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Posts Tagged ‘Repentance’

True Revival

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , , , , , on December 18, 2020| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Joel 2:19-27

Let us look at Joel 2:23, “Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.”

Previously we have seen rain in the Church. (We are talking about revival: God’s Spirit lifting us up.) He said that is nothing in comparison to what He is about to give you. He is going to send both the former rain and the latter rain in the first month. In other words, you are going to have a flood! It is not just rain we are talking about now, we are talking about a flood that is going to sweep you off your feet and carry you where you did not want to go. This is the rain we are talking about: God’s rain upon the land that totally wipes out the ability of man to protect himself or to stand. It is going to sweep you off of your feet! This is the rain that we are looking for. This is the revival we are looking for at this time.

No more church revival! No more going to church, and people falling down, speaking in tongues, getting up and going on doing their own thing!

In Azusa Street, in about 1906, the power of God was so great that a haze like a smoke came into the building. It was like a fluorescent kind of a haze that shined. It was a shiny haze that people could not look up; they had to hold their heads down. One brother, who was preaching there, put a paper bag over his head. Can you imagine seeing a man preaching to you with a paper bag over his head? It was no joke! The power was so great that the people actually bowed under the stress of this power of God. But within a few months, every man who came to that revival and who got blessed and lifted in the Spirit, went out and formed his own organization. Out of that, we got about 500 different Churches of God and Pentecostal churches.

Separation! Each man took it and made a little kingdom for himself. Nobody saw Jesus! At least, it seems they saw Him at the time, but they lost the vision and went out with a new vision of a church, that, “I am the boss!” “I am the bishop.” And so they lost out. They lost the basic tenets of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The basic tenets of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are that Jesus is the Head! AMEN! If Jesus is my head and Jesus is your head, how can I be against you?

They lost it. When you lose that, the first thing that happens is that the devil comes in and starts speaking to you; he becomes your Jesus! (Oh God, I am sure you don’t hear me…)

The Bible says in II Thessalonians 2 that in the last days the antichrist will come in the church. He will show himself as “Christ,” and the church will accept him as Christ. That is our problem! You go to somebody and he says, “The Lord says this” and “The Lord says that.” Brethren, most of the time the voice that is speaking to you is not the Lord. I do not want to burst your balloon, but it needs to be busted! It is not God talking to you!

Some of the things that you people are telling me that God says–it is not God! God does not say those things! God tells somebody how to brush his teeth; how to clean their shoes; how to… Listen! Give me a little break! All these things that I hear some of you talk about: that God tells you this and God tells you that. Why didn’t God show you that your attitude was wrong? Why didn’t God show you the sin in your life! Let me tell you something, when a man meets God the first thing he sees is, “Oh wretched man that I am!“ (Romans 7:24). Amen!

You know, any time you see God, you repent! If I tell you now to repent, the first thing you are going to ask me is, “What must I repent of?” Repent of you! Just repent of being yourself! When you see Jesus, you feel nasty, filthy, and low down. My God! You want to dig a hole and get down through the ground. That’s the man who sees Jesus! Amen!

We are urged to ask ourselves the question, “If Jesus walked through the door at this moment, would I be ready?” The answer most people would say to themselves is, “No.” So when are you going to get ready? If you know that you would not be ready now, when would you be ready, and what would make you ready?

I will tell you what will make you ready. It is repentance! It is as simple as A B C. Repentance makes you ready so that the moment you think of Jesus, you say, “Oh God, forgive me of all my sins. Deliver me, Lord God! Do not let me abide in any form of sin.”

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 1998, pg. 6-11)

Thought for today: “Lord, please give me a heart to repent so that when I see you walk through the door, I will be ready for you.”

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Man Is Self-Destruct – Part 2

Posted in Overcoming, tagged , , , , on May 28, 2020| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: John 1:12

By Mavis duCille

We have to remember that the enemy has taken us captive and he says that we belong to him. The only reason he says we belong to him is because we are doing his bidding. So we are his captives, until we begin to eject him from our being. We have to give him marching orders! And we have to do it by force! We have to declare our position and say to him, “You have no place in me!”

There is a battle to get rid of him that we have to be involved in from day to day! He has taken up residence in us from before we were born, and he says that he has a right! But when Jesus came into our lives, He said, “I have given them power to become Sons of God.” (John 1:12) If we, through the knowledge of the Word, do not use the power to become Sons of God, then we lose our inheritance in Him!

It is a daily battle and a daily warfare that we enter into every time we realize this situation that we are in. And the Spirit of the Lord is very diligent in showing us our weaknesses. As a matter of fact, if you are walking with the Lord, as soon as a contrary thing comes to your mind, the Spirit of the Lord is there like a good washerwoman, and He will bring forth deliverance for you. But sometimes the weaknesses that are in us, to carry out whatever the enemy says to us, are so great that we bow to it instead of bowing to what the Spirit of the Lord is saying and wanting us to do. So we fail in that conflict. But God has not called us to be weaklings. He has given strength. In John 1:12, He says He has given us power to become Sons of God! If we are not walking as Sons of God, it is because we are failing to use the power that He has given us. It is as simple as that. It is simple, but it is great.

The Lord said to me, “Man is self-destruct,” but because of this, He has given us life on the other side to destroy the power of the destroyer. The anointing of the Spirit will destroy the power of the destroyer, so that, although the destroyer is within us and has taken such a foothold in us, if we give way to the anointing of the Spirit He will destroy the power of the destroyer. Praise God!

This operation should be effective daily in our lives, so that as we awaken each morning we should say, “Lord, anoint me with that power, that today I will destroy the power of the destroyer.” Nobody knows the extent of the power of the destroyer that is within us, but we ourselves (and, of course, God). Each individual has an awareness of that which works in his or her soul, and so we are aware of the principal areas of our battle. We know what we have to do, for it is something that will work and work until we are in the place where we become totally destroyed.

Now, the repentance and forgiveness that the Lord has given to us through His blood does not automatically destroy the power of the Adamic nature. Hear the words in John 1:12 again. He said, “… to as many as received him, to them gave He power to become Sons of God.” If we do not use the power we cannot become Sons of God. So, to say, “Well, I repented one day … and I am saved … and I am coming to church,” and so on, is only fooling ourselves! It is not until we begin to overcome the things that possess us and the things that set us back, the inherent nature of the soul, that we become the Sons of God.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 1998)

Thought for today: The anointing of the Spirit will destroy the power of the destroyer, so that, although the destroyer is within us and has taken such a foothold in us, if we give way to the anointing of the Spirit He will destroy the power of the destroyer.

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“For My Two Eyes”

Posted in Love of God, tagged , , , , on March 13, 2020| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Judges 16:22-30

I hear God Almighty speaking to us about our eyes. You see, when the Philistines caught Samson after he gave out his secret to Delilah, they slapped a hot sword across his eyes and singed out his eyes. They put him as an animal to grind corn. As he was grinding, he said, “Oh, God.” Now he could see. Do you remember the poem The Blind Plowman? “He took mine eyes that I might see.” Samson said, “O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.” Amen. Then, when the boy led him into the arena, they were laughing at him, “Look at the man, the mighty giant that used to kill us.” They didn’t know that the man’s hair was growing back. They didn’t know that repentance brings back your hair. What did God do that for? He did it to bring the man to repentance.

Oh, God loves us so much. We should be ashamed of ourselves and I will tell you why. We don’t love our children as much as God loves us. We love the nice pretty ones that do well more than we love those that don’t do well. We are disgusted with some of them because they don’t do well and they do us bad and evil. God loves the bad ones just as much as He loves the good ones. His entire plan is to bring you out of the darkness into the light and so He will do all kinds of things to you. Yes. He will sting you, He will bite you, He will cut you, He will bounce you to bring you unto Himself. Then, what a glorious morning when He hugs you and says, “I’ve got you!” Hallelujah. That is the love of God that is greater far than tongue or pen could ever tell. Oh, what a God we serve, far beyond our conscious understanding!

We can’t understand God. How could He love a wretched person like me? I look at my own life. Why am I here? It is only because of God; nothing else but God’s mercy. And He wants me to do something; He brings me here because He knows I will do that which He wants me to do. Amen.

You know the stubborn child that you have, the “bad one”? Sometimes if that quality is turned to God, that quality will be glorious in the sight of God. God sees some of us rebellious but the rebellion is the good nature that God put in you to be able to stand and withstand in a battle. The devil takes a hold of that good nature and turns it into rebellion. So, we see the rebellious one and oh, we are against the rebellious one. But, how beautiful he is when he turns to God. Hallelujah!

So, Samson began to find God and he said, “…O God,… for my two eyes,” and then he pulled down the temple of Dagon. Oh, my goodness, what a beautiful thought! Samson called unto the LORD, and said, “O Lord GOD, remember me…” (Judges 16:28). My God, what a prayer! Think of your heart saying, “Oh, God, remember me. Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me, I pray thee. Strengthen me, I pray Thee, only this once, oh God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.”

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, May 2009, pg. 27)

Thought for today: Oh, what a God we serve, far beyond our conscious understanding!

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Dead Man Walking

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , on October 11, 2019| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: 1 Timothy 5:6

We read in 1 Timothy 5:6, “But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth.” I want you to understand that there are some people who are dead and yet they live. Let me tell you a story about this subject that you know very well.

There was a man who was king over Israel named Saul. Remember that man? God called him, anointed him and gave him power to overcome the enemies of God, but the man began to be disobedient. The prophet went to him, but he never submitted.

When David sinned with Bathsheba, the prophet went to him (in 2 Samuel 12) and told him the story about the rich man having a big fold of sheep, and the poor man having just one little sheep, which was taken by the rich man to feed his visiting friends. When David heard this, he was incensed and ready to punish this man right away. Then the prophet said, “Thou art the man!” David fell down before him and said, “Oh God, forgive me!” He did not resist, but confessed his guilt.

Saul, on the other hand (in 1 Samuel 15), when confronted by Samuel the prophet, at first insisted that he had done what God told him to do (to destroy all the Amalekites and their cattle), and then that it was because of the people that he saved the King Agag and the fattest cattle. The prophet said to him, “You are finished! The kingdom is taken away from you and will be given to another. You are no longer King.”

It is amazing, however, that for many years after that Saul still reigned! He was a “DEAD MAN WALKING.” He was dead! HE WAS FINISHED, BUT HE CONTINUED TO GO ON; AND GOD SAID THAT THERE ARE SOME IN OUR MIDST WHO ARE WALKING AMONG THE LIVING, BUT THEY ARE DEAD. We need to get dead serious with God, because there are the seeds of death in the midst of God’s people!

Let us read some more Scriptures. Proverbs 21:16, “The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain in the CONGREGATION OF THE DEAD.”

There is a congregation that is called “the congregation of the dead.” The Word says, “…he shall remain…” That means that he was there before, and that there is both a “congregation of the living” and a “congregation of the dead.” And God said that the congregation of the living should not fellowship with the congregation of the dead.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 1997, pg. 5-6)

Thought for today: Let us make sure we walk in obedience to God submitting to His Word and correction so that we would be part of the “congregation of the living.”

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Dealing with an Omniscient God

Posted in Christian Walk, tagged , , , on September 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Revelation 22:13

The Bible says that God created man in His own image, but He made him in His likeness. Listen to this: He created you in His image, and He made you in His likeness. Let me explain what I mean. When God made Adam, what did God see? When God said, “It is good,” what did He see? Can anybody answer that? He saw a perfect man! God knew that Adam was not finished, but He saw a perfect man, because when God sees He sees the past and He sees the present and He sees the future, all at the same time. Now, can you understand that? Can you understand a person talking with you, and seeing your past, and seeing your present, and seeing what you will do tomorrow, and seeing your end—the whole thing! It is like a man high up in an airplane looking down on a river. He sees where the river begins, he sees the continuation, and he sees the end. He sees all this at the same time! God therefore, sees us in a way that we cannot see, and because He sees us in a way that we cannot see, we should trust Him, and whatever He tells us to do, we should do it! If He says, “Jump over the precipice,” you should jump, because God is seeing us in a way that we cannot see and He is knowing us in a way that we cannot know. And it all because God is God! Now, because God is God, and because of what He is going to do, we should be very close to Him: hearing, listening, and moving in what He is doing and what He is saying.

We do not know the end of this matter. He is seeing what our end will be. Every one of you had a beginning, didn’t you? And you have an end. Have you ever thought of it? You have an end, and God is seeing your end right now, not waiting until tomorrow to see your end, or the next day, or the day when your time will come to be with the Lord. He is looking at you right now!

Now, because God is looking at me, I should be very, very careful of what I do and what I say. Everything I do and everything I say should be God. Too many of us, too many times, are saying that God said so and so, and that God said to do this, and God said to do that. We are taking the Name of the Lord in vain, because God did not say so, but we think that God said so. Now what we think God says and what God says are two different things. I think that God is saying to me to do so, and so, and so; but is God saying to me to do so, and so, and so? I have to be able to balance between what I think God says and what God really says.

We are dealing then with an omniscient God. We say He is omniscient, which means that God sees everything, everywhere, at the same time. It is not even possible for us to conceive of someone who can see everything everywhere at the same time. Can you think of that? Can you think of someone who is seeing the outside of this wood, and at the same time seeing the inside and every atom that is in the wood? And as he sees this one piece of wood, at the same time he is seeing the whole universe! To us, as far as our thinking is concerned, He is an impossible God!

Therefore, may God help us not to think, just help us to do what He says to do; to move when He says to move; to walk when He says to walk; to talk when He says to talk. And when we make a mistake, to say, “Oh God, I am sorry. Forgive me for that one. Yes, I goofed.” In other words, we can make mistakes. Some people cannot, but we can make mistakes; and I want you to understand that.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, November 1999, pg. 7-8)

Thought for today: Because God is looking at us, we should be very careful of what we do and what we say. Everything we do and everything we say should be God.

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