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Keep Climbing up

November 23, 2018 by Admin

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Scripture reading: Obadiah 1:21

We have to understand that we are not going to overcome without the Body of Christ. Without the Body being with us, we have no chance to reach the heights of God. There were many mighty men of God who fell because they didn’t have the Body of Christ behind them.

Some of you do not realize your value before God. You see, you are the mainstay of God’s business. Not the ministers who go forth, you understand. The shaft of the arrow is the thing that drives the arrow and keeps it straight. Amen. The point of the arrow is only the one that pierces, but it is the shaft that does the job. You are the shaft, and God is shooting straight these days. Things are happening amongst us and many are falling. But you know something else, the people will fall, but God has ordained us to save them. Yes. The Ark of the Covenant is a Savior. When the Ark of the Covenant came into the battle line of Israel, Israel began to win. You can imagine how much sin was in those people of Israel, but the Ark of the Covenant made the difference. The seventh church is the Ark of the Covenant, the church that God is training now to save the rest of the church and the world. He said, “But for the elect’s sake, no flesh would be saved” (Matthew 24:22). So you are Saviors, in a sense. God is bringing you up to be Saviors. Your children are falling, all that are around you are falling, but you are ordained to go up there because without being up there, you won’t be able to save them. If someone is drowning, the best way to save him is to throw him a line, stand on firm ground, and haul him in.

So, God is saying to us, don’t worry about the children falling. Don’t worry about the condition of the church you see out there, even the Pentecostal, even the nominal church, because we are the people God has ordained to deliver them! If we get distressed about them and get all hyped up about their condition, we won’t be able to save them. God wants you to keep climbing up. It is when you reach the height that you can speak the Word of deliverance and not before. Amen.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, May 25, 2003)

Thought for today: God wants you to keep climbing up. It is when you reach the height that you can speak the Word of deliverance.

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Kept in Perfect Peace

November 22, 2018 by Admin

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Scripture reading: Isaiah 26:2-3

Have you ever thought about the distraction that comes upon this nation, upon this generation, upon your children? It is something greater, much greater than we have ever seen before. I never suffered the kind of distraction that the children suffer today. Even some of you parents, you never suffered what they suffer, what they are under. Therefore, it is our duty to protect them, to help them to be concentrated upon God. When you read the story about Elijah being taken up into heaven, you find something very interesting. Elijah knew that there was going to be a distraction. But Elijah did not warn Elisha, “Watch out now, remember now, there is going to be a chariot of fire, you must keep your eyes on me.” Nothing of the kind. The man had to pass the test upon his own merits. He had to pass the test according to the godly calling that he had, for he was not worthy to receive a double portion of Elijah if he could not pass that test of distraction.

Brethren, I am talking to you about the distraction that we are undergoing and how you must keep your eyes on Jesus, for everything in this world at this time is designed to take your eyes off Jesus! Hallelujah. Your poverty is a distraction. Your affluence is a distraction. Whether you have money or you have it not is a distraction. You cannot get away from it; anywhere you turn it is a distraction. Keep your eyes on Jesus.

Elisha heard the chariot of fire. The scriptures tell us that it was a chariot, horses of fire, chariot of fire. Who saw it? It had to be Elisha that saw it. It had to be Elisha that told the story. So, he had to see it, and quickly take his mind off it, take his heart off it, and pinpoint Elijah. And then, he saw him taken up. You know, I always preached that Elijah was taken up in a chariot of fire. But he was taken up in a whirlwind. You see what I am saying? On top of the chariot of fire, there was a whirlwind. He was taken up by the whirlwind, not the chariot of fire! So, you can see how much distraction that there was. I don’t think it was all silent. It must have been an uproar, everything that was necessary to get the man’s mind off the concentration on Elijah. The truth is, I don’t see Elijah taking off the coat and waiting for the wind and then throwing the coat to him. I see him shedding the coat when he put on his heavenly garment. He put on a heavenly garment as he shed off the earthly one. I think Elisha caught it. I don’t think it dropped on the ground. The man was on the ball. He caught it. Do you remember the scripture which says that He will keep him in perfect peace? Isaiah 26:2-3, “Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” God wants us to be concentrated, to be focused on Him at this time.

The time is now so short that you are going to have to drop off all the unnecessary things. Drop all the unnecessary things and look towards God. In other words, we are on the home stretch, brethren. We are on the home stretch. God is saying to divest yourself of every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us, and let us run, strip down to a minimum, because God wants you to run the race and to win at this time (Hebrews 12:1). It is a short time that we have. I believe that we should lay down everything that we have and concentrate absolutely upon God and upon the things of God. It is not everybody who is doing that. It is not every Christian who can do that. If God gives us the privilege and the ability, let us use it! Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us (Hebrews 12:1), because I tell you something: the sin that easily besets you is one of the heaviest weights that you carry! When the Bible talks about your besetting sin, it is talking about ancestral sin. I know some people who cannot get away from it. Every time you talk to them they say, “I am so and so and I have to do so and so because I am so and so.” Well, I would like to see you get to be nothing. We don’t want any German, any Jamaican, any American, any whatever you are! We just want to see people say, “I am a son of God, therefore I cannot bow to this. No matter how my grandfather used to do it, I cannot bow to it! No matter how much I have of them in my veins, I cannot bow to it! I can only do what God wants me to do, because I am a son of God.” God bless you.

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

Thought for today: Drop all the unnecessary things and look towards God. In other words, we are on the home stretch.

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Keep Your Eyes on Jesus

November 21, 2018 by Admin

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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!

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Hungry for Righteousness

November 20, 2018 by Admin

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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.

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Exercise Your Faith

November 19, 2018 by Admin

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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.

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