Reconciliation Ministries

In Christ - God's Blessings For You

Greetings dearly beloved of the Lord,


STAY IN THE TANK;
Years ago I heard a story and I will try to remember the details. Apparently, during one of the Great World Wars, one tactic one army used to subdue the power of the enemies tanks was to sneak up behind them and stick a potato in the exhaust pipe! The fumes of the exhaust were unable to exit the pipe and would re-enter the tank and fill up the tank with exhaust fumes. Sure enough, the latch door on the top of the tank would open and a soldier would stick his head out to see what was going on. A sniper anticipating this would happen would shoot and kill the one who stuck his head out from the safety of the tank. The Lesson to be learned was "STAY IN YOUR TANK!"

AN ADVERSARY WHO HATES YOU;
Today as a child of the King, you too have an enemy, whose goal is to "steal, kill and destroy"- John 10:10 . His ways are ruthless, deceptive and deadly, therefore we must heed the Word of God, "casting all your anxiety upon Him for He cares for you. BE of sober spirit, BE on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour."-1 Peter 5:7-8. He does not care whom he devours...you...me... any Christian will do ... tempting us to sin against God, one another through wrong and critical attitudes, unloving speech and Loveless actions. Anything for us to grieve the Holy Spirit - Ephesians 4:29-31, and render us ineffective in our mission which is to Know Him and Make Him known.


INDEPENDENCE;
The enemy tries to get us to act independent of the Lord, as he tried with the Lord Jesus in Matthew 4. He tempt us to act independent of the Lord as Joshua did in Joshua 9:14 where they "did not ask for the counsel of the Lord." He tempts us to do that which is forbidden by God and ,"lean to your own understanding..." Prov 3:5- He tempts us not to believe God that what He says He means and what he means He says, as he tempted Eve in Gen 3


DIVORCE YOU FROM REALITY, OF WHO YOU ARE
Any of these temptations will leave us vulnerable to the attacks of the evil one. But one attack I would like to share with you is his ATTACK to your Mind to see yourself OUTSIDE of Christ.

God has Blessed us "...with very Spiritual Blessing...IN CHRIST."- Eph 1:3. We often get discouraged, despondent when we look at ourselves apart from Christ. We Get "out of the Tank" and we allow him to shoot fiery darts at our
mind and we BELIEVE A LIE.

Brother and sisters, we are "IN CHRIST" What does that mean? We are united with Him, Joined to Him, Identified with Him and He with us...Accepted in Him, Loved by the Father because of His Work on our behalf. God has blessed us"... with every spiritual Blessing ...IN CHRIST."


CONSIDER SOME OF YOUR BLESSINGS "IN CHRIST"
"In Christ" you can say and indeed you must speak to yourself and remind yourself of these Truths for you...Read these truths aloud..."At this VERY Moment ..."
A - I Am Accepted In Christ - Eph 1:6
B.- I Am Blessed In Christ - Eph 1:3
C.- I Am Complete In Christ - Col 2:10
D.- I Am Delivered from the authority of darkness through the Finished Work of Christ- Col 1:13
E.- I Am Eternally Secure In Christ- John 10:29
F. - I Am Forgiven In Christ- Col 1:14
G.- I Am Gifted because of Christ to serve the Body of Christ - I Pet 4:10
H.- I Am Holy before God in Christ - 1 Cor 1:30
I. - I Am In Christ by Gods doing - 1 Cor 1:30
J. - I Am Justified - Rom 5:1
K.- I Am Known by Name - John 10:27
L. - I Am Loved- Rev 1:5
M - I Am the Recipient of Great Mercy- 1 Peter 1:3
N - I Am Never Alone - Heb 13:5
O - I Am One with Christ- Rom 7:4
P - I Am a Purchased Possession - 1 Cor 6:20
R - I Am Redeemed through the Blood of Christ - Eph 1:7
S - I Am Saved form the Wrath of God to Come- Rom 5:9
T - I Am following in the train of Christ's Triumph - 1 Cor 2:14
U.- I Am United to Christ- Rom - 7:4
V. - I Am Victorious in Christ - 1 Cor 15:57
W - I have the Word of Christ- Col 3:15-16


I AM Safe, Secure, Saved, and Satisfied in Christ, who is...My "Life"- Phil 1:21,
My "Goal"- Phil 3:8-10, My "Sufficiency"- Phil 4:13, My Savior- Matt 1:21

THERE IS PEACE "IN CHRIST"
This past week has been a little difficult in some respects, but "In Christ" I am encouraged as I contemplate His love for me, you and His Harvest...Indeed we deserve Hell, but Because of His Great Mercy and Sacrifical love - we will never taste it, those of us who are "In Christ." For those who have turned to God from self rule and submitted the control of their lives to Him , to be ruled by His Word and His Son, the Lord Jesus, we find Peace with God- Rom 5:1 and the Peace of God as we live in obedience to Him- Phil 4:9


THE POINT FOR YOU AND ME
"STAY IN THE TANK!" Do not allow the evil one or well meaning "counselors" to get you to look at yourself apart from how God SEES YOU....which is always "In Christ."

THE DECEPTION OF "SELF ESTEEM"
You are Loved... "Self Esteem" is what the world tells you to focus on."Self esteem" is to be all wrapped up in yourself, Jesus has a cross for "Self" ... and indeed we need to spend more of our energies and efforts on "ESTEEMING OTHERS..." He tells us to "esteem OTHERS more highly than yourself " How? By Looking out for their Interests- Phil 2:3-5.

The problem with a lot of us who are despondent, depressed, etc., is often because our whole FOCUS is on our own SELVES and like a garbagecan, the deeper down you go the worst the stench is and there is no future there! With Paul I would concur "there is no good thing that dwells in my flesh..." and instead get involved beyond the end of our own noses and look out for the interest of those whom the Master has placed around us. It was the late great missionary David Livingston who was once asked ,"How do you feel?", "How do I feel?" he responded. The story goes on to say, it had been so long since he had thought about himself so involved was he in the lives of others and the business of our Father...the Exalting of God , Edifying of the saints and the Evangelizing of those without Christ.


GODS VALUE OF YOU
It is not about "self esteem"...It is About Gods Esteem of you ... and "In Christ" it doesn't come much better. So look away from your self, sin [deal with it if you have not by confessing and forsaking...] and failures and look away to Him ... the Lovely Lord Jesus and "Consider Him..." Heb 3:1 and Who you are and What you have "IN CHRIST.." and go forth this day Praising Him- 1 Peter 1:3 for His "Great Mercy, who has caused you to be borne again to a living Hope through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.'- 1 Peter 1:3 and " ... proclaim His Excellencies.." 1 Pet 2:9-10

Today, Tomorrow and every day this week...
"Stay in the Tank!" See yourself as He sees you and rejoice in Him who loves you and makes it all true for you "In Christ"


Prayer Requests,
1. For us to learn to Live "In Christ"- Stay in the Tank.
2. To Actively look out for the interests of Others- For Jesus Sake- 2 Cor 4:5

Please let us know how we may pray or serve you for His Glory. We appreciate and thank Him for those of you who share your requests, joys, struggles, heartaches, pain with us, so we may together pray with you. Also for those of you who have chosen to identify with us in the advancement of the gospel through your love and support… THANK YOU- Phil 1:5

Aidan

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