Aug 18, 2022
Forgiveness is a way of life, meant to bring us into every blessing in Christ. “I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven…” (Matthew 5:44-45, NKJV).
Forgiveness isn’t a matter of picking or choosing whom we would forgive. We can’t say, “You’ve hurt me too much, so I’m not forgiving you.” Christ tells us, “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” (Matthew 5:46).
It doesn’t matter whom our grudge might be against. If we hold onto it, it will lead to bitterness that poisons every aspect of our lives. Unforgiveness brings on spiritual famine, weakness and a loss of faith, afflicting not just us but everyone in our circle.
Over the years of my ministry, I have seen terrible devastation in the lives of those who withheld forgiveness. I have also seen the glorious power of a forgiving spirit. Forgiveness transforms lives. It fills our cup of spiritual blessing to the brim with abundant peace, joy and rest in the Holy Ghost. Jesus’ teaching on this subject is very specific. If you want to move in this wonderful realm of blessing, heed and embrace his words. “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15).
Make no mistake. God isn’t making a bargain with us here. He is not saying, “Because you’ve forgiven others, I will forgive you.” We can never earn God’s forgiveness. Only the shed blood of Christ merits forgiveness of sin.
Christ is saying here, “Full confession of sin requires that you forgive others. If you hold on to any unforgiveness, you haven’t confessed all your sins. True repentance means confessing and forsaking every grudge, crucifying every trace of bitterness toward others. Anything less isn’t repentance.”
This goes hand in hand with his Beatitude, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). Forgive others, so you can move into the blessings and joy of sonship. When you forgive, you’re revealing the Father’s nature to the world.
Aug 17, 2022
In ancient Israel, the ark of the covenant represented the mercy of the Lord, a powerful truth that came to be embodied in Christ. We are to receive his mercy, trust in the saving blood of his mercy, and be saved eternally. You can ridicule the law. You can mock holiness. You can tear down everything that speaks of God. When you mock or ridicule God’s mercy, however, judgment comes and swiftly. If you trample on his blood of mercy, you face his awful wrath.
That’s exactly what happened to the Philistines when they stole the ark. Deadly destruction came down on them until they had to admit, “This isn’t just chance or happenstance. God’s hand is clearly against us.” Consider what happened when the ark was taken into the heathen temple of Dagon to mock and challenge Israel’s God. In the middle of the night, the mercy seat on the ark became a rod of judgment. The next day, the idol Dagon was found fallen on its face before the ark, its head and hands cut off (see 1 Samuel 5:2-5).
Beloved, this is where America should be today. We should have been judged long ago. I say to all who mock and challenge the mercy of God, “Go ahead. Try all you want to bring Christ’s church under the power of secularism or agnosticism. If you mock the mercy of Christ, God will cast all your power and authority to the ground.” Jeremiah says, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not” (Lamentations 3:22). When men make a mockery of that great mercy which is Christ, judgment is sure.
It is only the mercy of the Lord that delays judgment. Right now, America is benefiting from that mercy. Incredibly, our country is in a race with the rest of the world to remove God and Christ from society. The Lord’s mercies endure forever, and he loves this nation. I believe that is why he’s still pouring out blessings on us. His desire is that goodness will lead us to repentance (see Romans 2:4).
We are not to despair over the present condition in America. We grieve over the awful corruption, mockery and sin, but we have hope, knowing God is in full control. We know the mercies of God endure forever.
Aug 15, 2022
We’re in a season right now where, as bad things are happening in our country, there is an opportunity for the church to move.
Believers need to awaken from the common, nominal, social-club version of Christianity. Those who are oftentimes coming to church for the social life or the feel-good messages are realizing that they don’t have answers for the problems plaguing our culture now. The hyper-faith and prosperity messages that come on Sunday mornings aren’t cutting it anymore. People are realizing, “Okay, you promised me everything’s going to be a blessing, and this is the year of favor and prosperity. But I don’t see those in my life. In fact, I’m suffering right now.”
People are hungry for something deeper. It’s very likely that the hand of God is involved in this. There’s great potential here for the church to be revived and come into a season of spiritual awakening. I’m not just talking about more souls won for Christ, although I do believe that will be the case; I’m talking about more depth in existing believers as well.
In the season right now, when people are looking for answers, I’m afraid the answers often end up being “Don’t fear” or “You’re going to be okay” or “God’s with you.” What if, instead, the church began to go a little deeper? What if believers grew mature enough to ask in their suffering, “Who do I believe God is? Who does the Bible say God is? What does that mean for my season of suffering?”
There’s a purpose for the valley of the shadow of death. There’s a purpose for the table being set before me in the presence of my enemies. We didn’t set that table; God set it. So there’s a purpose for our enemies. There’s a purpose for suffering.
This is when we discover the significance in Paul’s words, “More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3-5, ESV). Once we understand this and live it out, then the church can rise up in strength as a light to the nations.
Aug 11, 2022
Those who choose to live in the middle ground share certain characteristics. I see those characteristics shown in the two and a half tribes of Israel that chose to stay west of the Jordan. They were Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh. Those tribes’ Hebrew names exposed their sin struggles.
Reuben means “A son who sees!” He was Jacob’s firstborn, but he lost his birthright because he was driven by lust. Jacob described his son Reuben as “Unstable as water, you shall not excel, because you went up to your father’s bed; then you defiled it” (Genesis 49:4, NKJV). Reuben slept with his father’s concubine, and Jacob, in his dying hour, refused to bless him. Reuben had eyes only for this world with its lusts and pleasures. He was unstable because his heart was always divided, and this spirit was passed on to his posterity. Here was an entire tribe attached to the world and bent on having their own way.
Gad means “Fortune or troop.” Simply put, this means soldiers of fortune or mercenaries. Moses said of Gad, “He provided the first part for himself…” (Deuteronomy 33:21). This tribe was outwardly obedient, “executing the justice of the Lord,” but the overriding characteristic was self-interest. Gad was consumed with its own problems and the need to “make it.” Gad’s philosophy was “I will fight with the Lord’s army; I’ll be obedient and do everything God expects of me. First, though, I need to get myself and my family set up, then I’ll be free to do more for the Lord.”
Manasseh means “To make forgetful.” This was Joseph’s firstborn son, and he should have received the birthright. Even in his childhood, there was a sad trait developing, however, and Jacob saw it in the Spirit. Manasseh would one day forget the ways of his father, Joseph, and neglect the commandment of the Lord.
The same mentality found in them can still found today in those who refuse to pulverize their idols and die to the world. Consider these combined traits of middle-ground Christians. They are unstable as water in spiritual convictions, lukewarm, ruled by selfish needs, neglecting the Word, making their own choices instead of trusting God. They forget past blessings and are unwilling to let go of certain idols, justifying their decisions.
Let us determine to want the Lord’s fullness. God’s desire for you is to enter into a place of rest, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit. Let’s follow him with our whole heart.
Aug 10, 2022
Here’s an incredible promise to God’s people: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3, NKJV).
Paul was saying, “All who follow Jesus are blessed with spiritual blessings in heavenly places, where Christ is.” This promise becomes mere words if we don’t know what these spiritual blessings are. How can we enjoy the blessings that God promises us if we don’t comprehend them?
Paul wrote this epistle “to the saints who are…faithful in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 1:1). These were believers who were sure of their salvation. The Ephesians had been well trained in the gospel and the hope of eternal life. They knew who they were in Christ, and were assured of their heavenly position in him.
These “faithful ones” fully understood that they’d been chosen by God from “before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love” (Ephesians 1:4). They grasped that they were adopted “by Jesus Christ to himself” (Ephesians 1:5). When they heard the truth, they believed and trusted it.
Many forgiven, cleansed and redeemed people live in misery. They never have a sense of being fulfilled in Christ. Instead, they continually go from peaks to valleys, from spiritual highs to depressing lows. How can this be? It’s because many never get past the crucified Savior to the resurrected Lord who lives in glory.
Jesus said to the disciples, “Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:19-20). We are now living in “that day” that Jesus spoke of, and we are to understand our heavenly position in Christ. What is meant by the expression “our position in Christ”? This position is “where one is placed, where one is.” God has placed us where we are, which is in Christ.
In turn, Christ is in the Father, seated at his right hand. If we’re in Christ, we are actually seated with Jesus in the throne room. This is what Paul refers to when he says we’re made to “sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). Yes, Jesus is in paradise, but the Lord also abides in you and me. He has made us his dwelling place.
