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Posts Tagged ‘Body of Christ’

My Vision of the Lord Jesus Christ – Part 2

Posted in Time of the End, tagged , , , , , , on January 30, 2026| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Revelation 11:3

Let us look at Brother Hicks’s vision from our previous devotional in more detail. The Scriptures declares that when a vision is repeated three times, it is a sure sign that it will surely come to pass. I believe this is the case with this vision of Brother Tommy Hicks.

  1. The vision begins with what I believe to be a past condition of the Body of Christ: lying in the dust, covered with the debris and myriads of demons. The body began to quiver and convulse, which is the first sign of awakening. This vision was given in July of 1961, and I believe that the body commenced its convulsions from somewhere around 1948.

You will note that there was first a trembling before the convulsions. The trembling began way back at Azusa Street in Los Angeles, somewhere around 1907. But in 1948, God anointed many ministries, and each one was given the opportunity of preaching the message of the Kingdom or whatever else was chosen. We saw men like William Branham, who is the first man I heard preach a word against the denominational system and make a clear call to humanity to turn from the Babylonish denominations to Christ as head of the Church. It was necessary for a man like Branham to make mistakes, or else men would worship him; therefore, we will not think about the mistakes or faults of these men, but let us think of the ministry which God brought to the Body.

Wigglesworth, Finney, Howe (The builder of Zion City, Chicago), Tommy Hicks, Jack Coe, A. A. Allen, Oral Roberts, Miller (Argentina), McPherson, Seymour—I could fill this page with names. These were genuine miracle workers who God used to bring not only the Church but the world to a new consciousness of His power.

  1. The right arm being lifted up—I am convinced that some of the people of God are His right arm in the earth. The right arm of the Body of Christ is being lifted up in our time, and I believe we will soon see it reaching up into the heavens. The thundering from heaven is the blowing of the Fifth Trumpet (or message), which calls humanity to total surrender to Christ, and the giving up of every other head which rivals the headship of Christ in our lives. This precedes the raising of the left hand, which speaks of the awakening of the people of God who did not catch the first vision, but will recognize the moving of God among one segment of the Body and will repent of their laxity.
  2. The pouring out of the Spirit of God upon this generation is imminent. There is absolutely no doubt that the revival of all revivals is about to break upon us. This great pouring out of the Spirit will bring to pass the rest of the prophecy of Joel, which Peter said commenced with Pentecost. It did not end with Pentecost, but it will end with TABERNACLES. “BEHOLD, GOD HAS TABERNACLED HIMSELF WITHIN MAN” (literal translation of Revelation 21:3).
  3. The pouring out of the liquid light upon the people of the Body is certified by the Word of God in Revelation 11:3, “And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and three score days, clothed in sackcloth.”

The two witnesses are the Spirit and the Word being manifested in human beings—the power of the living Christ Himself with the Firstfruits Company. These will move and walk in the Christ ministry for three and a half years. Even as Jesus Christ ministered in His flesh and blood body for three and a half years, so will the Church. What follows then in the vision is only a description of the Man Child ministry being caught up into the heavenlies, yet ministering here on earth, pushing back the forces of Satan.

  1. It is noteworthy that at one point, some of the brethren turned back from this anointing, because they had lost their positions of pastors, apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers; because the Body of Christ had risen up in maturity and was doing everything and more than these ministries did before.
  2. THE FINAL STAGE OF THIS VISION SAW THE RESURRECTION OF THE SAINTS, AND THEIR BEING CAUGHT UP TO THE THRONE OF GOD. IT IS TRUE THAT WE SHALL BE EXALTED TO THE HIGHEST HEAVENS, AND THAT WE SHALL REIGN AND RULE WITH HIM ON EARTH.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, August 1989)

Thought for today: Behold, God has tabernacled himself within man.

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Who Are the Dead in Christ?

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on January 20, 2026| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: I John 3:23-24

In our previous devotionals we have talked about dying to sin, but what are the signs of being dead in Christ. Those who are dead in the natural have no feelings, and are not involved in the things of the living anymore. So it is those who are dead in Christ – they are not involved in carnality and sinfulness. They do not willfully sin, would be more specific.

I John 3:23-24, “And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.”

Those who abide in Christ are dead – dead to sin. If sin calls, they will not answer because they are dead, but if righteousness calls, they will answer and be ready to obey. It is like a machine that is tuned to one frequency and will not be stirred by another.

2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

The terminology “in Christ” means “under the headship of Christ”, or in other words, “be in the body of Christ.” The beginning of the New Creation Man therefore is In Christ. When Christ becomes the head of the individual, then that person is in Christ. Christ comes into the believer in order to take the believer into Christ. The believer has Christ within his spirit when he is baptized with the Holy Ghost and not before then. This is clearly stated in John 14:17 that there are two operations of the Holy Spirit – with and within.

The dead are those who have crucified the flesh:

Galatians 5:24, “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”

God hides those who are dead in Christ:

Colossians 3:3, “For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God.”

Jesus heals us spiritually, not just naturally by His stripes:

I Peter 2:25, “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes we were healed.”

The believer is being asked of God to attend his own crucifixion every morning he rises. Being dead to sin is not one mighty act of sacrifice and it’s all over with, but a daily uphill task of bringing the members of one’s body under Divine Control. The man whose eyes are used to roving will find that his eyes will, even without his conscious participation, BUT when he submits this condition to God, he will as it were catch up himself just before he commits the crime.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, August 1984)

Thought for today: Let us attend to our own crucifixion today and bring the members of our body under Divine Control.

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God Is Creating a People

Posted in Body of Christ, tagged , , , on December 9, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Colossians 2:9-12

I have heard God speaking in our congregation in our songs, and in prophetic words. We thank God that there is prophesy in the Body of Christ in the midst of us; that God is speaking through the Body in prophesy. You see, God created a prophetic ministry so that the prophesy would be given to the Body. I don’t know if you understand it. The minister ministers to the Body and then the Body ministers. The end result of the ministry is for the Body to minister. The prophetic ministry will be abolished one day. The apostolic ministry will be abolished. All of the other ministries will also be abolished. But guess what we will be? When God abolishes the ministry, the WHOLE BODY will become the ministry, and then you will turn around and minister to the world. This is what God is training you for – to minister to the whole world; to bring the world alive! Because death will not triumph over God’s creation; God’s creation must triumph over death! So that there is no way that Satan is going to have anything near a victory, and we are the people who God is training to use. Now when I say, “We are the people”, please believe me, that WE ARE THE PEOPLE! I didn’t mean us, I mean WE.

In other words, God is creating a people to finish the job that Peter, Paul, James, John, and the apostles began. He is using a people to finish it. When God made Adam, He knew all the trouble that was going to come. He knew all of the destruction, but He looked at Adam and He said, “It is good.” (Genesis 1:31). It was a prophetic Word. God said that ‘it was good’, when it wasn’t good, but He saw things that are not as if they were. God saw that we would come forth and be victorious. So when we sing our songs about Zion, I wonder if we know what we are singing. We are singing about Zion, the very heights of God’s creation, that God is creating within you. You sing, “Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10).

God has not only given us the prophetic ministry, but He has also given us prophets. Prophets are people whose duty it is to prophesy. They have a job, and their job is to prophesy. But then the daughters of Philip prophesied, yet they were not prophets. But there was a prophet named Agabus. (Acts 21:9-10) So God is creating a prophetic nation, a prophetic body. He is creating an apostolic Body. You don’t have to worry about trying to be an apostle now. It is not your time. Your time will soon come when all the ministry of God will be incorporated in the Body, when God incorporates the Body with the fullness of Himself. The Scripture says that Jesus Christ was the “Godhead bodily” incorporated (Colossians 2:9); a walking, talking, God-man. He was the prototype of what God is making us to be.

You have to understand that I am not perfect, BUT I have a Spirit that is perfect. If I can only keep my ears and my heart to follow that Spirit, I will deceive you that I am perfect. I will act like I am perfect and some of you actually believe it. But it’s not true! NEVERTHELESS, I have a perfect Spirit and that is what you are seeing. Do you understand that I am talking about you? The same pertains to you!

(Excerpt from Breaking Through the Veil, a message given in July 2006 in Illinois)

Thought for today: God is training you to minister to the whole world, to bring the world alive.

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Rise up and Do

Posted in Body of Christ, tagged , on November 25, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Psalm 40:7-8

As the days go by, we find God changing the word that comes forth. This is one of the reasons we cannot preach “canned” sermons, because the “can” would be producing the same thing that it produced last year. But we find the word changing and the clarity of it is increasing. Even the same old word is coming more alive. I believe you are finding the same thing: that there is liveliness about the word of God that is coming forth in the body of Christ.

The body of Christ must be alive. The body must minister. God does not have a class of people called ministers. Did you know that? He does not have a class of people called ministers. God has set in the body apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers. But where is the ministry? The ministry is in the body. This means there is no one who can come and say, “God sent me to minister to you,” unless he is a functioning part of the body. We are only different parts of the body of Christ. The finger is as alive as the toe, but the finger cannot do what the toe does; neither can the toe do what the finger does; but it is just as much alive.

God is directing us to an even more detailed understanding of what the body of Christ really is. He wants us to begin to walk in the body and live in the body. That is, if you cannot live as a body member, you are not of the body. We have too many dead members. Or, let’s put it a little better: members that will not exercise their rights to move and to live and to do what God wants us to do. In other words, God is feeding us more energy now; more life is coming forth now into the body than there was before, because this is the time when we are going to have to rise up and do.

(Excerpt from “Led of the Spirit”, Foundational Teachings #F077)

Thought for today: This is the time when we are going to have to rise up and do what God wants us to do.

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In His Name – Part 1

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , , , , on November 14, 2025| 1 Comment »

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By Mavis M. duCille

Scripture reading: Ephesians 4:31-32

In these days, there is so much strife and division among people that there has been the need to cry out, “Lord, how can these things be?”

The natural, physical body functions beautifully and perfectly, without any single part being against the other. This physical body is a type of the Spiritual Body, therefore, there must be a perfect function of the Body of Christ.

God divides and separates through the working of the Spirit – good from evil, light from darkness, righteousness from unrighteousness – so that His people can be free from all the works of the enemy, and be separated unto Him in Holiness and Righteousness – PRAISE GOD.

God, the giver of understanding, has been unveiling the mystery.

Deliverance from every situation is in HIS NAME – not name as label on someone or something, but HIS NAME which is HIS NATURE. That nature is love, peace, submission, etc. Whatsoever we ask in His Name.

So many times, believers come together and leave undelivered and unblessed – frustrated and discouraged, not having received from the Lord that which has been promised. The reason is that something is wrong with the gathering or the gathered; it was not in HIS NATURE. There may be unforgiveness, hatred, bitterness, malice, strife, guile, cunning craftiness, and such things that are contrary to the NATURE of Christ. It is like having flies in the ointment. Clean hands and a pure heart is that acceptable offering before God. Remember, God looks at the inner being. He sees light or darkness. Forgiveness and cleansing through the atonement sanctifies the vessel, making way for the greatest blessings.

God cannot bless while the contrary nature is encouraged in the soul. All the sacrifices and necessary preparations were made in the Outer Court so the services of the tabernacle would not be hindered in any way, hence the needs of the people were met. When Israel made the perfect sacrifice, God was pleased and they were blessed to the fullest. Their enemies could not stand before them; they had complete victory in all areas. When they transgressed, they fell prey to their enemies, even to the bondage of slavery.

The fruits of the flesh (anger, wrath, malice, strife, envy, bitterness, etc.) are all works of the evil one, works of darkness – where Satan presides as lord. When we therefore entertain these, we fall into the realm of darkness where Satan has power over us. We only have power in Christ; we have no power in darkness.

“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with ALL malice: And be ye Kind one to another, TENDERHEARTED, FORGIVING one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath FORGIVEN YOU.” Ephesians 4:31-32.

There should be no place given to the devil, or he will take advantage of every opportunity to rob and destroy.

PRAISE GOD. WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS, because God made available to us, His People, every necessary piece of armament to insure us the victory.

His active presence can be experienced in the fullness of His revealed character. His NAME is linked with His righteousness, faithfulness, holiness, goodness, mercy, love, truth, etc. – that is His NAME. Since the assembling of believers forms the basis for spiritual unity with Christ, for participation of His bounties and viewing of His Sovereignty, believers must, through the divine power, rise from the lower realm (which is the opposite and contrary nature) to partake of that DIVINE NATURE.

God will not share His Glory. There must be a rejecting of one nature in order to receive the other nature. Self takes the place of Christ in the soul – the more self is rejected and cast out, the more of Christ we can have.

(Excerpt from Nuggets for the Needy, pages 57-59)

Thought for today: Deliverance from every situation is in HIS NAME – not name as label on someone or something, but HIS NAME which is HIS NATURE.

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