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Word for Today:  November 29

What really happened at Calvary?

We have read about the Crucifixion, heard sermons on the Crucifixion, studied about the Crucifixion, but in reality very few know and understand what happen on the Cross.  What we believe about the Cross will determine the depth of our Revelation of Jesus.

Justice had decreed that sinful man must pay the penalty for his transgression.  The Human Race stood guilty of spiritual high treason before God.  Man had turned away from God and embraced the devil.  However, the human race was impotent, helpless and incapable of meeting the demands of justice.

“I owed a debt I could not pay,

He paid a Price He did not owe,

I needed Someone just to wash my sins away,

And now I sing a brand new song:  Amazing Grace!

Christ Jesus paid the Price that I could never pay!”

And so out of the Heart of God comes the solution to the human problem.  Jesus steps forward and declares:  “Here am I, send Me…”  And so toward the Cross He goes.

Calvary is center stage for the entire human race.  What happened there is the pivotal point of all history.  Calvary is more than the death of Jesus at the hand of His enemies.  Calvary is more than the suffering and horror of such inhumanity and torture.

• Calvary involves Jesus and it involves God.
• It involves man and it involves sin.
• It involves time and it involves eternity.
• It is the place of a divine Exchange

Here, Jesus became what man is in order than man can become what Jesus is.

“God made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him…”  II Cor. 5:21

What a Deal

Word for Today:  November 28

Behold Jesus as a Perfect Man

ALL the miracles that Jesus performed while He was on earth were performed by a Human Being Full of the Holy Ghost and Power.  What He did… we can do.  What He accomplished as a Man, we can accomplish as men and women full of the Holy Ghost and living in that anointing.

He spoke to storms and they stopped.  He spit and made mud from it, put it on blind eyes and they were opened.  He confronted demon powers and they feared and trembled and begged for mercy.  He touched crippled and broken bodies and they were made whole.   He spoke healing to the sick and diseased and they were healed.  He received sinners and had mercy on the guilty.  He loved the unlovable and had compassion on the masses.  He raised the dead… cleansed lepers… resisted the devil… opened graves… interrupted funerals and restored the dead to their families…   He made wine out of water… friends out of enemies… peace out of confusion and torment… joy out of sadness and Heaven out of hell…  And then He told us that:

greater works than these shall ye do; because I go unto my Father… John 14:12.

Jesus is our Example.  Jesus is our Pattern.  Jesus is the guarantee that we can overcome the devil and take dominion over the powers of darkness.

Word for Today:  November 27

A Higher Call

God calls His People into realms beyond the natural.  We are birthed into a higher dimension when we get Born Again.     The New Creation is delivered from the “old things” and brought into the realm of “all things new”.   The Word says “we are in the world, but not of the world…”  We are citizens of “another country” and we have been raised up to sit with Jesus in “heavenly places…”   The New Testament is the Believer’s Instruction Manual.  It tells us how to Live in the realm of the Supernatural and it gives instructions about how to live Heaven’s Life here on earth.

The majority of the Church is living far below the full potential God has birthed in it.  Most who make up the Church do not know the hidden forces that are in them.  The very Forces that make God, God are inside every Believer…  There is great and awesome potential inside every New Creation in Christ.  Why do you think the Word tells us that we “can do all things through Christ…”  Why do you think God tells us that “nothing shall be impossible to you…”  Why do you think God promises us that “if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven…”  We are called to be “more than conquerors…” and we have been equipped with mighty weapons of warfare that are “not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds…”  God is calling you and me to SEE THE INVISIBLE and DO THE IMPOSSIBLE…   Heb 11:27

Live in your Supernatural Dimension

Word for Today:  November 26

Forgetting and Moving on.

In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;   Eph 1:7

Believers are forgiven.  Not “going to be” but “already are.” God does not look on our sin.  When He looks on us, He can only see a Reflection of Himself.  He is never displeased with us.  Because He can never be displeased with Jesus.  And we are right now, this moment “in this world” as He is in heaven.

Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.  I John 4:17.

God will remember your sin no more.  They are not just “covered” but He has removed all your sin as far as the east is from the west.   (Not from the North to the South… these both have beginning and ending points… there are no beginnings or endings from East and West).   He does not remember them.  He has forgotten them.  So should you.

As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.  Psa 103: 12

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before…  Phil 3:13

So, forget your failures and move on

Word for Today:  November 24

What really happened at Calvary?

We have read about the Crucifixion, heard sermons on the Crucifixion, studied about the Crucifixion, but in reality very few know and understand what happen on the Cross.  What we believe about the Cross will determine the depth of our Revelation of Jesus.

Justice had decreed that sinful man must pay the penalty for his transgression.  The Human Race stood guilty of spiritual high treason before God.  Man had turned away from God and embraced the devil.  However, the human race was impotent, helpless and incapable of meeting the demands of justice.

“I owed a debt I could not pay,

He paid a Price He did not owe,

I needed Someone just to wash my sins away,

And now I sing a brand new song:  Amazing Grace!

Christ Jesus paid the Price that I could never pay!”

And so out of the Heart of God comes the solution to the human problem.  Jesus steps forward and declares:  “Here am I, send Me…”  And so toward the Cross He goes.

Calvary is center stage for the entire human race.  What happened there is the pivotal point of all history.  Calvary is more than the death of Jesus at the hand of His enemies.  Calvary is more than the suffering and horror of such inhumanity and torture.

• Calvary involves Jesus and it involves God.
• It involves man and it involves sin.
• It involves time and it involves eternity.
• It is the place of a divine Exchange

Here, Jesus became what man is in order than man can become what Jesus is.

“God made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him…”  II Cor. 5:21

What a Deal

Word for Today:  November 23

Jesus’ self-emptying.

(Jesus) Who existing in the Form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made Himself of no reputation (Kenoo) and took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross…  Phil. 2:6-8

Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son and shall call His name Immanuel…  Isa. 7:13

The Kenosis of Jesus is a Foundation Truth that many have failed to grasp.  Kenosis or “self-emptying” simply declares that Jesus willingly “emptied” Himself of His God Characteristics and condescended to the stature and state of a man… a human being… born of a woman… and came to earth to live and die as part of God’s Plan to Redeem Man from Adam’s failure.

Jesus laid down and left in heaven certain characteristics and privileges He exercised as God.  He willingly emptied Himself of His God Form… His God Power… His God Knowledge… His Eternal Life.  He became subject to sickness, disease, death, failure, sin and any and all human liabilities and limitations imposed by Adam’s sin and failure.  The Scripture tells us that:

He was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin… (Heb. 4:15)

Jesus willingly and obediently subjected Himself to the possibility of sin and the possibility of failure when He put off His God Characteristics and took on Himself the form and limitations of humanity.  He literally risked His Deity.

But He was Victor over temptation.  He was Victor over sin.  He was Victor over every human weakness.  He was Victor over all…

Even death and the grave

Word for Today:  November 21

The Kingdom

“Religious” thinking (this is always a big problem) has removed the Kingdom from where it really is to where we think it is.  When we think of “heaven” we think “far away.”  We think “eternity.”  We think “after we die.”  We think “sometime in the future.”

The devil sees to it that we think wrong about the Kingdom and where it is.  Because he knows that when we find out the Truth, he is doomed.

The Kingdom is in (or within) every believer.   If you are a believer, the Kingdom is inside of you.  Jesus said the Kingdom of God is “within” or “inside” of you.

Neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, lo there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within (entos:  within, inside) you.”  Luke 17:21

Now, just what is in the Kingdom?   What is there?  What is inside of you?

• Life
• Health
• Peace
• Joy
• Power
• Success
• Prosperity
• Boldness
• Love
• Faith
• Forgiveness
• Patience
• Strength
• Soundness of mind

In fact “all things that pertain to life and godliness” are in you. (2Pet 1:3)   It is all there.  It is inside of every believer.  It came at the time of your conversion.  It is the Kingdom of God and it has come.  It is the Answer to the prayer Jesus prayed in Matthew chapter 6.  It will function when you let it.

All Kingdom resources are in you.

Word for Today:  November 20

What matters to Jesus.

Heart condition matters to Jesus.  The Word tells us that He looks on the Heart… not the outward appearance.  What is in your heart and the condition of your heart will determine the depth of your relationship with Jesus.

What comes out of your mouth was first in your heart.  How you feel toward others and toward God and toward the Church comes from the inner most part of your re-created Human Spirit… your heart.

Revival and Restoration comes from the “reconditioning” of the heart…. Commitment and dedication and fruit production all come from the “reconditioned” heart.  How is your heart?  Are you plagued with “heart trouble”?  The kind of coldness and indifference that is spiritually fatal?

The “don’t care” attitude and the “good-enough-as-I-am” and “satisfied as is” attitude is the direct result of a hardened heart… an “evil heart of unbelief” (Heb. 3:12).

Check your heart

Word for Today:  November 19

When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.   (John 11:4)

Jesus “heard” the bad report.  Faith comes by hearing and doubt also comes by hearing.  Unbelief can be stimulated by hearing.  Distress can come by hearing.  Fear can be initiated by hearing.  What are you hearing?  Whatever you are hearing will either build your faith are add to your unbelief.  Jesus determined not to be moved by what He heard.

Then, Jesus declared with His mouth what the situation was going to be.  He took the opportunity to prophesy what the situation was going to be because he knew the will of God in the matter.   Jesus “heard” and then He “said.”  What He heard did not alter what He said.  He refused to give in to the sense realm by believing what the opinions of men were.

“It’s not over.  It’s not final.  It’s not what it’s going to be.  God is working.  I am waiting.  I am believing.  I am standing.  I am speaking.  I am prophesying.  What I say is in agreement with God and because of this, the devil (and all his works) will have to move aside.”

• Sickness is an opportunity.
• Adversity is an opportunity.
• Every impossibility is an opportunity.
• Your fiery trial is an opportunity.

They are opportunities for us to exercise our faith.  They are opportunities for us to get into the Word and find out what God is saying.  They are opportunities to turn tragedy into triumph.

God is the Master at giving us Beauty for ashes.  (Isa 61:3)  When we see our “death” situation in this light, we will be encouraged to say the same thing Jesus said:

“This thing is not unto death…. it is an opportunity for God to show Himself strong in my behalf and to give me a powerful testimony of His Faithfulness.”

Your crisis is not “unto death”

During the early years of my flying experience, it became obvious that God had some special expert angels assigned to keep this amateur pilot alive and safe from what could have been fatal accidents.

On one of our flying trips in the Piper Cherokee 180, returning from the Navajo Indian reservation in Arizona, I was having to plan and navigate through some weather systems that were active along my returning route.  Since I was a VFR only (visual flight rules) pilot I was restricted from flying into IMC (instrument meteorological conditions) and required to rely on visual references and checkpoints.  There were minimums beyond which I was not allowed to fly because it was usually fatal for pilots without an Instrument rating.  Those accidents were usually due to disorientation caused by restricted visibility when flying into clouds.

On this particular return trip there was a cold front lying adjacent to the Mississippi River near Vicksburg.  It was visible from more than ten miles out and I was headed east toward Jackson.  There was a solid wall of cloud cover down to just a few hundred feet above ground level.   My passengers were fellow ministers who assisted in our Navajo Indian ministry in Arizona.  As we approached this “wall clouds” I informed the guys with me to pray for an opening so we could continue out trip home without having to land and wait for the weather to improve. 

As I continued flying toward the “wall” it became very obvious that something must happen soon, or I would be forced to reverse my course and head back to better weather conditions.   About two or three miles out with no improvement in the situation, suddenly it was as if Some One pulled a Curtain Rope behind the “stage” and the wall of clouds parted. A small opening was revealed…. Just barely wide enough for me to navigate safely through.  And we (like the children of Israel at the Red Sea) passed right through to safe weather and flying on the “other side.”  And were soon home again. 

Another mini-miracle.