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I AM AN 80 YEAR OLD MALE, BORN AGAIN, CHRISTIAN WITH A LOVE FOR JESUS. I DO NOT GET OUT MUCH ANYMORE BUT FIND THAT TELLING PEOPLE ABOUT THE LOVE JESUS HAS FOR THEM IS NOT ONLY WHAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO DO BUT SOMETHING THAT THE WORLD NEEDS.
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Category: INSPIRATIONAL
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick. The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass. I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Understanding God's Word
Luke 8:12, 'Those by the wayside are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.'
LUKE 8:4-13
The first type of person Jesus describes is someone who doesn't understand God's Word (Mt. 13:19). Before God's Word can penetrate your heart, you have to understand (not comprehend) what it's saying. If the Word isn't understood, then it will be like seed scattered on top of hard-packed ground (the wayside). The birds will eat the seed and there will be no fruit.
Mark 4:15 and Luke 8:12, make it clear that these birds represent Satan, and Mark says the devil comes immediately to steal away the Word. Satan did not have direct access to the Word in any of the other heart-types which Jesus described. Satan cannot steal the Word from us if we will hide it in our hearts (Ps. 119:11). This first type of person simply heard the Word but didn't receive it. He never applied it to his life, so he lost it.
Notice that Luke links belief and salvation with the Word being sown in our hearts in the same way as Romans 10:14-17. If there is no Word, there cannot be any belief or salvation (I Pet. 1:23). We must preach the Word - not just morality or social issues.
Luke's use of the word 'saved' could include, but is not necessarily limited to, forgiveness of sins. Salvation includes much more than forgiveness of sins. This verse could describe a person who didn't receive the Word and, therefore, was eternally damned. It could also be describing a Christian who simply doesn't receive the Word in a certain area of his life and therefore doesn't experience the victory that Jesus provided for him. Are you experiencing His victory in your life?
DO YOU DREAM OF GODLY THINGS? DREAMS OF YOU HEALING THE SICK, PREACHING TO THOUSANDS, OR EVEN RAISING THE DEAD? TAKE HEED OF THESE DREAMS AND DON'T JUST PASS THEM OFF AS IDLE THOUGHTS YOU MIGHT HAVE HAD BEFORE YOU WENT TO BED. GOD JUST MIGHT BE TRYING TO TELL YOU SOMETHING.
God's Word: Use As Directed
Luke 8:11, 'Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.'
LUKE 8:4-11
This parable illustrates the importance of the Word of God. God's Word contains total power, but it has to be planted in our hearts and allowed to germinate before it releases that power.
The seed is God's Word, and the types of ground are the four major categories of men's hearts. The Word was the same in each situation, but there were different results in each case because of the condition of men's hearts - not because of the Word. The Word doesn't work for everyone because not everyone will allow the Word to work. The variable in this parable is the condition of these hearts. God's Word is always the same. It has the same potential in every heart.
Good ground doesn't just happen; it must be cultivated. This is the reason why only one out of four persons in Jesus' parable brought forth fruit. It takes a lot of time, effort, and diligence to be a fruitful Christian. The Christian life is not like a hundred-yard dash but rather a 26.2 mile marathon. It's quicker and easier to raise weeds than it is to raise tomatoes or corn.
In this whole parable, it was the Word that produced the fruit. The ground simply gave it a place to grow. If we will simply put God's Word in our hearts, protect it, and give it priority in our lives, the Word will produce fruit of itself. Satan has deceived many people into thinking that they don't have the talents or abilities to be fruitful Christians, but they are not the ones who bring forth fruit; it's God's Word. When we protect the Word sown in our hearts, it will do the rest.
WHAT I WANTED TO DO WAS TELL THEM WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS BUT THERE WAS A PROBLEM WITH THAT. A LOT OF PEOPLE DON'T BELIEVE THE BIBLE. YOU CAN QUOTE SCRIPTURE AFTER SCRIPTURE BUT IF THEY DON'T BELIEVE IT, THERE IS NOT MUCH YOU CAN DO EXCEPT PRAY FOR THEM. THAT IS WHY I DON'T START OFF BY TRYING TO SHOW THEM THINGS IN THE BIBLE. WHAT I DO IS TELL THEM THAT I KNOW HE IS ALIVE BECAUSE I FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM EVERY DAY AND I CAN FEEL HIS PRESENCE. I ALSO TELL THEM ABOUT HOW HE HAS HEALED ME MANY TIMES. THIS DOESN'T MEAN MUCH TO THEM BUT I ALSO TELL THEM THAT I KNOW BY FAITH.
The Power Of God's Word
Luke 8:11, 'Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.'
LUKE 8:11-15
It is through the reading of the Word and the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit that Christ in His fullness is known. What a privilege it is today to have God's Word in our own language. Six hundred years ago there was no English translation of the whole Bible. Thanks to the efforts of John Wycliffe (1384) and William Tyndale (1523), today we are able to read and understand the writings of the apostles for ourselves. Men gave their lives to bring us God's Word. We should take advantage of this wonderful privilege.
The piece of armor known as the 'sword of the Spirit' is the only piece of armor that has the ability to cut, wound, and hurt our enemy, the devil. It's not the Bible lying on your coffee table that makes the enemy flee, but it is the Word of God hidden in your heart, activated by the power of the Holy Spirit, and spoken in an appropriate situation. It's similar to what is spoken when Jesus said in John 6:63, that '...the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.' The Word by itself doesn't make us free. It is the Word we know and speak that will deliver us (Jn. 8:32).
Why is the Word so effective? It's because it is the WORD of God. It has authority, because it is indeed the WORD of God. God's Word supersedes all authority of the church, of reason, of intellect, and even of Satan himself.
It is the Holy Spirit that wields this Word as it is spoken in faith. Speaking God's Word in faith brings the Holy Spirit into action. In Luke 4, when Jesus was tempted of the devil for forty days, it was the Word of God, that Jesus used to defeat the enemy in the time of His temptation. Jesus constantly met His temptation by quoting from God's Word as He repeatedly stated the phrase, 'It is written.' Likewise, the Christian soldier must avail himself of God's Word by placing it in his heart, so that the Holy Spirit may bring it forth at the appropriate time to accomplish a complete and total victory. It's yours!
HOW ARE YOU PRAYING?
I DIDN'T MEAN TO GET CARRIED AWAY WITH THIS MESSAGE BUT I JUST FELT THAT SOMEONE OUT THERE NEEDED IT. I KNOW I NEED A REMINDER ONCE IN A WHILE. WHOEVER YOU MIGHT BE, JUST THANK GOD THAT YOU ARE HEALED AND LET EVERYONE YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE. WE CAN USE THIS SAME MESSAGE FOR OUR FINANCES. WE WOULD HAVE A FEW CHANGES IN SCRIPTURE BUT THE TRUTH IS THE SAME. HE ALWAYS ANSWERS OUR PRAYERS WHETHER FOR HEALING, PROSPERITY OR WHATEVER. HE DOES NOT BREAK HIS WORD.
Naturally Holy
Matthew 13:15, 'For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.'
MATTHEW 13:14-23
The word 'waxed' means 'to become gradually more intense or to increase' and shows that this condition of the heart is not something we are born with or that strikes us suddenly. It has to be nurtured over a prolonged period of time. This is why we should not violate our conscience, even in small things. Guarding our conscience will keep us sensitive to God and will stop our hearts from becoming hardened. If we will stay faithful to God, even in the small things, then we will be faithful in the more important things also.
Keeping the commandments doesn't affect God's willingness to love us, but it affects our awareness of how much He loves us. If we live in sin, our conscience becomes defiled and it condemns us. It's not God condemning us, but our conscience. God still loves us. John was speaking of this same thing in 1 John 3:20, when he said, 'For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.' However, as far as this earthly life goes, our awareness of God's love is everything. Therefore, we must keep Satan from blinding us to the love of God.
The most effective way of doing this is to give no place to the devil through sin. John went on to say in 1 John 3:21, 'Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.' Holiness is essential in keeping our hearts assured of the love of God (1 Jn. 3:19). It's the nature of a Christian to walk in the light and not in darkness. When you are rightly informed of who you are and what you have in Christ, holiness just naturally flows out of you. That's your nature.
ARE YOU THE ONE?
God's Truths Belong To His Children
Matthew 13:11, 'He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.'
MATTHEW 13:1-13
The Greek word translated 'mystery' here, means 'something that could not be known by men except by divine revelation, but that, though once hidden, has now been revealed in Christ and is to be proclaimed so that all who have ears may hear it.'
God's truths are hidden for His children, not from them. God has given an open invitation to everyone to receive the spiritual rebirth which entitles them to the revelation of these mysteries of the Kingdom. But as stated in 1 Corinthians 2:14, a natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God because they are spiritually discerned. Therefore, whoever rejects Jesus rejects the source of all wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3), thereby reserving the deep things of God for those who receive Jesus and draw on His wisdom through the Holy Spirit. This also safeguards the laws of God, upon which all the universe is founded, from being appropriated and misused by Satan's kingdom.
In context, Jesus is speaking about those who have revelation knowledge of the mysteries of God. They will receive even more revelation and will walk in the abundant life that Jesus provided (Jn. 10:10; 2 Pet. 1:3). Those who do not receive God's revelation will lose whatever truth they do have and will go farther and farther into deception. God reveals His truths to us in stages and not all at once (Isa. 28:9-10). Therefore, as we walk in the revelation of what the Lord has already shown us, He will reveal more of His truths to us.
The truths of God are mysterious only to those who do not soften their heart by seeking God with their whole heart. As Jeremiah 29:13 says, 'And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.'