Have you ever wondered why your life takes certain twists and turns that are not good, and seem to contradict the Word of God? Are there things that happen to you that you just can, not explain?
I am frequently questioned along these lines: “Pastor Allen, I pray and try my best to believe, I pray in faith, I bind the evil one and yet, this negative thing or that happens to me. Why?”
Here is the answer in the form of two connected teachings from Jesus:
“Oh generation of vipers, (those who do not believe Jesus: who therefore, believe the evil one, who is THE serpent, viper, snake) how can you, being evil, (full of unbelief) speak good things? FOR OUT OF THE ABUNDANCE OF THE HEART THE MOUTH SPEAKS. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings forth (speaks) good things; an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.” (Matthew12: 34&35)
And: ” For verily, I say to you, that whosoever shall say to this mountain, be you removed and cast into the sea; and DOES NOT DOUBT IN HIS HEART, BUT BELIEVES THAT THOSE THINGS WHICH HE SAYS SHALL COME TO PASS; HE SHALL HAVE WHATSOEVER (good or bad) HE SAYS.”
What ever we accept into our minds, our hearts; becomes what Jesus refers to as treasure. Whether, it is a news report, a negative comment from a friend or colleague, something we read or hear, or even a passing thought, negative or positive, the thought becomes a good or bad treasure.
Then, from the overflow of our hearts or minds, we speak. This is an irrefutable fact. What is in our hearts will come out. Think about this. If you believe the economy is horrible, you will say it. If you believe you are going broke, you will say it. If you believe you are sick you will say it. If you believe that your children are lost causes you will say it. If you are afraid of something, you will say it. AND, what you say without doubt will come to pass.
That is why our confessions are so very important. If we say something that we don’t really believe with frequency, we will come to believe it without doubt. So, what comes out of our mouths is vitally important.
What is your confession? What are the words that issue from your mouth? All of them have heavenly and earthly consequences. I believe that the most important things we speak or confess; are about God; our self and others. Consider this instructional promise from Jesus:
“Who ever shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But, whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.”
(Matthew10:29)
God desires an intimate relationship with each of us. He is in every sub-cellular particle of our bodies. Our bodies are actually hundreds of billions of cells swirling around in a mass around a form that we have come to recognize as ourselves. Each one of those cells has a nucleus that contains infinite subatomic matter. God is in all of them. What He seeks from us is acknowledgement, praise, trust, faith and respect. God wants us to treat Him as if we could see Him. He wants us to make Him the center of our lives. He wants us to love and cherish Him as He loves and cherishes us.
Do you know that all God wants is, us? We constantly present our list of requests to God and He wants us to, but do we ever think of what He wants? God has given us great and precious promises of our inheritance both in this world and in the world to come. But we are His inheritance.
Here is how Paul our teacher stated it: ” Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love to all the saints, Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints (us).
(Ephesians 1:15-18)
Paul is stating the obvious, that it is glorious that God has made us His inheritance, by the blood of Jesus.
So, if God calls us His inheritance, what do we call Him? He wants to know. Pay attention to this exchange between Jesus and His disciples and us:
” When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, He asked his disciples, ” Who do men say that I the Son of man am? And Simon Peter answered and said, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
“And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you Simon Bar Jonah: for flesh and blood has not revealed it to you, but my Father, which is in heaven. And I say to you, that you are Peter (from the Greek word petros, or piece of a rock, pebble) and on this (Jesus) rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
(Matthew 16:13-19)
Clearly it was important to Jesus that the people closest to Him knew who He was, and that they confessed Him. Jesus blessed Peter just for declaring His deity. It is urgently important what we say about God.
What do you say about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit in your private conversations? What is your confession? You just read Peter’s confession.
Here are some of Jesus’ confessions about Himself:
The woman (at the well) said to Him, I know that the Messiah is coming, which is also called Christ; when He comes, he will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, “I that speak to you am He.”
(John 4:25&26)
Jesus declared His deity. He clearly states that he is the Messiah, the I Am.
“I am the bread of life; he that comes to me shall never hunger; and he that believes on me shall never thirst. This is that bread that came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eats of this bread shall live for ever.”
(John 6:35 and 58)
In this declarative statement, Jesus reports that the ten, commandments, and the old covenant produced death because; no man could fulfill them. Jesus teaches us here that He is the new covenant and His Words are spirit and life.
” If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink, He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”
(John 7:37&38)
Jesus here declared that He is the living water and that if we believe in him, we will produce Godly blessings from our hearts.
“I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have light of life.”
(John 8:12)
Jesus is the light. When we need direction, we trust in Him and He shows us the way.
Following is my favorite declaration of Jesus. It is long, but so peace filled and enjoyable. He declares His relationship with us as His sheep. Please read:
“Verily, verily, I say to you, he that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber (satan, the evil one, the father of all lies). But He that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.”
(Jesus)
“To Him, the porter opens; and the sheep hear His voice: and He calls His own sheep by name, and leads them out.”
How cool is that? He knows us and calls us by name!
“And when He puts forth His own sheep, He goes before them, and the sheep follow Him for they know His voice.”
How cool is that? When we make Jesus our Shepherd, He goes in front of us and makes the way. He is also referring to His being the first born among the brothers (and sisters).
“And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.”
When we are tuned into Jesus, we recognize His voice. We know by the scriptures and by His voice where Jesus is guiding us. If we listen to Him, we will not listen to the voice of the evil one.
“Verily, verily, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.”
Jesus is our door to heaven and to access with God.
” I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
By Jesus we are not only saved, but are pastured. To a sheep, pastures are money. Pastures are sustenance to sheep. So we are blessed and nurtured by Jesus also.
Here comes my favorite part of this teaching. Jesus clearly defines the rolls of God and the evil one:
“The thief (satan) comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy; (This is an URGENT teaching! If something or someone dies prematurely, or is stolen from, or if something is destroyed; it is the evil one not Jesus who is to blame.) I am come that they (us) might have life, and have it more abundantly.”
Have you or some one you know ever said: “I don’t know what God wants for me?” There is your answer. The will of God is that we have life and have it in abundance.
(John 10:1-10)
“I am the GOOD shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for his sheep. I am the good shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine. My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me. And I give to them eternal life; and they shall never perish; neither shall any pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and nothing shall pluck them out of my Father’s hand.”
(John 10:14&27-29)
Jesus declares in the preceding scriptures that once we have accepted Him as our Lord, no one or thing can take us from Him.
Jesus declares clearly who He was, is and ever shall be, in the following verse:
” I and the Father are one.”
(John 10:30)
Jesus was God come to the earth in the flesh.
” I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
(John 11:25&26)
This declaration by Jesus is our promise of resurrection and life.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me.
(John 14:6)
If anyone asks you if Jesus is the only way to God, this is your answer. There is one other way. You can go to heaven without having Jesus for your savior if you never commit any sin no matter how small, in thought or in deed. Good luck.
” I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bring forth more fruit. NOW you are clean through the WORD which I have spoken to you.”
(John 15:1-3)
Jesus brings us to salvation and God continually grows us. But, in the eyes of God we are clean and pure, through the Gospel of Jesus.
Here is a review of what Jesus said of Himself:
“I am the bread of life”
“I am the living water”
“I am the light of the world”
“I am the I AM”
“I am the door to salvation”
“I am the GOOD Shepherd”
“I and the Father are one.”
“I am the resurrection and the life”
“I am the way, the truth and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me.”
“I am the true vine.”
These are the things that Jesus confessed of Himself. What is your confession?
Here is an outstanding confession from David. It is not our confession. It is not a funeral poem. It is how the greatest praise person of all time confessed about God We can borrow it. But what God wants is our confession:
“The Lord is my shepherd; I SHALL NOT WANT.
He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters.
He restores my soul: He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name?s sake.
Yes, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for, You are with me; Your rod and Your staff they comfort me.
You prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies: YOU anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.
Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
(Psalm 23)
Pretty powerful for an old covenant Jew who did not know Jesus!
Here is Pastor Allen’s confession:
“Jesus is my Lord, Savior, Master and King. I love Him more than anything else, because He loves me more than anything else.
Jesus will never leave me or forsake me. He is always with me, in me and beside me. I do not walk in fear because He gave me His courage. I walk in the fullness of faith because He gave me His faith. I have abundant life because He came to give it to me.
I am infinitely prosperous because I am a joint heir with Jesus. My enemies are powerless over me because Jesus is greater than they are.
Even in hard times, I will be of good cheer because Jesus has overcome the tribulations of this world. Jesus was tempted with every problem or sin or illness that the evil one will try to put on me, yet He: Jesus overcame them all, and He is in me.
Sickness has no right to come near me because Jesus bore my infirmities on the cross.
I am holy and blameless before God because Jesus bore my sins in His body on the tree, that I being dead to sin might live unto righteousness by whose stripes I have been healed and reconciled to God and to man.
I am a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation; a peculiar people so that I can show forth the praises of Him who has called me out of darkness into His marvelous light.
I walk in the light because Jesus is the light and He always shows me the path of righteousness. I choose to live as Jesus taught me: in this present moment, with joyful expectation of the things that I cannot see.
I am filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit guides me into all truth and shows me the things to come. My heart and eyes can not see the things that God has prepared for me because I love Him, but He has revealed them to me by The Holy Spirit.
I have been given all things that pertain to life and Godliness. I am blessed in heavenly places with all spiritual blessings. God has chosen me in Him before the foundations of the world.
I have been saved by Grace; through faith and that is not of myself it is a gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast. I am found not guilty by faith and it is by faith that I enter in to the state of Grace in which I now stand.
I am a new creation in Christ Jesus all things old have passed away, all things are new and of God. I have the mind of Jesus, which is my inheritance.
I have a more sure word of prophecy that I will heed like a bright star shining in a dark room: until the day dawns, and the day star rises in my heart.
For all of these reasons and countless more, I will praise and love my God the Father, Jesus my Lord and the Holy Spirit for all of eternity. Amen”
That is my confession. I would love to read yours.
I pray that this teaching has blessed you. If you have been blessed please pass it to another who will also be blessed.
Pastor Allen
Write me at our website: www.throneofgraceministries.com or at our P.O.BOX 669153 Marietta Georgia 30067
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