Archive for the ‘teaching’ Category

Are you a victim of a Dictator leadership!

Posted: March 7, 2011 in disciples life, teaching
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But He said, Leave the children alone! Allow the little ones to come to Me, and do not forbid or restrain or hinder them, for of such [as these] is the kingdom of heaven composed. (Matt 19:14)

Today there is in heard in heaven a cry thundering from the world – It is a tremendous cry from the people of God, a travail coming forth touching the very heart of God. The shepherds are not leading the sheep into this outpouring so the people are entering in spite of the restraint that the shepherds are trying to put on them. These Shepherds do not lead in the premise that Jesus is speaking of here at all.

The blind leading the blind have for too long demanded to have praises sung to them. Now is the time that if a man is a prophet he should be saying like Zechariah, “I am no prophet, rather a tiller of the ground.”

Leadership and Authority:

There has been such a strong tendency for authority in any measure to be misused that one might wonder if there is any way that it can be used righteously. Of course there is but is this among the new thing that Jesus would have us learn? Are we singing a new song or the same old tired one that brought the church into the lack of knowledge.

We read in Mark 13:34 the parable of, ” It is like a man [[a]already] going on a journey; when he leaves home, he puts his servants in charge, each with his particular task, and he gives orders to the doorkeeper to be constantly alert and on the watch”.

Jesus has gone and left us His authority?

We are warned not to be found sleeping when the master comes back but we are also not to abuse the authority and mistreat the servants.

Also in John 5, Jesus said that: “For even as the Father has life in Himself and is self-existent, so He has given to the Son to have life in Himself and be self-existent. And He has given Him authority and granted Him power to execute (exercise, practice) judgment because He is [d]a Son of man [very man]”

We are His brothers and we are to be the representatives of Christ, so do we in truth have that authority?

We also know that we will have the authority in the kingdom, but is that the kingdom of now or the kingdom to come?

In Luke 19 we find another parable that states the Lord has given us the authority over cities, if we have been faithful, we will have authority. Saul (Paul) had authority before He encountered the Lord but that was temporal authority from the high priests. Once He became a Christian, he talked of himself being a minister and servant and even a slave.

We read in 1Cor 15 how Paul when speaking of the second coming of our Lord states that Jesus will “put down all rule and all authority and power.” Paul beckons us to pray for kings and those in authority, is he speaking of ministers? He does however tell Titus “These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.”

• What kind of authority is Paul speaking of here?
• Elders are to rule well, what does that mean?
• Is Paul teaching differently than Jesus?

Paul speaks of us following him as he follows the Lord as if in leadership but he also tells us that it is his example that we are to follow.

There is much teaching today in the church with regard to leadership – Yet most of what we hear is a world based understanding however so cleverly woven around the scriptures. One finds that many of the “shepherds” will give just enough to give the feeling of freedom, yet it is a short rope that is quickly jerked back when they feel that they are losing control!

They will go into depth about Kingdom leadership with almost pin-point accuracy, of course it is based upon the understanding that they are part of such leadership and must be respected as such. Not quite what the Lord had in mind when He speaks of humility with regards to leadership in His Kingdom – but there is where the doctrine of the Nicolaitans comes in to play. (Rev 2:6,15)

For now, there is enough here for one to pray and meditate on – if your in leadership now, ask yourself these questions;

1. Am I leading according to the leadership model the Lord established?
2. Or am I leading according to what the church has taught?

If your not in leadership but feel the Lord calling you into it pray and ask Holy Spirit to revel to you a true revelation of Kingdom leadership according to God’s plan.

In the next blog we will take up where we have left off here with “Can we have order without rule”?

For now just remember that – We do indeed serve an Awesome God!

Is the Lord’s House filled with a loveless generation?

Posted: March 6, 2011 in disciples life, teaching
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We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love other believers. The person who doesn’t grow in love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. We understand what love is when we realize that Christ gave his life for us. That means we must give our lives for other believers. Now, suppose a person has enough to live on and notices another believer in need. How can God’s love be in that person if he doesn’t bother to help the other believer? (1John 3:14-17)

What is the apostle John saying here?

I believe a key to understanding it is mentioned by John when he pens:

“we have passed from death to life“

Death to life?

Yes, for the old nature is baptized in Christ death when we accept the Lord in truth. The New creation now is motivated by the heart of the Father (one of the fruits of our salvation) and in this state we are able to look at our brothers & sisters  viewing them with the same passion and love the Lord has.

For by nature we are born of a corrupted nature – feed by hate, fear and every other detestable way of selfish thinking – yet once born again we are now alive by the infusion of the Lord Spiritual DNA, living a life with an incorruptible nature being feed by Love, Hope, Joy & Peace.

Now in all honesty history shows that the “Church” has not lived in this regard of which John is speaking of here – we can look down through the generations and witness all the atrocities committed against others all in the name of Christ. While at the same time we must realize that the Lord has had those who live according to what the Lord taught as well as by the example that John is presenting here, a remnant who has held to the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The truth is that in our own strength it can be tough to love when every thing about a person just seems to rub us the wrong way – this is the place that we must apply the death of our carnal nature and pick up the New Life in Christ, to walk in our Spiritual man.

There is no gray area here when we are discussing love –We must walk in true God like love – We see how Jesus was quick to point out its importance when He stated;

“And you shall love the Lord your God [a]out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your [b]life) and out of and with all your mind (with [c]your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. [d]This is the first and principal commandment.(A)The second is like it and is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these”. Mark 12:30-31 AMP)

Now think about this for a moment and look at the setting that this message was giving – scribes and Pharisees were enemies to the Sadducees – though there all professed to serve the same God. So this answer in their presence is like a rebuke of their actions not only against one another – but their actions that they display when they walk as though they are better than those around them.

We must at all cost let the Love of Christ be as a cloak about us, fashioned to every aspect of our lives – for dear friends the world has not developed a thirst for the Lord for they have yet to see His nature being lived out in His called ones with any great measure – they have witnessed far more infighting, hypocrisy. We spent more time pointing fingers and throwing spiritual mud at the different factions of the Kingdom that have been illegitimately established by the whims of hell to cause such divisions that the Lord’s house appears to be in a divided state!

Within our own factions when a brother our sister falls we act like spiritual vultures tearing them to shreds, when the Love of Christ calls us to hold them up, pray for them, minister to them that they might be restored.

Now, when the world looks at the House of God they do not see Love according to the Kingdom, they see the nature of the world at work as they many of the leaders sit about playing playing religion.

It is time for the true disciples of Jesus Christ to rise up – to be the Joshua’s and Caleb’s pointing out that it’s time to come out of this wilderness that religion has encased the Body into and start walking in the fullness of Christ, adorned in the armor He has provided for us, empowered by His Life and clothed in His Love.  And doing so in the spirit of love, not condemnation – For it is the Love of Christ which shall be as a healing balm, opening their eyes for the first time that they may see the beauty of His Bride and their ears for the first time that they might hear the whole truth of His Kingdom in purity!

John is very specific in here and he has provided a spiritual scale for us to measure our own lives:

“The person who doesn’t grow in love remains in death”

So ask yourself today – Am I growing in the love of God towards my brothers and sisters, or am I growing colder, less patient, less forgiving and ever so quick to cast forth an unjust judgment against them?

Do you see a brother in need and pass by without lending a hand, casting judgment upon their situation? This is not the love of Christ!

A loveless leadership produces a loveless people!

What about those we appear lazy and lag behind in spiritual matters?

Some of today’s leaders would say “leave them on the roadside – they are but a casualty and they will eat what is meant for the strong”? This is not the love of God friends, as taught to us by the very life of the Lord Himself – He said we must even go after the one who has strayed, whether it be because laziness, hardheadedness or what ever we must not leave a brother or sister behind.

A true brother in Christ would blow upon the coals that where once the Flame that at one time caught their eye and brought them to the Lord!

This example is portrayed in the Bible with reference to Mark – Paul wrote him off – yet a brother in the Lord came alongside Mark and nurtured him. This is the love of Christ – this is going that extra mile which many leaders in the house of God will not go – they want the glamour yet never wishing to get in the mud – for in their minds they have arrived at spiritual stardom – A total display of the worlds nature and total disregard of the Kingdom culture!

Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. (1John 3:18)

Let today be a Spiritual check point – Is your heart filled with the Love of Christ – or is your life running on vapors – lacking in true Christ like love!

Pray, asking Holy Spirit to fill up that well till its over flowing – for this shall be a reflections of God’s love to the world, when you,  disciple of the Most High God,  can love others regardless of the situation or the cost you will be releasing the very nature of He who gave His all even unto to death that we might be saved for all of Eternity basking in the presence of His love, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior!.

For we indeed serve an Awesome God!

The violence of transformation

Posted: March 5, 2011 in disciples life, teaching, wilderness
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The Beautiful Violence of Transformation

“Since Jesus went through everything you’re going through and more, learn to think like Him. Think of your sufferings as a weaning from that old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way. Then you’ll be able to live out your days free to pursue what God wants instead of being tyrannized by what you want.”
— 1 Peter 4:1–2, The Message

There is a process every true disciple must walk through as the old man dies and the new man rises in Christ. It is the death of the corrupted sinful nature and the awakening of the incorruptible life birthed by Holy Spirit. At times, that process can feel painful, stretching, and even violent within the soul. Yet on the other side of that death, something beautiful begins to emerge.

Picture a caterpillar inside its cocoon. What appears hidden, awkward, and even impossible is actually the place of transformation. A metamorphosis is taking place, and the creature that once crawled through dust and dirt is being remade for the heights. If that process never happens, the caterpillar remains trapped in a form it was never created to live in forever.

But when the process is completed, the cocoon breaks open. What once crawled now carries wings. What once lived low now rises into the air. It steps into the beauty of its intended design and begins to soar above the very ground that once defined its existence.

The life of a disciple is much the same. We come into the Kingdom as new creations, yet we often still carry the habits, appetites, mindsets, fears, and patterns of the old life. Then Holy Spirit begins the deeper work of transformation. If we surrender to the Father, we enter a spiritual cocoon where the old nature is confronted and the new man begins to take his rightful place.

This process is not always comfortable. It can feel like a war between who we were and who Christ has called us to become. The old man does not die quietly, and the flesh does not surrender its throne without resistance. Yet the disciple who refuses the process also refuses the very transformation that leads to maturity.

One of the great errors in a new believer’s life is resisting the refining work of God. Another danger is being surrounded by immature voices who call every painful process an attack of the enemy. Sometimes they will tell you to rebuke the very situation God has allowed as a refining fire. In doing so, they can lead you into the dangerous place of not rebuking the devil, but unknowingly resisting the hand of the Father.

Another tragedy in our generation is the preaching of half-truths. A watered-down gospel has promised people a storm-free life Jesus never promised. It tells them that if they come to Christ, everything will become easy, painless, and instantly prosperous. Yet when the storm comes, the same voices often become like Job’s friends, suggesting the trial must be proof of sin, failure, or a lack of faith.

But James gives us the Kingdom perspective: “Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort… Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience” (James 1:2–3, AMP). The trial is not always evidence that God has left you. Many times, it is proof that He is forming something eternal in you. Endurance must have its full work so we may become mature, complete, and lacking nothing.

A true disciple who submits to this process will eventually learn to stand in storms with the peace of the Master. Like Jesus resting in the boat, they learn that the presence of a storm does not mean the absence of the Father. When the Father gives the command, they rise in the authority of Christ and speak peace where chaos has been raging. They do not panic because they have learned who governs the winds and the waves.

Not every storm is simply an attack of the enemy, though some are. But we must enter every storm with the mind of Christ, knowing that nothing catches the Father by surprise. Our good Father has already prepared a way of triumph for His children. If we lack discernment, we must ask Him, and Holy Spirit will teach us how to recognize what is from God, what is from hell, and what is being used for our refining.

So embrace the process of transformation. Lay your life, your rights, your expectations, and your old identity at the foot of the cross. There, you will not only discover your calling, but you will find the arms of the Father reaching for you. He has waited from before the foundation of the world to clothe you with courage, beauty, righteousness, favor, and sonship.

Face the trials with courage, knowing they are killing what was never meant to rule you. The storms may wash away the residue of a corrupted life, but they also make room for the robe of righteousness. Enter the process with gladness, because chains are being broken, old desires are being stripped of power, and the life of Christ is being formed within you.

The cocoon is not your grave.

It is the womb of transformation.

And when Holy Spirit finishes His work, you will not crawl out as the person you used to be.

You will rise.

Russ Welch

Mighty Arm Ministries

For indeed we serve an Awesome God!

Prison Breaking Revolutionary Love

Posted: March 4, 2011 in disciples life, Parents, teaching, wilderness
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If you [really] love Me, you will keep (obey) My commands. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever–The Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive (welcome, take to its heart), because it does not see Him or know and recognize Him. But you know and recognize Him, for He lives with you [constantly] and will be in you………….The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I [too] will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him. [I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him.] (John 14:15-17, 21)

What is the very core which drives a person to serve the Lord!

If a disciple is driven out of fear of Hell they will consistently walk about under and imprisoned by the weight of condemnation and crawl down the road of works.

But what of the Lord’s words in this verse, are they directing us towards obedience? The key here is love, passionate love – that love that fuels ones willingness to go all out for the person they love regardless of the cost!

Passionate – unabandoned Love!

When I was dating my wife, I wanted to go all out to please her because I was so captivated by her beauty (and still am) and felt like I had to be in her presence every moment of the day. Not only that I just had to tell everyone about her.  I would wait, counting down the minutes for my next trip back to Pensacola to visit her. The time seemed to go by so slow in between trips and ever so fast during our visits but the love in my heart over-road any barriers that might try to deter me.

Now, as I look at my son Joshua I know that I do every thing I can to show him my love, something that was missing in my youth in regards to a male figure. In the very center though is love, I would lay my life down for my wife and son. Regardless of the cost I would pursue them regardless of the distance that was between us not out of obedience as a husband and as a father, it is fueled by a deep rooted passionate love for them. I know their love for me is not something that I have a list of things to follow in order to get their love for it is a gift and I simply do for them out of the love in my heart towards them. Even during the times when I may not be the best husband or dad they still love me!

In the same way it was like this when I first came to the knowledge of Jesus Christ as the one true Messiah at the age of fifteen while attending a David Wilkerson crusade, I was filled with excitement and wanted the world to know. My whole life was captivated by His love – it was so real, so strong, so consuming. I would read His Word because I wanted to know Him more, I would spend time in prayer because I wanted to hear His tender voice.

The prison of religion!

Then for a number of years I had the onslaught of doctrinal teaching in my life that at times, were steeped in (though carefully concealed by the enemy)  a works mentality. This started building a huge gulf between the Lord and I.  Not by His doing, for the whole time as I look back now,  I see that He was patiently, every so lovingly waiting for me with His arms wide open, beckoning for me to look at the bridge He had purchased with His own blood – the cross. For the cross of Christ is that bridge which allows one to escape from the confinement of sin,religion and bondage and step into a true freedom along with a relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Prison doors opened!

Over the past several years Holy Spirit has been stripping me of the religion – that like mud had become cakes upon me. He broke through the prison of religious thinking that became rooted in a “salvation by works” mentality and revealed the mystery and revelation of these verses – Now I see that I had allowed the enemy and myself to take something so beautiful, so free and turn it into something ugly and ever so burdensome.

If a disciple truly loves the Lord they realize that we do not obey all the Lords commands to gain His love and enter into a deeper relationship with Him, we do it out of a passionate motivation of Love. He loves us even before we know Him, while we are still sinners living a life of sin – He loves us because He loves us, there is nothing we can do that will erase that love or broaden that love –He gives it all unabandoned- He showed the ultimate depth of His love for us when He surrendered His own life that we might gain freedom and eternal life. As there Word proclaims – “There is nothing that can separate us from the Love of God”.

Revolutionary Love!

O’ brothers and sister if you can but grasp this revelation your spirit man will step into the radical side of this revolution against religion. The freedom to serve the Lord God, fueled by a deep seeded passion of love will revolutionize your whole life. This Love was and still is a stumbling block to many including Satan himself – The Fathers love for His creation is a mystery that has eluded the enemy from the first time he witnessed it in the throne room – He fully knows about it’s power and has been attempting to conceal its revelation since the days in the Garden. He has used the weapons of selfishness, hate, fear and religion for generations to build a prison about mankind that they might never see the love of God in its purity.

Yet, Praise God for 2000 plus years ago this Love walked willingly up to the cross, willingly laid His life down – allowing His own creation to nail His feet and hands to the very device that would take His life and when it was finished, His last breath poured out the heavens were torn and Gods love broke through in a manner that the world or hell for that matter had never witnessed before. Yet Hell it’s self could not contain and hold this Love – Yes and amen, for it broke through with such a force that the world or hell could never again block its power and authority. For now it has been poured out into human vessels with the same power that spoke the world into being.

Join the revolution!

If you have not experienced this Love, if it has not broke through and freed you from the dungeons of religion, pray and ask the Father to send Holy Spirit, who is The Spirit of Truth – For just one light glimmer of God’s true love will destroy every yoke of bondage that attempts to imprison the children of God.

This love once revealed and received will birth a freedom in the disciple’s life that will push them past a life of burdensome obedience into a life of willing servant-hood – a position where one no longer  serves obediently out of fear, rather serves obediently willingly- birthed from  from a position of passionate Love!

For indeed we serve an Awesome God!

Are you a Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde “Christian”

Posted: March 3, 2011 in disciples life, Parents, teaching
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That no man transgress and overreach his brother and defraud him in this matter or defraud his brother in business. For the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we have already warned you solemnly and [e]told you plainly. For God has not called us to impurity but to consecration [to dedicate ourselves to the most thorough purity]. Therefore whoever disregards (sets aside and rejects this) disregards not man but God, Whose [very] Spirit [Whom] He gives to you is holy (chaste, pure). (1 Thes 4:6-8)

Now,  a student could read this and only look upon the sexual language here and not get the deeper meaning for which the apostle Paul is admonishing the hearers to whom this was written.

One of the greatest travesties in the modern church is the lack of true discipleship and mentoring. Thus we are left with a generation of immature Christians who have all the big words down pack yet they are spiritually void in regards to Spiritual character. We see through out his writings how Paul taught those whom the Lord had entrusted to him as students (disciples) how to walk, not how to talk. To talk well without living well will never bring us to heaven: for the character of those who are in Christ Jesus is this: They walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Yet this is lacking today in the body and Holy Spirit is breathing the fire of the Lord’s passion through out the Bride in this regard in the hour in which we live.  Watchman must rise up, teachers, mentors, mothers & fathers in the faith and come along side the young in faith and not merely be as the leaders of these past generations who have pridefully taught from a place risen above the others. They must be a leader like Jesus Himself and mix in with the people, to be a true servant, serving the needs of others.

In this day we have young men and women who are in leadership positions because they can talk the talk and are willing to nestle up to the “leaders” of the church to gain an important role, yet their character is far from that of Christ our Lord. They defraud their brothers & sisters in the faith. They cheat and steel, they leave their homes like war zones, their children are undisciplined.

Living a life as a spiritual Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde!

I praise God for the work and continued work of Holy Spirit in my own life, who upon shinning the light of purity and consecration on my character exposed a great void from that which the Lord called me to live, to which I was presently living!

I knew all the right words to express in the public place yet in the private place I was spiritually dead with regard to the character of Christ’s expression in my own life.  Anger prevailed in my private life, total disrespect of my wife, not parenting my son in the ways of the Lord, rather displaying for him the ways of Hell.

Praise God for a Father who loves enough to bring down His hand of discipline and through the continued conviction of His Word and Holy Spirit’s drawing, I fell upon the alter of the Lord, crying out for mercy.  From within a depth of my soul  crying out for transformation of my inner man – that the following Word manifest in my life;

“Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! (2 Cor 5:17 AMP)

O’ the years of hell that my wife, son and even myself had to go through before this came to pass – Yet had there been a true discipleship in my life – one where a brother comes along side and requires accountability in relationship one to another the chains that bound me from walking a truly sanctified life could have been broken earlier!

My prayer today is that true mentors of the faith will rise up and those who read this who are lacking in Spiritual character will cry out to the Lord, that He send such a person, matured in the Faith,  into their lives that will be as “Iron sharpening Iron”.

Wives do you have a husband who is as an Angel in public and a monster in private – Cry out to the Lord that He send a true mentor and friend – Husbands the same can be said in regard to your wives, parents towards your children (grown – for you should mentor your children who are young in age)

We must allow the work of Holy Spirit to come upon us –  birthing the true sanctification of the Lord in our lives or else we will never reach the place of maturity in our walk.

Friends, Pray today that Holy Spirit will search your life and see if there be  any deception, any spiritual lack in your character and allow Him to begin the spiritual surgery to heal and produce a spiritual “make-over” in your life today!

For Indeed we serve an Awesome God!

Generation of vipers……

Posted: March 2, 2011 in disciples life, teaching
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O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. (Matt 12:34 KJV)

We could apply this scripture to our own prayers in a reflective manner. What are our prayers to Him like? We must honestly acknowledge that what comes pouring out of us is our heart—either that or God’s Word is not true. What we are is revealed to God by what we say to Him in our prayer. We cannot hide it; we cannot be two-faced with Him.

So we set the stage of understanding that prayer is speaking to God what comes out of our heart. Even as this proverb Jesus gives is directed toward men, it is also true concerning our speech toward God. What we are comes out.

The desire of God us ward is that He wants His will done in every aspect of our life, and He wants our prayers to be according to His will. The truth is that when we ask things according to His will, our requests stand the greatest chance of being answered positively. One might ask the question “Why”? The answer is because, in effect, they are His thoughts coming back to Him. His thoughts having become lodged in our heart, we are now sending a part of Him back to Him. We see this lesson put before our eyes in the Word as we read of the life of the Master while He was here on earth in the flesh!

In this day especially with all the false teachings out there we need to be very cautious as not to think of this as a magic formula of some kind, as if we say certain words and out comes the desired thing. True prayer is —speaking God’s words back to Him. In this regard we come to realize that these are the prayers that have the best chance of being answered positively because it pleases God to see His children develop in His image. He then responds out of His love, even as we would to a child who pleases us.

For Indeed we serve an Awesome God!!!

Captured and Empowered by His Grace!

Posted: March 1, 2011 in disciples life, teaching, wilderness
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After all, God’s saving kindness has appeared for the benefit of all people. It trains us to avoid ungodly lives filled with worldly desires so that we can live self-controlled, moral, and godly lives in this present world. At the same time we can expect what we hope for—the appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He gave himself for us to set us free from every sin and to cleanse us so that we can be his special people who are enthusiastic about doing good things. (Titus  2:11-14)

Here, grace is shown as the power that teaches, trains, disciplines, guides, and leads us. It does not force us. In other places, it is shown as counseling, comforting, encouraging, admonishing, guiding, convicting, rewarding, even restraining. It teaches us that we must deny immorality, exhorting us to give ourselves over to self-mastery, that is, to controlling ourselves. We must devote ourselves to integrity and loyalty to God right here and now, while expectantly and patiently looking forward to the return of Jesus Christ and the resurrection from the dead to glory.

It is such scriptures as this upon which the blocks of Spiritual truth are laid upon the foundation of Jesus Christ – One must read and meditate upon these words, asking Holy Spirit to birth them into our spirit-man.

For in the reading of these scriptures we are bombarding the deception of the world in regard to “self”, tearing down these lies and transforming them into Truth of the Kingdom.

The enemy has done much to infiltrate the church and her doctrines with worldly philosophies. As true disciples we must raise up the standard of God’s Word and battle against such heresies of individualism when confronted with them especially when they attempt to invade our own lives. The selfish mind set is for itself alone, whereas the Kingdom mind set is outward in nature, pointing away from ones self with a mindset of selfless service towards the Lord first and secondly towards our neighbor – trusting in faith that the Father shall meet all our needs.

For the truth is, when one has come to the cross of Christ having realized that He is our Messiah and acknowledging His Lordship in our lives we then surrender our rights unto Him. For we must reach out and grasp hold of the revelation, fully trusting that He is indeed the Good Shepherd whose only desire is for us to experience all that He has for us – the goodness of our God!

As well knowing that He alone is the King, who seeing that  One of His servants lays down their life, their agenda, their dreams for the good of His Kingdom out of love, honor and praise for Him, graciously returns ones life back unto them with abundance.

Glory to God, for He has not left us empty handed on this road of servant-hood,. Rather He has granted unto us the very vehicle in which to arrive at the place of selfless servant-hood , “Grace”.  For by the grace of our Lord we are ushered into the position to walk in the fullness of true servant-hood in the Kingdom. For His Grace is like nitrogen to the Spirit man, once it is deposited into our spirit, it ignites the very Flames of His passion towards God the Father in our hearts empowering us to walk Spirit first lives. Lives saturated in, transformed by, reflective of, and pouring out to all around us, the very Love of God the Father!

For indeed we serve and awesome God!

Are you abiding in the Lord?

Posted: February 28, 2011 in disciples life, teaching, wilderness
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“And the whole multitude sought to touch Him, for power went out from Him and healed them all” (Luke 6:19).

“And now, little children, abide in Him” (I John 2:28a).

How do we touch the living Christ?

The answer to this question depends entirely upon our relationship to Jesus.

The difference, dear friends, is the difference between a religion and a relationship. The multitudes do not have a relationship with Jesus, and so they must travel to where He is and work their way into His presence in hopes of touching Him

I had the privilege last week of eating lunch with a friend a few week‘s ago. Before we began eating he prayed over the food. Right there in the restaurant he cried out, “Heavenly Father!” He said it so slowly and deliberately and loudly that I thought his prayer would probably last thirty minutes or more. After a pause, he quietly said, “Thank you.” And we began to eat.

May I say that this friend spent no time entering in, because he was already abiding. With two or three words he brought us before the throne of God, and the very presence of Jesus was immediately manifest. This is what it means to touch the living Christ – immediately, effortlessly.

How do we abide in Christ?

“As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him” (Col2:6).

Receiving Christ Jesus the Lord is the Gate, while walking in Him is the Path. The first happens in a moment, while the second is a daily process. How did we receive Christ Jesus the Lord? We came to Him with all our sins, and weaknesses, and needs, and we cast ourselves upon Him. We trusted in His Life, and His Love, and His Grace, and His Mercy to save us. And so He did.

What is the next step?

It is this: to walk in Him as you received Him. “As you have received… so walk.” We are not saved by Grace and then left to live the Christian life in our own strength. Instead, we walk in Him the same way we received Him – by Grace, through Faith, and that not of ourselves. From start to finish it is the Gift of God.

I need Him as much today as I ever have. How about you? Apart from Him I can do nothing. Is this your experience also, or do you still think there are many things you can do without Him? I am still in need of His Life, and Love, and Grace, and Mercy in order to live. Are you that much different from me? I think not. We all approach Him the same way.

The exhortation to abide is for little children, not grown-ups. Little children! There is a simplicity in Christ that the multitudes cannot comprehend. We cannot wrap our brains around it, we must immerse our hearts into it.

When this revelation is manifested in your life you enter into a new level of Kingdom living. It is then that even in the midst of the fiery furnace, or in the middle of the largest storm you’ve ever faced you remain calm and in total peace for you know the Master is with you.

This level of understanding and maturity will open up to you the ability to be of greater service to the Master and His Kingdom. For once obtained you will be transformed ever so much more closely into the charter of the Lord, a new level of faith will burst on the scene and you will be able to not only walk in greater authority, you will as well be able to have a deeper level of death to self, so that more of the power of His life in you may be released!

If you are not experiencing this friends, ask the Father for it gives Him great pleasure to see His children walking in the promises of His Word.

For we do indeed serve and awesome God!

Faith like the Lord’s

Posted: February 27, 2011 in disciples life, teaching
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I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. (John 14:12-14)

Jesus is the ultimate one “who believes.” All things ARE possible for him. Guess what? He longs to do great things through us, too! In fact, he promised he would do even greater things through us than he did himself because he is now at the Father’s side helping us!

So isn’t it time that we quit talking about what we can’t do, and start believing in the one who can do great things? Paul put it this way: God can do “more than we can ask or imagine by his power at work in us.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)

As we look back to the passages’ in John we must realize the reason Jesus gives for these greater works is because He goes to the Father. And when He goes to the Father, He will send the Spirit. He says later, Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you (John I6:7b). He is referring here to the coming of the Spirit. As the Spirit of God comes into human hearts and dwells in them, these things will happen. The Spirit is releasing to us the life of Jesus, so that it is still Jesus who is doing these things.

Regretfully many forget this truth and start following man as though we ordinary humans are somehow so capable that we can actually do greater things than the Son of God Himself did when He was here in the flesh. It is not by mere human power, praise God, it is through the power of the risen Lord, who dwells in us by means of the Spirit. So it is not the servant who is to be praised, rather Jesus Christ the Lord is the One worthy of all glory, honor and praise.

Notice that Jesus goes on immediately to say: And greater works than these will you do. So what are the greater works? It is obvious that it will not be greater miracles than that which the Lord did. Stop and think about it, now can you think of anything greater than opening the eyes of those born blind or speaking a word and enabling a lame man to walk or raising the dead? I know that I can not.

Yet I believe because we have been so intent on seeing the big miracles in front of us we have missed out on one of the greatest miracles of all – the miracle of Salvation. Yes miracles of eyes being opened and ears hearing are great and of course seeing the dead arise are powerful witnesses to God’s miraculous power. But I would present to you that anything done to the spirit of a person is permanent; that which is done to the flesh is merely temporary (not eternal). All those whom Jesus healed or raised from the dead died again. So what is done to the spirit of a person is far greater, and I honestly believe that this is what Jesus means by greater works.

We literally see the dead transformed before our eyes when one come to know the Lord, for the Word declares that they are dead in their sins. Until Jesus died on the cross and was seated at the right hand of the Father salvation was not yet complete – thus His going to be with the Father and the sending of Holy Spirit to complete the born-again process we now have the ability to see the Greater works that those before His death could not witness.

So go out today empowered to do greater works – release the message of the Kingdom to the lost that they might come to know this King who brings forth the power of eternal transformation, Jesus Christ. As they bow before Him having a spiritual witness that He is the Lord you will witness the greatest miracle of all – Salvation!

 

For indeed we serve an Awesome God.

Positioned to manifest His Word

Posted: February 26, 2011 in disciples life, teaching
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A disciple of the Lord must always be a vessel of truth – willing to speak with the truthfulness of God’s Word in the face of criticism, persecution and even death. Into days society it is too easy to go with the flow, which causes people to lower the standards of God’s Word in the face of the popular vote.

We must always seek to walk in righteousness even when the popular vote leads towards pleasing people, for at the heart of the matter is what is pleasing to the Father. The church belongs to the Lord, not to man. He has paid the ultimate price to receive the authority of the Father, being recognized as the only One worthy to be the head.

The three young men, facing the fires of the furnace, were unwilling to compromise in order to save their own lives – In doing so they were meet by the King Himself and what was meant for death by the popular turned into a time of basking in the presence of the Almighty – their faithfulness positioned them into the very place where death itself had no authority rather the natural had to submit to the Authority of  Supernatural God.

Today many in positions of authority bow down to complacency, compromise and contentment and in doing so they walk out from under the blessing of divine protection relinquishing the authority that has been purchased for the righteous! To this end they have submitted themselves to the ruler of this world, giving up the beautiful gift of freedom. Then they set back and cry out “Where is the power and authority of heaven” –  “where are the signs and wonders which manifest the heavens supernatural display bursting forth through the natural”

Oh’ how the enemy has fooled many with false signs and wonders, trapping them in the prisons of selfish pride.

Many today worship the messengers, signs, miracles and wonders with greater intensity than they worship he Lord.

A true disciple never positions themselves to receive the glory, rather like that of Paul – they quickly point out that all the glory belongs to Jesus!

We must come to realize that there is a great cost in accepting the Salvation of the Lord, in regards to the things of this world yet the reward of eternity far out-weighs all that this world has to offer.

Let us rise up to the place of walking in the manifestation of the Word in our own lives to the place where our lives bare witness too:

Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death. (Rev 12:10-11)

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