Scripture: 1 Corinthians 1 v 2 - 6: "Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
3 Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.4 I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;
5 That in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;
6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:"
This morning I asked Jesus what He would like me to write in my blog and it was 'speak from your heart'
so here goes. Let "Corinth" in the first verse be wherever you are.
Greetings from me to you!
Staying warm in winter in South Africa is on most people's minds because our electricity supply is under severe strain and we have to cope with loadshedding which means for hours every day we have no power. So on days when there is no blog that's most probably the reason.
I have been an Intercessor, called by our Father, since 1979. Back then we had the likes of Benjamin Creme, who claimed to know the anointed one of every faith e.g. The Messiah, The Mahdi, The Maitreya, The Christ, etc rolled into one, who was about to appear on the world stage. He died in 2016, his prophecies unfulfilled. He called God the immense Consciousness and the coming time, the Age of Aquarius.
Jesus said that before He returns there will be many who claim to be Him, but when He comes back every eye will see Him. We do not know exactly what form that sighting will take but He is God and it will be spectacular. He can't come soon enough, because evil abounds in this world and it offends our righteousness in Christ Jesus.
Many of my blogs are about confronting evil and overcoming it. Jesus did this continually when He was here, and He knew it would get worse as the centuries rolled by. He prepared His disciples for every eventuality and they were bold and had tremendous faith.
In Acts 28 when Paul had been in a shipwreck they washed up on the island of Mellita. The islanders made a fire and out of the wood a viper bit Paul on the hand. He shook it off into the fire and the islanders expected Paul to die. After an hour he was fine and they hailed him as a god. He went on to pray for the sick and share about Jesus. So if you are in some "stormy waters" be alert to where you land up, you may have an opportunity to make Jesus known.
Born again New Creation people need to get their head out of the sand and realise they are a divine creation that has been changed to become like Jesus and the Apostles, the disciples of the early church. We can and must exhibit our talents before our Father. He wants to see them being used for good. If we have the power of the Holy Spirit upon us Jesus says we can do everything He did and even greater things than Him.
No matter how things seem or look in the physical we must use our Faith to see deeper in and discover what God is busy with in that situation. Don't go by what you see but by what you know in your heart. The love, mercy and kindness of Jesus.
Worry is a sin. It means you are not trusting God. He says in Romans 8 v 28: All things work together for good for those who love the Lord and are the called according to His purpose.
God has this amazing plan for Earth and its inhabitants. Every one who believes in Jesus is saved from Hell and is granted everlasting life. The demons from Hell want to wreck this plan and bring doubt, fear and disappointment into our lives. We have to recognize where the attacks come from and resist them boldly. Every temptation to sin is an attempt to steal our salvation and return us to bondage.
Jesus overcame every temptation Satan threw at Him. He stood as a man and not God, and denied Satan any satisfaction. He did this to show us as humans that we can do likewise. James 4 v 6 - 8: "But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your
hearts, ye double minded."
Submit to God when being tempted.....ask Him how to handle it. Then do whatever He says. Then -
Resist the devil.......say no. Walk away. Do the opposite. Phone a counsellor. Pray.
He WILL flee, taking the temptation with him. To flee is to run away in fear and panic. Turn the tables on him so you can be victorious and triumph over his evil intentions.
Please receive the Holy Spirit baptism. Be immersed in the Spirit of God. Receive, open, use all the gifts He gives you. There are nine and you can have as many as He needs you to have. They are precious and powerful and when used correctly they become stronger, deeper and more powerful. They are for today, they have never been recalled by God.
Romans 11 v 29: "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." To repent means to change your mind. God will never change His mind about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. If He has called you into the ministry and you have walked away, He has not cancelled that calling, and never will. The gifts are found in 1 Corinthians 12 v 1 - 11. Without these gifts being correctly used in the Church it will become a social centre. It will lack power and divine purpose. It will have its own traditions that Jesus says oppose the truth and the will of God.
Charismatic churches have got a bad name because of many false doctrines, false teachers, false prophets that have been on a mission to be famous and wealthy. The gifts of the Spirit have been abused and twisted out of shape. Paul had to correct the Corinthian church for using speaking in tongues for their whole meetings. He gave them the disciplined use of tongues in 1 Corinthians 14. Today's undisciplined ministers refuse to be corrected. They say....touch not the anointed of God and that's that.
As an Intercessor I have responsibilities before God to warn and inform His people when there is danger. It's not always popular to do this but thankfully I only have to be popular with my Heavenly Father, who protects me when I do His will. There is much danger abounding in churches which are going through the motions of worship and ministry. They may find their candlestick has been removed. For lack of light.
The church should be a sanctuary for believers. We should not bring sinners into the sanctuary to be saved, we should go out into the highways and byways to reach the lost, share the gospel and once saved bring them into fellowship with other believers.
Jesus preached in the synagogues but went outside of them to preach to sinners. Let's be like Him.
Let us love one another as He loved us. We may not appeal to everyone but if the love of Jesus abounds in us, He loved everyone, even Judas who betrayed Him. Love is the oxygen of Heaven and without it we cannot be Christians.
Let us speak the truth plainly. We will ruffle some feathers but in that disturbance change and enlightenment may eventually be achieved. The Holy Spirit is also know as the Holy Disturber! Getting people out of their comfort zones is His speciality.
There is always more to say but let me close now with this. You are all precious in the sight of God and He desires the very best for you. You are part of His Son's Body and therefore receive the same love that Jesus gets. Never despair, never give up, always hope and believe.
May our God bless you richly. Thank You for your support of my blog. Thanks for your love.
In Jesus' mighty love,
Brenda