PREACH THE WORD OF GOD TO YOURSELF EVERY DAY !

PREACH TO YOURSELF EVERY DAY ! God loved you before Lucifer was created to serve --- before sin ever existed. He loved you before time began, and He never changes. As you read those glorious truths, say out loud, "I received that in the name of Jesus. By faith, I take hold of the love God that has for me and I'm not going to turn it loose. His love is not based on my feelings. It's based on God's Holy Written Word, and His Word says He loves me. He always has, and He always will !" When you make confessions like that, you're actually preaching to yourself. And there's nothing better than good, Word--based preaching about God's love to build your faith to the point where it cast out fear. Jesus knew that better than anyone. That's why He dealt as He did with the madman of Gadara. Do you remember what the Bible says about that man ? He was so filled with demons, it brought fear to the entire region where he lived. Talk about a man with a horrible past ! The devil used him to control people through fear. And that is where the spirit of fear originated from; and he still uses that same tactic today on people. Because the man didn't sleep, everyone knew there was something unnatural about him. He screamed night and day. He cut himself and cried. He frightened everyone so badly, they chained him, but he (the spirit of fear) broke the chains. They imprisoned him (the man of Gadara), but he (the spirit of fear broke him out. Eventually, people were too afraid to go near him. They thought he (the man would kill them--- and he (the spirit of fear) would have. Doesn't these things that this man went through sound familiar ! You'd think everyone would have been thrilled when Jesus ministered to the man and cast the demons out of him. You'd think with those 2000 demons-- filled pigs rushed into the sea and that fellow was back in his right mind, the local people would have been grateful and happy. But they were so scared, they weren't thinking straight. (That's what fear does to people who are not protected by God). Instead of celebrating, they were upset because the devilish god they'd been worshiping has lost its power. They started thinking about the economic impact of losing a couple of thousand pigs. Those hogs represented commerce. So they asked Jesus to leave ! He did. He didn't say, "No, I'm anointed of God and I'm going to do some teaching in this area." God will not violate your will: if you want to stay sick, he's not going to break the door down; if you want to stay in poverty, he's not going to break the door down. He got in His boat with His disciples and left. But, before He did, he turned to the man who had been delivered and said, "Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord has done for thee, and has had compassion on thee. Jesus sent that man back to his hometown to preach the compassion and deliverance of God--- because perfect love casts out fear ! I'm guessing the times people listen to him, too they probably thought, we'd better sit still and pay attention to what he has to say, just in case he has a relapse. We don't want him to get angry ! After that fellow finished preaching compassion and deliverance in that region, things changed. The next time Jesus went there, they had a great outpouring of the power of God. Faith works by Love (Galatians 5:6)