By Every Word

Persistence Pays Off

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Aug 152011

Luke 18 : 1-8
1. Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart,
2. saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man.
3. There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’
4. For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man,
5. yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’”
6. And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said;
7. now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?
8. I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
NASB

This parable is an answer to those who have asked God something and you don’t seem to get an answer. You think God is just holding out on you; God is blessing and answering everyone else’s prayers but not mine. This can seem to be the case unless we understand prayer. Look at what Paul wrote to the Ephesians…

Ephesians 6 : 18
With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,
NASB

Two words I want to really focus in on- perseverance and petition. These are key components to effective prayer. Let’s define them…

perseverance

steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

petition

a formal written request made to an official person or body (as a court or board)
a written document signed by a large number of people demanding some form of action from a government or other authority
a formally drawn request, often bearing the names of a number of those making the request, that is addressed to a person or group of persons in authority or power, soliciting some favor, right, mercy, or other benefit:

I cannot stress the importance of exercising this in our prayer life. You can’t be a lawyer and not know about making a “petition” and you cannot pray effectively without “petitioning”. Look at the third definition for petition where it states “…soliciting some favor, right, mercy, or other benefit:” If you have ever had a prayer answered it’s because you requested something God had already spoken as being a right or benefit- or because He gave you favor or mercy. A petition is a legal request to a government or authority based on rights or promises- when we pray we’re making a legal request to God based on rights…

Matthew 5 : 7
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
KJV

or benefit…

Psalm 103 : 2
Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits;
KJV

Psalm 116 : 12
What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me?
KJV

Some may read this and at first think to themselves “I don’t have any rights… I’m just at God’s mercy because I am just a lowly servant who’s at His mercy.”
My reply to you would be the same as Job to His worthless friends, “What a help you are to the weak!”, he says sarcastically.

As a citizen you do have rights, why? Because that’s the way God setup His government system. Rights are for citizens and you have to understand your rights in order to have access to them. If God says in His word “blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” then you have to remind God of that in your prayers. He’s a King so if He says something it becomes law! So we pray…

“Lord, you see adversity coming against me from these individuals at work and the stress and humiliating situations I have found myself in; God I have shown mercy as my reaction to these things- I could have acted completely different in response to these events but I have remembered Your word “if I am merciful, I will obtain mercy“. So Father in Heaven I remind you of Your word and my right as a citizen- because I have shown mercy, mercy shall I obtain.”

Praise God! I’m telling you if you find yourself in need of a prayer like this and you petition God with your request in this manner, you will begin to see favor come upon you from those around you and even from those in positions of authority. God will turn their persecution into shame because you have laid claim to the right of mercy. THIS IS POWERFUL! THIS IS A TRUE PRACTICE OF FAITH!

Faith is the strength of your convictions, in the time of testing, that His word is true. That means no matter how bad things get, you believe His word and that it will prevail. If you can get understanding of this, trials will be something to weather rather than something sent to destroy you. God knows your benefits and rights… He’s the one that created them when He spoke them- He just wants you to believe His word enough, that you will remind Him of His promise and then wait for the answer.

Now back to my first scripture
Luke 18 : 1-8

1. Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart,
2. saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man.
3. There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’
4. For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man,
5. yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’”
6. And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said;
7. now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?
8. I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
NASB

This is an area where we overlook much of the time. We expect to pray once and see results immediately. It’s OK to pray and expect- in fact the bible encourages this- but when you don’t see results and you know you’re in line with His word in your request- you must continue to petition. Jesus gave us this example about this widow woman. He says to continue and press in on the Lord for your request. If in the parable this evil man gave in because he didn’t want to be wore out by her constant pleas- how much more will God answer your request when you continue to request of Him your petition. IT EVEN SAYS WILL HE DELAY A LONG TIME TO ANSWER HIS ELECT YOU CRY OUT DAY AND NIGHT! WOW!

BUT when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth… That’s another article for another day…

Continue to request and petition day and night unto the Lord- He will answer. Don’t give up! I could go into the Jewish culture of how a child must ask his father three times to get a yes- but I’ll leave you with this to meditate on. But BE WARNED if you request and petition something of God day and night be ready to receive it. If you’re asking for direction, an answer, for God to use you, for your purpose- He’s going to give it you- so don’t ask anything unless you’re ready to use what He gives you.

-For The Kingdom

Lord

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Nov 162010

Would you go to a lawyer for legal advice who didn’t understand the difference between interpreting the “spirit of the law” and the “letter of the law”?

Would you let someone cut your hair whose experience is primarily their 4 year old child’s?

What about having a health diagnosis made by a Doctor… of Veterinary Medicine?

Of course these are all ridiculous questions- the answers are fairly obvious. The point of these questions is not to say one needs a specific education from a particular university to be chosen, but that we want those associated with a certain field of study… to have studied! We want someone who has a passion for what they believe in, a passion for their purpose.

Most would agree with the above statements… but when it comes to being citizens of the kingdom of God, the country we associate our self with, whose King we say we follow… many times it doesn’t seem we understand God’s laws nor his word. I say this because of those who, I dare say, say Jesus is their Lord but they don’t do what He says.

Remember Lord comes from the word Adon- where we get Adonai which means Owner. So if He owns you, why do we still disobey His commandments. I’m afraid in today’s theology of many peoples we have made grace a religion. I have heard it said of those “I’m no longer under the law, I am under grace.” And this is a scripture that is wonderful to us… but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted by many and is used as a weapon against God’s laws in order to break God’s commandments. Many have set in their minds that they cannot obey God’s laws and so they live as if grace covers any sins they continue to commit and live in… because after all, their not under the law any more. Paul said “God Forbid” that we may break God’s laws just because we’ve been grace. We’ve been given grace so we can be once again in the kingdom of God, be in right positioning with the kingdom, right standing with the King because of the blood of Jesus.

Will a judge pardon someone for theft so that he can now break into as many banks as he wants to without fear of consequence? No. If he was pardoned it meant he was released from the judgment that was due for his crimes, so that he can be a part of society again. He was deserving of punishment according to the law but he was pardoned by grace given from the judge. This is what Jesus did for us.

Ask yourself this… if grace is given to cover every sin you could ever commit going forward… then what is the purpose of repentance anymore? If you are on your way to heaven no matter what you do, because of grace, what is the need for repentance?

God gave us grace, ability, to keep His laws again- Not sacrificial law, because that was the works that Paul was speaking of that cannot save, but ability to keep God’s laws- which never change.

Kingdom Obedience

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Nov 042010

Where is the discipline of His disciples? We have interpreted grace as a weapon that destroys having to be obedient to law- when actually grace came to destroy the condemnation of the law we were under and the sacrificial law of the past. Every where you look there are people who claim to belong to God but “they don’t do what He says.” Did God give us grace so that we could violate His commandments all of our lives? God forbid. It is time for His citizens to return to obedience.

Myles Munroe is currently this year teaching on “Kingdom Law for Kingdom Living” and I was deeply inspired by just the few short messages that I heard on the subject. God begin to reveal things to me in my own life that I needed to put under subjection to the King of glory. God began to open up revelation to me on the subject and show me His desire for us to walk in His ways. The result is blessings, benefits, and an abundance from Heaven being poured out because of the natural laws that are built into being obedient to His commandments… and it will overtake you.

Impacting Earth

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Oct 282010

Colony • a group of people sent to a new land in order to influence and impact the settlement with the culture and ways of the parent country from which it was sent and is subject to.

Are you demonstrating the ways of Heaven in your life? Can people see you and know you’re from another country?

Numbers 15:16
There is to be one law and one ordinance for you and for the alien who sojourns with you.
NASB (Emphasis Added)

What laws do we live under? The laws of God? Or do we overrule God’s laws with man’s ways.

If you’ve kept up with our video lessons, you will know we have been studying on the “purpose of prayer”. I haven’t been able to do another video yet on prayer because the Lord has really been speaking to me about obedience. Without obedience we drift into sin because we violate God’s laws and our prayers cannot be heard because of iniquity.

There is a dangerous teaching that must be addressed and only those who really want to be citizens of His kingdom will hear instruction. Jesus said “If ye love me… keep my commandments.” The question is… why are we not?

Because of grace?… ahhh but grace is misunderstood. We define grace as if it is the opposite of law.

Romans 6:15
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
KJV

The problem lies with our misunderstanding of law. See there are two laws. There is sacrificial law which was abolished with the coming of Jesus and there is the laws of God which never change. The law said we should die because of sin but God gave us grace from the condemnation we were born under so that we could live.

Live how? If we are under grace why can we not just rob all the banks, covet our neighbors things and take what we want, commit adultery and kill anyone we don’t like? …after all we’re not under the law we’re under grace… Does that make sense? No.

Grace in the Greek comes from the word “charis” where we get “charismatic” which is ability.

So what has He given us ability to do? To walk in newness of life, to be forgiven, to become a holy vessel unto Him.

He did not give us grace so that we can… continue in sin perpetually without consequence. Where did we get this definition? A judge grants you mercy not so that you can do whatever you want, but so you can be given the ability again to fulfill the law. You cannot decide to become a legal law abiding citizen when you’re still a convict. You have to come before the judge and plead.

Thanks be to God Who gave us grace, not to make a mockery of His kingdom, but to be out from under the law, the judgment we deserved, in order to be able to continue in His grace forgiven for the old and being obedient to His commandments.

I have a video I will be shooting this week and will have it online shortly afterward. I pray His knowledge will bring revelation to your spirit and awaken His purpose in you. The Lord is calling His people to return to Him, to return to His ways, His laws, His commandments and experience the full weight of His kingdom in our lives.

-For the Kingdom

The Lord’s Prayer 06

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Jul 222010

Luke 11:2
…Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
KJV

Luke 11:2
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
NKJV (Emphasis Added)

Oh this is my favorite part! We want the kingdom of heaven to come and His will to be done- where? On Earth- how? Just as it is in heaven! Look at this powerful statement in the bible! We’ve read this, we’ve prayed this prayer- but we didn’t understand what we were saying most of the time. We thought it was just a nice simple prayer we would quote- but this is a HUGE petition. Remember the disciples had asked Jesus to teach them how to pray and so, Jesus made sure to teach them this.

There is a reason God put us on earth. There is a reason He made you and then made you a body and then put you in the body and breathed life into you. The bible says all things came out of God (John 1), so if He wanted you to stay in heaven he would not have put you in a body on the earth. God put you here for a reason, and gave you dominion over the earth for a reason. (Genesis 1:26) He wanted earth to become just like heaven. He wanted earth to be impacted with the culture of heaven. Lord, let your kingdom come on earth, let your will be done on earth, just like it is in heaven let it be so in the earth!

That was God’s original desire. He gave man dominion over the earth and He walked and talked with man- but then man (Adam) disobeyed and rebelled against God and declared independence from heaven. So we became a corrupt and self destructive kingdom. But God’s plan didn’t change. Look at this!

1 Samuel 8
4. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,
5. And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.
6. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD.

They still didn’t get it! God had not changed His purpose, but the people still rebelled against God’s plan. Look what God says.

1 Samuel 8:7
And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

They chose to learn the hard way. Look at the people’s comparison of why they wanted a ‘man’ king to judge and rule over them… “like all the nations“.

My God, we have not drifted far from this mentality today. We try to compare what we think we need with what we see others have… even though what they have isn’t working. Am I talking to anybody out there? Man rejects God for His own destructive independence. I pray it not be named among you from this day forward.

We need His kingdom to come- to earth! What does religion teach? “Let us leave earth and go to the kingdom of heaven.” Is that what you believe? Now, does that line up with how Jesus taught how to pray? Let Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done- on earth just as it is in heaven. So God wants us to pray heaven down to earth. He wants earth to become just like heaven.

In the Caribbean there is an island called Hispaniola. Christopher Columbus landed on Hispaniola on his voyage between 1492 and 1493. Columbus took possession of the land and named it “La Isla Española” which means “The Spanish Lady”. The name was later shortened and re translated as “Hispaniola”. Spain’s interest in the island was not priority and became increasingly under attack by pirates. As the colonies of Spain were ordered to draw in closer to the area known as Santo Domingo this gave way to pirates making establishments on the island. In 1665 the French colonization on the west side of the island was recognized. Spain ceded the land to the French and the west side became known as modern day “Haiti” while the east side of the island became known as modern day “Dominican Republic”. For comparisons sake, Hispaniola is roughly a tenth of the size of the state of Texas in the U.S. …only a tenth. Yet it is split into two countries.

Why is this significant to the Lord’s Prayer? The history and current state of this island shows you the impact of a government on a place. Regardless of its size- because it was colonized by two different kingdoms- they are completely different in every way. When I was there in January of 2010, we went into Haiti about two weeks after the earthquake, into Port-au-Prince. We stopped at one point to confirm directions to the place we were dropping off the food. A boy come up to us and started talking to our friend and interpreter, Junior. Junior was born and had lived in Dominican his whole life. I asked him what the guy said and he said he can’t tell- he’s speaking Creole. One small island, a tenth the size of Texas, yet they are worlds apart from each other. Two different languages, two different cultures, two different ways of life. Because of the impact of culture from the French and from Spain almost 400 years ago, these two countries are totally different from each other today. If the king of Spain had not made the colonies settle close to Santo Domingo, but secure the whole island- they would all be speaking Spanish today. But because of this incident in history, two different kingdoms affected the culture of the island differently… and it can still be seen today.

Look at this world… economies collapse, people are hurting, people are in poverty, people are lacking resources… we need the kingdom of heaven to impact the earth. We need heaven’s culture, God’s ways, to become our culture… our ways. In Haiti they still drink wine and eat cheese as a social norm because the French did. They speak French and Creole because the French did. In Dominican Republic they speak Spanish because Spain did. When a place is colonized by a kingdom, it takes on the nature, characteristics, and culture of that kingdom. The earth needs to be filled with God’s nature. As it is in heaven, let it be in the earth.

There is no sickness in heaven, let it be in the earth-
There is no disease in heaven, let it be in the earth-
There is no lack in heaven, let it be in the earth-
There is no poverty in heaven, let it be in the earth… just as it is in heaven.

When we understand this concept of prayer and what these words mean- we then understand the impact our prayers have on the earth, because we actually pray heaven down to earth, colonizing the earth, his citizens infiltrating the earth until earth becomes just like heaven. That’s why God said “whatever we bind on earth, now heaven can bind- and whatever we loose on earth, now heaven can loose.” We’ve been put here as representatives, ambassadors of heaven, impacting the earth with the culture, purpose, intent and ways of the king. This is why we are “in the world but not of the world” (John 17:16-18). We’re from another place, placed here to colonize the earth. Pray heaven down! Pray His kingdom come, His will be done- on earth just as it is in heaven.

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The Courtroom

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May 192010

I was speaking to a friend the other day. He asked me, “How can I increase my faith?”

This is a common question we have all asked ourselves. I started with the scripture I think most know ‘Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” But then we delved into this a little bit deeper.

See we sometimes get this idea of faith being like God’s ‘fairie dust’ that He sprinkles on us when we’ve been really good, or read a lot of the bible, or prayed a lot or something. So our concepts are wrong because we have associated faith with something we’ve seen in movies, or read in books. Therefore we have setup a road block on the way to our understanding faith, and that sets us up for failure and feeling inadequate as a believer.

Faith is simply this- ‘Believing in or for something, based on God’s word, regardless of circumstances or opposing information or views, knowing that God’s word is the only evidence you need to substantiate your claim while continuing to trust in Him until it comes to pass.’

See what happens is we believe for a little while. Then when nothing seems to happen or change, we put worry and doubt into the equation. Then we say things like ‘Things like this always happen to me’.

Be careful- remember your words are powerful. You speak and then you end up what you spoke. See faith is powerful and it works both ways. Now I know some who would say “Ohhhh, God’s going to take care of you- we all say negative things sometimes.” -THAT’S NOT BIBLICAL!- That’s not kingdom. The bible say’s ‘without FAITH it’s impossible to please God.’

Did you read that? I-M-P-O-S-S-I-B-L-E! That means you cannot obtain the favor of the one who has the answers – the very One you are asking to intercede and move! We have got to get this! God is Holy. That means He cannot violate His own word, He does not lie, cannot lie, and never will lie. So when we doubt His word, we are doubting Him. And because of His word, the laws of the kingdom, He cannot act without violating His word if He moves in your situation and brings an answer to which you didn’t believe would happen. Now He may cause some things to happen to get you back in line with the kingdom, but He will not intervene until you are in line with His word. He’s just that holy.
He couldn’t make Jonah go to Ninevah- but He could influence Him with a whale. He couldn’t make Paul serve Him- but He could influence Him with blindness. God has His ways to get his children in line with His word so He can act in the earth. But who wants to have to get struck with blindness, or swallowed by a whale before saying “OK God, I’ll listen.”?

When you pray- you need to come to the court room of God prepared with His word. *Remember it’s the law of the kingdom. Ask Him according to His word.

“Lord you said this in YOUR word… , Lord here it is right here in YOUR word God… , Lord I didn’t say this, YOU did.”

See it’s about trusting His word regardless of the story your life is currently telling you.

1 John 3:22
22) And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

He’s a king. We remind Him of His word. God said ‘prove me’ (Malachi 3:10). He’s not a God that lies. We must continually believe for what it is He has promised- based solely on the fact that He said and so it’s just because He says so.

I laid it out to my friend like this. If you had a video camera in the front of your car and you were at a red light. The light goes green you accelerate and a cop then pulls you over for running a red light. You explain to him you accelerated after the light went green, but he refuses to change his decision. So you look at the tape from the camera (which is the evidence) and you decide to challenge the decision in court. From the tape you can see beyond a shadow of a doubt you’re at the light, it goes green and then you can the see the car is accelerating. You see clear evidence and know you are going to win. People tell you to just ‘pay the fine’ but you continue to wait until the court date. Friends and family may say ‘nothing will be changed in their decision’, but they don’t know about your evidence. If they knew about your evidence they would believe too. So you go through all of the constant advice ‘to just forget about it and pay for the ticket’, but you KNOW you’re going to win because of the evidence. You are going to court knowing the verdict because your evidence is completely solid. There is no way you can lose. Court time comes, the situation is laid out in the courtroom and then it comes time for you to state your defense. You play the tape and it is conclusive you are innocent and the ticket is dropped. The jury, the officer, the people in the courtroom may have had a made up mind before you even came in but the evidence changes everything. You win!

Hebrews 11:1
1) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

God’s word is the evidence. In fact, it is all the evidence you need. When God’s word enters the courtroom and is presented as evidence all other evidence is THROWN OUT! And to quote Dr. Munroe “and with the Father being the Judge, the Witness being your elder brother Jesus, and the Holy Ghost as your counsel- How can you lose?”

It’s fixed! How awesome is it to be in the kingdom. We just have to get our mentality changed from being of this world- and realize we’re from that world. Get in the book, understand the laws and promises and then show up to the court (prayer) and state your case.

My God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory! – He’s able to keep that which I have committed unto Him! – He’s able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that I may ask or even imagine! YOU said it Lord! I’m just trusting in You! My Owner, My Provider!

I love the kingdom!