Jehovah-TSIDKENU, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS

God tells us that my people perish or are destroyed for lack of knowledge, because they have rejected knowledge (Hosea 4:6). Again Jesus tells us that you will know the truth and the truth will make you free (John 8:32). Many times believers tolerate such rubbish in their life, they embrace junk and do not want to let go of things, they think that God wants them to stay where they are. The truth is, there are many things that have been ransomed in full by the blood of Jesus for us. The enemy’s plan is to keep believers from knowing the truth. If one does not know what is his or hers, he or she ends up working for them, or trying to buy them when it has already been paid in full by the blood of Jesus.

And when believers receive the knowledge of what has been ransomed in full it is up to them to believe that truth and embrace that revelation, in order for them to have the manifestation of that truth. But unfortunately some believers reject the knowledge; they say: it is too good to be true! The enemy whispers in their ears the same words he said to Eve: has God really said…? (Genesis 3:1) The enemy has not changed his plan, he is banking on two facts: first that we will never have the knowledge of the truth, second if we get the knowledge of the truth we will reject it by questioning if God really meant what He said to us.

We will be doing a series on the perfect redemption plan of God for every believer whether they know it or not, it has been ransomed in full. Whether they embrace it or reject it; it is their own responsibility. God provided it for every believer, and even for unbelievers if they come to Christ they will enjoy these redemptive blessings. I decided to call it the perfect redemption plan of God, because it is complete and there is nothing to add to it. No amount of prayers, fasts, singings, penances, pilgrimages to “holy lands” can add anything to that full ransom Jesus paid when He died on that cross at Calvary. And furthermore, if Jesus were to come back and do it again, He would add nothing to it, it is complete and forever will be complete.

The redemptive plan of God started from the Old Testament and God used seven redemptive names to reveal to the people of Israel His perfect redemption plan. For the number seven is the number of perfection and also the number of rest. Once we know and embrace these seven redemptive names of God, and what they mean for us, we will be able to enter into the rest of our Lord Jesus and be like God: cease from our works like He ceased from His work on the seventh day. For the bible records: on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done (Genesis 2:2). Jesus, when He hanged on that cross 2000 years ago said: it is finished (John 19:30). Embrace these redemptive truths, and you will enter into your rest which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

There are, as we have already said, seven redemptive names of God, by which God decided to show people in the Old Testament what Jesus would accomplish for us by His death on the cross. We have: Jehovah-TSIDKENU, Jehovah-SHALOM, Jehovah-RAAH, Jehovah-RAPHA, Jehovah-JIREH, Jehovah-SHAMMAH and Jehovah-NISSI. My prayer is that at the end of this series, you and I will have the full revelation of the perfect salvation plan of God, and you and I will embrace it, and then have the manifestations in our respective lives, in Jesus’ name! I rebuke in the name of Jesus any voice of the devil trying to deceive us by telling us: “has God really said…?” I command that voice of the devil to get behind you!

I command in the name of Jesus that the blood of Jesus be applied to our ears (Leviticus 8:23); so that our ears will no longer be uncircumcised (Jeremiah 6:10), but circumcised to hear the word of God. I command in the name of Jesus that every scale, of man-made religion, self-imposed religion, tradition of men that makes the word of God of no effect, false humility, bigotry like the scales that blinded Saul (Acts 9:18) fall off from our eyes right now, that we may receive our spiritual sight and see Jesus, and look at the perfect plan of redemption that He bought for us with His own blood. I command the veil, that lies on our heart when we read the bible, to be torn in two; so that our mind is no longer blinded and we will be able to have the revelation of the word of God, as we read this series of the Perfect Redemption Plan (2Corinthians 3:13-14).

I, Gery, pray that the communication of your faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus (Philemon 1:6). That grace and peace will be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power, has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory virtue and power (2Peter 1:2-3). All things have already been freely given to you by the death, burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus.

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give unto 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, And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Ephesians 1:17-23).

That the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:14-19).

As we go through this series of the Perfect redemption plan, and the Application of the perfect redemption plan, I want you to purpose in your heart that whatever is written in them and that is available for every born again believer, must be accomplished in you. Jesus said: what is written must still be accomplished or fulfilled in Me (Luke 22:37). He made sure that it was so even when He was crucified. After this, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, I thirst. Then a vessel full of vinegar was set. And they filled a sponge with sour wine and put it upon hyssop, and put it to His mouth. Then when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, It is finished! And He bowed His head and gave up the spirit (John 19:28-30). My prayer is that the Lord Jesus will open our mind and spirit to understand the scriptures (Luke 24:32).

1. Jehovah-TSIDKENU, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS

Jeremiah 23:5 Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

Jeremiah 23:6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

The writer of Hebrews tells us: God, who at sundry times (in many portions, in many fragments, many pieces) and in divers manners (in many ways, in many methods, in many forms, in many styles, in various deportments, in various characters) spoke in time past unto the fathers by the prophets (Hebrews 1:1). Prophets of olden days were used by God to point people to Christ and to His seven redemptive names and blessings they contain. They did it in their own styles, for each one of them was unique, and they all only have a portion of the truth but not the full truth. Sometimes their methods were not straight forward, they used many figures of speech, and they used symbolism and analogies which sometimes we do not have the full revelation of what they meant, because they were mysteries or hidden truths. They had their own characters that did not necessarily reflect the true heart of God.

The writer of Hebrews tells us: God has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds (Hebrews 1:2). So Jesus has come to show us the full perfect redemptive plan of God, to show us the complete redemption plan of God, to show us what God really meant when He revealed in part to different prophets His redemptive names. The prophets only saw the shadows and they did their very best to try to depict the body based on the shadows. When one sees a shadow of what looks like a feline he cannot really say the size of the feline or what feline it is, or how big it is; but when he sees that feline face to face he realizes it is not a cat, not a leopard but The Lion of the tribe of Judah. Hence the prophets saw shadows, but the body or the substance is of Christ (Colossians 2:17).

The prophet Jeremiah had a revelation from the Lord, that the Lord would establish a new covenant with His people. God revealed to Jeremiah one aspect of his redemptive plan and one of His redemptive names: Jehovah-TSIDKENU, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Jeremiah saw our days, when Jesus, who is the Righteous Branch that God raised to David, will come and fulfil all the scriptures and become our righteousness. But the question is: what is the big deal about that righteousness? Why do I need righteousness?

I-1 God’s dream of having a family

I-1-A) The Creation and fall of Satan

Once upon a time God created the worlds by His Word (Hebrews 11:3). God created all the hosts of heaven, and a beautiful Garden of the Lord. All those hosts of heaven were to serve God, worship Him and praise Him and Him alone. God appointed one of the anointed cherubs over the worship. The name of that anointed cherub was Lucifer. The Lord established Lucifer, the Lord put him on the holy mountain of God, and he walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones (Ezekiel 28:14). The Lord made Lucifer perfect in his ways from the day he was created, till iniquity was found in him (Ezekiel 28:15).

Lucifer forgot that it was God who created him, that he is a created being. But his heart was lifted up (pride entered his heart) because of his beauty. He corrupted the wisdom God gave him for the sake of his splendour. But the Lord cast him to the ground (evicted him from heaven) (Ezekiel 28:17). Lucifer’s fall came when he decided to set his heart like the heart of God (Ezekiel 28:6). He thought because he was the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect beauty, that he could also be God (Ezekiel 28:12). God was the one who placed Lucifer in Eden, the Garden of God; God adorned him with every precious stone: sardius, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise and emerald with gold. God prepared the workmanship of timbrels and pipes for Lucifer the day He created him (Ezekiel 28:13).

Yet Lucifer could not give the glory to God his creator; but instead wanted to become a god himself and have people worship and serve him. Therefore he said in his heart: “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation, on the farthest side of the north.” I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14). The Lord said to him: you fool! You think you will dethrone Me? Yet you will be brought down to hell (Sheol), to the lowest depths of the pit (Isaiah 14:15). The Lord told Lucifer I will deal with you and you will regret having rebelled against Me. When I have finished dealing with you, those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you, saying: “is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world as wilderness and destroyed its cities, who did not open the house of his prisoners (Isaiah 14:16-17)?”

The people will laugh at you, saying:” how you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! (Isaiah 14:12)”. The devil in his rebellion against God, led with him one third of the angels of heaven who are now called demons. As it is written: behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads! And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them onto the earth (Revelation 12:3-4). The star represents a messenger even an angel (Revelation 1:20). But still two thirds of the angels did not follow Satan, the red dragon in his rebellion, but fought alongside the Archangel Michael to defeat Satan.

As it is written: And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought with the dragon (who is Lucifer also known as Satan and the devil); and the dragon and his angels (demons) fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the Devil and Satan, who deceived the world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels (demons) were cast out with him (Revelation 12:7-9). Devil is from the Greek word diabolos which means: false accuser, slanderer, and devil. Satan is from the Hebrew word śaṭan which means: an opponent, the arch enemy of good, adversary, and Satan.

I-1-B) God starts His family

Hell was created for Satan and the angels (demons) who were cast out of heaven with him. It was never meant for anyone else but them. God had a thought in His heart to create a new species of being that had never existed before. He had all those heavenly hosts to serve Him, worship Him, praise Him; but He wanted a new species of being that will be in His image and after His likeness. So He said let Us [God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Ghost] make MAN (mankind) in Our image, according to Our own likeness (Genesis 1:26). The angels were all amazed at this new thought of God. They knew about the cherubim, the seraphim, the four living creatures, but MAN (Mankind)!

So God decided to create everything His new species of being would need for their entire life. He started the creation (Genesis 1). For six days God created everything that mankind will ever need, and God saw it was good (Genesis 1:25). Then God decided to start reproducing Himself; all the other heavenly hosts are not made in the image of God or in His likeness. So God said Let US (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit) make MAN (Mankind) in Our image, according to Our likeness (Genesis 1:26). God formed first of all Adam the man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living being (Genesis 2:7).

The Lord planted a Garden eastward in Eden, and He put the man (Adam) whom He had formed (Genesis 2:8). Adam was so happy and God was happy that He had reproduced Himself. He had created a living being, who is Spirit (having the Spirit of God), who has a soul (the seat of the intellect and the emotions) and lives in a body made of dust. God was so delighted in His new creation that He asked Adam to be partner with Him, all that God had was Adam’s, and Adam was God’s. So God said to Adam, whom He had put into the Garden of Eden: tend and keep it, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat (Genesis 2:15-16). Adam received everything freely from God. I say freely!

God does not want anybody to serve Him or to be a member of His family out of compulsion, but because they have freely chosen to do so out of love. Satan and his demons who rebelled against God were cast out of heaven, and the angels who are in heaven with God chose to be forever on God’s side, they could have chosen to rebel too; but they chose loyalty to God forever! God does not make robots He made us with our freewill: we choose to serve Him, to worship and praise Him, to be members of His household; because we love Him. There is no love without a choice; love is an action word not a passive word. God created the entire universe and the earth just for mankind. He could have chosen cherubim or seraphim or archangels or the four living creatures to be His sons and daughters, to be made in His image and according to His likeness; but He chose us, human beings.

God chose to create a new species that will be in the God-class. Who are sons and daughters of God, sons and daughters of the Most High God. Adam was the son of God (Luke 3:38), for God had breathed His Holy Spirit into Adam. God brought all the beasts of the field and the fowl of the air to Adam and asked him to name them, and whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name (Genesis 2:19). The opinion of Adam mattered a lot to God since everything that God had created was for Mankind and mankind for God. And God said: I want to have many children who are made in my image and according to My likeness, as long as Adam is on his own, he cannot reproduce himself, I know he has Us in the Godhead; but he needs to be relating with people like him also, not just animals and trees!

The Lord said it is not good that man (Adam) should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him (Genesis 2: 18). My friend, a dog or any other pet won’t just do it. We need people around us. Adam could be showing his love to animals, like today many people will spend a fortune on pets, but won’t give a dime to a blind man. People talk all day long to their pets but cannot even greet their next door neighbour. Adam soon realized that there was not a helper comparable to him among all those animals that he had just named (Genesis 2:20). We need to relate to people more than with animals, we need to love people more than we love pets, and we need to feed people more than we feed pets. God is a people’s God.

So God put Adam in a deep sleep and He took one of the ribs, and closed up the flesh in the place. Then the rib which He had taken from Adam, God made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: this is now the bone of my bones and the flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman (Ishshah), because she was taken out of Man (Ish) (Genesis 2:21-23). She is not called a woman because she has a womb, no, but because she has been taken out of Man. The womb in Hebrew is the word beten which means: wombs, belly; we find it in Genesis 25:23 And the LORD said unto her, two nations are in your womb… Let us not put words in God’s mouth that He did not say!

We all know that a woman has a womb to be able to conceive babies; but God does not just see women as carriers of babies. The revelation that Adam had through the Holy Spirit was that she will be called woman (Ishshah) because she was taken out of Man (Ish), not she will be called woman because she has a womb (Beten). Ishshah is the feminine of Ish. The real man created in the image of God and according to the likeness of God is the Spiritual man (Ish). God put that spiritual man in the body of clay and He named him Adam which means mankind. The woman was not taken out of Adam but out of ish. God gave the same Spirit that He put in the man (Adam) in the woman. And God said: let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created Mankind in His own image; in the image of God He created mankind; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:26-27).

God was so proud of His family. He would take care of them and visit them. He enjoyed their company. He enjoyed His time of fellowship and communion with them. The angels could not understand what was so special about that new species they asked themselves: what is man (Mankind) that You are mindful of him? And the son of man that You visit him (Psalm 8:4)? But there was someone who hated with passion this new creation of God, it was Satan. Not only had he been kicked out of heaven, he who thought to ascend and become like a god; but God had created a new species which is in the God-class, who ranks higher than all the angels, who are sons and daughters of the Most High God. He could not stand it. He said to himself: I will destroy the dream of God, I will cause His sons and daughters to rebel against Him like I did, I am not going to hell on my own, I will bring some of God’s children with me, I will crash God’s dream.

I-1-C) Satan’s deception/the fall of mankind

God fully trusted mankind; He put them in charge of everything that was His. The man and the woman both had dominion over all the works of God’s hand. But God told Adam: of all the trees you may eat; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die (Genesis 2:17). There were two trees in the garden: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:9). Satan, in the form of a serpent, came to the man and the woman, and started to dialogue with the woman. Many believers enjoy dialoguing with the devil instead of using their God given authority and rebuke him and cast him out. Adam and the woman did not use their God given authority and dominion to put the devil where he belonged: under their feet!

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed or really said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden (Genesis 3:1)?” The woman started to dialogue with the serpent and the serpent persuaded her: “you shall not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:4-5)”. This is the problem of many believers, they do not know who they are in Christ; or the truth that God’s people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. They bought into Satan’s deception that they will be like God, but they were already made in the image and according to the likeness of God. They did not know who they were in Christ. God did not want to hide anything from them, He told them what was good and what was evil, He told them that tree is bad for you, if you eat of it you will die!

What more knowledge of good and evil do people want to have? It is as if I say to a person, water is good for your skin: it cleans it; but fire will burn your skin. Why should people be burned before they believe that I was not telling lies concerning how bad fire is for their skin? In truth God’s people are destroyed because they have rejected knowledge. Adam and the woman knew what God said to them concerning that tree that it was bad. But they rejected that knowledge. They saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eye and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her and he ate (Genesis 3:6). Adam was with her and consented in the matter.

Before they had realized it, they had fallen from their spiritual status. They who once were in the God-class and ranked higher than all the angels of God; found themselves becoming mere human, ranking spiritually lower than the angels, even lower than Satan and his demons. They realized that they had been deceived by Satan. Since they now ranked spiritually lower than Satan and his demons; Satan could boss them around, oppress them and snatch what was delivered into their hands by God. They, having been overcome by Satan, were now slaves of his; for of whom a man or a woman is overcome, of the same he is brought under bondage (2Peter 2:19). They became prisoners and slaves of Satan, and we know that Satan does not open the door of his prisoners (Isaiah 14:16-17).

God’s heart was broken, and He came in the cool of the day to commune with Adam and the woman. God is omniscient, He knows all things. God knew they had sinned against Him, but He wanted them to take ownership of their sins, and not blame others for their mistake. So He called to Adam and said to him: where are you (Genesis 3:8-9)? But Adam said I heard Your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself (Genesis 3:10). We know the rest of the story: The woman blamed the serpent, Adam blamed the woman whom God had given him. But the deception of Satan and the fall of mankind did not take God off guard; the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). So God slew an animal and removed the leaves Adam and the woman used to cover their naked bodies, and clothed them with the skins of animals (Genesis 3:21).

God had magnified His word above all His name (Psalm 138:2). He abides by His word and no matter how it displeases Him to see us being separated from Him, He cannot break His own word; the scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35). The soul that sins, it shall die (Ezekiel 18:20). Isaiah says by the Spirit: your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear you (Isaiah 59:2). Satan knew that the day iniquity was found in Mankind, God would have no other choice but to separate from man, even to kick them out of His presence. Satan knew it, since he was kicked out of heaven when iniquity was found in him. He caused Mankind to rebel against God so that iniquity will separate them from God. Their iniquity was to think like Satan that they will be gods.

He knew that as they sin they will have to die, and it will put an end to the dream of God of having His family. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Their sin was to partake of the fruit of the forbidden tree. Satan was thinking that God will just kill all of them, but he did know that God had slain the lamb from the foundation of the world, and the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, the Lamb of God. Adam and the woman died spiritually, separation from God is spiritual death. God expelled Adam and the woman from His garden and put a cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life (Genesis 3:24). For the next move of Satan would have been to deceive mankind again to eat of the tree of life and be forever in a fallen state, without any hope of redemption like Satan and all his demons.

Satan is truly a deceiver as we have seen; yet sometimes we deceive ourselves and Satan is not to be blamed for that. People may ask: how can we, born again Christians, deceive ourselves? James tells us: be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourself; For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass or mirror: For he beholds himself, and goes his way, and straightway forgets what manner of man he was. But whosoever looks into the perfect law of liberty, and continues therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridles not his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world (James 1:22-27).

God says to us: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you shall be no priest to Me: seeing you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children (Hosea 4:6). So unsaved people are destroyed and go to hell because they have not received the knowledge of Christ, and those who receive the knowledge of Christ being the Saviour of the world, refuse to make Jesus their personal Lord and Saviour. Yet some Christians deceive themselves, for though they have confessed Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour, they do not practice righteousness. Such were some of the Christians of Corinth, they deceived themselves. They were attending church services, speaking in tongues, they prophesied, they had all the manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit; but they were not practicing righteousness!

Paul told them, and today tells every born again Christian that is deceiving himself or herself, saying: Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor abusers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God (1Corinthians 6:9-10). Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourself. Please read the bible studies on “Come Home” and “David’s Sexual Sin Exposed”. David, the man after God’s own heart, after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered Uriah. Was deceiving himself that everything was still well with him! So God sent Nathan the Prophet to come and expose his sins (2Samuel 12).

David repented of His sins and was restored back to the fellowship with God. In repenting of his sins David prayed, saying: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit (Psalm 51:10-12). If you are practicing the sins leading to death listed by Paul in 1Corinthians 6:9-10, I pray that you will not continue in your deception; but you will repent like David and so that God will restore to you the joy of your salvation; so that He will heal your backsliding and love you freely (Hosea 14:4).

The question is: does God cast away some born again Christians? The answer is no! Jesus says: Come to Me all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28); All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will in no way cast out (John 6:37). So the invitation is to the entire world to come to Jesus and when we come to Him He will in no wise cast us out! So on the part of God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Ghost they will never cast us away from their presence and They will never cast us out of the Kingdom of God. Yet we can cast ourselves out from the kingdom of God and we can choose to walk away from the Father’s house. In Luke 15, the parable of the prodigal son and the elder son of the Father, the Father, in our case God, never cast out any of His sons. He divided equally His inheritance between his two sons, the younger son decided to sell his inheritance, and leave the Father’s house and go and live like the world.

The younger son cast himself out of the house of the Father. The truth is, while he was backsliding he was lost and dead spiritually to the Kingdom of God, and he was going to hell with the unsaved people that he joined himself to. He might have deceived himself by saying: to all the unsaved people: I am the son of the Most High God, but as far as the Father, even the Most High God was concerned that backsliding prodigal son was lost to the kingdom and dead spiritually, he would suffer the same torment in hell with the unrighteous. Jesus says: behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to each according as his work is. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last. Blessed are they who do His commandments, that their authority will be over the Tree of Life, and they may enter in by the gates into the city. But outside are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and makes a lie (Revelation 22:12-15). So if you are practicing the sins leading to death you will be outside the kingdom of God, you will not inherit it!

The prodigal son repented in Luke 15 and walked back home, the Father was waiting for him all along to come back home so that he will heal his backsliding and love him freely because wrath has been turned away when He poured it out on Christ Jesus on the cross (Hosea 14:4). What I say to everybody who reads these bible studies, I first say it to myself. David repented of his murder and adultery; the prodigal son repented of his backsliding and purposed not to continue in them. I, Gery, also repented of my sins and purposed not to continue in them. My prayer is that no one who reads these My Weekly Milk letters, will deceive himself, by being a hearer only and not a doer of the word of God.

God is calling all sinners to come home and all run away sons and daughters to come home. He did not cast anybody out of His home. Even Jonah thought he could run away from the presence of God, when they cast him into the sea, God had prepared a big fish to swallow him. And David himself understood that he could not run away from the presence of God. He said: Where shall I go from Your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from Your presence? If I go up into Heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the furthest parts of the sea; even there shall Your hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light around me. Yea, the darkness does not hide from You; but the night shines as the day; as is the darkness, so is the light to You (Psalm 139:7-12).

God is so good that He stays with us even when we walk away from Him, He keeps convicting us to return to Him, but if we do not we will die in our sins and go to hell. Nobody will be kidnapped into heaven, even backsliding sons and daughters will not be kidnapped into heaven, you need to willingly repent of your sins and make the Lord Jesus your personal Saviour and purpose in your heart not to go back to your vomit like a dog, or go back to her wallowing in the mire like the sow does after she has been washed (2Peter 2:22);

Self deception does not just apply in the area of sins, but in all the revelations of the word of God that we have received. If you say I believe in prosperity then you ought to be a doer of God’s principle of prosperity, otherwise you are deceiving yourself. If you say you believe in divine healing, then you ought to practice divine healing, otherwise you are deceiving yourself; it is not enough to say, my church or my pastor believes in it, if you as an individual are not doing it, it means that you are deceiving yourself. Everything that we will see in our letters of “My Weekly Milk”, especially in this series of Perfect Redemption Plan and the Application of the Perfect Redemption Plan, if we as individuals are not doers of them we are deceiving ourselves.

James tells us also the other area where Christians deceive themselves with their tongue, saying: If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridles not his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is vain (James 1:26). Please read the bible study on “The Power of Confession”. Christians must train their tongue to only say what they mean and only mean what they say; more than that they must train their tongue to only speak what the written word of God says about the situation they are going through. So let us see again what James says: Be doers of the word not hearers only deceiving yourselves and also if you do not bridle your tongue you will deceive your own heart (James 1:22; 26).

With your tongue you will need to start confessing who you are in Christ Jesus and what you can do through Christ Jesus, so that your heart will believe it, and on top of it you will have to become a doer of what you are confessing or professing otherwise your heart will be deceived. Job said: teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred (Job 6:24). Some Christians cannot bridle their tongue or hold their tongue! They do not understand that death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof (Proverbs 18:21). And Jesus tells us: It is the spirit that quickens or makes alive; the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. But there are some of you who do not believe (John 6:63-64).

Some people do not believe that their words have creative power; they have power to give life or power to give death. They think that their words are mere words! Therefore they spend their day talking negative about themselves, negative about their health, negative about their future, negative about their marriage, negative about everything and everybody! They ought to hold their tongue! All those spoken sentences like: my feet are killing me, my back is killing me, I am dying to meet him, I am tickled to death, I am going through hell, etc. All the time, people use the name of the Lord God or Jesus in vain or to curse. In Mark 11, Jesus spoke a negative word to that fig tree. The purpose of a fig tree is to produce figs. Jesus said to that fig tree: No one shall eat fruit of you forever. And His disciples heard (Mark 11:14).

Jesus did not say explicitly to the fig tree: I curse you, dry up from the roots! Yet the fig tree and the disciples understood what was meant spiritually when Jesus said: No one shall eat fruit of you forever. When evening came, He went out of the city. And passing on early, they saw the fig-tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him, Rabbi, behold, the fig tree which You cursed has withered away (Mark 11:19-21). Even today botanists have done that experiment where they took the same kind of plants and put them in the same soil, watered them equally; but the difference was on some plants of the same kind they spoke nice words and life, but of other plants of the same kind, they spoke harsh words and death. The plants that received the nicest words became very fruitful the ones that received the harshest words withered away quickly.

You have dominion over the works of God’s hand (Psalm 8:6, Genesis 1:26). Things happen whenever you open your mouth to speak, your words are not mere sounds or winds, they are spirit and life and it is the spirit that makes alive, so if you speak negative they will actually curse and if you speak positive they are actually blessings. The closer your walk with Christ becomes, the more careful you ought to be of what comes out of your mouth, because they will come to pass. The bible says of Samuel: Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground (1Samuel 3:19). You need to watch what comes out of your mouth, hold your tongue, and bridle your tongue!

Elisha went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, you bald head; go up, you bald head. And Elisha turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them (2Kings 2:23-24). Now was it God that sent the bears to kill those children? The answer is no and no again, though Elisha cursed those children in the name of the Lord! The devil took the word of the mouth of Elisha and entered those two bears to kill those children. Elisha cursed those children based on his emotions, because he was hurt in his ego when the children made fun of his bald head! So even when our children are misbehaving we should be very careful not to speak curses into their lives, for the devil will use the word of our mouth to do harm to them.

Some Christian parents when their child starts to fornicate or go to nightclubs, are rightfully angry because they trained their children in the way of the LORD; but they misdirect their anger. Instead of directing their anger to the devil who is troubling their child, by binding him and casting him out and praying to God that the Holy Spirit convict the child of sin so that he will repent, some parents in frustration that their prayers are not answered quickly start praying, God cause that child to break a leg in a car accident as he comes out of the night club or to catch a STD so that he will run back to God. You will not imagine the kind of prayers some angry and frustrated parents pray for their backsliding children! Though they prayed in the name of the Lord, it was not God who answered that prayer but the devil, who comes but to steal, kill and destroy; Jesus and God came so that we might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10).

So all the testimonies you hear in some churches, where people come and say they were in the world and “god” had caused them to have an accident or a sickness to turn them back to god, those testimonies are not accurate. God was not the one who caused them to have the accident or gave them the sickness, the devil did; and on their sickbed they came back to their senses like the prodigal son in Luke 15 came back to his senses when he was broke financially. Let us not pronounce curses over the lives of people because of our anger or our personal ego that was hurt. Peter tells us: Finally, let us all be of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous; not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that we are thereunto called, that we should inherit a blessing. For he who will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile (1Peter 3:8-10).

Even if those children who mocked the baldness of Elisha did evil, Elisha should not have repaid them evil for evil, by cursing them. Elijah also made the mistake of cursing people because he was angry at them. The king sent unto Elijah, a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of a hill. And he spoke unto him, you man of God, the king has said, Come down. And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume you and your fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty (2Kings 1:9-10). Elijah had a problem with King Ahaziah who consulted the foreign gods in his sickness instead of inquiring of the Lord God. The captain of the fifty and his fifty were just doing their job, obeying orders. Elijah called down fire from heaven to consume the people twice. The third time God stopped him and spoke to him saying: the Angel of the LORD said unto Elijah, Go down with him: be not afraid of him. And he arose, and went down with him unto the king (2Kings 1:15).

The Angel of the Lord or the Angel of the presence of the Lord is the pre-incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Isaiah 63:8-9. So Jesus stopped Elijah from calling down the fire upon the third captain of the fifty and his fifty. Elijah was afraid for his life; he did not want the king and his soldiers to kill him. So he said within himself, if I kill them one by one, none of them will be left to arrest me or kill me. The reason why some Christians pray for their enemy to die, is because they are afraid of their enemy, they believe in their heart that if their enemy is more powerful than them, so if they do not kill their enemy first, that enemy will kill them or will hinder their progress in life.

Jesus had to explain to his disciples that what Elijah did by calling down fire from heaven to consume the captain of fifty and his fifty twice was not from the Spirit of the Lord, but from fear which is from the devil. As it is written: it came to pass, when the time was come that Jesus should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, And sent messengers before His face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for Him. And they did not receive him, because His face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, do you want that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elijah did? But Jesus turned, and rebuked them, and said, You know not what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village (Luke 9:51-56).

The Samaritans, just like King Ahaziah were worshipping the Lord God and foreign gods. So no matter how it displeased Jesus, that those Samaritans added foreign gods which are but demons to their worship

of the Most High God, He did not call down fire from heaven on them. He offered them the gospel of their salvation, but they did not receive Him and His gospel; yet he was not offended or hurt in his personal ego; for it was not Jesus that they rejected but it was God that they rejected. God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power love and sound mind (2Timothy 1:7). Fear is from the devil, faith is from God. You know not what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save. So Jesus also sends you not to go and destroy people’s life, but to save them! Even if they are idol worshippers and they reject your gospel, or mock you; you are not to call down fire on them or to curse them or their children. Go to the next village, next town, or next house like Jesus did when they did not receive Him.

God was in the fire that came down from heaven at Mount Carmel (1Kings18), but God was not in the fire that Elijah called down from heaven on the two captains and their fifties in 2Kings 1. We ought to learn the ways of God; we should not act on fear, nor on our anger. Elijah later learned the ways of God, so when the King of Syria sent an army to arrest him, he did not call down fire from heaven to consume them, nor did he curse them so that bears would devour them.

When they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the LORD, and said, smite this people, I pray, with blindness. And He smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria. And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them? And he answered, you shall not smite them: would you smite those whom you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master. And he prepared great provision for them: and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel (2Kings 8:18-23).

Elisha did what Jesus told us: You have heard that it has been said, you shall love your neighbour, and hate your enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; so that ye may be the children of your Father who is in heaven: for He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? do not even the publicans do the same? And if you salute your brethren only, what do you do more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be therefore perfect, even as your Father who is in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:43-48). The fact that God shows mercy to His enemy does not mean that He is weak or that we are weak, let us not despise the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leads us and people around us to repentance (Romans 2:4).

Elisha did not act on fear, for he knew that he outnumbered and out powered the army of the Syrians. When the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, a host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? And Elisha answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha (2Kings 6:15-17). When the captain of the fifty and their fifty came to Elijah; fear gripped his heart and he called down fire on them to consume them.

But when the army of Syria came to arrest Elisha, he did not fear because he could see the invisible real, and believed more the spiritual real than the physical realm. So he acted confidently and blinded all of them, instead of killing them, and led them to Samaria and showed goodness unto them. Truly greater is He, God, who is in you than Satan and his vassals that are in the world, you are of God and have overcome them no matter how little you think you are in faith (1John 4:4); for your faith in Christ Jesus is that victory that overcomes the world (1John 5:4). My prayer is that you and I will know the ways of God, not just the acts of God, that the Lord will teach us through His scriptures, even His perfect redemption plan, to be perfect as He is perfect and to hold our tongue; for truly life and death are in the power of the tongue. If you can see the invisible world like Elisha and believe more, the invisible world or spiritual realm than the natural world, you will not fear and you will do wonders in the name of the Lord.

The bible says: Faithful is He who called you, who also will do it (1Thessalonians 5:24). Some people’s words are worth not even a penny! When they tell you they will do something they do not mean it, it is just flattery! Lying has become their second nature and they do not see anything wrong with that! Unknown to them, by so doing they have trained their heart with their tongue to not believe a word of their mouth. And even when they pray their heart also does not believe that God will be faithful to His word, to perform it, because of how they behave themselves. That is why practicing the truth is not for God’s benefit, but for your own benefit, because it trains your heart to believe the word of your mouth. That is why I, Gery, do not use many words because I know that whatever comes out of my mouth, I must do it myself, so that I will not deceive myself.

May God have mercy upon us all and teach us to bridle our tongue and hold our tongue. We need to keep reading the word of God, and whatever we read we must become a doer of it, in the light of what took place at the death, burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus. For any truth of the word of God to become part of you, you will need to read it, confess it with your mouth, believe it in your heart and become a doer of it. Sometimes it is easier to act yourself into believing, than to believe yourself into acting on the word of God. James tells us that he will show us his faith by his works (James 2:18). So what is happening is that even if your heart does not believe it yet, but as you confess it with your mouth, and become a doer of it, bridle your tongue to not speak against the truth of the word of God, what is happening is that you are retraining your heart to believe the written word of God.

My prayer is that we will stop deceiving ourselves and deceiving our own heart, by not being doers of the word and not bridling our tongue. Our life will be transformed as we keep reading the word of God to discover who we are in Christ Jesus, and what we can do through Christ Jesus, as we become doers of those revelations and not forgetful hearers, and as we learn to bridle our tongue to only speak the report of the Lord concerning us and our situations. Some Christians read the bible, confess the bible; yet because they are not doers of what they read nor bridle their tongue to only confess the report of the Lord concerning them and their situation; they are still conformed to the world.

Paul tells us: I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God (Romans 12:1-2). Jesus wants to sanctify [separate from the conformity of the world] and cleanse His church [you and me] with the washing of water by the Word, so that He might present it to Himself as the glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that it should be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:26-27). Everything in our life and every one of us are sanctified or separated from the conformity of the world and transformed to the full stature of Christ Jesus] through the Word of God and Prayer (1Timothy 4:5). Therefore let us give ourselves continually to Prayer and to the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4).

Brothers and sisters pray for Gery that he will not be deceived by the Devil, neither will he deceive himself by being a hearer only and not a doer of the word, nor will he deceive his own heart by not bridling his tongue. That he will not be like the scribes and the Pharisees of the days of Jesus, who sat in the seat of Moses and taught the word of God to everybody, but they themselves were not doers of what they taught the people (Matthew 23:1-3). Pray for Gery that he will give himself wholly to prayer and ministration of the word; that His life will be transformed and the life of all those who read or hear his teaching. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

I-1-D) God’s plan to legally retrieve what was once lost in Eden.

Brethren God never quits on us. Many times we may be like Israel, thinking that God has given up on us. Please hear the word of the Lord: but Zion said, the Lord has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son or daughter of her womb? Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you. See I have inscribed or engraved or tattooed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me (Isaiah 49:14-16). The Lord could not stand to be separated from His children, whenever He opened His hands He saw them, he was always looking for a way to come into their midst and live among them, be in them and restore the fellowship He once had with them in Eden, the Garden of the Lord.

God will never leave us without hope, we are prisoners of hope, so God promised Adam and the woman that they will only be separated for a while. God will find a way to legally retrieve all that mankind handed over to Satan, and restore them in the former God-class status. God said to the woman: you have been deceived by the serpent, do not worry, one day you will deal with him. I will put enmity between the serpent and the woman, and between the seed of the serpent and the Seed of the woman, which is Jesus; the Seed of the woman, Jesus, shall bruise the head of the serpent and the serpent shall bruise His heel (Genesis 3:15).

Adam took courage and knew that there was hope though they had fallen from their spiritual status, and are now spiritually dead but the Seed of the woman (Jesus) will bring all mankind, who put their faith in Him, back to life, even eternal life. Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living (Genesis 3:20). Eve is from the Hebrew word chavvah which means life giver. As it is written the first Adam became a living being, the last Adam, talking about Jesus the Seed of the Woman, became a life-giving Spirit (1Corinthians 15:45). Luke in his genealogy of Jesus, in Luke chapter three, starts it from Heli the father of Mary the mother of Jesus. Luke proves that the prophecy made to the woman by God, her Seed Jesus, will bruise the head of Satan, was fulfilled.

But Satan was there when God made that promise to the woman that one day her Seed, Jesus, will retrieve legally what had been lost. So Satan said within himself: no problem, I will just do it again, starting by killing any male child that I think is that Seed of the woman. So He started by murdering Abel because God had accepted the person and the sacrifice of Abel (Genesis 4). But Abel was not the Seed of the woman! He tried to pervert the entire world in the days of Noah, but God still had Noah and his family to start over after the flood (Genesis 6 to Genesis 9).

God decided to make a covenant with a man named Abraham; that from him shall come the Seed of the woman who is also the Seed of Abraham. So Satan came again, he tried to corrupt the seed of Abraham and caused Abraham to have Ishmael; but Ishmael was not the Seed. God had chosen Isaac; and through Isaac, the son of the promise, should come the Seed of Abraham. Isaac had Jacob, and Jacob had twelve sons and a daughter; but Satan comes again and causes Reuben to go in to his father’s concubine. But though Reuben was the firstborn, God’s eyes were on Judah to bring forth the Seed of Abraham.

Satan was always clueless about what God’s plan was and who would carry it out. Clueless about Who that Seed of the woman was that would bruise his head? Who is that Seed of Abraham? So when We were in captivity for 430 years in Egypt, Satan said within himself: okay, God promised Abraham that after 400 years in Egypt he will send them a saviour or deliverer, he said: I will not take any chance this time I will just kill all the male babies of the Hebrews on the day they were born (Exodus 1). But he could not kill Moses. Although Moses brought the people of Israel out of Egypt, but Moses was not the Seed of the Woman, nor the Seed of Abraham. When he heard that God had found David a man after His own heart (1Samuel 13:14); he was not happy he said: it must be the Seed of the woman and the Seed of Abraham, so he entered Saul, to try to kill David countless times but he did not prevail. Yet David was not the Seed of the woman.

So Satan tried his best and killed many of the prophets because he thought they were the Seed of the woman. He tried to kill Elijah and failed; but succeeded to kill Jeremiah and other prophets. Even when they announced that they had seen a star in heaven. The Seed of the Woman, the Seed of Abraham, and the Son of David is born, he was terrified and decided to kill all the babies from one day old to two years old, but He could not kill Jesus the Seed of the woman (Matthew 2:16). We will see how Jesus, the seed of the woman retrieved legally all that was lost in the Garden of Eden.

I-1-E) Temporary system instituted before the cross of Jesus.

God is a Holy God and does not stand sins, transgressions and iniquities. So He put a temporary system from the Garden of Eden to cover their sins, transgressions and iniquities He called it atonement. Remember God said: your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you, that He will not hear you (Isaiah 59:2). God would be with them day and night, if they sacrificed an animal in the morning and in the evening for their sins and transgressions. So God instituted the daily sacrifices. Apart from the daily sacrifices, once a year they also had a Day of Atonement: the sins, transgressions and iniquities of Israel would be covered and forgiven, but never remitted.

God could be with them in a pillar of cloud or in a pillar of fire, God could hear their prayer provided that they put the blood of the animal on the altar of incense. God could come upon some of them in the camp when His Holy Spirit fell upon them and they prophesied. So God sent them prophets every day rising up early in the morning. Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them (Jeremiah 7:25). O, how God wanted to be in the midst of His people and talk with them directly without any intermediary or middleman or middle woman. The God of the universe, heaven is His throne and the earth His footstool, so wanted to be among His people that He was willing to be put into a small wooden box overlaid with gold called the Ark of the Covenant, and they put the blood on the mercy seat and pulled the curtains.

What kind of love is that, but He was satisfied, He was not done. He was tired of waiting for the high priest to only go into the holy of holies once a year to talk to Him, that He himself decided to cause his Holy Spirit to fall on some people daily, to be able to bypass the high priest, and all the priests, and talk directly to His people. But God was not satisfied to be in that box and behind the curtains, or only falling once in a while, upon some of them. He wanted to be able to come directly to people like He came to Adam and Eve in the cool of the day and commune with them. He wanted to be in them like He was in Adam and Eve before the fall. And besides God was tired of that system which He instituted, because those priests became corrupt, and were making money off sin, taking more than they were supposed to take from the people (1Samuel 2). So God said I have to put an end to that temporary system that I put in place. It was just shadows of what My Son will fulfil on the cross.

I-1-F) The Last Adam, the Seed of the woman

Jesus the Seed of the woman was born of a virgin named Mary. He is the Seed of Abraham and the Son of David (Matthew 1). When Satan and demons saw Jesus when He started his ministry, they were terrified. They said to Him: Let us alone; what have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who You are, You are the Holy One of God (Mark 1:24). They were questioning the legality of Jesus. Only mankind can legally retrieve the authority and dominion over God’s work which Satan had usurped from mankind when they fell into sin and became slaves of Satan. They knew Jesus was God in the flesh. God was tired of being in that little box in a tent behind a curtain.

God said: Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us or God tabernacling with us (Matthew 1:23). God who is Spirit wrapped Himself with human flesh as a tent to come and walk among us, talk with us. Because whenever He trusted those priests and prophets to represent Him; they misrepresented God in one aspect or the other. But now when we see Jesus in the flesh we see God. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). He came to show us who God is, and what a human being having God in him through the Holy Spirit can be and can do. He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). If anyone has trouble seeing God, let him or her see Jesus; trouble following God, let him or her follow Jesus; trouble imagining how God thinks or what God will do in a situation, or what God will think of a particular situation, let him or her behold Jesus.

The demons and Satan were troubled so they said to Him: we know who You are, You are God, You are not a man. Only the death of a man can pay for the sins of man. But Jesus was born of a virgin that was His passport on earth. To be a human you must be born of a woman. The Adamic nature or the sinful nature is in the blood of the father. Joseph was not the father of Jesus but God begot Jesus. How can God beget a Son through a virgin? Mary said to the angel: how can this be since I do not know a man? And the angel answered and said to her: the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you, therefore, also, that Holy One who will be born will be called the Son of God (Luke 1:34-35). God decided to start a new family from Jesus, the last Adam, the firstborn of all creation (Colossians 1:15).

Since Joseph was not His father, but God was, Jesus was just like Adam who was directly the son of God (Luke 3:38). Jesus was without sin, His blood was pure. But Satan said: Okay, God has reproduced Himself again in a Man. He wants to start a new family like it was in Eden. No problem I will just deceive this Jesus again and He will fall just like the first Adam fell. So the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to fast for forty days and nights in Luke chapter four. And Satan went after Jesus to tempt Him like he did Adam and Eve. Hoping that Jesus would act like the first Adam. He asked the same questions. Adam and Eve did not know who they were in Christ, they had an identity crisis, they were in the image of God and they were son and daughter of God but they did not know or believe it. So Satan asked Jesus: if you are the Son of God…? Jesus not only knows He is the Son of God but He is the Beloved Son of God and God is well pleased in Him (Luke 3:22).

When a person does not know that God loves him or her or does not believe in the love that God has for him or her; he or she will act out of insecurity. John says: we have known and believed the love that God has for us (1John 4:16). God has sent Jesus to let you and I know that God so loves you and me just as He loves Jesus (John 17:23). So remember, you are His beloved son or daughter in whom He is well pleased. Satan tried to deceive Jesus like he did Adam and Eve and offered Him the things of the world, but, for any of the temptation of the devil, Jesus defeated Satan with the word of God, it is written… and Satan left Him. Jesus stood on the word of God while Adam rejected the knowledge of the word of God. Many times we think that God has to speak to us specifically. But Jesus is letting us know that when God has not spoken, He has already spoken in the volume of the book. When a son or daughter of God does not know that all that the Father has created is his or hers, that he is the heir of God or the heiress of God; he or she will try to get riches and honours that the devil is offering him or her.

When a son or daughter of God does not know that God has freely given him or her all the animals, the fruits of the tree to eat, and God will not allow his or her soul to famish; he or she will do what the devil is asking him or her to do in order to feed himself or herself. But Jesus knows what God said about riches and honours and about feeding us; so He defeated the devil by quoting the scriptures, what God said about Him. Adam and Eve were just stewards or administrators of the creation of God; they were never the owners of the creation of God. For a person to administer your inheritance properly you need to empower him so that he has authority and dominion to act on your behalf, that is why God gave Adam and Eve authority and dominion over the works of His creation.

Now think of it this way. You are the owner of ten houses and you decide to give those houses to a couple you love to be administering those properties on your behalf. They are to look for the tenants for each house, to collect the rent and if anything needs to be done in the ten houses; they are the ones to contact. Once they collect the rents, they are to give you your money and you give them a percentage of the rents for administering your ten houses. That is what the job of Adam and Eve was. The LORD God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it (Genesis 2:15). Now think of that couple you have entrusted to administer your properties. They have a gambling problem and have borrowed money from some bookies and were not able to pay them back. So they decided to lie to you and tell you, that out of your ten houses they are administering, only two houses have tenants in them. The truth is, the ten houses have tenants in them, but they are giving the money they collect from the eight houses to the bookies, because the interest the bookies take is so high. They have come into bondage to their lenders.

The bookies who have bound that couple, who administer your ten properties financially, have usurped the authority and dominion you gave them to collect the rent and administer the properties. When you realize what took place, you come to your houses, and evict those illegal tenants that the bookies placed in your ten properties, and you also remove that couple from administering your ten properties. You give it to other people who will administer your ten houses properly. The earth does not belong to the devil, and what is in the earth does not belong to the devil nor to mankind; everything belongs to God. Moses said: behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD’S your God, the earth also, with all that therein is (Deuteronomy 10:14). David said: The earth is the LORD’S, and the fullness thereof; the world, and those who dwell therein. For He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods (Psalm 24:1-2).

Satan did not found or create anything, God created everything including all humans and the devil himself was created by God. Ezekiel says: As I live, says the Lord GOD, you shall not have occasion any more to use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are Mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins, it shall die (Ezekiel 18:3-4). Last time I checked God is still alive and He lives forever; all souls belong to God, no soul belongs to the devil, and all the creation of God in heaven and earth and their fullness belong to God not to the devil. In the days of Gery’s ignorance, I also believed that deception of the devil that all things were delivered to him (Luke 4:6), or that he was now the legal owner of the earth. But I have renewed my mind in line with the written word of God. The glory of this world, silver and gold, that the devil uses to lure men into compromising their faith does not belong to him, as it is written: The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, says the LORD of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, says the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, says the LORD of hosts (Haggai 2:8-9).

Jesus always read and studied the scriptures to let us know He is not asking us to do something impossible. Let us take our bible and read and study it. If it is written God indeed said it and meant it. Jesus even at the age of twelve went into the temple and discussed with the teachers of the Law about the scriptures (Luke 2:41-50). Jesus loved the scriptures. We must also love the word of God. It is the quoting of the scriptures that defeated Satan when he came against Jesus. It only took three scriptures to put him to flight. Therefore God tells us: submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you (James 4:7). When Satan comes, just tell him what God said concerning you and your situation in the bible. Even if you think you did not hear from God, God has already spoken. Jesus says: Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of Me, to do your will, O God (Hebrews 10:7). The same thing applies to you and me, it is written about us in the bible. My prayer is that we will all fall in love with the written word of God, believe it in our heart, confess it with our mouth and become doers of the written word in Jesus’ name!

I-1-G) The Lamb of God

When John the Baptist saw Jesus passing by, he said to the people and his disciples: Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29; 36). John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus; he came to announce the coming of the New Covenant which was sealed by the blood of Jesus and no longer by the blood of bulls and goats. So he told everybody who came to be baptized by him: repent for the kingdom of God is at hand (Matthew 3:2). Repent and renew you mind, the old way did not work: all the animal sacrifices we brought to the altar did not work. At best our sins, transgression and iniquities were only covered or atoned for. But God had a better Lamb that He slew from the foundation of the world and for this purpose the Son of God was made manifest that He might destroy the works of the devil (1John 3:8). Satan caused mankind to fall into sin and be separated from God; but now God has sent His perfect Lamb, the spotless Lamb. Behold, there He goes, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Repent of your religion and all its shadows which were pointing to Jesus, who is the body or the substance. Repent and renew your mind and believe in the Lamb of God. You believe in God, believe also in Jesus, the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world (John 14:1). So Jesus forgave people’s sins to let them know that He is that Lamb of God who takes away their sins. He did it so that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins (Matthew 9:6). Satan was not happy so he said to himself I must stop this Jesus, I must kill Him like I killed the other prophets. That was his biggest mistake. Though he read the book but he did not understand the mystery of God, even the hidden wisdom of God, which He had ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world, including Satan, knew; for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1Corinthians 2:7-8).

In our life, though Satan can guess what is happening or can send his spies to collect information, he does not know what is happening in our life and he is clueless about the plans that God has in our life. Many times he fights us because he thinks he will win but he is always a big time looser! So Satan decided to move on the heart of the Jewish leaders with envy, those leaders did not want to believe in the Lamb of God, they did not want to repent and renew their mind from their religion which was only a temporary system God put in place until the Lamb of God was made manifest to put an end to all that. They did not want to renew their mind from their bigotry [obstinate or blind attachment to a particular creed, or to certain tenets; unreasonable zeal or warmth in favour of a party, sect or opinion]. You will always have people like that who will hate you for believing in the Lamb of God but you just have to ignore them and choose to embrace Jesus and what He has done for us on the cross.

I-1-H) The Lamb on the cross, in the grave and risen.

When Jesus was crucified on the cross He was fulfilling the scriptures concerning Himself. All the scriptures from Genesis to Malachi that talked about Him, He was fulfilling them. Jesus was crucified out of the city of Jerusalem to be our sin offering. For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify (set apart or make holy) the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate (Hebrews 13:11-12). The problem God had is that He is a Holy God, and a Holy God cannot live inside a sinner. Sin and God cannot co-habit in the same body. Sinners and God cannot dwell in the same house or city. That is why He had to expel Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.

God instituted all those animal sacrifices to cover the sins, transgressions and the iniquities of the people, so that He could at least come into their midst, or come upon them; but still He could not be in them, because they were sinners not holy or saints. They had forgiveness and atonement or covering of their sins; but they never had remission of their sins. So God could not live in them. Forgiveness and atonement is like a person who commits an offence, but because he or she is minor, they cannot jail them, so they go free, but it is in their records. If she or he keeps offending, one day, when they are of the age of accountability, as soon as they commit an offence, they re-open their records and list all their past offences and jail them.

But when our sins are remitted, even our record is clean. We do not have to be afraid that God is numbering all our past sins and transgressions, so that one day He will use them against us. So Jesus, the Lamb of God, by dying on the cross, gave us more than forgiveness and covering for sins; He gave us remission of sins. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7). The word redemption is the Greek word apolutrosis which means to ransom in full, in other words, everything that you and I owed to the Law of God has been paid in full. The word remission is the Greek word aphesis which means freedom and pardon, in other words you have been forgiven and you can go free.

There is not even a community service to do, or any kind of penance; you have been forgiven and you can go free. God says: I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more (Hebrews 8:12). This is the true meaning of remission, many believers do not understand it, so even when they ask for forgiveness they think that God is remembering their past sins, or who they used to be before they were saved; they do not understand what remission of sins means.

Sinning is breaking God’s Law, trespassing is sinning against your neighbour or the holy things of God, and iniquity is practicing a sin or a trespass, that it becomes your lifestyle, or a sin or trespass that your ancestors used to practice, and you are practicing the same thing. Also thinking that you are a god like Satan did, and idol worship is iniquity. But Jesus took care of all that: sin, trespass and iniquity of the entire world, either they believe it or not. Surely He, Jesus, has borne our griefs (maladies, anxieties, calamities and sicknesses) and carried our sorrows (anguishes and pains); yet we esteemed or reckoned Him stricken, smitten or struck down by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded or pierced through for our transgression, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:4-5).

Our transgressions, iniquities and sins were judged by God on the body of Jesus, the Lamb of God. Satan did not kill Jesus; no, neither the Romans nor the Jews. They were just instruments, Jesus laid down His life willingly for you and for me. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father: and I lay down My life for the sheep (John 10:15). You and I are the sheep of His pasture. Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again (John 10:17). No man takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father (John 10:18). The Godhead had this plan to save the entire world and Jesus said to the Father: I will go and save them. The wages of sin or breaking God’s law is death, that is why Jesus had to die, not for His sins, for He had none, but for my sins and your sins.

For He (God) has made Him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (Christ Jesus) (2Corinthians 5:21). Our sins were imputed on Jesus, and just like in the Old Testament, the sinner would lay his or her hands on the head of the animal that was to die for his or her sin, Jesus took our sins and died in our stead. It is God who judged our sins, transgressions and iniquities on the body of Jesus, not Satan. We had wronged God, nobody else but God. But God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him (Jesus) should not perish but have everlasting life or eternal life (John 3:16). Greater love has no man than this, that a Man [Christ Jesus] lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).

God knew that we could not fulfil His law, no one can. So God came in the body of Jesus to fulfil the Law on our behalf. And to take it out of the way, so that it does not accuse us before God any more. So when Jesus was on that cross, we were on that cross with Him, Jesus wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken them out of the way, having nailed them on the cross (Colossians 2:14). On the cross, Jesus bore the curses and the penalties contained in the Law for the entire world, as well as answering all the types and shadows contained in the law. It was customary in the east, and some other countries to cancel bonds, or antiquate or make obsolete edicts and decrees, to drive a nail through them, so that they could not be legible any more. Jesus being the word made flesh (John 1:1); every nail they drove through His body on the cross, made a fissure, a rent or a scissure in the handwriting or bond of the law that lay against us. Those handwritings were blotted out and torn into pieces, through the nails of the cross of Jesus.

Then Jesus was buried and Satan thought he had won. We saw early in the study, that Satan is from the Hebrew word śaṭan which means: an opponent, the arch enemy of good, adversary, and Satan. Satan cannot stand good, everything he does is evil. If we play by his rules we will lose; but we overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21). Satan did not understand what was going on, he said within himself: this God and Jesus they are so stupid; how can Jesus a Man without sin decide to die for a sinful world? So when he was making fun of Jesus on the cross through the Jews, and reviling Him; he did not know the plan of God. So Jesus, when He had fulfilled all the scriptures, received the vinegar, and said, It is finished: and He bowed His head, and gave up the ghost (John 19:30).

So while Jesus was in the grave for three days, He went into hell to defeat Satan and his demons for you and me. But on the third day! Somebody on the third day! On the third day Jesus rose from the dead, Hallelujah! He went into the headquarters of Satan in hell, to meet Mister Satan face to face. It was better than an action movie, the Seed of the woman, the Son of God, on His own, without anybody’s help, went to face Mister Satan and all his demons in hell, their headquarters. Jesus beat all of them up, trampled them underfoot, and bruised the head of Satan. Remember early in our study we said that Satan never opens the door of his prisoners (Isaiah 14:16-17). Satan was that strong man armed to the teeth, who kept his palace, his goods were in peace (Luke 11:21). He had the entire world in bondage to sin, they were his prisoners, and he had locked them up in hell with him. But on the third day, (Jesus) a stronger Man than he, came upon him and all his demons, took off from them all their armour wherein they trusted and Jesus divided their spoils (Luke 11:22).

Jesus having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it (Colossians 2:15). It is a recorded fact, Jesus paraded Satan and all his cohorts, stripped them naked. Satan and all his cohorts are defeated foes. Jesus’ victory over Satan and all his demons is your victory and mine. For we were buried with Him in baptism, wherein also we are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised Him from the dead (Colossians 2:12). The prophet Hosea saw the victory of Jesus over death and hell, and was making fun of Satan, and Paul reiterates the same words of Hosea: O death, where is your sting? O grave or hell, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:55-57).

Jesus took away all the sins of the world past, present and future. Sin will never stand in our way anymore, if we choose to be in Christ Jesus the Lamb of God. Either people believe it or not, it is the truth all our sins, transgressions and iniquities have been paid for on the body of Jesus. A sting is an organ on a scorpion used to inject its venom. Satan was banking on sin to cause death in mankind, since the wages of sin is death and the soul which sins shall die. But Jesus came and died for the sins of the entire world, past, present and future. Since Jesus died for my sin I do not have to die for my sins or transgressions or iniquities past, present or future; I just need to receive Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. The strength of sin was the Law, man is carnal he cannot delight in the law of God. Nobody could fulfil all the Law so, we were always breaking the Law of God and we were under its curses and penalties; but Jesus came to fulfil the Law on our behalf and nailed it onto the cross, so that it will never condemn us again.

I-2) God starts a new family

Jesus legally retrieved the keys of dominion over the earth from Satan’s hand when He rose from the dead together with us. Satan usurped that dominion from mankind at the fall of Adam and Eve, because they then ranked lower than him spiritually, and he could oppress them and enslave them, and snatch what was entrusted to them by God. Satan never had authority at any moment, neither before the fall nor after the fall of mankind. Jesus tells us in John 10 that Satan is a thief and robber even an armed robber. A thief or armed robber does not have a legal authority; but he has power and dominion over a person through his power, to take what is another person’s, and oppresses that person. If Satan had legal authority at any time, he would not be a thief and a robber.

When for instance a city is ruled by mafia groups, shops and people pay taxes for protection to them. They have usurped the authority of the government in that city. In 2Kings11 Queen Athaliah usurped the authority over the kingdom after she had murdered all the sons of the king. She ruled for six years until Joash rightfully claimed his throne. You and I, born again Christians, through Christ Jesus, the rightful heir of the throne of God, have received legal authority, to exercise power to destroy the works of the devil, to trample under foot serpents, scorpions and nothing shall by any means hurt us (Luke 10:19).

Jesus having risen from the dead we can go back to plan one. Be like in the Garden of Eden. Jesus the firstborn of this new creation of God, has the keys of dominion and spiritually He made every born again Christian rank higher than Satan and his demons; thus giving us authority over all the works of God and authority over Satan that the first Adam lost at his fall. God created every one of us to have dominion over the works of His hands, and administer the earth on His behalf, using His authority and power (Genesis 1:28). God can start His new family and come to be in them. So on the resurrection morning, Jesus said to Mary: touch me not or do not cling to Me; for I am not yet ascended to My Father: but go to My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My God, and your God (John 20:17). He went to heaven and put his blood on the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies in heaven.

Christ Jesus, our High priest, entered the Most Holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption (Hebrews 9:12); for without the shedding of the blood there is no remission (Hebrews 9:22). Jesus will not come back on earth to die for the sin of anybody, He did it once and for all, it is up to people to receive Him and believe in His finished work on the cross. So Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him, He will appear a second time, apart from sin or not to deal again with sin for he has done it, once for all, but for salvation or resurrection of our mortal bodies (Hebrews 9:28, Romans 8:23). So there is nothing standing against mankind and God, Jesus removed the sin, took back the keys of dominion of the earth from Satan and nailed on the cross all the curses and penalties contained in the Law that were against us, even opened the prison door in hell the headquarters of Satan so that you and I can go free. The only thing we need to do is to receive Jesus into our life and be born again.

Since sin has been taken out of the way through Christ; Jesus after He had put His blood in heaven came back to his disciples. Prior to the cross, His disciples had the Holy Spirit with them and upon them; but the Holy Ghost could not be in them. Because they were sinners they had the Adamic nature. But Jesus promised them: I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter or Helper, that He may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees Him not, neither knows Him: but you know Him; for he dwells with you, and shall be in you (John 14:16-17). So Jesus came to them on resurrection evening and breathed on them and said to them “receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). The new family of God has started with Jesus being the firstborn of that new creation. Jesus did to the disciples what God did when He created Adam and Eve and breathed His Holy Spirit into them. Adam and Eve fell, and the Holy Spirit departed from them, but Jesus said that this new creation that God is starting will be different: The Holy Spirit will abide forever.

How could a Holy God live in a human being? Once upon a time we were sinners in that prison of sin where Satan kept us and would not let us go. But Jesus came and died for our sins, nailed all the curses and the penalties of breaking God’s law on the cross, plundered Satan, opened the prison doors so we can go free. The only way to enjoy all the perfect work of Jesus on our behalf and be part of that new family is to be born again. Jesus tells everybody who wants to be members of the household of God to be born again (John 3:3). The world does not realize that the prison door is open; they can come out of that bondage of Satan whenever they want to. As soon as a person is born again all his or her sins past, present and future are remitted, are blotted out, and are wiped away. He or she has been ransomed in full that is what redemption means. His or her sins have been remitted, expunged and they can go free, if only they surrender their life to Christ.

I-2-a) Adoption

God wants to show us through the Holy Spirit that He really wants us to be part of His family. The Jews hardly knew anything about adoption, and they never adopted anybody. Even when one of their relatives was dead and left children, they brought up those children, but they never adopted them. Mordecai brought up Esther (Esther 2:7) who was an orphan; but Esther was never referred to as the daughter of Mordecai; but his uncle’s daughter. Why were the Jews so reluctant to adopt people, even their own kindred? It is mainly because of the inheritance. Their inheritance should stay in the family and people would rather have their own biological children inherit their possessions than kinsmen or kinswoman. Only when there was no biological child, then they considered the closest kinsman or kinswoman. That was the Law God gave them, so that they would keep the inheritance in their families and in Israel.

Adoption is taking a complete stranger into your family as a son or daughter and an heir or an heiress. You treat him as your own biological child, giving him the title, privileges and rights of a child. You can disown a biological child, like Reuben lost his firstborn right because he disgraced Jacob by going into Jacob’s concubine. But According to the Roman’s Law, you could never disown an adopted child; a biological child could be disowned but not an adopted child. So you have to make up your mind before adopting a child! We have heard people talking about having an unwanted pregnancy. They say: it was an accident. They forgot to take their birth control pills, or the contraceptive devise failed. But I personally have never heard of an unwanted adoption!

We were already the creation of God; God was the one who created mankind. Many people will only adopt babies, because they think they can impart some value into the baby. But God adopts not only children but grown up people. He adopts: rebels and murderers (Luke 23:43), eunuch (Acts 8), adulteress, divorcees (John 4); whatever your past life has been, God is willing to adopt you. Jesus died to make it possible. The church excommunicates divorcees, but Jesus gives them a second chance (John 4). He does not by any means condone divorce, for God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16), but He knows the hardness of the heart of mankind leads to divorce sometimes (Mark 10:5). So no matter what our past life has been, God sent Jesus to make it possible for you and me to be adopted.

When we are born again we are adopted into the family of God, we will never be disowned, we do not have to fear, is God going to change His mind concerning my adoption? Will He disown me? Will He just tolerate me in the house but not give me the inheritance? If the Roman adoption forbade the Adopter to disown the adoptee, and obliged the Adopter to give the same inheritance to the Adoptee which he gave to his own biological children; do we think the Romans are better than God? Jesus tells us: if you then being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, “even the Adopted children”, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things …(Matthew 7:11). My dearest brothers and sisters do not fear; our Adoption by the Father in heaven is much better than the Roman adoption or adoption in our societies; for you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father (Romans 8:15).

Once upon a time we were under the law, and could not fulfil it but God had a plan. When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son Jesus, made (born) of a woman, made (born) under the law (Galatians 4:4), to fulfil the law for us, and then redeem us who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons and daughters (Galatians 4:5). God had predestinated (appointed and ordained beforehand by an unchangeable purpose) us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He has made us accepted in the beloved (Ephesians 1:5-6). My friend God will never change His mind concerning your adoption; Jesus came and died for it. God has accepted you in His beloved Son Jesus who made that adoption possible, meaning it is because you are now in Christ when you were saved that God has accepted you. God knew that none of us could fulfil the law by our own strength; we were always backsliding because His spirit was not in us. But now His Spirit of Adoption is in us, so God says: I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for my anger is turned away from him (Hosea 14:4)

The Father says that He will love us freely; our adoption is not because we were “so good”. It is because Jesus shed His blood for us. We did not work for it. The Father must love the adoptee as He loves His only begotten Son Jesus. Jesus tells us: You (Father) have sent Me (Jesus), and have loved them as You have loved Me (John 17:23). The same love that God has for Jesus is the same love He has for you. Therefore Jesus tells us: in that day (when you are born again and have received the Spirit of Adoption) you shall ask in My name (Jesus): and I do not say unto you, that I will pray (erotao is a Greek word which means to entreat, to beseech, to implore, to beg) the Father for you. For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came out from God (John 16:26-27). It took me time to change my prayer life, because I did not understand adoption. I used to beg God with tears. I used to implore Him to do something for me. I used to afflict myself thinking God will love me more and answer me. Until I discovered that I did not have to beg or implore God, that He was already willing to do what I was asking Him in the name of Jesus. I did not have to afflict myself so that He will love me, but He already loves me, and He loves me just as He loves Jesus, it is the same love He has for me. He loves me freely.

The Father did not spare His own Son Jesus, but delivered Him up, to die on that cross by shedding His blood, for us all; how shall He (The Father) not with Him (Jesus) also freely give us all things (Romans 8:32)? Adoption means that the Father gives you the same privileges Jesus His Son has, and the same rights and you become heir or heiress with Jesus. Therefore you are no more a servant, but a son or a daughter (since you have been adopted); and if a son or a daughter, then an heir or an heiress of God through Christ (Galatians 4:7). God appointed Jesus, His Son, heir of all things, by whom also He (The Father) made the worlds (Hebrews 1:2); but since we are now children, then we are heirs or heiresses; heirs or heiresses of God, and joint- heirs or joint-heiresses with Christ (Romans 8:17). Jesus knew that, as the heir of God, the Father had given all things into his hands (John 13:3). Jesus tells us what the Father is saying to all the heirs, heiresses and the joint-heirs or joint-heiresses of God: Son or daughter you are always with Me, and all that I have is yours (Luke 15:31).

I, your God, give you richly all things to enjoy, so I beseech you not to trust in uncertain riches but in Me, the living God (1Timothy 6:17). There is no need for anybody to boast about what he or she has for what do you have that you did not receive? Every good gift (be it spiritual or natural gift) and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning (James 1:17). According as His divine power, has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory and virtue, through which He has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, so that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust (2Peter 1:3-4).

Therefore let no man or woman glory or boast in men (in their own abilities or their own good deeds). For all things are yours, not because you worked for them, but because God adopted you hence made you joint-heirs or joint-heiresses, whether the world, or life, or things present or things to come: all things are yours. And you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s (1Corinthians 3:21-23). Everything that Christ has is yours, His mind, His love, His character, His righteousness, His Holiness, His authority, etc. They have been imputed to you, or credited to you by the blood of Jesus. And John tells each one of us, born again believers: as He (Jesus) is so are we in this world (1John 4:17).

Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God. He is fully God and fully Man. You and I are a new creation because we are in Christ Jesus. Jesus is not a new creation He is the only begotten Son of God who is fully God and fully Man. None of us is a “god” or a “christ”, but we are in Christ Jesus who is fully God and is The Christ. Jesus is the firstborn of the new creation but He is not a new creation, He is fully God and fully Man. You and I are born again, but Jesus was never born again He is fully God! You and I are adopted sons and daughters of God because we have believed in Christ Jesus and are now in Christ. But Jesus was never adopted He is the only begotten Son of God.

In Malachi, God promised that we will be sons and daughters who serve their Father; as it is written: they shall be Mine, says the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him (Malachi 3:17). Jeremiah also prophesied it, saying: God said, How shall I put you among the sons, and give you a pleasant land, a beautiful inheritance among the hosts of nations? And I said, You shall call Me, My Father, and shall not turn away from Me (Jeremiah 3:19). And Paul tells us that we are no longer slaves or servants but sons and daughters of God; because we are in Christ Jesus the Son of God (Galatians 4:7). When you have just joined a household, even been adopted into a family; you do not know how things are run in that new household, so you need someone who has always been living in the house to brief you on the way of the Father and the works done in the household. Jesus came to show us the way and the works of the Father and tells us to take Him as an example and go and do the same thing (John 13:15).

l-2-b) Righteousness

As soon as a person receives Jesus, he or she is delivered from the power of darkness and translated or conveyed into the kingdom of the beloved Son of God (Colossians 1:13). Jesus imputes or credits His righteousness to that born again believer. For He (God) has made Him (Jesus) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (Christ Jesus) (2Corinthians 5:21). This is the revelation Jeremiah had: Behold, the days come, says the LORD that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch (who is Jesus according to Zechariah 3:8), and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS (Jeremiah 23:5-6). Jeremiah saw our days; where we will no longer be clothed with our own righteousness which is but filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6); but with the righteousness of God; that God will take our sins and sinful nature and give us His righteousness even the righteousness of His Son Jesus Christ the righteous Branch.

No man or woman on earth can meet the standard of God’s righteousness. Even if that man observes all that is written in the Law: reads the scriptures, prays, fasts, tithes, does good deeds, etc; it is never good enough. The Lord showed the prophet Zechariah how spiritually the high priest Joshua was clothed. Now the high priest was the best of all the people in those days, he was the only one allowed to go once a year into the Holy of holies, before the Ark of the Covenant, and if he was not clean he would die. And the high priest Joshua was a good man; he was the one with Zerubbabel that God instructed to rebuild the temple after the captivity of Babylon (Haggai 2).

Yet when God opened the eyes of the prophet Zechariah; Joshua the high priest was standing before the Angel of the Lord (Jesus according to Isaiah 63:8-9). Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and was standing before the Angel of the Lord (Jesus). And Jesus instructed an angel saying: take away the filthy garment from Joshua. And to Joshua He said: see I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes (Zechariah 3:1-4). The only standard is the righteousness of Jesus, He is the One who will clothe every born again believer with the rich robe of His own righteousness. Just in case anybody wants to establish his own righteousness by his good deeds or his fasts, look at the filthy garments of the high priest Joshua. Believe in Jesus and embrace what He has accomplished for you on the cross, He took your sins, transgressions and iniquities and imputed His righteousness to you.

Righteousness means right standing with God. When we are born again, our righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus not ours. There is nothing standing between God and us; we do not need a priest to come to God. When Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the temple, that separated the Holy of Holies from the people, was torn in two from top to bottom (Mark 15:38). God was saying: access has been granted to whosoever receives Jesus and embraces His finished work on the cross. They also can come into my presence and stand before Me, not just the high priest but everybody who is born again. Only the priests could go to the holy place under the old covenant. That is why Jesus Christ made every born again Christian priest and king unto our God and His Father (Revelation 1:6). He is our High Priest; He went to the holy of holies, and rent the veil that separated the holy place from the holy of holies, so that we can be where He is.

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). Our standing in the presence of God and before His throne of Grace is legal because Jesus legally retrieved that which was once lost. We do not have to fear anything; we can stand boldly because we know that our sins are remitted, expunged, blotted out, wiped away; that we have been redeemed, ransomed in full.

Now that we are born again and the Holy Spirit is in us to abide forever; Jesus tells us: behold, the kingdom of God is within you or inside you (Luke 17:21). The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost (Romans 14:17). Your standing before God is legal, you are righteous, you are no longer sinners but righteous; for Christ Jesus has been made unto us righteousness, sanctification and redemption (1Corinthians 1:30). Let us not be ignorant of God’s righteousness, and go about to establish our own righteousness, for many people have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God (Romans 10:3). People say: it is too easy, I just believe in Jesus and He forgives all my sins, and He makes me righteous, even His own righteousness? I think I need to add some of my good deeds!

My friend, do not add to the finished work of Jesus on the cross, He said it is finished! He really meant it. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one (By the offence of Adam); much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ). Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one (Jesus) the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous (Romans 5:17-19). So righteousness is a free gift, if you have to do something or to work it is no longer a free gift but a wage or a debt. We did not ask to be sinners, but because of Adam’s sin the whole world became sinners and prisoners of Satan. The same way, by the obedience of our last Adam, Jesus, whosoever believes in Jesus is no longer a sinner but is made righteous. I am righteous because Christ Jesus gave me the free gift of righteousness even the righteousness of God. When I stand before God, I know that my righteousness is the same righteousness that Jesus has.

When you are truly born again and God has made you righteous, you will desire to practice righteousness because God now dwells in you and righteousness has become your nature, who you are in Christ. John tells us: He who practices sin is of the Devil, for the Devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed, that He might undo the works of the Devil (1John 3:8). A righteous person does not practice sin, but as he or she renews her mind to who he or she is in Christ he starts destroying the works of the devil in his or her life. Since you know that God is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of God (1John 2:29). Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, even as that One [God] is righteous (1John 3:7). In this the children of God are revealed, and the children of the Devil: everyone not practicing righteousness is not of God, also he who does not love his brother (1John 3:10).

So if you are not practicing righteousness there are two conclusions: either you do not have the knowledge of God and these My Weekly Milk letters are designed to equip you with the knowledge of God, or you are not of God but of the devil. Jesus says: You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruits, nor can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that does not bring forth good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire (Matthew 7:16-19). Born again Christians practice righteousness because they are a tree of righteousness, and practicing righteousness is the fruits on their tree (Isaiah 61:1-3).

I-2-c) Justification

Many times even when we are forgiven, or our debts are expunged, we still have some condemnations, some guilt. On the Day of Atonement the Jews brought two goats: one they killed, and the other one they put the sins, trespasses and iniquities of Israel on it, and released it into the wilderness, they called it the scapegoat (Leviticus 16). The scapegoat takes the blame for all the sins of Israel. One day after Solomon’s temple had been built, when Israel was worshiping idols, on the Day of Atonement they sacrificed the first goat, they led the scapegoat out of Jerusalem into a wilderness like Moses instructed them. But a few days after the Day of Atonement, the scapegoat came back into Jerusalem. Now this was a very bad omen for all Israel, it meant that God had forgiven your sins since you killed the first goat but you are still guilty in His eyes, and one day He will visit your iniquity (in their case it was the iniquity of idol worship).

So, from that day they decided to take the matter into their own hands and not trust God. On the Day of Atonement they would lead the scapegoat out of Jerusalem into the wilderness; but they would not release it, but they would find a steep mountain and break one of the legs of the scapegoat and push it down that steep mountain, that way they made sure that the scapegoat would either die from the fall or even if it does not die from the fall, since they broke its leg, it would not be able to climb the mountain and come back to Jerusalem, to bring that bad omen onto the nation. You see to what extent Israel was willing to go to get rid of guilt, shame and condemnation! Guilt, shame and condemnation are worse than the sin committed. They haunt a person, the scapegoat or Azazel in Hebrew was supposed to take away or remove entirely iniquities, guilt, and condemnation. For Azazel means entire removal.

Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away or removes entirely the sins of the world. He is the One who justifies us; Jesus was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our Justification (Romans 4:25). What is the meaning of that word justification? Justification is to be declared righteous or just according to the Law. The court listened to the evidence and arguments in justification of the prisoner’s conduct and gave its verdict that you are just or righteous, it is a final statement no one can change it, you can go free. The court of heaven, God being the Judge, looked at the evidence of what Jesus did on your behalf on the cross and in the grave, and in His resurrection and pronounced you righteous.

Justification simply means just as if you never did it. You have been justified by the Court of Heaven and God who is the judge declared you righteous according to His Law when He examined the Lamb of God that was slain in your stead, it was a spotless Lamb, a perfect Lamb. In the Old Testament the priest had to examine your lamb if it was without blemish, and spotless. So God does not look at what you do, to give you that gift of righteousness or justify you, He looks at The Lamb Of God, who was slain for you, in whom you have believed. The Lamb of God fulfilled the Law of God on your behalf so God declares you free from all your past, you do not have to be sentenced for that, you do not have to fear that maybe there would be an appeal.

In the Old Testament, when a person committed manslaughter, He or she was not put to death, provided he or she fled to one of the cities of refuge, and stayed there until the death of the high priest. Then he or she could go free from that city of refuge and return to his own. But if they ventured outside of the boundaries of that city of refuge before the death of the high priest, the avenger of blood could come and kill him or her (Numbers 35:26-28). It is like today, you have committed a crime, they do not really jail you, but they put on an ankle bracelet, if you go out of the perimeter, they put you into jail, and you still have a record with the police. But two thousand years ago, our High Priest, Jesus, came for all the prisoners, all the murderers, all the sinners, and He died in their stead, it was a public crucifixion. Then all the manslayers, the murderers, the sinners, can legally go free from whatever prison they have been in, or house arrest or any restriction men and women imposed on them, because of their mistakes.

No avenger of blood can come and try to kill them because Jesus died for them, you cannot sentence a person twice for the same crime. Jesus was sentenced so that I may go free. But further more He was raised for my justification (Romans 4:25). For if Christ Jesus is not risen, our faith is futile or empty; we are still in our sins (1Corinthians 15:17)! The resurrection of Jesus is what justifies us, what legally declares us just or righteous, that removes our guilt, condemnation and shame. Think of it this way, you went to your favourite shopping mall, and bought fancy dresses and nice suits. When you were about to pay for them, your credit card was declined: “insufficient funds”. A nice tall gentleman who was in front of you says: do not worry I got it for you! And He pays for all. Wow! They give the receipt. The gentleman is no longer with you he has gone; but at the door of the shopping mall the alarm goes off. The security personnel stop you and straight away they start accusing you of theft. They look at you. They judge you according to your outward appearance; they think you do not look like a person who can afford a LV hand bag or a Rolex watch, a Hugo Boss suit. You just say: there is no need for you to be embarrassing me in front of everybody, I have the receipt. I may look like someone who can never afford it, but a nice tall gentleman paid for me and here is my receipt! Let go of me!

Yes brothers and sisters, the resurrection of Jesus is that receipt that allows us to legally have everything Jesus purchased for us in the redemption package. I do not need to argue with people. I just need to tell them Jesus paid for it and his resurrection is my receipt. If Jesus is not risen from the dead, then I am still a sinner. But since He is risen, I am no longer a sinner but righteous. I have been justified, the court of heaven whose Judge is God has examined The Lamb of God and has declared me just or righteous according to His Law. If anybody has something against it, let him or her take it up to God. I know He has called me, He has justified me and has glorified me (Romans 8:30). Who shall lay a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies (Romans 8:33). Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died and furthermore He is risen, who even is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us (Romans 8:34).

Too bad for my detractors and for Satan the accuser of the brethren, Jesus fulfilled all righteous requirements of the Law for me. God who is the Judge committed all judgments to Jesus, so that Jesus would judge the world, and condemn the wicked. For the Father judges no man but has committed all judgment unto the Son (John 5:22). But Jesus refused to Judge the world and He said: I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world (John 12:47). For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved (John 3:17). He or she, who rejects Me (Jesus) and does not receive My words, has that which judges him or her. The word that I have spoken will judge him or her in the last day (John 12:48).

I know that I am born again, I have received Jesus and I have believed His words, I have embraced the finished work of the cross. Who is he or she, who will bring a charge against me? Jesus who was supposed to Judge me, refused to do so, but instead decided to die in my stead and is risen for my justification. He is at the right hand of the Father as my advocate to plead my case (1John 2:1). What more can I say? This salvation package, this free gift is too good and too sweet, I guess to sum it up I just have to say: if God be for us, who can be against us (Romans 8:31)? There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:1). Jesus Christ is my justification; therefore there is no more shame, guilt or condemnation for my past life. And in my new life as Christian I chose to practice righteousness; because I am righteous, even the righteousness of God in Christ. Christ the righteous Branch dwells in me.

James tells us: You believe that there is one God, you do well; even the demons believe and tremble. But will you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Do you see how faith worked with his works, and from the works faith was made perfect or complete? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God (James 2:19-23).”

Abraham had received the imputed righteousness of God when he believed the promise of God in Genesis 16:1-6. But, until he had practiced that righteousness, his belief or faith that God had made him righteous, was not made perfect, and the promise was not fulfilled in his life. The same thing for justification, Abraham was only justified by his works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar at the command of the Lord in Genesis 22. In the heavenly realm you have been made righteous, you have been justified, you have been sanctified; you need to practice what you are in the spirit realm in the physical realm. The word or the gifts of the imputed righteousness, imputed holiness, imputed justification must become flesh in you and dwell among the people, so that they might behold the glory of God through you (John 1:14). When Abraham coupled his belief, or faith of being made righteous and justified, with works or obedience to the command of the Lord, that his faith, or belief of justification and righteousness was made perfect!

When you and I, act or practice who we are in the spirit realm, or obey the command of the Lord like Abraham did, God will be able to say also about you and I: now I know that you fear God, since you have obeyed His command (Genesis 22:12). Jesus says: You are My friends, if you do whatsoever I command you (John 15:14). When Abraham had obeyed whatsoever God commanded him, God knew that Abraham was truly His friend! When Paul says: there is now therefore no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, you discover that if you are walking in the flesh, meaning not according to who God says you are, your heart will be condemning you and your conscience will be accusing you. But if you choose to walk in the spirit, meaning according to who God says you are in His written word, your heart will not be condemning you at all, and you will have a pure heart and good and pure conscience (Romans 8:1-10, 1John 3:20-21, Romans 2:15, 1Timothy 1:5, 2Timothy 1:3).

Whatever we have believed, or have faith that God has freely imputed to us by the death burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus, we need to confess it with our mouth, and we need to become doers of who we are in Christ for that promise to be fulfilled in us, and for our faith in that particular promise of God to be made perfect and complete. Read again the bible study on The Power of Confession. In that bible study we explain that confession starts by believing in our heart and thinking in our mind what God says about us, confessing with our mouth who we are and becoming doers of what we have been confessing. This truth applies to all the revelations in the series of the Perfect Redemption Plan and the Application of The Perfect Redemption Plan. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Do you see how faith worked with his works, and from the works, faith was made perfect or complete.

I-2-d) Sanctification

The very day I was born again God set me apart for His divine purpose. Sanctification means to set apart, and to make a person holy, to be a saint. Sanctification or holiness is the work of the Holy Spirit; it starts the very moment we are born again. We are set apart: we once were sinners but we are now righteous even the righteousness of God which has been imputed to us. We once were prisoners of the power of darkness; but now have been translated to the kingdom of the Son of God’s love. We were once in the world and of the world; but now we are not of the world just as Jesus is not of the world (John 17:16). Jesus asked the Father: Sanctify or set them apart or make them holy or make them saints by Your truth, Your word is truth (John 17:17). The reason why we are sanctified or set apart or made holy or become saints, is because the Holy Spirit dwells in us. Now sanctification is getting the world out of you: you are no longer conformed to the world which lies under the influence of the wicked, even the devil; but you are transformed by the renewing of your mind according to the written word of God, to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ (Romans 12:1-2, 1John 5:19, Romans 8:29)

As we have seen early in our study without the remission of our sins and the gift of righteousness, the Holy Spirit could not have come into us. It is not based on our good deeds or works of the law; but because Jesus died for our sins to remit them, and ransomed us in full. In the Old Testament the priests were set apart or sanctified to serve the Lord. They made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, like to the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD (Exodus 39:30). They placed that plate on the turban of the priest. It meant this: the priests were handling holy things of the Holy God, they should also separate themselves from the ways of the world and not live like the gentiles, but be an example to the whole nation, they were saints. They should have the mind of God. Holiness is having the mind of God. It has nothing to do with whether you wear make-up or not; or with how you dress though we are to be moderate in our dressing and adornment (1Timothy 2:9).

Jesus prayed: sanctify or set them apart or make them holy, or make them saints, or cause them to have the mind of God, by Your truth, Your word is truth (John 17:17). Even in the Old Testament God said: the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts (Malachi 2:7). The more a person reads the word of God and acts on it. the more he or she becomes Christ like, and the more He exhibits the mind of Christ; since he or she gets the knowledge of God and what God’s mind is from the Word of truth. Then when people come to him or her, he or she is able to tell them what the mind of God is, because he or she spent time in the word. There is no short cut or microwave way to sanctification, but knowing the word of God and becoming a doer of the word of God. Jesus himself always quoted the scriptures; He had the mind of God, because not only was He God, but because He found it in the word of truth.

In the Old Testament the priests, who were supposed to be holy unto the Lord, were not reading their scrolls or the book of the law, and the prophets. So they acted like the gentiles did in idol worship. The king and the priests were supposed to have a copy of the book of the Law and of the prophets; so that they knew what the mind of God was, and it would be well with them and their children and their nation. But they would not read it, they buried it in one of the rooms in the temple and started to worship idols (2 Chronicles 34). When they finally found the book of the Law and read it, they discovered why things were not working in Israel. Hosea said like people like priest (Hosea 4:9). If the priest does not read his bible he will never know the mind of God, and will tell people what he thinks and not what God says. But you, brothers and sisters, are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of Him, who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light (1Peter 2:9).

Yes, the resurrected Christ Jesus who justified us, made us kings, queens and priests, priestesses unto our God and His Father (Revelation 1:6). We should have a copy of the bible and read it to be more Christ like and know the mind of God and then become doers of that word. People will say: I will just listen to the Holy Spirit and He will speak to me! Wrong! The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth, and the truth is the word of God. How can He speak out of, the word or God? Jesus said: when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come (John 16:13). So if we do not know the truth, which is the word of God, how do we know for sure it is the Holy Spirit that is talking to us? If we do not know the words of Jesus, how can we say that what the “spirit” is saying is from Jesus? That is why John tells us: beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God (1John 4:1).

So how do you test the spirits? You test it by the written word of God, if what it says agrees with the word of God, with what the blood of Jesus has done for us. For there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water (or word of God), and the blood; and these three agree as one (1John 5:8). When we become born again we already have the mind of Christ, we just have to allow it to be in us, allow it to have ascendancy over our old mind, which was the carnal mind. The bible says: but we have the mind of Christ (1Corinthians 2:16). Brothers and sisters, you do not have the carnal mind, you have the mind of Christ. Jesus shed his blood for your mind; they put a crown of thorns on his head, and they crucified Him on the place of the skull or Golgotha (John 19:17). Believe what Jesus has accomplished on the cross! You have the mind of Christ not the carnal mind anymore. So the priest had on his turban, that crown of gold, with the inscription Holiness to the Lord. Gold talks about divinity or God. Thus placing a crown of gold on the forehead of the priest, was to say that the priest has received the mind of God, and Christ is fully God. Jesus wore a crown of thorns, so that you and I will have the mind of Christ, when you are born again.

What do we need to do to have the manifestation of the mind of Christ? – Let (permit, allow) this mind be in you which also was in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5). Many times we resist the mind of God that is already in us, since Jesus lives in us. At that day (When you are born again) you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you (John 14:20). We need to renew our mind, so that we are no longer conformed to the world; but are transformed by the renewing of our mind, that we may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2), that Jesus might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of the water by the word (Ephesians 5:26). The more we spend time in the word of God and allow or permit Jesus to wash our old ways of thinking and old conducts, and become doers of the word of God; the more we become Christ like and people can truly see Christ in us, for He now dwells in us.

Since we have the revelation that when God imputed the righteousness of Jesus to us, He made it possible for His Holy Spirit to come and dwell in us forever, thus making us holy or sanctified or set apart or saints. Therefore God through the mouth of the apostles beseeches us not to defile His new temple that we now are. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication and all sexual immoralities (1Thessalonians 4:3), that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel (or body) in sanctification and honour (1Thessalonians 4:4).

But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren and sisters, beloved of the Lord, because God has, from the beginning, chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth (2Thessalonians 2:13). I beseech you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service (Romans 12:1). For you brothers and sisters are elect (picked out of the world) according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied (1Peter 1:2).

Those who are unsaved are still in the flesh, and they have a carnal mind that cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he or she is not His (Romans 8:9). Brothers and sisters we know that the Holy Spirit dwells in us forever when we are born again, it means that we are always in the Spirit and not in the flesh when we are saved. Jesus promised the Samaritan woman at the well: But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and those who worship Him must worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24). Jesus was talking to the woman about the time after He has gone to the cross and risen from the grave. It will be possible for people who once were in the flesh to now always be in the Spirit, for that was the will of God from the beginning when He breathed His Spirit into Adam. You are a true worshiper of God, because you are in the Spirit since the Holy Spirit dwells in you forever.

Many people have the wrong understanding of being in the Spirit, they think they need to pray in tongues for one hour at least to be in the “spirit” and after they have stopped praying they are back in the flesh. That kind of thinking violates the scriptures; it rejects what Jesus has done for us on the cross and by His resurrection, so that we should be always in the Spirit because the Spirit of God now dwells in us forever. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. What God is now asking us, is to walk in the Spirit since we are always in the Spirit, meaning to walk in line with what the word of God says. We know that the unsaved people are still in the flesh and they have a carnal mind; the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God nor can be. So those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:7-8). But you know according to Jesus and the Holy Spirit through Paul, not only you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit; but you do not have a carnal mind either, you have the mind of Christ (1Corinthians 2:16). So your mind is not enmity against God, but every day you allow or permit this mind which was in Christ to be also in you (Philippians 2:5). And you do that by renewing your mind daily, by the washing of the water by the word of God (Ephesians 5:26).

Believe that you are sanctified the very moment you are born again. You are now holy unto the Lord, and no longer defiled, you are set apart by God, you are no longer of the world, and you are a saint. You will not be a saint one day in the future, but right now you are a saint. You will not be a saint after you are dead and some religious people meet to examine your deeds, and declare you a saint and canonise you, that is man-made religion, it violates the scriptures and rejects what Jesus has done on the cross for us. But God says you are a saint the very day you are born again; now walk like Jesus, the Holy One of God, walked. Religious people fight with that word saint and holy because they are looking at people’s past, and not who they are in Christ. That is why they try to say that Mary remained a virgin and never had other children after Jesus; so that they can keep calling her “virgin Mary” and make prayers to her. We know according to the scriptures that Mary had other children by Joseph her husband (Matthew 13:55-56). These religious people will also try to make you think that all the apostles were celibate, when the bible tells us that Peter was married (Matthew 8:14). The other apostles of Jesus and the brothers of Jesus by Joseph and Mary were married and had families (1Corinthians 9:5-6). Philip the Evangelist was married and had four daughters who prophesied in the church (Acts 21:9).

Paul called the brethren at Philippi saints, saying: salute every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you (Philippians 4:21). The brothers and sisters at Philippi were still alive, not dead, and Paul called every one of them saints, some of them were married, some of them were celibate, yet they were all saints. When Paul wrote to the Ephesians he said: Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 1:1). All born again brothers and sisters in Ephesus were saints according to Paul. Even when you read the letter of Paul to the church at Corinth, Paul called them saints even though some of them were sinning better than pagans, and many of them were acting like carnal people. Paul just explained to them who they were in Christ and how they should be holy unto the Lord, for God had already imputed His holiness unto them. They have already been made saints by God, and they must now walk accordingly.

Never worship dead people whom man-made religion has made saints, by canonising them. It is of the devil, it is called necromancy, the Lord forbade it and in the Old Testament, God asked Israel to put to death everyone who did so (Deuteronomy 18:10-11). Necromancy according to the Webster dictionary is the art of revealing future events by means of a pretended communication with the dead. God says: there shall not be found among you any one who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or who uses divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer, for all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD; and because of these abominations, the LORD your God does drive them out from before you. You shall be perfect with the LORD your God (Deuteronomy 18:10-13).

Saul, who was the king of Israel, disobeyed God and God said He would not establish his throne anymore; but He had found David a man after His own heart, who would reign instead of Saul over Israel. When Saul went to see a necromancer, who was a medium, to call back from the dead the prophet Samuel, a saint of God; it was at that time that God told him through Samuel, that he would die at the hand of his enemies (1Samuel 28:11-19). People would say: I am not praying to a dead wicked person; but to a dead saint of God whom God used mightily, what is wrong with that? It is wrong according to the scriptures and it is an abomination to God. So never pray to any of the dead saints in the bible, be it: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Samuel, Isaiah, Elijah, Elisha, David, Mary the mother of Jesus, Elizabeth the mother of John the Baptist, Joseph the foster father of Jesus, James the brother of Jesus by Mary, Peter, John the beloved, Paul, etc.

No matter how much God loved those saints and used them mightily, or they found favour in His sight like Mary, they were but human like you, and you should never pray to them, you should never ask them to tell you your future. It is necromancy and an abomination to God; you might suffer the same fate Saul suffered when he consulted the dead spirit of Samuel. I know many so-called Christians who even go to the tomb of their dead relatives to pray to those dead. We pray to God the Father in the name of Jesus. We have fellowship with the Godhead: the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit no one else (1John 1:3). We do not pray to dead people or to any angel: Michael, Gabriel, etc. Anybody, who tells you to worship or pray to dead saints of the bible or man-made saints by canonisation or angels, reject it, because it is necromancy, an abomination to God.

Also, do not worship any living saint or pray to any living saint or in the name of any living saint. All born again believers are saints, no one is more of a saint than you, or holier than you. They might be more obedient than you and I; but they are certainly not holier than you and I. No matter how much God is using them mightily; you and I have received the same holiness that they received: it is the imputed holiness of Jesus. Christ Jesus has been made sanctification or holiness unto all born again believers (1Corinthians 1:30). God hates it when some believers think of themselves holier than other believers, and He says through Isaiah: a people who provokes Me to anger continually to My face; who sacrifices in gardens, and burns incense upon altars of brick; who remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, who eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels; who say: Stand by yourself, do not come near to me; for I am holier than you. These are a smoke in My nose, a fire that burns all the day. Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom (Isaiah 65:3-6).

Some believers act this way, they think they are so special that people cannot even touch them, everybody carries their bibles, everybody bows to them, even prostrates before them. If you do not bow to them or prostrate before them; they are offended because they think you should do that to them, because they are “holier than you”, after all God is using them in signs and wonders! God is fuming mad at such behaviour. Only Jesus deserves our worship. Jesus accepted worship because He is God. When the woman came with the alabaster flask of fragrant oil and anointed Him with it and kissed His feet (Luke 7:36-39), it was worship, and Jesus accepted worship because He is God. You and I are men and women, though we are sons and daughters of God, we are not God. Therefore we should never allow anybody to think of us as being holier than him or her, and cause them to worship us.

Peter understood it; when he came to Cornelius’ house; Cornelius fell down at Peter’s feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up saying: stand up, I myself am also a man (Acts 10:25-26). Even Peter who lived with Jesus after the flesh, walked on water, his shadow was healing the sick and was His key apostle, rejected worship because he knew that he was not holier than Cornelius though Cornelius was not yet born again.

A true man or woman of God who has the understanding of the ways of God will lift you up, when you are trying to bow down before him or her; to fall down in prostration before him or her; for he or she knows it is worship, and only God deserves our worship. Paul also refused to be seen as holier than anybody, whether they were believers or unsaved people. In Acts 14:8-18 Paul and Barnabas came to Lystra and healed a cripple. When the people of Lystra saw the miracle, they wanted to worship Paul and Barnabas. They said: the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men (Acts 14:11)! You see, though Paul and Barnabas preached Jesus and not themselves; but as soon as they performed a miracle in the name of Jesus; the people thought they were holier than they, that they were even gods. People are deceived that they are “gods” that is why they accept worship, and think in their heart that they are holier than other people. This is the iniquity of Satan, he thought he would be a god and wanted people to worship him, and as a result God was fuming mad at him, and kicked him out of heaven to hell.

This is also the iniquity of Adam and Eve, Satan deceived them that they would be as gods if they eat of the tree, and God was fuming mad and kicked them out of the Garden of Eden. Check your heart, if you delight in people thinking of you as holier than they and are now demanding special treatments; deep inside you, iniquity might be found: even the iniquity of thinking you are a “god” or a “christ”! Paul and Barnabas rejected the worship: they tore their clothes and ran among the multitude, crying out and saying: men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God (Acts 14:14-15). Let us point people to the living God, to worship the living God. It is Jesus who does the miracles, we are just men and women who have believed in Jesus. And if people receive Jesus in their life they will be like us.

Peter explained to the people who saw him healing the lame man at the gate Beautiful of the temple: men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why do you look so intently at us, as though by our own power or own holiness or own godliness we had made this man walk (Acts 3:12). The name of Jesus, through faith in His name, has made this man strong; whom you see and know (Acts 3:16). Peter and John did not think they were holier than the people, but their holiness was the imputed Holiness of Jesus, and faith in Jesus and the use of the name of Jesus did the miracle.

The bible is a whole book that needs to be read from cover to cover, from Genesis to Revelation. When people read Acts 3:16, they think it is only about using the name of Jesus and putting our faith in the name of Jesus. Jesus taught His disciples well; they learnt to always give the glory back to God, even if they also were co-labourers together with God (1Corinthians 3:9). Please read the “Abecedary of Prayer” and “He kept the good wine for the end” bible studies to discover succinctly how we are co-labourers together with God. Jesus taught us: As the living Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he who eats Me or feeds on Me, even he shall live by Me (John 6:57). So the disciples had been feeding on Jesus, meaning eating the word of God for three and half years; that is why the life of Jesus was also their life. They embraced the truth, the way and the life of Jesus (John 14:6). As you will discover in the Application of the Perfect Redemption Plan, the disciples read their bible, prayed and fasted like Jesus taught them.

They learned to ascribe the glory to Jesus Christ and not to themselves. Jesus taught us: he who speaks of himself seeks his own glory: but he who seeks the glory of Him who sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him (John 7:18). When we stand before the people, we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus who sent us (2Corinthians 4:5). We do not speak of ‘ourselves: how righteous we are, how holy we are, how we pray, how we read the scriptures and how we fast; although we do all these; because it gives the glory to us and not to the One who sent us, even Jesus! That is why Peter and John in Acts 3:16 ascribed all the glory to Jesus and the use of His name! If you do not understand how the disciples were trained; you will be like the sons of Sceva; who thought it was just the use of the name of Jesus; they did not know that they had to be co-labourers together with God (Acts 19:14-17).

And Jesus exemplified it for His disciples by always ascribing the glory to the Father who sent Him, saying: I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father who sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak (John 12:49). I can of My own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and My judgment is just; because I seek not My own will, but the will of the Father who hath sent Me (John 5:30). Do you believe not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father who dwells in Me, He does the works (John 14:10). So you see, in these scriptures and many other scriptures in the gospels, Jesus ascribed all the glory to His Father, though He was co-labourer together with God. Thus He taught His disciples also to ascribe all the glory to Him who sent them though they are co-labourers together with Him.

Jesus says to His disciples again, Peace be unto you: as My Father has sent Me, even so I send you (John 20:21). Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abides in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches: He who abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing (John 15:4-5). Paul reminds us: it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? No: but by the law of faith (Romans 3:27); for you have been crucified with Christ, and nevertheless you live; yet no longer you, but Christ lives in you. And that life you now live in the flesh, you live by faith of the Son of God, who loved you and gave Himself on your behalf (Galatians 2:20).

When God starts performing signs, wonders and miracles in the name of Jesus through us, people have the tendency of thinking of us as holier than they, or even as “gods” or “christs” and want to worship us or to give us special treatments. Though we should hold in high esteem those who labour in the prayer and teaching of the word of God (1Thessalonians 5:12-13), but we know ourselves when we are crossing the fine line of high esteem and honour to worship and idolatry. We should be like the apostles, who discouraged people to think that way or act that way. It is mainly for our own sake because we do not want that iniquity be found in our heart like the iniquity of Satan, who thought he was a god and deserved worship. Even if an angel of God appears to you; he will forbid you to worship him. John had a vision of heaven and an angel was dictating to him what he should write. John fell at the feet of the angel to worship him. But the angel said to John: see that you do not do that! I am your fellow servant, and of your brothers and sisters who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10). If an angel appears to you and asks you to worship him, it is a demon not an angel of God. Worship God!

Now that God has imputed His holiness unto us, or has set us apart or sanctified us we need to practice that sanctified or holy life. Therefore girding up the loins of your mind, being sober, perfectly hope for the grace being brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, but according to the Holy One who has called you, you also become holy in all conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy (1Peter 1:13-16).” Paul tells us: I beseech you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what is that good and pleasing and perfect will of God (Romans 12:1-2). As we practice holiness or sanctification, we are no longer conformed to this world, but are transformed to incarnate the perfect will of God, even to grow into Christ Jesus (Ephesians 4:15). For us to live a sanctified life we will need to have the knowledge of the word of God, which is the truth and pray that perfect will of God into our life; for things in the kingdom of God are sanctified through the word of God and prayer (1Timothy 4:5).

Holiness or a sanctified life, is actually the master key in our spiritual life, to see all our prayers answered! God chose us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world, so that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love (Ephesians 1:4). Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, so that He might sanctify (make holy) and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, so that He might present it to Himself as the glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that it should be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:25-27). It is possible to walk in holiness and be blameless or without blemish before God. There is always a higher and a deeper walk with Christ Jesus! There are things that should not even be named, not to talk of practiced among born again Christians, even all the sins leading to death (1Corinthians 6:9-10). As Paul says: It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife (1Corinthians 5:1); fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becomes saints (Ephesians 5:3).

Paul says: Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do, if God permits (Hebrews 6:1-3). Unfortunately some Christians keep going around the mountain of repentance to and from dead works. They never get a personal victory over sin. They keep on sinning and asking for forgiveness for the same sin over and over! God and Jesus expected them to go unto perfection, to be in a place where sin has no more dominion over them. They are still camping by the river Jordan, and keep on receiving the same water baptism, of the removing of the filth of the flesh and the world, when God expects them to go to perfection and receive the baptism of the answer of a good conscience toward God (1Peter 3:21): getting to a place in our Christian walk with Christ where we say with confidence: they will be like Paul who could hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience (1Timothy 3:9) and be able to say like him: I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience (2Timothy 1:3). Therefore let us draw near God with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water (Hebrews 10:22).

People will say: it is not possible to be perfect or blameless before God; if that is what you think, you will never get near it! The bible says: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God (Genesis 6:9). Jesus commands us, saying: therefore be perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48). Jesus cannot ask us to do something we cannot do; it would be unfair! For His yoke is easy, and His burden is light, and His commandments are not burdensome (Matthew 11:30, 1John 5:3). The purpose of the fivefold ministry [apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers] is to perfect the saints for the work of ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ and grow every born again Christian up in all things into Christ Jesus, meaning to be like Christ Jesus in all things so that as He is so are we in this world (Ephesians 4:11-15, 1John 4:17).

Jesus and Paul would not have talked to us about perfection if it was not in the heart of God and Jesus. Noah had this testimony in his life! Paul says: Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:13-14). There is a high calling, and you and I ought to press towards that mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, even being perfect as our Father is perfect and being holy as our Father is Holy! It is a daily thing. Every time we have a new revelation of the word of God it calls for a greater consecration, a greater sanctification to be like our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus! Jesus tells us: The disciple is not above his master, but everyone who is perfect shall be like his master (Luke 6:40). I, Gery, want to be perfect and holy like my master Jesus! I am not there yet, but I press towards that mark!

Paul says that this one thing he does, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before. In other words he dies daily to self (1Corinthians 15:31). Jesus says to all: If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever will save his life shall lose it, but whoever will lose his life for My sake, he shall save it (Luke 9:23-24). How do you deny yourself and take up your cross daily like Jesus commanded all of us? How can you be perfect and holy before God? It is simple; there is no mystery to it! Simply do whatever the Word of God tells you to do, in whatever situation comes your way! Your flesh or carnal mind will not want to do what the word of God tells you to do in that particular situation; because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can it be. So then those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:7-8). So as you act in line with the Word of God you are denying yourself and crucifying your old man or old sinful and carnal or sense ruled nature every day!

Of Noah it is written: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God (Genesis 6:9). Of Enoch it is written: And Enoch walked with God, and then he was not, for God took him (Genesis 5:24). By faith Enoch was translated so as not to see death, and he was not found, because God had translated him; for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God (Hebrews 11:5). So from the scripture we understand that the only way we can please God is by faith and walking by faith, for without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews11:6). Thus as long as we are being led in our decisions by our emotions and senses; we are carnal or walking in the flesh; hence we cannot please God! But if we are led in our decisions by the written word of God; we are walking by faith and not by sight or not by our natural senses (2Corinthians 5:7). Both Noah and Enoch walked with God.

There is a difference between a person walking with God and God walking with a person! You might say I do not see the difference! God covenanted that He will never leave us nor forsake us both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament (Joshua 1:5, Hebrews 13:5). On the flight of Jonah to Tarshish, God was walking with Jonah, even when they threw Jonah into the sea, God was with Jonah. It was not the will of God for Jonah to go to Tarshish, nor to be thrown into the sea; but because He promised to never leave us nor forsake us, He was with Jonah everywhere. But after Jonah had repented and decided to go to Nineveh where God had sent him, now Jonah was walking with God! David says: Where shall I go from Your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from Your presence? If I go up into Heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the furthest parts of the sea; even there shall Your hand lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light around me. Yea, the darkness does not hide from You; but the night shines as the day; as is the darkness, so is the light to You (Psalm 139:7-12).

So when David was committing adultery with Bathsheba God was with him walking with him; but David was not walking with God. Walking with God simple means allowing the word of God to order your steps and decisions; for the word of God is a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path (Psalm 119:105). It is giving the Holy Spirit, who wrote the bible, the right of way in our life and decision making. Always ask yourself this question before doing anything: what would Jesus do in this situation? If we want to be perfect and holy like our master Jesus is Perfect and Holy, then we ought always to ask ourselves this question. And what will actually happen is that the Holy Spirit who inspired the Holy Scriptures will bring to your remembrance a portion of the written Word of God, a testimony, a word, a picture, a dream or a vision that is in line with the written word of God! And as you become a doer of what was brought to your remembrance at that time you act perfectly or blamelessly, like your master Jesus. Christians must fall in love with the written Word of God, it is the key!

When we walk with God instead of God walking with us, we actually give Him the pre-eminence. Jesus, who is one with the Word of God according to John 1:1 and Revelation 19:13, ought to be before all things in our life, for by Him all things consist. And He is the Head of the body [if He is the head then He ought to lead us and instruct us the way to go], the church, who is the Beginning, the First-born from the dead, so that He may be pre-eminent in all things. For it pleased the Father that in Him all fullness should dwell (Colossians 1:17-19). As we learn to give Jesus and His written Word pre-eminence in our life, we become more and more like our Lord Jesus Christ who walked on the land of Israel 2,000 years ago. Our Lord Jesus presented Himself to the world 2,000 years ago in flesh and blood, now He commands us to represent Him to our generation or to present Him again to our generation; for we are His disciples. For many years I did not understand what it meant to yield to the Holy Spirit or to surrender to the Godhead, until I discovered from the scriptures that it simply means to give Jesus and His written Word the pre-eminence in all things in my life!

Jesus is coming for the church of Ephesus that has grown up into Him and has been perfected for the work of ministry! Sanctification is very dear to God. Jesus tells us about the vine and it branches in John 15. His Father is the husbandman, who prunes the branches so that each branch may bear more fruit. The pruning process has nothing to do with dealing with the sins that lead to death listed in 1Corinthians 6:9-10; for none of the eleven disciples of Jesus was involved in any of them, apart from Judas Iscariot the twelfth disciple. Jesus reassured them: He who is bathed has no need except to wash his feet, but is clean every whit. And you are clean, but not all. For He knew who would betray Him. Therefore He said, You are not all clean (John 13:10-11). Now you are clean through the Word which I have spoken to you (John 15:3). You and I are clean because we have been washed in the blood of Jesus and by the washing of the water by the word of God; what needs to be washed is our feet or our walk with God, so that it will line up with Jesus’ walk, with God!

So if you are still practicing the sins leading to death of 1Corinthians 6:9-10, you need to repent and confess them to God and He will be faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness (1John 1:9). These sins leading to death should not even be named among born again believers! A Few Christians continue to practice those sins leading to death listed in 1Corinthians 6:9-10 even after they have received the knowledge of how deadly they are. Paul says to them: if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He who despised Moses’ Law died without mercy on the word of two or three witnesses, of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy of punishment, the one who has trampled the Son of God, and who has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of Grace? For we know Him who has said, “Vengeance belongs to Me, I will repay, says the Lord.” And again, “The Lord shall judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:26-31).

In the Old Covenant they had atonement of sins with the blood of bulls and goats; but in the New Covenant we have the remission of sins with the blood of Jesus. What is the difference one might ask? I am glad you asked the question! Atonement means cleansing and covering. Let us take for instance for sins that a person is practicing: fornication, theft, covetousness and idolatry. Let us represent each sin by a wet and stained chair. Thus we have four wet and stained chairs. Chair one represents the fornication, chair two theft, chair three covetousness and chair four idolatry. Sinning is sitting on one of those four wet and stained chairs. When you sit on chair one you also become wet and stained with the dye of fornication; therefore you become a fornicator. When you sit on chair two you also become wet and stained with the dye of theft; therefore you become a thief. When you sit on chair three you also become wet and stained with the dye of covetousness; therefore you become covetous. And when you sit on chair four you also become wet and stained with the dye of idolatry and you become an idolater.

Now think of atonement which means cleansing and covering as first of all the cleansing or washing of the person who became wet and stained with the dye after sitting on one of the four wet and stained chairs. Isaiah says: Come now, and let us reason together, says Jehovah; though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool (Isaiah 1:18). David says: Wash me completely from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin (Psalm 51:2). Then the second meaning of atonement is covering. The individual who has been washed or cleansed as white as snow, is now covered with a white robe of righteousness. As it is written: Now Joshua was clothed with filthy clothes, and stood before the Angel. And He answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy clothes from him. And to him He said, Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with ceremonial robes. And I said, Let them set a clean turban on his head. And they set a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the Angel of Jehovah stood by (Zechariah 3:3-5). Also a big white sheet is used to cover the four wet and stained chairs.

Paul says: For the Law which has a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, appearing year by year with the same sacrifices, which they offer continually, they are never able to perfect those drawing near. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because the worshipers, when they had been once for all purged, would have had no more conscience of sin. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins (Hebrews 10:1-4). Let me put it in a way we can all understand it! You see brothers and sisters, the sacrifices offered for the atonement [cleansing or washing and covering] washed or cleanse the person who had become wet and stained after sitting on one of the four wet and stained chairs, and covered him with a clean robe of righteousness; but it failed to remove once for all the four wet and stained chairs, so that the person would never have to sit on any of them, instead it merely spread a big white sheet on the four wet and stained chairs to cover them.

Thus the individual who owned those four chairs could come again and sit on each one of those four wet and stained chairs, though they have been covered with a big white sheet. As he sits on one of the chairs that had been covered with the big white sheet, the stain goes through the big white sheet to stain his new white robe he has been clothed with. He could sit on chair one which represents the sinful nature of fornication and become a fornicator, he could sit on chair two which represents the sinful nature of theft and become a thief, he could sit on chair three which represents the sinful nature of covetousness and become covetous, and he could sit on chair four which represents the sinful nature of idolatry and become and idolater. So next year they will have to wash him again, cover him with a new clean white robe of righteousness and put another big white sheet on top of the one they put the previous years to cover those four wet and stained chairs.

Those four wet and stained chairs were inside the heart of the person, they are symbolic of that sinful nature in him. The atonement did not do away with that sinful nature that is why the person kept on falling into the same sin every year and kept on bringing the same sacrifice for the same sin every year. But even under the old covenant with the blood of bulls and goats, though the sinful nature was not done away with, saints of old drew near to God, and cried out for a real sanctification or holiness, so that they would never practice the sin, though the sinful nature was in them. In other words they put their flesh under subjection to the word of God, so that they would never sit on one of those wet and stained chairs, though those chairs were in them. David after he sat on the wet and stained chairs of adultery and murder, when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband, He cried out for God to forgive him, and cleanse him from all unrighteousness but also that God should create in him a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within him (Psalm 51).

But you and I, in the new covenant we have not atonement but remission of sins. Now remission means to put or send away, freedom, deliverance, liberty and forgiveness. Atonement is inside remission and on top of it our four wet and stained chairs have been put or sent away. We have been delivered from that sinful nature, there is no need to cover our four wet and stained chairs with a big white sheet any longer; for they have been sent or put away, we have been freed from that sinful nature. The blood of bulls and goats offered in atonement for our sins could never take away that sinful nature from us, that is why we were bent on backsliding. God said: My people are bent on backsliding from Me. Though they called them to the Most High, none at all would exalt Him (Hosea 11:7). God saw the limits of the old covenant and the limit of the power of the blood of bulls and goats. He promised to make a new covenant in blood of His only begotten Son Jesus, so that we, His people will no longer be bent on backsliding, saying: I will heal their backsliding; I will love them freely; for My anger has turned away from him (Hosea 14:4).

Paul explains it, saying: it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins, in other words put away or send away or free us or deliver us from our sinful nature (Hebrews 10:4). And No man in his own strength or will power can take away that sinful nature, also called the old man! Paul explains in Romans 7 that the Law of God is holy and good, but before he was saved, he was in the flesh, and the sinful nature that was in him, was what was pushing him to sin. If that first covenant had been without fault, then no place would have been sought for the second. For finding fault with the first covenant because it did not remove the sinful nature, He said to them, “Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and I will make an end on the house of Israel and on the house of Judah; a new covenant shall be, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day I took hold of their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt,” because they did not continue in My covenant, and I did not regard them, says the Lord, for their sinful nature was not removed, that is why they were bent on backsliding. “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days, says the Lord: I will put My Laws into their mind and write them in their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall not each man teach his neighbour, and each man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more.” In that He says, A new covenant, He has made the first one old. Now that which decays and becomes old, is ready to vanish away (Hebrews 8:7-13).

For what the law could not do (it could not take away the sinful nature), in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin [sinful nature] in the flesh (Romans 8:3). Jesus came to deal with our sinful nature once and for all. Deal with the root issue of sin, He condemned that sinful nature in the flesh. God has made Jesus, who knew no sin [meaning He did not commit sin: He was not a fornicator, nor covetous, nor a thief, nor an idolater, etc], to be sin for us [meaning to become that sinful nature that was in us: become fornication, covetousness, theft, idolatry, etc], so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2Corinthians 5:21).

The blood of Jesus dealt with the sinful nature that was in our heart, it put away the four wet and stained chairs that were there. Where that sinful nature in our heart used to be, God wrote His Laws in our heart. Where the carnal mind, or sense and emotion ruled mind that was at enmity with the law of God used to be, God put His Law in our mind. Now we have the mind of Christ (2Corinthians 2:16). Jesus is calling us to a high and deep walk with Him. Jesus says: I say to you that unless your righteousness shall exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:20). What is wrong with the righteousness of the Pharisees and the scribes? I am glad you asked, for I thought you will not dare ask! Jesus says: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of extortion and excess. Blind Pharisee! First cleanse the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outside, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so you also appear righteous to men outwardly, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity (Matthew 23:25-28).

The problem that Jesus had with the scribes and the Pharisees of those days, He still has it with born the again Christians of our days, for there is nothing new under the sun! Our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ days, which was a mere outward righteousness. You and I are the vessels in the house of God. “The Lord knew those who are His.” And, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity!” But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. Therefore if anyone purges himself from these, he shall be a vessel to honour, sanctified and useful to the Master, prepared for every good work (2Timothy 2:19-21). Thus sanctification is key to being used to do every good work of our master Jesus. Jesus says: Blessed are the pure in heart or the clean in heart: for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8); for the righteous also shall hold on his way, and he who has clean or pure hands shall be stronger and stronger (Job 17:9). He will be in the position to decree a thing and it will be established unto him, and deliver even the one who is not innocent because of the purity of his hands (Job 22:28-30).

If we are not practicing sin it is very good and God is happy with us, yet Jesus is calling us to a higher walk with him. Those Pharisees and scribes were not practicing sin; for Jesus testified that the outside of their cup was cleaned. Jesus had a problem with the inside of their cup that was not clean! Sometimes Christians have tamed the old man or their sinful nature. They have not crucified and buried that old man, or that sinful nature with Christ. Paul says: if indeed you have heard Him and were taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus. For you ought to put off the old man (according to your way of living before) who is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And you should put on the new man, who according to God was created in righteousness and true holiness (Ephesians 4:21-24). Now also put off all these things: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, shameful speech out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, having put off the old man with his deeds and having put on the new, having been renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him (Colossians 3:8-10). For if we have been joined together in the likeness of His death, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection; knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be destroyed, that from now on we should not serve sin (Romans 6:5-6).

Jesus was crucified to destroy that body of sin or sinful nature or old man, so that we should not serve sin any longer. We need to understand what Jesus accomplished by His death, burial and resurrection according to the scriptures. Paul says: if the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ (who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God) purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:13-14)? Both in our heart and in our mind, we do not have to put up with the sinful nature and sinful thoughts; for the blood of Jesus cleaned and removed our sinful nature, but also has power to cleanse or purge our conscience from dead works, to serve the living God.

One may ask: how can a Christian tame the old man or his sinful nature instead of crucifying it, and burying it with Christ? Let us take examples of the Pharisees and scribes, who wash the outside of the cup but the inside is full of all uncleanness. If we take for instance sexual immoralities; a born again Christian might not practice or commit adultery, fornication, homosexuality, sodomy, paedophilia, rape, incest or bestiality; thus he is clean outwardly. But inwardly (in his heart and in his mind) he is craving and burning for those sexual immoralities; so some of the modern day Pharisees and scribes will try to buy pornographic magazines, DVDs and go on adult websites. They think in their mind it is a lesser sin that they are doing, but they are deceiving themselves, they are sinning, for Jesus says adultery begins in the heart; for Jesus says: I say unto you, That whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her, has committed adultery with her already in his heart (Matthew 5:28).

Now the Pharisees and scribes who are not deceived, but are genuine and do not want to have pornographic magazines, DVDs or visit adult websites. They will try to tame that old man or sinful nature by making themselves accountable to some counsellors in the church. They will disclose their struggles to the counsellors, they will put some programs on their computer and smart phones to block access to any adult websites, and they will print all the receipts of their shopping and bring it to the counsellors every week to check that they are not buying pornographic magazines or DVDs. And once in a while they will fall and go on one of those adult websites, etc. Counselling and accountability are good, but they have their limits. They are like alcoholic and narcotic anonymous groups; the people still have the desire to drink or use drugs, so they keep themselves accountable to one another, for years sometimes 20 years and even after 20 years, they still go and drink once in a while and come back to the group for support.

What the church is lacking is real sanctification; it is the work of the Holy Spirit, not of our human effort to deal with the old man. The blood of Jesus has the power to cleanse our conscience even from dead works, that we may serve the living God acceptably; for the yoke will be taken away from your neck and destroyed, and the burden lifted from off your shoulders by the anointing (Isaiah 10:27). My friend, there is power in the blood of Jesus! The saints of old, used to call sanctification the second work of the Holy Spirit; the first work of the Holy Spirit being salvation. And many times the saints will tarry at the altar of prayer for days, until God has dealt with their sinful natures and broken the yoke of sin in their life, so that there is no more desire to sin in them. Smith Wigglesworth had an anger problem, and sometimes his face would turn white because of anger. He did not attend anger management classes or join any group of that kind; he locked himself away for ten days until God had dealt with his anger issue. When he came out, his wife testified she had a new husband!

I, Gery, did not tame or manage my fornication, my drinking, my smoking and my clubbing sinful desires. I locked myself away in prayer and even in fasting like the saints of old, that God will deal with each one of them once for all; for my sins were remitted not merely atoned for! God is my witness, those desires were consumed out of me by the fire of the Holy Ghost. John the Baptist says of Jesus: I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but He who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire (Matthew 3:11). The fire is to purify each one of us, priests of the new covenant; for Malachi says: But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appears? for He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness (Malachi 3:2-3).

That is why Paul can boldly tell us: Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace (Romans 6:12-14). Have zero tolerance for the works of darkness in you, clean both the outside of the cup and the inside of the cup, so that you may be a vessel of honour, useful to our master Jesus for every good work.

Sanctification is the key to effectiveness in prayer, for when your heart does not condemn you and your conscience does not accuse you, you have great boldness of speech and confidence toward God. I remember having a vision of God putting white gloves on my hands and the word of the Lord came to me, saying: you shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto you: and the light shall shine upon your ways. When men are cast down, then you shall say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person. He shall deliver one not innocent: and he is delivered by the pureness of your hands (Job 22:28-30). The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he who has clean hands or pureness of hands shall be stronger and stronger (Job 17:9). Many people will get their deliverance even if they are not innocent, because of the purity of your hand, or your holiness; as you decree it, it is established for them! And I sanctify Myself for their sakes, so that they also might be sanctified in truth (John 17:19). The king of healings, deliverances, miracles and wonders God will be performing through, shall be stronger and stronger, even mightier and mightier as you clean and purify your hands, or become holy as your Father God is Holy (1Peter 1:16).

Jesus says: If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you shall ask what you desire, and it shall be done to you. In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you shall be My disciples. As the Father has loved Me, so I have loved you; continue in My love. [How does one abide in Jesus and His love?] If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love (John 15:7-10). In this chapter Jesus is talking about pruning us, so that we may bear much fruit, it is about sanctification! Sanctification or pruning which leads to bearing much fruit, even the fruit of the Spirit, is the master key to have the desires of your heart granted.

John says: if our heart accuses or condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not accuse or condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask, we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight (1John 3:20-22). When does our heart accuse or condemn us? Paul says: it is when we walk after the flesh, and not after the Spirit, that our heart condemns us and our conscience accuses us (Romans 8:1, Romans 2:15). A sister, who was against sanctification, and yet wanted to do the healing miracles of Jesus, said to me: my conscience never accuses me nor does my heart condemn me when I smoke, drink, and go to night clubs! Deep inside me, I was weeping because I knew she was in a dangerous spiritual place. Paul says about such Christians: they have their conscience seared with a hot iron (1Timothy 4:2). Basically their spiritual nerve endings, that sensitize them to sin, have been burned with hot iron, and dead skin has covered those nerve endings, so that they do not feel any conviction of sin from the Holy Spirit. Jesus says: And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold (Matthew 24:11-12). For if they were still hot for Jesus, they would keep His commandments. Jesus says about such Christians: I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot: I would you were cold or hot. So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue you out of my mouth (Revelation 3:15-16).

Solomon says: catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom (Songs of Solomon 2:15). Being in bloom is when a plant has flowers. When these flowers are pollinated, they yield fruits; so the plan of the enemy, the devil, is to send foxes into our vineyard that is in bloom, to ruin it, so that there will never be fruit in our vineyard. Part of our job in the sanctification process is to catch those foxes of the devil, before they ruin our vineyard. Every born again Christian is planted by God as a choice vine, sound and reliable, it is because we did not do our part to catch the little foxes, the devil sent to destroy our vineyard that was in bloom, that we never yielded fruit or even turned into a degenerated vine. God says: Yet I planted you a noble vine, wholly a true seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate shoots of an alien vine to Me (Jeremiah 2:21)?

So part of the process of sanctification is to catch those little foxes of the devil that are ruining our vineyard that is in bloom, so that we will not turn into degenerate shoots of an alien vine to the Lord, even by becoming conformed to the world, instead of being transformed by the renewing of our mind, by the washing of the water of the word of God (Romans 12:1-2). Paul tells us: Therefore since we are also surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses [saints in the bible who walked with God and were heroes of faith], let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Sin definitely easily besets us, and is one of the little foxes the enemy sends to ruin our vineyard that is in bloom, so that no fruit of the spirit will ever be seen on us. But there are also things that are not necessarily sin in themselves, but they are weights, like one of those 19^th century prisoners’ ball and chain, which used to be attached to their ankle, to slow them down in case they were tempted to run. Laying aside every weight which so easily besets us, can be likened to the pruning of the vine that Jesus describes in John 15. Paul says: All things are lawful to me, but not all things profit. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any (1Corinthians 6:12). Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophesying. Prove all things [according to the written word of God], hold fast to the good. Abstain from every appearance of evil or sin (1Thessaloniens 5:19-22).

As you read your bible and these My Weekly Milk bible studies, you will discover the ways of God. Your ways and my ways are not necessarily sinful ways, yet they can have an appearance of sin, or you could give them a place in your life, where God and His written Word should be! Let us be like Moses of whom it is said: God made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel (Psalm 103:7). The people only saw the miracles, signs and wonders God performed by the hands of Moses, but Moses knew the ways of God, that is why he could perform the acts of God. God beseeches us to renew our mind in line with His written word and embrace His ways, like Moses did.

He says through Isaiah: My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways, says Jehovah. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain comes down, and the snow from the heavens, and does not return there, but waters the earth, and makes it bring out and bud, and give seed to the sower and bread to the eater; so shall My Word be, which goes out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall certainly do what I sent it to do (Isaiah 55:8-11). God, His thoughts, His ways and His word will never change; for He says: I am the Lord and I do not change (Malachi 3:6). The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My Words shall not pass away (Matthew 24:35). For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven (Psalm 119:89). You and I are the ones who must change our thoughts and our ways, to line up with the written Word of God. Moses and Isaiah learned and embraced the high thoughts and the high ways of the Lord; and walked with God on the highway of holiness (Isaiah 35:8).

The LORD said unto Moses, Come up to Me on the mountain, and be there: and I will give you tablets of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that you may teach them (Exodus 24:12). You need to be like Moses and certainly not stay at the foot of the mountain like Aaron, and the elders of Israel, who stayed at the foot of the mountain. All who stayed down including Aaron, built a golden calf and worshiped it (Exodus 32). Moses who went up the mountain received the revelation of the written word of God, and learned the high ways and thoughts of God. You and I need to spend time in the word of God and prayer, to learn the high ways and thoughts of God. God said to Moses: You cannot see My face. For there no man can see Me and live (Exodus 33:20). Yet, it is written of the same Moses: the LORD spoke unto Moses face to face, as a man speaks unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle (Exodus 33:11).

Someone will say: there is a contradiction here. Why did Moses not die physically when God talked to him face to face? If you ever see God, you will die to self! One will ask: does God need to appear to me in a burning bush? No, we are saying; if you ever get the revelation of the word of God, embrace His high thoughts, His high ways and walk in His highway of holiness; you will but die to self! Moses spent time in the word of God and in prayer, to renew his thoughts and ways to the high thoughts and ways of God. My prayer for each one of us is, that we will see God and that we will talk to Him face to face, we will be His friend like Moses and Abraham were His friends; so that we may die to self and embrace His high thoughts and high ways, and walk on His highway of holiness. John tells us: Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He who does good is of God: but he who does evil has not seen God (3John 1:11). No wonder that Aaron and the elders who stayed at the foot of the mountain did evil, by building the gold calf and worshiping it; for they had not seen God!

Paul also agrees with John and says: follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). Thus without holiness or sanctification, no one can see the Lord God. Where did Paul get that idea? He got it from Exodus 19 where God said to the people to sanctify themselves for three days, because He will come in their midst and speak to them from heaven! Ananias said to the newly converted Saul of Tarsus: The God of our fathers has chosen you to know His will and to see the Just One, and to hear a voice out of His mouth. For you shall be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard (Acts 22:14-15). Jesus confirms it by saying: blessed are the pure in heart, or clean in heart; for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8). This is the will of God for every born again Christian, that we will all see the Just One, even our Lord God and hear the voice of His mouth, like the whole congregation in the wilderness saw God and heard the voice of His mouth in Exodus 19; but there was a condition to it: they must sanctify or make themselves holy; for without holiness or sanctification no man can see the Lord God!

Judas, not Iscariot, said unto Jesus: Lord, how is it that You will [emphanizo: manifest Yourself in person, reveal Yourself, disclose Yourself by words, show Yourself] unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him (John 14:22-23). The closer we get to God the more He manifests Himself to us and through us. Moses who sanctified himself, could speak face to face with God and God could manifest Himself through Moses, so much as his face was shining, for the people to see the glory of God, made manifest through him.

There is nothing new under the sun; Christians who do evil have simply not seen God! Meaning they have no revelation of God and His written Word, and have not embraced the high thoughts and high ways of God, and have not decided to walk on His highway of holiness! Father Abraham also went up the mountain with the Seed of Abraham, who is Christ, to worship. As it is written: Abraham said to his servants, “stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you” (Genesis 22:5). Moses rose up with his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mountain of God. And he said to the elders, Tarry here for us, until we come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man has any matters to do, let him come unto them (Exodus 24:13-14).

Those who stay at the foot of the mountain with the donkeys, will not be greatly used by God!; while others go up the mountain to see God face to face and talk to Him, as a man talks to his friend, will receive the revelation of His Word, embrace His high thoughts, high ways and choose to walk on His highway of holiness. Some Christians have the attitude of the people in the wilderness with Moses, God told the whole congregation, sanctify yourselves for I want to come among you and speak directly to you! They did it once for three days and then said to Moses, this sanctification deal is not for us, so you Moses go talk with God we will just hear what God has to say through you (Exodus 19)! In the New Covenant, we are all priests and kings, so the sanctification deal is for every born again Christian. Let us go up to the mountain with the Lord Jesus, the Seed of Abraham.

For many years I never understood what it meant to wait on the Lord and why the saints of old were always talking about waiting on the Lord! Isaiah says: Have you not known? Have you not heard, that the everlasting God, Jehovah, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not grow weak nor weary? There is no searching of His understanding. He gives power to the weary; and to him with no vigor; He increases strength. Even the young shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall; but those who wait on Jehovah shall renew [change or exchange] their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40:28-31).

When we wait on the Lord, we renew our strength, meaning we change or exchange strength: God takes away our weakness and gives us His strength, let the weak say I am strong (Joel 3:10); God takes our powerlessness and gives us His power, so that we can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13), He takes away our doubts and unbelief, and gives us faith in Him, and we hear the revelation of His spoken word to us (Romans 10:17), he takes away the darkness of our life, and gives us His light. The bible says: it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony, in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone, while he talked with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him (Exodus 34:29-30).

So Moses truly exchanged or renewed his strength, for the strength of the Lord God, who is light, was shining through the face of Moses, because Moses had been with Him and talking with Him. How do I wait on the Lord? It is simple; you spend time reading and meditating on the written word of God, and in prayer and at times in fasting also. That is how we wait on the Lord! Moses did not even know that He had exchanged strength with God; he did not know his face was shining. People will see the transformation in your life, that you yourself will not even notice; you will effortlessly be transformed to the image of Christ and no longer be conformed to this world as you wait on the Lord. People around you will know that you have seen God! That you have been with Jesus, like they said about those fishermen, who had no education, but the wisdom of the word of God and the power of the word of God was coming out of them, and they the Jewish leaders perceived that these fishermen had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13).

There is no one who waits on the Lord and remains the same, it is impossible! For every revelation of God calls for a greater consecration! You take on, not just the life and the way, but also the power of God as you wait upon the Lord, for the path of the just is like the shining light, that shines more and more to the perfect day (Proverbs 4:18). Just like the face of Moses was shining for all to see that he had been with the Lord and exchanged his strength; so shall your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven (Matthew 5:16). For we in the new covenant are supposed to have it better than Moses, as Paul tells us: we are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face, so that the sons of Israel could not steadfastly look at the end of what was passing away. (But their thoughts were blinded; for until the present time, the same veil remains on the reading of the old covenant, not taken away.) But this veil has been done away with in Christ. But until this day, when Moses is read, the veil is on their heart. But whenever it turns to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. And the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with our face having been unveiled, having beheld the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are being changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Lord’s Spirit (2Corinthians 3:13-18).

Let us no longer stay at the foot of the mountain acting like donkeys! God says: I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go: I will guide you with My eye. Do not be as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto you (Psalm 32:8-9). One may ask, I can stay at the foot of the mountain and still see God, for it is written: Moses went up, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. And they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet, as it were, a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as the essence of the heavens for clearness. And upon the nobles of the sons of Israel He did not lay his hands. Also they saw God, and ate and drank (Exodus 24:9-11).

Yes, they saw God, even ate and drank in His presence. They saw God from afar off, not face to face like Moses, God talked to them from above, they did not talk back to God as a friend, and they ate and drank in His presence from afar off, not face to face (Exodus 19, Exodus 24). But to Moses God said: Come up to Me on the mountain, and be there: and I will give you tablets of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that you may teach them (Exodus 24:12). God wants us close to Him, so that He will instruct us and teach us in the way which we shall go and guide us with His eye; but if we choose to stay at the foot of the mountain with the donkeys, we will rob ourselves of that privilege (Psalm 32:8-9). Therefore God says through James: draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners; and purify your hearts, double-minded ones (James 4:8). God will not force you to draw near to Him, you may do it after you have been afflicted by the devil. Like the Psalmist says: before I was afflicted I went astray; but now I have kept Your Word (Psalm 119:67).

A dear brother, God bless his soul, who had a problem with holiness, said to me angrily: I do not see how God can say to a born again Christian in the day of judgment I never knew you! Let us hear it from Jesus Himself: A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruits, nor can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that does not bring forth good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not everyone who says to Me, Lord! Lord! shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord! Lord! Did we not prophesy in Your name, and through Your name throw out demons, and through Your name do many wonderful works? And then I will say to them I never knew you! Depart from Me, those working lawlessness! Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock. And the rain came down, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house. And it did not fall, for it was founded on a rock. And everyone who hears these sayings of Mine and does not do them shall be compared to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain came down, and the floods came, and the wind blew and beat on that house. And it fell, and great was its fall (Matthew 7:18-27).

It is also written: one said to Jesus, Lord, are the ones being saved few? And He said to them, Strive to enter in at the narrow gate. For I say to you, many will seek to enter in and shall not be able. And once the Master of the house has risen up and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us, and He shall answer and say to you, I do not know you; from where are you; then you shall begin to say, We ate and drank in Your presence, and You have taught in our streets. But He shall say, I tell you, I do not know you; from where you are. Depart from Me, all workers of unrighteousness! There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you will see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and yourselves being thrust out. And they will come from the east and the west, and from the north and the south, and will recline in the kingdom of God. And behold, there are last ones which will be first, and there are first ones which will be last (Luke 13:23-30).

What happened to Israel is a shadow of what will happen to the church, the body of Christ. In this Luke 13:23-30 Jesus is making allusion to the account of Exodus 24 and Exodus 19, where we have seen the elders of Israel eating and drinking in the presence of the Lord at the foot of the mountain, the voice of God was even heard from heaven by the whole congregation in the wilderness with lightning and thundering, what a preaching straight from heaven! Yet we know that with some of them, God was not pleased, and Paul lists the category of those with whom God was not pleased in 1Corinthians 10. Those who were idolaters in the incident of the gold calf, those who rebelled against the leadership of Moses who is a type of Christ, and those who practiced sexual immoralities were sent to hell. For us Christians if we deceive ourselves by practicing the sins leading to death listed in 1Corinthians 6:9-10 we will also be destroyed in hell fire. Therefore let those sins leading to death, not even be mentioned once among us and let us go unto perfection.

Like I said God will not change; we are the ones who need to change our ways, our thoughts and life! Just like Jesus said: the Master is the one who shut the door! And in the account of the flood in the days of Noah the bible says it was God who shut the door of Noah’s ark (Genesis 7:16). Noah might have had friends and other relatives that he loved and wanted them in the ark with him. God shut the door and no man can open (Revelation 3:7-8). Also preachers of the gospel, who are operating with the Balaam spirit, Jezebel spirit and other spirits that Jesus hates, if they do not repent, they will be destroyed as well, according to Revelation 2. They might have started well and even cast out demons, but we also need to finish well. Paul says: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. Now there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that Day; and not to me only, but also to all those who love His appearing (2Timothy 4:7-8).

And furthermore God says to Ezekiel, thus says the Lord Jehovah to Jerusalem, Your origin and your birth is of the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite (Ezekiel 16:3). You are your mother’s daughter, who despises her husband and her sons. And you are the sister of your sisters, who despise their husbands and their sons. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite (Ezekiel 16:45). So wait a second; I thought God was the Father of Israel and Israel was His firstborn? For He said: you shall say to Pharaoh, Thus says the Lord: Israel is My son, My first-born (Exodus 4:22). And Israel could boldly say that they have one Father, even God (John 8:41). So how come is God now saying that their father was an Amorite and their mother a Hittite? God answers that question through Jeremiah, saying: I planted you a noble vine, wholly a true seed. How then have you turned into the degenerate shoots of an alien vine to Me (Jeremiah 2:21)? God could not recognize the fruit on the noble vine He once planted; it was bearing alien fruit, even the fruit of the Amorite and the Hittite!

The same thing Jesus said to the Jewish leaders, he could not recognize the fruit of God on them but the fruit of the devil; therefore their Father was the devil not God! Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, you would love Me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? even because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it (John 8:42-44). And Jesus says: If you love Me, keep My commandments (John 14:15). He who has My commandments, and keeps them, it is he who loves Me: and he who loves Me shall be loved of My Fatherasxx., and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him. Judas said unto Him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep my words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He who does not love Me, does not keep My sayings: and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me (John 14:21-24).

People only want to hear John 14:12-14, where Jesus promised that they will do the same works and even greater works. They do not read the verses before and the verses after, which talk about abiding in Jesus, abiding in His love, abiding in His word and keeping His commandment to be able have the manifestation of God in you and through you. By their fruit you shall know them! Let us embrace the life, the way and the truth of Jesus, and we will also manifest his power in us and through us!

The fig tree talks of the nation of Israel. And a fig tree has fruits on it before leaves start appearing on it. So when you see the leaves on a fig tree there must be some fruits on it, even if they are still green figs. We are now part of the commonwealth of Israel through Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:12). The leaves talk first of all about our professions or confession and then the leaves are also for the healing of the nations, according to Revelation 22:2. So Jesus says to all of us, natural Israel and spiritual Israel: Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When its branch is yet tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is nigh (Matthew 24:32). What is it saying, when he tells us that we know that summer is nigh? Spring has already come: the fig tree putting forth her green figs, is a sign that the winter is past, the spring has come, and summer is at hand. It is high time for born again Christians, to possess what they profess to be. You do not have to have ripe figs straight away, but you need to have at least green figs. The fruit of the spirit will mature in all its aspects of your life! Learn something from the fig tree; for you are a spiritual fig tree! You are a tree of righteousness the planting of the Lord (Isaiah 61:3).

So the very day you are born again, all the divine attributes of Jesus have been imputed to you, you are exhibiting a spiritually green fig. And that fruit of the Spirit will mature in all its aspects, for everybody to see! In Mark 11, Jesus had a problem with the fig tree which had leaves but no figs on it, not even green figs; He cursed it, and it withered away from the root. As you read that account of Mark 11, it says it was not the season for figs, yet that fig tree had leaves (Mark 11:13). This kind of fig tree was a different one, it is called Benoth Shuach, and it had white figs that were not ripe till the third year. Whereas the normal fig tree, puts forth her green figs in spring and it takes five full months before the figs are ripe. But this was not the time for figs! But this Benoth Shuach type of fig tree, with her white figs, that take about three years to ripen, always has leaves, for when you come to that fig tree, you will find ripe figs that were put forth three years ago, you will find the growing figs that were put forth two years ago, and you will find the green figs that have been put forth this year.

This Benoth Shuach kind of fig tree, is truly the picture of what a born again Christian is supposed to be. Now the fruit is the fruit of the Spirit; but the figs are the different aspects of the fruit of the Spirit, even the nine aspects of the fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23. When we are born again we have all the attributes of Jesus imputed to us, but we only exhibit green figs, or few aspects of the fruit of the Spirit. God expects that every month, and every year we will mature in one of the nine aspects of the fruit of the Spirit. The righteous under the Old Covenant, was likened to the normal fig tree of Israel. David says of that righteous person, he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper (Psalm 1:3). Thus if it was not the season, there were no figs and no leaves.

The righteous in the New Covenant is likened to that Benoth Shuach kind of fig tree. John says: In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations (Revelation 22:2). Jesus who is the resurrection and life, dwells in every born again Christian. We, as branches, have been grafted into Him, the true vine (John 15:1-2, Romans 11:23-24); His resurrection power and life now flows through us to make our mortal body alive, because our branch is grafted into Him (Romans 8:11). Hence Jesus our master, when He comes to see His fig tree, which we are, expects to see fruit on each one of us every month. They do not necessarily all have to be fully ripe fruit. The fully ripe fruits that were brought forth three years ago must be on you, meaning you have matured in some aspects of the fruit of the Spirit. On that same fig tree there must be growing figs, brought forth two years ago. Meaning there are some aspects of the fruit that you are maturing in. And there must be, on that same fig tree, the green figs brought forth this year. Meaning there must be some of the fruit of the Spirit that is still in its baby stage in their manifestations in your life.

The leaves or our profession or confession are for the healing of the nations. Jesus was angry at the fig tree in Mark 11 because it was deceiving people, and deceiving itself. We profess to be righteous and there is no evidence in our life, not even in their unripe or embryonic form. Some of the Christians of Corinth were of that kind, deceiving people and deceiving themselves (1Corinthians 6:9-10). Jesus spent three and half years with His disciples, to impart not just His Word of Truth, but also His life and Way (John 14:6). Paul also says that we should imitate him as he imitates Christ (1Corinthians 11:1). So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because you were dear unto us (1Thessalonians 2:8).

The fruits also talk of souls won for Christ. The more we display aspects of the fruit of the Spirit, the easier it becomes to win souls to Christ. Sanctification always results in the manifestation of the aspects of the fruit of the Spirit, for you embrace the life, the truth and the way of Jesus. You cannot help it; unwittingly your face will shine to the people around you like Moses’ face did. People like Wigglesworth, who preached salvation, sanctification and healing, were so filled with the life of Jesus, that on one occasion he was in the train, he was reading his bible, he did not preach to anybody. And all the people in his wagon started weeping, and they said to him: man you have convicted us of sin! Who are you? And he led them all to Christ.

Some Christians think they can live in open sin and God will be indifferent to their sinful lifestyle. They do not want to get out of the life the accursed things of the world and sanctify themselves; yet they expect God to keep giving them the victory. They even fast and pray expecting to twist the arm of God by their sacrifice; forgetting that obedience is better than sacrifice (1Samuel 15:22). The children of Israel under the leadership of Joshua won a great victory at Jericho, yet were defeated by the small city of Ai. They fasted the whole day crying unto God, asking why they were defeated and why God did not defeat their enemies. God said to Joshua, you do not even need to fast, get up and get the accursed thing from the midst of the camp and sanctify yourselves, and then you will see I will be with you and fight for you. And as they got the accursed things out of their midst and sanctified themselves, God gave them the victory over Ai (Joshua 7). Now in the New Testament God will deal with us individually and not collectively according to Ezekiel 18, thus you and I need to get the accursed things out of our respective life and sanctify ourselves.

The people, who do not want to get the accursed things of the world out of their life and sanctify themselves, will say: “God is slow to answer our prayers!” What is the truth about that statement? Peter answers it for us, saying: the Lord is not slow concerning His promise, as some count slowness, but is long-suffering toward us, not purposing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2Peter 3:9). He wants some of His children to repent by getting the accursed things of the world out of their life, and sanctify themselves. A sister wanted deliverance from immigration issues, but she had told so many lies. She had been to some churches in London, and had fasted for two weeks and had given them £2,000 for her deliverance, and bought their anointing olive oil and prayer cloth for about £500, and nothing happened. For about a decade she had gone to almost all the Pentecostal and charismatic denominations, she had run to all the prophets who came into town, and given them money and fasted and still nothing happened.

When she came to Brother Gery, a preacher truly full of power by the Spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin (Micah 3:8), he said to her, God cannot bless your lies and sinful ways. You will have to repent to God; you need to tell the truth to the judge, should you be asked, but you must repent to God. You do not need to fast a single day, and you certainly do not need to give me a dime; for God is not after your money, but that you should repent, get the accursed things of the world from your life, and sanctify yourself. And then God will be merciful and deliver you! O bless her heart, she humbled herself, and God delivered her in three months. God will not change, you and I will have to change (Malachi 3:6). She wasted a decade of her life, gave money to many so-called prophets and men of God, fasted, and joined all the night vigil services of big churches in London! Children of God will do all those sacrifices, and yet not be willing to obey a simple command of the Lord: repent, get the accursed things of the world out of your life, and be sanctified so that God will deliver you!

Another born again Christian came to a man of God to receive the fruit of the womb. She was a highly educated and sophisticated lady, married to a prominent man in the secular world. The man of God prayed for her and the next year she came again to the crusade of the man of God. She said to him: “I was told that if you lay hands on me I will be pregnant! Now I came last year and you laid hands on me and a whole year has gone and I am still not pregnant.” The man of God wanted to lay hands on her the second time, for he believes in a second touch like when Jesus prayed twice for the blind man in (Mark 8:22-26). But the Holy Spirit stopped him, and said to him: ask her how many lovers she has besides her husband? The man of God was afraid to ask such a lady that kind of question; but since he knows the voice of the Holy Spirit he said: excuse me Ma’am, the Lord is telling me to ask you: how many lovers do you have besides your husband? The lady answered: I have five; just in case I cannot get pregnant by my husband, one of my lovers will get me pregnant! The man of God said to her: repent and go home to your husband and you will be pregnant. She did and she became pregnant.

In the days of Smith Wigglesworth, a lady came to one of his camp meetings for healing. She was wearing a small hat. When she stood before Wigglesworth for prayer, he removed the microphone so that nobody would hear but that lady, and said to her by the Holy Spirit: “go home, stop sinning and God will heal you!” The next night she came again but this time she wore a very big hat that almost covered her face and there were more than 2,000 people waiting to be prayed for. Wigglesworth could never recognize her in that crowd, and with her face partially hidden with that very big hat. Yet when her turn came to stand before him to receive prayer; the Holy Spirit said to Wigglesworth: this is the lady from yesterday! This time around he did not cover the microphone, he said with a loud booming voice: I told you yesterday, “go home, stop sinning and God will heal you! What are you doing here? get out of this prayer line! Unless you are ready to obey God and stop sinning, do not come back for more prayer! A holy conviction fell upon the thousands who were under that tent, for they realized you cannot play with God!

A sister came to the healing service in Glasgow the first Sunday evening of September 2014. She was deaf in one ear and also had throat cancer. I did not know her or what was going on in her life. I prepared my good sermon for that evening on (Luke 4:18), but as I started, the Holy Spirit told me to digress and talk about the sins leading to death of (1Corinthians 6:9-10) and sanctification. I was not happy with the Holy Spirit because sanctification and repentance does not bring crowds, but I obeyed. I made many statements by the Holy Spirit and even talked of bestiality, but one of the statements I made was: there is not such a thing as a born again Christian who smokes; we should be different from the world. What is the difference between smoking marijuana and smoking tobacco? How far do we want to imitate the sinful world? I noticed she was weeping and all her make up was ruined by her profuse tears.

When she came up for prayer I laid hands on her deaf ear and commanded the deaf spirit to come out in Jesus’ name! She immediately heard perfectly and she told me she was a born again Christian who smokes and now has throat cancer. I said to her God has forgiven you, and neither do I condemn you: go, and sin no more (John 8:11). The same God who has opened your deaf ear has also healed your throat cancer! During the healing service in Glasgow on the first Sunday evening of November 2014, that very sister came back and said to me that she had been to the doctor and her throat cancer is healed! Now she has brought her elder sister, who lives in Aberdeen, who also has an incurable disease. God gave her elder sister a word to write down on a piece of paper and put it in her pocket, and when she hears that exact sentence, she knows that she is healed. To the glory of God before the service even started, during the prayer meeting, to commit the service to the leading of the Holy Spirit, I said word for word what God said to that sister to write on the piece of paper. She tapped me on the shoulder and showed me her piece of paper. I said to her: go home you are healed!

Some Christians despise the goodness and forbearance of God. Paul says: O man, [you born again Christian who are now part of the commonwealth of Israel], the one judging those who do such things [judging those who practice sin], and [you yourself] practice them, do you think this, that you shall escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of His kindness, and the forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But according to your hardness, and your impenitent heart, do you treasure up wrath for yourself in a day of wrath, and revelation, of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each according to his works (Romans 2:3-6). When God shows us kindness and goodness, it is supposed to lead us to repentance not that we should say: “God does not care about my life style; I can live like Samson, who went to the prostitutes, and I can live like David who committed adultery and murder; and God will still be working with me, keep delivering me!”

Prostitutes, thieves, adulterers, fornicators, drunkards and homosexuals, when they give their life to Christ, forsake their past life and follow Jesus; but we have people who are Christians and practice those sins leading to death listed in 1Corinthians 6:9-10. They are not ignorant of the truth, but they wilfully practice them, because they despise the riches of God’s kindness and goodness, His forbearance and long-suffering. Paul says again: if we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He who despised Moses’ Law died without mercy on the word of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy of punishment, the one who has trampled the Son of God, and who has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who has said, “Vengeance belongs to Me, I will repay, says the Lord.” And again, “The Lord shall judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:26-31).

God told the whole congregation not to take the accursed things in the city of Jericho in Joshua 6, Achan sinned wilfully after he received the knowledge of the truth (Joshua 7). People will say: how come we were saved by grace through faith and now that we are born again Christians, God wants to hold us to a high standard of lifestyle? Why can He not still treat me like when I was unsaved? I am glad you are bold to ask that question! Read the small book of Jonah. Jonah wanted God to destroy the city of Nineveh of the Assyrians who oppressed Israel. God said to Jonah: should I not spare Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than a hundred and twenty thousand men who do not know between their right and their left hand, besides much cattle (Jonah 4:11)? Some Christians are like some unsaved people, who do not know between their right and their left hand; meaning it is not their fault nobody told them the way, the truth and the life of God which is Jesus (John 14:6). So they fall into the category of the people who perish for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6).

Some churches are more interested in the tithes and offerings of the people and in the crowd in their building, than in teaching people the way, the truth and the life of God! We become pleasers of the crowds and not pleasers of God. For now do I persuade men, or God? [The answer is I persuade men.] Or do I seek to please men? [The answer is I seek to please God who sent me.] For if I yet pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ. And, brothers, I make known to you the gospel which was preached by me, that it is not according to man (Galatians 1:10-11). James gives a warning to such leaders of congregations: My brothers and sisters, do not be many teachers, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation or judgment (James 3:1). Teach people the word of God and not what they want to hear, show them how they can be transformed into the image of Christ by the renewing of their mind, and no longer be conformed to this world (Romans 12:1-2).

Other Christians are like Achan who, having received the knowledge of the truth, wilfully reject it. They will be destroyed like Achan; because they rejected the knowledge, wilfully took the accursed things of the world and refused to sanctify themselves (Hosea 4:6, Joshua 7). Anyone who is wise will not fight with God, because you will never win! Why not repent of our sinful ways, get those accursed things of the world out of our life and sanctify ourselves so that God can be pleased with us and deliver us; for When a man’s ways please Jehovah, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him (Proverbs 16:7). The whole book of Judges is about the children of God, being destroyed by their enemies; because of their idolatry and their conformity to the nations around them. When they cried out to God for His deliverance, God said to them: you have forsaken Me and served other gods; therefore, I will deliver you no more. Go and cry to the gods which you have chosen. Let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation (Judges 10:13-14). But as soon as the children of God repented, and put away the accursed things, and sanctified themselves; God delivered them. “The Lord knows those who are His.” And, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity (2Timothy 2:19)!”

When we become born again Christians. God wants us to be equipped with the knowledge of Him; so that we will do the things that are pleasing in His sight (Romans 12:1-2, Romans 14:18). Yes we were saved by grace through faith; but now we should not continue in sin! What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, so that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein [or keep practicing sin]? Do you not know that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (Romans 6:1-4).

God’s heart desire has always been that the disciples should do the same work as his discipler, and even greater works. But you also need to embrace the life, way and the truth of Jesus. Moses and Joshua, his assistant, are the first shadow of Jesus and His disciples. Moses is a type of Jesus, the Prophet that he prophesied will come (Deuteronomy 18:15-18). Joshua is a type of disciple of Christ. Whenever Moses went onto the mountain, Joshua did not stay at the foot of the mountain with Aaron, the elders; he went half way onto the mountain and stayed there as long as Moses was there (Exodus 24). Joshua also stayed in the tabernacle; he could hear how Moses prayed, observe the ways of Moses, ask Moses questions about the truth of the word of God, and the ways of God, and then imitate Moses in all things. No wonder after the death of Moses, the ministry fell upon Joshua; it was no accident (Joshua 1)!

God promised Joshua if you stick to this book of the Lord like Moses did, observe to do according to all that is written in it like Moses did, meditate in this book day and night like Moses did; follow Me like Moses did; I will also be with you and perform miracles for you and through you, like I was with Moses. Moses parted the Red Sea, Joshua parted the Jordan. Moses defeated three kings and performed wonders; Joshua defeated thirty-one kings and performed wonders too. God did greater miracles through Joshua. Elijah and Elisha are also a type of Jesus and his disciples. Please read the bible study: “Return journey Gilgal-Jordan (East)” to see what every step of the journey prophetically means. Some people, have been deceived; not knowing, either the scriptures or the power of God, they think the condition to carry out the same ministry of Elijah, and do greater works, was merely: if you see me taken from you, it shall be so to you (2Kings 2:10).

No, Elisha embraced the life, the truth and the way of God that was in Elijah. Other sons of the prophets stopped half way! Every revelation calls for a new consecration and sanctification. And some of the sons of the prophets decided to stop at the revelation of Gilgal, where they received the imputed righteousness: the reproach or Egypt was rolled away and God circumcised their heart the second time, by removing the filth of the flesh! Some sons of the prophets stopped at the revelation of Bethel, where they received the imputed holiness and their body became the temple of the Holy Ghost and they started building the alter of prayer in their life, and joined a church where they were taught the truth of word of God. Some sons of the prophets decided to stop at the revelation of Jericho, where they were taught what true praise and worship is, and what spiritual warfare is, how the Father seeks those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth, not those who will draw close to Him with their lips while their heart is far from Him.

Some sons of the prophets stopped at the revelation of the Jordan west. They were not willing to cross the Jordan, to receive the second baptism, not the removing of the filth of the flesh, and the world, but the answer of a pure and good conscience toward God, denying ourselves, dying to self daily, picking up our cross daily and following Jesus on the East side of the Jordan, where the Sun of Righteousness rises with healing in His wings. Crucifying our old man, and its sinful nature, in the body of Christ on the cross, being buried with Him in baptism, so that sin no longer rules over us, so that His resurrection life can also flow through us. As Paul says: always bearing about the dying of the Lord Jesus in the body, so that the life of Jesus also might be revealed in our body (2Corinthians 4:10). Elisha was the only one who was willing to go all the way, saying to Elijah: as your soul lives, and the Lord lives, I will not leave you! He had to silence many voices, first of all the voices in his own head, then the voices of the other sons of prophets and fight discouragement. It was no accident that Elisha received the ministry of Elijah (2Kings 2).

Elisha did the same miracles and even more miracles than Elijah did. They recorded eight miracles done by Elijah in the bible; they recorded sixteen miracles done by Elisha. The disciples of Jesus also did not get the same ministry Jesus had, just because they saw Him ascend to heaven in a cloud (Acts 1). They were with Him three and half years. He taught them the word, how to pray, His way, His life. In John 6, when people thought that the teaching of Jesus became hard and not popular any longer, many disciples did not walk with Jesus from that time forward; but these ones did like Elisha, they stayed! Sanctification and consecration is not as hard as some people may think it is. If you and I spend time in the word of God, in prayer and in becoming doers of the word, it will be an effortless process. The disciples of Jesus also did the same works of Jesus, even greater works: the shadow of Peter was healing the sick. It is the will of God that you and I, in our generation, we do the same works of Jesus and greater works; but we need to embrace also His life, His truth and His way!

I-3) The Righteousness of the Law versus the Righteousness of Faith

To impute is to charge, to attribute or to credit something to someone. Now always remember all analogies are not perfect to explain the deep truths of the word of God; yet they put mental pictures in our mind, that help us understand in simple ways, complex spiritual truths. That is why Jesus used different parables, to explain the same spiritual concept of the Kingdom of God; for each parable revealed a specific aspect of the Kingdom of God. That is also why God used different symbols for the Holy Spirit in the bible; because each symbol unveils some aspects and characteristics of the Holy Spirit; thus when you put all the symbols of the Holy Spirit together, you have the full picture of who He is. The same thing applies for all the types and shadows of Jesus in the Old Testament.

Let us use what our generation can easily understand. The banks give their customers either a credit card or a debit card. Think of the righteousness of the Law as a debit account, and the righteousness of faith, even the imputed righteousness, as a credit account. With a debit account they give you a debit card; you can only withdraw what you have deposited in the bank, and what interest your financial investments with that bank have yielded. If you want to withdraw more than what is in your debit account, they will tell you: insufficient funds! If you want to buy a house, a car, and you do not have the exact amount in your account, the transaction will not be approved by your bank. The reason why they do not allow you to withdraw more than you have in your account, is because they do not trust you at all to pay them back.

What is righteousness?

Now the word righteous is the Hebrew word Tsaddiyq which means just man, lawful man and righteous; and it is the Greek word Dikaios which means equitable man in character and act, innocent person, holy man, just man and righteous. Equitable is being equal in regard to the rights of persons; distributing equal justice. And a Lawful man, in our case, is a man that conforms himself to the Law of God, even the bible. Nehemiah says of God: He performs His words because He is righteous (Nehemiah 9:8). So being righteous is not just having a right standing with God; it is being a man of your word, a man with integrity or uprightness. Job, who was a righteous man, held on to his integrity or uprightness. Of him it is written: there was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright [yashar: straight, equity, just and upright which means honest, just; adhering to rectitude in all social intercourse; not deviating from correct moral principles], and one that feared God, and eschewed or shun evil (Job 1:1). His wife said to him, Do you still hold to your integrity [Tummah: innocence, integrity]? Curse God and die (Job 2:9)!

I like the Louis Second French version of the bible; for they use two words to translate righteousness: justice and uprightness. And the translators were right. In 2014 when I decided to read my bible in French from Genesis to Revelation; that is when I noticed that the translators used at times justice to translate righteousness and other times uprightness to translate righteousness. Then the Lord spoke to me and explained to me according to the scriptures, as I have shown you above, that a righteous man is not just one who has a right standing with the Lord; but also one who is a just man and an upright man as we have defined above. A person who says He practices righteousness is a holy man; and a person who says he lives a holy life practices righteousness. Righteousness and holiness cannot be separated, they work hand in hand. You cannot dissociate them, they cleave to each other. God says: Those who are of a froward or perverse heart are an abomination to the LORD: but such as are upright in their way are His delight (Proverbs 11:20). The sacrifice of the wicked or ungodly is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight (Proverbs 15:8).

So let us go back to our example of the bank dealing with its account holders. The reason why they only give you the debit card is because they do not trust you. You are not credit trust worthy. They do not know you, they do not want to take a big gamble on you and believe that you are just in all your dealings and hold onto your integrity. You have not been with them long enough to gain their trust.

Paul tells us what Moses says about righteousness of the Law, which is a debit account, and the righteousness of faith which is a credit account. He says: For Moses describes the righteousness which is of the law, That the man who does those things shall live by them in Leviticus 18:5. But the righteousness which is of faith speaks on this wise, Say not in your heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (That is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (That is, to bring up Christ again from the dead [Romans 10:5-7].) So because the bank does not trust you; you will have to work for every penny you want to withdraw from that debit account, and that will be your lifestyle. Of course you will make personal investments and the increase they yield will be deposited into your debit account; yet the bank will only allow you to withdraw what is in your debit account.

Now why was the bank of heaven not able to give us credit? Because once upon a time mankind used to own a credit account with God. God created the heaven and the earth and all that is in the earth. He gave the earth to mankind to tend it. Mankind did not work for it even one day; God also credited mankind with righteousness believing that they would act according to the word of God. Mankind destroyed the trust, even credit that was given to them by God when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden. Jesus puts it this way: Therefore the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a certain King [God], who would take account of His servants. And when He had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents [about 280 tons of gold]. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made (Matthew 18:23-25).

So, that debt can never be paid, even if we and our children work our whole lives, because of the original sin. The path of sin is bondage or slavery, for the whole human race. Jesus explains it saying: you shall know the truth [Jesus, who is the Word made flesh, is the truth according to John 14:6 and John 17:17], and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how do You say, You shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever commits sin is the servant, even slave, of sin (John 8:32-34). And eventually the wages of sin is death, not just physical death but also spiritual death and being thrown into hell fire because your name is not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (Romans 6:23, Revelation 20:15).

So God, because He so loved mankind, decided to cover that debt we owed Him. That is what we call atonement, it is a covering. Because of that enormous debt we all owed and would never be able to pay it, neither would the generations after us have been able to pay it; thus the bank of heaven mostly dealt with mankind with a debit account. Waiting for the day when that enormous debt will be fully paid; so that God can re-open our credit account in heaven. Now you sit down and say to yourself. It will take me a whole lifetime of work if I have to pay everything on debit; notwithstanding that there is still that enormous pending debt and every year the bank reminds me that it has not been paid yet. That is why every year they had the Day of Atonement; it was a reminder for the whole world that the enormous debt we owed God was not paid yet and for another year the Lord would cover it.

Paul explains it saying: For the Law which has a shadow of good things to come, not the very image of the things, appearing year by year with the same sacrifices, which they offer continually, they are never able to perfect those drawing near. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because the worshipers, when they had been once for all purged, would have had no more conscience of sin. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins (Hebrews 10:1-4).

You say to yourself: If I want a car I need first of all to work and make investments and then wait for those investments to yield their increase, and only if I have enough money, can I go and buy that car, that house, that aircraft, etc. Who can go and see the Owner of the bank to give me credit? That person must have a great fortune in that bank, because of His works and the increase that His investments yielded. He first of all must pay off my enormous pending debt, that I am constantly reminded of every year, and he must become my guarantor: one who engages to see that the stipulations of another are performed; also, one who engages to secure another in any right or possession.

Not many people want to be surety or guarantor for their friend, not to talk of being surety for a total stranger; you cannot tell whether your friend or that stranger will be just and upright in all his dealings and perform his words. So think twice before being surety or guarantor for anybody and signing legal documents! The bible says: My son, if you be surety [arab: to be security as a kind of exchange: mortgage, give pledges] for your friend, if you have stricken your hand with a stranger [meaning you have agreed and signed the legal documents the banker gave you to be guarantor for the loan even the mortgage of your friend], You are snared with the words of your mouth [and the signed legal documents that banker gave you], you are taken with the words of your mouth (Proverbs 6:1-2).

Now imagine a complete stranger came to you, and you agreed to go and see that banker and sign legal documents, so that you will be his guarantor for the loan or the mortgage he takes. The bible says: He who is surety for a stranger, shall smart for it or shall be ruined [for if your house was the collateral for the mortgage that stranger took, when he defaults in his payments your house might be repossessed]; but he who hates suretyship, is sure or he who hates being a guarantor is safe (Proverbs 11:15). Everybody wants to play it safe! A man void of understanding strikes hands [reads and signs legal documents the banker gave him], and becomes surety [guarantor] in the presence of his friend (Proverbs 17:18). When his friend, or the stranger for whom he vouched to be a guarantor, defaults in his payments; the banker will come after the guarantor, not after his friend or that stranger. The banker will instruct the debt collectors, saying: Take the garment [or the possessions, or debit the money from the bank account] of him who is surety [guarantor] for a stranger; and take a pledge from him for strangers [meaning what his friend or stranger took as loan or mortgage, will be collected from him or his bank account, since he is the guarantor] (Proverbs 20:16).

So you sit down and say to yourself; none of my friends has enough money in their bank account to first of all pay off my enormous debt and then be willing to become my guarantor. And I am a stranger to all the billionaires of the earth. They worked hard for their money and they do not want to waste it on a complete stranger like me. Why should any of them go and see the owner of the bank on my behalf and why should any of them become my guarantor? You are left without hope of having your pending debt being paid off so that you can be given a credit from your bank. So you are left only with your sowing and reaping, which is a debit account. The bank has been gracious enough to not demand the payment pending but to cover it every year; had the bank started collecting something for your enormous pending debt you would not have even been able to survive. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease (Genesis 8:22). He who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully, shall also reap bountifully (2Corinthians 9:6). That has been your lifestyle so far.

And I saw a book on the right of Him sitting on the throne, written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and to loosen its seals? And no one in Heaven, nor on the earth, nor under the earth, was able to open the book or to look at it. And I wept very much, because no one was found worthy to open and to read the book, nor to look at it (Revelation 5:1-4). That is the situation of each one of us prior to our salvation.

I am glad to inform you that hope has come. And one of the elders said to me, Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals of it. And I looked, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, amidst the elders, a Lamb stood, as if it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him sitting on the throne (Revelation 5:5-7). Yes Jesus came and paid the debt mankind owed in full, to the justice of heaven, and that debt has been taken away, that is remission, not just covered until next year, which was atonement; for without the shedding of the blood there is no remission (Hebrews 9:22). That debt has been paid in full for all mankind.

For Christ has not entered into the Holy of Holies made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that He should offer Himself often, even as the high priest enters into the Holy of Holies every year with the blood of others (for then He must have suffered often since the foundation of the world), but now once in the end of the world He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed to men once to die, but after this judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. And to those who look for Him He shall appear the second time without sin to salvation (Hebrews 9:24-28). It is on this basis that in the account Jesus gave us in Matthew 18:23-35, the King, even God, forgave and remitted all the debt of that servant of his who could not pay back the ten thousand talents. Jesus Christ is the one who paid it in full; so that servant and family could go back free.

The Owner of the bank of heaven is God the Father, our King. You need to have a bank account in heaven, if you want your enormous debt to be erased; it is not automatic though; Jesus paid it for all mankind. How do I open a bank account in heaven? Well it is simple, you must be born again (John 3:7); then your name will be written in the Book of Life in heaven (Philippians 4:3, Revelation 20:15, Revelation 21:27). Then Jesus will take the scroll of your life that has been perfectly sealed with seven seals, and loose those seals to reopen your account even a credit account. Think of it this way. In the spiritual realm there are only two banks, and you have to choose in which bank you want to open a spiritual account. You cannot have spiritual bank accounts in the two banks at the same time. The first spiritual bank is called the Kingdom of God, and the second bank is called the kingdom of darkness. If you have not opened a bank account in the Kingdom of God by being born again, de facto you have a spiritual account in the kingdom of darkness. Jesus is the only way to the Father God, truth and life; if you have not received Him as your Lord and Saviour; the devil is your father (John 14:6, John 8:44).

And when you become born again, meaning you open a spiritual bank account in the bank, called the Kingdom of God, by receiving Jesus as your Lord and Saviour; your account in the kingdom of darkness is closed, and all files they had on you, have been transferred to the Kingdom of God, and erased from the data base of the kingdom of darkness. For He has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son; in whom we have redemption through His blood, the remission of sins (Colossians 1:13-14). Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances, that was against us, which was contrary to us, and has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. Having stripped rulers and authorities, He made a show of them publicly, triumphing over them in it (Colossians 2:14-15). If you have not yet opened a bank account in the Kingdom of heaven, it is high time you do so now: you must be born again, even born from above (John 3:7)!

If you walk into the spiritual bank of the Kingdom of God and tell them: I want to withdraw some money! The first thing they will ask you is: do you have an account with the Kingdom of God? If you do not have an account with them; they will ask you politely: sir, do you want to open an account with us? Even, do you want to be born again? If you say: no, I do not want to open an account with you, even I do not want to be born again; but I want to withdraw money. They will tell you, we only serve those who have an account with our bank. We have nothing against your person per se; but that is the principle of our bank. We do not allow those, who have an account with us, to also hold an account with the kingdom of darkness bank. No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [the demon of greed which is the vassal of Satan] (Matthew 6:24). All who decide to open an account with the Kingdom of God, must abide by that principle, it is a command.

Our God, the owner of the Kingdom of God; is a generous person. He even runs charitable deeds for those who do not hold an account with Him, even for those who are not born again yet. Our Father in Heaven makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:45). If you do not have a bank account with the Kingdom of God; you will be referred to the charity organization of the Kingdom of God. There bread crumbs and leftover things of the children of God are stored up. And you are not automatically qualified to receive those crumbs and leftovers; you will have to present your case and it can be approved or rejected by God.

In Mark 7:25-30 and Matthew 15:21-28 we have the story of the Syrophoenician woman, who was not part of the covenant of Israel. She did not have an account in the Kingdom of God; for de facto her account was in the kingdom of darkness. Yet she wanted to make, on behalf of her demon possessed daughter, a withdrawal of the bread of healing and deliverance that only belongs to those who have an account with the Kingdom of God, even children of God. Jesus said to her: Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. She answered and said unto Him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs. And He said unto her, For this saying go your way; the devil is gone out of your daughter. Why on earth would anybody be satisfied with bread crumbs when he can receive the whole bread if he willingly chooses to open a bank account with the Kingdom of God?

The children of Israel in the book of Judges wanted to have two spiritual bank accounts: one with the Kingdom of heaven and another with the kingdom of darkness. They lived like the heathen and they expected to make spiritual withdrawal of the bread of deliverance from the Kingdom of God. God delivered them over and over in His infinite mercy; but they despised the riches of His goodness, kindness and forbearance. Paul tells us: do you despise the riches of God’s goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But after your hardness and impenitent heart you treasure up unto yourself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God (Romans 2:4-5).

God said to them in the day of Jephthah. I have delivered you countless times, even given you the bread of deliverance whenever you came for a withdrawal. Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods. Therefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress (Judges 10:13-14). God only delivered them after they had genuinely forsaken their idols and their evil ways. I told you, as children of God, you cannot be having two spiritual accounts: one in the Kingdom of God and the other in the kingdom of darkness.

Paul says to the born again believers of Corinth: Do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor abusers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the Kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you are washed, but you are sanctified, but you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God (1Corinthians 6:9-11). Though you used to have your name written in the Book of Life, if you continue to practice what Paul has listed in 1Corinthans 6:9-11, your name will be blotted out of the Book of Life and you will suffer the same destruction of hell fire with the unsaved. David says: Let them be blotted out of the Book of Life, and not be written with the righteous (Psalm 69:28). Jesus says: The one who overcomes, this one will be clothed in white clothing. And I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels (Revelation 3:5). And if anyone was not found having been written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:15). Once saved not always saved, you need to practice righteousness and holiness; I say unto you follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).

In the days of Ezekiel, the people were doing all kinds of evil, even inside the house of God. In Ezekiel 8, God opened the spiritual eyes of Ezekiel, to see the idol of Tammuz, worshiped by the women inside the temple, and to see the idols, the elders of Israel, had in their rooms, and all kinds of abominations they were doing. They thought that God did not see them in their secret rooms. And in Ezekiel 20, certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord. Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus says the Lord GOD; have you come to enquire of Me? As I live, says the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you. Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers (Ezekiel 20:2-4). Truly Jesus told us: when He [the Holy Spirit, who is the spirit of prophecy, according to Revelation 19:10] has come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment (John 16:8).

So sometimes when people, even born again Christians come to a minister of reconciliation asking: enquire of the Lord for me what I should do in my situation? They want to receive a prophecy, a word of knowledge, a word of wisdom or any other manifestations of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord, who has already revealed to the minister of reconciliation, the abominations that believer is doing, will first of all judge according to the scripture those abominations, and ask that person to genuinely repent. If that person is not willing to repent then the Holy Spirit will say to him: “go and cry out to the idols who you are worshiping. Let them deliver you and give you prophecies. I, the Lord will not be enquired of by you; if you are not willing to repent and forsake your abominable ways!”

Some people, like Cornelius, the Roman’s centurion in Acts 10, though they did not yet have an account in the Kingdom of God; they had been donating things into the charity organization of the Kingdom of God, meaning they had been giving to the church and giving alms, even making prayer to the God of Heaven. The bible says: He who has pity upon the poor lends unto the LORD; and that which he has given will he pay him again (Proverbs 19:17). So God says: this man has been praying to Me, giving to my charity organization; but has not got an account in the Kingdom of God. I will send him two of My staff members to ask him whether he wants to open an account in the Kingdom of God, even be born again. So God sent an angel to let him know that God noticed his good deeds; so he should summon Simon Peter, who is a representative of the Kingdom of God, to tell him what he ought to do to open an account in the Kingdom of God, even be born again.

We have talked about the righteousness of the Law, or a debit account in the Kingdom of God. Now let us talk about the righteousness of faith, or a credit account in the Kingdom of God. Paul says again: the righteousness of faith says this: “Do not say in your heart, Who shall ascend into Heaven?” that is, to bring Christ down; or “Who shall descend into the deep?” that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead (Romans 10:6-7). The problem was, even though we have worked and made a good investment in the bank, we did not have someone who was rich enough; who could first pay off our enormous debt, and then become our guarantor; so that the Bank, could give us that loan or that mortgage. Well, Christ Jesus is that rich person we have been waiting for. He came and redeemed us, ransomed us in full as we have explained. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might be rich (2Corinthians 8:9).

Christ Jesus has not just paid the debt we owed in full, but is also the guarantor of every born again Christian, even the surety of a better testament. Paul tells us: by so much more Jesus has become a surety or a guarantee of a better covenant (Hebrews 7:22). Let us put it in earthly terms. I will use my example in gold, so that whatever the exchange rate of the gold is in your generation, you will be able to appreciate what God has done for you and me. Still based on the story Jesus gave us in Matthew 18:23-35; each one of us, because of the original sin, owed God or King about ten thousand talents which are about 280 tons of gold. And through Christ Jesus those 280 tons of gold we owed God were expunged. That debt was fully paid by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yet it did not bankrupt Jesus Christ; for He says: the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world and those who dwell therein (Psalm 24:1). All that belongs to the Father is Mine [Jesus’] (John 16:15). The silver is Mine and the gold is mine, says the Lord of hosts, even Jesus Christ (Haggai 2:8). Jesus Christ is not bankrupt because he redeemed mankind!

Imagine you want a loan of £1000 and Jesus, who is your guarantor, has all the gold and all the silver of the earth in the bank. The bank will not hesitate to give you the loan. Thus instead of saving up £10 every month for a hundred months; so that you will have £1000 to withdraw from your debit account. You can be given £1000 credit based on the trustworthiness, the integrity and the richness of your guarantor, Christ Jesus. God credited you for what you did not have; because of the one, who has ransomed you and become your guarantor, Christ Jesus; so that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who of God is made to us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption; so that, according as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord [Jesus who is our guarantor] (1Corinthians 1:29-31).”

God credited us with, or imputed to us, who Christ Jesus is, and what Christ Jesus has! We have explained in the Perfect Redemption Plan series what has been imputed to us or credited to us by God when we became born again. But truly a credit is a debt! We do not have to pay the initial debt we owed God because of the fall of mankind, for Christ Jesus has ransomed us in full. What the debt we have toward God is, is to go and do the same thing He has done for us to someone else, go and share the truth that has set us free with someone else; be to the world who Jesus has said we are now, a new creation.

Paul tells us: I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the foreigners, both to the wise and to the unwise. So, as much as is in me lies, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are at Rome also (Romans 1:14-15). In that story of Matthew 18:23-35, the servant who was forgiven, and had his ten thousand talents of debt remitted; thought he did not have a debt to God, to do the same thing to his fellow servants. God forgave us so we should also forgive others. Jesus says: Therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, you do even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets (Matthew 7:12). By this we have known the love of God, because He laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers (1John 3:16). How will you feel if you recommended a friend of yours for a job, and you vouched for him that he was always punctual, honest, good moral standard, impartial in all his dealings with people and full of integrity financially, etc. The job was given to that friend of yours based on what you credited him for, or imputed unto him. If your friend truly loves you he will live up to what you have credited him with. If he does not, he will cause people to no longer consider any person you recommend, and even to blaspheme your name, and people will not want to have anything to do with you.

Paul tells us: Behold, you are called a Jew [in our case a spiritual Jew, even born again Christians, who are now in the commonwealth of Israel], and rest in the Law [in the bible], and boast in God; and know His will, and approve the things excelling, being instructed out of the Law [the bible]; and persuading yourselves to be a guide of the blind, a light to those in darkness; an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, who have the form of knowledge, and of the truth in the Law [the bible]. Therefore the one teaching another, do you not teach yourself? The one preaching not to steal, do you steal? The one saying not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery [do you watch pornography, practice all the other sexual sins]? The one detesting idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law [the instructions of the bible], do you dishonour God through breaking the Law [the instructions of the bible]? For the name of God is blasphemed among the nations because of you (Romans 2:17-23). Let us not be the reason why people would refuse to receive Jesus as their Lord and Saviour; but let us live and act as Jesus would have done if He was standing before our relatives and neighbours; for as Jesus Christ is, so are we in this world, that is what Jesus credited us for (1John 4:17).

We can never repay God for the sacrifice of Jesus; and what He has credited us with or imputed unto us by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Mathew 18:23-35 Jesus uses the example of two servants of the same King. The first servant owes his King 10,000 talents of gold. He and all his family could work their whole life and still would not be able to repay that debt. The King forgave and remitted him of all that debt. Yet that servant was not able to forgive the 100 denarii his fellow servant owed him. The king expected him to be debtor to his fellow servants to do unto them what the king has done unto him. If we believe that Jesus has imputed His righteousness unto us; then we ought to practice righteousness; the same thing applies to everything that has been imputed or credited unto us by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

What is the meaning of credit or “good faith”?

Many times we have lost the simplicity of the gospel and are no longer able to explain spiritual concepts, such as faith and many others, in terms that even unsaved people can understand. The truth of the matter is that even saved people do not understand these spiritual concepts. Jesus used everyday life stories to explain deep spiritual concepts. Of course, sometimes it took Him more than just one everyday life experience, to explain a particular spiritual concept; but He took as many examples from everyday life as possible, until the truth of that spiritual concept was fully revealed to the common people, and could no longer be misconstrued.

The Webster dictionary defines credit as faith, reliance or resting of the mind, on the truth of something said or done. Thus credit used to be called good faith. People would say: I give you the bag of rice on good faith, or I give you a bag of wheat flour on good faith, which meant on credit. You did not have the money with you right then, but I had faith that you would come up with the money, to pay for it within the time agreed upon. I had peace of mind, that you were a reliable person, who was not a liar, but a person of truth, who would do what he said.

“Good faith”, from the Latin “bona fides” is fair and open dealing, even transparency, in human interactions. It requires sincere, honest intentions and beliefs, regardless of the outcome of an action. In law it denotes the mental and moral state of honesty and conviction regarding either the truth, or the falsity of a proposition, or of a body of opinion. Good faith is especially important in matters of equity. In contract law, the implied covenant of good faith, is a general presumption that the parties to a contract, will deal with each other honestly and fairly, so as not to destroy the right of the other party or parties, to receive the benefits of the contract.

In the Abecedary of Prayer bible study, we have explained that faith is a credit; we have also explained that when you read the new testament, especially the epistles, you will see most of the promises in the past tense or in the past participle, because Jesus has already done it all, even ransomed us in full by His death, burial and resurrection. We said that we now have a debit card in the New Testament. Bear in mind that in the Abecedary of Prayer, we are talking to baby Christians. Just like when we have children, in the beginning, they are so selfish and it is all about them. But as they grow up, they will now ask you: mother what do you want me to do for you? They will understand as they grow up, that they must also please their parents in return, that they have responsibilities and a part to play in the house; they should not just be idle in the house. In the New Covenant we still live by faith or by credit, Paul quotes what Habakkuk said: the just or righteous shall live by faith or by credit (Habakkuk 2:4, Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38).

I am confident about each one of us, that we have purposed to mature in Christ Jesus, and not remain spiritual babes for the rest of our Christian walk. We understand that it is not all about us, and what we can get from the Godhead, but it is all about Jesus Christ! We want to please Him according to the scriptures. We are willing to be labourers together with Him in His vineyard (1Corinthians 3:9). Knowing that God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that each one of you show the same eagerness, to the full assurance of hope to the end, that you be not slothful, but imitators of those who through faith and patience, inherit the promises (Hebrews 6:10-12).

What Christians do not understand is, that the covenant is a contract signed in blood. Each party cutting that covenant has responsibilities to keep their part of the covenant, even blood contract. When you read the bible from Genesis to Revelation, to every promise of God found in the bible, you will find a condition attached to it, if you want to have its manifestation in your life. As you read the bible and the promises of God, you will notice all the “ifs” and “buts” attached to each promise of God. So when we say, we have faith in someone; what we mean is: we believe that the person will be fair, sincere, honest and transparent, in his interactions with us, regardless of the outcome of our action. He will not shun disclosing to us, either the truth or falsity of a proposition, or of a body of opinion. In this covenant or contract cut in blood, we will deal with each other honestly and fairly, so as not to destroy the right of the other party or parties to receive the benefits of the contract.

God has always been transparent with us; if you want people to have faith in you or believe the words of your mouth, you must be transparent with them. The Lord said: shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing? [Why should God not hide from Abraham what He is doing?] Because Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him. For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him (Genesis 18:17-19). You see, God was fully transparent with Abraham, there was no hidden thing in the covenant God made with him, God revealed to him what his part to play was, so that he would have the manifestation of the promise of God in his life. If you claim the blessing of Abraham in Genesis 12, you will also have to walk in the steps of faith of father Abraham, God required in Genesis 18:17-19 as Paul told us (Romans 4:12).

God said to Amos: Can two walk together unless they are agreed (Amos 3:3)? Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, unless He reveals His secret unto his servants the prophets (Amos 3:7). God is not a deceiver, He wants to stipulate the terms of His covenant so that as you read it you can willingly decide whether you want to walk with Him or not. Moses said to the people: I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, so that both you and your seed may live. That you may love the LORD your God, and that you may obey His voice, and that you may cleave unto Him: for He is your life, and the length of your days: so that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them (Deuteronomy 30:19-20).

We have explained that the righteousness of faith is a credit account. So the bible becomes a credit history book of God’s dealings with mankind. Just like before you sign a contract with a person you want to know his credit history. As you read the bible you discover how God deals with His children who are walking in righteousness, holiness, justice and uprightness; but also how He deals with ungodly people and impenitent and rebellious children, who despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance and long-suffering (Romans 2:4-6). What God did for them, as they either willingly chose to act on the promises of God or to disobey God. That is what gives you confidence, that you can also walk in the steps of faith in God, of those holy men and women of the bible, and expect the same manifestations of the promises of God in your life. Paul tells us about the bible being a credit history book on God, saying: For whatsoever things were written afore-time, were written for our learning [so that we can check the credit history of God for ourselves], that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope (Romans 15:4). Remember those leading you, who have spoken to you the Word of God, whose faith follow, considering the end of their conduct: Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:7-8).

Jesus told us: have faith in God (Mark 11:22). The truth is, God is the one who exercises real faith in us. Before David was even anointed king over Israel by Samuel, and before he sat on the throne of Israel, God said to Samuel: I have found David the son of Jesse to be a man after My own heart, who shall fulfil all My will (Acts 13:22, 1Samuel 13:14). God took a big gamble by saying to the whole world, that David was such a man, regardless of the outcome of David’s action. David, when he fell into sexual immoralities and murder, realized that he had let God down; thus he repented of breaking the trust God had put in him. Jesus in the New Covenant, even the New contract cut in His own blood, puts a greater faith in every born again believer, saying to the whole world: as Jesus Christ is, so is every born again Christian in the world (1John 4:17).

Wow, what faith Jesus has in each one of us! Imagine you recommend a friend for a job, and you said to the employer and the other employees: the person I am recommending to you for this job, is just like me. You have worked with me before; you have known my way, my life, the truth that is in me; this person is exactly like me in everything (John 14:6, 2Corinthians 5:17-18, 1John 4:17)! What a recommendation Jesus has given to His Father about us, and to the whole world around us. You truly mean: if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God; and as Christ Jesus is, so are we in this world (2Corinthians 5:17-18, 1John 4:17)? Yes!

God imputed, attributed or credited us with who Christ Jesus is. He also empowered us by the Holy Ghost, to walk into who we are in Christ Jesus. And out of His fullness we all have received, grace for grace [the unmerited favour of God and His empowerment to walk in the fullness of Christ Jesus]. For the Law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:16-17). Paul says: And I am sure that, when I come unto you, I shall come in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ (Romans 15:29). Yes, we can mature in our walk with Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:13).

Now, when I say I have faith in God for a particular thing, I first of all need to find out what God says about that thing in the bible, what is my part to play, and what is God’s part to play, in order for me to have the manifestation of that promise in my life. The truth is God already did His part by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Peter says: God, according as His divine power, has given unto us, all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory and virtue (2Peter 1:3). Paul says: the communication of your faith, may become effectual, by the acknowledging of every good thing that is in you, in Christ Jesus (Philemon 1:6). The problem is that people do not have the knowledge of what is already theirs through Christ Jesus.

Imagine you are in business with the biggest supermarket in the United Kingdom. They ask you to supply them with your goods, and they will pay you in ninety days. If you do not believe the contract they sent you is in “good faith”, you will refuse to supply them with your goods. The supermarket will stipulate in the contract they have with you, the kind of goods they want you to supply them with, and the quality of goods they want you to supply them with. You will have to meet the standard stipulated in the contract, in order for the supermarket to keep their part of the deal.

Let us say the supermarket in their contract with you, stipulates that you must supply them washed vegetables, packed in transparent sachets. Yet, you supply them with unwashed carrots, unwashed potatoes. The way you dug them, full of dirt, is the way you sent them to the supermarket. You say: “I do not have time to wash those carrots and potatoes, let alone to put them in sealed transparent sachets. The customer can put them in any carrier bag and wash them at home before cooking”. My friend that was not the terms stipulated in the contract you signed with the supermarket in good faith. The supermarket trusted you and expected you to keep your side of the deal. Or the other scenario is, for the first two months you supplied them with washed vegetables, you sealed in sachets; but because you have not received the payment of the first month supply yet, you decide in the third month, to send them unwashed vegetables. You should have read the contract; it stipulated that you will get paid after ninety days.

The same thing with the covenant we have with God. Do not just try to live a life of righteousness and holiness for a week; let it become your lifestyle. You need to have faith in God, that He will keep his part of the deal, even if you have not seen the manifestation of the promise yet. Of Sarah it is said: By faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged Him, who had promised, to be faithful (Hebrews 11:11). Of Abraham it is said: Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall your seed be. And being not weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: He did not stagger at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness (Romans 4:18-22).

No wonder Habakkuk says: the just or the righteous shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4). Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, also says: Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draws back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him (Hebrews 10:38). If you truly believe that the New Covenant, even the New Contract signed in the blood of Jesus between you and God, was in good faith, you will live by faith like Abraham and Sarah: you will first obey Him, before seeing any manifestation of His promise. Abraham left his country of Ur to go to a promised land he had never seen before (Genesis 12). If you do not trust God you will ask: “God, show me first of all the land and I will believe you, or let me see and taste some of the fruits of that land before I believe you, that it is truly a land flowing with milk and honey”. Noah would not have built the ark for one hundred twenty years, if he had not believed, that God who promised to send the flood would be faithful to His word (Genesis 6). Paul says: Faithful is He who calls you, who also will do it (1Thessalonians 5:24).

It is our individual responsibility to believe that God cannot lie, and what He has said to us, and called us to do will come to pass. And what He says we are now in Christ Jesus, we can walk in it, because it is God who works in us both to will and do for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). We, as born again Christians, can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). God is not a man that He should lie, neither the son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and shall He not do it? Or has He spoken, and shall He not make it good? Behold, I have received word to bless. And He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it (Numbers 23:19-20). Let God be true and every man a liar (Romans 3:4); for I am the LORD, I do not change; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed (Malachi 3:6). My Word, which goes out of My mouth; shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall certainly do what I sent it to do (Isaiah 55:11).

I-4) Children of God

Beloved, now are we the sons and daughters of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He (Jesus) shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see him as He is (1John 3:2). The very moment we are born again we are now children of God. It is not something which happens gradually, no, it happens instantly. Every redemptive truth that Jesus died for us, happens instantly when we become born again. We have the mind of Christ, we are always in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in us forever, we are saints, or holy, or set apart, or sanctified, we are justified, and we are glorified. God has translated us into His own kingdom. We are now seated with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6).

God is our Father, now that all these things have been imputed to us, He expects us to practice righteousness. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him (1John 2:29). Let no one deceive you: he or she who practices righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous (1John 3:7). In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever does not practice righteousness, is not of God, neither he nor she who does not love his or her brother or sister (1John 3:10). When God adopts us, He treats us as grown up children, as adults, who can handle their inheritance without any tutor. The truth is some Christians are not displaying that maturity, and the fruits of mature believers, though God adopted them, as mature sons and daughters and treats them that way.

I-4-a) Child of God: a Nepios

Now I say, that the heir or heiress, as long as he or she is a child (Nepios), does not differ at all from a servant, though he or she be master of all (Galatians 4:1). Nepios is a Greek word which designates an infant which does not speak. Many times in Christianity people are born again and they are not taught how to speak to God, how to pray, how to confess the word, how to believe what the truth about them is. Jesus says: you will know that truth and the truth will make you free (John 8:32). And The Holy Spirit says through Hosea: my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). So a Nepios, though God adopted him as a grown up son or daughter, regardless of his or her natural age; will be cheated out of his or her inheritance, for lack of knowledge, though he is master of all, or she is mistress of all.

God knows that when we come to Him, we do not know anything, but we only believe Him to teach us what we are supposed to know, in order to enter into His rest, in order to enjoy our inheritance. So Jesus is pleased with our innocence, because He wants to teach us how to think like Him, since we have the mind of Christ and how to talk like Him, and pray like Him, and do the works that He did. So Jesus says: I thank You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes (Nepios) (Matthew 11:25). There is something beautiful about the Nepios, their mind has not been twisted yet by self-imposed religious bigotry, man-made wisdom and false humility. It is so hard sometimes to teach religious people, because they think they know it all, they are wise and prudent in their own eyes, they have the tradition of the fathers of their denominations, and reject the true word of God. They would not listen to Jesus, so Jesus went to those who were spiritually simple-minded.

I remember a dear elder brother in the Lord who insulted me, that I was naïve, that in reality things are not like the bible says it, but much more complex. I told him, but that is what Jesus says, so should I not believe Jesus? And whenever I was with him, I always felt down because he would tell me: I have been a Christian before you were born so listen to me! One day after I left the presence of that dear elder brother, feeling so down and stupid, the Lord spoke to me that night, and said: “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said we ought to obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29)”. Peter and John were standing before the Jewish religious leaders, who knew it all concerning the “word of God” and were trying to intimidate them, to deny the revelation they had of what Jesus said, who Jesus is, and what He has accomplished by His death and resurrection. I decided to obey God and believe what is written in the bible, not what people’s experiences and failures are.

And the Lord spoke to me again, and said: “the simple or the naïve or the silly or the deluded, believes every word (Proverbs 14:15)”. My Son you believe My word, do not worry if people call you naïve, silly or deluded or simple-minded. “The entrance of My words gives light; and understanding to the simple (silly, deluded, naïve)” (Psalm 119:130). My word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path (Psalm 119:105). From that day on, I was no longer bothered by what that elder brother thought: that I was so naïve to simply believe the word of God, I always confess these above scriptures in my heart, and shake off any insult or any belittlement of my person, because I have not been in the kingdom as long as he has been; but I only believe the bible. If it is written and Jesus died for it, I know it is mine. I will not deny the finished work of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection.

Being a newly born again child of God, is so good; because God sees our heart and the simplicity of our faith. Even when we do not yet have the full revelation of what He has done for us, we are just thankful that He has saved us. Jesus says: Yea; have you never read, Out of the mouth of babes (Nepios) and sucklings You (Lord) have perfected praise (Matthew 21:16)? Never be intimidated by the way some so dignified saints are praising the Lord, praise the Lord in your own way and with your own words, from your heart. God sees your praise as a perfect praise. Many times religious people, use those big words to impress the crowd, so they praise to be heard or seen by men or women. But a freshly born again believer, does not know all that religious jargon. I remember when I first came to a Pentecostal church, a brother, to ascertain how spiritual I was, asked me to quote John 3:16. I did not know what John 3:16 said! I was so upset that he judged my spirituality or my level of prayer, by me being able to quote that scripture or not. One thing I knew was that God was pleased with my praises and my prayers because they came from my heart.

A Nepios needs the milk of the word of God; he or she is just like a natural suckling, who still needs to be breastfed. If a nepios does not receive the milk of the word of God, he will never grow spiritually and get the knowledge that will make him or her free, and enjoy his or her inheritance in Christ. Paul says through the Holy Spirit: I, brethren and sisters, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes (nepios) in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for until now you were not able to bear it, neither yet now are you able (1Corintians 3:1-2). If a nepios is not fed with the milk of the word of God, he or she will likely be carnal, for to practice righteousness one must know what it means to practice righteousness, according to the scriptures. To do the work befitting repentance (Acts 26:20) one must know what repentance means, according to the word of God, and then act on what the word says. And the same goes for every aspect of the Christian life; one must know what the word of God says about it and then put it into practice. One must know how God thinks according to the word, and then think the same way since we have the mind of Christ. One must know what the works of Jesus are; and then do the same works of Jesus.

When I was a child (nepios), I spoke as a child (nepios), I understood as a child (nepios), I thought as a child (nepios): but when I became a man (aner a Greek word which means a husband, sir, man), I put away childish things (1Corinthians 13:11). Though God rejoices over the fact that we are born again, and are now a member of his household, it pains Him to see His children, suffer and be destroyed for lack of knowledge. Which one of us parents would have joy over a 20 year old man who was still breastfeeding, wearing diapers, and cannot feed himself?

He has to be mentally retarded if he acts that way at 20 years old. Likewise God wants us to mature, so that we can start giving milk to other new born believers, so that we can help other believers. The more we grow in the knowledge of Christ, the more our mind is renewed, we will no longer be children; but we will talk like mature believers, think like Jesus, we will stop being carnal, for these are part of the childish things. We will exhibit or manifest the fruit of the Spirit. When people see us they will see Jesus through us. We become living epistles or living letters of Christ, not written with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God; not on tablets of stone (or in printed papers) but in fleshly tablets of the heart (2Corinthians 3:3).

Just like in the life of Jesus, John said about Him, the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). God only has One begotten Son, Jesus, and He sent Him, so that people can see what God is like, what God thinks, what God says, how God loves, etc. But now you are a child of God, His adopted child through Christ Jesus, His only begotten Son. God wants to continue what He started with Jesus, but now in all the believers, He wants the word to become flesh in you, so that people will see Jesus in you. As people come to you; you are able to point them to Jesus. As they seek your counsel you are able to give them the counsel of the Lord, since you have the mind of Christ and have renewed your mind by reading of the word of God. Just like Jesus dwelt among the people, two thousand years ago and represented God to them, God wants us to grow up spiritually so that we will be able to represent Christ Jesus, among the people of our generation. Jesus prayed: As You (Father) have sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world (John 17:18). So let us go and represent Jesus to the world, Jesus says if you have seen Me you have seen the Father (John 14:9).

Let us have the revelation of Jesus, and grow in that revelation of who Jesus is, and what He has accomplished for us by His death, burial and resurrection. Jesus asked his disciples: whom do you say I am? And Peter blurted it out: you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood have not revealed it unto you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say also unto you, that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:15-18).

God wants us to have the revelation of Jesus being the Christ; this is the small rock Jesus is talking about, that everybody must receive in his or her life, to be born again: he or she must receive Jesus as his or her Christ, personal Saviour, Lord and God. Then have the larger revelation of His death, burial and resurrection, according to the scriptures, even the perfect redemption plan of God; this is the larger rock upon which Jesus the Christ will build His church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. If we grow up in that revelation of Jesus being the Christ, and of His perfect redemption plan, like the apostles had, we will be able to represent Jesus effectively to our generation, the Word (Jesus) will become flesh, and will dwell in our neighbourhood through us. And we will be able to impact our family, our society; because God is alive in us. But we need to grow up, and certainly not be content with the Nepios kind of life, the Nepios kind of understanding, or the Nepios kind of thinking.

I-4-b) Child of God: a Paidion

A Paidion is a Greek word that designates a half grown up boy or girl. A boy applies to a male child under the age of puberty, generally under 10 or 12 years old. For girls puberty starts around 9 years old. So a Paidion who is a half grown up boy or girl is between 4 and 6 years old. In our society the age to enter primary school is between 4 and 5 years old. In our society weaning of a child stops when the child is no longer breastfeeding and using bottled substitute but is now eating what will be its adult food. But the Jewish weaning process is longer than ours. Jews in the bible days considered a child to have been completely weaned between 3 and 4 years old. In other words the child speaks, walks and runs, eats adult food, dresses itself, constantly asks questions, and understands things.

Isaac was weaned the bible says: the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned (Genesis 21:8). Samuel was also weaned before being taken to the temple in Shiloh to serve the Lord. The bible says: but Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband, I will not go up until the child (Samuel) be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the LORD, and there abide forever (1Samuel 1:22). Hannah did not leave a boy of two years old in the house of God; no, Samuel was at least 4 years old.

He was of the age to start school, for you need to be trained to work in the temple. Even to this day the Jews start the teaching of the first five books of Moses, from the age they start school, till the end of their puberty. They have a ceremony at the end of that period when the child is about 12 years old, he will stand before the men of the temple and read a portion of the scripture, on that day the boy officially becomes a man, he can move from the boy’s court to the men’s court in the temple. That ceremony is called barmitzva in Hebrew. So when He (Jesus) was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast (Luke 2:41). And it came to pass, that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions (Luke 2:46).

Why did I spend my time explaining all that, you and I are over 3 years old, we are able to read, to understand, to run, to speak? Even in kindergarten, they teach children how to count, and they teach them the alphabet. Jesus expects us to be able to learn His ways like those little children that enter primary school or kindergarten. To be simple minded. The children, when they come home from kindergarten or from primary one, they are so excited about what they have learned that day. They want to show everybody that they can count from zero to ten; they want to sing the alphabet even if they only know the first five letters and still have to learn the twenty-one other letters of the alphabet. They want to teach us the new song they have learned. The little children who enter kindergarten or primary one are so open minded. They believe everything, every word that the master or the mistress tells them. They do not question it at all; they trust their teacher that everything he or she tells them is true. This is the kind of faith and heart God wants us to always have in the kingdom of God. Jesus says: Verily I say unto you, except you be converted, and become as little children (Paidion), you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3).

We know that little children from kindergarten to primary one ask many questions. Not because they do not trust us, but because they want to know; so never be ashamed to ask questions, even if some people think they are stupid questions. That is why we always put scriptures, so that you can go and read them for yourself. And as you read them, believe them like a little child in kindergarten or in primary one who believes his or her teacher. All scripture is given by inspiration of God (2Timothy 3:16). God is the one who wrote the bible. If it is written, I decide to believe it! That is the kind of faith Jesus always wants us to have in the kingdom of God. John says: I write unto you, little children (Paidion), because you have known the Father (1John 2:13).

How can John say to me that I know the Father when I have not seen Him, or I have not seen Jesus physically? That is why he is calling me Paidion, he wants me to believe what is written, and not how I feel or by my physical senses. For the bible says: I did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the Spirit of adoption, by whom I cry out Abba Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with my spirit, that I am a child of God (Romans 8:15-16). So I know the Father, because His Spirit lives in me, I know Jesus because His Spirit lives in me. God reveals things concerning Himself to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, and the deep things of God. For just like with human beings, it is the spirit of that human being, which is in him, that knows the things of that human being, nobody else, so likewise no one knows the things of God, except the Spirit of God. Now we have received the Spirit who is from God, that we might know God, and the things that have been freely given to us by God (1Corinthians 2:10-12). So you see I know God and you know God too. And the more you and I spend time in the word of God and in fellowship with the Godhead, we will have a greater revelation of the Godhead and what they have freely given to us.

God wants us to have faith like a little child, that goes to kindergarten or primary one. If it is written we believe it, and we run with that revelation. And tell everybody what we have found in the Word of God, what we have learned today in the word of God. Jesus said, Suffer little children (Paidion), and forbid them not, to come unto Me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:14). Many times people are looking for “deep revelations”. They want to have nothing to do with the simplicity of the Gospel. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (2Corinthians 11:3). It is the enemy’s strategy to make us reject the simplicity of the word of God and look for some so called “deep revelation”. Let us have that kindergarten and primary one kind of faith. Let us never make people think that they need to be so special to understand what we understand.

What would you think of a kindergarten teacher who comes to class and asks the little children to solve a differential equation of the second order? And tells them you cannot do it, you must be so special to understand it. My friend I do not want that kind of revelation. I want something that my tiny brain can understand. People tell me I am looking for something deep, a deep revelation; I say I am looking for a revelation that will generate in me, the faith of a little child, for of such is the kingdom of God. Whosoever shall receive this child (Paidion) in My name receives Me: and whosoever shall receive Me receives Him (The Father) who sent Me: for he who is least among you all, the same shall be the greatest (Luke 9:48).

My friend the secret is to have that faith of a child from kindergarten or primary one. If it is written I believe it, if Jesus paid for it, I do not have to pay for it. We believed our teachers in kindergarten or primary one when they told us one plus one is two. So why can’t we believe what the word of God says and what God has provided for us, through the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. God is not a man that He should lie, neither a son of man that He should relent over His word or change His mind concerning what is written in the bible(Numbers 23:19).

Let us always stick to the simplicity that is in Christ, and the simplicity of the gospel. If you read the four gospels, you see all the examples Jesus took to illustrate the kingdom of God, and how faith works, that were everyday life examples. Housewives and bakers understood His parable of the yeast in the flour, to raise the dough. Women understood the parable of the lost coin, that was one of the ten coins in the tiara used on the wedding day. Fishermen understood the parable of the dragnet; farmers understood the parable of the sower and the parable of the mustard seed. Common people understood the parable of the wedding feast. With those simple examples Jesus used, faith was birthed in His disciples to walk on water, to heal the sick, cast out devils, raise the dead, etc. May God help Gery to stick to the simplicity that is in Christ, Amen!

I-4-c) Child of God: Neaniskos

Neaniskos is a Greek word that means youth. Youth is a part of life that succeeds childhood; it denotes the whole early part of life from infancy to manhood. We have seen that the Jews start to learn the first five books of Moses as soon as they are weaned, and when they enter their puberty, they know the scriptures and can read them in the temple. At that time they move from the boy’s court to the men’s court. It is the same thing spiritually: God does not just want us to remain children in our understanding but to grow up. John says through the Holy Spirit: I write unto you, young men and young women (Neaniskos), because you have overcome the wicked one (1John2:13). I have written unto you, young men and young women (Neaniskos), because you are strong, and the word of God abides or dwells in you, and you have overcome the wicked one (1John 2:14).

God wants us to come to a place where the word of God abides in us. Let the word of Christ dwell or abide in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord (Colossians 3:16). If the word of God does not abide or dwell in us we will not be strong believers. We will not be able to teach others, to admonish, or to edify others. We also will not be able to help ourselves. Our prayers will not be effective for we will not be praying according to the will of God which is the word of God. Jesus tells us: If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you shall ask what you desire, and it shall be done to you (John 15:7). Paul tells us: Now to God who is able to do exceeding abundantly, above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us [the power that works in us is the gospel of Christ and the preaching of the cross according to Romans 1:16 and 1Corinthians 1:18], to God be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, forever. Amen (Ephesians 3:20-21). So if you do not have the revelation of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus, even the perfect redemption plan of God, though you have received Jesus as your Christ: personal Lord, Saviour and God; you will not enjoy the fullness of what God has for you!

God says: My son and my daughter attend to my words, incline your ear unto My sayings (Proverbs 4:20). The reason why some believers look stronger than others is simply the knowledge or the word of God they have, and they decide to believe that knowledge like a little child. For faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). Faith is based on the word of God, God and His words are one (John 1:1). This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith (1John 5:4). So how can we overcome the wicked and the world, if we do not know the word of God? And especially if you do not have the revelation of the perfect redemption plan of God; for the gospel or the message of the cross: the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus according to the scriptures, is the power of God that works in us (Romans 1:16, 1Corinthians 1:18, 1Corinthians 15:1-5). The word of God is what builds our faith, and our faith is what makes us strong and overcomes the wicked and the world.

A Neaniskos not only has the faith of a little child: only believes the word, like the Paidion; but has the knowledge of the word of God, even the knowledge of the perfect redemption plan of God. His strength is not in dead letters but in the revelation of who Jesus Christ is, what He has accomplished for us on that cross by His death, burial and resurrection according to the scriptures. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world, we are born of God, we are His children. Who is he or she who overcomes the world, but he or she who believes that Jesus is the Son of God (1John 4:4-5)? He or she, who believes that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). We cannot do without the word of God, the more revelation of the word we have, the more our life is transformed, and the more people around us are transformed, when they come in contact with us; for we will comfort them in their problems, according to the scriptures and give them hope, according to the scriptures. For whatsoever things were written before were written for our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope (Romans 15:4).

If we do not have the word of God we will give people our head knowledge, our traditions and our customs; but all these can never help people. For there is no power in traditions, in human experiences which are exalted against the word of God, and in customs. Only in the word of God, can one find help for all his or her troubles. Job said to his three friends that came to comfort him, but they were only giving him their human experience because they had grey hairs, their tradition: I have heard many such things; miserable and troublesome comforters are you all (Job 16:2). How then can you comfort me with empty words, since faithlessness and falsehood remains in your answers (Job 21:34)? My friend, any edification, comfort, admonition, teaching that is not based on Jesus who is the word of God and on His finished work, is just empty words, full of faithlessness, there is no truth in it. The truth is found in Jesus our Redeemer and in the word of God. Jesus says: I am the truth (John 14:6), and the word of God is truth (John 17:17). Job was full of the revelation of Jesus, his faith was on Jesus His redeemer; therefore he said: I know my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth (Job 19:25).

God wants the word of God to abide in us so richly that we will become strong, and overcome the wicked one like Job did. We see the end of Job: the Lord restored Job’s losses or turned the captivity of Job, and indeed gave him twice as much as he had before (Job 42:10). There are some people who try to give me man-made traditions and customs, and their failures for advice; but if they exalt themselves against the knowledge of the written word of God, though I love and respect those friends like Job respected and loved his three friends, I reject their advice!

People who have an evil report that magnifies the power of the devil, instead of magnifying the power of God, I do not associate with them often, because I want to go and conquer my promised land. For it is written: Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said, Let us go up at once and possess the land. For we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched, to the sons of Israel, saying, The land through which we have gone to search, is a land that eats up those who live in it. And all the people whom we saw in it were men of stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, of the giants. And we were in our own sight like grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight (Numbers 13:30-33). The highway of the upright is to depart from evil; he who keeps his ways preserves his soul (Proverbs 16:17). So if you only bring me evil reports of giants in the 50 European nations God has given me, of racism in those 50 European nations, of nationalism in those 50 European nations, of sexism in those 50 European nations, of homosexuality in those 50 European nations. I will depart from you and your evil report; for I will keep my way, which is the way of Jesus, for Jesus is a giant killer and thus preserve and save my own soul, and the souls of multitudes, in those 50 European nations. You either think like Calab, Joshua and David who think that those giants, even Goliath, are delivered into our hands and we cut off their heads, or go back to your hiding place and watch me single-handedly kill Goliath, and all the army of the enemy in the name of Jesus Christ (1Samuel 17).

My friend let us know the word; Jesus in Luke, chapter four, defeated the devil with the word, three times He said: it is written. The scriptures abiding in His heart were the strength of Jesus; let it be the strength of our faith as well. God wants the scriptures to abide in us, so that when we give a prophecy or an interpretation of a dream or a vision; it is according to His word, not according to our tradition or customs, or our religion. For the Lord says: And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons (Uihos) and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men (Neaniskos) shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams (Acts 2:17). My prayer is that the word of God will abide in us richly, for the righteous is as bold as a young lion (Proverbs 28:1). The people who know the Lord their God, shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. And those of the people who understand shall instruct many (Daniel 11:32-33). This is the Lord’s will, may it come true in our lives, in Jesus’ name! What does it mean to know God? John explains it to us, saying: by this we know that we have known Him, if we keep His commandments (1John 2:3). Thus practicing holiness and righteousness is the master key in being greatly used of God.

I-4-d) Child of God: Uihos

A Uihos is a Greek word for son or child. But in the light of the scriptures it is a fully grown up person, who is entitled to his or her inheritance and can sell it. He or she is no longer a minor. Jesus tells the parable of the prodigal son. Then He, Jesus, said: a certain man had two sons (Uihos) (Luke 15:11). As the story unfolds we see that the younger son (Uihos) received half of the inheritance and sold it. To receive an inheritance and sell it, you must be mature, because you need to stand in the gate of the city before the elders of the city and sign the title deed of your lands or houses. The Father said to the elder brother who was also a Uihos: all that I have is yours (Luke 15:31). When we were adopted, God placed us in His household as Uihos, fully grown up children, who are entitled to all that is His. God redeemed us through the blood of Jesus, that we might receive the adoption as sons (Galatians 4:5). The word adoption as sons, is the Greek word Uihothesia it is a placing or adoption as a Uihos (son). So when you and I were born again, God placed us in His kingdom as grown up children, who are entitled to all that is His, like we have studied in the Adoption part of our study earlier on.

God placed us as Uihos, but He knows we do not have the understanding of a uihos, so He expects us to quickly mature and leave the stage of Nepios so that we can eat solid food. No matter how long we have been in the kingdom of God, and how mature we are; God will always want us to approach Him with the faith of a Paidion (little child); it is the only kind of faith or belief system that works in the kingdom of God. If it is written we just believe it! He desires that His words and the revelation of His Son Jesus Christ, His death, burial and resurrection according to the scriptures, abide so richly in us; so that we might do great damage to the kingdom of darkness. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of darkness (1John 3:8).

May we grow and quickly have the revelation of a Neaniskos and take forcibly what is ours. For Jesus says: from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force (Matthew 11:12). Violent faith has nothing to do with shouting in prayer or beating the air, but it is knowing: who we are in Christ, and what He has provided for us by His death, burial and resurrection, according to the scriptures; and then contend for what is ours, with the word of God: it is written, it is written and again it is written.

Jesus sets the example how we are to be Uihos, mature children of God. It is written: though He was a Son (Uihos), yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered (Hebrews 5:8). A Uihos does not suffer because He is sinning or being disobedient; but because he is obeying the will of God. Many times it is because we have not matured in the will of God, that God does not tell us what is ahead of us. God knows that if He tells us we are going to suffer, many of us, and including Gery, will say: get behind me Satan! Brothers and sisters we are already Uihos, God adopted us as Uihos, we must have the understanding of what God expects from a Uihos. Jesus was going to the cross not because He sinned; but because He was obeying God. A Uihos knows the will of God concerning his or her life and says like Jesus says: Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done (Luke 22:42). Being a son or a daughter of God does not make us emotionless. We still have our emotions. Jesus prayed three times for God to remove that cup of suffering, if there was another way to save the world without Him going on the cross. Who wants to be crucified?

If anybody enjoys suffering, there is something wrong with that person. A Uihos sees the big picture, He sees: what I am going through will help other people, will bring many people to the kingdom of God. So though I do not like it, I will go through it; for the furtherance of the kingdom of God. You have forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto you as unto children (Uihos), My son (Uihos), do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked of Him: For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives, If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons (Uihos); for what son is he whom the father chastens not (Hebrews 12:5-7)? Jesus knew that it was not Satan, but God, because nothing can happen to him if the Father has not permitted it. Jesus saw you and me behind that cross and said they are worth dying for. He could have said: I am going back to heaven, and I do not want to die for these ungrateful people! Many times we want to quit in this Christian walk; but we just look behind us and see how many people are looking up to us and we decide to stay.

I would confess to you that when the Lord asked me to write the first bible study, I did not feel like writing it. I did not do it for a month. But I realized it was not about me, God had many people whom He wanted to bless through these bible studies, even the multitudes in the 50 European nations He promised me. I said: Lord I do not even know what to write! I cannot even type a page! And I was surprised as soon as I started to type, the Holy Spirit brought the words to my remembrance (John 14:26). What I wanted was that if at least one person could read it and it could help him or her, I would not have wasted my time typing these bible studies. But to my amazement, people, whom I never thought would read it, told me they have read it. May God forgive me for passing quick Judgement of His children! And forgive my unbelief.

Paul was in prison when he wrote the letter to the church of the Philippians. He said: I want you to know, brothers and sisters that the things which happened to me, have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. So that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest that my chains are in Christ. And most of the brothers and sisters in the Lord, having become confident by my chains, are much more bold to speak the word without fear (Philippians 1:12-14). Sometimes people see a brother or a sister enduring a situation and ask themselves: why he or she is putting up with that nonsense? Many times I am talking to someone who is abusing me verbally, or attacking me from the pulpit. It is not a sin if I decide to leave that person or that church and go elsewhere, but The Lord tells me: son I want you to stay and keep displaying My love and My nature, and one day they will change. So I endure until God tells me to leave or until the brothers and sisters have the revelation of Jesus, that what they are doing is not what Jesus would have done. And many times some of them come and apologize. But even if they do not, I move on, I was not doing that for them; but for God.

Sometimes God wants to bring us to higher ground, but we are not mature enough. We are rightfully Uihos but have not the nature and the revelation of a Uihos. So God does not tell us His plans. He shows us only the end but not the middle. So Joseph had a nice dream of what he would become, the stars and the moon would bow before him. But God did not show him how He would bring it to pass. If God had told Joseph: you will have to sell yourself as a slave, and after that you will have to be a prisoner, because at every stage you will meet people who will propel you to be before pharaoh. He would have said this dream is from the devil. So he had to be sold to slavery by his brother.

Only at the end when the dream came to pass, that Joseph realized, that though Satan moved his brother to jealousy and envy, God’s hand was always with him and at the end He could say: But as for you, you thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive (Genesis 50:20). God wanted to save Israel from the famine and provide for them. God has a bigger picture; at the end Joseph saw it. Paul tells us, regardless of what you are going through right now, we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He fore-knew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, for Him to be the First-born among many brothers. But whom He predestinated, these He also called; and whom He called, those He also justified. And whom He justified, these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us (Romans 8:28-31)?

God wants us to hear His voice and obey Him. The disciples did not want to leave Jerusalem and preach the gospel elsewhere. It was the persecutions of the church that scattered them abroad, and as they went, they brought the gospel to the world. But Paul, acted like Jesus, He knew that God wanted him to go to Rome, but he needed to go to Jerusalem, and the Jews would try to kill him, but the gentiles would rescue him, and bring him to Rome as a prisoner. Paul could have said this is not the will of God; I will buy my own fare to Rome, like Jonah bought his own fare to go in a different direction, than where God sent him. But Paul understood the bigger picture of God, that by his being in Rome, many would believe in Jesus. The Roman Empire ruled the world in those days, so if the gospel is spread in Rome, one day it will explode in all the Roman Empire. So even when brothers and sisters were trying to stop Paul from going to Jerusalem, like Peter was also trying to stop Jesus from going to the cross. Paul said to them: what do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready, not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 21:13).

Do not get me wrong, being a Uihos does not mean only suffering for the kingdom. We have all the benefits of the salvation package. And it is wrong teaching to think that everybody should suffer like Paul suffered. Peter and the other disciples did not suffer as Paul suffered. Being a Uihos is simply being mature spiritually and obeying the Lord, even when it is not convenient. I say obeying the Lord not man. A mature believer will deny himself many things for the furtherance of the kingdom of God. The more we mature to our status of mature sons and daughters, the more God can commit great plans and resources for the kingdom of God.

Think of it: if Joseph had not matured, God could not have committed to him all the wealth of Egypt. He would be a mean person, who tried to avenge himself for what his brothers did to him. But thanks be to God, Joseph matured through all that he went through in Egypt, and when his brothers came, he was able to forgive them and help them. If David did not mature, he would not be the man after God’s heart; he would try to kill Saul who was plotting his death. But the love of God was in David’s heart to forgive Saul. Even when he had opportunities to kill Saul; David said: the LORD forbid, that I should do this thing unto my master, the LORD’S anointed, to stretch forth my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the LORD (1Samuel 24:6).

God was so pleased with David, because David knew the true heart of God, and wanted to obey Him. Many of us will say, God also anointed me; let me fight for what is mine! David waited for God to bring Him onto the throne of Israel. I used to be in a place where people were fighting me, because I was not conformed to their way of doing things, and because the little ministry I was doing was successful. So they started to fight me every week, deep inside me I wanted to fight back, but I read what David did when Saul became envious, and was trying to kill him. David always inquired of the Lord, so I inquired of the Lord, and the Lord told me to give up those two ministries, that my work there was over.

People did not know why I was stepping down from those two ministries; it was doing so well, and people were being ministered to, and the local community was enjoying the fruit of one of the ministries, even the Manchester City Council was working with us, for we were handling difficult children, that they could not handle. But the Lord told me: I hate it when My children fight each other, a house divided against itself cannot stand (Mark 3:25). And this is what I, the Lord said when the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, were fighting Israel, the descendants of Jacob: Edom did not remember the covenant of brotherhood (Amos 1:9-11). So I knew, as believers, the reason we call ourselves brothers and sisters, is because we have the same Father God, and just like He said that Edom did not remember the covenant of brotherhood, I said: I will not break the heart of Our Father by me trying to retaliate. For the Lord says: if you do retaliate, then your reprisal shall return upon your own head (Obadiah 1:15).

So I decided to step down from those ministries and asked the Lord where He wanted me to go, so for a year the Lord sent me preaching in different churches as an itinerant preacher. God wants us to mature to our status of mature sons and daughter, so that we can advance the kingdom of God. He wants to build an army of believers in our generation that will not just know the works of God but also know the ways of God, and be people after God’s own heart. The army which Joel prophesied: they run like mighty men and women, they climb the wall men and women of war; every one marches in formation, and they do not break ranks. They do not push one another; every one marches in his or her own column. Though they lunge between the weapons they are not cut down (Joel 2:7-8). But many times in churches people push one another. They fight each other for position, for recognition; they love the praises of men more than the praises of God (John 12:43). But Philip, when he went to Samaria, the revival broke out there, it was a mighty work of God, Peter and John came to help. But God told Philip to leave that revival, and go into the desert, and wait for a eunuch, and minister salvation to that Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8). He could have stayed in Samaria and kept ministering, there was lot of work to do in Samaria, but God sent him into the desert to meet one man, and Philip obeyed.

If God has not sent you to do something, but men or women are coercing you, do not listen to them. You must listen to God for yourself. Jesus said I do not do anything unless the father tells Me. It should be your style also. Remember God adopted you as a uihos, you will always be a uihos, no matter how you act. But He wants us to mature so that we do things not just for ourselves, not just to receive some blessings, but for the furtherance of His kingdom. Let us become kingdom minded. But today when we see people having a big congregation or big ministry and they decide to leave it and go and minister to one person like Philip did, we say: he is no longer anointed. Because we judge ministry by its size. Many people would rather stay in a big congregation or a big ministry rather than obeying God and go to minister to one person because they care too much about what people say about them.

Many people when they see a brother or sister not fighting for position in a church setting, think that the brother or sister is weak, or is not anointed. Once upon a time she or he used to be involved in all the prayer meetings, or used to give prophecies in church. But sometimes God has spoken to that brother or sister to stop doing that ministry and go and start another ministry. I remember a church where a sister was trying so hard to give a prophecy every Sunday. I knew that her prophecies were not from God, but she wanted people to know that she was “anointed”, and she had many visions. She was frustrated and ended up leaving that church. I sat down I never gave a prophecy on Sunday because it would have been a corrective prophecy from the Lord so I just prayed. So people asked me: why do you not give prophecies in our church? How can you be a member of a prayer meeting, and not see visions or dreams and not give us some revelations? The truth is I probably saw more visions and dreams than many of them, but the Lord told me that they will never receive it. I tried it once and they were not happy. So I decided to obey God, whenever He showed me something I just prayed.

I-4-e) Child of God: Teknon

Teknon is a Greek word that means son, daughter, child; but a son or a daughter who still needs to be disciplined by his or her Father. A fully grown up son or daughter, entitled to his or her inheritance. Think of it this way: when we come to Christ and become children of God; we know that according to the scriptures, God adopted us as Uihos (sons and daughters). He considers us as adults, entitled to our inheritance and it is ours. Yet what God wants is not just to give us our inheritance; it is already ours any way; but He wants us to be conformed to the image of His Son (Uihos) Jesus. So He knows that He will need to teach us the ways of the kingdom, how to be Christ like. This is the discipline we are talking about. Of course when we come to Christ we have the ways of the world: we think like the world, we talk like the world and we act like the world. So God decides to give us a training that will make us Christ like.

Never be condemned when you are not doing everything right from the beginning. I remember I used to vent all my feelings when someone offended me; and the Lord showed me: the fool vents all his feelings or utters all his mind, but the wise man holds them back (Proverbs 29:11). I said Lord I must speak back because they will think I am weak. But the Lord says: do you want to be a fool or wise? I said wise. He said: okay, the fool is the one who says there is no God (Psalm 14:1). A Christian can act like a fool when he or she decides to ignore the counsel of the Lord in his situation.

There is no situation or predicament that one is facing, that God did not give His counsel about. But you see: wisdom is too high or lofty for a fool (Proverbs 24:7), simply because he does not acknowledge the Lord’s counsel found in the scriptures. I said: Lord what shall I do then? And He gave me an instruction, and I did it. Great peace have those who love the Law of God, or word of God, and there is no stumbling block for them, or nothing shall by any means offend them (Psalm 119:165). You see many times we are still trying to react, like when we were in the world, but God’s ways are not the world’s ways. And choosing to obey God’s counsel, sometimes is not easy for our flesh, because we deny ourselves the opportunity to vent our anger, to retaliate, to hit back.

So God knows that He needs to work on us. I remember making that decision, I will no longer act like a fool but be wise. So for a year I decided to read the book of proverbs once a week, so that I would know the wisdom of God. The bible says Christ Jesus has been made unto us wisdom (1Corinthians 1:30). So since Jesus came to live in me, and He is the wisdom of God (1Corinthians 1:24), I have the mind of Christ therefore I am wise. I just need to let this mind that was in Christ, be also in me. And where can I find that mind? In the bible since it is God who gave all scriptures by inspiration. So I read the proverbs over and over to let or permit Jesus, who is the wisdom of God, be in me. I did the same thing for love, I know that God is love (1John 4:16). And the love of God has been shed abroad in my heart, when I received the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). So I knew that since the Holy Spirit is in me, I have love in me, I can love anybody. God who is love dwells in me, so love dwells in me. Now I must allow or permit this love that is in God and Jesus, to also be in me. I started to read every month for a year, the books of John, the three epistles of John, the book of Songs of Solomon and the book of Hosea.

John tells us: beloved, now we are (Teknon) the sons and daughters of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is (1John 3:2). Yes we are still being transformed in the image of Christ on a daily basis. For God has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son (Uihos), that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters (Romans 8:29). Therefore God’s ultimate plan is to make all of us Christ like, so that when Jesus comes for His glorious church; He comes to people who have matured into the full stature of Christ likeness. So God tells us: do not be conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God (Romans 12:2). Let us look unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). We want to be like Him, to think like Him, to talk like Him, to love like Him, to do everything like Him, to grow into Christ.

The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children (Teknon) of God (Romans 8:16). The Spirit also helps our infirmities or weaknesses: for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered (Romans 8:26). The Holy Spirit witnesses in our heart that we are children of God. Do not condemn yourself, you and I still need to learn the ways of God, not just His acts. But we are children and everything that belongs to God is ours. And the Spirit helps us, by bringing scriptures to our remembrance, so that we have the counsel of the Lord, concerning what we are facing. When we are praying in tongues, the Spirit knows what aspect of our life God wants to work on, so He prays through us. I remember going to a church, they were fasting, and on that day they prayed throughout the day for the needs of the people.

I was seated beside a gentleman, and when one of the leaders of the church came into the pulpit to lead the church for an hour of prayer for their financial prosperity, the church started to pray in tongues. Everybody was shouting in tongues, the gentleman beside me was also shouting. He started by praying with understanding for his financial prosperity; but when he started to pray in tongues, I could understand his tongue. I heard him pray in French, and he was pleading with God to change his life style, to make him more obedient to the word and the will of God, he was repenting of his sins. When the prayer was over, I tried to speak to the gentleman in French, for I thought he spoke French since I heard him speaking in French. To my amazement the guy knew not a single word in French not even “Bonjour”. I realized that in his mind he thought he needed more money, but God was telling Him money is not a problem, all things are yours. But what I want you to do is that you obey My word and change your lifestyle, repent which simply means: forsake your old ways and renew your mind according to My word.

I-4-f) Child of God: Teknion

Teknion is a diminutive of Teknon, it is a stage of spiritual infancy. Unfortunately many believers act like spiritual infants. A Teknion knew the truth, the knowledge of the gospel was delivered to him like to any other believer; but he or she decides to reject that knowledge. The bible says: my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, because they have rejected the knowledge (Hosea 4:6). Paul when he writes to the Galatians says: my little children (Teknion), of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you (Galatians 4:19-20). Paul had delivered the same message of salvation to that church: that it was by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. But they decided to establish their own righteousness, to add to the finished word of Christ their own works of the law. So Paul had to teach them again the foundation of our faith in Jesus Christ. Paul had to change the tone of his voice. God does not want to harshly discipline us or to raise His voice. God is love. In my whole life, my father raised his voice only once when I was 5 years old, and I still remember it now.

God is love. He wants to teach us something, until we get it right. The Teknion was taught and got it right; but he or she rejected that knowledge. Paul tells the Galatians: O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you (Galatians 3:1)? The Teknion acts foolishly, meaning he or she rejects the truth of the word of God, and what Jesus had done on the cross, and by His resurrection. I have acted like a Teknion many times, may God have mercy on me. I was like the Galatians, seeking to establish my own righteousness, trying to add to God’s finished works by deeds of the law; I was looking for “deep revelations”. When all that time, the truth was written in black and white in the bible for me to read it for myself. Paul says; this only I want to know from you: did you receive the Spirit by the work of the law, or by the hearing of faith (Galatians 3:2)?

Many Christians, when they tell them, all their sins are forgiven, past, present and future, instead of being thankful to God, they believe that it is a licence to sin some more. But Paul says: What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, who are dead to sin, live any longer therein (Romans 6:1-2)? The message of grace, that Jesus preached and Paul preached, is never condoning sins, it is, taking away sin from the people, and empowering them to live a life above sin, so that they do not have to keep practicing sin.

So John says to the church: I write unto you, little children (Teknion), because your sins are forgiven you, for His name’s sake (1John 2:12). Now, no matter what our understanding of grace was, if we have sinned, or have been practicing sin, God says to all: if we confess our sins, He is just and faithful to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1John 1:9). The fact that we sin, does not remove us from being Uihos (sons and daughters) of God, it is only that we are acting like the unsaved people; we simply need to renew our mind by the word of God. And if we confess our sins and repent willingly, God or the ministers of the gospels, like Paul and John, have no need to raise their voices or to speak hard words to us.

There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus, but we just need to confess our sins to Him, and decide to repent, meaning to forsake our old practices and renew our mind according to God’s word. John says: my little children (Teknion), these things I write unto you, that you do not sin. And if anyone sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1John 2:1). Jesus will plead your case before the Father, for He died for our sins, but the Spirit that is in us, empowers us to live above sin. He wants us to catch up to that revelation. Little children (Teknion), let no one deceive you: he or she that practices righteousness is righteous, even as God is righteous (1John 3:7). Since the righteousness of Jesus has been imputed to us, let us practice righteousness.

He who commits sin is of the devil; for the devil sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil (1John 3:8). When I read this verse the first time I was offended, because I thought John was being too hard, after all, who does not sin? It is only when I realized that I was no longer a sinner, but righteous, even the righteousness of God, that I decided to agree with the word of God, that sin is a choice. God has given me the power through His Holy Spirit to destroy the works of the devil, which includes sin. I am a son of God, I have the same power Jesus has to destroy the sin in my life, which is the work of the devil.

James explains to us, that sin is a choice, saying: let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither does He tempt any man. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren (James 1:13-16). So it is my thoughts that cause me to sin, because I act on something I have already been thinking about it, and rehearsing it in my mind. Jesus said: I say unto you, that whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart (Matthew 5:28). I had to agree with Jesus, I said to Jesus: okay, though I am not practicing adultery but Your standard is that I should not even entertain lustful thoughts in my heart and mind. I want to obey You; tell me how to do it. Because I agree with what James says: if I entertain these thoughts I will one day act on them.

So Jesus gave me the scripture Paul gave to the young Timothy saying: rebuke not an elder, but exhort him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; the elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity (1Timothy 5:1-2). So Jesus told me, consider elder women as if they were your physical mother, and consider younger women and women of your age as if they were the daughters of your physical mother! It truly helped me, because it put a repugnant picture of incest into my head, whenever I thought of any Christian sister young or old in a lustful way. I was confessing that word of God and it was working for Christian sisters, young and old, powerfully! But what about unsaved women, young and old? So I cried out to God also, because I did not only want to have a pure mind and pure conscience around Christians, but even among unsaved people.

People can act as if they are fine, but in their heart they are struggling with lust. So Jesus gave me a scripture in Hebrews, saying: how much more the blood of Christ , who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:14)? So I said thank you Jesus, because Your blood has cleansed my conscience from dead works, and lustful thoughts are part of those dead works, to serve the living God. So I started to confess it, even when I was in the streets, because I did not want the devil to have any of his dead works in me. My aim, and the plan of God for all believers is, that we will be able to say like Jesus: the prince of this world comes, and has nothing in Me (John 14:30). I want my conscience pure as I serve the living God, I do not want my conscience to be accusing me, hence rob me of my confidence towards God.

One of the reasons that pushed me to cry out to God to help me, even destroy any lustful thoughts; in my heart and conscience according to His word; is for my own safety; because I do not want anything of the devil in me, and I do not want God to reveal my thoughts to other believers around me. The way God works with me is, that sometimes He comes and tells me: who is committing adultery or fornicating. He tells me sometimes what the lustful thoughts of some people are. When I was twelve years old in our cell church, I used to give prophecies, so one elder sister was there and I gave a prophecy about her lustful thoughts she had about her boss, and that she would be impregnated by him, though she was married to another man. I was not mature at that time; I vented everything God revealed to me. No need to say that the prayer meeting did not go well that day. The sister in question was mad, and called me all kinds of names; she said that my vision and prophecy was from the devil. So they kicked me out of the cell church. But less than two months later she was pregnant and it was not of her husband but of her boss. So the husband divorced her.

Even today God tells me about people who are struggling with pornography, or who people are dating in secret. Not for me to judge them, but to pray for them, that God will deliver them. God was showing to Elisha what was discussed in the bedroom of the king of Syria (2Kings 6:8-12). God was showing to Ezekiel what the women were doing in secret and what the leaders of Israel were doing in secret (Ezekiel 8:12-18). Sometimes a friend of mine goes to London for a pastor meeting, God has already shown me what will take place in the meeting, and what some of the people would be thinking, and the decision that they will take. So I tell my friend, and when he comes back from that meeting in London, he tells me it was exactly what I told him would take place. I remember; when my heart was still unstable about what kind of wife I wanted, twice I went for a movie and restaurant with a sister, and God revealed to Sister Louise, that I was walking holding the hand of a girl, though in the physical I never held that sister’s hand!

So Sister Louise called me, and asked me straight away: are you dating? I did not know how to answer that question, so I laughed. And she told me the vision God had shown her, God showed Sister Louise that I was holding the hand of that sister, to tell me that in the eyes of God and in the eyes of the people, it was a date. So I told Louise that I went to a cinema and a restaurant with a sister, and I told Louise what our conversations were. So Sister Louise said to me, that is what they call date based on what you have discussed; it was not an innocent movie and restaurant meal but a date. So since it was a date according to Sister Louise and God, so I said to Sister Louise: let us pray right now that I will not waste anybody’s time, if it is not the person that God has ordained for me, God will say it and prove it. And we prayed, then after two weeks God answered and proved that that sister was not the person He ordained for me! We must be transparent when we handle the word of truth, so that people can trust us!

I work diligently with my heart and mind to renew them according to the word of God, so that when God reveals to anybody anything that I do in secret, or that I think in my heart, there will be no works of the devil in me; no lustful thoughts, no envy, no secret resentments, no contempt, etc. I remember one day I was crying all night in my bedroom and was very sad. My father called me early in the morning and told me: I have seen you in a vision that you were crying and he comforted me. So in the Spirit, God showed my father what I was doing in my bedroom and what I was thinking. Many times my Pastor who begot me in the Lord, would call me and tell me, that he had seen me in a vision praying a type of prayer or fasting, and it was correct for I was praying that kind of prayer or I was fasting at that time. God said to Ananias that Saul was praying and fasting and what kind of vision Saul saw. There was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prays, And has seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight (Acts 9:10-12).

I also see things about my pastor and I let him know. God shows us those things, so that we can pray for one another. He tells us that such and such a brother or sister is sick, so that we can heal them. David committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband, but he thought it was a secret; God revealed it to Nathan the prophet who came to rebuke him (2Samuel 11; 2Samuel 12). When some people hate me or despise me, God tells me, so it means when I entertain thoughts of hatred, envy and contempt toward other brothers or sisters, God might reveal them to some people, so that they can pray for me. That is why I deal quickly with any thought that does not line up with the word of God. Not just because I am afraid that God will reveal them to people, but because I want to be Christ like.

Once upon a time we were sinners, because of the sin of Adam, and we could not help it but sin, it was our nature; but now the last Adam, Jesus, has delivered us from the prison of sin, and has made us righteous, let us practice righteousness for it is our new nature. For John says: you are of God, little children (Teknion), and have overcome them: because greater is He who is in you, than he that is in the world (1John 4:4). God is now living in you, and in our study we have explained how Jesus defeated Satan and all his demons. God is in you, power has been made available to you in order to live a victorious life over all the powers of darkness, and all his devices. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace (Romans 6:14). Jesus nailed, all the curses contained in the law, that were against you, on the cross, so no matter what you have done, come back to God, Jesus is your advocate, furthermore divine empowerment is made available to you and I, to even obey the word of God.

Now, little children (Teknion), abide in Him (Jesus); that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming (1John 2:28). What we all need is to abide in Jesus, to abide in His word, it will change our life and empower us to be more like Him. Let us have the understanding that God lives in us, Jesus lives in us and the Holy Spirit lives in us. The anointing which you and I have received of Him abides in you and me, and we need not that any man or woman teach us some seducing things which will cause us to reject the knowledge of Christ, what He has accomplished for us on that cross and by His resurrection: but as the same anointing teaches you and me of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you and me, you and I shall abide in Him (1John 2:26-27). Now the Anointing is a tangible manifestation of the power of the Holy Ghost, to have spiritual revelations, and perform signs and wonders.

There is hope that we will have the revelation of who we are in Christ Jesus, but above all, we will have the revelation of His love. John says: my little children (Teknion), let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth (1John 3:18). My prayer is that we will have the revelation, that the love of God has been shed abroad in our heart, when we received the Holy Ghost (Romans 5:5). That we will believe it, but furthermore it will dawn on us that God who is love, dwells in us now. As we read His sixty six love letters (the sixty six books of the bible) we will allow His love to be manifested in us, and exhibited through us.

I-4-g) Why God does not want His children to practice sin.

Unfortunately sometimes “Christians” after they have heard this teaching of the perfect redemption plan of God, twist it. They say within themselves: since God has imputed His righteousness to us, and all our sins are forgiven, past, present and future; so let us then go and practice sin. Let us sin some more, since we have received grace! Many people thought the teaching of Paul, this perfect redemption plan of God, was not helping believers, that the message of grace was causing them to sin. When Paul explains, Jesus did it all, we now receive it by grace, through faith in Jesus, apart from the works of the law. People, said to Paul, it will create lazy believers, who will not want to pray, fast and read their scriptures, even practice sin! But Peter defended the gospel Paul preached, saying: our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles or letters, speaking of things, in which some things are hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people, twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the scriptures (2Peter 3:15-16).

In other words: these people, do not just twist the message of grace, they also twist other scriptures. They need to be taught, but they reject the knowledge and go their own ways, they suffer shipwreck. Paul said to Timothy: hold the faith and a good conscience; which some having put away, concerning faith have made shipwreck: Of whom are Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme (1Timothy 1:19-20). Paul might have warned these fellows, but they refused to amend their ways for he warned the church of Corinth and they amended their ways. These people were not true believers, they were goats among the sheep. For the Sheep hear the voice of Jesus.

Jude warns us about such brothers and sisters: Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith, which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men, crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ (Jude 1:3-4). The picture Jude gives of these men is, that of the serpent who crept his way into the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve were. Though the serpent crept his way into Eden, he did not belong there; he was marked for the condemnation of hell fire by God. So he made His way into the Garden, to come and deceive Adam and Eve, who were not marked for the condemnation of hell fire, so that they might fall with him and go to hell also. That is why Paul said: I have delivered unto Satan Hymenaeus and Alexander. These two crept into the fold, and were trying to bring genuine believers to hell with them, let them go back to their master Satan where they belong!

Agents of Satan in the church, who were already marked for hell fire, also deceived some Christians to follow their evil ways, so that they would also follow them into hell. Paul tells the church: do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor abusers, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God (1Corinthians 6:9-10). All the sins listed here have their root in idol worship, there is a demon behind all these sins. That is why, when a believer practices any of them, he or she rejects Jesus Christ as being His God, and chooses that demon to be his god. That is what makes each one of these sins listed up here by Paul, the sin leading to death. We have explained in the Abecedary of Prayer, why the sins listed in 1Corinthians 6:9-10 fall into the category of the sin leading to death.

John says: If anyone sees his brother sin a sin not to death, he shall ask, and He shall give him life, for those that do not sin to death. There is a sin that leads to death, I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not to death (1John 5:16-17). Yes, the sin of rejecting Jesus Christ, is the one that sends us to hell, and when a person practices the sins listed in 1Corinthians 6:9-10 he or she rejects Jesus Christ, to worship the demon behind that particular sin. The Sin of Hymenaeus and Philetus, was to say that there was no more resurrection from the dead, and people could live a loose life. Thus rejecting the whole book of Revelation of Jesus, that John received and rejecting the teaching of Paul, to the church on resurrection of the dead on the last day. Paul said to Timothy: Study earnestly to present yourself approved to God, a workman that does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. But shun profane, vain babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their word will eat like gangrene; among whom are Hymeneus and Philetus, who have erred concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past, and who overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal: “The Lord knew those who are His.” And, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity (2Timothy 2:15-19)!”

Paul now explains to us: What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, who are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (Romans 6:1-4). We died to sin, so we no longer practice it, but we have this new life in us, we are born again of the Spirit of God, we practice righteousness now. When I was growing up we had a lot of employees. We had a gardener, a night watchman and a day watchman, two chauffeurs, a domestic and three preceptors. No matter how little we were, we knew that we were sons and they were servants. They were approved by the tasks they accomplished, but we were already accepted and approved.

My mother would sometimes ask me to work with the gardener to tend roses. The gardener was supposed to do it. But they were dear to my mother: she had yellow roses, pink roses, red roses and white roses. I would water them and make a bouquet of roses every week; I knew it brought joy to my mother’s heart. Whether I tended those roses or not I am still the son of my parents, they still give me food, take care of me when I am sick, pay my tuition fees. My mother liked some dishes but the domestic did not know how to cook them the way my mother liked them, so many times my mother asked me to cook, and I love cooking, it is a joy to cook for the family. My father had a vegetable garden in the back yard; he loved that vegetable garden so much! He had all kinds of things there but he had citronella species, he did his chemical experiments with them. I knew it was dear to him, so he told me to water them. The gardener was never to water the vegetable garden of my father, but his sons were. I watered it with joy because I knew it brought joy to my father’s heart.

Why did I spend time telling stories about my childhood? It is to let you know that we are sons and daughters of God, who serve Him. We are not doing anything in the kingdom of God to be accepted He has accepted us in the beloved Jesus (Ephesians 1:6). He loves us freely (Hosea 14:4). We serve Him and obey His commandments because we know we are loved, and we love him back, we want to bring joy to our Father. That is why we read our bible, we practice righteousness and holiness, we pray, fast, and do all the other things He commands us to do. The love of God compels us to do it. Nobody forces us to do it. But the love of our Father compels us to do so. I was always with my mother in the kitchen cooking, or staying up late up to 1am talking with my mother. Why? Because I knew she loved me, and I knew she was my friend, even my best friend. I went with her to all the prayer meetings because I loved being in her presence. My dad likes gardening, because I wanted to be in his presence I was always with him in the vegetable garden. He likes walking, even when he told me to stay at home I would not, I would go for a walk with him. Sometimes I was tired of walking. But because I loved being in his presence, I went another mile with him.

My friend it is the same thing in Christianity, when we know who we are, what God has done for us that we are sons and daughters, that He freely loves us, His love in us will compel us to love Him back and obey His commandments, to go with Him the extra mile in the Christian journey, even when we are tired, to work with Him in the field which is the world and sow the seed of the word of God in the lives of people, and win souls for God. We will want to hear His word and read His sixty six love letters He sent us, and bound it in a format of a bible. We would want to tarry with Him in prayer, because we are enjoying the conversation with Him. We would not even see the time had gone so quickly. I stayed up late to 1am with my mother, because I love her and she loves me, I enjoy the conversation with her, we laugh sometimes to the point, that tears comes out of our eyes, and we also cry together. It is the same thing with God when I come in prayer. I enjoy being in His presence, I tell Him about my day, I ask Him as many questions as I can, I tell Him how I love who He is , what He is and what He has done for me. Sometimes I do not even know how long we have been talking. He comes sometimes late in the night, and wakes me up, because He wants to tell me a joke. I love spending time with God.

I asked God, so why did you give us all these commandments? What is their purpose? He answered it is love. I think Paul might have asked God the same question, when He understood the perfect plan of redemption, and I can only picture God answering back this way. Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience and from sincere faith or unhypocritical faith (1Timothy 1:5). When we are not practicing sin, our heart is pure, we see everything in the light of God’s word. To the pure all things are pure; but to them that are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled (Titus 1:15). Many times we love people because of what they can do for us; we covet what they have so we get close to them, because of what they have. So when God commands us that we should not covet, it is so that we can love that neighbour from a pure heart, have a good or pure conscience. We know that we are not after anything, but just to love them, because they are created by God. Our conscience either accuses us or excuses us (Romans 2:15).

When our conscience accuses us, we become hypocrites, we smile with people, but inside us, our love for them is not pure. But when our conscience does not condemn us, we know we are not after anything, we love them just the way they are. Our conscience then bears witness with the Holy Ghost (Romans 9:1). We know that there is no hypocrisy in our love for the neighbour, and God bears us witness, our love is from a pure heart. The enemy wants us to keep practicing sin, so that our love for our neighbours will not be from a pure heart, we will start being hypocrites. When we come to God to ask Him anything, our conscience will be accusing us, that we are hypocrites with our neighbours, why should God listen to us? But God gave us all these commandments to guide us, and to teach us how we should love our neighbour from a pure heart and a good conscience. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; you shall love your neighbour as yourself (Galatians 5:14).

Love does no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law (Romans 13:10). Owe no man or woman anything, but to love one another: for he or she who loves another has fulfilled the law (Romans 13:8). If we love our neighbours it shows how much we love God. God demonstrated His love to us, by giving us His Son Jesus. He wants us to demonstrate the love that we have for Him, by loving our neighbour from a pure heart and good conscience, this is the whole purpose of the commandments. If a man or woman says: I love God and hates his or her brother or sister, he or she, is a liar: for he or she, who does not love his or her brother or sister, whom he or she has seen, how can he or she, love God, whom he or she, has not seen (1John 4:20)? No man or woman has seen God at anytime. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and His love is perfected in us (1John 4:12). We have already believed in Jesus, when we love our neighbour we will not sin against them, it is possible to love our neighbour for the love of God is shed abroad in our heart when we received the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5).

I-5) A vision that God gave me of His current earthly church

It was on Wednesday 31^st, October 2012 around 3pm, I was fasting and praying. I was in a trance and in that trance I saw a vision. I was in a great house that looked like a castle. There were many stories (floors) in that great house. I was lodging on the third floor, of that great house in the upper room. It was so clean on that floor and in my room. I decided to visit the lower floors and their rooms. To my great amazement I discovered that the lower floors were dusty floors and dusty rooms. There were translucent glass bottles, full of dirty water all over those floors even on the windows, they were innumerable. It looked like those translucent glass bottles were already dirty before they put water into them; they had some greenish thing stuck inside the bottles.

As I went to the first floor it was even worse! I decided to go to the basement of that great house, and it was even worse, I could not believe my eyes! But in the basement, there was a distiller’s installation. Now a distiller is one whose occupation is to extract spirit by evaporation and condensation. Now to distil water is to extract the pure part of water. To distil any fluid is to extract by heat; to separate spirit or essential oils from liquor, by heat or evaporation, and convert that vapour into a liquid, by condensation in refrigeration (In distillation, it is a vessel filled with cold water, through which the worm passes; by which means the vapours are condensed as they pass through the worm).

I was looking around in the basement, and I found a big refrigerator that could be used as a refrigerator, but I was now looking for a heating system to start the distillation for that polluted water, that was in each of the bottles, in order to extract the pure part of the water and to separate the spirit from that fluid and at the end of the process, put the pure part of the water and the spirit or essential oil, into the translucent glass bottles that had been cleaned.

When I came out of that great house, I was in the fenced plot on which it was built, and there were many people with me and we decided to go out to the playground. There were opponent teams waiting for us in the playground, we were wearing our red jerseys. We had three teams and the captains of the three teams were selecting among us, whom they wanted in their team, I was selected in two of the teams and I had to choose on which team I wanted to be. I had earplugs in my ears but I could still hear when they called my name, it was as if I could hear the voice from inside my heart. Then I came out of that vision.

When I came out of that vision, I did not understand at first what the meaning of what God had just shown me was. So I asked Him, saying: Father what is the meaning of this vision? I tried to suggest to Him many things but it was not the meaning of the vision. So I asked again: Father, tell me what the meaning of this vision is. Then the Holy Spirit brought to my remembrance a scripture.

2Timothy 2:14 Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord, that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting or ruin of the hearers.

2Timothy 2:15 Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

2Timothy 2:16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness.

2Timothy 2:17 And their message will spread like canker or gangrene: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;

2Timothy 2:18 Who concerning the truth have erred or strayed, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.

2Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God stands sure, having this seal, The Lord knows those who are His. And, Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

2Timothy 2:20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

2Timothy 2:21 If anyone therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and useful for the Master’s, and prepared unto every good work.

2Timothy 2:22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

2Timothy 2:23 But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes.

2Timothy 2:24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient,

2Timothy 2:25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;

2Timothy 2:26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

You see that great house, or castle that I saw, is what Paul was telling Timothy under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Paul tells us: we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ. Because we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us (2Corinthians 4:5-7). Yes Christ in us, the hope of glory, is the treasure that every born again believer has in his earthen vessel (Colossians 1:27). The translucid glass bottles are the earthen vessels in the great house of God, they represent born again believers.

It is a personal decision, every born again believer must make, to purge himself or herself from the filth of the world. God already delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. We are in His house. It is our responsibility, to purge ourselves, so that we would become vessels of honour, not of dishonour, set apart or sanctified or holy or separated from the world, and useful for our Master Jesus, in the field or playground; prepared for every good work; mainly to destroy the works of the devil: sin, sickness and death, and preach the kingdom of God is at hand, for the salvation of the souls.

Those translucent glass bottles were dirty inside, and the water inside was also polluted. So the vessels needed to be washed, and the polluted water needed to be distilled, to extract the pure water and also extract the spirit. Paul tells us: Jesus wants to sanctify and cleanse His church, with the washing of the water by the word. So that He might present it to Himself, a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish (Ephesians 5:26-27). So each one of us, needs to wash himself or herself in the word of God, to be cleansed and sanctified.

Sanctification or holiness is the master key, to be mightily used by God. Blessed are the pure in heart, or clean in heart; for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8). The righteous, also shall hold on his way, and he who has clean hands or pure hands, shall be stronger and stronger (Job 17:9). We need to wash that translucent glass bottle; who we are, not just outwardly but also inwardly. Jesus tells us: Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! [Why?] Because you make clean the outside of the cup [of the bottle] and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. You blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup [within the bottle] and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also (Matthew 23:25-26).

My prayer is, that we, starting with myself Gery, will not be like the scribes and the Pharisees, who were hypocrites. God is more concerned about what is inside us, we can pretend before people, like the hypocrites but God knows we are full of filth, and crass inside our bottle. The bottles I saw in that vision, were translucent glass bottles. God wants people to see through us, that we have nothing to hide: how clean our bottle on the outside is, how clean it is in the inside. He wants us to be transparent in our faith, and walk with the Lord. That is why brother Gery does his best to be transparent, even in the bible studies; he exposes the works of darkness in himself, and tells everybody how God cleaned that crass, that was in his own translucent glass bottle. The water is the word, it is the pure water, as the psalmist says: the words of the Lord are pure words (Psalm12:6). And Jesus tells us: the words that I speak to you, they are Spirit, and they are life (John 6:63). So there is a spirit attached to every word that proceeds out of the mouth of a person, and there is a spirit attached to every written word. If it is the spoken word of God, or written word of God: the Spirit of God is attached to that word.

Polluted water was in those translucent glass bottles. That is why it needed to be distilled, to separate the pure water which is the pure word of God from the pollutants, which are the words of men, the doctrines of men, the doctrines of the devil, the traditions of men, that make the word of God of no effect, false humility and self-imposed religion, that robs us of our rewards, earthly wisdom and philosophy, and every thought that exalts itself against the knowledge of the word of God. The spirit also was separated during the distillation. So if that spirit was not the Holy Spirit it was thrown away, if it was the Holy Spirit it was put back, with the pure water that has been distilled in the translucent glass bottles, that had been washed inside and outside.

We need the pure word of God in our life, not a polluted word of God. We need to test the spirit behind every word, that we read or hear: beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world (1John 4:1). If that spirit is the Spirit of God, it will agree with the written word of God and with the finished work of Jesus on the cross, what the blood of Jesus gave us freely: this perfect redemption plan. Because there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one; and there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and these three agree as one (1John 5:7-8).

The heat generated by the fire, that was needed to start the distillation, is the fire of the Holy Ghost ,and of the word of God. As it is written: I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But His word was in my heart as a burning fire, shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay (Jeremiah 20:9). Is not My word like as a fire? Says the LORD; and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces (Jeremiah 23:29)? John the Baptist answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I comes, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: He, Jesus, shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire (Luke 3:16). Those who will purify themselves, and decide to be filled with the pure water of the word of God and fire of the word of God, and the Holy Ghost will be useful to Jesus our master in the field, for every good work: to heal the sick, cast out devils, cleanse lepers and raise the dead and say: repent for the kingdom of God is at hand!

The baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire, or power, is not only to speak in tongues; but is to make the water of the word of God, so hot, to remove the crass, that is inside our translucent glass bottle. Hot water removes crass from surfaces effortlessly. That is why you and I need the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire, to make the water of the word of God in us boiling hot water, so that all spiritual crass in our translucent glass bottle is removed once and for all.

The enemy is out there in the field, waiting for us, the world is also groaning as Paul says: I reckon that the sufferings of this present time, are not worthy to be compared with the glory, which shall be revealed in us. Because the earnest expectation of the creature, waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself, also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body (Romans 8:18-23).

Yes you see, people around us might not tell us that they need our Jesus, but they do, even the creation around us is groaning and travailing in pain. They are all waiting for the manifestation of the sons and daughters of God, to come and destroy the works of the devil: sin, sickness and death (1John 3:8). Even ourselves who have the Spirit of the Lord in us, we are also groaning and travailing in pain within ourselves, waiting for the day the people of God would purge themselves, and be full of the pure word of God and fire of the Spirit of God, to transform the world around them. For Paul tells us: if we profess to be followers of Christ, and have the knowledge of His word, but in our conduct we are not worthy of the Gospel of Christ, the name of the Lord will be blasphemed among unbelievers through us (Romans 2:23-24).

Those red jerseys we were wearing, talk of the blood of Jesus, we overcame Satan and his cohorts, by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of our testimony, the written word of God and our personal testimony of God’s triumphs (Revelation 12:11). Therefore Paul tells us: let your conversation (conduct) be worthy of the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit (as a team), with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; And in nothing, terrified by your adversaries (Satan, his cohorts, and his evil works namely sin, sickness and death): which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. For unto you it is given, on behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake; Having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me (Philippians 1:27-30).

If we suffer with Christ we shall also reign with Him (2Timothy 2:12). For if by one man’s (Adam’s) offence, death reigned by one; much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ (Romans 5:17). You will reign in life over sin, over sickness, over death, over poverty, over all the works of the devil. God will always cause you to triumph in Christ Jesus and through you He will defuse the fragrance of His knowledge, in every place (2Corinthians 2:14).

Let us pray that the wind of the Holy Ghost will blow again once more in the great house of God, and dust off every floor and every room therein. That God will stir up the spirit of all born again believers, and they will purge themselves, to become vessels of honour to our Master Jesus. You and I, let us keep studying to show ourselves approved by God, not by men but by God; a workman who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, So that we will be able to stop the polluted message that is spreading like gangrene in the life of some believers around us. Let us follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. As we faithfully do that, people around us, saved and unsaved, will be able to repent, so that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

In that vision I saw the playground, and I could hear the voice from inside, even though I had earplugs. God was warning me that I should hear what I am telling other people, and be a doer of it myself. I must always be watchful, because many times we hear from God, that is the voice from within; but we do not hear what other people are saying or what we are saying to other people. I, Gery, must be open to correction even public correction; as long as that correction lines up with the written word of God! Peter was open for public correction. Paul corrected Peter when he played the hypocrite in Antioch (Galatians 2). Being able to accept correction even public correction from others, when it lines up with the written word of God, is a great sign of humility!

I need to listen to what I say to other people and becoming a doer of my own teaching, this is crucial; otherwise I am also a hypocrite like the scribes and Pharisees Jesus talks about. The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do. But do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do (Matthew 23:2-3). That is the greatest concern of Paul and it is the greatest concern of Gery: that I will become a doer on the revelation God gave me that I share with the world. Paul saw himself in that playground and, said: I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one who beats the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway (1Corinthians 9:26-27). Please, if you are reading any of the “My Weekly Milk” letters, pray also for Gery, that God will stir up his heart to become a doer of what he has written himself, for what Jesus says unto one He says unto all including Gery, let us all watch (Mark 13:37)! Lest that by any means, when we have preached to others, we ourselves should be a castaway.

Every born again believer is created to be a vessel of honour, not of dishonour like Pharaoh (Romans 9:17-22). Let us not act like unsaved people, but rather purge ourselves from the ways of the world, and embrace the ways of God and His kingdom. May the blood of Jesus, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works, to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:14). The God whom you serve, is not unjust or unrighteous to forget or act in such a treacherous way, to ignore your work and labour of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister to both unsaved and saved people (Hebrews 6:10).

Imagine you are playing a soccer game. You have three referees in the soccer game. You have your red jersey! You are running on that field, sweating, exhausted and you score a magnificent goal. But the main referee says, he was not looking at the action, therefore he cannot validate the goal. So you run to the assistant referee on the left, and he says, he was not looking at the action that led to the goal, thus he cannot validate it. So you run to the third referee on the right, he says to you that he was looking at his watch, so he did not see the goal, sorry! You and all your team will be fuming mad, and even try to beat up that referee or even the three referees. We see that happening sometimes in soccer games, when the referee made a mistake of not considering a goal; because he did not see the action. People want to fight and beat up that referee; because they feel cheated, they feel that the referee or even referees, have dealt treacherously with them personally and their team.

To avoid these kinds of incidents in rugby games, they introduced video cameras; so that the referees, even if they say they did not see what happened, can request that they should replay that action step by step on the big screen for everybody to see it. The referee cannot deal with you treacherously anymore. The same way for us: as we are doing the work of ministry, as we are sharing the word of God around us and doing the commandments of Jesus, destroying the works of darkness; we do not rely on any human referee to acknowledge our works and labour of love; but we have the spiritual video camera, better than what they have in rugby games. That video camera is scanning and recording every single movement and work we do in the kingdom, so that we are rewarded by God for everything we do in His name. As it is written: because you did rely on the LORD, he delivered your enemies [the opponent teams] into your hand. For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth [like a telescopic video camera], to show Himself strong on the behalf of those whose heart is perfect or loyal toward Him (2Chronicles 16:8-9).

Malachi tells us: since the eyes of the Lord are that telescopic video camera, God cannot deal treacherously with anyone who is working for His kingdom, for not only everything is recorded in video format, but also in transcripts. A book of remembrance or record was written before God, for those who fear the Lord and who meditate on His name (Malachi 3:16). Those men who were dealing treacherously with the wife of their youth (Malachi 2:16) and the priests who did not do the commandments of the Lord did not know, that not only had God videotaped all their actions, but had also put them in transcripts or written records. Paul tells us: God is not unrighteous or unjust to forget, or even act in such a treacherous way, to ignore your work and labour of love, which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister (Hebrews 6:10). God is righteous and just and He performs His words (Nehemiah 9:8). None of us is serving the Lord in vain. God says: I did not say to the seed of Jacob, Seek me in vain. I Jehovah speak righteousness, I declare things that are right (Isaiah 45:19). For he who comes to God, must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

Now a reward is a thing given in recognition of service, effort, or achievement. For instance: “the holiday was a reward for 30 years’ service with the company”. Synonyms of the noun reward are: recompense, prize, prize money, winnings, awards, honour, decoration, profit, bonus, and premium. Just like in the world or research they recognize the contribution of a researcher to his or her field of expertise by giving him a Nobel Prize. God also gives us prizes, rewards, awards, bonus, prize money, both spiritually and physically. God said to Abram: “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household, to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you (Genesis 12:1-3).

So after Abram had obeyed and left everything behind to go where God told him; the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward or exceedingly great reward (Genesis 15:1). God was not just a reward to Abraham but a very great reward, both spiritually and physically. If you are in research and you have walked in the steps of Abraham by leaving everything behind: God will not just be your reward in that area of research, but even your very great reward, even a Nobel Prize and discovery that will be so outstanding, that no one will be able to stand before you all the days of your life, as a researcher (Joshua 1:5).

Even in ministry, when you go the extra-mile for Jesus by leaving everything behind to follow Jesus, God will be your very great reward. Peter asked Jesus: “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us? (Matthew 19:27)” and Jesus answered: “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for Me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields–along with persecutions–and in the age to come eternal life (Mark 10:29-30). So receiving a hundred times what you have left for Jesus and His gospel, is a very great reward indeed! And we see how God mightily used those apostles who left everything to follow Jesus; they are remembered in history as great men of God.

Abraham also asked God the same question, after he left everything to follow Him, saying: Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless, and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir (Genesis 15:2-3).” God was truly Abraham’s very great reward or exceedingly great reward. Abraham was very rich in livestock, silver and gold according to Genesis 13. God gave him Isaac, and later God made him a nation Israel and gave them the land of Canaan. So both spiritually and physically God blessed Abraham by becoming his shield, and exceedingly great reward, after he had obeyed God and left everything to follow God.

Let us seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things [that the nations seek after: money, clothes, education, houses, family, marriage, cars, airplanes, promotion at work, Nobel Prize, children, etc] shall be added to you (Matthew 6:33). Let us set our affection on things above [the business of the kingdom of God so that God’s will, contained in His perfect redemption plan, will be done on earth as in heaven], not setting our affection on things on the earth. For we are dead [to this fallen world and its lusts], and our life is hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:2-3). Therefore let us not be anxious about tomorrow; for tomorrow shall be anxious for it’s own things. Sufficient to the day is the evil of it (Matthew 6-34). Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7). Knowing that the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly (Romans 16:20).

The Lord knows that you are His (2Timothy 2:19), for He has placed the seal of His Holy Spirit on your forehead (Revelation 9:4). You and I no longer practice sin, for he who practices sin is of the devil, for this purpose, you and I, as children of God were manifested to destroy the works of the devil in this world (1John 3:8). Even the earnest expectation of the creation of God eagerly waits for the revealing or the manifestation of the sons and daughters of God (Romans 8:19). God and the world are waiting for you and I, sons and daughters of God, to walk in the fullness of who we are in Christ, and demonstrate the power of God and manifest the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Now may the LORD bless you, and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26). In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, Amen!

Brothers and sisters pray for me,

Agape Love,

Yours,

Brother Gery.