Are you saved?…..If you died tonight, are you going to heaven?…..Take a few moments to ponder what heaven is like, and then, what hell is like. Which of these two places you end up in depends on what you do with Jesus Christ.. ……………… Please visit my site: IanVincent.com
We are restricted by our own affections. When we die to our self then we are no longer restricted. When we are willing to go anywhere with Jesus, then He will take us to many places, and use us mightily. And i don’t mean solely geographical places, but places in Him, in His Kingdom.
Some complain that the LORD doesn’t lead them, but perhaps the issue is that they’re not willing to go where He leads, so God is silent to them.
Imagine the outcry all over the world if the USA or the Vatican tried to hang someone simply for leaving Christianity and converting to Islam? The world would rightly say, What a barbaric religion! Yes?
A trial court in Iran has issued its final verdict, ordering a Christian pastor to be put to death for leaving Islam and converting to Christianity, according to sources close to the pastor and his legal team.
The world needs to stand up and say that a man cannot be put to death because of his faith, said Jordan Sekulow, executive director of The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ).
Supporters fear Youcef Nadarkhani, a 34-year-old father of two who was arrested over two years ago on charges of apostasy, may now be executed at any time without prior warning, as death sentences in Iran may be carried out immediately or dragged out for years.
but after their own lusts shall they draw to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto myths (fables). 2 Timothy 4:3-4
A friend of ours in central India, a new believer, a young lady, today is being forced by her Hindu parents into a marriage against her will. Pray for J that she will have the faith to stand for Jesus and do what is right. Even if they beat her up (and that is the threat) that would be better than being married to a person against your will. No point to run to the police as they would agree with the parents, especially as she has become a Christian. The LORD is her defender.
Please pray for J now, as this is taking place within a few hours of me writing this. Thanks.
UPDATE: The marriage is not today, we’ve been told, but talks between the two families. J has boldly told her’s and the boy’s family that she now believes and follows Jesus. Please pray for God’s will in this, that the LORD will deliver her from any trap of the enemy, and Jesus be glorified, thanks.
Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the others judge. If anything be revealed to another that sits by, let the first hold his peace. For you may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. 1 Corinthians 14:29-31
Let the prophets speak, Paul commands. So we should let them.
Those who hear the voice of the LORD speaking to His people DO NOT oppose these verses being applied and practiced in the Church.
How could they?
The only people who oppose this being practiced are those to whom this does not fall within the realm of their personal experience – they don’t understand what Paul is saying here, bcos they have not experienced what is described here : which is, a people who have a living and vital word from God for His Church revealed to them.
If anything be revealed... The only people who will oppose this are those who do not have the word of the LORD revealed to them.
If Paul came back today and spoke these same words in your Church, how many could receive it? They oppose it bcos they do not hear His voice.
Granted, you may never have taken notice of these verses before – it may be something new to you, but now that you have read what God has commanded, be careful not to oppose Him. If you oppose and prevent what Paul commanded here (or anywhere else) then you oppose God.
Please see Comments for an explanation of what Prophecy is.
The Bible is a gritty book. Very raw. Very real. It deals with people just like us, just as needy and screwed up as we are, encountering a God who would rather die than spend eternity without them.
The general thrust of this is very good, a word in season.
then God also doesn’t have the time to explain things to you. He will just have to leave you in the dark, for you disqualify yourself by not taking Him seriously.
If any celebrity or world leader came to our home, we would most likely take time-out to spend with them, for however long they desired.
Ah, that’s different! We can see them, but we can’t see God, so it’s only understandable that we would find it hard to spend time alone with a Person we cannot see! Hmmm.
This issue hinges on love, reverence, worship and friendship : These are the reasons to spend time alone with your Father, as our LORD Jesus taught us:
But you, when you pray, enter into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly. Matthew 6:6
If you have no room available, like that, then the great outdoors is just a big room, anyway.
THERE is nothing clearer than this, that man must be a new creature if he would enjoy heaven. God could not make you happy, unless He made you like Himself.
God must make you a partaker of His divine nature — He must give you new desires, new principles — He must create you “new creatures in Christ Jesus.” And you must ascertain whether this great change has passed over you.
The question must be — Have I “passed from death unto life”?
- Octavius Winslow
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Why do we have a bias, or a disposition to live, think and speak as IF Heaven were so far away? When it isn’t.
Or as if hell were not right under the sidewalk we walk on every day? When it is.
That’s the influence of this world, which tries to conform us to a lie, and away from the actual reality of the risen LORD Jesus, and of Heaven and Hell.
Truly Spirit-filled disciples HAVE the reality, so it’s normal for them to preach and teach of the reality they live in.
What causes you to differ from an alcoholic, a drug addict, a sex addict, a food addict, a fornicator, a liar, a thief, a conman, etc.. ? From a heretic and false prophet, merchandizer or money preacher?
What is the factor that makes you not one of these? What has caused you to be different to all of these? Why are you not one of these any longer?
Grace.
The ONLY difference, the ONLY factor is grace. Grace is the sole divider between what you once were in your sins, and what you are now in Christ.
Do you believe this?
Is it a little painful to have nothing to glory in, except in the Cross of our LORD Jesus Christ?
Why is the death of our self-righteous, inner-pride such a painful death? No glory for us, eh. The glory is in the Cross alone.
For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10
and during the good days we understand that the bad days weren’t so bad as we thought, and we get more of a Heavenly perspective on a good day, which helps us understand why the bad day was bad.
This exhortation really helped me today out on the streets witnessing. I needed to be reminded of this, to instantly obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit. What a joy to be prompted by Him and then obey.
However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto you shall surely die. 2 Samuel 12:14
When those who are called by Jesus name sin, then they give great occasion for the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme. God hates that, when His enemies ACTUALLY HAVE A VALID CASE against the people of God, and therefore shame His Holy name.
The people who take Jesus name should not give the accuser of the brethren any substance for his accusations, so that his accusations actually become truthful accusations.
This is God’s order in dealing with humanity : To the Jew first, and then everyone else.
The non-Jew can’t complain, for he is not excluded, he is very much included in the New Covenant when he believes on Jesus, and is grafted into the Olive tree, who IS Messiah. The Olive tree is the Jewish Messiah, the King of the Jews.
Let the non-Jew, the Greek, acknowledge that Jesus is the Messiah (Christ means the Jewish Messiah), and that To the Jew first means that, foremost, Jesus is the Jewish Messiah (Savior) before He is the Savior of the world.
Let’s all say together with our brother Paul, The gospel is to the Jew first! To the Jew first! Ah, that feels good. And also to the Greek! That feels equally as good.
This becomes critical as the whole world turns against the Jewish people in the last days.
To the Jewish people first, and then to everyone else. That’s always been the order.
But no one likes an unhappy ending, right? We would prefer a happy ending to the story of the human race.
But in the very near future there will be a global holocaust and bloodbath of such epic, Biblical proportions, that no one will survive if God doesn’t intervene and stop it, by sending Jesus back to judge the world (Matthew 24:21-22).
That’s going to happen SOON.
(I can say this cos i’m not on the payroll)
Look, real Christianity is about facing reality, and false Christianity about believing in fables (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
My dear brother Todd Friel is saying that we cannot test peoples claims, that God tells them to do certain things – that we cannot test such claims bcos it’s already established that God no longer speaks to people, apart from revealing the Scriptures to them.
Well, of course you CAN and SHOULD test Bentley’s claims, by comparing the nature of them to the nature of Jesus (the fruit).
The very fact that the Bible commands us to test every prophecy, or claim, shows that there must be a real hearing of God’s voice, otherwise, why would we need to test such claims? They would automatically be invalid, if cessasionism were true.
But, TF, it’s silly for anyone to base their thinking on such circumstantial, subjective stuff. Whatever Todd Bentley claims, it has no bearing on how we understand the Bible, it’s irrelevant.
Whether God healed that man of cancer, or whether Bentley is lying again, has no bearing on establishing any doctrine of the Bible.
And that is what TF is suggesting, that, bcos certain people claim to hear God’s voice, and they don’t, that means that no one can hear His voice, which is silly logic.
False prophets do NOT render continuationism invalid, that would be evangelical dopiness.
It is absurd to say that the indwelling Holy Spirit does not speak to us, in our spirit, to give us directions concerning the things He wants us to do.
Guidance and direction IS NOT EXTRA-BIBLICAL REVELATION. That is an entirely different matter, and on that we should all agree, that the Canon is closed.
If a person is not led by the guidance of the Holy Spirit in every day living, then it could be that they don’t have the Holy Spirit. They would certainly be a self-willed person.