Sometime during last October, I was talking to my daughter about the promise land on our way home from Springfield when the Lord spoke these very words to me, “Why can’t you see what I see for you in Ava.” The other day I woke up and was pondering on the promise land again. I kept saying to myself do you see what God sees in Ava over and over again. Then all the sudden I remembered a song that had the line do you see what I see? in it. The actual title is “Do you hear what I hear”. This song was written during the Cuban Missile Crisis, which tells me sometimes trying to see your promise land isn’t always easy when difficulties are already taking place.

As I am writing this out, the Lord showed me His sense of humor, this song was written in October. Funny, how the Lord uses things to get your attention. Anyways, this song has four verses in it, each has a focal point: Do you see what I see?, Do you hear what I hear?, Do you know what I know?, and Listen to what I say! I want to talk about each focal point from a different view, since we know this song is about Jesus. Good news, Jesus is still part of this focal point. God promised you a special place even when it doesn’t appear so promising.  So no, you don’t have to wait to go to Heaven to see your promise land working. Remember, heaven is a place where no difficulties take place anyways. Each focal point does work hand in hand. Let’s get started.

Do you see what I see? - This reminds me of the story of the twelve spies spying out the promise land. Numbers 13:17-20 17) “And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: 18) And see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many; 19) And what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds; 20) And what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.” Gee! What a start. It tells you what you’re to focus on. Yes, the good, the bad, including some ugly. Why? The good represent the promises and blessings you’re to automatically receive no matter where God sends you; just know it’s your promised land. God needs you to be aware of any trials or tribulations before entering into your promised land. Don’t be afraid. Remember, God is right there for you in those situations. Here’s an interesting fact. God will be showing His power and glory to all mankind on your behalf. Yes, for the believers, non believers, and the enemy (satan and his workers) as a testimony, He’s in control, especially for those who believe and follow after him. You can stand on these scriptures. John 16:33 “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulations: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” Psalm 23:4 “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Exodus 14:14 “The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” Don’t forsake any scriptures that the Lord shows you about obtaining your promised land. God will point out more and more as you go. Always position yourself in seeing what God sees, so you will gain the victory in your promised land or otherwise it will start slipping away.

Do you hear what I hear? – One thing is for certain with hearing from God. You won’t be mislead if you’ve heard God correctly. Hearing from God works with following after His ways. Proverbs 3:5-6 5) “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6) In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Every bit of this is truth. His ways are always correct, even when it doesn’t appear that way to you. When you begin to hear God correctly, you can use the expression ‘you can take that to the bank,’ because that’s where you will end up at. Psalm 23:1-3 1) “The LORD is my shepherd: I shall not want. 2) He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3) He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” That’s the place to be in. You don’t have to be living without your promises, because it’s going to be provided for you, all you have to do is sit back and rest knowing that God has your back. I want to clarify something here, God may be in control, but you can’t totally ‘sit back and rest’ either. It still takes action on your part, too. It’s called keeping faith in God. God moves for you when you keep your faith in him along with following His instructions, which means working, not resting. Resting does come when you’ve done your part. Now, do your part by keeping the faith and follow after His ways without putting your own interpretation or twist to it. Why? I don’t know about you, but I know when I hear from God and His truths, I usually begin to move faster than him. Yes, I took control of the reins after what I heard from God and tried to finish it without listening for more details. This is like praying and getting up quickly to leave. Once you start doing this, the promised land doesn’t look so promising anymore. We will get to more of this towards the end, but for now step back and refocus on what you have seen and heard from God about your promised land so far. Then, watch Matthew 6:33 start working for you. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” There’s no better place than being in a place where God’s promises are working for you; that’s your promised land.

Do you know what I know? - You could fit this with do you hear what I hear just by hearing from God, but the question remains, do you actually know what God knows? One thing is for certain, you completely understand when things are operating smoothly and according to God’s will when you’re in sync with Him. Your promised land will be looking big and bright, too. Now, on the other hand, when you first arrive at your promised land and things aren’t flowing so well, you’ll be asking God a lot of questions. How do I know? That’s what I did. I asked God, are you certain about this, everything doesn’t appear to look so good when I started walking through my promised land. So, I do believe many of you could be at this place, too. How do you know that you’re in God’s place according to His will for your life? The story of Joseph comes to mind when he was taken to Egypt. It didn’t look so promising for Joseph up front. Joseph probably thought uh-oh this doesn’t look too good. Yes, many of us are familiar with how Joseph actually ended up in Egypt. I am not here to debate on the what ifs, the therefores, or any other circumstances at this time, but for you to understand, Joseph had a very similar point of view when he arrived in Egypt. See, Joseph didn’t have a clear picture about being taken to Egypt or that it would be his promised land from God. Joseph had to learn how to overcome many trials and tribulations or some might say obstacles. Through those trying moments, Joseph had to see himself as a victor and not one who was defeated. Here’s why. Joseph learned to know that’s where God wanted him no matter what it looked like at the moment. Joseph’s needs were met according to the will of God during his time in Egypt. It may appear that it was coming from the Pharaoh, but it wasn’t.  It was according to the will of God for Joseph’s life. God used Pharaoh and the land of Egypt to supply all of Joseph’s needs. This wasn’t just for Joseph, but for his whole family.

I have to take the same approach here in Ava as Joseph did in Egypt. I need to understand that everyone isn’t going to see it that way either, because I didn’t always see it, but for those who will begin to see it the way I do, they will begin to understand do you know what I know?, because God knows. This brings me back to what I should have known from the start. Psalm 25:12-15 12) “What man is he that feareth the LORD? Him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. 13) His soul shall dwell at ease; and his seed shall inherit the earth. 14) The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant. 15) Mine eyes are ever toward the LORD; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net.” This was my promising passage. God knew all along about leaving Rockdale, Texas and moving to Ava, Missouri. Obviously I didn’t, because I missed out on one verse. All I knew was bringing my family to Ava was going to flow according to God’s promises from verses 12-14, but the moment trials and tribulations came I failed to know it was still the place to be. Why? Verse 15 should have told me, but I didn’t go back to that verse when I should have.  I missed out seeing that God’s protection was going to be there for me and my family even when rough times came about. Again, God knew this. I didn’t realize it all the way. So yes, that meant every trap set by the enemy would be removed including any negative situation that would pop up, because God was going to turn that around, too. All I had to do was stay focused on every part of that passage while walking through my promised land. This is very important and you will see why next.

​Listen to what I say! - At times, I could have gone all day without seeing this focal point. Some might say they don’t have a problem in this area, but I know that I do. Chances are you do too, even if you don’t want to admit it. It takes knowing God’s plan and seeing it to the fullest with no self interpretation or twist added to it. Yes, you have to pay attention to every detail that God is trying to provide for you to establish your promised land. Let’s go back to the basics. Habakkuk 2:1-3 1) “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. 2) And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. 3) For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” When you don’t follow this basic format your promised land may begin to look a little harder to reach. IT’s that important to follow all of God’s instructions. Please don’t miss out on any little details like forgetting to dot the (i’s) or crossing the (t’s), because they are that important. Matthew 5:18 “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” Here’s the thing, God wants to fulfill all that He has promised you including the location. Yes, you have to follow God and all His ways. I see the word law as him leading me to the promised land not as a condemnation to beat me over the head kind of thing. It’s God’s love steering me back into position again. Of course, some of God’s ways are difficult, but His ways will always lead you to His righteousness, which involves His promises for you. Another interesting fact, Jesus came and rose again so that your promised land would be fulfilled on earth as is in heaven. The Bible as a whole was written with instructions in mind. There’s an acronym for the word Bible: basic instructions before leaving earth. Well, I don’t know about you, but I want everything in my promised land here on earth, too. Give a shout out! Glory to God! All this caused me to sit down and re-examine once again ‘why can’t you see what I see in Ava for you.’ I want to start seeing what God sees in Ava for me, my family, and for this ministry right here and right now. I also need to be prepared for any change of directions, too. Like I said earlier, God is in control, but I still have to work with God, so I can establish my promised land to the fullest. I pray that this message will help you see and get you to your promised land.

This message is to honor the Heavenly Father who has shown me hope, faith, and love spiritually through his word and who also imparted it to my dad in whom we just recently lost to express what hope, faith, and love would look like in the natural.

I don’t know about you, but there are times, when I think I have gotten to a place where I thought I completely understood some scriptures. One of those scriptures was Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The problem with understanding some of these scriptures is we’re not living them out.  I would like to share this scripture and a few more.

One day the Lord spoke to me and said, “Your dad understood hope. It was being used like a short parable.” Dad would say “Son, it will all work out in the wash.” My dad knew that no matter what things looked like at the present time, it would eventually work itself out. Before long, it did come to pass. He didn’t just fulfill Hebrews 11:1. He also fulfilled Hebrews 11:2 “For by it the elders obtained a good report.” See, what happened is my dad hung onto hope until it came to pass. Dad lived long enough to know by experience you had to keep hanging in there. There are still things that dad hoped for even though he’s not here with us anymore. One of his hopes was to get enough done, so that we would be okay. This came to pass for me in a dream and by a vision.

Many may think dreams and visions are not relevant today, but I know that they are because I have had many dreams and visions by the Holy Spirit.  Joel 2:28 “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:” This verse says many things to me. I want to break down each part of Joel 2:28 and share it with you.

“And it shall come to pass afterward” - This part fits in with “the evidence of things not seen” and “by it the elders obtained a good report.” How should all this work? To begin with, we can’t expect our dreams and visions to come to pass or begin to come together to believe it without faith. How come? It’s about living by faith not by sight. This means we should be giving out a good report; not a negative report while waiting for it to come to pass. We have to accept Jesus and all of His truths by faith. That’s where our journey of hope begins in Him and that’s when He carries out His love towards us to fulfill that hope within us. That’s what faith is all about.

“that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh” -  This may be about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. I see it another way too. Oh, what a wonderful place to be in knowing our hope in his truths will be poured out onto us, because of our faith working through His love towards us.

“your sons and your daughters shall prophesy” - Wow! It tells me I need to keep speaking His truths into my life, so it can come to pass by working my faith in Him. Hope is activated by accepting His truths, which is faith in him. Remember Jesus loves us.

“your old men shall dream dreams” -  Now, I want to clarify something. We don’t have to be old to have dreams. They do start when we’re young. It’s when we’re mature in God’s word and truths that some of our dreams end up having a Godly meaning to us. Take time out and ponder on those dreams and recognize any details that may be valuable. Then get with God; He will give you an understanding to those dreams. There are times when we may need a Godly person in our life to help us with the understanding of our dreams. Please make certain you know that they hear from God.

I would like to share a recent dream from God. I was working on a ditch line on the side of the yard by myself.  As I am writing this God gave me an understanding on the ditch line. We live on top of a good size hill, some call it a mountain. Anyways, as I was digging, it didn’t take long to start hitting rocks right away. When I came across those rocks I got frustrated. I was also thinking about my dad in this dream. I remember saying, it would be nice if my dad was here to help me so I wouldn’t feel alone working on this ditch. Then all the sudden my dad came walking up to me. The dream was so real that I told my dad “what kind of joke is this” due to knowing he had passed away even in my dream. He responded to me saying “I will always be there for you.” There was a second person who was standing behind my dad. I couldn’t make out who it was, but I knew by the Spirit it was an outline of Jesus. Jesus spoke to me saying “your dad will always be with you and so will I.” Jesus continued saying “Everything my dad taught me would be inside of me and to recall on those memories to get through it naturally. I (Jesus) have guided you spiritually: continue to call on me for spiritual things.” I would also like to add when the Lord called me to ministry, I asked for double portion and nobody knew about it. The minister who did our ordinations walked by and said “And the Lord will give you double portion.” The Lord told me this was part of that double portion.

“your young men shall see visions:” - The same applies here as in the dreams concerning age. The Lord gave me a vision of my dad and Him speaking to each other. Again, I just saw an outline of the Lord, but knew by the spirit it was Him. The conversation went like this “I can’t leave until I know that they will be okay and the Lord replied they will be okay.” Again, the Lord was confirming to me that everything would be okay right along with my dad. Now, all I have to do is keep my hope in him and activate that faith that He has already instilled in me because Jesus loves me as He loves everyone else. I also learned that when working hope and applying faith it creates a love for someone or a love from somebody to someone.

Let’s look at a scripture referring to love. John 5:20 “For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.” The Lord is pointing out something very interesting in this verse. For God loved His son so much He didn’t just show him many things and yes, Jesus did those things, but things that would amaze people. These amazements were the miracles Jesus performed when walking on earth. These miracles would leave people wondering to the magnitude that no man could even comprehend or understand at the time. We later see how this got passed down to His disciples. Recall Peter and John with a crippled man, who got well and walked away in front of 5000, plus Jewish rulers, leaders, and scribes. Take notice what it says in Acts 4:13 “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” See, Peter and John didn’t understand everything about healing, but their hope in what Jesus had taught them about healing; along with working their faith in the power of Jesus to heal; created love and it was poured out through Peter and John into this crippled man as he received healing. This showed everybody that Jesus’ healing power still works even after He ascended into Heaven and this amazed those who saw it. Jesus’ healing power continues to work today, if we begin to put our hope and faith in him. Remember we have to work it and don’t look back.

I would like to share something that would honor my dad. He didn’t just show me many things, but showed me some amazing things, especially when I was young; even at times when I got older. It amazed me because I couldn’t even comprehend it or understand it at the time, eventually I learned.

The amazing thing is that everything comes from God. So, God blessed me in the spiritual as well as the natural, because his love was shown through my dad to me. Yes, that same bonding love that God has for His son is the same bonding love that was given to my dad towards me and vice versa. The reason for it was because my dad also believed in the Lord, although he didn’t understand everything in the word. What amazes me is that what my dad taught me in the natural I was able to teach him spiritually to help him understand God’s word and His love. My mom shared with me that it did have an effect on him.

Now, my dad served and honored me with hope, faith, and love. I was able to serve and honor him back with that same hope, faith, and love because of the Heavenly Father’s love towards us. Let’s work that same process with the Heavenly Father. Praises God and give Him Glory for His love towards us and to spread it too those who we love.

Eventually, I will be able to take what I learn from our Heavenly Father and what was imparted to me by my dad on natural things and pass it down to my kids and grand kids. My hope is it will have the same effect on them as it does for me. Now, this is spreading hope, faith, and love.

I want thank you Heavenly Father for one of your gifts you have given me and that was my dad, love Jason.

Today’s world has a real eerie feeling. It’s called hate and it’s growing rapidly. How has hate grown so rapidly? Unforgiveness has entered into the hearts of many. Some just don’t recognize that’s what has happened. Here’s how they don’t recognize it. People really want to show how much they hate the sin that’s taking place, but it comes out sounding more like they hate the person rather than the sin itself. How is this shown? It’s by the words we choose, facial expressions used, and the overall attitude towards someone. We have to consider and understand what others might be seeing or hearing right along with those expressions used and the attitude that is showing up towards that person instead of being towards the sin. Granted, some just flat out don’t care if they show hate.

How do we get rid of this hate and bring back forgiveness? It may be difficult. We have to let go of all those hateful things people have said and done by giving it all to Jesus. That is our only positive answer that will get real results.

Yes, forgiveness can be a very difficult under any circumstance. No, we shouldn’t always forget because this helps us to protect ourselves, but we’re still truly to forgive. Now, forgiving can be hard for some yet easy for others. Either way, we need to turn it over to Jesus. We have to remember forgiveness and repentance allows someone to turn over their sinful life to Jesus to be redeemed no matter how awful the sin is. It’s time to set the example of removing wrongful hate and being more kind and forgiving. Then spread this example everywhere we can.

No, I am not trying to make this a New Year’s resolution. I have learned all a New Year’s resolution becomes is a ritual in general. We need to understand forgiveness is a command and it’s the duty of a Christian to show what forgiveness is and how to remove the hate, so forgiveness can take place between the people involved.

Here’s something we don’t look at. There are people who are trying to make a change or do what is best, but are going about it the wrong way. I’m sure we’ve all been there. I have. When I make a decision on what I think is best for me and my family sometimes it backfires so bad that, at times, I think it can’t be fixed. The truth of the matter is that when I go to Jesus and ask for forgiveness with a repentant heart, circumstances will begin to change. Let’s open up with forgiveness and repentance in our hearts to open those doors for healing to take place. It may not happen overnight, because we may have to work out some issues within us, but eventually it will happen. So yes, for those who realize they have made a mistake, all they need to do is go to Jesus and ask for forgiveness and repent from their sin and be true about it.

I want to mention David the King of Israel. Before, I talk about Jesus setting the ultimate example. Many want to talk about David’s sins, but they only want to look at it from one view point that David was already a man after God’s own heart and was the King of Israel.

Still, David stepped out of line and it cost David a lot of trouble until he repented. Once David repented, in due time, his circumstances turned around. I feel we need to give people the same respect that was given to David, after all,  Jesus is calling for those who are lost and walking in the wrong direction to come and repent so they can be forgiven. Matthew 4:17 says, “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 

Let’s now talk about Jesus setting the ultimate example. Jesus was up there on that cross asking the Father to forgive us.  Luke 23:24 says, “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his  raiment, and cast lots.”

Think about this for a moment. Jesus took on sin and replaced it with God’s grace and mercy, so we could be forgiven from all the sins we committed. This forgiveness came with bloodshed and that’s why in the title I have forgiveness in red. That’s right, Jesus was whipped, beaten, speared in the side, given vinegar, and his hands and feet were nailed to the cross. Keep this in mind Jesus was so badly abused He wasn’t even recognizable.

Now, do we realize what the Father actually did when Jesus asked Him to forgive us? He forgave us. How do I know? 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I believe God’s wrath would have been poured out right then and there if he hadn’t.  Remember, Jesus didn’t do anything wrong. He had to take on our sins to redeem us. You know what else this proves? Jesus does have real forgiveness and followed through with his own command. Jesus kept his own word on what forgiveness is all about while on the cross. “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” Matthew 5:44

When you look at this spiritually, Jesus kept the doors open between Him and the Father so that he could be accepted as the ultimate sacrifice to save us from the pits of hell. You have to understand we can close the doors to our connection with the Father when we don’t work forgiveness like we should. Don’t get upset with me about this. Jesus is the one who showed this truth clearly. Forgiving keeps the door open to the Father. “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” Mark 11:25

Here’s another interesting fact about forgiveness. We have to have a clean heart as well. What a demonstration Jesus showed us while walking with his disciples and teaching others all the way to being put on the cross. Like I have mentioned earlier this may not be easy, but it will be worth it in the long run. I don’t know about you, but I feel so lost when my communication to the Father becomes broken. There is no better time than now to get our communication back with the Father considering all that is going on in this world today. I also know it’s not easy to do when we’re facing trials and tribulations. I have been facing some this past month. My objective is to get to that place where my communication isn’t broken with the Father. So, yes I’m going to do whatever it takes to have a clean heart to be able to forgive who I need to forgive and that can even be with the Lord when he didn’t have anything to do with it.

When you can’t forgive; ask for a clean heart. 10) “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 12) Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.” Psalm 51:10-11.

Sometimes, we don’t think of these things happening inside the church but that’s not true. The commandment to forgive and be kind includes what’s being said and done inside the walls of the church as well. I know this from a  personal experience. I was going to a church where the Pastor was trying to make it clear that he wouldn’t support a certain politician, he didn’t mention the name, because of the sins he was tying his self to. Then all the sudden the members of this church began to shrink. The Pastor didn’t understand why.  All the Pastor knew was that it was important to stand up for the truth and to not support sin. This isn’t wrong but if we don’t give room for love and kindness, nobody wins. Today, we see a form of this; it’s called being unapologetic. Here’s why the church started losing its members. This Pastor took a position that even if this politician wanted to change his ways and repent, that he still wouldn’t let that person come into his church.

I kept praying for this Pastor and finally, with the help of the Holy Spirit, I was able to talk to this Pastor to help him see what he was doing. When I shared this with him, he received the word. We hugged each other. It brought tears to this Pastor’s eyes thinking how much he damaged his own ministry by not walking in love and forgiveness to everybody. His church flourished again.

Here’s another picture of Jesus’ truth taking action concerning keeping the doors open for the lost. Forgiving keeps the door open to the Father.  Luke 15:4-7 says, 4) “What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? 5) And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6) And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. 7) I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.”

Paul also gave us a good definition in Ephesians 4:31-32 of what it takes to forgive, so we can be forgiven. “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.”

Just about everyone at one time or another has heard about the birth of Jesus or maybe even had the chance to see a play about his birth. What is so special about this gift for those who don’t know? God sent his very best gift to us so that our spirit man could be brought back to him. We know this is true from John 3:16, which says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have  everlasting life.”

God even made an announcement about how well pleased He was about his gift to us. Mat 3:16-17 says, 16) “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: 17) And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”
Then God does it again when Peter, James, and John were up in the high part of the mountain and saw the transfiguration of Jesus. Mat 17:5, “While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” Hopefully by the time you get done reading this you will know that the Father sees you in the same way and you can receive this gift, too.

I would like to point out something very interesting; we didn’t get to see the birth, baptism, or the resurrection of Jesus. We didn’t even get to walk with him the way his disciples did, but we’re not the only ones. Yes, some got to see one part or another from being in that time frame. Even in that time frame some heard about his coming while others heard about his events after everything had taken place. Others may have caught a glimpse of what was about to come, but didn’t realize it.
Always remember that we have a choice to receive or to reject this gift we’re about to learn. We’re going to see two biblical people who started off on the wrong track and then both turning to God. One received the gift by crying out to the Lord and seeing God’s mercy pour out before him. The other was by a bright light and a voice sounding from Heaven. Remember both of them ended up receiving the ultimate gift of a lifetime. Now, the question is, are you ready to receive it, too?  I’m sharing this because there are many who will in some way or another relate to one of these two people or situations.

Let’s talk about Paul and his conversion from being Saul.  While on his way to Damascus, a light and the voice of Jesus had come down on him. Act 9:3-6 says, 3) “And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: 4) And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 5) And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 6) And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.” We also know his reputation wasn’t very pleasant either. Let’s talk about Paul’s conversion and what took place in receiving the greatest gift of all.

So, later, we see that Paul receives the gift from inquiring of the Lord and even gets told what his mission for the Lord will be. Act 9:10-16 says, 16) “And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. 11) And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth,12) And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. 13) Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: 14) And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. 15) But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: 16) For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.” Now that Paul truly accepted the gift, he was healed from his blindness and went and did what the Lord asked of him. That was sharing the Good News about the greatest gift we could ever receive. We do see a lot of grace taking place from this picture, but we also see God’s mercy, too.

Now, what I would like to talk about is a king from the Old Testament and his name was King Manasseh from 2 Chronicles 33:1. This king had a different story that just stuck with me as I have been reading through the whole bible this past 8 weeks. This king began his reign when he was twelve years old, but he was able to hold it for fifty five years. The major difference is this one not only started off on the wrong foot like some of the other kings did, but you will see how much further he went than the others. Now, I know that we can’t weigh sin, but again just pay attention to verse 2. 2Ch 33:1-2 says, 1) “Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem: 2) But did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.”
When you read all the things that King Manasseh did, you just wonder how he even got to live. Now, it even gets worse, he didn’t just build alters in high places and serve them there, but he built them right there in God’s house. Yes, the one that the Lord claimed for himself. 2Ch 33:3-5 3) “For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. 4) Also he built altars in the house of the LORD, whereof the LORD had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever. 5) And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.” We all know what this means for this king.

What he did was just absolutely crazy. Let’s look at the continuing of his evil being poured out through verse 6 and the beginning of verse 7. 2Ch 33:6-7 says, 6) “And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. 7) And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God,…”

This king didn’t just displease God himself, but enforced a major strain for the rest of God’s children. That meant that he put the tribe of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem in a position that was worse than any of God’s enemies in their time.  Here’s the thing, even in our time we have some leaders and others in authority that put a strain on people and even new believers. They do this by turning them from God with false doctrines. There are even those who just don’t even believe in God or any other god, which we call atheists. They will even convince you to not to believe and finally we have the evolutionist who believes in the big bang theory. All of this is extremely bad for God’s people. What we need to really look at here is where all this evil took them, because we don’t want to fall into that same place. 2Ch 33:9 says, “So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the LORD had destroyed before the children of Israel.” They even rejected the Lord when he spoke to them. 2Ch 33:10, “And the LORD spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken.” He put them into a bondage that wasn’t pleasant. 2Ch 33:1 says, “Wherefore the LORD brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon.”

Then when the King Manasseh got taken up into this bondage he then cried out to the Lord and changes began to take place. 2Ch 33:12-13 says, 12) “And when he was in affliction, he besought the LORD his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, 13) And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD he was God.”  We may not be quite as bad as King Manasseh, but we can cry out to the Lord, too, just as King Manasseh did. Now, when King Manasseh prayed unto the Lord and when the Lord intreated him, King Manasseh then became one who received God’s gift and changes began to happen. 2Ch 33:14-16 says, 14) “Now after this he built a wall without the city of David, on the west side of Gihon, in the valley, even to the entering in at the fish gate, and compassed about Ophel, and raised it up a very great height, and put captains of war in all the fenced cities of Judah. 15) And he took away the strange gods, and the idol out of the house of the LORD, and all the altars that he had built in the mount of the house of the LORD, and in Jerusalem, and cast them out of the city. 16) And he repaired the altar of the LORD, and sacrificed thereon peace offerings and thank offerings, and commanded Judah to serve the LORD God of Israel.”

Remember when I said we have a choice to receive or to reject? Here’s your answer 2Ch 33:17-19 says, 17) “Nevertheless the people did sacrifice still in the high  places, yet unto the LORD their God only. 18) Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh, and his prayer unto his God, and the words of the seers that spake to him in the name of the LORD God of Israel, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel.19) His prayer also, and how God was intreated of him, and all his sin, and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up groves and graven images, before he was humbled: behold, they are written among the sayings of the seers.”

Here’s the thing.  We are no different than Paul or King Manasseh, we all have sinned. We can find this in Rom 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the  glory of God;” The good news is that we’re never too far away either. That means we do have a choice to receive the gift and to be able to return back to the Father. How is this done?  By going to God and giving a full repentance of our sins. Here’s how we would do this. Rom 10:9-11says, 9) “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord   Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11) For the  scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”

​We even see Jesus pointing out to everyone that we need to repent and believe the gospel. Mark 1:14-15 says, “14) “Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15) And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” I want you to understand the importance of the last phrase in this verse “repent ye, and believe the gospel.” That’s the same as saying come and receive the gift. So, please, never think you are too far away from receiving the gift.  Just take the time to receive his gift and get the best gift you will ever receive in your life.

Are we under the law? Some will say that we’re not under the law. Yet others will say Jesus only did away with  certain laws. We can’t forget that we’re to follow the laws of the land, until it crosses God’s law. Many may not like those laws, but those laws are to help protect us and others, too. This is where today’s society has distorted God’s mercy and grace and made it something that it is not. In this article, I want to show you what is fleshly (or what God calls sinful ways) and what is spiritual. Changing God’s grace and mercy to fit your ideas of what good living is all about is the fleshly side of things and we’ve all done it. So, what should we be doing? We should be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord for that’s what is pleasing to Him anyways, after all, we’re to be like Him.

There are a lot of lives out there that are broken and full of cracks because they’re trying to live that better life without applying what God has to say in what is good and right. Paul spoke about this from the book of Galatians. This passage in Galatians talks about identifying other doctrines and staying away from it.

Gal 1:6-8 “6) I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7) Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 8) But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” What we see in verse 6 is Paul is absolutely amazed at how many have distanced themselves from God’s truths.

Let me add in Romans 6: 14-15 to show that God’s righteousness and sin doesn’t mix. Rom 6:14-15 “14) For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 15) What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.”

This passage serves as a constant reminder that we are under grace and that we shouldn’t sin. The one thing we don’t see out of this passage is the natural (the flesh) versus the spiritual and that’s where I want to go. So again, sharing Romans 6 was to just clarify that sins of the flesh don’t mix with God’s word or His grace. We can’t make grace into something we want it to be just so we can get away with sinning or what is appealing to our flesh. This next scripture will explain this point a little better. Paul says in Eph 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

The ending of Galatians 1:6 is where the impact begins “unto another gospel”. Many refer to this as some type of religious doctrine or even towards some denominations. However, God told me just to consider our fleshly ways  (sinful ways) as a type of doctrine in itself, because there are times when it just doesn’t fit with any of the other religious doctrines out there. Again, this is all about what we think is good and right. Paul immediately talks about the flesh from Ephesians 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood”.

Many of us have taken time out to please the flesh before we please God.  I know that I have. One of my setbacks with operating in the flesh is my patience. I just want it to happen overnight or immediately and it has to go as I want it to go. I don’t consider that it’s all under God’s timing to begin with. Another area in times past, I would even bring back that old saying, “as long as I don’t get caught it will be okay or nothing bad happens to anyone else, so why can’t I do it, too.” That’s the flesh talking, not the spiritual man talking. These statements actually  follow Galatians 1:7 and it proves that other doctrines can and will trouble us.

Doing what our flesh (sinful nature) wants to do immediately perverts the Gospel. No if, ands, or buts about it. Now, what does the flesh operate in? It operates according to the world’s system. Can anybody remember who the world’s system belongs to? Let’s clear this up from 2nd Corinthians 4:4 that says, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

Where else can we see that the flesh doesn’t mix with God’s grace? Luk 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” It means we can no longer take on the mindset of the flesh and say its okay if “we don’t get caught anymore.”

This message should actually bring us to a place where we have to stop and think before we act. We can’t leave out James 1:8 “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” Later on, James tells us who we should be clinging to and what we are to get rid of.  James 4:8 “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.” This may be tough, but our flesh will stir us to become a double minded person if we’re not careful and that’s because we always see the natural (fleshly) side before we see the spiritual side.

That’s what Paul was talking about in Ephesians 6:12. This passage deals with a spiritual warfare. It’s our flesh that wars with the spirit of God inside of every born again believer. Now go back and look at the spiritual realm from Ephesians 6:12 “against spiritual wickedness in high places” and relate that to Galatians 1:7 “there be some that   trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ”. You can now see how easily it is for people to distort Gods grace and mercy. We need to protect our spirit so that we don’t get pulled towards any other doctrine that isn’t of God in the first place. We have to stay close to God’s ways and not the fleshly ways of the world. James 4:8 says, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.” Galatians 1:8 is important. It may not totally represent natural versus spiritual, but consider what is being said. “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Here, we see that if any other gospel that is not of God is preached, the person  spreading that so called gospel or doctrine is to be accursed. In all reality, it represents any doctrine outside of the Trinity including the flesh. I usually like to insert this statement, because I clearly want us to understand as we grow in the Lord, we may make mistakes, but those who belong to the Lord will repent from those mistakes and grow into the new truths found throughout God’s word.

Let’s see some truths in action about a double minded person Joh 10:12-13 “12) But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf    catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. 13) The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.” We can’t forget Matt 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” What we see is that the hireling is a person that operates in the flesh and is not of God. If the hireling was of God he would have taken care of the sheep and would have taken care of the wolf, too. We also need to beware of a wolf who may present themselves as something they are not. We just don’t need to be pulled in the wrong direction period.

I want to follow this up with some encouragement. Mat 10:16 “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” It may not look like an encouraging scripture, but there are two reasons to be encouraged here. The first reason is we will see some trials and tribulations coming at us, but we’re to hold fast to the truth, and don’t waver from that truth. The next reason is we’re on a mission from the Lord and that’s to help change the world to be a better place. How can the world move in a better direction? At times we have to go to places we just don’t like. God may need you to do something there and send you back to where it’s comfortable or if it’s a long term thing, he’ll give you the grace to endure. It’s that important to learn and cling to the truth in God’s word. People in the world’s system aren’t always going to see your views right off because they have to deal with flesh as we did. Always remember this from 1John 4:4 “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.” Clinging to your spiritual man will help you overcome the fleshly ways of this world including other doctrines that is not of the true living God.

Love seems to be a strange word anymore. I often wonder if the word love has become the new word for hate. It seems that everyone has a definition or an excuse to their meaning of love. Other’s have a weird way of expressing love through emotions. Often times those emotions of love don’t express the love that should be shown.  I have even heard all kinds of excuses from many who want to take the word of God and translate it to their own definition of what love is. Its bad enough they want to use it for an excuse or for a reason to sin. Love has tested me here lately, especially when someone hits an old deep wound from the past.  I did what I thought was best in expressing how I see hate working today.  My problem is sometimes I see things so differently it causes problems for me in trying to get a point across.  It’s so bad the illustrations I want to give are weird or strange, let alone trying to write it down for a message or even to speak out the right words correctly. Often times it doesn’t make sense in what I am trying to express. Today, hate is on the move in a mighty way in what I would like to call “hate being traded for hate” instead of love overcoming hate. When this happens love ultimately gets blocked.
Now, the word of God tells us this about love. 1Co 13:4-8 “4) Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5) Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily  provoked, thinketh no evil; 6) Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7) Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8)  Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.” Paul here was actually describing just the kind of love Jesus was trying poured out into us, so we could spread it to others.

Peter describes what Jesus’ love was to be like. 1Peter 4:8 “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.”

Jesus himself describes what love was all about and how we were to work love back into society in these two passages: Mat 22:37-40 “37) Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38) This is the first and great commandment. 39) And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40) On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Jesus also said this in Mat 5:44-45 “44) But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45) That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”

I don’t know about anybody else, but I really do see hate being traded for hate. I also see that love gets challenged on a daily basis. I have learned what Jesus was saying about how we will be hated for his name sake Mat 10:22 “And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.” The reason is because Jesus’ name represents love. It’s an everlasting love that never quits. It’s a love that not only removes sin, but it’s a love that can change a sinful heart to a heart that wants to get it right. We have to understand hate doesn’t change hate, but love can.

Stop and think about Jesus’ journey from the whipping post to the cross. He could have expressed hate back for hate, but he didn’t. It just wasn’t only the religious sect that wanted him to go to the cross. This included all those who wanted to sin and to keep on being sinners or at least be partakers of it. Yes, this means all types of sins. We can find those kind of sins in Gal 5:19-21 “19) Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20) Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 21) Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” and other places, too.

I said this to help us understand something. Jesus was up there on that cross looking back down at all these kinds of people and was even thinking about the future generation that hasn’t arrived yet up to the day he comes back for us. He never showed hate. Jesus used very good parables to express how filthy sin was, but he never let hate override his love and compassion he had for us.  If this wasn’t true John 3:15-17 would have been done in vain. Let alone what he said on the cross Luke 23:34 “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.”

Let’s remind ourselves what John 3:15-17 tell us “15) That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” This also describes a love that goes way beyond hate. Here’s another reminder of true love that overshadows hate Mat 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” along with Mark 1:15 “And  saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Jesus understood hate, but again, he knew it would take love to get us to repent from the sins that we’re involved in.

Let’s close out with this thought in mind. Each and everyone one of us has a history of some kind of hate that has taken place. No one’s hate is worse than the other because we all have a different personality and how hate affects each one of us, but the truth is hate doesn’t accomplish love, but the power of Jesus’ love working through us overcomes hate and brings in love. The Lord showed me this through my back surgery. He used the illustration everybody has a different tolerance of pain in different parts of the body, but each one of us had to deal with pain, whether it be mild to you or major to another and vice versa.  Love and hate is the same. Where someone can love, some can’t and where others can love, you can’t, but we all experience love and hate. We all know that love really conquers, but sometimes we don’t apply it very well. 

If we truly believe in the scripture, we will believe we can overcome our weakness not only in love or hate, but in any other areas of life by letting Jesus’ love strengthen us.  Cor 12:9-10   9) And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10) Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” and Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

My prayers are that you receive this with love and my hope is that the love of Jesus will work through us to help change what is going on and bring the Lord’s love back into place where it belongs.

​This message may have a strange title, but it’s worth reading and I am doing it as the Lord directed me. This title isn’t about being risen physically from a cross as our Savior Jesus was, it’s all about rising above our circumstances. As the Lord was delivering this message to me it was a strong word for me as I am going through some things myself and I know I am not alone. My prayers are that you receive this message. I 100 percent believe that we should fully honor the resurrection, for it’s the day Jesus made it known that his word can come alive in us today as we receive of him. Jesus can help us rise above all the things we face. We should also give him praise and glorify him in testimonies for what he has done for us as well. This opens the doors to show the non believers just how real Jesus can be in their lives just as much as he is in our life.

Now, I also believe, if Jesus was standing right here talking to us right now, he would be saying it’s time to rise above whatever circumstance we’re in. Why? When we rise up above all our circumstances that the enemy can produce against us we have risen just as well, but most of all we share his glory for getting us above those circumstances we’re facing at the moment. No, it may not be the same as he has risen for us, but we are now above our circumstances when we believe in him. This may be hard for some to see, but for me personally, when we don’t share the glory of what he has done for us it makes it look like what he did for us was done in vain, but I know that’s not the case in  Jesus. Jesus didn’t do it in vain or God would not have sent Jesus for us as we see in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Yes, this may mean for eternal life, but I believe it can fit in with rising above our circumstances in the right here and now.

Here’s another reason we can rise above those circumstances we’re facing. Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” Now, to rise above those circumstances with him makes James 4:7 that much more powerful for us and it says “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” IF, this scripture wasn’t so true, even a simple little verse like this wouldn’t be possible - 1 Peter 5:7 “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” Can you see now how Jesus would want us to start rising above our circumstances? It exposes everything about him to everyone we encounter as we witness for him.

Let’s examine a few scriptures in how valuable it is that Jesus has risen so that we could rise above through him. We will prove that his word is true from the beginning to the end with some simple scriptures out of God’s word.  John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This scripture says it all in a nutshell. From the beginning we were on his mind, because it’s in his word. He made certain the word would be available for us.
Today, we call it the bible, and his ministers as mentioned in Ephesians 4:11 “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;” are those that help guide us into all truths. Then most of all Jesus is the word, because his word is the way, full of truth, and most of all it’s our life line, so he is the word and the word is alive for us. John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

Jesus has risen to the Father and is now in his promise land and he will lead us to it as well. We will start off with Luke 22:69 “Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God.” We just need to believe just as his disciples believed. John 2:22, “When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.”

Now that Jesus is really in the promise land, do you think he wants us to go to the same place? You bet he does.  John 14:2 “In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” This was like an open invitation. What kind of invitation am I talking about? I think of it like this. Jesus is knocking on our door to be with him and be in a wonderful place. Consider this short passage Revelations 3:20-21 “20) Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 21) To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” The real issue is does Jesus want us in that place right here and now while on earth? Absolutely! Refer back to Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” 

Again, we can see that if we seek him, our circumstances will change and we will eventually rise above it as we believe on him. That’s how powerful his righteousness is for us. Just believe. No, this doesn’t mean it will be easy, but if we hang in there we will be in that place. That place will be above and beyond more than we expect. This also will be a testimony of how powerful God’s word is and how he keeps his word, which is the truth.

Now, how do we get into that place? We have to surrender to him. Romans 10:9-10 “9) That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” 

We have to realize that Romans 10:9-10 is so important to how we rise above our circumstances. This is the very reason we need Jesus in our life. So often, I believe we tend to forget just how important his name is for us as well. John 14:13 “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”  This has at least a two-fold meaning. One, it does establish how powerful the name of Jesus is, because of the relationship between the Father and the son. This also testifies that John 3:16 is true and God sent his son for us. Two, Jesus is then glorified or at least should be as the scripture tells us. We always have to remember that it’s not of our self, but who Jesus is and what he has done for us. Like I said from the beginning, we should honor, praise, and glorify him all the days of our life, not just on his resurrection day. Remember what Psalm 9:1-2 tells us “1) I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. 2) I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.” This means if David who was a man after God’s own heart does this, we should be doing the same.

We can establish what has already been said to the fullest, including what you may have learned from others, hopefully from those mentioned in Ephesians 4:11 or other Christian friends and family along with your own personal study time with the Lord. From this point, we shall begin to rise above our circumstances. Yes, I do mean above our circumstances. How is this possible?

Let’s go back and discuss what happened when Jesus was turned over to those who wanted him to be crucified and what Jesus went through on his way to the cross. Jesus took on everything for us and was removing it from us so that we could rise above it when we believe on him. For many, John 3:16 is there favorite scripture. This passage was one of my favorites, because it does fully explain what Jesus went through just for you and me. Isaiah 53:5-6 “5) But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.6) All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” 

Jesus didn’t even complain about it either. Isaiah 53:7 “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” There is so much more to this, but I believe you need to read more of it for yourself. 1Timothy 4:16 “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.” That way it can become a personal conviction instead of a message that sounds like condemnation or even a rehearsed thing to say. That’s how we will begin to rise above our circumstances. We just don’t need to be afraid to ask someone for help when we don’t understand. Here’s a real big kicker. We have to be open minded in learning something new and that’s in a place to receive correction. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “16) All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17) That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” The reason I am tell you this is because of what it says in Isaiah 55:8-9 “8) For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9) For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

This passage right here gives us a clear indication that he can help us rise above any of our circumstances. 

It’s time to make a decision. Do we believe in him? Are we willing to submit to his truths to rise above the circumstances to become over comers?  Are we ready for correction, even if it chaps our flesh? We may get tired of these questions especially if we hear them often, but these are serious questions that need to be answered so we can rise above our circumstances we are facing today. It’s serious business, for at least that’s how I see the word. Think of these questions as if you’re making a big decision on buying the right house or car. The only difference in making a decision on buying a car or house is that when you make a decision to follow after Jesus you’re in an automatic win situation with him and his word. All it takes is working your faith in believing in him and being obedient.

I pray that you receive this message, so you can begin to rise above your circumstances today with Jesus in your life.

In today’s society, it may not be appearing to look so good around us, but God did intend for everything to look good, even us.  Yes, I will repeat it again; even for us to look good to the Father when we’re in our rightful place. I want everybody to understand we’re not perfect, but we can redeem our spirit man to become right with God and look good to him again. Let’s start with a great foundation for this message and start from the very beginning. Let’s look at  Genesis 1:2-4 “2) And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3) And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4) And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.” I would like to parallel this to the potter who put the clay on the potter’s wheel from Jeremiah 18:4 “And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.” What is interesting is that God first spoke his goodness into the place we’re living in now called earth. Then the potter (being God) shapes a vessel out of clay with his hands and molds it into something to admire.

Did you notice that in both places it started off with something without form and void? It didn’t look very pretty from the start either, but in both cases, once God put his love into the earth and the vessel they became a place and a vessel that looked good. They no longer had void and darkness, because they have been removed from both. Don’t believe me? Go back and look at what he said in both passages. It tells us, God said, it was good.
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Now, what does the earth and a clay vessel got to do with anything about you or me?  God made you and me. Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Not only did God start thinking about us, but he made us from dust, just as he made a vessel out of clay, but God gave us something better than the clay vessel. God gave us life, by breathing life in us. Genesis 2:6 “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Yes, God made us and we actually looked good to him, too. Go to Genesis 1:31 “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” We don’t see the word “man” in verse 31, but this verse relates to his whole creation all the way back to verse one, so God made everything to look good to him, even us.

Then, God saw something else, that was very good and it could remove some void and darkness, because of the fall of man. Let’s look at the passage where the fall happened. Genesis 3:6 “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” Who was God thinking about that was so good for us after the fall? Just about everybody knows this; it’s his son, Jesus. Yes, Jesus is the only avenue for us to be redeemed back to God. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” To me, this is a God who truly loves us very much.

Now, if God sent his best to redeem us. How did Jesus start redeeming us? Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Later, Jesus went to the whipping post to take on our void and darkness and all that this represents, so that it could be removed from us through him. Isaiah 53:5 “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” Then, while on the cross he forgave us. Luke 23:34 “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.” So, how do we really redeem ourselves to look good again to fit in the scripture from John 3:16?

We have to come to a place of repentance? Jesus did open up with repent from Matthew 4:17. Where can we start  repenting? In Romans 10:9-10 “9) That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Now, this doesn’t mean we changed on the outside in appearance, but on the inside, we do change. How does this change on the inside show on the outside? It’s the power of God’s love working through us by removing the old man and taking on the new. Ephesians 4:22 -24 “22) That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23) And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24) And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Now, how do we see a solid transformation?

We get rid of what it says in Colossians 3:5; 8 “5) Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:   8) But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.” Then we put on the new man which is described in Colossians 3:12-15 “12) Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; 13) Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 14) And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. 15) And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.” I don’t know about you, but this gives a clear picture of how we can look good again in God’s eyes. That new man puts us in a special place, too. Revelations 21:27 “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.”  Do you think we’re a good enough to help spread the word now that we’ve come back to God? Absolutely!

We just saw Jesus spreading the word from Matthew 4:17, but where can we find that we’re created to help spread the word of God? Let’s take a look at Isaiah 49:5 “And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength. 6) And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.” Notice, “yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD”. I don’t know about you, but it fit the title of this message “We’re All Called Good in God’s eye.” Then, from verse six, everybody was to be included with the word “Gentiles”. We don’t have to be anything special, just be you. Jesus told us we’re to help spread the word, too. “Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Now, what I also want us to consider is this passage. Matthew 3:1-4 “1) In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, 2) And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. 3) For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 4) And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.” See, John the Baptist didn’t look good on the outside either, but he did spread the word about repenting and there was one who would make it right for us. Don’t misunderstand me, yes, we need to know all we can about the word, because there are those who will challenge us with the word, but overall, we’re to spread the word of God to everyone that we can.  Even, if it’s just to tell them “Jesus loves you” or “have a blessed day” to start off with. In the mean time find a good home church that not only has a good sermon every Sunday, but a good bible study to learn from. Read the bible yourself. It will help you remember scriptures as you read it; eventually the scriptures will become alive to you. Believe me! You won’t regret it; once you learn the truth and that truth works in your life. Can you or me remove void and darkness and bring in the light to those who need it?

Yes, it’s because of the Jesus that abides within us, but not of our own power John 15:4 “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” Remember, Jesus tells us this in Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” So, now concerning removing void and darkness take a look at what Jesus tell us in John 14:12 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that    believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” Now, what void and darkness did Jesus remove that we can remove with him working through us? Luke 4:18-19 “18) The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19) To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” What does that last verse mean to me? It means it has no expiration date. It’s good all year round, every day of each year that we walk here on earth until we see the return of Jesus.

I hope and pray that you can see yourself as good in the eyes of the Lord as he sees you, because he said we looked good to him from the beginning. Just open your heart to him and let him bring the best out of you, so that you can be that good and willing vessel he needs you to be, because you really do look good to him.

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. It makes me think about Jesus’ love that changes our outcomes. Prayer is also about loving and helping others just as Jesus loves us. I don’t know about you, but I want some changes in my life and in others, too. We’re all familiar with 2 Chronicles 7:14  “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” Then the Lord told me “There are nine commandments or steps in this verse and shouldn’t be taken very lightly. It’s a verse that was intended to have power and authority to make a change, but not everyone wants to fulfill all the steps. They only work part of the scripture and that’s what pleases their flesh. I told the Lord, please don’t let me skip any steps, because I know I probably have without thinking about it. I want my prayers to work and make changes. Teach me these steps and I will share with others.”  When the Lord was done it showed me how powerful scriptures like: Mark 11:23 “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”  Matthew 7:7-8 “7) Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:  8) For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” and many more that come to life.

Let’s look at these steps.

2 Chronicles 7:14 
1)  If my people, - This opens up like asking ourselves a question. Are we one of God’s people?  Most of us know this answer when we accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. Here is what Jesus is like. John 8:12 “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” Jesus came to be the light,for us. Jesus didn’t abide with darkness; neither should we. Here’s a scripture to check ourselves out, if we’re one of his. Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Why this scripture?  Because Jesus is aware of how the flesh can sometimes step in the way and light won’t be shining too well. Now it’s time to be the light of Jesus to others.

2) which are called by my name, - How do we know that we’re called by his name? John 15:16 “Ye have not     chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” What I like about this scripture is that he ordained all of us to at least share the Gospel with someone.  I am not saying we’re all leaders of a church or any part of the five-fold ministry, but as someone who is to spread the light of Jesus among others. Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Let’s     parallel this to Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” We may not be a prophet, but we are on a mission to spread the Gospel far and wide.

3) shall humble themselves, - It takes a humble person to make prayer effective. This is a tough one. Humble isn’t about putting our self first, but it’s about helping others even those who hurt us. Philippians 2:3 “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.” It’s a place to lay all fleshly mindsets aside about a person or a group of people aside and still pray for them. I said this is a tough one Right?  Here’s where it gets tough. Matthew 5:44 “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” OUCH!
I know that verse hurts, but our goal is to be angry at the sin and not the person. Now a scripture close to what I just said is Ezekiel 33:11 “Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? ” Like I usually say, “This can be easier said than done.” We have to be in that humble state to represent Jesus to others. Let’s look at a position of humbleness by Jesus himself. Luke 23:34 “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.” Don’t forget his experience at the whipping post either. See, I believe this tells us, that Jesus loves his children and overlooked the sin. Meaning Jesus doesn’t like sin, but he does love his people.

4) and pray, - Praying is what this is really all about right? It’s also a place of getting in tune with God.  Matthew 6:6 “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” This will help you prepare for step 5. How can we get our heart in that right place?  By following what Matthew 5:44 tells us to begin with. This doesn’t mean pray a quick prayer and walk away all the time. Prayer here is also about unity in prayer. Why? Go back to step one “If my people,” it doesn’t totally mean just you. Esther is a good example of unity. Esther, not only prayed for her life, but also her servants along with Mordecai and the rest of the Jews in the area prayed for her situation at hand. Esther 4:16 “Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.”  We can see a picture of the first 3 steps in this case.  I know we don’t see praying for our enemies here, but keep this in mind she didn’t ask to destroy all the worldly people either, but she did want the evil one with an agenda to be removed though. Esther 7:6 “And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman. Then Haman was afraid before the king and the queen.” The point I am trying to make is not all worldly people want to be evil and actually want to do harmful actions towards people, but many need a change, for some don’t belong to the Lord just yet, so don’t become a stumbling block or make full judgment right away about a person. Romans 14:13 “Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.” It’s time to put the love of Jesus into action.

5) and seek my face, - What so important about this step? Prayer is about seeking and waiting for an answer for our prayers; not leaving right away. Jeremiah 29:12-13 “12) Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. 13) And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. ” 
I use this next scripture a lot. I know it’s the place to go and I use it in my own personal prayer life. Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”  It’s a place of humbleness in finding those answers for our self and others. This is the Father’s love for us. Go to that place and get answers. I also call this corporate prayer because we are before the Father in Jesus name waiting upon the Holy Spirit to reveal the answer to our prayers.

6) and turn from their wicked ways; - Remember, what I said in step 3 on how that step was tough? Here’s why, when we do the opposite of Matthew 5:44 it’s like being in wicked ways. Many may disagree. We’re also not forgiving towards others like Jesus was in Luke 23:34 either. This goes deeper than forgiveness. It’s about repenting.  Repent means you have confessed and turned from the wicked way as you learned about some truths. This scripture doesn’t exactly spell it out that way, but it will apply to steps 7- 9 later on, 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Don’t fall in a trap. 1 John 1:8 tells us “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” God knows. Galatians 6:7 “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” It’s that important to change and be like Christ. I’m not saying we’re perfect but we should be striding towards that direction.

7) then will I hear from heaven, - I don’t know about you, but if we’re not fulfilling the first six steps I believe it can make it very hard for God to hear us. Proverbs 15:29 “The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.” John 9:31 “Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.” Jeremiah 29:12-13 can fit in this place, too. Again, we’re not perfect and that’s why we see his grace and mercy abound, but keep our self clean as possible and in an humble state. We have to remember Jesus is reaching out to the sinners too.

8) and will forgive their sin, - It’s important to have that forgiving heart. Mark 11:25 “And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” Why is this important? Let’s look at Mark 11:26 “But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.”  Now you can’t tell me forgiveness isn’t important. This is the time where we can’t have unforgiveness in our hearts. We’re wanting a change to happen in our circumstances especially in our Nation. I didn’t say it would be easy. It doesn’t mean we won’t forget either. Don’t forget how Jesus responded while on the cross.

9) and will heal their land. - Now, I truly believe when we work all 8 steps as we’re commanded to do we will see step 9 take place in our life and across this nation. Psalms 34:4 “I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.” God doesn’t want us to stay in bondage or in sin, but he doesn’t want us to keep playing with sin either. Let’s look at Job for a healing through prayer. Job 42:10 “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends:  also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.” Now if job can be restored so can this nation.  Deuteronomy 30:5 “And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers.”

I have been asking the Lord over the last few months about everything going on this past year alone to give an appropriate New Year’s message without making it sound like another typical New Year’s resolution. A New Year’s resolution is just actually what it stands for; something we usually want to accomplish in the next year.  The fact is we need a resolution that will last for a life time. There’s only one true resolution we should be seeking and that’s God’s covenant promises they are everlasting, not something that comes and goes. Now, this is a far better resolution than any other New Year’s resolution out there.

When I asked the Lord about this, he said, “It’s time to stop the restraining orders against you.” And then he told me, “Many Christians have allowed the enemy to gain territory that doesn’t belong to satan to start with.”  He continued, “Many of my children know James 4:7 ‘Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.’ The sad part is that they know it really well, but they just don’t see any real changes in their situations when they start working this scripture in their life.” I asked him, what it meant for the devil to have a restraining order on us and how it can be stopped.

Before we get started, I am going to use the word reading in place of the word hearing in Romans 10:17, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  I want this message to be well established in your spirit on how important it is to remove satan’s restraining orders off of our lives. Don’t forget, the enemy comes like a roaring lion. 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” Let’s get sober and be on the watch for satan’s restraining orders.

The Lord told me. “Every time satan comes in and does his best to remove any covenant promise or causes you to talk negatively about your health, wealth, relationships, and most of all, to destroy your personal relationship with me it becomes a restraining order.” It’s satan’s ultimate goal to stop every covenant promise that the Lord has provided for us. We must understand that satan knows that those promises are very real. Yes, there are so many covenant promises provided for us that we can have right here and now. We will start off with James 4:7 and then go to Ephesians 4:27-30 just as the Lord told me.

First, we will break down James 4:7 to start get an understanding in what we’re looking for. It opens up with “Submit yourselves therefore to God.”

So, this means the enemy is working hard to get us to submit to him instead of God. Why?  In reality he wants to accomplish his agenda from the first part of John 10:10 and I’ve underlined it for you. “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” That’s right satan’s goal is to get us to break our submission to God’s word. That’s where satan’s restraining orders begin. What does it mean to be breaking submission to God’s word?  It’s about a gateway for satan to enter into our territory that leads to mass destruction in our life. In a nut shell, it will put us in a place or position where we can no longer resist satan anymore. Here’s a thought, when we fall short in submitting to God’s word it weakens the power for us to resist satan. When it says “resist the devil” it’s really a command to put a stop to the devil. What happens when we can’t resist the devil anymore? It might be better said this way; we have defaulted on submitting to God’s promises or standing on God’s word like we’re supposed to do.  We got to understand satan’s restraining order is all about having access in stopping or eliminating the covenant promises God provided us through Christ Jesus. That’s why God sent his son Jesus to be put to death, raised from the dead to become alive again, so that we could be put back into God’s covenant.

So, where is the enemy trying to apply a restraining order against us at?  That restraining order is now coming against the ending of John 10:10 “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” This part of John 10:10 is about obtaining the promises of the Lord, which is life, peace even during trials and tribulations, including a healthy body, and so much more. This is so powerful, because in reality it positions us to stop the enemy’s restraining orders, because God’s word is about life. I will say it again, the ending of “John 10:10 is all about God’s covenant promises leading us to a victorious life.” It makes me think about our motto “Going from wilderness mentalities to God’s Kingdom Realities.” It’s time to start getting into God’s word and finding those promises. Yes, that means open up that bible and start reading it.

Now, let me ask you this question. What happens when we can no longer resist the devil?  We won’t see the enemy flee so easily will we. That’s right; the enemy will still be lingering around.  So, how do we know if we have broken the enemy’s restraining order?  We will see the enemy’s attacks start going away and begin to see “And he will flee from you” working. That’s how important it is to understand how James 4:7 works.

Remember the Lord wanted us to get a little deeper understanding on James 4:7, to do this, let’s look at Ephesians 4:27-30 about removing any restraining order that’s been placed on us.  I will break it down as the Lord showed me. It’s time we got the whole understanding and not a partial understanding.  This is a short passage, but it really does support James 4:7. Here we go!

Let’s look at Ephesians 4:27 “Neither give place to the devil.” What is this scripture telling us? First of all, it’s about whom we shouldn’t be submitting to “neither give place to the devil.” This is how important submission is. Exodus 20:3 explains who we’re to submit to. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” Let’s just add verse four to. I think it’s important, because it tells us who we’re not to be submitting to. 4) “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:” I do believe this sums up “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” from James 4:7. I also want you to see that Ephesians 4:27 is about commanding satan to flee. Think about it. It simply states “Neither give place to the devil.” Meaning, don’t give satan place. It’s a message to satan that he needs to leave now and his restraining orders are now null and void. Now, this can only work when we submit to God’s word. Now, let’s take it a step further by going to verse 28.

Ephesians 4:28 “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.” Wow! This scripture states right off the bat; we shouldn’t even let others steal from us; surprisingly, this including our self. So, yes, we have to include resisting our self, because of our own negative talking or thinking. This will be explained more in verses 29-30. Now, what does this have to do with James 4:7?  It’s the same application of “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” Can you see how it ties into John 10:10 by stopping those who try get our eyes off of God’s promise, because they are acting just like the thief towards us?

This verse opens up with command what is the command? Don’t let other people steal from you or from our own selves. So, actually this strengthens verse 27 in reminding us to stop any type of restraining order that comes against us.  Mostly importantly, keep in mind satan’s or any other attackers mission is to flat out one way or another to stop our promises from God. We can no longer, I am going to say it again, we can no longer give satan or any attacker room to bring a restraining order against us anymore. Please understand it’s the enemy’s agenda to find a way to cross that line and steal what’s rightfully ours through Christ Jesus. Please, grab a hold of this truth. I know it’s encouraging me at this moment.

Now, what does verse 28 say next “but rather let him labour, working with his hands the things which is good”. This is spiritually saying that these individuals should be working the word of God in their own life and in other people’s life. How can this spiritually work with James 4:7? James 4:7 opened up with “Submit yourselves therefore to God.” This is to remind us were to be working with God’s word meaning to submit to God. This is also opens a door in resisting satan’s or any other restraining order against us. The objective is we got to be more focused on God’s covenant promises; than any attacker who is tries to put a restraining order against us. Whatever you do don’t deny satan’s or any other attacks. It’s going to be testimony that God’s word works for us. Just give God glory as he turns our situation around. Should we be interested in people just as God is interested in taking care of us? Yes. We’re   supposed to be a willing vessel for the Lord and a representation of him. That’s how verse 28 ends “that he may have to give to him that needeth.”

This truth needs to be spread abroad among the nations again.  This is awesome how it works with James 4:7 when submit, resist, the enemy flees and the promises begin to work in our life.  This is a principle application of what a Christian should be doing and looking like. What I like about this ending is it works closely to word “abundantly” from John 10:10. Why? It’s all about God’s covenant promises for us.  Let’s look at God’s abundance from Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Can this really fit with James 4:7? Yes it can. Do you see submission? Yes, from “seek ye first the kingdom of God”. Does it mean “abundantly”?  Of, course it does “and all these things shall be added unto you.”  Does it make “that he may have to give to him that needeth.” true?  You better believe it! It comes from “his righteousness.” Meaning it fits with James 4:7 because we submitted and that submission helps resist the enemy and that brings in the promises. Let’s finish up with speaking or speaking negatively with verse 29.

Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” Wow! This opens up about no corrupt  communication or negative talking. Why? This gives place for satan or it opens the door for him to be a thief again.  It can mean remove negative thinking to. To me, negative talk is like taking God’s word in vain. How? Its steals the truths on what we’re to be doing in the first place like submitting to God James 4:7. This doesn’t help the non-believers get closer to God either.  It starts killing or weakening life out of us from John 10:10 ending. It destroys how we view Matthew 6:33 and the ending of Ephesians 4:28. The bottom line it becomes a loop hole for satan to steal those covenant promises that God has provided for us. The truth is negative words or actions don’t edify, but positive words or actions do. That’s what we see next in verse 29 “but that which is good to use of edifying”. Positive words or actions edify God’s love during challenging times. It’s hard to be an over comer and see God’s grace or mercy working, when we play around with negative words or actions.  Verse 29 ends with a truth about how powerful God’s word and grace is for us “That it may minister grace unto the hearer.” In this case the readers.  Wow, God’s word is full of power and grace that allows us to become over comers through Christ Jesus.  Let’s face it choosing positive words or actions point to submitting to God, while negative words give place to satan. Which type of words should we choose? Hopefully, we will choose positive words. It’s time for the final verse.

Ephesians 4:30 says, “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” What does this mean to us? First of all, this tells me don’t be submitting to the flesh, instead submit to the Holy Spirit who comforts us.  Secondly, don’t give place to satan it quenches the Holy Spirit. It’s time to cling to the ending of verse 30 “whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Why? It’s God’s plan to redeem us from the attacks of the enemy or completely restore us back into our rightful place. That’s God’s grace and covenant plan for us all along.  I hope and pray you got a better understanding in what  James 4:7 can do for us when we work it right.

I have spoken on the subject about being the light several times in different blogs. Today, the Lord moved on me again to talk about the light. He asked me, “Where am I putting the light of Jesus at?” This question comes from Mark 4:21 “And he said unto them, Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed? and not to be set on a   candlestick?” Today, we see so many things happening around us and none of it really shows the light of Jesus except on special occasions.  What we do see strongly taking place is the light of darkness and it is growing heavier as time goes by. This shouldn’t be happening. I am sorry to tell you, but Jesus could never be about the light of darkness. He only talked about the darkness so we wouldn’t fall into darkness. Jesus was all about the light of hope, peace, and love which means a complete transformation in your life. How do we know Jesus is the light?

We can find that this is true by just going back to John 8:12 “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” What we do see is the world today only wants to pull out the candle or our lantern when we just really feel like it.  Notice Jesus asked us a question from Mark 4:21, “Is a candle brought to be put under a bushel, or under a bed?” Now, why would Jesus ask us such a question? Jesus came to change the world, not to condemn it. John 3:17 “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” We will find out we’re to do the same thing.  So, why don’t we see more of the light of Jesus today? The truth is we have seen or trained ourselves that it’s okay to mix darkness with light.  Here’s a fact from the bible Luke 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters: for    either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” This scripture puts it best that we can’t mix darkness with light. We have to understand this from an analogy point of view. God represents light and mammon represents darkness. Now, this is a time when we really can say opposites don’t attract. Why did I pull this scripture out? This falls right into James 1:8 “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” Now go back and consider what Mark 4:21 could be telling us. In a different format, Jesus is saying are you going to put your light where it can’t be seen or are you going to place it where everybody can see it. This can also give a great illustration of a double minded man.  The point I am trying to make is we simply  cannot mix darkness with the light of Jesus and expect anyone to follow after Jesus when they see such a mix. I want to make something clear.  This isn’t about making those simple mistakes from time to time. This is about knowing the truth and walking away from those truths.  Remember, I always will say this “It may not be easy, but the more you walk in the light of the truth the easier it will get.” Let’s look more into Jesus’ light and what his light provided.

This isn’t a mystery, but you would never catch Jesus not showing the light, or hiding the love of his Father. Jesus was the light sent to bring the good tiding so that everyone would come to him, to be blessed, and turn from their wicked ways.  This 100 percent means Jesus showed everybody the light of goodness and again he didn’t hide any of that light from anybody. We also need to remember that the father sent him and Jesus was full of his Father’s love. Yes, Jesus was anointed to be that light and example unto the entire world. Hebrews 1:5-9 “5) For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? 6) And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. 7) And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. 8) But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. 9) Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” So how do we bring our candle or lantern unto the world? The answer is when we begin to follow after his example and not our own.

Jesus’ light was even seen through discipline and correction to help us change our ways. Stop and think about the word repent. Repent was to change our ways, right? This was also meant to correct us from walking in sin, or to help us step out of darkness and back into the light. So, we could be blessed. That’s what Matthew 4:17 is trying to tell us “From that time Jesus began to preach, and say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Now what should we be doing to set the example?Most of us should remember this passage when it was the time of Jesus’ birth and that’s when the shepherds saw the angels out in the fields that night. Luke 2:15-16 “15) And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. 16) And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.” Notice verse sixteen where it said that the shepherds made haste to go find Jesus. How could haste apply to us today?

That same kind of haste the shepherds did to find Jesus should be expressed in making certain that our light glows so brightly that the image of Jesus will appear through us and it will draw all men to come to Jesus in a hurry as well.  I want to add this scripture in because it’s important. John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we behold his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” Now, why would I bring this up?

​Notice the words “behold his glory”.  Stop and think about it for a few seconds. This should resemble putting that candle on the candlestick or light up that lantern and let the light of Jesus or his glory be shown unto the world through us.  Notice it’s not just a light, but a light that contains grace and truth. This type of light is so bright that the glory of our Lord is illuminating through you. Do you get the picture? We can’t just put the light of Jesus under our hat or hold it inside of us like holding our breath.  God had given us a breath of life didn’t he? I do believe that’s what he did and we can see it from Genesis 2:7 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed  into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” God said to me this is what we’re supposed to do is breathe his word into others or speak of his word to others. I do recall a scripture that tells us to do so. Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” This should tell us as long as we can breathe we should be sharing the light of Jesus unto everyone we can reach especially in these days. It should be done with haste or more quickly than ever.  No, this may not be easy at times especially during rough     circumstances. So, we may not always have the words we need to know at the moment, but our expressions of Jesus’ love should shine through to let them know we really care and all we can do is simply minister the best we can from that point. So, how can we express that love when we don’t know what to say? Just simply try to get them to pray with you over their circumstances for starters. Believe me; this light will shine better than we think. So, the best gift we can give for someone this Christmas is the light of the Word and that word is the one that should point someone to Jesus. Don’t forget since the day of Jesus’ birth the light of Jesus has been shining along. It was never hidden from us. We just took our eyes off of it and right now is the time to turn back to the true light.

his message was inspired by some current issues going on in my own life. I know I am not alone, because there are many who have the same question especially when rough times hit. I personally heard them say it to me or by them telling it to someone else. The question usually is why am I here? Then one day the Lord spoke to me and said “I sent you, too.” Then, he proceeded to tell me just as I sent Jesus I sent you too. I started to think about John 3:16 and how the scripture went John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The truth is we were sent, but in a different way. Why?  Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice for us to have that everlasting life just as John 3:16 says, but we were sent, too, to help somebody along the way.

One of the areas that has been bothering me as well as some of the Christians that I run into over the last five years or so is that I would hear from a great number of them saying “Oh, I wish the Lord would come and get us out of here.” or “I am so tired of dealing with people.” This isn’t the attitude we should be taking on.

Believe me, I’ve had those same feelings as well.  I know it’s hard not to have such a mindset especially in the way the world is functioning today. The very place we really need to be in is to turn away from those thoughts. 2 Corinthians 10:5-6 “5) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6) and having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.” We’re going to take this a step further with James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

We get our revenge against the attack by submitting to the word of God. I want to come back to the attitude mentioned in the beginning of this paragraph later, but for the most part I want to get us into the place where we understand we were sent to help.

Were we sent to help? Yes, we can go back and refer to this in at least two areas.  The first one is Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before you camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.  Wow, this can really state that the Lord sent us for somebody.  No, I am not claiming everybody is a prophet as in the five-fold ministry or even before a whole nation altogether, but we are to speak to people that we do come across about the word of God that will give us an opportunity to do so.

The Lord spoke to me in a different way about the words “sanctified thee” in a special way.  He told me “I had sanctified each of my children with a special gift and that gift will work for you, if you will use it correctly.” This is so true and it can be found in Romans 11:29 “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.”  Now, let me make something clear here; not all of us are to quit our jobs.  God had given us a gift or talent and we’re to use it, not only to provide for our family, but to share that gift with others to be a blessing to them. Here is the second place we can find that we were sent in Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Notice that Jesus has even sent us to help. This means he commissioned us to help him out or as the topic of this message “You were Sent”. God sent us Jesus to represent the Father. Jesus is now sending us to represent not only him, but the Father, too. It’s time for us to do our duty of being sent and help lead others to the Lord. Let’s help them have that same opportunity to get into a real personal relationship with Jesus. Now from this point, it’s up to them to become a part of God’s family and inherit what rightfully belongs to them, which is to have an everlasting life. Now, if we’re really with Christ or truly part of the Lord’s family we would have the mind set of what Jesus did. What kind of mindset did Jesus have? He wanted everybody to repent of their sins so that they could have eternal life Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Now we don’t always have to open up that strong, but we can do the same thing Jesus did when he started gathering his disciples. How did Jesus draw Simon (Peter) and his brother Andrew in? Jesus did this in Matthew 4:19 “And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” I like to parallel this with follow me I will take you under my wing and teach you what I know and then you can begin to use it, too. What happened next? The next verse says what Peter and Andrew did Matthew 4:20 “And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.”  What did Jesus teach his disciples to do after they followed him? The same thing the Father sent him to do; that was to help those who needed help Luke 4:18-19 “18) The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19) to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Since Jesus performed these things we should be doing the same thing, because he trained us and sent us out to do the same thing in Mark 6:7 “And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;” This should give us a clear picture that we were sent.  It could also empower us to spend more time with the Lord to get that direction on where and when to go, so it will work more effectively than just our basic sharing the word of God.

I would like to encourage you with this.  You were sent for someone whether it was to help your spouse if you’re married, children if you have any, other family members or even your in-laws, if they will receive you. It could be your friends who the Lord blessed you with to hang out with, or that one time encounter with a stranger. We were all sent to help somebody, even if it has to be done in silent like in our own personal prayer time. This includes the ones who mistreat us.  Yes, this is hard to do at times, but we do know this is true from Matthew 5:44 “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” Now, this is Jesus speaking and not of my own.  This may be hard, but it is one thing we need to be doing?  We need to be doing what Jesus did. That was to be like the Father.  Matthew 5:45 “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” The Lord spoke to me that if he took persecution or ridicule words from people and still showed love then we could, too.  Again this isn’t always easy, but it’s the very truth. Let me remind you once again this isn’t my own words.  These are the words of Jesus.

I saved this part last because I wanted us to understand we were sent for somebody and we can’t have that negative attitude like saying “Oh, I wish the Lord would come and get us out of here.” or “I am so tired of dealing with people.” The Lord always reminds me of Amos 5:18 to get me out of that attitude. Amos 5:18 says “Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! To what end is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness, and not light.”  He reminds me of this scripture because he saved me from falling into the pits of hell.  He also took it a step further with Matthew 7:33 “And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” 
 
These two scriptures were personal for me to understand that I was sent and don’t have the option to step away.  Don’t miss understand me, I may fall from time to time knowing that I am not perfect, but I should be trying to make those changes and efforts to become perfect Matthew 5:48 “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” and Philippians 2:12 “Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” 

The time has come when we need to step up and understand that we were sent and if we walk away from this we’re not walking as a child of God. Yes, this maybe a hard word, but sometimes those hard words can light a fire back in us to keep going, especially if it’s given out of love.

I pray that this message will encourage you to keep going and get rid of that negative mindset of “Why am I here” attitude.

No matter what is going on in this world there is one who is ready to help you change.  His name is Jesus. This message actually comes from Luke 23:39-43 39) “and one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. 40)  But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? 41) And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss. 42) And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43) And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.”

One of those men next to Jesus had a change of heart. This man heard the word from somewhere.  His eyes were opened from the moment the other one made the comment against Jesus and mocked him. The man not only had a change of heart, but he wanted to follow after Jesus. The final result was the man who defended and asked Jesus to remember him ended up in a better place. 

See, while Jesus was on the cross, he was doing the mission of the Father. This also can refer to the fact that we never know the hour or the day when it may be over for us and get that chance to be in that better place.

Jesus’ goal was for us to get in a relationship with him, so that we could begin to have a better life right here and now.  We were to help spread the gospel to others so they could be in that place. This was to be our commission which can be seen in Mar 16:15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” This was to help them become saved before it became too late for them.

Now, I would like to talk to you about the one who is ready to help you change. The Father sent Jesus so that we would have that escape from eternal death and get us out of bad situations and bring us to a better place just as one of the men on the cross. There is no one situation at hand that’s  too big for Jesus even though it may be for us. 
The fact is that Jesus describes this in Matthew 11:28-30 28) “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29) Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30) For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” These verses point out nothing is too big for Jesus.  Why is this so?  Jesus knew the real mission of the Father and that he was sent to help those who were in need. John 5:19 “Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” We even have our very own ‘911’ avenue for us to use in our emergencies.

Take a look at Luke 9:11 “And the people, when they knew it, followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing.” Notice this actually has instruction to it. Let’s break it down to look more like instructions. “And the people, when they knew it” This tells us that when you’re ready to change you will begin to believe it and know in your heart that it is the truth.  It’s the same as in any other thing you may trust in life. Then what do we see after this phrase “followed him,” The only way you’re going to follow after someone is when you really believe in something they say or do.  It works the same way in the word of God.  What do we see next? “and he received them” meaning Jesus isn’t going to turn you away. Why would he receive you and then turn you away?  That would be against his very nature and his mission as we see with his own words from John 5:19. Let’s continue onto the next instruction. This also tells us that Jesus taught them about the Father’s kingdom- “and spake unto them of the kingdom of God.”
 
This was to put us in position so we could advance into that better place. Today, we may not get to physically sit down with Jesus and listen to him like in the biblical days. The truth is, we’re to get in the word and read it so that we can get instruction to receive what we are in need of. We also need to go to a good church, so that we can be taught these truths. It will come in handy if we don’t have an understanding of a particular scripture or passage in the word. This part fulfills Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Again, reading the instruction of getting to our better place or advancement of God’s gets his kingdom working in our life.  That is what we see in the final part of this verse and that is to obtain the things we’re in need of “and healed them that had need of healing.” This means it can apply to more than just physical healing, but also emotional and mental healing. This is why Matthew 6:33 was put in as a necessary starting point to know that it could be applied into other areas of life.
We can follow up with these scriptures to support that Jesus knew he was sent to bring people to a better place. John 3:17  “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” Jesus also knew that there was a time frame in the matter as well. Mark 1:15  “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” We see the time line in this verse from “and the kingdom of God is at hand.” It’s very import for us to understand how real the time line is. Jesus tells us this in Matthew 24:36 “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” We referenced this scripture near the beginning from discussing passage from Luke 23:39-40.

Now, let’s finalize this discussion. It’s important to understand that Jesus was still trying to do the works even while he was on the cross as in the short passage with the two malefactors.  This clearly shows that some will still reject Jesus as Savior.   Luke 23:34-35  34)“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. 35) And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.”

I would like to close out with this short passage Galatians 6:7-8 7) “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8) For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”

The reason for closing with this passage is God is truthful about his word. The truth is you can mock him now, but the result is God already knew his plans and why he did what he did whether we understand it or not. This maybe the time to check yourself out, and find where your faith in him is really at.
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I pray that each person who reads this message will get a better understanding in that there is one ready to accept you, if you really want to change and obtain all the things that Jesus has in store for you.

Today, it seems to be about who can we trust or turn to.  We all have had mixed feelings in trusting someone due to past experiences. Why? These experiences started off good, but somewhere along the line it ended up turning towards the wrong way. This can leave a bad impression about someone who we counted on and whether they were helpful or not. Many get tripped up over the meaning of a scripture. It then becomes a dispute about the meaning of that scripture.  To make things worse, some start declaring which translation is more accurate and why they think so.  Believe me, I know because I been through those same thoughts and emotions myself. Some may even be experiencing these things right now themselves.  The problem even escalates further when some say they believe, but still want to entertain the flesh. Some simply don’t want to follow after the Word of God, but still may have good intentions or possibly not. That still leaves us asking one question. Who can we trust or turn to?  NOW!  I am here to tell you about the one who does have the answer. That’s our Heavenly Father and he is “The Good Father.” Don’t miss understand me.  We do need friends and family to lean on, but sometimes they just don’t have an answer to the problems we’re facing even when they have some knowledge or experience that can help point us into the right direction.  Let’s give God the credit and most of all praises for lining us up those who are willing to help us in the natural.

Let’s start this off with Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” The very ending of this scripture tells us our Heavenly Father is very concerned about us. He is what I would like to describe as a shadow that will never ever leave us, because he is the light and the way.  Think about it for a moment. When the light is shining on us we usually have what?  We have a shadow that appears somewhere off of our body.  In a symbolic way, we can spiritually visualize God’s got our back. This means he is there every step we take or every move we make. He still will be watching over us.  Sometimes, I believe we have a problem with the first part of this scripture.  I know personally this part can be a problem.  What I have learned is that when we allow or let him correct us and not be afraid of that correction, we can move ahead a lot further.  Why do I say this?  Our Heavenly Father corrects us with his abundant love. Yes, those scriptures may step on our toes and maybe rough and tough or even hard to swallow, but they are the truth that is stopping us from reaching his blessing.  I like to even add that it will bring out our potential of who we are to become. Who are we to become? Just like him. This is your opportunity to grab a hold of the truth and don’t be afraid to go to him, but take the time and appreciate what God has to offer us to become a successful servant for him.  Let’s look at some more wonderful and grateful things that show us why God is the “The Good Father” to have.

God gave us a way to be in a better place. He gave us his son Jesus as an escape route from living in a place called hell to a place of an everlasting life. John 3:15-18 15) That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16)  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17)  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18)  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.  I didn’t just put John 3:16 in only, because I need you to be able to read how important it is just how much God’s love was by sending his son for you and me.  Yes, this was to help you get it embedded into your heart. He has a better place for you and don’t be afraid to go to him.  God wants you and me to change our heart and begin to trust him with everything he has to say to us.  One thing I do remember is somebody pointing out the analogy of the letters of the word “Bible” and what it was to mean “Basic instructions before leaving earth.”  This means we have to take the good, the bad, and the ugly and apply it in life.  What do I mean by “the good, the bad, and the ugly” and apply it in our life?  Well, we defiantly want the good things of God to happen in our lives. So, applying the good is easy if you can get rid of the bad and the ugly. The bad is referring to what we need to do to change before we end up in a bad situation or even if we’re already in it. This means that if we want good health, we might have to change our bad habits of eating the wrong foods and start eating the right foods.  The ugly is no matter what we have to do we need to make that change.  Yes, that means whether we like it or not, or the bad is going to become uglier. Just like our health situation, if we don’t change those bad habits, it’s going to get uglier by seeing a gradual increase of getting sicker and sicker as days or years go by, even, when it doesn’t look like it at the moment. Let’s clarify that his ways are the truth and the light before us with John 1:1-5; 14:6 1) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2) The same was in the beginning with God. 3) All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4)  In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5)  And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. John 14:6 “ Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”  See, our Father sent us his very best, because he loved us so much and his words are full of truth even when it steps on our toes.

God will not leave us hungry or without either. All we have to do is go to him. Matthew 6:30 -34 30)  Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31)  Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32) (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.33) But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34) Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”  What I want us to see in this passage was Jesus trying to correct our thoughts by him saying “O ye of little faith?” and change it into be strong and courageous because no matter what, if we will trust in our Heavenly Father he will supply all our needs.  Even Paul says what Jesus saying but in a different fashion. Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”  Even this passage is referring to go to him and don’t be afraid because he has the answer to anything we need from him.  Now, I didn’t say it would be easy, but it certainly can become that easy when we let him lead the way.  Don’t forget about Philippians 4:19 “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”  “According to his riches” that means his goodness, mercy, grace, and most of all his abundance of love that gives you the answer to any problem at hand no matter what the situation is. The main thing is we have to ask in Jesus name. John 16:23-27 “23) And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 24) Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. 25) These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father. 26) At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: 27) For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.” What I want to clarify is we still go to the Father, but we can’t skip the gift that was given to us and that was Jesus who paid the price, so we could have the things we need.  Now, this means we can’t ask for foolish things, especially if it goes against God’s word. Again, I wanted you to see and read it to get it embedded in your heart. God is an awesome Father that is ready to take care of us.

God won’t keep us in danger either if we place him first.  He got the Hebrews out of Egypt, right.  He spared Daniel in the lions’ den. He saved his people from being wiped out totally in Esther. He will do the same for you today, even as these days things look so dark and gloomy.  Just get it right by accepting Jesus as Lord and savior. Start applying the word in your life and understand what is right and wrong. Don’t be just in a place such as “it’s okay, I am saved, and everything will be just okay.”  Why do I say this? Because there will be a time when something will arises and it’s just going to challenge your thoughts on “it’s okay, I am saved, and everything will be just okay.” How do I know? There are many scriptures that say we will be challenged like John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” and we will add 1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” IT’S time to stand so that we don’t become afraid of approaching God. Begin to get into the bible and trust everything it has to say to us to rebuke anything that doesn’t belong to us.

Finally, God sent us the Holy Spirit to comfort us. When we are in a rough situation, the Comforter will remind us what we should begin to speak to get through our situation. Mark 13:11 “But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.
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Now, we should be able to see that God is “The Good Father.”  There is so much we can learn from the word to overcome anything that comes our way, all we have to do is take heed of the word and work it in our lives.

Wolf. Do we really understand the concept of the wolf?  Most of us all have heard the famous scripture that talks about beware of the wolves in sheep clothing in Matthew 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's  clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”, but are we really able to identify a wolf around us before it’s too late?  When the Lord mentioned this message to me, I had to ponder it for a few days.  The thing is, we just can’t keep crying wolf on everybody that appears to be a wolf just like the old story “The boy who cried wolf”; one day nobody will listen. Then when the real wolf does appear it will lead us into a trap. Why? Because all we hear is this person is a wolf or that person is a wolf.  We hear drama after drama and then later those reports turn out to be just rumor after  rumor and it caused me to think about this scripture Mark 13: 7 “And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.” The objective is that we do have to be careful that we don’t set ourselves up for a trap to be attacked by the wolf without identifying everyone that appears to be a wolf and those who aren’t. I got a reality of this concept one day as I was flipping through the channels and came across a show called “American Greed.”  I was moved by the spirit and decided to watch several episodes. These episodes began to make me realize just how much do we really know when a wolf is really around.  2 Corinthians 11:14 “And no marvel; for satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” Yes, this show was all about the greed of  money, but as I watched it, it made me aware there are some of them looking for more than just money. It was about the mixture of money and power at times because they thought they were in control of the sin they were doing.  No, not everyone gets to this point, but some really do let it go to their head. Yes, the wolf will eventually be found out, but  until then, he is right there playing his tricks and working his schemes trying to get away with it, which, takes me to 1 Timothy 6:10 “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” See, not everyone is a 100 percent wolf. They just didn’t realize what they got caught up in. What we have to understand is that money isn’t evil in itself either nor is the power of a title; it’s when we begin to take on a love for money or a title above God, or should we say, when we covet after  it- “which while some coveted after.” This leads many to error and brings out problems for those who worship money and a power above others, but it also can affect many others who are associated with them.  Where can we see this wolf in action and not know it?

We know that a wolf has a hidden agenda. Let’s see it action.  Let’s take a look at someone in general that just falls into greed and wants status, power, and the wealth.  Matthew 21:33-41 “33) Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: 34) And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. 35) And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. 36) Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. 37) But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. 38) But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his  inheritance. 39) And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. 40) When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? 41) They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.” Notice, these workers didn’t want to work the field any longer and was tired of helping someone else obtaining a status they wanted. The owner of this vineyard didn’t suspect any wolf right up front until it was too late. We also see that  Jesus was trying to tell us that God was the land owner and he will get revenge on those who come against his people and his blessings and will turn it over to a new group who wants to take care of the vineyard for him. We can also see this type of wolf in action within the church leaders as well.  Jeremiah 23:1-4 “1) Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. 2) Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. 3) And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.   4) And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD. 5) Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.”  No matter the circumstances, the Lord almighty isn’t going to take those who harm his people or his blessing very lightly. They will have sorrows until they repent with a true and clean heart.  Until then, those sorrows will follow them throughout       eternity. What other reality could we possible need to understand about a wolf?

We need to understand wolves are all around us. Jesus even tells us we have to be very wise when we go out. Let’s look at two scriptures Matthew 10:16 “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” Now the other scripture I want to mention is Luke 10:3 “Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.”  What is the Lord telling us right here?  We still have to get out in this world and function for him and not walk in fear either. Why?  We’re to work in his field and help lead people to him and this does involve some of the wolves in the midst. Luke 10:2 “Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.” I saved this last because we’re to be working for the Lord and it’s not a pretty sight all the time.  Our object is the same as Jesus.  What did Jesus tell those who needed to turn from their wicked ways?  Mark 1:15 “and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.” Now, what are we to be doing?  The very same thing as Jesus did and that is to help people to come to a place of repentance, so Jesus can forgive them just as you and I did. What I would like to point out is a very close relation to a sinner and a wolf.  Generally your sinner is someone who just sins on their own, but some of those sinners do attack.  They just wait for the right moment like what a wolf would do.  Meaning they will come right out and try to devour you out of nowhere trying to bring your up past or other things.  You have to remember they are waiting for their moment of attack. The truth is that many times we see a wolf right off the bat, but there are times we just won’t know it until it’s too late.  A real wolf is supposed to be discrete.  Meaning he is near you but won’t attack right away until you get comfortable.  What they don’t understand is that real repentance  causes the Lord not to remember any of our past anymore. Psalms 103:11-12 “11) For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. 12) As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” Now, a real wolf won’t even have a repentant heart whatsoever. That’s why we need to understand 2 Corinthians 11:14 so well.  We have to be able to be aware of the real wolf and not one that is being motivated by just some mere acts of sin and not realizing what is happening. The real wolf will not have a care in the world for anyone but for himself. The real wolf will be totally performing the first half of John 10:10 and not realizing just how well he has messed up because those who believe in Jesus will always have the victory whether it’s here on earth or when we get to go heaven. John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” Let’s look at one more final thing about the wolf.  He is not the real shepherd and will not show the proper care as a real shepherd would have. Again, the wolf is more concerned about himself and will remove anything that gets in his way or he will totally ignore the attack of   something coming against you and will let it get to you. John 10:12-13 “12) But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. 13) The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.”Can you see that the hireling doesn’t care about anyone, but only cares about himself?  Jesus on the other hand will make certain that what belongs to him will be taken care of John 10:11 “Iam the good shepherd; the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

Let’s remind ourselves we have to have a clean heart and a right spirit when we face the wolf.  No, I won’t say this is easy at all, but we do need to bring ourselves to such a place. If, Jesus can do it, so can we. Luke 23:34 “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.”  When I read this scripture I think about all those people who wanted him dead. Their voices calling out crucify him was the same action as a pack of wolves ready to attack a sheep, and yet he still forgave them. Now, where else can we see that we need to have that clean heart and a right spirit towards a wolf? Take a good strong look at Matthew 5:44 “44) But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Don’t forget about Matthew 7:1-2 either “1) Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2) For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” This message goes way deeper, but it’s not time to share any deeper than what was given to me to give.
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Now, before I close, I want to make sure that you understand that just because Jesus asks us to pray for those who have done us wrong, doesn’t mean that what they did is right nor do we have to hang out with them either. We must wait until God works things out through your prayer time and then if the Lord tells us to go further with them, do so. God knows who he needs to send to help them turn around.

This title was inspired by a true event when our water supply stopped flowing after fixing an electrical part that turns the pump off and on. A check valve was added after the pressure tank to stop any water that was in the line from going back to the well. Now, this didn’t take care of it from the pump to the pressure tank. We had to call a service man in to check out the pump to see if it was bad or not.  The worst case scenario was that the well might have gone dry.  Not long after we moved in the house the pump had went bad and we replaced it with a new one.  At that time the service man told us that this pump should at least give us a good thirty years.  Well, when this service man put in the new pump there was easy access to get to the pump.   Over time we didn’t think about something going wrong so quickly since the pump was to at least last 30 or better years.  Now some time after all this was completed we had blocked off that easy access with a couple of storage sheds. We reopened the area by removing some trees to provide new access to get to the well. There was only one problem though.  We had left the stumps too high above the ground and were just close enough together that a service truck wouldn’t be able to get his truck through.  This almost became a big problem. After calling the service man to come and check out our problem, it hit me that something needed to be done about the stumps RIGHT THEN and NOW. That’s when the Lord spoke to me and said these two things: “Don’t be a stumbling block and don’t wait for the last minute or delay on getting something finished either.” I will finish this section of the story and how it turns out but, right now I want you to see how the Lord dealt with me before the final results took place.

The word says that I shouldn’t ever be a stumbling block to someone no matter what my opinion of someone is.  Romans 14:13 “Let us not therefore judge one another anymore: but judge this rather that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.” Remember that old saying that people would say “You can lead a horse to the water but, you can’t make it drink.”  Well, the Lord was taking this a step further by saying, “Don’t be the stump that stops them from getting to the water in the first place.” The lord continued to speak to me.  “When we don’t act like a Christians we are a stumbling block to them and there is no other way of looking at it outside of me [God] saying I have someone else in mind to help them out, but in the mean time don’t block the passage- be the passage.”  The Lord was showing me I could be that stump that stops them from getting to the well.  That well represents the living water that someone needs to draw from.  John 7:38, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” I know that getting to that well is really all about a personal relationship with the Lord, but God uses people like me and you to help those who need him to get to that well.  Again, I can’t be misleading anybody whether they are a new Christian or not and most definitely the one who needs salvation. This tells me I have to become a stump removal and not be a stumbling block to anyone.  Again, this stump removable is a very vital step necessary to get to the well of living waters.  This is the place to get the blessings from the Lord. This is also the place to restore us and to keep us in line with the word, or should I say a teaching place.  Most Christians understand this place is very important especially during times of troubles. It’s that place where we can take refuge within the Lord. Now, let’s clear up we’re to be that stump removal. This is the word of God and not a matter of a “me” opinion, but the facts.  Isaiah 57:14, “And shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people.” Don’t forget about this passage in Matthew 5:44-45 “44) But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45) That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”  Why did I bring this up? Jesus had to remind us to be like our Heavenly Father, because too many fleshly emotions get in the way and can actually be a hindrance (stump) to someone who needs to get to the well. Jesus needed to reestablish the very nature of who God is and how we should be. The truth is God isn’t interested in being a stump or stumbling block, but very interested in being a stump remover.  God’s ultimate goal was to change people’s lives no matter whether they are a Christian or not.  God is all about drawing in those who need help. God also keeps the passage way open so that anybody can come to the well and enter into the throne of grace. Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Let’s personalize this scripture in a way without taking it too far out of context, because we know that we are not God, but we do need to lead them to the way to obtain God’s blessings and be lead by the Holy Spirit to obtain that victorious life.  This will help me and you to become a better Christian.
 
Here we go, “Let’s help and lead someone to come boldly to the throne of grace, so they can obtain mercy and grace in their time of need.” This is mine and your opportunity to keep sowing a seed and reaping a harvest in the fore-front of our mind. We, as servants of God, are to help promote the blessing and not be a stump that stops the blessings of God.

The next part is similar to the first part, but in a different way. It is about being a minister.  It’s all about delaying an assignment from the Lord.  It showed me as a minister when the Lord gives an assignment, it is a direct order for something to be done.  It’s the essential passage way to those new open doors for those God has entrusted to me as a leader of his flock.

This is important to God so that we can keep his ministry going through us.  Delaying is not an option unless instructed by the Lord.  Delaying can cause that new door to remain closed or be a stump in the way until that assignment is completed.  This means being responsible for even the small things.  Luke 16:10 “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.” It also tells me that no matter what size of an assignment the Lord gives it’s all important to him.  So, YES one little stump before the well doesn’t only affect me but many others, too. I needed to understand that as a minister I need to advance in the word of God so the congregation can advance as well.  Another valuable lesson about why the Lord doesn’t want me to be a stump is that it gives a reverse impact about the Jesus that dwells within me. This can bring a false impression to many of who our Lord really is.  It means I have fallen short of being Christ like. That’s not even being a good steward of the word. This showed me if I couldn’t even handle the word, how could I lead a church full of people or handle the money to operate the church.  This creates delays. God was trying to remind me of who I am supposed to be, a servant for him. Matthew 4:19, “and he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” I can only draw people to our Lord if I become more like him.

Let’s add a few scriptures to bring awareness to a good servant and why it’s important to be like Christ. Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” Ephesians 5:1-2 “1) Be ye followers of God, as dear children; 2) and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.”  The ending of this verse is vitally important. No, I may not be Jesus or totally perfect, but my place as a Christian or as a minister should be working towards being like Jesus, so that what I do for God can be a sweetsmelling aroma unto the Lord.  No, I am not disregarding the rest of the scriptures, but this was a major impact for me about being more serious about whom I am, and in representing how I can lead people to Christ. Think about it. When I don’t represent who the Lord is, then I have become a spiritual stump as a Christian and as a minister. I have now delayed in my part to help bring people to the open passage to God and his blessings.

The Lord shared two other scripture as warning signs about not being a stump or one who decides to delay on things.  Jeremiah 23:1, “Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord.” Now that represents a stump and not a passage way to our Lord.  What got my attention was “that destroy and scatter the sheep” which is delaying the people to receive all that they need from the Lord.  God didn’t want me to be labeled the wrong way either. This causes bad impressions, too. Matthew 7:15, “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” There are more scriptures, but this should give us the general Idea that leadership isn’t about delays; it’s about advancements. Leadership isn’t just a pulpit ministry within a church either.  We’re all to be messengers for Christ, Mark 16:15 “and he saith unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” NO, I wasn’t being condemned by the Lord during this time. It was to help me protect and keep the true identity of Christ Jesus within me so that people would follow after the Jesus that’s within me. This is also the passage way for them to trust me that I would lead them to the proper place to receive their help and that’s within the word of God.
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Now, let’s look at the results for that day.  What I saw was the hand of God’s mercy and grace in action by turning my delaying around for not removing the stumps sooner by showing me and my dad that we should cut out enough out of the two stumps instead taking out one large stump that could have taken all day. This shortened the delay for the service truck to get in and fix our problem without causing him to have to come back later.  That could have caused him to miss another job opportunity.  This also allowed the water to be turned back on in our house by that late afternoon. The greatest thing was the well didn’t run dry and the main part of the pump itself wasn’t bad either. The service man only had to replace the check valve on the pump itself. Praise God.

There is so much craziness that is going on around us today.  We definitely see the signs of the times. This should be a time in our life we should be asking ourselves one question.  Are we really sealed within the Lord?  You have probably seen, at different times, where I have written about where our relationship is at in the Lord.  The reason for it is there is a time when we’re going to have to trust in him more than ever.  I know I probably share this scripture a lot, but it’s one of my all time favorites. Hebrews 4:16 “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” This is the very place we need to be to get that stronger relationship with him.  This is also the place where we can be sealed within him.  What is one of the ways we can tell if we’re in a well established relationship within him? Let’s take a look at 1 John 2:6 “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” Now that’s a clear picture of having a strong relationship with him. The point I am trying to make here is this paints a picture of being sealed within him. What other way could we see a parallel to this situation? How about a closed door and that no man can open to harm you.
 
I began to think about how Noah had to build the ark and prepare for the flood.  So, I went back to study on that topic. I found some very interesting things in this study, let alone what the Holy Spirit revealed to me.  Let’s take a look at Genesis 6:8-9 “8) But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. 9) These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.” Now the Lord told me to look up the name of Noah. Noah means rest.  Wow!  This should tell us when we walk and take time out and be with him that we should be in a resting place or a place of peace.  We can see that Noah had a relationship with God from verse 9 “Noah walked with God”.  This relationship established grace which is a wonderful place to be in the eyes of the Lord which can be seen from verse 8.  This passage tells us how well Noah walked with the Lord “Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations” which tells us he abided with the Lord.  Our Christian walk should be all about abiding with the Lord on a daily basis as well. Now, I want to take it a step further and this is about the door on the ark.
 
What is so important about this door?  First, the door is open so you can enter in. Secondly, when the ark was built and God told Noah to enter into the ark, he closed the door behind him.  We see this when you get to Genesis 7:16 “And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.” This action parallels with Revelations 3:8 “I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.” This tells us that God will always have a way for us to access his promises and nobody can shut that door as long as we get     ourselves sealed within the Lord.  Now, what about the door being shut?  We can find a similar scripture from Isaiah 22:22 “And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.”  Wow again. We must understand some times God has to shut that door to seal us.  Why would he want to shut that door?  The Lord wants to protect us from awful things that are around us even now, but also the things that are coming soon. Stop and think about this for a moment.  God shut the door of the ark.  What was God protecting him from?  God was protecting him from the flood which would have sunk the ark if Noah had decided to open it.  Uh Oh!  Does this sound very familiar?  How many times has the Lord tried to close a door or a situation in our lives, then we get so far and reopen that door when we shouldn’t have.  Do you remember what Isaiah 54:17 tells us “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.”  The Lord closed that door for a reason.  The biggest thing is that the Lord wanted to protect us from anything that could jeopardize our blessings or promises he has in store for us so that nothing could harm us. This scripture is telling us when we are sealed we can be at rest because the Lord has us in full protection from the onset of the enemy. Do you remember why Noah was on the boat? The Lord was removing every corrupted thing out of the way and keeping Noah and his family protected at all time. This was also to seal Noah’s faith in the Lord.  What does Hebrews 11:1 say “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The point I am trying to make is that Noah didn’t see any land for a long time; it went well beyond the forty days and nights of the rain alone. Genesis 7:24 “And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.” Even for sometime after those hundred fifty days as the scripture tells us, the water remained on the earth.  How did Noah know when it was okay and the flooding was receding back to let the land appear? When Noah opened the window to let a dove out, it kept coming back, until one day it came back with an olive leaf in its beak; until one day it didn’t return. Genesis 8:11-12 “11) And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt (plucked) off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. 12) And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.” We need to remember that the dove here is symbolic to the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is always going before us so that we can be guided into the right direction. This type of leading will help us to understand when to open or close a door and keep in that position until we’re told otherwise. What needs to be seen is how the evidence might not look good at first but when we’re sealed in the Lord’s protection; he’ll let us know when it’s okay to reopen that door again, because that’s when he’s ready to open it for us.
 
What the Lord showed me next was very interesting. When Noah was put in the ark it was a good while to keep Noah from any corruption that could overtake him. We sometimes can’t even last a week or two let alone for several months.  Most of us will give up when years go by until the Lord gets a hold of us again or most importantly when we decide to start seeking him out again to find out where we went wrong at. There are some other illustrations of this type of protection, but the Lord told me to look at when Moses lead the people out of Egypt to take them to the promise Land.  This took them forty years to get out of the wilderness. Why did this happen?  They weren’t sealed well enough in the Lord and kept looking back; telling themselves at least we had all these things and didn’t have to worry about what we’re facing now on top of it. Were they sealed in the Lord? No, they just kept looking back which caused them to complain on a regular basis, which means you either lost faith or have outright given up on the Lord.  This means that the seal has been broken during our time of grumbling and complaining and as long as we kept on looking back to the former things.  This is a lack of faith in the Lord. The thing I found very interesting was that when Moses was on the mount getting the Ten Commandments, not only did the children of God think something happened to Moses, but they decided to turn to something else which was another God. How do we know? They made a molten calf.  What just took place at this very moment? They broke their seal with the Lord by building that molten calf, or in other words they opened a door that should not have been opened.  This was costly to many. The difference here was that man was given a choice to either follow or not to follow.  What is your choice going to be?
 
We need to always remember the Lord has our best interest at heart. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” This scripture might not just come right out and say it will open and close a door for you or even when they need to be doing the opposite of what really needs to be done. The truth is when we get before the Lord to begin establishing a relationship and work on walking in his ways we will know when that door is open or closed. What we need to do is never take a look at a closed door to mean the enemy is trying to stop us from our blessing or protection because that isn’t always the truth.  Remember what John 10:10 says “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” This is saying I have open and shut some doors to give you peace. Don’t open that door unless I say, because the enemy wants access in and can take you out of that place of peace. Please take the timeout and check yourself to see just how well you are sealed in the Lord.
 

People like to ask me does God really love and care for me?  I tell them of course, the Lord cares for you. Then, I tell them what 1 Peter 5:7 has to say, “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.”  Then generally they reply that I know that is in the scripture.  Then, they will say I already cast my cares upon him and I don’t see any results.  Right then, I have to tell them you have to believe in the last part of the verse “for he careth for you”.  That is what you need to focus on because when you believe that last phrase you then begin to operate in faith.  See, we can cast our cares all we want, but it’s when we face the fact that he really cares is when we see the breakthrough, if not then we really can’t see a  breakthrough come to life. The next question is can we really show the truth to someone just how much God cares without taking to them to John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  Most generally that is the most common scripture someone would like to give.  I want to show you a small passage out of the book of Matthew that proves that our Lord really cares for you.
 
Let’s begin at Matthew 18:11; remember we’re focusing on “for he careth for you” from the 1 Peter 5:7 above. Now Matthew 18:11 says “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.” Now look at two major points out of this verse.  The first point is “For the Son of man is come”.  This tells us Jesus is ready to visit you.  The question is, are you ready to let him in when he comes?  The second point is “to save that which was lost”.  Now, are we going to own up to that we have a problem.  Many people right here only want to take this as salvation. That maybe true, but are you not lost when you can’t solve a problem.  I know that I am. Now, let’s put 1 Peter 5:7 into perspective with what is being said right here.  When I cast my cares on the Lord I have to invite him in, then the Lord begins to take care of my problems.  Now, if I only tell him of my problems and don’t invite him in then I have given him no room to take care of my problems.  The same thing applies to praying.  We can give a petition and walk away immediately or we can stay and hear what the Lord has in store for us to find the answer to our problems.  Now, this care continues on.  Take a look at the next verse.
 
Jesus tells us this Matthew 18:12 “How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? ” Can you see just how much he really cares.  Right here is where we can see that Jesus is stating that he already cares for you “and one of them be gone astray”.  What does Jesus do when one of his children go astray or in this case that has a real problem and it needs to be resolved?  Jesus will go after them “doth he not leave the ninety and nine”.  Now how far will he go?  Jesus will go way out of his way “and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray”. We have to understand Jesus never forsakes us; it’s us who does the forsaking.  How can this be true?  When we don’t allow him to come in, we forsake him, we deny him the opportunity to help us. This tells us we can’t keep running; it’s time to open the door of our hearts and let him in.  It doesn’t stop right here, continue into the next verse.
 
Matthew 18:13 “And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.”  When Jesus catches up to you and you let Jesus in your heart he  rejoices “so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep”.  Can you see that Jesus cares for you?  Jesus rejoices when you open up your heart to him.  Why?  It’s because you have made the decision to let him come in and help you out where you are lost at and he’s ready to give you the answer you’re looking for.  All of this applies “for he careth for you”.  You must understand Jesus left the ninety-nine that was going to be alright to come after you; which is what the ending of this verse is telling us, “than of the ninety and nine which went not astray”.  Now, this doesn’t mean that Jesus has forsaken the ninety-nine.  No, this is   saying that Jesus wants us to be a part of that ninety-nine, to become family and no longer separated anymore.  I liked what the Lord told me about the one that is astray.  He told me the one that has gone astray is like a black sheep of the family and he doesn’t want anybody to feel like they are the black sheep of his  family. Jesus cares so much that he goes after that one to help them so that they can become a part of his   family again and will no longer feel left out anymore.  Go to the next verse and just see how much Jesus wants you to be a part of his family.
 
Read Matthew 18:14 “Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.”  Now, Jesus is saying, God doesn’t want any of his children too far away from him because he wants to make certain that you are close by so he can take care of his children.  Who are his children?  The answer is me, you, your family, friends, or your neighbor.  Each one that was mentioned is a “you”.  The objective here is to understand that our Father has a will for us and that will is to bless us, not to harm us “Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.” Notice the underlined places.  I am trying to point out that it never was God’s plan for someone to suffer. We have to get into a place to believe “for he careth for you” is very true so that we can get into that place of faith, operating and working for us because he does care for us. Jesus is ready to hear what our needs are and wants to take care of the situation at hand, because he cares that much for you. Each and every one of these verses point out that our Lord does care for us. It’s time for us to open up our hearts and let Jesus in so he can take care of us.
 

The other day, when I went into prayer, I asked the Lord to give me a “New Year’s message”.  This is what the Lord had to say to me “Go back and look at Lot’s wife when she turned back and looked at Soddom and Gomorrah” which is from Genesis 19:26 “But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” Naturally I said “Lord how can this be a New Year message.  Right then the Lord spoke to me and said “What do most people do when a new year starts?”  I said they make a New Year resolution.  The Lord replied back “Exactly!”  See the word resolution comes from the word resolute.  Resolute means: a) marked by firm determination; b) bold, steady.  This told me it’s up to ourselves to see that this resolution comes to pass, but the problem is our determination, boldness, and being basically steadfast to keep this commitment becomes weaker over time at least for the ones that are very hard to do or the more challenging ones which we thought would be easier to do.  This applies in our Christian walk of life.  We want to make a commitment, but when the challenge becomes to overwhelming for us, it causes us to give up more easily.  Now, what does this imply?  When we take our eyes off of what were going after we start becoming that pillar of salt.  No, maybe not literally or physically speaking.  The truth of the matter is that we have allowed our flesh to interfere.  The Lord said “It’s deeper than we think.”
 
How can this be deeper than we think Lord? I replied.  The Lord said “Go back and look at what Lot’s wife was looking at?” I replied “She was looking at Soddom and Gomorrah.”  So, I took the time to look up the word’s Soddom and Gomorrah.  Soddom means burning.  Gomorrah means submersion.  Now submersion means submersed or submersing.  Now the Lord told me to look at Soddom and Gomorrah as a marriage.  Now if Soddom really means burning and Gomorrah means submersion we have a problem in making our New Year resolution to work.  Again this means we have a problem making the word of God to work in our lives as well.  Negatively speaking, what is happening right here is that our fleshly desires (that burning sensations; which is the Soddom) reminds our flesh what it used to like and takes on what it used to do or always seemed to work for us (submerged into; which is the Gomorrah) and brings it back into play.  Yes, it means we have done it for so long and now it wants to override what we really need to accomplish in our live.  The point I am trying to make is Soddom and Gomorrah is like a marriage; they worked well together and it works us over just like it did with Lot’s life.  We have to understand it doesn’t matter how much help we get by getting into prayer and getting others to pray for us; it’s about our own self determination of really wanting that change that were looking for.  It’s true.  We can be encouraged, stand on the scriptures, pray for ourselves, or even ask for others to pray and we start seeing results working, then all of the sudden something, or many things, start popping up and before we know it our eyes have been taken off of what were going after and then it never comes to pass.
 
Now, let’s turn this scenario around.  The word of God says this in Romans 12:21 “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”  So, how can this fit with the pillar of salt story.  Let’s reverse the effects of what is taking place.  The word Soddom means burning.  We could see how it was a burning desire to bring us back to the flesh.  Well, let’s take that same burning desire and let God’s word burn out the fleshly desires to prevent us wanting to go back to the fleshly ways.  The same goes for Gomorrah.  Don’t let our flesh submerse, or give into, unto the ways of the old fleshy desires, but submerge ourselves into the word of God to keep pressing forward to remove the evil or fleshy desire that is trying to overcome us.  God always has the victory for us. All we have to do is submit to God as it says in James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”  The trick is we have to acknowledge that the word of God does work and it’s always higher than our ways which can be seen in Proverbs 3:6 “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” and Isaiah 55:9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  Now, both of these scriptures that we’re given say that his word works and it works for our benefit to overcome.  When we get this going Isaiah 54:17 will become more alive to us. Isaiah 54:17 “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.”  Wow, what a scripture to fall back on.  “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper” tells me don’t even give room for my fleshly desires to come against myself again.  This means all I have to do is turn to the word of God and allow it to work in my life.  See, this is telling us don’t let the Soddom and Gomorrah take us over, but turn it around and let the word of God take over Soddom and Gomorrah in and for us.  “And every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn” once again we have to take control over the flesh or the  enemy to stop it from taking us over because whatever is trying to take us over is being judged by the word of God and his word is higher than our ways.  “This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.”  This tells me once again that if we become born again and let his word truly work it will   overcome what is coming against us due to the fact that we belong to him and the Lord now resides in us.  What an overcoming power.
 
Then the Lord told me this will parallel with the wine skin parable. Luke 5:37-39 “37) And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. 38) But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved. 39) No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.”  We have to understand that when we really want to change something; we have to stick with it.
 
Now there is another feature we seem to forget.  It’s called a New Year resolution, right.  The Lord told me “It just might take a full year to overcome it, not that it can’t come quicker, but there just may be that much burning out that needs to take place, it also depends on how much you decide to submerge into my word and make it work for you.” Some things just take time.  I always think about how long it took to burn out the old ways and begin to trust the word of God such as Moses leading the people to the  promise land.  No, I don’t want anybody to have to wait 40 years but my point is that it may take some time to get our results and all this hinges on just how fast we take a hold of the truth and let the word of God do its work for us.
 
The bottom line is that were to be the salt of the earth not the pillar of salt that nobody can see. This reminds me of the parable spoken by Jesus.  Matthew 5:13 “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and trodden under foot of men.” We should be the first part not the second part.  The first part is we need to help season and tenderize or breaking down the tough walls that stops someone from receiving the truth of God’s word.  The second part is all about not working the first part and we begin to look like a pillar of salt or a salt that piles up and doesn’t go anywhere.  It’s time to not only get salted by the word of God, but to spread the salt so others will get to know Jesus.
 

The Lord laid it my heart to think about the wise men, which saw the bright star in the sky when Jesus was born.  Matthew 2:1-2 “1) Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 2) Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” He proceeded to tell me, “Ever since the beginning I have given a mystery to my people and that was to follow the light.”  I replied “Oh wow, Lord.” “You see I have given a light of the day and the light of the night.” said the Lord.  Genesis 1:16 “And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.”  Then, as I pondered on this verse the Lord spoke to me and said, “I created the stars and then one day I made a special star.  That special star was to be brighter than all other stars, so that all those who had seen that star would come and see that special gift, but more importantly to honor that gift, and those who didn’t, I would send a messenger so they can hear about what was given to them.”
 
We can all refer to John 3:16 that tells us that Jesus was a special gift “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  We can also reference this from Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting  Father, The Prince of Peace.”
 
We can also find that Jesus is truly the light of the world from John 8:12 “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” Now, was it really bright enough for all to see?
 
Yes, we may not see that bright shining star in the night sky due to cloud coverage or a hazy night, but it can be seen throughout the word of God or seen through others who have fully accepted the gift.  The truth is do we want to receive it when it’s revealed to us just as it was revealed to the wise men? How can we clarify this is truth?  It can be seen in 1 John 1:1-3 “1) That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2) (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was  manifested unto us;) 3) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.” There is more to this, but the most important thing is that somewhere along the way someone has tried to present to us the truth about Jesus. We can see this truth by going back and reading how the Angels came before the shepherds when Christ was born. Luke 2:8-12 “8) And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9) And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10) And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11) For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12) And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” What was interesting in this was that the light was around about those angels because they had known the Lord.  We also see that the shepherds went to receive the gift and honored the shining star and the Lord Jesus as well. Luke 2: 15-18 “15) And it came to pass, as the   angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. 16) And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. 17) And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. 18) And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.” All of this was done so the gift could be shown before us that Jesus was sent by the Father as a gift to us. We can also see this fulfillment with John 1:32 “And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.”
 
Now, just because, we heard about Jesus or even seen the witnessing power of Jesus working right before our very own eyes doesn’t mean we have received the gift to its fullest. See, many have been caught up with the emotions that surrounded them when they saw someone else get saved and received the gift. How do we know this? First of all Jesus went about preaching to many who needed to be saved and he was right there in front of them Mark 1:15 “And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.”  Jesus was saying there is a time coming when the light will go out, but while it’s before you take and receive the gift to the fullest.  Jesus was also saying many will see the gift but some won’t receive it as well. Which is why we see scriptures like Luke 9:26 “For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels.” and 1 Samuel 8:7 “And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.” Paul even confirms this in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 “3) For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4) And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
 
Don’t forget that we’re to set the example Matthew 5:14 “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” and Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” 
 
Let’s get wise like the wise men and go and receive the gift. Whether you have backslidden or haven’t received Christ. It’s time to repent and truly believe that Jesus was sent for you and died on the cross for your sins and rose again so that you could have life more abundantly, John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”  For those who aren’t certain if you have truly accepted Jesus, it may be time for you to repent and activate that gift of life. Believe me, when you really do this, you will want to honor and worship him to the best of your ability for all the days of your life.
 

Many times we hear people asking why don't our prayers work.  Lately, the Lord has been teaching me more and more about getting stronger in my prayer time each night I pray.  The biggest thing we are wanting is the answers to or results of our prayers. The Lord has shown me so much, but this one I believe will give you a little insight.  Many may know it, but there are still some who just don't see it or think they are applying it when they actually aren’t.  I pray that your prayer time will change and you will begin to see those results that you're asking for will come to pass.
 
The Lord moved on me one evening during my prayer time and said "you need to patch the holes in your bags" and as always I replied "what do you mean by patching up holes in my bags?" Then God lead me to Haggai 1:6 "Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that  earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes."  Now, I know this scripture refers to money, but this principle can apply to other areas of life, too, but God had referenced this with my prayer life at that moment.  Now how can this apply into our prayer life?  I would like to break this scripture down and show you as the Lord had shown me.
 
"Ye have sown much" - The Lord said "I have sown plenty of petitions for the things that I needed from him just from simply following 1 Peter 5:7 "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." He showed me that when I take that bag of cares or my petitions and pour it out to him it leaves the bag empty. The bag became empty because I know that I needed God’s help.  The problem is sometimes I don't step back and wait for an answer that will answer my request.  Right then and there the bag begins to weaken and develops holes in it. I am not talking about the main hole but other holes that develop over a period of time.  It's like wearing a piece of clothing that you really like and only want to wear it on special occasions.  When we do this it can potentially draw moths and get holes eaten into it.  The same thing happens with our prayers.  We go and give a petition but we don't stick around to fill up our bag with the word of God.
 
Let’s look at another passage where Jesus speaks in a similar fashion in Luke 12:31-34 31) But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. 32)  Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33) Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. 34)  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  This starts out by telling us just right where we need to go which is to the Father “But rather seek ye the kingdom of God” concerning our petition from verse 31. 
 
Now, verse 32 tells us in what kind of position we are to stand in which is to “Fear not”.  This is a place where we absolutely can’t let doubt in not now or ever.  It also tells us that our Father in heaven is ready to resolve any issue that you or I have in our life “for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom”. 
 
We need to understand that God’s kingdom is where the blessings are at.  It’s his word. Now, verse 33 says we have sown much in many areas, but do we need to sow elsewhere? We need to shift our time in prayer to stop and listen so we can reap the real harvest, or simply put, getting our prayers answered.  Some of us have done what God asked of us.  Some gave alms, have paid our tithes and did plenty of offerings, but we still haven't taken time to fill that bag back up.  What should we be filling that bag with?  The answer is "a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth" Notice the underline words.  It has to be filled with the treasures from the heavenly realm.  This also describes the type of bag we need as well "bags which wax not old" which means it should not have holes in it.
 
Now let’s take this a step deeper.  The word wax means sealed.  Remember centuries ago when the Kings or any other person with authority would send a letter and it would have melted wax on it and they would stamp it with their seal?  Well, our bag needs that same kind of seal and it needs God’s stamp on it. We can see why from the ending of this scripture which has an excellent ending to it and why we don't need those holes in the bags "where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth." 
 
What I am really trying to say is each time we go to our Father, we can’t walk away from him before we get  answer.  Each time we walk away from him we have developed a hole in our bag.  It doesn't matter whether it’s one petition or many petitions. Each time we walk away before we obtain our answer an open door is given to the thief to make an approach against or simply has an avenue to stop our prayers.  This is done because we have not taken the time out to receive our victory scripture or passages that concerns our petitions. 
 
Now, verse 34 is all about that attitude again “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”.  This scripture ministered to me about where my heart is during my prayer time.  This is just a great reminder of just how serious we need to be in our prayer life.  Why do I say this?  I have two options to choose from.  One, I can choose to leave early and not get an answer or a strategy to my petition, again this allows me to open the door to the enemy which places holes in my bag.  Secondly, I can choose to stay which  indicates that my heart is in a serious place and will stay until an answer is given to me to resolve my issue.
 
The next part of this verse says, "And bring in little" - The Lord said that "I bring in little because I haven't filled up that space in my bag with the word of God or I just simply assumed that some basic knowledge on a few scriptures I know is enough and that isn’t always enough to patch up the hole all the way."  Then God proceeded to tell me "this is like you putting your ways above my ways."  The truth is God didn't fill the bible up with so much for us to only fall back on a few basic scriptures.  God gave us this anointed book because there are many more scriptures we need and can depend on to resolve our situations. 
 
Now, the Lord also told me to go back and refer to this short passage out of Matthew 12:43-45 43) When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. 44) Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. 45) Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.
 
This passage may be about a person who was to be delivered and it was incomplete.  I’ll explain the incomplete part here in a minute.

What we see in this passage happens in our prayer time. How?  Take a look at what its saying.  When I go into prayer and say I want to be set free of something and then turn around and immediately walk away from the presence of God, I begin to walk into a place of entrapment or another way of putting it “I have set a trap before myself and I won’t get what I asked for”.
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Now, here is where I’ll explain the incomplete part.  That scripture said that the unclean spirit went out, but it came back because that place or hole was still there, and it had not been filled back up.  So, how did this person end up?  That person ended up in a worse state than before and by not filling up our bag with God’s word in prayer, our situations end up like this person.  
 
This is the same thing as us fooling ourselves by saying "I don't know where God was at because I don't see an answer to my prayers."  The reason we have this attitude is we have taken the liberty upon ourselves to walk away when we shouldn't have and it caused us to revert back to our original state of an unanswered prayer with starting all over with the same petition, but now adding even more petitions to clear up a bigger mess than what we already start out with. 
 
Now, this doesn't mean we are possessed with any demons as this scripture says; remember we are dealing with prayer and unanswered prayers.  What I am trying to point out is when we walk away our prayers may not get answered but our situation may even possibly get worse by stepping out on God too quickly.  I want to make it clear, if the basic scriptures works for you that’s a wonderful thing, but sometimes God needs us to go above and beyond the basics.  We just may come across a situation where the basics just might not work anymore and have to address it more specifically. 
 
Let’s put a scenario into play.  If I go and ask the Lord to heal me and don't stick around for an answer from him concerning about my healing my heart may not be serious about my healing and miss out on getting my healing, but now I could add more problems.  Such as not receiving my healing to begin with I may eventually have to pay more money out by seeing a doctor and possibly getting medication added to the expense. 
 
It could even be very contagious and spread to others just by simply not giving God time to answer me on how I need to get healed.  I will put it like this, we know what 1 Peter 2:24 says “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” God may want to tell us we’re allergic to something. 
 
See, if we take the basic approach or mind set of just using the phrase “we’re healed by his stripes” we may not get the revelation there is an allergic reaction from something that may be stopping our healing.  Doesn't this parallel with "and bring in little?" Can we see how there are some similarities within Haggai 1:6? Basically it tells us that it can happen in any area of our life.
 
"Ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes"- Now what does all this say?  We can possibly entertain ourselves with just a little and not see real or full results.  Just as the Lord told me we’re asking him for things, but we’re not sticking around long enough to give him a chance to answer us. Our spirit will not be satisfied when we walk away too early. Again, the basics are powerful, but sometimes it takes more than just the basics.
 
If you go back and really look at it, the beginning of each phrase in this verse talks about having needs met in every area of life and the ending tells us our results that we are not receiving our answered prayers because we haven’t given God time to answer us in full, and basically, we haven't patched up our holes properly.  I am not implying that we didn't go to God for our answers in the first place, or even God hasn’t started given us an answer either.  We just need to make certain we stick around long enough to get the complete answer and not a partial answer.
 
I know there has been a few times when God has started to give me an answer and I said "Okay God, I got it now." and walked off and didn’t allow him to finish.  I am telling on myself at the moment, but it’s the truth.  The reason for it is because I ended up making my ways higher than God's ways.  This totally means I got an answer but I didn’t stick around long enough to see it work by simply by stepping out too quickly of God’s presence.  When this happens I have to now repent and ask for God’s forgiveness for stepping out so quickly.  Then I need to stick around a lot longer to hear all that he has to say.  When I do this I begin to see the real and full results that answers that I am looking for.  I think it’s time to properly patch some holes and get our real results in our prayers.

Are we really ready for the return of Christ? The Lord has laid it on my heart to ask myself some question based off of these two scriptures and one quick passage from the bible. Matthew 13:16 “but blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.”; John 10:27-28 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” and Luke 21:27 “And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.” I immediately began to realize just why he was asking me to ask myself this question. They all pertain to having a right relationship with him.  Today, so many are ready to see our Lord’s return but are they truly ready?  We may not know the day or the time that Jesus will  return, but the word gives us many signs to help keep us on our toes to be prepared at all times. Matthew24:36 “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”  Here is another scripture that expresses that it’s our responsibility.   Matthew 25:13 “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.” Don’t misunderstand me, salvation is the key factor to getting into heaven. The problem is today we see so many who have confessed Jesus as Lord of their life, but yet they don’t want to really talk about it let alone show true actions by walking in the light of our Lord. They may try to wear items like shirts, caps, and jewelry to clam they are Christians or even buy paintings, cups, and other novelties to show it, but yet when you begin to know them you really wonder.  Well, that’s really between God and them.  It’s not our duty to pour out all their faults in them and bring condemnation or rejection upon them.  We are not to be judging one another in that capacity any ways. Matthew 7:1-2 tells us so “Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” This is the very reason God asked me if I was ready for his return. This is not the place or time to worry about someone else at the moment.  This is a question about examining ourselves right now. Then he began to show me some things out of those scriptures and what it means to have that deeper relationship with him.

Matthew 13:16 is talking about those who see and hear the word of God.  Now, what way can we see the word without looking at pictures, wearing clothes, or on any other novelties?  The answer is by opening the bible and reading what it has to say to us. Don’t misunderstand me,  having possessions like that is nice to have.  They may even have moved us spiritually, but at a certain point they are just really great reminders. We have to get more into the word to find our blessing that we’re to have. For me, every time I see or hear someone saying this scripture Joshua 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and thou shalt have good success.” it automatically wants me to get into the word of God. That’s right, I want to open that bible up and look for anything that will teach me how to stop the attacks or curses from coming into my life that are in my way from receive my blessings. Reminders are great, but if we don’t take time out and let that word minister to us we may not get all that we need.  We even do this in our lives with things that don’t pertain to the word of God.  Someone can tell us be careful who we hang out with. Why did they give us that warning to begin with?  There is obviously something we are missing.  Then we have this tendency to say well I don’t see anything wrong with it. Why?  Because we haven’t seen the down fall of it just yet. Are you catching on?  See, if we don’t open up the bible to gain some understanding we won’t know the downfall until it’s too late, which causes us to miss our blessings. I know this personally, very well, because I have been down that road myself too many times.

This also pertains to hearing the word. Are we hearing what we are supposed to be hearing or are we leaning totally on someone else’s ideas.  We have to be careful of this because some will say this is the way it’s been and that’s the way it will always be.  Some even like placing scriptures in places where they shouldn’t be placed at because it helps them line it up with their flesh instead of their spiritual man that’s within them and will want others to agree with it.  Let me remind ourselves and yes, I am including myself with this verse Matthew 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”  I’ve pointed out this scripture for two reasons. One, we do really need to watch what we are hearing and whom we’re hearing it from. Two, we can’t keep claiming everybody that makes a mistake is a wolf in sheep clothing either. See, if we don’t read the word of God enough we won’t know that what we’re hearing is true or false.  We must remember what was just pointed out there is some that maybe using a   scripture to entertain the flesh. The truth is with a lack of knowledge in the real truth we may just end up falling for that scripture as truth as well. Then again we will miss out on our blessings over this false blessing that has entertained us. Yes, it’ll catch up and have a great downfall and we’ll wonder what just happened.  The next verse is why seeing and hearing is so important and it will be about hearing more than seeing but they do work hand in hand.

The next verse or should say short passage the lord pointed out to me was John 10:27-28 which tells me if I am really working my relationship with him I’ll know that it’s him speaking to me. This is very important to understand. We don’t need to be tossed to and fro from every word of doctrine but to cling to the truth of the word.  Remember what we said from Matthew 7:15.  If, we don’t watch it and don’t get into his word and study it we will be a victim of this and really be fooled by that wolf in sheep clothing.  Again this doesn’t mean that everyone who makes a mistake is a wolf in sheep clothing.  The problem is that when we follow this scripture too much. We take on the mindset they messed up and now we begin to wonder if we’re truly hearing our Lord’s voice clearly.  We can’t forget what John 10:10 tells us “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more   abundantly.” What we need to realize is that if we start claiming that everyone is a wolf due to the fact we haven’t read and seen the truth in the word to begin with then how do we even know that what we’re    hearing is the truth, let alone start claiming that person is a wolf. What we’re really doing at this point is helping the enemy to rob people from getting the real blessings not to mention our own. The reality of this is that it’s up to us to read the word and begin to hear what the spirit of the Lord is trying to tell us.  Now, there will be a great number of times we may not understand something or have read something out of the word of God and wonder if we heard from the Lord correctly and may need some help from other people. I was no exception to the rule. I had to learn that I couldn’t make out everyone that had a fault was a wolf in sheep clothing because he did give us the five-fold ministry to obtain some help in this area. Ephesians 4:11 “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some,  pastors and teachers.” Now where does this come into play with “Are We Ready for the Return?” is at? It’s the final verse Luke 21:27.

The Lord told me “You can’t see me coming if you can’t see me in the word or hear it from those whom I have sent to you to get you prepared for my return.”  This told me I might just miss the Lord’s return myself if I just fall on the bases of seeing simple reminders of  certain passages on things and not have a deep understanding of it.  I can’t know the signs of his return if I don’t read it for myself let alone to hear it from someone and know whether it is something of truth. I just can’t be fooled by what I hear either, because if I do someone may be leading me a stray and then I will miss catching the real signs due to the false things I’ve heard.  I don’t know about you but I want to be up to date on what is true and what isn’t and the only way I will know is by following Joshua 1:8 as I mentioned earlier. This will really does help me get into that deeper relationship with him.  Because I want to be ready for when Jesus does come for us just as Luke 21:27 tells us “And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”  This means I can’t be double minded and fool myself by placing everyone who makes a mistake as a false prophet either. I tell you this because when that day comes for our Lord’s return, I really don’t want you to miss it either. We have to understand it’s our responsibility to open the bible and read it for ourselves.
 

Can we really see the other side of a coin that clearly?  One day a person asked me to help him out and it seemed like a struggle to get the word across to him.  That night as I was praying and the Lord gave me a vision.  He told me “Jason go and pick up a coin.” Then he asked me which side do you see at the moment?  I replied “Lord I see heads at the moment.”  He said “Now if you flip that coin over what do you see?”  I said “Lord, I see tails now.”  Then he said “Some will get foolish and want to point out that you can see the edge and that’s a side as well and that edge represents  something.” Now the spirit of the Lord was still moving through this vision.  He also showed me a coin spinning.  He then began to say “This is one view you will miss and that’s when a coin is spinning and it means something as well.” Then he said, “What kind of servant do you want to be?”  Of course, as a minister you would want to reply “a good servant” just as I had replied.  Then the Lord spoke to me and said “Each side of the coin along with the edge of a coin and also a spinning coin represent an action of a person, a condition or situation they are in.”  Now, let’s talk about how the head and tail represents two of the largest viewing sides as well as the edge of a coin and all the way to the spinning coin as the Lord had showed me.

Heads represents that we as Christians can see the victory through all things.  1 Corinthians 15: 57 tells us, “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  We found that through our salvation experience we have access to the Father due to Jesus telling us this from John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

Thank God that today we don’t have to worry about the Lord forsaking us, but if we walk from the Lord, we can’t see or obtain those blessings. Back in Asa’s day they had to be careful about how they dealt with God. 2 Chronicles 15:2 “And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.” The trick is do we remember where we started from before we got to this place.  Let’s look back at one of my favorite short passages  Leviticus 19:33-34 “33) And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. 34) But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.”  See, the Lord was showing me not to forget that we didn’t always see the victory and that we had our times of trouble in trusting the word to carry us to that victory.  This passage touched my heart because at one time I was a stranger to the word of God and the Victory he had in store for me. This also showed me the way of being that good servant.  What does the Lord want us to be?  He wants us to be the head and not the tail, right?  Deuteronomy 28:13 “And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:” This is the place we want to lead people to. Now, let’s look at the other side of the coin called tails.

Tails represents those who really do have struggles with getting into the word of God and generally they are in the flesh because they just don’t realize the battle they are in.  We have to remember they are battling a spiritual battle that they don’t see.  Remember this verse in Ephesians 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”  This really is an area of struggle that they can’t see because they are operating in the flesh at that moment.  They don’t always see that the flesh needs to line up with the word to see the victory; all they know is what they see by the flesh and how it works.  They need help with so many questions.  That is why I wrote “Got Questions, You’re not Alone” because those who see from the fleshly side are in need of a Christian’s help, but we have to understand what they are seeing before we can help.  They are a stranger to the word and in the ways of the Lord.  We have to remember they don’t have the spiritual eyes to see and those spiritual ears to hear at the moment.  No, I am not saying join their pity party at all, but we do need to listen and try to see from their point of view so we can be a better vessel of God’s voice in the earth to lead them from the destruction they are in to a victorious life through Jesus.  Don’t    forget we often have our times even as we walk out our salvation.  It’s very important that in this time, we listen and put on the fruit of righteousness so that they can see the Jesus within us.  You can find the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22-26 and Colossians 3:12-17.  If, we can’t show the Love of God through us, then how can they see the Jesus we see, or better yet, the Jesus who is within us?

The edge of the coin represents a person who can’t see either side; this parallels with someone who is neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm.  Revelations 3:16 “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.”  What is really happening is that they can’t see heads too easily.  Remember, heads leads us to our victory. Through Christ Jesus we can be victorious in times of trouble, even when it hits us out of nowhere.  Then on the other hand they can’t see tails that easily either.  Why? Because they really don’t believe satan is real and also they think they really don’t need Jesus due to the fact that they had done it for so long without Jesus, but they still don’t understand and realize the spiritual impact of what’s taking place.

They are motivated by the flesh and they tell themselves this is just the way life is. Some think that they are ten feet tall and bullet proof; until a serious issue occurs, especially, when it hits them in the stomach so hard that it takes their breath away not counting on being hit in the head right after being hit in the stomach. That’s when they begin to realize that they are no longer in control.  That’s when it all becomes a reality they need something bigger than themselves or what the world can offer them.  See, we all have different walks of the flesh.  Yes, there is one area that is common in all of us and that is “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Romans 2:23. That’s the very reason we need to understand from their point of view and be patient with them.  I know this is hard to do at times, but if our patience   begins to wear out it’s time to hand it over to God and allow the Holy Spirit to move upon us to lead and guide them to the truth or to someone we can trust to lead them to the truth.
 
Now this last view, the spinning coin is like the edge but it’s different as well. The spinning coin can represent someone who is being tossed this way and that way  because of what they heard, which parallels with James 1:8 “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” or James 1:6 “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.” The real problem is that they go to too many people for advice, which can  sometimes cause mass confusion for them. The reason is that so many are at different levels of faith or revelation, some are taught wrong, and others simply don’t believe.   We really need to realize that even in the Christian world we can, at times, imitate the world’s way of thinking to those who are trying to get help.  It stems from all these things mentioned above and more. That could be the cause of someone spinning and   wondering just which way they should go.  Think about it, when you thump that coin and want to make it spin, it not only spins, but it can spin off in different directions itself, right.  Well, we as Christians need to help them with the word and point them in the right direction so that they don’t get tossed everywhere just as we don’t like being tossed around either.  They need that firm foundation, too.  Remember what Paul said in Ephesians 4:14-15 “14) That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15) But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:” Remember, these people who are asking for our help are in a spiritual battle and they need Jesus.  Now remember too, we don’t want to entertain a pity party either.  It’s really up to them if they want that change and some really do, but they are having trouble with moving the flesh out of the way to obtain that victory.

LET'S MAKE IT PERSONAL
 
I want to share something with you from 2 Chronicles 15:2 “And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.”  Where you see “Asa” at, place your name with it, and just as you see the word “you” it is talking about you.  Then you will realize just how much you need Jesus and you will call upon him and he will be there for you.  The trick is not leaving Jesus, because he already doesn’t want to leave you to begin with and the rest of it will become so true in your life.
 

So many people really do have questions about the Word of God and a relationship with him.  The biggest problem is that many of them out there just really wonder if the word is for them.
 
Why do I say this?  I was no exception to the rule.  I had my fair share of questions and they are probably the same questions that most people would ask.  Questions like is the word of God really for me, does God really care about me, and will he really talk to me, have crossed all our minds at one time or another.
 
These thoughts come in quickly from watching and  listening to those who have been in the word for so long, that it has left that impression on many out there.  To those outside of God, It seems they have more of God’s blessings working for them than those who still walk for the world or just getting started in their walk.  If it seems they have more of God’s blessings than you, it’s because they have been working their relationship with God longer than you, but you can start at anytime. Before you know it, you’ll be enjoying some of those blessings.
 
Many still feel like something is missing even when they feel so rich from the world’s system. More times than not, this may cause them to be jealous, because of the abundance of joy, peace, love and happiness that many Christians have. Still others will wonder if God’s word is really for them because they hear about how God moves in the lives of his people in different ways such as dreams, visions, and hearing that the Lord speaks to them.  No doubt you may have had your own experiences.
 
All these things subconsciously begin to cause us to not believe that the word of God is for us, but the good news is that God’s word is for everybody, it’s for all of us.  Here’s how I know that it’s for all of us.
 
One day I came across two short passages and I have shared these with many others.  Ephesians 2: 2-3 says, “2) Wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3) Among whom also we all had our conversations in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” Then, I usually like to share this short passage as well found in Leviticus 19: 33-34 “33) And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. 34) But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.”
 
These two passages mean a lot if you’re not saved or still struggling with changes and nobody else sees them even after you have become saved.  How could these two short passages help someone out who has never  received Jesus into their hearts and lives?  Let’s break down these two passages to see why it’s important.
 
Ephesians  2:2 “Wherein in times past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:” This verse tells us that everyone has walked the world’s system, not God’s, at one time their life.
 
Look back at Eph 2:1. This verse gives a picture of those who have already repented and have accepted God’s ways of living and they now walk in God’s blessings.
 
So, nobody has to feel alone anymore because this does clarify that we all have walked in a sinful life.  That’s why we need to remember Romans 3:23 “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Did you see the words “for all”?  It means no one is exempt from this scripture.  The next phrase “according to the prince of the power of the air,” clearly states that we all have walked in a rebellious way.
 
When we let this sink in we begin to realize that without Jesus in our hearts, we are still walking in the world’s system which is without the blessings of God which we see in the next phrase “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:”
 
It’s like this because so many people think they are doing just fine without God because they have money, a good family, and they’re not out there robbing their neighbor’s blind, instead they do good to them. Being a good person is nice and helpful, don’t miss understand that point, but it’s when we come to the knowledge that Jesus died for us and we come into a full repentance and accept Jesus as Lord of our lives that really pleases the Lord and gives us eternal life in heaven.
 
Ephesians 2:3 “Among whom also we all had our conversations in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”
 
From this passage, we can see that we all have had our thoughts and questions “Among whom also we all had our conversations in times” and how these questions came about.  Read the next phrase “in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind;” which tells us that we all have had our own questions on which way works the best, the world’s way outside of God or by being in the word of God and working his will for our lives.
 
The important thing is everyone has a past.  Another problem is that we weigh out the sins in what is big and what is little.  The answer to this is no matter how big or little it seems it’s still sin in the eyes of God.  Now, we pointed out that nobody is exempt.
 
Let’s take a look at the final phrase of this verse “and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”  Again, we see that nobody is exempt and we’re truly not alone from “even as others”.  Now I will begin to explain why I like to include Leviticus 19: 33-34.
 
This little short passage is actually to remind those who are saved and have made great strides of progress towards making an humble turn in life. Leviticus 19:33-34 “33) And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. 34) But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.”
 
Sometimes, we as believers need to be reminded that we had a starting point.  Most believers don’t really mean it, but do have a tendency to make it sound so easy because of how they have walked in the word for so long.  What most real believers are actually trying to do is help you focus on the truth of God’s word and to show you it takes time.  Most generally it just doesn’t appear that way, or we just don’t see it or hear it from that point of view due to the feelings we have at the moment.
 
Believe me, I know.  These actions are coming from those who believe because they finally learned how to start walking or begin to hang onto those truths when things start happening to them.  So, yes it appears easier to the believers than those hanging in the balance by saying “is it for me or not” to “does it even work or not”.
 
Each and every one that has become born again was a stranger to the word of God.  Then, somehow a believer and a non-believer have crossed paths and that’s how the new believer got started into believing.
 
Truth be known, I have heard a lot of testimonies of how many, that came to the Lord, had shared the same    questions or thoughts about how they didn’t need the Lord or wasn’t good enough to be a part of the Lord’s family.  They also had the same thoughts about listening to how others made it sound so easy to be with the Lord and some would share how they wanted what the believer experienced such as how the Lord talks to them by dreams, visions, and other means of how the Lord    ministers to the believers and really want to be a part of those things.
 
There are some who are lost, that are looking forward to being a part of God’s family, but there are still some who deny it and won’t admit to it.  I pray that as you read this message it will not only help those who need Jesus and really feel alone out there, but also a reminder to those who are saved to remember how their struggles were when they first started out and use those struggles as an encouragement to those who need Jesus more in their life.
 

For years, I have listened to ministers say “You have to show yourself approved” before they will let you do something.  They find this from 2 Timothy 2:15 “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”  The problem with this scripture it doesn’t say show yourself approved to a minister or to a certain church, it’s all about God’s approval.  I have come to the conclusion when it comes down to approving yourself to them and not God it simply doesn’t work anyways.  What does work is being in the right place at the right time and that’s called being in the will of God.  No, we’re not to be men pleasers in the first place but it does help if we truly please God, so that it will be easier for the minister to approve of you.  We have to understand they are looking for a fruit bearing person.  Yes, it’s in the word that we’re not to be men pleasers but God pleasers in “Ephesians 6:6-7 “6) Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; 7) With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:” Let’s remind ourselves what the beginning of 2 Timothy 2:15 says again.   It says “Study to shew thyself approved unto God” it didn’t say to man.  We must understand no matter how much we show man our qualifications it just may never meet their standards or we’re simply out of the will of God.  Don’t miss understand me or get upset, we’re never to put a novice in position.  The pastor or church you may want to serve in must consider the type of fruit we’re bearing.  The truth of the matter is this.  Are we bearing enough godly fruit for the Lord to recognize it so he can open up the heart of the minster to allow him to see that we should pass their approval?  After all, we could be the very reason we don’t see that open door coming open in the first place.

Let’s take and go back to 2 Timothy 2:15 and look at what it says next “a workman that needeth not to be ashamed”.   I don’t know about you, but when you take on the approach of pleasing men as the avenue of the open doors to reach out and do the works of God and the doors continually get shut because of man it’s very heart breaking.  So, this is saying don’t be ashamed in the  progress you have advanced to.  Once again, God is the one who opens the door, not man.  God knows when we’re ready.  See, it’s our responsibility to build up our own integrity.  We are going to hold off on the final phrase of 2 Timothy 2:15 at the moment.  We need to see how we can build up our integrity to show ourselves  approved unto God, so he can open up the hearts of our overseers.  Then they will begin to see the fruit that we’re bearing and it just might motivate them to help us find the open doors we are looking for.

Here are some of the ways we can help ourselves build our integrity.  It is understood that we do need salvation to open that door, but it goes much deeper than that.  Let’s look at Joshua 1:8 “8) This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.”  We have to get into his word and let his word teach us what we need to know and the more we read and study it the stronger we get with the word.  This doesn’t mean just read it quickly and meditate on it for a few moments and think we have grasped it.  Let’s take a look at 1 Kings 9:4 “And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments:”  This may not directly say “get into my word and read the bible” but it does say “And if thou wilt walk before me” which can parallel with get into my word so you can get to know my word a whole lot better.  It also tells us who we’re actually trying to please, “before me” which represents God.  The words “And if thou wilt” puts the responsibility back on us to uphold that integrity.  Then it follows what kind of integrity is needed.   All of those details can be found in studying the word of God and not just skimming over it and think it’s enough.  The other part of this is we have to have a teachable spirit that will allow ourselves to be changed and not have an attitude, “I am who I am and that’s all there is to it” because it won’t work with God, and it certainly won’t help the pastor or whoever is your overseer to see that you should be approved because there is no fruit bearing.  You can find this by reading 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “16) All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17) That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.”  Our integrity of who we are to be can only be changed by not only reading the word but truly studying the word.  This implies it’s our responsibility again.  This is where everybody can see the light of Jesus in us easier and we are to be what?  Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”  Again this will help those who are looking for that approved person who wants to help out.

Now, we can’t be double minded either.  That will stop the flow of everything.  James 1:8 “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.”  Why is this important?  We can’t uphold integrity if we can’t stay focused on the truth of the word.  This also implies we can’t let anybody persuade us into turning our backs against God either.  Job 2:9 “Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.”  Now what we need to see is the ending of the verse “curse God, and die.”  Why do we need to see this the most?  That will be our final results if we do turn our backs on God.  God really has a victory stored for us.  It’s up to us to find it in the word.  Here is one scripture that can parallel with what is being said that by not turning our backs on God and his word we will have victory in our lives.  Psalms 78:72 says this “So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.”   Now, let’s get some insight on what happens to those who choose to have that mindset of “I am who I am and that’s all there is to it.” Proverbs 11:3 explains it at the ending of the verse “The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.”  Now, this scripture is pointed out not because of some heavy sins, but in reality we have taken on a negative attitude and it will be shown to God and it definitely won’t lead us to a blessing.  Thank God for His Grace and His Mercy that when we do stumble, he will pick us up and dust us off and redirect our paths.  Take a good look at this scripture Psalms 26:11 “But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me.”  Again, we have to see that no matter what, if our hearts are really sold out to God his forgiveness is there for us.  That’s why integrity is for us and not for men pleasers.  God knows our hearts.

Finally let’s take a look at the ending or final phrase of 2 Timothy 2:15 “rightfully dividing the word of truth.”  This is telling us God has seen the heart and our integrity of upholding the word because of our actions have shown it. Now, to those who wanted to see it and decided to keep trying to make more demands before we are approved will be at fault not us.  Again, I am not saying it’s okay to put a novice into position or someone who isn’t showing any real fruit or growth into position, but God is really the one who opens the doors for us.  What we need to consider is these scriptures to make certain our integrity is in place so that those doors can be opened up.  Here are some scriptures.  Psalms 26:1 “A Psalm of David. Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide.”  Did you see how it started off?   “Judge me O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity:” and also Psalms 7:8 “The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.”  We must understand we may not always please man but it does pay to please God because he knows our hearts and where we’re heading too.  Now let’s end this with Psalms 41:12 “And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever.” When we truly hold to our responsibility to integrity and mean it, God will help us stay in that place as long as we read, study, and have a teachable spirit.  These things will help us in preventing our integrity to be compromised.