The Work of the Holy Spirit in Ministry – Modern Day Miracles

The Morning Star Rising on the First Day

When our church decided to launch a program to increase membership, they secured speaking engagements from a number of well-known evangelists and pastors and offered special church services over a single weekend. To ensure that the public knew about the opportunity, they invested in an advertising campaign.

The church wanted everyone who attended these special events to get the message of our church out to our community. Therefore, they set up a number of tables just outside the church to sell books, videos, audiotapes, and other religious items. I had been asked to work the table that offered videotapes of a famous evangelist. In the course of the assignment, I struck up a conversation with an interesting man who came by the table. He mentioned that he had a food distribution ministry and had connections with several salmon companies in Alaska. These companies had a unique situation.

 

Due to government regulations, the fishermen had to collectively limit the amount of fish they sold each day. If they caught more than the legal limit on any given day, they had to dispose of the excess fish. This typically resulted in taking the excess fish back out to sea and dumping them in the ocean. As a result, the fishermen were dumping large volumes of fish back into the ocean on a regular basis. Now, this is where the opportunity came in. Although they could not sell the excess fish, they were allowed to donate it to a charitable organization. This was where his ministry came into play. He said that he worked with a number of people who would process and freeze the fish and others who would deliver it, all for free. I thought that this could be a great opportunity for our church food distribution program. This man seemed like a nice person, but I decided to check him out before doing anything. I asked him if he had worked with anyone else in our area. He mentioned two organizations, one about which he had many great things to say. He indicated that this organization was led by the Holy Spirit, and that the anointing there was unbelievable. The name of this organization is Friend Ships.

 

I was very impressed with what he told me about Friend Ships, so I called them and set up an appointment to meet one of their representatives. I also arranged for Johnnie, Wanda, and two other couples to see this organization with us. One day after work we drove over to the Friend Ships’ warehouse on the Long Beach docks. We entered the office area but found that the person we were scheduled to meet with was not there for some reason. However, there was another man there who seemed very interested in us. He introduced himself as Don Tipton. We were soon to find out that he was founder and leader of the Friend Ships organization. What an amazing and rare organization Friend Ships turned out to be.  At that time they did not ask for money. In fact, they operated very well with little money because every worker was a volunteer. No one was paid a salary, including Don and his wife, Sondra.

 

One thing that we noticed while we were there was that there was a lack of any organizational structure and minimal planning activities. I thought that anyone who came here from corporate America would be amazed at how this group got anything done at all. The irony of all of this was their tremendous ability to deliver food, supplies, equipment, and all sorts of other things to people who really needed it. This was all explained by the fact that they had a secret weapon—their faith in Jesus Christ. They simply stepped out in faith and trusted in God for what they needed. Time after time they watched in awe as God came through again and again.

 

Remember: Peter Walked on Water until he Doubted

Let me give you an example. They had a food distribution program in which they collected and distributed food for the poor each Saturday morning. Amazingly, they did not make any arrangements for people to bag the food into distribution packets so that the food could be easily passed out to the poor and needy. People just showed up. The right number of people showed up at just the right time to get the job done. They trusted in God, and God delivered.

 

The entire operation was run this way—on God power. There was something special about Don that I liked right away. He was a no-nonsense kind of guy. He had seen it all, and he was serious about his commitment to God. He told us a story of how he brought his wife to Jesus prior to their marriage. They had read the entire Bible together, and once they did, the call of God became clear to them, and they went into full-time ministry.

 

They sold their Beverly Hill’s polo field and other businesses and started their ministry by simply stepping out in faith. Their vision was to collect surplus food from the wealthiest country in the world—the United States of America—and distribute it to the poor and the hungry people of the world.

 

Don told us all about their ministry, and how they got started. For example, he told us a story of how their first ship was donated to them. Soon after they had entered full-time ministry, they found their heart was for the poor and starving people all over the world. But to care for them, they would require a ship to transport goods they had collected to the places where people needed them. So, they started praying for an ocean-going ship, but nothing happened at first. Consequently, they said to themselves, we must step out in faith and start looking at ships that are for sale.

 

One day Don went to look at a 300-foot ocean transport ship. The owner took him on a tour of the ship showing him everything it had to offer. After the tour, the owner invited Don to have a cup of coffee with him, and they sat down to talk. The owner was obviously very interested in selling the ship, and he immediately started to negotiate the price with Don. This, however, made Don uncomfortable because he did not know how to tell the man he didn’t have the money to buy it. Eventually, he told the owner that he ran a food distribution ministry and hoped that he would donate the ship to them. The owner agreed immediately. All he had to do was to come over the following day and sign the papers. That is how Friend Ships got into the shipping business. They stepped out in faith, and God delivered.

 

But now they had to find a place to store the items to be shipped when the ship was out to sea making deliveries. They found a warehouse that was not being used and got permission from the owner to use it rent free until he could sell it. That owner sold the property after six months, but the new owner extended the agreement with them until he could lease the warehouse to someone else. The result was that they were able to use the warehouse for an additional eighteen months prior to finding their next warehouse in Los Angeles.

 

Again, they stepped out in faith and God delivered. This kind of thing was the norm for this ministry. There are so many stories like this about Friend Ships. Miracles prevented disaster, money was given just when they needed it, and skilled people like retired naval officers showed up saying that God sent them.

 

Don explained that their food collection depended on what the local businesses gave them. They also worked with church groups and other individuals to distribute the food locally to the poor. Clearly, God was blessing this ministry. Don explained all of this as he escorted us through the warehouse. We got to see, first hand, all the items that they had collected and eventually would be shipped overseas. The items consisted of all of the things that are needed to support a community including —school desks, fire fighting equipment, and medical equipment. The Holy Spirit was overseeing it all. Pat and I broke off from the group for a while and walked through all three floors of the warehouse, crying like babies most of the time. We were humbled how God had supported this ministry.

 

Don took us out to the dock where the newest of their three ships was being renovated for duty. The ship was longer than a football field and more than five stories above the water line. The ship was being renovated to become a floating hospital. Their plan was to bring the ship into various ports around the world to deliver medical attention to the poor. As they brought people aboard ship for treatment, there would be opportunity to tell them about Jesus. We walked through the ship and found a great number of people working to convert it for her new mission. I thought: the ship is huge, what a job it is going to be to make her ready for the mission.

 

The Holy Spirit was on the ship as well. Don brought us to one of the finished meeting rooms and led us in prayer. I believe that every one of us had tears in our eyes in the midst of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. What a pleasure to find a ministry working under the pure guidance and direction of God. I guess that you could say that we got more than we bargained for, but somewhere along the way we did manage to ask Don about the man who had the salmon fish distribution ministry. He indicated that he knew him, and he had been there to visit with them but they had only gotten a couple hundred pounds of fish from him.

 

Subsequently, this information did not sway us one way or the other. We did not get what we went for, but God delivered what He wanted us to have. He was providing information once-again. This time it was to see how He worked with His people. He showed us a ministry that was His ministry. It ran with volunteer help and required very little money. It was a ministry that was directed by the Holy Spirit with little planning and organization. This ministry just stepped out in faith and learned to depend on Him. He showed us that miracles are still happening today. God has a heart for the poor and the needy. He showed us a ministry focused on building communities and enabling people to better care for their families. If you would like to know more about the Friend Ships ministry, read the book entitled, Jesus and Company—Part 1 by Don and Sondra Tipton. Information on how to order the book or learn more about the ministry is on the Internet. Simply go to http://friendships.org/

 

Thank you, Don and Sondra, for being such a true example of what it means to be a Christian.

 

Subsequently, this information did not sway us one way or the other. We did not get what we went for, but God delivered what He wanted us to have. He was providing information once-again. This time it was to see how He worked with His people. He showed us a ministry that was His ministry. It ran with volunteer help and required very little money. It was a ministry that was directed by the Holy Spirit with little planning and organization. This ministry just stepped out in faith and learned to depend on Him. He showed us that miracles are still happening today. God has a heart for the poor and the needy. He showed us a ministry focused on building communities and enabling people to better care for their families. If you would like to know more about the Friend Ships ministry, read the book entitled, Jesus and Company—Part 1 by Don and Sondra Tipton. Information on how to order the book or learn more about the ministry is on the Internet. Simply go to http://friendships.org/

 

Thank you, Don and Sondra, for being such a true example of what it means to be a Christian.

Keep the Faith

The Morning Star Rising on the First Day

To the one who has long waited for the promise of God

and waits day after day, year after year.

Are you concerned or growing doubtfull

That His promise may not come?

Have your prayers fallen on deaf ears

and does heaven seem so far away?

Is your hope fading? Then I say believe – believe beyond what you see.

The promise will surely come, sometime, someway, somewhere.

PREMONITION OF AN AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT

The Morning Star Rising on the First Day

PREMONITION OF AN AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENT

In my previous posting (Possess-the-Vision) I communicated that I was going to present the spiritual experiences of my life that led to the creation of the Possess the Vision Mission Statement (PTV Mission-Statement.)

The experience I am about to communicate to you took place while I was in grade school. It will prove to be quite unbelievable to most people, and to be perfectly honest, would have been disregarded by me as well if it were not for all of the other unexplained spiritual experiences of my life. It is the story of a warning that comes from God in the form of a dream and then is followed up by an intervention from God.

My mom and dad would take us to visit my aunt’s family from time to time. We looked forward to these trips because we got to play with cousins our age.

Their house was about an hour’s drive across town and we were driving home late one night after one of our visits. I was tired and was trying to get some sleep in the back seat of our car. I had my head propped up against the interior wall on the driver’s side when I started to doze off. Then suddenly, I quickly awoke with a start sensing that another car was about to crash into us at the precise point where my head was resting.

Thinking about my feeling for a moment brought me to the conclusion that I was just imagining things and so I ignored the sensation and tried to get back to sleep.

But when I did I found that the experienced just kept happening over and over again and so I told my mother about it. She reaffirmed that I was in fact just imagining things and recommended that I dismiss these thoughts from my mind and try to go back to sleep.

So, I made another attempt to suppress my fear and get some sleep but the fact was that the sensation of an impending crash became very strong again and I could not help but pull my head away from the side of the car. This time the result was different however, as an auto came crashing into our car exactly at the point where my head had been resting just a second before. The accident turned out to be minor, and thankfully no one was hurt.

Still, I had to wonder about what the outcome may have been if I had not pulled my head away at the last second. The jolt of the collision was substantial so who knows what had been avoided. I suppose I could have sustained major injury to my head or neck, or perhaps even worse.

In this case, I heeded the warning and made the right choice. Still, at the time I can remember about wondering about where these warnings were coming from and why.

Just to make things clear, I now know that these were warnings from God who was protecting me from harm. I know that each of us is born with a purpose and that the devil will try to abort that purpose in any one of a multitude of ways. So please pay attention to these messages from God and act on them. Your immortal life may depend on it.

I DREAM THAT I WAS LIKE A SUPERMAN

In my previous posting (Possess-the-Vision) I communicated that I was going to present the spiritual experiences of my life that led to the creation of the Possess the Vision Mission Statement (PTV Mission-Statement.)

The experience I am about to communicate to you took place while I was in grade school. It will prove to be quite unbelievable to most people, and to be perfectly honest, would have been disregarded by me as well if it were not for all of the other unexplained spiritual experiences of my life. It is the story of a warning that comes from God in the form of a dream and then is followed up by an intervention from God.

The Morning Star Rising on the First Day

THE ESP EXPERIENCES

After I entered elementary school, I started to encounter things that could not be explained by the laws of physics. Some would call these strange experiences extrasensory perception (ESP). For example, I would dream things that would come true and know things that were to happen before they occurred. You know, I would have a premonition of things to come. Here is an example:

I DREAM THAT I WAS LIKE A SUPERMAN

One night I had a dream that I was standing in the middle of the street and an oncoming car was coming toward me at a high rate of speed. Rather than run out of the way to escape, I braced myself and extended my arms toward the car to absorb the impact. The car sped directly into my outstretched hands where amazingly, it was stopped dead in its tracks.

The car was a gray 1940’s model with a v-shaped hood that culminated in a rounded point at the exact point where my hands contacted the car. I could see my hands against the gray automobile just as one would see them through their own eyes, and I was in awe of what had happened. I remember having the feeling of extreme physical strength and I imagined that this is what Superman must feel like—knowing that you can muster unbelievable power and use it to achieve incredible feats. I truly felt invincible.

A few days later, I was playing with one of my friends who lived down the block. We were flying a new helicopter/saucer toy that he had just received. The helicopter was simply a bladed saucer sat on top of a handle that launch the saucer into the sky when the string was pulled.

We were having a great time, my friend would launch the helicopter and I would try to chase it down and catch it before it hit the ground. On his last launch he pulled the string with all he had and the saucer soared high into the air, above the house tops. Just then a strong breeze kicked up that carried the saucer out into the street. Being totally focused on catching the saucer, I started running after it as fast as I could.

As I was not paying much attention to where I was going, my friend’s mother started shouting to me, “Joe, don’t go into the street. Joe, stop!” I remember hearing her words but they seemed faint and very far away. I was in the middle of the street by the time I caught the saucer. It was then that I could hear my friend’s mom screaming for me to come back. I turned and looked up the street and there it was, the gray car of my dream turned nightmare, was speeding toward me. There was no time to get out of the way, so I simply held my arms out in front of me, just like I did in my dream. I could hear the tires squealing in response to the locked brakes. The car hit my hands and stopped. Unlike the dream however, it was evident that it was not my power that stopped the car. I realized that I was not all-powerful as I believed in my dream. The car had knocked me backward even though it just barely touched me. I stood there and watched the front of the car rock back and forth in reaction to the sudden stop. I did see my own hands against the hood of the gray car just like in my dream though. I then realized just looked death square in the eye.

My friend’s mother ran toward me screaming at me to listen to her. Somehow her voice grew distant again as I wondered about my dream that had became reality. How could a dream possibly come true? Why were the real life details being so accurate on one hand while the feelings of power and strength are so wrong? Something stopped that much sooner that it otherwise should have, but it sure was not me. I did not know what to think about this when it happened. As fast as the car was moving, how could it have stopped so quickly?

The body of Christ - On Earth as it is Heaven

Was it possible that some power that I did not understand stopped the car? Was it possible that this power also tried to protect me from this circumstance by giving me the dream in the first place? Or was it a notice to me that that there was a power here to protect me? If so, was it possible that nothing could harm or hurt me? If so, then the big question had to be why?

Well, being like many young boys, I spent about five minutes thinking about it before I filed it in the back of my mind where it was not thought about again for quite a long time.

Looking back on this event now I can say that God intervened in my life and that it was His spiritual power that protected me. If one were to take this event as one single isolated incident then I would have to say that perhaps this was simply just a coincidence. But as it turns out, it was far from an isolated event but rather just one of a string of unbelievable experiences that either communicated a message to me or protected me from harm.

So what does this have to do with the vision? Fundamentally, it shows that we have a heavenly Father who loves and cares for us and who is willing and able to use His power to protect us. This is especially true of those who put their trust in Him and follow His direction (I did put out my hands like I saw in the dream.) I believe that it teaches that spiritual discernment can be achieved if we have faith and pay attention, and I believe that our decision based upon our discernment are critical to our overall welfare and relationship with God.

I know that much of this may be a stretch right now, but stay tuned as we share more about what happened to me in future postings.

May God’s blessings be upon you!

Papa Joe

The Meaning of Choice

 

The Morning Star Rising on the First Day

In my previous posting (Possess-the-Vision) I communicated that I was going to present the spiritual experiences of my life that led to the creation of the Possess the Vision Mission Statement (PTV Mission-Statement.)

 One of the important traditions our family kept was our frequent visits to my grandmother’s house. I rember one such visit that occured when I was still a smal child. My uncle was trying to test my intelligence and to accomplish this he had a test for me. In one hand he held a new shiny dime before me, and in the other a new shiny 1943 steel penny. These war time pennies were made of steel because of copper shortages. These pennies shined just like a dime when new.

So, he held the dime between his right thumb and forefinger and the penny between the left thumb and forefinger. He then carefully explained that the dime was much more valuable than the penny and then placed them boty directly in front of my face. He then asked me to choose the one that I wanted.

My initial move was toward the dime because of what he had told me. But when he saw my move toward the dime he pulled it back a bit and then moved the penny closer and even jiggled it in front of me. Becasue of the movement of the penny it flashed streams of light before my eyes. I thought, gee, the penny sure seems to be much more fun that the dime so I snached it out of his hand.

He then rushed to proclaim my stupidity to everyone in the room, stating that I would never amount to anything. I felt angry and betrayed. Big man!

When I look back at this event today I see that it contains several messages that are applicapable to the Mission Statement of this blog and to our lives as Christians in general.

First of all, life will always present us with choices. Some are good, others are not so good. Some good choices will look undesirable and some not so good choices will look extreemly atractive. It is up to us to discern the truth and make the right choices in life and to therin receive the best possible reward for doing so.

Our life as Christians is based on this principle. In fact, it is the only reason we are here on this earth. Do we choose to do good or evil? Do our lives demonstrate a love for others or are we focused on our own promotion. Do we choose life or death, the light or the darkness, God or the devil?

Jesus the Light of the World is Transfigured before His Disciples

It is in these choices that will determine if we receive a wonderful reward for all of eternity or the horrible consequences of hell forever.

It is up to us to choose. When I look back on my life I can now see that these choices presented themselves over and over again. We will be telling you more about them as we progress with this series.

 

TAKE A LEAP OF FAITH

The Morning Star Rising on the First Day

TAKE A LEAP OF FAITH

In my previous posting (Possess-the-Vision) I communicated that I was going to present the spiritual experiences of my life that led to the creation of the Possess the Vision Mission Statement (PTV Mission-Statement.)

My story of my first leap of faith is very unusual and yet it contains a spiritual message foundational to the PTV Mission. Like the prior posting (Dad-Comes-Home,) I recommend looking at this story as a parable, which is a story told in earthly terms but designed to communicate a heavenly message. The message is that we have a heavenly Father in that wants us to step out in our faith for Him. When we do so He will support our initiative and protect us from harm. With that said, here is my story:

One day not long after my father’s arrival home my dad was taking care of me while I ate lunch in my high chair. Having had enough lunch and not liking to sit still for very long I squeezed out of my seat and stood up on the high chair tray. My dad was all the way on the other side of the kitchen when he noticed what I had done. I was very excited about achieving this feat and started jumping up and down on the tray of the chair. My dad’s first reaction was to freeze, not wanting to do anything that might make me fall. While he was looking straight at me I grinned and jumped once more just for fun. He said, “Don’t you dare.” For some reason, I thought it would be great amusement to jump and have my dad catch me as there was no doubt in my mind that he would. So, I jumped from the tray as if it were a game and when I did my dad took several quick steps before diving into a slide on the floor, catching me just in time to keep me from being seriously injured. It would seem that I had a natural trust in my father’s ability from the very beginning.

This story communicates that God wants us to act on the faith that He has given us. He wants us to take action on the desires that He has placed in our heart. Most importantly, He wants us to know that He will be there for us if things don’t always work out as planned. I offer the story about Peter walking on water as support for this message. Here is that story.

Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. But the boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves; for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea. When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. And those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, “You are certainly God’s Son!” Matt 14: (22-33)

Jesus Pulls Peter From the Water

So, the moral of this story is do not doubt. Get out of the boat and do what God has put into your heart. Pay no attention to all the evil winds that will blow around you, but rather have perfect faith in your Father in heaven, knowing full well that even if your faith fails that your loving Father will be there to rescue you.

Jesus is the Choice of Love

The world is a stage where we demonstrate our choices for either good, or evil. God stopped eternity to give us time (there is no time in eternity) to give us an opportunity to demonstrate where we choose to spend eternity.

Things are not like they we in the Garden of Eden where the perfection of God was everywhere. In the garden all but one choice was good. In addition, there was no knowledge of evil except for the forbidden Tree of Good and Evil. So, I would think that things were easier then. We only had one thing to avoid.

Adam and Eve in the Garden

Things are much more difficult now. God’s perfection is continuously being destroyed by the activities of man. There is only one choice for good and that is the Tree of Life that is Jesus. One the other hand the knowledge of evil is everywhere as people seem do evil without conscience. People seem egger for the evil choices that make them feel good, or that lead to riches or that make them seem important in the eyes of others. All of these can become stumbling blocks for Christians as well. Even Jesus was tempted by these things.

Jesus Tempted in the Wilderness by the Devil

But one thing is certain and that is we all have the power to choose and we demonstrate our choices every day. We choose to either love or to hate, to reveal the truth or lie, to save life or to kill, to be a friend or an enemy, to help others or to help ourselves, to live for God or to server the devil. The choices are all up to us. The power is in our hands.

Our choice to follow Jesus is the difficult road, the road less traveled; the narrow path if you will. It is the choice of love (see our postings on love). It is a difficult path to walk down because the world does not understand why anyone would do it. It makes no sense to them. They see self giving love as illogical. Since they live in darkness they can not comprehend the light of God.

Those who take the road less traveled will find themselves on a genuine search to find God by following the pathway to His door. They will find themselves doing His will, attempting to become like Him, knowing Him and having a personal relationship with Him that lasts forever. In this relationship they become one with Jesus. They will find that our life here on earth is to prepare the way for His return in a similar way to that of John the Baptist, who prepared the way for His first coming.

Do We Have the Love of Jesus in our Heart

Continuing our discussion from our past posting we now address another important point. Based on the scriptures presented in that posting, we suggest that the law of the Jews is replaced by the love in the hearts of the true followers of Jesus. To illustrate the case in point, the law states: “Thou shall not commit adultery,” but Jesus teaches us that it is a matter of the heart:

You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Clearly this is a higher standard that simply refraining from the act alone. This higher standard requires a change in heart, something that the law could not provide.

After all, what kind of heart will not resist an evil person but turn the other cheek? What kind of heart will give a thief both the cloak as well as the coat? What kind of heart will give to those who ask and not turn away? What kind of heart gives love their enemies, blesses those that curse them, does good to people that hate them and prays for those who despitefully use and persecute them?

Disciples Carry Jesus Down From The Cross

It takes a perfect heart. What kind of heart does it take to pray to truly seek and worship God rather than pray for our own selfish desires? What kind of heart will fast simply to shed the bonds of the flesh so as to move closer to God? What kind of heart will turn aside the treasures of the earth in favor of the treasures of Heaven? What kind of heart will sell all they have and follow Jesus? Whose heart will trust Him in all things?

Hearts can only be changed by the infilling of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit

This infilling comes only when we seek to move closer to God, to change our lives and to become more like Jesus. The Holly Spirit comes only to those who seek Him. It is our choice to do so and our actions and commitment reaffirm this desire. God will not come to us uninvited.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost

So seek Him with all of you mind, body and spirit.  And pray!

The Power of Prayer

Do We Demonstrate Love like Jesus

If the meaning of life is manifest in our life choices (as communicated in a prior post) then it may be a good time for all of us to examine our choices. What do our daily life choices say about us? Are our choices a reflection of God’s will? Do they reflect unselfish Christian Love or are they focused on what is best for us. What do we choose to watch on TV or to listen to on the radio? How do we react to people who are rude to us? What do we do when a beggar asks for money? What do we do when we know that an orphan or widow needs help, or a friend is in need? Do our words create life or death? Do they bring good or evil? What do our life choices say about what is in your heart? Is there Christian love in your heart? Are you making the types of choices that Jesus did in his life?

Jesus Washes Disciples Feet

If you want more help in determining if your life choices are reflecting Christian love, or if you would like to contrast you life choices to those of Jesus, then click on one of the postings listed below. They will provide insight into the attributes of love and will present examples of how Jesus that demonstrate them. Here they are:

What-is-Christian-Love

Christian-Love-Suffers-Long

Christian-Love-is-Kind

Christian-Love-Does-Not-Envy

Christian-Love-Does-Not-Parade-Itself

Christian-Love-is-Not-Puffed-Up

Christian-Love-Does-Not-Behave-Rudely

Christian-Love-Does-Not-Seek-Its-Own

Christian-Love-is-Not-Provoked

Christian-Love-Thinks-No-Evil

Christian-Love-Bears-All-Things

Christian-Love-Believes-All-Things

Christian-Love-Hopes-All-Things

Christian-Love-Never-Fails

Choose now to accept Jesus Christ as the Savior of you life and reject Satan and all evil in this world. Open you heart to the one true source of all Love. Do it right now.

How Can God Forgive What I Have Done

The evil influence of Satan can be seen everywhere in the world (see our prior post) and so many of us have been fooled. In fact, many of us have been making poor choices for such a long time that we believe that God could never love us again. In many of these cases the though that God could forgive us for all of the things that we have done is just not comprehendible!

But we must challenge these beliefs. The truth is that God is a loving and compassionate Father who longs for us to repent of our sins and to return to Him.

Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him. (Luke17:3 – 4)

In fact, God is proactive in His quest to restore all men to what was lost in the Garden of Eden. In this regard, God has sent His profits and priests to speak His truth to us. They have proclaimed the coming of God’s Son and their prophecies have been fulfilled in Christ Jesus, the Son of the Father.

In Jesus, the Father was able to demonstrate His true nature, His love for us, His desire for our good health, His wish for our prosperity and for all of us to be free of the devils’ bondage.

Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14:5 – 9)

The Father has communicated to us through the words of Jesus all the things that are in His heart,

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:37 – 40)

for Jesus said; “as I see the Father do, so I also do.” God communicated that He wants us all to turn away from evil, repent and set our hearts on Him. He even sent His Son to give His life on the cross so that the bondage and domination of the devil would be broken.

Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name. And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. (Luke 10:17 – 19)

The Power of Prayer

Through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, God demonstrated to the world how deep His love is for us. For in the shedding of blood of Jesus, God redeemed His people. By the stripes on the back of Jesus we are healed. The suffering of Jesus was the price that had to be paid for the forgiveness of man’s sin.

Jesus Nailed to the Cross

Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:4 – 5)

In essence, Jesus did for us what we could not do for ourselves; He exchanged His life for ours.

Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. Matthew 20:28

He broke the curse of the law, which was that man could not live in accordance with God’s law on his own merit and with his own effort.

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:13 – 14)

The love of Jesus therefore ended the age of man’s interpretation of God’s laws and the creation of his own rules.

Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Romans 13:10

God replaced all of this with the infilling of the Holy Sprit who now leads man into God’s love, truth and perfection.

The Holy Spirit

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. John 14:26

Rather than rules and laws we are called by Jesus to change our hearts.

You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:27 – 28)

So, the answer to the question, “how can God forgive me for what I have done,” becomes much simpler. It no longer is a matter of what we have done in our lives because the ransom has already been paid by Jesus on the cross. The work of reconciliation with the Father has been reestablished as Jesus has taken our just punishment upon Himself on the cross. He has defeated Satan and freed the captives who were under Satan’s dominion at that time. He has risen into Heaven where He sits at the right hand of the Father, and He will judge the living and the dead.

And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins. Acts 10:39 – 43

All He is looking for is for us to choose Him, to repent from our sinful ways and to follow in His footsteps.

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom. (Matthew 16:24 – 28)

The Transfigured Jesus With Moses And Elijah

So, if you have not already done so, please do it now. Speak with your lips the following words. Say: sweet Jesus, I declare you to be my Lord and Savior. I repent of all my evil ways and I renounce the devil. Sweet Lord, come into my heart and my life. I surrender to you Lord, take me into your arms and protect me for evermore. Let all my life choices be in one accord with your Holy Spirit. Help me choose good over evil, light over darkness, right over wrong, life over death, love over hate and God the Father, Son and Holy Sprit over all others, always and forever.