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How to Pray for Your Enemies

September 22, 2020 by Admin

[Printable version]

By Mavis duCille

Scripture reading: 2 Timothy 2:12

Let me share an experience with you. Someone had hurt us very badly by slander. Of course, I went to God weeping my heart out. The Lord said to me, so clearly, “Oh, you are so sorry for yourself, that you are not able to see the condition of that poor man. He must be in an awful state to cause him to do such a terrible thing to you.” What I saw then was a poor human being taken captive by demons, and manifesting the evil nature of the demons. Surely the man we knew and loved as a Holy Spirit baptized Christian was definitely a different person from the satanic manifestation which came against us. When “I,” “ME” and “MY” were out of the way, my eyes were opened and I began to see from the Mind of Christ. Then and only then I could pray for him.

There I saw myself again; self-pity blinded my eyes so that I could not see the man’s great need. Whenever a person is spiritually bankrupt, God will always use another to pray and activate God’s forces of deliverance. On the other hand, the enemy will do anything to prevent this intercession. Satan very often causes the person in need of prayers to strike at the person who should pray for him/her. If this praying Christian can see beyond self-pity and his own pain through God’s eyes of compassion, then his/her suffering will be nothing compared to the deliverance of the soul in bondage.

“If we suffer, we shall also reign with him,” 2 Timothy 2:12. No one can pray for his enemies unless he/she can see “the enemy” from the perspective of God. That day, as soon as my self-pity was rebuked by the Lord, my eyes were opened, and I could see the awful plight of another human being who needed deliverance.

Dear ones, we must always be watching for the big “I,” “ME” and “MY” which rise up like mountains, always present to block our vision and cloud our minds from seeing and understanding the needs of those around us.

May the Lord help us to prefer one another as brethren, and have compassion on all those who are taken captive by the enemy. We are all in battle against one common foe over whom Jesus Christ has had the victory once and for all, and has lifted us up together with Him so that we too might overcome.

Oh, what a glorious day when the prince of this world will find nothing in us, because we continue to cast him out through the grace of God and the power of the Holy Ghost. Hallelujah.

“Fight the good fight with all thy might
Christ is thy strength and Christ thy light.
Lay hold on life and it shall be
Thy joy and crown eternally.
Run the straight race through God’s good grace,
Lift up thy eyes and seek His face.
Life with its ways before us lie,
Christ is thy truth and Christ thy guide.
Faint not nor fear; His arms are near.
He changes not for thou art dear.
Only believe and thou shalt prove
That Christ is all in all to thee.”

(Excerpt from Nuggets for the Needy, 1997, pages 5-6)

Thought for today: No one can pray for his enemies unless he/she can see “the enemy” from the perspective of God.

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It Is God We Are Dealing with!

September 21, 2020 by Admin

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Scripture reading: John 16:8

When we look at Matthew 25, we can see that at midnight there was a sudden cry made, “Behold the bridegroom comes.” There is a scramble now! There is no way you are going to put your soul straight in a situation of terror. God is saying, “Get your oil in your lamp!” We have oil in the vessel, we know it! Do you know why you know you have oil in your vessel? Put somebody on the piano and as they start to sing a song of God, see how you feel. The Spirit rises up in you, and you feel so blessed. That’s the oil in your lamp, in your spirit. You are all right when you are in the Spirit. You need to be all right when you are in the flesh!! God is saying to us that we have to make another step forward from where we are, so that the soul part of us is also protected under the shadow of the Almighty, just as the spirit part of us is protected.

When the bridegroom came, there was a cry made. Did you notice the scripture didn’t say this one cried, or that one cried? It says that there was a cry made! It means to say that there is a watchman company that God has watching, and when the bridegroom is afar off, he is going to spy Him, and cry out, “Get ready! He’s coming!” And this is what we are hearing now!

When the cry that the bridegroom is coming sounded, all the virgins arose. But for some people it was too late, they were shut out, and they were not in the bride class anymore. I don’t know if you understand what we are talking about. There’s a class of people that God is selecting. He wants some people to reign and to rule with Him, to be the rulers in this world, spiritually. He is now selecting His people. You can be selected and yet you drop out. For even in the selection, it is part of the testing to make you hardened and ready for the job that is ahead of you.

God is saying that if you are going to move, move now! The way that you thought you should move in the past is not the way that God is speaking to you now. God is speaking to us to move on ourselves. Go to God. Be worried about your condition. Some of us want a wife, or we want a husband, and it becomes an obsession to us before God. Go to God with it. “This thing is an obsession to me, it’s disturbing my concentration upon You. Help me!” He might just give you one and that might be the help. But He might say, “Look to the Lord; turn your mind upon God.” And guess what? When you turn your mind upon God, you will get all the things that you need to carry you on the next few steps. It is a God we are dealing with! It is not a man! Amen!

But we have to trust Him. Many of us don’t trust God. I am telling you, we don’t trust Him! I had a confrontation, a good confrontation with one of my dearly beloved brethren. It was, “Oh, brethren, please pray for my son. Please pray for my son. Oh, God!” I said, “Do you think you love that boy more than God does? Leave the boy alone in the hand of God. Just tell God what you want and go rejoicing! God will do the rest! Stop worrying!” If you worry, you don’t believe Him. You are just deceiving yourself that you believe God. We’d better put the things that we need in life before God and say, “Papa, take charge of it.” And we love Him. “You love me, You are going to do it for me.” And you start rejoicing! Forget it! Because this soul must be fixed. Do you hear me? Get into it, put your soul into the shop like you would put your car and leave it. Let God fix it! Because the time is late, late, late, late. I would hate to see anything happen and you just start running. When the situation happened in New York in 2001, all the churches were full! People are still going to church thinking that is the way to appease God. But God wants us to begin to examine ourselves, and the blessed thing about it is that we all are wrong sometimes. Sometimes you say something and you think, “Man, I wish I didn’t say that,” but it was in there and you said it. But that coming out of your mouth, let it be a blessing. If you talk something wrong let it be a blessing, because you are conscious of it and you say, “Oh, God, don’t let this happen again.” And no sooner than you say, “Don’t let it happen again,” it happens again. You know what I mean. Don’t give up on yourself! God is true! John 16:8 says that it is the Holy Ghost that comes to judge the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. Even our righteousness sometimes is not up to mark, but He pricks you, “Alright, Jesus, leave it to me. I’m going to fix it. I won’t do it again.” But He will always be there with you. If we take God as a present help in trouble, One who knows and understands us, we can stop worrying about our condition. Stop worrying about our brethren, our children, or whatever else; put them in the hand of God and say, “Alright, take charge of it, Lord.”

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, April 28, 2002)

Thought for today: When you turn your mind upon God, you will get all the things that you need to carry you on the next few steps. It is a God we are dealing with! It is not a man!

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Travail/Suffering of the Church

September 19, 2020 by Admin

This message entitled “Travail/Suffering of the Church” was given by Brother Cecil duCille in October 1982.

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

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Search Your Soul

September 18, 2020 by Admin

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Scripture reading: Psalm 139:23-24

Matthew 25:6, “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.” Let me tell you a little bit about midnight. Moses knew when it was going to be midnight. The children of Israel knew exactly what time it was; they were told what to do. It was very easy for them to have the lamb prepared, eat the meat with their waist girded and their bags packed, and ready to go at midnight. Amen. There was midnight when Jesus Christ ate the Passover with the brethren, and they knew exactly when midnight was going to be. But in the fullness of the word “midnight,” we do not know when midnight will be. It is only the Spirit of the living God in us that is telling us when midnight will be. We know we are pretty close. Very, very close to it. I would say we are close in just a few years, and yet I can be wrong, for I never thought that the war would have started from now. That means that midnight can come anytime according to God’s calendar. At midnight, the world will face annihilation. We, the people of God, will be called upon to have our lamps burning bright as the five wise virgins; for I believe that there are more souls that are going to be saved in the destruction than at any other time.

We are living in the end of time, time when God says, “You must begin to look about your lamp and your vessel. Make sure your lamp is bright, for it is only this way that you will be delivered.” There are three types of people: Those who take the mark of the beast, those who take the mark of God, and those who are killed. If God wants to save you and you will not take the mark of the Holy Spirit in your forehead, in your mind, so that you can resist the mark of the beast, in order to deliver you from the mark of the beast, what would God do? He will allow you to be killed, to be saved. That is what He did with the people in the flood, at the time of Noah. The Bible says, in the time of the flood they all drowned, only eight people were saved. Yet, the Bible tells us that when Jesus Christ went down to hell, He brought out people from the flood who were to be saved, who heard His voice. They heard the message from Noah, but they didn’t pay heed, and got killed, but they were saved (1 Peter 3:20).

So, God is telling us something. People, search your soul! For God’s sake, brethren, search your soul, stop searching other peoples’ souls, but search your own soul, and say, “See if there be any wicked way in me. Cleanse me, Lord.” Look into your emotions; look at what your emotions are doing. I don’t need to name it out, but the emotions are leading some of you into dark areas. Look at your emotions, and say to your emotions, “I don’t like that feeling. I don’t like how I felt.” Oh, yes! “I don’t like the temptation that I had when I was talking to that sister, or to that brother.” Nobody knows. You and God know it. “I don’t like that temptation.” Go to God with it secretly and say, “Deliver me, oh, Lord God, for in Thee do I put my trust. Let me never be confounded or put to shame.” Hallelujah.

We look around and see the stars falling and yet, we do not know that it is the Bible coming to pass. We see the ministers which are the stars, falling. I read of different ministers, some arrested for being adulterers, some pedophiles. They are falling everywhere. The stars are falling. When you see all that around you, say, “Oh God, preserve me, for in Thee do I put my trust. Let me not be confounded or put to shame.”

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, April 28, 2002)

Thought for today: Search your soul and say, “See if there be any wicked way in me. Cleanse me, Lord.”

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What Is God Judging You for?

September 17, 2020 by Admin

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Matthew 25:6-13

When you get baptized in the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God comes into your spirit. He does not come into your soul. So when you get baptized in the Holy Ghost the Spirit of God is in your spirit. When you consider the wise virgins in Matthew 25, they had God’s Spirit in their spirit and God’s Spirit in their soul. Let me tell you what I mean. The Lord begins to say, “So and so, do so and so, don’t do so and so, do so and so,” and you begin to obey the Lord. Do you know what happens to you? The Spirit of God gets into your mind, and obedience to God becomes a part of your life. You walk with God, and it becomes part of your nature. That means that if you are even sleeping, you will dream that you obey God! The Spirit that is in your spirit must move in your soul, that means in your mind. The way you think has a great deal to do with your whole life function. I am telling you, none of us naturally think the way of the Lord. We have to continuously struggle to keep our thoughts in the way of God for the bombardment of the thoughts from everywhere are coming upon us, and we have to continually, continually repeat the Word of God. The Word of God will drive the devils out of your mind.

A brother once told me, “Brother, I am just devastated by carnality. Before I was saved, I used to love to read pornography magazines. I have never been able to get rid of it. It comes popping up before me. When I see the sisters, the pornography comes before me.” Many times the sisters feel bad when I say they need to dress properly because there is a certain amount of temptation that goes to the brothers. I want you to know that there are brothers who are saved but still have trouble. Maybe some sisters have trouble, too. They have to fight in their minds to get out the pornography that was there from years ago. God said it can be done by the Blood of Jesus Christ. And also, some kind cometh not out but by fasting and prayer (Matthew 17:21). You have to fast and pray until God purifies your mind. Some people say, “Well, maybe I need to get married.” It is the worst thing you could do! If you are suffering from carnality, the worst thing you could do is to marry, because you will be taking the carnality home, and you will be training it. Amen.

It is like the foolish virgins. They did not get their souls fixed. Get the things that are in your soul fixed NOW! The things that are in your mind, your emotions. Some people’s emotions run away with them! God Almighty wants you to fix your emotions! If a person finds that he gets angry, whether it be easily or not, don’t take it simple. For God’s sake, right now, get down on it! Do not allow anger to reign in your being, because anger is a sign that a devil is ministering death to you! It is a sign. Remember now, anger is only a manifestation. What is causing it? It is something in your emotions for which your soul wants some oil. Amen. The man who gets angry is the same man whose emotions are out of control. That will lead him into fornication and other different areas. Therefore, you cannot allow anger to continue. Tell God today, “I don’t want anger in my being anymore!” Many of us have gifts of the Spirit but the gifts are being hindered by the things that we allow in our souls. Do not allow anything in your soul anymore that is not of God. If your mind is slipping off unto carnality, see to it that it is stopped, don’t let it continue.

I know some sisters that wear long dresses to service, because of course, they believe that’s the norm. But as they get home, they take it off and put on shorts. What’s the meaning of that? The meaning is that there is something in the mind that you have not overcome. You want to be feeling worldly, looking worldly, but because you are in an association where people will look at you, you pretend while you are with them. You might as well wear the shorts to service. At least we will all know what the problem is.

You need to understand that God is not judging you for how you look right now. God is judging you for what’s in the mind, and what is manifesting in the mind, is what God is saying. Somebody asks, “Oh, I want to be among the wise virgins.” The wise virgins paid for their oil. They didn’t get it for nothing. You have to suffer to get rid of the things that are in you that are not pleasing to God. You have to suffer. I remember the days when I said to God, “Kill me. This thing is not going to destroy my spiritual life. For I see Jesus, I see God, I see righteousness, this is what I want. I do not want the other thing!” So, do we have a people who are willing to give up their lives to receive life? To give up what you like, what you want to do, what you feel like inside in order to have the life of God, to be among the wise virgins?

Do you believe there is a time when the door is going to be closed, and there will be nobody else accepted to be in the bride class? If you believe there is such a time, when do you believe the time is going to be? Let me tell you something else, too. There are some people who are disqualified before the selection. Disqualified before the selection! The reason is, they have crossed the line and made up their mind that they are not going to make it, so they just go. That cannot be done unless you are motivated by the devil. For God is doing everything possible to make His people be the first fruits! Everybody! And, He is doing everything possible for you, too.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, April 28, 2002)

Thought for today: God is not judging you for how you look but for what is in your mind and what is manifesting in your mind.

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