Thursday, March 22, 2012
Either I spoke Chinese Or They Purposefully Didn't Want To Understand?
The Kingdom of Heaven IS NOT TAKEN BY EFFORT!
The best and most respected translations of the Bible say the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force.
Whenever we talk about showing an effort, we often think that any small attempt will be enough to take hold of it.
It’s not! A thousand times, no!
This is what evil forces want us to believe. My dear friends, do not be deceived! If we do not put forth all of our strength and overcome 100% of our will, we won’t get in.
In order to conquer the Kingdom of Heaven you must fight with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength.
The New King James Version says: "And from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force."Matthew 11.12
If you are truly sincere about wanting to take hold of the Kingdom of Heaven, let go of your violin and pick up the sword, holding it firmly at all times.
Your salvation depends on the use of the sword of the Spirit until the day you die.
We are constantly at war against hell.
There is no peace, bargaining or calling a truce with him. It is life or death.
"And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly." Romans 16:20
God bless those who believe!
Acting Out Your Faith In a Righteous Revolt
Because of his spiritual nature, Jesus was a Man of Revolt. And it couldn’t have been any different. After all, when someone possesses the Spirit of Righteousness, he is no longer influenced by the kingdom of the spirit of unrighteousness.
Everyone who possesses the Spirit of God is revolted against moral and spiritual corruption.
For such people, it is unacceptable to have the Spirit of God and at the same time, be subject to the injustices of hell.
Although God permits such things, this does not mean they are His will. On the contrary, God allows the enemies of righteousness to act so that His children, the children of Righteousness, will revolt, fight and overcome them.
This will awaken the faith of those who are sincere, but are being misled. It will allow them to see that there is a Living, Almighty God ready to deliver them.
This is what happened in the past. The Promised Land was not a free gift. Although it was a guaranteed promise, it had to be taken by force. That is, its conquest cost many lives. However, as the children of Israel moved forward, they took possession of new territory.
Though the presence of God was with them, that did not mean their journey would be easy.
Today, it is no different. It has not been any different in my life either.
Just as surely as God exists, I know He is with me. However, my journey has never, ever been easy.
I am sure that you know at least one person that hates me, don’t you?
One fine day, many years ago, I complained to the Lord: Why has everything been so difficult for me. You know what my goals are and who I am fighting for. Why must I face so many unjust obstacles?
At that very moment, the Holy Spirit answered: The battle may be great, but victory is certain.
I immediately regained my strength and gave it my all. After all, I did not have, nor do I now have, anything to lose.
So here is some advice for all those who persecute me: I will explode! And whatever laws try to stop me, will serve as a stepping stone for me to climb even higher.
And if my Lord allows you to kill me, know that the seeds I have planted will be even more fruitful than when I was alive.
God bless those who have a living faith in the Living God!
"God is a just judge, and God is angry with the wicked every day." Psalm 7.11
Feast Of The Heart
The word feast is used to describe a lavish meal for many guests. When we think about this word, we picture all kinds of delicious dishes – a selection of mouth-watering foods that have a great appeal to us.
In the Bible, feasts were held to honor special guests of the king and queen, and were always held in special halls of the palace or in courtyards.
Nowadays, the heart is the palace where feasts are held. The king or queen is that person who has been living without God's direction. The guests are demons with an insatiable hunger. They enter and hang around that person’s life, right in front of the tasty dishes.
Take a look at this list of foods that appeal to demons’ appetites:
Plate 1 - Grief
Plate 2 - Hatred
Plate 3 - Sexual immorality
Plate 4 - Adultery
Plate 5 - Lies
Plate 6 - Theft
Plate 7 - Cruelty
Plate 8 - Doubt
Plate 9 - Pride
Plate 10 - Hypocrisy
"For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness and blasphemies." Matthew 15.19
Here are some of the devil’s favorite dishes. He enters a person’s heart, sits at the table and enjoys a delicious lunch and dinner, washed down with the wine of this world.
And why not have some breakfast and an afternoon snack too?
Oh, and we can’t forget about that snack before bedtime.
Assistants, members, and all others, the devil will never stop paying visits to your palace as long as you keep holding feasts for him in your heart.
"The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?" Jeremiah 17.9
God bless you!
Bishop Sergio Correa
Debt,Eggs And Water
Two years into my marriage, I was making late payments on tithes, loans and rent. I remained firm in the faith, was aware of His promises, but did not know how to make them come true in my life.
Since my stomach was not complaining, my faith was complacent. Good or bad, we always had our daily bread. I continued working in the hope of one day enjoying the promised land.
We were happy, were faithful to God, continued in the faith, had a clean conscience and did not live in sin. That is how we lived from day to day.
One Thursday evening at about seven o'clock, I came home. The thought of being with Esther gave me strength to face the following, boring day of work. I knew the weekend was approaching and that meant we would again be able to spend time together. This made up for the mediocre life we had.
Suddenly, a spark ignited a revolt.
—Edir, do you have any money? I need to go to the supermarket tomorrow.
—Esther, I don’t have any more money. I gave you everything I had. To be honest, the only money I have is for my bus fare tomorrow morning. I don’t even have enough to come home after work. I was counting on you to pick me up on your way back home.
—But we have no food in the house. The fridge is empty. All we have is eggs and water.
Anger immediately rose up inside of me. I felt revolt and hatred for that situation. My blood was boiling.
That's when I awoke from my religious sleep and began to demand what God had promised.
This is absurd! ...
I grabbed Esther’s hand, picked up a Bible and went to our bedroom. As we knelt on either side of the bed, I opened the Bible, put a finger on Malachi 3:10 and asked:
- Lord, is this true or false? Did You really say this or was it made up by some man? How can I know?
I have been following you for eight years and have always heard that the Lord will open the windows of heaven, and so forth. But up till now I have only heard this spoken about. I have not seen anything like that happen in anyone's life...
Right now I'm in trouble and have to turn to. Lord, if You do not answer me, how can I continue to believe in Your Word? Forgive my boldness, but is this the truth or not?
Lord, I know You are watching us right now. So if this is true, I want an answer tomorrow!
On top of everything else, Jesus, You promised that if two agree about anything that they ask for, it will be granted to them by Your Father... Matthew 18.19.
So, may Your Word come to pass!
By late afternoon the next day, I came home full of joy and with arms full of groceries. But beforehand, I went to the office of the church I attended and gave my overdue tithe.
Since then, I’ve never lacked money at home. And we've seen what we never saw before, the windows of heaven opening. It’s simply extraordinary.
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, my God, is infinitely great! Not only in our lives, but in the lives of millions around the world.
But it all started with a desperate situation that led to a revolt.
This experience taught me the difference between being religious and being a conqueror. As long as I held on to religious customs, I kept hoping that my Father’s promises would simply rain down on me. But once I grabbed a hold of my faith and adopted an all-or-nothing attitude, either God exists or He doesn’t, I was cured of that anemic, religious faith.
The truth is, if earthly matters defeat me, how will it be with spiritual matters? How can you take hold of the Kingdom of God when you are not decisive, violent and bold?
"If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, in which you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?" Jeremiah 12.5
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