From Evernote:

Bishop Jakes - Stand Fast

(KJV) Galatians 4:28 - 5:1 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.

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(KJV) Galatians 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

Do not give in to the temptation to bow down. It takes strength to be able to stand.

Text written by Paul post Christ's Ascension. They were leading the church without a bible. They were using old testament documents in this new context.

God will save people you don't like. Be careful when taking a scripture or teaching from the past that related in that context and trying to put it toward your own.

Galatians is radically liberal- the birth canal of our modern protestant teachings. I can pray for myself.

Hagar- not just a slave, she is a slave... A bondwoman; having no choice and no free will. A son is not heir to the promise because he is born under the bind. Lest the slave inherit the master's stuff.

God told Sarah that he would not bless her through her slave, not her man, nor her womb, but through the promise. The power of the pregnancy was purely through the strength of her god.

Now there are two women and two sons. When reading Genesis it appears that this incident just happens, but as Paul tells it, it is revealed that God was orchestrating these things toward the fulfillment of a promise that will come.

The eldest son mocked the son of the free woman. Sarah put them out saying that he will not be an heir with her son.

Legalism is Ishmael. It is the child of he bond. Dogma is the child of the bondwoman. Shall not be heir with the child of the promise.

You can't curse what is free.

It is not the battle of flesh, it is the battle of ideas. One says you must go back and do what we did to get the promise. The other says that you were adopted into the royal family, and you needn't do anything to inherit the promise, because it was bought through Christ's blood.

The greatest battle is that in your head and the artillery is words. Neither fact negates the fact that you are an heir.

Despite your heritage and pedigree you are free through christ alone. Don't let people put extra stuff on you. You already got it - stand therefore in the promise. Put out every illegitimate idea- cast out every thought or idea that brings you into captivity.

All you have to do is occupy till I come ...

From Evernote:

Bishop Jakes - Don't Tell God What You Heard

It's getting close but in the end we win.

(KJV) Acts 9:10-19 And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I [am here], Lord.

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(KJV) Acts 9:13 Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem:

Saul (Paul) was not with Jesus. He was a terrorist to the faith movement of Jesus Christ. Yet he contributes more to the structure and development of our faith in the New Testament than any other disciple.

This kind of division and internal conflict is the luxury of not having an external enemy.

He had permission to attack. God stopped him, humbled him, and changed his mind. Changed the way he thought.

The light was so bright at Damascus that it left him blind. There are some glories that are so bright that your flesh can't handle it.

Ananais didn't know what God did to Saul on the way to Damascus. He's still living under the threat of Saul coming to kill him. God doesn't meet with you before he moves on his plan. We are still living under the threat if something- in fear- that God has already taken care of.

Ananais is having trouble receiving the blessing because he's contradicting the instructions he's been given. This is a fight between what you heard and what God knows.

The weapons of our fight are not carnal. What it boils down to is who's report do you believe?

Put Saul in a position where he needs what he once criticized. Now Ananais has to pray for the very one who was sent to kill him. God flipped the script.

God says, I made you blind so that you could see... Your promise is the antithesis of the negative of your situation. It all exploded on a street called Straight.

This switch for you will be inconvenient. Your life will not be the kind of life where people could see it coming.

What he has for you is not what you expected.