Author: Hal Hollister Ministry

Isaiah, the prophet, is speaking about the downfall and revival of the Israelites. He speaks in great detail with imagery explaining how the Israelites will be restored and esteemed as the apple of God’s eye.

God said where there was no peace there will be peace. Barren women will have babies. The afflicted will be comforted and given a foundation like precious gems.

God said His great mercies are like the waters of Noah and He will never again take His covenant of peace away from Israel.

God never changes so you can claim all these powerful promises. 

This scripture gives you insight into the mind and personality of God. 

God for a moment decided to forsake the Israelites. Remember, a moment with God can be many years for a human being. 

God admitted He was a little angry. If God was very angry the Israelites would have been destroyed. God hid His face from the Israelites for a moment but God’s everlasting kindness reflected mercy on the Israelites. 

God seemed aloof and distant with the Israelites and the Christ follower will experience the same feelings of abandonment by God at times.

God promises no weapon formed against a believer will prosper and every word spoken against you in judgment shall be condemned. This is the heritage of the servants of Jesus who have received their righteousness from Him.

As a believer you are entitled to speak against any weapon formed against you. This includes calamities sickness, evil curses, poverty and slander from your enemies. You have the authority of Jesus to rebuke all evil words and actions spoken against you.

God promises to restore your standing and give you more than you ask or think.

God reminds believers His righteousness comes by faith and not through any other source.

God does not function on our timeline so we have to be patient and wait upon Him. The timing of Jesus is perfect because He operates on an eternal timeline.

King David is a perfect role model for living by faith. He reached out to God for his every need even when facing death. 

David loved God and desired to please Him above all else. He had a heart for God. 

God anointed David with His Spirit and favor. God never relinquished His favor over David in spite of  his many dreadful sins.

David ruled his kingdom with the values of God and destroyed evil wherever possible but David was far from perfect.

David had sex with a married woman and then arranged to have her husband killed. 

David ordered the numbering of the Israelites against the desire of God and a strong warning from the commander of his army. This action caused God to kill several thousand Israelites.

The life of David clearly illustrates the truths of God about the nature of man. God is perfect and no one can compare to His standards regardless of how hard you try.

All human beings have an inner nature desiring to live for self and defy the ways of God. This nature will never disappear and can be activated in a moment’s notice.

We are self driven people and God has no ego. Jesus overlooks the sin and measures the love, faith and heart of a believer. Do you have unshakable faith like David and reach out to Him for your every need? Or, do you act like a faithful person but maintain strong ties to the world to meet your needs. 

Do you believe God delivers His people even when facing severe trials or death? David waited upon God with unyielding faith. 

David knew his sinful nature and consistently prayed for repentance and the help of God to live an upright life.

David walked with God by faith every moment of His life. The Spirit of God was always with Him!

Coming to Jesus is about building a personal and symbiotic relationship with Him. 

Many zealous believers attempt to jump into a ministry and then drown. You must wait upon Jesus for a ministry ordained by the Holy Spirit in His perfect timing. 

The mission is to live in oneness with Jesus without any consciousness of direction or the future.

The only direction from Jesus is to be a fountain of Living Water touching those around you. 

The myth of Christianity is a believer must find his or her calling and do work for Jesus.

God’s priority is creating a new creature in Christ Jesus committed to seeking His will and believing in His promises. The Cross must get self out of the way so a believer can function with the character of Jesus.

Jesus does not need your help or advice concerning His plans for you. He knows you better than you know yourself. He is not interested in your natural life and talents. Jesus wants everything new and consecrated by Him.

As you grow with Jesus the future will seem even more vague or non existent.

Focus on prayer, reading the Bible and listening for His voice and leave the rest up to Jesus.

Jesus will do for you what you can never do on your own!

Christ followers are human beings with many feelings and thoughts. We all have a mindset mixed with thoughts from God as well from your self conscious.

The challenge is to not allow thoughts to lead you away from oneness with Jesus. Most believers divide their time between listening for God’s thoughts and entertaining self thoughts. This is a dangerous action unless you take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

Learn to make decisions under the authority of the Holy Spirit. He will never lead you astray.

There are times when your circumstances are upside down and seem hopeless. And, God may seem aloof and distant.

We tend to blame God and develop feelings of anger and depression. This is a red flag because your feelings can cause you to strike out at God.

Jesus can do with you as He pleases. Sometimes His providential will is to bring a season of adversity and trials. You cannot change God. He is the only way you can be delivered.

The spiritual solution is to keep coming to Jesus with prayer and asking Him for the faith and strength to endure the difficult season.

When you are at your darkest hour and feel hopeless, God is probably right around the corner. Wait upon Jesus. He will never fail you!

The priority of a believer is to cherish Jesus and develop a personal and deep relationship with Him.

He has a humble and meek personality and is not looking for attention or respect through doing works. 

The goal is to identify with Jesus dying on the Cross and allowing Him to transform you into the character of God.

Most believers want nothing to do with the Cross. They want to impress Jesus through works.

The Cross causes you to die to self. Jesus asks you to set aside your desires and goals and seek Him out with all your heart.

The believer who strives to please God with works is attempting to escape the Cross for gratification through works. 

The powerful works of God are accomplished by the believer who has given up everything to follow Jesus. He desires to walk in oneness with Jesus through prayer, reading the Bible and listening for His voice.

The most important goal is to zealously seek the will of Jesus and be open to the housecleaning work of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is not looking for perfection but a heart willing to turn away from living for self and letting go of compulsive habits.

Jesus is demanding and requires very high standards of a disciple. He paid dearly for your life!

As a Christ follower you are sealed and anointed with the Holy Spirit. You can do nothing for Jesus unless you are submitting to the Holy Spirit and operating under His authority and timing.

Jesus speaks to all believers. You have the mind of Christ. The question is are you listening to Jesus and obeying Him or applying selective listening and choosing what you want to hear and discarding what you don’t like.

Another way Jesus speaks to believers about their behaviors is through actions. He might take away or damage something precious to you like getting a scratch on your new car. Sometime actions speak louder than words.

Jesus is serious about sin. He will not tolerate presumptuous sin. Sin grieves (or quenches) the Holy Spirit and lessens the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

We have to live in the reality of Jesus today. Forget the past. Walk with Jesus by faith believing in His promises. Listen for and be conscious of His voice.

Jesus desires for you to be open to the conviction and correction of the Holy Spirit. Your sin never goes away and can be activated in a split second. 

The trials of the Cross will come upon all believers at some time. Jesus looks at how you deal with a trial. Do you walk with unyielding faith and obedience or attempt to escape by covering up your feelings by pleasing self.

You have been crucified with Christ and your old life is dead. Seek the blood of Christ and the resurrected power of Jesus!

This is one of the biggest myths in Christianity. Jesus blesses those who walk by faith believing in His promises. Jesus crucified the works doctrine on the Cross. 

The Bible explains he who works, the wages are not a gift from God but an obligation. The individual who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.

The Bible instructs believers to cease from striving and rest in God. Like God who rested after six days of creation work, we are to seek the sabbath rest of God.

The works of God come by the Holy Spirit. It is not by might nor by strength but by the Spirit. Human effort is a waste of time. 

Abraham walked by faith and waited on God for many years. He took action when He heard the voice of God. The faith of Abraham was credited as righteousness.

Moses tended sheep for forty years waiting upon God. Then God appeared and gave him an assignment. Moses walked by faith and obeyed God.

The righteousness of Jesus comes by your unyielding faith in His promises. Your relationship with Jesus is governed by the principle of faith believing Jesus calls things that do not exist as if they did.

Without faith no one can please God!

The barrier to knowing Jesus is insisting upon keeping your natural talents and dispositions. Jesus does not want your old life. He wants to create a new creature in Christ. He is not going to bless something He did not make.

The old nature in a human being is flawed and Jesus cannot build upon it. He wants to start over. 

Jesus knows you better than you know yourself. He wants to create His originality in your personality, thoughts, emotions and decision making. This can only happen if you give up the right to yourself. Ask yourself who owns you?

 Abandon yourself to Jesus and He will literally transform you into His character. He does this by engineering trials, adversity and new circumstances in your life. 

Give Jesus permission to do with you as He pleases. Don’t try to hold on to your past or what seems important to you. 

Learn to yield to the Holy Spirit. He will protect you and guide you in the footsteps of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit will crucify every fiber of living for self and replace with His resurrected life. 

Jesus does not want you to try and figure out your life or have expectations. He wants you to walk with Him by faith and let go of the future. He wants to be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your pathway. 

Jesus likes to create unpredictable seasons in life because they cause a believer to totally depend upon Him. When life seems secure and smooth Jesus tends to get lost.

The Christ follower who has surrendered to Jesus will look at his circumstances and say this just doesn’t make any sense but it makes perfect sense to Jesus!

God created man with a will to overcome and be productive.

The human mind working through your conscience determines your thoughts and actions today.

All human beings have an inner nature to please self and defy God. If this nature is not harnessed by the Holy Spirit sin will ruin the perfect will of God. 

The perfect will of God comes through prayer, reading the Bible, and listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit will never lead you into sin. What happens is we decide to reject the advice of the Holy Spirit and satisfy our desires.

Every believer should work out his salvation by concentrating on Jesus and zealously seeking the will of God. When in doubt take every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus.

The Bible teaches there is a sense of fear and trembling in walking in the footsteps of Jesus to avoid calamities and disasters. 

Jesus desires to bring order and peace into your life by submitting to the authority of the Holy Spirit.

Commit your works each day to Jesus and He will fill you with His perfect thoughts!

The world is populated by many non believers and those who worship false gods. Christianity is declining and has lost its appeal to many.

The question is what causes someone to come to Jesus?

Jesus was sent to the earth to offer the gift of salvation to all humanity. There is no partiality or bias in His invitation.

The cornerstone of the gift of salvation is building a personal and symbiotic relationship with the Living Christ.

Jesus wants a believer to walk by faith yielding to the Holy Spirit. He desires to give you an abundant life filled with the goodness of God.

Jesus is not about keeping laws, doing works or immersing yourself in religion. He wants a believer to seek His will above all else and learn to be obedient to His ways.

The gospel is hid to those who are anchored to the world. They have no need for God. They have defined their morality according to worldly standards and the laws of the land.

The unbeliever has no sense of a need for God. He is not convicted by personal testimonies or scripture. 

The only way an unbeliever can find Jesus is to ask Him to enter his life. This action will stir God to respond in a powerful fashion.

Jesus makes nonbelievers culpable for their actions through the conviction of the Holy Spirit. They see their harmful or evil behaviors in a new light and realize they cannot escape these habits on their own.

The beauty of Jesus is you can face Him without any shame or embarrassment. The blood of Christ gives you an unabashed conscience free of your past.

The most powerful method of dealing with a non believer entrenched in darkness is through intercession.

This discipline is patterned after Jesus who makes intercession for all mankind. Intercession is filling up the flesh with the afflictions of Christ for His Body, the church.

The believer invites the Holy Spirit to make intercession for the purpose of bringing down strongholds and setting an individual free from the bondage of sin. This can be a groaning and agonizing experience fighting the demons of Satan.

Jesus creates redemption in the life of a believer through a “born again” experience. He creates a new identity and transforms a believer into the character of Jesus. 

As a new creature in Christ Jesus, God creates things that nurture or satisfy a spiritual being. This consists of prayer, reading the Bible, and listening for the voice of God. The Holy Spirit will also send visions and dreams to encourage believers.

The Holy Spirit will rearrange your life with new friends, work, church and activities which nurture a wholesome spiritual life.

Jesus keeps His promises and you can trust Him implicitly!