As a Christian, you are commanded to love everyone—the good, the bad and the ugly (John 13:34). It is not an option; you can't pick and choose whom to love. The only choice you have in the matter is whether or not you will obey the commandment. Unfortunately, many believers are in a state of disobedience because their decision to love is based on feelings or on whether their love is returned. That is conditional, human love—it profits nothing. Others fail to walk in love because they believe that it is impossible for them to love as Goes does. They fail to realize that God would never ask anyone to do something that isn't within their capacity to accomplish. Every born–again believer has the ability to walk in love.
When you became born again, you received an "injection of love" from the Holy Spirit, Who came to live inside of you. As a result, you have an anointing, or God—given ability that makes it possible for you to love in a supernatural way. You can show affection toward others despite their actions. In addition, you are more than capable of retaliating the right way, which is according to the Word of God.
Nothing in your life—finances, family, healing and so on—will work to its fullest potential until you let go of selfishness and perfect your love walk. To be selfish is to "regard one's own interest;" selfishness is "a devotion to one's own interest." Selfishness and love are the two most powerful forces in existence. When you operate in one of these forces, you short–circuit the other. When you choose to love, you turn your back on selfishness. When you choose to be selfish, you turn your back on the opportunity to express love. There is no middle ground. You cannot love unconditionally and be unconditionally selfish as well.
Selfishness is the root to all sin. Satan knows this. His goal is to get you to take your focus off of God and place it on yourself. This is what he did in the Garden of Eden. After the deception, Adam and Eve were no longer God–conscious; instead they became self–conscious (Genesis 3:1–5). Another important point to remember is that the root of selfishness is fear. Fear is what motivates you to protect yourself. That is why a selfish person is constantly in self–preservation mode.
I know it's not easy to respond the way Christians are supposed to, especially when someone is in your face saying hurtful things; however, Proverbs 15:1 encourages believers to respond with a soft answer to curb someone's wrath. When you speak kind words to someone who may be mean as "hell," you are creating an opportunity to love the hell out of them. Additionally, don't rehearse negative thoughts; disperse them instead. Make a conscious effort to think thoughts toward others that are honest, just, pure, lovely, good, virtuous and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8). Something powerful happens when you are willing to lose sight of yourself to put somebody else in focus.
The way to get rid of selfishness is to get rid of fear. First John 4:18 says that perfected love casts out fear. Fear is dangerous. It opens the door for the Enemy to come in and wreak havoc in your life. It also produces negative forces like offense, strife and unforgiveness. However, love empowers you to the point that you will be slow to take offense and quick to forgive.
Keep in mind that when you fail to develop in love, you fail to develop in character, which means you perpetuate a lifestyle of selfishness. God is looking for people of character. That is what being a Christian is all about—developing the character of God. Make a quality decision today to develop the character of love, because that, more than anything else, is crucial to your experiencing the fullness of God.
— Dr. Creflo A. Dollar
Friday 10 August 2007
Saturday 21 July 2007
A Lost Gift Restored
by Kenneth Copeland
Not Debt or Depression, but Dominion
Not everyone knows about this restored gift. Or if they do, they don’t receive it and put it to use in their lives. They are not celebrating at all during this Christmas season. In fact, some people are suffering from depression. Others are getting into debt by buying gifts they can’t afford. Satan’s goal in all this—causing depression, debt and every other distraction—is to make believers lose sight of one thing in particular. He wants us to forget that the celebration of Christmas is the celebration of a gift restored…and that gift is the restoration of the purpose for which man was created.
Jesus told us that in His last words on earth. Just before He ascended to His heavenly Father, He said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations…to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always…” (Matthew 28:18-20).
He had gone into hell and broken its power. Jesus had triumphed over the grave, “led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men” (Ephesians 4:8). He “spoiled principalities and powers” making a public show of them “triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15).
And now Jesus has commanded us to enforce that victory. How? Through that same regained authority and dominion, and by manifesting His love and operating in the gifts He has given us.
Notice Jesus didn’t say, “I'm going into all the earth to preach the gospel; come go with me.” Instead, He said, “You go, and I'll go with you.”
That’s why we read in the last chapter of Mark that the disciples obeyed His command to go into all the earth casting out the devil, speaking in tongues and preaching everywhere. And as they did, He went with them, working with and confirming the Word with signs following (Mark 16:15-20). They preached it; He confirmed it! They took authority; He backed it. They bound; He bound. They loosed; He loosed.
From His exalted position of authority at the right hand of the Father, He “ever liveth to make intercession” for us (Hebrews 7:25). He is anointed and appointed High Priest over our profession, or confession, of His Word (Hebrews 3:1).
The gift that had been lost—the dominion and authority God had created man to use to bless the earth—had been restored (Genesis 1:28; Psalm 8:5-6).
Be Busy Obeying
Receiving and administering this great gift begins with you and me. We do it by confessing and ordering our lives according to Jesus’ command in Matthew 22:37-39: “Father, I love you with all my heart, all my soul and all my mind. And I love my neighbor as myself. Reveal to me Your plan for my life. Whatever You reveal for me to do, I will do it.”
Then we stay in the Word and in prayer. We refuse to do anything until we know what God desires for us to do. We walk like Jesus walked on this earth: “I say nothing except what I hear my Father say. I do nothing except what I see Him do.”
When He does tell you to do something, be faithful to do it even if it seems insignificant. Have the attitude that if He desires for something to be done, you’re going to be the one who is faithful to do it! Your obedience to His instruction is what will open the door to the next, and that door will lead to the next, and so on until you are continually following the Spirit of God. You’ll begin to hear His voice more clearly—in prayer, as you meditate the Word and as you are ministering to people.
When you begin loving others—helping people, praying for them, laying hands on them, telling them Jesus loves them—I guarantee God will move with you! Jesus will work with His words spoken in faith from your mouth. He will confirm them with the manifestation of His life and love.
As you are busy obeying God, the pattern and plan for your life will begin to take shape. Before you know it, you’ll find yourself walking smack in the center of God’s will for your life.
A benefit of being in God’s will that you’ll immediately notice is this: Any heaviness or troubling spirit that may have condemned and tormented you about being out of God’s will, will be gone.
Next you’ll find that as you obey the Lord, He will confirm His Word with the manifestation of His life and love. With each success you experience, you will gain confidence in God’s love at work in you. As fear loses its grip and is being flushed out of your life, love is being developed.
When you increase in knowledge of how Love works, the gifts of the spirit will begin to manifest in greater power in your life. Soon you will be marked as a man or woman of authority. And authority will bring what it always brings: success, respect, advanced knowledge and joy!
You Become the Gift
I don't care what's going on in your life right now—it is time to receive the gift Jesus suffered, died and rose from the grave to give you! It is time to walk in the blessings of God’s love and be His instrument of blessing in the earth. It’s time to celebrate a gift restored—the gift of the believer’s authority and dominion.
Don’t allow anything to keep you from celebrating!
If you have never made Jesus the Lord of your life, now’s the time to do it. Or if you have walked away from fellowship with the Lord, it’s time for you to come back to Him. Don’t be embarrassed—run as hard as you can straight into His arms! He never left you; He has been right there with you all along—even while you were doing crazy stuff. Confess your sin, turn from it and get on with your life in Him. Pray this prayer right now:
Oh God in heaven, thank You for loving me. I take You at Your Word. I confess that Jesus is Lord. And I believe in my heart that You raised Him from the dead. Thank You for coming into my heart, for giving me Your Holy Spirit as You have promised, and for being Lord over my life. Thank You, Jesus. I give You my whole life. I give You this whole situation. I give You praise and honor. Right now, I rebuke you, Satan. Get out of my life! Shut up! I speak to you in the Name of Jesus! Oh Lord, fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I thank You, in Jesus’ Name.
God can take you from anywhere to total victory. He can give you success and bless you with abundance no matter what kind of mess you are in. You may owe so many people, they are looking for you on every corner. But God will help you, He’ll deliver you, He’ll get you out of debt. He’ll heal your body, if that’s the problem. He’ll restore your marriage. He’ll bring your children into His kingdom.
No wonder when Jesus was born that angel shouted, “I bring you good news!”
Take it! Rise up right now with a renewed faith in the words of Jesus’ authority in your mouth. Put the devil on the run. Cast the mountain of debt into the sea. Take authority over sickness and disease.
In your mind “see” Jesus standing right behind you with fire in His eyes and a smile on His face. You are standing right in the middle of His perfect will for you and your life. You are on your way. To where? To victory! Overwhelming victory. Victory in the blood. Victory in the Word. Victory in the Name of Jesus.
Take back the authority that is yours. That is the way to victory in your life. Don't throw your life away—give it away. Give it to Jesus and give it to other people.
Not Debt or Depression, but Dominion
Not everyone knows about this restored gift. Or if they do, they don’t receive it and put it to use in their lives. They are not celebrating at all during this Christmas season. In fact, some people are suffering from depression. Others are getting into debt by buying gifts they can’t afford. Satan’s goal in all this—causing depression, debt and every other distraction—is to make believers lose sight of one thing in particular. He wants us to forget that the celebration of Christmas is the celebration of a gift restored…and that gift is the restoration of the purpose for which man was created.
Jesus told us that in His last words on earth. Just before He ascended to His heavenly Father, He said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations…to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always…” (Matthew 28:18-20).
He had gone into hell and broken its power. Jesus had triumphed over the grave, “led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men” (Ephesians 4:8). He “spoiled principalities and powers” making a public show of them “triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15).
And now Jesus has commanded us to enforce that victory. How? Through that same regained authority and dominion, and by manifesting His love and operating in the gifts He has given us.
Notice Jesus didn’t say, “I'm going into all the earth to preach the gospel; come go with me.” Instead, He said, “You go, and I'll go with you.”
That’s why we read in the last chapter of Mark that the disciples obeyed His command to go into all the earth casting out the devil, speaking in tongues and preaching everywhere. And as they did, He went with them, working with and confirming the Word with signs following (Mark 16:15-20). They preached it; He confirmed it! They took authority; He backed it. They bound; He bound. They loosed; He loosed.
From His exalted position of authority at the right hand of the Father, He “ever liveth to make intercession” for us (Hebrews 7:25). He is anointed and appointed High Priest over our profession, or confession, of His Word (Hebrews 3:1).
The gift that had been lost—the dominion and authority God had created man to use to bless the earth—had been restored (Genesis 1:28; Psalm 8:5-6).
Be Busy Obeying
Receiving and administering this great gift begins with you and me. We do it by confessing and ordering our lives according to Jesus’ command in Matthew 22:37-39: “Father, I love you with all my heart, all my soul and all my mind. And I love my neighbor as myself. Reveal to me Your plan for my life. Whatever You reveal for me to do, I will do it.”
Then we stay in the Word and in prayer. We refuse to do anything until we know what God desires for us to do. We walk like Jesus walked on this earth: “I say nothing except what I hear my Father say. I do nothing except what I see Him do.”
When He does tell you to do something, be faithful to do it even if it seems insignificant. Have the attitude that if He desires for something to be done, you’re going to be the one who is faithful to do it! Your obedience to His instruction is what will open the door to the next, and that door will lead to the next, and so on until you are continually following the Spirit of God. You’ll begin to hear His voice more clearly—in prayer, as you meditate the Word and as you are ministering to people.
When you begin loving others—helping people, praying for them, laying hands on them, telling them Jesus loves them—I guarantee God will move with you! Jesus will work with His words spoken in faith from your mouth. He will confirm them with the manifestation of His life and love.
As you are busy obeying God, the pattern and plan for your life will begin to take shape. Before you know it, you’ll find yourself walking smack in the center of God’s will for your life.
A benefit of being in God’s will that you’ll immediately notice is this: Any heaviness or troubling spirit that may have condemned and tormented you about being out of God’s will, will be gone.
Next you’ll find that as you obey the Lord, He will confirm His Word with the manifestation of His life and love. With each success you experience, you will gain confidence in God’s love at work in you. As fear loses its grip and is being flushed out of your life, love is being developed.
When you increase in knowledge of how Love works, the gifts of the spirit will begin to manifest in greater power in your life. Soon you will be marked as a man or woman of authority. And authority will bring what it always brings: success, respect, advanced knowledge and joy!
You Become the Gift
I don't care what's going on in your life right now—it is time to receive the gift Jesus suffered, died and rose from the grave to give you! It is time to walk in the blessings of God’s love and be His instrument of blessing in the earth. It’s time to celebrate a gift restored—the gift of the believer’s authority and dominion.
Don’t allow anything to keep you from celebrating!
If you have never made Jesus the Lord of your life, now’s the time to do it. Or if you have walked away from fellowship with the Lord, it’s time for you to come back to Him. Don’t be embarrassed—run as hard as you can straight into His arms! He never left you; He has been right there with you all along—even while you were doing crazy stuff. Confess your sin, turn from it and get on with your life in Him. Pray this prayer right now:
Oh God in heaven, thank You for loving me. I take You at Your Word. I confess that Jesus is Lord. And I believe in my heart that You raised Him from the dead. Thank You for coming into my heart, for giving me Your Holy Spirit as You have promised, and for being Lord over my life. Thank You, Jesus. I give You my whole life. I give You this whole situation. I give You praise and honor. Right now, I rebuke you, Satan. Get out of my life! Shut up! I speak to you in the Name of Jesus! Oh Lord, fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I thank You, in Jesus’ Name.
God can take you from anywhere to total victory. He can give you success and bless you with abundance no matter what kind of mess you are in. You may owe so many people, they are looking for you on every corner. But God will help you, He’ll deliver you, He’ll get you out of debt. He’ll heal your body, if that’s the problem. He’ll restore your marriage. He’ll bring your children into His kingdom.
No wonder when Jesus was born that angel shouted, “I bring you good news!”
Take it! Rise up right now with a renewed faith in the words of Jesus’ authority in your mouth. Put the devil on the run. Cast the mountain of debt into the sea. Take authority over sickness and disease.
In your mind “see” Jesus standing right behind you with fire in His eyes and a smile on His face. You are standing right in the middle of His perfect will for you and your life. You are on your way. To where? To victory! Overwhelming victory. Victory in the blood. Victory in the Word. Victory in the Name of Jesus.
Take back the authority that is yours. That is the way to victory in your life. Don't throw your life away—give it away. Give it to Jesus and give it to other people.
Tuesday 17 July 2007
OH MY GOD
by Tasos Kanellas
In the following message, I will not try to convince you that you have to turn to God. Anyway God never do that. Its plain and simple. He never force anyone to do something or avoid something. He gives you the plan, you see the paths, then you decide. Everything you decide to do, if you are in GOD, HE will support your decision and you will see HIS blessings in your choice. If you are NOT in Him, you are just by your own. And what I mean when I say this. I mean that, consider a small 5-year-old-child walking in the road alone when cars coming from both sides. Now consider another 5-year-old child walking in the same road, the same time BUT with the difference that the second child, walking this road with his/her earthly father or mother. Which one you believe feels better? safer? WHO TOLD YOU THAT GOD wants you to make sacrifices. kissing woods or metals..wear black clothes and crying all day asking for God...please do this and please do that for me. God's message in the Bible its clear. "You believe what I say, you act under my rules, you admit that :" Jesus Christ ALREADY PAID everything for you and everything you do, you do it in HIS name and for just this you are: healed from any disease, free for any fear, you start see how HIS blessings and HIS promises apply in your own life. Nothing to do with saints, churches, classic priests and so on. It has to do with your direct communication with God.
Now some will say " ok , too complicated". NO its not. I mean...the only thing that all the people do to be BORN AGAIN is just to pray OUT loud the salvation prayer.
What is this? ok...
The "prayer of salvation" is the most important prayer we'll ever pray. When we're ready to become a Christian, we're ready to have our first real conversation with God, and these are its components:
We acknowledge that Jesus Christ is God, that He came to earth as a man in order to live the sinless life that we cannot live, that He died in our place, so that we would not have to pay the penalty we deserve.
We confess our past life of sin ,living for ourselves and not obeying God.
We admit we are ready to trust Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.
We ask Jesus to come into our heart, take up residence there, and begin living through us.
Oh yess yess..its too simple. Then you will start laughing in your day life. You will laugh again and again..when you will start see things in your life..and you will want to share YOUR OWN experience then with ohter people.
You do not have to do any sacrifice to win your salvation. ITS FREE DUDE.
I mean, no one will explain to you how God works, if you really want to know...start studying God. He is a friend of you, He is not the white-hair-old-man we use to have in our minds.
When God speak in His Word about Heaven, Kingdom of Heaven in Greek Scriptures (Kingdom of God in Hebrew Scriptures), He says about a taste of Heaven, here in earth, in this life. So, live in God in nowadays, by MY means, means that you experience something different in your life that you NEVER tried it before. I am trying to tell you that is something you will realize and see after you believe. You can not imagine for what I am talking about. Well, telling you the truth, I know that after the completion of this email, there are some people that they will ask for more.
ANYTIME YOU WANT I AM HERE TO SHARE MY OWN EXPERIENCE WITH ANYONE OF YOU.
SOME PEOPLE ALREADY KNOW ABOUT MY EXPERIENCE. EVERY BORN-AGAIN-IN-SPIRIT
People afraid to ask for God. Do you know why? Because they would be criticized by their friends and even by their family. No one denies the fact that people will start think that you got crazy or you have a lot of problems. If your " friends" worth more than you then..stay with your fears, unsecurities, bondages that cannot leave you, sleepless nights, sickness, diseases and so on. By means, you choose death instead of LIFE and darkness instead of LIGHT. Its your choise. Always was. And always will be. :)
I will just remind you something. You only see God when you seek Him with all your heart. Then you understand and see some things that every day people could not see.
The good news though is not that you will see God and His presence. Good News will come in your life for that moment. You will experience a different kind of life ( with God on our side Bob Dylan says in a song). WE ARE talking about a living God, that His presence has affect in your every day life. God in a womb, ready to give birth , new birth in to your life and NOT God in a tomb, such as Greek Orthodox, Catholic, Protestants, Muslims, Buddists and so on churches try to teach you. These churches use to speak about a history of God, see the Bible as a history book and they DO NOT allow to people, see the real God, get His real and clear message..and decide if you really want this amazing experience or not.
This is one of the best explanations of why God allows pain and
suffering that I have seen. It's an explanation other people will understand:
A lady went to a beauty shop to have her hair cut and
her nails painted and trimmed. As the lady began to work, they
began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many
things and various subjects.
When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the
beautician said : "I don't believe that God exists."
"Why do you say that?" asked Sheryl who has MS.
Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize
that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so
many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God
existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine
a loving God who would allow all of these things."
Then Sheryl thought for a moment, but didn't respond because
she didn't want to start an argument. The beautician just
finished her job and the customer left the shop.
Just after she left the beauty shop, she saw a woman in the street with
long,stringy, dirty hair and not groomed at all. She looked dirty and unkempt.
Then Sheryl turned back and entered the beauty shop again and
she said to the beautician: "You know what? Beauticians do not
exist."
"How can you say that?" asked the surprised beautician.
"I am here, and I am a beautician. And I just worked on you!"
"No!" Sheryl exclaimed. "Beauticians don't exist because if
they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and
be very unkempt, like that woman outside."
"Ah, but beauticians DO exist! What happens is, people do not
come to me."
"Exactly!", affirmed Sheryl. "That 's the
point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens, is, people
don't go to Him and do not look for Him. That's why there's so
much pain and suffering in the world."
AND THAT’S WHY GOD’S CHILDREN NEVER SUFFER AND NEVER HAVE PAIN.
( its better to give your own definition for what is suffering and what is pain FOR you guys)
woo hoooo :)
Shalom :)
In the following message, I will not try to convince you that you have to turn to God. Anyway God never do that. Its plain and simple. He never force anyone to do something or avoid something. He gives you the plan, you see the paths, then you decide. Everything you decide to do, if you are in GOD, HE will support your decision and you will see HIS blessings in your choice. If you are NOT in Him, you are just by your own. And what I mean when I say this. I mean that, consider a small 5-year-old-child walking in the road alone when cars coming from both sides. Now consider another 5-year-old child walking in the same road, the same time BUT with the difference that the second child, walking this road with his/her earthly father or mother. Which one you believe feels better? safer? WHO TOLD YOU THAT GOD wants you to make sacrifices. kissing woods or metals..wear black clothes and crying all day asking for God...please do this and please do that for me. God's message in the Bible its clear. "You believe what I say, you act under my rules, you admit that :" Jesus Christ ALREADY PAID everything for you and everything you do, you do it in HIS name and for just this you are: healed from any disease, free for any fear, you start see how HIS blessings and HIS promises apply in your own life. Nothing to do with saints, churches, classic priests and so on. It has to do with your direct communication with God.
Now some will say " ok , too complicated". NO its not. I mean...the only thing that all the people do to be BORN AGAIN is just to pray OUT loud the salvation prayer.
What is this? ok...
The "prayer of salvation" is the most important prayer we'll ever pray. When we're ready to become a Christian, we're ready to have our first real conversation with God, and these are its components:
We acknowledge that Jesus Christ is God, that He came to earth as a man in order to live the sinless life that we cannot live, that He died in our place, so that we would not have to pay the penalty we deserve.
We confess our past life of sin ,living for ourselves and not obeying God.
We admit we are ready to trust Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.
We ask Jesus to come into our heart, take up residence there, and begin living through us.
Oh yess yess..its too simple. Then you will start laughing in your day life. You will laugh again and again..when you will start see things in your life..and you will want to share YOUR OWN experience then with ohter people.
You do not have to do any sacrifice to win your salvation. ITS FREE DUDE.
I mean, no one will explain to you how God works, if you really want to know...start studying God. He is a friend of you, He is not the white-hair-old-man we use to have in our minds.
When God speak in His Word about Heaven, Kingdom of Heaven in Greek Scriptures (Kingdom of God in Hebrew Scriptures), He says about a taste of Heaven, here in earth, in this life. So, live in God in nowadays, by MY means, means that you experience something different in your life that you NEVER tried it before. I am trying to tell you that is something you will realize and see after you believe. You can not imagine for what I am talking about. Well, telling you the truth, I know that after the completion of this email, there are some people that they will ask for more.
ANYTIME YOU WANT I AM HERE TO SHARE MY OWN EXPERIENCE WITH ANYONE OF YOU.
SOME PEOPLE ALREADY KNOW ABOUT MY EXPERIENCE. EVERY BORN-AGAIN-IN-SPIRIT
People afraid to ask for God. Do you know why? Because they would be criticized by their friends and even by their family. No one denies the fact that people will start think that you got crazy or you have a lot of problems. If your " friends" worth more than you then..stay with your fears, unsecurities, bondages that cannot leave you, sleepless nights, sickness, diseases and so on. By means, you choose death instead of LIFE and darkness instead of LIGHT. Its your choise. Always was. And always will be. :)
I will just remind you something. You only see God when you seek Him with all your heart. Then you understand and see some things that every day people could not see.
The good news though is not that you will see God and His presence. Good News will come in your life for that moment. You will experience a different kind of life ( with God on our side Bob Dylan says in a song). WE ARE talking about a living God, that His presence has affect in your every day life. God in a womb, ready to give birth , new birth in to your life and NOT God in a tomb, such as Greek Orthodox, Catholic, Protestants, Muslims, Buddists and so on churches try to teach you. These churches use to speak about a history of God, see the Bible as a history book and they DO NOT allow to people, see the real God, get His real and clear message..and decide if you really want this amazing experience or not.
This is one of the best explanations of why God allows pain and
suffering that I have seen. It's an explanation other people will understand:
A lady went to a beauty shop to have her hair cut and
her nails painted and trimmed. As the lady began to work, they
began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many
things and various subjects.
When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the
beautician said : "I don't believe that God exists."
"Why do you say that?" asked Sheryl who has MS.
Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize
that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so
many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God
existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine
a loving God who would allow all of these things."
Then Sheryl thought for a moment, but didn't respond because
she didn't want to start an argument. The beautician just
finished her job and the customer left the shop.
Just after she left the beauty shop, she saw a woman in the street with
long,stringy, dirty hair and not groomed at all. She looked dirty and unkempt.
Then Sheryl turned back and entered the beauty shop again and
she said to the beautician: "You know what? Beauticians do not
exist."
"How can you say that?" asked the surprised beautician.
"I am here, and I am a beautician. And I just worked on you!"
"No!" Sheryl exclaimed. "Beauticians don't exist because if
they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and
be very unkempt, like that woman outside."
"Ah, but beauticians DO exist! What happens is, people do not
come to me."
"Exactly!", affirmed Sheryl. "That 's the
point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens, is, people
don't go to Him and do not look for Him. That's why there's so
much pain and suffering in the world."
AND THAT’S WHY GOD’S CHILDREN NEVER SUFFER AND NEVER HAVE PAIN.
( its better to give your own definition for what is suffering and what is pain FOR you guys)
woo hoooo :)
Shalom :)
Wednesday 27 June 2007
WISDOM
Proverbs is a textbook of wisdom. Throughout, the book contrasts archetypes, the fool and the wise person. From these archetypes we learn what God expects from us. What does a wise person look like?
The book of Proverbs was written almost entirely by King Solomon. Solomon has been known through the ages as a wise man, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this book is a collection of his wisdom. It is unknown when the book was written except that it was early in the reign of King Solomon.
Proverbs is 31 chapters long and for this reason is often used for daily devotional readings. It would be easy to think that the writings would become stale after months of repetition, but just the opposite is true. I’ve used the Proverbs for devotionals for years and find new wisdom in them with each reading.
Solomon defines wisdom by example. Throughout the book, at least five major themes emerge: obtaining wisdom through knowledge and understanding, striving for holiness, avoiding anger and strife, keeping our own counsel and valuing hard work. The person that can apply these values achieves wisdom. In contrast, the fool is the antithesis of one who values these things. This comparison is made repeatedly, reinforcing the value of wisdom.
Obtain knowledge and understanding
More than all others, the point that Solomon tries to drive home is that wisdom comes from knowledge and understanding. Knowledge is the acquisition of a set of facts. Understanding is the ability to apply and build on facts. One without the other has little value.
He also makes the point that we obtain knowledge from listening. Over and over Solomon stresses that hearing instruction leads to wisdom. He further advises receiving constructive criticism willingly. These two pieces of advice are easily given but hard to follow. In order to do so, we have to set aside our egos and that is a monumental task. Here are some of Solomon’s teachings:
• “A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:” (Proverbs 1:5)
• “Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.” (Proverbs 8:33)
• “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.” (Proverbs 9:9)
• “The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.” (Proverbs 18:15)
The cycle of holy wisdom
Solomon understood that all things come from God. He also knew that to learn about and understand the teachings of God was to gain knowledge. Beyond learning is the application of knowledge. He teaches that to understand God’s lessons is the way to salvation and that leading others to understanding is a mark of wisdom. We can gain this kind of holy knowledge and understanding by paying attention to the company we keep. If you seek understanding, follow those that demonstrate understanding.
If you imagine a circle you can visualize how wisdom and salvation are achieved. At the top of the circle in the 12 o’clock position, place yourself with a spiritual mentor. Moving around the clock to the 3 o’clock position, you’ve gained respect for the Lord and are learning to understand His holiness. At the 6 o’clock position, you’ve gained knowledge, understanding and salvation. At the 9 o’clock position, you are ready to witness and lead others to understanding. Back to the 12 o’clock position, you are ready to serve as mentor.
We never really complete the circle. We will be perpetually the student and the teacher as there is always something new to learn and gain understanding of in the Word of God.
• “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10)
• “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” (Proverbs 11:30)
• “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” (Proverbs 13:20)
Avoid conflict and anger
More energy is wasted on conflict than anything else. Conflicts and anger are seldom righteous in nature. Even when they start out over a righteous cause, the problem quickly becomes the conflict and not the righteous cause. Entire churches and nations have been destroyed over foolish conflicts that could have been dropped had anyone been wise enough to walk away. Solomon teaches us to avoid conflict, strife and anger. Even the best argument is wasted on a fool.
• “A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.” (Proverbs 14:16)
• “It is an honor for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling.” (Proverbs 20:3)
• “It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom.” (Proverbs 10:23)
Keep your own counsel
Sometimes the very best thing you can do is stay silent. It’s also good to reveal yourself to only a few people where opinion is concerned. Avoiding conflict is most easily done by not being drawn into it in the first place. This is achieved effectively with silence.
• “A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.” (Proverbs 29:11)
• “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.” (Proverbs 17:28)
Work hard
Most everything worth having has to be worked for and so it is with wisdom. We don’t gain knowledge and understanding by sitting idle. Solomon understood the value of hard work and made it a major theme of the Proverbs.
• “He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.” (Proverbs 10:5)
• “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:” (Proverbs 6:6)
Rewards
With wisdom comes reward. Solomon’s teachings were aimed mostly at our spirit, because he understood that feeding our spirit would benefit our lives. Beyond the physical life, gaining knowledge and understanding, learning holiness, keeping peace and working hard are all goals of those who seek the Kingdom of God. The Proverbs of Solomon will help us reap success in this world and the next when we understand them and apply them.
• “The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.” (Proverbs 3:35)
• “A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.” (Proverbs 24:5)
• “He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul: he that keepeth understanding shall find good.” (Proverbs 19:8)
The book of Proverbs was written almost entirely by King Solomon. Solomon has been known through the ages as a wise man, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this book is a collection of his wisdom. It is unknown when the book was written except that it was early in the reign of King Solomon.
Proverbs is 31 chapters long and for this reason is often used for daily devotional readings. It would be easy to think that the writings would become stale after months of repetition, but just the opposite is true. I’ve used the Proverbs for devotionals for years and find new wisdom in them with each reading.
Solomon defines wisdom by example. Throughout the book, at least five major themes emerge: obtaining wisdom through knowledge and understanding, striving for holiness, avoiding anger and strife, keeping our own counsel and valuing hard work. The person that can apply these values achieves wisdom. In contrast, the fool is the antithesis of one who values these things. This comparison is made repeatedly, reinforcing the value of wisdom.
Obtain knowledge and understanding
More than all others, the point that Solomon tries to drive home is that wisdom comes from knowledge and understanding. Knowledge is the acquisition of a set of facts. Understanding is the ability to apply and build on facts. One without the other has little value.
He also makes the point that we obtain knowledge from listening. Over and over Solomon stresses that hearing instruction leads to wisdom. He further advises receiving constructive criticism willingly. These two pieces of advice are easily given but hard to follow. In order to do so, we have to set aside our egos and that is a monumental task. Here are some of Solomon’s teachings:
• “A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:” (Proverbs 1:5)
• “Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.” (Proverbs 8:33)
• “Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.” (Proverbs 9:9)
• “The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.” (Proverbs 18:15)
The cycle of holy wisdom
Solomon understood that all things come from God. He also knew that to learn about and understand the teachings of God was to gain knowledge. Beyond learning is the application of knowledge. He teaches that to understand God’s lessons is the way to salvation and that leading others to understanding is a mark of wisdom. We can gain this kind of holy knowledge and understanding by paying attention to the company we keep. If you seek understanding, follow those that demonstrate understanding.
If you imagine a circle you can visualize how wisdom and salvation are achieved. At the top of the circle in the 12 o’clock position, place yourself with a spiritual mentor. Moving around the clock to the 3 o’clock position, you’ve gained respect for the Lord and are learning to understand His holiness. At the 6 o’clock position, you’ve gained knowledge, understanding and salvation. At the 9 o’clock position, you are ready to witness and lead others to understanding. Back to the 12 o’clock position, you are ready to serve as mentor.
We never really complete the circle. We will be perpetually the student and the teacher as there is always something new to learn and gain understanding of in the Word of God.
• “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” (Proverbs 9:10)
• “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.” (Proverbs 11:30)
• “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” (Proverbs 13:20)
Avoid conflict and anger
More energy is wasted on conflict than anything else. Conflicts and anger are seldom righteous in nature. Even when they start out over a righteous cause, the problem quickly becomes the conflict and not the righteous cause. Entire churches and nations have been destroyed over foolish conflicts that could have been dropped had anyone been wise enough to walk away. Solomon teaches us to avoid conflict, strife and anger. Even the best argument is wasted on a fool.
• “A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.” (Proverbs 14:16)
• “It is an honor for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling.” (Proverbs 20:3)
• “It is as sport to a fool to do mischief: but a man of understanding hath wisdom.” (Proverbs 10:23)
Keep your own counsel
Sometimes the very best thing you can do is stay silent. It’s also good to reveal yourself to only a few people where opinion is concerned. Avoiding conflict is most easily done by not being drawn into it in the first place. This is achieved effectively with silence.
• “A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards.” (Proverbs 29:11)
• “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.” (Proverbs 17:28)
Work hard
Most everything worth having has to be worked for and so it is with wisdom. We don’t gain knowledge and understanding by sitting idle. Solomon understood the value of hard work and made it a major theme of the Proverbs.
• “He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.” (Proverbs 10:5)
• “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:” (Proverbs 6:6)
Rewards
With wisdom comes reward. Solomon’s teachings were aimed mostly at our spirit, because he understood that feeding our spirit would benefit our lives. Beyond the physical life, gaining knowledge and understanding, learning holiness, keeping peace and working hard are all goals of those who seek the Kingdom of God. The Proverbs of Solomon will help us reap success in this world and the next when we understand them and apply them.
• “The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.” (Proverbs 3:35)
• “A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.” (Proverbs 24:5)
• “He that getteth wisdom loveth his own soul: he that keepeth understanding shall find good.” (Proverbs 19:8)
Saturday 23 June 2007
Receiving Salvation - Spiritually Re-born
The first step to receiving salvation is realizing that you actually need it! You may have heard the story of Adam and Eve before, but it is important that you know that the story isn’t a fairy tale. It is the true story of two very real people who allowed Satan to deceive them into denying God’s Word and His will; who, through their disobedience to God, changed the whole course of man’s existence here on earth. The day Adam chose to believe Satan’s word over God’s Word, sin entered the earth and separated God and man. Through this original sin, all of mankind has inherited a sinful nature...including you.
Makes you want to slap ole Adam, doesn’t it?! But seriously, unless you do your part to personally rectify this sin by receiving God’s free gift of salvation through Jesus, sin will send you to hell. And, you don’t want that to be your future, especially when the way to Heaven is so easily accessible!
Of course, even if you don’t consider yourself a really sinful person, you can not deny that you haven’t done some wrong in your life. Romans 3:23 confirms that All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Sin has got to be paid for, and the punishment for sin is spiritual death. Sin separates man from God. It separated man from God the first day he sinned in the garden, and it continues to separate man from God today. But, it isn’t God’s will for Him to be separated from us. After all, He loves us! So, what has He done? He has created a fool-proof plan of salvation that enables us to be “born again” or spiritually reborn, so that He can communicate with us once again! So, although you could try and pay for your sins yourself, (Romans 6:23 says The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.), the better option is to choose God’s plan of salvation! After all, it’s only through His plan that you can be assured of spending eternal life in Heaven.
The Bible records that wonderful plan in John 3:16. There it says, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. So, according to that scripture, what did God give to make everlasting life possible for you? His Son, Jesus! And what must you personally do to receive His gift of everlasting life? Believe in Jesus! What does that mean? It means that you must believe that Jesus is the only Son of God and that He came to earth as a man, died on the cross for the sins of the world and was supernaturally raised from the dead. In His life, Jesus was blameless, and He resisted all sin. But, even though He was sinless, He chose to die a brutal death for the sins of the whole world...including you. The Bible says that He personally carried the load of our sins in His own body when He died on the cross. He paid the price so you don’t have to! (1Peter 2:24)
The cross is your way out of sin (separation from God) and into life (free-flowing communication with God)! All you have to do to become a child of God and have your sins washed away (never to be remembered against you anymore) is personally accept God’s plan of salvation. In other words, to get saved, you need Jesus! So, the first thing you need to do is: ADMIT. Admit you are a sinner and have a spiritual need. Then, REPENT. Repent from your sin and be willing to turn away from your sin. Next, BELIEVE. Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross for YOU personally. And lastly, RECEIVE. Receive Jesus into your heart and life through prayer. Romans 10:9 assures you that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
So, are you ready to believe with your heart and confess with your mouth? If so, all you have to do is pray the following prayer:
Congratulations! If you’ve just prayed this prayer with a sincere heart, you’ve just been “born again,” adopted into the family of God. Now, wasn’t that easy? The world tries to make it hard sometimes, but God doesn’t. He loves you so much. He makes it easy for you to come to Him. You may not feel any different, but that’s all right. Salvation doesn’t come by feeling, it comes by faith! By faith you believe that God’s Word is true. By faith you acknowledge that Jesus is God’s only Son, and through His death on the cross and resurrection from the grave, you have redemption from sin and eternal life in Heaven! You’re saved! You can now say what millions throughout time have said, “I once was lost but now I’m found!” Once you were separated from God, now you’re His child! Once you were going to Hell. Now, you’re going to Heaven!
You don’t have to worry if you “did it right” or “said it right.” If you were serious in your heart when you prayed the sinner’s prayer, you’re saved! No matter what you’ve done in your life, your sin has been completely washed away by Jesus’ blood. Ephesians 2:8-9 puts it this way, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. That scripture proves that your salvation doesn’t depend on your strength or ability. It depends on Jesus’! And His blood is more than able to take care of your salvation! So, don’t doubt the gift God has given to you.
Now that you’re born again, it is vitally important that you follow-up your decision by taking a few steps such as these: First, take a firm stand for Jesus. Tell somebody else about your decision to serve Jesus. Begin reading and studying the Bible to find out more about your new life in Jesus. Remember, the Bible is your “manual” for living. My father, Brother Jesse, likes to call it a welfare book...after all, it’s there for your welfare. And if you obey it, you’ll fare well! (Ha!)
Next, make a commitment to talk to God every day. You don’t have to use big words. God knows who you are and how you talk, so just be yourself with Him. God loves you! Prayer will just make your relationship with Him stronger. Then, ask the Lord to lead you to a church that preaches the Word and worships freely. Make sure you attend regularly; don’t slip into a habit of not going to church. Remember, just as your physical body needs food to live, your spirit needs the Word of God to live too. Spiritually speaking, you’re a newborn baby right now. You need a good church to feed you! So, don’t neglect your spirit. Go to church this Sunday.
Listening to preaching tapes by men and women of God who you can relate to will also help you. Coupled with your own time of Bible reading and praying, hearing other people preach on the Word can open your eyes to scriptures that you’ve never read before and help you learn even more about your new life as a Christian.
Friend, if you’ve prayed the prayer, would you please write us and let us know so that we can bless you with a free booklet on salvation? We love you so much and want to welcome YOU to the family of God. Write us today!
by Jesse Duplantis
Makes you want to slap ole Adam, doesn’t it?! But seriously, unless you do your part to personally rectify this sin by receiving God’s free gift of salvation through Jesus, sin will send you to hell. And, you don’t want that to be your future, especially when the way to Heaven is so easily accessible!
Of course, even if you don’t consider yourself a really sinful person, you can not deny that you haven’t done some wrong in your life. Romans 3:23 confirms that All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Sin has got to be paid for, and the punishment for sin is spiritual death. Sin separates man from God. It separated man from God the first day he sinned in the garden, and it continues to separate man from God today. But, it isn’t God’s will for Him to be separated from us. After all, He loves us! So, what has He done? He has created a fool-proof plan of salvation that enables us to be “born again” or spiritually reborn, so that He can communicate with us once again! So, although you could try and pay for your sins yourself, (Romans 6:23 says The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.), the better option is to choose God’s plan of salvation! After all, it’s only through His plan that you can be assured of spending eternal life in Heaven.
The Bible records that wonderful plan in John 3:16. There it says, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. So, according to that scripture, what did God give to make everlasting life possible for you? His Son, Jesus! And what must you personally do to receive His gift of everlasting life? Believe in Jesus! What does that mean? It means that you must believe that Jesus is the only Son of God and that He came to earth as a man, died on the cross for the sins of the world and was supernaturally raised from the dead. In His life, Jesus was blameless, and He resisted all sin. But, even though He was sinless, He chose to die a brutal death for the sins of the whole world...including you. The Bible says that He personally carried the load of our sins in His own body when He died on the cross. He paid the price so you don’t have to! (1Peter 2:24)
The cross is your way out of sin (separation from God) and into life (free-flowing communication with God)! All you have to do to become a child of God and have your sins washed away (never to be remembered against you anymore) is personally accept God’s plan of salvation. In other words, to get saved, you need Jesus! So, the first thing you need to do is: ADMIT. Admit you are a sinner and have a spiritual need. Then, REPENT. Repent from your sin and be willing to turn away from your sin. Next, BELIEVE. Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died on the cross for YOU personally. And lastly, RECEIVE. Receive Jesus into your heart and life through prayer. Romans 10:9 assures you that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
So, are you ready to believe with your heart and confess with your mouth? If so, all you have to do is pray the following prayer:
Congratulations! If you’ve just prayed this prayer with a sincere heart, you’ve just been “born again,” adopted into the family of God. Now, wasn’t that easy? The world tries to make it hard sometimes, but God doesn’t. He loves you so much. He makes it easy for you to come to Him. You may not feel any different, but that’s all right. Salvation doesn’t come by feeling, it comes by faith! By faith you believe that God’s Word is true. By faith you acknowledge that Jesus is God’s only Son, and through His death on the cross and resurrection from the grave, you have redemption from sin and eternal life in Heaven! You’re saved! You can now say what millions throughout time have said, “I once was lost but now I’m found!” Once you were separated from God, now you’re His child! Once you were going to Hell. Now, you’re going to Heaven!
You don’t have to worry if you “did it right” or “said it right.” If you were serious in your heart when you prayed the sinner’s prayer, you’re saved! No matter what you’ve done in your life, your sin has been completely washed away by Jesus’ blood. Ephesians 2:8-9 puts it this way, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. That scripture proves that your salvation doesn’t depend on your strength or ability. It depends on Jesus’! And His blood is more than able to take care of your salvation! So, don’t doubt the gift God has given to you.
Now that you’re born again, it is vitally important that you follow-up your decision by taking a few steps such as these: First, take a firm stand for Jesus. Tell somebody else about your decision to serve Jesus. Begin reading and studying the Bible to find out more about your new life in Jesus. Remember, the Bible is your “manual” for living. My father, Brother Jesse, likes to call it a welfare book...after all, it’s there for your welfare. And if you obey it, you’ll fare well! (Ha!)
Next, make a commitment to talk to God every day. You don’t have to use big words. God knows who you are and how you talk, so just be yourself with Him. God loves you! Prayer will just make your relationship with Him stronger. Then, ask the Lord to lead you to a church that preaches the Word and worships freely. Make sure you attend regularly; don’t slip into a habit of not going to church. Remember, just as your physical body needs food to live, your spirit needs the Word of God to live too. Spiritually speaking, you’re a newborn baby right now. You need a good church to feed you! So, don’t neglect your spirit. Go to church this Sunday.
Listening to preaching tapes by men and women of God who you can relate to will also help you. Coupled with your own time of Bible reading and praying, hearing other people preach on the Word can open your eyes to scriptures that you’ve never read before and help you learn even more about your new life as a Christian.
Friend, if you’ve prayed the prayer, would you please write us and let us know so that we can bless you with a free booklet on salvation? We love you so much and want to welcome YOU to the family of God. Write us today!
by Jesse Duplantis
Wednesday 20 June 2007
Eternal Life Is Not For Sale
by Jesse Duplantis
The people who Jesus met when He walked the earth two centuries ago were very much like most folks in the 21st century. They thought that they could buy their salvation. But, let me tell you something, if salvation were for sale, I would have bought it back when I was a rock singer who had more money than he could spend! I'd have paid the price for a first class ticket to Heaven, not only for myself, but for my family and friends too. No waiting, no standing in line, with the kind of money I had to shell out, I'd have bought straight access to the Throne!
That may sound funny to you, but a lot of people today think about Heaven sort of like that. Sure, most people know that they can't buy eternal life with money. But a whole lot of people think they can buy it with good deeds alone! They figure that since their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds, when their dieing day comes, they'll make it to Heaven. They have no concept of actually forming a relationship with God. They just figure that if they do more good stuff than bad, they're assured access into Heaven.
Why do so many think this way? Because religion has preached it for centuries! Even though Jesus came to the earth for the express reason of dying for mankind's sins and making righteousness available through His shed blood, people still preach that it's good deeds that get you into Heaven.
This kind of mindset was exactly what a certain young man had when he approached Jesus about obtaining eternal life. As an Old Testament Jew, he had been schooled in the Law and was diligent in obeying God's commandments. What he didn't have a concept of was the heart issue. He didn't know what it meant to love God enough that you would give up everything you knew and everything you loved just to serve Him.
In Matthew 19:16, the young man asked Jesus, "What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" When Jesus told him to keep the commandments, he basically said, "There are 10. I've done them. Now, what do I do?" He was pushing Jesus to give him something more; to tell him something that he could do to ensure that he would make Heaven his home. So, Jesus gave him something more; he challenged him with one serious deed. But it wasn't exactly what the Rich Young Ruler wanted to hear.
In fact, the deed Jesus told him to do was so hard that the young man didn't even answer. He didn't say a word! Instead, Matthew 19:22 says, “But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.”
You see, he was fooling himself by pressing Jesus for more deeds to obey in order to earn access into Heaven. And Jesus called him on the carpet about it. What Jesus was saying was, "So, you want to go further with this thing? You want to do more? Well, if you want to know what you really have to do to enter Heaven, I'll tell you...you can check your heart out and find out where your treasure is. What is your source? Where is your security? Is it in your money? Or is it in God. You make the choice." That's my paraphrase, but I believe it's correct.
You see, the Rich Young Ruler was willing to sacrifice and do a great many things for the sake of earning salvation. But, what he wasn't willing to do was the one thing that ensured his place in Heaven - to give his whole heart to God. His love for his material possessions was greater than his love for God.
What you should notice here is that Jesus did not dismiss The Ten Commandments. He told the man to obey them, so we know that doing good matters to Jesus. But what Jesus mainly wanted to deal with was the man's heart.
What Jesus proved to the Rich Young Ruler was that even though he thought he had done everything right, he was fooling himself if he thought that loving something else more than God was OK. He needed to get his priorities in line if he was that interested in following the Lord and obtaining eternal life.
When Money Has You, God Doesn't.
One thing I want you to understand is that riches were not the problem. Jesus didn't tell everybody he ran into to give away everything they had, and He met many, many rich people. You see, you can have all the riches in the world as long as riches don't have you.
God wants you to be financially blessed but when money has you, God doesn't. It's that simple. The Bible says you have to believe with your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus rose from the dead, and you will be saved (Romans 10:9-10). In other words, what gets you into Heaven is your heart and your mouth. It matters more than all the good deeds in the world.
The Rich Young Ruler probably wouldn't have ever been asked to give away everything if Jesus hadn't seen that his heart was in the wrong place. This man was trying to be externally obedient in order to earn his salvation, but he wasn't willing to trust God with his possessions. His response immediately showed that God wasn't his source of security.
Let me ask you a question. If you can't trust God with your possessions, how can you trust Him with your eternal soul? Nobody can buy eternal life. John 3:16 says it best. "For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Jesus told His disciples that it was hard for a rich man to enter Heaven. Why? Because riches have a way of making people feel secure. The world conditions us to believe that having money is equal to having security and freedom. But God is our only real security and there is no real freedom without Jesus! Let me tell you something, money has wings on it! It can fly away as fast as it came. And how many people who have money actually feel free? Freedom can't be bought. And it's a lie that money equals security.
That's why an offering at church will always expose your weakness. You recognize how much security you put in your money when you have the opportunity to give. You see, if the Rich Young Ruler had known anything about the God's operational system, he would have realized that giving opens the windows of heaven. He was destined to receive a hundred fold return in this life!
When Peter told Jesus that he and the disciples had forsaken all to follow Him and asked what would they get in return, Jesus said, “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life” (Matthew 19:29). Whew! A hundredfold and everlasting life - now, that's a promise to stand on!
This excites me because I know what it means to give up something to follow God. I gave up my ability to make money in the music industry for His name sake. I gave up the ability to buy whatever house I wanted. I gave up the ability to buy whatever car I wanted. I gave up money, family, wife and child to serve the Lord in the evangelistic capacity that He asked me to.
Cathy had to raise my daughter because most of her life, I was preaching somewhere. I was gone five days a week from home for her whole childhood and that wasn't easy on my wife, my daughter or me. Yes, when Jesus said, "Follow Me," I went but it was at a great sacrifice to me personally. But I didn't boo-hoo about it, and neither did my wife and daughter. We all knew this was what God wanted me to do so there were no resentments over it. We were excited about seeing people saved and healed and touched! Glory! You see, I did it for the right reasons, and today, I live a life of multiplied blessings.
Today, God has blessed me with way more than I gave up. I can buy any house I want and drive any car I want. God has given me a jet that allows me to sleep in my own bed just about every night and bring my wife with me everywhere I go. God has made my wife, my daughter and her husband to work right along side with me and I see them all the time. God is continuing to give me back everything that I gave up for His name's sake. It's His promise to me, and I stand on it!
If you've given up something for His name sake, Jesus has promised you a hundredfold in this life and everlasting life in the next. Don't let Satan fool you into settling for less than what God promised. Stand on Jesus' Word because it is for you!
You Can't Bargain for Spiritual Things
Some people read the Rich Young Ruler's story and think they have to give away all their money to be holy. Wait a minute! Did the Lord tell you to do it?
Holiness does not come by way of poverty. It comes by way of Jesus' blood. If you give everything away in an effort to bargain your way into God's good graces, you're off track. If He didn't tell you to do it, don't worry about it. There is nothing you can do to get inside God's good graces except accept His Son as your personal Lord and Savior. There is no need to reduce your life to a transaction. You don't have to earn salvation. It's free!
I believe that Peter, James and John must have already started getting some of their hundred fold back for giving up houses, families, lands, etc. because if they didn't, they would not have responded the way they did when Jesus told the Rich Young Ruler to give it all away.
After Jesus said how hard it was for a rich man to enter Heaven, you don't read about the disciples getting excited about it and saying, "Praise God! We've got nothing, so there's hope for us!" No, they're response in Matthew 19:25 was a sad, weak and miserable, throw-your-hands-up-in-the-air kind of response of "Who then can be saved?"
Jesus said, "With God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26)” Why? Because He was about to go to the cross. Jesus was about to sow Himself (Christ) so that He could reap us (Christians)! Glory! The kingdom of God is all abut sowing and reaping; seedtime and harvest! And, of course, this was when the disciples realized they were in for a great harvest, because they had already forsaken everything to follow Jesus and a hundredfold was promised back to them.
There are two classes of people in life. There are those who ask, "What can I get out of it?" And there are those who ask, "What can I put into it?" One of the greatest gifts you can give God is your time in His presence. But the world is so busy, few want to mess with it. The problem really isn't time; it's a commitment problem. The problem is thinking that you can buy off God; that you can trade in good deeds for time committed to spend with Him.
After all, you want your husband or wife to commit to you for life. You want your children to commit to you for life. You certainly want God to commit to you for life, because when you die you want to go to Heaven. Why can't you commit to do something for Him? Why can't you commit to spend time with Him?
It's time for us to recognize that eternal life is not for sale. Doing everything that the church or religious world says to do may make you feel good, and it may be good, but it won't assure you a place in Heaven. Salvation is never tied to anything. It isn't tied to money. God's love can not be bought, bargained for or traded in on. His love is free to all who will call upon His Son's name.
Eternal life is free to anyone who is willing to make getting to Heaven a heart issue and give their all to Him.
source: http://www.jdm.org
The people who Jesus met when He walked the earth two centuries ago were very much like most folks in the 21st century. They thought that they could buy their salvation. But, let me tell you something, if salvation were for sale, I would have bought it back when I was a rock singer who had more money than he could spend! I'd have paid the price for a first class ticket to Heaven, not only for myself, but for my family and friends too. No waiting, no standing in line, with the kind of money I had to shell out, I'd have bought straight access to the Throne!
That may sound funny to you, but a lot of people today think about Heaven sort of like that. Sure, most people know that they can't buy eternal life with money. But a whole lot of people think they can buy it with good deeds alone! They figure that since their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds, when their dieing day comes, they'll make it to Heaven. They have no concept of actually forming a relationship with God. They just figure that if they do more good stuff than bad, they're assured access into Heaven.
Why do so many think this way? Because religion has preached it for centuries! Even though Jesus came to the earth for the express reason of dying for mankind's sins and making righteousness available through His shed blood, people still preach that it's good deeds that get you into Heaven.
This kind of mindset was exactly what a certain young man had when he approached Jesus about obtaining eternal life. As an Old Testament Jew, he had been schooled in the Law and was diligent in obeying God's commandments. What he didn't have a concept of was the heart issue. He didn't know what it meant to love God enough that you would give up everything you knew and everything you loved just to serve Him.
In Matthew 19:16, the young man asked Jesus, "What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" When Jesus told him to keep the commandments, he basically said, "There are 10. I've done them. Now, what do I do?" He was pushing Jesus to give him something more; to tell him something that he could do to ensure that he would make Heaven his home. So, Jesus gave him something more; he challenged him with one serious deed. But it wasn't exactly what the Rich Young Ruler wanted to hear.
In fact, the deed Jesus told him to do was so hard that the young man didn't even answer. He didn't say a word! Instead, Matthew 19:22 says, “But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.”
You see, he was fooling himself by pressing Jesus for more deeds to obey in order to earn access into Heaven. And Jesus called him on the carpet about it. What Jesus was saying was, "So, you want to go further with this thing? You want to do more? Well, if you want to know what you really have to do to enter Heaven, I'll tell you...you can check your heart out and find out where your treasure is. What is your source? Where is your security? Is it in your money? Or is it in God. You make the choice." That's my paraphrase, but I believe it's correct.
You see, the Rich Young Ruler was willing to sacrifice and do a great many things for the sake of earning salvation. But, what he wasn't willing to do was the one thing that ensured his place in Heaven - to give his whole heart to God. His love for his material possessions was greater than his love for God.
What you should notice here is that Jesus did not dismiss The Ten Commandments. He told the man to obey them, so we know that doing good matters to Jesus. But what Jesus mainly wanted to deal with was the man's heart.
What Jesus proved to the Rich Young Ruler was that even though he thought he had done everything right, he was fooling himself if he thought that loving something else more than God was OK. He needed to get his priorities in line if he was that interested in following the Lord and obtaining eternal life.
When Money Has You, God Doesn't.
One thing I want you to understand is that riches were not the problem. Jesus didn't tell everybody he ran into to give away everything they had, and He met many, many rich people. You see, you can have all the riches in the world as long as riches don't have you.
God wants you to be financially blessed but when money has you, God doesn't. It's that simple. The Bible says you have to believe with your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus rose from the dead, and you will be saved (Romans 10:9-10). In other words, what gets you into Heaven is your heart and your mouth. It matters more than all the good deeds in the world.
The Rich Young Ruler probably wouldn't have ever been asked to give away everything if Jesus hadn't seen that his heart was in the wrong place. This man was trying to be externally obedient in order to earn his salvation, but he wasn't willing to trust God with his possessions. His response immediately showed that God wasn't his source of security.
Let me ask you a question. If you can't trust God with your possessions, how can you trust Him with your eternal soul? Nobody can buy eternal life. John 3:16 says it best. "For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Jesus told His disciples that it was hard for a rich man to enter Heaven. Why? Because riches have a way of making people feel secure. The world conditions us to believe that having money is equal to having security and freedom. But God is our only real security and there is no real freedom without Jesus! Let me tell you something, money has wings on it! It can fly away as fast as it came. And how many people who have money actually feel free? Freedom can't be bought. And it's a lie that money equals security.
That's why an offering at church will always expose your weakness. You recognize how much security you put in your money when you have the opportunity to give. You see, if the Rich Young Ruler had known anything about the God's operational system, he would have realized that giving opens the windows of heaven. He was destined to receive a hundred fold return in this life!
When Peter told Jesus that he and the disciples had forsaken all to follow Him and asked what would they get in return, Jesus said, “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life” (Matthew 19:29). Whew! A hundredfold and everlasting life - now, that's a promise to stand on!
This excites me because I know what it means to give up something to follow God. I gave up my ability to make money in the music industry for His name sake. I gave up the ability to buy whatever house I wanted. I gave up the ability to buy whatever car I wanted. I gave up money, family, wife and child to serve the Lord in the evangelistic capacity that He asked me to.
Cathy had to raise my daughter because most of her life, I was preaching somewhere. I was gone five days a week from home for her whole childhood and that wasn't easy on my wife, my daughter or me. Yes, when Jesus said, "Follow Me," I went but it was at a great sacrifice to me personally. But I didn't boo-hoo about it, and neither did my wife and daughter. We all knew this was what God wanted me to do so there were no resentments over it. We were excited about seeing people saved and healed and touched! Glory! You see, I did it for the right reasons, and today, I live a life of multiplied blessings.
Today, God has blessed me with way more than I gave up. I can buy any house I want and drive any car I want. God has given me a jet that allows me to sleep in my own bed just about every night and bring my wife with me everywhere I go. God has made my wife, my daughter and her husband to work right along side with me and I see them all the time. God is continuing to give me back everything that I gave up for His name's sake. It's His promise to me, and I stand on it!
If you've given up something for His name sake, Jesus has promised you a hundredfold in this life and everlasting life in the next. Don't let Satan fool you into settling for less than what God promised. Stand on Jesus' Word because it is for you!
You Can't Bargain for Spiritual Things
Some people read the Rich Young Ruler's story and think they have to give away all their money to be holy. Wait a minute! Did the Lord tell you to do it?
Holiness does not come by way of poverty. It comes by way of Jesus' blood. If you give everything away in an effort to bargain your way into God's good graces, you're off track. If He didn't tell you to do it, don't worry about it. There is nothing you can do to get inside God's good graces except accept His Son as your personal Lord and Savior. There is no need to reduce your life to a transaction. You don't have to earn salvation. It's free!
I believe that Peter, James and John must have already started getting some of their hundred fold back for giving up houses, families, lands, etc. because if they didn't, they would not have responded the way they did when Jesus told the Rich Young Ruler to give it all away.
After Jesus said how hard it was for a rich man to enter Heaven, you don't read about the disciples getting excited about it and saying, "Praise God! We've got nothing, so there's hope for us!" No, they're response in Matthew 19:25 was a sad, weak and miserable, throw-your-hands-up-in-the-air kind of response of "Who then can be saved?"
Jesus said, "With God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26)” Why? Because He was about to go to the cross. Jesus was about to sow Himself (Christ) so that He could reap us (Christians)! Glory! The kingdom of God is all abut sowing and reaping; seedtime and harvest! And, of course, this was when the disciples realized they were in for a great harvest, because they had already forsaken everything to follow Jesus and a hundredfold was promised back to them.
There are two classes of people in life. There are those who ask, "What can I get out of it?" And there are those who ask, "What can I put into it?" One of the greatest gifts you can give God is your time in His presence. But the world is so busy, few want to mess with it. The problem really isn't time; it's a commitment problem. The problem is thinking that you can buy off God; that you can trade in good deeds for time committed to spend with Him.
After all, you want your husband or wife to commit to you for life. You want your children to commit to you for life. You certainly want God to commit to you for life, because when you die you want to go to Heaven. Why can't you commit to do something for Him? Why can't you commit to spend time with Him?
It's time for us to recognize that eternal life is not for sale. Doing everything that the church or religious world says to do may make you feel good, and it may be good, but it won't assure you a place in Heaven. Salvation is never tied to anything. It isn't tied to money. God's love can not be bought, bargained for or traded in on. His love is free to all who will call upon His Son's name.
Eternal life is free to anyone who is willing to make getting to Heaven a heart issue and give their all to Him.
source: http://www.jdm.org
Monday 18 June 2007
The Difference Between Being Free… and Living Free
by Kenneth Copeland
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, just one year after the Civil War began in America. By it he declared no more slavery and every person in bondage to be set free.
Three years later the war ended. Yet people were still enslaved.
It took another 100 years before our nation finally dug its heels in the ground and said, "We are not putting up with this bondage anymore!"
Meanwhile, generation after generation of Americans were kept in chains long after they had been declared free.
The same thing happened to the people of Israel. They had lived as slaves for 400 years, then suddenly were released from captivity. They were free but they didn't know how to live free. Generation after generation had lived and died in bondage, so they didn't know any other way.
For centuries Israelite parents taught their children how to survive under an Egyptian "master." They taught them how to figure out what the master was thinking and how to figure out what he would do next.
It's no wonder that Israel left Egypt with a "slave" mentality though God had set them free. They were free, but they continued living in bondage.
Today is no different for you and me as believers.
Romans 8:2 tells us that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death. But until we lay hold of that freedom from sin and death, the devil pays no attention to it. He does his utmost to keep us from knowing about or walking in any benefits of our freedom.
The truth is, if we are to live free, we have to declare our freedom with every ounce of strength in our being and resist the devil. It's up to us to enforce our own emancipation proclamation from the gospel-whom the Son has set free is free indeed.
To Be Free, Think Free
It's one thing to discover you are free. It's another to break out and finally live free.
As born-again believers we have to renew or reprogram our minds. We have to learn to live like the free people we truly are-and Colossians 1:12-13 gives a clear picture of what that means: "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son."
In this passage, the Apostle Paul is actually saying the same thing he said in Romans 8:2, but with different words. To thoroughly understand what he's saying we need to define some of those words.
First, Paul says that God "hath made us meet to be partakers" (verse 12).
The word hath can be translated as "has already," and the word meet can be translated as "able."
Then he goes on to say in verse 13, "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son."
The word power can be translated "authority" and darkness is referring to "the law of sin and death" that he mentions in Romans 8:2. And finally, the word translated means "to take out of one and put over into the other."
When we put all that together, this is how Colossians 1:12-13 reads:
Giving thanks unto the Father, which [has already] made us [able] to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who [has already] delivered us from the [authority] of darkness [that is, the law of sin and death], and [has already] [taken us out of the law of sin and death and put us over] into the kingdom of his dear Son [that is, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus].
The moment you were born again, you were taken out of the law of sin and death. And you were put over into the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus where the laws of love, faith, joy, and so forth, abide.
Certainly all that is wonderful. But before you were translated into the kingdom of light, you spent years living in the kingdom of darkness which is governed by the law of sin and death. That includes the laws of fear, hate, bitterness, strife and the like. For years you put all those laws into motion in your life by speaking them, thinking them and acting on them.
Suddenly, you're free from all that darkness.
Now what?
Sadly many believers receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior—they get born again, translated out of the law of sin and death, and placed over into the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus—but they keep on living, talking and thinking as though they are under the authority and rule of darkness. They continue living under the law of sin and death and continue reaping the harvest of sin and death.
The Dark Side of Faith
To understand how we disconnect-spiritually, mentally and physically—from the law of sin and death, and connect to the law of the Spirit of life in the Anointed One Jesus, we need to know how faith and fear operate in our lives.
Fear is the activating spiritual force in the law of sin and death.
Under the law of sin and death you find sickness, disease, doubt, unbelief…everything that causes death. And all these things are activated by fear. They are fear-based, therefore they must have fear to function.
Faith on the other hand, is the activating spiritual force to the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
Hebrews 11:6 tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith.
Why?
Because without faith God cannot do anything for us.
Amos 3:3 asks the question: "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"
Certainly not.
Therefore if we walk in fear then we are in disagreement with God. We are not walking with Him.
For example, God says, "I love you."
Fear says, "Oh, but, Lord, You don't know all the bad I have done."
What happened?
Fear called God a liar. Fear always calls Him a liar, because fear doesn't believe a word God says. It does not believe the Word.
Jesus says, "You shall have what you say."
Fear says, "Yeah, but what if it doesn't come to pass when I say it?"
Again, that is disagreeing with God. And that is not smart because the moment we disagree with God, that's the moment we agree with the devil.
Remember there are only two laws-the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and the law of sin and death. There are no in—between laws. Either we are with God, or we are with the devil. There is no "neutral" ground.
Once we get into that place of agreement with God or the devil, we begin to put their respective laws into motion. We set the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus into motion, or we set the law of sin and death into motion.
Now going back to our example of a newly born-again believer: Often people get saved after they have spent years living under the law of sin and death. Then when something goes wrong in their lives and it doesn't seem that the Word is working immediately in their behalf, they try to change things with tears and a few little prayers. And when that doesn't work, they give up on the Word.
That approach will not change a thing. Especially if they've been building a stronghold of sin and death in their lives for the past 20 or 30 years.
Understand it takes using your faith day after day to develop your faith, just the same as using fear day after day develops fear.
Why Practice Makes Perfect
To disconnect from fear—so we're no longer in agreement with the devil and reaping harvests from years of living under his law of sin and death—we need to do what it takes to get rid of that fear, and that's where 1 John 4:16-18 comes in to help us:
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. 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.
To break out of fear, we need to become developed in the love of God because there is no fear in love.
In fact perfected or developed love is what casts fear out of our lives.
But again, it's one thing to "know love"—to know God who is Love. It's another matter to "believe" the Love, to believe God. And as we become developed and perfected in His love, that love will cast fear out of our lives.
In verse 18, the words translated as "casteth out" can also be translated as "flush out." When the tide of love which has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit begins to rise (Romans 5), there is no room for fear. Fear gets flushed out.
So the key here is developing the love God deposited within us when we were born again.
How?
Well first by using love or practicing it.
But also notice what 1 John 2:5 has to say about developing our love: "Whoso keepeth [God's] word, in him verily is the love of God perfected."
Keeping the Word of God and the commands of God develops His love within us.
Before Jesus went to the cross, He told His disciples, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another" (John 13:34).
The reason Jesus made "loving one another" a commandment is because He knew firsthand that there are times and circumstances when it is difficult to love.
Nonetheless love is a commandment that needs to be practiced just as much under stress and in ugly situations as it does when times are rosy, happy and everyone looks beautiful.
Love is a commandment, not a suggestion. It is not an option for any believer. For those who would live under the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and enjoy the fruit of a victorious, abundant life, it is essential. To walk in and keep the commandment of love, we must practice and practice and practice.
Time to Dig In
At the same time we're becoming well developed in the love of God by using it—which in turn flushes out fear and disconnects us from the devil—we also need to become developed in other things of God. We need to become skilled in faith in the Word, and in practicing the presence of God so our connection to the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus becomes stronger, no matter what situations we face.
Jesus' disciples once came to Him and said, "Increase our faith."
His response to them was, "If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you" (Luke 17:6). In other words, He was telling them faith grows—it matures and develops—the same way seed does.
On another occasion, Jesus explained to His disciples that once a seed is planted, it brings forth the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear (Mark 4). His point was, like a seed planted in the earth, spiritual things such as faith, love, joy, and peace grow constantly and continually, all the way to maturity, if you keep feeding, watering, cultivating and taking care of them.
A major problem is we have used our emotions and feelings until we are so highly developed in them that we cannot find our faith. But our faith is not in the "feeling" realm of our being. Faith is in our spirit man.
You see, each of us has the equipment to believe what we cannot see. We are a spirit, we have a soul—made up of our mind, will and emotions—and we live in a body.
Our human intellect—our mind, will and emotions—has no equipment with which to believe anything other than what we can already see.
Consequently, using our minds to try and believe for something we cannot see is like trying to plow a field with a pickup truck instead of a tractor and plow. All we have is a truck. There's no equipment to do the actual plowing. We can drive up and down the field all day, but we will never produce a crop.
While our minds were given to us to make decisions, our spirits were given to us to live by faith. Our spirits are where faith abides, where the love of God is, where hope lives.
The moment we decide to do something by faith, our spirit man should say, Hey, that's me…I can do that!
But we have to do it on purpose. We have to enforce it with the confession of our mouths, because the more we say it with our mouths and hear it with our ears, the more it gets down into our spirits.
Keep in mind, however, that while faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17), fear also comes by hearing. It comes by hearing the lies of the devil.
Faith and fear operate by the same law. In fact, they are the same spiritual force, but faith is going one way and fear the other. Adam's faith perverted by sin became Adam's fear.
Finishing Touches on Faith
Jesus is the author of our faith. He is the finisher, or the developer of it (Hebrews 12:2).
That means, when we purpose to exercise our faith, He is there to develop it, to stretch it, to cause it to grow. And He does that by backing the words we put in our mouths from His Word, because He is the High Priest of our confessions (Hebrews 3).
When we make the decision to live the life of faith, the life of love, the next step is to go to the Word and find out what the Word has to say about it and begin practicing that Word.
Practicing the Word of God develops faith.
People often ask me, "Brother Copeland, how do you memorize all those scriptures you quote?"
Well, I never really set out to memorize a bunch of scriptures. I have memorized a few on purpose, but the majority of scriptures I know came from practicing the Word and acting on it, particularly when I set out to develop my faith in a certain area or situation.
When you start practicing and acting on the Word, suddenly all that scripture gets indelibly ingrained in your spirit. And that's when you can pray in tongues for a moment or two, and then just slip over into your spirit and start quoting scripture. The Word will just keep coming up and coming up. You get to that place by practicing the Word.
Now practicing the presence of God is much like practicing the Word.
When you practice the presence of God, you are actually practicing listening to His voice. And the more you do it, the more you are able to hear His voice.
In reality you are training your spiritual ear to hear. That's why Jesus told His disciples time after time, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."
Think about it. If you were invited to the White House to meet with the president of the United States, and you were told that you had only 20 minutes with him, would you go into the Oval Office jabbering away from the moment you were ushered in until the moment you were ushered out?
Hopefully not!
Well, as you begin to practice the presence of God, get up in the morning and say something like, "Oh, hallelujah! This is another day that the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it…."
Then don't allow your mind to take off thinking about what a hard day this is going to be, how you wish you didn't have to face the situations you know are out there.
No. Start your day by visiting with Him. "Lord, anything You need of me today, I am ready, willing and able. I'll go where You want me to go and do what You want me to do."
Then shut up for a while and listen for His voice…enjoy His presence.
Practicing the presence of God, becoming perfected in the love of God, and becoming more skilled in the Word of God—all these work together to develop our faith. They make all the difference in the world.
The difference between just being free...and truly living free.
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, just one year after the Civil War began in America. By it he declared no more slavery and every person in bondage to be set free.
Three years later the war ended. Yet people were still enslaved.
It took another 100 years before our nation finally dug its heels in the ground and said, "We are not putting up with this bondage anymore!"
Meanwhile, generation after generation of Americans were kept in chains long after they had been declared free.
The same thing happened to the people of Israel. They had lived as slaves for 400 years, then suddenly were released from captivity. They were free but they didn't know how to live free. Generation after generation had lived and died in bondage, so they didn't know any other way.
For centuries Israelite parents taught their children how to survive under an Egyptian "master." They taught them how to figure out what the master was thinking and how to figure out what he would do next.
It's no wonder that Israel left Egypt with a "slave" mentality though God had set them free. They were free, but they continued living in bondage.
Today is no different for you and me as believers.
Romans 8:2 tells us that the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death. But until we lay hold of that freedom from sin and death, the devil pays no attention to it. He does his utmost to keep us from knowing about or walking in any benefits of our freedom.
The truth is, if we are to live free, we have to declare our freedom with every ounce of strength in our being and resist the devil. It's up to us to enforce our own emancipation proclamation from the gospel-whom the Son has set free is free indeed.
To Be Free, Think Free
It's one thing to discover you are free. It's another to break out and finally live free.
As born-again believers we have to renew or reprogram our minds. We have to learn to live like the free people we truly are-and Colossians 1:12-13 gives a clear picture of what that means: "Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son."
In this passage, the Apostle Paul is actually saying the same thing he said in Romans 8:2, but with different words. To thoroughly understand what he's saying we need to define some of those words.
First, Paul says that God "hath made us meet to be partakers" (verse 12).
The word hath can be translated as "has already," and the word meet can be translated as "able."
Then he goes on to say in verse 13, "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son."
The word power can be translated "authority" and darkness is referring to "the law of sin and death" that he mentions in Romans 8:2. And finally, the word translated means "to take out of one and put over into the other."
When we put all that together, this is how Colossians 1:12-13 reads:
Giving thanks unto the Father, which [has already] made us [able] to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who [has already] delivered us from the [authority] of darkness [that is, the law of sin and death], and [has already] [taken us out of the law of sin and death and put us over] into the kingdom of his dear Son [that is, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus].
The moment you were born again, you were taken out of the law of sin and death. And you were put over into the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus where the laws of love, faith, joy, and so forth, abide.
Certainly all that is wonderful. But before you were translated into the kingdom of light, you spent years living in the kingdom of darkness which is governed by the law of sin and death. That includes the laws of fear, hate, bitterness, strife and the like. For years you put all those laws into motion in your life by speaking them, thinking them and acting on them.
Suddenly, you're free from all that darkness.
Now what?
Sadly many believers receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior—they get born again, translated out of the law of sin and death, and placed over into the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus—but they keep on living, talking and thinking as though they are under the authority and rule of darkness. They continue living under the law of sin and death and continue reaping the harvest of sin and death.
The Dark Side of Faith
To understand how we disconnect-spiritually, mentally and physically—from the law of sin and death, and connect to the law of the Spirit of life in the Anointed One Jesus, we need to know how faith and fear operate in our lives.
Fear is the activating spiritual force in the law of sin and death.
Under the law of sin and death you find sickness, disease, doubt, unbelief…everything that causes death. And all these things are activated by fear. They are fear-based, therefore they must have fear to function.
Faith on the other hand, is the activating spiritual force to the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
Hebrews 11:6 tells us that it is impossible to please God without faith.
Why?
Because without faith God cannot do anything for us.
Amos 3:3 asks the question: "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"
Certainly not.
Therefore if we walk in fear then we are in disagreement with God. We are not walking with Him.
For example, God says, "I love you."
Fear says, "Oh, but, Lord, You don't know all the bad I have done."
What happened?
Fear called God a liar. Fear always calls Him a liar, because fear doesn't believe a word God says. It does not believe the Word.
Jesus says, "You shall have what you say."
Fear says, "Yeah, but what if it doesn't come to pass when I say it?"
Again, that is disagreeing with God. And that is not smart because the moment we disagree with God, that's the moment we agree with the devil.
Remember there are only two laws-the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and the law of sin and death. There are no in—between laws. Either we are with God, or we are with the devil. There is no "neutral" ground.
Once we get into that place of agreement with God or the devil, we begin to put their respective laws into motion. We set the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus into motion, or we set the law of sin and death into motion.
Now going back to our example of a newly born-again believer: Often people get saved after they have spent years living under the law of sin and death. Then when something goes wrong in their lives and it doesn't seem that the Word is working immediately in their behalf, they try to change things with tears and a few little prayers. And when that doesn't work, they give up on the Word.
That approach will not change a thing. Especially if they've been building a stronghold of sin and death in their lives for the past 20 or 30 years.
Understand it takes using your faith day after day to develop your faith, just the same as using fear day after day develops fear.
Why Practice Makes Perfect
To disconnect from fear—so we're no longer in agreement with the devil and reaping harvests from years of living under his law of sin and death—we need to do what it takes to get rid of that fear, and that's where 1 John 4:16-18 comes in to help us:
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. 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.
To break out of fear, we need to become developed in the love of God because there is no fear in love.
In fact perfected or developed love is what casts fear out of our lives.
But again, it's one thing to "know love"—to know God who is Love. It's another matter to "believe" the Love, to believe God. And as we become developed and perfected in His love, that love will cast fear out of our lives.
In verse 18, the words translated as "casteth out" can also be translated as "flush out." When the tide of love which has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit begins to rise (Romans 5), there is no room for fear. Fear gets flushed out.
So the key here is developing the love God deposited within us when we were born again.
How?
Well first by using love or practicing it.
But also notice what 1 John 2:5 has to say about developing our love: "Whoso keepeth [God's] word, in him verily is the love of God perfected."
Keeping the Word of God and the commands of God develops His love within us.
Before Jesus went to the cross, He told His disciples, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another" (John 13:34).
The reason Jesus made "loving one another" a commandment is because He knew firsthand that there are times and circumstances when it is difficult to love.
Nonetheless love is a commandment that needs to be practiced just as much under stress and in ugly situations as it does when times are rosy, happy and everyone looks beautiful.
Love is a commandment, not a suggestion. It is not an option for any believer. For those who would live under the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and enjoy the fruit of a victorious, abundant life, it is essential. To walk in and keep the commandment of love, we must practice and practice and practice.
Time to Dig In
At the same time we're becoming well developed in the love of God by using it—which in turn flushes out fear and disconnects us from the devil—we also need to become developed in other things of God. We need to become skilled in faith in the Word, and in practicing the presence of God so our connection to the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus becomes stronger, no matter what situations we face.
Jesus' disciples once came to Him and said, "Increase our faith."
His response to them was, "If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you" (Luke 17:6). In other words, He was telling them faith grows—it matures and develops—the same way seed does.
On another occasion, Jesus explained to His disciples that once a seed is planted, it brings forth the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear (Mark 4). His point was, like a seed planted in the earth, spiritual things such as faith, love, joy, and peace grow constantly and continually, all the way to maturity, if you keep feeding, watering, cultivating and taking care of them.
A major problem is we have used our emotions and feelings until we are so highly developed in them that we cannot find our faith. But our faith is not in the "feeling" realm of our being. Faith is in our spirit man.
You see, each of us has the equipment to believe what we cannot see. We are a spirit, we have a soul—made up of our mind, will and emotions—and we live in a body.
Our human intellect—our mind, will and emotions—has no equipment with which to believe anything other than what we can already see.
Consequently, using our minds to try and believe for something we cannot see is like trying to plow a field with a pickup truck instead of a tractor and plow. All we have is a truck. There's no equipment to do the actual plowing. We can drive up and down the field all day, but we will never produce a crop.
While our minds were given to us to make decisions, our spirits were given to us to live by faith. Our spirits are where faith abides, where the love of God is, where hope lives.
The moment we decide to do something by faith, our spirit man should say, Hey, that's me…I can do that!
But we have to do it on purpose. We have to enforce it with the confession of our mouths, because the more we say it with our mouths and hear it with our ears, the more it gets down into our spirits.
Keep in mind, however, that while faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17), fear also comes by hearing. It comes by hearing the lies of the devil.
Faith and fear operate by the same law. In fact, they are the same spiritual force, but faith is going one way and fear the other. Adam's faith perverted by sin became Adam's fear.
Finishing Touches on Faith
Jesus is the author of our faith. He is the finisher, or the developer of it (Hebrews 12:2).
That means, when we purpose to exercise our faith, He is there to develop it, to stretch it, to cause it to grow. And He does that by backing the words we put in our mouths from His Word, because He is the High Priest of our confessions (Hebrews 3).
When we make the decision to live the life of faith, the life of love, the next step is to go to the Word and find out what the Word has to say about it and begin practicing that Word.
Practicing the Word of God develops faith.
People often ask me, "Brother Copeland, how do you memorize all those scriptures you quote?"
Well, I never really set out to memorize a bunch of scriptures. I have memorized a few on purpose, but the majority of scriptures I know came from practicing the Word and acting on it, particularly when I set out to develop my faith in a certain area or situation.
When you start practicing and acting on the Word, suddenly all that scripture gets indelibly ingrained in your spirit. And that's when you can pray in tongues for a moment or two, and then just slip over into your spirit and start quoting scripture. The Word will just keep coming up and coming up. You get to that place by practicing the Word.
Now practicing the presence of God is much like practicing the Word.
When you practice the presence of God, you are actually practicing listening to His voice. And the more you do it, the more you are able to hear His voice.
In reality you are training your spiritual ear to hear. That's why Jesus told His disciples time after time, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear."
Think about it. If you were invited to the White House to meet with the president of the United States, and you were told that you had only 20 minutes with him, would you go into the Oval Office jabbering away from the moment you were ushered in until the moment you were ushered out?
Hopefully not!
Well, as you begin to practice the presence of God, get up in the morning and say something like, "Oh, hallelujah! This is another day that the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it…."
Then don't allow your mind to take off thinking about what a hard day this is going to be, how you wish you didn't have to face the situations you know are out there.
No. Start your day by visiting with Him. "Lord, anything You need of me today, I am ready, willing and able. I'll go where You want me to go and do what You want me to do."
Then shut up for a while and listen for His voice…enjoy His presence.
Practicing the presence of God, becoming perfected in the love of God, and becoming more skilled in the Word of God—all these work together to develop our faith. They make all the difference in the world.
The difference between just being free...and truly living free.
Sunday 17 June 2007
Forgetting Those Things That Are Behind
by Kenneth Copeland
I certainly wish I were better at forgetting things!
That’s one statement most of us have never made. It’s our ability to remember, not our ability to forget, that we usually want to develop. Yet, according to the Bible, forgetting can change our lives. It can change our environment. It can help take us from failure to success, from sickness to health, and from poverty to abundance.
In fact, as born-again children of God, we can’t fully enjoy the victory that belongs to us in Jesus until we learn how to supernaturally forget.
If you don’t believe it, look at the life of the Apostle Paul. He was one of the most powerful believers this earth has ever seen. He faced more challenges, persecutions and hardships than most of us can even imagine. Yet he boldly declared, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ…. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Romans 8:37; 2 Corinthians 2:14; Philippians 4:13, New King James Version).
Get a Grip
Sometimes we’re tempted to think Paul was able to live in such triumph because he was some kind of super saint. We don’t even aspire to walk in his footsteps because we figure we’re just ordinary believers and he was something special. But Paul told us clearly that wasn’t the case. He said, “[I] am less than the least of all saints…” (Ephesians 3:8).
What, then, was the key to Paul’s amazing spiritual success? How did he live such a victorious life?
He answered those questions in his letter to the Philippians when he wrote these powerful words: “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).
To get the full impact of those verses, remove the italicized words (which weren’t in the original manuscripts but were added later by the translators) and read them again: “I count not myself to have apprehended but one thing—forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press….”
Can you see what Paul was saying there? He was telling us that there was one thing in life he knew he had a good grip on, one thing he’d apprehended and developed the ability to do. He’d learned to supernaturally forget his past and press forward into his God-ordained future. He’d discovered the secret of leaving old things behind and moving ahead.
For Paul, that was a particularly remarkable accomplishment because his past was packed with atrocities that, naturally speaking, would be impossible to forget. He had spent the years just before he was saved persecuting Christians. He’d caught them in church and ordered them thrown into dungeons where many eventually died. He had actually supervised the murder of Stephen, holding the coats of those who hurled stones at him. Paul had watched approvingly as the heavy, jagged rocks crushed the body of one of the most beloved leaders of the early Church. He had personally heard Stephen cry out with his last breath, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge!”
Can you imagine how those memories must have tried to haunt Paul after he was saved? Can you imagine how feverishly the devil must have worked to remind him of what he had done—to make him feel unworthy to be a minister of the gospel?
Yet somehow Paul defeated those memories. Somehow he found a way to supernaturally forget his past. Clearly, if he could do it, you and I can too. We just need to know how.
To find out, all we have to do is return once again to his writings. In 2 Corinthians 10, he explained the process: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience…” (verses 3-6).
Don’t Let Your Past Dictate Your Future
According to those verses, we can’t live in victory by just waiting for supernatural forgetfulness to overtake us. We can’t just sit around hoping that someday God will reach down and wash away our memory of the past. We must get aggressive about it. That’s what Paul did. He declared war on every thought that tried to drag him back to his old life. He took revenge on every memory, mental image, concept or imagination that contradicted what the Word of God said about him as a reborn, righteous, new creation in Christ.
If we want to enjoy the kind of victory Paul did, we have to do the same thing. Otherwise, our mind will keep dragging us back into old cycles of sin and defeat because, unlike our spirit, our mind was not made new when we were born again. It stayed the same. If we don’t renew it with the Word, it will continually feed us with thoughts and fears from the past. And since our lives are shaped by what we think (which becomes what we say…which dictates what we decide and what we do), those thoughts and fears from the past will end up dictating our future.
If we don’t use the power of the Word to supernaturally forget those things which are behind—despite all the promises God has made to us as believers, despite the fact that our lives are truly hidden with Christ in God—we’ll be doomed to repeat the mistakes and failures of the past again…and again…and again.
When I say you must supernaturally forget the past, I’m not talking about just keeping it off your mind for a couple of days. I mean you must forget it the way God forgets something. Put it as far from you as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). Root it out of your memory by the blood of the Lamb and cleanse your consciousness of it permanently by faith.
You must begin to believe that what the Bible says about your past is true. Every negative part of it is gone! Everything the devil did to you and through you has been wiped out forever! “Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ…” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18).
It’s All in Your Mind
When I think about how completely God demolishes the devil’s work in our past, I’m often reminded of a little house in Steamboat Springs, Colo., that Gloria and I bought back in 1986. It wasn’t anything fancy but we really enjoyed it. Just thinking about it right now, I can see every detail of it in my mind’s eye.
I can take you through the front door into the little mudroom in the front where we hung our winter jackets and parked our boots and gloves. I can walk you through the living room where the fireplace crackled and glowed on snowy, winter days.
I can take you back to the kitchen and the little dining room where our kids and grandkids used to gather. I can describe every piece of wallpaper, every rug and every picture hanging on the walls. I can see myself right now walking up the stairs with suitcases in my hands. I can see myself going back downstairs to the lockers where we kept our skis, and getting ready to hit the slopes.
Just thinking about it is like being in that cabin right now. It’s absolutely real to me.
But you know what? We sold that cabin in 1999, and the guy who bought it took a bulldozer and knocked the whole thing down. There’s nothing left of it. That house does not exist anywhere on this earth. The only place it exists is in my mind.
Praise God, the same thing happened to our sinful, defeat-ridden, old past! The blood of Jesus Christ of Nazareth has demolished it even more completely than that bulldozer demolished our Colorado cabin! In the mind of God, it is gone.
Every old, ungodly thing in your life (including the bad things other people did to you, the sorrows and pains the devil inflicted on you) has passed away. Those things don’t exist anywhere on this planet…except in your mind. The only power or reality they have is what you give them.
Three Keys to Forgetting the Past
“I understand that, Brother Copeland,” you might say, “but exactly how do I get rid of the memories that plague me? How do I stop thinking about them?”
Over the years, I’ve discovered three vital keys that help me supernaturally turn off thoughts of the past. If you’ll keep these keys in mind and act on them, you’ll be able to take every thought captive and cast down every ungodly memory that rises up against you.
First and foremost, always remember that your sin is none of the devil’s business. If he tries to remind you of things you’ve done wrong, take authority over him and command him to leave you alone. At times the devil will try to trick you into believing that God is the One reminding you of those sins but don’t you believe it! Jesus never reminds you of your sin. He wiped it out. He has forgotten it and He wants you to do the same. So when the devil tries to convince you to mentally rehearse your past, refuse and resist him and he will flee from you.
Don’t even let the devil talk to you about current sins. It’s not his place to deal with you about them. Your sin is between you and Jesus. He’s the One who bought you. He’s the One who paid the price for your forgiveness. So when you miss it—in little ways or big—Jesus is the One you need to talk to about it. Run to Him (not from Him) and repent. Confess your sin and refuse to allow the devil or anyone else to put you under condemnation for it.
Second, always remember that when we confess our sins to Jesus, “he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Sometimes believers doubt that forgiveness. If they still feel guilty after they confess their sin to the Lord, they think God hasn’t done His part. They believe He is still holding their sin against them.
Don’t ever make that mistake. Always remember that Jesus keeps His Word. Every time we confess our sin, He is 100 percent faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us. So if our feelings say otherwise, then our feelings must be lying because Jesus will never lie. He will always do what He says He will do.
Never base your faith on your feelings. Base it on God’s Word. The moment you confess your sin, believe Jesus has forgiven and cleansed you regardless of how you feel. Then speak by faith, call things that be not as though they were and say, “I receive my forgiveness. I receive my cleansing. That sin is washed completely away by the blood of Jesus. I am free of it now, in Jesus’ Name!”
Turn the Tables on the Devil
Once you’ve received your forgiveness by faith, begin to purge the memory of that sin by speaking the Word. When the devil starts tempting you to think about it again, open your mouth and give him the same answer Jesus gave when the devil tempted Him. Say, “It is written….” Shut the devil up by telling him what God says about the situation. Go after him with a vengeance. Get revenge on that disobedient thought by assaulting it with the Word.
Don’t just do it silently either. Don’t just try to counter disobedient thoughts with scriptural thoughts. That won’t work. If you want to win the battle in your mind you have to use a mightier weapon. You have to fight thoughts with words.
Words always overcome thoughts because the moment you open your mouth, your mind must stop thinking and listen to what your mouth has to say. That’s the way human beings are created, and there’s nothing the devil can do about it. Try as he may to pressure you with negative thoughts, if you’ll speak the Word, you’ll defeat him every time.
Most believers don’t realize that so they let the devil get the upper hand. When he starts putting pressure on their minds, hammering away at them with thoughts of fear or guilt based on their past, they just let those thoughts dominate them. But that’s not what the Apostle Paul taught us to do.
He taught us to turn the tables on the devil and put the pressure on him instead. That’s right! He said, “I forget those things which are behind and I press forward….” Paul pressed in to His God-ordained future by believing and confessing the Word. He put the devil in such a pressure cooker of the Word that he and his demonic cohorts were forced to flee.
I’m telling you, when you start pressuring the devil instead of letting him pressure you, life gets exciting. But you can’t do that by sitting around feeling sorry for yourself. You have to choose consciously, on purpose, to have faith in the Word and to use that Word to attack the negative thought patterns in your life. You have to be determined to say what the Word says, and to keep saying it…and saying it…and saying it…until that Word becomes so imbedded in your thought life that it comes out of your mouth without you having to think about it.
You can do it! You can purge your thought life of all those old hurts and fusses you’ve had with people. You can uproot and remove from your consciousness all the old sins of the past. You can take every blue thought, every sick thought, and every tired, old, worn-out, unforgiving thought and replace them all with thoughts of love and faith.
Just roll every rotten thing from your past over on God, set your faith toward heaven and begin to press. Supernaturally forget those things that are behind and head full throttle toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
It will take some work, but you can do it, and when you do, you’ll discover what Paul discovered—it is truly a glorious, victorious way to live!
I certainly wish I were better at forgetting things!
That’s one statement most of us have never made. It’s our ability to remember, not our ability to forget, that we usually want to develop. Yet, according to the Bible, forgetting can change our lives. It can change our environment. It can help take us from failure to success, from sickness to health, and from poverty to abundance.
In fact, as born-again children of God, we can’t fully enjoy the victory that belongs to us in Jesus until we learn how to supernaturally forget.
If you don’t believe it, look at the life of the Apostle Paul. He was one of the most powerful believers this earth has ever seen. He faced more challenges, persecutions and hardships than most of us can even imagine. Yet he boldly declared, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ…. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Romans 8:37; 2 Corinthians 2:14; Philippians 4:13, New King James Version).
Get a Grip
Sometimes we’re tempted to think Paul was able to live in such triumph because he was some kind of super saint. We don’t even aspire to walk in his footsteps because we figure we’re just ordinary believers and he was something special. But Paul told us clearly that wasn’t the case. He said, “[I] am less than the least of all saints…” (Ephesians 3:8).
What, then, was the key to Paul’s amazing spiritual success? How did he live such a victorious life?
He answered those questions in his letter to the Philippians when he wrote these powerful words: “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).
To get the full impact of those verses, remove the italicized words (which weren’t in the original manuscripts but were added later by the translators) and read them again: “I count not myself to have apprehended but one thing—forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press….”
Can you see what Paul was saying there? He was telling us that there was one thing in life he knew he had a good grip on, one thing he’d apprehended and developed the ability to do. He’d learned to supernaturally forget his past and press forward into his God-ordained future. He’d discovered the secret of leaving old things behind and moving ahead.
For Paul, that was a particularly remarkable accomplishment because his past was packed with atrocities that, naturally speaking, would be impossible to forget. He had spent the years just before he was saved persecuting Christians. He’d caught them in church and ordered them thrown into dungeons where many eventually died. He had actually supervised the murder of Stephen, holding the coats of those who hurled stones at him. Paul had watched approvingly as the heavy, jagged rocks crushed the body of one of the most beloved leaders of the early Church. He had personally heard Stephen cry out with his last breath, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge!”
Can you imagine how those memories must have tried to haunt Paul after he was saved? Can you imagine how feverishly the devil must have worked to remind him of what he had done—to make him feel unworthy to be a minister of the gospel?
Yet somehow Paul defeated those memories. Somehow he found a way to supernaturally forget his past. Clearly, if he could do it, you and I can too. We just need to know how.
To find out, all we have to do is return once again to his writings. In 2 Corinthians 10, he explained the process: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience…” (verses 3-6).
Don’t Let Your Past Dictate Your Future
According to those verses, we can’t live in victory by just waiting for supernatural forgetfulness to overtake us. We can’t just sit around hoping that someday God will reach down and wash away our memory of the past. We must get aggressive about it. That’s what Paul did. He declared war on every thought that tried to drag him back to his old life. He took revenge on every memory, mental image, concept or imagination that contradicted what the Word of God said about him as a reborn, righteous, new creation in Christ.
If we want to enjoy the kind of victory Paul did, we have to do the same thing. Otherwise, our mind will keep dragging us back into old cycles of sin and defeat because, unlike our spirit, our mind was not made new when we were born again. It stayed the same. If we don’t renew it with the Word, it will continually feed us with thoughts and fears from the past. And since our lives are shaped by what we think (which becomes what we say…which dictates what we decide and what we do), those thoughts and fears from the past will end up dictating our future.
If we don’t use the power of the Word to supernaturally forget those things which are behind—despite all the promises God has made to us as believers, despite the fact that our lives are truly hidden with Christ in God—we’ll be doomed to repeat the mistakes and failures of the past again…and again…and again.
When I say you must supernaturally forget the past, I’m not talking about just keeping it off your mind for a couple of days. I mean you must forget it the way God forgets something. Put it as far from you as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). Root it out of your memory by the blood of the Lamb and cleanse your consciousness of it permanently by faith.
You must begin to believe that what the Bible says about your past is true. Every negative part of it is gone! Everything the devil did to you and through you has been wiped out forever! “Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ…” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18).
It’s All in Your Mind
When I think about how completely God demolishes the devil’s work in our past, I’m often reminded of a little house in Steamboat Springs, Colo., that Gloria and I bought back in 1986. It wasn’t anything fancy but we really enjoyed it. Just thinking about it right now, I can see every detail of it in my mind’s eye.
I can take you through the front door into the little mudroom in the front where we hung our winter jackets and parked our boots and gloves. I can walk you through the living room where the fireplace crackled and glowed on snowy, winter days.
I can take you back to the kitchen and the little dining room where our kids and grandkids used to gather. I can describe every piece of wallpaper, every rug and every picture hanging on the walls. I can see myself right now walking up the stairs with suitcases in my hands. I can see myself going back downstairs to the lockers where we kept our skis, and getting ready to hit the slopes.
Just thinking about it is like being in that cabin right now. It’s absolutely real to me.
But you know what? We sold that cabin in 1999, and the guy who bought it took a bulldozer and knocked the whole thing down. There’s nothing left of it. That house does not exist anywhere on this earth. The only place it exists is in my mind.
Praise God, the same thing happened to our sinful, defeat-ridden, old past! The blood of Jesus Christ of Nazareth has demolished it even more completely than that bulldozer demolished our Colorado cabin! In the mind of God, it is gone.
Every old, ungodly thing in your life (including the bad things other people did to you, the sorrows and pains the devil inflicted on you) has passed away. Those things don’t exist anywhere on this planet…except in your mind. The only power or reality they have is what you give them.
Three Keys to Forgetting the Past
“I understand that, Brother Copeland,” you might say, “but exactly how do I get rid of the memories that plague me? How do I stop thinking about them?”
Over the years, I’ve discovered three vital keys that help me supernaturally turn off thoughts of the past. If you’ll keep these keys in mind and act on them, you’ll be able to take every thought captive and cast down every ungodly memory that rises up against you.
First and foremost, always remember that your sin is none of the devil’s business. If he tries to remind you of things you’ve done wrong, take authority over him and command him to leave you alone. At times the devil will try to trick you into believing that God is the One reminding you of those sins but don’t you believe it! Jesus never reminds you of your sin. He wiped it out. He has forgotten it and He wants you to do the same. So when the devil tries to convince you to mentally rehearse your past, refuse and resist him and he will flee from you.
Don’t even let the devil talk to you about current sins. It’s not his place to deal with you about them. Your sin is between you and Jesus. He’s the One who bought you. He’s the One who paid the price for your forgiveness. So when you miss it—in little ways or big—Jesus is the One you need to talk to about it. Run to Him (not from Him) and repent. Confess your sin and refuse to allow the devil or anyone else to put you under condemnation for it.
Second, always remember that when we confess our sins to Jesus, “he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Sometimes believers doubt that forgiveness. If they still feel guilty after they confess their sin to the Lord, they think God hasn’t done His part. They believe He is still holding their sin against them.
Don’t ever make that mistake. Always remember that Jesus keeps His Word. Every time we confess our sin, He is 100 percent faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us. So if our feelings say otherwise, then our feelings must be lying because Jesus will never lie. He will always do what He says He will do.
Never base your faith on your feelings. Base it on God’s Word. The moment you confess your sin, believe Jesus has forgiven and cleansed you regardless of how you feel. Then speak by faith, call things that be not as though they were and say, “I receive my forgiveness. I receive my cleansing. That sin is washed completely away by the blood of Jesus. I am free of it now, in Jesus’ Name!”
Turn the Tables on the Devil
Once you’ve received your forgiveness by faith, begin to purge the memory of that sin by speaking the Word. When the devil starts tempting you to think about it again, open your mouth and give him the same answer Jesus gave when the devil tempted Him. Say, “It is written….” Shut the devil up by telling him what God says about the situation. Go after him with a vengeance. Get revenge on that disobedient thought by assaulting it with the Word.
Don’t just do it silently either. Don’t just try to counter disobedient thoughts with scriptural thoughts. That won’t work. If you want to win the battle in your mind you have to use a mightier weapon. You have to fight thoughts with words.
Words always overcome thoughts because the moment you open your mouth, your mind must stop thinking and listen to what your mouth has to say. That’s the way human beings are created, and there’s nothing the devil can do about it. Try as he may to pressure you with negative thoughts, if you’ll speak the Word, you’ll defeat him every time.
Most believers don’t realize that so they let the devil get the upper hand. When he starts putting pressure on their minds, hammering away at them with thoughts of fear or guilt based on their past, they just let those thoughts dominate them. But that’s not what the Apostle Paul taught us to do.
He taught us to turn the tables on the devil and put the pressure on him instead. That’s right! He said, “I forget those things which are behind and I press forward….” Paul pressed in to His God-ordained future by believing and confessing the Word. He put the devil in such a pressure cooker of the Word that he and his demonic cohorts were forced to flee.
I’m telling you, when you start pressuring the devil instead of letting him pressure you, life gets exciting. But you can’t do that by sitting around feeling sorry for yourself. You have to choose consciously, on purpose, to have faith in the Word and to use that Word to attack the negative thought patterns in your life. You have to be determined to say what the Word says, and to keep saying it…and saying it…and saying it…until that Word becomes so imbedded in your thought life that it comes out of your mouth without you having to think about it.
You can do it! You can purge your thought life of all those old hurts and fusses you’ve had with people. You can uproot and remove from your consciousness all the old sins of the past. You can take every blue thought, every sick thought, and every tired, old, worn-out, unforgiving thought and replace them all with thoughts of love and faith.
Just roll every rotten thing from your past over on God, set your faith toward heaven and begin to press. Supernaturally forget those things that are behind and head full throttle toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
It will take some work, but you can do it, and when you do, you’ll discover what Paul discovered—it is truly a glorious, victorious way to live!
Open Their Eyes to the Light
If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
–(2 Corinthians 4:3-4)
Since God doesn't save anyone against their will, does it really do any good to pray for people who consciously refuse to receive Jesus as Lord?
Yes. Yes! YES! IT DOES!
You see, in spite of the fact that most all unbelievers who have purposely refused to receive Jesus as Lord think they've made that decision of their own free will, the truth is, they haven't. The Word of God says they've been blinded by Satan. He's blocking their perception of the truth. So their decision hasn't been freely made at all.
That's important for you to grasp. Because through the prayer of intercession, you can interfere with the satanic forces and help take those blinders off! You can also change circumstances with your prayers and help create situations that will bring them in contact with the Lord. You're well within your spiritual rights when you do that.
I prayed with a friend of mine once who'd been praying for his lost brother for years. Jesus said in Matthew 12:29 to first bind the strong man and then enter his house and spoil his goods. So we said, "You spirit blinding the eyes of ______________, you stop what you are doing to keep him out of the kingdom of God. In Jesus' Name, you stop NOW!"
Jesus also said in Matthew 9:38, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." So we prayed, "Lord, send someone to ____________ with the Word of God. You know who he will listen to. We claim _____________ for the kingdom of God. We believe we receive his salvation and deliverance. In faith we praise You for it."
In almost no time at all his brother called him. "What have you been doing up there?" he asked. "In the past few days, everybody I've come across has started preaching to me!"
Our prayers had interfered with the forces Satan had been using to blind this man to Jesus and created the circumstances to bring him into the kingdom. Sure enough, within a few days, he was born again.
Use this same prayer for your loved ones and believe when you pray and you'll see the same results.
Don't sit by and let the devil take your friends and loved ones without a fight. Pray. Pray! PRAY! Come against the "god of this world." Take off the blinders and open their eyes to the glorious gospel of God.
Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:1-7
source: www.kcm.org
–(2 Corinthians 4:3-4)
Since God doesn't save anyone against their will, does it really do any good to pray for people who consciously refuse to receive Jesus as Lord?
Yes. Yes! YES! IT DOES!
You see, in spite of the fact that most all unbelievers who have purposely refused to receive Jesus as Lord think they've made that decision of their own free will, the truth is, they haven't. The Word of God says they've been blinded by Satan. He's blocking their perception of the truth. So their decision hasn't been freely made at all.
That's important for you to grasp. Because through the prayer of intercession, you can interfere with the satanic forces and help take those blinders off! You can also change circumstances with your prayers and help create situations that will bring them in contact with the Lord. You're well within your spiritual rights when you do that.
I prayed with a friend of mine once who'd been praying for his lost brother for years. Jesus said in Matthew 12:29 to first bind the strong man and then enter his house and spoil his goods. So we said, "You spirit blinding the eyes of ______________, you stop what you are doing to keep him out of the kingdom of God. In Jesus' Name, you stop NOW!"
Jesus also said in Matthew 9:38, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." So we prayed, "Lord, send someone to ____________ with the Word of God. You know who he will listen to. We claim _____________ for the kingdom of God. We believe we receive his salvation and deliverance. In faith we praise You for it."
In almost no time at all his brother called him. "What have you been doing up there?" he asked. "In the past few days, everybody I've come across has started preaching to me!"
Our prayers had interfered with the forces Satan had been using to blind this man to Jesus and created the circumstances to bring him into the kingdom. Sure enough, within a few days, he was born again.
Use this same prayer for your loved ones and believe when you pray and you'll see the same results.
Don't sit by and let the devil take your friends and loved ones without a fight. Pray. Pray! PRAY! Come against the "god of this world." Take off the blinders and open their eyes to the glorious gospel of God.
Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:1-7
source: www.kcm.org
Saturday 16 June 2007
How can I forgive someone I don't like....
Q. ....., some time ago I was deeply hurt by another person. I've tried to forgive, yet every time I see that person I still feel angry and resentful. My friends tell me I'll be able to forgive in time - but it's been many months now and I still feel the same way. Will I ever be able to truly forgive?
A. Yes, you can and you must! Not next week or next month, either - you need to forgive that person today! Spiritually speaking, unforgiveness is downright dangerous. It will make your spirit feeble and your prayers ineffective. It will pull the plug on your faith so completely that you won't have enough power to move the molehills in your life - much less the mountains. Read Mark 11:22-25 and you'll see why I say that. There you'll find one of Jesus' most powerful teachings on faith. He concludes that teaching with these words, "And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any...." Notice He didn't say, "When ye stand praying, try to forgive" or "When ye stand praying, forgive if you can." He simply said, "Forgive." Period. Jesus made forgiveness a command. It would be unjust for Him to command us to do something we couldn't do. So you can be sure it's within your power to obey His command and forgive - no matter how badly you've been wronged. Why then has it been so difficult for you to do so? Probably because you have fears that are holding you back. Most people don't realize it, but unforgiveness is actually a form of fear. Quite often we don't forgive because we're afraid of getting hurt again. We're afraid we're never going to recover from the damage that person has done to our lives. If you want to freely forgive, get rid of those fears. Cleanse yourself from them by the "washing of the water by the word" (Ephesians 5:26). Fill your mind and heart with promises of God that apply to your situation. If your business has been threatened by this person, for example, meditate on the fact that no weapon formed against you will prosper (Isaiah 54:17), and rely on the fact that your God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). Let the knowledge of the merciful, protective love of God cast out all your fears (see 1 John 4:18). Then forgive, not by feelings but by faith. Do it the same way you would receive healing or anything else by faith. First, make a quality decision. Determine that you're going to do what God's Word instructs - no matter what. You're going to forgive. Second, speak and act in accordance with that decision. Refuse to say anything negative about that person. Refuse to rehearse in your mind or with your mouth the hurt they have caused you. Instead, look for opportunities to bless that person both in word and in deed. Finally, don't be moved by what you feel. Forgiveness is an act of the will, not feelings. When lying symptoms of unforgiveness well up inside you, come against them in faith. Say, "Praise God, I have forgiven that person by an act of my will. In the Name of Jesus, I'm not moved by these feelings. They'll just have to get in line. They'll have to submit to the faith and the love of God that's been shed abroad in my heart." If you'll continue to do that, I can assure you from my own experience, your feelings will change. It may not happen overnight...but it will happen. One of these days, almost without thinking, you'll throw your arms around that person, give them a big hug and say, "I love you." What's more, you'll mean it from the bottom of your heart.
cited in: http://www.kcm.org/studycenter/articles/relationships/can_forgive.php
PS. dedicated to a friend who asked me to have a word about the above topic. I believe sometime that he/she will express his/her own testimony.
A. Yes, you can and you must! Not next week or next month, either - you need to forgive that person today! Spiritually speaking, unforgiveness is downright dangerous. It will make your spirit feeble and your prayers ineffective. It will pull the plug on your faith so completely that you won't have enough power to move the molehills in your life - much less the mountains. Read Mark 11:22-25 and you'll see why I say that. There you'll find one of Jesus' most powerful teachings on faith. He concludes that teaching with these words, "And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any...." Notice He didn't say, "When ye stand praying, try to forgive" or "When ye stand praying, forgive if you can." He simply said, "Forgive." Period. Jesus made forgiveness a command. It would be unjust for Him to command us to do something we couldn't do. So you can be sure it's within your power to obey His command and forgive - no matter how badly you've been wronged. Why then has it been so difficult for you to do so? Probably because you have fears that are holding you back. Most people don't realize it, but unforgiveness is actually a form of fear. Quite often we don't forgive because we're afraid of getting hurt again. We're afraid we're never going to recover from the damage that person has done to our lives. If you want to freely forgive, get rid of those fears. Cleanse yourself from them by the "washing of the water by the word" (Ephesians 5:26). Fill your mind and heart with promises of God that apply to your situation. If your business has been threatened by this person, for example, meditate on the fact that no weapon formed against you will prosper (Isaiah 54:17), and rely on the fact that your God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). Let the knowledge of the merciful, protective love of God cast out all your fears (see 1 John 4:18). Then forgive, not by feelings but by faith. Do it the same way you would receive healing or anything else by faith. First, make a quality decision. Determine that you're going to do what God's Word instructs - no matter what. You're going to forgive. Second, speak and act in accordance with that decision. Refuse to say anything negative about that person. Refuse to rehearse in your mind or with your mouth the hurt they have caused you. Instead, look for opportunities to bless that person both in word and in deed. Finally, don't be moved by what you feel. Forgiveness is an act of the will, not feelings. When lying symptoms of unforgiveness well up inside you, come against them in faith. Say, "Praise God, I have forgiven that person by an act of my will. In the Name of Jesus, I'm not moved by these feelings. They'll just have to get in line. They'll have to submit to the faith and the love of God that's been shed abroad in my heart." If you'll continue to do that, I can assure you from my own experience, your feelings will change. It may not happen overnight...but it will happen. One of these days, almost without thinking, you'll throw your arms around that person, give them a big hug and say, "I love you." What's more, you'll mean it from the bottom of your heart.
cited in: http://www.kcm.org/studycenter/articles/relationships/can_forgive.php
PS. dedicated to a friend who asked me to have a word about the above topic. I believe sometime that he/she will express his/her own testimony.
Thursday 14 June 2007
What is the difference between Christianity and other beliefs?
Everybody trusts in something or someone for answers to the big questions in life: Where did I come from? Why am I here? How I can I have a meaningful life? How can I sustain joy and contentment? What will happen to me after I die--can I do anything about it?
People put their trust either in someone else, God, their own wisdom and goodness, the government, or things.
The important faith factor is not the amount of faith that one has, but the validity of the object of the faith.
Picture two tall buildings, with two boards straddled between them. Two men, call them Randy and John, plan to walk across the boards. The boards look the same, but are actually made of different material. Randy is trusting in a board that is hollow with a thin exterior. John is trusting in a board of solid hardwood. Randy has more faith than John; Randy is fully convinced that the hollow board will hold his weight. Randy even speaks very confidently about his faith in the board. But the truth is that Randy's board is weak--it cannot hold his weight. Randy will fall to his death, but John will walk across safely. Life is similar. The results will be based, not so much on the amount of our faith, but the object of our faith. It is not good enough to have faith in something. We must have faith in the truth. Otherwise we are deceived.
The object of the Christian faith is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is what makes Christianity different than other religions. Described below are the specific differences:
1. Jesus Christ for forgiveness and mercy
Most religions--but not Christianity--are based on human performance. If one's performance is good enough, one will go to heaven or another desirable place after the earthly life, and will have a good life on earth. If performance is substandard, the person will be rejected by the higher being and go to hell or some other unpleasant place.
Christianity, by contrast, teaches that no person is good enough to be accepted into God’s kingdom and, therefore, we can be accepted by God only by God’s grace and mercy, which is possible through Jesus Christ.
Picture a court case. The prosecuting attorney contends that you are guilty of wrongdoing, making you unworthy of God's kingdom. You can plead guilty or innocent. Those who follow a performance-based religion are pleading innocent, indicating to the judge that they have lived a good enough life—based on the rules of their religion—to be worthy of entrance into heaven.
Those who choose to trust Christ are pleading guilty, admitting that they are not worthy of God's kingdom based on their own "goodness." Thus Christians, pleading guilty, are asking for mercy; but religious persons, pleading innocent, are asking for judgment. The Judge judges those who plead innocent based on their deeds. Every one of them are pronounced guilty--because "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23)--and given the death penalty. For the Christians, however, who have pleaded guilty and asked for mercy through Jesus Christ, the Judge acknowledges that they committed deeds worthy of death, but sets them free. The Christians are guilty of wrongdoing and deserve the penalty, just as the others. But the Judge sets them free because someone else--the Judge's own Son--sat in the electric chair on their behalf. The Judge's Son took the death penalty for them. Although they are guilty, they receive mercy and are forgiven. In fact, the charges are completely erased from their record, having been nailed to the cross of Jesus Christ:
Col 2:13,14 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Consider two questions:
1. How can God, who is loving, kind, and compassionate; reject a person, sending him or her to Hell instead of Heaven? The answer is provided by the second question…
2. How can God, who is perfectly holy, righteous, and just, allow humans, who all have sin of some sort, to enter His holy kingdom and have fellowship with Him?
The answer to the second question is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ brings together God's perfect holiness, righteousness and justice; with His love, compassion, and kindness. No person can enter God's kingdom on his or her own merits--all have fallen short of God's perfect righteousness. So God provided the perfect sacrifice--Jesus Christ, God the Son--as a payment for the sin of all people. Jesus Christ is a gift, given by the perfectly just and perfectly loving God. Forgiveness is appropriated to the person who acknowledges his need for the gift, and receives Christ.
Ask God to give you understanding of the following verses:
Rom 3:23,24 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
Rom 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Psa 85:9,10 Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, That glory may dwell in our land. 10 Lovingkindness and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
1 John 4:9,10 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
2. Jesus Christ as the source of joy, contentment, peace, power to live righteously, and love
Every person was designed to be filled with the Spirit of God and to have continual fellowship with Him--to be in touch with his or her Creator. God was supposed to be the center of our work and relationships. We were designed to get our contentment and fulfillment from Him. Without the Spirit of God in us, we are dysfunctional, like a two-legged table.
Think of a human as a glass. When God created Adam and Eve, they were right-side-up glasses, in His image, filled with His Spirit. But when they rebelled against God, they died spiritually; the glass was turned upside down. From that point on, humans have felt and experienced the emptiness of a glass that's upside down. Trying to force things into the glass, while it's upside down, won't work. What's needed is to turn the glass right-side-up.
Jesus Christ is the only solution to the problem. He makes our glass right-side-up when we place our trust in Him for forgiveness of sin, and fills us with His life, making us whole. What's more, through Christ we can have continual and meaningful fellowship with the Father, which provides joy, contentment, peace, power to live righteously, and love. Jesus Himself is the life--He gives life to those who place their trust in Him:
John 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
John 7:37-38 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'"
John 8:12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."
John 10:10 "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."
John 11:25-26 "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"
John 14:6 "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."
When Jesus said, "He who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst" (John 6:35), He was not talking about food and water; He was addressing the emptiness—the want and discontentment—that we have in our hearts. Only Christ can fill the void in a heart.
Jesus said that He has overcome the world. This applies to our desire to get fulfillment through things and circumstances in the world. Jesus gives us victory over the never-ending chase. Think about these verses, picturing your heart as a glass that needs to be turned right-side-up and filled. Before you read the verses, ask God to give you wisdom to understand them:
Psa 16:11 You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
Psa 34:9 O fear the LORD, you His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no want.
Rom 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
John 15:11 "These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
John 16:33 "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."
John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
3. Jesus Christ as evidence
As stated above, Christianity is based on the belief that those who entrust their lives to Jesus Christ receive forgiveness of sin and new life. Only God can forgive sin. Only God can create life. Therefore, the foundation of Christianity is the belief that Jesus Christ is one and equal with God. If Jesus Christ is not God, then His death on the cross was not sufficient payment for our sin, and He cannot give us life. The validity of Christianity thus depends on evidence that Jesus Christ is God.
The resurrection is the evidence. The resurrection of Christ proves that He is God, and validates all that He said. Although Jesus performed many miracles on earth, and amazed people with the wisdom and authority of His teaching, the primary evidence for His deity is the resurrection. The Bible even says that if Christ did not rise from the dead, our faith is worthless:
1 Cor 15:14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.
1 Cor 15:17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
Says E. M. Blaiklock, Professor of Classics at Auckland University, "I claim to be a historian. My approach to Classics is historical. And I tell you that the evidence for the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is better authenticated than most of the facts of ancient history." (McDowell, J. "Evidence for the Resurrection," Josh McDowell Ministry, 1992.)
Randy and John, whom we discussed at the top of this article, were contemplating walking across boards straddled between two tall buildings. Randy was trusting in a hollow board; John in a solid board. Randy had more faith than John, but Randy's faith was in the wrong object. Had they both tried to walk across, Randy would have fallen to his death but John would have made it. The point made was that the soundness of our belief is based, not on the amount of our faith, but on the validity of the object of our faith.
But let's say that John was not willing to walk across. Even though he believed that the board was solid and would hold his weight, he was not willing to walk across it, so he never made it to the other building. Similarly, to receive God's gift of forgiveness and new life, one must not only believe that Jesus Christ is God, but be willing to entrust his life to Him-- to not only believe the board will hold his weight, but to get on the board and walk across it.
Consider the word believes in the following verses:
John 5:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
John 7:38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'"
The book of John was originally written in Greek. The word believes in the above verses was translated from the Greek word pisteuo that appeared in the original manuscripts of the book of John. Pisteuo belief amounts to more than intellectual acknowledgement of a fact. It is belief that involves a willingness to commit to, trust in, or follow. Parents may believe what is said about a babysitter's qualifications, but will not leave their children with her unless they really believe (pisteuo) in her. John may say that he believes the board will hold his weight, but will not walk across the board unless he really trusts (pisteuo) in it.
The word believe (or believes) is found 69 times in the Gospel of John. John wanted the readers of his book to entrust their lives to Christ. For this reason he provided much evidence that Jesus Christ is one and equal with God, and the only way to new and eternal life. John clearly stated the purpose of his book:
John 20:31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
Consider reading the book of John. Ask God to reveal truth to you. Tell Him that you do not want to be deceived into trusting in the wrong person or thing. Ask Him to clarify whether or not you should entrust your life to Jesus Christ.
cited in: http://www.riverpower.org/answers/christianity_difference.htm
People put their trust either in someone else, God, their own wisdom and goodness, the government, or things.
The important faith factor is not the amount of faith that one has, but the validity of the object of the faith.
Picture two tall buildings, with two boards straddled between them. Two men, call them Randy and John, plan to walk across the boards. The boards look the same, but are actually made of different material. Randy is trusting in a board that is hollow with a thin exterior. John is trusting in a board of solid hardwood. Randy has more faith than John; Randy is fully convinced that the hollow board will hold his weight. Randy even speaks very confidently about his faith in the board. But the truth is that Randy's board is weak--it cannot hold his weight. Randy will fall to his death, but John will walk across safely. Life is similar. The results will be based, not so much on the amount of our faith, but the object of our faith. It is not good enough to have faith in something. We must have faith in the truth. Otherwise we are deceived.
The object of the Christian faith is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is what makes Christianity different than other religions. Described below are the specific differences:
1. Jesus Christ for forgiveness and mercy
Most religions--but not Christianity--are based on human performance. If one's performance is good enough, one will go to heaven or another desirable place after the earthly life, and will have a good life on earth. If performance is substandard, the person will be rejected by the higher being and go to hell or some other unpleasant place.
Christianity, by contrast, teaches that no person is good enough to be accepted into God’s kingdom and, therefore, we can be accepted by God only by God’s grace and mercy, which is possible through Jesus Christ.
Picture a court case. The prosecuting attorney contends that you are guilty of wrongdoing, making you unworthy of God's kingdom. You can plead guilty or innocent. Those who follow a performance-based religion are pleading innocent, indicating to the judge that they have lived a good enough life—based on the rules of their religion—to be worthy of entrance into heaven.
Those who choose to trust Christ are pleading guilty, admitting that they are not worthy of God's kingdom based on their own "goodness." Thus Christians, pleading guilty, are asking for mercy; but religious persons, pleading innocent, are asking for judgment. The Judge judges those who plead innocent based on their deeds. Every one of them are pronounced guilty--because "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:23)--and given the death penalty. For the Christians, however, who have pleaded guilty and asked for mercy through Jesus Christ, the Judge acknowledges that they committed deeds worthy of death, but sets them free. The Christians are guilty of wrongdoing and deserve the penalty, just as the others. But the Judge sets them free because someone else--the Judge's own Son--sat in the electric chair on their behalf. The Judge's Son took the death penalty for them. Although they are guilty, they receive mercy and are forgiven. In fact, the charges are completely erased from their record, having been nailed to the cross of Jesus Christ:
Col 2:13,14 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Consider two questions:
1. How can God, who is loving, kind, and compassionate; reject a person, sending him or her to Hell instead of Heaven? The answer is provided by the second question…
2. How can God, who is perfectly holy, righteous, and just, allow humans, who all have sin of some sort, to enter His holy kingdom and have fellowship with Him?
The answer to the second question is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ brings together God's perfect holiness, righteousness and justice; with His love, compassion, and kindness. No person can enter God's kingdom on his or her own merits--all have fallen short of God's perfect righteousness. So God provided the perfect sacrifice--Jesus Christ, God the Son--as a payment for the sin of all people. Jesus Christ is a gift, given by the perfectly just and perfectly loving God. Forgiveness is appropriated to the person who acknowledges his need for the gift, and receives Christ.
Ask God to give you understanding of the following verses:
Rom 3:23,24 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
Rom 5:8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Psa 85:9,10 Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, That glory may dwell in our land. 10 Lovingkindness and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
1 John 4:9,10 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
2. Jesus Christ as the source of joy, contentment, peace, power to live righteously, and love
Every person was designed to be filled with the Spirit of God and to have continual fellowship with Him--to be in touch with his or her Creator. God was supposed to be the center of our work and relationships. We were designed to get our contentment and fulfillment from Him. Without the Spirit of God in us, we are dysfunctional, like a two-legged table.
Think of a human as a glass. When God created Adam and Eve, they were right-side-up glasses, in His image, filled with His Spirit. But when they rebelled against God, they died spiritually; the glass was turned upside down. From that point on, humans have felt and experienced the emptiness of a glass that's upside down. Trying to force things into the glass, while it's upside down, won't work. What's needed is to turn the glass right-side-up.
Jesus Christ is the only solution to the problem. He makes our glass right-side-up when we place our trust in Him for forgiveness of sin, and fills us with His life, making us whole. What's more, through Christ we can have continual and meaningful fellowship with the Father, which provides joy, contentment, peace, power to live righteously, and love. Jesus Himself is the life--He gives life to those who place their trust in Him:
John 6:35 Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.
John 7:37-38 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'"
John 8:12 Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life."
John 10:10 "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."
John 11:25-26 "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?"
John 14:6 "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me."
When Jesus said, "He who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst" (John 6:35), He was not talking about food and water; He was addressing the emptiness—the want and discontentment—that we have in our hearts. Only Christ can fill the void in a heart.
Jesus said that He has overcome the world. This applies to our desire to get fulfillment through things and circumstances in the world. Jesus gives us victory over the never-ending chase. Think about these verses, picturing your heart as a glass that needs to be turned right-side-up and filled. Before you read the verses, ask God to give you wisdom to understand them:
Psa 16:11 You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
Psa 34:9 O fear the LORD, you His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no want.
Rom 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
John 15:11 "These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
John 16:33 "These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world."
John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
3. Jesus Christ as evidence
As stated above, Christianity is based on the belief that those who entrust their lives to Jesus Christ receive forgiveness of sin and new life. Only God can forgive sin. Only God can create life. Therefore, the foundation of Christianity is the belief that Jesus Christ is one and equal with God. If Jesus Christ is not God, then His death on the cross was not sufficient payment for our sin, and He cannot give us life. The validity of Christianity thus depends on evidence that Jesus Christ is God.
The resurrection is the evidence. The resurrection of Christ proves that He is God, and validates all that He said. Although Jesus performed many miracles on earth, and amazed people with the wisdom and authority of His teaching, the primary evidence for His deity is the resurrection. The Bible even says that if Christ did not rise from the dead, our faith is worthless:
1 Cor 15:14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.
1 Cor 15:17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins.
Says E. M. Blaiklock, Professor of Classics at Auckland University, "I claim to be a historian. My approach to Classics is historical. And I tell you that the evidence for the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is better authenticated than most of the facts of ancient history." (McDowell, J. "Evidence for the Resurrection," Josh McDowell Ministry, 1992.)
Randy and John, whom we discussed at the top of this article, were contemplating walking across boards straddled between two tall buildings. Randy was trusting in a hollow board; John in a solid board. Randy had more faith than John, but Randy's faith was in the wrong object. Had they both tried to walk across, Randy would have fallen to his death but John would have made it. The point made was that the soundness of our belief is based, not on the amount of our faith, but on the validity of the object of our faith.
But let's say that John was not willing to walk across. Even though he believed that the board was solid and would hold his weight, he was not willing to walk across it, so he never made it to the other building. Similarly, to receive God's gift of forgiveness and new life, one must not only believe that Jesus Christ is God, but be willing to entrust his life to Him-- to not only believe the board will hold his weight, but to get on the board and walk across it.
Consider the word believes in the following verses:
John 5:24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
John 7:38 "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'"
The book of John was originally written in Greek. The word believes in the above verses was translated from the Greek word pisteuo that appeared in the original manuscripts of the book of John. Pisteuo belief amounts to more than intellectual acknowledgement of a fact. It is belief that involves a willingness to commit to, trust in, or follow. Parents may believe what is said about a babysitter's qualifications, but will not leave their children with her unless they really believe (pisteuo) in her. John may say that he believes the board will hold his weight, but will not walk across the board unless he really trusts (pisteuo) in it.
The word believe (or believes) is found 69 times in the Gospel of John. John wanted the readers of his book to entrust their lives to Christ. For this reason he provided much evidence that Jesus Christ is one and equal with God, and the only way to new and eternal life. John clearly stated the purpose of his book:
John 20:31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.
Consider reading the book of John. Ask God to reveal truth to you. Tell Him that you do not want to be deceived into trusting in the wrong person or thing. Ask Him to clarify whether or not you should entrust your life to Jesus Christ.
cited in: http://www.riverpower.org/answers/christianity_difference.htm
HOW CAN I EXPLORE THE MYSTERY? by The Rev. Dr. John Claypool
I think one of our big problems is that we've never really understood clearly the nature of faith. As I was growing up, I thought that faith was the opposite of knowing. I was like the little boy that C.S. Lewis talks about who says, "Faith is having to believe something that you know ain't so." That is, it's embracing something that's contrary to all of the ways that you encounter reality.
But faith is not an alternative to knowing. Faith rightly understood is yet another avenue to knowing. By the grace of creation, we have been given so many ways of interacting with the outside world. We are, as someone has said, a wonderfully porous creature.
When I was in the second grade, my teacher said, "I want to teach you this afternoon about the different ways that you have of perceiving the many splendored world all about you." She said, "You have an eye gate through which all the wonder of color and shape enters into your experience. You have the ear gate through which the wonder of sound comes, the nose gate through which odor comes, the tongue gate which is where taste comes into your experience, the skin gate that enables you to feel and to perceive. You have these five ways of interacting with the world outside yourself. There are many kinds of reality out there, and you have many different ways of perceiving."
I want to say to you that what the eye is to color, what the ear is to sound, what the nose is to odor, faith is to the divine dimension of reality. Faith is the capacity that we have been given by the grace of God to perceive that which is essentially spiritual, which is sacred and holy by nature. You reach religious conclusions the same way the scientists reach conclusions in the laboratory. The difference between the knowing of science and the knowing of faith is that the object that we are perceiving is spiritual in nature and not physical.
cited in: http://explorefaith.org/mystery/mysteryExplore.html
But faith is not an alternative to knowing. Faith rightly understood is yet another avenue to knowing. By the grace of creation, we have been given so many ways of interacting with the outside world. We are, as someone has said, a wonderfully porous creature.
When I was in the second grade, my teacher said, "I want to teach you this afternoon about the different ways that you have of perceiving the many splendored world all about you." She said, "You have an eye gate through which all the wonder of color and shape enters into your experience. You have the ear gate through which the wonder of sound comes, the nose gate through which odor comes, the tongue gate which is where taste comes into your experience, the skin gate that enables you to feel and to perceive. You have these five ways of interacting with the world outside yourself. There are many kinds of reality out there, and you have many different ways of perceiving."
I want to say to you that what the eye is to color, what the ear is to sound, what the nose is to odor, faith is to the divine dimension of reality. Faith is the capacity that we have been given by the grace of God to perceive that which is essentially spiritual, which is sacred and holy by nature. You reach religious conclusions the same way the scientists reach conclusions in the laboratory. The difference between the knowing of science and the knowing of faith is that the object that we are perceiving is spiritual in nature and not physical.
The point is that when we enter a search for religious reality, we need to sit down before a fact like a little child, exactly as the faithful scientist does. We need to recognize that we have the capacity of faith, which is God's way of helping us perceive the divine dimension of reality. We know things of the spirit in that same kind of humility that we know things with our eyes, our ears, our nose. Those organs perceive things beyond themselves and allow them to enter into our experience.
Faith is yet another avenue to knowledge; it is not an alternative to knowledge. Therefore, in making up your mind about the great alternate questions, I invite you to a kind of openness that believes that truth is more important than anything else, and that God is the source of all truth. If you will be honest in your asking, seeking and knocking, if you'll open the windows of your soul 360 degrees and know that God has ways of making God's own reality known to us through the capacity of faith, there will come …God's moment when God will make God's own reality known to you in ways that are profoundly authentic. It will be something from the outside in and not from the inside out.
I believe you would agree that one of the great Christian converts of the 20th century is C.S. Lewis. When he was ten years old, his mother was afflicted with cancer and died. As a little boy brought up in the church, he had prayed earnestly to God that she would be healed and not die, and when she did, it was a terrible disappointment. Because children are so concrete in the way they see things, he concluded that his prayer was not answered because there was no answerer, there was no such thing as a God who cared for His people. In his grief, he made up his mind that there must not be a God.
He was tremendously intelligent. He was sent away to private schools almost immediately, and for years he assumed that the universe is empty, that there is nothing divine, nothing purposeful behind all reality. He collected all kinds of evidence to support this opinion he had developed in childhood that there was nothing, nothing behind it all but great random emptiness.
When he got to Oxford and became a brilliant student of philosophy and medieval English, he began to encounter individuals who were believers in a God. He was amazed to find out that they were careful in their scholarship, that they were very, very truth-seeking people just like he intended to be. He also found books that began to raise the possibility that maybe there was a mystery behind it all, that maybe what he had decided at ten years of age was not the deepest truth.
Lewis says in his autobiography that as he began to realize that there just might be something real behind all that corresponds to this word, God, his honest feeling was not-- I hope Christianity is true, but I'm afraid it's not. He said his real feeling state was-- I'm afraid it's true, and I hope it's not. He had 20 years invested in atheistic arguments. He did not want to admit that perhaps all these years he had been mistaken. There was this great prejudice in him against having to embrace something that for years he had railed against.
But … because of his love for truth above all things, there came a time, as he writes in his autobiography, when alone in his room in Maudlin College in Oxford, that God literally entered into his experience. He could not in the name of truth deny the reality of this power that was breaking in from beyond. Because he loved truth more than anything else, he sent up the white flag of surrender. He said, "I was the most reluctant convert in all the isle, in all the isle of England."
Religion for him became discovery and not invention. Some days later, people who knew him began to hear him talk differently and asked, "What on earth has happened to you?" Lewis said with great humility, "My God has happened to me."
You see religious truth is event. It is the mystery breaking in from beyond and authenticating that there is, beyond it all, this incredible and wondrous and mysterious reality.
Therefore, as you ask the question, "I, why? Why do I believe what I do?" I invite you to realize that authentic truth is of the same cloth no matter where you find it. It breaks in from beyond. It is something that exists apart from our desires and apart from our needfulness. It is what it is. If we are committed to embracing that above all things and willing to ask, seek and knock, if you will in openness say, "I want to know the truth and I want to know it whatever shape it takes," if that is your spirit, I have every confidence that in God's good time and in God's own mysterious and inexplicable ways, God will have His hour with you.
You will see truth for what it is, discovery and not invention. When God comes, I hope you will respond with that God-given capacity, that sixth sense, that power of faith which enables us to know and to receive and to be engulfed with truth. In your intellectual journeys, I wish each of you a brave and honest and hopeful destination.
Copyright ©2000 The Rev. Dr. John Claypool
--From “How Do We Know that God Is Real?” by The Rev. Dr. John Claypoolcited in: http://explorefaith.org/mystery/mysteryExplore.html
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