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Archive for the ‘Body of Christ’ Category

Submitting to the Head

Posted in Body of Christ, tagged , , , on February 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Ephesians 1:15-23

Let us look a little closer at the body of Christ. I am a part of the body and you are a part of the body. For example, you are an eye; then I ask you, “Brother Jim, what have you seen?” Because you are an “eye.” The other one is a “hand,” and I say to him, “Help me to heal my wound. Massage my wound; minister to my wound.” Amen! “You are a hand! Help me here.” Then I am yet another ministry. Maybe some of you are just a “nose.” But the nose was made to “smell.” The great thing about God’s business and what God is saying to us is that a nose cannot “see,” it can only “smell.” A smell is not something that you can see. So if I am in the room and I discern, I call out to my wife, Mavis, “Something is burning!” How do I know? My nose tells me that something is burning in the kitchen. Don’t you hear me? This is the body of Christ! You are different parts of the body of Christ made in order to function, but you will not function if you do not submit to the Head. Amen.

Some noses have a cold, and they cannot smell. In order to smell, you must be healed of the cold. So sometimes the hand has to take some smelling salts (or whatever heals colds) to give it to you to heal the cold, so that your nose might smell. So then, for God’s sake, for Christ’s sake, let the body function, IN YOU! Amen! Praise God!

The thing is now coming together. But, guess what? We have to rise up into the cloud. The more you submit your mind to Jesus, the more you will go up into the cloud and begin to see the will of God for your life. Don’t you understand? Let us rise up by thinking on the Word of God! “By the Word of the Lord, we are made overcomers.”

I wish that I could tell you all that is in my heart. There is a quickening, and the quickening lifts the frequency of your mind, and your mind lifts the frequency of your soul (your feelings, your desires, your will). The more you think on the things of the Lord, the more the frequency lifts, and all of a sudden you find yourself in a heavenly place where you are seeing things of heaven. Paul said that he saw (in the heavenlies) things that could not be uttered (2 Corinthians 12:4). Don’t you understand?

Let me close with this: When it comes to your healing, you need to learn how to submit to the Spirit of God so that He might flow through you. For I cannot see the Spirit of God flowing through a sick body without healing that body. The moment you submit it to God, He is going to heal the body of the sickness. Praise God! Thank you, Jesus.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 2003, pg. 20)

Thought for today: Submit to the Head in your daily operations, let Him flow through you in all you do and the body will function in you.

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The Voice of God and the Voice of the Devil

Posted in Body of Christ, tagged , , , on February 15, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Ephesians 1:9-10

Do you understand what the verses in Ephesians 1:9-10 are saying? It is speaking of every person who is in the body of Christ (every person who is under the head, which is Christ). I am not talking about what people call “the body of Christ.” I am talking about what Christ called “the body of Christ.” Christ calls you “the body of Christ” when you obey the head of Christ. If you are under the Head (Jesus Christ), then you are in the body of Christ. Then, I have no problem with you. For if you say that you have to go to Timbuktu, then I say, “Let me help you! I do not care. It is the Head that said it, so let’s go!” Amen! THOSE WHO ARE IN CHRIST ARE ONE!

Brethren, listen! If you are in Christ, you are going to do what Christ said and not what you hear from all those demon spirits that are talking to the church. Do you hear me? There are tons of demon spirits just crowded around the church people, talking to them and telling them lies! We must be delivered from that! DO NOT LISTEN TO DEMONS!

I say this one thing again and again and again. In every tape you can hear me say, “If you have never heard the devil, you have never heard God!” Do you hear me? If you never heard the devil, how will you know that it is God talking to you when He talks to you? You have heard me often tell the story of the time when the devil came to me early one morning in my prayer time and how he began to talk to me; and how I did not know that it was the devil and accepted it as the voice of God. Then when God rebuked him and came to me, I said, “God, why did You do this to me? Why did You let this happen?” Do you know what God said? He said, “Why did you sit down for a half an hour talking to the devil and did not know that it was the devil?” Can you tell me why? It was because there was something of the devil in me. Yes! For when the voice of God speaks to you, it is the voice of God within you. It is Christ speaking to Christ!

When Adam failed, there was nothing for God to relate to anymore; nothing for God to walk in the evenings with him and talk with him. There was nothing in him for God to relate to. Adam had fallen into a different realm. When the devil speaks to you, you feel disturbed. The reason that there is a disturbance in you is because the Holy Spirit is in you. So if the devil is talking to someone who has the Holy Spirit, the individual must feel pretty bad. There must be some trembling, some distress, some trouble within! Then you know it is the devil. Hallelujah!

We see in Ephesians 1:10 that the Word says that “in the dispensation of the fullness of times” (in this time, in the seventh millennium) God is gathering together everything that is in Christ. But, there is something else mentioned at the end of this verse. Let me read it:

“That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.”

Those who are in Christ in “heaven,” and those who are in Christ on “earth,” will come together in one. The cloud of witnesses will be a part of us when we become a part of the cloud. We are no longer “crowd.” We are joined into the “cloud” (Hebrews 12:1). We are part of the “cloud” and the “cloud” will be part of us! Like the water in the bottle and the bottle in the water. I expect to see Peter, Paul, James and John in our congregation, in our midst, giving us a word. But then they say, “Oh! Cecil is a spiritist because he is dealing with the dead!” But my God is not a God of the dead. He is a God of the living! And when He sends living spirits to me, I feel one with them.

God is saying that at this time, He is bringing a body into a realm that is HIGHER than the church order realm. Now, if you remain in the realm where you are, if you continue to think “church,” you are in trouble. Somebody thinks “church,” and when they do, they think “elders,” and they think “Brother Cecil,” or “Brother Campbell,” or “Brother Burt.” CHURCH! You begin to put us into the realm and thinking that this is “church.” And you have it as something engraved in your mind. BREAK IT! STOP THINKING “CHURCH!” Do not think “church” anymore! Think the “body of Christ.”

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 2003, pg. 18-19)

Thought for today: Can you tell the difference between the voice of God and the voice of the devil? If you can’t, ask God to set you up and teach you so that His voice in your heart would become clear and unshakable.

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Moving into the Spirit

Posted in Body of Christ, tagged , , , , , , on October 31, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Ephesians 1:9-12

I often hear people ask, “How do I get into the Spirit?” First, remember that the Spirit is in you, and you must get into the Spirit. I cannot get into the Spirit by enjoying the music, but I can by listening to the words of the song. Sometimes I listen to you sing, and the praise is good, but it is not high praise. It could be higher. When you get to high praise, you are entirely out of self. You lose yourself completely and you are gone into the heavenlies. We get there by the Word of the Lord. Never sing a song that is unscriptural, and when you sing a scriptural song, think of the words. Think about what you are singing. I hear you singing a beautiful scriptural song, and then you go on to sing the last part, “Amen, Amen…” for a thousand times. I listened to the brethren, and they were singing beautifully. The music was good, the feeling was good, the Spirit was there, but they were not entering into the words of the song. If you dare to enter into those words, you lose yourself. You will either start to weep, or to confess God, or to confess your sins, or all of the above; and to move into God.

There is a “moving in God.” Do you know why? You have to be inside of the High Priest (Who is Jesus Christ) in order to get in the Holy of Holies through the veil. The Bible says the veil was His flesh. The High Priest (Christ) eats the bull with the bread (from the Table of Shewbread) and then goes into the Holy of Holies. That is the only way that a lowly bull would get into the Holy of Holies and into the presence of the Almighty. He has to be inside of the high priest, and I want you to understand that being “in Christ” is a different position than “Christ in you.”

There is a mystery in Christ, and the mystery in Christ is inside of Jesus Christ Himself. You ask yourself the question, “What is Jesus Christ?” To be exact, it cannot be explained, but for us, it is being in the body of Christ. Let us see if we can understand this: Something is happening “IN CHRIST.” First, there is a gathering, a coming together, so that everybody who is “in Christ” is coming together with everybody else who is “in Christ.” There is no separation “in Christ” (see Ephesians 4:13-16).

There is at present, however, separation in the Church; and the separation will increase, for those who are not “in Christ” will find some reason to withdraw. Nevertheless, we are exhorted in the verses in Ephesians 4 to endeavor to strive and to make every effort to “…keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” and that this is accomplished through “longsuffering,” and “forbearing one another in love.”

On the other hand, in Matthew 13, the Scriptures also speak of a separation and of bundles being put together for the fire. Verse 42, “The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend (everything that is offensive), and them which do iniquity.”

The Body is going through a purge. Many people are dropping out and their reasons are varied. Dissension and separation should not come because of disagreements over the time and place of worship, or the how and why, because if we are moving in one Spirit, as it says in the verses from Ephesians 4, “the unity of the Spirit” will bring us into “the unity of the faith.” Everything in Christ, whether in this realm or the other realm, will move together as Christ brings His Body together into one from every tribe and nation.

Have you ever wondered what happened to Jesus Christ at night, when everybody had gone to sleep? He was able to see into the heavenlies, hear the heavenlies, and understand every movement of the Spirit. He had perfect communication with the Father from day to day. THIS IS A REALM INTO WHICH GOD IS MOVING THE BODY. He is lifting us up together with Him into heavenly places, making us one with Him. John in Revelation 5 declares that he heard all heaven and all earth giving glory, and praise, and honor to the Lamb. Then he himself joined them to cry out praises to the Lamb; and heaven, earth and even hell heard him.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, April 1997, pg. 10-12)

Thought for today: Let us move into the Spirit by the Word of the Lord so that we may be able to see into the heavenlies, hear the heavenlies, and understand every movement of the Spirit.

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The Weapons of Our Warfare

Posted in Body of Christ, Spiritual Warfare, tagged , , , , on August 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: II Corinthians 10:1-5

I want to give you a revelation that God has given to me. Many of you know how we have walked through many dark places and have overcome many evil spirits. But what you do not know is that we had been trained by God step-by-step over these years on how to build a foundation in order to be able to stand in the storm. I will explain it to you; I am going to share with you about “The Weapons of Our Warfare.”

Every man who goes to war must be equipped with weaponry and he must be practiced in handling his weapons, or else he has no right in a war. There are different types of weapons and there are different types of people who use the different types of weapons. In war, you have men who fire the big guns; then, you have men who fire small guns and men who use explosives. Each man has his particular department wherein he is an expert. When you need explosives, you do not go fooling around putting explosives together. You call in the group of men who are used to handling explosives. We are talking about the Body of Christ. You do not go to war without all the people and the equipment you need. You do not go to war without the explosives men, without the gunners, without the bombardiers, without the airplanes and the pilots that fly the planes, without the ships. All these are absolutely necessary in a war and no one man is going to handle all that equipment. Therefore, God is calling a body of people together. In order to survive and to overcome, this body of people must recognize one another. When there is a situation where I need bombardment, I must call in the gunners, give them the coordinates of where to drop the shells, because that is where the enemy will be hurt the most. I must know what kind of a battle it is and I must have a knowledge of my own capabilities.

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty….” If these weapons are so mighty, why is it that so many of us are being chewed up by the enemy? Why is it that so many of us are being knocked down, or hurt, or destroyed by the enemy? Why is it that so many of us cannot see where we are now in time? Why is it that so many of us cannot perceive the goodness of God and see what God is doing at this hour? How come, if our weapons are so powerful, so many of us are going to miss it?

OUR WEAPONS ARE ONLY POWERFUL WHEN WE BELIEVE IN THEM. Yes! You have to trust the man in the bomber to come and drop the bombs in the right places. You have to trust the man who is firing the missiles over your head. You have to trust him that he is going to fire over your head and hit the enemy. You have to trust the other men. Your life is in the hands of all the others and their lives are in your hands.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, January 1997, pg. 2-4)

Thought for today: Let us trust our fellow soldiers and pray that they as well as us use the weapons of our warfare effectively.

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Walking in the Body of Christ

Posted in Body of Christ, tagged , , , , on August 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Romans 12:1-9

We have been on the road for God from when we were in our twenties and we have spent a full life for God. We have made our share of mistakes—a lot of mistakes. It is so easy to make mistakes in the human realm. It is so easy to get someone upset when you had no intention to do so. We had to be on our P’s and Q’s in order not to upset people. They did not understand some of the ways we had and we were amazed at some of the ways they had.

I know that anyone who does not function in the Body of Christ ministry is going to make some severe mistakes and his mistakes are not going to be corrected. They are going to grow and grow. And as they grow, the mistakes will grow with them. A man will be walking with a big baggage of mistakes on him and he will be as big as the mistakes; and he will never get over them. Sometimes, God has to call His servants home because they have no more hope, for they will not get away from their errors.

Now remember, it is human to err and it is divine to forgive. Though it is human to err, you do not have to err, but if you make an error, there are several ways of getting the error fixed. I am determined not to walk with an error. So I began to tell the Body of Christ to pick up my errors. Anywhere you see an error, pick it up. Whenever you do not correct me, I feel that I am all right. I have been getting a few corrections these days and I want to correct every one of them. I do not want to be wrong. I want to be perfect. Did you know that? I want to be perfect, but, brethren, our only hope of walking this walk with God is to walk in the Body of Christ.

For forty-odd years I have been preaching this gospel and I have seen many men fall. Mighty men! I mean, men whose shoes I could not walk in because of the power of God that they walk in. And they fell. It bothered me so I asked, “My God, why should so and so fall if he has such a high walk? He is walking in such power of faith—why should he fall?”

I found out a secret. It is very simple: if you walk alone you are a dead man. There are none of us who can survive by going alone. If you have a revelation and you say, “This is my revelation and no man is going to take it away from me, I am going with my revelation,” then you are a loser! You are a loser before you even begin to fight, because the devil knows that and he is going to put a little kink in your revelation. It is a good revelation, a beautiful revelation, but there is a little kink in it. And that little kink will grow and grow like a seed in the concrete and will bust the whole thing open!

There is another thing I learned. A man who is deceived does not know that he is deceived. If he knew, then he would not be deceived! To be deceived means that you do not know. “Deceived” means that you think you are right when you are wrong. You think you are strong when you are weak. You think you are able when you are not able. So, let us humble ourselves before God and walk softly. When you get a word from God and you think it is a big word, walk very softly, because there is always a word against your word. Let me repeat that. For every word of God that you get, there is a word against that word. If you do not handle it right, you will be defeated with the word of God in your hand.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, January 1997, pg. 1-2)

Thought for today: Let us walk very softly in the Body of Christ so that in case we fall into error, the Body will correct us and we will stand.

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