The Triumphant Church, Part 4

We’ve been talking about the Triumphant Church and the fact that God has called us to be just that. The Church has been and always will be eternal. You can read passages of Scripture such as Revelation 19 regarding Christ who is faithful and true coming down from heaven and being followed by a great army riding white horses. Those are folks just like us. God has always had a Church, and He has always sought a people through whom He could work that would bring victory in the earth and bring glory to His name as a result.

Here’s the essence of what I’m conveying today, my friend. God has called you to always triumph! God has not called you to be defeated. Christ is not returning for a defeated, weak, or sickly bride. He is returning for a glorious Church, a radiant bride, and a victorious army. The triumph begins now! We don’t have to wait until we die, go to heaven, and follow Jesus on a white horse. God has called us to triumph and be victorious now.

I shared with some men recently something that I had learned years ago from reading a friend’s book. He said, “Here, read this; it will help you.” One of the things that has always stuck with me from that book is the Champion’s Formula. It is: I + M = R. You can turn the equation around, and it will work as well. The formula is: Intent + Mechanism = Results. Your results are equal to your intention plus the mechanism. God will always supply the mechanism for you to succeed if you intend to succeed. It’s amazing to me how many Christians don’t even intend on succeeding! They are fixed on defeat! They’re intent on being weak, sickly, and confused. If they intended to be otherwise, then they would have moved in that direction. 

God will always supply a mechanism. In fact, usually we have the mechanism within arm’s reach, but we don’t always see it or recognize it as such.

In Romans 8, Paul gives us a real word of encouragement. Now, this is the same Paul who had been shipwrecked on various occasions, beaten several times, abandoned, betrayed, and experienced lack and famine. Yet through all of that he says things like, “But thanks be to God who always causes us to triumph.” That needs to be our attitude today! Thanks be to God who always causes me to triumph!

Grace and peace,

Pastor Emory

Stepping Out In Faith, Part 4

We think that the devil can put thoughts in our head, right? Sometimes we hear, “Don’t let the devil put them thoughts in your head.” The devil doesn’t have the power to do that! Now get this. Those thoughts are the result of your perspective.

What the devil CAN do is bring distractions into your life. When he brings those distractions, he knows just what will work. He gets you to focus on the wrong things and because our minds are not yet renewed and still carnal, we look at those things and they affect us a certain way.

Two of us could look at the same situation; we could even talk about the same person and have two entirely different opinions. Some people love me; others hate me. They won’t say it because they’re Christians, and they’re afraid to. God sees our hearts. You see, this leads to a life of frustration because some of you are going through life with love/hate relationships, not only with people, but also with things . . . with situations. You’ll love it on one hand and hate it on the other.

In an earlier blog, we used the example of walking around the room with your eyes closed as you listened to voices, sometimes even voices you think you can trust. “Take a left.” Well, you might trust that voice, take that left, and then run into a chair. The human inclination would then be to go through life blaming somebody else. No, you shouldn’t have listened to that voice! Don’t listen to all those voices!

Satan can bring these voices into our lives. He’ll get our eyes off the things of God, our purpose, and the prize, and before long, we’re going for the wrong thing. It works; it’s very effective. Think about the children of Israel. What was the greatest weapon against the armies of Israel? Well, I’ll tell you what I think it was: beautiful Pagan women! Man, if nothing else works, send the hotties! You read about that throughout the Bible; it works almost every time! It still works today!!! You watch men and some pretty thing walks by and every head turns. Huh? It doesn’t take much. What were those beautiful women? A distraction. “If we can get them to look at these women,” and what Israelite soldier ain’t gonna look at a pretty Pagan woman? So send in the beauties! It was simply a distraction to get their eyes off the prize and keep them out of the Promised Land!

How many distractions is the enemy throwing your way? The Bible says that, “He roams about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” How is he going to devour? How’s he going to steal, kill, and destroy in your life? He’s going to do it by coming after the Word of God in your heart and mind. If he can get you thinking about things that will bring destruction, and you think about them long enough and get them in your heart, you’re going to do it sooner or later given the opportunity.

We need to get our minds renewed so we are no longer thinking carnally, because to think carnally is to put ourselves at enmity against God. The carnal mind is at enmity against God. Now, walking in the promises of God requires that we walk in agreement with God. You’ll never walk in the fullness of His promises until you’re walking in agreement. Walking in agreement doesn’t mean, “Thus saith the Lord, amen, God said it; I believe it; that settles it!” We think that if we just put a bumper sticker on our backs, that we’re going to walk in the fullness of God’s promises. Do you really believe it, and are you really doing it? Are we moving in agreement with God? How do we do that?

We’re going to have to get our minds renewed. We have to be thinking like God thinks and get on the same wavelength! Now that doesn’t mean being woo woo or super-spiritual. Christianity is not simply based upon some spiritual experience; true Christianity is based upon the Word of God. I’m sick and tired of spiritual frivolity that is not bringing people to a fuller measure of God’s promises in their lives; it’s just giving them goose bumps and making them feel good for an hour a week. It’s cheap and it’s artificial.

True Christianity is based on truth and the Word of God is the final authority. It’s a whole lot easier to have some Shundai experience than it is to conform your life to the Word of God so that you might walk in the fullness of His promises! I feel better; I don’t know about you . . . but I’ve been wanting to say that. 

Thanks for joining me as we continue to look at steps we can take towards obtaining God's promises, and pitfalls we can avoid that keep us distanced from the prize.

~ pg

Stepping Out In Faith, Part 1

We want to always obtain the promises before we’ve done the will of God, but that’s backwards. God’s Word says, “So that after you have done the will of God that you may obtain the promises.” You have need of endurance, of perseverance. You’re going to have to learn to persevere and honor the process. As we’ve said before, every one of us is somewhere between where we used to be and where we’re going. Every one of us is at some stage in the process.

The book of Proverbs tells us that the prudent man considers well his steps. The “prudent man” here means, “He who walks with a level of wisdom of knowledge, of understanding about life.” The prudent person is going to consider well his steps as Proverbs 14:15 says.

As we make progress, we’re going to move from standing to walking. Standing requires us to stand and be still. Walking involves taking steps. How do you define walking? Can you walk without going anywhere? Well, you’re going to go somewhere, even if you go in circles and end up in the same place, you went somewhere! Walking involves steps, so here’s the essence of walking in the promises: in order to experience the greater measure of the promises of God, you’re going to have to take some steps. You’re going to have to do something. It’s not because God needs our help; He is the All-Sufficient One. However, He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. God rewards faith, and He says, “The just shall live by faith.” 

The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:26 (NLT) says, “I run with purpose in every step.” What steps are you taking in order to experience a greater measure of God’s promises and God’s blessing? If you’re not stepping, you’re not walking. If you’re not walking, you’re not walking by faith: you’re standing still. You’re going to have to step out which requires you to do something.

I want you to take some time today and consider the steps you’re taking. You say you want to do this, but you’re really doing that. “Boy, I’d really like to learn to play the piano.” Personally, I’ve shared with Ms. Judy that I’d love to learn to play the piano, but so far I have not taken the first step.

Wanting to do it and doing it are two entirely different things. How bad do you want to do it? Do you want the promises of God fulfilled in your life bad enough to take the steps necessary to experience them? You’re going to have to get moving, honey!

In my most recent blogs, we’ve been talking about walking by faith, right? We walk by faith, not by sight. Walking involves taking steps; it involves movement. Everyone who is walking is moving in a direction. It may or may not be the direction of God’s will; it may or may not be moving closer to the fulfillment of God’s promises. But every one of us, when we’re walking, we’re moving in a specific direction.

In regard to the above, let me ask you this: Is it easier to walk forward or to walk backwards? FORWARD! Have you ever felt like you were taking one step forward and two steps backwards? You may feel like, “Man, I’m just not getting anywhere!” There may be a reason for that; you just might not be getting anywhere! I’m just sayin’. So many of God’s people seem to take a step forward, but then take two steps back, not understanding that it’s harder to walk backwards than it is to walk forwards, so you just might as well man up, woman up, or saddle up, and move forward.

In the long run, it’s going to be a whole lot easier, and you will save steps! If I take one step forward and two steps back and one step forward and two steps back, I’m making progress, but it’s not forward progress. Even if I take two steps forward and one step back, I’ll make progress, but it will take me twice as long. The process will be lengthened, and it is not due to anything that God is or is not doing, it’s because I am not moving forward.

Listen to me. Faith requires steps. Walking by faith requires steps. I don’t care what area of life we’re talking about. Your finances might be a mess, and you know that you need to take steps like setting a budget, cutting up the credit cards, learning to save, or whatever it might be, but so far you’re not taking the steps, and you can’t figure out why God isn’t moving! God will move in response to the steps that we take in the direction in which we’re moving. 

~ pg

Walking in God's Promises, Part 4

I would like to start off by asking you a question: Do you really think that when God told Joshua, “I want you to march around the walls seven times, and on the seventh time I want you to shout,” that Joshua could really comprehend that? Do you think he processed it this way in his thoughts: “Okay, we’re going to march around the walls, we’re gonna shout, and the walls are gonna come tumbling down.” Huh? I don’t think that he quite could have grasped that. He was a warrior.

Also, think about this. God speaks to Gideon and tells him, “Okay, I’m going to use you to defeat the enemies of Israel. So he gathers up an army of 30,000 and whittles them down to 300. Then God said, “I want you to use clay lamps and horns to defeat the enemy.” Do you believe that Gideon understood how God was going to do it? Gideon is ready by brandishing a sword, and he has warriors ready standing behind him and God says, “You’re to use clay lanterns and horns, and with this, you will defeat the enemy.” I don’t think that Gideon fully grasped that. I don’t believe Gideon said, “Oh, no problem, God just said we’re going to use clay pots and blow a lamb’s horn and that’s it!”

He didn’t take the time apparently to try and figure out what God was telling him to do. Cuz if he had tried to mentally figure it out, I’m not sure he would have understood it, and I’m not even sure that he would have done it. All he knew was that God said, “Do it,” so, “Boys, this is what we’re going to do.” He must have thought, “It makes perfect sense to God, so let’s do it.”

Many times we don’t know the end from the beginning. This is something we need to know though: every one of us is somewhere in the process. Right now you are somewhere between where you used to be and where you are going. That’s pretty deep, ain’t it? That’s called process, and you can’t figure out why certain parts of it are hard. “That can’t be God, I bind the devil in Jesus’ name, shundai, shaba!”

You’ve bound the devil and cast out demons. You’ve prayed and fasted. And you’re still going through this thing. It could be God. God’s taking you through a process. But it hurts! I know. That’s usually your flesh burning, and God loves the scent of burning flesh, so let it burn, baby. He’s taking you through this process to the fulfillment of the purpose that He placed in you from the foundations of the earth.

Walking in the promises. How many of you want to walk in the promises and not just stand on them? Here’s one key amongst so many others; although, I would consider it the key of keys. You must develop the ability of being in the right place at the right time doing the right thing with the right people. If you don’t have the right people, it ain’t gonna work.

Believe me. I’ve tried and tried and tried and tried to do right things with the wrong people, and the first key whether in business, ministry, or life is to get the right people on the bus. Because when you got the right people on the bus, it usually doesn’t matter where the bus is going. Did you hear me? That is a principle of success. 

Now you want to be in the right place at the right time doing the right thing with the right people. How are you going to do that? We’ll continue this and I’m going to share some things that I’ve discovered in the Word of God and in my own life that have brought me to that place; I’m not telling you that I always hit the mark and I’m always where I’m supposed to be, although I know there are times when I’m not doing what I’m supposed to be doing.

God’s Word says, “If you’ll obey these words, these statues, these commands, my blessings, all of these blessings will come upon you and overtake you.” The problem is that we are all looking for the blessings, but we’re not getting overtaken by the blessings. Why? Because we’re not in the right place, at the right time, doing the right things with the right people.

~ pg

Walking in God's Promises, Part 2

Every person in the Bible that you can think of that accomplished anything of significance had to go through a process whether it was Ruth, Esther, Joseph, Daniel, Gideon, or Paul. Even Jesus Himself had to go through and honor the process. Jesus didn’t do that simply by going to the cross. One of His means was by entering the world legally by being born of a woman. So throughout His life, you can see that Jesus honored protocol. Protocol is part of the process. The sooner we learn to recognize, understand, and respect protocol and process, the sooner we will reach the goal of fulfilling God’s purpose in our lives. It’s all based on the Word of God and upon personal experience.

In addition to personal experience, we can learn from the people around us who've gone through so we don't have to, that is, if we're willing to learn from them. I know that there are some young folks, who in your heart, you really, really believe that you know as much about life as the sixty-year old person sitting next to you. I have a six-year old, and I'm trying to take him through a process. Right now we’re still stumbling through, “Listen to your father because he knows more than you.” At six-years old, he’s convinced that he’s smarter than me in the ways of life. So whenever I tell him how to do something, he immediately tells me how he thinks it should be done. We’re talking six-years old! Oh, what a road we have ahead of us! I’m sure none of you have kids like that. Your kids probably commend you on how smart you are every day. If that’s the case, you’d better count yourself blessed.

Also, part of the process is going from faith-to-faith. You need to ask yourself, “Am I making progress? Am I moving from faith-to-faith? Having conquered, am I prepared to conquer some more? What’s going to enable me to conquer?" One of the primary ingredients to fulfilling the purposes of God--this is going to be deep--is to know what the will of God is! Did you get that? Because you’ll never know if you’ve accomplished His purpose if you don’t know what that is! You’ll go through life wandering and wondering and never really knowing.

The first thing we need is revelation. We have to have revelation of God’s purpose for our life. When revelation comes, by definition, it means that something is revealed; it’s uncovered. God makes it plain to us. It may or may not line up with how we think we had our lives figured out. I just knew in my younger days that I was going to be a rock and roll star. I mean, all those gigs we had making $20 a night; we were on our way! Well, it’s kind of funny how things changed. We had the ambition of being stars: sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll; isn’t that a great vision? I was a man full of vision. How do you go from that to having the privilege of going so many places and preaching the Word of God? The two don’t even compare.

I look at what God has done. was able to go back to my very first church, Christian Service Center, this past Easter Sunday. I wanted to honor my former pastor, Pastor Bill. It’s kind of like giving flowers before the funeral. They allowed me to give a message and share. Part of my sermon was that everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve taken a part of that man with me. That may sound strange to some, although in my heart, he infused me with something and imparted so deeply to me. I shared with him all the places I’d been around the world in order to preach the Gospel, and Pastor Bill was simply thrilled and excited. Everywhere I had gone, it was to take Christ, but I felt like he was going with me. Thirty years of this, wow!

In closing, as revelation of God’s will opens up, we can define our purpose. Some of you say, “Well, I’m just a carpenter, a laborer, a housewife, a doctor, a lawyer, a nurse, a dentist, or a garbage collector working with Waste Management. You know what I say? Number one: be the best garbage collector you can be. Find purpose in your work. Because I tell you what, I appreciate your work! I am so glad that we have garbage collectors. Just think about what your world would be like without them. When was the last time that you thanked God for the garbage man and spoke a blessing over him? You don’t have to lay hands on him unless you want to, but pray for him!

So, what has God called you to do? Whatever that is, get passionate about it! We’re only part way through what God has laid on my heart to share regarding, “Walking in His Promises.” Thanks so much for joining me on this journey, and we’ll see you next time!

~ pg

Standing on His Promises, Part 4

The last time I wrote, I talked about gaining God’s perspective in every area of our lives. I want to talk about that just a bit more. As we begin to renew our minds with God’s Word, our perspective begins to change; we acquire God’s perspective.

God has vision and provision for every area of life. For sickness, God has healing. We view death; God sees life. He has a totally different perspective than we have in our human mind. So the carnal, unregenerate mind must come into alignment with God’s mindset and with His perspective. That can only happen with revelation that brings conviction. Conviction brings persuasion. The purpose of conviction is to bring about change: transformation. Revelation without transformation has no effect.

So God’s not just revealing His will to us so we can simply know what it is; He reveals His will to us so we will have a conviction about doing it! After we have done the will of God, we will have the promise. Oh, how God wants to lavish the promises upon us! He wants to just pour out His promises in every area of life, but He knows that we must first do His will! In order to do His will, we have to know what His will is. And for us to know what His will is, we have to receive fresh perspective and revelation so that we can develop a conviction that will ultimately result in a life transformation.

Prayerfully we are moving to the place of living according to the principles and precepts of God, and then we won’t even have to chase the promises. The writer of Deuteronomy said the blessings of God will overtake us! They’ll just come up on us! Why? Because suddenly our lives are lined up with the will of God, and then this weird thing starts to happen. We find ourselves at the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing, and with the right people. Instead of being in the wrong place, at the wrong time, doing the wrong thing, with the wrong people! Suddenly things come into alignment with the will of God and then boom! Oh, there’s’ one of those promises right there! BAM. Oh God, You’re overtaking me! Is this making sense to you?

We have need of endurance, but in order to have that endurance, our perspective must change. Our human perspective must be transformed in order to have and demonstrate a correct, spiritual perspective. There is a God-given, Spirit-inspired vision for our lives. God has a vision for your life! You may or may not be living out that vision. I’m not judging that. In order to live out the vision that God has for your life, your perspective has to change. You have to begin to see your life as God sees your life. This will bring you to a place of being able to determine ultimate purpose. We talk a lot about purpose, but until your perspective changes, you cannot fulfill your God-given purpose, and that purpose goes beyond you! It actually goes beyond you and your household. Human purpose must come into alignment with God’s will for our lives.

Purpose is simply having an objective. What is your objective in life? What are you attaining to? Someone might say, “Man, I’d be happy to just get a job and pay my bills.” Okay. Let me tell you something. Everything I’ve been asking God for this week has been happening unbelievably beyond what I expect. Do you need a job? Then let’s agree together right now. “Father in the name of Jesus Christ, open the door of employment and opportunity for my brothers and sisters to get the job You have for them. I pray that you each may have the boldness to go through that door no matter how menial the task may seem, and BOOM, a bigger door will open in front of you. May you see that it’s not simply a job or source of income, but it is an opportunity to represent Christ in a place of employment. God, I ask You to open that door of opportunity for each one who is believing You for it.” Friend, now that we’ve prayed and believed God together, when that door of opportunity opens for that job, I don’t care if it looks good to you or not, just do it . . . as long as it’s legal and it’s from God.

As I was stating earlier, my seeking God for a few things recently was borne out of frustration, and I said, “God, I need to see this, this, and this,” and boom, boom, boom happened within twenty-four hours. I’m telling you that God is in a good mood, and He’s just opening up opportunities.

Things are going to start happening! And don’t let your human perspective mess you up. Before you know it, you’ll start weighing things out and thinking about things and get that old unregenerate part of your mind going.

God has promised provision, but many times that provision is a result of us getting the vision and having the perspective of God, which is seeing life, our life, through His periscope. We can ask ourselves, “How is God viewing that? Is God just taking us through a bitter circumstance and trial because He’s a mean, old God who doesn’t like us anymore?” NO! Maybe He brought us to some bitter waters because He knows we need to be cleansed and strengthened and prepared for what’s ahead.

Having done all to stand, therefore stand. Having already conquered, and every one of us has conquered, let’s conquer again! In fact, the Scripture says that we are MORE than conquerors! Why? Because having conquered, we’re ready to conquer again! Aren’t you ready to conquer again? You know, conquering is better than being conquered. The only one I want conquering me is Jesus. I almost got a t-shirt this past week that said, “beautiful losers.” At first I thought, “Who’d want to wear that?” But then I began to think about my life and thought, “I’m a beautiful loser.” And I would gladly lose it all, again, for Jesus. In the world I was a loser, but He made me beautiful.

I have to stop. Hallelujah. I said that God has been answering prayer; He surely has been. You have to change your perspective; you have to find the promise. Isn’t God good?

~ pg 

Standing on His Promises, Part 3

We're continuing to look at God's promises and how they relate to us as believers. Philippians 4:19 is a promise that is quoted frequently: "My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Does that mean that God's going to supply all of your needs? It's not a promise that He's going to take care of all of your wants or desires, and when you get down to brass tacks, you'll find out there's a big difference between needs and wants. God has promised to cover every area of need: physical, spiritual, and emotional. But if we're not aware of the promise, then we don't have anything to stand on.

So, the solution to that is to become aware of His promises. You gotta find what the Word has to say concerning various situations. And when you find the promise, you have the right and the authority to stand on it! So no matter what comes, we stand. It doesn't matter what the devil has to say or what the world thinks. I'm standing on the promises of God, as I have need of endurance, so that after I've done the will of God, I may receive the promise. We just have to find the promise in order to have a foundation to stand upon. The promise is our platform. It's what's going to hold us up. It's what we stand on having done all to stand. If we are aware and knowledgeable of the promise, then we can stand long and strong knowing that God is faithful! God is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of man that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Has He spoken and will He not make it good? He will! In fact, in the list of attributes of God, faithfulness ranks right there at the top.

By the way, someone might say, "Love is the number one attribute of God." Love is not the number one attribute of God! Love is not just one of His characteristics. Love is something that He is. He IS love. It's not just something about Him. It's what He is. God is love; He is life. God is light. Those are some of the things that "I AM" is.  

Many times what we lack (or where the discrepancy comes in) is in our point of view. We don't see as God sees, so our outlook must change. God freely gives vision and provision. This is going to sound very simplistic to some of you, but all we need is faith in God! You've heard it said, "Where God gives vision, He gives provision." But you see, you gotta first have the vision in order to receive and experience the provision! In other words, the vision is the way that God sees things; that's His perspective. And when we come into the Kingdom through a relationship with Jesus Christ, we have a human perspective, and perspective, by definition, is a periscope. It is THE periscope through which we are looking at life. In other words, it is the periscope through which we are viewing each area of our life. It could be in regard to our health, finances, family, or marriage.

I used to have a totally different perspective many years ago. I used to think that it was okay for a man and a woman to live together without being married: co-habitation. My wife would tell you today why so many people live together. Her definition is very clear, and she means no offense by this, but why buy the cow when you can have the milk for free? Some of you will get that later.

But my perspective has radically changed in many areas of life, like abortion. I used to think as the world thinks: "That it's a woman's right to choose and that a woman should have the right to do whatever she wants with her own body." She has the right to do what she wants with her own body; she just doesn't have the right to take an innocent life! Different perspectives!

Perspective is the periscope through which we view life, and it's the first thing that needs to begin to change in our lives: the way we see. We must receive revelation of God's Word in the Bible. Not just what we think He said, and not just what we feel like the Holy Ghost is speaking to us. Because if we feel like the Holy Ghost is speaking something to us, and it's not lining up with the Word, then it might be a ghost, but it ain't the Holy Ghost!

Perspective changes as a result of revelation. Revelation by definition is an uncovering. It is a revealing of something. It is enlightenment. So suddenly, through the work of the Holy Spirit within us, the Word of God takes on life. Now the Word of God is being revealed to us in a way that it never was before. I read the Bible as a sinner and it didn't make a whole lot of sense, but now it's like, suddenly every time I open the Bible, WOW! God is speaking to me! YES, He is! And He's speaking to you, too, for a purpose! He wants to give you revelation. Revelation is always intended for one purpose: to bring conviction. By conviction, I do not mean guilt. Conviction literally speaks of persuasion. It speaks of changing the way you think which is what the Apostle Paul wrote about in Romans 12:2, "Be not conformed to the world, rather be transformed . . ." How are you going to be transformed? By the renewing of your mind. You get your mind renewed when revelation of God's Word comes. Your perspective begins to change.

Vickie and I are looking forward to our soon return to Cliffdale Christian Center after being on an extended mission trip to the Dominican Republic. Thank you so much for your prayers and support!

~ pg 

Standing on God's Promises, Part 2

As I've been meditating on the promises of God, I can't help but think about the children of Israel coming out of Egypt and crossing the Red Sea. They get to the other side, and Pharaoh's armies have been overcome by the waters and destroyed. Does anyone recall the very first place that God brought them? Marah. And what was significant about Marah? Bitter water. Marah means "bitterness."  

God gives them the promise, leads them out of bondage, and the very first place He takes them is the place of bitter water. And unlike us, those old stiff-necked, rebellious Israelites, they immediately begin to murmur and complain. Something we would never do. "Why have you done this to us? We might as well have stayed in Egypt. Would to God that we had never left." And then they start going on and on about how bad it is. "Moses, what have you done to us? You have ruined our lives!"

The reason that they felt, spoke, and acted the way they did is because they were looking at life through a human perspective and not through God's. And perspective has everything to do with the promises! We must first DO the will of God before we can EXPERIENCE the fullness of His promises. In order to accomplish that, our perspective has to change.

You see, those Israelites didn't realize the reason the water was bitter. The reason the water was bitter was because of what was in the water. There was calcium and magnesium in that water, which made for a bitter-tasting combination. Those are also the elements found in dolomite, and athletes and some heart patients use dolomite to this day. Dolomite can strengthen muscles and also the heart.

Could it be that God knew that there was dolomite in that water? Could it be that God was going to use that to help flush them out . . . a little detox? Could it be that He was trying to help cleanse them after years of eating unhealthy food? I won't go on about diet; that's a whole other lesson in and of itself. Could it be that God was purging and strengthening in preparation for what should have originally only been about a two-week journey? It turned into forty years! Why? Because God's a mean old God? No! He's not out to get you! Sometimes He'll lead you to the bitter water because He's trying to purge, strengthen, and get you ready for what lies ahead! But many times we're so busy murmuring and complaining that we miss the process. The writer of Hebrews says that we have need of endurance and patience, so that AFTER we have done the will of God, we will have received the promise.

Most of you are aware that there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of promises in the Word of God. I don't know how many. It would depend on which commentator to whom you are listening. Some will tell you there are three thousand; some might even say thirty thousand. Frankly, I don't know how many promises are in the Bible, and neither do you or the commentators, because it's all a matter of what is interpreted as a promise. I can promise you this: there are a whole lot of promises in Scripture! God's promises are particularly pertinent to those who are willingly seeking to obey Him. There are all kinds of promises attributed to those folks, and there are very specific promises that God has made in regard to certain areas of our lives.

I think of such promises such as, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you and your whole household shall be saved." Do you know that's a promise you can hang onto? It's not only for you, but also for your entire household! Somebody needs to hear that today. Not only you, but your entire household will be saved! Stand on the promise! Stand on the promise! Stand on the promise! How long do I stand? Having done all to stand! Stand on the promise. Having conquered, be prepared to conquer again. Stand on the promise!  

"Lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the age." "Well, Jesus, where are You?" He said, "I'm with you always!" "Well, I don't feel ya." "I'm with you always!" "Well, I can't hear ya." "I'm with you always!" Now if Jesus says that He's with us always, is there ever a time that He's not with us? There might be sometimes you may wish He was not, but He's with you always!

We'll continue to look at some of God's awesome promises in the next blog that He has given to those who hearken, hear, and heed His voice!

 ~ pg

Standing on God's Promises

Let's look at Ephesians 6:13 and see how it relates to "Standing on God's Promises." I believe that God has promises that are specific and pertinent to every one of our lives. God has a promise for you! God has a promise that is relative to where you are, what you're doing, what you're facing, what you're going through, and the sum total of your experiences. God's promises can be found in Scripture.

We're going to talk about standing on His promises. "Stand" and "promise" are the two keywords we're focusing on. Ephesians 6:13 says,

"Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."

This was actually a military term back in the day that literally meant, "Having conquered, be prepared to conquer again." Having done all to stand, STAND!

Now let's look at the book of Hebrews and see what it has to say about standing on the promises of God. Presumably, it is Paul who wrote this passage although no authorship can be firmly attributed to anyone. Most scholars believe that it was the Apostle Paul.

"Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward." (Hebrews 10:35)

According to this passage of Scripture, what has great reward? Confidence has great reward! Therefore, the writer says, don't throw it away; don't cast it away; don't just throw it off in the corner. Your confidence has great reward. What you place your confidence in is going to determine your level of success in this thing called life. The writer goes on in verse 36 to say, "For you have need of endurance." He's talking to you and me. We have need of endurance!

Endurance literally means, "patience, steadfastness." I have need of patience; we all have need for it! However, don't believe the Christian goobly-gob that says, "I prayed for patience, and God gave me tribulation." That thought process sells bumper stickers, but it's not biblical. Okay? Don't even confess that kind of stuff over your life! There's nothing biblical about it.

We all have need of patience . . . some of us, like myself, perhaps more so than others. I have good news though. As I'm approaching sixty-years old, I've learned to be much more patient. I've learned its great value. This is an important thing! And I had to LEARN it, especially since I've been impetuous, spontaneous, and had a, "Let's go, we have to do it now," attitude all of my life. There's just one problem with spontaneous decisiveness. A lot of times it can lead to wrong decisions.

Another definition for patience in my life is this: "Honor the process." Whatever is going on in your life right now, it is part of the process. Honor it without complaining or murmuring. It could be the devil in the works, but it's doubtful. Everything is not the devil. Every trial and tribulation is not the devil. And what we need to learn is to be patient. We have need of endurance.

Now look at the rest of verse 36: "You have need of endurance so that AFTER you have done the will of God, you may receive (experience or appropriate) the promise! In other words, we can back this up, turn it around, and repeat it backwards, "You will receive the promise after you have done the will of God; therefore, you need endurance." Do you see that? We all think that we just walk in to the Promised Land, and voila, we experience everything that God has for us. Granted, we have crossed over and everything that God has IS available to us. That doesn't mean we get it all at one time though. After we have done the will of God, we receive and/or experience the promise of God. That's what it says in His Word, so let's stand on it!

~ pg

Dreaming with God, Part 6

We’ve been talking about dreaming with God and how God could inspire us in ways that would indeed make us world changers. Some of you are probably sitting there asking yourself, “What could I possibly do that could change the world?” I DON’T KNOW! What COULD you possibly do??? What is within the realm of possibility? You answer that. Did the little sleeve on a coffee cup change the world? Yes, it actually did! It kept a lot of people from burning their fingers and probably avoided a lot of lawsuits. See, we always spiritualize, and that doesn’t seem very spiritual, does it?

What did Bill Gates or Steve Jobs have when they started? Steve had been adopted and given away by his parents, but he sure had a lot of vision. Did he change the world? Yes, yes, he did. It’s not too late for you. But there are some things you need to avoid. You need to ask yourself, “What does my dream life look like?” Do you know? Have you written a life plan? If you don’t do this stuff, then nobody else can help you. I know what I want to be doing when I’m ninety-six years old. I have it written down and carry it with me most of the time. I pull it out every once in a while to remind myself and to see if I’m tracking.

You know what will get you off track more than anything? It’s other people, so be careful. Many times God reveals His will little by little and in the form of dreams. Initially, we probably will not understand the full implication of a dream or series of dreams. Think of Peter when he got that vision of the sheet coming down in Acts 10 and the house of Cornelius experience. He didn’t comprehend everything immediately. You may not comprehend all of it right away either, and that’s okay. I didn’t fully grasp why God was showing me a sea of black Haitian faces, and in my dreams I was preaching to them, and I wasn’t even a preacher! I couldn’t comprehend that. In my heart I was saying, “God, I’m a carpenter; I’m a builder. I’ll go build a building.”

What hinders our dreams? There are five things that I’ll mention. The first is a lack of knowledge. Quite often it is a lack of knowledge regarding who God is, who you are, who you are in Christ, and who Christ is in you. You have to expand your knowledge, and the way that you do that is through a study of the Word.  

Number two is a particular hindrance common to the American lifestyle: our slavery to comfort. We’ve become a slave to comfort and our present lifestyle. It’s our security.

Thirdly, and these are obviously not in order of importance, is “fear.” That’s one thing that really hinders us from fulfilling our dreams and from thinking big. I’m not saying this boastfully, I just want you to get a taste of what I’m trying to share here, I believe that God wants my wife and I to be people of tremendous influence . . . wealth and influence. I believe that, and I don’t have any problem with it. I also believe that He had to get us to experience a lot of the “things” so that we can honestly say that we’re not attached to the things. They’re not an entanglement. We live in a nice house and drive a nice car. We’ve had money; we now know how to handle it even better so that when we have millions, we will be better stewards of it. Ten or fifteen years ago, we probably wouldn’t have been as good of stewards of it as we are today!

I intend to handle millions for the Kingdom of God. I intend for the sphere of influence for my life to increase over the years, not decrease! Is your sphere of influence increasing or decreasing? If it’s decreasing, then your thinking is shrinking! That happens quite often as we get older, but it certainly doesn’t have to, and many times we call that “simplicity.” No, that’s not always simplicity . . . sometimes it’s stupidity.

Number four is a sick heart. A sick heart will keep you from dreaming big dreams, and it will certainly keep you from fulfilling them. You always need to monitor your heart and ask yourself, “How is my heart?” This is not about this person or that person. This is not about my relationship with anybody in particular or about someone loving me. This is about what’s in MY heart. How does my heart feel towards you and towards other people? Is there anybody with whom I have aught in my heart? I can usually tell straightaway if someone has an offense towards me, even if they don’t think it’s showing; I can get around people and see it and feel it.

We try to cover what’s in our hearts, and we cover it and cover it and cover it, and we wonder why we’re not getting to where we feel God wants us to be. And the answer really is inside of us. It’s NOT everybody else, my friend; there are actually people around you who would help. So how is your heart? We need to stop trying to judge someone else’s!

Many times, and this is number five, we are manipulated by the needs of other people, and we allow this to govern our decisions. It’s like, “You can’t go to the mission field, what about your family back home?” I used to hear stuff like that all the time. “What about this, what about that”? We become manipulated by these things. Jesus said, “You’re always going to have the poor among you,” and what He is really saying here is that there are always going to be needs around you and those who are needy.

There used to be a guy in church who would say, “The need is the call.” No, the need isn’t the call. I would sometimes correct him and say, “There will always be needs all around you, and if you try to fulfill every need, you’ll wear yourself out.” You’re not here to fulfill every need, and you’re not here to be manipulated by needs. You ARE here to determine what is the will of God. There are needs for you to meet, yes. You pour yourself into those things that God has called you to do and then do them with the highest degree of excellence and energy that you can. But it doesn’t mean that you can be everything to everybody, because you can’t. So stop trying. Stop being manipulated. Stop letting that govern your decisions. Stop allowing it to restrict your dreams.

I call upon you in the name of Jesus to dream the impossible dreams. Dream it! Stop being afraid. Stop being discouraged by your own past, apparent failures. Stop it!

Anybody know where Putt Putt golf came from? It came from Don Clayton right here in Fayetteville. I can go to China, and they play Putt Putt golf, man. You can travel to most places in the world, and they’re playing Putt Putt golf. Where’d they get that? They got it from Don Clayton, a good Christian man, in Fayetteville, NC. Can you imagine having a vision for Putt Putt golf? See, some of those ideas you get, they’re not wild to God. He’s like, “Come on, come on, come on, keep dreaming, keep dreaming!” But you have to be willing to see the dream come to pass incrementally. It doesn’t all happen at one time. Before I could preach to the masses in Haiti, God had to get me to Haiti! What did He use to get me there? Building a building. Who would have thought, huh?

I want to pray with you. Father, we thank You, in Jesus’ name, that You’ve given us the opportunity to dream dreams and that when we do so, we dream as God sees: BIG DREAMS! I pray that for everyone reading this right now, BIG DREAMS! Yes, dreams beyond the realm of possibility. So big that only You could bring it to pass. So big that only You could inspire it. I pray for big dreams that will impact the lives of great numbers of other people, whether in the form of inventions, business ideas, or whatever You will, Lord. God, I think of the people who have even came up with Facebook or Google or Yahoo; they just had a dream, and they went for it and it worked! May we not grow so secure in our present lifestyle that we’re insecure in stepping out and doing something bold, fresh, and different. Every one of us needs that. So Lord, give us the dream, give us the strategy, give us the plan, and give us the faith to fulfill it in Jesus’ name.

~ pg

Dreaming with God, Part 5

We’ve been talking about “Dreaming with God.” Okay, so let’s discuss “Joseph the Dreamer.” Do you remember the portion of Scripture regarding Joseph’s dreams about the bundles of wheat, the sun, and the moon all bowing down to him? You may note that Joseph never gave the interpretation for that dream. Joseph didn’t say, “This means you all are going to be bowing down to me.” Other people interpreted it that way. What was their response when he shared the dream with them? Were they overjoyed, happy, and encouraging his vision? Oh no, the Bible says that they envied him. They were resentful, angry, and bitter. Then the biblical account says something fascinating about Jacob, Joseph’s daddy, in Genesis 37:11. His brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind. Why? Why do you think Jacob kept the matter in mind? I believe it was because he knew the power of dreams.

How did he know the power of dreams? Because he himself was a dreamer, and he had to have been thinking back to the time when he experienced dreaming big dreams. And now his son, Joseph, is dreaming grand scale dreams that nobody can understand yet. How can this be? And so what action do they take? His brothers go on the attack; “We’ll kill the dream by killing the dreamer.” No, they never plotted to kill him. They just wanted to imprison him, put him in a pit.

Listen to me, folks, you get dreaming for God and there will be people around you who want to put you in a pit. They want you thinking small because they think small. And if they can put you in a pit; they put your dream in a pit.

Joseph, I believe having been predestined by God, followed the path that God had laid out for him. It most certainly was not the path of least resistance. By the way, the path of God is not always the path of least resistance. So often we look for the path of least resistance and many times we miss God as a result. Was God’s plan the path of least resistance for Jacob or Joseph? Oh no, no, no! Some twenty years later the dream came to pass. How long will it take for your dream to come to pass? I don’t know, but don’t stop holding onto your dream!

I have dreams I have yet to fulfill. I can testify that many of them have been fulfilled. I’ve shared with most of you that for approximately a year before I went to Haiti as a missionary, I was having dreams. All I could see were the faces of crowds and crowds of Haitian people. My late wife asked me one morning, “Is God showing you something”? I said, “Yes, God’s showing me something. He’s showing me that we’re to go to Haiti.”

This came at probably the most financially secure time of our lives. We now owned a home; I was working at a power plant in Crystal River; we had two cars, the dog, and the boat. We had never been so secure, but we went to Haiti. I was sharing with Vickie that we went on a three-month commitment. I was simply going to build a building; I wasn’t a preacher. I had never yet preached a day in my life! I was just going to build a building that still stands today. Three months led to five years during which we crisscrossed the country doing miracle crusades. We saw  tremendous miracles all over Haiti and into the Dominican Republic. And then one night, standing on the platform and seeing the vast sea of faces, I looked out on the people and said, “Oh my, God.” The Lord said, “Do you remember those dreams back there?” “Yeah, I do.” He said, “This is it. This is the fulfillment of those dreams I was showing you. You didn’t understand it then, but you do now.”

I remember being at a missionary’s conference in Des Moines, Iowa, and I was doing one of the breakout sessions. There was a great preacher up on the platform preaching, and he said, “I want everyone to stop what you’re doing right now and take out a pencil or pen and a piece of paper and write down, as simply as you can, what you believe God has called you to do.” Write it down and make it plain. I remember writing, “I am called to the Caribbean nations.” My late wife looked at what I had written and promptly scratched out Caribbean. “You’re thinking too small,” she said. Huh? Whoa! She was right; God was right. I’ve been to the nations. And I haven’t stopped dreaming; I’m still dreaming. Vickie and I, we’re looking at life and asking ourselves, “Do we still have the ability to dream big dreams?”

Now listen to me, folks. Dreaming isn’t just about having your dream house. It isn’t only about better homes and bigger gardens. If your dream doesn’t have something to do with blessing other people, it’s probably not of God, or at the least, it is too small. You can quote that. If you’re simply dreaming about the bigger house, I hope you get it, praise God, and get that part over with! If it’s just to get the car, get it. I hope you do that. If all of that junk is so important to you, then I’d advise you to get it out of the way, but it won’t seem near as important to you once you have it. Get all that behind you. Get all the STUFF behind you so that you can really start dreaming BIG DREAMS. God’s dream for your life isn’t just the house you live in or the car that you drive. Oh man!  That is so small! God so wants to do something through you that is going to touch the world!  

~ pg 

Dreaming for God, Part 3

“We are God’s own handiwork, His workmanship, we are created in Christ Jesus, born anew, that we may do those good works which God predestined, planned beforehand, for us, taking the paths, that He prepared ahead of time, that we should walk in them, living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live” (Ephesians 2:10).

We are God’s handiwork, His masterpiece. We are, you are, and I am. We are recreated in Christ in order to do the good works God planned for us before He made us! This is why we have been born again. The really good news according to this Scripture is that Apostle Paul says that God has set paths before us ahead of time. Then it says that we should learn to walk in those paths that He has already prepared. Don’t take for granted that you’re doing it. Like the old song says, “You can go your own way,” and many of God’s people are choosing their own way through their limited thinking. It’s like many in the church are looking for the exact same thing as people in the world . . . things such as comfort and security.  We ought to have that part of it pretty well covered, folks!

Oftentimes, we base our thinking and our decisions on the security level. Unwilling to take a risk, we hold on to our comfort.  Shortly after coming off the mission field and arriving in Fayetteville, NC, I discovered that I don’t like to grow too comfortable. When I start to get too comfortable and secure, look out, Emory, things are about to change. Why? Because for me, God doesn’t want me getting so wrapped up in the security of this world that I’m not able to take the risk of obeying Him. Are you willing to risk, or what are you holding on to? Are we saying, “I’ll give this much, but I gotta hold on to this?" When we hold back, we’re showing God that we don’t really trust Him. We find our security in something else, and usually it’s in the same type of thing in which the world finds their security.

Now, we see that we should learn to walk in those paths that the Lord has already prepared, and this will lead to living the good life that God has prearranged for us to live. Wouldn’t you like to live the good life that God has prearranged? If so, then you’re going to have to follow Him and that is always going to bring an element of apparent risk. And there are those who will say, “Well, God doesn’t really want you to forsake it all. He just wants to know that you’re willing.” I’ve heard many Christians over the years say, “He doesn’t really want you to give it up, it’s an attitude of the heart.” He just wants to know that you’re willing to give it up. No, you aren't willing to give it up! And He knows you aren't willing to give it all up because you're not doing it! We may be trying to play God a fool, but He ain’t no fool; He does see the heart.

What we forget is that everything we need to accomplish that which God has created us to accomplish is already ours. It already exists. Everything already exists in either the seen realm or the unseen realm. If it’s in the unseen realm, we simply need faith in order to bring it into the seen realm. Even those things that are coming from the spiritual into the natural realm are truly already in existence. Everything you need to be whom God created you to be is in you. It’s already in you. You have this supernatural DNA by virtue of the new birth. Do you believe that you even received some sort of blood transfusion when you got “borned” again? Do you believe that you have the very life of God flowing through your veins? I do! We don’t just sing, “I Have a River of Life,” we have a river of life flowing in us and through us.

God is looking for dreamers: those who will be bold and bodacious enough to dream for Him. I am finding that dreamers accomplish very significant things. We don’t read of too many in the Scriptures, but we do read of enough to know that God uses dreamers to accomplish great things. You may think I’m crazy, but it’s okay. Here’s what I believe about each person: I believe that every one of us has the potential within to do something so significant that it could change the world.

While I was reading this weekend, I discovered something very interesting. Have you ever heard of XM radio? We didn’t even know what that was fifteen years ago, did we? You know why? It didn’t exist fifteen years ago. XM Radio was founded by a fellow named Noah Samara who is an African. He didn’t have any money. He had a vision to set up a communication network for the people of Africa because their lack of communication was killing them. He had a desire to help other people! Do you know that in a year and a half Noah raised a billion and a half dollars? He started with nothing except a dream. Wow!

My wife and I were watching a TV show the other night, and they made mention of some guy named Jay Sorensen. Did you ever think of stupid little things like those wrappers that keep you from burning your fingers on a cup of coffee? I believe they call them “sleeves.” The guy who invented those is now a multi-, multimillionaire. Then they were talking about turkey bones! One Thanksgiving a family was sitting around the table, and you know the tradition of breaking the wishbone? How many wishbones are in each turkey? ONE! Ken Ahroni said, “That’s not enough.” And it’s NOT if you’ve been around kids or grandkids at the holiday table. There’s only one wishbone, and they each want to break one! So you know what Ken did? He invented a synthetic wishbone that would snap and break, so on Thanksgiving, everyone could have one. Do you know how many wishbones they’re making now? His company is producing thirty thousand wishbones a DAY! I’m just sayin’.

You see, some of those “crazy” ideas you get . . . may only be crazy to you. And until they become a reality to you, they will only remain just a dream or some fantastic thing that’s beyond reach or the ability to come into fruition. It’ll just be a fantasy, and you’ll simply live a life restricted by your own thinking until and unless you venture outside the confines of comfort and security. I’d like to encourage each and every believer who is within the reach of this blog to pay very close attention to the ideas that God is placing within your heart and mind. He’s constantly speaking, may we ever be constantly listening. 

~ pg