“For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake” Philippians 1:29

You make a decision for Jesus and this changes your priority from the world to the kingdom of God. The concern of Jesus is for you to know Him personally and lose your life for His sake. Jesus will cause you lose interest in the glamour and appeal of the world as you experience His greatness and glory.

It isn’t any fun to encounter suffering or go through severe testing in your journey with God but unfortunately it is a reality in the life of a believer. You cannot escape this in your walk with God. I have suffered greatly at times as God has stripped away all the things that seemed important to me.

The dilemma is God promises an abundant life and to bless the desires of your heart but at times you look at your life and see pain, suffering, and deprivation. How can a loving God justify these actions?

The answer is you have to accept the totality of the cross. Your life will mirror the life and death of Jesus. You die to self and are born again as a new creature in Christ Jesus. This is the miracle of salvation.

The testing and difficult times are for a season and will strengthen your faith. In His perfect timing, Jesus will rise up and deliver you from your adversities and flourish you with the riches of His kingdom.

Jesus wants you to experience the reality of “My cup runneth over” but this cannot be your end goal with Him.

Jesus said man cannot live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Find your security in the words of the Living God and walk with Him by faith. Your hope is in God and never in the world.

Live one day at a time with Jesus and pray for unyielding faith in the promises of your Creator. Jesus will supply your every need. In fact, He will give you more than you ask or think.

“I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6

I was in distress most of last night over people making the wrong decisions about God. I saw a road that looked like the perfect route to my destination. However, when I went down this road and came to the end I found out this was not the road leading to God. To make the situation worse, it was impossible to leave this place. I was stuck in doom and misery.

It is so important to accept Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life and that no one can come to God accept through Him. This is an irrefutable statement and comes with eternal consequences.

Do not be fooled by false prophets or teachers. They are of the antichrist and will burn up in a fire of God.

There is no liberal interpretation to the truths of God and they are not subject to change.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God and rules over everything in the heavens and earth. He is your only hope for life. There is no other alternative to find God.

Satan is the great deceiver. He wants to destroy the influence of Jesus Christ and deny His deity. You cannot compromise God.

Come to Jesus and accept all of Him into your life. He offers you the gift of eternal life and fills you with Living Water. There is nowhere else you can drink the Living Water. This Living Water is the life of Christ and will flourish you with the strength, wisdom, and joy of God.

Jesus will lead you down the perfect road to salvation. He is the first and last God and will do for you what you can never experience from any other source. He is a God of greatness, power, glory, victory, and majesty. There is no one like Him!

“Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all.” Ecclesiastes 12:13

This truth in Ecclesiastes seems almost impossible to accomplish for a mere mortal. And, if you attempt to appropriate this truth into your life without living by faith in Jesus Christ you will fail.

It seems almost insurmountable to please our holy and majestic God. Many believers set out to keep this commandment through works and good deeds. This just causes condemnation and failure.

The reality of God is you cannot keep this commandment so don’t even try. And, God knows you don’t have the moral fiber to please Him.

God understand the fallacy of mankind and He knows you better than you know yourself. He created you and called you to live with Him before you were even born.

God created the perfect solution to overcome the depravity of man. He sent Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to the earth to die for sin and to be resurrected to live with Him forever.

This act of faith allows you to receive the gift of eternal life. Most importantly, God places the life of Jesus in the form of the Holy Spirit to live in your inner being.

The Holy Spirit is your only hope to understand how to fear God and keep His commandments. The Spirit is at work to transform your inner being into a new creature in Christ Jesus. You learn to die to self and live for God.

The laws of God which are impossible to keep move from words written in the Bible to live in your heart. So now it just becomes a matter of abiding in the Holy Spirit.

You abide in the Holy Spirit by giving Him authority over every aspect of your life and seeking out His will for your life.

As a believer, you require the nourishment of God to grow spiritually and live in oneness with God. This is accomplished through praise, prayer, and dwelling in the Word. Also, learn to be still and listen for the precious voice of God.

This difficult task of trying to please God now becomes effortless because you are allowing God to live through your life.

By yielding to the Holy Spirit, it is now God who works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure.

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” Galatians 5:1

It is reprehensible to hear or accept the teachings of organized religion. You cannot be justified to God or please Him through works or religious activities.

The Old Covenant became a curse of God with the life and death of Christ Jesus. If you try to live with God through laws, you have to keep all the laws which is impossible and this action will draw you into bondage and the condemnation of God.

The law presents an obligation to you. There is no obligation with Christ Jesus. You come to Him by faith not by works.

There is freedom and liberty in walking with Jesus. He died to all laws and you live with Him by faith not obligation. You are free from religion.

Jesus came to give you the gift of salvation. This precious gift allows you to experience the liberty of God. Jesus wants you to go out into life and experience His goodness.

This freedom comes to you by walking in the Spirit and rejecting the urges of the flesh. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. You can live in oneness with God through the Holy Spirit.

The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to share the life of Jesus with you and guide you into the reality of God. You learn to walk by faith not by sight.

You are under no obligation to please God through works. Reach out to God like David who believed in his heart “My help comes from the Lord who created the heavens and the earth”.

“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.” John 16:13

The Holy Spirit comes into a believer to guide you into all truth. He does not speak from His own volition or authority but He speaks from what He hears directly from the person of Jesus Christ. He gives you the mind of Christ.

The Spirit will tell you about things to come in your life because He speaks from the omniscient nature of God. The Spirit will always glorify Jesus. He does this by taking what belongs to Jesus and sharing it with you.

All things that belong to God also belong to Jesus. You do not have to go searching for the wisdom and truths of God. The source of all knowledge from God lives in you in the essence of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus wants to share Himself with you and show you how to live in oneness with Him through all the details of your life. You can actually appropriate the life of Jesus into all the nuances of your life today.

The Holy Spirit wants to be involved in your thoughts, words and decision making. He is a conduit to the abundant life of Jesus. The secret is to invite Him to have authority over you life and His Spirit will flourish within you.

The Holy Spirit is very sensitive to sin so when you allow self to override the will of God you diminish the power of the Holy Spirit. This powerful source of God dwelling within you becomes limited until you repent and submit yourself under the authority of the Spirit.

Your body is a temple of the Living God filled with the precious nature of the Holy Spirit. Submit to the Holy Spirit and He will lead you into the greatness and glory of God!

“A highway shall be there, and a road,
And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others.” Isaiah 35:8

Last night God spoke to me about the coming of a worldwide revival. Millions will come to Jesus and lay down their lives for the life of Christ.

 

There will be signs and wonders and New Testament reality. I saw a glimpse of the greatness and glory of God as He does the work of salvation.

Also, God brought to my attention the characteristic of defiance. This attitude is alive in both believers and non believers. Defiance creates a wall which blocks you from the grace of God. Defiance is a lack of faith in God and a stubbornness to resist the gospel.

Defiance is setting yourself above God and believing your ways are better than God. This sin will lead to suffering and destruction and deprive you of the fullness of God.

In believers, defiance surfaces in your concept of God. You cannot accept parts of the gospel and reject what doesn’t seem right to you.

The whitewashing of the truths of God have been precipitated by the leaders in the Body of Christ. Do not buy into their aberrant teachings! They will be dealt with by God!

The truth is Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He never changes and His Word is not subject to a liberal interpretation or to be amended to fit the needs of our society.

As believers, we have to seek out the Holy Spirit and ask Him to convict us of any defiance in our lives. Cease from striving and enter into the rest of God by faith in the powerful name of Jesus. He wants to do for you what you can never do for yourself. This is the miracle of salvation.

Walk by faith trusting in the promises of God. Do not follow the example of the Israelites. Their defiance against God caused them to die in the desert and fall short of entering the Promised Land.

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

The gift of Jesus comes with the reality of the Cross. You cannot escape the Cross if you want to walk with Jesus. Without the Cross, there is nothing.

Jesus came to lose His life for all mankind. He died for all sin and was resurrected so you can live in the power of His Living Water forever.

The Cross is painful and humbling. You see yourself through the eyes of God and realize you have a corrupt and unclean soul and can never match up to the standards of God. Your motives are not for God. They are for self.

You make a decision for Jesus and this begins the process of death and new life. You die to your old self and begin to live for Jesus. The miracle of salvation is you have a redeemer who forgives all your sin and restores you to God. You live with Jesus forever!

The Cross cancels all the laws of religion and brings you into a faith covenant with Jesus. This is the cornerstone of your walk with God. You are judged by your faith and obedience to God and never by your works.

If you want the fullness of God you have to be open and transparent to the work of the Holy Spirit. He convicts you of sin and causes you to examine your motives and decision making.

The Cross causes you to transfer your hope from the world to the promises of God. You find security in Christ Jesus who has power and dominion over all things.

Welcome the Cross into your life. It is life changing and eternal and will bring you face to face with the Living God.

Jesus lives so you can live!

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” James 4:8

The miracle of salvation is Jesus desires to live in intimacy with you. He wants to walk with you, talk to you, and guide you into His perfect pathway.

The challenge is learning how to live close to God. How can you develop the discipline “For in Him we live and move and have our being”.

The starting point is understanding Jesus lives in you in the essence of the Holy Spirit. He is your comforter and teacher about the ways of God. Jesus said “God is a Spirit and you have to worship Him in Spirit and Truth”. The secret is to be open to the Holy Spirit and learn to be still and listen for the voice of God.

Recognize you have the mind of Christ and He is your instructor and guide in walking with God. Invite the Holy Spirit to have authority over every phase of your life including your thoughts, words, and actions. This is an acknowledgment your life no longer belongs to you. It is a voluntary act of submission to God and will cause a powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit to fall upon you.

Draw near to God with praise, prayer, and living in His Word. This will cause God to draw near to you.

God wants to protect you and fill you with His goodness. So when you feel confusion or doubt take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ Jesus and He will confirm your actions.

God does not tend to act quickly so learn to wait upon God for His perfect timing. Cease from striving and enter into the rest of God. This is a bold step of faith believing God calls things that don’t exist as if they did.

As a disciple of Jesus, remember it is not by might nor by power but by My Spirit!

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6

At this very moment Jesus is standing outside your door and knocking. The decision you have to make is how much of your life are you going to invite Jesus to enter.

The challenge is do you believe Jesus is who He claims to be? If you accept Jesus is the Son of God and has power and dominion over all things in heaven and earth, doesn’t it make sense to invite Him into all of your life? Why would you want to place limitations on the power of Jesus?

If you choose to restrict Jesus in your life you are depriving yourself of the fullness of God. In reality, you are telling Jesus you can live better through your own efforts than submitting to Him.

For many believers, the cost of abandonment is just to threatening and upsetting to life. You want Jesus but you do not want to lose your independence or the things dear to your heart.

The real issue is understanding the definition of faith and accepting the truth you cannot please God without faith. Faith is not illusive or a subliminal approach to God. And, you cannot find faith through an intellectual process.

Faith is a new way of life centered around Christ Jesus. You agree to loose your life to gain the life of Jesus.

You encompass all of your life around Jesus. You can make this decision because you know in your heart Jesus is greatness, power, glory, victory, and majesty and you welcome these attributes into your reality.

Some of the important characteristics of walking by faith with Jesus are:

Faith is understanding your impoverished and empty condition and seeking the fullness of the life of Jesus.

Faith is asking for the forgiveness of your sins through the blood of Jesus.

Your faith will become unshakable when you have a personal encounter with the Living Christ. This experience will eliminate any doubt or reservation in giving your all to God.

Faith is accepting Jesus for who He is and believing in His promises without any proof or evidence.

Faith is believing God calls things that don’t exist as if they did and living by faith and not by sight.

“Both prophet and priest are godless;
even in my temple I find their wickedness,”
declares the Lord. Jeremiah 23:11

How does a Spirit filled believer deal with religion?

This is a very difficult and complex question. The Holy Spirit has spent forty years of my life teaching me about the difference between God and religion. The basic premise is God wants to set people free and religion wants to exercise control. Also, the cornerstone of a relationship with God is faith not works or good deeds.

You may not believe me but Satan has been very effective infiltrating the Body of Christ for the purpose of weakening scripture and whitewashing important spiritual precepts so they fit into the culture of religion.

Satan wants to disarm the power of Christ and he does this by trying to draw you into the web of religion. Religion creates a comfort zone. Jesus is a non conformist who hates religion. He came to confront sin and stir up your life with His teachings.

The church is a filling station (with a revolving door) where you go to worship God and be nourished with the truths of God. The sole objective of a pastor or teacher is to draw people into a personal and vibrant relationship with the Living Christ.

One of the primary purposes of the church is to equip and send out believers as an ambassador of Christ to touch those living in darkness. It is not God’s purpose for you to insulate yourself in religion.

Religion does not want to teach believers about the purpose and function of the Holy Spirit because the Spirit will expose the fraud and deceit in religion.

Your teacher about the things of God is the Holy Spirit. He will lead you into all truth and expose teachings which are not of God.

You are saved by faith and never justified with God through your works. Religion tends to lay a guilt trip on believers to do works in order to please God. This is a lie of Satan.

Some of the red flags to look out for in religion:

Pastors who live on a pedestal and project the image they are more holy or righteous than their flock.

Pastors who are constantly asking for money or spreading the message “the more money you give to God the more He will give back to you.” This is a lie.

Making the priority to build bigger or more churches.

Pastors who want believers to follow them or create the myth you must be closely involved in the activities of their church.

The good news is the stern judgment of God is over the leaders in the Body of Christ. They will have to repent and change their ways or they will be brought down and their churches will crumble.

Praise God! The New Testament church is coming!