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Posts Tagged ‘Blood of Jesus’

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Scripture reading: Revelation 2:1-7

We have totally lost sight of Jesus Christ and what He stands for, where He has put us from the very beginning, from the foundation of the world, and the gospel. We need to get back to our first love. Our first love might not necessarily be anything pertaining to the church. When we accepted Jesus as our Saviour, there was a freshness in our first love. If you never had this experience, if never a change came over you, if never the sky looked bluer, if never the earth looked more glorious, if never the peace of God came over you, if never the glory of God came over you – YOU HAVE NOT YET RECEIVED THAT WHICH JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR. Jesus died in order that we might be SAVED. The word saved means reconditioned, reborn, delivered from the thing we were when we were first born of our mothers. We must have a renewing of the mind, a renewing of the spirit, a deliverance from what we were before.

This salvation needs to grow. Many have said that they have received Jesus as their Saviour, are all right, are going to heaven, and can freely do anything they please. This is not salvation. Salvation is a continuous experience, having a beginning and an end. If you turn to Ephesians 1:11-14, you will see that the Word speaks about the end of your salvation. Notice the progression:

11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: 12 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 13 In whom ye also trusted, AFTER that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also AFTER that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Many people do not believe in this progression in God. God is a God of progress and growth. If you are born again, you must grow. You MUST begin to move from that born again position into things higher and into things deeper. Nobody has to preach to you and say that you must do this, and you must talk in tongues, and you must prophesy. Those things do not have to be preached to the true child of God who is following Jesus Christ. The Scripture tells you certain things happen to you as you grow in Christ, but if you do not grow, then you will not have the signs of growth. Some people say that when you receive Jesus as your Saviour, you receive everything. Without going into too much detail, I will say that when you receive Jesus, you receive HIS LIFE to counteract the death that was in you.

God could not do business with a dead man. Therefore, He had to save you, resurrect you, and bring you to the same place where He made Adam. Adam was made a living soul, and you were a dead soul. Dead means you could not respond to God. You could slap or pinch a dead man, you could shout in his ear, but he is dead. That is how God felt towards you for God shouted at you many times. God would touch your body, shake you, wake you up many times but you could not respond to God because you were dead. Now God took some of His life and put it into you through the Blood of Jesus Christ and you became a LIVING SOUL. The Blood of Jesus hovers over the whole world. You can call upon His name and receive His Blood and the Blood quickens you. That is how you know you are saved. No one needs to tell you to say a few words and if you say them right you are saved. This is not a password business that if you say the right password, then you get saved. Nothing of the kind! Sometimes you can get saved by not speaking a word, but just submitting your soul before God and the Spirit of God will come and give you what you ask for. Salvation, therefore, is a quickening of the spirit and a bringing to life of the individual.

When that individual comes alive, he wants living food. Adam was alive but he died because he did not have the Christ. He had neither the Holy Ghost nor the Blood. The Blood first, then the Holy Ghost and then the Christ. This is the right order. After you have been saved, you get the Blood in your soul. When you receive the Holy Ghost, you do not receive the Holy Ghost in your soul. You receive the Holy Ghost in your spirit. The scripture says in Romans 8:16, The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.

Those people who have the Spirit of God have within themselves a witness of God that they are the sons of God – little sons of God. Not little gods, but sons of God. Praise be to God.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 29-31)

Thought for today: Are you growing higher and deeper in God? Remember, God is a God of progress and growth and those that are His must grow in Him.

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Scripture reading: Revelation 2:8-11

We find the church being split in two. Part of them will overcome and the other part will not overcome. There are overcomers and there are losers. Sometimes words do not convey the strength of meaning to us when we hear them. For instance, you hear the word overcomers and you wonder to yourself what is to be overcome. Overcomers first of all overcome their own natures. They overcome the mind of the world, the mind of the flesh, the mind they inherited from their families, and they overcome strong emotions. If you do not overcome your emotions and have them under control, then they will overcome you and destroy you. Overcomers overcome their own will and their own desires.

This is a battle royal when a person overcomes himself through the Blood of Jesus Christ and the power which God has given. For indeed, the Spirit of God has given us power to overcome familiar spirits, old family ties, things that pull us down and make us losers. We are not to go out and overcome other people. We need to overcome the flesh, the devil, and the world. This is what we mean by “he that overcometh.

I John 2:15-17, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

What is the love of the world? One day I went to the supermarket and observed the people. They all looked alike. I knew somehow that some Christians had come in, but there was no difference between the way the Christians looked and the way the sinners looked. They all seemed to be part of the sexual revolution. They were showing as much of their bodies as they could, both men and women, young and old. The mind of the flesh had been ministered from Hollywood, Paris, London, and from other fashion places to the minds of these people. The people have become one with this mind of demonic spirits that control the world.

We must realize that the ways of the world, the thoughts of the world, the emotions of the world, and the desires of the world ARE NOT OF GOD. The people of God ARE EXPECTED to resist these things and to be different. It is difficult, but the Holy Spirit in us will help us to be different. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

We have many songs that say, “I love you, Lord Jesus” and the songs are so beautiful. When you hear the people of God singing, you hope and wish their love was true but there is very little truth in it, because those who love the world do not love God. The quicker we realize we do not love God, the quicker we will come to repentance and say, “Oh God, I have discovered that I love the world and I do not love you. Give me Your love.” God will pour out His Spirit upon you. “He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.” This is the promise to the overcomer.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 36-37)

Thought for today: Remember it is your own nature that you must overcome in order to be the overcomer.

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Scripture reading: Isaiah 7:15 & 22

The world has almost completely reversed the human concept of right and wrong. The only true basis of what is right and what is wrong is the accepting of God as the paragon and Jesus Christ as the “Plumbline”.

Isaiah 5:20, “Woe unto them that call evil good and good evil; that put darkness for light and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”

Darkness is covering the land and gross darkness is taking hold upon the people.

The meaning of the word “contemned” is to disdain or to be contemptible. The Word of God is saying here that we should not esteem those who are evil. The Christian conscience that has been washed by the blood of Jesus Christ abhors evil and does not allow us any kind of pleasure in those who are evil both by their actions and by their life style. On the other hand we find an increasing number of those who profess to be “born again”, freely fraternize with those who are living and fostering an evil and ungodly way of life.

If I should ask my readers, “What is the greatest evil of today that is called good?” I am sure I would receive a multitude of good answers, but most of us would either be afraid to even think of the truth, or if we do, we would shy from the expression of it. The greatest force for good in the world is the CHURCH. There is no doubt about it that God called out a people in Jesus Christ to come out of the world and the things of the world and to be part of His kingdom on the earth. This people are to eventually deliver the earth from all its evil and in the end the “earth will be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea….” BUT if this people, who are the called out of God, who accept the name and the right to be called CHURCH, but refuse to come out of the ways, deeds and thinking of the world, thus looking like the kingdom of God on the outward, but speaking like the world from the inward, then this people would be evil parading as good, darkness parading as light, and bitter showing itself as sweet. There is such a mixture in our present day church system that unless one sees from the eyes of God, it would be almost impossible to discern good from evil.

Romans 12:2, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind THAT ye may prove what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.”

In conclusion let me quote from Isaiah 7:15 & 22:

7:15, “And it shall come to pass, for the abundance of milk that they shall give, he shall eat butter: for butter and honey shall everyone eat that is left in the land.”

7:22, “Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the EVIL, and choose the GOOD.”

Butter and honey represent the pure unadulterated WORD of GOD. The people’s taste is being confused between bitter and sweet, but God has promised that those who desire to know the truth will know it by divine intervention.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, October 1983)

Thought for today: Let us eat butter and honey, the unadulterated Word of God, so that we may be able to refuse the evil and choose the good.

 

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Scripture reading: I Peter 4:17

The children of God who believe in justice and mercy, must agree that a loving God who is abundant in mercy must judge the children of His household before He judges the world.

I Peter 4:17, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?”

God’s judgments take many different forms, some of which include the allowing of His enemies to come against His people to punish them. One of the staunchest laws of God is the law of Sowing and Reaping.

Galatians 6:7, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

Only the Blood of Jesus Christ remits sin, otherwise all sin must be punished. Sometimes we only see the effects on the outward man, and we tend to wonder why would God allow this? But we should never forget that God is righteous and whatsoever is done of God is righteousness.

As an accountant it is very easy for me to understand that there must be a time of reckoning when all the accounts must be balanced. At the end of the business year there is a time of reckoning, but if the business is being liquidated, then all the accounts must be closed at the same time. This concept is the one which the Scripture speaks of in I Peter 4:17.  – The time is come – for what? – for the judgment of the Church.

It is not enough to accept Jesus as Saviour, we should know him as Lord and follow Him. The majority of Christians dwell in the realm of accepting Jesus as Saviour, but following foolish shepherds who are not following the Lord or who follow Him afar off. The present darkness into which the world is entering demands that we follow Jesus the whole way in order to overcome.

Midnight, as mentioned in Matthew 25, is going to separate those who had the work of God done in their souls from those who frustrated the Holy Spirit, not allowing him to do the transformation within the area of the soul. Jesus Christ redeemed our souls by His death, and he came to save our souls. If in the final analysis, we reject the completion of this work in the soul, then the mind and the emotions will remain unregenerated and we will fail to overcome Satan in the power of his strength.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, June 1982)

Thought for today: It is not enough to accept Jesus as Saviour, we must know Him as Lord and follow Him.

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By Mavis M. duCille

Scripture reading: Zachariah 4:6

Taking a look at the Old Testament, there appears much evidence of the weakness of the flesh, like…

DAVID – chosen of God, courageous, a champion, a good soldier, but was led by passion to violate the law; (to) yield to gross sin. When the Spirit of the Lord anointed him, he did mightily; outside of that, he was an ordinary man subject to the weaknesses of the flesh.

MOSES – leader and law-giver of Israel; was as God to the people; spoke with God’s personality; moved mightily under the anointing, but manifested as an ordinary man when provoked.

SAMSON – Showed such supernatural power and might, yet there was the expression of the carnal appetites; weak in resisting temptations.

The plotting, planning, cunning, scheming JACOB (could have been a familiar spirit; mother deceived Isaac, Laban her brother deceived Jacob) had a bout with the angel all night, but thank God he had the tenacity to hang on for the blessing or measure of deliverance which he received towards morning. The Jacob nature must be dealt with by the Spirit before any possession of the Land. No one is going to conquer those giants in the land, but the one who owns the land. The Land is OURSELVES. Each individual is well acquainted with the giants that rise up in his or her own soul to challenge the Spirit. Some have been there so long, that they appear to be part of the person. The individual may even be afraid to lose that spirit which might well be a controlling spirit. Anything that cannot be identified with the gift of the Holy Spirit and righteousness (Christ’s nature) is of the carnal, evil spirit, and must be driven out of the land.

There are so many examples in the Old Testament proving the weakness of man, that it is virtually impossible to deny the fact that “in man dwells no good thing.” Without the Spirit there is bound to be failure.

Take Peter as an example. In the New Testament, Peter had been with Jesus for three and a half years, and seen and shared in all that Jesus manifested; yet, in his humanness, he denied Him before the people, and returned to fishing after Jesus left. No wonder Jesus said to him, “Peter, lovest thou me?” – asking the same question three times and receiving the same answer from Peter, even with a little disgust at the last. Then Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” At one time, Jesus told Peter, “Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee.”

Peter, as well as all of us, have to be fortified by the Holy Spirit’s indwelling, or there is no overcoming of the flesh (the world, the flesh, and the devil). Peter’s impulsiveness and all other weaknesses of the flesh, as well as all of us, have to come under the effectual working of the Spirit if we are to be transformed to HIS IMAGE.

It is not because these characters mentioned in the Bible were bad or evil that they fell short of the expressed image of God, but because in the Old Testament, (or in other words under the old covenant), the Spirit of God was not yet come to indwell the believer (John 7:39), and in (the) three and a half years that Jesus was on the earth with His disciples, the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified. Therefore, Peter was without strength. Jesus said, “when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” When the Spirit fell at Pentecost, Peter rose up in the midst and proclaimed the wonders of salvation.

The willingness to the Spirit anointing was not enough for the Old Testament believers. Some did mightily in spite of their limitations, yet they were judged.

God expects greater overcoming from those to whom He has given not an overshadowing of the Spirit only, but an indwelling portion to all who will receive.

To this FORTY-SECOND GENERATION, therefore, He says, “Thou art inexcusable, O man,” (Romans 2:1), in that God has, through Jesus, laid the way wide open to redeem man from the bondage of corruption (bondage of human nature), and raised us through the Spirit to overcome the weaknesses of the flesh.

“…Not by might, nor by power (in the natural), but by my SPIRIT, saith the Lord of hosts,” Zechariah 4:6.

There is no sin or weakness that the blood of Jesus, the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit cannot overcome.

Walking in the Spirit destroys or retards the weaknesses of the flesh, (and) builds spiritual character, thus the true nature of Christ is formed in the believer.

The Holy Ghost is given and is always willing and ready to purge the dross, that the gold (which is the nature of God) may come forth; that the world may see Christ Jesus living in His temple. As the temple of God, we should allow the Spirit to deal with the weaknesses of the flesh, so that the Divine Nature might destroy the evil nature, and take full control of the man for Christ’s sake. Amen.

(Excerpt from Nuggets for the Needy, 1997, pages 71-74)

Thought for today: There is no sin or weakness that the blood of Jesus, the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit cannot overcome.

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