Prayer

Dear friends, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

I also pray that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height - to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

I also thank my Lord as I remember where you come from in my prayer, because I see your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understandibg of every good thing we have in Christ.

Amen!

Speak The Word Only!

Pastor Bill Winston - Speak The Word Only 1

Pastor Bill Winston - Speak The Word Only 2

Believing Is Seeing

In the New Covenant, grace is spiritual, as we need the revelation from the Holy Spirit to understand the grace of God. In the New Covenant, truth is also spiritual, as the Holy Spirit only witness to the truth. By the grace of God, the righteousness that He imparted to us is also spiritual because we too, need the Holy Spirit to convict us of righteousness and reveal to us that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. By the grace of God, He did not just take away all our sins, all our curses, all our sicknesses, all our bondages, all our poverty; He made us born again in the Spirit, to be called a new creation. Praise God, when we are born again in the Spirit, we are born righteous.

By the grace of God, we are now a spirit being living in our bodies… This divine exchange was made possible because as Spiritual Being, the Creator of this universe, our Lord Jesus humbled Himself and came down from His high level onto our level and redeemed us… through His Finished Work at the cross, He set us free from the kingdom of darkness!

Therefore, as a born again believer, to believe is spiritual, our faith is spiritual, our praise to God is spiritual, our thanksgiving is also spiritual, our prayer is spiritual, our worship is spiritual, and to rest in Him is also spiritual... The promises that God promised us are also spiritual and even our shouting of “Amen” is spiritual! Those who are under grace are those whom the Father seeks to worship Him in Spirit and truth. This is the reason why we are now in the world but not of the world!

Hebrews 11:3 ~ Because of our faith, we know that the world was made at God's command. We also know that what can be seen was made out of what cannot be seen (CEV).

In the account of Abram and Lot in the Book of Genesis, when Lot had parted from Abram, (Lot represents the veil that is on the believer's face, and as the veil is taken away,) God asked Abram to lift up his eyes from where he was and look north and south, east and west. All the lands that he could see the Lord would give to him and his offspring. Abram, in his dispensation and his point of time, was a natural man.When he looked from north to south, from east to west, his sight created the sign of a cross… and the rest is history and we know that Abram, later called Abraham, was highly favoured and greatly blessed with materialistic blessings.

God preached the Gospel story to Abram and God credited him as righteous because he believed. In the account of John 8:56, Jesus Himself told the Jewish people of His time that their father Abraham rejoiced to see His Day, and Abraham saw it and was glad. Abraham believed the Gospel and looked forward to the Cross, and he saw the Finished Work of Christ. We have heard of the same Gospel too and are now established by His grace because we believed we are righteous by faith. As such, we who believed this Good News are now children of Abraham. The Bible says, only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "AND TO YOUR SEED," who is Christ. Therefore, the promise by faith in Jesus Christ is given to those who believe. If we insist to obey the Law to be righteous or we insist to perform to own our righteousness, then we are uable to receive the blessing that God promised Abraham because the Abrahamic blessing is only given to those who believe that they are righteous by faith!

When God called Abraham, he was not born again in the Spirit but we are. We just need to look back at the cross (north and south, east and west), we just need to look at Jesus’ Finished Work, for Jesus had restored the promise that He made with Abraham. We do not need to look far like Abraham, we just need to see in the Spirit... Whatever we can see will ne given to us. For we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God… we need to realize that this is spiritual, and we need to believe the truth and see in the Spirit to received our blessing…

No one can teach us how to see in the Spirit but the anointing that God had given us i.e. the Holy Spirit … but we (our spirit man) can grow to see by only feeding on the truth i.e. Jesus’ Finished Work. Abraham looked forward to Jesus’ Finished Work and he was glad, and as we look back at Jesus’ Finished Work, we should be more grateful because by His grace, "It's Finished!" and we are already blessed!

"Seeing is believing" is of the Old Covenant spirit but "believing is seeing" is of the New Covenant Spirit. "Seeing is believing" is of the world, but "believing is seeing" is spiritual! Believe and See in the Spirit to receive your Abrahamic blessing!

How to see? You may ask again...

Revelation 3:18 ~ I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.

This eye salve is the Holy Spirit. Saul the Pharisee was healed by this eye salve when Ananias laid his hand on him... Well, feed yourself on the truth concerning Jesus' Finished Work and BELIEVE; the Holy Spirit will make sure that you see. In due time, you can't help but SEE...and seeing effortlessly!

Prince Of Grace

Judging from appearances, few would have expected pastor Joseph Prince to lead a thriving TV ministry in the United States. He isn’t American, and he suffered from a stutter as a young man.

Yet his program, Destined to Reign, has spread like wildfire across television networks since 2007 when it was first broadcast in the U.S. from Prince’s church on the tiny island of Singapore. Today the broadcasts reach millions of viewers, airing daily on Trinity Broadcasting Network and weekdays on ABC Family Channel, Daystar Television Network, Christian Television Network and Cornerstone TeleVision Network. It also airs on secular television in several major U.S. cities on weekday mornings. 

Prince, 47, attributes his sudden popularity to neither charisma nor marketing savvy. He says it’s a testament to his signature message, which he calls “the gospel of grace.” 

“There really isn’t any formula,” he says. “Everything about the television ministry has been really effortless. It is Jesus that is opening all the right doors for this ministry to grow. It is His hand at work, and I don’t take any credit for it.”

Who is this man? Where did he come from? What is his agenda?

Read more @ charismamag.com >>>

><((((º>

><((((º>

If You Can See It...

Pastor Bill Winston

Gen 13:14-15 ~ And the LORD said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: "Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. 

John 8:56 ~ Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." 

1 Corinthians 2:9-12 ~ But as it is written: "EYE HAS NOT SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD, NOR HAVE ENTERED INTO THE HEART OF MAN THE THINGS WHICH GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM." 

But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 

For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have 

received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. 

God's Mysterious Ways

Pastor Joseph Prince

The Old Concealed, The New Revealed!

Many years ago, I was reminded by the Lord that Apostle Paul, who wrote two third of the New Testament had only the Old Testament as references at his time and dispensation. It actually took years for my peanut brain to comprehend what the Lord is hinting to me... By the grace of God, I finally begin to understand the true meaning of what it means by “The Old Testament is in the New revealed and the New Testament is in the Old concealed.”

The Old and New Testaments are not two books but one. Since the literary context of the Old Covenant in the Christian canon is the New Covenant, this means that the Old Covenant must be understood in the context of the New Covenant Spirit.

However, God is always progressive in His revelation to man. With this wonderful enlightenment and as I begin to read the Old Testament again, I begin to understand that God used avenues of “visual aid" to express His Truth to man. I begin to realize that He always moves from the lower to the higher level; like from first Adam to the last Adam. He always moves from ritual to reality… from shadow to substance, from types to antitype, from prophecy to fulfilment, from symbol to its spiritual truth, from the natural to the spiritual and from earthly to heavenly.

Even at the stage of His last breath, in the midst of the two thieves, Jesus demonstrated the difference of the Old and the New Covenant. The thief who saw the GRACE of God was able to cry out: "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." ... And he was saved!

2 Timothy 2:15 ~ Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

What Jesus had done at the Cross had totally changed everything from the Old to the New. And since the old book is Jesus Christ concealed, and the new is Jesus Christ revealed, the heart of the New Testament is Jesus Christ. In between these two books stood the mighty cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. This means that every message from the Old Testament must be seen in the light of Jesus Christ. This is what the Apostle Paul meant by rightly dividing the word, and consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

However, the principle of "The Old Testament is in the New revealed and the New Testament is in the Old concealed" could only be understood through revelation from the Holy Spirit, under the New Covenant Spirit i.e the Spirit of Grace. For it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" — but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.

Gospel of Grace

Jesus did not come merely to preach a Gospel; He Himself is that Gospel. Jesus did not come merely to give bread; He Himself is the Bread. Jesus did not come merely to shed light; He Himself is the Light! Jesus did not come merely to show the door; He is that Door! Jesus did not come merely to elect a shepherd; He is the good Shepherd. Jesus did not come merely to point the way; He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life!

A mortal man like us should declare the WAY, pointing people to the WAY and get out of the way! Do not stand in the way and rob the glory of the WAY…!

The reason why churches are trying so many other things other than preaching the crucified Christ is because they are lure to believe that the Kingdom can be established through some other way, but the truth is, there is no other way. People will not come into the Kingdom because they like the minister, support the children's program, or enjoy the music. They may come into a church that way, but not into the Kingdom. The only way people ever come into God's Kingdom is by hearing His heralds proclaim a crucified King – Jesus Christ, for He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.

The Gospel is not about grace, it is grace. The Gospel is not about Jesus too, it is Jesus. Apostle Paul made it so clear in Galatians that mixing the grace with law is another Gospel. Religion has robbed the believer from coming to the throne of grace with confidence by narrowing grace to something that only occurs at salvation. Grace gives the righteousness of Jesus to the believer, it is called "righteousness by faith", the righteousness of God.

Galatians 2:21 ~ I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!" 

For by the grace of God, we are now a new creation. In Christ, we have a love that can never be fathomed; a life that can never die; a righteousness that can never be tarnished; a peace that can never be understood; a rest that can never be disturbed; a joy that can never be diminished; a hope that can never be disappointed; a glory that can never be clouded; a light that can never be darkened; a happiness that can never be interrupted; a strength that can never be enfeebled; a purity that can never be defiled; a beauty that can never be marred; a wisdom that can never be baffled; glory that can never be clouded, resources that can never be exhausted and the universe as our play ground.

There is no other Gospel but the Gospel that called you by the grace of Christ. For by grace through faith we are saved and GRACE will lead us Home… 

Titus 3:5 ~7  He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. 

Grace be with you all. 

The Cross

While the Israelites were in the wilderness, the LORD instructed Moses and Aaron to camp them around the Tent of Meeting some distance from it, each man under his standard with the banners of his family.

The Israelites camp around the Tent of Meeting

The arrangement of the camp of Israel around The Tent of Meeting in the wilderness actually created a diagram of The Cross, not in man's view but in God's view. The Cross is indeed the Divine Order and it was God's principle that His Begotten Son is to be given up to fulfill His will at the Cross.

Therefore, let us never boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to Him, and He to the world...

God Is Upset When You Sin?

Steve McVey with his 100 Lies Series

Isaiah 54:9~10  "To me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So now I have sworn not to be angry with you, never to rebuke you again. Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the LORD, who has compassion on you. 

Rest In the "PEACE"!

Have you ever wondered why it is that when believers die, in a flick of a second, they are in heaven? Those who believed in Christ Jesus are being guaranteed of this greatest miracle the moment they put their faith on the Gospel of Christ the Saviour. Indeed, the gospel of Christ is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.

From the Bible, we also know that once we put our faith in Christ Jesus, our health, financial standing, peace of mind are restored and line up with the truth because the word "salvation" stated here is from the Greek word "Sozo", which means saving in our every situations and conditions.

Have you ever wondered also, why the miracle of going to heaven can happen as fast as a flick of a second, whereas in some of the "smaller" miracles like healing, financial break through and being set free from bondages take so long to come forth?

The answer is simply because those who are in heaven are DEAD! Yes, I mean they are DEAD! νεκρός ! TOT! מת ! MUERTO ! 死了! There is not a bit of self effort from the dead persons. They are DEAD and REST in peace! There is no man effort but Holy Spirit effort. There is no participation from man’s flesh but the Holy Spirit only.

We are unable to see our break through simply because we do not rest in Christ. Somehow or rather, our flesh is still participating in helping the Holy Spirit and in turn we delay the manifestation of the miracle that we are hoping for.

Hebrews 4:11 ~ Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. 

It will still be good if Jesus say He will or he is going to help us to accomplish the will of the Father on our behalf, for Jesus with His integrity, will surely accomplish for us. But here is better deal, for it is the Good News/Gospel of Christ; Jesus said “It’s Finished!” It was a completed work which our Lord Jesus had accomplished at the cross. He had finished everything that needed to be finished and He is now inviting us to rest in His finished work. By knowing this Good News and believe in His outrageous grace through the spontaneous faith make the promises sure. For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through Him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. 

Hebrews 3:19 ~ So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief. 

Our believe is the key issue for the miracles to manifest. Believe is not work or self effort. Believe is trusting Jesus’ outrageous grace and His finished work. Believe is not that you have once believed but keep on believing… For the just shall live by faith!

Galatians 3:9 ~ So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. 

The Book of Hebrews encourages us to labour in resting in our Lord Jesus, the Prince of Peace. For He came and stood among His disciples and said, "Peace be with you!" and after he said that, He showed them His hands and side! Peace be with you too… for He had finished the Father’s will 2,000 years ago. Let us, therefore, have peace in our heart and make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the example of Israelites’ disobedience, and we see that they were not able to enter the Promised Land, because of their unbelief. 

Believe His Finished Work and rest in the "PEACE"!

Romans 8:11 ~ And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

Happy Mother's Day

God gave the world stars, and there was beauty in the night.

God gave the world sun, and there was warmth in the day.

God gave the world rain, and there was life on the ground.

God gave the world mothers, and there was love in our home. 

Thank you all mothers for such a beautiful blessing in Life!

Wishing all mothers and mother to be HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Balancing Grace & Truth...

Steve McVey with his 100 Lies Series

John 1:17 ~ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality. In the body of Christ, many believers suffer from this spiritual mental disorder and the signs and symptoms depending on the individual, a person suspected with spiritual schizophrenia may experience the following conditions:-

“Sometimes God is angry with them, while sometimes He is happy with them.”

“Sometimes He bless them, but sometimes He curses them.”

“Sometimes God cares for them, and they do not know why, sometimes He leaves them.”

”Sometimes they feel like He wants them to rest, and sometimes He just wants them to labour!”

“Today, He prospers them, hallelujah , but tomorrow, God may give them poverty to humble them…”

“Today, He may heals them, but tomorrow, He may give them a disease to teach them a lesson.”

"Today, He forgives all their sin. Tomorrow, they are responsible for all their wrong doings.”

“They must make every effort to tithe so that God will not curse them…”

Welcome to a Schizophrenic Church!

If you are sitting under such a ministry, you are actually allowing yourselves to live under two types of covenant i.e. the Old Covenant of law and the New Covenant of grace. This kind of church environment allows a mixture of law and grace in their preaching. This kind of mixture is causing the congregations to "torn between two lovers (Mr. Law and Mr. Grace), feeling like a fool..." The obvious evidence of this Schizophrenic influence is that, they have failed to put Christ and His finished work as their center focus. 

In this kind of man centered environment, believers are led to believe that sometimes God is good to them and sometimes God may not be good to them. This insecurity is not from God but from the preacher himself. His spiritual Schizophrenia allows the religious spirit to nullify the power of the cross and blind them from seeing the dynamic power of God.  The obvious sign of this belief is that, they are more concerned with their own behavior. They believe that their behavior can determine the blessings of God. You do good, you get good, you do bad, you get beat. 

This kind of belief system is no different to any other religions at all. Please do not continue to humiliate our Lord Jesus and what He had done for us at the Cross.

The New Covenant was cut with the Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, but they deny this Blood and anchor their faith on the covenant that was cut with the blood of bull and goat. In the Old Covenant, God said: “You shall not, you shall not, you shall not…” and He demanded our behavior and righteousness. But in the New Covenant, God said: “I will, I will, I will…”  because God demanded Jesus’ behavior. In this Covenant of Grace, God lavished His own righteousness as a gift to those who believed in Jesus. 

According to the Apostle Paul (the Apostle of grace to the Gentile), this Schizophrenic message is not a Gospel/Good News at all. For the same reason, he was astonished that the Galatians were so quickly deserting the One who called them by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different Gospel, which is really no Gospel at all (the Schizophrenic kind of message). With this Schizophrenic kind of message, some people are actually throwing the listeners into confusion and are trying to pervert the Gospel of Christ. He prayed that God would punish anyone who preaches anything different from his message, the message of Grace! He was so concerned that it did not matter if that person was one of his people or an angel from heaven.  Paul had said it before, and he would say it again. Indeed he hoped God would punish anyone who preaches anything different from what you have already believed. Remember we are all called to live by grace through faith...

Why was Paul so angry to pronounce a double curse over those who preaches a different gospel? I don't think we need to be a rocket scientist to understand that this kind of Schizophrenic message is actually leading people to seek their own righteousness. When anyone attempt to be justified by law, they have been alienated from Christ and they have indeed, fallen away from grace. 

For our heavenly Father had chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love, He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ. 

My friend, this is what the Bible means "For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ". The message of Grace is the truth and the truth can set you free. This Grace message is the Gospel that Apostle Paul defended with all his heart. This Gospel of Grace can heal you from your spiritual Schizophrenia!

Learn The Unforced Rhythms Of Grace

Restful Increase vs Stressful Increase

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." Matthew 11:28~30 (The Message)

Jailbreak

Jailbreaking is a process that allows iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch users to run any code on their devices, as opposed to only that code authorized by Apple. Once jailbroken, iPhone users are able to download many applications previously unavailable through the App Store via unofficial installers such as Cydia, as well as illegally pirated apps. A jailbroken iPhone or iPod Touch is still able to use and update apps downloaded and purchased from Apple's official App Store. So ever since I own an Iphone three months ago, this "term" keeps knocking at my mind… 

So let look at the real jailbreak….

For without the righteousness of God, nobody can live right, not even one, nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God. We all taken the wrong turn and wandered down blind alleys. No one is living right; you can't find a single one. Our throats are gaping graves, our tongues slick as mudslides. Every word we speak is tinged with poison. We open our mouths and pollute the air. We race for the honour of “sinner-of-the-year”, litter the land with heartbreak and ruin. We don't know the first thing about living with others. We never give God the time of day. This makes it clear, doesn't it, that whatever is written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom these Scriptures were addressed in the first place! And it's clear enough, isn't it, that we're sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with God's revelation doesn't put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else's sin.

Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another Person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, He got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one Man said yes to God and put many in the right.

Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man's sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God's gift poured through one Man, Jesus Christ, will do! There's no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence. If death got the upper hand through one man's wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, sovereign life, in those who grasp with both hands this abundant provision of grace and the gift of righteousness, that the one Man Jesus Christ provides?

Our firm decision is to work from this focused centre: One man died for everyone. That puts everyone in the same boat. He included everyone in his death so that everyone could also be included in His life, a resurrection life, a far better life than people ever lived on their own.

Because of this decision we do not evaluate people by what they have or how they look. The Jewish people looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong. We certainly don't look at Him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, a new creation. The old life is gone; a new life began! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and Him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with Himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what He is doing. We are Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ Himself now: Become friends with God; He's already a friend with you.

So go and tell people about this jailbreak instead…

A compilation from the Message Bible