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Archive for the ‘Faith in God’ Category

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Scripture reading: Matthew 7:16-20

The tendency in the groups and bodies around the world, who believe the word of the end time messengers, is to believe that they are the first fruits company or even the overcomers. BELIEVING THE MESSAGE OF THE OVERCOMERS QUALIFIES THE BELIEVER TO BECOME AN OVERCOMER – BUT DOES NOT MAKE HIM ONE.

The high calling of God is given to many, but some fall like Judas going to the very depths of degradation. Others fail in a lesser sense, like the five foolish virgins only losing their position and reward, but not necessarily their souls. There are also others who fail for one reason or another and force God to take them out of the battle rather than allow them to lose everything. The basic point here is that Overcomers must overcome the world, the flesh and the devil. This is the victory. The victory which God requires is that the character of Jesus Christ be formed within the soul of the believer. God will not give the believer OVERCOMING as a present. The believer must overcome using the tools which God has given him.

We, therefore, are being encouraged to turn away from the distractions which are so prevalent within the thinking and operation of the church today. The distractions are subtle and sometimes deceive the best of us. A good example of this is the case they had in Miami, Florida, where two bank robbers, long sought by the Police shot seven FBI men and were themselves shot and killed. It turned out that one of them was a well-known “Born Again” Christian who was publicized in a well-known Christian magazine as a model Christian. The reason why the Christian world accepts and fellowships with devils without recognizing them, is that our criteria for judging, say a Born Again Christian, is absolutely not scriptural but according to our traditions and humanistic thinking.

Let us take for instance the subject of VICTORY for a Christian: It is being taught and preached from the pulpits of almost every realm of the church as meaning those who can get miracles to physical bodies and also financial miracles. Although these can come from God, they are not on a plane where they can be the criteria for judging Godliness. If however, you can get a few miracles done, not only the crowds will come flocking to you, but the whole Christian world will look up to you regardless of your spiritual condition. Some live in adultery and others are fornicators. Some lie and cheat to get offerings and others are lords over God’s heritage, flaunting God to the face, but they are exalted by the church and the world as the greatest Christians of our time. According to the norm of our times, successful ministers must have big congregations and wield influence over many persons to be counted. Is this the victory which Jesus Christ gives? No! The overcomer must live above earthiness. Devils do also get miracles done as stated in the scripture that it would be an end time sign. Jesus Christ gave us a sure word pertaining to the discernment of those who are truly Christians: “By their fruits ye shall know them.” Fruits are different from GIFTS. If He had said by their gifts ye shall know them, then we would be totally deceived. Gifts can be counterfeited, but fruits of the Spirit cannot.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, May 1986)

Thought for today: God will not give the believer OVERCOMING as a present. The believer must overcome using the tools which God has given him.

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Scripture reading: I John 5:5

I John 5:4 speaks of “Whatsoever is born of God” as the overcomer of the world, but let us look at verse 5 which speaks of the WHOSOEVER:

I John 5:5a, “Who is he that overcometh the world?”

This question in itself is a challenge. Do we know him? Are we also overcomers of the world? He said, “The prince of this world cometh and findeth nothing in me.” Is Satan finding something that belongs to him in us? Let us look at the rest of the verse:

I John 5:5b, “—but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God.”

Many of the things some of us do convince me that we do not really believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I am sure this sounds very strange to the reader, but if you just look with me for a while at some practical examples: If we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, then we must also realize that He is here with us and that He knows our thoughts; that in the privacy of our very souls there is nothing hid from Him. How then could we live day after day and go to prayer, some of us even preaching to others, without repentance before Him, of attitudes and thought of others which are not apparent but secret. Every work shall be brought into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or evil.

Do we really believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Then we are overcomers of the world system. When we fear the high and mighty hierarchy of man and cower before his power; when we have to go to politics for our deliverance, then we are denying the power of Christ and we deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Once Jesus visited me in my room, just after I had gone to register for bible school. His eyes were ablaze as if a fiery steam issued from them; He pointed His finger in my face and said, “If you go to bible school, you will be rejecting me as your teacher.” I had no such intention, nor would I ever consciously reject Him as my teacher, but by the act of TAKING ANOTHER TEACHER, I was automatically rejecting the one I had. When we accept certain things or do certain things, we automatically reject other things. Could it be possible that some of us are denying Christ by accepting some other thing or person? Let us walk circumspectly before God so that we can be numbered among those who overcome the world.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, May 1986)

Thought for today: If we believe that Jesus is the Christ, then we must also realize that He is here with us, that He knows our thoughts and that there is nothing hid from Him.

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Scripture reading: I John 5:4

Faith, “born of God,” is the victory which overcomes the world. What do we mean by “faith born of God?” Faith can be born of greed. Someone can have faith to win the lottery, or to play the horses, or to get property. Faith born of God cannot be selfishly motivated. Faith born of God cannot be competitive or prideful – i.e. to have the biggest auditorium in the U.S.A. or the biggest congregation in the world. The root of the faith that is born of God is in God. “Whatsoever is born of God overcomes the world.” Finally faith born of God overcomes the world.

I see the children of God struggling under the burden of worldliness. Even the kids are made to uphold all the worldly standards and be a part of every whim of the world which the kids of the non-Christians uphold. Instead of being taught of God they are taught by the devils of the system. Their paragon is not Jesus Christ and the holy men and women of the Bible, but the cursed televised demons of Hollywood, Paris, San Francisco, and New York. It does not matter how much faith you have for miracles and how much results you might have in this area, if you are not overcoming the world, the flesh, and the devil, then your miracles are nothing but condemnation because you believe in a God of miracles and deny the greatest of all miracles which is the victory over self and sin and Satan.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, May 1986)

Thought for today: Faith born of God overcomes the world.

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Scripture reading: Romans 10:17

It is a common error which most of us make when in the heat of the battle – we forget that our power to overcome does not lie in ourselves or in our effort, but in our faith IN GOD. Faith does not necessarily have to be in God. Men can have faith in themselves, or in other persons, or even in other spirits. Today we find that this positive, but misplaced faith has invaded the Christian realm and is causing people to believe for things which are contrary to God’s will. Faith therefore can produce result and yet be not of God. The type of faith used by a well-known “Rev” in New York to produce property and riches, definitely works for those who believe, yet he does not even pretend that it is of God. This faith forms the basis of occult practices, but more and more it is being used by the Christian ministries to produce material results, without spiritual victory. In order to have the VICTORY we must place our faith in God, NOT COMMANDING GOD, as some of us believe we should do, but BELIEVING HIM to destroy the works of the world and the devil in our lives. To believe God, is righteousness.

Many of us are ready and willing to believe God but are lost in the confusion of voices, and cannot have a clear-cut word upon which to place our faith. God has provided ways and means for us to overcome this confusion.  There are basically three avenues through which God is speaking to us:

  1. God is speaking to us through His ministry – BUT there is a thousand ministers preaching a thousand different messages!
  2. God is speaking to us through His word – BUT there are so many different translations saying different things – I do not know which to follow!
  3. God is speaking to us from within by His own voice – BUT I hear so many voices within that I do not know when it is self, the devil, or God!

In spite of the many ministries and the many voices speaking different things, the Lord God has only one ministry and one voice. Any voice which gives you VICTORY over the world, the flesh, and the devil, is the voice of God. You can get victory over an ailment, or victory over financial problems, BUT that is not the barometer by which you can test the voices. The test lies in the fact that you are gaining the victory over worldliness, carnality, and the influence of the devil in your life. The whole world lies under the influence of the devil; sociology, psychology, all the sciences, and even theology are the instruments of Satan to bring the people under his power. There is not one facet of our physical world around us which is not controlled by Satan, therefore, we must hear the voice of God in order to counteract these other voices.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, May 1986)

Thought for today: Any voice which gives you VICTORY over the world, the flesh, and the devil, is the voice of God.

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By Mavis M. duCille

Scripture reading: Philippians 3:8

For some time now, the Lord has been stressing the responsibilities and sacrifices that accompany the call of the Lord.

Very early experiences with the Lord made it absolutely clear that only a complete separation from the ways of the world could put one in a place that would delight the heart of God, and cause one to enter into His secrets and be a part of His function in the earth.

ABRAHAM, though referred to as a friend of God, could not fulfill his role before God in Terah’s house, because Terah did not overcome his idol worship, and the ways from which man had departed from God since the fall to that time. God, therefore, commanded Abraham, “Get thee out of thy country… and from THY FATHER’S HOUSE, unto a land that I will show thee.” Many people in our time take this in the natural, and reject their parents in such a way that it breaks their parents’ hearts. They do not realize that such an action does in fact open the road to rebellion. The light of God’s presence in one’s life should shine first in one’s own home, then radiate to others. One might not be able to bring his family to the Lord, but LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE. They need the testimony of Jesus. Yes, God intended Abraham to leave physically, which he did, but took his father and nephew with him, which meant that that family spirit went with him. Abraham was part of Terah his father. One can see the result of this, that Abraham could not move on until he settled the Terah question – until Terah died (no matter that God provided a better way for man’s deliverance and perfection). In all this, Abraham did not lose sight of God’s promises to him – the possession of the whole land. There was no satisfaction in his soul in the places where he traveled, though he kept moving on and hoping. The great test of Abraham’s faith came at mount Moriah: the offering of his son Isaac. He could not see the two things working together – to be made the father of many nations and to offer up his only son – BUT HE BELIEVED GOD – he was sold out to FAITH IN GOD.

In the New Testament, Jesus accomplished man’s salvation in His atoning death, making the salvation of man obtainable by faith, so that man must abandon the reliance in his own effort. Whosoever believes on Him shall not perish. Faith and trust are Christian attributes. All Christians should be sold out to Christ, because He establishes not only FAITH, but THE POWER to accomplish. Some, however, are not willing to pay the price. How sad that there are so many who accept the free will offering of salvation through the blood of Jesus, yet are not willing to forsake the world and its attractions to lay hold of the eternal blessings. It is like the contract of marriage which necessitates forsaking all other men and cleaving to your husband, or forsaking all other women and cleaving to your wife. In most of the marriages of this century, honesty and integrity are not the main ingredients, resulting in broken homes and great disasters. Even so in the Christian world, not many are willing to relinquish the striving after the reliance on the world and one’s abilities, to rely totally on FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS.

One who is a believer and called of God is not his own, he is God’s. To believe means to commit one’s self decisively, not only as a past but a continuous action. Believing will take a person out of himself into Christ. Of course, the Holy Spirit in the believer is God’s mark of ownership, which is the earnest of our inheritance; which guarantees the forthcoming of the final ETERNAL LIFE.

Paul saw the need of counting all things as dung to win CHRIST. Because he was SOLD OUT to Christ, he was able to run the race, to finish his course, and to look forward to what was laid up for him when he came face to face with the Messiah.

Although the term “price to pay” is sometimes used by us (Luke 14:28), it is not such a difficult thing as it might seem, because that which is gained far exceeds the investment.

One certainly cannot be used of God satisfactorily, unless that life is laid down completely and made ready for the Master’s use by fire. Total commitment. NOT MY WILL BUT THINE BE DONE, words of Jesus Christ Himself. The disciple is not greater than his Lord.

(Excerpt from Nuggets for the Needy, pages 96-99)

Thought for today: One who is a believer and called of God is not his own, he is God’s. To believe means to commit one’s self decisively, not only as a past but a continuous action.

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