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Day-by-Day-Word

Vol. 4

Mthobisi Dladla

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FALLEN ANGELS & DEMON SPIRITS

2 Peter 2:4(NLT)

For God did not spare even THE ANGELS WHO SINNED. HE

THREW THEM INTO HELL, in gloomy pits of darkness, where

THEY ARE BEING HELD until the Day of Judgment.

There are so many questions that we have about how heaven

operates and the beings that occupy it. John speaks about

seeing four living creatures in the realm of God's throne

(Revelation 4:8), Ezekiel also speaks about seeing some kind

of living creatures(Ezekiel 1:10), Isaiah talks about seeing

seraphim and cherubim (Isaiah 6:2) which are beings that

God created. There are so many accounts in the bible aboutcreatures that occupy heaven's space where God's throne

dwells. In one instance Micaiah talk about seeing "all the

MULTITUDE of heaven standing on God's right hand and

left"(2 Chronicles 18:18). That means that even as we are

reading this, there are creatures of heaven moving up and

down in heaven, these creatures God has made for a specific

purpose. The creatures of heaven that we are well

acquainted with or most familiar with are ANGELS. By the

grace of God some who live today have even seen angels and

witness of the reality of their existence. Nonetheless there

appears that at some time ago in the hearts of heaven,

some angels SINNED and fell, Satan being one of them, and

God threw them into hell (Tartarus), where they are being

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HELD until the Day of Judgment. This is true because even

Jude spoke concerning them saying "And the ANGELS which

kept not their first estate, but LEFT THEIR OWN

HABITATION, he hath RESERVED IN EVERLASTING CHAINS

under darkness unto the judgment of the great day."(Jude

1:6). Because of what Jude wrote, we can understand the

type of sin they committed. He says "they left their own

habitation", now why would they do that & how did they

that? We will try and attend to each question as best as we

can and with reference to the word of God. There are

different kinds or classes of angels, and they have different

responsibilities and duties and they have different ranks. In

Daniel for instance, Michael is called a chief prince (Daniel

10:13), and Jude calls him the archangel (Jude 1:9) because

of his rank, there are angels like Gabriel who convey

messages from heaven (Luke 1:19), there are angels whoguard cities and countries (Ezekiel 9:1), Paul calls them

"ministering spirits"(Hebrews 1:14) and so on and so forth.

Lets come back to the questions. The angels who fell left

their HABITATION for one particular sin, according to

Genesis. In Genesis it says "...when the SONS OF GOD came

in unto the daughters of men..."(Genesis 6:2), for the longest

time we have confused the term "sons of God", for people,but "sons of God" in Genesis are actually angels, who left

their natural habitation and married women in earth. In the

book of Job, reading from the New King James Version, it

says "the SONS OF GOD came to present themselves before

the LORD..." however in the New International Version, it

says "the ANGELS came to present themselves before the

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LORD,..."(Job 1:6), which shows that for some time the bible

writers refereed to angels as sons of God.

There is a power that God has given to one class of angels,

which allows them to transform themselves into terrestrial

beings, to look and become like humans, it is that kind that

visited Lot in Sodom and the men of Sodom wanted to "know

them carnally"(Genesis 19:5). A part of that kind of angels

had relations with daughters of men, and God judged them

and sent them to hell. This is just one class of the so called

FALLEN ANGELS; there is another class that doesn't have the

ability to transform itself into human beings. The ones that

are cast in hell do not have the power to walk on earth

because they are HELD BY CHAINS OF DARKNESS reserved

for the Day of Judgment.

So then what are these other spirits, known as DEMONS,which we have known for a long time to be fallen angels?

Satan is also a fallen angel however he can walk on earth and

that is evident when he says to God he has been "roaming

throughout the earth, going back and forth on it."(Job 2:2).

Lets talk about demon spirits. Demon spirits were not

originally demon spirits, they were spirits that God formed

who also followed Satan in his rebellion. They were able to

follow Satan since they were under his authority. Since Satan

was an anointed angel (Ezekiel 28), he had spirits that were

subject to him; in one of our notes called Demonology we

share about that in detail.

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These spirits, unlike the class of angels we mentioned above,

have the ability to possess terrestrial bodies of any kind and

cause inspirations of different sorts. For instance Jesus drove

them into a herd of pigs and "they came out and went into

the pigs"(Matthew 8:31-32). They can literally posses almost

any living thing. They are very famous for possessing human

beings and if a person is possessed by a demon they need to

be delivered and Jesus gave us the authority to cast them out

(Matthew 8:10). There can be more than one of them in one

person, like in the case of the boy with the legion that Jesus

delivered(Mark 5:7-9) and Mary Magdalene(Mark 16:9) . In

the bible there are so many accounts of spirits and these

spirits are known to have the POWER TO INSPIRE. For

instance when Ahab and Jehoshaphat planned to go against

Ramoth Gilead, Jehoshaphat insisted that they should seek

the word of the Lord, and the prophets (400 men) told themthat they would prosper in their mission filled with a lying

spirit, however there was another prophet, Micaiah by name,

who tells of a vision he saw and he says "I saw the LORD

sitting on His throne with all the multitudes of heaven

standing on his right and on his left, and the LORD said,

'Who will ENTICE Ahab king of Israel into attacking Ramoth

Gilead and going to his death there?' "One suggested this,and another that. Finally, A SPIRIT CAME FORWARD, stood

before the LORD and said, 'I WILL ENTICE HIM' "by what

means?' the LORD asked. I will go and BE A DECEIVING

SPIRIT in the mouths of all his prophets,' he said..."(2

Chronicles 18:18-21). This spirit that came forward was NOT

AN ANGEL, these form of spirits have the ability to INSPIRE.

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They can inspire lies, lust, selfishness, evil motives, sadness,

distress, and they are not from God. This spirit that Micaiah

talks about was not a spirit that was in heaven, in fact its a

spirit that came from Satan, because he is the father of lies

(John 8:44), his spirits are liars like him. There is also a spirit

in the bible that is mentioned, it is that spirit that distressed

and troubled Saul King of Israel after the Spirit of the Lord

left him, the bible calls it a "DISTRESSING SPIRIT"(1 Samuel

16:14). Let us clarify something in the case of Saul because

the bible says "it was a distressing spirit from the Lord", and

that is not so. First of all we can refer to a note I wrote some

time ago called "DARK WORKS", which will explain clearly

about why the bible would say, it was a spirit from the Lord

and secondly lets look at the example of Paul. Paul says

"even though I have received such wonderful revelations

from God. So TO KEEP ME FROM BECOMING PROUD, I wasgiven a thorn in my flesh, A MESSENGER FROM SATAN TO

TORMENT ME and keep me from becoming proud."(2

Corinthians 12:8-9). He says he was given a thorn in his flesh,

who gave him that thorn? The answer is God, because God

wanted to keep him from getting proud. Satan would have

loved to see Paul becoming proud and guilty before God, but

God kept him from pride by giving him a thorn in his flesh, AMESSENGER FROM SATAN - that's the key point. That thorn

in the flesh or that ailment WAS FROM SATAN, it was a spirit

from Satan that God used to chasten Paul. All evil spirits are

under Satan's authority; they fell with him and shared in his

sins. They move under his anointing, therefore since his

anointing became corrupted it was superficial that his

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spirits become corrupted as well. All the violence you see in

the world is inspired by them, the hatred, the wars, and all

evil. They also have the ability to cause sickness by taking the

form of whatever sickness they want to cause. Jesus often

delivered people who were mute and deaf from what the

bible calls "dumb and deaf spirits"(Mark 9:23). There are so

many of them and these are the creatures that are referred

to as DEMON SPIRITS. These are the spirits that in Revelation

are called "foul spirits"(Revelation 18:2) they are unclean.

They are as wicked as Satan.

There is another type of evil creatures which are called

"PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS"(Ephesians 6:12), they are

also knows as RULERS OF DARKNESS"(Ephesians 6:12), this is

a class of fallen angels that we mentioned above, who do not

have the ability to turn themselves into terrestrial beings,

amazingly these ones were not BOUND BY CHAINS IN HELL,

(they are the first to fall, since they fell together with Satan

in the beginning but the ones who had relations with

women fell later, after Mankind had been created) however

they have fighting powers, their main duty is to fight the holy

angels of God, that minister to God's people. We see this in

the book of Daniel where an angel comes to give Daniel an

answer to his prayer, however he lets us know something

that happened to him on his way to Daniel, the angel says

"the PRINCE of the kingdom of Persia WITHSTOOD ME 21

DAYS; and behold Michael ONE OF THE CHIEF PRINCESS,

came to help me..."(Daniel 10:13). God had answered

Daniels prayer 21 days before the angel came, but he

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couldn't get it because a PRINCIPALITY had stopped the angel

for 21 days. They are the ones that will fight against Michael

and his angels according to Revelation (Revelation 12:7).

These were the type of angels who were meant to guard

countries but they inspire them to commit evil. They

prevent blessings and open doors for demon spirits to

oppress and possess people. However glory be to God,

because for us who are in Christ, the bible says "He

DISARMED PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS..."(Colossians

2:15). We need not worry about the principalities because

they are defeated. There is so much to be said about this

topic but we will leave it here and give ourselves time to

understand all these things. It is time we recognized

sicknesses for what they really are, a thing that doesn't come

from God, "every GOOD AND PERFECT gift comes from

above..."(James 1:17), sickness is not from above.Father weask that you give us understanding of these things".

God Bless You.

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FOOD FOR FASTING

Nehemiah 9:1-3(NKJV)

Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the children of

Israel were assembled with FASTING in sackcloth, and with

dust on their heads. Then those of Israelite lineage separated

themselves from all foreigners; and they stood and confessed

their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up

in their place and READ FROM THE BOOK OF THE LAW OF

THE LORD their God for onefourth of the day; and for

another fourth they CONFESSED AND WORSHIPED the Lord

their God.

Fasting is a great spiritual activity, if it accompanied by

prayer. In fact fasting is not a spiritual activity if it is done

without prayer. Fasting to a Christian should not be the same

as dieting. There is so much to be said about fasting and

prayer however in this note we will not discuss on the activity

but on how to do it effectively and in a way that will help

your spirit to remain in God the whole time. In our opening

scripture we see the children of Israel fasting to the Lord,separating themselves from foreigners and planning a

schedule on what to do in their day of fasting. 6 hours (one

forth) of the day was for confession and worship and another

6 hours for meditation on the WORD OF GOD, and the rest

for other things. The part we are focusing on is the 6 HOURS

OF MEDITATION. Truth be told I don't remember ever in my

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life meditating on the word of God that much during my

fasting time but for some reason the children of Israel

thought it was important for them to meditate on the word

of God for that much time during their fasting period. Well

there is one truth that doesn't change and that is "FOR

EVERYTHING THAT WAS WRITTEN IN THE PAST WAS

WRITTEN TO TEACH US..."(Romans 15:4). In our fasting time

we really need the WORD OF GOD to feed our spirits; we can

receive so much REVELATION from the word of God during

this time and also enjoy a richer fellowship with God. During

our fasting time our spiritual senses are enhanced and when

we read the word of God, we read it with the eyes of our

spirits. Even Jesus Himself when He was driven by the Spirit

to the wilderness (Mark 1:12) to fast for 40 days & 40 nights,

He had with Him the word of God, He afterwards told Satan

that "It is written: 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE,BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT COMES FROM THE MOUTH OF

GOD.'"(Matthew 4:4). The word of God was His sustenance

in the wilderness, it was His food during His fasting - we need

the same food during our fasting. Another example of this is

Moses, who "was there with the Lord forty days and forty

nights without eating bread or drinking water"(Exodus

34:28) and the Lord was speaking to Him, telling Him aboutthe ten commandments for him to write them down in

tablets, and afterwards he goes down from Mount Sinai to

meet Aaron and all the Israelites not being aware that he had

a SHINING FACE because of the word of God. Some times

when we read the word during our fasting, we can literally

hear God speaking to us through His word, sometimes get a

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"rhema", sometimes see visions from the word of God -

these are some of the spiritual experiences that we have

when we read the word during fasting.

Even when Jeremiah receives the word from God being a

prophet, he is asked by God to write the words in a scroll

(Jeremiah 36:2); being obedient Jeremiah asks Baruch the

son of Neriah, to write in the scroll all the words of the Lord

that He had spoken to him. Now Jeremiah being confined he

couldn't go to the house of the Lord and his reason for going

to the house of the Lord was to give the scroll to those who

were there so that they can here God's word. Now this is

what he commands Baruch, "I am confined; I cannot go into

the house of the Lord. You go, therefore, and READ FROM

THE SCROLL WHICH YOU HAVE WRITTEN AT MY

INSTRUCTION, THE WORDS OF THE LORD, IN THE HEARINGOF THE PEOPLE IN THE LORDS HOUSE ON THE DAY OF

FASTING..."(Jeremiah 36:6). AMAZING. He wanted the words

to be read on the DAY OF FASTING, and it was God who told

him to have the words read at that particular day of FASTING.

No wonder the multitude was able to remain with Jesus for

3 days without eating food (Matthew 15:32) because they

had been sustained by the word of God. When deciding tofast, we should give a great deal of time to the reading of the

word of God. If you are having a cooperate fast, have a

sharing session and you'll be amazed at the revelation that

people have.

God Bless You.

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GOALS HAVE TIME

Nehemiah 2:6(NIV)

Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me,

"How long will your journey take, and when will you get

back?" It pleased the king to send me; so I SET A TIME.

One of the factors of a goal that makes it sufficient as a goal

is TIME. You might have a goal but if you do not consider the

time factor, you will most likely be unsuccessful in achieving

it. God is a good example of how goals must be set. When He

created the heavens and the earth He had a SET TIME, He

understood how long it should take to create all things. "For

in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the

sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh

day."(Exodus 20:11). God is a great respecter of time and He

understands its role in doing whatsoever needs to be done,

therefore Solomon says "He has made everything

BEAUTIFUL IN ITS TIME..."(Ecclesiastes 3:11). The first

coming of Jesus for instance, was something that God

planned a long time ago and He set a time for it, a time He

understood by His wisdom to be the right time, as Peter says

"who verily was foreordained BEFORE THE FOUNDATIONS

OF THE WORLD, but was MANIFEST in these LAST TIMES for

you," (1 Peter 1:20). God wants us to have an understanding

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of the times so that we can set goals properly, that we may

plan things according to His will and in doing so have good

success. Jesus said something very powerful when He spoke

a parable about His second coming and how we should

always be watchful, He says "but understand this: If the

owner of the house HAD KNOWN AT WHAT TIME of night

the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would

not have let his house be broken into."(Matthew 24:43) -

The message that Jesus was simply conveying is

"UNDERSTAND THE TIMES. Just like "the sons of Issachar

who had understanding of the times"(1 Chronicles 12:32),

we need to have that same understanding. Nehemiah was a

man who understood how to set goals and because of that

understanding He was a great governor of the Lord's people.

When setting goals, it is crucial for us to ask God for

direction, hear from Him if it is the right time or not - and if itis, how long will it take for the goal to be achieved.

Personally, in my spiritual walk with the Lord, I always set a

TIME for my goals of growth in the things of the Spirit - for

instance reading the bible, I tell myself that in 2 months I

should have finished all the Books of Moses and ask God's

Spirit to help me achieve that goal. Time is really important in

achieving goals. When God created the world He knew thatHe had to do it in 6 days, so that he can have time to rest on

the seventh day. We need to have the same mentality that

God has, if we set the wrong TIME for our goals we might

miss perfect spiritual opportunities for success, Solomon says

"the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong but

TIME AND OPPORTUNITY happens to them all"(Ecclesiastes

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9:11). When Sarah is about to conceive Isaac God says to

Abraham "I will surely return to you ABOUT THIS TIME NEXT

YEAR, and Sarah your wife will have a son."(Genesis 18:10) -

From the verse we can see that God was very specific about

the time. Even in heaven when God sets goals for us, He does

it at the right TIME, HIS TIMING IS ALWAYS PERFECT. O how

bauetiful are the words to Zion, David speaks by the Holy

Spirit saying You will arise and have compassion on Zion,

for it is time to show favor to her; the appointed time has

come. (Psalm 102:13)

God Bless You.

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FEAR CAUSES LYING

Isaiah 57:11(GW)

Who did you DREAD AND FEAR SO MUCH that you lied to

me? You haven't remembered me or cared about me. I've

been silent for a long time. Is that why you don't fear me?

Fear is a destructive element in our lives and we really need

to get rid of it. Jesus whenever He'll find His disciples in a

state of timidity, He would often say to them "peace be with

you"(John 20:21) or "fear not" (Luke 8:50). Fear is the

opposite of faith and the bible says "whatever is not from

faith IS SIN" (Romans 14:23). God is very mindful of how fear

can lead one into sin, that is why He has given us not "the

spirit of TIMIDITY, but the spirit of LOVE, of POWER and of a

SOUND-MIND"(2 Timothy 1:7). The opening scripture is very

profound; God asks the children of Israel "who has made you

fear and caused dread to you that you have LIED...", lying

which in itself is a sin that could lead you to hell (Revelation

21:8) is usually caused by FEAR. Fear in this case is in

different forms sometimes it comes as shame and

sometimes even insecurity or inferiority. Sometimes we lie

unnecessarily because we are trying to fit in. Sometimes we

lie because we think that people will judge us and all of this is

caused by fear. However we are not of this world (John

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15:19). Let's study the Apostle Peter for instance, in that

scenario where Jesus is about to be betrayed into the hands

of the Jews and Peter says to Jesus "even if all fall away on

account of you, I never will."(Matthew 26:33). However

Jesus being a Prophet had seen the event that would shortly

take place, where He is denied by the very man who had

opposed all possibility of ever falling away - and HOW SO? By

FEAR. When Peter is asked if he knew Jesus, he didn't

hesitate for a second, but first denied to be Jesus' disciple

and secondly went on to deny of having any knowledge of

Him, even went as far as making an oath, IMAGINE THAT

(John 18:15-27).. The bible says Then with curses and oaths

he said, I have no knowledge of the ma (Matthew 26:74).

Peter feared the consequences that came with being Jesus'

disciple at the time and the only way out was by lying and

denying having any knowledge of the Lord. But we look atanother man in contrast, Joseph of Arimathea (as the bible

will have it) who "gathered up courage" (Mark 15:43) O if

we could gather up courage. We need to be courageous, we

need not LIE.

There is another account which one really needs to study, it

is an account whereby God is visiting Abraham together withangels and Abraham prepares a feast for them and they eat.

Now while this was happening God says to Abraham I will

surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah

your wife will have a son. (Genesis 18:10), now Sarah

listening in on the conversation suddenly laughs at what God

said, and God says to Abraham in response to Sarahs wife

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Why did Sarah laugh and say, Will I really have a child,

now that I am old? (Genesis 18:13); after this the bible

records (reading from the NIV) Sarah WAS AFRAID, SO

SHE LIED and said, I did not laugh.But he said, Yes, you

did laugh. (Genesis 18:15) Its powerful, because it actually

tells us that she lied because of fear not because of anything

else. God was not going to be offended because she was

AFRAID however since she didnt know who God is, she was

afraid. Fortunately for her, unlike Ananias and his wife (Acts

5:3), she did not die from lying to God

David says "Whoever of you loves life and desires TO SEE

MANY GOOD DAYS, let him keep his tongue from evil and

his lips from speaking LIES."(Psalm 34:12-13). IMAGINE, for

you to see many good days just keep yourself from lying;

easy as that. Most importantly DO NOT BE AFRAID, because"greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world"(1

John 4:4). Let us learn to speak faith and bridle our tongues

because that is what God wants from us, as even Paul says

"do not lie to one another" (Colossians 3:9).

God Bless You.

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NOTHING UNCLEAN IN ITSELF

Romans 14:14(NIV)

I am convinced, BEING FULLY PERSUADED in the Lord Jesus,

THAT NOTHING IS UNCLEAN IN ITSELF. But if ANYONE

REGARDS SOMETHING AS UNCLEAN, THEN FOR THAT

PERSON IT IS UNCLEAN.

We thank the Lord Jesus Christ for what He did at the cross.

He once and for all freed us from sin, "for we know that our

old self was crucified with Him SO THAT THE BODY RULED

BY SIN MIGHT BE DONE AWAY WITH, that we should no

longer BE SLAVES TO SIN."(Romans 6:6). How can we beslaves to what we were freed from? That sin that once

mastered us Jesus delivered us forever from, and made us

alive to our God and Father He being Master and Lord of our

lives, not sin. However even in freedom, many of God's

people in their minds are kept captive in the realms of sin,

being conscious of it and not of the freedom that was bought

by the blood of Jesus. Not that we are saying that we should"use our freedom as an excuse to do evil."(1 Peter 2:16). The

greatest challenge that many believers face with regards to

sin, is the misconception of what sin is. Sin is not what men

say it is, it is what God says it is. Jesus once defended the

things done in the Sabbath, declaring greater revelation than

what the Pharisees had by the Law of Moses saying "havent

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you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the

temple DESECRATE THE SABBATH AND YET ARE

INNOCENT?"(Matthew 12:5). Truth be told, in the law of

Moses, it was "unlawful" for priests to desecrate the

Sabbath, however Jesus says in their doing of that unlawful

act, they were found INNOCENT. We are not sharing about

what sin is in this note (we will share that broadly in the blog)

but what many believers think sin is. The opening scripture is

too big not to look at in greater detail. Paul says "I am

convinced, BEING FULLY PERSUADED in the Lord Jesus, THAT

NOTHING IS UNCLEAN IN ITSELF." - What does this mean?

Apparently there is nothing wrong with sexual relations,

generally, but there is something very wrong with sexual

relations before marriage (one of the cases) - it is a sin. There

is a difference between a married couple and an unmarried

couple, and the person who set that standard is the AlmightyGod Himself.

There is something else we need to look at. When God made

a man, He didn't put clothes on Him and likewise when He

made a woman, the bible says "God saw all that He had

made, and IT WAS VERY GOOD."(Genesis 1:31). So the

nakedness of Adam and Eve was good in God's eyes, there

was nothing wrong with it, even to themselves because the

bible says "Adam and his wife WERE BOTH NAKED, AND

THEY FELT NO SHAME."(Genesis 2:25). However when they

ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, "the

eyes of both of them were opened, AND THEY REALIZED

THEY WERE NAKED; so they sewed fig leaves together and

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made coverings for themselves."(Genesis 3:7), WAIT A

SECOND! After they realized that they were naked they

covered themselves, but God had known from the time He

made them that they were naked, why did He not cover

them? The answer to this question is extremely simple but

very long; therefore we will get to the point. There was

nothing wrong as far as God is concerned with them being

naked - because they were covered with the GLORY OF GOD,

but it became wrong the moment they thought or realized

it was wrong when the GLORY LIFTED BECAUSE OF SIN . Ever

since that day, NAKEDNESS has been associated with shame.

When Isaiah prophesies against Babylon, he says "Your

nakedness will be exposed and your shame

uncovered."(Isaiah 47:3) But at some point Adam and Eve

looked at their naked bodies and were not ashamed, but

after they ate the fruit they became ashamed of each othersnakedness. That is what Paul means when he says "But if

ANYONE REGARDS SOMETHING AS UNCLEAN, THEN FOR

THAT PERSON IT IS UNCLEAN."(Romans 14:14). There are so

many things in the world that we call sin which are really not

sin in the eyes of God, but since we have considered them as

sin, the glory of God is lifted up from them, and they

become sin from our doing. We constantly invent sinwithout being aware of it and that itself is sin. When Peter is

in a trance after prayer, he sees a vision whereby "he saw

heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let

down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of

four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a

voice told him, Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.(Acts 10:11-12).

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Now it was always unlawful to eat these kinds of animals by

the regulations of the Law of Moses, so Peter being taught in

the Law responds by saying "surely not, Lord! I have never

eaten anything IMPURE OR UNCLEAN. and the Lord again

said "do not call anything IMPURE that God HAS MADE

CLEAN."(Acts 10:13-15). What had happened to the Law?

How did God make the food clean? By the blood of Jesus. The

point is that nothing is unclean by itself, there is something

that makes it that way, and we cannot say anything is sin just

because we don't understand it. In Haggai God asks the

priests "If a person defiled by contact with a dead body

touches one of these things, does it become defiled? Yes,

the priests replied, it becomes defiled."(Haggai 2:13).

Anything that becomes unclean is made unclean by its

source, it wasn't created unclean, since God created all

things. Satan's job is to defile all that God created, since hecannot create anything himself. Have you ever thought why

the Ten Commandments came? Where did the people of God

learn all these things that God shunned? Why do you call this

thing that you are doing SIN? What makes you think it is SIN?

Some of us say "well since it doesn't feel right, it is not

right", the question is what if it feels right but it is not right?

John says "if we condemn ourselves God is greater than ourhearts and He knows everything"(1 John 3:20). When we

share our lives with the Holy Spirit we understand what sin is

and what is not FOR US, because something that is sin to one

person might not be sin to the other. Some things are not sin,

per say, but they hinder our fellowship with God even Paul

says "I HAVE THE RIGHT TO DO ANYTHING, YOU SAYBUT

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NOT EVERYTHING IS BENEFICIAL"(1 Corinthians 6:12) -

therefore God doesn't want us to do them.

However there are things that are sin for everybody because

they defile the spirit - these are the things that can even lead

a Christian to hell. If we allow anything in our lives, let them

be beneficial for our growth in the Lord, and not for our

selfish desires. If we approve anything in our lives, we

shouldn't let those things condemn us afterwards, Paul says

"BLESSED IS THE ONE WHO DOES NOT CONDEMN HIMSELF

BY WHAT HE APPROVES."(Romans 14:22). Solomon also

shared his wisdom on this matter when he said "It is a snare

for a man TO DEVOTE RASHLY SOMETHING AS HOLY, And

afterward to reconsider his vows."(Proverbs 20:25). A lot of

us say we will do this and that, there is nothing wrong with it,

and then afterwards we are condemned by our consciences.

Let us desire more the things of Christ, things which bring

about edification. People have the power to name(we will

talk about that in another note), and what they name

becomes, that's why a lot of us have named things as sin, and

they have become sin as far as we and the Holy Spirit are

concerned. There will always be things that seem good to the

Holy Spirit and not us or things that seem good to us and not

the Holy Spirit, until we get to know the Holy Spirit.

God Bless You

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KNOWING GOD

John 17:3(NIV)

Now this is eternal life: THAT THEY KNOW YOU, THE ONLY

TRUE GOD, AND JESUS CHRIST, whom you have sent.

This Lord Jesus is both Lord and God. He is the Word of God,who was in the beginning, "...and the WORD WAS

GOD"(John 1:1). It appears that in the heavens at some point

God decided that in Jesus all things should consist, that our

fellowship; which is a gateway to knowing Him, should be in

the Son of His love. There is not one lovelier than this one,

"God is faithful, who has called you into FELLOWSHIP WITH

HIS SON, Jesus Christ our Lord."(1 Corinthians 1:9). We get toknow God more the more we fellowship with Him, the more

we open our lives to Him, the more we live for Him, Paul says

"for Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that

one died for all, and therefore all died. AND HE DIED FOR

ALL, THAT THOSE WHO LIVE SHOULD NO LONGER LIVE FOR

THEMSELVES BUT FOR HIM WHO DIED FOR THEM AND WAS

RAISED AGAIN."(2 Corinthians 5:14-15). The blood of Jesus

became the price paid for our fellowship because at some

point in time we were unable to approach God at all. What

had broken man's fellowship with God was sin, it was that

disobedience that Adam committed which resulted in the

fall of all those in his likeness - therefore we were unable to

know this God and enjoy His fellowship. Even to this day our

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constant inconsideration for God's Holy Spirit, our vexing

thoughts and grievous words that hurt Him are what makes

us ineffective in knowing God better. The thing is, the only

way we can get to access God is through His Spirit, "for

through Him(Jesus) we both have ACCESS to the Father by

one Spirit."(Ephesians 2:18) and also He is the one who has

the deepest knowledge of God in Himself, "even so NO ONE

KNOWS THE THINGS of God except the Spirit of God."(1

Corinthians 2:10). If we harm the Foundation by which the

fellowship is built, how then can we build it, does He not say

"If the FOUNDATIONS are destroyed, what can the

righteous do?"(Psalm 11:3).

What is the meaning of these things? What does knowing

God mean? Jeremiah prophesies something speaking by the

Holy Spirit, something we should look at for our answers; He

says "Did not your father have food and drink? HE DID

WHAT WAS RIGHT AND JUST, so all went well with him. He

defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went

well. IS THAT NOT WHAT IT MEANS TO KNOW ME?

declares the Lord."(Jeremiah 22:15). Well it makes a lot of

sense. Knowing somebody means knowing first the

important things about them; what pleases them, what

offends them, what they like, what they don't like. That's the

foundation that every person needs to develop a good

relationship upon. Amos says "Do two walk together unless

they have agreed to do so?"(Amos 3:3). You cannot be a

friend with someone who constantly hurts your feelings, you

can be that person's friend but he will try to avoid you as

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much as possible. Knowing God is based on the foundations

that you know the things that please Him and the things that

displease Him, Jesus says "You are My friends if you do what

I command you."(John 15:14). There is a difference between

a RELATIONSHIP and FELLOWSHIP, you can have a father you

see once a month nonetheless that doesn't change the

biological stand point you have with him even though your

relationship will be weaker because your fellowship is little

since you don't see him much. A relationship is strengthened

by the amount of fellowship a person has with the other.

However fellowship is the more sensitive of the two,

anything that disturbs the fellowship automatically disturbs

the relationship, and it is the same with God. The Holy Spirit

is in charge of the fellowship and if we vex Him, the

fellowship becomes disturbed, that's why Paul says "And do

not bring sorrow to God's Holy Spirit by the way youlive."(Ephesians 4:30 - NLT). The bible teaches us what

happened to the children of Israel when they grieved the

Holy Spirit (Isaiah 63:9-12).

Our lifestyle can really affect our fellowship with God and will

in turn affect our learning of who God is. John says "we know

that WE HAVE COME TO KNOW Him if we keep His

commands."(1 John 2:3). The highest level of knowing God, is

to understand what pleases Him and what doesn't please

Him, its to be acquainted with His nature. Jesus also said

"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I

say?"(Luke 6:46). Paul's writing to Titus demonstrates what

the Holy Spirit recognizes knowing God to be because Paul

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says "they CLAIM TO KNOW GOD, BUT BY THEIR ACTIONS

THEY DENY HIM. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit

for doing anything good"(Titus 1:16). The greatest level in

any relationship is when you know what the other party

doesn't approve and RESPECT IT and never find yourself

doing it. Even if we did things that are hurtful by mistake, we

ask for forgiveness and move on. We learn from those

mistakes and try not to repeat them because as Solomon

says "whoever repeats the matter SEPARATES CLOSE

FRIENDS."(Proverbs 17:9). Let us learn to appreciate God and

get to know Him more, Hosea said "Let us know, Let us

pursue the knowledge of the Lord..."(Hosea 6:3).

God Bless You

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THE LIBERATING SPIRIT

2 Corinthians 3:17(NKJV)

Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is,

THERE IS LIBERTY.

This experience that the Apostle Paul is speaking about in ouropening scripture is an experience that God has preordained

for every believer that has inherited His Spirit. The Spirit of

God is A PERSON. He is the one that carries the Presence of

God; no man has ever felt the Presence of the Almighty

without the Holy Spirit. Was it not that same Presence that

Moses asked for, saying "If your Presence does not go with

us, do not send us up from here."(Exodus 33:15), couldn't ithave been easier for Moses to say, "Lord if you do not go

with us, we will not go."? But he understood that the

Presence was sufficient in Itself. As long as a man is

restricted, a man is not free. If a man has limits and

restrictions in his finances, psychology, spirituality, physically,

emotionally, or in any other area that man is not free.

Because even though that man might desire to come to a

certain level, he will never attain to it because of the

boundaries and the restrictions that are imposed upon him.

Until a man experiences freedom, a man will never

experience the FULLNESS OF LIFE. Jesus had to free us from

the slavery of sin, from the fear of death, from every

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bondage and chain that Satan had bound us with, in order

for us to experience the LIFE that God predestined for us.

But even in our freedom, the greatest feeling of victory could

only come after the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit. There

is so much to be recognized in the Holy Spirit, so much to be

adored, but we will not get into that now. How beautiful are

those words, that say "where the Spirit of the Lord is, THERE

IS LIBERTY.", there is not an object on earth that could buy

the price of total freedom, but one said "where the Spirit of

the Lord is, THERE IS LIBERTY.". We are challenged by God to

experience this LIBERTY free of charge by His Spirit. If only

we could learn to let ourselves go more in the Spirit, we

could enjoy this liberty.

It was Samson who was arrested by the Philistine where he

put them under an oath to swear to him that they would notkill him. In that agreement they bound him with two new

ropes. Now what happens next is too extraordinary, this is

how the bible captures the scene, "when he came to Lehi,

the Philistines came shouting against him. Then the SPIRIT

OF THE LORD came mightily upon him; and THE ROPES THAT

WERE ON HIS ARMS BECAME LIKE FLAX THAT IS BURNED

WITH FIRE, AND HIS BONDS BROKE LOOSE FROM HIS

HANDS."(Judges 15:14) - Glory to the Highest. Is it not that

same Spirit of the Lord? It says HIS BONDS BROKE LOOSE

FROM HIS HANDS, when that Liberating Spirit came upon

Him. When the Spirit came upon Samson, he had to be made

free because "where the Spirit of the Lord is, THERE IS

LIBERTY". How can children of God be possessed and be

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bound by devils of all kinds when they are filled with the

Spirit? Does not Jesus say "it is by the Spirit of God that I

drive out demons..."(Matthew 12:28). The Holy Spirit

liberated those who were demon oppressed and possessed.

A believer that is truly filled with the Spirit cannot

experience bondage, even if that same believer binds

himself to something, as long as he is filled with the Spirit,

He will be made free. I remember three men in the bible

who had refused to bow down and worship a gold statue

(god) of a certain King Nebuchadnezzar and because of their

disobedience they had to be thrown to a furnace, heated a

seven times hotter than usual. The King had them TIED and

thrown into the furnace, however after a short while the

King looks in to see if these men had been consumed with

fire, at the surprise of what he saw, he says "did we not cast

three men BOUND into the midst of the fire? I see four menLOOSE, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not

hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of

God."(Daniel 3:19-25). A fourth man had entered their midst,

LOOSED and LOOSENING the rest - brothers and sisters, that

Son of God there is the representation of the Holy Spirit, that

came to LOOSE Shad-rack, Meshach and Abed-Nego. If only

we could experience the freedom that the Holy Spirit gives,David said "in thy Presence is fullness of joy..."(Psalm 16:11).

Imagine experiencing the FULLNESS OF JOY, Paul says "the

kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but

of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."(Romans

14:17). Its time we got the Holy Spirit involved in every area

of our lives, so that we may experience that freedom in those

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areas, if the Holy Spirit was in our relationships we wouldn't

feel like we are BOUND to them, if the Holy Spirit was in our

finances there wouldn't be a feeling of shortage or lack,

there would be total freedom. Where He is there is LIBERTY,

it doesn't matter where we are, all that matter is where He

is. He was with Peter that night he was thrown into jail by

Herod, where he was directed by an angel to come out,

thinking he was asleep, when they came to the IRON GATE

which the bible says it "opened to them of its own

accord..."(Acts 12:10) - nobody had to open that gate or tell

it to open, IT OPENED AT ITS OWN WILL. If there's an iron

gate in your life, its time you introduced the Spirit to the

matter and see if it doesn't OPEN ON ITS OWN ACCORD.

God Bless You.

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BY CHANCE

2 Samuel 1:6(NKJV)

Then the young man who told him said, As I happened BY

CHANCE to be on Mount Gilboa, there was Saul, leaning on

his spear; and indeed the chariots and horsemen followed

hard after him.

Brothers and sisters, if we have known God at all and the

principles of the heavenly places, we should know by now

that there is nothing in this existing world that HAPPENS BY

CHANCE. Probability is a system of this world, it is a lie that

Satan has made up to try and blind us from the reality, and

the reality is that each and every man's life is PREDESTINED.There are three wills that play a part in a man's life, God's,

Satan's and that man's. God's in this way as to Jeremiah:

"Before I formed you in the womb I KNEW YOU (Jeremiah

1:5), Satan's this way as to Peter: "Simon, Simon, Satan has

asked to sift all of you as wheat."(Luke 22:31) and a man this

way: "Many are the plans in the mind of a man..."(Proverbs

19:21). We as people have many dreams, many aspirations

and many goals, but are all these things that we desire in line

with the will of God? It was with the children of Israel that

God through the prophet Isaiah said, speaking of their

schemes, "Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord,

who take counsel, but not of Me, AND WHO DEVISE PLANS,

BUT NOT OF MY SPIRIT, that they may add sin to sin;"

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(Isaiah 30:1). We find ourselves all too often in the position

of doing what we think is right without asking for the

guidance and counsel of the Holy Spirit, He is called the

Counselor (John 14:26) for a reason. God was angry with the

children of Israel, even called them rebellious because they

formulated plans which are NOT OF HIS SPIRIT. Lets go back

to the opening scripture. If we read further on about this

young man's story in our opening scripture, his end is not so

pleasant because HE DIES.

This young man was seen by Saul passing by, Saul then asked

him to finish him off as he was wounded and realized that he

could not recover. When the young man reports these things

to David, he asks him, "how was it you were not afraid to

put forth your hand to destroy the Lords anointed?"(2

Samuel 1:14) - What a question. Then David instructs one of

his young men to execute the young man who had killed Saul

(2 Samuel 1). This young man was at the WRONG PLACE, AT

THE WRONG TIME and his end was death. Who knows where

this young man was going, he could have been going to visit a

friend, relative, anybody, and however he didn't make his

destination BECAUSE OF CHANCE. We need to stop being

at places BY CHANCE, we need to have our lives and our

decisions governed by the Holy Spirit. We need to start being

sensitive to the Lordship of Jesus, David was a man who

ALWAYS inquired of the Lord (1 Samuel & 2 Samuel). When

a believer does anything without hearing from God, he places

himself at the mercy of the enemy because Satan will always

use our worldly ambitions for his purpose. Nonetheless we

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who are matured are not ignorant of HIS DEVICES (2

Corinthians 2:11).

Jesus was a Man who was so yielded to God's will that He

even said "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do

nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do."(John

5:19). God teaches us to walk in His footsteps, to follow His

guidance; all we need to do is to be yielded to Him. God only

wants the best for us and we need to realize that more and

more, Solomon says a man "will not dwell unduly on the

days of his life, BECAUSE GOD KEEPS HIM BUSY WITH THE

JOY OF HIS HEART."(Ecclesiastes 5:20). It is time we started

yielding to His will. Our ways are not His ways (Isaiah 55:8),

Solomon also said "THERE IS A WAY THAT SEEMS RIGHT TO

A MAN, BUT ITS END IS THE WAY OF DEATH. (Proverbs

14:12) - This scripture is too powerful. There is a way for

every man; David says Who, then, are those who fear the

LORD? HE WILL INSTRUCT THEM IN THE WAYS THEY

SHOULD CHOOSE (Psalm 25:12). Maybe you are about to

take a job offer that you think is right, or about to commit to

a relationship with someone you believe is right for you, or

even about to go to town now, don't make decisions hastily,

consult with the Counselor and ask if its the right way and

the right time. When Noah was in the ark because of the

flood he sends two birds a RAVEN & a DOVE to see if the

water had dried up, the raven goes and never comes back,

going to and fro on the face of the earth. Now the bible

speaks this way regarding the DOVE, "the dove found no

resting place for the sole of her foot, and SHE RETURNED

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INTO THE ARK TO HIM, for the waters were on the face of

the whole earth. SO HE PUT OUT HIS HAND AND TOOK HER,

AND DREW HER INTO THE ARK TO HIMSELF. (Genesis 8:9).

The DOVE represented the Holy Spirit, who goes out to see if

the "COAST IS CLEAR", who checks if it is the RIGHT TIME TO

GO OUT. Glory to God. But the RAVEN represented our

humanly wisdom that goes to and fro, mastered by Satan

who himself said in Job when asked by God where he was

"going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and

down in it"(Job 2:2). When Noah puts out his hand and took

and DREW HER INTO THE ARK TO HIMSELF that symbolizes

the fellowship or the yielding to the Holy Spirit, powerfully

said by Moses "AND DREW HER INTO THE ARK TO HIMSELF".

We need to start drawing the Holy Spirit to ourselves, getting

closer to Him. A friend of mine likes to say God is a master

Communicator, there is a special way that He communicateswith all of us, it might not be an audible voice or a vision, it

could be that deep sense in our spirits, that compelling

feeling to do something, that little voice in our hearts by the

Holy Spirit - it could literally be anything. Jesus said "My

sheep KNOW MY VOICE..."(John 10:27). The sons and

daughters of God are led by His Spirit (Romans 8:14), and

that's the ONLY VOICE we should be looking out for andlistening to.

It might seem like God is leading us places where we don't

know or we don't understand; Abraham "when called to go

to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, OBEYED

AND WENT, EVEN THOUGH HE DID NOT KNOW WHERE HE

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WAS GOING...for he was looking forward to the city with

foundations, whose architect and builder is God."(Hebrews

11:8, 10), even Jesus had "the Spirit drive Him into the

wilderness."(Mark 1:12). It is high time we obeyed the Holy

Spirit. The consequences of living BY CHANCE are too severe,

lets learn from the young man who killed Saul.

God Bless You.

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WORKS AND GRACE

Romans 4:4(NKJV)

Now to him who WORKS, the WAGES ARE NOT COUNTED AS

GRACE, but as debt.

What is grace? There is really no definite description, there is

no conclusive definition, but it appears to be along the lines

of UNDESERVED FAVOR. There are so many men in the bible

who FOUND GRACE in the Lord's sight and consequently

found FAVOR. The first appears to be Noah, who is the father

of us all, who in the days of increasing unrighteousness,

FOUND GRACE in the eyes of the LORD."(Genesis 6:8).Because of this grace that Noah obtained from God, "he

WALKED with God."(Genesis 6:9). Long after Noah another

man comes about MORE blessed than Noah, more lavished

with GRACE and his name was Abraham, the FRIEND OF GOD

(James 2:23). Abraham, who was formerly Abram, was

chosen by God from his family even though his father, Terah,

served other gods according to the words of God by Joshua,"your fathers, including TERAH, the father of Abraham and

the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in

old times; and THEY SERVED OTHER GODS."(Joshua 24:2),

therefore it was not because of the WORKS of his father that

he was chosen but because of GRACE. How could he have

been chosen since his father was serving other gods? But

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Paul does speak this way, "so too, at the present time THERE

IS A REMNANT CHOSEN BY GRACE."(Romans 11:5). What

grace does, works cannot achieve, and therefore works are

not grace. Solomon says "Do you see a man who excels IN

HIS WORK? HE WILL STANDS BEFORE KINGS; He will not

stand before unknown men."(Proverbs 22:29), a man who

excels in his WORK, even though he stands before kings will

never exceed a man who stands before kings by GRACE,

because unlike the man who works, the man of grace does

not have to do anything to achieve what the man of works

does. One man of God once said "favor is not fair" and that is

the truth.

In the old times men had to attain to righteousness by the

WORKS of the Law but we have attained to it "...by GRACE

through faith."(Ephesians 2:8), because works cannot be

grace. We thank God, nonetheless that we have all been

given some form of GRACE through Christ because God

shows no partiality (Romans 2:11). Anything that we do for

God that He rewards us for, can never be counted as GRACE,

but as debt according to our opening scripture, but that

which he does for us, without us moving a finger on His

behalf is GRACE. The day we stop thinking that we receive

things from God because He owes us, will be the DAY we

understand GRACE. Let us look at such a great salvation

which is the RICHES OF HIS GRACE that we never had to work

to receive. Paul says concerning this salvation that, we have

been "justified FREELY BY HIS GRACE through the

redemption that is in Christ Jesus."(Romans 3:24) and also

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"for it is BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED, through faith--

and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--NOT BY

WORKS, so that no one can boast."(Ephesians 2:8-9). We can

never BOAST about the GRACE of God, maybe about our

works but NOT ABOUT GRACE. Paul says to the Corinthians

"...what do you have that God HASN'T GIVEN YOU? and if

everything you have is from God, why boast as though it

were not a GIFT?"(1 Corinthians 4:7), this will make you

realize that even the ability to WORK is because of God's

GRACE, even Paul says "no, I WORKED HARDER THAN ALL OF

THEM--yet not I, but the GRACE OF GOD WAS WITH ME."(1

Corinthians 15:10).

If we could learn to appreciate such GRACE that God has

given to us and learn to walk in it, to walk in HIS FAVOR. To

tell you the truth, there is nothing in this world that we could

ever BOAST about, because all that we have is from Him,

"every good and perfect gift is from above"(James 1:17) and

also "a person can receive only what is given them from

heaven."(John 3:27). No matter what we do for God, we will

always be proud unless we RECOGNIZE the GRACE OF GOD

at work within us. Sometimes I look at the people that live in

the streets, without homes and I look at myself and I see how

much GRACE God has given me and I didn't work for it, and I

remember the Master's words "as YOU HAVE FREELY

RECEIVED, FREELY GIVE"(Matthew 10:8) and I realize that we

have a responsibility to the world and if we do not carry out

that responsibility we will be judged by God. God's GRACE

can easily reach others through us if we would open our

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hearts to those who are suffering.

God Bless You.

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WRONG COMPANY

Isaiah 6:5(NIV)

"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! FOR I AM A MAN OF

UNCLEAN LIPS, and I LIVE AMONG A PEOPLE OF UNCLEAN

LIPS, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

As we journey through life we meet different kinds of people,

all special in their own way. In the process we cannot deny

the natural tendency to have some of them as a regular part

of our lives, we develop a personal relationship with them

and they become at FIRST OUR FRIENDS. These people seem

to have a way around us; they influence us in so many ways -they help us when we are in need, support us, take care of

us, laugh with us, cry with us, etc. However as good as it all

sounds NOT ALL FRIENDS ARE GOOD FRIENDS. If a person

can inspire you for good another person can INSPIRE THE

BAD out of you, depending on the kind of person they are.

Truth be told, there is a standard that God wants us to

maintain with regards to the friends we keep, because Heunderstands the kind of INFLUENCE friends have over us.

Paul puts it this way "Do not be misled: "BAD COMPANY

CORRUPTS GOOD CHARACTER."(1 Corinthians 15:33), its

important to realize that he says "Don't be mislead",

sometimes we are not mislead by people but we mislead

ourselves into believing that we can influence the WRONG

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COMPANY around us into doing right, but that is not the

point. If husbands don't have the assurance that they can

save their wives, and wives likewise their husbands, like

Paul puts it "how do you know, wife, whether you will save

your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you

will save your wife?"(1 Corinthians 7:16), then HOW DO YOU

KNOW THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO SAVE YOUR FRIENDS?

Influence is a very powerful thing, and the environment of

people that surrounds you can easily change your character.

The bible says "a little leaven leavens the whole

lump."(Galatians 5:9), a little of the BAD and the whole

crowd is corrupted.

The opening scripture is quite significant to the point,

because if you turn a little away from Isaiah and look at the

people HE LIVED AMONGST, you'd realize that they were

also "PEOPLE OF UNCLEAN LIPS", like he was. The greatest

contribution to the state of his lips was the COMPANY he

lived amongst. Imagine living with people of unclean lips

every day, will that not affect your speech as well? If a person

goes to a country that speaks a foreign language than his, in

due time, eventually, he will learn the language because its

the medium of communication. Do we not see this among

the youth who listen to music and watch these films with

vulgar, swearing words and foul language, they become so

influenced by what they hear and see that even their

character changes - it works the same way with COMPANY. A

born again Christian has to really be careful of the kind of

FRIENDS he/she keeps like Solomon said "the righteous

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CHOOSE THEIR FRIENDS CAREFULLY, BUT THE WAY OF THE

WICKED LEADS THEM ASTRAY"(Proverbs 12:26), we need to

choose our friends carefully, there is really no excuse for

keeping wrong company around us. We have NOTHING at all

in relation to BAD COMPANY, we might have when we were

still unsaved but its different now. Peter says "YOU HAVE

HAD ENOUGH IN THE PAST of the evil things that godless

people enjoytheir immorality and lust, their feasting and

drunkenness and wild parties, and their terrible worship of

idols, of course, YOUR FORMER FRIENDS ARE SURPRISED

when you no longer plunge into the flood of wild and

destructive things they do. SO THEY SLANDER YOU."(1 Peter

4:3-4) - Powerful stuff. Your former FRIENDS that do the

things that you don't do anymore, ARE FORMER, as harsh as

it sounds, it is however VERY TRUE. "Do not be yoked

together with unbelievers. For what do RIGHTEOUSNESSAND WICKEDNESS HAVE IN COMMON? Or what fellowship

can light have with darkness?"(2 Corinthians 6:14). The only

thing we can do for our friends who are still unsaved is to

pray for them, intercede for them, then preach Christ to

them - if the Lord wills.

A lot of us like to say "if I don't preach to my old friends

whose going to preach to them?", well the thing is, that's

not for us to decide, because it is "not by works BUT BY HIM

WHO CALLS--she was told..."(Romans 9:12), was it our

FORMER FRIENDS who preached to us, if it was why then are

they not saved? Are not our CURRENT FRIENDS the one we

received the gospel together with? Its an easy thing really

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as Solomon puts it "WALK WITH THE WISE AND BECOME

WISE; ASSOCIATE WITH FOOLS AND GET IN

TROUBLE."(Proverbs 13:20). If you've ever been in trouble

you would know that the feeling of being in trouble is not a

nice feeling, so God gives us a choice, "walk with the wise

AND BECOME WISE", however if we associate ourselves with

FOOLS, we will find ourselves in constant trouble. Now a fool

according to David's revelation in Psalm is this way "the FOOL

says in his heart, THERE IS NO GOD... (Psalm 53:1), a fool is

someone who thinks there is no God, so he doesn't consider

the things of God, he is ungodly. We need to be careful of

whom we mingle ourselves with and trust God to bring the

right friends for us - its the only way.

God Bless You.

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WHATSOEVER IS NOT OF FAITH

Romans 14:23(KJV)

And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth

not of faith: FOR WHATSOEVER IS NOT OF FAITH IS SIN.

The second part of the opening scripture (the one in capitalletters) is very straightforward, quite self-explanatory. For

whatsoever is not of faith is sin; simply meaning that

anything done outside of FAITH is SIN - how so? Faith has two

ways by which it functions, there appears to be FAITH that is

working in the human spirit by the ability that God supplies,

in this way "...GOD HAS DISTRIBUTED A MEASURE OF FAITH

TO EACH ONE."(Romans 12:3) and there is a kind of FAITHthat works by LOVE in this way "for in Christ Jesus neither

circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, BUT

ONLY FAITH WORKING THROUGH LOVE."(Galatians 5:6). It is

possible for a man to have FAITH and not have it WORK BY

LOVE, since Paul also says "... if I have a FAITH that can

move mountains, BUT DO NOT HAVE LOVE, I am nothing."(1

Corinthians 13:2), so Paul is letting us know that there can

be a man with such great faith that he can move mountains

but still WITHOUT LOVE and that man IS NOTHING, even

though he possesses such GREAT FAITH. When Jesus came

the bible lets us know that "having ABOLISHED in His flesh

the enmity, even the LAW OF COMMANDMENTS contained

in ordinances."(Ephesians 2:15), SHOWS that the LAW is

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gone; also "Christ IS THE END OF THE LAW FOR

RIGHTEOUSNESS to everyone that believes."(Romans 10:4),

then how is SIN determined by God without the LAW? Since

the LAW showed us what was right and what was wrong and

since the LAW is gone then how is SIN recognized as SIN? In

this manner it is described "On the contrary, I WOULD NOT

HAVE KNOWN SIN EXCEPT THROUGH THE LAW. For I

WOULD NOT HAVE KNOWN COVETOUSNESS UNLESS THE

LAW HAD SAID, YOU SHALL NOT COVET.(Romans 7:7).

Again now with the LAW gone, how does one know what is

right and what is wrong? Nonetheless God has brought forth

another REVELATION of what SIN is determined by.

In the New Testament there are two definitions of SIN, one

by Paul according to the opening scripture, another by James

when he says "so IT IS A SIN FOR THE PERSON WHO KNOWS

TO DO WHAT IS GOOD AND DOESN'T DO IT."(James 4:17).

James' definition is easier to understand since for a person to

do GOOD, he has to know the difference between the GOOD

and the BAD, so in a way that PERSON has THE RULE to live

by, which brings us back indirectly to the LAW. Paul's

definition is quite the one on point since "THE JUST SHALL

LIVE BY HIS FAITH."(Habakkuk 2:4), so we live by FAITH and

"WHATSOEVER IS NOT OF FAITH IS SIN."(Romans 14:23).

Why doesn't Paul say "whatsoever is not of LOVE is sin?"

since Jesus gave us ONE COMMAND that "we LOVE ONE

ANOTHER as He loved us"(John 13:34) - that actually means

that the kind of FAITH that Paul is talking about in our

opening scripture is the ONE that WORKS BY LOVE. Let us

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analyze. He says to the Romans, "one person's FAITH

ALLOWS THEM TO EAT ANYTHING, but another, whose

FAITH IS WEAK, eats only vegetables."(Romans 14:2), so that

means there's a person who can eat anything because he's

level of FAITH ALLOWS HIM and there is another whose

LEVEL doesn't ALLOW him, because his WEAK IN FAITH.

Therefore if he sees me eating what he doesn't have FAITH

TO EAT and he is INSPIRED to eat because HE SEES ME

EATING, he will be wounded in his conscience when he eats it

because he BELIEVES IT IS NOT RIGHT to eat that thing. Then

Paul says "If your brother or sister is DISTRESSED because of

what you eat, you are no longer ACTING IN LOVE."(Romans

14:15), so the conclusion is that "if food makes my brother

stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother

stumble."(1 Corinthians 8:13). So this man has FAITH but

once his faith causes his brother or sister to stumble, he isnot WALKING IN LOVE - that's the FAITH that doesn't work

by LOVE.

Anyway what does it mean that "WHATSOEVER IS NOT OF

FAITH IS SIN"? Let us look at Nehemiah for instance who was

in-charge of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem, when the

opposition planned to kill him because of the work he was

doing, a secret informer by the name of Shemaiah went to

him and said Let us meet together in the house of God,

within the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple,

for they are coming to kill you; indeed, at night they will

come to kill you.(Nehemiah 6:10) but Nehemiah responded

by FAITH and said Should such a man as I flee? And who is

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there such as I who would go into the temple to save his

life? I will not go in!(Nehemiah 6:11) and the bible records

"Then I(Nehemiah) perceived that God had not sent him at

all, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me

because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. For this reason

he was hired, THAT I SHOULD BE AFRAID AND ACT THAT

WAY AND SIN, so that they might have cause for an evil

report, that they might reproach me."(Nehemiah 6:12-13).

Now Nehemiah says "THAT I SHOULD BE AFRAID AND ACT

THAT WAY AND SIN", so its FEAR that was going to cause

him to ACT THAT WAY AND SIN - powerful. But we thank

God that Nehemiah walked by FAITH. Fear is the opposite of

FAITH.

The best way that Satan causes children of God to SIN these

days is through FEAR, he locks them up in that box of FEAR

and they become DOUBTFUL of God and SIN. We see this

when "Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take

a census of Israel."(1 Chronicles 21:1), remember that God

had said to Abraham that his descendants will be as the stars

of heaven, UNCOUNTABLE, so by COUNTING Israel it would

mean that David didn't BELIEVE or HAVE FAITH in the WORD

that God gave to Abraham as even Joab said "Why should

he(David) be a cause of guilt in Israel?"(1 Chronicles 21:3) -

He knew anyone who took a census of Israel was GUILTY of

SIN. There is another man, Saul who sinned in this manner of

fear, when God commanded Him through Samuel to "attack

Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and not

spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and

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nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey."(1 Samuel

15:3) however Saul disobeyed the command and his reason

for disobeying was amazing. He explained to Samuel "I have

SINNED, for I have transgressed the commandment of the

Lord and your words, BECAUSE I FEARED THE PEOPLE AND

OBEYED THEIR VOICE."(1 Samuel 15:24). Saul is telling

Samuel that it is BECAUSE OF THE FEAR for the people that

he SINNED. If only he had FAITH. Is this not the same thing

that happened to Pontius Pilate when he gave Jesus to the

hands of the Jews? Fear is the reason for most of our lies,

for our lust, theft, if we had FAITH that works through

LOVE, we would have no sin. We lie because we are afraid of

what people would say about us, we want to be in the world

and do things in the world because WE FEAR not being

accepted by society, but "THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY HIS

FAITH." No man walking in FAITH by LOVE can easily fall intosin, John says "THERE IS NO FEAR IN LOVE. BUT PERFECT

LOVE DRIVES OUT FEAR..."(1 John 4:18). Let us live by LOVE

and by FAITH, and have HOPE for "now these three remain:

FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE. But the greatest of these is

LOVE."(1 Corinthians 13:13).

God Bless You.

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GRACE GIVEN

1 Corinthians 1:4(NIV)

I thank my God always on your behalf, FOR THE GRACE OF

GOD WHICH IS GIVEN YOU BY JESUS CHRIST.

In older times, more specifically in the times of Moses, the

grace of God was not something that everybody partook ofbecause of the LAW. God revealed this very reality when He

said to Moses "I will make all my goodness pass before thee,

and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; AND

WILL BE GRACIOUS TO WHOM I WILL BE GRACIOUS, and will

show mercy on whom I will show mercy."(Exodus 33:19),

meaning the grace of God was not something that everybody

experienced but only those who found grace and favor inGODS SIGHT. It was a matter of whom God calls that the

same He gave grace. That is evident when God calls Jacob

instead of Esau saying to Rebekah the OLDER SHALL SERVE

THE YOUNGER (Genesis 25:23). However when Christ

comes, a deeper revelation dawns and the purpose of the

grace of God is revealed and Paul testifies it to Titus when he

says "FOR THE GRACE OF GOD THAT BRINGS SALVATION

HAS APPEARED TO ALL MEN"(Titus 2:11), meaning that the

very same GRACE that was shown to those who were called

in FORMER TIMES is now, THROUGH JESUS, SHOWN TO ALL

MEN. Now every man in Jesus Christ is a partaker of this

heavenly grace of God and since "God was pleased to have

all His fullness dwell in Him (Jesus),"(Colossians 1:19), it also

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PLEASED God that through Jesus GRACE should be GIVEN.

Moses according to Hebrews "was faithful in all His(God's)

house as a SERVANT, for a testimony of those things which

would be spoken afterward,"(Hebrews 3:5), but even with

that he was not entrusted by God to bring GRACE "but Christ

as a Son over His own house"(Hebrews 3:5), was the ONE

given this privilege by God to be the GRACE GIVER . And John

says "for the law was given through Moses, BUT GRACE

AND TRUTH CAME THROUGH JESUS CHRIST."(John 1:17) -

Jesus is the ONE that brought the GRACE of God to us, He is

the ONE that allowed the GRACE of God to appear to ALL

MEN and also bring the Gentiles who were formerly cast out

from the GRACE of God into that same GLORIOUS GRACE

that the JEWS were looking forward to.

The opening scripture is directed to the Corinthians that Paul

was writing to and its amazing that he shows us that GRACE

was given to the Gentiles by Jesus Christ Himself. He HAS

BECOME and ALWAYS will be THE GRACE GIVER, John also

says "of His fullness WE HAVE ALL RECEIVED, AND GRACE

FOR GRACE."(John 1:15) - HOW MARVELOUS, "WE HAVE ALL

RECEIVED" - Glory to Jesus. Each and every person who is in

Christ has received GRACE of some sort and our

responsibility is to make use of it and as one man of God likes

to say "GROW IN IT". It is that grace that ALLOWS us to serve

God completely SOLD OUT to Him because that very GRACE

"teaches us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we

should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present

age,"(Titus 2:12). As we have mentioned It is by Jesus that

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GRACE is given to us by God, salvation is the very proof of

that, because SALVATION is given through believing in Jesus,

"for it is by GRACE you have been saved..."(Ephesians 2:8).

There is a statement that Paul made to the Ephesians that

personally transformed my life and I feel located me to some

point where God needs me to be, Paul says "BUT TO EACH

ONE OF US GRACE HAS BEEN GIVEN AS CHRIST

APPORTIONED IT."(Ephesians 4:7) - There is so much to

notice in this scripture to such an extent that I feel like the

whole CONCEPT OF SALVATION is described in this scripture.

"TO EACH ONE OF US", meaning to all of us, "GRACE HAS

BEEN GIVEN", meaning WE HAVE GRACE ALREADY because

of the tense of the statement, "AS CHRIST APPORTIONED

IT", meaning as Jesus has distributed BY MEASURE. There is

no one in this WORLD who is in Christ who is left without the

GRACE of God - EVEN IN HARD TIMES THE GRACE OF GOD ISAT WORK. Remember Paul who had trouble with a thorn

brought to his flesh, a messenger of Satan, and he mentions

how he pleaded with the Lord three times that it may be

removed from him? But a DIVINE RESPONSE comes from

Jesus saying "MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU, for my

power is made perfect in weakness"(2 Corinthians 12:9) - OH

HOW GREAT IS JESUS, He says "MY GRACE". Jesus is enoughbecause His GRACE is enough. We need to go to the GRACE

GIVER, and we are INVITED by Him to come WITH

CONFIDENCE when the letter to the Hebrews says "LET US

THEREFORE COME BOLDLY TO THE THRONE OF GRACE, that

we may obtain mercy AND FIND GRACE to help in time of

need."(Hebrews 4:16). He's letting us know that if we come

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BOLDLY by FAITH we will FIND GRACE. We cannot access the

grace of God apart from FAITH, even Paul says "also WE

HAVE ACCESS BY FAITH INTO THIS GRACE IN WHICH WE

STAND, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."(Romans

5:2).

God has sat Jesus at the THRONE OF GRACE, because He sat

Him at His right-hand, and we are partakers of that THRONE

in the Spirit since He "raised us up together, AND MADE US

SIT TOGETHER IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST

JESUS,"(Ephesians 2:6). If we are partakers of the THRONE,

we are by DEFAULT partakers of the GRACE. Live a live with

the consciousness of the GRACE of GOD in you, ALL OF US

HAVE IT, no man or woman in Jesus is without GRACE. How

powerful is that prayer that we pray when we say "LET US

SHARE THE GRACE", "May the GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS

CHRIST, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy

Spirit be with you all."(2 Corinthians 13:14). Its amazing that

in that PRAYER we are ONLY "SHARING THE GRACE", the

GRACE of OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

God Bless You.