Dear friend,

From our small corner of the world, we hope you’re doing well.  We post a lot of articles, visuals, and videos, and we appreciate you and this opportunity to keep God’s message out there and alive.

We are all bombarded with so much content coming at us across multiple channels and devices every day, it’s hard to focus on any one thing for any length of time.  The good thing is that the firehose of content we face each day is forcing us to become more selective about what we devote our attention to.

Our focus is not to grab your attention (okay, maybe it is sometimes), but to provide you worthwhile content that adds value to your spiritual journey and growth.

There are times in life when God gives you a special touch from heaven to fight against your enemy.  There are times when all hell is coming against the victories you have in Christ.  There are times when we finally say enough is enough–and we stand against the enemy–not some figure we cannot see, but our own carnal thinking that is not God’s.  This post is about rules to live by to defeat what keeps us from God.

Share this with a friend who is losing the “Quarantine 15” and gaining the “Overcoming 15”.

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We are covering a message from Brother Nobles that he gave a few weeks ago on how overcoming is a process.

But first . . . we have a story.

It is 2009.  Buffalo, New York.

Do you remember the airplane crash back in February 2009 in Buffalo, New York?  It killed 49 people on board and one person on the ground.  According to an ABC News article, federal investigators pointed to pilot error as the chief cause of the crash.  The plane had ice on the wings and lost speed as it was approaching the airport.

Apparently (we’ve learned from reading the article and watching a recent story about it on T.V.), lift comes from the motion of air flowing over the top of the surface of the wings, not the wind it gets underneath it wings.  Ice on the wings interrupts that flow of air over the top, and the airplane loses lift—meaning it will likely plunge like a boulder falling from the sky down to the earth.

The Pilots.

When cockpit warnings indicate that a plane is about to stall, pilots are trained to push what is called the stick shaker forward so that the nose of the plane will drop, causing the plane to increase in speed, returning to a position of lift.  It’s at this point, the pilot can raise the nose and literally take off again.

However, on this day in 2009, instead of pushing the stick shaker forward, the captain pulled it backwards.  Not just once, but several times.

The Airlines Issued a Statement:

“By all accounts, the captain and first officer were fine people.  They knew what to do in the situation they faced that night a year ago, and they had repeatedly demonstrated that they knew what to do, and yet they did not do it.  We cannot speculate on why they did not use their training with the situation that they faced.”

In other words, this pilot, as part of training, had most likely been in a simulator where he would have learned how to respond in that exact situation.  Yet when it occurred in real life, rather than trusting the training he had received, the captain leaned on his own instincts.

What Does This Story Have to do With Us?

Through messages like this one on overcoming, we are being trained the right way to speak, think, and act so that when we end up in a crisis, we do not come crashing down—destroying not only ourselves, but also taking along others who might be in our path.  It is important that the messages preached and the words of God are not left to die in our notebooks, on vimeo, on CDs, DVDs, or on the pages in the Bible—but that they become part of our character so we will respond like Paul, and so many others, with our instinct according to what we have been trained from the Word.

Like these pilots, leaning on our own understanding and defaulting to our own instincts will always prove deadly.

It’s Spring:  Time to Plant.

A seed has to work its way into your mind and be nurtured before it can become a physical reality, and Brother Nobles just gave us overcoming rules to live by (seeds to plant) that will help us overcome from the first day of our salvation until the very last phase.

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Rule #1:  Know What Overcoming Means.

In a nutshell, overcoming is having victory over something.  Maybe we don’t have the ultimate victory, but as long as we are still overcoming along the way and fighting this condition—that is progress and overcoming.  Even if the condition is not of our own making or thought patterns get stuck in us, and we are working on getting rid of them, but they are stuck.  It does not mean we aren’t overcoming.

In saying that, don’t allow your carnal nature to jump to the wrong conclusion and give you a green light to think how you want—absolutely not.

Just know you are still battling.  You’re not giving it free reign over your life.  It’s still there, but it isn’t all or nothing.  You are still overcoming because when you don’t give in to it, you are working on it.  You can overcome because you didn’t eat of it.  It does not direct your life.

It has not gone away fully, but you do not allow it to sit in the driver’s seat of your life.

Rule #2:  Beware of Idle Minds.

Most of the time in our lives, we have so much activity going on such as work, church, family needs, running errands, appointments, and fellowship, and those activities fill gaps that, when empty, may intrude on what we’ve held at bay.  Those activities have allowed us to keep carnal things at bay, at a distance, so they do not have the same draw.  Having more quiet time than we are used to (our mental focus is more free) . . . it comes roaring in like a lion.

Part of our overcoming process now—-with more opportunity for our own thinking to take over—is to be on guard and not let this thing overwhelm us.  You’re overcoming if you haven’t allowed it to rule you and change your thought processes.

Rule #3:  Thoughts Produce Actions.

Do not let yourselves be deceived.  Whatever you think about, you will act on it.

Drive those thoughts away.  Fight.  Keep them at bay.

If you’re reading or praying and find yourself just going through motions, set it aside.  Do something else, and come back to it ready to be fully present.  That is fighting the flesh.  Come back to read and gather the tools you need.  Recognizing what you need to do and not just quitting is overcoming!  Sometimes you have to step away and fight this flesh—then . . . go back in.  Do not judge yourself unworthy.

You are in the overcoming process, so keep reading.

Rule #4:  Fight the Good Fight of Faith.

Keep fighting the good fight of faith.  Do whatever you need to do to keep fighting.  If the flesh gets you, keep going back to what’s right.  Keep fighting.  While you’re reading, you might be thinking something else, but the more you work on it, the more you will keep your carnal nature at bay.

God knows this carnal mind, after all, He created the knowledge of good and evil.  He knows exactly how it operates.  Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world—greater than this carnal mind in us.  We have to strengthen and engage it.

“Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”  -1 John 4:4

Rule 5:  Engage.

Think of overcoming like a car.  That car can have a strong engine and good transmission, but until you put it into gear, and engage the transmission, you will not get anything but noise and potential damage to the engine, especially if the gear is in park or neutral.

Speaking of gearing up, once engaged, you can use that car as transportation for yourself and others.  Vroom.

Engage the Holy Ghost, the spirit, the revelation, and understanding of truth.  Those are greater than the carnal nature, and they have way more authority.

Rule 6:  Remind Yourself Exactly Who You Are

“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”  -1 John 5:4

Hello saints, THAT IS US!!

We are born of God.  The last word of that verse, faith, has a dual meaning.  First, it is our understanding, what we believe.  Second, it is what we are believing in to happen, for God to do.  To overcome, know the process and that we are children of God, a chosen generation.

You’re in the ring.  You’re fighting to overcome.  Remind yourself what you are doing, why you are doing it, and who you are in doing it.  Who we are doesn’t make us any greater than anyone else, but it proves the grace of God in us.  He saw something in each of us, and He drew us into the place where truth was being taught, and it began to ring in our own mind, and it opened our eyes, and we said thank you to God for allowing us to see and hear the great wonderful truth of the Word of God!  Hallelujah!

Part of overcoming and being thankful is reminding yourself of who you are.  We need to do that.  It will help keep us in this mindset:  “I will not let this carnal mind overcome me or have victory over me, but I will have victory over it.”

Rule 7:  No War Has Ever Been Won Without Fighting Battles Along the Way.

Start thinking about that word overcoming like a victory, then you’ll know no war has ever been won without fighting battles along the way.  No war was ever just one battle–then it would just be called a battle.  A war consists of many battles.  We’ve won a lot of those battles.  We have lost some, too.  Losing some does not mean we’re going to lose the war.

I am going to win.  I have faith.  I know what I have been called to.

Rule 8:  Overcoming is a Process.

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.”  -Revelation 2:17

Again, overcoming is not an all or nothing event.

We’ve been eating of the hidden manna a long time.  The more we overcome, the more we are able to eat of the hidden manna, and the more our understanding grows.  We are eating of that right now.  He said you have to overcome to eat of it, so that means we have overcome some things.

One of the first things you had to overcome to eat of the hidden manna:  your resistance to believe what you were hearing.  It was a process.  As we heard things more and more, we asked questions.  We started to let down our resistance, which let to a victory over unbelief, and we said to the Lord, “I believe.”

You may not realize it, but everyone of us went through that process.  None of us came here with understanding of truth.  We had to have the eyes of our understanding enlightened, then we began eating of that hidden manna.  We see that part of the process.  John is writing about finishing the process.  If I continue to do the way God has given me direction, and that my understanding has been open to, He will give me a white stone.

We have not been given our new name yet, but we know what the name is going to be.  We have not been given our white stone yet because we do not have the fullness yet.  We started the process, we are continuing in the process, and we will complete the process.

Plant this seed in your heart:  I am going to complete the overcoming process.

Rule 9:  If You Stop the Process, You Will Die.

Our carnal nature, since Adam, is relentless.  It had a strategy then, and it has repeated itself over and over.  Our way of thinking and our nature—aka our enemy—has no new tricks.  It uses the same tactics.  It is an opposer of overcoming, and it is contrary thinking to the Word of God.

Just because you have had a struggle with something for many years, you cannot say that you’re not in this overcoming process.  You are still in the process!

“For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.”  -Romans 8:13

If you stop the process, you will die.  You might flourish in the flesh, but spiritually, you will die.  Mortify the deeds of the body.  Deeds are the actions of your thoughts.  The first thing you have to do:  stop thinking about it so strongly that you are acting on it.  That will put you back in that overcoming process from Revelation 2.  You are not in the white stone phase yet, but you are overcoming.

Rule #10:  Captivity is Where Freedom is Found.

Have you ever made a change only to have it crumble into the sand ten minutes after?  You were convinced that it was going to be different this time.  Rule 10 holds the key for us.

You might still be battling the thoughts, but there is a scripture for that:

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”  -2 Corinthians 10:5

Captivity doesn’t mean you don’t think about it anymore, but rather it does not have the same hold on you anymore.  It does not direct you now.  It does not cause you to produce the deed.  Just because the thought still wants to get in there sometimes, does not mean you are not overcoming it.  You are not letting it get to the point that it has control or rule.  When it does—now we’ve got a problem.

We are going to kill the actions the thought produces because we’ve limited our thinking about it.  I do not let it have the same reign, amount of time, and space in my thought process.

I am going to keep working on eliminating bits and pieces that are left, but until I do, I am still overcoming.

Rule #11:  Be Vigilant, Be Sober.

You and I are not on the losing side, we are on the victory side.

Listen, do not get depressed because you have been struggling with something for 20 years.  Keep fighting to overcome.  You might struggle with it until the very end.  Jesus, in His Garden of Gethsemane moment, struggled with a thought.  The thought was there, but he did not sin.

The thought being there was not the sin.  He could have let it produce the deed and said, “I’m out of here.  Oh no, they are not taking me and putting me to death. ”  He overcame the thought.  He did not let that thought direct him.  Even when he was in pain he possibly thought, “You still don’t have to do this.”

He had already made his decision.  He had already overcome that thought, and he was not letting it back in to give it any room to change his actions.

Be mindful—this message is not giving us free reign to think any way we want.  That would be deadly.

Rule #12:  When You Get Backed Into a Corner, at Least Have A Good Turnaround Scripture.

“Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say: Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me. The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows. The Lord is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked. Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion. Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up: Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom. Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord.”  -Psalm 129

The carnal nature, from your spiritual childhood, many times throughout your life–has afflicted you.  Now, a TURNAROUND, “Yet they have not prevailed against me.”  It does not mean you did not lose the battle.  It means you got back up!  It did not cause you to stop, walk away from God, deny the truth, and deny your revelation.  It did NOT prevail.  You got back up and continued on the journey.

And that, brothers and sisters, IS OVERCOMING.

Rule #13:  Know the End Game

Romans 7:18 was never the end game.  We have all lived that verse right along with Paul.

“Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”  -Romans 7:17-20

Paul had that desire to do what was right.  Tell me any one of us who have not lived verse 18, “that which is good, I find not”.  We want certain afflictions to stop, we want to stop thinking a certain way, but we just can’t find how to get rid of it.  If we lose in that battle, we don’t stop.  We go right back in, and we remember there were many times we did figure out how to keep that good thing God planted in our lives working.

Verse 19 — To not do something wrong, does not eliminate us from sin.  God’s definition of evil is the thought process I have that takes me out of His will and puts me back in my own.  That is evil.  Paul did not want to think that way, but there he would go again . . . thinking it.

Verse 20 —  Paul is not making a separate entity.  He is separating the old man from the new man.  That “I” is the new man.  The carnal mind is the mindset that is doing wrong.  Paul is not giving himself a break, but this great man of God is letting us know that we are not in this boat by ourselves when we find ourselves battling.

Verse 21 —  Law is a strong word.  Law is implemented by God, not changeable.  We feel like when we cannot drive that bad thought away, it will be present until the final step, until this earthly tabernacle goes back to the ground.  When it dies, it dies fully.  Up to that point, it is still there.

When Paul was now ready to be offered up, that mind was still there, but he had stopped its influence.  It would not change his direction.  Even though his carnal mind whispered to him to get him to negotiate what he should do, he did not allow it to influence him.  He was not going to deny Jesus.

Rule #14:  Take Charge. 

The majority of what we use to build the kingdom of God today came from Paul’s writings.  Never forget the last words the Holy Ghost penned through Paul.

The last letter of Paul is almost like Paul’s last will and testament to Timothy, a young man Paul met along the way, in whom he saw something.  Paul doesn’t have a lot of material goods, but he has learned a lot from God and a ton about overcoming, and he is leaving it to Timothy in his last letter, and to us.

What we use to build the kingdom of God today, the majority came from his writings.  If he made these statements, when we are battling these things, we should know a man like Paul battled the same things—but he got free from them as he went through the overcoming process.

If you fall, get back up!  During this time we are going through with drastic changes, the carnal mind has great opportunity to go to work on you.  But guess what you have?  A greater opportunity to to go to work on it!

Stand against the wiles of the devil. 

Stand strong in your faith. 

Stand strong in your understanding. 

Stand strong in the spirit of God.

To my carnal thinking:  “You might have gotten me for an hour, for a day, but you will not get me again right now.  You might get me some other time, but I’m coming after you now.”

Take charge of this flesh we have.

Rule #15:  Never, Ever Forget—We are Winning!  We are Making it!

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”  –Romans 8:1-2

If God held you accountable for every time you fell, who of us would stand?  Paul proved he could not have stood.  If God marked that iniquity, Paul couldn’t have stood.

These statements are not freedom for sin.  We thank God we have an advocate with the father.  We can call on him to help us:  God forgive me.  I’m sorry that I let this nature get hold of me, but Lord I still want to serve you, fully and in righteousness.  I still want to be one of those who wants to follow you completely, not half-heartedly.

Lord, when I do fall, you offer me forgiveness.  Honor the love He has for us.  Do not lose the overcoming process in this condition we are in right now.  Do not get overwhelmed by the loudness of this voice right now.  Whatever condition, pull yourself out.  God has given you a testimony and you still have a way.

Let us hope in the Lord!!

No matter what, we are going to keep the joy of the Lord in our lives and keep overcoming.  We’re winning!  We’re making this!

Stay strong, sister.

Stay strong, brother.

P.S.  Read Psalm 130 (it’s short), and you did it!  Thanks for sticking with us until the end.  Wasn’t it worth it?