Remain In Him

Dearest Saints,

     I find many people whom I personally knew once loved the Lord and lived for the Lord don't seem to have any zeal to continue to follow in the things of God and have actually departed totally from Him.  When I realize this to be a fact, I have to ask "Why is this"?

     Scriptures tell us that there are several reasons why people have a tendency to fall away.  Falling away is talking about believers because if it talked about sinners who never accepted Christ, you can never say that they have fallen away when they were never raised with Christ in the first place.  One of the most dangerous places I find anyone would be in is when they think they are in right standing, standing firm/strong and with a steadfast mind, he/she should take precaution lest they should fall in to sin (1 Cor 10:12).  When a person comes to this place, he/she fails to see their need of Gods Grace and believes that they are immune to every form of temptation to sin.  When we disregard our need of His Grace, we open the door to the enemy.  I can tell you, that without the Grace and power of God intervening on our behalf, we are no match to the enemy because we allow him legal access when we deny our need of His Grace.  This is closely related to one who has pride which comes in many forms.  One is when we perceive ourselves to be better than others and we fail to take heed to scriptures to esteem others better than ourselves (Phil 2:3).  This doesn't say we need to think lowly of ourselves, but we need to think soberly about ourselves and believe that we can always learn from others.  For when pride enters in to a person, scriptures tell us that pride always comes before destruction (Prov 16:18).  It's never a question of "if", but "when".  To recognize pride, it may come when we often become critical of others. Peter is an example of telling Jesus that he would never fall away from Him.  Soon after, because he allowed the enemy access because of his pride, he outright denied Jesus three times as it was prophesied.  But thank God that He is quick to forgive and show mercy when we do repent.

     Another time when scripture tells many people will fall away is because they become easily offended.  When humility is lacking in their lives, many people do not want to accept the deeper teaching of the doctrine.  I don't know about you, but I would rather be lovingly confronted and challenged by a mature Christian to receive the Truth and encouraged to do what is right than to be given a bunch of "false hope" and be in regret later all because I didn't want to come out of my "comfort zone".  These people are the ones who only want to hear what pleases them rather than hearing what they need to hear in order to help them grow up.  Matthew 24:10 and 26:31 are some of the scriptures that indicate about people falling away because they are easily offended.  That is why 2 Cor 7:10 also tells us that worldly sorrow brings forth death which means we feel sorry for ourselves rather than when we need to feel compassion towards others instead.

     Another time that may cause many to fall is when people want to grow up too fast.  It almost sounds like an oxy-moron simply because I mention earlier about growing up.  But to be realistic, you don't expect a two year old to act like an adult.  But you do expect one who has followed the Lord for many years be able to teach others as we are encouraged to do so.  When I think of the new television program called "Toddlers and Tiaras," their Moms and Dads are pushing them in their early childhood stages to perform with such perfection and high expectations rather than simply letting them be children; to play and enjoy life like a child should. I feel so sorry for those children who are being pushed by others who influence their lives to be someone they should not try to be.  This is very much "unrealistic expectations" which often causes people to become rebellious.  Trying to grow too fast happens when Jesus mentions about the parable of the seed that didn't take time to develop roots by growing slowly and progressively.  Some grow too fast thinking that we can now take the world on and we haven't had any time to develop in Christ.  This is where a person  cannot bear the trials and tribulations because of it (Matt 13:6).  It mentions about a novice should not ever consider taking a higher position lest he/she falls from pride (1 Tim 3:6).  With God, it's never about attaining a high position, but rather, our heart towards Him.

     An unbelieving heart will also cause many to fall (Heb 3:12).  We may not directly say to the Lord that we don't believe, but we often act that when we choose our way other than what the Lord tells us to choose.  Not choosing Gods ways will never bring the abundant life of joy, peace and gladness that He wants to give us. With His help, we also need to be "DETERMINED" and we cannot afford to be passive in our walk with God.  Several times, the Apostle Paul tells us that he purposed in his heart and was determined with Gods help to be firm and to be able to stand strong.  In 1 Pet 5:9,10 Paul mentions about being sober of mind, temperate because when we are not (by living out of balance and with unrealistic expectations), we give a foothold to the enemy who is out to seek and devour (1 Pet 5:8).  By knowing this and being determined with Gods help, Paul needed to also realize that many others in this world suffer equally.  If he is not mindful of this, I believe he would have been caught up with having "worldly sorrow" which causes one to feel sorry for themselves and be more vulnerable to fall away from any longer serving the Lord.

     Realize that following God is not hard, but is liberating from living a life of sin that caused Christ to go to the cross in the first place.  When you think it is hard following the Lord now, just consider how much harder it will be later on to those who choose to depart from Him.  To me, living my life before I came to know the Lord was extremely hard and when I consider this, I certainly have no desire to go back to my old ways.  When many disciples left Jesus (John 6:66), He turned to the 12 and asked them if they are going to leave as well (John 6:67)?  I love what Peter says in the next verse "To whom shall we go?  Only You have the Words to eternal life (vs 68). Peter realized that there is absolutely no other way.  If we follow our feelings or philosophy of man that chooses a different path other than following God, it will only lead to destruction.  We have to realize that He (Christ) is the only Way if we expect to receive that rich eternal inheritance at all.

Therefore, we need to understand the following:

     a.  Know that we are ALWAYS vulnerable to fall away if it weren't for the Grace of God in the first place; 

     b.  Understand that He knows if you are young in the Lord, that He doesn't expect perfection, but growth to love Him and trust Him more and more.  He doesn't expect a two year old to act like a 40 year old;

     c.  Refuse to allow yourselves to be offended when the other person is the one who will give an account before the Lord.  In most cases the offender may not know he/she is offending in the first place;

     d.  See how ugly and destructive pride is, and in contrast, see the beauty of humility that brings honor, richness and life (Prov 22:4);

     e.  Be "determined" by HIS Grace and SAY SO, that you will not allow an unbelieving heart (Heb 3:12) or selfish ambitions (James 1:11) to have its way in your life.  By expressing your voice to say BY HIS GRACE, you are humbling yourself of your desperate need of Him, but will have that boldness that He is pleased with (Heb 10:35; Prov 28:1);

     f.  Understand that only His Ways brings eternal life.  No one will ever be justified before God for ever turning their back on Him or ever think we can critically question God and think we will ever get away with it.  How foolish is that!  Heb 10:38 tells us that God takes no pleasure when His people draw back or shrink back in fear all because they are drawn back to the attractions of this temporal world (being choked by weeds) more-so than His eternal Kingdom or fail to trust in His love for them by allowing the fear of man or angels to exceed our reverential fear of Him.  Just like God was angry with the Isrealites who wanted to go back to Egypt (which is a comparison to the world) rather than to trust Him and pursue to go forth to the promised land (Num 11:1-10).  May His Word Always and Richly bless you.

Will you consider buying my books in support of HelpingCopeThroughHope mission work in Zambia?  You may go to my link below to observe.
In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  
http://www.answers2prayer.org/


Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name. (Ps 91:14 Amplified Version)

What Type of Fruit are We Bearing

Dearest Saints.  

     Every time I send out a message, its always something God has taught me or continues to teach me all the time.  It's something we need to share with others and we are not expected to keep silent, because when God gives us knowledge and revelation of His Word, He is going to require an account from us and ask us if we bothered to share His Word to others or did we just keep this to ourselves (Luke 12:48)?  When I think of one area in particular, I always like to see myself have a bigger ministry or for God to extend my borders.  However, what God is revealing to me is not so much what size of ministry did we attain, but He is going to ask us a much different question.  I believe He is going to ask each one of us, how much fruit did we bear (Gal 5:22,23) which He will ask if we cultivated love, joy, peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, Gentleness (meekness, humility) and self-control?  He is not going to be concerned about the size of our ministry or any of our "so-called" accomplishments, but He is going to care how we treated one another.  Therefore, if someone is very knowledgeable and can recite many scriptures, but is critical towards others or acts unbecoming at home behind closed doors, do you suppose God is pleased with that person or will He be more pleased with someone who may just live a simple life, but shows the kindness of God to each one in the grocery store, at work or at home?  The one who is found to be bearing fruit will be more pleasing to God than the other who is more concerned about "doing more" or "accomplishing more" for the Lord. 

     I find when I have ever been frustrated in the past, it was often because I was not focusing on what is important which is bearing fruit and I was simply being ambitious in my "so-called" Godly endeavor.  It reminds me of someone who is impatient with other people just so they can buy the book on "Godly love".  It's that type of person who is focused on being ambitious, without being mindful of what is truly important.  We need to take moments during the day long enough to reflect by asking ourselves "what type of fruit we are bearing?"  A person is known by others by their fruit, not by what they know or don't know.  People need to see the character of Christ in us.  They don't care how much scripture we know or how much theology we may have.  They will recognize Christ in us by our fruit (Matt 7:20) by seeing how we treat each other.  You would be amazed how others are watching how we live.  If we are not bearing fruit, be certain that the Lord will prune us much.  If we do bear some fruit, we may not have to be pruned near as much, but we will continue to be pruned so we can be more fruitful.  So, it comes down to the fact that we are "pruned if we do and pruned if we don't".  We may ask ourselves "why"?  God in His mercy wants His people to not just bear fruit, but to go beyond and bear fruit a hundred-fold in order that He may reward us greatly.  When Jesus was teaching about the Sower sowing seed, He mentions lastly about the one with a soft heart bearing amount of fruit to different degrees.  Some 30, some 60 and others were able to bear fruit by having a hundred-fold return.  I believe the difference between some bearing little (30 fold) or more fruit(60 or 100 fold) depends on what type of heart we have and how hungry we are for Him to work in our lives and through us.  Also, I believe the difference between some Christians bearing little and others bearing much is the amount of humility.  An example is when we are taught to forgive.  Do we just go and listen to sermons of forgiveness and not see any evidence of that in our lives or do we humble ourselves and choose to obey His Word?  Too many Christians who should know better are far more educated compared to the level of their obedience towards Christ.  Unfortunately, I must confess this for myself more times than I care to.  Are we living the examples of the love walk found in 1 Cor 13:4-8, or do we just have head knowledge and little fruit by not living the Word?  This is a challenge God puts before myself also and we need to examine ourselves.

     I believe in order for us to have our heart softened, we need to go through trials ourselves or see someone who is close to us that are going through trials and be with them as they go through times of suffering.  We often wonder why people have to go through such pain?  Unfortunately, we often critically question God "why"?  It is to keep our heart softened.  I read a good illustration just recently from the  Daily Bread booklet, that a group was formed to help encourage each other who were unemployed and struggling.  They formed a bond between them in a prayer group and found ways to work together, pray for one another and form a network to help each other put a resume together and prepare themselves to go out and effectively find work.  When one or several people did eventually find work, instead of them coming back to the group to help their cohorts whom they formed a bond earlier, they simply left the group and did nothing to encourage them and never heard from them again.  It reminds me when we are living a life of ease, it's easy for us to forget other peoples needs or even get to the point that we may forget our need of God (Prov 30:7,8).  It's often through suffering that we tend to become more useful by being Gods arms and His hands to others.  This is why we need to see suffering and trials in a much different way as God sees it.  Those of us who are being used of God had gone through much suffering.  The devil would like you to believe a lie and think that you are the only ones bearing a greater cross than others ever did which is what causes people to become bitter instead of better!

     When we end up being merciful to one another, God had to allow us to get to the place where we cried out to receive His mercy in the first place.  Knowing this, it is extremely important that we understand how awesome and beautiful God is towards us because He knows what is best for us and wants to bless us to develop His Character, even if it is through suffering.  When I remember singing "lest I forget Gethsemene, lest I forgot Your agony, lest I forget Your love for me, lead me to Calvary"...which is the place You chose to hang on the Cross in my place and bear the curse on my behalf (Gal 3:13), I am able to reflect on the truth of His awesome Love, Grace and mercy towards me.  When we meditate on this and see His awesome beauty towards us, we will effectively allow the power of Christ to abide in us and allow us to abide in the power, love and wisdom of Him and His Word.  How we handle His Word will be to the degree and the effectiveness of how much of His power works through us which is what needs to take place in us  to fulfill what is really important to God by bearing much fruit (John 15:1-16).  With Gods help, let's not forget to abide in His wonderful presence and allow Him to show His love and His goodness through you to others.  When you humbly accept this, I believe God will be able to work far greater works through you than you could ever imagine.

I do hope you will visit my Blog to see other helpful messages that I believe will encourage you.In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  
http://www.answers2prayer.org/

Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name. (Ps 91:14 Amplified Version)

Choosing His Path

Dearest Saints,

     Today, many Christians in particular continue to go through various trials continually.  Sometimes, like myself, we go through areas in our lives that seem like God is opening a door only to find out later that this same door He opened sooner or later closes on us.  I had that experience happen to me many more times than I care to admit.  What I thought was a wasted set of events in my life, God continues to reveal to me that these events helped me grow and shape me to be better prepared to be used by Him. I would never have been able to enter this particular place of my life and be used by Him without having to go through many paths that lead me there.  Many times, we would rather just take one short step to go through that Door that God lead us to our destination immediately.  By not going through different paths and persevering, we would not be prepared to resist falling in to pride.  

     God warns us in 1 Tim 3:6 that a novice cannot be used to govern and care for the Church because he/she may be more tempted to be lifted up with pride.  This reminds me how God lovingly keeps us from entering certain paths in order to possibly spare our very lives and possibly spare us from eternal destruction.  What we may think is the best path for us is often not the path God knows we need to take.  It reminds me of the verse in Prov 14:12 where a way seems right to a man and appears straight before him, but at the end of it is the way of death (Amplified Version).  We may have to go down more paths than we care, but when we truly put our Trust in the Lord, I believe we will be much stronger to have a more profound and positive effect on many others whom we come in contact.  The turning point in this is to make up your mind that by His Grace, WE ARE NOT GOING TO GIVE UP and believe God uses each circumstance to draw us closer to Him and prepares us to be stronger in Him!  

     As an example of one of my many experiences, I intended on going to university to study horticulture right after high school.  Well, God had other plans for me.  University did not work out for me and other set of events also took place shortly after that did not work out for me either.  Finally, this lead me to joining the military in Fall of 1980, after being out of school for just over a year.  I became more determined than ever to go through harsh recruit training and get through NO MATTER WHAT.  I don't believe I would have had that determination had I not gone through an unfortunate series of events that lead me to joining the military.  Then, later in my career, several postings took place and I ended up remaining on one of our ships an additional year, which was basically against my will.  Because of that, I was then offered a position in a Northern community in Alberta near the town of Cold Lake.  It was here in this remote region that I met several people, including one in particular who eventually lead me to the Lord.  Had I not spent that extra year on the ship against my will, who knows if I would have ever come to the right place and ever know the Lord at all?  So when I take the time to reflect many of my past events in life, I realize more and more that God lead me through many stepping stones to become a child of God and also to develop me to what He wants me to become.  It took me going through several negative circumstances to see how God was preparing me to do what I am doing now.  Had I stubbornly went "My Way" as Frank Sinatra sings that famous song, I know for a fact that I could very well be continuing to wander in spiritual darkness to this date.  And who knows...I may not even be alive today to tell of my experience.  He may have saved me from events that may have taken my life had I rebelliously chosen to go "my way" instead.  It's like a fellow whom I heard about that was frustrated because he was running late to get to work at the Twin Towers in New York which he had errands he had to commit to first thing in the morning.  He was frustrated about these set of circumstances which he initially wished would have not taken place.  This man now realizes that because of this "inconvenience", it spared his life from that tragedy we call 9-11, and he remains alive today because of it.

     This reminds me that when we are quick to question God "Why", we need to reflect and realize He knows all events and He has better plans for us than we could ever think.  The reason why many people don't receive the "Better Plan" of God may be because they continue to question God critically, murmur and complain, fail to give Him thanks and end up stubbornly choosing to go "their own way" instead.  What we need to do is come to a place, go to prayer and confess to Him that "I may not understand what is happening Lord, but I am putting my trust in You no matter what".  I can only thank God that I didn't choose to quit and give up when I felt like throwing in the towel many times in the past.  I now understand as I see the results, He made something that seemed so bad at that time, become something far more valuable than one could ever imagine if we would only trust God during those times of preparation.  

     I believe most of you have a far greater value to be used for Gods glorious purposes than you realize.  With Gods help, don't allow the enemy to deceive you by only looking at the present, but ask Him to help you see the whole picture and believe He is preparing you to be that valuable vessel of honor to be a richer blessing to many.  Think of the eternal destiny we may fail to achieve all because we chose to doubt and complain about our present circumstances rather than seeing the positive side of how God can fulfill every good purpose from our past.

Will you consider buying my books in support of HelpingCopeThroughHope mission work in Zambia?  You may go to my link below to observe.

In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  
http://www.answers2prayer.org/ 

Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name. (Ps 91:14 Amplified Version)

The Lord Truly Bless You

Dearest Saints, 

     We as Christians often say to one another, "The Lord bless you" and I believe we say it so often that we lose its impact that may just become a familiar saying.  Sometimes, I believe the best position to be blessed is to come to the place where you go through situations that will cause you to totally lean on God and at the same time, have a smile in your heart and on your face and say that You trust Him no matter what and know in your heart that He loves you like no other.  Often times however, it takes trials to get us to truly lean and trust in God.  We need to be determined that no matter what is going on in our lives, "With His Help", we are going to believe the very best for us when we leave it in His hands.  This is the absolute truth, but it does not do us any good when we don't believe it or take time to spend with God for Him to prepare our hearts so we can believe this truth.  Jesus was empowered each day right from morning onward because He was prayed up in advance and always spent quality time with the Father.  In order for us to be empowered, we not only need to go to prayer first thing, but we need to develop that mindset first and foremost (with His help always) to refrain from reacting negatively towards any unfavorable circumstances while also, to be determined to seek to be a blessing to many others during the day.  All too often, I see myself being reactive to certain situations that was not most favorable simply because I didn't seek God first, go to prayer first or develop that right mindset by spending quality time with Him that we all need.  Just as this thought comes to mind, it's like the first thing in the morning, we (men) get ready to shave and the ladies to put on their makeup in the morning to prepare themselves before they go out the door to work, shop or meet others.  We need to do the same type of thing spiritually, by spending quiet time with God and clothing ourselves with Christ by being prayed up, and having that mindset of Christ by putting on that armour of God.  If God tells us that we need to "put on" the armour of God (Eph 6:13), then that means it takes time and we need to spend time to get dressed Spiritually, just like it takes time to put on our clothes before we leave our homes in the morning.

     Many times, I look back and see how I have almost always been prepared physically, but I honestly cannot say the same thing to be prepared spiritually when I should be more so.  We pretty well know what our weaknesses are if we take time to examine ourselves.  When someone has a habit to be negative or be a pessimist and say "I can't do this; I can't do that", that person may have to do more preparation in the morning to strip off the "I can'ts" and replace it with "I CAN do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil 4:13).  When we lean on God, nowhere in the Bible does it say that we are Unable to do or we Can't do when we learn to rely and trust in God.  God says that He enables us, empowers us (2 Tim 1:&), He is with us (Heb 13:5), He will carry us through (Ps 68:19); He will not permit us to go through greater trials than we can bear (1 Cor 10:13).  If it is someone who has a problem with holding on to guilt, they need to go to prayer, spend time with God first thing in the morning and pray with Boldness the promises of His Word that tells you in Rom 8:1 there is NOW no condemnation for those who are in Christ".  When you do say that, this is what is meant by dressing your self spiritually.  Speaking His Word is speaking the whole Light of the truth where absolutely no darkness of any form of false is ever found in His Word.  Getting properly Spiritually dressed will be only as effective if you strip off every negative circumstances and every mindset that does not agree with Gods Word and replace that by putting on your armour by speaking the Truth of His Word over you.  If you believe anything else that God says otherwise, you are allowing to be deceived and you are not wearing that protective armour like you should.  Gods armour is meant to protect you, and to use that Sword that is the offensive part of the armour to effectively attack our enemy.  Wearing Gods armour "properly" helps to better prepare any attack you may be going through.

     Saying the Lords blessings upon you may put you through some trials and unfavorable circumstances.  It is so important that we seize every opportunity that comes our way, to believe that no matter what, we are going to be much better off to be much more Spiritually prepared to fight the good fight of faith, to help encourage others in their time of need and realize how He is preparing each of us to be a richer blessing to one another simply because we know who our God is by being clothed with Christ.  Being blessed and giving Gods blessings to others is not simply receiving the "life of ease" and living the life that just floats downstream, because when you know if you float downstream long enough, you may be much more closer to the danger of the "falls" than you care to imagine.  When things always go easy, we as humans have a greater tendency to leave God out and think that we can now continue our own way of living.  Being more blessed may actually be much better when we go through hard times, deeper valleys, but when we do come through them knowing that the power of Gods goodness carried us through, we can truly say that we are much better off because of it and be able to bless others in their time of need.  

     When we get prayed up and spend that quality time with God first thing and help get our mindset prepared to fulfill His love to activate through us, to be positive through every circumstance by keeping focused on Jesus, we can truly be blessed and be prepared to take on any challenges that does come our way and we will be better off and stronger in the Lord because of it.  Let us seize every opportunity, knowing who He is, knowing who we are in Him, knowing our Blood bought inheritance which He suffered through His Son to give us, knowing His Word (which is His love letter for us) and to know that no matter what, we can prove His Word that "All things do work together for Good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose (Rom 8:28).  This won't just be another "spiritual" poem we just often hear, but will be a powerful truth if we put His Word in to practice (Phil 4:9) because we took the time to get dressed spiritually by spending time with God.   

     Do know this, that when you are prayed up in advance and be determined that with His help by allowing Him to prepare your mind and heart, YOU WILL truly be prepared to be a greater blessing to others each day.  If we are prepared, we can be that powerful individual God can truly use to make other peoples day and give them encouragement, because we know there are so many who do need encouragement.  The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few (Matt 9:37).  So dear Lord, help us to be prepared so we can be those laborers that You are able to use so we can reap in a great harvest for Your Kingdom. So when we say "The Lord bless you" or receive that blessing, let's look beyond what we would otherwise normally think and be prepared to go through whatever we need to go through, to truly be Blessed to be a rich blessing to many others in their time of need.  Being a real blessing to many others is truly the greatest blessing we can receive when we do it all to the glory of God.

Will you consider buying my books in support of HelpingCopeThroughHope mission work in Zambia?  You may go to my link below to observe.
In the Matchless Name of Jesus
Richard
Associate Director
Answers2Prayerhttp://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  
http://www.answers2prayer.org/
www.helpingcopewithhope.blogspot.com