Betrayals

Betrayals
Os Hillman

If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend. -Psalm 55:12-13

"You will always be attacked in the place of your inheritance," said the man sitting across the breakfast table. "God has called you to bring people together and to impact other people's lives as a result of this anointing in your life. You must make sure that you seek to maintain righteousness in all of your relationships." Those words came from someone who had the wisdom and authority to speak them to me.

I have had a number of close relationships that ended in betrayal. I am very loyal to my friends and those with whom I have covenant relationships. Yet there are times that no matter how righteous you are, when someone means to betray you, he will do it. Loving those who betray you is "graduate-level Christianity." The religious community and one of His closest friends betrayed Jesus. Those who were closest to David betrayed him. Joseph's own family betrayed him. Loving our enemies cannot be accomplished by mustering it up. It can only happen when we have come to a death in ourselves so that Christ can love through us. It is truly one of those acts of identifying with the cross.

If you are a leader, you can be sure God will allow you to experience betrayal. It is one of those courses in the Kingdom that may not be required until God has seen that you have successfully passed other tests. It is the most difficult and most gut wrenching of all tests. A godly response goes against all that is in us. Our natural response is to protect, retaliate, and retain unforgiveness and bitterness. Our natural response is satan's most powerful weapon; to overcome it requires much grace from God. Ask God to build His nature in you now so that when such attacks come, you will be aware that it is a test and you will respond in righteousness.

Changing Your Behavior

Changing Your Behavior
Neil Anderson

Walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh -Galatians 5:16

A careful distinction must be made concerning your relationship to the flesh as a Christian. There is a difference in Scripture between being in the flesh and walking according to the flesh.

As a Christian, you are no longer in the flesh. That phrase describes people who are still spiritually dead (Romans 8:8), those who live independently of God. Everything they do, whether morally good or bad, is in the flesh. You are not in the flesh; you are in Christ. You are no longer independent of God; you have declared your dependence upon Him by placing faith in Christ.

But even though you are not in the flesh, you may still choose to walk according to the flesh (Romans 8:12, 13). You may still act independently of God by responding to the mind-set, patterns and habits ingrained in you by the world you lived in. Paul rebuked the immature Corinthian Christians as "fleshly" because of their expressions of jealousy, strife, division and misplaced identity (1 Corinthians 3:1-3). He listed the evidences of fleshly living in Galatians 5:19-21.

Unbelievers can't help but live according to the flesh because they are totally in the flesh. But your old skipper is gone. You are no longer in the flesh and you no longer need to live according to its desires. Getting rid of the old self was God's responsibility, but rendering the flesh and its deeds inoperative is our responsibility (Romans 8:12). God has changed your nature, but it's your responsibility to change your behavior by "putting to death the deeds of the body" (Romans 8:13).

You will gain victory over the flesh by learning to condition your behavior after your new skipper, your new self which is infused with the nature of Christ, and learning to transform your old pattern for thinking and responding to your sin-trained flesh by renewing your mind (Romans 12:2).

Prayer: Lord, knowing that I am no longer controlled by sin is such a liberating concept. I can walk today in freedom from my old self, the world system, and the devil. Praise Your name!

This is the Church.

This Is The Church
Help For Today

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship,to the breaking of bread and to prayer. -Acts 2:42

I hope you're already part of a church family -- not as a spectator but as a committed, involved participant in a community of followers of Jesus Christ. But if you're not, here are five things you should look for as you consider establishing yourself in a church. If you're already an active member and any of these things are lacking in your congregation, consider what you can do and how you can be praying for these characteristics to blossom there:

1. Is it anchored in the Scriptures? Is the Bible clearly taught as the authoritative Word of God? Is the gospel of Jesus Christ the anchor, motivating you to live and proclaim the transforming grace of God in every area of your life?

2. Does it have a sense of community? Is there a connectedness between people when the service is over on Sunday morning? Does there seem to be authenticity and honesty in the relationships?

3. Is it characterized by worship? Today's culture is incredibly self-centered. You need an interruption in your week to jerk you out of that stream and say, "There's something much bigger than me going on here. Life is not about me; it's about who God is and what He's doing."

4. Is there opportunity for involvement? Is this a church where you're encouraged to minister to others? One of the greatest joys of life is to be used by the Lord God Almighty in another human being's life.

5. Does it build men? I'm not minimizing ministry to women and children, but a lot of the struggles in our families and culture could become points of victory if men were equipped with a vision for manhood and were living it out.

Discuss: Give your church -- or the church you are considering -- a letter grade in each of these five areas. Compare grades and talk about how you can help your church become more effective.

Pray: Pray that God will make your church experience one filled with blessing, opportunity and community.

Hungering for God

Hungering for God
Os Hillman

God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. -Psalms 53:2

"I really don't understand why I should come to this. How can I really benefit?" was his response. At that moment, I realized that I was wasting my time with this man on whom I had invested much throughout his Christian walk. He was often like a roller coaster-up one minute, down the next.

"You simply aren't hungry enough," I commented to my friend.

Whenever someone must always rationalize and examine whether the things of God are beneficial to them, you know that they are not hungry enough for God. I recall one time when I was in a difficult place. I received an audiotape from a man who gave me some insights into my problem. I was hungry enough to book a flight to a city 500 miles away just to meet him and find out more. My finances were at a very low point, so it took some real faith to do this. That meeting turned out to be a divine appointment and became a turning point in my life.

God is looking for men and women who hunger to know Him. When we believe that we know all we need to know, we are in a dangerous place. God has placed men and women in the Body of Christ who have had different experiences and gifts that can be helpful in our own spiritual pilgrimages. It requires humility of heart to realize that we can learn from others. We can easily rationalize our business pressures and time commitments to discount such opportunities.

No Manna Stores

No Manna Stores
Os Hillman

Then the Lord said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow My instructions." -Exodus 16:4

When God took the nation of Israel through the desert, there was one thing the people simply could not do outside of God alone: They could not provide for themselves. They could not plant. They could not harvest. They could not manufacture. It was a place and time where nothing but complete dependence was the rule. God gave manna one day at a time. The manna spoiled the day after, so they could never store it. They could not go to the manna store to get more. They couldn't start a manna business to capitalize on all the free manna.

I can tell you from personal experience that when God takes you to the desert, there is nothing you can do to change it until He wants to change it, so do not strive against God in the desert place. Has God taken you into the desert? Is He forcing you to depend wholly on His provision?

Pray that you will learn the lessons God desires you to learn in the desert place. He will bring you out when He has accomplished all He wants to build in your life. Remember that it is a season; you will not be there forever. He understands that no one can stay in a desolate place forever.

Disappointments

Disappointments
Os Hillman

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
-Proverbs 13:12

Life is filled with disappointments. Many of God's greatest servants experienced deep disappointment in their journeys of faithfulness to God. Joseph, after spending years as a slave and in jail for crimes that he did not commit, revealed deep disappointment when he was forgotten another two years in prison. John the Baptist, when awaiting execution, doubted whether Jesus was, in fact, the Christ because he was sitting there awaiting his death. Elijah, losing all hope and despondent to the point of death, asked God to take his life in the desert; and Peter, who left his fishing business and invested three years of his life only to watch his Savior crucified, wondered whether the purpose of those three years could be justified.

When life doesn't add up, it leaves the heart sick. When we have done all we know to do and the formula has not worked, it leaves us questioning. These are times that try the very souls of men. There is no human sense to be made of it. We are left with a choice: to cling or not to cling. There are times when holding on to our Master's robe is all that we can do. It is all that He wants us to do.

The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not obtained by sudden flight;
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.
Standing on what too long we bore,
With shoulders bent and downcast eyes,
We may discern-unseen before-
A path to higher destinies!
~Longfellow

There is only one answer to life's disappointments. Like the psalmist, we must "Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken" (Psalm 62:5-6).

The Value of our Confessions

The Value of our Confessions
Timrufus

“For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” -Romans 10:10

People of the world today like to interpret the bible in many ways, with many quote from saints of yesterday but the best way I believe is that we would directly quote from God’s word, digest it and ask The Author and Perfecter of our faith to reveal it to us His Word, for all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness... (2 Tim 3:16) Without faith it is impossible to please God. There are people who come for prayer, some just want to test the power of God, other just want to see whether you have this “power” in you. Still there are also other people who come to prayer meetings, just wanting to see whether are there really spiritual beings on the earth or that if there really is a god talking. Without faith it is impossible to please God. When we put God to the test, we become double-minded. Double-minded peoples should not think that they should receive anything from The LORD; be it wisdom or even a word of revelation. But we know that as Christian, we do not have any power. We are merely Christ’s ambassadors and the only power that we have are God’s delegated power, (for warring against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.) and the power of unity, “for where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (~ Matthew 18:28)

1. Confess right, Confess God.

When days seem gloomy. I don’t like to sing song like, “days are hard, life is harsh but God is always there….” Nope, lyrics like this can only be so paradoxical. It makes me feel that though God is there, He doesn’t want to bless us or help us and maybe because He just want to put us through the mill on purpose so that we may know Him better. Hence, what hope is there for men on what God had already decreed in the first place?

We are to give thanks in all situations for this is God’s will for us in Christ Jesus. But if it is an spiritual warfare, we cannot rejoice over it, we cannot be glad in it. We must fight it, overcome it, and by God’s grace rise above it. It does not mean that I can always pray and think like this confidently every day. We are mortal, He is God. But even if we do not tell God how mean on earth we felt today, He knows it because He is God, He is immortal.

Whenever I am alone or in the dark, I will always ask the blood of Jesus Christ to cover every corner of the room and it always gives me peace when I do that. Come morning when I ask the Holy Spirit to come, take control of all the situation in the office and thing will end up fine. Everyone knows where God is. God is everywhere. We can’t hide ourselves from him. The Psalmist says, “If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.” But if we cannot believe who God is and what He is really capable of doing, and when God tells us something He really means it; how then could we have even utter it in the first place?

Confessions that we once force ourselves to say or try to make ourselves believe, are not true confessions at all. In his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And when he prayed to him, the LORD was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God. (2 Chronicles 33:12-13)

Manasseh didn’t know that the LORD is God but The LORD listened to his entreaty. Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. (Hebrews 11:6) And Manasseh now know that The LORD is God. Wasn’t there any prophet during Manasseh’s time? I believe there were prophets during Manasseh’s time, but there were also the prophets of Baals and the prophets of Asherah and all kinds of evil practice like divination and witchcraft, mediums and spiritists. (2 Chronicles 33:3-6) Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” Looking at miracles, signs and wonder cannot set a person free. It is only by knowing the Truth that we will be set free ultimately. And if there is anyone who can set us free, it is God himself.

Secondly, King Hezekiah did not have any word of faith knowledge. All he knew was The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. How does one make a confession? Does he do it quietly in a corner of his heart or does he confess it out aloud with his mouth? In Acts 19:19-20, many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.

In order for us to confess right, we must first know that there is a God. Confession here meaning, the atheist must first believe there exists a God and the double-minded man must doubt no more. “God cannot do this and God cannot do that, He is bound by our circumstances!” No, Word from God revealed will never say anything like that. What God speak to us will never imply anything that is capable of rivaling against His power. For no matter how many promises God has made, they are always a “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. The promise of God is always a Yes and amen, for He is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, (to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever). –Ephesians 3:20


2. Conviction that follows confession.

The Centurion said to Jesus, “For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.” (Luke 7:7-10)

We cannot separate out faith and confession. I can confess what I firmly do not believe or I can confess what I firmly believe. But rightly, I confess because of my belief. I do not confess because of my unbelief nor have I been unbelieving in the first place. And if my heart cannot agree with what I am saying, it cannot be confessions in the first place. Confession that is no confession at all is the most powerful confession of all times. Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.” Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment. (Matthew 9:20-22)

“Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him.” (1 John 3:21-22) We cannot be confessing without faith and we cannot create faith with our confession. But if we think that we can create miracles by just thinking and speaking words into the air, by all means do so. And if it really does work even once or twice, God has been faithful and God has been merciful.


3. Our Spiritual Authority in the Lord.

As spiritual adopted sons and daughters of God, we have God’s spiritual authority in warring against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Coming on face to face in a combat warfare, we tend to believe that in order to pre-empt our enemies, we must be swifter, ruthless and be the most accurate of all. But it is not true of the spiritual realm because Jesus has already won the victor’s crown. Here, even spirits submit, because Christ's authority remains on all who believe in the name of the Son and the power of The Word.

Demons recognize those who belong to God and those who do not belong to God. (Luke 10:17) But it does not means that we can think that it is just a name that is being mention here and that we can use it anyhow. There in Acts 19, the seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing casting on demons using Jesus name. But one day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.

Jesus said, … I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. (Luke 10:19-20)


4. Understanding and Confessing God’s Word.

When we get into problems, the first thought that come to our mind would probably be, “What will be the shortest way to get it done once and for all?” A churchgoer said to his pastor, “Pray that God will remove this person from before me.” The pastor replied, “As a pastor I cannot say such prayer.” We do not speak into a problem without first knowing how God see this matter. While I agreed totally that it is not wrong to be rich, and how wonderful if only you and I can be like Abraham. I am worried, but what if the whole world own factories and plantations, who will be left to tend the flocks and till the land? There will come a point whereby even with money we cannot buy milk, tea and barley. God is a God of order.

“Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower….” (James 1:9-10) It is not wrong to be rich or to ask God for wealth and blessings. But the motives here are not that we can spend it on good pleasures. Many faith preachers love to associate word of faith and healing with prosperity. I never need to confess anything, but I know God is the one who always provide for me. And this is what I heard some preachers taught about Word of faith confession. To receive from God, you need to confess your faith.

And you know, I can get really work up whenever I confess God’s word. Being totally convicted and believing, I cannot hold it in. And so this is what I will do, I will look at that person and speak such word of faith. “In the Name of Jesus, I curse and bind the devil’s work out of you.” Probably I want to make that person shut up, but You know it’s not right. Naman went down the Jordan river and dipped himself seven times and his skin was restored like a baby. Jesus spit into some mud and put it on the man’s eyes and it healed him. There is no formula in God’s Word really, but one man’s food may be another man’s poison.


5. The Value of our Confession.

Confession has value only when your confession, pleases the Lord. James says, “Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” (James 3:6)

Here, knowing how to tame the tongue is of utmost importance, TRULY not word confession. The lips of fools bring them strife, and their mouths invite a beating. The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. If a man will always claim peace, peace and more peace but then keep warring with his tongue, how then can such confession and faith brings him peace? (James 2:14) Word that comes out of the mouth has the power of life and death because unclean word can sparks fire and causes disputes.

While David confessed, it is The LORD who executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed, it is also the same God who forgives all his iniquities and healed all his diseases. He knows that it is God who redeems his life from destruction, and so he confessed the love of God who crowns him with loving kindness and tender mercies. (Psalm 103:3-5)

How do you love to hear your spouse to speak such word of confession? God loves it when we confess we love him. But even if our confession cannot match our commitment to Him, how does it matter to Him? Are we any stronger than Him? Job confessed his sins and the sin of his children frequently whether known or unknown. There is an indigenous people whose sin left them alone for more than half a century so that the people may confess it one day and so be denounced of their guilt. But instead they were hoping that time will one day erase off everything. Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. But when we kept silent, bones wasted away through groaning all day long. (Psalm 32:2-5)

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16) And if we have not been forgiving, let’s forgive. So come, let’s confess our sin to The LORD today.

Verse For Meditation: Mark 11:22-24, 25