Gifts without Presence

There is a different between gifts and God's presence. You can continue to use the gifts for a long time after the presence of the Lord has already left. Saul lost the presence after 2 years and continued serving as king for another 40 years. You can continue in the calling and ministry God gave you without His presence. You can even have good results, but in the end you will be judged by God.

We do not have to prove ourselves.

As I was reading the story of Christ's crucifixion in the gospel of Matthew, I was struck by the fact that the bystanders were mocking Christ's authority and asking Him to prove himself by coming down from the cross.

The Lord spoke to me that we do not have to prove ourselves when we are being obedient to God. We don't have to answer to others but God alone. It sure would have been tempting for Christ to show his power.

If Jesus had listened to their mocking and encouragement to rescue himself, he would of disobeyed His Father and we would not have been saved from our sin. Oh yes, if he had come off that cross many would have believed in Him and followed Him, but provision for our salvation would not have been made. It would have been a short won victory. It would have been a short term gain, but a long term lost.

Let us be careful not to be led by the crowd or choose the path of less resistance. Let us be careful to not let our pride cause us from being obedient to Him. There are many voices out their pulling at us, but there is only one voice that we are to listen to. The idea may look good in our eyes and/or in the eyes of others, but there is only one path. There is no short cuts with God. There is no plan two. We must stay the course.

No Godly Knoweldge - No Godly Power

Matthew 22:29 - " Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God."

Many people are in error because they do not know the Bible or the power of God. It is through faith in God's Word's that we can know the power of God. Yet, there are those who know Scripture but don't know the power of God because they have not yielded to the author of the Bible who is the Holy Spirit.

How are we to live as God would have us to live if we don't know and understand His Word? How can we have the power of God if we don't believe in the Bible and apply it to our lives?

Let us know longer live in ignorance and powerless. Let us decide this day a fresh and a new to know God's Word, act on His Word and yield to the Holy Spirit's power.

A Crumb from the Lord's Table

A crumb from the Lord's table is better than a feast at the worlds or devils table.

Matthew 15:27-28 - "“Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” 28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment."

The context of this verse is that a woman came to Jesus with a demon possessed daughter to be healed by Jesus. Jesus wasn't interested in healing her being that she was a gentile. He states his mission was to go to the lost sheep of Israel. Yet, because of her persistence, wisdom, humility and faith, Christ heals her.

She asked only for a crumb of God's mercy and power. That little crumb that fell from the Lord's table broke the power of the devil and brought healing. Wow! A morsel of God's grace, mercy, love and power is more than all that the world or the devil can give us.

Teaching Out of Authority

Matthew 7:29 - "because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law."

Jesus taught as one who had authority. Where did Jesus get this authority? How can we teach out of authority.

Jesus got his authority from the Father and the Holy Spirit. Our teaching has authority when we have a strong relationship with Christ. Our authority comes out of spending quality time with the Lord. Our authority comes as we allow the Holy Spirit to speak through us. 

Jesus got His authority from a life of obedience and righteousness. In the same way, we will teach with authority out of a godly life. The reason being is that we will be in favor with the Lord. The reason being is that we will have already taken the speck out of our own eye before removing what is another persons eye. Our authority will come from our credibility and life experience.  People will accept our teaching more readily when they see that we live what we teach. We are able to teach with greater authority when we can speak out of life experiences. 

The teachers of the law did not teach with authority because they did not have a true relationship with the Father. They did not teach under the power of the Holy Spirit. People heeded John the Baptist's preaching because he spoke under the power of God's Spirit. The teachers of the could not teach with authority because the were hypocrites. They could not teach from life experience. Although they were well versed in the law, they focused on the letter of the law instead of the Spirit of the law. They taught as philosophers, and focused on man made laws.

Finally you can only teach with authority when you are under Christ's authority and the authority has been given to you from God.

Satan's Attack On Sonship

Galatians 4:4-7 - "But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. ⁶ Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

Because of what Christ did on the cross for us, we who believe in Him are now His sons. As sons, we have received the Spirit of God. It is this very Spirit that identifies us as God's sons and allows us to have the fulness of God in us. We have His character (DNA), authority, and are heirs with Christ. It is the very elevated position of honor and authority that Satan will attack.

In Matthew 4:1-11 where Jesus was tested by the devil, it is this very thing that Satan attacked and tried to discredit. Two times Satan tested Jesus by saying, "if you are the Son of God". The third time Satan came to Him. He tried to make Him give up or away His authority. If Jesus had fallen prey to one of these temptations, Satan would have the victory over him and render Him powerless to accomplish the mission His Father had sent Him on.

In this same way, Satan will attack our on sonship. If he can make us doubt our sonship, and the lofty positon we have in Christ, we have given him authority in our lives. If Satan can make us give up or give away our authority, he has won the battle. If we continue to yield our position, he will have the victory. If he can make us doubt our position in Christ or cause us to yield out position of authority, he rends us powerless to accomplish His mission through us. 

Remember Jesus said that God had given Him all authority, and in the same way he has given us all authority over sin and every work of the devil. (Matthew 28:16-20) The Bible says, that we are more than conquerors through Him. (Romans 8:37) The Bible says, we need to stand our ground and position that Christ has given us. (Ephesians 6:13) The word "stand" is commanded over 7 times in the epistles. Also, in over 8 other places, it tells us to "stand firm". Therefore, let us stand in what Christ has given us.

Transformational Thanksgiving

The Bible warns us that one of the signs of the last days is that people will not be thankful. Romans 1:18, 21 says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness ….because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”
God has so blessed us that we can begin to take the blessings of God for granted in our lives. There is a growing sense of entitlement in our culture that, if we are not watchful, can begin to affect our relationship with God. Paul warns us that the result of this lack of thankfulness is that we become futile in our thoughts and our foolish hearts are darkened. The lack of thanksgiving results in a world full of greed, and corruption to the point of self-destruction. The tragedy of it all is that our thoughts are so darkened we don’t even understand that we are destroying ourselves and the future of our children.
The cure to this self-destructive trend in our society is transformational thanksgiving in which we purposefully begin to publicly glorify God and give Him thanks for what He does in our lives and gives to us. When was the last time you thanked someone at work, at home or in the market place for something simple he/she did for you? When was the last time you publicly thanked God and gave Him glory for something He helped you with on the job or at home, or something He provided for you?
We need to cultivate an atmosphere of thanksgiving. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Don’t just give thanks when things are going well or for the special things or special occasions,, but in everything give thanks. Thanksgiving should become a lifestyle that just flows out of us in gratitude to God.
Psalms 100:4-5 exhorts us to “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations.” The gateway to entering into the transformational presence of God is through thanksgiving. We need to take our focus off of our possessions, which we think we cannot live without, and put our focus on God, His goodness, mercy and truth.
In this world filled with grumbling, complaining, criticism and anger, we need to be salt and light by developing lips that continually give thanks and praise to God. As we give thanks and glory to God, it will begin to change our perspective on life and will begin to affect others around us and transform our environment. Thanksgiving will produce love, joy, peace, longsuffering and patience in our lives.
Purpose in your heart today to begin developing a lifestyle of thanksgiving, and you will be amazed at what God will do.