Jesus brought up this subject last night. The challenge is you cannot define success by worldly standards.

Jesus measures success by your faith in His promises. Without faith you cannot please Him. The Christ follower reaches out to Jesus for His every need. He lives by faith not by what he sees with his eyes.

The question is do you live for Jesus above all else and seek His will for your life? 

If you are not anchored in Jesus then you cannot expect the favor of God. 

If you are seeking success through the world you are telling Jesus that He is not important.

Jesus helps all those who are devoted and obedient to Him. This devotion is developed by prayer, reading the Bible, and listening for the voice of God. 

Success cannot come to a believer unless He is yielding to the authority of the Holy Spirit who lives in all Christ followers.

The success of Jesus is determined by those who take the Cross seriously. Are you willing to die to self and live for Jesus?

The blood of Christ is the only way you can be forgiven and restored to God. This requires a contrite heart and openness to repentance.

The gift of salvation is the ability to walk in oneness with Jesus and be obedient to His voice regardless of the personal cost or lack of logic. Your obedience will be rewarded with the favor of Jesus.

The defining factor of success is determined by your commitment to “Not my will but Yours be done.”

The Holy Spirit spoke to me last night about jurisdictional boundaries. This subject deals with the authenticity of Jesus and why you need Him in your life and the pitfalls of the world.

We all live under the jurisdiction of the laws of our country. If you are not a believer you can do anything you desire except break the laws.

The jurisdiction of Jesus comes to those who make a decision to live for Him above all else. There is a strong distinction between the jurisdiction of Jesus and religion. Jesus wants you to be free of religion, mandated works and living under laws. And, you are not bound to come under the authority of the rules of a church.

The jurisdiction of Jesus is designed to protect and help you have an abundant life filled with the goodness of God.

The contrast in the jurisdictional boundaries is crucial to your livelihood!

Jesus makes promises. The world cannot make any promises.

Jesus offers the gift of salvation and you can live with Him forever. The world offers a short lived life span.

Jesus provides supernatural protection against the evils in the world. The world is under the influence of Satan who wants to steal, kill and destroy.

Jesus promises to deliver you from trials and adversity. The world is helpless and void of any power to deliver you. 

Jesus has power and dominion over the heavens and earth. The world is vulnerable to natural disasters, economic woes, and diseases. Jesus has overcome the world and defeated death.

Jesus desires to have a personal and symbiotic relationship with a believer. He wants to speak with you and be present in all the moments of your life. The world offers false gods who want to destroy you.

Jesus shares His life with a believer. He provides supernatural strength, wisdom, joy, and protection. The world offers short lived emotional experiences without any sustaining qualities. 

Jesus can do for you what you can never receive from the world. He is a promise keeper!

Most believers never get to this decision. 

The journey with Jesus begins with your commitment to live for Him. This seals a believer with the Holy Spirit and begins the transformation from the old to the new. The Bible refers to this as sanctification. Your life at birth dies and you have a new identity in Jesus.

At some point the love of Christ superimposes the work of sanctification in a committed believer. 

This happens to believers who have a transfigured experience with Jesus and see His power and glory. They are never the same again. 

When you come into the presence of God and experience His terrifying power it causes a believer to be willing to give up everything because of the love of Christ. He knows first hand nothing is impossible for Jesus and He has your back.

The love of Christ will motivate a believer to do the works of Jesus regardless of the personal cost. He sees how insignificant his life is compared to Jesus and wants to give back to Jesus for what He has done for him.

When a believer becomes captivated by the love of Christ he projects an authentic witness of the holiness and power of Jesus. People see Jesus not an individual’s personal holiness!

Seek out Jesus with an open heart and a desire to do His will. Jesus wants you to walk with Him by faith and be enveloped by His overwhelming love!

“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

The water baptism performed by John the Baptist was just the beginning for a Jesus follower. John said Jesus is mightier than me and He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 

Most believers are baptized with water at some time in their life. This baptism is for the cleansing of all sin in an individual through repentance. There is no deep work of God in this baptism. If you accepted Jesus as as part of this baptism then you are a new creature in Christ and the transformation from your past to the new begins.

Jesus has to get to the deep roots of sin in your personality. Many of these sins are below your consciousness.

Jesus is omniscient and sees all the compulsive behaviors, genetic dispositions, and moral depravity in a human being.

This is why John the Baptist said Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

The Holy Spirit will search your inner nature and identify all your imperfections. Then Jesus will disintegrate the sin with holy fire. This baptism will not exclude all sin but it will make you acceptable to God. 

We are all born with a personality that wants to satisfy self and defy God. This condition will never entirely leave you here on earth.

This is why it is so important to be one with Jesus. He will convict you and point out where you need to change. 

It is impossible to be perfect with God. Don’t even try. Just worship Jesus in Spirit and Truth and be open to His correction.

Jesus desires for you to walk by faith and be obedient to His voice. This is why Abraham was credited with the righteousness of God. He obeyed God. 

We can never impress Jesus with our holiness but we can get His respect and love by walking in obedience to His instructions.

“So all Israel shall hear and fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you.” Deuteronomy 13:11

Jesus is very jealous and His jealousy is like a consuming fire. He takes after His Father’s heart. 

The worship of false gods is a very serious matter to God. He demands that anyone involved in this deception is be killed.

This chapter in Deuteronomy deals with lying prophets or dreamers who entice the Israelites to seek false gods. 

God is testing the Israelites to see whether they love the Lord their God with all their heart and with all their soul. 

The punishment from God to the lying prophets or dreamers is to be stoned to death. 

God speaks in further depth about this subject. If a family member, spouse, or a close friend secretly entices an Israelite to serve other gods he shall not consent or listen to them. They are to be killed along with anyone else involved in the conspiracy.

God also tells the Israelites if people living in a nearby town attempt to entice them to seek other gods the Israelites are to verify the accuracy of the report and if true then they are to kill every human being in the town. They are also instructed to take the valuables of the people and burn them up. 

The Christ follower cannot have anything to do with false gods or associate with any person attempting to entice you away from God.

God hates the worship of false gods and idols. He does not want you to be contaminated with this darkness. 

Jesus wants all of a believer. He is not willing to share you with any form of darkness!

This is a very difficult issue because we live in the world and depend on the world for our resources. We have been taught from an early age to seek out the world for our desires. We all have worldly thinking patterns.

As Christians, we set our minds on the things above through prayer, worship, Bible study and listening to the voice of God. Then we tend to turn off God. This causes us to get sidetracked by our desires and temptations from Satan.

It will never work to separate your life into Jesus time and worldly time. The two will never be compatible. The solution is to give Jesus authority over all of your life through the Holy Spirit.

Jesus is omniscient and knows your every need. He even knows of needs that are unaware to you. Jesus lives in you and wants to bring order to all of your life.

The Bible tells us we live in the world but are not of the world. But we all have bills to pay and many needs so we have to interact with the world.

The world is not your friend!

Commit your works to God each day and ask Him to fill you with His thoughts. 

Invite the Holy Spirit to have authority over your life. This will release the wisdom and order of Jesus into your thoughts and actions. Jesus will be guiding all your routine and important decisions during each day.

Be sure to inquire of Jesus on the big decisions and wait for His response. Avoid impulsive decisions. They usually bring misery.

Waiting on Jesus will bring a quality lifestyle and perfect timing. 

The moment you make a decision for Jesus you lose ownership of your life. In the spiritual realm you now belong to Jesus and He can do with you as he desires.

The transfer of ownership does not happen in the reality of most Christians. The sacrifice is too great. This grieves the Holy Spirit and causes distance in your relationship with Jesus.

Jesus will spend a life time of engineering trials to get your attention to release your life to Him.

Releasing ownership to Jesus will draw you into the reality of the Living Christ. He will be very present and alive in your life. This will not allow you to escape trials because they are the work of Jesus on the Cross. 

As a believer you will personally identify with the death and resurrection of Jesus. This causes pain and suffering as you sever ties with the world and let go of your independence.

Jesus is unlike a human being. He does not think or act like you. So there is a huge transformation required to become a valuable witness for Jesus.

The Christ follower is a humble disciple and has pure motives. He operates under the authority of the Holy Spirit and does not seek self acclaim.

There is a tremendous sense of freedom when you live by “Not my will but yours be done”. 

The big difference is you are walking with the Living Christ and living in His reality.

The privilege of living for Jesus is to wake up every day in the presence of the Son of God and hear His words spoken to you. 

Jesus has an abundant plan for your life that you can never achieve on your own!

Faith is believing in the invisible which is very difficult for a human being. We all like proof or evidence.

Without faith you cannot please Jesus. We get excited and our faith is boosted when Jesus gives us a mountain top experience. But when an arduous trial comes along the experience fizzles.

Don’t try to build your relationship with Jesus on experiences. They come and go. 

Jesus wants your faith to be without emotional attachments because when things are good, Jesus is good. And, when things are bad Jesus has failed you.

Your mood swings determine your standing with Jesus. Trials bring anger, fear, and disappointment. They weaken your faith and distance you from Jesus.

The challenge is learning how to walk with unyielding faith regardless of your circumstances. This is almost impossible for a human being unless you are walking in close oneness with Jesus.

Practice strong faith building principles!

Pray every day and commit your works to Jesus. Seek His will for your life.

Listen for the voice of Jesus. He desires to encourage and protect you. As a believer, you have the mind of Christ.

Read the Bible daily under the influence of the Holy Spirit. He makes biblical words into powerful spiritual principles.

Invite the Holy Spirit to have authority over your life. He is the life of  Christ and is sealed inside a believer. This will bring the presence of Jesus into all your daily tasks.

Give your negative feelings to Jesus and ask Him to strengthen your faith.

Reach out to Jesus for your every need. He may not answer the big prayers right away but He will meet your basic needs.

Jesus operates in His perfect timing. He asks you to wait upon Him because He is doing a deep surgical work to refine your personality and character to align with His values.

Jesus will deliver you. He always keeps His promises!

Someone would have to be crazy not to want these promises for their life.

Christianity is not relevant but the Living Christ is essential to a human being.

I am talking about Jesus who is alive and has power and dominion over the heavens and earth. Jesus is not elusive and can become your best friend and protector today.

Forget about religion, rules, and laws. Jesus wants nothing to do with them. 

Jesus desires to have conversations with you and be very present in your life. This is not fantasy; it is the authenticity of Jesus.

Jesus is not looking for perfection because He knows you can never match up to His standards.

Jesus wants to have a personal and embracing relationship with you. 

What is required to inherit these powerful promises?

Make a decision to live for Jesus by faith and reject all false gods and idols. 

Jesus hates sin because it will ruin your life. He is not asking you to conform to religious standards. Jesus is simply saying walk with Me by faith and seek My will for your life.

Faith is trusting in the promises of Jesus and not what you see with your eyes. Jesus wants to give you an abundant life filled with His goodness.

Jesus wants to make you clean from your past so you can stand blameless in His sight. This happens by asking the blood of Jesus to cover your sins and be willing to turn away from darkness.

Salvation is a living gift from Jesus and starts with your decision to live for Him. This gift does not relate to a timeline. It is experiencing the Living Christ every day of your life. 

Jesus wants to be your best friend in a symbiotic relationship where both parties mutually benefit from each other!

The Holy Spirit spoke to me last night with words and visions. He announced the beginning of the great tribulation. There will be economic woes, wars, diseases, and famine. Many people will die.

The judgement of God will touch every human being. Jesus is a God of retribution and this is a time of punishing the world for defying the ways of God. 

Many in the Body of Christ and non believers operate with clandestine behaviors. They attempt to hide their secret sins. This is foolishness with God. Jesus sees everything and nothing is hidden from His eyes. 

The goal of many is to achieve a comfortable life and they operate with twisted motives, lies and boasting. 

Sexual immortality is rampant. There are no rules and anything goes. 

Christianity is not relevant. The leaders push laws, works and religion. 

Walking with the Living Jesus is not a priority and the importance of the Holy Spirit is minimized or rejected.

There is little or no respect for Jesus.

This a time to come clean with Jesus. Confess your sins and turn away from darkness. Ask Jesus to cover you with His blood and be open to His correction.

Make a decision for Jesus and seek His will for your life. Invite the Holy Spirit to have authority over your life and He will be very present in your thoughts and actions.

The decision is either turn to Jesus or face misery and destruction!

If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
    and you make the Most High your dwelling,
no harm will overtake you,
    no disaster will come near your tent.