He Is Doing The Work Of Your Spirituality

Philippians 1:6

"Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

This is a powerful thought!  Do you ever wonder about how you be able to carry on?  Do you ever find yourself without the strength to face another day?  Do you ever question whether you have what it takes to "live this Christian life" for the rest of your days?

Well, notice that this verse clearly says that He is the one who is working inside you!  He started the work, and He will carry it on!  Friends, the Christian life is one of inexplainable rest.  It makes very little sense to the religious mind that all the efforts we try to put in can be more detrimental to us than beneficial.  We think if we work hard we will be successful.

But that's not the way of the Christian.  Jesus was the most relaxed man on the Earth.  And I have news for you, God is the most relaxed Being in the Universe!  After the Work of Salvation was completed at the Cross, God sat down.  He is at rest.  He isn't stressed!  And this verse very interestingly points to a similar attitude we should be taking.

He is the one working in us!  We don't need to strive or work at getting closer to God or even becoming more spiritual.  We need to simply rest.  Rest in His Finished Work.  Rest in what He has accomplished, and rest in the Truth that He Loves us more than we could ever love ourselves!  He will never let us drift away.

Friends, rest in Him today.  Stop trying to make life happen.  Including your spiritual life.  He will see your spirituality through to the end.  Because He Loves you!  This is Good News!

Keep Drinking The Heavenly Wine

Mark 2:22
"And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins."
The Bible often describes the Holy Spirit as wine. (Ephesians 5:18). Do you know why that is?

Because wine represents joy, happiness, celebration! Did you know that the first miracle Jesus ever performed was turning old, muddy water into perfect new wine!? Go read it for yourself in John chapter 2.

Do you know that that is a picture of us? We were once like old, muddy water, but Jesus changed us completely, and by His Grace He filled us with the Person of the Holy Spirit, and changed us into brand new people of joy and life! Wow!

Now, this Scripture in Mark 2 is telling us something... It is telling us that we need to keep the wine flowing. We cannot just live on what God did yesterday. When Jesus said "new wine", He was talking about freshness. New things. Keeping things fresh!

We should be allowing the Holy Spirit to fill us freshly on a regular basis. Because without Him, life will become dry, dull and depressing. Life can get us down, and the only source of True Joy and Happiness is found in the Holy Spirit! And every time we encounter Him, He reveals to our hearts the amazing Love of God only found in Christ Jesus!

So, I want to encourage you today; make time with the Holy Spirit as often as possible. He is God. And God is Love. He will reveal to you God's Love and Joy so deeply to your hearts that you really will become a new person!

Maybe some time in the future we can talk about how that works practically.

God bless you guys! Keep loving Jesus!

We Are God's Children

Romans 8:16

"The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children"

Spirits are of different quality from souls or bodies. They function differently. Bodies are separate entities; one is distinct from another, and remains so. So also souls, which are the varied individual forms through which the inner ego expresses itself, each different as everything in nature is different: one quick, another slow; one gentle, another firm; one rational, another intuitive, and so on. But spirits unite. They interpenetrate. One dwells in another. We have seen that in the Trinity, One in the Other, yet each separate Persons. We see it in the Savior on earth, who at one time says, "I and My Father are one"; yet at another, "The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself; but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." Both a union and a distinction between Them at the same time. And above all in the marvelous words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 6:17, "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit."

I, a spirit, and the Lord, The Spirit, when joined, are one; spirit-union. We see the same all through the references in the Bible to the Holy Spirit. He is always spoken of as indwelling. The Old Testament prophets spoke of "the Spirit of Christ which was in them." We are believers, "if so be that the Spirit of God dwells in" us. And the place of union is told us in that same chapter (Romans 8:16), "The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit."

God the Spirit indwells human spirits. The Creator Self indwells the created selves, Spirit in spirit. The I AM of God in the I am of man. The Liberating Secret.

How about that for some powerful Truth!  Oh wow!  What Christ has accomplished for us!  The union we have the Creator of the Universe.  Mind blowing stuff.

Jesus' Prayer For Us: Oneness With God

John 17:22 - 23

I have given them the Glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one:  I in them and you in me.

I doubt our minds will ever be able to comprehend this incredible truth.  Here we see Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, praying before He goes to the Cross.  And this is what He prays.  That He would be in us.  It is here that we start to see the "joy set before Him" before enduring the Cross (Hebrews 12:2).  The joy set before Jesus on the other side of the Cross was oneness with His people.

Friends, God's greatest desire is for intimacy with His people.  We see that all over Scripture, even the most well known verse in John 3:16 states so boldly that it was because God so Loved the world that He gave His only Son!  And what Jesus accomplished on the Cross was the death of our empty lives and a resurrection with the Living Christ dwelling within us!

What Jesus did in His death and resurrection meant you and I are now completely one with God.  The ultimate quest has been found.  He has made Himself one with us by creating in Himself one new man!  (Ephesians 2:15 - 16).

Friends, this is astounding.  God now lives in us!  He is now closer than He ever will be.  No matter what we do, He is in us.  And now He just wants you to enjoy that deep intimacy with Him.  He is in you, and all that is left is for you to enjoy Him.  You may say "but I don't feel anything".  Well, it is not about feelings, it is about faith.  2 Cor. 5:7 says that we live by faith not sight (or by feelings).  But let me tell you, the more you believe this truth, the more you will find you will experience it.

It is just a change of mindset.  It is simply being aware of Him.  Stop what you are doing, and shift your focus to Him, your Loving God, and feel His Love for you.  He is already in you, His ultimate goal has been reached.  And now all that is left is for you to enjoy Him.

"Father, we cannot thank You enough for how you have made us one with You.  There is no more powerful a revelation than this.  Father I pray that each and every one of us can come to know this truth in real, transformational ways.  That we would know Your Presence in everything that we do.  No matter what it is.  Let us live in the flow of Your Love for us.  Open our hearts and minds to know this Glorious Truth of You in us.  We love you Father, in Jesus' Name, amen."

For more unlocking of this powerful revelation, I would recommend 2 great sermons preached by Peter Haynes at our Highway School of Supernatural Ministry and at church recently.  Click the links below:

Right-click the download link of "Intimate Love" by Peter Haynes preached on Sunday 19 June in the AM service here:

http://highwaysermons.com/sermons2011.html

Right-click the link of "Practising the Presence of God" at this link:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/hssmsermons

May you each have a blessed week!

Numbers 13:27 - 30 

They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. ²⁸ But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. ²⁹ The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”
 ³⁰ Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

Friends, this is an interesting story for us to consider.  Moses had sent out 12 men to explore the promised land & see what it was like.  Moses knew that he needed a first hand account to encourage the Israelites to press on toward their goal; their vision of taking the promised land God had given them.  If he didn't have a firsthand account, the Israelites wouldn't have been so sure of going ahead with the great journey.  So he sent out a man from each tribe of Israel.  What he didn't know was that only 2 of those 12 men knew what God was like.  The other 10 allowed their circumstances to rule their emotions.

We pick up the story in these verses, where the 10 spies were indeed sharing how good the promised land was.  But!  There was a but.  There were powerful people already living there.  10 of the 12 men were overcome with fear by the size and power of those already inhabiting this beautiful land.  They suddenly doubted God's promises in all of this!

Caleb (a good friend of Joshua) couldn't believe what he was hearing!  He stepped in and encouraged the people to forget the facts of powerful people in the land, and instead remember that God has indeed given them the land!  God gave them the word, how could they notbelieve He would carry it out?

This is an interesting account for us to take hold of here.  It shows the unfortunate reality of the human condition.  There is something about humanity that tends to always look for the negative and allow it to swallow up our hope in God's ability.

I want to encourage you and remind you today, don't be like the 10 men who saw how powerful the inhabitants of the land were.  But instead, be like Joshua and Caleb, who, despite the blaring facts, knew how powerful God was, and knew His promises!  I want to encourage you, God has promised you a number of things in His Word.  Like healing, health, provision, peace, Love, acceptance, even His fruit to bear forth in your life!  These are all promises that He has made.  And no matter what you might face, if He said it, then He is faithful to see His Word fulfilled.

Will you look at the circumstances?  Or will you believe in the Goodness of your Father in Heaven?  I want to encourage you today to take your eyes and thoughts off the tough times around you that you may be facing, and instead lift up your head, and see the greatness and goodness of God!  For He is mighty to save!  And He is willing!  Look to Him, trust it is by His strength and Power (not your own), and be sure, as you rest in His Power, you will be amazed at what manifests in your life!  Be encouraged by the Truth that God sent His only son because He longed for you to overcome the world with Him.

Father we thank you today that you promised us so much.  We thank you that you are good, and you long to breakthrough into our lives in the most incredible ways!  And I declare right now over every person reading this a supernatural revelation of your Goodness, Powerful ability, and willingness; that this revelation would become so strong in their lives it wouldn't matter what they are facing, and instead they will have hope in Who You Are!  In Jesus' Name!  Amen!

The Reason Believers Are Sick?

1 Corinthians 11:29–30 Vs29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. Vs30 For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.

Have you ever wondered why some Christians are weak and sick, and die young? I thank God that the Holy Spirit gives us the reason as well as the solution. In 1 Corinthians 11:29–30, He tells us clearly that theone reason some Christians are weak and sick, and die prematurely, is that they don’t discern the Lord’s body when they partake of the Holy Communion. Many believers don’t understand that the pierced, striped and slightly burnt bread, which represents the Lord’s body, is for their health and healing. And when they partake without discerning this truth, they partake in an unworthy manner. The reverse is true: If they discern accurately the Lord’s body, then they will be strong and healthy, and live long. Unfortunately, the church down through the years has misconstrued this teaching and taught that if you have sin in your life, you are unworthy and cannot partake of the Holy Communion, lest you become weak and sick, and even die! We have turned a blessing into a curse. Because of this, many Christians are afraid to come to the Lord’s table and are therefore robbed of the health-giving power of the Holy Communion. My friend, there is no such thing as a worthy person! The best of us still miss it and fail. So unworthy people are the only people who partake of the Lord’s Supper. But because Jesus died for unworthy people, He has qualified those of us who take Him as our righteousness to partake of every benefit that He died to give us. So it is not a matter of whether you are worthy or unworthy to partake, but howyou partake. Come to the Lord’s table with boldness and partake because Jesus has qualified you with His precious blood. Don’t treat it as a ritual, but release your faith for health and healing as you discern that Jesus’ body was broken so that yours can be healthy and whole today. When you partake like this, you are partaking in a worthy manner, and you will not be weak or sickly, or die prematurely! ----------------------------------------- This is a repost from an inspirational message by Joseph Prince.