Reflections | Sunday, 27th October 2013

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What Pleases God by Andrew Wommack (taken from: http://www.awmi.net/extra/article/pleases_god)

During a Sunday morning service in St. Joseph, Missouri, a few years back, I asked the congregation how many of them really want to please God more than anything else. Every hand went up. Then I asked them, "How many of you think God is really pleased with you?" Out of at least 400 people, one 11-year-old boy and one 10-year-old girl raised their hands. That was all.

Very few believers actually believe that they are pleasing to God. Most feel some degree of forgiveness and maybe acceptance, but to think that the Lord is actually pleased with us is another matter. A person can choose to love you because of his or her own goodness, but to be pleased with you, they actually have to like your performance. Right?

With God, no one could ever be pleasing to Him based on performance. His standard is perfection, and no goodness on our part can ever compensate for our sins. We may please man with our actions, but "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). It takes the precious blood of Jesus to do that.

The way we receive the forgiveness that's available through Jesus' blood is by faith (Rom. 10:9-17). When we put our faith in Jesus as our Savior, we are pleasing God. Hebrews 11:6 says, "But without faith it is impossible to please him."

Faith comes from the heart (Rom. 10:10), and God looks on the heart — not the actions (1 Sam. 16:7). Of course, God sees our actions and will deal with us about them, but only because they are inseparably linked to our hearts (Prov. 23:7). It's our hearts that really concern God, and faith in Him (trust, reliance) is what He is searching the heart for.

A person whose actions are not right but who trusts the Lord is more pleasing to God than an individual who is doing the right things but has no faith in God. It's not a case of those who act the best will get accepted, and those who act the worst get rejected. That would put some of the followers of other religions ahead of many Christians, but that is not what the Bible teaches.

This is exactly the point Paul is making in Romans 11:6: "And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work." That's old English for saying, "It's one way or the other but not a combination of the two." We're either saved by God's grace through what Jesus did for us, or we're saved by what we do without Jesus, but not a combination of the two. The choice should be the obvious.

Elijah is an example of a great man who lived a holy life and didn't earn God's pleasure with his actions. He made some serious mistakes. He ran in the face of persecution and became so depressed over it that he asked the Lord to kill him (1 Kin. 19). The Lord gave him three direct commands in an audible voice (1 Kin. 19:15-16), and Elijah never did two of them (refer to my teaching entitled "Elijah's Downfall?"). Most people would think God couldn't have been pleased with Elijah, yet Elijah was translated.

Even though our heart conditions influence our actions, we all fail in our performance to some degree. Elijah did. If God used performance as the basis of whether or not He was pleased with us, no one would ever pass the test. "If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?" (Ps. 130:3).

Satan used to accuse me and say, "What makes you think God will use you?" The truth is that none of us are perfect, we don't deserve the blessings of God. Now I put my faith in Jesus. It's hard for some people to accept this. It has been ingrained in us that if we aren't holy, God won't bless us. When God looks at you, He doesn't see your goodness — He sees Jesus.

If you're walking in faith, you use faith as the rate of exchange between you and God. God is pleased with you even though your actions don't measure up. Your life may be a wreck, but God is still pleased with you. Our religion says that is hypocrisy. On the contrary, the worst sin is self-righteousness — the attitude that God owes it to you because you've been good.

The difficult thing is that there are no role models for grace. Your employer hires you based on performance. The parent-child relationship is based on performance, even though it shouldn't be. When it comes to God, your performance can't earn you anything. If you sin, you need a savior. It is your faith in Jesus that will grant you access to God.

Most people accept this level of grace when it pertains to salvation. However, some of you may think that after you're born again, God expects you to pray and study; and if you don't do these things, God won't bless you. After you are born again, it doesn't change! Colossians 2:6 says, "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him." When we are born again, we come to Jesus just as we are. In fact, if a person has a lot of sin, it's even more reason to come to Jesus. When it comes to being healed, it's a different story with most Christians. They think if you haven't read your Bible today or you had a fight on the way to church, it will keep you from being healed. That's a double standard. That's saying that the way you approach God after you're born again is different. Your actions may not please God today, but you can be healed or delivered in spite of it.

Some of you may think I'm advocating sin. I'm not — your actions are important to you. Your holiness is important because it changes your heart toward God and not God's heart toward you. Unholiness will hurt you. Even though God will love you just as much, you won't love God as much. It will harden your heart toward God. It's like eating. You must eat to stay alive, but eating is not life. If you miss one meal, will you die? If you constantly live in sin and never feed yourself spiritually, it will kill you. I am not saying you should ignore your actions. You will never do everything perfectly, but don't let it keep you from receiving the blessings of God.

Luke 22 shows us an example of someone who had faith and pleased God. In verses 31 and 32 Jesus is talking to Peter before the crucifixion. "And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." Peter did blow it tremendously. He denied the Lord three times. He cursed and blasphemed God, and yet Jesus prayed that his faith wouldn't fail. Jesus' prayers were always answered. Peter's actions failed, but not his faith. If Peter hadn't repented it would have killed him. He was restored to God and went on to become a pillar of the church.

Some of you may be thinking, This is great — I can live like the devil and still get what I want from God." If you think that, I'd say you aren't born again, because a Christian wants to please God. This word is for Christians who have a desire to serve God but who still sin. When that happens, you go on and catch up and stand there with confidence in your Savior. Your faith in Jesus pleases God. None of us get saved and head straight on the path to God. We bounce around, but we're still heading in the general direction.

"To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved" (Eph. 1:6). You do please God through your faith in Jesus as your Savior, and you must perceive that you please Him.

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Reflections | Sunday, 20th October 2013

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Mixing Grace with Works: It’s Not About the Widow (Luke 18:1-8) 

(Taken from: http://escapetoreality.org/2010/06/10/mixing-grace-with-works-it%E2%80%99s-not-about-the-widow-luke-181-8/)

Most Christians who’ve read Galatians know it’s a bad idea to mix grace with works. Paul wondered of the Galatians:

“Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” (Gal 3:3)

Most believers know that we cannot finish with human effort that which was begun by the Spirit. Yet the great irony is that many Christians are trying to do exactly that. Instead of growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus, they get caught up in dead works of the flesh. Instead of keeping their eyes fixed on the Author and Finisher of their faith, they get distracted by their own performance. And when you think you’re being blessed because of your effort, you nullify the grace of God.

How do we mix grace with works?

Let me give you an example based on the Parable of the Persistent Widow. I am sure you are familiar with this story. It starts like this:

“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: ‘In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men…’” (Luk 18:1-2)

…and you know what happens next. A poor widow comes pleading for justice but the uncaring judge ignores her. She gets no justice. Unperturbed, the widow doesn’t give up. She keeps pestering the bad judge until he finally relents. He thinks to himself,

“because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!” (Lk 18:5)

The lesson that most Christians take from this story is that we need to persistently bang on the doors of heaven, crying out to God day and night, until we get what we ask for.

And so they completely miss the point of the story and end up mixing grace with works.

There is nothing wrong with God’s hearing

Prayer is simply conversing with God. We can talk to God about anything, anytime. If you are facing a problem that won’t go away, by all means talk to your loving Father about it. He cares for you. He wants to take your cares off you. Give them to him.

If you have prayed for a breakthrough and it hasn’t happened yet, it’s perfectly fine to pray again. There is no prayer-limit. It’s also perfectly fine not to pray again but stand in the faith that the prayer you prayed once was heard.

But what is not fine is to subscribe to a method of praying that suggests God rewards our praying effort, that if God doesn’t hear us the first time, that we need to pray again and again and again until he does. To pray like this suggests that God is either deaf or reluctant to help, neither of which is true.

Does God hear our prayers, even our short ones? You bet! Jesus said so:

“When you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Mt 6:7-8)

Who is the one that prays with many, repetitive words? It is the one who does not have a revelation of the nature and character of God.

Now you may say, “but Paul, isn’t that exactly why the widow in the story got her breakthrough? Because she was relentless in asking and never gave up?” Maybe, but this misses a larger point. Jesus did not tell us the parable to get us to strive for things in our own strength. Besides, why would he suggest we “keep it short” in Matthew 6 but “pray long” in Luke 18? It doesn’t add up.

The little widow that could

It’s human nature to cheer for the underdog who never quits. But Jesus did not tell us this story so that we might be inspired by the persistent widow. He did it so that we might get a better understanding of our good and gracious Father who, in stark contrast with unjust judges, cares for us and wants to bring about justice for his chosen ones.

Jesus preached the negative to accentuate the positive. The judge in the story was a lazy and wicked man. He kept stalling. He didn’t do the right thing. He didn’t even do what he was paid to do. But God is nothing like that. God is good! He loves justice! He longs to act quickly! Look at what Jesus said:

“And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.” (Lk 18:7-8)

How do you pray?

Depending on whether you have more faith in the power of human effort or the power of God, there are two ways to read the tale of the persistent widow:

1. The works-oriented preacher says, “Look at the widow, she’s weak but never gives up.”

2. The Christ-oriented preacher says, “Look at God, he’s mighty and he wants to help you.”

Do you see the difference?

Listen to the first guy and when trials come your eyes will be on yourself. Listen to the second guy and your eyes will be on your mighty Father. Big difference!

If your focus is on yourself and what you are doing or not doing, you are likely to miss out on the grace of God. If you get a breakthrough, you may be tempted to think it was because of your many prayers. Don’t misunderstand me. There have been occasions where I have prayed for years to get a breakthrough (e.g., a friend coming to Christ). But there is huge a difference between standing on the unfulfilled promises of God and thinking that God is impressed by our praying efforts.

The works preacher says we must do stuff to get results. The grace preacher says trust God for the results. Of course we should pray. But pray with faith, with an attitude that says “both me and God fully expect his will to be done in my situation.” If you don’t know what his will is, ask for wisdom. Then pray with a conviction that God will do what he says, that his kingdom reality will soon invade your earthly reality.

The problem with the widow

Why do I have a problem with making the widow the hero of the story? Because you don’t need any faith to identify with the widow in her plight. She was in a bad situation. She took it upon herself to fix things and she succeeded. It’s a good story, but it is a godless and graceless story, a mere triumph of the human spirit. You don’t even have to be a believer to preach on the persistence of the widow.

Why would Jesus want us to be inspired by a widow who succeeded apart from God? He doesn’t! He uses her to show that we are a gazillion times better off because we have God. We do not need to depend on our own effort because we can trust in the grace of a good God who knows what we need even before we ask him.

In fact, God is so good and he knows us so well that he even answers prayers that we haven’t got around to praying. I experienced this just last Sunday. During the service I made a note to pray for something with Camilla. It was a family need and I sat there thinking, “we haven’t even prayed about this – we must do it tonight.” Straight after the service I went to find Camilla (she was out back with the kids), and even before I had a chance to speak she gave me some news that told me that God had answered our prayer. And we hadn’t even prayed it yet!

Who do you trust?

Does your praying testify to the strength of the human spirit or the strength of the Holy Spirit? The best test is to look at what you do when your prayers seem to have no effect.

When the breakthrough doesn’t come, the preacher of works says, “Pray harder! You must do more.” But the Christ-oriented preacher says, “Keep trusting in the goodness of a good God! He has not forsaken you.”

Again, did you spot the difference?

Trust in yourself and you’re setting yourself up for failure and disappointment. Trust in God and you’re setting yourself up for a miracle. It’s not how big your prayer is, it’s how big your God is. That’s why we need to remind ourselves just how big he is when we pray. We need to magnify him. Like David in Psalm 103 we need call to mind his many blessings: God forgives us. God heals us. God redeems us, crowns us and satisfies us with good things. He is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love.

Your choice: trust in your own efforts or trust in God. Jesus wants us to have a revelation of our loving Father when we pray. He doesn’t want us to identify with the persistent widow, but to have faith in a good and gracious God who cares for us and helps us in our weakness. Have no faith in your own efforts but receive the grace of God. In the second part of this two-part study, I want to look at the reason why Jesus told this parable.

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Reflections | Sunday, 13th Oct 2013

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Taken from:  http://www.josephprinceonline.com/2012/11/thank-your-way-to-greater-blessings-2/

And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God,

Luke 17:15

People who have a grateful heart are always praising God. You often hear them say, “God is good!” They know that God is the reason for every blessing they get.

But there are those who look to God for blessings and when they get blessed, they just go on their merry way. Their hearts are captivated by the blessings instead of the One who has blessed them.

Jesus had an encounter with both these types of people when He walked into a village one day. Ten lepers cried out to Him, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” (Luke 17:13) Now, when you call out to Jesus for mercy, He always hears you. On another occasion, when two blind men cried out to Him, “Son of David, have mercy on us!” He took the time to give them their miracles. (Matthew 9:27–30)

So these 10 lepers cried out to Him for mercy. He stopped, looked at them and said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And “as they went, they were cleansed”. (Luke 17:14) But only one came back and fell at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks. Notice the very sad words of Jesus that followed: “Were there not 10 cleansed? But where are the nine?” (Luke 17:17)

The other nine obviously knew that it was Jesus who had cleansed them. Yet, they did not bother to go back and thank Him. My friend, let it be said of you that when the blessings come, you remember to give God the praise, glory and honor, and acknowledge that He is the source of every blessing in your life.

Do you know that when the man came back to thank Jesus, he received the additional blessing of becoming whole? Jesus said to him, “Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.” (Luke 17:19, KJV) He was not just cleansed of leprosy, he got his missing fingers and toes back!

My friend, when your heart is thankful toward God, you position yourself for even greater blessings!

Thought For The Day:
When you praise God and give Him thanks for His blessings, you position yourself for even greater blessings!

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Krish Fernandez - Renewing the Mind - II

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Watch video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AE-nEe6gXo



Join Krish Fernandez (www.krishfernandez.com) as he teaches on the Renewal of the Mind at Global Fellowship of Christ Ministries, Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, India (http://globalfellowshipofchristministries.blogspot.in/)

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Reflections | Sunday, 6th October 2013

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“This one sentence, ‘The just shall live by his faith,’ produced the Reformation. This one seed, forgotten and hidden away in the dark medieval times, was brought out, dropped into the human heart, and made to grow by the Spirit of God so that it produced great results. The least bit of truth, thrown anywhere, will live!” –C.H. Spurgeon “Advice for Seekers” (Banner of Truth) p. 67

By Faith by Rev. Kenneth E. Hagin (Taken from: http://hopefaithprayer.com/word-of-faith/sermons-kenneth-hagin/by-faith-hagin/)

“The just shall live by faith” Romans 1:17

“The faith life is the most beautiful life in the world! It is the life God wants us to live, and the walk God wants us to walk” 2 Corinthians 5:7

Let both your words and your actions agree. If you talk faith, you must walk faith -you must act faith. Your actions and your words must agree that you are a believer. It won’t do any good to talk faith if you’re not going to act faith. And if it were somehow possible to act faith without talking faith, that wouldn’t do any good, either, because your words and your actions must agree.

Some people declare one minute, “I’m trusting God to meet my needs.” Then, with the next breath, they say, “Well, it looks like I’m going to lose my car. I can’t make the payments.” One minute it sounds like they’re talking faith, but in a few moments their actions prove otherwise.

Some even quote God’s Word, saying, “I know the Lord said in Philippians 4:19, ‘But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.’ And I’m trusting Him to meet our needs – but it looks like we’ll have to have the phone taken out. We can’t pay the bill.”

They mentally agreed to the truth of this scripture, but they didn’t act as if it were so.
Start acting like God’s Word is true.

Confession: I live by faith – faith in the Word of the Living God. I act like His Word is true.

Copyright © Kenneth Hagin Ministries

 

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