Today we continue our new series entitled, “Press through it!”
We weeks we looked at 2 Cor 12:2-10. Today we start our journey through another passage the Apostle Paul wrote. It’s in the same letter, but this time in the 4th chapter. This is what the Holy Spirit, through Paul, said:
“We have this treasure from God, but we are only like clay jars that hold the treasure. This is to show that the amazing power we have is from God, not from us. We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We often don’t know what to do, but we don’t give up. We are persecuted, but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed. So we constantly experience the death of Jesus in our own bodies, but this is so that the life of Jesus can also be seen in our bodies. We are alive, but for Jesus we are always in danger of death, so that the life of Jesus can be seen in our bodies that die.”
(2 Corinthians 4:7-11 ERV)
As believers, for us to be the men/women God called us to be and for us to do what He called us to do, we have to be okay with the fact that we will be troubled on every side (as the King James Version puts it). The key is not giving up. The Passion Bible translation reads, “At times we don’t know what to do, but quitting is not an option.” If you are going to accomplish your divine assignment before you die, if you are going to make the impact on this planet you were born to make, you will have to develop the grit, resolve and determination to PRESS THROUGH every obstacle you encounter on the road to your destiny.
So what does this mean to you today? A few things.
1. We have everything we need ALREADY INSIDE of us.
a) Paul starts the passage we are studying with this statement: “We have this treasure from God, but we are only like clay jars that hold the treasure. This is to show that the amazing power we have is from God, not from us.” Before Paul talks about getting through, over or past the challenges we will encounter on the road to our destiny, he reminds us that God has deposited His treasure and His power INSIDE of us. Everything we will ever need is already IN us.
b) God placed His treasure IN us, the Bible says, “to show that the amazing power we have is from God, not from us.” When you know the power of God is IN you, and you know this power is not FROM you, you come to the realization that there is nothing you cannot do. Why? Because there is nothing God cannot do and He is living on the inside of you.
c) Everything God can do is what you can do, because God lives INSIDE of you.
d) God is living inside of you. He is the treasure. You are simply the container carrying the treasure. You are the container. He is the content. You are not the content. He is the content. You don’t have the power. He has the power. You don’t have the ability. He has the ability. All you have to do is realize that you are carrying God around on the inside of you. When you realize this, it does not matter if you are troubled on every side, you will not be defeated, because God cannot be defeated and He is the one IN YOU!
2. God has placed everything HE IS INSIDE of you!
a) God deposited Himself INSIDE of you when you were Born-Again. This is the same Holy Spirit who was inside of Adam when he walked with God in the cool of the day in the Garden of Eden. This is the same Holy Spirit who was inside of Jesus when we performed miracles, signs and wonders in the earth. So now, what Adam was able to do before the fall and what Jesus was able to do while He was in the earth, is what you are able to do BY THE POWER and PRESENCE of God IN YOU!
b) God has called us, not to simply die and go to heaven, but to bring heaven to the earth. However, this will never become your reality until you are convinced that God is living on the inside of you.
c) God wants us to experience days of heaven on the earth on a daily basis. This is why He deposited His Spirit inside of us. God is a Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our connection to God, Spirit-to-Spirit. He [the Holy Spirit] reveals to us what heaven is like, so we can experience heaven now, while we are on this planet.
d) Everything that is in heaven is available to us right now, but we must open our heart to it. We don’t work for it. We have to believe for it. We could never earn it. We just have to believe for it. The day you start believing with your heart and confessing with your mouth that God is in you, that He sees you know less than He did His own Son, and that everything in heaven is available to you NOW, you will start to experience days of heaven on the earth. Furthermore, you will not be moved by trouble, even when you have trouble on every side! You will embrace the grace of God to PRESS THROUGH IT!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I am like a common clay jar that carries around a glorious treasure within it. I am the container. You are the content. The power and the glory come from You! Your glory attracts opposition. So I may experience trouble on every side. But I am not defeated. When I don’t know what to do, quitting is not an option. When I am persecuted by others, You are always there with me. I may be knocked down, but I am never knocked out! I continually share in the death of Jesus in our own body, so the life of Jesus can be seen, in the earth, through me. I enter this day determined to PRESS THROUGH any challenge that comes my way. Not by my power, but by Your strength. Because You live IN ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word. Apply it and prosper!
