Feeds:
Posts
Comments

The Written Word

May 14, 2024 by Admin

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: II Timothy 3:10-17

The Word of God is explicit, direct, and without ambiguity. It is the life of the believer and a chart and compass to those who would walk in truth. Without it, the church would be confused by the voice of many spirits and men and would lose her way in a maze of lights not knowing which beam to follow.

There are basic principles of belief which are vital to the believer, which will, under the vigorous testing which follows the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior, be the very life-blood of the Christian and the determining factor as to whether he or she will overcome or fail. The most important basic principles are:

(1) The Bible is written by God and is the Word of God.

(2) There are no mistakes in the Bible.

(3) The truth of the Word is contained in its meaning and not in human interpretation of what the Word means.

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (II Timothy 3:16).

“For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (II Peter 1:21).

These tenets are like the foundation of a very large building which must be laid deep down in the heart of the believer so that when the storms come, the winds blow and the billows roar, he will stand and not fall. So many mighty men have fallen and are falling. The reason is that their building was not founded on the Word of God, but in most cases on what they thought about the Word of God. We have to understand that thoughts about a thing are not necessarily the truth about the thing.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 1993, pg. 13-14)

Thought for today: As we read our Bibles, let us remember that the foundation of the Word of God must be firmly established in our hearts so that we would be able to withstand the storms of life.

Posted in The Living Word | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

Life and Death – the Power of the Tongue

May 13, 2024 by Admin

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Matthew 12:22-37

Words can carry both life and death. This is so because we are not just dealing with natural things. A person who can get angry and wish another dead will have many evil spirits taking his word and going forth to accomplish that which was spoken. We live in a spiritual realm and no word falls to the ground. The spirits of God will obey every word of Christ that comes out of your mouth or your thoughts, but the spirits of the devil will also obey every evil thought and every evil word. As matured Christians we have learned not to speak any negative words or harbor any negative thoughts. Negative thoughts will come and we will see a thing to be totally negative, but we are the balancing force in the world and we are expected to reprove the darkness wherever we see it.

If you can see a negative thing about a person and not have the love and compassion to earnestly pray for that person, then it is the devil that showed you and not God. God will never show anyone anything about anybody unless he knows your love for that person. If He shows you, it means that you are being recruited to pray for that person.

The battle in the realms of the spirit goes back and forth upon these principles. If a man is guilty, then devils claim him, but another can drive that devil from him by the power that God gives us. Therefore, if we deride the guilty, we encourage the devils that have a claim on him to exercise their claim. Many times we see one continuously oppressed of devils and we might feel in our hearts, “It serves him right.” We have unwittingly joined the forces of the devil which are oppressing him and have failed God in the rescue effort which he needs.

We have a word that is like a flashing sword of light when it strikes evil spirits. This means that Jesus Christ, our Lord, who is Himself the Logos, has given us the rhema (or, the word of command) to use as one uses a gun or a sword.

Once I was attacked by what seemed to be a prince of darkness. His power was so great that when he held me, I could not physically move my hands, head, or tongue. At that moment, Jesus appeared to me and gave me instructions. I obeyed and my tongue was released to speak the word of rebuke. When I did so, the thing was thrown from me by the power of God. The rhema, therefore, was the command I spoke, but without Christ, the Logos, my words would be ineffective. Jesus Christ said, …the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life (John 6:63). This simply means that when Jesus speaks, spirits go forth from Him to do His bidding and from what we have learned, we are being brought into that same realm where we speak with the voice and authority of God.

The power of the spoken word should, however, be understood by the believer. When we abide in the Spirit, a certain authority goes along with the words we speak. We have seen it in action and the only way we can describe it is that it comes like a ray of light flashing from the believer to the enemy. In the case of the creative force, it is like a spirit that goes forth and creates the object spoken into being. This same force from God works in the preaching of the Word. If the person who delivers the Word is speaking with the authority of the Spirit, then the hearers must be blessed and lifted up towards Christ. All of God’s activity in the Church moves the believer towards becoming more and more like Christ; the spoken word is a creative force which not only attracts the spirits of heaven to us, but buoys us up into the heavenlies. The spoken word drives away the spiritual forces of the enemy and not even evil men can stand being around anyone who speaks the Word of God. Yes, we do overcome the enemy by the word of our mouth and the Blood of the Lamb.

There is, however, what I would call, a backup, provided of God in the person of the angels that are constantly guarding us:

“Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”  (Hebrews 1:14)

Angels of God are appointed around every believer to minister for him. We are partners with God, but can only do a certain part of the work (that which pertains to the physical). The angels, however, are appointed of God to do the spiritual. Therefore, when we speak that which pleases God, His spirits act on our behalf. The place of function between man and God as one unit is described in the Word as the lampstand in the Tabernacle of Moses. It is depicted as one of the seven churches as well as one of the seven works of grace that will bring us into perfection (the Man Child Church). In Solomon’s Temple the lampstand was multiplied to ten and was made much larger than the one in Moses’ tabernacle. This shows that there would be a mighty increase in the ministry of God and man working together as well as that the magnitude of light in the Holy Place would be increased ten-fold.

The power of God in the Church has increased immensely, but because of the overspreading of iniquity and abominations, it is not very apparent to us. Nevertheless, we should understand that without this great power it would be impossible for us to even survive the present onslaught of Satan and his hosts.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 1993, pg. 11-13)

Thought for today: The spiritual world is waiting to hear our words and thoughts so that they can carry out their purposes – whether good or bad.

Posted in The Living Word | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Warfare in the Soul

May 11, 2024 by Admin

This message entitled “Warfare in the Soul” was given by Brother Cecil duCille.

For more audio messages please visit Audio Messages – Foundational Teachings.

Posted in Audio Devotionals | Leave a Comment »

The Power of the Spoken Word

May 10, 2024 by Admin

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: John 16:20-27

Ask, and Ye Shall Receive…

The first lesson I received in the power of the spoken word occurred one day when Jesus Christ came into my room during those memorable seven months in which He taught me the Bible personally. We had the usual appointment for four o’clock in the afternoon and I was in a little early, waiting upon Him. Suddenly He was there and His mood and attitude was upbeat. This means that I was lifted up in heavenly places the moment he appeared. He said, “Ask me for anything you desire and you shall have it.”

Immediately, my mind was thrown into a whirl and I could not think of anything to ask for. At first, I thought that, “Here is God; I need to ask Him for something I think He would want me to ask for.” At the same time I found myself thinking that maybe the Scripture had some translation error, which said you should ask for anything you desire. He said, “No, you ask for something that you desire, not what you think God wants you to desire.” I said, “Lord, give me a healing; let me see someone healed.”

I got His word and ran out of the room seeking for a sick person. I found a woman who was given up by the doctors to die shortly. I prayed a little prayer and spoke the word of healing to her, whereupon she got up and was totally healed. The one thing I will never forget is when she saw me inquiring from her husband if she was really sick. She laughed at me and said, “You don’t believe, do you?” It seemed to be too easy to be real.

What does it mean to ask in the name of Jesus? Unfortunately, the carnal person believes that it is by saying the words, “In the name of Jesus,” that it makes it so, but this is far from the truth. All through the Bible, we notice that the word name depicts nature. In Matthew 1:21 the angel said to Joseph:

“Thou shalt call his name Jesus (Iesous in the Greek, from Yeshua, in the Hebrew, meaning Savior); for he shall save his people from their sins.” 

A name always had a meaning. In Africa and India they would never think of naming a child by the name of a devil unless that child was specifically given to that devil. Names carry meanings and the nature of that meaning generally comes forth in the child. In the developed world, we find that some children are called names like Damian which, of course, means demon. If I were given such a name, then as soon as I become conscious of it, I would change it.

Jacob was a supplanter because that was the meaning of his name. He cheated his brother out of his birthright and robbed him of his blessing, but when he met God at Penuel, God wrestled with him all night and literally knocked the devil out of him. That night his name was changed to Israel, Prince of God, because his nature was changed.

When, therefore, we are told to ask in the name of Jesus, we are being told that we must ask as Christ Himself asks—we must ask in His nature. The angels of God that attend to us and do for us the works of God that we cannot do, can only obey the voice of God. When they hear us speak in the voice of Christ, they immediately obey, whether it be to the moving of mountains or of straws.

Whenever the believer is in the Spirit, he or she speaks with the voice of God. We know it is the voice of God (“It is God”) when:

(1) Our spirits bear witness with the spirit that speaks; and,

(2) It agrees with the written Word and the Spirit of God (which is in the Word).

In John 14:16, our Lord told us that He would ask the Father and that He would send us another Comforter.  In John 16:25-26 we are being told by our Lord that there is a day, a set time, when He will not pray to the Father for us: 25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father. 26 At that day ye shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you.

In the next verse, He gave the reason: 27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.

This is indeed a profound statement. Jesus Christ is actually saying that we will have the power to ask and receive as He did; that we will have an open line with the Father.

The hope and life of the church is all centered upon this one point of time, this day of the Lord. In this day, the spoken word will come to its full power. God has created both life and death in the power of the tongue.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 1993, pg. 9-11)

Thought for today: God longs to answer the prayers of His people. Ask in the nature of His Son and the whole heaven will move to fulfill your request.

Posted in The Living Word | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

The Manifestation of the Living Word

May 9, 2024 by Admin

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: John 15:1-11

“…and the Word was God.” The Word is still God. He is still walking among us and living with us; and every utterance of God is God whether spoken through the Christ within or the Christ without; it will create or destroy as God Himself.

The person of Jesus Christ is alive and living with us in our daily operations. He says in Matthew 28:20, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” 

In our salvation experience, it is not just the will of God to give us the Blood of Jesus and the attributes of Jesus Christ, but He is creating in us the person of Christ Himself. Even as Mary became pregnant with the Christ child, so it is that God is impregnating our womb (soul) with Christ Himself in order to take us out of the human and incorporate us into the divine. Some of my readers might have some difficulty with this, but I am not speaking to you of some grandiose theory, but lessons which have been taught me by the Lord and which I have experienced. There is a Living Word, “Christ,” which the believer is destined to receive within his soul before he can enter into Christ. The Holy Ghost does this work. Even as He planted the seed of Christ in Mary, so the process is being repeated in the church. The apostle Paul confirms this in one of his letters to the Galatian church. Had they not been in a spiritual position to understand this, he would not write it to them:

“My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you” (Galatians 4:19).

This speaks of the forming of Christ in the believer as a fetus is formed in the womb; as Jesus was formed in Mary. It would be safe to say that the church is pregnant at this moment. Revelation 12 speaks of the woman being pregnant and in travail to bring forth the man child. This man child is none other than the fullness of Christ as the head and the Church as His Body, which is destined to rule (shepherd) the earth with a shepherd’s staff of iron:

“And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule (shepherd) all nations with a rod of iron…” (Revelation 12:5).

This door is already open to us, but even as the tree of life was awesome to Adam, so that he did not eat of it when he could have done so, even so it is for us. The tree of life, which is Christ, is wide open to us at this time, but it is a dreadful and awesome place for us to enter. The Word in Genesis 3:24 says that an angel with a flaming sword was placed in the Garden to prevent man from returning into Eden:

“So he drove out the man: and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”

The flaming sword that bars the four entrances of the soul will destroy anything human and carnal which tries to enter. The burning at the altar of incense must be complete before we can enter through the veil. Note that the veil has cherubim all over it. This is a symbol of the cherubim in the Garden of Eden. Anyone who dares to enter in will lose his life. If you think I mean he will just die, you are sadly mistaken. I mean he will lose himself totally and immediately would be persecuted by his own. He would be dubbed as absolutely crazy and his goods and estate would be taken and shared up among his family and friends as if he were dead. We had a friend who was so touched of the Lord that he began to give away large sums of his vast riches to the church. A restraining order was brought against him by his son and he nearly got himself thrown into the asylum as being demented.

You may call it the travail of the church, the burning at the altar of incense, or the great tribulation. All of these names would suffice, but our souls must be stripped of the body of this death (human thinking, feeling, hoping, and desiring) before we can receive the full power of the life of the Divine God in the soul. At present this power is in our spirits and by various means He is bombarding us to make the life (or, the Christ) come forth in the soul. The Word says that tribulation worketh patience, but I know now that it is not just patience that it works, but every grace given us of the Spirit. It is the fire that is promised by the Holy Ghost as a baptism of fire, which burns the dross out of the silver and the gold. Upon feeling the slightest sickness or pain, we run to the doctor, and our terror is complete as we hang upon the word of the doctor for his diagnosis. We are afraid of fire; we are afraid that God might burn us to cinders. In our trust and confidence in God, let us trust Him to burn the dross out of us so that when the prince of this world comes, he will find nothing in us.

At this time, just before the end of time, the Lord has begun to bombard all the souls of His people at once. This is called the great tribulation, or the travail of the Church. This bombardment has been continuing for a number of years now and it is getting worse every year. Finally, even as the plagues of Egypt got worse and worse until the culmination of the death angel being loosed at midnight, so shall it be for the world and the Church. The Church is being given the power to overcome just as Israel was in Egypt. In Egypt, they overcame the death angel with obedience to the Word and the blood. At this midnight hour, we will be overcoming with the power of the Word and the Blood:

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death” (Revelation 12:11).

In concluding this part of the word, let me say that the Living Word, Jesus Christ, is in our midst, among us and within us; and when He speaks, it is the obedience to Him that brings the results. In the first miracle of Jesus after His baptism, Mary told the servants at the feast that whatsoever He tells them to do, they should do it. Jesus told them to fill the water pots with water. They did. Then He told them to take the water to the master of the feast as wine. The moment the word went forth from Jesus Christ and the men obeyed, the water became wine:

“If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7).

Here is the formula for spiritual authority:

1.  Abide, abide, abide in Jesus Christ.
2. Let the Word abide in you.

The Word in you as a living person and you in Christ as a living organism – when these come together in divine unison, then every agent of God and nature must obey, for it is the Word of God.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 1993, pg. 7-9)

Thought for today: The Living Word, Jesus Christ, is in our midst, among us and within us; and when He speaks, it is the obedience to Him that brings the results.

Posted in The Living Word | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Older Posts »