EagleWay

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2010-01-05T05:52:00.000-08:00

Hi,

If you find this page, please come visit me at:

EagleWay Ministries Home Page

See ya there

Teachings on Dreams and Intrepretation

2009-12-14T05:44:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share with you a link to Pastor Peter Tan's teachings on Dreams and Interpretations.

Go to: Pastor Peter Tan's page and you will find them on the upper left hand side.

I do believe the teaching will help you to better understand how God is talking to you about

your life through your dreams.

Confirmations

2009-12-12T07:59:00.000-08:00

Shared from: www.thequickenedword.com

GOD SPEAKS when we wait for CONFIRMATION

2 Cor 13:1 NKJV

"By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established."

Seeking the Lord through confirmation is a very important and exciting concept. The idea of seeking Him for confirmation comes from the scripture, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” When we are seeking God’s guidance, or questioning whether we heard the Lord, we need to verify that He has spoken and that we understood what He said. This is a Biblical concept and He wants to make us strong and stable in our hearing His Words.

His Words will become like a hook, a nail, or an anchor on a boat. If something comes against us to rob us of that Word, (“hath God said?”) then we can run back and check that nail. Yes, His Word is secure and strong, bearing up against the weight because it has been confirmed, clarified and established. It is safe. Enough time has been given for Him to make His Word sure. It is settled, strong and stable. If a storm comes against us, we can come back to that place and know His Word is solid. Confirming and establishing is HIS business. He wants that. Your part is to give Him time to do so.

He can bring confirmations to us in any form. The 101+ Ways God Speaks book is a list of confirmations, because it contains the many ways God speaks. If we receive something He has said to us, and it isn’t enough for us to stand firm, then He will come again. He is very patient with our needing to be made firm in His Word. He will speak the Word to us as often as HE knows we need it for it to become that anchor. The emphasis is on the He knows, because being confirmed is a very cozy place to be; our human nature likes to stay there! There comes a time when HE says it’s time to move on and GROW. The confirmations stop (in relation to that particular Word) because He knows what He has given is exactly enough to last through the obstacles that will come against it.

I have a delightful story which spans a thirteen year period concerning the Lord’s timing, sprinkled with His confirmations, all having to do with the launching of my first book. The Lord had previously given me a “writing” promise of my launching out on the wings of faith. Being given a picture-vision of a space shuttle, I knew it had something to do with that promise. Then later when we purchased a computer and turned it on for the first time, there was a beautiful scene of a space shuttle on the screen! I was tickled at the confirmation.

One day, feeling I had waited forever for His promises to come to pass, I was watching my son play a computer game; the scene was inside a space shuttle. There would be a few paragraphs of text, then a menu would pop up saying, “Do you want to wait or continue?” He had a choice to click on one of the boxes. He clicked on “Wait.” Recognizing the allegory of the connection between the space shuttle and the word “Wait,” I certainly was interested in the outcome of this! To my dismay, this same process of text, with the same question must have repeated seven times! Each time he clicked “Wait.” I became frustrated watching, and asked him, “What are you waiting for!” [It was more of an exclamation than a question!] He simply replied, “For the countdown to start.”

Boy did that get me. It was another confirmation from the Lord: “Yes, you will launch out, but no matter how frustrated you are - it will be in My timing!” I got the point and was tickled at His humorous way of confirming me once again. Years later, when it WAS time, He certainly reconfirmed His point, as you will see with the following confirmations.

As a background to this story, I had previously placed a little note in my Bible that was a prayer request to the Lord. I asked that when it was time for the book to go forth, He would send me at least three out of the ordinary confirmations that it was time. That little note stayed in my Bible over the years. Then suddenly it was time and His series of confirmations came.

I visited a church and my eyes glanced at the banner on the wall. It said, “Now is the time.” It was so quickened to me that I recorded it in my journal. A short while later I attended a conference at the same church, and the guest speaker looked up at a wall banner and read out loud, “Now is the time.” He said that was an interesting confirmation, because earlier that morning he had heard the Lord say those exact words. Then I took my little niece to church there. During the service, she drew a picture of that banner hanging on the wall, and wrote, “Now is the time.” I just shook my head and grinned.

During the same week she drew that picture, I received another set of three out of the ordinary confirmations all in one day. I was listening to a tape and the speaker broke his train of thought and said out of the blue, “Oh by the way, there are some of you out there who have been waiting upon the Lord for the right time to be launched into ministry.” Then he yelled very loud, “THE TIME IS NOW!” Then he yelled a second time, “THE TIME IS NOW!” I was covered in goose bumps, and the Lord thoroughly had my attention. Then the man paused a long quiet pause and literally bellowed a third time, “NOW! CONSIDER YOURSELF TOLD!!!” I was really laughing and very blessed by this as I knew these were very special love gifts from the Lord specifically answering my prayer requests of long ago.

The same day I received a letter in the mail from a friend. As she was sitting in her chair, having just finished reading a draft of my manuscript, the Lord literally opened her sense of smell and she smelled the herb Thyme. [This is pronounced TIME.] She sent me this as a Word that the Lord was saying IT WAS TIME, along with the allegory of the different uses of thyme as a herb. That night I went to bed early and cuddled up in my blankets and pillows and pulled out a notebook of past rhema. I turned with anointed hands to a page and my eyes bugged out. On that particular day’s entry I had written about cleaning out our camping trailer, getting it ready to sell, and I had found an old, yellowed, crinkled hand written note by Anna. Before I read it, I knew it was something she had heard His still small voice say to her in the middle of the night, many years ago when we were camping. On the note was one sentence: “Now is the time!” (Her note is a perfect testimony of how the Lord’s Word never gets lost, but bears fruit in the exact time and season of His purpose.)

During the same two week period that I received all these “NOW IS THE TIME” Words, a magazine came in the mail. On the front cover was a full page picture of a space shuttle. The headline read, “Launching into 1997.”

The final two weeks prior to sending the book to the printer, He sent me four more confirmations. A friend, not knowing my decision to go ahead and print the book by July 1997, told me, “The Lord has a Word for you. He says, ‘Now is the time!’ ” She did not know the above story and I did not tell her as we were in a meeting. I just smiled, thinking I can hardly wait for her to read this!

A week later, I was in the midst of cleaning off my desk and came across the original note I had in my Bible. I started to throw it away and just couldn’t do it. I read it once again: “If it is not time for the book, I ask that when it is, I will have three obvious, out of the ordinary confirmations, following Your still small voice to me. In Jesus Name. (signed) Sandy.” Thinking about the fact it had been in my Bible for thirteen years, I said, “He’s answered this, I guess I don’t need it anymore.” It was a reluctant, kind of sad thought as I stood over the garbage can. It was like letting go of an old companion. — Not the piece of paper, but what it stood for - the joy of seeing the Lord bring His promises and confirmations to pass.

I thought, “I have really been blessed by all His confirmations to me. But I’m just not ready to give this note up yet. Maybe He will bring me one more!” I felt kind of guilty thinking that when I had been given plenty. But you have to understand that thirteen years is a very, very long time to wait. And the child in me just wanted one more - not for the lust of a sign but for the joy of relationship. What I didn’t realize when I was thinking these thoughts, was that He heard me. It look Him about eight hours to answer that thought.

The next morning I was creating some flyers for the back of the book. I decided to search for a graphic in one of my graphic books. I opened the book to the section I wanted and my eyes fell on the following three graphics, in the order in which you see them here. Note, I did not look for the graphics, my eyes just fell on them, one, two, three. By the third one I was hysterically laughing!

After I was through laughing, (or so I thought) I glanced again at the “Plan Ahead” graphic. I suddenly noticed the calendar was the month of July. I was so tickled! July was my hopeful book launching date. He had previously given me rhema that I interpreted to be that month. However, for the most part, they were Words needing interpretation because they were not plain speech. I needed confirmation that I had interpreted them correctly, and here it was right on the page!

All these confirmations were so precious to me. And even more delightful is my truly receiving His love behind them. Do you see that it is the same wonderful God, regardless of how long it takes for Him to answer our prayers and desires? Do you see His love behind all these wonderful and precious out of the ordinary confirmations? All those years I had turned to the note in my Bible expecting God to answer it and He certainly did not disappoint me. He chose some very out of the ordinary ways!

Contemplating Meekness (1)

2009-11-02T03:00:00.000-08:00

I am up before the day taking time to be with my Lord before
the day starts it roll. Being with Him strengthens me and gives
me energy.

My devotion today is on meekness. I picked up a definition for
meekness a few years ago that has stuck with me. Meekens, to me,
is like being the superhero "Hulk." This big green monster, full
of power and might, walking up to a door and knocking on it instead
of knocking it down. Having the full power to do something, but not
exercising that authority for destruction.

Ps Peter Tan says, "Meekness is the ability to respond to all pressure and circumstances by loving restrain and kindness. Restrain being the fact that there is the potential to exercise great destructive power but it is withheld because of the object of one’s love towards the antagoniser."

Lord, help us to learn to knock softly on doors, and stop trying to kick them in. Help us to yield to You and Your perfect timing. Help us to smile and relax in You, knowing that
You have all things in control, and we need not try to re-created the world in one day.
Help us to be Your meek ones that inherit the earth.

PeterTan.org

2009-10-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

PeterTan.org:

"God is actively at work in our lives with His angels. He answers our prayers even before we pray them for by the time we know enough to pray, it would have been too late so God answers based on our heart’s intention. This makes it vital that the intentions of our heart are purified by God’s Word (Hebrews 4:12). Every day, every morning, noon and night, our hearts must intend to do God’s Will and seek to please Him. The base emotion must be to love God and to love our neighbour. As we flow in this love, all things always work together for good for us (Romans 8:28)."

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Others Can... But You Can Not!

2009-10-29T18:55:00.000-07:00

Years ago, I ran across this message in an email. I do not know who wrote it, but see if you agree.

Be Blessed,
stace

If God has called you to be truly like Jesus in all your spirit, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility. He will put on you such demands of obedience that you will not be allowed to follow other Christians. In many ways, He seems to let other good people do things which He will not let you do.
Others who seem to be very religious and useful may push themselves, pull wires, and scheme to carry out their plans, but you cannot. If you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.

Others can brag about themselves, their work, their successes, their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing. If you begin to do so, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.

Others will be allowed to succeed in making great sums of money, or having a legacy left to them, or in having luxuries, but God may supply you only on a day-to-day basis, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, a helpless dependence on Him and His unseen treasury.

The Lord may let others be honored and put forward while keeping you hidden in obscurity because He wants to produce some choice, fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade.

God may let others be great, but keep you small. He will let others do a work for Him and get the credit, but He will make you work and toil without knowing how much you are doing. Then, to make your work still more precious, He will let others get the credit for the work which you have done; this to teach you the message of the Cross, humility, and something of the value of being cloaked with His nature. The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch on you, and with a jealous love rebuke you for careless words and feelings, or for wasting your time which other Christians never seem distressed over.

So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign and has a right to do as He pleases with His own, and that He may not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle your reason in His dealings with you. God will take you at your word; if you absolutely sell yourself to be His slave, He will wrap you up in a jealous love and let other people say and do many things that you cannot. Settle it forever; you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue or chaining your hand or closing your eyes in ways which others are not dealt with. However, know this great secret of the Kingdom: When you are so completely possessed with the Living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of heaven, the high calling of God.

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EagleWay's Blog on Yahoo!

2009-10-29T07:05:00.000-07:00

EagleWay's Blog on Yahoo!: "Hope Against Hope

Have you found yourself in a hopeless state of mind? Sort of 'ready to give up' but know better than to do that? I believe it takes a decision, while in the middle of that valley, to believe against all beliefs, against all hope, that what you have heard from the Lord is true. I believe that is the day that our hope enters the heavenlies in a real way and things begin to change.

Abraham was a really great example. (Of course, that is why the Lord gave us that example.. smiles) But, for a while, Abraham could father a son and Sarah could not, and that is the way he tried to bring about an answer to his highest hopes ... through his own answering. Then, when Abraham could not father a child any longer... ('considering his body dead') Abraham hoped against hope. It was then that the Lord created two miracles. One in Abraham, and one is Sarah.

We can not give up our hopes, but realize this.. when we are in the position to give up, then we are also in the greatest position to turn again and grasp the things of hope that the Lord has put on our heart and hope for.

Hang in there!"

Weapon of Butterflies- Seven Thunders Ministry

2009-10-22T18:58:00.000-07:00

Weapon of Butterflies- Seven Thunders Ministry: "The Weapon of Butterflies

This was an intriguing lesson from the Lord, as most typical weapons in the spirit realm resemble swords, arrows, and spears. However, the Spirit of God reminded me that we do not war as the world wars, and that the Kingdom of Heaven has weaponry yet to be discovered, butterflies, being only one.

In a vision I saw beautiful butterflies; they are brilliant blue, with sparkling wings. The color blue speaks of a revelation that is forthcoming. Then I saw that at different times they would fly together to spell a word, I saw the word 'Ruach'. Ruach is the Hebrew word for wind, breath, and spirit.

I heard this verse of scripture 'Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says YHVH Almighty!' (Zechariah 4:6) I heard the Lord say that it is by His Spirit that the enemy is defeated. The butterflies throw the enemy into complete confusion and distraction. When they come in the Spirit of God, it provides a barrier between us and the enemy; the enemy's vision is completely obscured.

Deuteronomy 7:23
But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed.

To the enemy, they are confusing and obscure his vision. To us, they represent change and metamorphosis. They bring about lightness to those who are heavy in spirit. The Holy Spirit brings freedom in areas of great spiritual darkness, where change and complete transformation is desired.

It is the Spirit of God that brings about supernatural deliverance. The Lord said that wisdom is greatly needed in the weapons of the Spirit. For this weapon, wisdom is mandatory! Skill can be attained only with the Holy Spirit's direction. It requires complete peace and a light touch.

The butterflies can't be used in a negative way, they simply vanish. It is said that the enemy comes in quietly and leaves with noise. The Spirit of God often moves in with visible manifestation, however, the Spirit can leave in silence when grieved.

Psalms 51:11
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.

This weapon can be lost through grieving the Spirit of God through harshness and 'bad' air, in other words the WORDS or AIR that we speak! The butterflies are fragile, the 'birds' of the air are eager to eat them up. The butterfly weapon is available to those who would ask the Almighty for transformation. They point to change in the understanding and revelation of kingdom weaponry. It is for all those who have the wisdom to grasp the power of the Spirit in the 'little' things. As the Spirit leads we are to release it upon those who desperately need freedom and change.

Isaiah 61:1
The Spirit of the Sovereign YHVH is on me, because YHVH has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners...

Copyright (c) 2006
Seven Thunders Ministr"

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John 15.16 Ordained You

2009-10-22T04:31:00.000-07:00

Joh 15:16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

and ordained you; which may design either ordination to eternal life, or apostleship, before the world began; as Jeremiah was ordained to be a prophet, before he was born; or else the investiture of them with that office, and with all gifts and graces necessary for the discharge of it; for when he called and sent forth his disciples to preach the Gospel, he is said to "ordain" them, Mar_3:14; and the rather this may be meant here, because the former is designed by his choosing them; or he set them, or planted them in himself, a fruitful soil, that they might shoot up and bear much fruit,
Gill Commentary

[The Greek verb ordain means to set, put, or place. Hence of appointing one to service.]

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MorningStar Ministries : Day 53 - The Sum Is Truth

2009-10-20T18:58:00.000-07:00

MorningStar Ministries :

Day 53 - The Sum Is Truth: "There are foundational doctrines of the faith that we must keep in harmony and balance if we are going to stay on track. These basic doctrines of the faith cannot be compromised or changed. They should each have their proper influence to keep us in the right place. In Hebrews 6:1-2 we are given these basic truths:

Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

of instruction about washings, and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

The basic teachings are: 1) Christ, 2) repentance, 3) faith, 4) sanctification (instruction about washings), 5) spiritual authority (laying on of hands), 6) the resurrection, and 7) judgment. All of these together provide the proper 'gravitational pull' in our spiritual lives to keep us in the proper orbit so that we continue to abide in true spiritual life."

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Refuse to Take Offense

2009-10-14T04:36:00.000-07:00

If something has happened that tempts you to be bitter, refuse to take offense. Instead of responding with words that attack and tear down your spouse, decide that you're going to speak words that build him or her up. Instead of paying back an insult with an insult, make the decision to speak a blessing!

That day when the woman sitting next to me on the airplane talked about how she was going to pay her husband back for the things he had done to her, I could see that she was headed down a road of revenge that would only aggravate her situation. The same is true in your marriage. It's all right to talk about things that disappoint you, but that kind of discussion needs to take place in a healthy, productive way. Make sure your mouth is filled with sweet words instead of harsh words — and never let yourself get into the retaliation business, for that will only make your situation worse.

Sparkling Gems
Rick Renner

Prayer of Faith for Healing

2009-10-11T07:44:00.000-07:00

Prayer of Faith for Healing:

"I was watching the Kenneth Copeland broadcast online for , Sunday, Sept 27, and below
is the prayer that they had the congregation pray.

Lord Jesus, I receive you as my Lord and Savior.
I make you the Lord of my life.
Take my life and do something with it.
Right now, I receive you as my Healer.
I speak to my body.
Body, you be healed in Jesus Name.
Be made whole.
Body, I call you healed.
You are strong.
You are whole.
Everything missing is back in my body.
I rebuke sickness and disease.
Jesus healed me.
I take it.
I receive it.
I command myself to be healed.
From the top of my head, to the soles of my feet.
I receive it.
I call myself healed.
I call my eyes healed.
I call my ears healded.
I call my heart healed.
I call my kidneys healed.
I call my feet healed.
I call my knees healed.
I call my brain healed.
Every part of my being, from the top of
my head to the soles of my feet is healed by the
stripes of Jesus, and is manifest now.
In Jesus Name.
And to Him be all the glory.

kcm.org"

The Gospel Of Healing

2009-10-09T06:13:00.000-07:00

The Gospel Of Healing:

"The earliest promise of healing is in Exodus xv. 25, 26: 'There He made for them a statute and ordinance, and there he proved them, and said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His sight and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord thy God which healeth thee.' The place of this promise is most marked. It is at the very outset of their journey, like Christ's healing of disease at the opening of His ministry. It comes immediately after the passage of the Red Sea. And we know that this event was distinctly typical of our redemption, and their journey of our pilgrimage. 'These things happened unto them for ensamples, and are written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the world are come.' 1 Cor. 10: 11. This promise, therefore, becomes ours, as the redeemed people of God. And God meets us at the very threshold of our pilgrimage with the covenant of healing, declaring that as we walk in holy and loving obedience we shall be kept from sickness, which belongs to the old life of bondage we have left behind us forever."

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Receive Wisdom

2009-10-07T04:36:00.000-07:00

"The New Testament advocates that we pray for wisdom without doubting (James 1:5-6). Wisdom is a Spirit which can be imparted via the laying on of hands like Moses did with Joshua (Deuteronomy 34:9). It is a gift which can be received overnight like Solomon did in a dream (1 Kings 3:5-15; 5:12). It can be combined with other aspects of God’s Spirit like revelation producing light which impacts the eyes of our understanding (dianoia) (Ephesians 1:17)."

petertan.org
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PeterTan.org

2009-10-04T17:00:00.000-07:00

PeterTan.org:

"There is no situation on the entire planet where God cannot control. God does not always intervene in human activity because of free will by humans but other humans can always exercise their choice and intercede and pray for God’s intervention such that evil propagated by humans and devils will be limited only to themselves and that God especially protect the innocent by His angels. The strength and desire for good for all mankind can produce an energetic force of intercession that will give God permission to intervene by His angels on earth. Free choice is powerful when we choose God and give permission to His angels to act. However, we must be patient and allow God and His angels to use both natural and spiritual forces to answer that prayer made before Him. That takes time but every sincere prayer for the good of all humanity and for the establishing of God’s Will on earth is always answered."

23 Sept 09

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PeterTan.org

2009-10-04T09:50:00.000-07:00

PeterTan.org: "All things in the natural world are accomplished through prayer and intercession before God. This is the call of God to be priests and kings in Christ (Revelation 1:6)."

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The Making of a Warrior in the Kingdom of Saul

2009-09-24T05:30:00.000-07:00

When his Master sent him to the kingdom of Saul, he thought he was going to be a grand warrior, for he knew he did not go alone and unarmed. He knew his Master was with him. He arrived at the king's palace with such hopes of victory, signs and displays of great exploits for king Saul in the Name of the King whom sent him.

But, things did not turn out to be the way the warrior thought they should . First, king Saul sent him out to war, but did not give him a weapon, and second, the king demanded a great work from him, as much, if not more, than any of the other warriors in any of the other kingdoms. It was a task that seemed impossible, but was it?

It all boiled down to his relationship with the King who sent him in the first place.

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If You Believed In Prayer....

2009-09-24T04:55:00.000-07:00

I woke to "if you believe in prayer..."

In that one sentence was a whole conversation. If I believed in prayer, then I would not allow myself to get so stressed out about things. I would believe that God is in control, I would believe that He hears and answers prayers. Then I would be a happy camper, not so serious and sullen, as I get sometimes when things when issues of the world pop up and they seem so very 'godless."

I mourn in my heart when someone has an issue that God could answer with a great and wonderful victory, but He is not known, and nor is there any desire to know Him. But, if I would pray, and if I would believe that prayer changes things, then I would rejoice that there is another opportunity for the Hand of the Lord to move on someone's behalf, even when they do not know it.

My declaration: To believe that prayer changes things.

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Journaling

2009-09-23T12:45:00.001-07:00

I thought I would take a jab at jounaling. I have wanted to do this for awhile, but never really got into it.
Let's see how this works

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Daughter, Come Back

2009-09-14T04:08:00.000-07:00

Daughter, Come Back: "Daughter, Come back and be that lone star that shines so bright...

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Nitty-Gritty Integrity

2009-09-12T15:58:00.001-07:00

Would your boss still pay you if he had worked beside you
all day?

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Logos Online Bible School Starting Soon

2009-09-12T10:15:00.000-07:00

I found all my books that I had prepared when we first heard about the Leadership class beginning. There is a lot of good material, and the group/fellowship is going to be great.

I cut out some of my other external activities so that I can devote more time to the classes. I am good for the go.

For those who want to join, go to: Catherdral of Glory website for more information. This is Pastor Tan's Home page.

Have a great day.

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A Prophecy

2009-09-08T19:04:00.000-07:00

A PROPHECY
Eddie T Rogers

There are divinely orchestrated
appointments at hand
where the destiny of individual
lives will be influenced and forever
changed. The fate of cities,
regions and nations are about
to be severely impacted by an
army of believers who have
stormed the gates of Heaven
with prayer, fasting and righteousness.
They’ve gone before
the throne of God and taken
hold of the power of the Almighty.
An anointing of epic proportions
has been imparted to a
generation that will invade the
territories of principalities and
powers, to render them impotent before the King of Kings,
to whom their allegiance is given. A tsunami wave of the
glory of God will precede them, to set at liberty the captives
of religion. This super anointing will trample sickness and
disease and will leave life where death formerly prevailed.
Angels will be released in greater number and be seen to
fight alongside these warriors from another realm. Eternity
has invaded their soul. They have become a prisoner of
God’s love, and nothing on earth will stop their glorious
crusade or triumph over them.

They will walk the path of mercy and truth, for they
have received, from the Father, an impartation with no
limitations. They have been given the ability from Heaven
to make His enemies His footstool. The Captain of the Lord’s
host is their Commander, and their mission will not fail.

Power of Impartation

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Quote from "Power of Impartation"

2009-09-08T17:53:00.000-07:00

A leader is called to lead, not to follow. When a leader
bows to every whim of the people, we can know that the
departure of the presence of God will follow. And the
anointing will depart from that leader’s life, from his position,
and from his calling.

The Rain
Eddie T Rogers

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Hairbrush Experience... Beth Moore

2009-08-25T07:12:00.000-07:00

Received via Email:

HAIRBRUSH EXPERIENCE OF BETH MOORE AT THE AIRPORT

For those of you who do not know Beth Moore, she is an outstanding Bible

teacher, writer of Bible studies, and is a married mother of two daughters.

This is one of her experiences:

April 20, 2005, at the Airport in Knoxville, waiting to board the plane, I

had the Bible on my lap and was very intent upon what I was doing. I'd had

a marvelous morning with the Lord. I say this because I want to tell you it

is a scary thing to have the Spirit of God really working in you.

You could end up doing some things you never would have done otherwise.

Life in the Spirit can be dangerous for a thousand reasons not the least of

which is your ego.

I tried to keep from staring, but he was such a strange sight. Humped over

in a wheelchair, he was skin and bones, dressed in clothes that obviously

fit when he was at least twenty pounds heavier. His knees protruded from

his trousers, and his shoulders looked like the coat hanger was still in his

shirt. His hands looked like tangled masses of veins and bones.

The strangest part of him was his hair and nails. Stringy, gray hair hung

well over his shoulders and down part of his back. His fingernails were

long, clean but strangely out of place on an old man.

I looked down at my Bible as fast as I could, discomfort burning my face.

As I tried to imagine what his story might have been, I found myself

wondering if I'd just had a Howard Hughes sighting. Then, I remembered that

he was dead. So this man in the airport... An impersonator maybe? Was a

camera on us somewhere? There I sat; trying to concentrate on the Word to

keep from being concerned about a thin slice of humanity served up on a

wheelchair only a few seats from me. All the while, my heart was growing

more and more overwhelmed with a feeling for him.

Let's admit it. Curiosity is a heap more comfortable than true concern, and

suddenly I was awash with aching emotion for this bizarre-looking old man.

I had walked with God long enough to see the handwriting on the wall. I've

learned that when I begin to feel what God feels, something so contrary to

my natural feelings, something dramatic is bound to happen. And it may be

embarrassing.

I immediately began to resist because I could feel God working on my spirit

and I started arguing with God in my mind. 'Oh, no, God, please, no.' I

looked up at the ceiling as if I could stare straight through it into heaven

and said, 'Don't make me witness to this man. Not right here and now.

Please. I'll do anything. Put me on the same plane, but don't make me get

up here and witness to this man in front of this gawking audience. Please,

Lord!'

There I sat in the blue vinyl chair begging His Highness, 'Please don't make

me witness to this man. Not now. I'll do it on the plane.' Then I heard

it....'I don't want you to witness to him. I want you to brush his hair.'

The words were so clear, my heart leap into my throat, and my thoughts spun

like a top. Do I witness to the man or brush his hair? No-brainier. I

looked straight back up at the ceiling and said, 'God, as I live and

breathe, I want you to know I am ready to witness to this man. I'm on this

Lord. I'm your girl! You've never seen a woman witness to a man faster in

your life. What difference does it make if his hair is a mess if he is not

redeemed? I am going to witness to this man.'

Again as clearly as I've ever heard an audible word, God seemed to write

this statement across the wall of my mind. 'That is not what I said, Beth.

I don't want you to witness to him. I want you to go brush his hair.'

I looked up at God and quipped, 'I don't have a hairbrush. It's in my

suitcase on the plane. How am I supposed to brush his hair without a

hairbrush?' God was so insistent that I almost involuntarily began to walk

toward him as these thoughts came to me from God's word: 'I will thoroughly

furnish you unto all good works.' (2 Timothy 3:17)

I stumbled over to the wheelchair thinking I could use one myself. Even as I

retell this story, my pulse quickens and I feel those same butterflies. I

knelt down in front of the man and asked as demurely as possible, 'Sir, may

I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?'

He looked back at me and said, 'What did you say?'

'May I have the pleasure of brushing your hair?'

To which he responded in volume ten, 'Little lady, if you expect me to hear

you, you're going to have to talk louder than that.'

At this point, I took a deep breath and blurted out, 'SIR, MAY I HAVE THE

PLEASURE OF BRUSHING YOUR HAIR?' At which point every eye in the place

darted right at me. I was the only thing in the room looking more peculiar

than old Mr. Long Locks. Face crimson and forehead breaking out in a sweat,

I watched him look up at me with absolute shock on his face, and say, 'If

you really want to.'

Are you kidding? Of course I didn't want to. But God didn't seem interested

in my personal preference right about then. He pressed on my heart until I

could utter the words, 'Yes, sir, I would be pleased. But I have one little

problem. I don't have a hairbrush.'

'I have one in my bag,' he responded.

I went around to the back of that wheelchair, and I got on my hands and

knees and unzipped the stranger's old carry-on, hardly believing what I was

doing. I stood up and started brushing the old man's hair. It was

perfectly clean, but it was tangled and matted. I don't do many things

well, but must admit I've had notable experience untangling knotted hair

mothering two little girls. Like I'd done with either Amanda or Melissa in

such a condition, I began brushing at the very bottom of the strands,

remembering to take my time not to pull. A miraculous thing happened to me

as I started brushing that old man's hair. Everybody else in the room

disappeared. There was no one alive for those moments except that old man

and me. I brushed and I brushed and I brushed until every tangle was out of

that hair. I know this sounds so strange, but I've never felt that kind of

love for another soul in my entire life. I believe with all my heart, I -

for that few minutes - felt a portion of the very love of God. That He had

overtaken my heart for a little while like someone renting a room and making

Himself at home for a short while.

The emotions were so strong and so pure that I knew they had to be God's.

His hair was finally as soft and smooth as an infant's.

I slipped the brush back in the bag and went around the chair to face him.

I got back down on my knees, put my hands on his knee and said, 'Sir, do

you know my Jesus?'

He said, 'Yes, I do'

Well, that figures, I thought.

He explained, 'I've known Him since I married my bride. She wouldn't marry

me until I got to know the Savior.' He said, 'You see, the problem is, I

haven't seen my bride in months. I've had open-heart surgery, and she's

been too ill to come see me. I was sitting here thinking to myself, what a

mess I must be for my bride.'

Only God knows how often He allows us to be part of a divine moment when

we're completely unaware of the significance. This, on the other hand, was

one of those rare encounters when I knew God had intervened in details only

He could have known. It was a God moment, and I'll never forget it.

Our time came to board, and we were not on the same plane. I was deeply

ashamed of how I'd acted earlier and would have been so proud to have

accompanied him on that aircraft.

I still had a few minutes, and as I gathered my things to board, the airline

hostess returned from the corridor, tears streaming down her cheeks. She

said, 'That old man's sitting on the plane, sobbing. Why did you do that?

What made you do that?'

I said, 'Do you know Jesus? He can be the bossiest thing!'

And we got to share.

I learned something about God that day. He knows if you're exhausted,

you're hungry, you're serving in the wrong place or it is time to move on

but you feel too responsible to budge. He knows if you're hurting or

feeling rejected. He knows if you're sick or drowning under a wave of

temptation. Or He knows if you just need your hair brushed. He sees you as

an individual. Tell Him your need!

I got on my own flight, sobs choking my throat, wondering how many

opportunities just like that one had I missed along the way ... all because

I didn't want people to think I was strange. God didn't send me to that old

man. He sent that old man to me.

John 1:14 'The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have

seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father,

full of grace and truth'

Life shouldn't be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving

safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather, to skid in

broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly shouting,

'Wow! What a ride! Thank You, Lord!'

Please share this wonderful story.

If your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light........ Mt. 6:22

By God's grace I am what I am..... 1 Corinthians 15:10

'Life isn't about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain!'

PLEASE NOTE: This message and any response to it may constitute a public record,

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records law. (ORC 149.43) The Ohio Department of Education values your feedback

as a customer. Please take a few minutes to complete our survey regarding the

quality of service you received from our staff. Thank you in advance.

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Eyes That See, Ears that Hear

2009-08-23T18:20:00.000-07:00

This is a weekly letter sent out from Pastor Tan's Ministry.

Fatherly Talk 2.20 – Eyes that see, ears that hear

Dearly Beloved,

Our Lord Jesus spoke of people having eyes that don’t see, ears that don’t hear, and hearts that don’t receive (Matthew 13:14-15). How can people have eyes and yet not see, ears and yet not hear? Jesus is, of course, talking about spiritual seeing and spiritual hearing but even in the natural, have you noticed that sometimes we cannot see the natural things which are right before our eyes or the sounds that are vibrating around us. How many times have our mind being so occupied that we do not hear the soft sounds of insects or birds that lived in our surroundings? And how many times have we been so busy to get from one place to another that we do not notice the beauty of the sceneries that pass us along the path or road? Surprise, surprise; even our ability to see and hear in the natural seems to be governed by a DECISION, a CHOICE, to see or hear. It has less to do with how good our eyesight is (which can be healed or corrected) or how good our hearing is. It has to do with an inward decision to set our attention (our mind and heart) to see or hear that which we WANT to see and hear. If we want to see a beautiful insect or bird or animal, you might find one along the path or road you take; if you neither want to be distracted nor want to see such creatures, then you might not see it even if it passes you. Now, if this is occurring in the natural, think about what is happening in the spiritual. How many things have we missed that God was showing us? How many words have we missed that God was speaking to us? It is a FALSE assumption of many that WHEN God shows that we will automatically see and WHEN God speaks that we will automatically hear. God could be showing something to you right now and you might not see it. God could be speaking to you right now and you did not hear it. What do the Scriptures say?

1. God is showing and speaking to us ALL the time (John 16:13-14; John 10:27; John 14:26).

Our God and Father is not a ‘once a week’ father nor a ‘once a month father.’ He is our Father every day. He brings forth goodness and mercy ALL the days of our lives (Psalm 23:6). The days are fashioned by God for us in His book when as yet they did not exist (Psalm 139:16). Why do we assume that God does not speak or show us things every day? It is a fallen, sin-natured wrong philosophy and principle. Every day should be ‘This is the day that the Lord has made’ (Psalm 118:34). And the night, too (Psalm 74:16). God might show His plans for us that might be worked out over weeks or months or years but God definitely speaks and shows Himself to our hearts and spiritual eyes and ears to give us comfort and encouragement every day. Can you hear His words of love and comfort to you each day? (John 10:27). Can you see the glory He shows to you each day? (2 Corinthians 4:6). Paul declared that God renews the inward man day by day – implies every day (2 Corinthians 4:16). Why then do the majority of Christians neither see nor hear the comfort of God in their hearts? Because they have NOT set their hearts, their minds, their eyes and their ears to see and hear God. This does not mean that it has to be spectacular; it just means that it will be supernaturally given, spiritually given and spiritually received. For this reason, we need to daily SET our hearts and minds to daily see and hear Him, THEN will we discern His daily shower of love and whispers of faith.

2. The condition of our heart determines the condition of our seeing and hearing ability (Matthew 5:8; Matthew 13:15).

A heart filled with love is a heart greatly to be desired. For love is the frequency in which God exists and when the TV and radio antenna of our hearts are set to love, it operates in the same frequency reception (1 John 4:8). Love to our spirits is like food to the natural body. It is the energy source for all things, including faith that moves mountains (Galatians 5:6; Mark 11:25; 1 Corinthians 13:1-2, 8). We need our spiritual breakfast of love, our spiritual lunch of love and our spiritual dinners of love. Indeed, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). And every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God is filled with His Spirit and His life, which is love (John 6:63). A loving heart produces a loving mind (1 Corinthians 13:5). It is not just unbelievers who should rejoice that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son but every believer should rejoice everyday and receive the wonder of His love for us for each day of our life (John 3:16; Romans 5:8). As believers we might have received Jesus once into our heart and life forever but we should every day of our lives (and for the rest of eternity) receive the ever increasing measures of God’s love for us (Romans 5:5). Every day as we receive the fresh measure of God’s love for us, we become more and more rooted and grounded in His love (Ephesians 3:17). Every day pray a prayer of love reception and thanksgiving and open your hearts to receive the fresh measure of God’s love energy for the day (or hourly or three times a day or seven times a day – Daniel 6:10; Psalm 119:164; 1 Chronicles chapter 25).

3. Expect to see and hear from God and it shall be so (John 14:14, 21, 23).

It is the promise of Jesus that when we love Him and keep His Word that He WILL manifest Himself to us (John 14:21). It is the promise of Jesus that when we love Him and keep His Word that He and the Father WILL come to us and make their home with us (John 14:23). Choose to hear Him and you will. It might neither come spectacularly nor with physical manifestations but it will definitely come into our hearts and spirits. The Pharisees chose not to believe in Jesus so even when they see, they don’t believe (John 9:39). We the disciples of Jesus are more blessed because when we do not see, we chose to believe (John 20:29). And this signs will follow those who believe – power over demons, power to speak in new tongues, power over serpents and poisons, and power over sicknesses and diseases (Mark 16:15-16). What do we believe? We believe that Jesus is risen from the dead and is alive forever more. We believe in the power of His name, which we now represent. When we believe His goodness and mercy flows every day. When we believe! All things are possible to him who believes (Mark 9:23). Believe that we have received it and we WILL have them (Mark 11:24). The problem is not at God’s end – for He is daily showing, speaking, revealing, pouring our His love and power like a mighty river and waterfall. The solution is on our end – are we open to receive His love and power and then release it forth.

Like the little boy who accompanied Elisha, the body of Christ cannot see the innumerable forces of light and love that God has given to us, His beloved church; and we do not understand it when a man of God proclaims that those who are with us are more than they who are against us (2 Kings 6:16). We all need to pray that our spiritual eyes be opened so that we might see what God has already prepaid for us (2 Kings 6:17). The Lord has already prepared a table before you in the presence of your enemies (Psalm 23:5). Don’t just see your enemies (your mountains or your problems), see the feast table that He has already prepared for you. Don’t just see your temptations and your trials, see the way of escape that He has already prepared for you (1 Corinthians 10:13). Don’t just see the blurriness of your future and direction, see the good works which God has already prepared for you (Ephesians 2:10). We see not because we have convinced and told ourselves that we cannot see. We hear not because we have convinced and told ourselves that we cannot hear. Believe! Choose to see. Choose to hear. And as you give thanks and enjoy the love which God has for you and the love which you have for God and for others, you will see and you will hear.

We pray that God would open the eyes of each of your understanding that you may know all the fullness of His resurrection life and power in Christ (Ephesians 1:18-23).

In Christ Jesus,

Ps Peter Tan
petertan.org

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Revelation

2009-08-23T18:12:00.000-07:00

A year ago, Sandy Warner sent out an email about Revelation. I want to share this with you.

WORD TO PONDER: REVELATION

Suddenly, upon the recesses of the mind a light bursts forth. A spark of knowledge ignited by the power of the Holy Spirit, -- and suddenly you know! Previously unsure, now you know. This moment of revelation is when a door opens within you and something is deposited inside.

What you have come to understand may be too naked to share with others. You may even feel too vulnerable to have received it. You may or may not like this revelation. If you do not like it, you may squirm and wiggle and kick and yank… but once deposited, it is there for eternity. Once there, it can never be erased. That is the nature of My revelations of truth. Even if you struggle for years, you will still not be able to walk away from that deposit. If years have passed, and you still struggle and wonder, then be comforted by the fact that no matter what you do, you can not escape the knowledge. Find comfort in the fact that the revelation is still with you.

Many things are in operation to bring forth My revelations. I weave them like finely woven patterns underneath the surface of your life. The individual threads may stay hidden for years until suddenly they emerge as a distinct glimpse of something much larger than you once perceived. I bring these things into operation in perfect order and harmony and nothing is woven out of place. If you have received a revelation, understand that there is the perfect time for it to come forth. Trust Me in this. I AM taking you somewhere and you need this knowledge. Relax in its knowledge and let it warm you away from your fears of vulnerability.

“Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, But now is made manifest…”

(Romans 16: 25-26)

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No Other Alligence

2009-08-22T18:30:00.000-07:00

For too long, alligence has been given to man.
Believing what he has to say over the Word of God.
Doubting even the presence of God.

Our own personal desire to be approved of and accepted
have over ridden the perfect will of God for our lives.
The kind words of a friend are chosen over the obedience of our King.
The bitter sting of rejection lingers formost in our hearts.

Oh, God, if I follow You, where will you lead me?
Don't you understand it is a road of loneliness and fear
To believe the path you have chosen for me?

Yet, when I have lingered behind, hoping maybe someone would be kind
I found only the nashing teeth all around
Waiting to devour my heart and soul.

Spoiled, my King. You spoiled me.
You said come and follow You
And I did
And you said that families would be torn
But I didn't believe that You meant my family.

One by one my friends turned from me.
I called after then as they walked away.
Why, I asked, do you leave?
Can you not see that Jesus is the best thing that has happened to me?
Yet, not a word to me in return.

Maybe in China, of even in Korea, might be true in Africa, or even in India,
but not here in liberal USA
How can they deny you,
How can they shun you and forget you live?

Where do they get the accusations they chant and gossip about?
Who could believe the things they say?
Is this the price, my Lord, I have to pay?
To be seen as something and someone who has never crossed my mind?
To be labeled and then cast aside?

Well, Lord, they've got me all wrong.
But it no longer matters to me anymore.
It is over for me, this hanging on and hoping.
I am turning my back now on my alligence to man
And turning now fully into You.

You will keep me or You will lose me.
You are all that I that I have, and all that I want.

Sometimes Your word sounds so outlandish
So unreal and full of pipe dreams
But this is where I am throwing myself
To hope in You.

I have determined that it is You I will believe
and not the thousands of voices that deny
You care and are real
And the things You did, You do still.

So, Lord, make it or break it
I will depend only on You.
I am sorry I tried every other way
Before believing You alone were the One who could save.

And, Lord, as the pain of rejection and judgement almost destroyed me
but instead drove me deeper into You
Help me now to receive others who
are on the path to a greater walk with You.

I pledge my alligence to You, my King, my Lord, my Friend

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Branded by Devotion to a Task

2009-08-22T18:26:00.000-07:00

Branded by Devotion to a Task by Leonard Ravenhill

THE MARK OF PAUL’S inward crucifixion were plainly evident. First of all, Paul was branded by devotion to a task. If, as tradition says, Paul was only four feet six inches in height, then he was the greatest dwarf that ever lived. He out-paced, out-prayed, and out-passioned all his contemporaries. On his escutcheon was blazed: "One thing I do." He was blind to all that other men gloried in.

Pascal was bitterly criticized because apart from the immortal soul of man, he could see no scenery anywhere worth looking at. By the same token, the Apostle Paul might be castigated for saying not a word about Grecian art or the splendor of the Pantheon. His was a separation to spirituality. After the Athenian clash on Mars’ Hill, Paul poured contempt on the wisdom of this world, dying daily to the temptation to outwit and out-think the wise. His task was not that of getting over a viewpoint, but of overcoming the legions of hell!

Somewhere, most likely in Arabia, Paul’s personality had been transfigured. Never after that was he listed as a backslider. He was too occupied with going on. It would have vexed his righteous soul to hear a congregation sing, "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it!" Unsponsored, unwelcomed, unloved -- these made little difference to Paul. On he went, blind to every jewel of earthly honor, deaf to every siren-voice of ease, and insensitive to the mesmerism of worldly success.

Without any of their choosing, millions will be branded for the Antichrist one day. Shall we shrink to bear in our spirits, our souls, and our bodies our Owner’s marks -- the marks of Jesus? Branded means pain. Do we want that? Branded means carrying the slur of the servant. Will we choose to be branded -- for Christ?

http://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=article&aid=23130
 Leonard Ravenhill (1907-1994) - Preached in America for revival until his death. One of the foremost authorities on revival in the 20th century,

The Holy Spirit

2009-08-22T15:06:00.000-07:00

You Tube is the media for a sermon done by Pastor Peter Tan.
The sermon is excellent. I hope you are blessed.

The Person of the Holy Spirit

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Jack Coe Part One

2009-08-22T14:59:00.000-07:00

This is a thirty minute video broken into three parts. It begins with a short sermon and finishes with the healing service. It really blessed me, and I am grateful to the person who put it on youtube for us to share with each other.

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Jack Coe Part Two

2009-08-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

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Jack Coe Part Three

2009-08-22T14:53:00.000-07:00

Healing Testimonies

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Test Post

2009-08-22T07:34:00.000-07:00

After you test this... delete it

and delete any comments

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“Minute Men”

2009-07-21T13:07:00.001-07:00

“Minute Men”
Word from Grams and Roberts Liardon
Spirit Life Series

received via Facebook

Be quick to move on things… when God speaks, be quick to move. Everyone should be quick to move, quick to repent, quick to change, quick to obey… I mean whatever you do; you have to be minute men. One time grandma gave a prophecy in prayer… “I am looking for minute men that will run in a moment’s notice, who will live free from things that tie them down and won’t let them be free. Who will run from relationships, even works and jobs who keep them bound to earthly controls and ways.

Oh, will those who can find a way, for I will make a path and help them you see, to live a life where they will be quick to obey. And these that are quick to obey, I will provide for them, I will supply for them, and I will use them in most unusual ways… running to and fro meeting who they do not know, speaking words they have not heard or even thought to say. These ones I will send as secret people, secret agents to all different kinds of people, but they must be, oh, minute people.

Minute people, who can move in a moments notice, who will move in faith, not in wonderings and doubt, who will move in love, not in hatreds and ambitions, who will move with great expectancies that our God does do wondrous things. And, Oh, these will be such wonderful people, and they will be sought out among all those who are famous you see. For its not who’s famous, it is who brings the right word, and brings the right word, and who brings the right anointing that sets men free. They will be the ones, they will seek, and they will be the ones that I will use to do most unusual feats. So oh, let the Spirit of Grace come on you now and let Him begin to rearrange your life and rearrange your race. Oh, so you can be one of those minute men who will run to and fro in a moments notice.”

Life your hands up and just bless Him… we just stand in your presence… There is a place if you will pay a price that you can have in Him. And the good thing about it, you don’t have to leave it, you can learn to live in it, never have to come out of it, never have to come out. Life in the Spirit is not an in and out life, you come out of the world, you go into the spirit and you are to live the rest of your life in the spirit. Everything you do is to be under the umbrella and power of the Spirit of God… everything. Doesn’t make you religious, just makes you free and happy. You don’t have to live in bondage… there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus, when you are living in the spirit with Him. He comes not to condemn, He comes to teach, to fine tune, to uplift, to bless, to enlarge, to give, to give you a life that’s worth living. God said to me one time, “I have come to give you a life that’s worth living”. You know what is the sad thing, some folks aren’t living the life that’s worth living. You can’t find it in the earth, you find it in the spirit with God.

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Free for a limited time....

2009-07-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

Hey

You can download a free copy of Mike Bickles book: Growing in the Prophetic

at: Prophetic Ministry

This book really helped me get started on understanding the prophetic.

It is only available until 31 July 09

stace

"Knowing" in the Spirit

2009-07-15T12:11:00.001-07:00

Paul said: "Though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in
spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your
faith in Christ." 2 Col. 2:5
1] How did Paul know he was seeing them in the present, and not in
some future time or past time?

In the Spirit, there is a sense of knowing that is transmitted with
the experience. This knowing allows partial knowledge of the time of
the event

2] Do you think Paul was praying about the Colosians when he saw them
in the spirit, so that in a sense, he was able to direct his spiritual
vision to what he wanted to see?

Paul’s love for them took him into their presence when he wrote to
them.

Worship Angels

2009-07-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

(4) Years ago,when I fist visited your church (1993),I was
worshiping in your service when I noticed/saw with my eyes open,a
person in white sitting and playing a big golden harp in front of your
altar during worship..I tought at that time that was your normal
musicians till I ask of your ushers after the service was over "where
did your church get the harp from",coz it was big to me,and your usher
told me that the church did not have any harps...Did I see an angel?
Do angels play harps such as what I saw? I believe that I did..

Yes, you saw a worship angel

www.eaglevision.com.my

Hope and the Revelation of our Lives

2009-07-15T11:06:00.000-07:00

When I read about men of God or even Paul for example who went
through tremendous times of trial,they cling on to a 'hope'.You also
mentioned in your fatherly talk series that 'hope' sometimes is a
revelation of what the future holds/is. Does this mean that these men
of God knew what ultimately would happen? Did God reveal their future
to them?

Paul always had a sense of God’s Will throughout his Christian life
even right to the point of him knowing his demise in 2 Timothy. In
Acts 20, we see he also had knowledge of his imprisonment years. It is
a promise of God that He will show us things to come (John 16:13)

www.eaglevision.com.my

Restricting Friendships...

2009-07-15T11:00:00.000-07:00

As related to your teaching on the Perfect will of God and your
teaching on the Love of God and that Jesus said they will know
Christians by their love. In your teaching on the Perfect will of God
it displays that there are times you have to cut people out of your
life if it is not God’s will that they be connected to your life and
in that regard it appears to that person that you are not showing
love. How do you display the love of God to them in this case?

The love of God must be felt by us to each and everyone. However, it
is not possible to work with everyone as their spiritual level is
different. In a similar manner, in the Spiritual World, spirit beings
are grouped according to their spiritual level and development. Those
of the same level and spiritual development will find it easier to
work with those of similar character and attribute. Those lower than
them in spiritual development receive their instructions through the
leaders of their domain and this continues downwards until all are
touched from God’s throne radiating towards the smallest and weakest.
The feeling of love is always there but the ability of different
glories will cause pain to those of lesser glory as they cannot accept
nor comprehend the higher concepts of God. Some small example can be
found in 1 Corinthians 2 where the carnal mind will never accept the
things of the Spirit. Jesus said not to cast pearls to swine not
because He had no love for those who couldn’t rise up to His level but
rather that it might destroy those who are not prepared by God to
receive the revelation. All the higher beings in the highest glory
radiate their love from God to all lower than them. In like manner we
should allow our prayers and love to bless all who do not come to the
same level of understanding and glory in God.

www.eaglevision.com.my

Enemy Read Our Thoughts?

2009-07-15T10:14:00.001-07:00

1. Can the enemy read our thoughts even though we don't speak it
out loud? I've heard of alot of preachers that they claim the enemy
couldn't read our thoughts so if we should confess positively and not
negatively.

The enemy cannot read our thoughts but he can see the expression of
our thoughts in our faces and also in how it affects us spiritually.
Those who are walking with God has a shield which the enemy can never
look through.

www.eaglevision.com.my

The Commandment to Love

2009-07-05T02:23:00.001-07:00

Fatherly Talk 5.14
The commandment to love

Dearly Beloved,

Christians do not really have the option not to walk in love as it is a commandment that Jesus Christ left with us through His disciples. Jesus said that as He had loved us, we are to love one another (John 13:34). We all know that Jesus gave His life for us on the cross, so we are supposed to be willing to die for one another in the Lord. Although there are testimonies that we hear once in a while of Christians giving their lives to another, such are so rare that one is regarded as heroic in such acts. It is suppose to be the 'norm' in Christianity! Those who have been in Christ long enough have probably their share of stories of how Christians behave like non-Christians to one another and to others. What has happened to Christianity? Why is love so lacking in many churches? There could be many reasons but perhaps we can highlight some of them:

1.       We have replaced the greatest commandment to love with other priorities.

In many churches today the most important thing seems to be learning how to be a success. This is the driving goal of the leadership and also instilled upon the followers. While we recognize the need of being successful both in the spiritual and the natural realm, it must never replace the greatest commandment to love one another. We need to restore the commandment of Jesus to love into its rightful place at the centre of every church and every Christian heart. We were born out from the love of God the Father, through the love of His son into a loving relationship with God and with all around us. Let us never forget that in all of religiosity and church services, the greatest commandment is and will always remain that which tells us to love God and to love our neighbour as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39). This is more important than our programs and activities. If we succeed at everything else but fail in love, we fail for eternity. Love is everything in heaven and all of the spiritual realms of God. God is love (1 John 4:16).

2.       We need more leaders of love to produce disciples of love.

The problem with love is that it cannot just be taught but must be caught by example and experience. If God did not sent His only begotten Son to us, we would not have known that God loved us that much (John 3:16). If Jesus had not laid down His life for us while we were yet sinners, we would not have known the greatness of His love for us (Romans 5:6-7). Love must be demonstrated and not just intended and spoken (Romans 5:8). Jesus intended that His disciples would continue the lasting demonstration of God's love for others through their lives by giving us His new commandment to love (John 13:34). In fact our Lord Jesus said that it is the ONLY means and method by which everyone will know that we are His disciples (John 13:35 - By THIS shall all man know that we are His disciples!). Sadly, through two thousand years we have replaced the sign of discipleship with our other man-made creeds and doctrines. We need to return again to the original sign and method by which all will know that we are truly the disciples of Jesus - that we love like He loved. No other disciple understood the love of Jesus closely and affectionately as the apostle John. John wrote in His epistle that just as Jesus laid His life for us, we need to also be willing to lay down our lives for the brethren (1 John 3:16). Yes, beloved ones, those who received John 3:16 must continue on and practice 1st John 3:16. The world does not need more leaders, rather the world need more leaders full of the same love that Jesus had. The church does not need more apostles, prophets, evangelists and teachers, rather it needs more fivefold ministers filled with the same love that Jesus had. The church and the sheep will never learn to love unless the leaders themselves learn to love. We need more leaders of love rather than leaders of doctrine or faith or power. For all the doctrine, faith and power will come to nothing without the love of God (1 Corinthians 13:1-2, 13).

3.       We need to see people through the eyes of God's love.

The only thing preventing us loving people is that we have set in our minds those that we find hard to love an image in our mind of their ugliness of character or soul. Such images could have come from cultural prejudices, family prejudices, bad experiences or warnings from others who also have bad experiences and ugly images of such people. Those in our human mind we see some people as good, some as bad and some as ugly. We naturally find it hard to love such people because we have no relationship with such people and seek to keep it that way. Although it would be true that we cannot always work together or fellowship closely with some people because of differences of methods, beliefs or character, it should not prevent us from feeling God's love towards them in our hearts. We must always have the ability of God to be loving to all no matter who they are. True agape love is not based on who people are, it is based on who God is. Human love is based on who people are but God's love is based on His very nature and being to love - for God is love (1 John 4:16). Human love is conditional but God's love is unconditional. God did not love us only when we were good or beautiful in His sight. While we were yet sinners, God loved us and Christ died for us (Romans 5:7, 8, 10). We were ugly, sinful, even enemies of God and yet He loved us and washed us clean and made us His children. If God has loved us in such a manner, surely we cannot love anyone with any lesser standard than that by which we have been loved. We need to love as God love and see as God sees. Don't allow your human heart and human mind stop the agape love of God from flowing through you. Open your spirit heart and let the love of God flow through you. The first thing that took place when we were born again was that the shedding and overflowing of God's love in our hearts (Romans 5:5). Let that love already placed within our heart help us to see beauty in ashes, hope in darkness and faith beyond impossibilities. Even in hell, the love of God cannot be stopped (Romans 8:38-39). The vilest creatures in hell are there not because God did not loved them, they are there because they did not receive the love of God so freely available to them. We are not able to love not because God could not love through us; rather we have shut our hearts from the love of God flowing through us (1 John 3:17).

4.       Love is a commandment

Our Lord Jesus Christ did not suggest that we love one another; knowing our infirmities of human frailties, He made love a commandment (John 13:34-35). Like a loving Father who dispenses necessary medicine to a dying sick child (where the medicine does not taste nice), the Father commands that the medicine of love be continually dispensed because He knows that it is the only way for the child to be healed and whole. Likewise Jesus, knowing our natural dislike of people who are not good to us or ugly in character in our sight and our ease of not walking in unconditional love, placed before us a commandment to love one another the way He had loved us. The only other option is to walk in disobedience and not to love others. We have a choice to obey or to disobey and nothing in between. Everyone who does not walk in love is walking in disobedience! It is a commandment! Walking in love will bring all the blessings of the law because walking in love keeps every commandment of the Old Testament that produces the conditions for health, wealth and spiritual life (Deuteronomy 28:1-2; Romans 13:8-10). Christ has paid all the penalty of the law in order that His grace of blessings might come upon us (Romans 5:17; Galatians 3:14-15). The method by which all the blessings of Christ is received is through faith (Romans 4:16; 5:1). Yet why do so many Christians not receive all these blessings? Such blessings are not automatic; they are conditioned upon faith being energized by love (Galatians 5:6). God cannot force us to love Him nor can He force us to love one another. Love cannot be coerced. We must by free choice choose to love God and love one another! God can provide the power, the means and the method to enable us to love but we must choose to love. He does not rob us of the free choice to choose. God did provide us with the power to love for He has shed (Greek word - poured) His love into our hearts (Romans 5:5). God did provide the means to love, for He has given His Holy Spirit to empower us to love (Romans 5:5 - by the Holy Spirit given to us). God has provided us the method to love for He has given us all of us ministries and gifts by which we can serve and love one another (Ephesians 4:15-16).

Yes, all the ministries of God and every office and service of God available in the body of Christ was purely given as a method by which we could expressed our life's destiny in love towards God and others! They were not given that we might lord over one another but that we might live and die for one another (Matthew 20:25; Mark 10:42; Luke 22:25; 1 John 3:16). When the disciples fought with each other to be at the right hand of God and to be greater over one another, Jesus clearly stated that He Himself came not to be served but rather to serve and to give His life to others (Matthew 20:28). Sadly in our modern churches, ministries and offices have become positions of pride and pomp rather than that of servitude. We have become no better than the Pharisees who used their religious positions to better themselves and to enrich themselves. Woe to those who devour widows houses, exploit the poor, deceive the sheep and are lovers of money rather than lovers of God and people (Matthew 23:13-29; Luke 16:14). Jesus condemned all such to hell (Matthew 23:33). Those who neglect the love of God and true love towards all are neglecting the most important foundational and fundamental principle of Christianity. The greatest and most important of all the commandments of Jesus. Anyone who does not walk in love walks in darkness (1 John 3:14). The apostle John even went as far as to say that such do not even have eternal life in them (1 John 3:15). Not everyone who comes and say 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven for Jesus said that they have not done the Will of the Father (Matthew 7:21). The Will of God the Father and the Will of Jesus our Lord is that we love God and love one another. Anyone who says that they love God and does not love another is a liar for one who loves God truly love one another (1 John 4:20-21).

Beloved, let us love one another for love is of God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God (1 John 4:4).

In His love,

Ps Peter Tan
posted with permission:
www.eaglevision.com.my

Major Hindrances to the Perfect Will of God

2009-06-17T19:03:00.001-07:00

Dearly Beloved

We have been considering various people in the Bible and analysing their lives in their performance in the perfect Will of God. There is a common thread which runs through showing some of the major areas that each experience that either hinder or delayed them from obeying the perfect Will of God. They are as follows:

1. Family members, relatives or loved ones who do not walk close with God.

Abraham’s father was an idol worshipper (Joshua 24:2). Abraham had his first call before he dwelt in Haran (Acts 7:2). The Old Testament records that it was Terah who took Abraham and Lot to dwell in Haran (Genesis 11:31). This shows the great influence that Terah still had over Abraham in spite of the fact that God had spoken to leave his kindred folks and branch out on his own. Abraham waited until Terah died before he obeyed God. And even after he obeyed God and left for Canaan, he took his deceased brother’s son, Lot his nephew with him, probably out of emotional bonding and obligation. The result was strife in Abraham’s household until Lot left them (Genesis 13:5-11). Some might argue that Lot benefited from his association with Abraham but history tells us that he ended up losing everything, including his wife and all his belongings (Genesis 19:30-38). He would have fared better left in Haran. God knows all things and all possible future occurrences. Such great loss to Lot would have been avoided if Abraham had obeyed God against his emotional attachments. Remember that God is always smarter than us and He knows all things. His commandments might not be palatable to our intellect or emotions, but He is always right. The good intentions that Abraham hoped for Lot nearly wrecked their relationship (if Abraham had not been generous to Lot in their herdsmen dispute there would have been a permanent misunderstanding between them over worldly goods – strife over worldly things have wrecked many good and godly families) and ultimately caused Lot to lose even what he had gained, including the death of his wife.

When Abraham and Sarah entered into God’s permissive will by conceiving Ishmael through Hagar, Abraham found it hard to let Ishmael go (after all it is his own blood and flesh) and God had to tell Abraham to do so (Genesis 21:11-12). Already strife was beginning in the home between Sarah-Isaac and Hagar-Ishmael. Only God knows what other future circumstances He had saved Abraham from by making him go against his emotions and releasing Hagar and Ishmael from their family.

Moses’ delay in circumcising his sons nearly led to his early death (Exodus 4:24-26). Apparently his wife Zipporah disapproved of circumcision and Moses failed to do so, which very nearly led to his early death before his mission to Egypt could even commence. It would have been inconsistent of Moses to represent the fulfilment of the Abrahamic covenant to the Israelites when he and his family did not follow after the circumcision required of Abraham’s followers in the Old Testament (Genesis 17:9-27). Zipporah, of course, was not a Jew and find such customs strange, alien and repulsive to her upbringing. It was only when Moses was dying that she relented. God probably would have raised another person if Moses had died in the wilderness before he began his ministry.

The corruption of Samuel’s sons spurred the Israelites to their secret desire to want a kingdom like all the other nations around them (1 Samuel 8:1-6). The Israelites were wrong in their pursuit but so was Samuel in making his corrupt sons judges when they were not qualified nor anointed to be so. Samuel subconsciously took on the same flaws of his adopted guardian Eli the priest, who was condemned for not restraining his sons from corrupting the temple (1 Samuel 2:12-17; 22-36). Even though Samuel was not the seed of Eli, his being brought up by Eli caused him to inherit the same blind spot and weakness. Eli and Samuel’s emotional empathy for their own families resulted in the anguish of the entire nation. When it comes to God’s word and His perfect Will, there is no compromise. Even Aaron was told not to weep when he lost his two sons in strange fire less he himself die (Leviticus 10:1-7). Imagine the great personal grieve and loss he felt but he had to reign in his emotions in deference to the anointing oil of God.

David’s emotional grieve for his rebellious son, Absalom, nearly lost him the loyalty of his mighty men and his army (1 Samuel 19:1-8). It was this same emotional blindness that had allowed Absalom to flourish in the first place (1 Samuel chapters 13 to 15). Solomon was completely blinded by his emotional bonding to his wives such that he started worshipping idols just to please them (1 Kings 11:1-6). An entire nation was lost and divided because of the emotional bonding of one king.

For this reason, Jesus always placed the Word of God and the Will of God first before family and friends (Matthew 12:50; Mark 3:35). This is not to say that family and emotional bonding is unnecessary, one should always be faithful to one’s spouse and be especially responsible and caring for one’s own family when one is a believer in Christ. For the success of one in taking care of the family will enable one to succeed in taking care of the household of God (1 Timothy 3:4-5). And family members can serve the Lord together well like Moses, Aaron and Miriam. The main point is that when it comes to making a decision for the entire family especially in God’s Will for one’s life, one must take the lead and allow God’s Word and His Will first place in one’s life. To do so would actually preserve the family and all its blessings. To do otherwise would be to endanger the entire family and would result in the loss of all things. Emotions should not be allowed to be blind spots which caused short sighted vision. No one loses when they follow God although in the short term, at first, it looks like a short term loss but in God it always result in a long term gain for oneself and the entire family. Never allow the emotional ties or a loved one’s short sightedness to hinder the pursuit of the Will of God for your life. If you truly love them, love God first and they will always be blessed because of your obedience.

2. Wrong reasoning and the sub-conscious thinking that one is smarter than God

Abraham and Sarah taught they were helping God along when they conceived Ishmael through Hagar. It only resulted in more grieve and agony for their entire family. Although the Bible records that it was Sarah who actually asked Abraham to do so, Abraham was blamed by her for the whole episode (Genesis 16:5). You can never please a loved one in the flesh or merely by emotions alone. Such things are passing and will not establish a strong and solid relationship. Because of this one transgression, Abraham and Sarah had many quarrels and misunderstandings between them constantly for many decades until Hagar and Ishmael left. Both of them thought they were smart to answer their own prayer’s desire to have a child but when something is not of God, it will not bring blessing. It will instead bring quarrels, heartache, strive, etc. into the home. They both would have been saved from much anguish if they had just chosen to wait on God and let God work in His way and in His time.

David learned a severe lesson that one cannot improve on God’s methods or God’s Word. An entire nation’s day of rejoicing was brought to a standstill when the cart they made for the ark of God proved insufficient resulting in the death of an innocent man in public (2 Samuel 6). In the midst of all their consulting, they forgot to consult the written Word of God (1 Chronicles 13:1; 15:13). I don’t think anyone intentional thought they were smarter than God but they just neglected to talk to God and ask Him what He thought. Good intentions are no protection against the violation of God’s written Word.

Saul’s intention to preserve the legacy of his dynasty by killing David was pure evil (1 Samuel 20:31). He ended up even trying to kill his own son (1 Samuel 20:33). No evil person was born evil overnight. It is a gradual process of descending into self pity and then self preservation (1 Samuel 18:9-10). Every good person without God can be the most hideous evil monster on the planet when they become selfish and self-serving. Ahab was a weak man whose marriage and emotional bonding to Jezebel caused him to be one of the most evil kings in the whole Bible (1 Kings 16:30-34). Jezebel was an unbeliever who constantly pursued and destroyed all that worshipped the true God (1 Kings 19:1-2). Jezebel was unprincipled and took whatever she wanted. Evidence can be seen in the way she plotted to take Naboth’s vineyard for Ahab (1 Kings 21:1-16). Ahab just depended on the plotting of Jezebel and succumbed to all her scheming and plans. Ahab took sins lightly and allowed Jezebel to led him in everything (1 Kings 16:31; 21:25). Jezebel completely does not believe in Yahweh God and killed all His prophets and plotted and schemed her way through everything (1 Kings 18:13; 21:14). Jezebel thought that she was smarter than God (that she could out manoeuvre and get rid of God) but ended up being eaten by dogs (1 Kings 21:23-24). Evil may at first seem to reign but there is a God who watches the earth and all evil will destroy itself and those with it. Whatever goodness there was in Ahab (as shown by his repentance after Elijah rebuked him for Naboth’s vineyard) was completely destroyed when he married Jezebel. His friendship with Jehoshaphat led to Jehoshaphat’s early death. Things might have been different if Ahab had married a strong godly woman.

The two common threads of allowing our emotions and our own minds to dominate us in the discovery of God’s Will have been historically the greatest failings of good men and women of God. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways above our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). At all times, the way of the Spirit will seem foolishness to the carnal mind (1 Corinthians 2:14). The folly of smart people is their self-reliance on their intellect rather than on hearing God’s voice. The folly of the foolish is that they do not read the Word and their reliance on others rather than God.

In the end, the question to ask in God’s Will is ‘What did God say to us?’ Nothing more and nothing less. Complete obedience to His spoken word. Always seek to do God’s Will and have implicit obedience to His voice and the leading of His Spirit.

In Christ Jesus

Ps Peter Tan

David and the Perfect Will of God Part Two

2009-06-17T19:01:00.001-07:00

Posted with Permission
www.eaglevision.com.my

Dearly Beloved

We saw the progress of David into the perfect Will of God with some twists and turns in the previous Fatherly Talk; some caused by him and some caused by others. The performance in God’s perfect Will continues throughout an entire life and there will always be free will opportunity to get into the permissive will of God. A life is not completed until one leaves this physical body and graduates into the continued progress in the spiritual world. After David was full established in God’s perfect Will and the whole of Israel came under his anointed kingship under God, there were still many tests that came into his life.

1. David flowed in to the fullness of God’s perfect Will when he did a series of things which showed the reason why God had chosen him to be king: he conquered Jerusalem and made it his capital, he brought the ark into Jerusalem, he completed the defeat of all of Israel’s enemies and he organised all the areas of administration in the temple and in his kingdom (2 Samuel 6; 8; 10; 1 Chronicles 16; 25-27).

2. His many successes brought him great confidence and after he built a house for himself, his love for God brought forth the desire to also build God a house (2 Samuel 7). This was a good desire and born out of genuine and sincere love for the Lord. Even Nathan the prophet, when consulted by David, told David to go ahead; it was naturally the most obvious and logical extension of all that David should do for the Lord. However, some obvious things and logical progressions are not necessarily God’s perfect Will. Nathan was told by God to inform David that it was not His Will to build His house. How could David and Nathan not know it at first? It was a good thing, David had the resources and power, God’s pieces of furniture in Moses’ tabernacle needed a good place. It was even born out of a love for God and not something selfish. David had after all built himself a house and wanted to ensure that God had something better than himself symbolically. Not every good thing, not everything we love to do for God or that which is even born out of a love for God is God’s perfect Will for our lives. It was a good thing that David had a Nathan. Imagine if David did not have a Nathan. Would David have been able to hear God? I don’t think so. The times when it is hardest to hear God is when we are already emotionally involved (not necessarily a bad thing) with whatever it is we desire to do. David’s salvation from falling into the permissive will was his fellowship and consultation with Nathan the prophet. It was a also a good thing that Nathan’s relationship with David was such that he could disagree with David – he was not a Yes men who stamped approval of every idea David conceived. There is always safety in the multitude of counsel (Proverbs 11:14).

Many men and women of God at the top of their ministry have completely no one at their level to consult with. David was a king and Nathan was a prophet. In the Old Testament, there were the threefold ministry (prophet, priest and king). It was a good thing that David maintained his ties with the threefold ministry and did not work alone. In the New Testament we have the fivefold ministry (Ephesians 4:11). Many men and women of God called to the fivefold do not work closely or consult their peers in the fivefold ministries. The only people they have, especially if they are a large mega ministry or church, are people serve under them fulltime but who do not stand in the fivefold. From one success to another, they slowly moved into areas outside of God’s perfect Will thinking that if it is done out of love for God it is sufficient protection. I am sure that when Kenneth Hagin walked into God’s permissive Will as a teacher prophet instead of a prophet teacher that he was still sacrificially serving God out of love. It was probably because of his love for God that God allowed the accident of a broken shoulder to happen to him to arrest his attention. All things do work out for good to those who love God but sometimes it is through twists and turns before we are perfect lined up with God. Just as we cannot do what we want with our spouses just because we love them (we need to respect them enough if we truly love them to do with them what they would like and desire and not just what we like and desire), we cannot just do what we want for God just because we love Him. We need to respect and honour God enough that we ask Him what He actually would like us to do. To David’s credit when he was told that it was not God’s perfect Will for him to build Him a house, David immediately comply and went into the tabernacle to spend some quality time with God. God was pleased that David loved Him to such an extent as to think about Him and rewarded David with the blessing of a dynasty after him.

3. Sometime after David had all things around him established and he had leisure time to spare, he was tempted by lust for Bathsheba and sinned against God (2 Samuel 11). One sin led to another and he plotted and instigated the murder of Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband, and married her. Everything outwardly looks calm and good but inside David was fallen away from a holy relationship with God. It took the rebuke delivered by Nathan the prophet through a parable that brought David into repentance (2 Samuel 12). There were judgments and consequences for the sin which David brought upon himself and his household. The child died and some future dire circumstances were predicted. David was under the law and suffered all the full impact of the judgment of the law. Under grace in Christ Jesus, the cross of Jesus absorbed the blows of all our judgments that we deserved. Nevertheless, it is no excuse to walk against God’s commandments and bring about a situation of God’s permissive Will. In movies of time travel, we see how when people travel into the past to change it, they unwittingly change the future timeline which might not be as good as the previous timeline. David made a change in his future timeline through walking into God’s permissive Will. No doubt the word of God and the Spirit of God through prayer would continue to bring about God’s predestined plan but entrance into the permissive Will requires much intercession to finally get back on track with God’s predestined plan. All things are possible with God even much more in the dispensation of the grace of God.

David, however, did suffer much pain and anguish when the future judgments predicted came upon him. Could he have prevented them? Based on the account of the postponement of judgment on Ahab by Elijah when Ahab humbled himself, I believe that it was possible (1 Kings 21:20-29). And if Ahab’s son had also repented, it would also have been possible to avert it. We need to understand this through the concept of what I call the ‘speed of sin versus the speed of righteousness.’ Imagine time as a geographical space; when sin occurs, it is like an egg dropping to the ground. The egg breaks and spills its contents across a large space proportional to the velocity of its impact. So every sin spills into the future proportional to its degree and affects the future. However, just as a broken egg can be wiped up from the floor, sin spilled across generations can be wiped out by each generation repenting when the tendencies or temptations created by previous generations come around. Each generation has the free will to resist and say No. Of course, our ancestors through their lives either make life more easier or more difficult for us but no matter how difficult it is, we all have the free choice to make the right choices to come out of a path the previous generation takes.

4. In bringing forth the ark into Jerusalem, David failed the first time because he did not consult the written word of God on the method of bringing the ark. An innocent man died and David was upset and angry at the Lord for a national celebration had been prepared (2 Samuel 6:3-9). He experienced a mixture of emotions – upset, anger, fear, etc. No amount of emotions can go against the written Word of God. Nor does good intentions or a love of the Lord in bringing the ark into Jerusalem justify violating the written Word of God. David had to learn his lesson that God’s Word is exalted above His name (Psalms 138:3). When he heard of God’s blessings on Obed-Edom, David once again continued with his plans to bring the ark of God into Jerusalem but this time in accordance to God’s written Word (1 Chronicles 15:11-26). The perfect Will of God never contradicts God’s written Word. No matter how well-intentioned a person’s heart is (even out of love for the Lord) it never justifies any actions that are not in accordance with the written Word of God. At some point in his later years, David in pride wanted to number the Israelites (2 Samuel 24; 1 Chronicles 21). David should have done two things, he should have consulted the Lord as to whether it was His will to number them and secondly, he should have offered a sacrifice and redemption offering to God when the Israelites are numbered in accordance to the written Word on numbering the Israelites (Exodus 30:12). By not doing so, a plague resulted exactly as the written Word predicted. In the end a sacrifice still needed to be offered to God with repentance (2 Samuel 24:10, 25). Nevertheless, seventy thousand innocent lives were lost in the plague. Moving outside the written Word of God is moving outside the perfect Will of God. Every Christian, minister and church must always examine their motivation, actions and methods by the written Word of God continually. At no time should anyone think that they are above the written Word of God. To do so is at the peril of one’s own life and the innocent lives of many more.

There are many important lessons we can learn from David’s life in regard to walking carefully in God’s perfect Will. David was a man who loved God dearly. He was not a perfect man with weaknesses in His life but he was definitely a man after God’s heart (1 Samuel 13:14). His continued wandering into the permissive Will of God after his kingdom was established was due to his lack of restrain of his own lust and pride and his lack of consultation of the written Word in some of his desires to please God and do right. No matter how anointed we are, how famous we are or how well established and powerful we have become in the eyes of the world (in God’s sight everyone is still but a speck and no better than one another), we need to know that no one is above the written Word of God and that no justification of love in our hearts for God in our actions makes anything we do the perfect Will of God. It is only the perfect Will when it is born in God’s heart and in line with His written Word. Only obedience to both the spoken word of God personally to our lives and the written Word of God can bring about the performance of God’s perfect Will.

May God give us ears to always hear what the Spirit says to the churches and also a heart that trembles at both His spoken and written Word (Isaiah 66:1-2; Revelation 2:7).

In Christ Jesus

Ps Peter Tan

The Perfect Will of God in David's Life

2009-06-17T18:51:00.001-07:00

Posted with Permission
www.eaglevision.com.my

Dearly Beloved

King David is one of the most important figures in the Old Testament with over two entire books devoted to his life and works: part of 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles. Every other king after David was measured by what David and it was through what he did that King Solomon managed to bring Israel to its fullest peak in fulfilment of Deuteronomy 28:1-14. No study on the permissive and perfect Will of God is complete without looking at David's life.

The first mentioned of David was after Saul's continual disobedience to God in walking into His permissive Will (1 Samuel 16). Was David God's first choice? Many people seem to think so but only in eternity can we see the predestined plan of God completely. God's predestination includes His foreknowledge of all of men's possible choices. Despite his failures, David did a superb job as a king but that in itself does not justify the conclusion that he was God's first choice; otherwise, God's promise to Saul having his descendants as kings would have been hollow (1 Samuel 13:13).

David entered into God's perfect Will for him to be king when Samuel anointed him as king (1 Samuel 16:1-13). From that day onward the kingly anointing operated in his life. The progress of David into kingship was a long winded path blocked at times by the choices of other people:

1. David's skill in playing music brought him into close proximity to Saul but he was not noticed until a national crisis resulted. It is during a crisis that doors open for men and women of God to arise as problem solvers through the anointing of God (Genesis 41:37-45; 1 Samuel 17:11). An innocent sending of lunch to his brothers brought David into national prominence through the slaying of Goliath (1 Samuel 17). We do need to point out that it was David who took initiative at the opportunity given. If he had not spoken out against Goliath, the opportunity for him to slay Goliath would not have been given to him. We have a responsibility to create our own opportunities to progress in God's perfect Will through our free choice. God can only provide the environment; our inner nature and walk with God must arise in the opportunity given. David had defeated the lion and the bear and his sense of God's covenant for God's people gave him confidence to speak out against allowing Goliath to persist in taunting the people of God. He was misunderstood by his own brothers and was not physically endowed to even wear battle armour but on the inside, David was bigger than any other Israelite. The most important aspect is that David was willing to lay down his life for what he believed in. Given the opportunity to challenge and defeat Goliath, he did not hesitate a second. His taunting of Goliath showed his confidence in God when he declared that he will defeat Goliath and all of the Philistines (1 Samuel 17:45-47).

2. David's success over Goliath opened a door for him to serve under King Saul (1 Samuel 18:2). The anointing David to be king would have flowed smoothly if King Saul had not been insecure. David had married into the royal family and Jonathan as the royal heir would have passed on the throne to David (1 Samuel 23:17). Instead, King Saul was jealous of David (Saul forgot that he himself was nothing until God gave him the throne) and tried to kill David many times. In the end, David fled and lived the life of a fugitive beginning at Adullam cave (1 Samuel 22:1). His kingly anointing drew men around him to serve under his leadership (1 Samuel 22:2). Not everyone like David and he was betrayed by Doeg the Edomite (1 Samuel 22:9, 22); he was potentially going to be betrayed by the city of Keilah, a city which he helped and saved (1 Samuel 23:1-13 – he fled by revelation before they could betray him); he was despised by the rich and powerful people like Nadal, even though he had protected Nabal's men and flock (1 Samuel 25:2-3, 10-11); and he was hunted by King Saul and his army constantly. Most people would have given up on the anointing to be king but David continued to be a ruler over his band of men. He had opportunity to kill Saul twice but he would rather be king by God's hand rather than by his own hand – what a contrast of character between him and Saul. He also knew what the anointing of God can do and respected the anointing of God upon others, even that of his enemies who lived in God's permissive Will (1 Samuel 24:6; 26:9). He knew God was his source of kingship and not men.

3. I believe that David entered into God's permissive Will when he tired of running from Saul and allied himself with the Philistines (1 Samuel 27:1-3). He had to live a double life and a double lie – he killed the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites behind their back and lied that he raided Judah to King Achish that who gave him shelter (1 Samuel 27:8-12). When he was accepted by King Achish, it was the second attempt of David to flee to the Philistines. In his first attempt, he was nearly killed and had to pretend to be a mad man to escape with hi s life (1 Samuel 21:10-15). His second attempt was tolerated by God – when we persist in the permissive Will, God will allow it but David had to live a double life telling lies to his benefactor. In the end, it was at Ziklag, the place provided by King Achish that David and his men experienced the greatest grieve and turmoil in their lives when the whole city was wiped out and their families captured (1 Samuel 27:6; 30:6). David's army nearly disbanded there for some spoke of stoning David. For the first time, there was strife and division among his people (1 Samuel 30:6). Never before have you heard of an entire group of men, including David, who wept until they had no strength to weep any more (1 Samuel 30:4). God could have spared them such traumatic grieve and turmoil if they had not lived in Ziklag. God had protected David in the caves and He would have continued doing so. Moreover, only God knew that it would be a short time before David was king. Although David managed to come up out of the potential disaster through his relationship with God, only eternity could reveal the emotional scars that resulted from the sad episode at Ziklag. What changes to their character personality (through their constant double life of lying and emotional turmoils) and their relationship with their wives (some of whom were likely to have been raped), and their sons and daughters who experienced capture (some could have been raped) could only be known in eternity. It is never good to be in the permissive Will even though the mercy of God may help us to get out of it. Kenneth Hagin lived with the constant discomfort in his arm, others have lost babies, sons and daughters and spouses, some have lost their wealth and inheritance, and others probably lose an arm, a leg or an eye with emotional scarring for the rest of their lives. No one comes out of living in the permissive Will the same person. In later life, David's emotional scarring came to the surface in his dealings with his son Absalom, in his inability to relate back to Michal and in his adultery with Bathsheba when he had many other good wives like Abigail. His emotions became the weak points in his exemplary life that nearly destroyed his kingdom.

4. When David was anointed to be king over the tribe of Judah, he was beginning to function in his anointing in the perfect Will of God (2 Samuel 2:4). The delay in him becoming king that was not caused by his personal choice but by the choice of others worked to his advantage. He had forged an army from the Adullam cave through the years as a fugitive that was like no one on earth. His mighty men and army were to be greatly feared by all others (1 Chronicles 11; 2 Samuel 17:8-10). When there is a delay in the perfect Will of God not by our own choice but by the choices of other people, the delay will only strengthen us. When the delay is caused by our own lack of initiative when the environment is created for us by the angels of God, then we pay for our own lack of obedience. Who knows what positive things could have happen if Abraham were willing to follow God and leave all when God first called him before he was in Haran? (Acts 7:2-3). Perhaps his father, Terah might have been converted from idolatry and lived to see God's blessings on his son, Abraham. Instead, Abraham's emotional bonding to Terah either hastened Terah's death or delayed him unnecessarily until Terah died before he started to obey God (Genesis 11:32; 12:1-3). Only eternity can measure what was the loss resulted from Abraham's lack of obedience to the first call. Abraham's entrance into the permissive Will in fathering Ishmael and even blessing him, has today resulted in countless millions of lives in conflict and possibly cause the last and greatest world war that will be fought on planet earth in the Israelite and Arab conflict. The disobedience of the Israelites during Moses' time in crossing the Jordan the first time resulted in a delay of forth years and the entire extermination of the generation that came out from Egypt except for Joshua and Caleb (Numbers 14:26-38). Who knows how many innocent wives and fathers died because of the disobedience of the tribes of Israel? Only eternity can count. In some prophetic events planned by God for 400 years since Abraham's time, there are no second chances. The Israelites relented and wanted to cross over when they heard God's extreme punishment for disobedience but God was no longer with them and they were defeated (Numbers 14:39-45). Whenever the delay of entrance into God's perfect Will is caused by others outside of our control, the grace of God strengthens us through the delay and we come out stronger. Whenever the delay of entrance into God's perfect Will is caused by our own decision or lack of boldness, the price paid is severe.

5. There was still a delay in David reigning as a king over all of Israel caused by the unwillingness of Abner to submit to David's authority and anointing. But David grew stronger and stronger while Abner grew weaker and weaker (2 Samuel 2:8-11; 3:1). Many innocent lives were wasted because of Abner's pride. During the long war of seven years and six months, many unnecessary enemies were made. Job's brother Asahel was killed by Abner and the enmity between them grew into hatred and murder (2 Samuel 2:23, 22-30). Throughout all this time Israel knew that God had said that David was to be king, they knew the word of the Lord (2 Samuel 5:2). The reluctance to obey, led by Abner, caused the loss of great generals like Abner and Asahel plus the thousands of innocent soldiers who fought the wars for the feigning generals. The problem of complete entrance into God's perfect Will here is not caused by David by others and David's hand grew stronger and stronger.

6. Finally, when all of Israel finally yielded to the word of God that David was to be a king over them, Israel began to reach the peak of its predestined greatness under David. David administered over the whole of Israel, making Jerusalem its capital, organized the priesthood, the army and all the various parts of the kingdom and all the enemies of Israel were defeated under David (2 Samuel 8). His administration created all the order that, inherited by Solomon, brought Israel into its greatest power and greatness (1 Chronicles chapters 22 to 29). When we helped people into the perfect Will of God and also stay in God's perfect Will of God, the blessings of God reach national and international proportions.

In studying the life of David, we learn that doing God's perfect Will is not easy especially if our life and call depends on the decisions of others and the proper environment created by God. Nevertheless, when the delay is not caused by our own disobedience, we always come out stronger and better. On the other hand, if the disobedience is caused by our own lack of compliance, the cost to us and all the lives benefiting from our obedience can be severe.

Always seek to walk in God's perfect Will.

In Christ Jesus,

Ps Peter Tan

Doing the Perfect Will of God

2009-06-17T18:47:00.001-07:00

Posted with Permission
www.eaglevision.com.my

Dearly Beloved

We have understood from the past few Fatherly Talks how important it is to remain in the perfect Will of God. What is involved in doing the perfect Will of God? We will take a few Bible examples to learn from.

It was the permissive Will of God for the Israelites to want to be a monarchy like other nations around them (1 Samuel 8:5-22; 12:16-25). It probably was God’s perfect Will that one day they will be a kingdom otherwise God would not have given them rules for kings during Moses time (Deuteronomy 17:14-20). Even though it was God’s permissive Will for Israel as a nation to have a king but, as in individual, Saul was functioning in the perfect Will for his life when he was chosen to be king. It was God who chose him and not him who chose that path. It would be most unjust for us to say God chose the permissive Will for Saul. Thus, taking the position that despite all the imperfections of the nation that it was God’s perfect Will – at least in his life time – for him to be king, we can see how Saul moved from the perfect into the permissive Will.

The failures of King Saul that led him from the perfect Will into the permissive Will:

1. He did not take time to establish his kingdom upon the Word of God. Saul never did follow after God’s heart and was not a lover of the Word of God. He was supposed to copy a set of God’s laws for himself but did not. Only God establishes and removes kings and Saul should have had this engrained within himself through the Word (Daniel 2:21).

2. When Saul moved in the anointing of his office of king, there was a mixture of human emotions that were negative (1 Samuel 11:6). It is the human element creeping into the spiritual anointing that pollutes and defiles the anointing even when at first the results are obtained. Ministers who are not continuing to live lives which the Spirit can anoint (even though they were once anointed before) begin to try to imitate by human emotions and programs the anointing of the Spirit at best and at worst become open to deceiving evil spirits. After giving in to much disobediences and jealousies, Saul become oppressed by demons (1 Samuel 16:14, 15).

3. Saul stepped into a spiritual office which he was not called to. He was only anointed to be king but in trying to be a priest, he went into the permissive Will (in the Old Testament, there were three anointing – prophet, priest and king) (1 Samuel 13:9-15). It was possible that he did it out of pride. At that time, he had already reigned two years in Israel and had an army and kingdom organised. He claimed that he did it because Samuel was delayed and the people were scattering (1 Samuel 13:11). No amount of human reasoning, even that of need or circumstances or empathy or sympathy, can qualify one to step outside of one’s call and spiritual perfect Will domain. God accepts zero reasons for transgressing an office. There are no sympathies or reasons good enough to bend the rules of God’s anointing and call. We all must keep only to that call which God has for us. There are no emotions deep enough nor any reasons good enough to disobey God’s perfect Will and calling. King Uzziah tried to be a priest and died a leper (2 Chronicles 26:16-23). No matter how great our ministry success and how big our ministries grow, it is dangerous to do something outside our calling. William Branham died early because he tried to be a teacher when he was only called to be a prophet evangelist. Kenneth Hagin nearly died when he tried to reverse the priorities of his calling as a prophet teacher.

4. Saul made harsh rules and lack love and understanding for people in the carrying out of his kingly authority. In forbidding the people from eating until he was victorious in his conquest, Saul drove the people to desperation and eating raw meat with blood (1 Samuel 14:24-32). Blind zeal is as dangerous as no zeal. No anointing should function without the attribute of love and care for people. Without love, faith and tongues and prophecies and charity are nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Hagin mentioned of ministers who had not walked in love in their lives and the Lord gave him prophecies to warn them that they will die if they don’t changed their ways in diet, money matters and lack of love for brethren (page 113, I believe in visions by Hagin). Many ministries have become dry and empty because they like the power and authority but they have no development in love. Their gifts become empty and ineffective.

5. Saul did things opposite to what the Lord commanded him to do. When he spared King Agag, it was when he completely crossed the line and God would no longer shine His face favourably upon Saul (1 Samuel 15:1-35). There is a line which when crossed will render us permanently and irreversibly outside of God’s grace and favour (Galatians 5:4). Some people live too near the border of that line. Others crossed it too often challenging God’s grace and mercy. All do it to their own physical death and many to their eternal damnation like Judas Iscariot. God’s mercy and grace are enduring but there is a place where people in their own hearts shut themselves out of God’s love, mercy and grace. Pharaoh was such a person whom God in the end, after the sixth plague, declared that He will use him as an instrument to show His judgment (Exodus 9:16; Romans 9:17). Hagin was told by the Lord (when Jesus appeared to him in the first vision and told him that he had entered into the first phase of his ministry) that faith obeys His Word whether it be the written Word or the voice of His Spirit. Jesus said that he did obeyed the Spirit and left the church for travelling ministry but He did not do what Jesus told him to do in the Spirit (implying functioning in prophetic gifts) (Page 49, I believe in visions by Hagin). Being in the perfect Will takes being obedient to leaving the church and also doing what he was suppose to do as a prophet. It took him another three years (all in 12 years in church ministry and 3 in travelling ministry) before he started obeying the prophetic gifts of the Spirit. We need to all hear not just where or what we are not to do but also where and what we are suppose to be and do.

6. Saul did not respect other anointings but instead tried to kill David (1 Samuel 18:11-12; 19:1). Anointings come from God and not men, to disrespect and anointing given by God is to disrespect God Himself. David on the other hand, respected Saul’s anointing and refrained himself from killing Saul (1 Samuel 24:6). Jonathan, Saul’s son, respected David’s anointing and call and was willing to abdicate his natural inheritance kingship right and let David be king in his place (1 Samuel 23:17). Jonathan should have made a stand and chosen no longer to be with King Saul and his fleshly exploits, even though Saul was his father. By continuing to associate with a condemned man in the sight of God, Jonathan also died with the condemned man. It is important to know that when God calls to separate, one must not allow human emotions and sympathies to separate between light and darkness, spirit and flesh. To not do so will mean that we die with those in darkness or in the flesh. It is God’s perfect Will for all to live long and prosper except those destined to be martyrs.

Another biblical figure we can see descend from the perfect Will of God into the permissive Will is King Solomon. Solomon was not himself a product of a perfect Will and situation. David’s adultery with Bathsheba caused the death of the first illegitimate child in their union (2 Samuel 12:22-23). With David’s repentance and legal consummation of his marriage to Bathsheba, God gave them a child, Solomon. Solomon was beloved of God (2 Samuel 12:24). Solomon started well when he took over from King David with the Lord blessing him and establishing his reign (1 Kings 3:13-14). However, Solomon descended from the perfect Will of God into the permissive.

Solomon’s entrance into the permissive Will was as follows:

7. Solomon disobeyed all the warnings given by the written Word of God about what the king should not do (Deuteronomy 17:14-20). He multiplied horses, he returned to Egypt by marrying the Egyptian princess, he multiplied wives (he had 700 wives and princesses and 300 concubines – 1 Kings 11:3), he multiplied silver and gold for himself, and he was very hard with the people such that they rebelled when he was dead (1 Kings 12:4). In spite of the good things which he did like building the temple, Solomon did the very opposite of everything the Word of God tells a king not to do. Most likely he did not meditate on the Word regularly although he did repent when he was old. No matter how anointed a fivefold minister is, getting outside the realm of the Word of God in practice and doctrine is asking for trouble. Only the written word of God is our only source for doctrine, reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Moving outside of God’s Word is the most dangerous thing anyone can do and abdicates God’s grace and protection over our lives.

8. Solomon walked into doing evil when he was old because he opened himself to living in the flesh (1 Kings 11:4-6). Such evil of worshipping other gods would have been inconceivable in his youth but too many years of permissive will and flesh leads finally to false religion and false worship. At first the permissive Will is the result of human self and flesh but eventually it becomes and instrument of the devil himself to lead others into the path of great destruction.

The way to walk in God’s perfect Will is to always obey the written Word of God, obey the prompting of the Spirit and to walk in holiness and love. The love of money, human emotions and sympathies and wrong relationships with others walking in the flesh will always lead one further and further outside of God’s Will. The only inoculation is to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds and souls and strength and to love our neighbours as ourselves. Only when our heart is so full of the Word, of the Spirit and of love can we have no more place in our hearts for anything else within us. It is only when we lose our first love that we start losing everything else. It is only when we lose our first love that we lose our fear of God in our lives and cease trembling at His Word.

Let the love of God, the Word of God and the Spirit of God always fill our entire lives and being.

In Christ Jesus

Ps Peter Tan

Paul and The Perfect Will of God Part Two

2009-06-17T18:45:00.001-07:00

Posted with Permission
www.eaglevision.com.my

Dearly Beloved

We saw how in the Fatherly Talk 5.06, that there were two times when the Lord spoke to Hagin about being in the perfect Will of God (I believe in visions by Hagin): the first time when Jesus said that Hagin entered the first phase of his ministry after 15 years in the ministry (twelve in pastoring and three in travelling ministry) and the second time when he was in hospital recovering from a broken shoulder. The gist was that Hagin was called to be a prophet teacher and every time he strayed from his original call, he was in the permissive Will. Every minister has to be obedient to the precise fivefold call that God has for them; even those who stand in more than one office have to place more emphasis on the prime fivefold call in their life.

In the apostle Paul's life, his prime call was as an apostle to the Gentiles (Galatians 2:9). He was a gifted teacher and an evangelist (preacher). He stood in three offices: apostle, teacher and evangelist (1 Timothy 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:11). He was in the teaching ministry and evangelistic ministry in Antioch when Barnabas brought him there (Acts 11:26; 13:1). It was only when he was launched into his apostolic ministry after a season of prayer and fasting that Paul entered the full plan of God for his life (Acts 13:2-3). Kenneth Hagin struggled with the prophetic office at first because many people would rather hear him teach than hear him prophesy. Paul was an excellent teacher but his prime call was apostolic even though he was the foremost teacher in the book of Acts and throughout the New Testament. Following one's prime call does not diminish all the other callings that God has for our lives, in fact it actually increases it and establishes every other Holy Spirit gifting and calling that we have.

Like the apostle Paul, sometimes we all struggle with our traditions, cultures and customs before we understand and accept God's perfect Will for our lives. Maria Woodward Etter struggled with the culture of her time (which do not allow women to minister) before she fully entered the evangelistic call in her life. She was criticised and opposed but she paved the way for other women ministries. Paul had a passion for his own people, the Jews, and had a custom to always go the synagogues first to preach the gospel (Acts 17:2; Romans 9:1-3). The prime opposition to his call and ministry came from the Jews. From the very first testimony of his conversion and preaching, he was vehemently opposed and his life threatened (Acts 9:23-24). In his first missionary journey, it was the Jews who opposed and stirred up trouble for Paul (Acts 13:50). Not only did they drove Paul out of the city of Antioch, Pisidia but they also followed him to Iconium and persuaded the multitudes to stone him leaving him for dead (Acts 14:19-20). After his first missionary journey, Paul testified that the Lord had opened the door to the Gentiles (Acts 14:27).

Sometimes, when we are having difficulty and opposition, we need to examine ourselves whether we are in the perfect Will of God or in the right area. Opposition will still come even when we are doing the perfect Will of God and one should not conclude that the road of ease is an indication of God's perfect Will. Circumstances should never be the test of whether one is in the perfect Will of God or not! Otherwise all that Paul suffered in 2 Corinthians 11:22-33, would be in vain. Jesus did say that we will receive persecution in this world (John 15:23-25). There are two types of difficult circumstances: one which we receive as a result of persecution because we are doing the Will of God and the other because we are completely out of God's Will. May God help us discern the difference between them! One key difference between these two types of circumstances are the following:

1. God is not silent when you are in the perfect Will of God; He still speaks with you.

God spoke to Abraham after Lot left him – God had told Abraham to leave his kinfolks behind and Abraham was not 100% obedient until circumstances force the issue (Genesis 13:14). Abraham experienced thirteen silent years when he decided to have Ishmael. He was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael and the next time God spoke to him was when he was 99 years old (Genesis 16:16-17:1). If God is silent in your life, I recommend that you seek the Lord in fasting and prayer to check whether you are in the perfect Will of God. Remember that emotional bonding and sympathies can lead you out of God's perfect Will. People don't just necessarily walk into God's permissive Will, they slip into it many times through allowing human sympathies and emotions to lure them away or delay their obedience to God's perfect Will. When it comes to God's perfect Will, human sympathies and emotions must be cut without mercy or you may physically die in disobedience and regret eternally (Matthew 6:24; 24:10; Luke 14:26). This does not mean that one is irresponsible to their family duties but rather that, having fulfilled their family duties and responsibilities, one must not allow them to determine one's own destiny in God. Friendships can either bless you or curse you, so choose your friends and fellowship carefully (Psalms 1:1). Jehoshaphat was always giving sympathy to his emotional bonding with the king of Israel who was related by marriage to him (2 Kings 3:7; 2 Chronicles 19:1-3; 20:35-37). He was a good man but he suffered great loss and died because of human sympathy and emotions. No matter how much wisdom Solomon had, he was no match for the bondage of human emotions that pulled him down to idolatry and disobedience because of his marriage to godless women (1 Kings 11:1-14).

2. God's favour is still in your life; God's covenant blessings still flow.

Joseph was placed in difficult circumstances (sold as a slave, thrown into prison) but God's favour was always in his life. He was well provided for in every new situation and became the fountainhead of blessings flowing wherever he was (Genesis 39:3-5, 21-23; 41:37-46). God will always prepare a table for you even in the presence of your enemies if the Lord continues to be your shepherd and you walk in God's perfect Will even through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23:5-6). If your hardship of circumstances and environment does not include the table which the Lord has prepared for you, I recommend that you fast and pray to check whether you are still in the perfect Will of God. If you are in God's perfect Will, God will even provide for you in the wilderness like He provided for the Israelites and Elijah. But if you are not in God's perfect Will, there is no provision even if you live in the garden; whatever you have is through great strife and toil.

3. Your heart is filled with joy and peace as you flow in God's perfect Will.

The apostles were beaten physically and told not to preach Christ but they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christ (Acts 5:40-41). Paul was beaten with rods and five times received thirty-nine stripes but he took pleasure in his infirmities (2 Corinthians 11:24-25; 12:10). In prison, he was in such a state of joy that he told the Philippians to rejoice in the Lord always (Philippians 4:4). Jesus fills us with great joy even in the midst of tribulations (John 16:33). The peace of God that passes understanding garrisons our heart and mind whenever we are in God's perfect Will (Philippians 4:7-8).

4. Supernatural strength, supernatural protection and supernatural signs and wonders accompany your obedience to God's perfect Will.

God always vindicate His people. Right and wrong are not things that need to be settled by arguments and dissertations. Heaven is always on the side of truth and justice. The just must learn to live by His faith (Romans 1:17). As God vindicated Moses and his call before Aaron and Miriam, God will always vindicate those whom He sent (Numbers 12). One need not defend one's call but only obey it. It is God who calls and sends and it is God who defends those whom He sent. No one can steal or take away the call of God on your life or the spiritual position that God gives and appoints you to. Thus, every fivefold minister should not be insecure in their call when others rise up for it is God who establishes each gifting and call. King Saul was so insecure that he resorted to carnal ways to protect his kingdom from David. In doing so, he lost more than his call; he lost everything. It is God who removes and raises up kings and empires (Daniel 2:21). God told Joshua that He will exalt him before all Israel (Joshua 3:7). God resists the proud and exalts the humble (1 Peter 5:5). Fame and influence comes from the Lord and one should be faithful to the position of influence that God gives. Those who are insecure around gifted people are those who are insecure in their own calling. If you know what God called you to be and to do, then just keep obedient to God's perfect Will. Anyone who opposes that will be opposing God. When it is God who appoints and sends you, those who reject you reject God who sent you (Luke 10:16; John 13:20). Those who despise you, despised God. What a privilege to be in the perfect Will of God.

In his second missionary journey, the Jews were envious of Paul and raised up opposition against him (Acts 17:5). They false accused Paul and gathered evil men and a mob against him. Paul kept trying to go the Jews in the synagogues but finally concluded that he will now go the Gentiles (Acts 18:6). Finally, Paul was able to accept his true call and anointing – an apostle to the Gentiles. From then onwards, he entered into a different phase of ministry. Only when we accept our true calling and spiritual office, can we enter fully into function of God's ministry gift upon our lives. In spite of the opposition, the Lord Jesus appeared to Paul and told him to continue in his ministry in Corinth (Acts 18:9-10). When Paul accepted his true calling, Jesus moved mightily in his life and put a shield around him; such that he need not flee Corinth like he fled other cities. He planted the Corinthian church and in Acts 19 (third missionary journey) moved on to Ephesus and planted a church there. It was only when his ministry was completed at the end of three years that God permitted opposition to rise to the level that Paul had to move on (Acts 20:1). Even then, Paul could had stayed on if he wanted to, as the uproar had ceased.

Beloved brethren, we all are what we are because of the grace of God (1 Corinthians 15:10). Every gifting and office that God places us into are but the result of His unmerited favour. To God be all the glory. We must, however, be obedient to the calls and gifting in our lives. Do not let anyone tell you what you must do or mustn't do. You will answer in eternity for your own life here. We do need to check our lives constantly to determine whether we are in the perfect Will of God and obediently functioning in the gifting of God. All I can say is that of the 6.7 billion people on earth, the percentage of those actually doing the perfect Will of God is very small. And of the thousands of millions of Christians on earth, the percentage of those living in perfect Will of God is small. And of the millions of fulltime ministers of God today, the percentage of those doing the perfect Will of God is small. Of course, many have not even discovered or entered into the first phase of their ministry and life for the lack of training and teaching. But many do know in their heart of hearts that they are not in the perfect Will of God; for these, the time is short for their repentance. For others who sincerely seek and desire to do so, the mercy of God gives them many opportunities to respond but only within a specific window. We are dealing with life and death issues here and also eternal issues with eternal rewards, let us seek prayerfully with fasting always to do God's perfect Will.

May God continue to give each of you beloved ones the Spirit of wisdom and revelation to discern His perfect Will in your lives.

In Christ's love

Ps Peter Tan

The Apostle Paul and the Perfect Will of God (Part One)

2009-06-17T18:37:00.001-07:00

Posted with Permission
www.eaglevision.com.my

Dearly Beloved

Paul the apostle was the foremost writers of the New Testament besides the four gospels. The understanding of the permissive Will of God and the perfect Will of God is a New Testament revelation (Romans 12:1-2) although it was also present throughout the Old Testament in many examples like the Israelites (stories of them imperfectly dying in the wilderness instead of entering the land of Canaan and of them choosing to be a kingdom like all the nations around them). In fact in the Old Testament, there was almost blindness to the work of the devil such that many of the destruction of the devil is attributed to God as per the book of Job. This phenomena we have in the English translations is because we do not have a 'permissive tense' like they have in the Hebrew, where a verb is used not to show the object of the action but the permissive will of the action; for example, it is acknowledged in the same chapter of 1 Chronicles 10 that Saul fell on his own sword and died for his unfaithfulness to the Lord but at the same time saying that the Lord killed Saul (1 Chronicles 10:4, 13-14). The other record of the Amalekite killing Saul was more a continuation of his suicide attempt where Saul still had some life in him after falling on his own sword and asked to be finished off (2 Samuel 1:9).

Let us start by having a modern story of the perfect Will versus the permissive Will of God. From our understanding of the story of Kenneth E. Hagin and the permissive versus the perfect Will of God (I believe in visions by Hagin), we note that in the first vision the Lord told him that he had entered the perfect Will of God (functioning as a prophet) in 1949 when he left his pastorate and starting the travelling ministry. The Lord told Hagin that he was in the permissive Will of God for fifteen years. In those fifteen years, he had pastured churches for twelve years and had been in the travelling ministry for three years (chapter 2 in Come Up Hither of his book, page 49). The Lord also told him that one of the reasons many ministers die prematurely is because they are in his permissive Will; with many of them living their entire lives without entering into the first phase of their ministries. Imagine being in the ministry and living and dying without entering into His perfect Will!

Later on in chapter seven of his book (chapter 7 A Hospital Visitor, page 96), Hagin in 1959 had an accident when he slipped and fell on his right elbow while conducting a revival meeting and ended up being taken to the hospital. The Lord Jesus visited him and told him that it was the third time that He tried to speak to him and that Hagin had been in the permissive Will of God for two years already. If the Lord had not allowed (note: permissive tense – all that steal, kill and destroy is still the devil – John 10:10) the accident to take place, Jesus could not arrest the attention of Hagin. If the accident had not happened, Jesus told Hagin that he would not have lived past 55 years (at that time Hagin was 42 years old). Imagine the mercy of the Lord letting his live another fifteen odd years in the permissive Will before dying physically!

During both times that Hagin was in the permissive Will (first fifteen years until 1949 and two years before 1959), a total of 17 years, he had been doing good things. The permissive Will of God is still the good and acceptable Will of God but not perfect (Romans 12:1-2). He had been preaching, counselling, helping the body of Christ and teaching people the Bible. It is not like he was living in sin which would be living completely outside of God's Will. I have asked the Lord about the perfect Will of God in regard to His people and the Lord says that not many of His people are actually living in His perfect Will. And this included many of His ministers! This is sobering thought and it has led me, in this series 5 of the devotional talks to speak about being in the perfect Will of God (please re-read and meditate on the other five devotionals before this). Imagine - many people including God's fivefold ministers could be living in the permissive Will of God for decades and not know it!

What exactly did Hagin do or did not do that caused him to remain in the permissive Will? One has to be in the right place at the right time doing the right thing to be in the perfect Will of God. In his first twelve years, Hagin was a pastor in various churches but it was not God's perfect Will for him. When he left for travelling ministry for the next three years, he was more obedient but yet not in the perfect Will of God. Apparently, he was teaching and conducting revival meetings during that time. Yet, that was not enough, it was still permissive Will. It was when Hagin moved into the function of the prophetic that he was in the perfect Will of God! Functioning in the pastoral and teaching was not enough! In the two years before 1959, Hagin was travelling and functioning in both the office of a prophet and a teacher but he was prioritizing the teacher before the prophet – by being disobedient to the gift of prophecy which God give to him to deliver to individuals and at meetings. Thus a lack of prioritising the functions of a spiritual office can also lead to being in the permissive Will of God! I wonder how many ministers and churches are faithful in their prime mandate. And how many are diversifying into mandates that are not their first calling. Just because one has the gift, talent or finances does not give one the permission or the commission to do anything outside of God's perfect Will.

The perfect Will of God involves being faithful to the prime spiritual offices that God has called us to be and to do. This includes not just fivefold ministers but also professionals and businesses which are called by God to natural spheres of influence and anointed by God. Just as Aholiab and Bezalel are anointed to work in craftsmanship (Exodus 31:2-6), today God can anoint doctors, lawyers, businessmen and women, architects, engineers, artists, managers, housewives, drivers, etc. to cause them to be skilful in their profession. The key to the perfect Will is to do only the mandate of God's call in our lives and to function in the gifting of the Spirit which He has placed in our lives faithfully. We must not grieve nor quench the Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:30; 1 Thessalonians 5:19). To grieve is to do something which the Holy Spirit does not want us to do and to quench is to 'not do' what the Spirit wants us to do.

The apostle Paul was completely not in the Will of God before he met Jesus but he had a zeal to be a leader and thought that he was serving God through Judaism (Acts 22:3). Paul's prime mandate was to be an apostle to the Gentiles although he had a side call to testify before the Jews and kings (Acts 9:15; Galatians 2:7-8). He was first and foremost an apostle to the Gentiles. Each time he tried to preach to the Jews, he stepped into the permissive Will and things get difficult. There were not many Gentiles converted yet in Acts 9 and Paul's preaching resulted in threats to his life by opposing Jews (Acts 9:23-24). Paul had to wait upon the Lord until there was an opening to the Gentiles. This came about when Barnabas approached Paul to go toe Antioch where a great many Gentiles were converted (Acts 11:19-25). Paul entered in the perfect Will of God at that time. His ministry bloomed and prospered.

About a year or so later, the Holy Spirit commissioned Paul and Barnabas to the apostolic work (Acts 13:1-3). Paul by custom and tradition always went into the synagogue of the Jews first (Acts 13:5; 17:2). The Jews were always the thorn in Paul's side every time he ministered in the synagogues. They stirred up opposition to Paul in Antioch of Pisidia, even rallying the prominent men and women in the city and expelled Paul from the region (Acts 13:50). At Iconium, the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned the minds of the brethren against Paul (Acts 14:1-2). The whole city was divided with part siding with the apostles and part with the Jews. When a violent attempt by the Gentiles and Jews was made against Paul and his team, they fled to Lystra and Derbe. The Jews from Antioch and Iconium came all the way to Lystra and persuaded the people to stone the apostle Paul. He was dragged out of the city supposedly dead (Acts 14:19). It is highly probable that Paul died and was sent back again to finish the work of God; and also the point where he had his third heaven experience. Although such glorious potential martyrdom are an encouragement to all of us, Paul continued to suffer the rest of his life from the wounds and scars that afflict his physical body causing him great discomfort (Galatians 4:13-14; 6:17; 2 Corinthians 12: 5, 10). In my opinion, I believe that Paul understood divine health and the physical sufferings he had were the result of the abuse of the physical body which he received via physical persecution (2 Corinthians 11:23-25). Could Paul have avoided all this? It is not up to us to judge but it is suffice to say that it is God's perfect Will for all His saints and ministers to enjoy divine health and freedom from sicknesses and diseases; including those called to martyrdom (John 10:10).

We need to say a few words about physical sickness suffering and deformities so that each of us will not at the same time be self righteous and condemn others who are sick into the category of the imperfect Will or even outside God's Will. I admire ministries like Joni Eareckson Tada and know that God will continue to use many who have undergone great physical sicknesses, pain and suffering who kept their love for God throughout without receiving their healing. It would be unjust for us to say that such are only doing the imperfect Will of God. Good can still come out of all endurance of sickness and diseases and it is not always personal sin that leads to such sufferings (John 9:3-4). People like Nick Vujicic, the man born without hands and legs, are an inspiration to all of us. Great character indeed comes from great suffering. Definitely in his case it is not personal earthly choice and cause. Human society since the time of Adam's fall has produced great physical suffering of the innocent, if not death. We need to leave room in our theology that not all suffering is attributed to personal choice nor make it into too simplistic explanations that we judgmentally condemn all who suffer into the category of the imperfect Will. What we can do is this: we should not judge what the imperfect Will is nor allocate it to personal earthly choice but we can keep advocating what the Bible shows to be the perfect Will of God of His divine health and life. To those born with incurable ailments or handicaps (mentally or physically) and those suffering in various physical areas, I know from my Spiritual World experience that some are destined to receive supernatural miracles and others are destined to have great stories of courage and love to tell for all eternity. Whatever it is should never prevent us from loving Christ, loving God and loving others – which is the most important thing in life (1 Corinthians 13:13). To learn how to love is the most important thing on earth and our eternal destiny. So the parents of children born autistic or physically disabled, be comforted in God, for as long as your story is a story of great love in difficult situations, you would have succeeded eternally.

Nevertheless, we need to just study the life of the apostle Paul in context and look at all the perfect Will of God and the permissive Will of God in his life. In my opinion, it is possible that Paul's zeal for the Jews have many times almost got him and his team killed when he should stay with the Gentiles. Likewise, we can never say that it is God's will for David to commit adultery with Bathsheba but we know that God foresaw all things and must have included that possibility when He predestined Solomon to rule after David. Without the fall, there would be no existence of Solomon. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out (Romans 11:33).

We will continue the second part of this talk next week, for it is long enough, but keep pursuing always the perfect Will of God in your lives and be obedient to God as best as you know.

In Christ's love

Ps Peter Tan

Walking in the perfect Will of God

2009-06-17T18:35:00.001-07:00

Posted with permission:
www.eaglevision.com.my

Walking in the perfect Will of God

Dearly Beloved

The Perfect Will of God is not revealed all at once to each one of us. Generally, it is a walking path of discovery. There were glimpses of the path that the apostle Paul should take in his life when he was first converted. The Lord spoke to him of his future ministry (Acts 26:16-18). His future calling was also revealed to Ananias who prayed for him on the third day of his conversion (Acts 9:15). Yet, when he tried to start preaching the only reception he got was an attempt to kill him (Acts 9:20-23). He had to be hidden for another nearly ten years before it was the ripeness of time for his ministry to start (Acts 9:23, 30; 11:25-26). During his time of waiting on the Lord, the apostle Paul visited Arabia and the apostles in Jerusalem (Galatians 1:17-18).

In Paul’s life, we see that he had to be internally and spiritually prepared. He also had to wait for circumstances to be ready with everything in its proper place. The city of his launch of ministry was not to be Tarsus, his home town, nor Jerusalem but Antioch, which was his headquarters for three missionary journeys – in the sense of him returning always there to give a report of his journeys. Sometimes, in many of God’s ministers, they could be in the wrong place or city and their ministries can never launch forth. Tarsus was Paul’s home town but it was not the right place. Jerusalem was the logical choice, being the headquarters of the move of God in Acts 2, but it was not the right place either. Antioch was the right place but it was not ready for another nearly ten years so Paul had to wait. There is such a thing as a right place, a right environment in which one is given the opportunity to launch forth in the perfect Will of God. Some people live and die without entering into the perfect Will of God in their lives because they are either too comfortable in the security of their home town environment or they are too fearful to leave all behind and take a step of faith in a new place.

For those who are called to the business and professional area, note that both Joseph and Daniel had to be stripped of everything that they knew before they were used by God to progress in their own right. Daniel was a prisoner of war and Joseph was sold as a slave. Their future in God’s perfect Will lay in them being taken away from their homeland and comfort. God created a new environment of favour for both Joseph and Daniel and despite the many challenges they both faced (death and imprisonment), they made it through with God’s anointing and gifting. For Joseph, his gift of administration and interpretation of dreams brought him the opportunities to function in his special call. For Daniel, his gift of wisdom and grace brought him the opportunity to stand before the king and promotion to the highest office in Babylon. The right place, the right city, the right country; these are all part of the equation to the path of God’s perfect Will.

Being in the right place does not mean that one automatically get into the perfect Will of God. One can die of obscurity (Paul), or in prison (Joseph) or by execution (Daniel) if one does not take the opportunities that open up in the place or city of one’s destiny. Being in the right place or city or country just means that one is in the place where opportunities open up for the function of one’s anointing, gifting or talent. There is no such thing as automatic promotion. It requires faithfulness and boldness to enter into the opportunities God provides. Nor does it mean that there are no temptations or trials (definitely no bed of roses here). Paul must have struggled through his Jewish traditions and theology to get deeper into the revelation of Christ. Joseph was tempted by Potiphar’s wife and falsely accused. Daniel was amongst the wise men destined for death when he asked for more time to interpret the king’s dream. No one escapes temptation and trials; neither in the poor house nor in the palace. Everyone will be tested and tried and have their personal wilderness before they are given opportunity to walk into God’s destiny for them. Even Jesus had to go through the wilderness to be proven and tested before He launched His ministry.

The most important thing to understand is that one must be in the right place, right city and right country in order to take part in the opportunities that God will open up for the function of one’s gifting and talent given by God. If you discern that you are already in the right place then be on the lookout for the opportunities that God brings to you. Every opportunity will require that you exercise faith for without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Sometimes an opportunity exists but it is not what you expect. Even when circumstances seem to be going backwards naturally, if you are doing right before God, it is actually going forward. To Joseph, the temptation by Mrs Potiphar was handled with righteousness and grace; yet he was imprisoned for doing right with no one believing him (Genesis 39:19-21). He was tempted not once but constantly by Mrs Potiphar on a daily basis (Genesis 39:10). Joseph had built a good life for himself by then and could have lived a secret affair Mrs Potiphar but instead, he chose righteousness and paid the price of false accusations and imprisonment. It must have been traumatic to lose all that he had built up over many years and go to prison for something he did not do. It seems to be going backward in his life. Yet he was going forwards spiritually for he was a better man to have passed the test of temptation. Outwardly, he seemed to be going backwards but inwardly he was progressing in the development of his character. Only God could have arranged a rendezvous for him to meet the butler in prison.

In prison, it was important that Joseph did not give in to despair and discouragement when circumstances seem to be against him. If he had, he would have sat in his prison cell and rot. Instead, Joseph once again made himself useful and his administration skills were once again called upon. If he had not been faithful in prison to the opportunities God opened up for him in prison, he would not have the meeting with the butler and the baker. He had to have the authority and freedom to walk about in prison and visit the other prisoners. Such authority and freedom came because Joseph continued to take every opportunity given to him to do good and do right. Everything that was done in prison was done by him (Genesis 39:22-23). God can only open the doors for us, we must arise and do it ourselves (by His gifting, talent and anointing that He has placed within us, of course). How many opportunities have God’s people missed because of their discouragement , despair, fear or simply lack of faith and boldness to walk through the open doors? Hundreds, thousands and possibly millions because if all of God’s people live in God’s perfect Will, the church today will be greater than where it is now.

Even when we need to develop boldness and faith to enter through the doors God opens, we must learn to say ‘No’ to the wrong doors first before God opens the right door for us to say ‘Yes.’ No one escapes temptations or trials that lead to the higher spiritual promotion in God. Joseph had to say ‘No’ to the illegal doors that the devil tries to open for him. If Joseph had yielded to Mrs Potiphar and lived a secret life with her, it would not be long before Mrs Potiphar plots to kill Mr Potiphar and have Joseph replaced him as her husband. Such devilish promotion only leads to sin, unrighteousness and ultimate destruction both in this life and in the next.

Daniel was tempted to be like all the other Jewish boys who were allowed to feast at the king’s table (Daniel 1:5-8). For someone brought as a prisoner of war and a slave, having seen only starvation and destruction, such would have been the opportunity of a lifetime to eat, drink and be merry. To live one’s life in a strange new country, with strange new customs and strange new foods. Forget the sorrows of the past for after all Israel had been destroyed, the temple gone and nothing remains of all of his childhood dreams; these would be the wrong open doors that the devil opened to Daniel and his friends. Who would not be so discouraged, down and despair as to indulge in what the devil offered? In fact they might have experience the trauma of seeing their own families killed and slaughtered in front of them. Which child or youth goes through war without becoming a victim of trauma and guilt? And the wars of Nebuchadnezzar were by the sword (no bullet or instant kills) which was messy and bloody. The Babylonians were known to torture and make people suffer before they were killed.

Besides that it is highly possible that Daniel and his friends were castrated and made into eunuchs. Isaiah prophesied that Babylon would take the young men of Israel and made them into eunuchs (Isaiah 39:7). And Daniel and his three friends were brought under the charge of Ashpenaz, the chief of the eunuchs (Daniel 1:3, 7-10). It is highly likely that Daniel and his three friends were mutilated and robbed of their manhood. Such traumatic experiences would have totally destroyed most youths and reduced them mentally and spiritually to a slavery mindset. What Daniel and his three friends went through is beyond our emotional and mental comprehension. Yet, they still sought to please the Lord. They had nothing left but the dignity of their faith in Yahweh God. How many people in Daniel’s situation would have given up on God? In fact, all of the other young Israelite people except Daniel and his three friends. In spite of it all, Daniel and his three friends were in the perfect Will of God in the right place for them to blossom. They suffered for the sins of their nation but they still had faith in God and sought to please Him. Saying ‘No’ to the delicacies of Babylon was their way of retaining the dignity of their faith in God when everything else around them had collapsed.

Walking in the perfect Will of God involves entering the right doors that God opens. It involves taking on the opportunities God gives. However, none of the doors God open will involved a compromise of God’s Word and commandments. Do not ever enter any door or opportunity that involves a compromise of God’s written Word and commandments. They are false promotions that will lead to destruction. They might look good outwardly like the fertile valley to Lot but its end is the destruction and robbery of everything you own and achieve. Lot even lost those things he had before Sodom and Gomorrah. Entering the illegal doors will lead to a total loss of even what you had before the door opened. Watch and wait faithfully for the right doors and opportunities.

On the other hand, when God opens the door, don’t let your own emotional cowardice, emotional comfort zone, or your fearfulness rob you of the one and only opportunity for spiritual and natural progress in God. Some are fearful to walk into God’s promise land because of their emotional bonding to the wrong people or their fear of offending people. They want the same old lifestyle and the leeks and garlic of Egypt. They are fearful of change. They are fearful of rejection. Others are fearful to walk into the promise land because they fear the giants in the land.

It must be made clear to all that in the end, you lose more, if not everything, if you do not continue forward in walking in the perfect Will of God. You cannot keep that which you have gathered if you remain in a plateau. Spiritual growth is the destiny for us all. Choose the wrong paths and you endanger everything you hold dear. Not to choose and allowing circumstances and others to choose for you is also going to endanger everything you hold dear. Not choosing is a choice. It is a choice of not obeying. The only safety in God is His perfect Will and not His permissive Will. It is far better to be in the promise land with giants to conquer than to be either in Egypt with Pharaoh or in the wilderness of familiarity.

Beloved, the message of God rings loud and clear, seek the perfect Will of God always. Walk in love but your love for God must exceed and excel all other loves, including your natural families. You do an injustice to your own loved ones if you do not walk in the perfect Will of God; for when the reckoning comes for being in the permissive Will, your destruction and sufferings will also be theirs. If you truly love them, you have to love God and Christ first. Then your light and blessings will also be theirs. The way of the perfect Will leads to greater spiritual life, light and love for you and all your family. The way of the permissive Will leads to darkness and destruction. Blessings both spiritual and natural await those who walk in the perfect Will, though in the short term it might be costly to the natural. Destruction and total loss awaits those who walk in the permissive Will in the long term, though in the short term they seem to protect what they have. You can never keep what God did not give, and you can never get what assigns for your destiny if you do not follow Him.

What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul? Obedience is better than sacrifice. Let the Lord be your Shepherd and you will always lie down in green pastures besides still waters. Let the Lord lead you, even through the valley of the shadow of death, and you will find a table prepared for you with goodness and mercy for each day of the rest of your life.

Choose the doors wisely and love all greatly always. My prayers are with you unceasingly.

In Christ’s love

Ps Peter Tan

Discovering the Perfect Will of God

2009-06-17T18:33:00.001-07:00

Discovering the Perfect Will of God

Dearly Beloved,

Every sincere Christian desires to do God’s perfect Will. The perfect Will of God is written in heaven for each of us even before we were born (Ephesians 1:4; Psalm 139:16). Even our Lord Jesus had the perfect Will of God determined for Him before His manifestation in the flesh to redeem us (Hebrews 10:7). Knowing that God has His perfect Will for our lives does not rob us of our free choice for it is up to us to discover and find our destiny. Like the Israelites who died in the wilderness, it is possible to live and die without entering into the first phase of God’s perfect Will in our lives. Jesus told Kenneth E. Hagin that many of His ministers lived and died without entering into the first phase of their ministry (I believe in visions by Hagin).

How does one discover God’s perfect Will?

1. There will be clues in our upbringing and training that show forth part of the talents and gifting that God has for us to fulfil.

Joseph was put through administration and governing skills even before his final destiny as the ruler of Egypt under Pharaoh. He was like his father’s right hand to report on his brothers, the ruler of Potiphar’s household, the person in charge of prisons and finally the Prime Minister of Egypt (Genesis 37:2, 14; 39:4, 22; 41:40-41). It does not excuse Joseph from needing a better attitude towards his brothers nor the requirement to live an upright and moral life. Joseph still had to make the day to day choices of choosing the right thing to do but his environment and areas beyond his choice were shaped by his overall destiny. Paul was particularly brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, the best teacher in his time, and excelled in his training to be the top Pharisee (Acts 22:3; Galatians 1:14). Roland Buck, who was taken to God’s file room, shared how God even ensured that Paul was gifted with a larger brain capacity to do fulfil his destiny (Angels on Assignment by Roland Buck). Indeed, none of us have anything to boast of any of our talents and gifting. It is truly just the grace of God in us that has established us (1 Corinthians 15:10). Daniel was destined to be Prime Minister and he was given opportunity to excel in the training to serve the Babylonian king (Daniel 1:3-6). Predestination gives us the environment in which we can develop our destinies but does not remove the need to choose carefully and make the right choices. There are many who have been given the opportunity and choosing incorrectly failed in fulfilling their destinies. For those interested in discovering their destinies, examine the kind and type of environments in which God has given them and also the ‘natural’ talents and gifting that is there (sometimes even before one has met and accepted the Lord Jesus as Saviour). A common theme would point to a particular destiny that one has to fulfil.

2. The joyous harmony within and without.

Our destiny is written in our natural and spiritual DNA. When we move alongside its flow there will be harmonious vibrations between what we do and what we are that produces love, peace and joy in our lives. Nothing makes us happier than fulfilling our destiny and many times, even from young, it is a driving force in our desires. We were created for our own individual and specific works and we work them out through walking in them rather than working in them (Ephesians 2:10). It is ‘work’ to everybody else but not ‘work’ to us because it is something that we were designed to do with great pleasure. Discovering God’s perfect Will is not just discovering the right thing in our life to do but it is also discovering the pleasure of doing God’s Will (Philippians 2:13). Joy is our inherited right as a believer and not just things like healing and redemption (John 15:11; 16:24). Unfortunately, in this life we sometimes have to do work which is not our destiny in order to put food on the table while seeking to do what truly is our dream and vision. Many pastors have to work in order to support themselves especially when they have no support in their outreaches. Independent missionaries have had to find ways to do things to raise funds to fulfil their heart’s desire of working with the underprivileged. Artists and professionals have to work menial jobs while they establish their dream talent and gifting. Yet, it does not lessen the fact that even such ‘waiting period jobs’ need to be prayed over and determination made as to whether it would help in the direction of the ultimate destiny. Jesus worked as a carpenter before entering fulltime ministry at the age of thirty (Luke 3:23; Mark 6:3). Being a carpenter was a part of God’s Will for Jesus even though it was preparatory to His ministry. Many times it is through such menial jobs that humility and character is acquired. Think about the brashness and rudeness of those who have lived a life of luxury without hardship. Their character poverty is eternal even though they escape temporal poverty. It is far better and richer to be a person of good character than to have all the luxuries of the world. Moreover, the richness of a vision far outweighs the hardship of the temporal vocations. To Jacob, the seven years of hard labour under Laban was but a few days because of his love for Rachel (Genesis 29:20). Far too many impatient young adults have destroyed themselves and their own characters because of their haste. Remember that your destiny will always be there but your character development for that destiny might take longer through much testing and trials. Paul was especially warned in his first few days as a Christian of the great many trials that he will face in fulfilling his destiny (Acts 9:16). All ‘waiting period jobs’ that are preparatory to the ultimate destiny will always create a sense of harmony, peace and joy within oneself and also in the environment (Luke 2:52).

3. The friendships of destiny

Friendships are so important that the Bible advises us to be careful as to whom we fellowship with (Psalm 1:3). It does not take the place of God’s word but it does play a role in shaping one’s destiny (Psalm 1:2-3). The source of much of the strife and complaints in the wilderness was the mixed multitudes who were still Egyptian in their palate and character (Numbers 11:4). Friendships that lead to idolatry and stray away from God is to be cut off severely (1 Corinthians 10:20-21). The apostle Paul balances his message of interaction with the world by saying that he does not mean cutting off all the people who are unbelievers otherwise one might as well be a hermit and cut off from the world (1 Corinthians 5:10-11); rather he meant that those who name the name of Christ and do not live their lives as such should be completely avoided especially those who caused divisions and strife (Romans 16:17-18). Lot was a worldly man who only makes decisions based on worldly benefits and his friendship was never a blessing to Abraham (Genesis 13:10). As long as he was around, there was constant strife amongst the herdsmen. Only when Abraham separated from Lot, was he in the perfect Will of God (Genesis 13:14-17). On the other hand, there are friendships that are born not of this world but from eternity and gathering together with such will enhance the fulfilment of God’s perfect Will. Daniel was fortunate to have formed such friendships even when he was a slave with his friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. These friendship of four prayed through many tough times together (Daniel 1:14; 2:17-18). They probably gave strength and comfort through the sad things that they had gone through in losing everything in Israel. And where would Paul be without Barnabas to open the various doors to him? There would have been no opportunity to fellowship with the apostles nor an open door to Antioch from which his ministry was launched (Acts 9:27; 11:25). Their friendship lasted through many years of ministry and even their differences. The writings of early church fathers (The Nicene and Post-Nicene encyclopaedia) showed that they wept when they parted in Acts 15 and kept their friendship and fellowship strong even though they parted ways after John Mark. There is no doubt that Barnabas played an essential part in Paul’s formative years. Some friendships like that of Daniel and his three friends and Luke the physician and Paul lasted a whole lifetime. No one enters their destiny without standing on the shoulders of others before them and none enter their destinies without a helping hand from friends and partnerships born of the Spirit of God. Joseph had a very short time to form a friendship with the butler in prison but it was the key to the rest of his life (Genesis 40:6, 14; 41:12).

4. Flow with each phase of the perfect Will of God.

When the Lord Jesus appeared to me in January 1986, He told me that every life is organized in phases and each of us must be faithful to each phase; and the entrance to each phase is determined by faithfulness to the phase before it. In Jesus’ own life, He was a carpenter for thirty years, then He launched His ministry in Nazareth. He later moved the ministry base to Capernaum. For the apostle Paul, the gifting and desire to preach was always in his blood but his early attempts were failures as he was strongly opposed by the Jews (Acts 9:20-25). Paul had to wait another nine years before a door opened to him in Antioch (Acts 11:25-26). After Antioch, he had to be prepared to enter a travelling ministry phase which sometimes took him away for years. He has a sense that Ephesus was where one of his last phases was to be and after fulfilling all his customary routines, he based in Ephesus where his ministry flourish powerfully (Acts 19). Each phase of the perfect Will of God is sometimes accompanied by different manifestations of the Holy Spirit, differing associations and friendships – with some friendships remaining a constant throughout a lifetime, geographical relocations, differing working environments or business or jobs or ministry, and even differing revelations and understanding of the doctrines of God and the Bible (but always in line with the Bible, otherwise it is completely outside the Will of God). One must be prepared for a complete paradigm shift in order to stay current in the Will of God for one’s life and the Will of God for the planet earth today. Yesterday’s manna and revelation seen in the light of biblical truths revealed today can look like complete errors. How strange does the doctrine of head covering for women look in today’s modern church? Or the slavery advocates and ministers of churches of the pro-slavery era? Each of us must continue to make progress in fulfilling God’s perfect Will for our individual lives and in the world at large. Be prepared to pull out old roots and replant them in a fresh new environment.

There is no safer place any place on earth or in any job or profession, than to be in God’s perfect Will. Nor is there any other greater love, peace and joy, then doing God’s perfect Will.May we all be able to say, “Father, we have finished your work that you have given us to do” like Jesus when we complete our life’s work on earth (John 17:4).

In Christ’s love

Ps Peter Tan

The Permissive and The Perfect Will of God

2009-06-17T18:32:00.001-07:00

The permissive and the perfect Will of God

Dearly Beloved,

It is important to know that in working out the Will of God in our lives, that due to free choice it is possible for us to walk either in the permissive Will or the perfect Will of God. Kenneth E. Hagin in his biography (I believe in visions) spoke of a time in his life when he had an accident and fractured his elbow knocking it out of place. Jesus then appeared to him in the hospital and told him that he had been out of His perfect Will for two years and had only been living in the permissive Will of God. It was the third time that the Lord spoke to him about this and therefore the Lord had allowed the accident to arrest his attention. The Lord said that if he had not allowed it to happen, Hagin would not have lived pass the age of 55 years. Jesus revealed to Hagin that He had called him to be a prophet and a teacher but that he had reversed the order and only sought to be a teacher first and neglected to deliver the prophecy God gave him to pastors or people whom the Lord sent him to. In doing so, he had entered into the permissive Will of God.

The permissive Will is not an area which is the breaking of God's revealed moral and spiritual commands in the Bible. Breaking God's commandments would constitute being out of God's Will completely. The permissive Will is doing something that might seem good but it is either not God's Will in our lives or not God's time for it to be done.

In Romans 12:1-2, the Scriptures speak of the body being presented to God and the mind being renewed to prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect Will of God. The good and acceptable constitutes the permissive Will of God. It is still outwardly and apparently good. For this reason, the vast majority of Christians are actually living in the permissive Will of God without knowing it. They are well intentioned but have not been obedient to all that God has called them to do. Only a small percentage of Christians are actually living in the perfect Will of God.

How does a Christian move out of the perfect Will into the permissive Will without knowing?

1. They move out of the perfect Will by allowing the wrong motives to direct their actions. Such wrong motives result in them doing things and wanting things before their time. The Israelites demanded a king for the wrong motives. The wanted to be like all the other nations of their time (1 Samuel 8:5). Although it was God's perfect Will one day that they would become a theocratic kingdom (Deuteronomy 17:11-20), it was just simply not God's time for them nor were their motives right. God showed His displeasure through thunder and rain and the people admitted their sin on the day of coronation (1 Samuel 12:18-25).

a. Being in the permissive Will does not mean that God's anointing or gifting stopped functioning. Saul was still anointed to play the role of a king. Hagin was still functioning in the anointing as a teacher. Good was still being done. Many of God's leaders are trying to pastor churches when their calling is not to pastor but either called to be an evangelist, a teacher or prophet (Only apostles and fivefold pastors are called to pastor churches). For this reason, many such good intentioned people suffer deaths or accidents in their families after a grace period of two to three years because the Lord kept trying to speak to them but they are not listening. Not all tragedies are caused by such but definitely being in the permissive Will always result in death. It is not something that any one should take lightly. The deaths and tragedies are not caused by God but open doors that the devil exploits to work death.

b. Being in the permissive Will does not mean that good things in the kingdom of God are not being done. A lot of good is actually still being done and people are being blessed by the minister who walks in the permissive Will. Hagin was blessing many people with the teaching gift in his life but he was not obedient to deliver the prophecies that God give him to warn pastors and churches because he knew that they might reject the message. People in the permissive Will are just doing something because they like doing those things (and might even be good in it) and because those are the things everybody wants them to do but it is not God's perfect Will for them. David wanted to build the temple of God and even Nathan the prophet thought that it was a good idea (2 Samuel 7:2-3). However, God later revealed to Nathan to informed David that it was NOT His Will that the house should be built by him, rather it was to be built by his son (2 Samuel 7:12-17). David had the money, the ability and even the detail plans for the temple but it was NOT God's Will for him to build it. He was obedient in not moving into the permissive Will of God. Many business people and leaders today are trying to be pastors when God did not called them to do so. Just because one has the money or the talent to be a leader does not mean that one can simply be a pastor. Many gifted prophets and evangelists today are pasturing churches when it is NOT God's Will for them to do so. They will never fully enter the fullness of their callings until they enter the next phase of their prophetic or evangelistic calling. Some of them die without even entering the first phase of their ministry because they have not been obedient to their specific calling.

2. They move out of the perfect Will by lacking boldness to leave their present surroundings to enter into a new environment.

The old surroundings could be a geographical place, a group of people, an organization, a church or anything which does not require them to grow and exercise fresh faith in God. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Some people would rather wait until circumstances move them instead of them moving out of the circumstances. Not everyone is fortunate to live it out and sometimes there is a loss of time and potential growth or reward because of the delay in obedience. Not only that, in eternity they are also held accountable for the delay in other people's perfect Will which depended on their obedience. Every life affects another and every person living in the permissive Will affects the lives of those whose perfect Will depended on them. Abraham waited until his father Terah died before obeying God's call (Genesis 11:32-12:1-2). God spoke to Abraham when he was still in Mesopotamia before he came to Haran, where the Genesis second call took place after the death of Terah (Acts 7:2-4). We do not know if perhaps Terah might have come to know God instead of dying an idolator if Abraham had left earlier and prospered in Canaan. Many Christians are stuck in churches that do not help them to grow nor help them to walk closer with God. They might not regret in this life because of their busyness but in eternity they greatly regretted the lost opportunity. Many ministers lived and die without entering the perfect Will of God and have eternally lost the opportunity that earth life provided to develop the gifting God gave them. Rehoboam lost a great portion of his kingdom by persisting in listening to the advice of his peers whom he grew up with (1 Kings 12:1-17).

3. They move out of the perfect Will by adding unnecessary weights to their original calling.

It was not God's Will to have Ishmael but Abraham had to live the rest of his life with the reality of division and strife within his own home because they tried to hasten the promise of a child of his own (Genesis 16:3-6; 21:11). Solomon added wives to his life and they led him completely out of God's Will into idol worship (1 Kings 11:1-6). We should be obedient to what God has called us to but we should also know what God has NOT called us to. Otherwise, we will be doing every good thing under the sun and not have sufficient time or energy to do ONLY what He called us to be and to do. It was only AFTER he left for the promise land that God spoke to Abraham (Genesis 12:7-8). It was only AFTER he was separated from Lot that God spoke more details to him of His promises (Genesis 13:14-18; 15:1-21). Many people do not hear more from God concerning their life and ministry because they have NOT been obedient to take the first steps of walking by faith into that which they know God wants them to do. They lack clarity and specific details that would have established them in the ministry and call of God for their lives. This also applies to those called to the professional and business areas. Obedience to God in the little directions result in greater detailed directions and blessings.

Not all deaths and tragedies are caused by being in the permissive Will. Some of them are caused by the lack of obedience to dietary laws or soul laws like living free from fear (many people worry themselves to death). It is however very, very dangerous to be in the permissive Will of God for it definitely will lead to death. The only place to be in this life is in the perfect Will of God. Never allow your loved ones, your friends and peers or anyone in this life to rob you of being in the perfect Will of God. We all are accountable to God on a one to one basis at the Day of Judgment. We will have to give an accounting for our lives on earth (1 Corinthians 3:13; 2 Corinthians 5:9-11). We cannot excuse our personal actions and decisions by blaming our spouse, our family, our friends, our environment or anything outside of us. No doubt, society, environment, friends and family may make it harder or easier to do God's perfect Will depending on whether they are flowing along or not. But it is no excuse before God's Throne. Adam tried to blame Eve and Eve blamed the serpent but each one still receives the judgment due to them.

God's perfect Will can never be discovered without seeking His face and waiting on Him. Many Christians are running about doing things with hardly a thought about whether it is God's perfect Will. Sometimes in the quiet moments of their lives, there arises within them the knowing that something is amiss. If they would seek God to find out what is amiss, the Lord would show them His perfect Will.

Beloved, it is my desire that each of you walk in God's perfect Will that He may blessed you spirit, soul and body in this life and in the life to come.

In Christ Jesus

Ps Peter Tan

Posted with permission

www.eaglevision.com.my

Open Their Eyes To The Light

2009-06-17T05:10:00.001-07:00

kcm.org

"If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them."
(2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

Since God doesn't save anyone against their will, does it really do any good to pray for people who consciously refuse to receive Jesus as Lord?

Yes. Yes! YES! IT DOES!

You see, in spite of the fact that most all unbelievers who have purposely refused to receive Jesus as Lord think they've made that decision of their own free will, the truth is, they haven't. The Word of God says they've been blinded by Satan. He's blocking their perception of the truth. So their decision hasn't been freely made at all.

That's important for you to grasp. Because through the prayer of intercession, you can interfere with the satanic forces and help take those blinders off! You can also change circumstances with your prayers and help create situations that will bring them in contact with the Lord. You're well within your spiritual rights when you do that.

I prayed with a friend of mine once who'd been praying for his lost brother for years. Jesus said in Matthew 12:29 to first bind the strong man and then enter his house and spoil his goods. So we said, "You spirit blinding the eyes of ______________, you stop what you are doing to keep him out of the kingdom of God. In Jesus' Name, you stop NOW!"

Jesus also said in Matthew 9:38, "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." So we prayed, "Lord, send someone to ____________ with the Word of God. You know who he will listen to. We claim _____________ for the kingdom of God. We believe we receive his salvation and deliverance. In faith we praise You for it."

In almost no time at all his brother called him. "What have you been doing up there?" he asked. "In the past few days, everybody I've come across has started preaching to me!"

Our prayers had interfered with the forces Satan had been using to blind this man to Jesus and created the circumstances to bring him into the kingdom. Sure enough, within a few days, he was born again.

Use this same prayer for your loved ones and believe when you pray and you'll see the same results.

Don't sit by and let the devil take your friends and loved ones without a fight. Pray. Pray! PRAY! Come against the "god of this world." Take off the blinders and open their eyes to the glorious gospel of God.

But Then Something Happened

2009-02-25T05:47:00.000-08:00

But Then Something Happened: "by John Paul Jackson
John Paul Jackson's Page <-- link

A few years ago, I was driving back to Dallas after a business trip in Los Angeles. Traffic was heavy, and a rare California rainstorm opened up. No one slows down for rain in Southern California — they aren’t used to it! As I was entering the 405 Freeway, a car stalled in front of me. I swerved to avoid it, and all of a sudden, cars were swerving and slamming on brakes everywhere. I almost made it out of the melee, but at the last second, I clipped a fender and was instantly jettisoned into the 70-mile-per-hour traffic.

Eight collisions later, I found myself partly wedged beneath a semi truck. Its rear wheels were in my trunk, my engine was sitting beside me, and not one window was left intact in my rental car. And we were still moving — the road and overpass were slick with oil and water from all those weeks without rain. Looking into the truck’s side-view mirror, I could see fear on the driver’s face as he wrestled to get control of an 18-wheeler that now had no rear brakes. I quickly realized the key reason for his fear.

At 70 miles per hour, we were headed for the side rail of the overpass. This overpass was the third one up; there were two others below in this spaghetti-like, high-speed interchange between highways.

The semi and I slammed into the curb. The truck lurched into the air, and my car catapulted like a rocket through the guardrail and down toward the two overpasses below. I could feel the front end of my car dropping in the descent, and it didn’t take long for me to realize that I was going to die. The only uncertainty was how — would the oncoming traffic hit me, or would it be the impact?

But then something happened.

In the blink of an eye, I found myself back on the overpass I had just left. I sat there for a moment, very confused. What had just happened?

I didn’t see this myself, but people who had been traveling near me and had stopped to help claim to have seen a huge hand come out of the sky, grab my car out of the air and set it back down on the overpass. In an accident that should have killed me, I ended up walking away without even a scratch. That in and of itself is an amazing miracle. But it didn’t stop there.

As I began to tell them that they, too, could have God’s hedge of protection, all those people who had seen God save my life knelt down on the freeway shoulder and asked Jesus into their hearts.

He will make it amazing

God took a flawed, frightening situation and made it something great. As you can imagine, that was an incredibly chaotic moment! It was literally spinning out of control. But somehow, in the midst of everything seemingly going wrong, God knew what He was doing. He did what He wanted to do and changed everything. He birthed calm. He birthed order. He saved my life. He created a “but-then-something-happened” moment, and the end result was glorious, in several different ways.

A.W. Tozer writes in his book The Pursuit of God: “The Word of God is quick and powerful. In the beginning He spoke to nothing, and it became something. Chaos heard it and became order; darkness heard it and became light.”

In the study of chaos and something called chaos theory, what you find is that chaos always results in a grander design coming forth. Therefore, chaos typically isn’t “chaos” per se: It is an order that is grander than we are able to recognize. In other words, as backward as it seems, chaos is one of the best things that can happen to us.

Obviously, however, this brings up some questions: “Why? Why would God allow something like that? Why would He deliberately allow things to go so wrong?”

It wasn’t as if I enjoyed the thought of imminent death that day. But God somehow made the experience worthwhile. In fact, He made it amazing.

I know that no matter what you’re going through, this is what He wants to do in your life, too. He wants to make it amazing. It may not go the way you wanted it to go (I thought I was going to get home on time). It may not look the way you thought it was supposed to look (I was expecting another long, uneventful trip home). But if you’re willing to sit back and enjoy God in the middle of the wild ride you’re on, you will see His goodness again and again and again. It will change you — and not just you but the people around you, too.

God’s promise

My goal in all of this is to look at what’s going on and be able to recognize that a grander design is coming — and that design will be better than anything I could have built or planned. That is the one and only way to find peace in difficult circumstances. God is in control, and therefore, this way will be better.

We have the promise of Romans 8:28: “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” God didn’t say this flippantly. He truly meant it. Take some time to think about that, to let it soak down into your soul and perhaps change your thought processes. You will see light again on the other side of hardship. That’s what His Word says.

Key points:

Chaos is one of the best things that can happen to you.

God can work all things to the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).

Trust God today, and watch what He will do for you tomorrow.

Trust is vital to intimacy with Jesus.

He can make your circumstances amazing."

Love The Lord with All My Heart

2009-02-22T08:49:00.000-08:00

"Prayer: I love the Lord my God with all my heart, all my soul, all my mind and strength, And in obedience to Him, I love my neighbor as myself and I love my brethren as He loved as and I forgive even as I am forgiven."