Avoid
carefully becoming stalemated in your life.
Do not be so frustrated that you say, "I can't understand why God doesn't do what He said.
He prophesied it; it is long overdue!"
It is long overdue, but it is not God who is overdue; your own spirit has to be right first.
This truth may seem to be over-simplified in context with other truths that God has given; but we must deal with this need and pray.
"Lord, what is in my spirit that hinders? What hinders me, Lord?
What is it in my spirit that is wrong?"
James and John, the disciples wanted to bring down fire from heaven and burn people up.
But the Lord said, "You do not know of what spirit you are." Luke 9:54-55.
It is very important to have a right spirit.
The man who serves God in this hour must persistently keep his spirit open to God.
When you start opening up your spirit to the Lord and to everyone else around you more than you have before, then the enemy of the Lord will come against you.
It seems that Satan is allowed to test you when, before the Lord, you say, "I want to be perfect in my way before the Lord. I want my spirit to really be right."
God allows you to be tested on it.
And if you can come through the testing with a right spirit, you will be walking in the days of miracles again.
It seems to be such a simple formula, but it becomes effective in everything you pray for.
It opens the door.
You will learn that when you say you are going to keep your spirit open, you have made a big statement.
When you are going to have a right spirit, you have made a declaration.
You will realize that half the problems and limitations that you have are in your head.
Of all the things that frustrate us, that limit us, that lock us in a state of limitation, at least half of them come because we tolerate things in our spirit that are wrong.
Yes,we tolerate them!
Do you say, "Oh, it is just a little sin. It is not too bad. I have a little bit of a bad temper. I have a bad feeling about so-and-so, but I just put it aside."
If you do, you are petting a tiger that will rise up at the wrong moment and keep you from doing the thing that God wants.
"Well how can God use me if I am angry all the time? I am under a cloud! I am defeated!
That is His way.
He must show you what has to change.
When the Lord finds a sore spot in your life, He begins to rub it, just like a chiropractor.
He makes it hurt worse so that it will feel better later.
That is the way the Lord deals with you.
It is the way that He gets at your problems.
We have such a spirit of self-sympathy and understanding for ourselves that rarely do we believe we are really wrong.
We always wish that the Lord would teach us discipline some other way.
He wants to be glorified in you!
II Thessalonians 1:10.
when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be marvelled at in all them that believed...
People will see Jesus revealed in your life.
You will become a barer of His presence to others.
There will be miracles, there will be souls saved.
Have a right spirit!
Don't let others push your buttons.
Take ownership of your buttons and have a right spirit.
God will continue to allow situations where your buttons are being pushed by others until you get it and own your buttons with a right spirit.
And learn to be contented.
How are you to react towards your lot in life these days?
What is the God honoring attitude that we are to maintain to please God?
In this lesson we will learn that contentment in all circumstances is the right thing to have if we desire to be pleasing to the Lord.
Many times we are tempted to complain and be discouraged about what has happened to us.
But is this the right attitude?
Read on and recalibrate yourself to God's wonderful Living Word.
***
The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things; and the God of peace shall be with you.
Philippians 4:9.I do not believe it is possible to really learn from words alone.
You must also hear and see what you are learning.
Likewise, this walk with God must be seen in action.
People must be able to see what a New Testament Church is like, and have it modeled what it is like to move in the Lord.
This is what Paul is saying.
He exhorted the Philippians not to worry and be anxious, but to learn instead to simply set their minds on the Lord, and that which is true and positive.
Not habitually addicted to the always negative news media.
Ever wonder why news outlets on TV always have circles moving around of every size when your
You may not even notice them but they are there every time you watch the news.
It is something you will observe of all TV news programs around the globe.
You are actually being subtly hypnotized into compliance to being negative by the powers of this world.
You can do a search about this but you will be hard pressed to find much information on it.
And we know who is behind that.
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
2 Corinthians 4:4
Many people feel that they are cheerful, positive thinkers, but they are not.
They will have to see real joy in action before they are aware of how they have fallen short.
But I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned before, but you lacked opportunity.
Not that I speak from want ( or according to want ) ; for I have learned to be content ( the literal meaning is "self-sufficient") in whatever circumstances I am.
I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.
I can do all things through Him ( the literal translation is "in Him" ) who strengthens me.
Nevertheless, you have done well to share with me in my affliction. And you yourselves also know, Philippians, that at the first preaching of the gospel, after I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs.
Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account. But I have received everything in full, and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God.
And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Greet every saint in Christ Jesus.
The brethren who are with me greet you.
All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Philippians 4:10-23.
On the surface this may seem like a beautiful little thank-You note at the end of an epistle, but this is an apostolic word in the Scriptures which unveils principles to us.
Paul is showing us a very basic truth about contentment.
We are now going through a national and international recession.
There are over thirty nations or more on a starvation level without adequate food supplies or any prospect of attaining them.
Hundreds of thousands of people will die this year of hunger.
A famine has been openly predicted for this year and the year to follow.
We know what it is in America to have plenty, half of all food produced in America gets thrown away.
The hippies used to dumpster dive behind supermarkets because there was always fresh eatable food thrown away.
But here in the bread-basket of the world, through calculated circumstances our surplus has been stripped and we are now left with all probability of hunger.
Our farm lands are slowly being destroyed with glysophate, which is agent orange, developed for use in Viet Nam to defoliate the jungles during our war there.
Only patented, genetically engineered, glysophate resistant plants can grow in the polluted farmland soils.
We shall eventually be in need, and this is all the more reason why we should make haste to raise gardens and store grain like the Mormons do.
Even if the food we buy is grown locally, eventually there could be labor strikes of a sufficient magnitude that we shall not be able to obtain it.
However, with anointed planning by all the churches we shall not be affected by the famine around us.
We shall have bread to share because we are going to be wise in what we do.
The stock market will eventually not show any real profits for some time to come.
If you have money, put it where it can be a blessing to the Body in the days ahead.
Put your money into the Kingdom of God.
Get ready to stand up for your brothers and sisters and feed them when they are hungry.
Get yourself out of the self-centered rut because there is no way that you will have abundance except through the Lord.
The Philippians freely gave to Paul in his time of need.
He also received gifts from Epaphroditus, an apostle to Philippi and Thessalonica ( Philippians 2:25 ).
Notice Paul's motivation: "I did not speak from want, but I seek the profit which increases to your account.
My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus."
By helping Paul in his need, the Philippians were building up for themselves an account in grace.
There was a promise that God would take care of them.
When they had a need, their need would be supplied.
In Paul's epistle to the Corinthians, he said that they gave beyond their ability, what they could not even afford to give.
Yet, this is the people with the promise that God would supply every one of their needs.
Your security is in generosity of your spirit.
It will be given to you heaped up, shaken down, and running over ( Luke 6:38 ).
He that soweth bountifully shall also reap bountifully.
He that soweth sparingly shall also reap sparingly ( II Corinthians 9:6 ).
You cannot give with a half-halfheartedness; you have to give with your whole heart.
Among the New Testament churches, one of the main sources of giving, which will be greatly revived in these days of restoration, was hospitality and dealing with the needy saints.
Offerings were constantly taken up for the saints in need.
All the churches were one big family although many were involved, and some of them with vicious prejudices against each other.
Imagine the Greek Gentiles in Macedonia taking up offerings for the Christian Jews in Jerusalem, especially when the christian Jews in Jerusalem tended to be slightly snobbish.
The big family of God gave to all their poor people so that there was no lack.
When this beautiful spirit of giving gets a hold of you, you will stand by each other, and it will become such a way of life to you that you will not be blowing any horns or wanting any credit; it will be something that you do unto the Lord, and it will be a joy to your heart.
Giving in the house of the Lord sometimes relates directly to the publishing and sending forth of the Word, but when we give to Christ in our brother, we are also giving directly, Jesus said," Inasmuch as you do it unto me" ( Matthew 25: 40 ).
He that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord, and the Lord will repay him (Proverbs 19:17).
This is a promissory note that God has committed to us.
He will see that we are repaid, because we have opened our hearts to deal to the poor.
It is beautiful to give to little children.
It is a tremendous blessing to teach a little child to be generous, by being generous with him.
You show him how to give, because you know that inasmuch as you do it unto the least of his members, you have done it unto Christ; it is like a direct contact.
The Lord takes these things very personally.
If you do not do this, one day the Lord will say, "When I was hungry, you did not feed Me, I was naked, and you did not clothe Me.
I was in prison, and you did not visit Me.
Inasmuch as you did not do it unto one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me ( Matthew 25:42-45).
Always keep your heart open.
It is never a matter of whether you can afford to give.
If you follow the Scripture correctly, you will see that you cannot afford not to give.
You cannot afford to fail to open up the channel of supply to your own spirit.
Next to worry, discontentment is one of the greatest evidences of unbelief there is.
We say that we are believers, but there is still murmuring and complaining, which God also takes quite personally.
God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, but in the wilderness they murmured.
They continued in that spirit of murmuring for awhile, but then the Lord began to judge them.
The fire of the Lord was kindled against them because they were murmuring and complaining.
Murmuring is a focus upon circumstances with a Satanic interpretation of them.
Satan will always point at certain things to give you a dim viewpoint as evidenced by the news networks.
This viewpoint of unbelief then becomes a direct rebellion against the Lord.
It may not be a rebellion in actions, although it may lead to that, but in it's thought it is a rejection of His providence and His provision for you.
It is a belief in disaster.
Satan can almost make you believe in disaster, and the murmuring heart gives way to disaster.
Murmuring brings upon you things even worse than you could foresee or imagine.
It is a negative kind of faith.
When true faith focuses on circumstances, it interprets them according to God's Word.
That is the difference between faith and murmuring.
The man of faith is standing upon God's Word, and he can only interpret his whole life according to God's Word.
A heart filled with murmuring is discarding the foundation of God's Word and is based entirely upon the fears and the innuendos that Satan would plant in you.
It interprets things from an entirely different viewpoint.
Paul said, "I am content ( or self-sufficient )."
He was really saying, "I can handle anything.
I know how to get along with humble means; I know also how to live in prosperity.
I can handle anything that God orders in my step."
Our spirits may find real difficulty in coping with both poverty and prosperity.
These are the conditions which get into a person's spirit and destroy him.
Good intelligent people may appear to have their feet on the ground, when they are brought into an extremity of circumstances with nothing but poverty in their lives, we see what really was in their spirits.
Was it faith?
Or was it discontentment and murmuring?
How should we respond when God suddenly blesses?
The prophecies speak of the wealth of the world flowing to Zion ( Isaiah 61:6 ).
I have been asking God to prepare me for it, and I believe He has.
Everything that God has put into my hands I have channeled toward the blessing of the Body.
Anything I owned which was not a blessing to the Body I gave away, because I did not want to be encumbered with it.
God is testing us to see whether we shall be found faithful.
Are we really dedicated to see the Kingdom of God come forth?
If we seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness, the other things will be added to us ( Matthew 6:33 ).
If we really believe this, we will seek the Kingdom with all of our hearts, regardless of how many times we have been disillusioned.
The enemy will come against us at every step, and we must realize that we are in the battle of the ages.
We should not go into the battlefield with a gun and not expect to be fired at.
We are embarking upon the most serious mission in the world, and that is seeing principalities and powers of Satan brought down.
We are regaining the territory which they have controlled in people's lives.
There is nothing in the world as beautiful as this walk with God.
When Paul said that he had learned to be content, he was not referring to a passive contentment, or a simple lack of grumbling; it was the ability to handle anything which God had ordered for his life.
When you do not murmur and complain about having nothing, neither will you be spoiled by having everything.
God is looking for people He can trust.
He wants people that will really trust Him.
If you become greedy, you are doing it because you cannot trust Him.
God may send you out to preach the gospel of the Kingdom without any credit cards, traveler's checks, or money in your purse.
God is seeking discipleship that will wholly trust Him and be able to handle any circumstance that could come along, and believe that He will take care of it.
We are going to trust the Lord with all our hearts and lean not to our own understanding.
In all our ways we shall acknowledge Him, and He will direct our paths ( Proverbs 3:5,6 ) .
Turn off the TV news and stop being controlled by it.
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