Category: spirtual warfare


TAKE A LEAP OF FAITH

Filed under: Covenant, Faith, Jesus, Ministry, Spirituality, spirtual warfare — 3 Comments
May 4, 2010

The Morning Star Rising on the First Day

TAKE A LEAP OF FAITH

In my previous posting (Possess-the-Vision) I communicated that I was going to present the spiritual experiences of my life that led to the creation of the Possess the Vision Mission Statement (PTV Mission-Statement.)

My story of my first leap of faith is very unusual and yet it contains a spiritual message foundational to the PTV Mission. Like the prior posting (Dad-Comes-Home,) I recommend looking at this story as a parable, which is a story told in earthly terms but designed to communicate a heavenly message. The message is that we have a heavenly Father that wants us to step out in our faith for Him. When we do so He will support our initiative and protect us from harm. With that said, here is my story:

One day not long after my father’s arrival home my dad was taking care of me while I ate lunch in my high chair. Having had enough lunch and not liking to sit still for very long I squeezed out of my seat and stood up on the high chair tray. My dad was all the way on the other side of the kitchen when he noticed what I had done. I was very excited about achieving this feat and started jumping up and down on the tray of the chair. My dad’s first reaction was to freeze, not wanting to do anything that might make me fall. While he was looking straight at me I grinned and jumped once more just for fun. He said, “Don’t you dare.” For some reason, I thought it would be great amusement to jump and have my dad catch me as there was no doubt in my mind that he would. So, I jumped from the tray as if it were a game and when I did my dad took several quick steps before diving into a slide on the floor, catching me just in time to keep me from being seriously injured. It would seem that I had a natural trust in my father’s ability from the very beginning.

This story communicates that God wants us to act on the faith that He has given us. He wants us to take action on the desires that He has placed in our heart. Most importantly, He wants us to know that He will be there for us if things don’t always work out as planned. I offer the story about Peter walking on water as support for this message. Here is that story.

Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!” Matt 14: (22-33)

 

 

Jesus Pulls Peter From the Water

 

So, the moral of this story is do not doubt. Get out of the boat and do what God has put into your heart. Pay no attention to all the evil winds that will blow around you, but rather have perfect faith in your Father in heaven, knowing full well that even if your faith fails that your loving Father will be there to rescue you.

 

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How Can God Forgive What I Have Done

Filed under: Christian Love, Faith, Jesus, Ministry, Spirituality, spirtual warfare, The Meaning Of Life — 3 Comments
March 16, 2010

How Can God Forgive What I Have Done?

The evil influence of Satan can be seen everywhere in the world (see our prior post) and so many of us have been fooled. In fact, many of us have been making poor choices for such a long time that we believe that God could never love us again. In many of these cases the though that God could forgive us for all of the things that we have done is just not comprehendible!

But we must challenge these beliefs. The truth is that God is a loving and compassionate Father who longs for us to repent of our sins and to return to Him.

Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him. (Luke17:3 – 4)

In fact, God is proactive in His quest to restore all men to what was lost in the Garden of Eden. In this regard, God has sent His profits and priests to speak His truth to us. They have proclaimed the coming of God’s Son and their prophecies have been fulfilled in Christ Jesus, the Son of the Father.

In Jesus, the Father was able to demonstrate His true nature, His love for us, His desire for our good health, His wish for our prosperity and for all of us to be free of the devils’ bondage.

Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14:5 – 9)

The Father has communicated to us through the words of Jesus all the things that are in His heart,

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:37 – 40)

for Jesus said; “as I see the Father do, so I also do.” God communicated that He wants us all to turn away from evil, repent and set our hearts on Him. He even sent His Son to give His life on the cross so that the bondage and domination of the devil would be broken.

Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name. And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. (Luke 10:17 – 19)

The Power of Prayer

Through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, God demonstrated to the world how deep His love is for us. For in the shedding of blood of Jesus, God redeemed His people. By the stripes on the back of Jesus we are healed. The suffering of Jesus was the price that had to be paid for the forgiveness of man’s sin.

Jesus Nailed to the Cross

Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4 – 5)

In essence, Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves; He exchanged His life for ours.

Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. Matthew 20:28

He broke the curse of the law, which was that man could not live in accordance with God’s law on his own merit and with his own effort.

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:13 – 14)

The love of Jesus therefore ended the age of man’s interpretation of God’s laws and the creation of his own rules.

Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Romans 13:10

God replaced all of this with the infilling of the Holy Sprit who now leads man into God’s love, truth and perfection.

The Holy Spirit

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. John 14:26

Rather than rules and laws we are called by Jesus to change our hearts.

You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:27 – 28)

So, the answer to the question, “how can God forgive me for what I have done,” becomes much simpler. It no longer is a matter of what we have done in our lives because the ransom has already been paid by Jesus on the cross. The work of reconciliation with the Father has been reestablished as Jesus has taken our just punishment upon Himself on the cross. He has defeated Satan and freed the captives who were under Satan’s dominion at that time. He has risen into Heaven where He sits at the right hand of the Father, and He will judge the living and the dead.

And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins. Acts 10:39 – 43

All He is looking for is for us to choose Him, to repent from our sinful ways and to follow in His footsteps.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. (Matthew 16:24 – 28)

The Transfigured Jesus With Moses And Elijah

So, if you have not already done so, please do it now. Speak with your lips the following words. Say: sweet Jesus, I declare you to be my Lord and Savior. I repent of all my evil ways and I renounce the devil. Sweet Lord, come into my heart and my life. I surrender to you Lord, take me into your arms and protect me for evermore. Let all my life choices be in one accord with your Holy Spirit. Help me choose good over evil, light over darkness, right over wrong, life over death, love over hate and God the Father, Son and Holy Sprit over all others, always and forever.

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Why our Choices are Important

Filed under: Christian Love, Faith, Jesus, Ministry, spirtual warfare, The Meaning Of Life — 2 Comments
March 11, 2010

The Morning Star Rising on the First Day

Why our Choices are Important

Our previous post communicated that the meaning of our lives is manifest in the choices that we make here on this earth. A perfect example of this is the loss of Eden (as well as a perfect relationship with God) that resulted from one bad decision by way of the trickery of the devil. The result is that we live in a world that is drastically different it was in the Garden of Eden.

 

The Garden Of Eden

 

Our world is filled with evil temptation around us and only one good choice, that of Jesus the Tree of Life. I would say that this is exactly the opposite environment found in the Garden, where goodness was everywhere and only the tree of Good and Evil presented an evil temptation for us.

In America today we have evil in our TV programs (and this is getting worse with time), in our movies, in our songs, on the internet, in our dance, on our streets, in our governments, in our businesses, in our friends, in our families and even in our churches. The devil is a deceiver who is trying to get us to buy into his lies so that he can place us under his evil domination again. He tried it with Jesus so why not you?

His goal is to deceive us into giving up on our destiny with God, to sidestep our purpose in this life, and to deny that we are children of the living God. Again, this is what he tried with Jesus.

The devil uses trickery to deceive us like he did in the Garden. He has a number of strategies he likes to deploy. He may for example, try to influence us by convincing us that God does not exist, or that he (the devil) does not exist so that there is no relevancy to the choices we make. He will try to trick us into thinking that is nothing wrong with having an affair, or that there is no harm done by aborting a pregnancy, or that murder can be justified. The devil even invents catchy slogans to get the masses to buy in to his evil programs. Here are a few of them for your reference: What ever feels good baby! If it feels good, do it! He who dies with the most toys wins! Wine, women and song! Sex, drugs and rock and roll! You got to play the game, right? What the devil does not tell you is that the choices you make for self indulgence and the gratification of the flesh will ultimately result in your perpetual agony under his domination. Therefore, it is easy to see that it is to Satan’s advantage to defeat you in this world with his trickery.

Let’s take a look at what Satan gets from your defeat. First of all, he will get great pleasure from your bondage and torture because he hates you with a perfect hatred. This hatred loves to see you sick, broke, homeless, depressed, high or living in sin. After all, if you are in these states then you are ignoring who you are and your purpose for being here. Secondly, by deceiving you now he bypasses the obligation to worship you in the eternity to come. Thirdly, by choosing his evil a second time, you will suffer the second death of which we previously communicated as living forever without God in perpetual agony. If this is what you choose, then you will once again fall under the devils domination and be subject to him in the Pit of Fire and Brimstone forever. In effect, this would nullify the work that Jesus did on the cross for you. Your defeat would be a double win for Satan and a double loss for you. So choose Jesus and live with God forever in eternity.

 

Jesus is the Light of the World

 

So, the major difference between today’s world and the Garden of Eden is that in today’s world there is really only one good choice, while there was only one evil choice in the Garden. Our good choice is Jesus, “The Tree of Life.”

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. (Revelation 22:1 – 3)

If we believe in Jesus and eat of that tree (via communion) we will live with God forever.

Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”; therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:22 – 24)

Those who believe in Jesus reject the self centered and carnal activities of the world. Instead, they choose to abide in the Holy Spirit of Jesus and seek to do His will. They choose to love, to forgive, to pray, to preach, and to feed the hungry, to heal the sick, to be a friend, to defend the poor and downtrodden, to strive for justice and mercy and do the things that Jesus taught us through the actions of his life.

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The Love of Jesus Saves Us

Filed under: Christian Love, Faith, Jesus, Ministry, Spirituality, spirtual warfare — 1 Comment
March 4, 2010

The Love of Jesus Saves Us

Jesus is the Son of God and although being like man in every other way lived without sinning.

When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew3:16 – 17)

He came to save man from the evil of the devil and He did this by giving His own life as ransom in exchange for all of us who were under the bondage and dominion of the devil.

For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village. (Luke9:56)

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time, (1 Tim 2:5 – 6)

Jesus came to communicate to man the true desires of the Father who wanted a loving relationship with His children. Jesus demonstrated the love of the Father by healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead, feeding the hungry and preaching the Gospel to the poor.

Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me. (Matthew 11:4 – 6)

These actions taught us that God wants us to be healthy, in right spirit and mind, alive, well cared for, and knowledgeable about Him and the love He has for all of His people.

Jesus set us free from the bondage of the devil by defeating the devil in spiritual warfare. Jesus defeated the devil by not submitting to his evil temptations, by refusing to deny the truth that He is the Christ. Even on the cross Jesus refused the temptation to come down off of the cross because our welfare was at stake (Jesus had to die for our sins.)

He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. (Matthew 27:42)

Jesus also defeated the devil by being obedient to the Father by giving His life on the cross, by descending into Hell after He died where He defeated Satan where he lived, capturing the keys to Hell and death, and setting all of the captives free (all who lived and died until this time).

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:50 – 54)

Jesus the Choice of Life

But that is not all! He then defeated death by rising from the dead as He had promised and in doing so He paved the way for us to do so as well. All we need is to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the living Son of God and know that He suffered and died on the cross for us as He took the punishment we deserved upon His own body. Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father and waits for His Bride to prepare herself for the wedding feast. He asks only that we change our hearts to love God and to love one another by to simply follow in His footsteps.

Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful. And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. (Revelation 21:2 – 8)

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The Loss of Eden

Filed under: Christian Love, Covenant, Faith, Jesus, Ministry, Spirituality, spirtual warfare — 1 Comment
March 1, 2010

The Loss of Eden

As we presented in our prior posting, Christian love requires freedom of choice. This has been demonstrated over time as God’s love has from the very beginning offered man choices, even when they resulted in a loss of the relationship with God, as was demonstrated in the Garden of Eden. Without choice there can not be love and therefore, preventing another from leaving a relationship is slavery, which is the opposite of love. All of this information has to give us much to contemplate in our own relationships.

God loved the angels as well and as a result they have the same freedom of choice as we do. In fact, this freedom was exercised by Lucifer and his angels who chose to leave God because they wanted to be equal to Him.

How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit. (Isaiah14:12-15)

It was by this freedom of choice that the fallen angels came in the form of the serpent to deceive man into a relationship of evil with him.

Adam and Eve in the Garden

And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life.” (Genesis 3:11 – 14)

As a result man lost his dominion over the Garden as well as the earth. Man and his wife were cast out of the Garden by God.

Therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:23 – 24)

The devil being the victor took dominion and ensured that there were lots of evil choices to prevent man from reestablish a relationship with God. In essence he kept man enslaved to his bondage.

So this is how man fell from the grace of God. The road back to the Garden has been a long and tenuous journey for man. Initially, man had no knowledge of evil and as a result did whatever pleased him. God’s first attempt to reestablish a relationship (covenant) with man initiated the rules of behavior that man would have to follow to regain a relationship with God. This came in the form of the Ten Commandments as well as the laws associated with the Tabernacle and the priesthood.

Moses and the Ten Comandments

But as it turned out, man could not refrain from doing evil and as a result lost the opportunity to live in covenant with God. As it turned out, man could often follow the letter of the law but missed the intent of the law that required his heart to change and for love to flow out of his life. It was for this purpose that God send His Son Jesus to the earth. To communicate the truth that comes form the heart of God and to defeat the evil bondage of the devil, such that men once again choose to seek God and enter into a covenant relationship with Him, such that one day he could walk again in the Garden of Eden with God.

How Jesus accomplished this will be the subject of our next posting.

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Christian Love Does Not Envy

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December 28, 2009

The Morning Star Rising on the First Day

Read my story by ordering my book, “Possess the Vision”

Christian Love Does Not Envy

Today we present the envy-less love demonstrated by Jesus as yet another example of Christian love. Previously we introduced the subject, “Love does not Envy,” in a post (What-is-Love) that communicated Paul’s writings found in the First Letter to the Corinthians.

The Power of Prayer

Love makes us blind to the things that other people have. Our acts of kindness (Love-is-Kind) and long suffering (Love-Suffers-Long) are not withheld because of the things that others have. Love is not diminished because our neighbor has a bigger house, a nicer car, a more successful ministry, a gift from God, or just happens to be more popular than we are. We are called to love one another just as Jesus loved us.

In the following scripture Jesus demonstrates this principle as He is not envious of an unknown man who had been ministering to other in the name of Jesus. Here is the story:

Now John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us.” But Jesus said to him, “Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side.” (Luke 9:49 – 50)

Jesus Confronting the Scribes and Pharisees

Jesus was not envious of the man who had been casting out demons like He Himself had been doing. He was not concerned that an unknown man was using His name in doing so. In fact, since He asked no questions about the man we can assume that the questions we would normally ask about the man were irrelevant. Questions like the following. What denomination does he belong to? What are his core beliefs? Or what sins has he been guilty of in the past? Jesus was not even concerned about the doctrine or creed the man believed in.

Jesus’ lesson to His disciples is crystal clear, none of these things are of any importance. Jesus gives His disciples this lesson so that if they see a similar circumstance in the future that their actions will be different. If these other things were of importance He would have said so.

The only thing that was important was the fact that the man loved his brothers by casting out demons in Jesus name. Therefore, he was obedient to the new commandment that Jesus gave us to love one another and in doing so was carrying out the mission that the Father gave Jesus. So should it also be with us.

When reading this passage we must ask ourselves, is this how I act? Am I ready and willing to give credit to other ministers in the name of Jesus? Can I love others despite their Christian doctrine? Can I love the affluent minister, the politically powerful congressmen and the popular personalities who are demonstrating their love of others in the name of Jesus? Am I ready and willing to pray that God’s blessings be upon all of them? The bottom line here is that love is manifest with out envy.

The purpose of these publications is to assist others who is seeking to become more like their savior Jesus Christ. Our approach is to communicate that the life and words of Jesus are the perfect model of what we hope to become. Our expectation is that the reader will contrast their own words and actions to those of Jesus and ask the Holy Spirit to help them to discover and correct their shortcomings. We suggest that every person in ministry reflect upon these examples of Christian love.

We have presented a number of posting that address the principles of Christian Love. Each of them is reinforced by examples taken from the life and words of Jesus. The following list of hyperlinks is provided to help those interested in reading these other postings. Clicking on any of the links below will transfer you to the posting of your choice:

What-is-Christian-Love

Christian-Love-Suffers-Long

Christian-Love-is-Kind

Christian-Love-Does-Not-Envy

Christian-Love-Does-Not-Parade-Itself

Christian-Love-is-Not-Puffed-Up

Christian-Love-Does-Not-Behave-Rudely

Christian-Love-Does-Not-Seek-Its-Own

Christian-Love-is-Not-Provoked

Christian-Love-Thinks-No-Evil

Christian-Love-Bears-All-Things

Christian-Love-Believes-All-Things

Christian-Love-Hopes-All-Things

Christian-Love-Never-Fails

Read my story by ordering my book, “Possess the Vision”


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Do What Jesus Did

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December 10, 2009

Do What Jesus Did

We have spent quite some time in looking at the life of Jesus. We have sought to understand the key attributes of His nature. In the process we have come to know that He came to earth to be our Savior, our protector and our guide to the heavenly Promised Land.

Jesus Arises to Heaven

Jesus Arises to Heaven - Mansions in the Background

He came to give His life on the cross as a in full payment for our sinful ways. He came to break the bonds of the devils dominion over our lives. He rose from the dead to demonstrate that there is life after death and a place in His Fathers house if we choose to follow and become more like Him.

From all of this our conclusion is that we should all do as He did. We should all strive to become more like Him by conforming our actions and words to those He gave to us via scripture as examples for us to follow. Even in this respect Jesus gave us an example to follow as He Himself aligned His actions and words to those that the Father showed Him:

Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.” (John 5:19)

Jesus did what the Father did and as a result we look to Jesus for examples of what we must do to gain favor with God. We become imitators of God and therein examples to others in the process. When we set our actions and words in the direction that Jesus taught us, we will find that we can achieve even greater works than Jesus did:

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. (John 14:12-21)

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Expect Miracles in the Name of Jesus

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December 6, 2009

Expect Miracles in the Name of Jesus

Interestingly enough, Jesus was sent to earth as an ordinary man. This ordinary man was then empowered by the Holy Spirit and entered into the ministry that His Father gave Him. As we have been discussing all along, Jesus left us His ministry to carry forward and He left us His life as an example of what we should become and what kinds of things we should do. Therefore, if Jesus is to be our model of the life that we should also live, then we also should expect to enter into our ministry empowered by the Holy Spirit to do the will of the Father. To explore this a bit further, let’s take a look at an example of how Jesus sent His disciples into ministry:

After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither He himself would come. Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way. And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again. And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. Luke 10:1-9

Jesus sent the seventy to the places that He would also go. He empowered them to heal the sick and to communicate that the kingdom of God is near. He therefore gives them the mission of doing the will of the Father and personally empowers them with the Holy Spirit. We know that this is true because of His words in the following scripture:

Jesus did what He saw the Father do:

Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” (John 5:19-24)

In addition, Jesus prayed for our unity with God. He prayed that we be one with Him — We in Him, and He in us — the Father in Him and He in the Father. If we are to be one with Jesus then we will do the things that Jesus shows us. Therefore, the Life of Jesus is the perfect life that we should emulate. We should seek to do as He did, say the things that He said and have the same effect that He did when He walked the earth. Through out the course of our postings we have presented many examples that support the proposition that the life of Jesus was given to us to be used as the model of what we can become.

All that is required is to step out in faith in response to what Jesus places in your heart. Eliminate all doubt and concern about looking foolish as God rewards people who have perfect faith. He is looking for people who are willing to risk looking like fools in the eyes of nonbelievers because it is only when they see the impossible achieved by the hand of God that they will truly come to believe that God exists.

The Bible is filled with people who had this kind of faith in God. Moses had the faith to lift His staff in expectation that the waters of the Jordan River would part. Moses had perfect faith that God support His mission because he received it directly from God. He therefore was not concerned about the opinions of the people. When the waters parted the people knew that God had delivered them.

It was the same in the life of Jesus. He had to speak words of faith to cast out demons and to heal the sick. He could do this because the direction He was undertaking was one that the Father showed Him. He had to put his reputation on the line that the Father would honor and support His actions in support of His mission that the Father gave Him. He certainly was not concerned with what others might think about these actions. There certainly was no concern for the opinions of the Scribes, the Pharisees, the money changers or the demons.

We, in turn, have to take action that demonstrates our faith in God to support the initiatives that God gives us. We have to initiate the action and have faith to know beyond doubt that He will support what He initiates. If we do these things, then we will be like Jesus. Take the step, speak the word, and take the action necessary to get things moving. Once that is accomplished, then simply step back and watch the power of the Holy Spirit take action.

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Jesus Sent His Disciples out Empty Handed

Filed under: Jesus, Ministry, Prayer, Spirituality, spirtual warfare — 1 Comment
December 2, 2009

Jesus Sent His Disciples out Empty Handed

In scripture, Jesus is reported to have sent His disciples out empty handed denying them the customary clothing, provisions and money required for the success of their mission. In thinking about this for a moment I believe that being sent out empty handed is much more common than one may think. At least for missions that come from God.

Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come.  And He was saying to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. Go; behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no money belt, no bag, no shoes; and greet no one on the way.” (Luke 10, 1-4)

I think a mission to heal the sick would be deemed impossible by most of the world today.

Saint Peter Healing the Cripple - Raising Tabitha - Masolino

Therefore the lesson of Jesus is clear; to be successful in our God given ministries we must learn to have total faith in God.

After all, only when the world sees the impossible achieved by the power of God will they start to believe our words. This was true for Jesus himself, who performed miracles in support of the words that He spoke to the people. It was also true for the disciples as well. Peter and John healed the beggar at the temple gate for example and the entire congregation took notice of the event.

When the world sees the miracles of God supporting His saints they will become more likely to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the Christ.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost

Why would any Jew or Moslem for example, be persuaded to believe in Jesus when all we have is words? It is through miraculous circumstances that the unbeliever will become ripe for the harvest.

The point is that if we are committed to modeling our lives after our Savior Jesus, then we do not need worldly things for the ministry to be successful. If we do not have what is required then we can pray knowing that He will provide what we need.

In fact, we are much better off having an undoubting faith than to have magnificent resources in support of our ministry. Speaking for myself, I believe that the favor of God is a requirement for successful ministry. Without it all the assets of the world can be ineffective.

We should not hesitate to take on a mission that comes from God simply because it has an improbable outcome. After all, what glory is there for God if the world knows that we mortal men have achieved something on our own abilities? If Jesus has sent us out, then we should not worry about our inabilities or limited resources. If He sent us, then He will provide the money, materials, people and anything else we need for that matter. Have faith and stick to the things that He has shown you. Continue on in faith and do not doubt. I tell you He will deliver what is needed at the very last minute. Do not waiver but rather, stand strong and you joy will be great:

The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.” (Luke 10, 17-20)

In addition, do not try to solve problems in accordance with the ways of man. God deserves all the credit, wait on Him and let Him do the impossible through you. Most of all ensure that you give God all of the glory when He comes through for you.

Finally, when He calls you and sends you out, act quickly, be obedient and do not be distracted from your mission.

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Christianity and the Politics of Abortion

Filed under: Jesus, spirtual warfare — 3 Comments
November 7, 2009

Christianity and the Politics of Abortion

In our previous posting we discussed the issues surrounding the divisions in the Christian faith. Today we discuss the issues of Abortion as being just one of the implications for this division.


There are many Americans who claim that are a Christian nation, built by Christians using Christian principles. While this may be true I believe that we are in danger of loosing it. Our American pledge states that we are one nation under God, but my concern is that the ungodly have been taking control of our nation. Polls tell us that a vast majority of Americans believe in God but it is becoming apparent that Christianity is becoming impotent in leading the moral direction of our nation.

 

Don’t believe it? How is it then that we have laws that permit, and even in some cases, encourage abortion?  Surely this practice must be the most serious of all offences in the eyes of God. Let’s identify this abomination for what it really is: the legalized murder of innocent children at the request of their parents. This is a practice in which the most defenseless of God’s creatures are murdered at the hands of those primarily responsible for their protection. I am sure that God is extremely displeased by this!

 

Let the Children Come to Me

Let the Children Come to Me

 

 

How can such laws exist if we live in a democratic nation that has a vast Christian majority? Is it because that we are to preoccupied attacking the doctrine of the other denominations (a practice that Paul characterized as a waste of time) that we can not work together? Is it because we are to fat and happy to bothered with these issues? Is it because we as Christians have lost control of our government to those with money and influence? Or is it because there are Christians out there that actively support abortion despite the teachings of Bible? I suspect that all of the above is true to some extent.


Christians, wake up to the decay that is all around you. Take actions to unite with others to change this despicable situation. In my opinion the killing of millions of innocents is a sin that is upon our nation. After all our nation have approved and encourages such actions, and we the people have the right and the ability to change things. Therefore we are all accountable.

 

If our system of government is broken then we as Christians must fix it. If the old guard can’t get it done then they must be replaced by people who can and will.

 

After all, is this not what Jesus did? Jesus turned over the tables of the money changes and chased them with whip made of cords. He confronted the mistaken beliefs of the Scribes and Pharisees with a doctrine of truth that came from the Father. These things He did while demonstrating His love for poor and afflicted. He healed the sick and enabled the blind to see. He raised the dead.

 

Jesus raises Lazarus from the grave

Jesus "The Life," Raises Lazarus from the Grave

He feed the hungry and spread the Gospel of God’s love. In the end He gave everything for our welfare, and then left us to carry out the mission that He started. Jesus was a radical activist and so should we be.

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