Position Versus Condition.

2 Chronicles 20:17; Ephesians 1:5-6; Romans 8:31; 1 Corinthians 4:1-4; Jeremiah 1:12; Hebrews 6:13;  James 1:17; Luke 12:32; Matthew 13:29-30; Matthew 18:18; Proverbs 10:22; Matthew 6:20-22; John 12:32; John 10:27

We are walking in today:  Position Versus Condition.

2 Chronicles 20:17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.  We must keep our position in the going through. Sometimes in the going through we will look at our condition.  I know we ask the question why down?  Sometimes it seems like everything is going down, falling down, everywhere you turn around--you are going down.  We need to pause here and consider just why the growing Christian is taken down into defeat and despair in order to be brought up into maturity and fruitfulness. The hard fact is that the growing believer's formative years are predominately backward and downward, rather than forward and upward. There is far more of Romans 7 defeat than there are of Romans 8 victory.  Fiveamprayer we have to keep our position in the going through.  The way up is down.  Your Father first teaches us about your old sinful self, before you are taught about your new righteous self.  The greater part of your early training consists of learning to recognize your sinful Adam nature for what it is--totally self-centered and at enmity with God.  The first aspect that we are to consider is that of acceptance.  Your acceptance with God in the Lord, Jesus Christ.  Like every thing else in your Christian life, your acceptance by God is of grace.  Ephesians 1:5-6 5) Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6) To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.   Could anything be more complete and eternal?  To the extent that the Father accepts His beloved Son, He accepts you, in Him.  You can forever thank Him that your acceptance does not depend upon what you are in yourself!  If you judge God's attitude toward you according to your day to day condition, you are never going to be absolutely sure that He fully accepts you--if at all.  When everything is going well and you are happy in the Lord, you are likely to conclude I am pleasing to God.  Therefore He loves me and accepts me--but when He has to take you down into failure or through trials or into the desert as an important part of your spiritual development then you are apt to feel, I must be displeasing to God.  He doesn't seem to love me or accept me any longer.  With God, position is everything!  Especially when it comes to acceptance in His Son, He wants that to be everything in your estimation.  Of course God is concerned about your present state, He expects you to be also--but your acceptance is not based upon your condition.  The enemy wants your condition to change your position.  But you have got to stand in position, no matter what the condition is.  Because God will tell you this morning, don't look at the condition of the battle, but hold your position!  Just like in the text this morning God told them to hold their position--they would not need to fight in this battle!  Fiveamprayer, position yourself.  Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord! 
Anybody in a place this morning?  A place where you are getting ready to make a change of position because of your condition?  God comes to tell you to be still and know that He is God!  The battle is not yours, it is the Lord's!  Don't move out of position while God is blessing you!  Don't let your condition have you to change your position.  He knows the plans that He has for you!  He knows the thoughts that He thinks towards you.  We can tell the devil, that we won't fret nor be dismayed.  We are holding our position, not looking at our condition.  We are walking this out by faith and not by sight!  The children of Israel walked right up to the Red Sea and crossed over on dry ground.  Like the woman with the issue of blood who pressed and reached out to touch His garment and was made whole.  Ask Job who lost everything and got back a thousand-fold return.  He is always there, right on time!  Hold your position, be steadfast, unmovable!  Romans 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?  Fiveamprayer, stay your position!  Hold, where He has placed you!  1 Corinthians 4:1-4 1) Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2) Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. 3) But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. 4) For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.  We should be in our battlefield positions, on our knees in prayer!  We are to pray and not faint.  We are to pray without ceasing.  Hold your position, not looking to the world.  We are trusting in Jehovah Jireh--we know that we are blessed and highly favored.  Stop looking at your condition, speak to the storms--be still right now and know that He is God!  Hold your position!  Stand on His word!  What did God say?!  He is the God of reconciliation, stand on this in your marriage!  He works all things together for our good!  What is your position, fiveamprayer?  Are you standing on, greater is He that is with in me, than he that is within this world?  What is your position?  After doing all to stand, are you still standing therefore?!  Are you standing on the Lord is my Shepherd and I shall not want!  Hold your position!  He is a very present help in a time of trouble!  Don't worry nor fret!  He is the same yesterday, today and forever more!  Even if we are to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we will fear no evil for our God is with us!  He will never leave nor forsake us!  When the enemy comes in like a flood, God will lift up a standard against him!  We have to be in position, standing on and holding to the word of God--Jeremiah 1:12 Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.  Stop looking at your condition, be in position!  We are called to stand on the promises of God!  That we would say, though He slay me, yet will I trust Him!  That we will stay in position saying, now our will, Thy will be done!  We must stand still and see the salvation of the Lord!  Hold your position!  Get on your knees and cry out, this battle is not mine it is the Lord's!  Hold your position with your children and your finances--the battle is not yours it is the Lord's!  Stand still and watch the Lord move!  Not my will, Thy will be done!  We are standing in position, not moved by our condition.  We must be in position of focused intention or action.  Like if you plan and execute to go to the coffee shop every day regardless if it is raining or the sun is shining.  That no matter what would try to stop you, you keep moving in the same direction that leads to your end goal.  On the way there you don't change direction and head to a furniture store because it is snowing.  That is not your end goal.  Your intention and plan of action was to go to the coffee shop.  Will we be found in position or moved by our condition?  It is like when you see a young child playing with a favorite toy that they will seek it out no matter how well it is hidden or put away.  This pursuit is not reduced based on the condition of the toy, if it is falling apart, or missing a limb, that child will seek it out!  While remaining focused and turning over and looking through every thing that they can grasp.  They will continue to search that which they won't do without.  When that search is not successful, they will seek out help from others to locate that which they desire.  No matter how long it takes or what other toys are presented, they are not swayed to take a substitute.  That the temporary condition of the favorite toy not being available, can only be settled by the appearance of that particular toy.  We must be in hot pursuit, hot on the trail--to be in position to where God has called us, shown us and spoken to us.  There is nothing else that will do!  No other place to go.  The temporary changes can not be enough to make us reconsider our actions that are leading to our goal that God placed in our spirit.  That we can not be swayed with any other thing nor lead to distraction!  We can not be looking to our condition, where everything seems to be falling apart. We are told that we can not trust our natural vision, that is why we walk by faith.  And faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God!  Don't you know that God shows up in the broken pieces?  That He is the potter and we the clay, that He knows the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end?!  We have to stop looking at our condition, God is the provider not the money!  He will provide us a ram in the bush!  Stop saying I am going down, no I am going up!  Don't let the enemy disguise your season.  Don't move out of position!  God is the Way, the Truth and the Life!  Take a stand, no more falling for shadows and deceit--we are children of the light and will stand on His word!  Fiveamprayer, set your face like a flint!  We shall not be moved!  Keep holding your position--not concerned about your condition.  Look to God, He is giving us double for our trouble!  We have sown in the land and God is giving us the former and the latter rain!  Our God is more than able!  Thank You God!  We were getting caught up in the condition, the temporary situation--hold on the the true and everlasting word of God!  This word does not come back void, nor can it be reversed.  This word is backed by the Creator of the universe, there is no higher security or backing than that!  No higher power or authority to appeal to!  Hebrews 6:13 For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself.  James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.  Luke 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  Hold your position, God is the Way, the Truth and the Life!  Take a stand, and stand on His word!  No more of trying to get out of position, out of line with the word of God.  We must be obedient to His word.  Stand, not being moved by your condition.  Everybody can't go with you in this season.  Maybe we can get together in this next season.  God will set you apart for His purpose.  Matthew 13:29-30 29) But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30) Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.  Hold your position, be steadfast, unmovable, always abiding in the word of God!  We will hold our position!  Even when the storm clouds roll in, we will stay in position! While the winds are blowing, we remain steadfast!  Praise Him in the midst of it all!  He is always good and worthy of all of our praise!  Will you hold your praise position in the face of your condition?!  Holding out and remaining in position will out last your condition!   Fiveamprayer, hold your position!  Take your eyes off of the condition and put them back on Him!  He is the Author and Finisher of our faith!  We need to lay out on our faces and repent for being caught up in our condition!  Our response should be I need Thee, every hour I need Thee!  Lay aside every weight that would so easily beset us!  Call out to Him, I need Thee, every hour I need Thee!  Come on in just as you are, only the Father can get you clean!  Come unto to Him!  We have got to know that we need Him every second of every minute and every minute of every hour and every hour of every day and every day of every month and every month of every year and every year of every decade!  There is never a time that we don't need Him!  So always and forever we need, require, and inquire of and for You!  Lord, Jesus keep us!  No one can do it but You!  That need that we have is only sated by You, Lord!  All substitutes fail and do not give peace nor can they restore what we must have!  Which is more and more of You!  To make our abode in Your presence!  That our address be God Way at the intersection of God Court!  That there is no more going in and then coming out.  That we are in and remain in position in spite of, regardless of our temporary condition.  That we run to Him, no more calling everyone else.  That we know and trust that His grace is sufficient.  That it is He that gives us His unmerited favor!  Favor in our marriages with our children--that a way has ready been made for us, but will we be in position to arrive at our desired destination?!  God told us that late in the midnight hour, that He is gonna turn it around. That weeping may endure for the night but joy comes in the morning!  Hold on His grace is sufficient!  Position yourself!  Get out of moving due to your condition.  Actually your condition should cause you to be in position before the Father at His feet.  Are you speaking and seeking the solution or the problem?!  The more time you spend on the condition, does it actually change or improve?  Or could it be a distraction for the time is coming that your position will have you in place for a blessing?    Tell the devil, I stand on the word of God--Matthew 18:18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.  In the name of Jesus we come to bind you, devil that what ever is bound in the Earth is also bound in heaven.  We come to stand on God's word, that no weapon that is formed against us shall ever prosper!  That is our position, we are walking in that scripture as we go out the door and all throughout the day today.  Take your position in the word of God!  He knows the plans that He has for each and every one of us!  Stand on that!  What is your position?  Well stand on it!  Thank You Father for this word! 

We seal this prayer in His precious blood, by His Spirit:   Having done all to stand--stand therefore, fiveamprayer!

Welcome to the overflow...
 Like it is often the case during election time, they want to question the candidates to see what their position is on crucial  issues.  God is posing us the same questions this morning.  Will we hold our position, standing on His word or get impatient and try to work this thing out in the flesh.  Will we try to see what work our hands can wrought or will we await our Father's perfect timing?   Proverbs 10:22 The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.  Oh, so is that why there are so many that have illusions of wealth but are overwhelmed by sorrow--wealth that was wrought by their hands?  Matthew 6:20-22 20) But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21) For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 22) The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.  For us to really remain in position we have to have a singular focus--standing steadfast, unmovable on the word of God!  We must cast off all the lies of the devil, he is still a liar.  There is no need to revisit that again!  Focus and be in position that you are heading to where God told you to go.  Let us cast down every imagination that would exalt itself against the high knowledge of God!  That should be our position, casting down lies to uplift the truth!   The truth that remains shining even in the darkest night.  The truth that under further investigation only reveals more and more truth!  That truth that is life redeeming, sin covering, captive liberating, truth giver who had us walk in--John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.  His name is Councilor, Messiah, Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, Rose of Sharon, Son of Man!  We are to stand after doing all, to stand therefore!  You know that a praying wife can save her husband.  That husbands are called to love their wives as Christ loves the church.  We are to pray without ceasing!  The enemy will try to get into your ear, we are to listen to one voice only--John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.  God had taught us to hear His voice. We rebuke the enemy in the name of Jesus! Take your positions, on your knees in prayer! God gave us spiritual weapons of mass destruction! Keep standing on the word of God! With God for us, who an stand against us?! No matter what on your job, hold your position. With your children, hold your position! In your marriage, hold your position! We must be in His word daily to have a renewed mind, we have to use the weapon the He gave us. We are loaded down daily with benefits! We can't wait until Sunday or Wednesday, we serve a 24/7 God and in this battle we can not take time off nor be distracted. Stay ready and always alert! Call on God all day every day! And all night, every night! Don't stop praising His name! Hallelujah God! Who the Son sets free is free indeed! Keep standing on His word! Jesus took back the keys and lead captivity captive. Load up on the word of God and unload it on the devil, he is a liar and is under our feet! The enemy is trying to come into our minds, we bind you in the name of Jesus! We will speak the word of God that He gave us! We have dominion! We have got to know who we are and who's we are! That condition tried to take us out, but we are holding on to our position! We will walk this out by the word of God, while leaning on His everlasting arms! Have we come this far and prayed this long to give up now?! No! Get up and fight another day, we are soldiers in the army of the Lord. Thank You God! Through it all we will remain in position, not effected by our condition! Hold your position, do not loose ground now! We are to advance and move forward, God is calling us to come in an take over that which He has promised us! Stand in position--that is where God is pouring out and blessing us, that yolks are broken, and chains falling off because you are is standing on the word of God. No longer a let's try and see but a full commitment to standing on His word! This is walking by faith, without a safety net--the only thing to catch us is God's hand. Some would say no other interventions but better said, no interruptions! God knows all and has this already done and finished. He knows our end result and there is nothing too hard for Him. What better place to have our trust and faith?! For every tear that falls from your eyes, hold your position! For every fond memory, hold your position! For every shadow of doubt, hold your position! For all that is spoken against you, hold your position! You have made the right decision, let God work it out. Hold your position, God said it, hold your position! Don't got back and second guess, take your eyes off of the condition, it won't look good to you in the natural. But our trust is not in the natural it is in God who is a spirit and is working all things together for our good! Be still and know that He is God! Walk in this word today! Have a blessed day! Hallelujah God! Position versus condition. The devil is still a liar, he thought that he had us! We give you all the honor and glory Lord! Amen!


Musical Selection
Men Of Standard, Standing In Your Will: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEzMTeNXPkU