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Likened unto Ten Virgins – Part 2

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , , on April 6, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Psalm 119:11

Let us continue talking about the virgins today. God is looking at your lamp as we mentioned yesterday. Five of the virgins were wise and five of them were foolish (Matthew 25:3). They that were foolish took their lamps, but took no oil with them. Now, you have the lamp and you have the vessel. The lamp has oil, and oh boy, when you get saved, the lamp is burning bright. But as time goes on, that lamp is going to need more oil. So now, if the lamp is your spirit, God wants you to have a vessel that has oil also. Remember, the oil that brightens your lamp is the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God in you, the thing that quickens your spirit and makes you bright. If you have no oil in your vessel, what does that mean? We are vessels of righteousness. Do you know why we are vessels? The scripture says that ye are the temple of the living God, and that God dwells in you (1 Corinthians 3:17). So we are vessels of God. We are vessels that contain God. If we are vessels that contain God and the vessel is empty, it means we do not have God in the right place! I wonder if you understand. In other words, the devil knows this. He knows that if he gets you angry, you will be out of the Spirit; there is no oil burning there. While the flame of the body is burning, the flame of the soul is low. So the devil will tempt you to get mad. The devil will tempt you to get upset, disturbed! You cannot serve God while you are disturbed, while you are upset!  Do you follow what I am saying?

So God says that if your vessel doesn’t have the oil in it, then at midnight… Now, let me tell you about the word “midnight.” The word midnight has quite a few meanings. One of the things is that your midnight might not be mine, in one sense, right? When you are having trouble, when you are under distress, when darkness comes down upon you – that is your midnight. That is the time you need oil in your vessel, because oil has to be in the right place. Now, where is the vessel? My mind is the vessel. Brethren, for God’s sake, don’t believe, please, that you can spend six days out of the seven with your mind involved with worldly things, not a thought for God, and that at the moment of trouble your mind is going to shift into high gear for God. No sir! Your mind will only shift in high gear for God if you have been meditating on the Word of God. “Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psalm 119:11). The Word of God, hidden in the heart; there is a magic potion in the Word of God. I don’t know if I am using the right words, but the Word of God has something in it, that by itself there is energy and a power that works. Amen! When you are in trouble, you don’t have to think, “Let me think, which word should I use?” I know people who get in trouble and say, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name” (very fast, like a chant). Too late! The spontaneous response to the devil must come from your spirit, from your soul, and it must blast the devil. That is the only time the devil sees light. But if you have to start thinking hard what scripture to quote when the devil is before you, you are in trouble. It says, “Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee” (Psalm 119:11). The Word of God must be hidden in your heart and it must come forth spontaneously with a power that delivers you when you are under pressure. Jesus says, “My sheep will hear my voice.” And He says, “I know them. And they will follow me” (John 10:4, 14). Did you hear that? God is confident that you will follow His voice when you are in trouble, if your mind is stayed on Him!

You know, all of us have our jobs to do. I remember at one time on my job I got to the place where I could be working and doing the job all day, and not be there at all. I was in the Spirit just talking to God, but doing the job. I never forgot the situation (there was a big joke in the department), when the auditor put up his report. There was a penny missing and nobody could find it. They gave me the books to audit. I was in the Spirit; I didn’t eat lunch because I was just praising God and auditing. Checking and auditing. Before the day was done, I found the penny. When you get in the Spirit, when you walk in the Spirit, you can do your work and it does not disturb your being in the Spirit. Yes. You can do your work, and it does not disturb your being in the Spirit. As a matter of fact, you do your work most efficiently when you are in the Spirit and you will discover things that you never thought of.

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

Thought for today: The Word of God must be hidden in your heart and it must come forth spontaneously with a power that delivers you when you are under pressure.

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Likened unto Ten Virgins – Part 1

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , , , on April 5, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Matthew 25:1-7

Let us go to Matthew 25 today. Starting in verse 1, Jesus said, “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins.” I want you to keep in mind that the kingdom of heaven is talking about where we live now. It is talking about where we live! And the kingdom of heaven is likened unto ten virgins. But there is a problem we have. Five of the virgins were wise, and five were foolish. Why five? Couldn’t it be three wise and seven foolish, or six and four? Why did Jesus say five wise and five foolish? Because your Bible is written in such a way that you are not supposed to make any mistakes in understanding what God means. Five is the number of grace, five is the number of ministry and God is saying there is a wise ministry and there is a foolish ministry. Now, you have to make up your mind as to where you are going to be. Are you going to be listening to the wise ministry or to the foolish ministry? The foolish ministry are leading people into a certain direction. The wise ministry are leading people in another direction. You have to decide which direction is the one in which God is leading you. Amen.

It says “virgins.” The word “virgins” in scripture means “Christians.” So, although you are born again, although you are saved, you can be foolish. I mean, I am born again, I am saved, I have done so many foolish things in my life that it is a good thing God didn’t make feet that you can kick yourself! I would be kicking myself! So, you can be foolish, and you can be foolish in a spiritual sense. You know, it is all well and good if you are foolish in the natural, waste money and do things wrong in the natural sometimes. But God is saying that these virgins, these Christians, were foolish in a spiritual way. He was telling us the meaning of foolish. He said in Matthew 25:7 that the virgins took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. Now, you cannot meet the bridegroom without your lamp shining bright. Your lamp must be bright and burning in order to meet the bridegroom. Do you know what your lamp means then? It means your spiritual life.

I am going to explain something to you that you probably never heard before. When we sit in a meeting and a spirit comes in, he looks at us and sees each person’s lamp burning bright or burning dull, burning faint. If he wants someone to tempt, he would be able to go to the one whose lamp looked dullest. So when Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like virgins with lamps,” he meant virgins with lamps, naturally. Spiritually the lamps are there, only we don’t see them with our eyes.

Now, the scripture describes what the lamp is. The spirit of man is the lamp of God, working in the soul (Proverbs 20:27). Do you remember that? The spirit of man is the lamp of God, working in the soul. So what God is saying is that some peoples’ lamps are bright and burning and some peoples’ lamps are running out of oil. Remember now, we are coming towards midnight. We are coming towards midnight. I’m saying to you, midnight is just down the road. I cannot tell you an exact time when midnight will be, because things seem to be progressing much faster than I even thought. Therefore it is not for us to even guess when the midnight will be, but it is for us to be prepared!

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

Thought for today: The foolish ministry are leading people into a certain direction. The wise ministry are leading people in another direction. You have to decide which direction is the one in which God is leading you.

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The Voice of the Master

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , , on April 1, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: John 10:7-14

Turn with me to John 10:7, “Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.” Jesus said, “I am the door of the sheep.” Not just any door, but the door of the sheep. That is, if you are sheep, you must come through that door. When you are talking about sheep, you are talking about the specific nature that God has endowed the brethren with, the nature of the sheep. He said, you MUST come through this door. You cannot go through any other door. Many of us are seeking other doors, but He said, “This is the door! The door of the sheep!”

Verse 8, “All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.” You know, we have had many brethren who felt one thing or another about us fellowshipping together, and they have gone, left us, and gone to fellowship with other people. It is sad, but I meet them on the street, and they say, “Well, I am going to such and such a place. I am fellowshipping now at the Baptist Church or so and so.” I say, “Well, praise God. Are you happy there? Are you blessed?” They say, “Yes.” I say, “Well, that’s where you belong.” If someone can leave us and go somewhere else, and find peace and joy and blessing there, that’s where they belong! Encourage them to stay there! Amen! Because there is something about the sheepfold – there is a voice inside of the sheepfold that is not anywhere else, and it sounds peculiar. But you go into the shopping center and you hear someone talking, and the person’s talk blesses you, that’s the sheepfold. That’s the Lord speaking. You will hear the voice of God in some unlikely places! Oh yes! But when you hear the voice, you must know exactly that you hear the voice of God. “That’s the Lord!” Amen.

After Jesus left the brethren, they felt really down and decided to go fishing. When they were there fishing, there was a man sitting down on the seashore, and he was roasting fish. He said to them, “Come and dine,” and they went and ate with Him and He spoke to them. One of the men said to Peter, “It is the Lord” (John 21:5-14). You know what that means? Jesus had changed. He had changed His face. He had changed His look. They were no longer discerning Jesus Christ by their eyes or by their ears! Amen. But the voice of the Master is planted in my heart, and wherever I hear this voice, that’s where I am going to go. Let’s read a little more.

John 10:9, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:  I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 12 But he that is a hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth; and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. 13 The hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.”

This means that we begin to lose personalities. We don’t say, “Brother So-and-So says this, Sister So-and-So says that.” We begin to say, “The Lord said to me so and so and so and so.” Because when the voice is spoken to you, it is what you hear. If you heard duCille, drop it! Don’t follow it! If you heard God, you are bound. Amen.

So a brother came to me one day and said, “Brother Ces, are you perfect?” I replied, “No, I am not perfect. But if God sent me with a word to you, and I faithfully give the word to you, THAT is perfect!” That is the perfection that we have in the Body of Christ. It is a perfection of a word that comes from the Almighty God to His people. Guess what? It must come at this time or you are a loser! If you do not hear God at this time, you are a loser! Because the time is the last time!

God is coming to the church and the church is NOT READY. Therefore, I asked God one day, “Lord, what are you going to do to bring us from way back here to way up there? What are you going to do?” God said, “Tribulation. Suffering.” The only thing that is going to purify the church is suffering, and we are at the edge of it.

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

Thought for today: The voice of the Master is planted in my heart, and wherever I hear this voice, that’s where I am going to go.

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Begin to Recognize God

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , , on March 31, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Hebrews 11:6

Some years ago I had a vision that we were horses; we had turned into horses. We were supposed to run a race, but there was a lion that wanted to eat one of the horses. We got very indignant and felt that if we got together we could kill this lion. But God spoke and said, “Don’t kill the lion, for the lion has to have his portion.” Nevertheless, we were so indignant that we were going to kill him anyway. This lion came in and sat down in our midst like a man. I went over to him to strike him, but he said, “Remember what God said!” We had to back off. The time came for us to run and all the horses began to run. The lion was running in the back and we knew instinctively that he was going to eat the horses that were in the back. It was very sad but we just had to obey God. It has been a source of sadness in my soul to know that some of us are going to fail.

When I look and see what is happening with some of the young people, that at the time when it is most important for us to press on in God they are pulling back, it makes me sad. Even among the ministry I have seen a pulling back. Many have lost the excitement which we had at the beginning. Instead of pressing forward, they are looking back to the weak and beggarly elements of the world. The world has nothing to offer. Anything that we gain now, we are going to leave it and lose it.

The time has come for us to be one, yet we are more divided. The time has come for us to move forward into God, and yet the situation of the five wise and the five foolish virgins is right in our face (Matthew 25:1-13). One of the problems we have is that we believe maybe half of what we hear. Somebody will not believe this, or believe that, and somebody will say, “This is duCille, and that is.” You must recognize God different from duCille. You must recognize God different from that child, for there are things that that child is going to say which is not that child, it is God!

We have to begin to recognize God in our midst. We are going to begin to understand and BELIEVE GOD! We believe in prophecy. Oh yes. Praise God. We believe in prophecy. A prophecy comes, and it tells you how nice you are, you feel very good, you have it written out and every now and then you read it to feel good. But if that prophecy ever said anything that you didn’t want, you would despise it immediately! This is a wrong nature in us. This nature is leading us into unbelief. For unbelief is not believing part, it is believing part of the whole. If I said, “God said so and so, and so and so, and so and so,” and you believe two out of three, you don’t believe. For if you believe it is God that says the first two, then you have to believe it is God that says the third one! We are going to have to begin to recognize the voice of God as different from other voices that are all around us.

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

Thought for today: We have to begin to recognize God in our midst. We are going to begin to understand and BELIEVE GOD!

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Where Satan Cannot Reach Us

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , on March 30, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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By Mavis M. duCille

Scripture reading: John 14:30

There is a song that we sing, which says, “I am going to see the King.” But it should really say, “I am going to BE as the king!” That is what the Lord is waiting on us for. To BE – to BE what He has called us to BE! Amen. It doesn’t matter how much we sing, how much we read, how much we preach, how much whatever we do – if it does not create in us that nature for which Jesus died, we are wasting our time. We are wasting our time and energy and everything else that God has given, we are casting it off.

SO WE HAVE TO AIM TO BE LIKE HIM in everything that we do; every utterance that we make, to be like Him. We can say a lot of things, because talk is cheap. We don’t have to pay very much for it. BUT we have to pay ALL for the life that we ought to live before the LORD. The “pearl of greatest price” (Matthew 13:46) demands that we sell all. Sell ALL. WE have nothing of ourselves, nothing to hold on to. Nothing that we can even bargain with. We have nothing but HIM. We have to get to that place where we are totally sold out. Sold out, that when the enemy comes knocking at our door, we are not there. He is risen. He is not dead. He is risen. And that is what we have to aim after.

Many times we sing many songs, and it appeals to our emotions, and we think that we are there, but we are not – not until it has worked the perfect work of salvation and deliverance in our souls – then the enemy comes and has nothing in us. That is what Jesus said in His last hours. He said, “The enemy comes and has nothing in me” (John 14:30). That is what He is bringing us into – that when the enemy comes, he has nothing in us, he has no place to tempt us. Even in trials, tribulations, troubles, and everything that we sing about – that is to be the focus. If we have focus on anything else, we are losing the game; we are missing the mark; we are batting hard, but not hitting the mark.

So praise God. We are hoping that when we meet together in the meeting settings, it will bring us closer to reality rather than to generalities; to that which makes us what we ought to be. So that when we leave, when we are by ourselves, or when we are anywhere else, the Blood of Jesus is still standing strong in our souls, that we cannot deny Him as Peter did. “I don’t know the man. I never saw him” (Luke 22:57). But after he met Jesus, Jesus told Him, “When thou art converted, strengthen the brethren” (Luke 22:32).

So there is a certain place that we ought to reach in the Lord, where Satan cannot reach us. And that is what we are to aim for. When we come to meetings, when we gather together, we have to shake off the old-man; shake off the old-deeds; old-doctrine; old sayings; old everything – and let the newness of Christ reign in our hearts, reign at home, reign at work, reign in our business.

I have heard a lot of business people say, “But this is business.” Where is God? Where is Christ? He is to be foremost in our business; foremost in our home; foremost in our marriage. Now there is something that I would like to speak on, because a lot of people think that they are married, but they are only marred – marred by the enemy – stamped by the enemy, because we have been given its stamp, and we are going by that stamp.

But the Word, the Word is a Light, and a lamp unto our feet (Psalms 119:105) and it is plain for everybody, and clear for every stage of life, every stage, from before you were born. There is a word for the unborn child. When you are born, there is a word for you and your parents together. When you are married, there is a word for you that is everlasting. Not for a time, it is everlasting, when the Lord said, “Till death do us part,” He means it! He doesn’t mean that next month, or when things don’t feel right.

So there is a word for every stage of life and that is what we are to lay a hold of. Fix it in your place where you are and it will be life and light unto you. God bless you!

(Excerpt from Jamaica Conference, December 31, 2006)

Thought for today: There is a certain place that we ought to reach in the Lord, where Satan cannot reach us. And that is what we are to aim for.

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