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Archive for the ‘Growing in God’ Category

Receiving the Word of God

Posted in Growing in God, tagged , , on January 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Revelation 7:15-17

Let us look at the verses above. If we put the things they mention in the converse, we will see exactly what was happening to these people. They were hungering, not just for natural food, but for spiritual food. They were thirsting. They were in darkness and He said that the sun would not light on them any more. They were under great pressure from sun and heat and the sufferings of this life. He said He “shall lead them unto living fountains of waters” and He “shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”

Many, many people are Christians who are not receiving the Word of God as they ought to. They are not receiving the deliverance that is in the Word, in the truth of the Word. They are hungering and they are thirsting and they are dying in this state without having had the privilege of hearing the unadulterated Word of God. But there is something here that is beautiful and peculiar. He said that He would feed them. Does that mean that people get fed after they leave this life and go into the heavenlies? Is it possible that the heavenlies have food? Is it possible that Christians do feed on the energy from God? Yes, they do. The angels feed on God’s energy while praising the Lord and so do the people.

However, the truth is that we can begin to feed on God now. You can feed on Him not only by praising Him but also by associating everything you see and hear with the Word of God. Years ago I worked in an office with many men. Some of them would tell dirty jokes in my hearing and watch my reaction. One time one of them told a joke about a man who streaked (ran naked) across a stage. I immediately seized the opportunity to interject Isaiah 20:2 where God told the prophet Isaiah to go naked in the streets of Israel in order to get their attention and reveal to them their spiritual nakedness. The man who told the joke was hit so hard by my opportunistic preaching that he said, “You probably know every scripture in the Bible!” From that time on they kept all their jokes out of my hearing, which was a great blessing to me.

Thought for today: Begin to associate everything you see and hear with scriptural references for most of what is happening now has already happened in your Bible. And as you do, you will receive the Word of God and you will hunger no more.

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The Offering Made for the Soul

Posted in Growing in God, tagged , , , , , on November 30, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Revelation 6:9-11

“The fifth seal” in Revelation 6:9 was the fifth stage or the fifth station in the Tabernacle, where the offering was made for the soul. At the fifth seal, Paul would be there. At the fifth seal, the souls of the apostles and the different brethren who have gone on before would be saying, “How long?”

In verse 10 they were asking the question, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” Then it says in verse 11a that “white robes were given unto every one of them.” That means that they had received THEIR BODIES. They had received their spiritual bodies. “WHITE ROBES,” a covering, means righteousness, holiness, TOTAL COVERING OF GOD. They had received their “white robes.”

Verse 11b, “…and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a LITTLE SEASON, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”

This is a very, very deep saying. Thank God for the understanding which He has given to us pertaining to this particular Word. There are some brethren who are designated by God to be slain. Revelation 11:7 tells us about it. “And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.” A group of people will be killed as the martyrs under the altar were. These are the greatest batch of God’s people. They are called “The Elect.” They shall have gained the fullness of Christ and immortality, just as Jesus Christ did. They are the firstfruits.

Jesus said, “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I LAY DOWN MY LIFE, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again…” John 10:17-18. A set of people will come to that same place. They are called the two witnesses. These two witnesses will be dead for three and a half days, and then they will RESURRECT. Jesus Christ resurrected on the third day. These people will resurrect on the fourth day. They shall be resurrected, stand on their feet, and the judgment will begin.

Verse 11c, “their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.” It is ORDAINED OF GOD that these people “should be killed.” This Word must be fulfilled to finish up the whole cycle of God’s operation. The Revelation is the end or the fulfillment of the things which God has been doing. Therefore, a lot of things that are happening in The Revelation are things that you have seen happening on a smaller scale, coming to their fullness.

Now we will speak about the killing of the saints and the RESURRECTION OF THE SAINTS. The killing of the saints will specifically be ordained of God because He wants them to be resurrected. When Jesus Christ resurrected, He did not show Himself to anybody but the brethren. These people, when they are resurrected, will show themselves to the world.

Jesus learned that Lazarus was sick and He deliberately waited until Lazarus died. Jesus raised him on the fourth day. It was a fourth day resurrection. John 11:4 records, “When Jesus heard that (Lazarus was sick), He said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” Jesus had to manifest the very thing that we are looking at now, the resurrection of the sons of God after three days. This is why Lazarus was not raised until the fourth day. We find this fact in John 11:39. “Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto Him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead FOUR days.”  Therefore there will be a fourth day resurrection of the sons of God.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pages 123-125)

Thought for today: Let us press for the mark of attaining acceptance at the Golden Altar of Incense (the fifth station in the Tabernacle) in order to become part of the First Fruits Company.

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The Still Small Voice of God

Posted in Growing in God, tagged , , , on November 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: 1 Kings 19:9-18

Every believer has a little voice inside him, the still small voice of God. The more you pay attention to it, the more you believe it, the more you move according to it, the bigger and the stronger it grows. When you disobey, when you do not pay attention to it, it grows weaker and weaker. I notice that where there is a pastor and counselors, the voice of God is stifled in the believer. I am here to encourage the voice of God in the believer. When you hear the voice of God within you and you are not sure what it is, you say, “Well, Lord God, because I hear this voice within me and I believe with all my heart it is You, therefore I will go forward.” John 7:17 says, “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” This verse tells you that if you sincerely from your heart desire to know God’s will, He is not going to leave you in the dark. He will not allow the enemy to lie to you and for you to act, believing you are acting in God, when you are really acting in another spirit. It is the people who do not really believe God, who do not really want God, who deceive themselves that they want God who go forward and do wrong in the name of God. No one can do wrong in the name of God and God not correct you, if you are genuine in your heart and believe what you are doing.

Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” When you hunger and thirst for God and for righteousness, you throw the ball back into God’s court. The responsibility and the onus is upon God to give YOU TRUTH. Listening to the voice within is a very important part of every believer’s life. Unless it is encouraged, it will grow weaker and weaker until you do not hear Him at all. You just go running around asking everybody to tell you what God says. The more we keep our hearts and minds clean before God, the easier it will be for us to hear God.

Let us look at the case of Elijah is in 1 Kings 19:11-13. “And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?”

Elijah knew God. The earthquake was frightening. The wind was frightening. The fire was mysterious and filled with everything that was spiritual and wonderful, but he knew God. His heart was not satisfied until he heard the still small voice of God. There is a voice within. We must pay attention because the voice is speaking in the temple. If the temple is not clean and ready, it will not hear the voice of God.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pages 121-122)

Thought for today: Let us cleanse our temples so that we can hear the still small voice of God each and every day.

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The Devil’s Food

Posted in Growing in God, tagged , , on November 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Revelation 6:7-8

When the fourth seal was opened (see Revelation 6:7-8), John saw a “PALE” horse and the name of the one who sat on the horse was Death. Death was riding. Can you imagine that death will be riding to and fro through the earth? We have seen this and it is getting worse. “Hell followed,” the Bible says. Death strikes them down and hell swallows them up. We are talking about the death of many sinners. Sinner’s blood will be shed.

You wonder why Satan would kill his own people. He has no power unless he gets it from the human realm. Satan has to kill people in order to get their blood. Blood must be shed for Satan’s kingdom to go on. It is like how we kill cattle to get the strength to carry on our lives; we eat meat. Satan lives on humanity.

In Genesis 3:14b God cursed Satan, “Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.” In verse 19 of the same chapter, God said to Adam, “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” Man became DEVIL’S FOOD. It is terrible, but it is great. If you could control the food of your enemy, then you would be assured of victory. All you would have to do is starve him out. If Satan can tempt us and we yield, he takes our energy, he takes our life. If we rise up IN CHRIST, he gets less and less from us. Then he has to depend on the people of the world for his food. You can see what is happening. Eventually, we will overthrow him, because we will cast him entirely out of our lives and out of our business.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pages 114-115)

Thought for today: Let us not submit to the devil’s tricks but let us starve him out so that he would be entirely cast out of our lives.

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The Mystery of the Union with Christ

Posted in Growing in God, tagged , , on November 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: John 17:20-23

The third stage in the Tabernacle, the third seal, is when THE PEOPLE OF GOD BECOME UNITED. Jesus prayed in John 17:21, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” In the countries, mostly in the East, where the people have been greatly persecuted, where darkness covers the land and the government and everything, where persecution is strong against the Christians, the Christians are more one than we in the West. This is the plan of God, to bring His people together into one.

We call this a UNION WITH CHRIST or the candlestick operation, wherein the oil is poured into the candlestick (lampstand) and then it is distributed through all the lamps. The seven lamps are on the same level and they all get the same amount of oil. This candlestick is made of pure gold, which is a type of the nature of Christ. The bowls of the candlestick were “made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower” the stages of fruit bearing. The whole candlestick is covered over by this symbolic artistry. “All it shall be one beaten work of pure gold,” Exodus 25:36b says. The people of God must know that it is fruit-bearing when we abide in the vine.

In John 15, Jesus tells us that unless we abide in the vine, we will be cast out as a branch that has no life. God is speaking to the church to remain in Him, to be attached to Him, and to draw life from Him. This is the message of the candlestick, union with Christ. Christ must have a people, through whom He works, in total obedience to Him. When He moves to the right or to the left, the heavenly hosts move. The people on the earth learn to move with the heavenly hosts. This brings oneness. If there is disobedience, then we cannot receive from God the power and the deliverance we need, because we are not moving with the heavenly hosts and with the angels of God. When God speaks a Word to His people to do anything, it means He has angels who are ready to be with them, for we are not alone. If we disobey in any way, we throw the whole business out of kilter, because God wants us to work with His angels. The work that we cannot do, they will do.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pages 113-114)

Thought for today: As we yield to do the will of God, all of the heavenly angels wait to move and work with us.

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