Fresh Bread

2011-05-15T10:09:00.000-04:00

Living a Life of Faith (no. 3)

When we consider the word “faith,” we must understand it is only used twice in all of the Hebrew Scriptures! That’s is correct – twice! The first is actually only found as the word “faith” in the KJV: Deuteronomy 32:20 – “And He said, ‘I will hide My face from them. I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children n whom is no faith.’” The NASB, however, translates the Hebrew word here as “faithfulness” – ‘sons in whom is no faithfulness.’”

The second instance is found in Habakkuk 2:4 – “Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith.” The words "faith" in both of these verses are translated from a Hebrew word (and in the Habakkuk verse, its feminine form) from the root aman which has the connotations of to build up, to support as does a parent or a nurse, hence figuratively to be firm, faithful, to trust, to believe, permanent. (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, page 11 of the “Hebrew and Aramaic Dictionary”) This term (and its corresponding word from the Chaldean language and the derivative terms only twice translated as “faith”) are used in the text and translated as “faithful” 28 times.

Therefore, in Jesus’ mind and in the mind of the other Hebrew authors of our New Testament texts, the concept of faith is actually the concept of one being a faithful one who lives out his/her faith in and with their deeds, their actions, as the Apostle James was making very clear for us. Thus, consider the question Jesus asked in Luke 18:8b, “However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” A question is in order here. Would the meaning of Jesus’ intent be better understood if the word from the Greek, pistis, in this passage were translated “faithfulness” rather than “faith?” I believe it would.

There is a bias on the part of the translators of many of our New Testament passages, because of Paul’s great theological treatise in the Letter to the Romans wherein the apostle explored the nature of salvation by faith in the Messiah Jesus. However, if we examine the context of Luke 18:8, we see that this question was posed after Jesus’ illustration of perseverance in prayer via His parable of the persistent widow receiving justice from an unjust judge, because she faithfully showed up at his office every day, persisting in her petition for justice until she received that for which she tenaciously pressed him. Therefore, if we were to write our own “amplified” version of this ½ verse, it might read that Jesus asked His disciples, “However when the Son of Man comes, will He find His own faithfully persevering in prayer on the earth?”

Remember, that famous passage of the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God’ not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Might we conclude this thought with our own amplified version of verse 10? “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for the faithful, persistent execution of good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would faithfully walk in them.” Such would truly reflect those who are "Living a Life fo Faith!"

What do you think?

2011-04-24T10:31:00.000-04:00

Living a Life of Faith (no. 2)

When we reflect on the title of this series, “Living a Life of Faith,” what do you think of when you read/hear the word “faith?” Recall that in our first installment of this series we were considering the words of the Apostle James in the 2nd chapter of his epistle dealing with his teaching on “faith and works (deeds, actions).”

As a transitional point, allow me to share with you that the Hebrew language is a very ‘economical’ one. That is to say, it has far fewer words than does the English language. I learned how very rich the English language is when I was teaching and preaching in Brazil and in Russia. When I would meet with my translators to help to prepare them for a lesson or a sermon that we were going to deliver, we often had to work quite hard for them to find the ‘right’ word to use as some points of the message, because English has a separate and distinct word for every nuance of any given word of emotion, intent, or theological point. Where the other language was lacking in these different shades of meaning, my translator and I would have to work to make the right choices as to when to pause at a given point of the lesson or sermon and take a moment to explain, in their language exactly what we wanted to convey to the class or the congregation.

We have the same situation when understanding the true intent of the biblical authors when a certain word is being translated into English. For example, one must determine from the context how אחט (transliterated chata) is to be understood as “sin” or “sin offering,” because this one Hebrew word is used for both English terms which, although related etymologically as words, have very different meanings, and the distinction is critically important for correctly understanding the theological concepts that have been derived from the use of these words. A classic example is the passage in 2 Corinthians 5:21 wherein Paul states, “He (God, the Father) made Him (Jesus), who knew no sin to be (not in the original) sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (Explanations added)

Jesus, in order to be the atoning sacrifice for the our redemption, the one who paid the penalty for our sins (which we know from Romans 6:23 is death), had to be our “Passover Lamb,” one that was spotless and without blemish, just as all Passover lambs through all of history were required to be. The writer of the epistle “Hebrews” declares confidently, “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet (not in the original) without sin” (4:15, emphasis added).

Therefore, Paul (according to Philippians 3, remember, was “circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless” (vv. 5-6). He understood both the proper uses of the term “chata” and Jesus’ sinless state when He was falsely accused by the Jews (the Jewish religious leaders) of blasphemy for declaring Himself to (be equal with) God.

Therefore, when Paul wrote his second letter to his disciples in the Church at Corinth, and declared that Jesus, who never knew (was never intimately acquainted) sin, became sin for us, do you think that, in the context of Jesus being our perfect “. . . Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” (John 1:29 – the testimony of John the Baptist), that Paul was identifying Jesus as “sin” (that is sinful, or as I have heard horribly taught and preached, “Sin Incarnate!”), or that Paul was identifying Jesus as our “sin offering” offered by the Father Himself on our behalf? Personally, I come down, and profoundly so, on the side of the latter interpretation. Why this is so profoundly important, we will deal with in our next installation of this series, and then we will get back to our consideration of living a Life of Faith!
(. . . to be Continued . . . .)

2011-04-10T08:58:00.000-04:00

LIVING A LIFE OF FAITH
*(Unless noted otherwise, all Scripture quotes are from the New American Standard Bible – NASB.)

The Book of James is a favorite of my wife, Mary Jane. She relates to this Apostle’s emphasis on things practical. At this point, please read the 2nd Chapter of James. The editors of the edition of the Bible that I am using break this chapter into two parts. The first, vv. 1-13, they have captioned with the heading “The Sin of Partiality,” and it speaks of how we should lovingly treat those who come into our church services equally and not showing favor to the wealthy while denigrating the poor among us. The second section, vv. 14-26 they have captioned with the heading “Faith and Works,” and in this section we read the well-known “faith without works is dead” (v. 20 – KJV, or ‘useless’ NASB).

Many folks are good at arguing theology but not very effective in their witness for Christ, often because they do not put the love of God into action as Jesus so clearly exhorted us to do! His words resonate with us, especially at this time of the year, because He demonstrated that which He taught during the Passover meal He shared with His disciples just prior to His arrest and subsequent crucifixion.

First, in Luke 10, James and John, the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus and asked Him to grant them a request. They wanted the honor to be positioned at His left and His right when Jesus came into His kingdom (in power). In other words, they asked to be Jesus’ chief lieutenants, the first and second in command after Jesus and thus placed in authority over their fellow disciples. In verse 41 we read, “Hearing this, the ten began to feel indignant with James and John.”

Listen to Jesus’ response: Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. But it is not this way among you, but whoever whishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not tome to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Luke 10:42-45)

In John 13, then, we see Jesus “walking the walk,” and not just “talking the talk.” (That is what we admire, isn’t it? ~ Those who ‘practice what they preach!) In John 13, in preparation to eat the Passover Meal, what we have come to call ‘the Last Supper,’ Jesus washed His disciples feet! (This filthy and unpleasant task was the assigned to the very least slave of the household, the one who was ‘at the bottom of the pecking order,’ so to speak.)

When He had finished, Jesus addressed His disciples and said, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord (which means ‘Master’), for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as a I did to you. Truly, Truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who went him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (addition added for clarity) . . . . To Be Continued

2010-10-30T16:17:00.000-04:00

2010-06-02T02:27:00.001-04:00

THE POISON IN THE HEART

A long time ago in China , a girl named Li-Li got married & went to live with her husband and mother-in-law. In a very short time, Li-Li found that she couldn't get along with her mother-in-law at all. Their personalities were very different, and Li-Li was angered by many of her mother-in-law's habits. In addition, she criticized Li-Li constantly. Days passed, and weeks passed. Li-Li and her mother-in-law never stopped arguing and fighting. But what made the situation even worse was that, according to ancient Chinese tradition, Li-Li had to bow to her mother-in-law and obey her every wish.

All the anger and unhappiness in the house was causing Li-Li's poor husband great distress.Finally, Li-Li could not stand her mother-in-law's bad temper and dictatorship any longer, and she decided to do something about it! Li-Li went to see her father's good friend, Mr. Huang, who sold herbs. She told him the situation and asked if he would give her some poison so that she could solve the problem once and for all.Mr. Huang thought for awhile, and finally said, 'Li-Li, I will help you solve your problem, but you must listen to me and obey what I tell you.'Li-Li said, 'Yes, Mr. Huang, I will do whatever you tell me to do.'

Mr. Huang went into the back room, and returned in a few minutes with a package of herbs. He told Li-Li, 'You can't use a quick-acting poison to get rid of your mother-in-law, because that would cause people to become suspicious. Therefore, I have given you a number of herbs that will slowly build up poison in herbody. Every other day prepare some delicious meal and put a little of theseherbs in her serving. Now, in order to make sure that nobody suspect you, when she dies, you must be very careful to act very friendly towards her. 'Don't argue with her, obey her every wish, and treat her like a queen.' Li-Li was so happy. She thanked Mr. Huang and hurried home to start her plot of murdering her mother-in-law.

Weeks went by, and months went by, and every other day, Li-Li served the specially treated food to her mother-in-law. She remembered what Mr. Huang had said about avoiding suspicion, so she controlled her temper, obeyed her mother-in-law, and treated her like her own mother.After six months had passed, the whole household had changed. Li-Li had practiced controlling her temper so much that she found that she almost never got mad or upset. She hadn't had an argument with her mother-in-law in six months because she now seemed much kinder and easier to get along with.The mother-in-law's attitude toward Li-Li changed, and she began to love Li-Li like her own daughter. She kept telling friends and relatives that Li-Li was the best daughter-in-law one could ever find. Li-Li and her mother-in-law were now treating each other like a real mother and daughter. Li-Li's husband was very happy to see what was happening.

One day, Li-Li came to see Mr. Huang and asked for his help again She said, 'Dear Mr. Huang, please help me to keep the poison from killing my mother-in-law. She's changed into such a nice woman, and I love her like my own mother. I do not want her to die because of the poison I gave her.' Mr. Huang smiled and nodded his head. 'Li-Li, there's nothing to worry about. I never gave you any poison. The herbs I gave you were vitamins to improve her health. The only poison was in your mind and your attitude toward her, but that has been all washed away by the love which you gave to her.'HAVE YOU REALIZED that how you treat others is exactly how they will treat you? There is a wise Chinese saying: 'The person who loves others will also be loved in return.' God might be trying to work in another person's life through you. Send this to your friends and spread the POWER OF LOVE.

2010-03-14T09:17:00.002-04:00

Continuing with our series: "True Biblical Prosperity as Revealed in the Beatitudes" ~

I know that it is true that we tend to turn to the LORD God with great intensity during our times of greatest need. We cry out to Him in pray. We seek others to pray with us, and we are open to the ministry that others can provide. We get into His Word, or we seek out those who can guide us into and through His Word to find that help we need in our present time(s) of trouble. Hear me now, please! It should not stop there. When we are not in a state of desperate need, we must learn that “True Biblical Prosperity” is to be found here in these short, pithy, powerful statements of our Lord and King. Look at the next couplet as we read verses 6 & 7:
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness,
for they shall be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.

We see here the dimensions of the cross! That vertical beam that connects us to our Father seated upon His heavenly throne is made sure when we choose to “go after” righteousness. You may remember that Jesus will exhort His disciples (that’s us, Beloved!) to seek first (before anything and everything else!) the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt. 6:33a). If we do so, He promises us that all the other things of life that we need, those things that so often absorb and consume our attention and our affections, shall be added to us (33b)!

Note, however, that Jesus set the stage for us with the choice of His words. When we read the word “seek,” (6:33), we may not be impacted with the intensity of what the Master is wanting us to have in our searching Him out and making Him our first priority. Therefore, He paints the picture for us by using the words “hunger and thirst” in 5:6.

We must not wait until we are destitute. Rather, we are to choose to crave Him (His righteousness)! We must choose to be famished with hunger and “dying of thirst,” so to peak. The imagery we might want to use, by way of an analogy, to help us to get the import of the Mater’s message is this: In any sport or athletic competition or military conflict, the time to prepare is not the moment of the engagement ~ the sporting event, the match, or the battle. Muscles must be built up and conditioned, timing and reflexes must be honed to a razor-sharp lightning speed, knowledge and awareness of the opponents’ or the enemy’s tactics and strategies must be a part of our subconscious repertoire, and our confidence must be built to peak condition by constant real-life practice, sparring and war games with capable opponents. Only then will we be prepared to enter onto the field, into the arena or into the combat zone properly equipped for success. So, too, we must choose to hunger and thirst for righteousness in order that we may be equipped and prepared for the spiritual warfare that awaits us!

(to be continued . . . )

2010-03-07T10:06:00.001-05:00

Below is the continuation from last week of "True Biblical Prosperity as Revealed in the Beatitudes:

. . . .

With this understanding in mind, let us begin to “open the treasure-chest” of the Beatitudes by seeing verses 3 and 4 as a “couplet,” a pair of parallel statements:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

This concept – those who are “poor” in spirit – is used four (4) times in the Hebrew Scriptures translated as the English word “contrite.” In three of these various forms of the word transliterated “da-kaw;” is used. Let us consider two of these from the Psalms of David:

Psalm 34:18 – (notice, once again, the couplet form)
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted
And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalm 51:17 –
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

Is it any wonder that our Lord Jesus couples this image of the “poor in spirit” with “those who mourn?” When you and I have experienced situations and circumstances of life – be they financial, medical, relational, loss of our dreams, betrayal, times of abject failure, et.al. – we truly have known what it means to be “brokenhearted,” “crushed” or “broken” in spirit.

At this time we also become quite contrite – “sorrowful for some wrong that one has done; deeply repentant.” (Miriam-Webster). These are the times, times of pain and desperation, of the keenly felt need for God’s help, His extended Hand, His Love and Forgiveness, times when we come in total and abject honesty as we “mourn” and weep unashamedly before Him in the midst of our pain. These are the times when we lay aside all of our excuses and rationalizations, and we “come clean” before Him with humble and beseeching hearts – hearts crying out His forgiveness, for His deliverance, His healing, His restoration!

Praise God, our Father in His faithful Love responds to our cries. He comes to us and meets us in our time of need! Jesus tells us that we will be blessed with the Kingdom of heaven, and we will be comforted when we come to Him in such honest, searching humility. 1 John 1:9 tells us that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” and1 Peter 5:6-7 gives us this promise: 6“Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time. 7casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.”

. . . . to be continued

2010-02-27T09:07:00.001-05:00

TRUE BIBLICAL PROSPERITY
AS REVEALED IN THE BEATITUDES

As we begin to begin our study of “The Beatitudes,” the series of Jesus’ declarations of “blessings,” from which the Latin derivative “beatitudes” comes, we must first remember that Jesus was a Jewish rabbi. As such He followed many of the patterns and the customs of his first century culture and in conformity with Hebraic traditions. In doing so, His hearers understood many of the meanings and the implications of what Jesus said that we often have a tendency to miss, because we are not first century Jewish believers steeped in the traditions of the Hebrew Scriptures. Rather, we are first century Americans, and as such we need a little help in understanding how to approach this introduction to Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount.

As we know, prior to the invention of the printing press, the preparation of and the making of copies of written materials was time consuming, laborious, tedious and very expensive. Therefore, much information and teaching in the Hebraic, and later n the Jewish culture in the days of Jesus, was predominately done via oral transmission and memorization. Various devices to aid in accurate memorization of material were employed. Much of Hebrew poetry was written to be sung, the Psalms being a primary example, and we know how much easier and enjoyable it is for many of us to memorize song lyrics than it is to memorize rote facts and data.

Another primary method used to aid memorization was also used to emphasize information of particular importance was the use of repetition. When used in psalms or prophetic passages, Bible scholars have dubbed this “parallelism,” that is, the use of two or more lines or phrases that “parallel” each other meaning that the speaker is saying the same thing over again but using different words and synonyms to convey the same meaning. Most often this is seen in “couplets” or two lines that parallel each other. Sometimes a “triplet,” or three lines, is used.

A classic example of this is seen in Psalm 1:1. Quoting from the NASB:
How blessed is the man who does

not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stand in the path of sinners,
nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

On the one hand, “walk, stand, sit” can be seen as a progression of involvement and/or complicity, but on the other hand, the parallel is clearly seen in that one who desires to be blessed of God will not, in any way, involve himself or entangle his life with those who are sinning against Him!

With our next post, we will see, specifically, how this speaking/teaching pattern is used in Jesus’ presentation of the Beatitudes. Once we have this concept clearly in mind, we will then dig into the Hebraic meanings of each statement He made, and will be able to feel the power and the impact of what Jesus is teaching was far more powerfully than ever before. God Bless!

2010-02-24T03:44:00.000-05:00

Greetings, Saints of the Living God!

There has been another time hiatus to the postings of Fresh Bread articles due to many distractions ~ all necessary, and all wonderful for the Kingdom, but it is time for me to get "back on track."

There has been enough time since I posted an article on the Beatitudes that I had just begun ~ "True Biblical Prosperity as Found in the Beatitudes," that I want to segue back into it by giving you this poem to ponder for the next few days, and then . . .

We begin anew and afresh!

~~~

HOPE ETERNAL
by Bob Preston

The things that meant the most to me in the days of my youth
Mean more to me now than ever before.
As Hope springs eternal,
So hope becomes a necessary ingredient for faith and victory.
Not hoping for the ideal any more,
I hope for the goodness of God’s promise to anchor me.
The crimes and lies of society have become the accepted norm
For men and women deceived.
The hope for their salvation is no longer enough,
For Hope must extend to covenant-keeping.
Discernment should prepare us for the worst before it comes,
Before it blind sides and wounds our faith.
Yes, Hope rivets me to the throne,
Pain is God-sent for my refinement.
Only then can I become a hardened veteran, undergirded by true Faith.
Unshakable, undeniable, inviolate.
Such Faith becomes more than a shield to me;
It is the very ground of reality upon which I stand.
My face turns again heavenward to the One
Who keeps covenant amidst fire, flood and famine.
True Love springs from the heart wrenched in pieces
By damaged Hope and shattered dreams.
True Love flows freely from the life battered by the storm,
Secured by the lifeline of Faith.
Love unfettered, unconditional, and unquenchable
Breeds Peace that delves deep to the roots of our Soul.
Blessed Peace that whispers sweet and low amidst the gale
Stems the tide of fear and doubt.
Unfathomable depths of Peace feed the rains of Joy
That course over our seared lives.
Joy unspeakable and full of Glory wells up into
Voluminous, spontaneous Song.
The Joy sings to the universe the Song of the Overcomer,
For I am known by Him who overcame all for me.
And I dare to Hope again. .

In the Lamb ~ Bob PrestonMy food is to do the will of the Him who sent me and to accomplish His work.
~ John 4:34

2010-01-26T03:57:00.001-05:00

Covenant - Continued . . . .

I do not see an Old and a New Covenant as separate entities. The Scriptures are One Story (a Never-Ending Love Story). When Jesus passed the cup to His disciples at the Passover Meal (what we now call The Lord’s Supper), he said, “”This is the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” (Matt. 26:28, variation of same in Mark 14:24, NIV translation) Some manuscripts read, “This cup is the new covenant . . . .” (Luke 22:20). Please understand that even if a more accurate translation of Jesus’ words is “new covenant” and not “covenant,” that His use of the word “new” does not convey any intent on His part to discard an “old” or previous covenant.

This is not “replacement theology,” but rather, it is a continuation, an unfolding of the progressive development of God’s working in history to bring all of creation to Himself. We know this, because Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-18, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish them but fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (The Hebrew idioms translated “abolish” and “fulfill” will be revealed in a later teaching.)

Everything has not yet been accomplished, because we read in Romans 8:19ff that all of creation as well as we ourselves are groaning as in pains of childbirth and waiting in eager expectation for the final revelation of the sons of God. The story is not yet over, Saints!

(To be continued . . . )

2009-12-19T10:09:00.000-05:00

COVENANT – A PROPER VIEW OF SCRIPTURE

Let us always be aware of the fact that we subconsciously accept many things as true, because we have been “conditioned” to believe these concepts by our culture, family heritage and traditions, etc. One of these is our view of Scripture. I personally feel that it is very unfortunate that our Bibles are printed in two separate and distinct sections, i.e., the “Old Testament” and the “New Testament.” Even the word “Testament” is somewhat misleading in that it does not convey the true “heart” of what these collections of writings are. A testament is thought of by most Americans as that which is left regarding one’s estate or worldly assets, because they have most often heard the word in conjunction with one’s “last will and testament.” Testament is a Middle English word that is from the Late Latin testamentum which literally means “covenant with God.” This, in turn, is from the earlier Latin form of testari which means “to be a witness” or “call one to witness.”

Ah, Covenant! Now there is a word to sink one’s teeth into! Covenant is a reciprocal, binding, irrevocable, and life-long promise (pledge) attested to by witnesses and sealed by the shedding of blood. Covenant is the very heart and soul of our relationship with God. God has reached out to fallen mankind and called us to Himself. He has initiated His Eternal Covenant with us, and it is more than salvation (redemption); it is the intimate relationship of a husband and wife who have spoken their vows. God has called us to be His Bride and His Covenant vows spoken to us are progressively and wondrously revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures.

(to be continued . . . .)

2009-11-22T04:32:00.001-05:00

The Poor in Spirit

This passage is often misunderstood, because when we who have been raised in a “western,” that is a Greco-Roman mindset, “hear” the word “poor,” we instantly think quantitatively ~ how much? ~ less, rather than more of something.

When we “retrain” our mind to think Biblically, we begin to think relationally ~ not in terms of quantity, but of quality! What is the depth of our intimacy with the Father, our Creator God? What is our love relationship with the lover of our soul, the Lord Jesus, like? How closely are we moving in rhythm with the resonance of the Holy Ghost?

When we realign our hearts to think and relate to G-d in this manner, then we realize that there is no quantitative measure being referred to in these words of the Messiah. Then how do we gauge the relational quality, the condition of our spiritual poverty or our spiritual wealth?

There is only one primary indicator, and in this realm there is no middle ground, no gray areas. At any given moment there is only one person on the throne of our heart. Two cannot sit in this seat of lordship at the same time. One option is that we, ourselves, once again attempt to “call the shots” in our lives, and in every moment that we do so we are inclining toward pride, self-absorption and the sin of rebellion. This inclination toward evil is as old as the Garden and is every bit as seductive in its impulse to have us position ourselves as a god as it was when Satan first spoke it into Eve’s ear and his lie hooked itself into the fibers of her heart.

The other option is to bow before the King of the Universe and joyfully worship Him in spirit and in truth as we gratefully live under the shelter of His wing as He rules and reigns in every aspect of our being and in every thought, word and deed of our lives. It is then that we are, by choice, humble, yielded and still. It is then that we know joy unspeakable and full of glory and live with the peace that passes all understanding.

How do we become so yielded? (to be continued . . . .)

2009-09-06T18:33:00.002-04:00

The “Kingdom of Heaven”

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 5:3)

Such a familiar passage! ~ But, what does it mean? Let us begin with the last phrase ~ the Promise ~ for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The preaching about “the kingdom” and its immanence was the theme of the message of both John the Baptist and of Jesus. After Jesus baptized Himself in the Jordan, He was compelled by The Spirit (of God) to go into the wilderness of Judea where he fasted and prayed and engaged in spiritual combat with Satan for 40 days and nights. (So much to say about all of that, but we must stay “on track” here and keep a laser focus!)

Matthew 4:17, and parallel passages in Mark and Luke, tell us that after vanquishing Satan with the now-famous tri-fold, “It is written!” ~ quotes by Jesus from Deuteronomy (8:3; 6:16; 6:13), “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

In the parallel sections of the gospel of Luke, the writer quotes Jesus as saying “the kingdom of God is at hand.” Matthew was the gospel written with a distinct audience in mind – the Jews of the 1st Century. Committed and righteous followers of the Torah would never speak the holy name YHWH, because they were afraid that if they spoke His Name without the proper degree of awe and reverence they would violate the fourth Commandment that forbids one to use the Holy Name “in vain” (literally, empty of said awe and reverence). Therefore, “substitute” titles were spoken instead. When one meant to say the Name of The Holy One, Blessed be He, one would say either “Ha Shem” (The Name) or Adonai (Lord).

The phrase “at hand” translated in modern translations as “near” would, for the modern ear, better be translated as “very, very near!” I demonstrate this with my students physically. I first tell them that I would never, ever touch one of them in an inappropriate way, but if they could imagine that I was about to violently punch one of them right in the nose . . . and as I am speaking I am drawing my fist back in position to deliver a completely devastating blow . . . I begin to move my hand forward and repeatedly stop the motion of my arm and ask, “Is my fist ‘at hand’, yet?”, and then I say slowly and softly, “No!” Finally, when I was a “hair’s breadth” away I would declare, “Now, my fist is “at hand!”
(to be continued . . . .)

2009-08-30T08:54:00.001-04:00

Introduction

Prosperity! When you hear this word, what thoughts or images come immediately to mind? What feelings are evoked? Do you think in terms of dollars? If so, how many dollars? (How much money connotes prosperity to you?) Do you think in terms of material things? Does prosperity mean to you home(s), cars, furnishings, vacation resort property, etc.? Do you think in terms of a specific job and/or career? If so, what is it, and what type of security and benefits does it provide?

The Bible does speak to material wealth in many passages as blessings from God, e.g. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Solomon, and others. The Bible also speaks of success and prominence of position, e.g. Abraham, Melchizedek, Joseph, Gideon, Deborah, Samuel, David and Solomon, and others. However, when I use the phrase, “True Biblical Prosperity,” I am referring more specifically to the spiritual intangibles, e.g. salvation, deliverance, healing, peace, joy, contentment, et. al.

The lyrics of a beautiful song, “How Rich I Am,” come to my mind often:

How rich I am since Jesus came my way,
Redeemed my soul and turned my night to day ~
How rich, how very rich I am.
All things have changed,
My eyes once blind, but now I see,
And the whole wide world is now a symphony,
How rich, how very rich I am.

There are more stanzas to the song, but I believe that we understand the point I wish to emphasize: true Biblical prosperity has to do with what Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-22.

We are not to lay up for ourselves treasures here on earth where they can decay and rust and be stolen; rather, we are to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven where they will never decay or rust and where they cannot be stolen, because our hearts are centered upon those things we truly treasure!

In verse 33 Jesus also exhorts / commands us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. If we do so, He promises that all of the material things that we need will be given to us. In addition, Paul serves as an excellent role model for us when we shares with his Philippian disciples that he has learned the secret of being truly content in this life no matter what his physical circumstances may be (4:11-12).

In order for us to be recipients of, and to experience the riches of, the prosperity of the spirit that the Father has for us, we must be “vessels” that can receive and hold such riches. The “Beatitudes” Jesus enumerated in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3 ff) reveal the truths that will set us free and allow our hearts to be open to receive the blessings the Father desires to lavish upon us!

(to be continued . . . .)

Stucture of the Beatitudes (continued)

2009-08-23T10:43:00.000-04:00

In this case, David used the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Therefore, instead of “a to z,” of the English alphabet, or from the “alpha” to the “omega” of the Greek alphabet, we have from “aleph” to “tau” of the Hebrew alphabet.

Every line of the first eight verses of Psalm 119, if read in Hebrew, begins with the first letter of the alphabet, “aleph,” and each the second eight verses begins with the second letter, “bet,” and so on throughout Psalm 119, with the last eight verses each of which begins with the last letter of the alphabet, “tau.” Now, just as a reminder, when you read through Psalm 119, please remember to read the verses in pairs, as “couplets,” that express the same idea over again using different words and phrases. Finally, when you get into the “rhythm” of the psalm, you realize that the power of this repetitive technique only grows stronger as the main themes of David’s love for and dedication to God’s Word are themselves repeated over and over again.

Note, too, please, that David uses many synonyms to refer to the Word of God. He exhorts us to study, to delight in, to revere and to obey God’s Word, His commands, His statues, His laws, His precepts, His testimonies and His ways ~ Hallelujah! As we turn to study the Beatitudes, it will help us to realize that Jesus, the greatest of all Rabbis, the greatest Teacher of God’s Word in all of history, spoke to His audience, the Jews of the 1st century, spoke to them and taught them in ways that would “click” for them, in ways that would instantly attract and hold their attention.

Therefore, like the greatest of the psalmists of Israel, David, so, too, the greatest of the teachers of Israel, Jesus, “sang” to the people a beautiful song of blessing, calling to the deepest part of their psyche – their heart of hearts, the depths of their souls – in such a way that they hung on His every Word. Now, then, before we go farther into the heart of this teaching, the “meat” of the Word, if you will, please go back and read the Beatitudes, and read them, please, in their context of Matthew 5:3-16. Read them with the specific intent of “hearing the rhythm” of His thoughts as He repeats them – first as simple couplets, or two lines paired together – and then again as couplets repeating couplets, thereby building one upon another and building the strength and the power of the image that He is embedding into our hearts as we hear Him calling to us to be Kingdom People!

2009-08-15T05:20:00.002-04:00

Background / Structure

Before we actual “dig into” our study of the Beatitudes, it will be very helpful to understand some of the basics of reading Hebrew literature, in general, and some specific insight regarding the structure of the verses from Matthew 5 that we have come to know as “The Beatitudes.”

When one refers to “poetry,” many of us think immediately of rhyming verse. Hebrew poetry, conversely, is more about conveying visceral images that excite the senses and involve the reader by “drawing one into” the experience being conveyed. Hebrew poetry also focuses more on inviting one into a conceptual declaration or dialogue that engages the mind as well as the five senses thus making the experience one that absorbs the reader and involves him/her completely ~ a participant rather than an observer ~ an act of worship, celebration, or mourning, et. al., as the case may be, rather than offering a mere form of entertainment.

To this end, the Hebrew authors of our Bible employed repetition as the main instrument of emphasis. Technically this is dubbed parallelism. This technique is easy to appreciate, because it reinforces our natural tendency to repeat back what we have just heard, thought, or spoken when that in which we have just been engaged is of real importance to us. For example, if my friend Rachel had designs on a young man named Tom, and if Rachel asked me if I had seen Tom lately, and I replied to her, “Yes! As a matter of fact, I just spoke with Tom last night after he and Susan returned from Vegas. They apparently have just eloped and gotten married!” It would be very natural for Rachel to respond, “What!?! Tom and Susan eloped to Las Vegas and got married?!” I would not chastise her and say, “Well, that is what I just said, isn’t it?” No. I would understand Rachel’s mental processing, and I would reply, “Yes ~ it’s true! I saw their wedding rings, and Tom and Susan showed me the pictures they had taken in the Chapel in Las Vegas where they were wed!”

Once again, if one of my students heard me say from the front of the classroom, “Don’t forget, folks, on the Test tomorrow, it is imperative that you know all Ten Commandments from Exodus 20 in the order written, it would not be uncommon at all for me to hear mutters from around the classroom, as students scrambled to get pen and paper to write this key point of information, “Ten Commandments . . . Exodus 20 . . . in order!” ~ and them hear several or many of them repeat those words more than once as they are writing it down.

Yes, repetition is a key to learning, and repetition is even more valuable and is wisely employed with more intentionality when the information to be remembered is important to us. The specific style of repetition used in the Bible is the employment of “couplets,” sometimes “triplets” of thought wherein the idea being conveyed is repeated using different words. For example, Psalm 119:105 reads, “Your Word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my pathway.” The phrase “a light unto my pathway” repeats the concept of “a lamp unto my feet” using different words to convey the same visual image for the mind to “see” and to remember.

This repetition also creates a rhythmic cadence that enhances memory retention. This same principle helps to explain why we can remember so easily the tunes or “jingles” that we hear and sing. The advertising professionals who create the little jingles for radio and TV to promote their particular product brand know this and employ it to their maximum advantage; and remember also, please, that the psalms are songs that the people of Israel sang.

Occasionally, a “triplet” is used. For example, in Psalm 1:1 we read: “Blessed is the man who (1)does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly,
(2) nor stands in the path of sinners, (3) nor sits in the seat of the scornful, . . .
However, the most consistent pattern we find is with the use of couplets that are then arranged together with other couplets.

For example, Psalm 119, the longest psalm, and the longest chapter, in the Bible is an extended litany of praise to God’s Word comprised of couplets, built together in sets of eight couplets each, as an acrostic to declare the glory of G-d’s Word from “a to z.” An acrostic is the use of letters of an alphabet employed at the beginning of each line to form a specific pattern.

(To Be Continued . . . . )

True Biblical Prosperity

2009-08-03T04:26:00.002-04:00

TRUE BIBLICAL PROSPERITY
as Revealed in The Beatitudes

Introduction

Prosperity! When you hear this word, what thoughts or images come immediately to mind? What feelings are evoked? Do you think in terms of dollars? If so, how many dollars? (How much money connotes prosperity to you? Do you think in terms of material things? Does prosperity mean to you home(s), cars, furnishings, vacation resort property, etc.? Do you think in terms of a specific job and/or career? If so, what is it, and what type of security and benefits does it provide?

The Bible does speak to material wealth in many passages as blessings from God, e.g. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Solomon, and others. The Bible also speaks of success and prominence of position, e.g. Abraham, Melchizedek, Joseph, Gideon, Deborah, Samuel, David and Solomon, and others. However, when I use the phrase, “True Biblical Prosperity,” I am referring more specifically to the spiritual intangibles, e.g. salvation, deliverance, healing, peace, joy, contentment, et. al.

The lyrics of a beautiful song, “Howe Rich I Am,” come to my recall often:

How rich I am since Jesus came my way,

Redeemed my soul and turned my night to day ~

How rich, how very rich I am.

All things have changed,

My eyes once blind, but now I see,

And the whole wide world is now a symphony,

How rich, how very rich I am.

There are more stanzas to the song, but I believe that we understand the point I wish to emphasize: true Biblical prosperity has to do with what Jesus said in Matthew 6:19-22 We are not to lay up for ourselves treasures here on earth where they can decay and rust and be stolen; rather, we are to lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven where they will never decay or rust and where they cannot be stolen. Why? Because our hearts are centered upon those things we truly treasure!

In verse 33 Jesus also exhorts / commands us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. If we do so, He promises that all of the material things that we need will be given to us. In addition, Paul serves as an excellent role model for us when we shares with his Philippian disciples that he has learned the secret of being truly content in this life no matter what his physical circumstances may be (4:11-12).

In order for us to be recipients of and to experience the riches of the prosperity of the spirit that the Father has for us, we must be “vessels” that can receive and hold such riches. The “Beatitudes” Jesus enumerated in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3 ff) reveal the truths that will set us free and allow our hearts to open to receive the blessings the Father desires to lavish upon us!

(to be continued . . . .)

Radical Christian Video

2009-07-16T04:01:00.001-04:00

A must see!
http://www.tangle.com/view_video.php?viewkey=da4b95295f176f6550b4&sp=2

Keys to the Kingdom ~ Conclusion

2009-07-05T07:38:00.001-04:00

Remember, however, that it is imperative that we do not stop reading here! As we continue to read the words of our Lord Jesus as He says, “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, (in order) that your Father in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses” (Mark 11:25-26). Do you grasp the magnitude, the incredible importance of what Jesus did for us when He spoke these words? Jesus just connected the blessing of receiving our heavenly Father’s forgiveness for our trespasses (all of our sins, both intentional and unintentional) with the quality of our faith, our walk with Him and the ability to have our prayers answered!

What is the “link,” the “bridge” that unites these two incredible promises? It is simply, but very significantly our willingness to forgive others for the wrongs done to us (both intentional and unintentional)! The fact that Jesus has included this mandate for us to forgive in three different teaching situations with His disciples – as a part of The Lord’s Prayer, in response to Peter’s question about how many times we must forgive our brother when he has sinned against us (70 x 7!), and now in conjunction with our faith and our need to overcome the problems and the obstacles in our lives – indicates that this is truly a “Master Key” of success in the living out of our Christian faith, the development of a lifestyle, our daily walk with the Master!

Whenever I find something in the gospel accounts wherein Jesus repeats an instruction for, or a commandment to, His disciples multiple times, I ask my students, “If Jesus commands us to do something, do you think it is important that we obey Him?” Their response is, of course, “Yes.” (What else can they say? They know that is the response that is expected of them, but it is interesting to note that their reply, “Yes,” is often given in soft tones and at a rather unconvincingly low volume. :)

However, I then become a little more intense, more focused and aggressive as I scan the room and hold up two fingers and ask them, “What if Jesus commands us to do something two times? When I do so, the students’ response is usually a little louder and a little bit more confident.
Then I pause for a moment and intentionally stare at them yet more intently, getting real one-on-one eye contact as I scan the room slowly, and as I hold up three fingers and ask slowly, firmly, with more volume and intensity in my voice, “What . . . if . . . Jesus . . . commands us . . . to do something . . . THREE TIMES? . . . Do you think that we . . . should OBEY HIM ? Now I get a resounding, positive response from the entire classroom, with one voice “YES!!!”

Now, we have the response that our Lord wants from us in the living out of our daily Christian walk! Remember, please, that Jesus does not command us to forgive others because he is being sadistic and trying to force us to do something against our own will. No! Jesus is giving us the Master Key to the Kingdom! He is giving us the Master Key to unlock that door of Satanic bondage, the lie by which the Deceiver has used to keep us from the true Joy of living in the Freedom and the Victory of the Kingdom of God!

When we use this Master Key of Forgiveness to unlock this Door of Destruction – withholding forgiveness – we fling open this “mountain” and cast it into the sea of God’s Love, and we walk into the fullness of the Son-Light of God, and we are FREE! The Father washes us clean; He cleanses us; He restores us! We are restored to proper and intimate fellowship both with Him and with our Brothers and Sisters in Christ ~ Hallelujah!!

May the Lord richly bless you and yours!

The Master Key! (Continued)

2009-06-20T04:26:00.002-04:00

The second passage wherein Jesus demonstrates the centrality of this command to forgive others is found in Mark 11. Just as in the Matthew 18 passage, Jesus stuns His hearers, because He begins with a “word of faith” teaching when He declares, in a very forceful manner: “Have faith in God! (Some have translated this as, “Have the faith of God!) For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says” (Mark 11:23).

If one read no further, the reaction would be, “Wow! If I have enough (quantity) of faith, I can do or have anything! I believe, however, that to do so would be a grave mistake. To me, this is, instead, a statement of “quality” of one’s faith, that is, of one’s life priorities. I have heard preachers and teachers speak of this mountain as if it were a literal mountain of granite rock and stones, a veritable Mt. Everest. No, I believe that Jesus was speaking of whatever “mountain” in your life iss blocking your progress in your spiritual walk – fears, cares and anxieties, relational conflicts, envy, anger, financial crises, health problems, et.al.

First of all, note that Jesus tells us that if we have “faith in God,” we can speak to our problems; we can take authority over them. This is because everything in our walk with God is based on the quality of our relationship with Him as our Father. When we began this series, we saw the beautiful balance of approaching God as the awe-inspiring Creator God, the God of all power, blessed be He! – and – approaching Him as our Father, our Abba, our precious “Daddy.”

However, our primary image of, our conception of God as our Father is formed by, and is greatly impacted by our earthly father and the role that he played (plays) in our life. It is sad to say that, unfortunately, many people have a very negative role model of “father-hood,” because their relationship with their earthly father has been one of many possible (even multiple) dysfunctions – abusive, absent, critical, controlling, neglectful, absent, weak, etc., etc, ad infinitum, ad nauseum!

People who have not had a strong, caring, loving, nurturing relationship with their earthly father sometimes have an ominous task before them to ever believe that their heavenly Father is really and truly different – loving, protective, strong, nurturing, supportive, attentive, tender, giving, sustaining, etc., etc., ad infinitum, ad Glorioso! Therefore, the first thing that many of us have to do is pray for the miracle-working presence of the Holy Spirit to be operative within us to help us "break through" to touch, and be touched by, the heart of our loving Father God in order for us to be able to trust Him.

(To Be Continued - our next Post will conlude this Series on "The Keys to the Kingdom as Revealed in The Lord's Prayer. I pray this series has been a blessing to you for your edification and to draw you ever closer to the Father's heart. ~ God Bless you!)

The Master Key (continued)

2009-06-14T09:17:00.002-04:00

The two passages wherein Jesus most impacts us with the power and the importance of forgiveness are found in Matthew 18:21-35 and in Mark 11:22-26. Let us delve into these words of our Lord together!

Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven time?” (Matt. 18: 21) This seems to be both an honest question in the first place: “How many times shall I forgive . . .?” and a most insightful response posed as a second question in response to the first inasmuch as seven is the number of spiritual perfection! (Seven – seven days of the creation account, seven Jacob’s years of service to Laban for his bride (twice!), seven lamps atop the Menorah in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle / Temple, seven weeks of Unleavened Bread between Passover and Pentecost, seven Spirits before the throne of God in Rev. 1:4, the seven golden lampstands in the midst of which walked one like the Son of Man of Revelation 1:12-13 which were the seven churches, and the seven stars in His right hand which were the angels (messengers) to whom the Ascended Christ addressed His seven exhortations in Revelation, chapter 2-3.

Surely, Peter was about to receive praise from his Master for this two-fold insightful and spiritual combination of the questions and the answers thereto. Instead, Peter must have been utterly stunned by Jesus’ response of, “I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven” (Matt. 18:22)! Understand, please, that in the use of this numerical concept, Jesus was not stating that one must forgive his brother / sister 489 times + 1. The impact of this statement was clearly apparent to Peter and all others who heard the Master’s command: We are to live out a lifestyle of forgiveness!

Every decision in life is a “building block” for the creation of a habit. The habits we construct in life become our pattern of living – our lifestyle, and it is this, in turn, which builds our character! In this case, Jesus is exhorting us to systematically build the character within ourselves of one who is a Forgiver! There are so many rabbit trails of teachings on forgiveness that we could take off upon and pursue at this point, but we will resist the temptation and, instead, we will home in on that one key point that Jesus wanted us to understand which He makes abundantly clear in the parable He shared at this point. Please read Matt. 18:23-35; the parallels will become instantly clear. The king is God, who in His mercy and benevolence forgives the servant (that is, you, and me!) who is unable to pay the insurmountable sum of a “thousand talent.”

“For God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been save),” (Eph. 2:4-5, emphasis added). So it is with us, as it was with the servant, that we often then turn around and want to “throttle” a brother or sister in the Lord, who by comparison owes us a mere pittance! Get the point?

(to be Continued . . . in the next installment, we will look at one of the most powerful "Word of Fatith" statements Jesus ever uttered!)

The Master Key

2009-06-07T08:12:00.002-04:00

This next series of posts will conclude "The Keys to the Kingdom As Revealed In The Lord's Prayer." This series is entitled "The Master Key." I pray that the Lord truly bless and edify you!

Let us now proceed to “The Master Key” that opens the very heart of the Father and is (a) the Key to maintaining the integrity of the Body of Christ, and also (b) the Secret Key to opening the hearts of the unsaved and is, therefore, the Key to expanding the Kingdom of God. We will deal with this Key, accordingly, in these two dimensions.

As we return to the couplet in The Lord’s Prayer that we momentarily skipped over, “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” (Matt. 6:12 NKJV),” we must first recognize why this is “The Master Key to the Kingdom.” We do so, because it is the very corner stone of the foundation of the Father’s Master Plan of Redemption. All of us know the most famous verse in the New Testament, “For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

I say that this is “The Master Key” to the Kingdom, because immediately following the “Amen” of the prayer (Matt. 6:13), Jesus declares, “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 you Father forgive your trespasses.” In two other instructional situations with His disciples, Jesus makes very clear that the willful act of forgiving others their sins (debts, trespasses) against us, and He does so with powerful impact.

Before we turn to those passages, let us handle a common objection that many verbalize: “Well how do I know when I have to forgive someone? Who determines what is a ‘trespass’ against me?” You do! As it is with so many areas of life in the spirit, there is no “wiggle room” here. When someone sins against me, I know it in the very core of my being. I feel the offense, the slight, the slap or the betrayal in every area of my being – emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually, and relationally, and my first fleshly impulse is for revenge – to lash out and to strike back – to hurt as I have been hurt.

That is when I know that I have the choice to forgive, in obedience to my Lord’s command, and allow the spiritual man, the new man in Christ, to rise to the ascendency and to overcome the enemy, who is always the ultimate source of such pains of wounding, or to not forgive and give place to Satan to partner up with my flesh, and, in doing so to “stew in my own juices,” as it were!

(To be continued . . . . don’t miss our next installment!)

The Next Key to the Kingdom

2009-05-31T08:42:00.001-04:00

The Next Key in our Series: The Keys to the Kingdom as Revealed in The Lord's Prayer -

It would be normative to proceed to the next petition in “The Lord’s Prayer,” that is, “forgive us our debts (trespasses) as we forgive our debtors (those who trespass against us), but we will hold this portion in abeyance for now and proceed to the next couplet – “Give us this day our daily bread” and “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from (the) evil (one).

Unfortunately, some people approach these requests almost as if one has to beg or to plead for the Father’s provision. Rather, we should approach these as prayers of thanksgiving! In Philippians 4:6 Paul instructs us, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” Later, in v. 19, he declares, “And my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

The Father does not begrudge us our needs; rather, according to Jesus, He gives us “good things” when we ask Him (Matt. 7:11). Just as an earthly father, as imperfect as we earthly fathers are (“evil” in comparison to God! – v. 11a) knows how to meet the needs of our children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask (11b).”
In Philippians 4:19 Paul declares his absolute faith in the Father’s gracious provision when he shares, “And my God will supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” (NKJV)

The Father, who is pure and holy, also would never lead us into temptation or into the clutches of (the) evil (one). This is made so very clear to us by James sho instructs us, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone” (James 1:13).

Further, after clarifying that our temptations that lead to our sinful behavior is rooted solely in our own desires and our willingness to be drawn into sin by those desires, James declares that what we do receive from God is of tremendous benefit and blessing: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures” (1:17-18).

Praise You, Father! Thank You for Your chesed (loving-kindness), Your faithfulness to us in every dimension of life, Your patience with us, and You long-suffering with our fleshly weaknesses. Thank You for being a Loving Father who delights to provide for and to bless us!

Third Key to the Kingdom

2009-05-17T03:28:00.002-04:00

The third Key to the Kingdom is understanding that our Father God wants us to come into agreement with His will, and when we do, He gives us the authority to declare His will to the universe. Our God is not a wimp. Rather, He is omnipotent (omni – all / potent – powerful)! The next to lines of “The Lord’s Prayer are declarative statements and are intended to be read as such. When you pray, and when you hear others pray corporately, the Lord’s Prayer, you normally hear, “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven” in a soft monotone, rhythmic manner.

No, dear child of God! No! Speak these words forth with authority! When God created the world, His first words that we have recorded in Genesis 1 should properly be read, “Light! Come! And there was Light! So, too, we should pray God’s will into existence in our lives, into our world thusly, “Kingdom of God! Come! Will of God! Be Done! Hallelujah! This is our Privilege, This is our Joy! To “partner up” with the King of the universe to declare and to call forth His perfect will, His presence into the realm that He gave our father, Adam, and our mother, Eve, the privilege, the mandate, the responsibility to subdue and to have dominion over the earth.

He established them as His stewards over, His under-shepherds over all the created realm of Earth, and His is restoring all things under the Rule of King Jesus. We are Christ’s Body, His stewards, His under-Shepherds of this world, and He has placed into our hands this magnificent King to His kingdom. Understand the power of John 5:14-15, and declare God’s Will – “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, H we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him” (NASB). Hallelujah!

Second Key to the Kingdom

2009-05-11T04:45:00.001-04:00

The Keys of the Kingdom as revealed in the Lord's Prayer

The second Key to the Kingdom is a companion to the first in that it is a part of the opening line of “The Lord’s Prayer,” and provides what for the disciples of Jesus was a radical departure from their tradition – “Our Father!”

As we have become too casual with regards to God’s awesome power and majesty, so too have we lost the wonder of the impact that these words had on those who first heard it.YHWH, the LORD God of the Jewish and Christian faiths is not Allah, the God of the Muslim faith. Yet, like the Muslims of today, the Jews of Jesus’ day approached the God of their faith in relation to His transcendence, His altogether “other than,” above and beyond anything we are and can relate to. Therefore, to approach The Almighty in an intimate, relational manner as a child addresses his/her loving father was unheard of, borderline, if not outright, blasphemy!

This, however, is exactly what Jesus does. (See Mark 14:36 wherein the Messiah of Israel, the Savior of all mankind in His moment of untold agony, wrestling with the immanence of His torture, humiliation and death on the cross, the cruel instrument of Roman execution, a slow, tortuous death, in the Garden of Gethsemane where He sweat drops of blood, He cries out, “Abba, Father . . . .”) Paul later echoes this term of endearment in Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6

He blends the two together. The “abba” dimension of a precious father is conjoined with “hallowed be Thy Name” (holy is Your name). This is the blessing of the Jewish opening line of prayer “Blessed art Thou, O Lord, our God, King of the universe.” There are two different words for “blessed” in Hebrew.

One is transliterated “asher” which is the word used by Jesus in the Beatitudes of Matthew 5 at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” et.al. This word literally means “to make straight.” The implication is that if one makes all of his/her ways “straight,” correct, right, when walking with the Lord, that person will be happy in life – blessed.
The other is the work “barak.” This is “to knee as an act of adoration.” You see this in the depiction in the of the shepherds and the Magi in the paintings or models of the Nativity scene when they to worship, to adore the newborn King! To declare that the King of the universe is blessed (baruch, in the imperative used in prayer) is now equated with declaring that the Father is truly “hallowed” (Holy) – the Transcendent, Other-than Reality – God Almighty!

And so we see in Jesus’ instruction to His disciples in how to approach their God in prayer as their Father, He hands them two powerful Keys to the Kingdom. If we do not approach God our Father in the correct way, every other door is barred to us. Conversely, if we approach Him in prayer in an appropriate manner of worship, love, humility and honor, He will open for us every door of the Kingdom for a blessed (happy, fulfilled) life!

KEYS TO THE KINGDOM as found in The Lord's Praeyer

2009-05-10T08:41:00.001-04:00

The first “Key to the Kingdom” is the beautiful balance when we orient ourselves to God as both “King of the Universe” and “Our Father.” Many Jewish prayers begin with, “Blessed art Thou, O LORD, King of the universe . . .” Abraham Joshua Heschel in his classic work, God In Search of Man, contrasts the reasons people have for seeking after knowledge. He says the Greeks sought knowledge to understand the world around them, to organize their thoughts and to ponder truth through their various philosophies. We are indebted to the Greeks, for it is this system of knowledge and their methodologies that are the foundations for our modern system of science.

Heschel laments that modern man seeks knowledge mainly for pragmatic reasons with an end toward utilitarianism. Our main focus is how we can use knowledge for the development of more “things” whether they be for the good of medical technology, the pursuit of comfort and convenience or the horror of ever greater weapons of death and destruction.

The Jewish mindset, on the other hand, avers Heschel, is to seek knowledge in order that such knowledge may draw us ever closer to the Eternal One and to do so draws us ever more deeply into a state of Awe. I capitalize the word “Awe” in order to capture Heschel’s sense that we are interacting with the Living God, the Creator, the King of the universe in such a way as to leave us breathless in His presence, on our faces before His Magnificence.

As in any other culture, any other ritual, any other thing that becomes familiar, there is a difference between the ideal and that which the average person actually experiences over time. I ask people to recite the Lord’s Prayer with me, and those who know it “by heart” recite it, almost without exception, in a monotone voice often slipping and eliding (slurring over) the words, quickly and seamlessly but without true, deep thought and passion.

Here we have before us a prayer to our King, our LORD God, the Creator and Sustainer of all things, and I simply ask you to honestly reflect upon this: “Do you speak these words with a sense of Awe? Is there a sense of true Wonder, of deep-felt humility and honor to be in the very Presence of the Almighty God? If not, then here is where we must begin in order to hold in our hands the first Key to the Kingdom.

May we humble ourselves before Him and ask His help in restoring to us a true sense of Awe, of Holy Reverence, Wonder and deep Love and Appreciation for Him, our God.

keys to the Kingdom - Introduction

2009-05-04T04:10:00.003-04:00

We begin a new series today on "The Keys to the Kingdom of God (as Revealed in "The Lord's Prayer"). I pray that you will be edified as we unfold the beautiful teaching for you, day-by-day.

THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM
(As Revealed in the Lord’s Prayer)

We find “the Lord’s Prayer” in Matthew 6:9 ff as a part of “The Sermon on the Mount.” The parallel passage in Luke 11, however, provides us with some additional information not found in Matthew’s account. Luke 11:1 reads as follows: “It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.’” (referring to ‘John the Baptist’ – NASB)

Why would Jesus’ disciples make such a request? In the first century culture of Biblical Judaism, prayer was a regular part of one’s daily routine. Even as the Muslims today pray ritually 5 times a day facing Mecca, so, too, the Jews prayed the “Amida” (the “standing prayer” every day, three times a day. This was a recitation of “blessings.”)

Like so many of us today, Jesus’ disciples were seeking that “something more” that they saw in their Rabbi – that “something” that He had, that connection with their God that they lacked. Jesus moved in a realm of peace, power and passion that they wanted but did not know how to access and could not sustain whenever they did get a “touch” of it. They had heard that John the Baptist’s disciples had been instructed by him to pray something “new,” something “different” that set them apart. The disciples of Jesus saw in these fellow seekers something that had been imparted to John’s disciples by this passionate prophet that was significant enough to provoke in them a desire for a “deeper walk.” Have you ever felt that way?

If so, “Good!” – because that desire, that thirst, for something “more” is what we need in order to have our minds and hearts open to the Lord in order to receive from Him that which only He can give to us – The Keys to the Kingdom of God!

We will begin a study of “The Lord’s Prayer” and see what these “Keys” are!

Fresh Bread Holiday Edition

2009-01-02T03:44:00.002-05:00

FRESH BREAD

Bob Preston

Volume 09, No. 10 November / December 2008

IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME

Galatians 4:4-7 is one of my favorite scriptures to reflect upon and to use as a catalyst to prompt me to worship G-d, my King with praise and thanksgiving for His providential care in bringing to us the greatest Gift of all time ~ His only begotten Son that we might be restored to Him to that place of Intimate Communion forfeited when our First Parents rebelled against Him in the Garden of Eden. We read:

When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

What a beautiful, poetic passage of edification and affirmation! The phrase that I would like us to focus our minds and hearts on is “When the fullness of time had come . . . .”

One of the images that I have of God Almighty is that of a “Master Chessman.” In the natural a Master Chessman has reached status of and earned the title of “Master” based on the ability to project forward in time to all of the possible moves his opponent might make. For each move his opponent may choose, the Master has multiple options in choosing his next move. Each of these options provides his opponent with multiple choices of his own. Continuing this process for four or five possible future moves by each player, all of the multiple options each move presents to each player and the extrapolation forward in time involves a complex array of possible future events that boggles the mind of the average chess player. The ability to foresee so many possible alternative future events and their consequences is one of the many factors that sets apart a true Master chessman from all others in his field.

One part of the many aspects of God’s omniscience is His “foreknowledge,” i.e. His ability to see into, what is for us, the future. Omniscience is a word from the Greek: omni – all science – “a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws.” Quite a mouthful, yes? Simply put, one of the aspects of God’s nature is that He is “all-knowing.”

At this point we must be careful to note that God, the Creator of the universe, is Himself outside of and greater than that which He has created. Therefore, as his created ones we live within the four dimensions of the physical universe of which we are a part – time, energy, matter and space. God, however, who is pure Spirit and who brought all that is into existence is not limited to these physical dimensions and the limitations they impose upon us.

God is able, beyond our finite ability to perceive or understand, in His Infinite Nature as the Great “I AM,” is able to see all of time, past, present and future, as we perceive the present moment. Even more, He is able to perceive every aspect of every moment in time as if it were this very moment, and invest Himself in it with perfect understanding of all of the infinite dimensions of what that means to you and to me, physically, emotionally, intellectually, volitionally and spiritually. There is not separation of division within His Nature for He is, at one and the same time, Father, Son and Holy Ghost who is ONE!

Therefore, according to His providence, literally His “foresight” which includes both His “prudent anticipation” as well as His “precautions,” God made provision for His only begotten Son to be incarnated, to come into this world in human flesh, at just the precise moment in time and history when the Good News of God’s redemption of all mankind could go forth into the world.

From the time of God’s first calling of Abram (whose name God later changed to Abraham, “the Father of nations”) in Genesis 12, God promised that from the seed of Abraham all of the peoples of the world would be blessed (v. 3). The Father had it in His heart that His chosen people would be a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 49:6). And so, through the Messiah Jesus, they were indeed! The original disciples of Jesus who went forth as Apostles, plus those first deacons like Phillip and that great Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul who was Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee trained under Gamaliel, were all Jews.

Through the seed of Abraham we have received the Hebrew Scriptures (our Old Testament), and the writings of the Apostles (our New Testament). The authors of the New Testament were themselves Jews: Matthew, Mark, John, Paul, James, Jude, as well as the author of Hebrews were all Jews.

We know nothing of Luke’s background other than that he was a physician and the friend of a man named Theophilus. We do not know of a certainty whether he was a Gentile or whether, like Saul of Tarsus and Cephas, he was a Jew as they were and who was known by his Greek name, Luke, when working in the environs of Gentile society as Paul and Peter were known by their Greek names. If Luke was a Gentile, he was certainly well-schooled in the Hebrew Scriptures by Paul with whom he traveled and ministered for many years. For one cannot fully appreciate the significance of the birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus unless one has the firm grounding in and the clear understanding of God’s relationship with, His Covenant with and His Promises for mankind as revealed in His Word. That Word, the Hebrew Scriptures, what we call the Old Testament was the Bible for Jesus, Peter, James, John, Paul and all of those who brought Gospel to all of Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the uttermost reaches of the Roman Empire within the time span of one generation!

So it was indeed the “Fullness of Times,” because the Promised Messiah had come. Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled all of the more than 60 major prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures plus what the scholars refer to as the 270 “ramifications” or secondary implications of His coming. Remember, the prophecies concerning the coming of the Messiah were written over thousands of years by a multitude of authors in various cultures and circumstances, the last of which was recorded approximately 400 years before Jesus was born!

The experts in statistics cite that the probability of one person fulfilling even 8 of these major prophecies, in order to help us visualize the magnitude of such, is the equivalent of covering every square inch of the state of Texas with silver dollars stacked two feet high which equals 10 quadrillion (a 10 followed by 18 zeros) coins and marking just one of those coins at random and then sending someone to walk across the state, stop where they choose, bend down and pick up one of those coins. The odds of such a one picking the only marked coin among them all is the same probability of the Messiah, born at the right moment in history, in the right place, and completing only 8 of these Messianc prophecies. Jesus fulfilled them ALL!! These same experts tell us that the probability of all the Messianic prophesies being fulfilled by one man in one lifetime is so low that it reaches the level of a statistic Impossibility! Praise God! Yet, this is only one dimension or aspect of the “Fullness of Time.”

The second aspect we want to acknowledge is the provision for the Gospel to be preached to people of all the ethnos, or people groups, of the Roman Empire in a single generation. One way in which this was made possible was the fact that at the time of Christ and the Apostles Greek had become the “lingua franca” or the universal language of commerce and government throughout the Roman Empire, which itself had Latin as its primary language.

So these Hebrew speaking Apostles came forth from Jerusalem penetrating the Latin speaking Roman domains communicating the Gospel to the Gentile in koine Greek (the dialect, not of the classical scholars and philosophers, but of the common people – just like you and me!). How had the Father made provision for this?

Israel was located at one of the most strategic spots in the entire world! It was the connecting link of a land-bridge between Africa, Asia Minor (southern Europe) and Asia proper. Therefore, it was located at a bottleneck locale where merchants, travelers, philosophers, sages and explorers found themselves traversing with regularity thereby enriching the culture of and providing a more global exposure to and for the inhabitants of this tiny strip of land.

Unfortunately, however, that also made it a “plum” to be picked by every major empire that desired to expand its territory and influence, for this expansion was universally done via military conquest. Since the “Golden Era” of Kings David and Solomon, Israel had known very little of peace and prosperity. Divided into two kingdoms during the reign of Solomon’s heir, Reheboam, the nation became two – the Northern Kingdom, Israel, ruled by Jereboam, and the Southern Kingdom, Judah, ruled by Reheboam.

Israel in the north was devastated by the Assyrians, and their policy of total assimilation ultimately left behind a remnant, mongrelized people, both in terms of their ethnicity and their religious practices known as the Samaritans, so-named after the capital city of Jereboam, Samaria, and despised by their pure-bred relatives, the Jews in the south. The southern kingdom was then conquered by the Babylonians, and the capital of Jerusalem razed. Its pride and joy, the Temple of Solomon was razed and burned, and all of the wealth of the kingdom, both its physical wealth and its wealth in terms of human capital were taken to Babylon. Those Jews left in the Land were poor and without leadership and without their structures and priests to enable them to continue in their accustomed forms of worship.

After 70 years of captivity, a contingent of leaders returned to Jerusalem, and under Nehemiah the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt. The Temple was rebuilt under Zerubbabel, and the Laws and worship were reintroduced by Ezra. Things would never be the same, however. Without their Temple to go to in order to perform their sacrifices and hold their great feasts, the Jews in Babylon had developed the synagogue or local congregational system of worship and were thereby able to perpetuate their study of and faithfulness to Torah.

From this point forward, Israel is used with reference to the Land, and the Jews is used with reference to those who held to the worship of YAHWEH, the I AM, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Their Scriptures came to be known as the Torah, but this can be a little misleading, for they use this as a generic term for all of the Hebrew Scriptures known as the TaNaK, a Hebrew acronym for the Torah (the Law of Moses found in the first five books of Genesis-Deuteronomy) the Nefilim (the Prophets) and the Ketubim (the Writings, or the Wisdom Literature). These are what we find in our Old Testament and it is the totality of these Scriptures to which Jesus referred on several occasions as “the Law and the Prophets.” The Samaritan, however, believed that only the five books of Moses were sacred.

You will recall from your readings of Daniel 7 that he prophesied the sequence of four world powers that would come forth based on a vision wherein four beast came forth from the seas, one after another, before the glorious coming of the like a Son of Man (v.13) who would establish His eternal Kingdom (Blessed by His Name!). The first, the lion, we identify with Babylon. The second, resembling a bear, we identify with the Medes and the Persians. During the reign of the Persian king, Cyrus, the Jews returned from Babylon to Jerusalem. The third beast was like a leopard that had four wings and four heads.

The leopard symbolized the Greek Empire, and there are two key components that are of interest to us. The first deals with the spread of the Greek language, as mentioned above. Alexander the Great, a prince of Macedonia (a small kingdom of northern Greece) was tutored in war by his father, King Phillip, but in all else, Alexander was the disciple of the renowned Greek philosopher, Aristotle. Aristotle imparted to his pupil a true missionary zeal and a belief that the Greek culture was the very epitome of civilization.

When Alexander went forth to conquer, he did so with unparalleled success and speed. Before he died at the premature age of 33 Alexander had conquered all of kingdoms of the Mediterranean basin, including southern Europe, northern Africa, Asia Minor (what is today Turkey), all of the Middle East, Persia, Arabia and had even penetrated into regions of the subcontinent of modern-day Pakistan and India.

More than mere military rule and the collecting of tribute, however, Alexander strove to fulfill the vision that his mentor, Aristotle, had successfully woven into his very psyche, for in all of the lands that he conquered, Alexander introduced every aspect of Greek culture including its language, dress, science, philosophies, mode of governing, the arts, the Olympic games and physical contests in the nude, and the pantheon of it gods, known best to us from the stories handed down through our western civilization know as Greek mythology. In every major city, Alexander had temples erected to their various gods and goddesses, and he introduced the rites of temple prostitution, both males and females. Both heterosexual and homosexual as well as the drunken orgies and other modes of debauchery they entailed.

This all encompassing expression of Greek culture became known as Hellenism. On e of the greatest trials for Judaism came with the Hellenization of so many of the Jewish people during this period. All of the ramifications of this process and the crisis it presented for the Judaism of its day is the subject for another study. However, the employment of a universal language by which the Apostles of Christ could transmit the Gospel was a gift from God, and was in place at just the right moment in history for its effective use in communicating with all of the people groups throughout the Roman Empire.

We might note here, also, that Saul of Tarsus, was knowledgeable of all things Greek, as well as all things Jewish, and this knowledge held him in good stead that in the proclamation of God’s truth he could truly be “all things to all men, so that I may be all means save some” (1 Cor. 9:22).

* * * * * * * * * *
(to be continued . . . . In our next edition of Fresh Bread, we will delve into the significance of the “leopards four heads” and also deal with the contributions to the preparation for the spread of the Gospel made by the fourth beast in Daniel’s vision – Rome.

Until then, made God richly bless you with a rich and meaning-ful celebration of our Savior’s birth this Christmas Season. May the coming year of 2009 be your best ever as we pray that the Father draw you ever closer to His heart!)

Fresh Bread c/o Bob Preston

(765)378-5545 208 Crestview Court
rep46017@aol.com Anderson, IN 46017-1416

Preparation for Revival (10)

2008-10-18T22:55:00.002-04:00

After the Father had thoroughly “cleaned my clock” regarding my personal sins of the past and dealing with every vestige of sin that I was currently (at that time) dealing with (still haven’t reached that state of perfection this side of heaven . . . . sigh!), He began driving me deeper into repentance by turning my attention to another source of my sins and the sins of our nation and the sins of the Body of Christ as a whole.

John Donne said, “No man is an island.” The Bible says that when we sin we impact the generations that follow us ~ a sad and costly legacy at best, a curse and a yoke of satanic bondage at the worst. When the Father gave the 10 Commandments to Moses at Mt. Sinai, He said, “. . . I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and fourth generations of those who hate me” (Exodus 20:5). The context of this verse is that wherein the LORD has forbidden us to have any other gods before Him and His prohibition against any form of idolatry.

This was the “besetting sin” of the Israelites, and, unfortunately, we as the Body of Christ today continue to follow them in their egregious ways. Our God is a jealous husband of His Bride, just as any man would be of his earthly bride, and this is why the LORD spoke of this sin as “spiritual adultery.” Hosea, in particular, bore this message in its ultimate expression. We have all seen evidence of this pattern of generational churches, and in our society the sociologists, psychologists and the experts in jurisprudence have finally come to the realization of this truth, even if they don’t know or refuse to give credit to the Word of God as the source of this truth.

Nehemiah and Daniel are two classic examples in the Old Testament of prophets of God who knew of the truth of God’s Word and incorporated its truth in their prayers of repentance. The Lord dealt with me in these areas of repentance in two distinct phases.

You may read about Daniel’s prayer in Chapter nine. For now, let us focus on Nehemiah 1. When Nehemiah heard the discouraging report regarding those Jews who had escaped the captivity and survived and about Jerusalem, he “wept and mourned for days, praying and fasting before the God of heaven” (1:4). In verse 5 Nehemiah addresses God with reverence and with faith in Him as the “LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandment.”

Nehemiah associates himself with his people, Israel, as he prayed “. . . on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned” (v.6).

Notice, Nehemiah made no excuses, no justification, no rationalizations, no finger-pointing or blaming anyone else! As David confessed when the prophet Nathan confronting him with David’s adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah the Hittite, he said, “Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that you are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge” (Psalm 51:4). David accepted the responsibility for his sins, and he was aware of the fact that although others around him were impacted, that this was a very personal and intimate matter between him and His Creator to whom he was ultimately account for his every word and deed!

So, too, we hear Nehemiah ~ a clean confession with no embellishments, no excuses or whining ~ just pure, true and deep repentance. “We have acted corruptly against You and have not dept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses” (v. 7).

This was the next step of repentance the Lord brought me to during the “trip of tears.” I spent nights agonizing over the sins of the Church in America ~ for our apathy and luke-warmness, for our greed and for our idolatry with so many aspects of our society. You know them as well as I, so I will not recount here a litany of all of our offenses; Nehemiah did not do so, I noticed. Yet one sin in particular must be addressed before and above all others and that is our murder of the innocents ~ more than 50 million “legal” abortions, and counting, to our shame ~ and now inroads into infanticide!

Unless, and until, we, as a Church, travail before the Lord in true, deep, persistent repentance, revival, ture and lasting Revival(!) will not come. The choice is ours.

Preparation for Revival (9)

2008-09-09T23:29:00.002-04:00

I experienced this deep level of repentance during my trip to Brazil in June of 2004. This was a significant time for me, because it was on the first night of that trip that the LORD revealed to me the vision that I have been declaring to the churches and pastors in Brazil since that date, namely that God is raising up the saints of Brazil to lead the western world in sending forth missionaries to the four corners of the world.

The response to that vision and the interpretation and the exhortation that following was almost, wonderfully, overwhelming! It was one of the greatest spiritual “highs” of my 32 years of ministry. In spite of that, however, this was the trip that I have dubbed “The Trip of Tears!”

Beginning that very night, after going to sleep happy and contented, I was awakened two hours late with the intense, powerful presence of God commanding to repent of a sin that I had committed many years before. Lest you misunderstand me here or jump to any hasty conclusions, allow me to assure you that this was not a grievous sin, or so I thought. No, this was something that I had said to a Brother several years before that I know wounded him, that hurt his feelings. I had repented of that sin, however, and I had asked his forgiveness, and I had believed that it was “under the blood” and dropped into the “sea of God’s forgetting,” you see.

At this moment in time, however, the Holy Spirit revealed to me that I had thought of and dealt with this offense as if it were a minor offense. Now, in stark contrast, the Spirit of God allowed me to see this sin from His perspective. I saw my words going into this Brother’s heart like a knife! I saw it revealed as an outright assault against one created in the image and likeness of our Father, and I felt, for the first time, what it truly means to grieve the Holy Spirit.

That grieving was translated into my body and into my spirit with such a burning agony, such a devastating pain that I began to cry out to the LORD! At this precise moment, however, I was acutely aware of the fact that I was sleeping in a young boy’s bedroom of my host family, right next to the bedroom of the parents and also of the young brother that was so honored to have the “prophet of God” bless his bedroom by sharing it with me. I knew that I would awaken and startle everyone in the house if I were to cry out with the volume of my voice that would be commensurate with the pain I felt welling up within me. I would have been wailing, even screaming, with the anguish I was feeling so deeply, deep within the core of my being!

Therefore, I grabbed the pillow and bit down upon it, crying and shaking with remorse the likes of which I had never before known in my life! Waves of deep, deep repentance swept over me, and I wept and cried out to the LORD for His release and forgiveness, for deep spiritual healing. I expressed to Him how deeply I regretted wounding my brother, yes, of wounding my Father in so doing!

To make a long story short, I fell asleep just before dawn, lying on the floor in the fetal position with the pillow still stuffed in my mouth. Forty five minutes later I was abruptly awakened by the LORD, for it was time to shower and dress and pray to begin the new day of ministry.

In Matthew 6, when Jesus instructed His disciples that when they were fasting, they were not to wear long faces in order to get the sympathy or approval of men (which would be their reward), but they were to wash their faces, anoint their heads with oil and fast privately as unto the LORD in order that they might receive their reward, in secret, from Him. Likewise, in this instance, I felt the LORD was warning me not to let anyone know what I had experienced.

Physically exhausted and emotionally drained, I was to wear a bright countenance and trust Him for the strength that I needed to function with His anointing which He surely did provide, Bless His Holy Name!

Thinking that I had passed some kind of test, I was totally unprepared for a repeat performance of God’s searing, chastening hand upon me the second night, then the third night, and on and on, night after night, as He broke me, humbled me, disciplined me and taught me the true meaning of true repentance. Only by His grace was I able to function in ministry for that grueling three week ministry trip, but grace He did supply, sufficient for every need of every moment.

I will never be the same! ~ and for that, I bow my knees in worship and thank Him every day. Little did I know, though, that this was only the first lesson of three.

(to be continued . . . .)

Preparation for Revival (7)

2008-09-07T04:43:00.002-04:00

Preparation for Revival (7)

The second step in Preparation for Revival is True Repentance. Why the term “True Repentance?” First, let us recall what we have learned and/or what we have been taught about the word and the act(s) of repentance. We know that the word from the Greek literally means “a change of mind.” We have been taught that it means “to turn,” i.e. to make a “U-turn” in our lives. We were on the “road to hell,” dead in our transgressions, when the Love of God broke through to our lives, and then, when we “accepted Jesus (a) into our lives, or (b) as our Savior, we made a 180° turn and were, subsequently, on the “road to Heaven.” Too often, in this modern era, the necessity of repenting from: truly turning from our sins is a key ingredient that is left out!

If the act of true repentance, a deep, life transforming remorse for and casting away our sinful behavior, is not neglected entirely, it is treated as synonymous with merely the confession of, or the acknowledgement of our sins and the recognition that such behavior was, and is, wrong. The feeling one gets is that it is very either (a) a very superficial, cognitive act of saying, “I’m sorry,” or (b) an emotional experience at the altar and is thereafter soon forgotten.

This, dear brethren, is a grievous oversight on our part as evangelicals of such magnitude as to qualify for “gross negligence!” ~ a form of “spiritual malpractice,” if you will! Therefore, our next step (or series of steps) must be to deal honestly with this critically important, biblical need for True repentance. We must deal with it (1) personally, (2) corporately, as and on behalf of the Body of Christ, (3) generationally, in two dimensions – our past and our future generations.

(to be continued . . . .)

Preparation for Revival (6)

2008-08-18T02:21:00.002-04:00

Preparation for Revival (6)

After praying that prayer for two years, the Lord answered by giving me a revelation of what I have now come to know is His requirement for our first step of preparation for revival – having the Father’s heart for the lost – both those who have not yet come to know Christ Jesus as their Savior and those who have come to know Him as such but who have, for this season, entered into a prodigal lifestyle, who, due to their rebellion and wandering, have become ensnared once again by the lusts of the world (the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life – 1 John 2:16), and, therefore, enslaved once again to the Enemy.

This revelation came to me in a most unwelcome form (I prayed, remember, that the Father had permission to do whatever was necessary to make of me the man of God that He wanted to be, in His way, whatever it took) – the worst nightmare that I have ever experienced in my life!

In this nightmare, my oldest granddaughter had been kidnapped. At this time, Ashley was only 7 years old and truly a most precious little girl. In the dream, I could see that these evil men had taken Ashley to a dark and filthy basement somewhere in the heart of the very worst part of the city and had physically tied her to a bed in a small room with a dim light. They injected my precious child with heroin in order to begin the process of making her a slave to them.

In other rooms I saw other little girls who had been captive for some time and were totally under the demonic control of these evil men. I was horrified to see perverse, evil and violent men paying these kidnappers money to sexually assault these poor little girls, none of whom could have been more than ten years old! I came to realize that these beasts were preparing my precious little girl to be there next sex slave, and for the first time in my life I knew what the true meaning of insanity is.

I knew not only the brand of insanity of these vile, demon-possessed men, but I now began to realize that I, too, could experience another kind of insanity – a total break with reality to escape a horror that my normal mind could not manage to live with.

At that moment of realization, filled with grief, fear, anguish and emotional pain the likes of which I had never before experienced in my life, I cried out to our Father from the very depths of my soul! I cried out for His help, for deliverance for my granddaughter. I cried out to Him, because I felt so totally and completely helpless. I begged Him, screaming in my anguish, “Please, Father, please, in Jesus’ Name, help me! Show me where my precious granddaughter is! Father, please, help me! I must rescue her! I cannot bear to endure this horror!”

I heard, I felt deeply, the Father’s response to my anguished pleas. He asked me simply, “Son, if I were to show you exactly where Ashley is held captive, if I were to give you the exact address of that house, what would you do?”

I screamed with all the strength within me, “Anything! I will do anything and everything necessary to free my baby! I will break down any door to reach her and set her free. I will destroy any man who tries to stand between me and that child. God help me, but I would, without hesitation, kill anyone who dared try to keep her from me! I must rescue my precious little girl!”

Then I heard the deepest, softest, yet most powerful resonance within my soul as I heard the Father speak once more: “Now, My son, now you have just a taste of how I feel about My children who are in bondage to the Satan. Now you have just begun to understand the Passion of My heart!

Beloved, I awoke from that nightmare shaken and broken, a very different man than the one who had gone to sleep just a few hours before. After two years of praying, of crying out to the Father for Him to do in me whatever it took – I was transformed in my understanding of what the Lord requires of us! Even now, I am still learning how He is working out in me all that it takes for me to live and minister in the ways that conform my prayers, behavior, use of time and energy, resources in order that I can be used of Him for His purposes in order to fulfill the desires of His heart.

I believe that the Father has made it abundantly clear to me that He will not even begin to move in our midst with a true Revival until we corporately, as the Body of Christ, begin to function in such a way that we, together, are seeking to fulfill His will, the very desires of His heart!
Will you join me in praying that we might seek His face to this end?

It is our necessary First Step!

Preparation for Revival (5)

2008-08-07T20:48:00.002-04:00

Preparation for Revival (5)

Seven years ago I took a hard, realistic look at myself and realized that the answer was, “I really wanted to, but obviously I didn’t, or I would have already been “paying the price.” I would have been living more sacrificially, utilizing my time, energy and resources so as to live in such a way, intentionally, to be doing what I know to be His will. I wasn’t. Like many other Christians, I was too comfortable!

Paul hit the nail on the head in Romans 7: “I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members” (vv. 21-23). Sounds harsh, doesn’t it? In reality, however, it is just gut honest without all of the excuses and rationalizations that we make for ourselves when we choose to gratify the flesh rather than to do that which would cause us to participate in the sufferings of Christ. “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him” (Romans 8:16-17).

Remember, when we rationalize our behavior, we tell ourselves (and others) “rational lies!” The problem is, we think we can get away with telling such lies to the Father! Remember, saints: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7). When these thoughts hammered their truths home to my heart, I began to pray in a radically different way, and I continue to do so to this day. I believe this is absolutely necessary, because if we say that we want Revival, then it must begin with us!

I began to pray, “LORD God, You know me far better than I know myself. You know everything! You know my every fear, conscious and subconscious; You know the weaknesses, the frailties, and the wickedness of my heart (Jeremiah 17:9). Therefore, Father, I am asking You to do what You need to do in me to conform me to Your will. Do whatever it takes to change me into the man of God that You want me to be and prepare me to do Your will, no matter what the cost, whenever You call upon me to act. If there is pride, break it, Father! If there are subconscious resistances, overwhelm them. If there are fears, give me Your Holy Ghost courage. Whatever it takes, Father, please!

I will do everything in my power to willingly yield and submit to Your refining fire, no matter the pain, the cost or the loss! Father, I will not stop praying this prayer. This, O LORD, will be my prayer to You every day that I live, in Jesus’ Holy Name ~ Amen!

Back from Baltimore and Preparation for Revival (4)

2008-08-02T15:40:00.002-04:00

Thank you so much for your prayers for our trip to Baltimore! The time spent with my Mom was truly precious for both Mary Jane and me (and for Mom, too, I hope! :). We also had a wonderful responsed from the congregation of the Middle River Assembly of God in both the Sunday morning and evening services. Praise God for the moving of His Spirit in the hearts and the lives of His saints. We were also able to serve s dear Sister in Christ in the nursing home where we had a special "service" just for her and her precious room mate.

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Preparation for Revival (4)

Our Father God has made His will abundantly clear to us in His Word. Prior to enumerating upon this further, it will be helpful to first make one important point clear. We have a tendency in our “Greek” mindset to compartmentalize and delineate everything scientifically. For example, we make a clear, definitive distinction between our will, our mind and our emotions. While this is certainly valid in one sense, the Biblical perspective is more of a “flowing together” in the expression of who we are. For example, think of one thing that you truly desire more than anything else. Don’t be generic in your thinking here, please. Rather, be very specific about something that is critically important for your life, for your future. If there were no limitations or hindrances to you having that which you desire, what would it be?

Have you got it clearly in mind? Good! Now, in order for that desire to become a reality, you must choose to set your will, your volitional power, to do that which is necessary on your part to bring your strongest desire into being. There may be other factors involved beyond your control, but you must commit yourself to doing your part to bring about what you say you desire, don’t you? In so doing, do you see how powerfully one’s will and one’s desire are intertwined? This is another example of how “the two become one!” Sounds like a good marriage doesn’t it? When we add the dimension of physical action (the doing) to the cognition and volition (the thinking and the doing) with the emotional component (one’s desires), we have a “threefold cord” that reminds one of the Trinity (the Tri-Unity) that “Three-in-Oneness” that is God!

Remember, 1 John 5:14 promises us that “. . . if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” What is God’s Will? He expresses it in 1 Timothy 2:4 – (God our Savior, v.3b) “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (So, first we have the emotional component – the Father’s desire, His passion!) He expresses it in 2 Peter 3:9b, for He “. . . is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (Now we know the volitional component of the Father’s heart!)
We have also been supplied with the final component: We have the power of His dynamic action in the most often quoted and memorized verse of the Bible: John 3:16. Note that Love is not an emotion! Rather it is a covenantal commitment to Act! “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (emphasis added)

So, we now have the Father’s will clearly revealed to us without question! Ah, but here’s the rub: do we have the Father’s heart? That is, do we truly desire what He desires? Are our wills set to motivate us to the action required to accomplish His will in the earth? Are we willing to “pay the price,” to “put our money where our mouth is” by doing what it takes on our part to bring His desire, His will to pass?

(To be Continued)

Pray for us, and Preparation for Revival (3)

2008-07-25T13:58:00.003-04:00

Mary Jane and I will be traveling to Baltimore this weekend to visit with my Mom and to speak at the Middle River Assembly of God for both the morning and the evening services. Please pray for a safe journey there and back, rich fellowship with Mom and the saints of the Middle River AOG and for the Spirit's rich anointing in both of these church services. Thank you so much, and God Bless!

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1 John 5:14-15: “This is the confidence which we have before Him that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” These verses align beautifully with the first half of 2 Chronicles 7:14: “and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face . . . .”

If we were to record our prayers over any given period of time, have those recordings transcribed and then categorized those prayers, how many of them would be truly focused on the Father and seeking to do His will, and how many of them would be focused on our needs, wants and desires. Remember always, please, the example of our Lord Jesus who said that His “food” was “to do the will of Him who sent Me and accomplish His works” (John 4:34). Seeking the Father’s will instead of our own is one aspect of our humbling ourselves and seeking His face. (We will deal with others anon.)

It is right and proper to make our needs and desires known to our Father. Paul exhorts us in Philippians 4:6, “. . . in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God.” He delights in meeting our needs, and we know that “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father or lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning: (James 1:17).

When Jesus taught His disciples to pray (Matthew 6:9 ff; Luke 11:2 ff), He made provision for us to petition the Father for our daily bread (physical sustenance), forgiveness of our debts (sins), and deliverance (protection and rescue) from the evil one, but His direction to us in prayer is that our first priorities would be (a) to revere the Father’s name, that it might be “hallowed” or sanctified by both our confession and our lifestyle, and (b) that we make the faith declaration that the Father’s kingdom would come (into our lives, into our society and into the whole earth), that His will might be done on earth as it is being done in heaven!

When we align ourselves in prayer, faithfully, consistently, persistently and passionately, with these priorities, we are then positioning ourselves before Him in such a way that He can trust us with the Treasure of the Outpouring of His Spirit in Revival!

(To be Continued . . . .)

Preparation for Revival (2)

2008-07-22T20:52:00.001-04:00

One of the most scriptures most frequently referred to when one hears about Revival is 2 Chronicles 7:14. In its context this verse referred to God’s promise to Solomon, because Solomon had built the Temple and dedicated it to the LORD with many sacrifices, and the LORD said to Solomon (vv. 12b-13), “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, of if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, (v. 14) and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Note that the LORD does specify precisely why He would cause such calamities to come upon Israel, but we can clearly infer from the phrase in v. 14 “will forgive their sin” that it would be in response to their sins, normally of idolatry as was their custom so very many times in the past. The LORD viewed this as “spiritual adultery.”

In my recent experience in Brazil, I learned that the most urgent desire of the pastors of every church where I ministered was on the subject of Revival. Beginning with this passage from 2 Chronicles 7 I began to seek the Father intensively during all of my spare time about Revival. I was almost shocked to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit in my heart say to me that He had been preparing me to teach on this for the past seven (7) years!

The first place I was led was to 1 John 5:14-15. Please read and meditate on this passage that we might walk step-by-step together in that which the Father has been revealing to me.

(to be Continued . . . .)

Preparation for Revival (1)

2008-07-19T03:45:00.001-04:00

Our God is totally sovereign. He can choose to send Revival upon any group of people at anytime, anywhere. It is totally in the Father’s hands. However, our God is not haphazard! He values the outpouring of His Spirit, because such a Blessing is no trifle! It is, indeed, His very Life-force that he is giving to His people as a Gift of immense proportions. Our God is, furthermore, a God of great benevolence. Once He pours out His Spirit upon a people, tribe, tongue or nation there is an “overflow” that splashes out upon others who receive the Blessings of this overflow, and “worth” is not an issue. That is Salvation comes to the lost, Healing and deliverance to the needy and the hurting, because, just as He send the “rain upon the just and the unjust” alike (Matthew 5:45), so, too, does He send forth His Spirit of Revival upon the just and the unjust alike ~ Praise Him!

We also know that the truths and the principles of the Christian life are revealed to us in the Word of God, and there is always a balance that we must be aware of and apply, if we expect the Father to hear and answer our prayers for Him to send Revival. This is so important for us to understand. For example, Jesus tells us in Luke 12:48b, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.” Those of us who are seeking the LORD God to send Revival to us must understand this and appreciate the fact that we have been abundantly blessed with revelation, teaching, resources and knowledge of His Word, and He will hold us accountable to function accordingly.

On the other hand, regardless of what we do or do not have, what we know or do not know, Jesus also told us in Matthew 7:11 (Luke 11:13), “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give what is good (give the Holy Spirit) to those who ask Him?” We see, then, that there may be some conditions that must be met before we receive this Blessing of Revival we seek. We must be of a right condition – that of being poor in spirit and meek, for example – and we must be of the right state of desire – hungry and thirsty for righteousness, crying out to the Father to be fed!

(To be Continued . . . .)

Brazil Trip - Final Stop

2008-07-07T12:01:00.002-04:00

The last leg of my trip to Brazil this year was at the Shalon Church in Curitiba. Curitiba is a major commercial center of 2 million people in the southern part of Parana State. Shalon (we would spell it Shalom) Church is a cell-based church of over 1,500 members with 800+ active cell groups. The pastor, Pastor Ojilon, is the brother who disciples Pastor Enoc of The Baptist Church of Glory in Londrina, and it was upon Pastor Enoc's recommendation that I was asked to speak there. There was an "Encontra" in progress that weekend for married couples alumni. Pastor Eno and his wife, Helena, were participating in this "reunion," and Pastor Ojilon and I had only a limited amount of time to spend together. I was able, however, to share the vision for Missions from Brazil the Lord gave to us in 2004, and he was extremely receptive. He also earnestly desired that I share my concept of the Four Pillars of Revival that I had been sharing with the other pastors, leaders and churches during this visit to Londrina and Marilia.

Before meeting Pastor Ojilon prior to my speaking at the Sunday morning service (6/29), we had not yet met. I had ministered to two of their four worship teams on Saturday afternoon. In additon, I was scheduled to speak at a special service for "jovens," i.e. adolescents and young adults Saturday night. Whenever we serve others, we must always be prepared to be flexible, gracious and to be "ready in season and out!" On the way to the church, my interpreter, Monica, informed me that "oops!" They had double-booked for that evening! I think that what happened was that Pastor Ojilon, in desiring to be gracious to me, had scheduled me to speak at this service "at the last minute," because the other event was a whol team of young people that had been booked several months ago to minister that night.

They do awesome dramatic presentations in Brazil, and this group was scheduled, after the worship session, to do a dramatic presentation followed by a message from the leader of this ministry team; they had traveled a full day's journey from the far northern area of Brazil. Therefore, they asked if I could bring just a short exhortation of about 15 minutes before they turned the service over to their other guests.

The next morning, Sunday, was my first opportunity to meet Pastor Ojilon, but before I was introduced to him, he was greeted by the leaders of both the worship teams and the young people to whom we had ministered the day before. They reported to him that they were so impacted by the brief times of ministry that they wanted him to hear what I had shared with them. Unaware of all of this, we flowed in the morning service with the Word, and many people responded to our invitation for ministry and impartation and several dozen surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

After the service we drove about 45 minutes out of the city to their camp. Following a time of foot-washing and prayer, Pastor Ojilon asked me to bring a "greting" to the married couples at the Encouter. I ministered very briefly, less than 15 minutes on God's commands to us as husbands, wives and parent from Ephesians 5 and Deuteronomy 6.

That evening, when Pastor Ojilon introduced me to the congregation, he shared with them the impact our ministry had on those of the worship team, the young adults and the married couples. He shared that some of the things that he had heard and received that afternoon were new and exciting to him - things he had never heard taught in his 20+ years of ministry! He then turned to me and, through the interpreter, asked me to not share what I had prepared for that night. Instead, he asked that I share with the entire church the full message of which I had shared just a part with the young people the night before.

I ministered on Spiritual Warfare and the Strategic Assaults of Satan in our day - the assaults of and our response to: (1) aggressive, virulent atheism in our schools and universities aimed at stealing the faith of our children, youth and young adults, (2) a militant homosexual agenda aimed at legalizing homosexual marriages in order to destroy marriage and the family as we know it which, in turn, is the foundation of the Church, and (3) radical Islamic jihad, both physical, economic and cultural (legal attempts to permeate our schools and communities). The response to the Word was, once again, powerful as the front of the church filled with those seeking impartation and making a full commitment to become engaged in warfare for and under the banner of Christ Jesus, the King!

I hope to receive a DVD of the video they recorded of that service, and if I do, I will make it available to you as soon as possible.

Once again, I cannot thank you enough for your love, prayers and financial support. May God, our Father, the Messiah Jesus and the presence of the Holy Ghost be with you to bless and empower you and your family day by day!

Hallelujah!!

Reflections About Prayer (3)

2008-06-27T06:35:00.002-04:00

This is the second of 2 "reflections" on the call for Christians who are concerned about the upcoming elections to collectively stop and pray for one minute a day at a prescribed time. As always, if you have comments, questions or feedback, please feel free to d-mail me at rep46017@aol.com

Reflections on “One Minute Per Day in Prayer”

2. I am fully in agreement that this year’s election for our next President, as well as all of the other elected officials who will serve our nation, state and local governments for the next four years (in the case of the President), is a critically important time for our nation in every regard – energy production and its effect on the economy, the war in Iraq, preparation to defend against the coming tide of jihad, the need to strengthen the integrity of the institution of marriage and the family, and so much more! Paul exhorts us in 1 Timothy 2:1-4:

Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

“Kings and all who are in authority” – are we being faithful to do that now? Do we pray faithfully for: President Bush, Vice President Cheney and all of the Secretaries of the Departments of Government that comprise the Cabinet of the Administration? Do we faithfully pray for our Representatives in Congress and our Senators and the aides that assist them in their research concerning all of the Bills that come before them? Do we faithfully pray for our Supreme Court Justices and their legal aides?

Regarding the above, do we even know their names?

Please understand that these questions are not meant to bring condemnation to anyone! The intent behind them is to ask this: If we are not in the habit of faithful, daily prayer and intercession for those currently in leadership, will God hear our “prayers of panic” that we decide to lift up because we are concerned about the results of the upcoming elections?

Why would He? Could He be assured that we would faithfully pray for our next President and all of those who will lead our government, regardless of who those persons may be, for the next four years as faithfully as we attended to our “emergency prayer vigil” prior to and during the elections of this November?

Reflections About Prayer (2)

2008-06-26T14:12:00.002-04:00

Sorry about the "misnumbering." I posted on the blog yesterday the e-mail that I had received concerning a call to pray one minute per day in concert with other believers at the same time each evening concerning the upcoming elections. This day (2) is my first reflection of three that I would like ot share with you. After that, I will use these reflections as a "linch pin" to begin posting a series on Revival. Prayer is that "linch pin" between these two concerns, so it seemed best to begin with this call to prayer.

Reflections on “One Minute Per Day in Prayer”

1. I researched as thoroughly as I could on the Urban Legends and Folklore web site and found nothing to substantiate or deny the historical claims put forth in this e-mail. That said, I believe it is always a good idea when someone calls for us to pray in agreement for any issues that concern our the welfare of our lives and the welfare of the Body of Christ, our families, our nation as well as the well being of all mankind.

My wife, Mary Jane, and I have dedicated focused prayer time over the years for certain individuals and/or specific situations. We had done all that we could in service and ministry to that person(s) or the given situation(s), and we knew that only God could bring about the full blessings that we desired for and in the lives of those involved. We would, for example, dedicate ourselves to stop whatever we were doing at 12:00 noon each day, or as close to that time as our circumstances would allow, and we would pray. We each knew that the other was also praying at that time, and we would confess the promise given to us by Jesus in Matthew 18:19-20 – “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

We have seen powerful, positive, progressive answers to these praeyrs (all Praise to Him from whom comes "every good and perfect gift" - see James 1:17). Let us keep these for "P's" in mind for further reflections on Revival - Praise, Powerful, Positive, Progressive!

I'll post Reflection 2 tomorrow. You'll have to excuse me; I need to go now, because I feel a really wonderfully explosive "HALLELUJAH SHOUT" coming on me now! Cião.

Let's Talk About Prayer (1)

2008-06-25T08:03:00.003-04:00

I received this e-mail from a brother, Don Hendrickson. I have not checked the historical, via Snopes or Urban Legends, etc., because my focus on the idea that is proposed about us unifying in prayer. I would like to refrain from any comments today, because I have several, but I would like to bathe them in prayer a bit more, and will begin posting a multi-part series concerning several of the ideas contained herein beginning tomorrow. I assume I will have internet connection in Curitiba, but (a) not having a guarantee that I will, and (b) not knowing what my schedule for ministry there will or will not permit, please understand that if there is a hiatus of a few days (I will not be able to post Monday, June 30 or July 1, while returning to the U.S.) I will be faithful to pursue and to share these insights. If you would like to participate with me in this process, please feel free to e-mail me at rep46017@aol.com. Thank you, and God Bless!

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THIS SOUNDS LIKE AN EXCELLENT IDEA. ONE MINUTE EACH NIGHT Received from a friend and it is true, this is the scariest election we as Christians have ever faced and from the looks of the polls, the Christians aren't voting Christian values. We all need to be on our knees. Do you believe we can take God at His word? Call upon His name, then stand back and watch His wonders to behold. This scripture gives us, as Christians, ownership of this land and the ability to call upon God to heal it. I challenge you to do so. We have never been more desperate than now for God to heal our land. This election is the scariest I remember in my lifetime. 2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. During WWII, there was an advisor to Churchill who organized a group of people who dropped what they were doing every night at a prescribed hour for one minute to collectively pray for the safety of England , its people and peace. This had an amazing effect as bombing stopped. There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in America . The United States of America and our citizens need prayer more than ever !!! If you would like to participate: each evening at 9:00 PM Eastern Time (8:00 PM Central, 7:00 PM Mountain, 6:00 PM Pacific), stop whatever you are doing and spend one minute praying for the safety of the United States, our troops, our citizens, for peace in the world, the up-coming election, that the Bible will remain the basis for the laws governing our land and that Christianity will grow in the U.S. If you know anyone who would like to participate, please pass this along. Someone said if people really understood the full extent of the power we have available through prayer, we might be speechless. Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have. Thank You. Please pass this on to anyone who you think will want to join us. God Bless You!!!

Praise Report and the Rest of the Trip

2008-06-25T05:53:00.002-04:00

Wow! You saints sure do know how to pray! Thank you so much. :)

I have slept a solid, deep sleep for 6 1/2 and 6 hours the past two nights (my norm) and feel truly refreshed. My devotional time has been awesome, and I am pressing on into the Word for more and more of the insight from the Father's heart in several areas that I believe are relevant and so very important for this time. I would like to deal with one of these - some thoughts and a call to prayer and inetercession concerning our upcoming elections and related areas - in my next post.

Friday we leave for Curitiba. The weather turned bitter cold with heavy downpours of rain, so we got that real deep chilling effect from the cold and the dampness combined. Curitiba is even further south (away from the equator!), and everyone here keeps telling me that Curitiba is much, much colder than it is here! (Thanks, a lot :). Oh well, I've got that wonderful fire of the Holy Ghost keeping my heart warm and I am not suffering from any cold or flu systems, so I will put on layers of clothes, shiver and bless God! Then again, I think I'll ask the Father to turn up His atmospheric thermostat, if He would be so kind, and "enjoy the ride."

I have no idea of the agenda for this last stop of the trip. Therefore, knowing from past experience that I can have anywhere from 4 to 7 messages to give between Friday night, and Sunday, and, if the traditional pattern is followed, knowing that one of these services will be specifically for leadership and one will be specifically for the "joven" - teens and young adults - I am preparing in prayer and study accordingly.

Deus abençoe, Irmãos! (God bless you, Brothers! - (Sisters included! "Brothers" is generic, you know, like saints :)

Emcontra Story & Prayer Request

2008-06-24T08:33:00.004-04:00

Upon my return from Marília, I've learned that I will speak to the TADEL meeting tonight. (TADEL is "Training and Development of Evangelico Leaders); this will be part 2 of a prophetic word/ teaching to that which I shared with them last week. I am not sure of Wednesday's schedule as of yet, but on Thursday night I will speak to the congregation of Villa Romana (Roman Village is one of the districts of the city of Londrina). Two years ago I was priveleged to attend and participate in the Ordination and Installation service of their new pastor, Pastor Clãodine. I have spoken at this church several times in past years when Pastor Atilio was there (he is now one of the associate pastors at the Mother Church with Pastor Enoc), and I worked with Pastor Clãodine 2 years ago at an Emcontra com Deus, but this will be my first opportunity to minister at the Villa Romana Church since his becoming their pastor. He and his wife are truly precious servants of the Lord - very dedicated. (Emcontra com Deus, or Encounter with God, is a weekend retreat, men's retreats for men only and women's retreats for women only) where for 3 days new believers receive a "crash course" in the faith and Christian living.

I attended, but because my Portuguese was not sufficient to teach without an interpreter, and since none was available to me at that time, I spent the entire weekend in intercessory prayer, observation of the mature brothers' ministry to these new believers and assisting them in prayer ministry to the men (for which, thank God, my Portugues was sufficient).

I have never witneesed such a powerful impact on new believers in my life! There is a two year waiting list to be eligible to serve at these meetings! (Imagine that!). The new believers are sent off by their families with a corporate church "send off" service. When they arrive, they are placed under a vow of silence until the last service! (Actually, it is one night and 2 full days thereafter - we arrived Friday night for dinner, and the last service ended on Sunday, late afternoon, in time to return for the Sunday night service which as an all out Hallelujah / Celebrate Jesus / Angels Dancing in Heaven Over New Believers "Blow-Out" service! At this service the men had opportunity to share their testimonies.

During the weekend there were really anointed times of seminar style teaching, dramatic presentations and testimonies, always followed by prayer for the men for them to surrender themselves anew to Christ in that area of their lives - doctrines of the faith (cliff notes version for intoduction purposes), marital relations, parenting, Bible reading and study and devotions, prayer life, healing, repentance for and deliverance from addictions of every sort - alcohol, drugs and pornography - physical violence and abuse of their spouses and children - Wow!

I saw brokenness and reconciliation in the most powerful ways and was so privileged to have had this experience. The Lord really anointed me beautifully for intercession from our arrival Friday night at 7:00 p.m. until the final meeting before our departure at 5:00 Sunday afternoon. He gave me the strength and passion to pray through most of the nights with only 2-4 hours of sleep per night and throughout both Saturday and Sunday during the days.

This trip has been similar in that my aggressive searching for God's heart about revival and constant study and prayer has caused, I believe, a real disruption in my sleep pattern. The beds are comfortable, and I am tired, but once again I am only sleeping an average of 3 or 4 hours a noght. The past Saturday night before teaching on Sunday morning and preaching two services on Sunday night, I only had two hours of sleep.

I am beginning to feel a litlle "punch drunk" with the fatigue, and I would really appreciate your prayer agreement with me for the energy and the strength that I need, because I do not want the enemy to have an opportunity to cause any problems in the ministry in any way due to my fatigue. I will say this, however ~ Glory to God, when I am under the anointing to share God's Word, "I feel no pain!" Hallelujah!

I love, value and appreciate you all so very much! God Bless and Watch Over you and your families tudos dias (all days = continually). Amen!

Brazil Ministry Update

2008-06-23T16:10:00.005-04:00

Today, I returned from Marília ("third times the charm" to get the spelling of this city correct :). The ministry went very well! I had the opportunity to speak to the congregation on Friday evening about "The Father's Heart." On Saturday evening, they have a special service for the "Joven." This includes the older teens and the young adults, but as I mentioned before, many of the adults come out to support and encourage their young people when a special speaker comes into town. We ministered in three areas: biblical relationships to build strong marriages, preparation for spiritual warfare in light of coming persecution, and the Father's call to this generation for missions. We had a tremendous response for prayer and ministry with bout 45 young people, and I was so blessed that the Lord moved in the gifts of the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom and prohpecy. The positive feedback and testimonies as a result of that meeting continued throughout my time there on Sunday morning and Sunday evening. I praise God for His faithfulness to us! Hallelujah!

On Sunday morning, I shared with a Men's Group (part of their small group / cell group programs). Several of the men had been in the service the evening before, and they were deeply stirred and convicted about what they had heard, and as they shared this with the other brothers in the small group, it stirred up a very active discussion and ministry time. I also had the opportunity to share with them concerning the ministry of "The Voice of the Martyrs." Bless God!

On Sunday Evening we had two services and ministered at 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. The topic was the Four Reguirements for Revival. Due to time constraints, I could only preview steps 2-4 and focus deeply on step 1 (which is, after all, the first logical step one must take in any arean, yes?). Also, at the 5:00 service, we had to be careful of our time limits, and therefore the ministry time after the message could not be as aggessive as I would have liked. The minsitry time after the second service, however, was really powerfully anointed by the Holy Spirit (as was that after the first service), and people had the freedom to stay to seek the Lord and stay under His anointing without constraint.

I thank the Lord for every opportunity to share His Love and His Word, and folks here asked me to thank you for being willing to "lend me to the nations" for His purposes. They send to you all their love, their blessings and their prayer to encourage you. That's the Body of Christ at work, yes? Yes!!

Bob in Brazil ~ "Todas coisas da minha vida estão nos mãos do meu Pai!"
(All things of my life are in the hands of my Father!)

Brazil Ministry Update

2008-06-21T08:55:00.003-04:00

Oopah! Greetings from Marilha! Apparaently we had some translation/communications "oops" in my understanding of where Marilha is. It is not in the city of São Paolo, after all! It is however in the State of São Paolo :-). The city of Londrina is about 2/3 of the size of Indianapolis, and Marilha is about 2/3 the size of Londrina. It is about a 2 1/2 hour drive northeast of Londrina and lies approximately 5 hours west of the city of São Paolo. That said, I am working here specifically with the First Baptist Church of Marilha. My interpreter is an American, David, who has lived here for more than 20 years, so the message for the church last night flowed beautifully, praise God! In our time of sharing before our first message, I shared with him the vision the Lord gave me in 2004 for Brazil to become a leader among the Western nations in sending out missionaries to the rest of the world, and I also shared my burden to be used of God to strengthen the Spiritual and Biblical Foundations of this up and coming generation of adolescents and young adults.

In David's sharing with me, in response to my questions about this church and its involvemnt with misisons, he shared that they were heavily involved with missions in many countries already with additonal plans to expand their missions outreach to Japan and Iraq. I asked him why he thought Pastor Enoc of Londrina would have so strongly recommended that I would come to this church inasmuch as they already have an ongoing misisons program here. David shared that he thought the timing of my coming to share with them is definitely of the Lord for two reasons.

First, the dimension that I am bringing to the congregation and to its pastor and leaders is a different approach, i.e. sending forth members of their own congregation in addition to their support for misisons through their denomination. This really touched his heart, and he quickly saw the increased dimension of power in prayer and support for those who are sent out when it is "our sons and daughters, our fathers and mothers, etc." Second, he said that there is almost an undercurrent of the assumption that this is an "adult" calling. The fact that I have a burden for the teens and young adults is a dimension that he felt was (a) much needed and (b) would receive a very powerful response.

I shared with him concerning my encouragement for young people, wo are so called, to complete their graduate stdudies and gain employment with international companies that would pay for them to go into countries as engineers, doctors, chemist, et. al.. These young professionals will be warmly received by those countries who need their skills, although these same nations would refuse them entry into the country if they attempted to come as self- identified Christian missionaries. These "undercover agents for the gospel," can perform the duties for their emplyers and the host counttries, and, at the same time, can begin the work of evangelism to start new underground church movements. David said that he knew this was the Word of the Lord for these young people at this time.

I truly thank the Lord for this confirmation and for David's encouragement. We are laying all of this on the altar before the Lord for His perfect will to be accomplished through these messages. Thank for your continuing prayer support. Praise God, I am in good health in almost every area, and when I am under His anointing to deliver His Word, "I feel no pain!" ~ Hallelujah!! Deus abencoes, Amados! (God Bless you, Beloved Ones!)

In the Lamb ~ Bob Preston In Brasil
"My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His works." ~ John 4:34

Brazil Ministry Update

2008-06-20T05:18:00.007-04:00

Greetings from Londrina, Brazil! I arrived in Londrina on June 9 and today, June 20, I am preparing to leave for three days in Marilha, São Paolo. São Paolo is the "New York" of Brazil, if you will - their largest city. Marilha is considered to be its own city (comparable to a burrough in N.Y.). My time in Londrina has been very pleasant. We had some bitter cold weather just after I arrived - the coldest I have ever experienced here in 14 visits over the past 13 years. It was getting down to 35 degrees F. at night, and because we are right on the Tropic of Capricorn, these homes are not equipped with entral heating; nor do they have portable heaters.
Therefore, it was multiple layers of clothes, very fast runs to the bathroom at night, and "Brrrr!" ~Gloria Deus! :0)

The ministry aspect regarding missions is going slower than I had hoped, but I am not discouraged, because in additon to preaching to 3 congregations and teaching at the meeting for the Cell Group leaders, I have had some real quality time to share with the leadership of all 14 congregations here about the visison for the Brazileiros to raise up and send forth missionaries to the world. In every service and at every opportunity, I share the vision for Misisons for the churches of Brazil to send forth missionaries to the U.S. and to 4 Corners of the Earth. (This was the vision the Lord gave me while speaking at a city-wide Youth Rally here in Londrina in 2004). They have a weekly TADEL meeting (Training and Development of Evangelico Leaders). I had the privelege to speak to these key leaders last week and am scheduled to do so again for "part 2" next week when I reutrn to Londrina from Marilha.

This trip to Marilha is significant, because it is my first "in-road" into the churces in that part of the ocuntry, and Pastor Enoc (senior pastor here in Londrina of The Baptist Church of Glory) has informed me that (somehow) the word has already begun to go forth in other areas of São Paolo about the vision the Lord has given us, and I have an invitation for another large church in that city when I return next year. In Marilha I will speak at a Youth rally on Saturday night followed by a special service to the church's leadership. (Youth Rallys here are really "Awesome!" All of the teens sit in the front rows; seated all over the floor in front of the teens are their younger beothers and sister, and seated behind them are their parents an d grandparents, praying for their young people and cheering them on. Can you imagine the Joy ~ the release of the power of the Holy Spirit that comes upon us all in such a setting? Wow!)

Sunday night I will speak to the full church at their services at 5:00 and 7:00. (In Brazil, the Sunday School and special classes for leadership training are held in the morning, and the large Celebration Services are in the evening. This is truly a "later in the day" culture than we experience as Americanos. :)

The enemy has sent his "little foxes to spoil the vine" with a lot of "techno-attack" strategies - you know, problems and glitches with computer, e-mail, etc., blah, blah :). He is so lame! All glory to Jesus Christ, O Senhor do senhores e O Rei dos reis (the Lord of lords and the King of kings). He deserves all honor, glory, adoration and all of our attention and focus in todas coisas em nossas vidas (everything in our lives). I love it!

God is blessing me with a constant flow of revelations and insights in the Word. The pastors here are extremely interested in and focused on seeking the Lord for revival - more than at any time I have ever experienced with them (silly me, duh - I thought they were in revival!) Ah, well - as I sensed the depths of their hearts I began focusing all of my time and energy on aggressively seeking the Lord in prayer, and the result is that in every moment of my free times, other than devotional reading and Bible study and prayer, I have begun to put together what the Lord has been revealing to my heart.

The Lord knew of the Enemy's "techno-attack" strategy before he ever began to put it into play against me, because I had a sense that I needed to take a thumb drive with me; I purchased a 4 gig unit just before I left the States and keep it with me at all times so that I can back up everything that I put into the computer. (Take that, diablo - Sai, em o nome do Senhor Jesus ~ Take that, devil - GO, in the name of the Lord Jesus! - Yeah!)

I would like to post a special word of thanks to Patrick Poer and Kaleb Captain of Nora Christian Fellowship and to my two sons, Bryndon and Jason, who really helped me to take another step into the 21st regarding my abilities to work with and progressive (albeit slow) learning curve to enable me to communicate with you through this blog while still in Brazil. I have the full assurance that this progress will continue post haste when I return to the States and continue recieve their excellent tutoring. Thank you, guys! Praise God!

I love and appreciate you all so much!! Thank you for your financial, emotional, and spiritual support, for your love and friendship, and for your prayers to undergird and overshadow me and the ministry of Fresh Bread and especially for Mary Jane's health and safety while we are apart. You beloved Brothers and Sister in Christ mean far more to me than mere words can communicate! Deus Abencoe (God Bless You!).

In the Lamb ~ Bob Preston in Brazil
"My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His works." ~ John 4:34

Voice of the Martyrs Prayer Calendar

2008-05-28T09:55:00.002-04:00

Jordan:

May 28 - Jordan has one million Iraiqi refugees; many of them are Christians.
Pray that God will use them as powerful witnesses for Christ.
May 29 - Some foreign missionaries have been deported.
Pray that God will make a way for many others to take their place.
May 30 - Pray for those who convert from Islam to Christianity who face legal discrimination
and the loss of their civil rights.
May 31 - Pray for King Abdallah II.

Thank you for your fiathfulness to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ. May their power in the ever increase to effect the salvation of many!

Ministry Update

2008-05-22T13:21:00.004-04:00

Please be in Prayer for our Ministry Schedule for June 2008:

June 1-4: Hancock, Maryland - Hancock Assembly of God
Voice of the Martyrs
Brazil Ministry
Marriage and Family Seminar for their Spring Revival

June 8-30: Brazil
Casting the Vision for Missions in -
Londrina, Curitiba and Sao Paolo

I will be posting to this blog while in Brazil at least once per week.

Please feel free to contact me via e-mail at fresh.bread.ministries@gmail.com

Thank you, and God Bless!
In the Lamb,
Bob Preston