In the Gospels people were awe-struck by the person of Jesus whenever they met Him. When that woman of the streets walked in and saw Jesus, she was shocked! She had loved many men, and then she saw Him. The purity, which she felt, that greatness, filled her soul with deep yearnings. She stood and poured out her inexpressible confusion of life in hot tears which, to her horror, fell on His feet, as if she had polluted that sacred Person. She hastily tried to dry off those unclean tears and could find nothing with which to do it except her lavish hair. Never had she had such an experience – she was looking into the eyes of the infinite Son of God. He was all that mattered – He was the End, the Peak of life, and she had found Him. Her lovers were empty wrecks, her old life a discarded earthenware pot. Glamor? There was no other glory now, only that of Christ, her Savior. That’s Him, Jesus, our blessed Redeemer! “Hallelujah, what a Savior…” Do you love Him also?
God’s love for us is not imaginary, a deduction of logic or a hope. It is a demonstrated fact. It took a practical form. At Christmas we think of giving presents. To our acquaintances we send a card, to our friends, a letter, to our relatives a gift token, to our nearest loved one not a gift token but a gift. But to those we truly love – we don’t send, WE GO. That is what God did. We have His messages of love, His token of love, His gifts, but beyond all that is this personal wonder – God came to comfort us with His presence. HE IS HERE. Jesus put His eternal arms around the whole human race. He loves you today. God bless you.
Love’s wild Extravagance
By Reinhard Bonnke
1.
Jesus said to the Pharisee ‘You did not anoint my head’ for all to see.
Yet Simon was too busy to extend to Christ such curtesy.
But there was Mary, pouring on Jesus the spikenard from her very broken heart:
This act, almost in trance, was a deed of her love’s wild extravagance.
2.
Christ in return brought us the priceless gift, of the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Being, as always, God’s best, with tongues of fire HE had us blessed.
Only Christ Himself is the Baptizer, needing no professional adviser.
Our gift flows out of His anointing and coming by His own appointing.
3.
Only Christ baptizes in the Holy Ghost, just as it was at Pentecost.
He alone is the Baptizer – do understand – for no one gets the Spirit second hand.
Everyone on the Top Floor did claim their original and personalized flame.
For our God is the devising Creator, and not some cut-rate duplicator.
Jesus talked to a woman in Samaria drawing well-water, and promised her ‘water springing up into everlasting life’. Well water is flat. Fish can’t live in wells. Living water, cascading in white foam over a rock fall, is full of oxygen. It seems to me that so much pleasure on offer today is second hand, stale, bottled, canned, or stored stuff like old movies, television full of repeats. People can’t live on a diet of film. Jesus does not bore us with the same old thing, with routine church performances. There’s a creativeness in it all – the Spirit of God is moving, not static. We don’t come to church for the religious atmosphere, but for the heavenly winds to stir us. That sort of service ruffles some people – wind and fresh air does, but is a very healthy thing. God bless you.
A Christian is somebody related to God, in the family of God. They are born-again by the Spirit of God. It is not a case of having a religious experience, one day, or a vision, or feeling good or happy. It is a RELATIONSHIP, closeness, and a family tie. Christ lived for us – to belong to us. If Christ belongs to me, I am saved. He gave Himself FOR us, and gave Himself TO us. Salvation means being united with Him. Jesus doesn’t send salvation. He IS salvation. He doesn’t send forgiveness of sins He brings it. He forgives us and lives with us. God bless you.
The name of Jesus spells everything. It is God’s alphabet, from Alpha to Omega. We believe in Jesus. Dogmas and creeds are for our heads but Jesus goes for the heart. He said “I am the Way”. Have a blessed day.
The Bible God’s glory distinguishes Him from all other gods, lords and deities. Glory is God’s essence, not gloom and darkness. Light attracts, and God draws us. Its reality is power, miracle energy, grace, truth, light, beauty and splendor. Blazing splendor identifies Him, awesome beauty, and the mark of a peerless and living God. He challenges all the man-made gods and their wooden effigies saying, “To whom will you liken me and to whom am I equal?” (Isa. 40: 8, 25 and 46:5) Like the sun is light, God is glory, but living glory. Whatever He touches is glorified. He made even the vandalized tree glorious when they nailed Jesus to it and the Tree, the Cross shines as our beacon in the godless night of this world. When Moses saw God’s glory, his own face shone. When God comes, He comes in glory, and He enters our lives to fill us with glory – our lives and homes and future. No Christian home should be dull, lifeless but bursting with vitality, activity, joy, and richness. God bless you.
Jesus spoke about the broad way to hell “that leads to destruction”, jam-packed with people (Mat 7:13). He then planted His cross in the middle of that highway, spreading out His arms. It turned into the biggest roadblock of all times. “Repent” is the message – which means: change your direction. Those who do repent and believe turn around and move in the opposite direction – heavenward!
In John 6,37 Jesus says “He who comes to me I will by no means cast out.” The emphasis comes from Christ – it is His Amen, Amen, His truly, truly. Verse 57 is similar and also verses 34-35. “He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes never thirsts.” In these verses there is the use of the specially emphasized word “never”, no, not hunger, never, never thirst, by no means. Never rejected, never hunger, no not by any means. Once we accept Jesus Christ, receive Him, and once that union is made it sets up a relationship that never ends. We come and He will NEVER, NEVER cast us out. Aren’t you glad? God bless you.
Jesus Christ is the rock in the surging waves of confusion. Standing on that rock you may sometimes tremble, but that rock never does. He is “steadfast and sure” in time and eternity. He says “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46,10) God bless you, with greetings from Florida.
In the Gospels people were awe-struck by the person of Jesus whenever they met Him. When that woman of the streets walked in and saw Jesus, she was shocked! She had loved many men, and then she saw Him. The purity, which she felt, that greatness, filled her soul with deep yearnings. She stood and poured out her inexpressible confusion of life in hot tears which, to her horror, fell on His feet, as if she had polluted that sacred Person. She hastily tried to dry off those unclean tears and could find nothing with which to do it except her lavish hair. Never had she had such an experience – she was looking into the eyes of the infinite Son of God. He was all that mattered – He was the End, the Peak of life, and she had found Him. Her lovers were empty wrecks, her old life a discarded earthenware pot. Glamor? There was no other glory now, only that of Christ, her Savior. That’s Him, Jesus, our blessed Redeemer! “Hallelujah, what a Savior…” Do you love Him also?
The Bible never speaks of the Christian faith as only a belief system, but always as the instrument of new resources. Basically Christianity is the release of the Holy Spirit into the world. Faith itself is not power, but the link to power. 2 Peter 1:4 says we are “partakers of the Divine nature”, that can never change, which wraps believers around forever. Jesus said “I give (my sheep) eternal life and they shall never perish”. John 10:28. Rejoice.
I don’t want to arrive in heaven one day just to find out that I had managed on 2 percent of what God had in store for me. I am very interested in the remaining 98 percent. By faith “God having provided something better for us”, let’s press into His promises. (Hebrews 11,40) God bless you.
Do you remember the story of Athaliah and Joash in 2 Kings 11:1-17? That wicked woman set out to murder the entire royal family, but one son was saved as a baby, and he became a type of Christ. When he was older, Jehoiada the priest brought back that royal son, Joash, and ousted the murderess. She turned up one day to discover armed men confronting her, trumpets blowing, and the people rejoicing, with a prince revealed whom she had thought she had done away with and killed. Athaliah was taken prisoner, and paid for her crimes with her life. We read that a mighty angel will lay hold of the “dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan,” binding him and casting him into the bottomless pit, shutting him up and setting a seal on him, “so that he should deceive the nations no more” (Revelation 20:1 3). Then we shall see the King in His glory. The trumpets will sound, the people rejoice, the true King will reign in mercy and understanding – JESUS, the Lamb on the throne. The very One the devil tried to destroy at Calvary, the royal son, the One so many do not know is there and who many say does not exist, will be revealed in all His ancient glory, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. What a day that will be. God bless you.
Years ago my music-minister (Adam Mtsweni) and I were shopping for a new keyboard. It was at noon that we entered a big music-shop in Johannesburg/South Africa. There was a salesman, but he took no notice of us and Adam and I tried out all the keyboards. Suddenly the salesman appeared. He seemed to be in a different mood, something like in a state of shock and said to me “Sir, I can see Jesus in your eyes!” What? The Holy Spirit had entered that shop. We forgot all about the keyboard and had a revival instead. But when I was walking back to my car I kept saying “Lord, I will never understand it. How can a total stranger walk up to me and say ‘Sir, I can see Jesus in your eyes’?”. Suddenly the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said “No problem! Jesus lives in your heart and sometimes HE LIKES TO LOOK OUT OF THE WINDOWS.” I laughed and cried. What glorious truth. I got the point! Years later I met the wife of the salesman who told me, that her husband had followed Jesus for the rest of his life – and went to be with the Lord. I trust that this little testimony blesses you.
Faith is not a mental exercise to believe the impossible, believing what we know is not true. It is not believing ‘something’ at all. Faith is trust in God. It is personal. In the Gospels Jesus never talks about believing something will happen, a miracle perhaps, but always about believing Him. Our destiny rests on faith. We are saved by faith. “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.” John 3:36. The God we are to trust in is worthy as the God who loved us and gave His Son to bear our sins on the cross. God bless you.
In today’s world importance is given to people who say “there is no God”. They fire their opinions away at the Almighty God with silly pop guns, like trying to destroy the awesome rock face of the Himalayan Mountains. The Bible calls this “foolish” in Psalm 14, verse 1, because they totally and dismally fail. But moving mountains can happen – yet completely different; by simple trust in Jesus (Mark 11,23). Please try it. Faith removes the mountains that unbelief has created. God bless you.
If there were places where God is not present, we could never find them, because as soon as we got there, He would be there: “If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast” (Ps 139:9-10). God does not let us out of His sight and does not want us out of His sight. His love for us is vividly portrayed in Jesus’ description of the Prodigal Son’s return: The father ran up the road to meet him (Luke 15). When we knock on our heavenly Father’s door, God himself opens it. The Lord is always where we are. “I am with you always…” Jesus said. God bless you.
With Christ everything adds up. Life gels. If truth was just an idea, ideas change and keep changing. The great thinkers and the mystics with their visions have never brought positive assurance to one soul. Sophisticated talk of cosmic powers never changed a drunk. Talk never cured a wife-beater or comforted a beaten wife. Jesus stirs hearts, quickens pulses, brings strength, or hope. For 800 years millions have sung “Jesus the very thought of Jesus with sweetness fills my breast.” It brings the warmth of divine love coursing through their very veins. It touches the deeps. God bless you.
Mary Magdalene was shocked when she found the grave of Jesus empty. (John 20,16) “She wept bitterly”. Why? Remember that this was the Mary out of whom Jesus had cast 7 evil spirits. Mary reasoned like this: “If Jesus, my Savior is dead, it can only mean one thing – all the devils and more are going to come back to me.” But then Christ interrupted her thoughts by calling her by her name “MARY”. What her tearful eyes had missed, her ears picked up…it was the voice of her Jesus! She shot around and cried “RABBONI”. It meant as much as “Jesus, as long as you live, no devil can come back. As long as you live I remain a child of God. As long as you live goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” And the Lord hurries to reassure all His children, you and me included. He says in Revelation 1,18 “I am He that lives and was dead, and, behold, I am alive for evermore…” God bless you.
The apostles were accused of changing ancient customs (see Acts 21:21), and that was indeed their intention. It was dangerous work. The apostles’ work was to move a mountain—a mountain of traditions and attitudes, which over a thousand years had become the laws of nations. In fact, spreading the gospel went beyond changing ways and customs. They reshaped entire thought patterns of those times to penetrate the hearts, souls and minds of men and women. Twelve unlearned men. Imagine it! They preached Christ and Him crucified. Nothing could have been more calculated to ensure the failure of their mission. Crucifixion was for the worst criminals, the lowest of the low. Put a man on the cross and everybody mocked him. In no way was a crucified Jesus the ideal figure to appeal to either Jews or Gentiles. “He was despised and rejected” (Isa. 53:3). But that is the Jesus they knew and that is the only Jesus they preached. And by their preaching they conquered the world. We must follow their example. God bless you.
Jesus Christ’s coming brought the world a new springtime, new life. The supernatural naturally brought miracles, like spring sunshine brings out the daffodils. But daffodil is not why we believe in the sun, and miracles are not why we believe in Christ. It is the other way round – we believe in miracles because we believe in Jesus. He is the greatest of all miracles. No wonder would have value without Him. “Yours, LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.”(1 Chronicles 29,11) God bless you.
The Gospel is nothing less than the voice of God. When that Gospel is preached by a Holy Spirit-filled person, or in a Flame Church, people will hear. The Gospel becomes a transfer of fire from God. Without the Gospel and without fire, however clever magnificent the setting, it leaves hearers cold and dead. Pomp is not power. The Spirit makes the word alive. God bless you.
Never follow a parked car; you will get nowhere. And never follow a parked preacher either. Keep following the move of the Holy Spirit. God bless you.
The Gospel is not an amendment to improve a human resolution. It is a complete document canceling all debate, and declaring it an illegal assembly to find other means of salvation. Not matter how humble the Gospel preacher; effectively he is an officer of the crown speaking with authority from the Kingdom of God. “We are Christ’s ambassadors”.
The Holy Spirit lives within us, giving us the power to resist the devil and to overcome evil. We only have to ask him to help us. Think of it like this. You have electricity in your home. The house is wired and connected to the power station. If you arrive home on a dark night, there may be no light or heat in your house, but you know what to do: you press the switch, and power comes through. You have light and warmth. Living in the power of the Spirit is like turning the switch on. Everything else is ready. The gospel message is like the wires and cables that are connected to the power station, the cross of Christ. Lines of truth have already been laid. The power is there waiting. When you trust your life to Jesus and ask for God’s strength, His saving power flows to you, giving you light. The vital thing is to ask. Knowing all about a power station can still leave you in the cold and dark. You can touch the very walls of a nuclear power plant but still be freezing. When we ask God for His help to overcome temptation and to live our lives, then we are tapping into the resources of God, which are inexhaustible. God bless you.
The Apostle Paul, this lone little Jew found Europe and Asia full of fear, fear of their vengeful and moody gods, fear of the heavens above them and the depths beneath them, fear of spirits, fear of the future, fear of the mysterious world around them, its millions bowed under a morbid dread of death. Yet the apostle of Christ braving the disapproval of the whole mighty array of a cruel world empire said ‘I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ Romans 8:37. We serve the same wonderful God. God bless you.
“The Spirit of Jesus would not allow them.” (Acts 16:7) Paul set out for Mysia and Bithynia to carry out Christ’s Great Commission. Then the Spirit stopped him! That is amazing. The initial progress of the gospel depended on Paul and his helpers, but the Holy Spirit stopped them in their tracks! How did they feel? Redundant? God had left Paul and his team with nothing to do! There they were, on board of a ship, forced into inactivity, with no signs of what God might want. We know God was with them … although they were away from the action. That is a situation worth noting. The Lord stood by them when they were not actively engaged in his work – just as much as when they were. We need to remember that everything we do should be regarded as “for the Lord.” Paul traveled where and when he wanted. He has set off for Mysia and Bithynia as he thought fit, with no specific word from God, but God worked with him everywhere. Only on rare occasions did he have a specific sign from God to go, stay, or leave. God leaves us to plan but never leaves us. He can – and sometimes will – step in with a specific revelation of his purpose but He is with us, watching over us, at all times. The gospel is far too important – as are our own personal lives, too – for God to leave us totally without His oversight. Mark 16:20 tells us that the first evangelists went when and where they thought fit, but the Lord always went with them. God is always two steps ahead. Paul had been “kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia” (Acts 16:6) and Paul lived under guard for a couple of years in Caesarea, where he seems to have done nothing, not even writing a letter. We know Paul was destined to make a bigger impact on the world. Paul eventually left ship at Troas, but that was not what God had in mind for them. The apostolic team had no urge to preach there. Why would soon be apparent. Across the Aegean Sea, two hundred miles from the eastern Troas, lay Thrace (Greece) and Macedonia, gateways to the whole continent of Europe. The future, progress and civilization were westward, not eastward, where Paul’s plans lay. One night at Troas Paul had a vision. He saw a man saying; “Come over to Macedonia and help us” (Acts 16:9). This small apostolic group had no idea of their own immense importance. The future of Europe and the world lay in their hands. Paul did not know it but God did, and in that historic hour the seed of world change germinated. Now, Paul did not jump up at once saying, “The Lord told me!” He and his colleagues “concluded” (Greek sumbibazo – put things together) that Lord wanted them to switch from the east and move westward into Macedonia – a major change of plan. Paul saw it as an opportunity – not a divine command; Paul’s God was not a “boss-God” but a fellow-worker. God was moving and Paul moved with him. God bless you.
The God of the burning bush liberated Israel from slavery in Egypt on a grand scale, challenging the most powerful man on earth, Pharaoh; ending with a triumph such as has never since been repeated. He did not release Israel from bondage quietly, creeping past the guards, or hurrying them breathlessly from cover to cover like shadows in the night. He did it spectacularly and flamboyantly in broad daylight, in a way nobody could ever forget. The God of the Bible is the God of Salvation – there is no other. He will bless you today.
The Old Testament and New Testament in the Bible are closely linked. We would never understand the whole truth of Christianity without the Old Testament. We Christians do NOT Hebrew-ize the New Testament, but we Christianize the Old Testament. This is because only through Jesus Christ the Old Testament can be understood properly. HE is “The Word” that became flesh (John 1,14), and “He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1,17). That is Jesus, the One we love. God bless you.
God cannot forgive except by the atonement. It needs more than omnipotence or love. He did not just overlook our sin. It meant gathering up this evil and taking it into His own bosom like a fire. Sin necessitated Calvary. It finds its dreadful finality in Him. The music of God has a minor mode, while we are called upon to “rejoice in the Lord always…” Aren’t you glad? God bless you.
To save a generation God needs big-hearted people. The world is awash with wealth. Vast fortunes are invested in mere paintings. “Lay up treasures in heaven” Jesus said (Matthew 6,20). Workers often cannot work for lack of what lies uselessly in banks, eventually to be inherited by godless families, money for their luxury and waste that could finance Christ’s workers to save multitudes, change societies, depopulate hell and populate heaven. Where there is a will, there are relatives! Better make a will in favor of Jesus. Some will be poorer in heaven than on earth because they sent nothing ahead of them there. Their assets could have been invested to bring in dividends for all eternity. Imagine: our mortal hands can build God’s eternal Kingdom. Let’s do it and God will bless you.
The Prodigal Son in Luke 15 had the faith to CLAIM his inheritance, but not the character to KEEP it. God’s children need both, faith and integrity.
A friend of mine was cleaning out his garage, and tossed a piece of metal aside into a corner where there was what seemed to be a pile of garbage. It caused vivid and audible sparking. Investigation revealed an old car battery. The steel bar had shorted across its terminals. The cells still held some charge so he brought it out for possible future use. For a few folk, that might be a parable – you’ve given up, and think the power has gone. It never goes. Clear the trash out of the way and you will find that God is not so easily switched off. “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” (Isaiah 40:29) God bless you.
Here is a Bible-parable often overlooked, the one about the growing seed. “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces corn” (Mark 4:26:-28). The original Greek word here for “all by itself” is automate. The word of God is placed in our heart, we are sown into the world and “automatically” fruit is produced, although we do not know how. We are seed. We do not need to try to be seed; it is automatic. We are to be just what we are, Jesus people, being what the Word of God makes us. Christ is life and produces life. A grey and gloomy face is no recommendation of salvation. Let the joy of the Lord be your strength. God bless you.
God is a fountain of flaming glory, which can only be revealed to us tempered by obscuring mist and smoke, like Isaiah had experienced in the Temple. (Isaiah 6:1-5). Who can ride with him in His chariot of fire as He goes forth like a man of war? To preach Christ is to preach what He is. Without fire, there is no Gospel, only deep-frozen words. In His house God wants a blazing altar, not a refrigerator. The New Testament begins with fire. The first thing said about Christ by His first witness, John Baptist who was himself “a burning and shining light” (John 5,35) was “He shall baptize you with Holy Ghost, and with fire”. Matthew 3:11-14. Christ did not come to baptize us into judgment, but the glorious fire of the Holy Spirit. It’s for real and it is for you and me. God bless you.
Christ’s first disciples followed Him just when He beckoned. It was just Him, not what He did for them, no money, no honor or place. Take Levi, for example, a customs tax official. Sitting collecting tax dues a shadow fell across his table and he looked up, straight into the eyes of Christ. Jesus simply said “Follow me!” (Mark 2,14) Captivated, he dropped everything. He knew nothing about Jesus being the Messiah, but this was the Man for him, larger than doctrine. Doctrine is spun about Jesus, but it is not arguments of doctrine that bring Him followers. It is just Him. Just Jesus! Be blessed.
The real Gospel of salvation needs nobody to show it to be relevant – it just is. The baker never yet had to argue that his shop is ‘relevant.’ The Gospel is the bread of life, bringing life and healing to mind, body, and soul. Preach it, and all the world will see that it works and matters. God bless you.
In the Old Testament, people called on the name of the Lord, but did not pray in his name. They presented themselves to God through faith in His promises. However, for New Testament believers, Jesus taught that in his name we have immediate favor. We get VIP treatment. The name of Jesus opens the door. God hears us. That is how we must pray, trusting in the grace of Christ. Your name represents an imperfect person, but if you come in Christ’s name, the angels stand aside while you enter the throne room. You are righteous and holy, and God finds no fault. In Christ, you wear a seamless robe of purity and holiness. It never stains, never tears, never grows shabby, but you are robed fit for the presence of the King at all times, every day. Are you blessed?
You CAN HAVE forgiveness for your biggest sin; but you NEED forgiveness for your smallest sin. To God it does not matter if our sins are big or small, many or few. Just one thing matters: WE ALL NEED A SAVIOR! WE ALL NEED JESUS! God bless you.
Without bold forcefulness David would have stayed with his sheep, but we need to realize that his “go” stemmed from his profound assurance in God. His “go” and his faith were potent. We are not told how David acquired his assured faith in God but it was motivating power feeding his own natural personality. Without faith what he did would have been blind presumption. That explains so much of David’s story. David said, “By my God I can scale a wall” (2 Samuel 22:30). That is the man of God every time, all through history, all around the globe … “by my God, I can”. Some have “go” but no faith. Whatever our energies, without faith it is impossible to please God. Get-up-and-go plus trust are the two feet of those that walk with God. God bless you and greetings from Florida.
The hallmark of God’s work in us is that He dispatches us into worlds that nobody else has ever conquered. Study the story of Peter walking on the water. Three miles out on the Sea of Galilee the disciples saw Jesus gliding towards them on the water. They shrieked themselves hoarse with superstitious terror, thinking that He was a ghost. Jesus called to them, ‘It is I.’ Now Peter knew Jesus. He knew that He was the only Person in the whole universe who would tell him to do the impossible.That was the acid test of Christ’s identity. He challenged the apparition, saying, ‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water’ (Matthew 14:28). Jesus did challenge him. Peter walked on the waves to Jesus. That was a manifestation of the gift of faith. Jesus is the one who calls men and women to be greater than they thought themselves to be. If you are thinking of following Jesus, you should know that He is like that. He does not call you just to hold a lily or pick roses. The tongue-tied preach. Fishermen become fishers of men. Harlots become lovers of God. Cripples walk. That shows it is Jesus, the true God, who sends you to undertake what you would normally never consider. God bless you.
God never changed, and never forgot His promise to be with His children. Through Isaiah He reminded Israel: ‘this is what the LORD says, HE who created you, fear not. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you’ (Isaiah 43:1-3). This brings us to the disciples on the Sea of Galilee centuries later. Jesus saw them laboring in their boat, passing through dangerous waters. Then He did what God said He would do – “When you pass through the waters I will be with you”. He came to them, though it involved an astounding act of power. He identified Himself with the God of Moses, Isaiah and Zechariah, saying ‘I AM. Fear not!’ And this brings us to you, wherever you are this moment and whatever your circumstances. The LORD says “I AM. Fear not.” God bless you.
Only God could save us through His Son Jesus Christ. If He had not bothered, we would perish. He is the only One that in the end we have to reckon with. What He thinks about us is all that matters. If He condemns, what does any other opinion matter? If He does not forgive, it doesn’t matter who else forgives us. The Supreme Court may acquit us or the offended party may say ‘I forgive you’, but there is still God to face. Sinners will stand eventually before the Judge as naked as Adam and Eve taking to their heels in Eden. How will they cover themselves? With the fig leaves of printed tributes, obituary notices or testimonials? The approval of the whole world, applause, honors and medals are nothing. Thank God for ‘so great salvation’, that there are the garments of salvation, the most expensive ever made, becoming visible at the Cross of Calvary. Thank God for Jesus. Only Jesus saves. God bless you.
Fishers–Of–Men gone Fishing
By Reinhard Bonnke
1.
The harsh truth about all of us is our handicap of sin, our spin away from Him.
God is very concerned about that and sent Jesus to die and save us.
Courts can penalize the trespassing, but cannot cure the origin.
Jesus alone touches the deep springs of our personality.
He spoke, like no one else: “Son, your sins are forgiven thee.”
There is no other good news or explanation than the gospel of salvation.
2.
This is God’s identity: “I am the LORD, your God, your Savior.”
And Jesus Christ spoke similarly – the Savior from all failure:
“Name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins”.
Jesus is called “Savior” in the NT, He and the Father, almost like twins.
And on every page it is found, that Christ in His glory does abound.
The hands that formed the world picked us up – with Him to live and sup.
3.
As soon as we take an interest in evangelism, God has an interest in us too.
If our concerns do not blend with God’s, and stick with us like glue,
It’s like eagle and mole, which do not have fellowship at all.
They can’t, since one is in the sky and the other in a hole.
But side by side with Jesus, we will surely find our godly role.
We will be eagle with eagle near the golden sun, under God’s control.
4.
Fishers-of-men gone fishing, that is our supreme commission.
Whether academics or illiterate, we are empowered by His Spirit.
Some go on forever collecting diplomas and degrees,
While leaving the harvest to others, men and women considered dummies.
Yet, the gospel is the rock that never rocks, and Calvary the voice of God.
“Salvation” is the heart cry from that hill, and we will go, o yes we will!
Some Christians wait to evangelize till times seem better. The best time is for the worst times. “Today is the day of salvation”. Today is always the most opportune day. The Holy Spirit is never on vacation. Many are always preparing. The best way to prepare for evangelism is to do it. Conferences, seminars, prolonged prayer sessions may be excellent but they often produce only perpetual students, not witnesses, too busy learning how than to actually do it. Turning things over in our mind plows no fields. Jesus was unhurried but always urgent. His word was to preach “while while it day, for the night comes when no one can work…” God bless you.
“You are too dogmatic” an unbeliever said to me. But passengers don’t mind an aircraft pilot to be dogmatic. They hope he is, especially about their destination. In life we want our destination equally guaranteed. Who really thinks it is a virtue to be doubtful whether they will land in hell or heaven? In Jesus, we are on our way to heaven. He is the way, the truth and the life. For sure. God bless you.
FAITH is the only currency accepted in the Kingdom of heaven. The church has often courted the wealthy and powerful but in God’s kingdom the truly great are those “poor in the eyes of the world (but) rich in faith” (James 2:5). They are God’s somebodies. He has big business to transact but only with believers. His purposes are rather greater than those of politicians. When God wrote a roll of honor He never mentioned one king or an emperor. Every golden name was a man or woman made famous by faith. (Hebrews 11). Believers are God’s begotten children. The natural abilities of these men and women were not the qualities of greatness. They were ordinary people. Only faith made them extraordinary. “By faith the elders received a good report” – nothing else. Faith is the new notation from which they composed songs of triumph no one else could sing…. Jesus said “only believe”.
When you are saved, you should know it. Otherwise, how can you be a witness for Christ? The Bible speaks clearly and positively; it does not stammer. When you read it, you become certain. The Holy Spirit writes no doubts. The promises of God are Yes and Amen (2 Corinthians 1:20) and not No or Maybe. The Gospel trumpet has no sticky valve and sounds no faltering note. When an earthquake shook the Philippian jail and all who were in it, the jailor cried out, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ Paul did not say, “Well, what do you think? Do you have any ideas?” He made a firm statement of fact in Acts 16:31: ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.’ The Gospel is God’s message, not Christian opinion. God bless you.
The Bible speaks of the ‘proportion of faith’ (Rom 12:6) – it is proportionate to the job at hand, index‑linked to the need. Like running and needing more air, your intake increases automatically. Size loses its meaning even for the task when it is a faith-task. The bigness of a hill, a house, and a molehill is all one to a bird flying over them. By faith “we shall mount up with wings like eagles”. God bless you.
The perfect husband is he who doesn’t expect his wife to be perfect. The perfect wife is she who doesn’t expect her husband to be perfect. But both have a Perfect Savior in Jesus Christ. Blessings
The Roman captain knew the routine of crucifixion. (Mark 15:37—39). First the crucified criminals were spitting and cursing, then as their strength abated death would slowly set in. Now, on horseback, the captain stood eye to eye with the dying Jesus! What a difference. We read “Jesus cried with a loud voice and breathed his last.” That got the captains attention, because Christ’s last words from the cross were “Father into your hands I commit my spirit!” Jesus had cried “with a loud voice”, full of energy and had instructed his spirit to leave his body. It happened that very same moment. Jesus did not die of a broken heart. He died at His own instruction. Long before this, the Lord had said in John 10: 17+18 “I have power to lay down my life…”…and that was observed by that heathen soldier. The captain’s revelation and conclusion? Jesus is more than a man! Jesus is the Son of God! Jesus is my Savior! Trust in Jesus brings peace with God! God bless you with greetings from Florida.
Faith in Christ is different to any other kind of faith. It is not found in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, the word used means believing “into” Christ, suggesting movement. Faith IN Christ means moving close to Him in trustful love. It is an embrace. This kind of loving embrace between man and his Maker comes only through Christ. Nobody in the Old Testament days could think of such a thing. God was Spirit, another kind of Being, too awesome to be approached except with fear and trembling. Yet one inspired book in the Old Testament Scriptures touches the heart of a new experience – the Song of Songs, a lyric of love that gathers up all its words of supreme love in one phrase, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine” (Song of Songs 6:3). This was an attitude towards God that nobody understood, until Jesus Christ came. Faced with His reality, ordinary people in the Gospel suddenly knew He was the Savior, a swift revelation followed by complete commitment. No longer was faith for the rare individual, as in the Old Testament. Somehow, Calvary does what the awesome manifestations of Sinai couldn’t do. Jesus is the great faith-creator. He said Himself, “No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). He doesn’t point to a way. Christ IS the way. God bless you.
When our spirit soars to God it is on the wings of prayer. Prayer swings open the door into the dwelling of God Himself. Like the Bible, which is substantially a book of prayer, a church building is basically “a house of prayer” (Matthew 21:13). Only human beings can pray. We are unique in this respect. Angels worship, but we never hear of angels praying and prayer elevates us far beyond the animal level. Animals are not people and prayer is not in their nature. A dog sees its master kneeling in prayer but has no idea what is going on. People look up to God, but animals look up only to people. Atheists and uncivilized people can know God, but other creatures are at the farther side of an impassable gulf and do not even know that spiritual things exist. Prayer is also the wonder gift of the grace of God and our highest natural capacity. No person ever born can rise higher than on their knees before God. Men of genius—Beethoven, Michelangelo and Newton produced immortal work—and all of them prayed. Prayer was their most outstanding performance, coming from their spirit not merely their brain. Isaiah 29:14 puts it like this: “Behold, I will again do a marvelous work among this people, a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.” This standpoint is reinforced in Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NIV), where we read: “Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord.” We can all move on that plateau, whether we are people of great intelligence or the simplest of mortals. “The humble also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel” (Isaiah 29:19). God bless you.
We are not doing all God’s will if we don’t pray. Prayer IS His will. His wish is not merely for us to do something but to BE something – people who have fellowship with Him, which we are not if we never wait upon God. When Joshua took over the leadership of Israel on their way to Canaan, he met a man with a drawn sword – the angel of the Lord. The angel said ‘As commander of the army of the Lord I have now come’. Joshua was never supposed to be on his own to take possession of the Promised Land. It simply meant that God had determined Israel would go in and possess the land and Joshua and the armies of Israel were God’s allies. The battle was the Lord’s. This wasn’t all. Joshua accepted the generalship of this new commanding officer, and asked what his orders were, “What message has my Lord for His servant?” and Joshua had a surprising answer. He expected to be told the strategy of the Lord, when and how he should fight but instead the command was ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy”. Joshua 5:14-15. In other words, worship, prayer, our relations with God comes before everything. God bless you.
Some churches are like flight-simulators. The student-pilot thinks he’s flying realistically at 40,000 feet – yet he is bolted to the ground. All on the screen, but not on the scene. No simulated or virtual Christianity please. Let’s go out to the realities of the highways and byways and win the lost for Christ. That’s where Jesus is!
Jesus did not arrive on earth in the uniform of a policeman to arrest and charge us, but as our champion to set us free and pay the penalty Himself for our misdeeds. (John 3,17) The word Gospel does not mean reformation, decoration or renovation, but liberation and transformation. Jesus doesn’t want to make our life bearable but to save us from sin and Satan. This is your opportunity right now. “Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved”, the Bible says. Call on Him in prayer now – and you will know the difference. God bless you.
Faith is not a talent that some people possess and some do not. Nor is it merely a feeling. Faith is action and decision available to all of us. The Bible makes that clear. “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent” – namely, Jesus. You decide to believe. Each person must do it for themselves. If you do that now, the Lord will not delay. He will not investigate your suitability, your worthiness, or your past. No matter who or where you are, in the nick of time as you repent and believe, the parachute of salvation opens with a bang, and you are absolutely safe – for real. Come on! Call now on the name of Jesus. He will save you. God bless you.
God-Directed Days
By Reinhard Bonnke
1.
Whatever we enter into our calendar, God has the long term version.
We can be linked to what He has inked by faith and total submission.
We may be agitated, but God knows where He wants us to be.
Let’s then relax as the Lord turns the pages of His appointment diary.
One single God-directed day may be the purpose of one’s life and way,
But then 100 years, 36,500 self-directed days, could all vanish without a trace.
“My times are in your hands”, the Psalmist said bowing to His demands.
God is not much interested in life’s duration but its spiritual implication.
As Jesus told the story of a farmer who had decided to just eat and drink.
Self-directed he came to his end, and when God called, self-deceived he went.
2.
Jesus often spoke of “My hour”, and said nothing of His time before.
In this hour the Lord achieved something completely unsurpassed and more.
He created the heavens and the earth; set in motion the wheeling universe.
As Man on earth, Jesus cast out devils, whipped Satan’s stormy breath,
Brought to heel the raging sea snatched Lazarus from death.
But when He talked about “My hour”, all these miracles seemed small.
God’s hour, His greatest and most central moment, affected everything and all.
The hour of redemption, His greatness compacted and compressed so fine:
At the cross all eternity became condensed into Christ’s “HOUR” sublime.
This “His Hour”; is now called “The Day of Salvation” or “the accepted time”.
The church wants no dead limbs, no feet going to sleep, but everyone alive with the life of the Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that makes the body, bringing together its living elements; what is needed is for the whole body to work together and move together in the same direction. The church is God’s dynamic force on earth. We are told about “the unity of the Spirit.” We are responsible for preserving the unity but the Holy Spirit is the unifying element. He holds us together – if we want to be together. God bless you.
Jesus in a Tax Office
Poem by Reinhard Bonnke
1.
Israel suffered under the iron wings of the Roman Eagle severe oppression.
Rome’s imperial talons clawed and stole the nation’s possession.
Levi, a tax-expert, was on the wrong political side, considered a hideous spy.
Let’s visit his office collecting tolls, to understand the way how Jesus calls.
The tax official sat in his bureau up the road, before him his day’s workload.
He had shifted his table out of the sun, now touching a visiting man.
2.
And there He was, this visitor blocked the light, but Levi just kept sitting tight.
Whoever this man was, he politely and patiently stood still in the pause.
A sense of being carefully studied overcame Levi, upsetting him of course.
Without looking up he said “Yes?” All quiet, no movement, but he felt stress.
Annoyed, he looked up and was shaken: it was Jesus, whom he already had met
Looking at Him He felt the bliss, how Christ’s eyes burnt themselves into his.
3.
Jesus kept smiling, the whole atmosphere changing from tough to love,
To an overture, a personal gesture, gushes of love from heaven above.
Confused with mixed reactions and stirrings, Levi simply lost his bearings.
How long the moment was Levi couldn’t remember, but finally Jesus spoke.
“Levi! Follow me!” He said, and that was it, Levi’s resistance broke.
His tax-pen fell from his fingers, he could no more linger.
4.
Levi never knew why, but this offer to serve Jesus would never again come by.
He realized that the hand of the Lord was resting over his own, as never known.
Leaning closer, looking intently at him, he made his decision with no interim!
At once Levi rose, shut the tax office up and followed Jesus never to look back
That is the glory many feel when Jesus steps into their lives to make the appeal.
Levi followed Him to become an Apostle of the Lamb, one of the eternal elite.
Christianity boring? So is television if we don’t plug in. For the best programs, switch on – it makes quite a difference. So does switching on to God. God bless you.
“If you throw the first stone, it will be like a boomerang. You are guilty yourself! There was only one without sin and His name was Jesus!”
Graciousness means favor. God is a God of grace, of favors. That is how He deals. Everything in His shop is free – Jesus walked in and paid for it all. When Gabriel appeared to Mary the virgin, he called her “highly favored”. It was as if he gave her that as a name. The word actually is ‘grace”, which is a noun, but Gabriel turned it into a verb and said God had “grace-ized” her. It is a most unusual word. It means more than Mary receiving a favor, but being personally affected by it, characterized by the sheer quality of Divine favor, personified by it. It was by this quality of grace by which she became pregnant with the Christ-child. Now this same unique word is used by Paul in 1 Ephesians 1:6, but never anywhere else. Paul says that those who have been born again, and have received Christ have also been ‘grace-ized’, or as it is translated in Luke “highly favored”. The same goes for the Christian believer as for Mary. A born again believer is a piece of triumphant grace. God bless you.
We pray because the Holy Spirit prays. There is a remarkable statement in Romans 8:26-27 (NIV): “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express … The Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” First, note the astounding revelation that the Holy Spirit prays. Then even more amazing, the Holy Spirit needs human beings so He can pray. He not only prays for us but through us. Anyone who prays becomes useful to the Holy Spirit, being an instrument in a heavenly wonder. The unutterable “groanings” of the Holy Spirit are expressed through those who pray. That is, what the Spirit does not say, people can say as led by the Spirit. People want to be used by the Holy Spirit, and this is a sure way. He is looking for those who will empathize with His “groanings.” One way to be useless to the Holy Spirit is not to pray. Let us pray without ceasing… God bless you and greetings from Florida.
Filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit? Well, no one can freeze you out, since fire doesn’t freeze. God bless you.
Most of man’s ills are man-made. Yet there is power in the gospel to reverse these fatal processes. The truth will set us free, calling us back to do His will, which is always for the good of us all. God loves His prodigal planet, and if we return, we shall enjoy the glad welcome of the Father. God bless you and a Happy New Year 2014.
This issue of ‘an hour’ was very important to Jesus. He walked the world for about 33 years, but He always spoke of ‘His hour’. It is that one hour which the world has never forgotten. Christ said to the authorities arresting Him, ‘This is your hour, and the power of darkness’, but they were crassly ignorant of the role they were playing. Their hour was also Christ’s hour to glorify His Father. Christ’s ‘hour’ runs like a thread in the texture through the Gospel of John. Who has not had their hour? Think of GOD and His hour! He had made the universe, invented stars, shaped the vast wheeling systems and flung them into the night sky. He did that! How could He talk about ‘His hour’? On earth as Man He cast out devils, stilled the whistling winds, and brought the mighty monster of the raging sea to heel like whipped hounds and raised Lazarus. What hours! But He still talked about His hour as if these times were not to be mentioned in comparison. What then? One day he walked into a room, met his twelve disciples, talked about His death, and called it His hour, not His last hour, as when people say ‘I thought my hour had come’, but the hour that was the peak glory of all His living activity. – Hallelujah, what a Savior. I pray that this New Year may be a peak of our living activity. God bless you.
We don’t come to church just to be spiritual for an hour or so, and then go home to be physical. We LIVE in the Spirit, and we walk in the Spirit. Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit – we are one with Him. This is what it means: He was born for us and took on our flesh so that we can be born again and take on the Divine nature, and live a new kind of life. God bless you.
There are higher activities than church celebrations, Christian pop concerts, and endless new worship songs – Christian as they may be. Our Lord is worthy to be praised indeed, but worship choruses alone will never save the world, especially those songs that make no mention of the name of Jesus, nor have any gospel content. Praise is not the power of God unto salvation. The gospel is the power of God. We must not flatter ourselves that we can build a throne for God with lots of new song books. Our commission from God contains the clause ‘Preach the Word.’ ‘It pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe’ (1 Cor. 1:21).
God uses manpower. Man needs God’s power. God works when people work. Good morning from Florida and God bless you.
God has business with each of us personally, not merely as His servants or instruments. He loves us, but not because we are useful to Him. You and I don’t have relationships with our hammers and chisels. Neither does God have a relationship with us as His tools. Being used by God is simply one of the benefits, a privilege of knowing Christ.
To build up our faith in God and His Word, is the deepest need in the world and the open secret of its future. Even if diluted going to church once a week is better than nothing – but the cure of the world’s ills calls for the essence of the Gospel. A life poised on the Living God emboldens us, firms the shape of our character, tightens our resolves, and gives us the daring to live above the mundane. Faith in God is a spring of crystal cleansing goodness flushing the gutters of society and disinfecting the sinks of human foulness and wickedness. Men of faith have a higher value effect than men of business or of genius. God bless you and greetings from Tennessee.
Either the Cross was the most colossal blunder, a tragic demonstration of the uselessness of being ‘a good man’, or else it was the world’s most colossal triumph. It was in fact the decisive victory for world redemption. A Roman spear opened Christ’s side and exposed the very heart of God – all love. That…! That price! For what? Add it up, and it spells JESUS SAVES. The words, “Jesus saves”, embrace everything that defeats us. Every life has a thousand needs. Salvation touches all weaknesses, reaches into the past and future, and is for body, soul and mind, for earth and for heaven. Jesus saves us from our sins, from folly, failure and fear, pride and illusion, the devil’s deceit and every threatening circumstance. Christ is the Master of it all. Jesus saves! Christ’s hell-shattering work has opened heaven’s fountain of resources for all struggling souls. “He that believes in Me, has life.” Being saved means being “born again”. “To as many as received Him, to them gave He power to be the sons of God. Yes! Yes! Yes! Jesus is wonderful. Good morning from Florida. God bless you today.
The Gospel is the passion of God. Salvation came from the furnace of God’s heart. “God so loved the world”, and His love burns like a beacon on the hill top of Calvary. God bless you.
Christianity is the only faith where GOD SEEKS MAN, and not so much man seeking God! Already in Genesis the Lord called: “Adam where are you?” (Gen 3:9) Jesus said that He had “come to seek and save the lost.” The heathens spread a table for their gods, but the Christian God prepares a table for “His children”. (Psalm 23:5). God bless you.
Faith has neither bulk nor weight, for it is what you do. Jesus spoke of “faith as small as a mustard seed” (Luke 17:6), referring to something tiny with huge potential. Perhaps today Jesus might speak of faith as a fuse. Tiny as it is, it transmits the awesome power generated in power stations to our homes. Without it, every appliance is useless, unable to draw from that power. As believers, we know what we believe and Who we believe. Believing tests us. Taking God’s Word at face value, accepting its divine authority, we plug into the very source! Faith is the vital link. By it, the energies of heaven flow into the world. The greatness of God, of the work of Christ, of the Word of God is all there, but without faith, as small as a fuse wire, none of that greatness avails. The circuit is broken. And once connected, the fuse itself cannot help but show the effects of the power surging through it. It warms up! Faith makes us dynamic, exuberant, excited! “Fear not, only believe…” Jesus said. God bless you.
God cannot forgive except by the atonement. It needs more than omnipotence or love. He did not just overlook our sin. It meant gathering up this evil and taking it into His own bosom like a fire. Sin necessitated Calvary. It finds its dreadful finality in Him. The music of God has a minor mode, while we are called upon to “rejoice in the Lord always…” Aren’t you glad? God bless you.
The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit, but only when we preach it. That is the apostolic secret to route the enemy. God bless you.
Like Elisha, we are all called to pick up the Elijah mantle, but our Elijah is Christ Jesus. We do not ask, “Where is the God of Elijah?” (2 Kings 2:14), but “Where is the God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ?” – for one greater than Elijah has come. God bless you.
It can be tough. Being a woman or man is demanding and was meant to be. We were made to be shaped. It is the price for being flesh and blood. We are the most privileged species of all the ranks of beings He ever made. Being human is a compliment and honor. Planted in each of us is a vast, significant, mysterious secret of the eternal purpose of God. Each bears a unique personality to reflect some aspect of His infinite glory. Being human as God sees us means sinfulness, ignorance, folly, weakness, all of us pretty much the same, but we are still His specials, more than any seraph or mighty spirit patrolling unknown worlds. The Son of God took human nature, not the nature of angels. He is the Son of Mary not the son of Gabriel. God invested in us everything He had even handing over His Son to be one us, to ransom us. This should encourage you. God bless you.
Zacchaeus was a calculating character, but had not guessed on dealing with anybody like Jesus, never imagining such a man. He felt His inner self exposed to the most genial judge in the world. This Jesus felt sorry for Him – He loved him. His shrunken soul began expanding like a sponge in water. Then a thought stole into his mind that had never penetrated him before, the idea of giving money away to the poor. Jesus saw it and said “Today has salvation (deliverance) come to this house.” That is deliverance, a sample of things to be. However, saving this crook had a cost, namely, Christ’s reputation. Zacchaeus worked for the occupying power of hated Rome and the people saw Jesus befriend him. It damaged Jesus’ popularity. His foes would make much of it. His reply may have cut little ice with these unbending critics, but it uncovered the truth about the character of Jesus. He said “The Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost” (Luke 19,10). That sums up Jesus, our Lord. If it sums up any of us, it is enough that we are as our Lord. It is not reputation we seek, but renewed lives. God bless you.
hen we can be sure he hears us. Imagine a violin player who begins his concert performance. The violin sounds beautiful, and the player is clearly a skilled performer – but then suddenly the rest of the orchestra joins in and it is a disaster. What has gone wrong? It’s simple – even though the violin is beautiful on its own, it is completely out of tune with the other instruments. Even when all the correct notes are being played, the result sounds terrible. Your prayer might sound excellent, but is it in tune with the will of God? You keep in tune by reading and knowing the Word of God. Do it today. God bless you.
In the Old Testament, people called on the name of the Lord, but did not pray in his name. They presented themselves to God through faith in His promises. However, for New Testament believers, Jesus taught that in his name we have immediate favor. We get VIP treatment. The name of Jesus opens the door. God hears us. That is how we must pray, trusting in the grace of Christ. Your name represents an imperfect person, but if you come in Christ’s name, the angels stand aside while you enter the throne room. You are righteous and holy, and God finds no fault. In Christ, you wear a seamless robe of purity and holiness. It never stains, never tears, never grows shabby, but you are robed fit for the presence of the King at all times, every day. Are you blessed?
Jesus said, “Fear not! Only believe!” (Luke 8:30). Why did He use the word “only?” Well, at birth God has given to every human being the ability to believe – just watch a little child. It is simple. When you are hungry, only eat. When you are thirsty only drink. When you are tired only sleep. And when you need a miracle from God, Jesus opens His arms and says “only believe”. You got it! Practice it. God bless you.
If Jesus no longer delivers, no longer heals, no longer saves, no longer casts out demons, no longer baptizes into the Holy Spirit, then we have a Jesus who is no longer “Christ,” for that is the very meaning of the title and name “Jesus Christ.” He is “the same, yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). If the Lord has changed, then He has forgotten to tell us. But we have no evidence for any such thing! Hallelujah! God will bless you right now.
“He gave them power over unclean spirits and to cast them out” Jesus said in Matthew 10,1. We are not the hunted – we are the hunters! We are not afraid of the devil – the devil is afraid of us.
Why always doubt the Word of God? Why not doubt the lies of the devil? Why not having doubts about your doubts and deciding to believe and trust Jesus? If you do, you’ll soon receive heavenly assistance from the Holy Spirit. Faith moves the mountains which doubt creates. God bless you.
You CAN HAVE forgiveness for your biggest sin; but you NEED forgiveness for your smallest sin. To God it does not matter if our sins are big or small, many or few. Just one thing matters: WE ALL NEED A SAVIOR! WE ALL NEED JESUS! God bless you.
When God made Adam He did not ask Adams permission. Nobody is asked if they want to be born. But we are all asked if we want to born-again. Now is the time to choose. “As many as received him to them He gives the right to be the children of God.”
A woman was healed from what it calls ‘an issue of blood.’ (Luke 8:43-44) The whole point is that Jesus took no action whatever. She got near to Him, touched no more than a finger on the edge of his clothing and instantly felt restored. She had found the secret. Power and healing pervade the presence of Jesus. To be healed needs no special techniques or spiritual gymnastics. That is seen in Mark 6:56 ‘They laid the sick in the streets that they might touch if it were by the border of his garment and many as touched him were made perfectly whole’. None of them was a religious athlete. They just got near to Him. There is healing in His presence. Jesus is passing your way today. Touch Him too. God bless you.
Christ died FOR our sins so that we will not die IN our sins (John 8,21). Once washed in the blood of Jesus, we are no longer IN SIN, but IN CHRIST. We shall not “come into judgment” because Jesus was judged for us when dying on the cross (John 5,24). This is how salvation works and JESUS is the only Savior. Agreed? God bless you.
God never changed, and never forgot His promise to be with His children. Through Isaiah He reminded Israel: ‘this is what the LORD says, HE who created you, fear not. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you’ (Isaiah 43:1-3). This brings us to the disciples on the Sea of Galilee centuries later. Jesus saw them laboring in their boat, passing through dangerous waters. Then He did what God said He would do – “When you pass through the waters I will be with you”. He came to them, though it involved an astounding act of power. He identified Himself with the God of Moses, Isaiah and Zechariah, saying ‘I AM. Fear not!’ And this brings us to you, wherever you are this moment and whatever your circumstances. The LORD says “I AM. Fear not.” God bless you.
Blood has a very short life span. Over half of it is liquid, called plasma and most of the rest of it is made up of red cells, which die after 120 days and are constantly being replaced. In contrast, the most durable thing on earth is probably gold. Not even salt water affects it – even if it lies in it for centuries. These facts make a comment by Peter, the leading Christian apostle, seem very strange: “It was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed … but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” (1 Peter 1:18-19, NIV) Gold is not perishable whereas blood certainly is. But Peter knew what he was talking about, and meant to startle us into seeing a tremendous truth. The world thinks money is everything, but Peter intended us to see that it has no spiritual value whatever. There are no spiritual cash payment bargains. In real terms only the blood of Jesus has lasting value. When heaven and earth vanish, the redeeming power of Christ’s blood will continue. It shall never lose its power. Blessed?
Jesus said “you shall be witnesses to me…” (Acts 1,8) Normally a witness only speaks and describes what he has seen. Sometimes however a witness is a piece of evidence. Perhaps a man has been cruelly attacked and injured. He appears in court to display himself, the damage and injury. His scars speak for themselves. He himself is a piece of evidence. We believers are not lawyers, attorneys or barristers in court pleading in the defense of Jesus. We are WITNESSES. Witnesses don’t argue and don’t plead. They simply speak the truth, declare what they know. And here I stand – being a living piece of evidence that Jesus is alive and that there is cleansing power in the Blood of Christ. Witnesses! Are you blessed?
The Bible says that the devil is like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8). He comes in the darkness, and tries to frighten the children of God with his mighty roar. But when you switch on the light of the Word of God, you discover that there is no lion. There is only a mouse with a microphone! Don’t let Satan scare you. He is a cheat. Got it? God bless you.
The way to know that God exists is to trust Him. The way to know that electricity exists is not by theory but by using it. Simply begin believing God, act on it and doubts will disappear. Live as if there were a God and you will know there is. Faith in God is our own natural ability made operative by the Holy Spirit. To use faith is to be led by the Holy Spirit. God is not “my faith in God”, but He comes to me when I am prepared to trust Him. Try today. It really works. God bless you.
Behind Abraham’s attitude was his faith that God was ordering things. He believed God’s word to him “I am your very great reward” (Gen 15,1). There was no need for him to live a life of strain and anxiety about loss or gain. If he trusted God, God’s plan would work out in his affairs. He didn’t want to have what God didn’t want him to have. King David, a thousand years later found the same truth. He adopted Abraham’s outlook and enjoyed the great advantage of letting God take over. He wrote a song of surprised gratitude (2 Samuel 23) and described God’s plan for him in his house as being “ordered in all things and sure” (v.5). Jesus put the principle of Abraham into His famous promise of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:33. “Seek first the Kingdom God and his righteousness and all these things will be given you as well”. He said “Don’t worry about your life. Do not worry about tomorrow.” Blessed?
Most people would like to be a great Christian, but they try it out and give up. What’s wrong? Simply this – we can’t be a fish by diving into an aquarium. We cannot be what we are not but we can be what we are, anywhere. Christians are God’s miracles; they are not self-made. Self-made Christians are usually pretty lousy workmanship. Yet it is as if we all had a cell phone with God’s number. ‘Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved’ (Romans 10,13). The name of the Lord is JESUS. Call on Him in prayer and then it happens like the Bible says: ‘We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works’. (Eph 2,10) You are saved. God bless you.
We normally think in three dimensions, a three dimensional world, breadth, length and depth. But the fourth dimension envelops us all; it is the love of God. He cares for our threefold nature, body, mind and soul. His love cares for every living creature. He feeds and satisfies us. He loves us to the depths of our personality, the breadth of our lives, and the height of our need. We sit at this banquet enjoying a four-fold experience, food, life, consciousness and His friendship. We have more than food, mortal life and fellowship, more than cakes and shakes. God has made us glad more than by the experience of His love, a fourth satisfaction, unseen and transcendent. God’s love is not a mere sentiment or emotional attachment. Nor is it a dutiful relationship as when we love a father because he is our father, or children love us only because they are our children. It is the other way with God. He fathered us because He loved us, before we were born. God’s love is not fondness. When we love anyone we send them gifts, flowers, and write them letters. God does all that! He fills the wide world with gifts and flowers, and writes His love with the stars of heaven, and the poetry of everything that is beautiful. But more than that, much more than that. The love of God penetrates our cold hearts, shed abroad by the Holy Spirit. It is the closest and most personal love. God bless you. Good morning from Florida.
The Lord is the Good Shepherd giving His life, seeking his lost sheep. Turn over the leaves of the Bible and you can track His footprints from Eden for long centuries. Half way through Scripture we come to Jonah. It is the Old Testament book on evangelism. Talking of knowledge just now I remember somebody said that Jonah learned more in the belly of the fish than many do at theological college. Jonah’s terrifying ordeal had a great meaning. It gave Him something in common with just one other person – Jesus Himself. The jaws of death held Him for three days and nights like Jonah. Both saw the light of day again. Jonah was the world’s first evangelist. He had to begin simply by warning Nineveh that its wickedness has mounted to heaven and judgment was about to fall. He preached repentance. If Jonah obeyed and if Israel followed, their work would go beyond Nineveh. They would be the hinges upon which history would swing. The Lord had and has a plan of world salvation – and by the Great Commission we are a part of it. GOD BLESS YOU.
EVANGELISM: It is God’s idea, and He is the first and greatest expositor. Someone said that the Bible breathes Divine concern about sin and sinners. But ‘breathes’ is hardly the word. It shouts it. Right in Genesis we read of the Lord calling “Adam, where are you?” (Gen 3,9) It disturbed the angels in heaven. The garden of Eden and of Gethsemane echoed with that voice. Then in the strange darkness of Calvary people heard a loud cry “It is finished!” It was the same voice. Whoever displays a casual feeling about evangelism, God does not. He put all He had into it. His greatest gift – His Son, great labors, prayers, “strong crying and tears”, sweat, and blood (Heb 5,7). “The blood of Jesus Christ SPEAKS – speaks better things than the blood of Abel.” ( Heb 12.24) ‘Precious, precious blood of Jesus, shed on Calvary, shed for rebels, shed for sinners, shed for me.’ Thank you JESUS. God bless you.
Peter said “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power who went about healing all who were oppressed of the devil”. Christ’s coming was the beginning of the overthrow of satanic dominion on earth – BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. He was Christ, the anointed one, anointed to break the yoke upon the neck of mankind. That same Spirit given to shatter the reign of the devil is the Spirit which came upon the church on the day of Pentecost. That is what the Holy Spirit is for, to bring the world under the reign of Christ and to smash the foundations of the Kingdom of hell. It is a vast universal effort by God through the church to bring in everlasting righteousness. Any true Holy Spirit move has that as its aim, “Thy kingdom come”. That is why the Great Commission is linked with the promise of the Spirit – the aim is global salvation and the return of Jesus. Hallelujah. God bless you
Faith is not just believing there is a God. We have to trust Him. When I get on a plane, I believe there is a pilot of course, but if for any reason I could not trust him I would quickly walk off again. I have to believe IN him. James takes us back to some of the first principles of the life of Jesus. He wrote about faith. He said “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that and shudder”, but – they remained demons. (James 2,19 NIV). Christians “look to Jesus the author and finisher of their faith”. Jesus did not give us something to believe, BUT SOMEBODY TO TRUST. Christianity keeps an ancient creed but believes a Person. You can’t sign on the dotted line to make you a Christian. You cannot utter a formal sentence to convert you. It is a matter of the heart, resting on Christ, moment by moment, led by His precious Holy Spirit. God bless you. Good morning from Florida
THE WILL OF GOD. There is a Divine plan and will for all of us. It is not something to be discovered by hard searching, prayer, thought and sacrifice. It begins by making up your mind that God’s will is the greatest thing in your life, greater than any success. You may have success, be a millionaire, and be a famous person – fine, if that is God’s will, but otherwise it is failure. You no longer think as a man of the world, but as a man of God. It is a complete re-orientation of life. Think as God thinks, think by the Bible pattern, think humbly, not with grand thoughts of yourself. Thank God that He does guide, plans, corrects, checks, and so long as you belong to Him body, soul and mind, you cannot live a life of failure. Your life is bound for eternal greatness. People keep wondering if they have stepped aside from what God wanted. This itself is not what God wants them to do. Introspection is a waste of time, and pure self-concern. My advice is – forget it, leave that to God. He does the checking and He will do the steering. God is there constantly. He says “I will guide you with my eye” (Psalm 32,8). His eye is accurate. He knows where you should be, and if anything has slipped out of place, He will adjust it. All God wants is control. Let Him have His way! Rejoice in it – today! Blessed? Good morning from Florida.
God always works with workers, goes with goers and moves with movers, but He does not sit with sitters. God bless you.
Science searches out the secrets of nature but to science the secrets of God are meaningless. Astrophysics doesn’t tell us why there’s a me, or why there’s evil in a good world, or how to face the Day of Judgment. We can’t say to any branch of science ”Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil”, and we certainly don’t want its kingdom to come! No science can straighten the twisted grain in wood, nor in human nature. It needs the specialist, the Savior. Only Jesus saves. Agreed? God bless you.
The power of the Holy Spirit and the gospel of the Cross, are so welded together that they cannot be separated. The Holy Spirit has invested everything in the crucified Christ. He works His wonders only on redemption ground and supports only the gospel – always and everywhere. What more do we need? One man filled with the Spirit is better than a hundred committees, which, ‘keep minutes but lose hours.’ When God so loved the world He did not form a committee, but sent His Son, and His Son sent the Holy Spirit. Christ said that believers are the light of the world (Mat 5,14), but it needs the Holy Spirit to switch them on. Shine for Jesus. Good morning from Florida.
A person ‘born from above’ would never be satisfied with a world, which was only material. They need spiritual links as well as physical ones. The present world, with its limited scientific laws, is not big enough for a converted Christian, any more than a cage is for an eagle. It needs extending, and that extension is into the fourth dimension beyond our three dimensional world. We ‘walk in the Spirit’ (Galatians 5:25). God has ‘made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus’ (Ephesians 2:6). The Book of Acts shows men beginning to draw upon new resources, and to move through the world blessing the people with salvation and healing. The first new men in Christ, new creatures of the kingdom, were sent out to bring others into the same kingdom order, with new instincts, new powers, and new laws written on their heart (see Hebrews 8). Welcome.
Hebrews 11 says that the “elders” gained their place in Scripture by acting on their faith. It was not because of their saintliness. Sermons are preached about the virtues of such men as Moses and Abraham, but the Holy Spirit spotlighted them for their faith only. Think of Abraham’s visit to Egypt! He was ordered out of the country in disgrace. Faith made these men what they were, whether bold, or humble, or patient. Faith is the virtue producer. Faith produces good works, but good works do not produce faith – just as milk produces butter, but butter does not produce milk. Congregations are exhorted to imitate the patience of Job, the humility of Moses, or the courage of Daniel. That is fine, but useless unless the means are shown – faith in God. Faith made them the people they were. It made them men of initiative, enterprising and resourceful. Have faith in God.
A farmer’s son went to war. Years passed, but the son kept writing regularly long letters to his parents. The problem was that they could hardly read and just managed a few lines per day. Suddenly a knock on the door: the son was home. “We didn’t know that you were coming home” the parents exclaimed. “But didn’t you read the P.S. in my last letter?” he asked. No, they hadn’t come that far. There is also a Post Script, as P.S., in the Bible. It’s in the handwriting of Jesus. Read the last words in the book of Revelation “SURELY I AM COMING QUICKLY.” (22,20) “Even so, come Lord Jesus!” Rejoice! God bless you.
The power of the Holy Spirit does not come as a reward. Power is not a trophy at the end of a marathon. We need power at the start if we are to run the marathon for God. We may be disgraceful, perhaps stumbling in our walk, but that makes it so necessary for us to receive the Holy Spirit. He is not given on condition that we are perfect. He is given because we are not perfect. He has come because we need Him – for the best and for the worst of us. Just repeat in your heart: Holy Spirit I really need you! God bless,
The Christian faith is based on something more solid than our feelings. It is based on what Jesus accomplished for us through His life, His death on the cross and His resurrection. The Bible witnesses to these historical events, and it is through the Bible that you can become certain of your faith. But what is the Bible? The Bible does not tell us what people have thought about God – but what God thinks of us! It is God’s inspired message to humankind, and this is why Christians call it ‘the word of God’. The Bible is a book you can completely rely on to tell you the truth about God – and about yourself. Read it and you will find God.
An atheist once challenged me on a TV program. “The blood of Jesus has been around for 2,000 years,” he said, “and if there was any power in it as you claim, the world would not be in such a sorry state.” I replied, “Sir, there’s also plenty of soap around, but many people are still dirty. Soap makes nobody clean by being around, not even if they work in a soap factory – but wash yourself with it. Apply the blood of Jesus to your sinful life and you will join hundreds of millions of people who sing and say ‘There is power, power, wonder-working power in the precious blood of the Lamb.’” God bless you.
Faith is the eye to see the unseen. Physical optics are not the instruments to see God. He is a Spirit. Human eyes are too weak to discern “the invisible God, the King eternal, immortal, invisible” (Col 1:15; 1 Tim 1:17). We have to deal with Him as He is. “He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). If we only believed what we saw, what would a blind man believe? Radio waves fill your room but who would know without a receiver? Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (John 20:29). They are on the track of truth – God is like that if we are to know Him. Good morning from Florida.
The Spirit of God has come as a tempest of fire and wind. He is a driving force. Today, mighty throbbing steam trains are polished and set up in museums, no fire in their belly, no steam screaming through the mountains. Fire! God gives the Holy Spirit to make us what we are not. It is not just to bless us with a nice meeting, an emotional stimulant or heavenly candy. The Spirit is not concerned with the state of our feelings, but with the state of the godless world. He comes in to send us out, to give us stamina, fibre for our backbone of boldness. The Holy Spirit is God’s arm of emancipation. He makes slaves the partners of His throne. The Bible is our fire-guide. Some read God’s Word critically but the Word is their critic and by their own attitude towards the Word they condemn themselves. Unbelief is judgment. But “your Word is a lamp to my feet…” God bless you and good day from Florida.
In the natural realm we have ways to make the invisible visible. The infrared camera can take photographs on the blackest nights. Police use radar helicopters and can find a thief in the dark even under trees. In the spiritual realm nobody need to walk in darkness. There is a way ‘to see Him who is invisible’ (Heb 11,27). The instrument is faith. It is our infrared. We have eyes to see and can walk in the ignorance and blackness of our world with confidence, as in daylight. Believers are ‘children of the day’. ‘We walk by faith, not by sight’ (2 Cor 5,7). God bless you.
There is an puzzling Scripture in Matthew 11:12. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.” He clearly anticipated multitudes “gate-crashing” the Kingdom. On the day of Pentecost Christ gave His apostle Peter the keys to open the gates, just as he had promised before His death. Thousands at once crossed the border into the Kingdom, migrating from the power of Satan to the Kingdom of God. It was the start of a never-ending stream of people into the Kingdom, the Kingdom taken by the “forcefulness” of faith. We are witnesses to that and praise the Lord. Be a part of it. God bless you.
The work of Christ was no passing incident. The Son of God came to really fulfill what was promised to Cyrus in Isaiah 45,1, that “God shall open the gates of Babylon to him”. This truth was also foreshadowed by Samson, when he unhinged the gates of the city and carried them “to the top of the hill” (Judges 16,3). In Jesus Christ the true Anointed One has come, the true Cyrus, the true Samson, to lift the gates of our captivity off their very hinges and shatter them forever. This happened when Jesus cried at the cross “It is finished!”, and since then His arms of love are open to forgive and receive all who come to him. Good morning from Florida.
The Bible says that the devil is like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8). He comes in the darkness, and tries to frighten the children of God with his mighty roar. But when you switch on the light of the Word of God, you discover that there is no lion. There is only a mouse with a microphone! Got it?
God invented joy – God, not comedians. – God gave us color and beauty – God, not the Impressionists. No church-service would be an ordeal if Jesus led it. Mono¬tony is not a Divine invention. Something’s wrong if worship is a yawn. We’re in reverse gear. “Saved” people LOVE – love God, love people, love God’s Word, love to worship, and love life.
If you burry a lie, it will rot. If you bury the truth, it will rise. That’s why the grave couldn’t hold JESUS. He is “the way the truth and the life…”
I grew up at the mouth of the River Elbe in Germany. When the tide was out we boys played around the barges stuck in the mud. In my mind they were impossible to shift or move. But then the water came back. Suddenly they floated. I could move them with my foot. When we preach the Gospel, the tide comes in. The immovable becomes moveable, the incurable curable and the impossible possible. Trust God!
The less Holy Spirit we have, the more cake and coffee we need to keep the church going.
Fear is forged in hell – issued by Satan as a standard weapon to all demons. They are full of fear themselves, like scorpions are full of poison. Satan wants to sting us – to make us all sick with fear and its paralyzing force. But: FEARS ARE ILLUSIONS, phantoms. They will only take substance if we accept them. God promises: “No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper.” (Is. 54,17)
The Bible speaks positively. It does not stammer. When we read it, we become certain. It is not a collection of pebbles but the Rock that never rocks. The Gospel is God’s message, not Christian opinion. Believe and receive. Good morning from Brazil.
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