dickbraswell

Word for Today:  March 31

The norm of the Christian Life and Experience is Development

The object of our Faith is spiritual maturity and adulthood.  We are not to continue to be “babes in Christ” drinking only milk.  We are to grow up In Christ and take the Strong Meat of the Word  (Heb. 5:13-14).

For this purpose, God is raising up Powerful Word Ministries and Spiritual Churches all over the world to feed the people of God and bring them into maturity and perfection.  The very idea of the Christian Faith is progress and promotion and perfection.

Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a PERFECT MAN, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ…

 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine…”  “But speaking the truth in Love may GROW UP INTO HIM in all things…  Eph.  4:13-15

There is a growing restlessness in the Body of Christ… God is stimulating Spiritual Appetites and many are coming forth to feed on the pure Word of God.  The result is a desire to grow up and come into maturity.

Many are hungry for more of God and they do not know what to do about it.  Where they are they are not being fed and nourished and satisfied.  They are seeking and longing and looking for something that will satisfy and fulfill the hunger in their heart.  This is normal for this time.

This is a time for the Holy Spirit to move and probe and seek and search out those who will follow God fully.  That is why you are reading this today.  There is a longing… a hunger… a lack of satisfaction… a restlessness that will lead you to the place that God wants you to be.

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed IN US…

For whom he did foreknow He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son… Rom. 8:18, 29

HE wants to nourish you and grow you up in Him

Word for Today:  March 30

The expression “break up your fallow ground” is found twice in the Bible.

For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Jer 4:3

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.  Hos 10:12

Fallow Ground is uncultivated, unproductive, untilled ground.   Fallow ground is ground which perhaps was once tilled, but which now lies waste, and needs to be bro­ken up and mellowed, before it is suited to receive grain.

It was cleared.  It was cleaned.  It was leveled.  It was fertilized.  It had all the stumps removed.  The rocks and the debris were all hauled away.  Work had been done.  Labor had been invested.  The plow pre­pared the earth for the seed to be sown and for the crop to come in.  For Life to come forth.  It was ready.

When we get saved, or Baptized with the Holy Spirit, we become like new ground.  Do you know what new ground is?  It is the choice location for the planting of a crop.  It is fresh.  It is full of potential.  It is ready.  It is packed full of nutrients and minerals.  It is virgin.  It is unused.  It is NEW GROUND.

My farmer grandfather always saved his watermelon crop for New Ground.  He said if you want the biggest, the best and the sweetest watermelons, plant the watermelon seed in New Ground.

New Ground is the Best Place to plant the Word Seed.  We have been cleansed by the Blood.  We have had all the stumps removed and the rocks hauled away.  We have been leveled and cleaned and nurtured by the work of the Holy Ghost.  Our hearts are ready for the seed (Word) to be planted and for life to come forth.

Now what are you going to do??  Sometimes we produce a crop or two.  But, then, something happens.

• Neglect moves in.
• We become weary or tired or discouraged.
• Somebody hurt my feelings.
• No one spoke to me. The music is too loud.
• The preaching is too long.
• The worship is too radical.
• Nobody notices me.
• I don’t have a place.
• My gift is being ignored.
• I am being overlooked.
• God does not answer my prayers.
• This faith stuff is not for me.
• I tried but things got worse.

Are you in here somewhere?  Have you been thinking these things?

Perhaps things look better on the other side of the fence… away from where the new ground is.  Unless we are constantly producing regular crops, our hearts be­come fallow.  Hard.  Crusty.  Dry.  Dead.  Lifeless.  In need of breaking up.

This condition can be remedied.  But the fallow ground must be broken up. Until it is broken, the heart will remain cold, lifeless, dead and unfruitful.

An instrument is needed to break up fallow ground.  Power is needed to break up fallow ground.  The instrument to break up hard hearts is the Word.  The Power that makes the Word work is the Holy Ghost.

Break up your fallow ground

Word for Today:  March 29

There are only two kinds of people on earth.

And I do not mean Men and Women.  They are either Alive or they are Dead.  You can be Dead before you are dead.  If you are Alive you know it.  If you are Dead you know it.  The devil is the mer­chant of death.  Jesus came that we might be Become Alive and Stay Alive.

The ultimate purpose and mission of the devil is to kill and destroy.  The devil deals in death and destruction.  Jesus gives Life and Restoration.

All problems and at­tacks are designed by satan to kill you and destroy you.  The devil wants death and destruc­tion to take you over.  Jesus wants Life and Restoration to take you over.

How did Jesus deal with death?  The Bible says He conquered death, hell and the grave.  If He did, they still are.  We need to deal with death just like Jesus dealt with it.

At the grave of Lazarus, Jesus saw impossibility as an opportunity. And He refused to let the death-devil change His plans.  He heard Lazarus was sick but He refused to rush to his bedside in a panic mode.  He knew that nothing, even death, is final when God shows up.  He was not moved by the shocked opinions of those who were looking on and He was full of faith and ready to change the impossible.  He spoke life into Lazarus and that dead body recognized the sound of its Creator’s Voice.  Death lost its sting and the grave forfeited a victory.

Deal with your “death situation” just like Jesus dealt with His “Lazarus” situation.

Today can be your Resurrection day

Word for Today:  March 28

Don’t Stagger. (Rom 4:20)

The temptation is to stagger.  The overwhelming impossibilities are sometimes more than we can carry without staggering.  Staggering speaks of weakness.  It is doubt.  It is wavering.  It is unbelief.

Whatever you are facing…. do not stagger.  Instead STAND.  “Having done all… STAND!”  Some will stagger under the burden.  Others will stagger in unbelief and doubt.  Many will stagger in discouragement and disappointment.  Some will be impatient.  Staggering is the symptom that comes just before falling and falling is failing.    Falling is giving up and backing off and turning back.

Abraham “Staggered not…”  He stood.  Even when there was no “hope”, he hoped anyway!  He called those things which were not as though they already were.  God is not geared to the fickle world.   He is a God who Changeth Not.  Regardless of what is happening in the World,  Wall Street or Washington.

Make up your mind to “stagger not,” instead, believe God.  Abraham did.  He stood. When he was one hundred years old he still believed he was going to have a son… Not because he “felt like it” but because God said he would. He chose to doubt his body and believe God.  God’s Promises are not dependent on your body, your mind, your strength, or your ability.

It is your faith that reaches out and brings God’s Promises from the Spiritual World into the Natural World.  Therefore, don’t waver.  Resist doubt.  Cast out the spirit of impatience.   Trust God!

These are days of great possibility and potential.  In the face of problems and obstacles and hindrances that the world calls impossible… God reminds us that all things are possible!

Don’t stagger.

STAND

The Day God Came to the Bank

During the late part of the 1980’s, we found ourselves in the middle of an impossible and catastrophic dilemma.  It was the most fearsome dilemma we had ever faced.  It was a threat that could and, if possible, totally destroy, humiliate and disgrace our ministry and forever brand us as a shameful failure.

Often times, the attempt to expand and enlarge the place of ministry can produce challenges that go beyond our ability to solve them.  At this particular time, we were in the process of re-locating our church and school (Faith Academy) from a small parcel of real estate on Lott Road to a new larger site on Zeigler Boulevard.  We had literally out-grown our facilities and were in desperate need for more land and larger buildings.  This would require a capital improvement project that would include the construction of a new 800-1000 seat auditorium and an entire school facility with classrooms and gymnasium as well as more space for athletic and physicals education needs.  It also meant finding funding to pay for the project.

We were able to secure 4.5 million dollars from a Bond Issue that was directed by a banking company in Texas.  It was a giant leap into uncharted territory.  We began construction at the new site and almost a year later were approximately 80% complete.  But we were struggling to meet our debt service requirements and soon fell well short of being able to do so.  No attempt we tried could relieve our dilemma.  Soon we were months behind and foreclosure seemed imminent.

I was called to come to meet with the bank officials and was told to be prepared for the worst.  In the meeting, there were bank officers, lawyers, CPA’s and me.

The subject was concerning the best way to transfer the property, the buildings and our entire ministry campus over to the bank, and how we could effectively vacate the premises as quickly as possible.  I was embarrassed.  Humiliated.  Ashamed.  And heart-broken.  There was absolutely no way of escape.  I had no excuse, no hope and was totally defeated.  And helpless.

Then, suddenly and unexpectedly, one of the lawyers stood and emphatically began speaking:  “Thus saith the LORD….” And began to prophesy to all those present.  The atmosphere was electric.  Some there had no idea about what was going on.  Others were in shock.  Maybe one or two knew that we were being spoken to through a supernatural encounter with the Holy Spirit.    I really do not remember the exact words the prophesying lawyer spoke but it was on the order of:  “This man is an honest and sincere preacher, he has My hand on his work.  He is in need of your assistance in order to complete the Call he has on his life… Do not fear, I will see him through and all responsibilities will be met…. Give him grace and mercy…. Saith God”

Utter silence.  Then the flooding in of peace and rest and assurance.  I was awestruck.  The stressful meeting was de-fused and finally the man in charge (he must have been the president or vice-president of the bank) spoke directly to me and offered me a six month moratorium to get our finances in order.   God came to the bank.

Back on the site, within that six month period, God did a miraculous work on Zeigler Boulevard.  We entered a time of great visitation, revival and growth.  The work was completed, the school relocated and our financial short-fall increased to the level of catching up and carrying the debt and paying our bills.

Some years later, I signed a check that paid off all ministry indebtedness that secured a 100 acre campus and complex with a replacement cost in excess of 20 million dollars.

God is FAITHFUL

Word for Today:  March 27

What God has sown.

What God has planted in me is destined to come out of me.  It may be in seed form now, but it is time for the seed to grow into its fullest manifestation.

It’s there.  It’s time.  It’s happening.   Who will you be?  A King or a Kid?  A Seed or a Tree?

Name your dream.  Declare your intentions.  Speak with your mouth words that make things happen.  Faith words.  Word words.  God Words.  Heaven Words.

You and I will never exceed our declarations.  Our declarations determine our direction. Our declarations determine our destiny.  What we speak out of our hearts will create or destroy.  Words are instruments of creation or destruction.  Words make things.

There are Life Producing Forces (seeds) inside every believer.  These forces are put in us by the Work of the Holy Spirit at the time we are Born Again.  They are seeds destined to grow and produce.  They are forces that need to be released into the world.  Into our families.  Into our relationships.  Into the total experience of our lives.

They are in me.  They are in every Believer.  However, seeds are worthless unless they produce.  One seed is not sufficient to sustain life by itself.  It takes many seeds which are planted in good ground to bring forth a crop that is sufficient to sustain victorious living.

The real challenge is to grow these seeds into maturity.  As God plants these Seeds in us, the enemy plants weeds. The purpose of the weeds is to choke out the seeds.

These seeds are the building blocks of the Kingdom of God.  Jesus prayed for the Kingdom to come and for the Will of God to be done ON EARTH just as it is presently being done in Heaven.  These Seeds will produce God’s Kingdom on earth when and if they are planted in good ground and if proper conditions for growth are present.

Word for Today:  March 26

We are made out of dirt.

For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. Ps 103:14 

We are all created from (out of) the dust of the earth.  Dirt is necessary for the mass production of any harvest.  Seeds are put into the dirt.  Seeds that are alive and that have full and complete potential for maturing and producing a harvest are planted (put into) in Dirt.  Soil.  Ground.

Jesus gave a parable about how our heart is like ground.  He said the condition of the ground determines the success of the crop.  When the condition is “good” there will be a bountiful harvest.  “Some 30, some 60 and some 100 fold…”

But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it;  (puts it together)  which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Mt 13:23 

The heart condition must be characterized by (1) hearing the Word (2) understanding the Word and (3) doing the Word.   Hearing is more than listening.  It is hearing with the heart.  Understanding is more than knowing.  It is revelation.  Revelation is powerless unless it is acted on.

What God has planted in you He has destined to come out of you.  It may be in seed form now, but the seed has the power to grow into its fullest manifestation.

In the parable of the Sower (Mark 4), there is an interesting word that is translated “sow.”  It is spi’ ro  and it is derived from a primitive Greek verb which means “to draw out.”

The Bible concept of sowing is DRAWING OUT or PULLING OUT what God has PUT IN.

It does not mean to scatter or throw out or to cast out it means to “draw out” or “pull out.”  In order for the Seed of God to produce, the ground must PULL OUT of it what GOD has PUT IN IT.

Paul tells the Philippians to “work out your own salvation.” (2:12b)  And this is the idea of “working out” or “pulling out” what God has put in.

In order for sown seed to produce the GROUND has an important responsibility. It must PULL OUT what God has put in.

Work out (pull out) your harvest

Word for Today:  March 25

What are Storms?

Storms are circumstances and situations.   Storms are problems.  Storms are crises.  Storms are hindrances and delays and disappointments.  Storms are situations that plague us and harass us and attempt to destroy us.  Storms are sicknesses and physical attacks. Storms are Family conflicts and marriage troubles.  Storms are difficulties and impossibilities in the work place. Storms are addictions and habits that keep us in bondage.  Storms are demonic.

Where do Storms come from?  What causes them?

Storms are caused by the devil.  They are demonic attacks.  They are designed to do what the devil wants to do to you… to kill you, to steal your goods, and to completely destroy you.  Storms are planned and birthed in hell.  They are designed for you personally by the devil and his demons.  They are intended to keep you as far away from God and God’s Purpose as possible.

What is the Purpose of Storms?

The purpose and intent of storms is to stop you before you get where God wants you to be.  Storms arise and winds blow in the process of ministry and spiritual growth.  When you determine to obey God and be a blessing to others is when you will find yourself in a storm with the devil attempt­ing to sink your boat.

The moment you decide to go to the Other Side with Jesus, satan will send a storm to stop you and to sink your boat.  You hear the voice of God… the challenge… the command… (This is point A) and you start out toward point B which is the place where God wants you.  And on the way…. You run into a STORM.

How do we Calm the Storm?

The Word spoken in faith and prayed in faith always creates a calm and produces peace.  When Jesus found Himself in a great storm, He “rebuked” the wind and “said” to the sea… (Mark 4:39)  There is a time to pray and there is a time to arise and speak the Word.

Faith-filled words will make the Natural submit to the Spiritual.  If “no-faith” which is what the dis­ciples had (“how is it that ye have no faith…?”) yields to the destructive power of storms then Faith (which is what Jesus had) makes the de­structive power of storms submit to the Power of God.

Talk to your storm

Word for Today:  March 24

Soon.

Soon there will be Fresh and New Mantles of Anointing flowing in the Church; God’s Power will be revealed. His Glory will sweep through the Church and His Presence will be awesome. It will be as it was in the days of Solomon…   the priests and the servants of the Lord will not be able to stand by reason of the cloud for the Glory of the Lord will fill the House of God. (2 Chron 5:14)

New streams of Anointings will flow. Men, women and young people (and even children) will stand boldly to declare “thus saith the Lord” and will not fear the opposition of men or the reproach of the world.  Healing streams. Delivering streams.  Streams of strength and streams of encouragement. Streams of revelation and streams of unction to preach and speak in behalf of God.

Great anointings that will shake cities and towns and villages and communities… all flowing through men and women and children who are yielded to God. Prophetic anointings will operate and discerning anointings will operate. It will be as pure and powerful as that Anointing Peter had when he saw the sin of Ananias and Sapphira that is recorded in the Book of Acts.

Great and awesome anointings of power and supernatural abilities, healings, and miracles will be the atmosphere and the climate of the Restored Church. Now, we see through a glass “darkly” but soon we will see as God sees.

An awakening is on the way

Word for Today:  March 23

I believe we have missed the point somewhere.

Religion has formed opinions and manufactured definitions of what church is.  I wonder if church is today what it was in the first century.  I wonder if we did today what they did in the first century… would we qualify as ministers…. Or churches… or Christian assemblies?   Would it be acceptable? Would it fit in our specified service times?  What would happen?

Perhaps we have become acclimated and accustomed to contemporary activity that we call “church” and maybe it is not church at all… at least not church in the sense of the New Testament definition.

Does God wonder what we are doing?  Maybe we should re-evaluate what we do on the Lord’s Day and what happens on Sunday and then compare it with Scripture and see if it is really church or not.

Much of what we call “church” is not church at all.  It may qualify as a “meeting” but it certainly is not “Church.”  Our first question after the services should be “did we have Church?  Or did we just have a meeting.”  Many services in many churches would go right on without the Holy Ghost showing up and many would never know the difference.

• Church is not church if nothing happens.
• Church is not church if shock waves are not sent through hell. (Remember the “gates of hell” thing?
• Church is not church if people in church can sleep right through it.
• Church is not church when everything is planned and orchestrated by professional religious personnel.
• Church is not church if there is no excitement. No movement.  No action.
• Church is not church if there is no rejoicing.
• Church is not church lives and situations are not changed.

Real Church is radical