His Devotion Through Revelation

Does Everyone Utilize Faith?

2011-04-23T19:43:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I am going to put a series of posts from a cool conversation I got to have with someone in an evolution forum on facebook. Unfortuneatly before I could save his ends of the conversation, he deleted his posts. He was a pretty abrasive guy, but he ended up being quite kind in the end. Hopefully you can imagine some of the things he was objecting to based on my posts. I wanted to post this because I feel it is an important topic for someone to grapple with that doesn't think they utilize faith at all. This will be the first of 5 posts. I hope this is a blessing to someone out there.

Post # 1:
Given there are supposedly "no absolutes" in life, could it be that science has evolved? It takes faith to believe that the same foundations that we call science today, were the same foundations used millions and billions of years ago. How do we know we are getting correct information when we extrapolate backwards? We are assuming that it was the same, no? Because I have to use the word "assume", suggests the presence of faith. I propose this because I have been asked to prove God, and to show people He exists. My respectful counter question would be this, could you prove to me that the same science used to measure today, was the same science used billions of years ago? I know this sounds ridiculous, but I feel it is a fair question in light of questions asked of us (Christians) even though I don't believe my question to be fair in nature as the opposing question is not fair either.

The only goal of this post is to get people to see that faith is required for everything whether YOU BELIEVE it’s 10%, 5%, 90%, etc. That’s why we as a finite people are dependent on revelation. You as a human being can only go so far until you start having faith in the methods by which you drew your conclusions and then placing faith in what seems the results has to be. You can never say evolution is fact because the science we use today could be an evolved science that is totally throwing us off. Why? Because you and I weren't there. So in the end, people CHOOSE what they want to believe based upon the PROBABILITY of those things being accurate. But again, I am using the word probability, which everyone has to use, and it would take faith to believe in the probability of something, because probability is not certainty. Atheist and believer alike utilize faith in both of their practice (not saying everyone on here is an athiest, just appears most are that place their faith in evolution).

I just do not understand why the people that believe in evolution do not see that if they go that route, they have to assume science as we know it is an evolved science, you can't apply it to some things and not to others. And if our foundations for measurement have evolved, that means conclusions are so far off base that all the theory of evolution is an "intellectual illusion" designed only to give ego gratification to people that can talk about it.

My goal is not to offend but for us all to think, even though naturally this post will push buttons, but I cannot relay the point if I am not honest with what I have observed. If you are a person who believes in evolution, you have to believe the foundations for scientific measurements are the same today as they were millions of years ago, which suggests science to some people is a perfect entity, without evolutionary blemish. All that has happened is a "god" has been substituted. The Bible teaches of an all-knowing, all powerful "measurement" i.e. God, so what's the difference between a "perfect, all-knowing concept" vs the belief in a perfect, all-knowing entity? So make no mistake, belief in the theory of evolution takes just as much faith as anything else. Again, you may feel it is 1/2 of a percent, but to say it takes none is a frivolous thing to say because we were not there.

And remember, I am not saying I believe science has evolved, because I do not place my faith in evolutionary concepts, but to those that do you have to consider what is proposed here because the very nature of evolution suggests CHANGE. I just proposed the question to get the people that say it is fact to re-think what a fact really is...at the end of the day it takes faith. Given they both take faith, I am choosing a God revealed in scripture that loves me and has adequate probability of existing. And once I appropriated that (genuinely, not religiously) I have seen spiritual things that would blow your mind. The awesome thing about God is, when you begin to set your heart to truly understand, He will draw close to you and you will find Him. But there is a peculiar verse in scripture that says "He resists the prideful, but gives grace to the humble". That word resist means: "to stand against; to oppose". Once people have elevated their logic over God's revelation it is almost as if they will see what they want to see and nothing will be done to deter them. Don't be that person! At least open your heart to the possibility of a God that loves you and has a plan, because you have a god anyways, it is just very impersonal..its called "the perfect, never changing foundations for measurement entitled 'science as we know it'" (again, this is geared towards atheists, I understand there are groups of people that believe in both God and evolutionary concepts although it seems a bit incompatible)

If this has offended I apologize, but at least consider what was said, we do not have all the answers, we are dependent on revelation! I have faith, can anyone here admit they do too?

Sincerely,
Chris Goff

God's Definition of Conquering

2011-01-28T06:07:00.000-08:00

3 So Samuel said to all the Israelites, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths, and served the LORD only.

5 Then Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah, and I will intercede with the LORD for you.” 6 When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the LORD. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the LORD.” Now Samuel was serving as leader[a] of Israel at Mizpah.

7 When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them. When the Israelites heard of it, they were afraid because of the Philistines. 8 They said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the LORD our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines.” 9 Then Samuel took a suckling lamb and sacrificed it as a whole burnt offering to the LORD. He cried out to the LORD on Israel’s behalf, and the LORD answered him.

10 While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the LORD thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. 11 The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth Kar.

1 Samuel 7:3-11

This is a great read. There are so many principles we can get out of the Old Testament in correlation to the New. Samuel says to them, that if you are indeed turning to the Lord with your whole heart, get rid of the stuff that displeases Him; in essence - REPENT! Then Samuel goes onto say that if they serve God only, they would be delivered out of the hand of the Philistines.

That day, everyone gathered at a place called Mizpah to have Samuel pray over them. They confessed their sins to the Lord and then Samuel made petition for them and the LORD answered him. God that day struck the Philistines with confusion and then Israel went after them and defeated them - reclaiming the cities that the Philistines had taken from them.

I wanted to point out a few things that stood out to me. It is kind of a step-by-step process towards freedom from things that may be holding you back. First of all came repentence, second came confession, third came petition, and fourth came victory.

God encourages and enables us to repent - it is He who grants repentance. Our job is to respond by turning away and admitting to Him that we were indeed wrong. Through that, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One, that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Who does Samuel represent in this story? Our advocate Jesus! The perfect high priest. See, God is doing the same things He has always done, just through what Hebrews calls, "A new and better way." Meaning, a better way of doing the same thing in my opinion.

So after we do all of this, we get rid of what we know displeases God in our lives and we admit we were wrong; then our God thunders against our enemy who hammers into us. "Draw nigh to Me (through repentance) and I will draw nigh unto you." "but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." 1 John 1:7

I also want to note, that the battle truly begins when you come to God in repentance. Notice the Philistines began to fall upon Israel after they got rid of their "Baals and Ashteroths" and when they chose to meet at Mizpah and have Samuel petition for them. But after they overcame this situation through God's plan of deliverance for them, they were not only in proper standing with God but God allowed them to conquer their enemies and even reclaim their cities that they had lost to them.

Sometimes it seems like the battle really begins when we set our hearts to truly understand God and come to Him. Take heart from this story, and do not allow fear to dictate your follow through with God! We have seen how it correlates to the New Testament and our current covenant. If we walk in the light as Jesus is in the light...then His blood cleanses usfrom all unrighteousness. This doesn't mean there will not be a fight, because "Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8.

Thanks everyone, and let's encourage one another to keep fighting!

Sincerely,
Chris Goff

Feeling Condemned?

2011-01-19T09:36:00.000-08:00

I went through a lot of condemnation during a time in my life. For some of the things I did, God would have been totally just in saying forget this wicked servant. God in His longsuffering and patience forgave me and established me to the glory of His name and not mine, hallelujah.

Let me share with you a story. I had a man tell me after I was ministering the Word to him that he had been sinning and he wasn't sure if God would forgive him (he believed in Jesus already I might add). I told him that it was indeed God who granted repentance, and that if he had a broken heart and sincere desire to walk with the Lord, that meant God was granting him repentance, he just had to grab onto it because "faith without action is dead". He said that the scariest part about his sin - what bothered him the most- was that he didn't feel bad about what he had been doing. After he shared this with me, I recalled a time in my life when I said the exact same thing to a brother in Christ, but the answer to this flooded my mind in that very moment. The Holy Spirit was convicting him. Think about it. I looked at him and said, "so you feel bad because you don't feel bad?" he said, yeah! I said then that tells me something external is CONVICTING you that you need to change while there is time. Because that makes no earthly sense, to feel bad about not feeling bad. Praise God how committed He is to us when we aren't to Him.

Remember, Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy, "If perhaps God would grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth."

What I want to point out is that the way you know that you have been granted repentance, is by "being led to a knowledge of the truth." Once you realize, "You love me Father, and I have hurt you, and you alone (psalm 51)" and you respond in active obedience to Him by "if we confess our sins, He is faihful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness". "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another then the blood of Jesus cleanses us from our unrighteousness".

Action. Sit out time is over, the only way to battle condemnation is by fellowshipping with his bride and that takes an immense committment to Jesus.

Now I am not saying that what has been committed doesn't require an earthly penalty, as we do reap what we sow. But remember when Nathan the prophet came to King David and told him essentially that he had been forgiven eternally, just not consequentially here on earth. The sword never left David's home, but it did not mean there was no eternal forgivness for King David.
I have done things in the past, and I know I have reaped things. I have also been disciplined heavily by my loving Father. I prayed to God that He would allow me to repair the brokeness I have caused to certain people, and amazingly as time goes on, I have been able to be a light to the ones I was once a complete hypocrite to. Be eager to make right what has been wronged - and for the stuff out of your control - give it to God and let Him help you.

Let's not forget the contrite publican in Jesus' parable. He beat his chest and couldn't even look up and said, "Forgive me God, a sinner." Oh my, may the passion of what Jesus did for you flood your Spirit, and be changed by these things.

Trials to Entrustments

2010-06-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

"Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." But he said to Him, "Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!" And He said, "I say to you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know Me."

Luke 22:31-34

"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
Proverbs 15:3 "The eyes of the LORD are in every place, Watching the evil and the good."

Matthew 16:18

"For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His...."

2 Chronicles 16:9a

"Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own?"

Luke 16:10-12

Life is a test. At times it can be a very hard test. If we do not go into situations with certain foundational truths, these tests can be very difficult and end up very unfruitful if not responded to correctly. I feel it is necessary to explain the importance of why we need to be tried. I believe it is all to see what we can ultimately be trusted with. Our foundational mentalities will determine whether we pass through the fires of trial and come out as refined gold; or whether we get midway through and run out the same way we came just charred and burned.

God has designed life in such a way. that, without resistance, I cannot grow. We see this principle in action on many different levels. Take weight lifting for instance, if I want to be "trusted" with lifting the big weights, I must pass a few resistance tests with smaller weights. Am I going to fail? Certainly! Will there be times that I do not feel like working out? Absolutely! But if I keep the end result in mind, it can give me some patient endurance. I believe we see the beginning of some serious resistance training with Peter in Luke 22 above. Have you ever wondered why in the world Jesus would give the enemy permission to test Peter? I believe there are a few reasons, but the one I would like to zero in on is what Jesus wanted to trust him with - His church. Remember when Jesus said "... thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." I believe in order for Peter to be the rock of the church in the future, he first had to be the doormat of trial.

Let's think about this in weight-lifters terms again (which I am not BTW lol, just a good analogy I think). If I have not trained you or prepared you to lift a considerable amount of weight, I cannot trust you to bench 300 lbs; if you were to try to bench 300 lbs, you would probably come out injured without prior training with 100...150...200 etc. So if I could "trust" you to bench 250 a few times, I can eventually "trust" you to bench 260...then 270...then eventually 300lbs. Jesus knew what Peter was in for (the other disciples were tested greatly as well, I am just focusing on Peter). So because Jesus knew what Peter was going to have to endure eventually, He wanted to allow resistance training to begin when the enemy requested permission to try him to begin training him for the "bigger" stuff.

We see this "entrustment" principle in Luke 16:10-12 above. I understand the context is specifically about money, but, just as the context about "greater love hath no man than this, that a man would die for his friends" was refering to Jesus' death for the ones whom He loves; it is still a general principle that there is no greater love than dying for someone, no matter what context it is used in. Hence the reason I will use Luke 16:10-12 as a general principle. If God can trust us with a little, He can eventually trust us with much! This is the foundational principle we need to get through tests better. Once we truly realize that it is God that promotes me and not man, it makes taking the blows a little bit easier.

There are some of us that would love to do great things for the kingdom of God, but can we say we are passing the "little" tests God is giving us in the now? What about the attitude test (ouch)? The pride test (ouch)? The patience test (ouch)? The road rage test? (I hit a nerve there didn't I? :P) Have you been unhappy with your boss? Your marriage? Your children? Maybe the fault lies not with them, but with us refusing to pass these tests. God longs to give you more and more entrustments, but if you do not prove faithful in the small matters, how can you be faithful when the big ones come?

I was told about a show once called "Boiling Points" and I proceeded to look up some clips online. For those of you that have not heard of this show, it is about a man who tries his best to get under peoples skin for 20 minutes or so. If they do not blow up at this man or walk away from the situation, they are given (I believe) a $100 dollar bill. Now you would be correct in guessing that most of these people fail this $100 dollar test. This man who is "testing" these people will try to poke, prod, and stare these people to defeat. The issue with the people who fail is the foundational mentality by which they have entering into this test. They have no mental anchor as to why this is necessary, therefore they end up tanking from a lack of understanding of the 'why?'. In this analogy I believe the man doing the poking and prodding is Satan, and the camera would represent the Father. The camera is sitting back and watching to capture proof that they indeed passed this test.

Now let's take a step back and think again about why people fail (we all do at times). We have established that they fail because of a lack of knowledge as to the 'why?'. So using the "boiling points" analogy would you venture to say that if I pulled these people aside and said, "Look, I am going to harass you non-stop for the next 20 minutes. If you are able to weather this storm, I will give you $100 dollars at the end." I do not think one person would probably fail, in fact, the things this man will do to them will now seem humorous and/or not a big deal in light of what they know is coming. Isn't that what we are told as followers of Christ? Galatians 6:9 "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary."

So then, where is our advantage? We have been told that even the smallest of things is a test and that if we pass these tests and do not grow weary, at the proper time we will reap a HARVEST!. Now I am certain Paul could have been talking about (and probably was) eternal rewards, but could we apply this to the patient endurance needed to arrive at places God would desire us to arrive at in the present?

I am claiming no perfection to this teaching whatsoever, but it has been on my mind a lot lately. The other day something happened that bummed my wife and I out - kind of frustrating. As I was beginning to allow myself to get upset this thought passed through my mind, "Chris, God is testing your attitude." I looked at my wife and I said wait, God is testing our attitudes, and this seemed to put a smile on my face; because now the object of my joy was focused on passing a test to show myself approved unto the Father rather than the mere thought of something bad is happening to me! That is why our foundational mentality is so important in weathering the common blows of life. Do I believe I am going through it unto an eventual entrustment or do I have no such anchor of a thought, and with that drift any which way my attitude will take me?

I think Peter does a great job summing this principle up in 1 Peter 4:12, "Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed." Sufferings of Christ, let's take a look at Hebrews 5:8, "Although he was a son (in reference to Jesus), He learned obedience from what He suffered". Why must we pass these tests? Because no servant is greater than his Master, again, context is persecution, but we know the enemy persecutes us trying to get us to fail the tests.

We should really encourage one another in the passing of tests. Call upon the name of the Lord daily. DO not try to tackle tests yourselves or you will surely fail. God has provided a way of escape (pass) from every temptation (tests) - 1 Corinthians 10:13. Hebrews 4:16, "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."

Will there be still moments you fail? Sure, we will all stumble along on our journey to "the complete man/woman"..."the mature man/woman". Passing the test may seem to be hard at first, but remember it will only get better through PRACTICE! Hebrews 5:14, "But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."

One failure story real quick and a reason I am glad for the church in my life (in this case my wife). My wife and I have been reminding each other (in light of this teaching the past couple of weeks) that everything is a test. My wife and I were stuck in traffic the other day, and I started to get a little "mouthy" about the situation. I started complaining (as if it would actually help anything anyways) and was kind of grumbling. My wonderful wife looks at me and says "It's a test" with a smile on her face. I needed that reminder. You may say, "I think you are taking this testing thing too far with that story." If things like this are not the "little" tests, then what are? Do not underestimate God's sovereignty in positioning you to learn about His testing through something as simple as a traffic jam.

Remember, if He can trust you with little, HE CAN TRUST YOU WITH MUCH! So now when your boss asks you to do something you hate, you can put a smile on your face because you are doing it unto God and not unto men! (Colossians 3:23) When your spouse is snapping at you for no good reason, you can now be a facilitator of peace. When you get the news that medically, things may not be looking good for you; Take heart! God is testing in order to give you a greater inheritance!

Thanks brothers and sisters! Let's remind one another frequently of God's truth in this area! I hope this teaching was as much of a blessing to you as it has been to me!

Sincerely,
Chris Goff

Isn't That Work Salvation?

2010-05-12T22:08:00.001-07:00

Hey all! I have felt the need to write about the difference between work salvation and active repentance before the Father for quite some time now. I feel some of our current Christian teaching has not adequately explained the difference to us. There is a lot to say about it and I am certain I do not have it all figured out- so please, be gracious to me! I feel some people use the verse "its not by works" (in regards to salvation) out of context, causing them to eventually drift in their faith - allowing themselves to be more liberal morally than the apostles ever intended because they are now penalizing true acts (or works) of repentance along with works of the law (ceremonial, i.e. circumcision, sacrifices, sprinkling of blood, works for the ministry etc.). I feel it is very important to explain the difference so we do not muddle unrepentant, unchecked sin and works of the law. I feel some people have inadvertantly blended the two, not taking the time to adequately study and research what they are saying. God demands repentance, and "deeds appropriate to repentance", which is far different from "works of the law" being able to save you.

I would like to begin this topic with two verses, both spoken by the same apostle. The first is Acts 26:20 which states, "but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, PERFORMING DEEDS APPROPRIATE TO REPENTANCE." The second I want to look at is Ephesians 2:8&9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast." So we see here, the same man is saying to "perform deeds appropriate to repentance" and then saying "it is not by works so no man can boast".

So this is my take on what is being said (God allows us to use scripture to interpret scripture). Everything takes work (i.e. effort), now when Paul speaks of "saved not by works" I think this is what he is saying, "Do not think for one moment God looked down from His throne and saw that you were righteous (doing what the law required) enough to come and save". Now the other 'works' or "deeds appropriate for repentance" also takes work. These are the actions (works, deeds) that back up my confession (which also takes work - it is not automatic). God set up the system in such a way that faith without actions cannot save me. So, when I say I am sorry and I want Jesus to redeem me, I have to take active steps in showing Him true repentance (active faith in turning from my sin). This is not to be confused with "work salvation" which says, "I obeyed all the ceremonial law, and performed all the law would require me to perform and that is why God will save me" or "I went to church, sang the hymns, bagged groceries for the poor all in the name of Jesus and that is why He will save me". So it basically boils down to James chapter 2, "faith without obedience (action, works, deeds appropriate to repentance) is dead" If this does not make sence, hopefully the next verse will aid in this discussion.

Let's look at Matthew 7:22 & 23. "Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness." I like the New Living Translations version on vs. 23, it states, "But I will reply, 'I never knew you. Get away from me, YOU WHO BREAK GOD'S LAWS (emphasis mine).'

Ok, now we have these men before the Jesus on the day of judgement and they are trying to argue that their works of "righteousness" should give them entrance into His kingdom. Do you see this? "Did we not prophesy in your name? and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?" See, they did all of the "right" things a.k.a. hoping their works would save them. But what does our Savior say? "Depart from me you workers of lawlessness" or "get away from me, you who break God's laws". Now what "laws" is Jesus refering to here? The violation of moral law! See, they were judged on their lack of works of repentance, in fact, they worked the opposite, they were workers of iniquity! They figured since they did a "wonderful" job for Jesus, they wouldn't have to come through the narrow way, true repentance from moral degredation. Remember, I can say I am sorry all I want, but until I produce action to back that repentance up it will be dead...nonexistent. I can do wonderful things for the ministry all I want, but it will not save me unless I place true faith (which will be backed by 'deeds appropriate to repentance') Remember James rebuke in 2:19&20? "You believe God is one (faith). You do well; the demons also believe (faith) and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works (deeds appropriate to repentance) is useless?"
So what does this look like practically? The person who has 'prayed the prayer', gone to church for years and continues the affair he fell into, is not producing 'deeds appropriate to repentance'. The same type of person (who has 'prayed the prayer') who leaves their family for no good reason and continues in ministry, is trying to be saved by their works, but because they work iniquity, they will not be ok. The person who knows it is not ok to be drunk, and is causing a disrupt in peoples faith but still doing ministry will not be ok. Better yet, let me let Jesus do the talking here.

Luke 12:41-46
41Peter asked, "Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?"
42The Lord answered, "Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? 43It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. 44I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 45But suppose the servant says to himself, 'My master is taking a long time in coming,' and he then begins to beat the menservants and maidservants and to eat and drink and get drunk. 46The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

Note a few things. First it is clear this was a message given to the disciples, if not all of the people based upon verse 41, "Peter asked, "Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?" Second, we see this wicked servant was still "serving" in the house of God, but he began to be a worker of iniquity. So we see our works can penalize us! Isn't it scary that our Lord Jesus used the word "assign". "Will assign him a place with the unbelievers", if that doesn't strike a good fear of God within a person, I do not know what will. Let's be careful how we live!

Maybe you are reading this and a good, healthy fear has come upon you. That is a good thing, that is the healthy fear of God. It is not too late to be truly repentant. Maybe you are a person who has never really understood that repentance takes work/action/deeds, to prove genuine. Maybe you are one who (not knowing better) took the easy way out and used arguments like "its not by works anyway" to defend your lawless actions. Maybe you have given God lipservice for years but you are living like hell during the week, and praising His name on Sunday. Take heart! He is gracious and forgiving once you "turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into gloom"(James 9) I recommend reading "Joy and Gloom" in the devotional archive, but I will give a brief explanation. What James is saying is to partner my faith with action. Even though I feel like laughing, I will choose not to as an act of active faith...I will choose mourning over my sin instead. I may feel joyful, but I will voluntarily be saddened, faced with the knowledge I have offended the Lord. I will place my faith and actions together, making it an active repentance. James is saying the ball is in your court, it is your choice what you want to do with it. Then look at what will happen in James 4:10, after you have obeyed this call to "do deeds appropiate to repentance", "Humble yourselves (takes action) in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you." OH PRAISE HIS NAME!! HALLELUJAH! He is so merciful and forgiving! See? He will lift you up! He will forgive you, but only with 'deeds appropriate to repentance'!

This has been such a confusing topic that even Bible critics allege Paul and James are not saying the same things when in reality they are. IN a quick nut shell, James' chapter 2 "works" are what Paul is talking about in Acts 26:20, and what John the Baptist is talking about in Matthew 3:8&9 which states, "Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance;"

I hope this teaching has helped explain the difference between work salvation, and deeds appropriate to repentance. I will probably write more about this later, as I may have done a poor job. But please, do not be a person who passively lumps legalistic observance of the law and true works of repentance together. Separate the difference and get a renewed fear of Him. Do not be a person who says, "I am not saved by works, so my deeds could not hinder me either!" You are (possibly on accident) blending two type of "works" that were never meant to be thought of the same. Remember, the men in Jesus' parable were judged by THEIR WORKS OF LAWLESSNESS. Please do not deceive yourselves.

If you have any questions or need my help, do not hesitate to contact me.
With Love,
Chris Goff

To Be Unforgiving Is To Hate?

2010-04-11T19:00:00.000-07:00

Something came to me today that I think is a very important issue to press in on. The issue at hand is this - to hate is to be unforgiving and to be unforgiving is to hate. This might not sound profound to people, I am pretty sure we can all agree on the fact that if I am choosing not to forgive someone I am obviously holding onto something that they did to me that I will not release, which translates to hating that person. Hate is action just as love is action. The word "hate" means to "cherish animosity against". The manifestation of hate is unforgiveness, no? Let's look at 1John with this new information.

"Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him." 1 John 2:9-11

So we see that unforgiveness is an act of hate, just as forgiveness is an act of love. SO I feel one could appropriately substitute the the phrase "does not forgive his brother" for the word "hate" and we would be within the bounds of scripture.

"Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him." 1 John 3:15

You have murdered them. You are more than likely murdering their character to others and they might as well be dead as far as you are concerned because you want nothing to do with them.

In Matthew 18 we have the parable of the unforgiving servant. To summarize (I recommend reading it) this servant begged his Master to give him more time to pay a debt, but the Master went ahead and forgave it totally. This servant then proceeds to choke another guy for not paying him the money he owed him. The word got back to the Master of that servant and the Master threw this man and his family in prison, handing them to their tormentors.

So why was what this servant did such a violation of the Master's standard? Because this servant was indirectly telling his Master that he was worthy of the Master's forgiveness but the man he was strangling was not worthy of forgiveness. Unforgiveness is the ultimate form of pride. You are saying with your actions that you were not that bad of a person; that you had the rights to forgiveness. So what does God do in response? He strips you of your forgiveness! So if unforgiveness is pride, we know that "He resists the prideful, but gives grace unto the humble." That word resist means "to stand against, oppose". And what a more full way for God to oppose an individual by not granting them the forgiveness they also desparately need.

"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." Matthew 18:35

So this makes sense now. You are stooped in darkness if you refuse to forgive! 1 John 2:9-11 hit the nail on the head (refer above) But why are you in darkness? Because you are handed over to your tormentors, and what is more dark than giving the enemy a foothold in your life?

We need to transcend our narrow focus. If we choose not to forgive, we are not mature in our faith as this is the main, underlying value in our faith. If we do not forgive others (and yes, even if they didn't ask) we have a dim and arrogant view of our own sins in light of God's holiness. You are saying without saying that you were not that bad of a person.

So how do we overcome unforgiveness? By blitzing it with action! Faith without action is dead, right? So we see 1 John 1:7 states, "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin."

Do you see this? He is basically saying this in a nutshell: "Put faith behind your actions through obedience even if you don't feel like it yet and then Jesus will swoop in with the supernatural feelings of genuine forgiveness." Allow me to explain myself. It says if I walk in the light as He is in the light ( which is to say, if I choose to do good as He chose to do good ) then, and ONLY THEN will Jesus' blood be appropriated to me to begin purifying me from my evil feelings towards an individual.
Remember the reaping and sowing principles we have discussed in earlier devotions? "Be not deceived, GOD IS NOT MOCKED, whatsoever a man sows, this will he also reap." Remember? If you sow to the Spirit you reap eternal life which is to know God better. If you sow to the flesh what do you have to reap? CORRUPTION!

So thats why hate and unforgiveness get worse and worse, becaus God is not mocked. Once we have knowledge from God, we are to act on that knowledge no matter how hard it is. The reason is so we can begin to receive healing from our broken feelings. The dictionary definition of forgiveness is "to cease to feel resentment against; pardon; to give up claim to requittal; to grant relief from payment." So until you are there (to forgiveness), you have not prayed through to forgiveness well enough and no, God does not understand why you hold onto your unforgiveness. I do not say that to be harsh but we have no Biblical excuses to remain hostile towards anybody! And I say this bluntly so no one walks away from this godly teaching moment giving themselves an excuse on why they have not forgiven someone yet.

Remember, faith without action is dead. He says through James, "Draw nigh unto me (you first) then I will draw near to you (Him second)." Let's not confuse this with our original calling to salvation, God always makes the first move, but this is in the context of a person already having saving knowledge.

So how do we draw nigh to God? By seeking Him in prayer and acting out our knowledge which translates to godly wisdom and active faith...the type of faith that gives me the ability to "Love those who curse me". Call the person you hate. Buy them a gift, something you would like to have yourself. Seek their forgiveness for the curses you have spoken against them. Pray for this person until you want them blessed! IT WORKS!! If you do not do this you are not saying no to me, you are saying a vehement no to God, because we are just facilitators of His wonderful truths. This opens amazing doors to potential salvation as well. LOVE THEM!! Not with your mouth but with your actions!! If you do this, God will honor your obedience and allow genuine, emotional healing from your wounds. You do not believe me? Seek it until it is found, you will see. But remember, sometimes broken feelings are still a result of God "handing us over to our tormentors" because we have refused to obey Him in this fundamental matter. Never forget that. If you do not have the emotional healing God desires for you, the fault lies not with God, but with your current application (or lack thereof) of His liberating truths. "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" WHEN WE APPROPRIATE IT!

Here is a quote the Lord blessed me with today:

"When we act out our faith (i.e. obeying when its inconvenient), we tap into God's unlimited resources of grace for our own lives, the power to overcome (in changing how we feel towards something or someone). Without such resources we are subject to the enemy (tormentors Matthew 18:34) and we are powerless against his flaming arrows of bitterness and deceit."

So often times we want it backwards, we want the feeling to be obedient instead if disciplining ourselves to be obedient. God will not give you the "healing feeling" until you ACT on your FAITH!

Thanks for reading everyone! I pray this has blessed someone! Let's seek to know Him better so we can begin to receive healing, instead of stubbornly rebelling against His divine plan and only reaping feelings of greater hostility towards people who have wronged us, a.k.a. reaping corruption.

Love you brothers and sisters!
Sincerely,
Chris Goff

Encouraging Quotes

2010-04-03T21:15:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! For this blog I wanted to use some quotes of Amy Carmichael that really has been a blessing the past couple of days. What an amazing woman of God. These quotes are from a book of hers called "If".

"If I can write an unkind letter, speak an unkind word, think an unkind thought without grief and shame, then I know nothing of calvary love."

"If I have not compassion on my fellowservant, even as my Lord had pity on me, then I know nothing of Calvary love."

"If I belittle those whom I am called to serve, talk of their weak points in contrast perhaps with what I think of as my strong points; if I adopt a superior attitude, forgetting "Who made thee to differ? and what hast thou that thou hast not received?" Then I know nothing of Calvary love"

"If I can easily discuss the shortcomings and sins of any; if I can speak in a casual way even of a childs misdoings, then I know nothing of Calvary love"

"If I have not the patience of my Saviour with souls who grow slowly; if I know little of travail (a sharp and painful thing) till Christ be fully formed in them, then I know nothing of Calvary love"

"If I cast up a confessed, repented, and forsaken sin against another, and allow my rememberance of that sin to color my thinking and feed my suspicions, then I know nothing of Calvary love."

"If I can hurt another by speaking faithfully without much preparation of spirit, and without hurting myself far more than I hurt that other, then I know nothing of Calvary love."

"If I am afraid to speak the truth, lest I lose affection, or lest the one concerned should say, "You do not understand," or because I fear to lose my reputation for kindness; if I put my own good name before the others highest good, then I know nothing of Calvary love."

"If I want to be known as the doer of something that has proved the right thing, or as the one who suggested that it should be done, then I know nothing of Calvary love."

"If I do not forget about such a trifle as personal success, so that it never crosses my mind, or if it does, is never given a moment's room there; if the cup of spiritual flattery tastes sweet to me, then I know nothing of Calvary love."

"If I covet any place on earth but the dust at the foot of the cross, then I know nothing of Calvary love."

"That which I know not, teach thou me, O lord, my God."

These quotes were both inspiring and convicting for me. I love the phrase "Calvary love" which is a.k.a. selfless love. It truly takes us partnering with the Holy Spirit to develop a selfless love. I think that is the litmus test of a true disciple of Christ because it is the main indicator of God's Spirit genuinely working in one's life.

I hope this was a blessing to someone.

Sincerely, Chris Goff

Blaming God

2010-03-23T21:04:00.000-07:00

"In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

Genesis 4:3-7

Foundations are everything. So are the foundations for our beliefs. If you do not build a foundation correctly, everything built upon it will be disfigured and skewed. I think sometimes, even though we are told certain truths from God's word, we give God what we want to give and expect God to accept it. Sometimes it is that we do not know what God expects because we were not willing to genuinely seek Him in the matter. Instead we just run ahead and do it anyways. I have been thinking alot about people who blame God lately and I feel there is no justification for this. Are you a Cain Christian or an Abel Christian?

So in the story we see two brothers essentially doing the same thing. They are both giving to God as their form of worship. Abel's is accepted but Cains is rejected. But why?! It appears there is some sort of "rules" given to the both of them that is not recorded in this text. The verse that suggests this position is when God says to Cain, "Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?" Who knows what the "rules" for sacrifice at this time were. I think it would just be speculation to say, however, it is clear that Cain was not meeting God's expectations in his giving. So we see that because Cain wanted his sacrifice accepted whether it was the Lord's will or not, Abel was penalized (by being killed by Cain) for playing by the rules as a form of blame toward's God. Cain chose to build a foundation a certain way without regard to God's proposed rules. Cain's foundation said something like this, "I do not care what God really wants me to do, I am going to do what is good in my sight and God should accept it." Whereas Abel's foundation said something like this, "The Lord God is my life and sustanence, it is a pleasure and a blessing for me to serve Him exactly how He would want to be served."

Are you a person who blames God for their troubles? Or maybe you blame God for your lack of worldly success. Unfortunately the enemy can blind us to the point of complaining that God didn't do something how we thought He should based on our personal devotion to Him (what we thought was best). Doesn't it seem silly for people who are active believers unto salvation to complain about petty things when we have been redeemed from Hell? Think about this for a moment. How dare I complain or throw blame God's way for anything when He has given His all on calvary. Doesn't this sound a bit selfish? And when we blame God it usually involves something petty we want as well. Fame, relationships, fortunes, etc. Rarely do we blame God for not giving us the opportunity to witness to the poor soul down the street. Rarely do we blame God for not allowing us to fellowship with other believers. Rarely do we blame God for not allowing us to draw closer to Him. If you are reading this and you blame God for something, just repeat the pseudo-blame to God that I just said and see how silly that sounds.

There are too many people that blame God for not allowing them to have the girl/guy they want, the job they wanted, the life they wanted, the fame they wanted, the healing they wanted, the death they DIDN'T want etc. When you and I have blame in our heart's towards God, we will not thank Him genuinely for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. WHEN A BORN AGAIN BELIEVER BLAMES GOD FOR NOT WORKING SOMETHING OUT HOW THEY THOUGHT IT SHOULD HAVE WORKED OUT THEY HAVE BECOME SHORT SIGHTED, FORGETTING THE PURIFICATION OF THEIR SINS! Never forget that God works everything out for our GOOD! When you and I get to Heaven and hear "Well done thou good and faithful servant" none of the stuff we went through on Earth would even compare! You would go through all of this again to receive what you will see if you endure til the end.

In conclusion, do not build foundations based on delusional truth like Cain did. Be real! God doesn't work for you, you work for God. Understand that God has control and not you. Be ok when God chooses something for you that you do not like, maybe it was an error on your end, maybe it just wasn't God's will for you, either way seek Him to understand the why and GROW FROM IT! Don't take the lazy way out and blame Him! When your foundational truth says, "God can do whatever He wants through me, I NO LONGER LIVE!", and then storms come and things do not work out how you thought they should, your heart will still say "It is well with my soul". But remember, if your foundational mentality is that God works for you and not you for God, you will go through life blaming God for everything "bad" that has happened to you, never willing to accept blame yourself or even asking God what the purpose was if it wasn't an error on your end. You will always ask for things from Him with wrong motives and never be willing to ask Him why He won't allow it. Please don't do that. God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble and what is more prideful than me being upset with God when I have been redeemed from the Lake of Fire and have a restored relationship with Him? It makes blaming Him for not giving me the material things I wanted sound real petty. I hope this has been a blessing to someone.

Sincerely, Chris Goff

Can God Forgive Me?

2010-02-25T09:26:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone! I am breaking the ice on my blog again with this article I found that brought tears to my eyes. Isn't God's mercy expressed through Jesus' obedience the best thing we have ever seen?! Read this!

COMMENTARY
Saving a Serial Killer
By Belinda Elliott
CBN.com Daily Life Producer

CBN.com – Most people know of Jeffrey Dahmer, a notorious serial killer, pedophile, and cannibal. When word of his crimes spread through our nation after he was arrested in 1991 no one could believe the horrendous acts that he had committed.

When it was reported that Jeffrey had become a born-again Christian and been baptized, it was equally hard for some people to believe.

Could God really forgive someone like him? Wisconsin pastor Roy Ratcliff says yes.

Roy is the pastor who baptized Jeffrey and met with him once a week until Jeffrey was murdered in prison. During those visits Roy came to know Jeffrey very well and says the prisoner was truly a changed man after his conversion. Roy has written a book, Dark Journey, Deep Grace, about Jeffrey’s journey of faith.

After he became a Christian, not everyone was convinced that the prisoner’s faith was sincere. Jeffrey’s conversion even angered some people. One member of Roy’s congregation remarked, “If Jeffrey Dahmer is going to heaven, then I don’t want to be there.”

That sentiment troubled Roy.

In his book he writes, How can a Christian hold that viewpoint? I don’t understand it. Does it come from a misunderstanding of the forgiveness of sin? Is forgiveness limited to those who are not very bad after all? Is there no joy in knowing that a sinner has turned to God?

In reading recent reviews of Roy’s book, I’ve seen similar reactions. Many people seem surprised by the thought that Jeffrey has been forgiven for what he did.

But isn't Christ's blood enough to make even the vilest offender clean and acceptable to the Father?

I once did an exercise with my Sunday School class where we were asked to rank various people according to how well we think they would be accepted at our church. Topping the list of the most unacceptable people were ex-cons.

Maybe one reason for this is fear. We know of their troubled past, and we fear that they have not really changed. The apostle Paul faced the same kind of fears. When he chose to follow God and gave up his persecution of Christians, many still feared him and were skeptical that he had really changed.

Yet, through Scripture, we see what a difference God made in Paul’s life. Once he met the Living God he was never the same. Why can we not accept that same miracle of God’s grace for someone like Jeffrey Dahmer? After all, Moses and David were also both murders, but we see what great works God did in their lives.

Perhaps our apprehension stems from the fact that we have allowed ourselves to categorize sin. We classify some sins as small and almost inconsequential. Others are big and really, really bad. Murder, for example, is much worse than gossip or even adultery.

But I don’t believe that is how God sees sin.

Jesus taught that if a man even looked at a woman lustfully, then he had committed adultery. It seems like to God sin is sin, regardless of how “bad” we think it is on our sliding scale of human judgment.

Does that mean that harboring bitterness and unforgiveness in our heart toward our enemies is just as bad to God as if we acted on those feelings and physically attacked that person?

It is something to think about.

Perhaps what disturbs people most about Jeffrey’s life is that he was found to be sane when he committed his horrific crimes. If that is the case, then what prompted him to do it? Where does such evil come from?

Roy believes that without God, such evil can come from any one of us.

He writes, Jeff was a sinner. His life proves there is no limit to our capacity to sin or be cruel to other people. We are all candidates for murder and mayhem. It doesn’t take crazy people to do such things. … I believe any of us are capable of everything Jeff did, if we leave God out of our lives.

That’s a scary thought that may be hard for us to swallow. Perhaps without God we wouldn’t become murders, but who knows what our sinful natures are capable of. Praise God that He redeems us from a life of sin and working only to please our sinful nature!

I, for one, am thankful to know that God’s grace covers any and every sin, whether we humans believe it should or not.

Even Jeffrey had trouble believing that God’s grace extended to someone who had done the things he had.

I had to explain the meaning of grace and how it was applied many times before he was able to relax this concern, Roy writes. Once he could see that being a Christian made him right in God’s sight, no matter what, he was able to lay aside many of his fears.

Isn’t that what grace is all about?

The “good news” of the gospel is that Jesus has already paid the price for all of our sins. He does expect us to turn away from them and walk in obedience to Him from that point on, but our past sins are no longer an issue. To a sinner like me, that truly is good news.

While many of us look at Jeffrey’s past and find ourselves unable to comprehend that God’s grace runs that deep, Roy feels that Jeffrey’s story demonstrates what the gospel is all about.

Jeff simply illustrates what Jesus can do with sinful men, Roy writes.

I would like to meet Pastor Roy one day. I would like to thank him for the unconditional love and grace he extended to Jeffrey.

It is the same type of love and grace that God extends to each of us.

Forgiving From The Heart

2009-11-07T19:25:00.000-08:00

"Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."

Matthew 18:21-35

Forgiveness is a thing not to be taken for granted! I hope everyone who confesses Jesus as their Lord genuinely feels undeserving of it. We see in this parable a man in desperate need of forgiveness but unwilling to give it to someone else when it was needed for them. The consequences were pretty rough, this man was handed over to his tormentors. Why does God require us to forgive others as He has forgiven us?

Offense is Satan's number one tactic to get us at each other's throats. Before I go on I definitely recommend the book "The Bait of Satan" by John Bevere, it is truly an eye opening book!

I think the reason we are unwilling to forgive others is a deeper issue within us that too often goes overlooked. Some of us say we forgive yet we treat the people that hurt us with contempt, therefore making forgiveness more of religious obligatory lip service rather than from Christ's love within us. It is a very dangerous thing according to the Word of God, in fact, God will not forgive you if you do not forgive others. An unwillingness to forgive blocks everything in a believers life. Show me someone who is stunted spiritually and I will show you someone who has forgiveness issues. When you are unwilling to forgive you are essentially saying with your actions that you deserved forgiveness, and from God's perspective that is pride and remember He resists the prideful. If we truly recognized how grotesque we were in light of God's holiness I think we would be more quick to forgive. I truly believe the ability to forgive is one of the truest marks of maturity for a Saint. In fact, I think it is the main indicator of true spiritual growth because it shows that they have the most realistic view of themselves in light of them being forgiven. But again, when I say forgiveness I mean it in the truest sense...from the HEART! We will talk about that below.

I believe pardoning something someone has done and actually forgiving them from the heart are two different things. For instance, say you owe me $500 dollars. Well you keep giving me excuses on why you are not paying me and I get fed up and say "Fine, keep the money! I just never want to see you again!" I technically forgave the debt did I not? You no longer owe me $500, however I asked you never to approach me again as well which leads one to believe I have not forgiven from my heart. So then we have forgiveness FROM THE HEART, as Jesus stated. This forgiveness is able to invite someone in your home who has really hurt you. It is the type of forgiveness God has granted to us and expects us to grant to others if it is to be well with our souls. But how is this achieved?

In the book "The Bait of Satan", a pastor by the name of John Bevere has been severely hurt by someone in the church. He wanted to run but God told Him he needed to stay and not to run from tests. God instructed John to begin to pray for this man. John Bevere says that this was not easy at first, in fact, I believe he said the first 3 days it was forced. After he continued to obey God (sowing to the Spirit) John actually began developing a love for this man. He said he would see him in the hall at church and just say "I love you brother!" John Bevere said it actually got to a point where he genuinely (from the heart) wanted this man that had hurt him to be blessed! Now why did this happen like this? Because John Bevere was obeying the reaping and sowing "spiritual law". John was "drawing nigh to God (aka obeying God) so that he was reaping God drawing nigh to him (aka receiving the actual feelings from his step of faith in obedience). I am not saying it is easy but it is crucial to hearing the words "Well done thou good and faithful servant!"

The pros far outweigh the cons of forgiving others. Remember how the "lord" of this man in the parable had him handed over to "the tormentors"? Do you know what tormentors are? DEMONS! You are choosing to give Satan a foothold by willfully violating this principle! So now it all makes sense! This is why people are stunted spiritually, because they have allowed a demonic foothold in their life which is stunting them from receiving what God has for them! This person becomes a religious person at best and ceases from the true intimacy with God. Please hear me borthers and sisters, GOD WILL NOT ALLOW US TO MOVE ON UNTIL WE HAVE OBEYED THIS FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE! I am not saying you will not be able to memorize the Bible, I am not saying you will still not pray but I am saying the anointed power behind these actions could very possibly cease, hence the reason for becoming more religious than truly growing spiritually.

Finally, I do understand that people do things that really hurt us and we feel that they need to pay somehow!! But listen, what if God forgave your trespasses but didn't forgive you from His heart? What if He allowed some people to come to Him but looked at you and said, "You have hurt me too badly, you are not welcome in my presence". Not only would we be very afraid, we would be very hurt! Remember our loving Savior on the cross saying "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."? This is one of the many reasons prayer is so crucial. I have said it before and I will say it again, if your prayer life is suffering you are falling to sin. Prayer is the only way we can realign ourselves to God's motives again. Why? Because prayer gets us in the Spirit! And what does getting in the Spirit mean? Feeling the way God feels towards situations. This forgiveness issue is so serious that I have read accounts of people casting demons off of someone and the demons not breaking until the person chose to forgive. This is a serious issue brothers and sisters, please, let's not take it lightly!

Sincerely,
Chris Goff

God's Faithfulness

2009-10-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Isaiah 40:31

If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
2 Timothy 2:13

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28

God's faithfulness is a beautiful gift! Through His faithfulness we are graced with salvation and hope which yields encouragement and perseverance. I know some of the things mentioned will not appear to be "deep" but they are something we need to remind ourselves frequently of.

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;" This is so encouraging! I heard a word study done on the word 'wait' and it literally means "to anticipate". Isn't that neat? It doesn't merely have a "patience" connotation, it could literally read this way, "But they that anticipate Father God to act on their situation shall renew their strength." Such a beautiful truth! I am so encouraged that I can have immense faith in my God to act no matter what is happening (maybe not the way I always want but for my good).

Let's not forget that not all of us are necessarily to the point where we can 'anticipate God to do something about it', we are human and can fluctuate at times. God desires the end result of us becoming the complete man to be relentless faith, but I am so thankful that He is faithful even when we are struggling finding the faith! 2 Timothy 2:13, "If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself." God understands if we have to ask Him for faith. When facing a trial or tribulation don't try to feign faith if you really do not feel you have it. God long's for us to ask Him for things...sometimes faith!

Romans 8:28 states, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Pastor Rob Turner from Apex community church in Centerville Ohio once said, "God is more interested in our growth than our comfort." That truth has really stuck with me. I say that to say let us not mistake our discomfort with God's lack of goodness because His goodness is a more mature goodness than that. God's goodness is in breaking us, knowing it will produce a stronger more resilient faith...it gives us staying power. He does work out things for our good because He loves us even if they seem uncomfortable at the time. For example, let's say you have a child and you have been granted a foreknowledge that if they leave your house to go out with their friends for that particular night they will be in a fatal car accident. You may try to petition them to not go, maybe even ground them if they will not listen. You may try these subtle methods at first but if you see they are failing, there is not one loving parent that is reading this that wouldn't take a sledge hammer (or something else of the sort) and break their child's legs. WHOA CHRIS! Didn't expect you to go there! Isn't true love and goodness weird? Now if I isolate that situation and just say, "My dad took a sledge hammer and broke my legs!" That doesn't have a 'working out to our good' ring to it. But if I tell you in context 'the why', it now changes into a relentless act of love. You may be going through something so dark and scary you are not understanding why God is allowing this to happen. Just as the child in the above example kept trying to leave the house without the knowledge their parent had, so are we at times because we cannot see everything like God. Now let's say the child get's word that the friends she/he was going to go out with that night died in the wreck, this child, I would venture to say, is now thanking the parent for breaking their legs. So one day we will be thanking Him for all the hardships that produced righteousness in our lives, and that is God's definition of "all things working to our good".

One final (true) story,
There was a police officer, who was a Christian, that a friend of mine knew. This man began to suffer in his faith in God to the point of almost giving up. One night, while on patrol, he took a very peculiar man into custody. As this police officer was escorting this man to the police station, the criminal began to sniff in the air around him. As this now sniffing man became more and more blatant with this annoyance the police officer asked him what he was doing. The sniffing man said, "I smell blood, you're a Christian aren't you!". The police officer proceeded to say, "I do not know how that is even relevant to anything." The criminal said in response to this statement, "Oh it's relevant...it's relevant.." As a result of this situation this restored this police officers faith. The criminal was obviously under satanic control and satan in this situation became an unwilling servant of our MIGHTY GOD! This story really shed light on the verse that states, "If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself." 2 Timothy 2:13

I do not know what you are going through but I do know this, God does not orchestrate anything to hurt us as to never come back to Him. Remember that God does not do petty human things, He has pure and holy purposes for us. So the next time something isn't going quite right, run to HIM!

Sincerely,
Chris Goff

Reaping and Sowing

2009-10-12T15:44:00.000-07:00

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that naturea will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life."
Galatians 6:7&8

"Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully."
2 Corinthians 9:6

"Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded."
James 4:8

"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
Galatians 6:9

"My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children."
Hosea 4:6

This week I want us to focus on a spiritual principle that I feel goes under our radar alot of the time. It's called reaping and sowing. If you sit and think about it the whole of God's spiritual structure and/or law rides on this principle. It is a neutral principle to a degree, giving that it works for both the believer and non-believer. This principle works unto rewards and unto punishment, to the reaping of eternal life or corruption. So with all of that said I feel it is very important to show God we are setting our hearts to understand this spiritual principle.

"My people perish from lack of knowledge." Ever hear the saying, "knowledge is power"? Well, when talking about this reaping and sowing principle it proves to be very true. Now reaping and sowing is the broad truth but can we think of specifics in scripture? How about "Draw nigh unto God, then He will draw night unto you", or "If we walk in the light as He is in the light, THEN the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness" or how about, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness". So let's render these a bit different to illustrate the principle. "Sow into drawing closer to God, and reap Him drawing closer to you", "Sow into walking in the light as He is in the light, and reap Him cleansing you from all unrighteousness", "Sow into the confession of sins, and reap His faithfulness and justness to forgive your sin and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness". Do we get the picture? Scripture is absolutely riddled with this underlying principle.

Now let's draw our attention to Galatians 6:7&8 which states, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that naturea will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." I love this one as it helps me pass personal tests in my life. For example, you have the opportunity when by yourself to watch something you are not supposed to watch or do things you should not do, believe it or not when you pass these tests by "fleeing and pursuing" (see devotional entitled "Fleeing and Pursuing") you have just sown into the Spirit! When you sow into the Spirit God has some kind of spiritual gifting for you in the end if you do not become WEARY OF DOING GOOD. Galatians 6:9, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." We must live our lives in light of this principle if it is to be well with our souls!

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Galatians 6:7. So if we do not live our lives in light of this priniciple what does that say about us? It means we are deceived! Paul says BE NOT DECEIVED, GOD WILL NOT EVER BE MOCKED (proven to be a liar) WHATEVER YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! SOW THIS IS WHAT YOU! YOU! YOU! YOU! ARE GOING TO REAP! I have wrote about this before in other devotionals but feel the need to hammer on it some more. There is a great many people deceived out there. They think because they have prayed a prayer that they are instantly ok. They teach a doctrine unsupported by scripture and I pray those are the people that read these posts before it is too late. Galatians 5:19-26 says, The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. I pray we all begin to live by these core principles again. We live in a very dark world that is constantly sowing into the flesh and reaping nothing but destruction! I am so thankful for Jesus sacrifice! He has enabled us to be partakers of the Holy Spirit thereby being a people capable of living within the healthy bounds of reaping and sowing! Let's keep fighting to stay in the Spirit so we do not gratify the lusts of our flesh! So the next time you have the opportunity to watch, do, look, hear something you are not supposed to and YOU DO NOT GIVE IN, give a little elbow jerk in the air and say "SWEET! I JUST PASSED A TEST, THANK YOU GOD FOR YOUR FAITHFULNESS TO ME"! Guess what happens as you continue to pass tests? YOU BECOME A TRUE DISCIPLE! You are now disciplining yourselves and showing God that you can be a person that is entrusted with MUCH instead of LITTLE! Remember brothers and sisters, you can store up treasures to reap just as you can store up wrath, just because it is not immediate does not mean it isn't coming. DON'T GROW WEARY! Let's pray for each other please! I mean that, I pray for the people who read these posts please be lifting me up as well!

Sincerely,
Chris Goff

Free Will?

2009-10-05T17:49:00.000-07:00

"For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth." Romans 9:17&18

"But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said." Exodus 8:15

"And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go" Exodus 8:32

"And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had spoken unto Moses." Exodus 9:12

"Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:" Romans 1:24

"And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness"
2 Thessalonians 2:10-12

"And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance" 2 Peter 1:5-13

"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion". Some verses make it appear that God chooses every outcome, even our choices about right and wrong. I believe this is true to a point, in light of scriptures such as the one at the beginning of this paragraph (read the devotional entitled "Predestination" to understand a bit more of the position I have taken on this). But make no mistake, we are to take the scripture as a whole. I have heard people say that God wouldn't be sovereign if He didn't choose everything, so it just appears we have a free will but we really don't. I feel they are blending two different schools of thought into one that make this topic very muddled, so much to the point that they get relaxed with their sin. I say this because I have seen what this belief does to people, it causes an upset in their pursuit of holiness. I was recently told about a guy that has a leadership role in a ministry that does not believe we have a free will and is looking at pornographic material on the internet. It is one thing to struggle with a sin, it is far another thing to give yourself heartily to it and have a theological argument to back it up. Wouldn't that be convenient? "God choose anyways and He knew I would come to Christ and I would still sin". It is something subtle that can end up crippling us spiritually if we do not have a proper grasp as to how all of this works. Did Pharaoh have a choice? Does anyone have a choice? Let's break these scriptures down.

I think one thing we must understand is that God allows us to be aware of His sovereignty through His foreknowledge in predestining people but some of us have taken it a step farther and have believed because He chose the over-all route for things He must have controlled our wills as well. So let's look at what Paul said. Paul mentions that God hardened Pharaohs heart. Now it is interesting to note that Genesis says Pharaoh hardened his own heart. Why wouldn't Paul make mention of this? I think he didn't because he wasn't debating this issue of free will. Because Paul knew the scriptures even better than we do, right? So for this piece of information to escape Paul is a little astounding IF he were merely arguing for man's choice. What I believe Paul is illustrating is that God makes decisions through His foreknowledge BASED upon HIS FORESIGHT OF THE CHOICES WE WOULD MAKE! God places us before the foundations of the world but we are the ones who have to acted out in REAL TIME! "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" Now note this verse isn't saying make sure you "prayed the prayer" and then once you have confirmed that you have "prayed the prayer" you have now made His calling and election sure. That doesn't take alot of DILIGENCE, the very word Peter has chose to illustrate this point. The Apostles had an understanding of the reaping and sowing principle so much that they believed this is how one endured to the end by "SOWING INTO THE SPIRIT TO REAP ETERNAL LIFE!" Now some of you may think I have jumped off topic but I have not, I am using this to illustrate your CHOICE to MAKE YOUR CALLING AND ELECTION SURE UNTIL YOU SEE JESUS IN HIS GLORY! Anything less than this is not standing firm until the end which WAS NOT GOD'S CHOICE FOR YOU! How do we know this though?

Ok, so back to Pharaoh, Paul and Genesis say that God hardened Pharaohs heart, but in Genesis before it says God hardened Pharaohs heart it says Pharaohs hardened his own heart. Ok so now what, is the scripture contradicting itself? NO WAY! Look in Romans 1 and 2 Thessalonians 2. It suggests a person can CHOOSE UNRIGHTEOUSNESS SO MUCH THAT GOD ENDS UP FINISHING THE JOB! This should not be foreign to us. Just as God has chosen our current active repentant faith in Christ to be the means by which He completes us for our good, so the inverse happens as well. Think about it, you respond in obedience and you reap knowing God better.(remember the law...sow to the spirit to reap eternal life...sow to the flesh and reap corruption) Respond in disobedience and reap corruption. WHATSOEVER A MAN SOWS THIS WILL HE ALSO REAP. Or it could read this way, "Whatever a man CHOOSES to do, whether good or bad, is what he will get back spiritually".

So what is the answer Chris? Do you choose or does God choose? The answer in my estimation is clearly both. FOR WHOM HE FOREKNEW HE ALSO PREDESTINED! What is that foreknowledge about? Has to be about seeing what we would choose to base His decision on the where, when, and how. In my mind, if we had no say so in our matter the scripture would merely read, "He predestined." Why put the word foreknew in there? He was evaluating what we would decide if we were offered His grace. Also, look at Romans 1 and 2 Thessalonians 2. "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the LUSTS OF THEIR OWN HEARTS, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:" Romans 1:24 Now does that say the "LUST OF GOD'S HEART?" NO! YOUR HEART! Now look at 2 Thessalonians 2, "And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" What does it say? THEY CHOOSE NOT TO RECEIVE WHEN PRSENTED, and because of the reaping and sowing principle we will always have a cause and effect. In this case the cause is written like this, "And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness" WE NEED TO GRASP THIS REAPING AND SOWING PRINCIPLE! It is really the foundation for everything!

Now some of you may still be locked into the mindset that God cannot be sovereign if He didn't choose everything for us, even to the point of us being unrighteous but follow me really quick. I was talking with a believer on the phone once who was telling me a pastor (whom I respect greatly) made the comment that God could not be sovereign if we had a choice in anything. This statement has never sat well with me as I had heard it before in some variations. What came to me next to respond to this person blew me away as I had never even thought about it before (which told me it was God answering for both me and this brother). Wouldn't ultimate sovereignty be giving us a free choice and STILL being so brilliant as to accomplishing things the way He wanted? I mean come on, would you be more impressed if I bossed you around to accomplish my will, or I was able to manipulate things in such a way that I made you CHOOSE what I set out to accomplish anyways. You had your choice, I just knew what you would choose, which makes God the ultimate "chess" player of the universe. I don't know about you, but that old argument that says God is not sovereign if He doesn't make every decision for us, whether for the good or for the bad, pails in comparison to giving us a free choice and still being MAGNIFICENT ENOUGH TO ACCOMPLISH HIS WILL! What a mighty and amazing God! So what's the official answer in a nut shell? It's both! God will finish the job either way YOU CHOOSE TO GO, whether to the righteous side or the unrighteous side! Thats why we must be a people who constantly sow into the Spirit! This way we are bound to make our calling and election certain! Because be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatsoever a man (or woman) sows, this will he also reap! You have a choice to make! GIVE INTO THE SIN OR NOT GIVE IN and make no mistake, if you are running headlong into wickedness it was not God's desire for you, but He is also not mocked. Remember the scripture says "He resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble." Humility is obedience, obedience is to cease from sin, ceasing from sin gives you even more power to stop the things you always thought you were bound to! But, He resists the PRIDEFUL! ALL SIN IS PRIDE! You are telling God with your actions "Other people may need to do that but not me." PRIDE PRIDE PRIDE! The Bible says if we are PRIDEFUL He will RESIST US. That word resist means "TO STAND AGAINST; TO OPPOSE." I don't know about all of you but I do not want the God of the universe opposing me! Let's stay connected to the vine! Let's reap ETERNAL LIFE!

Lord continue to reveal your truth to us! Thank you giving Your Spirit to us for revelation and guidance! I pray for everyone who will read this that it will prove profitable for them, grant all of us repentance I pray!

Thanks brothers, and sisters!
Sincerely,
Chris Goff

Are We Seeking Him?

2009-09-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:Their feet are swift to shed blood:Destruction and misery are in their ways:And the way of peace have they not known:There is no fear of God before their eyes. Romans 3:10-18

God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God.
Psalm 53:2-4

I hope it is our desire to truly know God and really seek Him. This is not going to be one of my traditional posts. This post is to express something that God did earlier this week and after He led me in the scriptures I felt impressed to make it the next blog. The Lord is so faithful to reveal to us when we become slack at times and thank goodness He is so long-suffering!

Earlier this week I felt impressed to read Romans chapter 3. I only posted part of it on purpose as I really want to focus on what really stuck with me as I believe that is what the Lord wanted me to get out of it and then share with everyone else. Notice in Romans 3 it reads, "There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." After I was finished reading the chapter I began to think what God wanted me to get out of this, then all of a sudden Psalm 53 shot through my mind. I did not know what Psalm 53 had to say so I decided to read it and it is what Paul was using to cross reference this part of Romans 3! Psalm 53 reads, "God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God.". After I read this I knew this was all beyond coincidence. I began to pray and talk to the Lord about this issue, this prompted me to discuss with my wife if we truly know what it means to seek Him.

Needless to say I felt impressed to write it on the blog so we can begin to dwell on it. It is something we all need to work on, making Him our all-in-all. Remember the reference in Daniel when he prayed and fasted for 21 days? What did the angel of the Lord say to him again? The angel said, "From the day you set your heart to understand and did chasten yourself your words were heard and I have been sent because of your words." Read the devotional entitled "An Understanding Heart", I talk about this in greater detail there. I believe we need to purchase from Jesus, "gold refined by fire". Do you remember Him saying this to the Laodicean church in Revelation? They had said they were rich and in need of nothing and Jesus said they did not even realize they were pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I think because we have all of our needs provided in our richness that it tends to blind our true spiritual needs. I think what Jesus is saying here is this, that the way we purchase from Him gold refined by fire is to chasten ourselves, discipline ourselves to do the greater thing which is to develop an intimacy with Him in prayer. It is something we could all grow in. I believe prayer is the main vehicle in developing a relationship with Him. Don't get me wrong, Bible reading is great, and breaking down His Word is great but direct communication is key. Remember, before the New Testament was written all they had was prayer, in fact, I would venture to say this is where doctrine was revealed to them at...in prayer. Let's commit ourselves to spending time with Him this week. Even if you just start with 5 minutes or 10 minutes, its a START! Even if you do not know what to say just show Him you desire to seek Him by quieting yourself. Wait for Him to put things on your heart and mind to pray about. Jewish oral tradition has it that James, brother of Jesus, had callouses on his knees from being in prayer so much. I cannot imagine that kind of devotion but I would like to think I am one who is willing to learn. I personally walk around when I pray because I am one who can tend to get too comfortable if I sit or kneel too long, so do not think that you have to bow all of the time. I do, however, feel at times we should bow, whenever you feel led to bow do so, He is a real King who really loves us. I am not saying to kneel the entire time, but sometimes as a symbol of devotion to Him, acknowledging with our actions that we believe He is so real that we bow. I know alot of revelation that God has graced me with has come during or after spending time with Him.

Thank you for reading brothers and sisters. I hope this is a blessing to you! We serve a great God! This was not an indictment on any of you as I myself have some more disciplining to do as well!

I hope this has not offended, let's strive to seek Him more than we seek our own desires all of the time. God showed me once an easy way to tell if I am erecting any idols in my life. It's a simple test really and it's this, if I begin to get more excited about something than I do about Jesus and His sacrifice, I now have a heart issue. I need to go back to "purchasing gold refined by fire" whenever this begins to happen and guess what? He forgives me and reignites me to do whatever I was called here to do as He desires for us all. All of our lives we will have to continue to consecrate things, put them under us, so do not get bummed or depressed when it happens, it is God reminding you to re-align yourself through the vehicle of prayer.
Again, even if you do not know what to say in the moment, just begin praising Jesus until you get excited about Him and then bask in that fresh presence. Even if you do not speak when His presence is stirred within you it begins changing you. Kind of like a tea packet in hot water, it's not doing anything but sitting there, but slowly the hot water begins to bring things out of it.
Praise Jesus for all of you! Everyone who sends me nice comments and keeps encouraging me to keep this website up to help others grow! We help each other grow.

Thanks again!
Sincerely
Chris Goff

Hierarchy Of Priorities

2009-09-21T16:44:00.000-07:00

"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." James 1:27

"Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." (In reference to the people who tested God in the wilderness)
1 Corinthians 10:11&12

"Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it."
Hebrews 4:1

“I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”
Revelation 2:2-7

"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing."
John 15:5

"And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And He said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live."
Luke 10:25-28

Priorities...everyone has to have them if their life is going to function properly. All successful people adhere to a list of priorities. For instance, police officers have a list of priorities when dealing with their day-to-day duties. If you are a police officer and you catch someone speeding and then hear on your radio a serial killer was just spotted in the area, I have an idea you are going to now pursue the serial killer and forget about the ticket. One priority overshadowed another. Well it appears it is not so different for Christians. I have seen Christians abandon the most important of priorities in the name of "reaching out" to others and then themselves eventually doing and saying what the people who do not know God do and say. I was one of those Christians until God graced me with teaching me how to truly fear Him and that fear propelling into love. Biblically speaking what does it appear our main priorities are? I see us struggling all the time with priorities and unfortuneatly the consequences can at times be severe. Let's see what the Word of God says our most important priorities are.

James gives us two ingredients in having a healthy relationship with God. First he lists to comfort and attend to the needy, particularly widows and orphans. The second thing he lists is to keep oneself from being stained by the world. I don't think his intentions were listing them in order, because it appears our first priority to God is to keep ourselves pure and unstained. The reason I say this is because to the church at Ephesus Jesus said "I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars;and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent." Let's notice that despite all the hard work Jesus commended them for He still had something against them, they had abandoned their first love. That first love was Him and in abandoning Him they were beginning to stain themselves and Jesus had to put a quick stop to this through John. They apparently forgot they were working for Jesus. Religion had crept in it appears and Jesus told them to repent of this before He removed their lampstand. Jesus says REMEMBER FROM WHERE YOU HAVE FALLEN; REPENT AND DO THE FIRST WORKS. So we see they lost a sense of priority probably in the area of their daily disciplines (i.e. prayer) and to neglect this is to not put on our spiritual armor and to not put on our spiritual armor is to subject ourselves to Satan's fiery darts and to subject ourselves to Satan's fiery darts is to allow a strong, negative influence that subtly leads us astray. When we lose focus of priorities we get reprimanded for our benefit. Thank God for His discipline! For without it we could not shar in His holiness!

Now in Luke, Jesus tells the lawyer that he is right in his answering of how one inherits eternal life. The lawyer tempting Him said, "Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. And He said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live." So we see our first priority is to love the Lord our God with all our soul, strength, and mind; AND to love thy neighbor as thyself. So we see we are to love our neighbor as ourselves, we are supposed to work for Him and glorify Him in that manner! But first we must love HIM with all our beings. This means communing with Him in prayer and notice when we do this we begin to love people a whole lot more! When we honor God in drawing closer to Him all of the other things will begin to fall into place! Our desire will be for His work from our hearts because we are communing with Him and that is what appears this church in Revelation had lacked in. But remember Jesus said in John 15:5, "I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." We must ABIDE IN HIM, and in order to abide in Him we have to CLEANSE OURSELVES with His provided sacrifice on Calvary, then our actions for him will be anointed, done in the Spirit where there is power!

I remember there was a point in my life where I had to settle down and remember that yes, Jesus died for all so they could come to Him, but let me never get so caught up in "works" that I forget He also died for me to COMMUNE WITH ME! That is God's desire! Sometimes we "forget" with how we conduct our lives, that God died for us and wants us to abide in Him! If I am getting drunk, watching things I shouldn't watch, agreeing with things I shouldn't agree with, not seeking Him and loving Him, I may be indicating to myself that I have become religious and am leaving my first love! Don't sacrifice your integrity in the name of "reaching out"! The biggest and best way to reach out is to show people that Jesus power is genuinely active in you not having to partake in certain things for your fulfillment! "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall!" Remember, you do not have to be in active agreement with the world in order to reach them! Let us not defile ourselves we have Jesus Christ! Let us strive for the completeness God is calling us to!

Thank you Lord for all you have given and all you have done! I pray God that we will be a people able to hear, "Well done Thou good and faithful servant!". I pray this over myself, my family, and all your saints! We love you Jesus, let us know when we are breaking your heart! Discipline us Lord we pray! In the precious name of Jesus we pray! Amen!
With love brothers and sisters!
Sincerely,
Chris Goff

Paul's Thorn In The Flesh

2009-09-14T10:23:00.000-07:00

"Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me--to keep me from exalting myself!
Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.
And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness " Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

What was Paul's thorn in the flesh? I have heard some say it was a physical infirmity but I have also heard people say it was some sort of struggling with sin. I feel this problem was Paul's eyesight. Now before you disagree with this assessment let's go through and see if we cannot support this claim. I understand that this is speculative as I feel the other side is speculative, however, I have heard people use this reference as a crutch in supporting their own misconduct. So needless to say it is very important how one interprets this passage of scripture in either living a defeated life in sin or a victorious one over sin. First we will discuss Paul's blinding experience.

I will start with the road to Damascus, Acts 9:3,8&9 state,"And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:...And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink."
Notice that this light was so bright that Paul was instantly blinded, he had to have help getting back to Damascus. Now God sent a fellow brother to lay hands on Paul so that he could receive his sight back, Acts 9:17&18 states, "And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized." Ok so he was healed right? It appears to a degree he was. Notice the Bible says "immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales."
Remember when Paul back-talked the high priest? Acts 23:2-5,"At this the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck! Those who were standing near Paul said, You dare to insult God's high priest? Paul replied, Brothers, I did not realise that he was the high priest; for it is written: 'Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.' Now notice with me that Paul didn't even recognize the high priest, he even said "brothers, I did not realise that he was the high priest"! By what I understand, the high priest wears attire that distinguishes between him and the others in the group, so for Paul not to see him suggests bad eye sight! Also in Galatians 4:15 Paul says, "Where is then the blessedness ye spake of? for I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, ye would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me." So now we have Paul admitting himself that he has an eye sight problem that bugged him enough to mention it to this church. We also have Galatians 6:11, "See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!" So it is clear it appears he had a problem with his eye sight.

Ok, now for the reason I believe this was the "thorn" in Paul's flesh and not a sin. Notice how Paul says, "Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." Now correct me if I am wrong but if he was struggling falling to a sin in his life I believe I could properly render this verse as "Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast in my sin, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." Wait a minute! The same Jesus who said in John 5:14, "Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee." Ok now this doesn't sound quite right, could Paul actually boast in his sin? If that wasn't enough look at what Jesus said to Paul,"My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness " So could I render this verse, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in sin."? Would Jesus tell one man in the temple, "go and sin no more lest something worse befall you." and then turn around and tell Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in sin."? NO WAY! This violates the scripture that tells us to not quench the Spirit and quenching the Spirit is to sin, 1 Thessolonians 5:19 "Do not put out the Spirit's fire;" We know that when we walk in the flesh it actually puts out the Spirit's fire in our lives and when the Spirit is not flowing in our lives this keep's us from being effective!

So what about the "Messenger of Satan to buffet/torment me" part? Can you imagine healing people just by praying over cloths just because they touched them? Can you imagine seeing the power of God demonstrated through you to others in that magnitude and all you want is to be healed with that same power you are exercising over other people? This is where alot of heavy speculation comes in but this is my take on it, the demon was trying to effect Paul's faith. I can hear the mocks and jeers now going through Paul's mind, "God uses you to heal others but you are not worthy enough to receive it yourself! You think God is with you? Then why won't he heal your eyes Paul?" So what did this cause Paul to do (in my opinion)? It caused him to fall face down and ask God not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES to take his infirmity away from him. I am not saying that my assessment is gospel, but this torment sounds oh so familiar in regards to Jesus dying on the cross. Matthew 27:42, "He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him." I will forever maintain that Paul was not talking about gross misconduct being the thorn in his flesh or how else would he have been able to call out sin in the churches in good conscience? Do not take my word for it, pray over these issues and research them.

Finally, the reason I feel this passage is so important to understand is because I have heard believers use this saying of Paul to support settling with their own personal sin. We are to appropropriate Jesus word and what will happened? John 8:32 "The truth shall make you free!" We are not just saved in theory! That same power that rose Jesus from the dead not only has the power to save you but also to set you free from what makes you a slave. 1 John 3:8 says Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil! "He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." Now please do not hear me wrong! We will all stumble on occasion but it must be immediately taken in repentance to the cross, not this settling attitude that says, "Well Paul had sin so I might as well give into it when it beckons me." This is a scary attitude and will lead to a complacent attitude towards sin, which leads to perpetuated sin, which leads to death. When we sin it should genuinely be a blindsiding event, if you fall GET UP! But do not say you are bound to fall to that exact same sin your whole life, that is a defeated attitude and may prove true in your life! So fight! (See devotional, Rhema Resistance) There is a difference between stumbling and fighting verses stumbling and accepting and please never let Satan convince you otherwise! Thank you for your love and support brothers and sisters! Let's stop using crutches and fight!
Sincerely,
Chris Goff

Is There Sin In Your Camp?

2009-09-08T06:26:00.000-07:00

"The men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of their men, and pursued them from the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them down on the descent, so the hearts of the people melted and became as water.
Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until the evening, both he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.
Joshua said, "Alas, O Lord GOD, why did You ever bring this people over the Jordan, only to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? If only we had been willing to dwell beyond the Jordan!
"O Lord, what can I say since Israel has turned their back before their enemies?
"For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and they will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name?"
So the LORD said to Joshua, "Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face?
"Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things.
"Therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies; they turn their backs before their enemies, for they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst." Joshua 7:8-12

"And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh." Jude 1:23

"Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him." 1 John 3:21&22

"If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:" Psalm 66:18

Israel's defeat at Ai, what a scary event. Because understand, God told Joshua that He would be with him as He was with Moses, and the fact that this defeat took place suggested, for some reason, God did not back them this time. This event drove Joshua to his knees in prayer, seeking to find out what had happened which is a response God adores. It appears Joshua even subtly "threw in" a little blame because of a lack of understanding, we will discuss this below. Do we want to be a people that hear from the Lord when we pray? Joshua was heard but as the leader he was told to take care of some things before God would back them again, let's analyze these verses.

Everything was going peachy in Israel as far as battle was concerned. They were striking fear in the hearts of all the surrounding kingdoms... until Ai. God had told them not to take anything for themselves in the last battle they fought, but a man named Achan decided not to regard this command. Because of this mans sin, God decided to pull His power away from the armies of Israel. At the time though, Joshua was unaware of this sin, so he fell before the Lord in prayer. Notice he asks God why he even brought them there just to lose, sounds like he was throwing a little blame God's way. The reason I say this is because look at God's response to this statement,"So the LORD said to Joshua, "Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face? Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them." Whoa, a pretty harsh rebuke in my estimation, GET UP! Why have you fallen on your face? This is not my fault, it is Israels sin! Have you ever been there? Opened so many doors to the enemy through YOUR sin that you believe the Satanic lies that are being fed to you in blaming God for your condition? I think we all have probably at some point, but it is important to remember that God is perfect, He doesn't do petty things like we do and sometimes we interpret Him as such. I am not saying our bad conditions are always because of personal sin either, Job is a perfect example of that.

Now I love how the Old Testament gives us so much truth into God's character. Jesus quoted the Old Testament non-stop, so for any of us to say it is not necessary is arrogance. We have a few verses that still illustrate that God was the same yesterday, today and forever! In Psalms David said, "If I regarded iniquity in my heart, my prayers would not have been heard." And then in the New Testament we have John saying, "if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask" Does this mean God doesn't really hear us when we sin? Not in the sense of not actually hearing what we say but in the sense of response. And now, for probably the scariest part of this verse, "I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst." We must consecrate ourselves to the Lord! See the Bible is full of promises, but all of those promises have conditions. This should not sound foreign to us, we do it all of the time ourselves. "If you get good grades in school than I will reward you", see that "if,than" statement? That suggests a conditional promise. I have promised to reward you but only if you receive good grades.

And finally for the verse in Jude, "hating even the garment stained by the flesh". This is a challenge to all of us (me included), could we in fact substitute, "hating even the DVD stained by the flesh"? Or maybe this, "hating even the MUSIC stained by the flesh"? How can we partake in something that God absolutely hates? If God is up there pounding His throne in anger about a movie I have allowed myself to watch and I am down here laughing about what I am watching, I would assume something is wrong with my heart. We have accepted so much in our culture, we constantly quench the Spirit and then we wonder why we are not feeling used of the Lord. Or we convince ourselves we are being used in a very powerful way and God is up there going, "You have no idea what can actually be done with the power of my Spirit if you would not quench Him, if you would just allow me to cleanse you". Let's encourage one another to be careful what we watch and hear, maybe we are not actually doing what is being done on th silver screen, but make no mistake, we are becoming partakers with it by giving it our approval through laughter or merely enjoyment. We see how angry God was with Achan's disobedience, let's make sure we are not angering our God either! We need to turn our laughter into mourning and our joy to gloom (See devotional Joy and Gloom).

God revealed to me once that if I find something perverted funny there is a problem. Now I can force myself not to laugh, but forcing suggests I still thought it to be funny, so when this happens fall on your face and begin to seek out what is wrong in your heart. I don't know about everyone else, but I do not want to regard iniquity in my heart so I can see God really move in my life! Are we getting rid of things in our lives that are considered "banned" by God? If not, we probably can not expect too much in prayer. Remember, the same God that said "I will never leave you or forsake you" also said, "I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst." This is not a contradiction, as a whole God is faithful to us even to point out our sin, but God cannot condone our sin by giving us blessings and what we want if we refuse to deal with sin in our lives. Think if I reward bad behavior? All that will teach people is I am not really serious about what they are doing! I appreciate you brothers and sisters! Let's strive to perfect holiness in reverent fear of our God!

Your Ultimate Reward

2009-09-03T20:38:00.000-07:00

"But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Matthew 6:20&21

"His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." Matthew 25:21

"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing" John 15:5

"In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John 14:3

"Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." I Thessolonians 4:17&18

"And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." Revelation 21:21-23

"And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." Oh I pray Jesus is always our treasure! We want our hearts with Him correct? Well, we must abide in Him! Isn't it so interesting how His love grows inside of us the more we appropriate His commands in our lives? I hope we are getting closer and closer to Him! The scripture says in James, "Draw nigh unto Him and He will draw nigh unto you!" We reap what we sow right? Sow to the Spirit and we reap knowing Him better (Gal 6:8), remember? I love how the Word of God, although many different authors, still harmonize with each other. We can use scripture to interpret scripture which proves to me it was Holy Spirit inspired. Anyways, without further delay, let's camp on the eternal rewards of following Jesus.

It looks like quite a life Jesus has for those that love Him! I look at those verses and am just flat out amazed. Streets of gold...gates of pearl...a house He is preparing for us! Wow, "that where I am, you may be also." Look at all of this neat stuff! But what makes these promises so awesome? I was praying one day and wondering why God list's all of the wonderful stuff. Because I thought in heaven we will not even be materialistic. We will be (I assume) in a perfect state, therefore could not be a materialistic people. No sooner was I thinking about this that the answer came bursting in my mind. "The value of all the gift's is not within themselves, it is in the one who will give it to you." Have you ever had a moment when you were simply awestruck? It was beautiful! Of course! CAN YOU IMAGINE HEARING THE LORD SAY "Well done thou good and faithful servant, ...enter thou into the joy of THY LORD!" For the Creator of heaven and earth to feel you deserve these "trophies" signifying your overcoming Satan "By the blood of the Lamb and the WORD OF YOUR TESTIMONY" (Revelation 12:11) There is nothing to do but to praise Him!

So what does all of this mean? JESUS IS THE TREASURE OF TREASURES! He is your ultimate reward! See, John mentions in Revelations that he saw no temple, which was considered one of the ultimate "material" possessions here on Earth. But why? Because it will now be comprised of the Lord God Almighty and THE LAMB! There will be no sun either! One of the main sustainer's (if not the most important) of life is the sun and it will not be needed! Why? Because of Jesus! Jesus is the glory of the Father and He will illuminate the city! He is coming back for us! Are you ready? We are to comfort one another with these words..."Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." And so shall we ever be with the Lord! Folks, I pray this causes tears of joy! Let's get more excited about Him than we do whatever we are preoccupied with in this life! He is our treasure!

I have heard people brag about how they have met certain movie stars, sports figures, know someone that knows someone that knows whoever. I am sure we have all done this, it is an exciting thing. But if we get more excited about meeting them than we are knowing Jesus, we need to pray until this is not the case. This is a challenge to all who do not get excited about Jesus, evaluate your heart! Can you imagine meeting the One who created the universes, set the framework for life as we know it! He didn't star in a film, and he didn't have a platinum album, He didn't win the World Series...He did something far greater than we could ever give Him credit for! Listen, I say this as a brother in Christ that is concerned for His people, there is something to say about being passionate about Jesus. If we are not, we are growing cold towards Him, and God-forbid this from ever happening! Sin is a joy killer because all we reap from it is corruption...a satanic foothold. This is why I am hammering so hard on how we live our lives. You and I will never experience Jesus to the dynamic we want if we do not strive for purity (not grieving the Spirit). And unfortuneatly, this leads to the deceit of believing the scriptures to be false, without us ever admitting it out of our mouths just how we feel deep down, and this my friends, leads to deadly religion. It leads to doing things day in and day out without joy! It leads to Jesus and the things of Jesus becoming a chore and a mask we put on rather than a genuine heart that longs for Him and His return! Please, as an act of faith (faith without actions is dead), pray this prayer with fervor and enthusiasm! "Precious Jesus! We love you so much! We repent for not being excited about You, for apart from you we can do nothing of true value! Lord, we acknowledge that life was meaningless, MEANINGLESS if we cannot hear your beautiful Words, "Well done thou good and faithful servant!" We want to hear well done Father! Put us on the track in our lives where we will be able to truly hear these words! We invite your discipline Father, for if we do not receive this we cannot share in Your holiness and are illegitimate children! Teach us how to fear you again Lord, we have so much that we consider treasure that is TRASH in comparison to you! Lord please! Take the whole world but give us the Light of the world! We love you Father! Show us everytime we are not in the Spirit that we may get in the Spirit once again and be an effective witness. Grant us repentance Father, for if You choose not to we will be without hope! Reveal to us when we are wrong through the precious power of the Holy Spirit! We love you Lord, in the precious name of Jesus we pray, AMEN!"

I hope you prayed that! Now in conclusion let's make our life goal to hear the Words, "Well done thou good and faithful servant!" Read this reference below, this helps me get so excited about our Lord and Savior. What He has accomplished is beyond belief! So much that in Revelation began to weep because no one was found who was worthy to open the all important scrolls. Then out of no where a savior...

Revelation 5

1And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.

2And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?

3And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.

4And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.

5And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

6And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

7And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.

8And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.

9And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;

10And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

11And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;

12Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

13And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

14And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.

This helps me get stoked again for Him! I hope it helps you! Remember, where our treasure is, there our heart will be also! Is your treasure Jesus which manifests itself with absolute joy over His sacrifice?
Sincerely,
Chris Goff

The Bible's "How To" For Ceasing Sin

2009-09-01T07:18:00.000-07:00

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:7

"Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." 2 Timothy 2:22

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." 1 Corinthians 10:13

"and do not give the devil a foothold" Ephesians 4:27

"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." Galatians 5:16

"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Galatians 6:7-8

"Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." Jude 1:24&25

I know what you are thinking, "That's alot of verses to cover!". The reason I have used so many verses here is because I believe that this strand of verses help us understand how it is actually possible to overcome sin in our lives. I believe in some Christian circles it is taught that we cannot help but sin all of the time. While it is true that we stumble, the Bible separates this sin from the sin of gross misconduct. When we sin it should genuinely be a blindsiding event, not something we heartily give ourselves to, the Bible speaks against this kind of revelry. The Bible says that the wicked are the ones who enjoy sin and give hearty approval to others that do the same things. I have heard people say that some Christians have their "pet sins", and this should not be. If this is our mentality, don't think you should receive anything from the Lord in prayer! No wonder we come up with doctrines that say the gifts are not operable anymore! If we wouldn't grieve the Spirit and begin to fear the Lord again, I believe we will see things that will blow our minds! In the words of pastor Timothy Davis I quote, "The first miracle Jesus performed was He did not sin." Jesus is the one who said "Go and sin no more lest something worse befall you". Now those words of Jesus do not sound like a "sin everyday" attitude.

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to CLEANSE us from all unrighteousness". This verse in 1 John is not a verse in theory. Sometimes we look at Christ's sacrifice as "in theory" and not an active support against our battle with sin. This verse not only says He will forgive us our sins, but also that He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness! Ok, this is great! But now you may ask, "how do I actively confess?". The answer lies in 1 John 1:7, which says if WE WALK IN THE LIGHT AS HE IS IN THE LIGHT THEN...THEN...THEN...THEN! THE BLOOD OF JESUS CLEANSES US FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS! I put alot of emphasis on "THEN" on purpose. See we want it backwards sometimes, we want the feeling before we act, and Jesus commands different (see devotional, "But I Want You To Go First!"). This is a very insightful truth, you reap what you sow! Sow into the Spirit (walk in the light as He is in the light) and you will what? Reap eternal life! Sow into the flesh (retain "pet sins") and then what? You will reap corruption! See it can either be a beautiful helpful cycle, or it can be a vicious cycle that works against us, you will reap what you sow! Have you ever met someone that it just seems like everything is going peachy in their walk with Christ? That may not be an accident. The reason you are still struggling with the sin could be because you are not ceasing to sin and you are continually giving the devil a foothold, and the other person is not. You see, when we give Satan a foothold, that sin becomes harder and harder to overcome! Why? Because those that sow into the flesh will reap what? Corruption! Do you see this beautiful truth? What is everlasting life? To know the Father. Sin separates us from God correct? It fractures our relationship with Him! So if we want to reap eternal life a.k.a. reap knowing Him intimately now, we must begin to cease from sin! Now let's talk about the "How?"

2 Timothy 2:22 says, "Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart."
We have Paul telling Timothy to flee the lusts of the flesh and not only to flee but to pursue righteousness! Why? Again! Because he that sows unto the flesh will reap corruption (a worse struggle with their sin that will take them farther down) but he that sows to the Spirit (pursues righteousness, faith, charity, peace) will reap eternal life! And eternal life is what again? To intimately know the Father! So we need to pursue good Godly relationships, we need to be zealous for good works! We need to plug into our churches and give ourselves to the Lord Jesus' work! Build up don't tear down! When you purpose in your heart to genuinely please the Lord by ceasing to sin is when you will get the spiritual resource to actually begin stopping it.

Now what all of the previous acts do for us is enable us to get in the Spirit! Galatians 5:16 says, "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." See that! If you walk in the Spirit YOU WILL NOT FULFILL THE LUSTS OF THE FLESH! But why? (lol ;)) Because he that sows into the Spirit will reap what? Eternal life! The blood of Jesus to literally cleanse us from our immediate, present sin, not my sinfulness in theory! When we sow into the Spirit, the Spirit is not grieved and we receive all the resource we need to beat up on the enemy. (see devotional entitled "Rhema Resistance") But when we sow into the flesh or a.k.a. give Satan a foothold, now the sin has become stronger and greater and we begin to be deceived to the point where we believe it cannot be overcome. I want to tell you right now that that's a lie from the pit of hell to keep you from receiving what God has for you! I have heard people blame God for their sinful condition, and it is simply not true! Understand what I am about to say, please! Even when you begin to cease from sin, it could seem difficult at first. The reason being is found in the verse 2 Timothy 3:12, "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." That persecution is given by the enemy because the last thing he needs is another enlightened person making his job harder than it has to be. And also remember that we may have sown corruption for years, and at times, that harvest still must surface. Just as King David reaped the sword never leaving his home, so we can reap things here on earth that are flat out unpleasant. But do not, I repeat, DO NOT lose heart even when things do not seem right! Why? Because the Bible says in Galatians 6:9, "for in due time you will REAP A HARVEST IF YOU DO NOT GROW WEARY!"

Now for probably one of the most beautiful, glorifying verses of our PRECIOUS LORD AND SAVIOR! "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." Jude 1:24&25 Wonderful! We are not bound because our Savior is fully capable of keeping us from stumbling! When we appropriate His truths and abide in Him, we reap the spiritual resource to keep us from falling. Why? (I am drilling this because I need it as much as you brothers and sisters!) Because when we sow into the Spirit we reap knowing Him better, eternal life! But when we sow into the flesh, we reap a foothold from Satan, which translates to corruption. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." He has provided a way of escape everytime! Just make sure you do not go far enough in entertaining the sin that you make that verse to appear to be a lie, because it is not! If the Word of God is not working for us, it is not that it is powerless, it is that we are not appropriating it correctly! I hope this has been a blessing to you all! Jesus wants to present us with joy and blameless! Isn't our Savior so beautiful, He gave us the comforter so we would not be powerless! Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!
Sincerely, your fellow laborer
Chris Goff

Actions Are Louder Than My Mouth?

2009-08-28T06:43:00.000-07:00

But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 24:48-51

"And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief." Hebrews 3:18&19

"Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works." James 2:18

Remember the adage, "Actions speak louder than words"? I think at some point we have all heard this phrase. How many of us actually believe this to be true though? It appears the Bible harmonizes with this phrase, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it was derived from the Biblical stance on this topic. This is a very important issue! If what the Bible says is right, there is nothing more important than allowing the Holy Spirit to sanctify me, so within me is produced genuine, heart-felt action, which translates into perseverance! Let's take a look at what it appears God is saying through these verses.

The context of the first verse above is the disciples coming to Jesus, and asking Him what the signs of the end times would be. Now it is important to note that the audience was the disciples. Now notice in this parable that it begins with, "if that evil servant shall say in HIS HEART, "My lord delayeth His coming". Now notice with me a few things, first, the wicked servant acknowledges his lord and says he is delaying in coming. Second, it says he said all of this in his heart. Now after he said this in his heart, the word proceeds to explain what the manifestation's of his heart were, "And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken".
Note a few things...this servant believed his lord commissioned him, he believed he was the servant of his master, in fact, even Jesus acknowledges this in calling him "a wicked SERVANT". This servant clearly had a depth of knowledge of his master, it doesn't say the servant barely knew him. And also, notice Jesus did not say he was a false servant, or not really a servant, Jesus acknowledged him not only as a servant, but a WICKED SERVANT.

Now let's take a look at what the servant said in his heart. This is a very sobering thought, the word does not say the servant said out of his mouth "My Master delays His coming" it says he said this in his heart. Now we see this servants actions really did speak louder than words. You see, when we sin and give place to the devil, we are saying IN OUR HEARTS, "OUR MASTER DELAYETH HIS COMING" or more commonly, "He'll forgive me, His grace is sufficient!". We may not say this out loud, why? Because we know the Bible answers to things, we know better than to let on to someone what we are feeling! Our hearts say it all, and the manifestation of our hearts are found in our actions.

Now for the last part of this verse. "The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth". Notice Jesus says "the lord of that servant will come on a day when he looketh not for him". So what this tell me is that in order to stay "awake" spiritually and to be watchful, is to be active and fervent in my love for Him and His people, a.k.a. persevere unto the end. Some of you may think that in order to reach someone, you have to go do what they do even if it is sinful, and this couldn't be farther from the truth. It is Satanic deceit! Think of the cleverness, it is actually the opposite of love! If they come to Christ with false pretenses you could have done more harm than good. If you get drunk (as this wicked servant did or anything else ungodly) in front of people, using this as an excuse to win people, something is seriously wrong in your heart and you need to turn your laughter into mourning and your joy to gloom (See devotional entitled, "Joy and Gloom"). I used to do this, I would preach when I was drunk because I used to think that I was saved and perfectly fine. But if my Master would have came...oh my goodness, I am so thankful that God chose to grant me repentance from all of those terrible acts of hate. People need to see a breath of fresh air, they need to see people take stands in love and the Spirits power, not folding to the enemies terms! They want to see that being saved goes beyond theory and theological debate and see that it is actually more than powerful enough to change their mess of a life! Remember, in the last days people will have a form of godliness but WILL DENY THE POWER THEREOF (2 Timothy 3:5)! I didn't write that folks, it's in the Bible. Are we getting tired of having a form of godliness, but denying its power by how we live?! Why would we get to participate in the great coming of the Lord if we are not living lives conducive to leading other people to Him?

Lastly, in Hebrews 3:18&19 it reads, "And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief". The context is the exodus out of Egypt. What is scary here is that this further illustrates the point made in Jesus' parable. Remember how the wicked servants actions is how he "said things" in his heart? He said in his heart that his master was delaying in coming. In this passage of scripture it correlates disobedience with unbelief. See, it says, "but to those who were DISOBEDIENT? SO WE SEE THAT THEY WERE NOT ABLE TO ENTER BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF". Remember, this group of people saw God's mighty hand redeeming them, and they still chose to TEST HIM. Just as we, the people of God, have been bought with a price, we have seen His magnificent power, and to deny it by how we live our lives is to be unbelieving. Why do you think Paul would say we have these wonderful promises if WE CONTINUE IN THE FAITH! The author of Hebrews says "While we have a promise of entering His rest, see that none of you come short of it." I know there is a belief in "perseverance of the true saints", well make sure you are the elect by fearing God! Make your calling and election SURE! Don't assume you stand lest you fall! Constantly be aware and fight!

In my opinion, that I believe to be Biblically founded, there are two types of belief. One type, is just to merely believe Jesus is the Christ without a change of action or conduct (i.e. no repentance). But we must remember repentance is a prerequisite for the forgiveness of sins. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder (James 2). James 2:19&20 "You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?"

The second type of belief is an active belief, its a God-fearing belief manifested in my actions and how I treat other people. APPROPRIATION! "Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works."

Brothers and Sisters, I am not writing this to be hateful. It may seem like I hammer alot on this concept of works apart from faith is dead, and this is because of the tempo of our Christian culture. People are tired of hearing a gospel preached without the change. Jesus said narrow (straight) is the gate and narrow is the way and few thereof that find it. What that verse tells me is that there are alot more deceived people than there are not. There will be many in that day that says LORD! Haven't we served you and done great works for You? And Jesus will say to them "Depart from me you worker of iniquity, I never intimately knew you!" No matter how many times you preach Him to someone, or how many praise songs you sing, or how many times you have "prayed the prayer", if you are a worker of lawlessness, you will not be ok. See, if we are constant workers of iniquity we will not be participating in that day. Now people can say, "But I prayed the prayer, I believe in eternal security!" This is not meant to debate eternal security, but if you think about it, both parties kind of believe the same thing. The Calvinists (people who believe in eternal security) say if a person lives in a wicked manner, they need to question whether they were truly born again. So both parties agree that BY WHAT A PERSONS CONDUCT LOOKS LIKE determines whether they are o.k. or not, so the end result is the same for the one who believes in eternal security and the one that does not. The end result is the same, just the mechanics on being in that state are where we differ. Let's not lose heart in doing what is right! For in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not lose heart and grow weary! Keep fighting your sin, He will never leave you or forsake you! He has not allowed a temptation beyond bear! Love you all!

But I Want You To Go First!

2009-08-24T08:39:00.000-07:00

"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded." James 4:8

"Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work". 2 Timothy 2:20&21

Draw nigh unto God, a rule I think we many times forget! Since God has already done His part for us on calvary through Jesus Christ, we now have a responsibility of responding to Him. I think this is what God wants us to learn through James. I believe God is saying, "I have already provided the resource for you, now appropriate that resource!" And my premise for this is found in 2 Timothy 2:20&21, "Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work". Notice it says to CLEANSE YOURSELF! But wait Chris, I thought only Jesus could cleanse you? You are 100% right, but what Paul is saying is we need to appropriate the tools already provided for us to get clean! Notice also in the above verse that James says, "cleanse your hands sinners, purify your hearts you double-minded", we are going to cover why it is so important to draw nigh unto God in the following paragraphs. He initialized by revealing certain things to us, it is now up to us to appropriate these truths!

Now I believe there are a few ways to draw nigh unto Him. The obvious way is through genuine, earnest, quieted-heart prayer. In fact, this is the foundation of drawing nigh unto Him. Understand this everyone, if your prayer life is suffering your sin is increasing, your heart is getting cold, things seem impossible to overcome because more doors are open to the enemy than to God (See the devotion titled "He's Knocking"). So we want the predominate "voice" in our lives to be God's and not Satan's, put on the whole armor of God...remember? If we put on our armor (Ephesians 6:11), drawing nigh unto God, then when the fiery darts of Satan hit, they are quenched! (his fiery darts are his lies leading our hearts astray).

Second is staying in the Word. This is very important as well, as God's Word is literally the key to understanding anything and everything of true value. Some of us tend to elevate this more than prayer, understand though that the new testament church didn't have all of this documentation compiled yet. In fact, through Paul and the other apostles remaining in prayer and abiding in Jesus, resulted in these revealed texts. Don't hear me wrong, reading God's Word is crucial to your walk, but the main vehicle that propels you deeper with Him is through a healthy prayer life,in fact, prayer is what makes His Word come alive even more because He is now giving you direct revelation! Think about this with me. If we are friends, and all I do is read letters all the time and hardly ever speak with you, is our relationship going to go too far? Unfortunately not. The letters I read from you are still relevant, but they just aren't quite the same as when I am consciously with you. So I am not dumbing down the importance of the revealed Word of God, but I am explaining why I believe if I had to pick a "second" this would be it.

Now when we combine these two "drawing nigh" tactics, and add appropriation (walking the walk and not just talking the talk), this is equal to what the Jesus called "abiding in Him". John 15:9 says, "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love". Now when we do things in obedience to Him, we are "drawing nigh unto Him". And what did He say He would do if we draw nigh unto Him? The answer is that He will draw nigh unto us! I am so thankful for His revealed Word! This is amazing truth that makes our faith a live and active one! I hear so much theological talk about being saved seemingly in theory and not relationally, and unfortunately we have made a relationship with God into more of a religion, because we love to talk about the Word, but when it comes to applying...ahhh, thats for people in full time ministry. And this brothers and sisters could not be farther from the truth. We all have a race to run, let's do it with endurance! God wants all of us to view ourselves in "full-time ministry". LETS ABIDE IN HIM!

Now sometimes we don't feel like doing certain things (i.e. prayer and Bible reading). Remember this truth though, THE FEELING TO DO SOMETHING WILL NOT NECESSARILY COME BEFORE THE APPROPRIATION. I separate desire from feeling. For instance, the battle between the flesh and the Spirit is very real, right? You DESIRE to walk in the Spirit but you FEEL like walking in the flesh. CRUCIFYING THE FLESH IS GETTING IN THE SPIRIT, GETTING IN THE SPIRIT ENSURES YOU WILL NOT REBEL, BEING IN THE SPIRIT AND NOT REBELLING LEADS TO DRAWING NIGH UNTO GOD! Thats why the Bible says not to quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19), because when we do that we have sinned and lost the alerting capabilities (momentarily) of the Spirit because He is quenched, and when we sin we give Satan a foothold(Neither give place to the devil. Ephesians 4:27), and after he has a foothold he begins to deceive. When we quench the Spirit's "voice" we are now wrestling with an opposing voice that we have given strength to by submitting to sin. Thats why Hebrews 3:12&13 says, "Be careful, brothers and sisters, that none of you ever develop a wicked, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. Encourage each other every day while you have the opportunity. If you do this, none of you will be deceived by sin and become stubborn." The reason we begin to get deceived, is because we gave Satan a foothold and he is now advancing his lies, and they penetrate effectively if we are quenching the Spirit! Don't put your armor on and then take it off! Satan's darts hurt!

Now for the implementaion (appropriation). If I want to plant a seed so I can enjoy the future benefits, I must get the shovel out and plant it. Now my desire is for the fruit the action of planting produces, but I may not feel like planting the seed. Now I fully believe, when we act on our true desire to draw closer to Him even when we don't feel like it, our feelings begin to change. That's called discipline! Discipleship! For instance, God showed me a while back that when my wife and I begin to get upset with each other, to grab her hand (no matter how hard it is in the moment) and tell her "I love you". You would be surprised at the instant relief and healing that begins to happen! See all of these principles tie into reaping and sowing, so the basic premise is still the same, if I initiate based on the desire of my heart I will reap God drawing nigh unto me! The Holy Spirit has put that desire in your heart to seek God! Even if it is faint, tap into it, stoke it as you would the burning coals of a fire and run again! Cleanse your hands! Purify your hearts! But how? Draw nigh unto God, and He will draw nigh unto you! If you have told God, "If you will do something, then I will start praying and reading", or a question of this sort, then you could be waiting a long time. Let's be a people that takes Him at His Word!

The "For It Is Written's"

2009-08-20T20:46:00.000-07:00

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6"If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written:
" 'He will command his angels concerning you,
and they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone."
Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test
Matthew 4:5-7

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15

Here we have Satan quoting Psalm 91:12&13 to Jesus. Isn't it so interesting that Satan uses the very Word of God that he so hates. To his shame, it shows that he knows it is true, and he just refuses to adhere to it. But aside from that, I think there is a very important principle that Jesus wants to show us here. Notice Jesus comes back at him with a spiritual truth found in Deuteronomy 6:16, which states, "Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah." See, Satan was twisting this scripture to interpret it how he wanted, to fulfill his agenda in that moment. But Jesus, being the clever Lord that He is, came back with this wonderful spiritual truth. Satan was not saying anything wrong, he was quoting scripture! But what made this scenario wrong, is how the enemy was trying to get Jesus to implement this spiritual truth. See, God's truth does not contradict because it is perfect, so if we believe something that clearly contradicts other portions of scripture it's back to the drawing board. So what is the application of all this? We need to be a people that correctly divides the whole of scripture, but first, we need to know what it says so we can use scripture (spiritual truth) to interpret other scripture (spiritual truth).

There are so many false doctrines out there today. And the way these false doctrines start, is by taking a verse (or maybe even an entire section of the Bible) out of context of the whole of scripture (being the Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation). So many times I have heard people say, "What's the context? What was the person doing in the moment?" And this is wonderful! We need to be thinking that way! But does our conclusion of that context match the context of the whole of scripture? How often do we hear ourselves say, "My mind is taking this verse one way because of what I feel the surrounding context is saying, but does my conclusion harmonize with the whole context of the Bible where this topic is covered in other parts?" I think we need to think like this more than we do.

For instance, Paul says in Ephesians 2:8&9,"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." says it's not of works right? Paul also says in Romans 5:20, "Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:". Now, I could be like the Nicolaitans (Revelation 26), and look at this truth alone and say to myself, "I must be at liberty to do whatever I want, given that Jesus died for all of my sins. This will not be held against me." But now, let's look at what Paul also says in Acts 26:20, "But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance." WORKS! Works meet for repentance! AHHH, some of your heads are about to come off! So now what?!?! Now that I have taken another element of scripture, everything changes! And let's look at James 2:24, "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." So now it all makes sense, Paul was saying that works of the law and "living good lives" in our own estimation didn't earn us salvation, but the WORKS OF REPENTANCE (works meet for repentance) enabled us to receive the free gift. Remember, there are "acts conducive towards repentance". Live your life before the Lord in such a way that proves you are contrite and sorry for your sin! ABIDE IN HIM!!! STOP SINNING!!! GO AND SIN NO MORE!!! GO AND SIN NO MORE LEST SOMETHING WORSE BEFALLS YOU!!! (All words of Jesus throughout the gospels) Why would He tell them not to sin no more? He didn't send the comforter (Holy Spirit) yet did He? The answer is no, so Jesus would not tell you to do something if it were not possible. Repentance has always been possible (God would command it in the Old Testament), but what wasn't possible, is that even though they chose to repent, there was still nothing they could do about the damage in life they had already done by being born in sin! Someone must pay! But who?! No one can stand for what they have done! We need a big eraser so God doesn't punish us! ENTER THE BEAUTIFUL SACRIFICE OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR! THANK YOU JESUS!! APPRECIATE HIM! LOVE HIM! (see the devotional, "I'm Not Guilty...Am I?")

You see, in the previous paragraph, their action of ceasing to sin, proved their genuine repentance. It cultivated the ground to receive the free gift! So now, how do I prove the previous statement you may ask? By using other scripture to interpret truth, and the scripture is found in Acts 10:34&35,"Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. Well there is that WORKETH RIGHTEOUSNESS/ WORKS MEET FOR REPENTANCE part again! But now James 2:14 makes so much sense! "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?" Faith without ceasing from sin (action/works) and chasing God (action/works) is DEAD!! I wonder what we could figure out if we did all of these complex "theological issues" this way! Are we beginning to understand why it is a grave mistake to isolate certain scriptures and formulate our own opinions on what they mean? We are all still in the growing process! Thank goodness for His grace to get through!

A wise man once told me, "Some people are students of doctrine, but we need to be students of scripture." Remember the mindset of the Nicolaitans mentioned in the last paragraph? This is what our Lord says about them in Revelation 2:6, "But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate" He hated that perversion of scripture! Just as He hated Satan's perversion of the scripture's above from Psalm 91:12&13. Satan knew an element of scripture, but willfully twisted it. And I understand that alot of people do not mean to "twist scripture", but the principle still remains, and that principle is, we need to know the "for it is written's". Because if we don't know the "for it is written's", and are not interpretting them properly, we could be robbing ourselves of immense spiritual blessings, and possibly something worse! You see, Satan was speaking a spiritual truth, but Jesus understood the importance of "using scripture to interpret scripture". We see how we can appear to be so on target with a verse of scripture, but then be so off in its application in light of the whole of scripture. Let's be a people that not only reads the Bible, but labors before the Lord in prayer, striving to understand how it all works together. Remember, if you do these things, this promise in 1 John 2:27 is yours, which states, "But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." He is committed to teach us all things if we abide in Him and draw nigh unto Him! SET OUR HEARTS TO UNDERSTAND! QUIET OURSELVES BEFORE THE LORD! James 4:8 "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded." I think the point is more than elaborated, let's strive to become familiar with the "For It Is Written's!" None of us have it all together, but we all play a part in learning and growing! Love you all!

Flee And Pursue!

2009-08-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

"Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart."
2 Timothy 2:22

"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." Galatians 5:16

Flee! Avoid! That is very hard in these increasingly sinful days. With T.V., the internet, increasing lawlessness in our countries leadership, its a wonder anyone can stand! Thanks be to the grace of Christ! The truth He reveals, when applied, has the ability to set us free! So what are some key truths in these passages of scripture? Let's talk about what I feel the Lord is trying to say to us.

In this reference, Paul is telling Timothy to flee youthful lusts. I think we as believers, sometimes in our minds, stop the verse there. Interestingly enough though it doesn't stop there! Not only does Paul say to flee, he also says to PURSUE! When it seems like sin is increasingly difficult to quit, I would say 10 times out of 10 we are not PURSUING! He says to pursue what? "but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart." Righteousness! Faith! Charity! Peace! With all of the true saints. But why? Because these "Pursuing acts" get us in the Spirit. You see we are not of a lazy faith, but a faith that says "faith without actions is dead". Meaning, some people errantly say, "If God takes away the desire for this (being sin), then I will quit" But on the contrary, He has revealed what you are to do in His word. He has already blessed you with the DESIRE to quit, now appropriate that desire! People underestimate the power of the Spirit when we take steps towards Him. God said in James 4:8 "Draw nigh unto Me, and I will draw nigh unto you". Some people have it backwards, they want God to take it away from them without any discipleship (discipline) on their end. We are in training for eternity Brothers and Sisters!! Let's pray for, and encourage one another to not only flee these things BUT TO PURSUE WALKING IN THE SPIRIT AS WELL. Now let's talk about walking in the Spirit.

Thanks to a Pastor by the name of Timothy Davis, God revealed to me that our flesh and spirit has the ability to flip-flop. I believe the mark of a mature saint is mastering this "art" of walking in the Spirit, and denying our flesh. Notice in the above verse it says, "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." Galatians 5:16. Awesome! Notice it says, that if I walk in the Spirit, I WILL NOT FULFILL THE DESIRES OF MY FLESH! That is so awesome! It doesn't say, "You might not fulfill the desires of the flesh" or, "You probably won't fulfill the desires of the flesh." It says, "IF YOU WALK IN THE SPIRIT YOU WILL NOT FULFILL THE DESIRE OF THE FLESH!" Isn't our Lord awesome! This reminds me of the verse ! Corinthians 10:13 which says, 13There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. And the way of escape is fleeing and pursuing. If you just have the first part of this equation, you will fall everytime. PURSUE WALKING IN THE SPIRIT! Draw close to Him! He loves you! Also, use your spiritual weapons against the enemy! (See the devotion, "Rhema Resistance" on the left side of the web page)

Your Will Be Done

2009-08-14T20:06:00.000-07:00

"Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt." Matthew 26:38 & 39

Our Lord and Savior anguishing before the Father, moments before the guards come for Him. I think it is so amazing to see the picture of our Lord's conquering in action. Do you know what the true definition of a conqueror is? One that obeys the Father, even unto death. Walk with me real quick, there are a few things I want to mention about this passage of scripture.

I used to have this big misconception about our Lord. I figured since He is God in the flesh, this task wasn't really that hard for Him. I may have not come right out and said it, but I think I felt it. I mean come on, He's God, no? I knew about this passage of scripture, but I guess the thought that He was Almighty trumped any belief that this was actually hard for Him. But guess what... I was sadly mistaken. Hebrews 5:8 says, "Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;" So we see here that our God did not pull any punches with Himself. He knows what it is like to be in the flesh, thats why it says in Hebrews 4:15, "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." He sympathizes with us! He loves us so much, that He wasn't about to give Himself the easy road out!

The end result of the Lord revealing this to me was me repenting. How are your affections towards our Saviors sacrifice? I know we are not to base everything on feeling, but do not underestimate the power of feeling about Jesus the way the Father does. Why are we more than conquerors? Because He CONQUERED! HE OVERCAME! It was not easy, please, if there is something inside of you, as there was me, that kind of waters down what He did, repent for it and pray to God that He allows you to feel about Jesus how He feels. Anytime we feel our love growing cold for Him, stoke the fire again through prayer!

Another thing the Lord revealed to me through this was what I am authorized to pray for. I didn't know what was ok and what wasn't. I would wonder if He was even concerned with certain things I prayed for, given that it may not have been His will. And while I had this question on my heart, God brought to my mind this passage of Jesus in the garden. Notice, Jesus prays His will at first. Jesus was hoping for another way to get this job accomplished, but notice He filtered it with "not My will but Your will be done". So now, I do not question certain things I pray, I just say to the Lord "not my will but Your's be done". And remember this is within reason, I mean, God does not advocate anything I pray that would be considered sin. This is illustrated in James 4:3, "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." And Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart." God desires to grant the desires of our heart, but He does not desire furthering our sinful behavior.

So pray over your issues with faith and fervor, it is ok. Just understand that God loves it when our hearts our genuinely geared towards His will being done, no matter what that means for us. There is something about asking the Father, even though He knows our needs. James 4:2 says, "Ye have not because ye ask not." So ask!

Let's continue walking in the beautiful example Jesus Christ has laid out for us. Remember, it's ok to make mention of your will and desires (as long as it is not advocating sin) but just filter it through the words "not my will, but Your will be done."

Spiritual Authority.

2009-08-13T06:51:00.000-07:00

Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. Hebrews 13:17

1 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. 2 "Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?" they asked. "Hasn't he also spoken through us?" And the LORD heard this.
3 (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)4 At once the LORD said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, "Come out to the Tent of Meeting, all three of you." So the three of them came out. 5 Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them stepped forward, 6 he said, "Listen to my words:"When a prophet of the LORD is among you,I reveal myself to him in visions,I speak to him in dreams.7 But this is not true of my servant Moses he is faithful in all my house.
8 With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"
9 The anger of the LORD burned against them, and he left them.
10 When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam—leprous, [a] like snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy; 11 and he said to Moses, "Please, my lord, do not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. 12 Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother's womb with its flesh half eaten away." Numbers 12:1-10

These are some sobering verses of scripture! We have here, Moses' siblings backbiting against their brother, and all he is trying to do is hear from the Lord. Man! That would make me feel miserable, wouldn't it you? Have you ever been there? You do something with such fervor and sincerity of heart just to have someone malign and disrespect you? God has established order in the body of Christ. It is not a matter of one job being more important than the other, it is a matter of roles. Remember the Words the Holy Spirit spoke through Paul, "Can the hands say to the feet I have no need of you?" and the answer is of course not! Everyones job is so important in Christ, but some jobs come with more authority than others. And if it is going to be well with my soul, I am going to have to submit (come under the protection of)to their authority. You see God has an established order so things run smoothly and not chaotic.

So why do we need to respect the established authority? Because we see how He feels about that in how He handled Miriam. We see here that Miriam is given leprosy by the Lord because of her attitude towards the established authority. This is some very scary insight as to how God feels when we gossip about our leaders, specifically our pastors. Moses was sort of an "old testament pastor" if you will, so I believe this story correlates with pastors and their churches today. Notice the above verse, that pastors are the shepherds of the soul, so if I make their job more difficult than it has to be because of my own pride, I will face an unfortunate penalty. It doesn't always come in the form of physical infirmity, no, it could come in the form of my finances, relationships, lack of spiritual growth, etc. Some of us could be facing these types of "curses" and the reason could be because of what we are allowing ourselves to say.

Now what am I saying, that you have to agree with everything your spiritual head says? No, I am not saying that at all and if they were bringing tyranny instead of growth we handle that differently and we need to read scripture for ourselves. But we are talking about an imperfect person that genuinely loves the Lord, responded to this call that James says incurs a "greater judgement", and is trying to lead people in the things of God. When we go home and talk behind their backs that is called gossip. And we see with how Miriam was handled, that God hates when we buck against spiritual authority because we are, in essence, bucking Him. The only Biblical clause for disobeying your authority, whether it be political or spiritual is if they try to get you to rebel against your faith. You see, this authority principle has its limits. For instance, Moses bucked Pharaoh because what he was doing to the people of God was horrific. So I am not saying we are to tolerate tyranny, I am saying, however, that if you have a person in political and/or spiritual power, and they are not directly telling you to do something against the rule of God, than we are to obey them. Because to adhere to their authority is to adhere to God's established rule. Again, God takes personal offense to this violation, watch how you treat His servants! See, our pastors and spiritual heads are going to give an account on how they handled our precious souls. If you make that extremely hard position even harder by the words of your mouth, I tremble for you at the final day. Let's pray for each other, that we are a fair and reasonable people!

Whatever Happened To "Theory of" ?

2009-08-11T21:25:00.000-07:00

Hey all, I wrote this in response to a few people that were elevating evolutionary logic over the knowledge of God. I pray it is received in love (if it is ever looked at, I think I was kind of late with my post on that particular board). So anyways, I figured some things were mentioned that might help someone out there, enjoy :)

Given there are supposedly "no absolutes" in life, could it be that science has evolved? It takes faith to believe that the same foundations that we call science today, was the same used millions and billions of years ago. How do we know we are getting correct information when we extrapolate backwards? We are assuming that it was the same, no? Because I have to use the word "assume", suggests the presence of faith. I propose this because I have been asked to prove God, and to show people He exists. My respectful counter question would be this, could you prove to me that the same science used to measure today, was the same science used billions of years ago? I know this sounds ridiculous, but I feel it is a fair question in light of questions asked of us (Christians) even though I don't believe my question to be fair in nature as the opposing question is not fair either.

The only goal of this post is to get people to see that faith is required for everything whether you feel it’s 10%, 5%, 90%, etc. That’s why we as a finite people are dependent on revelation. You as a human being can only go so far until you start having faith in the methods by which you drew your conclusions. You can never say evolution is fact because the science we use today could be an evolved science that is totally throwing us off. Why? Because you and I weren't there. So in the end, people CHOOSE what they want to believe based upon the PROBABILITY of those things being accurate. But again, I am using the word probability, which everyone has to use, and it would take faith to believe in the probability of something, because probability is not certainty. Atheist and believer alike utilize faith in both of their practices.

Now I believe only the humble, in the end, will know and understand because, aside from revelation, there are some things that just cannot be known, no matter how bad we want to "figure them out". The Bible says without faith it is impossible to please Him (Him being God). And another "spiritual law", if you will, is, He resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble. Which is to say, He will make sure if we rise up against His revelation that we do not see because what is more prideful than a created being looking at the one who created them and saying (with their actions), "You're a liar, I know the truth and it doesn't involve You". It is a scary reality but it happens all of the time. There are people out there that are more interested in being right and looked up to, than they are in knowing truth. I am not pinpointing anyone on this board specifically, I just mean in general. That’s why I believe in a supernatural blindness. In my opinion that’s why Jesus would use the phrase "he that has ears to hear and eyes to see". I personally believe he was saying... "This is for the humble who are the only ones whose "spiritual ears" are allowed open, and this will purposefully make no sense to the proud". For instance, to me, it is very crazy to not at least believe a living being created the processes, given that to believe otherwise violates science as we know it right now. But for some reason, something that appears to not take much thought at all, someone else has a severe issue with it. For some reason we want to apply science as an axiom for some things, but when that same science suggests a designer (because life creates other life, its a principle you have to force yourself to ignore if you are one that ignores it), we want to say "Ah.. yeah about that, that scientific law only applies when it is convenient, and when it’s not, we have other explanations (i.e. theories)”. It’s like having a square in your hand trying to fit it in a slot shaped like a circle, if it doesn't fit, get some tools, trim the square down and make it fit. And unfortunately, once you change such an important premise as life birthing other life, it lends itself to even more false assumptions later on down the road that we eventually receive as a logical conclusion. But if your foundations are wrong, your conclusion will always be wrong.

There are people that do not want to know Him, and there are people that do. So this all tells me, either I am blind, or the one who alleges there is no God is blind. The people that genuinely desire to know Him will find Him because He will reveal Himself to them. But again there are people who are more interested in being right than worshipping their Creator. Here is a reference to illustrate what I am saying, its found in Romans 1:19-32,

19Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

20For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

21Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

22Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

23And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

24Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

25Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

26For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

27And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

28And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

29Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

30Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,

31Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

32Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

I appreciate all of the posts, but for any of us to say we are intelligent and we know things without having a degree of faith, we are lying to ourselves a bit, given the vastness of the universe in comparison with our small brains. In conclusion, we are dependent on revelation and our observation of that revelation.

I think this study (see below) shows the science behind the spiritual principle I am illustrating. When we try to see things ourselves, they will fall into place, but when we exercise faith we can cause a change in events if you will, enjoy everyone! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfPeprQ7oGc

And remember, I am not saying I believe science has evolved, because I do not place my faith in evolutionary concepts. I just proposed the question to get the people that say it is fact to start using the word theory again... at the end of the day it takes faith. Given they both take faith, I am choosing a God revealed in scripture that loves me and has adequate probability of existing. And once I appropriated that (genuinely, not religiously) I have seen spiritual things that would blow your mind. The awesome thing about God is, when you begin to set your heart to truly understand, He will draw close to you and you will find Him. Praise Jesus!

I hope I haven't offended, I have a love for people inside that I have not always had. I have a blog geared towards understanding scripture better, if you want to visit it, I would be more than happy :) I hope it blesses you!
http://www.HisDevotion.com

I'm Not Guilty...Am I?

2009-08-09T00:26:00.000-07:00

But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. Matthew 5:28

Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. 1 John 3:15

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee Proverbs 23:7

Lusting constitutes adultery? Hating constitutes murdering? I don't know about everyone else, but this seems like pretty harsh labels considering I am not actually physically doing them. Maybe in the heart, but not in action. I mean who has not done any of that? I can understand that to hate and lust are wrong, but to treat me as a murderer and adulterer, shouldn't I be offended about that? That seems to offend people and the reason I think it does is because of a lack of understanding. Let's see if we cannot make any sense out of why these verses say what they do.

One day I began contimplating why we are given such harsh titles in light of how we feel. I can understand if I actually killed someone I would need to pay for that, but hating isn't killing. As goes the same with adultery. As I was thinking about this concept, I feel the Lord gave me the answer. And the premise for this answer is found in the above verse in Proverbs. "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he". Ok, so now we understand that, lets think about the why.

Have you ever been so mad at somebody, or burned with such lust over someone, that if it were not for the consequences of the actions you would follow through with them?
Maybe it was the thought of stealing something from the store, but then you were detered because you didn't want to go to jail. Maybe you despised someone so much that you didn't care if they lived or died, in fact, you would have preferred the latter and maybe even wanted to harm them yourself. Maybe you are married, and you have allowed your heart to entertain thoughts of another but would never follow through because of the consequences. Ok, now remove the consequences, let's pretend they do not exist, now what would you do? I believe we would follow through with them if we have not allowed the Holy Spirit to change us! Ah the flesh unrestrained is a scary thing. And this is the answer to why we are considered a murderer and adulterer to God (apart from repentance and heart-felt change through discipleship), because it was in my heart to do it. Because if there was no foreseen consequences you would do it! Therefore to God, you have done it because you performed it in your heart! You see, your heart defines who you are! That is why it is so important to allow the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ to change our hearts. You see, to God I committed adultery and I murdered because He knows if there were no civil and/or family consequences to those actions, that I would have done them anyways, therefore I am guilty of committing them.

Never forget, the real you is the "heart" you. Not the masks that we put on in front of other people - but the real us. Some parts of our personalities we would never let show to other people because we would be afraid of the reprecussions. But make no mistake, whatever is in your heart is YOU.

Now in light of all this, will I really have confidence in front of an all-knowing God one-day? I know personally I wouldn't, but God allowed something to happen. The most beautiful love story happened over 2000 years ago. Love Him or hate Him, it is well known why He died - and that was for people like us. See God demands a penalty for breaking His law. It is arrogant of me to think I can actually live a good enough life and earn His forgiveness. The only sorry God will accept is trust in His Son Jesus Christ and turning to Him, saying "I know I cannot clean myself up. I need you to forgive me God not because I deserve it, but because Jesus paid my due penalty".

He became sin who knew no sin, so that we could be masked inside of Him. Now when God looks at Chris Goff, the old Chris is not seen - the precious blood of Jesus is what is seen and through His Spirit He is continuing to work on my heart.

I want to please God because I love what He has done for me through Jesus Christ - not to work for my salvation because I can't. I am a spiritual cripple unable to do a thing to please such a great God unless He comes to me. His mercy and love has granted me a restored relationship with Himself - not based on fear but on His love expressed through Jesus' sacrifice. Sin had to be paid for, its the law of life. Jesus redirected this law upon Himself, and will take what you have done as well if you give yourself to Him.

I thought I grew up a pretty good person, and at the end of the day did not think of myself as a bad guy. So with that said, why did I need Jesus anyways? It really was not an active question in my life, but a natural, underlying one, given my misunderstanding of my condition. And the answer to this was because, in God's eyes, I had done so much evil in my heart, and remember, whatever is in our hearts is who we are. Our hearts define our character, and thankfully God made our hearts an easy thing to evaluate in light of His Word. If those things are still in our hearts, we need to repent, bind, rebuke, consecrate, crucify our flesh - drawing near to Jesus until our hearts see things as our beautiful Jesus sees them!

When I understood this truth, I had no more legs to stand on, I wasn't a good person! I think I used to be naturally unappreciative of Jesus' work on my behalf because I never did anything that bad (in my estimation). Once I realized this scary truth though, Jesus Christ became all the more relevant and appreciated. I did need Him, because my heart before the Lord needed and needs to be cleansed!

Maybe you have struggled with appreciation for His sacrifice and don't think you were forgiven for much. Trust me though, YOU WERE! Thank You so much Jesus for what You have provided!

For those of us hidden in His sacrifice, I hope the Lord uses this to deal with any unrepentant or just plain old unappreciative attitude in all of our lives! For those who have not had the benefit of knowing Him, if you feel that need deep within yourself - respond to it. The Bible makes clear this is a moment that God is granting you repentance because all of a sudden you know He is real and you know He died for you. God is drawing you to Himself - just let go control of your life and give it to Him, you will not regret it. Don't pass this moment off as unreal - it is very real. If you are not having that moment yet - continue to seek Him out. God says in scripture, "You will seek me and you will find Me, when I see that you are truly seeking me with your whole heart.

With love brothers and sisters,and future brothers and sisters :)
Chris Goff

P.S. I would love to talk with you if you are interested in hearing more. Do not be shy or afraid, its not worth going through life uncertain.

Not Forsaken!

2009-08-06T21:10:00.000-07:00

"About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "ELI, ELI, LAMA SABACHTHANI?" that is, "MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?" Matthew 27:46

"Oh precious Jesus, hanging on a tree. Oh precious Jesus, crucified for me. Oh precious Jesus the sufferings Thou hast taken. Oh precious Jesus were Thou art forsaken?"

Did Jesus feel forsaken at the cross? I believe it is possible that He could have, but I do not think He (being the Son of God) would actually have to ask why. So where does that leave us? Because it still says He asked why, right? But what about in the garden? The Word reads in John 18:4, "Jesus, knowing all that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, "Who is it you want? (in reference to the guards coming to take Him away to the trumped trial)" See! It said Jesus knowing ALL that was going to happen to Him, so I just cannot believe Jesus was blindsided by that "rejected feeling".

So where does that leave us? I believe He said it for the people around the cross (and for us). But why? Because Jesus is the most beautiful, magnificent, long suffering Master we have come to know and love! He was referencing Psalm 22! EVEN AS OUR SAVIOR WAS DYING HE STILL HAD THEIR SOULS ON HIS MIND! He was still being missional until His work was complete! Let me explain. You see, Psalm 22:1 reads, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? Now this Psalm continues to describe the situation all of the people around the cross were witnessing at that moment! Jesus wanted them to recall this reference that they all probably knew. It was a reference from King David, in prophesying what would happen to the Messiah.

FATHER FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO! Jesus wasn't just saying that to look good, He showed how much He desired them to come to Him despite what they were doing by referencing this Psalm. Oh PRECIOUS SAVIOR, listen everyone, HE IS MAGNIFICENT, HE IS WONDERFUL, HE IS BEAUTIFUL, oh please Spirit of God let your people feel the passion of this! Is your spirit jumping yet?

Let's take a look at the highlights of Psalm 22. What was Jesus wanting them to see?

1My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?

6But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people.

7All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,

8He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.

12Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.

14I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.

15My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.

16For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

18They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.

24For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard.

26The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.

27All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.

28For the kingdom is the LORD's: and he is the governor among the nations.

31They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.

Wow! I hope that has set your heart in awe. You see, I understand that He became a curse for us and became sin for us, I believe that was part of what He wanted us to know by saying "why hast Thou forsaken me?". But I do not think Jesus was saying this to just display that, I think He was still accomplishing what His beautiful heart desired before He died, more souls to make His own. A "ONE MORE FOR THE LORD" mentality. An absolutely beautiful, loving, God who is worthy of all the adoration given to Him!

One last point on why I believe He was saying it for us (I mean, why else would He say it out loud?) And it is found in Luke 23:46 and it reads, "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost." So earlier He is "forsaken" and now He is telling God He is commending His spirit into His hands? I suppose it is possible, but I think Him still talking to the Father suggests He was just referencing Psalm 22 for us. I don't believe He really had that question on His heart. He knew all that was going to happen to Himself, He said it aloud out of complete love for who He wanted to be His..despite the pain, and the mockery, and the thirst, and feeling deserted by His own. I don't know about you, but that is a God worth serving, and cleaning up any sin that entangles out of reverence for Him! It is a reasonable service! If He could go through that suffering for us, AND STILL NOT BE THINKING ABOUT HIMSELF, I am not ashamed to call Him my God! My Lord and MY GOD! Please don't you be either.

You know something the Lord revealed to me earlier in my life? That not once, NOT ONCE in Jesus' life did He ever question the Father's love for Him. I mean if anyone had the right to, it would have been Him, no? I highly doubt any of us have went through the afflictions, physically and spiritually, that He had to. There are some people that blame God and wonder if God even loves them. Its because we have a skewed idea of what love is. Now I don't want to water down your pain at all, I weep with anyone who reads this and is abused or neglected and you contact me for prayer if thats you! But I think my brother Mike said it best with a quote he came up with (which I will revise slightly for the sake of the devotion) "Don't allow your outer circumstances to determine you knowing and believing God's love for you. I will sum up with something my wonderful pastor Rob Turner said "God is more interested in your growth than your comfort". So if the feeling or idea ever comes to your mind that God doesn't love you, rebuke it in the name of Jesus because it is the enemy. You fight, you are a warrior because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world! (Refer to the left of the screen and click July 09, find Rhema Resistance)

I love you brothers and sisters, may we live victorious lives, free in the love of the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belongs all glory, honor, and power forever and ever, AMEN!!
Make this your goal, to hear these Words "Well done thou good and faithful servant" Let us pray for each other so this becomes a reality!
Sincerely, Chris Goff

Fear The Lord?

2009-08-05T13:47:00.000-07:00

Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Phillipians 2:12

For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake. Hebrews 12:20&21

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28 (spoken to the disciples as He was sending them out)

Those are some heavy verses if you ask me! What is it with fearing God that Is so crucial? Hopefully we can adequately analyze this from these 3 verses.
I love it when scripture is used to interpret other scripture! Those above verses in conjunction with each other answer a lot of questions. God never ceases to amaze. I believe this “fear” topic is confusing to a lot of believers in light of the teaching of God’s wonderful grace, bestowed upon us through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How in the world can both love and fear be helpful in a believers life? A pastor by the name of John Bevere once said “If we are taught fear, fear, fear all the time we become legalistic (in the classical sense), if we are taught grace,grace,grace all the time, we tend to become lawless.” I don’t think I could agree with him more. Because of our fallen state we need to have both. When we have given into the enemy and sinned, we didn’t stop feeling our affections towards the Lord did we? And we didn’t think God stopped loving us did we? No, we were still aware of His great love! So what does this mean? It means we need another motivation, and that motivation is the “fear of the Lord”.

Let’s talk about the above verses. We see Paul telling the church to “work out your own salvation with FEAR AND TREMBLING” , and then the verse below that says “And so if as much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly FEAR AND QUAKE.” And then you have Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, telling His disciples to fear God “who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”. This is very sobering! See I have heard people say, “you are not supposed to be afraid of God”, and do not get me wrong, this is so true! But I feel it is not explained harmoniously with what WE ARE supposed to be afraid of, I feel it waters other scripture down if not adequately explained what is meant by that phrase. We are not supposed to go around always wondering if God is going to strike us dead . But we are, however, supposed to have a fear that is on the inside, looking out at sin and says, “I am absolutely terrified at how the Lord feels about that, and how He says He will deal with that if I do that and/or continue in it, and I am deeply afraid to ever even go there”. Just as Moses was “on the inside looking out” at the beast that touched the mountain and the beast was stoned for it, so we should “WORK OUT OUR SALVATION WITH FEAR AND QUAKING”. God is so wonderful in giving us a mental picture of what this phrase “fear and trembling” means.

So how do fear and love work? I like to think of it like this, God knowing how hard His wrath would be on the son’s of disobedience, sent His only Son, on a mission full of love, to save us from that wrath. In other words, fear draws us to love. What was the message again? You have a way of escape (love) from the wrath of God (fear), AND HIS WONDERFUL, PRECIOUS, MAGNIFICENT, HOLY, INCOMPRABLE NAME IS JESUS! And in other, other, Words, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes (puts their active faith) in Him shall not perish (fear) but have eternal life" (love)John 3:16. The fear of the true wrath of God propels us to the loving arms of Jesus. We love Him, because He first loved us (1 John 4:19), why? Because He showed His love for us in redeeming us from the wrath of God.

I hope brothers and sister that this was helpful. When God took me through this season of fear it was a hard pill to swallow. Used to, despite my love for Him, I would abuse His grace because of a misunderstanding of this topic. Please be careful with how you live your lives! God loves you so much, He has warned of His impending wrath upon disobedience. And not only warned, but provided a way of escape! Abide in HIM! Praise Jesus, we love Him, we love Him, we love Him!

Pastor Bevere told a story about a friend he had (or maybe even still has) that was an evangelist in another country. This man started out with pure motives, loving the Lord, but eventually fell into adultery and helping himself to some of God’s money. This man was put into prison in this country for this reason and pastor Bevere went to see him. “What happened to you brother?” Pastor Bevere asked, “When did you lose your love for the Lord?”. This humbled, repentant individual looked at him and said, “Lose my love? I never lost my love for Him, I lost my fear of Him.” Pastor Bevere said the Holy Spirit jumped all over that comment and revealed this truth to him in that moment. God used John Bevere to point this out to me, I hope I have successfully passed it on to you my brothers and sisters! With love, your fellow laborer, Chris Goff
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a GOOD UNDERSTANDING have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever. Psalm 111:10

Do Not Lose Focus!

2009-08-03T16:24:00.000-07:00

II think one of the biggest things that can de-rail us as believers is when legalism sets in. I do not think we realize that legalism goes two ways. In the classical sense, it is an act done merely out of religious obligation (faith in your action rather than faith that God hears you through your action). Now in the opposite sense it is when we feel we are perfectly ok spiritually because we prayed "the prayer" and we become complacent. The reason I think both of these examples are legalistic is because both are counting on something to save them (legally at the day of judgement) that have no power within themselves to do so. One thinks that because they are working hard they will be saved, putting their faith in those acts to save. The other person is being legalistic in the sense of counting on praying "the prayer" and then living however they want. Now I could see how a person could see the latter example as being "lazy" instead of "legalistic", however, I feel that legalism sets in when a person loses the truest meaning of why they do and/or have done something. I was in my car praying one day, and after I was finished this phrase shot through my head "legalism sets in when one loses the truest meaning of why they do something". I had to sit and think about this for a moment, because it just shot through my mind without me thinking about it. The more I thought about it, the more true it seemed to be. When one loses the meaning of why they came to Jesus, and they display that through their actions of disobedience, or counting on their actions performed without faith, they have become legalistic. The reason I believe they have is because they are counting on that prayer to save them in "Jesus' court of judgement" without active faith. Once the faith behind our actions cease, and/or we prayed the prayer and are not acting at all, we fall into a dangerous spiritual state. For instance, when I pray for 'times sake' instead of 'contents sake', that prayer is not very effective if at all. Now when I set my heart to understand the Lord in prayer, I am living in active faith. You see, in the first example, the person is kind of just praying to get it over with because they feel obligated. Now in the second example they are not putting their faith in their act of prayer, but their faith is put in the thought that God is hearing them. In my opinion, the one person was legalistic, and the other was fervently seeking the Lord. Now don't get me wrong, I think it is important to humble yourself before the Lord in prayer, even if you do not feel like it, thats called discipline (discipleship). But not feeling like praying, and praying anyways because you know you need that spiritual fuel from the Lord, is totally different from someone hoping it alone will save them. Both might not feel like it at times but the heart behind why they do it is totally different. God is pleased with sacrifices of praise and humility or else He wouldn't tell us to fast and pray. He desires communion with us, and I sometimes think we need to pray until our heart longs to pray. So at the end of the day, I suppose it is the heart behind why it is done (being the "truest meaning" part of the the phrase above). The scripture that comes to mind is Hebrews 11:6 "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." I think it is interesting to note that it is a two part verse, the first requirment in coming to God is believing that He is (thats why in James he says the demons believe and tremble, so mere belief doesn't suffice), and the second thing mentioned is believing that He rewards those that diligently seek Him. What does the second part look like all fleshed out? The whole phrase "that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" suggests action partnered with faith that God see's our genuine heartfelt obedience to Him.
The only way to conquor legalism in our lives is to turn our "laughter into mourning and our joy into gloom"(See devotion entitled, Joy to Gloom" or "An Understanding Heart"). If we as believers are not putting on our spiritual armor, not actively seeking the Lord genuinely wanting answers, and not reading our Word and using it, we are subject to our actions no longer being acted out in faith (genuine heartfelt obedience) but mere obligation. "If a man has faith without works, can that faith save him?"
Please pray over what I am writing! I am trying to find deep truth but I am not exempt from error. If you have a comment or even feel like a correction is needed, dont be shy! I am not saying I will agree everytime, but I would like to be checked none the less! I hope this is not confusing, I hope it blesses all who reads. May a fire be started in the church of God again that changes the foundations of our current world structure!

Modern Triumph of Faith

2009-08-02T11:08:00.000-07:00

This is from www.foxnews.com. The world was not worthy of this beautiful woman! May she be remembered as winning the victory as her Lord and Savior won the victory, she is not dead but merely asleep! Anyone who reads this agree with me in prayer for her husband and 3 children who are being held as political prisoners.

Report: North Korea Publicly Executes Christian Woman for Distributing Bible
Friday, July 24, 2009
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea publicly executed a Christian woman last month for distributing the Bible, which is banned in the communist nation, South Korean activists said Friday.
Ri Hyon Ok, 33, was also accused of spying for South Korea and the United States and organizing dissidents. She was executed in the northwestern city of Ryongchon near the border with China on June 16, according to a report from an alliance of several dozen anti-North Korea groups.
Ri's parents, husband and three children were sent to a political prison camp in the northeastern city of Hoeryong the following day, the report said, citing unidentified documents it says were obtained from North Korea. It showed a copy of Ri's North Korean government-issued photo ID. It is virtually impossible to verify such reports about secretive North Korea, where the government tightly controls the lives of its citizens and does not allow dissent.
On Thursday, an annual report from a state-run South Korean think tank on human rights in the North said that public executions, though dropping in number in recent years, were still carried out for crimes ranging from murder to circulating foreign movies.
North Korea claims to guarantee freedom of religion for its 24 million people but in reality severely restricts religious observances. The cult of personality surrounding national founder Kim Il Sung and his son, current leader Kim Jong Il, is a virtual state religion.
The government has authorized four state churches, one Catholic, two Protestant and one Russian Orthodox, but they cater to foreigners and ordinary North Koreans cannot attend. However, defectors and activists say more than 30,000 North Koreans are believed to practice Christianity secretly.
The U.S. State Department reported last year that "genuine religious freedom does not exist" in North Korea.
"North Korea appears to have judged that Christian forces could pose a threat to its regime," Do Hee-youn, a leading activist, told reporters, claiming public executions, arrest and detention of North Koreans are prevalent.

May she be forever remembered! Even if you just read this once, pray over her family after you read! One prayer is better than no prayer.

Call To Discernment!

2009-07-31T21:39:00.000-07:00

16 As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and us, crying out, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation." 18 And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out that very hour.” Acts 16:16-18

Oh how we need to long for the discernment of our Lord and Savior through the power of the Holy Spirit! I was riding in the car with a believer one day and they so happened to have a cd of an objectional band. As we were driving down the road, he is telling me about this song they wrote about God and seemed to be trying to see what I thought about it in the hopes that I would be like “yeah, great words, they have to be Spirit inspired!”. They appeared to say the right things, so what could possibly be wrong anyway? Earlier, in this mans life, someone had told them it was demonic and he didn’t really understand why. What came to me next was such a beautiful revelation from the Lord in use to respond to this curious man. Follow me real quick….the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 11:14, “And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light”, I think a lot of us know this verse but what does it look like all fleshed out? Voila! Acts 16:16-18 to the rescue! The story in Acts is very intriguing, you have a woman following Paul saying all of the right things yet being so off target because of the foundation by which they are based. That foundation was shown to be demonic and Paul without the Spirit, would never have been able to discern it otherwise. The principle I pull out of it is this, the reason Paul cast it out of her instead of leaving it alone was for people not to think that mixing fortune telling (and or anything else worldly) and the gospel of Christ was an o.k. thing. I brought up this story in Acts because it appears the heart behind what is said is what tags it spiritually whether to the good (heart humble before the Lord in repentance) or to the bad, and only the Holy Spirit can discern that for us .

Another story to illustrate this point of "spiritual tagging" was when David played his harp for King Saul. The reference is 1 Samuel 16:23, it reads, 23And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him. So we see that just music, not even words to it, was able to suppress a demonic spirit temporarily. The main point I am making is this, that what the heart of a person looks like, is what will determine the spiritual tempo of what they put their hands to. Now a good heart will be one of genuine contrite repentance to the Lord and when they say good things they will truly be penetrating truths, but when someone out of a corrupt heart says the same thing, the same power is just not there. That is why scripture is so obsessed about us producing good fruit and opening the doors to Jesus (See devotional entitled "He's Knocking"), it is not only a by product of the Spirit within, but also it is growth attained through appropriating discipleship.
We must watch what we allow into our lives as Christians, if we do not we will open doors to the enemy and deceit will begin to creep in. Is there anything in your life that you have been defending and you shouldn’t based upon its fruits? Whether it be a musician or band, a movie star, a boyfriend or girlfriend, that is bearing absolutely no fruit whatsoever but is still saying all the right things? "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.” Matthew 7:22 and 23. Basically, what I feel they are saying is, "LORD! Didn't we do and say all the right things??" And Jesus sadly says depart from me you WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS. They were practicing lawlessness, therefore, their deeds were not done in what the Bible calls active faith. You see it goes merely beyond just believing, the demons believe and tremble, it is us partnering with God through acts of righteousness THROUGH FAITH that make it a live active faith! See if I put my faith in those acts alone, they are dead works and cannot save the soul. Only with heart-filled, appropriated obedience to Jesus can my faith be made alive.
1 Corinthians 10:12 “Wherefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall

The enemy is very clever, he is not called a deceiver for nothing and the only way to outwit him is to call upon the Lord in prayer. Deceit suggests a very clever lie, and not only that but a lie bought into. I think it is so important for the church of God to find their discernment roots again, and the only way we can receive that is humbling ourselves in prayer, aligning ourselves to His heart once again (See an understanding heart). In 1 John he says to test the spirits, why? Because even Satan can appear as an angel of light. If I base all of my decision making based upon what appears to look good, I could get myself into a spiritual predicament scripturally speaking. With much love, your brother in Christ Jesus, Chris Goff

John Chapter 6

2009-07-31T13:09:00.001-07:00

John Chapter 6

As my wife and I were praying the other day, I began praying that God would give some revelation, some deep truth that night. Not 20 seconds pass until John chapter 6 comes to mind. So we stop and read this chapter aloud and here is what God gave. In the beginning of the chapter it reads “1Some time after this, Jesus crossed to the far shore of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias), 2 and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. 3Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. 4The Jewish Passover Feast was near. 5When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" 6He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do. 7Philip answered him, "Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!" 8Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 9"Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"
Note the Word says in verse 5 He asked Philip “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?” and then in vs. 6 it says “He asked this only to test him, for HE ALREADY HAD IN MIND WHAT HE WAS GOING TO DO”. So we have two disciples, one very skeptical and not knowing what to do, and another disciple responding with action to Jesus’ question. One is looking at a problem and saying, “its too big, too great, 8 months wages wouldn’t even do it Jesus“, while another disciple went out to look for something, and in this case found a child who had 5 loaves and 2 fish. Neither one of them could have been prepared for what Jesus was about to do, but the illustration here is when one steps out in faith and relies on Jesus for the rest, there is nothing that we cannot do through Him! 12When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." 13So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. Wow! Through one mans faith look at what Jesus accomplished. Jesus was teaching them huge principles in faith or else the Word would not have read “He asked this only to test them”.
We see a few things illustrated here, the first I think is the benefits of faith. Faith without action is dead right? We have a beautiful illustration of that truth here with Jesus disciples. The other is the dangers of skepticism. The problem with the skeptical heart is that it blocks both the good and the bad. Vehement skepticism produces no good thing and is one of the greatest forms of pride because it essentially says “I know and you (or whoever else) doesn’t, it is the opposite of faith. “God resists the proud but gives grace unto the humble”, do we see how all of these principles come together? I used to be one of the worlds worst skeptics (very proud in knowledge and could tend to foster a judgemental attitude), and I payed for it with the gift of arrogance, and lack of revelation. I am not saying we throw our intellect out of the window, but this attitude behind skepticism has to end if you or I ever want to receive from the Lord. Now I believe in asking things in a humble manner to the Lord when something is brought to my attention in His Word. Do not just pass it off immediately because you feel you know. Pray over it, seek the Lord’s face on the issue and He will answer you!
Isn’t it wonderful that you and I do not have to have all of the answers? All we have to do is live a life in obedience to Jesus and He we take care of the rest. Notice that after Jesus fed them all to their fill, they had to get 12 BASKETS TO FILL WHAT WAS LEFT! What Jesus wants to do through us we cannot comprehend, but we will see it if we are but humble and obedient. Never take the attitude that says "What can I do? This is much too great of a task!" If the whole body of Christ did that, nothing would ever get accomplished.

An Understanding Heart

2009-07-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

“Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten (humble) thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.” Daniel 10:12

We find a couple spiritual laws in this wonderful verse in Daniel, “setting our hearts to understand”, and “chasten (which is a humbling thing to do) yourself before God”. Wow! If we abide by these laws we will be heard of the Lord! Isn’t that wonderful? I think this is the key difference between why it seems some people really receive from the Lord and why some others walk around in confusion. Psalm 37:7a states “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him”. I have found the last verse as being very helpful in my walk with the Lord. When we set ourselves to understand we are quieting ourselves before Him, actively showing Him (remember faith without action is dead) how bad we need to hear from Him and desire to speak with Him. In another devotion ( http://cgodevo.blogspot.com/2009/07/be-afflicted-and-mourn-and-weep-let.html ), I mentioned “acts conducive towards repentance” and this is one of references used to illustrate that. Notice the angel of the Lord said to Daniel “and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard”. Now we must note that if one puts the faith in these “works” alone for salvation, then they are dead works, but we see something different in how these “chastening acts” moved the hand of God in Daniel’s case. It is because Daniel did them through faith, desiring God’s heart and God knew that. This reminds us of how God looks at the heart and not the outward appearance (1 Samuel 16:7). Let’s take a quick look at what “setting his heart to understand” looked like. Daniel 10:2- “In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for^E)">three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I^F)">anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks.” We see He was turning his laughter into mourning and his joy to gloom (sounds oh so familiar to James) and he was praying, fasting and went as far as not even bathing. This sounds odd to some but I feel it is important to show God daily that we want to understand. This “Daniel principle” is mentioned in the New Testament as well, where Jesus says in Mark 8:34 “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” He who comes after me must SET HIS HEART TO UNDERSTAND, by denying himself and taking up his cross and follow Him. Jesus undertook the cross which was His specific mission, for the sins of the world, and we need to “take up our cross” fulfill our earthly responsibility to Him daily and follow Him! I promise if you do this, you will receive insight from the Lord as you never have before, because God is no respecter of persons what He did for Daniel he will do for you! Acts 10:34 & 35 read, “Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.” This verse is in reference to Cornelius’ conversion in Acts 10, Cornelius was the first of the gentiles to receive Jesus as Savior, the Word says about Cornelius in Acts 10:2 “A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway.” So in conclusion, when you go before the Lord in prayer do not rush. When you rush you are showing no reverence. If you have a DVD to watch or a game to play or even a show on T.V. to watch, you settle in your heart and say “even if I do not get to it that is ok, I am doing a much greater thing no matter what my flesh says to do, I WILL WALK IN THE SPIRIT!”. And eventually, as the old song goes “The things of Earth, grow strangely dim in the light and glory of His grace.” If you do this it will happen, God promises.

Predestination

2009-07-28T19:02:00.000-07:00

“For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Romans 8:29

Isn’t God wonderful? He knew who would receive Him from the foundations of the world! I wanted to discuss this issue of predestination because I think some people believe God essentially said “I picked and you had no choice in the matter.” I believe if that were the case Paul would have left out the beginning part “For whom He foreknew”, it could have merely read “He predestined” without any hint as to His foreknowledge. Ok so now we ask ourselves, “What was the point in even mentioning foreknowing us if He chose anyways?” I believe this word, ‘foreknew’, is pivotal in understanding the meaning. This is my personal take on this. I believe God from the beginning of time saw who would respond to His choice of them and who wouldn’t. It is clear in scripture we have a choice whether to respond to His choosing of us or not. Here is an interesting questionnaire I came up with once, please answer it honestly.

1) Do you believe God is forcing you to obey Him? (my answer is no)

2) So you choose to obey Him correct? (my answer is yes)

3) We all agree that it was His choice of me I was responding to correct? (yes)

4) So could it be that God, knowing someone would respond to Him, still chose not to choose that person if He went to them? (I answered no as it was a violation of the verse it is not His will that any perish but that all come to eternal life, and the author of Hebrews says it is impossible for God to lie)

I have talked with a certain individual that has backslidden and now believes that the reason he has is because GOD WILLED IT! We see that predestination is a concept we are made aware of but not the arbiters of. What I mean is, I think people look too deep into it and tank in their faith (whether by becoming complacent or struggling so much with a sin they stop fighting and fall back) because they instantly see it as a done deal whether your going to heaven or going to hell. The last time I checked in scripture, we are supposed to test ourselves and live in the present. Faith without action is dead. We need to live life in obedience to God (in the present day-by-day) to prove our genuine faith and remember that as long as you have a breath in your body there is hope for forgiveness of your sins. Scenario: the Holy Spirit convicts someone and they go to their death bed without a response to Him, in my mind God saw that they wouldn’t respond and they were not predestined for glory right? He did not choose for that person to be lost or He wouldn’t have even dealt with them right? If you say no you are saying that it is His will that some perish. This is how God is able to raise up leaders whether good or bad. God’s will is going to be accomplished and He has it all set what moves He is going to make, because He is the Master chess player. The foreknowledge works both ways. In the people who respond to God to salvation it is to their benefit, in the corrupt leaders way it is still going to bring God glory, but not in the way they are going to like. If God saw before the foundation of the world that an evil leader would respond to Him, God would not set him up for destruction but for life. The evil leaders position still needs filled, but it wouldn’t be by that guy. I hope this makes sense. I love God and His word, and when I believe that certain views on this almost make God out to be brutal and He is not. God is LOVE! Let’s use scripture to interpret scripture. To conclude, it’s not God’s will that any should perish but that all come to eternal life, again, if this is the case, He is not choosing people to go down the road of destruction!

Rhema Resistance

2009-07-27T21:38:00.001-07:00

“Submit therefore to God, Resist the devil and he will flee from you” James 4:7

Resist! Depending on the context this word can mean one of two things. 1) Resisting as to avoid the issue all together or, 2) Opposing, standing up against. For example in the sentence “I must resist this sin!” that could suggest I need to avoid the issue and get it off of my mind, which in many cases, can be a good thing. Or in another example, the sentence “When on the battlefield, and the enemy is encroaching, fight him!! RESIST him!!” Maybe I am alone in this boat but I used to think for years that the above mentioned verse simply meant to avoid and ignore the devil’s temptations (which is a good thought). This, however, still at times left me defeated to certain sins in my life. No confrontation involved whatsoever, no fight, just avoidance. When you look up the word “resist” in Strong’s concordance it says to “stand against, oppose”. WOW! Literally fight him with the Word of God, our offensive weapon in our spiritual armor. When I feel tempted I am now in the habit of coming against the enemy with authority like Jesus did in the wilderness. I believe that story is what should come to mind when one reads this verse in James. Jesus combated the devil with the Word of God in order to resist him, so why should we be any different? I have seen a noticeable difference in my personal battle with sin when I started rebuking him in that area. Submit therefore to God!! Purpose in your heart to walk in the Spirit, and then your words to the enemy will be tagged with power and he will flee from you. Are you getting whipped around too much by sin? The Bible portrays us as warriors, are you using all of your weaponry?

Joy and Gloom

2009-07-27T12:23:00.001-07:00

“Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.” James 4:9

What? How in the world can I turn laughter into mourning and my joy into gloom? That seems impossible right? I believe what James is saying to God’s people here is there is unrepentant sin and there is a capacity within oneself to receive that knowledge from the Holy Spirit without necessarily feeling it (which is what we call conviction). When confronted with that knowledge I can either keep on going like nothing has happened (laughter and joy) or I can see my sin and partner with the Holy Spirit and grieve with Him about what I have done (joy and gloom). James says faith without actions is dead right? So if I punch you in the face and come up laughing about it saying I am sorry, am I really sorry? Or would it settle better with you if I came to you broken and maybe even crying telling you I do not deserve your forgiveness but I am asking anyways. The same goes with what I call “acts conducive towards repentance”. Remember when people in the Old Testament would tear their clothes and lay in sackcloth and ashes? Some of us just pass that off as ‘legalism’ but I think that is a very dangerous judgment call. They were partnering with God about how grieved they were about their personal (and/or corporate) sin. As the old adage goes “actions speak louder than words”. Here is my subjective take on this. A while back when dealing with certain sin in my life, I was scarily cold towards it. Meaning, I knew it was wrong and it actually scared me that I was so cold towards it (meaning I didn’t feel anything bad about it). So what do I begin praying? “Lord, restore my conscience in this area, I desire inside to actually feel about this sin the way you do.” I believe God was showing me how to actively turn my “laughter into mourning and my joy to gloom.” Maybe that’s where some of you are at now, you are stooped in something waist high and you know its wrong because of what scripture says about it but are afraid because you feel nothing towards it. Try an “act conducive towards repentance”, turn your laughter into mourning (humble yourself before the Lord) and your joy to gloom, in other words, “He rejects the prideful but gives grace unto the humble.” You do that and you will begin to be restored, because God is not a liar and He loves you. So remember brothers and sisters, when the Word of God says one thing and you just so happen to feel another, the Word of God trumps our feelings if they are not in harmony with His Word. Pray until your heart is re-aligned with His and you see things how He sees them again. Please do not underestimate the importance of not just knowing something is wrong, but feeling the way God feels towards it as well.

Why Be Humbled?

2009-07-26T23:32:00.000-07:00

“But He gives greater grace. Therefore He says: God resists the prideful, but gives grace unto the humble” James 4:6

It appears that pride is the number one quencher of God’s Spirit. Pride fuels sin, pride is behind every sin committed because we are essentially saying to God, we know whats best and it is not what You think is best. Have you ever been in a spot in life where you are refusing to humble yourself before the Lord and are experiencing nothing but chaos? If not and there is chaos in your life evaluate this law! There are spiritual laws that we must fall into and one of them is this “law” of God rejecting our prideful attitude and giving grace unto us when we are humble. True humility is seeing God’s truth as it is and acting on that truth despite what my flesh tells me to do. I love how God gives us glimpses on how He feels and how He sees things. For instance, you give a child a bike for Christmas. The child looks at the bike and says “this is the wrong bike, I hate it”. Maybe I am in my own boat with this but I would feel that the boy is very unappreciative and until he learned to appreciate the bike and repent for his attitude, he would not be receiving anything else from me. I believe it is the same way with God. God must have us repent of sin (which is being humble) before He can begin to grace us again with spiritual gifts. The reason for this (I believe) is because God does not want us to keep going on in deceit. He disciplines those He loves, remember? Therefore because of His great love He will discipline us in the form of withholding at times. Because if He bestowed grace (empowerment to get through) upon us while we were in a state of pride (without repentance), He would be inadvertently commending our prideful actions.

He's Knocking

2009-07-26T20:10:00.000-07:00

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if any man hears my voice and opens the door I will come into him, and sup with him, and he with Me.” Revelation 3:20

We have all heard how it is possible to “open doors” to Satan, giving him a foothold (Eph 4:27), but I do not believe we think about it a lot in the sense of opening doors to Jesus, because we are saved and the door has already been opened to Him right? I believe this is true in a sense, but there is something to be said about what the Bible calls “grieving the Spirit” which is what this church in Laodicea has done. I think when the Spirit of Christ is grieved, essentially He had to be “knocking” first, agree? So with that said, it appears obedience opens doors to Jesus, just as disobedience opens the doors to the Evil One. The above mentioned scripture is to the Laodiceans in Revelation. The verses previous to this is Jesus saying things like “I discipline those I love, therefore be zealous and repent!”. I think this verse is commonly used in speaking to unbelievers but that is not the context. A verse comes to mind while thinking about this concept. It talks about when one sows to the Spirit they reap eternal life, and when they sow to the flesh they reap corruption (Gal. 6:8). It appears when we grieve the Spirit, we have obviously sinned. With that said, we know that sin requires contrite repentance, thereby opening the door to the Holy Spirit of Christ again and shutting the door to the enemy. What are we doing as a people of God that is conducive to Him actively supping with us? Does anyone have active ways they can name that open the door to Jesus?