Hal’s Blog

The Bible said in the text above the believer who does not enter into His rest will experience the wrath of God.

To take this to the extreme, the Israelites fell into unbelief and all the adults died in the desert without entering the Promised Land.

The example used in this text is the creation work of God was completed in six days. And, God rested on the seventh day. If our omnipotent God who lacks nothing believes in the importance of rest you and I need to follow this example.

The block to entering the rest of God is disobedience. The Israelites heard the voice of God and hardened their hearts.

The requirement to receive this promise is to cease from your works (or striving) as God did on the seventh day.

The life of a believer is under the authority of Jesus. He has power and dominion over the heavens and earth. You can accomplish nothing unless the Holy Spirit is directing your way. It is not by your might or strength but by the Spirit.

Start each day resting in Jesus. Seek out the will of God through prayer and commit your works to God. Resting does not mean to do nothing but you must be in relationship with the Living Christ through the Holy Spirit and walking by faith. This is how you will receive instructions from God.

The Christ follower can have a full load of intense work and responsibilities and still rest in God. Jesus desires to provide the order, peace and strength to meet all your challenges.

You cannot rest in God unless you are one with Jesus and listening to His voice. As a believer, you have the mind of Christ and He wants to direct you through all the moments of life.

Do not be controlled by the world. This will drain you. Rest in our omnipotent God and you will be able to conquer all things!

Jesus wants to enrich your life!

This was the moment of judgment that changed the life of Isaiah.

Salvation cannot be discovered through an intellectual approach or an emotional experience. The judgment of God is what will draw people to Christ. You see the reality of your sinful condition and have no way of escape.

God puts you in touch with your despicable inner nature and then reveals His holiness.

Salvation is blocked by an individual who denies his sin and is not willing to change.

The stirrings of salvation are started by the Holy Spirit who convicts an unbeliever of sin. The obstacle to salvation is self reliance. This apathy must be broken before you can receive the gift of salvation.

The vivid contrast between light and darkness is what creates salvation. God creates a desire within you to change and become a new creature in Christ filled with His values.

God is unconditional love and never gives up on an unbeliever. If an unbeliever continually rebels against God, Jesus will withdraw His presence and allow the unbeliever to hit “rock bottom”. Then God can convict an open heart and offer the gift of salvation.

Salvation cleanses you from all sin with the blood of Christ and restores you to God. You are redeemed from your natural life and become born again. The new believer is entitled to all the promises of God and will live with Jesus forever.

Salvation does not relate to time. It is the ability to walk in oneness with God and become transformed into the character of Jesus.

Salvation allows you to develop a personal and embracing relationship with the Living Christ. He will be present in all the moments of life.

You can never get right with God but Jesus can make you acceptable and blameless in the presence of God. This is the miracle of salvation.

God forgives, heals and restores believers. He does this not because of what we are but because of who He is. Jesus is a God of love and wants to give you an abundant and eternal life.

Jesus is perfection. You and I can never attain the perfection of God. Jesus does not want you to strive to be like Him but to live in oneness with Him.

Jesus is not motivated by your works or religious efforts. He blesses believers who live by faith believing in the promises of God. The righteousness of God comes by your unyielding faith and obedience to God. Nothing else really matters.

We need to learn to let God be God and give up our independence and control.

God does not think or act like you. Your spiritual journey will not be worldly oriented or follow any form of human logic.

Jesus is very accessible and wants to build a symbiotic and personal relationship with you. The goal is to learn to live in oneness with him yielding to the Holy Spirit. He is alive and wants to be present in all the moments of life.

Jesus desires to enhance the quality of your life and do for you what you can never do for yourself. This is the essence of God!

This narrative deals with the concept of letting go and giving your life over to Jesus. The definition of abandonment is based on the principles of Jesus and does not relate to religion.

The natural man (or unbeliever) works hard to achieve his goals but in the end He loses everything. The Christ follower experiences the promises of Jesus and is rewarded with the goodness of God.

Religion is easy! Just follow the rules. Jesus is very difficult to follow and is contrary to everything in the world.

Abandoning to Jesus leaves no room for conditions or keeping your independence.

The act of yielding to Jesus brings freedom from your natural personality and dispositions as you unite with the reality of the Living Christ.

This is making a statement “I will be absolutely loyal to God and He has the freedom to do with me as He desires.”

Surrender is not a requirement to walk toward religion. God doesn’t care about keeping rules or absorbing yourself in religious works. He wants to set you free to live in oneness with Him.

You have to give up your ideas of how God will work in your life and let Him show you His priorities.

Walking with Jesus is giving up your rights so Jesus can do with you as He pleases. You belong to Him and are obligated to seek His will above all else.

What does this look like in real life?

Pray vigilantly and listen for the voice of God.

Confess your sins and ask Jesus to cover you with His blood. Have an attitude of repentance and openness to the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

Read the Bible under the auspices of the Holy Spirit.

When God issues commands respond with obedience regardless of the lack of logic or cost to you. God wants compliance without compromise.

Find a church that honors God and maintains the integrity of scripture without change or interpretation of contemporary views.

The servant of Jesus is not above His Master. The challenge is to understand the importance of yielding to the Holy Spirit who is sealed within a believer. He is the life of Christ and will direct your pathway.

Give the Holy Spirit authority over your life and ask Him to fill you with the thoughts of Jesus. The goal is to be an open vessel to the Spirit in all the moments of life. The Holy Spirit will speak to you through the mind of Christ residing in you.

God severely tests believers. The adversities are engineered by God to transform you into the character of Jesus. At times, there will be pain and suffering.

The disciple lives in the footsteps of Christ and is baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus. The goal is to become “Christ like” and a powerful witness for Jesus.

The upside is Jesus will fill you with His supernatural attributes and you will live with Him forever.

We get set in our ways and end up doing things that lead to destruction. This admonition applies to every living being whether a believer or not.

This happens because we assume what is good based on religious teaching or the practices of the world.

Many have a genetic disposition from your family ancestry and are unwilling to face correction.

How can we see ourselves through the eyes of Jesus?

You have to be open to change, not live in denial, or impose your self conceived beliefs on life.

God knows you better than you know yourself and wants the very best for you. Be open to the conviction of the Holy Spirit and let Him set the standards for your actions.

If a believer attempts to impose his own concept of the values of God, he will fall on His face. God judges right from wrong without moral scrutiny or whether you keep laws or do works. Jesus looks at your heart, your obedience to Him and your seriousness about seeking His will. This is most important to Jesus. He knows you are going to sin. It is inevitable in your nature.

You can never be right with God. There is no one acceptable in His sight. You must be covered by the blood of Jesus and seeking the Holy Spirit to convict you of evil and guide you into the light.

The moment you think you are pleasing God you are probably on the brink of disaster.

Pray to Jesus, read the Bible, and listen for the voice of God. This will keep you on track with Jesus. You will be far from perfect but acceptable in the eyes of God.

This narrative is based on an eyewitness account of what happened to Israel by the Son of Korah. (See Psalm 44)

How did the Israelites go from receiving the gift of the Promised Land to become broken and covered with the shadow of death? They lost the favor of God.

The victories came and then all was changed into shame. As a believer, religion teaches us to live in the miracles of God not the retribution of sin.

God told the Israelites on Mount Sinai if you obey My voice and keep My commandments you will be My special treasure above all the people for all the land is mine. The Israelites failed God.

We cannot expect God to perform miracles like killing 185,00 Assyrians with just one angel. Or, expect the walls of Jericho to fall by the hand of God. This happened in the past. Don’t think God can’t do these miracles again or even greater signs and wonders but this is not His priority at this time.

Today, the Living Christ has His mind focused on judgment. He is determined to punish us for our sins. Nothing will deter God from punishing lukewarm believers and those who refuse to fear and respect Him. God is wielding a flaming sword with little desire to be merciful or compassionate.

God is not sleeping . He is aroused with anger and disgrace over the Body of Christ.

We are His “set apart” people and should be filled with renown, praise and glory but many have turned away into apostasy.

We act like believers but our lives do not reflect the character of God. We strive to do works and keep laws but neglect the values of the Living Christ. Where is the obedient believer who will give up everything to follow Christ?

God is helping Israel today. He keeps His Word. They will be victorious over their enemies.

God is giving Ukraine wisdom, strength, and power to stop the Russian aggression. Russia will never defeat Ukraine.

There will be a swell of new believers coming to Christ. They will come from all over the world . God has specifically targeted the youth because they will face indescribable challenges in the future.

You cannot make God into what you want Him to be or how your pastor describes Him. The untempered mortar will turn into shambles.

You have to meet Jesus personally and then you will be awestruck! There is no one like Him.

David recognizes all righteousness belongs to God. He knows there is nothing in his human being worthy of God. David also praises God for His righteousness throughout the day.

The Christ follower is sealed with the Holy Spirit. He is the life of Jesus. He is your source of righteousness and discerning good from evil.

The Holy Spirit has initiated a plan to transform you from a mere human being into a new creature in Christ Jesus. This is a lifelong process.

The reason we cannot think or act like God is because we are designed to live for self and God has no ego. He never thinks about Himself or His needs.

How do you stay on track with the righteousness of God?

Pray everyday for the will of God in your life. The Lord wants to be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your pathway.

Be open to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. The only way you can be perfect before God is by the blood of Jesus.

Read the Bible under the auspices of the Holy Spirit.

Listen for the voice of God. He has given you the mind of Christ.

Learn to rest in God and allow the Holy Spirit to go before you. It is not by might nor by power but by the Spirit.

Make you priority to be in oneness with the Living Christ. This is more important than any form of religion.

The Holy Spirit has been speaking to me for several days about Psalm 11. This narrative is built on the precepts in this scripture.

When the foundations of your world are shattered, the tendency is to run away or panic. However, God tells a believer to trust Him and stand firm without fear or doubt.

There are no coincidences for a Christ follower. The hand of God is over your every action. He engineers both the good and difficult moments of life.

God may be allowing Satan to attack or destroy but your refuge is in Him. God has power and dominion over the heavens and earth.

How can a believer cope in what seems like a helpless situation?

The Lord is in His holy temple in heaven. The eyes of God see everything and at times He chooses to test the righteous with adversity.

God hates the wicked and those who are disposed to do violence. He will rain burning coals and a fiery wind upon your oppressors.

God is holy and He loves those who walk in His footsteps. God’s countenance upholds the upright.

The countenance of God is His facial expression. God looks at the troubled believer with a heart of love and comfort. He desires to provide believers with wisdom, protection and peace during a time of turmoil.

The purpose of God during the trials of life is to strengthen your faith when all you see is chaos. This is a catchall phrase used by many teachers but does not really probe into the mind of God.

The agony and pain experienced in a time of crisis is designed for a believer to identify with the emotions of Jesus on the Cross. In reality, you are being baptized into the death and suffering of Jesus. You are facing the work of the Cross to transform your life from a human being into a new creature in Christ.

We sometimes tend to look at God as a spiritual being who punishes believers and acts in cruel and harsh actions. This is a character of God at work in different seasons of life and is exemplified many places in the Bible.

There are several reasons for God’s actions.

God wants to strengthen your faith when He seems absent. He wants your unabridged loyalty and obedience regardless of your circumstances.

God responds with retribution. He blesses and He curses. He punishes believers who stray into darkness by worshiping false gods or idols.

God knows you better than you know yourself. He has created a perfect plan to deal with your personality and character defects. Your journey with God is perfect even though it may seem very distant from your concept of a loving God.

God is preparing a very special ministry but you must endure the refining fires of God to operate with the character of Jesus. There is no way of escaping this preparation by God.

Don’t give up on God. There is no one like Him!

I would have lost heart unless I believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Last night God told me we all have an impoverished soul and the Holy Spirit is how we can find the truth and righteousness of God.

Jesus said the Holy Spirit will take what is mine and declare it to a believer. He desires to share the fullness of His life with you.

The Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth and He speaks under the authority of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit is the life of Christ embodied as a Spirit in all believers. He is the only way you can be filled with the life of Christ.

The Holy Spirit performs three roles in the life of a believer. He convicts you of sin, righteousness and judgment.

The sin is rejecting the fullness of the teachings of Jesus. This is not just about making a decision for Jesus but living out the precepts of God. The requirement is to seek first the kingdom of God above all else.

My goodness is nothing apart from you

Secondly, we must be filled with the righteousness of God. This comes directly from Heaven through the Holy Spirit. The righteousness of God is a gift from Jesus and belongs to Him. It is designed to bring glory to God. You cannot take ownership of the holiness of Jesus or claim this for yourself.

The third work of the Holy Spirit is judgment. The ruler of the world is Satan and He has been judged and defeated by Jesus. He has no power over death for a believer.

Satan wants to steal, kill and destroy. As a believer, we cannot not be rooted in the things of the world. This will bring conviction and judgment upon you.

The Holy Spirit desires to fill you with wisdom, strength, joy and protection. These attributes of Jesus come directly from Heaven. They cannot be found on the earth.

Come to the Holy Spirit each day through prayer. Ask Him to fill you with the character of Jesus and give Him authority over your life.

The Holy Spirit has given you the mind of Christ. Listen for the voice of God. He wants to instruct you, fill you with His goodness and make you a powerful witness for Jesus.

The Holy Spirit wants to be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your pathway.

Walk with Jesus by faith believing in His powerful promises.

Remember, it is not by might nor by power but by the Spirit of God.

Learn to live in oneness with Jesus by yielding to the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit creates new life for a believer and desires to be a light unto your pathway. The question is are you giving Him authority over your life to take you on His journey?

As a believer, Jesus wants to guide your footsteps under the authority of the Holy Spirit. You lose control of your life and God takes you to new places.

The Holy Spirit is miles ahead of you when you wake up in the morning. He is an omniscient God and sees every moment of your future.

This is not necessarily about a radical change like Abraham encountered with God. It is letting God take you to new places in your current lifestyle. It is not living a rigid lifestyle but giving God the freedom to order your life in His divine fashion.

The Holy Spirit wants to protect you and let you see the beauty of the Lord. He knows where the opportunities are to be a witness for Jesus.

Think about the two men walking on the road to Emmanus. They were in the right place to meet Jesus and their life would never be the same.

Phillip, a disciple of Jesus, was taken by the Spirit to meet the Ethiopian official. He led the man to Jesus who became a Christ follower.

Your life will be filled with the reality of God by yielding to the Holy Spirit as you deal with the moments of life which sometimes seem very boring.

It is not by might nor by strength but by My Spirit. The Holy Spirit wants to open your eyes today to see your pathway with God!

Jesus has a surprise for you today!