The Lord is a God of truth (Deut. 32:4). He demands honesty and truthfulness in all your dealings. You must tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, especially when you speak about others. Those who deceive or lie when they are witnesses show their scorn of God and justice and a greedy appetite for sin. They will have their reward, for both God and men despise such wicked fools. (Proverbs 19:29, 22:10, 24:9 and Is 29:20-21)
When you are asked about another person, you make a choice that reveals your character. You either tell the careful truth about the situation, or you compromise the truth in order to protect yourself or a friend, secure an advantage, or exact revenge. If you answer falsely to those in authority or in need of information, you reveal yourself as a scorner of judgment - thinking it a thing of little worth, without respect or regard for it. God forbid!
The devil is a liar and the father of lying (Gen. 3:4, John 8:44). When you corrupt or misrepresent matters about another person, you are an ungodly witness obeying the devil (Ephg. 2:1-3, Acts 5:3). You must think justice and righteousness are jokes, for you scornfully treat them as nothing by your actions. But the LORD of truth declared in the Ten Commandments, "Thou shalt not bear false witness." (Ex. 20:'6)]
Perjury is no small matter to the LORD of heaven and earth. He hates false witnesses. Believe it! God condemned them often in the Bible(Prov. 10:18, 25:18, Ex. 23:1,7, Lev. 19:11, 16). False witnesses will pay, here and hereafter (Prov. 19:5,9, Prov. 21:28, Rev. 21:8,27). His fury against lying includes backbiting, slandering, tale-bearing, and whispering - crimes once called gossip euphemistically, but now nearly forgotten. How are these sins related to lying? They involve the use of the tongue to destroy others.
What happened to false witnesses under God's civil laws? The punishment at stake was executed on the perjurer. If we assume a capital trial for murder, a false witness would be executed (Deut 19:16-21)! If an eyeball was at stake, a perjurer had his eye gouged out. Perfect! Wise men quickly perceived that witnesses in god's legal system would learn to tell the whole truth. In fact, honesty in court and legal dealings would rise dramatically.
Those who lie about others have no regard for equity, fairness, justice, or righteousness, so God labels them scorners - a despicable type of perverse fool that is beyond help. He describes their mouths, which easily and quickly pour out wicked insinuations and false reports, as devouring iniquity. They are flagrant and greedy sinners without consciences, who will lie without remorse or worry whenever convenient, for gain or revenge.
Reader, do you despise false witnesses? Do you always tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God? Here is the proof: what do you do when you hear someone misrepresent another person? Do you get angry, warn them or their wickedness, and cut them off (Prov. 25:23, PS 101:5, Thessalonian 5:14)? If you do not, you are an accomplice in their sin, for listening or reading their lies or slander is a sin itself (Prov. 17:4).
Praise God for the FAITHFUL and THE TRUE WITNESS at the right hand of God (Rev. 3:12, 19:11). He will soon declare the true facts about all of our lives, remembering every good and bad thing we have done (Prov. 5:16, ECCL. 12:14, Matt. 25:31-46, II Corinthians. 5:10). But unless your name is in the LAMBS BOOK of LIFE, you will be cast into the lake of fire, which is the second death (Rev. 20: 11-15). Is your name there? If you gossip, backbite,spread rumors, and become a slander-monger I would beg Him for mercy (Luke 18:14, John 5-24).
We believe this book should be read by every Christian, pastors, Sunday School teachers, and be carried in every Christian book store.
When we find ourselves in this sort of trouble, it is time to refresh our memories of these two scriptures written above. Many times all we can do is simply stand. Stand humble before God, walking quietly in humility keeping our own mouths shut tight. Stand, and let God defend you. I first learned this lesson many years ago. I was just 20 years old and had just graduated from college with a degree and became a registered nurse. An older woman in my class had befriended me and highly recommended that I go to work at the local university medical center on the night shift. She extolled to me the advantages of working there because I would learn so much. I took her advice and got a job at that hospital and began to work as a night float nurse. That meant that each night I worked on a different unit, where ever more help was needed, or someone had called in sick. The woman who so strongly recommended that I work there took six weeks off after graduation before returning to work in the same hospital. She had worked there in a lesser position than a registered nurse for some years before returning to school. She returned to work to find me settled in and comfortable in the job. I don't know exactly what happened to her, but within a couple of weeks she began to spread all kinds of lies about me. Now, a hospital night shift is a tight community, and gossip spreads very quickly. Almost overnight, I found that I did not have a friend left in the whole hospital. I was shocked and dismayed.
Praise God, I had a very wise and godly father at the time. I went to my parents in tears and told them what was happening. I wanted to quit my job and go to work somewhere else. My father listened to all I had to say, then asked, "So, are you guilty of doing the things this woman is accusing you of doing?"
"Then you will NOT quit your job. That is not acceptable to the Lord. You will stand according to Ephesians six, and trust the Lord to defend you. Humble yourself and trust God. If you quit, you are admitting to guilt."
I was not happy with my father's advice, but I followed it. Because of the attitude of the other employees who accepted the gossip, the supervisors assigned me to work in the Neurosurgery Intensive Care Unit, a unit that I hated because most of the cases were hopeless! I worked there for 6 months, very quietly I might add. It was not easy. At the end of the six months, the other woman who started the whole trouble did something, I don't remember what, and was fired. Shortly after that I returned to working the other units, and quickly the employees forgot the gossip and lies and became my friends again. In another year I was promoted to be one of the night supervisors. God had exalted me in due time.
When my first book was published, I was astounded at the number of people who not only disagreed with me, but seemed to then dedicate their lives to destroying me. The lies flew fast and furious. I found myself spending hours carefully answering many letters asking me question after question about all the various lies being spread about me. Finally, the brother who was sort of my spiritual mentor at the time took me in hand and said, "Rebecca, why are you spending hours writing all those letters defending yourself? Don't you know that the people asking the questions are not really interested in your defense? They simply want to take up your time. For every question you answer, they will have five more. You need to follow Nehemiah's example."
I realized that he was right! For every question I answered, the person always had at least three more, they were never satisfied. I studied the book of Nehemiah and learned an important lesson. Nehemiah was sent by God to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. The enemies of the Jews did not want the wall rebuilt. They did everything they could to stop the work. When nothing worked, finally they contacted Nehemiah and said, "Come, let us meet together among the villages in the plain of Ono." But they thought to do me harm. So I sent messengers to them saying, 'I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?" (Nehemiah 6:2-3) The Lord spoke to me and said, "Why are you taking time away from the work I have given to you to do to answer all those questions about the lies against you? Simply stand and trust me to defend you." This is what I have done ever since. It is God's job to defend me!
"Yes," you may be saying, "but the gossip against me is continuing. It never seems to stop!"
The same is true in our lives. Daniel and I have experienced this ever since we got married. First people said our marriage would never last. Well, we have been married 22 years now. Then they accused us of everything else imaginable. As we simply stand quietly and humbly before the Lord, one set of gossip and lies dies down only to have someone else bring up something different. First one person and then another, first one thing, then another. Satan's kingdom never runs out of lies! Jesus told Satan that he is the father of all lies. The temptation is to quit and run. But the fact is that you cannot leave your troubles behind, they will surely follow you wherever you go. Daniel and I have lived for more than 20 years in the same area now. Time and again there have been waves of gossip and lies spread about us by different people. Always as we stand firm and walk quietly and humbly, that particular set of lies comes to an end, and the very people who started them sometimes come back and act friendly to us, some even telling us that they were wrong.
One example happened a little more than five years ago when the Lord gave Daniel a vision to build a drag strip as an outreach ministry to the unsaved who would never set foot into a church. We had no idea that Satan would fight so hard against us. We used all our finances plus borrowed money to build the project. When we were half way through construction, some of the people in the area rose up against us and took us to court and managed to stop the construction. We ended up in a three month very expensive court battle. During that time, one of the women of the group (all of whom claimed to be Christians) started writing letters to the editor in our local newspaper. Our nearest town is a town of only 2,500 people. In a rural setting such as this, everyone knows everyone, and gossip spreads throughout the community like lightening. The local newspaper comes out once per week, and everyone reads it. This woman wrote letters to the editor falsely accusing Daniel and me of everything imaginable. She accused us by name, and told people to go to certain web sites that publish vicious lies about us as proof of her accusations. Of course, many people who read her letters accepted them as being true and turned against us. A number of local businesses told us that they did not want us coming into their place of business any more.
Week after week, this woman sent in her letters, and the paper printed them. Week after week, Daniel and I simply stood and waited on the Lord. It was so very difficult! Finally, after several weeks, the Holy Spirit directed us to send in a response. We wrote a brief letter to the editor saying that we wished to respond to Mrs. So and So who had been accusing us of many things. We wrote: Mrs. So and So, we just want you to know that we fully and freely forgive you for all the false and negative things you have been writing about us. It is our prayer that our Lord Jesus Christ will richly bless you and bring you peace." That was the end of her letters to the editor! She never wrote another one! AND, we never heard another word from anyone in our area about the lies that she had written. Praise God! As we stood in forgiveness, fulfilling Luke 6:28, and prayed for God to bless her, the Lord defended us. We won the court case, finished the construction and opened up the drag strip. Many lives have been changed through this work.
One day as I stood against yet another set of lies against me on an Internet web site, I asked the Lord, "Lord, why don't you get these people off the Internet? They have managed to get many of my speaking engagements canceled! They have been spreading lies about me for over 25 years!"
Daniel and I will both testify to you that God is faithful! It takes time and is very difficult. Usually we lose people who we thought were our friends, but as we remind ourself of this important lesson, and simply stand humbly before the Lord, He defends and blesses us every time.
Have you ever asked
yourself the question since becoming a Christian
and going to work in His Kingdom: "Lord what am
I doing here? What's the use? Did I make the
right decision in becoming a Pastor, an
Evangelist, a Teacher or even a Missionary?"
After all
everybody we minister to seems to be
unresponsive. They are so taken up with their
own lives, and become self-centered. Does it
seem to you at times that you're on a mission
that is hopeless?
Do you question
"God what are you doing?" Why have you sent me
to try and minister to these people? After all
God I don't seem to be able to get through to
them. I'm not accomplishing anything. I'm
useless; my little bit seems to just be a drop
in a bucket. It's hardly worth my time!
Are you
starting to have doubts about the worth of your
work? Or even about your own worth? Do you feel
doubts about your own significance? Do you not
feel like a small child who can hardly say or do
anything? Do you have doubts about your own
competence in doing the work that God expects
you to do?
Again you ask,
"God what are you doing? WHY??? How can it all
make sense? God what is your purpose in my life?
God what is your purpose in my life when I feel
so absolutely weak and insignificant all the
time? What is
Your purpose for sending me out as a
Pastor, an Evangelist, as a Teacher or a
Missionary? Why have you placed me here? How
does all this fit together with your plan in my
life?"
This is the way
I'm feeling as I write this Tidbit. It's been a
long hard two weeks. Let me try and explain what
has happened in these last two weeks. As most of
you know I'm a drag racer I have a car I race
each Saturday trying to share the Gospel. There
is one particular racer who does not like me; we
got called out to race each other in a grudge
match. I got my car ready, or I thought it was
ready. I went to test and tune it for the race.
I wasn't satisfied with it so I tried a few
other tricks to make it run faster. I had
several racers from our track; go with me to the
grudge race. I lost by .1090 sec.
It was a
very close race. Since then I've lost the
friendship of those that I have been working
with for 5 years. I've been asking God why I
lost, why the friends I thought I had turned
against me. WHY???
That wasn't the
end of it. I took the car down to a race car
builder in
Little Rock; I wanted to
find out why some of my components didn't work.
As I backed the car out of the trailer the
carburetor linkage stuck on the car which made
it speed up when I was trying to slow it down. I
backed into a lot of equipment and another man's
race car before I could get mine shut down. The
damage I did was costly to say the least. No one
was hurt, only my pride and my spirit.
Again, WHY GOD? Why did
this happen? That's where this lesson starts.
I had to get
back to the basics of why I'm here; I had to
regain my perspective. To once again try and
understand why I'm here. And to understand what
God's purpose is for my life, and the lives
around me. The bottom line, the truth of the
matter is, God has a
MISSION. He is a
MISSIONARY GOD! He is out to have a family for
Himself from all the people of the world. Your
past doesn't matter. He is going to accomplish
rising up a FAMILY just for HIM. And He will
accomplish IT! And nothing or no one is going to
stop Him. It is going to be done by His ZEAL.
You and I are supposed to
be part of His vital plan, a vital part, of
accomplishing His mission.
While God sees the world as
full of rebels, He has another and very
different perspective: He is accomplishing a
task. He is at work and He will not nor cannot
fail at what He is doing.o:p>
We need to desperately find
a way to see life through God's eyes. To see
that we live among rebels, among spiritual
apathy, among a majority who do not know the
truth, and we need to see through the eyes of
faith as to what God will accomplish. Then we
need to see our part in God's overall plan. This
is the only way we will be able to have value or
worth in what we are doing, to have a genuine
sense of significance in the seemingly little
that we do, and to believe that through us
something of eternal value will take place. This
will then keep us going strong even when we are
tempted to give up and quit, or feel discouraged
with ourselves and everyone around us.
All of this is happening
because of who God is. Without a shadow of doubt
God's very nature is LOVE. And true love cannot
remain passive or silent. We see the world in a
huge mess, with people doing their own thing,
without the fear of God, going their own way,
totally without the true knowledge of what life
is all about, or about where they are headed in
their indifference and rebellion. These are the
very same people who will love you and be your
friend one day, and turn against you the next.
They will look only at your mistakes, not at
what you can and have done. They look at your
mistakes so that they can hide and not consider
their own.
It is so important that we
base all that we are doing here upon this one
foundation: We are here to do God's mission, not
our mission, BUT GOD'S MISSION. We are, so that
through us, He might be able to show His love to
a great multitude of people, whether it be local
at a ball park, in a store, in church, even at a
drag strip, you can even be in the military
deployed somewhere. It can be where ever you are
at work and even what you like to do for a pass
time. Through YOU, GOD shows HIS LOVE. He shows
HIS LOVE wherever He has placed you. He does it
through our faithful sharing, through our
helping hands, through our ear, listening to one
who is wounded in spirit. Through YOU He will
have the pleasure of showing His INCREDIBLE LOVE
for all eternity to these people.
This is the
truth that I believe God wants us to lay hold of
today.
Again God proclaims Himself
over and over again in such words as those found
in the following scriptures:
I invite you to
meditate with me on two simple truths and
realities:
Firstly, I want
us to meditate on the truth that GOD'S LOVE IS
ALWAYS SEEKING TO FIND AND EXPRESS ITSELF
TOWARDS THE OBJECTS OF ITS LOVE.
God shows His
very beautiful and perfect loving nature in so
many different ways.
His love is mixed with all His other
graces.
For example, He is also a generous Lover,
who longs to give His gifts generously to the
objects of His love.
"But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man
appeared, not by works of righteousness which we
have done, but according to His mercy He saved
us, through the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior
that having been justified by His grace we
should become heirs according to the hope of
eternal life."
(Titus 3"4-7)
So His people taste His love in the
form or shape of His abundant goodness and
kindness.
He is also a
merciful and gracious Lover.
He can't help Himself.
He cannot but show His mercy and grace to
the objects of His love.
He must find ways to ahow them how
gracious He is when they are totally undeserving
of His kindness.
Even to the point of allowing them to
fall in order to show them His grace in
restoring them and lifting them up once again.
What an awesome God!
AND YOU AND ME
ARE AMONG THE PEOPLE UPON WHOM HE HAS ALREADY
BEEN POURING HIS LOVE.
f ever we feel
that God doesn't love us, this is NOT because
God has temporarily withdrawn His love, but
rather because our understanding and
appreciation of how God loves is so shallow and
weak, infected by our own self-love.
During this
past week, I was meditating upon the words of
Christ to His disciples just before He was taken
to be crucified.
He told them:
"As
the Father has loved me, so have I loved you."
(John 15:9)
I realized that His disciples knew
that He was speaking the absolute truth - that
not even for one split second did Jesus lessen
His love for them, even when their responses to
Him were so "human" and foolish.
But then I
realized that I am thinking this way because I
in my human way of loving feel a conflict
between true love and speaking such strong words
with someone.
To be loving is to be nice!
To be sugary sweet!
But this isn't true love.
No, Jesus was in reality rebuking His
disciples so that they would believe in Him and
in His Father, so that they could then enter
into the fullness of the pleasures of that
divine relationship.
How we need to
let go of our human way of understanding God's
love so that we won't misinterpret some of God's
actions as being "against us" or "unkind."
ALL His actions towards His called-out
ones are totally loving and kind.
How we need to
believe that God loves us ALL THE TIME.
To believe it no matter what our feelings
might tell us.
To give up our evil, unbelieving heart
that says:
"God cannot love such a poor, weak
failure as I am!
I am so imperfect."
Or, "why is He doing this to me?
I must have done something (I don't know
what!) so that He is angry towards me!"
How sad it is
when we act towards God like a wife who
disbelieves the affirming, loving words of her
lover-husband, and so cuts off from herself the
flow of love that he is wanting to pour out upon
her.
"I'm not worthy of this love!
It can't be real!"
And so the much loved wife can miss
experiencing the wonderful love of her husband
through her unbelief.
YOU, WE, are
His people upon whom God is lavishing His love
day and night, unceasingly, 100% love, 100% of
the time.
If we feel ourselves to be "unloved,"
It's not because God's love has dried up.
Rather it's because we have stopped
believing, or become consumed with our own
selfish desires and interests, and have closed
our hert in some way to His love.
And this is
what He has already accomplished so powerfully
all over the world.
We might see "just a little," like a few
grains of sand on the vast SEASHORE, BUT IN
REALITY, ALL OVER THE WORLD God has already been
doing great things in bringing many to Himself.
His mission is being accomplished and it
will be completed, perhaps even in our
life-time.
The work that
He has for us to do isn't primarily just going
out there to preach the Gospel, to witness to
others, to "do," to "work" for Him.
We are out there so that through us,.
People might hear of His love for them, and then
become like us, RECIPIENTS OF HIS INTENSE AND
IMMENSE LOVE.
We are a small
but significant part of what God is doing all
over the world.
And knowing this will give us a strong
sense of the importance of what we are doing,
and motivates us to press on even when we feel
so small and weak.
Our task,
therefore, is to proclaim the true nature of
God's love to the people to whom God has sent
us.
To declare His heart to the nations - His heart
of love, mercy, kindness, grace, generosity et
al.
To call the peoples of every nation to welcome
His kindness to them, that He is still showing
His great patience to the peoples, that instead
of pouring out His wrath upon them, He is still
giving them time to repent.
He is faithful
in His calling people to Himself.
We don't have to worry about the
"success" of our
Mission
- how many people He draws to Himself through
our preaching, teaching and witnessing.
That's HIS business.
This reminds us
again that our mission to the world cannot fail.
For that very
reason, God calls us, His workers, to remember
how kind He has been to us, how faithful He has
been despite our faithlessness, how powerfully
He rescued us form a life of hopelessness and
misery.
And to believe that He is able to
accomplish the same work in others, and He is -
and He will - and through us, weak and ordinary
people.
For is this
way, He manifests His power and draws forth
praise from among us - as we realize the great
things that He is doing through weak vessels,
all we can say in response is:
THIS MUST BE OF GOD.
PRAISE BE TO HIS NAME!
Remember, doubt
is sin, and we are responsible to control our
thoughts (2 Cor. 10:5).
When you allow doubts to fill your mind,
then you live your life in a vicious circle of
defeat.
(James 1:6-8)
So if today you are here with questions
and doubts, let's admit openly to God that we've
had these, but then let the Word of God renew
our faith and trust in God - our LOVER, and the
God who is at work all over the world in order
to have a people upon whom He can lavish His
love - and who will then love Him in return.
Who understands you the best? Your spouse? Your children? Most of all, we want God to understand us. We believe that Jesus understands us perfectly because He went through everything we go through. He experienced temptations of the kind that aren't limited by history or culture, but have been common to people in every age. Jesus confronted more temptations in His life than just the three we hear about -- but we're going to look at these well-known three because I think we'll see elements in each that are not unique to Jesus. They apply to us too.
Before we talk about the three temptations though, we need to recognize that God sent His Son Jesus into the world to blaze a trail for us to follow. That's a simple way of describing the ministry of Jesus. He has gone ahead of us to create a path we can follow to find our way home to God. It's essential for us to learn from Jesus' face-off with Satan in the wilderness at the beginning of His ministry, because when anybody gets serious about following Jesus, we're going to encounter just what He did: a forced choice between good and evil in circumstances where the real evil appears totally harmless - even logical and desirable (as in the first temptation -- while the good looks uninteresting or even repugnant.
After He had been baptized, the Spirit of God led Jesus into the Judean desert, where He fasted for a very long time - forty days. Fasting, then and now, is a discipline meant to direct the fasting person's attention to the truth that we human beings are body and spirit, "spiritual animals" you might say, who need intangible nourishment for the spirit just as much as we need physical food for the body. In His severe hunger, the Tempter came to Jesus and said, "If You are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread." Why is there a problem here? Jesus had been fasting forty days. Wasn't that enough? There's nothing wrong with eating food when you're hungry, is there?
No. Food is good, not bad. But there's something else going on here, something hidden by the obvious rightness of a hungry person being permitted to eat: there's a temptation to ignore God's will. The Son of God had been sent into the world to share our human condition - in every way - in order to guide us to the Father. No personal privileges. No special treatment. He's fully human, and therefore had to obey human limitations. Jesus never used His power as God to benefit Himself. In this episode we see Jesus tempted to use His special relationship with God as a kind of magic wand to supply His merely private needs: to assuage His physical hunger. He was tempted to sidestep the normal discomforts of bodily human life - which was one of the conditions His Father had set for Him. But since Jesus' mission from God was to blaze a trail that we could follow, He had to do it with all of our mortal limitations in place. He had to be our brother, share our life. And we can't turn stones into bread.
We're often enticed to ignore God's will, but the greatest similarity between Jesus' first temptation and ours is this: to focus whatever powers we have at our disposal on simply satisfying our appetite for the desirable things of this world, to settle for the comfort they can give us, rather than endure the dis-comfort and dis-ease that always go along with waiting (and waiting and waiting) for God to fill the hollow places in our soul and provide us with the things we have been asking for. Jesus replied to Satan with the words of Moses, "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." The temptation for people of every age has been "to live by bread alone." That is, to always do everything we can to satisfy our personal desires.
Because Jesus used scripture to respond to Satan's first temptation, the Tempter used the Bible to launch the second. He took Jesus to the highest point of the temple and said, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here; for the scripture says, 'He will command His angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" We could re-phrase the temptation this way, "So you think you're 'the Son of God,' do you? How do you know? Can you prove it? Jump off the temple! If you're God's Son He'll surely send angels to catch you, since He promised He would - right in the same Bible where it says people can live on God's words just as well as they can on bread."
Again Jesus is tempted to bypass His Father's plan, to violate the terms of His mission to lead humanity home to God while sharing all human limitations. But this second temptation is also much like one that comes to every believer, since we always must deal with doubt: "Maybe I'm deluded. Maybe the atheists are right, and there is no God. How can I know for sure?"
With the third temptation Satan stops trying to sow doubt in Jesus, and tries instead to persuade Him that He could accomplish His life's goals much more easily by using the power of what you and I might call "the Dark Side." He shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and their glory and says, "If you will just worship me, I will give you all of this." This temptation must have presented itself to Jesus again and again! Jesus was a naturally charismatic man. He could have created a revolutionary movement and played a political power game. He could have manipulated Herod, or Pilate, or the Sanhedrin. He could have been a Machiavellian realist and has "real" power - soldiers and secret police. He could have made people behave!
Seduction like this "from the Dark Side" comes even to well-meaning Christian parents, pastors, and politicians. And it has come repeatedly to the Church. The medieval papacy yielded to the temptation to wield political power, to compel people to practice what the Church regarded as "the only way." Too many religious leaders in America these days seem to be suffering from a similar temptation. Satan's rule is "always maximize your power," use all the power you have to get your way, no matter how you apply it. You're justified is what you're doing is God's work. Satan tempts the pastors by saying, "If you only preach about the 'good' things in the Bible, the happy things, then more people will come to the church and look for God. If you preach about sin and negative things, your church won't grow and people won't come to God"
Jesus' third answer to the Tempter was again from the Bible and its simple: "You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve only Him." Jesus was tempted to value only the "ends" and disregard the "means" used to attain them. We're tempted in precisely the same way. But for Christ and for us, the highest goal and ultimate good is GOD alone. And we reach God by following the path that Jesus created for us by His life, death, and resurrection - a path which entails the very opposite of maximizing our power. He says, "If any of you want to become my followers, then deny yourselves, take up your cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lost it, but those who love their life for my sake will find it."
Be encouraged; KNOW that Jesus understands your struggles and temptations. Safely and security comes to you when you follow the examples that Jesus set for us when He lived and walked here on earth as a man.
This is the question for each one of us today to consider - Is our God ABLE to save us, "because your adversary the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." (1 Peter 5:8)
King Darius, the foolish king who passed the law to force all to worship him, didn't realize that his foolish pride would lead to having the best man in his court thrown to the lions.
"And when he came to the den, he cried out with a lamenting voice to Daniel. The king spoke, saying to Daniel, 'Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?'" Daniel 6:20
What was Daniel's answer? "My God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him: and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you." Daniel 6:22
Our question, "is OUR GOD ABLE?" is so pertinent to each one of us and it is a question that each one of us has to decide for himself. God has given much evidence for us to look at and we can hear the testimony of others who have experienced God's faithfulness.
Down in our hearts we each know that we cannot deliver ourselves from the lions of sin and death - our good intentions and resolutions are "as ropes of sand." It is a fact that even "self improvement" teachers with their "pick yourself up by your own bootstraps" theories, are unable to bring the desired improvement into their own life and often have more troubles than their students! ". . . they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." (Matthew 15:14)
We are going to look at what God tells us He is ABLE to do for each one of us as well as the way to receive that deliverance, and listen to testimony from those who have experienced His faithfulness and hear them affirm - "Our God IS able!"
Suppose a wolf should one day, after watching peaceful sheep, decide that this is how an animal should live. So he goes down to the pasture and pulling a wooly sweater over his shaggy body, he climbs over the fence and begins to try to eat grass with the flock.
He tries as hard as he can, but the grass sticks in his teeth and he gets restless lying quietly in the sun. At night as he hears other wolves howling, he twitches and it is so hard for him to sleep peacefully like the rest of the flock. He struggles to push down his aggressiveness but every time a fat lamb grazes close to him, he catches himself drooling.
One day a pack of his old buddies race past and before he knows it, he leaps the fence and races to join them. Later he returns to the flock, head down and dejected and so sorry to have failed in his resolve. As he is lying under a bush, so dejected at his failure and wishing to die, he hears a loving voice, and lifting his shaggy head with the tatters of the wooly sweater dangling around his neck, gazes into the face of the lovely Creator.
"Wolf," He says kindly, "If you truly want to be one of My sheep, you must be born again, recreated as a sheep, for "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil?" (Jeremiah 13:23)
The wolf approaches the Creator, head down and repentant. "I can do nothing to change myself, I know, I have tried, and I get nowhere. Please, dear Creator, recreate me as one of your sheep."
When the wolf was recreated he found a wonderful joy in being a sheep and doing sheep things. The grass was delicious; he enjoyed the company of the other sheep and no longer desired any part of his old ways.
"Jesus answered and said to him, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God'." John 3:3
"Then the lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Genesis 6:5
All I really need to do is follow my conscience and my heart will guide me, right?
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9
"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." Proverbs 14:12
"But He answered and said, 'It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'" Matthew 4:4
"How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word." Psalm 119:9
"Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You." Psalm 119:11
"But Jesus looked at them and said to them,. 'With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'" Matthew 19:26
"And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." Matthew 1:21
"Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other." Isaiah 45:22
" . . . 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." Romans 10:9
But I have done wrong things and what is worse, a lot of the time; I don't even feel like obeying God. It seems unreal to me."
". . . but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness." 1 Corinthians 1:23
"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18
"But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Corinthians 2:14
"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." Romans 12:2
But that is impossible for me.
"This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: 'I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,' then He adds, 'Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.'" Hebrews 10:16-17
"Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statues, and you will keep My judgments and do them." Ezekiel 36:25-27
"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." Matthew 7:7-8
"And all things, whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive." Matthew 21:22
"Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." Mark 11:24
"But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." Hebrews 11:6
"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." James 1:5-7
" . . . God has dealt to each one a measure of faith." Romans 12:3
"Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, 'Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!'" Mark 9:24
"If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed," said Jesus, "you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.'" (Matthew 17:20) Even though the grain of mustard seed is so small, it contains that same mysterious life principle which produces growth in the loftiest tree. When the mustard seed is planted into the ground, the tiny germ lays hold of every element that God has provided for its nutriment, and it speedily develops a sturdy growth. If you have faith like this, you will lay hold of God's word, and upon all the helpful agencies He has appointed. Thus your faith will strengthen and will bring to your aid the power of heaven. The obstacles that are piled by Satan across your path though apparently as insurmountable as the eternal hills shall disappear before the demand of faith. "Nothing shall be impossible for you." (Matt. 17:20)
"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 1 John 2:15
". . . and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12
God wishes us to have the mastery over ourselves. But He cannot help us without our consent and co-operation. The divine Spirit works through the powers and faculties given to man. Of ourselves, we are not able to bring our purposes and desires and inclinations into harmony with the will of God: but if we are "willing to be made willing," the Savior will accomplish this for us. We must ask Him for His help, and then obey His command that tells us to "cast down arguments and every high thing [thought] that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:5
I am willing to be made willing! Tell me more.
"And when He had come into the house the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, 'Do you believe that I am able to do this?' They said to Him, 'Yes Lord.' Then He touched their eyes, saying, 'According to your faith let it be to you.'" Matthew 9:28-29
There is no limit with God to save and to set us free from sin and recreate us. If we are willing to have sin removed from us - even if we can't see how we can give up our darling sins, if we ask God to take from us the love for sin and put enmity in our hearts for it, we will be freed from its power! ("And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." Genesis 3:15)
". . . that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height - to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:17-21
"Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:37-39
". . . by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature . . . " 2 Peter 1:4
"To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life." Luke 1:74-75
"Then David said to the Philistine, 'You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel." 1 Samuel 17:45-46
"Jesus said to him, 'If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.'" Mark 9:23
The great secret of how to do it.
As the will of man co-operates with the will of God, it becomes omnipotent. Whatever is to be done at His command may be accomplished in His strength. All His biddings are enablings."
If our God - is not able, then we are doomed to perish miserably, and eternally in outer darkness -
"Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." Hebrews 7:25
The image that these verses place in our mind is that of a "good soldier." A good soldier
has been trained to do one thing, perform his duty!
1. The duty of a soldier is to submit to authority.
Everything that God allows inside the protective hedge of our life is to bring our will
into conformity with His.
2. The duty of a soldier is to maintain his character.
3. The duty of a soldier is to bear arms. "For the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds." 2 Corinthians 10:4
4. The duty of a soldier is to lay down his life if necessary.
- Paul said, "to live is Christ to die is gain."
- Other "unknown soldiers" suffered for the cause. "Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment." Hebrews 11:36
"They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the
sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute,
afflicted, tormented" Hebrews 11:37
"of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and
mountains, in dens and caves of the earth." Hebrews 11:38
- We are included:
"By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also
ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." 1 John 3:16
Why give your life? You perceive the love of God.
"Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us . . ." 1 John 3:1
Therefore we count it not only duty but joy to fulfill . . . .
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." Romans 12:1
Each book of the Bible has its own anointing from God. I've had some people ask me why every book of the Bible is important, and why they should read them all. Each book is something special. The Bible as a whole is important! The following is an outline of some of the anointings in each book. In my up coming book Behold I Stand At The Door And Knock, I wrote:
"The Bible is not just one big book, but actually a collection of 66 smaller books written over a period of at least 1600 years by about 40 different authors. Everything they wrote was inspired by God. In the front of your Bible is a Table of Contents which lists the names of the books of the bible. The Bible is divided into two sections: the first section which contains three-fourths of the Bible is called the Old Testament; the second section is called the New Testament.
The New Testament reveals to us Jesus and the plan of salvation. The Old Testament reveals to us how God dealt with the nation of Israel. It looks forward to the coming Savior of the world, Jesus. The New Testament starts with the book of Matthew and ends with the book of Revelation. It is divided into four general areas: The first four books: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John tell us the story of Jesus when He was on earth.
The book of Acts tells us the history of the early church after Jesus' death and resurrection.
The letters (from Romans to Jude) are correspondence from the early Christian leaders to other churches or individuals.
The book of Revelations tells us the future story of the end time when Jesus will come back to this world and reign on earth.
A new believer should always start reading the Bible in the first four books of the New Testament, called the gospels. The book of John is especially easy to understand. Some short letters in the New Testament (also called the epistles) which are helpful to new believers are the books of Philippians, James and 1st John.
The Old Testament begins with the book of Genesis and ends with Malachi. It is also divided into four general areas:
The first five books (Genesis to Deuteronomy) tell us the beginning of man and the establishment of the nation of Israel with the promise of the Savior of the world coming from this chosen people. It not only contains the early history of Israel, but also the Law of God as revealed through Moses. For example, Exodus chapter 20 records the Ten Commandments.
The next twelve books (Joshua to Ester) are the historical books of the nation of Israel after it became a kingdom of Canaan. Two short books in this section which reveal God's hand on the life of the believers, which new Christians will enjoy, are the books of Ruth and Esther.
The next five books (Job to Song of Solomon) are the books of poetry and wisdom in the Bible. Especially helpful to new believers are the book of Psalms, which was the hymnal or songbook of the nation of Israel;' and Proverbs, which contains the sayings and advice of the wisest king Israel ever had.
The last seven books (Isaiah to Malachi) are the books of the prophets of Israel who God sent to warn, admonish, and encourage His people toward the end of history of Israel as a nation. A short book in this section which is good for new believers is the book of Jonah.
I pray this will help you get started on the road to a fellow believer and/or brings you back home from backsliding."
In Genesis, the Anointing is Abraham's Visitations, Jacobs' ladder, and Joseph's Dreams. * In Exodus, The a Anointing is Moses' Rod that split the Red Sea, the Pillar of Fire by night, and the Glory Cloud by day. * In Leviticus, the Anointing is the Consecration Oil poured on the Priests. * In Numbers, the Anointing is Aarons' Rod that Budded. * In Deuteronomy, the Anointing is Manna raining down from Heaven. * In Joshua, the Anointing is the Steps that Parted the Jordan River and the Trumpet Blast that toppled Jericho's Walls. * In Judges' the Anointing is Samson's Hair, Samson's Jawbone of a Donkey, and Gideon's Fleece. * In Ruth, the Anointing is Boaz's Favor. * In 1 Samuel, the Anointing is Samuel's Horn of Oil, David's Sweet Psalms, and David's Fine Smooth Stone's. * In 2 Samuel, the Anointing is the Touch of God transferred from Mentor to Protege. * In 1 Kings the Anointing is Elijah's Mantle. * In 2 Kings, the Anointing is the Double Portion and the Power that Floated the Axe Head. * In 1 Chronicles, the Anointing is a release of Tons and Tons of Gold and Silver for the work of God. * In 2 Chronicles, is the Glory of the Lord filling God's House at its Completion. * In Ezra, the Anointing is the Prompting to Rebuild God's Temple and City. * In Nehemiah, the Anointing is the Courage to Finish the Work. * In Esther, the Anointing is the Scepter of Favor extended to her by the King. * In Job, the Anointing is Twice as much as he had before. * In Psalms, the Anointing is the Oil of Joy to Praise the Lord. * In Proverbs, the Anointing is Transferred down from Parents, and Transferred between Friends. * In Ecclesiastes, the Anointing makes Everything Beautiful in its Time. * In the Songs of Solomon, the Anointing is Love that cannot be quenched. * In Isaiah, the Anointing is the Coal of Fire that touched his lips. * In Jeremiah, the Anointing is the Fire shut up in my Bones. * In Lamentations, the Anointing is New Every Morning. * In Ezekiel, the Anointing is Visions from God. * In Daniel, the Anointing is Dreams from God. * In Hosea, the Anointing is the Drawing of Backsliders Back Home to the Lord. * In Joel, the Anointing is the Spirit of God Poured upon All Flesh, both Servants and Handmaidens. * In Amos, the Anointing is the Power of Agreement to Walk Together. * In Obadiah, the Anointing is the Fire and the Flame that Burns in the House of God. * In Jonah, the Anointing is the Grace to Repent. * In Micah, the Anointing is "But as for me, I am filled with Power, with the Spirit of The Lord. * In Nahum, the Anointing is The Book of Visions. * In Habakkuk, the Anointing is the Defining and Writing of the Vision. * In Zephaniah, the Anointing is the Restoration of the Fortunes of God's People.* In Haggai, the Anointing is the Urgency to Build God's House. * In Zechariah, the Anointing is the Oil Flowing from the Golden Lamp Stand into God's Leaders. * In Malachi, the Anointing is Correcting Divorce, and the Failure to Tithe. * In Matthew, the Anointing is the Star that hovered over the Wise Men and led them to Christ. * In Mark, the Anointing is the Power to go Ye, as well as the laying on of Hands to Heal the Sick and cast out devils. * In Luke, the Anointing is the Spirit of The Lord that is upon me to Preach, Heal, Deliver, Open, Comfort, and Gladden. * In John, the Anointing is Jesus' unveiling of the Spirit of Truth, the Comforter. * In Acts, the Anointing is the Tongues of Fire, Trances, Peter's Shadow, and Paul's Aprons that Heal. * In Romans, the Anointing is the Power that Grafts us into the Vine and the Grace beyond our fondest Imaginations. * In 1 Corinthians, the Anointing is the Nine Manifestation Gifts of the Spirit. * In 2 Corinthians the Anointing is the Ability to Endure Hardships for the cause of Christ.* In Galatians, the Anointing is the Working of Miracles through faith alone. * In Ephesians, the Anointing is the Five Fold Ministry of Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher. * In Philippians, the Anointing is the Exaltation of the Name that is above Every Name. * In Colossians, the Anointing is what made All Things and Holds All Things Together. * In 1 Thessalonians, the Anointing Gets the Church Ready to meet Our Savior. * In 2 Thessalonians, the Anointing is God's Control over the End Times. * In1 Timothy, the Anointing is the Gifts given to You through Prophesy, and the Laying on of Hands of the Leaders. * In 2 Timothy, the Anointing is the Spirit of Power, Love, and a Sound Mind. * In Titus, the Anointing is the Blessed Hope of His Glorious Appearing. * In Philemon, the Anointing is Sharing Your Faith. * In Hebrews, The Anointing is what made Jesus the Great High Priest, the Intercessor, the Mediator, and the Head. * In James, the Anointing is the Prayer of Faith that Heals the Sick. * In 1 Peter, the Anointing is the Skill to Feed and Lead the Flock of God. * In 2 Peter, the Anointing is Patience until the Lord Comes Back. * In 1 John, the Anointing is the Fervor inside the Believer to Know All Things. * In 3 John, the Anointing is Prosperity and Health. * In Jude, the Anointing is the Power that showed Enoch the Lord's second coming Millenniums in Advance. * In Revelations, the Anointing is what brings JESUS BACK AGAIN.
Last night an Angel asked if I would be willing to spend an hour in Heaven. I politely said, "Yes." As the Angel was showing me around we walked into a large room filled with Angels.
The Angel stopped in front of the first group of other Angels and said, "This is the receiving area. Here, all prayers and petitions to God are received."
As I looked around this area, it was very busy, with Angels gliding to and fro about the room; they were sorting out the prayers and petitions from all the Christians on earth. The volumes were so large and numerous that I could never imagine God hearing them let alone answering all of them.
From there we moved down a long hallway until we finally reached another room.
The Angel spoke to me saying, "This is the packaging and Delivery room. Here, the graces and blessings asked for by Christians are processed and delivered to the Children of God who asked and deserved them."
Once again I noticed how busy these Angels were. They were working hard and singing praise unto God. I saw that God was answering blessing after blessing and the Angels were flying to and fro from Heaven to the earth and back again by the millions.
We finally reached the farthest part of the long hallway. When we stopped we were at a very small station. To my great surprise, only one Angel was seated there, idly doing nothing. "This is the Acknowledgement area," the Angel admitted to me. He seemed quite embarrassed when I asked him, "Why is there is no work going on here?"
"This is a sad situation for us Angels," the Angel answered. "You see, after the Christians receive their blessings that they have prayed for, very few send back a thank you and hardly ever acknowledge that God has answered their prayers or petitions."
I asked the Angel, "How does one go about acknowledging God's blessings?"
"Simple," replied the Angel, "YOU THANK HIM. YOU JUST THANK GOD."
"What blessings should we acknowledge?" I asked.
The Angel stared at me for a moment the spoke, "If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep you are richer than 80% of the world. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish, you are among the top 8% of the worlds wealthiest."
"If you woke up this morning with more health than illness... you are more blessed then those who will not even survive this day, and will spend eternity in hell."
"If you have never experienced the fear of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation... you are ahead of 700 million people in the world."
"If you can attend a prayer meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death you are envied by, and more blessed than, three billion people in the world."
"If your parents are still alive and still married... you are very rare."
"If you can hold your head up and smile, you are not the norm; you're unique from those in doubt and despair."
As the Angel lead me back to earth one last word was spoken. "The lost and dying world has given more and has shown more love than all the churches put together. The Christians and the Churches only want to be blessed, and they never pay or repay a blessing to other Christians. They fight amongst themselves, backbite, gossip, slander and lie about each other. They only want to take and receive. They cry out, "Give to me, and give to build a new sanctuary, a new dinner hall, a monument to honor one of them, a plaque saying how giving they are. So how can they pay God a Blessing, if they can't pay each other one without receiving pat on the back?"
"Why won't they pay an evangelist to work the streets of the world? Instead evangelists have to go and beg at different Churches just to survive and fulfill their calling."
"A lot of Angels don't even want to take the blessings to earth anymore. We only do it to obey God. The Christians keep telling each other The Lord is returning soon, and still live a worldly life. All of us Angels have asked God why the Christian continue to build large sanctuaries, putting the members in more debt if Jesus is coming soon? Again if the Christians would help the street evangelists more humans would be saved and not spend eternity in hell. Why aren't Christians each one more concerned to share the gospel with those around them so that these people won't go to hell?"
This has left me with a lot to think about. I can say for myself I'm guilty of not THANKING GOD enough. How about you? I don't want to leave a legacy to myself; I want GOD to have THE GLORY... not me.
"After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition for a long time, He said to him, 'Do you want to be made well [whole]?'
The sick man answered Him, 'Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.'
Jesus said to him, 'Rise, take up your bed and walk.'
And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath. The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, 'It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.'
He answered them, 'He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'
Then they asked him, 'Who is the Man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk?'
But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, 'See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.'
The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath."
Let's face it - this is the side of Jesus that we love the most - the gentle healer who speaks a word of power to us and to our loved ones in the midst of our pain and suffering. We love to sing about our Good Shepherd who leads us into green pastures and beside still waters. And I suppose the longer we live, the more we recognize our need of His healing touch, His guiding and protecting hand.
So, why would Jesus ask this sick man if he wants to be made whole? It's obvious that he is desperately ill. In fact, he's been basically helpless for 38 years. And although this man's encounter with Christ happened almost 2000 years ago, his experience is not so foreign to our own. Many of us have lived with chronic pain or illness in ourselves or in our loved ones, and we know all too well that such suffering can last as long as or even longer than this sick man's helplessness. "Do you want to be made whole?" Surely Jesus doesn't need to ask such a ridiculous question.
But maybe this question isn't as silly as it sounds. Have you ever known someone of whom it could be said, "He enjoys poor health?" Don't we all know people who, while they certainly don't enjoy pain, at lest seem to take advantage of ill health to avoid some of the demands that life places on them? For some people, illness provides a convenient excuse to avoid work, or to escape from difficult social situations. For these people, helplessness has become a part of who they are. They wouldn't know what to do without it.
Of course, that doesn't seem to be the case for this sick man. After all, he has come to a place where miracles happen, a place in which, when the waters were stirred by an angel, other people had been healed if they were the first ones to step into the pool. He certainly seems to be doing all he can to get well.
But none of his efforts are enough, are they? How many times did he try to be the first one into the moving waters? How many times did he fail? We don't know. But after 38 years of illness, after countless attempts to heal himself, he is willing to admit to Jesus that he needs help. Now, the man certainly doesn't ask Jesus to perform a healing miracle. In fact, the text doesn't give us any reason to believe that he expects Jesus to be able to do anything but pick him up and place him into the water the next time it moves. But the fact is that Jesus' question prompts him to confess his need for help.
This is so hard for so many of us, isn't it? In our American spirit of self-reliance, none of us likes to admit physical weakness, even to ourselves, let alone to anyone else. None of us wants to be a burden on others - we hate being dependent. It often takes a lot of suffering before we face our helplessness. But admitting that we have a problem, admitting that we need help is often the first step toward physical health.
So, maybe Jesus isn't asking a silly question after all. Maybe Jesus was trying to confront this man not only with his need to be healed, but with his helplessness to tap into God's healing power by himself.
But notice that Jesus' question includes much more than just physical healing. He asks the man if he wants to be made whole. In the Hebrew mind, wholeness included, well, the whole of the human being - spiritual as well as physical. So whether this sick man realized it or not, Jesus' question probes much deeper than his inability to move himself into the water. Jesus is not only inquiring about the state of his body, but of his soul.
Now, believe it or not, there are people who, if they understood Jesus' question in such a spiritual way, would say that they don't in fact desire that sort of healing. Some people are honest enough to admit that they like the sin in their lives. They like their separation from God and they don't really want to let go of it. If Jesus were to ask them, "Do you want to be made whole," they would respond, "No, I don't want to be healed spiritually. I'm just fine the way I am."
Others who have read and believed the truth of the Scriptures may still be trying their hardest to cleanse themselves by doing all sorts of good works. Tough they call themselves Christians; they are, in their pride, still trying to make themselves acceptable to God. If Jesus were to ask them, "Do you want to be made whole," they would say, "Yes, but that's not going to happen, is it?"
"Do you want to be made whole?" No, it's not a silly question at all. It's a question that comes to all of us. It's a question that demands an answer.
But just how important is this question to us? After all, even if we are willing to admit that we are helpless sinners in need of a Savior, is spiritual healing anywhere near the top of our priority list?
Jesus certainly implies that it should be. For what does He say to the sick man after he is healed? "Don't sin so that nothing worse befalls you." What could that mean? What could possibly be worse than being physically incapacitated for 38 years? What could possibly be more important than bringing 38 years of pain and suffering to an end?
Well, think about it. Where is that sick man now? Sure, Jesus made him physically whole, but eventually his body wore out from something. Eventually he died. The physical healing that Jesus gave him, no matter how profound, was only temporary.
So, what could be worse than experiencing 38 years of physical pain? Being separated from God for an eternity. It's no wonder that spiritual healing is of primary importance to Jesus. It should be first on our priority list, too.
But in the real world, in our world, on what do we spend more of our regular prayer time - begging God to give us and our loved ones physical healing or to make us spiritually clean? Or think about it this way: what if you had to choose one or the other? Which would you choose - spiritual holiness or physical health?
For what if sickness in our lives or the lives of our loved ones is one of the ways that God was using to bring us greater holiness? What if God were to use suffering to bring us closer to Him, to encourage us to trust Him more? What if we knew that ending our suffering would make it less likely that we would draw closer to God? Would we still pray for relief?
Yes, we love to sing about our Good Shepherd, who leads us into green pastures and beside still waters. But what if He leads us instead through the valley of the shadow of death? Will we follow Him there: Would we rather have comfort, or would we rather have Jesus? It turns out that Jesus the healer is more challenging than we thought at first, isn't He?
Of course, Jesus was just as great a challenge to the people of His day, although for different reasons. After all, they thought they had everything all figured out. The Law of Moses clearly said that everyone was to take a day off on the Sabbath, and yet there could be no doubt that Jesus was healing people on the Sabbath. Jesus was even telling a man to carry away his unneeded sick bed as a trophy of his healing. The people of Jesus' day thought all this proved He was a sinner. Because Jesus didn't fit into all the expectations they had of their Messiah, they rejected Him, no matter how great His healing power was.
Of course, we don't have such a distorted view of Jesus, and not just because we have long since forgotten the blessing the Sabbath was intended to bestow. We've read the end of the story, and we know very well Who Jesus is - not a demon, but the very Son of God. We know Jesus was right to make Himself equal with God, because He is fully man and fully God. We may not understand that, but we know it to be true.
Okay, so are we any more comfortable with the Jesus we say we know so much about? Are we ready to embrace what Jesus' identity means for us? For if Jesus is God, then isn't His glory more important than our comfort? If Jesus is God, wouldn't our holiness be more important to us than our physical health? If Jesus is God, don't we have to do everything He says, instead of picking and choosing the parts of the Bible we agree with? If Jesus is God, don't we have to submit our understanding of the Scriptures to His, admitting that He knows more than we do?
Come to think of it, if Jesus is God, doesn't that mean we have to submit to His will for our lives and the lives of our loved ones? Don't we have to trust that He knows best, in spite of the sickness and the suffering that come our way? The people of Jesus' time sought to kill Him because He wasn't the kind of Messiah they expected. Are our expectations of Jesus any more realistic? Are we any more inclined to bow the knee to His authority? Or will we reject Jesus if He doesn't give us what we want?
But no matter how challenging Jesus is for us, we still find wonderful news in this passage. For look again at how this sick man answered Jesus' question. He didn't really answer it, did he? He didn't explicitly ask for help, did he? He didn't ask Jesus to make him physically well, and he certainly didn't ask Jesus to take away his sins.
In the same way, John tells us that the Jews, the people of God who studied the Scriptures and who tried to keep the Law of Moses, never really understood Jesus. When He didn't do the sorts of things they expected their Messiah to do, they rejected Jesus. They tried to kill Him.
But the good news is that Jesus brought healing into the sick man's life anyway. The good news is that Jesus gave this sick man what he really needed. The good news is that Jesus challenged this man to greater holiness, even though he didn't ask for it. The good news is that Jesus died to save, not people who recognized Him and who celebrated His coming, but to save people who despised Him and rejected Him, to save sinners like us.
The good news, therefore, isn't about anything we do or leave undone. The good news is what Jesus does for us and in us. The good news is that it is Jesus and the Father Who is working in us and through us, and yes, in spite of us. The good news is that Jesus is still working to bring healing into a sin-sick world.
So of course we want Jesus to be at work. Of course we want Jesus to bring physical healing to us and to our loved ones. But do we really want Him to bring spiritual healing into the lives of helpless sinners? Do we want Jesus to be working on us, remaking us into His own image? Do we really want to be made whole?
Is your prayer life in the doldrums? Do you find it difficult to pray, and have little enthusiasm for prayer? I have also had the same problem. Many times I find prayer difficult, and simply cannot find the words to pray. Then the Lord led me in a different direction which has changed everything. Please let me share it with you.
Get yourself a bound book with blank lined pages. It is better to have a bound book so the pages cannot come out. This will be your journal. You need one for your quiet times, and one for your prayer life. (In your quiet time journal you will write down those things that the Lord shows you or promises He gives to you, so that you can go back and review and not forget them. This is very important!)
The most effective prayers we can pray are when we pray God's word back to Him. So now I have a Prayer Scripture Journal. During my daily quiet times, when the Lord quickens a particular scripture to me to pray, I write it down in my journal. Each day, in addition to whatever book I happen to be reading for my quiet time, I also read some in the Psalms. I have found the Psalms to be rich in "prayer scriptures." At least once a week, sometimes more often, I take my Prayer Scripture Journal and sit down and go through every scripture in it and pray those scriptures back to the Lord, applying them to whatever situations I need to pray about at the time. This makes my prayer time effective, meaningful and fun. Let me give you some examples:
In the midst of the trials and struggles of everyday life, I frequently quote the following to myself:
"Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him,
For the help of His countenance." Psalm 45:5
Then I pray the following scripture to the Lord, asking Him to fulfill it in my life:
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7
As I admonish myself with the scripture in Psalm 45:5, and then pray asking the Lord to guard my heart and mind with His peace that surpasses all understanding, I find great help. This is a most effective weapon of warfare against the anxieties and fears the demons throw into us so frequently.
Here is another example. One of the angels once told Daniel that they have little to do here on earth because the Christians so rarely ask the Lord for their help, especially in battle. Instead, Christians just assume God will automatically protect them. I use the following almost daily:
"Bless the Lord, you His angels,
Who excel in strength, who do His word,
Heeding the voice of His word.
Bless the Lord all you His hosts,
You ministers of His, who do His pleasure." Psalm 103:20-21
I combine this scripture with the following:
"The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him,
And delivers them." Psalm 34:7
Scripture tells us that if we pray according to God's will, we KNOW for sure that our prayers are answered. So here we have proof. Psalm 103 tells us that the angels not only excel in strength, but they do God's word. Now God's word says that "The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, And delivers them." I pray this with confidence, asking the Lord to send His angels to surround our property and protect us and all our animals and everything on our property. I fear the Lord, God knows I do, and the angels DO God's word, so this is a prayer that I can be assured of having answered every time. Are you getting the idea? I also apply this scripture in Psalm 103 to many other things promised in God's word.
Have you lost a loved one? Are you in a deep grief process? This is a particularly hard time, because most often during a grief process we do not hear from the Lord nor feel near to Him. In fact, most often it feels like God is very far away from us. However, we can pray with confidence the following scripture KNOWING it will be fulfilled because it IS God's word!
"The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as have a contrite spirit." Psalm 34:18
It doesn't matter how far you FEEL you are from God in your grief, God's word promises that He IS near to you in a special way. Be confident in God's word as you pray it and ask Him to alter your emotions.
As you spend time with the Lord in His word on a daily basis, you will find that your prayer scripture journal will fill and become a very important part of your prayer life.
The problem with persecution is that it always comes as criticism and lies about us, and various problems. It never comes in a way that we can see it is a direct result of our being servants of Jesus Christ. In fact, Satan never accuses you of being a servant of Jesus, he always has others accuse you of serving Satan, or being a thief, or a liar, or many other things. Too often we allow such slander by others to engulf us in guilt because there is often a small grain of truth mixed in, especially if we have made a mistake of some sort, or an unwise decision. We must not allow the demons to fill our minds with thoughts of guilt, worthlessness and defeat. Just look at what God' word has to say about such persecution:
"Therefore, when we could no longer endure it, we thought it good to be left in Athens alone, and sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God, and our fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ, to establish you and encourage you concerning your faith, that no one should be shaken by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we are appointed to this. For, in fact, we told you before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation, just as it happened, and you know."
1 Thessalonians 3:1-4
When someone lies about you and spreads slander about you, don't get all upset!
Understand that as a servant of Jesus Christ you are appointed to endure such trials. Just be careful that you don't fall into the trap of sinful retaliation.
"See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all." 1 Thessalonians 3:15
Here is the encouraging part:
" . . . so that we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure, which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be accounted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer." 2 Thessalonians 1:4-5
To put this in terms easy to understand, when you are going through such trials and problems, recognize it for what it is - persecution for being a servant of Jesus Christ. And know this -
the very fact that you are facing such trials is "manifest evidence" that
God has judged you to be worthy to enter into His kingdom! Isn't that wonderful? This why Paul could write with such confidence:
"This is a faithful saying:
For if we died with Him,
We shall also live with Him.
If we endure,
We shall also reign with Him. 2 Timothy 2:11-12
From Daniel:
"The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley
Of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For you are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the
Presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever. Psalm 23
Life is a series of choices, of decisions. Success is basically a matter of making wise decisions. You make dumb decisions you fail in life. We make our decisions and then our decisions make us. Because every decision has a consequence, because we're human beings (which means we're prone to make mistakes) decision making can be very stressful because you don't know what's going to happen. Have you ever been afraid of making the wrong decision? Some of you right now are facing the stress of indecision. Just this week you've been facing a major issue. Should I hold on or should I let go? Should I get in or should I get out? Should I get married? Should I get a new job? Move? The stress of indecision begins to get to you.
The Bible says in James 1, that a double minded man is unstable in all of his ways. The Greek word for unstable literally means "stagger like a drunk." When you can't make up your mind in life you're going to stagger through life, bouncing off walls like a pinball in a pinball machine. Sometimes even after we make a decision we start second guessing ourselves - "Did I do the right thing?" We waver back and forth and that causes stress.
Where do we find the guidance we need? Is there an answer to the stress that comes from decision making? Yes. In the fourth phrase of Psalm 23:3b: "He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake."
The answer to the stress of decision making is to let God guide you. "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want." The good Shepherd not only feeds us, He leads us. He not only provides, He also guides. The good Shepherd not only protects, He also directs.
God has said, "I will guide you through this life if you trust Me."
He says, "I will guide you on the paths of righteousness." This just means the right path. Literally. Today, David would say, "He keeps me on track." It's easy to get off track in life. It's easy to become preoccupied with trivia, majoring on the minors. God is the one who can keep you on track in life.
Some of you say you've tried this. You've asked God to guide you, to lead and direct you. But it's more confusing than before. You can't figure it out. Why is knowing God's will so difficult? Is God playing games with us? Is He playing hide and go seek? No. Does He get some kind of perverse pleasure watching me struggle through the maze of life wondering what I'm supposed to do? Of course not. God wants to guide you. He wants to guide you more than you want to be guided. God wants you to know His will more than you want to know it.
One problem is we often look for the wrong thing when we're trying to find God's will.
Some people go for the mystical approach. They are looking for a feeling. They want to be swept off their feet by some emotion. They are looking for some emotional release so they can say, "That's how I know what God's will is!"
Others of you are more logical. You want a methodical approach to God's will, a mechanical approach. You want somebody to give you a recipe, a formula - nine ways to always know God's will for your life. Apply the recipe. God's will is not a recipe. Some people take a magical approach to God's will. They're looking for God to do some fantastic sign, He'll write it in the sky, call them on the phone, send them a telegram, etc. All of these ways lead to frustration and cause us to miss God's will. God's will is not a feeling, or a formula, or something He wants you to be frustrated or fearful about.
So how do I know it? How do I let God guide me in the right path?
I would like to share with you four things that the Bible teaches us about finding guidance from God.
1. I NEED TO ADMIT I NEED A GUIDE
This is tough. We're stubborn. The fact is that most of the time we don't want to follow God or anybody else whether we're a Christian or not. We want to go our own way. We don't want to admit we need direction, a guide. So we stumble and get confused.
Sheep, by nature, tend to wander, to get off the path. They need a good Shepherd and so do we. Isaiah 53:6 (LB) says it like this, "Everyone of us have strayed away like sheep! We have left God's paths to follow our own."
Sheep have poor vision. They can't see very far. That's why, on a path, they don't know if that path is going to go off a cliff, or lead them into a fire, they will fall right into the terrible situation. They need a shepherd, some to guide them. Likewise, you're like a sheep. You can't see the future. You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, much less next year or ten years from now. You don't even know what's going to happen this afternoon. God made you so that you don't see into the future no matter how much you try. Why did God do this? So that you would depend on Him. So He could be your guide.
The problem is because sheep don't see very well into the future we don't either. We tend to stumble. Proverbs 14:12 (NIV), "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." We've all made a decision that at the time seemed right but later on turned out to be wrong. Some paths lead to dead ends. They lead nowhere.
That's why we need the Good Shepherd who promises to lead us and guide us. But the first step is to just admit, "God, I need help."
Psalm 25:9 (NIV), "He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way." Humble means I admit I need a guide.
2. ASK IN FAITH FOR DIRECTIONS
Jesus said in Matthew 7:7 (NIV), "Ask and it shall be given, seek and ye shall find, knock and the door will be opened." God wants you to learn to ask.
James 1:5-6 (LB) tells us how to get wisdom, "If you want to know what God really wants you to do, ask Him, and He will gladly tell you, for He is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask Him; but . . . if you don't ask in faith, don't expect the Lord to give you any solid answer."
God is willing to give wisdom, He's anxious to give wisdom, He's waiting to give you wisdom, He wants to direct you in life, but you've got to have two things lined up; You've got to ask the right person - God. You ask with the right attitude - in faith, expecting an answer.
So many times we say, "God please guide me!" and we walk away not even waiting for guidance. We just immediately start to work. We say, "God, I want you to give me wisdom, help me make the right decision." But we don't really expect Him to do that. We think it all depends on us.
God has promised wisdom. He says if we trust Him and listen to Him, He will guide us. But we must ask in faith.
3. LISTEN FOR GOD'S RESPONSE
Right now, in this room, radio waves, television waves and cell phone signals bounce around in the air. There are messages going across this room right now. You can't see them but if you had a proper reception you could tune in and hear it. A radio can pick up the reception. Why? Because a radio was created by its creator to pick up radio waves. God designed you to hear His voice . There is a receiver in you to get guidance from God. He wouldn't have made you without it. If you are having trouble hearing God's voice, please get Rebecca's booklet shown on the home page of this web site titled
Learning How to Hear God's Voice.
If you don't hear God, then one of three things is true:
a) You have the receptor tuned off - you've never established a relationship with God.
b) You're away from it all the time; you're not listening to it.
c) You're on the wrong channel - if God's on channel 13 and you're on channel 4 you're not going to pick it up.
God speaks all the time; we're just not tuned in. Job 33:14 (NIV), "God does speak - sometimes one way and sometimes another - even though people may not understand it." Why wouldn't we understand it? Because we're not tuned in. What cannels does God use? There are many that He uses to speak to us. He doesn't always speak in the same way.
The primary way that God speaks is through the Bible. A lot of direction you need for life is already right here. God says life is a journey and He's given us a road map. The Bible is God's guide book, a road map, and if you don't read it you're going to get lost. It will help you negotiate the mazes and gives the directions you need in life. You need to read this book everyday. If you don't, it's like having the phone off the hook. God can't get through to you.
God also speaks to us through prayer. Prayer is our connection to God. We need to stay in daily contact with God. It's real easy to get off track. If you're out of fellowship with God for a day, two days, three days or longer you can really get your trajectory off. You're going to end up in a whole different place than God intended for you to end up in life. You need to stay in touch so He can make constant corrections to our course.
God speaks through teachers, godly Bible teachers. Have you even been in a crowd like at church and you feel the teacher is speaking directly to you? In that moment God is speaking directly to you. He's speaking through teachers. Am I saying that God speaks through me? Yes, I have no doubt that sometimes God uses words I say to speak to other people. But God does that through every Christian. God speaks through you. If you'll stay in tune with Him and learn His word, sometimes God will use you to say things to people that He wants to say to them.
God uses circumstances to speak. He uses pain. God whispers to us in our pleasure, but He shouts to us in our pain. God gets your attention when you're in pain. Proverbs 20:30 (GN),
"Sometimes it takes a painful situation to make us change our ways."
God is speaking all the time. Do you have your ears on? Are you listening? If you listen, tune in, He will lead you on the right path. If you don't get in tune with God on a regular daily, moment by moment basis, you're going to miss God's path for your life - the right path, the path He made you for.
4. TRUST GOD WHEN I DON'T UNDERSTAND
In the Old Testament when the children of Israel were finally set free from Egypt after 400 years of slavery, Moses had gone to Pharaoh and said, "Let my people go." Finally, Pharaoh said he had had enough, "get out!" They left. The whole nation started marching out to freedom and the first thing they came to was the Red Sea. On one side of them was a mountain range that is uncrossable. On the other side was another mountain range that was uncrossable. In front of them was the Red Sea. Behind them, in hot pursuit, was the Egyptian army that had changed its mind and decided to come and slaughter them all. What was God going to do now? The path looked like a dead end. But God knew exactly what He wanted to do. He was preparing them for a miracle. He was preparing them for deliverance. He had not made a mistake because He could see what they could not see. He opened the Red Sea and they walked through. Years later the Israelites looked back and in Psalm 77:19 (LB) they said,
"Your road led by a pathway through the sea - a pathway no one knew was there!"
Some of you are facing some dead ends right now - financial, emotional, and relational - but it's not really a wall; it's a door. God can see a path that you don't know about. The path you're on right now may be one that is dark, despairing, discouraging, and you feel depressed about it and you think there is no way it will work out. It is impossible. If you will keep on moving in faith, trust God even when you don't see a way, He can make a way. When you think it's not going to happen, if you'll keep on walking on that path God has put you on, it will become clearer and clearer, brighter and brighter, and more understandable the longer you go, the longer you grow, the more you mature and the more you learn to be like Christ.
Life's a journey. Proverbs 4:18 (NIV), "The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter till the full light of day." When dawn comes up, is it fully light? No. But as you go on in your life it will become clearer and clearer. One day you will stand in the full light of eternity and see why God chose that path particularly for you.
What do I do in the meantime? You do what Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV) says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."
Friends God knows what He's doing. God knows what's best for you. You cannot see what He sees. He sees the future. He can see the end result. You can't. all those problems, heartaches, difficulties and delays, thorns in the flesh, physical ailments, all the things you ask "why" about, one day it's going to be clear in the light of God's love. But in the meantime, lean not on your own understanding, Trust in God.
Psalm 37:23 (NLT), "The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives."
The ultimate question is this: whose path are you going to follow in life? Your career track or God's plan for your life? I want to warn you and be honest with you. If you say, "God, I want to get back on the path that You plan for me and I want to live the way You want me to live," the path of righteousness is not necessarily the convenient path.
It is not necessarily the easy path. It is not necessarily the most popular path. It won't be. God will want you to go differently from the crowd. It is not necessarily the path in life that is going to make you the most money. It is not the path that is going to be the least risky.
So why should you follow God's path?
"In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality."
Proverbs 12:28 (NIV). God says, you go My way, you get the good life on earth and eternal life in heaven. You go your way, the way that seems right unto man, but it ends in death.
Some of you have sensed God speaking to you today. What does God have to say to you today? Hebrews 3:15 (NIV)
"Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart." The good news is that no matter how long you've ignored God and His voice, He still loves you, He still wants to guide you and He still wants to have a relationship with you. It's your choice.
What does it mean to walk with God? What does walking with God involve? How does walking with God benefit me? Does it put food on my table, clothe me, protect me and bring me favor and good things? Is there any benefit in walking with God? What if I do my own thing and never walk with God's instructions? These and many more questions will be addressed in this teaching.
God is the author of life and the creator of all humans. He made the first man and made the woman out of his ribs and gave her to him to be his wife. He blessed and empowered them to be fruitful and fill the Earth. Billions have walked on this earth from Adam and Eve. The Bible also reveals that God created man for a purpose - for God's pleasure.
"Thou are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for they pleasure they are and were created."
Revelation 4:11, KJV
The Bible also teaches us that there is a destiny for every man on earth. God has plans and purposes for all He has made. To fulfill purpose, one has to walk in partnership with God to get to his God given destiny.
"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.'"
Jeremiah 29:11-13, NIV
"This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?"
Isaiah 14:26-27, NIV
"Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets."
Amos 3:7, NIV
God created man for His own pleasure and has made plans for each person on the earth leading to the total fulfillment of all His purpose for each person and His general purpose for the whole earth. For a man to succeed, he has to get close to God and identify His plan and purpose for his life and make sure that he plugs into the plan and purpose of God for his life and fulfill it.
What It Means To Walk With God
- Walking with God is partnering with God to become what God had originally planned for your life.
- Walking with God is acknowledgement that one cannot live life successfully without the help of God.
- Walking with God is connecting to the source of power, wisdom and inspiration to live life to the fullest.
- Walking with God is believing in and living by the words of God.
- Walking with God is cherishing and giving attention to learning the ways of God and walking in them diligently
- Walking with God is living in and walking by faith in God and His word.
- Walking with God is loving and revering God with the whole of your heart, soul, and strength.
- Walking with God is trusting God and not leaning on your own understanding and abilities.
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6, NIV
- Walking with God is not being wise in your own eyes, shunning evil and fearing God.
"Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones." Proverbs 3:7-8, NIV
Requirements For Walking With God
Consecration
Any man who wishes to walk with God must consecrate, that is, dedicate, himself to living and pleasing God with his life. Consecration is an act of appreciation of the love and mercy of God shown us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary.
Consecration is a resolution, determination and diligent pursuit of a close and intimate walk with God and faithfulness in following God and His principles in every area of life. This is very essential to a successful walk with God on a daily basis.
"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:1-3, NIV
Daily fellowship with God through reading, meditating on the word of God and fervent prayers.
Strength is drawn daily in the presence of God through constant and vibrant fellowship with God. In the presence of God, our fears die. In the presence of God our weaknesses are exposed and dealt with by God. In God's presence, sin gives way for righteousness to reign. In God's presence greatness is built into us so we can manifest it to the world. In His presence we receive instruction and direction for our life purpose. In His presence we become stronger and tougher than the challenges of life. In His presence confusion gives way to light and clarity of plan and purpose. In His presence ideas that will make us great and get us out of a tight corner are received. Great men are not made in the open but in the presence of God.
Elijah was made in the presence of God. In the presence of God he received the mandate and boldness to close the heavens refusing rain to fall for three and a half years, and to confront Ahab and the prophets of Baal and Ashtoreth at the expiration of the three and a half years period.
"And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, 'As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.'" 1 Kings 17:1, KJV
Joshua who took over from Moses was given the secret of successful living by God. It is reading, meditating and acting on God's word.
"This book of the law shall not depart out of they mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make they way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success." Joshua 1:8
After Jesus spent a whole night alone with God, he chose his Apostles from His disciples. He got direction and clearance on whom to choose from spending time in God's presence.
"One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor." Luke 6:12-16, NIV
Diligent application of the word of God in every area of life.
Walking with God involves a diligent application of the word of God in every area of life. We are not to be hearers only, but doers of the word of God. It is in the application of the word of God that we activate the power of God to make good His word in our lives. No application, no fulfillment of the word.
"My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man's whole body." Proverbs 4:20-22, NIV
"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." James 1:22, KJV
Humility and a contrite spirit.
Humility is the pathway to greatness. Humility goes before honor. Anyone who wants to make it with God, must be humble. Humility speaks of you accepting that you are who God's word says you are, and never claiming you are not. If God's word says you are a sinner, you accept it, go on to make correction. If it condemns your thoughts and actions, you don't deny it, but repent immediately. You don't argue with God. You just believe Him and repent when it is required.
A contrite heart is a repentant heart. A heart that is always willing to turn away from an evil behavior and correct a wrong in his life. A contrite heart does not drag his feet in making amends and correcting his ways.
"This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at My word."
Isaiah 66:2, NIV
Prompt response and obedience to the instructions of God.
God wants His people to always obey Him and promptly too. If you are to walk with God, you need to have a listening ear to whatever He will be saying to you, and be quick to obey. He loves and will esteem those who tremble at His word - those who are quick to obey Him.
"This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at My word."
Isaiah 66:2, NIV
Self-discipline and holy living.
Self-discipline is all about self-control in manifestation. Self-discipline is the ability to bring your thoughts, emotions and life under control so the Holy Spirit can dominate and fully manifest the life of God that is inside you already. Never submit to any negative emotion or habit. Break all evil habits and live holy and you will experience the power and love of God in full. Train yourself to say "no" to what God condemns and say "yes" to what God wants.
"Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith." 1 Timothy 1:18-19, NIV
"Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses." 1 Timothy 6:12, NIV
Benefits of Walking With God
- Walking with God secures God's support and partnership in the journey of life and fulfillment of purpose.
- Walking with God guarantees guidance and accurate direction in life.
- Walking with God procures God's favor and abundant blessings upon a man and his pursuits.
- Walking with God keeps the heaven over a man's head open for life, for wisdom, inspiration and blessings to keep flowing.
- Walking with God keeps a man's life clean and free from sin, and all that angers and puts God off from a man, and causes the prosperity power of God to keep working in a man's life.
- Walking with God brings joy, happiness and fulfillment.
- Walking with God makes a success out of every man who practices it.
Scriptures on Prosperity and Walking With God
"He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy. Blessed is the man who always fears the LORD, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.
Proverbs 28:13-14, NIV
"A greedy man stirs up dissension, but he who trusts in the LORD will prosper."
Proverbs 28:25, NIV
"For, whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech. He must turn from evil and do good; he must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil." 1 Peter 3:10-12, NIV
"Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful."
Joshua 1:8, NIV
"Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers."
3 John 2, NKJV
Conclusion
Walking with God is a necessity if joy and fulfillment is on your mind. Love the Lord enough to walk with Him. It takes love to walk with God. It takes understanding to have love for God. It takes reading, studying and meditating on God to love Him. Let love well up in your heart so much that you cannot but walk with Him with the whole of your heart, soul, and body. Walk with Him every day and do it with joy and dedication.
I (Rebecca) have had a struggle with fear my whole life. I was born to parents who were
ruled by fear. I was raised in a legalistic church where every member was controlled by
fear. Fear of the terrible consequences if we did not obey our leaders in everything.
After I finally pulled out of that church and was later called by God into the area of
spiritual warfare, fear was once again my worst enemy. I only began to have some
victory after I learned that demon spirits can directly inject fear into us, and began to
rebuke them in the name of Jesus Christ. Years later the Lord dealt with me once again
and showed me that the final cure for fear is TRUST. Trust that God has a reason good
enough for whatever He allows to come into our life, and that He WILL work all things
together for good for His servants.
A major break through came when I learned to go into God's court room as the absolute
and final Judge of the universe. I then asked Him to break the yoke of fear off of my life
at once and forever. The Lord did so, and I was marvelously free from fear for several
years. I wrote about this in Unbroken Curses and Standing On The Rock.
However, slowly, as the years have passed, Satan has again very slowly, insidiously,
placed that yoke of fear back onto my life. Once again it has become a daily struggle.
This should not be so because God's Word says:
"But God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound
mind." 2 Timothy 1:7
Do you struggle with fear? Do you wake up in the night hours and worry about a
multitude of things? Do you fear for the future - how are you going to find a job, how
are you going to find the money to meet bills, what is happening with your children, etc.?
Recently, in my quite time, the Lord showed me another key to dealing with fear. Not
only did I have to go back into God's court room and ask Him to once again force Satan
and his demons into obedience to make them stop tormenting me with fear, but I came
across a scriptures in Philippians.
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with
thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God which
surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7
Peace is the opposite of fear. Life here on earth is uncertain and full of difficulties. Paul
told the Philippians:
"For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but
also to suffer for His sake. Philippians 1:29
" . . . and not in anyway terrified by your adversaries, which is to them proof of
perdition, but to you of salvation and that from God." Philippians 1:28
Suffering is painful! I hurts! Satan and the demons want to keep us in bondage to
the fear of suffering. But you can stand on the promise that "the peace of God which
surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
Stand on this promise and ask God to fulfill it in your life. He will be faithful to do so.
Then, stand and proclaim:
"Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him.
For the help of His countenance." Psalm 42:5
The disciples had already been saved before the day or Pentecost.
"Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because
your names are written in heaven." Luke 10:20
The resurrected Christ had breathed on them imparting the Holy Spirit into them, and
said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." The words translated "receive ye" mean words
spoken by one in authority, a command that is obeyed immediately.
"So Jesus said to them again, 'Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.' And when
He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit." John 20:21-22
They had already utterly renounced any idea of living for themselves and devoted their
lives to the reaching of the world. The Lord Jesus had commissioned them to "make
disciples of all nations." (Matthew 28:19) But they still lacked the promised power
to fulfill their task! The Lord's last promise to them was "You shall receive POWER
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you . . . and you shall be witnesses unto Me."
(Acts 1:8) They were told to wait until they were endued with power "from on high"
before commencing their work. (Luke 24:29) They had met the Lord; they knew Him
as Savior; but they did not have the power of the Holy Spirit to do His work. Just as
the disciples needed the additional infilling of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Holy
Spirit, so we have the same need today.
Even a cursory reading of revival history is convincing. Among all God's servants that
have deeply affected their generations there is a harmony of deeper experience with
Him. Terms used to describe this power have been as different as their denominations,
conversion experiences and education; but the experience itself has always been
essentially the same. As there is practical agreement among evangelical Christians
with regard to the way of salvation, so there is a practical agreement among those who
believe in a deeper Christian experience than conversion. In a court of law, testimonials
are rejected if all those testifying give the same evidence in the exact same words and
manner; it would prove there had been collusion among the witnesses. But if each
witness uses his own words and way of presentation, yet their testimony agrees in
essential facts, the evidence is convincing. And the evidence of history is this; no man or
woman has ever been used of God until they had first discovered the secret of power with
God.
Christians have called this experience by many different names. Men like D.L.
Moody, R.A. Torry, C.G. Finney, William Booth, Andrew Murray, George Witfield,
A.B. Simpson and others have called it "the baptism of the Holy Spirit;" others, like
G. Cambell Morgan, Robert Murray McCheynes, Praying Hyde and C.H. Spurgeon
have preferred "the filling with the Holy Spirit." Some have called it "empowering"
others "the anointing of God;" but the question is not "Can you name it?" but - "Do you
HAVE it?"
Billy Graham, in his message "How to be Filled with the Spirit" Put it this way:
"The very fact that we believe one thing and some of us another does not do away with the fact that
GOD says - 'Be filled with the Spirit.' I believe that is the greatest need of the church of Jesus Christ
today. Everywhere I go, I find God's people lack something; God's people are hungry for something.
Many of us say that our Christian experience is not all that we expected. We have oft-recurring
defeat in our lives, and as a result across the country from coast to coast there are hundreds of
Christian people hungry for something we do not have . . . I am persuaded that our desperate need
tonight is not a new organization, a new movement - or even a new method. We have enough of
these. I believe the greatest need tonight is that men and women who profess the Name of Jesus
Christ be filled with the Spirit! We are trying to do the work of God without supernatural power. It
cannot be done! When God told us to go and preach the Gospel to 'every creature' and to evangelize
the world, He provided supernatural power for us. That power is given to us by the Holy Spirit. It
is more powerful than atomic power . . . It is more potent than any explosive made by man. Do you
know anything of the power of the Holy Spirit?" (Greater L.A. Crusade, 1949)
This enduement of power is NOT the receiving of the Holy Spirit in salvation. When a
man is truly born again his conversion is dependent on and effected by the Holy Spirit
in response to his repentance and committal to Christ. (John 3:5-6, 7:37-39, 14:16-17,
20:21-22, Romans 5:5, 8:9-16, I Corinthians 2:10-12, 3:16, 6:19, 12:3, II Corinthians
1:21-22, 5:5, 6:16, Galatians 3:2, 4:6, 5:25, Ephesians 1:13-14, 2 Timothy 1:14, I John
2:27, 3:24, 4:13) But this conversion To Christ is not to be confused with a consecration
to the great work of world evangelism and the enduement of power to carry out this task.
RA. Torrey, world-renowned evangelist and Bible teacher of the last century, explained it
this way: "The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a definite experience of which one may and
ought to know whether he has received it or not . . . the baptism of the Holy Spirit is an
operation of the Holy Spirit distinct from, subsequent and additional to His regenerating
work. In regeneration there is an impartation of life, and the one who received it is
saved; in the baptism of the Holy Spirit there is an impartation of power and the one who
received it is fitted for service." (What the Bible Teaches)
The word "baptism" used by Torrey here is a symbolic term in scripture that signifies (1)
complete exposure and cleansing from all sin and (2) an overwhelming sense of God's
presence and power to energize for Christian service. By following the example of the
Lord Jesus in water baptism, many Christians understand this symbol in the first sense
but have never known it experimentally in the second sense - a clothing of energy for
Christian service. Without this sense of covering, surrounding and energizing of the
Holy Spirit, Christian work and witness is fruitless, joyless and practically impossible.
In CONVERSION, the soul is drawn by the Holy Spirit, God's own agency of salvation.
(Proverbs 1:23, John 16:7-11) The Bible reveals that the Holy Spirit, Himself God, is
a Divine Person Who carries out the executive work of the Godhead. (Matthew 28:19,
Isaiah 11:2, John 14:26, 15:26, Acts 8:29 & 39, 10:19, 13:2, 15:28, 16:7, Romans 8:9,
I Corinthians 12:11, 2 Corinthians 13:14) This conversion experience is a personal
transaction between the soul and the Lord Jesus relating to its own salvation. To
accomplish this, the Holy Spirit first convicts of sin, then points the convicted sinner to
Jesus, magnifying Him and making His sacrificial death real to the penitent. (Gen. 6:3, Psalm 51:12-13, Mic. 3:8, Zech 12:10, John 16:8-11, Acts 2:37) In salvation, the soul
yields up its doubts, rebellion, self-righteousness and its pride; it accepts Christ as Lord
and Savior, trusts Him and supremely loves Him. The sinner's pride is humbled; his
selfish purpose of life is finished; he is cleansed and all his guilty past is forgiven. The
Holy Spirit enters his life there to abide in settled union and baptizes him into the Body
of Christ, the Church.
The Purpose of Power
The 120 gathered expectantly in the Upper room on the day of Pentecost knew what they
were waiting for. This energizing experience was to be an overwhelming sense of God's
Presence. It was to mean even more to them in terms of intimate, loving communion
with God than the physical Presence of Jesus had meant on earth. When Jesus was here
on earth physically He had been WITH them; now by this anointing of the Holy Spirit
He would not only be back with them, but also welling up inside them and all around
them! They were to be utterly flooded in the sense of His closeness and power. They
had already been given one "power" - that of legal right or authority, to become the
sons of God (John 1:12). Now they were to have "dunamis" (Greek for power, strength,
might, energy, explosive enabling power) - to act, think and LIVE like their Lord with
the outpouring energy of Heaven! (Luke 24:49, Romans 15:13, I Corinthians 2:4, I
Thessalonians 1:5)
In this empowering, the soul is introduced BY the Lord Jesus TO the Holy Spirit. The
role of Christ and the Spirit are thus reversed from that of salvation. The Holy Spirit has
introduced the soul to Christ; now Christ makes the indwelling Presence of His Spirit real
to the believer. The climax of this energizing process is the flooding up of God's reality
in the soul like a fountain, until the believer is utterly immersed in His power and love.
Once initially understood and experienced, this is to be the continuous experience of each
believer - deeper and deeper baptisms or fillings with the Holy Spirit as we look to Him
in faith for delivering and transforming power. (Acts 2:4, 4:8 & 31, 6:3, 7:55, 90:17,
11:24, 13:9, 13:52, Ephesians 3:18, 5:18, I John 1:4)
SYMBOLS and emblems of the Holy Spirit used in Scripture describe the results of
a Spirit-filled life. WATER is an emblem; (Exodus 17:6, John 7:38-39) it cleanses,
fertilizes and refreshes; it is abundant and freely given. So the Holy Spirit cleanses,
brings life, revives and refreshes the soul - He too, was fully and freely given when the
risen Christ was glorified. FIRE is an emblem. (Acts 2:3, Luke 3:16) Fire purifies,
illumines and searches. The Holy Spirit accomplishes what we cannot do ourselves.
He searches our hearts, reveals our sins and purifies us. The WIND is a third emblem.
(John 3:8, Acts 2:2) it is independent, felt in its effect, powerful and reviving. God the
Holy Spirit is independent in His operation - He is not controlled by anyone! He moves
with power, His presence is felt and how He revives the work of Christ when He comes
to the drooping members of the church! The DOVE (John 1:32) teaches us the work
of the Sprit in making us gentle, innocent and loving; the VOICE of the Spirit is in His
teaching, guiding and warning ministry. The SEAL is His work to impress, secure and
make us Christ's own.
Receiving Power
The Holy Spirit is the gift of the Risen Christ. His anointing filling, empowering work is
a baptism of love that gives power to make Jesus real to you and known to others. The
most impressive evidence of this power is the ability to make the things of God real; a
man filled with the Spirit of God becomes deeply, intensely believable. The Holy Spirit
works to impress the heart and seal the preached word of God with conviction. When
an empowered man speaks or prays, his words strike fire. His words stick in the heart
like darts of love. Now, how is it with you, beloved? Have you obeyed God's command
to be filled with the Spirit? His gift is offered to every child of God who is willing to
simply meet these conditions:
HONESTY - Do you really WANT God's power? God will not give His gifts for self
glory (to make you a "great" man or woman or to "build up your church" etc.) He will
not grant His power so that selfish pride may be exalted. (Acts 8:18-24, James 4:3) He
does not empower to free from trouble, to make you happy or even to make you holy,
although of course these often follow a Spirit filled life. He fills only for His glory, and
that must be your motive.
CLEANLINESS - Are you in dead earnest to be used of God? William booth, founder
of the Salvation Army and man of God said: "Before we go on our knees to receive the
baptism of fire, let me beg of you to see to it that your souls are in harmony with the
will and the purpose of the Holy Spirit. See to it that the channel of communication by
which the Holy Spirit must be received is kept open. It is no use praying, singing, or
even believing if there still is some sin you are holding or even refusing to give up. Out
with it; give it not rest; give it up. Destroy your idols and stoppages with an everlasting
destruction. Let there be free communication between you and God. Let all go and you
shall be flooded before you rise from your knees . . . the world shall feel the power of it,
and God shall have all the glory." (Salvation Soldiery)
The GIFT of the Holy Spirit is neither earned nor deserved. The gift of the power of
the Holy Spirit cannot be bought or sold. (Acts 8:9-22) Simon the sorcerer tried to buy
the power to impart the gift of the Holy Spirit. He was wanting to buy a ministry. You
cannot buy your way into a ministry! It is a call and gift from God. He is not given
on the basis of "special attainment": in holiness with God. The gift of the Holy Spirit
is primarily for POWER; a man who receives this empowering has no more Christian
character immediately after his experience than he had before. The fullness of the
Spirit is a SOURCE of help to BUILD a Christian character, and is certainly not given
BECAUSE of a high degree of consecration to Christ. Therefore, He is to be invited
to energize only on basis of the clear promises of God, and with the condition that all
obvious sin is forsaken. (Galatians 3:2) Scripture shows that God is more than willing
to give the Holy Spirit to His children and longs to do so. You do not have to beg and
plead with your heavenly Father to obtain this promised power, the very fact that He not
only promises but commands us to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18) is the highest
possible evidence that we can receive it. For God to command is equivalent to a certainty
that we can obtain, for He does not command unless we have power to obey. Once the dams of conscious hindrances are swept away, you may not even have to ask God to fill you. In fact, you will probably not be able to keep Him from doing so!
OBEDIENCE - When you have dealt with all obstacles, you must receive by faith from
the hand of God. There is nothing to be afraid of in receiving God's power. The Lord
Jesus said: "If you, being evil know how to give GOOD gifts to your children, how
much more shall your Father which is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask
Him? (Luke 11:13) If you come as a little child in love to your Father, do you think
He will give you something to harm or frighten you? (Luke 11:11-12) Don't you think
you can trust God to keep you from excess and extravagance? The Holy Spirit's power
is a LOVE gift for every child of God. You need not be afraid to fully open your life to
His love. If there is something you are not willing to have happen, some personal point
of pride you hold, or some right you don't think God need ask you to surrender, be sure
that VERY THING will be the reason why you still have no power with God or man.
Obedience is better than sacrifice. (I Samuel 15:22)
DON'T LIMIT the work of the Holy Spirit in your life. Unfortunately, so much
emphasis has been put on the gift of speaking in tongues, that too many Christians stop
seeking the power of the Holy Spirit once they have received this gift. Therefore they
never receive the full endowment of the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. This is
the reason so many so-called "Spirit-filled Christians," are actually lukewarm Christians.
Speaking in tongues is a gift of the Holy Spirit, it is NOT the essence of His power. The
baptism of the Holy Spirit will bring CHANGE into our lives. We will no longer desire
sinful things like we once did. We will hunger and thirst for God's Word. Our desire
and delight will be to read and study and meditate on the scriptures. Our desire will be
to know and experience God. We will UNDERSTAND the scriptures as we read them
because the Holy Spirit will be teaching us directly. Others will LISTEN to us when we
tell them about God because of the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Don't settle for
anything less!
Now dare you do it? If you are willing and obedient, God will meet you! Don't try
to copy another experience; get yours from God and you will know it is real. Accept
His gift and trust Him NOW for power. Let the sense of His love well up in your heart
until it floods and fills you with praise. He may come quietly as a river or mightily like
a flood; but you shall know it has happened and you will never be the same again. Go
now, as a little child, simply ASK God for power from on high, and let Him make your
life a miracle! Don't seek the power of the Holy Spirit from a man or a ministry, seek it
directly from God.
I (Rebecca) get so many letters and requests for prayer from Christians who are struggling with repeated temptations. They find they fall over and over again. This is especially true with such things as sexual sin and pornography. The key to dealing with repeated sins is found in two scriptures:
"Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God;' for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death." James 1:13-15
"No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make a way of escape, that you may be able to beat it." 1 Corinthians 10:13
The first step is to recognize and acknowledge before God that you desire to do those things! Then ask the Lord to help you to find a way avoid the things which bring up the desires in you to sin.
Secondly, recognize that God has given you a promise in 1 Corinthians 10:13. God makes a way of escape. Ask the Lord to show you the specific way of escape He has made for you and use it! The way of escape will be different for each person, and each type of sin, but it is there. The problem is we don't see it. You must seek the Lord to show you the way of escape He has made just for you. You won't want to use it, but do it anyway.
Let's face it - this is the side of Jesus that we love the most - the gentle healer who speaks a word of power to us and to our loved ones in the midst of our pain and suffering. We love to sing about our Good Shepherd Who leads us into green pastures and beside still waters. And I suppose the longer we live, the more we recognize our need of His healing touch, His guiding and protecting hand.
So, why would Jesus ask the sick man if he wants to be made whole? It's obvious that he was desperately ill. In fact, he had been basically helpless for 38 years. And although this man's encounter with Christ happened almost 2000 years ago, his experience is not so foreign to our helplessness. "Do you want to be made whole?" Surely Jesus doesn't need to ask such a ridiculous question.
But maybe this question isn't as silly as it sounds. Have you ever known someone of whom it could be said, "He enjoys poor health?" Don't we all know people who, while they certainly don't enjoy pain, at least seem to take advantage of ill health to avoid some of the demands that life places on them? For some people, illness provides a convenient excuse to avoid work, or to escape from difficult social situations. For these people, helplessness has become a part of who they are. They wouldn't know what to do without it.
Of course, that doesn't seem to be the case for this sick man. After all, he had come to a place where miracles happen, a place in which, when the waters were stirred by an angel, other people had been healed if they were the first ones to step into the pool. He certainly seems to be doing all he can to get well.
But none of his efforts are enough, are they? How many times did he try to be the first one into the moving waters? How many times did he fail? We don't know. But after 38 years of illness, after countless attempts to heal himself, he is willing to admit to Jesus that he needs help. Now, the man certainly doesn't ask Jesus to perform a healing miracle. In fact, the text doesn't give us any reason to believe that he expects Jesus to be
able to do anything but pick him up and place him into the water the next time it moves. But the fact is that Jesus' question prompts him to confess he need for help.
This is so hard for so many of us, isn't it? In our American spirit of self-reliance, none of us likes to admit physical weakness, even to ourselves, let alone to anyone else. None of us wants to be a burden on others - we hate being dependent. It often takes a lot of suffering before we face our helplessness. But admitting that we have a problem, admitting that we need help is often the first step toward physical health.
So, maybe Jesus isn't asking a silly question after all. Maybe Jesus was trying to confront this man not only with his need to be healed, but with his helplessness to tap into God's healing power by himself.
But notice that Jesus' question includes much more than just physical healing. He asks the man if he wants to be made whole. In the Hebrew mind, wholeness included, well, the whole of the human being - spiritual as well as physical. So whether this sick man realized it or not, Jesus' question probes much deeper than his inability to move himself into the water. Jesus is not only inquiring about the state of his body, but of his soul.
Now, believe it or not, there are people who, if they understood Jesus' question in such a spiritual way, would say that they don't in fact desire that sort of healing. Some people are honest enough to admit that they like the sin in their lives. They like their separation from God and they don't really want to let go of it. If Jesus were to ask them, "Do you want to be made whole," they would respond, "No, I don't want to be healed spiritually. I'm fine just the way I am."
Others who have read and believed the truth of the Scriptures may still be trying their hardest to cleanse themselves by doing all sorts of good works. Though they call themselves Christians, they are, in their pride, still trying to make themselves acceptable to God. If Jesus were to ask them, "Do you want to be made whole," they would say, "Yes, but I'm trying as hard as I can to do it myself."
Others have come to the point in their spiritual lives that this sick man reached in his physical life - the point of realizing their helplessness. But instead of experiencing the victory of surrender to Christ, these people remain miserable in their sin, unable to rid themselves of habits and personality traits that they despise. Instead of confidently trusting Christ, they have given themselves over to despair. If Jesus were to ask them, "Do you want to be made whole," they would say, "Yes, but that's not going to happen, is it?"
"Do you want to be made whole?" No, it's not a silly question at all. It's a question that comes to all of us. It's a question that demands an answer.
But just how important is this question to us? After all, even if we are willing to admit that we are helpless sinners in need of a savior, is spiritual healing anywhere near the top of our priority list?
Jesus certainly implies that it should be. For what does He say to the sick man after he is healed? Don't sin so that nothing worse befalls you. What could that mean? What could possibly be worse than being physically incapacitated for 38 years? What could possibly be more important than bringing 38 years of pain and suffering to an end?
Well, think about it. Where is that sick man now? Sure, Jesus made him physically whole, but eventually his body wore out from something. Eventually he died. The physical healing that Jesus gave him, no matter how profound, was only temporary.
So, what could be worse than experiencing 38 years of physical pain? Being separated from God for an eternity. It's no wonder that spiritual healing is of primary importance to Jesus. It should be first on our priority list, too.
But in the real world, in our world, on what do we spend more of our regular prayer time - begging God to give us and our loved ones physical healing or to make us spiritually clean? Or think about it this way: what if you had to choose one or the other? Which would you choose - spiritual holiness or physical health?
For what if sickness in our lives or the lives of our loved ones is one of the ways that God was using to bring us greater holiness? What if God were to use suffering to bring us closer to Him, to encourage us to trust Him more? What if we knew that ending our suffering would make it less likely that we would draw closer to God? Would we still pray for relief?
Yes, we love to sing about our Good Shepherd, who leads us into green pastures and beside still waters. But what if He leads us instead through the valley of the shadow of death? Will we follow Him there? Would we rather have comfort, or would we rather have Jesus? It turns out that Jesus the healer is more challenging than we thought at first, isn't He?
Of course, Jesus was just as great a challenge to the people of His day, although for different reasons. After all, they thought they had everything all figured out. The Law of Moses clearly said that everyone was to take a day off on the Sabbath, and yet there could be no doubt that Jesus was healing people on the Sabbath. Jesus was even telling a man to carry away his unneeded sick bed as a trophy of his healing. The people of Jesus' day thought all this proved He was a sinner. Because Jesus didn't fit into all the expectations they had of their Messiah, they rejected Him, no matter how great His healing power was.
Of course, we don't have such a distorted view of Jesus, and not just because we have long since forgotten the blessing the Sabbath was intended to bestow. We've read the end of the story, and we know very well who Jesus is - not a demon, but the very Son of God. We know Jesus was right to make Himself equal with God, because He is fully man and fully God. We may not understand that, but we know it to be true.
Okay, so are we any more comfortable with the Jesus we say we know so much about? Are we ready to embrace what Jesus' identity means for us? For if Jesus is God, then isn't His glory more important than our comfort? If Jesus is God, shouldn't our holiness be more important to us than our physical health? If Jesus is God, don't we have to do everything He says, instead of picking and choosing the parts of the Bible we agree with? If Jesus is God, don't we have to submit our understanding of the Scriptures to His, admitting that He knows more than we do?
Come to think of it, if Jesus is God, doesn't that mean we have to submit to His will for our lives and the lives of our loved ones? Don't we have to trust that He knows best, in spite of the sickness and the suffering that come our way? The people of Jesus' time sought to kill Him because He wasn't the kind of Messiah they expected. Are our expectations of Jesus any more realistic? Are we any more inclined to bow the knee to His authority? Or will we reject Jesus if He doesn't give us what we want?
But no matter how challenging Jesus is for us, we still find wonderful news in this passage. For look again at how this sick man answered Jesus' question. He didn't really answer it, did he? He didn't explicitly ask for help, did he? He didn't ask Jesus to make him physically well, and he certainly didn't ask Jesus to take away his sins.
In the same way, John tells us that the Jews, the people of God who studied the Scriptures and who tried to keep the Law of Moses, never really understood Jesus. When He didn't do the sorts of things they expected their Messiah to do, they rejected Jesus. They tried to kill Him.
But the good news is that Jesus brought healing into the sick man's life anyway. The good news is that Jesus gave this sick man what he really needed. The good news is that Jesus challenged this man to greater holiness, even though he didn't ask for it. The good
news is that Jesus died to save, not people who recognized Him and who celebrated His coming, but to save people who despised Him and rejected Him, to save sinners like us.
The good news, therefore, isn't about anything we do or leave undone. The good news is what Jesus does for us and in us. The good news is that it is Jesus and the Father who are working in us and through us, and yes, in spite of us. The good news is that Jesus is still working to bring healing into a sin-sick world.
So of course we want Jesus to be at work. Of course we want Jesus to bring physical healing to us and to our loved ones. But do we really want Him to bring spiritual healing into the lives of helpless sinners? Do we want Jesus to be working on us, remaking us into His own image? Do we really want to be made whole?
Do you ever feel like life is nothing but a roller coaster ride and everything within
you just wants to get off? Your joy and peace can be stolen, within moments, by
discouragement and despair. We find ourselves with fleeting faith, when the troubles of
life come crashing in on us like relentless waves in a stormy sea.
Though we claim to trust in a Shepherd who leads us through valleys . . . we find
ourselves "wanting" . . . "fearing evil" . . . wondering if He's really with us. With each
step we take, it seems unlikely that there are any "green pastures" . . . much less "still
waters." We're not so sure we like His rod or His staff . . . they don't seem to be
so "comforting." Instead of our "souls being restored," we're convinced, with each
passing moment, our valley may lead us into a canyon.
It can be difficult to believe that God's plans are for "good," when life seems to be
unraveling. Yet, without doubt and difficulties, there would be no need for faith. (God
uses ALL things for good . . . even our doubt and disbelief.) And faith is where God
draws the line. It's the place where you must make a decision to step over the line. In
the words of missionary Helen Roseveare, God's voice shouts to us in our pain . . . "Can
you thank Me for trusting you with this experience, even if I never tell you why?" God's
questions cuts to the heart of our faith. He calls us out, and His question begs an answer.
He asks us to trust Him, even if He never answers our questions. It's His way of making
us completely dependent upon Him. He's taking us on a journey, and He's asking us to
make a decision to trust Him at every step.
When we find ourselves in difficult and sometimes seemingly insurmountable
situations . . . God draws a line. We stand on the side of questioning His ways, giving
into doubt, unsure that we can take even one more step. But, there is Jesus. He stands on
the other side of the line and His outreached hand beckons us like a child learning how to
walk. There's the strength in His eyes that assures us He is there to help us, and He will
not let us fall . . . if we will take that step.
You see, the truth is . . . God has blessed you with the very trials you're in. Though you
can't understand it or make sense of it all, God has trusted you with the tribulations that
threaten to overcome you. He is increasing and strengthening y our faith by threatening
to destroy it. Never forget: there is no victory without a battle. The Apostle Paul didn't
call it a "fight of faith" for nothing. This life is an intense battle between the spirit and
the flesh and God is asking us, in this life, while we are still in our flesh, to step over the
line of faith and live through the Spirit that leads us into victory. He is asking us to step
out of this world, and step over the line of faith into His kingdom.
Our difficulties, our troubles, are not the circumstances that we face, but our internal
battle . . . it is our struggle to believe . . . it is our conflict between what we "see" and the
Spirit that urges us to trust in God in the midst of everything that contradicts our faith.
It comes down to an act of the will . . . it comes down to a decision. Everything you're
facing in life comes down to ONE question, "Do you trust God?" In times of greatest
doubt, when you struggle to simply "carry on," will you make the decision to step over
the line? Every obstacle you're facing is an opportunity given to you by God, in order
to increase your faith. By trusting Him, you are declaring that your God is bigger than
anything you face. Without the resistance to your faith . . . your faith would never grow.
God knows what He is doing. He is always up to something. It's always something
good. And it's always something worth cherishing hope for.
By stepping over the line, you are looking into the face of fear, the dangers that threaten
to destroy you, the giant issues you face, the encroaching walls of affliction, the
principalities and powers that are out to destroy you . . . and completely cast yourself
into the arms of God. You must stand up, open your mouth, speak out loud and make a
declaration into both the physical and spiritual realms, that no matter what God allows to
come into your life, you TRUST Him! God has a reason good enough for whatever
He allows to come into my life! By stepping over the line, you are refusing to rely on
your feelings and walk by sight . . . you are choosing to be led by faith in God alone. By
stepping over the line, you're declaring to God, "I'm tired of being up and down, tossed
about, and questioning Your ways . . . You've drawn a line, and I'm stepping over the
line, by faith. By stepping over the line, you're ultimately telling God, "I trust you."
And there's a promise for those who step over the line:
Those who trust in, lean on, and confidently hope in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved but abides and stands fast forever. (Psalm 125:1 AMP)
Pain is a large part of everyone's life. It comes in many forms - grief, depression, stress, anxiety, loss, trauma, sexual molestation, abuse (both physical and emotional), physical pain . . . the list goes on and on. Pain became a part of our world as soon as sin entered in. The question is how do we as Christians deal with it? This is an issue I (Rebecca) struggled with early in my walk with the Lord. In fact, almost immediately after I made the decision to make Jesus Christ the total Master over every area of my life. Psalm 91 was quickly pointed out to me as the solution.
"He who dwells in the secret places of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.'
Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge . . ." Psalm 91:1-4
This particular Psalm used to be a source of great frustration and even anger for me. I mean, come on, have you ever seen any feathers? I certainly haven't! How can we "shelter under His wings" when we can't even see any wings? I used to cry out, "Lord, this doesn't help me at all. How can I shelter under your wings when I can't even see them, and I most certainly don't see any feathers! I need a pair of strong arms to hold me that I can feel and see!" Absolute silence was the only answer I ever received to my cries. Have you felt this way? I think most people have.
In His perfect timing, the Lord taught me an important lesson about sheltering under His wings. It was during my third year in medical school. I suffered a devastating loss of someone whom I loved deeply. I was overwhelmed with grief! Suddenly my whole future was black. Depression, the twin of grief, swept in and I was hurting so badly that I could barely function. I was at that time, in the midst of a very strenuous schedule, working at the hospital and studying. Sleep was impossible. As soon as I closed my eyes the pain and loss swamped me. The weeks dragged by, and suddenly, one day I realized that I couldn't wait to get home from the hospital because the first thing I did was run to my Bible and immerse myself in it. When I couldn't sleep, I went to my Bible. To be honest, I wasn't praying much, because I could not understand why God had allowed this disaster to come into my life. I felt estranged from the Lord. But one day, as I was reading my Bible the Lord broke through and spoke to me very clearly: "Tell me, child, why are you spending so much time reading My Word? Why is that the first thing you run to as soon as you get home?"
I was startled by the question, and had to stop and think about it. Suddenly I realized that the reason why I couldn't wait to get home to bury myself in the Bible was because during the time I was reading God's Word I didn't hurt! In fact, that was the only time that I didn't hurt so badly with grief that I could hardly cope with it. Hesitantly I responded to God's question. "I just realized Lord that the only time I have any relief from the pain and loss is while I am reading Your Word."
"Exactly!" He said. "As you read and think about My Word, you are sheltering under my wings, even though you don't see any feathers!" This is what the Apostle Paul was talking about when He wrote:
"For whatever things were written before were written for our learning that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." Romans 15:5
We receive God's comfort through His Word. David learned this lesson:
"Remember the word to Your servant,
Upon which You have caused me to hope.
This is my comfort in my affliction.
For Your word has given me life." Psalm 119:49-50
We receive God's grace through His word. It is the pouring of God's grace into our lives that gives us the strength and comfort to keep going in the middle of the most terrible trials of our lives.
"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." Acts 20:32
I cannot begin to count the times I have run to God's Word for comfort and help during times of unbearable pain and grief. Always, it has given me a brief break from the pain, and somehow strengthened me and enabled me to keep going.
Nightmares and Flashbacks
When someone suffers a traumatic event or great grief, such as the death of a loved one, many times they are tortured afterwards with nightmares and flashbacks of the event. Often they re-live the death, or trauma over and over again in their sleep in nightmares, or see the event in their mind like watching a video. This is one of the most difficult things to deal with.
Those of you who have read Unbroken Curses or Standing On The Rock, know that Daniel was forced to watch the murder of his first wife. In the first four years of our marriage he was tormented with nightmares of that terrible event. He would wake up screaming and be in so much stress that he would be soaked in sweat. Sleep was nearly impossible. For four years I sought the Lord for the solution to this terrible problem. The solution came only as I learned about going before God's throne as Judge of the universe.
Are you being tormented with nightmares and flashbacks? Do you find that every time you close your eyes to try to go to sleep, the tape starts playing of the terrible event in your life? You don't have to put up with this sort of torment! These nightmares and flashbacks are coming from demons. Satan uses them as a source of great torment in people's lives. Get down on your knees and go before God's throne as Judge of the universe. Ask Him to render judgment between you and Satan's kingdom. Does Satan have the legal right to continue to torment you in this way? The answer is "No, he does not!" Then ask God to put a restraining order on Satan and all of his demons and bring an immediate and complete halt to all such nightmares and flashbacks. Pray something like this:
Father, in the name of Jesus I humbly ask to come before your throne as Judge of the universe. I come only under the covering of the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Lord, I am asking you to judge between me and Satan and his kingdom. Does Satan have the legal right to torment me with nightmares and flash backs of _______________________? If you render judgment that he does not, then I am asking that You put a restraining order on Satan and all of his demons and force them to stop giving me these nightmares and flashbacks immediately and forever! Please put a guard over my mind to stop all such demonic thoughts from tormenting me. I thank you for it in the name of Jesus.
As tormenting thoughts and memories come into your mind, immediately command the demons putting those thoughts into you to be gone at once in the name of Jesus! Then turn your mind onto scripture.
Sometimes Satan will rebel and break through and start putting the nightmares and flashbacks into your mind again at some future date. If this happens, immediately go before God's throne and ask Him to discipline Satan for violating His command and put a halt to all such activities. God is always faithful to do so. This provided the solution to the terrible torment in Daniel's life, and it has also been a great help to me during periods of great grief and loss.
Some of you are so discouraged by unfulfilled dreams that you actually wish you were
dead. I want to share with you a message the Holy Spirit gave to me early this morning
when I thought my dreams had died, too.
Some have dreams that are barely still alive but appear to be at the point of death. Some
have dreams that recently died. Some others believe that their dreams are not only dead
but they are prepared for burial and on the way to the cemetery. Then there are those who
say, "My dream is so dead that it's already been buried and is decayed and stinking."
No matter what stage of dying or death your dream may be in, Jesus wants to touch that
dream with His resurrection power. Raising the dead is a light thing for the Creator of all
things. I would like to show you from God's word THE BIBLE that Jesus is experienced
in resurrecting dreams in every stage of dying or death.
The Apostle Peter
The Apostle Peter messed up so badly by betraying Jesus, his best friend;"…he went out
and wept bitterly." (Matt. 26:75)
In the Greek language those words "wept bitterly" mean "lamentation, hard crying,
wailing aloud, to violently bewail, sharp and piercing". Peter's heart was so broken by
what he had done, he believed with all of his existence that his dream had ended. He
thought for sure Jesus was through with him.
After he cried his eyes dry, he decided to go back to catching smelly fish and cuss like
a longshoreman. That is until Jesus rose from the dead and sent Peter a message via
Angelic delivery service that said, "But go and tell his disciples…AND PETER…that
He is going before you into Galilee…" (Mark 16:7) Jesus told that Angel, in
essence, "Mention Peter by name. I want him to know I forgive him and that his dream
is not dead. Make sure he's at the meeting. And in the front row. It's RESURRECTION
TIME."
Jesus would tell you today if you're wishing you were dead, too," Hold your horses.
Don't throw in the towel. It's not over 'til it's over."
A Nobleman
In the Bible there is a Nobleman whose son is not actually dead yet, but he was close
to death indeed. This man went to Jesus with great anxiety, imploring Him to "…come
down and heal my son for he is at THE POINT OF DEATH." (John 4:47) Jesus honored
the man's release of faith by simply telling him, "Go your way. Your son lives."
Possibly your dream hasn't quite died but it's all you can do to hang on it today. Your
dream is at THE POINT OF DEATH. Cry out to Jesus the way the Nobleman did,
expecting His intervention.
Jesus will say to you in essence, "That's all I was looking for. I wanted you to ask for my
help by faith. Go your way. Your dream lives." Call out to Him now. And He'll do it in a
New York minute.
Jairus, the Synagogue Ruler
Elsewhere in the Bible there is a man whose name was Jairus. His daughter had recently
died while he was in the process of finding Jesus. His little girl was not at the point of
death. The Bible says his little girl was actually "dead". As soon as Jesus heard that the
little girl was dead, He immediately told the man," Do not be afraid only believe." (Mark
5:36)
Difficult as it was, Jairus refused to let fear get a hold of him knowing he could trust
the words of Jesus. Within moments, Jesus was leaning over the child, speaking the
words, "Little girl, I say to you arise." Immediately the girl arose from the dead and
walked. (Mark 5:42)
So you say your dream just recently died? Jesus would say to you, "Do not be afraid.
Only believe. Speak you dream in My Name. Tell that dream to come forth and to be
perfected in the Earth and it will obey you."
Your dream will rise from the dead even as Jairus' daughter was raised from the dead.
All you have to do is believe like Jairus believed. This narrative is in the Bible to give
us hope. So get your hopes up. As a matter of fact, get them up as high as they will go.
Change is on the horizon. This is your Time of Resurrection.
The Widow of Nain
A widow lady in the Bible was in even worse shape than Jairus. Her only son was well
beyond just "recently dead". His body was prepared for burial when Jesus showed up,
interrupting the funeral procession.
When Jesus saw how broken-hearted the widow woman was that her dream of her only
son taking care of her through her old age was dead and almost buried, He had great
compassion on her. To the amazement of the entire funeral procession, Jesus reached out
touching the coffin, saying," Young man, I say to you arise." (Luke 7:14)
The young man who was dead suddenly sat up and Jesus presented him to his mother.
The whole crowd burst into praise even as you will when you ask the Father to resurrect
your dead and practically buried dream, in Jesus' Name. He's just waiting for you to ask.
Just DO IT, ask right now in the Name of Jesus.
Lazarus, the Close Friend of Jesus
Finally, anther family in the Bible had a situation where their loved one not only dead
but buried, and the Bible said he was stinking. This man's name was Lazarus and he was
a personal friend of Jesus. His family had completely given up hope. Their dreams for
Lazarus were dead, buried and stinking. That is until Jesus came along and said," Roll
away the stone."
Everybody panicked at that instruction. Martha, Lazarus' sister, said, in essence," Lord,
you've got to be kidding. He's been dead for four long hot days and stinks to high
heaven." Unmoved Jesus responded," Did I not say to you that if you would believe you
would see the glory of God?"
Suddenly Jesus shouted at the top of His lungs," LAZARUS COME FORTH," To the
amazement of everyone, old dead stinking Lazarus did just that. He returned from the
dead at the spoken words of JESUS, he was back in the land of the living. I believe a lot
of folks got saved that day at a cemetery revival service. (John 11:39-44)
You and Your Dreams
Your dream may be so dried up that all you do is wish you were dead like Peter. Maybe
your dream is at the point of death like the Nobleman's son. Possibly your dream has
died like Jairus' daughter. Or your dream could be dead, prepared for burial and on the
way to cemetery like the widow of Nain's. Perhaps you're as bad off as Lazarus and your
dream is dead, buried and nothing more than a stinking memory.
You need to understand this. Jesus told Lazarus' sister, Martha, "I AM THE
RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE." There is no pit so deep that Jesus isn't deeper still.
The resurrection of your dream is a simple thing for Him, if only you'll believe. Stay
away from fear. Don't believe the devil's lies that it is over.
If you have not yet asked Jesus, the Redeemer, to be the Lord of your life, you can do that
right now. Say, "Jesus, I choose you as the Lord of my life. I ask you to come into my
heart right now. Be my Lord and be my Savior, be my Master, be my Dream resurrector."
By praying this Prayer, you became a member of God's Eternal Family. You are now
entitled to call God "FATHER" (Matt. 6:1, 4, 6)
Father, I thought it was over until now. I see now it's never to late. I believe you can
raise my hopes and my dreams from the dead. I believe you can resurrect my life to be
what you called me to be. With Your resurrection power I know I can be restored to life
in its fullest I ask this in the NAME OF JESUS CHRIST my SAVIOR AND RESTORER.
AMEN
Drained. Sapped. Empty. Whatever adjective you'd like to use . . . the message is the
same: we're running on empty. We find ourselves depleted of hope because life just
isn't meeting our expectations. We've exhausted ourselves seemingly to the point of no
return. In our efforts to "press in" and "press on," we seek God, yet we find our faith is
debilitated because we simply haven't been filling our time with His presence. When we
cry out, "Where is God?" we find that He is there . . . He's been there all along . . . it's
where we've been that's the big question.
Life is able to turn in an instant. We can be filled with joy and peace one moment, only
to be consumed with deep sorrow and despair in the next. We can find ourselves in a
position before God where we're too discouraged to kneel in prayer, much less lift our
hands in praise. (Psalm 38:13-14 NIV) Our spirit becomes so vacant that we simply
have nothing to say. We're desperate to be filled; to have the joy that comes from
unwavering faith, the peace that comes from trusting in a loving sovereign God, and the
rest that comes from knowing that God is with us always. In the darkest valleys of life,
we cling to our faith with little hope.
But see, we walk by faith . . . which means our faith moves, it requires action. It is the
Spirit of God that meets us in the darkest places in life and who will "fill up" our spirits
and revive our souls. But, as He helps us, there are four ways in which He will invite our
faith to work. God invites you to:
1. Examine your heart. (2 Corinthians 3:5) We think of "sin" in terms of what
we call the "big ones." Those sins such as murder and adultery; the "fleshly"
sins. These sins are easy to point the finger at because they're easy to see.
But the sins we don't see are the ones that can go unnoticed and will seriously
hinder our fellowship with God. The Spirit of God wants to uncover and
reveal to you those areas where there is bitterness, unforgiveness, or pride.
As those dark struggles are brought to light, ask God to work in and through
you to bring your heart into His will.
2. Renew your mind. (Romans 12:1) As the Spirit of God begins to reveal the
areas in your heart that are in desperate need of repair, He will move you
to renew your mind. Our mind holds incredible power and where our mind
is, there our heart is also. So, we have to begin thinking about what we're
thinking about. Are they thoughts that are aligned with God's will? How
much time are we spending filling our mind with God's Truth? If we do not
focus on what is true, there are a million and one lies in any given day that
will cast us relentlessly into despair. As we renew our mind in God's Word,
hope overflows. This requires time - time spent reading and thinking about
God's Word.
3. Check your motives. (1 John 5:14-15) At times when we're calling out to
God, we feel as though our prayers are simply falling on deaf ears. But
through our knowledge of Truth, we know for certain that He hears us.
(Jeremiah 33:3, Isaiah 59:1) Yet, we're also told to pray according to His
will. Although we may not know God's will in a particular situation, we
can rely on the Spirit to go to the Father for us . . . if we come to Him with
a humble heart and ready to accept that His way is always best. If our
intentions are selfish, we end up back at STEP 1 because God still has work
to do in us. God is always at work. Thank heavens He never slumbers!
4. Focus on Him. (Psalm 25:15) Too often, as we come before God in prayer,
in our most hopeless situations, we're focused on our wants and desires and
we lose focus of God and His purposes for our trials. If we're not focused
on God, we're allowing our emotions to take precedence over our faith in
God. The secret to victorious faith is to dwell on God's ability to handle our
problems. We will only find true peace and joy if we completely surrender to
His will . . . trusting that His way is always the best way.
Lord God, when all my strength is gone, it is You that I will run to. As I throw myself
helplessly before Your throne of grace, I ask You to fill me with Your love, mercy, grace,
and Truth. Do a work in me that will lift me from the pit of despair and raise me up to
give You glory through my trials of life. When all hope is gone, I will refocus my heart
and place all of my hope in You. I will cling to the hope that comes through trusting
in You alone, for I know that the true hope I have in You will never disappoint me.
Heavenly Father, You are all I need whenever I am in need. It is Your joy that is my
strength. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Like an uninvited guest, Doubt shows up at the most inopportune times - usually it's when life is "messy . . . we haven't had time to get things in order and it appears that everything is falling apart at the seams. Just when we begin to grasp onto whatever is left of hope, Doubt comes knocking at the door. But, when we find doubt knocking, we should be sure and let Faith answer.
Life is difficult at best; although our human instinct is to believe that our faith in God should make life "better" . . . nothing could be further from the Truth. We're promised that in this world we will have trouble - we should count on it. (John 16:33) Yet, we should also trust in God's sovereignty, supernatural power, love, mercy, and grace. But, it's in our times of despair that Doubt takes over and begins to wreak havoc in our souls. We find ourselves between the walls of the Red Sea . . . assured that God has rescued us in the past, but filled with doubt, as we see the treacherous waters ready to come crashing in on us and an encroaching army ready to attack. The situation seems "doubtful." It seems unlikely that God will show up this time. The anxiety within us builds to such a point that it's not the waters of the Red Sea that are drowning us . . . it's the waves of Doubt that have flooded our soul and our spirit cries out, "Is God with us or isn't He?"
You might think that you're the only one who gets regular unwanted visits from Doubt, but you can rest assured that Doubt shows up at the door of every believer time and time again. Doubt will walk right in when the door has been left unlocked. When Faith has left, Doubt decides to visit and, at times, we decide to welcome Doubt in to sit down and chat for a while. The result of that time with Doubt leads us deeper into despair . . . we so easily forget about Faith, as we spend endless hours visiting with Doubt.
What we must remember in our darkest moments of life is that God has often led us to the very place in which we now stand . . . in the midst of a parted Red Sea. And He has done so to teach us a much needed lesson in our walk of faith - we cannot deliver ourselves from a crisis that God Himself has orchestrated. Often, it is by His design that we are in the midst of our overwhelming situation. We so quickly become focused upon the seemingly insurmountable circumstances, instead of our supernatural God. The outcome of our trial depends upon one thing: our faith in God. The question is: "Will your faith stand this test . . . and the next one . . . and the next one?" God brings you through test after test in order to build a testimony in you that says, "My God is faithful."
When we're put to the ultimate test of faith, and we will encounter it at one time or another, we find overwhelming circumstances . . . giant issues facing us, high seas of affliction, and the evil of principalities and powers seeking to destroy us. It is then that we must totally cast ourselves on God's Promises and slam the door on Doubt. Many times we must speak out loud and directly command Doubt to leave at once in the name of Jesus! We must decide to confidently walk forward, as the walls of the Sea seem eager to take us down, and believe that God is bigger than any problem or enemy that might come against us. It's this kind of faith that brings a calm and rest to our soul, no matter what our situation. When we settle, once and for all, that "God is bigger," we can find the peace that surpasses all understanding reigning within us.
Whatever you're going through, God is in it. He has allowed the circumstances that have brought Doubt to your door, and He is increasing your faith by threatening to destroy it. If you are walking in faith, God has ordered your steps - He has put you where you are. He has good reason for it - you are being tested. When you are consumed with Doubt . . . when everything appears hopeless . . . when there seems no way of escape . . . when you are overcome with fear because everything is crumbling down around you . . . when there is nowhere to turn and no answers to be found, God says one thing:
"Don't be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today." Exodus 14:13 (NLT)
It's beyond a doubt, as you stand still, holding your peace, and staying focused upon your sovereign God, that you will find that God's deliverance doesn't come through something you do, say, or pray . . . but through your Faith.
Did you realize that the
harvest of your tomorrow depends on the seed you
sow today? What you will be doing in the future
depends on the type of seed you sow now.
In fact, what you are experiencing now is due to
the kind of seed you sowed in the past. If you
do not like your present harvest, and do not
want more of the same this year, you will have
to change your seed.
Your words are like seeds. They have the ability
to create death or life. Proverbs 18:20-21 says,
"A man's belly shall be satisfied with the
fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his
lips shall he be filled. Death and life are in
the power of the tongue: and they that love it
shall eat the fruit thereof."
In other words, you shall eat the fruit and be
filled by the very words that come out of your
own mouth. Whether it is life or death. That is
what you will get.
Some Christians think that because God is
sovereign that it makes no difference what they
speak out of their mouths. They believe that God
will just do what He wants. But, God qualifies
His sovereignty. He tells us what He will and
what He will not do. He has set up principles in
the Kingdome of God. If we violate His
principles, we suffer the consequences.
The Word of God is to govern our thoughts,
actions and conversations. The Kingdom of God
operates on seeds and harvests. We know from the
parable of the Sower that the Word of God is the
seed that the sower is to plant. (Luke 8:11,
Mark 4:20)
There is ability in every seed to produce once
it is planted. If you plant the seeds of God's
Word in your heart and speak it out of your
mouth, it will produce life for you. On the
other hand, if you plants seeds of murmuring,
complaining, griping, backbiting, fear, doubt,
unbelief, gossip, disease, poverty, lack, and
weakness, then it will also produce. It will
produce death. Neutral speaking or speaking
nothing is the same as speaking negatively. Only
God's Word produces life.
Jesus said as much in Mark 11:23, " . . . but
shall believe that those things which he saith
shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he
saith." You shall have exactly what you
speak. You will literally "eat" the fruit of
your lips. You will reap a harvest of the seeds
you have been planting.
We see examples of this in Joshua 1:7-8. "This
book of the law shall not depart out of your
mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and
night . . . for then thou shalt make your way
prosperous and then you shall have good success."
In Numbers 14:28 God tells the murmuring
Israelites, "I will do to you the very things
I heard you say."
God and Satan are listening to your words and
are waiting to move on what they hear from you.
God will only agree with His words. When we
speak His Word out of our mouth, He is ready to
move on it and bring it to pass.
Jeremiah 1:12 "I will hasten My Word to
perform it."
Isaiah 43:26 "Put Me in remembrance . . .
"
The devil is also listening. He is eager to
accommodate us when we speak words of fear,
doubt and unbelief. James 3:2 tells us that a
very large ship is actually steered by a very
small rudder. He compares the rudder to the
human tongue. Though it be a small member of the
physical body, it actually steers us into the
direction of the words we speak. Your future
depends on what you speak today.
In Matthew 12:36, Jesus said we will have to
give an account of every idle words. That word
"idle" means useless. Useless conversation does
not build up; it doesn't edify anyone. It
doesn't produce anything good in your life.
You may have to ask God to forgive you for
speaking things that are wrong. You may need to
apply the name of Jesus to destroy any potential
harvests coming you way from useless and
unbelieving words that you have sown in the
past.
You will then need to begin to plant words of
faith and discipline yourself to only speak
Godly, faith-building words. Begin to sow toward
your future the harvests you desire.
Hebrews 10:23 says, "Let us hold fast the
profession [confession] of our faith." Begin
today sowing for your future of abundance,
health, wealth, and fulfillment of God's
purposes in your life.
The language we use to communicate with another
is like a knife. In the hands of a
careful and skilled surgeon, a knife can work to
do great good. But in the hands of a
careless and ignorant person, a knife can cause
great harm, cutting into ribbons instead of
providing for healing. Exactly as with our
words.
The Bible echoes this truth. Proverbs 18:21
says, "Death and life are in the power of the
tongue." So, have you stabbed anyone lately? I
have to admit, words are powerful like aknife.
I've been cut, and I've done some stabbing
myself.
The world around us tells us
to speak our mind. After all, we have the right
to say what we are thinking, right? If people
don't like it, they don't have to listen. We say
what's on our mind without hesitation (slash!),
and the result can be a deep wound.
Sometimes we try to pull back and retreat from
our attacks, but even after you pull a
knife out, there is still pain. So our words can
have lasting effects on our victims.
In contrast, words of healing and health are a
rare prize. Compliment others on a job well done
or encourage them to try again when they make a
mistake. "What, are you kidding me - and miss
the perfect opportunity for self-promotion?!"
Why is it that people are so
cautious in complimenting and building up, yet
so quick to
criticize and bring down?
One word . . . pride. Whether we realize
it or not, verbal stabs are an attempt to make
someone else look bad, so that by comparison we
look better.
It's selfish, inconsiderate, and people won't
think you are cooler when you do it. If you
hang out with those who constantly "bad mouth"
others, what makes you think they don't do the
same about you when you're not around?
There is little risk in words of encouragement.
When was the last time someone snapped back at
you with a sharp comment for saying something
uplifting to him or her? We like genuine
compliments and encouraging words.
The Bible says much about
words and the power of the tongue. It calls the
tongue "an
unruly evil" that is impossible to tame, but
admonishes us to seek perfection in
controlling our words. (James 3:8)
But how do we control our
words if God Himself says it is impossible to
tame the
tongue? The key is that it's impossible to tame
it by yourself. But with God all things are
possible.
Here is your personal
challenge. I dare you to do it! It can ehlp
change you from a
verbal assassin to a delicate surgeon.
-
For one day, keep a
record of your words
-
Every time you say
something negative, mark it down.
-
Every time you say
something positive, jot that down.
-
At the end of the day,
take a look. Any room for improvement? How
many lives did you improve with uplifting words? How many did you diminish
with destructive words?
Think more about how we speak and treat each
other
You and I control the sharpest object of all
- the tongue. The question is: For what
purpose will we use it? Will we strike a
piercing blow to the inward parts? Or will
we
use our tongues for friendship,
encouragement and a life-saving infusion of
genuine love?
The knife is in your hands . . . or truly,
in your mouth.
