Dream About Jezebel the Snake

 

I had a dream about a month and a half ago that I’ve been praying through for its manifestation. The Lord has given me several confirmations of this dream and led me to now share it for the time of its fulfillment has come. 

In the dream, I was in a black helicopter sitting on the left side and an older man was sitting and piloting it from the right-hand side. But between us was a huge python snake. Its head was on the man’s lap and he had his left hand on its neck. The body of the snake was on the inside of a clear fishbowl. 

All of a sudden, the man opened his window grabbed the head of the snake with his right hand, and with his left hand picked up the clear fishbowl that held the body of the snake and threw it out the window of the helicopter while it was still flying. End of the dream. 

The Lord was saying through this dream that a black helicopter represents what Psalms 18:9-11 says,

9 “He bowed the heavens and came down; thick darkness was under his feet. 10 He rode on a cherub and flew; he came swiftly on the wings of the wind. 11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him, thick clouds dark with water.” ESV

And as His people stay in partnership with Him seated in heavenly places, girded up with prayer, intercession, fasting, decreeing, declaring, and prophesying what He tells us or shows us, He will expose Jezebel and its works, and all its plots and conspiracies against God’s people will come down on its own head. 

And those who have been the foot soldiers of this spirit to bring its demonic plots and agenda on the earth will now see God come down, expose them, confront them, and scatter them. However, He still prefers to see them repenting for what they have done. For the purposes of God will prevail in the lives of His people and what He promised us will come to pass. 

The Lord is cutting off the horn of strength of the wicked, but exalting the horn of strength of His righteous people. For promotion comes from Him alone, time and seasons belong to Him, all power belongs to Him alone, and He’s the only Judge that can put one down and set up another. He’s the One who has the power to do this and not man. Psalm 75:1-10 says,

1 “We thank You, O True God. Our souls are overflowing with thanks! Your name is near; Your people remember and tell of Your marvelous works and wonders. 2 You say, “At the time that I choose, I will judge and do so fairly. 3 When the earth and everyone living upon it spin into chaos, I am the One who stabilizes and supports it.” [pause] 

4 ‘I discipline the arrogant by telling them, ‘No more bragging.’ I discipline the wicked by saying, Do not raise your horn to demonstrate your power. 5 Do not thrust your horn into the air, issuing a challenge, and never speak with insolence when you address Me.’ 6 There is no one on earth who can raise up another to grant honor, not from the east or the west, not from the desert. There is no one. God is the only One. 

7 God is the only Judge. He is the only One who can ruin or redeem a man. 8 For the Eternal holds a full cup of wine in His hand— a chalice well stirred and foaming full of wrath. He pours the cup out, and all wicked people of the earth drink it up—every drop of it! 9 But I will tell of His great deeds forever. I will sing praises to Jacob’s True God. 10 I will cut off the horns of strength raised by the wicked, but I will lift up the horns of strength of the righteous.” VOICE

To Him alone be all the glory.**

The Currency of our Sacrificial Giving

Genesis 22:1-2

“Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then He said, ‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.’” NKJV

This passage talks about God commissioning Abraham to give to Him a burnt offering. A burnt offering is an offering of great sacrifice. With this, God demonstrates one of the two most common ways He will ask us to give sacrificially to Him. The first way is when we sacrifice to Him our “only.” This refers to when we offer unto Him the one thing God is wanting to multiply in our life and at the moment it is our only. This could be our only car, our only house, our only investment account, our family, and in essence, anything He claims ownership of and requires of us. 

As verse one reveals, God does this to test our willingness to part with what He’s asking of us to make sure we have not turned it into an idol. Especially if it’s something that costs us a long wait, energy, effort, many sleepless nights, and the sweat of our brow to obtain it. This is raising the bar and stretching us in our trust in Him. In Abraham’s case, he and his wife Sarah waited 25 long years to finally have their promised child. They even made some costly mistakes while trying to conjure up this son out of their own determination to bring a child into the world. But little did they know that later on in life, God was going to require that very promise from them. 

This should hopefully help us look to the God who makes the promise to us and is able to fulfill it. But He also reserves the right to require the promise fulfilled from us no matter how much it cost us. In the end, the promise still belongs to Him. You may be sweating and swallowing thick by now, but don’t fear. This is only a test. Our obedience like Abraham’s, will give us access to a higher dimension in proportion to the sacrifice we gave to God. The level of the multiplication of revelations, wisdom, knowledge, understanding, anointing, mantles, and more from God will then be exponential. Genesis 22:15-17 says, 

“Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son — blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.” NKJV

For this, like Abraham, we should place our faith in God alone no matter what. This steadfast trust is what made Abraham righteous in God’s eyes. Romans 4:16,22 tells us, 16 “That’s why the inheritance comes through faith, so that it will be on the basis of God’s grace. In that way, the promise is secure for all of Abraham’s descendants, not just for those who are related by Law but also for those who are related by the faith of Abraham, who is the father of all of us. 22 “Therefore, it was credited to him as righteousness.” CEB

Every promise is a gift from God and our sacrificial offerings to Him make a huge deposit in our heavenly account that makes us known in the spirit realm because those sacrifices cause great damage in the camp of the enemy more than when we give from our surplus of whatever it is we’re giving to God. 

This doesn’t mean that our times on the mountain top are unfruitful for us. 

But there is something about the sacrifices we give to God in our everyday life that create a sweet aroma that reaches heaven and leave a powerful and permanent imprint in the spirit realm. This helps us have a voice and be recognized as children of God. The Father Himself proved that to us when He gave us His one and only Son to die for us. His great sacrifice was a seed for Him to have many more sons of righteousness in the earth and also gave us a great example of this principle of what our sacrifices produce not only in the natural, but also in the spiritual realm. 

The other type of sacrifice that speaks with a loud voice on our behalf is when we give to God our “last.” The widow who gave her last two copper coins is an example of this. Mark 12:41-44 shows, 

“And He sat down opposite the [temple] treasury, and began watching how the people were putting money into the treasury. And many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a mite. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, ‘I assure you and most solemnly say to you, this poor widow put in [proportionally] more than all the contributors to the treasury. 44 For they all contributed from their surplus, but she, from her poverty, put in all she had, all she had to live on.’’” AMP

This is another example of the law of exchange we have learned which, even though the Bible doesn’t mention the results in this particular passage, we know it creates multiplication in our life. Likewise, we learned of the exchange between the widow of Zarephath and the prophet Elijah during a time of famine. The widow sacrificed the last of her flour and oil to feed first the prophet, and then she and her son ate. The result was a multiplication of her last until the rain came that ended the famine. God’s intervention through the prophet kept them fed and secured in His promise of provision until the end of the famine. We find this in 1 Kings 17:8-16.

This principle not only applies to our finances, but it works with everything we’re believing God to bring His supernatural increase which multiplies the last of whatever we’re giving to Him sacrificially. The last of our strength and hope, the last step we can take when we don’t know what else  to do, the last morsel of wisdom we have in a given moment, or our last prayer or cry for help to God to intervene in our situation. 

Our giving has greater impact when it is attached to sacrifice. But why is this? Bringing the opposite of what the world offers gives us a voice in the spirit realm that is recognized and heaven even applauds. This is because when the world says to find the easiest way out of our circumstances, God is asking us to endure the test and go through the valleys of our life instead of trying to climb our way out without considering the effect of our obedience when it has cost us something. 

Jesus’s death on the Cross had greater impact than had he been crowned King of the Jews while sitting on a throne wearing a golden crown and a linen cape. His death on the Cross gave Him the level of authority necessary to overcome he enemy and take the keys of hell and Hades that set many captives free. This would have never happened with Him sitting on an earthly throne. In the same way, when we carry our personal cross during our time of process, we’re growing in our authority and power to deploy the weapons of our warfare that make irreparable damage in the camp of the enemy. 

In 2 Samuel 24:21-25 King David shows his understanding of a sacrificial offering. He had made a costly mistake of counting the amount of citizens in his kingdom that had fighting power, instead of trusting God to give him the victory in his battles. This aroused the anger of God. But King David was filled with grieve in his heart for what he had done and the consequences this brought to the people under his care. For this, He followed the wisdom of the prophet Gad in order to stop the plague that was released in the land. The Scripture says,

“‘Why have you come, my lord the king?’ Araunah asked. David replied, ‘I have come to buy your threshing floor and to build an altar to the Lord there, so that he will stop the plague.’ ‘Take it, my lord the king, and use it as you wish,’ Araunah said to David. ‘Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and you can use the threshing boards and ox yokes for wood to build a fire on the altar. I will give it all to you, Your Majesty, and may the Lord your God accept your sacrifice.’ But the king replied to Araunah, ‘No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing.’ So David paid him fifty pieces of silver for the threshing floor and the oxen. David built an altar there to the Lord and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the Lord answered his prayer for the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.” NLT

We can see that through David’s sacrificial giving and his prayer for the land, he was able to see the plague stop. Therefore, as we have learned here, our sacrificial giving to God is a currency that gives us multiplication of that which He required of us and also gives us access to His overcoming power over our circumstances and the costly consequences of our mistakes can be reversed according to God’s will. In the same way, we can reach higher dimensions where we will discover greater things about God and His Kingdom that were hidden to us before as well as give us the authority to set many captives free.

To God alone be all the glory.**

Image by Google Images

Understanding the Relationship Between Generosity and Revelation

Matthew 6:22-23

“‘The eye is the lamp of the body.’ So if you have a ‘good eye’ [that is, if you are generous] your whole body will be full of light; but if you have an ‘evil eye’ [if you are stingy] your whole body will be full of darkness. If, then, the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” CJB

There is a difference between those who receive higher levels of revelations from the Lord and those who remain in the dark about things, especially spiritual things. That difference lies in our level of generosity—our giving. Those who constantly give according to God’s will and direction know by revelation when and how God is moving and partake of these moves. But, those who do not understand the importance of giving or “investing” according to God’s will, tend to remain in the dark, stagnant, and operating according to the last moves because of lack of revelation of God and what He’s doing. 

We can see an example of this in Matthew 25:14-30 with the parable of the two faithful servants who doubled their talents or investments and the one who hid his talent in the sand instead of investing it. Verses 21 and 23 reveal to us what the “true” Master of those faithful servants said to them, “His master said to him, ‘Excellent! you are a good and trustworthy servant. You have been faithful with a small amount, so I will put you in charge of a large amount. Come and join in your master’s happiness!’” CJB

But the servant who dug a hole in the sand which means that he chose to hoard the talent or money he received because of fear of losing it had another master—the spirit of mammon. Matthew 6:24 gives us a very important discovery about who we may be serving. “No one can serve two masters. If you try, you will wind up loving the first master and hating the second, or vice versa. People try to serve both God and money—but you can’t. You must choose one or the other.” VOICE

It is important for us to understand how we truly view money and the resources God makes available to us for life and for His service. When we recognize our true master, we can then learn to advance the Kingdom in the way God prescribes to us without fear. Our giving without. understanding important principles of His Kingdom can many times produce unfruitfulness or not receiving to the level God wanted to give us access to. 

Obviously, we can see that the servant called wicked and lazy lacked knowledge and understanding of these principles and acted accordingly. So instead of a commendation, he received a scalding for wasting the resources of the Kingdom in his fearful state which led him to become self-centered instead of God-centered even though he thought he was doing the right thing. Matthew 25:25-27 shows this,

“I was afraid, so I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here! Take what belongs to you!’ ‘You wicked, lazy servant!’ said his master, ‘So you knew, did you, that I harvest where I haven’t planted? and that I gather where I didn’t sow seed? Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, so that when I returned, I would at least have gotten back interest with my capital!” CJB

Why was this the case for this servant? Because the Scripture describes to us how the Kingdom moves—First, the Scripture tells us that this servant acknowledged that those resources belonged to his master. Then, it presents to us the method by which the Kingdom moves—it moves when some have planted and others harvest what was planted, and when some sow seed and others harvest it. This may look simple enough, but where many people miss it is when they give for the sake of giving and don’t seek to know the specific way God prescribes for their giving. In other words, our giving has a method and a purpose we must learn and understand how to apply.

In the Kingdom of God, those who get this principle and move with it, know that this by no means entails that we will lose out on what we sowed or planted if others get to harvest or gather it. But it means that we serve the God who multiplies our resources and by His supernatural ability, leverages our natural efforts to create greater impact that will bless not only us, but those we’re asked to hand over the resources we once stewarded, and now they’re assigned stewardship over them. 

As we give to God what is in our hand with this understanding, we will begin to access greater levels of revelations that will bring us to higher dimensions which will produce more of those resources in order for us to do greater things to advance His Kingdom into more territory. Isaiah 55:8-9 reveals to us that God’s thoughts and ways of operating are above ours. Therefore, we must search out these higher ways and thoughts of God that we can access when we prayerfully hear and follow His prescription for our giving.

Giving according to God’s prescription also help us do greater exploits with less effort. The efforts of the world involve toiling to add but they mostly subtract. But the things we do following the instructions of the Lord with wisdom and understanding will guarantee that we will receive a multiplication of our talents and resources because, as I reiterate, we have learned to leverage our efforts with the revelations of the Kingdom that cause us to see great multiplication. Isaiah 60:1-5 also explains,

“Arise, shine, for your light has broken through! The Eternal One’s brilliance has dawned upon you. See truly; look carefully —darkness blankets the earth; people all over are cloaked in darkness. But God will rise and shine on you; the Eternal’s bright glory will shine on you, a light for all to see. Nations north and south, peoples east and west, will be drawn to your light, will find purpose and direction by your light. In the radiance of your rising, you will enlighten the leaders of nations. Don’t be shy; don’t be doubtful; lift up your eyes and look around. They have gathered all around you, eager to come and be close to you. And your children will come back to this land: your sons from the farthest places of wandering, and your daughters gently carried home. And when you see it, your face will glow; your heart will race and be filled with joy; For great ships will arrive with gifts from across the sea, and the wealth of nations will make their way to you.” VOICE

According to this Scripture, some people walk in great light and illumination that comes from the revelations they receive about God and His Kingdom. This causes them to attract the riches and influence that come from the glory of God as they steward those revelations and learn to apply them in their life. But others walk in deep darkness because the world has taught them to only use what they have for their own consumption now or in the future. Their poverty mindset tells them that there may not be enough of what they have to share with others. The thought of handing over a resource to others petrifies them. 

They don’t understand who the true owner is and when He directs to give the whole of a resource, He has greater things He wants to reveal and allow them access to. They don’t know that according to Proverbs 25:2, “God’s glory is shown when He conceals things; a king’s glory is shown in his ability to explore the facts of the matter.” VOICE

Why is this? Because it takes intimacy with our Creator and Lord, and an inquiring heart to seek out what is in His heart and move in partnership with Him to manifest in the earth exactly what we discovered is in His heart for us and those we are called to touch and influence on behalf of the Kingdom. Having great talents and gifts that help us maneuver ourselves with ease in our industry, is not the same as having the necessary spiritual understanding to see God move supernaturally in and through our lives.

There are many well-meaning Christians that love the Lord but are still walking in great darkness because they lack the revelations that will help them come out of oppression and despair. Unfortunately, these people have accepted the status quo and for lack of understanding, they live as if trading the judgments of the Lord their God for the fear-based ways of the world. Hosea 4:6 says, “You’ve forgotten the law of your God: you’ve rejected My judgments. I’ll reject you because of your lack of knowledge—reject you as My priests; I’ll even forget your children!” VOICE

This does not mean that God does not love His people. But it means that ignorance of the principles of His Kingdom produces a lack of awareness of when we may be violating them which gives way to shakings in our life. So, here is one of the most important principles people violate and it’s found in Luke 6:38 which tells us, “Don’t hold back—give freely, and you’ll have plenty poured back into your lap—a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, brimming over. You’ll receive in the same measure you give.” VOICE

This signifies that when we give to God He pours out on us too. This is called the law of exchange. Our God is a good and very generous God and always wants us to partner with Him. And when we let go of what is in our hand, we receive what is in His hand. This includes the levels of revelation that will help us advance His Kingdom with wisdom and understanding. This law says that first, we give according to God’s instructions, and then we will receive the revelations that will help us see the riches of His glory manifested in our life in their many facets and for whatever area of our life we need them. 

More in the next posts.

To God alone be all the glory.**

Image by Google Images

THE CROWN OF ENDURANCE

 

Jeremiah 12:5

“‘If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, Then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace, In which you trusted, they wearied you, Then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan?” NKJV

Many times we recognize that God tests our faith. However, there are times when God will also test our ability to endure the trials in our life. One main reason for this is because God raises us to learn to outdo and outrun the enemy. 1 Kings 18:45-46 says,

“In a little while the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy shower. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. Then the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he girded up his loins and outran Ahab to Jezreel.” NASB

Jezreel is a place we reach when we have overcome the enemy and, with the might of the Holy Spirit, we arrive to our place of dominion and favor, according to the promises of a God for us. By this time, we have learned to not allow anyone else to take the place that is rightfully ours. But this takes determination and endurance, knowing that no matter how long it may take us, we will reach the place where we receive what God said is ours. 

Matthew 25:1-4, 10 talks about the well thought out planning and preparation of the wise virgins who took enough oil with them when they set out to meet the bridegroom and enter in with Him to the wedding feast. They took enough oil to wait however long necessary and in their planning they chose to prevent running out of oil. But the foolish virgins didn’t do that. They thought the groom would show up in the next hour and ended up running out of oil. In other words, they didn’t count the cost of the wait for the arrival of the groom. The Scripture says,

“1’Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet  the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 4 But while the bridegroom was delayed,  they all slumbered and slept...10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and  the door was shut.”

NKJV

Luke 14:28-30 also says, 

28 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’” NASB

Endurance is an important fruit of the spirit that we must acknowledge and even ask God to help grow in it. Another word for endurance is longsuffering and it is necessary that we endeavor to be developed in this fruit of the spirit because there is no law (no legalism or accusation of the enemy against us that can keep us from reaching our destiny when we use the time of the wait to grow deep in the development of the fruits of the spirit in us).

Galatians 5:22-23 tells us, 

“22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.” NKJV (Italic emphasis mine).

All fruits of the Spirit help us in our temperance, which according to the online dictionary it means “moderation or self-restraint in action, statement, etc., self-control. Habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion...”That is why 1 Corinthians 9:24-25 also tells us, 

“Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize  is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we do it for an imperishable crown.” NKJV

This happened to Joseph. He was given some dreams when he was still a teenager, and God showed him that he was going to rule and reign over other people. But he went through a series of events that tested his endurance for and helped him develop his temperance that was going to be necessary when he reached his appointed time to walk in what God had promised him. 

Psalm 105:17-20 shows this,

“He sent a man before them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. They afflicted his feet with fetters, He himself was laid in irons; Until the time that his word came to pass, The word of the Lord  tested him. The king sent and released him, The ruler of peoples, and set him free.” NASB

But his period to be developed in longsuffering or endurance lasted over a decade until the time when God finally released him from his test. But how did this development serve him as well as his brothers who were used of the enemy to oppress him and obstruct him from his dreams? This period of development was also a period of preparation that made him a very valuable person for the time God had intended to use him to not only save the lives of people, but also to have understanding of what God had done in him and had also intended to do through him. Having this understanding, he needed not to put the blame on his brothers. 

Genesis 50:19-21 instructs us,

19 “Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but  God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. 21 Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.”NKJV

Some of you may be wondering why things have not manifested in your life yet? You have prayed, fasted, obeyed with faithfulness, and still wondered why you haven’t seen things come to pass yet. But others are about to enter a process and God is letting you know that part of what God is testing in your life is going to be your endurance because you will learn to outrun the enemy in the end to the place of dominion like Elijah did. 

For those of you who are still in your race, believing God for your breakthrough I want to tell you that you’re not alone. God is with you and He wants you to not give up. Don’t throw in the towel, don’t abort your assignment because you may feel it’s been too long and exhausting. He sees your faithfulness and you will receive strength to make it to the finished line.

In the Book of Revelation, God’s messenger mentions the seven different rewards that are available to those who overcome with obedience to God’s instructions. You can see them in chapters 2-3. But Revelation 3:11 gives us the encouraging hope that our test is about to end. It says,

“Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast to what you have, that no one may take your crown.” NKJV

To God alone be all the glory.**

Definition of “temperance” provided by dictionary.com

How to Worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth

For those of you who have Facebook accounts, these short video teachings help you discover the truth about what pleases the Lord when we give tithes and offerings and the blessings that are available to us who follow these principles with obedience.

Part 1– Find out here what the Father is looking for in us, His sons and daughters.
https://www.facebook.com/consugracia/videos/3170615863023109/

Part 2– Learn here about the things that are available for us from the Lord.
https://www.facebook.com/consugracia/videos/3181949608556401/

Part 3– Learn here what it means to enter the joy of the Lord.
https://www.facebook.com/consugracia/videos/3184755181609177/

Part 4-+ Learn here what is the standard in which the Kingdom of God operates.
https://www.facebook.com/consugracia/videos/3187520127999349/

Part 5– Learn here about what is written of us in our book of life.
https://www.facebook.com/consugracia/videos/3190357781048917/

Part 6– Find out here how to operate in the new realm the Church has entered into as a body.
https://www.facebook.com/consugracia/videos/3198595836891778/

Part 7– Learn here the correct way to give tithes and offerings and why.
https://www.facebook.com/consugracia/videos/3201069303311098/

Part 8– Find out here who are the Levites in the Church and why we’re to help them.
https://www.facebook.com/consugracia/videos/3203909609693734/

Part 9– Find out here what effects bring in our life our giving tithes and offerings in a way that pleases God.
https://www.facebook.com/consugracia/videos/3206641462753882/

Escaping the Traps of Tradition

For those of you who have Facebook accounts, these short video teachings will help you learn how to come out of the trappings of tradition and culture that can limit and even derail you from a life of abundant prosperity in every area of your life. And as always, to a God alone be all the glory.**

Part 1– Find out here how to search for the  truth Of the Word of God like the people of Berea and avoid traditions of men that can lead to death.
https://www.facebook.com/consugracia/videos/3146864892064873/

Part 2– Find out here why it is important to understand that what we believe affects our authority in the spirit realm.
https://www.facebook.com/consugracia/videos/3149672768450752/

Part 3– Learn here what it takes for you to walk in authority and be recognized in the spirit realm.
https://www.facebook.com/consugracia/videos/3152076614877034/

Part 4– Learn here how to tell if you have followed the wisdom of the world and its demonic and man-made doctrines.
https://www.facebook.com/consugracia/videos/3160062947411734/

Part 5– Learn here how to come out of living by the ways of the world and come into the abundant life Jesus died for you to have.
https://www.facebook.com/consugracia/videos/3162914903793205/

Opening your Eyes to False Revelations

Did you know that there is such thing as a false revelation? 

“Why do you say that?”You may ask. Let me answer with another question. Why are there so many denominations when there is only one God.

We need to consider the fact that denominations come from division and every time there is division somewhere, it is because somebody believed a lie. Therefore, division and strife are the offspring of deception. 

We must be careful of what and who we follow. The father of deception, the devil (John 8:44), is crafty and comes with subtleties to lie to us. It is true of the saying that if we do not stand for something (in this case the foundation of Jesus Christ from which we build our lives), we will fall for anything. 

Many people defend their stands as absolutes when in reality they are repeating like parrots what some one else said just because it sounded good and seemed like it could be true. But let me ask you, did it transform you in such a way that caused you to repent and turn from your wicked ways and draw closer to God? If it didn’t have that effect, you may have drank a Kool-aid that did not come from the unadulterated and pure word of God. 

Not only that, but the one who introduced you to the deception or served and handed you the glass of Kool-aid that caused you to be deceived become proud, thinking more highly of yourself, and divided with other believers, especially if the division and strife caused you to turn from those God has called you to walk in unity with, this person is in danger of experiencing the consequences stated in verse 17 of the passage below which is destruction. 

So in the end, was the outcome of division worth standing for a lie that caused everything you built on it become rubble?

In his time, the apostle Paul also struggled with people that were quick to strife and bring division, jealously, competition, and comparison due to their deception which comes from having things in common with the system of thinking of this world. But let me allow him to continue this post with his writings in 1 Corinthians 3:1-23,

1 “Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. 2 I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, 3 for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world? 4 When one of you says, ‘I a, a follower of Paul,’ and another says, ‘I follow Apolos,’ aren’t you acting just as people of the world?

5 “After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. 6 I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. 7 It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. 9 For we are both God’s worker. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building. 

10 “Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. 

12 “Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 13 But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. 14 If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. 15 But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.

16 “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. 

18 “Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to become wise. 19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, 

             ‘He traps the wise

                 in the snare of their own

              cleverness.’

20 “And again, 

                “The Lord knows the thoughts of the

                wise;

                   he knows they are worthless.’

21 “So don’t boast about following a particular human leader. For everything belongs to you—22 whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.” NLT

I pray this post opens your eyes and brings you to turn from your wicked ways as you seek with humility to be reconciled to the One who is beckoning you to return to Him as a worshipper who worships Him in Spirit and in truth. To God alone be all the glory.**

Image from Google Images 

Finding your way out of the Trappings of Tradition

I want to begin this post with a few pondering questions:

1. Do you receive other people’s knowledge or information without questioning its validity? 
2. How do you think that traditions and cultures really begin?
3. Which traditions are acceptable to you and why?
4. Have you asked yourself why you think or do the things you do in your everyday life?
5. Are those things Biblically based?
6. Can you differentiate a good tradition from a bad one when it is not so obvious? 

Tradition is defined as: 1. The transmission of customs and beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way. 

1. A doctrine believed to have divine authority though not in the scriptures.

Source: Google

Culture is defined as: the total way of life of particular groups of people. It includes everything that a particular group of people thinks, does or makes— its systems, attitudes and feelings. Culture is learned and transmitted from generation to generation.

Source: Google

Let me give you a popular anecdote to help illustrate what this post is about.

One Holiday, a husband asked his wife why she cuts the ends of the ham hock when she prepares it. The wife responded that she did it because her mother does it. So the husband challenged her to find out why her mother does that too. The lady called her mother and asked her why she cut the ends of the ham hock when she prepares it. And her mother responded with, “Because my mother does it and I watched her do it many times when I was a child.” 

So the lady set out to call her grandmother and asked her the same question: “Grandma, why do you cut the ends of the ham hock when you prepare to cook it?” Her grandmother responded, “I used to do it when my cooking pan was too small and I couldn’t afford to buy a bigger one. But my pans are bigger now and I don’t need to do that anymore.”

The Bible is very explicit at warning us about following the traditions and cultures of men. It tells us to come out of those ways of thinking that do not conform to the Word of God and the ways of His Kingdom. That is why God pleads with us through His Word to renew our minds, so we do not follow the ways of the world and its traditions of men that are many times contrary to what the Bible says. Take for example Romans 12:1-2 which says,

1-2 “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” MSG

Colossians 2:8 also says, “See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.” ESV

Many times we find ourselves not following what the Word says entirely because some parts of it interfere with our traditions and deep seated beliefs that even a bulldozer cannot help demolish without our permission. This way, disobeying the Word or commands of God due to the traditions of our culture takes more precedence than what He has to say. 

Matthew 15:3 even goes on to say, “He answered them, ‘And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” ESV

As shown in the anecdote as well as in Scripture, some people are zealously driven to follow traditions without asking themselves why they do it, where it came from, and what the Bible has to say about their belief system. In Galatians 1:14 the Apostle Paul tells us how before he encountered Jesus, he fell for this trap of being zealous for the traditions of men, he says,

“And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.” ESV

It is true that there are good traditions as well as bad ones, but do we ask ourselves which traditions we should avoid because they do not conform to the Word of God and could sear our conscience when what we need to do is spend time studying the Scriptures to learn what it really has to say about the things we believe? This is how we find the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:45-46) that causes us to forsake all other thoughts, philosophies or beliefs that come short of the truth of the Word of God because 2 Timothy 3:16 says,

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” ESV

Jesus Himself had some things to say about following traditions for the sake of appearances and disregarding what truly matters to God for us. Mark 7:1-13 says,

1 “Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the traditions of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such at the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?’ 6 And he said to them, ‘Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

               ‘This people honors me with their lips,

                 but their heart is far from me;

              7 in vain do they worship me,

                 teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.’

9 And he said to them, ‘You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, ‘Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban’’ (that is, given to God) — 12 then you do not permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.’” ESV

The way we go about searching for truth in the Word of God should follow the example of the people of Berea. Acts 17:10-15 shows this twofold example: 

1. Search the scriptures to see if what you’re being taught is the true Word of God.
2. Fight on behalf of those who teach you true doctrine that comes from the unadulterated Word of God and help them continue to advance and discover more truth so they can pass them to you. The Scripture says, 

10 “That very night the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11 And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth. 12 As a result, many Jews believed, as did many of the prominent Greek women and men.

13 But when some Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was teaching the word of God in Berea, they went there and stirred up trouble. 14 The believers acted at once, sending Paul on the coast, while Silas and Timothy remained behind. 15 Those escorting Paul went with him all the way to Athens; then they returned to Berea with instructions for Silas and Timothy to hurry and join him.” NLT

I pray this post awakens you to the reality of the importance of seeking to know God and His ways so you can divide the word of truth and not be shaken due to a belief system that is full of error. What God wants is for you to know and obey Him and His ways, and not be quick to obey what turned out to be someone’s opinion, a philosophy, or an outright lie of the enemy.

To God alone be all the glory.**

Images by Google Images