R.D SOUZA Saved by faith

Our sacrifices do not please God, our ways do


Micah 6:7,8 - Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or 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 [live righteously] , and to love mercy [live in
His grace], and to walk humbly [live modestly] with thy God?

In the first part of today's message the Lord is telling us the
sacrifice of thousands of rams or giving ten thousands of rivers of oil,
do not please Him.

We live in a time where we do not do such things as sacrificing rams or
pouring out oil to the Lord so why this message to us?

The Lord wants us to be aware we have many people who spend a lot of
time praying, fasting, giving charity and they feel these things make
them a good Christian. Even if we be on our knees the whole day or be
stretched out on the floor for hours praying to the Lord, the Lord is
telling us these things do not please Him. It is not that they are bad,
they are good and necessary but they do not buy favour with the Lord.
Any sacrifice even if it is of our most loved thing does not buy favour
of the Lord.

In the second part of today's message the Lord is telling us exactly
what pleases Him and buys His favour over our lives and these things are
our living righteously, living under His grace and living a modest life.
Also it is not sufficient that we do just these but we do these 'with
Him'. The most important thing is being with Him.

People do many things taking the Lord's name but they never confirm if
the Lord is with them in their task. People sow and sow and find either
no results or hardly any results for the efforts they put out for the
Lord. Let us be like Moses who told the Lord if He would not be with
them they would not go and were ready to die in the desert place.

Let us remember always, to gain the favour of the Lord we need do a
spiritual sacrifice not just a physical sacrifice. Sacrificing our
sinful ways and our desires for things that please the flesh, these
please God more than anything. He does not require us to live a hermit's
life but tells us to live a modest life. A modest life means have things
that are necessary and not that 'extra'. Even though He blesses us with
that extra we need to give that extra to those around us who are of need.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, You are God and no amount of gold or silver, sacrifice of animals
or the works of our hands can please You. You are our providers so what
can we give You. You made all things living so what is of ours that we
can offer You. It is You who gives strength to our hands so how can its
work please You. But Lord You gave us the freedom of choose and when we
make the right choice it pleases You. You gave a perfect image which we
corrupted by sin and when we put this image back in order, it pleases
You. Although man was removed from your presence, yet You stretched out
your Hand (Holy Spirit) through your Son and when we hold this Hand and
walk with You it please You. Lord we want to please You and it is the
only desire in our hearts to please You and without your help it is not
possible, help us O Lord to please You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.
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What are you praying for?

Luke 1:60 - And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be
called John.

In the background of today's message we read Zacharias who was a much
respected priest, known for his pious and blameless life. But we see a
two faces of a coin when it came to his faith in God. He was an aged man
who spent a great part of his life praying for a child since being a
Levi and a high priest he needed someone to keep that portfolio in the
family like he received from his fathers. Not only he but even his
relatives prayed unceasing unto God for his cause.

But surprisingly when the time came for him to receive the answer of his
long efforts, when the Angel Gabriel appeared unto him, he lost faith
and failed to believe that his prayer would be answered. This caused the
Angel to make him dumb till the time the child was born, so that he does
not open his mouth in his faithlessness and stop his blessing.

What we see, even though the Lord answered Zacharias' prayer yet he did
not get what he thought he wanted. Zacharias wanted a son to inherit the
traditional post of being a High Priest and serving the Lord. The Lord
did answer Zacharias' prayer of giving him a son to serve the Lord but
not in traditions but in truth. It is written there was no man in whole
of history till that date, who had managed to bring so many people to
God like John did. That list includes Joseph, Moses, Jeremiah, Daniel,
Isaiah and other Men of God. Never is it written a man caused humans to
'take the Kingdom of Heaven by force'. John was the first man to give
the perfect Gospel. In all this we can imagine the mental state of
Zacharias (if he was as alive at that time) as his son grew and instead
on being involved the temple work, went into the desert and started
living a strange way of life.

In today's message the Lord is telling us to be aware of what we are
praying for, are we asking things worldly or things heavenly? Our God is
not interested in traditions or rituals, these things are for the eyes
of the people and not for the Lord. Lord does not answer prayers which
are to please people or to keep people busy. When the Lord blesses He
does it in truth and in perfection. It is our short sightedness, our
lack of knowledge of the Kingdom of God that causes us to ask for things
which the Lord does not give. So let us know the Kingdom of God and pray
according to His will not ours.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, out of our lack of understanding of reality we pray and pray and
find our prayers are not been answered. At times to answer our prayer
You need to put us in difficult situations so that we do not be a hurdle
to our own prayer. We also find at times we receive exactly what we
asked for but we know Lord You will not give a serpent to your child
when he asks for food. Lord help us to keep faith in You and to trust
You to give us the best for us, beyond the limits of our understanding. ..

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Luke 1:5-22, 57-64

Matthew 11:7-15
7 And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes
concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed
shaken with the wind?
8But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold,
they that wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.
9But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and
more than a prophet.
10For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger
before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
11Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath
not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is
least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
12And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven
suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
13For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.
14And if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come.
15He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

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The Two Birds

Acts 3:14 - But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a
murderer to be granted unto you;

One may wonder why I took a title of two birds with the scripture which
was given to us as today's message and what relationship it has with it.

If one reads verses 12 to 18 of this chapter Peter was talking about the
people selecting Barabbas to be freed instead of Jesus even though Jesus
was innocent with no accusation being proved against Him other than He
calling Himself Son of God and King. On the other hand Barabbas was well
known for rebelling against the authorities and also of robbing people
on the highways. Peter puts Jesus as the Holy One, the Just and as the
Prince of Peace. But towards the end Peter says this was just fulfilment
of that which was already declared by the mouths of all His prophets.
Peter talks of not just one but many Prophets.

The people did injustice towards Jesus due to their ignorance to who
Jesus was, but also did to fulfil prophecies. They did not only
fulfilling prophecies but were also party to the performing of the
sacrifice which the Lord initiated for the healing of man. If it was not
for this event Peter would not have written in his letter 'by His wounds
we are healed'.

The name Barabbas means 'son of a father' and Jesus was Son of the
Father. One Son was sacrificed so that the other son could be set free
from sickness. When sin came into man this sin started manifesting in
the next generations. Both the sons of Cain and of Seth were named
Enoch. The name means 'mortal', meaning lack of life on the other hand
Adam means reddish meaning full of life. One of the two Enoch realised
and walked with God and the other did not.

Most of the passion of Christ is learned more from the Old Testament
than the New Testament. Everything pertaining to Jesus' crucifixion is
also not recorded in the Bible just for the reason that the sacrifice
was more for God than for man. But everything that was need for us to
know that all that was needed for the salvation of mankind right from
saving, healing and prospering him was completed.

Let us not be ignorant now that we are called to be children of Light.
Now that we have come to know Jesus Christ and have received the promise
of the Holy Spirit let us stop walking in darkness and come to the
knowledge of Jesus Christ, be blessed in Him and have authority in His Name.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, You became our sacrifice not only for our sins but everything
needed for us being whole. You became not only our Lamb but whole in
whole everything we needed as spoken through Moses. Lord, open the minds
of your people that they may know your sacrifice and be blessed...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Acts 3:12-18
12 And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel,
why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by
our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?
13The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our
fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied
him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.
14But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be
granted unto you;
15And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead;
whereof we are witnesses.
16And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom
ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this
perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
17And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also
your rulers.
18But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his
prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.

Matthew 27:16-26

Leviticus 14:3-7
3And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall
look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper;
4Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed
two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:
5And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an
earthen vessel over running water:
6As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the
scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the
blood of the bird that was killed over the running water:
7And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy
seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living
bird loose into the open field.

1 Peter 2:24 - Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the
tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by
whose stripes ye were healed.

The Teacher of all teachers

Mark 14:50 - And they all forsook him, and fled.

The Bible records about three to three and a half years of the ministry
of Jesus Christ with the miracle of Cana being the first recorded. But
if one reads even at this time Jesus already had disciples and it was He
and his disciples along with His mother were guest to the wedding.

Historic documents show Jesus as a Jew and a true Levi fulfilled
scriptures and dedicated Himself to the Temple work right from the age
of twenty one. He Himself studied scriptures even though He was God who
humbled Himself and came as man. He used none of His 'God powers'
throughout His human life and was 100percent man in every way.

Among the many titles Jesus had was one which referred to Him as
Teacher. All of history has no man who was better than Jesus in
explaining or teaching anyone. The 3 Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke
concentrate on the teachings of Jesus. The methods Jesus used then, even
today if applied are the best to teach any person. The teachings which
Jesus gave had people understand them then and even today people are
still understanding them! The teachings had so much depth that everybody
received a small part of its understanding and are still doing.

When it came to teaching a common crowd Jesus used lots of symbolism,
current historic events, geographical data, culture etc. so the simplest
of simple as well as the intellect received varying amounts of
understanding. For His close disciples Jesus used very simple, plain
words when He was in private with them. But when it came to the over
smart ones like the Pharisees, Sadducees and the Priests; Jesus would
answer their questions mostly with a question, more than making them
understand Jesus was shaking their understanding.

Even though Jesus was the best of best human teacher that man ever had,
yet we see in today's message His best students failed to a point that
they all forsook Him. We find many among them had great revelations of
Jesus yet when the test came they all failed miserably. They really came
to know Jesus and fully understood His teaching only when they received
the Holy Spirit.

Even though Jesus was the best human teacher yet He was not comparable
to the Teacher of all teachers which is the Spirit of Truth. Jesus as
man was limited, while the Spirit of God is not. The Holy Spirit teaches
us better than any human teacher which included the man Jesus. We as
human may even come to the level of teaching people like Jesus did but
if we have wisdom like Jesus we would do what Jesus did. He knew His
limitation as man and therefore handed over His students to the ultimate
Teacher.

Let us not be foolish to lead people all their lives. When I see people
being led by the same person over many years and not having a
relationship with the Ultimate Teacher than either the person is a
common man and not a disciple or the teacher is a failure.

Make true disciples by bringing them to the point that they are handed
over to the True Teacher. The Kingdom of God is suffering because people
are failing as good teachers to make disciple for the Lord but are
making disciples for themselves.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord Jesus, You came as man to be the corner stone. Lord, the people
have failed to know You and align themselves to You and imitate You.
They call themselves Christians but fail in imitating Christ. Father, we
pray they know there is no one better than You as a Teacher and that
more and more people are led by You and not by man...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
John 2:1-2
1 And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the
mother of Jesus was there:
2and Jesus also was bidden, and his disciples, to the marriage.

John 3:2 - The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we
know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these
miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.

Matthew 23:8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your teacher, and
all ye are brethren.

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The Way of The Cross

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

Today’s scripture talks of Peter just before he denied Jesus thrice,
the Lord bought my attention to Peter warming himself. The event of
Jesus’ crucifixion happened during the winter season in Israel.
Actually, Israel does not have a winter season for it has only two
seasons, summer which is from late May to October and rainy / winter
season which is from November to May. The winter / rainy season see
the temperature go sometimes very low such that times it even snows.

In this period during evening people gather around a fire to keep
themselves warm. Peter’s denial did not happen on the day Jesus was
crucified but on one of the early days of the 5 days during which
Jesus was arrested and tortured, since on the day of His crucifixion
He was so bruised that people could not recognize Him as a human.

We need to understand when one bleeds one looses ones strength and it
caused the person to be weak. The climate being cool (between 6 to 11
degrees at normal times) we can imagine with all the blood Jesus lost
during those days of torture He must have been shivering and that
could also be a reason for Him needing help to carry the crucifix.

Some Christians believe in a set of events connected to Jesus’
crucifixion calling them the ‘Way of the Cross’. These events are not
only far from reality, they are also far from that which is recorded
in the Bible. They put events like Jesus fell only thrice which is not
in the Bible nor written in Historic records. They actually diluted
the suffering of Jesus on the crucifix and made a drama of it such
that some people mimic it to the extent of even nailing themselves on
a crucifix.

The person who wrote the script of the movie “The Passion of Christ”
shared that the Romans soldiers who whipped Jesus, after the Jews did,
were shocked to see Jesus still alive after they had done with Him, to
the extend a fear had come into them that the hand of their gods was
behind Jesus being alive, so they dipped Him in salt water to stop His
bleeding.

Today’s message goes to all those who think they can encapsulate the
suffering of Jesus during the crucifixion; they need to think that
again. They need to come out of the deception they live in and open
their eyes to the reality of the Truth. They need to stop doing the
drama that they do in this so called ‘Lent’ period and spend more time
knowing the Truth.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, people are deceived with wrong information so that they lose the
benefits your sacrifice made available to them. Lord, no doubt the
blood of the sacrificial lamb was applied on outside not for man to
see but the Angel of death from the Lord to see. Your blood not only
protects us from the wrath of God but has also been shed to gain
numerous benefits like peace between God and man. Lord, we pray your
people understand this Truth and be blessed in You...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Exodus 12:1-13
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Mother of Israel

Ezekiel 19:2 - And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down
among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.

In Ezekiel chapter 19 the Lord is talking to princes of Israel about
their mother. Most people think this mother to be the nation Israel but
is not so.

The Lord is talking to His people, and only when the whole lamentation
is taken into consideration then only it gives a clear picture of who
the mother is.

The mother here is the Church started through Abraham and it talks of
her 2 young lions. The first young lion is the Jewish Church which was
founded through Moses. Although Moses bought the people out of Egypt yet
the Lord says it was taken bonded unto Egypt. This Egypt which the Lord
talks of is not the country Egypt but the meanings of the word 'Egypt'
which symbolizes double way of life. Jesus always rebuked the Jewish
religious leaders because although they had the Law of God with them
they followed the Law of Moses. This meant they did the traditions
without understanding, what they did was contrary to what they Law spoke of.

The second young lion spoken here is the Christian Church formed through
the Apostles. This Church started with great vigour and power but then
this Church too landed being bonded. This time it was done on a greater
scale in which all the nations were involved and this Church has been
taken unto Babylon. Here too the Babylon spoken of is not the kingdom
but means confusion.

The lamentation is perfect to our times and therefore time and again I
have been getting scriptures from this lamentation.

The lamentation stops at a situation where there is no strong branch.
Today the situation of the Christian Church is very sad. Although people
are coming to know God and more and more are getting added the expansion
is only happening as the horizontal direction. In the vertical direction
there is hardly any growth. Last Saturday at my session where we are
studying on Acts, the Lord was teaching us of the times when the glory
of God was awesome in His Church and the people had the fear of God so
much that the people kept far distance from the Apostles. The Apostles
occupied a prominent part of the temple known as Solomon's Protico
(Proch). They enjoyed the respect of not only the Christians but also
other people.

The persecutions of this Church started after people started glorifying
man and not God for the wonders which the Lord was doing through the
Apostles. People made Peter a hero and moved their focus from God unto
Peter so much that they ran even after his shadow. It was not that Peter
was the only one healing the people but it is written all the Apostles
were healing, yet Peter was most sought after. The incident of Ananias
and Sapphira had set so much in the minds of the people that they failed
to understand why it happened but focused on the person Peter through
whom this event took place.

Later this Church was taken into so much confusion that during that
period the Lord went even to the effect of calling it the temple of
Satan and the seat of Satan. People put this era as the dark ages of the
Church but do not realize that even though the evil doings have stopped,
the corrupt teachings or understandings still continue.

In the 1400-1500 AD the Believers separated themselves from this Church
but yet they carried with them a large portion of the corrupt
understanding of the Church. We may have hundreds of denominations but
yet all of them took their portion of corrupt understanding from this
Church. That is the reason today we do not have any great happening in
the Church, every time something little happens it soon busts like a
bubble, and the reason is the corrupt understanding which still prevails
in our Churches.

The Lord is telling us unless we do not scrutinise everything we believe
in, every tradition we follow with scriptures and confirm it, we will
continue in our confusion and the lamentation will continue.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, the dragon has used all its efforts to destroy your Temple. Lord,
your people are still under the powers of confusion. They are not rooted
to the Rock which is your Spirit of Truth. Lord, renew the minds of your
people; give them more of your discernment. Lord we pray You cause a
great awakening among your people...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Luke 12:1-2
1 In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable
multitude of people, so that they stepped one on another, he began to
say to his disciples first of all, Beware you of the leaven of the
Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
2For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid,
that shall not be known.

Acts 2:38-47

Acts 5:1-18

Revelation 2:1-11
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Heads of Governments

Deuteronomy 1:15 - So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and
known [understanding] , and made them heads over you, captains over
thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and
captains over tens, and officers among your tribes.

These days if you are on Facebook with American brothers and sister on
yours 'friends' list you are sure to see posts of either criticizing
Obama or supporting his policies, mostly against than pro. The same is
the story in many states in India since the elections are at hand either
the corporation election or state election. These elections also effects
the Church services and you find people praying for a good government
very often.

In India things are a little less for people are got used to being
oppressed, but in America Obama is become another god for many
Americans. It is not that they worship him but even though they hate
him, he has become the center stage of their lives. One needs to
understand whoever takes the most important place in your life is your
God. Even if it is out of hatred and not love yet that person or thing
becomes your god and you land up paying homage to that person or thing
every now and then.

In today's message the Lord is telling us it is He who appoints people
to lead us or administer over us, if we are walking in His ways then we
would have anointed, wise and people of good character governing us. But
if we are not walking in His ways then we would have people who will
supress us, exploit us and persecute us.

Praying is good but better is holding on to the promise by abiding in
the Lord and awaiting the good results. Mercy of God is like rains. God
has made seasons so do not expect nonstop showers, if there was nonstop
rains then there would not be seasons but only one season.

The message is very clear to us, if we want good governance let us start
working inside us; let us walk in the ways of the Lord and surely the
people in the government will be good.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, You are God and nothing in this world happens without your
knowledge and permission. In your anger You turn your face from man and
thus allow the devourer a free hand over the people. Lord, today we make
a commitment to improve our personal lives and build a better
relationship with You so that we will be blessed and have peace in our
lives...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Deuteronomy 28:15-18,36- 38,43-44
15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of
the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes
which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon
thee, and overtake thee:
16Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
17Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.
18Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the
increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
36The LORD shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over
thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and
there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
37And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among
all nations whither the LORD shall lead thee.
38Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but
little in; for the locust shall consume it.
43The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high;
and thou shalt come down very low.
44He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the
head, and thou shalt be the tail.

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Returning to our fathers

Luke 2:4 - And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of
Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called
Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

In today's message Luke speaks of the lineage of David. In his document
(Gospel) of Jesus Luke records a lineage, but this lineage is not of
Joseph but of Mary. And that is why from David this lineage differs to
the lineage recorded in Matthew.

In the English translation it is given 'the son of' but in the original
script these words do not exist (therefore written in italic) but
written just as 'of'. Heli was the father of Mary and the father in law
of Joseph.

Luke 2:22-38

22And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him,
and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in
thee I am well pleased.

23And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was
supposed) the son of Joseph, which was of Heli,

24Which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, which was the
son of Melchi, which was the son of Janna, which was of Joseph,

25Which was of Mattathias, which was of Amos, which was of Naum, which
was of Esli, which was of Nagge, (it is the same right up to Adam and
God)...

Luke records the legal relationship. Joseph being married to Mary became
a part of the family of Heli. Wearing of the ring resembles the rights
the person has into the family and during marriage is not between the
two getting married but between the family and the person coming into
the family.

When Jesus gave us authority in His Name and when He called us His
brothers we too are become part of His family and thus become of
Abraham. It is faith that brings us into the family of Christ and it is
faith that keeps us in the family. But if we reject this faith then like
son in the parable of the Prodigal Son lost his sonship so also we too
will lose our sonship. We may still be sinners but it is our faith that
links us to our spiritual family. That is why it is written that by our
faith in Jesus Christ we are saved, because after death we are gathered
to our fathers like those from Abraham onwards who walked in the way of
the Lord were gathered unto their people. The sacrifice of Jesus saves
us such that even though we do not walk in the ways of the Lord and are
sinners yet His Blood saves us; it is faith that keeps His Blood over us.

In today's message Joseph belonged to the house of David therefore
returned when the time came, so also we all will one day return to our
fathers when the time comes. This gathering too will be temporary until
we all are judged and enter Heaven when Jesus comes.

[Prayer Starter]

Lord, by your sacrifice You cancelled the curse of Hell and even though
we are not perfect or have sinned yet we are saved. We are gathered unto
our fathers by our faith in You. Holy Spirit help us walk in You so that
we return to our Father in Heaven when Jesus comes...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]

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

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

Genesis 49:33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he
gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was
gathered unto his people.

Numbers 20:24 Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not
enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel,
because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah.

Deuteronomy 32:48-50

48And the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying,

49Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in
the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of
Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:

50And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy
people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto
his people:

Luke 16:22-23

22And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the
angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

23And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham
afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

Acts 13:36 For 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:

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 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become
the firstfruits of them that slept

Revelation 20:13 And 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.

*-*-*

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The miracle which caused problems for Jesus

Mark 10:52 - And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made
thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in
the way.

When we really get into the depth of the background of times of Jesus,
Jesus grew not only in the favour of God but also in the favour of man.
One should realize there is a scripture which states if we walk in the
ways of the Lord we will have favour even with our enemies and this was
true even for Jesus.

If it was not the rebukes through His teachings or the miracles Jesus
did, He would have never been in bad books of neither the religious Jews
nor the Romans. The Jews lived under the rule of the Romans and
therefore had limited rights.

Until this miracle of Bartimaeus Jesus was in the good books of the
Romans and thus caused all the evil planes of the Jewish religious
leaders to not be fruitful. This man Bartimaeus was not a Jew but was a
Roman and that too a son of a very senior person of the Roman army. His
father Timaeus was like a general in the army. He lived in Jericho which
was a haven for the richest of the rich at that time. It was a very
beautiful city with cottages having their own exotic gardens and also
had all the various religious temples together between the two bordering
walls of the city gates. It was between these walls that beggars and
unclean people lived.

Bartimaeus although being a rebel was not killed (which was the usual
punishment to rebels) because of his father. He was not born bind but
was made blind by Caesar as a punishment and also made an outcast to
live between the walls of the city as an unclean person. People were
forbidden from helping him and were to treat him as a beggar by the rule
of Caesar.

When Bartimaeus called out to Jesus, Jesus had the choice to ignore him
and continue the favour He had with the Romans or help this man and let
the scriptures about Him be fulfilled. Jesus chose the latter and let
Bartimaeus be healed. By this healing Jesus challenged Caesar, lost the
favour He enjoyed with the Romans and landed making them His enemies.

The Lord is asking us today, how many times have we compromised with God
just to satisfy people? We may think we are doing good or trying to help
people.

Think about it, had Jesus also thought the same way and said I will heal
more people and reach out to more people and go more places and thus
ignored the cry of Bartimaeus than do you think we would be saved? He
would have enjoyed the favour of the Romans and the Jews would not have
touched Him and thus He would have not been our Lamb of God.

We may something need to do things which may not seem wise in the eyes
of man but if it surely is from the Lord, just do it. If God said it,
then stop using our using our wisdom or find better ways. His wisdom is
beyond our imagination and He knows what is best.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, many use their thinking and their minds to do your work and
therefore have made the Kingdom to suffer. Lord, it would have not been
necessary for You to give us your Spirit if man was capable to do all
things right. Holy Spirit teach us to listen to You and to abide by your
Will. Let not what we want or think right come to pass but what You want
and desire in us...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Mark 10:45-52
45For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to
minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
46And they came to Jericho: and as he went out of Jericho with his
disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus, the son of
Timaeus, sat by the highway side begging.
47And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out,
and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
48And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the
more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.
49And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call
the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.
50And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.
51And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do
unto thee? The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.
52And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.
And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.

Proverbs 16:7 - When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his
enemies to be at peace with him.

-- *-*-*
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Pleasant or unpleasant we will listen, Lord

Jeremiah 42:6 - "Whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we will obey
the voice of the LORD our God to whom we send you, that it may be well
with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God."

In today’s message these words were of the people who many a times
spoke to this very Man of God Jeremiah saying ‘speak smooth words to
us’. They were rebuked by the Lord through Jeremiah because they were
worshiping the Queen of Heaven and were spiritually fornicating with
the bones of their dead rulers. Even after they spoke these words
their ways had not changed. Christians today also do the very same
thing which the Israelites did at that time.

Many a times I have people coming to me and advising me not to
complicate the Gospel, or give such strong messages but to give words
of encouragement. I liked to ask them if they understood what the word
‘Gospel’ means?

Gospel starts with knowing God and having fear of Him for what He is
and what we are. This fear causes repentance and brings the person to
take refuge in the only hope Jesus Christ. It calls for the believer
to surrender to the Holy Spirit and allow the Spirit of God to take
charge of one’s life so that by the works of the Holy Spirit the
person can receive the reward of entering Heaven and being one with
one’s Creator.

There are numerous people who send sweet so called ‘gospels’ which do
not really change people. They do send words of encouragement but
these words also encourage the person to keep continuing in the
desires of the flesh and not overcome them. Their message of hope is
without the fear of God, self realization and repentance. They dip
people not immerse them in the Gospel.

When I started my Daily Devotions site, I started with 150 persons in
my list and within 2 years this list grew to two thousand plus people.
During that time my messages were sweet and I used to get good
feedback from people but then I realized, neither these people’s faith
nor their spiritual level changed over the years and they were
struggling in the same place. Today I do not find more than people
adding themselves the Lord adding them through others in unthinkable
ways. My messages go to more than 50 to 70 thousand people everyday
not because people added themselves but the Lord added them to me.

We love gathering audience for the Lord and not believers or disciples
for Him. People hate the Truth and love only pleasing words which do
not hurt their fleshy way of life.

The Lord is telling us in today’s message His Word is not a fairytale;
it is His Word and Truth which causes life to change and be saved.
God’s Word not only lifts the valleys but also levels the mountains
(our own understandings) . We should not be hoping to hear only
pleasing words but even words of corrections. If one feels their life
does not need change then God’s Word is not for that person nor does
that person need God. It is only when we are ready to allow the Lord
to work in us by bringing down the illegal constructions we have in
our hearts, will we really grow in spirit and in relationship with the
Lord.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, let me not be like the people who learned through bitter
experience to surrender to You. We thank You for not taking us through
those experience due to the grace of Jesus Christ in whom we are
baptized. Lord, lift in our valleys and bring our mountains down and
bring us in level to your Word which is the Truth. Lord, what is not
of your Kingdom remove from us and fill us in our areas of lacking...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Jeremiah 42:1-6
1 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah,
and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least
even unto the greatest, came near,
2 And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our
supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the LORD
thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of
many, as thine eyes do behold us:)
3 That the LORD thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and
the thing that we may do.
4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold,
I will pray unto the LORD your God according to your words; and it
shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the LORD shall answer you, I
will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you.
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness
between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which
the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.
6 Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice
of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with
us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.

Jeremiah 7:17-19
17 Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the
streets of Jerusalem?
18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the
women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to
pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to
anger.
19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke
themselves to the confusion of their own faces?

Jeremiah 8:1-3
1 At that time, saith the LORD, they shall bring out the bones of the
kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the
priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves:
2 And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all
the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served,
and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom
they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they
shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of
them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places
whither I have driven them, saith the LORD of hosts.
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Follow the steps to be fruitful in the Lord's work

Matthew 28:19,20 - Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:
and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

We have many Christians or I would say so called Christians who are also
half atheist. Many during the time of trouble do acknowledge God exists
and then there are others who think God does not have the power to do
things or we live in a time where God has shut shop and will not do any
great miracle. For these if any one miracle happens through a person,
that person is glorified and called 'Saint' and his or her statues and
photos are put all over the place. That person then becomes another god
among the many they have. No doubt this is intentionally done with
commercial intention for this institution also called 'Church'.

Something I will never forget when in fellowship a Brother was sharing
in a humour tone about what happened with another Pastor. This Pastor
from south India was having a sharing session at the area common between
groups of houses, so people of all faiths were sitting at this session.

At this session this Pastor was sharing on the crucifixion of Jesus
Christ and was telling them how He was whipped, bruised and nailed on
the crucifix even though He was innocent. The Pastor did narrate this
with great emotion and caused the hearts of many to feel the suffering
and be moved. In all this an old Hindu woman cries loud out in her
native language saying 'O Krishna how did you let such an innocent
suffer'. She was calling on her god Krishna and questioning him as to
how he let an innocent man like Jesus suffer on the cross!

All these things happen because we Christians do not follow the
instructions of the Lord on how to extend the Kingdom of God. In today's
message the Lord gives us very clear instructions on how to reach out to
people and bring them into His Kingdom.

The instructions to us is to go to all the nations and to teach all
nations, but before the teaching there is something we are told to do
and that is baptize them in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy
Spirit.

A large group of Christians have made the second part of the
instructions as a ritual and called it the sign of the cross. Before I
came in the Lord I too used to do this hand gesture every time I started
my prayer, stood before a religious statue or even passed a monument
where Christians gathered to fellowship. Not only that, even if I passed
any funeral or stood before a grave that gesture would be there. Some do
it not once but a number of time and the speed at which they do looks
like they are doing some martial arts moves.

If one reads the instruction clearly Jesus did not give us this
instruction to do some gesture or exercise. The Son is not greater than
the Holy Spirit such that the Son is before the Spirit of God. It is
given in that order because of Who revealed Who. It is the Father Who
revealed the Son to us and it is the Son Who revealed the Holy Spirit to
us. Unless one does not know Who God the Father is, it is useless
speaking to that person about the Son.

If we go out and preach about Jesus Christ to people who do not believe
in God or have many gods, it is just a waste of time and efforts. Before
we tell people of the Holy Spirit or even of Jesus Christ we need to
clear their minds that God exist and that there is only one God. It is
only after this is clear that we tell them about the Son and how the Son
came from the Father. Once they know the Son only then it is appropriate
to tell them about the Holy Spirit and how the Son came as man to give
us His Spirit so that by the working of His Spirit man could be saved.

Baptizing means submerging and here Jesus does not tells us to submerge
the person in water but in the Name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Like
I shared earlier the Greek word translated as name comes from the
meaning understanding. Thus we need to submerge the people first in the
understanding of Who God the Father is then Who the Son is (includes man
Jesus and God the Son) and then only give them the understanding of the
Holy Spirit.

It is a pity people call themselves Christians even though they have not
completed step A of the process. It is only when we do this process
properly would we be able to teach them the Word of God.

Without the Holy Spirit it is impossible to keep the Commandments of God
which is not the 10 given through Moses or only the 2 through Jesus, but
the whole Word. It is only when the Author of the Word is in us that the
Law gets written in our hearts. Many consider the heart as a room and a
part of God occupies it. God being in us means the understanding or
knowledge of God (Father, Son and Spirit) is rooted in us. It is only
then the glory of God will manifest in our lives.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, your people err because we do not follow your instructions. Lord,
we thank You today that You found it good that we know this. You have
found us worthy to know what was hidden from many who are considered
wise in this world. It is out of your love and grace that You chose us
to be blessed in You. Lord help us walk according to your instructions
so that we would be fruitful in our doings...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

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

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Transfiguration

The Transfiguration of Jesus

Today the Lord wants me to share with you on the transfiguration.
People have varying ideas on transfiguration.

Jesus transfigured from human into a something amazing and that
amazing form was not the glorious Jesus before He humbled Himself and
became man. Understand before humbling Himself He was God the Son and
like written in Psalms God can span the universe with His Hand so His
God form cannot be comprehended. It is only at the marriage in Heaven
the Son will be glorified to His true form before the world was.

So what did Jesus transfigure into and why?

Firstly what Jesus transfigured into was not something very great; for
man it was, but in reality was not.

Understand Jesus did not do anything without purpose and in everything
He did He taught us, and showed the way for us. Jesus did not
transfigure to show off His powers but had 2 purposes for
transfiguring.

Before I take on the 2 purposes I like to clear the misunderstanding
people have between Son of God and God the Son. Jesus was God the Son
Who humbled Himself as Son of God and came as man. Son of God means a
being having the perfect image of God in them and this category
includes Angels and man (includes women) who have the perfect image of
God in them (since all have sin we all do not have the perfect image
it will be over time that we will become once the whole Truth is in
us).

Adam before sinning was referred to as son of God, but when sin came
into him; he lost something and thus lost his sonship and the image.
If one has seen Angels one will see the same effect described of the
transfigured figure of Jesus in the Angels. They do not have wings
like shown in images. The Angels are also called sons of God because
they have the perfect image of God in them.

Jesus by His transfiguration confirmed to us He was perfect and He
alone as man still had the image of God in Him and thus became hope
for all mankind. When we are baptized in Jesus, we get spiritually
connected to Jesus and thus as His brethren get the right to inherit
this image again. So from the corrupted image of Adam we move to the
perfect image of a son of God through Jesus.

Coming to the second reason; God had forbid man to speak or
communicate with spirits that included evil spirits or spirits of
people dead. That is because man in the flesh was a corrupt being. If
Jesus had communicated with Moses and Elijah in His flesh body then He
would have sinned by breaking God’s commandment. Therefore to show us
that we cannot speak to spirits of dead people (people sleeping in the
Lord; others go to Hell from where they cannot come out) Jesus
transfigured to communicated with Moses and Elijah.

Was this conference important? None of the talk was very important,
for what they spoke was already written in the books of the Prophets;
but the transfiguring event is very important to us.

Today a very large section of Christians due to lack of understanding
and being misguided by the already misguided, pray to souls of dead
people or try to communicate with them.

Those who have died believing in the Lord are sleeping (written in the
Old Testament as gathered unto their fathers) and these souls are not
to be communicated with by corrupt man in his flesh. Unless we are
able to transfigure like Jesus it is a big NO NO to speak to them or
even pray to them (praying means communicating) . It is the grace of
Jesus Christ that keeps many from the consequence like King Saul faced
when he communicated with the spirit of Samuel.

People get fooled by evil spirits (fallen angels) who come as the
people whom humans are communicating with. It is very easy to discern
them if people are rooted in the Word and are in relationship with the
Spirit of God.

In today’s message the Lord is encouraging us by saying; we too will
have the same glorious form which is described with Jesus’
transfiguration very soon. The Lord is also warning us at the same
time that unless we can transfigure today like Jesus we should not be
communicating with dead people or their souls even if they were
excellent examples when alive. Jesus is an exception for He was
perfect and has ascended to Heaven already and is seated at the
Righteous Hand of the Father. Even He has requested us to ask of the
Father in His Name and He alone is our intercessor in Heaven.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, many are deceived by evil spirits coming in forms of people
resting in You. These evil spirits are destroying your flocks today as
they were doing from the time of Noah. Lord, we pray that your people
get rooted in your Word and your Spirit so as to discern these
spirits. We also thank You Lord for confirming again to us the things
set for us in You. Help us remain in You...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Luke 9:28-32
28 And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he
took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.
29 And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and
his raiment was white and glistering.
30 And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias:
31 Who appeared in glory, and spake of his decease which he should
accomplish at Jerusalem.
32 But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep: and
when they were awake, they saw his glory, and the two men that stood
with him.

1 Samuel 28:10-19
10 And Saul sware to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth,
there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.
11 Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said,
Bring me up Samuel.
12 And 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.
13 And 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.
14 And 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.
16 Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the
LORD is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy?
17 And 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:
18 Because 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.
19 Moreover 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.

Leviticus 19:31 - Regard not them that have familiar spirits [those
who communicate with spirits of dead ones], neither seek after wizards
[those who evoke familar spirits] , to be defiled by them: I am the
LORD your God.

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

1 Corinthians 13:13 - And now abideth faith, hope, charity [love], these
three; but the greatest of these is charity [love].

In today's message, in Paul's first letter to Corinthians, in this
chapter he compares the gifts of the Holy Spirit with love and Paul says
even all the gifts of the Holy Spirit (not only the 3, for the semi
colon is after three) that can help us enlarge the Kingdom of God or do
great work for the glory of God like healing, tongues, prophecy,
knowledge etc. are not worth if we do not have love.

In English translating the Greek word Agape as love is not very
appropriate, in fact the most proper word for Agape is charity. Charity
is love expressed without expectation of personal return. Charity is
also love that has purpose not to please but to prosper that person in
the right direction. True charity never let harm the other, but just
builds the other stronger and stronger in the Kingdom of God.

Charity does not mean pleasing or being nice, it means being fruitful.
It means saying the right words or doing the right thing at the right
time. We may say or do the right thing but if whatever we do does not
build the other person it is not charity. Charity also does not mean not
correcting the other person when the person needs to be corrected. We
may not want to hurt that person so we hold back and then think we did
it out of love, but in truth that is not love. For love we need the
perfect time with the right deed or/and words. Man is all his wisdom
living in the present tense will never know the right time that is the
reason to love man needs the help of the Holy Spirit for He lives beyond
present tense. The Lord is throughout time therefore is the only one Who
can guide us.

A point I learned today in today's message is Paul including hope here
in the list. Hope is not really a gift but is the step towards faith. It
is hope that matures and grows into faith. Hope is in simple terms a
desire to believe. It is only when knowledge and understanding grows,
this hope becomes faith.

Faith has two elements one is belief and the other Truth. Hope is to do
with the first half.

What I learned today is that the desire to believe is also one of gifts
which the Lord gives. So to grow in our desire to know, believe, love or
any other good purpose, we can ask God and He will give us.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, without You man cannot truly love. Even if man is full of all
knowledge and understanding and ability, yet to know the right time is
not in man's hands. Lord, You are already in our future today and You
alone know the best time for us. Help us Lord to do the right things or
say the right words at the right time so that our work or words bear
good fruit. Lord You said if we desire for good things in your Name, our
Father will surely give us. Father, fill us with desire for the good
things of your Kingdom and guide us to use them well according to your
will...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
1 Corinthians chapter 13

1 Corinthians 12:7-11
7But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.
8For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the
word of knowledge by the same Spirit;
9To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by
the same Spirit;
10To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another
discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another
the interpretation of tongues:
11But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to
every man severally as he will.

*-*-*

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No power can bind this Strong Man

Mark 3:27 - No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his
goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil
his house.

When this scripture is read most think the strong man to bind is Satan
because in the previous scripture Jesus is speaking about the unity
among the evil ones.

Yes the evil ones are united in their purpose which sadly today is not
the same among us who are supposed to fight the kingdom of darkness,
which has deceived this world with its understanding of
self-destruction. Many among us lose the purpose and land up doing work
for our earthly benefits or for our own glory.

People on reading this scripture tend to bind the powers of Lucifer when
they go out to fight against the kingdom of darkness. One should
understand the term Satan used in the Bible is a plural word, Lucifer is
already bonded in Hell and the one among us is the Beast who is also
known as the Prince of Tyrus or the one who roars like a lion unlike
Lucifer who is known as the king of Tyrus or the one who comes as a
serpent (adder).

Now coming to the message given to us today, the house spoken of today
is the House of the Lord and the Lord is telling us not to fear for He
is the Strong Man of the House. Jesus Christ came as man and overcame
the works of darkness, so today again He is telling us 'cheer up and do
not fear for I have overcome'.

Let us boldly stand against the works of darkness and speak unto it and
say 'we do not fear you for the Strong Man of our House is our Lord
Jesus Christ and He has already overcome and made the way for us by His
victory and we in Him will also become overcomers'.

Now all we need to do is remain in the walls of the House that means
remain in Christ that means in His Blood and our testimony in Him.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord Jesus, You came as man and overcame sin. You showed us the way by
your Spirit how we can overcome sin and death. Holy Spirit, You are the
Keeper of this House, keep us Lord in the Body of Christ so that we do
not fear darkness or the powers of darkness...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have
peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I
have overcome the world.

Revelation 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my
throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his
throne.

Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by
the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Ezekiel 28:2, 12-13
2Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD;
Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit
in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and
not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
12Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto
him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom,
and perfect in beauty.
13Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy
covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and
the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the
workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the
day that thou wast created.

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

- *-*-*

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*Recline in the work of the Lord*

Luke 17:7 - But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding
cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go
and sit down to meat?

Sometimes I get so angry when translations mess up with scriptures and
try to give another picture which is not what the Lord had given. But
then they are just fulfilling scripture for the Lord said that until the
time comes the Truth will not be fully revealed.

I will note the interlinear of the scripture given to us as today's message.

Luke 17:7 who But of you a slave having ploughing or herding, who on
coming in out of the farm will say to him: Immediately coming up recline,

Luke 17:7 - But, whom among you having a slave ploughing or herding, who
on coming out of the farm will say to him: Immediately come and recline,

The Lord in today's message is speaking to 2 types of workers in the
Lord Vineyard (farm) one who are preparing for His Kingdom and those who
are caring and feeding His people. There are many others who work for
the Lord (or claim to do so). Many among them do not know what role they
are playing themselves yet advice others and then there are those who
physically push the ploughing machine when God has given them the keys
to it.

In today's message the Lord is telling us there are times when He calls
us to rest in Him.

Just yesterday I was with a great Man of God whom the Lord is using in a
great way in His Kingdom. As we were talking he opened up about his
struggle in one area and was showing tiredness in that area. The problem
was that although he has great faith in God and great passion for God
yet he was not taking rest in Him. Even though this Man of God would
take rest in half a place, he would be busy working in the other half.

The Lord uses the word 'recline' in today's message. Recline does not
mean just to sit. Many of us may sit or physically rest but yet be
anxious for our eyes will still be on the work. When we recline our eyes
do not look at the farm or the flock or the work we have done but our
eyes turn up towards Him.

We need to understand when to work and when to stop and just keep
looking at Him. When we learn this then we will not be tired doing His
work, or struggle to get results for the efforts we put. When we learn
to stop using our head and using our strength even when things may seem
to be turning into a commotion, soon there will be a time when great
results will sprout out from these so called commotions. These results
will be expected and unimagined.

Let us, those who work in the Lord also learn to recline in Him.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, even though we work in your farm among your flock, it is You Who
gives us the strength and all the resources to do the work. Lord we pray
that we use less of ourselves and be just instruments for You to do your
work through us. Teaching us Lord to recline in You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Isaiah 30:15 For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In
returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence
shall be your strength: and ye would not.

Psalms 37:7-11
7 Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because
of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked
devices to pass.
8Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do
evil.
9 For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD,
they shall inherit the earth.
10For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt
diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.
11But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in
the abundance of peace.
- *-*-*

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It is all in The Name

Acts 3:16 - And his name through faith in his name hath made this man
strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given
him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

When I had just come into the Lord there was confusion in me as to what
name do I take connected with Jesus which it came to healing a person. I
knew from scriptures like in today's message that the Name of Jesus has
power. There were names like Jesus (English), Yeshu (Hindi), Yeshua,
Jesu, Iesous (Greek), Joshua (Hebrew), Emmanuel etc. which were before
me, I started think is it that I was not taking the right name that is
why I was not experiencing the power in the name. Then to add to it I
came across the right translation of John 17:12 'While I was with them,
I kept them in thy name which thou hast given me: and I guarded them,
and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition; that the
scripture might be fulfilled'. People thought the 'which' was referring
to the people but was in fact referring to the Name. So then the names
Yahweh, Elohim, Jehovah etc. got added to the list.

It was when I came to the 3rd stage of Bible study which is word study,
where in I started digging into each word and its characteristics that I
realized all names in the Bible have meanings to it. It was not only
names of people but even names of places, rivers, etc. had meanings to it.

In Greek the word onoma translated as name comes from the root word
ginosko which means understanding. That is the reason all the names
translated from Hebrew to Greek were not done with keeping the
pronunciation but the meaning. That is the reason the Hebrew name Yeshua
has the Greek name Jesus. But we use names like barcodes by which we tag
people. We do not take efforts to find names which will be a blessing to
the child, nor bother to find the meaning of the name which we assign to
a child. In the Bible the Lord gives importance even to place and things
but we treat man worse than them when we give meaningless names.

We may call on the Name of the Lord in English, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi,
Tamil or another language but if we do not have an understanding of Who
He is then that name has no power. It is not the word Jesus that has
power but the knowledge of Who He is that has power. To know Jesus does
not mean we can read the New Testament and say we know Him. Actually the
knowledge of Jesus is less in the New Testament and more in the Old
Testament. It may surprise most the whole Bible from the first scripture
to the last scripture is all about Him. That is the reason none of us
till date really knows the Name of Jesus fully yet the little we know
does wonders.

Let us grow in the Name of Jesus so that we grow in power. It is by the
Name that all beings in Heaven, Earth and even Hell bow (leaving God for
the Name is He).

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, You are Holy and your Name is Holy. Like no corrupt man can live
before your glorious You so also no corrupt man can take your real Name
and live. Lord, work in us that we may know your name and live. Your
Name has power and it is your Name that protects us. Keep us in your Name...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Matthew 1:21 - And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his
name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Mark 9:38-39
38And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils
in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he
followeth not us.
39 But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a
miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.

Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one
of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye
shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 19:13-17
13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call
over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We
adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
14And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the
priests, which did so.
15And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know;
but who are ye?
16And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame
them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house
naked and wounded.
17And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at
Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was
magnified.

Philippians 2:10-11
10That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven,
and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the
glory of God the Father.

*-*-*

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The leaders are failing the Lord

Jeremiah 23:9 - Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets;
all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine
hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his
holiness.

I can really understand Jeremiah's feeling when he wrote this scripture.
Just a few days back, I was in the same situation and was totally
disappointed looking at the state of people who were called to lead
God's sheep. It came to a stage I was thinking what is the use of
pursuing God's work among these hard hearted people who are more in the
flesh than in Spirit.

It was at this time the preacher at the youth revival was giving the
example of Samuel who was a little boy among all who had failed the
Lord. It was the glory of God on this little lad Samuel that caused the
glory of God to come again in His Temple. I cried to the Lord like a
little lad and prayed for the next generation so that the Lord's glory
may be at least seen on them.

It did not take time and within minutes I could sense in my spirit the
Lord had answered my prayer. Soon the whole lot of youth that were at
that the revival were touched by the Lord is such a great way that for
the next 2 days they were crying and crying for the Lord. The glory of
God was so awesome in that place that during the worship we could sense
Angels among us. For nearly 2 hours all were singing just 2 to 3 words
and the music was just playing and playing endlessly. I could hear the
Heavens singing along with us and never in my life had I left so weak in
my knees that I just could not stand.

Today the story is very sad with the churches. There are many anointed
Men and Women of God but due to their weakness to the flesh they all are
failing the Lord. Every one climbs the spiritual mountain but soon one
after another most fall off the cliff. Prosperity (like one's status
among the congregation and among other leaders) and treasures of this
world take away the hearts of most of them, if not these than the fear
of man does. That is why in the Bible the Lord gave great importance to
2 fruits, the pomegranate and the grapes.

One should really thank God if one has both these fruits in their lives.
Even if they have other weakness God with take care of them and will
patiently work on them but when someone messes with His Holy things then
God's wrath soon or later falls like we saw happened with Eli's
generations during the time of Samuel.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, we pray for your Church and for all your sheep. According to your
message today we pray that the ears of those called to lead your sheep
hear your warning and they change their hearts and walk according your
ways. Lord we specially pray for the youth of today whom You are going
to use mightily, that not walk the ways of their parents but are led by
your Spirit. You be their teacher and guide. May they look to You alone
and not anyone else...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Jeremiah 23:9-12
9 Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones
shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome,
because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.
10For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land
mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their
course is evil, and their force is not right.
11For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found
their wickedness, saith the LORD.
12 Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the
darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring
evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.

1 Samuel 2:12-18, 22-25
12Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD.
13And the priests' custom with the people was, that, when any man
offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in
seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand;
14And he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that
the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in
Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither.
15Also before they burnt the fat, the priest's servant came, and said to
the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will
not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw.
16And if any man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat
presently, and then take as much as thy soul desireth; then he would
answer him, Nay; but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I will take
it by force.
17Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for
men abhorred the offering of the LORD.
18But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, girded with a
linen ephod.
22Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel;
and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation.
23And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil
dealings by all this people.
24Nay, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make the LORD'S
people to transgress.
25If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him: but if a
man sin against the LORD, who shall intreat for him? Notwithstanding
they hearkened not unto the voice of their father, because the LORD
would slay them.

Exodus 28:34 - A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a
pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about.

*-*-*

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The second Young Lion is taken unto Babylon

Ezekiel 19:12 - But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the
ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were
broken and withered; the fire consumed them.

In the lamentation of Ezekiel (chapter 19) the Lord symbolizes the story
of the two Churches one which is now known as the Jewish Church and the
second the Christian Church.

In very brief words the Lord shows the powerful Jewish Church founded
with Abraham how it grew and was feared by many. Later the understanding
of the world infected this Church and how it transformed into a Church
lives a double life. It does not follow what it says. This Church has a
Book of Life which is the Law of God in its hand but follows the things
of death which are traditions and called as the Law of Moses. They
follow the words and not its understandings therefore it is written it
is taken unto Egypt (which means double straits).

Coming to the Christian Church which is founded by the Apostles of Jesus
when the congregation received the Holy Spirit, this Church is more
powerful and started with tearing into the kingdom of this world and
expanding the Kingdom of God. But then too this Church was captured unto
Babylon which is confusion. Today there are no more confused people than
preachers or leaders of this Church. They have the capacity to
contradict themselves even trice in just one statement. They have made
the Word of God into words of God. This confusion started with breaking
the Word of God into Old and New Testament.

Just some days back I confronted a preacher who said we should not
follow the Old Covenants but then in his own statement he also said we
should follow some parts of it.

We are blessed as children of Abraham by our faith in Jesus due to the
Covenant made by the Lord with Abraham. Also no person can receive
healing by the wounds of Jesus had it not been for the Covenant with
Moses. 1 Peter 2:24 which states we are healed by the wounds of Jesus
Christ has its roots in one of the sacrifices which the Lord told Moses
to do for the healing of man, also Galatians 3:13 which states our
curses are broken by the hanging of Jesus on the crucifix also as to do
with the peace sacrifice told by the Lord to Moses. We entering Heaven
has to do with the Covenant with Jacob, Jesus is King has to do with the
Covenant with David. I can go on and on. If we remove or reject the
previous Covenants than we have nothing but grace and authority and I do
not understand what this grace is for?

Jesus gave us the grace to remain in the Covenant between God and man
(all 6 before Him - who are Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and
David) even though we failed on our part to keep the Covenant. He also
gave us the authority to become overcomers.

The Covenant made with Jesus is a 'better Covenant' means something was
added to it and that something is Grace and authority. Nowhere did Jesus
say 'I came to replace everything', but in fact said 'I have not come to
change but to fulfil it'. Jesus through His way of life and through His
Spirit shows us the right way to understand the Covenants made with the
6 people before Him.

Let us bring this Lion out from the chains of Babylon. Let us not pursue
a fivefold ministry (which is worldly) but follow the sevenfold ministry
which is of the Lord. Let us be founded on the Rock of Truth which is
the Spirit of Truth and not on human understanding.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, we pray for your Church that it leaders come into the true
understanding of your Word, that they realize without your Spirit they
have no way to understand your Kingdom, that they develop a relationship
with the Holy Spirit and walk every step with your Spirit. We rebuke the
chains of Babylon which have bound the Church and set free thousands in
the Name of Jesus...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Ezekiel chapter 19

Matthew 5:17 - Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the
prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

1 Peter 2:24 - Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the
tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by
whose stripes ye were healed.

Galatians 3:13-14
13Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
14That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus
Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Romans 9:6-8
6 Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not
all Israel, which are of Israel:
7Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children:
but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
8That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the
children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

Romans 4:16 - Therefore of faith, that by grace; to the end the promise
might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but
to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

Hebrews 8:6 - But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how
much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established
upon better promises.

*-*-*

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If it is not written do not worry

Daniel 2:45 - Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the
mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass,
the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the
king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and
the interpretation thereof sure.

The book of Daniel is divided into 2 parts according to the language it
was written. Chapters 1 to 6 was written in Aramaic and chapters 7 to 12
were written in Hebrew. This was done by purpose because the disclosures
of prophecies in the first 6 chapters are more earthly / worldly and the
second 6 chapters are more spiritual. Aramaic was the language of the
people at that time and Hebrew the language of the Sanctuary. For
example the little horn in chapter 7 is not really a kingdom, although
it's got the status of a kingdom it is actually an institute which rules
over the people. On the other hand the statue of different metals
connected to the dream in chapter 2 was purely earthly kingdoms.

In today's message the scripture talks of a stone which will crush all
these kingdoms. People think the stone is a kingdom and think Jesus will
come and rule the world as a man for a thousand years.

This stone spoken here has something special about it which helps
identify it. The stone is said to be 'a stone cut out of the mountain
without hands'. If we look at scriptures there is only one set of stones
which were cut without the hands of man and those were the tables on
which the Lord wrote His Commandments. Thus this stone too is not a
kingdom but part of the Word of God in another word means prophesy.

In today's message the Lord is telling us everything in this world which
has been given power is also bought down by His Word. People sometimes
ask me how I am able to speak about world events before their time.

One should realize all major events are already given in scriptures. The
Lord has allowed them for a purpose but also has written their end. The
Bible is not a history book having everything in detail but has all
historic events which are of concern for the people of God. If any event
is not written in the Bible then the people of God need not worry about
it for it will pass by without making much effect to God's people.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, we know You are concern of your people and have not abandoned
them. There are time in your anger You allow problems to come but still
used these problems as moulding tools to bring change in stubborn man.
Even in these problems we see your lover shine. We know Lord nothing can
devour your people for the end to all evil is already written and we
know your Word is true. Help us be patient and rejoice in You...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
Exodus 24:12-13
12 And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be
there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments
which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.
13 And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into
the mount of God.

Exodus 34:1 - And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone
like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that
were in the first tables, which thou brakest.

Daniel 7:8 - I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among
them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first
horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like
the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.

Daniel 8:8-14
8 Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the
great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the
four winds of heaven.
9 And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed
exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the
pleasant land.
10 And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down
some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.
11 Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him
the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was
cast down.
12 And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of
transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it
practised, and prospered.
13 Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that
certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the
daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the
sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?
14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then
shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

*-*-*
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The Thorn

2 Corinthians 12:8,9 - For this thing I besought the Lord thrice,
that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is
sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most
gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power
of Christ may rest upon me.

When Christians discuss the Bible there may be many things they will
disagree on but there is no conflict between all, that in the whole
New Testament after Jesus no man has done greater work for the Kingdom
of God more than Paul.

Some days back from historic records I learned the things that
happened to Paul during his trip to Roman as a prisoner. The whole
event showed the great humility of Paul and no man would believe
looking at him at one stage that the greatest battle of this man was
pride.

We speak so much about the humility of Paul but this humility did not
come to him very easily. Paul was under the grace of God and had
easily overcome every other area in his life. He even had the grace
not to lead a sister (get married) but dedicate his life fully to the
work of the Lord. He never struggled with lust for things, or of the
flesh or any other area but for one area which he called a thorn of
the flesh and that thorn was pride. This thorn is exposed in his first
letter to Corinthians when he was compared to others with regarding
his preaching skills. In Acts Luke records how a man fell from a
height after falling asleep in Paul preaching. It is another matter
that the man was brought to life latter but the Lord got this incident
recorded, for us to know the background.

The Lord could have easily put his grace on Paul to overcome pride but
did not. Like Paul the Lord also does not take away all the struggle
areas of our lives, He will take away almost all areas but there will
be at least one area where He will not take it away but will give us
all the grace we need to overcome. Like Paul struggled and 3 times
earnestly asked the Lord to take it away. He knew his problem and the
Lord did always abide to his request every time but with the regards
to this problem the Lord wanted him to overcome.

Heaven is the place for overcomers; if the Lord takes away all our
problems, then what are we going to overcome? We cannot thank God for
our thorn, but we can always remember it is in the process of
overcoming our thorn that we become more and more like Jesus. It is
our thorn that keeps us humble, keeps us from being overconfident and
makes us take pride in the works of Jesus Christ.

[Prayer Starter]
Lord, there are many things we have asked for and You have always
answered, but there is one area which You know has caused us to fall
again and again. We know Lord your grace is on us and it is by your
grace we are what we are today. We also know it is only by your grace
we will overcome our thorn. Keep us Lord holding on to your grace
always and be rooted in You...

This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

[Reference Scriptures]
2 Corintians 12:5-11
5 Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in
mine infirmities.
6 For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I
will say the truth: but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me
above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me.
7 And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of
the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the
messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above
measure.
8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.
9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my
strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I
rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon
me.
10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in
necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for
when I am weak, then am I strong.
11 I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought
to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very
chiefest apostles, though I be nothing.

Acts 20:7-12
7 And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came
together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on
the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
8 And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were
gathered together.
9 And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being
fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down
with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.
10 And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said,
Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him.
11 When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and
eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he
departed.
12 And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.

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

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*The kinds of people who are in Church*

*Mark 2:1-6*
/1 And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was
noised that he was in the house./
/2And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was
no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he
preached the word unto them./
/3And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was
borne of four./
/4And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they
uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they
let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay./
/5When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son,
thy sins be forgiven thee./
/6But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in
their hearts,/

In today's message we read about the great miracle of the paralytic man.
What is the highlight of this incident is not the healing of the
paralytic man but the faith of those who bought him there.

When Jesus had visited a house in Capernaum the people around got to
know of this and many gathered in that house, so much so that there was
no way to push into the door. In this gathering there were many kinds of
people, some came to hear Jesus, some came to receive and some came to
just scrutinize Him.

From the people who came to receive were the four who could not get in,
thus had to break through the roof, but among those who had got in the
house were those who did not to receive, nor to listen to Jesus but came
to see and hear what was happening and to report it and among these were
the scribes.

In our Churches also it is the same situation, there many types of
people who are gathered every Sunday. Some come to hear the Word and
receive; some come to pay their homage to the hall, some to meet their
friends every week, some to show how religious they are by taking the
first row seats, etc. Like during the time of the incident in our
message there are many people who are not 'Christians' but have
tremendous faith in them and soon we will find these people breaking
through the roof and putting us 'Christians' to shame.

So let us build our faith in Christ and understand why we are Christians
and what the purpose of our faith is.

*[/Prayer Starter/]*
Lord, we ask You to work among those who are namesake Christians. We
also ask You to expose those who called themselves Christians but have
another agenda, get them out from amongst our midst and build our faith
like the four who led down the paralytic...

We make this prayer in Jesus' Name, Amen.
*-*-*

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*Opening a door of blessings*

*1 Chronicles 23:13, 14* - /The sons of Amram; Aaron and Moses: and
Aaron was separated, that he should sanctify the most holy things, he
and his sons for ever, to burn incense before the LORD, to minister unto
him, and to bless in his name for ever. Now concerning Moses the man of
God, his sons were named of the tribe of Levi./

On our trip to Pune we had many deep discussions with our fellow
brethren and one of them included the scripture in which the Lord gets
anger with Moses to the point to put him to death.

First we need to understand God created us in this flesh and put us in
this world so that we will prove we are His Children by following His
instructions. When we follow His instructions more and more we also reap
equally great in His Kingdom. Heaven is our permanent home, and not this
earth which is a temporary passing place where we are confirmed our
permanent dwelling place.

In Pune Dr. Ron explained to us how the Assyrians tortured and killed
millions of Israelites. Hearing the way they slowly killed the people
puts all others like the Babylonians, Romans, Barbarians and even
Hitler's SSS army (World War I - genocide of the Jews) to kindergarten
stuff. This happened during the times of King Hezekiah.

One needs to understand most of the kings before Hezekiah did evil in
the eyes of the Lord and thus kindled the anger of God to great extend
and it was the righteousness of Hezekiah which stopped the anger of God
to come on the people. But when Hezekiah himself fell in the eyes of God
by going against His instructions he not only receive a punishment but
also opened the door for the wrath of God to come on the people.

We read in today's message Aaron's sons were blessed to burn incense
before the Lord in the Holy of Holies while Moses' sons had to do with
just being a part of the tribe. This would not have been had Moses not
denied speaking to Pharaoh directly. Moses had a problem with stammering
and because of this when the Lord told him to go to Pharaoh and speak
before him the words which the Lord told him, Moses started making
excuses before God. Moses was called to be one of the greatest Spokesman
of God and he did not believe that God would heal his stammering. This
angered God so much that God felt it was not necessary for Moses to
continue his time in this world. Had Moses been put to death he would
still have been gather unto the Lord for he believed in Him. But because
of the people God continued with Moses and instead of Moses speaking to
Pharaoh Aaron his brother was chosen to speak to Pharaoh and this caused
the sons of Aaron be blessed as High Priests, to burn incense before the
Lord. Think if Moses had not said 'no' then Moses would have been healed
of his stammering, Aaron would not have been in the picture and the sons
of Moses and not of Aaron would have been High Priests before the Lord.

When we abide by the instructions of the Lord we get blessed, our
generations get blessed and even the people connected in our lives are
protected from the wrath of God. But when we fall in the eyes of God we
lose, our generations lose and the people connected with us face disasters.

Today the message is very clear to us, the choice to be blessed, for our
children to be blessed and the people around us to have peace or not, is
dependent on what we choose to do today.

*[Prayer Starter]*
Lord, we pray we understand our purpose here on earth. Help us to
realize this is just a temporary phase of life and we are not of this
world. We are called to be with You in your dwelling place. Help us
follow your Instructions so that we get blessed, our generations get
blessed and the people connected to us experience peace...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

*[Reference Scriptures]*
*Exodus 4:10-24*
**
*2 Kings Chapters 18, 19*
**
*2 Kings 20:1-10*
*-*-*

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*Do research*

*Job 8:8,9 *- /For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare
thyself to the search of their fathers: (For we are but of yesterday,
and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:)/

Yesterday I heard the teachings of two people and through both the Lord
had a message to give and spoke to them both. In the case of the first
although the message was from the Lord the teaching was totally off
track and contrary to the Bible. While in the case of the second the
message was from the Lord and the teaching was perfect inline therefore
the sharing hit the bull's eye.

The problem with most preachers is even though they have a relationship
with the Lord they do not take their work very seriously, they do not
prepare for it by studying it sufficiently and researching it by
themselves. I do not know how much time the first preacher spend to
prepare for his session but it does not seem to be more than half to one
hours' effort. It seems to be limited to the text of the one book he
opened. But I and another person did approach the second preacher and
did ask him how did he manage to get so much information on his topic
and he said to us that he spent 6 hours for study and 4 hours of prayer
for his every session which is normally of 1 hour. The second preacher
was Dr.Ron Charles and when one talks to him he is just flows with
knowledge. He can talk on any matter any given time for hours and hours
but yet you see this man takes the pain to sit for 6 hours to study the
matter he has to preach on to its very fine detail.

Let me give you an example. Yesterday he was preaching on Acts 28 where
Paul was bitten by a snake after being saved from a shipwreck. Dr. Ron
gave us the exact month and the year this happen and gave us the name of
the storm which caused the shipwreck. This storm happens every 300 to
500 years in the Mediterranean Sea and lasts from many days and is
accompanied with unprecedented rains. The last time this storm happened
was in 1977 when it lasted for 30days, it killed about 10,000 people and
affected about 30 cities. During the time of Paul this storm was for
45days and it rained for about 15days non-stop. Paul had warned the
captain of the ship not to take the journey yet he did not abide to this
warning. Dr.Ron shared the snake which bit Paul and as to how it looked
and what happens to a person after he is bit by it, by this one
understands much better the chain of events that followed.

Dr. Ron shared some of the details which many would find it unnecessary
like the name of the captain and the names of the other characters
involved in this event and some other backgrounds. But when a person
hears Dr. Ron the event is pictured before one's eyes like a movie and
one will never forget this. My daughter who is just 6years did not
understand many things but yet caught the scene and was discussing with
me when we were in bed.

The Lord is talking to each one of us, you may not be a preacher or may
not be even sharing the Word of God at your House Church or Bible study
group, yet the Lord is telling us to research the things we read in the
Bible. Everything that is written in the Bible has documented proves in
the form of archaeological, or historical, or scientific, or scriptural
records. These things may not seem important but by knowing these we
will understand the Kingdom of God better for we are studying the shadow
to know what the Lord spoke off. The shape of the shadow always gives an
idea of the real and it is the Spirit of the Lord who puts flesh
(understanding) to the shape.

*[/Prayer Starter/]*
Lord, we prayer for those who You have set to guide your sheep that they
take their work seriously and do it with true love for your Kingdom and
its people. Lord, we rebuke the spirit of laziness that hold on to most
of us and we speak life, enthusiasm and passion for the Truth...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

*-*-*

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*Lips of the wise and the heart of the fool*

*Proverbs 15:7 *- /The lips of the wise disperse knowledge: but the
heart of the foolish doeth not so./

It is just awesome that today I get this message, for today I am very
excited to attend the meeting of a great Man of God - Dr. Ron Charles
who has come to India. I am like a fan of him for the immense knowledge
the Lord has blessed him with. In fact I am in the clouds for this great
man is going to bless my house by coming over for dinner.

Why am I so excited? It is because through his lips the Lord disperses
great knowledge and understanding of His Kingdom, and I really long to
hear him more and more.

In today's message the Lord tells us the difference between a wise man
and a fool. The wise man speak through his lips, he becomes an
instrument of dispersing the Knowledge from the Lord. He knows he by
himself is nothing and it is only by the grace of God that he knows;
therefore it is written the lips of the wise man and not the heart
(inner-man) of wise man that speaks. But in the case of the fool it is
written not the lips of the fools but the heart of the fool that speaks.
It is a fool who alone thinks he knows and he considers himself as the
source of knowledge. He gives credit to himself and does not become an
instrument for the Lord.

Dr. Ron Charles has done over 5 PhDs and has been part of some of the
greatest archaeological projects in the world, connected with the Bible.
He was working as an architect when the Lord called him and made him
take up Biblical history as a subject to study. He has been recognised
by the US government and also awarded. He can easy boast of himself for
many other things since he was part of the team that found the Noah's
Ark, restored the Dead Sea Scrolls, was in the team that studied ancient
Jericho, and many other prestigious projects. He also wrote many famous
books like the best seller titled 'The Search' which deals on knowing
Jesus not through the Bible but through historical records. It is not
that he became wise the first day, for I asked him how he could control
himself when he knows so much and he told me he too had a problem of
speaking but then learnt over time to be an instrument and not the source.

Let us realize every time we speak, is it we who are speaking or is it
that the Lord is using us to speak? Let us be the lips and not the man
who speaks.

*[/Prayer Starter/]*
Lord, we thank You for opening our minds to what and how we speak. Help
us Lord to be instruments for You and not the source. Keep our hearts
humble always and let not pride lead us to disaster. Fill us with your
knowledge and understanding not for us to boast but to be lips for You
to speak...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

*[/Reference Scriptures/] *
*Job 9:1-4*
1 Then Job answered and said,
2I know so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?
3If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.
4Wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself
against him, and hath prospered?

*Job 32:9* - Great men are not wise: neither do the aged understand
judgment.

*Psalms 19:7* - The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the
testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

*Proverbs 1:5* - A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a
man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

*Proverbs 3:7* - Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and
depart from evil.

*Proverbs 9:9* - Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet
wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

*Proverbs 14:3 *- In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the
lips of the wise shall preserve them.
*-*-*

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*A Holy Temple and a Holy City*

*2 Chronicles 6:34-35*
/34If thy people go out to war against their enemies by the way [Hebrew
word used here is 'derek'] that thou shalt send them, and they pray unto
thee toward [derek] this city which thou hast chosen, and the house
which I have built for thy name;/
/35Then hear thou from the heavens their prayer and their supplication,
and maintain their cause./

We read in today's scripture a few lines of the prayer of Solomon when
he dedicated the monumental temple built by him to the Lord. Today's
message talks of praying facing the temple, we see other religions like
Islam praying facing their holy place and even the Jews pray facing
Jerusalem, so do we as Christians also need to do that?.

Firstly we need to understand a sanctuary became a sanctuary only when
the holy things were placed in the sanctuary. Therefore any place which
does not have the holy things ceases to be a holy place.

Secondly the Hebrew word translated as city means a guarded place,
therefore any place that lacks the holy objects and is not guarded is
not a holy city.

If we look at the New Testament Jesus did not go searching for the Ark
of Covenant nor went to the Holy of Holies to speak to the Father but
went to an isolated place like a garden or to the top of a hill or
mountain to pray. He knew the objects in the sanctuary were symbolic and
Jesus had an understanding of what they meant. For example the candle
stand of seven candles was symbolizing the Holy Spirit and His seven
Spirits.

In the New Testament it is written we are the Temple of God. It is the
congregation which becomes the Temple and not the structure where they
gather. Thus we see if we have those Holy objects in us then only we are
a Holy Temple and it is only when we guard ourselves from the corruption
of this world do we become a Holy City.

So to truly build ourselves in the Lord we should not only grow in Him
but also guard ourselves from the corrupt understandings of this world
that is why we are called a Holy Priest and Holy Soldiers of God.

*[/Prayer Starter/]*
Lord we pray that your people become a Holy City. We pray they grow
strong not in the riches of your Kingdom but also become immune to the
corruption of this world. Build their minds with the knowledge and
understand of your Kingdom. It is only the complete Truth comes in us
will help us overcome all things, build us Lord in your Truth, open the
minds of your people and give them the courage to walk in it...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

*[/Reference Scriptures/] *
*1 Corinthians 3:16* - Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and
that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

*2 Corinthians 6:16* - And what agreement hath the temple of God with
idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will
dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall
be my people.

*Hebrew 8:1-14*
1 Then verily the first covenant 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.
3And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest
of all;
4Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round
about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's
rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;
5And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we
cannot now speak particularly.
6Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into
the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.
7But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not
without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the
people:
8 The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all
was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:
9Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered
both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service
perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
10Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal
ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
11But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a
greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to
say, not of this building;
12Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he
entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption
for us.
13For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer
sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
14How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from
dead works to serve the living God?
- *-*-*

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*Ascending to Heaven*

*2 Kings 2:16* - /And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy
servants fifty strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy
master: lest peradventure the Spirit of the LORD hath taken him up, and
cast him upon some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall
not send./

When the Lord started teaching me among the first things He taught me
were how to communicate with the Lord (Pray), true worship, who the real
Israel is and then the Lord explained to me the levels of Heaven and how
the creation we live (earth) in is placed between it. These
understandings really helped me to understand scriptures and kept me
from getting deceived by the false church.

It is a pity that most Christians are not clear with the basic
fundamental foundational concepts of Christianity like baptism,
resurrection, callings, the Cross, on Whom the Church is built etc. It
is because of this lack of understanding most are deceived and do not
grow beyond a point spiritually. The reason mainly is because they all
carry the understandings of the false church and do not question them
against scriptures.

After I realized that I was deceived when I was in that church, it
caused a pain in my spirit like a woman who gets physically abused by
someone she trusts feels. This has caused me to doubt each and every
understanding that comes from this church, even a blank paper if I know
came from this church I will truly scrutinize it and put it through all
kinds of tests to see if there is no hidden message in it. Even after
knowing that the Lord called this church the seat of Satan yet we
Christians are carrying on the teachings of this church even today.

The spirit which guides this church to continue deceiving people has
restricted people from understanding Heaven so as to continue deceiving
people that a person other than Jesus has ascended to Heaven and
continues to come down and visit us regularly, to guide us and take us
to Heaven.

First thing understand the Hebrew word '*shamayim*' translated as Heaven
means air or sky. There was a joke of a man who did not come out of his
house because he feared the sky will fall. We may laugh or feel pity at
this man for we know sky is abstract - a name given to a level of
atmosphere or segment of air, for some it continues even unto space. But
we do not laugh or feel pity at ourselves for we being Christians and
knowing God still do not know His dwelling place and have crazy
understandings of Heaven.

In the Bible David states even in hell he cannot run away from God for
His presence is also there, yet more than 95percent of Christians think
Satan rules hell. It is like saying Kasab (the Pakistani terrorist)
rules the Arthur road jail.

Let us not be deceived any further if we really value our lives and our
relationship with the Lord, let us question every understanding with
scriptures and if we find even one scripture that goes against our
understanding let us put away that understanding.

Let us not be like those fifty persons who insisted on searching for
Elijah for 3 days and then later realized their mistake; had they
listened to Elisha they would have not wasted time and energy.

*[/Prayer Starter/]*
Lord, your people are greatly deceived for they do not take the efforts
to study or sit with You to know more and more of your Kingdom. When it
comes to You they are nailed down by the spirit of laziness and the deaf
and dumb spirit but when it comes to their own glory they are full of
energy. Lord, open the eyes of your servants and bring them out of the
deceit they are in, even today they follow the Law of Moses - the law of
traditions - the law of death and not the Law of the Lord - the Law of
Life and Freedom...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.

*[/Reference Scriptures/] *
*Psalms 16:10* - For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt
thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (words said about Jesus)

*Psalms 139:8* - If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make
my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

*2 Corinthians 12:2-4*
2I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body,
I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;)
such an one caught up to the third heaven.
3And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I
cannot tell: God knoweth;)
4How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words,
which it is not lawful for a man to utter.

*Hebrew 12:24-29*
24And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of
sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
25See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who
refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we
turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:
26Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying,
Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things
that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which
cannot be shaken may remain.
28Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have
grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29For our God is a consuming fire.

*Revelation 21:1* - And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the
first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more
sea.

*2 Kings 2:15-18*
15And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw
him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came
to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.
16And they said unto him, Behold now, there be with thy servants fifty
strong men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master: lest
peradventure the Spirit of the LORD hath taken him up, and cast him upon
some mountain, or into some valley. And he said, Ye shall not send.
17And when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, Send. They sent
therefore fifty men; and they sought three days, but found him not.
18And when they came again to him, (for he tarried at Jericho,) he said
unto them, Did I not say unto you, Go not?

*Revelation 2:8-9*
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.
*-*-*

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