
 
You cannot take the testimony of your senses instead of the testimony of the Word of God.
 
As long as you hold fast to your confession of weakness, sickness, and pain you will still have them.
 
Even searching out other believers to pray for you will be fruitless if you are full of doubt and unbelief and your confession is not of faith.
 
 
The believer who is always confessing his weakness is building failure into his consciousness.
 
We should never remind ourselves or the Lord of our failings, or of our past mistakes.
 
If you confess anything, confess that you stand complete in Him, that what God has said in regard to your mistakes and blunders is absolutely true….
 
Heb 10:17 NIV
 17 Then he adds: "Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more."