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Posts Tagged ‘Holy Spirit’

Every Knee Shall Bow

Posted in Overcoming, tagged , , , on December 9, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Daniel 7:27

Let us go back again upon the Word and take some context of Matthew 16. First of all, in Matthew 16:13, Jesus says, “Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?” Actually, who men say Jesus is does not really count! Who YOU believe Jesus is – this is what counts! Amen!

Verses 14-15, “…And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am?”

We have not employed the power of Jesus to the extent and with the intensity that we should. We all get in trouble and in the midst of the trouble we sometimes forget to call upon the Name of Jesus. However, I want you to remember that at the name of Jesus, “…every knee shall bow” (Philippians 2:10-11).

What does that mean, “…That at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow?” Somebody believes that it means that the people are going to praise God and say, “Oh, Lord God, you are wonderful.” That is one way to bow the knee – that is the way Christians bow the knee. However, when a strong man meets a stronger man, he bows the knee by force. Now, we are talking about spiritual force here and that we do have the power to overthrow Satan and all his works. Do you know why the Church will do it now? It is because this is the hour and our time has come. The time has come. Our time is near at hand! Let me show it to you, because some people do not believe that we are really at the time.

Daniel 7:27, “And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most high, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.”

Who is the power being given to?  “…the people of the saints of the most high.” They will break Satan! We are not talking about any rapture where we run away and leave things in this condition, but we are talking about beating the devil by the power of the Blood and the Spirit; beating him in this earth, in this life; overcoming him and standing on mount Zion with Jesus Christ! Amen!

We are talking to an overcoming people! Those of you who do not believe in overcoming might as well stop reading now. I am talking to a people who are slated (who are designated; who are mandated) to overcome the devil! The same devil that is striking you in your body; the same devil that is making you sick; the same devil that sends some of us to the hospital; the same devil that sends some of us to every kind of degradation, and sin, and destruction, and distress – that same devil! We are mandated by God to destroy him and we have the power. Oh, yes! We should not bow to the beatings and the slappings of the devil, because if God did not know that we were tough enough, He would not have allowed him to slap us so hard. Some of the things I see some of you going through, I say, “My God, what would I do if I were in that position?”

But the point is that God says of the Sons of God, “…they loved not their lives unto the death” (Revelation 12:11b). God is making soldiers out of us. People who will not give up because the storm is raging. People who will not give up because things are going against them. People who will not give up because they are weary!

Sometimes you feel like you cannot go another minute. You are weary, you are tired, you are distressed, you are embattled on every hand – that is the time to fight! Hallelujah! Amen! For the victory is just ahead!

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, July 1997, pg. 4-6)

Thought for today: Will you take up the challenge and be one of those overcoming people who do not bow to the beatings of the devil? Keep fighting for the victory is at hand!

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Jesus Christ: The Living Substance

Posted in Spiritual Food, tagged , , , on November 25, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Hebrews 10: 18-25

WE MUST FEED ON CHRIST. Hebrews 10:25a, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.” “Ourselves” is the chief word here. You can assemble with the wrong people. If you assemble with the wrong people, you do not feed on Christ, you feed on something else. Isaiah says the people are FEEDING ON “VOMIT.” Isaiah 28:7 and 8, “But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.”

The Lord was saying that the people who fed the people of God were using their own ideas of the Word. Truth is not necessarily what I think about the truth. In other words, what I think about the truth is not necessarily the truth. The truth is Christ Jesus. God has priests, prophets, and ministers to tell the people what He says, and not what they think He says. God called it “vomit” and it is a horrible thing to think of going to the dining table and eating vomit. Forgive me if I have turned your stomach, but it is a terrible thing, and we need to consider it in the most serious light that God shows us. The food today from the seminaries and the churches is filled with error and man’s ideas. I hear many preachers say that THE WORD is literal. The Word of God is not literal. THE WORD IS SPIRITUAL. If you take the Word literally, you are just as wrong as someone who does not believe the Word at all.

In John 6, Jesus came right out and told the Jews that they should eat Him and drink His blood. Some people believe that, because Jesus said this, they have the license to pray over the wine and say that it becomes the Blood of Jesus Christ. They also believe that when they pray over the bread it becomes meat. Thus they disfigure the Word of God. Jesus did not tell us to eat meat. He said that they should eat Him, and there is only ONE WAY you can eat Christ and that is to eat Him spiritually.

In the Old Testament, the Israelites had natural bread and natural meat. They had a lamb. The lamb was not turned into Christ but they ate it, by faith, believing that Jesus Christ would come one day. NOW HE HAS COME, we no longer eat the lamb for that purpose, but we begin to see Christ Jesus as a LIVING SUBSTANCE within that gives us strength and makes us grow in the Spirit. We are NOT looking for a transubstantiation. We are NOT looking to turn the wine into blood. We do not want to drink blood. We want to DRINK CHRIST and the only way we can drink Him is in the Spirit.

Eating the flesh of Jesus Christ would not make you holy. Man is sinful from his HEART and he needs something in his heart to destroy the power of sin. Man does not need wine and bread to destroy the power of sin. The doctrine of transubstantiation destroys the communion, a beautiful thing that God set within our midst. 1 Corinthians 11:26 says, “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.” We cannot break bread with someone we hate. Therefore communion brings a unity among the people of God as well as a unity with Christ. It is not eating the bread and drinking the wine that makes us holy. THE HOLY GHOST MAKES US HOLY.

Christ comes into a person in one way – when a person accepts Jesus Christ as His Saviour. He was a dead soul and God brought the Blood of Jesus Christ into him. A part of God entered into his soul and immediately it quickened the soul and the soul became a living being. Adam was formed “a living soul.” When God made him, He breathed His breath into him and Adam “became a living soul” (see Genesis 2:7). When God breathed into my soul, my soul came alive. Being alive, I wanted living food. I could not feed any longer on the dead things that I used to eat, spiritually speaking. The soul cries out to God, “Give me more that I might be filled.” God sends the Holy Ghost.

There is a time in the life of every believer who receives the Holy Ghost, that he knows it. When He comes in, you know it. He makes a noise, He moves up and down. God said that He wants to walk in us and talk in us, and THEN we would be His children and He would be our God. There is a walking and a talking. I think He moves things around. When I received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, it was something that came into me. Christ came in and there was a quickening, a newness, prophecy, understanding; something new happened. If you have never had this, you do not have the Holy Ghost. Some people speak in tongues and they do not have the Holy Ghost. It is possible to speak in tongues from your mental effort (a psychological thing), from the devil (which I have seen), or from Christ. We need to feed on Christ and there is a Christ within. When Christ comes into the believer, He does not come in until the second work of grace is done. He comes in and that pushes you into the Holy Place (see 1 Corinthians 12:13). When Christ comes in, He is in your spirit and not in your soul. Your SOUL is not filled with the power of Christ, or else you would not act normally or naturally. YOUR SPIRIT IS FILLED. He comes in and He fills your spirit and this spills over into the soul. The Spirit WORKS in the soul. Proverbs 20:27 says, “The spirit of man is the candle (lamp) of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly (which means the soul).” The spirit of man is God’s lamp that searches the soul. When God fills the spirit of man with His Spirit, then there is a powerful work in the soul, and generally the believer prophesies or speaks utterances that he really does not know anything about. God speaks through him.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pages 119-121)

Thought for today: Let us feed upon Christ today so that His Spirit can make us Holy.

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The Mystery of Baptism

Posted in Growing in God, tagged , , , on November 16, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Matthew 3:11

Did you know that the Bible is written in mysteries which are sealed until the appointed time? (See Daniel 12:8-9; Revelation 6.) We thank God that now is the appointed time when all these seals are being opened and the church can understand these mysteries. The first seal is representative of salvation. The second one, which we will be talking about today, is called baptism; it also includes consecration and sanctification. The outer court baptism, or first baptism, is baptism in water. We read this in Matthew 3:11. John the Baptist speaks here not only about one baptism but two – the baptism in water and the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. There is also a third baptism. This third baptism is found in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all BAPTIZED INTO ONE BODY, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”

We go back to the Divine plan in the Word of God. Every word in Scripture is natural in its first dimension. It is spiritual in its second dimension and it is in the fullness in the third dimension. THE WORD OF GOD is a DIMENSIONAL WORD. Let me show you this in the Scriptures. In Ephesians 3:17 and 18, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to COMPREHEND with all saints what is the BREADTH, and LENGTH, and DEPTH, and HEIGHT.” One Word can mean one thing in a certain dimension and when you look at it in a deeper dimension, you find it has depth to it. It has height, width, and length. Notice, there is a fourth dimension. It has depth. Normally, depth and height would be the same, but spiritually they are not.

Many of us contend about baptism and are distressed and deceived about what baptism really is. The Word of God shows that BAPTISM IS A COVENANT MADE WITH GOD by a physical operation. You say what kind of covenant is that? When you marry someone, there must be witnesses and a certificate and a ceremony. All this is necessary because we are still human beings. IN THE SPIRIT, when it is written, IT IS WRITTEN. We must go down into the water and be covered by the water and we must arise out of the water. This is the symbolism. If you do not do the symbol right, then you do not have a baptism.

The symbol of baptism is a three-step operation. We baptize in water and the water covers us. This is the symbol of death. We arise out of the water and are covered by the water. This is the symbol of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. When we go into a spiritual baptism, the Spirit must cover us over, just as the water covered us. Then you go into the fullness of baptism, learning your lesson from the physical operation.

God says that baptism is making a covenant with Him. The covenant is that you will go the whole way – through death, through burial, and through resurrection. This is the symbolism of baptism. All this is very Scriptural. I would encourage you to study this out for yourself. However, I am pressing it upon you that baptism in water is absolutely necessary. God told Moses the tabernacle must be built according to the pattern. Obedience is absolutely necessary in serving God.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 106-107)

Thought for today: Let us not be satisfied in just one dimension but press forward towards the fullness of our baptisms.

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Food for the Bride

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , , , on October 4, 2022| 1 Comment »

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Scripture reading: John 6:48-58

Have you ever thought about who the Holy Place congregation is? (We are talking about types and shadows as we see them in the Tabernacle of Moses: Outer Court, Holy Place, and Holy of Holies.) Let me tell you: the Holy Place congregation are people who have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That does not mean that if you have not received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you cannot be in the Holy Place congregation, because that generally is where you go to get it. But the Holy Place people are the people who walk in the Spirit or are being taught to walk in the Spirit. I want you to notice that it is Holy Place and Holy Spirit. You cannot be holy without the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that makes the church holy, for by nature we are not holy.

Let us go on a little step further. We say that there is a Holy Place congregation. This Holy Place congregation is ministered to by a special Spirit, by a special ministry. That is, that if God has not ordained men to the ministry of the Holy Place, they cannot minister to Holy Place people. Do you understand that? We have been listening to people who are not ministering to us. We have been getting food from tables that are not our table.

How would you like to be getting an Outer Court feeding while you are pressing on in the Holy Place seeking to become like Jesus Christ? You need something stronger. You need stronger food. The men and the women who participate in strenuous sports like running, jumping, etc., have to be fed special food in order to give them the energy to do what they are doing, or else they will be losers. Sometimes the difference between the winner and the loser is the food they eat. This is what God is saying to us: there is a food for the bride in the holy place and God calls it the wedding feast.

If you are expecting to come forth at midnight in the nature of Jesus Christ – why are you found eating food out in the potluck area? We call it potlock, but it really is luck, potluck. You may get it or you may not. Somebody may drop a little Halloween in the pot, and when you go out there it is all sweets, all candies. It is the same in what people are feeding on in the spiritual areas. They are feeding on nice things. They say, “Come, let’s sing a beautiful song and let’s dance.” They sing and dance and have a good time. They are entertained. But God is saying that there is a bride that must have special food, because she must come forth at midnight and bring forth a son; she needs strength for midnight.

At midnight the mighty men are going to fail. At midnight many who think they are the bride will find they have no oil in their vessels. They will have to go out into the darkness to get oil when it is going to be rough business.

(Excerpt from Warfare in the Holy Place, an audio message #1984-11-04)

Thought for today: Feed on the right food and walk in obedience to God so that you are not found lacking when the Bridegroom comes for His bride.

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Jesus Christ Is Coming in His Temple

Posted in Growing in God, tagged , , , , , , on September 20, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Malachi 3:1

Jesus will appear in His temple before He appears in the earth. Let us read from Malachi 3:1. “Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come TO his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.”

In Matthew 16:27 and 28, Jesus is speaking to his disciples. “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.” Jesus was speaking about Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came within His kingdom.

Luke 17:20 and 21 says that we are the kingdom of God. Verse 20 clearly states the context. “And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” These two verses speak of HIS COMING IN US.

Jesus Christ is in us and He is coming in us. Jesus Christ is in the world and He is coming in the world. He is coming in a way that He is not in at present. Jesus came in us through the Blood and through the Holy Ghost and if we continue in Him, He grows in us. The Holy Ghost overshadowed Mary and planted the seed in her womb. There is a planting of the seed of Christ in the womb of the church. THE SOUL OF MAN IS THE WOMB OF THE CHURCH. When Jesus Christ is planted in the soul of man there is a noticeable change in the soul nature. The day you accepted Jesus as your Saviour and received the blood cleansing, there was a marked change in your whole behavior. This change was not satisfactory. I do not know if you are satisfied, but I am not. I am not satisfied with the way my mind works. I have to always keep it under the wraps of the Word of God, to keep it controlled. I am not satisfied with the way my emotions work. They are always going off where Christ is not, and I want to be totally in Christ. I am not satisfied with my will in serving God, for there are inconsistences in my will which say things apart from the direct things that God wants me to do. Therefore I find fault with my will. I find fault with my desires. They are not at all perfect. God says that this work in the soul must come to a point of perfection. He calls it the coming forth of the sons of God.

If we look in Romans 8, we can see what God had revealed to the Apostle Paul in clear language that we can understand. Romans 8:19, “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.”

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 59-60)

Thought for today: Are you satisfied with the way your mind works? Are you satisfied how your will serves God? Are you anxiously waiting with abated breath for the manifestation of the sons of God? Pray that you continue in Him and that He grows in you!

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