R.D SOUZA Saved by faith

THIS WILL BE ADDED TO PREVIOUS POST AS Edit


Correction:

it was not the people of Thessalonica, but the people of
Berea...
Acts 17:10 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by
night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the
Jews. 11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they
received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the
scriptures daily, whether those things were so. 12 Therefore many of
them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men,
not a few.

It is also interesting to note Paul preached the Cross and yet the
people of Berea confirmed this with the scriptures of the Old
Testament... it was this note that lead me to understand the real
meaning of the Cross and understand the books of the Bible as a whole...

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Respecting the Lord's anointed
Date: Thu, 03 May 2012 09:55:35 +0530

[size=18]Correction:[/size]

it was not the people of Thessalonica, but the people of
Berea...
Acts 17:10 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by
night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the
Jews. 11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they
received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the
scriptures daily, whether those things were so. 12 Therefore many of
them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men,
not a few.

It is also interesting to note Paul preached the Cross and yet the
people of Berea confirmed this with the scriptures of the Old
Testament... it was this note that lead me to understand the real
meaning of the Cross and understand the books of the Bible as a whole...

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Respecting the Lord's anointed
Date: Thu, 03 May 2012 09:55:35 +0530


Respecting the Lord's anointed
2 Samuel 1:1-14

In yesterday's message we read about great anointed men and women not
doing they work well in the Lord all because of their weakness to the
things of the flesh and today we receive a message about respecting the
Lord's anointed. We read in today's message how angry David got with the
young man who claimed to have killed Saul (he claimed to have helped
Saul who was wounded severely to die). You may say these two messages
contradict each other but they do not; to make things clear and that we
do not sin, the Lord has been graceful to give us this message today.

We need to understand from the life of King Saul and David relationship
with him so as to understand why we can discern people but never judge
them. Doing this to ordinary people is one thing but doing this mistake
with anointed Men or Women of God is very dangerous.

The worst moments for me are those when I called to rebuke or correct an
anointed Man or Woman of God. I know at these times I spend hours and
hours praying and thinking of every word that I need to speak so that I
do not speak a word more or a word less than what I need to.

We see the relationship between David and Saul was very complicated. It
was more like Tom and Jerry where one wants to eat or hurt the other but
at the same time they have great love for each other. Saul first loved
David and even made him his son in law mainly because he was anointed
and the favour of the Lord was on him. David too hated Saul because Saul
wanted to kill him, had made his life miserable and had him running all
the time. Saul hated David so much that he did not even respect his own
daughter but gave his daughter (wife of David) to another. But we see at
the end David shows great love and respect for Saul that he killed the
man who claimed to have taken Saul's life.

We may ask why David did this for we also read that the Spirit of God
left Saul and he was no longer a Man of God, not only that but a
tormenting spirit from the Lord (also known as destroying spirit, they
are Angels of the Lord that dwell in the third level of Heaven) was
making life miserable for him. Even in these circumstances we find David
respect Saul and called him the Lord's anointed for he was revealed
about the U turn which Saul would take just before his death.

Saul at the battle after getting defeated did not want to fall into the
hands of the enemy alive not because he was afraid of them but knowing
what they did to those captured in the battle, he did not want that to
happen to him for he was once anointed by the Lord (Samuel had anointed
him) and he respected himself for that, therefore he preferred taking
his own life than letting the enemy abuse a once anointed person and
then take his life. Even though this death was on Saul by the Lord due
to his mistake of communicating with the death and was prophesied by the
spirit of Samuel with whom he tried to communicate.

Even the U turn of Saul was confirm by the spirit of Samuel. Samuel told
Saul that he would die along with his sons but also told him that they
would be with him after death. Samuel was a great Man of God and he was
not in hell nor was in Heaven. The task of getting the Bible together
was started by Samuel. Although Job and Moses wrote the first books yet
it was Samuel who started the first school of Men of God who did the
task of collecting these books and thus started the process of making
the Bible. The spirit of Samuel was asleep waiting on the Lord (for we
all will enter Heaven together after the Judgment) and Saul and his sons
were not going to hell but were saved by the Lord and went to sleep
after death.

It is not necessary all Men and Women of God are like Balaam who forsook
the Lord unto death due to his craving of the flesh. Many may be like
Saul who will do a U-turn the last moment and if we are found speaking
against them (their anointing) then we can get into real deep trouble.

The Lord does want us to blindly follow anointed Men and Women of God
for everyone is in small or great percentage operating also in the
flesh. We need to discern everything that they say with scriptures like
the people of Thessalonica did with Paul. Everything that Paul spoke
about the Lord they checked with scriptures to confirm.

Let us discern the teaching and works of people with scriptures even if
they are great anointed or famous Men and Women of God but at no point
let us be judgmental of their life (meaning of their salvation) for only
the Lord knows at the nth moment who will sleep in Him and enter Heaven,
and who will not.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord Jesus, as man You discerned the Pharisees and the Sadducees and
even rebuked them but yet You said You did not come to judge. Even on
your second coming it is not You who will judge but your Word will judge
all mankind. In the Bible we read many times You have got angry against
your people and punished them but You also saved them. The people whom
You sent to punish, when they did more than what was allowed You showed
us how brutally You dealt with them. Lord, we pray we your people do not
judge people but judge their words and their works according to your Word...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
1 Samuel 28:10-19
10And Saul sware to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth, there
shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.
11Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said,
Bring me up Samuel.
12And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the
woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul.
13And the king said unto her, Be not afraid: for what sawest thou? And
the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.
14And he said unto her, What form is he of? And she said, An old man
cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it
was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself.
15 And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up?
And Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war
against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more,
neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that
thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do.
16Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the LORD
is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy?
17And the LORD hath done to him, as he spake by me: for the LORD hath
rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even
to David:
18Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the LORD, nor executedst his
fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the LORD done this thing unto
thee this day.
19Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of
the Philistines: and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me: the
LORD also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.

1 Samuel 31:2-6
2And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the
Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul's sons.
3And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he
was sore wounded of the archers.
4Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me
through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through,
and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid.
Therefore Saul took a sword, and fell upon it.
5And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon
his sword, and died with him.
6So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his
men, that same day together.

--
SavedbyFaith. info - Daily Mail

The mighty man shall cry there bitterly

Zephaniah 1:14 - The great day [period] of the LORD is near
[approaching] , it is near [approaching] , and hasteth greatly [speedily],
the voice [thunder] of the day [period] of the LORD: the mighty man
[strong man] shall cry there bitterly.

When people read the scripture which we received today as a message,
they firstly think this day /period is during the last days (I do not
know where they place these days, before or after their rapture in their
table). They assume the problems will be so great that even the great
and mighty will feel the wrath of God.

These few days have been getting more and more disappointing for me not
in my personal life for the Lord has been very favourable to me every
day in His great mercy. These days every time I look at what is
happening with the Church (in general across denominations) it is very,
very sad. In simple words I put it as everyone is on their own trip.

This is not talking just of the Pastors or Church leaders but more with
the speakers, the preachers which give the Word not only at Churches but
even on the television. I am talking mainly of those 'famous' ones whom
people have made as semi-gods. It is not that these Christian preachers
are preaching another Gospel. They are preaching well the message of
salvation in Jesus Christ but after that they shoot in various direction
that 360 degrees also is too small to comprehend them.

The more I interact with the top leaders the more depressing it gets. It
comes to a state of not praying but crying with bitter tears unto the
Lord. Deception is so great that one does not need to watch out for who
is misleading but needs to really search for who is actually leading on
the right path.

Almost 99.9 percent of the preachers are into recycling. They recycle
Manna that was given many, many years before. It is not that they do not
have relationship with the Lord, but it is that the Lord Himself is
unable to teach them. They are like the Israelites who were during the
time of Samuel. These people have not made the Holy Spirit their teacher
but have made man their teacher. The teachers are so self-obsessed that
hardly 0.1 percent teach people of how to learn from the Lord. When I
came into the Lord the first thing the Lord did is shut me up and told
me for nearly a year to just sit with Him and learn.

Among the kings of the people are names like TDJakes, Bill Johnson,
Reinhard Bonnke, Benny Hinn, Kim walker, Misty Edwards, Martin Smith,
Louie Giglio, Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, Joyce Meyers and many more. Most
among these have made people their disciples more than made people
disciples for the Lord. A simple test is during time of trouble if the
Lord is put on one hand and these preachers on the other, the people
will approach these preachers first or run to them first instead of the
Lord. It is not that they do not trust in the Lord but since they do not
have a personal close relationship with the Lord they are helpless and
thus run to these preachers.

I do not want to discourage people from hearing them or going to these
people but I do not encourage people to stay with these people also.
Even if people like Paul were alive today yet the suggestion would be
the same. Understand everyone, as Paul himself puts leaders are put in
our lives to develop us at different stages of our spiritual walk of
life. Can you stick to your nursery school teacher forever just because
she is good? She herself may have done her masters but understand she
has the skill to teach the nursery and not the tenth class or the
college level. Another thing that happens in the churches is what
happens in many computer institutes here in India, students who passed
the course and have not got a job are soon found teaching the next batches.

It is so sad (sorry I am using this word often but I am helpless I can
only think of this word) after giving of the Gospel many of these
preachers are so lost. The basics of the Kingdom of God are not clear to
them. I do not say there is no one out there, who does not know, but
these people who know are very hard to find and surely you will not find
them on television for the world is so used to hearing the distorted
understanding that anyone speaking the Truth is side-lined.

In today's message the Lord is telling us when the period of His wrath
comes (soon) people like these kings will be the first to experience His
wrath, for they are more accountable to the Lord since they are received
much but fame, riches and obsession to blessings has led their hearts
away from Him. They have become worshippers of the golden calf
(prosperity and blessings) and not the one Who has given it to them.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, the people who You have given to lead your people to You have
caused your people to focus more on your blessings in this world and
less on You or your Kingdom the permanent place of their dwelling. It
will come as a shock to many among us when we land up in Heaven and find
that we collected very little treasure for ourselves there. Lord, your
Word says your Fire will destroy all that is wood (of the flesh) and
only precious pure gold (that which is spiritual) will remain. Lord we
pray You quicken the time and expose those who are misleading and
causing great harm unto your people...

We make this prayer in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Zephaniah 1:14-18
14 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly,
even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there
bitterly.
15That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of
wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of
clouds and thick darkness,
16A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against
the high towers.
17And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind
men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be
poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.
18Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in
the day of the LORD'S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the
fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all
them that dwell in the land.

Romans 1:22-32
22Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an
image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and
creeping things.
24Wherefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts unto
uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves:
25for that they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and
served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

2 Timothy 3:1-9
1 This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent,
fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
5Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such
turn away.
6For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive
silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
8Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the
truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
9But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be manifest
unto all men, as theirs also was.

SavedbyFaith. info - Daily Mail

What brings us to have a relationship with God?

Micah 6:6,7,8 - Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, bow myself
before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with
calves of a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams
[skin], with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn
for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He
hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of
thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Today's message puts very beautifully of how to have a relationship with
God.

[Bow] We all think by worshipping God we build a relationship with Him
and God tells us when we worship we experience His glory but do not
build a relationship with Him.

[Calves of a year old / tender calves] We also think by giving a part of
our worldly blessings, worldly riches like money (tithes), our land etc.
for God's purpose we can build a relationship with Him and to this also
God says no. These will cause us to be blessed more but would not build
our relationship with Him.

[Ram's skin] The next thing put before God is our being good Christians
and to this also God says doing this would receive His favour but yet
this will not cause us to have a relationship with Him.

[Rivers of oil] This may surprise many, that being anointed and doing
great wonders does not necessary mean that, the person enjoys a great
relationship with God. I know it is very hard to digest this but it is
the truth. People have this misconception that any Man or Woman of God
doing healings, miracles or delivering great understanding of His
Kingdom shares a very close relationship with Him. Having an anointing
over one's live and having relationship with God are two different things.

[Frist born for transgression] Another surprise - repentance brings us
closer to God and to this also God says no. Repenting and being baptised
in the Lord Jesus will save us from the wrath of God but does not cause
us to have a relationship with Him. Thus Jesus said we need to have both
baptisms of water and of the Holy Spirit not just one.

[Fruit of our body] Doing work for the Lord, using our 'talents' for His
glory too does not bring us to have relationship with Him. When we work
for the Lord we are only strengthening ourselves, benefiting ourselves
and not actually benefiting God. We say 'God's work' but it is actually
not God's work, but our work in God's Kingdom.

The Lord says the only 3 things that can really build our relationship
with Him are (1) do justly, (2) love mercy and (3) walk humbly with God.

[Do Justly] Jesus put this very simply as love one another as I have
loved you. He called this as a new (unheard) commandment. God wants us
to be like Him, holy for He is Holy, righteous for He is Righteous, love
for He is Love. Doing justly requires us to look not only between man
and man but also between man and God...

[Love Mercy] Repentance is a step towards loving mercy. Paul beautifully
put this as while we were yet sinners the Lord loved us and died for us.
We should realise we are not worthy of the love which we experience from
the Lord. We should remember however much we may try to do good yet we
land up doing wrong somewhere or the other. The wrong that we do calls
for the wrath of God on us, yet it is His mercy that keeps us and
overlooks the wrong. For man the Lord is projected seated on a throne of
mercy for it is His mercy alone that brings us to Him and makes us
worthy to be a part of His Body.

[Walk Humbly With God] The Lord does not say working for Him or thinking
of Him all day or praying to Him but says walking with Him. Walking
requires us to move. This moving is not by ourselves but 'WITH GOD'.
Many are moving but doing so by themselves and not with God. To move
with God we need to speak to the Spirit of God to know how and when to
move and we see this illustrated in the books of Moses when Israelites
followed the pillar of cloud which symbolized the Holy Spirit. This
moving with God should be done humbly. The word humbly means being lowly
before God. Being lowly comes only when we have fear of God in us and
fear of God comes when we have the knowledge of God. It is only when we
know Who God is and who we are that brings us to be humble before Him.
We see Jesus Who was God the Son come as man, everyway like the Father
yet was humble before God the Father and called Him His God. Imagine how
humble should we then be.

It is only when we do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with god do we
have a relationship with Him, be family with Him and rightly call Him
'Abba Father'. These are not optional but all three together are
necessary to bring us to have a relationship with the Lord.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord Jesus, You gave us your disciples the right to call God our Father
and being your disciple requires us to follow You. You showed us all the
three qualities in You. Even though You had no sin in You and did not
require mercy yet when You received the cup of suffering You desired
mercy for You saw us in You. When You were crucified it was we who were
crucified in You and by mercy we were also resurrected in You. Lord we
pray these three requirements be found in us and we truly rejoice a
relationship with You to rightly call You 'Abba Father'...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
John 13:33-35
33Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me:
and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say
to you.
34A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have
loved you, that ye also love one another.
35By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love
one to another.

Romans 5:8 - But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Matthew 18:4 - Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little
child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
--
SavedbyFaith. info - Daily Mail

Idolatry and rebelling against God

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

In today’s message we are been warned with two bad examples - Jeroboam
and Uzziah.

Jeroboam was the first king of Israel after the revolt (that split
into Israel and Judah).

Solomon found Jeroboam as a very diligent person of great valour
therefore promoted him and made him a ruler. But Jeroboam later set a
foundation that destroyed the kingdom of Israel. There were 2 things
which he started and was followed by almost all the other kings of
Israel.

1) He bought idols and other gods into the lives of God’s people. No
doubt Solomon caused the people to worship 3 gods - Ashtoreth
(goddess), Chemosh and Milcom. These 3 gods are even today worshipped
by many so called Christians i.e. Easter is the celebration of the
birth of goddess Ashtoreth which was induced into Christianity by the
Catholic church and it replaced Resurrection Day. The concept of
Easter eggs, bunnies and cross buns were all part of the pagan
celebration of this goddess. The name Ashtoreth means star and we
still have an idol of the Catholic Church who is also called as a star
of the sea as Ashtoreth was. They assume she is the Mary the mother of
Jesus, not knowing she is a spirit deceiving them. She still holds all
the titles she held earlier like Queen of Heaven, Mother of God etc...

Chemosh was also known as ‘Baal-peor’ or ‘Baal-zebub’, a god connected
to the planets (astrology), symbolizes people who do not know the plan
of God in their lives. They believe in destiny and not what the Word
of God has to say. Their understanding of Heaven and earth, life and
spiritual life is fully corrupted i.e. they introduced a female gender
into Heaven so as to balance it, because Father, Son and Spirit are
referred as male, not knowing that Heaven is a spirit world and
genderless. They also do not know the reason why the Father, Son and
Spirit are referred in the male gender.

Milcom means great king. It denotes the position man is given over
God. What this man says overwrites God’s Word. This sect of Christians
have again and again edited and re-edited the Word of God and its
understandings because of this man (position) whom they have lifted up
over God. Even though he speaks against God they think he speaks on
behave of God and thus change the Word of God making God to be a god
who is not of his word, a god who makes errors, tolerates everything,
sleeps mostly, does miracles mostly through the dead etc...

Jeroboam other than bringing idols into the worship of the Israelites
he also rebelled against God’s instructions and chose priests from the
lowest of people to be priests (this is what happening today among
this sect of Christians, their priests hardly believe in God and have
not even an ounce of faith or spiritual understanding, yet are set to
spiritually led the congregation) .

We also have on the other Uzziah who did well till the time Zechariah
guided him. But after Zechariah’s death Uzziah became strong headed
and did things profane to God. Thus God struck Uzziah with leprosy
till his last days. This is the state of the leaders of the Believer
Churches. In the start they do well when they are in tune with the
Holy Spirit but when prosperity and self glory becomes their agenda
they become strong headed and do profane things which cause God to
take action against them.

Let us learn from Jeroboam and Uzziah, the things we should refrain
from in our spiritual lives.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, there are many things which You tolerate for long. In most
weaknesses You give us time and your grace to overcome. But things
which are Holy unto You and things that would lead to spiritual
destruction of your people, You take up very strongly. You do not
hesitate to rebuke or express your wrath. Lord, open the eyes of
people and bring them out of Jeroboam and Uzziah...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen

[Reference Scriptures]
1 Kings 11:28-33
28 The man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor; and Solomon, seeing
that the young man was industrious, made him the officer over all the
labor force of the house of Joseph.
29 Now it happened at that time, when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem,
that the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met him on the way; and he had
clothed himself with a new garment, and the two were alone in the
field.
30 Then Ahijah took hold of the new garment that was on him, and tore
it into twelve pieces.
31 And he said to Jeroboam, "Take for yourself ten pieces, for thus
says the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will tear the kingdom out
of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you
32 ‘(but he shall have one tribe for the sake of My servant David,
and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen out of all
the tribes of Israel),
33 ‘because they have forsaken Me, and worshiped Ashtoreth the
goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of the Moabites, and Milcom
the god of the people of Ammon, and have not walked in My ways to do
what is right in My eyes and keep My statutes and My judgments, as did
his father David.

1 Kings 12:32 Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the
eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices
on the altar. So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he
had made. And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places
which he had made.

1 Kings 14:14-16
14 "Moreover the LORD will raise up for Himself a king over Israel
who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam; this is the day. What? Even
now!
15 "For the LORD will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the
water. He will uproot Israel from this good land which He gave to
their fathers, and will scatter them beyond the River, because they
have made their wooden images, provoking the LORD to anger.
16 "And He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who
sinned and who made Israel sin."

2 Chronicles 26:3-5
3 Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned
fifty and two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Jecoliah
of Jerusalem.
4 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according
to all that his father Amaziah did.
5 And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding
in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him
to prosper.

2 Chronicles 26:17-21
17 And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore
priests of the LORD, that were valiant men:
18 And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It
appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but
to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn
incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither
shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God.
19 Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn
incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even
rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD,
from beside the incense altar.
20 And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon
him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him
out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the LORD
had smitten him.
21 And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and
dwelt in a several house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the
house of the LORD: and Jotham his son was over the king’s house,
judging the people of the land.

SavedbyFaith. info - Daily Mail

The heart of Judas Iscariot

John 13: 2 - And supper being ended, the devil having already put into
the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him;

We read in today's scripture as Jesus and His disciples finished
celebrating the feast of the unleavened bread the devil had already put
into the heart of Judas to betray Jesus. It was not that the Jewish
authority did not know Jesus that they needed Judas to identify Him. It
was due to rules in the Jewish law that required at least one person on
record as witness to identify Jesus. The Jewish authorities could not
find any person for that job but later Judas became the witness they sorted.

In today's message the Lord wants us to understand what made the heart
of Judas so hard that He betrayed the Living God who was with him as
man. It was only later that Satan entered Judas and overtook his heart.

At the supper after Jesus warned His disciple about someone among them
who will betray Him, all asked as to who it could have been, but Jesus
did not answer plainly. But when John asked Jesus in quiet as to who
that person was; Jesus dipped a piece of the unleavened bread in grape
juice (wine) and gave to Judas pointing him out as the one. It was at
this time Satan possessed Judas and led him to betray Jesus. It was
unleavened bread that symbolized Jesus that accelerated Judas' evil heart.

To know how evil got into Judas' heart let us back track Judas.

Judas was the finance manager of Jesus' team. It was Judas who mostly
handled the bag of money, money which people must have given Jesus
considering Him as a Man of God. The love for money was so much with
Judas that holding it gave him a satisfying feeling.

It was not a day's passion for riches that did Judas. Throughout Jesus'
ministry Judas' concentration was on the money. We need to remember when
Jesus sent the twelve on a mission without money or any food Judas too
was among them. Judas too healed and delivered people from bondages. He
too had gone without money and by faith trusted God to provide.

Bible states Judas Iscariot as son of Simon. It was interesting to note
who this Simon was and then we understand what led to Judas' heart
becoming like this. Just before Judas volunteers to betray Jesus we find
he was rebuked for commenting on the wastage of expensive alabaster to
put on Jesus' head. He was not the only one who was rebuked, with him
were other disciples but yet he took it very personal. That was because
they were all in his house when this happened. Judas was the son of
Simon the leper. His father was called Simon the leper not because he
was still a leper but because he was one before Jesus had healed him of
leprosy.

Leprosy was looked through religious point of view as the worst
condemnation by God, and anyone having that disease was excommunicated
and isolated from society. They had to live outside the city and had to
shout out 'unclean, unclean' when they entered the city to beg for their
meals.

In today's society no disease including AIDS is not look down upon as
much as an leper was in those days not because there were no greater
disease then but all because of its religious connection.

We see Judas was among the greatest benefactor amongst all Jesus' twelve
disciples yet he betrayed. We see he did have faith and love for Jesus
but money moved him further and further from his master such that one
day a small rebuke led him to harden his heart to the extend to betray
Jesus.

Satan could not have entered him or overtake his heart unless he had
moved it far from his master. It was greed and pride that moved his
heart away from his master same as these had done to Satan himself when
Satan was still in the upper Heavens close to the glorious Throne (not a
chair or seat) of God the Son.

Let us be aware of how greed and pride worked in Satan and the son of
perdition (self-destruction) Judas. Let us not be fooled by miracles
happening in our lives or through us, for even Judas did them. But let
us be always aware of how far is our heart from the Heart of God so that
evil may not overtake us suddenly.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, in Heaven all things were precious and good yet the craving for
these without purpose led to greed being born in Lucifer. This greed
added unto him so much that pride entered him and led him to deceive.
His deceit cause man to sin and become sons of perdition. Lord, it was
because of your love and mercy that You made available an eternal
Sacrifice to cover us with your Righteousness to save us and bring us
back to You. We may not be perfect but do let us be far from You such
that evil overtakes us and destroys us...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
John 13:22-27
22Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake.
23Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus
loved.
24Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it
should be of whom he spake.
25He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto him, Lord, who is it?
26Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have
dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot,
the son of Simon.
27And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him,
That thou doest, do quickly.

Mark 14:
3And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at
meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of
spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.
4And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said,
Why was this waste of the ointment made?
5For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have
been given to the poor. And they murmured against her.
6And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a
good work on me.
7For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do
them good: but me ye have not always.
8She hath done what she could: she is come aforehand to anoint my body
to the burying.
9Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached
throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken
of for a memorial of her.
10And Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went unto the chief priests, to
betray him unto them.

John 13:29 For some thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus said
unto him, Buy what things we have need of for the feast; or, that he
should give something to the poor.

SavedbyFaith. info - Daily Mail

The Lord is angry against the prosperity gospel preachers

Hosea 9:16 - Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear
no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved
fruit of their womb.

A couple of years back prosperity gospel preachers were doing great
business. Since then we have seen many of them fall one after another
either by the law of the land coming heavy on the financial assets they
have accumulated as preachers or due to their character being exposed by
their wrong doings. It was in a short period that two great prosperity
gospel preachers were exposed by their extra marital affairs (prosperity
gospel does not mean only riches but also those whose concentration is
only blessings).

They may be still in business but as the Lord states today their roots
have dried for many people are keeping a great distance from them.

Ephraim means "double ash-heap: I shall be doubly fruitful" and the Lord
uses this term for people who desire prosperity of this world.

The land promised to the descendants of Abraham, the land beyond the
Jordan River symbolized Heaven. The word Jordan means inheritance and it
is only after we become sons will we inherit or enter Heaven.

We see the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh chose to dwell in the land
before the Jordan River and not the land across the River Jordan. It
showed the choice of Ephraim and Manasseh to be blessed in this world
over their being blessed in the Heavenly Kingdom (no doubt they helped
others to cross). Other than those who choose worldly prosperity who
will not go to Heaven are also those who do not know or give importance
or believe in the promises of God (the name Manasseh means 'causing to
forget').

In today's message the Lord is telling us even all those who are
(spiritual) children of these prosperity gospel preachers will not be
spared. They too will be dealt with very severely. The prosperity gospel
preachers have caused us to have chewing gum preachers (preachers who
chew a gum when preaching the Word or while worshiping God), big belly
preachers (preachers whose physical health is like their spiritual
health), celebrity preachers who do more stage show than deliver the
Word (the power comes by the cover) etc...

No doubt they are anointed people but one needs to understand their
anointing. I did mention on my trip to the recent camp the Lord showed
me something awesome. That awesome thing was the difference in the
anointing between Elijah and Elisha.

Elisha received a double anointing from Elijah and he did greater things
than Elijah yet we see Jesus spoke of Elijah and not about Elisha.
Elijah did not get his anointing from any man he got his anointing from
the Lord. We also see no Prophet or Man of God from the Bible did as
many or greater blunders as Elisha did (even Peter falls short before
Elisha).

We read after Elisha died even after many years his anointing bought
another dead man to life for his anointing was in his bones. As I wrote
before bones symbolize the nature or character of man (therefore none of
Jesus's bones were allowed to be broken, also even though man and woman
were made identical in spirit yet in the natural woman was made from the
bone of man to symbolize relationship of Christ and His Church by the
relationship between man and his wife).

Most of today's preachers have the anointing of their spiritual fathers
and not from their Heavenly Father. Close your eyes when they preach and
you will identity their tone, their words and their style of speaking
with their spiritual father.

Anointing is symbolized by olive oil. Oil is a lubricant that eases or
helps quicken the working, causes to keep the fire burning (oil causes
the twig dipped in oil to burn longer) and olive tree symbolizes the
people of God, therefore anointing is the power to easy, quicken or help
keep going the work of God towards His people. It is not the power to do
but the power to do easily. To do and what to do is given to all
accordingly to that person's position in the Body for everyone's mission
is different from each other and the callings of all are not the same.
Therefore the anointing of one person is not for another person. We can
share our experience, our knowledge and even increase the Spirit of God
connected to our calling in one another but should not pursue or pass on
the anointing of another.

Let us have only one purpose and that being the glory of God's Kingdom.
Let us overcome the desires of the flesh and stop being carnal people.
Also let us always remember people are messengers or vessels whom God
uses or sends, so let our eyes be focused on Him alone and not on His
vessels.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, You have more than once specified in your teaching that the riches
of this world will become the greatest obstacle to our entering Heaven.
You also specified each one of us is unique even though many may be the
hand or the leg of the Body yet the mission given to each one is
different. You are our Father and only provider, we are the vessel but
the source is You alone. Lord, let us not glorify ourselves or pursue
the anointing of another but receive it from You alone...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
2 Kings 2:9-14
9 And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto
Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee.
And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
10And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see
me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it
shall not be so.
11And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold,
there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them
both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
12And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of
Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took
hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.
13 He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went
back, and stood by the bank of Jordan;
14And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the
waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had
smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.

2 Kings 13:21 - And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that,
behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the
sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the
bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.

SavedbyFaith. info - Daily Mail

The Lord shall stand on the Mount of Olives

Zechariah 14:4 - And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of
Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives
shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west,
and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall
remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

When I had started reading the Bible and came across this scripture I
visualized a huge Jesus Christ putting His foot on this Mount of Olives
and the splitting this place (like the Hindu gods are depicted). I also
thought of an army of soldiers fighting alone with Jesus the Holy war
for His people (like the Muslims do Jihad).

If we look at the belief of the Muslims of the end days they too believe
in Jesus coming and waging a war against evil. The only difference in
their belief is that the people whom Jesus fights are the Jews and the
Christians. Jesus as they believe will kill all the Jews and Christians
and offer their blood as a sacrifice to God and thus save all the
Muslims, making a way for them to go to Heaven. This amuses any sensible
person for a large part of their book they consider the Christians as
Jesus' followers and the Jews a part of His family. Also they deny in
most part of their belief that a sacrifice of any one can save another,
especially a blood sacrifice. This is not surprising when we know that
their Allah is different from our God and their Jesus is different from
our Jesus.

Most Christians have the imagination which I carried before I received
the wisdom to understand scriptures. They also believe that the fig tree
symbolizes Israel which is wrong. In the Bible the only tree that is
used to symbolize God's people is the olive tree. This tree is given a
great importance. The oil used to anoint people in scriptures is clearly
specified as being only olive oil. I am not telling that from tomorrow
to use only olive oil for anointing, but if we understand why olive and
its symbolism then true anointing will be done that too without any oil.

The Mount of Olives in Jerusalem is more of a Jewish graveyard which
hold around 1,50,000 graves of people ranging from Prophets like
Zechariah, Malachi and Haggai to graves of famous Rabbis, political
figures and celebrities including Princess Alice of Battenberg. The
olive trees on the mount are nearly thousand to two thousand years old
but are not the ones during the time of Jesus since the Romans cut and
destroyed all the trees in 70 AD when they attached Jerusalem no leaving
one standing. One cannot tell the age of the olive tree since it does
not have rings by which the age of a tree is depicted. The Garden of
Gethsemane is at the bottom slopes of this mount.

One should understand there are two Jerusalems in the Bible text one
having the Strong number 03389 and the other 03390. They are written as
[email=Y@ruwshalaim]Y@ruwshalaim[/email] and [email=Y@ruwshalem]Y@ruwshalem[/email] respectively. The second depicting the city
Jerusalem and the first as a symbol as used here in this scripture.

This event of the splitting of the symbolic Jerusalem is not immediately
before the second coming of Jesus but a period (in Hebrew the word day
means 24hrs or even a period of time ranging from month, year or even
years). This event is not a local event to the place Jerusalem but will
be a global event.

One needs to understand the earthquake spoken in these scriptures which
happened during the days of Uzziah king of Judah, was prophesized by
Amos and happened after the priests were invaded. The King was also
struck with leprosy during this period.

During the earthquake half part of the mountain towards the west was
broken, and rolled half a mile towards the eastern part, and stood
there; so that the way to the king's gardens were stopped.

Let us prepare ourselves for this spiritual earthquake by getting rooted
to unshakable foundation which is the Rock - the Lord.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, You have always warned your people to prepare them before any
disaster came their way. Those who listen to your voice were never
shaken or affected by the disaster but breezed through them with easy.
Lord, we pray your people hear your warning and prepare. Let your Spirit
speak to them and guide them...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Zechariah 14:1-16
1 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in
the midst of thee.
2For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city
shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half
of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people
shall not be cut off from the city.
3Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when
he fought in the day of battle.
4And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is
before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in
the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall
be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the
north, and half of it toward the south.
5And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the
mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled
from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the
LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.
6And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be
clear, nor dark:
7But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor
night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light.
8 And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from
Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward
the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.
9And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there
be one LORD, and his name one.
10All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of
Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from
Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate,
and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's winepresses.
11And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter
destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited.
12And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the
people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume
away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away
in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.
13And it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the
LORD shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand
of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his
neighbour.
14And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the
heathen round about shall be gathered together, gold, and silver, and
apparel, in great abundance.
15And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel,
and of the ass, and of all the beasts that shall be in these tents, as
this plague.
16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the
nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year
to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of
tabernacles (the real birthday of birth of Jesus Christ).

Amos 1:1 - The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which
he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the
days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the
earthquake.
*
SavedbyFaith. info - Daily Mail
Lusting for the forbidden fruit

Matthew 14:3 - For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put
him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife.

Before we get into the message a little history lesson. (Taken from
Gill’s commentary)

Herodias was the daughter of Aristobulus, son to Herod the Great {e},
and brother to Philip, and to this Herod; so that she was niece to
them both; and first married the one, and then the other, whilst the
former was living. Philip and this Herod were both sons of Herod the
Great, but not by the same woman; Philip was born of Cleopatra of
Jerusalem, and Herod Antipas of Malthace, a Samaritan {f}; so that
Philip was his brother by his father’s side, but not by his mother’s;
the Evangelist Mark adds, "for he had married her": the case was this,
Herod being sent for to Rome, called at his brother Philip’s by the
way, where he fell into an amorous intrigue with his wife, and agreed,
upon his return, to take her with him and marry her; as he accordingly
did, and divorced his own wife, who was daughter of Aretas, king of
Arabia Petraea; which occasioned a war between Herod and his wife’s
father, in which the former was beaten{g},

{d} Joseph. Antiqu. 1. 18. c. 7.
{e} Ib. c. 6.
{f} Joseph. Antiqu. 1. 18. c. 6. de Bello Jud. l. 1. c. 28. sect. 7.
{g} Joseph. Antiqu. 1. 18. c. 6.

Right from Adam we find man is curious to do what is forbidden and the
lust of it causes him to reject God and be far from Him. God had
spoken that all His creation was good yet Adam wanted to eat of the
fruit of good and bad so as to know what is bad. It is this rebellious
nature a lust for the forbidden which is in us that takes us down the
sin path of self-destruction.

We like foolish people fear Satan, but do not realize that he cannot
harm us as much as we can harm ourselves.

If we read the 3 Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke which concentrate
on the teachings of Jesus we find Jesus hardly said ‘do not do this’
or ‘do not do that’, He mostly spoke of what one should do and not
what one should not do.

Desire for the forbidden leads man to complete annihilation of one’s
soul and spirit. People have the misconception that one can give one’s
soul to Satan or to God. They do so because they neither know God nor
know Satan and mainly they do not know what a soul or inner-man is.

One cannot give one’s soul, or heart, or inner-man to God nor to Satan
but one can one make one’s soul or heart or inner-man kind one of
them; therefore giving one’s heart to God mean making one’s inner-man
unto the image of God. Jesus being the visible image of God, when we
say we have given our heart unto God we should find ourselves more and
more like Jesus Christ. If we or others do not see Jesus Christ in us
it means we have not really given our hearts unto God.

People in Satan are called the sons of vanity or self-destruction.
When we pursue things forbidden or against God’s plan means we are
pursuing darkness and moving more into darkness like Lucifer did
before the creation of this natural world and caused darkness to come.

Let us pursue things of light, things according to God’s plan for us
and thus become more and more people of Light.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, we pray that we do not be children that pursue the desires of
the flesh, lust for things that are forbidden. You have given us your
Spirit. Let us therefore be lighthouses that shine your Light unto
others. During the times of temptation we pray Lord that sense
prevails in us at that moment and not vanity...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Genesis 1: 31 - And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold,
it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the
sixth day.

Genesis 3:4-5
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes
shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.

Ephesians 5:8-13
8 For ye were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord: walk as
children of light
9 (for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth),
10 proving what is well-pleasing unto the Lord;
11 and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but
rather even reprove them;
12 for the things which are done by them in secret it is a shame even
to speak of.
13 But all things when they are reproved are made manifest by the
light: for everything that is made manifest is light.

2 Thessalonians 2:5-10
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know that which restraineth, to the end that he may be
revealed in his own season.
7 For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work: only there is one
that restraineth now, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus
shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nought by the
manifestation of his coming;
9 even he, whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all
power and signs and lying wonders,
10 and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish;
because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be
saved.
SavedbyFaith. info - Daily Mail

Overcoming the rationalist world

Colossians 1:16 - For by him were all things created, that are in
heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be
thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were
created by him, and for him:

Just the day before there was an article on newspaper about the
confrontation between the President of IRA a rationalist group in India
and the Catholics. This was regarding an event which a group of
Catholics in Mumbai claimed as a miracle. The event was concerning water
dripping from a crucifix. The rationalist trashed the Catholic group by
proving the water came due to capillary principle.

The Catholics in that area had made a big hue and cry in the media about
this event; they were daily conducting prayers at this crucifix and were
distributing the water in small bottles after collecting it in a bucket.
They did not realize it was sewage water that was coming through the
crucifix. The rationalist trashed the group of Catholics so much that
some members from the group filled legal cases against the rationalist
for hurting religious sentiments.

Firstly the Catholic group did a foolish thing by not investigating the
event scientifically nor discern it spiritually. The Catholics are not
the first people to do this mistake, some years before the Hindus also
did the same with the idols of their elephant god. The rationalist took
full opportunity of this blunder and pointed fingers even at that which
were true and things connected to the Christian belief. We do not
realize this article and mistake may have caused many who read it to
lose their little faith in Christianity as a whole.

To confront a rationalist one need to be wise having wisdom of God and
knowledge of things of this world. Vain words, shouting or threats does
not put them down but gives them more strength to harm us.

In today's world there are quite a few teachers of the Bible, people
having a scientific temperament, they prove in scientifically,
historically and archeologically things which are connected to our
faith. We as Christians do not give importance to reinforce ourselves
with this knowledge therefore are not able to handle the confrontation
of the so called wise people of this world with their half knowledge or
their vain worldly knowledge.

The Lord asks us if we as Christians need to prove today's scripture to
an unbeliever how many of us are in a position to do so. Do not expect
to quote scriptures to them who do not know the value of scriptures. It
is only the true understanding of these scriptures with the true
understanding of this world would allow one to do so. Science is not an
enemy but its true understanding (not the corrupt theories) proves the
Bible.

There are many people who believe in some of the greatest lies of
mankind like evolution, godmen, incarnation, divinity in man, aliens
being part creators of mankind etc... It is interesting to know almost
all religions leaving for Judaism, Islam and Christianity believe
directly or indirectly in aliens and they being the supernatural power
that created man. Even a religion like Hinduism which boasts of being a
spiritual belief answers the unanswerable by linking them to aliens.
Even modern western beliefs like the Church of Scientology which boasts
of famous members and being based on science also have its foundation in
aliens. At the end what they do not know or cannot answer they blame it
or put it on the poor alien!

Peter puts in his first letter that it is the duty of every Christian to
be ready with an answer to the people of this world. We should answer
with purpose not just to prove we know, but to glorify God and give Him
His due.

The Lord is telling each of us to reinforce ourselves with His knowledge
and understanding. So I plead with each and every one to go to a
Christian book stall and get a good book that gives a clear
understanding of the things of this world in light of the Word of God.
And also pray for more of the Spirit of Truth Who teaches us all things
and opens our mind to all understanding.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, it was man's doubt in the Truth that caused man to sin and become
a corrupt being. Everything You created is was in perfect order and made
to explain the unexplainable which is the spirit world. Sin corrupted
this perfect creation which You said as good and caused this creation be
become our enemy. The fallen spirits use this enemy to their advantage
and its corrupt understanding to try to mislead your people and lead
them unto destruction. Satan and his team know their end and they do not
want us to be blessed in You so out of the hardness of their hearts want
to destroy us too. Lord You said only the Truth in us will allow the
repairing of the corrupt world, remove this enmity and bring it to its
knees before You. Give us more and more of your wisdom and understanding. ..

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
1 Peter 3:15 - But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready
always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope
that is in you with meekness and fear:

Romans 8:22-23
22For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain
together until now.
23And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of
the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the
adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
*

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Silence the storm and still the waves

Mark 4:38, 39 - 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? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the
sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

In today's message we have a scene before us - Jesus is crossing the Sea
of Galilee (also called the Lake of Gennesaret) in a small ship. This
was not a row boat like we see in illustrations but was a little larger
than a boat and had a sail. Along with this small ship were other small
ships filled with His disciples. Jesus is asleep on the stern which is
the hinder part of the ship and also the part from which the ship is
guided. As they are crossing the sea a sudden great storm arises and
starts to create great waves.

Mark does an excellent job in reporting this event. He gives finer
details of the event unlike as recorded in Matthew and Luke. Now as
recorded in the Gospels the waves caused by the storm start to fill up
the small ship in which Jesus is asleep (they do not state the situation
on the other ships).

As the water fills the ship the disciples wake Jesus. Their words to Him
were 'Master, carest thou not that we perish?' They knew Jesus has the
power to bring them out of this situation but they did not know how.

When Jesus woke up He did not ask them what happened but He immediately
rebuked the wind and also the waves and they obey. The words that He
used were 'silence, be still'. The wind became silent and the waves
stood still. It was not that the wind stood still for the wind was
needed to take them across the other side, it came under control. We see
after that Jesus rebukes the disciples for having little faith. We also
see the disciples were amazed at the authority which Jesus had over the
wind and the sea.

Jesus later rebuked His disciples for having little faith because they
did not realize the power to give life and take away life was with God
and without His permission nothing can happen. Second even if they did
not know their purpose in life they had Jesus with them Who had shared
with them His mission and without His mission been complete nothing
could happen to Him.

We need to understand faith will not calm your troubled sea. It will
neither silence the storm nor stop the waves but it keep you going even
in the troubled sea. Had the disciples had faith they would not have
woken up Jesus but they also would not have silenced the storm or
stopped the waves. To silence the storm and still the waves, one needs
more than faith, one needs authority. Faith will tell us the purpose and
keep us going but authority tells us our role in that purpose. Jesus
told us to have faith but He came to give us authority. He by His Spirit
enlightened us of the role the Lord has put us in His Purpose for
mankind. Unless we do not know our Purpose we will not have the
authority. Thus authority comes as we start to carry or Cross or Purpose
in Christ's redemption plan for mankind.

The wind is the situations in our lives. We need to understand
situations are needed because it is situations that take us to our
destinations. If there were no situations then we would be standard in
our spiritual lives. But when situations quicken and have an overhand
over our lives they start to talk to us and shake our faith. Also when
situation come at great speed they cause people to come against us like
waves and these people take over our lives to cause our lives to be
drowned. That is the time if we know our purpose in God Plan we can
command the situations to be silent. It is authority that lets us
command the waves to be still. Scriptures state when we walk in
righteousness the Lord causes even our enemies to have favour over us.
We should remember that the Lord is at the stirring part of our lives.
Even if we do not see Him active let us not be fooled but let us
remember God never sleeps.

Most people make wrong prayers by telling the storm to be still. They do
not want situations to come. God said in the Bible, we like it or not
situations will come against us and that they are put by the Lord in His
story of creation. But He never said they will destroy us. They do only
because we do not have faith, we do not have Him at our stirring or have
authority.

These situations destroy us only because we do not carry our Cross. And
since we do not carry our Cross we do not grow in authority. So let us
not just have faith but have authority, the power to command our
situations to be silent and power to still the people who come against us.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, it is by faith we are saved but it is by authority we become Sons.
Lord Jesus, You came to make Sons of us. You gave us your Spirit to help
us become Sons. Holy Spirit, Father work in us and help us know our
Purpose in the Kingdom of God. Help us carry our Cross which becomes
every light when You are with us. Let not the situations move us or talk
to us but help us grow such that we be over our situations and have
power to silence it...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Mark 4:35-41
35 And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us
pass over unto the other side.
36And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he
was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.
37And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the
ship, so that it was now full.
38And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and
they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
39And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be
still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
40And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have
no faith?
41And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of
man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

Psalms 107:23-31
23 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
24These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
25For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the
waves thereof.
26They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their
soul is melted because of trouble.
27They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their
wits' end.
28Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out
of their distresses.
29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
30Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto
their desired haven.
31Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his
wonderful works to the children of men!


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Country under siege

Ezekiel 4:1-3
1 Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee,
and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
2 And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a
mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams
against it round about.
3 Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of
iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it
shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be
a sign to the house of Israel.

Firstly I like to excuse myself for not sending any messages for these
few days since I was out of town and did not have access to do so. I
was attending a camp and was blessed by the Lord who did teach me
something very awesome but yet very alarming to the Church. As the
preacher was teaching something else quoting certain scriptures the
Lord was explaining me something which I did not understand since a
long time. It was concerning the great anointing in some people even
though they were personally far from God’s plans. Someday God willing
I will share that with you.

It was 2 days back I received this message to share with you. But
since it touches a topic which is sensitive to many people, I was
worried on how to put it across. But then the Lord does not
disappoint, if He has given a task, He will also provide everything
needed to do it.

This message is to do with the country of Israel. Most Christians have
a very sentimental connection to this country because most of the
Bible is based from this land and also mainly because the Son of man
Jesus Christ came from amongst these people.

We need to firstly remember that God is the God of the whole world and
not only of the people of a land. In many places when God referred to
Israel His people He did not refer just to the people of that place,
but all those who are His people spiritually. It is by faith we become
His people and not by birth. Paul goes to great extend to explain this
matter in depth in his letter to the Romans.

When I got this message about the things which will come soon against
this country, I asked the Lord how do I put this across to the people
who love this country so much; then the Lord gave me the parable of
the King’s son’s wedding.

In the parable Jesus explained how the invitation was first send to
the people in the city who rejected the invitation and even harmed his
messengers. Later the king sends his army to destroy the people of the
city. A city is defined in the Bible as a place protected by walls. It
is true the people of Israel (Jews) were protected by God because of
the blessing that was on them. In the same way many other nations were
also blessed by the Lord in the Bible. The first nation that was
blessed was the children of Cain (Mongolian race / people with a mark
on the face - from which the Chinese, Japanese and most other Asian
races come from). God had blessed them with worldly skills. Even the
children of Ismael were blessed by the Lord. This does not mean they
are exempted from all wrong. What the blessing specified was due to
them but the curses that came on them due to their doing was also due
on them.

Amongst all nations in the Bible the Jews were most blessed but they
were the most unfortunate people for they rejected the One Who blessed
them.

In my spirit I felt this message was coming soon looking at the turn
of events and also by our previous messages, thus when it came I was
not surprised. The Lord is telling us this, so as to let us know these
events are from the Lord and also He wants to tell us as to why this
is happening, so as the situation becomes very difficult for Israel
let us not be alarmed.

It was for His Name’s shake that He kept these people even though they
rejected Him. But it is time that His purpose cannot be set aside. The
sacrifice of His Son cannot be ignored or made void. The Jews primary
suffered at the hands of the Lord in the Old Testament and even now it
is the Lord Who is going to cause the problems unto them.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord your Name is above all names. You lifted up Jesus for the whole
world to know You. Jesus humbled Himself and lifted your Purpose above
all. It was neither the candle stand nor the shewbread which was in
the Holies of Holy but it was the Ark of Covenant that was kept there.
Jesus died for the Cross and also told us without carrying of the
Cross we too have no hopes of entering Heaven to be with You. Father
God all that You do has Purpose and your Purpose is the good of man.
May your Purpose be fulfilled in our lives...

We make this prayer in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Matthew 22:
1 And Jesus answered and spoke to them again by parables, and said,
2 The kingdom of heaven is like to a certain king, which made a
marriage for his son,
3 And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the
wedding: and they would not come.
4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are
bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatted
calves are killed, and all things are ready: come to the marriage.
5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm,
another to his merchandise:
6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully,
and slew them.
7 But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth
his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.
8 Then said he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which
were bidden were not worthy.
9 Go you therefore into the highways, and as many as you shall find,
bid to the marriage.
10 So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered
together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding
was furnished with guests.

Romans 2:28-29
28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that
circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
29 But 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 4:13-14
13 For not through the law was the promise to Abraham or to his seed
that he should be heir of the world, but through the righteousness of
faith.
14 For if they that are of the law are heirs, faith is made void, and
the promise is made of none effect:

Galatians 2:16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of
the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in
Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and
not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no
flesh be justified.

--

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With what measure do we give?

1 Chronicles 29:7 - And gave for the service of the house of God of
gold five thousand talents and ten thousand drams, and of silver ten
thousand talents, and of brass eighteen thousand talents, and one
hundred thousand talents of iron.

Continuing with yesterday’s message, today the Lord wants to highlight
the basis of our giving.

Yesterday I wrote that tithing is the first step towards learning to
give, we as Christians are called to learn to give beyond tithe. Many
people think the extra goes as offering so categorizing their giving
as tithes and offerings. Firstly offerings are not the givings we
give. If we look up scriptures offerings were sacrificial offerings
which people brought to the table of the Lord. These sacrificial
offerings were symbolic representations of spiritual things. Givings
were never categorized as offerings.

When we give we have the habit of first seeing our needs and then what
is extra we give from that. So when we receive we first set aside our
needs and then look at the needs of others.

Firstly let me put is clear God has not called all of us to give
everything we have. Jesus did not ask Zacchaeus to give away
everything but He did that to the rich young man. The Lord gives us to
meet our needs; then the question comes how much do we give and by
what measure?

In the Gospels we see all the miracles which Jesus did, each and every
one of them recorded was unique, each one is for us to learn something
new from. There was only one miracle which Jesus repeated and that was
the multiplications on loaves of bread and fishes to feed the people
who followed Him. Since this matter was very, very important to us,
that is the only reason why it was performed twice. Both the times
Jesus alone did not do the miracle, but demonstrated it first to His
disciples. They then showed it to the people near how; who in turn
showed it to the others. Each and every one performed the miracle of
multiplication of bread.

I have before also explained what happened the working of this miracle
and am again doing it again because it is very important we understand
how this miracle was performed, so that we know how to do our giving.

The Bible states Jesus took the bread gave thanks, broke it and gave
to the disciples; they in turn did the same and gave it to people. It
also states how they were seated. Around Jesus were the disciples and
around the disciples were the people. The numbers of the people in
both occasions were in thousands so the size of this circle was very
large with the Lord in the center.

People do not understand these scriptures and then come up with vague
explanations to it. Some ‘wise men’ state the bread was very, very big
so all got a piece of it and the miracle was in that small piece
satisfied each one. They ignore the fact that the Bible states a small
boy was carrying these breads. Can they image a boy roaming with giant
breads! Secondly they also ignore the fact that the crumbs themselves
filled twelve baskets. If the crumbs filled twelve baskets can one
image the size of those giant breads!!! Maybe those baskets were toy
baskets!

Understand when Jesus gave thanks, broke the bread into two halves and
gave the disciples each did not receive a half but received a full.
The disciples themselves broke and gave the people each received a
full bread. The people also did the same they gave thanks broke the
bread and gave one half unto the nearest person. After doing this the
person giving still had a whole bread and person receiving also got
whole bread. It is this reason each one was satisfied and had
something to leave at the end after their stomach was filled.

The Lord requires us to also follow the same in our givings. We need
to look at the requirement or purpose we are giving towards and give
accordingly; we all do not need to give everything we have. We need to
first thank God for what we have received and give part of our
receiving’s as our givings. We will then realize what part we have
will satisfy all our needs and what we give also will satisfy the
needs of that person.

Where we fail is firstly we do not really thank God for what we
receive. Let us ask ourselves how many of us are satisfied with what
we earn? We fight between our wants or the needs that do not get
fulfilled because we do not give. The only way out is first thank God
for all we receive, second overcome the desires of the flesh, thirdly
learn to give by trusting God.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, You asked us to tithe so that we learn to give and to grow in
faith and also learn to overcome our flesh. You do all things with
purpose and help us remember the purpose of our giving so that we
receive far greater things which are in store for us in Heaven...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Luke 19:2-9
2 And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief
among the publicans, and he was rich.
3 And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press,
because he was little of stature.
4 And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him:
for he was to pass that way.
5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and
said to him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must
abide at your house.
6 And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.
7 And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone
to be guest with a man that is a sinner.
8 And Zacchaeus stood, and said to the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half
of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any
man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.
9 And Jesus said to him, This day is salvation come to this house, as
much as he also is a son of Abraham.

Matthew 19:20-23
20 The young man said to him, All these things have I kept from my
youth up: what lack I yet?
21 Jesus said to him, If you will be perfect, go and sell that you
have, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven: and
come and follow me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful:
for he had great possessions.
23 Then said Jesus to his disciples, Truly I say to you, That a rich
man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

-*-*-*-*- *-*-*

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Christianity brings equality

2 Corinthians 8:17 - For indeed he accepted the exhortation; but being
more forward, of his own accord he went unto you.

In today's message we read Titus is on a mission to the Church of
Corinth requesting them to give generously to the Church of Macedonia.
Accompanying Titus is a famous brother, famous as a preacher of the
Gospel. His name is not revealed but people assume it was Luke, or Silas
or even Mark or Barnabas. The higher possibility is that it was Luke. We
see this was a high profile mission backed by Paul and all Churches
requesting the people to give unto others of the faith.

Today morning as I got up this same matter was running in my mind.
People cry so much, or are burdened greatly when it comes to tithing
(giving 10 percent). They do not know that Christians are not called to
tithe, but tithing is a step to becoming a Christian. Tithing is just
junior school of what a Christian is called for and even this junior
school is like a doctorate for most Christians.

Today there are not even a handful of Christians in the whole world that
really follow the Word of God when it comes to giving. The early Church
grew greatly because they really followed the principles of giving. God
was pleased with them and therefore added many unto that Church.

People quote half scriptures and half understandings so as to avoid
facing the Truth. It may amaze people to know, if people do indeed
really follow Christianity there would be not one poor Christian and at
the same time there would be no rich Christians.

Christianity brings equality in all things and Paul speaks on this to
the rich people of Corinth asking them to give their earthly wealth and
in turn to receive spiritual wealth from the Church in Macedonia.

Even though I wrote on tithing I did not write on next level because
people are yet not ready to really follow 'Christianity' . We may look at
great preachers around the world, great Men and Women of God everywhere
but yet the spiritual growth of all of us is very sad. We are far, far
off from what we are called to be.

By today's message the Lord is telling us, we need to grow spiritually.
We need to stop being fed on milk and start consuming solid food. Solid
food is only given to those who exercise their faith and the best way to
start exercising is to give.

Tithing is for the weaned and not for the spiritually mature. Let us
learn to go beyond that 10 percent and let us be led by the Holy Spirit
in our givings.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, You alone are our provider. You alone provide all our needs and
your Word says You made all our provision even before You put us here on
earth. You have given more to some and less unto others among your
children so that the more learn to give unto the less and thus grow in
the Fruits of the Holy Spirit. Teach us Lord that by giving we also
receive and all among us will not lack anything in any way both
naturally and spiritually. ..

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
2 Corinthians 8:1-24
Key scriptures (Italics removed)
12For if the readiness is there, acceptable according as hath, not
according as hath not.
13For not that others may be eased ye distressed;
14but by equality: your abundance at this present time for their want,
that their abundance also may become for your want; that there may be
equality:
15as it is written, He that gathered much had nothing over; and he that
gathered little had no lack.

Genesis 14:18-24
18And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was
the priest of the most high God.
19And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God,
possessor of heaven and earth:
20And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies
into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.
21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take
the goods to thyself.
22And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the
LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,
23That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I
will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have
made Abram rich:
24Save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the
men which went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their
portion.

Acts 2:42-47
42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and
fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
43And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by
the apostles.
44And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
45And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as
every man had need.
46And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking
bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and
singleness of heart,
47Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord
added to the church daily such as should be saved.

1 Corinthians 3:2-3
2I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not
able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and
strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

Hebrews 5:12-14
12For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one
teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and
are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
13For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of
righteousness: for he is a babe.
14But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who
by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
*-*-*

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Israel will be forsaken
Book of Hosea

In the book of Hosea the Lord symbolizes His people to be the prostitute
and yet asks Hosea to marry one as a symbolic quester of God's relation
with His people. Hosea out his marriage with his wife Gomer had first a
son whom the Lord told Hosea to name as Jezreel. Hosea then had a
daughter whom the Lord instructed to be named Loruhamah. Immediately
even as Loruhamah was been weaned his wife had another child a son whom
the Lord instructed to be named Loammi.

When the Angel released the Apostles Peter and John from prison the
Angel referred to the Word of God as Instructions of Life. There is a
study of the Bible called Bible codes also called ELS codes. Through
this study people have found details of events with names and dates.

The Oklahoma bombing had the words - Oklahoma - Murrah (the name of the
building) - Timothy Mc Veigh (name of the person who was arrested and
convicted of the crime).

There are many records found by ELS codes regarding the Second World War
like the words like
Hitler - Nazi - enemy - evil man - slaughter.

Even astrological events like a comet crashing into a planet was found
with dates, a long time before it happened.
Shoemaker-Levy - impacts - Jupiter (written twice with one place the
date of impact) - July 16 1994

Most amazing details found were of some events which will baffle any man.

(Lady Diana) Princess - Diana - Spencer (her real surname) - (princess
of) Wales - France - Paris (where she died) - tunnel - river (location
where she died) - 1997 (the year she died) - August (the month she died)
- Fayed (the man who died with her whom she is stated to be having an
affair with at that time).

USA consulate (bombing) - Nairobi - Kenya (the place where the consulate
was bombed) - August 7th - 1998 - (time) 10:45 - in the morning - 247
people - murdered (number of people who died in the bombing) - truck
bomb (mode by which the bomb was delivered) - (also found were the names
of the 3 alleged terrorist).

This mode of this study is rooted in equidistance letters forming simple
or complex patterns. This study has only been feasible using the current
technology - computers. Without computers a simple verification of an
event would take months.

The mode of this study is documented in the Bible in Genesis 20:2 where
its every 5th letter forms the words which mean 'lattice work of
equidistance- letter sequence'. So we see the Bible is not just
instructions of life but also history of life.

Why am I taking of ELS codes in today's message? And what has ELS codes
to do with Hosea and his wife or God and His people?

The reason is that it is a great irony that the scriptures Genesis 20:2
records the time when Abraham forsakes his marriage with his wife Sarah.

Like ELS codes the Lord has taught me another study which I call as
Image Study (which Daniel or Job were made to understand) which goes
into symbolism of names, creatures, colours, relationships etc.

If we see the names and their meanings it opens all together a new light
to the message

Hosea - salvation
Gomer - complete
Jezreel - God sows
Lo-ruhamah - no mercy
Lo-ammi - not my people

God's people are not complete without God. Man due to sin became a
corrupt soul yet God sowed in to the life of man with the sacrifice of
His Son. But there comes a stage where God denies His people and says no
mercy will be shown to them and comes to the extent of saying they are
not my people. If we study the book of Hosea Israel is given unto
Assyria a kingdom which did more destruction to the Jews than even
Hitler or any kingdom has done to any set of people.

The word Assyria means 'step' which symbolizing (worldly) prosperity.
The word Ephraim means double ash-heap or 'I shall be doubly fruitful'.

By today's message God talks of forsaking His people because His people
are fornicating spiritually due to their lust for worldly prosperity.
They are Ephraim, people who want more and more of the blessings of this
world. Look around the most famous preachers are those who talk mostly
about being blessed; blessed with wealth, good jobs, worldly
relationships; Healers who concentrate on physical healings more than
spiritual healings.

If we do not want God to forsake us, we need to have it in us that these
worldly things are only for one purpose that is to meet our needs not
our wants. Let us not be people of whoredom but be His spiritually
complete people whom the Lord originally called us to be.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, your people do not know the purpose You made us in this flesh.
They crave for things of the flesh. Adam before sin never craved for
anything but sin corrupted him and his generations. We have natural and
spiritual sicknesses due to our corrupt flesh. Lord Jesus You showed how
You overcame both the natural flesh and the carnal flesh of man and
remained perfect. Your resurrection in Spirit and in natural body was
proof of your overcoming. Help us not to crave for worldly things and
pleasures but only for things of your Kingdom...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Read Hosea 1

Genesis 20:2And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and
Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
*-*-*-*-* -*-*-*-*- *-*-*

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The Bread that was glorified

Luke 22:19 - And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave
unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in
remembrance of me.

In the Bible bread is given a very important place. In today's message
Jesus compares His body to the bread He lifted up and gave thanks to God
with. In the Tabernacle also Jesus the Son was symbolized as the
shewbread while the Holy Spirit was symbolized as the candle stand.

It is important for us to understand why bread; for this we need to go
to the root meanings of the words bread, shewbread, flesh and body both
in Greek and Hebrew.

Greek

Bread - root meaning - raise up

Flesh - root meaning - sweep (in sense of to draw)

Body - root meaning - make whole

Hebrew

Bread - root meaning - overcome

Unleavened bread - root meaning - to milk or suck out, in the sense of
greedily devouring for sweetness; (yeast breaks the sugar into alcohol
and carbon dioxide, thus destroys the sugar)

Shewbread - root meaning - overcome

Flesh - root meaning - message

Body - root meaning - most places the womb is translated as body and
other places flesh or side is translated as body. Only in case of a dead
body a different word is used which has the root meaning breathe,
symbolizing lack of breathe (life) in the flesh.

What we see by these root meanings that these words were not taken just
by coincidence but done with perfect wisdom and understanding of God.

Jesus was the only human, born of human yet without sin and who remained
without sin (Adam also was born without sin but later he sinned). Jesus
had no blemish; not only in His soul but also in His flesh, therefore He
was perfect in both. It is because of this perfectness He was raised not
only in Spirit but also in the flesh. He alone as the Old Testament says
will be raised both in spirit and flesh. He is the first to overcome
(shewbread) and has become an example and way for us to overcome.

Today as we celebrate Resurrection Sunday, remembering the day Jesus
gave proof to the world He alone is perfect and by His perfection He
broke the curse of hell for all who believe in Him. God in His wrath had
cursed Adam and all his generations to perish in this prison when Adam
sinned.

A true celebration of Resurrection Sunday would be when the message of
Jesus Christ comes alive in us and become a part of us so we too will
not perish but will be raised up like Him at least in spirit even though
our flesh (understanding) is corrupt.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, people call themselves by your name but have not yet really
understood your Message. Lord we pray people really eat your Message and
make it a part of themselves so that they too be raised in You. Lord,
like You said when we really have your message in us a river of Living
Water will follow from our bellies. Lord, we pray more and more people
have bellies that follow your Living Water following from it...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

John 1:14 - And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we
beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full
of grace and truth.

John 6:51-56

51I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of
this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my
flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

52The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man
give us his flesh to eat?

53Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye
eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in
you.

54Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I
will raise him up at the last day.

55For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

56He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I
in him.

Hebrew 9:1-2

1 Then verily the first had also ordinances of divine service, and a
worldly sanctuary.

2For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the
candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the
sanctuary.
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Dead and being Asleep

Mark 6: 39 - And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye
this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.

This Passover week we will be remembering the death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ. We have Muslims who due to this event say Jesus was not
God for God can not die. Some even question if God died then who was
running the world.

We Christians may laugh at these statements of the Muslim and may point
fingers at their small mindedness. But among us Christians also are many
who still are not clear about death, what happens to us after dead and
what does resurrection really mean.

In today's message we see Jesus points out to the dead child as being
asleep. We could imagine the reaction of the people who were mourning as
to what they thought of Jesus when He spoke those words!

If that child was asleep then what happened to Jesus at the Passover was
He also asleep?

Jesus puts in the Bible as man having 2 deaths. The first death is when
the soul and the spirit leave the body. In many places it is written as
only spirit and in some places as only soul. One should first understand
spirit as in Hebrew means just breath of life.

Plants and animals both are living beings but plants unlike animals when
they die, we say the plant withered away but an animal as died. A
plant's death cannot be pointed to a particular moment of time but to a
period, but in the case of animals we can. Both have the breath of life
but both do not have a soul. Man like animals has a soul (inner man also
called heart and should not be confused with the organ). Like the shape
and biological structure of man gives man an image so also the soul
gives an image to the spirit of man. A spirit is beautiful if its soul
is beautiful. It is the soul that gets beautified with spiritual things
not the Spirit. They cannot be separated and perish together. The soul
is the body of the inner man. The perishing of the inner man is called
second death. This death is exceedingly painful than the first death.

When Jesus died His Spirit did not die but since He had taken all the
sins on Him, He was forsaken unto hell. Hell is a prison and not a place
where Devil rules. Satan himself is a prisoner there. It is the Angels
of God who control hell. Hell was made for sinners' spirits to perish
there until its time, and the suffering there is the burning of the sins
that are concealed within the soul. The burning is from inside not
outside. There is no fire outside like shown in pictures or,
illustrations, or some people's claim of visions or visitations.

Hell is for sinners but since Jesus had no sin in Him, He could not be
kept in Hell so had to be freed and by His freeing all the souls that
believe in Him are also freed. Therefore it is written all souls from
the time of Noah who were in Hell and believed in Him came up (the first
Covenant was with Noah). Now any soul that believes in Him does not go
to Hell after death but sleeps in a spiritual level called Grave, or Sea
(not earthly grave or sea), or bosom of Abraham (for he to sleeps) until
Jesus' coming back to take us to Heaven after we being judged. The Greek
word translated as resurrection simply means to rise. Hell is the lowest
level of the spirit world and we who were born of sin in Adam and are
now born again by our faith in Jesus Christ will rise and will not go to
that lowest level. The curse of Hell is cancelled for them who believes
in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Also since Jesus was
perfect (uncorrupted - did not commit even one sin) therefore even His
flesh body did not perish but was also raised. That does not mean He
dwells in the flesh in Heaven but like He demonstrated in His
transfiguration it takes a spiritual form (raised means bought to a
better level).

This Resurrection Sunday let us remember this great victory and use the
opportunity to witness this victory unto others, so that they too
believe and not die but sleep in Him.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, we know that although we die we will not die the second death
because You have cancelled the curse of Hell by your death and
resurrection. Your appearing again on the third day was a proof for all
mankind. We know Lord You will come again after we sleep to wake us up
and take us with You to the House of our Eternal Father. There we will
be an eternal part of You and will be glorified with You as You are
glorified...

We make this prayer in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
John 11:11-14
11These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend
Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
12Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well.
13Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken
of taking of rest in sleep.
14Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead.

Luke 23:
44 And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all
the earth until the ninth hour.
45And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the
midst.
46And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy
hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.

Acts 13:33-39
33God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath
raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou
art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
34And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to
return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure
mercies of David.
35Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine
Holy One to see corruption.
36For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God,
fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:
37But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.
38Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this
man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:
39And by him all that believe are justified from all things,...

Acts 7:59-60
59And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit.
60And 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.

1 Corinthians 15:51-54
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall
all be changed,
52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we
shall be changed.
53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must
put on immortality.
54So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this
mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the
saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

Revelation 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith
unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Revelation 20:12-15
12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books
were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and
the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the
books, according to their works.
13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell
delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man
according to their works.
14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second
death.
15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into
the lake of fire.

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Church grows only when we...

Acts 6: 7 - So the word of God increased; and the number of the
disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the
priests were obedient to the faith.

In the book of Acts we see the same happening with the Church as it
was with the Israelites. When the Israelites did according to the
Lord’s instructions, it pleased God and thus they became an inimitable
force and not one of them became a victim at any battle. But when they
did not do according to God’s instructions they bore great losses and
at times they were delivered by the Lord Himself into the hands of
their enemies.

We see in Acts whenever the Church did things right the Lord added
people unto their congregation and the Church grew. It grew not only
in numbers but also exceptional leaders were noted among them.

In the records of the earliest Church, chapter 6 records the first
case of denomination issue coming up in among the congregation. The
Grecians (in Greek were called Hellenistes) were people who had a
Greek background. Their dialect and their customs made them different
from native Jews who spoke mainly Hebrew and Aramaic.

People do not use languages for communication but communication
depends on the language. This creates communication rift / separation
between people and form groups. Another factor is customs that become
traditions. In India this is seen very clearly. The different parts of
the country have different types of vegetation and climate. Parts were
under the rules of foreigner of different countries thus their
languages also changed. The clothes and the diets of the people have
developed differently due to these factors, but now even though people
move from one part of the country to another part and generations
latter yet they feel they need to continue the customs of the part of
the country they come originally came from and this becomes a matter
of self respect and family pride. People kill each other for this and
families perish due to these customs.

When this issue came up in the congregation, the Apostles used wisdom
and attended to the issue according to their best understanding of the
Kingdom of God. This act pleased God and His glory was experienced
among the people and thus the Church grew.

These days’ people use worldly wisdom and commerce to fill the church
more than their leading of the Holy Spirit and the understanding of
the Kingdom of God. Some even manage to be successful for a short
period of time but soon or later their kingdom comes crashing down.

We have denominations among us mainly because we have tried to
separate ourselves from the others believers by our differences. The
Lord instructed us to separate ourselves from the belief and ways of
the unbelievers but not form groups among ourselves due to differences
in customs, languages, understandings, race etc...

Let us remember if we all believe in Jesus Christ as the only way, we
believe that He died and resurrected, and by His sacrifice our sins
have been forgiven, that He gave us His Spirit Who guides us and leads
us to the Truth of His Word. Then all other differences and
misunderstandings should be borne with tolerance, cleared with love,
patience and help of the Holy Spirit.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, we suffer because we use our worldly wisdom and our worldly
understanding. Even though the Israelites lacked understanding of
things yet when they walked even in that little they knew, You were
pleased with them, You blessed them and prospered them. Lord, give
wisdom and understanding of your Truth to the leaders of the Church so
that they stop using worldly ways but work according to the ways of
your Kingdom...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Acts 6:1-8
1 And in those days, when the number of the disciples was
multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the
Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily
ministration.
2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them,
and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and
serve tables.
3 Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest
report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over
this business.
4 But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the
ministry of the word.
5 And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen,
a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus,
and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of
Antioch:
6 Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they
laid their hands on them.
7 And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples
multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests
were obedient to the faith.
8 And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and
miracles among the people.

Acts 2:44-47
44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men,
as every man had need.
46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and
breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness
and singleness of heart,
47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord
added to the church daily such as should be saved.


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Be dead to the law of the flesh and come alive in the Law of the Lord

Romans 7:4 - Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the
law by the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even
to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit
unto God.

Assumption has caused most people to be misled and has turned them
into blind people even though they have proper functional eyes.

Like in today’s message the meaning of the word ‘law’ in English and
that in Greek is assumed to be same, but is not. The English word
refers to a set of instructions or guidelines of dos and do-nots that
need to be taken seriously and if not, it would have consequences. But
in Greek the word ‘nomos’ translated as law has more than just that.
It also means the customs that are passed down generations, which we
call as ‘traditions’ in English. So Nomos is a word used both for the
law as well as traditions.

When the Jews were credited to be keepers of the law of Moses they
were not credited to be keepers of the Law of the Lord the Law which
the Lord was given through Moses, but they were credited to be keepers
of the traditions of Moses (from the times of Moses).

Let me explain, for example doing the things connected to the Passover
as given in the book of Moses and these were a statutes, but now that
the true Passover Lamb was revealed and things which were in the
shadow were brought to the light, then this statute comes to pass. So
still doing the things of the shadow is no longer a statute but a
tradition.

Traditions are a taboo to Christianity, and nowhere does it have place
in a Christian’s life. People confuse between statutes and traditions.
Traditions are manmade and are the works of the flesh but statutes are
things which the Lord has asked of us to do till the time we come to
the true knowledge of its understanding. Statutes too will one day
cease, ones all mankind comes to the knowledge of it. Jesus came to
destroy traditions and to bring all statutes to light and into spirit.

I was amazed to learn this last Sunday as I was sharing the Word, the
Lord revealed that no doubt the God of the Jews was Yahweh, yet He was
the second God for them. Their first god was not Yahweh but was Moses.
The words of Moses was abiding to them as life and death but they
never took the pain to ever understand what the Lord meant by these
words. They were keepers of the letter not the spirit of the letter.

One of the greatest enemies of God’s people still controls His people.
The Jews (followers of Judaism) lost their rights to His Kingdom when
they forsook Jesus Christ. Today we have people who have accepted
Jesus Christ but still have forsaken His Word by giving the traditions
of man a place over and above God’s Word.

This Sunday the spiritually dead people who keep the traditions of man
will celebrate Easter Sunday and those who are spiritually alive will
celebrate Resurrection Sunday - the Resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ.
You will know by this as how many have really died in Christ and how
many are really alive in Him. This will also tell you why Jesus warned
only a few will enter the gates of Heaven and how successful the Beast
is in ruling over this world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ be dead to traditions, come alive in
Spirit. Keep the statutes of God as written in His Word. You cannot
satisfy God in the flesh but only in Spirit and Truth.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, You are God and Spirit. You created this whole world yet You
chose only a few to be your Children and to receive the inheritance
You have set for them in your Kingdom. The people in the flesh will
perish but those that overcome the flesh will have eternal life with
You. Lord, we ask You in your mercy to open the eyes on the spiritual
blind and soften the hearts of the hard hearted that they may discern
the things they do and things they follow...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Acts 6:11-15
11 Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak
blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.
12 And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes,
and came on him, and caught him, and brought him to the council,
13 And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceases not to
speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:
14 For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall
destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered
us.
15 And all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw
his face as it had been the face of an angel.

Acts 7 - (Stephen does not deny it but tries to explains it).

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

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

2 Corinthians 3:6 Who 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.

Matthew 19:8 He 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.

--
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Creation was subject to vanity in expectation of good from us

Romans 8:20,21 - For the creature [creation] was made subject to vanity,
not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected in hope
[expectation of good], Because the creature [creation] itself also shall
be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of
the children of God.

Even though many do theology or number of PhDs in Bible study, they all
stumble at this one question 'why did God do all this when He knew it,
could He have not done it differently? '

Understand we are talking of God here. A Being Who is all knowing, all
seeing and ever present. Understand even before God created anything God
knew what that soul would do and all about it. He knows our thought even
before we think of it.

So did He not know that Satan would turn away from Him when He created
him? He did.

Did not God know Adam would sin after being tempted of Satan? He did.

If you notice the Tree of God and Bad is there only in Genesis but in
the end when man once again enters Paradise there is no Tree of Good and
Bad but just the Tree of Life. Had this tree not been there in the start
would man have eaten of it? No.

We need to understand God allowed all this to happen with knowledge. He
knew He would have to pay a heavy price for letting all this happen yet
He let it happen, not that He liked to, but all because He wanted us His
children to be glorified in Him.

Our God does have His way but being a Righteous God He justifies all
that He does. He could have made us into what we will become right in
the beginning but God refrained from it. He wants us to be like Him and
wants us to develop His Nature (His Name) within us.

Jesus did not need to humble Himself and come as man and die for us to
abolish the curse of Hell given by God to sinful man nor did the Holy
Spirit also need to humble Himself and come as the seven Spirits to be
the foundation of the Church. He could have remained one. But we see
God, His Spirit and His Son did set all these to happen so that we
develop the goodness of God in us, prove to be His children and thus
truly inherit what He has set for us in Heaven.

Christian call this week a Holy Week, but God desired holiness from us
from the time He has created us. This week may be an occasion to
celebrate the Passover not as a tradition like the Jews do but as a
statute in the light of the Truth of the real Passover Lamb - our Lord
Jesus Christ.

We may do this statute to proclaim to the world especially those who do
not know Christ. But for us let not only this be a week of holiness but
let everyday of our lives be a day of being holy, of coming closer to
the Nature of our God, for our Godhead is a Holy God. Let us not do good
because we feel like it, or any other reason other than that it is
expected out of us His children even before we came into this world, and
for our God paid a heavy price for us.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord You are full of wisdom and are all knowing. You created us to
prosper us. You call evil vanity because You know evil does not prosper
any further than the boundaries You have set. Lord, we are not children
of vanity but children of light, a light that grows and expels darkness
and completely destroys it. Even before this darkness came into
existence You already set forth the light to shine in us and through us.
Lord, let us not take pride in doing good but let us remember it is
expected of us even before we were designed or came into existence. Help
us to walk into the goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

Ephesians 3:9-15
9And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which
from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all
things by Jesus Christ:
10To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly
places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
11According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord:
12In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.
13Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which
is your glory.
14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

Matthew 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come,
ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world:

Ephesians 1:4-6
4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ
to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us
accepted in the beloved.

1 Peter 1:20-21
20Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but
was manifest in these last times for you,
21Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and
gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.

--
*-*-*-*-*-*- *-*-*-*-* -*-*-*-*- *-*-*-*-* -*-*-*-
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Social service and doing the Lord's work

Acts 6:3, 4 - Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of
honest report, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint
over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer,
and to the ministry of the word.

Some years back as I was sharing with a Catholic priest at his dining
table I was introduced to a new young priest who had just come there.
This priest was in Mumbai for his studies. When I inquired of him what
he was doing he told me he was doing his papers (thesis) in social
service. I was intrigued as to what they taught in it and he went on
with the different theories and structural fundaments of social service.
He also told me this was 3 - 4 years course (do not recollect exactly).
When I asked him, how it would help him as a priest? He gave an answer
which was confusing not only to me but even to him. Then my next
statement hit him as boulder. I told him surprisingly the greatest among
the social service icons like Mother Teresa did not need to do any
course to serve the people.

Among the two myths the first myth which today's message addresses to is
that many Christian think they need to study and get educational
certification or learn some theories to serve the people in a better
way. Here we see the Word of God talks of 3 necessities required to
serve and these does not include a PhD or Masters.

The 3 factors one needs to serve God's people are honesty, wisdom and
relationship with the Holy Spirit. Anyone lacking any one of these will
find it difficult to truly serve the people. The greatest of all social
service icons Mother Teresa is always looked by people thinking that it
was the love in her that led her to be successful as a social service
icon. But people who really know her will tell she was an honest person,
very intelligent and had great love for the Lord and it was this that
drove her success, to become a social service icon. But even she had
problems in the latter half of her life because her weakness towards
control on her anger started affecting her relationship with the Lord
and thus she complained of darkness and distress in her last days.

The second myth which today's message address is that people think doing
social service is doing the Lord's work. In today's message we see when
the matter concerning social work was bought before the leaders of the
Church; they did not brush it aside nor did they dive into it taking
full charge of the operations. We see they knew their priorities right
and they assigned people to do the work and dedicated themselves to more
important things concern the Kingdom of God.

Serving the people is very important but does not mean serving God but
is a part process of serving God. Any person not serving the people does
not completely serve God. But one needs to get his or her priority right
according to what the Lord has called him or her to do in His Kingdom.

Serving the Holy things of God like preaching the Gospel, teaching His
Word, fellowshipping in the Body of Christ stands as priority number
one. In second place comes serving God's people and lastly coming
serving other people. Serving God's people does not mean only those who
work for His Kingdom but all those who are His children. Jesus died for
the sins of the children of God, those who believe in Him and said love
each other (to His disciples - God's children) as I have loved you (a
love unto death). Towards others who do not know God and do not have the
seed of faith we still need to be merciful and thus love and serve them
but do not need to give our lives up for them.

We are children of our Heavenly who in His mercy has manifested His love
above all to this world. We being His children need to do the same, not
our way but according to the Lord's way.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, the Kingdom of God suffers because the people called to work for
your Kingdom lack guiding. They do in worldly ways the things that are
no of this world then they face problems and hurdles in their work and
think these are the persecution You warned of. Lord, open the eyes of
your people and guide them to fruitfulness of their efforts...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Acts 6:1-7
1 And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied,
there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because
their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.
2Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and
said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve
tables.
3Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report,
full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
4But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry
of the word.
5And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a
man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and
Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:
6Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid
their hands on them.
7And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples
multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were
obedient to the faith.

John 13:33-35
33Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me:
and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say
to you.
34A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have
loved you, that ye also love one another.
35By this shall all know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one
to another.

1 John 4:7-8
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one
that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

--
*-*-*-*-*-*- *-*-*-*-* -*-*-*--*
SavedbyFaith. info - Daily Mail

The day Jesus got angry with His disciples

Luke 9:40,41 - And I besought thy disciples to cast him out; and they
could not. And Jesus answering said, O faithless [unbelieving] and
perverse [turned away] generation, how long shall I be with you, and
suffer [bear with] you? Bring thy son hither.

There were very few times Jesus got angry and showed His displeasure
especially with His disciples. In today's scripture we read about the
time when Jesus really got upset with His disciples. Luke shows this
event happened the next day of Jesus demonstrated His transfiguration to
3 of His disciples. They were so impressed with what they saw that Simon
Peter wanted to dedicate a temple for Jesus yet the very next day all
including him showed no faith.

This disappointing event also happened after the apprentice training the
twelve went through in Luke 9 where they went from village to village
healing and performing miracles and also after the multiplication of
bread to feed five thousand in which the disciples were party to
performing the miracle.

There are two things Jesus accuses His disciples of being one
unbelieving and other turned away. Even today we Christians are still
the same a unbelieving and turned away people and even today if Jesus
was physically present with us He would have been as disappointed as He
was that day and would have said the similar words 'How long should I
bear with you so called Christians who call yourselves My followers?'

We may have people among us of strong faith but yet they too lack
consistency. When it comes to some areas they will demonstrate great
faith but in other areas its helplessness. The reason also is given by
Jesus in His accusation against His disciples as a unbelieving and
turned away people.

Let us take an example - in the Gospel of Matthew connected to this
incident Jesus says the one thing that will help overcome this weakness
is prayer and fasting.

With regards to prayer most people think shouting and scream is a good
prayer, the others think prayer is all about pleading and begging to
God. If one realizes the most powerful prayer of Jesus was not the one
in the Garden of Gethsemane, in fact it was Jesus' weakest prayer. The
most powerful prayer was just the words 'thank You Father' by which
Jesus did the greatest of miracles.

People do not know how to pray therefore praying 24x7 (day and night) is
unthinkable as a concept; likewise praying even when one is asleep is
unimaginable.

Another thing is fasting. Now that the Passover is at hand many people
fast before the day of Jesus' crucifixion. The reason of them fasting is
a mystery. Firstly they do not understand what fasting is, how to fast
and what the purpose of fasting is. The ritual they do as fasting
actually hardens their hearts and their spirits, taking them further
away from the Truth.

Fasting is not done for the reasons the Muslims do. In the Bible fasting
has only one purpose and that is to overcome disbelieve to discipline
the heart to be rooted in the promise or Truth. It is at this incident
Jesus speaks of faith like a mustard seed. If one asks any Christian
what it means and they go 'even a small faith can move mountains', this
is because they speak with the wisdom of this world and do not
understand what Jesus meant to say. All of us have faith much greater
than a mustard seed but we have not seen anyone of us move any mountains
yet. The reason is explained in the mustard seed. The symbolism of the
mustard seed is purity and not smallness. The construction of the
mustard seed shows that it is one unique seed that does not have any air
pocket like others do.

Let us not anger Jesus Christ any further by being a disbelieving people
and people who use the wisdom of this world, turned away from the Truth.
Let our fasting and prayer indeed be fruitful and powerful not in volume
but in understanding and meaning. Let not Jesus praying in the Garden of
Gethsemane be our ideal prayer but let our ideal prayer be the prayer of
Jesus which raised Lazarus to life or which multiplied the bread to feed
thousands.

[Prayer Starters]
Lord, your people suffer because of their unbelief and the infection of
the corrupt understandings of this world. Lord, your people call
themselves Christians but are far from demonstrating your power in their
daily lives. Lord, help us know how to pray better and help us to
overcome our faithlessness by growing in the understanding of your
Kingdom and help us reject the understandings of this world...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Luke 9:38-43
38And, behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech
thee, look upon my son: for he is mine only child.
39And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and it
teareth him that he foameth again, and bruising him hardly departeth
from him.
40And I besought thy disciples to cast him out; and they could not.
41And Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how
long shall I be with you, and suffer you? Bring thy son hither.
42And as he was yet a coming, the devil threw him down, and tare him.
And Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the child, and
delivered him again to his father.
43 And they were all amazed at the mighty power of God. But while they
wondered every one at all things which Jesus did, he said unto his
disciples,

Matthew 17:13-21
13Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.
14 And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain
man, kneeling down to him, and saying,
15Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for
ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
16And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.
17Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how
long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither
to me.
18And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child
was cured from that very hour.
19Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we
cast him out?
20And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say
unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto
this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and
nothing shall be impossible unto you.
21Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

-SavedbyFaith. info - Daily Mail

Standing against the authorities of this world

Mark 3:3 - And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand
forth.

Anyone who reads about this healing assumes Jesus healed this man with a
deformed hand on a Sabbath and thus ignited the anger of the Jewish
officials. But the real story is not so simple.

It was Dr. Ron Charles who expounded the details of what happened here.
The Greek word 'xeros' translated as 'withered' comes from the root word
'xestes' which means to smoothen. In other places it is the word
'xeraino' which is translated as 'withered' or 'withered away'. In other
words 'xeros' was a term used for a mason's hand.

When Dr. Ron went into the history of who that person was and his
details, he found records of this man was a mason who had worked on the
Jewish temple build by King Herod the first and was one of the many who
were punished by the Jewish high priest for working on a Sabbath even
though he was commissioned by them for the work (he happened to work not
on the actual temple but on the tower which was given to the Romans). It
was only when the background was given that I would understand why the
need of details of the recordings of this healing in the Gospels.

This man was declared unclean by the Jewish Pharisees. His family too
was also not spared; his wife's eyes were gouged out. His child was
taken away from him and given to another person. He was not allowed to
look into the eyes of any person and speak to them. He was to put a
sheet over his head, bend and always look down. He had to beg for his
meals on the way that led to the temple. He had been doing this for more
than 30 to 40years before this day.

Jesus by healing this man on the Sabbath did not just ignite the anger
of the Jewish high priest but went to the extreme by choosing a man who
was made an example for all Jews for working on a Sabbath. What Jesus
did here, can be equated to a person standing before the St. Peter's
Basilica and challenging the Pope before the live world television
cameras and putting him to shame. Can one imagine the reaction of all
the Catholics.

These days we hear often people use the words 'submit to authority'.
They quote scriptures without reference or understanding and then make
people follow ones who will lead them to Hell fire instead of God. They
first state all authority is put in place by God so they need to stay
there, if that was the case then why did Moses drew Israel out of Egypt,
for they were put under the rule of the Egyptians by God.

There are 2 types of authorities one worldly - these are put in the
category of kings / rulers and then there is the religious authority
which come under that category of priests. The first depends if one is
under blessing or curse, that one gets a good or bad ruler over them.
The second authority is put only by God and not by man and these does
not mean any one who calls themselves priest or pastor or bishop or
cardinal or even a pope. If one reads in Acts 4 Peter and John defied
the high priest Annas and all the top Jewish temple officials because
they came between them and God's Kingdom. Jesus too like the Apostles
never gave them respect as priests but considered them more as rulers
set over the people.

Today too more than half of the Christians are spiritually led by rulers
and not priest set by God. If they are really priests set by God they
will be dressed in priestly outfits not the one made by material but the
spiritual one which Paul describes in his letters.

As warned in the book of Revelation (first letter to the church) this
church later did follow and still follows the Nicolaitan's hierarchy
structure and not the one which the Lord gives in the Bible. Many people
have come out of the early church (not the church set by the Apostles
but the one after that) but yet follow the things of the early church
including its hierarchy structure.

Let us open our spiritual eyes and not put worldly people as authority
over us for we have only one authority over us and that is the Lord
Jesus Christ and His Word. He alone is the true eternal Priestly King.
Only those who are in Him are to lead the spiritually little ones
according to the hierarchy set by God.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, You showed as man You rejected the authority of worldly man. Even
though in your anger You put your people under the yoke of the enemy,
yet in your grace You drew them out later to be freed. Lord we pray for
your people who are under the yoke of the false church, who have made
worldly people are their spiritual leaders. Draw them out of this Egypt
by opening their minds like you parted the Red Sea...

This prayer we make in Jesus's Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Mark 3:1-6
1 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there
which had a withered hand.
2And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day;
that they might accuse him.
3And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.
4And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or
to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
5And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved
for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth
thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as
the other.
6And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the
Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

Acts 4:5-8;13-20

Revelation 2:1-11
1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he
that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst
of the seven golden candlesticks;
2I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst
not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they
are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
3And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast
laboured, and hast not fainted.
4Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy
first love.
5Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the
first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy
candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
6But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans,
which I also hate.
7He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life,
which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
8 And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write; These things saith
the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive;
9I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and
I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but
are the synagogue of Satan.
10Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil
shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall
have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give
thee a crown of life.
11He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Matthew 7:29 for he taught them as one having authority, and not as
their scribes.

1 Timothy 3:1-13
1 Faithful is the saying, If a man seeketh the office of a bishop, he
desireth a good work.
2The bishop therefore must be without reproach, the husband of one wife,
temperate, sober-minded, orderly, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
3no brawler, no striker; but gentle, not contentious, no lover of money;
4one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection
with all gravity;
5(but if a man knoweth not how to rule his own house, how shall he take
care of the church of God?)
6not a novice, lest being puffed up he fall into the condemnation of the
devil.
7Moreover he must have good testimony from them that are without; lest
he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
8 Deacons in like manner must be grave, not double-tongued, not given to
much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre;
9holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.
10And let these also first be proved; then let them serve as deacons, if
they be blameless.
11Women in like manner must be grave, not slanderers, temperate,
faithful in all things.
12Let deacons be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their
own houses well.
13For they that have served well as deacons gain to themselves a good
standing, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.


SavedbyFaith. info - Daily Mail

Men of this world are like fishes of the sea

Habakkuk 1:14 - and makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the
creeping things, no ruler over them?

There is a misconception among people that evil people have leaders.
Even if they seem to be organized evil people are not led by any
person. The only thing that leads evil people is the evil in their
hearts.

In today’s message the Lord brings this fact out for us know. In the
Strong lexicon there are 2 words translated as Adam <0120> and <0121>
that are translated as ‘man’ and other as ‘red’ respectively. One
<0120> was a curse on mankind Genesis 5: that all his children would
have his evil nature, the day the evil man was created by sin. The
second Adam <0121> was the name given to the first human who was made
full of life (immortal); note even though he was in the presence of
the Tree of Life he did not have the need to eat of it.

If we look at the fish in the sea although most of them seem to live
in groups yet they live without a leader or ruler. It is an irony that
a group of sharks the most deadly killers of the sea are called school
yet one finds nothing like a school about them. The only thing that
leads them is their instincts, their senses.

Western countries have been long battling against certain evil people
who promote jihads. They spend millions of dollars sending drones to
kill the leaders but they are mistaken these people actually have no
human leader. The leaders are just figure heads and by knocking them
down there is no victory but temporary delays. The only way to fight
them is to fight their true leader that is evil and the only thing
that has victory against evil is Truth. Love does not destroy evil but
true love delivers the Truth which destroys evil. Jesus loved us but
He did not come and just die for us, but He gave His Word to us and it
is His Word that gets rooted in us due to the great manifestation of
His love.

The western world have not got this correct therefore even though they
fight the jihadies they also give aid to their countries trying to
show humanity and love, but since they are hiding/keeping them from
the real Truth this battle will never end. In fact turn to the worse.
There are so many evidences which prove Islam as a false religion but
these are kept hidden from the people just to please some country
heads.

We may not be concern with the politics of the world but we are surely
in charge of the happenings in our lives. As born again we are not
Adam <0120> but are now rooted in the Branch Jesus Christ the new /
later Adam <0121>. We are not under the curse of Adam <0120> and is
proven only when we have a ruler over us. Our worldly ruler is Jesus
Christ and our ultimate spiritual ruler is His Word. For Jesus Himself
who is King surrendered unto the Father’s Word. We follow Him by His
ways and His testimony but our spirit follows His Word for He gave us
His Father’s Word.

Let us not be surrendered to the ways of this world nor to any person
who is not in Christ even if they claim to be one by the way of their
dress code or profession or election by people, but only when if we
see Christ in them and see the glory of Christ in them. Paul told
people to follow him not because he was Paul or he headed many
churches and a large congregation but said only because he followed
Christ and Christ was manifested in him, his words and his works.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, the people of this world are vanity and You call them grass.
Grass does not have branches but have their own stems. When the time
comes You will cuts all that is grass and put them into the fire to be
destroyed forever. Lord You did not created your children to be grass
but to be part of a fruitful tree. Jacob was blessed with 12 princes
and so also was Ishmael. But the fruits of Jacob were good but not the
fruits of Ishmael. Help us Lord to always be rooted to the Branch
Jesus Christ and be led by His Spirit and His Word...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Genesis 5:1-2
1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God
created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their
name Adam, in the day when they were created.

1 Corinthians 11:1 - Be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ.

Acts 4:5-8;13-20
5 And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders,
and scribes,
6 And Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander,
and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered
together at Jerusalem.
7 And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power,
or by what name, have ye done this?
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers
of the people, and elders of Israel,
13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived
that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they
took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
14 And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they
could say nothing against it.
15 But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council,
they conferred among themselves,
16 Saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable
miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in
Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.
17 But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly
threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name.
18 And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor
teach in the name of Jesus.
19 But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be
right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God,
judge ye.
20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

-- -*
SavedbyFaith. info - Daily Mail

Blaspheme against the Holy Spirit is never forgiven

Mark 3:29 - But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath
never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:

One should be very careful when pointing a finger at any Man or Woman of
God. It is not that they are perfect or we should not discern the
mistakes or misdeeds of Men and Women of God.

In today's message the people went a step ahead in their accusation
against Jesus. They would normally say things against Him but at this
point they pointed a finger against the Spirit that dwelled in Him.

Through the events of Moses being punished and not allowed to enter the
promised land was symbolic for us to understand the consequences of
blaspheming against the Holy Spirit. The second Rock was symbolizing the
Holy Spirit. Man was allowed to strike the first Rock Jesus but to the
second when man does he will not be forgiven. The promised land of
Israel is symbolic to the real Promise Land which is Heaven. Like Moses
we may be very, very great among other workers in the Kingdom of God yet
we will be punished for grieving or blaspheming the Holy Spirit and will
not be allowed to enter Heaven.

All Men and Women of God make mistakes not because they are not in the
Lord but because they also operate in the flesh many a times. Every one
of us, are at various ratios of flesh and Spirit leading. None among us
is totally led by the Spirit or are perfect like Jesus. Surely one day
man will be perfected like Jesus and become sons of God, till then we
need to discern every man's works of the flesh from their anointing,
according to scriptures. But at no stage are we to point a finger at the
spirit in them unless we are told so by the Holy Spirit. We should
remember we are risking our eternal life by opening our mouths. So it is
best to shut our mouths in this area than to risk losing everything.

In Matthew 5:22 the word 'Raca' refers to a person who does not have a
spirit. It comes from the root word meaning empty. While the Greek word
'moros' translated as 'you fool' actually means a person with a
deviation spirit, for it comes from a root word meaning 'mystery'. Both
these accusations against a child of God is taken very, very seriously,
especially the second leads them not only to Hell but to Hell fire which
is referred as Lake of fire / sulphur and is worse than Hell. The lake
of sulphur is only for those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit or those who
even after knowing / believing in Jesus Christ reject His Father's Word.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, give us wisdom and control over our tongues that we realize the
consequences of our words even before we speak them out, especially when
it comes to your people and primarily regarding your Chosen Ones. Lord,
let us not harden our hearts that we cause our spirit to suffer in
eternal fire...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Mark 3:28-30
28Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of
men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:
29But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never
forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:
30Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.

Matthew 5:22 But I say to you, That whoever is angry with his brother
without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whoever shall
say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whoever
shall say, You fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

Matthew 7:21-23
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in
heaven.
22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in
thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done
many wonderful works?
23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me,
ye that work iniquity.

Matthew 13:49-50
49So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth,
and sever the wicked from among the just,
50And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing
and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 24:48-51
48But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delays
his coming;
49And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink
with the drunken;
50The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looks not for
him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
51And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the
hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

SavedbyFaith. info - Daily Mail

Neither traditions nor things of the flesh change people

1 Corinthians 7:18 - Is any man called being circumcised? let him not
become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be
circumcised.

Christianity is not a religion, it is a relationship with the one and
only God. We come to know God because we are called by Him to know Him
and we should be grateful to Him always for had He not called we would
never had known Him.

Many people think Christianity is a religion and put traditions into and
thus loose on the relationship with God, the very essence of
Christianity. In today's message Paul is warning the people about the
practices of the Jews. The Jews were considered people of God and to
become a Jew one needed to be circumcised. First thing get it cleared
Jesus said 'those who are not with Me are against Me'. So ask yourself
what is the position of a Jew? Does he believe in Jesus? Is he with
Jesus? Do you know a Jew believes Jesus is a mad prophet and Jesus is
currently in hell in a pot of boiling oil? If a Jew rejects Jesus, he is
not with Jesus then according to Jesus he is against Jesus. Any Jew who
believes in Jesus ceases to be a Jew and becomes a Christian. As he or
she grows in relationship with God he or she will also stop the
traditions of the flesh and follow God in Spirit.

In Paul's letter to the Romans Paul takes great trouble again and again
to point out the Israel (Jews) God refers to as His people are not the
people of traditions but of faith. It is by their belief in God thus
become His people and not by traditions become His people. Jesus being
the only way needs to be party to this belief.

There are many, many Christians who have become (so called) Christians
via traditions. Baptism is like marriage. The exchanging of ring is not
marriage but is a tradition which is more for the people and not for the
real purpose. According to God when a man and woman come together
physically in commitment they become one and are considered married.
That is the reason Paul points the bed to be given respect and should
not be defiled.

There are Christians who pour water on heads of people / infants and
claim them as Christians. And there are others who dip people in water
and consider them as Christians. These are traditions which are for
people's eyes and that is why Jesus personally did not do these
practices. Baptism or dipping in water was started by John the cousin of
Jesus. Moses had his own baptism, so did Abraham, both did not get
immersed in water yet will be in Heaven. Traditions are good for people
but they do not mean anything if the essence is lost. To be immersed in
the understanding of Jesus Christ by rejecting the understanding of the
world is true baptism. Any tradition of the flesh like circumcision goes
against the very essence of Jesus Christ therefore contradicts baptism
and Christianity, therefore Paul writes against doing or undoing it. It
is not by our works we are saved from hell but only by our faith in
Jesus Christ. The circumcision needs to be done to the inner-man and
this no man can do, that it is why it is more spiritual and not ritual.

Now that Resurrection Sunday is at hand many Churches plan for baptism.
Today's message goes to these people who give more importance to the
exchanging of rings but not more to them become one in understanding of
who Jesus Christ is. Also do not consider teaching people about the
church, its traditions or its prayers will make anyone a Christian, but
only by their relationship with Jesus Christ will one become a Christian.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, many call themselves Christians but are not because they become
one by following traditions and not by knowing You or having an
relationship with You. Lord we pray that people wake up and reject the
traditions of man and do that which is in Spirit. We pray for true
Christians so that they grow in Spirit and become true Israel...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Romans 2:28-29
28For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that
circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
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.

Hebrews 13:4 Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but
fornicators and adulterers God will judge.

Romans 10:12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek:
for the same Lord over all is rich [the one who supplies] to all that
call on him.

John 4:1-2
1 When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus
made and baptized more disciples than John,
2(Though Jesus himself baptized not, but his disciples,)

1 Corinthians 1:17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the
gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be
made of none effect.

To understand Baptism read http://www.savedbyf aith.info/ Baptism.pdf

To understand being an Israel read
http://www.savedbyf aith.info/ Am_I_an_Israelit e.pdf

--
SavedbyFaith. info - Daily Mail

Do not eagerly seek what the world seeks

Luke 12:30 - For all these things do the nations of the world seek
after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.

In today's message the Lord is bringing to our attention the things that
the world seeks eagerly and the list goes as follow:-

Life - how long they will live and how good life they can have and enjoy.

Food - many live to eat not eat to live. Then there are others who would
even risk their health just for good taste. Obesity, diabetes,
cholesterol, blood pressure, heart problems and many such diseases have
roots with people's diets.

Health - many keep worrying about not falling sick or about being strong
or having a well-toned body. They will go to extremes to make sure they
are healthy.

Dressing up / beauty - many worry of how they look, their facial
features, their hair, their body shape or the clothes they wear.

Needs - many keep worrying about having sufficient for tomorrow. Would
they have a house big enough, or afford more comforts. Most people today
crave for the latest electronic gadgets like mobiles, tablets,
computers, tvs, car, motorbike, vacation abroad these things become very
important in their lives even more than their salvation or God. There
are also 'good' things like higher education, better job and so on which
take the most important priority in people's life and become an
obsession. If not most important place they at least take most time or
energy of their lives.

Time - One of most important worry which lives in the shadow and has
become the most precious commodity for the people of this world. A
parent will work hard and do great sacrifice for their children, giving
them everything they need, even their smallest desires but time is
something they cannot afford for their children. This is not only people
of the world but even today's Men/Women of God are so busy helping God
build His Kingdom (instead of being a means for God to build His
Kingdom) that they do not have time for their families and then we see
their children are lost to the world.

In today's message Lord Jesus is not saying these are bad or one should
do without them or not think about them, but He uses the words 'eagerly
seeking'.

In the prayer Our Father the words 'give us this day our daily bread' is
a bad translation of the Greek script. The problem is not the scholar
translators did not know their stuff, but the problem is with the
English language. The English grammar does not have the ability to
translate the tense used with the word 'give'. In English we have past,
present or future but the Greek language has the tense Aorist. This
tense is past, present and future at the same time. The statement 'give
us this day our daily bread' is not a request but actually a declaration
and could be better put as 'You give us this day our daily bread'.

The word 'Father' also means provider and therefore Jesus said no one is
your provider (Father) other than God. That means not only other people
but also includes ourselves. It is God who uses people and even
ourselves to give us our provision. Therefore we should not be worrying
or craving for our provision or the things which the world eagerly seeks
but trust God and be a mean to receive it.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, You desire your people to be unlike the people of this world. You
are Spirit and You desire your people to be led by spirit, to worship
You in Spirit and in Truth. No doubt we need things to live but You have
already given us all the things we need right till the day we sleep in
peace even be before we were born. Like Jesus You only desire us to be
led by your Spirit and accordingly receive our provision. We have seen
and experienced the natural and unnatural means You give us our needs.
You have promised in your Word that all our needs You will provide and
we people of faith belive in You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Luke 12:22-34

Matthew 6:8-15
8Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things
ye have need of, before ye ask him.
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
10Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11Give us this day our daily bread.
12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine
is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
14For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also
forgive you:
15But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father
forgive your trespasses.

Matthew 23:9 - And call no man your father on the earth: for one is your
Father, which is in heaven.

SavedbyFaith. info - Daily Mail