“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12

The ministry of Jesus is tough work. You are in the middle of a war between light and darkness.

This ministry is not about living in the bubble of religion or attempting to project yourself as a holy person.

The Christ follower has to be prepared for ministry and equipped by the Holy Spirit. You will fall flat on your face and fail God unless you are fully concentrated on Jesus through prayer and living in abandonment to Him. There can’t be any impediment in your relationship with Jesus.

Jesus will bring the challenges of ministry directly to you. You do not have to go looking for ministry.

You must be grounded in the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus brings you the challenges of a new ministry His goal is to use you to break the bondage of sin over the individuals involved.

Ministry is always about the war between light and darkness. The first step is vigilant prayer seeking wisdom and strength for your ministry.

Most likely, God will instruct you to enter into a social relationship with those individuals God has assigned to you. This will enable you to be a light for God and make a powerful impression demonstrating the values of Jesus. This usually happens without any preaching or attempting to convince someone to turn to God.

The Holy Spirit knows the personality and mind set of the individuals He brings to you for ministry. And, He knows what will be most effective in touching someone with the love of God.

Most people will be influenced by a believer who expresses a genuine friendship and desire to enter into their life. Remember, religion turns most people off but the authenticity of Jesus working through the Holy Spirit saves lives.

The unconditional love of God working through a believer is a powerful weapon in your ministry. This is non discriminatory and without any motives to benefit yourself.

Jesus doesn’t think or act like you. And, He is perfect. He doesn’t want companionship with your old life.

The miracle of salvation is Jesus creates a new life. The baggage from the past is of no value to Jesus. Your old life has been tainted with sin and the ways of the world. Jesus offers you the gift of salvation and the ability to be become born again by the Spirit and Water.

Imagine a steady stream of Living Water transforming your personality, thoughts, decision making and moral compass.

God wants His originality to shape your life. You might think God wants to use your strengths, education, and experiences to draw people to Christ. This is an incorrect analysis of how God works.

Jesus wants to stamp your life with His originality. He changes how you think and gives you a new perspective on life.

Jesus gives you supernatural wisdom and knowledge in all your endeavors. You have the mind of Christ.

Jesus makes it very clear you have nothing to offer to Him but He can give you a new life filled with the character of Jesus.

The originality of Jesus comes through prayer, listening for His voice and meditating on His Word. The Holy Spirit convicts you of sin and teaches you the values of Jesus.

The contrast between Jesus and a human being is almost impossible to understand. This is about light and darkness. Jesus is holy, pure and without any sin. Humanity is depraved, lives for self and defies God.

The point of no return in walking with Jesus is the Cross. Very few accept the personal sacrifice of the Cross and get to experience the majesty and glory of God.

The Cross is about surrender and resting in Jesus. You have to agree to be crucified with Christ and die to self. Jesus won’t make this decision for you or force you to surrender to Him. It is an act of your will.

There is a strong spiritual correlation between surrendering your will to God and resting in Him. Your surrender is a decision to seek the will of God above all else and give up the rights to your life. This is an internal decision of the heart and does not relate to your external life. The heart has to change first before the sanctification of the Cross begins in your life.

Your surrender will probably lead to changes in your external life but God is most concerned about your commitment to live for Him. This is a crisis of the will. Most people are not willing to give up everything and die to self. It is fearful and sometimes painful.

Once you get get past the point of surrender the believer is called to rest in God by faith. Jesus becomes responsible to meet your every need while you live in oneness with Him. You walk by faith believing in His promises.

Surrender is not about religion but most believers gravitate to religion and works. God desires for you is to live in communion with the Living Christ and get to know His ways.

The Israelites are a perfect example of failing to surrender to God and resting in Him. They rebelled against the plans of God and complained about the lack of provisions to meet their needs.

This made God angry and He swore the Israelites would never enter into His rest. The Israelites were not willing to surrender their will to God and all the adults died in the desert without entering the Promised Land.

After you reach the point of no return, God begins what seems like the torturous process of making you Christ like. He tests you severely, engineers trials in your life and examines all your decisions and motives by the standards of the Cross.

You live in the reality of Christ and enter into a supernatural lifestyle. The privilege of the Cross is Jesus shares His life and authority with you.

Jesus becomes so much bigger than anything in the world and makes your life so insignificant compared to His greatness!

The Holy Spirit wants you to look at this subject with the discretion (or discernment) of Jesus. This will help you navigate through difficult trials and understand Jesus doesn’t break the heart of a believer just to make him suffer. He is preparing you for bigger things in His kingdom.

If you are a Christ follower your life belongs to God and was purchased with the blood of Jesus.

Your life is now an open book for God to use as He pleases. There is no propriety or autonomy for a believer. The standards of society are crushed by the act of Jesus on the Cross.

The purpose of God is to get a believer anchored in the reality of the Living Christ. This will cause you to let go of your personal desires and plans and seek the will of Jesus regardless of where it takes you or how disruptive it is to your lifestyle.

Jesus breaks your heart to sanctify you with His life. If you personally experience the Cross your brokenness will make you a powerful witness for Jesus. And, you will enter into a deep fellowship with Jesus.

Your ego has to be crushed if you are planning to serve God. Jesus wants you to operate with the purity of His motives. Most importantly, you have learn to be completely dependent on Jesus to meet your every need. Faith is an action or expression of your lifestyle.

God tests believers for one purpose. He wants you to be obedient to His words regardless of the outcome in your life. Don’t look for results; just please God with your obedience.

Jesus shares his authority with believers who have been crucified and live wholly for Him without expectations.

The words “Not my will but yours be done” are engraved in the heart of a believer sold out for Jesus. The will of God is to live in oneness with Jesus in the common and ordinary moments of life. This is where you will find Jesus today.

Most Christ followers want the highs of the transfigured life and the blessings of God. This is just a fraction of life with Jesus.

The spiritual journey is about walking with Jesus by faith and obedience to His voice. And, the Christ follower lives under the authority of the Holy Spirit.

The upside of the Cross is to operate with the resurrected power of Jesus and to be filled with the love, strength, joy and protection of God.

God ways are perfect even though they are very hard to accept with a broken heart.

Expect the unexpected with Jesus! The outcome will be better than you can ever imagine!

God reminded me today sin is inevitable for every human being. The challenge is how do you deal with sin which defines your relationship with God.

The subject about sin started with God in the Old Testament.

God spoke from Mount Sinai with the laws concerning sin. The law is a black and white declaration from God. It does not care about your genetic disposition for sin or your human frailties.

God knew that no one can keep the laws of God. If you attempt to live by the law you will fail and bring condemnation upon yourself.

The laws of God convict you about your inner nature. You realize the need for something greater than yourself to please God.

God knew about this conflict from the beginning of creation. He created Adam and Eve in His image. They were without sin until they were deceived by the Serpent and disobeyed God.

From this point on, all humanity was born with a desire to live for self and defy God.

God is holy and saw the despicable nature of humanity. He destroyed all humanity except for eight souls but this did not solve the problem of sin.

God desired to keep His integrity unblemished and provide a method for human beings to be restored to God. Jesus was the perfect solution.

The sacrifice of Jesus provided atonement for all sin through His blood. Your sins are forgiven and you can stand blameless before God.

However, the act of the Cross did not provide a human being with moral dominion over sin. The Cross allows you to live a life pleasing to God and to be free from the bondage of sin but you will be a sinner until you go to Heaven.

God created a method to help humanity overcome sin. The gift of salvation offers the ability to be born again and sealed with the Holy Spirit who is the life of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit convicts you of sin and transforms you into the character of Jesus. He teaches you how to by live the values of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit is your moral compass. He keeps you on track with God and examines all your motives and decision making.

It is important to make the Holy Spirit your best friend and invite Him to have authority over your life. He is the only way you can stay untarnished from the world.

Spend time with the Holy Spirit each day. He wants to speak to you and teach you how to walk in the footsteps of Jesus!

This is Easter week and Sunday is a worldwide celebration honoring the sacrifice made by Jesus. Easter is not about emotions. It is about your response to the sacrifice of Jesus.

As a believer, we have been crucified with Christ and our life is a microcosm of God. We no longer have ownership over our future.

Jesus will determine how you will be a living sacrifice following in His footsteps. Your only response is to walk by faith with obedience to God.

The Holy Spirit spoke to me last night about the concept of God. He used the illustration of a figurehead compared to the Living Christ.

The figurehead is a nominal leader without real power.

The Living Christ has power and dominion over the heavens and earth.

Easter will never be relevant until you encounter the Living Christ. And, this will only happen when you give up self-control of your life.

This truth must be engraved in your heart; “Not my will but Yours be done.” This is a decision of the heart. Your intellect will never make this decision.

The goal is to walk in oneness with Jesus yielding to the authority of the Holy Spirit. He is the life of Jesus dwelling in all believers and is your link to the heart of the Living Christ.

It is impossible to achieve this goal unless you have experiential knowledge without doubt about the sovereignty of Jesus. Abraham heard the voice of God and promptly responded with obedience. He was fully engaged with the Living God. Abraham believed God has power and dominion over the heavens and earth.

If you really accept Jesus for who He is then it becomes relatively simple to obey Him. How can you dispute our God who can shake the earth, change the sun into darkness and raise people from death to live with Him forever?

God wants your obedience to His voice. He speaks and we are instructed to obey Him without compromise or debate. If you start to question God you will not obey Him. You will be a traitor to the purposes of God.

The Christ follower is willing to lay down his life for Jesus. He lives in a pensive relationship with God and is fully engaged in worshiping Jesus in Spirit and Truth.

Easter is honoring the sacrifice of Jesus and is a reminder to zealously seek His will for your life. Easter is accepting the truth you are a sacrifice for Jesus and this sacrifice will be lived out in your life according to the purposes of God.

The upside of Easter is the ability to live in the resurrected power of Jesus. Have an awesome Easter!

God does not let you see very far into the future and tends to keep His plans hidden from you. The challenge is living in oneness with God regardless of your circumstances.

It is important to understand God’s order and His permissive will as you navigate through life. When you make a decision for Christ you are giving Jesus the right to bring His order into your life.

The order of God consists of different seasons and at times will bring testing and sorrows. There will be times of prosperity and deprivation in your journey with God.

The biblical principle is understanding God’s order is unchangeable. It is a waste of time to argue with God over His order. If you resist or fight with God you will become injured and subject to the discipline of God. You can’t control God but you can control your emotions in dealing with Him.

God’s permissive will is about the decisions and actions you will make today. The goal is to operate under the authority of the Holy Spirit. As you become knowledgeable and experienced in operating in God’s permissive will your life will gradually conform to the order of God.

The Christ follower cannot function effectively in the permissive will of God unless he or she is living in oneness with Jesus.

This does not mean you are without sin but God doesn’t want anything blocking you from Him like emotions, compulsive behaviors, or living just to satisfy your self nature.

You can get to completeness (not perfection) with God by taking these steps everyday.

Confess your sins to Jesus and ask Him to cover you with His blood. Ask God to show you anything in your life that is unpleasant to Him.

Be open to the conviction of the Holy Spirit and turn away from all form of darkness. Remember, the perfect and acceptable will of God is different for each believer. Let God be your judge!

Pray each day and commit your works to God.

Invite the Holy Spirit to have authority over your life.

Listen to the voice of God.

Spend a few minutes each day reading the Bible. This is a life changing experience.

Learn to be obedient to the instructions of God even when they make no sense or are very costly.

The most important goal is to recognize and accept the order of God while functioning in God’s permissive will under the authority of the Holy Spirit.

God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him!

This narrative describes the reality of God working in the life of a believer and is based on the biblical principle “God is at work to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

We make choices many times a day whether to operate in the salvation of Jesus or from our self nature. No one can stay locked into the gift of salvation a hundred percent of the time. If you could then you would be equal to Jesus.

Let me define the gift of salvation. If you are a Christ follower the Holy Spirit is sealed within you. He is the life of Christ. You abide in the gift of salvation by submitting to the authority of the Holy Spirit. Sounds easy but it isn’t.

I tried to do this once while embarking on an evangelical ministry ordained by God. I was mostly successful at first until the severe testing of Jesus drove me in circles. God made me so mad that I threw up my hands and quit the ministry after about three years. I learned from this lesson you can never be perfect and God doesn’t even want you to try.

We operate in the gift of salvation through prayer, listening to the voice of God and meditating on the Word of God.

You can be living under the authority of the Holy Spirit and discover things can be miserable. Remember, you made a commitment “Not my will but yours be done.”

There are two factors at work for those living under the authority of the Holy Spirit.

God is at work to refine you into His character and this can be brutal and painful at times. He wants to break ungodly motives and the disposition to live for self.

Secondly, God works through believers to break the bondage of sin over humanity. This is usually through intense intercession and prayer.

God creates intercession through your Spirit. He causes you to identify with the emotions and darkness over an individual, organization, or even a nation. This is torturous at times standing in the middle of a war between light and darkness. The goal of God is to bring down the stronghold and set people free from the bondage of sin. He does this while you are just an innocent bystander.

The point is do not expect everything to be neat and perfect yielding to the Holy Spirit.

Don’t give up! God keeps His promises.

The title for this narrative came from the Holy Spirit today. The definition of a foregone conclusion is a result that can be predicted with certainty. The world can never deliver this promise.

The authenticity of Jesus is He keeps His promises. You can trust Jesus implicitly. The gift of salvation is an ironclad promise from God. This promise is a guarantee to live with God forever here on earth and after death.

Jesus states He is the author of life. This is a new life born of the Spirit and Water. You are transformed from your natural condition at birth into a new creature in Christ Jesus. This begins with your decision for Christ and never ends.

Jesus promises to fill you with His heavenly attributes of strength, wisdom, joy and protection. This promise can be claimed today. Ask and you will receive.

Jesus spoke to me over a year ago about a powerful revival in our colleges. This is happening now all over our country.

Jesus has also told me there will be a powerful revival in England. This will happen soon. The point is do not discredit prophesy.

If you are experiencing a difficult trial in life Jesus has promised to deliver you.

Jesus has spoken about how you can please Him. The Christ follower must walk by faith believing in the promises of God and not by what you see with your eyes. If walk with Jesus with unwavering faith He promises to fill you with His righteousness. You cannot obtain the righteousness of God through religion.

Jesus promises He will do for you what you cannot do for yourself. He asks you to rest in Him and cease from striving. The promise is to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.

Jesus promises to talk to believers. You have the mind of Christ.

Jesus promises to make you a fountain of Living Water touching those around you with the renown, praise and glory of God.

Jesus promises to forgive all your sins and restore you to God. Live each day in the blood of Jesus.

Jesus promises to fill you with the Holy Spirit. He is the life of Christ and will teach you how to apply the values of Jesus into your life.

Jesus promises to equip and anoint you for a perfect ministry to bring glory to God.

Jesus promises to draw near to those who draw near to Him. You draw near to God through prayer and reading the Bible under the auspices of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus promises to share His authority with you. This will happen to those who are obedient to the voice of God. Jesus wants your obedience to Him regardless of the cost or lack of common sense.

This subject speaks deeply into your concept of obedience to God.

To understand this subject we have to define obedience to God. This has nothing to do with religion.

Very simply, God speaks and you and I obey without compromise or argument. For example, you bring an issue before God and He responds in different ways. Here are some typical responses of God:

Let go. I will deal with this.

Rest in Me.

Follow My instructions.

Trust Me implicitly.

I am at work through the Body of Christ.

Look no further than Me.

Walk by faith.

Live in My light and reject all darkness.

First of all, you have to be in a personal and embracing relationship with the Living Christ. You have to be in touch with the Holy Spirit and consistently hearing His voice.

Secondly, when Jesus speaks you and I must learn to respond with immediate obedience. This can only happen when you accept the words of God through the Holy Spirit dwelling within you. This is God speaking to the character of God inside you.

If you accept the words of Jesus through your intellect you will not be obedient. You will rationalize this in a way to avoid action.

The conflict is between how you make decisions. Are you directed by the Spirit of God or self? God doesn’t want you to make decisions based on logic or life circumstances. He wants total obedience to His instructions and guidance. This is how you walk by faith and please the heart of God.

The promises of God are of no value until you and I understand obedience to God. The promises come into fruition by your faith and obedience to God.

The discipline of obedience will take you into a different sphere of life with God. You will see God for who He is and live in His reality.

Who in their right mind would choose to enter into a den of wild lions? We don’t function from a right mind. We make decisions by faith and obedience with the mind of Christ.