Strengthen Yourself in the Lord: How to Release the Hidden Power of God in Your Life by Bill Johnson

Author:Bill Johnson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Christian Life, Christianity, Spiritual Life - Christianity, Religion, Spiritual Life, General, Spiritual Growth
ISBN: 9780768424270
Publisher: Destiny Image Pub
Published: 2007-03-31T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

Possessed by Promises

Meditating on the promises of God will strengthen you.

Throughout this book I have been showing how the tools we use to strengthen ourselves in the Lord are designed to keep us connected with our identity and purpose. Perhaps this is obvious, but we only know our identity and purpose because God tells us what they are. Renewing our minds requires us to learn how to let His words over our lives completely cancel out our old beliefs about who we are—even before we see His word manifesting fully in us. This is how we demonstrate faith.

David’s destiny to be king did not begin with his ascent to the throne but with God's declaration of that destiny through the prophet Samuel. There were probably days in the wilderness when the only evidence he could present as proof that the Word was true was his memory of what Samuel said and the oil dripping from his head. But the fact that David pursued his destiny to its fulfillment, without quitting and without taking shortcuts, is clear evidence that he believed what God had said. His faith was not based on circumstances, but on who he knew God to be from his history with Him. Like Sarah, he “judged Him faithful who had promised” (Heb. 11:11).

Unlocking the Potential of the Promise

When you are born again, you inherit every promise of God for the believer. Peter tells us that these “great and precious promises” are the things that make us “partakers of the divine nature” (see 2 Peter 1:4)—they unlock our potential to become like Christ. But we don't truly possess these promises until three things happen. We first begin to possess a promise when it is spoken into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. As we read in the previous chapter, the Holy Spirit takes what is Christ's and declares it to us, telling us things to come (see John 16:13-14). The declaration of the Spirit is what places the promises of the Kingdom into our account. Whenever God speaks to us, His prophetic anointing is released in what He says. That word may come to you through another person, or an anointed prayer that is being prayed over you, a passage of Scripture that leapt out at you as you read, a dream or vision, or by the still, small voice of the Spirit in your inner man. That anointing does not just tell you what will be; it is creating what will be. It’s as if a railroad track is being laid down before you that leads directly to the fulfillment of the Word.

It is impossible for God to lie. His Word is always in complete agreement with His nature and character, and therefore His very words release His power to accomplish what He has said. This is what the angel declared to Mary: “For with God nothing will be impossible…” (Luke 1:37). The word for “word” is rhema, which is the freshly spoken Word of God. The word “impossible” means without ability.

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