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Archive for the ‘Overcoming’ Category

I Must Watch Myself!

Posted in Overcoming, tagged , , , , , on July 15, 2024| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Ephesians 4:26-27

Ephesians 4:26a says, “Be ye angry, and sin not.” I know what it is to get hit hard with words. You should quickly submit yourself to God. We must be under the control of God! The anger must never come to fruition, never show itself or manifest. We must be able to conquer right in the midst of the tribulation. This is what God is saying to us.

Every time I read about the coming of Jesus, I see the warning, “Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.” Watch! Watch! Watch! What is the meaning of watching? It means I MUST WATCH MYSELF. I must watch my mind, what I think, what I believe, and what I submit to. I must watch the thoughts coming from the outside. I must watch the bombardment. Bless be to God, I must be delivered from my besetting sin or my familiar spirits, the spirits my mother had, or my father had, which made them do things contrary to God. These I must overcome by the power of God, by the Spirit of God.

Your first move, brother, sister, is to believe this word! Once you believe it, you can receive it. If you do not believe it, you will never receive it no matter how much you read your Bible.

The four beasts mentioned in Ezekiel 1 and Revelation 4 are natures that are planted in the human realm, within us. They are in our flesh and in our souls trying to destroy the soul. But praise God, “what is good for the goose is good for the gander.” The Spirit of God comes and bombards the soul with radiation, with lights of glory. He bombards the soul night and day, while you are asleep and while you are awake. You only have to leave your God door open. He sets a watch over you. There are guardian angels that watch over you. You should rise up in the morning and say to God that you are vulnerable and ask Him to see to it that you do not sin this day, to see to it that you think no evil or do no wrong this day! Then every time the incidence of evil approaches you, or you think to commit an evil act, or have an evil thought, SOMETHING WILL PRICK YOU, and you will remember that prayer. Sometimes we sin unconsciously. We are so accustomed to sinning that we do not have to think to sin. We just go right ahead and sin. We are not even conscious of it, but the God of heaven has set a watchman within you to make you conscious.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 83)

Thought for today: Watch, Watch, Watch! Pray that you might not enter into temptation.

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Overcoming the Will

Posted in Overcoming, tagged , , , , on July 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Luke 22:39-43

Notice the beasts in Ezekiel versus the beasts in Revelation. The beast that was called an OX in Ezekiel 1 was changed to a CALF in Revelation 4. The implication is, instead of a big, old stubborn ox pulling a plow, we have a calf, humble and willing to suck milk. God is saying, the area of YOUR WILL is to become a calf. Jesus Christ told the disciples that all power was given unto Him in heaven and on earth.

Matthew 28:18-20, And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Jesus had that power and He gave that authority. He was in full charge of His will. A short time before, while in the garden of Gethsemane, He said to the Father, “Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me.” In other words, “Couldn’t we do it another way? Couldn’t we finish the devil right here and now?” Then He said, “Nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.”

The only hope for us and our will is that it be subject to the will of the Father.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 80)

Thought for today: Let our prayer be as our Lord’s, “O Father, Not My Will, but Thine Be Done.”

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Overcoming the Mind of Man

Posted in Overcoming, tagged , , , , on July 2, 2024| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Isaiah 26:3, Psalm 119:11 & 105

The mind of man is like the head of a person. The Bible tells us that if your mind is stayed on God, then you will have perfect peace. If you have any kind of problem in your life that attacks you from the body and you have tried many ways to control it and you cannot, the reason is that you are NOT using the right tool, THE WORD OF GOD. Psalm 119:11, “Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Verse 105, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

There is only one way of sustaining yourself in God and that is by saturating your mind with the Word of God. If you can keep your mind stayed on God, then you have the victory won. It is difficult. The mind cannot keep the mind. Unless we apply the science of God as God showed it to us in the Word, we are in trouble. You kneel down to pray and one thousand things bombard you. You say that you are going to pray through and you find yourself thinking about something else. You say that you must try again. You start to pray and again something else happens. The mind has to be strengthened by the SPIRIT OF GOD HIMSELF.

Sometimes it is almost impossible for you to get the Word of God into your mind. I remember when I was in that condition as a young man. I asked God, “What can I do to keep my mind stayed on You?” I was an avid reader and was always interested in a good story. God said to me, “Read all the stories in the Bible and meditate on them.” So I did. I would ask, “What was the meaning of this? Why was this story put into the Bible? Why did this happen?” The moment you begin to search the Word of God in your heart and mind, the Spirit of God WILL COME to your aid and instruct you and have fellowship with you. When the day is done, you will find that you have been meditating on the things of God. THIS IS A GOOD SPIRITUAL HABIT. When you get into the habit of meditating on the Word of God, you will find that you will begin to associate everything you see with the Word.

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 of them told a joke about a man who streaked (ran naked) across a stage. I seized the opportunity to interject immediately Isaiah 20:2 where God told the prophet Isaiah to go naked in the streets of Israel to get their attention, to 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. It was a blessing to me.

Begin to associate everything you see and hear with Scriptural references for most of what is happening now has already happened in your Bible.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 78-79)

Thought for today: Develop a Good Spiritual Habit. Saturate your mind with the Word of God.

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The Four Basic Beast Natures of Man

Posted in Overcoming, tagged , , , , on July 1, 2024| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Ezekiel 1: 4-12

THE SOUL OF MAN HAS FOUR BASIC BEAST NATURES. The mind is symbolized by the eagle, always flying, restless. The emotions are symbolized by the lion, terrible. The will is symbolized by the ox, stubborn. The face of the man is a symbol of the desires, human. Man is a creature of desire. A change must come forth in man’s soul.

JESUS CAME AND DIED TO SAVE MAN’S SOUL. Jesus did not die to save your spirit. Your spirit goes back to God in any event. Your spirit did not need to be saved. You were born in sin and your soul was in iniquity. IT IS THE SOUL AREA THAT NEEDS TO BE SAVED. See Hebrews 10:39.

The nature of the mind is joined to the nature of the emotions. The nature of the emotions is joined to the nature of the will. The nature of the will is joined to the desires. Whatever part of this nature is affected by any circumstance or outside influence then it will affect the other natures. A man gets upset in his emotions and it changes his thinking. He thinks differently. His thinking becomes intoxicated by the madness of his emotions. His will is then changed. Instead of having a will to do probably the right thing, he sometimes finds himself willing to do the wrong thing.

The mind, or the eagle, had a face of the man on one side (desires), the face of the ox on the other side (will), and the face of the lion on the other side (emotions). The mind then has a will of its own, desires of its own, and emotions of its own. There could be an emotional charge coming from the mind. The way you think about things could affect your emotions. This emotional charge comes from the mind and strikes the emotions and the emotions, being stronger, pick it up and affect the will and the whole being of the man. Thus God gave us a spirit, without which we would be just like the brute beast. The spirit, therefore, affects the whole process, to bring some temperance and some moderation to it. If they (the mind, the will, the desires, the emotions) will accept the pleading of the Spirit of God or the moving of the Spirit then this area will be changed to do God’s will. God comes through the spirit of man. “The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly,” Proverbs 20:27.

The mind of man can be influenced by outside influences. Therefore, God plants the Holy Spirit into man’s spirit which has a stronger effect upon the soul nature of the man than any other outside spirit. After a man is saved and brought back from the dead (he was a dead soul and became a living soul), he wants life. A living creature must have living food so he cries out to God and God sends the Holy Spirit into his spirit. HIS SPIRIT MEETS OUR SPIRIT and testifies that we are the children of God. We BECOME THE SONS of God WHEN WE OBEY the Spirit of God (see Romans 8:14). The Holy Spirit, therefore, begins to charge the human spirit which becomes bright, and sends this radiation of power into the natures of the soul.

This soul area is a most complicated area because it has the bombardment of the world, the flesh, and the devil. There is a certain amount of bombardment of influence that comes through a man’s physical, carnal feelings. This is why Satan said in talking to God about Job, in Job 2:4 and 5, “Skin for skin…and he will curse thee to thy face.” In other words, Satan thought if God would let him work Job over (touch his skin, his flesh), then Job would curse God. GOD knew better. God had a relationship with the man. Job was not baptized with the Holy Ghost, but God knew Job had a character like a stone wall. Job was going to hold on. God said to Satan, “Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.” Job was hit by the devil. His children were killed, his cattle were stolen away, his sheep burnt up, his wife turned against him, and he was covered with sores. For three years the man lay on his side in sores and God watched him. Job was down and God withdrew from him that the man might stand alone. JOB STOOD AGAINST SATAN, BEAT HIM AT HIS GAME, and won a victory for all times for humanity IN THE NAME OF GOD, without much help or much strength.

The soul, therefore, is bombarded from the body – from the mind, from the will, from the emotions, and from the desires. God plants life in the soul to overcome death. John 1:5, “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” The translation of the verb “comprehended” is a little bit weak. It could say “the darkness could not overcome, or overthrow, or have the victory over light.” Light shines in the darkness and the darkness flees. The soul has these four areas from which it is bombarded, but the chief area is the mind. If the mind is won for Christ, then it will radiate power and actually stop the bombardment from the other areas.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 77-78)

Thought for today: Are you (your soul) accepting the pleading of the spirit of God in order to be changed?

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God’s Order in the Church

Posted in Overcoming, tagged , , , , on June 11, 2024| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: I Timothy 3:1-13

Let us look into God’s order for the church. His order is that the church should be ruled by elders appointed. It is a plural ministry that God appoints in the church. You might say to me that the word “bishop” is in the Bible. Let us read the King James Version in I Timothy 3:1, “This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.” The whole verse is incorrectly translated. NOTHING IS WRONG WITH THE WORD OF GOD. What is wrong is what man says the Word of God says. Let us look at the Greek. The following is from the Textus Receptus by J. P. Green. I Timothy 3:1, “Faithful the word. If anyone overseership aspires to a good work.” This says that if a man has a desire to take care of God’s flock, God’s people, he desires “a good work.” Notice, there is no word in the Greek which suggests a HIERARCHY or an OFFICE called “bishop.” Also, nothing is said about being a bishop. The word is “overseership.” The word “bishop” is another Latin word that comes in to promote the idea of a hierarchy. The word “bishop” came into the denominations from the Roman Catholic church that ordained a hierarchical set-up, from the Pope on down to the Cardinals, Bishops, etc. This reveals how much the church has departed from God. Divine order, which God set in the church, has been destroyed by traditions.

Let us look at the Greek word “episkopas,” erroneously translated in I Timothy 3:1 as “bishop,” in another place in the Scriptures. In Acts 20, Paul is about to bid a final farewell to the brethren in Ephesus. He was not going to be coming back for he was going to Jerusalem to be offered up. He knew it was the end and he was giving the last message to the church. Acts 20:17, “And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.” The message he is giving them concludes with verse 28, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.” In this case, the same word “episkopas” is translated “overseers,” where as in I Timothy 3:1 it was translated “bishop” bringing in that hierarchical concept.

I Timothy 3:12, “Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.” This word “deacons” was coined from the Greek word “deakonon” which means “servant,” and in this specific place was called “deacons.” There is no such thing as a “deacon.” It should be translated a “servant.” All servants of God should “be the husbands of one wife” and rule their own household.

From the above scriptures we can see that there has been much error brought into the church. Nevertheless, God’s Word prevails.

Revelation 2:7, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”

God always has His overcomers. He is revealing to us that even in this Ephesian church, where some people had fallen away and lost their first love, there were some who were going to be overcomers. We see two churches in the one church – one as overcomers and one as those who do not overcome. This is a picture of all of the churches throughout all of the ages even unto our time. Make your calling and election sure for you can either be an overcomer or a loser.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 34-35)

Thought for today: May we strive to walk in God’s divine order so that we overcome and are blessed to eat of the tree of life.

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