Kings and Priests

And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen (Revelation 1:5-6). But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).

We have two important positions as believers. We are kings! And we are priests! Being a king doesn’t mean that we whiz around with the pomp and circumstance of royalty having servants cater to every whim and fancy. A king rules his domain. We have the spiritual authority of a king! Historically, a king’s word was the bottom line in his kingdom. Where the word of a king is there is power (Ecclesiastes 8:4). We are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That means that He actually shares His authority with us. Demonic forces must bow when we exercise our authority.

A king reigns with words. The Father wants us to fill our words with His word. He watches over His word to make it good. He is the King of kings! When we speak as a king, our King’s power backs it up and brings it to pass. Jesus is Lord of lords. We are lord over our domain. And Jesus is Lord of us! We have spiritual authority in our homes and families. We have the legal right before God to command Satan to keep his hands off our lives. He must go with his sickness and disease, with his poverty and lack, with his strife and rebellion, with his depression and fear. We’re kings! Our words rule! The King of kings backs them up! Exercise your kingship.

We are also priests before God. A priest represents others before God. Jesus is our High Priest. He ever lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25). As priests, we are to go before the Father on behalf of those who don’t know their rights and privileges in Christ. We are to bear their burdens, and be the go-between for them before God. We represent the weak, the helpless, the fear-filled, the sick, the depressed, the poverty stricken before God in prayer. We ask on their behalf. Then, as the Father gives direction, we go minister to them. And His power becomes available to set them free.

Exercise your rights as a king and a priest today. The Father depends on you to help Him. We are laborers together with God!

An Example of Change By Meditating

The Word cancelled fear in my life! Due to circumstances when I was young I developed a fear of rejection. I developed a self-consciousness that feared people’s responses to my words and actions. I would walk into a room and immediately size up who was there and how people viewed me. My thinking had a default setting that assumed others did not like me and wanted nothing to do with me.

When I entered ministry as a young man, this rejection syndrome worsened. I would preach and then have a terrible next day while thinking of all the reasons no one received what I was saying. The focus was all on me and not on the blessing the Lord wanted me to be to others.

The Father began to show me the self-centered thinking that was producing these emotions and feeling of rejection. He gave me this scripture on day: 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 (! Corinthians 4:3 – J.B. Phillips).

I began to see that my thoughts and emotions were fear based instead of Word based. I had developed a habit of allowing my mind to set me up to be dominated by the fear of others rejecting me! This was a deep seated ingrained behavior in my life. I knew that there was no way that I could survive in ministry with this kind of thinking ruling me.

I cried out to the Father and He showed me this scripture in 1 Corinthians and then led me to 1 John 4:18 in the Amplified: There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and [so] he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love [is not yet grown into love's complete perfection].

I began to meditate daily on these two scriptures. I let them revolve over and over in my thought life. I said them slowly to myself. I spoke out loud when alone. I did this several times a day. This type of meditation dropped the Word down deep into my personal belief system, my underlying thought patterns, or as Ephesians 4:23 calls it, the spirit of my mind.

I also developed a siege mentality with respect to my wrong thinking and emotions. Your mind will try to convince you that what it is thinking and what your emotions are feeling is reality. And often they are not. So I deprived my mind and emotions of power over me by following the principle of a siege.

Enemy armies in Bible days would often siege a city in order to conquer it. Cities in that day had very high walls erected all the way around them to keep out predatory animals and enemy forces. Sentries were stationed on top of the walls providing a lookout for detecting the enemy. This made a city basically impenetrable.

An enemy army would simply surround the perimeter of the walled city far enough away as to be immune to arrows shot by the troops on the wall. And they simply cut the supply lines of food and goods to the city. It may take as much as two years for the city to run out of food and supplies, but eventually the enemy would defeat the city. The only factor was time and the siege.

Using this principle along with meditation on the Word cured me of this fear of rejection. My mind and emotions would tell me people did not like me, and I would simply call the person or see them personally and engage them in conversation. I was really conversing with them to see if my mind and emotion were telling me the truth, and I found that the majority of time they were not!

So the siege began! I refused to give in to my thoughts and feelings of rejection! Every day I would siege my thoughts and emotions, refusing to allow the thoughts to remain in my mind, and refusing to believe what my emotions told me. I meditated on the Word and then purposely called people just to talk to them to prove that my perceptions of rejection were wrong!

The siege worked. Now the Word has replaced the fear of others! Meditation on the Word along with actions that demonstrate belief in the Word will change your wrong belief system and produce a change in your behavior. The Word did it for me! And the Word will work for you too!

Meditation Changed Me!

Meditation in the Word will change you! There is simply no such thing as a believer who meditates in the Word not changing. Fifteen minutes a day in meditation with the Word of God will overcome years of wrong thinking and believing.

I mentioned yesterday, meditation takes the Word from your surface thought life down into the very recesses of what you think and believe! You meditate two ways: by speaking the word slowly out loud, and by cogitation it over and over mentally, thinking about every Word in a verse of scripture. This applies the Word in a practical way to your life and lifestyle!

When I first came back to the Lord and was filled with the Holy Spirit, I began the practice of taking a few minutes throughout my day for meditating. I meditated on being a new creature in Christ and what that means (2 Corinthians 5:17); on being the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21); on having no condemnation between me and the Lord; on being loved by the Father (John 16:27, John 17:23); on Jesus taking my sicknesses and diseases the same time He took my sins (Psalm 103:1-3; Isaiah 53: 3-5; Matthew 8:17, 1 Peter 2:24); on the Father providing for all my needs (Matthew 6:33; Phil. 4:19); on being free from fear (2 Timothy 1:7); on the value and power of my words (Matthew 12: 34-37; James 3: 1-6; on my authority in Christ over demonic forces (Colossians 2:15; Colossians 1:13; Ephesians 1: 17-2:6).

Boy did my life change! Over a period of time, fears that had ruled me life long began to fade away like a snowball in the sunshine! And in their place, faith rose in my heart!

Then God begin to show me a different level of knowing Him. I began to see character issue in a way I never had before. I begin to see how the fear of others had driven me into isolating myself from intimacy. From really letting others know what I’m like. I began to see how perfectionism, being an obsessive and compulsive person, had ruled me and my relationships with those close to me. I began to see how using accomplishment as a means of being pleased with myself and as a tool to get others to affirm me had ruled my life.

Meditation in the Word began to rip these false beliefs from the core of who I was. Confidence in being loved and fully accepted by the Father completed replaced the fear that dominated my relationships with God and others. Knowing that the Father cares and knowing that He rules me has set me free from the never having arrived attitude and feeling perfectionism brings. Knowing that as I act on His Word God honors His Word in my life and brings it to pass has liberated me from the obsessive compulsive desire to have everything just right. Now, I live as unto the Lord, seeking to simply to honor Him and His Word.

Life is rich, peaceful, and enriching when you have a values system that agrees with what the Father’s values.

Take time to meditate in the Word today. Find scriptures that deal with the problem areas of your life and begin to let them revolve on the inside of you. Give it some time. 21 to 28 days begins the formation of new habits. IF you’ll be honest with yourself, allowing the Lord to show you the areas that need changing, and then if you’ll meditate in the Word that addresses these areas, you’ll change. Start today!

Meditation in the Word

There is no real change in the life of the believer without meditation in the Word. Meditation means speaking the Word aloud slowly or revolving it around in the mind over and over again. The Word will not affect you until it gets from your head to your underlying thought patterns, the spirit of your mind (Ephesians 4:23).

Notice Psalm 1:1-3: Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper. Notice that meditation in the Word cause a person’s whole life to blossom like a well nourished tree on a river bank! That’s because meditation moves the Word from the conscious mind to the spirit of man, where these underlying thought patterns are closely aligned. Once the Word replaces these wrong underlying thought patterns, life changes!

Notice Joshua 1:8: This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. I want you to see here that meditation in the Word produces the ability to do according to all that is written therein!

Start in the New Testament with the scriptures that include the Words in Christ, In Him, or In Whom. You’ll find these in Kenneth Hagin’s mini book In Him. Start to speak them out loud, and cogitate them in your mind. Take ten or fifteen minutes a day to meditate on the word.

For me, once I did this, I then began to find scriptures that related to problem areas of my life. Scriptures that had to do with anger, unforgiveness, gossip, healing, answered prayer, etc. I would look them up, write them down, and take them to a quiet place and meditate on them. My life changed!

Meditate in your car, as you go to sleep at night, or take a break during the day. Go to a quiet place, close you eyes, and speak the scriptures to yourself. Make meditation a daily practice. The Word will begin to replace wrong thinking and believing. The wrong underlying thought patterns will be replaced with the truth of the Word. You behavior will slowly conform to your new belief system. And you’ll be a changed person! 21 to 28 days begins the formation of new habits. So give yourself a month or so, and you’ll begin to see changes in your outward conduct. The Word meditated upon and acted on brings tangible results! Tomorrow, I’ll give you some personal examples of what meditation in the Word has done to change me.

Changing Your Belief System

Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls (James 1:21).

The Word has the power to produce deep and lasting change in the believer. The implanted word saves the soul or renews the mind. When it comes to us changing, we will not change until our belief system changes. Let me explain.

We have basically two kinds of thought; conscious thoughts, and underlying thought patterns which some term your belief system or your core values. The Bible calls this your conscience. These core beliefs, or belief system, or underlying patterns of thought operate almost automatically. And they are at work just under the conscious level and they motivate us in all of our behaviors; our actions, words, responses, how we see the world, how we see ourselves, how we treat others, and how we relate to God.

These deep underlying thoughts are what control us. And there is no personal change of lasting value until these underlying patterns of thinking change. Notice 2 Corinthians 10:3-6: For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

The strongholds mentioned here are really fortresses of thought that are built up in these underlying thought patterns. The arguments mentioned are the patterns of thinking that precede behavior. These must be challenged and changed before we act differently.

The Word divides soul from spirit in us, and is able to analyze these underlying thoughts in a way no psychologist or psychotherapist ever could. For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart (Hebrews 4:12- Amplified).

Reading the Epistles in the New Testament will give you the will of God for the believer in most of the areas of life. If you’ll read them slowly and prayerfully, making a decision to line your lifestyle up with what you read, you will be challenged to change! Ask yourself while reading; is there an attitude or motive that I need to change; is there some sinful activity that I need to forsake; is there something that I’m not doing that I must begin to do; is there some promise here that I must embrace?

If you’ll do this, the power of the word of God will begin to change you. It will analyze your thoughts, your motives, your actions and reactions, your beliefs and all your conduct. It will detect wrong underlying patterns of thinking. The Word will convict you to change! The Holy Spirit will urge you and motivate you to challenge hurtful underlying patterns of thinking.

Tomorrow, I discuss the part that meditation in the Word plays in changing these underlying patterns of thinking. Meditation in the Word is the key to permanent life change!

Words Carry Faith

And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed and therefore I spoke," we also believe and therefore speak (2 Corinthians 4:13).

Our words carry our faith. Words are one of faith’s ways of expressing itself. Faith doesn’t just float up to the Lord from our hearts in silence. Our faith is carried to Him with Words.

From salvation throughout the rest of our lives, words carry out what we believe. That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Romans 10:9-10). Faith for salvation is carried to the Father with our words. And faith for everything else He provides for us in Christ is carried to Him in the same way, with words!

You may say, I don’t know where my faith is. But you can always locate where you are in faith about any matter in your life. Ask yourself, what am I saying about this particular situation? You see, what you say is your faith speaking!

That’s why it’s so important to say only what you believe! Say what the Word says even if you don’t seem to believe it at first. You may say it trembling with hesitation, but say it anyway! Voice with His stripes I am healed even while the pain is in your body. Say it in the face of the negative report from the doctor. In t he face of apparent lack say, my God is meeting all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. The Lord is my Shepherd, I do not want! Align your words with God’s Word and God’s power will begin to manifest to bring your Words to pass!

God created the worlds with words. To a large degree, you create your world with your words. What will you have in your tomorrows? What will your life be like in the future? To a large extent, your tomorrows will reveal what you’ve been speaking today!

If you’ve not been speaking what the Words says aloud about what you believe about your healing, your finances, your relationships, your past, your present, your future, your job, your marriage, your children, then start today! Break the chains of unbelief off your life by confessing what the Bible says about who you are in Christ OUT LOUD!

IF you do this, before long, things will begin to change. The Father watches for those who will have the guts to believe His Word in the face of the contradiction of negative circumstances. God’s Word voiced with your words has the power to change your life and circumstances. His Word will not fail you if you will only act on it and speak it in the face of adversity.

I’ll leave you with Jesus’ commentary on the issue of your words:

For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says (Mark 11:23).

Between the Promise and the Performance

Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him (Psalm 105:19).

The only thing standing between you and God’s promises being fulfilled in your life is time! That’s it! Faith calls those things that be not as though they were. Faith looks not at the things seen, but at the things that are unseen. Seen things are temporary. Unseen things are eternal. Faith is the substance of what we hope for. Faith is the tangibility, the materializing of what we are believing. Faith takes hope, which is in the future, and brings it into the right now! Faith is knowing that something is real even if we do not see it (Hebrews 11:1 – New Century Version)!

Faith and patience inherits the promises (Hebrews 6:12). Patience gives you the ability to calmly wait in faith until the manifestation of what you believe comes. Joy is what gives patience its ability to hang in there. Jesus endured the cross because of the joy that was set before Him. Joy comes when you believe that God has answered you, when you know that you know that you know that the promise of God is yours now.

What you do between the time that God promises you something and the actual manifestation of that promises has a lot to do with how long it takes for it to manifest. The best thing to do during this interim time of waiting between the promises and its performance is to praise and thank God for it! Act like it’s already manifested. Speak as though you have the answer. Think as though you have the answer. See the answer with the eye of imagination!

If you do these things, the manifestation will be almost anti-climatic! You’ve been so caught up with the joy of receiving until it is such an expectation that when it does come, there is no surprise. It was yours all the time!

Stand in faith for your healing and act like it’s yours before the symptoms disappear. Act like the financial need is met by praising, thanking, and worshipping the Father before the money is manifested. Act as though the circumstance has changed before it actually changes. See that person in the difficult relationship through the eye if faith. See the end from the beginning!

Faith brings the manifestation of the promise of God into your life. Add patience to your faith. Walk in joy! Act like God has heard and answered you today! Allow patience to have its perfect work in you.

The only thing standing between you and that need being met is time. God lives in the eternal now. Call the need met now. Believe you receive now. The answer is yours now. The Word of the Lord is testing you! Pass the test of time!

Don’t Quit!

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it (Isaiah 55:9-11).

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart (Galatians 6:9).

When the enemy puts pressure on you, lean on the Word of God! God’s Word is His power to deliver you right in the middle of the mess the enemy tries to stir up in your life!

Refuse to cower to unbelief and fear when the enemy turns up the heat by affecting circumstances and senses. Remember that he is a defeated foe. The only power he has is the power of suggestion, and when you make a decision to stand on the Word of God, his power over your life is immediately nullified!

During that time between the time you pray and believe that you receive and the time of the actual manifestation of the answer, it’s important to say only what God says about your situation. Call those things that be not as though they were! Say what you believe, not what you have. When you voice the Word of God out loud, fear falls in its tracks. Fear thoughts may come, doubt thoughts may bombard you, but your firm stand on God’s Word will nullify fear and doubt and faith will rise up within you!

If you’re believing you receive healing, declare boldly that with His stripes you are healed! Though the symptoms persist, act as though you believe you receive the answer to your prayer of faith! Talk the answer, praise the answer, act the answer, live the answer. Don’t for one moment yield to symptoms and thoughts of doubt. Doubt thoughts that come to mind die unborn if they are not voiced!

If you’re believing for finances, a job, or a change in some circumstance, take God at His Word. If He says He hears and answers you when you pray, then that’s it. Don’t move. Take a firm stand with God and His Word. His Word has stood the assault of doubt, fear, unbelief, cynicism, criticism, and negative circumstances for thousands of years. And in all that time, not one of His promises has failed.

Hundreds of times over the years God has proved Himself faithful to me as I stood my ground on the Word and did not cave in to doubt and fear. Faith and patience always inherits the promises! Don’t allow circumstances, feelings, thoughts, people, or demons to move you off of your stand on God’s Word today! You’ll come out on top if you don’t quit!

Kingdom Rule

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear (Hebrews 12:28).

In these days prior to the rapture of the church, the Father wants us to shine in the darkness that is engulfing this planet! We are not just natural people. We’re citizen of the Kingdom of God. We are ambassadors of heaven while living here! We’re a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a purchased people!

Ambassadors living in foreign nations have diplomatic immunity from many of the laws that govern the country they live in while operating as an ambassador.

Now it’s time for us as citizen of God’s kingdom to operate in Kingdom law so that God can show Himself strong in our world through us! To operate in Kingdom law, our minds must be renewed with the Word. Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong (1 Corinthians 16:13). The Father’s challenge in this hour is for us to live in His highest and best by operating in His law, His kingdom rule!

To do so we must walk in faith and love. The kingdom of God operates on the principles of faith. Faith pleases God. He maintains a relationship of faith with us as He speaks and guides daily through the Word and by His Spirit. He doesn’t show us everything at once. He doesn’t give us the whole blueprint. He usually only shows us the next step, and expects us to respond in faith and believe we receive from Him at all times. That’s kingdom law.

He expects us to walk in love. God is love. Love is the atmosphere of the Kingdom. Love is the motivation for attitude, thought, motive, speech, and action in the Kingdom of God! Love brings the Almighty into our relationships and tags us as Kings kids!

In this Kingdom Law, as leaders we become servants; to truly live we must die to self-ambition and self-interests and live for our unseen commander; to receive we must give; to increase, we must decrease. As the armies of Israel, we must allow praise to fight our battles, and look to the unseen realm for victory in conquests. Fear must give way to absolute faith in the Word of God.

We must not be moved or shaken by what we see or feel, we must be motivated by faith in the Word of God at all times!

As we live in Kingdom law, we should expect the working of miracles to become prominent as the rapture of the church draws near. The Working of Miracles is part of the rule of the Kingdom of God. The spiritual gift Working of Miracles is where God literally sets aside the natural laws of physics, and invades our world with His supernatural power. Working of Miracles is where Kingdom law supersedes natural law, with no natural explanation that can be discovered by scientific examination.

Jesus fed thousands with a few loaves of bread and a few fish. Tax money was found in a fish’s mouth. The storm cease by a simple word of command. The dead were raised to life again. The deaf and blind began to hear and see. The crippled walked. The insane became clear minded. A widow was supplied with flour and oil that never ran out during a severe famine. Men endured flames without being burned, without even the smell of smoke on their clothing. Wild animals became tame, not harming their potential victims. At one point, the sun even stopped in the sky for 24 hours as Israel fought their enemy! These are examples of Kingdom Law, Kingdom rule.

Let’s expect God to meet us in awesome ways in the dark days ahead. It’s time for us to shine! Let’s walk in Kingdom principles. As we do, we will see the miraculous!

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 Isaiah 60:1-2).

Just to Know Him

For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. (Psalm 84:10)

God called me into the ministry soon after my 18^th birthday. I attended several Bible schools, and eventually became one of the pastoral staff ministers at a large church. Image was a big deal to me. I always dressed sharply, and I wanted to look like a professional. Ministry was a big deal to me. I had to be in ministry, because that’s who I am. How wrong I was.

In 1986 or so God begin to speak to me deep inside and I began to know that I would go through a grueling test that would deal with the deep root of pride in me. It happened a few years later. After I planted a church in a small city in South Carolina, I turned it over to another Pastor and began to travel and minister. I knew God was up to something in me.

While building the traveling ministry, I felt impressed of the Lord to supplement my income during the week with some type of job and then preach on the weekends. The Holy Spirit led me to start a small painting company which prospered. And there God dealt with the me in me, that is, the self-will and pride.

Instead of looking polished and professional, most days I looked disheveled and spotted with paint! My image of me was crushed. I was no longer a minister. I was a painter. That knocked the wind out of my sails! At one point, ministry opportunities grew sparse while my business increased significantly. I felt that I was a failure, and that God was finished with me. It was in this moment of my life that the above scripture was emphasized to me.

One particularly hot summer day, I was high on a ladder grinding decades old paint off of a house. I began to cry as I thought about where I was in contrast to the ministry experiences I had in my past. It was a real crisis moment for me, and I knew that the Lord was requiring an attitude change in me. With sweaty skin covered with flecks of old paint in the blazing sun high atop a ladder I cried out to God. Lord, just to know you is more important than ministry or image or anything else in life! If this is your plan for me, so be it! Just to know you is more important than anything I personally want .And then the verse from Psalm 84 came to me.

I resigned myself that day to follow God wherever He took me, ministry or not. I don’t need an image. I don’t need to be in ministry. I need a real close relationship and fellowship with Jesus. That’s what really produces ministry anyway!

The Lord did open ministry back up to me shortly after this experience, but everything was different. I didn’t need to be in ministry anymore. I needed my fellowship with Jesus. Who needs image and prestige when He who is the sum total of everything is inside of you? Life and ministry is all about knowing Him intimately.

Don’t fight the hard places in life, you may find the voice of God speaking into your need through them. I’m still willing just to be a doorkeeper if that’s where His presence and blessing is. Pursue Him, not image. Seek to know Him.

Walk in Unity

And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them (Genesis 11:6).

This comment God made about the people building the tower of Babel gives us great insight into the power of unity. These were heathens, completely void of God's help and strength. Yet God said that when they come together in the power of united purpose, they could accomplish anything.

A reading through the first few chapters of the book of Acts reveals the early church freshly birthed and walking in unity of purpose. The results were a tremendous move of the Spirit of God that ushered in the church age.

In my heart I believe that God our Father wants to once again display His awesome power and presence through His church. And I believe He wants a display once again of signs, wonders, and miracles that this present generation has yet to witness.

We have so much to accomplish before Jesus' return. What is done must be done in the power of the Spirit of God. The energy of the flesh will fail in this hour.

Let us resolve ourselves to walk walk in unity with our brothers and sisters in Christ in our local churches. Satan seeks to breed strife, discord, and disunity. His main objective is to stifle any move of the Holy Spirit in every local church.

Let us see to it that no negative words comes out of our mouth about any believer, minister, church, or leader. Let's purpose that our mouth will be used only as an instrument of blessing. In so doing, we help create the environment for the next Great Awakening so desperately needed in this hour!

Grace for the Hard Place

We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. In fact we expected to die. But as a result, wee stopped relying on ourselves and learned to rely only on God, who raises the dead. And He did rescue us from mortal danger, and He will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in Him, and He will continue to rescue us. (2 Corinthians 1:8-11 - NLT).

At a pastor's conference we held in Wanago, Ethiopia, the Lord gave me a word to share with these precious pastors who face daunting daily life challenges. All of us face the tough times that life brings. In the above verse, the Apostle Paul bears his heart to the believers at Corinth. He shares that at times the pressure was so difficult that he was not sure that he would survive. In 2 Corinthians 4:8 he shares: We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but we are not driven to despair.

In 2 Corinthians 6, Paul mentions further troubles he faced; being beaten, imprisoned, suffering from lack of sleep, lack of food, lack of clothing and shelter; suffering heartaches from close friends and trouble from enemies of the cross of Christ. In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul mentions being put in prison, being beaten, whipped, stoned, being shipwrecked 3 times, being whipped with the Roman cat-o-nine-tails five times, being adrift in the sea for a day and a half, facing dangers in cities, in deserts, and on the sea.

In all of these terrible circumstances. Paul remains upbeat, and unmoved, and in the end, joyful! How could he keep such a good attitude? I believe the answer is found in Colossians 2:6-7: And just as you have received Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him. Let your roots grow down into Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth your were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

Paul's life was rooted in His relationship with Jesus. He mentions in Ephesians 1 that his relationship with Jesus brings a security of being loved by God that cancels condemnation; that gives him the adopted position of a legal son in God's family. That legal sonship grants privileges of being cared and provided for just as a natural born heir to a wealthy father! Paul mentions that he was loved by God and in His mind before the world was created. Paul mentions that he is seated with Jesus in a place of authority that is far above every enemy, above every created entity, and above every problem that life brings. He is seated in the place of authority with Jesus.

No wonder he could declare: If God is for us, who can ever be against us. Since He did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, won't He also give us everything else? (Romans 8:31-32).

Regardless of the challenges we face today from within or without, let's make a choice to root our lives into Jesus. Let's allow our constant communion with Him in His Word and in prayer be the foundation from which we face every challenge and every test that this day brings. His grace is perfected in our weakness and inability. His presence in the middle of the hard place produces an inner strength that results in joy unspeakable and full of glory!

Glad to be home!

I arrived home from Ethiopia this past Saturday night, and preached twice yesterday. I've missed updating my blog!

Ministry in Ethiopia was great. We held a pastor's conference in Wanago for around two hundred pastors and ministry leaders on February 3rd and 4th. We brought them both encouragement in their hardships and faith to believe for God's best in their lives and churches.

On February 5th and 6th we held evangelistic services in a big open field in Yirgecheffee. Again, God's grace was poured out in a wonderful way as hundreds responded to the salvation message. Many were healed of all kinds of illnesses as God's healing power manifested following the preached word.

On February 7th and 8th we travelled to Weyto in the Omo Valley of Ethiopia. We ministered in one of our three church on the afternoon of the 8th after arriving just before noon. Six former animists responded to the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. Though it was a sweltering afternoon in 100 plus degree heat, the excitement was evident among the crowd of recent converts.

On Wednesday morning we ministered in our other two churches in neighboring villages. As all of those present were believers, we ministered encouragement and faith to these eager new Christians. This is a remote area of Ethiopia, and most of the people neither read or write. So we present the word of God in story form so that they can grasp the simple truths of the scriptures.

Gunta and Meberatu are two pastors that we support in Ethiopia. Meberatu is ordained by our organization and oversees all 13 of our Ethiopian churches. Gunta is from the Weyto area and tribe and oversees the 3 churches we have there.

I plan to return to Ethiopia in November. Please pray for the believers there, that they would grow in their relationship with Jesus, and that God would use them to minister to their communities.