The primary evidence
of genuine Christianity is the believer’s demonstration of love. Jesus
Christ declares, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have
love for one another.” (John 13:35, NKJV)
Since JESUS CHRIST is
the ultimate manifestation of divine love, our theological definition of love is directly connected to His
person and work. LOVE IS THE CHRIST-ANOINTING – spiritually activated in
our thoughts, attitudes, words, decisions, actions and ministries – for the
express purpose of transforming lives, increasing faith, restoring
relationships and authenticating witness.
As the express
manifestation of God and the epitome of divine love, JESUS CHRIST breaks the
vicious cycle of sin, tears down the wall of separation between God and man,
and gains absolute victory over this satanically influenced world system.
In the words of The Anointed One, “These things I have spoken to you, that in
Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of
good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, NKJV) The Word
declares that as JESUS IS in the world, SO
ARE WE, who follow Him closely as WINNER-BELIEVERS!
I love to speak
about “THE CHRIST ANOINTING” because
you and I, as winner-believers, have the exact same spiritual authority and
spiritual anointing that Christ walked in and demonstrated daily. YOU AND I have CHRIST’S ANOINTING…which is
the YOKE-DESTROYING…BURDEN-REMOVING…POWER
OF GOD!
To fully apprehend the
OVERCOMING ANOINTING that JESUS IS (and we
have deposited within), we need to look briefly at how humankind failed
to overcome when originally tempted by Satan. Then, we will contrast this
with the manner in which JESUS handled satanic temptation and achieved absolute
victory.
Prayerfully consider
the following scripture passage:
Genesis 3:1-7 (New King James Version, NKJV)
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of
the field which the Lord God
had made. And he said to the woman, “Has
God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of
the trees of the garden;
3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the
midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch
it, lest you die.’”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely
die.
5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will
be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good
for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable
to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to
her husband with her, and he ate.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew
that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made
themselves coverings.
Fortunately for us,
Satan has only ‘three tricks’ up his demonic sleeve! His power is
actually limited, not unlimited like God’s power, and by extension, less than
our spiritual authority to walk in divine power. I John 2:15-16
admonishes us to avoid falling in love with this world system, and further
informs us of its basic limitations. The Apostle John writes, “Love not
the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. For ALL that
is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of
the world.”
Let’s seek to
understand this more fully. Since Satan is “the prince of the power of
the air,” he is the prince and the power of this world system. (Ephesians
2:2) Nevertheless, John informs us that, Satan’s position
notwithstanding, he has only three weapons in this world system that
can be deployed against us. Only three! “ALL” that Satan has in
this world system is the lust of the FLESH,
the lust of the EYES and the PRIDE of life.
Question: How did
Satan use these three worldly weapons to gain advantage over Adam and
Eve? Answer: Genesis 3:6 states “When the woman saw the tree was good for
food (the lust of the flesh) and that it was pleasant to the eyes (the lust of
the eyes) and a tree to be desired to make one wise (the pride of life), she
took the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her;
and he did eat.”
That is precisely how
our fore-parents failed to overcome. Next time, we will discover how
Satan deployed these same temptations against Jesus and totally failed.
Stay tuned…more to come tomorrow.
Sisters and brothers,
be continually blessed and please (above all else) MAKE SURE YOU ARE READY TO
MEET YOUR SOON COMING KING. Maranatha!
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