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Archive for the ‘Overcoming’ Category

“Possess Ye Your Souls”

Posted in Overcoming, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on November 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Joshua 1:2-5

Let me share with you something very special today. God called Joshua and gave him a promise. He said to Joshua, as He said to Moses, as He said to Abraham, as He said to Isaac, as He said to Jacob, right down the line, “This is your land. I will give you this land.” You see, God came down and said, “Joshua, enter the land and take it. It is wide open to you. Take it. Every piece of territory, every piece of land upon which you walk will be yours” (Joshua 1:2-4).

Do you know what we are talking about? We are saying that every experience in God is your territory that you have captured. Your own soul is the land that God is talking about. For brethren, although we want to possess the whole world and we want to possess heaven, most of us have not yet possessed our soul. God said in Luke 21:19, “In your patience possess ye your souls.”

Since God spoke those words to Joshua, which maybe close to about 3,000 years ago, the Jews never took that land until now. Nevertheless, in our time, the natural Jew walked in and took the natural land away from the Philistines and from the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The seven “ites” that occupy the land are the seven areas of your soul that you never occupied, that you never possessed. Possessed by devils, possessed by earthly things, possessed by evil thoughts, possessed by spirits; it has never been completely conquered and possessed by us.

Now, Israel is a modern day sign to us. Since Israel, natural, carnal, physical Israel has taken away their natural land and had walked upon the promise of God in the natural, then it seems to me that we are about ready to walk upon the land in the spiritual, for the dimensional truths of God must come true in all three dimensions – natural, spiritual, and fullness. Israel has taken their natural land; that means that they have walked on the promises of God in the natural. This is a sign that we are about to take our land, our soul in the spiritual. Praise be to God.

(Excerpt from Foundational Teachings, F087 The Army of God, July 18, 1974)

Thought for today: Luke 21:19, “In your patience possess ye your souls.”

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The Power of an Endless Life

Posted in Overcoming, tagged , , , , on November 10, 2025| 1 Comment »

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By Mavis M. duCille

Scripture reading: Hebrews 7:14-16

Some weeks ago, the Lord brought to my attention the fact of the absolute necessity of overcoming.

The way out of the bondage of sin and self and humanness into the Divine nature is through the “flaming sword.” Since this sword turned every direction, there is no way of escaping the fire of purification.

It certainly is not enough to say, “I have accepted Jesus as my Saviour,” or to relax and feel okay, waiting for Him to come and take us away to heaven. The forgiveness of sins brings one into the experience of knowing Jesus as Saviour, but after this experience, one should willingly and deliberately desire to know Him as Lord, which means giving Him perfect control over one’s life. There would be no place therefore for cheating, lying, drinking, swearing, malice, strife, bitterness, wrath, cunning craftiness and all unrighteousness. This can only be done by the regenerating, sanctifying work of Christ, which is the purpose for the indwelling Holy Spirit. God wants to destroy sin, and the Holy Ghost brings to us the Life of Christ Jesus, which does just that.

Adam and Eve were tested and tempted in the garden: if Eve would have resisted, they would have overcome the enemy then and there. Temptation does not necessitate a fall, but resisting builds strength and virtue.

The tree of life is made available to man through Jesus Christ. He is the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE. Unless we eat Him day and night, we have no life in us – thus no overcoming.

Love, mercy and truth are conditioned by holiness; therefore, when God establishes His law in man’s heart, it constitutes a revelation of holiness – thus through GRACE, man finds a true revelation of LOVE.

Blessed are the people who have been brought into a relationship with Jesus Christ through His blood, and have been established in His grace to embrace that LIFE IN JESUS CHRIST – when man ceases to be an outsider of the Kingdom, and realizes the liberty of the SONS OF GOD.

Overcoming daily establishes holiness as a permanent state of the soul. One writer said, “Our conscience and power of self-control act as a sort of watchdog over our worst selves during the day, but when the watchdog is off duty, the primitive or natural man is at liberty to act as he pleases, and our soul has left us at the mercy of our own evil nature.”

God’s divine power, however, greatly counteracts the forces of evil. This power and anointing is Christ, which can only be experienced as the believer gives way to the Holy Spirit. In this way, man is brought to the place where total redemption overcomes total depravity, and God’s redemptive power shines forth in spite of ourselves. It is the Spirit that brings redemption; human nature can take no credit; the flesh is weak, but the indwelling Christ has power over all THINGS.

When the believer comprehends Christ’s relationship to man as a whole, and to the Christian in particular, then he is enabled to declare as never before the saving, keeping, resurrection POWER OF JESUS CHRIST – LORD, MASTER, KING. Giving way to the persuading influence of the Holy Spirit empowers believers to bring under subjection the dreadful and evil soul nature, which hampers and resists the power of the LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS. Yes, the Holy Spirit is always revealing US to US, but He does so that man, by this power of “an endless life,” might be lifted out of this carnal, natural state to the spiritual, heavenly realm. We have been raised together with Him, Jesus Christ, and the vital union causes us to sit in heavenly places with Him. As we have borne the image of the earthly in Adam, so through Christ Jesus, we will bear the image of the heavenly – a place not only over sin and human weaknesses, but a place of authority and glory.

(Excerpt from Nuggets for the Needy, pages 61-63)

Thought for today: The tree of life is made available to man through Jesus Christ. He is the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE. Unless we eat Him day and night, we have no life in us – thus no overcoming.

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“I Shall Overcome!”

Posted in Overcoming, tagged , , , , , on September 17, 2025| 2 Comments »

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Scripture reading: Romans 4:5

I wonder how many of you realize that in order for you to overcome the spirits in your life, you have to take two steps. First, you have to believe for faith is the substance of everything you hope for (Hebrews 11:6). Then, you have to speak the word. Do you realize that many of us have problems because we speak the wrong things? You are in trouble, somebody is bothering you, you have a distress, you let certain words come out of your mouth, and the devils crowd around. The moment the words come out, the devils take them as a command, and they can do things in your name that you never intended to do. You must learn to speak the positive word! It is looking dark, it is looking hopeless, but you speak the word, and say, “I shall live and not die. I shall overcome this thing.” Keep speaking it every day. “I shall overcome this thing.” You fall down flat on your face, “I am going to overcome this thing! By the grace of God, by the Blood of Jesus Christ.” The moment you speak the words, God sends His angels to be with you. The next time you will have a better chance, you will find the strength to do it. Amen.

I am talking about 50 years of learning. Fifty-odd years of learning from God. I am giving it to you free. One day, I put my finger on the welding iron. I smelled the flesh burning even before I realized that my finger was on the iron. I grabbed the finger and said, “In the name of Jesus, it shall not hurt me!” I don’t know where the words came from. I didn’t contemplate it before, but I just said it. And no pain! I got happy, and bold, and wanted to show my wife, Mavis, the finger burnt. I didn’t want the finger to be healed right away, I wanted to show her! So I ran inside with the burnt finger, and said, “Look here!” I was ashamed. No burnt finger at all! I am talking about the power of creation that God has put in every little one of you. Don’t go around thinking, “Lord, how sinful I am, how poor I am.” Don’t think about that! God knows that! Begin to speak the Word of life and life will come forth. Amen.

When you have an infirmity, get before the mirror in the mornings and say, “By the grace of God, this infirmity shall be healed. I shall overcome.” You must overcome it. Do you know why? Because you are speaking what God wants. God doesn’t want you to be sick. God doesn’t want you to have infirmities. God wants you to be well, God wants you to be happy. Amen! Don’t you understand? Because you believe God, He said, He will count it for righteousness (Romans 4:5). You try your best, but you are not righteous. But God says, if you believe Him, He will count you just like a righteous person. He will do everything for you like He would do for a righteous person. Can you understand? Look at all these men – Abraham, David… God said David was a man after His own heart (Acts 13:22). A man after God’s own heart going out and committing adultery and murder? But he was a man after God’s own heart. His heart was belonging to God. The devil took hold of his flesh. He didn’t have Jesus, so don’t believe I am telling you that you can do that. He didn’t have Jesus. But then, even those of us who have Jesus and fail, God is still saying to us, “All power is given unto me, in heaven and on earth. Now, you go preach the gospel” (Matthew 28:18-19).

Do you understand what that means? It means that if you turn your mind to believing God, the things that you believe will come to pass and it will make you righteous. Oh, yes! We believe God that we are going to be perfected while we are alive in this flesh. That’s what I believe in God. I believe God that I can stay ten minutes without sin. Do you think that you could do that? Stay ten minutes without sin? If I can stay ten minutes without sin, then I can stay twenty. And if I can stay twenty, I can stay an hour. And if I can stay an hour, then I can stay a day without sin. He will keep them in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him (Isaiah 26:3). So then, it means that we sin with our minds. The body only manifests what is in the mind. We sin, therefore, with our minds. So, God is saying that if you keep God in your heart, in your mind, you will be free from sin.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, September 8, 2002, pg. 11-13)

Thought for today: You must learn to speak the positive word! It is looking dark, it is looking hopeless, but you speak the word, and say, “I shall live and not die. I shall overcome this thing.”

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The Greatest Part of Our Walk in the Lord

Posted in Overcoming, tagged , , , on September 5, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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By Mavis duCille

Scripture reading: Galatians 2:20

We learned in school that living things breathe, living things grow, living things feed. So, if you are not feeding, if you are not breathing, if you are not growing, you are not alive. We are supposed to be further along this year from where we were last year. It is good, as we move on, to take an inventory every once in a while of where you are in the LORD.

There are just a couple of words that I would like to share with you. I have been thinking about Paul’s life, and some things that he said. He was one of the law, he came up under the law. It always amuses me how he uses the law to bring us into Christ. A few verses that have been speaking to me much are in Romans 7:19-20. From verse 18, he says, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing…” He explains verse 18 in verse 19, “For when I do good, evil is present with me.” He explains what that means in verse 20, “Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” He was making a separation there, between the things that he would do and where they originate, and the things that he would not do and how he would attain to them.

He says, in verse 22, “For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members,” WORKING IN MY MEMBERS, “warring against the law of my mind…” Are you familiar with that war? So, we understand that when we are to do good and we can’t do it, when we do the wrong thing, the question that I want to ask you is, why? In his mind, Paul wants to do one thing, but there is another law bringing him into captivity to the law of sin which is in his members. So, in the Word we find that what the Lord has laid down for us is “here a little, there a little…” (Isaiah 28:10), and right through the Word, we can put the “here a little” together with the “there a little” and come up fully with what the Lord intends for us.

So, Paul came to the conclusion that with his mind he serves the Lord – the law of God, but in his flesh, the law of sin and death. So, because we have that war going on in our being, we have to have the Word riveted in us and we have to have an abundance of the spirit of grace working in us.

But in Galatians 2:20 he said something very interesting. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” It is a conclusion to which he came. He said, nevertheless. He made no more excuses for the things that he would do and he did not, and the things that he did and he should not. So many times we hear people make excuses, “I am human,” or, “It is in my family.” He realized that from the earlier scripture, but he knew he was in trouble if he did not get rid of the flesh and the carnal life and rise to the life to which we are called in Jesus.

You see, overcoming is the greatest part of our walk in the Lord. If we are not overcoming, we are dying. And the experiences that we have through overcoming, and the victories, come through testing. “When we are tried, we shall come forth as pure gold” (Job 23:10).

So, as we look back at the things that used to bother us, cast us down, make us feel as losers – as we give way to the Spirit of Christ rising in us, day after day, we can say, “We are crucified… Nevertheless, the life I now live, I live by the grace of God.” Amen.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, October 2007, pg. 3-4)

Thought for today: Overcoming is the greatest part of our walk in the Lord. If we are not overcoming, we are dying.

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The Four Cherubims

Posted in Overcoming, tagged , , , , , on August 12, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Hebrews 10:20

The four pillars at the entrance of the Holy of Holies is a type of the four cherubims of Ezekiel 1 and 10, Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4. These represent a picture of man’s soul, which in Revelation 4 is mentioned as “four beasts,” and in Revelation 7:1 as four angels of death and destruction standing on the four corners of the earth (soul).

To re-enter Eden, we must go through fire. The flaming sword is the Word of God, and the baptism of fire through which man must go to come into perfection. Note that the angel with the sword was at the east of the garden, and the angel of Revelation 7:2, the fifth angel, was rising from the east to seal the saints. The east represents the mind of Christ.

The picture of man’s soul is as follows. Man's SoulWe could re-enter into this Eden realm, and eventually partake of the tree of life which is Christ, which would re-cycle our nature to the nature of Christ, BUT for these four beasts which occupy our soul realm. Man has the nature of the eagle in his mind, which makes him soar in his thoughts away from God. In his emotions, he is like a lion, a wild savage beast that thrives upon the death of others. In his will, he is stubborn as an ox. In his desires, he is a man. No other creature desires as much as man. He will desire heaven and hell at the same time. He is a creature of desire.

The breaking through the veil, therefore, speaks of man breaking through his own flesh nature. Paul writing to the Hebrew Christians spoke of the veil being the flesh of Jesus Christ in Hebrews 10:20,

“By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.”

Jesus prepared the way for us by breaking through His own flesh, thus He established the “how” of it, so that we too might break through and be OVERCOMERS.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, 2nd edition, 1995, pg. 145-146)

Thought for today: Jesus prepared the way for us by breaking through His own flesh, thus He established the “how” of it, so that we too might break through and be OVERCOMERS.

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