Defining Moments

To define something means to determine its meaning. We first learn how to do this in elementary school. The teacher gives us a list of vocabulary words and we must take them home and define the meanings using our dictionaries and bring the answers back to school upon the due date.

Today we have learning tools which far surpass any we have had back in the day. We have the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, Bible Dictionaries, Commentaries, Concordances, the Five-fold Ministry Gifts and the Internet to assist us in defining the quality of our lives and to comprehend ourselves better.

Our lives are being redefined through Christ Jesus. We were once defined as being sinners, worthy of the wrath of God, now we are sinners saved by the grace of God through our faith in Jesus Christ. We have the power of the Holy Spirit to help us to see everything God’s way. We have this treasure in our earthen vessels.

In Christ, defining moments never end. Examinations of ourselves are defining moments. A disciple is one who is taught and is also teachable. We are disciples of Jesus Christ, we are defining the quality of the life we are living as we, read and study the Word of God, and make it our final authority and blueprint.

"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known" (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Our defining moment of moments begins at the Cross of Calvary. This is where the lights come on, and we start to see and where life begins. It is where Amazing Grace becomes our song and sings and unfolds the truth of how sweet the sound of salvation is. The reality of the wretchedness that it delivers us from and where redemption is the spiritual trumpet blast that awakes the un-regenerate spirit and soul and redirects the flesh, this is truly our defining moment of moments.

Your defining moment may drastically differ from mine, but the same thing happened to us both, we accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. My defining moment began with a tract one morning, on my way to work and it is sketched in my heart and soul forever. Never will I forget this day; my memory replays it just as if it happened yesterday. This was my mega defining moment; there hasn’t been a day like it since, and the only day that could possibly meet its equivalence in my spirit and soul, would be the day of final redemption; the day when the temporal takes on absolute, the day of rapture.

We all receive, those of us who believe, a wondrous personal defining moment at salvation. It is uniquely ours to tell because it is our own story, and testimony about the Blood of the Lamb and what it wrought for us. I can’t tell your story the way you can, and you can’t tell mine the way I can. Hallelujah! Praise the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Wow! Salvation is so intimately personal! The individual, collective, and corporate reality of salvation resonates through the Body of Christ.

The blood that Jesus shed for us speaks to my heart loud, and clear. It speaks of a higher, a greater good, it resonates salvation everywhere, and declares the riddance from all sin. the blood of Jesus Christ is the only reason we can ever win. The blood defeated sin the cruelest of task masters. The blood is our only advocate; when sin accused us, and tried to eternally condemn and damn us. The blood was the only voice that argued our cause, and it is what speaks to our heart; I am the blood which was shed for you, and you are free, I am the blood shed for your escape from sin! Glory to God!

The blood is the loudest, and most distinctive voice I have ever heard. Silently, yet loudly, it proclaims salvation for all, and freedom for all captives. Listen! As the blood spells it all out, God’s plan, and purposes; the atonement, cleansing and accomplishment, just to set us free. Precious, cleansing, and saving blood, behold, the price sin cost, and the wages it pays. It will always pay death spiritually first, then naturally. Yet, the blood will always give life and eternal life. Only Jesus Christ could afford the payment sin demanded, the stakes were too high, to rid our lives, and the world from sin. Keep the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross ever before you and always remember, and acknowledge the blood every day and in every way!

The blood of Jesus Christ is the liberator at Calvary, Even after Jesus' final words, “It is finished” The blood it still spills, and spells redemption for the lost. Can you hear the blood as it speaks on your behalf and pleads to the Heavenly Father; as it cancels guilt, shame, and all the residue of sin? Life is all about the precious blood of Jesus Christ, that frees, and cleanses us to live more abundantly. The blood paved the only free passage to the Father, shed by His only begotten Son. The blood still speaks loudly! Can you hear the blood declaring your liberty? Every second of every day the blood pleads our case. Just like a lawyer would present a case before the judge, the blood gives us the victory. Sin has no more dominion over us, because of the blood. The blood will always triumph through Jesus Christ the Lord, and so shall we. This is my defining moment of moments, Jesus Christ and the blood He shed for me. The blood paved the path that leads to a life of definition, and mirroring what the Word of God counsels.

The Cross is the place we must all go for ourselves individually. It is where Jesus Christ awakens the sleeping and slumbering heart and soul. The blood that He shed pleads our case to the Father. There is not a moment we shall ever live that is more important than the day we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord; and repent of all our sins; and receive forgiveness from all sin through His blood. Jesus is the only way to the Father. The blood is the meeting place between God and man.

Defining moments are spiritual breakthroughs we experience, commencing with salvation being the greatest one of them all. It is Jesus intercepting spiritual death and the wrath which was upon us; and this would have to be the utopia of defining moments. It is the moment when life takes on real purpose.

Defining moments are when we find our place in God’s plan. We really didn’t have any purpose or definition for living prior to salvation. Jesus Christ is our definition for living, in Him we live, move and have our being.

These are times when we personally seek to define ourselves through Jesus, the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. These moments begin with Jesus Christ and systematically navigate us into understanding our value and worth to God. These times assist us in defining our stance by the measuring rod, the Word of God.

God stepped into time and reconciled us to Himself through Jesus and His shed blood. The grace we receive we can never deserve, the faith that we walk in is nurtured by the author and finisher of our faith, the mercy we embrace helps us to stand firm and the love shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, these are all defining moments.

Defining moments are those when we look to the Word for counsel, instruction, reproof, direction, chastisement, edification, encouragement, exhortation, admonishment and we apply the truths in these principles to make us successful, so that we take what we hear and receive to obtain the instructions we desperately need. It is allowing the Word of God to mold and shape us into the image of Jesus; it is letting the Word define who we are, and whose we are.

Defining moments are all the breakthroughs we experience one by one. Just take a moment to think about that word. "Break" and "Through". The word breakthrough means a removal of a barrier that is hindering progress. Sin was and is a barrier that Jesus removed for us. The word break means to separate something into pieces. The word through means, to pass from one side of something to another. Moments are intervals of time, and we must pass from one moment to the next. So understand today ... the barrier that has been hindering your progress is now breaking into pieces and definition is emerging that pertains to the moment of breakthrough. It is when you pass from the place of struggle and discontentment to a place of provision and peace and treasure both. Struggles bring us to the actual place of defining the moment.

"And he said, Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?" (1 Kings 19:11-13).

This story gives an account of what a defining moment looks like regarding a breakthrough. It is God breaking through the situation and circumstance to bring the answer. The answer defines the moment.

The Prophet Elijah went a day’s journey into the wilderness alone; he sat under a juniper tree, and requested for himself that he should die. Trials and tests have a way of doing that; make you think that death would be the best way out. He requested that God would take his life that he had enough. He reasoned that he was not better than his fathers. They were all dead already. He fell asleep under the tree.

Have you ever been sorrowful until you cry yourself asleep? This type of heaviness is weighty, and too much to carry at times and orchestrates and demands definition. As he lay asleep under the juniper tree, an angel touched him, and said unto him arise and eat. After he ate, and drank, again he fell asleep.

The angel came a second time and touched him, and said arise, and eat because his journey was a great one. He arose and did eat and drink and went in the strength of that meal for forty days and nights unto Horeb the mount of God. The Prophet Elijah had a dramatic defining moment, and God was the center of it, asking him to define why he was in the cave. These moments are full of what is needed to describe, outline, express, state and explain what is happening.

Defining moments are those containing self-judgment and examination. It is all the times that teach us to hear and listen and have equity and balance, not to do all the talking but to desire to listen as well. It is an unjust weight and balance to dominant any conversation, especially those with God. It is the moment when the spiritual seasons are changing, and we must make transitions too. It is the awareness that you may have to encourage yourself in the Lord in order to encourage others. It is shifting under divine order to comply with God’s will and not our own. It is yielding, and putting up the flag of surrender knowing that we need the help of God alone.

Defining moments are lessons we must learn because they are our teachers. They are identifiers which help us to exhibit our identity in Christ Jesus and identify when we are outside looking in, rather than inside peering out. We gain insight into our pain and find our place of victory through adversity. We find our place of worship even in the valley in these small, great and difficult times of struggle and peace. We are empowered to distinguish and we attain clarity. Obstacles, oppression and opposition gets a re-assignment as God works all things together for our good and not against us as we identify the cause and effect of problems and include God into all of our equations. In all our ways we acknowledge Him and He directs our paths. All problems shrink because of His greatness as we rightly define these moments.

Defining moments happen every day as we meditate in the Word of God. There is counsel and instruction which the principles impart, when we define the moment.

"For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away" (1Corinthians 13:9-10).