Friday, January 29, 2016

Transformation




If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.
II Chronicles 7:14, 15


I am posting a couple of links about the "Transformation" of areas from total darkness and depravity to a complete revival of God and His presence and the transformation of the lives, villages, countries they live in. Are you hungry for a move of God where you live?

If we seek God with a whole heart, humble ourselves, intercede, confess our sins and turn away from them, then He will hear us from Heaven. Only then can He forgive us our sin and heal our land.

These are two portions of a longer documentary about areas across the globe that have recorded these transformations..

If you are interested in viewing, the first clip, you may go HERE

The second clip is located HERE,


WE  NEED  GOD


Wednesday, January 13, 2016

I Have Hidden Your Word In My Heart


Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.
Psalm 119:11


What will God's Word do for us?

It will be a light on the paths that we need to keep our feet upon.

It will show us the sweetness of the character of Jesus, and if we've seen Him, we've also seen our Father.

It will cause our hearts to draw near to Father God.

It will show us what sin will cost us - death - spirit, soul and body.

It will give us the DESIRE to PLEASE God.

It will show us the pleasure and reward of obeying God.

It will show us what a sweet companion and friend that Jesus wants to be to us, and how delighted and loving that God is towards us.

It will deliver us from evil.

It will bring healing to us, our bodies and souls.

It will bring peace to our souls and minds.

It will teach us about honor.

It will teach us about royalty that we are in Christ Jesus.

It will show us what noble character is and the strength to BE that.

It will be a companion to us that will bring conviction of sin when we have need of it, and lead us to repentance to stay in right standing with God.

It will bring us wisdom and understanding.

It is the plumb line that we all need.

It is, when planted into our hearts and minds, what will give us understanding of Father  God and show us who we are to Him, a most treasured son or daughter.

It will be God's voice that speaks to us.

It will bring comfort when we are weary.

It will bring us hope.

It will wipe away our tears.

It will strengthen us.

It will be the weapon, THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, we need to do battle against satan and his minions.  God's enemy and ours.

It will be bring us salvation, not just our ticket out of hell, but salvation - GREAT provision - deliverance from the curse, leading us into God's Blessing. 

It will satisfy our soul.

It will keep us safe.

It will show us what God sees.

It will show us a more excellent way than the one that we see in front of us.

It will bring us peace that will pass even our own understanding.

It will bring us JOY unspeakable and FULL of God's Glory.

It will speak to us when we NEED HELP.

It will, when we renew our minds to it, show us what is that good, acceptable and perfect will of God.

It will  cause us to want to walk in the Love that Jesus did while He was here on this earth.

It will give us so much to look forward to, Heaven, and do everything we can to get there with as many as we can to bring with us.

It will put a finger on  problems that has tripped us up, with the solutions we need.

It will keep our minds in perfect peace all while we keep our eyes stayed on Him, all through His written Word.

It will transform us into the likeness of Jesus.

It brings us the desires of our hearts, while we put IT FIRST in our lives.

It will show us things to come.

It will cause us to want to be like Jesus.

It will show us how simple it is to walk in Love.

It will teach us about finances.

It will show us how to bring up our children.

It will show us the power of not only the written but the spoken Word of God.

It will open our hearts to secrets of the ages that is not found anyplace else.

It will show the gifts that Father has provided for us.

It will teach us how to be a loving and honorable spouse.

It will show us the wonder of praise and having a thankful heart.

It will truly defeat all of our enemies.

It will never fail us as we put our trust and hope in it.

Proverbs 4:20-27
20. My son, give attention to my words;
Incline your ear to my sayings.
21. Do not let them depart from your eyes;
Keep them in the midst of your heart;
22. For they are life to those who find them,
And health to all their flesh.
23. Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.
24. Put away from you a deceitful mouth,
And put perverse lips far from you.
25. Let your eyes look straight ahead,
And your eyelids look right before you.
26. Ponder the path of your feet,
And let all your ways be established.
27. Do not turn to the right or the left;
Remove your foot from evil.

Father, HELP us to HIDE Your Word in our hearts, so we might not sin against You.  We desire to live up to the expectations you have of us as a noble son and daughter.  In Jesus' Name.


Tuesday, January 12, 2016

It Is Prayer Time In America


If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray,
and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I 
hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.
II Chronicles 7:14, 15


By Annie Haills McIntyre

About 100 years ago, Daniel Webster, one of Americas greatest statesmen, uttered this solemn warning: "If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on prospering; but if we and our posterity neglect it's instruction and authority, no man can tell how suddenly a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity."

Are we of this hour not "fools and slow of heart" to see and read the signs of a dying civilization?  The drumbeat of eternity is heard in the stream-lined shriek of the present anti-aircraft siren.  Armageddon seems not so very far away to the spiritually alert.  

IT IS PRAYER TIME IN AMERICA!

On being asked what was the chief cause of the depression, Congressman Clyde Kelly replied, "Spiritual bankruptcy.  We have been worshipping the golden calf. The results are seen all around us."  Senator Clapper said: "There are too many dust covered Bibles, prayerless homes, deserted churches without even a semblance of a prayer meeting.  There is a wide spiritual ignorance and desecration of the Lord's Day.  These formed part of the religious background of the past decade."

As a mother and homemaker who realizes that the strength of a nation lies in fiber of it's home-life, I say to you that the greatest need in the world today is a return to the old fashioned meetings for prayer - which differ much from many of the prayer meetings of the sleeping church.  It is Prayer Time in America!

If we turn to God again and pray, we will have deliverance. It will not be sufficient to become a little religious, to go to church and say a few formal prayers.  It is time to "Seek God while He may be found" and to keep on seeking Him until He be found.  It is time to confess our sins and pray for an old fashioned revival of religion.  Sin is old fashioned, and to meet and overcome its force, it will take nothing short of an old fashioned power sent down from Heaven.  The true church is not dead - it may seem almost so - but there is still some salt on hand, and It IS Prayer Time in America!

God has revealed Himself unto us in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.  To get back to God, we must cast ourselves by faith, as helpless sinners, at the feet of Jesus Christ, accept Him as our personal Savior and sin-bearer, and allow His atoning Blood shed on the Calvary's cross to cleanse us from all sin.

When we do this, God has promised to make us new creatures with new desires; "Old things are passed away; behold all things are become new."  II Corinthians 5:17  For "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."  John 3:16.  "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."  Romans 5:1.   

IT IS PRAYER TIME IN AMERICA!

We do not need more religion.  We need more truly regenerated men, women, and children who have had a vital touch from God and who have been lifted above the beggarly elements of this world into a realm of spiritual life and power, enabling them to live for the Glory of God and to pray on and on until He answers.

The Bible says, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man [or a nation] soweth  that shall he also reap.  For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."  Galatians 6:7-8

"The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."  Psalm 9:17

Our beloved country that was founded and settled by a praying, God-fearing people, has become a crime-ridden, pleasure-loving, God-forgetting nation.  Hence, we are staggering under the great burden of a great moral and spiritual depression.

America is sick - heart-sick because she is sin-sick.  Her bloodstream needs a transfusion of new life - a flow of power from on high.

God used men and women of prayer to call America into being.  America can be healed if she who has departed from her God returns to Him and prays.  It is Prayer Time in America!

May God's righteous ministers all over our land call their congregations to prayer.  Call them to come often to the "House of Prayer" for prayer.  "For judgment must begin at the House of God."  "If we would judge ourselves we should not be judged."  

When men and women become sore distressed over the plague of their own hearts, and confess their sins, and turn again - then will the Church of the Living God be able to pray effectively for an old fashioned revival of religion.  It is Prayer Time in America! 

God's covenant is in II Chronicles 7:14-15, "If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; 

THEN

will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."  (I ask you, does the moral and spiritual land of America need healing?)  God, in the verses above, is talking to Christians.  There are four things for them to do - do NOW and do wholeheartedly:

               1.  Humble themselves, 
               2.  and pray, 
               3.  and seek God's face,
               4.  and turn from their wicked ways.
               When Christians take these four steps, God says what He will do:
               1.  He will listen (hear what we are praying).
               2.  He will forgive our sins.
               3.  He will heal our land.
               
Is it not high time that we "who have named His Name, depart from iniquity"   and pray?

It is not "to arms" but "to knees," for It is Prayer Time in America!   

"Call unto Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you know not"  Jeremiah 33:3.




Osterhus Pub. House

Saturday, January 9, 2016

7 Habits of a Strong Believer



------#1 - Feed your spirit every day.
Matthew 4:4 - But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' "
Matthew 6:11 - Give us this day our daily bread.

Arrange your schedule around the Word of God.
Don't pencil God into your schedule.

------#2 - Build up your faith by listening to the Word of God every day.
Romans 10:17 - So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
Proverbs 4:20-22 -  My son give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.  Do not let the depart from your eyes, keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh.

If you don't have faith, it's nobody's fault but your own.

------#3 - They strengthen and encourage themselves by speaking the Word of God daily over their lives.
Matthew 8:8 - Speak the Word only.
Proverbs 18:21- Death and life are in the power of the tongue.

------#4 - Dominate and control your thought life, filling your mind with God's Word; Renewing your mind.
Philippians 4:8 - Finally brethren whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy -- meditate on these things.
II Corinthians 10:5 - Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
Romans 12:2 - And do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Joshua 1:8 - This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it.  For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success.
Psalm 1:1,2 - Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, or stands in the path os sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. 
Isaiah 26:3 - You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed in You because he trusts in you.

Give God your thought life.  Take the Word of God and it will bring peace.  Meditation is how we fix our mind on God day and night.   Meditation will enlarge your capacity for faith.

------#5 - Anchor and establish your heart in God by giving continual praise and thanksgiving.
Psalm 34:1 - I will bless the Lord at all times;  His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Psalm 8:2 - Out of the mouths of babes and nursing infants you have ordained strength, because of your enemies, that you may silence the enemy and the avenger. 
Matthew 21:16 - And said to Him, "Do you hear what these are saying?"  And Jesus said to them, "Yes, have you ever read, out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants you have perfected praise."

Praise produces spiritual strength

------#6 - If they edify themselves and charge their battery by praying much in tongues.
Jude 1:20 - But you, my Beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.
I Corinthians 14:4 - He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.  

As we pray in tongues, we are recharging ourselves by the Holy Spirit,  and are praying beyond our own minds, by  praying what God says.

------#7 - They becomes strengthened by getting rid of excess baggage.
Hebrews 12:1 - Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a could of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

It is possible to accomplish more spiritually by shaving off unnecessary things.  You don't need more power, you need to get rid of what drains and hinders.

50 Reasons Why I Don't Drink



Pastor Jaimie Morgan lists 50 reasons why she doesn't drink. (Reuters)
I am a Christian and I don't drink. I am also a pastor and ex-alcoholic. I need to make that disclaimer right up front. Although it makes me biased, it also makes me an expert on this hotly debated issue.
Some of the worst "shudder moments" of my life have been under the influence, and as a pastor, some of the worst "shudder moments" I have witnessed in the lives of others have been because of alcohol. You have come too late to tell me it's God's best for a Christian to drink.
We are living in a church age where drinking has become "hipster" for some. Christian young adults post pictures of their signature drink on Facebook. Middle-aged Christian women name drop their favorite brand of Pinot Grigio to impress their wine snob friends. Churches send direct-mail postcards that read, "Give our church a shot!" featuring an edgy shot glass graphic. Even some pastors drink. Not this one.
I stopped drinking when I became a Christian 26 years ago. No one told me to abstain. I just knew it would be contradictory and self-defeating to my relationship with Christ. I had given my life to follow Jesus and nothing was going to hinder my walk. For me, it was a no-brainer.
This article is not a theological defense on the topic of Christians and alcohol (another article for another time), but it is a heartfelt plea. I humbly ask you to table any knee jerk, pro-alcohol, fight-for-my-right-to-drink arguments that you have ever heard, or made, and prayerfully consider this list.
50 reasons why I don't drink:
1. I can't be sober-minded if I'm not sober.
2. Alcohol has an assignment: destruction.
3. Alcohol is a depressant. Anything that depresses should be avoided at all costs.
4. I don't want to make my brother or sister stumble in the name of exercising my "Christian liberties." My choice to drink could lead to someone's demise.
5. Alcohol skews my judgment.
6. Alcohol leaves me worse, not better.
7. What I do in moderation, my children will do in excess.
8. Even the unsaved know I shouldn't drink. Bible in one hand, beer in the other—any lost person could point this out as a confusing contradiction.
9. Alcohol doesn't bring others closer to the Lord when they see me drinking, but further away.
10. Alcohol doesn't bring me closer to the Lord when I drink, but further away.
11. I want to be fully awake and ready for the return of Christ, not drowsy, sluggish and fuzzy.
12. Show me a family for whom alcohol has made a positive difference in their lives. You won't be able to.
13. I have never heard anyone say, "Wow, that gin and tonic made me feel so Christlike!"
14. I want to avoid all appearances of evil.
15. Alcohol makes it much harder for me to practice the fruit of self-control.
16. Alcohol causes me to lose my filter.
17. Alcohol is a legal mind-altering drug.
18. Alcohol is addictive.
19. Alcohol is a numbing agent for pain and sorrow only Jesus can heal.
20. Many regrets are associated with alcohol. (I can give you a whole bunch!)
21. No one has ever said, "If only I had taken a drink, things wouldn't have gotten out of control."
22. Alcohol causes me to act in ways I normally wouldn't.
23. Alcohol kills brain cells.
24. Alcohol is a counterfeit and provides a false peace.
25. The Bible says that no drunkards will enter the kingdom of God. Being drunk starts with one drink. I don't want to see how far outside the lines I can color when eternity is at stake.
26. Alcohol is a waster—money, gifts and talents, destinies and so on.
27. Alcohol leads to really bad behavior. It is a factor in 50 percent of violent crimes.
28. Alcohol distracts and derails you from living the victorious life for which Christ died.
29. Wisdom is the principle thing that I need to pursue at all cost; alcohol makes me stupid.
30. Alcohol has ruined many, many marriages.
31. The only influence I should be "under" is God's.
32. The Bible tells me to be alert; alcohol delays my reaction time.
33. If I don't start drinking, I'll never have to stop.
34. Alcohol severely tarnishes my testimony.
35. Don't want your teenagers to drink? Yep, same reasons apply to you.
36. God is holy; alcohol is not.
37. Alcohol and prayer don't mix.
38. Alcohol and Bible study don't mix.
39. Alcohol lowers my resolve to resist temptation.
40. Alcohol = Brokenness (broken lives, health, dreams and so on)
41. When the world sees us drinking, it sends the message that Jesus isn't enough.
42. Moderate drinking? How about moderate pornography or moderate heroin use or moderate lying or moderate adultery?
43. Christians are called to live a life of total surrender and separation from the world.
44. Alcohol makes me forget. It can make me forget that I am married, that I am saved and so on.
45. "I don't get drunk. I only have one or two drinks." If they didn't affect you, you would drink soda.
46. I should never look to the glass or bottle for joy, which can only be found in the Lord Jesus Christ.
47. Alcohol fills my mind with impure thoughts.
48. If it could hinder my faith walk or love walk or dishonor the lordship of Jesus Christ, I need to forsake it.
49. Alcohol doesn't help me run the race that Jesus has marked before me to finish with more accuracy. It does the polar opposite.
50. For any argument that tries to justify Christian drinking, there are at least 50 other reasons not to. The writing is on the wall. It's not God's best for Christians to drink.
Jamie Morgan is pastor of Life Church (Assemblies of God) and the Life House of Prayer (24/7 prayer). She graduated with her Master of Arts in Practical Theology from ORU and is pursuing her D.Min. at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. 

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Heidi Baker - Meet the "Evangelical" Mother Theresa


We first came across this lady on an interview with Sid Roth  You may see that interview Here  What a treat it was.  I kept wondering how we'd never heard of this lady and her husbands work/ministry of Iris Global.



This is a bit of information on Rolland and Heidi Baker from their "About" page:  

Rolland and Heidi’s roots

Heidi and I began Iris Global (previously Iris Ministries) in 1980, and have been missionaries since then. We were both ordained as ministers in 1985 after completing our BA and MA degrees at Vanguard University in southern California. I majored in Biblical Studies, and Heidi in Church Leadership. I am a third-generation missionary born in China, and raised in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. I was greatly influenced by my grandfather, H. A. Baker, who wrote “Visions Beyond the Veil,” an account of the extended visions of heaven and hell that children received in his remote orphanage in southwest China two generations ago.
Heidi was powerfully called to the mission field at age sixteen when she was living on an Indian reservation in Mississippi as an American Field Service student. Several months after she was led to Jesus by a Navajo evangelist, she was taken up in a vision for several hours and heard Jesus speak audibly to her and tell her to be a minister and a missionary to Asia, England and Africa. When she returned home to Laguna Beach, California, she began ministering at every opportunity and leading short-term missions teams. We met at a small charismatic church in Dana Point, and got married six months later after realizing we had the same radical desire to see revival among the poor and forgotten of the world.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”          Matthew 5:3
If you are interested in reading the remaining of that page, it can be found Here

Father I ask You to HELP us to make You the LOVE of our live, and to return to our FIRST LOVE, YOU and to help us to dedicate our lives to you, and be who You want us to be and do what you want us to do and go where You want us to go.  In Jesus' Name

I AM is Speaking



I do not often share what God is speaking to our local fellowship, but in light of current events I want to bring encouragement to the Body of Christ.
This came to us on Sunday - 1-3-16


You remember that I have cut covenant with you.
And that you are My Covenant People.
You, in this place now, You took communion in remembrance of My Son.
You remember the covenant that I cut through Him for you.
You remember the covenant that I cut for you, that's your part REMEMBER.
You remember the benefits of this covenant and the protection.
The protection, the protection, the leading and the protection of this covenant.
The protection of this covenant you are in, you’re in the Secret Place of the Most High, under the shadow of My wings. 
My Secret Place, is My Loving Place for you.
You’re My Covenant People
You remember that no matter what you hear on this Earth, no matter what you see with your eyes, that I am in covenant with you. 
I’m here to protect you and take care of you.
There’s no need to fear of what is coming upon this place.
These things will happen before I send My Son back to retrieve you.
I am in covenant with you, I am taking care of you.
You are My sons and daughters, My precious Jewels
I am taking care of you.
Don’t forget, My Spirit will remind you that you are a covenant son and a covenant daughter.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I Corinthians 12:7-11
7 A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. To one person the Spirit gives the ability to give wise advice[b]; to another the same Spirit gives a message of special knowledge. The same Spirit gives great faith to another, and to someone else the one Spirit gives the gift of healing. 10 He gives one person the power to perform miracles, and another the ability to prophesy. He gives someone else the ability to discern whether a message is from the Spirit of God or from another spirit. Still another person is given the ability to speak in unknown languages, while another is given the ability to interpret what is being said. 11 It is the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts. He alone decides which gift each person should have.

God Is Looking For Those Who Will Stand In The Gap


If we are going to love our neighbor as ourselves, 
how can we remain silent in face of the troubled times we live in.


God Is Looking For Those Who Will Stand In The Gap

 Matthew 22:36-40 - 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

If we are going to love our neighbor as ourselves, how can we remain silent in face of the troubled times we live in.

Jeremiah 5:1 - Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem;
See now and know; And seek in her open places If you can find a man,
If there is anyone who executes judgment, Who seeks the truth,
And I will pardon her.

God has a two edged sword.  On one side is judgment on the other side is justice  He was and still is interested in people who will stand in the gap, PRAY and call for justice and judgment upon the land.  He does not want JUDGMENT to come across the land.  People, someone, you and I must PRAY and INTERCEDE, calling upon the MERCY of God.

Ezekiel 22:30-31 - So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. 31 Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God.

Will not God’s People HELP Him to HELP the souls so He can bring healing to the land?  He was looking for ONLY ONE, and nobody stepped up.
Isaiah 59:12-16 - For our transgressions are multiplied before You,
And our sins testify against us; For our transgressions are with us,
And as for our iniquities, we know them: 13 In transgressing and lying against the Lord, And departing from our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. 14 Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands afar off; For truth is fallen in the street, And equity cannot enter.
15 So truth fails, And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him That there was no justice.
God was not interested in bringing judgment upon His people.  He wants His People to humble themselves, pray, SEEK HIS FACE, turn from their wicked ways, so He can hear their cry and HEAL THE LAND. 
II Chronicles 7:14, 15  - If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.  Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.

Ezekiel 13:5 -  You have not gone up into the gaps to build a wall for the house of Israel to stand in battle on the day of the Lord.

Psalm 106:23 - Therefore He said that He would destroy them,
Had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach,
To turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them.

Moses interceded for his people, lest God’s wrath, and certain death come upon them all.

Genesis 18:23-27 - And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? 25 Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
26 So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”
27 Then Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord

Abraham was willing to make a difference and interceded for Sodom – even though not even five could be found, Abraham witnessed that God was willing to listen to and agree to his petition.

Are there any “takers” today?  Any willing to come boldly before the throne of God on behalf of people that HE LOVES and that we are commanded to love?  I ask God, in Jesus’ Name to HELP US, to HAVE MERCY ON US, to HAVE MERCY ON OUR LAND and spare her from judgment.  Father strengthen our hearts and hands to be obedient and diligent to PRAY making the difference we all need. In Jesus’ Name.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Want 2016 to Be Different?



This article was retrieved from
http://kennethcopelandministries.org/2015/12/want-2016-to-be-different/#.VoyJcfkrLIV
And was used by permission


Want 2016 to Be Different?


Check Your Mouth!
by Kenneth Copeland
A lot of people in this world don’t know how to fly airplanes. I’m not one of them. I’ve been a pilot for more than 40 years. And quite frankly, I don’t know why anyone would want to sit in the back of an airplane when they could sit up front.
Yet, when you compare the number of people who know how to fly to those who don’t, there are not many of us.
There’s something else a lot of people in this world don’t know how to do, and that is…control their mouth.
Getting control of your mouth is like flying an airplane. Anyone can do it. It’s just a matter of learning how. But I dare say the vast majority of people—and I’m talking about believers—don’t know how to control the words that come out of their mouths. They just let them fly.
“Oh but, Brother Copeland, I don’t have the time it takes to study the Bible in order to get control over my mouth.”
I see. You don’t have that kind of time for the Word, but you do have time to be sick six months out of the year, or broke most or all of your life, or beaten down by the devil day in and day out, right?  With flying, it’s pretty obvious the pilot is the one who has the power to crash or land the plane.
Controlling your tongue is no different. Your mouth determines your success or failure in life—but only you can be the pilot. No one else can do your talking for you. It’s up to you whether you crash or land. If you want 2016 to be the year something changes, you should put your mouth in check.
Life Doesn’t “Just” Happen
Some time ago, the Spirit of God made a statement to me that just burned into my consciousness. This is what He said:
            Most people go along day after day hoping nothing bad happens that they cannot handle. Then, when something does happen, they try to change things in a few moments of prayers and tears, not realizing that they actually caused what happened by putting certain spiritual laws into motion.
            Years of exercising the law of sin and death will produce the curse in one’s life. Meditating continually on the lies of the devil, which is worry, will build doubt and unbelief in one’s spirit until it overflows in abundance into the mouth. Then it is released in words of fear. Those words are then acted upon. And acting on words of fear brings worry to pass.
            So, don’t wait. Start now. Build a new future by exercising the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus with words of faith, love, joy and hope, thereby producing acts of faith, acts of love, acts of joy and a continual hope, expecting God’s favor and His very best all the time.
Notice the Spirit of God said that we—you and I—cause what happens to us in life by putting spiritual laws into motion.
How do we put those laws into motion?
Through our mouths. Through the words we speak day after day.
Jesus, in explaining the power of our words to His disciples said, “For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shallsay unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith (Mark 11:23).
Jesus was telling them—You have what you say.
And it’s no different for us today.
Hebrews 3:1 says it like this: Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus.”
The word apostle literally means “one sent” or “sent one.” And the word profession also can be translated as “confession.”
Jesus was sent by God—anointed and appointed—to be the High Priest of our confession. In other words, it’s His job to see to it when we speak the Word of God out our mouths that it comes to pass.
But notice what Jesus said in Matthew 12:34-37:
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

Each one of us will stand judgment for every idle word we speak. We will be condemned by our words, and we will be justified—or made righteous—by our words. And that covers just about everything.
So it does matter what we say.
A New Law to Live By
To go a step further in understanding just exactly how our mouths direct the course of our lives, we need to examine the “spiritual laws” we put into motion through the words we speak daily.
In Romans 8:1-3, the Apostle Paul tells us this:
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.

Here Paul describes two spiritual laws: the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and the law of sin and death.
If you have received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then as a born-again believer you have been made free from the law of sin and death by the law of the Spirit of life in the Anointed Jesus.
But notice that first verse says there is no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
In 1967, when I was studying this passage of scripture, the Spirit of God said this to me: The word “flesh” there is talking about the five physical-sense gates.
Obviously He was referring to the means through which we gather information from the natural world around us—the eye gate, ear gate, touch gate, smell gate and taste gate.
But then He went on to say this: When you see the word “Spirit” in these verses, replace it with the phrase “Word of God” or “the Word.”

Well when I did as He instructed, here’s what I came up with:
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the five physical senses, but after the Word of God. For the law of the Word of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the physical senses, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful senses, and for sin, condemned sin in the five-physical-sense realm.
Our confessions, spoken in faith, are the foundation from which God operates in our lives. But to put an end to worry, to fear-based words, to fear-based results in our lives, we must control the flesh. We must control the five physical-sense gates of our being.
When I saw that revelation for the first time 36 years ago, it changed the way I saw everything in life. It literally opened up the rest of the New Testament to me.
Faith-Based Living
When we walk in the laws of the Spirit—and we operate in them according to the Word of God, by faith—those laws will control our circumstances in our favor every time.
What most believers fail to understand, however, is that unless we stay in the Word and walk in the laws of the Spirit on a continual basis, we will fall back into all that is going on around us. We will fall back into the laws of sin and death. We will get caught in the current of the world’s negative flow, which is the death flow.
You see, in the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, there is faith, courage and prayer. In the law of sin and death there is fear, confusion and pressure.
Faith, courage and prayer are all based on the living Word of God.
We know that “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). But having courage is also a commandment found in the Word.
To be courageous simply means we do what we know is right, according to the Word, not the world.
After Moses died, God commanded Joshua:
Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper withersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid (Joshua 1:7-9).
What was God saying?
Don’t say anything that My Word does not say. Don’t think anything other than what My Word says!
Why?
Because anything other than faith is fear. And without fear, the devil has nothing to work with.
Now to understand the way prayer figures into this faith equation, we need to go back to Mark 11 where Jesus told His disciples, You will have what you say (verse 23).
But notice what He goes on to tell them in verses 24-25: “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any….”
Prayer requires that we believe we receive when we pray—not believe we receive after our answer shows up. What’s more, prayer requires that we have an open line of communication with God, which means there can be no unforgiveness clogging it up.
This is all part of the law of faith—faith, courage and prayer. And we cannot leave out any part of that law without causing it either to weaken, or to stop functioning altogether.
Fear-Based Living
Fear, like faith, is a spiritual force. It works under the same rules as faith. Consequently, if faith “cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” then fear “cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word [or lies] of the devil.”
Fear is actually twisted faith. It is faith in the ability of something to harm you. Ultimately fear is faith in death.
So, tying this back to what the Spirit of God said earlier about not living according to the “flesh”—or the five physical senses—we see that fear comes from false evidence based on what we can see, feel, hear and so forth.
Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
If you only judge situations around you by what you see and what you feel, then you will always end up in a ditch because you will be judging after the factsinstead of judging after the truth. And eventually that will lead you down the path to death.
Once you get ahold of God’s Word, however, you will know the truth and the truth will make you free (John 8:32). Suddenly, fear will have no hold on you and the devil will have nothing to work with in your life.
Before He went to the cross, Jesus prayed that the Father would show us that He loves us as much as He loves Jesus (John 17:23).
Why did Jesus pray for us to know that?
Because “there is no fear in love; but perfect [developed] love casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18).
There is no room for fear when Love, Himself, begins to move and tells you: All your needs are supplied according to My riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). Jesus bore all your sins in His own body on the tree, that you, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, and by His stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24).

When we find ourselves in a “pressure situation,” that’s the time to separate the real problem from the pressure, which is trying to drive us to act out of fear—fear of failure, fear of being embarrassed, fear of going broke, fear of not getting the deal, fear of dying.
Remember Jesus said, “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). He has overcome every problem we could possibly face. So stop dwelling on “how things look.” Turn your flesh away from what it looks like, what it feels like, what it sounds like, what it smells like, what it tastes like. Because that’s the source of your pressure.
The pressure you feel in the heat of a problem comes from looking, feeling, seeing, acknowledging everything this world is telling you, then thinking and worrying about it. In the end, that’s what will get you to move in the world’s direction, instead of God’s.
Head Upstream
Faith, courage and prayer are all faith-based and depend on one another.
Likewise fear, confusion and pressure are all fear-based and they depend on one another.
That leaves you in the middle…with a choice to make:
Do I just coast downstream in the world’s flow of fear—which eventually ends with death? Or, do I turn and head upstream in faith, God’s way—which leads to life?
Because, know this: If you take the way of faith, courage and prayer—that is, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus—you will be going crosswise to the world. And you will face a lot of resistance in doing that.
Confessing what God says about you and your life instead of what the world thinks is not always easy. But it’s worth it!
Under the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus comes healing, all forms of prosperity, peace, goodness and so forth. And under the law of sin and death comes fear, doubt, unbelief, death, sickness, disease, poverty and every evil work.
The point is, healing and prosperity are not a reward for “being good.” “Good” people get sick, go broke and die.
No. Healing and prosperity come from exercising the healing laws and prosperity laws, and then receiving from God.

Like everyone else on this earth, 
you live under the spiritual law of words. 
You cannot change that. But you can change the words under which you live.
Your mouth can either be a faith instrument, 
or a fear instrument—
faith leading you in the flow of life, 
fear leading you in the flow of death.

Either way, the choice is yours.
Remember, the devil can do nothing to you apart from fear, the same as God does nothing for you apart from faith.
The next time you start feeling symptoms of sickness coming against your flesh, resist them. Deny their right to exist in your body.
How? By basing your words on God’s Word, instead of on how you feel. Set your course of healing by confessing: I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. How I feel about a situation does not change a thing. I am only moved by what I believe—and I believe the Word of God. I believe God’s Word over and above everything else. And He says that by Jesus’ stripes I was healed.

How you feel may be a fact. But God’s Word is truth. And truth changes fact.
            Declare the Word and attack your “feelings” with the higher authority, and get control of your mouth—and your future—today!

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