R.D SOUZA Saved by faith

Law of the flesh and Law of the Spirit

Acts 21:20,21 And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said 
unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are 
which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:And they are informed 
of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to 
forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, 
neither to walk after the customs.

There is always this debate on the Law, the Law of the Old Testament and 
Law of the New Testament. Most Christians believe all that is said in 
the Old Testament is not for them to follow. When you ask them about the 
Ten Commandment they will not deny it and say they need to follow it 
since Jesus spoke about it in the New Testament. So they pick and choose 
from the Old Testament. They do not realize Jesus Himself said He did 
not come to change anything of the Old Testaments (Prophets and of Moses).

So we see there is always this great dilemma of the Old Testament like a 
large morsel in the mouth which is precious to waste and difficult to 
swallow. The place where we all get off track is when we read what the 
Israelites did in the Old Testament.

Firstly we need to note the Israelites rarely followed what the Lord 
told them to do since they never understood the Lord and His 
instructions fully. So there were times God had to take some extra 
actions for them since they were hard of heart like the question on the 
Law for divorce which Jesus raised, likewise was the Law of Sabbath 
which God hardened and hardened as they refused to follow simple 
instructions of trusting Him (with regards to Manna collection).

God knew the Israelites (Jews refers to Israelites who dwelled in Judea 
/ southern Israel) would not understand His Law since they did not 
receive His Spirit therefore gave them statutes which they did in the 
flesh. It was these statutes which the Jews made as Law since they 
followed the letter (text) and not the spirit of the letter 
(understanding of the text). You will see in NT two different terms like 
'Law of Moses' and 'Law of the Lord' used.

Yesterday the Lord spoke to us about the value of Truth and today the 
Lord is telling us to know the Truth is impossible for man by himself. 
The wisdom of man will never understand His Word and if we try we will 
become like the Jews who call themselves God's people but are far from 
God. Jesus used the term Satan's children to people who were leaders of 
the Jews and Jews themselves.

One does not become a child of God by converting to Christianity or 
change of name or being born in a Christian family. One becomes 
Christian by surrendering one's life to Christ, following His Word and 
His Spirit. When one surrenders to Christ that person gets removed from 
the vine of Adam and gets grafted to the vine Jesus Christ, the person 
also gets credited with 'sins paid for' in his or her life records and 
on death is not questioned for his or her sins. What the person gets 
questioned for is, if the person has kept the Word of God and followed 
the Spirit of God. That does not mean everything written in the Word of 
God but all that the Spirit of God has revealed to that person. We also 
cannot say we will not study more so we will be judged less, for by 
doing this we are rejecting the Word and that as good as not abiding in it.

As we thirst more of the Word the Spirit of God reveals more of the Word 
unto us and with this we also receive more grace to walk in the Word. If 
we know more we need to abide by that more since more grace also is 
given unto us. So by knowing more it actually becomes easier and not 
difficult. It only becomes very difficult when we try to dwell in the 
flesh or operate in the flesh as we grow in the Spirit. In the starting 
we may have success in standing in both the boats but as we grow and 
boats repel each other more than it becomes impossible to stand in both 
the boats and we may not be in either one of them but in the water.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray your people know by circumcising the natural flesh no one 
can become a Christian or your Child. It is only by circumcision or 
cutting of pleasures of the carnal flesh can one come to You and receive 
your Spirit. It is by following your Spirit and your Word that we become 
your Sons and inherit the Promised Land - Heaven. Lord we pray your 
people grow more and more in the Sprit and be led by your Spirit...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Luke 5:14And he charged him to tell no man: but go, and shew thyself to 
the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded, 
for a testimony unto them.

Matthew 19:7-11

7They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of 
divorcement, and to put her away?

8He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts 
suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.

9And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for 
fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso 
marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

10His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his 
wife, it is not good to marry.

11But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they 
to whom it is given.

Luke 24:27And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto 
them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Luke 24:44And 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 1:17For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by 
Jesus Christ.

Romans 2:29But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is 
that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is 
not of men, but of God.

Romans 7:6But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein 
we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the 
oldness of the letter.

2 Corinthians 3:6Who also hath made us able ministers of the new 
testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, 
but the spirit giveth life.

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To boast or not to boast?

2 Corinthians 10:13 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.

People are told pride is the greatest evil and it was pride which brought
Lucifer down, this is not fully true. Before pride came into Lucifer came
greed. Lucifer (Light bearer / Morning Star/King of Tyrus/Dragon / Serpent)
was an anointed Cherubim and was one among other Cherub (Revelation records
them as Beasts) they would be the first to worship the Lord since they are
closest to the Glorious Center (Throne) of the Lord (God is Spirit and is
omnipresent).

Ezekiel 28 records the stages of the fall of King of Tyrus (Lucifer). In
Heaven everything is good and free but taken as and when required, here we
see Lucifer took more and having more he started having pride. It is like a
wedding banquet where one person takes more than he can eat and then starts
to tease others that he or she has more than others we may see this as
foolishness but when these things are more precious than diamonds and gems
of this world than it does make an impact. It can also be compared to an
army person who goes to the army store room and picks all the variety of
weapons more than required for his mission, and then starts feeling proud
of himself for having more and then looks down on others.

The Kingdom of God and the plans of the Kingdom of God is Light so anything
that goes against the plans or principles of the Kingdom of God is
darkness. Darkness came into existence with the foolishness of this Cherub
who was full of wisdom but greed did not let his wisdom to prevail. After
greed came pride in him and pride caused his tongue to speak evil and
deceive others and thus caused the fall of a third of the Angels of Heaven.

Like greed so also pride is evil but we see in today’s message Paul talks
of justifying his boasting. Pride can be a delicate factor like greed to
understand and for that we need always wisdom to prevail above all. To have
needs is not called greed but to have desires above your needs then it is
called greed. If the desires are self-centric without purpose then it is
greed. If these desires are for spiritual things to do a job then it is
justified but if the desires go beyond a requirement for the job then it
becomes spiritual greed which is worst then worldly greed.

In today’s message we see Paul talks of pride of a measure and the measure
set by God.

We can have endless pride in our God like David did before Goliath. Our God
and His Kingdom are beyond measure so we can be endlessly proud of His
Kingdom and of Him but when it comes to us even if it is spiritual we
should know the purpose and the measure and not go beyond the measure.

It is always when wisdom fails that greed, pride and other evils take root.
If wisdom and understanding holds on then we will never have pride, greed
or any other evil. One may say Adam and Eve (Adam in particular) were made
full of wisdom for they had the image of God in them but then yet they
sinned. Satan being wise (but not wise enough to discern good and evil)
enticed Eve and not Adam first. He attacked the weakest one and knew the
love of Adam for Eve would blind him and cause him too to fall. He used the
weapon of doubt to entice man to sin.

The greatest evil of wisdom is doubt and the only way to overcome doubt is
by Truth and Faith. Bible says when we become Disciples of Christ (be
faithful to Him) we will know the Truth and the Truth will set us free.

I have seen many people growing in the Lord who once called themselves as
Pastors (Bishops), then Preachers / Evangelist and then called themselves
Prophets and now call themselves Apostles. They lack understanding of
Callings and its purpose. Paul says although we can do all things in Christ
yet we have a Calling which is set to us for life. It is like a plane which
flies and can also drive on the runway but does not compare itself to a
race car. The plane does not choose to fly therefore flies but flies
because its maker designed it to fly. If the plane does not fly but just
drives around like a car, it would cause its maker to be sad.

Let our focus be on the Kingdom of God and the plans of the Kingdom of God.
Let us never focus on ourselves beyond a measure of the purpose God has
made us. When Jesus said we would do greater things than Him, He did not
mean we would be more powerful than Him. He was perfect as man and had the
fullness (Image) of God in Him yet He said this because He did not do
things beyond the requirement so that in all what He did He glorified the
Father and not Himself. In our times the requirement has increased so we
are called to do greater things. If we are in line with Christ, being true
disciples of Him then we will surely do greater things than Him.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray we increase in wisdom and understanding of the Truth. We pray
we our faithfulness to Christ be strong and thus we increase in the Truth.
We pray at the times of testing our wisdom prevails and we do not fall. Let
our focus be You and not us...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Ezekiel 28:12-19

12 Son 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.

13 Thou 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.

14 Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so:
thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in
the midst of the stones of fire.

15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till
iniquity was found in thee.

16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee
with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane
out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub,
from the midst of the stones of fire.

17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted
thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I
will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities,
by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from
the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes
upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee:
thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.

Romans 11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are not repented of.

1 Corinthians 7:20 Let each man abide in that calling wherein he was
called.

2 Timothy 1:9 who saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not
according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before times eternal,

2 Peter 1:10 Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence to make your
calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never
stumble:

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You and your Household will be saved

Acts 16:31,32 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou 
shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the 
Lord, and to all that were in his house.

When unbelievers come into the Lord their hearts are set that their 
family members also be saved and they are always given this scripture 
from Acts 16:32. This scripture gives a lot of hope to them and sets 
them to keep pursuing and keep patient. But many a times I have seen 
things do not work for these people and at times even that person's 
faith gets shaken and that Believer tends to lose faith.

If we look at scriptures and take for instance Jesus' own family. We 
have Mary His mother who was close to Him through thick and thin before 
His death and resurrection. Her faith was strong but there were times 
her faith was shaken like when people accused of Jesus having an evil 
spirit, she with her son rushed to see if Jesus was okay. Jesus did get 
angry and did not come out of the crowed meeting immediately, instead 
questioned as to who were His mother and brethren.

We also see among Jesus's brethren (children of Mary and Joseph) none of 
His brothers or sisters were with Him in His 3 years of ministry. Gospel 
of John clearly records the unbelief of His brethren even after He did 
the great miracle of multiplication of 5 loaves and 2 fish to feed 5 
thousand. We see only after His crucifixion and resurrection James and 
Jude become disciples. Jesus' other brother Jose is not listed anywhere 
in the Bible nor are any of His sisters.

To understand today's message we need to see this with Noah's floods. 
Noah believed in the Lord and built the Ark. His family was saved 
because they stepped in the Ark with Noah, had they not stepped in the 
Ark with Noah could they have been saved? No.

We see in today's message the jailer believed in the Lord and he was 
given the assurance that his family would be saved. Previously I thought 
this to be a prophecy but then I realized this was not a prophecy but an 
assurance, a promise. We see the jailer after believing took the 
Apostles to his house and the Apostles shared the Word with his family 
members. His family members accepted the Word and thus they were saved.

When we believe in the Lord we cannot just sit, prayer and hope that 
since we are saved our family too will be saved. We need to take the 
Lord into our family, which means they need to see Lord in us. We also 
need to share the Word with them. Things may not be easy if we are not 
the head of the family like the jailer, yet we are called to take the 
Word in different ways even if drop by drop as and when possible. There 
are times even if we bring the dead to life yet they will not believe, 
even at that time this scripture is not void. We need to understand 
family is not build by blood relationship but by spirit relationship.

Today India celebrates Republic Day and a person may legally become an 
Indian by his or her birth in the land, but if that person goes against 
the interest of the nation then that person is called an enemy of the 
nation and that person is not looked at as an Indian.

Bible says unless we are not ready to leave our earthly family (family 
by blood relationship) we will not be blessed with a Heavenly Family 
(family by spirit relationship). The Father and Mother of our Heavenly 
Family is the Lord, and the chief brethren of the family is Jesus 
Christ. Bible says if we lose a brother or sister, father or mother for 
the Lord's sake we will be blessed a hundred fold. But that does not 
mean we should just forsake the earthly family the Lord has put us in. 
We need to do our best to show them the Lord and give them the Word, 
rest we need to leave up to them since the only way a person is saved by 
is by their own faith and not by the faith of another.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray for all the unsaved members of our family. We pray that 
their hearts do not harden. We pray for guidance to bring them to see 
You in us and wisdom to deliver the Gospel and Word unto them. We pray 
that every member of our temporary earthly family be part of the 
permanent Heavenly family and none be lost...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Mark 3:30-35

30Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.

31There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, 
sent unto him, calling him.

32And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy 
mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.

33And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?

34And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, 
Behold my mother and my brethren!

35For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my 
sister, and mother.

Mark 10:29-30

29And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man 
that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or 
wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,

30But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and 
brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with 
persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

John 7:1-5

1After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in 
Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.

2Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand.

3His brethren therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, 
that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest.

4For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself 
seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the 
world.

5For neither did his brethren believe in him.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of 
yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Romans 5:2By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein 
we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Chosen men

Acts 15:22 Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole 
church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and 
Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among 
the brethren:

We see in today's scripture the Church commissions a team to Antioch. 
The Antioch which they were going to was a prosperous metropolis city in 
Syria on the banks of the river Orontes (there was another city named 
Antioch of Pisidia). The team consisted of 2 lots of persons one lot was 
of Paul and Barnabas and the other lot was Barsabas and Silas. We see 
the main people chosen for the mission were Paul and Barnabas to fulfill 
the purpose which the Church had in Antioch. But yet they found it good 
to send Barsabas and Silas along. Bible records them as influential 
people (chief men) may be having influence in the Church or may be with 
general public.

Today's message is telling us we Christians should not be politically 
isolated people. It may be municipal, state or even in social circles, 
we need to be connected to people.

There is the extreme thinking that God is capable to do all things so 
why do we need to please people. True God is capable to do all things 
and He is also capable to raise the dead to life so do we wait for a 
person to die and then pray for that person?

Let us understand God is capable of all things and the problem is not 
with God. The problem is with us and our faith. It is our little faith 
that hinders us from receiving all that the Lord has set for us. It is 
our little faith which allows the enemy to attack us and cause damages 
and losses. So while we are growing in the Lord we need to understand we 
need to be wise also according to the world and be connected to it. But 
this is supposed to be little and not too much. We see many Christians 
are more political or socially connected than God connected. They 
organize Christian events and are at the forefront of managing funds, 
permissions or people but when it comes to God they show no glory of God 
in their lives or the things they do.

Understand yeast / leaven was not allowed in any of the sacrifices 
leaving for only one sacrifice which was the wave sacrifice (peace 
sacrifice). As we make peace with God we also need to make peace with 
mankind and Bible says as much as it is possible stay in peace with all 
mankind. It says 'if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live 
peaceably with all men' and not a blanket order because we are told not 
to compromise with our relationship with God for the sake of man. We are 
called not to compromise our principles and our beliefs towards God for 
the sake of man.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray your people become wise and understand the need to network 
with other people. We pray they do not isolate themselves for candle 
stand is not kept under a table but upon the table for others to receive 
the light. We also pray that they trust in You more than trust in man. 
We pray they do not compromise being a Christian and the values of being 
a disciple of Christ...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Leviticus 23:17Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of 
two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with 
leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.

2 Corinthians 13:11Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good 
comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace 
shall be with you.

Romans 12:18If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably 
with all men.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Quieting the Spirit

Zechariah 6:6-10

6The black horses which are therein go forth into the north country; and 
the white go forth after them; and the grisled go forth toward the south 
country.

7And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and 
fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro 
through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth.

8Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, these that go 
toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.

9And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

10Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of 
Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go 
into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah;

Some theologians try to link the horses to historical events that have 
passed before Jesus came as man but these horses are also mentioned in 
Revelation 6 as events yet to take place thus showing them as prophecies 
after the early Church. In Zechariah and Revelation there are 4 horses 
white, red, black and pale/spotted.

Horses in the Bible symbolize progression or change, their description 
gives idea of the kind of change. Some places horse / chariots also 
symbolize speed or quickening [Hebrew word means swift]. In Revelation 
the order and detail of horses when compared to history give us an idea 
of where we are in the timeline and what we can expect next. If you see 
the horses go forth but do not return which means the stages may 
continue and overlap with the unfolding of the next stage. Without going 
into details we are somewhere between the black and pale horse. This 
means we are yet to see death and destruction unfold like never before 
and we are soon to see the fall of the false Church which martyred many 
Christians in the early years.

In today's message the Lord is telling us that people have silenced His 
Spirit. The interesting and surprising part is in knowing who these 
people are which have silenced His Spirit. The Lord lists them as 5 
types of people [by names of the places] who have silenced His Spirit 
and mind you all these are 'Christians' whom we are talking of here.

1) Worldly Christians

2) Prosperity Christians

3) Highly knowledge filled intelligent Christians

4) Confused Christians

5) Bodily / healing centered Christians

The first includes Christians who are focused on the materialistic 
things of the world or things offered by the world like power, status, 
fame etc. their greed slowly silences the Spirit of God and overcome Him.

The second speaks of Christians who come to God purely for blessings and 
not for God Himself these are characterized as Prosperity Christians. 
These love the things of God which may not necessary be good job, good 
lifestyle, it may even be ministry which makes them famous and well 
known and respected among Christians. These prosperity seekers also 
silence the Spirit of God and overcome Him.

The third include Christians who pursue knowledge and understanding of 
the Kingdom of God from man in ways that are worldly. They study who 
said and why but not what God said and why. These people believe men 
more than God. Their arguments will be power packed but their faith nil. 
These people need just a small problem or hurdle in their lives and they 
will give up on God. Unless one does not have a revelation of God, one 
is on shaky grounds.

The fourth lots of Christians are the majority. They are the confused 
Christians. They are the ones that divide the Word of God into words of 
God. They are the Peters of today who have spiritual foot in the mouth 
sickness that is why they avoid Bible discussion and deep Bible study 
totally. They say Gospel is simple and sufficient so 'do not complicate 
the Word of God'. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of Truth who reveals 
the Word and these people do not allow Him to do so.

The last lot is those who seek the Kingdom of God on earth. They are the 
lot who think this earth will continue forever so they seek bodily 
benefits like healing and beauty and health. They are like the sons of 
Joseph who fought the battles but did not cross the river Jordan unto 
the Promised Land. They are the miracle makers, people who manifest the 
gifts of the Holy Spirit yet are far from the Spirit of God.

In today's message the Lord is talking of these five categories and He 
is going to bring them down. He may change them or eliminate them and 
see they do not exist in His Church.

Church Callings are based on the 7 Spirits of the Holy Spirit, the 
Church operates on the Gifts of the Spirit and what they build are the 
Fruits of the Spirit, so His Church is centered on God's Spirit, the 
foundation being the Spirit of Truth.

Let us understand Jesus is the cornerstone, He is the Way, His Spirit is 
the one who leads us on the Way and aligns us to be like Him. Christ 
means the Man with the Spirit of God and we cannot break the two and 
still be Christians. We need to follow the Man Jesus (His Words) with 
the Help of the Holy Spirit, so if we do not surrender and be led by His 
Spirit then we fail as Christians.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray your people understand You came as man and paid the price 
so that we may receive your Spirit. Lord we pray without abiding unto 
your Spirit there is no way we will enter Heaven. Your Word says those 
who are led by your Spirit are Sons of God and Heaven and heritance is 
not for children but only for those who mature into Sons. We pray your 
people listen to what your Spirit is speaking unto them...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen

[Reference Scriptures]

Revelation 6

John 1:10-13

10He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew 
him not.

11He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

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:

13Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of 
the will of man, but of God.

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

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Laws of the flesh

Acts 15:23-29

Yesterday I was having a discussion with some brothers in the Lord who
though Satan was an actual serpent and not symbolic. Due to this we have
Churches who play with serpents to show they do not fear Satan and Satan
has no power over them. Now in scriptures Satan is also pictured as dragon
(Chinese mythical creature), goat, hippopotamus/crocodile, young lion and
beast etc. So in Ezekiel when the King of Tyrus (Satan) decorated himself
with jewels was it the snake who wore it or was it the goat, or the
hippopotamus / crocodile, or the young lion (I can imagine how they would
look) and yet Bible says Satan looked very beautiful. If the snake did
speak I can imagine the language it spoke. Was it Hebrew (like Muslims
think all will speak Arabic in their Paradise) or another language more
perfect (since God must have designed it) which is now lost.

There are people who did research to find if the Tree of Good and Bad was
an apple tree or fig tree. There are also people who are searching for the
Garden of Eden based on the layout of the rivers. There was an archeologist
writer (Dr. E K Victor Pearce) who wrote in his book about a place which
matched the location and the soil was rich, they also found a ground water
table in that place which confirmed that before sin when Adam was farming
he did not need to water or do much efforts, the ground table water would
be sufficient so Adam just sowed and reaped, but they did not find any
garden there.

We see man when he is told to imagine God he draws an strong old man with a
white beard since he reads words like ‘Father’, ‘ancient’ and ‘wisdom’
associated with God. There is a movie on Moses named Gods and Kings where
the makers went overboard and showed God as a young boy of 10 to 12 years
old (every young adolescent God).

When it comes to Heaven, people have the weirdest of imagination. They draw
castles made of gold studded with diamonds and gems floating on clouds.
Such a place would be good to look or as a monument but to stay in such
place is unthinkable; walking on gold streets siting and sleeping on
uncomfortable gold furniture. Many people imagine the first thing they will
do once they land in Heaven is eat at the largest dinner table imaginable,
with lots and lots of variety of food. I can imagine after the dinner what.
Are they planning to keep eating endlessly like Muslims think of having
wine and sex endlessly in their Paradise.

People have lowered the Kingdom of God and the Heavens because the flesh is
very strong and the flesh limits the spirit in all ways. When the Lord
started teaching me and opening my mind to the spiritual things in the
start it was just unimaginable to digest things. For example the Fruits of
the Spirit we think them as attributes but in spirit world they are more
real than our flesh and blood or matter of our world.

People used worldly wisdom o understand things of the Spirit. Paul was a
wise man yet he said things of the Spirit are revealed by the Spirit.

In today’s message we see the people of the flesh tried to please God by
Laws of the flesh. The Apostles on seeing this said there were just basic
things required of the flesh; otherwise the things of the flesh would not
please God for God and world do not go hand in hand.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray man overcomes the flesh and the bondage of the corrupt flesh
on man. We pray man be led by Spirit for your Word says those who are led
by the Spirit are Sons of God...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Acts 15:23-29

23 And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and
elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the
Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:

24 Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have
troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be
circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:

25 It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen
men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

26 Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ.

27 We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the
same things by mouth.

28 For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no
greater burden than these necessary things;

29 That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from
things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves,
ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

1 Corinthians 3:1-3

1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto
carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not
able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and
strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

1 Corinthians 2:6-14

6 We speak wisdom, however, among them that are fullgrown: yet a wisdom
not of this world, nor of the rulers of this world, who are coming to
nought:

7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, even the wisdom that hath been
hidden, which God foreordained before the worlds unto our glory:

8 which none of the rulers of this world hath known: for had they known
it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory:

9 but as it is written, Things which eye saw not, and ear heard not, And
which entered not into the heart of man, Whatsoever things God prepared for
them that love him.

10 But unto us God revealed them through the Spirit: for the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

11 For who among men knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the
man, which is in him? even so the things of God none knoweth, save the
Spirit of God.

12 But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is
from God; that we might know the things that were freely given to us of God.

13 Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teacheth,
but which the Spirit teacheth; combining spiritual things with spiritual
words.

14 Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for
they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are
spiritually judged.

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God of the Living

John 5:28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that
are in the graves shall hear his voice,

For Catholics graves and worship are a very important part of traditional
belief. They pray to the dead, pray for the dead and serve the remains of
the dead.

As a Catholic when my father expired, my love was measured by the
arrangements of funeral service (and its subsequent monthly service), the
grave monument made to bury his mortal remains and me visiting it every
year to put flowers and candles to it on a day marked for the dead.

Many Believers are not far behind they too do have unbiblical believes with
regards to the dead. Believers know when dead are buried the flesh perishes
yet they believe when the dead rises they will have flesh same was what
existed before (looks). Paul says flesh and blood will not inherit or enter
the Kingdom of God / Heaven (1 Corinthians 15:50). Heaven is a
Holy/incorruptible place and our corrupt flesh bodies cannot enter Heaven.
Jesus as man was the only human in the flesh on earth who did not sin, He
alone was one who did not see corruption therefore He alone was resurrected
in the flesh. If you note after resurrection He was as human in flesh as us
so much so that His disciples would touch Him but yet He would pass through
walls (John 20: 19), appear suddenly or defy gravity which no human can do
(ascend). Some of these abilities were not manifested in His body even
before His death and Resurrection. Note in scriptures He transfigured /
took a form of light which was like a spirit body as that of an Angel. To
understand this we need to understand the design of man and how our bodies
are made and how man got corrupted when man sinned (in fact sin means
corruption).

We need to distinguish Grave stated here from earthly graves. The Grave
mentioned here is the spiritual level / dimension where human’s souls /
spirits of those that believe in the Lord rest. By faith in Christ we are
saved from Hell, so those who believe in Christ sleep in the Lord, in other
words they rest in this place called Grave.

There are some questions people put forward about dying and going to Heaven.

People ask if we are saved from Hell by our faith in Christ then what about
those who existed before Jesus was born 2000 years (approx.)?

If one reads the Old Testament in all the books you will find all those who
were in the Lord when they died, it is recorded that they were ‘gathered
with their fathers’ / ‘gathered with their people’, but those who did not
believe or rejected the Lord it is simply written that they died.

There is another favorite one which speaks about Jesus telling the robber
who was crucified with Him ‘today you will be with me in Paradise’. Firstly
Jesus did not go to Heaven that day and this He Himself tells Mary
Magdalene after His resurrection on the 3rd day. The Greek word translated
as ‘today’ also means ‘that day’. If you read the discussion between Jesus
and the robber, it was about Jesus coming back in His glory on Judgment Day
and Jesus tells him on that day he would be with Him in Paradise. Paul too
says we all will stand before the Judgment Throne on Judgment Day.

Our thinking is so programed by the Catholic Church and pagan
understandings even though we have rejected Purgatory we have indirectly
accepted other of their beliefs when it comes to death and life.

In today’s message God says we do not die when we die naturally for we will
hear His voice and rise. He is telling us He is God of the living and not
God of the dead.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray we do not fear death for You are our God and You are not God
of the dead but of the living. When we sleep we know we will hear your
voice and rise to see You come in your glory. We Lord await that Day when
You come in your glory...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Luke 24:39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me,
and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.

Acts 2:29-32

29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David,
that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.

30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath
to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would
raise up Christ to sit on his throne;

31 He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his
soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.

32 This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.

1 Corinthians 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Matthew 25:31-33

31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels
with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate
them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

John 5:24-29

24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth
on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when
the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall
live.

26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to
have life in himself;

27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is
the Son of man.

28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are
in the graves shall hear his voice,

29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection
of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

Romans 14:10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at
nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of
Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according
to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

2 Peter 2:9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations,
and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

2 Peter 3:7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word
are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and
perdition of ungodly men.

John 20: 19 Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week,
when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the
Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto
you.

Matthew 17:2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as
the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.

Acts 7:59-60

59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon the Lord, and saying, Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit.

60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this
sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Genesis 25:8 And Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an
old man, and full of years, and was gathered to his people.

Genesis 35:29 And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto
his people, old and full of days: and Esau and Jacob his sons buried him.

Luke 23:40-43

40 But the other answered, and rebuking him said, Dost thou not even fear
God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?

41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but
this man hath done nothing amiss.

42 And he said, Jesus, remember me when thou comest in thy kingdom.

43 And he said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with
me in Paradise.

Matthew 22:32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God
of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

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Handling persecution

Acts 4:29, 30 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto 
thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, By 
stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be 
done by the name of thy holy child [slave] Jesus.

When someone or a group of people comes against us Christians or against 
the Church we find people start praying for deliverance and release. It 
is like shouting help. But we see here in Acts when Peter and John were 
threatened they did not shout help instead asked to Lord for more 
boldness and for signs and wonders.

Jesus says pray for them who persecute you, He did not say pray for 
yourself when they persecute you. Paul says in Romans bless them that 
persecute you. He goes on saying if thy enemy is hungry feed him and if 
thirst, give him a drink and by doing this you spiritually heap burning 
coals on his head. Paul says our battle is a spiritual battle not a 
natural battle so what we do in the natural should not have counter 
effect of our intention in the spiritual. Our victory in the spiritual 
is more important than our victory in the natural.

So what should be our intention? Should it be freedom from persecution 
or freedom from suffering during persecution?

It is none of these.

The word 'bless' in Hebrew is Barak and in the book of Job 2:9 is also 
translated as 'curse'. People think bless means to give something good. 
Understand we are dealing with God here. A God who knows everything and 
who, as scripture says has given everything we need even before we were 
born, it is our faith condition which allows us or deprives us from 
receiving things which God has already made available for us in the 
spirit. In scriptures we see when men of God blessed they spoke the 
blessing and did not simply say God bless you.

Blessing simply means quickening and by speaking the blessing we are 
quickening those particular things set in the spirit to manifest in the 
natural (prophesy). In other words by saying 'God bless you' we are 
simply saying God deal with you quickly. Now if the heart of that person 
is good (a child of God) then we land quickening the good things and if 
the heart is hardened then we land up asking God to harden the heart 
further and manifest His glory, by this we simply say 'let God judge you 
quickly'. It is not wrong to say 'God bless you' if we in our hearts 
have good things for that person but if we are upset we should not judge 
that person instead leave it to God to judge that person.

Today's message clearly addresses the intentions we should have when we 
are persecuted. Peter prays for more boldness and for signs and wonders. 
But doing this we are actually confronting the spirit which is coming 
against us. Our intention is and should always be salvation of God's 
lost people (Gentiles) and the glory of God. For those who come against 
us, if they are God's people (have the seed of faith in them) then we 
should aim to let their eyes be opened and they turn towards God.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord You are God and You alone are Almighty. We pray your people do not 
fear people who harm the flesh for we dwell in this flesh temporary. We 
pray Lord that we put your purpose above all like You put the Ark in the 
Holy of Holiest place while the Shewbread and Candlestick was placed in 
the Holy place. Lord we pray we understand before we came to know You we 
too were rebels who did things that hurt You. We pray the way You saved 
us we too may be vessels to save others...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Matthew 5:44But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse 
you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully 
use you, and persecute you;

Romans 12:14Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.

Romans 12:20Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, 
give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

Romans 14:13Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge 
this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in 
his brother's way.

Job 2:9Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine 
integrity? curse God, and die.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

The worldly king and its abominations

Daniel 11:29,30,31 At the time appointed he shall return, and come 
toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter. 
For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be 
grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so 
shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that 
forsake the holy covenant. And arms shall stand on his part, and they 
shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily 
sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.

If one reads the commentary of Barnes with regards to Daniel 11 right 
from 1 it shows how the prophecies was fulfilled later in history, verse 
by verse and word to word. But then Barnes stumbles on verse 31 for when 
Antioch went to attack Egypt ruled Cyprus the Egyptians surprisingly 
called for the help of the Romans and the Romans sent ships which did 
not allow Antioch to invade Cyprus this was fulfilled. But the later 
parts of the verse referring to the holy covenant, daily sacrifice and 
abomination confused even Barnes for they more refer to the Anti-Christ. 
It is only when one gets into the symbolic representation of Egypt and 
Rome that we understand this.

Egypt in Hebrew means 'dual strait' and spiritually symbolizes spiritual 
gentiles (lost sheep) or those who call themselves children of God but 
live their life as worldly people (dual life). Rome (meaning strength) 
on the other hand symbolizes the False Church (Vatican - 'little horn') 
which as stated here is neither a kingdom nor a church but states to be 
both. We see legally the Vatican is an elected monarchy, a kingdom with 
the Pope being placed as its king (he has a crown and throne) but we see 
they project themselves as a Church, a religious body having the largest 
number of followers in the world.

Yesterday's newspaper carried the news of the two Mercy Doors opened in 
two Catholic Churches in Mumbai. It stated anyone who passes these doors 
will receive forgiveness since the RC Church is celebrating its Jubilee 
(Mercy) Year. This news has shaken even the fence sitting Catholics so 
much so that today the Archdiocese of Bombay put a clarification on its 
website which I quote below -

“There is a Whatsapp message being circulated with regard to the Doors 
of Mercy which is misleading. It gives the impression that merely 
walking through the Doors of Mercy will result in the forgiveness of sins.

It must be understood, that walking through the Door of Mercy 
indicates the desire for the forgiveness of sins, and walking through it 
symbolises a leaving behind of the past and entering into a new life 
through Christ, who is the door! These doors are not magical doors and 
we need to understand that to experience and obtain the Indulgence, the 
faithful are called, as pilgrims, to avail of the Sacrament of 
Reconciliation, to participate in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist 
with a reflection on mercy, make a profession of faith, and pray for the 
Holy Father and for his intentions for the good of the Church and of the 
entire world.

Please note that walking through the Holy Doors is not a substitute for 
the Sacrament of Reconciliation.”

Now I wonder if these 2 doors are Doors of Mercy then are the doors of 
the other RC Churches Doors of Wrath and people passing through them not 
shown mercy. Before Jan 17 2016 launch of these Mercy Doors the people 
who entered these very doors and did their sacrament of Reconciliation / 
confession, where they not forgiven or shown mercy? How does this 
complain and propaganda affect Catholics that follow traditional 
catechism, does this override the sacraments if not then why this? Is 
this another blooper of the RC Church?

This is similar to what happened in 1500s when the Catholic Church Pope 
Leo X in Rome sold one time use 'get free tickets' / indulgences from 
Purgatory for large amounts of donation. There was a saying at that time 
"As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs."

Pope Leo X did this because the squandering life of the previous Popes 
emptied the coffers and they needed money to finish and pay for 
St Peter's Basilica. The Bishops of various Churches were conned into 
this by allowing them to keep half of the collection. This abomination 
enraged theologians like Martin Luther who rebelled against the Church 
and thus started the reformation movement.

Bible says God has mercy on whom He desires and not by entering some 
doors that too by the orders of people who do not know Him or are far 
from Him and His Word. Bible says grace (mercy required) can only be 
received by faith and that is why we are saved by grace through our 
faith in Christ. We also are forgiven when we believe in the forgiveness 
of the Lord and through repentance and reconciliation with the person we 
sinned against receive it (not by confessing to a priest).

It is time we expose the abominations of the 'little horn' of Daniel for 
the Bible says the period of rule of this 'little horn' over the nations 
is over.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray that eyes of the people who are still in this Church 
thinking it is founded by You are opened. We pray they are freed from 
the deceit of this 'little horn' and they are saved from your wrath. We 
pray abundance grace not by entering through doors but by increase of 
their faith in You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Romans 9:15-16

15For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, 
and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

16So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of 
God that sheweth mercy.

Psalms 85:10Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace 
have kissed each other.

Romans 5:2By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein 
we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Ephesians 2:8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of 
yourselves: it is the gift of God:

1 Timothy 1:14And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with 
faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

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Who was bought out of Egypt, who saw the glory?

Jeremiah 23:7, 8 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that 
they shall no more say, The LORD liveth, which brought up the children 
of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, The LORD liveth, which brought 
up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north 
country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they 
shall dwell in their own land.

I like an example which a Preacher gave, there were two people who were 
discussing what the Lord has done in their lives and how they came in 
the Lord. The first one said he fell from the third floor and 
miraculously not a bone of him was broken and this incident changed his 
life and he came in the Lord. The other person said he did not have to 
fall off the third floor or go through disasters to acknowledge God and 
come to know Him.

In prayer meeting and services there are people prayed over, who keeping 
falling and manifesting the power of God and this they do again and 
again and you see these people over the years are in the same spiritual 
state. They religiously attend meeting, prayer services and are the 
first to rush when asked 'who needs to be prayed over'.

Then there are people who when prayed over do not fall externally but 
that one time they have broken internally has changed everything in 
their lives. You may find their attendance not very good but these 
people will be active in doing the work of the Lord and becoming holy 
vessels serving the Lord.

We see in today's message the people whom the Lord bought out of Egypt 
were not the people who reached the destination they ought to have 
reached. It was their generation that really came out of Egypt. The 
first lot saw the glory of God; they saw all the great miracles and the 
great battles the Lord fought for them. They were the ones who received 
the Law of God and heard His voice. But it was their generation which 
experienced the glory of God. They did not fight battles like the 
previous generation did but they walked into the plan of God for they 
abided in the Law of the Lord.

Today the Lord is asking us who do we like to be the former or the 
later. Are we seeking signs and wonders or want to be vessels through 
whom the Lord does signs and wonders. If we want to be like the second 
then we need to abide in the Lord, His Word and be led by His Spirit.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray that we know You and do this not externally but internally. 
Lord we pray your people not seek God by sign and wonders by truly seek 
You and see signs and wonders happening though them...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

John 6:29-33

29Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye 
believe on him whom he hath sent.

30They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may 
see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?

31Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave 
them bread from heaven to eat.

32Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave 
you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread 
from heaven.

33For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth 
life unto the world.

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Doulos Meditation on Hearing God (#9 of 12)

#9 of 12 Meditations on Hearing God

Scripture: Ephesians 1:17-18—I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give  you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him…

Reflection: One key to hearing God is prayer. Through prayer we open a gateway into our hearts through which God’s spirit can pass. His Spirit uses the Word of God as a sword—hacking away the dense undergrowth, slicing between the fleshly and the spiritual; separating the temporal from the eternal; dividing soul and spirit. In the whole process we experience God’s grace, love, discipline, and power. These things communicate in a hands-on way God’s will and our calling. 

Scripture speaks many times of God as our guide, our shepherd, the source of divine wisdom. These things do not come because we are intelligent, educated, intense and studious. These important traits all come from our fleshly nature, but it is God’s work in our hearts that the scripture calls “enlightenment.” It is not flesh sourced, but God sourced.

Prayer Starter:  Father, we pray that your may give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation. We acknowledge this is not just symbolic flowery religious talk, but the real way you deal with hearts that trust you, hungering and thirsting for your righteousness. Amen.

King in reign

2 Kings 15:1 In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel
began Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah to reign.

We see in this scripture there was a gap between the reign of Jeroboam and
the reign of Azariah because Azariah was too young to be king so they
waited till he was 16years old to be made king.

We all call Christ as King but we do not understand why He came and what He
meant when He gave us ‘authority’.

When God created man God gave man dominance over all of creation (this
level of creation). So man was king (Princes of God / Israel) of this
creation but due to sin man lost his kingship because he lost the image /
corrupted the image of God in him.

John 1:12 says Jesus came to give us back or restore the corrupt image and
make us again Sons of God via His Spirit. And when we become Sons of God we
will also be stored our rule or kingship. At places we see Jesus as man is
also called Chief King and we see at the end man led by Jesus Christ crush
the plans of Satan.

In today’s message God is telling us He is awaiting us to mature
spiritually so also is the whole of creation and we will reign again.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray we who have been corrupted with disbelief and led to be rebels
against You may by your love and understanding of the Word grow in faith
and become men of authority like Jesus as man was. Lord we pray You quicken
this process in your people and may your glory be seen soon...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Genesis 1:27-28

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he
him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living
thing that moveth upon the earth.

John 1:10-12

10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew
him not.

11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

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

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

Revelation 1:5 And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the
first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto
him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

Matthew 19:28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye
which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit
in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging
the twelve tribes of Israel.

Matthew 25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the
holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Blending with people [edited]

Mark 14:67 And when she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him, and
said, And thou also wast with Jesus of Nazareth.

We see Peter was following Jesus as Jesus was taken place to place after
being arrested. We see Peter tried to blend himself with the people and be
like one of them by doing what they were doing, that is warming himself at
the fireplace, but yet he was identified from amongst all.

People think the Last Supper was on Wednesday, Jesus was arrested after
that and it was on Thursday He was moved around and beaten, thus crucified
of Friday so they called it Good Friday. This came from the Catholic Church
which proactively changed lots of things so that they are not followed as
commanded by the Lord and we have Believers following this since Believer
Churches are not fully rooted in the Word.

It is very simple to know details of this if one knows the book of Moses.
The Last Supper was actually the Feast of Unleavened Bread which Jesus and
His disciples were celebrating. This feast started on a Sabbath (Saturday)
so Jesus was arrested on Saturday evening. Jesus was called the ‘Lamb of
God which takes away the sins of the world’ and He fulfilled this as a
Paschal Lamb. A Paschal Lamb was observed for 5 days so also was Jesus kept
under arrest for 5 days. It was during these 5 days that the Jews whipped
Him (30-1 lashes using a standard whip) and then the Romans whipped Him
(100 lashes using whips having 9 to 13 strands and sharp flesh tearing
objects tied to the ends of each strap, also there were minimum 3 persons
who whipped turn by turn and not just 1 person).

The Feast of unleavened bread was usually after the Passover week but was
celebrated along with the Passover week from the time Israel was in exile
in Babylon and this continued during the time of Jesus (to shorten the
process - that is why Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke talk of it together
while John states it as after). Jesus did this change for He (His Word) was
the Bread that they ate and He had to show them this before He died. The
Jews received forgiveness after they offered a sacrifice but for us it is
God who offered the eternal sacrifice therefore by faith we are forgiven
before and come to the knowledge of it when we receive His sacrifice.

Now if consider the 5 day of arrest then crucifixion happened on Thursday
evening. With Jesus being put in the tomb on Thursday evening then Sunday
becomes the 3rd day when He resurrected and this fulfills all scriptures.
Now since people follow the Catholic Church you will find they give
theories upon theories to justify the falsehood that they follow blindly
like Peter gave lies upon lies.

Let us understand as Christians we can blend with people for world affairs,
day to day life but when it comes to belief (kingdom of God) we cannot
blend with people and become one among them. Do we want to be like Peter
who lied and denied Christ time and again? Like for instance when we say He
died on Friday and not Thursday we deny He was the Lamb of God which took
away our sins since we state He failed to be the Paschal Lamb and fulfill
as it was written.

Let us understand even if we try to twist and turn the Truth still the
Truth will surely stand one day for God is Truth and His Word is Truth and
does not fail, like He is Love and His Love never fails. So let us not be
like Peter was at that time, if we need to stand out and be persecuted so
let it be, but let us not deny our Lord and His Word. People of the world
can hurt our flesh but our spirit is strong and they cannot touch our
spirits.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray your people do not try to blend with the world and in the
process compromise with the Truth. We pray they be a bright burning lamps
on a stand placed high to shine to all and not under some furniture. Lord
give wisdom and courage to your people to know the Truth and to stand in
the Truth...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

John 1:29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Matthew 26:2 Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover
[week], and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.

Mark 14:1 After two days was the feast of the Passover [week], and of
unleavened bread [week]: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how
they might take him by craft, and put him to death.

Exodus 12:1-6

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,

2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the
first month of the year to you.

3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day
of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the
house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:

4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his
neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls;
every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.

5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall
take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:

6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and
the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the
evening.

Matthew 26:17 Now the first day of the feast of unleavened bread the
disciples came to Jesus, saying unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare
for thee to eat the passover?

Luke 24:27 And 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.

Dated 13 Jan 2016

Rollwyn DSouza

Blending with people continued...

Romans 14:15 But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest 
thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.

Our today's message continues yesterday's topic. Yesterday we were told 
about not compromising our belief for the sake of people but today God 
is telling us about some areas where we need to compromise for the 
larger interest.

Yesterday I read a comment by someone on a Gospel Flash Mob video which 
I posted on You-tube. This Flash mob was done by youths of various 
Churches in Mumbai who took courage to witness Christ to the public. 
There were among them a few new Christians who had just accepted the 
Lord and were on fire for His Kingdom. Now the 'Christian' person (I do 
not know where he came from whether a village or some other country) was 
commenting on their clothes and what they wore and condemning them for it.

Another incident I want to share a brother from Nigeria added me to a 
group where I saw everyone were posting all kinds of vulgar photos of 
'Christian' women and other people and postingcomments like 'OMG' and 
'see, see what this woman is doing' etc. What I saw was these people 
wanted to enjoy these things forbidden to them so they were doing that 
under the disguise of condemning them.

Take the case of Mary the Magdalene. Bible says she was a woman 
possessed with many (seven) spirits and Jesus delivered her from them so 
she loved Jesus the most even more than any of His disciples or any 
other woman who tagged with Him. Theologians state her to be the woman 
whom Jesus has saved from being stoned. This woman was condemned to be 
adulterous woman for she had relationship outside marriage and scripture 
says they bought her to Him to tempt Him so surely they did not bring a 
special woman but someone they could do away with. Now nowhere in 
scripture we read of Mary Magdalene's husband so she would have been a 
widow who had relationships with other men.

Had Jesus condemned Mary the Magdalene as the Pharisees and Sadducees 
did, then she would have been dead and her soul would have been lost but 
she died believing in Christ. When God chose us did He see our bad 
points or that very little good we had in us. Had He not concentrated on 
the little good would not have been the person we are today.

There are areas which are not fundamental to our belief like those not 
concerning our salvation directly. They are areas like what we wear, 
eat, do, our language, things concerning in our daily life. These thing 
are important for our Christian life for they reflect our inside being 
but if they become a hurdle in bringing a soul to Christ we are told to 
comprise. Compromise means a temporary and external not permanent and 
inward compromise.

Like in today's scripture talks of what we eat say like meat if it 
causes a person (a veggie) from accepting Christ then we should for a 
period become veggie ourselves so that we get to interact with that 
person and bring that person to Christ. Another example, say like we 
call a Muslim or Hindu at home for dinner or to stay we cannot cook pork 
or beef respectively even though we know food does not defile us and 
animals are not gods. Same with clothes if by what we wear becomes an 
obstacle for a person from communicating with us then woe to those 
clothes even if they are most descent i.e. we need to wear jeans and 
t-shirt to make youth confortable around us, so be it. But we are not 
called to go beyond a limit like drink alcohol at bars or socialize 
indecently so as to witness to alcoholics or lost youth; in that case we 
will ourselves be lost and would need someone to come and save us.

When compromising always remember any person who does not know to swim 
should not jump in a pool to save someone drowning.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray when we look at others we do not see the external 
weaknesses of the people but see the internal strength; we do not look 
at the wrongs outside but see the rights inside even if they are 
minuscule.Lord we pray we always remember the day You saved us as to 
what state we were in and how unworthy we were before we point fingers 
at others. We also pray we do not become religious Christians but living 
examples of Christ...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

John 8:1-11

Luke 8:2And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and 
infirmities, Mary [the] called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,

Matthew 27:56Among which was Mary [the] Magdalene, and Mary the mother 
of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children.

Mark 15:40There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary 
Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;

Mark 16:1And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the 
mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might 
come and anoint him.

Matthew 28:1In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the 
first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the 
sepulchre.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail


The Oneness of the Godhead

John 17:23I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in 
one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved 
them, as thou hast loved me.

Man is so programmed by natural worldly system that they apply the same 
to the spirit world.

In the natural world if a+b=cthen b=c-abut in the spirit this system is 
not necessary applicable. That is why Jesus stunned the Jews with the 
scripture in John 10:34,35 calling people of the Lord as gods, He was 
quoting Psalms 82:6.

We know Christians talk of Trinity while Bible talks of Godhead. Both 
talk of 3 individuals and their oneness but the Trinity talks of 3 total 
different beings but having common features or properties while Godhead 
talks of different beings having not just common features or characters 
but actually one and this is only possible when we approach them as 
being concentric meaning one inside within another. We see this in what 
Jesus speaks in today's message. Scriptures states we will become little 
gods all because our Heavenly marriage, which is nothing but we becoming 
a part of the Son who is a part of the Father.

God is Spirit and in Heaven which is a Spirit place we will be spirit 
beings. And spirit is not a natural being made in the flesh and trapped 
in the flesh to have a restricted shape or be restricted to a dimension 
(levels) of creation.

Spirit world is more complicated than what life form exists here on 
earth or this level of creation. We have one life one being but at times 
when we see Siamese twin children or little of animals born which are 
joined together having common organs or parts of the body we do not say 
they are one but say as 2 beings fused as one. Similarly in Spirit world 
there are complex beings like Cherubs which have multi beings (lives) in 
one being (that is why they are symbolically described as having 
multiple heads, hands, wings etc.).

When we look at God, He is more complex being than man can even imagine 
for He alone has eternal life in Himself meaning endless lives in 
Himself. All life forms were created from Him (leaving for the Son who 
is a part of Him thus not created). We as humans when we go to Heaven 
will be spirit beings like Angels and get to live eternally, that does 
not mean we will have endless life within ourselves but we will have 
opportunity to continue life via the Tree of Life (which is not a real 
tree like earthly trees but can be understood by understanding earthly 
trees since everything in this world is made to understand things which 
are hidden from the natural eyes). When a person goes to Hell their 
spirits will perish slowly or die after its life term for they do not 
get access to the Tree of Life which is in the upper Heavens (which Paul 
states as Third Heaven / upper 3 levels of Heaven).

Let us not fuse pagan beliefs like Hindu Brahma (god with 3 heads), 
Tridevi goddesses Parvathi/Laxmi/Saraswati or Dev Shakti 
Parvati/Durga/Kali; Greek Helcate goddesses Hebe/Hera/Helcate or Roman 
Helcate goddesses Luna/Diana/Helcate similar understandings of various 
pagan beliefs into Christianity or see the Kingdom of God through 
glasses that are tinted with pagan beliefs. But let us know and 
understand the Kingdom of God with a renewed mind and understanding 
according to His Word.

We cannot use earthly (worldly) wisdom and worldly approach to 
understand heavenly things but need a revelation from God for this. 
Understand the wisdom of man is polluted and corrupted over years and 
years by infection of disbelief that is why wise (worldly) people have 
weak faith. Faith does not mean being committed but means believing in 
the Truth. If wise people knew the Truth then their faith should have 
been most strong and should have manifested the glory of God. Jesus said 
unless we do not become like little children we cannot enter (know) the 
Kingdom of God. He did not say we need to be world smart people who 
analyses with worldly wisdom. He says He will put His Spirit of Truth 
and Wisdom in us and make us truly wise so as to make the wise of the 
world look foolish.

Understand knowledge of the truth and righteousness are both required to 
see the glory of God that means if we know it we need to live it to see 
the glory of God. Even if we do not know lots and know little and we 
keep the little than too we will manifest the glory of God more than a 
person who knows a lot and keeps none. Note without knowing the truth we 
cannot be righteous because we become religious and not righteous when 
we do things in the name of God but contrary to His Kingdom.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray your people approach the Kingdom with a renewed mind and 
cleansed by the pollution of this world. Lord we pray your people do not 
degrade You and your Kingdom by comparing You to man or your Kingdom as 
an earthly place. Your people do not understand when You humbled 
yourself You did not degrade your position but yet became a lower being. 
We pray for a change in their thinking and understanding...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

John 10:34-35

34Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?

35If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the 
scripture cannot be broken;

Genesis 3:5For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your 
eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Exodus 4:16And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall 
be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to 
him instead of God.

Psalms 82:6I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the 
most High.

John 1:18No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which 
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

John 8:42Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love 
me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, 
but he sent me.

John 15:26But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from 
the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, 
he shall testify of me:

John 17:5-7,11-12

5And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory 
which I had with thee before the world was.

6I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the 
world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy 
word.

7Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are 
of thee.

11And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I 
come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those which thou 
hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

12While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: which 
thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of 
perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

Philippians 2:6-8

6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a 
servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became 
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Believing and unbelieving Christians

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.

We see in Rome even though Paul was under house arrest yet he had freedom
to preach even the whole day nonstop. Today’s message shows there were
people who after fixing an appointment with Paul sat the whole day either
listening quietly or may also have had a good discussion, yet we see at the
end part of them believed and part did not believe. We all know of Paul’s
level of understanding of scriptures and we had people who spent the whole
day with him yet did not believe him to be right. The problem was not with
Paul but with them. The main reason was he did not give them simple milk
but gave them strong meat. Paul taught them about Jesus / Cross through the
books of Moses and books of Prophets.

Today we have educated Jews who are so admired for they knowledge and
wisdom the world over but this earthly knowledge and wisdom terribly fails
when it comes to the Kingdom of God. We also have Believing Christians,
that too a large number of them who think the Old Testament is Old and has
nothing to do with Christian root belief in Jesus Christ, it is just for
reference or historical information. There are very few Christians who
really understand the Bible as Word of God and not Words of God. This is
not the problem with ordinary Church going Christians, even most Preacher
and Pastors fail terribly when it comes to Old Testament.

In the Jewish Church among the religious Jews were the Pharisees and
Sadducees. The Pharisees believed the Torah and the books of the Prophets
(full Old Testament) but lacked understanding of it. The Sadducees on the
other hand were the ‘wise guys’ but believed only in the Torah, for them
the books of the Prophets were not considered Canon so even if they
referred to them they never believed them as Word of God. Since (earthly)
wisdom was their obstacle things like Angels, resurrection, Heaven etc.,
things which are not visible were areas where they had disbelief and crazy
understandings, and areas of nonstop discussion and debates.

Even among Christians today we have Christians Pharisees and Christians
Sadducees. There are many a times you teach things from the Bible which are
outside ‘Church doctrines’ and they will waste no time to point a finger of
heresy at you. The reason being the Church is not built on the Rock (One
Rock Mountain / Cliff - Spirit of Truth) but is built on Samaria (Rocky
Mountain - Little Truths - Deceit). If one studies the prophecies in the
Book of Prophets this was foretold. God was well aware and spoke in advance
about it. We see the first thing before giving images / idols / relics to
the people the first thing the Catholic Church did was split the Bible into
Old and New Testament like Jews did between Torah and books of the Prophets.

Let us understand Word of God is ONE WORD and NOT WORDS of God. All
scriptures interrelate and connect to each other like one net. Jesus
fulfilled the Old Testament and whatever Jesus preached was from the Old
Testament even though it seems to be opposite. Leaving for the book Gospel
of John (since it is more an Autobiography of our Lord Jesus Christ) all
other books relate to Old Testament teachings, like here we read in Acts
Paul taught from the Old Testament.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray for the right understanding of the Word among your people. We
pray the Church stands strong on the Rock of Truth and thus see the glory
of God. In Acts it is written they were on one desire and one understanding
and this desire and understanding was not a worldly desire or worldly
understanding but desire and understanding of the Truth or the Kingdom of
God. We pray we receive and grow in the knowledge and understand on the
Kingdom of God and work for the one purpose of the Kingdom of God thus
lacking in no area of our lives...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Luke 24:27 And 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 1:45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him,
of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth,
the son of Joseph.

Acts 26:21-23

21 For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to
kill me.

22 Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day,
witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those
which the prophets and Moses did say should come:

23 That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should
rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the
Gentiles.

Acts 4:32-35

32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one
soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed
was his own; but they had all things common.

33 And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of
the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

34 Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were
possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the
things that were sold,

35 And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made
unto every man according as he had need.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Land of Honey

Acts 28:1 And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was 
called Melita [Honey].

We see in the Bible the Lord promises His people a land of milk and 
honey. Let me ask you is milk and honey outputs of a land? No.

Land neither gives milk nor honey. Milk came from the cattle which the 
people were herding along and honey is a product of bees, so did God say 
I will give you a land full of bees; is that good?

You can say God promised them a fertile land where they could graze 
their flock and a land which was naturally rich blossoming with abundant 
flowers so that bees could make honey. So in other words God promised 
them a fertile, naturally rich land. But if God had to just promise them 
a fertile, naturally rich land then why did God say a land of milk and 
honey?

Even today God promises every person that comes to Him a land of milk 
and honey and this has nothing to do with a land or piece of earth. 
Israel is still fighting for a piece of earth not knowing what God 
promised and in bargain losing the most precious things of life.

Bible shows us Abraham was promise the land and when he died he did not 
inherit any land but yet he died satisfied and not in grief.

Paul says milk is for infants and strong meat is for the mature, he was 
not talking of actual milk but spiritual milk in other words basic 
understanding. Gospel is milk that is why Jesus said after giving the 
Gospel, teach the Word. Also when He asked Peter 'do you love me' 3 
times, He also gave us the steps of ministering His sheep. He said feed 
my lambs, tend my sheep and then feed my sheep. Milk is feed to 
spiritual infants, as they grow they are tend to and as they mature they 
are taught the Word.

Coming to honey, the best scripture to understand honey is Proverbs 
18:21. You may wonder why I am referring to Proverbs 18:21 for honey 
when it talks of life and death effected by what we speak.

If one looks at the later part of the scripture it says 'they that love 
it shall eat the fruit of it'. It is only when eats a good fruit or 
poisonous fruit does one benefit or get affected by it. If you look it 
says 'loves it and eats it'.

Initially I would believe people who preached that we get affected by 
our words or by words of others. They would state if we spoke any wrong 
word against our lives or if any person said any wrong word against us 
we need to immediately cancel those words in the name of Jesus. One 
evangelist went to the extent of making people to say 3 times 'I cancel 
these words in the name of Jesus'.

We know how at times people abuse or curse us but we are not affected by 
it but at times they do. The same with our own words, many a times they 
do not affect but at times they do.

It happened with me, before coming in the Lord I used to be very busy at 
work and used to often say 'I have no time to breath', over a period of 
time I started having breathing problems. When I cancelled it in the 
name of Jesus, I was delivered of it. But if a person people say 'you 
will die', do we die or do start falling sick immediately? Or if one 
calls us monkey or donkey, do we become one? No.

So what is the reason of the sometimes 'yes' and sometimes 'no'. The 
clue to that is given in the scripture and the clue is 'love it' and 
'fruit'. Frist let me attend to fruit and then love it.

We need to study how fruits come into existence. Fruits come from 
flowers and when flowers are pollinated they become fruits. Insects like 
bees pollinate flowers when they draw nectar from the flowers.

Flowers symbolize words. When people or when we speak, they are flowers. 
All flowers do not become fruits, most grow and perish, but those which 
are pollinated do become fruits. All fruits are not good. If the flower 
comes from a good tree the fruit would be good but if the flower is of a 
wild or poisonous tree the fruit will be bad for us and can kill the one 
who eats it.

People or we speak words, so also does God through the Bible, but these 
affect us only when we pollinate them or meditate on them and believe 
them. 'Love it' in Proverbs 18:21 speaks of mediating on the words and 
believing it.

Coming back to where we started. God does promise us a land of milk and 
honey but to make honey we need bees. Flowers symbolize words, bees 
symbolize wisdom. Bees navigate and built beehives in line with the Sun 
(symbolizing Lord). People did bring cattle with them for milk but for 
honey they did not bring bees, God provided them bees in the land. James 
says if we ask God for wisdom God provides.

If we Christians who dwell in the Kingdom of God want honey, we already 
have the Land full of flowers with us (Word of God), so let us ask for 
bees (wisdom) so that by meditating on the Word we will not only have 
honey but also eat of its fruit.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray we understand your Word better. We pray we do not let 
these flowers perish in our lives but we mediate on them day and night 
to eat of its fruit. We also pray we grow in wisdom so that we receive 
sweet honey of your Kingdom. We also pray Lord You we grow in 
discernment to know words of people to receive or reject so that they 
bless and not harm us...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

John 21:15-17

15So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of 
Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; 
thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

16He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest 
thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He 
saith unto him, Tend my sheep.

17He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? 
Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou 
me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest 
that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

Proverbs 18:21Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they 
that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Your life is in the hands of God

Acts 23:31,32Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul, and 
brought him by night to Antipatris. On the morrow they left the horsemen 
to go with him, and returned to the castle:

In today's message we see the Jews tried very much to kill Paul but the 
hand of God was on Paul and they failed every attempt they made. We also 
see the Romans who later put Paul to death protected him until what the 
Lord had promised Paul was not fulfilled. They protected him not only 
from the Jews but also protected him for 2 years as he preached in Rome. 
Paul was the key person in evangelizing Christianity in Rome. Paul was 
both Jew as well as Roman and was the perfect person to preach to the 
Romans as well as Jews. In the letter to Romans we see Paul addresses to 
both Jews and Romans and takes up important matters very strongly.

We see the same story was with Moses who was born Jew but was bought up 
as an Egyptian. He was taught the ways of the Egyptians and that too in 
the highest levels both in education and in warfare. Both Paul and Moses 
are icons in the New and Old Testament respectively.

Today the Lord is telling us 'you did not choose which country you would 
be born or which family would you be born', 'you did not choose your 
family members, nor the people who would dwell around you', 'you did not 
choose your friends nor your enemies', 'you did not choose how long you 
would live'.

God in His great wisdom is aware of our every situation pass, present 
and future and if we live for Him then would He not make ways to see our 
purpose here on earth is fulfilled and fully enriching?

For us Christians, death is not the end but an exit from this life to 
our eternal life in Him. But we also know Heaven is not big hall or one 
flat place. We know Heaven has various levels and those who are 
overcomers will be blessed to be closer to the Glory of God (His 
Throne). So let us not fear our lives or fear our situations or fear our 
enemies. The only person or thing whom we should fear is our own selves 
for we can be the only reason for our failure. If we fail in our faith 
or fail in our walk in the Lord we will be the only person to blamed, we 
may be saved and go to Heaven but yet we will lose a lot.

When applying for a school if the child meets the criteria the child can 
join in higher classes, but once joined to get a double promotion is 
very difficult and rare. So going from Earth to Heaven let us prepare 
ourselves not to just go to Heaven but to go closest to the Throne of 
the Lord in Heaven. Let us strengthen our legs (life) and our hands 
(works) and focus or eyes (hearts) unto His Throne in Heaven.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray that we do not fear man or any situations for we are your 
children. Let us be aware the greatest enemy we can have is ourselves, 
our carnal nature. Lord we pray we overcome ourselves and be renewed by 
your Spirit. Lord we pray we do not just aim for Heaven but as Paul says 
we run this race to receive an incorruptible Crown in Heaven...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

24Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth 
the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

25And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all 
things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an 
incorruptible.

26I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that 
beateth the air:

27But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by 
any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

Philippians 2:12Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as 
in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own 
salvation with fear and trembling.

2 Timothy 4:6-8

6For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.

7I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the 
faith:

8Henceforth 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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Did Jesus prophesy wrongly?

Matthew 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till
all these things be fulfilled.

One of the stumbling blocks for Apologists is when Muslims Dawahs throw
questions of non-fulfillment of prophecies like today’s message and another
of Jesus as in John 21:22.

I have seen even well famous debaters rattle away senselessly at this; good
thing is these Muslims Dawahs are mostly foolish people (even though they
act intelligent / cunning) else our brother would have been ashamed.

If one goes into the Greek words Jesus actually meant what He said and it
is true. To understand it one needs to understand man, the immortal and
mortal man, his natural life and his spirit life.

It is true from the time of Jesus not one person would pass away until
Judgment Day. Peter having understanding of human life said Jesus went to
Hell (prison) and preached to the souls from the time of Noah and not
mentioning people before Noah, Peter knew those who were before Noah had
perished in Hell. God had fulfilled His promise to Noah and it was
understand of this which allowed people to know the time for the Savior’s
come as man.

We need to understand what God gives He does not take away, even if it is
life or gifts of the Spirit. He does move us from place to place or
situation to situation, like He can shorten or elongate our stay in this
world. It is we who can destroy the things given by God by misusing or
abusing them. If we do misuse them then these very same things may become a
cause of great agony for us. Like life; in the natural we die and exit this
creation but death of the spirit is not like natural death, after natural
death one may crave for death in Hell (prison) but death will not come,
that person would need to complete its life term and suffer that term.

The world has no understanding of life. It assumes it as an energy which
moves around when the various organs are active and blood circulates
between them that is why we have stories like Frankenstein. Yesterday I
came across a frog which during winter freezes its body by being still like
a rock and even stopping its heart beats. But after winter when the climate
is warmer it thaws itself and comes back to life (normal functioning). If
that was to happen to a man it would be like being brain dead with all
organs not working and no pulse for more than a month and we know the
doctors would declare such a person dead in minutes.

When we talk of resurrection people think lots of value things but when we
see the Greek word means simply to arise or rise, and not necessary from
sleep but even like from one level to another. The Apostles instructed
understanding life and resurrection of the dead as one of the basic points
of foundation of a Christian which sadly lacks clarity in our Churches.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord Your Word says all life comes from You and yet we see evil in this
world. Your Word says in You alone is eternal life and yet eternal life is
promised to us mortal beings. Lord we pray You open the minds of your
people so that they understand life and the value of life. That they know
only with You and near You is life fulfilling and far from You life is a
dreadful curse...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

John 21:22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what
is that to thee? follow thou me.

Hebrew 6:1-2

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 of laying on of hands, and of
resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

-- 

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Problems have a purpose

Acts 4:27,28For of a truth against thy holy child [servant] Jesus, whom 
thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, 
and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever 
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.

We see in today's message the people in authority both government and 
religious gathered against Jesus Christ and along with them were the 
people both the Gentiles and Israelites (people who called themselves as 
people of God).

The scripture says they were allowed to do whatever their hardened 
hearts desired and they thought nothing could stop them. The scripture 
also says God beheld their threatening but yet the Lord did not confront 
them directly at that time He let them do what they desired.

Paul in his letter says like God used Moses He also used Pharaoh. Moses 
and Pharaoh both glorified God. Moses surrendered unto God and the glory 
of God was with him, on the other hand Pharaoh refused to listen to the 
Lord (as Moses requested) so God hardened his heart further and his 
destruction glorified God.

Today God is telling us we may be facing problems or resistance from 
individuals, group of people or all those around us. If we be like Jesus 
or Moses who submitted to the will of the Father then the situation 
would have a purpose and that purpose would see the glory of God in your 
life.

Let us not be anxious or depressed but let us praise God in every 
situation and pray for those who come against us so that they do not 
become a testimony like Pharaoh but be like Paul.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord You know the situations we are in. Like David who was helpless but 
yet did not give up hope so also we pray we hold strong unto You. We 
know You will turn the plans of the enemy to be a blessing unto us. Lord 
let not our will but your will be done in our lives. We also pray for 
those who go against us that they repent, their hearts be changed and 
they do not become like Pharaoh but become Paul...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Acts 4:26-33

26The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together 
against the Lord, and against his Christ.

27For of a truth against thy holy child [servant] Jesus, whom thou hast 
anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the 
people of Israel, were gathered together,

28For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be 
done.

29And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, 
that with all boldness they may speak thy word,

30By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may 
be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.

31And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were 
assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and 
they spake the word of God with boldness.

32And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one 
soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he 
possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

33And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of 
the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.

Romans 9:17For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same 
purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and 
that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

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What bread do you eat?

Luke 4:3,4And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, 
command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, 
saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by 
every word of God.

In today's message we see when Jesus was doing His 40days fast in the 
wilderness and being near to the end He was weak in the body and at this 
time Satan comes to Him and tests Him.

You may wonder why I used the word test and not tempt.

The Greek word translated as test and tempt is the same. You may wonder 
why then some places it is written test and other places as tempt. To 
make things simple we need to understand what is what is tested or tempted.

We see here after Jesus was weakened in the flesh Satan tested His flesh 
(natural desires) and asked Him to make the stone into bread but Jesus 
even though was weak in the flesh indirectly said He was well fed in the 
spirit and His spirit being well fed He did not need to make stone to 
bread on the request of Satan.

Satan had one agenda here and that was to get Jesus to break His fast. 
Jesus went through the 40days fast so that He could become a Rabbi (as 
per Moses) and be able to officially preach to the Jews.

We all know what is tested – increases, like in Gym our muscles are 
tested thus increase. Both God and Satan test us but they both test 
different parts of us. God tests the spirit while Satan tests the flesh 
(carnal being). As God tests the spirit and succeeds, we increase in the 
spirit; likewise when Satan tests the flesh and succeeds, we increase in 
the flesh (carnal desires). If our spirit is strong and well fed then we 
can overcome the test on the flesh, but if our spirit is weak then we 
fail easily to the test of the flesh.

When I make the statement 'both God and Satan are behind your life, both 
want to kill you', it startles people as to what I am saying if I am 
gone crazy but after I explain the same they realize I am right.

Satan wants to kill our spirit by increasing our carnal flesh therefore 
tests the flesh. His intention is to destroy our spirit life by 
increasing or carnal desires. If we are weak in the spirit and full in 
the flesh then we are doomed and will not go to Heaven to have eternal life.

On the other hand God wants to kill or carnal flesh therefore tests the 
spirit. His intention is that by overcoming the corrupt flesh we may 
have life eternal with Him in Heaven.

So in other words in both cases we need to die. We need to choose to die 
in the carnal flesh or die in the spirit. To die in the carnal flesh we 
need to feed our spirits well like in today's message Jesus said man 
does not live by earthly bread alone but by the Word of God (spiritual 
bread).

We need to find if we feeding our spirit regularly. There are many who 
say 'brother, I everyday read the Bible and mediate on scriptures', but 
what do they read and understand, the same thing which they knew before 
since years, written by other people and blindly accepted by them 
without questioning.

Believers behave like cows. What they have swallowed they bring back and 
chew on it again and again. This is good and recommended so that we get 
the most of the scriptures or teaching, but imagine if that cows does 
not eat any new grass and chews on the same grass for months what would 
happen to the cow?

Let us seek fresh manna at least once a week for even the Shewbread 
placed in the Tabernacle was changed every week. Church leaders need to 
make sure at the weekly service new things are shared with the 
congregation and not the same thing repeated and repeated and repeated, 
in different ways.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray people give attention to the needs of the spirit as they 
give attention to the needs of the flesh. We pray they do not become 
cows that do not eat new grass but keep chewing the same grass for years 
and years therefore becoming weak in spirit...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

John 21:15-17

15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of 
Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; 
thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

16He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest 
thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He 
saith unto him, take care of my sheep. [Wrongly translated as feed my sheep]

17He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? 
Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou 
me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest 
that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Jesus the Son of

Matthew 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of 
David, the son of Abraham.

We see in Matthew Jesus is introduced a son of David and son of Abraham. 
Matthew does not start with Jesus the son of Joseph and Mary. We also 
see in the Bible when people shouted at Jesus for healings they shouted 
to Him as 'Son of David' not 'son of Mary' or 'son of Joseph'.

We see Matthew makes groups of 14 between Jesus and being driven to 
Babylon, from being driven to Babylon and David and another 14 between 
David and Abraham.

We all know that promise is given more importance than ancestry, 
although Ismail was born before Isaac yet Isaac is considered the 
inheritor of Abraham. We see Catholics behave like Muslims because they 
look in the natural and not the spiritual. They think because Jesus was 
physically born from the womb of Mary that made Mary very important. But 
in the eyes of God it was David and Abraham who are given more 
importance. Would Catholics tomorrow replace their Mary statues with 
those of David and Abraham? No, because those statues have nothing to do 
with the Mary of the Bible but with a spirit which claims to be the 
mother of Jesus and the Queen of Heaven (a goddess whom the Jews also 
worshipped during the times of Jeremiah).

Muslims fail to accept Jesus as God (The Son) because they say 'did God 
have sex with Mary to have a child'. This question is asked by not only 
illiterate people but also by educated people. Mohammad could be excused 
for asking this for he was illiterate but when educated Muslims ask it 
sounds senselessness. Firstly is sex necessary to have a child? Sex is a 
process for man to fertilize a human egg known as ovum. Sex is a natural 
process required for the sperms to be ejected from a man. Is God a man 
to have a need to have sex?

If we look at the relationship of Jesus and Mary I found an interesting 
fact. Jesus did not call Mary directly as mother but called her 'woman', 
but indirectly He called her mother. People tell you He did it out of 
respect, but there is no proof for this either scripturally or by 
tradition. If that was true then Catholics do not respect Mary for they 
do not call her 'woman' like Jesus, instead call her mother.

So Mary was a mother to Jesus and yet not His mother!

The promise was, the Savior would be born from a virgin. Also note the 
word used for Him as man is 'ishi' and not 'adam'. Although Jesus was 
born from the genealogy of Adam yet He had nothing of Adam in Him. Jesus 
as man was perfect man as Adam was before sin and this was only possible 
if the birth of Jesus through the womb of Mary was more like we call 
today as surrogate birth. If one takes that into consideration it 
answers the relationship between Jesus and Mary and also words like 
Jesus telling Mary 'Woman what have I to do with you' at the wedding at 
Canna (which happened to be a wedding of a daughter of Mary, this can be 
confirmed from scriptures and Jewish traditions).

Abraham was given the promise of Savior (generations will be blessed in 
the seed) and David was given the promise of King (eternal King) and 
between these promises and Jesus being born was a stage known as 'exile 
to Babylon'.

Babylon means confusion and God is telling us today we need to overcome 
this stage to truly know the Savior and King. Had the ancestors not come 
out of Babylon would Jesus have been born? No.

Yesterday it grieved me to know in India we have Christian Churches that 
too mainline Churches which follow the Hindu caste system. A brother 
told me by the name of a Church one would know of which caste it 
belonged. I thought before this existed only in rural areas but was 
shaken to know it existed even in metropolitan cities especially in 
south India.

Let us overcome such corruption and confusion so that we truly know 
Christ. Jesus summed the Law into 2 commandments 'Love God with all thy 
heart, all thy strength and all they understanding' and 'Love thy 
neighbor (brethren) as thy self'. Do we classify parts of our body into 
different castes? If not how dare we classify the parts of the Body of 
Christ into castes?

Our Churches do not need healing it needs deliverance. Let take 
authority and rebuke these spirits and bondages which our Churches are in.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, we pray abundant mercy on your people especially in India. We 
rebuke the spirits and bondages which have a hold on your people. We 
command release and freedom in your Name. We speak life in these dead 
bones and speak a cover on its nakedness...

This we ask in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Matthew 1:1-16

1The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son 
of Abraham.

2Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and 
his brethren;

3And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and 
Esrom begat Aram;

4And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat 
Salmon;

5And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed 
begat Jesse;

6And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her 
that had been the wife of Urias;

7And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa;

8And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias;

9And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias;

10And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat 
Josias;

11And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were 
carried away to Babylon:

12And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and 
Salathiel begat Zorobabel;

13And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat 
Azor;

14And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud;

15And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat 
Jacob;

16And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, 
who is called Christ.

John 2:4Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine 
hour is not yet come.

Matthew 15:28Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is 
thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made 
whole from that very hour.

Mark 3:33And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Be Noah or be the people who drowned in the flood

Luke 24:8 And they remembered his words,

In today’s scripture we see after Jesus resurrected they remembered His
words. When Jesus was with them He told them time and again and they did
not believe Him. Even when they saw He was arrested and crucified as He had
said they still did not believe Him fully and they deserted Him.

In today’s message the Lord is telling us there are people who do not
believe the Word of God and therefore only believe when they see thongs
have come to past. Jesus said blessed are those who do not see me yet
believe.

God spoke to Noah about the floods and the destruction which the floods
would cause. God told Noah to build an ark and God inspired Noah on the
design and skill in building that ark. The warning was given to Noah and
Noah took almost 100 years to make that ark. There is no time in that 100
years that Noah feared the flood would come for he knew if God had told him
to build that ark for a purpose, until he finished that ark the flood would
not come. He trusted the Lord for he knew the Lord is God and there is no
other God besides Him and that He was in complete control and all knowing.

We see the wicket people on the other were not ignorant of what Noah was
doing for it is written they mocked him and his family. Surely they found
it amusing a sane person like Noah building a very large ship in a desert
place, so they thought him and his family to have become insane thus mocked
them.

In Church today we have people who are like the wicked people who are not
aware of what is happening and what is next. They live for their earthly
desires and they believe God for they have needs and issues. They bribe God
with prayers, by giving tithes and by attending Church services every week.
Then there are people who know about the warning (the end) but do not have
faith like Noah. They are not building the ship which God has commanded
instead have climbed towers and looking at the sky 24x7 waiting for the
flood (the end when Jesus comes again) to come. They do not realize the end
(Jesus’ second coming) would not come until the ship (the commission) is
not done.

Abraham is looked up for his faith but that faith came with a prize of
25years. God had told him to not take any kin with him but he did not
listen and took his nephew Lots with him. It was only after he parted ways
with Lots did God bless Abraham with his promised son Isaac.

The Lord is telling us to be like Noah, to understand instructions, to
believe it and to act on them without deviations. Jesus said until all
prophecies come to past the end would not come yet we have people who
ignore this and instead of building the Kingdom of God, are shouting from
roof tops about the end.

Jesus said if we ask the Father for anything good He takes pleasure to give
it to us. James wrote if we ask God for wisdom He gives. Let us ask God for
the revelation of His Word as He promised us and wisdom and faith to grow
in His Word.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord You said yesterday that this year You would reveal things that are
hidden from man. Today You are telling us to ask for that revelation and we
will receive, to ask for wisdom and we will receive. Lord we pray we be
like Noah who believed in You and in whom You took great pleasure and named
along with Job and Daniel as outstanding. You did not name Moses, or
Abraham, or David, or Jacob but You named them for they believed and stood
strong in their faith. Lord we pray your people be focused on the mission
You gave us...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet,
moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which
he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by
faith.

Matthew 24:36-39

36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven,
but my Father only.

37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man
be.

38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered
into the ark,

39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall
also the coming of the Son of man be.

Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the
world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.

Mark 16:15-16

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel
to every creature.

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth
not shall be damned.
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Tyrus who rules the sea will be silenced

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

The word Tyrus means stone or pebble and is equivalent to the Aramaic 
word Cephas or the Greek word Peter. We see in the Bible these words are 
translated as rock mistakenly giving a wrong image of a large rock / 
cliff which symbolizes Truth or Lord. The word rock in Hebrew is Tsoor / 
tsur and in Aramaic is Suha while in Greek is Petra and it is these 
words which are used to symbolize Truth or the Lord.

So what do Tyrus, Cephas and Peter symbolize?

These words symbolize little truths, in other words lies.

Understand Devil is not foolish, he does not lie totally he is a master 
at lying. He is called a deceiver and has lots of wisdom therefore uses 
little truths to deceive. He never completely lies but takes part of the 
truth and tries to mislead his victim. That is why Satan (plural) is 
called king [Dragon] of Tyrus and prince [Beast] of Tyrus.

One may think did Jesus nickname Simon as Cephas / Peter became he was 
evil? No. We see Simon had a problem which we call today as foot in the 
mouth syndrome. Simon having little knowledge of facts and yet would not 
hesitate to speak out as if he knew it all. Almost every time Jesus 
called him by the name Peter we see he did mess up some way or the 
other. Jesus knew of his problem yet used him for His Kingdom. We see 
even after being baptized in the Holy Spirit yet there were times Simon 
Peter did mistakes and was rebuked by Paul.

People ask if a person is led by the Holy Spirit, how they can make 
mistakes. Understand Holy Spirit is not a demon spirit to possess people 
and take full control without a person's will. Holy Spirit is a guide 
and guides those who submit to Him. Almost all are selective in hearing 
to the Spirit of God therefore make mistakes.

In his death it is said when Simon Peter was being crucified he 
requested not to be crucified as Jesus Christ was but to be crucified 
upside down. Now this may look as humility but if someone with wisdom 
and understanding would see this as foolishness. Jesus was crucified as 
a criminal by the Romans and was not the first to be crucified. Would it 
matter how Simon Peter was crucified?

Our Church is filled with Peters, people who know little but think they 
know all. Today, the Lord continuing His message about revealing the 
Truth is telling us He is going to silence the Peters amongst the people 
[sea]. He is going to increase the understanding of the people so as to 
set them on the Rock and no longer on pebbles.

You may think something is going to fall from the sky or like someone 
stated are people going to roll their eyes and go in a trance to get 
revelations?

Bible says God hardens or softens the hearts of people. It does not mean 
God makes people good or bad. God hardens a heart means those how's 
hearts are evil God holds His mercy from them and thus results them to 
be more evil.

Today God is saying He will soften the hearts of the people. Even if 
they are hard His grace/mercy would increase and He would cause people 
to change. We have seen this when a few or an act pleases God He goes 
all the way out to give abundant, like when He curses He curses 4 
generations but when He blesses He blesses at least a 100 generations.

Let us rejoice and thank God for what He is going to do.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we thank You for the great mercies which You are going to shower on 
your people. We thank You for not hardening the hearts of You people and 
letting your grace work. We thank You for letting the Truth be known and 
for opening the eyes of the people...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Exodus 17:6Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock [Tsoor] 
in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock [Tsoor], and there shall come 
water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the 
sight of the elders of Israel.

Ezekiel 28:1-2, 11-13

1The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

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:

11Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

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.

John 8:43-47

43Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

44Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will 
do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, 
because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of 
his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

45And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

46Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye 
not believe me?

47He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, 
because ye are not of God.

Matthew 16:23But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, 
Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things 
that be of God, but those that be of men.

Luke 22:31And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to 
have you, that he may sift you as wheat:

Matthew 16:17And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, 
Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but 
my Father which is in heaven.
 
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A Year of Revelation
Matthew 16:16-19

16And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the 
living God.

17And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: 
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which 
is in heaven.

18And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I 
will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

19And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and 
whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and 
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

I was asking the Lord what is set for us this year and the Lord gave 
this message.

We did receive a few days back about the Lord bringing change in the 
Church and part of the change process is bringing the Church to the 
Light of the Truth, even though Believers came out from the false Church 
in 1500AD, yet many deceits of the false Church have been like iron 
shackles which hindered the growth of the true Church.

The Reformation Movement was based on 5 Solas (Latin means alone and can 
be interpreted as fundamental)

Sola Gratia - Grace alone

Sola Fide - Faith alone

Solus Christus - Christ alone

Soli Deo Gloria - Glory to God alone

Sola Scriptura - Scripture alone

In the first 3 the Church has been mostly abiding by, but it is in the 
4th and 5th where it is seen as compromising.With regards to 4th Church 
leaders have been touching the glory of God or have been trying to 
commercially exploit the glory of God for the gratification of their 
earthly desires. And with regards to 5th we have seen many traditional 
beliefs and practices which are against scriptures are yet continued by 
Believer Churches.

To deal with the 5th issue the Lord is telling us falsehood is like 
darkness and darkness can only be eliminated by light. Man has been till 
date using human wisdom to understand the things that are hidden from 
mankind. Human wisdom needs something to understand the remaining of 
that something but to understand something that is totally unknown 
requires revelation.

Let me explain by how God did this in my life. In my initial years when 
I was yet reading and studying the Bible and had many questions I would 
put them to the Lord. And God being true what He told me He would bring 
me to the understanding of these questions through dreams. The dreams 
were so perfect like those recorded in Daniel or Revelation, every 
detail of it had great in depth of understanding even small objects or 
its color, shapes, distances, emotions etc. using the same symbol 
language as recorded in the Bible. I was so confident during those days 
that I would many a times tell people who bought matters to me that I 
would answer them in a day or two for I knew if I went to sleep praying 
the Lord would expound the answer of it in my dream.

Now days I do not have dreams like I used to, not because God is far 
from me or I am far from God but only because the Lord has built my 
foundation well and now I need to meditate on that question and with my 
already known knowledge I get to the understanding of it. It may take a 
little longer time than before put God does not fail to make sure that I 
get to know the true understanding of His Kingdom. If I make mistakes He 
brings me to correction and at times these corrections are hard on my 
flesh but till I praise God for correcting me and not letting me to 
linger in darkness of that misunderstanding.

We see in today's message Simon Peter had no vague idea of who Jesus 
Christ was and it was the Spirit of God (Jesus called the Spirit of God 
also His Father since as man He was born of the Spirit) who revealed 
this to him. The key which Jesus spoke of was not an object but the 
revelation.

Catholics think Peter was the rock Jesus mentions in Matthew 16:18. They 
do not realize Jesus spoke to His disciple in Aramaic or Hebrew (when He 
referred to things of the Kingdom of God) and not Greek (the Apostles 
translated the Gospels later in Greek because people outside did not 
know Aramaic or Hebrew). Jesus never called Peter as Peter which is a 
Greek rendering of his name but used the Aramaic name Cephas which means 
stone (more accurately a pebble) this is clearly written in John 1:42. 
The Aramaic word for rock is Suha and not Cephas.

If accurately put Matthew 16:18 would be 'And I say also unto thee, That 
thou art Cephas, and upon this Suha I will build my church; and the 
gates of hell shall not prevail against it'.

Peter was indeed selected to lead the Church but only a section of the 
Church which is the Jewish Christian Church and that too along with John 
and James. It was Paul and Barnabas who were selected to lead the 
Gentile Christian Church. The global Church had no individual as head 
nor was it headed by the twelve disciples. It was led by 5 - Peter, 
John, James, Paul and Barnabas and Paul having better understanding was 
like the lead advisor.

The Word 'Christ' involves two beings one the man and second the Spirit 
on the man. The Rock on which the Church is built is the Spirit of Truth 
and thus Paul also notifies as Christ being the Rock on which the Church 
is built, more referring not to the man Jesus but to His Spirit. If one 
studies Callings, Fruits, Gifts or anything that the Church operates in 
or with is connected to the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the Way and His Spirit 
/ Spirit of God is the one who takes us on the Way.

Today God's Spirit is speaking to us and telling us He will reveal 
things to His Church this year which man did not imagine or dream of. 
The Lord spoke to Isaiah in 64:4 and the Spirit of God is saying these 
things God is going to reveal to us.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray your people increase in love for You so that they come to 
know the things which are hidden from them. We pray the darkness of 
misunderstanding that makes them go in circles and not grow in You be 
removed and that they grow and increase, walking in the Light of the 
Truth. Holy Spirit we ask You to open the windows of Heaven so that your 
people may see and know the truth...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Isaiah 64:4For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor 
perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, 
what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

1 Corinthians 2:9But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, 
neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath 
prepared for them that love him.

John 1:42And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he 
said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which 
is by interpretation, A stone.

Galatians 2:7-11

7But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision 
was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;

8(For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the 
circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:)

9And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived 
the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right 
hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto 
the circumcision.

10Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I 
also was forward to do.

11But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, 
because he was to be blamed.

Wishing one and all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year in the Lord.

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King sits on the foal of an ass

Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of 
Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having 
salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal [son] 
of an ass.

I have addressed to this in my previous message but those who have not 
read it and to refresh those who have.

Everyone thinks Jesus sat on a donkey / ass and people saw that and they 
knew the prophecy was fulfilled. It is like you going to the airport to 
receive a stranger and the only identification given to you is that he 
has a suitcase. God does not give such foolish prophecy. Jesus must have 
ridden a donkey n number of times and everyone rode asses since they 
were regular modes of transport. So what was different about this prophecy?

If we read the incident Jesus told His disciples to bring the ass and 
its young one on which no man has mounted. The disciples surely did not 
ask the donkey or its young one this question nor did they ask the owner 
this question, but yet they knew if someone had mounted the foal of the 
ass or not.

Ridden asses are saddled only after they are 2 years old. The colt of 
the ass was not even 2 years of age and looking at it the disciples knew 
for sure no one rode it before. When Jesus went riding into the city He 
did not sit on the adult ass but sat on the foal of the ass that is why 
the disciples put clothes on it, while He took the adult ass walking 
along unused. When people saw this sight they were amused why Jesus was 
doing such a crazy thing. He could have comfortably ridden on the adult 
ass but chose to sit on the young one which could barely carry His 
weight. It was then they remembered the prophecy by Zechariah and 
shouted 'Hosanna'.

Continuing with the message to the Church leaders the Lord is telling 
them if they think they are competent and are sufficiently mature 
spiritually then the Lord is not going to leave them but is going to 
take them along like Jesus did to the adult ass - not mounted and not 
used. The Lord is telling them His glory will be on those who consider 
themselves on the process of learning and growing in Him and having no 
saddles or bondages of mankind.

Paul was looked upon by the other disciples for his understanding of 
scriptures even though he had personally not got by the man Jesus like 
them. Even then Paul never considered himself as knowing all. Paul knew 
he knew little and we read in his epistles is the little of the little 
which Paul understood from the OT. We see he as an Apostle continually 
spent time with Teachers like Luke, Mark and others learning and growing 
himself.

I have been praying for a change in the Church and was happy yesterday a 
Pastor called me to attend a meeting of a few Pastors to give them a 
background of the Bible with regards to Bible manuscripts, its languages 
and translation issues.

We have 2 kinds of people in Church who are like the adult saddled 
donkey. One who think they know all and there is not much to know, then 
there are the other 'ever learning and thirsting lot' but learning from 
men and not for God. These people talk of wisdom and understand but 
their wisdom and understanding is of man and not of God therefore far 
from the Truth. These people give more importance to words of learned 
people who did not and do not manifest the power of the Word. Our Bible 
colleges are filled with the second category.

To the first the Lord is telling them be a foal not an adult and to the 
second to take off those human saddles so that He can ride on them.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord Jesus in your Word we see as man even though You had perfect 
understanding yet You gave over the reins to your Spirit to perfect the 
understanding of the Kingdom of God to your disciples. We see Lord 
people think they are greater than You and thus think they do not need 
guidance of the Holy Spirit to understand about the Kingdom. Lord we 
pray a thirst and fire in the leaders and surrender to your Spirit to 
know and grow in You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Matthew 21:

2Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway 
ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring 
them unto me.

3And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of 
them; and straightway he will send them.

4All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the 
prophet, saying,

5Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, 
and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.

6And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,

7And brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and 
they set him thereon.

8And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut 
down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.

John 14:14-15

14And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written,

15Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an 
ass's colt.

Mark 11:2-7

2And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: and 
as soon as ye be entered into it, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon 
never man sat; loose him, and bring him.

3And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath 
need of him; and straightway he will send him hither.

4And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in 
a place where two ways met; and they loose him.

5And certain of them that stood there said unto them, What do ye, 
loosing the colt?

6And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go.

7And they brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and 
he sat upon him.

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Gather the Elders for a Fast

Joel 1:14 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and
all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and
cry unto the LORD,

We see among Hindus, they hold a fast on particular day in the name of some
devi (goddess) or devtha (god). We also see in Islam they have the Ramadan
which is 40 days of fast and a must for any Muslim to go Jamnat (Paradise).
Interestingly Muslims do not know that this ritual of Ramadan was a pagan
Arab ritual which Muhammad continued since it was a general public event
and he could not eliminate it like he did with other pagan rituals, so like
the Roman Catholic did to pagan Roman festivals he white washed it and
claimed the Quran fell / was revealed from heaven during that month /
40days even though people know the many years it took to write the Quran.
The latest documents found show the Quran was started long before Mohammad
came into the picture and was by a person (prophet) from Petro (place where
lies the salt pillars, parallel valleys, olive trees etc. mentioned in
Quran are found). It was later in 700AD that the prophet of Mecca replaced
the prophet of Petra (but they did not change the description of the place
as stated in the text).

Fasting in the Bible was made known first by Moses, the Israelites, Elijah,
Ezra and Daniel in the Old Testament. Amongst these the fast of Daniel was
very different for Daniel ate yet fasted. Daniel lived in the King’s (he
was like an Emperor) palace yet abstained from the luxurious food and ate
simple bread and his fast yield the most powerful effect. In the New
Testament Jesus, Paul, Barnabas and the Church Elders too are shown as
fasted.

Fasting for short periods does help clean the digestive system of a person
but spiritually by itself, it does nothing. Fasting is a tool which can act
like an accelerator depending on how and in which direction we focus it. If
focused on the wrong direction it will make us a religious, proud or
self-righteous person but focused on the right direction it can help build
faith. Fast does not bring God down but lifts our belief to God. Fasting
does not shake Heavens but can build our faith which can shake the Heavens.

Jesus was a man of authority (perfected in faith) and did not need to fast
to build faith but yet was led by the Holy Spirit to fast mainly for 2
reasons. Firstly to be broken down so as to be tested/tempted and the
second reason was to be qualified as a Rabbi by the Jews according to
Moses. If Jesus had not complete the forty days fast He could neither have
been allowed to neither preach at the Synagogues as a Rabbi nor be called
Jewish Teacher, even though He has disciples before that. Paul before
coming in the Lord was doing the general way of learning under another
Rabbi for many years to become a Rabbi.

We see Paul in the book of Acts fasted in the ship but when he realized the
promised and believed it he stopped fasting. Jesus never encouraged His
disciples to fast when they were with Him because of which the religious
Jews protested with Him. Matthew 17:21 is a scripture which was not found
in the older manuscripts and seem to be added later that is why some
translations omit it.

Today the Lord is telling us to get the Elders / Leaders of the Church to
gather together to fast. This fast does not mean abstaining from food but
more like Daniel’s fast by abstaining for the luxuries of life. This the
Lord is asking because they are far from the Bridegroom and the Bridegroom
is far from them. Jesus said when the Bridegroom is with them His disciples
do not fast.

If one reads the book of Joel the Lord does not mince words in rebuking the
leaders of His people because they were more concern of their own interests
and their own families but not of the Temple of God. Most of the leaders
may say they are better than other people they way they live their lives.
Let me explain when a cycle breaks a signal or crisscrosses to overtake no
one notices it. But if a buss does the same everyone gets alarmed. Leaders
are held high in the eyes of the people so even small mistakes are
magnified for the church that is why they are expected to live a more
perfect spiritual life and not a more better spiritual life.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord as during the time of Joel all the shepherds are feeding themselves
well and not the sheep. They are not feed themselves with spiritual food
but with worldly food and therefore are filled with worldly flesh. Lord we
pray their flesh be the flesh of the Kingdom of God so that they also feed
the people true spiritual food and not worldly understanding...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Matthew 17:20-21

20 And Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief: for truly I say to
you, If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this
mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing
shall be impossible to you.

21 However, this kind goes not out but by prayer and fasting.

Mark 2:18 And John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting: and they
come and say unto him, Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the
Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?

Matthew 9:15 And Jesus said unto them, Can the sons of the bridechamber
mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when
the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast.

Acts 27:21-26, 33-36

21 But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the middle of them, and
said, Sirs, you should have listened to me, and not have loosed from Crete,
and to have gained this harm and loss.

22 And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of
any man’s life among you, but of the ship.

23 For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom
I serve,

24 Saying, Fear not, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar: and, see,
God has given you all them that sail with you.

25 Why, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even
as it was told me.

26 However, we must be cast on a certain island.

33 And while the day was coming on, Paul sought them all to take meat,
saying, This day is the fourteenth day that you have tarried and continued
fasting, having taken nothing.

34 Why I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for
there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you.

35 And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in
presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat.

36 Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat.

1 Corinthians 7:5-6

5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that
ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that
Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.

6 But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

Let the bones come to life

Ezekiel 37: 3,4And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? 
And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, 
Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the 
word of the LORD.

Most people think this vision of Ezekiel is about bringing the dead to 
life. It is not about bringing the natural dead to life but is about 
bringing the spiritual dead to life. If you see the whole vision is 
about bones. In the Bible bones symbolize character. All vertebrate 
animals (including humans) get their shape according to the skeleton 
they possess.

In spirit man and woman have no difference in gender for when God 
created them it is written 'So God created man in His own image, in the 
image of God created He him; male and female created He them (male 
gender, plural)'. But in the natural God made genders, the male He 
created in His image but the female He created from the bone of man; 
meaning of the character of man He created a female. That is why we have 
marriage which symbolizes God and man becoming one. Wife submitting to 
husband is not to make wife smaller or inferior to her husband but is 
statutes symbolizing man submitting to God. We also see Paul said 
husband love your wives as Christ (God) loves His Church (His people) by 
understanding the design of man and his wife.

Jesus was bruised for our sins. His flesh was torn through with hooks 
like objects tied to the whips with which He was beaten by the Romans 
(Jews used normal whips). Even though His flesh was bruised so much that 
He could not be recognized as a human yet none of His bones were broken. 
He fulfilled the scripture that God protects the bones (character) of 
His righteous and of being the Paschal Lamb.

In today's message the Lord is telling us to speak to the dead bones of 
His people since He sees the character of His people having no life in 
them. He is telling us to prophecy into the bone and like in the vision 
of Ezekiel we too will see the bones come to life and form a mighty army.

It is interesting to note the steps of the bones coming to life.

1. The Spirit (breathe - in Hebrew the word is same) enters into the 
dead bones

2. We see first a rattles or shaking of the bones - shaking off of the 
old character

3. The bones come together - character coming together

4. Covering of the bones with sinews - which is a cloth used like an 
undergarments to cover the nakedness of the person.

5. Coming of flesh on the bones - flesh symbolizes desire

6. Coming of skin on the flesh - skin symbolizes righteousness

7. Then the coming of them to life to form a mighty army

In simple words when we prophesy we need to speak the Spirit of God to 
enter and take over the dead Church. We will then see a shaking in the 
Church and after the shaking, things will fall in place. Once they fall 
into place the Lord will cover the nakedness of the people and after He 
covers the nakedness He will give them a new desire, a desire according 
His Kingdom. It is after they are filled with His desire of the Lord 
then the Lord will cover them with righteousness and after they are 
covered with righteousness they will have life.

In our last message the Lord was talking of a shaking and is today 
telling us He is going to do this so that He brings life among His 
people and makes them a mighty army.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray that You quicken things among your people. We pray that 
this world which does not know You because they cannot see your glory 
may do so by seeing your glory among your people when they come alive in 
You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

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

Ezekiel 37:3-10

3And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, 
O Lord GOD, thou knowest.

4Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O 
ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.

5Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath 
to enter into you, and ye shall live:

6And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and 
cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye 
shall know that I am the LORD.

7So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a 
noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone.

8And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and 
the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.

9Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and 
say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O 
breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.

10So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and 
they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

Genesis 2:23And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my 
flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

Proverbs 25:15By long forbearing is a prince persuaded, and a soft 
tongue breaketh the bone.

Exodus 12:46In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth 
ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a 
bone thereof.

John 19:36For these things were done, that the scripture should be 
fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.

Psalms 34:19-20

19Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him 
out of them all.

20He keepeth all his bones: not one of them is broken.

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SavedbyFaith.info - Daily Mail

The Church needs change

Jeremiah 12:2,3Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they 
grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far 
from their reins. But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and 
tried mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the 
slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.

When Jeremiah saw the stubbornness of the people to go against God 
Jeremiah prayed unto God the words which are today's message.

If we look at feasts in the Bible even though we are called to celebrate 
them but actually they are opposite to what world sees as celebration. 
The Passover which commemorates the death and resurrection of Jesus 
Christ has the Passover Lamb eaten with bitter herbs. The Feast of 
Harvest / Pentecost has people coming together and worshipping God and 
giving unto God. The Feast of Tabernacle which commemorates the birth of 
Jesus Christ has people leaving their houses and living in tents for a 
whole week.

All the feasts in the Bible are anti-pleasure of the natural senses and 
more spiritual. But what we see in Christian festivals, people enjoying 
purely pleasures of the flesh, eating, drinking, decorations, giving 
gifts, going on holidays. It is okay when spiritually small people do 
that but when Church leaders too are part of this carnal-festive the 
heart burns.

People want a God who compromises His righteousness for the world, 
ironically Jesus said the opposite; He said God and world are at logger 
heads, those who love or are loved by the world are far from God and 
those who love and are loved by God are hated by the world.

Just a few days back I was at a Christian book shop which helped 
organize a debate with the ex-main person of IRF (Islamic Research 
Foundation - headed by Zakir Naik); this person was the head of their 
R&D division and now creating his own setup. At this debate a brother 
and I went which was organized at the house of this man. The debate did 
not go in his favor. Before this debate the person would regularly buy 
lots and lots of Bibles from this Christian book shop, more than the 
Churches or any Christians would. But after the debate this person did 
not show his face at the shop. These Bibles were taught to the students 
at these Islamic schools and the person told me the students there knew 
the Bible by-heart even better than most Christians. They could narrate 
a number of Psalms word to word without looking.

Just think if they were taught the Bible and knew it by-heart yet they 
could not understand what the words in the Bible said. The person 
teaching them put strong binds on them that they did not see more than 
what he wanted them to see. The teachings they got were like yoke of 
iron which held them down to the deceit they were in.

If you look at Christian Churches it is not much different. Many leading 
the Churches do not have their basic understanding of scriptures in 
place. They may narrate scriptures like the Islamic students do, but 
like them they are far from its understanding. Their spiritual 
discernment is almost zero. If a person tells them anything which is not 
according what they are taught, they will point a figure at the person 
as being a heretic or anti-Christ.

This bond is so strong i.e. if you say Christ-Islam their eyes will go 
wide open and they will quote scriptures left and right stating how can 
Christ and satanic belief be joined, but if your say Christ-Mass they 
will say it is Christian even though they know that Mass is a pagan 
ritual which mocks the holy things of God more than Islam does.

Another example: check almost 95 percent Churches celebrate the 
Unleavened Bread (Daily Sacrifice - the Table of the Lord) with leavened 
bread; some even used buns with tutti-frutti as the Lord's bread. They 
fulfill the prophecy of the Daily-sacrifice being kept away for a period 
of time by the Little Horn - the Roman Catholic Church.

Today being a special day for me I was praying to the Lord with crying 
from my heart not for anything for myself but asked the Lord for a 
change among His people and this is the message I received.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord Jesus You tolerated the weakness of people and forgave the biggest 
of sinners but those who mocked or corrupted the Holy things of the 
Kingdom of God like making the temple into a market place You drove them 
away turning their tables and destroying their merchandise. Lord we pray 
not for people to be harmed but then save they from spiritual death even 
if they need to suffer physically. Like Paul handed a few to Satan we do 
the same so that they be saved spiritually by suffering in the natural...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Jeremiah 12:1-6

1Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk 
with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked 
prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?

2Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they 
bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.

3But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart 
toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare 
them for the day of slaughter.

4How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for 
the wickedness of them that dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and 
the birds; because they said, He shall not see our last end.

5If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how 
canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein 
thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling 
of Jordan?

6For even thy brethren, and the house of thy father, even they have 
dealt treacherously with thee; yea, they have called a multitude after 
thee: believe them not, though they speak fair words unto thee.

1 Corinthians 5:4-8

4In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, 
and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,

5To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, 
that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

6Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth 
the whole lump?

7Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye 
are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

8Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the 
leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of 
sincerity and truth.

Daniel 8:11-12

11Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him 
the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was 
cast down.

12And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of 
transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it 
practised, and prospered.

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He fulfilled Righteousness in Truth, so was called Holy

Luke 2:23,24 (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that
openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) And to offer a
sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of
turtledoves, or two young pigeons.

People have a belief that just by believing in Christ they become holy. If
one checks the Strong definition of the Greek word translated as holy is
given as ‘a characteristic of God’ and also written as ‘highest application
is to God himself’.

If one digs deeper into the word it is a compound word which means ‘pure
warmth’ but to understand spiritual terms connected to the Temple (our body
/ Church) it is best to go to the Hebrew word. For example when Jesus said
if we do not eat His flesh we would not have life within us, when we dig
the Hebrew word for flesh roots from the word ‘tiding’ which means Gospel
or message. So although Jesus held unleavened bread in His hand
symbolically yet His Word was what He wants us to receive to have life in
us. In Hebrew the word translated as holy means to separate, to sanctify,
to set apart.

Paul says God is love but we see in Heaven when the Heavenly beings worship
Him they do not shout Love, Love, Love, they instead shout Holy, Holy,
Holy. When Paul listed the Fruits of the Holy Spirit in Galatians he did
not list 3 which he later listed in Ephesians that is Truth, Righteousness
and Holiness (All Goodness). Paul did this because these Fruits are not
among those in Galatians which man can grow. These Fruits are gifts from
the Spirit of God, God the Son and God the Father respectively. It is also
these Fruits are interdependent. It is only after we get Truth (through our
baptism in the Holy Spirit), we receive Righteousness (on Judgment Day) and
after that we get Holiness (at the Heavenly wedding). So even though we are
called holy we will need to hold on to the Truth to truly become Holy.

If we look at today’s scripture we see as an infant Jesus symbolically
fulfilled the Law by the offering of 2 doves but as a man by His death He
filled it in Truth. We see there were two who were set for death and one
had to be set free so the people chose Barabbas and put Jesus to death like
one of the doves was set free and the other sacrificed. Incidentally the
word Barabbas means ‘son of the father’.

The Lord gave us statutes and gave us commandments. Statutes are things
that are done to lead us to the understanding of things hidden. Once the
understanding is revealed to us the statute is not binding on us. We may do
it for others but not for ourselves. Celebration of feasts was one of the
statutes God gave us.

We see God asked for the sacrifice of 2 doves from His people as a statute
but after Jesus fulfilled it at His death we do not offer the sacrifice of
2 doves, the same with the Passover Paschal Lamb because Jesus became the
Lamb of God sacrificed for us we do celebrate the Passover killing a lamb
like the Jews do.

Today God is telling us we who know the Truth do not celebrate feasts for
ourselves but do it for others who are growing in the Lord or do not know
the Lord. Feasts are times of witnessing even though we say ‘celebrate’.
When the Lord told Moses to get Israel to celebrate the feasts He told them
for the children of Israel and the strangers who dwell amongst them.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray your people walk in truth so as to be covered in righteousness
of Christ and receive holiness from the Father. Lord we pray they
understand the purpose of the thing You have asked us to do. That they do
things with the purpose and not make holy things into rituals...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

Ephesians 5:9 (For the fruit of the Spirit in all goodness and
righteousness and truth;)

Revelation 22:2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the
river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve fruits, and yielded
her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of
the nations.

Leviticus 23:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,
Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy
convocations, even these are my feasts.

Leviticus 23:44 And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts
of the LORD.

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Why do men perish?

Mark 4:38 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?

We see in today’s message those in the boat (little ship) were worried
about their lives and when they saw Jesus asleep they were upset, they woke
Him and complained. They did not wake Him thinking He could sot the problem
but woke Him because they were in danger and He was in peace. As one
translation puts it they said to Him ‘dost thou not care that we are
perishing?’

The word translated as ‘perish’ also means ‘destruction’ and we see man is
on the course of destruction, destruction of his life and his happiness.
Who put him on this course of destruction? Is Adam or his immediate
ancestors to be blamed for a man’s destruction? Can anyone say they are
going to Hell or Lake of Fire because of Adam or their ancestors?

People would say it is sin which causes them go to Hell. When you ask the
definition of sin, a Christian would say sin is breaking the commandment of
God and a non-Christian would say doing something evil or bad is sin, and
their definition of evil and bad varies time to time and situation to
situation; sometimes the same situation may be good for some and evil for
others.

Coming back to Christians, many do not have a clear idea what sin is. Many
think breaking the 10 Commandants is sin, in other words anything else not
noted in the 10 commandments does amount to sin. When Jesus was asked about
the 10 commandments He put them in just 2 and by these 2 He virtually put
everything under the net.

To understand sin we need to understand the consequence of sin, that is
death or destruction of life, the word used here perish. The Greek word
used here is ‘apollumi’, it is a compound word which comes from ‘apo’ which
means ‘seperation’ and ‘olethros’ which literally means prolonged suffering
which results into consumption of the flesh (the person suffering).

God is life and He is also light and separation from life means death and
separation or obstruction of light means darkness which results in life
perishing. Bible says we suffer because we lack knowledge, and we all know
God is not talking of worldly education but of knowledge and understanding
of His Kingdom. Knowledge and understanding of this world does help us to
some extend but more and more of it does not make one happier and free from
problems, in fact too much of it leads to problems.

God is Truth and when we do not hold on to the Truth we separate ourselves
from God and when we separate ourselves from God we take the pathway
towards destruction. It is not God who puts us on the pathway but it is we
who choose the pathway. There were many occasions Jesus had of compromising
with the Truth before the Pharisees and Sadducees which would have given
Him greater access to the Jews and other people, but we see Jesus did not.
He held on to the Truth at every cost for He knew if it was written it
would come to pass, not by Him compromising but by the power and Spirit of
God.

Jesus said unless we do not become like little children we will not be able
to enter the Kingdom of God. We see a little child holds the hand of its
guardian when travelling. If the child thinks it is smart and can handle
things then it leaves the hand of its guardian. It is this separation that
leads the foolish child towards destruction.

Let us not compromise with the Truth, let us be like little children who do
not rely on their strength and wisdom but always on that of the guardian.

We see many are following the path of compromising the Truth so that they
can fill the Church with people. We have for example Rick Warren who was a
fantastic preacher and teacher of the Word but took the path of compromise
to reach a bigger audience. He merged the Bible with Quran and made
Chrislam, mixing Truth with lies so that he can reach out to be larger
number of people. Would this please God? Is he doing this to please God or
is it something else? We also have people who state all Gods are one and
all religions lead to God so that they can reach out to the masses. If all
religions do in fact led to God then how can they contradict each other and
still be true.

So if we stand in the Truth we need to be separated from the ways of the
world. We may think it may not benefit but we should remember God says He
is the Lord of the harvest. It is He who adds people unto us.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord we pray your people do not try shortcuts or smart ways to expand the
Kingdom of God. They do not realize your Kingdom is founded on Truth and if
the Truth is compromised then they are not building the Kingdom of God but
indirectly the kingdom of the world or the evil one. Lord we pray your
people realize You paid the price so that we receive the Spirit of Truth
and You said it is your Spirit which will lead us to all Truth thus undoing
the separation. Lord we pray we seek the Truth for it is the Truth that
will set us free from sin and the consequence of sin which is death and
destruction...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

John 8:31-32

31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in
my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Matthew 22:16 And they sent out unto him their disciples with the
Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way
of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not
the person of men.

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

John 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to
worship him.

John 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive,
because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he
dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide
you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he
shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

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