Kingdom Invasion (Luke Chapter 11:14-25)

By: Michelle C Tull

We've heard it preached that the Kingdom of God has two signs. The first sign is "casting out demons" and the second is "healing the sick". Casting out demons demonstrated how Jesus will finally stop satan from having Christians as his lawful captives, and, the healing of the sick represented how Jesus will heal us of spiritual and physical infirmities for all eternity.

In the book of Luke chapter 11 and verse 14, Jesus was driving out a mute demon from a certain man, and when the demon left, the man that had been mute spoke. The scripture continued that the crowd was amazed, but, something was not totally right... some of the people said that Jesus was able to do this only by way of His association with beelzebub, the prince of demons. Others tested Jesus asking for a sign from Heaven. (The beelzebub thing and the request for the sign are two thoughts that are connected.) Jesus had just given them a sign, a sign from Heaven, but evidently, it was not good enough for them! Nobody could discredit Jesus based on the miracles He did, so the people tried to discredit Jesus by saying that He was from hell.(They were saying that beelzebub was empowering Him!)

Jesus reading their thoughts and concluding that they were not really that dumb, spoke to them concerning the Kingdom, and a house being divided (Luke 11, verse 17). The people had determined that Jesus was the right hand man of satan and that He was out there driving out demons; that would have showed however that satan was coming against himself. Jesus spoke about their stupidity and the fact that they were listening to things that were not true and this prevented those same persons from entering into the Kingdom.

Jesus did not have to practice exorcism to drive out demons, He simply pointed the finger of God at them and the demons were expelled without all the "aesthetics". The "finger of God" was a term used to represent God's Holy Spirit and His rule. It was something that the pagans, magicians, wizards and astrologers understood, even though they did not obey God.

In Exodus chapter 8, verses 17 through 19, when the third plague with the lice came upon the Egyptian men and the animals, the magicians said to Pharaoh, "this is the finger of God." Those people knew exactly what Jesus was referencing; they could see it! They simply refused to acknowledge it - just like the Pharaoh. (The reason for their refusal was that their hearts were hardened.)

Luke 11, verse 20 reads, "But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the Kingdom of God has come to you." This is Kingdom invasion! When Jesus does battle with satan by the Spirit of God, and begins to plunder the strong man's house, He frees the people from the bondage of the enemy. Right there in this text we identify that the powers of the Kingdom were at work and the Kingdom of God was already present.

Some people get confused over the fact that the Kingdom has come and is still coming. This might be attributed to the fact that the Old Testament does not separate the two comings of Jesus Christ. The "Great Day of the Lord" is always recorded as one event making it unclear that Jesus came to earth already to atone for sin, and that He is coming again for the final consummation with great power and glory.

Take this encouragement today: the Kingdom of God has arrived and its power is gathering many. God has equipped us to share our faith, enjoy His peace and joy and to experience victory over the evil one by His Word. Let us continue in the body of Christ to seek the lost and bring glory to the King of all Kings.


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Give Thanksgiving Unto God

By: Francis D Edwards

Hebrews 13:8:

"Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Jesus has always been at work and He is still at work today."

Luke 17:11-19:

"And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:

And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.

And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan.

And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine?

There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.

And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole."

Outcasts

In Bible times you were an outcast if you had a skin disease. When Jesus went through Samaria He went by ten lepers who stood afar off. They were obedient to the law and kept their distance from other people.

They knew Jesus could heal them and they cried out for mercy. Jesus told them to show themselves to the priest so he could declare them clean and they were healed as they went. Obedience always brings blessing.

Give thanksgiving to God

All ten were healed but only one returned with thanksgiving to Jesus. This Samaritan knew he had been in the presence of God. He knew Jesus had the authority and power to give new life. He wasn't focused on the old, but the new.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:

"Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

Thanksgiving

The others were thankful, but they didn't give thanksgiving to God. We need to rejoice and give thanksgiving to God when He blesses us. Prayer is not complaining and we should never be complaining to God or others.

Thankfulness is an attitude. We should give thanks in all things not necessarily for all things. All things are not from God. If something steals, kills, or destroys it is from Satan, not God. Jesus came that we might have life and life more abundant. God is a giver not a taker.

In closing

Don't give Satan the glory by continually counting and speaking your problems. God is always faithful. The battle is the Lord's so turn it over to Him. Then give Him all the glory and thanksgiving for your victory.

Prayer

Dear Father, I know that being thankful is not enough. I want to always give thanksgiving for all good things to You because You are my source. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.

Confession

I am like that one leper and I always give thanksgiving to You Father. Thank You Father for all You have done and all You will do for me. I confess this in the name of Jesus.

Question

Do you give thanksgiving to God or are you merely thankful?

I am the Sound Engineer/Webmaster/Internet Marketer and Head of the CD Ministry at Believer's Worship Center in Benton, Louisiana.

Visit our website to learn how to use your faith and the Word to get God's help in your daily living at: http://www.believersworshipcentersermons.net.

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The Five Levels of Faith

By: Francis D Edwards

What is Biblical faith?

Biblical faith does not believe whatever comes to mind. Biblical faith believes what God has said in His Word and then acts on it. God says things in His word that are contrary to what we see in the world. This requires us to walk by faith not by sight. If someone says they believe something and never act on it do they truly believe it? The God kind of faith requires action.

Biblical faith begins with the Word. It cannot exist apart from the Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Rom 10:17). The Word is seed and the soil is our heart. When we study and meditate the Word we are sowing seed and it will produce faith in our spirit. Take time to sow the Word daily. I will explain this process in a future blog. It is also essential to be in a Bible believing church and sit under sound preaching based on the Word. It all works together for good (Rom 8:28).

When we are born again God gives each of us the same measure of faith (Rom 12:3). It is up to us to grow our faith. No one can do it for us. He is patiently waiting to help. He will show you scriptures to grow your faith if you look in the Word. He expects us to study the Bible.

Why do we need to grow our faith? God is not moved by need. He is not moved by anything except Biblical faith. Faith is the coin of the realm in God's kingdom. Faith is required to accomplish anything spiritual.

Levels of faith

1) The measure of faith (Rom 12:3). This is saving faith. The measure of faith is where we all begin.

2) Weak faith (Rom 4:19, & Rom 14:1) Weak faith is where a believer has begun to sow the word into their heart. They are starting to learn what God has said in the Bible. They believe a few scriptures. However, they are still ignorant of the word and have many doubts.In Rom 14:1 we are told to accept those who are weak in faith and not look down on them. We should never say or do anything to cause them to stumble.

3) Little faith (Matt 6:30, Matt 8:26, Matt 14:31, Matt 16:8, & Luke 12:28). In Matt 8:26 Jesus and the disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee. Jesus was asleep in the boat. A storm arose and the disciples were terrified they were about to die. They awoke Jesus. He spoke to the storm, and a great calm came. He told them they had little faith.They were all active in ministry and doing a work for God. Yet Jesus told them they had little faith. He wanted to help them grow their faith. Their faith would later soar on the day of Pentecost after his resurrection.

4) Strong faith (Acts 3:16, Rom 4:20, & 1Cor 16:13). In these 3 verses God talks about strong faith. Strong faith drives out unbelief (Rom 4:20) and gives us perfect soundness (Acts 3:16). Strong faith should be every believer's desire and goal. God would not call us to have strong faith if it were not attainable.

5) Great faith (Matt 8:10, Matt 15:28, & Luke 7:9). In Matt 8:10 a centurion came to Jesus to receive healing for his servant. Jesus said he would go with him. The centurion said he was unworthy for Jesus to come to his home. He told Jesus he was a man under authority and he tells the men under him what to do and they do it. He told Jesus to just speak the word and his servant would be healed. Jesus marveled and said he had never seen such great faith in all of Israel. He then spoke and the man was healed. This centurion had the faith of Mark 11:23 that could move mountains. He had great faith.

6) Shipwreck faith (1 Tim 1:19). This is not a level of faith. This is a total loss of faith. This is the kind of faith to be avoided at all costs. The only fight God calls us to fight is the good fight of faith. There are many twists and turns in our faith walk. Setbacks will come. However we are overcomers (Rev 3:20). We overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. (I will cover this in a future blog.) We're never finished when we're defeated. We're only finished when we quit. During WWII Winston Churchill gave a speech where he said he would never, never, never give up. We need to have that kind of bulldog tenacity in our fight of faith. When a setback comes don't give up. Get back on your feet, dust yourself off, and press on toward the mark for the prize of the high calling we have in Christ Jesus (Phil 3:14).

In closing

Every believer begins with the measure of faith. To grow your faith sow the word as seed. Sow it in the soil of your heart by studying and meditating the word. Then expose yourself to sound preaching centered on the word. Let the seed take root and grow into strong faith. Don't ever let the devil shipwreck your faith. Get up and keep pressing in. We are saved by faith alone. However growing one's faith takes effort and work. It's not automatic. It's well worth the effort. You'll never regret doing it. When you get strong faith don't stop there. Don't be satisfied with weak, little, or even strong faith. Press in for great faith like Paul had. God is not a respecter of persons. He wants every believer to have great faith. What he did for Paul he can do for you. If you're willing to work you can have great faith too.

Prayer

Dear Father, please give me the discipline and strength to do everything I need to do to achieve great faith. I ask this In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Confession

I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me (Phil 4:13). By the grace of God I will do everything I need to do to have great faith. I make this confession in the name of Jesus.

Question

Is your faith everything it can be?

I am Francis Edwards the sound engineer and head of the CD Ministry at Believer's Worship Center in Benton, LA.. If you enjoyed my article I want to invite you to learn more about God at http://www.believersworshipcentersermons.net. God bless you!


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It Is Finished -Well Now What?

By: Larry Beam

Jesus hung on the cross and then He said, "it is finished." Well, now what? When Jesus said it was finished, He simply meant His earthly ministry was finished. He walked the earth and fulfilled the moral aspect of the Law of Moses (which we know as the Ten Commandments). Jesus kept every single one of the commandments; He never violated any of them. But He still had some work to be done that you don't see with the natural eyes. There was a spiritual side to it and it is known as the 'Ceremonial Law' and the Ceremonial Law had not yet been brought to completion.

Acts 2:29-31 says, "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne he foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption." We know that His flesh did not see corruption; therefore, it was raised from the dead. However, there is another part to that verse, though His body was left in the grave for three days and nights, His soul was not left in Hell. The word of God says, God did not leave His soul in Hell. So for that verse to even to be in the scriptures it automatically implies His soul was in Hell.

But why did Jesus' soul go into Hell? It's because Jesus became a substitute for us. He didn't just forgive our sin; the word of God says that He was made to be sin. When He hung on the cross, God made Him to be sin in our place. He became what we were, and He had to pay the penalty for what we were. He was made sin and Father God departed from Him and satanic spirits began to take over. Then there came a point in time when the penalty was paid and the Supreme Judge of the universe said, "it is done," and He conquered every demon of Hell, arose with all authority, with the keys of darkness! That's what happened and it was all for me and for you!

He died as a substitutionary lamb, but He arose from the dead as a High Priest. Under the Old Testament they had the Priesthood and Aaron was the High Priest. The Priesthood went throughout entire generations, one after the other. One would die and then another son would take that office. When Jesus hung on that cross, died, and was made sin, God Almighty reached down out of heaven and the curtain that separated mankind from the presence of God into the Holy of Holies, where only the High Priest could go, was torn and ripped from the top to the bottom. There was no Priesthood now; anybody could go in and see in there. But there was a void because there was no Priesthood at all, but when Jesus rose from the dead it says that He entered not into the sanctuary on earth, but the one that's in heaven. Now we have a new High Priest and He enters into the Holy Place in heaven and He brings His own blood and He sprinkled it upon the mercy seat of heaven and obtained an eternal redemption.

Now, He is the High Priest of our confession and over in Philemon 6 it tells us that our faith becomes effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing that is in us in Christ Jesus. Learn to say what God says about you. Child of God, we now have the Spirit of God on the inside of us and that Spirit is in us to do the work of our Father everyday of our life, all we have to do is just believe it. Most Christians won't lay hands on the sick because they are already in unbelief by being afraid that the person won't get healed. He never told you that you were going to see people get healed. He told you to just go lay hands on them. All we need to do is just learn to stay in tune with the Spirit of God, listen, and be sensitive to what's on the inside of you.

For more information visit: http://www.jubileechristiancenter.org or http://www.larryandthelord.com


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The Heart of Psalm 119

By: Stephanie B. Blake

In every reading of Psalm 119, I am captivated by it - discovering a new theme, another revelation of God and more depth of understanding of the heart of the man who wrote it. Although the psalmist may have been David, many say the author cannot be known for certain. One thing we do know for sure. This man was led by God to write down the desire of his heart - to love God by learning, heeding and keeping His commandments.

Knowing God's way is the way of truth (Psalm 119:30), this psalmist states that God has revealed Himself through His words, statutes, commandments (law), precepts and testimonies. Determined to live according to God's plan for his life, he pays attention to what He says.

The same should be true for us today. We cannot separate the love of holy God and His commandments. As sinful men, we come short of completely obeying God's law. Jesus Christ, The Way, the Truth and the Life, fulfilled God's law for us, paid the price for our sin on His cross, and offered us eternal life as His love gift. What He asks from us is our heart.

Verse 2: The psalmist begins his prayer with "You have commanded us to keep Your precepts diligently." From then on until the end of the psalm, his prayer is very personal using pronouns "I", "You", and "my", pledging to God the commitment of his heart, reflected in the following verses.

7: Holy God desires our praise - for His love, for His grace expressed through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ and for His righteousness.

10: Even with a commitment to seek and to serve God, the psalmist knows there will always be a temptation to focus on something other than God and His will.

11: Perhaps the most well known verse in this psalm, the secret to staying in God's will is to stay close to Him (or as Jesus put it "abide in Him"), to listen to Him, to know His word intimately.

32: The longer a believer serves and obeys God, the larger the capacity for loving Him becomes.

34: This is not a plea for understanding as the world defines it, but as God does. As Solomon put it in Proverbs 9:10: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

36: Sinful human nature can lead one to covet the things of the world. The psalmist wants to love what is lasting - the things of God.

58: We do not deserve God's favor, but He promises it to those who truly love Him.

69: C. H. Spurgeon said: "We cannot keep in the heart that which we have not heartily embraced by the affections." When our affections are set on God, the darts of the wicked fall short of their goal.

80: Sin originates in the heart. The psalmist did not want to look back on his life and regret falling short of God's best for Him. Each of us should have the same goal.

111: God's involvement in our lives is cause for rejoicing. In his song The Longer I Serve Him, Bill Gaither puts it this way, "The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows."

112: In verse 64, the author says, Lord, the earth is filled with your faithful love; teach me Your statutes (HCSB). God has no obligation to anyone except Himself, but even so, He shows His love to us by His faithfulness to His promises. We owe God everything and are obligated to show Him our love by trusting and obeying Him.

145: The psalmist's decision has been made. He will remain faithful to the God who was faithful to him.

161-162: The inevitable persecution that Christians encounter cannot be compared to the awesome treasure of knowing God.

To those disciples who were true believers - saved by trusting Christ alone for their salvation, Jesus said, If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love (John 15:10).

Stephanie B. Blake is an international Bible teacher, serving the Lord through Xtend Ministries International. To download free Bible studies or devotionals for personal or group study, or to find out more about her ministry and other writing, please visit http://www.onefocusministries.com


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Driven Into the Heart of God By Our Struggles

By: Steve Wickham

"To Keep Us From Excessive Pride" - the Poem

Praise God, praise God,
Regarding a thorn in the side,
It's divinely-appointed purpose,
Is to keep us from pride.


Remember the purpose that God had for the Apostle Paul's thorn (2 Corinthians 12). Part of it was to humble him and to keep him honest, reliant on God's strength and not his own. A thorn in the side (a recurrent area of struggle) can have its purpose in keeping our pride in check.

Being as it is, an area of weakness and struggle, when it is at the forefront of our understanding - where we cannot, in all honesty, depart from it, unless to do so would be the vastest of all denials - it keeps us in God.

In such a state - in the region of spiritual presence - we can be driven into the very heart of God, for praise, instead of dwelling in our weakness; discouraged and disempowered by it.

If God has good purposes for our struggles we can know quickly what purposes Satan has for them; they are there to weaken us and to compel us to give up.

But God has given us this struggle - a dependence on something unhealthy, a physical ailment, a mental illness, a disability, etc (though God's will is to heal us) - for the demonstration of his glory; as we praise him despite the issue. Overcoming an addiction is for God's glory, because even if we're clean we are never not an addict.

When we go the way of praise in our struggle instead of the way of pride for something we do well, God tips into us various lashings of joy and peace; the abundance of his Spiritual Presence.

We are blessed, no longer seen personally as cursed.

God wants every recognition to go to us for the things we call praiseworthy and not pride-worthy. No sane sinner wants to wallow knowingly in their pride for a struggle; only the humblest servant of God will call it for what it is - the demonstration of God's power when we praise God for something we would prefer we didn't have.

God is with us in every area and facet of life; there is a theological reference point to the most inane of discouragements and disappointments. If only we would go there with our God.

***

When we go the way of praise in our struggle instead of the way of pride for something we do well, God tips into us various gifts of the fruit of the Spirit; the abundance of his Spiritual Presence. We are driven into the heart of God because of our struggles; our opportunity is to praise God for his purposes in them.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.

Steve Wickham is a Baptist Pastor who holds Degrees in Science, Divinity, and Counselling. Steve writes at: http://epitemnein-epitomic.blogspot.com.au/ and http://tribework.blogspot.com.au/



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Kingdom Of The Servant-Hearted

By: Michelle C Tull

After reading the passage of scripture recorded at St Matthew's Gospel chapter twenty (verses twenty to twenty-eight) I came to the conclusion that there are two types of people in the world, helpers and non-helpers. I understood also that God purposes that all His followers be helpers. Christ called us and commanded us to serve; and serve with a community spirit! We do not as Believers get any real fulfillment in the Christian journey until we are serving others. And, once we do serve, we obtain so many mental, physical and spiritual blessings that the half has never yet been told.

Jesus' disciples had a hard time understanding the message that "we are created to serve". If we are going to fulfill God's purpose for our lives, then we must be willing to check ourselves and our motives for serving. We must also look at the Great Teacher or in other words we must model Jesus Christ, and expect some level of emotional discomfort in doing so.

The disciples left everything to follow Jesus. They were called to be leaders in the future church, and so Jesus taught them to preach and care for people. But somehow, the motive with which they began became a bit distorted. We see the mother of James and John coming to Jesus with a request for honour and power on behalf of her sons. But the lesson Jesus gave showed that the motive of serving people naturally comes from loving God. It's all about doing the kinds of things that He (Jesus) would do and not about seeking benefits for ourselves.

Another principle to improving our service to God is to model our behavior after Jesus Christ. This world's system is one of authority, power, glory and honor. In every day life, it is expected that we spend as much energy as we possibly can to get to the top whether academically, socially, professionally or otherwise. In the Kingdom of God however, a different value system is at work; we are called to be people who serve. Verse 26 of Matthew twenty states:"Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must become your slave." (This text has been paraphrased for emphasis.)

When the mother of James and John expressed her desire to Jesus, He said, "You don't know what you are asking... Can you drink of the cup that I am going to drink?" The cup that Jesus was going to drink was His death on the cross. Thus, what Jesus was saying was that the attitude and action of serving will not always be easy. Neither will It always be the cause of joy in our lives. It costs something great to become obedient even until death. We will serve someone, and they won't appreciate it. Instead, they will push us away and try to take advantage of us. But we must remember that someone else's gratitude or growth cannot be our motivation for doing good. If that is the case, there will be many times of rather severe disappointment and rejection in our servant-hood, but, we MUST serve anyway; because who knows, we might just be serving angels at unawares.

Here is a closing thought now... We are a people blessed by God; a people blessed enough that God will give us opportunities to serve and bless others. Let us consider as we go, what benefit would there be to serving only those we love? At the end of the day, our service to others will be based on living out God's will for our lives and being good stewards!


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How Someone Experiences A Living Hell

By: Steve Wickham

"What is hell? I maintain that it is the suffering of being unable to love."
~Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881)

THIS IS NO eschatological (end times) article. No, what we are dealing with is the sense of everyday heaven and everyday hell - the sense of experiential heaven and experiential hell. It's about the life choices we make - those for life and those for death.

If we had the inability to love - which would mean we wouldn't experience compassion and gentleness and patience toward others in any fervent amount or to any significant effect - then we would live without the pulse of God's Spirit throbbing through our veins to our hearts. That would be a travesty. We wouldn't simply miss the meaning of life, but we'd miss the treasures of heaven, altogether. That is to say, we would miss God and have no link, no experience, and no clue as to the Divine. We would our joy come from? Or, for that matter, our hope?

If we were to get angry with those who have an apparent lack in their grasp on love, we might miss our opportunity to see what they are truly lacking - a grasp on God, on life, on a real and living experience of heaven.

LOVING THOSE IN THEIR CHOSEN REALITY OF HELL

Why would we not quietly pity these instead of secretly berating them? They, though they make life a misery for their contemporaries, cannot receive what Christ came to give them. Their staunch stubbornness is a grating nemesis against their very selves. It's so silly, but we must wonder how terribly shocking it must be to live their lives. Having empathy for the dispassionate one protects our sense of compassion - that we might viably be compassionate, patient and tolerant with the very persons who seem to have none of such virtue.

Then we know the aspect of God's grace that has grown from seed to a fuller maturity in us: when we might pity the person who hurts us, yes truly pity them, and in no sense of pride, either. It is love that compels us to want more for them than they would receive for themselves.
Love pushes us to nurture compassion and warmth and space for them.
***
We should pray for those in our lives who cannot seem to love - who lack compassion, patience, kindness, tolerance, etc. Those who have not been touched by love exist in life as if it were a living hell. Our role is to keep loving; to keep nurturing hope that God would soften their hearts into heaven.

2013 S. J. Wickham.

Steve Wickham is a Baptist Pastor who holds Degrees in Science, Divinity, and Counselling. Steve writes at: http://epitemnein-epitomic.blogspot.com.au/ and http://tribework.blogspot.com.au/


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Forgiveness -An Important Key to Emotional Healing

By: Edison D Bynoe

Text: Matthew 6:12, 14-15; Matthew 18:21-35

Introduction

It goes without question that there are many hurting people in society. People are emotionally damaged and dysfunctional. At some point in life we all go through situations that we feel will overwhelm us. These situations can leave us feeling angry, discouraged, disappointed, depressed and frustrated. We may want to react by lashing out, withdrawing, giving up or ending it all. We are human beings and we hurt, at times intensely. Broken items can be repaired and God is able to heal hurting persons. One important key to being healed is forgiveness.

The Prayer and the Parable

There are several things that we can look at in the prayer that Jesus taught us and the parable He shared with the disciples on forgiveness. We are only entitled to pray for forgiveness if we have already forgiven others. To forgive is to let go, to give up a debt by not demanding it. A debt is literally that which is owed, but in this context it refers to sin. People will sin against us and the principle is simple: if we forgive them, God will forgive us. The rabbis of the day recommended forgiving no more than three times. Peter, therefore, was being Peter was being generous by mentioning seven times. Jesus' response would have been a shock to the disciples and would have gone against all that they had been taught. Forgiveness was not to be for a mere seven times but was to be done seventy times seven, a number that refers to unlimited amount (the multiples of seven signify perfection).

To illustrate His point, Jesus tells a parable about an unmerciful servant. This servant owed his master 10, 000 talents. A talent was the highest unit of currency and was equal to 15 years of wages. Jesus made the story even more dramatic by using the number 10,000, which was the highest Greek numeral. This would mean that the servant owed 150,000 years of wages. The king threatened punishment against the man and his family: They would be sold into slavery to repay the debt. The servant begged and promised to pay back everything. This was of course impossible and may indicate the kind of dishonest character of the servant. The master was gracious and cancelled the debt.

We go from one scene to another scene. The servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who only owed him a small amount: A denarius was only worth 1 days wage, so the second servant only owed 100 days wages. The servant to whom the debt was owed grabbed the man and began to choke him and demanded that the man pay back all he owed. That man essentially used the same words that the servant had used - "be patient with me." However, the first servant refused and had the man thrown into prison.

Let's go to the final scene. Some other servants of the king reported the matter to their master who called in the previously forgiven servant. He labeled the servant wicked and turned him over to the jailers to be tortured. Torturers are persons who elicit the truth by the use of the rack. Jesus wraps up the parable with a sobering statement, "This is how my Heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart" (forgive your brother sincerely).

The Debts Owed to Us

People can do a lot to us whether deliberately or unintentionally. Persons have been the victim of various forms of abuse: physical, sexual, emotional, verbal, neglect, spiritual. Spiritual abuse is a form of emotional abuse where Christians control and manipulate other believers. Often it is identified with pastors/priests who abuse their authority. It can incorporate the other forms of abuse. This particular abuse is extremely damaging because we expect a higher standard from ministers of the gospel. We expect them to be men and women of integrity who represent the Lord Jesus Christ.

There are people who will gossip about us; sometimes the more successful and progressive you are the more people find something to say about you. There are other individuals who will blatantly lie about or to us. Some Christians have been the victims of unfaithfulness. Their spouse may have been cheating on them for years and to rub salt in the wounds, they may have been doing so indiscriminately and unapologetically. Things like that can leave a spouse devastated.

There are persons who have been the victims of assault. Some children have been or are being bullied at school. Others know what it is to be attacked, beaten and robbed. They may know what it is for someone to break into their homes. There are those who have experienced the horrors of rape, their bodies violated, in some cases, by a person that was trusted. Some have been the victims of accidents; or their loved one was injured or killed because of the recklessness of someone else. Some of us know what it is to be subject to control and manipulation: this could be by an employer, a family member, a pastor, a friend. It may have been that at the time we were naive or immature and didn't quite understand that we were being taken advantage of.

We may also experience someone hurting or killing a friend, family member, or even someone that we respect. This can result in strong feelings of rage and desire for retaliation, even though we were not the victims. We can be offended by others in a number of different ways. For example, somebody fails to speak to you, your spouse fails to compliment you, someone may accidentally step on your foot, you didn't receive what you wanted for your birthday. These things may seem slight, but we can be offended by them. All of the above are "debts" that people owe us, sins that they have perpetrated against us. There may be the feeling, therefore, that we have a right to hold on to these things.

The Damage of Unforgiveness

Unforgiveness can lead to hatred, which can start with strong feelings of dislike. Based on what the person has done to you, you determine that you don't like him or her. You reach a place where you don't want to see that person. This can degenerate into wishing that something bad would happen to the person. You may even pray imprecatory prayers over the person, for example, praying that God will kill them or cause them to get into an accident; instead of adopting a position of blessing, you adopt a position of cursing. You may also try to undermine the person through such things as gossip, slander and passive aggression.

Unforgiveness leads to anger. Persons are angry at those who have hurt them, not a passing anger (that is normal when a person has been hurt), but an abiding anger, an anger that is settled and becomes the dominant emotion. Persons who are angry ruminate on the injury that was done to them, that is, their mind recycles the hurt - they constantly rehearse what the person did to them. This intensifies the anger. Holding on to anger can also lead to displaced aggression, in which persons take out their anger on the innocent, sometimes, in addition to retaliating against the person who had hurt them. In some cases, hurt and angry persons may not have the capacity or the opportunity to take out their anger on the person responsible for their hurt, so they turn to a substitute. While anger that is externalized leads to aggression, anger that is internalized leads to depression. Persons who are unable or unwilling to act on their anger become depressed.

Unforgiveness also leads to bitterness. It is hard to define bitterness. It is a combination of intense anger, feelings of disappointment, vindictiveness, hatred, negativity and feelings of not getting what you deserved or that you have been ill-treated. People who harbor unforgiveness internalize anger to the point that they become bitter. Bitter people are always critical, spiteful (desire to take revenge, to lash out) and have a victim mentality (they feel that life and people are against them).

The most critical effect of unforgiveness is spiritual separation. Unforgiveness and all of its negative emotions affect our relationship with God. Unforgiveness affects our ability to pray, worship, apply the Word and enjoy loving fellowship with the saints. The efficacy of our prayers is hindered, and we also don't usually feel like praying when we have unforgiveness in our hearts. The same applies to our worship and the reading and application of the Word. Unforgiveness hinders our ability to both love and be loved, leading to fractured relationships in the church. Unless unforgiveness is repented of it will destroy our relationship with God. It can also lead to spiritual deception: you're holding persons in your heart, but you believe that God is answering your prayers. You believe that God is enjoying your worship. You believe that you have an intimate relationship with God. This is serious spiritual deception; love for God must be vitally connected with love for the people around us.

Holding on to unforgiveness can cause disorientation: you don't feel like yourself. To use a cliche, you don't know if you're going or coming. You are being controlled by the person that you are holding in your heart. Sometimes, those individuals may not even be aware that they have caused offense, or they may not be thinking of the pain and the hurt they caused. You are also being influenced by the devil. Unforgiveness can also lead to mental illness. It can result in neurosis - mental and emotional problems. You begin to live in a fantasy world, a world of lies and deception to cover up the pain that you are feeling. Defense mechanisms kick in and you retreat into a bubble to protect yourself.

Some people who have unforgiveness in their heart experience physical sickness. While joy and peace have positive effects on the body, unforgiveness has a detrimental effect on the body. Both experience and studies indicate that negative emotions can result in various sicknesses. Unforgiveness blocks your prayers, so it becomes a barrier to healing. There are persons who wanted to be healed and nothing happened, until they forgave a person that they were angry with. Man is body, soul and spirit: whatever affects the body can affect the soul and the spirit; whatever affects the soul can affect the body and the spirit.

It is no surprise that unforgiveness leads to broken relationships. It has destroyed numerous marriages. Husbands or wives could not let go of some issue, anger and bitterness resulted leading to separation and eventually divorce. Forgiveness potentially leads to reconciliation. If couples practice forgiveness, then they will be able to maintain a good marriage; conflicts that could have destroyed the marriage are dealt with. Broken relationships are not limited to the home. Friendships and work relationships can be destroyed. Relationships in the church can also be destroyed: pastors and congregants can be alienated; members can be hostile to each other and unfortunately pastors could be unforgiving to other pastors.

Earlier, I mentioned not feeling like yourself because of the influence of the devil. Unforgiveness can eventually lead to demonic oppression and in extreme cases to possession. Unforgiveness displaces God and opens you to the influence of demonic spirits. It allows demonic strongholds to develop in your life. Unforgiveness can also affect work performance. You can become so angry and bitter that you do not properly focus on your work, work quality diminishes and relationships are negatively affected. Unforgiveness leads to self-defeating and destructive behavior. It causes you to do foolish things: react with bad attitudes, do things to get back at people; it prevents you from getting ahead, being focused and taking good care of yourself (physically, spiritually, emotionally).

Learning to Let Go

Life can be antagonistic and we will get hurt to lesser or greater degrees. It is important to process your hurt. This involves admitting it and thinking it through. You're not obsessively dwelling on the hurt, but you are processing what happened and how you feel about it. Are you disappointed, angry or hurt? Did you do anything wrong that justified the person's action or reaction? Is there a reason why a person may have done a particular thing? Processing the hurt means that you don't deny what has happened. Some people brush off incidents; they refuse to deal with any difficult situations in their lives. However, such denial leads to suppression, which leads to spiritual, emotional and physical problems.

While we need to forgive others, we also need to ask for forgiveness from God and from others. We need forgiveness for harboring negative emotions, for reacting wrongly to hurt, for holding on to the hurt. We need to recognize that God has forgiven us (when we accepted Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior), He forgives us now (when we confess and repent of our sins), and He will continue to forgive us (because of His grace and faithfulness). The debt we owed Him was greater than anything anyone owes us. Remember the example of Jesus: He was mocked, His beard was pulled out, He was beaten, stripped naked and crucified on a cross; yet He forgave.

Ask God to fill you with His love and the other fruit of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:22, 23 list the fruit of the Spirit as "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." The most important of these qualities is love. Love is deep, unconditional, positive regard for others. It is not based on what people do, but on what God has done in us. We are to love all people even those who have hurt us. To love others in this way can only be done through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. In other words, love is a supernatural trait that comes from God. God demonstrated this kind of love when He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die for the penalty of man's sin.

An important part of forgiveness is learning to forgive yourself. Sometimes we have a hard time forgiving ourselves and therefore, we find it hard to forgive others. We may tend to condemn ourselves, which leads to feelings of guilt, anxiety, frustration, discouragement and depression. The Bible makes it clear that there is no condemnation for the person who is in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). If we have confessed our sins, then God applies His grace, love, blood and forgiveness. Therefore, we have no right to continue to condemn ourselves. The devil is the one who accuses us, and we are not to partner with him and take ownership of his accusations. Tell yourself, "I am forgiven and I forgive myself."

In order to forgive, especially when we have been extensively hurt by others, we need to make the effort to understand people. We need to learn as much as we can about human nature, the differences between others and us, the things that "make us tick," background (experiences that have shaped people). This will help us to have realistic expectations of people and to understand why people may react the way that they do. This in no way excuses what people do, but it does allow us to empathize, to find it in our heart to forgive and to even reach out to help the person who has hurt us.

We must learn to talk to others. There is a misconception that we must be able to handle all issues on our own. In Galatians 6, two burdens are mentioned. One is the burden that each individual must carry - this is his/her share of the load. There is another burden that must be shared - this burden is too heavy for one person to carry. God has put us in a body of believers for a reason. The church has its flaws, but there are loving persons that we can talk to that can help us through difficult situations. Learn to talk to a trusted friend or a minister of the gospel. They can pray with and for you, listen empathetically and provide guidance that can help you to release those hurts that persons have caused you.

Conclusion

God's grace is greater than any hurt. Regardless of what persons have done to you, God can give you the ability and the capacity to overcome. He has called you to live a life of victory. When you learn to forgive, when you let go, it will bring freedom, deliverance and blessings.


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Edison_D_Bynoe

Grace And Gratitude -Part II

By: Robert D Rogers

Many of us have learned to give thanks when the Lord brings great blessings into our lives, and some have learned to be grateful even for the smallest crust of bread. Even so, there is yet another degree of gratefulness that causes the grace of God to flow in our life with unceasing power. That is when we have learned to boast in our difficulties, insults, sufferings, and persecutions. Did you know the word "gratitude" has at its root in the word "grace." Grace and gratitude are twin sisters that adorn the true Christian with the glory of God. Nothing will release the fullness of God's provision in our life like true gratefulness. To be genuinely grateful in every situation requires a degree of humility that few have attained.

James 4:6

6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

"God resists the proud,

But gives grace to the humble."

NKJV

Mankind is notorious for taking that which was meant for good and using it for wicked and evil purposes. Let us take for instance the vast array of media available to all of us. This media can be used to quickly and efficiently supply communications across the globe to waiting family members. Indeed multitudes of military families have been comforted by seeing their loved ones, who are serving in harm's way, appear on their laptop. Yet the same media has created a market for sex slavery and pornography of incomprehensible proportions. Drugs that are used to make operations painless and relieve suffering are often used in such a way as to bring countless men, women, boys, and girls into mindless addictions.

Indeed we can state the same thing for just about anything we can imagine. Guns can be used to protect us from thugs and terrorists and at the same time can spread the worst kind of fear and death imaginable. Yes mankind can and does take that which is meant for good and uses it for evil purposes. Yet one of my favorite prayers is, "Lord please take that which Satan means for evil and turn it for good! Let him be caught in his own snares and traps." This prayer has often transformed a time of suffering into great victories when prayed consistently and fervently.

Even so some take the message of God's great and abiding grace and use it for an occasion to live an undisciplined and Christ dishonoring life. This is a great and wicked mishandling of the truth that sets men free. Yet we do not throw medicine away because some horribly misuse it, and we do not discard our technology because multitudes use it to spread pornography. Neither do we stop preaching the marvelous "Grace of God" because others abuse it. The correct use of medicine provides care and comfort to billions of suffering humanity. How much more does the message of God's grace bring hope and deliverance to mankind that has been sold into sin and has no way of escape?

No! Let us that have experienced the grace of God be the greatest preachers and teachers of its fathomless truth. The more I dwell on grace and bathe in its fullness the more the agape love of God consumes my heart. True grace destroys ungratefulness and leads us to such brokenness that our hearts cry out for mercy even for our enemies. Like Jesus our prayer for those who despitefully use us is, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." True grace convicts and convinces us of our own corruption to such a degree we have no heart to condemn and judge others. Yet at same time the true message of Grace is not a weak soft or undisciplined doctrine. For we know in our hearts that if our great and loving God failed to discipline and correct us, we would blindly and arrogantly run down the path of destruction. No, true grace embraces those seasons of trial and suffering that our beloved Father permits. Even as the apostle stated after crying out to God to deliver him from his "thorn in the flesh."

2 Cor 12:7-10

7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.

9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

How can this apostle state that not only can he boast about his suffering but he also delights in sufferings, insults, persecutions, and difficulties? For those who do not understand that the path of grace leads to ever increasing brokenness and humility, it is impossible. To those who walk in this grace, and have discovered that it leads into the very presence of God, it is a truth that becomes as sweet as honey.

Ps 16:11

11 You will show me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

NKJV

Dear one, have you come to the place that you hunger for the discipline that drives ungratefulness from your heart? Have you learned that your pride is keeping you from enjoying the sweet abiding presence of the Lord? Do you fret when the Lord finds it necessary to humble you? Has your heart become so soft that like the apostle Paul you can not only delight, but also boast that your heavenly Father has chosen this path to pour His grace into your life? As much as I love my spiritual sons and daughters I cannot ask the Lord to lift His beloved hand of discipline from them until the sweetness of grace is pouring forth in their lives.

How will I know I have yielded to this grace, and the Lord can lift the discipline and usher me into a time of sweet and abiding blessings? It will take place when we can truly say with the apostle -

Phil 4:11-12

11 ... for I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little.

12 I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of contentment in every situation, whether it be a full stomach or hunger, plenty or want;

13 for I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power.

TLB

Further we will know because we have no heart to condemn or judge others. For we know our own hearts are "desperately wicked," and without grace there would be no hope for us. We will know when we are able to intercede with deep love and passion for those who have hurt us the most. Knowing that somehow in our intercession for others, our own hearts are being delivered from pride and ingratitude.

Imagine...

a body of Christian believers all speaking, declaring, and proclaiming God's strategic word for this moment in history. Will you join us in this strategic moment of history so that the Church may fulfill its end-time destiny?



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_D_Rogers

Grace And Gratitude - Part I

By: Robert D Rogers

Many people think if we preach or teach a strong message on the grace of God, people will begin to live a very loose life and dishonor the Christian standard. My experience, however, is just the opposite. If the message of grace is ministered and received in its truest form, the result will be a deep abiding and humbling gratitude that flows from a life of humility.

Grace by its very nature is a gift of such magnitude we should be humbled by its riches. It is said that the Apostle Paul began to teach and preach that he was the least of the apostles, and that as the message of grace grew in his life, he taught he was the least of the saints, and ultimately when grace had done its greatest work, he taught, "I am the chief of sinners!"

1 Cor 15:9

9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

Eph 3:8

8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

1 Tim 1:15

15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

Is it not true that most of us come to the place where we believe we "deserve better"? In truth the very thought "I deserve" is a path of deception of the greatest magnitude that will lead us to a miserable and easily deceived life. How much richer our life would be if we were grateful for even the smallest of blessings. I would like to use the phrase the Apostle Peter did when he was reminding his hearers of a great truth.

2 Peter 1:12

12 Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.

The great truth I would like to remind us of is the word the Lord once spoke to my heart saying, "Son, tell my people that they can be as rich as they want to be. For wealth is not determined by what you have but rather by your ability to be thankful and grateful for what you have."

The Lord then gave me the following vision: I was in a very nice restaurant and a waitress had just brought me my food. Before she left I said, "Thank you so much." She stopped and said, "Oh, are you thankful for this?" I responded by saying, "Why, yes I am." She scooped up the food and she and another waitress brought me twice as much as I had before! Once again I responded by saying, "Thank you so much." They stopped and looked at me with astonishment and said, "We have the greatest chef in the world back in the kitchen, and he wants to prepare a meal for you that is beyond anything you can imagine." They rushed off and soon a veritable army of waiters and waitresses appeared with an endless array of the most exquisite food I have ever tasted. There too, was the chef smiling and so delighted that a grateful heart had opened the door for his limitless skills to be released.

Dear one, the Lord is waiting to find hearts that are truly grateful and full of humility, so that He can pour out His limitless supply of grace and sufficiency. However, ungratefulness is an ugly and selfish spirit. If the Lord would allow us to continue in this way, our life would grow into a black hole that sucked everything around it into its sprit of un-thankfulness. So great is the spirit of un-thankfulness that it results in an "unqualified or reprobate mind."

Rom 1:21

21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened

Rom 1:28

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

The word reprobate means "unqualified." When we come to the place where we are dwelling on the subject "I deserve," or we fail to be thankful for the smallest of favors, our mind becomes unqualified to judge things.

This includes more than our thoughts, it encompasses our feelings as well as our will. In other words, when we are ungrateful not only are our thoughts wrong, but our emotions as well as our wills are corrupted.

At the beginning of this year when the Lord spoke to my heart and said, "This year I will teach you how to minister the "Truth about Grace," and when you do that, truth will transform my Church as nothing else has and she will become the loving and powerful force the world needs in this hour." I had no idea that it would lead to such a brokenness in my life, and start working in me a depth of humility I had not known.

How will I know I am receiving the grace of God? We will know because we will have no desire to judge or condemn others. We will cry out to God to show even our greatest enemies the mercies of His love and grace. We will experience an ever increasing degree of humility that results in the fruit of agape love. Agape love can kiss the hand that has offended it because it knows that very hand is releasing the grace of God into its life. We will know because we are now looking for opportunities to forgive rather than responding to an ever increasing wave of offenses.

We will know because humility has drawn us into the presence of God in such a way that - nothing can offend us because we already know that if we got what we deserved we would all be rejected.

Has the Lord brought offenses into our life because He loves us so much He is determined to drive ungratefulness from our inner being? Have we not desired to be wealthy? Is God then not answering our prayers with the only path to true wealth? Once again - we can all be as wealthy as we want to be, for wealth is not determined by what we have but rather by our ability to be thankful for what we have, and dear one, that includes the offenses!

1 Thess 5:18-19

18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

19 Quench not the Spirit.

Imagine... a body of Christian believers all speaking, declaring, and proclaiming God's strategic word for this moment in history. Will you join us in this strategic moment of history so that the Church may fulfill its end-time destiny?


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_D_Rogers

Grace, Glory And The Goodness Of God

By: Robert D Rogers

How can grace and glory be so intricately related and dependent on each other? The answer to that is truly a multi-faceted one, but let us take a look at one of the less thought of relationships. Do you remember when Jesus was speaking to His disciples in the 17th chapter of St. John's gospel? If you recall the theme was "unity."

Truly the failure of unity in the body of Christ is one of the most crucial truths that limit us from fulfilling the great commission. Indeed there is no greater mandate closer to the heart of God than that of reaching a lost and separated world for Him.

Luke 19:10

10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

John 3:16-17

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

KJV

Yet no truth has seemed to elude us more than that of unity. How can this be? It seems to me that every ministry, denomination, organization, and minister I know of desires the unity of the Church, and at the same time, unity seems further from reality than it has ever been before. Still, Jesus declares in the following prayer that He is giving His glory to the Church that she might become one.

John 17:21-23

21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.

22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:

23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

NKJV

Jesus Himself declares that His glory will unite the Church in such a way that the world will believe on Him. "That they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me." I am convinced that part of the answer as to why the Church has failed to walk in the unity that Jesus Christ has prayed for is that we have a truly limited grasp of the term "glory." For those of us who come from a Pentecostal background the manifestation of the glory of God is one of the sweetest and most longed for experiences we delight in. The glory of the "baptism of the Holy Spirit and the accompanying gifts and anointing cannot be minimized. For others the glory of the pre-eminence of the Word of God is the main and overshadowing focus and for others it is the winning of souls and others the function of the clergy. Each of these truths carries their own "glory," and yet it seems these very facets are the things that separate us. How then can this glory divide rather than unite? Jesus Himself said He had given us His glory in order that we might be one.

It is not that any of the emphasis is wrong, but rather that they are just too limited. When we make any portion the whole, we toss out a greater part of the whole. That is what I believe we all have done these past centuries. We have thought our concepts and theologies are the whole and have defended them with an admirable zeal, but a zeal that has turned out to be very divisive. As we have focused on our truth, we have not been open to the progressive revelation of scriptures that our great God has been unfolding throughout the centuries.

We Pentecostals relate the glory to what we see from the Greek word "dunamis." The same word we get dynamite from. Personally the infilling of the Holy Spirit has been one of the most important life changing and fulfilling blessings I have ever experienced. I would not trade or give up this aspect of glory at any price. Nevertheless, this is only part of the definition of the doctrine of the Glory of God. When Jesus uses the word glory in John 17 he uses the Greek word "doxa" which comes from the base word "glory."

I believe that the "glory" the Lord Jesus Christ was speaking of in John 17 is the same "glory" the heavenly Father agreed to reveal to Moses. Moses requested to see the glory of the Lord and God answered him in an unusual way. God agreed to show Moses His glory but look at the word He uses when He agrees to this.

Ex 33:18-19

18 And he said, "Please, show me Your glory."

19 Then He said, "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.(emphasis mine)

NKJV

Do you see it? Moses asks to see the Glory of the Lord and God agrees to show him, yet when God says He will show Moses His glory He uses a different word than glory. He uses the word "goodness." In other words God is saying, "My goodness is my glory!" The next day Moses ascends to the top of the mountain and God begins to show him His glory. The words God uses here are very revelatory.

Ex 34:5-7

5 Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord.

6 And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth,

7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,

NKJV

Do you see the connection of Grace - Glory and the Goodness of God? Does not the Father say, "My Glory is indeed My Goodness manifested through My Grace?" It is not the doctrines that each denomination proclaims that will unite us. It is not the anointing or gifts that will unite us. It is not the ministerial offices that will unite us. Nor is it a prideful position on the word of God. No - the Lord says it is my grace that will make us one. Not the weak sin encouraging grace, but grace that has so affected each of us that we have no desire to be judgmental or proud when we relate to one another. It is the knowledge of our own sinfulness and iniquity that has so grieved us and the grace shown in the midst of this uncovering that so weakens us that we become pliable in the hands of the Lord.

Grace in its fullest and most complete sense is the revelation of Jesus Christ Himself. Dear one, when we behold the glorified Christ every question, every inferiority, every jealousy disappears into nothingness.

Imagine... a body of Christian believers all speaking, declaring, and proclaiming God's strategic word for this moment in history. Will you join us in this strategic moment of history so that the Church may fulfill its end-time destiny?


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_D_Rogers

What Are You Doing Here?

By: Robert D Rogers

Have there been times in your life when you asked yourself the above question? How in the world did I get where I am? I never intended to be in this place. I never dreamed I would feel like this or find myself where I am. Yet how much more difficult it might be when the Lord Himself asks us that question! Indeed this is exactly the question a mighty man of God was confronted with by the Lord.

This beloved man of God was one of God's mighty warriors who had won great victories and seen the miraculous power of God flow in his ministry. Yet he was now in a place of fear, worry, and discouragement. How strange it is to see men and women of God who have walked with such power and authority succumb to the smallest of problems. We have watched them conquer great problems with a sure and confident faith. We have marveled at their courage and boldness. We have admired their ability to stand against the greatest of obstacles and never flinch. We were sure they would never be discouraged or disheartened.

What perhaps we did not know or recognize is that the power to overcome and win was not in the man or in the woman but lay in their abiding in the true source of strength. The Lord God Himself. Truly there are times when the greatest men and women of God forget this truth and imagine the strength is in them and their giftedness. It is when this happens that failure; defeat and discouragement are not far behind. Do you find yourself weary in the battle? Discouraged by the problems? Overwhelmed by everything? Dear one, it is because we have forgotten the source of our strength and peace. Indeed it was never you nor I that won these battles nor scaled these heights but rather the mighty hand of God that rested upon us and gave us all that we needed. And how did we gain this unlimited strength? Was it not because we knew we were no match for the task we had been given and in knowing we cried out to the Lord for His strength and power. Did we not implore Him to grant us His loving strength for we knew we would be overwhelmed, defeated, and perhaps destroyed without His divine help!

Two times the Lord asks His weary servant Elijah, "What are you doing here?" and two times Elijah gives the wrong answer:

1 Kings 19:9,13

9 And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah?

13 And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?

Perhaps after a successful Christian life you now find yourself in a cave of coldness, discouragement, and perhaps even bewilderment as Elijah did. Each time that the Lord asked Elijah why he was in this cave of coldness, Elijah answered the Lord by telling Him about all of his problems and difficulties. So entrenched was Elijah on focusing on his problems that the Lord was unable to get him to understand why He had led him to this cave. How blind we often are to the wise ways of our great King. Indeed He tells us in His word, "My ways are not your ways, for as high as the heavens are above the earth so are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts."
The Lord brought Elijah to this cave of isolation to teach him the true source of his strength. To remind him of how the Lord works through His servants and to send him back to his tasks with a renewed knowledge of the continual fountainhead of joy and power to do the work of the Lord.

Dear one, I have found that one of the greatest problems among the servants of the Lord is that we are too busy to find the time to be with the Lord in a way that we can hear His "still small voice." Do we not busy ourselves with ministry and good deeds? Do we not rush from this problem to that problem? Yet most of the problems exist because we have not spent the necessary quiet time with the Lord. He has all the answers to those things that are overwhelming us but like Elijah we cannot get quiet enough to hear His voice. Is He not now calling you to "be still and know that I am God!" Is He not calling you back to the sweet place of confident prayer and waiting upon Him?

Ps 46:10

10 Be still, and know that I am God:

KJV

The word "know" in the above verse means to literally see the Lord. In other words the only way we can truly know the Lord in His sovereignty, authority, power, wisdom, and love is to be "still." To be quiet before Him, to wait, to be at peace and rest in His loving strength. I cannot tell you of how many of the Lord's ministers that I have counseled who were at the very end of their strength, frustrated, tired, weary, and falling into discouragement. Each time I have reminded them of the Lord's call to cease their business and come away and be "still" before the Lord. Does not His word say:

Isa 40:31-41:1

31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

41:1 Keep silence before me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength:

KJV

This Hebrew word "wait" means to tarry until two cords are joined together. In other words the Lord is saying the reason I am calling you aside to me is so that I can join with you in your work and be your strength. He is further saying there is a part of me you will never see, a part of my strength and love that can only be seen in quiet, restful, peaceful waiting upon me. Are you too busy? Well then, you will never know the strength you are longing for. You have been deceived by the urgency. You have been tricked and are now on a treadmill that will only lead to burn out and weariness.

Elijah never learned the lesson he needed the first time the Lord led him to the cave of isolation. So the Lord gave him the answers he needed to go on with his ministry and solve his immediate problems. Is that not what we find ourselves doing? We perhaps are forced in some way to wait upon the Lord just long enough to find some answers and then we rush off with our new found strength only to weary once again and find ourselves in the place of discouragement and eventual defeat. How much better to learn to wait on the Lord simply because we love His presence more than we love anything else. We refuse to ruled by the urgent but have determined that we must live only by the necessary and the necessary is "to be still and know that He is God."

Does He not then promise our life will be like the Eagle who has only to spread His wings and be carried along by the jet stream of His peace and glory? The Eagle can maintain his great height above all the storms that rage below because He has found the source of his strength is to rest on the current of the wind that the Lord Himself has provided.

Go ahead and rush off to your meetings and schedules, your ideas and your plans to the urgent and the draining of your strength. But as for me, I believe I will choose the good part that Mary chose and "sit at His feet." Having waited upon Him first and foremost, I will enter my day soaring on the jet current of His divine power and at the end of the day I will have accomplished all that He required of me this day. How about you? What will you chose?

Imagine... a body of Christian believers all speaking, declaring, and proclaiming God's strategic word for this moment in history. Will you join us in this strategic moment of history so that the Church may fulfill its end-time destiny?


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_D_Rogers

What Is So Special About the Bible?

By: Marshall L Hoffman

So many have asked me as a clergyman: "Why do you believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God?" Here are some qualities that give believers and non-believers reasons to ponder.

First the Bible is not just one single book, or two; the Old and New Testaments. It is a veritable library of 66 books, which is called the canon of scriptures. These 66 books contain a variety of genres: poetry, parables, proverbs, prophesy, history, wisdom literature, letters, legal statutes and apocalyptic, just to name a few.

Second, these 66 books were written by 40 different authors. These authors came from a variety of backgrounds: kings and commeners, farmers and shepherds, fishermen and doctors, prophets and priests and others. Most of these authors never knew one another personally.

Third, these 66 books were written over a period of 1,500 years. Therefore most of these authors could never have known or collaborated with one another in writing these books.

Fourth, the 66 books of the Bible were written in 3 different languages; Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. Again, this is a reflection of the historical and cultural diversities in which each of these books were written.

Finally, these 66 books were written on 3 different continents: Africa, Asia, and Europe. One would think that there would be competing world views in the bible that would clash with each other. Surely there would be theological and philosophical views that would be irreconcilable. I challenge you to find them.

Think about the above realities: 66 books, written by 40 different authors, over 1,500 years, in 3 different languages, on 3 different continents; yet running through this amazing diversity is a common thread, the message of the creation, fall and redemption of God's people of faith. God's universal love for all of humanity is the overarching theme, which binds all scripture together into an amazing unity.

Imagine this: What if you dedicated yourself to assembling 66 books on any subject. Here's the catch. You must choose 66 books, written by 40 different authors, over 1,500 years, in 3 different languages, written on 3 different continents. However, they must share a common story-line and a common message, with no historical errors or contradictions. If you can produce such a collection of books, I will admit that the Bible is not the inspired word of God.

It truly is impossible, for any collection of human writings. However, the Bible passes this test. This leads me, and many others, to believe that the bible bears the marks of divine inspiration.

http://www.gleaningsfromscripture.com As a retired pastor I have nothing to sell. My goal is to provide inspiration and motivation, which I have gleaned over 80 years of "fighting the good fight."



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marshall_L_Hoffman

Grace - Glory And The Goodness Of God

By: Robert D Rogers

One of the greatest gifts of the grace of God is that it enables us to look at our failures, sins, and inadequacies, without fear of rejection or condemnation. The reason many cannot change is that they cannot be corrected without feeling rejected. The ministry of true grace will cause us to delight when we are corrected because of the grace released into our lives. Our heavenly Father knows that we cannot change by self determination or will power. Our hearts are just too wicked. We have too many self centered and selfish ways. We are judgmental of others, while excusing our own un- Christ like actions. Grace is not only for the lost sinner but desperately important to the child of God. Without the Grace of God operating in us, we will never have the power to be transformed into the image of Christ.

True grace has the most catalytic corrective potential of any truth, because it not only gives us the power to change but the desire also. Grace speaks to the nature of God in all of us. When man was made he was made in the image of God. Yet sin has caused that image to be buried so deep it is barely recognizable in some of us and seemingly absolutely invisible in others. True grace ministers a hope and a peace that empowers us to believe that through the love of God that is manifested through grace, we will be given all that is needed to honor and please our heavenly Father, no matter how many times we have failed.

Truly the word failure and grace do not fit into the same sentence. Grace has the power to comfort us in such a way that we understand "there will be no failure" as long as we do not resist the grace of God. Grace refuses to give up on us. Grace tells us, "Get up and try again, for I am with you." When grace is fully active, we understand the phrase "if God be for us who can be against us," and the fear of what others say or think is removed, freeing us to be all that God has called us to be.

Satan's substitutes for the peace, hope, and love that grace ministers through our Lord Jesus Christ are pride, possessions, and position. All of the latter give a man a sense of power over his destiny and situation. Yet as the Bible states, they are all "fig-leaves" that we reach for to cover our nakedness, and at the end of the day they leave us with an unquenchable thirst for just more of the same. What we all need is a revelation of just how deep pride, possessions, and position have mastered and enslaved us. I know many Christians who have almost no concept of how powerful these three lies hold them in bondage and keep them from who they truly are in Christ Jesus. Perhaps that is why the prophets of both the Old and New Testament were required to live such Spartan lives. May the prophets lead the way out of this delusion by their evidence that "contentment with Godliness is great gain."

Let us understand that the prophets have always been the ones chosen not only to preach, but to live out the truth they have been called to restore. May we become the great cheerleaders to the prophets as they are chosen to be the forerunners of restored truth. It will be the prophets who first truly live the life that says, "I glory in my rejections, humiliations, sufferings and weaknesses, knowing that these are the very avenues through which the grace I have been proclaiming flow into my life." It will be the prophets who will first manifest the glory of such Godly contentment and peace, that we will all gladly trade our present circumstances, if necessary, the humiliation of rejection and shame that releases the grace of God into our lives.

Are you called to be prophetic? Then be prepared to learn the deep lessons that must be experienced in order to restore biblical truth. Let us learn not to complain or murmur for an unparalleled grace is awaiting us when we cease to judge and cry out for deliverance from our mistreatment. Later, dear prophet, you and I will look back at our humiliations, rejections, pain, and suffering and say -"I would not have changed one thing - except I wish I would have learned my lessons much faster, for then would I have experienced the grace of God that so nullifies these insignificant trials that His peace and joy would have been so evident, others would cry out "show us where this kind of grace can be found."

2 Cor 12:9-10

"My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness." So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me.

10 That's why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

The fact that we have had nearly two decades of "wealth is godliness" preaching and teaching has only further entrenched the power of pride, possessions and positions. I am sorry to say that almost all of the spiritual leaders that I was exposed to, believed and taught this error, not by word or doctrine, but rather by action and insinuation. The truth that "he who would be the greatest among you must be the servant of all" has been discarded for "he that is honored above all others with position, power, and possessions is the most favored of God and evidently the most spiritual.

1 Tim 6:5-12

5 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.

7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

KJV

What will it take to unseat this lie? I believe that is where grace comes in. Grace has the power to uncover the miserable state many believers are in because they have pursued position and possessions and will call us back to the humility and sacrifice that are the true measurements of Christ likeness. When men and women live in the grace of God there is such a Godly peace and contentment that others are drawn to its unparalleled beauty. I am not there yet, but I am beginning to understand the Apostle Paul's words when he stated -

2 Cor 11:30

30 If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.

2 Cor 12:9-10

9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Are not the words that follow almost incomprehensible to most of us? How can anyone take pleasure in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, infirmities, and weaknesses? The Lord makes it very clear to Paul that it is only through the continual ministry of His grace that the Apostle will make it. Even the most Christ-like among us do not boast when mistreated but rather spend endless hours complaining and grumbling. Is it not so? 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

KJV

Dear beloved and mistreated son and daughter of God, have you been the one chosen by your wonderful Father to restore the doctrine of grace to this deceived generation? Not as a martyr but as a genuinely delighted and contented child of God that has been called to suffer for his name sake. Can others look at your peace and contentment in the midst of your rejection and mistreatment and say, "They have something that I do not have, and I am willing to give up all to experience the peace and love they are walking in."

I was once called to a major Pentecostal seminary to fill in for a beloved professor. While there I re-iterated what the Lord spoke to my heart as I watched a video of Mother Theresa speak at an Ivy League University to heads of state, presidents and some of the most powerful men in the world. The next scene showed her back in Calcutta changing a diaper and cleaning up a severely malnourished nine year old girl. She was then holding her in her arms and had the most contented and peaceful countenance I have ever seen. It was then that the Lord spoke to my heart saying, "She has something you know nothing about!" I was shocked to think that I who am a Pentecostal and have flowed in the power gifts and have served as pastor, prophet and apostle would have this word spoken to me by the Lord. Yet I knew in my heart - the Lord was absolutely correct. I will never forget the spiritual warfare that was going on in that class while I was endeavoring to teach. God had called me to deliver a truth that had the power to transform a seminary that had become enthralled by the religious spirit of pride and control, and the enemy was doing everything he could to thwart that message. Finally through great difficulty, I was able to deliver this unparalleled message of grace operating in Mother Theresa's life to the class. Instantly a major leader of another denomination angrily stood up and left the class with great indignation, and at the moment he left a terrifying scratching noise covered the entire ceiling of that large room. Then suddenly the power of God fell on the students with such force and demonstration we were all shocked.

Grace leads to glory, and glory will reveal the "Goodness of God" like nothing we have ever seen before. Are you with me?

Imagine... a body of Christian believers all speaking, declaring, and proclaiming God's strategic word for this moment in history. Will you join us in this strategic moment of history so that the Church may fulfill its end-time destiny?


Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_D_Rogers