This is a important subject and affects every believer. Religion tends to plaster over the troubles of a believer with the promises of God. This might work but many times is merely be a “feel good” ointment.

I have heard so many people say they were told to walk by faith and God would deliver them. Then nothing happens. This narrative will address this issue.

God is not under obligation to do anything for you because of your works.

There were many faithful believers in history that never received the promises of God. You can confirm this in Hebrews 11.

God tests believers through prophesy so every promise or revelation from Jesus may not come to fruition.

The Israelites were tested for forty years and not one adult stepped foot into the Promised Land.

Speaking a promise of God to someone in trouble and saying have faith is merely an act of religion. There is no guarantee the promise will come into fruition.

Listen for the promises spoken to you by the Holy Spirit. Cherish the promises and walk by faith believing God will keep His word.

You can trust the promise of the gift of salvation but promises concerning deliverance, healing, or an immediate miracle are in the hands of God.

How does a believer deal with truth and conjecture concerning the promises of God?

Walk with God by faith.

Live in contrition (repentance) covered by the blood of Jesus.

Listen to the Holy Spirit but take every word captive to the obedience of Christ Jesus.

Do not be afraid to confront God or ask for wisdom about your circumstances.

Release the feelings of anger, fear and betrayal to God and pray for inner healing.

Seek out mature believers who hear from God and ask them to pray for you and confirm the words of God.

Read the Bible under the authority of the Holy Spirit.

Pray vigilantly.

God does tend to deliver His people but He works in His ways and in His perfect timing.

You are at the mercy and compassion of God. Remember, He has power and dominion over the Heavens and the Earth and can change your life in a split second.

There is no greater power than God so regardless of your circumstances He is your only true option for help.

Your troubles were engineered by God for His purposes. He wants you to be free of the world and a powerful witness for Christ. The adversities were designed to transform you into the personality of Christ.

The purpose of God is teaching believers how to grow into the roots of Christ. This is a lifelong work and nothing is more important to God.

You were born into the roots of the world and a desire to live for self. And, your roots tend to control your life.

It is impossible to see into all your roots but God sees everything. The roots of the world will lead to misery and destruction.

Growing into the roots of the Cross is contrary to all human wisdom. Your roots are influenced by genetic dispositions, a deep desire to satisfy self, the impressions of family and friends, and the teachings of religion.

Your roots are established by the worship of false gods and idols. The roots of the world lead to compulsive behaviors and greed for the life of luxury.

The challenge is growing new roots into the heart of Christ. This has nothing to do with religion or the ways of the world.

The starting point is to make a commitment to live for Christ. Don’t try to make changes. Leave this in the hands of God. Jesus is just looking for believers who are open to change and desiring to walk in the ways of God.

Jesus wants to build a personal and embracing relationship with a believer. Center your life on Jesus and your roots will change dramatically.

Your commitment to Jesus will become stronger as you grow in spiritual maturity and wisdom.

How do you develop the new roots?

Pray everyday seeking the will of God.

Be open to the conviction of the Holy Spirit. He is the life of Christ and lives inside you.

Read the Bible under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Ask the Spirit to bring clarity and understanding to the Word.

Invite the Holy Spirit to have authority over your life.

Listen to the voice of God and respond with obedience to His instructions.

God wants you to walk by faith believing in His promises and not by what you see with your eyes. Without faith you cannot please God.

God is most concerned your motives and decision making are compatible with His values.

Change comes through the power of the Holy Spirit working in a believer with an open heart.

The steps above will change your thinking patterns from self indulgent centered thoughts to the thoughts coming from the mind of Christ.

God has made promises about the wicked. They will suffer and eventually be destroyed. There is a reward for the righteous who walk with Jesus. God will judge the earth and disarm the wicked and deliver the righteous.

You may look with your eyes and see evil almost everywhere. Or, you may be in a training season like Job and experiencing misery and destruction.

But remember, God keeps His promises. He is obligated to honor His words.

He is a God of intercession praying through the Holy Spirit when you and I are at a loss for how to pray and cannot see clearly into the war between light and darkness. God makes intercession with deep groanings which cannot be uttered.

The battle today is taking place mostly through prayer and intercession.

The Body of Christ is compromising the values of Jesus to appeal to the changing culture in our world. We are not confronting the new liberal attitudes and laws with the powerful precepts of God. Our leaders are fearful or apologetic to stand up for the righteousness of God.

The eyes of God see everything and are measuring all things in your life through the powerful oracles of God. Walk in the light of Jesus turning away from all forms of darkness.

God is raising up a remnant loyal and obedient to Christ. Your hope is in God. Listen for His voice, live in His Word, and walk by faith yielding to the Holy Spirit.

The battle is not yours. It is not by strength, nor by might but by My Spirit!

Christ disappears, Satan emerges and a believer’s life is shattered!

This change in authority is orchestrated by God. I have lived through and survived this nightmare and can assure you this is a manifestation of God. And, it can happen to any believer.

Jesus does not answer your prayers and gives Satan the green light to disrupt and destroy your life. The believer has done nothing to cause these actions and is walking by faith with Jesus.

What is the purpose of God in taking this course of action? There are many reasons but some of this explanation is buried in the deep mysteries of God.

In the future we all will have to endure the shocking and devastating judgments of God. No one will be able to escape.

God is preparing for the end times by doing what seems like a cruel and brutal work in the lives of many dedicated believers.

God has chosen a remnant of believers to be crucified by the Cross and transformed into powerful witnesses for Jesus. They will be anointed to perform the miracles of Jesus.

Is the extreme testing and suffering really necessary? God thinks so. There cannot be any impurity in the remnant He is raising up for this effort. Suffering and pain creates the righteousness of God. There is no other way.

God likes to attack Satan through intercession. He does this by making intercession through the lives of believers with the power of the Holy Spirit. Intercession is bringing down strongholds and setting believers free.

The intercessor has to be walking in oneness with God and willing to sacrifice his life to achieve the victory over sin.

You cannot have expectations walking with Jesus. The Cross is a mix of joy, sampling the goodness of God and suffering.

We get sidetracked into thinking life will be mostly goodness and forget we are walking in the footsteps of Jesus.

With God your life is defined by light and darkness. This permeates the thoughts and actions of God!

As you grow spiritually you will become more identified with the thoughts, intercession, and purposes of Jesus.

Jesus looks at the world and sees where actions need to take place to overcome the evil. He then works through the Body of Christ to pray and make intercession to bring down the strongholds. The intercessor becomes a target for Satan to attack because He is a powerful force for God.

Jesus came into the world to make intercession for unbelievers. He was aggressively attacked by religious leaders working through the influence of Satan. This courageous effort of intercession caused Jesus to suffer an ugly death but His sacrifice created the gift of salvation to all who reach out to Him.

God is very angry at this time over the lack of fear and respect for the name of Jesus. He is engineering a series of judgments to deal with this rebellion.

This narrative deals with how you as a believer identifies with Jesus. If you take Jesus seriously and are obedient to His voice you will be taken into this conflict. Satan is very powerful and can destroy your life without the help and protection of Jesus.

It is very important to pray for wisdom, walk by faith, and put on the full armor of God at all times.

Listen for the voice of God and respond with obedience.

Test every Spirit. Satan has infiltrated our churches and is actively trying to discredit Jesus and His teachings.

Intercession will influence your life. How far are you willing to go to please God? The Holy Spirit can put you through a torture chamber making you a precursor of His coming judgments.

The Body of Christ is very vulnerable at this time and Satan is attempting to shut down those with a strong prophetic voice.

Identifying with Jesus is participating in the war between light and darkness.

It may not look like Jesus is doing anything to rid the world of evil but He has a powerful plan and will be victorious.

The Body of Christ has no idea what it means to be a disciple of Christ. Most believers live in the definition given out by religion.

Religion paints a pretty picture of the outcome for those who walk with Jesus. Moses, the OT prophets and Paul would strongly disagree as evidenced by their lives.

Jesus was not wealthy. He was despised by many and spent a great deal of His time confronting the religious leaders. He died as a common criminal.

This inaccurate characterization of a Christian starts at the time a believer makes a decision for Jesus. You are not joining a church or required to participate in religious activities. And, you are not asked to live under laws.

To become a disciple you agree to live for Jesus above all else and seek His will for your life. The believer walks by faith believing in the promises of God and not what he sees with his eyes.

The landscape of your ministry will be determined by your loyalty and obedience to Jesus. If you are serious about following God like the prophets and disciples you are guaranteed to have a tumultuous life.

The disciple has no control over his life. He operates on the model of the Cross. God can take away all your possessions, make you sick, or isolate you in the desert. He will test you in many different ways and make promises that don’t come into reality. He can fill your life with sorrows and heartache.

The great leaders for Jesus are sacrificial men and women emulating “Not my will but Yours be done”. They are powerfully anointed ministers and perform awesome miracles.

If you want to abide in the reality of the Living Christ you must obey the voice of Jesus regardless of the cost or lack of logic. This is how Abraham became the Father of many nations.

This narrative deals with the difference between a Christ follower and a Christian! The difference is characterized by commitment and the experiential knowledge of God.

The Christian goes through the motions of religion and never encounters the reality of Jesus.

The Christian has strong ties to the world. He allows the world to influence his thinking, decision making and motives.

Most Christians are not willing to let go of their independence and give God permission to do with them as He pleases.

The Christ follower is totally committed and dedicated to Jesus. His priority above all else is seeking the will of God. He is obedient to God regardless of the cost or lack of logic.

He lives in the reality of the Living Christ. He hears the voice of God and experiences Jesus in all the moments of his life. He lives by this biblical principle; “For in Him, we live and move and have our being”.

The experiential knowledge comes by meeting the transfigured Christ and becoming enveloped by His greatness and glory. When you see Jesus for who He is you develop an insatiable appetite for more of Him.

The Christ follower develops a personal and embracing relationship with Jesus built on faith and knows in the depth of his heart Jesus has power and dominion over all things.

The Christ follower sees the magnificence of Jesus compared to the insignificance of his own life. He realizes Jesus can do for him what he can never do for himself.

The word from God today is subliminal referring to a stimulus below the threshold of consciousness perceived by or affecting a believer’s mind or body sometimes without them being aware of it.

In the context of God, this is the subliminal work of intercession taking place below the consciousness of a believer.

This is a complex subject and I will attempt to bring the clarity and wisdom of God to this subject.

Intercession starts when God sees a person entwined in sin with no method of escape. God realizes the prayers of a believer will not yield the desired results so He chooses intercession as the method to get a victory.

Then God chooses a believer to be an intercessor for His purposes. Many times this is someone you have been praying for or involved in your life.

Intercession is never about your spiritual gifts or the strength of your prayers. You are giving Jesus the right to work through the Holy Spirit dwelling within you. You may not even be aware of who the intercession is directed at.

The Holy Spirit allows you to identify with the emotions and thoughts of another person. This is the work of intercession and God lets you see into the life of the afflicted individual.

This can be manifested in many different ways. You may experience panic attack symptoms, be unable to sleep, be filled with anger, sadness or other emotions. God is letting you identify with the life of those people you are making intercession for under the authority of the Holy Spirit.

An intercessor has a close relationship with God. Intercession is based on this Bible verse “Filling up the flesh with the afflictions of Christ for His body the church”. God is doing the work through the Holy Spirit dwelling inside you. In a way you are on the Cross bearing the sins of others.

Intercession begins and ends with God. You have no control over this agonizing work. Your body is in a war between light and darkness.

Most of this work is done below your consciousness however God allows you to enter into the life of the person you are interceding for and identify with their emotions and personality.

Intercession is a very high calling from God and takes you into the depths of darkness. You don’t have the ability to pray the powerful words of God but the Holy Spirit can pray the perfect words to bind Satan and bring victory.

There are no boundaries for intercession. This can include a nation, church or a business. God is choosing to work through the Body of Christ to break the power of sin and bring His righteousness into the situation.

Jesus was appointed as the intercessor for all mankind. God placed all the sins of humanity on His body. He died for all sin and was resurrected so you could live with Him forever.

Intercession is the work of the Cross to set people free. Your body is taking the place of Jesus and God is working powerfully through the Holy Spirit to set people free.

Last night God kept me awake for several hours concerning the subject of Obadiah. This is a classic story about the conflict between light and darkness resulting in the judgment of God.

Obadiah converted from an Edomite to Judaism. God made him a prophet. Obadiah came from a wealthy family but lost most of his money taking care of 200 prophets which were being persecuted by King Ahab. Obadiah hid the prophets in caves and provided water and food to keep them alive.

This prophesy about the conflict between light and darkness is illustrated through the lives of Esau and Jacob.

Esau and Jacob were twin brothers. Isaac was their father. Esau disregarded God’s laws, married women outside of Israel, and didn’t respect his birthright. Jacob respected God even though he made many mistakes in life.

Esau is credited with establishing the nation of Edom.

The prophesy of Obadiah identified three central themes about Edom.

They were a very prideful people.

They did not fear or respect God.

They participated in the destruction and ravaging of Israel and treated the people with cruelty.

Obadiah prophesied Edom would be destroyed and the house of Jacob (Israel) would be delivered and restored to holiness.

The message of Obadiah is alive today. We are headed for big troubles and the punishment of God.

There was a miscarriage of justice administered by the Edomites. This same brutal injustice is taking place today against Christ followers all over the world. This is spearheaded by the work of Satan.

The shadow of Edom is reflected in many nations around the world. In the United States there is a significant decline in Christianity and a rising movement to replace the precepts of God with liberal laws and contemporary views. The objective is to remove God from our society.

The wealthy are idolized and the poor are just an outcast of society.

The Body of Christ has become corrupted and filled with religious views which have nothing to do with God. The pride of Christians is thinking they are better than non believers and deserve the goodness of God.

The judgment of God will touch every fabric of humanity. No one will be able to escape the fires of God.

The malfeasance (wrong doing) reaches the highest level of government officials and religious leaders in our society. We are a nation of immoral people operating with impure motives. Self indulgence is the characteristic of our society.

Obadiah is coming soon. The call from God is to repent and return to Christ. Your only hope is in the Cross of Christ. We have to live for Jesus and turn away from all forms of darkness.

This is about taking Jesus seriously and making a decision to live for Him above all else.

Today I am dealing with the rudiments of Christ. This covers the basic principles of man’s relationship with God.

Everything begins with God. He created the heavens, earth and every living being.

God created you in His image and He knew you before you were born. When you came into the world God had already devised a plan to draw you to Himself. God knows you were born with a desire to live for self and are susceptible to a genetic disposition for sin through your family ancestry. And, you have to face all the dirty tactics of Satan.

God’s purpose is twofold. He wants you to accept the gift of salvation and learn how to walk in oneness with Him.

God will never force Himself on a human being. He will introduce you to biblical truths working through family, friends, and religion. He will pierce your soul with the Holy Spirit convicting you of the need for God.

You must reach out to God and He will respond with love and forgiveness for your sins. You receive the gift of salvation by faith confessing with your lips and believing in your heart Jesus Christ is Lord.

At this time you are sealed with the Holy Spirit who is the life of Christ. He is your guardian and teacher.

Now you are at a crossroads. You can seek out the Living Christ and walk in oneness with Him. Or, settle for a mediocre relationship.

This Bible verse defines what God thinks is important. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all the other things will be added to you. Your priority is Jesus and seeking His will for your life. As you do this, Jesus promises to meet all your needs.

This decision comes down to agreeing to live for Jesus above all else and be willing to die to self and give up your independence.

Very few people go this far with God. This decision creates suffering, loss, and many trials. The upside is you will live in the reality of God and He will share His authority with you. Jesus will be your best friend and involved in all the moments of your life.

Jesus is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. He desires to give you more than you ask or think.

God will not reveal the big picture to you. He may give you some glimpses but the picture is hidden away.

As you grow in spiritual maturity the picture will seem more cloudy and distant.

God lives in the moment!