Day 11 Kenneth E. Hagin

Day 11  Kenneth E. Hagin

“And faith calls those things which be not as though they were!” Kenneth E. Hagin

Here brother Hagin is almost directly quoting from Romans 4:17.  It says, “As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.”  Here we see God speaking to Abraham and calling him a father of many nations, when in the natural reality of things, he didn't even have  a single child.  Not only that, Abraham and Sarah were nearly 100 years old!  God was speaking into existence what was not really there.  God was calling into being things that were not.

As I read things on the internet and hear from other ministers about doctrine and the things of God, I see many men of God who have a real problem with the idea what we as believers word’s play a part in prayers being answered.  I do not like extremes to much.  There are some extremes that we should all strive for, such as loving God in an extreme way.  We should be completely extreme in our dedication to live our lives for the glory of God.  

But there are some doctrinal truths and are truths, but when bent and twisted and stretched to far, they become lies.  When I see people preaching things that have obviously been stretched so far that they are no longer Biblical truth it really frustrates me.  My initial reaction is to want to preach hard against those things.  But as I want to do that, it is so easy to swing completely the other way to almost make up for their terrible error.  So much doctrine and teaching these days is based, not on the literal word of God, but it’s based on combating false teaching.  For instance if we hear some preacher preaching fire and brimstone and preaching only about the destruction of the wicked and God’s hatred for sin (with no additional teaching about God’s love and mercy), than we have people that will preach only about God’s love and mercy and totally forget that God is angry with sin and that sinners will face a terrible judgment in hell for eternity.  It can get all out of wack, all out of balance.  

So we hear some preacher saying some things that are stretched so far by false teaching that we close down and shut ourselves off to anything that even closely resembles that type of teaching.  I see this happen to many people concerning the gifts of the Spirit.  They see craziness and abuses and say, that’s it, it’s all of the devil.  So error closes them off the the genuine move of the Holy Spirit.

There is a reality that what brother Hagin is talking about is truth.  Faith always calls things which are not as though they were!  Saints of old would call this prevailing prayer.  It is when God places something on your heart that He is doing in your life that you know is happening.  We can know God’s answer to our prayers when we pray according to His will for our life, through the Bible.  What He has promised, we can expect to receive!  God doesn’t just say things to say them.  If God has promised us things in His word, than by faith we can reach hold of them and take them as our own.  

In order for us to do that, we have to be speaking the right things!  Can I just randomly speak something, and confess something if I don't really believe it?  Well I can confess it , sure, but nothing will happen.  I do believer our words are important.  Jesus said whats in our heart will come out of our mouths.  But I am not unrealistic either.  People say all the time to actors in a play, ‘break a leg out there tonight.‘  Should we be saying, whoa, whoa don’t say that your words will cause them to break their leg.  No way!  That is just silly.

However it is very true that true Bible faith will always speak God’s will and God’s word, no matter how many contrary circumstances there are!  I think one of the best prayers we can ask God for is to be closer with Him; to have more love and passion for Him!  That is a Bible promise we can stand on.  It says in Jeremiah 29:13, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”   So we pray and ask God for more of Him.  A week goes by.  A friend asks us if we are grower closer to God.  If we are truly in faith are we going to say the opposite of what we are believing God for?  If we are in faith are we going to say, no actually I am not getting closer to God?  Absolutely not, we would be saying we don't believe in Gods word.  If we believe the Word that says if we seek God we will find Him, then to be saying the opposite just shows we do not have faith in Gods word.  

True faith always believes God’s word.  True faith will take a person to God in prayer and fellowship.  And as that faith fills the heart of a man, he will as a result speak what he is believing.  He will not speak doubt.  Even if all the world seems to be contradicting the word of God, the man who is faith will still call that which is not as though it will be!

Scripture of the day:  Romans 4:17-21

“As it is written: “I have made you a father of many nations.”He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not. 18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”

Day 10 Leonard Ravenhill

"My main ambition in life is to be on the Devil’s most wanted list."  Leonard Ravenhill

This is a powerful statement!  If we are on the devil’s most wanted list we are on God’s most useful list!  Leonard would also say that if we are not known in hell we are not worth a hill of beans.  Does the kingdom of darkness know you exist here today?  Are you a threat to the strongholds of the enemy?  If you are not, what good are you to God?  

See our life as a Christian is not to be one of passivity, but of aggression.  We are to be fighting the good fight of faith.  We are to be on the offensive advancing the Kingdom of God and destroying the works of the enemy!  We are to follow Jesus Christ and do as He did.  It says in 1 John 3:8 “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”  We have a very similar purpose in being birthed into the family of God. Our purpose as a Christian is not to sit around until we are raptured out of here or passively hear a sermon very week or so until we die!  Ever since the very moment you were born again into the kingdom of God you have been called to destroy the works of the enemy!  You are called to be deeply in love with God through Bible reading, prayer and worship.  This intimacy and love for God is to then flow out of you to go and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to all who are lost and captivated by sin.  

If there is more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents than there must also be more tears and sorrow in hell over one sinner who repents.  For every soul that hears the Gospel and believes, the devil’s strongholds over that person is broken.  Do you want to be on the devil’s most wanted list, then go around telling the world that Jesus Christ is God’s only Son sent to deliver them from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of Gods love.  Begin to do the works of Jesus Christ.  Jesus went about teaching, preaching and healing the sick.  

The devil hates when believers start to operate in the supernatural and perform genuine Holy Spirit empowered miracles.  This is why satan has so many counterfeits.  Praise God though, when the Holy Spirit begins to move and do supernatural things in people, there is nothing more to be said.  When God confirms the Gospel message with true healings, miracles and demonic deliverances, the devil’s power is squashed flat.  Christ has defeated him and the devil stays in submission to His name now and forever.

“Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14 Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” 16 Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”  Acts 19:13-16

Are you known in hell?  Is your life doing something for the kingdom of God?  Let us be like Ravenhill and desire to be on the devil’s most wanted list.  This is nothing to fear, because we know that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world.  We need to make our lives count!  We cannot simply coast through life giving half effort in the things of God.  Let us, by the grace of God, give our all in all!  Let us wage war against the sin, corruption, hunger, homelessness, drug dealers, murderers and overall wickedness of this world.  How do we do that?  By preaching the Gospel!  By saving souls.  By living a holy life full of loving others the way Jesus loved them.

Scripture of the Day:  Acts 19:13-16

“Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” 14 Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” 16 Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.”  Acts 19:13-16

Day 9 Andrew Murray

Day 9 Andrew Murray

"Here is the path to the higher life: down, lower down! Just as water always seeks and fills the lowest place, so the moment God finds men abased and empty, His glory and power flow in to exalt and to bless."  Andrew Murray

"Pride must die in you, or nothing of heaven can live in you."  Andrew Murray

You have been called to die.  Doesn’t that sound enticing Christian brothers and sisters?  If that makes you cringe, then you have not fully experienced this death.  The death I speak about is a most joyous, life giving death!  We must remember that we do not operate like the world’s system operates.  We live in a spiritual kingdom that cannot be seen with the naked eye, but must be known by faith.  If we want to go higher, we must go lower, we want more, we must be less, if we want to be seen by God, we must pray in secret.  Do you want to gain?  Then give all!  

It is a shame when ministers of the Gospel try to make the Bible fit into the world’s system and way of doing things.  As if we can have life without death, that we can gain without losing, that we can be exalted in this life by God without first being humbled.  Though it is easier for the flesh to take in, Jesus said, “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”  If we want the life of God, the death of self must take place!  This is not optional.  

What does it mean to die to self?  “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Romans 6:11  The whole chapter of Romans 6 deals with this issue.  It means we are to consider ourselves dead to sin, dead to the flesh, dead to self.  What do I mean by self?  Doesn’t the Word say that God will give us the desires of our hearts?  Yes the Word speaks of many blessings to us, and many great promises that God has for us as His children.  But when I speak of self, I speak of the part of us that wants its own way, its own pleasure, its own satisfaction, even if that means God taking a backseat.  It is the life that says I will do what I want to do and will have God help me with my life.  If you have that attitude you will not gain life, but lose it.  That is self speaking.  But when we surrender on a daily basis to the lordship and sovereignty of God, we will not care about our own desires when compared with God’s desires.  We will put the glory of God far above all our wants, desires and even needs!  When we say, it’s not I who live, but Christ in me, we will begin to live the life God desires for us to live.  A life consumed by doing His will and loving Him with all that we are.  When we begin to lose our life for the sake of Christ, then and only then will we be the most happy and fulfilled!  The only real way to happiness is through holiness.  It is a most wonderful thing to be separated from the wickedness of the world unto the beauty of God.

If we really desire Heaven to live in us and the power of God to rest upon us in a mighty way, we must be humbled.  We must go lower, that Christ in us can rise and go higher!  We must pray as the apostle John that we would decrease, but that Christ would increase.  This is the path that is most devastating to the flesh and to the carnal desires of believers.  Yet this is the path of the Christian.  This is the path of blessing and usefulness to the Lord.  Let us today say we will lift up our arms toward Heaven allowing the death of self to take place, that the life of Christ may reign mightily in us!

Scripture of the Day:  Matthew 16:24,25

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

Day 8 John Bunyun

Day 8 John Bunyan

The Offense of the Gospel Message

“I say, tell the drunkard he must be damned if he leaves not his drunkenness, the swearer, liar, cheater, thief, covetous, railers, or any ungodly persons, they must and shall lie in hell for it, if they die in this condition; they will not believe you, not credit you.

Again, tell others that there are many in hell that have lived and died in their conditions, and so are they like to be, if they convert not to Jesus Christ, and be found in him, or that there are others that are more icivil and sober men, who, although we know that their civility will not save them, if we do but tell them plainly of the emptiness and unprofitableness of that, as to the saving of their souls, and that God will not accept them, nor love them, notwithstanding these things, and that if they intend to be saved, they must be better provided than with such a righteousness as this; they will either fling away, and come to hear no more, or else if they do come, they will bring such prejudice with them in their hearts, that the word preached shall not profit them, it being mixed not with faith, but with prejudice in them that hear it (Heb. 4:1,2). Nay, they will some of them be so full of anger that they will break out and call, even those that speak the truth, heretics; yea, and kill them (Luke 4:25-29). And why so? Because they tell them, that if they live in their sins that will damn them; yet if they turn and live a righteous life, according to the holy, and just, and good law of God, that will not save them.

Yea, because we tell them plainly that unless they leave their sins and [self] righteousness too, and close in with a naked Jesus Christ, his blood and merits, and what he hath done, and is now doing for sinners, they cannot be saved; and unless they do eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, they have no life abiding in them, they gravel[29] presently, and are offended at it, as the Jews were with Christ for speaking the same thing to them (John 6:53,60)." John Bunyan

Do you preach the Gospel?  You may think you preach the Gospel, but do you really?  Here is a man, John Bunyan.  He was a Puritan from the 1600’s.  I would absolutely love for a man like this to come speak to our lost here in the 21st century!  I would love to hear his message to the church of God today.  

In a day of the church where we are most churches are more likely to compromise the Gospel than rather offend people with truth, we desperately need true Gospel preachers.  So many times preachers want to make the Gospel as easy to swallow as possible so as to get decisions or laughs or have people come forward to the alter.  Preachers of our era want to make salvation a matter of moving from one end of a building to another or saying a nicely formulated prayer that instantly works the work of conversion in a man’s soul. 

Mostly though it is pastors who have no spiritual courage to preach the Word for what it really says.  Hell is one of the those subjects that might drive people away from church, so most churches will not mention hell or teach on it.  That attitude is saying, the Bible is  not sufficient for our church!  We want to pick and choose what we teach and preach on.  Let us make all our topics very light and encouraging.  But I believe all of the Word of God is inspired and has a very important role to play in our lives.  

The Gospel by nature is offensive.  If the Gospel is being preached, it will either convict and convert or condemn and offend.  The Gospel is the Good News you might say, it only offers hope and good things.  Yes the message is very, extremely good!  But the rejection of the message is extremely not good.  If the Gospel is so good, rejection of this Gospel will be all the worse for those who do so.  I don’t care how you would like to word it, the Gospel message is this: repent and turn from your sin, believe on Jesus Christ or you will spend an eternity in hell suffering the just wrath of God for your transgressions.  That is the bottom line.  Salvation is through Christ alone, by faith alone!  There are no loopholes or ways around it.  That is offensive to those who choose to believe otherwise!  

Look at what the Gospel is though.  See who Jesus Christ was in the Gospels and still is now.  He is divisive by nature.  The message of the cross is divisive by nature.  It divides the sheep from the goats, the righteous from the unrighteous.  “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. 35 For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; 36 and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’[e] 37 He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”  Matthew 10:34-39  What is this division?  It is those will lose their life for the sake of Christ and those who will cling to their own worldly life.  

“For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life.”  2 Corinthians 2:15,16  This is what the Gospel will always do in the heart of man.  It will bring them to a place of decision.  There will be no indifference.  Either you will be for Christ and against the world or for the world and against Christ.  There is no middle ground.  When the Gospel is properly being preached, it will do the same, it will bring men to love God and hate sin or the Gospel will further be the aroma of death to them.  Let us pray and intercede that as we preach the Gospel and as the Gospel goes forth into all the world, that it would be the aroma of life lead to life!

Scripture of the day:

“For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life.”  2 Corinthians 2:15,16

Day 7 Smith Wigglesworth

Day 7 Smith Wigglesworth

Miracles for Today

“I was traveling one day in a railway train in Sweden. At one station there boarded the train an old lady with her daughter. The old lady's expression was so troubled that I enquired what was the matter with her. I heard that she was going to the hospital to have her leg taken off. She began to weep as she told that the doctors had said there was no hope for her except through having her leg amputated. She was seventy years old. I said to my interpreter, "Tell her that Jesus can heal her." The instant this was said to her, it was as though a veil was taken off her face, it became so light. We stopped at another station and the carriage filled up with people. There was a rush of men to board that train and the devil said, "You're done." But I knew I had the best proposition, for hard things are always opportunities to get to the Lord more glory when He manifests His power. Every trial is a blessing. There have been times when I have been pressed through circumstances and it seemed as if a dozen road engines were going over me, but I have found that the hardest things are just lifting places into the grace of God. We have such a lovely Jesus. He always proves Himself to be such a mighty Deliverer. He never fails to plan the best things for us.

The train began moving and I crouched down, and in the name of Jesus commanded the disease to leave. The old lady cried, "I'm healed. I know I'm healed." She stamped her leg and said, "I'm going to prove it." So when we stopped at another station she marched up and down, and shouted, "I'm not going to the hospital." Once again our wonderful Jesus had proven Himself a Healer of the broken-hearted, a Deliverer of one that was bound.”  Smith Wigglesworth

If you have never read a book called “Ever Increasing Faith”, please do!  This book by Smith Wigglesworth is so faith building.  It can be found for free online by just putting into a search engine.  

Some people say that miracles have ceased, that the Gifts of the Spirit have been done away with.  Some think that the ability for believers to perform miracles stopped with the death of the last of the 12 apostles.  However even in the book of Acts, it was not just the 12 apostles who were performing miracles and healing the sick.  Phillip was a table server before he ever even preached the Gospel.  He then was called to be an evangelist of the Lord Jesus Christ.  It says in Acts 8:6 “And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.”  

All throughout the book of Acts the followers of Christ were going around doing as they had seen Jesus do for 3 years.  They too were healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead.  The miracles in the book of Acts have not stopped!  They continue today in those who will believe that God is the God of miracles.  Smith Wigglesworth was a man full of faith.  You must be full of faith to do the works of Christ.  You cannot doubt, it will not work.  Jesus many times rebuked the disciples for doubting His words.  Today their are whole doctrines made to make people doubt God’s power in His children!  The devil loves these kinds of teachings.  The devil doesn’t mind if we know some of the Bible, if we can pray and sing a bit.  It is when we start to act on the Word that he begins to tremble.  It is when believers begin to pray with the power of the Holy Spirit that will shake the shackles off his subjects!  It is when believers will worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth with the anointing of God flowing from their lips that will shake the gates of hell.

There is a reality that we can truly believer God’s Word and stand on it.  The saints of old called it prevailing prayer.  It is a place in the Spirit where we are victorious!  Where we obtain what we have prayed about before we even see an ounce of evidence it will happen in the natural.  This faith cannot be faked or mustered up, but it is a place in the Spirit that comes by deepness with the Lord.  It is a place that see’s the written word of God and takes the promise from out of Heaven and brings it by faith into the Earth.  This is all of God.  He has given us all a measure of faith.  We do not control God in any way, we simply allow Him to work in us to bring about His will.  We choose to believe His word in the face of all adversity.  

Miracles are for today.  Healing is for today.  The dead being raised is for today.  The Gifts of the Spirit are for today.  Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  God has not changed.  The Holy Spirit and His power in the believer has not changed.  Christ is risen!

Scripture of the Day:  Mark 16:15-20

“And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”19 So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.”  

Day 6 John G. Lake

Day 6 John G. Lake

The Spirit of a Martyr

“I am not persuading you, dear friends, by holding out a hope that the way is going to be easy. I am calling you in the name of Jesus Christ, you dear ones who expect to be ordained to the Gospel of Jesus Christ tonight, take the route that Jesus took, the route the apostles took, the route that the early Church took, the victory route, whether by life or death. Historians declare, "The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church." Beloved, that is what the difficulty is in our day-we have so little seed. The Church needs more martyr blood.

If I were pledging men and women to the Gospel of the Son of God, as I am endeavoring to do tonight, it would not be to have a nice church and harmonious surroundings and a sweet do-nothing time . I would invite them to be ready to die. That was the spirit of early Methodism. John Wesley established a heroic call. He demanded every preacher to be "ready to pray, ready to preach, ready to die ." That is always the spirit of Christianity. When any other spirit comes into the Church, it is not the spirit of Christianity . It is a foreign spirit. It is a sissified substitute.”  John G. Lake

Are you called to preach the Gospel?  I can answer that for you if you have been born of the Spirit of God.  Yes!  You have been given the ministry of reconciliation.  You have been entrusted with the most important message that men have and will ever speak of.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We all have a divine destiny from God.  We all have a divine, specific purpose for existing.  Some have calls to full-time ministry.  Some have been called of God to be doctors, teachers, lawyers and market place ministry.  Some have been called to be pastors, teachers, evangelists, apostles and prophets.  I strongly believe there are more people called to the mission field, to use their gifts, talents and degrees on the foreign field to bring others to Christ.  

One thing every Christians call has in common, is it all involves God being glorified and the Gospel being preached among the nations.  We all have been given the ministry of reconciliation.  That is just as strong a call for the evangelist as the doctor.  We are called to allow God to speak through us to the world saying be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ His Son!

Are we willing to do as God has called us to do?  Some know their specific call in life and are pursuing that God given destiny.  Some may not know if they are walking in their specific call, but if we know we are to go into all the world and preach the Gospel than we know our call.  We know our purpose as the body of Christ.  The question is, are we willing?  Will we go?  Will we submit, will we surrender to the call of God to reach this wicked generation?

I hear much cowardly preaching these days.  It is cowardly not it what it says, but what it  doesn't say.  The Gospel preachers job is not simply be a motivational speaker and speak smooth words and give nice illustrations.  If we consider the serious call of being willing to give our life for Jesus Christ and dying as a martyr so as this Gospel will be preached in all the world, we have received a “sissified substitute”!  I know many people that live off of being entertained by Christian concerts and hear only sermons that will lift them up and help them, but never challenge them or convict them!  This is a “sissified substitute” to the serious call to give ones life that kingdom of God would be established throughout the world.  Jesus said, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”  Do we want to be a disciple of Christ, a Christian?  We must be willing to hate even our own life when it comes down to it!  That Christ would hold such a place of honor and value to us, that in comparison to Him even the torture and death or our body falls a far second place.  

The heart of the martyr says as the apostle Paul said, “For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  Philippians 1:19-21 We must have that attitude in life.  That I will go on with God.  I will succeed in what God has called me to do!  I will do as He has destined for me to do or I will die trying!  If it comes down to it, I will not hold my tongue from telling the world about Christ, but I rather be crucified on a cross and lit on fire.  For even in our physical death, we will live and rise again because Christ was lived again and was raised.  Let us have the steadfastness to us that John G. Lake had to do all in his power to let the nations know about the loving, saving power of our God!  

Scripture of the day:  Philippians 1:19-21

“For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  

Day 5 Charles Finney

Death to self, life in Christ

“When persons are more jealous for their own fame than for God’s glory, it shows that they live for themselves and serve their own gods. You see a man more vexed or grieved by what is said against him than against God, whom does he serve? Who is his God, himself or Jehovah? There is a minister thrown into a fever because somebody has said a word derogatory to his scholarship, or his dignity, or his infallibility, while he is as cool as ice at all the indignities thrown upon the blessed God. Is that man a follower of Paul, willing to be considered a fool for the cause of Christ? Did that man ever take the first lesson in religion? If he had, he would rejoice to have his name cast out as evil for the cause of religion. No, he is not serving God, he is serving his own gods.”  Charles Finney

Very tough questions we all need to ask ourselves.  What is our life really about?  Are we more upset at our own injustices than Gods?  Are we upset more when we are spoken evil of or when people curse the name of Christ?  Do we easily sit by and even laugh along as others blaspheme the name of God?  What and who is our life really meant to be about?

It is written, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”  Galatians 2:20  The bible very clearly states that our lives are not our own if we are in Christ Jesus!  “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”  1 Corinthians 19,20  It is a foundational Christian truth that our lives are not to lived as unto ourselves, but lived for the glory of God.  

If we indeed have become one with God through Jesus Christ, than the things that God loves, we should love.  The things that God hates, we should hate!  We cannot serve a God made in our image.  No, we were made in Gods image.  He created us for His glory and for His divine purposes.  We did not create Him for our purposes and our pleasure. Though many people try to make God what they want Him to be, what they are comfortable with Him being.  This however will never do!  That is idolatry.  I know people will even read through the bible and pick and choose the attributes of God they can understand with their reasoning.  They will choose the attributes that can directly improve their life and situation.  When it comes down to obedience and being a doer of the word of God, they skip those scriptures.  They form a god-lower case g-out of the corruptions of their own heart.  

That is not the God of scripture.  Either we will have all of the Almighty God or none.  We will either love Him and love His word and obey His commands, or we will love the world and only partially obey the scriptures or attributes of God that will help us to accomplish our own selfish desires in life!  We as believers though must be careful to understand that our life is truly not our own, but it is Gods.  When persecution and evil is spoken of us for Christ’s sake, we must understand we are blessed suffer for His sake.  God has bought our life with a price, the very blood of His own Son.  We have no right to our own life anymore.  This is what it means to have Jesus as Lord of our life.  That Jesus Christ is now the ruler, the chief, the master, the one supreme in authority of our lives.  If Jesus is going to rule our lives, that means we cannot!  We cannot serve the world and serve Christ.  We cannot live for the pleasure of self and yet be a follower of Christ.  Many desire to come after Christ, but are most unwilling to “deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”  If we want true life, we will lose our own life so that our life will be found in Christ Jesus.  

This is the only way to true joy and peace in life.  Christ is joy.  Christ is peace.  Let us fully surrender, fully give up our rights so that Christ can truly reign in our life as He deserves to do.  He gave up and surrender His whole life on the cross.  He demands that His followers, His disciples, be like Him, die to ourselves and to run hard after Him!

Scripture of the Day:  1 Corinthians 6:19,20

“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body[c] and in your spirit, which are God’s.”  1 Corinthians 19,20

Day 4 Jonathan Edwards

Giants of the Faith Devotional Day 4 Jonathan Edwards

Heavenly Worship 

"Every saint in heaven is as a flower in the garden of God, and holy love is the fragrance and sweet odor that they all send forth, and with which they fill the bowers of that paradise above. Every soul there is as a note in some concert of delightful music, that sweetly harmonizes with every other note, and all together blend in the most rapturous strains in praising God and the Lamb forever."  Jonathan Edwards

All of mankind was created to be apart of this wonderful experience.  Every person God deeply wants for them to be apart of this grand chorus in Heaven.  We were created to glorify God!  Our momentary and eternal destiny does not vary all that much.  Here we are commanded to "do all unto the glory of God."  We are called to praise and worship God with all that we are. 

 It says in 1 Corinthians. 6:20 "For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are Gods."  With our body we are to glorify God.  To glorify means to praise, to honor and to worship.  We can glorify God by obeying His commands and offering up our body as disciplined children, avoiding lust and temptation.  We can glorify God by using our hands and arms to be raised toward Heaven to worship and adore Him.  We can use our legs to kneel before Him, bowed over in humility before His greatness.  We can use our mouth to glorify God by singing songs of His goodness and mercy and love.  

It is an amazing thing when a group of people get together to worship the Lord through praise and worship!  So many times I have been brought to tears while in a church service because of the tangible presence of God.  While Gods children connect in spirit and body as one singing joyfully unto Him amazing things take place!  I especially see the beauty of worship while ministering in other countries.  I love being in a worship service in South America of Africa with such precious people.  Though we may not speak the same language, though I may not fully understand all the words to the song, we all as brothers and sisters in Christ enter in the spiritual realm and connect with our Heavenly Father in special way through worship and praise!  I feel as Edwards describes "Every soul there is as a note in some concert of delightful music."  Hallelujah!

Imagine the glories of Heaven!  As we all in one accord of people from every tribe, nation and tongue, from all of the history of mankind combine our voices and hearts together for one purpose.  That is to sing praises to one who loved us and gave up His life for us!  Let us not wait until Heaven though.  Next time you are in a corporate worship service, sing and worship with all your might unto the Lord.  As you devote your life to personal times of worship, worship God with all you are, knowing He has done so much for you in Christ.  Seek Him today, for He loves to hear the worship filled voices of His children!

Scripture of the day:  Revelation 5:11-

"Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice:  “ Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!” And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying:  “ Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne,  And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”  Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever."

Day 3 John Wesley

Are you accepted in the beloved?

"Monday, 27.—Mr. Kinchin went with me to the castle, where, after reading prayers and preaching on “It is appointed unto men once to die,” we prayed with the condemned man, first in several forms of prayer and then in such words as were given us in that hour. He kneeled down in much heaviness and confusion, having “no rest in” his “bones, by reason of” his “sins." After a space he rose up, and eagerly said, “I am now ready to die. I know Christ has taken away my sins; and there is no more condemnation for me.” The same composed cheerfulness he showed when he was carried to execution; and in his last moments he was the same, enjoying a perfect peace, in confidence that he was “accepted in the Beloved.”"

Here is an excerpt from the journal of John Wesley.  Here is an account of Wesley going and preaching to a man who was on death row, condemned to die for the crimes he had committed.  Wesley preached to him the Gospel.  Although this criminal was being condemned for his crimes on this earth, he was about to face a condemnation far worse than physical death when he is judged by the judge of all judges at the tribunal of all tribunals.  

This man had no rest in him.  He was anxious and unsure about will happen to him when he meets his maker.  Do you have the same anxiousness as this condemned criminal?  Are you secure in your heart that when you die and are judged by the Almighty, that He not say depart from me, I never knew you?  

This man knelt down in heaviness of heart.  He was burdened by his many sins and his coming judgment would have been eternal hell if judged as he was. 

The word of God declares and speaks against mankind that "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."  John 3:18

This man knew not only his earthly condemnation for his sin, but he knew his eternal and Godly condemnation for his sins.  Do you today you see yourself as lost and a sinner(if you are not now a Christian and walking with Jesus)?  If you don't know that you have sinned, you have no need for a savior from sin.  The word also declares that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.  The whole world apart from Christ stands condemned already for not believing in Jesus, for He is the only way that man can be saved and forgiven.  

 But I want you to know that the  Gospel is the power of God to save! The blood of Christ was shed on behalf of the worse of sinners.  The blood can wash away and cleanse all who will put their faith in Jesus Christ to be their Lord and Savior.  “I am now ready to die. I know Christ has taken away my sins; and there is no more condemnation for me."  He arose from the place of sorrow and condemnation for his sins.  

This man heard the Gospel message.  He believed in Christ alone for his salvation and the spirit of God came into him and the heaviness and burden of sin was lifted and rolled away!  He said he knew he was forgiven!  When you repent of your sins, asking God to forgive you, turning from sin to God, putting your trust in Jesus to save you, you will know it!  You will experience a knowledge that your sins are forgiven, that you are loved and that you will not be condemned by God, but will be accepted as His very beloved!  If you are unsure if you are saved, if Heaven will truly be your home for eternity, take some time right now to seek God.  Call upon the name of Jesus and He will save you.  Call upon the name of Jesus and He will pardon, He will heal, He will cleanse, He will wash, He will free, He will take away your guilt, He will accept you as His own son and daughter, He will give you everlasting life, He will put within you a new heart that hates evil but loves to do what is good!  Call upon Jesus today and experience all your burden of sin being tossed into to the sea, never to be remembered again.  Experience Gods love in your heart today by committing your life unto the service of the Lord by trusting in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross at Calvary!  

Scripture of the day:  John 3:14-17

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 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. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved."

Day 2 George Whitefield

We MUST seek the Lord.

"Go to bed seasonably, and rise early. Redeem your precious time: pick up the fragments of it, that not one moment of it may be lost. Be much in secret prayer. Converse less with man, and more with God."  George Whitefield

What Whitefield is talking about here is basic spiritual discipline.  Without having discipline in your spiritual life, you will get no where with God.  This is of the utmost importance here.  We will not survive the onslaught of the flesh, the world and the devil if we are not abiding under the shadow of the almighty!  There is no middle ground when it comes to our personal prayer and devotional life.  If we ease up we go backwards.  If we shift into neutral we do not stay still, we end up going backwards.  The hill of the Lord is always going upward.  We are on this walk toward God, toward that gate of salvation at the top.  If we stop for a moment seeking the Lord we go backward, down the hill toward carnality and worldliness and if gone far enough, even death. 

One not so secret of my life to success in ministry and in doing what God has called me to do is my personal devotional life.  I have determined that if I do not do anything else with success in my life, I will, I will, I will seek the face of the Lord.  I will be in His presence on a regular basis.  I will be in prayer and in the word.  We must put aside every single other pursuit in our life in comparison with being with Christ and fellowshipping with our loving God!  Ministry, family, our spouse, job, hobbies, sports and every other thing all must all be put aside when compared with Jesus Christ and personal devotion to Him!  

Paul said in Phillipeans 3:8,"What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ."  Other things in life are very important, such as loving our wife and taking care of our families.  But if we are not abiding in the vine of Christ we will fail in all other areas of our life.  What good are we to God to teach and encourage and help others to know the Lord if we ourselves are not with Him daily?  It will do no Heavenly good to converse with men while we have neglected to first and foremost converse with our Father God.  Let us have that determination, that if we have to put our efforts and energy in one thing, let us put it in seeking the Lord and daily spending time with Him praying and reading His holy Word.

Scripture of the day: Psalm 84:1,2,10

"How lovely is Your tabernacle, O LORD of hosts!   My soul longs, yes, even faints For the courts of the LORD; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand.  I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness."

Charles Spurgeon Day 1

We must love men by warning them of their terrible condition apart from Jesus Christ.

"Come what may, when I die, I shall, with God's help, be able to say "I am innocent of the blood of all men." So far as I know God's truth, I will endeavor to speak it; and though criticism and censure be poured on my head a hundred times, I will welcome it, if I may but be faithful to this unstable generation, faithful to God, and faithful to my own conscience. Let me, then, endeavor, and, by God's help, I will do it as solemnly and as tenderly as I can, to proclaim to you that have not yet repented, most affectionately reminding you of your future doom, if you should die without repenting of your sins. "If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword."  Charles Spurgeon

I love to see the heart of Spurgeon here.  He was a man sold out to the Lord.  He refused to compromise truth on any level and he always stuck to the life changing message of the Gospel on all fronts.  He knew the threatenings of hell and of eternal judgment from the scriptures.  He knew the fate of every man who will die in their sins not having obtained eternal life through Jesus Christ the risen Lord.  Therefore he was not concerned what men would do to him.  He was not concerned if "criticism and censure be poured on my head a hundred times". Because he was determined to be faithful to God, to the lost and to his own conscience.  

We too need to have this tenacity concerning getting this Gospel message out to lost of this world!  Do we believe the scriptures?  Do we believe in the fate of the wicked? Have we spent time in the presence of the Lord in agony over our lost family members and friends?  Can we truly say like the apostle Paul, "I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.  For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people."  

Let us have the heart of spurgeon and with all tenderness of heart, with all compassion and love, let us warn the lost and plead with them to come to the Savior!  Let us not only tell them of the greatness of God in salvation and His desire to love and save and heal and cleanse all men, but let us also warn and persuade and make known the terror of ones life if they will die in their sins and spend an eternity in everlasting hell fire.  Let us open our hearts, speak out of mouths the Gospel of salvation and let the light of Christ shine as a city on a hill.  Let us be driven to our knees to cry out to the Lord to move upon our family that they would repent and believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Let us say to God, "SEND ME"!  I will go and tell the nations of the cleansing flow of the blood shed on Calvary's cross!  

"In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.  For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”  Acts 17:30,31