When Elijah turns into King Ahab

In the book of 1 Kings 18 –

It says beginning at verse 1-

1 Kings 18

Amplified Bible (AMP)

18 After many days, the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the earth.

² So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria.

³ And Ahab called Obadiah, who was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly;

⁴ For when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water.)

⁵ And Ahab said to Obadiah, Go into the land to all the fountains of water and to all the brooks; perhaps we may find grass to keep the horses and mules alive, that we lose none of the beasts.

⁶ So they divided the land between them to pass through it. Ahab went one way and Obadiah went another way, each by himself.

⁷ As Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him. He recognized him and fell on his face and said, Are you my lord Elijah?

⁸ He answered him, It is I. Go tell your lord, Behold, Elijah is here.

⁹ And he said, What sin have I committed, that you would deliver your servant into the hands of Ahab to be slain?

¹⁰ As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. And when they said, He is not here, he took an oath from the kingdom or nation that they had not found you.

¹¹ And now you say, Go tell your lord, Behold, Elijah is here.

¹² And as soon as I have gone out from you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you I know not where; so when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me. But I your servant have feared and revered the Lord from my youth.

¹³ Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred men of the Lord’s prophets by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water?

¹⁴ And now you say, Go tell your lord, Behold, Elijah is here; and he will kill me.

¹⁵ Elijah said, As the Lord of hosts lives, before Whom I stand, I will surely show myself to Ahab today.

¹⁶ So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah.

¹⁷ When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, Are you he who troubles Israel?

¹⁸ Elijah replied, I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, by forsaking the commandments of the Lord and by following the Baals.

¹⁹ Therefore send and gather to me all Israel at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of [the goddess] Asherah, who eat at [Queen] Jezebel’s table.

²⁰ So Ahab sent to all the Israelites and assembled the prophets at Mount Carmel.

²¹ Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you halt and limp between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him! But if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word.

²² Then Elijah said to the people, I, I only, remain a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men.

²³ Let two bulls be given us; let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood but put no fire to it. I will dress the other bull, lay it on the wood, and put no fire to it.

²⁴ Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the One Who answers by fire, let Him be God. And all the people answered, It is well spoken.

²⁵ Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, Choose one bull for yourselves and dress it first, for you are many; and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.

²⁶ So they took the bull given them, dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, O Baal, hear and answer us! But there was no voice; no one answered. And they leaped upon or limped about the altar they had made.

²⁷ At noon Elijah mocked them, saying, Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is musing, or he has gone aside, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.

²⁸ And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with knives and lances until the blood gushed out upon them.

²⁹ Midday passed, and they played the part of prophets until the time for offering the evening sacrifice, but there was no voice, no answer, no one who paid attention.

³⁰ Then Elijah said to all the people, Come near to me. And all the people came near him. And he repaired the [old] altar of the Lord that had been broken down [by Jezebel].

³¹ Then Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, Israel shall be your name.

³² And with the stones Elijah built an altar in the name [and self-revelation] of the Lord. He made a trench about the altar as great as would contain two measures of seed.

³³ He put the wood in order and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood and said, Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and the wood.

³⁴ And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time.

³⁵ The water ran round about the altar, and he filled the trench also with water.

³⁶ At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and that I have done all these things at Your word.

³⁷ Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You, the Lord, are God, and have turned their hearts back [to You].

³⁸ Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice and the wood and the stones and the dust, and also licked up the water that was in the trench.

³⁹ When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said, The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!

⁴⁰ And Elijah said, Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one escape. They seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and [as God’s law required] slew them there.

⁴¹ And Elijah said to Ahab, Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of abundance of rain.

⁴² So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he bowed himself down upon the earth and put his face between his knees

⁴³ And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up and looked and said, There is nothing. Elijah said, Go again seven times.

⁴⁴ And at the seventh time the servant said, A cloud as small as a man’s hand is arising out of the sea. And Elijah said, Go up, say to Ahab, Hitch your chariot and go down, lest the rain stop you.

⁴⁵ In a little while, the heavens were black with wind-swept clouds, and there was a great rain. And Ahab went to Jezreel.

⁴⁶ The hand of the Lord was on Elijah. He girded up his loins and ran before Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel [nearly twenty miles].

I want you to take a good look at the characters of Elijah and the characters of King Ahab.  Jezebel was a key woman in the two of these men’s lives, and the woman Jezebel was making it very hard for Elijah to fulfill His calling to do miracles, as he was called to do miracles.  If men that are called to do miracles listen to the wrong women, someone with an Elijah anointing can turn into a King Ahab.

You can read about King Ahab yourself, and he wasn’t all that bad, but he led the nation of Israel toward destruction and Israel is a type and shadow of the Church.

When we let that woman Jezebel – who according to I believe it was “End of the Age by Irvin Baxter” but I could be mistaken.  There was the woman Jezebel who is much different than the one in the end of the Book of Revelation.  It takes a very unChrist-like attitude to blanket anyone who seems to commit fornication into a blanket label as that “Jezebel spirit” because they are two different people, and I am talking about the one in the Old Testament – who was with King Ahab.  This woman had so much control over her husband that she would not let him do anything.  Come on we all know women like that.  They may feel insecure about their womenhood so they become ultrapossessive, but they don’t believe that God has the best plan for their lives.  In essence they rip friendships apart.  The thing is that King Ahab should have known better, he should have known better than to believe Jezebel.  She was not good for him.  Maybe if you were to pick another woman for King Ahab and go back and forth through time and pick out the best woman for King Ahab, not that he needed the best one, but maybe Mary Magdalene, or the woman at the well would have been better.  We really don’t know.

Tyre is the throne where – the enemy dwells.  NOT to be confused with McIntyre or MacIntyre

MacIntyre or Macintyre (Gaelic Mac an t-Saoir) is a Scottish surname, of Gaelic origin,^[1] relating to Clan MacIntyre. Its meaning is “Son of the Carpenter”.^[1]

1. ^ ^{a b} Harrison, Henry (1969). Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary. 2. Genealogical Publishing Company. p. 5.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacIntyre

If you really want to read about Gaelic culture I would recommend “Scarlet” by Alexandra Ripley – the book was ok, I didn’t  like it as much as the first one, and looking back I don’t like either one of those books.  Compared to them – Hinds Feet in High Places by Hannah Hurnard, Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers, and the Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers were awesome, but not as good as the Osiris Rex Complex, which is the subject I am going to delve into today.

There is the role of men in particular – you can watch out for this in the TV hit series “Do No Harm.” – the doctor has a “multiple personality disorder” – but in this case it is the man who has been taken control of by his wife.  She dominates him, and won’t let him be free to explore the part of him that is a man and is able to have attractive female friends, that may or may not imagine them when they go use the restroom.

It’s not Jezebel’s job to micromanage everything that King Ahab does.  Jezebel was so strong, that Elijah, ran scared.  Imagine you being a friend of King Ahab or Elijah, and talking to Jezebel on the phone, let’s say King Ahab –

“Why do you want to talk to my husband?”

Her intimidating tone just sends you in the opposite direction.  You’ve had one too many altercations with this Jezebel woman.  You want to just throw her under the bus.  You want to tell her that  he being Elijah, that you made the Ezekiel cake, and now she’s just furious that you want to speak to Elijah/King Ahab.  If that makes sense.

So what do you do – you cut the conversation short.  But something has to be done to free King Ahab from Jezebel.  She’s going to ruin the Church.  Plus she’s got the purse strings, she controls the money, and she’s got the power.  She’s very controlling and manipulative.  Which makes you very controlling and manipulative and you are trying to wipe Jesus feet with your tears, and here comes this woman Jezebel trying to make your friend Elijah/King Ahab.  King Ahab was blinded.  He was selfish and ignorant.   If Mary Magdalene had come to Elijah would he have turned her away no, he would have done the right thing.  But King Ahab because he was under control of Jezebel.  He suffered, and his fall was great.  There is a nursery rhyme that goes. –

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall

All the king’s horse’s

All the king’s men

Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

So that is a warning for King Ahab not to trust Jezebel.  Plus Mary Magdalene should never have let Jezebel read her blog.  !!!!!!

 

 

Heaven, Hell, Jesus, and the Bible

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.”  Matthew 24:35

Today on ABC – Barbara Walters repeated an interview about Heaven and Hell with many celebrities and well known figures and some not well known figures about about Heaven and Hell.

The Bible says –

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend^[a] it. (John 1:1-5)

There are so many theories and speculations about what heaven and hell     This is what is called man’s wisdom.  You cannot find out about Heaven or Hell or God by watching an interview.  Yes it may be entertaining, but in reality we are all searching for what is the Truth?

The Bible makes it clear – Jesus is the Truth, the Way, and the Life.

¹³ “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴ Because^[a] narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.- Matthew 7:13-14

An explanation of Heaven as it is known in the Bible –

1) First Heaven – the sky or firmament

2) Second Heaven – what we like to call outer space

3) Third Heaven – is something we cannot see where Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father and is described in the Book of Revelation and also in the book of Ezekiel.

I cannot argue Heaven or Hell or Jesus with someone who does not take an act of faith and come to the point that all of life is meaningless without Jesus.  This takes the Holy Spirit to reveal who Jesus is.

You cannot get to Heaven by being a good person – because none of us are good.  Nobody, no one, not anyone anywhere is good, there is no one.  Whatever good you think you may have done it is nothing.  You cannot earn a place into Heaven by doing good deeds.  It takes the life changing influence of Jesus Christ as the only way to inherit eternal salvation or the right to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven because there is no one righteous not even one.  Whatever good deeds or rituals or ceremonies that we have done, nothing will enable to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven because it was only purchased through the Blood of Jesus.  He took the worlds sins, and yes everyone sins everyday.  No matter what man or angel or any other being from heaven or on earth says –  Jesus is superior to them all, and He is the only way to the Heavenly Father, who is so bright that looking at Him could kill you because His power is an uncountable more times than electricity.  In fact in the Old Testament He revealed Himself as a cloud by day and fire by night, and even if you’ve been the worst thunderstorm you cannot begin to understand the magnitude of the God of the Bible.  The only way to know this God is through Jesus Christ, and it takes a personal revelation from Him, Himself to you so you can go ahead and watch all the interviews of all the people, but in the end, you are going to have to take an act of faith and search out God for yourself.

I found Jesus through renouncing Hinduism because of heavy demonic activity.  In fact the only thing that saved me from insanity was the prayer of a friend to the Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus.  Before that God was so distant and far away.  Now He’s so close and He gives me revelation of who He is.  He is a God of love, compassion, of Holiness.  Nobody is perfect, I don’t care who you say you are – whether you’re Dalai Lama, Mahatma Gandhi, or Mother Theresa, unless you have Jesus your works don’t mean anything.  It’s only after you’ve been saved, and this is a daily practice of believing in Jesus, working out your salvation with fear and trembling or awe and reverance and then portraying the fruits of the Holy Spirit, and the Word of God, which is Jesus and also the Bible revealed through the Holy Spirit and a daily repentant heart and turning away from your sin with the Help of the the Holy Spirit.  Unless you have Jesus you always find other things, other idols, be it money, pleasures, signficant others, and something else to satisfy, but Jesus is the Bread of Life, and whoever eats of Him will not hunger or go after things that don’t really matter in life.

There are 10 commanments:

You shall not have other gods

You shall not make any graven images

You shall not take the name of the LORD in vain

You shall observe the Sabbath (Saturday)

You shall“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor’s belongings or wife or husband.

Most of those have broken those things, but lets say you haven’t.  There are 603 others, and you would not be able to fulfill them at all, that’s why Jesus had to become the curse of the Law. When you believe in Him, you are released from the Law, and the curse of the Law, but then you have to follow the Holy Spirit, who lives in your heart and gives you that tugging feeling to let you know whether you want to accept Him or not.  If you experience that tugging feeling in your heart, and you want to accept Jesus into your heart because He is the one who will comfort you when you cry, He is the one who holds your hand, He is the one that is always with you when you are down, and He forgives you because He died for you.  No other person died for you.  Yes other people died, but He is the only one that died specifically for you, and for the rest of the world just so that He would have a relationship with you and even if you were the only person on earth He would have died for you.  Not only did He die for you in a gruesome horrible death and was buried in a dark tomb,  but He actually showed up physically after He died, and ate, then went up to Heaven, the real Heaven.   This is not something that can be thought with the mind, it is something that is revealed in the heart and it takes a risk of faith to say, I choose to accept You Lord as my Savior. He and I are not going to force you to believe, we can just warn you, but the thing is that don’t be afraid that if you don’t believe you will go to Hell, but go to Him because of this awesome love and forgiveness of everything that you’ve ever done.  We all have this trash in our lives that He has to take out, and He is willing to give you a brand new start and a clean slate, and wipe it clean, and whatever chalk stains you get on the blackboard of life, He is willing to wipe them clean every day if you say,  “You know what I am wrong in this.”  He will teach you lessons and He will speak to you through His Word.  This is special.  I didn’t have this before I knew Jesus.  Before I knew Jesus and I mean really knew Jesus I was searching for things that could not satisfy.  It’s  a process of life that we have to work at, but Jesus helps us everyday and you are never alone.

You really don’t know how long you have, so be prepared.  Jesus is coming any time soon, and whoever reads this, if you feel a conviction to believe in Jesus say,

Heavenly Father,

I know that I am a sinner, and I know that I cannot live life except without your grace, and I have done many things wrong in my life, but I would like to know You and this God who can change my heart and turn me into a new creation, and work with me to wipe my slate clean everyday and walk with me through life during all the hard times, and all  the rough times, so that we may go through this journey alone and that I can learn to trust in You.  I want to experience Your Love, and Joy, and Peace, in a world that just seems to be falling apart.  You know how many times I have failed, and You have been there to pick up the pieces even though I couldn’t see it.  I want to accept You as my Savior and regardless of what happens to me, I want to serve You.  Teach me how to fall desperately in love with You and help work to refine and change me to be more and more like You everyday.

In Jesus Mighty Name I pray,

Amen.

If you want more information – go through my blog, there are a lot of articles and a lot of information, and also you can reply to this blog, but be sure to use the word Jesus.

The difficult task of knowing when not to speak

In the Bible the book of James talks about how we are to bridle our tongues.  It says how can blessings and cursings come out of the same mouth and that the tongue is uncontrollable.  Jesus said to have our speech be seasoned with salt.

There was an experience that happened with my relative a while back.  I said something where I basically just stuck my foot in my mouth, which is just an expression for saying the wrong thing, and she gave me the silent treatment for a long time.  She was an unbeliever so she had not grasped the concepts of forgiveness, but in the process she taught me a very important lesson, which as of late I seemed to have forgotten.  In the process she taught me how to respect her and to be sensitive what I say to her.  I loved my relative and I did not want her to be mad at me and hoped that she would eventually forgive me and she did.  God is the same way and His anger can be kindled so much more, but sometimes we don’t realize that.  We kind of take Him for granted and not give Him the respect that He deserves.  Sometimes we don’t give God the same respect we give to other people, and even when we are mad at other people, we don’t give them the respect not to talk about them behind their back.  I know my relative can have a bad temper at times, but God can have a temper too.  I knew my relative loved me, but she was just angry with me for awhile.  God is the same way.

Isaiah 54 says,

“With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment;
But with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,”
Says the Lord, your Redeemer.

I know we should never do anything to make God mad at us, and we should never never never do that, but if in the current moment we may think that God is mad at us, it is ok, because He still loves us, and it says that He chastens those He loves.  If He loves you He chastens you.  He is not going to stay angry forever.  He may just distance Himself from you for awhile for one to see how much you will go after Him, and how much you will realize the way you hurt him, and how He feels about the situation.  We are so caught up in how we feel about what’s going on in our lives.  We are so concerned with all the circumstances, and our reactions to it, that we forget that God has a heart too, and we need to be sensitive to it, and not try to dishonor it.  I’m not saying we’ll be perfect all the time, but through life we’ll learn lessons, and learn how to trust Him, and how to depend on Him, so that we can learn how to bear fruit for the Kingdom of God.  So even during these times if it seems like your walking through darkness, or that it may seem like there are no answers, God is still there, and He’s still waiting for you to turn around.  He’s waiting to pick up all the pieces of your broken life.  He’s there to restore the damage that’s been made out of your life and to give you beauty for ashes.

Sometimes when we speak out of anger or frustration or because we just don’t know how to handle the situation we are facing, and we haven’t exactly learned how to keep our tongue under control, there will be times when we’ll be reminded of what God feels like.  We don’t like it when people are frustrated and angry with us, so then when shouldn’t be angry or frustrated with God for all the things going on.  He’s in control, and so many times in our lives we’ve tried to take control and not to submit to authority, and not to discipline ourselves in various areas.  I am not even saying that I have mastered anything in application in my life, but it’s only through the grace of God that I am able to share with you all on this journey.  We need to stop beating ourselves up for our mistakes and even the things we may say out of our mouths, but before we do that we need to take time to think and make decisions on how we are going to try to work on improving our attitudes.  We get so caught up in religious activities that we don’t actually take time to think and see how we are going to apply all that we have learned in the Bible.  We have to pray, and read the Word of God, but on days when it may be even hard to get out of bed in the morning then we need to know what kind of power we have waiting inside of us to make life for us, and how we can take Biblical examples of guarding our mouth, and ask us to show us His heart.  How many days would you like to go without God speaking to you?  Not very long I’d suppose.  So in that time more than really praise or worship or any other thing that we’ve tried to seek God with, we need to ask God, and to think how we can change our mindset.  It’s one thing to read the Word of God as just words, stories, and narratives, but it’s another thing to make it an application.  Start with one thing and then see what else you can improve on.  Some people that have an issue with their mouth, like gossiping have an issue with forgiveness, which is an area where we ALL need to work on.  If you have mastered the area of forgiveness then you are miles high then most of us Christians.  Most Christians are biting each other’s heads off all the time, and it’s so sad in the Church.  There are times when we’ve had people we respected lie to us, and we forget that we’ve lied ourselves, so that needs forgiveness.  We’ve had people come and say the  wrong thing at the wrong time and not shown compassion towards us, but then we fail to see how we’ve not been compassionate toward them in their hour of need.  There was a song by Mariah Carey called, Love takes time, which I don’t usually condone of secular music, but there are songs out there that really speak to me.  It goes something like “Love takes time to heal when you’re hurting so much”  Depending on what has happened in your life and how you’ve gone through life, I’m sure you’ve had to learn how to forgive and may be still learning when not to speak.

Sometimes when we at our weakest moments, we just say things, and we can all learn a lesson from Jesus when He was on trial he just was silent, and they didn’t like it, because they wanted Him to say something to convict Himself.

There was a story of a television show where there was a man who was in jail and when he was in jail, they would question him, and all he did when they questioned him he kept silent.  I think there was a Biblical principle behind that somewhere.

There’s always wisdom in knowing when not to speak and to speak.  So we should learn the principle of when to keep silent.  There’s another secular song called “Enjoy the Silence”.  We must choose words carefully, and when we are not perfect, then we should keep things to ourselves.

 

What we can learn from the Elder Brother’s mistake in the Prodigal Son Parable

This insight really blessed my heart- Let’s begin at Luke 15 (NKJV):

^“11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. ¹² And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. ¹³ And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. ¹⁴ But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. ¹⁵ Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. ¹⁶ And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.”

This young man here signifies the type of the Gentiles, unbelievers, or people living a fleshly and carnal life, what we like to call Carnal Christians.  We know that it is not an unbeliever because it says that the young man has an inheritance.  This prodigal son became hungry for food.  He thought he deserved to eat pods, or the very little that he had, but there was nothing anybody gave him, so that food or (physical, or spiritual food) was very little.

¹⁷ “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! ¹⁸ I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, ¹⁹ and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’

At this point, he probably thought his father wouldn’t forgive him because of the way he spent his living, and he was really depressed.  All he wanted was food.  This is a contrast to the story of Esau trading his birthright for food.  But yet he denied his true identity and he did not feel worthy to be a son.  How about if your child did something and said “I am no longer worthy to be your child.” It would grieve you, wouldn’t it to think that your child hurts so much that they don’t want to be called your child, that they would rather do chores for you without wanting to have a relationship with you?

²⁰ “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’”

His father was a great way off, meaning far away, and his father saw him and had compassion.  Think about if you have a son that has just come back from the military  wouldn’t you go and feel this ache of compassion and rejoicing that your son had come home alive?    Even if you had an argument before you left you would still be rejoicing because now your son has come back to you.  Just like a person who is the father of a soldier would run and fall and hug and kiss his son, the father ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.  The father was just so happy to see his son to come back that he wasn’t thinking about the way he left and what he did.

²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. ²³ And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; ²⁴ for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.”

Using the military example, a returning soldier always gets a warm welcome from the parents, and this is always the cast.  He brought the beeeeeeeessssssst robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.  Basically he just poured out his abundant blessings  and filled him up with (physical food and spiritual food) upon the younger son.  It would be interesting to compare and contrast this parable with Isaac and Esau and Jacob.

²⁵ “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. ²⁷ And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.’

I’ve heard people say in some circles (Holy Spirit entertainment, instead of reverential worship) like it’s a bad thing.  Some people are still against dancing.  We are supposed to have JOY in the kingdom of God!!!  Anyway, the elder brother had probably never heard this kind of music before and he wondered what it was.  He was wondering what’s all the commotion.  I guess his life with his father had been pretty boring based on his response.

²⁸ “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. ³⁰ But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’

Who were supposed to not transgress the commandments?  If you go back to my previous post you’ll find one about that the Hebrews/Jews had to obey all the commandments, the entire Law.  He was pretty much jealous of the joy that the younger brother was receiving, and he said ‘this son of yours’, making it seem like he wasn’t even a brother, but almost used in derogatory sense.  He was thinking, ‘Why did you have to do that for him?  You didn’t do that for me?’  Now take a look at the father’s response.

³¹ “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. ³² It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’”

There is so much meat in this parable.  There are two types of metaphors here, well actually three- there’s the younger brother (Gentiles), and the father (Heavenly Father), and the elder brother (Jews or Law keeping Pharisees/could also typify the people in the Church that have become religious or become mature in their faith).  I know this parable can be taken from many angles, but I want to examine a little bit more the elder brother.

1.  Elder Brother obeyed all the commands

The Jews obeyed all the commands

2.  Elder Brother was jealous of his younger brother

Some people look at the preachers of grace, and think that they have it way too easy, and that there must be some harder way and so when they see their ministries getting blessed, they begin to quickly turn people away from them, when grace preaching brings hope and life to the soul, if it is done properly.

3.  Elder Brother had no empathy:

He had a self-righteous attitude that ‘I am doing better than he does’ he doesn’t deserve something so rich’ and ‘how come my father didn’t do the same thing for me?’  He couldn’t see that his elder brother was lost and now he is found.

After Jesus ended these parables in Luke 16 it says:

¹⁴ Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him.¹⁵ And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

^“16 “The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it. ¹⁷ And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail.”

God wants to bring upon the pressing Holy Spirit passion into the Church.  I wish there was a way we could hear the texture and tone of Jesus voice when He was reading vs. 17.

I was reading on further in Luke as I was writing, and I feel compelled to share, that if I have caused anyone to stray away from their faith, or have to debate on things which are just basic.  It seems to at times my own faith is shaken, but I trust Jesus that He restores.  We may not understand all that there is in the Bible, but even as we become mature and learn how to treat people that are younger, or people that may be participating in all kinds of sins, to be able to restore them gently, and also to encourage them and build their faith up in Jesus and increase their faith and just love them be patient with them, and be careful of saying things that are going to put fear in people’s hearts.  There might be teachers out there that are trying their best to put the Word out there, but unless they sow good seed, and seed that glorifies Jesus and shows the nature of the Father to love and not to condemn, then the worse it will be for us and for them.  So treat one another with love.  If any of you elder brothers believe that they are correct in their dogma or doctrines, then take a second look and try to really examine your heart and see if these conditions of the elder brothers – whether Jews, or Mature Christians, Messianic Jews, anybody in that believes that they have been obedient to God, and say to yourself, “You that is without sin, cast the first stone.”  Then you will realize that Jesus was the only sinless man, and the everlasting Prince of Peace.  May you have Joy and Peace in your hearts.

For younger brothers, who have been treated badly by “elder brothers”  forgive them, and just lean on Jesus more and more and trust Jesus more and more.  Learn from people like Paul and how He dealt with Judaizers, and learn wisdom from the Bible because it is packed with Truth.  Learn to properly interpret the Bible and study Hebrew and Greek, reread the Parables over and over again to see what kind of Truth they have.  Don’t get stuck in one way of looking at things, but be teachable.  Keep the passion alive that you first had and remember not to lose your first love.

After I have written these things, I want to say that there is a warning for apostates, and people that stray away from the faith and teach things about spirituality that are not based on the Bible, and are basically emphasize a “pseudo-spirit” and “enlightment” that comes from eastern mysticism, that we need to be aware of because they can disguise themselves as Christians, but they really don’t have any Truth in them.  Test the spirits to see if they are from God.

No Condemnation in Christ for Genuine Believers who walk after the Spirit

I want to sincerely apologize for any of my posts that have brought a sense of condemnation to anyone.  It was not my intention and I realized that I was trying to do Jesus’ job by trying to separate the wheat from the tares myself, when only He can do it.  At the same time, Ezekiel 3 says that if we don’t warn a person of their sins we will die with their blood on our hands.   Having the calling of a teacher of God’s Word is a heavy task, and as it says in James 3 that it should be entered into with wisdom, but we are all learning the profound truths of God’s Word, and more and more about Jesus everyday.  If anyone else does not get this word I will get it for myself, and I really need it.

Sometimes in the Christian walk we go through times of condemnation, where we are so hard on ourselves, and beat ourselves up, and refuse to accept the redemption of the Blood Covenant that Jesus died to give.  We are plagued with these lies that we are these sinners that are so unclean and so vile that God does not want to approach us because He is so holy.  It is true that He is holy and He hates sin, but the Blood of Jesus has redemptive power to cleanse us from all sin.  We are thoroughly washed in the Blood of the Lamb.  But there are times when we sin, and that’s when repentance comes into picture, but it’s the learning of repentance that is what it’s all about.  ACTS 11:18 ¹⁸ When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.”

Repentance is not saying “I am not worthy to be loved by You.  I am a reject.  I am an outcast.  I am a nobody.  I am so dirty.”  No, not by any means.  Repentance is about realizing who God is and His goodness, that He is merciful and that He loves you, and He loves you so much that He would give His life for you so that you wouldn’t have to be in pain.  He gave His life up for you so as not to see you cry in agony and feel like a reject or outcast.  When Moses was called to lead the Israelites out of bondage from Pharoah, he said, “I am a poor speaker, what if they don’t listen to me?”  He didn’t have confidence in who he was, and who God was that would enable him to speak the words that God had given him out of his mouth.  He doubted who he was, and he was the meekest man or the most humble man, or so it’s said.  But let me tell you who was the personfication of humbleness and that was Jesus who washed the disciples feet and at another time He announced His ministry boldly by declaring Isaiah 61 before the congregation.  Jesus knew who He was and as believers in Christ, we must know who we are.  We must know that despite everything, we are more than conquerors than Christ.

We are sometimes living like chickens when are born an eagles.  If an eagle is around chickens long enough and especially if it’s been there all it’s life, it will start to believe it’s a chicken, when it’s actually an eagle.  So many of us have become chickens, but instead we should be eagles.

We must also fight the good fight of faith.  Believe me there is someone out there who wants to make you into a puddle saying, “Lord, I don’t know if I can follow this Law or obey You completely.  I am a worthless sinner, and there is no way You will accept me into Your kingdom.  I am a lost cause.  Just forget about me.  I am beyond help.”  Until you are so much into a pit of despair that you can’t even begin to see Jesus even if you read the Bible so many times.  You may start out with a level of faith, which is the measure of faith, but that faith has to expand and grow and if it doesn’t then that’s when condemnation sets in.  When you have condemnation you are no good to anybody.  You can’t pray for others because you feel like you are worthless.  You can’t read the Word of God because you think that God is going to fry you because you feel like you won’t have the promise of eternity waiting for you.  Sometimes self-pity even creeps in and says, why don’t you just give up, but you see, friends, that this is all a fight.  It is a fight to the finish because it is a race that we run and we want to make it to the end.  Condemnation can happen to any believer at any time even those who through their spiritual walk have an intimacy with the Lord, but something about not knowing who God is and the Good News of His Kingdom causes you to lose hope and become discouraged in your souls.  When you begin to believe that everything around you has to change for you to experience joy then something needs to change.

The repentance for the Gentiles leads to life.  Jesus died so that we might have life and have it more abundantly.  This doesn’t mean having a huge house, many cars, an air plane, and material possessions- those things are an added benefit, but what’s really important is the quality of the life that emanates from spirit to soul to body.  When we experience condemnation sometimes our souls become grieved and we don’t know how to make peace with God and trust who He is.  We become overburdened with guilt to the point that we can’t take it anymore.  This is what happened to Judas, he couldn’t take what he had done to Jesus.  I’m not calling you a Judas.  I’m just saying that we don’t want to get to that point.  We want to be set free.  That’s why Paul was teaching so much about the Law.  Here’s what  he said in 1 Timothy 1:

⁵My goal in giving you this order is for love to flow from a pure heart, from a clear conscience, and from a sincere faith. ⁶Some people have left these qualities behind and have turned to useless discussions. ⁷They want to be experts in Moses’ Teachings. However, they don’t understand what they’re talking about or the things about which they speak so confidently.

⁸We know that Moses’ Teachings are good if they are used as they were intended to be used. ⁹For example, a person must realize that laws are not intended for people who have God’s approval. Laws are intended for lawbreakers and rebels, for ungodly people and sinners, for those who think nothing is holy or sacred, for those who kill their fathers, their mothers, or other people. ¹⁰Laws are intended for people involved in sexual sins, for homosexuals, for kidnappers, for liars, for those who lie when they take an oath, and for whatever else is against accurate teachings. ¹¹Moses’ Teachings were intended to be used in agreement with the Good News that contains the glory of the blessed God. I was entrusted with that Good News.

His purpose in saying all these things that he did in the epistles was so that he could set free the conscience of the believers with a pure and sincere heart to those that were doing things that were not according to the ways of God.  Now certain people will put slime on my head just there. For those with heightened understanding will know what I am talking about.

For believers with a pure and sincere heart that follow God and that want to do what He says, and want to walk in His ways, and do not want to grieve Him, then there is no condemnation for them.  Jesus became sin, so why should we have to take it?  Why should we have to carry the burden of sin- those of us who believe in Him?

There are distinctions that have to be made though between Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, and other apostates who have strayed away from the true teachings of God’s Word.  The indisputable facts are Jesus was born of virgin, that He died on a cross, was buried, and rose again the third day.  Those things are vital.  If you believe those you have what it takes to build your faith.  Faith is not just a head knowledge, but it is a heart transformation that also presents itself with power.

Romans 8 says –

8 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,^[a] who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. ² For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. ⁶ For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.⁷ Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. ⁸ So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹ But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. ¹⁰ And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹ But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

The same verses in God’s Word Translation:

¹So those who are believers in Christ Jesus can no longer be condemned. ²The standards of the Spirit, who gives life through Christ Jesus, have set you free from the standards of sin and death. ³It is impossible to do what God’s standards demand because of the weakness our human nature has. But God sent his Son to have a human nature as sinners have and to pay for sin. That way God condemned sin in our corrupt nature. ⁴Therefore, we, who do not live by our corrupt nature but by our spiritual nature, are able to meet God’s standards.

⁵Those who live by the corrupt nature have the corrupt nature’s attitude. But those who live by the spiritual nature have the spiritual nature’s attitude. ⁶The corrupt nature’s attitude leads to death. But the spiritual nature’s attitude leads to life and peace. ⁷This is so because the corrupt nature has a hostile attitude toward God. It refuses to place itself under the authority of God’s standards because it can’t. ⁸Those who are under the control of the corrupt nature can’t please God. ⁹But if God’s Spirit lives in you, you are under the control of your spiritual nature, not your corrupt nature.

Whoever doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ doesn’t belong to him. ¹⁰However, if Christ lives in you, your bodies are dead because of sin, but your spirits are alive because you have God’s approval.¹¹Does the Spirit of the one who brought Jesus back to life live in you? Then the one who brought Christ back to life will also make your mortal bodies alive by his Spirit who lives in you.

Even though Romans here is talking about the carnal or corrupt nature of man and the appetites of the flesh,  if you have a bad day and you eat a piece of chocolate cake, ice cream, or have a little bit too much chicken tikka masala or lamb curry, God does not want you to feel so bad about it that you go into an eating disorder just to prove a point that you want to honor Him.  God knows you.  God knows you so well.  He knows you so well that He knows what sin you were going to do when you do it.  Yes it was wrong for Eve to listen to the serpent and eat of that forbidden fruit, and it was wrong for Adam to pass blame onto Eve, but what’s even worse, is that they hid from God’s Presence.  He was right there and they didn’t run to Him because they didn’t feel worthy.  He had come to accept them.  He had come to accept them with open arms, but yet it in turn they ran because they were so scared.  God loves you so much, He gave His life after you.

There’s always a way out for every sin.  Every sin has a way out through the Blood Covenant of Jesus as long as you don’t blaspheme the Holy Spirit.  If you do it out of ignorance it’s ok, but if you do it intentionally when you know it’s not right because out of the wrong motive of the heart then that’s something else.

This whole time on earth throughout history God is looking for people who will love Him whole heartedly and will seek after His heart.  To yearn after His beauty and His majesty.  He doesn’t want people to be dismayed and discouraged.  But He wants people to repent and to receive forgiveness out of true humility.

But at the same time there is a warning because the times of the birth pangs are coming, and this is a time when people begin to see God’s judgments to come upon the Earth in the forms of natural catastrophes, and those are the times to trust God.  Because when you come down to it, all you have is Jesus, and you have to know that you have Jesus and He loves you and He doesn’t want to see you hurt.

Heavenly Father,

I pray that you touch the hearts of the people and let them see what a loving and kind and merciful Father you are to them.  Heal the Orphaned spirit, and the spirit of rejection upon the believer’s lives.  Give them life and and life more abundantly.  Give them hope and hope for the everlasting.  Cause them to surrender to You completely and totally to Your will and let them know the plan and purpose You have for their lives.  Cause them to see the light of Your Truth, and give them fresh rhema everyday.  Cause them to see everything beautiful about You.  Let them see that they are loved beyond measure, and that even for unbelievers Your heart reaches out to them so that they may receive the Truth that Jesus died for our sins.  Forgive us Lord if we have strayed away from Your Spirit today, and bring us back to Your fold so that we may see the beauty of Your majesty.  Forgive us Lord if we have not obeyed.  Cleanse us with Your blood today and create in us a clean heart and renew a right Spirit within Your precious saints who long to follow You.  Grant us all wisdom and encouragement and hope to see the everlasting and eternal hope and salvation we have in You.  I thank You for the special anointing You have given me to preach this Word, and may it bring life to those who hear it.

In Jesus Mighty Name I pray,

Amen.

Dangers of Pride

Before you look at someone else and say, “Hey, they have pride,”  or you look at the people of the Bible and their destruction because of their pride, take some time to examine your own heart, and see if there is any pride in your own heart.

There are many factors that lead to pride, one of them is selfishness, and another is judgmental, critical nature.

I’ll start with the judgmental, critical nature.  The judgmental and critical nature starts with insecurity. We don’t like how we feel about ourselves because we don’t see what God sees in His eyes when He looks at us.  We see the icky lies that the enemy has been provoking us to believe about ourselves, but then we start to believe them after they have been repeated over and over and over again in our heads like a record player.  When you begin  the Christian walk you are supposed to build yourself up in the faith by a church that supports the growth that you have by feeding you with the Word of God, and you also have to begin to build a relationship with God yourself.  But somewhere down the line, we begin to think, ok, “I know it all”  and we begin to judge people for the things we don’t like about our old selves.  Someone once said that godly men may try to have a conversation with an evil man and they will have nothing to talk about because [my interjection here] – they have no common language.  At some point all of us begin to become judgmental and critical in nature, and it takes a real life transforming experience with Jesus, and the Word of God, to change us.  When we think we have reached a certain of level of “maturity” and of “holiness”, then we will be knocked down a few blocks because we know that we really don’t know it all, but it is God who warns of this pride.  That’s why He says in Isaiah, “My thoughts are higher than your thoughts, and My ways higher than your ways.”

This pride of lucifer was shown in Isaiah 14 –

For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’

So it is very dangerous to get like that.  So before you go and think that “lucifer had pride, but I don’t have pride” that may be prideful itself because a humble person will never admit that they are humble.  There’s a difference between knowing who you are [in Christ], and speaking that with boldness like Jesus did, and showing false humility, which I am not going to go into because I don’t think I can even wrap my mind around that one. But basically we don’t know it all, and only God does.  We can learn from all of the anointed teachers of God’s Word,if they are truly sticking to God’s Word, but if they are not then we should look at ourselves, and say, “have I led anyone astray?  Have I led them down the wrong path?  Have I made them feel condemned?”  “Those that judge others, in the same measure you will be judged” Jesus says, and He also says, “Why do you look at the speck in the other person’s eye and do not see the plank in your own eye, first remove the plank in your own eye then you will clearly be able to see the speck in the other person’s eye.”

Let’s pause there for a second…Ask yourself, which areas am I struggling with the most in my relationships with people?  What don’t I like about people?  For me I don’t like it when people teach unbiblical doctrine, or doctrine that is opposed to what I have been taught, and when people condemn others with the Word of God, and so I need to say, Lord, where do You want me to change in this area?

Also another thing that you should do is ask Lord, if I am not acting out of Agape Love, then help me, teach me, show me the way.  In this sense I am using the term unconditional.  Are you still going to love the person despite what they do no matter how much they offend you?  That is something to think about.   IF YOU’RE NOT THERE YET IT’S OK – DON’T BEAT YOURSELF UP ABOUT IT.  One of the things that needs to be discussed is the difference between loving yourself, selfishness, and pride.

Loving yourself, means loving the person that God created you to be in the image of God, with the spirit of God dwelling inside of you.

Selfishness is a fleshly – and when I say fleshly I don’t mean body, but the sinful nature of man – attitude which feeds on which sinful nature of man in the oldself,  and obsesses about how to meet your own needs to the point that you don’t think about or care about or live for others, but it’s all about you, and what you want, and what you need.  We all have certain areas of life where we are a little bit selfish because we still are tempted to sin, but the more we line up with the Holy Spirit, the more we will not be able to, and the GOOD NEWS IS GOD FORGIVES US IF WE DO ACT SELFISHLY BECAUSE HE KNOWS THAT’S NOT THE NATURE HE PUT IN US. (The ones who are sincere born again believers)

Pride is exalting yourself above God, and saying that you are better than God and that you know better than God and that you can control your life better than He can and it also has to do with thinking that you are better than anyone else.

A judgmental nature and pride is detestable to God.  If we don’t want to see judgment in the last days, then don’t judge.  If we don’t want see ourselves crumble and eat grass like Nebuchadnezzar did in the last days then submit and surrender to God.

Sometimes we have issues of receiving forgiveness and forgiving and that is rooted in insecurity about ourselves.  We can’t see the good in others because we can’t see it in ourselves.  We may love God, but unless we truly see that God loves us and created usin His image and when we received Christ, we took on the nature and characteristics of Christ [righteousness, holiness, perfectness] then we have a flawed perspective and that perspective needs to be dealt with.  You can learn all this in head knowledge and you can read the Bible all you want that true heart transformation then you will have to put on the right lens of perspective.  There are teachers that can give you a proper lens and perspective that can help you see the Light of Christ and what it means by True Christ Like Love, and then there are others who will always look down on people who are less than they are and deem them, “not worthy” of our attention.

It’s very hard these days to see Christians who behave like Paul did, who was not carnal at all, but also treated people with love, respect and care for the sheep and rich in the wisdom in the grace of God, but then there is Jesus who is our perfect example, our perfect witness of the Holy Spirit.  One of my favorite verses in the Bible talks about how Paul in his person may seem weak and limited because of physical infirmities, but in his writing he is bold.  Many times that’s the way I feel.  In person you may not be able to see the same thing that you see in my writing.

How do we rectify this problem?  We put our focus on the Lord, and move in whichever way the Lord leads us.  The Lord moves us in mighty ways, but we don’t need to feel guilty about anything that we do because the Lord loves us tremendously and He is just waiting for us to come to Him with our problems.  We need to run to Him.  Remember He knows us better than we know ourselves.

The Grasshopper Season

I don’t know how many of you guys have ever heard the story of the ant and the grasshopper, but here’s how it goes-well at least my adaption of it.  An ant was preparing for the winter floods in the summer by gathering food and preparing it’s home so that it wouldn’t get destroyed by the floods.  The grasshopper was lazy and did not prepare and kept procrastinating and saying, “It’ll be ok when the floods come.”  I think the ant might have even told him to prepare for the flood, but he just didn’t listen.  He just had better things to do than to prepare for the floods.  Then one day the floods came and it came and the grasshopper came knocking on the door of the ant’s home, but the ant only prepared enough for his family.  The floods came and destroyed the grasshopper.

Proverbs 30:25 says this about ants:

²⁵ Ants are creatures of little strength,
yet they store up their food in the summer;

Proverbs 6:6 has this to say about ants:

Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise!

 

Then there is the parable of the foolish virgins and the wise virgins –

The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins

¹ “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ² Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. ³ Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, ⁴ but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. ⁵But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
⁶ “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming;^[a] go out to meet him!’ ⁷ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ ⁹ But the wise answered, saying, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ ¹⁰ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
¹¹ “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ ¹² But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
¹³ “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour^[b] in which the Son of Man is coming.

I’ve been also looking at these few verses and just trying to comprehend the depth of these statements:

I Never Knew You

²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ [Matthew 7:21-23]

I’ve taken apart as many ways as I can and still all I can come up with is?  Do I really know the LORD?  Or better yet does the LORD know me?  We need to be sure of this.

When the Bible talks about ants and even in the story I gave in the beginning sheds light on certain seasons of testing that we have in our spiritual lives.  Some people go through a season of testing based on how much they prepared in the previous season they will reap when that harvest cycle comes into completion.  There are four seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.  Whatever is gathered together in the Spring is harvested in the Fall and whatever is gathered together in the Summer is harvested in the Winter.  Sometimes if we are not attacked physically, we can get attacked emotionally, or mentally, or financially, or even spiritually depending on how much time and effort we have sown into the kingdom during the harvest cycles.  The Bible says that we are to grow from glory to glory so that means that we are supposed to increase in growth, maturity, and fruit from season to season.  But when happens when God draws away from us, or it just seems to get harder to be in the Presence of God, or to gather anything from your daily Bible readings?  What then?  Are we just supposed to give up?  Are we supposed to spend all that time buying and listening to cd’s from other preachers,  when we cannot seem to have clarity of thought and seemed to be pulled apart in every direction?

Jesus talks about the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins.  In that Parable He says that both the foolish and the wise were sleeping, but the wise virgins had oil in their lamp, and they actually told the foolish virgins to buy from someone else lest, they would run out of oil.  Oil is the anointing and the presence of the Holy Spirit.  He is encouraging people to pursue their own relationship with God, and not draw from other people, because in the end the other people will let them down in the end, but the ones who had been prepared and had done their work before hand in keeping their oil in their lamps fresh would get to meet the bridegroom when He comes.

So then you look at Matthew 7:21-23 – and that really hits you right between the eyes, and in the middle of the heart.  These people that had the “anointing”, they were doing things like prophesying, casting out demons, performing miracles, or they could have even been blogging, and preaching the gospel, but Jesus said that He will say, “I never knew you…depart from me you workers of iniquity (lawlessness)”  I guess I am just a Christian that tries to love by seeing the best in other people, but that statement was like, “Whoa God, What can I do so that you don’t cast me out?  What can I do so that you will accept me?”

That brings us to the will of the Father.  What is the will of the Father?  There is only two that I can think of:

John 6:40 – ⁴⁰ And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

And the other one- I don’t know where it says it, but the other one is to give thanks or to be appreciative or grateful of all that God has done.

Can these people who are going to be cast out of heaven be thankful, appreciative, see and believe in Him, and still be cast out of heaven?  The Bible says that anointing is without repentance, so how come anointed people are being rejected by God?  How is repentance achieved when we are supposed to be saved by grace, once and for all?

All these questions started entering my mind and in this season of testing, where the enemy knows you are weakest, he will try to attack you any way he can.  So if he can’t attack you physically, he will go after your mind and heart.  Which is why we need that time with the Holy Spirit, and to actually cultivate a relationship with Jesus.  These are the times when we  have to seek Him more.  In essence so that we know without a doubt who He is.  It is a time for us to know without a doubt who we are in Christ.  It is a time to change from victim mentality to victor mentality.  So if you know your season of testing is coming up it is wise to prepare and keep your oil lamp lit so that when that time comes you can be full equipped to engage in spiritual warfare, and at the same time draw closer to the LORD and to guard your hearts and mind.

Let us be like ants preparing bit by bit, line by line, precept by precept, preparing the way of the LORD, and leading people to repentance, without giving them a feeling of condemnation because that’s when they will know that they don’t have be grasshoppers in a grasshopper season, but they are like ants in a grasshopper season.

 

 

 

 

My apologies to you

As I am looking at the way I harbor unforgiveness I came to the realization that I may have hurt someone in some way maybe through this blog, or have shaken someone’s confidence in the LORD or deterred them away from a deeper relationship with God.  If I have done that then I am truly sorry and that was not my attention.  I don’t want anyone that I blog to – to have a spirit of condemnation, but to know that God loves you and He will work with you to change.  I want to use my experiences to build you up, to encourage you, to uplift you…and I only try to rebuke someone when I know the lesson is worth learning.  Thank you guys for the support during this blog.  I am working on the breastplate of righteousness, and part of that is forgiveness.  I learned today that some of the things that people don’t forgive is what they have been guilty of themselves, so I want to say I am sorry for having anyone’s feelings hurt.  I am going through some refining processes and God has been working on some of my heart issues.  Sometimes I even feel like a hypocrite from time to time because I’ll say something one way and that I’ll go and do the exact opposite, but I am still learning.  Thanks to God for His abundant Mercy and Grace even though I fail, He still picks me up and dusts me off so we can continue to run the race together.

Pierce your tongue

Many of us are offended because we cannot control our tongues.  We gossip and backbite, and many people are offended because of what people say.  The Word says that, “Life or Death, is in the power of the tongue.”  When people continue to use their tongue whether it be people in the pulpit or people in the pews, it can cause divisions and factions among people.  This is what Paul was talking about in Corinthians when he said, “Some of you say I am of Paul,” “Some of you, of Cephas, and some of you of Apollos”.  He was talking about the divisions between the factions among the people.  He was trying to unite people, while people were just trying to pick sides in the Body of Christ, when the Body of Christ is actually one.

One of the contributing factors to disagreements between church members is gossipping and backbiting.  When we can’t control our mouths, and this is part of the fruit of the Spirit, then this leads to areas of our lives that can lead to destruction because when we can’t control our mouths, the destiny to love has been taken out of the picture.

This is why I find James 3 very profound, and very applicable to the way we are supposed to lead our lives.

Taming the Tongue

 ¹ Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. ² We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.

Sometimes we have church leaders, and they have their spiritual leaders, who in their preaching may cause others to stumble if they are not careful.  They may be trying to preach the Word of God, and what God has revealed to them, but they have to take in to consideration and so does the rest of the body of Christ – 1 Peter 5

To the Elders and the Flock

 ¹ To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: ² Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; ³ not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. ⁴ And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

 ⁵ In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,

   “God opposes the proud 
   but shows favor to the humble.”^[a]

 ⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. ⁷ Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

 ⁸ Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

 ¹⁰ And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. ¹¹ To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

 

When we let their be disagreements between our leaders or others in the Body of Christ, then the whole body is hurting.  These disagreements can also be dug in deeper when talk about the leaders or other members in the Church.

One of the things that deters forgiveness in a person life is not being able to control the tongue.  There’s a saying – if you can’t say anything nice, then don’t say anything at all.  So what are Church members supposed to do when they are seething inside.  This is a time to talk to God because the whole Christian walk is about your relationship to God and how much you know Him, and how close you walk to Him.  You really need to spend time with Him.  Sometimes that may include getting into His Word, but sometimes, and it should be more often cultivating this relationship with Him, where you can confide in Him, when you don’t have anyone to confide in.  You can trust God with your problems and He is there to answer, and He will be the solution to your problems.  Some people have been so sheltered that they always have somebody to talk to, but the real test comes when you are alone with Him.  When you are alone with Him, how do you spend your time?  Some people might think, how can I come to Him always with problems, but that’s what He is there for.  He is your Counselor.  He is there to meet your needs.  He is El Shaddai, He is Jehovah Jireh.  He is Jesus Christ our Lord, and in Him we can trust.  Sometimes we just have to go through things with that relationship with Him without contributing to idle talk, gossip, and slander.  If you know someone else is going to gossip about someone, avoid talking to them about the person they don’t like and just stay on neutral issues.

James 3 continues:

 ³ When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. ⁴Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. ⁵ Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

This particularly talks about how what we say can set a whole things in motion.  What we say can affect our thoughts, attitudes, and emotions.  They can keep us walking out of love.  So we must bridle or pierce the tongue as not to start a whole forest fire of problems, which no one can control, and it just takes God’s glory out of life.

 ⁷ All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, ⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

 ⁹ With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. ¹¹ Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? ¹² My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Apparently, the Holy Spirit had given James an understanding of human nature, which is so prevalent in society today.  He says that we can be singing “Hallelujah!” at church, and then come home and say, “I don’t like the way the pastor is preaching; I don’t like the way the worship team is singing; I don’t like the way someone does this or that.”  He new it was human nature, but it wasn’t Christ’s nature, He didn’t gossip about people.  Proverbs talks about widows that are true widows and false widows who are just busybodies, that like to go around gossipping about other people.  That kind of reminds me of the Matchmaker in Fiddler on the Roof, (I have yet to finish watching that movie), but Proverbs talked women that had no other business than to go around and talk about other people.  The Bible also tells us to “mind your business”.  It’s your own life you need to be worried about, and not theirs.  Proverbs like I mentioned before in one of my other blogs says “Foolish people vent, but a wise man keeps things to himself.”  It takes restrain on our part that helps in that area and discipline.  We can be going two or three days without talking about the person, but then can we keep it up?  Can we keep it up for the rest of our lives?  Can we say to ourselves that I am not going to let anyone’s actions defile my mouth?  Because it may be too late in some cases and it can even tear you away from the Word of God because you won’t be able to concentrate and have the proper focus and rightly divide the Word of God because you have set your rudder off course by not controlling your tongue.

Some Christians even though they think they are well intentioned say, “Please pray about this person. This person has this ‘sinful issue’ or ‘unsatisfactory walk with God'”  But they are defaming that person’s reputation.  No one wants to defame the person’s reputation, but it gets defamed.  I think we’re all guilty of that as Christians at some point.  Remember what you do in secret, God rewards you openly.  The same can be applied to what we say about others in secret.  Everything is going to be revealed.  Nothing is hidden from God’s sight. God is going to look at you the same as he looks at the next person.  We shouldn’t judge others because by the same measure we will be judged.  You can start off your gossip by saying, “I don’t want to judge, but…”  Well if you don’t want to judge then don’t.  If you don’t want to criticize then don’t.  Jesus said, “Treat others the way you want to be treated.”  If you wanted someone talking about you everytime you walked out of the room then would you like that?

If you’ve ever been around a Schizophrenic person who has paranoia and thinks everyone is talking about them, then that is a devestating thing to watch especially when it’s you who is going through it.  If you wouldn’t want everyone watching you and talking you and mocking you and gossipping about you then don’t do that to other people.  Stay away from people that like to gossip and learn to be happy in silence.  If your still suffering in your heart then talk to God about it.  I am sure He understands.  He will bring peace to the situation.  Pour out your heart to God.  After a while of gossipping so much about a person you start to distrust them, and when you distrust them, then that shows that you have built distrust into into your character.  Or that you have a critical nature that has to be put on the altar.

Remember in Exodus the Israelites were complaining about Moses and Aaron, and how they didn’t like the way the two of them were leading the flock of the Israelites?  Moses and Aaron said, “who are we that you are complaining against us?”.  Sometimes we hold people in leadership up on a platform that we judge them by higher standards, but essentially we are to not judge them as much as we judge ourselves.  Jesus said, “We see the speck in our brother’s eye, but we don’t see the plank [or log]in our own eye.”  Sometimes when we hear a sermon we think, oh, so and so can use that sermon, but we fail to look at our own heart and say that this really applies to me and how can I change?  If it doesn’t affect you then, it will affect you later.

I think Joyce Meyer put it best, “Sometimes you have a nose brushed right up against an armpit”.  It may be uncomfortable for a while, but if you can endure to the point that you do not sin then that is victory for you and every little victory builds up in this tower of faith that’s being built for the kingdom of God.

I was going to talk about this message before, and I don’t know if I have a post with the same exact topic, but this needed to be said.  Especially now.  Especially now that the Church or Body of Christ and Pastors are being attacked like never before.

Heavenly Father,

I pray that You unite the Body of Christ each according to it’s function and restore peace among it’s members.  Unite us with You being the Head of the faith, and let people founded on the rock of Your salvation enter into your rest.  Help the Body of Christ in it’s weak areas and help build us to be divine carriers of the Christ kind of love to the nations.  As it declared in Heaven so shall it be on Earth.

In Jesus Mighty Name I pray,

Amen

When rejection and strife has taken root

There are times in our lives when people whether intentionally or unintentionally have done something to offend or abuse us and we don’t know how to get rid of that pain.  Many times that pain manifests into physical sicknesses, and leads to things like heart problems, and just makes the condition of our bodies even worse.  One of the most profound Scriptures in the Word of God, is when Peter asks Jesus, “How many times should we forgive someone? Seven times?” Jesus says that we are supposed to forgive someone “seventy times seven” or 490 times.  That doesn’t mean that if they have done something to us 490 times, that we just stop forgiving them.

Sometimes it takes getting out of our own soul and flesh to kind of get a different angle of looking at something.  We must examine the facts and determine is this really what the other person did to me, or did I just perceive it that way.  The problem is instead of Christ being the center of our own lives, we have become the center of our own lives so when someone hurts we don’t see what we have contributed to that situation either in our own thought life, attitudes of our heart, or even how our own mind perceived a painful situation.

Granted that no one has the right to abuse you over and over again, but sometimes like Jesus said we have to, “Forgive them, they know not what they do.”  Many offenses happen between believers and these are the most dangerous kinds because we are in essence one body and when we hurt one another it’s like hitting ourselves over the head with a heavy book trying to give ourselves a concussion.

I used to when I was younger and hurt and when I felt unloved at one time, hit myself on the head with a book that was about a thousand pages hard cover because I just didn’t like myself and I didn’t think that anyone could sympathize.  God doesn’t want us hurting ourselves.  When you get a cut, you put ointment on it and a bandaid and let it heal, but many people sit there and let the wound get infected by not getting it treat properly.

Some of these wounds are bigger than a bandaid to heal, some of these wounds are so big, that it takes the mighty awesome power of the Holy Spirit to come it and clean it out.  One thing that we have to realize is that no one is perfect – NOBODY except for Jesus and God doesn’t expect us to be perfect.  One of the problems is when we do something to grieve the Holy Spirit, then we feel it deep with in our soul and then it gets manifested to our bodies.  Once it’s in our bodies it’s hard to get out.  You may have that sour feeling in your stomach and if it festers it can lead to an ulcer and if you don’t learn to let things go and forgive and lay aside the burden and the pain, but not in your own power, but in the power that the Lord has in his ever so abundant grace and make peace with Holy Spirit.

The greater you hurt, they greater your destiny.  The greater you suffer, the greater your destiny.  The problem is that that satan is scared of what you could possibly do so he wants to make you fear and doubt and worry and panic, be bitter, resentful, depression, discouraged, in rejection and in strife.

Some people don’t talk about their problems to the person that hurt them continually.  Some people just let it fester silently while they are sweet to them, trying to earn brownie points with them and God, but on the inside they are saying, “You really hurt me.”  “Why did God allow this to happen to me?”  They seethe on the inside and never confront the situation and are tormented on the inside and they are around people which the confide in who just make matters worse.  They gossip about these people because they are hurt and insecure on the inside and sometimes after someone has hurt them so many times, and the other person may not even be aware of what or how they did it, something inside them breaks, and they put up a wall of self-protection saying, “I will never let anyone hurt me anymore.  I will never let anyone get close to me anymore.”  They hold on to the hurt and they let it fester.  Nothing is more unpleasant than a festering wound.

When I was in the hospital I got a bed sore.  It didn’t hurt at first.  It kind of itched, but then it became a wound.  The doctors had to go and clean out the wound and the pus in the wound and it took months for it to heal.  It took daily treatment to heal and it had a scar.  It is similar to when Jacob wrestled with God, and God bruised his hip, and made him limp as a reminder of the experience.  We have to let the Holy Spirit apply treatment to the wound, and allow Him to help.  He wants to help us, but sometimes the wound has become so deep that it has actually become a tree of rejection.

Dr.  Caroline Leaf says in her book, “Who switched off my brain?”, that when people have negative thoughts and experiences it leads to toxic emotions and they have to replace that tree in the brain with another tree of life, which starts with forgiveness.  When we have this toxic emotions they make us sick and we cannot hold on to them.  We have to learn to let them go or they are forever seared into our subconscious, and they take root in our hearts and bodies.  Sometimes when we have these roots we feel sick to our stomach, or feel dread, and it is just like poison eating us up inside.

I can’t say that I have gotten to that point yet in my life where there aren’t any roots of rejection and strife in my life, but one thing I am learning is that you have to not judge others unless you be judged.  Sometimes we are so afraid of eternal judgment because we are judgmental ourselves.  If we have grace in our hearts, the grace of Christ, then we have nothing to fear in the day of judgment, because the Word says, “perfect love casts out fear”  so that we may have boldness in the day of judgement.  The main issue is love.  Love is what repentance is what love is all about.  When we love people and have high expectations of people and they hurt us, then that puts a sear in our hearts and we are afraid to love again.  We are afraid to be wounded again.  We don’t want to venture out and show unconditional love to someone just to have our hearts trampled on over again.  We want to be unbreakable and strong, but God doesn’t use the strong vessels, He uses the weak and foolish things of this world to confound the strong and the wise.  He uses the rejected people and the outcasts and He takes them under His wings and He covers them with His loving arm because He is El Shaddai, ever nurturing One.  Sometimes it takes coming to that place and saying, “I don’t understand what’s going on, and why I am in this mess, but I trust You God.”  Sometimes it may be that God is testing us just like He tested Job saying to satan, “There is no one like my servant Job, who is faithful.”  Sometimes we listen to people around us and they get us all messed up just like it did for Job and instead of going to God and just really being who we are when we are with Him, and stop trying to pretend to be holy and righteous and just saying, “I am a sinner and I know I might be wrong in what I am thinking, please help and change me.”

There are times when nothing works to change your circumstances, and you have been praising God all day and nothing seems to “work” that’s when you have come to know that God says, “Not right now,”  and you just have to wait on his timing.  One of the best things we can do in life is forgive others and receive forgiveness.  That it is the true spirit of Christmas because forgive means – for give.