Fear Brings a Snare

The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe (Proverbs 29:25).

Fear and faith are both great motivators. One produces freedom and growth, the other produces bondage and lack. Fear can paralyze a human personality.

Fear attracts Satan and his kingdom the way faith attracts God and His power. Paul told Timothy that fear is a spirit. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind (2 Tim 1:7). I resist fear the same way that I resist the devil.

I’ve learned to resist fears that come. Fear is like Satan coming with a package for you and asking you to sign for it. Fear comes with all kinds of things attached to it; fear of failure, fear of success, fear of sickness and disease, fear poverty and lack, fear of calamity. Phobias plague humankind.

Identify your fears and stand against them. I’ve found it helpful to speak God’s word out loud as an antidote for fear. I then express in clear terms what I believe. Often I pray and stand in faith by speaking out loud.

When I was young, I had my palm read at a Methodist church Halloween carnival (how absurd!). I was 12 or 13 years old at the time, and the person told me that my “lifeline” on my hand was short and that I would die young. Immediately fear seized me! Fear of dying young lingered in the back of my mind until I was Spirit Filled years later. When I learned that God promised long life, I took the Word of God and chased that fear away!

Another antidote for fear is action! If a fear tells you not to do a certain thing, do it anyway! I just simply refuse to allow fear to rule me.

Back in the 1990’s I took a group from our church on a missions trip to Guatemala. The ministry we worked with had a beautifully refurbished DC-3 aircraft for transportation to hard to reach areas. The short of the story is that during a storm the plane crash on top of a mountain! I was one of those who went to the crash site to try to help survivors. When I reached the site, aircraft parts littered the cornfield where it had crashed. The fuselage had broken into several pieces; the aircraft parts were everywhere. I could hardly believe what I saw.

Then I had an unusual experience. A fear grasped me. Suddenly I heard the words, “You better cancel your next missions trip.” I had another trip scheduled to India a couple of months away. I recognized the enemy’s ploy. I spoke out loud, I would rather die than to be ruled by this fear, I resist that thought in the name of Jesus! I’m going on my next trip. I refuse this fear. God my Father will take care of me. Immediately the fear vanished like ice on hot pavement!

Don’t allow fear to remain in your life. Treat it for what it is, theFalse enemy seeking to rule you. A good acronym for FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real. Years ago a friend told me, fear is always based on a lie; deal with the lie and the fear will die.

Feed your faith on the Word and starve your fears. Refuse to give them place. Act in opposition to them. Speak out loud what you believe and keep it up throughout the day until the fear leaves. Action, faith, and words will defeat fear every time!

Vacation Time Again!

I’ll begin a two week vacation after I preach the second service today! My family and I will be enjoying the beach this week! We all need the relaxation and rest that comes from taking time away from the normal routines of life.

Our culture does not value rest as it should. And I am a “delivered” workaholic! Twenty years ago I was not able to take a vacation and enjoy it because my sense of personal value was all tied up in performance and works. I would become agitated and upset just a few days into a vacation back then.

Now I am settled in who Jesus is to me, and I know that He loves me, not based on my performance, but based on the fact that I am a human being made in His image.

Paul held a pastor’s conference in Ephesus in Acts 20 and admonished the pastors to take heed to themselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit made them overseers. There’s a lot of wisdom there.

Before a pastor can really help others, he must take care of himself spiritually, mentally, emotionally, physically, and in his personal relationships with his family.
So I’ll miss the flock this week! But I know that if I’m going to continue to be an effective pastor I must do as Jesus told the disciples and come away and rest awhile.

I’ll continue my blog during vacation though. I enjoy staying connected with you. I’ll leave you with some quotes I put together from C.H. Spurgeon’s book entitled Lectures To My Students. I believe they emphasize the need for rest well.

“The bow cannot be always bent without fear of breaking. Repose is as needful to the mind as sleep to the body... Even the earth must lie fallow and have her Sabbaths, and so must we…Rest time is not waste time. It is economy to gather fresh strength…A little pause prepares the mind for greater service in the good cause…Fisherman must mend their nets, and we must every now and then repair our mental waste and get our machinery in order for future service…To tug the oar from day to day like a galley slave who knows no holidays, suits no mortal man…Millstreams go on forever, but we must have our pauses and intervals…Who can help but be out of breath when the race is continued without intermission…Even beasts of burden must be turned out to grass occasionally; the sea pauses at ebb and flood; earth keeps the Sabbath of wintry months; and a man, when exalted to God’s ambassador, must rest or faint; must trim his lamp or let it burn low; must recruit his vigor or grow prematurely old…It is wisdom to take an occasional furlough. In the long run, we shall sometimes do more by doing less…On, on, on forever may suit our spirits emancipated from this heavy clay, but while we are in this tabernacle, we must every now and then cry halt, and serve the Lord by holy inaction and consecrated leisure…Let no tender conscience doubt the lawfulness of going out of harness for a while, but learn from the experience of others the necessity and duty of taking timely rest.”

Relationships are Worth the Risk

Relationship carries with it the element of risk. There is usually risk associated with everything that is worthwhile in life. During a television interview in 1981, Kenneth Hagin was asked what one trait he would desire most for his graduates. Without hesitation he replied, The willingness to take risks. I was in the audience that day during the taping of this interview, and I was waiting for the typical spiritual response when Kenneth Hagin was asked this question. I was surprised and challenged by his answer.

By personality I am a risk taker. Some are not. I’ve been willing for most of my life to go where I believe the Lord is leading me, knowing full well there are no guarantees. That has brought me to where I am today.

Relationships carry with them the risk that you could be rejected; that the person could mistreat you or take advantage of you. When you choose to be loved by the Father, He will so fill you with His personal love and acceptance that you’re just simply satisfied within yourself by Him. You don’t relate to others out of need, but out of a full, satisfied heart.

In that context, you can bear any kind of treatment. Yes, it’s emotionally wrenching at times when people respond to you out of their personal hurt or judgments based on past relationships, but there is such rich gain in being with others that to me it just makes it worth it. The truth of God’s Word lived in the context of relating to others over a period of time has the potential to produce radical personal transformation.

I’ve been rejected in relationship often. I think it just goes with the territory of being a pastor. None of us are fully mature, and when you’re ministering and living out of His life, sometimes darkness is exposed. Sometimes it is exposed in me and I have to be willing to lay the wrong thinking, the wrong emotions, or wrong actions at the foot of the cross. The cross is where what I want to do and how I feel about a situation meets the Word and God’s will for me. And I choose God’s way over my thoughts and feelings.

Darkness is exposed at times in another person while I am relating to them. I must choose to remain loving, caring, and real. I must choose not to judge them, but rather lovingly woo them. This can be the difficult part of relationships. My cross is where I chose to defy my feelings and love and reach out. I must be willing to stay with truth in love and not force my will on the other person.

We carry with us baggage from past relationships. We carry judgments about people and about life in general. And those judgments produce expectations that people may mistreat us again the way others have in the past. We must be willing to lay these judgments down by forgiving those who have mistreated us. We must be willing to risk closeness again though these expectations tell us that we’ll be harmed again.

That’s where the love of God come shining through. God’s love poured out in our hearts is the antidote for trouble in relating to others. I must recondition myself to act, respond, and abide in love. That’s where my spiritual growth occurs. For without love, I am walking in the flesh and in darkness.

Though this may be long, listen again to 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 in these several translations tied together. Make a choice today to risk close relationships. There are worth it!

Let me describe love. It is slow to lose patience; love stays in difficult relationships with kindness, and it always looks for ways to be constructive. There is no envy in love. It is not possessive and never boils over with jealousy. Love makes no parade of itself; it never boasts, nor does it puff up with pride. Love is never arrogant and never puts itself on display, because it is neither anxious to impress, nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance. Love never gets irritated and is never resentful. Love holds no grudges, and it keeps no record of evil done to it. Love refuses to be provoked and never harbors evil thoughts. Love is not rude or grasping or overly sensitive, nor does love search for imperfections and faults in others. Love does not compile statistics of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails. Love celebrates what is real and not what is perverse or incomplete. Love never does the graceless thing. Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. Love never insists on its own rights, never irritably loses its temper, and never nurses its wrath to keep it warm. Love is not touchy. Love can stand any kind of treatment because there are no limits to its endurance, no end to its trust. Love bears up under anything; it perseveres in all circumstances. Love’s first instinct is to believe in people. If you love someone, you will be loyal to him no matter what the cost. You will always believe in him, always expect the best in him, and always stand your ground in defending him. Love never regards anyone or anything as hopeless. Love keeps up hope in everything. Love’s hope never fades. Love keeps on keeping on! It trusts in God in every situation and expects God to act in all circumstances. Love goes on forever. Nothing can destroy love. Nothing can happen that can break love’s spirit. In fact, it is the one thing that still stands when all else has fallen.

Relationships Directly Affect Spiritual Life

Our life challenges are spiritual in origin. Paul told the believers in Ephesus that we don’t fight against flesh and blood, but against demonic forces that can’t be seen (Ephesians 6). Paul told the believers in Corinth that we have mighty spiritual weapons with which to fight these battles (2 Corinthians 10).

Our spiritual weapons are the Word of God, the name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus, and praise and worship. The foundation that these spiritual weapons operate on is love. When we step out of love into any realm of self-centered living, we immediately lose our spiritual power and authority over Satan and his emissaries.

The believers in Ephesus had great spiritual truth. They were a well taught body of believers. They had some of God’s choicest servants ministering to them. Yet they were spiritually paralyzed because they had left the love realm and had become involved in strife.

Listen to Paul’s heart impassioned call here in Ephesians 4:25-32 (Amplified) for this body of believers to step out of the flesh into the spirit: Therefore, rejecting all falsity and being done now with it, let everyone express the truth with his neighbor, for we are all parts of one body and members one of another. When angry, do not sin; do not ever let your wrath (your exasperation, your fury or indignation) last until the sun goes down. Leave no such room or foothold for the devil [give no opportunity to him].Let the thief steal no more, but rather let him be industrious, making an honest living with his own hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need. Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk ever come out of your mouth, but only such speech as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God's favor) to those who hear it. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [do not offend or vex or sadden Him], by Whom you were sealed (marked, branded as God's own, secured) for the day of redemption (of final deliverance through Christ from evil and the consequences of sin). Let all bitterness and indignation and wrath (passion, rage, bad temper) and resentment (anger, animosity) and quarreling (brawling, clamor, contention) and slander (evil-speaking, abusive or blasphemous language) be banished from you, with all malice (spite, ill will, or baseness of any kind). And become useful and helpful and kind to one another, tenderhearted (compassionate, understanding, loving-hearted), forgiving one another [readily and freely], as God in Christ forgave you.

The believers in the church in Ephesus had allowed the enemy to seep into their relationships and bring strife, envy, unforgiveness, malice, lying, gossip, and foul, offensive, anger filled words. Satan was unopposed. They had lost tremendous spiritual ground to demonic forces.

This clearly applies to our day. Satan is unopposed in most church because the believers’ authority over him has been neutralized by these flesh manifestations. Where there is unforgiveness, envy, backbiting, strife, and gossip, the Holy Spirit is quenched and spiritual gains are lost.

Don’t allow the enemy to use you to hinder spiritual effectiveness. Refuse to yield to strife and envy. Refuse to say anything behind the back of anyone that you wouldn’t say to them face to face. Refuse to sow discord or to speak negatively about anyone to others. Refuse the tendency to bear a grudge.

Don’t allow your ears to participate in gossip. Believe the best of every person, period. If you’re not satisfied with some area of church life or ministry, go to your knees in heartfelt prayer, asking the Father to intervene and bring change. Go from that place of prayer with expectations that God is working. Speak words of encouragement and consolation, not of strife and discord. Honor your prayers with your words and actions.

See the end from the beginning. Act to others as though you believe that God is working in them and in situation that you encounter. This is the love way. This is the path of spiritual freedom and power.

Remember that demonic forces sow discord, envy and strife. Recognize Satan’s work and resist him, binding him with the name of Jesus and by your loving words and actions.

We cannot separate our relationships and daily life from our walk with God. They are intertwined. How we deal with the relationships God places in our lives shows what kingdom rules us. The kingdom of darkness breeds discord, strife, and broken relationships ruled by walls of separation. The kingdom of God breeds love, peace, joy, right living, transparent relationships, and intimacy. Which kingdom rules you?

Personal Security Enhances Relationships

Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:4-6).

We usually project into our relationships what we feel about ourselves. If I don’t feel accepted by God and others, then I will withdraw and I will have the tendency to criticize others in my thoughts. A person may have a genuine motive of concern and a heartfelt desire to relate to me, but if I think negatively about myself, I will judge their actions toward me in a negative light.

Until we know that we are loved by the Father and fully accepted by Him, relationships will be difficult. The best thing that I can do to help myself in relating to others is to come to a clear understanding of how the Father views me.

The greatest change came in my own life when I saw that in Christ Jesus I am totally forgiven of all my past failures; that my past deeds are remembered no more by the Father; that I am accepted in the beloved; that God is now for me and not against me; that I am His workmanship, His own handiwork; that the Father has given me the same standing in heaven that His Son has before the Him.

These truths free me from condemnation and fear. They breed within me faith and trust. Self-doubt is such an enemy of relationships and closeness. The fear of being rejected taunts us all. Knowing that you are adopted into the family of God and with that adoption comes all the privileges of a natural born son or daughter to God.

Years ago the Father challenged me with 1 Corinthians 4:3-4 in the J.B. Phillips translation: But, as a matter of fact, it matters very little to me, what you, or any man, thinks of me – I don’t even value my opinion of myself. Paul was challenged with his past in city after city as he travelled. He once persecuted believers, committing them to prison or having them stoned. No doubt that children and family members of the deceased reminded Paul of what he did to ruin their family life. Paul had to forgive himself and rely on the mercy of God. He had to choose to no longer judge himself. He had to choose to believe the best of himself and others.

Love believes the best of every person. Love expects the best and never thinks the worst. Start with yourself. Believe that the Father loves you unconditionally and accepts you right now just the way you are. Believe that He has cleansed all your misdeeds and now treat you as though you had never done wrong. Instead of expecting to be rejected by others, choose to believe the best of them. Expect to be excepted when you walk into a room full of people. Expect others to be pleasant and kind when you engage them in conversation.

We usually receive what we give. Expect to be used by the Lord to encourage others today. Expect Him to give you the tongue of the learned, that you would know how to speak an appropriate word of encouragement to each person you meet today (see Isaiah 50:4). Think about yourself the way the Father thinks about you. Believe the best of others and look for the best in others today. Relationships are easier when you’re confident in who you are in Christ Jesus!

Stop Hiding

So he said, "I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself (Genesis 3:10).

One of the results of the fall is a fear of relationships. In their sinless state, Adam and Eve were love dominated and fear free. The first result of the fall was hiding. They hid from one another, and they hid from God. Innocence turned to shame. Faith turned to fear. Trust turned to suspicion.

This fear of relationships and the resultant hiding still rules sinful man. And those who come to Christ must renew their minds to the love of God or this tendency to hide will still dominate their relationships.

My late friend Jack Frost would put it this way: When Adam sinned, he put a roof up and walls around himself to keep God and others out. Most people live with the roof up to keep God out, and the walls up to keep others out. Jesus came to demolish the roof and give us unlimited access to the Father in unbroken, intimate fellowship. We’ve been given the invitation to come boldly to the throne of grace to receive mercy and grace for every need.

Jesus also came to take down the walls that separate us from one another. Jesus prayed for the church in John 17 that we would become one with each other just as He and the Father are one.

Most people hide. Fear rules them and keeps them isolated from others. The only way to overcome this ingrained fear of close relationships is to open up and fully accept the love the Father has for you. God created us to be nurtured from childhood in an atmosphere of unconditional love create by two loving parents who walk closely with the Father. The parents receive the love that the Father has for them, the parents love each other, and the then the parents model this unconditional, self-sacrificial love to their children. That’s the way God intended for us to grow. Sin ruined God’s plan and stunted our growth. And our homes are broken and fear filled.

In Christ we learn that the Father loves us with an unconditional, self-sacrificial love. This love is not based on our human performance, but on Him and His character. Fear has taught us to hide from others until we work to earn their approval. As we mature in Christ, we learn that the Father loves us, period. We can’t earn His love. His love for us is free. And He loves us when we perform well and also when we miserably fail. He doesn’t reject us when we sin, but has made a way of escape from its penalty of condemnation and fear. Our lawyer Jesus serves as our defense attorney when we sin and as we confess our sins, He pleads our case before the Father, cleanses us from sin, and restores our intimate fellowship with the Father. Our misdeeds are erased, never to be seen by the Father or others. This gives boldness to no longer hide but freely expose ourselves to God and to others.

If you know that you’re freely loved and freely forgiven by the Father, there is no reason to hide. There is no fear in love. If you still hide from others, the reality of the love that the Father has for you has not yet penetrated your spirit and my mind. When being loved unconditionally by the Father becomes a settled fact within you, fear loses its grip and you are free to come out of hiding.

Knowing you’re loved by the Father creates an atmosphere in your life of openness, honesty, and realness. Hiding ceases. Exposure to others is no longer scary. You’ve found the safe place called love. That safe place enables closeness with God and closeness with others.

Perhaps you’re still caught in the clutches of the fear of relationship and the walls are up and the roof is on in your life. Ask the Father to reveal His unconditional, self-sacrificial love to you. Get alone with your Father and pour your heart out to Him in sincerity. He will love you, forgive you, restore you, and brush your fears away. You will find Him to be sincere and tender, honest and real. And in this place of intimacy with Himself, the Father will help you take down the walls that isolate you from others. Start the journey to personal freedom today!

Relationships Strengthen

But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).

My relationships (or lack thereof) show me where I am spiritually! The two great commandments according to Jesus are to love God and love people (Matthew 22:38-40).While we’re seeking to walk in the Word and walk with God we must also relate well to our friends and associates in the family of God.

There’s just no way that I can really be spiritually healthy and non-relational. The Monk in the monastery is not a true example of godliness. That is a picture of a person doing in the flesh only what God can do by the Holy Spirit through the Word. God never planned that we isolate ourselves from each other. Isolation is the fleshly way to deal with the problems and pressures that life brings.

Let me be really frank here and bare my heart. In the circles where the Word is strongly preached, we’ve not done a great job of fostering close, intimate relationships with others. We’ve been involved in functions that bring us together, but we haven’t in a large way sought to become close friends in church settings. I’m seeking to change that here at Victory!

We need the Word, we need the Spirit of God witnessing to our spirit, but we also need one another! There’s nothing that can replace the help provided by another caring believer when you’re going through a tough time. Sometimes when pressured you just need a safe environment of faith where you can honestly bare your heart without fear of being stigmatized or rejected. And that’s the kind of atmosphere we need to be involved in with each other.

When Peter and John were threatened by the religious leaders to no longer preach in the name of Jesus, they went back to their own company. There they had a place of safety and solace in the storm, and there they could pour out their heart to others and receive strength. They ended up having such a tremendous prayer meeting that the building they were in started to shake with the power of God!

I’m going to begin to emphasize getting closer to others in the days to come. Hardship is coming to this planet, and before the rapture it’s probably going to get tougher than it already is! We will need the closeness of relationships with other members of the family of God to keep each other inspired in faith and confidence in God.

There are presently two great ways to get involved in closer relationships at Victory. Firstly, by being a very involved volunteer. We have people who are giving many hours of volunteer time in various areas of ministry. In that context, I would encourage those folk to also develop close relationships with those who work with them in the helps ministry. These people will become their support group.

Then secondly, we have lifegroups which meet basically two times per month. Let me say that I’m going to be urging the lifegroups to become closer, and to open up for people to really begin to bare their hearts to one another. For these groups to be effective there should be openness and heart talk. We’re going to need this in the days to come. And we need it right now.

The human tendency is to substitute rules for relationships. Rules are clean and tidy. Relationships blur the lines at times and can be messy! But we are not robots, and life is fluid. Life is constantly changing and we are evolving into who we are in Christ! We need to learn to love each other through thick and thin, when things are going great, and when things are just plain lousy. God never changes in His love for us. His Word is forever settled in heaven. But we are ever adjusting ourselves as we experience personal change and as life flings towards us its challenges.

Get involved in close relationships. Invite others over to your home for a meal and a time of getting to know them. Go to lunch together when you can. Involve yourself in a lifegroup. Open yourself to be loved and love others. Watch the Father change you as you risk being involved in close relationships.

We Need Each Other

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).

God never intended that we live our lives in isolation . We are at our best when we live in relationship. We live in a culture that values individual rights and thank God we have those rights. But we take these rights to the extreme when we take them to mean that we can live the way we want without regard for our fellow man. And that is where our culture as a whole is heading. We must resist this tendency.

It’s easy to be alone in a crowd these days, whether it’s in a shopping mall, at a ball game, or in a church service. The easiest thing to do is keep the walls up and hold others away at arm’s length. Let’s face it, relationships are risky. And if you’ve been burned by one a time or two it’s easier to keep the distance from others than to risk emotional pain again.

But we do best when we learn to relate to the family of God and allow others to come close. One of the ingredients in spiritual growth is close relationships. God did not place his love in our hearts for us to spend on ourselves. Love isn’t love until you give it away to someone else. All spiritual growth revolves around learning to love others unconditionally as well as learning to open yourself up to be loved as well.

Most of us are raised in an environment of conditional love, where expressed love from others is dependent on behavior. But the love of God is unconditional and self-sacrificial! And that’s the kind of love we believers have been given by the Father. And that’s the kind of love we’re called to express in our close relationships.

The first time I was shown this unconditional love by another believer, I didn’t know how to respond. It was almost too good for me. I felt as though I needed to earn it some way. It was awkward to receive. I went to a Saturday “field day” a local Bible college was having after having been invited by a new acquaintance. People came up to me and showed genuine interest in me. They seemed caring and real. That was the beginning of my being set free from years of emotional pain that I kept hidden behind a façade of activity.

The strength of my life as a new believer was in relating to new found friends weekly. The world, the flesh, and the devil would gang up on me daily. But as I spent time with my buddies, I found that I was not alone in my struggles to leave the old man behind. I found the strength of friendships refreshing. I found that the enemy was seeking to isolate me and make me think that I was alone in my difficulties. I also gained a sense of fulfillment as the Father used me to encourage others as a related how I dealt with my daily challenges.

Iron sharpen iron. We need each other. When I was in the sixth grade I sang in a school choir. The lyrics of one of the songs we sang was No man is an island. No man stands alone. Each man’s joy is joy to me. Each man’s grief is my own. We need one another, so I will defend each man as my brother, each man as my friend.

When I was born again, that song came back to me in a fresh was. Now, years later, I can see that I am what I am by the grace of God, and by the help of loving friends. Open yourself up to close relationships, and you’ll find a dimension of freedom mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

The Love Way

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love (Galatians 5:6).

Satan knows that faith will move mountains, and that nothing is impossible to him who believes. He also knows that faith must operate through love to be effective. And so He works to “pull the rug out from under” our faith life by attacking our relationships.

The love command is the central component in the believer’s life. We’re to love one another as He loves us. We are to follow after God and walk in love. We’re encouraged to have “white heated” love for the brethren.

1 Corinthians 13 gives us the elements that describe love. Patience, kindness, generosity, courtesy, unselfishness, righteousness, good temper, sincerity, are some of the fundamentals that form the love of God.

Over the years, I’ve used the Amplified translation of 1 Corinthians 13:5 as a gauge to measure my love life. The last part of the verse reads: it takes no account of the evil done to it; it pays no attention to a suffered wrong.

The moment I get upset because of the way someone treats me shows that I just left the love realm. Back in my bible school days I way heavily tested in the area of walking in love.

I worked in management in a grocery store that had an employee’s union. One winter before Christmas the union decided to go on a strike. I chose to go to work during the strike and was called all kinds of names as I crossed the picket line each day.
One man who worked as a butcher took particular offence at my actions and refused to talk to me or even acknowledge my presence in the room! I managed the night shift and would unlock the door as the day employees came to work.

This butcher would knock on the door, and as I unlocked it and said good morning, he would ignore me and act as though I was the invisible man! He would enter without saying one thing to me or looking at me. In group conversations, he would act as though I was not there and ignore my direct comments to him. He did this every day for weeks!

I decided that I would walk in love towards him, and act as though he did no wrong. Every day, I greeted him, and would speak to him as I passed him as we worked. He refused eye contact, and just simply ignored me and my kind comments day after day. After many weeks, I opened the door one morning, and he greeted me with a smile and a hearty “good morning!” I almost fell on the floor in surprise!

That taught me a great love lesson. Love never fails. Love is the best way.
Refuse to take offense when people mistreat you. Make a decision to be a person of love. That decision will cause your faith to work, and will keep you living above the insults and injuries of others.

How Do You Treat Jesus?

And the King will answer and say to them, assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me (Matthew 25:40).

We are the body of Christ and are interconnected. The way we treat fellow members of the body of Christ is the way we treat Jesus Himself! John said that if I can’t love my brother who I can see, then how can I love God who I can’t see?

Do we reach out to the sick, the poor, the hungry, or the imprisoned? Are we kind, compassionate, and understanding throughout the day as we interact with fellow workers and family members?

Our spiritual activities have little impact if they are not translated into our
actions and reactions towards others. Prayer meetings, church services, fellowships, bible studies, bible reading, are wonderful activities. But do we go from these legitimate activities and show the love of God to regular folk that we meet in our daily contacts?

This is where the rubber meets the road. Let’s choose today to be the hands, arms, eyes, and ears of Jesus. Be aware of what you say and how you say it to every person you encounter. Remember that you are an extension of Jesus and His ministry. The world understands Him by seeing how we act! What are our actions telling others about Him?

Jesus appeared to Paul when his name was Saul and he was persecuting Christians. He said to Saul, Why are you persecuting me? Saul had never seen Jesus, but Jesus took personally everything Saul did as he harmed believers.

Jesus never changes. He still takes personally our actions towards our fellow man. Let’s face today with a new sensitivity to how we treat others. And let’s be aware that we represent the Son of God with every look, reaction, word, and deed!

The Purifying Presence

Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).

Our God is a consuming fire! Fire is a cleansing agent and produces purity. God revealed Himself to Moses in a burning bush. He revealed Himself to Ezekiel as a fire from the loins up and the loins down. Jesus revealed Himself to John on the Isle of Patmos as glowing brass and with eyes that were flames of fire. Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James, and John and His countenance began to glow pure white.

God revealed himself to Moses on the top of Mount Sinai with thunder and lightning in Exodus 19. The presence of God is so perfect that no impurity can come near Him without immediately disintegrating.

Uzza reached out to steady the Ark of the Covenant when it reeled and was struck dead! Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire on the altar of sacrifice and fell dead.

God is Holy. The word Holy means set apart. The Father is absolute purity and anything that is impure is consumed by His presence.

When the Holiness of God comes down and touches the sinfulness of man the results of that union is called wrath. Wrath is God’s holiness completely consuming impurity. God’s wrath is mentioned in the Bible more than His love!

We’ll soon be entering a time of unprecedented upheaval on earth that is predicted to happen during the tribulation, a time of judgment that precedes the second coming of Christ. This is a time of great wrath displayed and of God’s enemies being judged for their rebellion to His purposes. As God’s presence increases in preparation for the Second Coming of Christ, wrath will be displayed as God’s Holy presence touches sin and rebellion.

Thank God that as Christians we are not appointed to wrath, but to obtain mercy through the Lord Jesus! Jesus incurred the wrath of God on behalf of our sin. Now we can fellowship with God as though we never did wrong!

The Father wants us to walk in holiness so that He can draw near to us with His manifest presence. The blood of Jesus has made a way for us to come boldly to the throne of grace so we can obtain mercy and find grace to help our need!

That awesome Presence that caused Moses’ face to shine with the Glory is now abiding in us. We have become bearers of the Presence because of Jesus! And the fire of His presence working within us will draw impurity out of us! He is a Refiners Fire and a Fuller’s Soap (Malachi 3:2).

Get the Tenses Right!

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them (Mark 11:24).

The tenses must be right to receive from God. Faith believes that God has or God is presently working on your behalf. Faith is never future tense. If you’re waiting on some point in the future for God to do something for you, then you’re hoping and not believing. You’re in the future where hope is, and you’re not in the past and present where faith is. Don’t just hope and pray! Pray and believe God has answered your prayer!

Jesus is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8). God told Joshua that he had already given Jericho into his hands while the walls still stood high. Before raising Lazarus from the dead Jesus looked to heaven and prayed, Lord, I thank you that you have heard me. He put his prayer in the past tense. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham while he was yet childless. Jesus told the ten lepers to go offer the sacrifice that Moses said for lepers to offer after they were healed. The ten were healed as they went.

Make sure today that you believe that you receive what you need from the Lord. His grace and mercy are available to help you and you reach out in present or past tense faith!

Hearing and Faith

And He said to them, Be careful what you are hearing. The measure[of thought and study] you give [to the truth you hear] will be the measure[of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you — and more [besides] will be given to you who hear (Mark 4:24 – Amplified). So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17).

Faith comes by hearing! Faith in God comes by hearing the Word. Faith in recession, inflation, high prices, the latest health challenge, etc., also come by hearing words. What are you hearing more of, man’s opinions and the latest newsbyte or the Word?

Whatever you hear the most of is what you’ll have the most faith for! We’re overrun with technology and information availability is at an all time high. Make a choice to be selective in what you hear. Listen to CD’s in your car instead of news. Take “Word” breaks throughout the date to keep yourself filled with faith to meet the challenges ahead.

Spiritual catch-up is a hard game to play. That’s what you play when crisis time comes and you’ve not been spending regular time in the Word. And in some situations you may not be able to catch up if you’ve not been feeding your faith! As Smith Wigglesworth said, If you wait until you need to get faith, you’ll be at a disadvantage.

Keep the spiritual fire ablaze in your heart by spending time daily feeding on the Word. What you give the most of your time hearing is what you’ll have faith for!

You’re as Close as You Choose to Be

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you(James 4:8).

Each one of us is as close to God as we choose to be. He has given us an invitation to draw near to Him, and our response determines our depth of intimacy with Him. There were five circles of intimacy around Jesus that illustrate the closeness that we can experience with the Father.

There were the multitudes that followed Jesus wherever He went. They were looking for a dazzling display of power. All they wanted was to see a sign and a wonder. There are those to day who are just looking for something new and extraordinary. They go from meeting to meeting, from church to church, never committing, never adding, and never finding what they are looking for.

From the multitudes there emerged seventy people whom Jesus chose and gave the power of His name to preach the gospel of the Kingdom and to heal the sick. He sent them out in thirty five teams of two.

Then after a night of prayer, Jesus chose twelve men who became His disciples. They were trained to minister as He did and he taught them much about Kingdom business.

From the twelve there were three disciples that experienced more than the others. Peter, James, and John were with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. They saw Him glow with the Glory of God. They were with Him in the room when He raised a little girl from the grip of death. They saw and heard more than the average disciple.

Lastly, one of the disciples is mentioned in the book of John as the disciple whom Jesus loved. He is seen at the last supper laying his head on Jesus’ chest. He seemed closer to Jesus than the other eleven. This was the disciple named John, and he spoke of himself in the gospel that bears his name.

All of theses groups were as close to Jesus as their response to His loved allowed. He loves everyone equally. Their position was as a result of their response to Him.

The multitude, the seventy, the twelve, the three, or the one. Which group would you be in today? The place of closeness that John enjoyed is available to us all.
We are today as close to Jesus as we choose to be. Let’s draw near!

Happy Father’s Day

And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4).

We fathers have a tall order! In many ways we represent to our children the fatherhood of God. All of us filter our concept of God through His representative on earth, our human father. If we represent God poorly, we can provoke our children to wrath. If we represent Him well then we aid their understanding of who God the Father is to them.

My Father taught me how to be a man. He taught me the principle of hard work. He taught me with his lifestyle how to be a person of honesty and integrity; how to keep your word regardless. He taught me the value of womanhood as he loved my mother and showed her care and kindness. Much of what I am today I must attribute to my dad.

I’ll leave you with the following Father quotes as you take time today to honor Fatherhood:

The most important thing a Father can do for his children is to love their mother.
-Anonymous

My Father didn’t tell me how to live; he lived and let me watch him do it.
-Clarence Buddington Kelland

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.
-Mark Twain

A young successful attorney said: “The greatest gift I ever received was a gift I got one Christmas when my dad gave me a small box. Inside was a note saying, ‘Son, this year I will give you 365 hours, an hour every day after dinner. It’s yours. We’ll talk about what you want to talk about, we’ll go where you want to go, play what you want to play. It will be your hour!’” “My dad not only kept his promise,” he said, “but every year he renewed it – and it’s the greatest gift I ever had in my life. I am the result of his time.”
- Moody Monthly

Persistent Prayer

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up (Luke 18:1 – NIV). Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints (Ephesians 6:18). The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working] (James 5:16 – Amplified).

Prayer brings the power of the kingdom of God into the earth where you live! The key is persistence and tenacity. Just as Jacob who wrestled with the angel and would not let go of him until he blessed him, so we must press through for prayer to be effective.

The powers of darkness resent any intrusion into their kingdom. That’s why persistence is such a necessary ingredient. Notice that James tells us that the continual, heartfelt prayer of the believer makes tremendous power available.

Make sure that you pray in faith when praying for circumstances of some kind to change or when you’re praying for another person. But be persistent and remind the Lord daily of what you believe. Thank Him for what you believe He is doing in the circumstance or individual. Remind the devil that according to the Word of God he is bound from hindering the situation. Like a taunting, barking dog, he will not leave unless you persist and demand that he does. If you pray and then ignore the situation, he won’t budge.

Remember that it isn’t the Father that is withholding answered prayer, but it is the enemy refusing to let go of the situation. You must enforce his defeat with your faith and prayers. In Daniel 10, God sent Daniel’s answer the first day that he prayed but the demonic forces tried the keep the angels from getting the message to Daniel. His persistent prayer paid off.

God answers the first day that you pray. Stand your ground in faith and persistent prayer and demonstrate Satan’s defeat!

The Word

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

All scripture is God breathed. It’s as much the Word of God as if you could feel His breath on your face as He spoke! The was given to me by my Father to introduce me to Him; to impart faith to me; to work as a seed in my life that grows into a tree of righteousness. All that I know about my Father comes through the Word. Jesus’ Lordship in my life is the Lordship of the Word.

Without the Word, I know nothing of my redemption in Christ; I know nothing about how the Father sees me now; I know nothing of my being seated with Him in the heavenlies; I Know nothing of my authority over the adversary; I know nothing about faith and what it does; I know nothing of my authority in prayer; I know nothing about the healing and health He has provided for me. Without the Word, I am unaware of the love that He planted in my bosom at the New Birth and of how that love is to rule me, to dominate me.

To live in the consciousness of His presence, I must elevate the Word above my own reasoning, above the loud voice of circumstance, and above the voice of the senses and of the enemy that taunts me daily.

The Word is to my spirit what food is to my body. It builds me up in faith. It connects me to the Father and His will for me today. The Father and His Word are one!

I must be sure that I elevate nothing above the Word in my life. My attitude towards the Word determines the place that God holds in my daily life.

Put God’s Word first place in your life, give the Holy Spirit second place, and give your thoughts and feelings last place, and you’ll walk with the Father victoriously today.

Expect More

Test all things; hold fast what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21).

I’m in the Tampa airport this morning on the way home from Lakeland, Florida. I’ve just spent three days at the “revival” there. I came to see firsthand what’s happening here. The meetings are being broadcast worldwide via the internet and have the potential for broad impact.

As I mentioned yesterday, I found the meetings filled with people basically hungry for more of Jesus. The worship was passionate and exuberant. And the music was LOUD! The age range here was a good mixture from young to the elderly. People from all over the world gathered last night for another meeting. The leaders of the meetings were congenial and pleasant.

After almost two hours of worship, Todd Bentley ministered 1 Samuel 30 and 2 Samuel 5. He said the Lord ministered to him tonight that the meetings would begin to change and that the working of miracles would become prominent. He was passionate about people taking what the Lord was doing here back to their cities. He encouraged the audience to take God out of the box and allow Him to do what He desires to do. Don’t think that in church services everything has to be the same all the time. Expect God to do more.

I have left these meetings encouraged to be open for the Holy Spirit to manifest in our church services; to move our church to more passionate worship; and to expect the Father to watch over His word to perform it!

When I go to meetings like this, I am aware of the fact that the majority of the people attending have traveled long distances to come and to receive. So their mindset is to give it all they’ve got so to speak. Because of this, time is not an issue. The meetings last for over four hours, and if you include pre-service time; over seven. The people enter the room expecting God to show up!

In a local church the dynamics are different. We meet from week to week in the context of work, school, raising children, and dealing with the daily grind of life. On Sundays we have newcomers from the community who are seeking new relationships and seeking to receive from the Lord. Because the attendees are so varied, we usually limit the time of our Sunday morning services. This is our time to reach out to our community. On Wednesdays, we’ve come from work and school, and come together to seek the Lord and receive from the Word, as well as to minister to our kids, teenagers, and college and career folk.

I think we at times need some special services for those who want to seek God and linger in His presence. These services would be separate from our weekly meetings. And I believe that we should prepare ourselves for our regular weekly meetings by praying and asking the Father to manifest Himself as we worship. We should come expecting the Holy Spirit to manifest in spiritual gifts, and we should open ourselves up to receive fresh manna from heaven. We get what we expect.

To me, these meetings in Florida are encouraging the body of Christ at large to open up and expect God to do more! He’s able to do more than we can ask or think! Let’s take God out of the “box” we sometimes place Him in and expect the Holy Spirit to minister to us when we meet together and through us as we interact with other in daily life. It’s harvest time! I’m looking forward to coming home today!

In His Presence

I’ve been in Lakeland Florida since Monday morning. For those that are unaware, during a scheduled ministry time at Ignited Church in April, Todd Bentley was ministering and the Holy Spirit began to manifest. Now, 70 days later, the meetings have moved to a “tent,” a temporary building set up at the airport in the city. Thousands from all over the world meet there nightly at 7 PM to experience the Glory of God in manifestation. I’m here to check out for myself what’s going on.

People begin lining up outside the building (which is on the backside of the airport in the middle of nowhere) at around 4:30 PM. The doors open for pastors who have a wrist band for identity at 5:00. The doors open for everyone else at 6:00 PM. The meeting begins at 7:00 PM with some pretty wired praise and worship. People gather at the front altar area and dance, sing, kneel, shout, and worship for a couple of hours.

It’s a really laid back atmosphere. People who come are simply hungry for God. Many are in need of healing. After the prolonged praise and worship, the Holy Spirit manifests t he Presence.

Last night the gifts of healings manifested in a really strong way with many receiving their healing. Then Todd Bentley preached on how to work with the anointing. Then he laid hand on the whole crowd for an impartation of this wonderful anointing for the people to take back to their cities. After the internet feed stopped, Todd and his team stood up front and ushered the whole crowd according to their seating arrangement up front and he anointed each person with oil and believed for this anointing to transfer to them. The atmosphere was electric and expectant. I got back to my hotel room at about 12:30 AM.

Meetings are held at Ignited church at 10 AM each morning for pastors and church leaders. Really, anyone can go to these meetings. On Tuesday morning Steven Strader, the pastor of Ignited church, spoke for about an hour or so after about an hour and a half of worship.

Pastor Strader gave an overview of the history of Ignited Church and its relationship with moves of God over its history as a church. He related how he has had to deal with friends and ministry acquaintances who have misunderstood what the Lord is up to with this “revival.” His delivery was passionate, real, and down to earth. He said the main theme of this move of God is Jesus and His Presence. It’s an out of the box manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Many who have not been here to experience it have been critical. He gave a moving appeal to love those who don’t understand.

Here’s my assessment of what I’m experiencing. All that is said and done centers around being hungry for Jesus and spending time in His Presence in heartfelt, intimate worship. The ministry centers around sensing what God is saying at the moment and flowing as the Holy Sprit gives direction to the meeting. Each night is different. I’ve not seen or heard anything that makes me uncomfortable or that disagrees with scripture and the central theme of Jesus through the Word by His Spirit ruling our lives.

Being here makes me hungry for more of God. As I write the anointing is literally rising up in me right now. It’s just a desire to know Him that is really strong. Any desire to compromise the Presence is pushed out of mind by this sense to seek God more fully. I’ll comment more tomorrow. I’m going to spend some more time in His Presence!

Revival

And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days (Joel 2:28-29). Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising (Isaiah 60:1-3). Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain (James 5:7).

A great outpouring of the Spirit of God has been prophesied to occur before the second coming of Christ. Peter mentioned this verse in Joel on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2. This moving of the Sprit has continued through the church age and is to culminate with the second coming of Christ. According to James, Jesus is waiting for the precious fruit of the earth before He returns. He is looking for a great harvest of souls before His return!

Then we have the promise in Isaiah 60 that as world conditions darken, the Spirit of God will come upon the church and we will shine with His glory!

In his book Pioneers of Faith, Lester Sumrall mentions a conversation he had with Smith Wigglesworth many years ago. Smith told him that a mighty move of t he Spirit was coming to the earth, and would actually be a worldwide move of the Spirit with copious manifestations of the Holy Spirit.

While Kenneth Hagin was preaching in John Osteen’s church in January of 1979, the Holy Spirit came upon him and he began to prophecy of a coming mighty move of the Holy Spirit that would come to the earth just before Jesus came back.

68 days ago a move of the Spirit of God began to manifest at Ignited church in Lakeland, Florida. This moving of the Spirit continued until now, a couple of months later, thousand are coming to Lakeland to experience this fresh outpouring of the Spirit. The meetings moved from the church to the airport in a temporary building that will seat 7 or 8 thousand.

I arrived in Lakeland yesterday to see first hand what the Spirit of God is doing. At the meeting last night were thousands of people from all over the US and from 20 other countries. All were hungry and curious as to what God was doing. The two hour praise and worship was spontaneous and exuberant, with people singing dancing, weeping, shouting, and kneeling before their God as the Holy Spirit washed them with the freshness of His presence.

The emphasis is hunger and a forsaking of all distractions to seek God. Holiness was mentioned a number of times as necessary for the Holy Spirit to be unhindered in His work.

A wealthy man from Lebanon shared how Jesus softened his hard heart 13 years ago. At the height of his success, he was void and empty inside. His testimony was moving and sincere and many came forward to consecrate to God and repent of personal sin. Then the healing anointing broke out in the room and many were healed of all kinds of ailments.

This move of the Spirit is different. It does not contain the “churchliness” of the past. It’s definitely out of the box. I came to observe and sense the context of what is happening, and to receive from the Father myself with an open heart and mind. So far, I’ve seen a passion for God represented here. And Jesus and a passion for souls is at the heart of what I see.

I’m going in just a few minutes to the meeting for pastors which is at Ignited Church at 10 AM. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Rapid Change

There will be mighty and violent earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences (plagues: malignant and contagious or infectious epidemic diseases which are deadly and devastating); and there will be sights of terror and great signs from heaven (Luke 21:11 – Amplified). And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth [there will be] distress (trouble and anguish) of nations in bewilderment and perplexity [without resources, left wanting, embarrassed, in doubt, not knowing which way to turn] at the roaring ( the echo) of the tossing of the sea, (26) Men swooning away or expiring with fear and dread and apprehension and expectation of the things that are coming on the world; for the [very] powers of the heavens will be shaken and caused to totter. (27) And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with great (transcendent and overwhelming) power and [all His kingly] glory (majesty and splendor). (28) Now when these things begin to occur, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption (deliverance) is drawing near (Luke 21:25-28 – Amplified).

Yesterday I mentioned four areas of rapid change that will occur with the approach of the return of Jesus: The alignment of nations; the disruption of nature; social
upheaval; and in the moving of the Holy Spirit in the church.

The scripture I mentioned above points towards an increase in erratic weather patterns and vicious storms, as well as a great increase in seismic activity as we approach the tribulation time. The recent past has shown a considerable increase in vicious storms worldwide. Now we consistently hear of earthquakes, cyclones, tsunamis, tornadoes, droughts, hurricanes, floods, fires, and extreme record breaking conditions. These things will only intensify as we approach the second coming! Keep your home insurance paid up and believe God!

The Bible predicts great social upheaval prior to the return of Christ. Notice 1 Timothy 3: 1-5 – Amplified : But Understand this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear]. (2) For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane. (3) [They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good. (4) [They will be] treacherous [betrayers], rash, [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God. (5) For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them].

Last month, a judge in California legitimized homosexual marriage opening a Pandora’s box of legitimized, state sanctioned sin for our nation. No nations in history has survived the legalizing of homosexuality in its culture. Unless this changes, judgment is sure for our nation! Remember that the Father dearly loves sinners, but at the same time hates the sin that causes them and others harm.

Fornication is rampant in our culture with most couples living together prior to marriage. With the rise of sex sin is also a demise of family values. No culture can survive for long if family values are eroded in this way.

Worldwide, self-centeredness is increasing. This is a time for us believers to shine! The greater the darkness the greater the light in us will be! I’ll continue this tomorrow and discuss the coming move of God on the earth prior to Jesus’ return.

If the rapture were to occur today, be sure you’re involved in things that you’d be glad to do, say, and think in His presence. He’s coming in the time it takes you to bat your eyes!

I’m in Florida right now, and I’m going soon to the revival meetings. I’ll give you a report tomorrow!

A Time of Rapid Change

And when you hear of wars and insurrections (disturbances, disorder, and confusion), do not become alarmed and panic-stricken and terrified; for all this must take place first, but the end will not [come] immediately. Then He told them, nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be mighty and violent earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences (plagues: malignant and contagious or infectious epidemic diseases which are deadly and devastating); and there will be sights of terror and great signs from heaven (Luke 21:9-11-Amplified).

Before the church age we now live in, God revealed Himself through the Jewish race to the world. The Old Covenant was in force until Jesus was raised from the dead. The Jews rejected Jesus as their savior from sin. God set them aside as a result of their unbelief in Jesus and the church age began with the resurrection of Christ. We believers have had a commission from Jesus to take the gospel to the nations and to make disciples for the last 2000 years. We’re now living at the close of this age of grace.

God is beginning now to deal with His unfinished business with the Jewish race. And this has to do with what is happening now worldwide. The world is preparing for the return of Jesus Christ. World events are lining up with what God has foretold in His word.

Look for rapid changes in the months and years to come in 4 areas: The alignment of nations; the disruption of nature; social upheaval; and in the moving of the Holy Spirit in the church.

Israel became a nation again in May of 1948 after having been away from t heir God-promised land for almost 2000 years. Dozens of scriptures promise this return of the Jews. And it’s one of the prominent signs that Jesus is returning to earth soon. Israel and its neighbor have been fighting since the time of Abraham. That fight will continue to escalate until a false peace treaty is signed guaranteeing peace for Israel and land for its Palestinian neighbors. Keep your eye on this situation. When a peace treaty is signed, we believers are going home to heaven in the rapture! (See 2 Thessalonians 2: 1-8).

According to Daniel 2, 4, and 7, Europe will rise again as a world power. The nations there will join together economically, politically, and militarily before the 2nd coming of Christ. A leader who will rule the world with a pseudo peace will emerge from this European Union. The rise of Europe is happening now and is almost complete!

The United States is not mentioned in Bible prophecy anywhere when it speaks of the coming of Christ. That is very strange since we have been the dominant world player politically, economically, and militarily for many decades. Something is destined to happen that will remove us from this position. My hope is that it is the rapture of the church! But if it’s something else, we may be in for some very rough living.

The rise of Islam is another significant development that signals the return of Christ. Terrorism is increasing in intensity worldwide and is largely propagated by Jihad – which is a holy war against infidels or non-Muslims that is encouraged in the Koran, the bible of the Muslim religion. These radical extremists hate Israel and its ally the United States and are plotting its demise. We need strong leadership to deal with this great threat.

World financial instability is also a significant factor in the second coming of Christ. The World leader the Bible speaks of as the man of sin, the son of perdition, or commonly known as the anti-Christ will deal with the results of worldwide financial turmoil by having a mark placed in the skin that will enable consumers to securely buy and sell in the marketplace (See Revelation 13 and 16). The seeds of this are sprouting now with the present volatility in the financial markets.

I’ll continue this tomorrow. I had many comments after I ministered today on this topic as people shared their experiences verifying what I had preached. This is a serious day. Our liberties are in the balance. Our culture needs a move of God! And we must remain alert and spiritually aglow!

He is Looking for Your Faith

When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, "Son of David, have mercy on us!" And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord." Then He touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith let it be to you (Matthew 9:27-29).

Faith is the hand that receives from God. Jesus’ response to these blind men is also His response to us today. We receive exactly what we believe. Everything that the Father does in our lives is in response to our faith and confidence in Him.

You may ask, why does he look for faith before He acts? Everything that we need for our natural and spiritual life has already been provided by the Father. His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19), every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:3), all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3-4) are already laid up for us in heaven by Jesus.

Since God shows no favoritism and treat everyone equally, He has made faith the pipeline, the conduit that His blessings flow down from heaven to our needs. Faith is the connection to the spiritual realm where the Father’s supply for our needs already exists. Healing, financial provision, answered prayer, and whatever you need has already been provided by Jesus’ sacrifice at Calvary.

Don’t just hope things get better. Don’t just wander aimlessly through life. Exercise your faith today by asking for the things you need, and then expecting the Father to answer your request. Act on the Word. Believe you receive. And then live in expectation.

It pleases the Father for you to walk by faith. It pleases Him for you to believe you receive when you pray. It pleases Him for you to call those things that be not as though they were. It pleases Him today for you to act like His Word is true even when all the circumstances say that it isn’t working! It pleases Him for you to walk in praise and thanksgiving when the easier thing to do would be to gripe and complain and wonder why nothing is going the way you prayed!

Jesus is looking at your faith today, and is saying to you, According to your faith let it be to you!

Subduing the Will

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your member as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God (Romans 6:12-13).

After Adam sinned, mankind turned selfish and self-centered. Before the fall, Adam lived for the glory of God, but after he sinned, he lived to please himself without considering God and His plans for him.

The new birth transforms our spiritual lives. The nature of sin is replaced by the nature of God. But the residue of sin remains buried within the soul and must be rooted out! Paul made the appeal to the believers in Rome to dedicate their bodies to God, and to renovate their minds so they wouldn’t be pressured by the world to conform to its ways.

The soul is composed of the mind, the emotions, and the will. The spirit wants to interact with the soul for the glory of God. The body wants to interact with the soul to fulfill its cravings. The soul is in the middle of a battle, and is the deciding factor between spirituality and carnality. If the mind is set on fleshly things, then the flesh dominates. If the mind is set on spiritual things, then the spirit rules through the soul.

The battle of your life every day is to continually make the choice to walk in the spirit. To do this, you must guard the ears and the eyes from exposure to the lusts of the flesh. A decision for the flesh gives the residue of the old man in the soul permission to conquer the spirit! A decision to act on the Word gives the Holy Spirit through your human spirit control.

The will is the king of the soul. Your will determines what you think about and what emotions you allow to run free. Your will determines whether you yield to the Spirit of God in your spirit by yielding to the Word, or whether you yield to the lusts of the flesh by allowing thoughts from past or from the outside world through the eye and ear gate to rule your life. Again, your will is the deciding factor!

Jesus addresses the will in every gospel. If any man desires to come after Me, let Him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me (Matt. 16:24). Jesus emphasizes this truth. It’s mentioned in every gospel. To deny yourself, you must be willing to lay every thought, every emotion, and every desire at His feet by comparing each of these to the Word. Does some thought, action, or emotion violate the Word? If it does, then you must choose to say NO to it.

We must die daily. That is, we must choose daily to yield our will to the Father through the Word. And then carefully choose what we give attention to in our minds and emotions. To do this, our wills must be wholly recommitted to the Father through the Word every day!

Perhaps we should make David’s prayer in Psalm 19 ours each day: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer!

God is Good

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 upholds all who fall, And raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look expectantly to You, And You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing (Psalm 145:14-16).

Years ago the Lord used these verses to renew my mind to His true disposition towards me. Being raised in a denominational church, I had the idea that God was harsh, vindictive, angry, and demanding. Who wants to have an intimate relationship with someone who doesn’t like them?

This word gracious means ready to show favors. Instead of being angry and harsh I found that the Father wants to help me in life. He’s not looking for a way to harm me, He’s actively looking for ways to bless. God is our refuge and fortress; s very present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1).

He is full of compassion. According to Webster’s Dictionary, compassion is sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it. The Father understands what I’m dealing with in life, and has a desire to alleviate that which produces pain in me. The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Jesus comes to bring us life to the fullest.

The Father is slow to anger. He wants us to make it! He does not want us to be judged, so He allows us to take advantage of opportunities to repent and reconcile when we sin. When judgment does come, it is only after much delay.

The Lord is great in mercy. Webster says that mercy is compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one's power. Mercy is when I don’t get what I do deserve. The Father’s mercy is great!

The Father’s disposition towards you today is that He desire to help you, favor you, forgive you when you sin, and to act in forbearance when you slip up and sin.

Getting to know the Father is the greatest privilege anyone could have. Don’t allow you personal bias to keep you away from Him. He loves you and is right now reaching out in benevolence and love to be a very present help in time of trouble!

Grace and Works

I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain (Galatians 2:21). For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead (James 2:17).For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also (James 2:26).

We’re not saved by what we do, but by what we believe! And we’ve not been saved by grace to live by works. We’re saved by the grace of God. We stand righteous, able to please the Father by faith. We’re not right with God because of what we do; we’re right with God because of who Jesus is!

Bible reading, church attendance, prayer, and helping others are wonderful things to do as long as they are not done to make us right with God! With the right motive, they bless us. With the wrong motive, they hinder the grace of God and make life a religious set of rules void of joy and peace.

A person working to please God is never at peace and finds no inward rest. A person who comes to understand grace has ceased from his owns works, is comfortable in his own skin, and has settled down into a love relationship with the Father that produces supernatural peace and joy. It’s really quite incredible!

The other side of the coin is the works that follow grace. If the grace of God is working in me, then my lifestyle will prove it! Works don’t precede salvation, they follow it. James was practical. His statements show that grace through faith produces tangible results in a believer’s life. If I say that I have faith, then that faith will be realized in how I live my life. Works follow grace through faith! If my lifestyle doesn’t change as a result of what I believe, then I really don’t believe!

If a person professes to be saved by grace then change is sure to follow. That’s what James emphasizes. The works don’t save us, they merely point to what we already believe and are the byproduct of believing!

Rest in the grace of God today. Enjoy your free gift of righteousness. Bask I the peace that grace through faith provides. Then let the byproduct of your faith called works (salt and light) be seen by others so they can join you!

The Boomerang Effect

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 (Luke 6:37-38).

The law of sowing and reaping is working constantly in our lives. The attitudes I sow in others I reap back from them. The kindness I sow comes back to me. If I condemn others in my heart, then I will find that judgment coming back to me. If I want mercy from God, I must sow mercy to others. If I want the benefits of forgiveness then I must for give those who offend me. It’s just like a boomerang.

See every act today as a seed that you’re sowing. See every thought you think as a mirror of what you will have in your future. This reciprocal effect works 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. Remember that seeds you plant take time to grow. And once they grow, the harvest is assured. Make sure that the seeds you sow are the ones you don’t mind living with in the future!

Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at (scorned, disdained, or mocked by mere pretensions or professions, or by His precepts being set aside.) [He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God.] For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap. For he who sows to his own flesh (lower nature, sensuality) will from the flesh reap decay and ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint. (Galatians 6:7-9).

Outward and Inward Harmony

Chip Judd ministered today on enlarging our capacity to receive from God. His text was from 2 Kings 4 where Elisha through working of miracles multiplied oil for a needy lady. As long as she brought pots, oil kept coming from a jar to fill each one. As soon as she brought the last jar, the oil ceased.

The idea here is that as long as we have capacity, the Lord gives to us from His rich resources. Our receiving from the Lord is directly related to our capacity to receive. And our capacity to receive is directly related to out soul.

We receive our beliefs and values for all of life from our family of origin by observation, association, and influence. We become what we learn t home!

Our outside life is a mirror image of our inside world. The only way to permanently alter our outward behavior is to alter the internal thoughts and motivations that cause it! That’s where mind renewal comes into the picture. By looking into the perfect law of liberty and by associating with other believers who can speak truth to us we can see where our belief system needs changing. And we change by identifying, challenging, and acting contrary to wrong beliefs.

We all come from flawed families and it’s so important to renew our minds with truth every day! The process of change is a lifelong adventure in walking out the will of God. Commit today to receiving God’s best by challenging wrong beliefs and by acting to overcome them. It’s a one step at a time, one day at a time deal. And if you’re doing it right, the farther and longer you go, the freer you become. It really is change from glory to glory!