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Word for Today:  November 21

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 is in your mind and 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 20

Seek Him.  Find Him. Know Him.

Let your driving passion be to seek Him and find Him and know Him.  God tells us:

And ye shall seek me and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart… Jer. 29:13

Searching and Seeking “with all our heart” is the Key.  Many times our relationship with Jesus has been weakened and watered down… it has been prostituted and compromised… and as a result we do not seek Him with “all our heart.”   It could be that we have been too busy working for Him.  Perhaps we are too busy “going to church” and learning the latest trend and the newest formula and the next Revelation.

What do you really desire in your heart as far as your Spiritual Welfare is concerned?   What do you want most out of “Church”?   For what main reason do you attend church?

Some come to get healed.  Some come to learn how to prosper.  Some come because they like the music and the joy and the exuberance of the services.  Some come to hear the pastor.  Some come because they feel “obligated” and it relieves their conscience.  Some come to be with friends and some come to be with family.

All of these are good.  None are the best.

Come to seek Him

Come to know Him

Come to worship Him

Come to fellowship with Him

Come to love Him

Come to Behold His glory

Word for Today:  November 19

The Bottom Line.

The Bottom Line of the Christian Faith is that Christians are to be like Jesus.  The very word “Christian” means “like Christ.”  We are not to be like Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Pentecostals, Charismatics… or any other “religious” group… we are to be LIKE JESUS.

We are not to be like Oral Roberts, Billy Graham, Simon Peter, the Apostle Paul or any other notable preacher or teacher.  We are to be LIKE JESUS.

We have been so caught up with studying and learning about Jesus that we have neglected the simplicity of Knowing Jesus and Knowing Jesus intimately.

This is not something new for the church.  It happened in Ephesus as John describes in the Book of Revelation:

I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience and how thou canst not bear them which are evil and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles and are not and hast found them liars and hast borne and hast patience and for my name’s sake hast labored and hast not fainted nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love… Rev. 2:2-4

The result of continuing to neglect our First Love is spelled out clearly in this passage.

Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent and do the first works; or else….  Rev. 2: 5

Remember… Repent… and Return

Word for Today:  November 17

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”

Word for Today:  November 16

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Phil. 4:19

God supplies, and His supply comes out of Jesus.  Now, tell me, Where is Jesus?  Where does He Live?  Where does He Dwell?  Where is His Kingdom?  Where is His Throne?  “Christ in you the Hope of Glory!!”  (Col 1:27)

It is the Will of God for you to live in Abundance.  It is one of the Reasons that Jesus left Heaven and came to Earth… He came to “redeem us from the curse… that the Blessings of Abraham might come on us.”  (Gal 3:13-14)

The Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of Abundance.   It is a Realm and a Dimension in which all the Believer’s needs are met and supplied according to God’s Riches in Glory by Christ Jesus.  (Phil 4:19)

The Church is to function in Abundance. It is the most successful and the most powerful organism on this planet.   Believers are to control the wealth of this earth and the resources of this earth.   The very wealth of the wicked has been laid up and reserved for the Righteous.

When we live in the Abundance Jesus provides, we are living in Victory.

Jesus is your Abundance.  And He lives in you.

Wherever your need is, take Jesus there, show it to Him, and trust Him to supply that need.  He wants to.  He wills to.  He delights in doing it.

He is waiting patiently for you to let Him

Word for Today:  November 15

It is more than knowledge.

It is acting on the Truth that sets you free… It is more than inspiration.  It is more than feeling.  It is more than emotion.

God expects you to act on what you know and when you do, you sow seeds that begin to grow.  What you sow and what you grow is what you harvest and what you receive.  (Mark 4)

• You cannot draw out of the bank what you have not put in the bank.
• You cannot grow in your garden what you have not planted in your garden.
• You cannot harvest what you have not sown.

When you sow Word Seed in good ground, you are guaranteed a bountiful harvest. You literally begin to “pull out” what God has “put in.” The principle of Sowing is one of the most profound revelations that I ever received from God.

If you know this Truth and then DO this Truth, God promises to make you free.    John 8:32

What you sow is what you grow…

and what you grow is what you get

Word for Today:  November 14

The Church is “Jesus on earth” today.

It is His Body and if the world is ever changed, it will be changed by the Church.

When the Spiritual Awakening comes, it will come by and through the Church.

When the Will of God is done, it will be done by the Church.

When the Word of God is released into the earth it will be released by the Church.  And when this happens, the Kingdom of God is manifested.

When YOU use your faith to release the Revelation of the Word that is in you, you cause the Kingdom of God to appear at that very place.  At that very time.   For that specific purpose.

And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.  Mt 16: 18

Jesus prayed for the Kingdom of God to come and for God’s will to be done on earth.  (Mt 6:10)

You can be the answer to His prayer today

Word for Today:  November 13

A famous golf professional recently played in a televised tournament and won more prize money than we have be able to spend on missions in the last five years.

The world really does not need fancy, exotic automobiles, vacation homes, obscene wealth or athletic superstars, or golf trophies, but it desperately needs Jesus.

If people were as glad to hear the Word and as determined to hear the Word as the Christians of the First Century, preachers would be working overtime, three shifts a day seven days a week.

As it is, we have difficulty filling the church building once or twice a year, and then only when we have something really entertaining.  What does that say about the church today?

• Where else can you get what you get at church?
• Who else can give you what God gives you at church?
• How can you say that church is not important when the greatest manifestations of God’s Power and Presence are revealed in the Assembly of the Saints?

How can we expect to stay spiritually strong when we ignore the importance of the preached and taught Word that “happens” in the church?  When we are more excited about going to the movies, or to a ball game or entertaining ourselves, how can we expect to maintain our power over devils and demons and hell?

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.   Heb 10:25

Let’s get real

Word for Today:  November 11

Regeneration.

Regeneration is the God-ward side of Salvation.  In Regeneration, the dead human spirit is Quickened and brought to life by the Spirit of God and man is restored and made righteous.

The genetic signature of your spirit is “re-gened” with the identical genetic structure of God Himself.

Notice:

• The New Creation is redeemed from the curse and penalty of sin.
• The New Creation is made Righteous. The New Creation is restored to favor with God (Reconciled).
• The New Creation becomes an Heir of God and Joint Heir with Christ.
• The New Creation is provided Power to live in victory.
• The New Creation has access to all God’s Provisions:
• The New Creation Overcomes the World. I John 5:4

And as a result, the New Creation man will love:

• The Brethren: And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. 1 John 4:21

• God: By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 1 John 5:2  

• God’s Word: O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.119:97  

• The Church: Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;  5:25  

• His enemies: But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;   5:44  

• The Lost: For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:   5:14  

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.  2Co 5:17

Word for Today:  November 9

Jesus came to reveal the Nature of God.

He came from Heaven to show us what God is like.  He came to earth to answer the question:  “What is God like?”  And He is the Perfect Revelation of God.  Jesus “condescended” and “made Himself of no reputation…” to reveal to you and me and all creation Who God is and What God is like.

The Incarnation of Christ is the greatest miracle of all time.

All the world can now know God and God’s Person, Nature and Character.

Jesus perfectly and completely reveals the Nature of our Father God.  He said:

 “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father…”

Jesus condescended to this earth and “made Himself of no reputation”   He “laid down” and literally “left in heaven”:

• His equality with God
• The Glory He shared with the Father in Heaven
• His Authority in Heaven
• His Divine attributes and outward powers

He “Emptied Himself” order to reveal the Nature and Character of God.  Jesus is the Perfect Revelation of God.

Philippians 2

6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery  (something to be grasped at)  to be equal with God:

7 But made himself of no reputation, (emptied Himself) and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Jesus came to earth and put a Face on God