Who do you turn to when you need help, when you need an important answer to an important question? Do you ask God first?
So many believers fail to do that! They'll stand around wringing their hands and talking to each other all day. They'll inquire of their pastor. They'll inquire of their friends. They'll inquire of their husband or wife. But do they inquire of God? No.
Don't make that mistake.
What is God's reason for prospering His people? Is it so we can watch bigger TVs? So we can buy finer houses and more luxurious cars?
Establishing God's covenant on the earth and giving to those in need: Those are God's purposes for prosperity!
When Jesus said those words, He wasn't just giving us a prescription for getting to heaven. He was telling us how to live a superior life right here on earth.
You see, there's a high life that we can live right here, right now. But to get in on it, we have to lay down the way of life that most of us are accustomed to. We may have to let go of the very things we've been trying so hard to latch on to. We have to set our hearts instead on doing what God wants us to do.
We often think of "laying down your life" for someone else in terms of dying. That's what Jesus did. He loved us so much He laid down His life by dying in our place so that we could live.
But now, He's asked us to lay down our lives in a different way. He's asked us to show our love, not by dying for others, but by living for them.
Exactly what does that mean?
Think about that for a moment! God has reserved the right to override the will of a nation's leader, if need be, to see that His people are governed according to His will.
What's more, God will hear the prayer of any government leader. Even if he's the worst reprobate in the whole world. He heard the prayer of old King Nebuchadnezzar. Believe me, that means He'll listen to any leader!
Grace teaches us! The "Spirit of grace" instructs us from the inside. Let the Holy Spirit of God counsel you and teach you how to live in this present world.
Do you know what God wants you to do more than anything else today? He wants you to fellowship with Him.
He wants you to walk with Him and talk with Him. To discuss the things of life with Him. He wants you to draw near to Him and partake of His very nature.
So many of us get so caught up in striving to please God in the things we do that we forget our first and highest calling is just to be in fellowship with Him.
That's right. God longs for us just to want to be with Him.
Satan has had us in a poverty mentality so long that it's tough for us to grasp just how intensely God really does desire to prosper us—even though He's demonstrated that desire again and again.
Take Abraham, for example. God made him an extremely wealthy man. Genesis 13:2 says he was rich in cattle, in silver and in gold.
Then, of course, there was Solomon. The Bible says he surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.
Love never fails. Nothing works without it, and there can be no failure with it. When you live by love, you cannot fail.
It takes faith to believe that love's way will not fail. The natural mind cannot understand that because the natural man and his world are ruled by selfishness.
But when you practice love by faith and refuse to seek your own, you put the Father into action on your behalf. As long as you stay in love, God the Father seeks your own. He sees to it that you succeed. Walking in love is to your great advantage!
There's a subtle strategy Satan uses to take control of our lives. The Bible calls it lasciviousness and it means "to have no restraint."
Lasciviousness has been preached as being extreme immorality, but it doesn't start out that way. It begins with just a few seemingly innocent thoughts. Then those thoughts grow and grow until they begin to produce serious sin.
I used to worry about making decisions for God. I used to be afraid to step out on faith and declare I was going to do something new that He’d shown me to do. I’d think, What if I fail? I was so scared of failing, I’d muddle around in indecision for weeks. Then one day I found out it wasn’t my power that was going to carry it out anyway. But it took my decision to move God in on the scene. Once I decided what I was going to do, and committed myself totally to it, God backed me!
Do you know why the Word of God and the orders God gives to you in your spirit are not burdensome or oppressive? Because everything He tells you is for your good and for your victory!
God knows what it takes to live in victory in this present evil world. In fact, He’s the only One who knows. The people of this world cannot tell you how to live victoriously. They don’t know how. But God does! He can make things work, even in the middle of darkness, and if we’ll follow His instructions, commands and precepts from His Word, we can, too!
If you’re going to grow in the kingdom of God, you’re going to do it just like a seed that’s been planted in the ground. How does a seed grow? All at once? No, it grows constantly—24 hours a day—a little all the time until it accomplishes what it was created to do.
Most of us don’t operate that way spiritually. We study and pray very hard for a few days and then quit. Then, when some disaster comes, we make a mad attempt to pray and stand on the Word, all the while realizing that, for some reason, we’re just not as strong as we ought to be.
Till we all come in the unity of the faith. What this scripture means is simply this: If we’re ever going to become truly powerful in the kingdom of God, if we’re ever going to be any great threat to the devil, we’re going to have to grow up—together.
It won’t be enough for just a few of us to grow up on our own and say, “Too bad” about everyone else. It doesn’t work that way. We’re a part of each other. The Bible calls us one body...the Body of Christ.
There is one thing you can do that will accelerate your spiritual growth more than almost any other thing: Learn to take correction—from the Spirit of God and from His people.
So few believers seem to be able to do that. When their preacher gets in the pulpit and preaches about something they already know, about some aspect of life they’ve already submitted to the Lord, they think he’s great. They like him because he makes them feel good. But the moment he stands up and begins to preach about something they’re doing wrong, they take offense.
Have you ever noticed that you are sometimes aware of certain things even before you know what the Word says about them? That’s because the Holy Spirit is inside you teaching you the truth. He speaks into your spirit. Then your spirit relays His promptings to your mind. Suddenly, you’ll have a new thought. I need to forgive that person, you’ll think, or I need to stop saying those unkind things.
The Greek text of that scripture would literally read, “I give you the keys of the kingdom. Whatever you declare locked on earth is locked in heaven and whatever you declare unlocked on earth is unlocked in the heavenlies.”
The heaven Jesus was talking about there isn’t the heaven where God resides. He was talking about the battle zone, about the heaven where Satan’s forces are operating.
He was telling us that God has given us power to bind the wicked spirits in heavenly places and to loose the angelic powers of God to work in our behalf.
God’s will is to lead you on a day-by-day basis. He’s given His Spirit to guide you every day.
Most believers don’t know that. They expect God to reveal His complete will for their lives in one big revelation. Don’t make that mistake. Don’t just sit around waiting for God to show you whether or not He wants you to go to Africa for the rest of your life.
Let Him begin to lead you in little things first, to tell you what you need to do about this situation or that one. He’ll show you what you need to change. And, as He does, you’ll change one thing at a time.
The company you keep has such an influence on your spiritual life. Fellowshiping with godly people will help speed you on to victory, while fellowshiping with those who are ungodly will drag you down to defeat.
That’s why the Bible has some things to say about your friends. That’s why it tells you to separate yourself from the world. Because evil companions will corrupt you.
Now, I’m not talking about ministry. Jesus Himself ministered to sinners. You have to mix with them to preach to them and pray for them. What I’m talking about here are the people you choose for friends.
This is the key to holding on to the blessings of God. When pressure comes, when troubles and trials are bearing down on you, remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead!
Remember that when Jesus arose, you arose. When He came out of hell and defeated the enemy, you came out of hell and defeated the enemy. His victory is your victory because you’re in Him.