Monday, February 28, 2005

We Are Now Joint-Heirs With Jesus

"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together." Romans 8:16-17

The Holy Spirit tells us who we are in Christ. He tells us that we are God’s children. He tells us that we are joint heirs with Christ. He bears witness with our own spirits and we know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that we have been born of God. I can remember when I was a child, I never doubted who my parents were. If I was scared, I was comforted by them. My needs were always met by them and I never doubted that I was the child of Neal and Brenda Shull. I knew that I was their child. I knew this Truth not only because they told me that I was, but because I lived it and they showed it. I knew that I was an heir and man did that make me feel great. I never lacked confidence, because I knew who I was, I knew who my parents were and I knew that I was safe and protected by them. I thank God daily that I had a great childhood.

Now that I am saved, I have God Who tells me that I am a joint-heir through Christ. We are joint-heirs, we are not ugly stepchildren, we are not servants, we are joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. All of His honor, we jointly share, all of His possessions we jointly share. “All things the Father hath are Mine; therefore I said I, that He (The Holy Ghost) shall take of Mine, and shall shew it unto you.” John 16:15

That is some awesome Truth. Words cannot even begin to describe the power of this Truth: we are joint heirs with Christ. Just think about the power of Jesus, who He is, what He can do, the love He possesses, the mind of service He has, what He has power over, and then say, yeah God said it, so I definitely am, a joint-heir with all of that, WOW! Our Father gave it all to Jesus, He created Him, all that Jesus is, and all that He has is directly from God, and we are now joint heirs with it. Look at how our Father says that we will be when Jesus returns. “Beloved, now we are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” 1 John 3:2

You have to have the Spirit in you to even begin to think about it, because if you are just in the flesh, just playing religion, you will freak out over this. People in the church who are without the Holy Spirit will fulfill Jesus' prophesy over this. "They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service." John 16:2 You begin to talk like you really are a joint-heir with Christ and watch what happens. We are going to study about persecution in later postings. But we are not those who faint and are destroyed by a lack of knowledge and we do not reject knowledge as Hosea prophesied. No, we are now more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. We now have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us and He is praising God and assuring us all of the time that we are heirs, joint heirs with Christ!

Now I want you to ask yourself this question, God proclaims that we are joint-heirs if we suffer with Christ. So what is Jesus suffering? This verse does not say, if we suffer what Jesus suffered. No, it says, if we suffer with Him, present tense. So what is Jesus suffering? Jesus is not sick, He does not fear, and He is not suffering from economic problems. Jesus is not suffering from gangs or violence. He is suffering, but what? What is it that Jesus suffers from; it’s people not believing Him. Jesus suffers people not accepting the sacrifice He has offered and them suffering the consequences of their unbelief, the eternal consequences. We are joint-heirs with Jesus if we suffer people not believing the God’s Truth. Jesus suffered this persecution when He first came in the flesh and He still suffers it today!

So far we have studied some pretty powerful truths. How many people though really believe what we have studied in these posts? Unfortunately, not only don't most people believe what we have studied, but they aggressively oppose it. Churches have damned me for just putting some of these verses together. I had a preacher hold his ears and say that he never wanted to hear me share these verses again. I was younger and boy did I love to see Him try and answer, “as He is so are we in this world.” OK, I was being ornery, but I was young, and He never could answer me with scripture why we weren’t. To be honest if I saw him today, I probably would bring it back up again!

The sad truth is what we have studied is not popular. People want to earn it, they want to glory in the fact that they somehow did something to receive these things from our Father. The world and satan want to condemn us for not measuring up, so we will buy their tape series, or their books to assist us in measuring up. They want to condemn us so we may tithe or give some sort of offering to make up for our inadequacies. But what we have studied is it is all just a free gift. Now you know why Jesus is called a stumbling block, He made it so simple, and He made it so it could never be earned, and that is just not the way the world works. People stumble over this every day. But we are stable and fixed in the Truth, held firm by the Holy Spirit. God is for us, and with Christ, God can now use us to do all things!

Be simple this day and rejoice over the free and glorious gifts that we have been given from our Father! We haven't earned them! Yet, even in our humanity, we have received it all. We have been given everything: glory, sanctification, unity, power, ability, Truth, faith, and hope directly from the only One Who has it to give!

Thursday, February 24, 2005

The Word Sanctifies Us

"Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy word is truth." John 17:17

Sanctification: to be set apart for Holy use, to be made free from sin, to be purified, and to make productive use of Holy blessings.

Look at what Jesus asks our Father to do for us. Jesus asked our Father to sanctify us through His Word. The Word is Jesus; Jesus is the only One Who sanctifies us. It seems that everywhere we turn in the Word of God we see another example of our Father doing what it takes for us to have an abundant and full life. We are not told to sanctify ourselves; sanctification is a free gift of God. The Word, which is Jesus, is free, and through it we are sanctified.

The Word is sharper than any two edged sword, it is quick, and it is powerful and it sets us apart for our Father Holy use. The Word makes us free from sin. The Word purifies us, it gives us knowledge, and the Word allows us to be productive workers of God. It is no wonder that our Father had Paul instruct us to study to show ourselves approved. The Word is the key, because the Word is Jesus, and the only reason we can be who we are in Christ and the only reason we can have such power is because of Jesus.

Jesus sent the Holy Ghost to strengthen us and to lead us in the Word. “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all Truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you.” John 16:13-14 If you have the Holy Ghost dwelling within you, you can’t help but study God’s Word. I am living proof of this Truth. Studying the Word of God consumes me. Ask anyone I ever went to school with if studying consumed me, not really, not even a little! I wasn’t what you might say a strong student! But when I was in my mid twenties God took hold of me and said let’s go, and through His power and strength I never went back. I didn’t have this desire to study on my own; our Father gave it to me. I didn’t have the ability or the patience to study to show myself approved unto Him; it was the Holy Ghost within me that empowered me. I will tell you this too; thank God it was Him, because if it were up to me, I would never do it. But because it is our Father's desire for us and I have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to ask Him into my life, and given Him full permission to lead me, it’s not my will, but His, I am able to study, willing, and eager, I can’t help it.

"For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but to holiness." 1 Thessalonians 4:7 It is our Father's desire for us to be holy, to be pure, to be powerful, to be perfect, and to be clean. He fully understands what we are, He knows about our flesh, and He knows our needs. That is why He sent Jesus, to fulfill our needs, so that our weaknesses would no longer matter. The blood of Christ is stronger than our inability's and the grace of God is more powerful than our flesh. Our Father knew we could never be clean by our own actions, so He said, "no problem, I love you enough, and I am God, so I Myself will sanctify you."

Think about God for a minute. Ask yourself can He do everything? Most of us would say yes, He is God. So if our Father can do everything, and we see that Jesus asked God to sanctify us, it should not be any problem for us to believe and accept that our Father is able to make us pure, clean, set us apart for holy use, and free us from sin.

This is the attitude the church needs to accept and walk in:

We have been called and chosen and empowered to say yes to Jesus, so we are now one with Him. Since we are now the children of God, born of His seed, we are now clean, pure, free from sin, sanctified, and holy this day. Our power is the power of The Living God and we are now more than conquerors through Christ Who loves us this day. We can now be used by our Father to do all things through Christ that strengthens us! We have been given the right, the privilege, and the abilities of God Himself to fulfill His will on this earth. His love is perfected within us and as He is so are we in this world!

Share these truths with others this day and watch our Father grow the seed of His Truth. God will use us to plant the seeds that will produce a harvest that spans the oceans, a harvest that is not hindered by political boarders, or false religious creeds. When our Father sent Jesus, He sent Him in power and with demonstration of the Spirit. When Jesus sent His disciples, He sent them in power and demonstration of the Spirit. When Jesus called Paul, He sent Him in power and demonstration of the Spirit. What would ever make the church think that He doesn’t do the same for us? God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, He changes not!

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

We Are Now Clean Through Jesus

"Now ye are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you." John 15:3

"For the Word of the God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of joints and morrow, and is a discerner of thoughts and intents of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

The very first thing that our Father had us study about our salvation was that we are to study to show ourselves approved unto Him, workmen that need not be ashamed. We studied that in the beginning was the Word and that the Word was God. Now we see that we are clean through the power of the Living Word. The Word, which is actually Jesus, lives in us, keeps us, and gives us the ability and the power to be the sons of God. "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,) and we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." John 1:14

We are now clean by the Word and the Word is Jesus. We now have abilities that are quick and powerful because of the Word. "(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds;) 2 Corinthians 10:4

Our Father had Paul write a warning to Timothy. "Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they, which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts. Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth." 1 Timothy 3:5-7 There are many who confess to be saved and many who teach, but they deny the power and unity that we have studied, from such people turn away. We have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, Who empowers us and leads us in studying to show ourselves approved unto God, workmen who need not be ashamed. And through the Spirit of God we are able to discern these wolves in sheep's clothing. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou should be no priest to Me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." Hosea 4:6

Imagine actually accepting and believing the Truth that through the power of Christ you are now clean, not one spot and not one speck of unrighteousness in you. Think of the peace, the joy, the fellowship and communion with God that it would bring. We rarely if ever have been taught or heard it preached that we actually can be this way, but when we read the Word, there it is, “we are now clean through the Word.” We read that God has now given us His Spirit so that we may be cleansed from all unrighteousness. No spot, no wrinkle, and no blemish, a glorious church! Yet where are the sermons, where is the hope, I am not even talking about faith yet, just the hope that we can and should be this way? Where is the hope that Jesus is that strong when it comes to saving us, that His sacrificed Blood is that powerful for us, and that God’s love is that awesome in keeping us?

God has set His standards so high that only He can achieve them through us. If you don’t believe me look at what Jesus said. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect.” Matthew 5:48 That is a high standard to say the least! But it’s not for our Father, its Who He is and it is Who He is in us. Our Father is perfect all of the time and everywhere! He has given us His mind, His Spirit, and His Word. The yoke of our salvation is not harsh and the burden given to us is light. It’s not hard for us to be as God, because through Jesus we are now one with Him.

My thumb has no trouble at all being part of me. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God! We will no longer be destroyed by a lack of knowledge! Through Christ and the cleansing power of His Blood we are now without spot, wrinkle, or blemish! Through Christ we are able to be perfect, even as our Father is perfect! Through Christ we are now clean, and through Christ we are no longer destroyed by a lack of knowledge! Jesus ever lives to intercede for us and since He does we are now saved to the uttermost, Hebrews 7:25. If you look up the word uttermost in a Strong’s Concordance, number 3838, it means perfect and all complete. Our Father tells us that because Christ is ever living for us, we are saved perfectly and completely! Through Christ we are perfectly clean and today is the day of our salvation and now is our accepted time!

Study and openly confess that this day our Father has made you clean through His Word. That this day you have power, today you are saved, and today you are one with the Living God, because you are! Do not just have a form of Godliness, have Godliness. Welcome our Father's power, His grace and His sanctification. We are not those who faint and fall away; we are not destroyed because we reject knowledge. No, we don’t reject Truth, because we are now one with God, we now have the Holy Ghost, and He now teaches us all things. We now have the knowledge of the universe permanently dwelling within us and God always causes us to triumph in Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior, A-men.

There is no human action that will allow us to ever accept that we are clean. Even if we never did anything wrong, if we try to stand before God on our own, we would be dirty. But because of Him, we can, it is just part of our heritage in Him. Hope in God and in His Truth's and you will never be disappointed. Be blessed and be filled with complete love this day, you are born of it!

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

God Has Given Us A New Heart

"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land I gave your fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of your tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen." Ezekiel 36:26-30

We have studied extensively on our unity with our Father through Jesus our Lord and Savior. We have established with the Word that we have been given the Holy Spirit to abide within us, and that the Spirit of Christ continually dwells within us. So now we are going to begin a study on what it means for us. We have touched on it, but now we need to establish with the Word, that because we are one with God, we are now pure, clean, holy, godly, and perfect. We are all of these things because of Him, all by His power, all because it is His will. There is nothing that we could do to establish these truths on our own; no work could even begin to scratch the surface of what would be needed. But, because of Jesus we have it all, and through Him we can walk in the perfection that our Father created for us.

To begin, look at what God prophesies through Ezekiel: that He will give us a new heart, that He will give us a new spirit, and that His Spirit now dwells within us. Our Father proclaims that He will cause us to walk in His statutes and that He will cause us to keep His judgments. Ezekiel also prophesies that God will save us from all uncleannesses. The first step to being clean is to be cleansed, and God, through His Spirit cleanses us. That is why Jesus told His disciples in John 16:7 that it was better that He would go away, because if He did, than the Spirit would come, and with it salvation form all of our uncleanness! “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you.”

This prophecy in Ezekiel clearly shows the love that our Father has for us. God's overwhelming desire is for us to be saved. His desire is so strong for us to be unified with Him that He alone will take care of all the needed actions to insure it. Remember God created us as His children, in His image, He breathed life into us, and He did it to have fellowship with us. We are of Him. So our Father did not give an angel the responsibility of keeping us, He did not give a preacher the responsibility, and He did not even give us the responsibility. Our Father loves us so much, and He is so unwilling to be without us, that He gave Himself the responsibility. God alone will keep us from all uncleanness. This truth should give you a peace that passes all understanding.

John 15:1, "I am the Vine, and My Father is the Husbandman. (or Gardner)" Jesus refers to us as the branches in John 15:5. Now a branch does not defend itself, or keep itself, from the things that can destroy it, the Gardener does, and our Gardener is God. There is no one more capable, more qualified, more loving, more powerful, more understanding, or more omnipotent, and we have Him. He is our Dad, our Father, and His Spirit cries this Truth out from within us.

In the Bible Jesus is referred to as the Shepherd, now is it the responsibility of the sheep to keep themselves from harm and danger, or is it the responsibility of the Shepherd? Are the sheep responsible for finding food, or water? What about shelter? When their hair grows too long, are they required to trim it up? What if they are injured? Who is responsible for them, the shepherd is, and Jesus is now our Shepherd! Jesus is also referred to as the Head of the body. We see all throughout the Bible that God declares that He will keep us from sin, that He will guide us, that He will lead us, that He will give us His Spirit, and that He will protect us. That is the love that our Father has for us, absolute eternal salvation, insured by Himself, because there is no greater to insure it by. There is no greater insurance available than the promises of the Living God!

We have gone to great lengths in our studies to prove with God's Word, the only Word that matters, that we are one with Him, this day, through Jesus our Lord and Savior. We have learned that Jesus is in us and that we are in Jesus. Now we are going to build on that study with scriptures that proclaim we are clean, pure, sanctified, holy, and perfect because of this unity. And remember that today is the day of our salvation, and God is not a respecter of persons, so all that truly call on the name of the Lord can have all of these promises and scriptures realized in their lives this day!

I love you, and through the power of God that is within us we are able to proclaim from the rooftops what Jesus has proclaimed in silence! We are blessed beyond expression through the power of His might.

Monday, February 21, 2005

We Are Perfected By Christ, So That The World Can Believe

"That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me."
John 17:21-23

After all that we have studied in the last several postings about our unity with God, I wanted to end up with these verses. After all of the verses that our Father has had us study together, do you see why Jesus can say that we are now perfect? Now here is the real question, do we actually believe it? Do we really accept that we are perfect because we are now in Jesus and that our perfection is based solely on Jesus and not on us? If we truly believe this, than through the power of Christ we are to go into all of the world and preach the Gospel that allows others to believe it as well. And if you do not believe that we are now perfect in Christ, try and go find the verses to prove that.

Either way, Jesus loves us and through His grace we are able to love each other. Pray for me and I will pray for you. Pray that the love of God is perfected in us, that He is glorified in everything we do, that our lives are a living proof of Him, and that in nothing shall we be ashamed! Pray that His strength is perfected in our weakness and also that the eyes of our understanding are enlightened and that together and as one in Him we are used to win the world! Jesus loves you so very much, and so do I! Be blessed and full in Him this day!

Sunday, February 20, 2005

The Holy Ghost, God, and Jesus Now Dwell Within Us

“And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever. Even the Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. " John 14:16-17

"At that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in Me, and I in you." John 14:20

"Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him" John 14:23

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." John 15:4-5

"If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." John 15:7

"And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but they are in the world, and I am come to Thee. Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those Whom Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, as we are." John 17:10-11

I know that we have discussed all of these verses several times before, but what a great stretch of Chapters in the Gospel of John. John is used to share so much power and glory of what Jesus taught! Don't just read these verses, really stop and consider what Jesus proclaimed! Jesus said that He is glorified in us and that we are the vessels that allow Him to receive His glory. Jesus said that it is our Father Who now keeps us and if it is God Who is keeping us, we are kept, sealed and perfected without fear in His love.

As we previously studied, we are preserved in Christ until the day that God destroys evil! Our Father, Who is God, actually dwells within us, we are actually in Jesus right now, and He actually is in us! Because of this we will bare much fruit. The peace of these Truths, the joy that they proclaim, and the awesome power associated with them allow us to be as He is in this world. If you want to have some meat go and read John 14-17 and see just what Jesus has provided for us and see what our Father is doing through us!

Greater is He that is within us than anything and everything that is in the world! There is no weapon that is formed against Him that can prosper and we are now preserved in the greatness of His power! Today is the day of our freedom and victory in Him and today is the day that He causes us to rejoice and be glad in Him! Jesus has delivered us, He has called us, He has chosen us, He has glorified us, He has preserved us, He has sanctified us, He has perfected us, and He has given us life abundantly! Our victory is based on Jesus' victory and our power is His power that is within us, and His power in us is greater than we can ever imagine! The Truth of our unity with God through Jesus, has set us free to ever live to serve the Living God. Our bodies of sin have been destroyed and we have been raised up together and made to sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus! There is no more defeat for us, only victory, because now all things work together for us who love the Lord!

Father I thank You that You empower each and every one of us to proclaim Your Truth in fullness and in true love! I ask that You enlighten the eyes of our understanding so that we may comprehend and live in the fullness of Your salvation! I thank You that You allow us to magnify our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in every action, thought, and deed! That we come behind in none of Your gifts as we are used by You to further Your Kingdom. Father glorify us, so that we may glorify You! I thank You Father that we all live in the full power of Your love. That we live in the full height, length, breadth, and depth of Your love! Father Your will be done and I thank You that Your will brings peace that passes all understanding and Your will allows us to live a life that is abundant in Christ! God bless all of you!

Friday, February 18, 2005

We Are Now Preserved In Christ

"Jude the servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called:" Jude 1:1

"Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." 2 Corinthians 1:21-22

“And grieve not the Holy Spirit, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30

“I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from evil.” John 17:15

We are not alone any more! We are never in this world alone anymore. Our Father has proclaimed that we are now preserved and sealed until the Day of redemption in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior! God has declared that we are established in Christ, that we have the Holy Spirit within us, and that we are sanctified and preserved. Jesus prayed that our Father would keep us from evil. A-men, these things are done, they are finished; they are as God has declared! When God speaks, it’s eternal! We are now and forever more members of His body, His Temple, and one with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

Our Father is not only with us as long as we do what is right. The Truth is that He is ever with us until the day that Jesus returns. Our Father now keeps us from all evil and He will continue to keep us safe until the day that He destroys evil! If we mess up, satan doesn’t get free reign to beat the snot out of us! If that were the case then we would still be in a Covenant that was just like the Old Covenant. There may be a different set of rules, but still our communion with our Father would be based upon our own works. This is not the power of the New Covenant that Jesus has established. God knew that were weak, so He sent Jesus, to ratify a New Covenant that would allow Him to be strong within us. We enjoy a Covenant that is not determined by our own works. We now enjoy a Covenant that allows our Father to be here with us continually, walking with us, and leading us, right here in the thick of things. If there is any disciplining to be done, it will be done by our Father and not by satan! “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, be zealous therefore, and repent.” Revelation 3:19

We are now preserved in Christ, we are now preserved in the Anointing of God! Because there is now no more fear of messing up. We no longer have to fear things like having a bad thought and then the consequence be that we are no longer in fellowship with God. Our actions no longer limit our Father from being one with us. We are now kept by God until He does away with evil all together!

Sure we repent, but that doesn’t mean that we have been separated from God, it just means that He has led us in the paths of righteousness and allowed us to have the hope and faith to change our ways. Our Father is now continually within us. He never leaves us or forsakes us and if we mess up, and it is if we mess up, not when we mess up, remember 1 John 2:1, God will still remain. “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” Our disobedience does not cause God to flee from us; it causes Him to correct us and to bring us back into the paths of righteousness! Our actions no longer separate us from God; the Blood of Christ insures it. Through Christ we stand united in God, preserved in Him, and sealed by Him. We are sealed by the actions of Jesus, by the perfect actions of our Lord and Savior! Don’t let people preach to you that if you mess up, than your actions give satan some kind of right to come and reap havoc on you. No way, God is still in control and He still is our Father, and our Father will discipline us, not satan!

Life in Christ is not a craps shoot, if we truly are empowered by the Holy Spirit to say yes to Jesus, than it’s a done deal! When God talks about our salvation He uses terms like preserved, sealed, dead, yet nevertheless we live, perfect, united, and one with Him. Man uses words like maybe and possibly, but not God. To God our salvation is a sure thing, it is settled, and it is finished! This is why we have boldness, because our Father is Love, and Love would have it no other way. If you are empowered to accept Love, then Love will insure your eternity with Him! Love covers a multitude of sin, and we don’t have so much sin that our Father can’t cover it! Love looks only at the Blood of Jesus and judges that we are cleansed by it and not by our actions!

"Even David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." Romans 4:6-8

David, the man whom our Father called His friend, the man who stood up to the giant Goliath and slew him, writes about how blessed we are. The Prophets of old, so longed to see our day, no more sacrifices, no more works, just unbroken fellowship and union with God. We are preserved through Jesus and with Him we have access into our Father's rest! The Words that we study will bathe you in peace, and they will consume you with the Truth, and the Truth will set you free!

Thursday, February 17, 2005

Our Father's Love Allows Us To Be Bold

"Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in Him, and He in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world." 1 John 4:15-17

"Therefore there is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." 1 John 4:18

"No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us." 1 John 4:12

I am always so thankful when I read what our Father had John write, “as He is,” and I always want to talk about it. The glory of what our Father has given us is so awesome and it has been given to every one of us who truly have been chosen and empowered to confesses Jesus Christ as Lord! But before we talk about being as God is, let’s talk about us dwelling in love and loving one another as God loves us. I heard it preached years ago that God doesn’t just have love, but that He is love, 1 John 4:16 Our Father cannot help but be what He is and He is love!

“Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.” 2 Corinthians 13:11 The God of love, the God Who is love, and the God Who we are born of allows us to be perfect as we live in His peace with one mind and in good comfort! We are born of God and He is love, so we are born of love. We are now one with God, Who is love, so we now abide in love and we are now sealed in love. We are born again of God’s perfect love and that perfect love casts out all fear from us. Our Father's perfect love allows us to be one with each other and one with Him, with one heart, one mind, and one accord, just as God and Jesus are One. We are one in God, so that the world will believe! God is not divided and in Him we are a unified house. We are a house that has been built upon the solid rock of Jesus Christ!

Jesus prayed in John 17:26 that the love of God would dwell in us. In John 15:26 Jesus said that we would have the Spirit of Love teaching us all things, interceding for us, comforting us, and strengthening us. Praise God we are born of Love and Love has called us. We have been chosen by Love, Love has justified us, and Love has glorified us! And what can we say to all of this, if Love is for us, who can be against us! We are now more than conquerors through Love, and greater is the Love that is within us, than anything that is in the world! We can do all things through God’s love that strengthens us! When we said yes to Jesus and made Him our Lord and our Savior, we were born again of Love, not of corruptible love, but of incorruptible! Today is the day that Love has made and He has left His joy within us so that we may rejoice and be glad in it! We are now members of Love’s body! “For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.” Ephesians 5:30

The Word of God clearly proclaims that we dwell in Love and that God dwells in us, and since God now dwells within us, our love is made perfect. “.. God dwelleth in us, and His love is perfected in us." 1 John 4:12 Our love is not perfected because of our own actions, it’s perfected because God is in us. People who love, who love perfectly, don’t get there by practice; they get there by God abiding in them, the Light driving out the darkness. We are strong to love by the power of our Father's might that is within us! We can love because Jesus is in us causing us to love! We can love because we are born of love; the same love that bore Jesus has bore us!

Since we now have perfect love, because God dwells within us, we now have boldness. We have boldness to stand in the Day of Judgment. We now have boldness to approach God’s Throne of Grace in time of need. “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 We know the Truth that has set us free. We know that our Father will never leave us or forsake us, never! Through the power of Christ we have boldness and confidence that through Him we have passed from wrath unto righteousness!

Now here is the great part, since we now abide in our Father's love, we know beyond any shadow of a doubt that God now dwells within us, and that gives us boldness to serve God just as Jesus serves God. “For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 6:10-11 “He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.” 1 John 2:6

Our Father takes our service to the extreme limits, He is God, and as He is, so are we in this world! Bam! Talk about being bold. I know I have preached on this already, but do you see what this means? As God is so are we in this world, He is love, He is lay down your life love. He is never leave us or forsake us love. Love is the key, love unlocks it all, and we are just like God in love. People preach that we need to love all of the time, but I have never heard it preached like this, that in God we can’t help but love! We are born of love and our love is just like God’s love, because our love is now God’s love. His love now abides within us, never leaving us or forsaking us! Through Christ we know the depth, the length, the height, and the width of God’s love! Faith comes from hearing this Truth that passes knowledge and hearing comes from the Word of God. How shall they hear without a preacher? Man we need to preach this so that we can be set free and walk in the fullness and power of our Salvation!

Jesus I pray that You will use us and allow all of us to understand completely what God is telling us here. Jesus allow us to understand that we can’t help but love, because we are now one with God, Who is love! It’s who we are, and Father in Jesus’ Name allow the church to realize this and not be offended, that we should and can be love, just as You are Love, no difference, because it is You in us! No more fake reverence, we can and should be just like You Father. Allow us to honor and serve You Father by causing us to be just like You, in thought, action, and in deed. Allow us to be used by You to see as You see Father, think as You think, walk as You walk, serve as You serve, and be as You are, even when we are in this earth! Father I pray for boldness for Your church to accept all that You have provided for us through Jesus our Lord and Savior. Father Your will be done through us on this earth as Your will is done in Heaven, A-men!

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Jesus Is Now Within Us

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be of God: because many false prophets are gone into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God." 1 John 4:1-2

This verse teaches us that every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, not that Christ did come, not that He came, but that He is come, right now, present tense. For example this is a study guide, do you see what is being said here? Every spirit that proclaims Jesus is come in the flesh, every spirit that says Jesus is here right now, in me, in you, and in every believer, is of God. This verse does not mean that we are to confess that Jesus came in the flesh, but that He is in our flesh. Think about it, how many false teachers have you heard that confess that Jesus was here? Half the world celebrates Christmas and even goes to church on Christmas Eve, yet they have never been empowered to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, even though they will confess that He was born. After all of the verses that we have read about our unity with Christ, you now can see what this truth is saying. If a person believes and confesses that Jesus Christ is in them, if they confess that they are the Temples of God, right now, they are of God, and every spirit that does not confess their unity with Christ right now, is not of God. 1 John 4:3.

The only way that we will ever believe that we are glorified with the same glory as Jesus; the only way that we will ever accept our perfection and power in Christ; the only way we will believe that we are as He is in this world, is to believe and confess that Jesus is in us this day. And the only way to do this, is by having the Holy Ghost within us, confessing it! “Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” 1 Corinthians 12:3

This is the missing power in the church today. People confess Jesus came in the flesh. People confess that Jesus is the Son of God, but very few people confess and believe that Jesus is in them right now and that they have actually become one with Him. This is why our Father is using me to share so many scriptures with you. Unless our Father shows us this truth, we will never be able to accept it and live in the glory of it. Some will have this truth stolen right away when it is first heard, some will accept it for a moment, but as soon as the church says they are wrong and a little persecution arises because of it, they will abandon it. Some will loose this Truth because of the cares of this world. But some will accept it, and produce a return of 100, 60, or 30 fold! Jesus is coming back for a glorious and powerful Church, so the Truth of Jesus being in us will be accepted and walked in by the Church and the world will believe. Our Father is not a man that He should lie and God will not be mocked!

1 John 4:1-2 are a great test to use when confronted with religion; people are always arguing their religion. Don’t argue religion, it’s a total waste of time! Especially when people get off on their denomination, Christ is not divided. Don’t argue, just allow the Holy Ghost to use you to share our Father's Truth’s in love. Let God’s Word stand on its own. And here is what you can do if you find yourself in a discussion with someone who does want to argue religion, ask the person to describe their relationship with Jesus. If they never bring up that He is in them, and that they are in Him, or that they are united or one with Him, than you know what is going on. The Holy Ghost clearly tells us what to do; out of the abundance of our hearts our mouths will speak. If they don’t answer according to 1 John 4:1-2, start sharing these scriptures, share about how you were indwelled with the Holy Spirit and how you are one with Jesus. The sower sows the Word and God’s Word will not fall void to the earth, it will accomplish what He intended for it to do!

"Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that I sin the world." 1 John 4:4

"In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him." 1 John 4:9

Jesus is now in us and we are now in Him. The Holy Ghost is now in us, and we are all now in God. This is our peace, it is our joy, and this unity is our protection. No weapon formed against The Trinity shall prosper, and thus, no weapon formed against us shall prosper. We are sealed until the day of our redemption, and we have been given the Anointing of God, so that we may operate in the full power of His Word. And the Word is what is in abundance in our hearts! We have the Spirit of Christ Who is for us and through Him nothing can be against us! Be blessed in God’s love and try the spirits with the power of God’s love. Serve all those whom God leads into your life and through the love and the power of Christ that is within you, you will never be ashamed!

Monday, February 14, 2005

In Christ We Are Now Light

"This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." 1 John 1:5

"At that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in Me, and I in you." John 14:20

In Jesus there is no darkness at all, and as we have been studying, we are now in Him. The great Truth of salvation is that we just aren’t saved from hell because we believe, we actually are saved from Hell because we become one with God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! He is now in us and we are now in Him and there is no darkness at all in Him! There are so many of us who really don’t believe this Truth. There is far too much condemnation amongst Christians, most of it is self-condemnation, but it still is condemnation. I see so many of us putting off the blessings of our salvation, believing they can only come to us when we arrive in Heaven. But that is just not so and hopefully all of these postings have made that Truth, that sets us free, known. When the power of our salvation: righteousness, sanctification, glory, and holiness is directed at God, we are light, and when it is self directed, darkness, and then failure. We are light because of Jesus, His power and glory have driven the darkness from us. There is no ability for us to boast in this Light, because Christ has done it all for us, and praise God He has done it all for us!

We are now light because of the power of Jesus’ Blood. "But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ." Ephesians 2:13 Before we were empowered by the Holy Spirit to accept Jesus we were far away, but now we are nigh Him. We are now members of His body, we are now His Temple, and we are now the branches of His Vine! When Jesus talks about us it is always as unified with Him. Jesus is a hands on Savior and He never will leave us or forsake us! With Jesus we are never in the dark, we are able to see clearly through the faith that He Authors and Finishes for us!

"Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh; How much more shall the blood of Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the Living God?" Hebrews 9:12-14

"Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate." Hebrews 13:12

The power of Jesus’ Blood is what allows us to be light. Jesus has obtained eternal redemption for us and He has purged our consciences from all dead works. He has done this so that we might serve God as He serves God, in Truth and in holiness! I will do anything to help my kids if they are in trouble. Not only would I, but I would be responsible to, they are mine. Well think about our Father, how much more can He come to our aide when needed and doesn’t He have the responsibility to? He is our Father and He chose to have us. Our Father doesn’t shy away from this duty either, He welcomes it and it brings Him great joy to have the responsibility of raising us!

“Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

Man was in trouble, sin was destroying us, so our Father sent Jesus, and now we are free in Him. Death was defeated at the Cross and the sting of it removed from us, and it brought Jesus great joy to do it. Satan lost his grip over us, perfect love came and fear was cast out. Light now shines where there was once darkness! Remember, we were not originally made in darkness, it found us. We were in trouble and Jesus came, and saved us, and He did not do the job half way! The power of His Light far exceeds the power of our darkness! And through the power of His Light our bodies of sin have been destroyed. “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” Romans 6:6

Let’s talk for a minute about our Father being responsible for insuring that we are redeemed until the day of Christ. We don’t hear that preached often do we? But when we look at what God has said, we see that He is responsible. Jesus teaches us that He is our Shepherd. "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to Whom be glory for ever and ever. A-men." Hebrews 13:20-21

A shepherd is responsible for the sheep. There are other scriptural references of Jesus being our Shepherd, but this is by far the most powerful! In two short verses we have so many Truths: the Great Shepherd, the God of peace, the blood, and perfection in every good work that pleases God! Wow, you have to love these two verses! Through them we see clearly that our Father has taken the responsibility of our walk into His Own hands. We are perfect in every good work and we are well pleasing only because of Jesus, and Jesus is One with God! We are pleasing to our Father because He makes us that way!

Our Father also calls Himself the Gardener and we are the branches, John 15:1, once again He takes the responsibility for us. Jesus says that He is the Head of the Church, Ephesians 5:23. All of this said, God call’s Himself our Father, and He is, so there is responsibility there. Why am I teaching on this? Because we are not alone, we are never alone! We are not solely responsible for everything being right or wrong in our lives. This is not a solo journey we are on. Our Father is right here with us, He is one with us, He is in us, on us, over us, before us, and behind us. He is willing and able, and He is responsible for our fruitful and abundant lives.

This is not being taught nearly enough. People are looking to themselves. If things are good in a persons life, than they believe they must be doing something right, and if they are bad, then something wrong. Faith preachers call it faith, others call it living rightly, whatever it’s called, it leaves God subservient to what we do first. He is right in here with us and He carries the largest part of the load, as our Father, our Shepherd, and our Head!

I asked God why He kept saying this to me, and this is what He said. “How than shall they call on Him in Whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe on Him of Whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” As you may know that is Romans 10:14-15

Our Father told me, “what can be more peaceful than teaching that I hold the responsibility in your success?” Man tries to find God with his own power, like do A, B, and C and than God will be found. Bologna! The heart does not respond like the hand, the foot like the eye, the tongue as the kidney, we are members of the body, all different parts, and our Father comes to us where we are and exactly how we need Him! This needs to be taught. Think I am wrong, Jesus said that without Him, we could do nothing, John 15:5. If that isn’t taking the responsibility, I don’t know what is?

So you see, we are light, we are not darkness, because we are in Him, and the Light has driven out the darkness. And through Him we have everything we need, our bodies that could sin have been destroyed, Romans 6:6. What if we don’t feel like it has. Let me ask you this, how often do you hear it preached that our bodies of sin have been destroyed? Faith comes from hearing the Truth and the Truth sets us free! Romans 8:1 says there is now therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. There is now no condemnation for us because there is now no darkness in us, because we are in Christ Jesus! No bragging rights here, only because of Jesus, no works on our behalf can make this happen, it is solely based on Jesus and what He has done and offered for us!

How will the world believe unless we preach it?

"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them." Ezekiel 36:26 This is the message that we have heard from Jesus and declare unto you. That God is Light and there is no darkness in Him and we are now in Him! Through the power of the Light that we now live in, we shall go into all of the world and preach the Gospel of this Truth to every creature and through our unity with Christ the world will believe!

Sunday, February 13, 2005

We Are Sanctified & One With Jesus

"For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren." Hebrews 2:11

Jesus is not ashamed to call us His brothers and sisters; A-men we are actually now Jesus’ brethren and we are actually joint-heirs with Him. Jesus is not ashamed of us, because He is the One Who has sanctified us. Jesus has set us apart for God’s Holy use and He has cleansed us from all of our unrighteousness. Jesus did the job completely for us and He knows that the job was done right, complete and perfectly. Jesus is not ashamed of us because there is nothing to be ashamed of. Our Father had it written that it was Jesus Who sanctifies us and He also had it written that all who are sanctified by Jesus are one with Him; this is the Truth. So is there any reason for Jesus to be ashamed of Himself? We are members of His body, flesh of His flesh, and bone of His bone. We are new creatures in Him and we have now been perfected in Him, so that the world may believe and be saved. Jesus is complete and He has completed us in Himself, He has empowered us with Himself, and He has filled us with the very Spirit of God. Our Lord's Light has driven out the darkness from us and because, and only because of Him, we can stand before our Father with confidence and boldness, without being ashamed in anything! We now have the Holy Spirit within us confirming with our own spirits that we are the sons of God and He is strengthening us to know that all things work for good for us now because we love the Lord! Jesus was born perfect, it’s how God made Him, and through Jesus’ sacrifice and the power of His Blood, we have now been born again in perfection!

Think for a minute about how God equipped Jesus, and how God was well pleased with Him. “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17 Our Father made Jesus. Jesus was God Himself. He was completely and thoroughly made and equipped for the task of being the Lord of Lord's. There was nothing lacking in Jesus. He was empowered and perfect because of God, because He was and is God! Jesus has done exactly the same things for us. He has thoroughly and completely made us and we are complete Him; we are now His body!

Jesus sanctified us, which means He set us aside for holy use, just as God set Jesus aside for Holy use. “As Thou hast sent Me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.” John 17:18 Jesus is Lord, He has His part in the Kingdom of God and we are His body and we have our part. The building is all fit together with Jesus being the Chief Cornerstone. With Jesus we can be used by our Father to do all things, without Him, we can do nothing and we have nothing that pertains to life. He is the Vine and we are the branches and the life force of the Vine continually flows through us, we are only because He is. So for Jesus to be ashamed of us, He would have to be ashamed of Himself! Without Christ we are nothing but sin, but because of Him and our confession of Him, His Blood continually cleanses us from all sin and there is now no occasion for us to stumble or fall. This strength and power is according to His might and we are now strong in the power of His might!

“And the glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are One.” John 17:22

“As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offense: and whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.” Romans 9:33 On our own we would always be ashamed! We can’t stand before God, even if we never sinned, and not be ashamed of ourselves. However, we can stand before our Father without any shame, because as we stand before Him, we stand as His children, born of Him, born from His seed, righteous because of what Jesus has done for us. We are sanctified by Jesus’ actions, glorified with His glory, and as we stand before God we never stand alone, Jesus is with us and One in us. We can be unashamed because we have the Holy Spirit within us and He lets us know beyond any shadow of a doubt that God is not ashamed of us! “For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.” Romans 10:11

“And now, little children, abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.” 1 John 2:28 If we had to rely on our own ability to be good enough, there would be absolutely no confidence in us whatsoever when Jesus returns. It would be like a High School Monday after a Friday test. You may not know what that means, but I sure do! How can we be so confident then, even when our eternity is at stake? We can stand confident before our Father, because we abide in Jesus and He gives us the confidence. "But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him." 1 John 2:27

Let me ask you this, can our Father be fooled? Can we fake God out, or lie to Him? There are a lot of people who believe that we can stop abiding in God once we have been truly saved. How? Did we fool our Father to start off? He knows the beginning and the end, and He knows our hearts. So if we could all of a sudden stop being in Him, than there had to be wickedness in our hearts all along. God declares that our inheritance is incorruptible, and that it never fades away, and that we are kept by His very power. "To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled and that fadeth not away, reserved in Heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter 1:4-5 I believe there are many who falsely confess salvation who seem to be falling away, but for those of us who have actually and truly been empowered by the Holy Spirit to accept Jesus, there is no way for us to fall away. For us to fall away would mean that we were keeping ourselves with our own power and not His! If we had to keep ourselves from leaving God, we would all leave God, but we don’t keep ourselves, He keeps us and our inheritance in Him is incorruptible and never fades away, Romans 11:29!

Our Father said that He would put a new heart within us, so that we would serve Him and walk in His ways. If we could fall away, than He never really put a new heart in us, so He lied? Our Father is not a man that He should lie! He did put a new heart within us, and that is why we can confidently approach Him, without any shame, because we approach Him with the new heart that He gave us. People always want to talk about backsliding, as if we can be in God than out of God. People we cannot fool God, we are either completely in, or out, there is no in between!

So what is happening? Read the parable of the sower of the tares, Matthew 13. Read how Jesus says that all who say Lord, Lord will not be saved, Matthew 7:21-23. Just because someone says they are saved doesn’t mean they are, look to their fruit and judge it by the Word. I have heard it said a lot lately, “who are we to judge anyone’s salvation?” Sounds religious and good doesn’t it. But we are to judge people by their fruit and we are to test the spirits to see if they are of God. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” 1 John 4:1 On our own and without the Word of God and the Spirit of Discernment we aren’t in any position to judge someone else. But we are not alone, we judge as we are judged, by the Word of God. We will know each other by the fruits that we see God producing through us. We will know a good branch from a bad one by what we see God doing with it, and we can know what is of God by the Word of God that never changes!

Father, I pray in the Name of Jesus that all who read this have confidence and boldness, because You are perfected in them. That they know beyond any shadow of a doubt that You have sanctified them, that You have equipped them to go into the world as You equipped Jesus to go into the world. Father You have declared that as You are so are we in this world, let us not just talk about it, but live it! Father I thank you that there is absolutely no shame in us, that the spirit of lies that tries to bring condemnation is bound and cast out of Your children. That the Spirit of liberty abounds within us! That we mature fully in the gifts that You have born into us. Father I thank You that our minds are renewed with the knowledge that it is You, and only You, that is providing everything needed that pertains unto life and unto godliness. That we stand fast, because You have enabled us to stand fast. That we walk in faith, because You Author our faith, that we stand righteous, because Your righteousness abides within us. Father it is You within us that does the works and I thank You that this is lived, and enjoyed, and not just spoken of. Father be Who You are in us today. Your will, and Your will is magnificent, be done completely in us! A-men.

Thursday, February 10, 2005

We Are Empowered To Stand Fast In The Lord

"For now we live, if we stand fast in the Lord." 1 Thessalonians 3:8

On our own and with our own human strength, we could never stand fast in the Lord. This is why we have become one with God through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, so that we may live and stand fast in the power of His might. “Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;” Colossians 1:11 We are now strong in the power of our Father's might, because we now have the Holy Ghost, Who teaches and strengthens us in all things! We have the whole armor of God, so that we are able to stand against all of the attacks of the world and evil! We are dead, and still we live; yet it is not us who is alive, but it is Christ within us Who is alive. We stand fast because we are one with the Lord and He stands fast within us! Greater is He that is now within us than he that is in the world! We have put on Christ and we have been renewed in the very image of God, recreated in righteousness and true holiness.

There are so many of us who are wishy washy about our salvation. Too many of our brethren are self-condemning, fearful and in doubt of their eternal state because they are in doubt of who they are in Christ. They may have gone to church for years, yet they never walk in any power or demonstration of the Spirit. The reason they are living this way is because they are trying to stand fast in the Lord on their own and they fail each and every time! Jesus told us that He never said anything that He had not heard first from the Father and that it was God in Him, Who was doing the works. Until we actually begin to think of ourselves to be crucified with Christ and give it all up, including our free will, we will never be able to stand fast in the Lord. I hear about free will and I just marvel. The Word teaches us that if we put anything before Jesus, than we are not worthy of Him, Matthew 10:37. The first thing I wanted rid of when I found Jesus was my free will. Not my will Lord, but yours!

People, who say they maintain their free will to walk away from our Father, have never truly experienced Jesus as their Lord and Savior. They may have a form of godliness, but they have denied the power of it because they have not been empowered to cast the burden of their free will on God. “No man can serve two masters; for they will either love the one and hate the other; or else they will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Matthew 6:24 People who think that they still have a free will are trying to serve two masters. They are trying to serve Jesus and themselves and they will fail every time. They are a divided house and they will never stand fast in Jesus, they cannot!

The last act of my free will was to allow God to crucify me with Christ, which allowed me to live, because Christ was now the One living in me. I can’t even brag about giving up my free will, because it was our Father Who gave me the strength and the ability to do so! And praise God, the burden of messing up was no longer solely my concern; it was God's as well. Don't believe me? "And I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them. And ye shall dwell in the land I gave your fathers; and ye shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will also save you from all your uncleannesses:" Ezekiel 36:27-28

Our Father is the Gardener, Jesus is our Shepherd, we are the branches, and we are the sheep. Branches do not bear the responsibility of producing quality fruit, it is the vine and the gardener that do. Sheep do not bear the burden of their own safety, the shepherd does. God is the One Who cast the burdens of our salvation on Himself. Jesus teaches us that to be the greatest in God’s Kingdom, we have to be the biggest servants. Jesus is by far the greatest, because He is the biggest servant, ever living to intercede for us. Any remnants of our free will are pruned out of us by God and burned out of us by Jesus, Who is the refiners fire, so that we may be used by our Father to produce everlasting righteous fruit! We are never alone; God in all of His forms is always vitally united with us!

Think for a minute about a young child. They don’t take thought for paying a mortgage. They don’t take thought for utility bills, they don’t worry about groceries, because they are standing fast in their parents’ provisions. That is how Jesus said we can be, and that we have to be. “And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” Matthew 18:3 Through Christ we are converted and we enter into God’s rest. The power and freedom of our salvation allows us to be as a little children. Jesus allows us to dance like a child, to love to be around people like a child, to play like a child, and to be accepting like a child, this is the peace of Jesus. My two kids and all the neighborhood kids have such a blast. They just come over, who cares if they are dirty and have on old clothes, there are boys and girls, Black, White, and Hispanic, they laugh, they play, they rejoice, it’s awesome. "Except we are converted and become as little children we shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven!"

Look in the Gospels at how Jesus lived. He talked in riddles or parables. He loved to be around people, young and old, rich and poor, male and female! Kids were around Him so much that the adults rebuked them. His earthly ministry was for the Jews, Gentiles were to receive it after His death, yet whenever He came upon a non-Jew He helped them as well! He loved to cause trouble by going against the establishment and His first miracle was turning water to wine at a party! When someone would trouble Him He would moan or cry out, “how long do I have to be with you?” Jesus’ life sounds like a child’s life doesn’t it?

When Beth and I first moved into our community, we had lived in the country, all of the neighborhood kids just gravitated towards us. If I was lying in the hammock they would just run and jump right on in, if I was shooting hoops they just joined in. I was uncomfortable with this at first, but then God said to me, relax, kids loved to be around Jesus as well, Matthew 19, Mark 10, and Luke 18. God is the best parent of all, He has all, He is in all, He loves us just like He loves Jesus, He doesn’t respect any of His kids over another, so because He is Who He is, we are able to be like a little child with Him. God began to use these little children around me to reveal to me just what Jesus was teaching us in the Sermon on the Mount. I clearly saw that when children have strong loving parents, they just naturally go into the world and take no thought for their needs. There is just an outright confidence in their parents taking care of everything! We are now born again of God Himself. Our Father is the Creator of everything and through His Anointing we are strong in the power of His might and we too are able to take no thought for our own lives. Our Father knows that we have needs and He has provided for them. If we look at the Lilies in the field, we can see just how magnificently He will provide for us! Children don’t lay up money for themselves, they get money and they want to spend it, they do this because they are taking no thought for their lives. They just know that dad and mom are providing, that is the rest that we now enjoy in our Father through our Savior Jesus Christ!

Which of you by taking thought cad add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies in the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; And yet, I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? Or, what shall we drink? Or, wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek for. Your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 27-33

That is the power of our salvation through Christ; we are able take no thought about our own lives, because Jesus is ever living to intercede for us. Find a child who is well provided for, whose parents love him, and who are raising him properly, and you will see what Jesus is saying that we can and should be like. We stand fast in the Lord because He has empowered us to stand fast and He has provided everything for us to stand fast! Through the love and glory of our Father, we are able to be just like little kids, as we take no thought for our own lives! Salvation allows us to enter our Father's perfect rest, and His peace that passes all understanding allows us to confidently trust in His abundant provision for our lives! Through Christ we stand fast and through Christ we have life and we have it abundantly!

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

We Are Now Complete In Christ

"And ye are complete in Him, which is the Head of all principality and power: In Whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, Who hath raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross; Having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." Colossians 2:10-15

We are now complete in Jesus; hallelujah we have been made complete in Christ and we have been raised together with Him from the dead by the operation of God! It’s kinda hard to still say that we are just sinful humans after reading this verse isn’t it? I mean complete does mean complete and the most powerful Being in the universe, the Alpha and Omega, has made us that way! Now remember in our previous studies that our Father said that we would not be ashamed in anything, and that He has equipped us just as He equipped Jesus, and that He loves us just as He loves Jesus. God made Jesus complete and now through Jesus, He has made us complete!

Jesus has circumcised our sinful flesh, now to circumcise means to cut off. It doesn’t mean to cover up, to just not consider, with circumcision there is a cut and wham it’s gone, and you know what I mean! A circumcision is quick and it is performed on babies! And because Jesus has circumcised our sinful flesh, we are now risen with Him and our bodies have been quickened, or made alive together, with His. This is what Jesus has done for us, He has performed an operation that allows us to stand in the presence of God, and according to God we are able to stand there boldly. Jesus has made us one with Himself, so that we are now members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bone. The body of Christ is just like He is and we who have been quickened, now make up His body! We are now part of the One Whom God has made perfect in ever way and in every aspect. Jesus shed His blood, so that through one sacrifice, we all may stand righteous and complete forever more in Him! He has forgiven us all of our sins, and all of those ordinances, the do’s and the don’ts, He took away and nailed them to the Cross. Jesus spoiled evil for us and He triumphed openly over the powers of the devil! This is for now, we are not just going to be complete in Him, praise God, we are complete in Him!

It’s not hard either, because as we have learned, Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith, Hebrews 12:2, and Jesus' yoke is easy, Matthew 11:30. Jesus has made it easy and He has given us the needed faith to accept Him and thus be perfect, glorified, holy, without blame, and filled with all of His fullness, and He has given us the ability to be as He is on this earth! Through Christ we are ashamed of nothing, and through Christ we have complete and unbroken fellowship with our Father, Who now does His works through us. We have all of this on the earth, so that the world may believe and be saved. And it is all a free gift of God, and in no way could it ever be earned, we just use the faith that Jesus gave us and walk in the victory of His power.

Keep it simple, and be blessed. "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God." Colossians 3:3

This verse does not say that we are dying. Our Father, Who is God, says that we are dead and our lives are hid, right now, at this very moment we are alive in Christ. Christians can mature and we will grow, but we are new creatures in Christ right now, our sinful flesh was circumcised when we were born again, and we are one with Christ right now, we are not becoming one with Christ. We are complete in Him right now. Through Jesus our bodies of sin have been destroyed, so just like Him we may ever live to serve the Living God! Everywhere we read, our Father talks about it being done, it’s finished, we are complete now, so we can serve Him now, so we can witness now, so He can do His works through us now, so the world may believe right now!

My two daughters Kennedy and Lauren have a lot of growing to do, but from the time that my sperm met with Beth's egg, they were our kids, they are never becoming our kids, they never had to earn it, or even prove themselves. Beth and I freely gave them life; from the very second that their lives began, they were our kids! God is not making us His kids. The Prodigal Son was always the son. He may have left, he may have not appeared to be an heir, but he was always that dad’s son! No matter what Kennedy and Lauren may do, they will always and forever be my children, they can never change that fact, no action, no statement, nothing will ever change the fact that they are my kids and that they are one with me. Without my seed, they would not be, it is impossible for them to stop being my kids. No action on my part or theirs can ever change the fact that they are directly from my seed. That is the union we have with God, because we have been born again from His Incorruptible Seed!

"And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created Him: Where there is neither Jew nor Greek, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all." Colossians 3:10-11

Christ is all; that is an interesting statement and such a powerful one. We have put on the new man and Christ is all and Christ is in us all. We are now members of His body, of His flesh, and His bones. We now have His Spirit and we now have the mind of Christ. Jesus’ joy is now fulfilled within us, we have been given His glory, we have His peace, we have His salvation, plain and simple Christ is all! A-men, this is such a powerful Truth. We are now renewed in the very image of God, just as Jesus is in the very image of God. Jesus said if we have seen Him, we have seen the Father, well we too are renewed in that image by the Anointed One, Jesus Christ! And praise God, it is available to all who want it: to Jew or Gentile, to Young and to old, to male or female, to rich or poor, to every race, and our past does not matter, all who choose life will have it! Now here is something that needs to be realized today, in Christ there is neither Baptist or Church of God, there is neither Church of Christ or Nazarene, there is neither Methodist or any denomination, for we are all Christ, He is in all and He is all!

Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Desire For Jesus To Be Magnified

"According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death." Philippians 1:20

It should be our earnest expectation and hope that we will never be ashamed in anything! The great Truth is that it is our Father's hope for us as well, and to insure that we aren't He did something about it! “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” Romans 15:3 Our Father has given us His very Own Spirit and through His Spirit we are filled with all joy in the peace of knowing His Truth, and through the Holy Spirit we abound in hope! Through the Spirit of God we are able to have boldness that Christ is going to be magnified through our lives! We are able to have the boldness that God has and know beyond any shadow of a doubt that Jesus is going to be glorified through us. Our Father knows the beginning and the end. He knows what is going to be and we now have His peace and joy regarding it! God knows that He is never going to be ashamed and He knows that He is in us, that we are His Temple, His body, and if God is never going to be ashamed, then we will never be ashamed! The great Truth that we are shown in Philippians is that we just don’t talk about Jesus, but that the Spirit of God magnifies Jesus through us! Our Father has given us the peace and joy of His faith that knows beyond any shadow of a doubt that He is going to use us to magnify His chosen Savior and our Lord Jesus Christ! “And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.” John 17:10

When Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father, here is what Jesus had to say. “Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?” John 14 8:9 Jesus answered Phillip’s question by saying that if you have seen Him, then you have seen the Father.

Now how awesome would it be to have someone ask us to show them Jesus, and our answer be, if you have seen us then you have seen Jesus. To think this way is not wrong and according to the Truth it should be our earnest desire. If we are crucified with Christ, if we are new creatures in Christ, if we are members of His body, and if we are now one with Him, all of which are Truths that we have studied, then when people see us, they see the One Who we are one with. If God inspired all of these scriptures, and He is not a man that He should lie, then why can’t we say the exact same thing that Jesus said, because according to the Word of God it is actually the case? Think about it, being ashamed in nothing, having no fault, perfectly and completely united with Jesus. That should be our hope and our desire. There are no scriptures that tell us that it cannot be. The power of the Holy Spirit within us strengthens us to abound in the hope of who we are in Christ, so that Christ may be magnified through us! Think about a magnifying glass, people don’t look at the instrument; they look at what the instrument is enlarging! This is the same Truth for us, people see Jesus magnified through us. They no longer just read about Him, they can see Him!

Our Father showed me this today. He started by asking me, “was Jesus fully equipped to perform the tasks that I asked Him to?” I said sure He was. Then God asked me, “Do I love you exactly as I love Jesus?” I said sure, Jesus said that You do in John 17:23. Our Father went on to ask me, “Am I a respecter of persons?” I said no, Acts 10:34 teaches us that. He asked, “now wasn’t Jesus a person?” I said yes. Then God said, “don’t I love you, just as I love Him? I said yes and He went on and asked, “if Jesus was fully equipped, who equipped Him?” I said that You did Father. God then said, “so don’t you think I have equipped you to fully and completely achieve all that I have set for you to do, exactly like I did for Jesus?” Our Father just didn’t equip Jesus so that Jesus would be magnified, He fully equipped Him so that we could have life and have it abundantly as He is magnified through us! Jesus was fully equipped as our Father before He ever was in Mary’s womb. He was able to do everything because God had fully and completely enabled Him, with the fullness of Himself, so that Jesus could, and He has done exactly the same for us. This in no way demeans Jesus as Lord! Our Father is only able to do these things for us because of what He did through Jesus. Jesus is our Head, our Shepherd, and our Lord. He is the firstborn among many brethren. We are nothing without Jesus, but with Him we are glorified to be called the sons of God!

Now with that in mind let’s look at the following verses. “Then answered Jesus and said unto them; Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” John 5:19 Now Who are we one with? We are now one with the One Who said this, so shouldn’t we say the same thing? We can do nothing on our own, yet we are able to do all things through Christ Who strengthens us!

Jesus saw all things from God, now how can we live the same way? “All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that He shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” John 16:15 Everything our Father has, He has shown to Jesus, and Jesus said, that He could do nothing that He had not first seen from the Father. We have seen that God loves us just as He loves Jesus, and that we are now one with Jesus, and here we see that Jesus shows us all things, and He does it through the Holy Ghost. “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all Truth; for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me, for He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you.” John 16:13-14

Now here is a really cool part, as if this all isn’t cool? Turn to John 15:15, “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you.” Jesus makes all things known to us. He doesn’t limit us with just some things, we are now His friends and He now tells us all things. Jesus gave us the Holy Ghost Who will guide us in all Truth and He will show us the things to come. Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit, so that we see and know what is to come, just as He knows and sees what is to come! The Holy Spirit will shew us all of the things of Jesus.

In the Name of Jesus we will walk in the fullness of His Truth. God’s standard is His Own perfection, and He equipped Jesus fully to serve us, by making Jesus One with Him. Then Jesus came and made us one with Him as well, and He gave us the very Spirit of God, to insure we also know all things. There is only one thing the Bible teaches us that we will not know, and even Jesus does not know, the exact day of His return. Jesus doesn’t know it, because He is not a liar and Jesus said He would show us all of things that He knows, this one thing is known by God alone. “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” Matthew 24:36

Now let’s go back to the first part of this section, do you want Jesus to be magnified in your body? Because what we just studied is the level of magnification our Father has in mind! And praise God we have the mind of Christ to accept and believe it. We have the Spirit within us to teach us. We have a new heart directly from God and our bodies have been quickened, or made alive with Jesus Himself. So we are spiritually, soulfully, and physically capable of being used by our Father to magnify Jesus completely and perfectly, here on this earth, we don’t have to wait for Heaven. God has provided the way.

Now a lot of people believe the lie that says that we cannot have all of this unity and power until we are in Heaven. But here is my question to them, what scriptures teach us that? Paul wrote that he had not yet attained, but God never had Paul write that we cannot attain!

"Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved." Philippians 4:1 We stand in Jesus now and He is Who He is within us and we are strong because He is!

"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:" Colossians 1:27 Jesus has given us the glory that He has, so that God may be glorified through us! Today is the day of our salvation and now is the appointed time! Jesus is coming back for a glorious church and Christ will be magnified completely and fully through that church!

"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." Colossians 2:6-7 True thanksgiving comes from joy and we have Jesus’ joy within us, so that our joy may be full! “These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” John 15:11 Everything required for us to live abundantly is being performed through us by the power of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Monday, February 07, 2005

Social Security

“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:” 2 Corinthians 9:8

This last week I have heard so many who are so concerned with Social Security. People are preparing for a major fight over something that is so small. Social Security only provides the bare minimum for ones survival. I believe this is a great time for the Church to stand up and proclaim from the rooftops the Truth that will set us free! Through Christ, God will make all of His favor abound towards us, so that we will always have all sufficiency in all things, so that we may be used by God to abound unto every good work! God’s provision goes beyond just helping us, to abundantly using us to help those around us! Social Security is only able to give us the bare minimum, so that maybe, we might have some sufficiency in some things, so that we may not starve! And for the government to provide this minimal benefit for us will drain billions upon billions of dollars from our citizens who don’t have it to give! Jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly and our abundance is met according to God’s riches and glory in Christ Jesus. And God’s riches are limitless!

“Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” Matthew 6:25-26

Jesus teaches us to take no thought for our own lives. We are able to do this because God causes all of His grace to abound towards us, so that we will always have all sufficiency in all things! Why Christian preachers are getting into this fight over Social Security is beyond me? Through Christ we have so much more than Social Security, we have eternal abundant security! Jesus teaches us to look at the birds, they sow not, neither do they reap, and yet God feeds them and provides them shelter and warmth. The birds get to fly South when it turns cold. Believe me, we Christians should be taking notice of the birds! Jesus teaches us that we are to consider the birds, which we are much better than. The birds do not have to sow to reap! Sound like any sermons you may have heard lately? There is a huge message in Christianity today that goes: we have to sow our finances so that we may reap! But according to Jesus that is not how and why we reap. According to Jesus we reap because we look to God and seek His Kingdom and His righteousness! “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:31-33 We reap because we look to God for our provision, not because we have bought it with our giving! When we are born again we will give, because God has abounded His grace towards us in all things so that we are able to give! We now give because God has given us a new heart that desires to give! We give because we have been born of love and love gives! We give because He Who is greater in us is a giver! We are now members of the Greatest Giver’s body, flesh of His flesh, and bone of His bone. We give because we now have the Holy Spirit within us teaching us, strengthen us, and leading us to give! So many sermons are preached that say if we have a need, then we are to sow some seed, so God can bless that need. But it’s hard to reconcile that message with what Jesus has proclaimed: take no thought for our own lives and look at the birds who don’t have to sow to reap! Jesus also taught us that the sower sows the Word of God! True born again Christians give, we can’t help it, it’s been born into us. But our giving is not the source of our provision, our provision is found in seeking God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, and Jesus leads us into the Path’s of righteousness! Is that great or what? Our needs are met abundantly because Jesus has led us there. The Shepherd has guided us into a place of great abundance. We did not buy our way in, or earn our way in by our giving; we have all grace being abounded towards us in all things because the Shepherd has led us here!

“For we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.” Ephesians 5:30

As Christians we are able to look past Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, because we are now members of Jesus’ body. Jesus doesn’t need doctors or medicines to be well, He has the Anointing of God! Jesus doesn’t need Social Security to live by, He has the wealth of God’s riches and glory, and we are now members of His body. “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:” Ephesians 5:29 Jesus doesn’t hate us, He ever lives to intercede for us and Jesus nourishes us and Jesus cherishes us! This is why we are able to take no thought, because we don’t have to, because we are now cherished by Jesus. You ever cherish something? If we cherish something, everything that is needed to insure that it is kept is provided! We are now kept by the One Who is able and willing, and Who is completely capable of keeping us! We are cherished by the Alpha and the Omega. So look at the lilies in the field and how beautiful they are and you will see how greatly God will provide for us! “And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith.” Matthew 6:28-30

Think of a glorious Church, without spot, wrinkle, or blemish, and which is strong in the power of Jesus’ might. Now think of how that church can be used to provide for the needs of the world! Think of millions of us being used by God to bless just table scraps and then feeding hundreds of millions of hungry people with them, and then having leftovers! Think of God using millions of us to just walk down the streets, so that the sick may be healed just because they were close to us! Think of millions of us who are used by God to speak to the weather and preventing it from harming anyone! Think of millions of us who have one heart, and who have one accord, and who have one mind! And think of the power of God that will be exhibited through it! God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, He changes not. Jesus said that God would use us to do the works that He did and even greater ones, and these are all works that Jesus did! Faith comes from hearing the Truth and the Truth is if we look to Jesus to Author and Finish our faith, God will perform all of these things through us. And the world will not need Social Security or Medicare or Medicaid! The world will have these debates over social programs, but the Truth is that there is not enough money to ever meet the needs sufficiently! But God has the provisions to meet every need according to His riches and His glory! And God will make all of His grace abound through us so that we may always have all sufficiency in all things, so that He may use us to be chartable in every good work!

Pray for our leaders, God has placed them all there. “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is now power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” Romans 13:1 Whether liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, Socialist or Capitalist, Majority or Minority, God has ordained all of them for His Own purposes and we are to pray for all of them! Be blessed this day and may Jesus truly Author and Finish our faith, so that we are strong in His might to take no thought for our lives, as we are used by God to take great thought for the lives of others!