Paul is drawing a natural comparison when he asks, "Can you think of anybody who would love you enough to die for you? If you were a righteous man - if your performance was good enough - you might find somebody who would be willing to die for you. But not very many, because that"s not the way people are."
Then in verse 8, Paul contrasts the point that he has just made. He says, But G.o.d commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. But G.o.d commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. What he"s saying is, G.o.d did not give His love to us What he"s saying is, G.o.d did not give His love to us based on our performance. based on our performance. When we were still sinners, even haters of G.o.d, and still going our own way, G.o.d gave to us His precious gift, the Lord Jesus Christ, in the midst of our sin. He gave Jesus not when we deserved it and not when our performance earned it, but right in the midst of our sin G.o.d commended His love toward us. When we were still sinners, even haters of G.o.d, and still going our own way, G.o.d gave to us His precious gift, the Lord Jesus Christ, in the midst of our sin. He gave Jesus not when we deserved it and not when our performance earned it, but right in the midst of our sin G.o.d commended His love toward us.
Walking in More Grace in More Grace In Romans 5:9, Paul concludes with his main point,Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
In other words, if you can accept the fact that G.o.d showed His love toward you when Jesus died for you while you were a sinner, much more much more now that you are justified by His blood, you shall be saved from G.o.d"s wrath. now that you are justified by His blood, you shall be saved from G.o.d"s wrath.
Do you follow the point Paul is making? He"s saying, if you could accept the love, mercy, and forgiveness of G.o.d while you were a sinner, you should be able to accept the love, mercy, and forgiveness of G.o.d much more now that you"re His child!
As a Christian, you ought to be walking even more freely in the grace of G.o.d than you were when you came to Him for salvation. And yet, most of us walk in grace much less now after we"re saved. To prove that, just look at how you thought when you were first born again. Say you had come to me as an unbeliever and said, "Andrew, I need to be born again. Would you pray for me?"
Then, as I started to pray for you, G.o.d gave me a word of knowledge and I said, "You know what? You"re an adulterer. You"re living in adultery," and I named other sins in your life. Do you know what you probably would have said? You would have said, "Oh, that"s right. I know I need to be saved." It would have made you throw yourself on Jesus and rely totally on Him for forgiveness of sins, because you knew He came to save sinners. So pointing out your sin, wouldn"t have stopped you from receiving salvation. You understood that Jesus came to save you from from your sin, not to save you because you had already overcome sin. We receive salvation totally by grace. your sin, not to save you because you had already overcome sin. We receive salvation totally by grace.
Now, what if you came to me today as a Christian, asked me to pray for your healing and I said, "You"re living in adultery." Do you know what most Spirit-filled, tongue-talking, Word people would do? They would say, "I knew it. I knew G.o.d wouldn"t heal me. I now know why nothing"s working right for me. It"s because I"ve done this, that, and the other."
People get real quiet when I say things like that. They are thinking, "Well now, wait a minute, Brother Andrew. Do you think G.o.d would heal an adulterer?" My answer is, "Well, I believe if G.o.d would save an adulterer, then He would heal one."
Now, I"m not condoning adultery or any type of sinful behavior, but what I"m saying is this: if you could accept G.o.d"s love shown towards you while you were an unbeliever, you should accept His love much more now as His child. Regardless of what you"ve done, G.o.d loves you even more. Yet most of us believe He loves us much less! Let me give you an example.
If a drunk comes to a service and is sitting in the back, almost falling over, most Spirit-filled Christians would go up to him and say, "Brother, G.o.d loves you. G.o.d"s got something better for you. G.o.d will change your life." We will minister love to that drunk and that drunk will respond to it. We would love him in spite of what he"s done. That"s G.o.d"s kind of love, so he"ll respond to it and get born again.
But woe to that drunk if he comes back drunk after being saved. G.o.d loved him when he was a sinner and drunk, but if he"s born again and he"s still drunk - G.o.d forbid! Most Christians would not offer the same kind of unconditional love. Doesn"t something seem inconsistent about that?
Grace is not just for the lost. Christians must live by grace too.
Continuing With G.o.d the Way You Started With G.o.d the Way You StartedAs ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built up in him.Colossians 2:6,7 The principle we applied to receive salvation from the Lord should be the same principle by which we walk with the Lord. If our works were not the basis for receiving salvation from G.o.d, why should our works be a factor in receiving healing from G.o.d? This Bible verse said we should keep going with G.o.d on the same basis as we started!
Some people interpret what I"m saying as encouraging people to sin. No! I"m not saying that. I hate sin. But I claim that the motivation for a Christian to live a holy life is not so that you can earn the blessings of G.o.d! Those blessings were paid for and provided by Jesus, not our performance. G.o.d does not move in our lives based on our performance.
I live a holy life because I love G.o.d, it"s pleasing to Him, and because it"s my nature to live a holy life. I don"t do it to earn anything from G.o.d any more than I would live holy to earn my salvation. When you reach the point where you don"t care what you get from G.o.d, you just want to love, obey, and be close to Him at all times, not only will you overcome sin, but you will see the blessings of G.o.d overtake you.
How often did you fast, pray, study the Word, go to church, and pay your t.i.thes before you were born again? Probably not at all. And yet do you think that if you haven"t done everything totally right - for example, you have not been reading your Bible or praying - then you know exactly why G.o.d hasn"t healed you? Do you think it"s because you failed somewhere?
I"m sure glad salvation didn"t come by perfect performance, or I would have never been born again, and you would not have either. That performance mentality is exactly the reason many people aren"t being healed.
Did you know it"s easier to get healed than it is to be born again? Yet most people find no problem getting born again because they"re putting their faith in what Jesus did for them. They know everything about salvation is based on what Jesus did, and they are not using their own performance as their standard. They aren"t approaching G.o.d on the basis of what they"ve done.
When people come to the altar for salvation, they don"t believe that what they get from G.o.d is in direct proportion to their performance. Yet when it comes to healing, prosperity, deliverance, answers to prayer, and so forth, many Christians believe they will receive from G.o.d according to their performance.
I"ve heard people stand up and say, "Brother, I believe you"ve got to keep the Ten Commandments of G.o.d and live a holy life or G.o.d won"t move in your life." If someone says that, you can challenge them by asking, "Are you perfect? Do you have any sin? Do you have any problems in your life?"
Then they"ll reply, "Oh...well...no, brother. I"m not saying I"m perfect. I know I still miss it." So how can they say that unless they are holy, G.o.d is not going to move in their life? They usually respond, "Well, I"m not saying you"ve got to be perfect." What they"re saying is that G.o.d grades on a curve. They are saying that n.o.body can be perfect, but G.o.d has a quota He"s got to meet because He can"t reject everybody. He"s got to answer somebody"s somebody"s prayer, so He"ll take the top 10 percent, whoever they are. I guess they figure if n.o.body even makes 50 on the test, then He"ll pa.s.s the top 10 percent. He"s got to answer somebody"s prayer, right? No, that"s not how it works. prayer, so He"ll take the top 10 percent, whoever they are. I guess they figure if n.o.body even makes 50 on the test, then He"ll pa.s.s the top 10 percent. He"s got to answer somebody"s prayer, right? No, that"s not how it works.
The Bible says that sin is sin. James 2:10 says, For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. If you have led a good life and yet you miss it in one part, you don"t deserve anything from G.o.d! That is what this scripture is communicating. If you have led a good life and yet you miss it in one part, you don"t deserve anything from G.o.d! That is what this scripture is communicating.
We need to stop approaching G.o.d on the basis of what we have done. We need to come to G.o.d for every need the way we came to Him for salvation: through the finished work of Jesus Christ.
How to Be Blessed by G.o.d to Be Blessed by G.o.d .
I was raised in a Christian home and born again at the age of eight, the very first time I was convicted over sin. Now that wasn"t the very first time I sinned, but it was the very first time I felt G.o.d convict me of sin. I repented that first time and accepted the Lord. At eight years of age, I knew I had transgressed against G.o.d and I had done it deliberately. G.o.d really spoke to me about it and I repented, confessed Jesus as my Lord, and was genuinely converted. In the third grade I was made fun of for being a Christian. I wasn"t doing anything bad, but I changed so much that people could tell a difference in me. There was a genuine conversion that took place in me.
Because I grew up in a Baptist church, my parents knew the Lord. But I wasn"t really exposed to the goodness, the grace, and the mercy of G.o.d. Instead, I was hammered with, "You"ve got to live a holy life. You"ve got to do this, and G.o.d won"t bless you until you do this." My whole life became one of performing, trying to earn the blessings of G.o.d. That"s torment, and if you relate to what I"m saying, you know it"s torment to try to perform good enough to earn G.o.d"s favor.
Because of that, I"ve never said a cuss word in all my life. I"ve never taken a drink of liquor in all of my life. I"ve never smoked a cigarette. I"ve never done most of what people say is wrong. Yet until I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I was headed to h.e.l.l just the same as anybody else. Who wants to be the best sinner who ever went to h.e.l.l? I might have been better than you, but I needed a Savior just the same as anybody else.
You may be doing pretty well. You may be doing better than you ever have, but you aren"t perfect yet. So don"t try to approach G.o.d on the basis of what you"ve done. That"s the reason Satan has been defeating us - because we haven"t been standing strong in Christ on the basis of what He has done for us.
Instead we"ve been saying, "G.o.d, look what I"ve done. Isn"t it enough?" And Satan will say, "No, it"s not enough. You"re a sorry old thing. You haven"t done this and you haven"t done that." So we"re out there trying to earn the blessings of G.o.d through our performance. That"s not right! done. Isn"t it enough?" And Satan will say, "No, it"s not enough. You"re a sorry old thing. You haven"t done this and you haven"t done that." So we"re out there trying to earn the blessings of G.o.d through our performance. That"s not right!
Deuteronomy 28:15-68 talks about all the curses that will come upon us if we don"t perform 100 percent of all the commandments - not just 99 percent, but all of them. We know these curses aren"t going to come upon believers, upon believers, because Galatians 3:13 says, because Galatians 3:13 says, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree. When the Law says that G.o.d is going to put the blight, mildew, boils, tumors, and all of these things on disobedient people, remember that Christians are redeemed from that. I know G.o.d"s not putting those things on me because I"m When the Law says that G.o.d is going to put the blight, mildew, boils, tumors, and all of these things on disobedient people, remember that Christians are redeemed from that. I know G.o.d"s not putting those things on me because I"m redeemed from the curse of the Law. redeemed from the curse of the Law.
Most Christians can accept they are redeemed from the curses, but even Spirit-filled Christians are generally not bold enough to demand from Satan the blessings listed in Deuteronomy 28:1-14. The same Christians who accept that G.o.d is not going to put the devil"s sickness on them hesitate to claim G.o.d"s blessings! Why? Because they know in their hearts that they"ve not fulfilled verses 1 and 2, which say that all the blessings are conditional, based upon obeying all the commandments.
And it shall come to pa.s.s, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy G.o.d, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy G.o.d will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy G.o.d.Deuteronomy 28:1,2 People have interpreted this scripture to mean, "I"ll do these things right here and G.o.d"s blessings will follow." But G.o.d"s purpose was not for you to keep all the commandments and earn His blessings, but rather to show you that you didn"t have a chance of keeping all all the commandments of G.o.d. the commandments of G.o.d.
And the commandments of G.o.d were more than just the Ten Commandments. Did you know that, as a New Testament saint, you are a priest unto G.o.d? (See Revelation 1:6.) In Leviticus, chapter 22, it lists the qualifications for a priest. Did you know that Old Testament priests could not have a mole anywhere on their body? Did you know they couldn"t have a flat or bent nose or dimness of eyesight? So if you wear gla.s.ses or have any blemishes on your body, you aren"t qualified to be a priest.
Why did G.o.d say those things? Does He hate people with flat or bent noses or people with moles on their body? No, G.o.d doesn"t hate them. G.o.d loves them. But if you"re going to trust in your own perfection in order to approach G.o.d, He will show you what perfection is.
G.o.d didn"t create Adam and Eve with moles on their body. That is something that happened after the Fall. G.o.d didn"t create Adam and Eve with bent, broken, or flat noses. He didn"t create them with bad eyesight. He made them perfect, and if you aren"t perfect, then you aren"t qualified to be a priest. And if you are trying to combine the two covenants, you wouldn"t even qualify for salvation!
G.o.d didn"t tell you about the moles so that everybody would go to a doctor to have their moles removed, but rather so you would quit trusting in yourself and your own perfection for salvation. He didn"t tell us in Deuteronomy 28:1,2 that you have to observe diligently to do all of these things so that you would spend the rest of your life trying to be perfect. As we said before, G.o.d gave the commandments to demonstrate our need for a perfect Savior.
Benefits of Obedience of Obedience .
I do believe there are benefits to obeying G.o.d"s commands. As often as you can be obedient to G.o.d, you will shut a door on Satan every time. If you keep 50 percent of G.o.d"s commandments, you will shut the door to Satan 50 percent of the time. And that is a good thing. The less place you give to Satan, the better off you will be.
It is good to start living in holiness, but remember that you will never be 100 percent perfect. The bottom line is you need to seek G.o.d with your whole heart, but never put your trust in what you"ve done. Just say, "Father, I"m still trusting your grace and mercy for my salvation, for my healing, for my finances, for everything."
At some time, you"ve probably heard somebody preach, "If you want the blessings of G.o.d, you"ve got to hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord your G.o.d. If you aren"t blessed, you just aren"t being diligent enough. Start spending another hour speaking in tongues every day. Study the Word more. Do this and this and this."
There"s nothing wrong with studying the Word or praying in tongues more, but if you"re doing those things to put leverage on G.o.d to make Him bless you, I promise you, you"re going to come up empty. If your motivation is, "G.o.d, look what I"ve done. Now You"ve got to perform because I did this," you"re going to come up totally dry, because you missed the real purpose of G.o.d giving the Law.
The Correct New Testament Perspective Correct New Testament Perspective .
The way a New Testament saint should read Deuteronomy 28:1,2 is to say that the blessings of G.o.d are coming to pa.s.s in my life since Jesus Jesus kept all of the commandments of G.o.d, and hearkened diligently to them. According to Romans 8:4, Jesus - Who was perfect - gave Himself as a sacrifice so that, kept all of the commandments of G.o.d, and hearkened diligently to them. According to Romans 8:4, Jesus - Who was perfect - gave Himself as a sacrifice so that, The righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. The righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us.
Because of Jesus, all of His His righteousness has been committed to righteousness has been committed to me me so that the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in so that the righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in me. me. According to 2 Corinthians 5:21, According to 2 Corinthians 5:21, He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of G.o.d in him. He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of G.o.d in him. I should declare that I am now the righteousness of G.o.d, therefore all these commandments are fulfilled and the blessings are coming upon me and overtaking me I should declare that I am now the righteousness of G.o.d, therefore all these commandments are fulfilled and the blessings are coming upon me and overtaking me through what Jesus did! through what Jesus did!
That"s the way a New Testament believer is supposed to look at it. But when we read something like that, most of us will say, "Oh G.o.d, I"ve got to dig in. I"ve got to do more. I"ve got to keep more commandments. I"ve got to do better." No, that was not the purpose of those commandments. That"s the reason G.o.d didn"t communicate those commandments to mankind for at least 2,000 years. He knew people would misunderstand.
The true New Testament att.i.tude that G.o.d wants Christians to have is that G.o.d is love and He does not want to impute your sins to you. Even though G.o.d wasn"t judging your sin because of Jesus, sin was still destroying you, and Satan was not only killing you but also sending you to h.e.l.l. So G.o.d made an atonement for sin. He made Jesus the sacrificial Lamb and put your sin on Him - on His own body on the cross - so that you, being dead to sin, should live unto righteousness. Jesus bore your sin so that, according to Hebrews 10:1,10, and 14, you are now made perfect and sanctified. You should not even have any more consciousness of your past sin.
In your relationship with G.o.d, you shouldn"t have to come before G.o.d and say, "Oh G.o.d, I"m so unworthy. Oh G.o.d, I know You won"t bless me."
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.Hebrews 10:19,20 You ought to come boldly to G.o.d by the new and living way which the Lord has consecrated for us through His flesh. We have boldness to enter right into the holiest of holies because of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to come to G.o.d just like Adam and Eve did before they sinned! You don"t have to focus your attention on yourself and your failures, but just be so G.o.d-conscious that even if you"re naked you wouldn"t know the difference, because your attention is so totally on G.o.d.
Did you know that privilege is yours and that"s the way G.o.d sees it? That"s the real nature of G.o.d and the way He looks at you. G.o.d sees you through what Jesus did, and that is probably different from how you see yourself. You tend to look on the flesh and see your mistakes and failures, but G.o.d looks on your heart.
G.o.d is a spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. (See John 4:24.) When you come before G.o.d, He sees your spirit. And in your spirit being, according to Ephesians 4:24, you are righteous and truly holy. You are pure and you are as holy as you"ll ever get. Your born-again spirit will never be made better than it is right now!
Your spirit isn"t stained with sin. If you sin, your spirit isn"t stained by that sin. Your spirit is as holy and pure and righteous as it will be with G.o.d in Heaven throughout all eternity. It is perfect, it"s in the image of G.o.d, and it"s exactly as He is. First John 4:17 says, Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
That"s the way G.o.d sees you, so that"s the way you are. And when you come to G.o.d because you"ve sinned and need forgiveness, or you just want to spend time with Him and worship Him, you"re standing before Him in the very righteousness of Jesus Christ!
That"s the way G.o.d sees you, so that"s the way you are. And when you come to G.o.d because you"ve sinned and need forgiveness, or you just want to spend time with Him and worship Him, you"re standing before Him in the very righteousness of Jesus Christ!
Chapter 6
The Knowledge of of Him Him .
Because we haven"t really understood the nature and the character of G.o.d, we haven"t understood how G.o.d deals with us and why He answers prayer. Therefore, we haven"t been allowing G.o.d to truly manifest Himself in our lives by meeting our needs. we haven"t really understood the nature and the character of G.o.d, we haven"t understood how G.o.d deals with us and why He answers prayer. Therefore, we haven"t been allowing G.o.d to truly manifest Himself in our lives by meeting our needs. His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and G.o.dliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and G.o.dliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.
2 Peter 1:3 G.o.d said all all things that pertain unto life and G.o.dliness. Did you know that includes healing, joy, deliverance, prosperity, and anything you can think of that results from our redemption? These "all things" that pertain to life and G.o.dliness come through things that pertain unto life and G.o.dliness. Did you know that includes healing, joy, deliverance, prosperity, and anything you can think of that results from our redemption? These "all things" that pertain to life and G.o.dliness come through the knowledge of Him. the knowledge of Him. If you"ve got If you"ve got wrong wrong knowledge about G.o.d, you are not going to receive the "all things" that pertain to life and G.o.dliness! knowledge about G.o.d, you are not going to receive the "all things" that pertain to life and G.o.dliness!
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.Proverbs 23:7 As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. If you"ve got a wrong impression of G.o.d, then you are going to expect the wrong things from G.o.d - judgment, punishment, and withholding of what you are asking for in prayer. You"ll get what you expect or believe. Jesus affirmed this in many places, including Matthew 9:29, According to your faith be it unto you. According to your faith be it unto you.
Many believers have a wrong att.i.tude and concept of G.o.d - Who He is and how He operates in their lives. I"m not saying people have it all wrong, but I am saying many people have got things mixed up in their theology. Satan is using that misunderstanding to keep them from receiving the fullness of what G.o.d has provided for them through Jesus.
If you can receive this and let G.o.d reveal Himself to you in the way Jesus revealed His nature and character, then I promise you will come to truly know the way G.o.d is. And then you"ll find out faith isn"t something hard. In fact, it"s really hard to disbelieve disbelieve G.o.d once you really G.o.d once you really know know G.o.d. G.o.d.
For a person who really knows G.o.d intimately and has a true revelation of His character, it would hardly be possible for them to believe it when Satan says, "Oh, G.o.d won"t bless you. Your faith"s not going to work for you." The devil could not deceive a person who really knows G.o.d and has an intimate relationship with Him.
You know what G.o.d is like when you look at Jesus. Once you understand the true nature of G.o.d and how much He loves you, the love of G.o.d will be shed abroad in your heart. I believe that will help you to have a new relationship with G.o.d, one you"ve never had before.
I also want to say that I don"t excuse sin. I"m not saying G.o.d doesn"t care whether you sin. But Jesus is the payment for that sin, and Jesus has borne all of that sin so that it no longer has to separate us from G.o.d.
Getting Your Needs Met Your Needs Met .
I really believe that one of the biggest problems in the body of Christ is that we learn the mechanics mechanics of how Christianity works - we learn about faith, we learn about confession of G.o.d"s Word, we learn about giving and receiving, and so forth. We learn all of these things to of how Christianity works - we learn about faith, we learn about confession of G.o.d"s Word, we learn about giving and receiving, and so forth. We learn all of these things to do do and many times we try to put them into practice without really knowing and many times we try to put them into practice without really knowing G.o.d. G.o.d.
The mechanics of Christianity do not produce the "all things" that we need from G.o.d for our life. The fruit of the Christian life comes out of really knowing G.o.d. Faith comes from knowing Him, and knowing Him is the basis of everything else in Christianity. Remember, 2 Peter 1:3 said that through the knowledge knowledge of G.o.d He has given to us all things that pertain unto life and G.o.dliness. of G.o.d He has given to us all things that pertain unto life and G.o.dliness.
If we really knew G.o.d, then all of His fullness would already be ours. I believe in and am not against prosperity, but sometimes you nearly have to overstate things to keep people from misunderstanding you. People tend to put you in just one category - you"re either a faith preacher or you"re a doubt-and-unbelief preacher. They think you have to drive a luxury car to prove you have faith or that G.o.d wants you to walk around with holes in your shoes. Well, I"m not either one of those!
I believe in prosperity, but I also believe that if people really knew G.o.d, all the teaching on prosperity that would be necessary could be put into a thimble. You wouldn"t have to know all of the ins and outs of prosperity techniques, because if you"re really seeking first first the kingdom of the kingdom of G.o.d G.o.d and and His His righteousness, everything else would be added to you! (See Matthew 6:33.) righteousness, everything else would be added to you! (See Matthew 6:33.) Many of us have taken our faith teaching and used it to get houses and cars and more things, but I believe G.o.d gave us faith to overcome the devil, tear down his kingdom, and get people born again, healed, and delivered. There"s nothing wrong with houses and cars, but that"s not what faith is for.
You should not have to spend so much time believing for material things. G.o.d didn"t give us faith so we could have things. G.o.d gave us faith in order for us to know Him. Then, because His divine life is flowing through us, cars, houses, boats, and things like that would find us. They would come as byproducts of our faith in Him. They are the extras that come after seeking first the kingdom of G.o.d and knowing Him. If we really knew G.o.d in an intimate way, I believe G.o.d would shower more upon us than we could ever use.
Do parents feel they have to teach their children how to manipulate them - how to confess, ask them just the right way, and do all of the right things - in order to supply their food, clothes, bikes, and all of the things they need? We don"t do that! We just love our children and provide for them because of our love. We take delight in giving them surprise gifts.
How much more does our Heavenly Father want to bless us? We need to renew our minds and eliminate teaching that has told us G.o.d wants us to be poor, sick, and stupid, but we also must be careful not to focus our attention on the mechanics mechanics of how things work. I"m not saying that teaching faith and prosperity are false teachings, but they can actually be used to destroy people if they don"t have their lives focused on the central figure of of how things work. I"m not saying that teaching faith and prosperity are false teachings, but they can actually be used to destroy people if they don"t have their lives focused on the central figure of all all of life - the Lord Jesus Christ. of life - the Lord Jesus Christ.
When we are more concerned about the mechanics of how to work Christianity and all of the things we"ve got to do do more than we are in more than we are in knowing knowing Jesus, our Christianity doesn"t work. On the other hand, if we know Jesus, and we Jesus, our Christianity doesn"t work. On the other hand, if we know Jesus, and we really really know Him, it is know Him, it is amazing amazing what we can get done and how blessed we become without knowing a lot of formulas. what we can get done and how blessed we become without knowing a lot of formulas.
Never Leave His Presence Leave His Presence .
When my wife and I first started ministering, we didn"t know "come here" from "sic "em" about faith. We hadn"t heard of faith teaching, and yet we saw people healed, we saw finances supplied, and we saw every kind of miracle you could imagine. I can"t really tell you how it happened, except that we were just seeking G.o.d with all of our hearts. I guarantee you that goes a long way towards releasing the blessings of G.o.d into your life! We didn"t know a whole bunch about faith techniques, but we knew Him and were continually seeking Him.
It"s a shame, but many times when people begin to learn things about G.o.d, over the years they start to subst.i.tute the knowledge they have about G.o.d for an intimate relationship with with Him. Him.
When people are first born again, it seems like everything works for them. They pray, ask, and they get just about anything they ask for. Miracles are happening, and then after awhile they seem to dry up. They go back to the people who led them to the Lord to inquire why. Sometimes they are told, "Well, the honeymoon"s over. Now you"ve got to start growing up and you"ve got to start getting things the way everybody else does."
But what really happened was, there was a period of time when their mind was so stayed upon G.o.d, they were just walking in His presence. They had a conscious awareness of Him, and they were overwhelmed with His love - and faith works by love! (See Galatians 5:6.) Through hard knocks, not knowing the Word of G.o.d, and Satan coming at them with problems, they got moved away from that first love and began to see things fall apart. And then the religious folks told them that"s the way it"s supposed to be - that G.o.d is doing this to grow them up, teach them, and mature them.
The truth is, you can live in a realm where you are so intimate with G.o.d that things will work for you. And I believe that"s a way of life G.o.d is drawing His people into, why we are talking about knowing G.o.d. If we really focus on knowing G.o.d, then everything else will work out of that.
We need knowledge of G.o.d"s Word because His Word reveals His true nature. But when the Word becomes technical details and formulas concerning the mechanics of Christianity, we have lost our focus. We are doing things in our own strength and not His. We are trying to impress Him with works instead of being impressed by His work and Who He is.
If you develop your personal relationship with G.o.d to the point you understand how much G.o.d loves you, it would not be hard to believe He is going to supply your $20 grocery bill, heal the corn on your toe, and draw your unsaved loved ones into the kingdom.
Those who are struggling to receive from G.o.d just need to know Him better. When they really know Him, they will be totally convinced of His love and His commitment to them. Then they will have no fear that He won"t meet the needs in their lives.
Chapter 7
G.o.d"s Goodness in in Ministry Ministry Most of us are more conscious of our sin than we are of G.o.d"s goodness, and unfortunately it is most obvious when we are trying to minister to someone. All Satan has to do is bring up some failure and say, "G.o.d"s power won"t work for you because you haven"t been good enough," and we"re defeated.
Most Christians will immediately agree with the devil, believing G.o.d moves in our lives in proportion to our performance. The moment they agree with that thought, they are doomed for failure, because their performance is never going to be good enough to earn them the covenant blessings from G.o.d.
When I stand up in front of people to minister, in their eyes the responsibility is almost always on me to see their needs met! That could overwhelm a minister very easily. Actually, that"s an error on the people"s part, because it has to be G.o.d Who heals their bodies and saves their marriages. My performance could never be good enough to force G.o.d to supernaturally meet all the needs of mankind.
I haven"t been in the ministry very long, and yet I could name dozens of people right now whom I"ve preached my heart to and shared the Word of G.o.d with, but they"re dead today because they didn"t take advantage of the truth I presented. There are a lot of people who the Word of G.o.d could have set free, but they didn"t take it to heart.
I"m not trying to prophesy this, but there are people who will read this book and let what I"ve said go in one ear and out the other. They won"t take it into their heart and renew their mind with the truth of G.o.d"s Word, and they will die staying in their old way of thinking and believing. I"m not saying that as a bad confession, I"m just pointing out what Mark, chapter 4, says in the parable. When the sower sows the Word, it falls on all kinds of soil and it won"t take root in some people.
Jesus said in Matthew 11:15, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. It"s true that some people don"t allow themselves to really hear the Word of G.o.d. The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:8 that Satan is going about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, and there are some people who will read this who will still let Satan devour them. That"s not G.o.d"s will! And if that is why, when I know I"m dealing with people"s lives, I"m going to make the effort to get the point across clearly. It"s true that some people don"t allow themselves to really hear the Word of G.o.d. The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:8 that Satan is going about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, and there are some people who will read this who will still let Satan devour them. That"s not G.o.d"s will! And if that is why, when I know I"m dealing with people"s lives, I"m going to make the effort to get the point across clearly.
For a minister, the responsibility to perform gets heavy sometimes. This has been true in my own life, and I believe the same is true of most of the ministers I have known. At first you start thinking, "Oh G.o.d, I"ve got to have Your anointing." So you start fasting, praying, and doing the right things. But there is a tendency to do them with the att.i.tude of, "G.o.d, I"m doing all these things and now I know You"ll anoint me." You can begin trusting in what you"ve done instead of trusting in G.o.d.
The irony is, regardless of how much you"ve done, Satan can just come up to you and p.r.i.c.k your conscience in some area where you aren"t perfect, and there goes your faith that G.o.d will come through for you! If your confidence is in your own goodness, Satan can defeat you regularly.
Satan can send that one person you can"t stand across your path and get them to say something that really gets to you! You have a thought of sin towards them, and right after Satan has set you up with that situation, he will say, "You old sc.u.m of the earth. What makes you think G.o.d would use you in ministry? What makes you think G.o.d would use you you to save or heal anybody?" to save or heal anybody?"
When I first got started in ministry, I used to think G.o.d was going to use me according to how I performed. Every time I saw a failure in myself of any type, I lost all of my faith to pray for people. I thought, "Oh G.o.d, how could You use me?" And for most people, that"s probably the way they still think!
Promises, Promises! Promises!