Can we have a heart-to-heart talk about the Word of God—and about our excuses for not reading it? Our apostle used a striking analogy in his sermon on tools of spiritual warfare. He compared not reading the Bible and our excuses for neglecting it to showing up for work naked. Would we say, “I just didn't have the time. And after all, my boss knows my heart; he knows I meant to get dressed.” As stupid as that sounds, we must consider how stupid our excuses are for not getting dressed spiritually by reading and studying the Word of God. Those who read and comment on this blog are widely divergent in their level of spiritual growth. We've begun to realize that most do not read the Bible, and sadly, it seems their pastors don't read it. On the other hand, we have a small group of bloggers who were formally witches and who are extremely strong in their understanding of the Word of God, possessing more wisdom and understanding of the Word than most members of Freedom Church of God. We are also blessed with a small...

In our summary of our apostle's sermon on spiritual tools, we mentioned the 25 graces God grants us upon request, but we did not mention what they were. So here we repost this list as we thank God for giving us all a desire to receive these wonderful gifts from the Giver of every good and perfect gift.

Think before you answer. As he often does, our apostle had us stumped on the Day of Trumpets when asked us that question. He was beginning a four-part series on the foundation tools God gives us to defeat the weapons of darkness. He gave us the first ten of forty tools in his message. He said that we all knew what these tools were already, so it would've been easy for us to assume this would be a boring sermon. Declaring such would open up a bad door by our words, since the origin of the word “boring” is to bore a hole in your head. We certainly don't want that. The answer to that question may surprise you, since we don't often consider this answer as a tool. But my friend and colleague Charley West piped up with the right answer, to the surprise of most of us—not because it was Charley, but because his answer was surprising. Would you have answered, “forgiveness”? Yes, forgiveness is the foremost foundation tool, a tool we must be certified in the use of as “journeymen believers” rather than green apprentices....

The Pathway to Full Surrender How close are we to full surrender of our wills to God? We all have quite a way to go, but by praying for each other we can make amazing progress in a short time. God speaks in Romans 9:27-28 of a “remnant that will be saved,” and the meaning includes us in these last days. Jesus will “EXECUTE HIS WORD ON THE EARTH, THOROUGHLY AND QUICKLY.” Let’s claim that promise as we see the challenges we will read in this post. Job’s words in Job 12:9-10 show in the Hebrew a distinction between mankind and humankind. Verse 10 says that in God’s hand is “the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind.” Jesus was the second or last Adam, and He never calls Himself human but “the Son of Man.” Mankind refers to the sons of God, the seed of Adam, unpolluted by any DNA other than that created by God for Adam. To be pure from this contamination by giant and humanoid watcher DNA requires the blood of Jesus. It is the only way to defeat Satan’s tactics (Rev. 12:11). So it is only...

We just made a blog post on identity in Jesus. One aspect of identity that we have learned is one that I do not always practice, and that is the use of the royal “we.” Kings usually don’t say “I” but use the royal “we.” And since we have the King of Kings living in us (and thus all three of the Godhead), we can and should speak royally. I do not always remember to do it, and sometimes it can be awkward and even misleading.

A case in point is when we make mistakes. God doesn’t make mistakes, so it has to be us, you or me, that goofed, right? You think that since I’m involved in a fishpond project in Africa that I would know or remember that salmon, after fighting against the current and going upstream, die. The fact that I’ve fishing only twice in my life is no excuse.

My colleague pointed out to me that more than a few were offended by the salmon analogy. Instead of inviting readers to consider the salmon, who goes against the current as we believers must do in a spiritual sense, I invited people...

 Salmon go against the current, as do believers who have the courage to actually do what Jesus said to do (John 14:15). It's not too late to join in the celebration of God's Feast of Unleavened Bread, which ends sunset on Tuesday the 26th with the last holy day of the feast. God will meet you where you are. Most Christians are not yet where God wants them. We see people today keeping "Good Friday" but Jesus said He would be 3 days and 3 nights in the tomb (Mat. 12:40). So because He was put in the tomb just before sunset on Wednesday, since that was Passover in 31 AD, He was thus raised just before sunset at the very end of the third day of Unleavened Bread, a weekly Sabbath that year. It is a bit confusing since even most holy day keepers do not realize that when the first new moon in the spring lasts and is visible for more than a day, the year starts one day later than most calculated and thus the 14th Abib or Passover falls one day later, making today, Friday, April 22, the third day. So at the end of this...

 We just had a Bible study on mercy. Interestingly, in the last blog in which we stood corrected, we had to correct our correction (from 6.66 million years for the time of Satan's rebellion to 66.6 million). We all need mercy at times. Sadly, most Christians choose mercy over grace, which is principally empowerment and only sometimes includes mercy, which is much more than unmerited pardon or favor (the false definition of grace, which is only that in a very small way). Mercy is better than judgment (or judging others) but mercy is not better than grace. God knows when we are near the point of sin and offers us His grace to avoid it rather than having to ask after sinning for His mercy. In any case, we learn lessons when we fail, but how much better to avoid the sin or leaven (as these days picture) by seeking God's offer of power to overcome and resist the temptation. Sow mercy and you will receive mercy. That's what we learned tonight. We also learned that mercy includes a return to joy, whether the mercy is...

Satan hates Passover. It reminds him of what Jesus did to defeat him, so he has cleverly deceived Christians into believing it is Jewish and done away. And Satan fiercely attacks those who keep it, assailing them with all kinds of problems as the feast approaches. Our African brethren are especially attacked since Satan has attacked with lack of funds to assemble to keep the day. So many there and even among those who come to our web sites must keep it alone or with one or two others.

 

Allow us to paraphrase loosely Psalm 43 as an encouragement to all, especially those in Africa: Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation filled with lies, falseness, and corruption. Deliver me from the deceit and injustice in this nation, for You are My strength. Why do I feel rejected by You and others? Why am I down in the dumps of discouragement because Satan is doing everything he can to oppress me and attack me now? Send out your light and truth to dispel the darkness Satan tries to put...

We tend to blame God for delays and disappointments. But have we ever considered His point of view? What might He be saying to us believers today? If we consider Psalm 46, Malachi 4:6, Matthew 24:22, and Matthew 5:13-16, this is what He might be saying: Be still. Cease striving in your own strength. Be still in My presence, and come to know who I am. I am the God who made the heavens and the earth, and I will be exalted in every circumstance of your life if you allow Me. As you speak My Word and obey Me, My Kingdom will come in your life and My will shall be done in your life and the life of other believers. That is the seed I need in order to be exalted in all the Earth in the very best way. I do not want to be the “Smiter” most Christians think I am all the time. I only smite when it is absolutely necessary. And it does not have to be necessary for Me to smite the Earth with the curse and have to destroy all life on the planet. In Noah’s day there was still a small remnant of preservers whose love and prayers...

God’s new year is not in the barren time of January but in the spring as new life is bursting out. The first new moon or new day of the new holy year falls in 2011 on Saturday sunset, April 2, and ends at sunset on April 3. One day all mankind will bow down and surrender their burdens to Jesus at the new moons (Isa. 66:23). The first new moon of the year is a special time to lay down the regrets and problems of the year sp we can start afresh in a brand-new year. Answer to the question, “What’s new?” may surprise you.

What’s new? The answer is, or is supposed to be, you! While we are made new every day (2 Cor. 4:16), God wants us to start the new year brand new. To do we must lay down to Jesus the past problems of the year at our church altar or our personal place of prayer at the appointed and anointed time.

Job’s words beginning in Job 9:27 prophesied the end-time trials that would affect Christians who would not learn to speak out the Word of God and who have not learned to lay down their problems...

We have seen how Job’s words (about abortion in Job 3:16) gave our Father Love the legal right according to John 15:1-2 to prune us. The analogy is that Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches. Our Father is the Vinedresser. Job’s words gave both Satan and God permission to do things in these last days. Who will we allow to work in our life, Satan or God?

Job’s words allow Satan to try to abort us spiritually, to shake the tree or rattle the branches, but God is given legal right on Earth to work through the trials Satan throws at us to make us into His image, which is His goal for our lives. How’s that for a turn around? Satan may make some fruit to fall with his attacks, but the fruit that remains gets stronger and stronger.

Paul uses a different but in some ways similar analogy. He says that Gentile and Jew alike are called to partake together “of the rich root of the olive tree” (Rom. 11:17), referring to the biblical roots of the Hebrew Scriptures. Jesus tells us to abide in Him (John 15:4,7)...

A radio listener named Henry asked us that question: “What is peace?” While that is an excellent question, it reminds us of the question the Roman governor asked at Jesus’ trial: “What is truth?” Truth was so absent that he had to ask the question. And peace is so absent in our society, even among Christians, that we have to ask the question.

The answer is actually quite simple, but to know what peace is, you must have it in yourself or see it in others. Peace is simply the absence of conflict or turmoil among people or in ourselves. John 14:27 says that Jesus has given His peace to us, His disciples. That inner peace is part of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22.

That peace, however, resides in our spirits, which have been made perfect by the blood of Jesus. Whether it is transmitted to our souls, or our hearts, minds, and wills, depends on us. Jesus warned us, saying, “Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful” (John 14:27). Jesus promised us an abundant life of peace in John...

God Wants Our Heart

When we accept Jesus, we often refer to having given our heart to Jesus. But that does not fully happen at that moment. We state our desire to give Him our heart, our deepest inner motivation and desires. Nevertheless, the only part of us that Jesus that He can live in is our spirits, which have been cleansed by His blood. Our spirits became alive in Jesus when we accepted Him (Eph. 2:5).

That is, however, only the beginning. We just experienced a death in the family, and so there will be a short pause in the blog entries. We experience the death of the old man when we are baptized, as Romans 6 explains. But the death of the old ways is different from the death of the old man. We are indeed new creations in our spirits. We must understand, however, that our souls, or minds, hearts, and wills, are not yet made new like our spirits.

God’s cry for His people has always been, “O, that there was heart in them that they would keep My commandments,” as Deuteronomy 5:29 shows. God has always wanted the hearts of His people.

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We interrupt the flow of this blog that has been accenting 2012 to bring you a special good news bulletin: when things aren’t going well, God still loves you!

God has a word in His Bible for every circumstance. Listen if you need it to Habakkuk in chapter 3 at the end of chapter: “Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines [the finances aren’t goings so well, and the outlook looks even bleaker], Though the yield of the olive should fail [the oil of God’s anointing will not fail!] And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will exult in [Jesus], I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The [Eternal] God is my strength, And He has made my feet like hind’s feet, And makes me walk on my high places.”

We should understand that the above is not God’s perfect will for us, but He meets us where we are, and He is good all the time.

God met Paul where he was. He said, “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:11-13).

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We have more on Job and what he said about the events that will bring great darkness beginning in late 2012,but we first have a few words of encouragement to combat any darkness you may be personally experiencing.

 Is December 21, 2012 an open door to hell? For the world it may well be such a door, but it doesn't have to be that for you. All hell will indeed break loose beginning at that time, but the power of heaven is much greater, and this blog is designed to give you access to powerful revelation from God so that “all heaven can break loose” in your life. If you want to be ready for what Satan is about to unleash, and ready to receive what God is ready to release to you now, read on...