Sometimes it is hard to hear the Lord's voice because of conflicting emotions. This message is about a type of mercy that has a militant mindset, a kind of mercy that not only chooses to stand its ground and not give way to hatred or bitterness. This is a militant forgiveness that insists upon loving. It is as forgiveness goes to war and chooses to fight for souls. God is calling us to see Him standing at the right hand of all power, totally embracing the forgiveness that He has purchased for us with His own blood. As a response to that revelation, the Holy Spirit will empower us to forgive those who continually wound and oppress us.

We are invited to come boldly to the Throne of Grace, "Christ Possessed", knowing He is Our Father and He is also our King. When God speaks and makes a decree He speaks by His Living Word and He is bound to His own promises and divine purposes. We cannot go into God's presence without a promise from His Word. When God speaks a word to you don't consult with your flesh and don't allow your feelings of unworthiness to affect your prayers. We are to come boldly with a fixed position, believing the truth and power of His Word. We do not try to persuade God, but rather are fully persuaded with a fixed position to the faithfulness of His Word.

When we come to Christ by Faith, He will begin to do a work in us and all things will become new. When God begins to speak to our hearts all darkness and confusion will be driven out. God knows what we are going through and the temptations we face. As we begin to surrender our hearts to Him, He will begin to point out areas where we are striving and laboring so He can give us rest.

This is a word for those who are going through difficult times, mentally, spiritually or physically. If you have decided to cross the line of lukewarmness and you are fully surrendered to the Lord's purposes you will become a target for Satan. Nothing shakes the kingdom of hell more than a praying Christian who is sold out for Jesus. When Satan recognizes this fire in us he will attempt to torment our minds with evil thoughts of past failures and sin. His plan is to neutralize our spiritual fight. God is calling us to get our focus off our afflictions and sin and go back to the New Covenant and declare Jesus to be the Highest Authority than anything the devil can throw at us.

The human heart has the ability to take something evil and refashion it in our thinking and call it good. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and this wisdom is understanding that God means what God says. We cannot alter His standard. The Bible clearly says if we forgive each other He will forgive us, but if we will not forgive others neither will He forgive us. Many of us will never grow in Grace because we are not willing to forgive those who have wounded us. Forgiveness is not an option it is a commandment from God. Jesus Christ has provided everything we need to forgive.

There is a season coming when everything that is not Christ's will be washed away. Society will not be aware of these times. These are days when the gospel that speaks of the Cross and living righteously for God will be ignored. There will be many who have walked with Jesus and they will fall away from truth. In this generation there has to be a cry in our hearts that says, "Jesus give me the courage not to go back to what I left behind." There is an anointing that will be released in those that have this cry and God will be glorified in and through their lives.

When Jesus comes to a religious man's home the religious man will not touch the feet of Jesus because the dirt of this world is on them. He doesn't want this dirt on his hands because it offends his religion. The fruit of this religion that does not have the heart of God in it is a cold formality and skepticism. When was the last time you raised up your hands to God and thanked Him for what He has done in your life and His faithfulness? Tears of gratitude refresh Jesus. These tears come from a genuine work of God and a worship that remembers where He brought us from and that He is the source of my work.

For what reason would God allow a battle to remain in my life over which He could give me the victory in a moment of time? The devil will try to captivate us and attempt to convince us that the battles we face are bigger than the Christ in us. God will leave these trials in our life to train our hands for war and to cause us to depend on the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to understand our enemies are already defeated but we still need to go to Jesus to get the resources and to stand in faith. If we lose sight of God in these trials we will turn to human reasoning and begin to follow our own sensual nature and desires.

Do we believe that the persisting issues in our lives can be dealt with by God? Temptations always come in so that we will seek for an answer outside of God's will and it may cause us to turn to other sources. When the enemy captivates our hearts in a particular area all we can see is ourselves and the situation, and then the enemy begins to isolate us. There comes a time in the midst of this darkness that we have to rise up against the devil and stand upon the written word of God. Jesus will come into these places of captivity and He will go after these areas to bring light and deliverance. It doesn't matter the state of darkness, Jesus the Light of the world always shines brighter.

How is it that someone who has experienced the great victories of God's deliverances and leaves the place of promise and goes back to compromised Christianity? The blessings of God can weigh us down when we focus more on the blessings than the God who provided them. There are times we back ourselves into the mentality of moderation and avoid engaging in the battle. God in His faithfulness has a controversy with this mindset and also has a remedy that will draw us back to Him. When He begins to draw us back we will rediscover His voice and a reverence will be revived in us to follow His plan and do it His way.