Women Arise Weekly Devotional (April 20, 2009)

WOMEN ARISE! WEEKLY DEVOTIONAL (April 19th, 2009)



Hello my precious sisters of Women Arise! I hope this message finds you in good health and full of God's blessings and love! I'd like to welcome all the new members to our group and I pray that it becomes a blessing to you! I would also like to thank all of you who have been inviting people to join us! That's what it's about! So remember: KEEP INVITING PEOPLE TO JOIN THE GROUP! The more people in the group, the more we can uplift and encourage and the more who can be a blessing to us as well! Thank you and God bless you! Now for our devotional:

"Woman Arise, and Use Your Authority!"

You may not know this, but as a believer in Jesus Christ, YOU have authority! Yes, YOU do!!! But first, let's define what the word 'authority' means:

*Authority (Greek= exousia) The legal and/or moral right to exercise power, or power that is rightly possessed.

Now of course, God is the ULTIMATE authority and Source of ALL authority! However, as His children with the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us, do you think we should really be weak? NO! The problem however, is we don't EXERCISE that authority! There are too many beaten down, worn out, stressed out, defeated Christians, for that very reason!

Let me share a little something with you: Not too long ago, I was praying and seeking the will of God on a matter. Well I was facing major satanic opposition, and so I asked God to please break down every stronghold that Satan was trying to erect around me. Well, the Lord 'spoke' to my spirit, "YOU DO IT!" I was floored! I thought surely this is my own thinking or even another attack from Satan trying to confuse me or something...Well I heard that still, small voice again, "You do it! You have so much power contained on the inside of you that you are not using!" Well that's when the Lord began to show me why many Christians are as defeated and beat down as unbelievers!

I asked Him to show me HOW to use this authority, and first He showed me that it takes FAITH! (Matthew 17:20, Hebrews 11:6) We have to first off BELIEVE that we have this authority and that we are indeed covered by the Blood of the Lamb (Jesus Christ). We have to SPEAK in alignment with His will and therefore, we have to KNOW what His will is! That takes a lot of bible study and prayer-DAILY! Well next, we have to use the NAME!!! The name JESUS! We have to speak the TRUTH found in the bible, against the lies of the enemy! There is GREAT power in our words! Words have the power of life and death contained in them! Remember we are made in God's image and He SPOKE the world into existence! (Genesis 1:3-31, Proverbs 18:21) We have to command the enemy (in the NAME of Jesus) to get out of our minds, because the mind is where the battle takes place!

See, if Satan can get us to believe his lies, lies such as, "You are never going to amount to anything!", "You are going to always be sick", "Your kids are going to end up in jail or dead!", "No one can really love you!", "You are a disgrace!", "Your mate is NEVER going to change, just leave him!", "God could never forgive you for your sins!" and many more filthy lies, than he has won!

My friend, once you believe this garbage, you begin to SPEAK in alignment with it! In other words you begin to AGREE with Satan and begin to live your life accordingly. Now when you reject his lies and replace those negative thoughts with positive ones- (TRUE words found in the Word), then you begin to believe those truths and you begin to speak those truths out loud and hence, you live your life according to those things. The thing is, you have to CHOOSE whose report you will believe! God or the enemy! There is no in between! I don't know about you, but I choose THIS DAY, to believe God and ALL that He has written for us! (Joshua 24:15, read through Numbers 13) Whether it FEELS right or good or not, I believe that He knows best! He has created me and everyone and everything else in this world so why wouldn't He know what's best?

That's why we have to know what the bible says about us! We have to know that we are MORE than conquerers through Christ Jesus! (Romans 8:35-37) We have to know that NO weapon formed against us shall prosper and that every tongue that rises up against us in judgment shall be proven wrong! (Isaiah 54:17) We have to know WHOSE we are and WHO we are! (Mark 16:17, 18, Luke 10:17, 19, I John 4:4, Romans 5:17) That way we can speak all of this RIGHT back to the enemy and bring LIFE into our dead situations! Knowing that, that same Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead, can resurrect our dead marriages, our dead and dried out bank accounts, our lost (spiritually dead) children, EVERY sickness and disease that comes against our bodies! That same power can give us the patience to deal with that extremely difficult boss or co-worker, that unruly neighbor! That same power can teach us how to love those who seem to be unlovable! (Romans 8:11) We just have to BELIEVE in the POWER of the Blood, and SPEAK in alignment with the Word!!!!

Once we do that, we are resisting the devil and he will realize that he must flee from us since we don't BELIEVE a word he says! (James 4:7) It's something how he even tries to use Scripture against us, but again- that's why it's so important to KNOW the Word for yourself so that you can see when he's mixing just enough truth with his lies in an effort to deceive us! This is why it's so important to above all, have a PERSONAL relationship with Jesus Christ and to be able to sit still long enough to 'hear' the Spirit speak to you! That's why it's important to know how to distinguish between the world, your own thinking, Satan's voice and God's voice!

Once we master our thoughts and get them in alignment with God's thoughts, (renewal of the mind; see Romans 12:2), we will walk in victory!!!!

Be blessed,

LaTanya Scott