Off To Ethiopia!

This afternoon at 5:30 David Whitacre, Kevin Ross, and I leave for Ethiopia. We will finally arrive there your time around 7:00 PM on Tuesday Evening. It will be Wednesday morning in Ethiopia. They are eight hours ahead of us there.

After just a few hours of rest, we will then travel to southern Ethiopia. It’s an eight hour trip. We will conduct a pastor and leader’s conference on Thursday and Friday, and then an evangelistic meeting there on Saturday and Sunday.

Sunday afternoon (November 4^th) we will travel to a city named Sheshmani, and then on Monday we will arrive in Gerero and conduct a leader’s conference.

On Tuesday we will travel to Ajeba for another leader’s conference. We have many churches in this area, and it’s important that we minister to them. We have a Beacon University Institute of Ministry school (BU:IOM) in this area, and many of the leaders attend. In fact, we use the material from BU:IOM to help train them.

The angels of God have gone before us to prepare the way for safe travel. We’ve been praying for the leaders to receive a spirit of wisdom and revelation in he knowledge of Him, and I’m expecting a great spiritual stirring among the church leaders. There will be hundreds of pastors and leaders at the conference in southern Ethiopia, and I’m expecting a large crowd of leaders in our western Victory Fellowship church leader conference in Gerero and Ajeba.

The evangelistic campaigns will be exciting. Thousands of people attend these events, along with their children, cows, goats, sheep, and donkeys. I believe that many will be born again, Spirit–filled, and healed! Please pray for these meetings, for the people’s hearts to be open, for the Word to be received, and for them to be born again.

I will miss my wife Susan and my kids! And I’ll miss being with my wonderful church family! We return on Thursday, November 8^th, at 11:00 PM. I will blog as much as possible while I’m gone. Let’s believe for God’s best this week!

Maintain your Faith

In a world values the temporal over the eternal, it’s important that we keep our faith strong. We live a life of faith, and not one of sight! We’re not living by our feelings or the way things seem to be, we living as if the promises of God were absolutely true!

That means that every day I’m expecting the best that God has for my life. I’m expecting His strength the overcome my weakness, His bigness to overwhelm my smallness, His prosperity to absorb my poverty, His riches in glory to assume the obligation of my need, His health and healing to meet every challenge I face with sickness. Jesus is my all in all. He is the fullness that I am seeking.

Take some time today to remind yourself and the Lord of what He has said about you. Let your own ears hear your own mouth my declare God’s word about your life. The Father will use your own words will lift you up!

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV) Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20:29).

GO!

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)

As we come to the close of the church age and began to enter the time of trouble Jesus Spoke of as the tribulation, our thrust should be evangelism. The darker the world becomes, the brighter believers should glow!

I just spoke with Joe Barbacci this morning! Joe arrived in Guatemala last (Friday) night. He had a good journey through Mexico, and was just 10 miles shy of putting 4000 miles on his vehicle since he left Raleigh! He and Leslie are doing well, and eager to get busy working in the hospital there.

Joe’s phone numbers are (and this is exactly how to dial) Joe’s mobile is – 011-502-4042-6723. Leslie’s is 011-502-5723-3149. Joe and Leslie would love to hear from their friends. And they are not charged for incoming call on these mobile phones.

I’ll be leaving for Ethiopia on Monday. We will be conducting Pastor’s training for the pastors and leaders in our 15 churches, and will also be conducting a pastor’s conference for the leaders of around 150 churches in southern Ethiopia. In addition, we will also hold evangelistic meetings. Please pray as we minister!

At Victory Fellowship, God has placed us in position to minister to world. Clifton Chen is ordained under our ministry and has a thriving church in Taiwan. We have the churches in Ethiopia under the care of Meberatu, who is also ordained under our ministry. Now Joe and Leslie are in Guatemala ordained under Victory Fellowship. And we support 22 missions organizations each month. God is up to something so much bigger than us! He wants people to be saved from the clutches of sin and Satan!

Victory Fellowship is also reaching out to our community. Last night, an estimated 1000+ attended our Fall Festival. Free food, beverages and goodies were available for all, and thousands of pieces of candy were given away to the children. We had 14 born again! We’re also planning to reach out to the needy in our area during Thanksgiving and Christmas.

As difficult days arrive in the future, our mission is clear. We are to occupy until Jesus returns! (Luke 19:13). We’re not to look around and wonder what we’re going to do! Jesus has already told us what to do. Preach the gospel! And use words when necessary! Let’s get after it!

A Peaceful Mind

You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. (Isaiah 26:3)

Watching what we think on is one of the most important responsibilities we have as believers. Our quality of life is directly related to the quality of our thoughts! It’s repulsive to think of eating food taken from a garbage can, but how many people allow thoughts to enter and linger in their minds that are more harmful than rancid food?

We process thousands of thoughts daily as we interact with life. The key to the peace of God ruling us is to keep our thoughts clean and undefiled. It’s possible to have an educated yet undisciplined mind!

We must become the doorkeeper of our thoughts. As a new believer over thirty years ago, the Lord challenged me to control my thoughts. I would find myself in a cesspool of mess mentally. And as my emotions followed my thoughts, I would find myself confused, fearful, depressed, lonely, and without peace.

Here’s what I began to do. Instead of allowing my thoughts to wander onto whatever came into them, I began to choose what I allowed myself to think on. The Christian’s “think list” in Philippians 4:8 helped me. I wrote true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy on a note card and carried it with me all day. Every now and then I would look at the card and compare my thoughts to the list. If anything in my mind disagreed with the list, I repented, and consciously chose from that point what I would think on.

I would force my mind to think on a Bible verse when I had any idle mental time where I wasn’t consciously using my mind to perform a task. I found this to be the best way to control my thoughts and emotions. And I began for the first time in my life to experience the peace of God.

If you lack peace, then challenge your thoughts and change them. Focus your mind and don’t allow your thoughts to wander just anywhere. The peace of God is available if you’ll do this. You’re the doorkeeper of your mind today. Keep it focused and enjoy His perfect peace!

Two Kinds of Patience

That you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises (Hebrews 6:12). But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:4)

There are two different kinds of patience mentioned in the above verses. In Hebrews 6:12, the Greek word for patience is makrothumia. In James 1:4, the Greek word for patience is hupomeno. Let’s apply them to our lives for just a moment.

Makrothumia comes from two Greek words. Makros means long and thumos means heated or passionate. Put the two words together and makrothumia means long temperedness, or someone has defined it as the ability to burn a long time!

Makrothumia is patience towards people. It’s the ability to walk in peace when you’re moved by a situation. Patience gives you the ability to endure tough places. When events don’t change quickly and you’re tempted to become agitated and angry, makrothumia enables you to bear the waiting time. When others don’t treat you the way you think they should, makrothumia enables you to believe the best of them and hold yourself in check so you don’t do or say something harmful.

Hupomeno comes from the Greek words hupo, which means under and meno, which means to remain. Hupomeno means the ability to hold your head up and remain confident when going through a hard place.

James tells us that tests and life challenges produce in us the ability to stick it out and not cave in when the going gets tough. A person operating in hupomeno is able to smile while going through personally painful experiences.

Hupomeno enables you to see the end from the beginning. Jesus, for the joy that was set before Him endured the agony of the cross. Hupomeno enabled Jesus to look beyond His present pain and see how His sacrifice would free humanity from the chains of sin. And when we walk in hupomeno, we’re able to shout and remain upbeat and joy filled when the journey of life is grueling and looks impossible!

We need both kinds of patience today. The Father by the Holy Spirit has placed in us the ability to last a long time and not become enraged with anger when people and circumstances don’t treat us kindly.

The Father has also given us by the Holy Spirit the ability to remain joyful and confident when a situation seems unending and impossible. Let’s allow patience to have its perfect work in us today. If we do, our faith will bring to us the fulfillment of the promises of God of healing; of provision; of deliverance from the hard place; and we will move another step closer to being perfect and complete, lacking nothing! Let’s keep on growing today!

The Promise of Healing

Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases (Psalm 103:1-3)

Healing is always the will of God for the believer. Right after God delivered Israel from the bondage of Egypt, He revealed Himself as the Physician of His people in Exodus 15:26: If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put (allow) none of the diseases on you which I have brought (allowed) on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you. The phrase I will put in this verse is in the permissive sense, not in the causative sense. It should read I will allow.

This promise of healing is not just for the Old Testament saints, but for us today. We have a better covenant established on better promises. The good new is that the same faith that saves us is the same faith that brings God’s healing power into our bodies. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Romans 10:10) So you could also say it this way: For with the heart one believes unto healing, and with the mouth confession is made unto health.

Believing for healing is as simple as believing for forgiveness of sin. First, you see the will of God through the Word to save and to heal. Then you believe it in your heart, and begin to say only what God says about your forgiveness and healing. You must look beyond the feelings you have to be forgiven and to be healed. Pray, ask, believe you receive healing or forgiveness, and then stand you ground in faith until the feelings of forgiveness and the actual healing manifests in your body. Believing and speaking the Word will draw God’s healing power into your body!

Diligently hearkening to the Word for healing is refusing to believe or speak anything contrary to the Word about your body. To do this, you must mediate regularly on God’s promises to heal. You must be diligent in the Word. He sent His Word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions (Psalm 107:20). I’ll leave you today with God’s medicine for your health. Take it according to the prescription in Exodus 15:26.

So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you (Exodus 23:25). And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which you have known, but will lay them on all those who hate you (Deuteronomy 7:15). Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses) and carried our sorrows (pains); Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:4-5) That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "He Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses (Matthew 8:17) Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness — by whose stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24).

Stumbling Blocks into Stepping Stones

But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive (Genesis 50:20).

When facing a severe trial of long duration, it’s important to keep perspective. Joseph spent many years bearing the repercussions of his brother’s misdeeds. Though he spent years of suffering shame and mockery in prison, the end result for Joseph was blessing, honor, and favor.

Tests and difficulties are part of living on a fallen planet. Our faith in God’s Word will navigate us through every test if we’ll let it! Satan attacks us, sometimes using others, sometimes using circumstances, and at other times using our own mistakes to ridicule and seek to discourage us.

But we must face each difficulty knowing that we are conquerors! God has destined us to win! We are victors! We can’t be defeated if we refuse to lie down and quit! The promises of God are YES and AMEN in every circumstance. He will never leave us or forsake us! If God be for us, who can be against us!

If we keep the right perspective, tests will only bring out the best in us. Tests will cause the dross to rise to the surface. Tempered steel is the strongest because the heat drew out the impurities that weakened it. Notice what Peter said: That the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:7).

Years ago, I found myself in the middle of one of the most difficult periods of my life. Nothing was going the way I thought it would. It seemed as though I would fail. At times, death seemed appealing as a sweet escape. Really, it was a very hard place. But the Holy Spirit kept reminding me of the promises of God when I wanted to just quit. He wouldn’t let me! Day after day, week after week, month after month, this particular test droned on.

At my lowest points, I found my God to be faithful. Knowing what He planned for me, the Father just would not let quit in the middle of my journey. He urged me to act on His Word and keep on going. He sees the end from the beginning. Sometimes we allow the pain of present circumstance to cloud the vision of where we’re headed.

Now looking back, I can see that some of the greatest things God did in me were a result of the pressure I went through. Character changes occurred in me as the pressure squeezed flaws to the surface of my life and forced me to face them.

The enemy sought to destroy me through circumstance, but God turned it all around and used it for my good. Joseph was able to lead Egypt out of a dark period because of the work of preparation during the testing years.

See your present circumstance, not as a stumbling block, but as a stepping stone into God’s greater purposes for you. If you’ll do this in every test and trial, God will turn what was meant by the enemy as evil into opportunity to help you grow!

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Romans 8:18). Keep your chin up today!

The Gospel Preached in Hell

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, (19) by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, (20) who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water (1 Peter 3:18-20). For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit (1 Peter 4:6).

Many people don’t realize that the gospel was preached in Hell to the Old Testament saints. But it’s true.

To understand this, a basic fundamental has to be understood about Old Testament saints that died prior to Calvary. Animal sacrifice under Old Covenant Law only covered sin. Old Testament (OT) saints were not born again in the sense that we are; they had hearts of stone. Old Testament animal sacrifices merely atoned or covered sin; they did not cleanse the individual from sin. OT sacrifice offered a promissory note of salvation, but not actual salvation. Nothing sinful can enter the presence of our Holy God. So the dilemma for the OT saint is where do they go when they die? Technically, they are still sinners with a promise of new life one day; when the Messiah comes. So what happens when they die?

In Luke 16: 19-31 Jesus sheds light on the problem of where OT saints went at death. Go read the whole passage sometime, but right now here are the pertinent scriptures: So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. (23) And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom (Luke 16:22-23). And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us (Luke 16:26).

Before Calvary, hell was divided into two compartments; the righteous side, called Abraham’s Bosom, or as Jesus mentioned it to the thief on the cross, paradise; and the unrighteous side where those who didn’t trust God through law and sacrifice went. It was similar to hell now, in that the flames were there. A great chasm divided the two areas of hell. One area was pleasant, the other was horrible. In the above verses, the rich man, not trusting God through OT animal sacrifice, went to the unrighteous side. Lazarus, trusting animal sacrifice, went to Abraham’s Bosom (or lap) or Paradise.

When Jesus died, he went to hell (see Matthew 12:40; Romans 10:6-7; Ephesians 4:8-10). There, He paid the legal penalty for the sins of mankind. When God was satisfied that our sin debt was legally paid for by the Son, Jesus was BORN AGAIN in hell! (See Colossians 1: 15, and 1 Timothy 3:16).

Then, He did what 1 Peter 3:18, and 1 Peter 4:6 mention. He preached to the spirits in prison! The OT saints who were awaiting the Messiah’s appearance there in Abraham’s Bosom were paid a visit by the eternal Son! Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, Elijah, and the rest of the OT saints were there! Jesus preached the gospel to these OT saints! They were BORN AGAIN! And then Jesus whisked them out of that prison. They were resurrected with Him, and then went on up to heaven! Notice these verses in Matthew 27: 50-53:

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. (51) Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, (52) and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; (53) and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

So yes, the gospel was preached in hell and the captives were released that day. There is probably an archive in hell of the visit that day of the ETERNAL SON. Hell still trembles at His NAME!

The Father’s Love

For the Father Himself tenderly loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I came out from the Father (John 16:27 - Amplified).

The formative years of my life left me with the idea that somehow God just put up with me because that was His job. He had to love me. But I didn’t really think He liked me very much. Maybe a better way to put was that I thought He tolerated me.

After I was Spirit-Baptized I of course had a greater desire to pray than ever before. But I found myself hitting a wall at times with strong thoughts and feels of being rejected by the Father. What I read in the word and what I actually experienced were two different things.

Here’s what I found in the Word about God’s love for me. I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me (John 17:23).

Long before he laid down earth's foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love (Ephesians 1:4-The Message). The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, Slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works (Psalm 145:8-9). The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; the Lord raises those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous (Psalm 146:8). The Lord is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities.

For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him (Psalm 103: 8-11).

My mind and emotions were sabotaging my fellowship with my Father! So I read the above scriptures over and over and spoke them aloud as an affirmation of what I believed. When I prayed, I ignored my fickle feelings and my wrong thinking, and over and over I mentioned out loud to Him what I believed about what He thought about me.

Every now and then my emotions would allow me to feel God’s love. When they did, it was wonderful. When they didn’t, I walked by faith and thanked Him for His love. Over a period of time my thoughts and emotions changed, and began to line up with my spirit and with what the Word says about His care and love for me.

Take time to meditate on the Word about the Father’s love for you. It will open to you a new realm of fellowship with Him. Your prayer life will deepen in intimacy with Him, and you’ll become settled and secure in the Father’s embrace.

Focused Living

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going (Ecclesiastes 9:10).

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2).

There is great power in focusing on the plan of God for your life. Jesus kept a constant vision of His purpose for being incarnate in human flesh before Him. He came to pay our sin debt, remove the curse from us, defeat our enemy, and show us how to live for God in a fallen world!

Jesus endured the agony of hell by staying focused on the end result. The joy that was set before Him was seeing the freedom His sacrifice would bring to us. What you focus on, what you set your gaze on inside is what will draw you to that very thing in your future.

There is great power in focused living; that is, in seeing where God wants you to go with your life and then taking the steps to get there. If you can see it, you’ll find a way to make it happen.

What we do with the hours of each day determine what our future will be. What I do with my time determines what I do with my life. Whatever I want in my future I must make apart of my daily habits.

You may have heard this quote: Sow a thought, reap an act. Sow an act, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap your character. Sow your character, reap your destiny.

The above verse from Ecclesiastes encourages disciplined effort.

If you have a vision to be a strong believer whose life is used by the Father to bless others, what are you doing in daily habit to make it happen? If you desire to be used of the Father to bless others, what are you putting in your reservoir of knowledge that the Holy Spirit can bring up when needed? If you want to excel in a particular discipline; sports, music, singing, public speaking, art, sales, etc., what are you doing daily to take small steps to get there? Remember, the journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step. Daily habits determine your future.

Victor Hugo said, Where no plan is laid, where the disposal of time is surrendered merely to the chance of incident, chaos will soon reign .

In the book The Power of Focus, authors Jack Canfield, Mark Hansen, and Leslie Hewitt reveal some powerful truths that will challenge you to change what you do daily. They reveal that what we do today will determine what our future will look like. If we allow ourselves to develop bad habits, their results will probably not show up until later in our lives and then they have taken their toll. None of us can escape the consequences of our choices in life. We do reap the results of our habits, good or bad.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Include in today want you want tomorrow to be. Jesus did it, so can you!

Cast Your Bread

Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days (Ecclesiastes 11:1).

The idea in the above verse is that the waves will bring back to you what you throw out into the water.

Reciprocity is an action that produces in return an action of the same kind. It’s a law in the kingdom of God. In one sense our lives are filled with sowing and reaping. Our tomorrow is found in seed form in what we do today. My actions today are the foundation for tomorrow’s living.

Not only is this a law of the kingdom of God, it’s an eternal promise attached to the earth. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease (Genesis 8:22).

This principle is not just about finances, but it applies to all of life. Notice what Jesus said in Luke 6:37-38: Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.

The actions, words, attitudes, and kindness that I show today will come back to me. The way I treat others is the way I will be treated. If that is true, I should see every action and word as a seed that will produce a harvest in my life. So what kind of harvest do I want? Plant the seed for it today!

This also includes our material and financial lives. Notice 2 Corinthians 9:6: But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

And again we find this principle in Galatians 6:7, where it also refers to the Galatian believers giving to those who minister the Word to them: Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.

Yet Paul broadens this concept to include a believer’s whole life, including his spiritual life in Galatians 6:8:-9: For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

See yourself as a seed planter today. Only throw the bread on the water that you want to see again! This is a law. A law works all the time. It’s sometimes slow and methodical, but it is always working behind the scenes.

This principle of receiving what you sow is working right now in you. If you’ve sown some bad seed, cry out in repentance for the mercy of God to cleanse you from the wrong. Mercy is when you don’t receive what you deserve! And sometimes God’s mercy will root up a negative seed we’re planted!

Expect the bread you’ve thrown on the water to come back. Sow seeds of kindness, love and mercy into others today. The day will come that you’ll need these in your own life. Let’s sow seed today that we’ll be glad to reap tomorrow.

A Defining Moment for America

Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it (Zechariah 12:2-3).

Our nation is at a very dangerous place. Our government representative is in Israel pushing for the creation of a Palestinian state in order to solve the dispute the Palestinians have with Israel. Now, it’s being taken one step further and there is talk of dividing Jerusalem; one part being Palestinian, and the other remaining in Jewish control.

God has already spoken clearly by the prophets as to what will happen to those who set themselves against His plan of bringing the Israelites back into the land that God promised Abraham and his descendants. If our nation continues to aid Israel’s enemies in this plan to divide Jerusalem, you will see the fulfillment of the above verse in our nation.

Right now, we are in an extreme drought, more severe than ever. Other parts of our nation have experienced fires, floods, and ravaging storms. Could these be linked to what is happening with our government pushing for a Palestinian state?

Our society is coming unraveled at the edges. Illegal immigration is changing the face of our nation and bringing an undue burden on our infrastructure; the family unit is in the process of being redefined to include homosexual couples; our youth are being exposed to godless ideology that is redefining social mores; crime is on the increase; we have become the largest debtor nation in the world; our currency is being devalued. This list seems endless.

These are not signs of the blessings of God. These are indications of a nation that as a whole has chosen mammon as god in the places of God Almighty and His moral absolutes. The price paid is high for those who forsake God’s best.

I am a positive person by nature, and I always look for the best in everything. But we must not hide our heads in the sand when we see these disturbing trends. They should drive us to our knees in prayer, crying out to God for mercy on the nation that we live in and love.

Let’s not sit back passively while these things continue. Let’s pursue the purpose for which God has left us on earth, to proclaim by word and lifestyle that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life!

Let’s pray for our leaders, from the President on down. Let’s ask the Father for a spirit of repentance to fall upon our nation. It’s our only hope.

Let’s pursue this promise from scripture: If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee (Psalm 122:6).

No Sin History

I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins (Isaiah 43:25).

Psychologists tell us that one of the main de-motivators of human personality is guilt and condemnation. Many people carry the weight of failure due to past deeds. Guilt will keep a person in the downward spiral of hopeless addictions as they seek the numb the pain of past failures. Addictions of all sorts: alcoholism, drugs, sex, food, and even in work may find their origin in the covering of and hiding from the emotional pain of failure.

God’s remedy for guilt is the forgiveness and cleansing found in the blood of Jesus! As Isaiah says: Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isaiah 1:18).

I was freed from my chains of personal failure when I learned that God does not even remember confessed sin. He has no record of it!

Years ago I was reading a book by Dr. Roy Hick entitles He Who Laughs Lasts and Lasts…In the book, Dr. Hicks mentions Einstein’s theory of relativity. Part of that theory is the belief that if a person could travel at the speed of light, time would cease. He would enter into the eternal.

The Bible says that God is light (1 John 1:5). God lives in the realm of the eternal. Past, present, and future are all “now” to God. It’s a hard concept for our finite minds to grasp, but it is true. God lives in the eternal “now.” The panorama of history is constantly before Him. He sees everything that was, is, and will be as “now.” Jesus is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world (before it was created). The Apostle John was shown The Revelation which shows the future. How? All this is or will be exits in the eternal where God dwells. And God showed John what will be because it already exists in the realm of the eternal.

So when God says that He will not remember our sins, it a big deal! That means that confessed sin is not even history, because history can be remembered! Confessed sin is not found in the mind of God. It is blotted out as if it had never been committed. And that is a miracle!

God can do what we can’t. Our past deeds live in our memory, but He has the ability to completely remove confessed sins from His mind, and from recorded history! So when you sin as a believer, don’t brood and whine over it, repent and confess it! Then it will be completely removed from the history of your life and you can walk free from guilt!

This is all by faith. We are usually the last one to forgive ourselves when we sin. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God (1 John 3:20-21). We often feel the pain of self-inflicted guilt long after God forgives us. The key to being released from this inner condemnation is walking by faith in what God says about you, and choosing to believe what God says and refuse to be affected by the feelings of failure. If God says He forgives and forgets, then you choose to forgive yourself and forget it too!

Regardless of how many times you fail, get up! Confess the sin in repentance, and walk on. Remember, For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again… (Proverbs 24:16). Forget what God has forgotten and be released from the chains of the past!

El Shaddai

El Shaddai is one of the names for God in the Old Testament. It means The Almighty God, the All Sufficient One, or the God Who is More Than Enough.

The etymology of the word Shaddai in antiquity gives a slight reference to a mother feeding her child at her breast, meaning that the mother is everything the child needs to sustain life. The word Shaddai is also used of mountains and linked with El, the self-existent one, it refers to the all powerful God who created the mountains and rules over all. He is the One from Whom everything is derived.

Our God is the God Who is more than enough! He is the creator and sustainer of all that exists. Jesus upholds all things by the power of His word. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist (Colossians 1:16-17).

In the light of our God being El-Shaddai, our problems are so small! The Being that created and sustains all that exists is my very own Father! He is All-Sufficient to help me in my difficulties today. He is more than enough! He’s the God of plenty! Someone said that God is El-SHaddai, not El-cheapo! He’s big enough, strong enough, wise enough, and loving enough to help us through the tough issues that life brings!

All we need to do is to release our faith in Him and believe we receive the best that He has for every circumstance we encounter. El-Shaddai promised that mountains would move at the command of faith spoken words. He promised to answer faith based praying. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive (Matthew 21:22). El-Shaddai is back of this promise. Let His more than enough power work on your behalf today.

Trust in El-Shaddai with all you heart today. Don’t lean on your own ability alone. In all your ways today, acknowledge that El-Shaddai is working on your behalf. He is providing the needed wisdom, insight, healing, finances, and solutions to your current circumstances. He’s the Almighty God, the All Sufficient One. He’s more than enough!

Cleansed

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit (Psalm 32:1-2).

In the Old Testament, under the Old Covenant, sin was not cleansed, it was covered. The life of an animal was sacrificed and its blood was poured on the Mercy Seat, which was the lid of the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies in the temple. The presence of God dwelt in this man made place, and the animal blood provided a covering of “life” for the sins of the Israelites.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul (Leviticus 17:11). The word atonement means a covering. Sins were not removed, they were only covered, and the blood had to be re-applied to the Mercy Seat every year on the Day of Atonement. The life represented in the blood covered the sins of Israel so that they could fellowship with a Holy God. When He looked at the Ark of the Covenant with its contents of the Ten Commandments, He saw the blood that covered Israel’s failure to obey His commandments and judgment was abated.

Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world according to John the Baptist. When Jesus spilled His blood on Calvary, died and was resurrected, He took His blood into heaven and placed it before God as an eternal cleansing for our sins. Jesus Death and resurrection doesn’t just forgive us and cover sin, His death and resurrection literally removes our sin! Our sins are remitted, not covered!

Notice Hebrews 9:24-26: For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another — He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

Our sins have been judged and removed from us when we are Born Again! We are justified. It is Just-As-If-I’d-Never-Sinned! The sin is expunged and forever removed, not covered to be remembered year after year! Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more (Hebrews 10:17). And now, when you miss the mark and sin as a believer, sin is cleansed when you confess it (1 John 1:9).

When thoughts of your past deeds come to mind today, remind yourself and the Lord that you are totally forgiven; that your sins have been removed; and thank Him for never remembering them again! The accuser of the brethren wants you to live in the past and brood over your failures. God has made a way through the blood of Jesus for you to completely forget the things which are behind, and reach forward to the things ahead! Act like a person who has never sinned today!

The Prayer Habit

…Steadfastly maintain the habit of prayer (Romans 12:12-J.B. Phillips).

The Father wants us to develop our intimacy in prayer with Him. He wants prayer to become a habit. The prayer habit will be one habit that can transform the atmosphere of your life.

Iin his book In His Presence, E.W. Kenyon says: Prayer should be as natural as breathing and as enjoyable as eating. Prayer should be as unconscious as our communication with one another. He goes on the say: You can’t spend any length of time in prayer without being affected by it. The quietness, the unshaken faith, the deep unsounded peace that pervades the Godhead, will overflow into the prayer’s life.

Many people find prayer a great challenge. The flesh struggles with relating to a God you can’t see. But God is the Father of spirits. He relates to our spiritual nature, not to our mentality and emotions. Here are some tips to help develop the prayer habit.

First, you must know that the Father sees you as righteous; that is. As though you had never sinned! Our sin debt has been completely paid by Jesus, and God sees us as pure as Jesus before Him! It’s as though we have never sinned!

Secondly, you must know that The Father loves you as much as He does His own Son. In John 17:23, Jesus prays that he Father will reveal to us the fact that You have loved them as you have loved me! You must know that you are endeared to the heart of the Father, and that He wants your companionship and fellowship.

Then you must begin to develop you fellowship with Him based on your right standing with Him according to the Word; not according to your feelings. Take some time to get alone and just tell Him that you love Him and tell Him how glad you are to be saved from sin and redeemed from hell.

Then, remind Him of what His word says about you, and of what His word says about answered prayer. Talk to Him in specific terms about every single concern you have in life, and ask Him specifically to help you.

Share your heart life with Him. Bear to Him your thoughts and feelings and ask for His aid.

Take time too to pray in the spirit, in other tongues. Your spirit, in communion with the Holy Spirit will pray God’s perfect will in all areas of your life.

Start slowly. You may pray to begin with for ten or fifteen minutes. That’s just fine. If you keep it up every day, you’ll find the need to pray longer. You’ll find it easier and easier to express your heart and you’ll begin to want to take more time.

Life will become a partnership between you and the Father. You’ll begin to talk over every problem, every challenge, and every circumstance good and bad with Him. And before long, you will have developed and unconscious communion with Him that will erase fear and worry from your life.

Prayer will become and unconscious act of communion throughout your day. Daunting impossibilities will turn into opportunities for your Father to show Himself strong in your life. You’ll begin to fulfill Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

Attitude Determines Altitude

The keeper of the prison did not look into anything that was under Joseph's authority, because the Lord was with him; and whatever he did, the Lord made it prosper (Genesis 39:23).

Joseph’s life is an example of the attitude we should have when things go awry in our lives. As a teenager, God gave him a vision of himself as a leader. This vision changed how Joseph saw himself, and affected everything he did. Because he saw himself as an overcomer, he rose above every problem he encountered.

Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him and sold Joseph to some slave traders. The traders sold him to the household of an Egyptian leader to be their slave. Because Joseph didn’t see himself as a slave, he became the ruler of the leader’s household.

Joseph was thrown into prison after being wrongfully accused of attempted rape. But Joseph’s attitude caused him to rise above the prison chains. He became one of the leaders among the prisoners and helped the guards greatly.

Finally, after correctly interpreting the Pharaoh of Egypt’s dream, Joseph was appointed as Prime Minister of Egypt. No one but Pharaoh had greater power than Joseph. And Joseph’s teenage dream of his family bowing before was literally fulfilled when he was thirty years of age.

Joseph is a great example to us of the power of our attitude to regulate us during hard times. Attitude determines altitude someone has said. You never rise above attitude. What you think about yourself deep inside determines how you respond to life’s circumstances.

Joseph saw himself as a winner and his attitude brought him through being rejected by his siblings; through being sold as a slave; through false accusation; and through being wrongfully imprisoned.

What attitude do you have right now in the midst of your current circumstance? You never rise above what you think about yourself. I’ll leave you with these scriptures to help you with attitude adjustments that we all must make at times:

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32) Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37). Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place (2 Corinthians 2:14). For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Romans 8:18) Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations. Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience. But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be people perfectly and fully developed with no defects, lacking in nothing (James 1:2-4- Amplified).

Throne Room Strength

He gives power to the tired and worn out, and strength to the weak. Even the youths shall be exhausted, and the young men will all give up. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:29-31- Living)

Like a place of shelter in a storm, the throne of God is a place for you and me to go and be refreshed and strengthened after facing the pressures of the day.

We have an open invitation to come boldly to the throne of grace so that we can receive mercy, grace, and help for our needs (Hebrews 4:16).

When you go to this throne room of the Father with your needs and lay them before Him, He then places in you strength and ability to obey Him, and peace that soothes and heals. Like a platoon of soldiers guarding a city, the peace of God will push worry and fear away from you and enable you to walk in the rest of God.

Make sure you take time to visit the throne room today. Strength, rest, peace, love, joy, insight, and healing abide there. You’ll come away with a spring in your step ready for whatever comes your way today. You’ll have an expectation of God’s best in everything you do. And you’ll spread that Throne Room atmosphere to others!

Don’t allow the enemy to get you so busy that you don’t visit the Throne Room. He’s intimidated that you may get smart enough to go there more and more frequently. And the more frequently you go, the more the quiet strength of God will be upon you, and the less and less you’ll be weighted down with the pressures and challenges of life.

No longer will you be intimidated by circumstances that rise up. You’ll have the spirit of a conqueror, facing each challenge today like David faced Goliath. Take plenty of time today to visit with the Father in the Throne Room. It will show on you!

Prayer and God’s Will

In pursing the call of God on your life, I can’t emphasize enough the importance of developing a consistent prayer life. I mentioned yesterday the importance of praying in the spirit. Let me talk about that a bit more today.

In his book The Charismatic Ministry, Gordon Lindsay states: Those who preach become the favorite targets of Satan, and unless bulwarks are built against him, he will attack them at their weakest point…Consistent prayer builds bulwarks (defensive walls) around the believer against the works of darkness. The enemy’s sword is blunted. His secret plans for mischief are overruled. The cunning traps he sets are un-sprung…A praying man may pass by many dangers and never be aware of them.[1]

We need to remind ourselves constantly that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. The forces are darkness consistently oppose spiritual growth and obedience to the will of God. And prayer invades the spiritual realm, bringing from the Father the power, strength, ability, protection, wisdom, insight, and blessing we need for the day.

Praying in the spirit is bitterly opposed by the enemy because it enhances spiritual perception, and enables you to hear God more clearly. Notice 1 Corinthians 2:11a: For who could really understand a man’s inmost thoughts except the spirit of man himself. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 14:14 (Amplified): For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit [by the Holy Spirit within me] prays, but my mind is unproductive [it bears no fruit and helps nobody].

Put these two scriptures together and you can see that when you pray in tongues, you’re praying about things in your life of which only the real you, your human spirit, alone is aware. And because the Holy Spirit dwells in your human spirit, He enables you to pray the will of God into manifestation in your life.

Ideas, unction, desire, and purpose grow in you as you spend time pursuing God and praying in the spirit. Satan’s schemes are stopped, and God’s will is entered into as you pray and obey.

We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose (Romans 8:28- Amplified).

Take time today to pray in other tongues. Allow the Spirit of God freedom to help you pray God’s plan into manifestation in your life!

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[1] Gordon Lindsay, The Charismatic Ministry ( Dallas, Texas: Christ for the Nations, 1979) p. 19

Pursuing God’s Life Plan for You

And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the Holy Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads before God in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God's will. We are assured and know that (God being a partner in their labo)r all things work together and are fitting into a plan for good to and for those who love God and are called according to His design and purpose (Romans 8:27-28- Amplified)

As I mentioned yesterday, when you decide to pursue the purpose of God for your life, you’ll run into opposition. You family will misunderstand you. Jesus’ family and friends in His hometown didn’t understand what He was about until after He had accomplished His mission.

Your own thoughts will seek to discourage you from what you know the Father is saying to you, because sometimes it doesn’t seem practical.

And then the enemy is persistent in bringing up accusations about your past, who you are, what you’ve done, why you think you’re qualified to do anything for God. Sometimes these things are relentless and ruthless.

The best antidote for all of this is just getting into the presence of God in prayer, particularly praying in the spirit, praying in tongues. You see, the plan of God is a spiritual thing in your life, and when you decide to pursue it, that pursuit in and of itself will attract spiritual opposition that will manifest in a thousand different ways.

Praying in tongues enables you to pray about things that are beyond your own intellect; things about your future; things that have to do with your obedience to the will of God for your life. For one who speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands or catches his meaning, because in the Holy Spirit he utters secret truths and hidden things not obvious to the understanding (1 Corinthians 14:2- Amplified).

Take time every day to pray in the spirit. I suggest an hour a day. If you do, you’ll find that over time your life will lean towards a particular pattern. Things will begin to happen that will pull you towards the will of God for your life. Your life and the providence of God will meet, and you’ll eventually begin to sense a direction form the Lord. As you wait on the Lord and pray in the spirit, at times you’ll be amazed at what opens up to you, and how things change within you.

It will seem at times that you’ve entered into a stream or river; and the current of that river is taking you down a certain path. Peace, exquisite joy, and a certain knowing will rise up within you and you’ll know that you are moving towards your God ordained life purpose. It’s an exciting journey that never ends. Get started today!

The Call

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; Vanity of vanities, all is vanity (Ecclesiastes1:2).

It was February of 1977 and I had been attending college and working in a grocery store. Six months prior to this I had received the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and my entire life had changed.

While I was working at about 2:00 O’clock in the afternoon I heard the words deep within me, vanity of vanities, all is vanity. These words kept repeating over and over again as I continued to work the rest of the afternoon.

Upon arriving at home (I was 18) I asked my mother if she had ever heard these words before. And she told me that of course she had; they were from the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible. After dinner, I retired to my room and read the entire book of Ecclesiastes.

There I saw what this strange phrase meant. Solomon was decrying all of the work and labor he had given himself to as empty, useless, and vain in the context of eternity. And God used this phrase to call me into the ministry.

Up until this time, my goal in life was to go into business and make a lot of money. The desire to for this vanished, and an intensity to pursue God rose up within me. I enrolled in Bible School the following fall, and the rest is history.

The call of God is a very personal thing. No one should consider entering ministry without a supernatural call! This was a defining moment in my life. I would draw upon the strength of God’s word to me on that day in February of 1977 again and again throughout my life as the Satan would seek to discourage me from fulfilling God’s purposes for my life.

When you find your life’s call, it seems as though demonic forces seek you out to push you away from what the Father has for you. That’s the reason when you’re called to ministry, there must be a defining moment when you know that God has spoken to you. Then, you must do what Jesus said and set your hand to the plow and never look back!

God uses all of us in so many different ways. Not everyone has to full time ministry. But all of us are called to make a difference in the world, and to use our energy and talents for the glory of God.

Just as the human body cannot function without every organ fulfilling its God designed function, so every member of the body of Christ has a part to play in fulfilling the great commission that Jesus gave the church. Some are called to finance the kingdom of God, and are blessed by the Father to earn money so they can give liberally. Other are called to assist those God has called to full time ministry. No member of Christ’s body should be static.

The Father needs us all! And as we pursue Him, He will place a deep desire within each of us to do a particular thing. When you find out what He desires for your life, pursue it with passion!

Develop Your Own Faith

When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also (2 Timothy 1:5).

Faith can be inherited, as it was the case of Timothy. His grandmother and mother were believers, and he followed them into the kingdom of God.

While inherited faith can be a blessing, it can also be a hindrance. We can lean on others so much that we don’t develop the faith to stand on our own.

Lot was Abraham’s nephew, and lot was exceedingly blessed as long as he hung around Abraham. The land couldn’t contain them both. As soon as lot separated from Abraham, his blessing ceased. He ended up losing everything but the shirt on his back.

I’ve watched children who were raised in a strong Christian home seem to lose their faith when they left home. They didn’t realize the blessing that they had in life was because of the faith of their parents. They never developed a faith on their own apart from their parents.

I’ve seen Bible school graduates who sensed the call of God on their lives get involved in a large growing church. They didn’t realize that the blessing they had was because of the association with the man of God whose faith was carrying them. When they left to “go it alone” in starting a church in another town, they floundered. They found that they had been riding on the pastor’s faith.

My mother prayed me into the kingdom of God, and had an unusually close relationship with the Holy Spirit. She would know things about my future before I knew them. As a young man, I began to realize that I can’t “ride her coattails” to heaven. I had to purposely ask her to share no insights with me that she had received from the Lord, and to let me develop on my own.

As a pastor I’ve see people who seem to be robust in their faith and confidence in God. Yet when they leave our church, they lose the faith they thought they had.

Don’t allow your faith to only be an episode in your life. Make sure that you develop your own confidence in God, and that what you have is more than a derivative of faith that you received from another person. That way, if God calls you on to do something your own, you’ll be fully prepared and ready for the assignment.

Life

You know me inside and out, you know every bone in my body; You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, the days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day. Your thoughts — how rare, how beautiful! God, I'll never comprehend them! (Psalm 139:15-17)[1]

I was born on Tuesday, October 7, 1958. At 8:20 AM, I breathed my first breath of life. I was born a basic barbarian with a nature of sin in my spirit and with a mind empty and clueless about life.

As a child I absorbed my surroundings. The influences of my father and mother set patterns in my life. Some were good, others were hurtful, and in later years had to be broken. My young mind gained concepts of self, of how to relate to others, and thankfully I was taught that there as an unseen God that reveals Himself through His word, and that we should worship Him and honor Him with all we do.

My mother taught me to read the Bible, to pray, and to respect others and their property. My father taught me the value of honesty, integrity, and of being truthful always. He taught me to work hard, to spend my money wisely, and to tithe. Mom and Dad taught me by example the golden rule: do unto others what you would have them do to you.

As I aged I learned that I am responsible for all my actions and the choices they produce. In a large measure, God gives us what we draw to ourselves as a result of our choices. Some influences I had no control over when I was young, but I learned that I must choose to resist and change the ones that produce hurtful effects in me and towards others through me.

Near age 18, I fully committed my life to Jesus, being restored to fellowship with Him, and then receiving the baptism with the Holy Spirit. The principle purpose of my life changed from self-centeredness to seeking to live to please the One who redeemed my life from hell now and later.

At age 18, the Father called me to preach His Word. Since then the passion of my life has been to obey Him. Though I fail Him often, I ask Him for His grace to help my weaknesses, and His power to enable me to fulfill His will.

He created me as an eternal human spirit. One day, He will call me to Himself to live with Him in heaven, either in the rapture of the church or through the doorway of physical death. My goal in life is to be pleasing to Him, and to hear Him speak over me the words, well done, good and faithful servant.

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[1] (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)

The Love Way

The kingdom of God operates on the foundation of love. An amazing thing happens at the New Birth. God drops a deposit of who He is inside of us!Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:5).

The Father’s goal for us is that we allow this love to grow inside of us until it consumes us. At first, there are seeds of selfishness deeply imbedded in our thinking and in our actions. But as we consciously yield to this love nature and allow it to rule us, little by little, selfish acts are replaced by deeds and words of love. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:35). This love is the main indicator that the world will see that shows them that we are different.

Without love dominating us, the flesh remains in control. And the flesh brings death. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death (1 John 3:14). No believer can be strong in God without developing this love nature. Love frees us from the control that the flesh has had on us. Yielding to love will slowly release you from the mental, emotional, and relational habits of the past that have marred your life.

Love will keep you from being dominated by feelings and emotions. You’ll be able to respond to others in love instead of react to them in the flesh. Love is an action and many times has no feels attached to it. Notice that Jesus said: But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you (Matthew 5:44).

The Father wants us to believe that the love way is the best way. It’s the way of total victory and fulfillment in life. Love never fails. Notice what John said: And we have known and believed the love that God has for us (1 John 4:16a). Love is better than strife, better than selfishness, better than getting even with the person that hurts you or does you wrong. Love is better than force. Learn to believe that the way of love supersedes every other way of living. Until you do, life will be a series of struggles and failures with few victories. Love synchs you with the power of the kingdom of God, and shields you from Satan’s attacks.

I’ll leave you with love’s attributes today. Let them sink deeply into your thought life so they can rule you today.

Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, doesn't force itself on others, isn't always "me first," doesn't fly off the handle, doesn't keep score of the sins of others, doesn't revel when others grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, puts up with anything, trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end (1 Corinthians 13:4-7 – The Message Paraphrase).

The Physical Reaction of Thoughts

I’m presently reading a fascinating book entitled Who Switched Off My Brain by Dr. Caroline Leaf. Dr. Leaf has a background in research on the brain and how it functions and gives some intriguing insight into the biochemical processes produced by thoughts. She was a guest on James Robison’s program in August. You can access the program and listen to her by going to www.lifetoday.org. Go to the archive section and click on August. You’ll see the program listed there and can listen. You can also order this book.

I’ve preached for years that we must control our beliefs, our thoughts, and our words carefully. We become what we really believe and think about ourselves. Our words spoken with conviction eventually produce their substance in our lives!

In her research, Dr. Leaf discovered that thoughts are basically electrical and biochemical in nature, and that thought produce a biochemical response that is carried from the brain via the bloodstream to the cells of our bodies, enabling us to actually feel what we think.

She mentions two major foundations for thought, faith and fear. Fear based thinking (worry, doubt, unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment, anger) produces a negative biochemical response that affects us in a negative way emotionally and physically. Faith based thinking (faith, love, joy, trust, confidence, hope,) produces a positive biochemical response that will affect us positively emotionally and mentally.

Proverbs 14:30 (Amplified) reads: A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life and health of the body, but envy, jealousy, and wrath are like rottenness of the bones. And Proverbs 4:23 (New Century Version) reveals: Be careful what you think, because your thoughts run your life. You just can’t compartmentalize and separate you mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual life. They all go together and directly affect each other.

Proverbs 3: 5-8 (NIV) also gives insight into what our trust in God will do for us physically: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.

Cleanse yourself today of the toxic thoughts and words of doubt, fear, worry, unforgiveness, bitterness, pessimism, and self-centeredness. Make a conscious decision to think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8). It will affect you mentally, emotionally, physically, as well as spiritually.

True scientific research will always and only confirm what God has already revealed! Forever, O Lord, your Word is settled in heaven (Psalm 119:89).

God’s Discipline

To discipline a child produces wisdom, but a mother is disgraced by an undisciplined child (Proverbs 29:15) Discipline your children, and they will give you peace of mind and will make your heart glad (Proverbs 29:17).

My youngest daughter Lindsay’s birthday is today (15). She is a delight to Susan and me. Children can bring such blessing to your life.

Susan and I have always believed strongly in disciplining our children. To discipline a child, you must show them how to do what they should do. You must bring correction when it’s needed.

Some people discipline their children out of anger. That will not help them. Discipline is training a child to live successfully with a strong conscience as their guide. To discipline you must bring the outward correction, but with it, there must be counsel. The child must be shown what they did wrong, why it’s wrong, and then shown how to do it right. Then they must be held accountable to do it right!

God is the Father of spirits. He disciplines us so that we can be partakers of His holiness. The Father is not a child abuser, so He would never discipline us with sickness or disease, or calamity or tragedy of some kind. Those who teach that the Father disciplines this way simply don’t know Him well.

The Father disciplines first of all with His Word. Psalm 94:12-13 reads: Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law; That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.

The Holy Spirit will bring the Word of God to our remembrance over and over in our spirit. If we stubbornly refuse, then He backs up, and allows us to experience the grief of having our own way. And then the enemy sees the disobedience and seeks to enter that door of disobedience to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. It’s a dangerous thing to refuse the Father’s instruction.

His way is always best. It delight’s the Father’s heart for us to obey Him, and listen to voice of His Spirit as He reminds us to obey the written Word. And how it grieves Him when we refuse to listen! A child may go astray, but when a parent disciplines and the child conforms, it brings great joy to the parent!

My daughter Lindsay is an obedient child. She’s yielded to my instruction as a Father and she’s a delight to me. Let’s bring joy to the heart of the Father today by obeying Him as the Holy Spirit reminds us of the Word when we our flesh wants to go its own way. Let’s keep the door shut to Satan’s tactics of stealing and killing, and destroying by instantly obeying the Father’s disciplining Word!

Proper Money Perspective

For the love of money is a root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have been led astray and have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves through with many acute mental pangs (1 Timothy 6:10 –Amplified)

And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God (Matthew 19:24).

Someone has said that money is a true test of character. What a person thinks and does with his money shows his heart motives. Money itself is not evil. Some misquote this verse to read money is the root of all evil. Greed, the love of money, not money itself, is what is decried here. God wants to bless us financially and materially. But He doesn’t want the things that He blesses us with to rule our lives.

Prosperity can be a much greater test than poverty. A person who has nothing is desperate and will cry out to God for relief. A person who is sated with money can become apathetic to the Lord. He feels that He doesn’t need Him. He thinks his money can provide whatever he desires. Over the years I’ve seen so many come to church, receive Jesus, get stirred up in the Word, and slowly drift away when their needs are met.

A wealthy young man came to Jesus one day and asked him what he must do to go to heaven. He told Jesus that he kept the Ten Commandments and obeyed the law as well as he knew how (they were still living under the Old Covenant at the time). Jesus told him that he only lacked one thing. He told Him to go and sell his possessions and give the money to the poor.

Notice the young man’s response: But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions (Matthew 19:22). Actually, great possessions had him! Greed controlled his life.

Those who are blessed must be willing to go through the eye of the needle as Jesus mentioned in the above scripture. The eye of the needle was a small door in the mammoth city gate in eastern countries in Bible times. The gates were very large, and it took several people and a good bit of sweat to open them. When they were closed, it was a lot of effort to open them for only one person.

So they added a small door within the gates, called the eye of the needle that could easily allow a person through. Often the person had a camel with them that carried their goods. The camel would be loaded down with the person’s possessions, and would not fit through the small needle’s eye opening. The camel had to be unloaded, taken through the opening, and then the packages had to be placed on the animal again afterwards. It took a lot of time! The camel would just barely fit though the needle’s eye. Loaded, it could never make it.

Those who come to Jesus must be willing to give up everything to follow Him. The wealthy young man didn’t realize that God would bless him if he only entrusted his wealth to Jesus. He would more than likely have gotten it back. But his greed became a curse. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. You’ll be more blessed in the long run following Jesus if you’ll surrender everything to him. Be willing to go through the eye of the needle. The end result will be great blessing.

Use Time Wisely

Teach us to use wisely all the time we have (Psalm 90:12 – Contemporary English Version).

Making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil (Ephesians 5:16 – Amplified).

My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands; for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you (Proverbs 3:1-2).

Time is life measured out. What I do with my time determines who I am and determines what I allow the Father to do in me and through me.

All of us have 168 hours a week to accomplish what we value in life. I’m thinking about this a lot now that my associate Joe has officially left my staff and returns to the mission field this month. I have not yet chosen his replacement, but everything must continue in the life of our church.

I must have time for ministry, for organizational and managerial tasks, and time for personal ministry and staff relations. I must also make time each day for my relationship with the Father and with Jesus through the Word and in prayer. I must also spend time with my wife and children, as well as have time for leisure and hobbies, relaxation and rest.

Time is a commodity that I can’t reclaim once it is wasted. I must take full advantage of each minute of each day. And I must do this in a way that honors God and doesn’t violate His kingdom principles of love, faith, trust, and rest.

To use wisely all the time I have, I start by tithing a portion of my day to the Father for time in the Word and in prayer. He’s promised me length of days if I’ll honor the Word! I can extract more out of each minute, each hour, and each day, and have time to spare if I’ll allow Him to be my wisdom through the Word.

Making a list of necessary priorities for the day keeps me focused on the important, so that the urgent doesn’t move it out of sight. Keeping that list before me is essential to keep my focus on what must be accomplished.

In doing this, I also make room for the providence of God to override any plans I make. That causes me to see interruptions to my plans as the plan of God for my life, and that keep my attitude joyful and expectant when what I planned doesn’t happen. Father knows best.

He will show us how to best use our minutes. Phone calls can often be return in the car on the way to an event. I can listen to a CD series in the car as I commute. Wonderful times of meditation and prayer can accompany a long commute to work or an appointment. A chapter in a book can be read during lunch. Ask the Father how you can seize each minute and extract blessing out of it!

Let’s give God our best efforts to work with today. Let’s make the most of our 168 hours this week. Let’s carve out of each day the purpose of God for our tomorrows.

The Power of the Cross

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18).

That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:10-11).

We had a really good meeting with Festus Nsoha last night. If you didn’t attend, I suggest you listen to the mp3 on our website. It was a powerful message that hit the spot for the American Christian.

Festus spoke of the need to have your home in order if you’re going to walk in God’s power. Parent/children relationships must be in or you open up the door to Satan and his forces. Husband and wife relationships must be in order or you open up the door for Satan and his forces to invade your life.

Then he spoke of the need to apply the cross of Jesus to your life every day. Without death to the world, the flesh, and to selfish desires, you’ll be a prey for the enemy to come in and rob and steal and kill.

The cross is a place of death. For us, the cross represents a place of death to our old habits, desires, and ways of living. The cross to us is a place of separation from being ruled by carnal desires, motives, thoughts, and responses. From the cross applied to our lives daily comes the resurrection life and the abiding power of God.

So many want the “anointing” of the Holy Spirit and the power of God, but not the cross. And there is no spiritual power without the cross! Through His cross, His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus obtained power over Satan and his forces. Satan is now a dethroned ruler. He has taken the authority the God vested in Adam at creation due to Adam’s sin. He has authority over the masses of the unsaved worldwide. Only Christians have authority over him, but most abdicate their authority by their refusing to take their flesh and stubborn human will to the cross.

The principalities and powers of darkness deeply resent Jesus defeating them and giving authority over them to the church! So they seek to undermine that authority by tempting believers to forsake the cross, the place of death to their flesh and stubborn will. And when Christians yield to the flesh, they lose their heritage of spiritual authority, and give Satan an inroad to defeat them.

Just as Esau relinquished his birthright to his appetite, believers can relinquish their authority by refusal to die daily, that is, to put the flesh under control of their spirit. It’s worth the small price you pay to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Jesus. The end result is peace, and real resurrection power over the tauntings of the flesh and over Satan and his forces.

If you’re not willing to die, you’ll be a weak, vacillating, flesh dominated, Satan pleasing believer! Let’s determine today to bear our personal cross for the glory of God. Take some time today to commit yourself to the cross! For to live in power, you must die!