Shiloh Messenger - APR 04
















YOU ARE COMPLETE IN HIM

"And you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power." Colossians 2:10

I learned early in my Christian walk that Jesus Christ (the anointed One) paid in full the debt owed for my salvation but there was so much that I needed to learn about maintaining my deliverance. After 20 years of Heroin and Cocaine addiction, my life was a mess. I was dealing with major strongholds (unholy thoughts) and I was almost convinced that living a victorious life was unattainable. I praying about the content of this months Newsletter and I believe the truths I share will bless you because these truths continue to deliver me.

Victory begins with the name of Jesus on our lips. It is completed (made supremely capable) by the nature of Jesus in our hearts. Most Christians only engage in spiritual warfare with a hope of relieving present distresses or attaining a "normal" existence. However the purpose of all spirituality is to bring us into the "likeness of Christ". Nothing, not worship, nor warfare, neither love, nor deliverance, is truly obtainable if we miss the true objective of our faith: "Christ likeness". Let us recall that the LORD delivered Israel out of Egypt, so He could bring them into the Promised Land. Likewise we are delivered out of sin, not that we might live for ourselves ("For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's". 1 Cor. 6:20), but that we might become like "Christ".

Our goals must be in agreement with Gods plans for our lives. If our nature does not change, we will again find ourselves entangled in the same problems that caused our difficulties in the first place ("For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning": 1 Peter 2:20). Many of our spiritual conflicts will not cease until the character of our LORD Jesus Christ is formed in our hearts. The Father's goal in deliverance is much more than simply seeing our problems, or the devil taken out of the way. The specific purpose towards which God steers the working of all things in our lives is our conformity "to the image of His Son".

The Father's purpose in our salvation was that Jesus would become "the first-born among many brethren" (Rom. 8:28-29). In other words, the way to realize Gods ultimate victory is to reach toward His ultimate goal, which is complete transformation into the likeness of Christ. When we are divinely connected with the "Spirit of the Living God" we become saturated with the very essence of our LORD Jesus Christ. This is where we are so flooded with His "Glory" (weightiness) that darkness flees from our lives ("If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light:" Luke 11:36). The LORDS presence produces an indestructible defense, a fortress no foe (evil) can penetrate. In Him we obtain the excellence of His ways in our relationship both with the Father and one another thereby walking in total victory over countless satanic attacks. Indeed, as His fullness in us increases, then that which is written about us becomes fulfilled:"As He is, so are we in this world": 1 Jn. 4:17.

We must realize it is not the devil who defeats us; it is our openness to him. To perfectly subdue the devil we must walk in the "shelter of the Most High" (Ps. 91:1). Our Heavenly Father is more concerned with the coming forth of His Son in our lives than He is in us waging war against the devil. Who is the devil, that he can defy the "Living God"? It is the greatest truth that once the devil recognizes his assault against your life has not pulled you from God, but toward Him, it will frustrate him to such a degree that he will run from the one who is "hidden in Christ" (your life is hidden with Christ in God: Col. 3:3). As we continually yield ourselves to Christ, surrendering ourselves by faith to His nature and His words, we literally build the impenetrable stronghold of His Presence around us. The way into the fortress of the Almighty is simple. Victory begins with the name of Jesus on our lips. It is completed (made supremely capable) by the nature of Jesus in our hearts.

Rocky Fondren                  


Shiloh Ministries would like to extend it's thanks to Ron DiCianni
for allowing the use of his painting, "The Prodigal", for our header.
"Image copyrighted by Art2See, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Somerset House Publishing, Inc."


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