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Posts Tagged ‘Word of God’

The Mystery of Baptism

Posted in Growing in God, tagged , , , on May 16, 2019| 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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Overcoming the Mind of Man

Posted in Overcoming, tagged , , , , on March 29, 2019| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Isaiah 26:3, Psalm 119:11 & 105

The mind of man is like the head of a person. The Bible tells us that if your mind is stayed on God, then you will have perfect peace. If you have any kind of problem in your life that attacks you from the body and you have tried many ways to control it and you cannot, the reason is that you are NOT using the right tool, THE WORD OF GOD. Psalm 119:11, “Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Verse 105, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”

There is only one way of sustaining yourself in God and that is by saturating your mind with the Word of God. If you can keep your mind stayed on God, then you have the victory won. It is difficult. The mind cannot keep the mind. Unless we apply the science of God as God showed it to us in the Word, we are in trouble. You kneel down to pray and one thousand things bombard you. You say that you are going to pray through and you find yourself thinking about something else. You say that you must try again. You start to pray and again something else happens. The mind has to be strengthened by the SPIRIT OF GOD HIMSELF.

Sometimes it is almost impossible for you to get the Word of God into your mind. I remember when I was in that condition as a young man. I asked God, “What can I do to keep my mind stayed on You?” I was an avid reader and was always interested in a good story. God said to me, “Read all the stories in the Bible and meditate on them.” So I did. I would ask, “What was the meaning of this? Why was this story put into the Bible? Why did this happen?” The moment you begin to search the Word of God in your heart and mind, the Spirit of God WILL COME to your aid and instruct you and have fellowship with you. When the day is done, you will find that you have been meditating on the things of God. THIS IS A GOOD SPIRITUAL HABIT. When you get into the habit of meditating on the Word of God, you will find that you will begin to associate everything you see with the Word.

Years ago I worked in an office with many men. Some of them would tell dirty jokes in my hearing and watch my reaction. One of them told a joke about a man who streaked (ran naked) across a stage. I seized the opportunity to interject immediately Isaiah 20:2 where God told the prophet Isaiah to go naked in the streets of Israel to get their attention, to reveal to them their SPIRITUAL NAKEDNESS. The man who told the joke was hit so hard by my opportunistic preaching that he said, “You probably know every scripture in the Bible.” From that time on they kept all their jokes out of my hearing. It was a blessing to me.

Begin to associate everything you see and hear with Scriptural references for most of what is happening now has already happened in your Bible.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 78-79)

Thought for today: Develop a Good Spiritual Habit. Saturate your mind with the Word of God.

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Are You Balanced?

Posted in Spiritual Food, tagged , , , on March 5, 2019| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Deuteronomy 4:1-9

Leviticus 11:2-3, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. 3 Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.

Let us see if we can understand what it means to “chew the cud” and “be clovenfooted” as it is described in these verses.

Chewing the cud: There is no phrase more apt than “chewing the cud” to explain the process of hearing the word and rehashing it in the mind until the word becomes “flesh” within us (John 1:14). Jesus was the word made flesh. We are flesh being made the word so that one day we shall be like Him – the living word manifested on earth. “It takes time to be holy” means there is much chewing on the WRITTEN WORD to produce within us the LIVING WORD so that which is written on the pages of the book may come forth in real life in us.

Cloven hoof: An animal that is clovenfooted has the hoof parted in two and encased in a hard bone-like substance. This animal walks in mud as well as on stones and there is hardly a case of sickness in the hoof.

The cloven hoof signifies a spiritual walk that is “shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15). The two toes signify the walk that is balanced by the Spirit and the Word. A person who walks in the Spirit alone and does not believe in the authority and authenticity of the Word is bound to be tripped up by Satan somewhere along the way. The written word is the balance which God has placed here for us in our walk. When the church began to accept dogmas and logical assumptions to add to the word and/or to rationalize it, then it marked the decline of its spiritual life.

Many teachers of the word assume that since John said in John 21:25 that there were other words spoken by Jesus, it was a license to add other words to the Bible. They imply that there are other words and other Bibles just as important and authentic as this one. BECAUSE OF THIS, I went to the Lord for an answer as this piece of rationalizing seemed to be well founded. The Lord said to me, “That which is written in the Bible is sufficient for your salvation.” This was a most satisfactory answer to me for I have been discovering that we do not yet even understand that which is written, that it is just being revealed to us in a deeper measure, and there is much more to come.

It is also true as Paul said, “But I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:12).

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 88-89)

Thought for the day: Let us meditate on the Word of God balanced with the leading of the Holy Spirit so that we may see His nature changing us daily into the image of Jesus.

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Foundation to Our Faith

Posted in Spiritual Warfare, tagged , , , , on March 1, 2019| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Hebrews 11:1-6

Faith! You must have faith, but your faith must be in something. In other words, faith is a subsidiary weapon that cannot work by itself. Let me say it again: Faith cannot work by itself! You cannot have wild faith like the “Name It and Claim It” type. That is a wild faith and it does not have substance in anything. So, therefore, you have faith in a word. I am going to give you an example.

God anointed David to be king from when he was a young boy. He told David, “You will be king over Israel.” Now David knows that if God said he would be king then God could not allow him to be killed. So later, young David faced Goliath with impunity knowing that his God will bring Goliath down. He knew this, because God had told him he was supposed to be king down the road.

Have you ever gotten a prophecy? Do you remember in your mind what the prophecy said? Do you know that the devil cannot kill you, because God gave you a prophecy that down the road you are going to be somebody? Now, God does not say you can be presumptuous, go throw yourself over a precipice and say, “Well, God said I am going to be king (or queen), so therefore let me throw myself over this precipice, because God will keep me up.” Presumptuous sin is against God.

So therefore, you have a word from God. If you do not have a word from God, go to God and get yourself a word. Did you hear me? Let every man of God, woman of God, child of God get a word from God that is absolutely, completely yours; and hold that word because there is a song that says, “When the storms of life are raging and you are tossed o’er sea and land, you will find a place of refuge in the hollow of His hand.” 

If you will take refuge under that word that God has given you, it will be “a lamp to your feet, and a light to your path” (Ref. Psalm 119:105). It also says in Psalm 119:11, “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”  Glory to God!

If God gives you a word, the word becomes a fortress and a weapon and something to hold on to. And so, you must have faith in something. You must have faith in a word of God and anybody who does not have a word, get one!

I will give you a word. When I was freshly saved, I did not know what salvation was and I did not know who God was. When God came into my room, He gave me a word and He has given me the same word seven times. He said, “As I was with Moses, so will I be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you.” He also said, “No man shall stand before you all the days of your life. Anywhere the soles of your feet tread upon that will I give to you.” That is what He spoke to Joshua, but Jesus came to my room and He said it to me seven times. There is no way or possibility of anybody ever discouraging me—any demon, any devil, any man! Do you hear me? The word of God has become a fortress and a monument in my soul.

Because of the word, the soul of man becomes a bulwark of God! Do you hear me? Your soul becomes a bulwark for God! A walking, talking, conquering soul; not able to be defeated, because you have a word of God.

So then, the faith of God must work with the word of God. If God gives you a word, then you have faith. If God gives you no word, then you have no faith. You cannot have faith without having some foundation to your faith.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, January 1997, pg. 18-20)

Thought for today: Stand in faith on the word God has spoken to you. If you have not a word or prophecy from Him, then go to God and let Him give you a personal word so that you can have foundation to your faith.

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Faith in the Word of God

Posted in Spiritual Warfare, The Living Word, tagged , , , , , on February 26, 2019| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Acts 13:1-12

For every word that God has given you, there is a word that the devil gives to stop it. Consider why you do not function according to the Word of God as you ought to. The reason is that the devil always gives a counter word, which disturbs the faith that you should have in the Word of God.

The Word that God gives you is spirit and life and that spirit and life must come through you to work power and deliverance out there. Spirit and life! Power and deliverance! Every Word of God is powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, bringing down the kingdoms of the devil and the imaginations of man. This is the power of the Word of God! If you allow the other word to counteract you, then you have allowed a barrier to stop the Word of God from going through you. Therefore, your first weapon is “…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ref. Ephesians 6:17).

Let me tell you a little story. Gideon went out to fight the Midianites, because God told him, “You are a mighty man of valor—you can do it” (Judges 6:12).  Gideon did not believe he was any man of valor (his knees were knocking), but God said, “…thou mighty man of valor.” So he went and called up all his men. Thirty thousand men came to follow him and yet, he was so afraid. Remember now, God gives you a word (“Go out and fight!”), but the devil brings fear upon you so that you are so afraid that God has to give you another word just to bolster you.

We see this when God sent Gideon down to listen to what the Midianites were saying (Judges 7:9-15). God gave one of the Midianites a dream and Gideon overheard the man telling another man his dream of how this little barley cake rolled down off the hill and smashed their tent. When he heard that, another man said, “You know who that barley cake is? It is Gideon. It is that Gideon!”

In other words, God had to set a trap to make Gideon believe. Brethren, if you do not believe God, who are you going to believe? If you believe God, no power on earth can stop you—because faith creates the spirit of power! 

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). When you feel the faith of God, it lifts you off the floor; it energizes your body and your soul; and you know you have won. It is the amount of God’s energy and power that you will allow to flow through you. The Bible says in Ephesians 4:32, “And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” 

It is saying, “Forgive one another…for Christ’s sake.” Why does it say,  “…for Christ’s sake?” It is because Christ cannot move through you if you have unforgiveness in you. Unforgiveness blocks the flow of the power of Christ. 

In Luke 8, the woman came and grabbed the hem of Jesus’ garment. He said, “Hey! Energy came out of Me.” Yes! He said, “I feel virtue (“dunamis” in the Greek; power) drawn out of Me.” Do you understand? We are talking about the raw power of God. It can only work through you if your passages are clean. Without this, you can speak the Word of God from now until next year at this time and not a straw will move! It says in Acts 19 that the sons of Sceva tried to help a man who needed deliverance. They said, “In the Name of Jesus I rebuke you.” It says that the demons jumped on them, tore them, and they fled naked. Paul said, “I rebuke you in the Name of Jesus,” and it says in Acts 13:11 that the sorcerer Elymas went blind “immediately.” The deaf heard! The sick were healed! Immediately! It was because Paul had kept his gun clean.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, January 1997, pg. 10-13)

Thought for today: Do not listen to the word that the devil brings you. Believe the Word that God has spoken to you so that you can function in God as you ought to.

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