Author: Hal Hollister Ministry

This is about learning how to operate under the living presence and authority of Jesus. 

How does a believer get to personally know Jesus and walk in oneness with Him?

There are many teachings on this subject and most are religious and encourage believers to keep laws, do works and get immersed in church activities. This is not the purpose of Jesus and He despises religion.

Jesus spent a large amount of time in His life confronting the religious leaders and pointing out their hypocrisy.

The most important priority is to know the Living Christ and develop a personal and embracing relationship with Him built on faith and obedience to His voice.

Jesus is not a storybook character or hiding out in heaven. He is alive and very accessible.

The believer’s responsibility is get to know Jesus intimately, hear His voice and seek His will for your life. 

This can happen to anyone who is serious about Jesus. God seals every believer with the Holy Spirit. He is the life of Jesus and your portal to His powerful attributes.

The Christ follower must invite the Holy Spirit to have authority over all the aspects of His life. Jesus is saying to live by “Not my will but Yours be done”. This decision will bring the Living Christ into your life in all the moments of each day and you will experience the order and simplicity of Jesus.

The believer will hear the voice of Jesus as He guides your decision making and protects you from evil. 

Jesus takes sin seriously and you must be open to His conviction and correction. The Christ follower must be covered by the blood of Jesus at all times and seeking repentance from anything he is thinking or doing that grieves the Holy Spirit. 

Jesus wants you to be obedient to His instructions regardless of the personal cost or lack of logic. This is how He measures a believer’s loyalty and dispenses His favor upon His people. 

The Christ follower must zealously seek the will of God through prayer, reading the Bible and listening for the voice of Jesus.

For in Him, we live and move and have our being!

“Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven” Matthew 5:12

Jesus instructs believers to have a thankful heart at all times. This spiritual quality is developed by faith in God. 

We appreciate Jesus regardless of the circumstances in our lives. It is easy to be thankful when times are good but very difficult when dealing with troubles.

Learning to appreciate Jesus will give a believer joy, peace and kindness. Be anxious for nothing but by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving seek out God. He will fill you with the peace of God. This peace transcends all the troubles in your life.

Appreciation is a way of life for a Christ follower. Be thankful in all your prayers for both the little and big things. Recognize the power and greatness of Jesus in all your prayers.

Develop a mindset with Jesus that no weapon formed against you will prosper. Live in the promises of Jesus.

Jesus desires for a believer to pray zealously for the will of God and live by faith reaching out to Him for your every need.

Learn to appreciate the sacrifice Jesus made on the Cross for a believer. 

The Cross touches every aspect of your life and transforms a believer into the character of Jesus. 

Jesus forgives your every sin with His blood and restores a believer to God. 

Jesus gives a believer the gift of salvation and seals him with the Holy Spirit. He is life of Jesus.

Jesus gives a believer the mind of Christ so you can hear His voice every day. 

Appreciate the unconditional love of Jesus and His desire to give you an abundant life filled with His goodness!

“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

The message from Jesus today is to let go and respect the sovereignty of God. We are mere mortals and our life is insignificant compared to the greatness and glory of God.

Jesus has power and dominion over the heavens and earth. He does not think or act like a human being. He is unpredictable and controversial.

We have to get out of His way and submit to His authority. Independence and self sufficiency died on the Cross for a believer.

The decision for Jesus is “Not my will but Yours be done.” Jesus can do with you as He pleases. He has ownership of your life.

The Christ follower can let go by committing his works each day to Jesus and praying for the will of God. At times, the will of God can be a nightmare filled with adversity. 

God is perfect even though we question His decisions and troubles in our lives.

Let God be God through prayer, reading the Bible and listening for His voice.

The drama of life creates fear and anxiety. Living in a storm is very uncomfortable. But the circumstances in your life today have been engineered by Jesus and will end in His perfect timing.

Let go by praising God and accepting the reality of the Living Christ. Walk by faith believing in the promises of Jesus and not what you see with your eyes.

When you let God be God the Holy Spirit will enfold you with peace and unspeakable joy!

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” John 1-3

In a few days we will celebrate Christmas and the birth of Jesus. However, Jesus lived for many years before He was born in a human form on Christmas.

The birth of Jesus in a Spirit form happened over 4,000 years ago. Jesus was one with God from the very beginning. God hid the gift of Jesus from all humanity until His perfect timing unfolded. All things were made through Jesus and without Him nothing was made.

The birth of Jesus in a human form was conceived in Mary through the Holy Spirit. The angel appeared to Joseph and said do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She will give birth to a son and he shall be named Jesus. He will save his people from their sins.

The significance of the birth of Jesus is He can relate to all your emotions and weaknesses. He experienced everything you will have to face in your lifetime.

Jesus is a Living God. He is very accessible and desires to have a personal and symbiotic relationship with a believer. Jesus wants you to get to know Him and live in His presence. He wants to speak to you and protect you from all evil.

Jesus offers all the gift of salvation. He is the only way anyone can be restored to God. The blood of Jesus covers all your sins and sets you free from the bondage of darkness.

Jesus is omniscient and knows every detail of your life from your birth to the end of life on earth. He hears your every thought and the cries of your heart.

Jesus wants to give you an abundant life filled with His goodness but the priority must be to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all the other things will follow.

The decision for Jesus causes a human to die to self and live for Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the life of Christ and is sealed in all believers. He will transform a mere mortal into the character of Jesus.

It is possible to make this your best Christmas ever by deciding to live for Jesus and seek His will for your life.

Merry Christmas!

“Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise.” Hebrews 6:14-15

The definition of unflappable relates to assurance, confidence and the discipline of letting go of control.

Abraham believed God and lived by unflappably faith. He left his homeland and security to go on an unknown journey with God.

God is trying to get across the message that nothing can rock a believer into fear or panic. As heirs of Christ, we are as secure as God.

This narrative is based on God’s promise and oath given in the Old Testament to Abraham. The term immutability refers to the unchanging nature of God. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. The promises of God are better than gold. They are eternal and guaranteed by the blood of Jesus.

Like Abraham, we have to be patient and endure the journey by faith. We believe in the promises of God and not what we see with our eyes.

If you read Psalm 91 the promises of God are truly awesome and can be achieved by an unflappable attitude and deep trust in God. 

We can claim these promises living by faith and zealously seeking the will of Jesus.

But there are requirements specified by Jesus. The believer must be steadfast in faith and obedient to the instructions of Jesus. 

Faith has to be lived out every day of your life. This happens by reaching out to God for your every need and turning away from worldly decision making.

Jesus does fulfill promises to those who doubt God or complain about their circumstances. This is why all the Israelite adults died in the wilderness and did not enter the Promised Land.

God wants to do for you what you can never do for yourself but you must pay the price of the Cross!

It’s not my will but Yours be done!

“Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.” 1 Peter 2:17

Peter wrote this while living in Rome and experiencing the brutal attacks of Nero, the King, on the Christian community.

The instructions to believers begin with an order to honor all people and love the brotherhood of Christ followers.

We follow the example of Jesus and love all those in our life with unconditional love. The unconditional love of Jesus does not ask or expect anything in return.

This love does not mean we condone evil actions or accept the darkness of others. We flee from all forms of darkness.

We love the brotherhood of Christians but should not be restrictive in allowing the Holy Spirit to touch all those in our pathway with the Living Water.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of difference between Christians and unbelievers. As believers, we do not live in a sheltered Christian environment. We are guided by the Holy Spirit who is described as a wind that blows where God desires.

We fear God by living in obedience to His instructions and walking by faith reaching out to Him for our every need. We build our lives on the promises of God and not what we see with our eyes.

We honor and respect those who have authority over our lives but we do not submit to darkness or evil beliefs.

The Christ follower is required to pray, read the Bible and listen for the voice of Jesus. The number one priority is to seek the will of God above all else. 

The Holy Spirit is the life of Jesus and is sealed in all believers. The believer must submit to the authority of the Holy Spirit at all times and walk in oneness with Jesus. He is the portal to the powerful attributes of Jesus. Ask and you shall receive!

The journey with Jesus is created by His sacrifice on the Cross. We die to self and live for Jesus. We live under the cover of the blood of Jesus confessing our sins and seeking repentance.

The walk with Jesus is a life changing experience of becoming transformed into the character of God. If a believer is not experiencing change he is not submitting to Jesus.

The love of God is not judgmental, built on personal preferences or restrictive. We accept all with the love of Jesus!

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1 

We forget Jesus was with God at the beginning of creation. God worked through Jesus and all things were made through Him.

God and Jesus have lived in oneness forever. They think and act alike. God has established the only pathway to Him is through Jesus. He won’t accept a human being without the blood of Jesus.

In Jesus is an abundant and eternal life. The life of Jesus is a powerful light in the world. The light defines the difference between darkness and the glory of God.

The darkness in unbelievers prevents them from seeing or comprehending the light of God. They are blinded to God and accept worldly values.

Jesus is a living God. He is very accessible to all humans. He is filled with unconditional love and has no prejudices or favorites.

There is no way to get close to God without Jesus. God wants nothing to do with your natural life at birth. It is corrupted by a desire to live for self and to defy God. 

Jesus can make you clean and acceptable to God through His blood. In fact, making a decision for Jesus gives you a new life and identity. You become “born again” as a new creature in Christ and your old life fades away and you are transformed into the character of Jesus.

Jesus does not care about religion or immersing yourself into works to please Him. 

Jesus desires to have a personal and endearing relationship with a believer built on faith and obedience. He wants a believer to get to know Him personally and understand His ways. He wants to speak to a believer and guide him into the perfect pathway of God. Jesus is affable and wants to be your best friend through the ups and downs of life.

The cost to acquire Jesus is you must agree to die to self and live for Him. This decision will change your life forever!

Jesus has been speaking to me about mediocrity in the Body of Christ.

We are sinking into a pit of darkness and doing very little to fight off the darkness. Jesus is calling every believer to join in this war against Satan. 

The starting point is to be clean with the blood of Jesus and yielding to the Holy Spirit. Be filled with the Word of God and pray vigilantly against the darkness in your life and for the priorities of God.

Jesus does not care about your opinions or beliefs. He wants you to fight on His terms for the righteousness of God.

We cannot accept the values of the world or compromise with the darkness. This is not about public rallies or making a lot of noise.

This is a humble and meek movement of God’s people to change the course of history. 

Get right with God through prayer and be covered with His blood. Listen for His voice. Nothing can be standing between you and Jesus.

Ask Jesus to show you the darkness around you and take action to destroy the efforts of Satan through prayer and the Word of God. Make intercession to break the strongholds over the evils in our society.

The prayers of God’s righteous people will produce powerful results.

Don’t settle for mediocrity. Seek the excellence of Jesus. Pray for the renown, praise and glory of God to be in your thoughts, words and actions.

Jesus is a God of victory!

“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” John 3:5

Baptism was created by God to be a life changing experience for human beings but for many it has no power or lasting results. This is because it lacks submitting to Jesus.

In the baptism above described by Jesus the water cleanses a believer of all sin and the Spirit creates the life of Christ in a believer.

 The decision for Jesus causes a believer to be sealed and baptized by the Holy Spirit. 

The believer is baptized into the death of Jesus. He dies to self to live for Jesus.

The efficacy of the baptism is sustained by the depth of the commitment to Jesus. The Christ follower is asked to let go of all his desires and personal goals and pursue the will of Jesus. 

He signs ownership of his rights and privileges over to Jesus. Without this commitment to completely live for Jesus the baptism of the Holy Spirit will lack the power and the presence of Jesus.

The defining elements of baptism are an open heart to change and a zeal to seek the will of Jesus for your life.

Jesus wants all of a believer. He does want to share you with false gods or idols. 

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling means taking  Jesus seriously and living in oneness with Him.

The Holy Spirit transforms a believer into the character of Jesus. Invite the Holy Spirit to have authority over your life and listen for His voice.

The baptism of Jesus will become a living reality when you agree to live under the terms of “Not my will but Yours be done.”

“Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak”. Matthew 26:41

We live in a world embroiled by Satan. The darkness has invaded every fiber of society. Christians are vulnerable to the temptations of the world and many fall when they are attracted by an evil action.

Temptation is not a sin. Everyone is tempted at times. We are weak people with an inner desire to live for self and many times respond to the desires of the flesh.

Satan knows all your weaknesses and temptation is a weapon he uses to destroy a believer.

We have to be alert and yielding to the Holy Spirit at all times. Pray vigilantly and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any temptation in your thoughts or actions that are grieving the Holy Spirit. Then seek repentance and pray for the blood of Jesus to cover you.

God does not tempt people but provides a way of escape and the discipline to avoid temptation.

Temptation becomes a sin when we allow the evil thoughts to linger within our mind. 

The Bible teaches we are lured and enticed by Satan to pursue an evil desire. If we allow the desire to remain and grow within our inner being then sin is conceived. If left unattended the sin will be lived out and bring death. 

When temptation comes to a believer immediately pray to God to remove the evil from your mind. Flee from the temptation and pray for a shield of protection against any evil or wickedness.

Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ Jesus. He will protect and guide a believer into His perfect will.