But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.’ – Mat. 16:23
The Greek word for mindful is phroneo, to exercise the mind; that is, entertain or have a sentiment or opinion; to be disposed in a certain direction, and to intensively interest ourselves in a matter. When we meditate upon what we see in the natural, we magnify its potential impact. If we over-think our ways, and the ways of others, we become fearful and quench the flow of the mind of Christ in our lives.
When Jesus rebuked the enemy working through Peter, He told him he was being mindful of the things of men, not of God. Our adversary tries to battle us in our thoughts the same way. The more we are mindful of the spiritual realm, the more we can walk victoriously in the natural realm.
Our aim should always to be mindful of the things of God. Reading and speaking forth the Word of God helps us exercise our mind. Let’s press through until we are disposed to think toward the things of the Spirit, more than of the flesh. Our walk is by faith, not by sight. We do not focus too much on the human aspect, but on the spiritual, from glory to glory
But whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, “The very dust of your city which clings to us we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you. – Luke 10:10-11
Rejection tries to cling to our feet to slow down our progress and hinder our walk of obedience. It happens when we least expect it. Because it catches us off guard, offense and anger can rise quickly. When we don’t have time to process it, it lingers and increases in its negative impact.
To reject rejection, we release it unto the Lord, trusting our election in Him. Our heart is to be pleasing unto God, not others; not to look for human approval or seek praises of men …but seek first the Lord and His Kingdom. When we know who we are in Christ, we don’t let others define us.
We can shake the dust off our feet, refusing to be offended. We wipe off rejection against our adversary and see his plans come to nothing. Instead of dust on our feet, we walk away with glory. We release the glory of the Lord everywhere our feet tread; and we never carry rejection with us to the next place. We move forward, from glory to glory!
“No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me,” Says the LORD. – Isaiah 54:17
We should condemn every word which rises against us in judgment. Known and unknown.
The words we know about hurt, especially coming from those close to us. They are like knives thrown into our hearts. Their effects run deep. We play them on repeat in our minds, question our reaction to them, analyze them, add to them, and do many things before condemning them.
Unknown words are more challenging. They bring heaviness to us unexpectedly. We feel burdened for no reason. We try to figure out what happened but end up empty. Our attitude shifts or our own words become sharp. We do not think of condemning unknown words, so their effects last longer.
Dealing with the pain from every crushing word cannot be done without the help of the Spirit of God. Healing of the wound happens through forgiveness and healing. We yield to the conviction of the Holy Spirit for any wrongdoing on our part (known and unknown), stand on what the Word says about us, and walk free, from glory to glory!
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood.- Gal. 1:15-16
Like Paul, God separated us, called us from our mother’s womb. He called us to be according to His divine plan and purposes. All of us are uniquely, wonderfully made and by yielding our will to God’s, we can walk in His purpose. We can see how God’s protection, guidance and provision were with us even when we weren’t aware of it. Amazing grace!
If He was with us even then, how much more will He be with us now? When we thought no one cared about us, God did. When others left us, God didn’t. Even when in our involvement in the wrong things, God still protected us from a worst fate. While we questioned God’s existence and believed in the wrong things, His hand stayed upon us. He knew the time was coming when the Holy Spirit would remove the veil from our eyes so we could see, believe, and receive salvation.
Today, as we walk by faith in His grace, God’s divine purpose for our future is yet to be realized. No matter what it looks like today in our lives, and the lives of the people we are praying for, we can trust and believe that our tomorrow carries greater glory than we can see. We grow in the knowledge of who God was, is, and is to come. He reveals what is to be, from glory to glory!
Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us.- 2 Cor. 1:9-10
We can look back today and see where God has brought us out of situations we were so concerned with in the past. God delivered us! He delivered us then; He delivers us today, and He will deliver us tomorrow. We learn to know God’s faithfulness. We find we can always trust Him.
To trust is to have confidence in; to have an assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something. We attain this as we grow in the knowledge of that someone or something. To trust God for what He can do, we must meditate on who He is. Knowing His character helps us know His ability. It’s to the same degree we know the Lord, that we trust Him. The trust we have in ourselves decreases as our trust in God increases.
We trust the Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever. He has delivered us from spiritual death. The one who raises the dead surely can deliver us out of any trying circumstances. Our God is loving, good, gentle, faithful, reliable, unchangeable, amazing, glorious and more than enough! This amazing God takes us from glory to glory!
Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus. – Acts 4:29-30
On the cross, Jesus, as the sin bearer, took all our punishment and snatched us out of the hands of the enemy. Our Lord’s saving hand is a daily reality because of what He accomplished on the cross. Through His resurrection, Jesus proved His conquest. Whatever we go through today, we can reach out to Him and trust Him to reach out to us.
When a parent sees his child cross the street as a car races towards him, he will run and stretch forth his hand to pull him to safety. He will give his life to save him from danger. Jesus gave His life for us. How much more can we trust Him to intervene and rescue us from perils?
Our Lord stretches out His saving hand, His healing hand, and His delivering hand. His anointed hand will lay hold of us and rescue us from danger. We can trust that no one, and nothing, will ever be able to snatch us out of His hand! We are secure, safe, and sheltered in Him, fromglory to glory!
