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.