Heavenly Perspective

For He raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with Him in the Heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6, NLT)

A while back, I read a devotion by Dr. Bill Hanshew entitled, "Standing in the Shadow of a Man of God." You may find the link below.

http://www.billhanshewministries.org/Devotion--079.html

Everyone should read the devotion because it is excellent training. Everyone should keep it close and re-read it to maintain that training. 

There are many great aspects of the devotion; however, the one that I have been meditating on is the overall chord running through the devotion (as well as Dr. Hanshew and this ministry) and that is, Heavenly Perspective.

No matter what storms may rage, above the storm we find, Heavenly perspective. Look through the dark clouds to Heavenly perspective. Every storm that rages in our lives can be fought through Heavenly perspective.

Heavenly Perspective = God's Perspective = God's Word (The Bible)

Offense…Matthew 18:15

Infertility… Deuteronomy 28:4

Marriage…Ephesians 5:22-33

Unruly children…Proverbs 22:6

Unbelief…1 John 5:14

Finances...Luke 6:38

Health...Isaiah 54:5

Battles…Ephesians 6:12

Manipulation...Matthew 24:4, Galatians 5:1, 

Gossip...Proverbs 29:19

"I don't know what to do."...Jeremiah 29:11 so 1 Peter 5:7

'I don't know what to say."…Ephesians 5:1 

"I can't, this is so hard."...Galatians 6:9

We could do this all day!

Our God, our Heavenly Father, the Creator of Heaven and earth, the Owner of everything on earth, the Giver of all good gifts has given us everything we need for life and godliness in and through His Holy...life giving…life changing Word! (Psalm 18:2, 1 John 3:1, Psalm 146:6, Psalm 50:12, James 1:17, 2 Peter 1:3, Hebrews 4:12)

And He is The One who's love will never be separated from us!

(Romans 8:38) 

Does that mean there won't be storms? Absolutely not. But that does mean, we keep our eyes and hearts beyond the dark clouds, above the storm, through to Heavenly Perspective, we rise above the storm and walk in Heavenly Perspective!

For every storm that rages, find your answer in the Bible, and keep Heavenly Perspective!

Father, thank You for teaching us how to find and to keep Your perspective. When the black clouds roll in and the battle rages, we know that we know that we know, we are seated with You. Thank You for uniting us with Christ Jesus! I pray for every reader right now, as well as myself, in the name of Jesus I decree and declare we are not deterred, discouraged, or distracted by dark clouds but we see through the dark clouds to Your perspective. We walk in Your perspective in the name of Jesus! 

Snippets

Behold, I give you all authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means harm you. (Luke 10:19, NKJV)

I read something today that tempted me to get irritated. Please don't fall for stuff like the following snippet...it totally undermines the wonderful goodness of God.

"If you are going through something difficult, it's because God is preparing you for something great!”

There is one reason we go through something difficult. John 10:10 & Psalm 34:19.

However, the end result for us is the end of John 10:10 and Psalm 34:19 and that is this "But I have come to give you life in excessive abundance" and  "But God delivers us out of them all".

And by the way, God is ALWAYS preparing us for something great! Because He is great! He doesn't have to drag us through difficulties (Isaiah 5:20) to prepare us for greatness (2 Corinthians 2:14). 

Another popular one is, "Everything happens for a reason." I can almost hear the long drawn out sigh before and after that statement. 

Dr. Bill Hanshew addresses that very well. You can find his response at the link. 

http://www.cfaith.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13758:everything-happens-for-a-reason&catid=48:leadership-&Itemid=67

The point I'm trying to make is this...instead of putting our confidence in a not so cutesy saying, let's put our confidence in God's Word! (Hebrews 4:12), believe everything God said (Mark 11:22), and walk in our authority (Luke 10:19).