Years ago I remember a good friend of mine once told me something very bold. We were together when we began talking about prayer and fear. When finally she exclaimed, "You have such little faith!" She said, "You either have faith or fear. You can't have both!"
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The more we desire, the more He gives us. New revelation comes to me often as I study. As I seek more, I receive more. What I receive is like jewels.
How about the Greek word for salvation? What does it mean? In Luke 19:9, for example, it says, "Today Salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."
The Greek word for salvation is: soteria (so-tay-ree'ah) (#4991 in the concordance). It is translated: rescue or safety-deliver, health, salvation. Here we see that Jesus DID come to not only DELIVER us, but to HEAL us!! For those who say that healing is not God's will, needs to look into the Greek meaning of the words and see what God's will is! This verse can be translated: "Today Healing and deliverance have come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save, heal and deliver the lost." I'll talk another time about what it means to be the son of Abraham. :) Did you know that the Greek word for save is sozo? If you can look up the word save in the Greek it is translated as several different words, but usually as sozo. For example, let's read John chapter 12 verse 47, Jesus said, "For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world". The word save there, in the Greek (which was the first translation of Jesus' words here) is sozo. The Greek translation of sozo is: to save, deliver or protect: heal, preserve, save, do well, be (make) whole!!!
YES!! Jesus didn't JUST save us from hell! He also delivers, protects, heals, and makes us whole! YOU have been delivered already through Christ! YOU have been protected (and He continues to protect you) already through Christ! YOU have been healed already through Christ! YOU have been made whole already through Christ! Hallelujah Sometimes preachers and Christians try to teach others that, in referring to the story of Job, satan has to come and ask God if he can destroy someone's life. In the book of Job, we read that satan went before God and asked Him, "What about Job?"
In answering this question, we need to consider several truths of the Bible. First, we must realize that we are under a New and better covenant with better promises (Heb. 8:6). God's wrath over sin was displayed in His judgment throughout the old covenant, however, under the new covenant God's wrath of sin was poured out on Jesus. Jesus took the punishment for sin once and for all. He took that punishment and because of that God is not mad at you. He is not mad at me, He is not mad at you or anyone else! God is not holding any of your sins against you! That is good news! As a matter of fact, if you'll read chapter one in Job, you'll see that Job kept making sacrifices for his children's sins (Job 1:5). He was in fear that something bad would happen to them because of their sin and rebellion. Sure enough something bad did happen and Job said in chapter 3, "What I feared has come upon me" (Job 3:25). Job's fear, and his children's rebellion, led to an open door for the enemy, satan, to get an inroad into their life. Remember there was no promise of protection for them, no covenant, like we have today. So rejoice and be glad! God is NOT bringing any calamity or destruction into your life! Jesus said He came to bring abundant life, but that the enemy, the thief, comes to "steal, kill and destroy", John 10:10. If something occurs in the world that is of destruction, Jesus said it is from the enemy! If there are killings, Jesus said it's from the enemy! If there is robbery, Jesus said it's from the enemy, the thief! Don't believe anyone who tries to tell you that those bad things came into your life from God. Don't believe any teaching that tries to bring you back under the old covenant! Remind yourself and them that you are under a new and better covenant! Hallelujah! I love the imagery of the Passover for the new believers under the new covenant!
In the book of Exodus we read about Moses and the story of the mass exodus of Israelites leaving Egypt. Do you realize the foreshadow this was concerning Christ and His followers? Let's review the highlights of the Exodus! The Israelites were told through Moses by God to "paint" their doorposts with the blood of a perfect goat, without blemish or spot. Because of this blood, the Israelites were protected from harm that night when the death angel passed over Egypt. The Israelites were let go during the night! The Israelites took silver and gold with them on their way out. "He brought out Israel laden with silver and gold", Psalm 105:37. We also read that "and from among their tribes no one faltered." Awesome! That is SOOOO powerful!!! The Israelites were protected by the blood of the lamb! The Israelites were set free from their bondage! The Israelites were released with riches of gold and silver! The Israelites were made STRONG and healthy! If this is what God did for the Israelites under the old covenant, how much more through Christ under the new covenant!!! This is what Christ has done for us! We are protected from harm by the blood of the Lamb (Jesus)! We are set free from the bondages and entanglements of sin, we're delivered!!! We are released and made RICH through Christ (2 Cor. 8)!! We are made strong and healthy by the stripes of Jesus (2 Peter 2:24)!! It is INCREDIBLE to understand the power of the new covenant! The reason that it seems that sometimes it is not in affect is because most Christians do not know what they have been set free from! They still think, and are taught, that Jesus desires us sick, tired, weak, depressed, poor, etc! But that is not the gospel! Rejoice! For your freedom in the gospel is GREAT!! Learn and study it so that you will not be ignorant (Hosea 4:6)! Christians trust God with their salvation, but they don't trust God with their money. The apostles were all generous givers because they had been with Jesus and had seen His generous heart! They had been trained, they had learned, they had witnessed His financial giving! The apostles were considered mature Christians! A Christian who doesn't trust God with their money, isn't a mature Christian. Mature Christians are fanatical about giving because they understand the blessing it is to those who receive and that its results in thanksgiving to God.
You may say that you trust God with your finances, well, then give. But if your response to that is, "oh, no I can't give that", or "I can't give more because I've gotta pay those bills", then you're not trusting God with your finances. A steward is someone who manages money for another person. If you're a Christian, then you're managing God's money. Romans 13:8 tells us to owe no man anything, but most Christians are incredibly in debt! ("Let no debt remain outstanding.") It is not wise to take out a second loan, yet many Christians do this. It is not wise to depend on the government to give them money and take care of them. That is not a godly principle. Stop trusting in the government and trust God! We need to realize, "God, this is all yours" and act that way! In Genesis 12:2, 3 we read, "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you." He wants you to be a channel to others. True prosperity isn't selfish. True Bible prosperity is to empower you to be a blessing! So get out of debt as fast as possible! Owe no man anything! And remember that mature Christians are BIG givers! Giving is how you show you trust God! This morning I decided to pray into what the Bible calls, the secrets of the Kingdom. I don't know about you, but I realized I had not really looked at these words in the Bible before. You know, the words, the mysteries of the Kingdom, the secrets of the Kingdom, etc. So today was my day to seek His face for meaning!
I can tell you ahead of time that when you ask God to give you understanding and then you wait on Him for that revelation, He'll give it to you! Sometimes you just have to wait. As I prayed in the Spirit for quite some time, I suddenly saw a picture. I saw an angel taking me through what looked like gold doors. The doors were all lined up close together. They were so close together in fact, that they looked like a tunnel. I was going through this tunnel with the angel to my left. At the end of the tunnel we came to a small room. The room had jewels laying around every where. There was a treasure chest in front of me with jewels all filled inside to overflowing. As I continued to pray for revelation I saw the jewels gently begin to float upwards towards me! As they continued to get closer I realized that on each one were words. One was wisdom. This jewel held the wisdom that someone needed on earth! This jewel of wisdom was what someone was praying for and it seemed to be going to them as they were asking for that wisdom! Other jewels had words of healing. I knew these words meant that healing was going to someone. It was their mystery being solved! Every jewel was an answer to someone's prayer. Every jewel was full of the mystery. These were the mysteries of the Kingdom and God had them in this room. It was so easy to access them. All the believer had to do was ask God in faith and He would deliver those precious jewels of wisdom and secrets to His children! Believe and you will receive (Mt. 21:22)! Keep thanking Him for the answer and it will come! What a good God! :) Your faith will never rise above your knowledge of the Word!
In other words, if you don't have knowledge from the Word of God that you were healed by the stripes of Jesus' back when He died for you, then you won't have faith to believe for your healing. 2 Peter 2:24 If you don't have knowledge from the Word of God that it is His will to prosper YOU (Luke 6:38, 2 Cor. 8, 2 Cor. 9:6-11, Deuteronomy 8:18), then you won't have faith to receive more finances to help yourself AND give to others. Your faith is dependent on your knowledge of the Word of God! So begin to fill your mind and yourself with God's will that is in His Word concerning you and your faith will soar! When your faith increases, then YOU SHALL receive! Amen! "He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption." Hebrews 9:12.
Christ entered the Most Holy Place once for all so that we have eternal redemption! If you are condemning yourself of sin you need to purge yourself of those thoughts. As a believer, you have been sanctified, made holy. You have been set apart. Hebrews 12:23 says, "To the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect." We are made perfect in our spirits (in our hearts)! Believer's spirits are made perfect, holy! You are complete in Him! God is not looking at your sin, He looks at you in your spirit! Your spirit is as righteous as Jesus! He sees you righteous! We have the power of Jesus on the inside of us! We have the power to raise the dead, hallelujah! |
"If you make the Most High your dwelling-even the Lord, who is my refuge-then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone." Psalm 91:9-12 Have you ever heard the misconception that satan has to go before God first to ask Him if he can do something horrendous to us, like he did to Job? As if everything that happens in our life is from God. Click HERE to read more! Archives
August 2014
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