Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Keep Your Eyes on Jesus

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: 2 Kings 2:9-13

Let us look today at the story of Elijah and Elisha. Elijah had a man named Elisha. It is peculiar that both names are so close. But I will tell you why. It is because one is a type of Christ, and the other is the type of the church with Christ. If you notice, the two names have some relationship. Eli. Elisha. Elijah. If you take the Hebrew, Elisha: “sh” means “shin,” the character “shin” coming where the other character comes in. Elisha is the one that pertains to Christ, because the “sh” or the “shin” is for Jesus. You can see the same “Shin”, for example, in El Shaddai and it pertains to Jesus. The other one is Elijah – “jah,” which in Hebrew is “Yah,” and means God. Eliyah. It means that one ends in God and the other one ends in Christ. So one is a type of Christ [Elijah], and the other one is a type of Christ in the church [Elisha]. God in Christ, and Christ in the church. Now, Elisha asked for a double portion of what Elijah had. Whereas Elijah ran from Jezebel to hide, Elisha took a room in the palace! Amen. He took a room in the palace. His power was so great that when the king wanted to kill him, he said, “That old fox who wants to kill me, one of you guys go bar the door” (II Kings 6:32). He did not even use any spiritual power to turn the man back, he sent a man to bar the door.

Let us look at this story where they came to the place called Carmel, a point now where Elijah is going to give over his power to Elisha. But Elisha must prove himself worthy to receive this power. So Elijah said to him, “What do you want? Why are you following me like this?” Elisha said, “I want a double portion of your power” (II Kings 2:9). I never heard of anybody asking for a thing like that. Elijah said, “That is a hard thing you are asking, but I tell you what, if you see me when I am being taken up from God, you will be worthy to have that double portion” (II Kings 2:10). Here is the great test. They come to this point and there is a disruption, a distraction of great proportion. Out of nowhere appears a chariot with horses of fire (II Kings 2:11). Can you imagine it now? Fire. I mean horses like fire with fire blazing from them, maybe fire coming out of their nostrils, charging down upon the two men standing together. Remember now, the idea is, “If you can see me when I am taken up, then you can receive the double portion of the Spirit.” What happened? I mean, that’s the natural. But Elisha decided not to submit to the natural. If he had submitted to the natural, he would have been a goner; he would not have received the double portion. But while this thing was coming down on him, he was keeping his eye on Elijah.

I am talking about focus, brethren. We are being bombarded with everything that the devil can conceive; a bombardment that is greater than any generation, any nation, any people has ever had to go through. We are being bombarded with distractions. We are even being distracted by our education, by our desire to be something in the world. God is calling to a people at this time, and saying to this people, “Drop everything that you are doing, because you are at a point of time where you MUST keep your eyes on Jesus, stayed on heaven!”

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, December 12, 2004)

Thought for today: Drop everything that you are doing, because you are at a point of time where you MUST keep your eyes on Jesus, stayed on heaven!

Hungry for Righteousness

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Matthew 5:6

I remember one time listening to the devil, and thinking it was God. How does that happen? How could you listen to the devil and think that it is God? Has that ever happened to you? Have you ever heard the devil and thought that it was God speaking to you? Well, God showed me that what happens is that when you have something wrong inside of you, wrong concepts, wrong desires, wrong thoughts, the devil can speak to you and you will accept it. You have got to be wrong. Let me show you a scripture where God says He will protect you from that. Turn with me to the gospel according to our Brother John 7:17, “If any man will…” The King James says “will” but it means “desires.” “If any man [desires to] do his (God’s) will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” Look at that verse again. If you have a godly desire, if you have a heart-felt desire, if you have a heavenly desire to know anything and question in your heart, “God, is this You, or is this something else?” the Bible says that God’s responsibility is to make you know. God has a responsibility to you, and when He says “you,” He doesn’t care who you are. He doesn’t care how many sins you have fallen into. He doesn’t care what your condition is. If you will cry out to God, “I want to know, Lord,” and the reason that you are wanting to know is that you might serve God, this desire of yours throws the responsibility back on God. Do you understand that?

Let me show you another verse where God must move toward you in righteousness. Turn to Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” Meaning to say, there is no doubt, there is no maybe. It doesn’t say may be filled, it doesn’t say it might happen. It says it SHALL happen. Hallelujah. It says, “…for they shall be filled.” So, if you want to be filled, what do you do? You get hungry. I want you to notice it very carefully that there are certain things that God must do according to His Word and that there are certain conditions under which God will do these things. One of these conditions is the condition of hunger. God MUST fill you if you hunger and thirst after righteousness. There are some people who say, “Well, I’ve been calling to God, I’ve been praying to God, I’ve been crying to God for such a long time and God does not answer me.” It couldn’t be true. Something is wrong about your calling, something is wrong about your praying, something is wrong about your hunger. You probably wanted to make yourself great or whatever. Examine yourself! If you ask for something and you don’t get it, examine yourself. Don’t examine God, for God has already laid down the condition. He said, “If you are hungry.” This is one place where hunger becomes a blessing. He said, “Blessed are the hungry for they shall be filled.” For God will fill them. It is God’s desire, God’s plan to fill them. So, you do not have to fear as far as that is concerned.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, December 12, 2004)

Thought for today: If you want to be filled, get hungry. God MUST fill you if you hunger and thirst after righteousness.

Exercise Your Faith

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Hebrews 11:3

It says in Hebrews 11:3 that God made the worlds through faith. I don’t know if we can really understand it. It is so vast, and so terrible, and big. Look what is up there. Jupiter is so large that three meteorites the size of the Earth flew into its side and only left three little holes in it. That is how big the planet Jupiter is. They said they saw a planet out in the space that is the size of between the Earth and the sun, 90 million miles across. It is God we are talking about! And He said that by faith all these things were built; meaning to say, God believed it, and God spoke it, and it was done.

Try it, brethren. Begin to try little things. Just exercise your faith. The more you exercise it, the bigger it is going to become. You need it now, because you are going to have to have faith in the coming years to be delivered from what is coming on the earth.  Amen.

I was listening to a man one day. He said the Lord showed him that the Christians should get out of debt. I said, “How could we get out of debt when we all have to live in houses?” We all have to buy our cars and by the time you buy a car and finish paying for it, it is about ready for you to buy another one. So you will always be paying for a car. This man said he asked God the same thing and God answered to him, “If you believe, it will happen. Little by little, the money will come, and when it comes, put it against that debt.” As you put it against that debt, he said it is going to pay it off. He showed several people who it happened to. I believe him. I believe if you believe God, you put that first. You don’t say, “But Lord, how can I do it? I don’t have this money and I am only getting so much.” Not necessary. Just believe God and say, “God, do this for me. I do not want to owe this debt. I put it in your hands.” And every money He gives you to pay it, pay it off, and see what happens. May God help us to really reach out and take ahold of that substance that is called faith.

Let us pray: Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we come before You to thank You that You have given us all things in Christ Jesus, and that there is nothing that we want to serve You with that we cannot have. Many of us are sick in our bodies and we are going to put this before You first. We are asking that your body of people might receive divine health. Divine health, Your plan, Your purpose, Your will, and those of us who have an ailment, we need divine healing. Let it be, Lord God. Break the power of sickness from the people of God. LOOSE! AMEN! This is what we believe. Send this power across the world tonight, and break the power of sickness in the lives of the people of God, amen! You said that when the plague came, it would not take us. You said that those who dwell in the land of Goshen were delivered from the plagues of Egypt. There was no plague in Goshen. But, Lord God, when the plague comes, it takes the Christians as well as the sinners. We are asking You now, Lord God, as we reach out in faith, that You will break the power of these different plagues and sicknesses that are going across the land. Save Your people, Lord God! We ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, September 8, 2002, pg. 16-18)

Thought for today: Exercise your faith. Begin to try little things. The more you exercise your faith, the bigger it is going to become.

Eternal Life

This message entitled “Eternal Life” was given by Brother Cecil duCille in May 1974.

For more audio messages please visit Audio Messages – Foundational Teachings.

“I Shall Overcome!”

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Romans 4:5

I wonder how many of you realize that in order for you to overcome the spirits in your life, you have to take two steps. First, you have to believe for faith is the substance of everything you hope for (Hebrews 11:6). Then, you have to speak the word. Do you realize that many of us have problems because we speak the wrong things? You are in trouble, somebody is bothering you, you have a distress, you let certain words come out of your mouth, and the devils crowd around. The moment the words come out, the devils take them as a command, and they can do things in your name that you never intended to do. You must learn to speak the positive word! It is looking dark, it is looking hopeless, but you speak the word, and say, “I shall live and not die. I shall overcome this thing.” Keep speaking it every day. “I shall overcome this thing.” You fall down flat on your face, “I am going to overcome this thing! By the grace of God, by the Blood of Jesus Christ.” The moment you speak the words, God sends His angels to be with you. The next time you will have a better chance, you will find the strength to do it. Amen.

I am talking about 50 years of learning. Fifty-odd years of learning from God. I am giving it to you free. One day, I put my finger on the welding iron. I smelled the flesh burning even before I realized that my finger was on the iron. I grabbed the finger and said, “In the name of Jesus, it shall not hurt me!” I don’t know where the words came from. I didn’t contemplate it before, but I just said it. And no pain! I got happy, and bold, and wanted to show my wife, Mavis, the finger burnt. I didn’t want the finger to be healed right away, I wanted to show her! So I ran inside with the burnt finger, and said, “Look here!” I was ashamed. No burnt finger at all! I am talking about the power of creation that God has put in every little one of you. Don’t go around thinking, “Lord, how sinful I am, how poor I am.” Don’t think about that! God knows that! Begin to speak the Word of life and life will come forth. Amen.

When you have an infirmity, get before the mirror in the mornings and say, “By the grace of God, this infirmity shall be healed. I shall overcome.” You must overcome it. Do you know why? Because you are speaking what God wants. God doesn’t want you to be sick. God doesn’t want you to have infirmities. God wants you to be well, God wants you to be happy. Amen! Don’t you understand? Because you believe God, He said, He will count it for righteousness (Romans 4:5). You try your best, but you are not righteous. But God says, if you believe Him, He will count you just like a righteous person. He will do everything for you like He would do for a righteous person. Can you understand? Look at all these men – Abraham, David… God said David was a man after His own heart (Acts 13:22). A man after God’s own heart going out and committing adultery and murder? But he was a man after God’s own heart. His heart was belonging to God. The devil took hold of his flesh. He didn’t have Jesus, so don’t believe I am telling you that you can do that. He didn’t have Jesus. But then, even those of us who have Jesus and fail, God is still saying to us, “All power is given unto me, in heaven and on earth. Now, you go preach the gospel” (Matthew 28:18-19).

Do you understand what that means? It means that if you turn your mind to believing God, the things that you believe will come to pass and it will make you righteous. Oh, yes! We believe God that we are going to be perfected while we are alive in this flesh. That’s what I believe in God. I believe God that I can stay ten minutes without sin. Do you think that you could do that? Stay ten minutes without sin? If I can stay ten minutes without sin, then I can stay twenty. And if I can stay twenty, I can stay an hour. And if I can stay an hour, then I can stay a day without sin. He will keep them in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him (Isaiah 26:3). So then, it means that we sin with our minds. The body only manifests what is in the mind. We sin, therefore, with our minds. So, God is saying that if you keep God in your heart, in your mind, you will be free from sin.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, September 8, 2002, pg. 11-13)

Thought for today: You must learn to speak the positive word! It is looking dark, it is looking hopeless, but you speak the word, and say, “I shall live and not die. I shall overcome this thing.”