Effective Managers of God

Dearest Saints, 

 

     As most of us know, we continue to come against more fierce attacks from the real enemy and his hosts (satan and the demonic forces) because they know their time is short (Rev 12:12).  I have been receiving very encouraging emails and reports after we encourage one another to make the most of our God given authority to see His Work through us gets done.  I find when we are more powerful in the Lord, it first starts with being submissive to Him in every area of our lives and putting quality time with Him.  When we fail to invite Him to take total dominance and control (His perfect will) for us in our lives, we fail to see His power work through us.  I don't really believe it is a matter of quantity time in as much as our quality time with Him.  Our quality with Him is to allow Him to move within our heart, confess our desperate need of Him and gladly allowing His loving ways to dominate our lives.

 

     I truly believe the power of God is released in our lives to the degree of the portion we submit our lives to Him.  In Acts 19:13-18, you will notice that several people (sons of Sceva) who tried to take authority over a demon possessed person could not do it.  In the reply of the powers of darkness, they spoke through this possessed man to tell them "Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you"? (vs 15).  I believe that these people may have been an example of Christians who lack Gods power because they fail to acknowledge God in as much as they should have, or possibly not submit to His authority to the degree they should be doing.  Just like Christians who know that we are to forgive like He commands us to, but we end up making excuses.  I believe we cannot use our God given authority effectively when we fail to give Him pre-eminance in our lives all because we do not invite Him as our LORD (to Lord it over our lives and be submissive to His laws of love).  Again, I find it most essential that when we start our day, we need to spend that first moment of our day to get quiet with the Lord and tell Him how much you need Him, how much you appreciate Him and that you want to invite Him in every area of your life to help you to love others and be a blessing to one another.  I can attest to the fact that if I don't spend that quality time with Him, I find myself in a "mess".  I use quotations to put emphasis on what it is like to be a mess.  

 

     When we don't give Him our time and attention first, we can't expect to be used of Him as much as we should.  I can tell you that when God works powerfully through me, it is definitely NOT because of any intellect or natural ability of my own, but spending quality time to be alone with Him and acknowledge His presence and our need of Him.  I have gotten to the place where I know I cannot possibly move forward unless I allow Him to take authority over my life.  God is the greatest "Gentleman" because He only moves mightily in our lives when we permit Him to do so.  He will never push His way in to our lives.  We need to open our hearts to invite Him to do His much needed work through us.  When we do, we can use His authority in every area of our lives simply because we allow His power to work through us because we believe He loves us and wants us to invite Him in to every part of our lives.  When we put ourselves in this submissive position for God to have us, I find His power works mightily through me and He is able to get me through the most trying circumstances and be much stronger in Him after going through the tough times. 

 

     The Lord gave me a wonderful revelation I would like to share with you.  In the beginning, we see God as the Owner and Adam as the "manager" or "caretaker" of what God owns, because God tells Adam to tend the garden of which God owns.  When I learn to submit my body, my family, my home, etc.. over to God, we can declare Him as the true "OWNER" of our lives, families, finances, circumstances and we are simply caretakers of what God really owns.  However, Adam was told to tend the garden by working it and not just standing there passively doing nothing.  Therefore, we are expected to manage all of our affairs by doing what we know to do and looking after our lives as God tells us to.  When I picture a Manager who looks after the property of God and we see enemy trespassers on a property that says "NO TRESPASSING", we need to point our finger outward to command the enemy to depart off the premises because we DO NOT permit the enemy to have any activity on Gods property.  Therefore, when we see the activity of strife, factions, sickness, diseases, etc in our lives, we can command these symptoms or circumstances to depart and bind them unto the Blood of Jesus.  Again, when we don't look after our bodies the way we should, we often can't expect God to just bring a healing miracle when we neglect our responsibility.  We need to do our part (by tending "our garden").  When we do our part, I believe we have Gods authority as managers to expect God to do His part as He is always faithful to do.  As a manager would tell the evil one to depart (off the premises of Gods property of our lives), we need to speak against that evil spirit to depart because when we submit every part of our lives to God, we have His authority NOT to permit the enemy to co-exist with what we have given God to own in our lives.  When Jesus taught His Disciples to pray, part of that prayer was "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven" (Matt 6:10).  We know that no strife, factions, divisions, sickness, diseases or the like exists in Heaven.  Therefore, if we pray His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven, if these don't exist in Heaven, then we shouldn't allow it to have any place in our lives on earth according to the prayer He taught us to pray. 

 

     When I walk around the property of my home or the place of worship where we gather and plead the Blood of Jesus and declare to the enemy to give him no legal right to enter these premises and tell the enemy he can NOT have any place in our lives, my family life has been at such greater peace.  Therefore, when we commit our lives, body, family, finances and our Church that only God is to govern (because He purchased all of us with His shed Blood), we can claim His power and purposes to dwell in our midst and have total victory over the enemy who is considered an unwanted trespasser.  When God has given us the authority in His Name over the enemy, we need to exercise that authority and we know we can rightfully exercise that authority in Righteousness when we do submit our "selves" to God who truly does own all things.  I hope this richly blesses you as it has been to me to know who we are in Christ and exercise our God given inheritance to maintain Gods divine order to be most blessed to ourselves, our family members and our Church.  May I encourage you to do things Gods way, because you will always see in the end that His Way is always the BEST WAY in order for us to live the most blessed life!

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
Answers2Prayer
http://sites.google.com/site/greatestbuilderforourlife  
http://www.answers2prayer.org/
 

The Heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows and proclaims His handiwork (Psalm 19:1).

You are Highly Valuable

Dearest Saints. 

          When I think of my past many years ago, I felt devastated at times not because of anything that I lost by any natural disasters or robbed of anything regarding any material possession.  But I felt devastated because I once believed that I was of no value to society.  I didn't ever see myself becoming anyone who would ever have any positive influence on anyone elses life.  As I see now, this is nothing but a lie from the pit of hell.  To me, this is the most devastating state anyone to be in, especially for Christians.  When I think back on some of those times, I realize that my greatest joy is not having the biggest home, drive the most expensive car or accumulating any material possessions.  My greatest joy is knowing that as a Christian, we have Gods help to be a rich blessing and be a positive influence to each other.  In fact, I would gladly give up so much to have a large ministry that builds up and edifies many Christians around the world and encourage one another to be all the God wants each of us to be.  To me, I can't think of anything better than knowing the truth of how God sees us as His most valuable source, to know that we can fulfill the greatest mandate in this entire world, just because we want to bless souls.  Most of the world today have yet to understand that no amount of money, possessions or popularity will ever give them joy and inner peace than having a personal relationship with God and being used by Him to be a rich blessing to one another. 

          Every time we read His Word, we need to be so encouraged because of what we mean to Him.  We need to understand that the Bible is His "life-line" for us to live the very best life not only in the eternal realm of glory, but during our life here on earth.  Jesus tells us that He did not just live to give us an abundant life to live in Heaven, but also during our time on earth (John 10:10).  I believe we need to see His Word in a greater dimension as ABSOLUTE TRUTH and know that any other philosophies that come from man, we should consider those to be utterly foolish if it doesn't agree with the wisdom of His Word.  We need to see our love for His Word to the point that anything else, we are to hate.  Just like David says in Psalm 119:127,128; He sees Gods Word far more precious than gold and the fact that he hates every wrong path, which is believing any other philosophy that does not line up with the Word of God.

          Therefore, when encourage others of what the Bible tells us, we need to stop thinking that this is some sort of "positive thinking" session or a bunch of ideas just to try to make us feel good.  If the Bible encourages us, this means it is absolute TRUTH and believing otherwise is utterly foolish!  Knowing this, I would like to encourage each of you of this absolute truth, that we are all highly valuable to God, to each other, to the Church and our society in whom God has placed us.  The chapter I like to mention is found in 1 Cor 12:12-27, where we are considered members of one body as Christ is the Head.  When you think like David said in Psalm 139:14, he knew how fearfully and wonderfully he was made, and so should we.  When you think about every part of the body that God created, there is no place that one part of the body can ever say..."I have no need of you" unless of course we are talking about sickness.  The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you (1 Cor 12:21).  If it ever did, just think of what may happen when the eye starts to become dimmer and its vision is reduced!  Each member of the body is highly valuable to God and to each other in order for the body to be totally functional and be healthy.  Each one of us makes up a part of that body that the Lord has fearfully and wonderfully made.  Therefore, if we make up the body of Christ, we ALL have a very essential part in order for the Spiritual body to be healthy.  I like to make a comparison, that if a bunch of people always works behind the scenes and may never be noticed, they may feel like a tiny hair in the blood veins called capilleries, which is also unnoticeable to the naked eye.  Some people may compare themselves to this tiny part of our body and feel insignificant.  If you would consider this fact that if it weren't for these tiny hairs, the blood itself would not be able to flow upwards to the vital part of the body which is the heart.  He distinctly tells us in this chapter that He gives greater honor and richer endowments to the inferior parts (vs 24).  Therefore, no matter who you are, you are an essential and vital source to the body of Christ!!
  
          Therefore, if anyone feels insignifcant in the body, you need to STOP ever thinking this way and know that each one of us is Highly Valuable in order for the body of Christ to be healthy.  The ones who feel insignificant are the ones who are simply believing the lies of the enemy rather than believing what God is telling you.  No parts of the body can never do without another.  In other words, we need each other in order to be most effective in the body of Christ.  We can be most effective to be a rich blessing to God, to the Church, to one another and to our community when we believe His Word that tells us we are valuable.  We are all called to live to give God the glory (Isa 43:7).  That means, if we are called to give God the glory, then He has enabled each of us the ability to do so.  When you know the power and wisdom of God, you can know that He never makes a mistake and whatever He does through each of us, He always has a significant purpose.  Each of us individually are a wonderful unique person with a unique talent(s) that no one can carbon copy.  You may be that vessel God has prepared you for to meet the need of another individual.  Meeting the needs of a soul goes far beyond any other purpose in life.

          We need to know that we are each highly valuable to fulfill Gods purpose in order to be that healthy Body of Christ.  The God of this universe and the Creator of everything resides in each of us!  Shouldn't that make us believe that we are highly valuable?  Just think how the world could never afford to redeem a soul which could only be paid by the shed Blood of Christ.  So when Christ questions His Disciples, what should a man profit if he gains the whole world, yet loses his very soul (Matt 16:26)?  That means that we are more valuable to God than the entire economy of the world is to God.  Therefore, to believe you are not highly valuable is believing the lies of the enemy.  I challenge you to refute every lie from the enemy if you believe his lies.  Start thanking God for creating who you are and tell Him that you believe He created you for a wonderful purpose and believe He can use you mightily.  Do not give the enemy any satisfaction of ever robbing you with his deceptive lies.  May the blessings of the truth of His Word be reserved for you in His majestic Name.
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/

Overcoming the Deception of Guilt

Dearest Saints

          Presently, I believe many Christians remain a prisoner because too many of them give too much attention by listening to our enemy who deceives Gods people to remain a prisoner of feeling guilty.  When guilt is left unattended and is not properly dealt with, this may lead to a greater issue of feeling condemned.  Like feeling inferior….guilt and condemnation is nothing but deception which our enemy entices so many Christians in to believing they are feeling justified by holding on to it.  When a Christian listens to the enemy long enough, they always become a prisoner to his lies.  Just like what happened right from the beginning when Eve listened too long to the serpent.  Believing this deception inhibits many Christians from growing stronger in the Lord while at the same time, the body of Christ remains ineffective.  This is more important than ever that Gods Church needs to be stronger in Him by refusing to listen the enemy who is able to weaken the Church, which we should never allow to take place.

          It is important to KNOW and UNDERSTAND that no matter what has happened in the past, with Gods help, we can be set free if we choose to do things His way, believe His ways and learn to receive His gifts of Grace, Mercy and total Pardon for us and live free from being a prisoner of “guilt”.  When we first submit our lives and invite Jesus as our Lord, we become a new creature in Christ.  Old things are passed away, behold “ALL things have now become NEW” (2 Cor 5:17).  Although we may still be dealing with some habits, God now sees us as His Righteousness because of the Blood of Jesus simply because we now have invited Him to be our Lord and Savior when we knew we could not ever reconcile ourselves by our “so-called good deeds”.  Just like Paul says in Romans 7, that he continues to fight from within this old nature which is not his will in the first place.  God recognizes and totally understands our struggles.  This is why He has sent an Advocate (Jesus Christ) who took the penalty for us already and pleads for us to accept His pardon for any of our sins we have repented of.  I know I normally hit a nerve with people who were alcoholics from the past and joined Alcoholics Anonymous, because they still consider themselves alcoholics to this day, even though they may have been sober for over 20 years.  I like the fact that when we believe and receive what God has done for us, we don’t have to hold on to any former title of our past, because He tells us we are new creatures in Christ, which means that no matter what we have done in the past, it is forever gone because we have been made NEW because of what Jesus accomplished for us.  I like believing in the power of His promises because it is totally liberating.  When God says that we should know the Truth, and the Truth sets us free (John 8:32), the only ones who are set free are the ones who believe His Word and accept it without question!!  When anyone holds any records on us from our past, it is great knowing that the only One whom anyone has to give an account to is the One who removes all our past sins.  This means we don’t ever have to accept any guilt because God Himself has dealt with it once and for all through His Son Jesus.    

          Holding on to guilt is nothing but a trick of the enemy to try to make yourself feel justified.  God tells us in Psalm 146:7, He sets the prisoners free.  However, many Christians are not set free!  Is it because God ever withholds the keys and keeps the prison doors locked?  NO.  Christians who remain a prisoner are those who choose not to receive Gods full pardon and His total forgiveness.  I picture how the prison doors are wide open, but many Christians decide to remain in prison even though the doors are wide open.  This type of prison is when someone holds on to guilt from the past.  Gods gift, His liberty and freedom that is always offered to His Children doesn’t do any good unless we learn to accept it and receive it.  If you want to give a gift to someone, but they deny the gift you give them simply because they don’t feel worthy, how would that make you feel?  How do you think God feels when He wants to offer us His pardon and forgiveness, but we choose not to receive it because we don’t feel worthy?  Don’t ever think we are ever justified when we choose to remain feeling guilty and forsake His priceless offer to pardon us from guilt!!

          When I am accused of my past, I refuse to accept any of it.  I smile and say “God loves me and He has totally forgiven me”.  I say it with a genuine smile on my face because I know the wonderful liberation of knowing this truth!!  When people try to make you feel guilty from the past, or the devil himself will put thoughts of the past in your memory, you need to always say those words which I just mentioned and not put a phony smile on your face, but a true genuine smile.  So when we know how God has forgiven us totally and we refuse to ever accept any accusations, we also need to make sure we don’t dare hold any of our Brothers or Sisters accountable, otherwise we end up playing the devils advocate.  To say these words with a genuine smile on your face is truly liberating when you speak it and mean it.  Try it!  God tells us that He punished a wicked servant severely after He had forgiven him a great debt, because this servant refused to show any mercy to another one who owed only a fraction of the debt.  When we listen and receive peoples accusations more then Gods pardon for us, He is not only going to have the accusers give an account before Him, but I believe He will also hold certain Christians accountable because He will question them why they did not choose to receive His pardon by holding on to guilt!

          When the prodigal Son was returning to his masters home after he went away and squandered everything, his master (whom God the Father is identified as) ran to him and embraced him (Luke 15:20).  He never mentions here about questioning His sons past because His Son asked for forgiveness.  In fact, He went far beyond not bringing up the past!  He had a feast prepared for him.  Does this sound like He made any suggestions that His son should hold on to any guilt?  Then why are so many Christians believing the lies of the devil to feel justified when we hold on to guilt?  I don’t know about you, but I CHOOSE Gods way to receive total forgiveness and REFUSE to ever hold on to guilt because it produces no benefit to you.  I am going to feast and join the party with God and the prodigal Son instead of remaining a prisoner by holding on to any guilt from my past.  We need to decide now: What are you going to choose? Enjoying the wonderful liberation of being free in Christ or a prisoner to the lies of the enemy?  Just like in Deut 30:19, God does not tell us to remain silent, but we need to verbally choose one or the other.  To live in the liberation of Christ or not.  Be wise and choose wisdom.

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/

Overcoming Inferiority

Dearest Saints,

          Now that we have seen how feeling inferior is deceptive and destructive, we need to take steps to overcome this and no longer allow this spirit (and every other negative symptoms/spirits we may have allowed to dominate our lives) to have any more dominion over our lives.  I find the first thing when dealing with any negative situation is to understand that anything we have believed that brings nothing but discouragement, bondages and every negative symptom of our thinking is not of God, but of the enemy.  We must believe as we take the steps to be delivered, that God has given us authority in His Name to cast out satan (Luke 10:19) and gives us His Spirit to live in total victory, otherwise, we remain defeated.  Our enemy (satan and his angels) is nothing but a deceiver and a liar.  His motive is to rob Christians that always discourages and brings us down.  Unfortunately, he is often successful, when it should not be the case.  We should always hate the lies of the enemy because it is knowing the truth of Christ that sets us free.  If we want anything good to come out of our negative past, I believe we need to do the following in this order:

          a.  First, we need to know our full identity in Christ.  We do this by BEING CONVINCED that everything He accomplished is available to us to live the abundant life and offers us victory in every circumstance.  He offers us an enormous inheritance of living in peace, having joy simply because we have a BLOOD BOUGHT RIGHT who willingly gave His life for us.  We need to know this is for each of us.  When the Lord revealed this to me, I realized that I have been living under the deception of the enemy all along and believing his lies which was why I was living a defeated and often despairing life.  I believe this was the opening for God to work mightily through me that I can now say that has brought me deliverance and victory to help many others in their time of need.  I repented to the Lord because I believed the lies of the enemy and failed to put my trust in Him and live according to His Word.  Even out of ignorance, I chose to repent. 

          b.  When we first see our need to be TOTALLY CONVINCED about our true identity in Christ, we need to refuse to believe that we are inferior to one another, because our identity is who we are in Christ.  Next, we need to be CONVINCED that anything that results negatively, is nothing but a deception from the enemy.  With Gods help, I now refuse to live under the devils deceptive ways.  I made a BOLD declaration to the Lord that He would take full control of my life, and will now live to bring Him glory.  To believe my past is not going to be in vain, but will be used for the purposes of being a rich blessing to many others, for their deliverance so they too can live the life God came to give each of us.  By His Grace, I will be what God wants me to be, to fulfill what God calls me to do.  When David stood against his enemy and the enemy of Gods people (Goliath), he boldly declared: "Who is this uncircumsized Phillistine, who should come against our people?  For he comes with weapons, but we come against him in the Name of our Lord".  And because of this, he killed the giant (1 Sam 17: 45-51).  Therefore, we need to be CONVINCED who we are in Christ, KNOWING who He is and what He can do for us and declare the same thing against our "so-called giants".  By His Grace, I REFUSE to accept anything less than Gods best for my life and will FOREVER LIVE IN TOTAL VICTORY over the enemy.  When we make this bold declaration to the Lord with His help for us, I believe this can be a real turning point for many!!  God gives us a choice to choose life or death (Deut  30.19).  Choosing to do things His way is CHOOSING LIFE that will allow us to live in victory.

          c.  When we are being transformed by the renewing of our mind, we are now able to get rid of the garbage from believing the lies of the enemy from our entire past, and expect God to deliver us and restore our lives.  When you compare everything that comes from the devil, we have to treat this like garbage that is full of stench.  When you have garbage in your home, you think nothing twice then to tie it up and throw it out once and for all.  We need to do the same by seeing everything the enemy comes against us is garbage and throw every adverse belief and putrid lies from our very house (our body, which is the Temple of God) 1 Cor 6:19.  We do this by refuting all lies from the enemy, we cast it out of our lives and we no longer accept his lies and deceptive ways for our lives.  We keep doing this for as long as we see the need to do this.  Can you imagine anyone who got rid of any garbage, would go to the dump to bring it back home?  That would be insane.  Nor should we ever find ourselves accepting any garbage back from the enemy when we got rid of it once and for all.  Otherwise, that too would be equally insane.

          d.  When we have repented of every sin (known or unknown) and made those declarations for God to direct our lives to live the life He intended for us to live, we need to be certain to fill our houses (spirit, mind, body and soul) with the promises of His Word, which always brings Hope, Peace, Joy, edification and keep it filled.  In Matt 12:43-45, God reminds us that when we clean our houses by removing the garbage of lies from our lives and just leave ourselves empty, this allows the enemy to return with spirits more evil and the condition of a person becomes worse simply because we failed to fill our mind and heart with His loving Word and His promises for us (Phil 4:8).

          The reason why we need to be most convinced of our identity in Christ first is utmost, otherwise we risk falling back in to our old habits and be defeated by our former patterns of our old thinking.  I capitalized certain words to STRONGLY EMPHASIZE their importance we need to take and heed to.  We need to have the mindset of Christ first before we can ever think we can rise up in victory.  God gives each of His Children an inheritance of everything good, but not every Christian receives it because they continue to listen to the lies of the enemy and end up believing and following his deceptive ways instead.  God cannot help us when we do not choose to follow His ways.  We also need to be TOTALLY CONVINCED that we are valuable to God who can use us in mighty ways to bring Glory to His Name, healing many lives and be a powerful testimony to bring hope and encouragement to many if we would BELIEVE Him and STOP listening to the lies of the enemy who would try to make you believe otherwise.  When we are fully convinced by what He tells us, this is that strong foundation that allows Him to build and fully restore our lives.  His Word is only as active and powerful to the measure we believe it, receive it and live it.  I am living proof of this, as a testimony of my life. 

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/

Let us therefore follow after the things which promote peace, and the things that edify one another (Rom 14:19).

Dealing with Inferiority - Part II

Dearest Saints. 

          As we continue from Part 1 of our series dealing with inferiority, I would like to identify some of the symptoms that occur as a result of someone dealing with an inferiority complex.  As we noticed in the first session, we see how these symptoms literally hinders the power of God to work effectively through those who are ensnared by believing they are inferior, which again is nothing but a trap and deception of the enemy who wants to hinder the work of God in our lives.  This spirit of inferiority is two-fold, not only does it hinder the work of God in many lives of Christians, but also is destructive and works against to promote unity, peace, edification and encouragement to anyone.  It promotes strife that causes a snowball effect to bring another christian Brother or Sister to feel inferior and having to deal with the same issues that poisons other Saints.   

 

          When I reflect at my past, I have come to realize how it manifests its ugly head, seeing how the enemy is able to use Christians that comes directly against Gods will.  This is that bitter root that is able to cause many others to become defiled (Heb 12:15).  God tells us when we are not with Him and live under His principles of love, we in fact come directly against Him (Matt 12:30).  People who feel inferior have several issues they are dealing with.  Some may be more pronounced than others.  Here are several results that I personally know of what happens when someone allows themselves to feel inferior and how it has a profound negative effect on others and the body of Christ:

 

          a.  They feed on themselves with self-pity and fail to see how God values each of us which inhibits His power to work through us in order that we may otherwise benefit others;

          b.  People strive against each other, become argumentative by constantly fighting against feeling inferior by trying to prove themselves otherwise;

          c.  People who feel inferior talk down to others, become gossipers that do nothing but tear down one another in order to make themselves look better;

          d.  They are quick to point the faults of others and fight hard within themselves to prove they are right, which invites another destructive spirit called "pride";

          e.  A person may wait and watch to see any errors others make in order to bring accusations.  Notice often how the Pharisees and Saducees acted this way;

          f.  Feelings of uneasiness, easily threatened and being offended when confronted when it is necessary to be lovingly confronted; and

          g.  Does not rejoice in the success of others, but would feel some form of satisfaction when they see other people make attempts and fail.

          How do we suppose any of these attributes can be God honoring?  Many of the characters in the Bible developed symptoms from feeling inferior all because it started with the hardness of their hearts and their wrong attitudes which promoted selfish motives.  The Pharisees and Saducees were these group of people.  They often felt inferior after they felt threatened by Christ.  For one thing, Jesus never threatened anyone, but the fact that the leaders of the law and the High Priests felt threatened was because their ego was challenged.  They wanted to be in control and were self-seeking which caused them to feel threatened when Christ lovingly confronted them.  When God confronts anyone, it is because there is a need for their own benefit.  When they came and accused Jesus of healing someone on the sabbath, they saw themselves being justified by attempting to kill Him just because He healed a man on a certain day.  They often lied in wait and watched to see if they could trap Jesus.  Just like one of the illustrations I had mentioned.  You will notice this is one of many destructive symptoms that does occur within many churches in this world simply because people do not deal with feeling inferior.  This is how the enemy can keep so many people blind to their evil ways when they fail to humble themselves, fail to see the error of their ways or choose not to live Gods way to love, to build and encourage one another.

         When you consider these factors and how envious people may become when they deal with feeling inferior, this is why I believe we are dealing with unclean spirits because of its destructive results it has on oneself, towards others and how the entire body of Christ becomes ineffective and unstable.  As you notice the results, this is a way for the enemy to bring division, because he knows that no kingdom can stand when it is divided (Matt 12:25) which is what gives satan more power over the body of Christ.  We give the enemy more power when we fail to believe what God says, when we choose not to follow the loving wisdom of His counsel and follow our own selfish agendas which is often being lead by our fickle feelings and emotions.  People who deal with an inferior or insecure spirit, like to point out the faults and errors of others. At the same time, they fail to see how the enemy is using them to do his dirty work.  They point out the speck in other peoples eyes, but fail to see the log in their own eye (Matt 7:3-5).  Just think of how many specks of dust make up a log!  This is that log that makes up many millions if not, billions of specks of dust.  The Lord does not say that we may have a log in our eye, but tells us that we do in fact have one when we are quick to simply point the faults of others when we don't have the intention of correcting others out of love and concern for them.  When you compare one speck to billions of specks, this would indicate that dealing with an inferior spirit is a serious matter which many Christians often don't realize the severity of this and their need to deal with it.  

          Consider this thought, when we don't deal with the issue of inferiority, this can lead to other destructive spirits that include a spirit of bitterness; jealousy and envy, which often causes many to have ill health not only spiritually, but physically and emotionally that has often destroyed many lives.  When our emotions are not stable, we are being controlled and lead by our emotions which is contrary to being lead of the Spirit.  In these series, it is always my desire to not only point out the problems that are apparent in our church, but to expose them and to help people deal with them so we can live the abundant life which Jesus wants so much for each and everyone of us to have (John 10:10).  We can never expect to live the abundant life of joy, peace and gladness of heart that Jesus came to give us when we remain ignorant of these destructive symptoms, fail to humble ourselves to see our need to deal with these or any other similar issues and fail to take the necessary steps to be delivered.  Christ came to set the captives free (Ps 146:7), but we will never be set free when we fail to seek Him who encourages us to take the necessary steps we often need to take.  He is always faithful, but He gives us the responsibility to act and respond to follow His ways.            

 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/

Dealing with Inferiority - Part 1

Dearest Saints,

          When I do any series involving any issues that we need to deal with, I use my past experiences as a means to convey a message in order that I can always bring hope and encouragement to everyone in every case.  This way, people know I speak from my experience and not simply look up any title to talk about or use anyone else as an example of what not to do.  One of the symptoms I have had to deal with in my past was the fact that I often felt inferior, which I believe is a greater problem than most people think.  The nice thing about dealing with any negative issues we need to deal with is that there is always hope to overcome this and every other issues because of the Grace and mercies of God.  To start, I would like you to open your Bible and please read Luke 12:47, 48 where the emphasis is the fact that when people receive more from God, God Himself is going to require and demand all the more who have received more.  Also, read Romans 14:10-19 and focus on the last verse which is the key issue to realize why we do what we do.  The end result of why we do what we do is to always remember that our purpose for doing anything should always be to promote peace, encourage one another, edify one another and do all out of love one for another, because love always believes the best for one another (1 Cor 13:7) and should always bring out the best in everyone, which should always be our intent in the first place (Rom 14:19). 

          I would like to start by getting our focus on the right direction for people who deal with feeling inferior.  When God creates man (men & women), He never created any man or woman more superior or inferior to one another.  Therefore, everyone has equal opportunity to do His will.  Society today will make many believe that they are superior or inferior to others simply because of their “so-called” natural talents they have attributed.  We need to know that any gift or talent that anyone inherits is always a gift from God in the first place.  God can strip anyone of any talents at any time.  When God gives more talents to people, He is going to require a greater account from those who have received much.  Just like you just read in Luke, when a person has been given much, much is going to be required of them.  Sometimes, it is a blessing to only receive few talents, because we are not often willing to accept responsibility when we are going to be accountable.  Many times, people want to know more and want to have more, but they are not prepared to accept responsibility or be accountable to the extent which God is going to require.  When I felt I had very little talents when I was younger, I can now thank God for that.  I know if God were to have given me more talents than I could handle, I would have been lifted up with pride, which is the very thing that would have destroyed me (Prov 16:18).   Just like lucifer, who was once Gods highest angels was given more, he was lifted up with pride which caused him to be forever condemned and cast out of Heaven (Isa 14:12-19).  I believe it is by the goodness and Grace of God that He often withholds from giving us more than we ought to receive because certain people are not able to maintain a Christ-like character to handle more.   One thing to test this is when we live from paycheque to paycheque, will we remain the same when we win the multi-million dollar loto?

          The problem when people feel inferior is that they compare their own man-made ability to other peoples natural ability and fail to see all of these as God given, because no man will ever be able to boast in himself.  When we look at the servant who was given five talents and another servant was given two talents, God was equally pleased with both of them (Matt 25:20-23).  He did not show greater pleasure simply because one had more talent than the other, because God expects more from the one who was given more in the first place.  I truly believe if a person was given 10 talents and used 9 of the ten, God would be more pleased with the person who only received two talents and uses both talents.  Therefore, it is not the amount of talents that God is pleased with, He is pleased when we use what He has given us.  It is impossible to try to work with three talents when God may have only gifted you with two talents.  Otherwise, we are trying to accomplish an agenda on our own strength and not by what God has gifted us, which will never work. This is the initial truth that people need to know when dealing with an inferiority spirit. 

          When we know it is only by His Spirit working through people, do you suppose that Gods Spirit is any less capable working through you as anyone else in this world?  Is not the same Spirit that gives gifts to everyone by the same Spirit? (1 Cor 12:4-9)  Therefore, its never a matter of what we can do in the natural.  The problem we see is when a person is dealing with an inferiority complex, they are not cooperating with the Spirit of God.  In other words, they rely on themselves lacking any attributes of certain talents.  So they are basing their “so-called talents” by their standard rather than seeing how powerful God is and what He is able and willing to do through willing vessels who will dare to believe that He can do mighty things through anybody!  When you think of Moses and how he commented to God that He could not use him because he was a man of slow speech and of a slow tongue (Exod 4:10,11), God was not pleased with Moses because he was trusting in his natural ability rather than focusing on the awesome ability that God is able to do through him to deliver His chosen people from Egypt.  God was not able to initially do His work through Moses until God confronted his inferiority complex.

          We need to see from this illustration that anyone who feels inferior needs to realize that this is a powerful deceptive weapon that the enemy uses against many people.  People who feel inferior hinder the wonder working power of God who is able and willing to work mightily in their lives.  It is a horrible deterrent and a deceptive tactic the enemy uses to rob many Christians of their God given ability and potential for Gods Spirit to work through them.  When we continue on, we will recognize the symptoms of a person dealing with an inferior spirit and realize that this is not only very deceptive, but can also be very destructive within the body if we don’t learn to recognize the symptoms, learn the need to deal with it and overcome this by the Grace of God.

Will you consider buying my books in support of HelpingCopeThroughHope mission work in Zambia?

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

God Wants to do More

^{Dear Saints.  I would like to share scriptures from Ephesians 3:14-19:} 

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵from whom the whole family in Heaven and earth is named, ¹⁶that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; ¹⁷that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, ¹⁹and to know the love of Christ, which surpasseth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.

     ^{Here Paul tells the Church in Ephesus about praying that their inner man would be strengthened (vs 16).  The Apostle Paul realizes that praying for healing, finances or other answers to minor or major issues that concern us is not the answer without first dealing with the HEART of the matter in the first place which is, our HEART.  In other words, his prayer for this particular Church was that their inner man would be strengthened first.  As an example, there is a lady I know who is often fearful about many issues in her life.  When a prayer goes up to receive healing, receive financial help or receive a specific answer to prayer for her, she does not seem to get over being fearful about one thing or another, even though many of her prayers have been answered in the past.  We need to first pray that this person deals with the real issues that are causing herself to continue to be fearful and have anxieties when it should not be the case for any Christian.  What good does it do when we do have answers to prayer, but remain weak in our faith in Him?  What good would it do when someone is sick and gets physically healed, but still has issues with bitterness and unforgiveness towards others?  What I want to encourage you is when we go to prayer, we need to ask the Lord to examine ourselves to see if their is any "heart issues" with us that we need to deal with. Just like David prayed to see if there was any wicked way in me and lead me in to the way of everlasting (Ps 139:24).  Nothing else mattered without first examining his heart.  When God encourages us to pray for our inner man to be strengthened, this would include our love for the Lord by first acknowledging His love for you and I. Another issue about the inner man would be to strengthen in our faith in Him by trusting in His total divine goodness and care for us. Because without having faith in Him, it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6).  To know that an awesome God who created the entire universe beyond mans immagination wants us to know His love and care for each of us, who promises that He Himself never will leave us or forsakes us.  Also, our inner man would be strengthened in love, unity and peace one for another, because the measure of our relationship with one another is the measure of our relationship with the Lord.} 

     When you read verses 18 and 19 along with that text, it would appear that in order for our "inner man" to be strengthened, we first need to know the greatness of the Love of God for each one of ourselves personally before we can be strengthen within.  Therefore, if we pray all sorts of prayer, but still deal with fears and anxieties, we as Christians should never be dominated by fear when we should know the awesome magnitude of how much God loves us.  When we see ourselves having fears, doubts, this is what we need to deal with before we should go to prayer for anything in general.  Being fearful is not believing or receiving the truth about His love and care for us.  By dealing with issues that deal with our soul or any of our negative emotions, I believe it is vitally important to deal with our heart by humbling ourselves before God, confessing any area of weakness we may have (James 5:16) and ask Him to reveal these things to us and believe that He has His outstretched arms out to help and care for us in our time of need.  When God invites us to go to prayer, He wants to do so much more for each of us.  When we pray for healing of a physical or emotional wound, He wants to go further and deal with deeper issues by restoring our inner man, building our hope and faith in Him by being bold and courageous because we have the confidence of His divine love and care for each of us.  It is like Christ who tells His Disciples not to forsake the weightier matters that are the real issue (Matt 23:23).

     The Lord gave me an illustration of an electric socket that had burnt edges around the perimeter where you insert your plug reseptable.  Many of our prayers are compared to removing the cover and only replacing it while forsaking the real issue which is hidden inside the wall itself that has a frayed and faulty wiring which continued to be a hazard.  When we pray superficial prayers, God always wants to go further and remove the faulty wires from behind the doors of our heart and help us deal with the real issues that really matter.  Sometimes, it is going to be hard, but always brings the peaceable fruit of righteousness in the end (Heb 12:11). So when you feel that God is breaking through the walls around your heart, He wants to replace that "faulty wire" of harbouring possible bitterness, resentment, surrendering our past hurts to Him to deal with and/or many other possible issues that may often hinder our growth in Him.  God not only wants to heal, but He wants to deliver, restore, rebuild and make us strong in Him because of the strengthening of our inner man (our renewed love relationship with Him, our renewed confidence in Him and our love relationship with each other as Christians are called to have). 

    

     Not dealing with the inner man and not dealing with the real issues we need to face up to will do us no good in the long run. Just like an unsaved man who wants to be healed, we know that it is much more important to pray for his salvation before any healing takes place, because healing without salvation will mean nothing in the long run.  Therefore, it is vitally important that we first deal with the inner man before we start asking God to answer any prayers we may personally have.  I hope you are encouraged to work with the Lord to allow Him to go deeper in the recesses of your heart and restore you fully so that in the end, the fullness of Christ may be evident through you (Eph 3:19).

Be blessed to browse my updated blog and both websites.  God bless.

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

Now thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ and who maketh manifest through us the savor of His knowledge in every place. 
(2 Cor 2:14) NKJV