The Vital Need 10/31 Friday Faith

Can't you see the vital need of our studying to find out what we really are in Christ?  What the Spirit, through the Word, has really wrought in us that has made us acceptable to Him until He can whisper, "You are in the Beloved."
That means you are as near the Father's heart as Jesus is.
Jesus' great prayer in John 17 almost clamors in this request, "Father, that they may know that thou lovest them, even as thou lovest me."

-- E. W. Kenyon

Partakers of His Own Nature 10/30 Thursday Thoughts

We are become partakers of His own nature.  Not only that, but He has deigned to come and make His home in our bodies.I cannot grasp this with sense knowledge.
I simply know that it is a fact, and my spirit bears witness with the Word that it is true.
He is in me now.  That great, mighty Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is in me as I dictate this.

-- E.W. Kenyon 

What We Really Are 10/29 Wednesday Wisdom

We stand there as sons in the presence of the Father of love.We have been recreated out of His own heart.
We are of His own substance.
You know it will be a great day when large bodies of believers come to understand what they really are in Christ.
"Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation."
He is a new species; something the world had never known until the Day of Pentecost.
He is so nearly like Christ, so utterly one with Him, that Christ can say, "I am the vine, and ye are the branches."

-- E. W. Kenyon 

The Agonies of Deity 10/28 Tuesday Truth

"God so loved."
Our language is inadequate to express this love of One who became sin for us.
Deity is paying the penalty for having loved humanity much, and for craving a family.
He is suffering because He created humanity; because He brought man into being.
"Him who knew no sin has become sin."
"He is putting sin away by the sacrifice of himself."
The agonies of Deity in redeeming the human race can never be known by finite mind.

-- E. W. Kenyon 

E. W. Kenyon 10/27 Monday Meditation

Time to start going through another book by another author.  After setting aside some other books and authors where the Lord wasn't leading me, I'm going to start a series of quotes from What Happened from the Cross to the Throne by E. W. Kenyon.  For you Alliance readers, Kenyon  (1867-1948) was a close friend of A.B. Simpson, and they often exchanged pulpits.  E.W. Kenyon originated "positive confession" theology, and he is recognized as the forefather of the Word of Faith movement as it was originally taught.  I quoted from this book around 2007, if you've been in this group for a long time.

 

In Hebrews 4:16, He has invited us to come with boldness unto the Throne of Grace.

That is the new Holy of Holies, the new Throne-room where we, as sons and daughters, have a standing invitation to come.

We not only come when our hearts are burdened with grief and need, but we come when our hearts are filled with joy and laughter.

We come when our hearts are filled with gratitude and love and praise.

Our Father is holding a reception all the time for us.

We go in there and make our requests known.  We open our hearts to Him with fullest confidence.

We have Jesus' assurance, "Whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He will give it to you."

We are His love children.

Brother Lawrence 10/24 Friday Faith

Brother Lawrence was a 17th Century French monk who is best known for his devotional book, The Practice of the Presence of God.

 

 In order to know God, we must often think of Him; and when we come to love Him, we shall then also think of Him often, for our heart will be with our treasure.

I drove away from my mind everything capable of spoiling the sense of the presence of God…. I just make it my business to persevere in His holy presence… My soul has had an habitual, silent, secret conversation with God.

There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful, than that of a continual conversation with God; those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it.

John Wesley 10/23 Thursday Thoughts

John Wesley, an 18th Century Church of England clergyman, led a great revival among the common people of England.  This was the beginning of The Methodist Church. 

 

You have nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore spend and be spent in this work. And go not only to those that need you, but to those that need you most. It is not your business to preach so many times, and to take care of this or that society; but to save as many souls as you can; to bring as many sinners as you possibly can to repentance.

Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not whether they be clergymen or laymen, they alone will shake the gates of Hell and set up the kingdom of Heaven upon Earth.

George Mueller (pt. 3) 10/22 Wednesday Wisdom

To learn strong faith is to endure great trials. I have learned my faith by standing firm amid severe testings.

Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible. Faith begins where man’s power ends
.
Faith is the assurance that the thing which God has said in His word is true, and that God will act according to what He has said in his word… Faith is not a matter of impressions, nor of probabilities, nor of appearances.

-- George Mueller

George Mueller (pt. 2) 10/21 Tuesday Truth

The vigor of our spiritual life will be in exact proportion to the place held by the Bible in our life and thoughts.

The less we read the Word of God, the less we desire to read it, and the less we pray, the less we desire to pray.

I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the word of God, and to meditation on it. . . . What is the food of the inner man? Not prayer, but the word of God; and . . . not the simple reading of the word of God, so that it only passes through our minds, just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what we read, pondering over it, and applying it to our hearts.

George Mueller 10/20 Monday Meditation

George Mueller was an extraordinary Christian in 19th Century England.  He founded a system of orphanages which cared for 10,000 orphans in his lifetime, and he started 117 schools.  He operated entirely on faith, never asking for money or making his needs known, and God responded with miraculous provision.    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_M%C3%BCller

 

God judges what we give by what we keep.

The Christian should never worry about tomorrow or give sparingly because of a possible future need. Only the present moment is ours to serve the Lord, and tomorrow may never come.

A brother with small earnings may ask,”Should I also give? My earning are already so small that my family can barely make ends meet.” My reply is, ”Have you ever considered that the very reason your earnings remain so small may be because you spend everything on yourself? If God gave you more, you would only use it to increase your own comfort instead of looking to see who is sick or who has no work at all that you might help them."

Corrie Ten Boom (pt. 3) 10/17 Friday Faith

Don’t pray when you feel like it. Have an appointment with the Lord and keep it. A man is powerful on his knees.

When a Christian shuns fellowship with other Christians, the devil smiles. When he stops studying the Bible, the devil laughs. When he stops praying, the devil shouts for joy.

Be united with other Christians. A wall with loose bricks is not good. The bricks must be cemented together.

Corrie Ten Boom (pt. 2) 10/16 Thursday Thoughts

Just prior to posting this, the counter on my blog hit 13,000 pages read since I started posting online.


“Dear Jesus…how foolish of me to have called for human help when You are here.”

If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. If you look at God you’ll be at rest.

Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.

Corrie Ten Boom 10/15 Wednesday Wisdom

Corrie Ten Boom was part of a Dutch Christian family who hid Jews in their home during World War II.  Her family was captured.  She survived the concentration camps where her other family members died.  She is the author of The Hiding Place, which was made into a movie.  I heard her speak when she was in her 90s.

 Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.

There is no pit so deep, that God’s love is not deeper still.

Trying to do the Lord’s work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting, and tedious of all work. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you.

Charles G. Finney (part 2) 10/14 Tuesday Truth

Continuing with Charles G. Finney.   The presence of God was so strong in his revivals that people coming near a town where there was a revival would fall under conviction and get off their horses and repent.  People would fall under the power of the Spirit in their seats.  He would have to stop preaching until people had regained consciousness.

 

 

A state of mind that sees God in everything is evidence of growth in grace and a thankful heart.

Sin is the most expensive thing in the universe.

A tender heart always brings great peace to the soul.

The Gospel does not save whom it does not sanctify.

Charles G. Finney 10/13 Monday Meditation

Charles G. Finney led the great revival in upstate New York (where my great-great grandfather and great-great-great grandparents were saved) and throughout America (called "The Second Great Awakening") in the 1820's.  He invented the altar call.  He became president of Oberlin College.  I have been part of a large prayer meeting in Oberlin, praying around his traveling pulpit  for a new revival in northern Ohio.
When there are dissensions, and jealousies, and evil speakings among professors of religion, then there is great need of a revival. These things show that Christians have got far from God, and it is time to think earnestly of a revival.

A revival is nothing else than a new beginning of obedience to God.

There can be no revival when Mr. Amen and Mr. Wet-Eyes are not found in the audience.

Feast of Tabernacles (part 2) 10/10 Friday Faith

 Was Jesus Born in a Sukkah?  from Messianic Manna on Facebook

Has anyone ever wondered why does a manger scene resemble a baby in a Sukkah?
The answer is in the opinion of Messianic Manna is a simple one. Yeshua was actually born in a Sukkah (Booth). Am I saying that the feast of Sukkot is the time  of Yeshua’s birth? Yes I am. The basic scenario is that Miriam was with child during Hanukah and gave birth during Sukkot. The Roman Church established a different time to celebrate His birth. The establishment of a different date to correspond with a Pagan date does not negate the actual date. Do I have anything to back up my reasoning. Ohh, but yes I do. The complete answer may be beyond the scope of this Facebook post. However in order to whet your appetite to study for yourself let me throw a few interesting tid bits at you.

1: Was you aware that the word “Stables” is in some cases interpreted from the Hebrew word Sukkot ?
יז. וְיַעֲקֹב נָסַע סֻכֹּתָה וַיִּבֶן לוֹ בָּיִת וּלְמִקְנֵהוּ עָשָׂה סֻכֹּת עַל-כֵּן קָרָא שֵׁם-הַמָּקוֹם סֻכּוֹת:
Gen. 33:17. And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built himself a house, and made booths for his cattle; therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

2: Did you notice that mankind carries a common ancient memory of Yeshua being born in a Stable that is usually depicted as temporary?

3: Did you know that if the birth of Yeshua is placed in the context of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) the story would then also account for the angelic greetings of “Hosanna in the highest!”—a pilgrimage-festival salutation connected with the recitation of the Hallel at Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot.

4: Did you know that a medieval collection of anti-Christian Jewish folklore titled The Story about Shim’on Kefa (Simon Peter) (Aggadta DeShim’on Kefa, אגדתא דשמען כיפא) preserves Jewish traditions about the early Jewish believers and early Christians.?
Notice here what it says:
“And in the place of the festival of Sukkot, you will celebrate the day of his birth, and on the eighth day from his birth, you will celebrate his circumcision.” (Aggadta DeShim’on Kefa)
This is how the sect of the Nazarenes was seen from the perspective of mainstream Judaism. Can anyone see the importance of this?

5: Did you know that we can show through Theological reasoning that YoHanon the Immerser (John the Baptist) was born during Passover and that Yeshua was born 6 months later placing Yeshua's birth in the Feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles) ? This may also be shown by understanding the time when Zechariah’s ministration of the priesthood was in serving the Temple.

6: Did you know that Sukkot is also called the Feast of Tabernacles, and that the Brit Hadashah (New Testament) declares : “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us” (John 1:14).

  4-minute video on Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) on YouTube:  http://youtu.be/1RWfTmmoCA8

Feast of Tabernacles 10/9 Thursday Thoughts

The Feast of Tabernacles ("Sukkot") begins at sundown Wednesday, October 8, and continues through Thursday, October 16.  This is the third and final fall festival.  The fall festivals have moved through repentance and reconciliation to the joy of our redemption.  It is the most joyous and the most loved of all festivals.   Families live in elaborate booths that they have decorated for the holiday as a reminder of how God cared for them in the wilderness.  There is good biblical evidence that Jesus was born during the Feast of Tabernacles, probably in a sukkah booth. (More tomorrow).

During the water ceremony on the last day of the festival in Jerusalem, Jesus said, "If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink... From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water."  (John 7:37-39). 

Jesus is God tabernacling among men.  Jesus is God's ultimate sukkah booth.  For God, in Jesus Christ, tabernacles among men.  As the Temple was a temporary dwelling for the Shekinah, so Jesus tabernacling among us manifested the glory of God.  (The Fall Feasts of Israel, by Mitch and Zhava Glaser)

I will be celebrating by attending a Feast of Tabernacles concert by leading Messianic recording artist Paul Wilbur at Tikvat Yisrael Messianic Congregation in Cleveland on Saturday.  This will be his fourth concert / worship experience that Joanne and I have attended.  Look him up on YouTube.

For more information on the Feast of Tabernacles, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukkot

D. L. Moody 10/8 Wednesday Wisdom

Featuring some favorite quotes from D.L. Moody, famous evangelist, pastor (who had no education and was never ordained), and founder of Moody Bible Institute. 
Out of 100 men, one will read the Bible, the other 99 will read the Christian.

The Bible was not given for our information but for our transformation.

Give me a man who says this one thing I do, and not those fifty things I dabble in.
 
What makes the Dead Sea dead? Because it is all the time receiving, never giving out anything. Why is it that many Christians are cold? Because they are all the time receiving, never giving out anything.

Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at something that doesn’t really matter.

George Whitefield 10/7 Tuesday Truth

This week we are using some miscellaneous quotes by great Christians of the past.

George Whitefield (pronounced Whit-field) was the greatest 18th Century American revivalist / evangelist.  Here are three of his famous quotes. 
We are immortal till our work is done.

Take care of your life and the Lord will take care of your death.

 True conversion means turning not only from sin but also from depending on self-made righteousness. Those who trust in their own righteousness for conversion hide behind their own good works. This is the reason that self-righteous people are so angry with gospel preachers, because the gospel does not spare those who will not submit to the righteousness of Jesus Christ!

Our Turn 10/6 Monday Meditation

Last week we completed the quotes from the complete sermons of Smith Wigglesworth.  Before we start quoting from another "Pentecostal pioneer", I'm going to use some quotes that were suggested to me by a reader.

Those heroes are gone now; it is our turn. That is why I get excited when I hear stories of people just like you and me who are seeing the same things our heroes saw. These are everyday people walking through their own normal problems with tiny faith and producing huge outcomes.

 

Think about this: Many of us who think that the impossible is not within our grasp are the same people who believe that one day we will leave our bodies and shoot off into heaven. How can we be sure? We believe this by faith. Then why not use that same type of childlike faith to say, "God, we have no idea how this all works, but we want to see You do fun, weird, miraculous stuff through us." Jesus continues to show me that I will miss 100 percent of the shots that I never take...

 

 But I cannot help asking why so many of us live our lives without the victories that our biblical ancestors experienced. If we say that we are children of a Father who props up His feet on the moon, then might our lives resemble something close to supernatural?

 

-- Chad Norris, M. Div., quoted on the Charisma Magazine Facebook page 

YOM KIPPUR 10/3 Friday Faith

The holiest day on the Jewish calendar begins at sundown Friday.  Jesus Himself observed this day, the Day of Atonement, which points to the Atonement that He would bring.  It concludes the Ten Days of Awe, or self-examination, which began at Rosh Hashanah.  During this time we are to ask forgiveness for ways in which we have sinned against others.
On Yom Kippur, the high priest entered the Holy of Holies and saw the Shekinah (the manifest presence of the Lord) over the Mercy Seat.  The sins of the people were put onto a scapegoat, that was led to its death in the wilderness.  A bull was then offered for atonement. 

"For the Christian, Yom Kippur should be a day of great celebration, a day when we remember that Christ died for us... It should remind us that salvation is by grace, received by faith, and that even faith is a 'gift of God' (Eph. 2:8-9).  We need not worry that our bad deeds may outweigh the good in God's balance scales of judgment.  Our salvation rests securely upon God Himself.  What freedom and joy we experience, and how gracious He is to save us from sin!

"Believers who trust in the blood of Christ experience God's presence more than any high priest ever did.  The ancient high priest could enter God's presence on one day each year, and then only with fear and trembling.  Yet those of us who know Jesus can boldly enter His heavenly throne room and step into the glorious presence of God."  

--The Fall Feasts of Israel, by Mitch and Zhava Glaser

For additional information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yom_Kippur

THE FINAL WIGGLESWORTH QUOTE 10/2 Thursday Thoughts

This quote is the last paragraph of the complete works of Smith Wigglesworth.  Tomorrow I'll be featuring Yom Kippur, then next week we'll have some miscellaneous quotes that have been suggested to me before we start another author/teacher. 
I am a father and I want to give my boys the very best.  We human fathers are but finite, but our heavenly Father is infinite.  There is no limit to the power and blessing He has laid up for them that love Him.  Be filled with the Spirit.