Trouble Cometh

Trouble cometh to everyone. I am a living testimony to that fact, as I am sure you are as well. Jesus said in [John 16:33] “In the world you shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the the world.” Trouble should not be foreign to a Christian. We should expect trouble to come, and we should embrace it when it does, and then we should break its back and kill it before it affects other people. My friend, I can see the wheels turning in your head thinking is that anyway for a Christian to act? You bet it is. Take a look at how Jesus took care of people’s problems. Not once did he ever sympathize with the problem. He comforted the person, then He broke the back of the problem and put an end to it. Every healing He performed, every demon person He set free, every person He raised from the dead, every storm He calmed; He broke the back of the problem and removed the fear, the disease, and the demon, from the afflicted person. No, Jesus did not sympathize with trouble. He destroyed it. And when He sets foot on this earth again, He is going to do away with the source of our problems for all time. In the meantime, we shall have tribulation in this world, but we don’t have to fear it. If we are a Christian, Jesus has told us to be of good cheer, because He has already overcome the world which represents the source of all of our problems. And He has transferred the same power He used to overcome the world to His followers. That’s us! We will have tribulation in life, but Jesus overcame or solved the worlds problems for us, thus giving us eternal life. Our present tribulation should cause us to march forward ever learning from our problems, and growing in the grace of God by setting the captives free. But if we are not overcoming the tribulation we confront, we are being overcome by it, and are in no position to help anyone. Dthrash

Prescription For a Miracle

Everybody needs a miracle every now and then, but not many people know where to go to get one. So let’s look at one of the many miracles Jesus performed from the Gospels of John and Matthew. Let us understand from this story that man has as much to do with a miracle occurring as does God. As a matter of fact, God can’t or won’t do anything in our behalf until we get involved in the situation with Him. That is the power of man and the limitation God has placed on Himself. The following story is a classic example of how men deal with a problem and how God wants men to deal with them. So let’s take a look at a situation in the bible where a great miracle occurred, not because of the faith of the Lord’s disciples, but because a little boy decided to get involved and many people were the beneficiary of his action. [John 6:1-14] “After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberius. Then a great multitude followed Him, because they saw His signs which He performed on those who were diseased. And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews was near. Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him. He said to Phillip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do. Phillip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him. “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” Then Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.” Therefore they gathered them up. and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” In the story told by John, Jesus sees a problem concerning the multitude of people who have followed Him into this desert place. He said to Phillip, “Where shall we buy bread, (food) that these may eat?” The Apostle Matthew adds more detail to the story by telling us in [Matthew 14:15] “When it was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.” Jesus replied to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” Phillip answered Him according to John, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him. “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” In this story we see how God views problems and how man looks at them. Jesus saw a problem and wanted His disciples to do something about it, but their response to Him is a common response by men when they don’t have a solution for a problem. They attempted to pass the problem along to some one else as noted by the words, “Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food.” The second reason men do not believe they can do miracles is they look at what they don’t have, instead of who they are working with; as noted by the disciples Phillip and Andrew. Phillip answered Him, (Jesus) “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.” Then one of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him. “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?” In other words, the disciples said, we have a little food on hand, but only enough to meet the little boy’s needs, but not anyone else’s. But Jesus was not daunted by their insufficiency or their lack of faith. His purpose in this teaching scenario was to show them they could do miracles with what they had in their possession, if they understood what it took for a miracle to take place. In [Matthew 14:19] we have a better picture of what Jesus did that set the miracle into motion. “Then He (Jesus) commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples distributed (From the gospel of John) to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted. So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.” Therefore they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. Then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” Let us understand that everything Jesus did, He did so that we might learn from Him how to operate in the kingdom of God. In the kingdom of God what we call miracles are common place and they should be in the lives of God’s children as well. And this is what Jesus is teaching His disciples in this story. The first thing they had to understand was that nothing is impossible to the child of God because nothing is impossible with God. [Luke 1:37] A miracle does not depend on where we are or how little we may have, but our understanding that God will do whatever we ask, if we follow the prescribed manner set forth in this story and give to Him whatever is necessary to perform the required miracle. For example in this story, it would not have mattered how much money they had on hand, it would not have helped them. They were in the desert and there were no stores or restuarants handy for them to buy food. So their need wasn’t money and giving money to the Lord would not have supplied the needs of the people at that time. However they were hungry and tired and Jesus said some of them would have fainted had they left in search of food on their own. So when the little boy gave his five barley loaves and two fish the stage was set for a miracle to occur. There is another miracle in the bible where food would not have met the need of Jesus and Peter, but money would. On a particular day the temple tax was due and Jesus and Peter had no money to pay the tax. Jesus said to Peter, ”Go down to the sea, cast in a hook, and remove the coin from the mouth of the fish he would catch, then go and pay their temple tax with the money. My paraphrase of  [Matthew 17:27] Notice in our food shortage story Jesus accepted the bread and fish from His disciples that had been donated by the little boy and did something with it before distributing it. He look up to heaven (I believe He was thanking God for the food donated by the little boy that was going to make possible the miracle that happened next.) He blessed, broke, and gave it back to the disciples, who in turn distributed the food to the multitudes seated on the hillside, and when they had all eaten as much as they wanted, twelve baskets of fragments were picked up and given to the little boy as a return on his donated food. If we want a miracle to occur, God must have the cooperation of a person who is willing to give Him whatever is needed to meet the needs of the person who can’t help themselves, and when there need has been met, we will receive and abundant return on our investment. Let’s say a person has money problems and need a miracle from God to have their monetary needs met. Just as in the case of the above food shortage; it took a food donation to meet the needs of the hungry people in that desert place where there wasn’t any food; and the money problem will take a monetary donation to activate their miracle; a food donation will not meet a money need anymore than money would have met the needs of the people in the desert who were hungry. If a person gives nothing to help God perform their miracle, they will not receive the miracle they need. It isn’t that God can not manifest their miracle out of thin air, He could; but it doesn’t work that way because we have a role to play in every miracle that occurs. So when we are called upon to perform a miracle for another person or group of people, Jesus outlined the steps that we must follow for the miracle to occur. Let’s look at the steps that were involved in the above miracle. (1) The little boy gave to the disciples (2) who gave to Jesus, (3) who thanked God, (4) blessed, (5) broke, (6) and returned the donated bread and fish to the disciples (7) for distribution to the hungry; (8) and all that was left over was returned to the little boy as a blessing on what he had given. Notice, too, that Jesus did not supply enough food to last the needy in this story for a week. He met their temporary need for that day. The only person who received an abundance from this miracle was the little boy with the generous heart who had given all that he had that the needs of the hungry multitude might be met. Do you need a miracle? One is waiting to happen in your life if you will do your part. Whatever your need might be, give whatever you have to help someone else receive their needs met, and your need will be abundantly met. The little boy gave his lunch expecting to receive something in return. Giving up his lunch was a sacrifice, don’t you think? And remember they were in a desert place and this little boy had been there just as long, and was just as tired as everyone else, but he gave his food joyfully. The disciples didn’t have to mug him or forcefully take his food from him. So whatever you do – do it joyfully. And when you pray for others, expect your needs to be met just like the little boy in this story. If you do, you, too, will receive back from the Lord an abundance of what you gave. This is the long and the short of receiving and performing a miracle. Miracles don’t just happen; they are planned for. You give, and you trust, before you receive; but when the proper procedure is followed, you will receive your miracle. DThrash

The Voice Of Truth

Jesus made the statement, “Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” The opposing side of this truth is true as well. Those who do not believe on Jesus do not hear God’s voice. There is a story found in the gospel of John from which I have chosen today’s text that explains the consequences of refusing to hear the voice of truth. The same consequences the Jewish people suffered apply to any country in which the truth has been preached and the people fight against it by refusing to hear and obey. The Jews punishment came forty years after their rebellion, and ours will surely come as well if we don’t repent and seek God’s forgiveness for abandoning Him during this critical time in world history. The Jews have God’s Word they will abide in their land forever, but America does not have that same guarantee. If we as Christians are wise, we will stand up and be counted now and quiet the voice of dissent among us by going to the voting booth and removing those people from power. If we fail to act now while there is still time, the future of America is uncertain at best. Please read the following story carefully as it clearly outlines the failure of God’s people to respond appropriately at a time when God was present with them.

 

[John 18:28 - 40] Then they (the chief priest and those with them) led Jesus from Caiaphas (the high priest) to the Praetorium, and it was early morning. But they (the priest) themselves did not go into the Praetorium, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover. Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this man?” They answered and said to , “If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you.” Then Pilate said to them, “You take Him and judge Him according to your law.” Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” That the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled which He spoke signifying by what death He would die. Then Pilate entered the Praetorium again, called Jesus. and said to Him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus answered him, “Are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning me?” Pilate answered Him, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered , “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are you a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” And he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no fault in Him at all. But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?” Then they all cried again, saying, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber…  Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!” Then he delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him away.” [John 19:15-16]

 

Even though the hour was early the news that Jesus has been taken captive by the Jewish leadership and taken to the Praetorium to be judged by the Roman court had spread like wildfire through the people in Jerusalem. The story I am writing my message from makes it clear the Jewish leaders wanted Jesus dead. They wanted Him removed from their sight. And this is the same mistake America is making today. We pity the Jews for the mistake they made, but this is exactly what our elected officials are trying to do today. They are trying with all of their might to remove Jesus from our midst. The Jews made the accusation before Pilate, “If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you.” And only after it became clear to them that Pilate wanted to free Jesus did they state their real reason for bringing Jesus before the Roman court, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.” However their reason for wanting Him dead puzzled Pilate, so when he began questioning Jesus and focused his inquiry on the Jews accusations that Jesus had made Himself a King. Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you a king then?”  Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.” After Jesus made it clear to Pilate that His kingdom was not a present danger to the Roman government with the words, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate determined the accusations of the Jews against Jesus was groundless and sought to free Him with the proclamation, “I find no fault in Him at all.” But the Jews would not hear of this. They had gone to far to turn back. If Jesus were found innocent and released by the Romans, never again would they be in a position to bring any kind of charges against Him. If He were not put to death at this time, they were fearful they would lose their power over the people, and they were determined they were not going to let that happen. And this is the crux of the matter in America today. Jesus, and the Christians are a threat to the power of our elected officials and our judicial system; and they do not want to lose their newly gained power over the American people.

 

Pilate was convinced Jesus was innocent of any wrong doing proposed a deal to the high priest, “But you have a custom that I should release someone to you at the Passover. Do you therefore want me to release to you the King of the Jews?“ But, never in a million years did Pilate expect to hear what he heard next. “Then they (the Jews) all cried again, saying, “Not this man, but Barabbas! Now Barabbas was a robber…” I can imagine the look of surprise on Pilate’s face when he heard the Jews request for a known robber to be released into their midst instead of this righteous Man who was innocent of the charges they had brought against Him. And, the Jews weren’t done. They wanted Jesus dead, and they were willing to go to whatever lengths necessary to achieve their end. ”Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!” The Jews cried. Pilate couldn’t believe what he was hearing coming from the mouths of these seemingly peaceful very religious people. He then asks the question, “Shall I crucify your King?” And the chief priest responded with, “We have no king but Caesar!” Their last response had to make Pilate smile, but in the back of his mind he knew if they would turn on an innocent man with such ferocity in favor of a thief, they would turn on Rome in a heartbeat given the opportunity to do so.

 

The Jews because of their envy did not realize the depths of their insanity when they said to Pilate, “We have no king but Caesar.” They did not understand that with that statement, they had by their own words, declared before all of creation, that they (God’s chosen people) were not subjects of God, but of Caesar; and they did not understand that with that declaration, God’s justice would fall upon their heads because they had abandoned the one True God who had brought them up out of Egypt centuries before. In another gospel it tells us they went one step further in their declaration before Pilate that day, “Let His blood (the blood of the Son of God) be upon our heads and the heads of our children.” [Matthew 27:25] And so their blood was upon their heads for the next two thousand years. They, and their children, underwent unbelievable sufferings and hardships at the hands of their enemies because of their act of treason that day at the Roman judgment seat. 

 

The Jewish nation who was, is, and will always be God’s chosen people, have never repented of their sins against God and His Son. And to this day, they still do not understand why they have suffered the way they have at the hands of their enemies. When they made the declaration before all of creation that God was no longer their King, and they had replaced Him with an earthly man who was completely evil, they had unwittingly joined forces with Satan, the enemy of God and man. By their own words they had given Satan the authority to cast them out of their homeland and spread them around the world where they would suffer mercilessly at the hands of their enemies for many many generations climaxing with the deaths of some six million Jews during the Nazi holocaust just preceding their return to their homeland in 1948. If the Jewish people had eyes that see, they would have read and understood that it was the words of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, that pronounced the punishment that would come upon him and his people for attempting to kill the first born of the Jews during the days of Moses when God had determined to set them free. It is sad because until this day the Jewish people continue to suffer because they do not yet understand nor accept responsibility for the actions of their fathers who rejected the God they think they serve. But God has not given up on them, and one day they will come to understand who Jesus was, is, and will always be: Jesus said in [John 3:17-18] “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved, he who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” So we see this statement is not all inclusive as many think, but only includes those who make the Son of God, their Lord. We have heard our president say, “America is no longer a Christian nation.” This is exactly what the Jews said on the day of the crucifixion of Jesus, “We have no king but Caesar.” They had withdrawn their allegiance from God and gave it to Caesar. God could not let their rebellion go unpunished. America please understand: Every declaration we make is heard in heaven, and if we allow this declaration to stand; we are declaring before heaven and earth that we no longer want the One who gave us this land to be our God and King. And if we do not speak up now for what we know to be the truth; the hand of God will be against this nation and it will fall just as surely as Jerusalem fell and it inhabitants were dispersed around the world. DThrash  

 

Help, I’m Being Sifted

Sifting is a process whereby the chaff is separated from the grain, but before the grain can be ground into flour, meal, or whatever it is to be used for; the chaff that surrounds the grain must first be removed. In olden times this was done by placing a fair amount of grain on a large cloth and flipping the grain up into the air over and over again which allowed the falling grain to bang against one another dislodging the chaff from the other grain heads. As the grain was tossed into the air the wind would then blow away the loosened chaff leaving the pure grain behind. Once the sifting process was completed and all the chaff removed, the grain was then stored in a dry place and was ready for use when needed. 

 

The sifting of a Christian’s life is very much like the sifting of grain. At times our life is turned upside down so that we bang against one another until the chaff in our life is dislodged and blown away. Do you wonder why you get irritated at people, or people get irritated at you? It just might be that the two of you are banging against one another because you both have chaff in your life that God wants removed. The Christian gets into trouble when he does not understand the cleansing process and attempts to hang onto the sin in his life. Of course the removal of sin would not be necessary if we had been born perfect and had never sinned, but since we have all sinned, the Lord begins our cleansing process separating us from our old habits shortly after we are born again. Most people understand there are things in our lives that must be removed before we can be fully used by the Lord to accomplish His purposes upon the earth. So it would be a lot easier on us if we let the Lord clean us up the first time He brings a matter to our conscience rather than going through the sifting process time and time again. 

 

Every person who became great in the bible was sifted or tested many times throughout their life. The Lord was sifted for forty days in the desert even though He had never sinned. The Apostles were sifted and was found faithful even unto death. The first century church was sifted, and the church down through the ages was sifted, and we, too, will be sifted until we are purified from the sin (chaff) that clings to us. And for many of us our sifting will be even unto death. The sifting process is to purify us and make us acceptable unto God. That is the only reason God allows sifting to take place. The bible tells us in [Proverbs 3:11-12] “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction: For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as the father the son in whom he delights.” Do not misunderstand, the words ‘chastening’ and ‘correction’ in these two scriptures is talking about making pure or removing something from our life that is stopping us from becoming all we can be, and replacing what was removed with something that is beneficial and will add life to our life.  

 

Dross surrounds a gold nugget like chaff surrounds the grain head. And for the dross to be removed from the gold nugget tremendous heat has to be applied to the nugget for a specified length of time if the gold is to become a piece of gold jewelry, a gold ingot, or a gold coin. And if the gold were able to talk; it would tell you the smeltering process is a process of endurance; but the end result is worth it. And, as you know, the cleansing process of the Christian can be just as difficult. But both the gold and the Christian after purification rites have been accorded them; shine forth with magnificent beauty and become items of great value. So let us not complain when we are thrown into the hot furnace of life. Let us understand that it is God cleansing us of the impurities of life so we can reach our full potential. After all, the Lord will not be joined to a prostitute, filthy and sinned filled, but rather to a bride who has purified herself while making preparation for the coming of the King of Glory. The Bride of Christ will be a beautiful bride, adorned in glory just as the Lord her Master. And the two of them will shine brighter than the firmament in the overhead sky and all of creation will adore them. But if the Christian does not allow themselves to be purified by the sifting process; I personally do not think they will be in the number that make up the bride of Christ; but will rather be cast out onto the refuse pile just as the chaff and the dross are discarded. God Bless, and have a Wonderful Day in the Lord. DThrash

So, You Want To Go To Hell

Who wants to go to hell?” Now that’s a question you don’t hear asked very often. The reason you don’t hear it asked is that not many people think they are going. The truth is “No one in their right mind REALLY wants to go to hell.” And no one in their right mind REALLY wants to be locked up in prison for the rest of their life. But the sad truth is there REALLY are people who go to both places. How they get to these places is by disobeying the will of the society in which they live, and because they don’t obey the will of God. The will of our society is that no one break the laws of the land and for everyone to be law abiding citizens, and the will of God is that no one break His law and go to heaven when they die. Why people break the law is known only to the law breaker. And why a person broke the law is not important to the law. The law is only concerned with the fact the person broke the law. And since the law is impartial, there is a punishment that must be issued because the law was broken. The law itself doesn’t care if the man is rich or poor, black, white or yellow. The law’s only concern is that a law was broken, and when the law is broken there is a penalty to be imposed upon the lawbreaker for the violation of it. The lawbreaker can cry foul to the judge when the sentence is handed out, but the judge isn’t the one who sets the punishment; he is just the person who passes out the sentence in accordance to the penalty stipulated by the law. The law itself is defined by the society in which we live, and is present to warn people what will happen to them if they disobey the will of our society. If people of society obey the law, they have nothing to fear. But if they break the law, they can expect to be punished according to the punishment established by the law.  

 

People have differing views of God, and all but one of them is incorrect. Some think He is all loving and will overlook every thing we do; while others think He is an angry God and ready to slap us down for the least little thing one does; and still there are others who think he is made of wood, stone, metal, or maybe even the wind. Not one of these views are correct. God is Love, but He is also just and fair and treats everyone the same. He doesn’t have one set of laws for one person and another set for others. He has one set of laws for all people regardless of color, nationality, or whatever they might be. God loves all people the same, therefore He is not a respecter of persons. He doesn’t love the rich man more than the beggar, nor does He love the Christian more than the sinner. His love is the same for all people and He requires all people to abide by His Word which is His will and His law. But one of the major problems people have in understanding God’s love is that they think He is a pushover, a sugar daddy, a nice God, and whatever we want to do to justify our sin will be fine with Him. That line of thinking is pure unadulterated selfishness; and nothing could be further from the truth. Love desires for people to better themselves; to come up to its level. And people cannot better themselves or rise above their selfish nature if they are allowed to get their way. God is a good God, but He isn’t necessarily a nice God. Let use the example of a person who can’t say, no, even when it to their own hurt. That person will get used over and over again by people in need, but who wouldn’t lift a finger to help him if he was in their shoes. Now the good man wants to help the other person, but he is not going to shoulder all their responsibility and let them slide by and do nothing to help solve their problem. The good man asks, “What can I do to help you? And what steps have you taken to help yourself?” If a person has done nothing to help themselves before they come to you; they will do nothing to help you solve their problem. People who continually want their way, grow worse in their selfishness, they don’t improve. Therefore God’s love is constant and unchanging and demands that all people conform to His Will. God’s will is His Word and His Word is His Law. If we obey His Word, we are obeying His will, and His law, and we will be rewarded for our obedience. If we break His Word; we are punished by it. He isn’t the one who decides who does what. We are! He gave us the ability to decide for ourselves what we want to do in life. And what we do with the life He gave us will be the determining factor in where we spend eternity. Did we obey God’s Word and do what it tells us to do; or did we do things our way? Only we can answer that question. God already knows whether we were obedient to Him or not; but He will not judge us. We will be judged by the Word we obeyed or disobeyed.

 

Another thing people don’t understand about God is that our eternal future isn’t based upon good deeds, or bad deeds; our eternal future is based upon our doing God’s will. When His Word says, “Don’t steal, murder, lie, cheat your neighbor etc, that is what it means.” When we violate God’s laws we can expect to receive a just punishment for the violation of them. It isn’t that God doesn’t love us that we are punished. We are punished because He love us and desires that we do things His Way. Jesus said in  [Matthew 7:21-29] “Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness! Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken to a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the rains descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and when the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall. And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teachings, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”

 

Even though Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven.” He proceeds to give us two examples; the first of a person who did things God’s way, and of another who didn’t obey God’s Will. The one was rewarded, the other suffered destruction. Many people think what God demands of all people doesn’t apply to them because they consider themselves to be a good person. But, being a good person in our eyes has nothing to do with the Word of God. If the Word of God tells us something is wrong, it is wrong, has always been wrong, and will always be wrong. And if we think anything differently; we are fools. A person will not be judged by what they think is right; we will be judged by what the Word of God (that never changes) tells us is right. Not one person who lives on this earth is guiltless. We are all guilty of breaking God’s Law; and if we don’t ask Him to pardon us for our crimes which we call “sin”, but in reality a sin is a crime, and we will be judged for that crime. Most people don’t think in these terms because we think our petty crime of lying is not as great as the crime of murder. In the kingdom of God the violation of God’s Word carries an eternal death penalty. And it doesn’t matter if it’s for murder, or lying; they are both wrongful crimes committed against another person and which separate us from God who wants all of His children to be law abiding citizens and go to heaven.

 

Even though God wants all people to go to heaven and spend eternity with Him, Jesus said there will be people who will not go to heaven. But if you were to take a survey of all your friends and asked them the question, “How many of you think you are going to heaven when you die?” I bet most of them would tell you they are heaven bound. And if you were to ask them, “What makes you think so?” They would tell you a just and loving God wouldn’t send anyone to hell. The point these people are missing is that God isn’t the one who makes the decision on who goes where. We make the decision according to the life we live here on earth. Anyone who does not obey the Word of God is a lawbreaker, and lawbreakers are not rewarded for their crimes; they are punished. The judge who sits behind the bench in the court room isn’t the one who decides who goes to jail and who doesn’t. The person who makes the decision to break the law is the one who chooses punishment over obedience. The law describes for us what is right conduct and what isn’t. And every criminal knows when they break the law what to expect when they are caught. They don’t expect the society in which they live to reward them for being a lawbreaker; they expect to be punished for their crimes. If, we, as lawbreakers, are guilty of disobeying God’s Word which is His will and His law, why do we think He is going to reward us for being a criminal? But God has not left us without hope. Even though we might break His law, He has made a way for us to still go to heaven if we so desire. That is everyone must make a personal decision to seek His forgiveness for the crimes we commit against Him. If we repent and change our hearts towards Him, and take an oath to live according to His Will, we are forgiven and our punishment pardoned. If we never ask for forgiveness and never live according to His Law; His Law will judge us and hell will be our eternal home.

 

Heaven is the reward for living life in obedience to God’s Word, and Hell is the place of confinement for those who don’t. We know from what we read in the newspapers and what we hear from the media that prison is not a place where good people want to go. The bible has much to say about “hell” and the awful conditions and sufferings its inhabitants endure. I know people who think hell is a place where they will carry on with the party they began on earth, but this kind of thinking is immature and just as foolish as thinking they can live life as they please and be rewarded for their disobedience when they die. On earth a criminal may get a year or two for their crimes, but everyone who lives a life of disobedience to God’s will and doesn’t seek His forgiveness for that crime goes to hell for eternity with no chance of parole. The will of God is that all men would seek forgiveness and be pardoned for their crimes. But we know from what Jesus taught in Matthew, that not all people are going to do God’s will; so there has been a place reserved for them to serve their punishment. Not because God wants to send them to hell, but because they themselves choose to go there which is their right. If they really understood what was waiting for them on the other side of death’s door; they would choose to live as law abiding citizens here, but since they don’t know what to expect, and don’t obey, one day they will discover that hell is not a vacation spot, but a place to shun. God Bless, and have a Wonderful Day in the Lord. Dthrash

Woman, What Does Your Concern Have To Do With Me?

“Woman, What Does Your Concern Have To Do With Me?” (John 2:4) Is this anyway for a son to talk to their mother? On the surface it would seem that Jesus was being disrespectful when He called His mother; “woman.” If I had called my mother, “woman” and said to her, “What does your concern have to do with me?” She would have slapped me so hard I would of woke up in the middle of the next week. My mother would not tolerate her children being disrespectful to her or to anyone else. And as a result of her firm stand on respect, I find I feel the same way and will not tolerate disrespect from my children. At first read this comment by Jesus would appear to be a disrespectful remark, but when we take a closer look at His reply; we will see it was actually a teaching question rather than a disrespectful remark to help His mother understand what would be taking place later in the lives of all believers after He had risen from the dead and assumed His rightful position beside His Father upon His throne.

 

Now lets look at what prompted this question by Jesus before we delve into the story as told by the Apostle John who was present when the event took place. [John 2:1-12] “On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it,” Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him. After this He went down to Capernaum, He, His mother, His brothers, and His disciples; and they did not stay there many days.”

 

Up until this time Jesus had not performed one miracle in front of other people, but His mother knew He was fully capable as shown by her statement to Him, “They have no wine.” The statement was more of a request for a solution to the problem than an informational statement, and from the manner in which it was posed to Jesus she believed He could do something about the situation as related in her instruction to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Not having enough wine to complete the wedding feast was an embarrassing problem for the bridegroom who was a friend of both Jesus and His mother. Though the wine shortage was a problem created by the bridegroom; his error in judgment was not a problem God normally gets involved in. It is as if the mother of Jesus was embarrassed for the bridegroom and was interceding for him to Her son to do something about his problem. In His question, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with me?” Jesus is actually outlining for us the role God plays in the affairs of men. God is well aware of what our daily lives consists of, but He usually only gets involved in matters concerning our spiritual welfare and doesn’t interfere in the affairs of men that man should have had the foresight to have taken care of themselves. That is not to say He will not get involved in them as shown in the above story, but man has a responsibility to take care of the things in his everyday life that he can, and our Heavenly Father takes care of the things we can’t. We, and God, are a partnership. He does for us the things we can’t do ourselves, and we do the things for Him He can’t do or has prevented Himself from doing. Here is one example of what God will not do. He will not preach His gospel to mankind as long as He has a man on the earth to do it. We are the hands, feet, and mouth of God on the earth; and we have been given the responsibility of preaching His gospel to all the world and making disciples of them. [Matthew chapter twenty-eight] If we do not preach His gospel, it will not be preached; and man will be held accountable for his failure to do as God has instructed him. Example number two: Man cannot see into the spiritual realm with our natural eyes; so we are to pray and believe that God is working in our behalf in the realm we cannot see into. Our faith is suppose to be in the Word of God that tells us He is taking care of things in the spiritual realm that safeguards the welfare of His man. For example: His Word tells us to give gifts and offerings to help the poor of this world. And if we could see into the spiritual realm we would be able to see the good our gifts and offerings are doing for the poor. Also if we could see into that realm we would see God at work manipulating events in the spiritual realm fulfilling His promises. 

 

Now back to our story of Jesus turning water into wine. The first thought that came into my mind upon the completion of my reading of this story was the ability Jesus possessed to manipulate and change His surroundings so it benefited mankind. Jesus is referred to in scripture as the second Adam or last Adam, [1 Corinthians 15:47] so if Adam had the same ability as Jesus, and he did, can you imagine the power and ability Adam possessed before he sinned and was separated from God? There wasn’t anything in the earthly realm that was not under Adam’s control; [Genesis 1:26-28] and he could change the consistency of anything he didn’t like without lifting a finger to physically change it. Like Jesus demonstrated time and again, Adam could simply speak what he wanted to happen and it would happen just as Jesus demonstrated in this story. The servants in the story who filled the waterpots with water were only a part of the story to show us the cooperation that is needed by each party concerned for a miracle to take place. Jesus could have just as easily commanded the water to come out of the well and fill the waterpots and the water would have come out of the well and filled the waterpots. He didn’t need the assistance of the servants in the story who filled the waterpots to do what He was going to do for the bridegroom, but He used the servants to illustrate that man in His fallen condition is required to fulfill a particular role in supernatural developments on earth. Jesus controlled the wind, the sea, the fish in the sea, demons, commanded Satan to depart from Him, changed water into wine, walked on the water, healed the sick, raised the dead, and did all this as a man. He did not do any of these things as God, but as man to demonstrate the power of a man who is joined to God by the Holy Spirit within man. Adam possessed this same power and ability and could have done everything that Jesus did if it would have been necessary for him to do so, but he lost this ability when his sin separated him from God. The second reason Jesus did what He did was to show men what man would be able to do in the future after they turned away from their sin, submitted themselves to the Lord, received their new regenerated spirit, and the Holy Spirit of God came once again to live in them. So it is entirely possible for every child of God to do everything Jesus did in the bible, if they know and understand that God is working with them when the need arises. This also is illustrated in the Book of Acts, where the sick are healed, the dead are raised, the deaf receive their hearing, the blind receive their sight, demons are cast out, and the cripples were made whole by the disciples of Christ after His death, burial, and resurrection. Many of these same feats were also performed by the disciples of Jesus prior to His death [Matthew chapter 10] including Peter stepping out of a boat and walking on the water to go to Jesus, and walking back to the boat with Jesus after his faith failed him for a short time. [Matthew 14:28-33]

 

We should understand there are no wasted words or stories in the scriptures. Every word and every story has a spiritual revelation attached to it. We oftentimes speak things that makes sense to man in the natural realm, but those same words have spiritual significance that we do not always understand. For example; the comments the master of the feast made to the bridegroom, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” Here the master of the feast was relating to the bridegroom what he saw with his eyes and what he understood with his natural mind concerning wedding feast, but what he said to the bridegroom is also a description of three time periods in the history of mankind. The time periods are; the good wine at the beginning, the second is the inferior wine after everyone is drunk, and the third, the good wine was kept until last. The first time period, the good wine at the beginning was between the time God created Adam and breathed the breath of life into him filling him with power and glory, up until his fall. The time period of the inferior wine was after the fall of man and until the time Jesus, the Son of God, came into the earth. And the third time period of the good wine kept until last, began upon the ascension of Christ Jesus into heaven where He seated Himself at the right hand of His Father, and the power and glory of God was returned to man when the outpouring of the Holy Spirit came upon him in the upper room filling him with power just as He had been in the beginning. When Jesus said to His mother, ““What does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” He was telling His mother what would take place at a later date after He took upon Himself the sins of the whole world. At that time the request she was making would be fulfilled; and the new wine of the Lord (the Holy Ghost) would be poured out upon redeemed man and the children of God would take of that wine and share it with the world. (The wedding guest as portrayed in this story.) As evidenced in [Acts 2:13] shortly after the disciples of Jesus in the upper room were baptized in the Holy Spirit, the crowd heard them speaking with ‘New Tongues’ in their own languages signifying a new thing had taken place in the lives of the disciples of the Lord. [Acts 2:13] “Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.” These men did not know how right they were. But it wasn’t the wine of the vine they were talking about, but the out pouring of the Holy Spirit (The Best Wine that was saved for later.) in and upon God’s children empowering them with God’s ability to do the same things Adam and Jesus had the power to do. God Bless, and have a Wonderful Day in the Lord. DThrash

Mom, I’m so hungry I could eat the northend out of a southbound skunk.

I grew up in rural Illinois and never owned a watch, but everyday at precisely twelve o’clock, I would hear my mom’s voice calling all of us kids to come home for dinner, that time never varied by more than a couple of minutes, so I would run home to eat because I knew mom had a meal waiting for me. As I entered mom’s kitchen, I would say to her, “Mom, I’m so hungry I could eat the northend out of a southbound skunk.” She would laugh, tell me to go wash up and sit down at the table. I’m here to tell ya, that my mom was a great cook; and the smells that floated around in her kitchen and gently made their way into the rest of the house teasing first one nostril, than the other, would cause you to drool all over yourself until the meal finished cooking. She was that good of a cook. But, most people in America don’t know what it means to be really hungry. My family didn’t have much when I grew up, but we were never hungry. Not the kind of hungry where your stomach is gnawing at your backbone. We know there are some hungry people in America, but not to the degree that is so rampant in many other parts of the world where people have absolutely nothing to eat and no where to turn for help. There are programs on television that show us scenes of starving people in far off places, but we don’t see such hunger here in America, so we have a hard time believing anyone anywhere else in this world could be that hungry. But, if you have ever been anywhere outside of the United States you would soon realize just how blessed this country is and just how poor many other countries are.

 

To the degree many people in this world are suffering physical hunger in their natural bodies; the Christian should be just as hungry for the things of God. The church in America at this time is starving to death for the truth of God’s word, and for a move of God. We, in this country, are in a spiritual famine just as severe as the physical famines in other countries. Since we have entered into this spiritual famine; every kind of evil known to man has availed itself to keep this famine alive. It comes in every form and in every type of media available to man. But the church ignores it because it doesn’t have the power to fight back. We are weakened and have lost our strength because we are spiritually starving. While men preach on how to get more money out of God, and where to purchase their books on seven step to whatever, we hear nothing about striving to obtain the righteousness of God where He fills our all in all and we become the righteousness of God striking fear in the heart of the devil and his associates.

 

Jesus said in [Matthew 5:6] ”Blessed are those who HUNGER and THRIST for RIGHTEOUSNESS. For they shall be filled.” The kind of hungry Jesus is talking about isn’t a physical hunger. This kind of hunger cannot be satisfied with a burger and fries. This is a spiritual hunger that is way down in our spirit gnawing at our soul; crying out to be satisfied with God’s righteousness. Nothing else can satisfy it. Only God can fill it. Jesus said when we develop that kind of hunger for the things of God, “We shall be filled.” Brothers and sisters, that is the kind of hunger it will take for us to see a move of God in our country, and in our churches, and in the communities in which we live. Are you hungry?  When God gets that kind of hunger working down in our soul gnawing at our spirit and we begin to pursue the righteousness of God with our whole being; we will see every kind of miracle begin to take place in our lives, in our families, churches, and in our communities. God longs to see His children doing the deeds Jesus performed on this earth; setting His people free of their sins, demons, ill health, and cares of this world.

 

T. L. Osborn, a world renowned evangelist once said, “It is harder for a person in America to receive a healing for a headache than it is for a person to be healed of cancer in most other countries of the world.” The reason Americans have a hard time receiving from God is because they have no faith in God. I have ministered in Mexico and seen all kinds of healing take place because they had no one to turn to but God. Isn’t that a travesty? God has blessed this country more than any other country in the world; and because He has; we should have faith to move every mountain in our life, our neighbors life, and in this country; but that is not the case. Which goes to show us God is a God of faith, and whoever has faith in Him to meet their needs, gets their needs met. Those who don’t, won’t.

 

I have ministered in the dump ground area of Monterrey, Mexico, as well as the remote areas of central Mexico and have seen every kind of miracle take place. I just preached the Word and told them, “God is here to meet your needs. Who has faith to be healed, delivered, and set free?” And immediately a line formed and God met their needs. I saw the deaf hear, the blind see, and the bent over stand up straight, stiff bodies made flexible, people delivered, and the lost saved and filled with the Holy Ghost and consumed by the love of Christ. Then I have ministered here in America and said the same thing; and the people looked at me like I was nuts, “Their actions told me we don’t believe in that faith healer snake oil stuff here. All that passed away with the Apostles you know.” And sure enough God didn’t heal anyone there because of their unbelief. The difference between the two groups was the Mexican people knew they had no one to turn to but God, and the American people’s faith was in their doctor. Both got what they believed for. God met both of them where their faith was. The Mexican people didn’t pay a dime to receive their healing from God, but the Americans left the doctors office minus an arm and a leg. (Just kidding.)

 

On a more serious note,“Have you seen all the pharmaceutical companies advertising their wares on television today?” They have a pill for every possible ache a person can have. The thing about those advertisements that grabbed my attention was not the fact that they had a pill for everything, but the list of possible adverse side effects that accompanies those pills are in many cases more dangerous than the problem being treated. And I thought to myself, “What Christian in their right mind could place their faith in a chemical substance with all those side effects?” As we well know, many do. God tells us, “If we will hunger and thirst after righteousness, we will be filled.” Brothers and sisters when we start pursuing God’s righteousness with our whole being, His righteousness will overtake us; and as He does, there will be no doubt in our hearts and minds that God is with us. We won’t any longer be starving for the things of God; and every evil thing in our life will disappear faster than we can say, “Scat!” God Bless, and have a Wonderful Day in the Lord. DThrash

Satan: Who Is He & Who He Is Not (Part Two)

The real name of Satan is Lucifer and he is referred to as ’the devil’ because he is the sum total of all that is evil. John 10:10 says, “The thief (Satan) comes to steal, kill, and to destroy.” All that is evil falls under the heading of stealing, killing, or destroying, and all evil originates with Satan. The word Satan in the Greek language in which the New Testament is translated means ‘adversary’. The adversary of all that is Good. His designs are to ’undo God’s work’, ‘make men turn away from God’, ‘instigate evil’, and to ’secure men’s worship’. His character is that of a ‘deceiver’, he is ‘liar’, and the ’father of lies’. His methods are to ‘disguise himself as an angel of light”; ‘insinuate doubt’, ‘ misuse scripture’, ’scheming’, and afflicting God’s children’. His judgement is sure. He was ‘cast out of heaven’, ’he was judged in the courtroom of heaven immediately following his failed coup of heaven’; ’Christ crushed his head when He arose from the dead victorious over death, hell, and the grave’; ‘Satan will be ‘bound’, and ‘cast into the fires of hell for all eternity as a punishment for his evil works’.  Satan is the chief opponent of God and has been given the titles of Abbadon, Accuser, Adversary, Angel of the bottomless pit, Apollyon, Beelzebub, Belial, God of this age, Murderer, Prince of demons, Prince of the power of the air, Ruler of the darkness, Ruler of this world, Satan, Serpent, Serpent of old, and Wicked one. He is the origin of ‘pride’, he was ‘perfect until sin came’, he is the ‘greatest of fallen angels’, he ‘tempts men to sin’,  and he is the ‘father of lies’. He is cunning, slanderous, fierce, deceitful, proud, cowardly, and wicked. He is the chief power over wicked men. They are his children, they do his will, he possesses them, he blinds them, he deceives them, he ensnares them, and they will be punished with him. However, even though he is listed as being all of the above things, he is still subject to the Believer in the finished work of Christ Jesus. The believer has the power to resist, fight against, and overcome all of the works of the enemy.

God gave this description of Lucifer in Ezekiel 28:12-19 “…You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: The sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryly, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were CREATED. You were the anointed cherub (angel) who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within, and you sinned; therefore I cast you as a profane things out of the mountain of God; and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you. You defiled your sanctuaries by the mulititude of your iniquities, by the iniquity of your trading’ therefore I brought fire from your midst; it devoured you, and I turned you to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. All who knew you among the peoples are astonished at you; you have become a horror, and shall be no more.”

And, Isaiah 14:12-21 says of Satan, “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, (hell) to the lowest depths of the pit. Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you, saying: Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed its cities, who did not open the house of his prisoners?” All the kings of the nations, all of them, sleep in glory, everyone in his own house; (and now God’s indictment against the anti-God followers of Satan) but you are cast out of your grave like an abominable branch, like the garment of those who are slain, thrust through with a sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a corpse trodden underfoot. You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land and slain your people. The brood of evildoers shall never be named. Prepare slaughter for their fathers, lest they rise up and possess the land, and fill the face of the world with cities.”

In the two preceding paragraphs I have given a description of Lucifer, aka, Satan, or ‘the devil’, who is the adversary and the father of those who follow him in his folly. As you read the above descriptions you will notice he was at one time; the most beautiful and wisest among God’s creatures, but not anymore. Because of his great beauty and wisdom he sinned; and it cost him his standing with God. Since that time he has been the adversary of men because we are the children of God and made in the image and likeness of our Father. And because he couldn’t defeat God, he is now in pursuit of God’s children. One of the descriptions of his character is ‘he’s a coward.’ He is cowardly pursuing and trying to kill off the seemingly defenseless children of the King of the Universe. But, God, who is our Father, tells us in Romans 8:31, “… If I am for you, who can be against you?” (my paraphrase) God has not left us alone in this life, and we are not defenseless! The Book tells us, “We Win!” But you can’t win if you don’t play the game by God’s rules. And if you don’t play the game, not only do you lose; but you automatically forfeit the prize. Don’t allow that to happen! Satan is not going to let up on you because by nature he’s a bully. So get up off your backsides and start fighting back! The dudes a coward for Christ sake! And for those people who love Satan and diligently practice his sinning ways; you should know; if it wasn’t for the power of God holding Satan back; he would have destroyed man long before you had the chance to be born. And now a word to the wise among you: If you have even a tid bit of smarts remaining; repent of your sins and follow after The One who loves you and who gave His life for you. Otherwise, as Isaiah wrote under the direction of the Holy Spirit; if you don’t, this miserable life you are now living is the best you will ever know. But, if you turn to the Lord; you will never experience anything worse that what you are presently experiencing. To the one, heaven awaits. To the other, unimaginable torment and suffering. Seems like a no brainer to me. God Bless, and have a Wonderful Day in the Lord. DThrash

Why Doesn’t God Do Something?

When a Christian is in a crisis, there has not been a one of us that hasn’t asked the question, “Why doesn’t God do something?” The truth is, God is asking us the same question, “Why don’t YOU do something about your situation?” We have a tendency to think God is slow in responding to our needs, but God is not the one who is slow. He responded to our needs when Jesus died on that cross overlooking Jerusalem and rose again from the grave. Everything we will ever need in life to be a successful Christian has already been done for us. So when we ask the question, “Why doesn’t God do something?” We are showing our ignorance. We are where we are in life because we won’t do what we need to do to win our battles. God has placed within each of us the ability to defeat every enemy that rises up against us, but we find ourselves being defeated time after time by a lesser enemy. I know God has to be shaking His head and saying to Himself, “Why won’t my children do what I have commanded them to do? Why do they make everything so hard for themselves?” For us to receive, all we have to do is believe; and to believe, all we have to do is READ and follow the instructions in the Book. God couldn’t have made it any easier for us to be winners. 

 

We lose battle after battle because we are spiritually retarded. We can hear every voice in the world but the voice of the Spirit. We see everything that is going on and think; this is the way things have to be, and we can’t do anything about them. But the things of this world that we know so much about is set up to deceive the child of God. The things of this world are only here to benefit our natural life; they are not the source of life and if we didn’t need them for food and shelter, God would not have put them on the earth. Other than meeting our basic needs, they serve no useful purpose. That is why we can’t put stock in them nor allow ourselves to think they are anything other than what they are. Jesus said to Satan, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” [Matthew 16:23] Meaning Satan doesn’t know what is going on in the mind of God, or in heaven, but he is very familiar with the things of this earth and uses them to confuse man concerning the things of God. If we believe nothing we see, and very little of what we hear, just maybe we would begin to understand the scriptures. If we had ears to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying to us, we would hear Him say, “Where are the weapons I gave you?” “Where is your shield of faith?” Where is your sword?” Why aren’t you using the authority you have been given to establish a base of operation from which to work in your city, town, village, etc?” “Where is your key to victory that locks up death and hell?” “Why won’t you do what I say?” “Why don’t you study my love letter and learn from me?” “Why do you complain when everything you need to be victorious over your situation is in your mouth and in your hand?” ”When are you going to start resisting your problems and stop crying about every little thing that happens in life?” The answer to all of your problems is in the Book. Read my Book!

 

I am an observer of people and I pay attention to what Christians say when they are in a difficult situation, and have come to realize many Christians pretend to be helpless and pretend they don’t know what to do when trouble comes hoping God will take care of their situation, but God isn’t going to take care of our situation until we do what we have been instructed to do in His Word. Nobody on earth has the quality of weapons God has given to us to defeat our enemies. Who can remove sin, sickness, disease, demon possession, heal broken bodies and never have to use a material object to do such. God has placed in the hands of His children the power and the weapons to do the same things Jesus did when He was on the earth. If we would make an effort to learn how to use what God has given to us to defend ourselves and set the captives free, the world would be turned upside down in a matter of months. But instead of learning how to use what we have been given, we stumble in the darkness wondering “Why doesn’t God do something?” while He is observing us and wondering “What is wrong with my children?”

 

When Christians understand our relationship with God is a partnership, we will move forward establishing His plan in the earth. But, at the present time we lack understanding, (Hosea 4:6) so we find ourselves wondering around aimlessly benefiting no one. God cannot and will not do for us what He has given us to do, and we have no right to expect Him to do His part and our part too. Jesus did not ask the Father to do for Him what the Father had sent Him to do, and Jesus was our example to learn from. When we run into something we can’t handle, our Father God will take care of it. But when we have the power within ourselves to do something about a situation and we do nothing, God is not going to get involved. I know that will be hard for some to believe, but observe your own actions as a parent. When you tell your children to do a certain thing, you expect them to do it. Don’t You? Well, God is the Parent and we are His children. All of us have assigned responsibilities and we are expected to do them. Our Father is not going to do for us what He has told us to do, and the sooner we realize that truth, the sooner we will grow up and learn how to win our battles instead of losing them because we refuse to find out what our responsibilities are.

 

We are the hands, the feet, and the mouth of God on this earth. He has chosen to limit His power to what we are willing to do to accomplish His purposes. Jesus showed us how to accomplish our mission, and our Father expects us to carry out His plans for the salvation of the world. If we won’t preach the Word, it won’t be preached; and we will answer to God for our failure to follow His plan. If we won’t lay hands on the sick and heal them, they most likely won’t be healed. And if we won’t cast the devil out of demon possessed people; they won’t be set free. If we won’t live our life in such a way that exemplifies God; no one will. It is our life and we are accountable to our Creator for what we do with it. (Romans 14:12) The world cannot do our job, and God won’t; so that only leaves us to do what we have been commanded to do by the one who will judge us one day. (John 8:50) But if we will not examine our lives to see where we are falling short, the Lord will; and we may not like the punishment that follows His judgment. The thoughts I have expressed are not to frighten people but to help us understand everyone of us has a job to do, and if we won’t do our assigned jobs; people elsewhere in the world are paying with their life. So let’s examine our life and begin from where we are to get to where we know we need to be in our relationship with the Lord that we might become the example in this world God has called us to be. God Bless, and have a Wonderful Day in the Lord. DThrash

Satan: Who He Is & Who He Is Not

Satan’s real name is Lucifer. The word from which we get the english word; luck. At one time he was the most prominent arc angel in heaven who ministered before God’s throne in music. He was the most beautiful of all of the angels. Then he tried to overthrow heaven and sit himself upon God’s throne. God literally ripped His Spirit out of the belly of Lucifer and God’s power, or anointing, left Satan just a shell of his former self. Since then Satan has become a rogue outlaw angel, leader of the pack that was tossed out of heaven with him. He isn’t a god as many people believe. He is nothing more than a thieving, lying, outlaw devil who has set his heart upon destroying God’s newest and highest creation, mankind, and who operates in the areas of our life in which we lack understanding. He isn’t powerless, but he isn’t all powerful either as many people in the church seems to think. As a matter of fact, he has no power at all over the child of God once we come to understand who we are in Christ Jesus and live our lives according to the Word of God. That is not to say he cannot resist us or test us to see if we really believe what we say we believe. He not only can, he does and sometimes repeatedly in the same area, but I have come to understand through my trials that he only has one useful purpose in God’s kingdom and that is to test God’s children so we will know what we believe. If he did not fulfill that one role in God’s kingdom, God would have destroyed him long ago when he tried to usurp God’s throne from Him. So Satan fully understands who God is and his own subservient role in the kingdom of God, and his primary objective is to keep that information from reaching our ears and entering into our understanding. If he can accomplish that purpose he can defeat us, but once we understand who God is and submit to Him, accept our role as sons of the Father; Satan is in for a rough time. That is why it is so very important for every child of God to be informed, to stay informed, and to inform others of their inherited rights to rule and reign upon this earth as sons of the Most High God.

 

I said Satan isn’t powerless and by that I mean he has power over the natural forces upon this earth and uses that power to his advantage. Every time we have what is called a natural disaster, the news person calls the disaster an “act of God,” or in other words they are saying it is God who is wreaking destruction upon mankind. They say this out of ignorance of why God created man and the earth in the beginning. I would love to ask them these question: Why would a loving God want to destroy the very thing He gave to His children to benefit them? And, Would you, as a loving parent, destroy the home of your children just to watch them suffer? The answer to that question is obviously, no. No parent in their right mind purposefully does things to harm their children or their livelihood, do they? If we don’t, why do we think God would? God calls Satan the ‘great deceiver’ because he so easily deceives man into believing whatever he desires for them to believe. A deceiver is a liar who lies to gain an unfair advantage over an unsuspecting person. And as long as the person remains ignorant of the deceivers lies, he can be used as an accomplice to assist the deceiver in obtaining his goals and objectives; even to their own detriment. It would suffice the children of God to know that Satan can accomplish nothing on this earth if he does not have the cooperation of man to bring about his evil purposes. Satan does not have the power to do as he pleases on this earth because Jesus stripped him of this power, and before he can accomplish his evil plan, he must find a man to assist him in bringing his evil works into the earth. It would also help us if we understood that God operates on the same premise. If God is to get anything done in this earth, He, too, must find a man to help Him accomplish it.

 

Whether we know it or not, man rules on this earth and for the spiritual world to accomplish their goals and objectives they must have the assistance of man to get it done. That is why it is so important we understand who the players in the game of life are. God is for us, and Satan is against us. That single fact is never going to change, and neither of them can do anything on this earth unless we join forces with them and assist them in their efforts. God made the earth and gave it to man as a home. That is why Adam could give away his dominion over the earth to another being. If the earth had not belonged to Adam, he could not have given it away. That doesn’t sound all that complicated to understand, but man has a hard time believing it because Satan has convinced most people they are nothing more than a worm worthy of receiving every bad thing that happens to them in life. What a lie man has believed. When Jesus came to earth, He reclaimed it for man and has returned ownership of it into the hands of men. Therefore whatever happens on the earth man has to allow it to take place. But, despite all that Jesus did for us, the deceiver has been able to keep man in the dark about the event and has gotten us to go along with his plans for the destruction of it. Make no mistake about it, Satan’s intentions are to destroy mankind by whatever means he can, and he doesn’t care how our death comes about as long as we are removed out of his sight. But, God also has a plan. If man will submit to Him and let Him teach us who we are and what we were created to be, He will move heaven and earth to see that we win over every situation we will ever face in life. God’s plan for you and I includes a future full of hope, living in power and authority over all the works of the enemy, now in this life, and forevermore. How do we institute God’s plan into our life? God’s desire is for man to repent of his sins, turn to Him and allow Him to turn us into the man He desires for us to be. His plan is for us to accept our role in creation as sons of the Most High God and to rule and reign with Him over all of creation forever. I know that is hard for some to believe because we have believed for so long that we are nothing but dirt, and will never be more than dirt; but God’s Word tells us we were created to be son’s of God, kings of the earth, endued with all of the power of heaven supporting us. God Bless, and have a Wonderful Day in the Lord. DThrash