Are You Fully Convinced?

Throughout Jesus’ time with His disciples there were many occasions when Jesus said to His disciples “O you of little faith” or “Don’t have so little faith”

As I continue down this journey with Holy Spirit towards the Father’s Intimate Embrace, I realize that if Jesus was physically with me He would say, Timothy – Don’t have so little of faith. The closer I move toward the Father’s heart the more holes I see in my faith. The more superficiality I see in my life. The more religion that is being unearthed in me, the more I see the falsetto - reaching a certain spot but unable to sustain it.

To admit one has little faith is a NO – NO in the church. Except you can say you have faith even if you possess no fruit of faith. People talk about their faith but rarely do people look at the evidence of one’s faith. 

When I say I realize how little my faith is, let me explain. If Jesus’ followers spent 3.5 years of unadulterated, unbroken, uninhibited time with Jesus, 24/7/365 and Jesus told them O you of little faith. Yet most American Christians attend a church of ease, not submitted to authority, committed to no discipleship training, and have no spiritual fathering in their life, yet they have “great faith”…………………Impossible!

Great faith is HONED – to use a whetstone to sharpen a knife or blade. The Scripture says we have a measure of faith and we know there is a gift of faith, except this is not possession of Great Faith. 

I have thought of myself in the past as a man of faith and I deceivingly believed it too. Today I am becoming a man of faith with a heart set on maturing into a man who possesses great faith. I believe it is a process and I believe it has a lot to do with how much religious dung and tradition is embedded in ones mind.

Knowing the Word of God, memorizing the Word of God, praying 2 hrs a day, and fasting 40 days does not make you a person of great faith. You would definitely be a personal of great spiritual disciplines.

There is a contrasting difference between knowing the Scripture and believing the Scripture. Knowing the Scripture is data filed in your brain computer. Believing the Scripture is “being convinced” it is infallible and true. We say we believe then we make decisions, we react, and we say things which are contradictions to the Word. We fail to connect what we say, what we do, and what we react to with the fruit of God’s Word. We fail to match our behavior and fruit and see if it matches the root.

Let’s look at a few scriptures. You probably will automatically say, I know that Scripture but are you CONVINCED?

• I am FREE from all condemnation: if you are absolutely convinced of this, why do we still battle with our past, our mistakes, our short comings, our busyness’, our failure to spend more time with Holy Spirit? If you are truly convinced you are free from all the accusations of Satan you would not get discouraged and down when you are accused by the father of lies.
• I am a king and priest to God: Do you act, talk, and live spiritually as though you are a king and priest? Not sometimes, but all the time? why not? Many do not even know what this means.
• I have been given all things that pertain to life: Do you live, act, talk, respond, and carry yourself with the confidence that you possess ALL things that pertain to life? I want to live this way but I don’t.
• I am convinced that Jesus is able to keep/guard what I have entrusted to Him: If we believe this with our whole heart why do we keep confessing it over and over? Why do we keep mentioning it to Father? Why do we worry about it?
• I have ALL my needs met by God according to His riches in glory: Do you live like, talk like, and possess the attitude that ALL your needs are met? Listen to what I am saying. I am not saying what your mouth is projecting. I am not saying the positive confessions you repetitively are confessing trying to convince yourself of this truth. Are you fully convinced in your spirit and you do not question it?
• I am holy and without blame: Do you see yourself holy and without any blame, marks, flaws, and blemishes?

I have about 65 more scriptures that tell you and I who we are in Christ and how Father sees us. This post is about “do you live more of your life convinced of these truths, or more of your life doubting, not feeling you measure up to His truths?”

You can know all of these truths, have them marked in your Bible and not be convinced about them. I have met many believers who were followers of  faith ministries. They would correct every word you spoke negative, they would quote their faith teacher verbatim, they have a positive confession every time you ask them how they were? I am blessed of God and highly favored. BUT……………………BUT…………………………….. BUT………………………. outside of their positive confession and all the HPD – hyper religious dialogue did you match their confession with their fruit?

The reason this can be so difficult is because there is such a lack of relationships and openness in the church at large. 

One of the critical components to look at is, are they submitted to authority? are they humble? are they generous givers? are they Christlike? How do they treat their spouse? How have their children turned out? How is their marriage?

I have been fairly knowledgable of a lot of churchy, religious, faddish, impressive, TBNish, and informative facts, truths, and Scripture throughout my journey. I was not convinced by a personal encounter with Holy Spirit that fused my knowledge with my heart where I could advance a troop and scale a wall – Fully Convinced.

Abraham was absolutely convinced that God was able to do anything he promised. (rom 4:21)

I’m absolutely convinced that nothing–nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow (rom 8:38)

I am [positively] persuaded that He is able to guard and keep that which has been entrusted to me and which I have committed [to Him] until that day. (2 tim 1:12)

I am becoming more convinced each day as I spend time in the Father’s inmate place. Right now in my life, I am dismantling, trashing, disconnecting, unhooking, tearing down, overthrowing, and submitting my life to Father for Him to scrutinize and carefully place in His refinery. 

I am not discouraged, disappointed, or upset. This is where I am supposed to be and it is the perfect timing of the Lord. I want to be “absolutely positively convinced” what I know & believe will stand without wavering in hesitation, fear, approval, and popularity.

I want to be known before Father not approved and accepted by man’s accolades. I am not there but I am in a progressive forward movement to BECOME. I ask you to pray for me so I become who my Father says I am.

Jesus said in Matthew 8:10….I tell you the truth, this is the greatest faith I have found, even in Israel

Could it be said by heaven? I tell you the truth, this is the greatest faith I have found, even in Wilmington?

His Love Is Beyond Measure

Can you imagine not being loved? I think we all have felt unloved at times, and even due to our behavior we thought we were unlovable.

How do you measure love? How do you measure how much someone loves you?

There are many ways people gauge love and various types of love. In my studying, I believe basically all variations of love come from three main sources

1. Eros love – (emotions/feelings) known as “erotic love”. It is based on strong feelings toward another. It usually occurs in the first stages of a man-woman “romantic” relationship.
2. Philos love – (give & take) a love based on friendship between two people.
3. Agape – (selfless) unconditional love

Also you can view Eros as physical, Philos as mental, and Agape as spiritual. If you wanted to be very simple and cut the fluff you could say there are only two types of love 1. Love that gives  2. Love that takes

I have heard individuals say we love each other, he loves me, or this is the one, and it turns out not to be the one. I find that few people take time to discover how they are wired and if their wiring has some faulty connections. If one does not come to a true understanding of love they will drift in & out of many relationships and  they will experience highs & lows based on feelings.

As ridiculous as this will sound to many, genuine love is not based on feelings. Feelings are sensors but are not fail proof, neither accurate. We have developed into a people who reacts to situations, circumstances, and life, based on how we feel. This is not Scriptural or spiritual. It is our flesh and it is selfish.

• People spend $ based on how they feel
• People are fun based on how they feel
• People are approachable based on how they feel
• People are generous based on how they feel
• People will pray based on how they feel
• People will attend church based on how they feel
• People will receive love & give love based on how they feel
• People will read the Bible based on how they feel
• People will speak to others based on how they feel
• People go to work based on how they feel
• People will call someone based on how they feel

Emotions are one of our biggest motivators for what we do and why we do the things we do. Motivation are ‘e-motions. Emotions are God-given and are indispensable for our survival but they must be kept in “subjection” and not left in the director’s seat controlling our life. Far too many use their emotions for their “guidance system”.

Motivations are felt in the body. Our muscles tense or relax. Our blood vessels dilate or contract. When we feel emotionally, we also feel physically. Our emotions can make us feel uncomfortable or comfortable, sending us signals to do something urgently or to stay in our comfortable state. Unfortunately, most emotions are unpleasant, unpredictable and uncontrollable.

What Communicates Someone Loves You?

• Telling you I love you?
• Buying you things?
• Never contradicting you?
• Always encouraging you?
• Buying you unusual expensive gifts?
• Allowing you to do what you want?
• Making sure you always have the BEST over others?

Where do we look for authentic and pure love? Who is modeling a love that is genuine?

I believe we have to look at the source of love and study the lifestyle of a great lover.

God is love.! (1 jn 4:8)

Love is not part of Darwin’s demonic deception theory. Love did not evolve from lower levels of emotions into this enormous love god cupid.

Reasons people choose to believe in Darwinism, Cupidism, spiritualism, buddhism, Islam, global warming, deism, scientology, and all the other idealogues is it removes them from being accountable to God, and having to submit to God. All these other religious beliefs are void of a central authority figure. Therefore, they remain in “control” of their destiny.

Once an individual acknowledges a “higher power” of authority they now must be subject to that authority.

God is love! For us to know and experience the great depths, heights, and lengths of love we must submit to the authority of love – Father God. We are incapable of genuinely loving someone without God. It is God in us that gives us the grace, desire, and strength to love others.

When we do love, we love with expectations, with strings attached, and we love with preset limits – conditions.

Why do we have conditions for our love?

However we feel about ourself is what we require from others and how we will treat others…

We have preset limits because we have been loved with preset limits and we are not going to give what we did not receive. How unfair is that? Why would I give someone what I didn’t get? What type of love is this?

When we give gifts to others we rarely give gifts that would top anything we have previously received. Our selfish nature or should I say our sinful nature – our unrenewed, our unregenerate, our uncrucified soul has not yet encountered ”agape love” of Abba Father. It is the propensity of man to pursue the best for ourselves! It is an orphan mindset – I want, I deserve, I have worked hard for this, I have paid my dues, and all the I, I, I’s continue.

Ouch!

In this, the love of God was made manifest (displayed) where we are concerned: in that God sent His Son, the only begotten or unique [Son], into the world so that we might live through Him.(1 jn 4:9)

Because we had no example of real authentic love to follow. Father sent one of His angels? One of His sons?

For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten ( unique) Son. (jn 3:16)

No……………………… He sent His “ONLY” Son. What if something goes wrong? it did in the garden with Adam & Eve? What if no one responds to my display of love? There is no back-up! No plan B!

GOD told them, “I’ve never quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love, and more love! (jer 31:3)

God’s love is beyond measure to you and me. You cannot understand it, reason with it, analyze it, grasp it, and you are unable to contain it. His love is a love of oppression. It is relentless upon.

Do you know how much He loves you?

Do you truly know how much He loves you?

I believe the true test of “mature” love is when we can love without measure, limits, and preset conditions…. To lay our life down as Jesus Christ laid His life down is the only standard.

My prayer for some time has been for Holy Spirit to lead me to the place where I love my wife and those who encounter my life to encounter “God’s Agape Love” a love beyond the best of human effort and strength. A love clearly and unmistaken God’s love. A love modeled on earth of a heavenly love. I do not know where this prayer will take me in life, but it is my highest goal for the next generation.

I do not want to be identified with Ultimate Faith Church, sports, attitudes, prayer, fasting, passion, stylish, or cutting edge, and many other common legacy labels. I want to be known as one who knew- experienced- lived God’s love and gave God’s love to others.

My identity is not in things or people. My identity is Christ!

It is a love that is inexhaustible. It is a love beyond measure! His love is beyond measure and that is why He loves you regardless if you love Him, regardless if you think about Him, regardless if you talk to Him, regardless if you serve Him, regardless if you give Him gifts, regardless if you don’t give Him your best, regardless if you contradict His Word, and regardless if the only time you talk to Him is when you want something from Him.

He loves you without measure, limits, and conditions!

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

The Price For Lack Of Submission Pt2

There is a price tag on every decision we make and every word which proceeds from our mouth. Your Bible says we will give an account for every single word we speak. That is a very powerful statement. How much of our conversation is filled with foolishness, doubt, unbelief, negativity, complaining, and nonsense.

If you could put all your words in a word counter,  like a coin counter separating the pennies, nickles, dimes, and quarters, how would your words be categorized? What total daily “value” would your thoughts and word accumulate to?

When we are not submissive or in submission then we are closed off from growing. Only through submission can one receive. Another way to view it is that  if we are not submissive, then we are not “teachable”

When you look up the word subject, submission, or submissive it usually has a negative connotation to it. To subject someone to something means to expose them. When we are submissive or under subjection we are exposing ourselves to impartation or the influence of someone or something.

The opposite of submission is domineering or controlling. Many people are constantly striving to stay in control of their lives, destiny, and circumstances. What they are really executing/fulfilling is the mission of the father of lies. Let me reiterate a truth to all of us. We do not have our own mission. We are not the Creator of life, therefore we are not independent and self-sustaining. We are fulfilling either mission #1 or mission #2, which I laid out in previous post.

The deception many have convinced themselves with is that they are in “charge/control” of their life. This is as far from the truth as the sun is from the earth – 93 million miles.

The scripture tells us in (proverbs 16:25) There is a way that seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but at the end of it is the way of death.

Didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. (1 cor 6:19) msg

Did you catch this? This tells us that Jesus Christ “purchased” us from the lord of darkness – Satan, with His very blood and life. We do not belong to ourselves. Whether we accept this or disavow it, being bought by Christ is not our decision. It is however our decision, whether we will adhere to and follow God’s plan and mission. The point is, if we are not adhering to and following Christ, then we are adhering to and following the lord of darkness – Satan’s plan and mission.

There are only 2 mission, 2 paths, 2 destinations, and 2 choices.

Let me refocus back to previous statement about the word’s subjection and submission. It almost always is viewed as negative.

The question I believe we must ask, is why we view being subject to laws & authority as negative?

• Is it negative to be told to wear our seat belts?
• Is it negative to be ticketed for not adhering to the posted speed ?
• Is it negative to be instructed where you can or cannot smoke?
• Is it negative to be told not to have sex before marriage and apart from marriage?
• Is it negative to be told not to surf the web or check personal emails on company time?
• Is it negative to be required give a tithe and offering to God?
• Is it negative to be expected complete discipleship to be in leadership?

Do you adhere to and follow the guidelines, policies, and standards set by authorities over you? Do you disregard the policies over you and hope you want get caught? Do you think rules are stupid and don’t apply to you? Do you view the rules as not a very big deal because there are more important issues?

The reason I am asking some of these questions is because when we “independently” make a decision that is in violation of policy, or rules put in place by appointed authority we are acting in rebellion. We are defying authority that is placed over us. When we fail to submit to the authority over us, sooner or later we will fail to submit to the Ultimate authority of God in our life.

We may not see the big deal about surfing the web at work or checking our personal email. Many people do not see the big deal about viewing pornographic material. What’s the big deal? I am an adult, I am responsible, or I am using it for private use.

There is no such thing as little sin and big sin. There is no such thing as breakable rules and unbreakable rules.  The truth comes down to we are not truly a person who is willing to totally submit to authority. We do not want someone controlling our life.  

Some will submit to something that has benefits, or will submit depending on the consequences of not submitting. You can look like you are submitted and internally be unsubmitted.

One day a parent corrected their daughter and instructed her to take her seat or there would be consequences for not submitting and obeying. The daughter sat down and told her mother “I want you to know I am sitting down on the outside but on the inside I am standing up”

Sounds familiar! Too many times we do not do things physically and socially only because we are not allowed. If it was allowed we would do it. Scripture tells us that God judges our unspoken thoughts and intent of the heart. There is no escaping what we truly feel. Regardless what laws are ratified all laws do not apply to the disciple under construction.

The price for not being a person who is genuinely submissive is far beyond our ability to measure or calculate. Lucifer was described as a most beautiful angelic being who was the conductor of heaven’s orchestra and one day he said, “I want to do things my way” I don’t want to submit to Daddy anymore. That one decision defiled 1/3 of heaven and caused a major division that ripped through heaven.

What is the price tag for our lack of submission?

According to God’s word, it prevents us from living and experiencing the “full benefits” of our inheritance here on earth. Father God will not give us His best when we have the principle of rebellion operating in our life. When we choose not to submit, we are choosing not to obey. When we choose to not obey we are carrying out the mission of the father of lies and darkness – Satan mission.

Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. (rom 13:2)

Read Roman’s 13…… It informs us God is the author and creator of all authority. When we rebel against any authority we are rebelling against God not the person. It is a high price tag to pay for our desire to be in control and selfish.

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

How Does Submission Make You Feel?

What does submission really mean?

How does submission truly make you feel?

I have been teaching there are only 2 missions in life and every day, every hour, every minute, and every decision is coming into agreement with one of the two missions. There si no 3rd mission!

Mission one: we are executing and manifesting the mission of the Father of Creation – receiving love and giving love.

Mission two: we are executing and manifesting the mission of the father of lies – which is where our own mission falls into.

When I really get focused and pay close attention to my words, actions, moods, and thinking, I see too much of my life in agreement with the father of lies.

Whose mission you are manifesting and agreeing with, can be traced to “who are you submitting to”

All day long we are submitting to state laws, federal laws, city ordinances, animal laws, work policies, supervisory rules, and we are submitting to our own thoughts.

Think for a moment about how many thoughts come into our brain and we are sorting them, filing them, discarding them, and acting on them.

Be subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (james 4:7) nas

If we are not subject to God, His word, His will, or His Spirit, how can we defeat our adversary? We say I am submitted to God wells let’s look a little deeper into this and see if we are really as submitted as we believe we are.

When the speed limit is posted 25 – 45 – 55 – 70 MPH do you drive the posted speed or 5 miles over. I travel I-40 several times a day. I challenge you to set your cruise and watch not a few, but EVERY single vehicle pass you.

LET EVERY person be loyally subject to the governing (civil) authorities. For there is no authority except from God [by His permission, His sanction], and those that exist do so by God’s appointment. (rom 13:1) amp

Again how subject are we? If the posted speed is 55 then 56 mph is just as wrong as 66, 76, or 106 mph. Our humanistic mind is subtle and justifies our actions as okay because? (everybody is, they allow 5 over, i’m running late)

Let’s look at media for a moment. Do you possess any boot leg movies or music? You know those DVD’s with sharpie writing on them? Or an ipod overflowing with 3,000 songs. When you watch a rented/purchased movie it clearly states:  it is a federal crime to burn/copy/reproduce this movie.

Are you a person submitted and subject to the laws?

I have been down this road and have some excellent justifications but when Holy Spirit begun to deal with me about genuineness and truthfulness, I found I was lacking in areas which I justified as unimportant.

Today I will not play a movie that is a copy. If people offer me a movie that is a  boot-leg, I kindly tell them I cannot watch it because it is an illegal version. Yes my flesh says, but you didn’t burn it, or it’s already done so go ahead and watch it.

What justifications put you in bondage?

[That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot. (rom 8:7) amp

If we are not alert, we will justify our thoughts because our mind cares about being fulfilled, gratified, and satisfied. We will overlook God’s law and the laws of the land. It tells us our minds are not subject to God and never will be.

The last point I want to touch on is subjection in our relationships. How does submission make you feel in your relationships? (marriage, friends, church, work, etc)

[You who are] servants, be submissive to your masters with all [proper] respect, not only to those who are kind and considerate and reasonable, but also to those who are surly (overbearing, unjust, and crooked). (1 pet 2:18) amp

How does this Scripture make you feel? I said previously we are under someone everyday of our life. When your boss, co-worker, friend, or pastor gives us a command to do something, what goes on in your mind?

Yeah – I am talking about that conversation you have in your head no one else can hear. Or how about that confrontation you have that isn’t real where you tell them what you really think?

Let’s put some salt in our wounds since we are being real…..

So just as the church submits to Christ as he exercises such leadership, wives should likewise submit to their husbands. (ehp 5:24)

Oh No – you’re not going there? I am going there!

This verse has been misapplied many times over, so let me give some clarity. This verse starts by saying, just as the church must be subjective/submissive to Jesus Christ as the leader, so must the wife be subjective to her husband, and likewise the husband must be subjective/submissive to their wife.

How do you “feel” when your spouse tells you what to do?

How does submission make you feel?

It’s amazing how there is this little voice inside which starts screaming and coming to life. Where did you come from? You find out really quick, what has been crucified with Christ and what has not.

How does submission make you feel?

(adored, annoyed, argumentative, bitchy, bullied, cold, crushed, ecstatic, enraged, infuriated, pissy, thankful, validated, vibrant)

See when we find ourselves in a situations which we feel certain emotions, hear little voices, and we are ready to defend our rights – this is exactly what Holy Spirit is bringing to the surface for us to “deal with and crucify”

How does submission make me feel with my wife? I feel weak, small, inferior, and subservient are a few emotions. When I continued to ask Holy Spirit to help me identify and describe what really was taking place inside, He brought up what the real core issue was. Are you ready to hear this one?

It’s all about losing control. It’s control issues in my life. What we fail to comprehend is when we are in control we are not subject to Father’s mission but to the father of lies. As long as we stay in control, then Holy Spirit is not in control.

 Satan refused to be submissive and subjective to Father and wanted to do it his way. When we are not subjective we are refusing to submit and we are saying I want to do it “My Way” which is the mission of the father of lies.

Can you imagine Jesus who had no beginning or end. Who is perfect. Who lived in heaven. Comes to earth and subjects Himself to a human body, earthly parents, a religious system, and a government that would kill him? 

He never argued, defended His rights, or had the last word. And we are suppose to follow his example as a son…. Wow!

How genuinely are you submitted?

How well do you receive instruction/correction?

Must you have the last word or input?

Do you obey the authority over you in life?

Most people are really clueless on identifying their feelings or emotions. Facebook or MySpace has this neat list of descriptive emotions which are very good to describe what we are feeling.

Our goal is to become like Christ and be submitted to His way, His will, His plan, and His mission. It is very difficult to admit and deal with what makes us feel we are losing our identity. The truth is we are losing our earthly fleshly icon which identifies us. We are dead and now

Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (gal 2:20) msg

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

Whose Voice Are You Listening To?

I cannot speak about how life was 50 – 75 – 100 years ago because I am not that old. What I can write about is the missing element of absolutes in the last 40 years in this generation and our nation. There has been an erosion of standards, morality, truth, and moral clarity.

Our society has lost their bearing in knowing what is right and wrong. What is moral and immoral. What is good and evil. What is truth and lies. What is really love or just good feelings. Believing in a real God and a real Satan.

Most of this generation is unable to distinguish out of the cauldron of revelatism what is the truth. I will confess it is one big blur – a melting pot of ideas. What sounds like one thing means another. What looks one way is only a mask. What people say they mean, they turn and do the opposite  of what they previously said.

Everyone has some sort of world view about topics and subjects but how many believers of Jesus Christ have a “Biblical World View?” In Matthew 28 Jesus gave the Great Commission – Go into the world and make disciples and “teach them” all I have taught you. Attending a 1 hour Sunday church presentation does not give you a Biblical World View. Reading the Popular Science magazine does not make you a scientist. Reading American Medical Association does not make you a physician.

The way of peace they know not, and there is no justice or right in their goings. They have made them into crooked paths; whoever goes in them does not know peace. (Isaiah 59:8)

The Bible describes a generation in the latter times or reign that will have a powerful momentum, such a tsunami of information and knowledge that it will be perplexing. We are being inundated with promises, guarantees, peace, philosophies, belief systems, ideologies, and direct challenges to our current frame work of Biblical faith. If one is not anchored, grounded, connected, and cemented in what they believe they will find themselves in deep deception and trouble.

And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. (Revelation 12:15)

These 2 Scriptures are so awesome. It lets us know this is expected and not to get discouraged or distracted. It is the rage of hell and all the demonic forces attempting to dislodge our stance and faith. Because of the fatherlessness in this nation, the church, and the family, people are being deceived because they are longing for peace, hope, love, acceptance, approval, and a father to validate them. They are in a panic search for more and very few churches, leaders, people are equipped and anchored themselves to pull them out of the torrents of deception and lies.

The American church has been caught in this spew of deception and is in great trouble.

Whose Voice Are You Listening To?

When I talk about voices I am talking about the thoughts, impressions, ideas, nudges, and background noise in your mind. There are approximately 50,000 thoughts each day drifting in and out of one’s mind. Our mind is always processing what we feel, see, hear, smell, and taste.

TV, talk radio, reality shows, media, music, magazines, newspaper, movies, commercials, and policies are bombarding us with a voice. They have a mission! They have an agenda! They have a motive! They have an objective! They have a cause!

Whose mission are you on?

Whose plan are you fulfilling?

Whose attitude are you demonstrating?

Every minute of the day you are acting on the voice of the Father of Creation or the father of lies. You are fulfilling the mission of the Father of Creation or the father of lies. There is no 3rd mission neither a 3rd voice. If you think you are doing your own thing you are deceived. Jesus either purchased us and redeemed us from darkness or we still are living in darkness and fulfilling a selfish, independent, and father of lies mission.

Peter reacted to one of Jesus’ statements and Jesus responded to Peter and said….You know not what spirit you are of!

James stated: Be quick to listen and slow to speak! King David stated in Psalm 19:14 - O God let the unspoken thoughts of my mind and the spoken words of my mouth be in alignment and advancing your Kingdom, agenda, purposes, and be pleasing to You.

As I was praying this morning I caught myself stating and thinking something which “seemed right” but it was totally backwards. Let me share it with you. Think and see if you have ever done this.

I asked the Lord to help me be able to discern the voice of the enemy better, Let me be able to recognize the plans of Satan better. Have you ever prayed, thought, or desired something like this?

In order to do this we must study the devil. Holy Spirit checked me and stated to me….Don’t waste your time studying your enemy. Spend time sharpening  your love for me, study ME, your Savior, Father, Creator, and Deliver. If you know my heart, nature, character, mind, emotions, Spirit, voice, ways, plans, and my Word, when the counterfeit approaches it will be obvious. You will not even have to think twice. You will know it is out of character with the One you have studied, embraced, listened to, and fell in love with.

I am not saying we should be ignorant or unaware of our enemy. We should not focus our energy, time, and pursue an adversary who has already been defeated. Jesus made a public spectacle and shamed Satan and every demonic spirit. I believe the church at large has spent too much time centering on Satan and not centering on our AWESOME CREATOR and Father. Spiritual warfare is not studying Satan and focusing on unholy spirits all the time.

Let’s learn to sit in Daddy’s lap and focus on Him, so we can reveal Father to the world in the same way Jesus revealed the Father to the disciples and the early church.

Let me share a few familiar thoughts which probably have run or currently run through our mind with the 50,000 daily thoughts.

• I am not pretty or handsome like
• I am not attractive as I once was
• I am never invited out with people
• I don’t have as many friends as other people I know
• I am not anyone’s best friend
• Why didn’t I get the promotion
• It is because I’m black, mexican, white, or asian
• I’m not treated as fair as others
• Nobody loves me
• Wonder why the boss rarely speaks to me
• They are not answering the phone because….

Who is the author of these thoughts?  Who is creating these impressions?

Every single one of these thoughts are totally contradictive and are attacks against the nature, heart, and love of Father God. They are conjured up out of the very depths of hell. Some of them may be true, except they are not from God. The devil is a master of using truth against us.

When will we get tired and angry at the enemy controlling our mind to derail and destroy our purpose? When will we say ENOUGH! I will not give time, attention, and energy to these lies any longer. It Stops Now!

Father of Creations voice is: love, affirmation, patience, comfort, and sometimes correction.

Father of lies voice is: self-pity, rejection, shame, failure, fear, inferiority, anxiety, and truth without love.

Many people know scripture, they know facts about God, they know church history, and much, much tradition and religion. Few, and I mean few people have experienced the inner dimension of a living experience with Father. They have no concept of what it truly means to pray Abba Father. What it means to be approved, accepted, and secured by Father without being bogged down in hyperreligious activities of tradition and religion.

Let me sign out with this question. What is Father’s mission? If we do not clearly understand what Abba Father’s mission is then we do not know whether we are hearing, listening, and executing daily the Father’s mission.

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

Experiencing Father’s Love, Not Religion’s Knowledge – Pt 2

I have had many instructors in my life while attending church. I have listened to thousands of sermons, I have watched thousands of sermons, I have spent thousands of hours in a church building, and I have read hundreds of books.

Yet in 2005 while a pastor I was dissatisfied with what I was seeing, what I was living, and what I knew.

When I read the inspired Word of God which says in Hebrews 4:12 “It is ALIVE”  It is POWERFUL! It is TRANSFORMING!” Yes, there were bits and pieces of this truth, but not a daily lifestyle. It was rare hit and miss.

I embarked on a personal search and quest  to FIND GOD! I knew God, I could describe Him from His Word, I could talk about Him, but have I experienced Him? This may bother you what I am going to say…………… I know very few people who experience God. I will show you why further along.

And we know (understand, recognize, are conscious of, by observation and by experience) and believe (adhere to and put faith in and rely on) the love God cherishes for us. God is love, and he who dwells and continues in love dwells and continues in God, and God dwells and continues in him.(1 John 4:16) AMP

This scripture states two things. They:

1. know God and

2. they believe in God.       

 Right?

No, that is not what it said! It said they knew (experienced) and believed (relied) in the “LOVE” God had for them. Also they dwelled and lived in the LOVE of God.

You can be a Christian for 50 years, you can sit on the church board, you can lead worship, and you can be a pastor and talk about God inside and out, but never experience the intimate love of God. Being saved is an act of God’s love but it is not the depth of His love.

[That you may really come] to know [practically, through experience for yourselves] the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge [without experience]; that you may be filled [through all your being] unto all the fullness of God [may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself]!  (Ephesians 3:19) AMP

You need to reread slowly, paying attention to the underlined phrases. It talks about lack of experience and experience. Throughout Scripture, when people experienced the presence of God it was life-changing. You can never have a true encounter with Holy Spirit and never encounter an experience of His love.

In Genesis 1, it states; we are made in God’s image. What is God image?

Scroll up > to the first Scripture (1 John 4:16) it states: God is love!

What is love?

Father’s Agape Love is an unconditional “expressed” love: it is touching, affectionate, closeness, intoxicating, exciting, accepting, and it is intimate. Love has nothing to do with sex. It is a part of God’s plan in marriage, but it is not the ultimate I LOVE YOU!

Our culture has warped the concept of love and made it all to be sexual and perverted. So don’t let movies/TV/novels/your experiences define God’s love. God’s love is not sexual, but He uses sexuality as an analogy for us to grasp and have some reference point.

Where was Jesus’ home?

I hope you did not say- Heaven! Or the right hand of the Father! Or in my heart?

That is exactly what I am sharing. This is stuff we have been taught over, over, and over again. It is so sterile, unrealistic, impersonal and matter of fact. It lacks passion and love. It is knowledge of Jesus but void of an experience.

Paul said I am praying you may come into an encounter with love. Who was he writing to? The church of Ephesus – a church of believers – saved, spirit-filled, and attending church.

Where did Jesus come from and where does Jesus live?

Jesus answered, Even if I do testify on My own behalf, My testimony is true and reliable and valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. (John 8:14) AMP

Jesus is even stating to His disciples unless you have more than church teaching, sermons, and best sellers you are clueless. Let’s find out where Jesus came from? Do you know?

No man has ever seen God at any time; the only unique Son, or the only begotten God, who is in the bosom [in the intimate presence] of the Father, He has declared Him [He has revealed Him and brought Him out where He can be seen; He has interpreted Him and He has made Him known].(John 1:18) AMP

Jesus came from the BOSOM of His Father!

Bosom:  A familiar source/place of protection, security, or affection, deep intimacy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But when you pray, go into your [most] private room, and, closing the door, pray to your Father, who is in secret; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you in the open. (Matthew 6:6) AMP

This is not a literal room in your home. This secret place is where the Father – the Father of love lives. The secret place is the bosom of Heaven.

I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty[El-Shaddai],but by My name the Lord [Yahweh--the redemptive name of God] I did not make Myself known to them [in acts and great miracles].(Exodus 6:3) AMP

El-Shaddai - means the breasted one. Study for yourself what this name for God means.

All through the Word it talks about the Word being concealed, hidden, and shadowed. It must be discovered.

The bosom is always concealed and located above the heart. Jesus said we are “hidden” in Christ. Jesus said I came to “reveal” the Father – El-Shaddai the breasted one to you.

Religion has made God unattractive, lacking affection, and having no intimacy. It is a daily perfunctory life. It is void of power, joy, excitement, and passion.

I have been experiencing the bosom of Father. The intimate revelation of who He is. I am being introduced to a Father’s heart of love and embrace. All fear is banished! All fear is displaced!

I am stopping here and let you chew, swallow, and digest this. Read these scriptures and pray over them. Ask Father to reveal Himself to you. Let the deep call unto the deep.

Next I will share about what is so significant about the analogy of the breast and why this metaphor.

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

Starting A New Path To Experience The Heart Of Father – Pt 1

This series of posts are going to require you to move outside your framework of your religious idea and view of God. I make no apologies for what I am going to write. I will anchor it with scripture. I only ask you to step outside of what institutional church has taught you and allow the Word and His Spirit to bring greater understanding of who your Father really is.

In 1990 Holy Spirit knocked on the door of my spirit. I opened the door and was presented with love, forgiveness, and hope of a loving Father. I accepted the invitation to become a follower of Jesus Christ. Over the next 15 years I did what I was instructed to do, I followed the church crowd and copied what they did and said because this is what being a Christian means. In June of 2005 I had an experience with Holy Spirit. I really mean a 1 on 1 visit which lasted for maybe an hour. I cried, moaned, and travailed in the spirit realm. It was my first time experiencing this. It put me on a pathway to experience God for myself.

See, I knew about God. I had over 1,000 KJV scriptures memorized perfectly. I never missed a service. Anything that needed to be done – I would do it gladly. I was also became a full-time pastor in 2001, and the religious list could go on.

I took everything the church told me and did it, but I did it because this is what I was told to do. I was not told how to get acquainted with the Father. Listen,  going to church, playing in the church band, singing with the choir, attending all the programmed services, being in the prophetic ministry, cleaning the church, and having a TITLE is not experiential. It is needed and good, but there is MORE!

Jesus said, I do nothing unless my Father tells me to do it. I only do what I see my Father doing. Most people in the church do what they see other Christians do and what they are asked to do. They are not doing what they see their Father doing. It is not necessarily bad or sin, but it definitely is religious. It is a form of godliness but is void of transforming power. People will be in churches and in ministries for years and their personal lives are unchanged, untransformed, and hollow. Good people, but never changing into the wonderful image of a Holy Father. They talk about what awesome things occurred in the past, never about what God is doing “right now” in their lives, families, church, or community.

Is God just a God of the church? If our marriages, families, children, workplace, relationships, schools, and our neighborhoods and communities are not SEEING and EXPERIENCING our God then what is wrong? We have a form of God but we are absent of the power and authority that accompanies our faith. What value is a God who is powerless? What is faith with no manifested works? What is a Christian who is void of Christ? What is theological knowledge minus love?

Religion gets us to talk about how many people are in their church, how many programs they offer, how beautiful their mausoleum is, how many services they offer, who their guest speaker was, what countries they been to, what conferences they are going to attend this year, and how awesome their pastor is.

All this stuff has its place but are people EXPERIENCING the transforming power of Christ. Are the people MATURING? Are the people PURE before God? Are the people active disciples in training? Do the people demonstrate agape LOVE toward others? Is there a tangible PRESENCE of God among the community of assembled people? Most people will say yes, but how do you know this is true and what is your method of measuring it?

Not only does this apply to the church but what about our family? Is the family PURE? Is there clear communication among everyone? Is the home void of strife, rejection, and pain? Is love flowing between dad and mom? Is love flowing from parents to their children….. I am talking about expressed love! Does our home pursue holiness?

People have security alarms in their home to keep intruders out but have no safety precautions on their television and computers- profanity, homosexuality, rebellion, witchcraft, and wickedness pours in without interruption.  Families install carbon monoxide and smoke alarms but what do you have to make you aware of rejection, abuse, molestation, lies, impurity, anger, depression, and not belonging, that are living in the hearts and minds of family members?

What is the answer to all these questions? Where do I start in reversing some of these issues? It starts by changing your view of Father God and by redirecting your relationship with Him. You and I know about God and tell others about Him. Have you experienced the Father’s love? Are you having an experiential side to knowing God? Are you experiencing His loving embrace? When everything in your life or family is falling apart do you RUN first to Father? Or do you run to your source of comfort (food, sleep, alcohol, possessions, people, more hyper religious activities)?

Lets look at what Jesus’ disciples said about Father God…..

And we “know” (understand, recognize, are conscious of, by observation and by experience) and believe (adhere to and put faith in and rely on) the love God cherishes for us. God is love, and he who dwells and continues in love dwells and continues in God, and God dwells and continues in him. (1 John 4:16) AMP

They said we not only know…but we understand, recognize, are conscious of, by observation and by experience how much God’s loves us! Do you know how much Father loves and cherishes YOU?

I am going to begin to introduce you to a subject matter you probably have never been taught about your Heavenly Father. I believe it will launch you into a deeper and more intimate relationship with Him. I really try to keep these posts simple, so I will not introduce it today because my spirit is flowing and it will become chapters 1 & 2 very quickly.

I hope you will check back and tomorrow we will begin. Today I hope I have wet your appetite and desire to move from knowing about your God, your church, and your Bible to a place you can experience and live in the Father’s world everyday of your life…..experiencing His love and embrace.

Does God Ask Us To Give Up or To Sacrifice For Him?

We hear people and churches talk about new seasons a lot. What does a new season mean? This article is not about seasons, but at least let me clarify the term. Too often people use the term incorrectly. They use it to justify an offense they have incurred. My observation is when one does not want to be submitted, they will say “my season is up here.”

I have learned to discern this attitude and spirit. How? For the most part, like 95% of the time, it is contrary to God’s Word and it causes confusion, discord, and turmoil. I did leave a little door for exceptional situations because they do exist.

How can you know when a season is up?

When you are in school, how do you go from semester to another? It is called exams. Exams test you on the material you have been taught and if you pass you continue on to the next semester.

One cannot advance without a test. A test is not a season but to see what you have learned, retained, and comprehend. In the spirit realm God is going to test what you have been taught to see if you can you take all the accumilated spiritual knowledge and apply to this test.

If you can, congratulations! You go to your next season/level/sphere. If you fail, you get to retake the test. Most church attendees (I use this term because I am unsure who is and who is not a true authentic Christian anymore) rebuke the devil and cry to God as soon as a difficult situations occur in their life. They are untestable and unproven!

Now to the purpose of this post. I want to talk about sacrifices. We talk about what we give up for God and what we sacrifice. Is this scriptural? Does Father really ask us to “give up” stuff? For too often it has an undertone of regret. I had to give up this or that. Here is the BIG one. I am a living sacrifice. Does the Word tell us to be a living sacrifice?

I have personally stated I am a living sacrifice. One day I was praying and Holy Spirit said, I don’t need your sacrifice! Jesus was the Ultimate sacrifice. What can you offer as sacrifice? It is unusable! Hold up here God…. I am obeying your word…. Are you? I turned to the Word in Romans 12 to show Holy Spirit His word and look what I discovered. I am going to give two different translations so you can chew it, swallow it, and digest it.

I APPEAL to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1) AMP

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life–your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life–and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. (Romans 12:1) MSG

Did you SEE it?

A sacrifice in and of itself is useless to God. It says we must make an offering that is HOLY unto God. The word holy is the key. Nothing presented to God that is not presented as a decisive heart decision and HOLY, God will not even look upon.

Here is my question to you? If it was not preached about, taught on, or a religious expectation would you continue participating in the activity you are giving up?

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice. (1 Samuel 15:22)

Our God does not need our half-hearted sacrifices. In the Old Testament quality (Angus beef) animals were sacrificed, then the Ultimate sacrifice Jesus came on the scene and gave His life to end all sacrifices. God does not ask, expect, or require you to give up anything.

Jesus did not say, I will do this but my heart is not into it. If I didn’t have to I wouldn’t. Jesus did it without pressure from His Father or the need to meet some approval. Jesus died out of a deep intimate love He received from His Father and in return gave the same level of love back through a demonstration of perfect obedience.

We are not asked to give up, or sacrifice what our heart is truly not into. If we are giving up things with this type of attitude, we are doing so out of a religious mindset. Jesus loved you and I and gave us the greatest love we can ever encounter. As we come into a followership lifestyle of Christ we fall head over heels in love with His goodness and love, which prompts us to voluntary lay everything at His feet. We come to such a level of love just knowing him is insufficient, we want to experience a pure concentration of love we value MORE than our knowledge. Like Paul who stated: “I count everything loss to “KNOW” Him.”

I don’t want anything in my life which impedes my development and maturity. I want to lay all things at His feet out of a voluntary love to honor, respect, and show my thanks for all He did for me. I want my home (life) to be the best home He could find to live in. Holy Spirit is my guest of honor.

Lets be “REAL” for a few minutes. Would you smoke pot, sniff cocaine, shoot meth, solicit prostitutes, fudge your IRS returns, watch XXX movies, engage in immoral behavior, and not attend church, if it was not against the law or consider spiritually and morally wrong?

The Word of God is very clear about what is right and wrong. What is good and evil. What is holy and unholy. What is loving and hateful. What is pure and impure. What is accepted and unaccepted. What is righteous and wicked. Yet so many people who have the fish bumper sticker, listen to Christian radio, watch Sky Angel, TBN, and Church Channel, have the latest worship CD, and read the newest bestseller, and yet refuse to obey the Word.

People will so easy say; God has not told me not to do that! My church doesn’t teach that its sin! You are too strict! I don’t live under the law!

The issue is you do not yet  possess a heart that is lovesick and “in love” with a holy Father. When you are “In Love” it is not giving up or sacrificing, it is a joy and honor to strip off everything that is of this world that is a weight, distraction, and hindrance from experiencing MORE of His love.

Holy Spirit begin to speak to me in 2006 and I taught for several years on the subject of being “In Love.” He shared with me that my people love me but they are not “in love” with me.

If you are saying that is unfair and judgmental let me state the word of God.

But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and practice evil deeds. (Romans 2:8)

You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? (Galatians 5:7)

If you [really] love Me, you will keep (obey) My commands. (gal 5:7)

The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me. (John 14:21)

Somehow we have deceived ourselves into believing that we love God but we are void of behavior that matches our mouth and God’s Word. There is no perfect individual, but through the power of Holy Spirit we can overcome every power grip of sin and disobedient DNA embedded in our life. Somewhere we don’t see it as being all that bad. We look around and justify it by how others are living. We say, at least I am not having an extramarital affair or selling drugs.

Our standard is not what others do but what God’s Word instructs us on how to live. God states in more than one reference, “I am holy therefore you be holy.” This does not sound optional to me. 

God hasn’t invited us into a disorderly, unkempt life but into something holy and beautiful–as beautiful on the inside as the outside. (1 Thessalonians 4:7)

Try to live in peace with all people, and try to live free from sin. Anyone whose life is not holy will never see the Lord. (Hebrews 12:14)

I hope you have not been instructed by a seeker sensitive message of a leader who has built himself a mausoleum- spiritual graveyard, he needs you to help finance. I hope you have not had a spell cast on you by a motivational speaker. I hope you do not believe we are all sinners. Yes, I was a sinner but I am no longer a sinner. When I accepted the invitation to follow Christ and His ways, I then became a son whose desire is to radiate the image/love of Christ and to live my life as an expression of His character.

 

We need to develop an attitude toward Christ that doesn’t say…Man, I want to hang on that! I’m sure going to miss it. The word says “find out” and discover what pleases God. That should be our heart’s desire to discover and find out what pleases our King and whatever is in our  life, which does not honor and please Him, we cast off as filth which defiles. May you discover through the Word and Spirit what honors your King………………..

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

Today – I Choose To Rejoice

Let me start off by sharing an incident at Wal Mart this morning. I went to Wal Mart to gather a few items on the list. Since it was a few I got in the express lane 10 items or less. I had 11 items so I asked the clerk could I check out with 11 and she said yes. I know it sounds odd, but the sign states 10 or less. How many times have you seen people or maybe you have checked out knowing you were over the limit but there was “deep” inside this voice justifying why it did not matter. “It’s only 3 items over” or “It’s not a big deal” or “Who cares- I’m not waiting any longer.”

Can I tell you something – It Matters!

When I asked the question people in line turned around and looked at me and it opened up conversation. As my turn approached to checkout I looked at the elderly cashier and her name tag read Evelyn. I said, “Evelyn how are you today, and thank you for allowing me to checkout.”  The gentleman behind me said, “You sure are happy today.” I responded with, “There is too much to be discouraged, upset, and negative about.”  I have the privilege of choosing what type of day I will have. It is an intentional decision to see the good in people and today. It takes no effort to get discouraged. Read the paper, listen to the news. Just open your eyes.

I want to be uncommon! I want to aTo – Avoid the Ordinary!

I hope you have not stopped the 21 day fast of being negative. I hope you have not reverted back to looking at life through the wrong lens. I hope your entire world is not colored with the lens of hopelessness.

But let all those who take refuge and put their trust in You REJOICE; let them ever sing and shout for joy, because You make a covering over them and defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You and be in high spirits. (Psalm 5:11) AMP

Based on this scripture if we are not rejoicing, we must not have our trust in the right God. Let me introduce you to Jesus. It states Jesus makes a “covering” over you and Jesus will defend you. When you truly know this, believe this, and have experienced it, only then can you genuinely cast all your anxiety, worry, fear, and stress on Him. I really like the last phrase – be in “High Spirits.”  I believe people should see you in high spirits and say you sure are happy today! Yes, I am….. I am covered and defended by my God.

For in Him does our heart rejoice, because we have trusted (relied on and been confident) in His holy name. (Psalm 33:21) AMP

If your heart is not at peace, on the stage rejoicing, then you need to recheck who and what you’re trusting in. A heart which has fixed its gaze upon the Creator and Sustainer of all things can do nothing but celebrate and rejoice.

Today is the day the Lord has made. Let’s rejoice and be happy today! (Psalm 118:24)

Today, Thursday October 1, 2009, is a brand day which has never been lived in. It is a brand new year which has never been lived in. This day was created, ordained, and orchestrated by God. It is absolutely a beautiful day. The sun is shining, the sky is “carolina blue” and cloudless. The crisp fall wind is blowing. The trees are full of many variances of color. There are numerous songs and sounds being spoken by the fowl of air.

I have been invited to live on God’s earth and enjoy His creation. I believe God ordained my birth to help celebrate and rejoice in His Mighty power and creativity. He wanted me to know and experience the goodness of all He has made for His sons/daughters.

I have a choice to make every morning. Will I listen to the negative moaning of the world and allow them to put their glasses on me so I will see what they see? Or will I choose to see life as my God sees life? Will I rejoice in all He has created just for me to see and experience?

You have to train your eyes to see God and His goodness. You have to keep course correcting your eyes and ears so you can hear God and see God, all day and everyday. It is your choice.

I challenge you every morning to “EXCHANGE” your negative attitude, your self pity, your hopelessness, your victim feelings, and trade your deck of cards in that you always feel you were dealt a loser’s hand. Our Father is so good that He will exchange your losing hand and give you a winning hand. You must choose to take the time to go into the “secret place” and exchange your glasses you keep waking up with and walk out wearing His glasses. When you put on His glasses you will rejoice because you see How BIG your Father is and how small your problems are.

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

Designing A God Of Your Liking

Having a career in ministry can somewhat be compared to politics. Let me rephrase this. Having a career in 2009 in most American churches is very similar to American politics. The reason I rephrased the statement is because there are some ministries who do not function like a democracy. The majority of churches are like our political system who will vote in or out their politician – this is not Kingdom or Biblical. The design and intent for church is family, with a head – spiritual father and eldership. How can you discard your father?

Previously I wrote about how easy it is to allow our life experiences to “define” what we believe and state about God, our faith, and church.

Too many converts and churches across this nation are acting much like the children of Israel when they were delivered out of 430 years of slavery. God could have taken them to the promise land in 11 days but God knew they had a 430 year embedded mindset and thinking which was negative, ungodly, and full of the world and flesh. The sad truth is He never did get their heart to turn toward Him and stay. Eleven days turned into a 40 year death march. God let them all die and a new generation emerged, that He could lead and teach to trust Him.

So we will jump into early stages of their 40 year crisis and look at their heart and compare it to our heart in America.

When the people realized that Moses was taking forever in coming down off the mountain, they rallied around Aaron and said, “Do something. Make gods for us who will lead us. That Moses, the man who got us out of Egypt–who knows what’s happened to him?” (Exodus 32:1)

This Scripture describes a people who totally lacked patience. They lacked any trust in Moses or God. They also demonstrate a very selfish people who were willing to abandon the very prophet and leader who heard from God, obeyed god, and led approximately 3 million people out of 430 years of hard slavery. How easy it is in today’s culture to take the control seat when God, church, family, people, or friends don’t react to the speed we think they should? If not, I will do it myself. If not, we will change churches. If not, we will worship other Gods.

When things were not going just the way they wanted it to go, when situations were not working out the way they thought they should, when they felt alone and leaderless they were willing to make a god of their liking.

Like all religions today apart from faiths that believe on Christ the Savior, in their pain, hurt, hopelessness, poverty, uncertainty, pride, selfishness, and in their loneliness make one of the most foolish and ignorant decisions of a lifetime…..to create their own god. What good does a god do when you are the creator of it? What can a god do which you form and fashion? If a god cannot create an image for itself – how can it lead you? Protect you? Provide for you?

Why were they so eagerly willing to create a god? They desired something they could see immediately. They wanted to be busy. Humanity has a real issue with silence, inactivity, patience, and waiting. After 430 years of idolatry in Egypt they wanted something “familiar” to them.

Like politics, the church is facing a similar crisis. As the people get uneasy, agitated, impatient, and fearful they will start complaining, moaning, and demanding change.

Remember Aaron was a priest, pastor, bishop, elder, or whatever title you are “familiar” with. The people went to Aaron and said, it is taking Moses too long; we want action now! Make us a faith, church, program, so we can worship God when we want and how we want. Because Aaron was insecure and needed to have the approval of people, he did exactly what the popular poll and opinion demanded.

Because much of the church has fashioned itself after the political correctness which must appease “We the people”, it must follow popular opinion. The church has failed to produce disciples but instead has mass produced converts. The American church has chosen a path of seeker friendly, culture relevatism, church growth, conversion, and BIG ministry.  It has inflated the convert to think they are spiritually prepared and living according to God’s specifications. It has given leaders visions, missions, and dreams which are self-seeking and self serving.

He took the gold from their hands and cast it in the form of a calf, shaping it with an engraving tool. The people responded with enthusiasm: “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up from Egypt!” (Exodus 32:4)

The church – (the people) have shaped God into their liking to make Him convenient to follow. It is cross-less, cost-less, and bless me religion.

When Aaron saw how excited the people were about it, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the LORD!” (Exodus 32:5)

People will always be excited about having their way and getting something for free or a bargain. A convert will always be excited about having their own way. A disciple/son will always be excited when they can reproduce their Father. A disciple doesn’t desire it their way but His way.

This is atypical of human nature. On Youtube a teenager was viewed in a street brawl and was brutally killed. It had over 1 million views and another 100,000 searches looking for more Youtube fighting. We have raised a generation that thinks perverted. If people will watch it, view it, search for it, and get excited about it, then it must be good. This is a classic “unregenerated” mind.

Aaron saw the people were excited about the image of Baal. The image that held the children in brutal slavery 430 years. Aaron then built an altar (place of intimacy) with demons. Today we have so many leaders who see their followers get excited about earthly objects, activities, and events and incorporate them into their service.

Men and Women of faith – we are called to follow Christ, serve Christ, live for Christ, please Christ, and even die for Christ.

So the people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and indulged themselves in pagan revelry. (Exodus 32:6)

I will finish with verse 6. They got up and went to church as usual. They did all their normal, routine, and mindless religious activities (tipped the church, sang the songs, clapped, laughed at the preacher’s joke, said amen…then afterwards they reverted back to their formal lifestyle. It says they indulged in pagan revelry.

Because we don’t use the words “pagan revelry” in our culture, we dismiss it. Pagan revelry means: the worship or worshipers of any religion that is neither Christian nor Jewish; through much drinking, partying, and “clubbing” they indulged their desires by engaging in sexually immoral behavior (premarital, extramarital, homosexual activities). We know spiritually and historically that Egypt was a pagan nation and culture. Israel had been slaves for 430 years. All they had seen lived out and modeled before them was anti-God behavior. All they had left of their faith were stories passed down like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs or Humpty Dumpty.

They defined and shaped God into what was convenient, comfortable, and familiar, and the leader appeased their noisy demands. The spiritual politicans have heard what the people want in a church, in a god, in a pastor, and for their family, and if the leaders will provide us what we want we will make you successful – you can build big buildings, have masses of people, and have a reputation as being culturally relevant.

How have you designed your faith and God? Do you have a very plush, convenient, and non-demanding religion? The truth is the call of Christ is a call of “inconvenience.” It will take you on a journey totally opposite of the journey of the world.

Then we will not still be babies. We will not be people who change like a ship that the waves carry one way and then another. We will not be influenced (changed) by every new teaching we hear from people who try to fool us. Those people make plans and try any kind of trick to fool people into following the wrong way. (Ephesians 4:14)

My prayer for you is that you evaluate your faith and God. If not, you could be travelling a path which seems good and right but the final destination is destructive. 

Please pay close attention: Do not put your faith or trust in the government. Do not put your faith and trust in the American church. Do not put your faith and trust in a man/woman. Put your faith and trust in Abba Father, Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit.

The above scripture is so powerful – Let us not be naive like a child! Let us not blindly follow without absolutely knowing this is of God – therefore walk in it!

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

Interior Life

Our culture today is obsessed with the external. From fashion to facials and from lifts to tucks, it is all focused on the exterior. Sadly, the American church has adopted this same mentality. The American church is obsessed with how it looks. It has an exterior complex.

Holy Spirit is an interior Spirit. When we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord, Holy Spirit came, moved in, and set up chapel. Isn’t it strange how religion never works from the inside out, but always focuses on the exterior of man? Religion is about do’s and do not’s, can’s and cannot’s, have’s and have not’s.

Religion focuses on sin but Holy Spirit focuses on Jesus. We know the root of sin, nature of sin, pleasures of sin, effects of sin, and the consequences of sin which are almost all again exterior. It takes no relationship to talk about the external characteristics. You can see them, observe them,  and feel them.

The interior life is almost completely relationship based. You cannot develop the interior life except through relationship. The Word of God says we are to walk by faith not by sight (external). Religion is like a puffer fish. It puffs itself up, looks big and powerful, but it’s all an illusion.

I believe the American church is the most inward focused organization in the world. It spends the majority of its resources on its exterior, what people can see, but spends the majority of its time isolated. The American church offers a list of events but you must come in the church to participate. Let’s see…..(women’s ministry, men’s ministry, worship, music practice, youth ministry, children’s ministry, prayer, Bible studies, dance)

Holy Spirit’s whole purpose was to come and empower our interior life so we can engage the exterior world we live in. Holy Spirit is mining salt in our lives so it can be sprinkled on the earth.

Dangers of developing a powerful interior life in Christ:  You will be called a fanatic, overly religious, a zealot, self righteous, too spiritual, and even cultic.

Call me what you like….I accept all of the above. What I have learned and experienced through the transforming relationship of Jesus Christ and the interior life of Holy Spirit overrides what any opinion by man can produce. I would rather be known by Heaven than known among the religious celebrities of the American culture.

I have found the harshest critics to developing and interior life come from religious people. It makes others feel convicted and they begin to belittle your devotion to prayer, fasting, giving, passion, and any other trait they possiblely lack.

You cannot impart something you do not have. When one lacks sustenance they will focus on the external to remove the pressure. Let’s keep everyone busy “doing” something. Let’s make nothing something so someone can do nothing with something.

Fasting is an interior discipline and is like a flammable fuel. When you fast it ignites your spirit man and explodes. Your interior life heats up, starts to burn away all the idols, lusts, pride, and introduces you face to face with your untransformed self.

Today fasting is becoming more and more accepted in the church. Based on the American church track record, give it enough time and it will become infected with rigid religious mandates or turned into God’s weight control plan.

I want to commend everyone who is being stirred to fast, thinking about fasting, and those who sense a call to fast. It truly is a tool to create a powerful interior life that when released can make one “transformed into supernatural shapers of history.”

May the glorious Father of faith, love, and joy in the Holy Ghost overshadow you and impart the supernatural seed to develop the interior life for His indwelling presence.

Choosing a Church

I find the reasons people give for choosing a church quite amazing. Here are a few I have heard:

• the children’s program
• the worship
• the location to their home
• the preaching
• their children like it
• it’s small
• it’s growing
• the people are friendly

I am sure you have heard some of these answers and I will admit I have given a few of these myself. The problem is none of them are biblical or legitimate, and all of them are selfish.

When does a parent choose a church because their children like it? When the family is dysfunctional and their children run the home. When we allow children to choose the family’s spiritual direction that family has lost their moral compass. What does a child know about what they spiritually need?

Chrysler Corporation released a slogan for one of their mini vans which said, “Give them what they want and you will get what you want.”  I would rather for them to be less thrilled now than spend their life in hell because we let them choose the next Monkey Joe’s for church.

“I like the worship or preaching“ – As legitimate as this sounds it is very unscriptural. I am a passionate insane worshiper but choosing a church based on worship is selfish. Worship is a lifestyle, not a 30 minute event on Sunday morning with high tempo music. The Word never says my house is a house of worship. The Bible also says the five ministering gifts in Ephesians 4:11 (apostle, prophet, pastor, evangelist, teacher) are for EQUIPPING the body to be minsters to their world. Most churches are not equipping and training it’s people. It’s like stand up comedy where people go to be amused by the props and feminized pep talk.

“The people are friendly” - This is really Biblical! Can you find friendly in the Bible? Can you find nice in the Bible? I can take you to some restaurants who have more friendliness than many churches. Having trained greeters who stand at the door and smile is not friendly, but trained customer service.

“The church is close to my house“  – This really is a heart after God…….choosing a church based on convenience and comfort. I don’t think people really comprehend the message in this statement.

Wrapping it up – Nowhere do you find the lifestyle of Jesus to center around comfort, convenience, and selfishness. The Bible clearly states that following Christ will cost you everything and challenge you to the very core of your faith. American Christianity is based on a faith that basically is allotted a two hour activity out of the 164 hour week.

Jesus said, “My church will be a church of prayer.” You can count on one hand how many people choose a church based on prayer. Prayer is the vital sign of a church’s healthiness. If a church does not put a priority and emphasis on prayer, that church is powerless. You cannot have power apart from prayer. You will NEVER have signs, wonders, miracles, or community transformation, which most churches do not have.

Biblical reasons for choosing a church are:

• prayer
• love
• humility
• transparency
• challenging
• miracles
• community transformation
• equipping/discipleship

Jesus also said in numerous references about the church being a place of love, not friendliness. Friendliness and love are not the same. Being friendly is a world trait. Being loving is a Christ trait. Anyone can be friendly, but not everyone can love. Love only comes from God and through God. It takes a dying to self to love. It’s easy to love the one we have many common interests and likes with, but that is not the gage of love. The test for love is can you demonstrate love to your enemy? Can you love the person who causes you to come unglued inside?

The next time you look for a church instead of choosing what will make you happy, comfortable, and convenient, look for a church who is demonstrating God’s nature, character and will challenge you to grow up, equip you to overcome the world, encourage you to die to your selfish ambitions, and love even unto death.

You are not choosing a vacation destination. You are not choosing a gated community to live in. You are not choosing a Broadway play. You are not choosing a community social club. You are not choosing a popular hot spot where everyone attends. You are choosing to become part of a family. A ministry who will love you, encourage you, promote you, validate you, challenge you, and correct you. Jesus said, “I bring discipline to your life because I love you.” You cannot mature without correction. This is absent in the majority of churches because they will lose the tip you give. The end result in your life is immaturity, selfishness, and strife. You are choosing a church who has a large influence on determining heaven or hell for your life. It is one of the greatest decisions your family will decide.

I pray you seek Godly counsel and choose wisely. May you know the behind the scenes spirit. May you find a church you become grounded in and helps you develop a heart postured at the throne of Jesus. This is no easy task. I pray you have great wisdom, insight, and confirmation as you locate where you join your gift and fit into the proper place Father has for you and your family.

May you choose not what your children like, but what your children need to be successful in junior high, senior high, and college. 70% of children when leaving high school have not embraced their parents faith and never return. What a price to pay for keeping everyone happy and entertained!!

Why Fast?

I have been fasting off and on for about 15 years. My mother fasted at times when I was growing up so it was not alien to me. I remember my mom completing a 21 day fast. I never heard the church or a pastor talk about fasting.

When I fasted it was mental hell. I usually did 1 to 3 days. I literally thought I was going crazy and I would starve to death. When you first start fasting your mind is so undisciplined it will really drive you insane. You can’t even concentrate on anything other than food.

If you are doing a Daniel Fast, then this really does not apply to you because you are eating. What I am sharing about is the absence of food period. This separates the boys from the girls. Don’t get offended and it’s not a jab, but there is a major difference from a Daniel Fast and an absolute fast. I will share with you later about the 5 types of Biblical fasts.

Like I was sharing, my earlier years of fasting were unproductive and miserable. I got through each fast but I ate the house down and had no knowledge or fruit from fasting. In ‘05 I had a dramatic experience with Holy Spirit and it sent me on a journey of intense prayer and fasting – intense meaning I was praying 3-6 hours every day and fasting every week. In January ‘06 I did my first ever 40 day water only fast. I dropped from 165 lbs to 128 lbs.

It was one of my greatest spiritual inroads into the deep things of God. I made a personal decision to do at least one 40 day fast every year and I am currently on my fourth one. I am extremely proud of my wife who also does a 40 day fast each year with me. Check this out…our 8 year old granddaughter did a 7 day fast.

Why Fast?

Great question. I ask you why do you fast? There can be many motives for fasting. Fasting can be modified for different needs. Why are there so many ways to fast? I will say the answer to this question would be flesh. When you take food from the human body it will suck the salt off peanuts and spit the peanuts out. It will chew up a raisin then spit it out. It will season water and suck on candy like a nitroglycerin tablet.

Food is truly an idol and god in most people’s life. So to find some comfort the flesh will constantly make adjustments to get gratification. People will fast sweets, soft drinks, text messaging, games, TV, and caffeine. Nothing wrong with any of these, but they are not Biblical fasts. They are comfort or convenience fasts. You do not need TV to live but it is a comfort. You don’t find people in the Bible fasting caffeine or sweets. I tell people whatever you want to fast or feel you need to fast do it and I am your biggest supporter. But lets not confuse all this with Biblical fasting.

Is prayer optional?

Is giving optional?

Is fasting optional?

If you study the Word of God, prayer – giving – fasting are not optional but direct commands in God’s Word. Why is it leaders have PUSHED giving but not fasting? They have PUSHED prayer but not fasting?

Because most religious (church) leaders are unhealthy eaters, overweight, and physically unfit. They are proud of it. Fasting is right in there with prayer and giving. Read Matthew 6.

Why Fast?

Many people in the church have been praying for decades for the Lord to make them humble and meek, except the process seems to be broken because humbleness is still an absent trait in the body of Christ. I prayed for years to be broken and humble with little progression but my prayer and heart was serious. If God wants me to be humble He will make me humble. That is just not true!

Fasting is like an accelerator and it will humble you quickly. Fasting is the tool Father chose for us to learn to cultivate in our life which will produce humility and brokenness. God saved us by His great love through His death, burial, and resurrection. He does not make us disciples neither does He renew our minds. That is our responsibility to read the Word and to become a student and follower of His Word. Same with fasting. Jesus even demonstrated a 40 day fast and it radically changed His life.

Prayer is awesome and great but it does not humble us. It very easily can puff us up and make us proud of our lengthy prayers and rythmic phrases. Long prayers do not mean they are powerful and fasting does not mean we are spiritual. In Isaiah 58 it talks about people fasting for personal recognition without any spiritual benefit. What  a miserable life.

Psalm 35:13 says this…..I humbled myself with fasting.

Did you catch that key word? I…..Humbled……Myself…….with FASTING

It really had nothing to do with God but a choice to get real with God……….. WOW!

Why Fast? I will list a few Biblical reasons to WHY we should fast.

1. revelation  2. healing  3. righteousness  4. presence of glory  5. answered prayers  6.guidance  7. contentment  8. refreshing  9. strength  10. work that endures  11. raising up future generations  12. restoration

These are just 12 reasons from Isaiah 58. I am telling you there are dozens of examples and breakthroughs from fasting.  I am sold on fasting and it now is a regular part of my life. I would share some “freak nasty” reasons why fasting is so awesome but I’m not sharing everything all at once. Yes, I have been called extreme, fanatic, zealot, and some other terms, but that is all part of it. Jesus fasted and He is our perfect leader and example so I am going to do it too.

My sons and daughters are my pride and joy. I think there are about 8 people on a 40 day NO FOOD fast and others are doing various fast from Daniel fast to TV fast. I support anyone doing anything to be more like Jesus. I am proud of everyone. Let me throw this in though. You need to KNOW why you are fasting!

If I can answer any questions or help you I am available. I will share with you ONLY what I have experienced from my personal fasting and what I have studied.

I pray Holy Spirit releases a grace to fast upon you. May you grow as you deny your flesh and choose live in His Spirit and power. You can do this by faith. You are going to live and not die. You are going to be powerful as you mature in Christ. I am proud of you so Don’t stop.,Don’t quit, and Don’t lose faith.

Free At Last – Free At Last!

Today is Martin Luther King’s holiday. This past week UFC watched a MLK documentary and interceded to become people who are overflowing with genuine love, humility, and proactive in becoming Christlike.

For most of my life I have carefully considered what my fellow man, neighbors, friends, family, and other Christians thought of me. As a pastor of 7 years I cared what other churches and church leaders thought about me. That was largely due to my insecurities and fear of rejection.

I can truthfully say the Lord has done a supernatural work in my soul. Let me clarify about “I don’t care.” I do care that my reputation is honorable, my character is pure, and my name is a name of integrity. But do I care what other leaders say or think about me? Absolutely not! I am free at last – free at last from the opinions of man.

I am adamant and obsessed with what my Heavenly Father says about me. He is my standard and my source. I seek His words of calling me faithful and He trusts me.

We do not seek to know what:

• the best way to control Holy Spirit
• the latest gimmick is in worship
• the newest program of the seeker friendly churches
• the next church growth seminar
• the next emergent church lukewarmness
• the next purpose driven concept
• the next adrenaline driven creative concept

We do care to know how:

• to become like Jesus
• to develop faith which can manifest heaven on earth
• to burn with an intimate passionate heart for more of Jesus
• to heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out demons
• to be “real” and secure before all mankind
• to rest in the storm and eat in the presence of our enemies
• to be faithful and not successful
• to be content in all situations
• to be FREE from Egypt and Baal
• to host Holy Spirit
• to continually practice the presence of God

I have found to do the above you must be free from man’s opinion. I once sat at a table with pastors who shared how they were embarrassed by Holy Spirit in the service. DID YOU HEAR ME? They were embarrassed! They were embarrassed to invite their friends because you never knew what the service was going to be like and how you could explain it. I look back now and I should have stood up and “pimpslapped” every one of those pastors. Today I would!

This is the dilemma facing the American church. Religious leaders who value their church’s reputation, their reputation, and desire to be known by other religious people and leaders than to be known as one who hosts the very Spirit of Christ. What is a church without Holy Spirit? What is a church without  love of the Spirit? What is a church without  power of Christ? What is a church without  conviction of Holy Spirit? What do you have?

Sunday January 18, 2009 we recognized our 2 year anniversary, but we celebrated Jesus. We celebrated the death, burial, and resurrection power of Jesus Christ by Breaking Bread and making covenant with our Father, our Savior, and with Holy Spirit and followed with an evening of feasting (literally) and enjoying the interaction with one another.

What I am not saying……….is UFC has a corner on the spirit or that we are superior to anyone or anybody.

What I am saying…………….is UFC has grown and matured over the past two years. We have obeyed everything we believe Holy Spirit has directed us to do. And we are aggressively pursuing and precisely calculating catching Him.

Our main goal………………..to become Christlike in all our ways/doings and hosting Holy Spirit.

Our prayer for you is that you get free from the fear of man and free from the insecurities which drive you or cause you to hide. Jesus is the healer and deliverer of all things. May you know and experience Holy Spirit in all your endeavors. We also pray you are knitted to a family of Christ who will accept you, love you, and role model before you the ways of Christ. May you find FREEDOM in Christ!

Can It Be Easy ?

Have you ever heard someone tell you it’s “easy” to live the disciple’s lifestyle? It’s easy to be a Christian?

I am unsure if I have ever heard another believer state serving the Lord is easy. I have heard many state “it is not easy” being a Christian.

 

Well let me state to you Being a Believer can be & should be EASY!

I can only imagine what some of you can be thinking. I say some because my blog readers and subscribers are probably just you anyway. I don’t think I could ever get prideful about having a large subscriber base. If you are one who reads my articles you fit in several categories. 1. you are an extremist who loves Jesus, or 2. You can’t wait to see another ridiculous post.

I woke up around 4 am and was talking to Daddy and I believe He asked me this: Is it hard for you to serve me? Is it hard for you to love me? Is it hard for you to walk in step with me? My answer was No Lord it’s not hard but my greatest delight! It’s only hard when I want to do something different from what you want!

Why then do people say it’s hard being my disciple?

I know I have said before it’s hard living for Jesus. I think sometimes we are confusing our thoughts and using the wrong words. If that is the case I hope to help you better clarify what you may mean but if you feel it’s hard living for Jesus then I plan to show you WHY it’s hard for you. Either way I believe you will come into some new levels of truth.

1. Miscommunication: living for Jesus is not as popular as living for your own agenda therefore you are not in the majority. Doing the right thing, watching the right stuff, and removing ourselves from compromising situations can be more challenging, causing us to always be alert and watchful. I believe this causes us to say “it’s hard”

Hard defined: difficult & awkward to achieve; problematic – difficult to endure and full of problems; it’s troublesome and a hard task.

Does this describe your walk with God? Does this describe your personal relationship with Jesus? Is this a description of intimacy with your Heavenly Father? if so, there is a reason for this and it’s not God’s plan and you have seriously been misled.

Intimacy is supposed to be delightful, fulfilling, and pleasurable. If intimacy is a hard thing then who would return and seek after it?

Listen to what Jesus stated: “My yoke is “easy” and my assignment is “light” Matthew 11:30

2. Unsurrendered: I know this is not you. You are totally surrendered. You go to church, to serve in 11 different ministries, you give and give, and give. You are sold out! This has nothing to do with being surrendered.

Surrender defined: to relinquish possession or control of you; to give up or abandon your rights; to stop opposing or resisting and agree to some body’s demands or requests.

Doesn’t this show us maybe we are not completely surrendered? yes we are moving in the direction of surrender but…. No rights! No say so! No last word! No input! No sharing my thoughts & opinions?

Jesus said my yoke is easy. A yoke is an agricultural tool which links a pair of oxen or a team of oxen which are then used to work the fields. As long as the oxen are unified and going in the “same” direction the farmers task is easy. When one oxen doesn’t want to follow the course, walk in the same direction, or just looking in another direction it creates a resistance and the task becomes very strenuous and hard because one oxen is not fully compliant and engaged.

For most of my walk as a believer it has been very difficult and HARD. I love Jesus but I still had my plans, agenda, my way, wants, and my SELF was still very evident. As long as self is alive you will experience strife and difficulty. Self is at war with surrender. 

Jesus said there is a place of rest in Him. How many believers do you know experiencing this place of rest? how often have you experienced it? Jesus did not say you will experience it but you can continuously dwell and live in a state of rest!

After almost 19 years I am sharing with you a walk in Christ that is easy and restful. I am sharing this with you not to boast or sound self-righteous but to inform you it is not a make believe land of Oz. I have never known anyone personally who lives there and who taught me how to reach and maintain a lifestyle of rest. My genuine desire is for you not to ”aggressively Strive” for two decades wondering if it exist and almost giving up in doubt.

There is a position in Christ where it is without difficulty and unrest. It is a place of peace, rest, and it’s easy. The key is so simple yet it is profound. It is so simple you will argue with me by saying “but I am surrendered” but in all actuality to have to state you are surrendered is the fact you are not surrendered. Surrender is not a journey to a destination but a time of death. You cannot travel to a place called surrender…………you die to self to attain surrender! To get to the very core of it. You cannot pursue the American lifestyle and a lifestyle of Christlikeness. It is impossible.

This is not stating someone does not love Jesus neither that their choice is necessary wrong. But you must choose to have all of Christ. Jesus will not share His glory with America’s self-centeredness and self-absorption of self.

Paul said I have learned the secret to live content in abundance, in scarcity, in comfort, in pain, in acceptance and in rejection. For years I searched for the secret and asked other minsters what the secret was. Now I know. You can only be content when you are always dead. When you are dead you feel nothing, when you are dead you pursue nothing, when you are dead you cannot be hurt. I will state this is a most difficult place to get because self is at war to live. But when you go to the cross and die, Then you live in that place of rest and peace!

My sincere prayer is that you can arrive at a place of rest in your walk with Christ. I did not say if was free from challenges, temptation, and free from problems. I am saying you can navigate with ease and rest while you are fighting the good fight of faith. If I live or die there is rest and freedom from the striving to live. True surrender is I no longer live but Christ lives in me. Christ died so you can live in Him.  If I can help you please email me. If I never hear from you, my prayer for all who read this article is that you come to understand total surrender and the joy of rest that is found only in Him. 

HOV-Car Pool Lane Only

Sometimes my flesh will try to tempt me to say I need a break! I immediately recognize the source and keep trekking. Whenever you go through larger cities like Atlanta, Richmond, or DC you see these lanes that are designed for fast trekking and multi-people vehicles.

I have found God never delivers a individual person for an isolated journey. God will deliver a man or woman but His goal is to deliver a people, group, church, city, state, or a nation. This fast track course I have been on is quite amazing. It is amazing because it’s a day by day walk. It is impossible to plan ahead because then you are planning out of your “head” your “experiences”, your “rationalizations”, and your “agenda”. Due to what God is up to and where He is taking the body of Christ all you can do is follow.

If you don’t have a cross to carry, stay close to Jesus and you will have one real soon. You cannot follow Christ and not have a cross to bear and die upon. There was a time in my walk when I “thought” I had some leverage on what Father is up to and the more I thought that way the more He shows me - ”Son, you do not have a clue.” I am telling you I do not have a clue what I am doing. What I do know is I am HEARING and I am OBEYING.

Let me share an example. I have spent hundreds of hours over the past three years in intercession and prayer. I have prayed up to 7 hours at one time. You can get deceived and think you know how to pray. I have found out the more you ask Holy Spirit to teach you how to pray, He will take you deeper in prayer.

Prayer does not alter that which God has determined. Prayer NEVER changes anything! It can only achieve what God has already decided. Prayerlessness, does bring about change. If we do not pray according to what God’s will is, God will wait until we hear correctly and pray in accordance to His will. When God does not seem to be listening or He is not active maybe He is waiting until you and I to pray according to His will.

How many of our prayers truly express the will of God? If you examine our prayers most express our will, our wants, our needs, and our situations.

How often is SELF completely left out of our prayers and the will of God is the only thing we seek after?

Most people view prayer as an outlet to express to God what we need. It is like call a nurse, but it is call in our need, complaint, dilemma, and our wish I had this. Prayer is about praying the heart of God and fulfilling His purposes in our lives and surroundings.

In Matthew 6 Jesus says your Father in heaven knows what you need before you even pray it. If someone already knows our need then why do we need to spend time repeating the need another hour unless we are motivated by self?

I believe this is why the prayers of so many of us are so anemic and powerless because they are not motivated by the Spirit, but by our selfish desires.

True prayer prompted by love and Holy Spirit will ALWAYS cause loss and damage to the kingdom of darkness. How many of our prayers do this? Does hell shake and tremble when you pray? If not, then your prayers are self-centered and self-motivated and have no power to destroy the works of darkness.

I hope you are catching some of this stuff. Too many of our prayers have become mechanical and vain repetitious prayers. They are full of adjectives, buzz words, cliches, and are eloquently spoken, but sickness is not dispersed, death is not conquered, and demons are not moved.

God has designed an HOV-lane only for those who will take on the purposes of God and the needs of others through prayer and fasting.

Prayer is so valuable and awesome but prayer in itself it limited. Authority is needed in prayer but prayers with authority are powerful but are still limited.

Let me show you something. In Matthew 17 14-21 Jesus, the son of God, gave His disciples legal authority to use His name in prayer to cast out demons, heal the sick, and to raise the dead. And yet they encountered a satanic stronghold that the name of Jesus and ordination could not dismantle. There are different levels of anointing and different levels of demons.

When the church prays and when you and I pray for others and nothing is broken or defeated in the demonic realm it is a shameful reproach on everything the body of Christ proclaims. Let me jump back up to the top of this article. When we pray are we praying His will or our will? Do we want to look good or do we want God to be glorified? Our prayers must be pure, motive free, endued with power, targeted, and full of faith.

The disciples were feeling defeated in their prayer and Jesus gave them some very important information. This level of the demonic takes more than anointed prayer. It takes more than a title of prophet, pastor, or intercessor. This level of devils will only be humiliated and will retreat by prayers that have been bathed with FASTING.

I am proud of everyone who has fasted and is fasting. But you can’t fast 21 days of January and have power for the next 320 days of 2009. Fasting is a lifestyle.

People like sales, clearances, and free stuff. So let me share with you what’s free in God. By free I mean Jesus paid for it, but it’s free to you.

Forgiveness, grace, love, prayer, joy, peace, patience, kindness, long-suffering, adoption, justification, salvation, self control, spiritual gifts, and anointing. Understand these are all free ONLY to you. If you want to give them away, teach them, or share them it is no longer free because you did not pay for them and if you are going to give something away which you did not pay for you are going to have to pay the same price Jesus paid to give them away.

My God………..It is easy to give other people’s stuff away. It is easy to waste what you did not pay for. Jesus gave all this to everyone who asks but when you want to start distributing His stuff you will have to die like He died. “Whoever wants to be My disciple let him deny himself and pick up his cross and follow Me.”

What’s not free….power, humility, character, intimacy, pregnancy, revelation, impartation, visions, holiness, deacon, elder, disciple, 5 fold ministry gifts, resurrection power.

My prayer for all of us is that we can see there is a cost, but the reward of paying the price is “worth it all.” It really is all FREE to us as His children but the cost increases with the levels you climb. The cost is about dying to self, being trustworthy and responsible with His precious gifts of love that Jesus suffered, died, was buried and rose again to attain. It is free to us but there was a great, great, great price paid for our inheritance. Just as a parent would not give their seven year old 10 million dollars to do with how they wanted, Father is not going to give us the gifts of Jesus and Holy Spirit to do with as we see fit.

Keep Me From Lying to Myself

Do you sing to yourself? Do you lie to yourself? What an insidious thought, right?

I have this favorite chapter in the Bible I read over and over and pray each verse as I read it. I love all of the Bible and to select one portion is very difficult. This favorite spot of mine is overall my most covenant chapter because it covers so much and it reads like I feel. Make sense?

One verse says this: “Keep Me From Lying to Myself”

When I begin to ponder this verse I realize that for the most part we are not seeing what we are saying to ourselves as a lie. We hear it as truth. Instead of calling it lying lets re-term it as self-deception. I have found myself deceived many times throughout my life. Just because it is my reality, my experience, and that I can hold it or see it does not mean I am not deceived.

How can we know?

I personally have come to believe that the only real truth in the entire world is God’s Word. Every truth we know that is not spiritual still comes from God’s Word. All truth we will ever discover is from God’s Word. I have found every answer, solution, issue, dilemma, and every question to be unearthed in the Bible. For me the Word is my North Star and navigational system. I trust it, I rely on it, and I am convinced of it’s accuracy.

When Jesus came on the scene He ran into the religious leaders who were skilled in scriptures, they had memorized the first five books of the Bible (law) by heart. They had taken the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses and added to them to make a total of 613 laws. These cats were no pushovers. They were walking judges and attorneys of religious law. They were barracudas of the church. They would cut you so fast by the truth of the law you never saw it coming.

Jesus referred to them as “the blind leading the blind.” They were deceived and did not know it. They were blind and did not know they were blind. They believed they were right and Jesus was wrong.

Do you know what God’s will is for your life? One of our main objectives as believers is to do the will of our Father. If we do not know His will then we are doing our will. King David said, “Lord search me and know my heart. Cross-examine me and make sure that I am walking in truth.” David went through a season in his life of major deception. A man who knew God so well and yet he moved into a period where he lied to himself and believed his lies. David believed he could have an affair with Joab’s wife, got her pregnant and schemed to make it appear as Joab’s baby, then arranged a fierce battle and set a trap for Joab to be killed in the line of duty and believed he could get away with it. David lied to himself and fervently thought it was right and acceptable. That is until God visited him and revealed the truth about the deadly horror of his heart and character.

Until we are visited by Holy Spirit and come face to face with the Spirit of Christ we can work diligently and fervently thinking what we are doing is God’s will. We can have no doubts we are trekking after Him and the whole time it is our self-will instead of God’s will.

We lie to ourselves and say God understands! God knows my heart! God is loving and merciful! God knows I do not have a choice! I have to do what I got to do! This is only temporarily! Things will are going to get better! We lie to ourselves and we even believe our lives.

Situations do not just get better. Things do not improve by themselves. For our future to be different from what it currently is will be determined by the choices we make and our faith in God. If we do not make choices different from the ones we have made to get into the present situation then we will learn to cope in our crisis or we will make another selfish decision which may change the current atmosphere. But it is not a permanent change which will sustain the improvement.

I believe it is vitally important to have godly mature people in our lives who hold us in check with our decisions. We have heard a lot about accountability but most of what we call accountability is just sweat shop clothing with a fake designer label on it. It reads well but it doesn’t wear well. Most accountability is when one falls they run and confess their failure and the accountability partner says, “I understand” and then we all fail and fall short. Accountability is not an after the fact but a before it happens. Quit falling and telling me after the fact. Talk to me before you fall. Accountability is intervention and prevention, not remorse and self cleansing afterwards.

Let’s stop all the lies and pretending and walk in the light. Let’s recognize our sin driven nature and crucify it and live in Christ. Only when we are to the place in our lives where we love truth more than lies and we desire to live for God more than ourselves will we be able to come face to face with our fallen nature and start living in our redeemed nature in Jesus Christ.

One Of My Most Angry Days!

Can you remember the angriest day of your life? What was your attitude? Conduct? Behavior? Where were you? What set you off?

From my teenage years up until I was about 30-ish I had some anger issues. Thanks to the work of Holy Spirit and the power of transformation I have been set free from the pain and triggers of anger.

There are types of anger. All anger is not wrong or sin. Jesus became angry and did not cross the line into losing His head and sinning. We generally look down on anger as a negative emotion. We are told to suppress it and hide it. I disagree. I believe we should evaluate our anger, grow in our anger, and talk through our anger. To suppress it and deny it is unhealthy.

You need to strap yourself in and disengage from your super-spiritual religious mindset. Let me lay some foundation scripturally, not to justify my anger, but to help you understand.

The Word of God clearly tells us Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your passion, all your praying, and with all your intelligence.” I do not believe it takes much explanation to understand this command. One of the character traits of our God is that He is a “JEALOUS” lover!

In Luke 12:49, Jesus said “I have come to set the world on fire.”  Isn’t this awesome? Jesus said, “I have come to baptize you with a fiery love, fiery passion, and a fiery zeal for Me and for My Father’s Kingdom.” In Jeremiah 23:29, it describes God’s Word as fire. Ezekiel 1:4 describes the presence of God as totally engulfed with fire and lightening.

Then my question is this…. If you meditate on His Word, spend time in His presence, and Holy Spirit indwells you as a Born Again believer how can you not BURN for Him?

My most angry day occurred in church Sunday. We were about 10 minutes into worship and people were sitting down, talking, walking around, and being casual. Can I tell you I became angry and I stopped the music and service. I asked everyone to just freeze and look around at what everyone was doing. As the spiritual father in our church I brought a firm clear rebuke.

We have marriages unraveling, bodies carrying disease and sickness, oppressive financial debt, unemployment, and families suffering great chaos, and we as a body come together to do what? Offend our God with careless, casual, indifferent, apathetic, passive, and heartless worship?

This grieves the very heart of our Father when our services take on a “form” but they are powerless to change conditions, lives, bodies, circumstances, and bring lasting deliverance. I REFUSE to be a church who will host a demonic spirit called  ”Cold Love.”

We spent the next 1.5 hours on our face crying out to God for the attitude and atmosphere we were allowing to rule and grieve Holy Spirit.

There are a lot of ministries, churches, and temples in the Greater Wilmington Area who have the “FORM” down. They have the programs perfected. They have all the ascetics to stimulate you but they are completely VOID and ABSENT of evidence and power of Holy Spirit.

Matthew 2 talks about John the Baptist in the wilderness and guess who came to see him? It says the (Pharisees and Sadducees) the good ole religious synagogue faithfuls, scroll toting, and properly dressed came to “WATCH.” That is what I saw and discerned in our service. People, good people, but they were there to watch not engage. John called them a brood of snakes.

When I went home I was drained, angry, and in numb-numbville. Our church is 30 months old and this body has trekked and has been absolutely awesome and to give a rebuke is very, very, very draining. When I got up this morning I was still tired.

What did I do?

I spent hours in the secret place before the fireplace of His Word, Presence, and prayer. I declared before the God of the universe WE WILL NOT BE A FIRELESS, FLAMELESS, DECAYING, LIFELESS, USELESS, and COLD hearted worshippers!  I started fasting and seeking after God with a crazy, foolish, insane, relentless, determination to BURN for Him and Him alone.

Isaiah 4:4 describes the washing, purging, and cleansing of God and the release of the Spirit of Burning. God please baptize me with the spirit of burning! I want to burn for You! I want to be consumed by You!

I believe the reason the world is not set on fire is because the church is not on fire. The church is not on fire because the people are not on fire. The people are not on fire because they have a FORM of God but they are void of a intimate fiery relationship with Holy Spirit.

Listen. If you, and your church do not have a fiery love for Jesus then you are operating in Cold Love. Wherever there is cold love there is demonic activity. Matthew 24 clearly states peoples heart will grow cold toward God and one another. It is so subtle and sneaky you will not even see that it has happened.

Your love is ALWAYS measured by your commitment!

Whatever you are not committed to you will withdraw from. When we are not engaged in the Word of God, intimate worship, mercy motivated intercession, and loving each other apart from Sunday church we have withdrawn from His presence and our fire, passion, zeal, and love is growing cold.

You must take immediate drastic measures to stop the Cold Love process. You must act dangerously and get alone with God. Fast! Cry out! Repent!

Whatever it takes you must BURN for Him and Him alone! You must cast off, cast down, and allow everything to burn away until all is left is a hot fire and pursuit of Him. God wants you to be a flaming fire – setting your world on fire.

I plead with you not to hesitate and procrastinate. Do it now! Your life is at stake! Jesus speaks to the church in Revelation 2 that the church is working hard………BUT………..look how far you have fallen from your first love, your fiery passion, your abandoned worship, and Jesus rebukes the church and warns them to REPENT or he will come and remove His presence from the church.

Guilty as Charged

This is my first writing since March 9, 2009. It’s not a blog, its not random thoughts, its not an attempt to have a large subscriber base, and its not intended to get people to read it. I love to write and express the overflow of my heart.

I plan to write and journal my relationship with my Heavenly Father as I meditate on His Word and uncover the lifestyle of living in the secret place of God. So for you who will read it you may grasp it or you may not.

Father, how lovely is your presence. My heart faints and longs to dwell uninterrupted in your presence. I want to know you, know your nature, know your emotions, know your hurts, know your pain, and know your disappointments.

I have read your Word so many times and yet departed not knowing you any better or desiring you with more intensity. Father, I want to not only have an intellectual knowledge about you but a continual experience of abiding in your presence.  I desire to be one as you and Jesus were one. Teach me to abide in you at all times.

You have brought me to the end of me. You have tested me and weighed me on your divine scale and I have been found lacking. I have sinned against you and you alone. I am guilty as charged.

• Guilty of spiritual idolatry
• Guilty of being seduced by other lovers
• Guilty of people pleasing
• Guilty of busyness
• Guilty of not loving you with all my heart
• Guilty of pride and deception
• Guilty of giving you leftovers
• Guilty of approaching you with casualness
• Guilty of shrinking back in my calling
• Guilty of not being bold and courageous
• Guilty of not meditating on your Word day and night

Blot out the stains of my sin. Wash me of my guilt and shame. Purge me from the defilement of other gods. Restore the joy of the secret place and abiding in your continual love and presence. Let me prove myself again to You. I will prove I am faithful and trustworthy. Give me a loyal heart! Give me an obedient heart! Take out this non-responsive heart and give me a new heart which is oversensitive to your presence.

Develop a heart in me that is clean. Develop an attitude that is loyal. Make me willing to obey you.

Father, I am grateful for the past 3 months of testing. It has not been delightful and at times the enemy tried to make me bitter. Your Word kept me pure and I ran to the fortress of your presence. Some people did not understand me, some were concerned, and others were offended. You never left me and I stuck close to you because you were my only hope and source of comfort.

I give thanks to you with all my heart because You have marched before me taking out my enemies without a fight. You have removed people who resisted me, resolved conflict, and exposed deception without my intervention. I know you love me and my trust is in You and You alone.

Some trust in government, some trust in materials, some trust in man, and some trust in themselves. For me and my house we covenant to trust only in You. We will acknowledge no other gods, we will pray to no other gods, we will not bow to man or mans laws that would violate You. You are my God and there is none other. If my health fails me and if my heart grows weary, I decree my trust and life to You. Though you slay me and worms eat my body – one day I will stand before You – my Redeemer, unashamed. In you I live, in you I move, in you I am hidden.

When I seek your face you allow me to abide in the throne room. No weapon formed against me has ever prospered. I have felt the edge of the blade, I have anticipated a bloody outcome, I have shuttered at the mounting assault, but you have always made a way of escape. Truly you are my God. Who can be compared to You? You have always come through and delivered me from my troubles.

Forgive me for the times I have doubted You and could not see how You could solve the problem. Forgive me Dad for running ahead of you thinking you are too slow. Forgive me for missing my appointments with you because I was too busy. If I could go back and makeup all the no shows I would a thousand times over. Forgive me for having a small view of you. Forgive me for all my lip service but having a heart that was cold. Forgive me for the times I pretended to worship but my worship was not out of love but duty.

My greatest desire is to protect our covenant with each other. I desire to adhere to and accept your terms and conditions to the covenant. Your covenant is full of promises and rewards.

Jesus, you are my greatest discovery. Your worth to me is priceless. You are the hidden treasure that when found is hidden again in order to purchase the whole field.

Show me the way of life. Grant me the joy of your presence. The pleasures of abiding in You!

More God ~battles~ Enough God – Part 1

I have never thought of myself as being naive but I have discovered a very naive area in my thinking. Some will say you are wired a certain way and others would say its your personality. What I have discovered is there are absolutely 2 types of Christians and 2 types of churches.

For the desires of the flesh are opposed to the [Holy] Spirit, and the [desires of the] Spirit are opposed to the flesh (godless human nature); for these are antagonistic to each other [continually withstanding and in conflict with each other], so that you are not free but are prevented from doing what you desire to do. (Galatians 5:17, AMP)

I have learned there are millions of people who are satisfied with the amount of God they possess. Their life is a pie and it has been sliced according to their priorities and pre-drawn ideology. Career gets a slice, recreation gets a slice, family gets a slice, continual education gets a slice, hobbies and interests gets a slice, and somewhere in the pie they manage to cut a thin slice for religion. I said religion, not God.

There is a major deceptive lie the American church has embraced, taught, and markets which is: Read your Bible, attend church, and avoid any “BIG” sins. It has created a breed of selfish people who oppose the work of Holy Spirit.

The above scripture states there will always be conflict between the spirit and the flesh. I have discovered most conflict which arises in the church is between those who want status quo comfortable Christianity and those who burn and long for MORE of God. Some refuse to live at a plateau and would rather risk everything climbing the mountain of God than dwelling in tents at the base of the mountain. Others want to display their talent, organization, and administrate God.

A decision must be made:

• Do you want to live Biblical and in the supernatural, or
• Do you want to live conventional in the spectacular

Conventional: Conforming to the usual practices of accepted standards of conduct or taste; lacking originality or individuality; unimaginative and routine

You cannot serve 2 masters and 2 kingdoms. You will serve one and hate the other.

Our church is slightly over 2 years old and we discovered there was frustration and conflict. I could not put my finger on it. It was not insurrection or open rebellion, but an airborne virus.

March 9, 2009 I stepped back from everything and began to seek the Father and identify why it seemed we moved 2 steps forward and 3 steps backward.

On April 15 at Unleashed prayer Holy Spirit begin to bring to light the issue. It was truly amazing. UFC was birthed to be a House of Prayer contending in the heavens for His presence, power, and glory to return to the church. I will admit to you it is a challenging, intense, and in your face ministry. Our calling, yearning, drive, pursuit, and vision is “MORE” of God.

There is More

Everything we are and do is directed toward “MORE” of Christ. We have one single simple call – MORE!

Leadership suspended and dismantled all ministries. We offer no men’s ministry, women’s ministry, ushers ministry, greeters ministry, parking lot attendants, valet parking, Monkey Joe’s Kid’s ministry, feed the homeless, entertain the inner city, Xbox360 the youth, and we offer no ministry ladder to climb. You cannot join UFC. You can pray, serve, and prove your heart and God will confirm and promote.

Can I share with you that I have been freed or should I say, delivered,  from the slavery of the religious machine. Our mission is simple and clear. In fact you do not even have to pray about attending UFC. Ask yourself one question:

Am I satisfied with God or is their a deep longing for MORE?

Satisfied people will mock and attempt to curb the hunger for MORE of Jesus. Strife erupts, tension erupts, offense erupts, and the spirit and flesh will never have a peace agreement.Satisified people always want to do what they did at their last institution which incarcerated them to hyper religious activities. They want equality, diversity, and balance.

People with enough God are satisfied and comfortable. They are like bull frogs sitting on the bank, if you get too close or threaten their comfortability they hop on. They are passive and silent.

People after more of God are risk takers and adventurous. They live by faith not sight. They are set on the prize of apprehending God. They are not co-dependent on programs and stimulated by busyness. They are mighty  intercessors who co-create with their God and destroy the works of darkness. They are bold and courageous.

If you are satisfied begin to ask God for hunger and desire for MORE of Him. Shake off your slumber and ask Holy Spirit to remove the blinders. If all there is to our God is 20 minutes of music, 20 minutes of entertainment, and 20 minutes of brainstorming birthed messages then our God is a freaking joke.

Our God Yahweh is all powerful. He said…”let there be” and all of creation came into existence. He created man, breathed into His nostrils, and woman came from a rib. He parted the ocean and destroyed His enemies. Our God closed the mouths of lions and took the heat out of the the fiery furnace. Jesus healed every form of disease and sickness, raised the dead, gave sight to blinded eyes, and said my church will be a house of prayer. Our God is a Mighty Warrior! We are seated in heavenly places. Rise up from your satisfied, complacent, status quo, boring religion and ride with the Lion of Judah. Be bold and super courageous. Become a seeker for MORE of Him.

More God ~battles~ Enough God – Part 2

I do not want to spend too much time on the satisfied group or those who have enough God. I want to inspire you to develop an insatiable appetite for Jesus. I hope you become a FREAK!

I not sure if I should use a name because if you are connected to me you may be targeted as a zealot or fanatic. John Hobbs is a true friend to me. I love to sit and listen to him talk. He is a man of integrity and wisdom. I am not saying he has not always been this but over the past 18 months I have observed a man go from loving the Lord to being a dangerous man to the Kingdom of darkness. I have seen a man go from living safe and predictable to taking high level risks and running up the escalator. I have watched a man be transformed by Holy Spirit into a radical lover of Christ who pursues MORE. I have seen a man risk it all to be all Christ desires him to be.

I personally have one agenda – to have a head on collision with God. I do not want to run parallel with God, I do not want see Him from a distance, and I don’t want to come within close proximity. I have watched old movies where the teens would play chicken with their cars. They would face off and head toward each other and usually one would chicken out and swerve to avoid a collision. I want a head on where my flesh, mind, will, emotions, and personality is totally disabled. One where no flesh can glory in His presence.

Let me layout a profile – a brief description that summarizes the characteristics of someone or something.

Enough: The amount that is needed or that can be tolerated; enough is enough is used to indicate that he or she will tolerate no more of something.

Enough God - People who want to be close to God – just not close enough to do something about it. There is no fervency to progress them forward. They lack consistency. They make steps toward surrender and fellowship with God until something more interesting or stimulating comes along. They are easily diverted from the narrow path. They lack stability and spend most of their time in the affairs of the world, concentrating their efforts on things which have little to do with God’s kingdom. They are people who want God but not on His terms and conditions. They will take more than they will ever give.

For the desires of the flesh are opposed to the [Holy] Spirit, and the [desires of the] Spirit are opposed to the flesh (godless human nature); for these are antagonistic to each other [continually withstanding and in conflict with each other], so that you are not free but are prevented from doing what you desire to do. (Galatians 5:17, AMP)

I need you to focus with me on the last sentence… you are not free but are prevented from doing what you desire to do.

People who are satisfied with anything, especially God, become weights, hindrances, obstacles, and impediments to doing what your call, vision, heart, and purpose burns for. They tie you up and weigh you down. The American church is overflowing with this culture of people. They have integrated into the house of the Lord. They are like bone cancer. They are in leadership or are the leadership, they are deacons, musicians, teachers, big givers, and group leaders. The Bible says they “WORM” their way into the very fabric and marrow of the church. They have a form of godliness but with any movement toward MORE of God you will notice drag and resistance. It can be subtle or brazen. They will be thorns and thistles if they do not have an encounter with the Almighty.

I can write pages on these people but lets focus on those who are so “ENGROSSED” with their groom, Jesus, that they catch the attention of heaven.

More: To preoccupy the mind or emotions of (someone) excessively or abnormally; to absorb the entire time or attention of.

 

 

More God – are rarities. They are determined to live in ALL God has promised in His covenant. In Psalms David said the godly are quickly disappearing. They are out there but in pockets and veins. They are the ones not floating down the river but swimming up the river. They are not riding the escalator down but running up the escalator. They are excessively preoccupied with the Secret Place. They are focused on the life to come, not the life they are living. They are risk takers like Saul’s son Jonathon who said, “Let go across the outpost of those pagans and see what God will do.” People who want MORE of God are more concerned with obedience than meeting the approval and expectations of the main stream. People who pursue MORE of God are extravagant givers and humble servants. They serve with zeal and do not question, neither are they hesitant about the assignment at hand. They are committed and will become sons and daughters. They are consistent. Those in pursuit of MORE are real – the time spent in the secret place has stripped them of pretending, facades, and mask.

Determined To Live

 

My prayer is for you to choose this day whom you will serve. Elijah said, “How long will you wobble between 2 views, 2 gods, 2 pursuits, 2 lovers, and 2 lifestyles.”

One Way To Know If You Are Living The Kingdom

If you have been in church for any length of time I would dare say you have heard the word Kingdom. Kingdom of heaven, Kingdom of darkness, Kingdom of God, and even Kingdom church.

To have a kingdom there must be a domain for a king to rule over. I have been also taught the Kingdom of light and Kingdom of darkness are opposite of each other and at war. They are opposite kingdoms with opposite beliefs, opposite lifestyles, and opposite purposes.

What happens when you have a pursuit of the Kingdom of God but your mind has been indoctrinated by the kingdom of this world? I love God and want to pursue Him but my actions and reactions are the opposite of the Kingdom of God.

Do you struggle with rejection?

Do you struggle with not being accepted by your friends, family, supervisor, or co-workers? Do you struggle with the fear of being overlooked, not picked, not invited, not being recognized, and left behind?

Initially many will respond quickly with “I don’t care what people think.” That is not truth. If you are one who must have the right fashion, haircut, matching outfit, the newest gadget, latest technology, and car you are avoiding being rejected by keeping up with the majority.

Don’t misread what is being written. Taking care of yourself and looking nice is awesome and positive. I am going deeper into the motive of WHY we have to stay on top with an ever-changing society. I am saying there is a deeper wound and issue in our lives than we are willing to admit. We hide behind the fig leaves of spending, fashion, and technology. It is in every human God created to desire to be loved, accepted, wanted, and to belong. When we do not fit into the mainstream current we start to feel the pressure and stress of the looks, comments, statements, and most of all our own feelings of insecurity and unworthiness.

It amazes me how many people say I create my own style and fashion. This is not true either. It may not be the most popular yet but it is a copy off something or someone else. Tattoos are not unique and original. Ten years ago tattoos were taboo. Now it is the craze and trend to have one. Its not your expression, it is your need to fit in and be in the majority.

I used this to make a base for my next point. The church has been indoctrinated by the world so much it has become blind to their plan. I would classify it as reverse psychology. We have been forced to become tolerant and accepting of the world – lets put it more clear. We have been forced to be silent toward the kingdom of darkness and its pagan godless beliefs.

Due to the broken families, divorce, abandonment, and dysfunctional leaders, too many have been cursed with the fear of rejection, fear of being disliked, fear of being turn down, fear of being ostracized, and fear to stand up and speak what is in our hearts.

To speak out against homosexuality, lesbianism, trans-gender, going green, sex apart from marriage, lottery, abortion, the entertainment industry, and calling anything ….sin will land you in front of a firing squad of unrelenting personal attacks that will take you apart and label you as a intolerant, unloving, and a right wing conservative. It literally can destroy your reputation, career, and popularity.

It is not evil to do evil. It has become evil to speak out against evil. The roles have been reversed. Light is supposed to dispell darkness but now darkness dispells light. Darkness has silenced truth! The darkness now calls the light evil when confronted. The people of God feel guilty to be the voice of God. We have become grasshoppers in our own minds.

I come to realize it is so much easier to talk about right living, or kingdom living but how do you know if you are authentically living and pursuing God’s Kingdom? I believe Jesus clearly stated how you can know if you are doing it right. Be forewarned…………..you may not like what you are about to uncover. You can freely navigate away from this page and live not knowing, but to know puts responsibility on you and I.

Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens your name to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and that that person is uncomfortable (Luke 6:22). 

Do not be surprised and wonder, brethren, that the world detests and pursues you with hatred (1 John 3:13).

Follow me carefully……. The only time the world and the people with the heart and mind of the world will hate you, criticize you, laugh at you, and attack you is when the Christ in you gets to close to their heart and brings shame, guilt, and conviction.

This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God (John 3:19).

Here is the dilemma: The great curse upon this generation to fit in, to be accepted, to belong, and to be validated is so powerful it overrides their internal convictions to speak truth to the darkness. Society has set up a cultural system that you must be accepting, open-minded and tolerant of people’s lifestyles because if you speak out against it you will be black-balled and ostracized by the mainstream society. You will be vilified by the media, workplace, news, bloggers, family, friends, Church, and even our government.

Our fragile emotions and psyche finds the pressure too much, to stressful, and too costly. We remain silent and we start to slowly die.

Alone but Alive Inside

Choice: You can choose to be silent and accepted by this world and slowly die inside or you can choose to be bold and courageous and be alone, but have peace of Christ inside. There is no easy choice nevertheless the choice must be made or it is made for you. 

One way you can truly know if you are kingdom is when you are under attack for your faith and life in Christ. If you are not under attack and persecution from this world you are not fully living the Kingdom. Jesus said you will be threatened, intimidated, persecuted, mocked, and even imprisoned or killed for being associated with Me.

There is today a BIG gap between the current American Christianity and the disciples of the Kingdom of God. They were bold and truthful. We are silent and fearful. We fear losing our reputation, losing our career, and even losing our lives.

Let me give you some comfort- neither am I living Kingdom.

Submitting to Authority- Oh Boy

Oh boy!! When you mention the word authority in the church it is like using the words… well, I am going to be appropriate and not give an example.

First let me share about me. From the age of 12 until about 20 I was very anti-authority, anti-rules, or should I say anything I could put anti in front of would be the way it was. I am going to use strong words here to let you know I did not dislike authority. I hated any type of authority. Authority figures prevented me from being me. They prevented me from having fun. They prevented me from doing what I wanted to do. They were always giving some reason “why” even if they didn’t fully understand “why” themselves.

What I have come to understand about myself was that I was on a self-destruct course. I was totally living out of my emotions, what I wanted to feel or how I wanted to feel. I was living out of my flesh, immediate self gratification right now. I was void of common sense, reason, wisdom, direction, order, and void of Jesus Christ.

Lets download one word from the list above….the word “order.” When one has no order in their life they will eventually self destruct. Their life, marriage, finances, health, and even spirituality will drift and fall apart. My life was a life void of order. In order to have order there must be someone in authority over you giving you direction and course correction.

If you pay attention to the Bible you will not just see order, but order of the highest degree. God is a God of order. If you start start in Genesis you see God created in a specific order and detail. It was not random and haphazard. In Genesis 6, God gave detailed orderly specifications for building the ark. In Leviticus, God gave exact, orderly blueprints for building the tabernacle. You can study the entire Bible, 39 old testament books and 27 new testament books,  and it is all written and spoken with precision prophetic detail and order.

Yes, there has been much abuse in spiritual authority. We live in a world corrupted with sin so therefore there is not any arena which will not experience some level of abuse (parents abuse children, spouses abuse spouses, law enforcement officers abuse offenders, government officials abuse their office, financial groups abuse their investors, pastors abuse congregants).

We have tried to buy it, copy it, and read books to attain spiritual authority. There are many who have been delegated positions in the church or ministries which are supposed to have spiritual authority in that position but are void of God ordered authority. They have man’s approval but it is absent of God’ s presence upon their position.

Spiritual authority is not to sell CD’s, books, or products, neither is it to gain wealth or ratings. It is to establish and advance the will, plans, and kingdom of God upon the earth. Spiritual authority is to destroy the works of darkness. We have merchandised spiritual authority to have conferences, psychic  prophecies, and church growth seminars, and a few so called revivals led by renegades.

What is spiritual authority for according to the scriptures? This is not an exhaustive list.

1. Spiritual authority is for making disciples

2. Spiritual authority is given to the church to “GO” into the harvest field and proclaim the kingdom of God

3. Spiritual authority is the “Power & Provision” to “Invade  & Transform”  your sphere of influence

4. Spiritual authority gives you power to “lay down your life”  and fulfill christlikeness

Let me share a little about #4. To fulfill 1-3 requires more than talent, ability, position, or vision. To go out into the world and confront evil, immorality, darkness, sin, and other forms of demonic activity requires the spirit of Christ, the love of Christ, and the power in Christ to lay down your life - the laying down of reputation.

5. Spiritual authority will accompany mature disciples of Christ.

6. Spiritual authority is released to the level of experience one has in Christ.

Legitimate spiritual authority can only live and thrive in LOVE. It can only be sustained through love. Without love there is no legitimate spiritual authority. The more we operate in the love of Christ the more we are granted the influence of spiritual authority. Without love the abuse comes into play and legitimate spiritual authority is replaced by the spirit of witchcraft, which is manipulation and control.

7. Spiritual authority will cause you to become spiritually productive – reproducing

My prayer for you and the body of Christ is to recapture the heart of Christ. May you live and execute spiritual authority in every area of your life. Authority rooted in love will displace distrust and fear of true authority. If you have struggled with authority, or you still struggle being under authority I challenge you to locate the root in your life. There is a reason for distrust, but it does not excuse or justify distrust. Jesus is the Healer of all things.

Don’t Worry – Be Happy

What an awesome song. Have you ever read the lyrics? I will put a few verses up and a short video. Take a few minutes to watch it and then I will finish up with some thoughts.

“in every life we have some trouble,
when you worry you make it double
don’t worry, be happy

aint got no place to lay your head,
somebody came and took your bed,
don’t worry, be happy

the landlord say your rent is late,
he may have to litagate,
don’t worry (small laugh) be happy,

look at me im happy,
don’t worry, be happy

i give you my phone number,
when your worried, call me,
i make you happy

ain’t got no cash, ain’t got no style,
ain’t got no gal to make you smile
but don’t worry, be happy

cos when you worry, your face will frown,
and that will bring everybody down,
so don’t worry, be happy

don’t worry, be happy now…

now there this song i wrote
i hope you you learned it note for note
like good little children

listen to what i say
in your life expect some trouble
when you worry you make it double
don’t worry be happy
be happy now

be happy, put a smile on your face,
don’t bring everybody down like this

don’t worry, it will soon pass whatever it is,
don’t worry, be happy,
i’m not worried

Can we really live without worry? Can we live a happy life? I believe you and I can. I believe it takes some work to do it and to maintain this state. We should be known for being more happy than we are known for worrying.

Read what Philippians 4:6 says…. “Don’t fret or worry about anything.” Instead of worrying, pray. Let your requests and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.

According to this verse we are to live a life of praise and faith. One translation said in every circumstance and in everything – pray! It does not say we will not be faced with situations or circumstances which are not worrisome but instead of getting stressed, tense, fearful, negative, and falling apart… to pray and tell Father God our feelings and concerns.

I believe circumstances and situations are invitations to lure us into an act of faith or fear. We must “learn” to run everything through God first. He is our filtering system. As it is filtered through Holy Spirit, then, when it returns to our spirits it has been searched and purified by Christ and the end result will be…… Peace.

This is not a normal or natural action. It is totally a work of Holy Spirit. We must have a renewed and disciplined mind to skillfully respond instead of a knee jerk reaction.

How do we develop this type of action? Through the process called maturity. Immaturity reacts out of emotion and maturity responds out trust and experience in God’s Word and the indwelling presence of Holy Spirit.

Because of our bent nature or sin nature we are more susceptible to lean toward the leading of our emotions and senses. It is natural for us to be naturally led. To be Spirit-led is not a nature routine leading. Another way to put it would be we must be “Acute God Conscious.” We can never allow ourselves to become void of God in our surroundings.

Have you ever heard people say “follow your heart?” This is the most disastrous and foolish statement one can suggest. We are not to follow our heart we are supposed to lead our heart. Following your heart will shipwreck your faith, destiny, and life.

Last point about not worrying. The scripture said “Don’t Worry – PRAY! Not just any type of prayer, but active prayer, which is obedient by truly casting down our natural reactions of our mind and unhooking from our crisis. In fact it doesn’t say don’t worry and be happy. It says, when we are under fire – being assaulted with the arrows of uncertainty we are to pray focused prayers……UNTIL we experience happiness…..NO!  We are to experience peace – the peace of our God. If we pray and still are fearful, worrisome, or experiencing a panic attack we did not truly pray and release it to God. We are guaranteed peace when we submit to God our life situation.

My hope for you is to experience real peace. Peace which cannot be explained, analyzed, understood, or comprehended by the natural world. It comes only through the work of Holy Spirit. Peace!

What Has Happened to The American Church?

I write a lot about the condition of the American church and about the lifestyle that is promoted as a Christian lifestyle. I will have to be very careful because I am preparing a series of messages concerning this subject matter and I do not want to start it today. Let me also say I am writing because I want to be part of solving our dilemma, not just pointing out the dilemma.

 A good root will produce good fruit. Bad fruit means you have a bad root!

So the issue confronting the modern day American church must be localized and identified as a root problem. As I have sought the Lord concerning this dilemma there truly is more than one factor involved in the demise and breakdown of the church at large.

I don’t want to point fingers or blame anyone or any one thing. I want to join with kingdom-minded seekers of God and solve the problem. To do so will require unification of the church and its leaders. It will require a work and move of Holy Spirit.

The question must be asked: Did Christ die for what we are familiar with in America? If not, our prayers and efforts will be of no avail. We must know the plans, heart, will, and design of God for His church.

My personal view is that a high percentile of what “we know” or believe about the church is inaccurate and unscriptural. To spend your whole life, even decades, being indoctrinated and institutionalized through the propaganda of church dogma can be impossible to break away from. Only a revelation of God can wound-break and heal-restore the church. I would say much of what I have been taught and believed about the church, not Jesus, is not accurate.

Whose fault is this? Again, I refuse to blame, but take responsibility for allowing myself to not verify what I was being taught. Some of our teaching was not necessarily wrong but incomplete. There is a difference!

Today in the church we have moved to where there is too much gray area and very little knowledge of right and wrong.

Is an affair sin? Is premarital sex sin? Is abortion sin? Is LGBT lifestyle sin? Is passivity sin? Is divorce sin? Is drug use sin? Is lying sin? Do you have to attend church? Do you have to worship? Are you supposed to tithe? If a couple are in agreement does it make viewing porn acceptable? Is anal sex okay between consenting adults? Is overeating sin?

My people are ruined because they don’t know what’s right or true. Because you’ve turned your back on knowledge, I’ve turned my back on you priests. Because you refuse to recognize the revelation of God, I’m no longer recognizing your children. (Hosea 4:6)

Who is God’s people? You and I – the church. How are they ruined or destroyed? Because they have no reference of what is right and wrong or what is a lie or truth.

It goes on to say they have turned their backs on knowledge. How have we turned our backs on knowledge?

I remember 30 years ago where a high school diploma was sufficient sought after. Today a high school diploma is unacceptable for most jobs. Now a masters or higher is desired. When we have reached the pinnacle of education are we going to create more? If a high school diploma was once accepted will we reach a time when the doctorate is not enough?

The quest is for more knowledge. To obtain more knowledge requires one to be a student and be a “learner.”   Knowledge does not just come to one in a dream or by attending a class. One must be teachable and desiring to learn.

Back to scripture. “You have turned your back on knowledge.” In other words you have rejected learning. You are not teachable. You are not seeking knowledge.

The modern church has raised up the most selfish, immature, ignorant, and deceived generation I am aware of in the history of the world. The church has forfeited personal responsibility and biblical education. We have settled for entertainment, lectures, self help, and codependency.

If a minister has a charismatic delivery, TV ministry, collective mass of people, or a new building then they are anointed and successful. We take what most say as the inspired Word of God and never verify it. The church at large is like the World Wide Web. You can find anything on it and it does not have to be proved as fact. People speak it as though it is and it can be totally false, deadly lies, and destructive.

The word of God has built in safeguards to prevent destructive, erroneous teaching from infecting the church. Do you know what some of these safeguards are?

I Choose to Inspire You!

I shared at UNLEASHED prayer Wednesday and I want to share something with you. I want to talk about a missing component in the body of Christ.

If you play or watch sports you will observe that high energy makes the game. If you watch boxing, mma, or other combat sports you will see fighters slapping themselves or punching themselves prior to entering the ring. They are psyching themselves up and getting their adrenaline pumping.

You can also see teammates in all sports slapping each other on the back, butt, giving hi-fives, and many other gestures letting one another know “great job, good move, awesome, you can do this, lets win this thing.” Even when mistakes are made they keep encouraging to maintain the energy.

I love being on a team. I love to incite people to press the limits and to go the extra mile. I love to watch others excel and experience what they thought they could never do. I love the joy and excitement on their faces as they go pass their self imposed limits.

ATO – Avoid The Ordinary.  I love the emotions and feelings swirling in my body when people are pushing me and letting me know you are on target. “Don’t stop you are on a roll!”

DON’T YOU ?

And let us consider and give attentive, continuous care to watching over one another, studying how WE may stir up (stimulate, motivate, incite) to love and helpful deeds and noble activities. (Hebrews 10:24) AMP

Is this not a crazy awesome scripture? We are to be studying and looking for ways to stimulate high morale in our family, our friends, at work, and especially in the church.

Come on….. we are winners in Christ! We are a chosen generation! We know Jesus has redeemed us from sin, sickness, and poverty. We are supposed to be the most motivated people on the planet.

In most Christian environments I see a lack of high morale. I am not talking about smiling faces, clapping hands, or fast tempo songs. I am trying to describe the “ENERGY”  that resides in an intimate relationship with Christ that overflows from me which should…

• incite others to seek God harder
• prompt others to worship recklessly
• inspire others to go deeper in Christ
• arouse hunger and thirst for MORE of God
• kindle a fire which can set their life and city on fire
• motivate people to pray
• spur people to challenge and override their fears
• persuade others to go after their dream with God

The word tells us Holy Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives in everyone who has accepted the call to follow Christ. Do you realize what level of energy Holy Spirit is? Holy Spirit is a life-giver and He lives in you.

We need to INTENTIONALLY and PURPOSEFULLY set out to build each other up.

I wonder sometimes what excites Christians anymore. People share promotions, divine appointments, healings, and answered prayer, but leaders many times have to ask the church to clap and celebrate. WHY? The word says we reap what we sow. Could it be we are jealous because it did not happen to us or for us? If we sow seed of building others up we will also reap a season of others building us up.

When someone prays we need to follow up behind them as a team to let them know “that was a good word.” We need celebrate prophetic words with acts of celebration. We should let others know they inspire us with things they do. We should let our leadership know they are speaking spirit and truth. Let our children know it pleases God and us when they worship and interact.

There is no excuse for the low morale in the church. We need to recognize it, confess it, repent of it, and turn from our old behavior. Let’s create an atmosphere that is unified and charged for Holy Spirit to do Mighty WONDERS among the people. Morale whether low or high is contagious. Let’s create an atmosphere for faith, gifts, love, joy, and validation to be intoxicating.

To my sons and daughters – I choose to incite you to go further. I commit to stir you to explore your glorious God. I choose to arouse your appetite for God and God alone. I am proud of each of you!

Battled Tested 1

We have heard a lot about trials, tribulations, and tests. Like so many other words in our vernacular they get merged over time into one meaning. There is a difference between the words.

I have “learned” that regardless of how and when you get revelation from God and about God, it is only information. Over the past three years I have come into some incredible personal revelation while spending time with Abba Father. It made me so excited and it has an addictive quality about receiving divine understanding on subject matter which has been previously concealed.

As powerful and awesome as revelation is to receive and exciting to share, their also comes a cost that if not understood and realized can destroy you. When we get divine downloads it is thrilling and uplifting. We share them with our family, friends, and whoever is interested. We know and others recognize this is not mundane or ordinary. It’s supernatural and WOW!

Revelation is more detailed than information. Revelation spoken into ones life is still incomplete and powerless. Revelation is potential power awaiting to be unlocked and tapped. I have personally experienced and believe that all revelation must go through personal testing in your life. You may share the concept but has it been tested? If not, you are sharing revelation knowledge (untested) not experienced revelation (tested).

Revelation is not learning. You learn by clinical, field testing, hands on, and experience. I have preached some pretty wild messages with great titles and antics in my past but they were revelation knowledge untested in my life.

Testing will make you an eyewitness account. Testing will make you a survivor with a story. Testing will give you an unbelievable testimony. Revelation is a seed to impregnate you but until you birth and deliver that revelation it is invalid. Most times we abort the revelation before we birth it because the price is too high. Having sex is pleasurable, having a baby is painful. Getting revelation is pleasurable but testing the revelation is painful. God will TEST that revelation in your life and you may or may not pass the test.

I have prayed some immature and ignorant prayers in my life. It was out of young passion, fresh revelation, and dramatic encounters with Holy Spirit. You have so much revelation pouring into your life you think you can take on hell. Here I am – test me! The test never comes when you are expecting it, it never is in the arena you are skilled in, and it lasts far longer than you are conditioned for.

Let me clarify what else I believe. Just getting revelation does not mean you will get tested. I say this because some people love the prestige of having revelation and sharing it. They never engage it for themselves and apply it to their life so it does not need testing. When you embrace it and apply it, you then authorize a test to be scheduled and conducted on your life.

I hope I do not frighten anyone but I do believe we have not counted the cost for the impartation of revelation. I believe we, like children, love receiving the gift and opening the gift but to take responsibility for it is another issue.

I don’t like to admit this but we or most American Christians are not tough enough to handle the field testing of revelation. We love the lab and greenhouse because it is research and perfect conditions. The testing is not done in the lab or the greenhouse but in the world. The elements of the world – sin, sickness, wickedness, suffering, injustice, lies, and disappointments have no mercy. They are designed to kill, steal, and destroy.

Jesus when He came to earth was equal with God but He was untested as a man and untested by sin. He had to be tested to be called Redeemer, Overcomer, Savior, and Deliverer. The test killed Him. The elements of the world were launched against Him and eventually hung Him on a cross. He passed the test but the test killed Him.

The tests of life are designed to kill you, but God’s love and mercy is designed to sustain and keep you. He knows what we are able to bear but we have not been prepared for the test so we struggle with being uncomfortable or inconvenienced. We struggle with the least of our comforts being rearranged.

Here are some things I discovered in the test:

• Who you really are?
• Do you really believe what you are saying?
• Do I want this revelation bad enough to be validated by it?
• Do I have a strong anchored foundation?
• Do I really trust God?

When you are tested your world can be turned upside down. You are disoriented, confused, unsure, and everything you swore you knew that has not been tested you more than likely will lay it down because the test is so severe you are not willing to hang on to something you are not convinced is truth.

You can read books, listen to CD’s, watch DVD’s and be a conference junkie, but until your information shifts into revelation and your revelation has been tested it is useless in fighting the good fight.

The test is designed to shake you, trim you, prepare you, and remove everything that is unnecessary. We can have the clutter of sermons, messages, tradition, teachings, and religion. It can be great stuff but if it has not been tested in your life it will only further disappoint you. You will be deceived in thinking you are bigger and tougher than you really are. 

I have said what you think you know will hurt you! What you know will help you!  The test will differentiate between what you think and what you know.

Battle Tested 2

Life is full of tests. We have to take a driver’s test to drive, admissions test to go to college, semester exams, stress tests for our body, and mental evaluations for certain assignments and tasks. Life is a series of tests.

If one is prepared and has applied themselves accurately the more confident they can be when taking a test. Those who have memorized the data and do not comprehend the subject matter can find the testing very difficult.

2009 has been quite a journey. I have had multiple exams on diverse subjects. I am unsure if I passed them. The tests of life are like surprise tests that spring on you without notice. In fact, you will probably be unaware of it. I did not like the test, neither did I recognize the test until I was well into it.

I am not going to share too much about my tests except some keys to help you navigate the tests of life.

1. Tests are not  seasons in your life

2. Tests are designed to be short and intense

3. Test are in between your seasons

4. Tests do not teach you anything

5. Tests are given to see what you have learned, understand, and if you can apply it

6. During tests the teacher is silent

I believe it is extremely important to understand some general information about tests. The diverse tests in our daily lives can feel brutal and unforgiving. Most times we feel alone, disoriented, stressed, overwhelmed, depressed, discouraged, disappointed, rejected, forsaken, and abandoned. We can feel disconneted from family, friends, and even God. When we are experiencing tests, many times heaven seems impenetrable and silent.

Every single prefix, suffix, and word of revelation you download will be absolutely tested in time. The test is to see if you have wisdom to apply the revelation to your circumstance. You can know God in your head, you can be a regular church attendee, you can vomit scripture and recite passages, but when you experience the tests in life — can you calmly, accurately, and with precision respond with the nature and character of God?

Tests answer the question: What Have I Learned?

I don’t believe one can respond to a crisis with the character of God and demonstrate the nature of God without having His character and nature already infused into the very core of who you are.

Our behavior, countenance, and speech are fruit of who we truly are and what we are really made of. For example… depression is not God’s nature or character. Depression is anger turned inward. It is disappointments that have hardened. Therefore we are not applying God’s Word to our upside-down world when we react to the test with depression, overeating, complaining, edginess, and self pity.

We are to be people of faith, love, and full of joy when we are experiencing tests. It sounds ridiculous I know, but there are too many scriptures to substantiate how God desires us to respond. Tests are designed to come from any angle with a fake-out punch and deliver a solid  roundhouse. Tests can rock your world, your belief system, your foundation, and your life.

Again, 2009 was a series of personal tests strategically designed to test what I have learned and if could I apply the revelation to current situations. Your natural reaction is to give up and to allow self pity to take root and to get through this and survive. That is not God’s way!  If you pass the test you move into position for more precious things of God.

Tests will remove all the fluff and hype in your belief system. Test will stream line your faith. Tests will make you discard the petty, non essentials issues. Tests will move you from looking at minors to looking at the majors.

If you believe you are in a test then read Gal atians 4:6-7 which tells us not to worry about anything but to PRAY FIRST! Tell Father God what you are feeling, thinking, and ask for strength and courage to endure the test and overcome. The best of human effort, discipline, and information will not launch you into victory.

You can survive a test and not pass the test. You can come out of the fight with a draw. 

My hope and prayer for you is to be able to discern and navigate life by learning from the trials and errors of those who have gone before you and I. It will not negate our tests but it gives us insight into who God really is. Remember, God does not test us but allows us to be tested. If we are not tested we will become deceived, thinking we are one thing with a higher estimation of ourselves than we really are. May you experience the comfort and healing of Christ. The Word says He attends to the humble and rejects the proud.

We Celebrate His Goodness

It is 12:47 am. Exactly 19 years ago at a baptist church in Sneads Ferry, NC my wife Diane and I surrendered our will and became followers of Jesus Christ. Wow- what a journey.

The Lord has truly honored us with an incredible marriage – loyal friends – and mighty sons and daughters.

I have been serving in ministry for 8 years. I have seen leaders pursue many different paths in ministry which influenced me to pursue many of the same paths because it was learned. I can honestly share with you my greatest, most joyful, and rewarding moments in ministry, are currently taking place as I key in this article.

How Do You See Success? Large crowds, new buildings, having popular people on speed dial?

You must be very careful that you are not indoctrinated into a secularist mindset while attempting to follow Christ. I know I have not spoken to thousands, owned a private jet, and authored a New York Times best seller.

What is success? I believe if I were to ask 10 people, 100 people, 1,000 people, I would receive many different answers.

When I think of Paul who wrote 19 New Testament books – that would be success.

When I think of Mary who mothered Jesus – that would be success.

When I think of Peter whose shadow healed people – that would be success.

When I think of James and John being invited to the mount of transfiguration – that would be success.

But is that success based on God’s standard? Or is it success based on American standard?

If we do not understand the Kingdom of Christ we will always be in pursuit and never content. Jesus said, if you love me you will obey my instructions. The woman who washed Jesus’ feet was successful and never did a miracle, never had a big building but was applauded and referenced in the best selling book of all time – the Bible.

Success with Christ was not tied to what one did but what one was. Jesus was not successful because of what he did but on His obedience. Jesus was successful because He obeyed the Father even unto death.

Many times I do not feel successful, to some I may not look successful, I may not meet the politically correct standard of success predicated by religion, but I absolutey go ”all in”  on the reproduction of spiritual sons and daughters. It is a slow process, but well worth the wait.

1. You have to be willing to be impregnated with a Word from the Lord.

2. You have to be willing to carry the baby, endure the labor pains, and finally birth the seed.

3. You have to nurture, tend, feed, and train the baby.

4. You have to role model, coach, and explain.

5. You have to risk it all knowing they have  free will. 

6. In due time – it is caught and reproduction begins.

This takes time, devotion, vulnerability, and resources. It does not happen in a few weeks, few months, and even a few years. Sons and daughters are very delicate gifts which must be stewarded with great care and insight. 

Would you choose a church with 1,000 little people or with 100 giants? The building is full both ways, except one will be unable to reach and sustain.

Having 1,000 whining, competing, crying, anemic, dependent babies who are incapable of reproducing and taking responsibility for their actions is not quality.

Having 100 mature, responsible, strong, interdependent adults who can reproduce is Olympic gold.

To all the sons and daughters of Ultimate Faith Church – We say thank you! There is no greater joy than seeing you find your identity and position in Christ. I truly stand breathless and in awe  of you as you take the reins and begin to explore your inheritance in Christ.

Holy Spirit I am gratful for the sound of Sons and Daughters. Thank you for entrusting us with priceless cargo. There is no greater honor than to see Your image be mirrored on earth. Our prayer is you be glorified and exalted by their lives. Teach us to be alert and watchful as they destroy the works of darkness through the redeeming power of Jesus Christ. We choose to be unashamed as we declare your goodness upon the earth. Let us hear and reproduce the sound of your kingdom.

Your comments are always welcomed and our prayers are for you to experience and understand the power and love of Christ – there is no high like the Most High!

Becoming Men and Women of Understanding

Let me begin by including myself in this category as I write. For the last two weeks I have been encouraging UFC and praying daily about this subject matter of understanding.

Understanding is not being able to regurgitate information someone else has spoken. I am talking about understanding that comes directly from Holy Spirit and is downloaded into your spirit.

The church is existing in some of the most uncertain times. I believe the American church at large is adrift and is in the currents of strong, seducing spirits and doctrines of demons.

BUT THE [Holy] Spirit distinctly and expressly declares that in latter times some will turn away from the faith, giving attention to deluding and seducing spirits and doctrines that demons teach (1 Timothy 4:1)

Many denominations, churches, ministries and Christians have embraced and accepted homosexuality, new age, liberation theology, global warming, abortion, post-modernism, and leftism. The American church has gone through major transformation and has drastically shifted from being Christ-centered to culturally relavant.

The cross, the blood, atonement, holiness, sanctification, Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, intercession, deliverance, and spiritual warfare have been either banished from the church or has become unimportant to the believer. These are just a few major foundational truths which have been replaced with – prosperity, seeker sensitive movements, emergence, tolerance, acceptance, prayerlessness, moral relativism, secular led government, church growth, and situational ethics are a few.

One of the biggest dilemmas facing the American church is that there are no apostolic and prophetic voices leading the church. The church is in disaray and renagade. Scripture tells us the foundations of the church are laid through the apostle and prophet. There are no unifying apostlic voices and the prophetic voices are being very careful. There is a lot of personal, selfish prophecies flooding the parking lots.

It absolutely amazes me who holds ordination papers, titles, and eldership and are not scripturally qualified. They have appointed position without Godly authorized authority. They hold positions of authority but have never been submitted to authority.

I have been sensing a strong urgency in my spirit to begin to become single-minded about seeking understanding for the church as never before. We need to KNOW the times we are living in.

From the tribe of Issachar, there were 200 leaders of the tribe with their relatives. All these men understood the signs of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take. (1 Chronicles 12:32)

This group of leaders “all” had understanding of the times they were living in and they were able to direct the entire nation of Israel in the proper direction. WOW- the leaders of the Christ-centered church are to understand the times we are currently living in and lead the church into triumphant victory.

My prayer will be for those who read this article to become seekers of God’s plans and to have understanding for the course of action we should be taking. We must diligently not exclude Holy Spirit but purposefully host Him as we lift up Christ. I will write again on why some hear and others don’t.

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

To Make Ready A People

And he will [himself] go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to (turn back) the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient and incredulous and unpersuadable to the wisdom of the upright [which is the knowledge and holy love of the will of God]–in order to make ready for the Lord a people [perfectly] prepared [in spirit, adjusted and disposed and placed in the right moral state] (Luke 1:17) AMP

This scripture informs us there is a process. It tells us we can “become” people who are Perfectly Prepared.  I like the word perfect used with prepared. When I think about life almost everything we are currently doing is somewhat connected to preparation.

We attend kindergarten to prepare for the first grade and each year is preparing us for the next grade and eventually college. We attend school to prepare us for a career. We eat right and work out to prepare our bodies to live longer and healthier. We invest and save so we can be prepared for retirement.

When you have not prepared enough in an area and you are tested, evaluated, or interviewed, you have that feeling inside  that you should have prepared more. Many times we enter and exit a situation feeling confident or discouraged based on how we feel about our preparation.

My observation is the most unprepared area in society is our spirituality. Take a few minutes to think about how you have prepared spiritually.

Church attendance, baptism, breaking bread, listening to Bobby Jones Gospel or the Gaither Hour is not preparation. Enrolling in school, buying textbooks, attending class, joining various clubs, and playing sports is not preparation. They can be tools to help prepare you but in themselves they have no real value when you look at preparation.

I am not talking about textbook – classroom preparation, but being “Perfectly Prepared.”

You have Alpha – Beta – Pilot phases. These are stages or cycles of development or maturity.

I believe Alpha preparation is were we learn (given information) about God’s Word and we learn to use it inside the church. It’s in our heads and on paper. Another analogy would be a greenhouse. A seed is planted and it grows up in the greenhouse. Perfect conditions – no direct sunlight, direct wind, no harsh conditions, everything is preset and on autopilot.

Next should be Beta preparation. This is where you take what you have learned and apply it to everyday living. You can call this “real-world” testing. Will this work at home, school, college, job site, with friends, in government, relationships, on the frontlines? Will it endure the harsh elements of society? Will it withstand an ambush or friendly fire?

We make adjustments, we ask questions, we regroup, we work out the ungodly beliefs, misunderstandings, inconsistencies, woundedness, and other areas in our lives and church which have surfaced.

Now and only now can we genuinely with confidence market our faith, share our product, and teach our faith. This is called pilot preparation. We can go boldly into the marketplace and live a holy life. We can endure the toughest conditions and know “no weapon targeted at me will subdue or take me out. I am fully armed and will come through victorious.” This phase of our walk in Christ is where we (the product) have become fruitful, productive, and have the greatest effectiveness.

• I can endure and grow under the worst conditions (untruths, slander, persecution, imprisonment, laughter)
• I can can adjust, adapt, and prosper in the worst of elements (unemployment, abuse, famine, injustice)
• I can can give my enemies love, kindness, and steadfastness (discrimination, lies, prejudice, unfairness)
• I can be salt and light in a corrupt, decaying, and dark filled land (perversion, leftism, political correctness)

I believe the American church has drifted from her foundation over the past 50 years and now have many embedded erroneous ideas. One is, if we attend church, support church, tell Jesus what we desire,  Holy Spirit will wave a supernatural staff, or blow upon us and instantaneously we are perfected. Every defect corrected, every sin banished, and we lack nothing. We repeated a preachers poetic prayer and we are champions.

We know Jesus was the Word and the Word was made flesh and lived on earth. Yet it took 30 years of preparation for Jesus to be activated. Jesus was 30 years old and He went through a process of testing to validate His submission, His obedience, His faith, and His heart. He had to be proven ready to step on the scene and confront the powerful forces of darkness. Jesus was perfectly prepared to assume the role and execute the will of His Father without delay. 

To be perfectly prepared we must have a track record of success in overcoming Satan, the world, and our flesh. What does your spiritual resume reflect? Do you have a long list of churches you have attended for 3 weeks or two years? One of the truest indicators we have endured is when we can prove we stuck it out and grew even in adversity. I did not say stick it out only, but we have grown effective. Many people stay in a church because they are comfortable but they are not growing. They are dead branches on a dying church.

In order to become men and women of understanding we must understand the process. God does not give secrets of the times to unprepared people who will jack up everything and cannot handle it. We must prove our maturity! For many of us if we were given a supernatural download our resume is so inconsistent our voice would fall on ears who would not listen. Preparedness gives influence and resources.

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

Achieving Success God’s Way

I heard a story one time about a pastor who preached an identical message every week for two months. Finally leadership approached him and asked the pastor if he realized he had preached the same message for two months. The pastor responded, “I do realize it and will continue to preach the same message until I see the body start doing what I have been preaching.”

In all my written expressions you will see several common threads.

1. Awakening the church from it’s zombie mentality

2. Developing a “zero tolerance” for lifeless religious traditions

3. Pursue and be Intentional about being “in love” with Jesus

4. Rooting out, tearing down, destroying, and overthrowing lies the church has embraced

5. The power of sonship

How does a follower of Christ and the body of Christ achieve success in their lives?

Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).
For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:15-16) AMP

One cannot achieve success or achieve understanding until they grow up and can demonstrate maturity. An immature person, an immature business, and an immature church will always stay in the trenches of drama, lack, strife, jealousy, and competitiveness.

Success is directly linked to the ability to be closely joined and firmly knitted together.

1. Every part must reflect God’s truth in the way we live our lives daily
2. Every part must grow together
3. Every part must fit and work properly together

What does it mean to be successful?    How do you define success?

Achieving success is not one single event or decision one makes. It is based on “all the parts” of your life, family, marriage, business, or church when……..the whole body is fitted together perfectly. As each part does its own special work.

You will never experience success when you mature and grow in one area but remain stunted, immature, and unchanged in another. It all must grow together.

One of the first things a son/daughter must do is develop/pray/desire to become obedient to the covenant of God. One must obey their Father in all things, not select things.

For our church - Ultimate Faith Church - to achieve success in the Kingdom of Heaven all of the body (people) must come into unity, alignment, and same direction.

Every part of the body brings a component of success and prosperity. 

To live a healthy life my heart, mind, liver, immune system, kidneys, skin, and lungs must all work in unity and togetherness. When the heart gets out of rhythm it affects the whole body. When my liver gets out of alignment my whole body is affected.

I am forty years old and if my heart did not mature and remained underdeveloped I would not be living a successful life. If my brain did not develop logic, sensory nerves, and the ability to reason I would be handicapped today. All of my body grew up together, is closely joined and working together for successful, healthy living.

I challenge you to GROW UP in “all things.”

And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the first and principal commandment.
The second is like it and is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.
And to love Him out of and with all the heart and with all the understanding [with the faculty of quick apprehension and intelligence and keenness of discernment] and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. (Mark 12:30,31,33 ) AMP

Notice it says…. Out of and with all your body parts. You cannot grow up without a intimate loving relationship with Christ. It is the nutrients for proper growth and fruitfulness.

Every part of the body brings a component of success and prosperity! 

Let me downshift to one last verse for this article. I love the above statement. I need you to be successful and you need me. Ready for this? One cannot grow up apart from being connected to and in a local church. If you sit home, come when you feel like it, or others reasons, you will never achieve God’s success for your life.

[That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [ full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ’s own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him. (Ephesians 4:13) AMP

Success flows out of and through our relationship with Abba Father.

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

The Starting Place For Achieving Success – Pt 2

Everything in life has a beginning and ending. There is a starting point or birthing point for the journey we choose to pursue. I believe every human being has DNA to desire, crave, and pursue the avenue of success. Success is not evil, sinful, and it is not ungodly.

In Joshua 1:8, Father God gives instruction on how to prosper and how to be successful. Success is a Father’s greatest desire for their child.

I ask this question so often because there is so much diversity in the answers. I believe we must get God’s definition of success or we never will achieve it according to His definition and standard.

Because we are natural minded (reasoning and intellectual) we view success as superstardom. Our renewed mind and unregenerate heart sees (visible things) possessions, objects, materials, titles, and all the tangible goods as indicators of success.

Jesus said, “What does it profit someone if they gain, owned, controlled, and possessed the entire world and lost their eternal spirit? So you have it all but you are eternally separated from my presence.”

When we read and see Ted Turner, Michael Jordan, Bill Gates, Paula White, Oprah Winfrey, Paris Hilton, Jay Leno, P. Diddy, Joel Osteen, Jay-Z, or Miley Cyrus (who is estimated to be a “billionaire” by 18), your mind says OMG! ……. What success! 

I believe they are all successful but by who’s definition? I think Satan has been one of the most successful beings God ever created. He even told Jesus, “All these Kingdom’s are mine and I will give them to you if you only worship me.” He has been highly successful in multiplying sin, expanding religion, destroying the reputation of the church, seducing people to pursue worldly riches, dismantling the family, exploiting the woman through pornography, genocide of millions of people, and abortion which has murdered over 1 BILLION babies globally.

AND…………….Satan has done all these diabolical crimes and remained behind the scenes. The majority of people don’t believe there is an actual real being called Satan/Devil.  (example): Abortion is not linked to Satan but a woman’s choice.

This is success but by who’s definition?

Where does success begin and start?

And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the first and principal commandment.
The second is like it and is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.
And to love Him out of and with all the heart and with all the understanding [with the faculty of quick apprehension and intelligence and keenness of discernment] and with all the strength, and to love ones neighbor as oneself, is much more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. (Mark 12:30,31,33) AMP

1. Success starts in the heart.

It Start Here

This article could be endless trying to define heart. When you read heart in the scriptures it is not the organ in your chest that pumps blood. I would need to use a diagram to show everyone more clearly, but your heart is your eternal spirit (saved/unsaved). It is not Holy Spirit, and it is not your physical body. When you experience the conviction of Holy Spirit and embrace His calling – believing and following the commands and ways of Christ, this is called regeneration. Your old nature (sinful heart) is totally replaced and you receive a brand new heart. Holy Spirit is fused to your new heart and begins to abide and transform your new heart, renew your mind, and help you and me “grow up” and mature as disciples of Jesus Christ.

In the above passage it says, out of and with your whole heart we are to love God. When we are asked, what does it mean to love God with all our heart? This verse clarifies it some with “out of and with our heart” do we begin to love Father God.

Our spiritual growth is directly related to the condition of our inner heart. The effectiveness of our witness to those around us is also impacted by the condition of our heart. If our heart is being transformed by Holy Spirit, then our success will INCREASE on a daily basis. Passion, feelings, emotions, appetites, and desires are all part of the heart.

The heart gives us the ability, power, and capacity to love!

We are expected to love God with all our ability, all our desire, and with full capacity of our heart. To be “in love” with God requires our passion to be focused on Him, desiring to spend time with Him, longing to experience Him better, and increasing hunger to meditate upon His Word. Our prayer time is not a “to do list” but quality time where our yearning for Him is satisfied as we converse.

Our passion for God must far outweigh every other desire within us if we are going to be a success by His definition.

We are not told this often but let me be real with you. It is hard work to diligently seek out how to do things the way God wants them done. Also, the seeker has a responsibility to do something with what he is given. Seek is an action word. You will never experience success being passive and waiting on success to find you.

Let’s go back to the above verse again – (out of and with your whole heart)

You have to be willing to work your heart out to achieve success. Out of your heart and with your heart. You have to exert passion and desire to acquire success. When you watch the Super Bowl, both teams play as hard as they can, giving everything in their heart. They are working out of their heart and at the end of the game they are exhausted, bruised, sweaty, hurting, and totally depleted but they are VICTORIOUS and CHAMPIONS!

Sometimes we are looked upon by others and we feel like we are not successful but failures. God said I do not look at the outward appearance but on the heart. Success is all about your heart.

Success starts in the heart. I believe many people, many marriages, many businesses, many churches, and many situations that fail and never see success is because they failed to continue to work out of their heart and with their heart. They never gave with ALL of their heart and soul. It was not wholeheartedly pursued.

Success starts in your heart pursuing and loving our glorious God. As you pursue Him you grow by obeying what He reveals to you through the Holy Spirit and His Word. Your mental attitude and persistence are only heart components. If you will start with your heart, your heart will be your biggest supporter and friend. Our awesome Father created you and me to succeed.

Your heart in pursuit of God “will always believe you are a success.”

King David was called a man after God’s own heart. David pursued a pure heart and a renewed spirit. His heart always believed in Him and kept in burning for the high prize.

What is Your Heart Condition?

 

Create in Me a Pure Heart - O God

 

 

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

OMG! Am I Doing That?

I have observed and discovered not only in “my life“, but in many people’s lives, a serious deep rooted disease that is cancelling out, negating, contradicting and reversing many of the promises of God upon our lives.

Somehow we have believed a lie that complaining solves the complaint. Complaining is disobedience and totally rebellion to the Word of God. Complaining shows unhappiness in someone or something.

People who do not see their choices do not believe they have choices. They tend to respond automatically, blindly influenced by their circumstances and conditioning. Mindfulness, by helping us notice our impulses before we act, gives us the opportunity to decide whether to act and how to act. – Gil Fronsdal

Sound the Alarm – Especially sons, daughters, and disciples to….FAST!                                                                                     

Not food, but our negative, critical, whining, complaining, faultfinding, murmuring spirit. Remember communication is 93% nonverbal, so this means fasting body language and gestures communicating unhappiness.

Sound the Alarm

Lets establish this lifestyle by God’s Word.

Ephesians 4:29… Let ”NO” foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk [EVER] come out of your mouth, but only such [speech] as is good and beneficial to the “spiritual progress” of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God’s favor) to those who hear it.

You are doing one of two things right now:

1. Trying to interpret this to mean profanity, vulgarities, incantations, or belittling statements
2. Your mouth is open and you are thinking I could never obey this scripture

You are right. You can’t in your natural, fleshly effort or self-discipline, but you and I can because we are people who are Spirit led, Spirit filled, and sons/daughters of our Father.

This verse says there should NEVER be any complaining coming forth out of our mouth. How can we use our mouth to praise God and be use it for complaining? How can we bless and curse with the same mouth? What comes out of our mouth is not the source, but what is in our heart the mouth speaks. It’s a heart issue! (Read the articles on success)

Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine figs? Neither can a salt spring furnish fresh water. James 3:2

We cannot be people of faith and doubt at the same time. When we are complaining we are doubting God’s BIGness, God’s promises, God’s faithfulness, and God’s power.

Therefore I tell you, stop being perpetually uneasy (anxious and worried) about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink; or about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life greater [in quality] than food, and the body [far above and more excellent] than clothing? (Matthew 6:25) AMP

There are numerous references which does not ask us, but command us not to worry. When we worry we are putting the issue in a position that is bigger than our God. Complaining is disobedience – yes sin!

Do all things without “grumbling and faultfinding and complaining” [against God] and questioning and doubting [among yourselves]. (Philippians 2:14) AMP

We are to do all things without whining, grumbling and complaining. When we react with complaining we are complaining against God, we are questioning God’s love, His ability, His power. When we justify it by “venting” to others we bait others to join our complaint against God. This is demonic activity coming forth out of our mouths.

What are you complaining about? You will only complain when you are worried, angry, rejected, alone, feeling hopeless, or not in control.

[Your employment, Your spouse, Your health, Your children, Your president, Your car, Your bills, Your church, Your co-workers, Your neighbor, Your paycheck, Your retirement, Your health-care bill] ……. Whatever it is we have decided to complain about, we have really decided to blame, accuse, and judge God for being unfaithful and not fulfilling His promise.

When you and I complain, grumble, findfault, murmur, criticize, and worry we are being disobedient because He has commanded us to NEVER do these things and instead we are to suppose to do what?

Don’t worry about anything. But PRAY and ask God for everything you need. And when you pray, always give thanks. And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 4:6-7)

We cannot have peace when we worry. We cannot have peace when we are disobedient, we cannot be content when we choose to doubt the unfailing love of God. We open the door and give our adversary in-roads into our lives.

The young man approached Jesus and said what do I need to do to gain entrance and have eternal life. Jesus said obey these commands and the young man said I have done all these things since I was a child. Jesus said… One Thing you lack!

I believe people can be so close to success in God, powerful breakthroughs, supernatural experiences, and new dimensions in their lives but they can be “Lacking One Thing” which will block their success.

I absolutely believe COMPLAINING will prevent our progress in the Kingdom of God. We all have our excuses and reasonings why we are complaining. We have learned how to cloak it to sound spiritual. We have embraced the message of hell and words of Satan and it flows fluently and freely out of our mouths.

Mark your calendar, get someone to hold you accountable and check your mouth, and start fasting today. You don’t need to pray about it, think about it. You have read God’s word and when we know His word we obey it immediately.

Daniel fasted food 21 days so you can verbally fast for 21 days. If you complain, start your fast all over. The goal is to fast 21 days consecutively without complaining, allowing Holy Spirit to renew our mouth, tongue, and mind to BE people of faith, gratitude, and thankfulness. Take the time to pray and write down your 21 day journey. I want to hear about it. I will share and keep you updated with my fast. Let stay in touch through comments.

You can do this – God is your strength, power, and help to overcome all things. Success is waiting on you!

Stop Complaining and Start Praying!

 

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

Fixing Your Eye’s On The Author of Success Pt3

I have learned a very important lesson in ministry in 2009. There is a tremendous embedded insolent, defiant, independent spirit and root in many church attendees. As long as people can fulfill their agenda, work in a domain they are comfortable with, and not be given commands, they do well. I am talking about men and women who can work hard and have longevity in the church society.

The lesson I have, or should say, am learning is the ineffectiveness of trying to force someone to eat something I believe is good for them. We have all attempted this with our children. It is a challenge and, over time, fruitless. This lesson also applies to the Word or any other revelation. I cannot force or cram it into your life.

But this is not the heart of Jesus neither the heart and attitude of a follower of Christ. God created you and I to succeed. We will never experience the height of success in God with an independent, disobedient spirit residing in us.

If you are going to grow and succeed, you are going to have to chew it, swallow it, digest it, and let it speak to you. I will admit I am a Jesus addict. I want more and never can get enough. When I read, meditate, and intercede over something and I gain insight, I am like —- Full Throttle! If God has decreed it, I do not need to analyze it, think about it, or pray for confirmation. In His Word is Spirit, Life, Truth, and SUCCESS!

For success to occur do you understand what must take place in your life?

Don’t for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you’ll get where you’re going; then you’ll succeed. (Joshua 1:8) MSG

How many of us truly do this? This means we are to be “Acute God Conscious” and everything we do 24/7/365 the Word of God and Spirit of God is included in every single decision we make. (Buying a home, car, appliances, giving to ministry and amount we give, helping those in need, giving counsel, and how we respond to our enemies, etc, etc)

Only Then…. will you be prosperous and successful!

Because someone has a lot of stuff and making their payments on time is not God’s success.

The previous article I wrote about the heart being the centerpiece for success and how our heart which is seeking and loving Father God- FIRST, will always believe you are a success. Let’s go back to the scripture to jumpstart this next segment on achieving success.

And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the first and principal commandment. The second is like it and is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. And to love Him out of and with all the heart and with all the understanding [with the faculty of quick apprehension and intelligence and keenness of discernment] and with all the strength, and to love ones neighbor as oneself, is much more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. (Mark 12:30,31,33) AMP

We are to use our whole heart, whole soul, whole mind, and whole strength. We have discussed the heart and now I will write about our eyes.

But GOD, dear Lord, I only have eyes for you. Since I’ve run for dear life to you, take good care of me. (Psalm 141:8) MSG

I have often thought about if I had to make a choice in losing one of my five senses which would I choose? (eyes, ears, nose, smell, touch) I would not want to choose, but I have always thought I would definitely not choose my eyes. I would not want to live in a total dark world. I would have limited walking range, if any. I would not be able to drive. If someone said, look at that – I would not be able to. I would not be able to watch movies, surf the web, read books, or read God’s Glorious Word.

Sight is valuable! Being able to see extends further than what my natural eyes can see. When we discuss having vision that is not something you see with your natural eyes. It has the power to move you, others, and even a nation.

 Lord, open my eyes. Let me look into your teachings and read about the wonderful things you did. (Psalm 119:18)

I am a revelatory minister. I minister out of revelation. Everything is not total revelation but I am receiving insight into more understanding and insight than just the ink on paper I read. It is call “rhema.” It is a buzz for me because I know it is the Creator speaking to me.

After Lot separated from him, GOD said to Abram, “Open your eyes, look around. Look north, south, east, and west. Everything you see, the whole land spread out before you, I will give to you and your children forever. I’ll make your descendants like dust–counting your descendants will be as impossible as counting the dust of the Earth. (Genesis 13:14-16)

Open your eyes – Abraham was not blind. God was wanting to burn an image into Abraham’s mind so he would meditate and be reminded of what he was seeing in the natural. God wanted Abraham to study the landscape. 

In V-15 the word “look” means: inspect, learn about, observe, give attention to, and to distinguish.

God was showing Abraham a glimpse into what his inheritance would be. He could see the land, but did he see his offspring? God wanted Abraham to look closely beyond the natural and see the invisible. This takes FAITH!

But GOD, dear Lord, I only have eyes for you. We must have eyes that are only for Him. Our focus must stay fixed on Him. We cannot allow our eyes to get distracted by the background noise of life, the chaos of the economy, the uncertainty on the job-site, and the circumstances surrounding us.

I believe we understand the concept of what God shows us more than we can see the invisible animation of what God is showing us. It is very tough to grasp what our natural eyes are seeing and what God is telling us.

Natural sight will deteriorate the vision of the Most High. The natural sight can cause you great frustration and doubt because you see your surroundings. Abrahan saw the vision of God, heard what the Lord promised him, and then in Genesis 15:1-2 Abraham informs God that he is still childless. Abraham had not comprehended the vision yet.

This is so cool… God took Abraham outside into the night and told him to “look.”  Remember the definition? Look up at the stars and if you can number them, God said so shall your seed-offspring be.

Are you following this? God gave Abraham a natural vision- a reference point to INSPIRE what he could not yet physically see with his eyes. To be successful you must be able to SEE!

I want to challenge you, push you, encourage you, and nudge you to start dreaming BIG. Ask God to help you refocus and release pictures so you can see what He is up to and what He wants you to do. If you, your family, community, church, state, nation, government, fails to dream and have Godly vision you, me, and everyone will perish.

How do we attain this vision and bring it to fruitfulness?

If this verse does not put surges of adrenaline and delight in your spirit- you are spiritually dead!

This is what the LORD says – your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go. (Isaiah 48:17) NIV

I have another crazy scripture but I don’t want you to overdose. But is this not awesome? Our Heavenly Father will personally teach us and direct us if we have a heart that loves and follows Him and eyes that will see Him and follow Him regardless of our surroundings.

“Your Eyes Will Always See Yourself As A Success.”

Father, I give you my heart. My heart has done its own thing and not loved you with all its ability. Wash and cleanse my heart and make me willing to follow you. Holy Spirit pour out love into my heart. I ask for my eyes to be cleansed from all the impurities I have looked at. Let my eyes be healed and fully restored to see into the invisible realm and secure your kingdom. I fix my eyes upon you and look to you for my help. Father, I trust you!
 
 Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

Renewing Your Mind To Think Successful – Pt 4

I believe we have established through the Word, His deepest desire is for everyone to succeed and prosper in all things. I also believe we understand there is a clear difference between how an unbeliever would define success compared to a believer who follows the ways of Christ and His definition.

We have discussed how achieving success in our lives has many parts that must work together and grow together. We have talked about our eyes, our heart, and now we will add another part – our mind.

We are to love God with our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

When I have read this passage in Matthew 22:37-39 and in Mark 12:30, I have never given quality attention to the purpose of the parts mentioned. Here is another question:  What does it mean to love God with all these parts? What would this look like? So many times we read, quote, and state scripture and truly do not really grasp or comprehend it.

Heart + Soul + Mind + Strength = Success

The mind is a critical component. The concern is that if we live without renewing our mind through the Word then our mind is overflowing with negative thought patterns.

As a man/women/girl/boy thinks so he/she. (Proverbs 23:7)

Our mind is one complex computer who has the capacity to store volumes of information. Our mind never forgets. Every image we have seen is burned into our processor. Everything that funnels into our ears is stored in our minds. Our minds are filters. When information comes in and out it flows through our filter (mind). If our minds are cluttered with failure, lies, ungodly beliefs, rejection, darkness, and woundedness what started out pure and true is now comtaninated and now is impure and untrue.

We can never experience success with an unsuccessful mind. Satan wages the majority of attacks toward our mind. If Satan succeeds in sabotaging our minds, we will experience ”unsuccessful, limited, or blockages”  in receiving from God. Satan is excellent at creating confusion, doubt, fear, questioning God and ourselves. Satan knows if he can move us into double-mindedness, he knows we will be ineffective and even paralyzed in making sound decisions.

[For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides]. (James 1:8) AMP

Once we become double-minded the Word says we become “unstable in ALL our ways.”  This means one is indecisive, unreliable, uncertain, and unstable in everything they get involved with. This is a spirit of double-mindedness.

Success comes from being “single-minded.” Instability does not breed success.

Do you believe you are successful?

Do you believed you are outclassed by others?

If you are a true follower and disciple of Jesus Christ then you are a new creature in Christ created to succeed. You are a chosen generation! You are a peculiar person! I challenge you to begin to renew your mind to think and believe like a son of the royal family. Focus on the Father’s nature and what He decrees about you as a son and daughter.

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

Indicators of An Unrenewed Mind

If you have been a believer for any amount of time you have been instructed, encouraged, challenged, and inspired to renew your mind. Being instructed does not mean we have a renewed mind. Many young adults attend college but they have no comprehension of the subject matter they are being taught. They are present in class but their heart is far from the material.

How Do I Renew My Mind?

How Can I Know If My Mind Is Renewed or Unrenewed?

Let me share what a renewed mind is not. Attending church does not renew your mind. Singing in the church high school musical does not renew your mind. Working the customer service department at your church does not renew your mind. Buying the CD/DVD series does not renew your mind. Reading your bible daily does not renew your mind. Watching God TV does not renew your mind. Being on a prophetic ministry does not renew your mind.

Research tells us that attending a class or listening to a Sunday message is audio learning. The average attendee will retain, recall, or grasp only 10 percent. So there is no way we can accurately say our mind is renewed through preaching. If so, it is less than 10%.

God’s glorious Word tells us we can have eyes but can’t see, ears but can’t hear, and a heart but cannot understand. This was not written to unbelievers but to the early followers of Jesus. Jesus was the greatest teacher, prophet, and only Savior. He was ministering some heavy stuff and Jesus said about His hand picked disciples that they were not able to “take in” what He was teaching. They heard every word, saw the supernatural, and they could not grasp it in its fullness.

Their heart, mind, and soil was not prepared to take it in. Seeds can be sown anywhere but to harvest a quality, abundant, and surplus will require diligent preparation. Some are satisfied with a couple of apples and oranges, missing the opportunity to have an abundance of fruit.

Lets look at some situations which can indicate a renewed or unrenewed mindset.

When someone tells you they have lumps or tumors in their breast what is the first thought that comes to your mind?

When someone tells you that they cannot remember people, places or things anymore?

When someone tells you they have irregular spots or moles on their skin?

When someone tells you they are living with their parents?

I listed a few simple questions. With each one what was the first thought that came to your mind? How many times have you had someone share things with you about others or you have experienced some of these things yourself and the first thought was?

There is always exceptions and by no means do I want to put everyone into a mold, but I will include myself in this group. I am sharing what Holy Spirit begin to show me.

Many times we will pass the information along as a prayer request, we will put the person and their issue into a category, and if it is close to home or really personal we immediately surf the World Wide Web for similar stories to gain more knowledge about the signs, symptoms, and possible outcomes.

This is an indicator of an “Unrenewed Mind.” An unrenewed mind is a mind that thinks under the old nature prior to being born again. When we experience Jesus Christ we become brand new. A new creature in Christ. Our mind now must start to be transformed from the old way of processing and thinking to the new way.

Why is it when we hear a report our minds most times processes it into not good, bad, or terrible? When ones mind goes automatically to negative, which is contrary to God’s Word, it should be a red flag. Our minds should not jump to a negative outcome. The outcome is not based on reports, studies, experience, nor science. Outcome is based on the Word, Spirit, and Faith in Jesus Christ.

What Then is the Correct Response?

1. Be Acutely God Conscious: Do not act out of emotion, experience, fear, or intellect but God’s Word and Spirit.

Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious–the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. (Philippians 4:8) MSG

When our minds have developed and reached this state of spiritual renewal and maturity, our minds will not go to the negative but to the what the Word of God says. We are to destroy the works of darkness, not reinforce their base.

Our mind should not fast-forward to worst possible scenario. We should not immediately share a similar case about a family, friend, or medical mystery diagnosis off the TV show we’ve watched. This is not being Spirit-led but humanistic. We missed an opportunity to impart the love of Abba Father and Peace.

2. Pray First

Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by PRAYER and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. And GOD’S PEACE [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

Can you SEE and HEAR what the Spirit is speaking?

Quoting scripture and reading scripture is awesome, but is not an indicator of a renewed mind. You can only truly effectively renew your mind by reading the word as Holy Spirit is breathing life upon the dead written text. Then when you are put into the front-lines of life situations you activate the Word through faith. The Word comes forth subconsciously and without effort. It is like auto-pilot.

I believe this is why the Word of God also tells us to be “quick to listen and slow to speak.” This is what our unrenewed mind was created to do – think, reason, and fix problems, but this is not something our mind can fix. This is not math, engineering, or piloting a jet liner. This is the invisible realm of the Spirit and the natural mind cannot go there.

Whatever the situation or circumstance may be we must cross examine, align, and course correct our response. This is what matures us in the Spirit.

When we get a bill for a certain amount and our banking account has a lower amount, what is our first thought? What am I going to do? How can I tithe? How will I pay the car insurance? Our mind starts reasoning and attempting to solve the crisis. I will get a part time job, I will do cash advance, I will have a yard sale, I will………………….

This is an indicator of an unbelieving, unrenewed, and carnal mind. Let me throw one more Scripture in for us to extract from.

The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity. (2 Cor 10:4-6) MSG

OMG!  I am absolutely spiritually stoned right now! When I read how awesome, powerful, mighty, and perfect God’s Word is I get ADRENALINE PUMPED! 

When our mind jumps ahead of the Spirit, when our warped unrenewed mind attempts to cut in line, interrupt the Holy Spirit’s plan, I must immediately call out that thought, idea, and action. It says I must arrest, charge, and and deport the unrenewed, unregenerate, and faithless thought. I must discipline my mind – TIME-OUT!

My desire is for you to mature and develop a renewed mind. A mind which which Holy Spirit can use to make you successful both in the natural realm and in the spirit realm.

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

The BATTLEFIELD – Friday September 25

Over the summer we have inquired of the Lord and discussed the purpose of our previous monthly Praise Jam which was held the 4th Friday of each month. Was this ministry fruitful? Did we at UFC believe in and support this venue of ministry? Most important, do we believe it was initiated by Holy Spirit and should  it be continued?

Our conclusion is –  Absolutely!

What is the purpose of Praise Jam?  “Contending With Heaven To Liberate Our City.”

We believe the name Praise Jam does not align with our purpose. It will no longer be called Praise Jam.

New Name: “The Battlefield”

The Battlefield will launch Friday September 25 @ 7:00 pm.

We will be singing and prophesying how BIG our Jehovah is. We will contend for our city and the Greater Wilmington Area to experience the liberating power of Christ.

We invite you to come along side us and lets be unrelenting in seeking Jesus to “liberate” our churches, our government, our neighborhoods, our schools, and our downtown.

We ask you to enlist with us to “awaken this generation.”

We will conclud The Battlefield with light foods. If you are alone invite a friend, if you are not alone, invite others to unite and seek freedom for our city.

For more information you can contact Ultimate Faith Church.

Email: ufcwilmington@yahoo.com or Phone 910.799.1263.

See  you at “The Battlefield,” Friday September 25 @ 7:00 pm.

The Rudder Of Your Future Success – Pt 5

I have shared how our mind, our heart, and our eyes are needed to obtain success. Let me really throw a question in here to challenge your concept of success. I have been using the word achieve but do you achieve success or receive success?

The next component of success I want to examine and present to you is your mouth. If you are only breezing through these articles then they are only bathroom reading material. Success is a learned trait, which has a process. Reading about success, successful people, and successful stories does not make one successful.

If your heart is weak, you must strengthen it. If your eyes are obstructed, clear them. If your mind is unrenewed and thinking opposite to God’s Word then we must renew it and get on the right path of thinking correctly. Now- if your mouth is not speaking the correct things you and I will need to “learn” to talk accurately.

Words kill, words give life; they’re either poison or fruit–you choose. (Proverbs 18:21)

What is your mouth speaking when you are under pressure, stress, and tension? What is your mouth speaking when you are experiencing trials and tests?

Are your words shallow or deep? Our words are directly connected to our vision and purpose.

Process: The vision enters our mind through God’s wonderful creative process. The vision will be grasped by the soil of our heart, if it is receptive. Good soil reaches up and takes hold of the seed. If not, the seed will lay on the surface and birds come and take it away. The vision must take up residency in our soil and we must guard and cultivate the vision. Our mind will start processing the vision and how to bring it to pass and into reality. Then our mouth will begin to vocalize and speak the vision with passion and zeal.

Can you see – if one component of the process is out of alignment it delays and can even block manifestation of the vision.

What type of words do you use? Have you examined your words? Are they power words? Are they fertilizer? Are your words nurturing?

Let me use only a small part of Hebrews 4:12 which states… The Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective].

God’s Word is seed! Your words are seed! Except are your words alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective].

Another important part of our mouth is the ability to be able to ”clearly communicate” the vision that is our heart in a “bold and concise” way. We must learn to be good communicators. Our ability to accurately communicate will determine our quality of harvest.

Effective communication requires our entire body to work together in harmony.

Here is another crazy scripture in Proverbs 16:23. The mind of the wise instructs-guides his mouth, and adds learning and persuasiveness to his lips.

Read it one more time!

If we have a “renewed” mind it will direct our mouth. If we are complaining we are doubting. If we are moaning we have become a victim. If we are grumbling we have run out of faith. If we are whining we have become grasshoppers. If we are prophesying anything but truth, faith, hope, and love we are cursing ourselves.

Our mouth – our tongue is a rudder: A controlling agent or influence over direction; a guide.

We can never achieve success without a mouth that speaks life and hope to our God-given seed. The Word instructs and warns us that we will give an account for EVERY word which comes out of our mouth.

But I tell you, on the day of judgment men will have to give account for every idle (inoperative, nonworking) word they speak. (Matthew 12:36) AMP

Your heart will always believe you are a success!

Your eyes will always see you as a success!

Your mind will always think you are a success!

Your mouth will always say your are a success!

In the first part of this series I shared out of Ephesians 4:15-16 how “every” part must be closely joined and firmly knit together. Every part is required for success to occur in our church, family, career, children, finances, and any other area.

There is so much that could be shared but I will stop here. My desire is for you to experience God’s success in all you do!

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

Listening Your Way To Success – Pt 6

Have you started seeing, recognizing, or feeling more successful? I find that my life can become so cluttered and meshed together it can be difficult to clearly distinguish things.

We’re going to add another component to our toolbox. All of these parts I have shared with you are tools for you and I to use so we can get into a consistent lifestyle of success, which I believe is part of God’s design and purpose for our lives. If we are not being successful then we are being failures. It is not Father’s design neither your heart to live in defeat, failure, and behind the eight ball.

If Ear said, “I’m not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don’t deserve a place on the head,” would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? (1 Corinthians 12:16-17) MSG

Can you imagine not being able to hear sounds?

Our ears are perfectly designed for hearing sounds, distinguishing voices, and warns us of about our surroundings. Our ears can identify and distinguish all kinds of sounds.

When you read  in Scripture about “hearing,” rarely does it mean hearing of sounds, instead, do you understand or comprehend the meaning of something.

Our spiritual growth, spiritual maturity, and ability to experience success largely depends on ones ability to “hear and comprehend” what Holy Spirit is speaking. Hearing is about grasping the truth and then implementing the truth He has revealed to us.

You can have a great ears but an under developed heart will cause you to not understand, discern, or perceive what you are hearing.

How can you know God’s will?

How can you know who you are supposed to marry?

How are you to know who and when to help someone?

How are you to know if you should buy a home, auto, real estate?

Personally, I believe many people make decisions out of what they observe others doing, what they have read, what they feel, and what they are influenced by through movies, media, and magazines. It is what you could call “copy and paste” choices. Success is a process and success is a series of choices and events which occur in your lifetime. If emotions, feelings, and parroting has been your methodology, success is just a dream and not a reality.  Success can only be reached by having ears to listen to the One who can grant you success. Satan will give you worldly success, your human nature will grant you a form of success, and God has success awaiting those who hear, listen, and follow His ways and plan.

Listen to me! For I have excellent things to tell you. Everything I say is right. (Proverbs 8:6) NLT

Hear counsel, receive instruction, and accept correction, that you may be wise in the time to come. (Proverbs 19:20) AMP

I believe the ultimate test of our heart, is when we find ourselves having to sit and listen to the authority in our lives correct us for a mistake, poor decision, or to course correct us. Can we humbly sit, listen, and receive?

“Many people may listen, but few people actually hear.”

If any man has ears to hear, let him be listening- pay attention and let him perceive and comprehend. (Mark 4:23) AMP

We dedicate ourselves to many things in life. I believe to live a life with minimal conflict can be reached if we dedicate ourselves to learn to listen and pay attention. Often we find our problems are the direct result of missed or misunderstood information.

I challenge you to learn to listen more than you talk. One of the most important concepts of hearing is “hearing what isn’t said.”  Do you know how to hear what is not being said? Jesus demonstrated this skill many times when talking to people.

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

Reaching For Success – Pt 7

I hope you are starting to believe you are genetically and spiritually designed to succeed. If you do not see yourself as a success then you have taken on some “ungodly beliefs” that are totally demonic. If you do not see Abba Father as the giver of success and as a son or daughter you do not feel worthy to accept His gift of success, you have allowed distorted spirits to twist the loving nature of your Father into a hard legalistic task master.

The truth…. Most people in the church are not living the dream of success the Creator of the universe originally designed. I include myself. Again, having lots of possessions, titles, or a position is not an indicator of success.

I have written about all the parts needed to make success a reality. We need to understand God’s blueprint. Then we must allow Holy Spirit to take our heart, eyes, mind, mouth, ears, and today, I will write about our hands. Can you imagine having all the other members but no hands?

Do you know what type of hands you own?

Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth. (Proverbs 10:4)

Are your hands lazy and prefer to do as little as possible? Or do you have hands that are eager to grab a task and make it productive?

Do you see how all the parts we have discussed must “work together” in order for success to occur? The eyes must see a situation, the mind must analyze it and send a message to our hands, and our hands must obey the command and go to work. All the while our spirit is directing the whole scene.

Our hands give us the ability to “reach and touch.” Our hands not only reach but explore our world, touching things we see with our eyes. Except the hand needs help to be successful – it needs the arm, the shoulder, and the wrist all working together to help the hand reach for the desired objects or to complete a task.

What are you reaching for? Do you have high standards and goals? Are you conditioning your hands to reach for greater and more? If not, you are settling and have allowed your hands to become lazy.

Successful people have learned to extend themselves beyond their comfort zones in order to reach outside of their range to accomplish the extraordinary and ultimate.

In Exodus 3:20, God told Moses He was going to “stretch out His hand” and smite Egypt with signs and wonders. Jesus told a man in Mark 3:5 to “stretch forth his hand” and when he did it was fully restored and made whole.

I want to tell you there is supernatural power when we obey God in faith and stretch forth your hands to do the impossible. We are to follow Christ. We see examples of God stretching forth His hand so if we are going to be disciples who follow Christ we will need to stretch forth our hand also, when He gives us the instruction.

Our hands are to be stretched as instruments, banners, and weapons of praise before our God. All through Psalms we are given instructions to stretch our hands toward heaven in praise. We are told to lay hands on people and release the power of His Spirit. Praise will create increase and bring success into your life.

Another unique skill the hand has is the ability to write. In Habakkuk 2:2 we are instructed to by God to “WRITE the vision” and make it plain.

In order to write you must use your hand. To write down a vision you must believe it in your heart, you must see with your eyes, and think about it with your mind, and then you write it down for you and all to see and follow so the purposes of God can be fulfilled and completed in your life.

Learn to write down your vision and read it daily. Learn to write down what Holy Spirit speaks to you daily. Learn to write down wise words and direction for your life. Remember we are positioning ourselves for success.

In writing down the plans we are seeing and hearing we must be willing to work hard to make them a success.

Peter Drucker an American educator said – “Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work.”

Without the hands our vision would never become a reality. It takes teamwork to have success as a lifestyle.

It’s better to have a partner than go it alone. Share the work, share the wealth. And if one falls down, the other helps, But if there’s no one to help, tough! By yourself you’re unprotected. With a friend you can face the worst. Can you round up a third? A three-stranded rope isn’t easily snapped. (Ecclesiastes 4:9.10.12) MSG

We must remember we are not an army unto ourselves but part of the army of God. We need to learn to work hand in hand with other soldiers in order to attain victory.

Many people have vision, bubbling over with passion and even a great blueprint but will never get to enjoy it unless they learn to join hand in hand with others to help them achieve their vision.

 

The WHOLE BODY must achieve success in order for any one part to be able to relax and enjoy victory.

The parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance. (1 Corinthians 12:26) MSG

What type of hands are you an owner of?

Your Hand will Always Reach Out to Make Your Success Clear!

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

Do You Know What Type of Hands You Own?

What is Spewing Out of Your Mouth?

Take a moment and do a quick inventory of people you admire. It won’t take but a minute to write down a few names of people you admire. Now beside their name briefly write what it is about them you admire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that I am 40, I have four decades to look over and draw from. When I was in my teens, which would be the 80’s, and look at the people I admired they are different from today. WHY?

In high school I listened to AC/DC – “I’m on the Highway to Hell.” I loved to listen and sing it. Sin was cool and going to hell was the ultimate. WOW! I could really spend some time on this along with parenting.

When you think about who you admire or who you would like to be like, you must answer the question WHY?

People admire athletes, bands, politicians, actors, actresses, reality stars, singers, dancers, and preachers.

You may not have ever considered this but if Satan was in human form he would be a celebrity in our society. Millions would imitate his fashion, talent, looks, and his behavior.

The thing you most admire about your list has to do with “ATTITUDE.“

It is the way they carry themselves. Your attitude about life will determine how you dress and the style of dress you select. Attitude will determine where you live and what type of house you live in. Attitude will determine where you work. What type of vehicle you drive. Attitude will determine where you attend church. Attitude will determine what restaurants you dine in.

Let me quickly rewind to - OMG – Am I doing that?.  I talked about how much negative communication is spewing forth from people’s mouth both in the church and outside the church.

Whining, moaning, grumbling, complaining, judging, self-pity, and why me are about attitude. Your belief system influences your attitude and your mouth will speak forth your attitude.

Our attitudes determine “what we see” and how we handle” our feelings.

When we find ourselves expressing our feelings through negative words, phrases, and statements we are really expressing our belief system and views about how we view life, how we view God, and how helpless we feel.

Complaining and negativity can never, never, never, never, never be linked to God or be the source of it. Negativity is brewed in the minds of discouragement, disappointments, hurt, hopelessness, not being in control, and woundedness. It is ungodly beliefs, distorted images and truths, and pure unadulterated demonic influence.

I promise you it will take more than self-discipline, post it notes, and positive confessions. They are tools to help but this negativity is embedded in our mind and it is your attitude. Only through the supernatural work of Holy Spirit and the Word of God “RENEWING” our mind and transforming our attitude can we be liberated from it.

We cannot deny how we feel. When we encounter the barrage of fiery arrows they are real. We have God given emotions. We cannot stop the onslaught of attacks but we are totally responsible for how we handle our feelings and what ”spews” forth out of our mouths.

 I will be careful about the things I say. I will not let my tongue cause me to sin. I will keep my mouth closed when I am around wicked people. (Psalm 39:1)  

Is this not an amazing Scripture? This is not denying feelings but it demonstrates maturity. King David recognized he had a responsibility what proceeds from his lips.

Understand [this], my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear [a ready listener], slow to speak (James 1:19)

I am going to give you one more scripture if you are still attempting to justify your polluted talk. We have all said “you don’t know what I have experienced today” or “I can’t take any more” or “I deserve to speak my peace.” The truth is we may think we deserve to or we may exercise our freedom of speech…BUT it will have consequences for it.

A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. But the human tongue can be tamed by no man. It is a restless (undisciplined, irreconcilable) evil, full of deadly poison. (James 3) Read all of chapter 3

Ready for this verse?

If anyone thinks himself to be religious (piously observant of the external duties of his faith) and does not bridle his tongue but deludes his own heart, this person’s religious service is worthless (futile, barren). (James 1:26)

Does this not “pimpslap” us? When our mouth is out of control with – whining, moaning, grumbling, complaining, judging, self-pity, and why me, it pollutes, blurs, deflects, and reduces our faith to worthless. We must recognize this stuff is vomit to God. I don’t want to digress too much but have you ever been really sick and had to vomit? I hate to vomit. I will lay as still as possible hoping it will pass. It tastes nasty, feels nasty, and sounds nasty. Vomit has one place and that is the toilet. Decide today to stop vomiting over your church, friends, people, this nation, and yourself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taking the challenge to fast and break the negative stuff “spewing” forth from our mouth is not a cool exercise or some cool church slogan. It is life and death! It is a faith which will bear lasting fruit and light or a faith which is reduced to barrenness and mockery.

Notice, it said the tongue can never be tamed by human effort. It is totally the ministry of Holy Spirit as we submit to God’s Word and renew our mind according to the Word.

What am I saying? Our minds have been tattooed with the ink of hell. Our minds must go through transformation and be re-tattooed by hope, love, joy, and faith which sees HOW BIG OUR GOD IS. Our attitude is now expressing itself through words and statements of faith, hope, and love.

I will share later on how to begin changing your attitude and developing a plan to have a successful outlook, successful speech, and successful thinking.

Start pruning the words out of your mouth and fertilizing the fruit of Holy Spirit.

You Can Do This! Jesus made a way and we will not quit, give in, or lose hope in our transformation to look like Jesus.

They defeated him through the blood of the Lamb and the bold word of their witness. They weren’t in love with themselves; they were willing to die for Christ. (Revelation 12:11)

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

I Am Setting My Feet Upon Success – Pt 8

Tyler Perry has a new movie titled “I Can Do Bad All By Myself.” I can vouch and admit that it’s easy to react bad, talk bad, treat others bad, eat bad, and think bad. Without Holy Spirit we are bent and lean toward doing bad. It’s natural.

You cannot be successful all by yourself! You need more than you to achieve God’s success. If we could achieve success by ourselves then we would be prideful, arrogant, and even more selfish. In fact some people have sacrificed family, marriage, children, God, and friends for the pursuit of a career. They have worked hard and have materials to show for it. Have you ever been around people like that? They are miserable, suspicious, boastful, and selfish. They are really unhappy people. Still they did not accomplish what they have all by themselves.

There are many analogies that show teamwork of some kind is necessary. I really believe Michael Jordan is still one of the best basketball players ever. The Bulls never won a championship with just MJ. He may have been the MVP, but it took a team.

I am still using the human body analogy for my discussion on success. I do not know of anything that is so fine tuned, tightly joined, and that works together without strife like our bodies. It takes the whole body to accomplish the most simple task. When your back is out, you have a kink in your neck, or you have a migraine your entire body is affected and feels it.

This morning I am going to use one last body part in discussing success. It is our feet.

Strip down, start running–and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. (Hebrews 12:1) MSG

Another translations says – Let us RUN…..

I shared with my wife several weeks ago that I believe the most neglected, abused, and overlooked body part is our feet. They must constantly adjust and balance the body. The feet must endure our weight and usually some extra 10, 20, 50, or 100 pounds or more every day. How often are they rewarded? Even when you go to the doctor they rarely ever examine or evaluate the feet.

Our feet are used for standing, walking, running, P90x, climbing, squatting, jumping, and many other demanding chores.

He drew me up out of a horrible pit [a pit of tumult and of destruction], out of the miry clay (froth and slime), and set my feet upon a rock, steadying my steps and establishing my goings. (Psalm 40:2) AMP

This tells us our feet are vital in the race to achieve success. Isn’t it just like our Dad to set our feet on “solid” or level ground? It says my Father “steadied” me as I walked. Again this only reinforces the fact that our Father so wants you and I to be successful in all our ways.

Jesus died to save us from the slimy pit of sin and hell. He paid the price to pull us out of a dark decaying pit and strategically positioned our feet on solid ground – The Rock of Ages Jesus Christ.

Do you know what you are currently standing on?

Do you absolutely know that what you are currently living and believing is 100% accurate?

Are you standing on the foundation of religion? Passed down church traditions? Or opinions?

I will admit that in the past 4 years ”much” of what I have been taught and believed was incomplete, half-truth, and passed along. I am not slamming anyone but I did not inquire of the Lord myself, I was not discipled, and I did not have a spiritual father. Now I have all three!

I know I am always saying this verse is insane or crazy but when the Word of God is constantly coming alive and you are seeing it in a new way, I know this may sound odd, but I get high. I feel like I am floating. The Creator of the universe is revealing Himself to me through His Word – AWESOME! Now tell me these next few verses are not insane…

These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit–but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock. (Matthew 7:24-25) MSG

Jesus promises we can and would be able to stand strong against adversity. We need “ears” to hear the words, our “mind” must process what has been said, our “eyes” must show us the vision of our goal and then our “hands” and “feet” must work together to build it. Without our feet we cannot stand strong against the storms of life.

We must learn to use ALL of the tools God has given us and move against any adversity that stands in our way. You must believe without any doubt Abba Father designed you to be successful.

Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your FEET. (Ephesians 6:13) MSG

Regardless what you are feeling, seeing, hearing, experiencing, coming out of, or going into, God’s plan is for you to be established that you will come through and be STANDING!

When we submit our life to Jesus Christ and become a follower of His ways, His word, and His life we start the maturing process. We don’t just start running. Like a child we must “learn” to crawl, then we just stand, then walk, and finally we learn to run.

As followers of Christ we cannot run the race until we first have learned to STAND! We must learn to stand our ground in the faith. We can’t run the race of life (run the race of a disciple) until we first are fully convinced the goal is worth the effort. We must count the cost. I believe this is why so many start the race but quit, stop, or fall away. They never counted the cost, neither understood the endurance it would require to finish the race.

We must take the BIG picture or vision of Christ and break it into chewable, swallowable, and digestible bites. We live out our faith moment by moment, day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year, and decade by decade until our journey is finished. This is success! Having a swell day is not success. Having small daily victories helps keep us motivated and excited about the journey.

Our feet and legs must begin to develop muscle tone and endurance. We train ourselves to STAND!

Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but [only] one receives the prize? So RUN [your race] that you may lay hold [of the prize] and make it yours. (1 Corinthians 9:24) AMP

We are all in a race. We need to stand up for what we believe and what is truth. We need to stand for unborn babies who are legally murdered through abortion. We need to stand for God’s marriage plan – 1 man with 1 woman. We need to stand up for pure television programming. We must stand for righteousness regardless. It is for the future generations who will follow after us.

We need to start taking one step at a time moving forward, gradually increasing speed so we are running instead of walking toward our goal. We need to pick up the pace of our success journey and learn to use every muscle God has given us in our legs and feet so we can cover more and more ground!

Failure is Not an Option!

It is important you complete your mission! It is important you finish the race! It is important you represent and reflect your Creator God successfully! It is important you never consider failure as an option. If you stumble or fall – GET UP! and continue the race.

• Your heart will always believe you are a success
• Your eyes will always see you as a success
• Your mind will always think you are a success
• Your mouth will always say you are a success
• Your ear will always learn to be successful
• Your hand will always reach out to make your success clear
• Your feet will always carry you to success

Mark out a straight path for your feet; then stick to the path and stay safe. (Proverbs 4:26) NLT

Wow - this has been one of my favorite parts to write about, but they are all necessary and valuable. I have one more article before concluding this subject matter about success. My prayer for you, my desire for you, is to become successful. The Word says we must “Grow Up.”

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

May You Succeed and Prosper In All Things – Pt 9

I do not believe all previous 8 parts are complete about the journey to success. I took many scriptures along with other study material and shared a perspective on success in God. Here is a wonderful Scripture to mediate upon.

We’re the best of friends, and I pray for good fortune in everything you do, and for your good health–that your everyday affairs prosper, as well as your soul! (3 John 1:2) MSG

Let me share a little from my journey and heart. From January 09 – September 09, I have felt like the most unsuccessful person on the face of the earth. Last night about 8:00 pm I was walking and talking to Father. About 20 minutes into our time I really believe Holy Spirit spoke some precise words into my spirit. I cannot share them today because I am seeking the Holy Spirit for confirmation.

Anyway, as I walked and talked to Father I have so much to be thankful for. Our home and land are all paid off. We have a 20 year marriage without moral failure. Our church - UFC  is beyond words. We are not large numerically, we do not have multiple services, or programs, or outreach which we have thought for decades makes you successful. UFC is a church of relationship with God and each other. It is a house of sons and daughters. I promise you we look much better in the future than we look right now. We have been laying foundation line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little.

Why do we feel so useless and unsuccessful many times? I believe we have been indoctrinated into ungodly beliefs, religious traditions, worldly standards, distorted imagery, and demonic lies. We are ignorant concerning the truth of His Word and the heart and nature of our loving Father. We live between truth and deception too often.

There are times when we are so disoriented and turned around it is frightening. There are times when all you can do is hold on to what you know even when it seems and feels worthless. There are times when you have no emotions, you hear no still small voice, and no one has a prophetic word for you. There are times when you don’t even trust yourself. You just keep doing what the Word says. You hang on in hopes change is around the corner. I hope to share more on this later.

Becoming secure, accepted, convinced and unconditionally loved by God is a peace that transcends all reasoning, logic, feelings, and comparisons. To be loved by God and know you are loved is AMAZING. To become a true son and hear His voice and obey it – is ultimate success. This is a process, a journey, and a supernatural work of Holy Spirit. To experience the kiss of Father and feel His breath is success to me.

I so believe the heart of our Father, the deep love of Jesus, and the hope of Holy Spirit is for all people to know Him and prosper in all things. Our democratic American mindset immediately thinks of wealth and possessions. It may be included but the gospel and heart of God is not for everyone to live in an MTV crib. Sorry, but it is not in the Word.

We have discussed success and what is requires to live in success. I believe it can be applied to every area that we want success – marriage, career, business, church, government, and finances.

Defining success can be tricky so lets define what success IS NOT!

• Success is not a destination
• Success is not great wealth
• Success is not an emotional high or feeling
• Success is not happiness
• Success is not owning many possessions
• Success is not position or power
• Success is not accomplishing a single goal

You may experience some or all of these in your life. They are the “benefits” of success, or facets of success.

Success is a lifelong process of reaching many levels in life. We will have to grow and mature all through life. I believe obedience is a major foundational component to success. Every level is an indicator that we are becoming more successful and getting closer to fulfilling God’s will and purpose.

Being successful is accomplishing His purposes no matter what God has called us to do. If God does not see or call us successful, what does it matter what a celebrity, politician, preacher, best friend, or family member says we are? What God says – is truly the greatest accomplishment and joy. To hear Father Say – This is my son/daughter and I am proud of you.

God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love–like Christ in everything. We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do. For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:15-16)

Isn’t this a perfect scripture and a beautiful picture of SUCCESS ?

Under His direction we will be successful. I hope these articles have challenged you, encouraged you, and nudged you to Seek Holy Spirit to help you grow up and mature in Him. The Father so desires for you to be successful. My prayers are with you. May you experience the Father’s Embrace of Success!

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

Mmm Mmm Good -

We live in a sex-obsessed world. I believe it is so important to give credit where credit is due…. to God for being the Designer and Creator of it.

There are a lot of views about sex. So lets understand this one truth – God is not anti-sex. He created sex. Where this view, thought, or teaching came from I do not know but it is inaccurate.

Let me give three basic views about sex.

1. Traditional view: Sex is for marriage between a man and a woman. It is designed and ordained by God.

2. Relational view: It doesn’t matter about marriage as long as two people want to be in a relationship. It can mean bisexual, lesbian, homosexual, and can be teen or adult. (m4m, w4w)

3. Recreational view: Also know as casual encounters. Sex is to be enjoyed. If you have a need or desire – gratify it. There are no rules and boundaries. Be clean and drug free.

Sex has and is one of the most exploited of all our sinful weaknesses. I believe we need to be careful and aware of traps and misconceptions about sex because we live in an immoral, deceived, and seductive society.

We need to understand how to fulfill sexual needs and desires in our marriage, while avoiding those areas of sexual involvement God has prohibited in His Word. We need to know what God has called off limits.

Before I continue I need to share a little about myself. I became sexually active at age 12. I had multiple partners in my teen years up until I was married. I have been faithful for 20 years to my wonderful wife, Diane. So I am not writing from an inexperienced and uniformed view. I have studied, read, and counseled for over 10 years and I believe I have a good sound understanding about sex.

What Does God’s Word Forbid?

• Sex outside of marriage:  This would be extramarital sex and pre marital sex (adultery/fornication). We hear the famous quotes – love is what counts; who needs a marriage certificate; how can we know if we are compatible
• Sexual relations with a member of the same sex:  Lesbianism and homosexuality. It has become politically correct and forced tolerance to accept this behavior but it is not God correct and is forbidden. This is a BIG issue in our culture, but it is okay to not be tolerant or accepting of this behavior. You can be polite, kind, and loving toward individuals who choose this lifestyle but you cannot compromise the truth of God’s word. Let me ask you a question: Did God create alcoholics? Pedophiles? Adulterers? No and neither did He create homosexuality.
• Sexual relations with a member of your family:  Incest is forbidden.
• Sexual relations with animals:  Beastiality
• Sexual fantasies/desires:  This is adultery in the mind through pornography, books, magazines, or videos. This is having phantom lovers you dream up in your mind.
• Sex that finds pleasure in pain or violence:  Rape, role playing, bondage, sadomasochism, and brutality
• Sex that involves body parts not designed by God for intercourse:  Sodomy and anal sex

We are FREE to enjoy sex within the parameters He has given us. When my wife and I understood the heart, nature, and love of God, we researched the truth about dangers involved in areas of sex. We reviewed our sexual relations and made changes that would honor God, honor each other, and rewire what we thought we knew.

God is not a prude, and sex is not dirty. It is a wonderful creation designed to give pleasure. Lets go a little further to give more clarification for how to understand the above statements.

Consider These Questions…

1. Does this increase oneness and intimacy?
2. Is it mutually pleasurable or at least mutually agreed upon?
3. Is it hygienically and physically safe?
4. Can I do this with a clear conscience before God?
5. Is this something I would want my children to practice in their marriage someday?

I believe this is a good test and if your sexual practices can pass it,  you should have no reluctance in enjoying your marriage. One of the things I realized is: Many people bring sexual positions, fetishes, activities, toys, etc. into to their marriage and it is connected to what they practiced with previous sexual partners, books they read, and what they saw in XXX videos. Marriage is sacred and precious, and it is so easy to pervert and make selfish, abusive, and lacking intimacy.

Let me give you a website to visit that is really good info about the porn industry. It is women who have been in the sex industry and now are redeemed and helping others get out of the trap.  BE AWARE!

If you are not yet married, my counsel to you is to become prepared prior to saying I do. My wife and I have married four couples this year, 2009, and I believe we have prepared them for a marriage that is built on the ROCK of Christ, prepared to endure the storms of life.

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com

Personally Defining God’s Word to Your Style

Guilty as charged! The question is how many times have we ALL done this. Too often we come to conclusions and make absolute statements about God, His church, and His people.

People will believe God’s Word based off what they have been taught, read, or what they have experienced. All of this is incomplete and inaccurate. As I have shared in many of my previous writings, I lived for years under someone else’s faith and belief system, because I never studied and sought God for myself. We have taken far too many sermons as the infallible inspired truth when it was an admixture of truth, emotions, woundedness, and experiences.

The most dangerous, demonic, and destructive act we can ever commit is …..When we let our life experiences define God’s Word, our level faith, and what is right and wrong!

For our knowledge is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect), and our prophecy (our teaching) is fragmentary (incomplete and imperfect). (1 Corinthians 13:9) AMP

But, on the contrary, as the Scripture says, What eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him [ who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed]. (1 Corinthians 2:9) AMP

This is some insane and powerful Scripture. It does not matter what we have seen, heard, saw, read, or experienced! If God’s Word says it is true…. IT IS TRUE! God is too awesome to condense into my vocabulary. He is too powerful to explain how He rules the world. My mind, emotions, feelings, and experiences are too, too, too, limited to make absolute statements… end of story!

You and I must settle this turmoil and issue in our faith. If popular poll, opinion, and even churches speak contrary to God’s Word let them, but you do not compromise truth to be popular or accepted.

Let me give you a recent 2009 statistic or poll. In the US 82% of people polled stated they were Christians. BUT… only 20% of the 82% polled said they used or believed the Bible was an absolute standard to follow.

If you could see me…I am wild eyed and my mouth is opened. An italian phrase would be “Are You Stupid or Something?” How can you be saved and the Word of God not be your standard of living? The whole message of Salvation comes from the Bible. This is what is so FREAKY and SCARY about the American church. Cars, foods, products, education, sports, and law all have a rules, policy, or standards to keep it solid. What if there was no USDA food standard? Education standard? What would happen to sports without referees?

How can you have faith and not have a standard to evaluate, check, inspire, correct, and challenge ones way of living? Holy Spirit is a referee in our life to convict us when we are not responding according to the Biblical specifications. There are actions that are ungodly, sinful, and wicked. There are actions which are godly, holy, and righteous. You cannot just live by what you feel is right and wrong, what your priest says is holy and unholy, what your mom and dad said is good and bad, or what the government passed as lawful or unlawful.

If we live this way – we will shipwreck our faith, our family, the next generation, and this nation.

Due to our humanistic nature, our need to explain, our need to prove, our need to be validated, our need to not to be rejected, our need to have all the answers, we have taken the supernatural power, presence, new birth, resurrection, new covenant, holiness and have – humanized it, formalized it, powerpointed it, Microsoft documented it, poetized, and tweaked it until it has no joy, love, expression, life, amazement, grandiose, majestic, magnificent, full of splendor, glory, and stunning awe to it.

We will have nothing to gauge our faith to or by.

The American church is living below what God died for and attained for us as a spiritual standard and provision. We have far too much fear, sickness, offense, weariness, negativity, doubt, questions, in our hearts, minds, and in our lives.

Bill Cosby came out several years ago and was angry at the acceptance of Ebonics. He said when we accept Ebonics it is saying black children could not learn how to talk correct, spell accurately, and learn to the capacity of other children in American. He protested lowering the standard of learning and accepting Ebonics.

The same is true in the church. There has been such a increase of church leaders who suffer from insecurity, rejection, and need for position and power, they have attempted to rewrite and interpret the Word of God to fit their deficiencies. The American church has a spiritual Ebonics pandemic.

The church is full of leaders who are skill-led but not spirit-led.  

There are so many complex questions and issues facing our society but few leaders with standards. It’s like the judical system. Many times when you hire a lawyer they will request a continuance of the case until they can go before the judge they like, know, or have shown leniency in the past with their type of cases.

If God’s Word does not direct, instruct, encourage, inspire, convict, challenge, transform, and lead one’s decisions, choices, career, purchases, and relationships, I sincerely questions one’s genuine relationship with Jesus Christ.

You and I do not have the right neither were delegated the authority to rewrite God’s word and define it by our past, present, or future. America is all about rights and equality. We cannot demand, protest, or pass laws to be equal to and with God.

Rewriting What I Want

The American church today has removed all demands, including holiness, and still expects the blessings of God. We have conformed the church of Christ to a current organization that is politically correct. We have removed spiritual fathers and replaced them with diplomatic politicians with no standard, so everyone can be accepted and their lifestyle tolerated. We have replaced the five fold ministry with spiritual pimps who sell their revelation for profit.

The American church has redefined the standard to an individual cultural interpretation. They still want the same level of power and anointing as the New Testament church without their standard and preparational price.

End Result: A body of religious people who are accepting and tolerant of everyone’s choice, lifestyle, preference, interpretation, and way of living. There is no sin because it is assigned to personal interpretation. What is sin for you is not sin for me. This is not of God but doctrines of demons.

So Jesus said to them, You will have the Light only a little while longer. Walk while you have the Light [keep on living by it], so that darkness may not overtake and overcome you. He who walks about in the dark does not know where he goes [he is drifting]. (John 12:35) AMP

What is sin? I know this word has been demonized and when it is used we get slammed as fanatics, but it is in God’s Word. It tells clearly in numerous passages that certain actions, choices, and activities are not of God but Satan. This is why only 20% use the Bible as a standard because people would not be able to continue with certain activities and entertainment.

This, in essence, is the message we heard from Christ and are passing on to you: God is light, pure light; there’s not a trace of darkness in him. [So] if we say we are partakers together and enjoy fellowship with Him when we live and move and are walking about in darkness, we are [both] speaking falsely and do not live and practice the Truth [which the Gospel presents]. (1 John 1:5-6)

Your comments (positive-negative- or spin) are always welcomed. Help us share more truth by helping us connect with more readers. www.ultimatefaithchurch.wordpress.com