Grace – God's Ability

Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God's unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it]. (Hebrews 4:16 – Amplified).

In my early years of ministry I had an experience with the Lord that changed me forever. Always being tough on myself, I usually felt that the Lord was also tough on me, and that I never really measured up to His desire for perfection. So I struggled with being intimate with the Lord. Don’t misunderstand, I knew I was a child of God through the new birth, but I struggled with really giving Him every part of me. Deep down, I believed that the Father just tolerated me. I’ve since learned that He really loves me and wants to help me with everything in my life.

Here’s a phrase that sums up what He showed me. Faith changes things but Grace changes people. The above verse mentions us going to the throne of grace to obtain what we need from the Father.

Let me give you a new definition of grace that was the catalyst to produce a change in my relating to the Lord. I knew that grace is unmerited favor. In Bible school I learned the acronym to sum up what grace is; God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. But here’s another definition that impacted me. Grace is God’s ability working in me to enable me to do what I can’t do myself!

We can’t change ourselves, and we definitely need a higher ability than our natural strength. That ability is called grace. Grace is for the weak places of your life! Paul was wrestling with the thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians 12. This was a demonic attack on His life. And Jesus made a statement to Paul that at first he didn’t understand. He said, My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Later Paul was able to say when I’m weak, then I’m strong!

Grace is God doing what you can’t do. It’s His supernatural ability working on the inside of you doing what you just can’t do for yourself. Grace will change you. Faith will change a circumstance, but grace will change you.

Grace comes from the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16). That is, grace is applied through prayer. God’s ability is enabled in you when you call out to Him in your weakness. Jesus, by the grace of God tasted death for every man. Where did He as the God-Man get the strength to bear our spiritual death? It was in the garden of Gethsemane while He prayed!

The Father has grace for your personal weaknesses today. He knows and understands you. Go today to the throne of grace, and receive His ability to do what you just can’t do yourself. His grace will change your weakness into strength!

A Big Family

As believers, we are members of a very large family. For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named (Ephesians 3:14-15).

According to the scriptures, what affects one member affects each other member. That there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually (1 Corinthians 12:25-27).

It was awesome to see the family of God here at Victory and from other churches reach out to Keith and Milly and minister strength to them on Tuesday. God has called us to support one another, care for one another, and to pray for one another.

Let me remind us all again that any action, attitude, thought, or deed that in any way harms or denigrates the character of another believer has as its motivation the flesh, and perhaps the demons hordes of hell. Satan knows that unity breeds God’s power, and that disunity breeds weakness and spiritual inability.

The flesh perhaps aided by the enemy of our souls is behind all slander, backbiting, and gossip, and behind any attempt to undermine legitimate spiritual authority in the local church and in the body of Christ at large.

Refuse to allow the enemy to use your flesh, your mind, or your mouth as a tool to hinder the work of the Father and of Jesus through the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ. Be an agent of the Father’s love and blessing to those around you today.

God can use the care shown on Tuesday to the Bolicks as a catalyst to even greater power and unity in the family of God. Let’s allow it to happen! Let’s yield ourselves fully to the love that the Father has placed in our hearts by His Spirit.

Love Confronts

Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful (Proverbs 27:5-6).

Many people think that if you walk in love, you’re always full of joy and acceptance of everybody and everything around you. Well, those who walk in love are full of joy, but they don’t necessarily accept everything! Love does have a sweet side, but the agape love placed in a believer’s heart by the Holy Spirit also has a confrontational side to it!

Peter had just announced by Holy Spirit revelation that Jesus was the Son of God. And Jesus commended him for his honest confession. But just a moment later Jesus looked at Peter and said get behind Me Satan!

Jesus loved the crowds by preaching truth and healing the sick. But when approached by questioning Pharisees, He called them hypocrites and white washed tombs full of dead men’s bones. Talk about a rebuke!

When we walk in love and led by the Spirit, there will be times that He will direct us to lovingly confront a situation that is bringing or may eventually bring harm. Sometimes the most loving thing you can do is challenge the person whose actions and choices are hurting others. The alcoholic or drug addicted husband and father who acts irresponsibly and harms the family in so many ways needs loving confrontation. The person sowing malicious remarks about others needs loving confrontation. The list is endless of life issues that need to be confronted rather than ignored.

One attribute of agape love found in 1 Corinthians 13:6 is that love does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in truth. One Bible expositor says about this verse that love happily stands on the side of truth. Love isn’t silent about unfair actions that hurt others.

Love is silent when persecuted personally. When someone’s actions are unkind and selfish, a loving person will take no account of the evil done to them, and will pay no attention to a suffered wrong (Amplified – 1 Corinthians 13:5).

The difference is when others are hurt by a person’s irresponsible or selfish behavior, love will confront. He who rebukes a man will find more favor afterward than he who flatters with the tongue (Proverbs 28:23).

This doesn’t mean that we assume a Gestapo personality. We certainly don’t need to take over the Holy Spirit’s job of dealing with us when we get off track! But there is a place for loving confrontation. Don’t run from this. When nudged by the Spirit of God, pray and obey in the tough situations that need to be dealt with. The outcome may save a person from ruin.

Prayer Results

In yesterday’s blog, I discussed three principles to be used in praying for the unsaved. Today, I want to share from my own life an example of the effectiveness of praying this way.

While I was attending Bible School, I worked as night manager overseeing the crew that restocked a grocery store for the next day’s business. I began to pray for one of my workers. He would come to work under the influence of drugs and I knew his life would deteriorate if he didn’t change. I begin to pray for the Lord to draw him to Himself, and for a strong desire for spiritual things to come upon him. I prayed that he would think about his need for Jesus and for change in his life while he was reading the paper in the morning; when he woke up during his sleep during the day, and that he would have a desire for God and would feel out of place while he was in the bars that he frequented. I also commanded Satan to stop blinding his mind to the truth of God’s Word.

As the weeks went by he began to ask me about the Bible school I attended and began to pepper me with all sorts of questions about the Bible and my relationship with Jesus. I related to him how Jesus set me free from drug use and filled my life with indescribable peace. I continued to pray for spiritual desire to rise in him, and for the Father to use me and others as laborers in his life.

One day, in the back room of the store right in front of the cardboard bailing machine, I led this young man to Jesus. The next week I brought him to church with me and he was filled with the Holy Spirit. He’s been with Jesus ever since that day back in 1980, and presently attends my former church there in Tulsa.

After this young man was saved, he told me something that got my attention and showed me the awesome power of prayer. He told me that before he was saved, he began to feel dissatisfied with his life. He said he would leave work after talking to me and would think about his need for Jesus while he read the newspaper in the morning. He told me that he would wake up from sleep during the day (we worked nights) and would think about his need for Jesus. Things I would tell him about the Bible and Jesus would filter through his mind regularly.

He also told me that while he was in the bars drinking, he began to feel out of place and felt as though he should leave. These thoughts throughout the day and during his visits to the bars happened week after week. And what he said coincided exactly with how I prayed!

The Lord has used this episode in September of 1980 to stir prayer passion in me year after year. Prayer for the unsaved is very effective if you’ll be specific and not quit! I encourage you to begin to pray regularly for your unsaved friends and family members. Use these three principles of John 6:44 – asking the Father to place a yearning for Him in the person and to draw them to Himself; of 2 Corinthians 4:4 – commanding Satan to stop blinding the person’s mind from the truth of the Word; and of Matthew 9:37-38 – asking the Lord to send laborers across the path of the unsaved person every day. Watch as the Lord works miracles in the lives of those around you as they come to Christ through your prayers!

How to Pray for Unbelievers

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

It’s the will of God that every person be born again. Sometimes I hear people pray, Lord save so and so. The truth is that the person they are praying for is already potentially saved. Jesus has gone to the cross and been raised from the dead. He is now seated at God’s right hand as their representative. So from heaven’s viewpoint, all has been accomplished to secure salvation for every human being.

Now it’s up to each individual to personally repent of sin, open their will to God, and confess Jesus Christ as their Savior from their personal sin. Instead of praying the generic prayer Lord save so and so, here’s a more specific and results producing way to pray. There are three specific areas to cover.

First, ask the Lord to draw the person to Himself, creating within them a desire for Him. This is based on John 6:44 where Jesus said that no man can come to Him unless the Father Himself draws Him. Any desire we have for God comes from God. This is the grace that precedes our salvation. The human heart is wicked and depraved and only the Holy Spirit can produce within us a desire for God.
Secondly, command Satan to remove the blinders from their minds. 2 Corinthians 4:4 reveals that the god of this world blinds the minds of unbelievers. That is, he clouds their thinking and keeps them from seeing their true spiritual condition. The gospel is hidden from their understanding. According to this verse, we have the authority to tell Satan to remove the blinders. Then the person will be open to see their need, and to understand the gospel when they hear it.

Lastly, ask the Lord for laborers to cross the person’s path every day. In Matthew 9:37-38, Jesus tells us to pray that the Father, the Lord of the harvest, would send laborers into the harvest field. Laborers can come from a variety of sources. Laborers can be bumper stickers, billboards, license plates, periodicals in a waiting room, radio broadcasts, TV programs, overheard conversations, or people who walk in wisdom that share the gospel with them personally.

Pray these three things every day for the person you want to see born again. Ask the Lord to create a desire in them for Himself, drawing them away from the influence of sin in the world. Command Satan to remove the blinders from their minds, and then remind him every day that his power over this person is broken. And then ask the Father every day to send gospel laborers across their path.

Conviction produces friction within! Don’t be surprised if the person becomes unsettled and irritable. That may appear for a while to get worse! Don’t stop praying. It a telltale sign that the Lord of the harvest is at work!

Replace Worry with Prayer

Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully (1 Peter 5:6-7).

Worry is always based on fear. Worry solves no problems. Worry is a waste of time! Someone has said worry is always based on a lie; deal with the lie and the fear will die. And of course the acronym for FEAR is False Evidence Appearing Real. Satan is the master of counterfeit.

Worry is a sin! It’s the sin of unbelief. When we worry, we choose to believe the voice of circumstance over the voice of the Word. My worry breaks the Fathers heart. He told us not to worry about the things of life. He said that if He takes care of birds and flowers, which have a short life span, He will most certainly take care of us. Fear not little flock, for it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32).

The solution to the problem you face is already available. My former pastor Bob Yandian would say, If Jesus is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, then the answer to your problem existed before the problem ever came into being!

Here’s how I deal with worry. Years ago, the Father gave me Philippians 4:6, J.B. Phillips translation, as the answer to my worry. Don’t worry over anything whatever. Tell God every detail of your need in sincere and thankful prayer.

Instead of worrying, I am to tell the Father the exact details of what bothers me, the good, the bad, the ugly, etc. Tell it all. I really pour out my heart.

But, I don’t stop there! Pouring out my heart is only half of the process. Then, I pray the prayer of faith. The prayer of faith is the key to overcoming worry! I tell http://www2.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhim exactly what I want him to do, and I ask him to do it based on His Word.

With the prayer of faith, I believe I receive the answer the moment I pray. Then I must speak and act like I believe I receive the answer to my prayer, even if the problem seems to get worse! Faith takes the place of what I don’t have until it manifests! If I’m walking by faith, then I have the title deed so to speak that guarantees that the answer is mine. And it’s only a matter of time before is shows up. The only thing between me and the answer is TIME! So I praise and thank the Father during that time until the manifestation come.

This works every time, and covers every problem. Worry evaporates when the prayer of faith is prayed! Don’t worry! Pray the prayer of faith over everything in your life!

Timely Help in Crisis

(For those that are not aware: Spencer Bolick, the 18 year old son of Keith and Milly Bolick, died tragically on Thursday afternoon.)

From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings. For You, O God, have heard my vows; You have given me the heritage of those who fear Your name (Psalm 61:2-5).

God gave me this yesterday as I was speaking with Milly about the death of her son Spencer. Life in a fallen world brings challenges, hurt, and pain. Others don’t always make the choices we want for them, and their choices sometimes bring them and us great hurt and pain.

The Father understands our humanness. Jesus faced every challenge we face and overcame it. He understands what we need when life circumstances turn sour. He can minister grace, which is His ability to help us to do what we can’t do ourselves. He can also minister to us His peace; which is calm right in the middle of a huge storm. He is the eye in the middle of the storm where all is quiet and fears and disappointments are eased.

By His Spirit, the Father can breathe into us courage and faith. He can let us know that we have a ready helper to aid us in our toughest days. Jesus Christ is a friend, a helper, a confidant, a consoler, a healer, and a peace giver. He heals broken hearts; he steadies vacillating emotions, and infuses us with wisdom and strength right when we need it. He calms our disturbed minds. He wraps us by faith in His arms of love.

Draw from Him today. Tell Him your thoughts and concerns. He’s not angry when you vent your hurt, anger or your misunderstandings. Jesus still has a human body, and empathizes with us in our earth walk. If you’ll listen, He will answer your questions, calm your heart, and ease your mind and emotions. He’s waiting right now to speak with you. Grab His Word for a few minutes and ask Him to speak to you. He will give you just what you need.

But He said to me, My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me! So for the sake of Christ, I am well pleased and take pleasure in infirmities, insults, hardships, persecutions, perplexities and distresses; for when I am weak [in human strength], then am I [truly] strong (able, powerful in divine strength) (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 - Amplified).

The Word is the Voice of God to You

I ministered last night on the importance of spending time daily with the Father in the Word. As E.W. Kenyon so clearly states, Our attitude towards the word determines the place t hat God holds in our daily life.

Time spent in the Word is time spent with your Father. The Word is the voice of the Father to you. Jesus tells us that we can't get by on mere physical food alone. We need a daily supply of spiritual food from the Word to keep us going spiritually.

Paul tells us that though our bodies are getting older, our spirits are renewed daily and thus we can live with great strength and vigor(2 Corinthians 4:16). Notice his admonishment to leaders in Ephesus: So now brethren, I commend you to God and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

A.B. Simpson states All physical strength is spiritual in cause. What we are on the outside manifests first of all on the inside. Proverbs 4:23 tells us to vigilantly keep our hearts because the motivation for all we do starts on the inside.

According to Jesus,God's Word is Spirit and life. It rejuvenates us and sets our life course for each day. Neglecting the Word is neglecting the Father's voice and leads to spiritual coldness, harness of heard, and spiritual laziness. Neglecting the Word opens the door for Satan to steal, kill, and destroy.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth! He knows God's specific will for each day, but can only speak to us as we tune into the Word each day. He will not speak specifics to us about our life stuff each day unless we are already paying attention to what the Father has already spoken to us through His written Word!

Don't allow the busy today to crowd out your time in the Word. The Father has spoken to you in the written Word. Take time to hear what He's saying!

Watch your Mouth!

Who may dwell in Your holy hill? He who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart; He who does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his friend (Psalm 15:1-3).

These six things the LORD hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him…one who sows discord among brethren (Proverbs 6:16,19).

Gossip is to be avoided by those who want the fresh presence of God in their life. It’s one of those lists of things He calls an abomination.

Gossip not only hurts others, it also breaks our fellowship with God. Gossip is when we say things about others when they’re not present that we wouldn’t say if they were. It’s a noxious weed that needs to be pulled from our spiritual garden.

Over 30 years ago I was challenged by a friend when I first began my life with God. I was in a circle of people talking, and I mentioned something derogatory about a person not present. My friend tapped me on the shoulder and motioned for me to come aside with him. He told me quite sternly that I should never speak that way again as a believer. He told me that we displease the Lord and hurt others when we gossip.

Initially I was taken back by his rebuke. I wanted to be angry and defensive, but deep down I knew he was right. That incident abruptly changed me and later I saw how much my friend cared for me by calling me on the carpet about my habit of gossiping.

Our words should bless and inspire, they should build up and comfort. The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary (Isaiah 50:4).

If you’ve acquired the habit of gossip, break it today! Go over these scriptures and meditate on them. The word has the power to change you! When you talk, do not say harmful things, but say what people need — words that will help others become stronger. Then what you say will do good to those who listen to you (Ephesians 4:29 New Century Version).

Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Use your tongue today as an instrument of life!

God's Promised Care

While I was praying this morning during our early morning prayer meeting, this scripture kept rising up inside of me. For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; for I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed. But my kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has mercy on you (Isaiah 54:9-10).

As we approach the time of the tribulation, and as world conditions deteriorate, we have the promise of God that He will help us, have mercy on us, and deliver us! We have the assurance that, regardless of what each day brings, we can walk in God’s provision of peace and help.

If you look at Isaiah 54, God is promising that He will restore the wayward person, and that He would cause the person that has not received to receive. He tells us in verse 2, enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. Let’s expect many to come to the Lord as a result of the hardship they see all around them. When the night is darkest, the light shines the brightest! Those who don’t know the Lord and are looking for help will be drawn to the light in us!

In this chapter the Lord has promised that we would be established in His righteousness, and that fear on oppression would not rule us! He has promised that terror will not overtake us as His people! Those who rise up against us will be dealt with because of the covenant we have with Him! In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you. Indeed they shall surely assemble, but not because of Me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall for your sake (Isaiah 54: 14-15).

This chapter ends with a promise of protection and provision that we should take with us today: No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me, says the Lord! (Isaiah 54:17).

Unity

As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" Then the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting (Acts 9:3-5).

The way we treat other members of the body of Christ is the way we treat Jesus Himself. This is quite a statement. If I’m angry and resentful towards a fellow believer, I’m that way towards Jesus! The way I treat my wife Susan is the way I’m treating Jesus!


If we want the Holy Spirit to work in our lives, we must treat other members of the body of Christ with the same respect we would give to Jesus Himself.

According to Jesus, when we see the stranger and give him shelter, when we go minister to the sick person, or the person in prison, we are ministering to Jesus Himself!

We create an environment that either attracts or detracts from the presence of God by what we do with our attitudes, words, and actions towards fellow believers.

Be careful today with how you treat others. It will directly affect your relationship with the Lord! If we say we love Jesus, and pay no attention to others needs, how can we really say we love Him?

Our age is quickly becoming numb and loveless. This is our time to shine! Treat others the way you want to be treated. Pray for those you come in contact with daily. Ask the Lord to make you a blessing to them. Ask Him what you can do to show care and compassion to them.

If I don’t care for the person I can see, there’s no way I can really love the God I can’t see.

Let’s be sensitive to others today; what we do to them, what attitudes we portray, and what we say to them or about them to others.

My Father

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. May my meditation be sweet to Him; I will be glad in the Lord (Psalm 104:33-34)

My Father reigns supreme over all. When I’m lonely or confused I go to Him and pour my heart out. He knows exactly how I feel and infuses me with courage and strength.

When unrelenting fear comes, I go to Him and He brushes the fear away and points me to my faith in Him. He replaces the fear with a knowing that things will work out well for me. He always causes me to triumph in Christ.

When I’m faced with financial loss or lack, I go to Him and He provides wisdom for the next step. He assures me that He is my supply, and urges me to look away from the foreboding circumstance and keep my focus on Him.

When the enemy attacks with sickness, my Father urges me to stand my ground on His word and never cower or back down. He and His Word are one. He sent His Word and it heals me, and delivers me from my destructions.

When a friend turns his back on me and forsakes the relationship we’ve had, My Father takes me in His arms and comforts me. He shows me that though others may fail me and bring disappointment, He is a safe place for my emotions and my thoughts.

My Father has proved His love for me over and over again. When I get involved with something that would eventually bring me pain, harm, or hurt, He pulls me aside and talks to me about it. And then He shows me the proper way to deal with the issue.

He shows me when my motives are wrong, and allows me to pour my heart out to Him about it. He never threatens or loses patience with me. He calmly listens, then I can hear His soft voice beckon me to obedience.

He always leads me towards peace. He is the tenderest person I have ever met. I feel safer with Him than with any person I have ever known. I often wonder what it will be like to actually meet Him for the first time face to face. In my mind, I see myself just melting to the ground in awe of Him. Then I see Him pick me up and hold me to Himself as He brushes away insecurity and self-consciousness. I see Him infusing me with His own nature through and through, finally releasing my soul from every trace of debris from my past. Then I see Him look away and point into the future. There I see the ages to come, where in eternity I experience what it means for mortality to be swallowed up by life.

So that for all future time he could show the very great riches of his grace by being kind to us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:7 – NCV).

But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed (1 Corinthians 2:9 – Amplified).

Rest and Refreshing

Praying in the spirit or in other tongues is a gift that accompanies the baptism with the Holy Spirit. It is the will of God that every believer has the ability to pray in the spirit.

With the Holy Spirit baptism comes a greater degree of the presence of God in your life. And by praying in the spirit, there comes a deeper intimacy with Him.

Isaiah 28:11-12 reads: For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, To whom He said, "This is the rest with which You may cause the weary to rest," and, This is the refreshing...Talking to the Father from your human spirit brings rest and refreshing! It’s a wonderful thing to be able to sit quietly in His presence and pray from your spirit. In this way intimacy with the Father is available to you twenty four hours a day anywhere in the world! During times of difficulty and emotional and mental turmoil, you can turn to your Father and pour your heart out to Him in words that He alone understands.

There’s just something about being totally real with someone that releases stress from your life. When you’re involved in challenges all around, praying in the spirit can take you to that place of solace where the Father can minister His rest and peace to your spirit!

As you work today you can quietly pray in the spirit and commune with the Father under your breath. As you shop, or as you mow the lawn, you can enjoyed uninterrupted communion with the Father of spirits . Take advantage of this “closet experience” throughout the day and you’ll find renewed strength for the task at hand.

He gives power to the tired and worn out, and strength to the weak (Isaiah 40:29). Praying in the spirit will enable you to wait on the Lord through your busy day today. Take advantage of it!

Spiritual Sensitivity

The Baptism with the Holy Spirit and the ability to pray in tongues enhances your ability to connect spiritually with the Lord. Let me go into more detail on what I mean.

When I pray in the spirit, my human spirit is talking to the Lord without the involvement of my mind. This direct spiritual connection to the Lord is so vital to effective prayer, for it enables you to pray the perfect will of God over a person or situation. It’s make prayer limitless!

But another part of this is that when I pray in the spirit, it helps me to tune into the voice of God in my human spirit. Notice again 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. You see, the Holy Spirit is in my spirit. That’s where He contacts me. His first contact with my human person is not with my mind, but with my spirit. And praying in tongues regularly helps me stay sensitive to my human spirit. And since the Holy Spirit is in my spirit, I become sensitive to Him too by praying in tongues.

Here another interesting tidbit about praying in tongues. It also helps me sort out the will of God in general for my life as well as the details of daily choices. 1 Corinthians 2: 9 (J.B. Phillips) reads: For who could really understand a man’s inmost thoughts except the spirit of man himself. How much less could anyone understand the thoughts of God except the very Spirit of God. God’s Word Translation of this verse reads: After all, who knows everything about a person except that person’s own spirit. My spirit intuitively knows things that my mind does not know, because the Holy Spirit is in my spirit. So praying in tongues helps me tap into the wisdom of God for life’s particulars.

1 Corinthians 14:13 tells us to ask for the interpretation of what we need to know when we pray in the spirit. Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. So I regularly remind the Lord that I want to know what I’m praying about when I’m praying in tongues when He desires to tell me.

Back in November of 1993 I was praying in tongues one morning and thinking about what the Lord wanted me to do in my future. At the time I was pastoring a church for a pastor while he took a year away to start a church in another country. His time to come back to his church was approaching and I was wondering what the Lord had for me. After I finished praying in tongues for an hour, the words already existing church just seemed to float up to my mind from somewhere. I knew this came from my spirit and that the Lord was talking to me about my future after this pastor came back.

I kept this phrase already existing church in my heart for six months and it evolved into you will go to pastor an already existing church. And that already existing church is where I having been pastoring for the last almost 15 years! How did this come about? It happened because I took time to pray in the spirit and ask the Lord to bring to pass what He revealed to me while I prayed in tongues those months before.

Don’t underestimate the value of praying in tongues. Making it a daily practice will tune your spirit to hear the voice of God more clearly. And if you keep it up, then one day your future and God’s plan for your life will l blend into one!

Praying in Tongues

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit (Jude 20).

One of the great benefits of receiving the Baptism with the Holy Spirit is the ability to pray in tongues or pray in the Spirit that comes with it. Praying in tongues is God’s method of bypassing the human mind in prayer and allowing spirit to Spirit communion with God. Some people would lead you to think that there is little value in praying in tongues. But let me ask you a question; is there any value in talking to God? 1 Corinthians 14:2(Amplified) reveals: 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.

Praying in tongues provides a way for the believer to talk to the Father about things he would otherwise no nothing about.

I pray with my understanding every day throughout my day in English. But I also take time throughout the day to pray in tongues. When I exhaust my limited understand of how to pray for a person or situation I tell the Lord that I’m going to pray about that in tongues so that I cover anything that my didn’t know about the situation. Notice Romans 8:26-27: Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Praying in the Spirit or in tongues provides a way to pray the perfect prayer!

Praying in tongues will build you up or edify you spiritually. 1 Corinthian 14:4 reads:He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. The words to edify in the Greek means to build up. A car battery is built up by the alternator while the car engine is running so that it has energy for the next time you need to start your car! Praying in tongues provides similar spiritual edification or building up. I pray in tongues for a couple of hours before I minister the word because it produces the necessary spiritual building up I need before I preach. I get up every morning and pray in the spirit to build myself up spiritually for the day.

Some people question the validity of praying in tongues, saying that it is an emotional experience that produces no fruit. I say that a person with an experience is never at the mercy of a person with an argument! I’ve benefitted so much over the years that it’s a mute point to discuss with those who don’t or won’t believe in this experience. My life has been dramatically altered for the better as a result of praying in tongues every day!

I’ll talk about this awesome experience more tomorrow! Take time today to pray in the spirit!

Why Hell?

Many people simply can’t correlate the scriptural teaching of hell with a loving God. How can God allow people to suffer such a horrible fate if He really loves them?

Many people surmise their own idea of who God the Father is and what He is like from their own thinking and from their own experiences. But we must go to Word to understand God. It may take our finite minds eternity to explore all of His ways and understand the infinite God completely!

Notice Psalm 50:16-21: But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to declare My statutes, Or take My covenant in your mouth, Seeing you hate instruction and cast My words behind you? When you saw a thief, you consented with him, And have been a partaker with adulterers. You give your mouth to evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother's son. These things you have done, and I kept silent; you thought that I was altogether like you; but I will rebuke you, and set them in order before your eyes.

One part of God’s character is justice. Psalm 89:14 reveals: Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; mercy and truth go before Your face. His love for us is based on justice. God cannot forgive sin just because He loves us. If that were so, then why did Jesus go to the cross? Why did Jesus have to come as the incarnate Son of God if God could simply forgive the sin of mankind? God’s forgiveness of our sin must be just and fair. He can’t break the rules He set up to govern the universe. That would disqualify Him from being God.

God must be just to His own moral law; He must be just to His enemy Satan; and He must be just to man. Our redemption is amazing. Satan never thought that God would go to such an extreme to redeem us from hell. When Satan succeeded in his scheme to cause man to sin, he thought that we would end up with his own judgment, hell, and that there was no way God could justly set us free from this penalty. But Satan miscalculated the love of God for us!

In redeeming us, God assumed the liability for our wrongdoing, and chose to pay the just penalty for us sin for us! The penalty for eternal spirit rebels is incarceration in hell and then the final judgment of the lake of fire! When Jesus went to hell for us and legally paid our sin debt, the indictment for sin was removed from us, and the trial date cancelled!

Now, every person who accepts Jesus Christ’s legal payment for their sin by bowing their knee to Him can be set free from sin and it’s eternal penalty! Now that is amazing love!

The sad part is that those who refuse Jesus’ just and legal payment for their sin must endure the sentencing at the great white throne judgment and eventually be placed in the lake of fire. Those who seek their own way in life without bowing their knee to the Son of God in obedience and faith in Him must bear their own sin and its penalty. We have an obligation to tell the sinner that God has cancelled their sin debt in Christ and that they do not have to go to hell!

If a person chooses to refuse Jesus’ eternal sacrifice, then God has an obligation to His own just to allow them to go to hell even though He loves them so. Let’s wake up to our responsibilities today to share this good news with those we come in contact with. Ask the Father to open up conversations with the people you associate with today. Their eternal well being is at stake!

Hell and the Lake of Fire

A truth that is rarely mentioned is the doctrine of eternal retribution. This is the belief found in scripture that there is a place called hell and the lake of fire for those who leave this life without embracing the forgiveness for sin offered them by God through Jesus Christ.

Every human faces judgment after death. Hebrews 9:27 reveals: And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment. Those who die without being born again will face the Great White Throne judgment. This is only for unbelievers, no believers are found here. At another time and place, believers will stand before Jesus at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

Let me give you the why and how of what happens to unbelievers at death. To understand hell, you must understand the purity and holiness of God. God cannot come near impurity or sin. His very presence would annihilate it! Old Testament saints had no access to the presence of God in the Holy of Holies because they were still sinners. Only the high priest could go into the presence of God and then under great precaution lest he be struck dead by the holiness of God’s presence. Uzza died when he touched the Ark of the Covenant. He was a sinner touching God’s purity.

There has to be a place of confinement for eternal spirit rebels. Those who leave this life without being born again are impure because of sin and cannot enter heaven. If God allowed them to wander around the universe unrestrained, they would demoralize the universe it!

Hell was created as a place of eternal confinement for Satan and fallen angels after they sinned and rebelled against God. The Lake of Fire is the final resting place for Satan! Since humanity yielded to sin, humanity faces the same fate as Satan since humans too are eternal spirit rebels that never cease to exist after death.

At death the unsaved go immediately to the eternal county jail called hell to await the trial called for their sin called the Great White Throne Judgment I mentioned earlier. Once judged for their rejection of Jesus, they are cast into the federal penitentiary of eternity called the Lake of Fire. There the unsaved will suffer the agonies of the being burned by fire for eternity. Once there, no one ever gets out! It’s eternal. Spirit beings don’t burn up, they just keep existing! This is a terrible end for any living thing.

I’ll share more on this tomorrow. I’ll leave you with the passage from Revelation 20 which clearly shows the trial and sentencing for eternal spirit rebels. Every person you meet today will either spend eternity with God in heaven and then later in the new heavens and new earth if they have been born again, or they will spend eternity hell and then the lake of fire if they die without Jesus. We have the responsibility today to share the good news with them! No person has to go to hell unless they choose to reject Jesus’ payment for their sins. You have the responsibility today to share the gospel –the good news- with every person you meet!

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15).

Resurrection Morning!

John 20 - NLT
Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, "They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have put him!" Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn't go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus' head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed— for until then they still hadn't understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. Then they went home. Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. "Dear woman, why are you crying?" the angels asked her. "Because they have taken away my Lord," she replied, "and I don't know where they have put him." She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn't recognize Him."Dear woman, why are you crying?" Jesus asked her. "Who are you looking for?" She thought He was the gardener. "Sir," she said, "if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him." "Mary!" Jesus said. She turned to Him and cried out, "Rabboni!" (which is Hebrew for "Teacher")."Don't cling to Me," Jesus said, "for I haven't yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, "I have seen the Lord!" Then she gave them his message. That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! "Peace be with you," he said. As He spoke, He showed them the wounds in His hands and His side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again He said, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so I am sending you." Then He breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." One of the disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he replied, "I won't believe it unless I see the nail wounds in His hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in His side."Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. "Peace be with you," He said. Then He said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and look at My hands. Put your hand into the wound in My side. Don't be faithless any longer. Believe!" "My Lord and my God!" Thomas exclaimed. Then Jesus told him, "You believe because you have seen Me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing Me." The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in Him you will have life by the power of His name.

What Justice Demanded

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:1-2).

Here’s what the judicial side of our redemption demanded. A man got us into sin, and a man must legally pay our sin penalty. But not just any man. For a man to qualify to pay our sin penalty, he must first meet certain criteria. He must be in fellowship with God, and be guilty of no sin of His own. He must not be subject to Satan’s control and He must have a body that is not subject to physical death. No human born of two human parents is capable of legally paying for the sins of mankind, for he is sinful himself, is under Satan’s control, and is already subject to death.

When Jesus hung on the cross, He cried out as God literally turned His back on Him and made Him to become our sin. Our sin is a spiritual thing. Though Jesus suffered untold agony when He hung on the cross, His physical sufferings did not begin to touch our sin problem.

Jesus literally bore our spiritual death. He really died twice on the cross. He died spiritually when He cried out as God forsook Him. He became our spiritual death. Later, He died physically, but only after He died spiritually by becoming our spiritual death.

When Jesus died, He went to hell to pay our sin penalty. The penalty for sin is spiritual and physical death, and incarceration in hell. Jesus bore our sin penalty, and went to hell for us the moment He died. In this way, He legally dealt with our sin problem, and made a complete redemption available for us!

Hell was divided into two compartments before Jesus died and rose from the dead. According to Jesus there was the righteous side of hell called Paradise (he mentioned this to the thief hanging beside him on the cross), It's also called Abraham’s bosom. There was also the unrighteous side of hell where all unbelievers of all ages go at death.

When Jesus died, He went to the unrighteous side of hell and stayed there until God was satisfied that our sin debt was completed paid in full. When God’s justice toward our sin was satisfied, the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus in hell, and He was Born Again, that is, He came back alive unto God and His fellowship with the Father was restored!

He then went to Paradise, the righteous side of hell, and led the Old Testament believers in a triumphant procession out of the righteous side of hell. On the way to heaven they appeared to the saints in Jerusalem.

Jesus then conquered death by being resurrected from the dead in a new flesh and bone body. His resurrection took the sting out of death for us, and guarantees us a physical resurrection when Jesus comes for us in the rapture of the church.

Jesus defeated death, hell, Satan, and the grave for us when He was raised from the dead. His resurrection makes available to us the New Birth; access into the presence of God anytime day or night; victory over Satan and all His forces; healing for our bodies from sickness and disease; the promise of all our needs being met in this life; and the promise that one day we’ll have a brand new immortal body just like the one He received at His resurrection.

Jesus is now seated at the right hand of the Father, where He ever lives to make intercession for us. He is our heavenly defense attorney, and He’s never lost a case! We are seated with Him far above the power of Satan and his emissaries.

Take your place seated in heavenly places with Jesus Christ, and rule and reign in your life through the victory gained By Christ Jesus for you!

The Wisdom of God

Yet when we are among the full-grown (spiritually mature Christians who are ripe in understanding), we do impart a [higher] wisdom (the knowledge of the divine plan previously hidden); but it is indeed not a wisdom of this present age or of this world nor of the leaders and rulers of this age, who are being brought to nothing and are doomed to pass away. But rather what we are setting forth is a wisdom of God once hidden [from the human understanding] and now revealed to us by God — [that wisdom] which God devised and decreed before the ages for our glorification [to lift us into the glory of His presence]. None of the rulers of this age or world perceived and recognized and understood this, for if they had, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:6-8- Amplified).

The wisdom of God sent Jesus to the cross. The whole reason that Jesus was incarnated was so that He could die for the sins of humanity. The Magi who offered Jesus the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh were prophetic in their deed (Matthew 2:11). The gold spoke of Jesus divinity, the frankincense of His anointing as Messiah, and the myrrh spoke of His death, since myrrh was used in preparing the dead for burial.

If we knew the day, time, and events surrounding our death, it would take a heavy psychological toll on us. A. B. Simpson says the veil that hides our future is woven by the hand of mercy. But this is not so with Jesus. He was born to be the lamb taken to the slaughterhouse. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).

But it was not just Jesus gruesome physical death that bore our sins. His sacrifice was much deeper than that. In the wisdom of God, the sinless Son of God became a man so that he as a sinless man could assume our sin debt and pay it for us! When Jesus cried out on the cross My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me, He fulfilled part of His purpose in coming to the earth in incarnate form. Isaiah reveals that the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all (Isaiah 53:6).

The Apostle Paul received the revelation from the Holy Spirit that Jesus was our sin substitute there on Calvary. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus actually bore our spiritual death on the cross. He became what we are, so the we could become what He is! He became our sin, our separation from God, so that we could become the righteousness of God in Him! That means that now we can stand before God as though we had never sinned!

When Jesus cried out My God, My God on the cross, He was hit with the sudden realization that God had turned His back on Him. The sweet fellowship He has with the Father from eternity past was suddenly gone. Gloom and darkness surrounded Him. The legions of hell in the spirit realm gaped upon Him. They gape at Me with their mouths, like a raging and roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; it has melted within Me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and My tongue clings to My jaws; You have brought Me to the dust of death. For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet (Psalm 22:13-16).

Yes, Jesus became our spiritual death on the cross. And He endured our sin penalty so that we could go free. Tomorrow we’ll look a bit deeper into Jesus death and what it did. Don’t take personal sin lightly in your life. Jesus endured hell so that you could be forgiven. He gave both His natural and spiritual life so that you could escape hell!

Faith

And He said to her, Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace (Luke 8:48).

Faith receives what grace provides. This lady had a physical problem for twelve years. Crowds were pressing on Jesus from every side, but her believing touch pulled the power of God from Him into her body and she was healed. In a crowd that size, there had to be so many that needed that same healing power. But only she had the touch of faith.

Smith Wigglesworth, the noted English evangelist, said that when you’re believing God, it seems as though He will pass over a million people just to get to you. Need doesn’t move the hand of God. But faith pulls on His awesome power. Faith is conduit that God’s power travels on into your life.

With God all things are possible. All things are possible to him who believes. Healing comes through faith. Not hoping that one day things will be better, but by believing that right now God has done and is doing what He promised.

Faith never looks to the future to receive what God has provided. Hope longs for the day of deliverance. Faith acts as though the work has already been done. It talks of the victory and gives thanks for the answer while symptoms rage.

Faith takes the place of what you are believing God for until it manifests. Faith is as happy and joyful before the results can be seen and felt as it is when the manifestation comes. It's almost anti-climactic. Faith is as sure of the results as it would be if they were already manifested.

Believing you receive is the key to results. Give yourself a faith check-up today. Are you believing and acting as though you had the healing right now. Or are you looking to some unknown date in the future for the manifestation. Faith sees it now. Hope looks in the distance. Faith is excited and joyful, full of praises now. Hope longs for the day of deliverance.

Add faith to your foundation of hope and you’ll be like the woman in the crowd. As you stand in faith, praising, thanking, speaking, and acting as though you had what you asked for, one day the Father will drop the manifestation on you. The Father is looking for your faith today.

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!

Grace is Enough

Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love (Galatians 5:1-6).

The believers in Galatia were encouraged by Paul to continue living in the grace of God and to not revert back to the keeping of the law to appease a guilty conscience. The Judaizers as we call them were demanding that these newly converted Jewish believers submit to circumcision and obedience to the law as well as to their faith in Jesus.

The purpose of the law was to reveal the weakness and inability of the flesh. The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The law could never save from sin. The law, with its demands for outward rigid performance, is impossible to keep without the indwelling of the Spirit.

Paul urges with great intensity and passion for those who are in Christ to remain free from the dictatorial demands of religion that places accomplishment of outward demands in the place of a living current relationship with the Father.

Here in Galatians, he contrasts the works of the flesh, or the works of the law with the fruit of faith, or the fruit of the spirit. One is cold and lifeless, while the other is alive and invigorating.

Life with Jesus frees us from the outward demands of the law because it creates a desire for closeness with the Father and a motivation to shun anything that would compromise that intimacy with the Most High. Walking in the grace of God creates a liberty that frees me to respond to the Father from within and literally cancels the yearning of the flesh!

When I think of work, I think of sweat, hard toil, tiredness, and labor. The Father has freed me from a works consciousness that does to please. Now I am what I am by the grace of God! The liberty of grace working in me produces fruit. When I think of fruit I think of refreshment, of a meadow full of trees bearing all sorts of delectable treats that awaken my being and bring delight! Fruit is easy. It comes natural. And the fruit of the spirit are borne from my personal intimacy with the Father.

When I was about a year old in the Lord, I decided that needed to fast a couple of days a week to discipline my flesh. A few weeks into this regimen, the Lord very abruptly told me to stop fasting. He told me that I was doing this as a form of works to be pleasing to Him. And He told me that it was producing spiritual pride in my life as I looked to see if others were as disciplined as I was. I stopped the regular fasting for a long time. I had to grow spiritually before I could fast with the right heart motive and not to gain favor with God.

The grace He has given us cost the Father so much that He is never pleased when we turn to the flesh and outward things to prove our rightness in His eyes. The grace provided by Jesus’ sacrifice more than enables you and me to stand in the presence of the Father fully pleasing to Him.

Stand fast in your liberty from religion today and your freedom from outward performance in order to please. His Grace is enough!

The Power of Words

He who guards his mouth preserves his life, But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction (Proverbs 13:3).

Our words rule us. From the cradle to the grave, our life is largely a product of our words. Words set the boundaries, the landmarks in our lives. Words literally have the power of live and death.

When going through a tough place in life, words will make you or break you. The old adage sticks and stones may brake my bones, but words will never hurt me is a lie. Words can destroy you. When you speak of you failure, your weakness, your inability, those words set a dynamic in place. You can almost feel the energy drain from you when you speak those negative assertions.

On the other hand, when you verbalize your faith when you’re in a tough place, you can feel the strength of God rise up within you. Talk about the Father’s love, the Father’s care, the Father’s provision, the Father’s comfort, the Father’s strength, and you’ll find a new confidence buoy up within.

Jesus said that we’d give account for even the smallest words we speak. He understood the power of words. He calmed a raging storm with three words; Peace Be Still! He raised a man from death with three words; Lazarus, Come Forth! All things are now held together by the power of His Words.

Learn to use words to your advantage. Speak words that will motivate, inspire and challenge you. Let your words today be instruments of life, healing, blessing, grace, favor, strength, and inspiration to others. The most powerful force in your life today is your words.

Don’t let your lips be used to carry gossip and negative things. Let your words be a cut above. Regardless of where your life is right now, you can rise above it. Lack, weakness, and inability will flee if you release the Father’s blessing into your life with right words, positive assertions that come from your heart.

I should not have been successful in my life endeavors. I was raised in the wrong atmosphere, one of hesitation and doubt. But I learned a valuable life lesson at age eighteen: Words will take me where the Father wants my life to go.

I started my new life with a new mouth. I overcame insurmountable odds. The Father’s will overcame my human tendencies of self-doubt. My words, agreeing with God’s Word, produced in me the ability to do what the Father wanted for me.

Start where you are today. Never mind the past. Don’t relive it. Give voice to the Father’s will for your life by saying what He says about you. Let the weak say, I am strong. At first, it feels awkward to change your course in mid-stream, from negative to positive. Be keep at it. Confidently affirm God’s Word verbally every day, and one day you’ll wake up, and you’ll be surrounded with the product of your words. Death and life are produced by your words. Guard you mouth closely today.

My Father

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. May my meditation be sweet to Him; I will be glad in the Lord (Psalm 104:33-34)

My Father reigns supreme over all. When I’m lonely or confused I go to Him and pour my heart out. He knows exactly how I feel and infuses me with courage and strength.

When unrelenting fear comes, I go to Him and He brushes the fear away and points me to my faith in Him. He replaces the fear with a knowing that things will work out well for me. He always causes me to triumph in Christ.

When I’m faced with financial loss or lack, I go to Him and He provides wisdom for the next step. He assures me that He is my supply, and urges me to look away from the foreboding circumstance and keep my focus on Him.

When the enemy attacks with sickness, my Father urges me to stand my ground on His word and never cower or back down. He and His Word are one. He sent His Word and it heals me, and delivers me from my destructions.

When a friend turns his back on me and forsakes the relationship we’ve had, My Father takes me in His arms and comforts me. He shows me that though others may fail me and bring disappointment, He is a safe place for my emotions and my thoughts.

My Father has proved His love for me over and over again. When I get involved with something that would eventually bring me pain, harm, or hurt, He pulls me aside and talks to me about it. And then He shows me the proper way to deal with the issue.

He shows me when my motives are wrong, and allows me to pour my heart out to Him about it. He never threatens or loses patience with me. He calmly listens, then I can He His soft voice beckon me to obedience.

He always leads me towards peace. He is the tenderest person I have ever met. I feel safer with Him than with any person I have ever known. I often wonder what it will be like to actually meet Him for the first time face to face. In my mind, I see myself just melting to the ground in awe of Him. Then I see Him pick me up and hold me to Himself as He brushes away insecurity and self-consciousness. I see Him infusing me with His own nature through and through, finally releasing my soul from every trace of debris from my past. Then I see Him look away and point into the future. There I see the ages to come, where in eternity I experience what it means for mortality to be swallowed up by life.

So that for all future time he could show the very great riches of his grace by being kind to us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:7 – NCV). But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed (1 Corinthians 2:9 – Amplified).

Declaring the End from the Beginning

Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, 'My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure, (Isaiah 46:9-10).

Faith is the eternal principle of receiving from God. All things are possible with God. All things are possible to him who believes. And the foundation of real Bible faith is to act as though you already have what you have asked from the Lord.

God declares the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done. He called Abraham the father of a multitude while he was childless. Jesus is called the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

To Joshua God said, I have given into your hands Jericho while the walls still stood. God called Gideon a mighty man of valor while he was still crouching in fear from the enemy! Before raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus looked up to His Father before His prayer was answered and said Father, I thank you that you have heard me. Jonah declared that He would enter God’s temple again while he was still in the belly of the whale (Jonah 2:4)!

God calls those things that are not seen as though they exist. And that’s what we must do to receive. Thank God for the healing while the pain rages in your body. Declare the financial need met while staring at great lack. Proclaim the problem solved, the mountain moved, the circumstance changed, the habit broken, the emotions calm, the wisdom granted, the prayer answered before you see the even the first manifestation. That’s faith.

Faith takes the place of what you don’t have until it shows up! In the face of grueling need, declare the end from the beginning. See yourself with it. Say what you believe you receive. Circumstances, sight, and feelings are not indicators of what God is doing. You can’t see with your ears, you can’t hear with your eyes, and you’re can’t detect faith and its results with feelings and circumstances!

Declare the end from the beginning today. God watches over His Word to perform it!

Idolatry

Little children, keep yourselves from idols (false gods) — [from anything and everything that would occupy the place in your heart due to God, from any sort of substitute for Him that would take first place in your life] (1 John 5:21 – Amplified).

In India idols dot the landscape. Everywhere you turn, someone has erected an idol of one the thousands of Hindu gods. And they are worshipped constantly. Fruit, flowers, and incense are used in sacrifice to appease the god and to bring a person protection from its wrath.

One of the Ten Commandments is you shall have no other gods before Me. We Christians find blatant, open idolatry repulsive. But sometimes we are guilty of idolatry ourselves.

An idol is not only an image like I’ve pictured from Hinduism, but an idol is also anything used by us to meet a need that only God can meet. John urged the church to flee from idolatry, not because they were outwardly worshipping idols, but because they were allowing other things to meet a need that only God can meet.

Someone has said that idolatry is meeting a legitimate need in an illegitimate way. We all need rest, emotional release, and comfort. During times of duress and challenge, our human nature longs for a respite from the pressure. The human mind looks for avenues of solace from weariness and mental and emotional pain.

Idols in our culture could be compulsive spending, gambling, overeating, religious hyper-activity (using ministry as an emotional escape), fornication, adultery, pornography, work, or just busyness so that we’re rarely alone with our own thoughts. This list is endless.

Jesus wants to meet every need in our lives, and wants to be the one we turn to during times of difficulty, tiredness, or challenge. He has promised that we can experience times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord! In the Father’s presence is fullness of joy, pleasures forevermore. The promise but my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus covers more than just our finances. It applies to every area of life. Expose your every need to His supply today. And keeps yourself from idols!

A Time of Waiting on the Lord

The Holy Spirit manifested Himself during our worship time last night in our Wednesday service and brought His refreshing upon us. Instead of preaching, we lingered for the remainder of the service in His presence.

The Lord emphasized to us the need to wait quietly upon Him and in that quietness listen for His voice. He reminded us that though the days ahead may be filled with difficulty, we need not fear. He is always with us the guide, direct, and strengthen.

He also emphasized the importance of taking time to pour our hearts out to Him in prayer and expect Him to minister to us. He wants us to live out of REST, not out of busy striving.

Let's make sure that we make time for the Lord each day. I normally get up early so that I can wait on the Lord in quietness and without distraction. This has served me well over the years. If we don't take time to wait in quietness, we may not hear what He wants to say to us about our day or the direction we're taking. Our provision may be directly linked to our hearing, so it's all the more important to take the time to hear what He wants to say!

The Lord quickened Psalm 62 to my heart last night. He is the portion that I read in the New Living Translation:


I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken. So many enemies against one man— all of them trying to kill me. To them I'm just a broken-down wall or a tottering fence. They plan to topple me from my high position. They delight in telling lies about me. They praise me to my face but curse me in their hearts. Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge (Psalm 62:1-8).

God's Overwhelming Love

The LORD is gracious and compassionate; slow to anger and rich in love. The LORD is good to all; He has compassion on all he has made. The LORD upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food at the proper time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. The LORD is righteous in all His ways and loving toward all He has made. The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them. The LORD watches over all who love Him…( Psalm 145:8-9,14-20 NIV).

To think that God cares so much about me is still amazing. Bring raised in a denominational church, I saw God as rigid, demanding, critical, aloof, austere, judgmental, harsh, and angry. With the Flintstone’s club in hand, I thought that God was ready at any time to deal to me the fatal blow. After all, I deserved it.

And then I found out that He wasn’t mad at me because of my sin; that He had made full provision for my sins to be cleansed. All I needed to do was to bow my knee and give Jesus the strings of my heart.

Instead of tolerating me, He loved me. And not because He had to, but because He wanted to. And to top it off, He didn’t just love me, He really liked me!

My life began to open up when I found that the Father really, really cared for me. I found that I could tell Him everything about everything in me. He knew it already. He just wanted me to yield the control of my thoughts, desires, and inner drives to Him. He would care for me and help me. All I needed to do was to be transparent, yield, and believe that He was helping me.

The Father wants to be your close companion today. Yield control to Him. Father knows best, even when at the moment you don’t feel that He does. You past, your present, and your future as His great concern. Yield to Him your heart life today. He longs to care for you. He is so pleased when you walk by faith!