Leave it to the Professional

In Romans chapter 7:24,  Paul cries out, “Oh wretched man that I am – who will deliver me from this body of death ?”

When a person finally cries out, “Oh wretched man or woman that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death ?”,  then this is like music to the LORD’s ears.  This cry is probably one of the most spiritual and scriptural cries that we could ever utter, because this cry is a cry of total surrender.  It’s a cry that says or admits that no matter how hard I try, I cannot save myself or change myself, and I need some kind of divine intervention to help me.

Let me ask a question:  Have you ever tried to fix something yourself that you knew you couldn’t fix no matter how hard you tried, but kept trying anyway, and then finally in complete despair you finally gave up and called someone to come and help you ?

For example, I have often tried many times to work on say a car or plumbing or some other broken thing, trying my best to fix it to avoid paying the professional who has all the tools and skill to come out and accomplish easily what is impossible for me to do.   It is only when I come to the end of my own self effort of trying to fix it myself that I finally pick up the phone and say okay, I need someone else to step in and do this.  And when the professional comes to my aid, he does easily in just a few minutes what I could have never done in a lifetime of trying, no matter how hard I tried. Why ? Because I lacked the experience, the knowledge, and the equipment to fix what was broken.

This is really kind of the idea behind Romans 7 :24, when Paul cries out, “who will deliver me from this body of death ?”  He is really saying, “Who is going to fix me ? I have tried and tried and the more I try the worse I seem to fail !”  Paul learned, as we must learn, that it is only as we give up on all self effort of striving to fix ourselves, save ourselves, sanctify ourselves, or even make ourselves holy, and we call on Jesus who is the Professional, that we will ever experience true change.

Now we know that justification is ours through faith in the Lord Jesus and requires no work on our part, but then we often think that sanctification is dependent on our own self effort of striving and trying real hard to perfect ourselves.  But the Bible is very clear that as we have received Christ we are also to walk in Him.  And how did we receive Christ ? It was by grace through faith.

Ephesians 2:8 (Amplified Bible)

For it is by free grace (God’s unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God…

We need to understand that the way we were saved is the same way for sanctification.  As we understand and receive God’s great love for us demonstrated through the cross, and as we believe sanctification, like the new birth, is a gift from God by grace through faith, then we will be sanctified by the Spirit.

We also need to understand that sanctification, like righteousness, has already been given to us as a gift from God.  Sanctification is not something that we strive to do by the flesh; sanctification is a gift from God that has already been placed on the inside of us and is worked out in our lives by the Spirit as we rest and trust God to do what we could never do through our own ability no matter how hard we try.  Now let’s see what the scriptures have to say about this.

1 Corinthians 1:30        But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.

2 Thessalonians 2:13     But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.

1 Peter 1:2        Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

The Spirit is the Spirit of Grace working in you to sanctify you and to fix what you could never fix through a lifetime of striving and self effort.

But here is a key:  Grace only works as we cease working or cease striving to change or perfect ourselves by the flesh.  Salvation and sanctification are both a work of the Spirit of Grace.

In other words, we need to stay out of the way of the Professional, and let the Professional (who is Jesus) and the Spirit of Grace work and fix what we could never in a lifetime fix no matter how hard we try. Jesus has the ability and all the equipment to easily fix everything that’s wrong.

We must resist the temptation to push the Professional out of the way and say, “I can take it from here”.  The Apostle Paul had to rebuke the church at Galatia for this when he said:

Galatians 3:3     Are you so foolish and so senseless and so silly ?  Having begun [your new life spiritually] with the [Holy] Spirit, are you now reaching perfection [by dependence] on the flesh?

Listen, flesh didn’t save us and flesh cannot sanctify us.

Now we are either living the Romans 7 way of life or the Romans 8 way of life.  Romans 7 is all about I, I, I, trying to fix myself and to make myself holy, but no matter how hard I try I will fail every time.  Why ?  Because the “I” flesh cannot fix itself and the “I” flesh cannot sanctify itself.  It is only as we surrender “I” to Jesus that we will see true freedom and transformation. Of course we know that the middle letter in pride is I …

Again, we are either living the Romans 7 way of life in complete frustration, or we are living the Romans 8 way of life of the Spirit which results in life, peace, and transformation.

Did you know that in Romans 7 that the word “I” is mentioned over 29 times and Spirit only once ?  But in Romans 8, the word Spirit is mentioned 19 times and “I” twice ?  This is no coincidence; I believe that God is trying to communicate to us that the way of the Spirit and not the way of “I” is the way that He has called us to walk.

The middle letter in the word pride is “I”,  and “I” needs to go so that Christ can come.

The Apostle Paul tells us what happened to “I” in Galatians 2:20:

Galatians 2:20   Amplified Bible (AMP)
I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

We need to remember  that the trinity of God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost,  but the devil’s trinity is me, myself and I.

Now the Bible says that we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling; but don’t forget about the last part of that verse that says, “for it is God that works in us both to will and to do his good pleasure.”  This working out is not working for your salvation but it really means to work out what has already been worked in or put inside of you as a gift by God.  And how does this working out take place ?  It works out as we rest and trust and believe the gospel, and that God is working by His Spirit in us to work out or display what he has already put inside of us.

We must always know this…

Philippians 1:6      Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

We must be delivered from our wrong thinking that says we only receive forgiveness by our entire reliance on the LORD, yet our sanctification and perfection only comes by doing something ourselves.

We fear that if we do nothing, then nothing will happen, but the opposite is true. It’s really only as we cease from striving to become perfect by the flesh and rest in the perfect One to lead us that perfection will ever come.

What happens so often is that we get saved and then resurrect the old habits of doing and self achievement of trying live for God.

But God’s Word tells us that it is all finished.  Jesus has already done everything on the cross for forgiveness, and he will do everything in us for our deliverance and sanctification.  In both cases, He is the doer. The Bible says that Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith.

We need to always remember that it is God that works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure.

If we could do part of it, then we could then take glory for part of it, but all glory goes to the LORD.   God has it all !  He does the entire work from the beginning to the end, and Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith. We can be confident that He who has begun a good work in us will complete this work to the very end.

The best thing that we can do is to stay out of His way and let Him do what He knows how to do best.

No More Condemnation !

Someone had a dream about a woman who kept being punished for all the things that she did wrong.  A certain man would follow her around wherever she went, and when she would make a mistake he would immediately shake his head in disgust and then take off his belt and beat her.  Even if she said one wrong word or even did the slightest wrong thing, the man would immediately punish her, and sometimes the punishment would go on for days.  In the dream, the woman was seen limping around and trying her best to put on a smile and have a good attitude, but no matter how hard she tried, she kept on doing things that would cause the man who followed her to punish her.  It almost seemed like a hopeless situation for the woman, because no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t seem to do enough good to keep from being punished.

Now the woman in the dream really represents much of the church, who often feel like they must somehow earn God’s favor through their own perfect behavior and performance. The man beating the woman does not represent God, but really represents their own heart that continually condemns them and punishes them for even the slightest mistake.

Because most Christians do not understand God’s grace (undeserved, unearned favor of God), they are continually trying to please God through their own good behavior, works, and performance.  And of course when they do not feel like they are performing well or measuring up, then the man (their own heart) punishes them.

Religion loves control. Many religious leaders really love for people to be kept needy, immature, and defeated because it keeps people co-dependent on them and on a religious system.  It also keeps people bound to a religious system that only provides temporary relief or victory, but keeps them mostly in a place of false guilt, condemnation, and defeat. One major reason that the Pharisees hated Jesus was because He was setting people free from condemnation and defeat and bringing them into His kingdom of love, joy, and peace.  When the Pharisees saw Jesus doing this, then they knew that they were losing control of the people to Jesus.  It’s time for God’s people to be set free from religion to follow Jesus.

The only way that the church will ever be free from her own vicious cycle of failings and beatings is through a revelation of God’s grace. God’s grace is the unearned, undeserved favor of God.  God’s grace is given to us as a gift from God, and not of works. Those in grace do not strive for perfection; they instead rest in the perfection of Christ. Those in grace do not live for Jesus; they live from Jesus because they understand that they are in Christ and Christ is now living in them ( Galatians 2:20 ). Grace also delivers us from all self beatings and condemnation so that we can experience the continual peace of God.

The kingdom of God is not condemnation but love, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. God does not want us to spend our entire Christian lives in condemnation and defeat but in love, peace, and joy. Condemnation does not expand God’s kingdom. The fruit of the Spirit being manifest in and through our lives is what expands the kingdom of God. Grace does not require our perfect behavior; it only requires our simple trust and faith in the finished work of the cross.

When the new covenant speaks about obedience, it is mostly speaking about obedience to the faith. We are saved by grace through faith. Grace delivers us from our own fruitless fleshly attempts of trying our best to live for God, and instead surrender to the One who now is at work in us.  As our heart is established in grace, then it no longer tries to earn God’s acceptance through performance.  Neither does it try to keep the law for righteousness.  Those in grace understand that righteousness is a gift to us because of Christ’s obedience.  As we walk in grace we will finally be able to get away from the beatings brought on to us because of the flesh and the law.

It’s amazing how  Romans 8 begins:
There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.

The word “no” here means never, never is there any more condemnation for those who are in Christ. God did not send His son to condemn us but to save us and to set us free from all condemnation.

Those walking in grace  do not focus on their failures, but their focus is kept on Christ who is the author and finisher of our faith, and it’s kept on God’s unconditional love for them…

God in his mercy sent us help; His name is Jesus. God sent Jesus to deliver us from ourselves and our powerless attempts to fulfill his law. Jesus took the punishment for the law that we could not keep so that we wouldn’t have to die, and could go free and have eternal life.  Jesus gave us the gift of righteousness so that we could be righteous and holy before God and meet all the requirements of the law. We have peace with God through what Jesus did for us in his death, burial, and resurrection.  And we have favor with God that is unearned and undeserved favor.  That’s grace. 

Believing this, your heart must be settled without a doubt, knowing that Jesus did this because he loves you and wants to make your heart sound, secure, stable, and firm. God wants our hearts to be established in His grace to keep us from condemnation and self beatings. God’s will is never to shrink back from Him, but it is for us to always confidently draw near to Him.  Any time we feel unworthy and condemned, this is not coming from God… it’s is either coming from the devil who is the accuser, or from our own hearts.

Romans 8:1
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Romans 5:17
For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.

Titus 3:5
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.

Romans 11:6
And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.

Why Tests ?

Tests are absolutely essential for God’s power to rest and to be displayed in and through us.

One of the main reasons that God put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden was to give man a choice. The freedom to choose God’s Word over all fleshly desire is necessary in order for God’s power to do be displayed in and through us.  As we continue to make the right choices choosing God’s Word and God’s way over our own desire, then we will continue to display the strength and power of God in and through our lives.

Now as I began to meditate on this, I was reminded about Jesus and how he began His earthly ministry.

First we know that when Jesus was baptized in water that He heard these words:  “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”.

Matthew 3:16

16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Let me say this, that before we as Christians can ever become effective in ministry we must also hear these words, ” This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased” . We need to firmly understand and believe that through the new birth and because we have been put into Christ that we are now very pleasing in the eyes of God.  There is no more sin or separation between ourselves and God.  Unless we understand this truth we cannot be effective in ministry to others. If we sense that we do not measure up to God then we will always feel a sense of separation and condemnation which in turn only keeps us engaged to self ministry. Those in condemnation are engaged in full time ministry to themselves.. So we must embrace these same words that Jesus heard and embraced:  “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.”

Now right after Jesus heard these words something else took place.

Luke 4:1-4

And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

2 Being forty days tempted of the devil.  And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

Right after Jesus was baptized he was then led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. Now in the past I never could really understand why the Holy Spirit would lead Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil until I saw what took place after the wilderness temptation.

13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.

Notice that Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit, but after he had successfully overcome every temptation that the devil had thrown at him, Jesus then returned in the power of the Spirit.

The wilderness temptation was necessary for Jesus to walk in the power of the Spirit and to begin His earthly ministry.

Paul received the revelation of God’s strength and power being perfected through him as he faced a constant barrage of harassment and persecution from many of the Pharisees who continually followed Paul around, doing their best to discredit his apostleship and message. The term “messenger of satan” is in reference to those that satan raised up to discredit the true messengers and gospel of Christ.

2 Corinthians 12:7 (Amplified Bible)

7 And to keep me from being puffed up and too much elated by the exceeding greatness (preeminence) of these revelations, there was given me a thorn ([a]a splinter) in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to rack and buffet and harass me, to keep me from being excessively exalted.
8 Three times I called upon the Lord and besought [Him] about this and begged that it might depart from me;
9 But He said to me, My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and [b]show themselves most effective in [your] weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may [c]pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me!
10 So for the sake of Christ, I am well pleased and take pleasure in infirmities, insults, hardships, persecutions, perplexities and distresses; for when I am weak [[d]in human strength], then am I [truly] strong (able, powerful [e]in divine strength).

Again Jesus himself was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted by the devil, and because He made the right choice which was always according to God’s Word over the flesh, the power of God and the Glory of God was then released through him.

Now If Jesus was tempted, how much more will we not be tried and tempted ?  But I believe the key to overcoming trials is to understand the reason behind the trials.

1 Peter 4:12

Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

We shouldn’t think it strange when trials come our way, especially in the form of persecution. In fact if we are walking according to the truth of the gospel we are guaranteed resistance and opposition.

2 Timothy 3:12

All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.

Galatians 5:11

And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offense of the cross ceased.

If we are proclaiming the true gospel then we will suffer persecution.  And why ?  Because the devil hates the true gospel. The true gospel releases the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

We need to understand that all trials and temptations will only make us stronger and freer in Christ as we respond to them according to God’s Word.

Remember the 3 Hebrew children who were tossed into the fire? As they responded in the right way to God’s Word, the only thing that was burned was the ropes that bound them.

Did you know that with God we never fail any test? We just keep getting to take them over and over again until we pass.

James 1:2-4

Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations.

Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.

But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.

Killing the Sacred Cows

Killing the Sacred Cows

In India they have huge amounts of resources all around them in the form of brahma bulls that just roam the streets everyday and could easily feed thousands.  Yet thousands continue to die of hunger every year, not because they lack the resources to feed people but because of their wrong belief systems. Their religious belief system says don’t kill the sacred cows because one of them could be your cousin or uncle reincarnated !

Now before we criticize the Hindu religion for their sacred cow beliefs, we need to also ask ourselves just how many sacred cows do we have in our churches today ? How many wrong beliefs are keeping many in church today spiritually starved, powerless, condemned, and defeated ? I believe that we have held on to a lot of our own sacred cow beliefs that have also kept many of us from receiving and walking in all that God has already given to us in Christ.

Remember when God gave Peter the vision of the animals being let down in a sheet ? God told Peter to Kill and eat ! And Peter said no way !

In other words, Peter was telling God I don’t care what you say, this is not what I have been taught to believe !

Did you know that many Christians would never allow the word of God to get in the way of what they believe ? That sounds like crazy talk,  but it’s the truth.

I have actually heard some Christians say, “I don’t care what the Bible says, that is not what I have been taught to believe.”

Listen, if we are ever going to walk in God’s fullness, then sometimes we just need to stop and question our belief system. We must go back to the Word personally and ask God to teach and reveal the truth to us even if it appears to be contrary to what we have always been taught.

Listen to what Jesus said to the Pharisees who actually exalted their own traditions above the Word of God:

Matthew 15: 1-3

Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,

Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.

But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

Also, in Mark 7:13,  Jesus told the Pharisees that they had made the Word of God of no effect through their own traditions.

Now don’t get me wrong,  there are a lot of traditions that are good and that we need to hold on to, but then there are some that are sacred cows ! And they need to be put to death because they are killing Christians !

Not all traditions of men are sanctified by God.  Jesus upset a whole lot of Pharisees when he came against their family traditions.

Many religious traditions in church today need to be put to death, in order to set people free !

Now remember the story about the prodigal son and the elder brother ?  The elder brother (which really represented religion and legalism) was so bound by the sacred cow of works and performance that he didn’t realize that the father had already given Him all things to freely enjoy.

How many Christians today have an elder brother mentality? They are working hard in order for God to be pleased with them and bless them and don’t realize that God has already blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

Ephesians 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

Like the elder brother, too many are waiting, waiting and working hard in order to get God to bless them and to pour out His Spirit and to move.  What they fail to realize is that God has said that I’ve already moved and I have already blessed you, now receive and walk in what I have already given you ! God is saying look around you; all is yours ! I have  provision and blessing all around you and in you, but your sacred cows of wrong religious legalism thinking has limited you from walking and enjoying what I’ve already given you in Christ.

Luke 15: 25-31

25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing.

26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.

27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.

28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.

29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:

30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.

31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.

Did you see that ? The father told the elder son all I have is already yours and you are forever mine.  Again, because the elder brother did not understand the provision or the security that the father had already given him, he never enjoyed it.

Remember, Israel was given the promise land, yet because of their wrong belief system and fear they limited themselves from what God had already given them. God said it’s yours, possess your possession, but they instead turned back in unbelief and wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.

Psalm 78:41

Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.

We can limit God and limit ourselves from enjoying what God has already given us because of our wrong thinking and belief system.

The Book of Hebrews speaks of Israel’s refusal to enter into God’s rest because of their own unbelief. It wasn’t because God was purposely holding back something from them. Their own wrong thinking kept them out of the rest of God and kept them from them from enjoying all that God had already freely given to them.

What are some other sacred cows  that limit us in God’s kingdom today?

When we conform to the world’s beliefs … Well here’s another one: When we see ourselves as a part of the world’s economy instead of seeing ourselves as a part of the economy of God.

God says My people perish because of a lack of knowledge … They do not perish because it’s God’s will for them to perish, but because of their wrong belief system..

If the news says things are bad we agree with the news before we believe God.

If the news says it’s the flu season then we agree.

If the news says the economy is bad and that were all going down in flames, then we agree.

We will often agree quickly with the world and are slow to believe God.

Remember the two men on the road to Emmaus ?

Luke 24:13-17

And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.

And they talked together of all these things which had happened.

And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.

But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.

And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?

Jesus walked with these two and began to remind them about what the Word said would take place concerning Him, and then He makes this statement:

25 O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken !

We are often quick to believe the bad report and yet slow to believe God’s Word and what He has promised. This needs to be reversed !

The doctor comes in with a report; we immediately embrace the doctor’s report instead of God’s report.

In Isaiah 53:1, God’s Word says:  Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

The arm represents all that God has for us and has already provided for us, but in order for us to enjoy the benefits of God, we have to believe His report.

We limit God because we have misdirected faith… We often believe the world’s report and the doctor’s report over God’s.  And why ?  Because the world and the doctor operate in the seen realm and God in the unseen realm, and it’s naturally easier for us to believe in what we can see than what we can’t see.

But the God-kind of faith brings God’s promises from the unseen into the seen… Where do you think Jesus got the fish and loaves to feed the 5000 ? He did not get it from the seen realm but the unseen realm.

But one of our greatest sacred cows is our own 5 senses.  We live more by what we see than what we don’t see. This is called carnality.

Many of us wouldn’t dare allow the Word of God to get in the way of what we believe !

It’s our own stinking thinking that keeps us restricted from all that God has for us.

Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”

We may not be who we think we are.

Many Christians have no clue about who they are in Christ… Many think that thy are just poor old sinners saved by grace.  Listen, you were just a poor old sinner but you have been saved by grace and you are now the righteousness of God in Christ.   (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Many in church today are waiting on God to move.  They are begging and pleading with God to pour out His Spirit and to touch this nation.  On the surface this sounds good, but do you know that God has already moved ? And He has already poured out His Spirit and blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places ? And He is now telling us it’s now our move… The first word in the gospel is Go! We are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, but the salt is no good if left in the shaker or the light under a box.  Think outside the church box… Go tell someone the good news of God’s love for them !

Fear of the unknown has kept many of us bound in the comforts of dead religion. Many people are afraid of what they can’t understand with their 5 senses. Many are afraid of the supernatural or the unseen realm; that realm that makes no sense.

But God wants to move us beyond our own reason and 5 senses into the Spirit realm.  The unseen world is more real then the seen world. All that we see in this physical world today actually came out of the unseen world.

We have got to stop being ruled by our 5 senses! This will limit the faith that God has put inside of us ! And what God wants to do in and through us.

Did you know that before Jesus did one miracle or one act of ministry, He heard these words first:  “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” !  It’s really no different for us; we must also know and believe that God is well pleased with us before we do one act of ministry. God’s love for us is not based on our works or our performance. God’s love for us is not because of what we do but because of who we are and in Whom we have believed.

One of the greatest needs in the church today is for the church to fully understand and realize God’s great unconditional love for them.

John 3:16 really does express God’s heart and desire for all of us.

John 3:16
Amplified Bible (AMP)
For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten ([a]unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.

We must kill the sacred cow of questioning God’s love for us… This is a major one. God does love you and there is nothing that you could ever do or not do to change that.

True Nature of God

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (Amp)

For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds,

[Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),
We need to understand that today we have a real unseen enemy called the god of this world or satan, the devil, the deceiver and accuser, who since the very beginning of creation has one goal in mind and that is to lie, deceive, and to keep people that God has created blind from knowing the truth.

Now many might say the truth about what ?  The truth about who God really is – the true nature of God and God’s real intention for us.

One of satan’s main missions is to distort our view of God and to get us to question God’s integrity, God’s character, and God’s intentions toward us.

Now in the scripture above, we see that God has provided us with weapons to refute arguments, reasonings,  and theories that set themselves up against the true knowledge of God.

Again,  one of the main things that satan wants to do is to keep us from the true knowledge of God.

Many in the world today have reasons why they do not live for God, and most of these reasons are based on lies that they have believed from the accuser.  Satan has blinded their minds from the truth.

2 Corinthians 4:4       The God of this world has put blinders on most people in this world to keep them busy and distracted from knowing the real truth of God’s great love for them.

Most today have a wrong view of who God is, and much of this view comes from religion.

Religion has painted a wrong view of God.  Many have characterized God as a very unstable emotional being, that He can be in a great mood one minute and then the next minute wiping a whole bunch of people out because He doesn’t like what they’re doing.

God gets almost no credit for the good things that happen, but He always gets the blame when bad things happen. For example, if something really good happens, a lot of people always give the credit to luck or good fortune. They will say things like, “Yes,  I was lucky !” But if something bad happens,  they blame God. They will say things like,  “God, why did you bring this misfortune to me ? “

Even the insurance companies blame God for all natural disasters, calling them “Acts of God” !

Why not call them acts of satan or the devil ? The devil’s job is to make people believe that God is a  harsh, cruel, almost psychotic God that loves to see people in pain and can’t wait to throw many of them into hell !  But when I first came to know God it was through this scripture.

John 3:16-17 (amp)

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.
For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.

The devil does not want us to really come to know God because he knows when we really know God then he will lose his lying influence over us.

2 Corinthians 4:4         For the god of this world has blinded the unbelievers’ minds [that they should not discern the truth], preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ (the Messiah), Who is the Image and Likeness of God.

One of the main reasons that Jesus came was to correct our view of who God really is.

When we see the life of Jesus, we are really seeing the Father.  Jesus said, “When you see me,  you see the Father”.  We know that Jesus did not come to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.

Jesus came preaching good news.  He came healing and delivering people from the oppression of the devil.  He came to set the captives free and to give them life and life more abundantly. This is the true nature of God ! The true nature of God is to always heal, deliver,  and bring people into life.

The devil is come to steal, kill, and to destroy. We are blaming God for things that sin and the devil are to be blamed for.  God is not out to destroy or condemn us but to save us!

The main way we get to know God and the true nature of God is through the Word of God.  If we are really going to come to know God and understand God’s intentions for us, then we must do more than just casually read the Bible like we would read a fortune cookie; we must become a student of the Word and we must renew our minds to the truth of the Word.

Listen, we live in a very fallen world that is full of deception and constantly lying to us about who God is and what His intention is toward us.  Most are even telling us that there is no God at all, that we were created from slime or that we somehow created ourselves !

It’s like the professor who asked his class at the beginning of the school year  how many believed in God and about half raised their hands.  Then the professor told the ones who raised their hands, “Good ! But by the end of the year you will not believe in God !” His mission was to convince them that there was no God.  Sad to say our schools today are filled with fools and I didn’t say this;  the Bible says this.

Psalm 14:1                The [empty-headed] fool has said in his heart, There is no God.

Romans 1:21-23

21 Because when they knew and recognized Him as God, they did not honor and glorify Him as God or give Him thanks. But instead they became futile and [c]godless in their thinking [with vain imaginings, foolish reasoning, and stupid speculations] and their senseless minds were darkened.
22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools [professing to be smart, they made simpletons of themselves].
23 And by them the glory and majesty and excellence of the immortal God were exchanged for and represented by images, resembling mortal man and birds and beasts and reptiles.

The devil loves secular schools that teach evolution or teach that God is a figment of the imagination and that the very idea of creation is absolutely nonsense ! Or they will often blame God for the cruelty of man-made religion so as to create doubt and unbelief in the hearts of people.

God is not the author of disasters or of cruel man-made religion;  much of this is a result of a fallen world and sin.

God did not send His son to punish us but to save us, not to condemn us but to give us eternal life.

It is through understanding God’s true nature and character that we will be set free from the lies of the devil.

Living by Grace

Those who see grace as just basic Christianity 101 and that grace is only for the initial Christian salvation experience do not really understand God’s grace.

We do not begin in grace and then move on from grace to bigger and better things; to think this way is deception and is actually a form of witchcraft. The Apostle Paul strongly rebuked the Galatian church for this way of thinking.

Galatians 3:1        O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you ?

2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith ?

3 Are ye so foolish ? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh ?

Notice Paul again says it is foolish to move away from the truth of looking to the finished work of the cross (for righteousness) and also from relying on the Spirit (of grace) to a system of fleshly religious works for maturity and perfection.

One vital thing that we need to also understand here is that anytime the Bible mentions the word truth in the new covenant, it is also speaking of Jesus and grace.   Jesus, Grace, and Truth are always synonymous.

John 1:17         For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

Notice it says that Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ. Grace is Truth and Truth is Grace and both Truth and Grace came by Jesus !  To say that we should not preach too much grace is like saying that we shouldn’t preach too much Jesus or Truth.

Now again, we do not begin in grace for our initial salvation experience and then move on to some kind of religious system of self effort, rules and works of trying our best to then live for God and maintain our right standing with Him. We do not start out in grace and then perfect our selves by the flesh ! The Christian life is not about striving to maintain our right standing with God through good works, No ! God is only pleased when we believe in what He has already provided through His son Jesus ! Isn’t it amazing that before we were saved we knew that we could never do enough works to ever save ourselves, but now that we are saved we have been convinced that the only way we are able to maintain our right standing with God is by doing enough good works ! The true Christian life is not about the works we do, but it’s more about the grace that God has already given ! We must understand that we could never accomplish enough or ever do enough good works to ever justify us or to put us in right standing with God before we were saved or after we are saved. Grace came to make us right and to keep us right before God.

Even though grace is a free gift from God, religion will always try it’s best to move you from grace and into a system of works trying to earn your way with God. Religion works at keeping you bound in the fear of always wondering, “Am I doing enough to please God ? Am I praying enough ? Am I giving enough ? Am I reading my Bible enough ? Am I attending church enough ? Am I doing enough ?  Am I doing enough ? Am I doing enough ?”

In fact, most preaching today is centered around the big question of, “Are you doing enough to please God ?”

But the true Christian life will set you free of all of these doubts and the fears of wondering, “Am I doing enough ?”   The true Christian life is really not about what I do as much as it is what has already been done through the One. The true Christian life is really about resting in what has already been done through the One Jesus Christ !  Because of the obedience of the One Jesus Christ we have already been given the free gift of righteousness and eternal life.

Romans 5:19 says:     For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

The true Christian life is really about keeping our eyes on the finished work of the cross for righteousness and relying on the Spirit of God’s grace working in us to lead us and guide us into all truth and to transform us into His likeness from the inside out !

1 Peter 4:10 speaks of the manifold grace of God. God’s grace is not elementary, neither is it just one sided.  There are many sides to the grace of God.  Grace is not just for the initial new birth, but grace is the way we as Christians are to now live, walk, grow, stand, and to do the entire work of the ministry.  We never move on from grace to bigger and better things ! Grace IS the big thing ! In fact, it’s the only thing. To move away from  grace is to actually move away from Christ and into fleshly, carnal, dead religion.

Galatians 5:4          Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

Today we often hear many preachers preaching against grace, even labeling those who preach too much grace as hyper-grace preachers, implying that if you preach too much grace then it will lead people to live a reckless life of sin and disobedience.  Again, this is actually the opposite of what grace will do.  In fact, the Bible says that the only way we can ever truly live free from the dominion of sin is by God’s grace.  You can never preach too much grace.

Romans 6:14            For sin shall not have dominion over you,  for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Romans 5:17            For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one,  Jesus Christ.

When we move from grace to a “works/performance” mentality of pleasing God,  then we have not gone on to bigger and better things;  we have actually fallen from grace and have gone backwards in our faith.  We need to see grace as the the jet fuel for the entire Christian life.   Grace is like miracle grow for our Christian growth and maturity;  grace is how we are witnesses in this earth for Christ.  The Christian is not just saved by grace, but we are to live by grace, we are to walk by grace,  and we can really only grow in grace.  The Christian can never grow in law or legalism or dead works. The Christian can only grow in grace.  One of the main reasons we see so many immature Christians in the church today is due to the fact that they are under legalistic preaching and not grace.

2 Peter 3:18 says:   But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Grace and the free gift of righteousness are something that we must always look to God for and continue to receive in abundance every day.  The only way to be victorious in this world that is full of lust, corruption,  and deception is to continually be filled with the abundance of God’s grace.

Galatians 4:1-2 says that  those under law are kept bound in immaturity.  We cannot grow in law and self effort;  law and self effort will only frustrate God’s grace in our lives and stunt our growth and maturity in Christ.

Now many today actually  resist God’s grace because it’s not logical.  It does not compute or make sense that as we cease from our own works, enter into God’s rest, and continue to receive God’s abundant grace, that we will grow and mature.  In the carnal mind we must do something to grow;  it must somehow take some kind of self effort.  But let me ask you a question:  How does a branch on a tree bear fruit ?  Does it do it through striving or simply relying and resting on the life that’s in the tree ?

A branch of a tree does not produce fruit through self effort, but by simply abiding in the vine who gives life to the branch to produce the fruit.  Grace works when we stop working.

As we abide in Christ and in the grace of God, we will produce effortless fruit.

The Bible says that it’s when we leave grace and go back to our own self effort of trying and striving to please God,  that’s when we actually go backwards or back slide.  Did you know that the true back slider isn’t just the one who turns back to sin, but who turns back to the law of self effort of trying to please God by the flesh ?

Galatians 5:4          Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law;  ye are fallen from grace.

Grace is higher and greater then the law of self effort.  We see this even in the shadow of the old covenant. For example, on top of the the ark of the covenant was the mercy seat and beneath the mercy seat inside the ark was the law.  So we see even in the ark that mercy and grace are higher than law and self.  When you leave grace to legalistic religious self effort you actually fall from grace.

Christianity is not a work of the flesh or self effort, but it is a work of the Spirit and faith.

Our flesh cannot produce fruit; only the Spirit can produce fruit.

Now we mentioned that there are many sides to grace, that grace has many functions. So let’s look at some of the many functions of grace.

Titus 2:11-13           Grace is our teacher; it teaches us how to live Godly in this world.

11 For the grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared to all men,

12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our savior Jesus Christ.

Grace is our helper to help us through in times of need.

Hebrews 4:16           Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Notice it does not call God’s throne a throne of judgment but a throne of grace !

Hebrews 12:28        Wherefore we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.

The only way we can serve God in an acceptable way is by grace.

More to come….

Water Walkers

Calling all Water Walkers

How do we become water walkers, or how can we begin to walk in the supernatural power of God?

Matthew 14:25-29                                                                                                                              And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.

And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.

But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.

And he said, Come.  And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

First, to be water walkers like Peter we must be willing to step out of our boats and take some risks… We cannot allow fear of the unknown to keep us in the security of our boats;  we must choose to move out of our comfort zones and learn to trust God. Now many times God will speak to us and lead us to do things that are far bigger than we could ever comprehend doing, or even have the physical or financial ability to do, and this is where real trust comes in. So the question is: Are we willing to do whatever it is that God asks us to do even if it makes no sense, or are we going to analyze out every move before we take that step of faith that God has shown us to take?

We know that walking on water or even feeding 5000 people with 5 loaves and 2 fish or turning water into wine is not scientifically reasonable, but with God all things are possible. We in our own natural ability could never do these things. I know of people who have actually tried to walk on water and they always go right to the bottom! So what I’m not saying is that we just try in our own ability to do these things, but what I am saying is that we need to be willing to do whatever God shows us or calls us to do without hesitation, even if it does not add up or make sense. If we will learn to stay out of our peanut brain logic and simply respond to God with child-like faith, then we will begin to see God move through our lives in a supernatural way.

In order to become water walkers, we must also learn to become doers of the word and not hearers only. That is, we need to put feet to our faith.  The faith that we have been given when we received Christ will never work if there is no corresponding action behind it. I believe the book of James is one of the most misunderstood books in the Bible, because when James was speaking about faith being dead without works, he was not implying that we are saved by works.   I believe what he was really telling us was that faith will not work unless there is some kind of corresponding action behind it.

For example,  if Peter would not have put his foot over the boat and taken the action to walk on water, then he would never have walked on the water. I mean Peter could have believed all day long that he could walk on water but until he actually put feet to his faith then his faith was dead.

Hearing God means to not only know what the written word says,  but it also means to have an ear to hear what the Spirit is showing us to do. We as new covenant believers are called to be led by the promptings of the Holy Spirit. This is how Jesus walked,  and this is how we are called to walk as well.   (Romans 7:6)

When Jesus told Peter to come to him, Peter got out of the boat and walked on the Word of God. Peter’s focus was not on the water, which really represented the beyond all logic and impossible thing to do, but Peter’s focus was on Jesus and His Word.

Listen, God’s Word will always hold us up, but it’s also vital to keep our eyes on Jesus and God’s Word to stay up! Remember, Peter began to sink when he turned his eyes off of Jesus and back to his own senses. We need to understand that Jesus is our confidence, Jesus is grace, Jesus is the one we are to always look and listen to.  Without Christ we can do nothing, but with Him there is nothing we can’t do!  Even the impossible!

Now let me say that as soon as we step out of the boat, there will also come some things to distract you. Often times it will be the voice of doubt and unbelief that will come to you and say, “What are you doing? You can’t do that! It’s impossible!”  These voices are voices of carnal logic and judgment that operate in the seen realm or the 5 senses. The voice of carnality will always make every effort to get you out of faith and into unbelief.  And unbelief’s mission is to keep you from stepping out of the boat, or if you do step out of the boat, to get you to sink or tempt you to jump back into the boat that you just stepped out of!

It’s amazing that Jesus came walking on water more than once to demonstrate to the disciples  that the supernatural power of God is really no big deal for God. I mean He created it all and He holds it all in the palm of His hand.

The Bible records another instance where Jesus came walking out to the disciples on water during a fierce storm and Jesus was walking like he was on a casual stroll along the beach. How could he do this? He could do it because His attention was fully on the Father and what the Father was showing him to do. Didn’t Jesus tell us that all things were possible for those who would trust God?

Now we know again that Peter began to sink when He got his eyes off Jesus and on to the storm.  What we do need to understand is that it wasn’t the storm that caused Peter to sink, but it was the fact that Peter took his eyes off Jesus.  And God’s Word.  It could have been a sunny day with no wind and Peter would have still sunk, because he took his eyes off of Jesus. The storm had little to do with it.

If we want to become water walkers, then we have to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and become not only hearers of His Word but radical doers. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word.  But in order for faith to work it will take action, and often times that action will require us to step out of our own logic and trust God.

Now one thing that The Lord just drew my attention to was that first of all Peter was not a perfect person.  A lot of people have disqualified themselves from walking in the supernatural power of God because they see themselves as imperfect people that are way too full of flaws, and therefore are not qualified to do supernatural things like the apostles did. Listen, we need to understand that when the apostles did all of these supernatural miracles that not one of them was perfect. They all had flaws ! Peter had a lot of flaws, James and John had a lot of flaws! None of them were by the flesh perfect. We need to understand that God uses imperfect people to do supernatural things. None of us by the flesh are perfect.  Now let me say that if you are born again that in your spirit you are righteous and perfect, but in your mortal flesh we still all fall short.  But we are to never allow our fleshly imperfections to ever disqualify us from walking in the supernatural power of God.

Now today many have also allowed their tradition or the doctrines of men to convince them that God no longer uses people today to demonstrate the supernatural power of God. Many denominations actually teach that the power of God passed away with the apostles! And where they got this idea from I don’t know, but this idea is really not from God. I believe it is a doctrine of devils to teach that God no longer desires to supernaturally work through believers, to heal the sick or deliver people from demonic influences. The devil loves it when God’s people no longer believe in the supernatural power of God, because it leaves them powerless and carnal; but this is not how God says that His kingdom is to function or to be advanced.

Let’s see what the Bible has to say about  the kingdom of God and the power of God.

I Corinthians 4:20

For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.

1 Corinthians 2:13

And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

It is clear that God still desires to demonstrate His power through the church, but again we have often allowed the doctrines of men to disqualify us from walking in the supernatural power of God.

We have also allowed our own imperfections to disqualify us from walking in the supernatural power of God. We see ourselves as not perfect enough to be used by God in a supernatural way. If God will use anyone then it will be the preacher or the evangelist, but I’m just a poor ole struggling church member, God could never use me like that.

Now let me say this, one of the main reasons that we see ourselves as poor old struggling church members full of imperfections is because we still do not understand what grace has already accomplished for us and Who lives in us, that is, in our spirit.

What we need to understand is that when we said yes to Jesus and we were born again that we were also created righteous. In other words, as born again believers we are not just forgiven but we are righteous and perfect because we have been baptized into Jesus who is righteous and perfect ! So that all that Jesus is, we have become! Galatians 2:20 says it’s no longer I that live, but Christ that now lives in me.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says:
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

The Bible says that when we received Christ that all the old things passed away  and all has become new and all things are now of God.

The Bible says that we have the same spirit living in us that raised Christ from the dead!

Today we are as qualified to walk in the supernatural power of God as Jesus is, and we should never disqualify ourselves from walking in the supernatural power of God.

Jesus gave the disciples this commission before he was taken into heaven:

Mark 16:                                                                                                                                                   15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.                                                                                                                                                     16 He that believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be damned.                                                                                                                                                  17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;                                                                                                                                                  18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

Peter did not walk on water because he was perfect, he walked on water because Jesus said he could and he simply believed it.

The supernatural will follow those who believe.  For those who do not believe,  they will not have to worry about the supernatural following them.
Now the Lord also drew my attention to another reason why Peter walked on water.  His impulsive personality tended to get him into a lot of trouble at times, like the time he cut someone’s ear off in the garden! But Peter’s impulsiveness also caused him to simply jump out of the boat and recklessly obey God’s word.

I believe that  like Peter,  we also need to be quicker to just step out and do whatever God shows or tells us to do and not over-analyze things. We need to do whatever God says whether it makes sense or not!

Instant obedience will always cripple second guessing!

Remember when they ran out of wine at the wedding that Jesus attended? This was actually one of the first recorded miracles that Jesus performed. Jesus told the servants to fill the pots with water and serve it to the guests.  This made no sense at all, but Mary the mother of Jesus told the servants that whatever he says, just do it ! I believe that we will begin to see more miracles happen as we just do whatever God tells us to do, and stop over-analyzing things. Peter would have never walked on water if he would have looked at the water and said that it’s not scientifically possible to walk on water, it makes no sense. Listen, I believe that today God is trying to move us beyond our own logic and reason and what makes sense into supernatural faith.

Listen, the God-kind of faith most of the time is not logical – it doesn’t compute!

God wants us to begin to live more by what we can’t see than what we can see. He wants to move us from the carnal (seen) realm to the supernatural (unseen) realm.

The world says I will believe it when I see it! But Jesus said you will see it when you step out and believe. More to come…

As I read the biblical account about Peter walking on water, I believe that the Lord began to show me that when Jesus beckoned Peter to come to him and then Peter with corresponding action stepped out of the boat, Peter really didn’t step out on water but he stepped out on the Word of God. God’s Word is what really held Peter up, and God’s Word will always hold us up as well. As we begin to hear God’s Word and then radically step out of our boats to do whatever God says, even if it’s beyond our own logic,  we will begin to see more of the supernatural power of God manifest through our lives. Today I believe that God is looking for more water walkers.

Satan the great con artist

When you take scripture or text out of context, the only thing left is con.  A con is someone that deceives by winning your confidence through twisted truth. Satan is the ultimate con artist. He actually uses the Bible by taking scripture out of context to keep people bound in religion and condemnation.

Satan is the ultimate con and deceiver, and he is the inventor of religion.

We see how satan used God’s word and twisted it in the very beginning to deceive Eve into eating from the only tree that God said don’t eat from or you will die.

Genesis 3:1-4

Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.

 

The devil does not want us to enjoy the the abundant life nor the abundant blessings that God has so freely given us through Christ. The devil’s only goal is to steal, to kill, and to destroy.

John 10:10
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

 

The devil’s mission is death; the Lord’s mission is life.  We must get this truth in our hearts to keep from deception.

The devil wants to distract us from all the other trees in the garden that God said we could freely eat from, and eat from the tree that will only produce death. The trees in the garden, including the tree of life, represent God’s grace, God’s goodness, and God’s abundant life and blessing.

How does the devil distract us and keep us bound? Again, it’s often by taking God’s Word and twisting it to get us to believe that God is not really for us but against us, that God is really just out to get us.  He gives us the impression that God is almost looking for a reason to toss us all into hell !

Satan uses religion, self achieving righteousness, and dead works to keep us bound in condemnation and away from walking in the abundant life that Christ came to lavish on us.

Satan has cunningly accomplished this throughout church history by mixing the gospel of grace with law.

He began this deception in the early church and it still by and large continues today.

Today we see more division, death, and condemnation than we do abundant life because of doctrines of devils.

1 Timothy 4
Now the Spirit speaks expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.

 

It may shock you to know that the devil has his own preachers and teachers; in fact, many preach behind pulpits every Sunday !

Just because someone has an education in theology and has the title preacher or even pastor, that does not make him qualified or even a true minister of the gospel.  Many are posing as ministers of righteousness, but they are not preaching faith righteousness which comes as a gift through the finished work of the cross.
Instead, they are preaching self righteousness of religion, effort, and performance.

2 Corinthians 11:13-15

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.

And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

 

We are not to be deceived by the so called professional ministers and priests with long robes.  They are not all sent from God ! Nor do they always represent the heart of God, the nature of God, or the will of God.

Many do not even know what the new covenant is or even where it’s found in the Bible !

So satan uses people to speak his deception.  Some are knowingly being used, but many are being used because of their ignorance of the gospel.

This is why it’s so vital for each of us to study the Word for ourselves and ask the Holy Spirit, who is our ultimate teacher, to lead and guide us into all the truth.

This is actually a big part of the new covenant.

John 14:26
But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
1 John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abides in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

 

Now don’t get me wrong –  God has placed teachers and preachers in the church to instruct us.  But ultimately,  we all have the responsibly to get into the Word for ourselves and ask the Holy Spirit to show us truth.

The devil has his own teachers preaching  from the Bible, but they are often taking scripture out of context.  That produces bondage and death instead of freedom and life.  The letter kills but the spirit gives life.

Again, it is vital that each of us know the Word but that we are also led by the spirit of truth as well.

2 Peter 2:1
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.

The devil told Adam and Eve you will not die;  he said God really knows that if you eat you will be like Him, being able to decide for your self what is good and what is evil.

The devil’s tactic is to pull us out of grace and into a “works and religious performance” way of doing and trying to earn and become what God has already made us to be and has already blessed us with.

The devil told Adam and Eve if you do this then you will become like God… Well first of all, they were already created in the image of God.  They didn’t have to do anything to make this happen.  Likewise, we are created in the righteousness of God through the new birth, and there is not one single other thing we have to do to make this happen or to maintain what God has already done !

If we allow the enemy to pull us out of grace and rest and into religious performance, it will not produce life but death.

This is why it’s so vital for each of us to study the Word for ourselves and ask the Holy Spirit, who is our ultimate teacher, to lead and guide us into all the truth.

Saved Lost, Saved Lost ?

Could  a person ever sin their righteousness away?  To better answer this question then maybe we should really ask  another  question.

Could you ever do enough good deeds before you were saved to change your sinful nature? The answer is obviously No ! The only way that you could ever be changed from a sinner to a saint was through faith in Christ in the new birth.

Romans 5:19    For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

We were made sinners because of Adam’s disobedience, but through Christ’s obedience we who believe are now made righteous.

So now that you are born again and righteous by nature, can your failures now ever make you unrighteous and sinful by nature ? No !

You didn’t do anything to make you righteous and you cannot do anything to now make you unrighteous. It’s not what you do that made you righteous, it’s what you believed !

Now many denominations believe that you can be saved, lost and then saved again almost every other day or week based on your performance, but this is simply not true. If you are under this belief system then you are involved in a religious self righteousness self effort maintenance program that is keeping you bound in a whole lot of fear, condemnation, and uncertainty. God does not want  you to live in a continual state of fear and uncertainty or condemnation; God wants you to have a clean conscience. He wants you to be bold and always confident toward Him.  It is never God’s desire for us to walk in fear and condemnation or to shrink back from Him ! Never !

God finds no pleasure in those who shrink back from Him in fear.

Hebrews 10:19-23

19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,

20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

21 And having an high priest over the house of God;

22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, (for he is faithful that promised.)

Hebrews 10:38      Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

 

God does not want you to look at your salvation as conditional, based on your own performance, but only based upon the obedience of Christ, the finished work of the cross, and God’s own faithfulness to finish what He began in you.

 

Ephesians 1:13        In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.

 

The Bible also teaches that once we are saved and then sealed with the Holy Ghost, (kind of like fruit in a mason jar is sealed !)  nothing from the outside can get in to contaminate or spoil what is fresh on the inside. Why would God save us and then seal us?  There is only one word to describe God’s action, and that’s love. God loves us so much that He never wants anything to ever get between us and Him ever again.

Now let me make this clear:  although sin may not be able to unravel your righteousness, sin can still unravel your life.  Sin can open up a door for the enemy to come in and reek havoc in your physical life. Sin can destroy relationships, marriages, and health.   Sin can make you miss out on the incredible plan that God has for your life. Today cemeteries are filled with Christians who went to heaven but who never fulfilled God’s perfect plan for their lives on earth because of sin. So sin can still have incredible earthly consequences for the believer in this life. Listen, fire does not care  if you are righteous or unrighteous; if you stick your hand in fire it will still burn you.  Likewise, sin will still burn you if you play with it. So as the old expression goes, don’t play with fire!

Romans 6:1-2  What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

 

We as believers in Christ are not saved by grace, sealed by the Holy Ghost and washed clean by the blood so that we could then be free to go out and play in the mud… No ! We are saved by grace, sealed by the Holy Ghost and washed by the blood of Jesus so that we can now walk in a new loving, living relationship with God.

Galatians 6:22     But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

 

Now let me reemphasize this important truth:  when we are born into this world we were all born sinners; we all had a sinful nature before we even committed one sinful act. The Bible says that through Adam’s disobedience all were made sinners. There was absolutely nothing that we ever had to do to make us unrighteous sinners.  We were born into unrighteousness; we were born sinners. We inherited this fallen nature from Adam, but the good news is that just as we were all born sinners through one man’s disobedience, we are all now made righteous through the obedience of one, and that one is Jesus. We did not have to do anything to make us righteous, because Jesus did it all at the cross. The only thing we have to do is to believe that Jesus did it all.

Romans 5:18-19

Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

 

When we said yes to Christ, something happened on the inside of us, that is in our spirit.  The old man or old nature is taken away and a new nature is put into its place. This new nature is now holy and righteous and perfect.

2 Corinthians 5

17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation…

2 Corinthians 5

21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

 

Now the main truth that we need to realize is this:  just as there was not one sin that we had to commit to make us unrighteous sinners because we  were all born sinners, likewise neither was there not one righteous deed that we could ever do to make us righteous or keep us righteous. Righteousness is a gift from God through the obedience of Jesus Christ. We must understand this truth to walk in the freedom that God wants us to walk in and reign in this life. The only thing we did to make us righteous was to believe in Jesus Christ and receive the free gift of God’s grace and righteousness.

Romans 5:17

For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.

The Amplified Bible expands this thought:

For if because of one man’s trespass (lapse, offense) death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive [God’s] overflowing grace (unmerited favor) and the free gift of righteousness [putting them into right standing with Himself] reign as kings in life through the one Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

The Supernatural becoming Natural

The other day as I was waking up,  I felt The Lord say that as we begin to expect and see healing and miracles as no big deal and common, then we will see more healing and miracles happen.  The one reason we don’t see more miracles is due to the fact that we don’t expect miracles and healing.  We look at the supernatural as a rare uncommon thing and we really do not even anticipate or expect them to happen.  We often see miracles as climbing Mt. Everest or way too difficult and impossible for us to do, and only a few will ever do this. Miracles should be seen more as a speed bump than Mt. Everest – it’s no big deal !

As we begin to see miracles as no big deal for God and begin to anticipate miracles, then we will see more miracles. Signs and wonders should not be a rare occurrence but a common occurrence for the Spirit-led believer.

Jesus told us that these signs would follow all those who believe.  He said that they would lay hands on the sick and they would recover. But notice, it says that these signs would follow them that believe;  if you don’t believe in signs and wonders then you don’t have to worry about seeing them because signs only follow those who believe.

We should never look at miracles as uncommon impossibilities but instead, we should look at them as common to us, just a simple part of the ministry that God has called us to do.  Jesus said if anyone says to this mountain be plucked up and cast into the sea then it will be done. In other words, Jesus was teaching us how to approach the seemingly huge impossibilities for man, as they are very easy and very possible with God.

We need to take more of a casual approach to healing and laying hands on the sick than seeing it as an impossible task ! Listen, God told us to lay hands on the sick and believe. It’s not our job to heal, it’s our job to believe healing is still available today and to lay hands on the sick.

Faith never makes any sense. This is why God has instructed us to live by faith ! God wants to get us beyond our own reasoning and carnality and into supernatural living.  Faith is the only way to live a supernatural spirit-led life.

This is why God has instructed his people to do so many things that in the natural made absolutely no sense ! God  gets us beyond reason and into faith. Faith is where the supernatural flows and works. Faith is where miracles take place.

Remember the first miracle of Jesus turning the water into wine?  He told the servants to do something that absolutely made no sense at all. He told them to take water and fill the wine vessels with water and to serve it to the wedding guests. Can you imagine what went through the servants’ minds ? They were probably thinking, “This is crazy ! This makes no sense at all.”  In other words, this is beyond reason.  But Mary the mother of Jesus told the servants whatever he says just do it. And the servants simply went and did what was beyond reason and obeyed the Lord and His word, and then the miracle took place.

Signs and wonders will also begin to follow our lives as soon as we simply take God at his word and move out and begin to do what He says beyond reason.

The Bible says that we who are the just are to live by faith and not by sight. Christians who are living by their own natural five senses are called carnal Christians. We have got to move beyond Christian humanism and begin to walk by faith and by the Spirit of the living God who now lives in us; this is true Christianity.

Now as you lay hands on the sick and pray, visualize your hand as being the hand of Jesus. Why ? Because we are really just an extension in this physical realm of the power of God ! The Bible says that same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in you !

Romans 8:11
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that lives in you.

This is what it means to heal others in Jesus’ name.  Because you are in Jesus, then the same works that He did you can do also, because you are the very vessel or container of God.

Now we must put feet to our faith to see faith work; in other words, we must put action to faith to see miracles happen. This is why we speak the Word and anoint with oil and we lay hands on people – this is the action part. This is why we speak to the mountain to be removed ! We speak directly to the illness and command it to go ! This is the action part of faith. Remember, Jesus always put action to His faith.  One time he told someone to take up their bed and walk;  another time he said wash yourself in the pool; another time he said go show yourselves to the priest.  One time a woman with an issue of blood pushed her way through the crowd to get her healing.  In other words, there is always a corresponding action for faith to work. When a preacher tells someone to run around after praying for them or move their arms or legs,  this is the corresponding action part.

The book of James has often been misunderstood as saying that James was telling us that we are saved by works or good deeds and not by faith, which seems contrary to what the apostle Paul said in Ephesians 2:8-9:

8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

But what I have come to realize is what James was really showing us was how faith really does work.  Faith works when we put action to it; in other words, your car will not go anywhere if you don’t get in the car and turn the key .

If we want to see the supernatural power of God flow through our lives, then we must get in the driver’s seat and turn the key on !

We can say we believe in healing, but are we laying hands on the sick and commanding sickness to leave ? Or have we adopted a kind of “que sera sera”, whatever will be will be, attitude?  Saying, “Well if God wants to heal people then he will heal them with or without me”. But God wants to use you to heal people.  We are the containers of God; we are the vehicles that God wants to use to demonstrate His power through!

Remember the 5 loaves 2 fish that Jesus used to feed 5000 ?  How did this happen ? He took what he had and made them sit down and then began to give out what he had. This was faith in action!

Now in another case Jesus only took 4 loaves and fed 7000; in other words, the bigger the need, the bigger the miracle. In God’s economy, the bigger the problem the simpler and easier it is – it’s no problem, no big deal for God.

We should never look at the need and say, “Oh, this will take little faith, while other needs will take more faith”.  No, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed then you can move any mountain.  The Bible says that we have already been given the measure of the faith of Christ ! In other words, we have the same faith of Christ that Christ had when he walked this earth ! That’s amazing !

Romans 12:3      For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Notice that it does not say that to each is given a measure of faith but a different measure of faith.  In other words, we all have the same big scoop of faith. I used to think that this was saying that some had a pinch of faith and others a bigger pinch of faith, like the big faith such as R.W. Schambach had; a real big scoop of faith.  But what I have come to realize is that we have all been given the same measure of faith.

Cancer is no big deal to the resurrection power of Christ ! We can command cancer  to go… we can speak to that mountain of cancer to leave and it has to obey.

Now Isaiah 53 asks whose report will we believe?

53 : 1 Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

 

The arm of The Lord will be revealed to those who believe His report. When the doctor comes in and gives you his report will you automatically believe it or will you turn to believe the report of The Lord that says by the stripes of Christ you have been healed ?

I realize that it makes more sense in the natural realm to believe the doctor’s report, but in the Faith realm or in the unseen realm we are called to believe the report of the Lord.  This is how faith works. I believe that God wants to move us beyond our own five natural senses and move us into the supernatural realm, where we begin to believe it before we see it and as we do, we will see the miraculous.

We need to begin to see miracles as a common occurrence for us – as no big deal.  Miracles for the believer should be just another extension of who we are and what we have been called to do.

Did you know that raising of the dead is a fundamental foundational teaching for the believer?

Now remember when the disciples were in a storm struggling and rowing and toiling and then all of a sudden they saw Jesus walking out on the water, like he was taking a casual stroll along the beach?  It’s like Jesus was telling them, “This ain’t not big deal”… I mean Jesus almost walked right by them until they cried out, “Save us !”  I really do believe that one of the great lessons that Jesus was showing them was that it doesn’t matter how extreme the circumstances are, or how big the mountain seems to be;  it is still no big deal or no match for God.

So why are we to see mountains as no big deal?

I believe God is telling us that we have to get beyond all our natural intellectual reasonings and simply believe God. We serve a big God and nothing is too difficult for Him!

I was just reminded by The Lord of what kept God’s people out of the promised land.  They said the people are like giants and we are like grasshoppers.  In other words, they saw the problem as a much bigger deal than their God ! Are we seeing our circumstances as bigger than God ? Of course this is not how Joshua and Caleb saw it; they said it ain’t no big deal, we are well able to take the land ! Why ?  Because God is with us and He is bigger then anything we will ever face.

Remember when all of Israel was intimidated by one giant called Goliath ? They cowered back in fear, and then here comes a little shepherd boy with eyes of faith that said who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God !  And with  five smooth stones which really is a symbol of God’s grace,  he easily brought the giant down and cut his head off.  To David, this giant was no big deal compared to God.

Now when someone comes to us for healing, don’t allow your intellect to kick in and think, “Wow, this is a great sickness, I hope it works when I pray, what if it doesn’t ?”  Stay out of your reasoning and stick with the Word !

Healing someone is not a matter of yelling, screaming, shaking it into someone, sweating, and jumping up and down;  it’s a matter of God’s grace. Healing is and miracles are simply a part of the gospel of grace. Psalm 103 says He forgives all our sins and heals all our diseases. Healing is part of the benefit package of grace.

We need to treat healing as the easiest thing to do.  It’s not about begging, pleading, working up a sweat or a lather; it’s about simply believing what God has provided and speaking it.

Jesus said which is more difficult:  to tell someone their sins are forgiven, or rise and be healed?

We are to look at forgiveness of sins and healing as one in the same. They come as a package deal in the Word.

Matthew 8:16-17

16 When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:

17 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

 

Again, this was a quote from Isaiah 53 that says who has believed our report and to whom is the arm of The Lord revealed ?

God is waiting for somebody to believe his report. This again goes back to who’s waiting on who?  Are we waiting on God to heal or is God waiting on us to believe that He already has healed us?

God wants the supernatural to become natural in the believer’s life,  and I believe that..

This is the year when the supernatural will become more natural for the believer.

Now one of the main reasons that we do not see more of the power of God working in the church is due to the fact that we have mixed the old and the new, or law and grace together. The law came by Moses, but grace and truth through Jesus.

When we mix law with grace together, then we will frustrate grace, and grace is the power of God. In fact Jesus himself is grace.. That’s again why the Bible says when we fall back to the law then Christ becomes of no effect ! Christ and His power will cease to work in a church bound by the law and carnality!

Before we can see demonstration we must have a revelation of the grace of God. We are no longer under the law but grace.

We need to kick Ishmael and his mama out of the house before the power of God can be fully released in and through our lives. Ishmael represents the works of the flesh, carnality, and law.

We must also change our garments or our dirty clothes !

Zachariah 3:3-4 says that we must change the filthy garments .. And put on the new.  This is echoed in the new covenant … put off the old and put on the new you created in righteousness.

These dirty clothes do not represent sin as religion has often taught, but they actually represent self righteousness.

If we are to see God’s power demonstrated in the church, then we must put off our own self righteous acts and put on the righteousness of God that comes through faith in the finished work of Christ.

Zachariah 4:6 says that we also need to realize that it is not by our might or power but by His Spirit that we are to walk and live;  this is the new covenant way !  We are not to be led by the letter of the law or flesh but by faith and the prompting of the Spirit. (Romans 7:6)

Zachariah 4: 7 also speaks of grace.  Grace is how we are to live and do all ministry. We are to speak grace, grace to the mountain; grace releases the power of Christ in us to move every mountain.  Not law, not flesh, but grace. Those who say we are over preaching grace simply do not have a revelation of the new covenant.  It is a covenant of grace and truth.

Again, grace and law cannot be mixed; law frustrates grace.  One of the main reasons that we are not seeing more mountains removed and more miracles happen is because we have mixed law and grace together.

More to come…