ON to MATURITY

Dearest Saints, I sense that God is re-directing my ministry. I not only like to encourage Saints, but I strongly sense from God to tell each of us who have been Christians for many years that it's time to Grow Up. I think more importantly, I not only want to encourage, but I would love to see Saints be committed and rise up as a mightier warriors for God, especially when we are at a time that is critical. When we fail to see Christians Grow Up after 10, 20+ years and still act like an infant, we lose out so much more then we can ever think of what God wants to do through us to benefit others. I believe when we fail to want to grow up, many people fail to be blessed because of it. It saddens me that over the years I encourage Christians, it often falls on deaf ears and many do the exact opposite of what the preachers and teachers teach and what the Word tells us to do. Gods kingdom is lacking in advancing because people are not grown up when they should. They fail to be aggressive to do wbat is Right in order to advance the Kingdom of God. In Matt 11:12, it mentions that the Kingdom of God advances simply because the bold confident people of God are the ones who take it by force. These are not the ones who remain complacent, or fight and cause divisions amongst themselves or remain self-centered. I feel lead by the Lord to tell many that it's time to go to a new level and go on to maturity so we can be part of those who advance in Gods Kingdom. Many times, elemental teaching on forgiveness and other basic topics are preached. Unfortunately, it often falls on deaf ears and many people become dull of hearing because their heart remains calloused (Matt 15:16). He tells us that when we don't forgive others, we can't ever expect God who is totally loving to ever forgive us (Matt 6:14,15). Yet, many Christians who should know better continue to make excuses why not to forgive, even though God is clear in His Word that this is UNACCEPTABLE! This is an example that Christians who should be mature still require to be spoon-fed with this basic teaching and other elemental teachings that they should have learned long time ago. How many times does a preacher have to preach on forgiveness before Gods people decide to do this? I am so glad that God doesn't act like many Christians, otherwise none of us would have any chance of being forgiven or having renewed peace of mind. We are to imitate Christ (Eph 5:1) and strive to fulfill the law of Love (1 Cor 13:4-8) and fulfill the Law and the prophets (Matt 22:37-40). Just think of when Judas Iscariot came with a number of warriors with clubs to slay Jesus and yet, Jesus in His last attempt chooses to call him "friend" (Matt 26:50) hoping he would come back to Him and forsake his evil ways. How far are we willing to go when He Himself went to that great extent? I always admired Stephen who was being stoned and he also asked God to forgive his accusers because they knew not what they are doing because Stephen knew the consequences of their actions (Acts 7:59,60). Mature Christians see the big picture and don't become so focused on current circumstances. In order for us to grow into maturity, I think it is essential to understand that we should know He loves us and has done immeasurably for us who wants to work mightily through us and be willing to surrender under His loving authority. When we receive His Mercy, we can extend that same mercy. When we receive His Grace, we can extend that to others. And mostly, when we receive His love in full for us individually, we can extend that love to others. We also have to NOT be UNAWARE of the schemes of the enemy. When we understand that the real enemy is satan and his demonic forces and not flesh and blood, we will pray and fight for one another instead of falling into his trap and fighting against one another in the body. We also have to know and use our God given authority wisely and always see our desperate need for Gods help of His Spirit. We need to be confident in this simply because of who He is and knowing who we are in Him. As this email is solely for mature Christians like yourselves and those of whom read this to the end, this is simply an awareness so we don't criticize others which is another sign of immaturity. But we need to pray for them instead because this is a serious issue with many within the Body of Christ. With Gods help, let's be mature Christians who go the extra mile, (pray for those who come against us), help encourage young believers and admonish others who have been in the faith awhile to rise up as true Believers in Christ. Christ already won the war at Calvary. We have to be like Soldiers, use His Word as a Mighty Sword and do all the crisis demands by being confident in Him to be able to stand our ground upon the Rock (Jesus) Matt 6:13. It's time for many to leave the elemental teachings of a child and Grow to maturity. I hope this blesses you that together, God will use us to advance His Kingdom. Please email to the undersigned should you wish to unsubscribe from receiving my Blogs. In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Ministry Encourager Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/

BE COMMITTED

Dearest Saints, This is a burden on my heart that I would like to share to benefit each of us. In todays world, it seems that commitment has become less of a reality than it has several decades ago. Within a body of Believers, it seems that more people walk away or just become silent when we don't agree on some form of doctrine or allow ourselves to become offended over actions of others. Most of the time, it is simply mis-understanding. People become silent or fail to communicate and dis-associate with other believers rather then to try to work things out and be committed to seeking the better interest of others like we are admonished to do (Phil 2:4&21). There is a definite lack of commitment amongst Believers today and we need to do our part to put a stop to this. It's all about taking responsibility to do our part to promote unity instead. Christ Himself was admonishing His Disciples that if there was any factions between two people, before a person was to leave a gift at the alter, he/she had to make the attempt to make things right with the other person (Matt 5:23-25). In other words, people could not expect to effectively serve the Lord when factions/divisions were present in their situation. We are allowing the real enemy to have the upper hand within the body of believers by becoming silent and distant rather then being unified like Christ would like us to be. Christ went to that agonizing trouble to die for His Church so we could be a strong body of united believers rather being weakened because we choose to harbour differences that brings dis-unity. Some of the things that we are allowing the enemy to cause division within the Church includes: a. being competitive rather than complimenting each other with our talents; b. Showing partiality (showing favor to one over the other); c. Believing ones ministry is more important then the other; d. Being easily offended; e. Not wanting to be humble and admit that we need to grow up in the Lord; f. Remaining complacent, not wanting to leave your comfort zone; g. Seeing other people as the enemy instead of understanding who the real enemy is (satan and his demonic followers); h. Being too quick to judge and critize one another many times because we mis-understood one another. You may come up with many other issues that you have experienced that bring division. There are some people that used to associate with myself and now for some strange reason, they choose to dis-associate with me by just remaining silent. I don't know why to this date which is a definite problem within the body. Many people are mis-understood because Christians don't take the time to understand one another and quickly judging when we should learn to communicate instead, but we don't. How can one fix a problem when others are silent and don't say anything? Gods people need to communicate better. We allow the enemy to have his way to bring division for no reason. People are not committed to try to make things right or take the time to communicate to try to mend any broken areas. People are taking the easy way out just to withdraw themselves and be silent. When we silence ourselves to one another, do we think we are pleasing God? We forget that we love God to the measure we love the least of our own Brethren (Matt 25:40). We are not going to agree on everything, but that doesn't mean we should not dis-associate ourselves with other believers. We need to agree to dis-agree on petty issues and know that we should ALL AGREE that we are to exalt the Lord Jesus, worship Him and live to glorify Him. We fail to fulfill our purpose in life by living to worship Him when allow division to take place. One of the best passages that the Lord loves unity is found in the small chapter of Psalm 133. If we all agree that we need to exalt Him and Worship Him, then we need to be DOERS of His Word which is His will. Nowhere in the Bible does God say it is acceptable to become divisive within the body. Unfortunately, I have known people to leave the Church altogether. They have no more fellowship with God Himself which is foolish because God is the One who promotes genuine love in the first place. So why would any believe want to leave God all because others may not have been a good example of Christ? We need to learn to confront in a loving way instead of remaining passive and silent. Bringing Unity takes work and commitment on our part, but is always DO-ABLE when God is on our side. We lose out so much when the Church remains passive rather then spurring one another on to good works (Heb 10:24). If we say we love the Lord, then we are going to want to do His will by being committed to Him and to one another. We have to put a STOP to dis-associating ourselves when we should learn to work things out. We need to STOP becoming easily offended. We need to STOP the gossip and being critical that only brings division and be more prayerful to one another. I often have found out in life that it's not often the other person who is at fault, but my lack of prayer for them. Even if it may be the fault of another, are we failing to sincerely pray for one another? I must admit my fault in this. Many times, the prayer rooms have very few people attending there and flocks of people come to be entertained instead. I believe if we spend quality time to get alone with God and be committed with sincere prayer for one another as our priority, we will see a greater move of God reaching outside the Church by drawing others to Himself and strengthening the Body of Believers within. In Acts Chapter 2, it mentions that when the Believers get together in unity, God was able to add thousands each day to build His Church (people) vs 41. God moves when we love one another and unite together as a healthy body. We need to be more committed to doing what God admonishes us to do instead of taking the easy way around everything and becoming passive. We are never justified by being silent and removing ourselves when we fail to do what we should do to keep the Unity and Peace amongst Believers. We can't be strong in the Lord or effective in doing that as long as we blame one another or become silent when we should be reaching out. If we are expected to "Outreach the world", how can we expect to do that when we can't reach to one another within the body? I would ask you to please read the following verses that promote peace & unity (Mark 9:50, Rom 12:18; 2 Cor 13:11; Gal 6:16; Heb 12:14; Phil 4:9; Col 3:15). God says "No one will enter His Kingdom unless they do the will of the Father" (Matt 7:21). Being Doers of His Word by promoting and maintaining unity is His Will. Let's do all we can to be committed by doing our part to promote unity and be Peace-Makers (Ps 133; Matt 5:9). Please email to the undersigned should you wish to unsubscribe from receiving my Blogs. In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Ministry Encourager Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/

CONVICTION SHOULD BE OUR FRIEND

Dearest Saints, Here's another challenging message. But anytime we are challenged to go higher with the Lord and be blessed by becoming more like Him, that is always a "Good Thing". Being challenged and taking that challenge the right way is what brings Hope into our situation. Anytime I bring out a message to challenge, it is always in the hope to bring out the best in each one including myself which is what our motive should be. When we don't do this to the benefit of others, God knows our heart and our motive. This should be a good thing because God can't bring conviction to benefit us when we don't believe we desperately need it. This becomes a dilemma to those who don't want to change, but want to remain complacent and simply remain comfortable in their ways and never accept the challenge to grow in areas we need to grow. No wonder having a Reverential Fear of the Lord (by humbling submitting our ways to His Ways) is the beginning of having wisdom (Prov 1:7). Therefore, when we challenge ourselves and others, our motive should always bring out the best in everyone, especially to our own Brothers and Sisters in the Lord. Some of the challenges we face may be to judge our own selves and compare our motives to His Word rather than judging one another. Some challenges include honoring His Word above our own opinions. Sometimes, it's showing partiality (favoring one over another) when this is considered sinful (Prov 28:21; Acts 10:34; Rom 2:11). It may be us being more critical of someone rather then being prayerful. I think that's more of a challenge to myself! God may be convicting some to start esteeming others better than ourselves and learn to be sober towards ourselves when we may not be doing so (Phil 2:3-5). To look at another way, one of the things that challenge some is limiting God in any way when we fail to have that AWE of Him like we should (Ps 2:11; Ps 111:9). Are we limiting God to our own thinking? Other times, it may be holding a grudge and harbouring unforgiveness no matter what. Harbouring unforgiveness is what keeps many as a prisoner to the evil one which is the result of taking our own opinions over what God says about this. Sometimes, it's making excuses, or pointing fingers and blaming other people or circumstances rather then taking any responsibility of our own. I find as long as we make excuses (by not receiving His conviction) and point fingers, we will continue to remain as spiritual infants that never grow up (Isa 58:9). Following His Word may not always be easy, but always liberates us to having that inner peace and joy that nothing on earth can ever offer us! When we make excuses to lean on our own understanding and fail to take any responsibility of our own, we should be reminded that this is sinful. A swing of the big sledge hammer that drives a spike further into the hands and feet of Jesus from seeing that movie "Passion of Christ" and visualizing Him screaming in pain with every bang of the large spikes...that's the penalty He paid for our sins. There is no sin too small that He didn't suffer and pay a price on our behalf. So when we fail to take responsibility, remember that Christ took responsibility upon Himself for all of our penalty that we deserved and He didn't. If God convicts us, it's always a matter to help us be to be the type of people we need to be and to help us grow that leads to Everlasting (John 6:68). His conviction is meant to change us for the better. We remain holding a guilty conscience often because we are refusing to allow God to change us which is why we are lovingly convicted in the first place. We think of His conviction as an enemy rather then our friend. Conviction should be an enemy of our fleshly desires that opposes His Spirit (Gal 5:17) and a friend to our Spirit which is what we need to care for ever-so much more. Humbly receiving His conviction leads us to repentance that cleanses us from within. Remember that God chastens those whom He loves (Rev 3:19). If He ever stopped convicting us, we should start to be very concerned!! We wouldn't feel guilty if we do like God tells us to do...to REPENT and believe He FORGIVES us (1 John 1:9). Conviction from God should be our friend because His Spirit is telling us to turn from our ways which often holds us back from not growing more spiritually. Conviction encourages us to change while receiving condemnation discourages us and we see no change within us. Conviction builds us up, condemnation does nothing but tears us down. Conviction from His Spirit is our Friend and condemnation from the evil one is our enemy! If we see ourselves as a result of being condemned, we may be choosing to lean on our own opinions/understanding rather than choosing His Instructions like we need to. Let's stop allowing the enemy to condemn us everytime we are chastened by God and choose to see the benefits of Gods conviction over us. We need to see His Word as our Loving Authority instead. When we decide to choose His convictions and refuse to receive the enemy's condemnation, we will see greater positive results in every area of our lives (Rom 8:1). Our past failures will be most useful to bless many others in their time of need. We cannot expect to benefit and grow up in the Lord if we continue to make excuses and don't humble ourselves to the Wisdom of His Word. We need to see His Word as a loving letter to encourage us. Therefore, let's examine His Word (as our LOVING Authority) and see where we may fall short. And then, let's humble ourselves, ask, believe and expect Him to make that wonderful change within us (to become more like Him) that only He can do. Please email to the undersigned should you wish to unsubscribe from receiving my Blogs. In the Matchless Name of Jesus Richard Ministry Encourager Answers2Prayer http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife http://www.answers2prayer.org/