Are You Running On Empty -- The Body Builders Forum

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Date Posted: 09:38:52 06/18/05 Sat
Author: JR Smith
Subject: Are You Running On Empty

Are You Running On Empty?......
by J.R.Smith, PowerLife Ministries

�So is my word that goes out from my mouth � it will not return to me void (empty) but it will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it�.
Isaiah 55:11

Have you heard the t.v. credit card commercial of the barbarian asking the question, �What�s in your wallet?� Let me ask you today, �What�s in your heart?� Are you running on empty?

Since most of the people I deal with every day are athletes, fitness enthusiasts, and regular people just working out, it is important to understand a little history on what I am going to share with you today. Just remember, you may not be on the athletic field of competition and therefore think this topic today does not apply to you, but it does. You my friend have to compete every day in life and you should be in good physical shape to do so. In fact if you are a Christian, you better be in good shape because if you are not, Satan your enemy is going to find a way to beat the stuffing out of you every day in some physical way.

Thousands of years ago, there really wasn�t much sport or athletic competition in the way we know it today. At a time when wars raged and kingdom fought against kingdom, warriors had to be taught the ways of warfare and they had to be good at it. Real good in fact. So good that when they went to war they had to be deadly. And so it was with their primary weapon, the sword of saber.

These warriors had to be so good at handling the sword that when they drew it from the scabbard, they could wield it with deadly accuracy. And as these kingdoms advanced and our society became more advanced, things began to calm down.

Here is what I call the �evolution� of athletics today.

First came the warrior who fought for the king and had to do so with honor yet with the thought that death may possibly come at any time in any battle. So the warrior better be good.

Next, as society grew and kingdoms advanced, came the gladiators. These men were fighting machines and knew how to handle every kind of weapon. They fought against each other and sometimes they fought against animals and they killed Christians. Bummer. But this was a form of competitive sport. Maybe this is where boxing or maybe even football got started. Hummmm�

Then as we became even more civilized; we developed even more methods of competition. Today we have entire sports governing bodies and nations competing against nations in the Olympics. At the state and national level there are wonderful opportunities to compete for everyone. So today, you all can consider yourselves descendents of the warriors of old.

Like I said earlier, even if you don�t compete on the athletic field you are still an athlete of sorts because you compete against yourself in the gym and you certainly have a field of competition in life and Satan is always going to challenge you everywhere you go. So you do have a competition every day of your life.

Paul tells us in Romans 8:37 that �We are more than conquerors, through Him (Christ) who loved us.� A conqueror is a warrior. Think about that, Paul says we are �more� than that. Now stay with me because here is where it gets interesting.

A warrior as I mentioned earlier has to be trained how to use his primary weapon, the sword or saber with deadly accuracy. If he did not know how to use that sword, he would be killed instantly on the field of battle. Can you imagine if every warrior went into battle not knowing how to use their weapons of warfare? The kingdom would be defeated and the warriors would become slaves of the dominate kingdom.

The warrior would go into intensive training at a very young age to learn how to use the sword/saber, so that when the time came, he could defend himself, his family and his country with confidence. He grew strong using the sword because sometimes these swords were very heavy. Some were light, depending on what type of fighting they did.

As Christians we are told that we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. That means we are warriors. And do you know what your primary weapon is? It is the �Sword of the Spirit� the word of God, which is contained in your Bible.

You have a weapon of warfare. Do you know how to use it?

There was a time when a warrior may have faced a situation that would have to cause him to defend himself without an army. Maybe someone wants to prove himself or a robber along the road. When the warrior faced a situation such as this, before the situation escalated into a bloody fight, the trained warrior would grab his sword or saber and begin to rattle it inside its scabbard, which is a sort of metallic holster for the sword. It proved to be a warning sound to the person challenging the warrior. It�s kind of like a rattlesnake rattling at you warning you that you are too close, to back off before it strikes.

The warrior would rattle his saber to warn those who came to challenge him that he was packing a sword and he knew how to use it; that they might want to think twice about challenging him. The term came to be known as �rattling your saber�.

As Christians we have the sword of the spirit in which we carry with us every day. It is our primary weapon of defense against Satan and his every plan and purpose. And when we face Satan, no matter how small or big the circumstance is, we have to draw our sword because that is what will defeat him each and every time.

Remember when Jesus was in the wilderness and Satan came to challenge Him? What did Jesus do and say? He would always quote the Word of God; He used the sword of the spirit and He would say, �It is written�� And each time Satan was beaten and finally left Jesus because he knew he could not defeat the Word of God; the Sword of the Spirit!

Which brings me back to today�s scripture. Re read it again if you need to. God says that His Word was sent out and will not come back to Him empty but it WILL accomplish everything that He sent it out to do.

Do you believe that? Do you know what the Word of God says about His every purpose? If you don�t and you face a situation from Satan then all you can do is rattle your saber because you cannot draw it from its scabbard because you don�t know how to use it. You may just get the stuffing beaten out of you.

You may think you have authority over Satan just because you are a Christian, but to be honest with you, it is the Word that has the authority. Read about an account that happened to some good ol� boys in the book of Acts 19: 13-17 if you want to read about authority.

Here is something else you have to remember too. Each and every Word of God is still true, powerful and as active today as it ever was. Nothing has passed away. There is still as much healing, deliverance, joy, peace, prosperity and provision as there ever was. Don�t believe me? Then look at these scriptures.

�Jesus is the same yesterday, and today and forever�. Hebrews 13: 8

�In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning� John 1:1 and then again, �The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us�. John 1: 14.

Now if God says that His Word, which is Christ, has been sent out from Him and Jesus will accomplish ALL of the purposes for which He sent Him out, then you have to know what that Word is, don�t you, in order to be able to use that Word? So if you don�t know the Word, how are you going to use it against sickness, disease, oppression and depression, poverty and lack, and strong holds in yours and others lives? You can�t. You have to know how to use the Sword of the Spirit. Just rattling your saber won�t help anyone. Take the fangs out of the rattlesnake and he is helpless, he has no authority. Same with us as Believers, if we remove the Word from our life, we have no authority � we have no bite!

So how do you do that? You study. 2nd Timothy 2:15 tell us to study and show ourselves approved. This is basic training for the spirit. You have to know what the Word of God says before you can use it.

In Romans 12: 2 we are told not to conform to the world we live in but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. How do we do that? With the Word of God, the sword of the spirit.

Now my question is, first and foremost, do you believe the Word of God to be true, powerful and as much for today as it was when it was first written? If you do, then you have weapons of Satan�s mass destruction at your finger tips. If you don�t, then all you will ever be able to do is rattle your saber and become a casualty on the field of battle.

So let�s take a moment here and explore how God�s Word will not return to Him void and renewing our minds can produce some very powerful, holy and righteous living, and victory in our life.

I want you to look up each of these scriptures I am giving you since �Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God�; you need to get these scriptures in your spirit and in your mind in order to be a mighty warrior of God.

Do you need protection?
Read Psalm 91.

Do you need healing?
Read 1 Peter 2:24 and James 5:13-16

Do you need money and provision?
Read Philippians 4:13 and Psalm 146:7

Do you need a prosperous and hopeful future?
Read Jeremiah 29:11

Do you need wisdom and understanding?
Read James 1:5-8, Proverbs 8:10-11, and 2 Timothy 2:15

Aren�t these some wonderful and powerful promises of God? And they are still as powerful and in effect today as they were when God made the earth, the universe and us. God doesn�t change. He is the same all the time.

The scripture says that in the Lord�s prayer, �Our Heavenly Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on EARTH as it is in Heaven��

Think about this for a moment. What is God�s will in heaven? Is there sickness in heaven? Is there poverty in heaven? Is there pain and suffering in heaven? Are there demonic powers in heaven? No and Jesus is the one who taught us how to pray the Lord�s Prayer. I would think that Jesus would know something about what is going on in heaven when He asked for His father�s will to be done right here on earth as it was being done in Heaven, wouldn�t you?

But Satan doesn�t want God�s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. He doesn�t care what goes on in heaven, just as long as it doesn�t go on here on earth. So you, my friend, have a battle to fight; you better know how to fight using the Word of God, your Sword of the Spirit. God has given you armor, you better put it on every day. (Ephesians 6: 11:17)

Jesus told us, He have given us authority over all the powers of the enemy, sickness disease and all sorts of demonic power. Further in the scriptures we are told to �Resist the devil and he will flee from you�. And it goes on.

But with each promise of provision, deliverance, power and authority, how can you possibly activate that unless you know how? If you don�t know how to speak the Word of God, then you will be running on empty. God�s Word does not come back to Him void, so if you are wondering why it seems that you cannot ever get ahead in life, why you live in a state of poverty, making bad decisions, sick all the time and just getting kicked around in life by the devil, and you want to blame God, think about this. His Word is not empty, nor is it void. He promised it would accomplish the purposes for which He sent it.

Question is, are you empty of His word? Are you just rattling your saber?

That is something to think about.

In the book of Numbers chapter 23 verse 19 it tell us God is not a liar. His Word is true.

Let me encourage you; get into God�s Word every day of your life. Pray His word back to Him and remind Him, that you need His word to accomplish what He sent it to do. And then remain faithful to His word. It may take some time to see some fruit but it will produce a harvest. You will see your needs met according to His riches in Christ Jesus, but it may take some time.

God is not a genie and therefore you cannot just go over and begin to quote the Word of God and expect to get up in the morning and everything will be okay. Even the farmer when he plants his seed knows it will take some time for it to produce a harvest. He doesn�t run out the front door the next morning after planting the seed looking to see if his crop has come up. So it should be the same with us and the Word of God.

It took 13 years for Joseph to go from the pit his brothers threw him into to the palace of Pharaoh in Egypt. So don�t get to anxious. It won�t help. Just rest in God�s Word as being true and His timing to be the best. He will not leave you nor forsake you, He will be with you until the end of time.

Be ready to be a defender of the faith � a warrior of God. The scripture says,� The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come that you may have life and have it more abundantly� (John 10:10)

Draw the sword and declare, �IT IS WRITTEN!�. Be filled up on the Word of God and you will never run on empty, you will never have to just rattle your saber. You will be the mighty warrior that God has called you to be. Trained in the Word and ready to serve the King.

Devil beware.

May God bless your reading this word today. If I can be of any help or assistance in your walk of faith, please contact me either via email, this message board or by my cell phone. I have included it all here.

Have a great weekend.

In Christ Service,

JR Smith.
prposeand power @hotmail.com
606-271-0981

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Replies:

Re: Are You Running On Empty -- Wendy Scheffler, 11:00:50 06/18/05 Sat
- Re: Are You Running On Empty -- JR Smith, 19:46:10 06/18/05 Sat
Re: Are You Running On Empty -- mike tanis, 14:49:28 06/18/05 Sat