Tag: Food For Growth

³ Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. ⁴ And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” ⁵ And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” ~ Acts 9:3-5

Before Paul became the greatest apostle who ever lived, he was Saul, one of the greatest suppressors of the Truth. Saul was blinded by a veil, unable to see the Truth of who Jesus is, so he tried to silence the spreading of the Gospel by the execution of the Saints. Why? Because of this, Jesus confronted Saul from heaven because even though Jesus wasn’t the one physically being persecuted on earth, it was Jesus that Saul was truly attacking and persecuting. Why? Because we are Christ’s representation on earth, and Christ lives through us. Therefore, Saul was persecuting Jesus.

Today is no different. When we silence the Truth because we don’t like it, it offends us, or we don’t want to follow it, we silence Jesus because He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. When we try to convince others that the Truth is wrong because our God would never allow it to be true, then it’s God we’re arguing with and attacking, not the person who is speaking the Truth. The person is just the vessel by which the LORD gets His message out.

So, be careful who you persecute. Be careful whom you condemn. We should always ask questions and test the spirit, but we should never become hostile, even if the person is wrong. We are to be peacemakers, uniters, and the light in the darkness. When someone says they’re preaching the Truth of God, check the Scriptures to see if it’s true. Bring it before the LORD. Never blindly accept any teaching as Truth, but test each word spoken as the Bereans did with Paul. And if you find that it is Truth, don’t be offended by it; instead, humbly accept it. Don’t allow your own thoughts and biases to keep you from the Truth of God. Don’t silence Christ; instead, proclaim Him.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Proclaim Christ To The World.

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³⁵ The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, ³⁶ and he looked at Jesus as He walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” ³⁷ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸ Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” ³⁹ He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. ⁴⁰ One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹ He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). ⁴² He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter). ~ John 1:35-42

If you notice, John said to no one in particular but to everyone. “Look, I know for sure that He is the Lamb of God.” And he pointed his finger at Jesus as He walked by. So, two of John’s disciples, who heard him, began to follow Jesus. After Jesus noticed them following Him, He asked them what they were seeking. So, they asked Him where He was staying, and Jesus replied, “Come and see.” The Scripture then says that one of the two, Andrew, went to tell his brother Simon Peter, and he brought him to Jesus. In other words, he told Peter to come and see for himself. Come and see is a personal experience.

If someone just tells you about an event or an experience, it’s not your experience; it’s theirs. But when you come and see, that experience is yours, and no one can deceive you. No one can place doubts in your mind. No one can con you. It’s your experience, and therefore, it is personal to you. We must make the Gospel personal. That does not mean that we come and see and then keep all of the information to ourselves so that no one else can experience what we have experienced. But rather, we now Go and Tell. We share the Good News of Christ with others. We become the light in this dark world to others.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Come and See, Then Go and Tell.

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¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. ⁵ The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. ~ John 1:1-5

Although Jesus came to His own people, His people did not recognize Him or accept Him. They were probably looking for a warrior king, and Jesus did not fit that expectation. He came to die for the lost. To pay the penalty so that we might have the power to live victorious lives. Jesus successfully completed His purpose on earth, so God rewarded Him with the name above all names, with great majesty and glory. Jesus fulfilled His purpose; now it’s our turn.

So, often we think that all we have to do is believe, and life will become easy, but life is hard, and the road is so narrow many miss it completely. Believing, having faith, that’s just the key to finding the road. Now, you actually have to walk it. You now have to follow in the steps of Jesus and be the light in this dark world. You have to now fulfill your God-given purpose, no matter how hard it may seem or how lonely the walk may look. Unless we follow our call and obey the voice of our Heavenly Father, we can’t be the light in the darkness. If we can’t be the light in the darkness, then there’s no reward for us. If there’s no reward for us, then there’s only punishment awaiting us in the next life.

We don’t serve God and follow Jesus because it’s easy or because it’ll give us fame and fortune. We follow the LORD because He is the only path to Eternal Life. He’s the only path to freedom. He’s the only path to a new hope that is greater than anything we could ever think or imagine. That’s why we follow Jesus because He is the Light shining through us in this dark and lost world.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Find More Than The Key To The Narrow Road.

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¹ In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of His robe filled the temple. ² Above Him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³ And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” ⁴ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of Him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. ⁵ And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” ⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” ~ Isaiah 6:1-7

Isaiah was before the throne of Almighty God unclean and lost, so fear fell upon him. When he cried out in fear, one of the Seraphim stopped his worship so that Isaiah could worship in the presence of God. I want you to notice that the Seraphim had been worshipping in the presence of God long before Isaiah showed up. He had been worshipping for so long that he knew the heart of God. God didn’t tell him to go and get the coal and touch Isaiah’s lips. God didn’t order or command him to stop worshipping to help Isaiah. That Seraph had been in the presence of God so long that he knew the heart of God. He knew the desire of God was to dwell with mankind, so he stopped his worship to help Isaiah enter into the presence of God. After this, Isaiah received his call.

So many of us are so busy worshipping God, or we get so caught up in ministry that we stop listening to the heart of God. We don’t notice those who are struggling to worship. Maybe they smell a little like alcohol or like smoke, but they’re trying to worship. Maybe they have their head down, afraid to even look up to heaven because they’re ashamed of their past. So many times, we look down on those types of people instead of being like that one Seraph who stopped his own worship and his own edification so that he could put someone else’s needs above his own. We miss our responsibility as mature Christians to help those struggling to enter the presence of God. We have to worship, but we also have to listen, or that worship will become void because we aren’t changing, and neither is anyone else around us. So, let us worship by helping someone else worship.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Listen During Worship.

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¹¹ And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, ¹² so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. ¹³ Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” ¹⁴ Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. ¹⁵ But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” ¹⁶ And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. ¹⁷ And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. ¹⁸ Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. ¹⁹ And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. ²⁰ So the Word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily. ~ Acts 19:11-20

The men that confessed their practices and burned their magic arts books were already believers, but they didn’t dispose of their magic arts books. They didn’t dispose of the darkness they previously had. Why? Because they had extreme power. They heard the stories of Paul and probably even witnessed a few healings and deliverances by the handkerchiefs that had touched Paul’s skin. So, they knew the name of Jesus was powerful, but they thought that they could continue in their old darkness as well because what’s the harm, right? Paul’s Jesus had power, and their witchcraft had power, so if they kept the power from the witchcraft and added to the power from the name of Jesus, they’d have double the power. It wasn’t until seven sons of the Jewish high priest named Sceva tried invoking the name of Jesus and ended up getting beaten mercilessly by the man with an evil spirit.

I guarantee it wasn’t their first exorcism. I’m sure they had succeeded many times before. Why? Because they were called Jewish exorcists. And these believers who had magic arts books probably witnessed the seven sons of Sceva successfully invoking the name of Jesus without being a follower, or at least a full follower of Christ. They just believed in the power of the name. This is why when they saw these seven sons of Sceva get beaten and run away naked, a light clicked in their brains, and they no longer wanted anything to do with the darkness.

See, these ex-magicians understood power. They understood the power of the name of Jesus, but they also understood the power of the enemy. So, when they understood where the power Paul had possessed came from and how he received it, they took action. They understood that invoking the name of Jesus alone without the Holy as a seal could only do so much. They understood that they needed a relationship with God Himself with the man who owned that name. And that meant truly confessing their sins, repenting, and wholly following Jesus in the light.

Back then, people fled darkness for the power of the light because they understood nothing could compare. Today, people are leaving the light in droves because the darkness is seemingly the only one that has power. The Church no longer walks in power; in fact, we preach against it. What would happen if we sought the power promised to us over 2000 years ago? Maybe we’d see true deliverance, freedom, and the Word of the LORD increase and prevail mightily in our day and age.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Seek The Power of The Light.

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Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed. ~ John 18:25-27

On the night of Jesus’ life, He explained to His disciples one of them would betray Him. Peter insisted that He wouldn’t do that. That all the rest may leave Him, but he would never leave Him. He would follow Him even to death, but just a few hours later, Peter denied Jesus three times. Peter had failed his test because he failed to study.

Jesus had warned the disciples that He had to die. He told them time after time that He had to die in order to fulfill the Law and bring life, but Peter didn’t grasp this concept. Peter missed the purpose of Jesus because He had his own idea of who the Messiah was, even though he walked and talked with Jesus daily. Because of this, Peter set up a trap for himself to fall into. When in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed until Judas and the Guards came to arrest Him. Jesus asked Peter, James, and John to pray with Him, yet they all fell asleep. Now was the time for the test, and Peter wasn’t ready. He sliced off a servant of the High Priest’s ear clean off. This was the trap he set for himself.

The garden was dark. They came with only torches to light their way. Judas had to identify Christ so that they didn’t accidentally arrest the wrong man because Thomas, called the twin, was also in the garden with them. Peter wouldn’t have been recognized by the last accuser if he had never cut off the man’s ear. It was a relative of that man that recognized Peter from the garden. It wasn’t just hearsay. It wasn’t he said, she said. It was, “No, I saw you with my own eyes in the garden.” Peter never would’ve been recognized by this man if he hadn’t cut off the man’s ear a few hours earlier.

When we don’t pray and spend time in worship, our weak flesh overcomes our weak spirit. It allows for any stronghold to come into our lives and run us. We have to fight the good fight while we can. We have to store food up before winter. We have to prepare for coming trials so that we don’t accidentally set a snare for ourselves to be trapped in later on. If we pray and worship, we’ll clear the path for ourselves and build up our spirit so that when trials and tests come, we can pass with flying colors.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Clear Paths.

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²² Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. ²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, ²⁶ that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷ so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. ²⁸ In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰ because we are members of his body. ³¹ “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. ³³ However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. ~ Ephesians 5:22–33

Man and woman were created differently. We communicate, interact, and think differently. For men, respect is the most important thing. They want to feel like a man. Men don’t want to be emasculated. They don’t want to feel disrespected, while women need to be loved. Women need their husbands to listen to them, hold them, spend time with them, and make them feel loved.

Here’s the interesting thing about this. Paul doesn’t keep it strictly, wives submit to your husbands, as the first step. In other words, he isn’t saying that the wife’s submission comes before the husband’s love. He switches them around in the last verse. Why? Because Paul understood that sometimes, depending on the relationship, one has to show either love or respect before they receive either love or respect. A great example of this was the movie Fireproof.

A couple, both unsaved, were about to divorce. Before the wife filed the papers, the husband began to read the Word of God, meditate on them, pray, and worship. Then, he began to love his wife. The more he began to love his wife, the wife then began to respect him. There weren’t any more screaming battles. There weren’t any more nights when they went to bed angry. There was no more division. This is what Paul was showing us. Sometimes, we have to give what the other needs in order to receive what we need.

Husbands, if your wife isn’t respecting you the way you need to be respected, ask yourself, “am I loving my wife the way that she needs?” Matter of fact, ask her. I know a couple who were struggling. The husband even left and filed for divorce. They got back together and started talking. The husband now routinely asks his wife if there is anything more she needs him to do so that she can feel loved the way she needs to. And by doing that, she’s now striving every day to make sure he is feeling respected as a man. They now have two beautiful daughters, and their relationship and marriage are at the best they’ve ever been. Sometimes, you have to give a little to get a little in return. So, this Valentine’s Day, strive to give your spouse or partner what they need in the relationship to feel loved and respected.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Give To Receive.

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²² Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. ²³ For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior. ²⁴ Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. ²⁵ Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, ²⁶ that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, ²⁷ so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. ²⁸ In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, ³⁰ because we are members of his body. ³¹ “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” ³² This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. ³³ However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. ~ Ephesians 5:22–33

One of the most controversial verses in today’s world is, “Wives submit to your own husbands.” This one verse upsets many people. It sparks arguments and debates. Many are offended by this verse, but why? Jesus said, “Blessed is he who isn’t offended by me.” So, how can Scripture offend us? I believe it’s because we don’t fully understand what Paul is instructing us.

Paul instructs wives to submit to their husbands because the husband represents Christ in the marriage, while the wife represents the Church. Paul said that husbands are to be like Christ and love their wives in the same way. He didn’t leave the meaning of this up to private interpretation; Paul tells us exactly what that means. Husbands are supposed to love their wives by giving themselves up for their wives. In other words, everything that the wife does is on the husband, just as everything we’ve done and everything we will do was laid upon Christ. This is why wives have to submit to their husbands because the husband is holding the weight of the marriage.

As women, we’re very emotional creatures. Why? Because we weren’t created to hold the weight and stress of our marriages as well as the stress of providing for the family on our shoulders. It is not an insult to say that God created man as the head of the household because he’s responsible for its provision and its success spiritually and financially. Whereas women are emotional to better raise up the children. This seems to be very insulting to women today, but what greater role can a person have than to raise the next generation of humans? We’re literally responsible for teaching and nurturing the next generation. That’s more power than any job in the world can offer.

That doesn’t mean that it’s solely up to the woman to raise the children either; fathers are extremely important. Don’t get me wrong, women can have jobs as well, but we were all created for certain roles. We were all created for specific calls. Man and woman complete each other. This is why we become one. Today’s culture tries to teach any and everything that is contrary to God’s word and what He stands for. But as Christians, we embrace God and the things of God. But if we join together and unite as one, God will help us to make it through the good times as well as the bad times. Ignore popular culture and live your life sold out to Jesus and live His plan.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Prosper As One.

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³³ …let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. ~ Ephesians 5:33

This is a mutual command with a mutual benefit. These two work in tandem with each other. Husbands, do you feel like you’re not being respected? Well, take a look at your wife’s love gauge that monitors her love tank. Is it full? Is it empty? Or is it somewhere in between?

If men want respectful wives, they must first be loving husbands, and wives must submit to their husbands if they want loving husbands. It goes hand in hand. A wife respecting her husband doesn’t mean that we, husbands, lord it over our wives or that the wife has no say in matters that belong to you both. All household decisions must be made mutually and must be beneficial to both; in fact, it must be mutually beneficial to the whole family. Just as Christ doesn’t move without us first doing something, neither does a husband do something without the wife. A marriage is about becoming one flesh.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be One Flesh.

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⁹ But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. ~ 1 Peter 2:9–10

We are royal because God has adopted us as sons and daughters, just like Moses was adopted by Pharoah’s daughter. We walk in power and anointing because we have been baptized with God’s Holy Spirit. Just like Moses came out of the palace, we, too, have been called out of darkness and into God’s marvelous light. We are empowered to perform signs and wonders and miracles and healings and even raise the dead.

Signs and wonders are appearing in the Church in these last days. More and more reports of healings, and deliverances are happening all over the place, especially in third-world countries throughout Africa and South America; even right here in America.

God’s Spirit has been poured out on all flesh. He fulfills the Word He has spoken, and He has spoken. Therefore, be like Moses and seek wonders. Seek signs. Seek the glory of Almighty God. And most importantly, seek freedom through Christ Jesus, because you have been chosen by the LORD God Almighty. You have been called by name.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be Empowered By God.

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