The Only Road to Heaven, Part 1

my abandoned life for your abundant life

R U A Loser?

Pray

Pray

Luk 11:1  And it happened as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, one of His disciples said to Him, Lord teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.

Luk 11:2  And He said to them: When you pray, say, Our Father who is in Heaven, hallowed be Your name, let Your kingdom come, let Your will be done on earth as it also is in Heaven.

Luk 11:3  Give us our needed bread day by day;

Luk 11:4  and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil.

Luk 11:5  And He said to them, Who of you shall have a friend, and will come to him at midnight and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves.

Luk 11:6  For a friend of mine arrived to me from a journey, and I do not have what I may set before him.

Luk 11:7  And answering from within that one may say, Do not cause me troubles. The door has already been shut, and my children are in bed with me. I cannot rise up to give to you.

Luk 11:8  I say to you, Even if rising up he will not give to him because he is a friend, yet because of his shameless insisting, rising up he will give him as many as he needs.

Luk 11:9  And I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Luk 11:10  For everyone asking receives, and the one seeking finds, and to the one knocking, it will be opened.

Luk 11:11  And what father of you, if the son asks for bread, will he give him a stone? And if a fish, will he give him a snake instead of a fish?

Luk 11:12  And if he should ask an egg, will he give him a scorpion?

Luk 11:13  Then if you being evil know to give good gifts to your children, how much more the Father out of Heaven will give the Holy Spirit to those asking Him.

We all need to pray

Psa 65:2  To You who hears prayer, all flesh comes.
Isa 56:7  even them I will bring to My holy mount and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted on My altar, for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the peoples,

The Holy Spirit helps us pray when we do not know what to say.

Rom 8:26  And likewise the Spirit also joins in to help our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes on our behalf with groanings that cannot be uttered.

Rom 8:27  But the One searching the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because He petitions on behalf of the saints according to God.

God considers our prayers precious and like incense.

Rev 5:8  And when He took the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having harps, and golden bowls full of incenses, which are the prayers of the saints.

Rev 8:3  And another angel came and stood on the altar, having a golden censer. And many incenses were given to him, that he should give them with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne.

God commands us to pray.

1Ch 16:11  Seek Jehovah and His strength, seek His face continually.

Mat 26:41  Watch and pray, that you do not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is eager, but the flesh is weak.

Luk 18:1  And He also spoke a parable to them to teach it is always right to pray, and not to faint,
Eph 6:18  through all prayer and petition, praying at all times in the Spirit, and watching to this same thing with all perseverance and petition concerning all the saints.
1Th 5:17  Pray without ceasing.

Causes of unanswered prayer.

Secret Sin – Ps 66.18
Indifference – Pr 1.28Neglect of mercy – Pr 21.13
Despising the Word – Pr 28.9
Sin – Is 59.2
Stubbornness – Zec 7.13
Double-mindedness – Ja 1.6-8
Self centered – Ja 4.3

Conditions for successful prayer.

Contrition – 2Chr 7:14
Whole – heartedness – Je 29.13
Faith – Mk 11.24
Righteousness – Ja 5.16
Obedience – 1 Jn 5.14

Promise to answer if prayed in God’s will.

Psa 91:15  He shall call on Me and I will answer Him; I will be with Him in distress; I will rescue Him and honor Him.
Mat 7:7  Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Mat 7:8  For each one that asks receives, and the one that seeks finds; and to the one knocking, it will be opened.

Mat 7:9  Or what man of you is there, if his son should ask a loaf of him, will he give him a stone?

Mat 7:10  And if he should ask a fish, will he give him a snake?

Mat 7:11  Therefore, if you, being evil, know to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in Heaven give good things to those that ask Him?

Joh 16:23  And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Truly, truly, I say to you, Whatever you shall ask the Father in My name, He will give you.

Joh 16:24  Until now you asked nothing in My name; ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be full.

Joh 15:7  If you remain in Me, and My Words remain in you, whatever you desire you will ask, and it shall happen to you.

Joh 15:8  In this My Father is glorified, that you should bear much fruit; and you will be disciples to Me.

The Priority of Spiritual Growth

The Priority of Spiritual Growth

2 PETER 3:18 and 1 PETER 2:2

1. THE MISCONCEPTIONS

First of all, spiritual growth has nothing to do with...

a. Our Position in Christ

A person does not grow into becoming a Christian; conversion is an instantaneous miracle. The new birth is a sudden occurrence in the life of a believer. The moment he exercises faith in Christ, he is placed into the body of Christ. It is not a process; it is a marvelous, instantaneous miracle. There may be a process of exposing someone to the gospel; but the actual point of salvation occurs in a miraculous moment. The new believer passes from death into life, "from the power of darkness...into the kingdom of His dear Son" (Col. 1:13b). Spiritual growth is not a question of your position in Christ because you were placed in Christ the moment you put your faith in Him.

1) 2 Corinthians 5:17 -- "Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation...."

2) Colossians 2:10 -- "And ye are complete in Him...."

3) 2 Peter 1:3 -- The believer receives "all things that pertain unto life and godliness...."

When you became a believer, you were placed into Christ. You received all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies and all things that pertain to life and godliness. Therefore you became complete in Him, positionally. Spiritual growth is not a matter of your position in Christ. Second, spiritual growth is not a matter of...

b. God's Love

A parent will often say to his child, "If you do what I want, I'll love you." God would never say that because He loves us no matter what we do. According to Romans 5:1-11, God loved us when we were sinners. We were His enemies, alienated from Him before we ever came to Christ. When you became a believer, God continued to love you. There are no grades of love with God. He loves all people equally--even the unsaved. When you become a believer, God loves you as one of His family. You cannot gain more of God's love.

Spiritual growth is not a matter of position in Christ, God's love, or third...

c. Time

There are many people who have been saved for a long period but have grown very little. There are many people who have been saved for a brief period and have grown very much. Certainly time is a factor in spiritual growth in some cases (those who continue to grow over a long period of time will be more mature than one who has grown over a shorter period). But the amount of time isn't what is important; it is a commitment to the principles of growth that makes the difference. We don't measure spiritual maturity by the calendar.

Fourth, spiritual growth is not a matter of your...

d. Accumulated Knowledge

Sometimes we equate spiritual maturity with what we know, but that isn't the key. Knowledge alone is not the issue; the issue is what you do with what you know. The Bible says,

"...Knowledge puffeth up..." (1 Cor. 8:1). When a believer becomes prideful, spiritual growth is immediately retarded. Having a knowledge of facts cannot be equated with spiritual maturity. Only when those facts conform us to the image of Christ does our knowledge relate to our growth.

Another thing to consider is that spiritual growth has nothing to do with...

e. Activity

Some people think that if they have been active in the church (e.g., they served on a committee or sung in the choir), then they have grown spiritually. In other words, if you're busy enough, you must be spiritual. But the Pharisees were busy in religion, and no one was further from the truth than they were. In Matthew 7:22-23 Jesus said, "Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not...done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me...." Being busy doesn't even qualify someone for salvation, let alone spiritual growth.

There is one final thought: Spiritual growth has nothing to do with...

f. Prosperity

Many people equate their economic situation with the favor of God. If they possess much, they think God has blessed them because they are such wonderful Christians. God may have blessed them, but that isn't necessarily an indication that they are spiritually mature. Don't equate positive circumstances with God's approval of your spiritual maturity.

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If spiritual growth is not a matter of your position in Christ, God's love, time, knowledge, activity, and prosperity, then what is spiritual growth? It is not mystical, sentimental, devotional, or psychological. It is not a result of some clever secret or formula that can be easily applied to life as a guarantee of the future. Spiritual growth is simply matching my practice with my position. Now, my position in Christ is perfect: I am complete in Him. I have all things that pertain to life and godliness. I have received all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies. But I need to progress in my practical life in a way that is commensurate with my position.

James 1:22-25

Tools of the devil – Part 3 Attitude

Tools of the devil – Part 3 Attitude

Num 13:1  And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

Num 13:2  Send men for you, and they shall spy out the land of Canaan which I am giving to the sons of Israel; you shall send one man for the tribe of his fathers, one man, every one a leader among them.

Num 13:3  And by the command of Jehovah Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran they were all of them men, heads of the sons of Israel.

Num 13:26  And they went and came in to Moses and to Aaron, and to all the tabernacle of the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh. And they brought them and all the congregation word, and made them see the fruit of the land.

Num 13:27  And they reported to him and said, We came to the land where you sent us, and indeed it is flowing with milk and honey; and this is its fruit.

Num 13:28  But the people that live in the land are fierce, and the cities are walled up, very great. And also we have seen the children of Anak there.

Num 13:29  Amalek lives in the land of the Negeb, and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite live in the hills. And the Canaanite is living by the sea, and beside the Jordan.

Num 13:30  And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, We will certainly go up, and we will seize it, for we are well able to do it.

Num 13:31  And the men who had gone up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people, for it is stronger than we.

Num 13:32  And they sent out an evil report of the land which they had spied out to the sons of Israel, saying, The land into which we passed, to spy it out, is a land eating up the ones living in it. And all the people we saw in its midst were men of stature.

Num 13:33  And we saw the giants there, the sons of Anak, of the giants. And we were in our own eyes as grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes.

Num 14:1  And all the congregation lifted up their voice and cried; and the people wept during that night.

Num 14:2  And all the sons of Israel murmured against Moses, and against Aaron. And all the congregation said to them, Oh that we had died in the land of Egypt, or in this wilderness, oh that we had died!

Num 14:3  And why is Jehovah bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our infants have become a prey. Is it not good for us to return to Egypt?

Here is a story about attitude, both good and bad. Joshua, and Caleb with the good attitude, and the rest of the spies with the bad attitude. What was the telling difference between the two reports? Faith in God. The good one had it and the bad one didn’t. One of the tools of the devil is to weaken your faith. Your faith in God’s word, your faith in God Himself. If the devil can convinced you that God is weak, or that he is unwilling to help you, he successfully has hindered you from walking in the supernatural power of Christ. God wanted the people of Israel to walk in his blessing, the land of Canaan. He promised it to them through Abraham. However, the wicked spies went out and saw only what they could see with their flesh. They had absolutely NO faith whatsoever. Caleb and Joshua saw with their spiritual eyes. They saw the same thing that the other spies saw, but because they were looking with the eyes of faith, they could say with great confidence “We will certainly go up, and we will seize it, for we are well able to do it.” That’s the difference in our walks as well. We look at what we see with our flesh and we get discouraged. We fail to see it as God sees it. It is when we look at our problems through the eyes of faith that we can see the victory. Do not let the devil steal your vision. God loves us all and he truly wants what is best for us and if we will only have faith in His love and know that His will is for our best that we will be able to withstand the fiery darts of the devil and walk in the Supernatural, Spiritual walk.

Rom 1:21  Because knowing God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful. But they became vain in their reasoning’s, and their undiscerning heart was darkened.

2Co 4:3  But also if our gospel is being hidden, it has been hidden in those being lost,

2Co 4:4  in whom the god of this age has blinded the thoughts of the unbelieving, so that the brightness of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God, should not dawn on them.

Eph 6:12  because wrestling against flesh and blood is not to us, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world's rulers, of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual powers of evil in the heavenlies.

The devil wants to blind us from what God has for us. So  do not look at your afflictions, pain, needs, and suffering with just your flesh, but understand that God has a wonderful plan for your life that will both fulfill you, and give you unspeakable joy, right here, right now.

1 Pet 4:12 Beloved, do not be amazed {and} bewildered at the fiery ordeal which is taking place to test your quality, as though something strange (unusual and alien to you and your position) were befalling you.

1 Pet 4:13 But insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, rejoice, so that when His glory [full of radiance and splendor] is revealed, you may also rejoice with triumph [exultantly]. AMP

Amen!

Tools of the Devil – Part 2

Tools of the Devil – Part 2

1Co 6:9  Or do you not know that unjust ones will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be led astray, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals,

1Co 6:10  nor thieves, nor covetous ones, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor plunderers shall inherit the kingdom of God.
1Co 6:19  Or do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit in you, which you have from God, and you are not of yourselves?
1Co 6:20  You were bought with a price; then glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are of God.

A tool that the devil uses is sin. Sin separates us not from the love of God, but from relationship with God.

Psa 66:18  If I had regarded iniquity in my heart, Jehovah would not have heard.


Isa 59:2  But your iniquities are coming between you and your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, from hearing.


Isa 64:7  And there is not one who calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You. For You have hidden Your face from us, and have melted us away into the hand of our iniquities.


We as Christians are to be forever separated from sin. Sin is to not have any stronghold on us. Even though we sin, because we are sinners, we are not to promote it, and by all means not live in it. Our sinful nature has been crucified with Jesus and we are to consider ourselves dead to the flesh and to its desires. Romans Chapter 6 is an excellent treaty for how we as Christians are to look at sin, and our sin nature.

Rom 6:1  What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

Rom 6:2  Let it not be! We who died to sin, how shall we still live in it?
Rom 6:3  Or are you ignorant that all who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, so also we should walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5  For if we have been joined together in the likeness of His death, so also shall we be in the resurrection,
Rom 6:6  knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be nullified, so that we no longer serve sin.
Rom 6:7  For the one that died has been justified from sin.
Rom 6:8  But if we died with Christ, we believe that also we shall live with Him,
Rom 6:9  knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death no longer lords it over Him.
Rom 6:10  For in that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in that He lives, He lives to God.
Rom 6:11  So also you count yourselves to be truly dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Rom 6:12  Then do not let sin reign in your mortal body, to obey it in its lusts.
Rom 6:13  Neither present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as one living from the dead, and your members instruments of righteousness to God.
Rom 6:14  For your sin shall not lord it over you, for you are not under Law, but under grace.
Rom 6:15  What then? Shall we sin because we are not under Law, but under grace? Let it not be!
Rom 6:16  Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to whom you obey, whether of sin to death, or obedience to righteousness?
Rom 6:17  But thanks be to God that you were slaves of sin, but you obeyed from the heart the form of doctrine to which you were delivered.
Rom 6:18  And having been set free from sin, you were enslaved to righteousness.
Rom 6:19  I speak as a man on account of the weakness of your flesh. For as you presented your members as slaves to uncleanness and to lawless act unto lawless act, so now yield your members as slaves to righteousness unto sanctification.
Rom 6:20  For when you were slaves of sin, you were free as to righteousness.
Rom 6:21  Therefore what fruit did you have then in the things over which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
Rom 6:22  But now having been set free from sin, and having been enslaved to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end everlasting life.
Rom 6:23  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is everlasting life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Notice to whom we are to serve with our bodies. We are SLAVES to Christ. We are not to give in willingly. To the contrary we are to fight it all the way. When we fail we know that we have an advocate that will intercede for us when we ask for forgiveness, however we are not to use the freedom of the Cross, or of God’s Grace to sin. Remember that sin separates us from relationship with Jesus, as well as unintended circumstances. We are to do our very best to live pure lives so that our relationship with Jesus can grow and flourish, and lead us to ever higher levels of experience in the Spirit. Why let the momentary pleasures that sin may bring you steal the most precious gift you will ever be given? A deep, loving, fulfilling relationship with Jesus, our awesome God, Amen. Remember, you were bought with a very high price. To serve our lust, and sin makes a mockery of that price.

Eph 1:3  Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies with Christ,

Eph 1:4  even as He elected us in Him before the foundation of the world, for us to be holy and without blemish before Him in love,
Eph 1:5  predestinating us to adoption through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
Eph 1:6  to the praise of the glory of His grace in which He favored us in the One having been loved,
Eph 1:7  in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace


1Jn 1:6  If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and we walk in darkness, we lie and are not practicing the truth.
1Jn 1:7  But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of His Son Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.
1Jn 1:8  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1Jn 1:9  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous that He may forgive us the sins, and may cleanse us from all unrighteousness.


Amen! Let him who has an ear hear what the Lord is saying…