R.D SOUZA Saved by faith

Believe all scriptures and be not like the Sadducees

Luke 24:25 - Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to 
believe all that the prophets have spoken:

One of the main reasons of all the confusion among Christians is because 
they read part of the Bible or believe in part of the Bible, they behave 
like the Sadducees.

Among the people who angered Jesus were the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

The word 'Pharisee' comes from Hebrew and means 'distinct', they were 
religious people who would be very hard on other people to keep the 
scriptures but when they themselves found it hard or impossible to keep 
the scriptures (what they understood of it) they would manipulated the 
scriptures to suit their convenience.

The word 'Sadducee' is a Greek word which means 'righteous', they were 
people who did not believe the whole of the Old Testament. They would 
strictly follow the Mosaic covenant (Law/Books of Moses) and somewhat 
the books of Psalms (during that time the book was in 5 parts according 
to the books of Moses). They would respect the other prophets but not 
give importance or follow the books of the other prophets. These people 
were the most confused of all the people, unlike the Pharisees who knew 
and manipulated these people did not know what they believed in why they 
believed in what they believed. So they were very confused with things 
like life after death among other things.

Yesterday we were told of the 2 reasons of backsliding. Today the Lord 
is grouping backsliders according to the Pharisees and Sadducees. Among 
the backsliders there are very, very few who fall into the category of 
Pharisees people who know and yet manipulate but most of them fall in 
category of Sadducees people who are confused and have no idea what they 
believe in.

A very simple test, ask a Christian how many times Jesus comes on earth. 
Some will say 2 and some 3 and some even 4. The real sad thing is since 
they do not know why they believe in Jesus Christ they lack knowledge of 
plan of God. You ask them and they use the word 'salvation' or 'eternal 
life' or 'to go to Heaven' but they do not know what life is or what the 
term Heaven means. Some will say 'where God is' but then you bring their 
attention to scriptures like in Psalms 139:8 which states the presence 
of God is everywhere, even in Hell and there is no place one can go 
where God is not there. Then they get more confused. There are others 
who do not know what the term new Heaven and new earth (according to 
English translation) means, so they think they will live here on earth 
forever and Jesus will be a man amongst them.

It is sad but there is less than a single digit percentage of Christians 
who know what Christianity really is and that too from amongst 
Believers, I am not talking of the so called Christians like Catholics 
or Orthodox or Coptic who do something else in the name of Christianity.

Jesus did get angry with the Sadducees but not as much as He did against 
the Pharisees.

These confused Christian may be saved and may even go to Heaven but 
surely they will lose big time. They will realized the loss of 
opportunity they had on earth to gather riches for themselves in Heaven.

Let us understand the Bible is called Word of God and not Words of God. 
The Bible is one and no scripture contradicts another scripture, all 
scriptures are in harmony or each other even if they are from the Old 
Testament or the New Testament.

Understand Paul preached about Jesus through the scriptures and at a 
time when the Gospels and Epistles were in the making so he referred to 
the Old Testament to talk about the sacrifice and salvation in Jesus 
Christ. So let us not ignore any scripture but bring our understanding 
in line with all scriptures. Let us not be like the Sadducees.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord among the first things the Beast did was break the Word into 2 
parts the Old and New making people to not give importance to the larger 
part of the Bible. Most part of the New Testament shows You fulfilling 
what was promised in the Old Testament, and when people do not know the 
Old Testament how would they know what was promised or what was 
fulfilled. Lord we pray You open all scriptures starting from the 
Prophet Moses to the time You finished all things according to your 
mission as man. Lord we pray we abide in your Spirit so as to understand 
the Truth...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Luke 24:25-27

25Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that 
the prophets have spoken:

26Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his 
glory?

27And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in 
all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Luke 24:44 - And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake 
unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, 
which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the 
psalms, concerning me.

John 1:17 - For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by 
Jesus Christ.

John 5:46 - For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he 
wrote of me.

Acts 17:10-11

10And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto 
Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.

11These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they 
received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the 
scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

2 Peter 3:15-18

15And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as 
our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him 
hath written unto you;

16As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in 
which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are 
unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto 
their own destruction.

17Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest 
ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own 
stedfastness.

18But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

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Back sliders
Zephaniah 1:6 - And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those 
that have not sought the LORD, nor enquired for him.

When I got today's I was wondering what the Lord wants to open up to us 
today since I have got this same scripture quite a few times before. 
Then the Lord reminded me of my conversation with a brother yesterday 
late night and bought my attention to 2 words which are the main reasons 
of back sliding.

Yesterday I was having a conversation with a brother in the Lord and he 
was advising me to take caution and not get involved with too many 
ministries or people who claim to be doing the Lord's work. He was right 
in some way for we both have had pretty bad experiences with people we 
have assisted in their early stages of ministry and today quite a few of 
them are well known. We see they are doing mega events today and yet are 
not making disciples for the Lord not even a fraction of what they did 
when they were new in the Lord.

Today most of the Preachers or Pastors or Evangelist or Apostles or 
Prophets (the various titles they give themselves) are into 'God 
businesses'.All may not be centered on making money, but if it is not 
money then it is name, fame, social status, power, self-glorification, 
self-righteousness or social security.

Back sliding does not necessary mean to turn again to evil but would 
include those who run the spiritual race but do not finish it or finish 
it well. In today's message the Lord give 2 reasons for back sliders. We 
may say people back slide due to moral reasons or various temptation or 
weakness but when the Lord looks at it He see the root of the problem. 
Today's message the Lord uses 2 Hebrew words 'darash' and 'baqash', both 
these words are translated as 'seek' but since they are put together in 
this scripture one is translated as 'seek' and other as 'sought after'. 
In NASB it uses the word 'inquire' for one of them. If one goes to the 
root of these words one points to having knowledge of (inquire) and the 
other speaks of persistent pursuing (sought after).

To have spiritual growth one needs to do 2 things seek knowledge and 
understanding of the Lord and His Kingdom, and pursue Him diligently.

In the Old Testament those who reach this high level of spiritual growth 
are called as inhabitants or Sons of Zion (Zion means fortified city). 
We see when David symbolically named the city of Jerusalem as Zion we 
see those who were blind and those who were lame did not enter the city. 
Lord wanted us to know those who are spiritually blind or spiritually 
lame will never enter this spiritual level of Zion. In the Bible we will 
see the Lord rebukes the inhabitants (daughters and sons) of the other 
spiritual levels like Egypt, Jerusalem, Judah, Samaria etc. but never 
sons of Zion.

The Lord is telling us if we do not want to be back sliders or part of a 
religion called 'Christianity' and perish but want to have real 
relationship with the Lord then we need to do 2 things, one is seek the 
knowledge and understanding of the Kingdom of God and second is be 
diligent in our walk in Him.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, there are many who claim to love You and come to You, but most of 
them come because they are suffering, hopeless and are in need. There 
are few who come to You to have relationship with You and be one in You. 
Lord we pray more and more seek You in Truth and be diligent in their 
spiritual walk in You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scripture]

Zephaniah 1:2-10

2I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD.

3I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, 
and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked; and 
I will cut off man from off the land, saith the LORD.

4I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the 
inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from 
this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests;

5And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them 
that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham;

6And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those that have not 
sought the LORD, nor enquired for him.

7Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD 
is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.

8And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD'S sacrifice, that I 
will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are 
clothed with strange apparel.

9In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the 
threshold, which fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit.

10And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that there 
shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the 
second, and a great crashing from the hills.

2 Samuel 5:7-8

7Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city 
of David.

8And David said on that day, Whosoever getteth up to the gutter, and 
smiteth the Jebusites, and the lame and the blind, that are hated of 
David's soul, he shall be chief and captain. Wherefore they said, The 
blind and the lame shall not come into the house.

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I am Christ

Luke 4:18-21

18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to 
preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the 
brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of 
sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

20And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat 
down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened 
on him.

21And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in 
your ears.

We see through this reading of Isaiah 11 and Isaiah 42 Jesus claimed He 
was the Christ (Messiah) that they were awaiting.

The Jews were awaiting 2 persons promised by the Lord one a Prophet 
greater than Moses and also a King from the lineage of David who will 
deliver them and whose kingdom would be forever.

Reading of these scriptures was the first time Jesus preached in a 
Jewish Synagogue and to do this Jesus had to be a rabbi. And to be a 
rabbi one needed to qualify else the person would not be allowed to 
preach in a Synagogue. We read of Saul studying under the celebrated 
rabbi Gamaliel to become a rabbi himself.

Under Jewish customs one could become a rabbi after studying under 
another rabbi and getting certified by that rabbi. This would take years 
of theology and practical training and for this one would need to study 
the customs and theology of the Jews which most went against the 
principal of the Kingdom of God. There was another way and that was the 
Moses (the Prophetic) way and that was being certified by the Hand of 
God. For this the person would be required to go in the wilderness and 
fast without food and water for 40days.

After being water baptized by John the Baptist (a baptism started by the 
Pharisees during the times of Maccabees but later forgotten) Jesus was 
led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness to be weakened in body and 
spirit so as to be tempted (those which Adam and Eve went through in 
Eden) and to overcome this temptation. He also was led in the wilderness 
so as to be qualified to become a rabbi, that is why we see immediately 
after coming from the 40days in the wilderness (after consuming water 
and food) Jesus goes to a Synagogue and preaches declaring Himself to be 
the Christ.

Through this event we see Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the Jews 
according their tradition but yet kept away from the traditions they did 
which went against the principals of God. Paul also says with the Romans 
he was a Roman and with a Jews a Jew but in either situations Paul did 
not compromise on the principals of the Kingdom of God.

We as Christians are anointed in Jesus Christ having the Spirit of God 
on us to heal the sick and weak and deliver those under bondages. We are 
called to give the message of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ to all 
mankind. We are called to live a life unlike the people of this world 
but yet we are called to live among the people of this world. We are not 
called to reject the customs and ways of the people of the world if they 
do not go against the principals of the Kingdom of God. We are called to 
be a light shining in the darkness and not a light shining where there 
is already light.

So like Jesus let us reach out to those who are suffering, those who 
need Him and need to be saved.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray we live less for ourselves like You did as man on earth, 
and live more for others, to be blessing unto others, to heal them, 
deliver them and save them in your Name. Lord may all those who call 
themselves as Christian truly live life Christ like...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Isaiah 11:1-4

1And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch 
shall grow out of his roots:

2And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom 
and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of 
knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;

3And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and 
he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after 
the hearing of his ears:

4But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity 
for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of 
his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

Isaiah 42:1-7

1Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul 
delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment 
to the Gentiles.

2He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the 
street.

3A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not 
quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.

4He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the 
earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.

5Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched 
them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of 
it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them 
that walk therein:

6I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, 
and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a 
light of the Gentiles;

7To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and 
them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

John 1:38 - Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto 
them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being 
interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?

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Are we still under Roman rule?

Romans 7:2 - For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to 
her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is 
loosed from the law of her husband.

We see in his letter to various Churches Paul wrote according to the 
matters of concern of the people there. If we read his letter to the 
Romans, we find most of the very serious matters concerning social 
matters are discussed in this letter. Among the first topics Paul 
addresses in homosexuality and how it evokes the wrath of God from 
Heaven (supernatural wrath). He also address to their unbelief, 
self-justification, dual nature and about marriage among other things.

We see for the Romans marriage was more a self-centric affair and if it 
does not give pleasure to the person, then the person would move out of 
that relationship. In short we see the Roman society was a carnal 
society that lived for the carnal desires of the flesh, of the mind and 
of the spirit (against God).

If we look at cosmopolitan society today we see all are living in the 
Roman Empire mentality and belief. This is not only concerning social 
values but also spiritual values. Look at marriages today even Christian 
Believer Churches have Okayed the Roman values of marriage and replaced 
the Christians values of marriage that is why we see so many divorces 
among Christians. The justification they use for abortion they use for 
marriage. They will not teach the children the purpose and sanctity of 
reproduction so people focus on the pleasure and thus do not have 
control on their pleasures thus make mistakes and later kill to cover 
the mistakes.

Marriage is not a social union of two people but a spiritual union and 
we need to give the spiritual matters more importance than the social 
matters. We see the first aspects one looks at for a prospective bride 
or groom are things like looks, education, profession, income etc. When 
it comes to belief Christians will confirm if that person of their 
belief and if the family has a good reputation in the Church they go to. 
How many of them pray and get a confirmation from the Lord if they are 
called to come together as one. That is why we see marriage couples and 
their children struggling spiritually. This is the story of the 
relationship of Jacob with Rachel and Jacob and Leah. Jacob's relation 
with Rachel was based on physical reason but his true wife was Leah and 
his children through Leah were the ones who were truly blessed while the 
children through Rachel perished.

Marriage being a spiritual matter should be dealt spiritually giving the 
spiritual aspects greater importance then we would not have issues like 
divorce.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray for our brethren who are married that You heal their unions 
that are not based on spiritual reasons but on worldly reasons. Lord You 
heal and bring them to understand the purpose of marriage. We pray for 
those who are planning to get married that before they come together as 
husband and wife that they would confirm spiritually and not struggle 
later...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

1 Corinthians 7

Ephesians 5

Matthew 2:18 - In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and 
weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would 
not be comforted, because they are not.

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Cost of healing Bartimaeus

Mark 10:49 - And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And 
they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he 
calleth thee.

There are 2 climaxes or turning points in the life of Jesus which 
directly or indirectly lead to the breaking point of His enemies and 
thus led to His crucifixion. One was the healing of Lazarus and the 
other healing of Bartimaeus.

I have mentioned in my earlier messages that the bringing back from the 
death of Lazarus was unlike any other person Jesus bought to life. It 
had so much impact on the people that the Jews wanted to again put 
Lazarus to death along with Jesus. Lazarus was mummified according to 
Egyptian rituals which many of the Jews in northern Israel followed 
(that is why the Pharisees hated the Jews of Galilee and Samaria). So 
Jesus not only bought back to life Lazarus but also regenerated his 
internal organs. This miracle shocked the people so much that towns 
wanted more to see Lazarus than to meet Jesus.

The other miracle which caused the turning point in the life of Jesus 
was the healing of Bartimaeus. If one notices this is the only miracle 
where the name of a beggar is given and not only his name but also his 
father's name. If one studies names than one would know this was no a 
Jewish name but a Roman name. Another point it brings clearly is that 
this man could see before and wanted to regain his sight.

A historian mentions that Timaeus the father of Bartimaeus (name means 
son of Timaeus) was not an ordinary man but a very senior person in the 
Roman army. Timaeus was in charge or posted at Jericho which was the 
place where the richest of rich of society lived like Manhattan or Bel 
Air in US or Altamount or Cuffe Parade in Mumbai India. Bartimaeus was 
not born blind but was made blind and that too by the Romans. He was a 
socialist rebel who went against the Roman Empire and was made blind 
under the authority of Caesar. The brutal Romans would normally kill 
such a person in the most grievous way but Bartimaeus being son of one 
amongst the senior most in the army in this block, he was set loose with 
being made blind.

Before the healing of Bartimaeus the Romans were in good relation with 
Jesus and we see He had senior Roman officials who believed in Him and 
were His disciples. The Pharisees and Sadducees hated Jesus but they 
being under the rule of the Romans did not have the authority to kill 
Him. So the healing of Bartimaeus put Jesus against the Romans and 
opened an opportunity for the Jewish priests to crucify Jesus.

We see in this message before Jesus called for Bartimaeus Jesus stood 
still. When He paused He must have had many thoughts in His minds but 
then doing the will of the Father was important for Him so He did not 
hesitate but called for Bartimaeus and healed him.

The Lord is telling us today there may be situation in our lives which 
may seem to disturb our peaceful lives but we need to take that step so 
that the Kingdom of God is glorified, people come to know the Lord and 
be saved.

[Prayer starter]

Lord, give us the courage like You had when You were a mortal man on 
earth. Let us not hesitate in those moments wherein we need to take a 
step or do something which may disturb our peace or our plans here on 
earth. Let your plans be above our plans, let your will be above our 
will. May You Lord be glorified in our lives and many your people 
experience your glory here on earth...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scripture]

Mark 10:46-52

46And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his 
disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of 
Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.

47And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, 
and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

48And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the 
more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

49And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call 
the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.

50And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.

51And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do 
unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.

52And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole. 
And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

John 12:9-11

9Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came 
not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he 
had raised from the dead.

10But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death;

11Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed 
on Jesus.

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Seek not great things for thyself

Jeremiah 45:5 - And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek not: 
for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy 
life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.

The Bible says if we seek the Lord and His righteousness then He will 
bless us and prosper us in every area of our lives.

Before, when I would read this, I would think is God so possessive or 
self-centered that if we do not focus on Him, He gets angry and 
retaliates with disasters and destruction? At the same time Bible says 
God is a loving Father.

But when I came to know God and His Kingdom better I realized the 
problem is not with Him but with us. If we close our eyes and walk and 
we stumble can we blame God for our falling? It is our choice and our 
choosing to shut our eyes and not let His light expose the things that 
exist in this world.

We may see lots of evangelizing happening and people coming to the Lord 
and Churches growing but if one scrutinizes them you will find religion 
but not Christ. There are at times I think why am I wasting my time 
putting water on plastic flowers and trying to feed people who are full 
with junk of this world but then there are the few who give me hope that 
there exist some who really love the Lord. All want to live in this 
world and enjoy it forever and very few for the Lord and His Kingdom.

Today God is saying He is not happy with what He sees and He cannot be 
fooled by the outer image that we put up for the world to see. He is God 
and He can read our hearts and thoughts. In today's message we see God 
saying those who seek the things of this world, God telling them He will 
bring disaster into their lives. One may think by these words God 
controls evil and commands evil, but when one studies the words the 
Hebrew word translated as 'bring' actually means 'to enter', so the 
right translation would be 'for behold I will let evil enter upon all 
flesh'.

Understand the hates sin and it is His mercy that stands between us and 
His wrath. Since God loves the sinner His mercy protects and sustains 
the sinner. He gives time and ability for the sinner to change but when 
the sinner does not make an attempt He takes away His mercy, then 
destruction is surely due. Even though He knows our every though even 
before we think it He waits for us to think it so as to justify to 
ourselves what we are.

Let us repent from our ways and seek God in Spirit and Truth.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, You are life and away from You is death and destruction. Those who 
chose You chose life and those who seek this world and things of 
darkness seek death and destruction. Lord we pray for your mercies in 
the lives of your little ones and we pray they seek You in spirit and 
truth...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Luke 12:28-34

28If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to 
morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of 
little faith?

29And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be 
ye of doubtful mind.

30For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your 
Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.

31But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be 
added unto you.

32Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give 
you the kingdom.

33Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax 
not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief 
approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.

34For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Luke 17:33 - Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and 
whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

Deuteronomy 4:29 - But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, 
thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all 
thy soul.

Psalms 14:2 - The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, 
to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.

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Touch not my Anointed ones

Psalms 105:12-15

12When they were a few men in number; yea, very few, and strangers in it.

13When they went from one nation to another, from kingdom to another people;

14He suffered no man to do them wrong: yea, he reproved kings for their 
sakes;

15Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.

We see a lot of Christians shouting on roof tops about persecutions. 
They cause a thinking that Satan is getting the upper hand and the 
Kingdom of God is losing its control on mankind.

The problem with most is that they are strongly influenced with the 
beliefs of other religions where good and bad are at the same level, God 
(in some cases gods) and perpetrators of evil are at the same level (in 
some cases like Islam, god/Allah and satan are confuse to be at times to 
be the same). How many times have we seen 'Christian' pictures of Angel 
of God / Jesus battling with Satan with weapons like natural swords and 
spears? It only shows how much in the flesh their thinking is.

Since people do not know their God they land up glorifying Satan 
(Lucifer) and his goons. Jesus never came to battle Satan but came to 
save us by getting us to battle Satan's hold on us. Jesus as a humble 
man like you and me they feared, imagine if He was in His glory then!

Just yesterday as I was discussing with my daughter about end days she 
asked me how the end would be. Would there be a great battle with 
fireworks and war everywhere and causalities in the Kingdom of God. I 
could not answer her for she was not ready to hear the truth.

We hear lots of people talk of the great battle at the end and they do 
not realize that their preaching is actually helping Satan in his work 
of getting fear to get hold on God's people and through this fear let 
the worms of destruction to eat in.

At the end the battle where Christ comes with His Angels would more be 
an anticlimax for all people. There would be no fireworks or battle in 
any sense of any confrontation. Scriptures simply says Christ will come 
with shout of an Arch Angel and this shout is simply Christ declaring 
who He (God) is and taking again His authority. Jesus Christ comes not 
as God but as man (Spirit man / Angel) but yet there is so much power in 
His words that all evil ceases and this natural world and the level 
below it (Hell and Grave) ceases to exist (if one understands this, will 
understand the power in the Word of God). All this will happen in a very 
short time and the destruction of evil more like how darkness vanishes 
when one puts on the light, as simple as this.

In today's message we see God says even if we are few in this world full 
of people who do not know Him or hate Him, yet He will not let us be 
harmed. He will even overthrow rulers and nations that go against us or 
try to harm us. In no case will He allow anyone to touch His anointed ones.

When we have promises like these from a God who is all powerful then why 
do we see problems being faced by Christian?

If one has a good understanding of scriptures and of the Kingdom of God 
you will see people doing crazy things in the name of Christianity. They 
worship in ways that in Old Testament are stated as temples on 'high 
places' or they worship the Lord like the Old Testament says they 
worshipped Baal - the word which means a god they do not know.

Let me take an example of Catholics who call themselves Christians, they 
pray to statues of Jesus and Mary thinking they are praying to Jesus and 
to the mother of Jesus. They think this pleases God and do not realize 
this actually angers God.

Let us not assume we are Christians by the traditions we are following 
from our fore fathers or what the Church follows, but let us do 
according to the Word of God. We may find it hard to keep the Word but 
we have the Helper for that. The Spirit of God is there to help us keep 
His Word and when we keep His Word surely God who is true to His every 
promise will fulfill today's promise in our lives.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord You are Almighty and Omnipotent. Your Angels are called ministering 
Spirits, they assist man in the things of your Kingdom. Even when we You 
and the Army of Heaven with us yet there are times we let fear get into 
us and work in us. Lord we pray your people know You and live in your 
ways so as to experience your power and glory in their lives...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Psalms 91

1 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide 
under the shadow of the Almighty.

2I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him 
will I trust.

3Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the 
noisome pestilence.

4He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou 
trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

5Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow 
that flieth by day;

6Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the 
destruction that wasteth at noonday.

7A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; 
but it shall not come nigh thee.

8Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

9 Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most 
High, thy habitation;

10There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh 
thy dwelling.

11For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy 
ways.

12They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot 
against a stone.

13Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the 
dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

14Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I 
will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

15He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in 
trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

16With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

Hebrews 13:6 - So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I 
will not fear what man shall do unto me.

1 Thessalonians 4:14-17

14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also 
which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are 
alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them 
which are asleep.

16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the 
voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in 
Christ shall rise first:

17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with 
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be 
with the Lord.

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When your world rocks you stand on the Rock

Mark 4:36 - And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him 
even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him [the same] 
other ships.

We have seen illustrations of this incident of Jesus in a small boat big 
enough for about 5 to 7 people rocking due to strong winds, with heavy 
rains and large waves splashing into the boat, the people in the boat 
scared and panicking and we see a person shown as Jesus sound sleep at 
one corner of this little boat. When we read this scripture properly we 
see the illustrations and the picture they create are not matching, like 
in movies they over dramatize events so also people have over dramatized 
this event.

The scripture says Jesus and His disciples were in a large boat more of 
a size of a small trawler and there were others boats with people 
accompanying this boat. If one speaks to people who travel on ships they 
are like live weather forecasters, by looking at the sky they would know 
if it is okay to sail or not. One thing they know is great storms like 
hurricanes do not come instantly but give warnings before they come. So 
we see by the fact that the people here chose to travel was that the sky 
was clear and the storm that came was not something like a hurricane.

The word used to describe this storm in verse 37 is whirlwind, and if 
one checks the history of whirlwinds in Israel, they are mostly small 
covering a few hundred meters but are attributed with heavy rains and 
strong winds. The fact that Jesus slept in this storm showed that the 
storm was less strong to rock the boats to overturn but more accompanied 
with heavy rains, heavy enough to cause the boats to fill and sink. 
Scripture specify Jesus slept in the hinder part of the boat which must 
have had a shade or cover for Him to not experience the rains. Also the 
people who were panicking for help were not only those in this boat but 
also those in other boats that were accompanying it.

The reason I went into details of this storm is because it always 
intruded me how could Jesus sleep through a violent storm. Jesus here 
was not God in His glory but was a humble man and represents a man with 
the Holy Spirit in other words a Man of God. He stopped the storm with 
authority which each and every Man of God has. So what Jesus Christ 
wants us to know today is, do not look for God around during your storms 
but know that God is in you and use the authority that is in you to 
command the storms in your life to hold their peace.

I have seen time and again people saying ask Jesus or look at Jesus to 
stop the storms in your life. That is not the message Jesus Christ is 
trying to give us. He us telling us since we know Him and He has given 
us His Spirit now that He is in us we are qualified to stop the storms 
ourselves. We have the authority which He has given us, so if He could 
stop the storm then we too can.

Next time you experience a storm know your authority and lift your hand 
not towards Heaven but being a representative and extension of the 
Kingdom of God, lift your hands towards your situation and command your 
storm to stop.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we time and again be helpless in our storms and keep looking 
towards your Holy Mountains for help. We know You have the power to stop 
every storm but we forget You have given us this power and we are an 
extension of your Kingdom. Lord we pray next time we experience a storm 
we will know who we are and know our authority and take taking authority 
command our storms to stop...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Mark 4:35-41

35And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us 
pass over unto the other side.

36And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he 
was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.

37And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the 
ship, so that it was now full.

38And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and 
they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?

39And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be 
still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

40And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have 
no faith?

41And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of 
man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

Matthew 7:29 - For he taught them as one having authority, and not as 
the scribes.

Luke 9:1 - Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them 
power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases.

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Receive this child and receive Jesus

Luke 9:48 - And said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my 
name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that 
sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.

In today's scripture most people assume Jesus was talking of us receive 
a child or being good to children to experience God or receive the Lord 
into their lives. If one sees the scripture Jesus does not say 'a child' 
but says 'this child' and now if one knows Greek there are many words 
used for children and the word used here does not mean a normal child 
for the word used here is 'paidion' and the word specifies the child to 
be a servant child.

There was a historian who disclosed about children having disabilities 
being used for the task of looking after footwear of guest entering the 
house or pouring water for washing of feet of those entering the house 
they were the lowest level of slavery used for the worst work. And the 
historian believed Jesus pointed to one of this like of child.

As a Christian Jesus is telling us we are called to reach out to the 
lowest of society and people who are ignored by mankind. But then there 
is one thing that we need to be clear about is doing this does not mean 
one will go to Heaven.

Understand salvation is all to do with one's belief and about letting 
the Holy Spirit working in that person. Our entry to Heaven is all about 
self-surrender and about overcoming one's carnal nature. Good works will 
let us increase our value or riches in Heaven but about going there is a 
self-work or working on our self.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray we as Christians show the mercy of You to those who are 
tormented by society and man. Lord we pray we also understand the 
importance of working on our own self and also about reaching out to 
others. We pray people understand being good is will not make them 
Christians, but as Christians we need to show Christ in us as we live 
Christ in us...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Luke 9:46-48

46Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be greatest.

47And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child, and 
set him by him,

48And said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name 
receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: 
for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great.

Ephesians 2:8-10

8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it 
is the gift of God:

9Not of works, lest any man should boast.

10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, 
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

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Bear the CROSS with joy and praise

1 Chronicles 15:16 - And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint
their brethren to be the singers with instruments of musick, psalteries and
harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy.

If we read 1 Chronicles 15:16-29 we find David who was very knowledgeable
about the things of God requested that the Ark be carried with singing,
playing of instruments and with dancing, in other words with joy and
rejoicing.

In our previous messages the Lord opened unto us about the Beast and how it
being operating among the various religions with the False Church (Babylon
the Great) being its throne (where all spiritual fornications are done with
God’s name). Among the first things this Babylon the Great did in 300AD
when it came into existence is manipulate the CROSS. To deny people from
understanding the CROSS and its power it gave them a symbol today called
the crucifix. Like I wrote last time when I visited the cemetery where both
Catholics and Believers were buried almost all graves had a crucifix. It
showed how successful this deceit has worked; not only when they are alive
even unto their death they failed to understand it (yet to understand why a
crucifix on dead remains which perishes into dust).

The Bible says the OT is the shadow of the New Testament, but to really
understand the New Testament it is not easy as people think i.e. to truly
understand the sacrifice or suffering of Jesus one needs to study the
Passover and the books of Moses. The same way to understand the CROSS we
need to study its shadow which is the Ark of Covenant.

Jesus said to enter the Kingdom of God (Heaven) one needs to bear His CROSS
and we see this the same way as the Israelites could not enter the Promised
Land without bearing the Ark of Covenant. It was only when they bore the
Ark of Covenant they could cross the river Jordan (the word means
‘heritance’) this was symbolic to tell us the only way for us to receive
our inheritance in Heaven as Sons of God we need to carry the CROSS here on
earth.

What the Beast has done by giving us the symbol is make man to look at the
pain and suffering and not at the power and victory of the CROSS and that
is why there is no joy and rejoicing when a person carries the CROSS.

Understand if God really wanted us to know the suffering of Jesus Christ He
would have had the event written in detail in the New Testament by people
who were witness to it. But we get more details of the event from the OT
than the New Testament. God did not instruct the blood of the Pascal lamb
be put on the inside of the door post for the inhabitants of the house to
see but on the outside for God alone to see.

Like Paul and the other Apostles let us know the power of the CROSS and let
us not be deceived by the symbol that the Beast has made us to focus on.

The Greek word for CROSS is ‘stauros’ and comes from the base (root) word
’histemi’ which means stand/that which is established. In other words the
CROSS which in the New Testament Jesus asks us to carry is not the crucifix
but the mission or purpose of Christ. When we study the design and contents
of the Ark of Covenant we understand the importance and how one should go
about with the mission that Jesus Christ has given us.

Let us overcome the natural and concentrate on the spiritual. Let us
overcome the symbol and know the true power and purpose and glory of the
CROSS and let us carry this mission that Christ has given us with joy and
praise and worship. Let us know the power of the CROSS by knowing we are
carrying not the shadow of the Ark of Covenant but carrying the true ARK of
God. The children of Satan will break the symbols (the crucifix) and God
will not even blink for that, but dare they even think of harming the CROSS
and the ground below their feet will sake and heavens will fall on them and
destroy them.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord if only your people knew the power of being your people and the power
of the ARK. Lord we pray that the deceit of the natural symbol be broken
and your people understand the power of the CROSS. Let your people not do
your work in fear but understand the Power of God is with them as they
carry the true ARK of God and thus the glory of God is with them...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Numbers 10:35-36

35 And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise
up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee
flee before thee.

36 And when it rested, he said, Return, O LORD, unto the many thousands of
Israel.

Deuteronomy 10:8 - At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi
[separated ones / baptized in Him], to bear the ark of the covenant of the
LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister unto him, and to bless in his
name, unto this day.

Joshua 3:5-17

Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples
also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him
deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

1 Corinthians 1:18 - For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish
foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Brotherly love as one family

Romans 12:10 - Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; 
in honour preferring one another;

The Greek word 'philostorgos' translated as 'kindly affectioned' is made 
of two words 'philos' which means associate (also translated as friend / 
love) and the word 'storge' which means 'cherishing one's kindred' like 
family member. Also the word translated as honor means more 'to value'.

If one puts these meanings into the scripture, it reads as:

Romans 12:10 [expounded] - Associate with one another like family with 
brotherly love valuing the other over your own self.

This Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome and not to the general public 
in Rome.

We Christians are called to live like one family caring and sharing with 
each other. We are called to give preference to the needs of our 
brethren over our own needs. I know it is very difficult to do this and 
almost impossible when you have your own family to support. But yet we 
cannot deny this instruction and have to work towards it in whatever 
little way we can. We need to overcome the restriction of seeing our 
earthly temporary family more than seeing our Heaven permanent family.

Understand the greatest of all evil is not pride or deceit but is greed. 
It was greed that bought Lucifer to have pride and this pride led him to 
deceive other. One of the most difficult tasks for mankind is to 
overcome the spirit of greed that is to learn to give. That does not 
mean we start to support international charities. We as Christians are 
called to first reach out to our large Christian family, giving them 
preference even above our own self. After that we are called to look 
after our own needs and then the needs of those who are in the world.

So today onwards let us make it a point to try and reach out to the 
needs (not desires) of our brethren in Christ in whatever little way we 
can and then grow in our giving.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, the spirit of greed has taken hold of mankind when man came to 
know Satan by eating the fruit of 'good and bad'. Lord we pray we 
overcome this spirit that takes us away from You and from knowing You. 
The reason we do not know You we do not realize You are our provider and 
there is nothing that we need that You have not already provided. Help 
us Lord to be one as You are one...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

John 13:34-35

34A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have 
loved you, that ye also love one another.

35By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love 
one to another.

Ephesians 3:14-21

14For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

16That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be 
strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted 
and grounded in love,

18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and 
length, and depth, and height;

19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might 
be filled with all the fulness of God.

20Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we 
ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,

21Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, 
world without end. Amen.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

The Moses problem in the New Testament

1 Corinthians 1: 1 - And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with
excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.

We all know Moses had a problem of stammering and due to this reason he
asked the Lord to get someone to help him when he was to go before Pharaoh.
Scriptures say God was angry with Moses for not believing that God could
heal his stammering. Had Moses believed then Aaron would not have been in
the scene and nor would Aaron or his sons been High Priests. We see Moses’
children (sons) were not selected to lead, just because of his this one
mistake. If one goes on the back ground Moses’ childhood, he was bought up
as a prince of Egypt and he had received the highest education of that land
at that time. If one studies Egyptian medicine they had almost one or other
remedy for sicknesses but stammering was considered a physical disability
and not a medical disability. It was his education that became a stumbling
block for Moses, he believed God for other things but not for this
disability.

You may wonder why I am talking of Moses in today’s message.

We see in the New Testament Paul who was more knowledgeable than any other
in the early church had a problem of vocal presentation of his knowledge in
physical presence. Paul before coming to Christ was a student under one of
the best Jewish teacher in the land and was respected for his knowledge on
Jewish Law. Even after all this knowledge before and after yet Acts records
a man who was sitting on the edge of a window slept during Paul’s preaching
and fell to his death, Paul did bring him back to life later.

We read in today’s message the people of Corinth spoke openly of Paul’s
boring preaching’s which angered Paul very much. Paul saw people comparing
him to own students and spiritual sons, for i.e. Timothy who was an
Evangelist and had the gift of the gap. But Paul unlike Moses believed God
could heal his problem and it is written time and again (3 times) Paul
asked the Lord to attend to his this problem, but we read God did not and
said His grace is sufficient for him.

Many a times God does not give us everything but holds back at least one
thing from us so that we acknowledge the Body of Christ. If we do all
things without any one’s help then pride can come in us and take control of
us and destroy us. So we see for our own sake God makes us to be humble and
know that we are limited and need others. It is not that we cannot do all
things in Christ but to keep us in Christ (Body of Christ) the Lord does
not give us all ability in the start.

Paul did overcome this problem at the end and thus had an assurance of a
high crown awaiting him in Heaven.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray we have faith like Paul but also realize like Paul did at the
end the need of each other as part of the Body of Christ. We may preach
many things but many a times we struggle to believe those very things in
our own lives. Lord we pray we do not lose the blessing on our generation
like Moses did but our children be blessed in us by our faithfulness in
You...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Acts 20:9 - And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus,
being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk
down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.

1 Corinthians 4:16-17

16 I beseech you therefore, be ye imitators of me.

17 For this cause have I sent unto you Timothy, who is my beloved and
faithful child in the Lord, who shall put you in remembrance of my ways
which are in Christ, even as I teach everywhere in every church.

2 Corinthians 7:7-9

7 And not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was
comforted in you, when he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your
fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the more.

8 For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did
repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it
were but for a season.

9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to
repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might
receive damage by us in nothing.

1 Corinthians 2:1 - And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with
excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.

1 Corinthians 2:4 - And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing
words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:

1 Corinthians 4:15-21

15 For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not
many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

16 Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.

17 For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son,
and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways
which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.

18 Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you.

19 But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not
the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.

20 For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.

21 What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the
spirit of meekness?

2 Corinthians 10:8-13

8 For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord
hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not
be ashamed:

9 That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters.

10 For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily
presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.

11 Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters
when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present.

12 For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with
some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves,
and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

13 But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to
the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to
reach even unto you.

2 Corinthians 11:5-8

5 For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.

6 But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been
throughly made manifest among you in all things.

7 Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted,
because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?

8 I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service.

2 Timothy 4:8 - Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that
day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

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Who is she?

Ezekiel 27:32 - And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation 
for thee, and lament over thee, saying, What city is like Tyrus, like 
the destroyed [feminine gender] in the midst of the sea?

In the natural God made man and woman but when He created them in spirit 
the Bible uses the same masculine gender for both. So even though man 
and woman have gender differences in the natural but the spirit may not 
have difference.

In the Bible all those who have the image of God (Nature and Character 
of God) are called Sons of God i.e. the Angels and also man before sin 
entered man. Jesus was (Son in Hebrew 'ben' means 'of') God who humbled 
Himself and became man and as man was without sin therefore called Son 
of God showing man had overcome sin. We also see God Himself is referred 
to as Father even though He gives us the affection of the mother.

Like we have gender in this world in the natural body so also there is a 
gender of the spirit. This gender is not related to the gender of the 
body but our natural gender is for the understanding of the spiritual 
gender. So earthly man can be spiritually she (daughter) or an earthly 
woman can be spiritually he (son). This 'he' (son) is used when that 
being is in the image of God and as the person moves far from the seat 
of glory of God the gender becomes a 'she'. That is why we read 
scriptures which state a person led by the Holy Spirit is a Son of God. 
It is not that God discriminates between man and female but this is for 
human understanding and to do with the design of our natural body which 
is made to understand spiritual things. When God said only a son can 
inherit He was not really specifying the natural son but the spiritual 
son that is why we see a case where a daughter inherits her father's land.

One would be surprised to know in Islam even though they say Allah is 
considered a spirit yet Allah is shown to have female characterises like 
a pious woman of talking from behind a veil and opening the veil only to 
people Allah knows. It is believed Allah had a wife and 3 daughters who 
are named in their own religious text. Had Mohammad not based Islam on 
his little knowledge of Christianity & Judaism he would had not shown 
Allah has a man. What is also interesting to know is that Mohammed also 
states in Islamic text that he found hell full of women.

We also see in ancient religions, goddesses have been at the pinnacle of 
pagan deities. Even though in some belief systems you may have a male at 
the top but there too you will have a female as mother having authority 
over this male. In some polytheistic religions like Hinduism which have 
many deities, where the Creator is confused, we have deities having both 
male and female gender (androgynous) forms, like if one takes the deity 
Shiva who is male and even though his reproductive organ (Shiv-Ling) is 
worshipped yet there is a female part connected to him, like you have a 
form which has half Shiva and half Parvati (his wife) fused into one. 
Also the power of Shiva is called Shakti and this Shakti is personified 
and depicted in a female form as a deity herself.

We read in today's message Tyre (symbolic to Satan and his kingdom) is 
depicted in a spiritual feminine gender that is why in some translations 
like NAS the gender of the verb silent is also shown.

[NAS]Ezekiel 27:32 "Moreover, in their wailing they will take up a 
lamentation for you And lament over you: 'Who is like Tyre, Like her who 
is silent in the midst of the sea?

In Catholicism we see due to their lack of understanding (and also due 
to mischief) they talk of a mother in Heaven. They do not realize when 
we resurrect the body which we enter into Heaven is referred to as 
spiritual male (Son as an Angel) no one without the image of the Father 
can enter Heaven. So even Mary the mother of Jesus if and when she 
enters Heaven she would be son and not a female.

Let the Catholics and Orthodox open their eyes and ask this spirit which 
comes as a woman and as the mother of Jesus as who she is? When they 
look across all religions they will know who she is for she (it) desired 
to be god over mankind. We see this woman who is seated on a throne in 
their Church is depicted as the False Church of Babylon in Revelation 6 
and 7.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray let the time come that this character that is hidden behind 
all religion be exposed to your people. Let them know why You bought 
down the tower of Babel. Let them understand how the forces are working 
against them and trying to deceive them to distruction...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Genesis 1:27 - So God created man in his own image, in the image of God 
created he him; male and female created he them / him [plural].

Ezekiel 27:30-36

30And shall cause their voice to be heard against thee, and shall cry 
bitterly, and shall cast up dust upon their heads, they shall wallow 
themselves in the ashes:

31And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee, and gird them 
with sackcloth, and they shall weep for thee with bitterness of heart 
and bitter wailing.

32And in their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and 
lament over thee, saying, What city is like Tyrus, like the destroyed in 
the midst of the sea?

33When thy wares went forth out of the seas, thou filledst many people; 
thou didst enrich the kings of the earth with the multitude of thy 
riches and of thy merchandise.

34In the time when thou shalt be broken by the seas in the depths of the 
waters thy merchandise and all thy company in the midst of thee shall fall.

35All the inhabitants of the isles shall be astonished at thee, and 
their kings shall be sore afraid, they shall be troubled in their 
countenance.

36The merchants among the people shall hiss at thee; thou shalt be a 
terror, and never shalt be any more.

Ezekiel 28:2-10

2Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; 
Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit 
in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and 
not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God: {midst: Heb. 
heart }

3Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can 
hide from thee:

4With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee 
riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:

5By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, 
and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches: {thy great … : Heb. 
the greatness of thy wisdom }

6Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as 
the heart of God;

7Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the 
nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy 
wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.

8They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of 
them that are slain in the midst of the seas.

9Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou 
shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee. {of 
him that slayeth: or, of him that woundeth }

10Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of 
strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

Jeremiah 7:18 - The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the 
fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of 
heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may 
provoke me to anger.

Acts 19:35 - And when the townclerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye 
men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of 
the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the 
image which fell down from Jupiter?

John 1:12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become 
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Romans 8:14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the 
sons of God.

Romans 8:19For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the 
manifestation of the sons of God.

Philippians 2:15That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, 
without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among 
whom ye shine as lights in the world;

1 John 3:1Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, 
that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us 
not, because it knew him not.

1 John 3:2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet 
appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we 
shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Termination of services

Mark 11:14 - And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee
hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.

The worse fear of any employee is termination of services, since this
becomes a great blot on their records and can haunt them forever. Every
company that recruits an experienced person ask for relieving letters which
states if the person did a good job or not in the previous job and if there
is an termination then the new company would rarely recruit that person for
an important post.

In the Kingdom of God the story is the same. The Kingdom of God on earth is
just like a nursery is to a school or to a university. Our mission and
blessings here on earth are too small compared to the things set for us in
Heaven. In Heaven also like in any company there are various positions set
for us when we go there. As Paul, Pater and James say our good race here
can fetch a high crown for us in Heaven.

In today’s message the Lord is telling us our faith in Him will save us
from Hell and may even get us an entry to Heaven but if we do not bear good
fruit we may be terminated from serving the Lord and such a termination
would be of great consequence for us in our eternal live in Heaven. So let
us just not serve but look at our fruits. We may fool people to believe we
are offering them something in the Lord’s Name, but one day the Lord will
take account of us and may stop our deceit and that may call for our
termination of our services.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray that we take account of the fruits of our work. We pray that
we do not come to a time that we need to hear a rebuke like today’s message
from You. Lord we pray we run a good race and receive a high crown in
Heaven...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

1 Corinthians 9:24 Know ye not that they that run in a race run all, but
one receiveth the prize? Even so run; that ye may attain.

2 Timothy 4:8 henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at
that day; and not to me only, but also to all them that have loved his
appearing.

James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath
been approved, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised
to them that love him.

1 Peter 5:4 And when the chief Shepherd shall be manifested, ye shall
receive the crown of glory that fadeth not away.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Lacking knowledge of life and death

Luke 24:11 - And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they 
believed them not.

Just day before yesterday I attended a funeral of a Man of God whom I 
personally did not know but in my heart felt to honor his journey. I was 
happy to attend but was saddened seeing the other things during his funeral.

This cemetery is used by both Catholics and Believers. As one enters on 
the right were the graves of the Catholics who died and on the left were 
those of Believers and when one observes minutely one sees no difference 
in the graves leaving for a very few Catholic graves having photos of 
'Jesus' or 'Mary' on their tombstones or crucifixes. I saw both were as 
ignorant of life and death as the other.

In today's message we see the people who spend about 3 years with Jesus 
being trained by Him yet did not believe His resurrection all because 
the traditional belief of their religion (Judaism) had blinded them.

At the cemetery what blinded the Believers to behave like Catholics and 
do the things of the Catholics were the traditions of the Catholics 
which they followed unknowingly and this was due to their ignorance of 
life and life after death.

It is very sad but it is true even senior Pastors are ignorant of life 
after death and this is because of the influence of the teaching which 
came down from the Catholic Church and still has strong hold on them. 
This is yet taught in Believer Bible colleges. So string is the hold 
that even when they read scriptures they fail to understand them.

I would not thank God, but the fact I came out from Catholic background 
after the great deceit was exposed, I am aware of its every trick. Bible 
points to this 'Church' as 'mother of all fornication' which means all 
the evil you can think of that is done by all religions or evil is done 
by this 'church' with a white covering in the name of 'God'. What is 
interesting to note is the evil that happened before in the name of 
ancient gods and ancient belief are the same what we see today, the only 
thing is they are done today with new packaging i.e. the goddess 
Ashtoreth who was called the Queen of Heaven is today worshipped as 
Mother Mary, nothing about her has changed at the root level leaving for 
the cosmetics and name tags. All the fornication they did them they do 
it today but only difference is they do it in the name of 'mother of 
Jesus', whom they do not know. Then this goddess (spirit) deceived the 
Jews now she (it) deceives the Catholics. Even a wise person like 
Solomon was not spared her deceit.

If Jesus wanted after His resurrection He would have come out from the 
cave without moving the tomb stone for He did appear later after 8 days 
to His disciple a house where the doors were closed. He moved the 
tombstone of the cave for it symbolized traditions. Unless we do not 
move this tombstone we will never experience the true resurrection power 
of God.

The root of this hollowness of the understanding in the Church is 
because the foundation is not strong. The writer in Hebrew (supposedly 
to be Paul by his style of writing) writes the four foundational topics 
that every Christian needs to be very clear about

1) Repentance from evil and salvation in Jesus Christ not by good works 
but by faith (understanding the consequence of sin)

2) Baptisms (the 2 baptisms necessary for salvation and other baptism)

3) Laying of hands (imparting of the Holy Spirit and authority over 
sickness, weakness and evil spirits).

4) Life after natural death (Judgment Day and entry to Heaven).

When these matters are very clear to a Christian there is nothing that 
will be able to drastically deceive them. Let us pray one day the Church 
leaders wake up and their eyes be opened to this.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray the blindfolds that tradition has put upon your people be 
removed and they come to know the Kingdom of God in Truth. We pray Lord 
they trust more in You and your Word than the teachings of man...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Hebrews 6:1-2

1Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go 
on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from 
dead works, and of faith toward God,

2Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of 
resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

John 20:26 - And after eight days again his disciples were within, and 
Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in 
the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 - The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; 
and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new 
thing under the sun.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

The Our Father - the misunderstood prayer

Matthew 6:9-13

9After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, 
Hallowed be thy name.

10Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11Give us this day our daily bread.

12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine 
is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

When people asked Jesus how to prayer Jesus gave them an example prayer 
which we call as 'Our Father'. This prayer Jesus gave us is a template 
and not as a script to narrate again and again.

When I was Catholic I have seen people repeat this prayer as a nursery 
rhyme. They say this without understanding what it means or implying 
what they are saying into their lives. I am not being judgmental or 
analytic. It is like a man saying he is fearless and you see him hiding 
behind objects all the time whenever he is called to act, would you 
believe his words or say you are being judgmental?

If one analyses this prayer it gives beautiful steps which one should 
follow to understand how to pray. So ideally we are not called to repeat 
this prayer but to use the format and use our own words when we pray 
that is why the prayer is not repeated or referred to in any other book 
other than the Gospels.

Another point I like to bring out is the verses 11 and 12 are not 
requests. The words 'give us our daily bread' and 'forgive us our debts' 
is misunderstood as requests. We are not asking God to give or to 
forgive. So in reality this prayer has till date not been said as it was 
said by our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not that all people were fools who 
translated scriptures. The problem is with the languages, in English we 
do not have the provision to say this prayer perfectly.

If one studies Greek grammar it has more tenses than the English 
grammar. English language has 3 tenses while Greek has 7. Greek has a 
tense known as Aorist which is Past, Present and Future put together. So 
in English it would mean something eternal - was, is and will be. So 
when we say 'give us our daily bread' it is not asking but declaring 
that God is the giver of our daily bread. So ideally it would be better 
to say 'You give us our daily bread'. The same is with 'forgive us our 
debits' would 'You forgive our debits'. Also note the word 'forgive' in 
'as we forgive our debtors' is not in the Aorist tense but in Present 
tense. Thus it means we act as per the present time but God acts 
eternally and if we do not act in present God does not act eternally for 
our forgiveness. Therefore one needs to know the importance of forgiving 
others. One needs to understand sin to understand this.

Let us not be immature little Christians and just repeat this prayer but 
use this as a template during times when we do not know how or what to 
pray. Let us understand who God is in our lives and acknowledge Him as 
our giver, our provider, our forgiver and our savior.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord your people do not receive because they neither know You nor know 
how to acknowledge You as the giver. Lord we pray your people learn how 
to pray. They say many words but these words show lack of faith and at 
times even go against thy will and yet they expect their prayer to be 
answered. Lord we pray your people understand the most powerful prayer 
was the simple words 'thank You'. Lord may our faith increase to that 
level that we can say this prayer and show your power manifest like 
Jesus as man did...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Mark 11:24 - Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, 
when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

Matthew 14:31And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught 
him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Be confirmed and not conformed

Today the Lord wants us to look at the lives of the early Christians and 
how they were strong in their faith.

We see the principle reason the faith of the early Christians was strong 
is because they witnessed. There were those who witnessed the 
resurrection of Jesus Christ, they did not fear but spoke what they saw 
and experienced. Then were those who were there with Him during His 
ministry spoke of what He taught and what they saw Him do.

They also had the courage to live a life different from those of the 
world, although they lived with the people of the world. The very early 
disciples of Christians were called people of 'The Way' before the name 
tag 'Christians' was given to them at Antioch for people could 
difference in them not only in their teaching but also in the way they 
lived their lives.

If we read writings of the early Christians we find they were so much 
anointed and led by the Holy Spirit that their text was almost flawless 
in matter and understanding.

We, who worldly show our 'good' character by helping the poor, or 
feeding the hungry among other social services we do. We mistake that 
this 'good' will get us to Heaven. Even though we are called to do 
social services yet the main service of witnessing Christ by preaching 
and living Him is something we cannot do without. On Judgment we will be 
questioned first about the spiritual hungry we met and did not feed. We 
will be questioned about the spiritual lost whom we did not shelter. We 
will be asked about the spiritual naked whom we did not clothe. We will 
be asked about whose who were spiritually thirsty for the understanding 
of the Kingdom of God, whom we did not give the Living Water.

Let us witness the Christ whom we have called as our Lord, Master and 
Saviour like the early Christians did. Let people know we are Christians 
not by our names, by our clothes or our social outlook but let them see 
Christ in us and know we are Christians. Let them hunger, thirst and 
crave for the Lord by seeing us and the way we live our lives, and let 
us be the vessel used to bring them to Him.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray we Christians do not be another religion in this world. 
Let the people of this world see we are different and that our God is 
indeed God and a Living God. Let them see You in us and desire You. We 
pray You give us boldness to witness You to them and to set ourselves 
apart from them even though we dwell with them...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Acts 1:22 - beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was 
taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his 
resurrection.”

Acts 3:14-15

14But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to 
be granted to you,

15and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To 
this we are witnesses.

Acts 10:39And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of 
the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree,

Acts 9:1-2

1But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of 
the Lord, went to the high priest

2and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he 
found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound 
to Jerusalem.

Acts 11:26and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a 
whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And 
in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

He is indeed God and King of His people

Micah 5:8 - And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the 
midst of many people as a lion <0738> among the beasts [tame or little 
beasts like cattle] of the forest, as a young lion <03715> among the 
flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth 
in pieces, and none can deliver.

I received this scripture yesterday but due to the translation it was 
very difficult to understand the message. Knowing the symbolism of the 
term lion and young lion the message seem to go tangent to the Bible, 
but later going into each Hebrew word and its roots I could understand 
the message and the scripture. Today's message connects to our previous 
messages both 'Rest in all areas of your life' and 'The untold story'.

I wrote about the Beast and we see he is also referred to as the 'lion' 
/ 'young lion' in Psalms 91 and the dragon as the adder. Lord Jesus is 
called the 'Lion of Judah' not actually putting Him as the animal but to 
what it symbolises and that is righteousness. So we see He is called the 
Righteous of Judah and not some animal of Judah.

The Beast is called 'young lion' or 'roars LIKE a lion' for he tries to 
come as a righteous being or as 'angel of light' as Paul put it. The OT 
uses almost 4 words that translate as 'lion'.

One 'ariy' <0738> refers to the aggression of the lion and comes from 
the root word which means plucking of grapes.

The word 'kephiyr' <03715> translated as young lion refers more to 
immaturity or being young and is also translated as village (small 
settlement) at some places.

The word 'labiy' <03833> also translated as 'great lion' more refers to 
the roar or authority.

The word 'shachal' <07826> is the one which is used symbolizing 
righteousness and is used both for the Lord as well as the Beast who 
tries to be god amongst the people.

In today's message the words used are 'ariy' <0738> and 'kephiyr' <03715>.

The Lord is telling us those who are His and baptized in Him (battle the 
inner-man / battle the old-man in them) will be like a lion amongst tame 
cattle. He will not be touched or harmed in any way. And he will have 
authority over spiritual matters that can destroy the people of the 
world and no one would be able to save them from his hands.

When we see the things happening in this world and what the Bible says 
about people of God we see a great contrast. We see people who call 
themselves 'Christians' suffering and being persecuted at the hands of 
people of this world. Do not think all are called to be martyrs? Yes 
there was a time when God allowed His people to be martyred but now is 
not that time.

God is saying if His people really seek Him and overcome their inner-man 
He will not only deliver them from the enemy but will cause their 
enemies to fear them. It is true when we read scriptures like 'He will 
set a banquet table before your enemies' and 'one chase a thousand and 
two put ten thousand to flight' and that happens only when the Rock or 
Christ is with them and in them.

So let us not fear the world but let us seek Christ in us. Christianity 
is a battle of overcoming the inner-man by the help of the Lord and 
letting the power of God shine through us. The battle starts within and 
the power is shown to the world outside.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray we come to know who You so as to know who we are in You. 
Lord we pray your people not live like rats in fear but live like lions 
that do not fear but cause the enemy to fear and flee. Lord may we let 
your power shine in us and through us the people of the world know You 
indeed are God and King of your people...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Psalms 91:13 - Thou shalt tread upon the lion <07826> and adder: the 
young lion <03715> and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

Deuteronomy 32:30 - How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten 
thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had 
shut them up?

2 Corinthians 11:14 - And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed 
into an angel of light.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

The untold story

Ezekiel 28:7 - Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the 
terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the 
beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.

If one reads Ezekiel 28 one will see there are 2 characters, one known 
as 'prince of Tyrus' (verses 2-10) and the second as 'king of Tyrus' 
(verses 12-19). It is Lucifer who is referred as king of Tyrus for we 
see his downfall is mentioned in those verses of how he enjoyed the 
company of the Lord in the High places and enjoyed the glorious things 
of Heaven and how evil got rooted in him with the coming of greed in him 
and causing his fall.

Everyone is focused on Lucifer the king of Tyrus (the Dragon) and none 
are even aware of this character called prince of Tyrus (the Beast). It 
was when the Lord revealed his identity to me I understood Revelation 
17:8 as who the Beast was who was and wasn't and was set free from the 
bottomless pit (Hell) and who the other Beast was, who was not visible 
to man and made himself god over man (in most places the word devil is 
plural). The second Beast (prince) rules in submission to the first 
Beast (king) until he is set free.

If one looks at all religions (leaving Christianity) and study the 
similarity between them and how they are interconnected in their 
understanding, and how the one behind them is common. The deceiver is so 
deceiving that it is just impossible for man to know they are under 
deceit until the Lord opens their eyes to it. It is written even the 
Elect would not have been saved from the deceit (mark of the Beast) had 
it not been for the Lord protecting them.

If one studies the OT we read when the Israelites worshipped Baal 
(unknown god) and goddesses like the Ashtoreth (Queen of Heaven) God 
delivered them into the hands of their enemies and they were killed 
brutally. One may think God who is called all merciful, how could He be 
so harsh. Understand a farmer need to remove or kill the weeds that can 
harm his harvest, in the similar way at time God need to remove those 
who can harm His true children by deceiving them.

If one studies religions we see even in religions like Islam man is 
lifted to the level of God for it has verses like Allah (supposing to be 
God) and his angels praying to Muhammad (Q33:56).In Catholicism we read 
the Pope declares himself in the position of God and states to have 
power over the Angels in Heaven and this is why the Pope wears the 
Triple Crown declaring himself King of hell, earth and Heaven. So we see 
this Beast has control of all religions even though they seem to be 
differences and against each other (it was at the tower of Babylon 
incident that God caused confusion between them). Even in Orthodox sects 
we see God being blasphemed and man being lifted above God.

The OT was a shadow of the NT and we see God is causing strangers to 
punish these people who call themselves His people, are deceiving the 
world and more important His children.

The time is at hand very soon we will see the fall of 'Babylon the 
Great', 'the Mother of all Fornications', the younger daughter of the 
prostitute woman (false Church) and who was worse than her elder sister 
(Jewish Church). So let us not be shaken at the events happening around 
but discern them and give glory to Lord for the things He is doing and 
for quickening the coming of His glorious Church where all Believers 
will be one.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we read in the Bible when things went over limits You intervened 
and caused turmoil amongst the people. But even in these times You did 
not let your people be consumed and You sent more Prophets and Men of 
God amongst your people to show them the way. Lord we know You are 
speaking to us today and reassuring us You are God and are still in 
control of all things and evil will not lay its hands on us so we do not 
need to fear, but we need to do the mission You have sent us for...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Ezekiel 28:2-10

2Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; 
Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit 
in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and 
not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:

3Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can 
hide from thee:

4With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee 
riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:

5By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, 
and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:

6Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as 
the heart of God;

7Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the 
nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy 
wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness.

8They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of 
them that are slain in the midst of the seas.

9Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou 
shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.

10Thou shalt die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hand of 
strangers: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 28:12-13

12Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto 
him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, 
and perfect in beauty.

13Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy 
covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and 
the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the 
workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the 
day that thou wast created.

Revelation 13:4-8

4And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and 
they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is 
able to make war with him?

5And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and 
blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

6And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his 
name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

7And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome 
them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.

8And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are 
not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of 
the world.

Revelation 17:8 - The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall 
ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that 
dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the 
book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the 
beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

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Rest in all areas of your life

2 Chronicles 15:15 - And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had 
sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and 
he was found of them: and the LORD gave them rest round about.

The testimony of Asa is a great testimony of how a man changes his ways 
to walk in the ways of the Lord and how the Lord blesses him with peace 
in all areas of his life. If we read this man was not perfect even after 
he repented and took strong steps like putting aside his own mother who 
promoted idol worship and made all to take an oath to the extent of 
putting to death any person who wavered from the way of the Lord. 
Scripture says all his life until he died (that is 35years after this) 
the Lord gave him rest and not even his enemies confronted him.

We Christians glorify Satan and keep stating that the enemy wants to 
destroy us. We keep falling into problems in various areas of our life 
all because we do not seek the Lord with all hearts. The problem is not 
the enemy but us who do not allow the Lord to bless us.

Our God challenges us to taste Him and see if He can change your life 
and your situations. In Spirit world there is no correspondence course 
which all love. One needs to either be in the Lord with one's whole 
heart to really experience His glory in our lives. It is not that we 
will not make mistakes and if we make mistake God will punish us. We see 
Asa did many great things but due to lack of knowledge and discernment 
he ignore the high places of worship. These places were not places 
wherein another God was worshipped but were places where the Lord God 
was worshipped but worshipped in ways which did not please Him.

Surely our God is the giver of Law, lover of the Law and desires we keep 
it for His Law is life to us. But He does not wait till we abide in each 
and every term of His Law to bless us. The moment we start to act and 
abide in His Law, He stretches His Hand and pours our His blessings in 
our lives.

If you have not given your life fully to the Lord, today is a day you 
can. Today you can make your mind to keep the Law of God in every area 
of your life. All that keeps you away from the Lord take them and 
discard them from your life. Do this and see how the Lord will bless you 
and give you rest in all areas of your life.

[Prayers Starter]

Lord You alone are God and You are zealous of your children. There are 
times You shake the lives of your children so as to wake them up and 
save them from eternal destruction. Lord we do not thank You for the 
problems in our live but thank You for not ignoring us and leaving us to 
destruction. We thank You for waking us up and for giving us this 
opportunity to change. We pray You give us courage to clean all the 
areas of that need cleaning. Help us that we like the people of Judah 
during the time of Asa whole heartedly followed You and experience rest 
and prosperity in all areas of our lives...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

2 Chronicles 15:1-3,7-9,12-17,19

1And the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:

2And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and 
all Judah and Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and 
if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will 
forsake you.

3Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and 
without a teaching priest, and without law.

7Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work 
shall be rewarded.

8And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, 
he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land 
of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from 
mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the 
porch of the LORD.

9And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out 
of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of 
Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.

12And they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers 
with all their heart and with all their soul;

13That whosoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to 
death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

14And they sware unto the LORD with a loud voice, and with shouting, and 
with trumpets, and with cornets.

15And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their 
heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: 
and the LORD gave them rest round about.

16And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her 
from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and Asa cut 
down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook Kidron.

17But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless 
the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.

19And there was no more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the 
reign of Asa.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Accuracy of the Word

Historical books

The Bible is a complete library, it is a collection of various types of 
books like prophetic, teaching, testimonies and chronicles. Some books 
may be multi-variety having prophetic word and well as historical 
records i.e. book of Genesis.

When Apologist debate with people of other religions especially Muslims 
they try to all ends to prove the Bible has having errors (not 
grammatical but factual) so they search for a needle in the haystack.

The Bible is made of 66books and hold 1,189 chapters. The total number 
of verses, depend on the translation i.e. King James Version (Authorized 
Version) has 31,102 verses (that make Psalms 103:1-2 as the middle 
verses and not Psalms 118:8) and 783,137 - 788,280words. Some 
translations have 31,175 verses; that makes Psalms 104:16 as their 
middle verse.

Even with so many words, verses, chapters and books, and almost 
thousands of years passing we have yet someone to come forward and prove 
one of them as false historically or even scientifically.

We have some very specific historical books like Kings 1 and 2, 
Chronicles 1 & 2 in the Old Testament and also books like Acts in the 
New Testament that record historical facts one after another and yet 
none have been able to prove any of these historical facts as being 
inaccurate or untrue.

The Old Testament existed before Jesus came as man and New Testament 
books from 200AD. The words and literate text can be contested for 
having errors (which do not affect the belief nor facts) depending on 
the manuscripts considered for translations but yet the principle facts 
between all of them remains the same and not one of the facts have been 
proven wrote.

We do not have cases where 2 facts are narrated differently giving 
contradicting information even though they are written by different 
people in different time periods. There are some people who tried to 
point to some but then they were found to be both right and each giving 
a different perspective of the same event.

If we look at so called other 'religious' / 'holy' books like in the 
case of Quran, wherever there are 2 contradicting verses the reader is 
told to consider the newer verse and ignore the older one. But then the 
people do not understand the book is not documented according to the 
time of its revelation (they believe Allah revealed these verses to 
Muhammad) but are documented according to topic. When one puts the 
verses in its actual time line one sees Muhammad changed and so did his 
words according the situation he was in. But in the Bible we see God and 
the people He inspired to document His Word neither feared people, nor 
situations and spoke/wrote fearlessly. Then there were thousands and 
thousands of people who sacrificed their lives to preserve this Word for us.

Let us understand what God and His people sacrificed to make this Book 
of Instructions of this Life to be made available for us. Let us value 
every verse and every truth that it puts to us so that it become a part 
of our life and we live it.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord You alone are God and your Word is light. You spoke the Word and 
all things were created. Your Word was given to man so that the light 
shines in him and through him and this light overcomes darkness forever. 
Lord we pray your people understand the importance of your Word...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

2 Timothy 3:16All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is 
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in 
righteousness:

Acts 5:19-20

19But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and 
brought them forth, and said,

20Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this 
life.

Revelation 22:18-19

18For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of 
this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto 
him the plagues that are written in this book:

19And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this 
prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out 
of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

These will be cut off and punished terribly

Zephaniah 1:6 - And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those 
that have not sought the LORD, nor enquired for him.

In the Old Testament there are places where the Lord says if they do or 
do not do certain things their names will be cut off or they will be 
removed from Israel, they are just symbolic to the real punishment on 
Judgment Day. Those commands are symbolic to spiritual Laws and the 
cutting off simply means that soul will not enter the Kingdom of God 
that is Heaven and that soul will be punished.

If one reads through verses 4 to 10 of Zephaniah chapter 1, the lord 
gives some of the reasons for which people will not be allowed to enter 
the Kingdom of God (Heaven) and what would surprise you is these and not 
from those who are do not know Him but amongst those who call themselves 
His people and worship Him (symbolic - Judah and Jerusalem).

I will note them briefly without going into details-

1) Those who worship Him but do not know Him - [Baal (means unknown god) 
like Christians who are Christians because of others or because they are 
born in a Christian family]

2) Those who do idol worship knowingly [like Catholics / Orthodox 
Christians - Chemarims refers to idol worshipers /priest]

3) Those who glorify themselves in the name of the Lord - [like fame 
seeking preachers - on rooftop / housetops]

4) Those that put the Man of God over the Lord - [disciples of Men of 
God and not of Christ Malcham means royal /king, prince and king's children]

5) Those who hold false righteousness due to their corrupt understanding 
- [dressed in strange apparels - like prosperity Gospel seekers]

6) Those who surpass the limits of deceit - [leap the threshold - the 
Hebrew word comes from the same base as the word used for asp / 
poisonous snake]

7) And lastly those mentioned in today's message - those who do not seek 
the Lord, who turn away from Him.

Seek the Lord does not mean those who do not believe in Him but means 
those who believe in Him but do not desire to know Him more and more. 
When we seek the Lord, it is His Name that we seek meaning His nature, 
His ways and His goodness also (among other things).

Those who turn-away from Him or back slide refers to those who dwell in 
light and love the pleasures of darkness. These are people who prefer to 
stand in grey areas and do not walk towards total light [repulse/resist].

In today's message the Lord is saying before we sleep in the Lord let us 
make sure we are not among these for if we are we will not be the ones 
to enter the Kingdom of God and would see worse punishment than the 
unbelievers.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray that You strengthen our spiritual feet that we may not limp 
or be frail in doing what we are called to. We also pray that you open 
our spiritual eyes and let us be blind or lacking sight. We pray we are 
filled with desire to seek You and know You more and more so that we 
become more and more like You to the point we are called your Sons...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Zephaniah 1:4-10

4I will also stretch out mine hand upon Judah, and upon all the 
inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off the remnant of Baal from 
this place, and the name of the Chemarims with the priests;

5And them that worship the host of heaven upon the housetops; and them 
that worship and that swear by the LORD, and that swear by Malcham;

6And them that are turned back from the LORD; and those that have not 
sought the LORD, nor enquired for him.

7Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD 
is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.

8And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD'S sacrifice, that I 
will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are 
clothed with strange apparel.

9In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the 
threshold, which fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit.

10And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that there 
shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the 
second, and a great crashing from the hills.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Rest like Him even if your boat fills up

Mark 4:37 - And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into
the ship, so that it was now full [fill].

We all love to go to shop when there is mega sale or visit a mega mall for
we know for we get great discounts and will have great choices and from
which we will surely get lovely stuff. The word mega changes our
perspective and expectation it causes us to imagine great things. But when
the same word is used with wrong things then it does the opposite like mega
problems. In such situations it causes deep despair, helplessness and
hopelessness.

In today’s message the English word ‘great’ is used for the Greek word ‘
Megas’. There was a mega storm and this storm caused not only the boat to
shake but also caused water to fill in the boat. Imagine a boat that was
rocking vigorously and water splashing in it and yet there is this man
Jesus sleeping in great peace in that same boat!

One may think these people should have not been troubled for they had the
Lord Himself as man with them. How would He have allowed them to die or
even get harmed when He Himself as man was with them?

Understand we are in better situation than them. They may have had the Lord
as man (Jesus) with them but we have the Lord as Spirit (Holy Spirit)
within us. As man the Lord was restricted for He had humbled Himself as man
but He was not limited only through the power of the Spirit. So the
position in which Jesus was at that time, today we are in that same
position since He gave us His Spirit. Now we have the Holy Spirit with us
when we are in our boat (our lives’ journey). Let it fill let anything
happen we can be assured we will not go down nor any thing happen to us for
He is in us.

When we declare ourselves as His people His Name gets attached to us. We
see in the Old Testament when the people did not know Him but just because
they called themselves His people they were protected and saved by the
mighty Hand of God. Bible says for His namesake He kept them and sustained
them.

With us we know the Lord for He manifested Himself, His Nature as man Jesus
to us. Also He gave us His Spirit who reveals the hidden and precious
things of Him and His Kingdom. Today when we are baptized in Him, we are
just not tagged by His Name, but His Name starts to live in us and be a
part of us. We are not His people just because we take His name like the
Israelites did but we are His people because He makes us His sons. The
Israelites were namesake but we are His Family. They were like outsiders
and we are insiders. So we today are in a better situation than what the
people in the boat were (Apostles before they received the Holy Spirit). We
are in the position of the man Jesus in that mega problem boat, for He is
Christ (Spirit of God on Him) and we are Christians (who have received the
Spirit of God from Him). Let us be at rest like Him knowing our Father is
with us and in us. Let our boats rock, go topsy-turvy or be fill with all
the problems of the world yet we should not be troubled within and be in
peace.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord Jesus You are called the Prince of Peace and You have given us your
peace. Lord let us know that we now have You in us and we are in the
position You were in that boat as man Jesus. Let us have faith that comes
from knowing You, a faith that does not shake for You are eternal. Let us
not look for Jesus in our boat but know that You have called us to be Jesus
in other people’s boats...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scripture]

Mark 4:36-41

36 And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was
in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.

37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the
ship, so that it was now full.

38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they
awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?

39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be
still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no
faith?

41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of
man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Blessings are not a confirmation of you entering Heaven

Hebrew 3:16 - For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not 
all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

There is this great misconception that any person who is blessed in 
worldly ways has the favor of God and will surely go to Heaven.

To understand life we need to look at the exodus of the Israelites from 
Egypt and their entry into the Promise Land, it is a shadow of Christian 
life, with great details.

There were 2 generations one which left Egypt and the other which 
entered and all among the first generation did not enter the Promised 
Land. Both the generations were fed well and taken care of throughout 
their journey in the wilderness so much so their shoes did not wear out. 
Both the generations saw great wonders of God, in fact the first 
generation saw more wonders of God than the second. But we see the 
generation what saw more wonders did not enter but perished in the 
desert because of their unbelief.

In today's message the Lord is telling us just because we are blessed 
more it does not mean you will enter the Kingdom of God. Understand if 
we are blessed more, we are tested more. If our heart is attached to the 
blessing and not to the one who blessed then we have a great problem at 
hand. One may be a mighty Evangelist or Healer or may be heading the 
largest congregation in the continent but if we have grieved the Holy 
Spirit we will be rejected entry to the Kingdom of God.

Joshua and Caleb did not do great wonders through larger part of the 
40years of journey in the wilderness. It was only in the end Joshua 
showed the strength of his faith and Caleb did nothing g much yet they 
two entered. God does not desire showmen but desires a faithful heart 
that has his or her priorities in place and keeps God above, right on 
the top.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, people know You are their healer and their deliverer so they come 
to You for their problems. But when they receive their healing or 
deliverance from their problems they are like the thousands that ate the 
bread and fish You multiplied, they saw the wonder filled their tummies 
and did not show up again. People desire blessings more than the one who 
blesses. Lord we pray your pewople be like the 2, Joshua and Caleb among 
the millions who left Egypt. That they hold fast their faith in You and 
hold their priorities in the right order...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Hebrew 3:14-19

14For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our 
confidence stedfast unto the end;

15While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your 
hearts, as in the provocation.

16For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came 
out of Egypt by Moses.

17But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that 
had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?

18And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to 
them that believed not?

19So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Numbers 14:22-24

22Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which 
I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten 
times, and have not hearkened to my voice;

23Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, 
neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:

24But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath 
followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and 
his seed shall possess it.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Feeding those who have eaten

Romans 15:20 - Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where 
Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation:

If one looks at the statistics of various 'religions', Christianity 
stands as the fastest growing 'religion' with Islam following as second. 
When people see this comparison they are happy with this facts, but when 
one introspects the belief then it is alarming. Christianity is growing 
at a rate of 1.8percent globally (being on the lenient side) means 
almost 2 persons are being saved and added per hundred, per year. And if 
one looks at Christianity, it calls all to be on a mission to save souls 
for Christ and when we look at the stats we see only 2 out of 100 have 
understood what the meaning of Christianity is. So what are the others 
doing even though we see so much activity happening in Churches and at 
events? They are feeding those who have eaten and not those who are hungry.

Lots of Christians are busy keeping the others busy by sharing the 
Gospel to those who already believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and that 
way they make feel they are Christian. If they were building them in the 
Word of God or edifying them then it would have been good but that is 
not happening, all they do is giving spiritual milk and keeping all as 
infants and not feeding solid meat and maturing them.

Visit any Church, house Church, or any evangelical meeting and you will 
see the same crowd again and again and in the same spiritual state year 
after year.

In today's message we see Paul who believed in working as a team and as 
part of the Body of Christ saying one sows and other reaps and yet 
refuses to work in places where someone has already done the sowing. He 
does this not to be aloof but Paul knowing the importance of reaching 
out to the great lost harvest, it is better to cover new territory than 
to work existing fields.

It is shameful when we see globally only 2 percent true Christians in 
our times. Let us introspect and retrospect ourselves as to what and why 
we believe in Jesus Christ as Christians.

[Prayer Starter]

Father God people go where they can get blessed but there are few who 
desire to be vessels of blessing unto others. We pray Lord You increase 
the number of true Christians knowing that we do not have another 2000 
years till You come again to judge. Lord break the yoke of deceit, 
laziness and fear that holds your people, fill them with courage, wisdom 
and boldness to witness You to those who do not know You and save the 
lost sheep...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Romans 15:15-21

15Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in 
some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to 
me of God,

16That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, 
ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles 
might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

17I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those 
things which pertain to God.

18For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath 
not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed,

19Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; 
so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully 
preached the gospel of Christ.

20Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was 
named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation:

21But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: 
and they that have not heard shall understand.

Matthew 28:19-20

19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of 
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit:

20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: 
and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Agreement in testing the Spirit of God

Acts 5:9 - Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed 
together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which 
have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.

Yesterday I saw a message 'Do not worship your Pastor but worship the 
one whom he preaches of'. You want wonder what is the relevance of the 
above statement to today's message.

We see between the husband and wife Ananias and Sapphira there was love, 
but this love was a false / misunderstood love. One of them got tempted 
to hold back what the Spirit of God had instructed them to give and the 
other due to 'love' conspired along. They thought they could fool / test 
the Holy Spirit. One may think the punishment mentored to them was 
harsh, but this one would only understand the when one knows the level 
of their spiritual maturity in the Lord at that time. The Lord judges us 
according to what we are blessed with, the more we are given the more is 
expected of us.

The same was the story with Adam and Eve. Adam by himself would have not 
eaten of the Tree of Doubt (Good and Evil) but it was his 'love' for Eve 
that made him fail in his discernment and that led to the fall of both.

People use the term 'Agape love' as 'God kind of love' and 'Agapao love' 
is 'human love'. They do not understand there is no God kind love or 
other kind of love. 'Agape' simple means love and 'agapao' is a 
conjugation of the verb and means 'I love'. True love was never known to 
man. It was only when the Lord came as man and manifested true love that 
man started to know the true meaning of love. In some translations not 
knowing how to express the word Agape it is translated as 'charity'.

Love does not mean to be good to another person. Love means being 
concern of the wellbeing of the person that means whatever one does has 
to benefit the other person even if it may displease the person for that 
moment. Love edifies and builds and blesses. To really love one needs to 
have maturity and that means one needs to be blessed with the Fruits of 
the Holy Spirit, that is why Paul says all the other Fruits compound in 
this Fruit named love. Love is unique in itself it cannot be compared to 
patience but has a nature like it. Patience is not a Fruit but more of a 
Fruit salad, but love is as Fruit and still requires other Fruits for 
this Fruit to grow.

In today's message the Lord is telling us let us not think it is love 
when we agree with any person to go against the plans of God, even if 
that person is a Man or Woman of God or even family. That does not mean 
we revolt against people. We need to be gentile in our ways like the 
Lord is with us but we should not give in along with the other person to 
test the Lord.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord You came as man and showed us true love and became love manifested 
in the flesh. If it was not for You man would have never known love. 
Lord we pray let our love be not a misled love that pleases and leads to 
destruction or vanity. We pray Lord we grow in wisdom and discernment so 
as to know how to love one another, we also pray we grow in the other 
Fruits so as to know how to sustain this love and grow in it. It was 
misled love that caused man to sin and we know it is your true love that 
saves us and makes us overcome sin...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Genesis 3:6-13,16-19

6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was 
pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she 
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband 
with her; and he did eat.

7And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were 
naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

8And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the 
cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence 
of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

9And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

10And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, 
because I was naked; and I hid myself.

11And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of 
the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

12And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave 
me of the tree, and I did eat.

13And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast 
done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

16Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy 
conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire 
shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

17And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of 
thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, 
Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow 
shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

18Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt 
eat the herb of the field;

19In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto 
the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto 
dust shalt thou return.

1 Timothy 1:5Now the end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, 
and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:

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Believe or do not believe

Acts 28:23, 24 - And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to
him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of
God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and
out of the prophets, from morning till evening. And some believed the
things which were spoken, and some believed not.

Yesterday we had received the message about pursuing the delivery of the
Message of this life. In today’s message we see Paul who was arrested and
taken to Rome and who knew this was his end of life yet did not fear. Even
though he had an idea of how he would die yet he had one aim and one
purpose to deliver this Message of this life to as many people as possible.
This fervor caused the favor of God to be upon him. We know from records
the Roman centurion who was with him on the ship and who was given the task
to bring Paul before Caesar had accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior. We
also know from records that Paul got a full 2 year date in advance to stand
before Caesar. During this time as we see here Paul was not behind bars in
a prison but was under house arrest. He could move around freely with an
escort solider and he could continue his work of giving the Message of this
life while living in a rented house. Imagine he was preaching all over Rome
with an armed escort.

If we have the passion and burning desire to give the Message of this life
to the people, God will surely make way for us like He did for Paul.

One may think Paul who was a very knowledgeable and anointed person, his
teaching would have been easily accepted but we see here even though Paul
spoke with great persuasion (conviction of personal experience and with
evidence) yet there were some people who accepted his Message and some who
did not. These people were not pagans or heathens but were Jewish scribes
who knew their scriptures well yet Paul’s evidence was not accepted by some
of them.

This Sunday at service my daughter surprised me by telling me ‘dada why do
they keep preaching the same thing again and again’, ‘is it that people do
not understand’, ‘these are basic things’. To avoid getting into a
discussion with her on this topic I told her 'it is for the new people'.
Then she said ‘what do the old people do?’ I then had to keep quiet.

Like the Israelites told Jeremiah do not preach us hard things so also we
see in Church people love to hear smooth things. Things that make their
hearts glad that they are doing well in the Kingdom of God, things that do
not correct their way of life. Our Churches are filled with ‘Church
teachings’ which are simply aimed at keeping people in Church and keeping
them blessed (financially and in health). A simple test is check the
foundation course of any Church and you will find they attend to only one
of the four topics which are fundamental to Christian belief. What will
surprise you is, two among the four even the Pastors and Church leaders are
not clear with; raise these topics and you may find as many understandings
as the number of people.

When Paul saw how some accepted the Message and some did not, he
immediately remembered the words of the Lord spoken through Elijah saying “Go
unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand;
and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is
waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they
closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and
understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal
them.”

[Prayer Starter]

Lord people want You because they have problems and have desires which are
more of this world than of the Kingdom of God. They live as if they are
going to be here forever. Lord we pray the people seek the healing of the
inner-man more than physical healing. That they understand this body
perishes and this world will cease to exist but your Kingdom is forever...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Acts 28:16-17,25-29

16 And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the
captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a
soldier that kept him.

17 And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the
Jews together: and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and
brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of
our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of
the Romans.

25 And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that
Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet
unto our fathers,

26 Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall
not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive:

27 For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of
hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their
eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should
be converted, and I should heal them.

28 Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto
the Gentiles, and that they will hear it.

29 And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great
reasoning among themselves.

Hebrew 6:1-3

1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on
unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead
works, and of faith toward God,

2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and [but also] of laying on of hands, and
[but also] of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

3 And this will we do, if God permit.

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Messengers of this life keep going

Acts 5:18,19,20 - And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in 
the common prison. But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison 
doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the 
temple to the people all the words of this life.

Just a couple of days back I was to go to a jail to preach for the 
Passover Week, so I asked the Lord for a topic and was given a 
scripture, thus I prepared for it. But unexpectedly there was a problem 
for us to enter the jail due to some security issues. Since I had a 
message I did not give up till the last minute, even up to late night I 
waited for some change to happen and to get a good-news of getting entry 
the next morning. I even took leave from work hoping something would 
happen but nothing did.

Whenever I got a message I have seen things amazing changes happen, even 
in worse situations and I have got to deliver the message the Lord gave 
me. But like once before when I did not get to preach and I looked at 
the message I saw the message was not for the people but was for me. In 
this case also after witnessing some events that had happened the day 
before and were to happen the next day I realized once again the message 
was for me, I had received 2 Timothy 1:8.

In these few days I experienced many people who hate the Truth and are 
lovers of worldly understanding. They play 'church' and love 'church 
teachings', teachings that do not change any person but make a person 
feel 'all is well' (many among them will talk of 'strong Word' but they 
give nothing more than milk). Like the message dated 31st March titled 
'Namesake or Dead Christians' which spoke of Christians with 
uncircumcised hearts and uncircumcised ears, these people want to feel 
'Christian' but do not want God to touch certain areas of their life. No 
doubt they have changed a lot from what they were, but they have some 
areas in their live where a 'no entry' board is put and no one, even God 
is allowed there. These people did manage to disturb me to some extent.

In today's message we read when Peter and the other Apostles were put 
behind bars an Angel of the Lord appeared and setting them free sending 
them to do the job they were called for, and that is to give 'the 
message of this life'.

The Word of God (Instructions of this life) was spoken in the beginning 
when darkness came into existence and this Word will return to God after 
it completes what it was sent for. By the scripture that was given to me 
then and the message given today, the Lord encouraged me and now is 
encouraging you too to understand the importance of what we preach.

There are many in this world who love darkness and death, they hate the 
things of light and life. These people may not knowing God or may even 
be people who have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ but are people who 
resist the Holy Spirit. Many among them love to play Church and would be 
very active members of 'Church', but because the active old man (carnal 
spirit man) within them they cannot stand the Truth and do not want to 
completely change. They feel the little change in them and all the show 
that they do before man is sufficient.

Let us not be discouraged by these people. We should pray for them and 
if they still remain persistent like Jesus said dust your sandals and 
walk ahead, God will judge them, but at no position should we halt in 
our journey and mission.

[Prayer Starters]

Lord, You are the giver of life and we messed with this life that You 
gave us yet You did not give up on us. You gave us your Word which 
guides us through this life and bring us back to You so that we can have 
life in abundance again. Lord we thank You for using us as messengers of 
this world giving your message of life. Strengthen us more and more so 
that we succeed in delivering this message to all those we are 
commissioned to...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

2 Timothy 1:8Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, 
nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the 
gospel according to the power of God;

Isaiah 55:11 - So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it 
shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I 
please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

Proverbs 6:23For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and 
reproofs of instruction are the way of life:

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