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Spiritual Heights

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , on May 1, 2020| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Romans 8:1-9

In the natural we think of high heights as being above our heads, going up. In the spiritual, height still means above our heads, but above humanity, going up from humanity. We are in a zone between Heaven and hell, between light and darkness. We are the only creatures who are in this realm. We have the privilege of going up into light, brighter, brighter, brighter, brighter or going down into darkness, darker, darker, darker, darker. One time God gave me a word that we are in a twilight zone. We are in a zone where humanity can become devils. You can go so low that you become a devil, and you can get so high that you become an angel of God. I don’t need to preach to you to tell you that you can see that some men have already received the “mark of the beast.” God made man spirit, soul and body. The spirit connects you with God’s Spirit, so it is pulling you up. The soul is in the middle, and the spirit is connected to the soul, but the soul lives in a body, and the body is connected to the earth. So while one is pulling down, the other is pulling up. Every human being is in a position to choose whether he wants to go down or up. The mark of the beast is when one deliberately goes down eradicating their God conscience.

So, in my understanding, when I talk about the “rapture,” I am talking about getting higher with God, and getting so high with Him that you get out of the natural and into the spiritual completely, like where Jesus Christ was. He said, “…the Son of man which is in Heaven” (John 3:13b). You can experience Heaven right here. Hallelujah! Or, you can experience hell. You come into a meeting and the meeting is either “low down” flat on the ground, or you see it rising, rising, rising, rising, and coming up to a level that your mind is compassed with heavenly things, rather than with earthly things. Amen.

God took a nation, a people, and it is not because this people were better than other people, or more numerous than others, but God chose this people, and you cannot quarrel with God. So when God chooses you, you have nothing to say about it. It is not because you are any good thing that God chooses you. “I am pretty and God chose me because of my beauty.” Nothing of the kind. God chooses you because God chooses you, and there is nobody, nothing that can give an answer or a reason why God chose the Jews EXCEPT that He chose one man, and that man was very faithful. They called him the “Father of the faithful” and he became the father of a nation of people. That nation of people affected the whole earth, so that, whereas the earth was going down-down-down into hell, that nation begin to give principles and they began to rise up.

Now, the difference between a beast and a man is that your spirit is subject to God’s Spirit. It has a pull on you, and your soul is attached to your spirit. There is a love and a binding, a marriage, yet to be consummated between your spirit and your soul because there is a third man coming in and this third person is the body; and the body wants to marry the soul. But God said to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life (Romans 8:6). So a tug-of-war goes on and any side that you go on, that is the side that is going to win. If you become carnal, you are going down. If you remain spiritual, you are going up.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, February 2007, pg. 35)

Thought for today: Today, we want to encourage you to be spiritual, and to turn your mind to the things of God.

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Redeem the Time

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , on April 24, 2020| Leave a Comment »

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By Mavis M. duCille

April 1981

Scripture reading: Ephesians 5:16

Over the years the Lord, from time to time, drops little nuggets into my heart, which are always of great blessing as I press on in Him. Many times they throw greater light on a subject, and sometimes are just words of encouragement.

We are aware that the word of God has dimensions: Ephesians 3:18 speaks of the “breadth and length, and depth, and height.”

The Lord spoke to my heart on “redeeming the time” found in Ephesians 5:16, not at all in the same sense I once understood it, but from the standpoint of reclaiming that which we have lost through decadence of the age – “because the days are evil.”

God is calling a people who will not conform to the decay of the age and the falling away from righteousness, but will take another look at the PLUMBLINE and fall in line with Him instead of with the world style.

There is a current of passivity, laxity and sheer ennui sweeping through the halls of Christianity in this hour, which will engulf all those whose eyes are not fixed on the righteousness which Jesus established in HIS CHURCH.

“The kingdom of God is… RIGHTEOUSNESS, and PEACE, AND JOY in the Holy Ghost.” Romans 14:17.

The world has invaded Christendom, thus the striking evidence of spiritual pollution: deceived with empty words.

May God help us to redeem the time, restoring true holiness and righteousness in our whole life. Notwithstanding the fact that there is a price to pay, God has given us grace in abundance.

The exhortation of the whole chapter is that we be imitators of Christ as beloved children: walk in love as Christ loved us, turn from immorality, impurity, etc. “No… man… who is an idolater hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” Ephesians 5:5.

Let us walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all those who are good and right and true. Light makes everything visible. Praise God!

In every age, God has raised up those who will hear and obey Him, thus redeeming their time. There was Noah in his time, Enoch in his, Elijah and Elisha, John the Baptist, and then Jesus came. He paid the supreme price – made such a restoration, bringing redemption – this second Adam. He had perfect command over the fish of the sea, trees of the field, sickness and diseases, and established a generation – the 42nd generation (Matthew 1:17) – making us sons of God, begotten by Jesus Christ, bringing man into union with Himself and the Father. See John 14:23, 17:21, James 1:18.

Let us, therefore, look carefully how we walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, REDEEMING THE TIME. Be not caught in the evil of our day, but draw from the Spirit that nature of God, seeking to know the will of the Father. Then out of our hearts and lives will flow the richest blessings to others. “Thou canst not then be false to any man” (Shakespeare).

The greatest weapon Satan uses against God’s people is division.

We praise God, that as we submit to the working of the Spirit with us, our corruptible nature is being changed from death to life. Finally we will emerge in His likeness, that when He appears we shall be like Him.

(Excerpt from Nuggets for the Needy, pg. 1-3)

Thought for today: In every age, God has raised up those who will hear and obey Him, thus redeeming their time.

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The Dead in Christ Are the First Resurrection

Posted in Christian Walk, Resurrection, tagged , , , , , , on April 23, 2020| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Romans 8:19-23

I Thessalonians 4:16, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the Dead In Christ shall rise first.”

If this passage stood alone then it might not have carried out the point of the dead in Christ so strongly, but in the light of several other scriptures, it is definitely saying that the “dead in Christ” are the First Resurrection.

I Corinthians 15:22-23, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.”

This passage was dealing with the resurrection of the dead and verse 23 tells us that there will be a certain order in the resurrection. All Christians will not be resurrected or changed at the same time, but there is a Firstfruits company which are those who are in Christ. This is the true meaning of this passage. You will notice that it did not say Christ the firstfruit, but Firstfruits. We see here that the word Christ means the many membered Body of Christ with “the Head Jesus Christ” already risen and the Body now ready to come forth.

“If ye be then risen with Christ…” The only way we are risen with Christ is if we are part of His body.

Colossians 1:18, “And he is the head of the body the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead: that in all things he might have the preeminence.”

Revelation 14:4, “These are they which were not defiled by women (the false church); for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb withersoever He goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.”

This is the grandest of the grand prizes. The firstfruits being untouched by the tribulation will be the overcomers which Romans 8:19-23 talks about. They will overcome first their own soul nature, then the world and the Devil. The last victory they will gain will be over death even as they are changed or resurrected to immortality and incorruption. When you overcome your mental attitude, your emotional yearnings, your self-will, and your human desires, through the Blood of Jesus Christ, then you have just begun to be an overcomer.

Nevertheless, the day that we make that covenant with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, that might well be the greatest day of our lives.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, August 1984)

Thought for today: Let us therefore make the Covenant to Go the Whole Way with Christ – to follow the Lamb withersoever He goeth.

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Who Are the Dead in Christ?

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , , , , on April 22, 2020| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: I John 3:23-24

In our previous devotionals we have talked about dying to sin, but what are the signs of being dead in Christ. Those who are dead in the natural have no feelings, and are not involved in the things of the living anymore. So it is those who are dead in Christ – they are not involved in carnality and sinfulness. They do not willfully sin, would be more specific.

I John 3:23-24, “And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”

Those who abide in Christ are dead – dead to sin. If sin calls, they will not answer because they are dead, but if righteousness calls, they will answer and be ready to obey. It is like a machine that is tuned to one frequency and will not be stirred by another.

2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

The terminology “in Christ” means “under the headship of Christ”, or in other words, “be in the body of Christ.” The beginning of the New Creation Man therefore is In Christ. When Christ becomes the head of the individual, then that person is in Christ. Christ comes into the believer in order to take the believer into Christ. The believer has Christ within his spirit when he is baptized with the Holy Ghost and not before then. This is clearly stated in John 14:17 that there are two operations of the Holy Spirit – with and within.

The dead are those who have crucified the flesh:

Galatians 5:24, “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”

God hides those who are dead in Christ:

Colossians 3:3, “For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.”

Jesus heals us spiritually, not just naturally by His stripes:

I Peter 2:25, “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes we were healed.”

The believer is being asked of God to attend his own crucifixion every morning he rises. Being dead to sin is not one mighty act of sacrifice and it’s all over with, but a daily uphill task of bringing the members of one’s body under Divine Control. The man whose eyes are used to roving will find that his eyes will, even without his conscious participation, BUT when he submits this condition to God, he will as it were catch up himself just before he commits the crime.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, August 1984)

Thought for today: Let us attend to our own crucifixion today and bring the members of our body under Divine Control.

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Divine Order

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 21, 2020| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: James 4:7

Divine Order of course is God’s order. This order dictates that a man’s spirit should be under or controlled by “the Spirit of God”; that his soul should be under his spirit and that his body should be controlled by his soul. When one makes a Godly decision, then that person immediately comes under the control of God. In temptation, therefore, resistance is the perfect will of God and the more one resists the stronger one becomes. Let me tell you a story of my personal experience with this premise before I knew the Lord.

In my youth I was prone to violence, but discovered that once I yield to it by striking a blow, etc., I had no power over my actions. One day my brother and I got into a fight and this great power came over me and told me to kill him. I did not want to do it, but I remember being forced to take up a weapon and strike at him. The blow missed and the weapon was imbedded into the wooden post of the porch. The first day I came through the gate and saw the mark on that post, I realized the horror of the deed I would have done against my brother whom I loved so much. I asked God there and then to stop me from ever doing that again. God had created the necessary incentive for me to ask Him. Of course at that time I did not know this to be so. The next occasion that there was a confrontation between us, it was right before the mark on the post and I remembered my asking God to help me. The thought that came through my mind at that moment was directly from God, although at that time I did not know it: “Your body does not belong to devils.” – “No force should control your actions but you yourself.” – “Use your will power to prevent yourself fighting.” I was by this time being hit, but would not lift my hand, and I was determined not to retaliate. Sweat came pouring down and my well-groomed black suit and white shirt were wet like a bucket of water had been poured on my head. I WON.

The scripture said, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) I resisted and he fled. That devil never came back to me, or should I say never overcame me for two long years. After two years he tricked me, and being not sure of me, he was playing for keeps, BUT God again intervened and translated me out of that fight. I was lifted out by a supernatural force and placed down the street. I did not know Jesus as my Saviour, but I praised Him that day and now I thank Him personally that “When I was yet without strength” He reached down His hand and saved me.

Crying to God for help brings a person under Divine Order. It is the perfect will of God that man should take God for his helper and Saviour. Truly, God who knows man’s heart might even put him in a crying-out position in order that His Great Love might be able to reach down and help him. The Father could have sent messengers to the Prodigal Son to alleviate his suffering and to stop him from having to feed with swine, but that would have frustrated His own plan, to have the son come to his senses. The hard grind of the pigsty experience brought him to his senses, therefore that experience, though terrible it was, was not evil but good. When we are in the throes of suffering, it is difficult for us to see God’s goodness in allowing us to go through these things. However, we can rest assured that God is working on our behalf.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, August 1984)

Thought for today: In temptation resistance is the perfect will of God and the more one resists the stronger one becomes.

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