Archive for the ‘wilderness’ Category

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!

Whats your hunger today?

Posted: February 25, 2011 in disciples life, teaching, wilderness
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What’s Your Hunger Today?

Jesus said, “Blessed and fortunate and happy and spiritually prosperous… are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be completely satisfied” (Matthew 5:6, AMP). That word does not describe a casual appetite, a Sunday-morning interest, or a shallow religious curiosity. It speaks of a deep inward craving, a holy desperation, a Spirit-born ache for the life, will, nature, and righteousness of God. The question before every disciple is not whether we have hunger, but what our hunger is feeding on.

A true disciple who hungers and thirsts after righteousness will always be drawn back to first things. Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). Kingdom hunger does not place Jesus somewhere on the list; it enthrones Him above the list. When righteousness becomes the cry of the heart, the disciple stops asking how little they can give God and begins asking how much of their life still remains unsurrendered.

This kind of hunger will always drive a disciple into the Word of God. Psalm 1 speaks of the blessed man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of the scornful, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord. He meditates on it day and night because the Word has become more than information to him. It has become bread, water, fire, sword, and the very language by which Heaven trains his inner man.

The disciple who hungers for righteousness does not study Scripture merely to win arguments or collect religious knowledge. He studies because he wants to live clean before the Lord. Paul told Timothy, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God… rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). The approved workman is not the one who simply quotes the Word, but the one who allows the Word to cut, cleanse, correct, mature, and govern him.

David declared that the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether, “more to be desired… than gold, yea, than much fine gold,” and sweeter than honey from the honeycomb (Psalm 19:9–10). That is the language of holy appetite. When the heart has been awakened by Holy Spirit, the Word of God is no longer treated like a religious obligation. It becomes the treasure chest of the Kingdom and the table of the Father.

Jesus Himself answered the tempter by saying, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). That means the true disciple cannot be sustained by natural provision alone. There is a hunger in the born-again spirit that nothing in this world can satisfy. Money cannot satisfy it, applause cannot satisfy it, ministry titles cannot satisfy it, and religious activity cannot satisfy it.

So the question must be asked: what is the hunger of your heart today? Is it the things of the world or the things of the Kingdom? Are you striving for the approval of men, or are you seeking to please the Father even if obedience costs you the applause of people? A man will eventually feed on whatever his heart is truly hungry for.

It is time for us to stop playing church and become the Ecclesia Jesus shed His blood to redeem. He is not returning for a powerless religious crowd entertained by sermons but untouched by surrender. He is returning for a people washed in His blood, filled with His Spirit, governed by His Word, and burning with first-love obedience. The call is not to appear religious, but to be wholly yielded.

This kind of surrendered life can be walked out while being married, raising children, working a full-time job, running a business, serving in ministry, and carrying daily responsibilities. The issue is not whether life is busy; the issue is who is governing the life. Holy Spirit is fully able to order the steps of a son or daughter who has truly yielded to Him. The Father knows how to bring balance, order, discipline, and grace when we stop trying to manage our lives apart from His leadership.

There is discipline in the life of a disciple, but the greatest discipline is faith. Faith says, “My life is not my own, for I have been bought with a price.” Faith trusts the Lord not only with eternity, but with today, tomorrow, the hidden places, the painful places, and the areas we still want to control. Until self dies, surrender will always feel like loss; but once love has conquered the heart, surrender becomes the doorway to freedom.

The hunger of the heart will always reveal the direction of the life. If the heart hungers for the world, it will feed on the world’s approval, the world’s pleasures, the world’s fears, and the world’s wisdom. But if the heart hungers for the Lord, it will seek His face, His Word, His presence, His righteousness, and His will above all else. Whatever you hunger for will begin shaping what you become.

So ask Holy Spirit to search you today. Ask Him to reveal anything that needs to be brought to the altar and put to death. Ask Him to expose every appetite that has been feeding on lesser things and to awaken within you a desperate hunger and thirst for the things of the Lord. For the promise still stands: those who hunger and thirst for righteousness shall be filled.

Russ Welch

Mighty Arm Ministries

Wll the true Disciples step forth!

Posted: February 18, 2011 in disciples life, teaching, wilderness
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When one reads of the Lord delivering his great sermon, in light of the religious aspects of this time in Israel, his ideas were considered radical. In fact they were so radical they led to his death on the cross. If we asked the question “If Jesus were alive today and preached the same message, would we treat him differently? It would more than likely render a hundred different answers. Yet, there is one thing for sure: One who is truly attuned to the Spirit can see that the much of the preaching on television and the radio these days is weak & user friendly.

As well when we listen too the messages coming from the majority of the American pulpits we come strongly to the truthful conclusion that most of the messages released from the church and religious media in America would not get anyone crucified or even strongly opposed.

The truth be told, much of modern preaching is nothing more than watered down wishy washy messages. With a worldly political correctness, we do not want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Not willing to be separated, yet they have no problem being segregated; most of the time we find that the modern church fall in with the fleeting fashions of the world (Rom. 12:2). Now I am clearly not advocating being abrasive or having an ugly spirited demenor, but compromising the gospel message to obtain the favor of men is not imitating Christ and his apostles or the great prophets of the Old Testament.

We read how our Lord instructed his band of radical disciples: “And into whatever city you shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy; and there abide till you go hence. And when you come into a house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when you depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily, I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city” (Mt. 10:5-6, 11-15). Jesus did not condone any violence toward those who refused to believe in him and his message of salvation – he sent them out with a power and truth that this world does not recognize.

To this end we see that the compromising spirit in the church has led to a body filled with those who crumble in the face of the trial and temptations the Lord clearly stated we would face. Now let us pray that this compromising spirit be broken off, that the House of God fall upon it’s face and repent for mishandling the Word of God and our call in this hour.

Oh Father in heaven, may we see a rise of Joshua’s & Caleb’s in this hour, may we see the Jeremiah’s and Ezekiel’s of our day rise up and declare the Word, may the Ester’s,  Debra’s, Peter’s, Paul’s and Timothy’s in the Body today make a stand for that which is pure and true.

May the true radical’s come forth who are willing to even stand in the face of death with pure hands and a clean heart, that the true message of the Kingdom of God & His Heaven is not tainted or compromised!

The question today is:

Are you simply going to cower in the face of political correctness?

Or are you willing to be a true radical for the Kingdom of God today regardless of the cost?

 

 

 

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