And Like The Phoenix... I RISE!

The Phoenix

A poem by Rebecca Wiles

Beautiful, glorious and sacrificing self for renewal,

you build a pyre and set yourself ablaze.
For the sake of self.
Red bird of fire you come forth through

your ashes a new bird shedding the old self
which no longer is needful.
You embrace your new strength and

fly to the heights of the sky to the city of the sun
and give the ashes unto the alter of the sun god for your immortality.
Embrace yourself for you are a child of the sun
and will live eternal through birth, death, and renewal!
The spirit never dies!

In Chinese Astrology, I am the Rooster, which is called the Bird in Taoist Astrology and the Phoenix in Tibetan Astrology.

and my spirit is roaring back like a lion!

No weapon formed against me shall prosper!

because

I am a child of the Most High God

and because

I AM protected by the shed blood of Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.

In Jesus mighty name, AMEN! ♥

The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower. [Psalm 18:2 KJV]

Awesome message by Jentezen Franklin "Check Mate".

The thief (the enemy/darkness) comes to steal, kill (murder) and destroy.

When the enemy whispers checkmate, You need to know that you know that you know that you know... God and all of heaven will stand in front of you and tell the enemy "I don't think so. The King has one last move."

I have typed a transcript of the first 5 minutes of Jentezen Franklin's "Check Mate" message from the video I've shared with you above:

I want to talk to you today on the subject of checkmate. Checkmate, when you play chess and I'm not a chess player, I'm a checkers player. I'm from the south and we never learn how to play chess. That's a fancy northern game or something. I don't know. People out on the west coast might play chess. But we play checkers down south. Can I get an amen.

I like checkers because checkers it happens quick, it happens fast. When you play me, I'll jump you three times before you know whats happened. There's something about checkers that is fast moving. Checkers is lots of moves. But chess is lots of thought and then a move. A lot of thinking and then a move. They have in chess a lot of pawns, war horses, the king and the queen, the bishops and the knights.

The bottom line to playing chess you have one objective. In the game of chess when a move is made that wins the game, it's done by the king being left unprotected. It's when the king is completely surrounded. It's when the king cannot go to the left or to the right. He can't go forward. He can't go back. When the king is unprotected and doesn't have anywhere else that he can move. That's when a person who has hemmed the king in will say the word, checkmate. And when he says checkmate it means you're trapped, you're blocked, you're stopped, you're arrested, you've been circumvented, you don't have a chance, you're surrounded by your enemy. There is no escape. It's checkmate.

You and I have an adversary that wants to scream in your ear and in my ear, you're trapped, you're stuck, there's no way out, checkmate. You can't move this way. You can't run that way. I've got news for you when the enemy of our soul, the adversary screams checkmate I've got you. You have no where else that you can turn. Heaven screams back, "I don't think so."

Heaven is fighting for us today. In life, Satan wants to checkmate our lives. He wants to render us helpless. He wants to put us in a position where he can whisper, "It's over. There's no way out. What's the use. There's nothing left for you."

John 10:10 says the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. The order is important. Because before he can kill and destroy, he has to steal. He has to steal your faith. He has to steal your hope. He has to steal your dream. He has to steal the promises of God from your heart. But if God is for me, who can be against me. If there is no counsel, no wisdom, no understanding that can stand against the Lord, then you must get this revelation. That when hell whispers, "checkmate". Then you need to have a response in your spirit that says, "I don't think so".

Matter of fact, you're going to help me preach this morning. I'm going to say, "checkmate" and when I do in this sermon I want you to shout, "I don't think so".