The Spirit of the Lord is upon you to receive the Word so that you can properly live it and do what God wants you to do.
Life without relationships is not real life. Everything that God intended for us was based on, and through, a relationship. God didn’t design the relationship between Him and man to fall apart, it was man’s choice. He wants to improve the relationship and for us to grow and become more like Him.
In principle, it is always someone else’s fault. In our modern-day world, the thing that people are most hungry for is the thing they most don’t know how to get: quality relationships. The world doesn’t have the answers for relationships. We as the church, the people who know how to have a relationship with Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit, have the answer. The enemy will attack your relationship with God, relationships in the family, in marriages and in the church. The most powerful relationship is the one you have with Jesus, after that, everything else falls into place. We need to take and use the Word of God to build relationships and God’s life will be in the relationships. The wisdom of this age is going to fade away, the wisdom of God is how we must live.
1 Corinthians 2:9 (NKJV) – God has prepared everything for those who love Him.
It’s all about relationships. Faith is not a formula for success; it is a living relationship – a pattern to victory. Faith is a relationship with Jesus, the Word, Holy Spirit who will reveal the Word to you, and the Father who gave us faith.
God holds us responsible for the revelation He’s given us. God’s Word of revelation must judge your life by the revelation. Because if He made that Word alive in your spirit and you have chosen not to live by it, it means you are following your own agenda. That is the answer to why many people don’t see the result of their faith.
1 Peter 2:1-3; 5:2-4 (TPT, AMPC)
I have suffered the same sufferings and persecutions that Christ has suffered. I am a witness that when you are suffering for Christ, He will always give you the strength to get through that. The responsibility of being an elder, a shepherd is: to be compassionate; to tenderly care for; to feed; to be responsible; to guide; to protect and oversee. A shepherd is responsible before God for what kind of spiritual food his sheep eat. It should be healthy appropriate food.
If I’m living in a relationship with Jesus and my assignment is fulfilled in my relationship with Jesus then, whatever Jesus wants me to do, I find it joyful. If I do this as an act of just responsibility, then my behaviour becomes dependent on my experiences and interactions (how people treat me). The whole point about being a shepherd is, “I’m here to fight against the wolf. That’s my job”. If a shepherd is going through a tough time, that doesn’t change what he has to do with the sheep. If a wolf comes, he still has to fight the wolf.
I am called as as a shepherd, no matter what the season of my life is. I am responsible before God for what kind of spiritual food you eat. In the church, we have to have a healthy diet of spirit life. You also got to have fellowship amongst people to have an interchange and an exchange of the Word and the gifts of life between us. We need to be developing ourselves in our gifts amongst each other. When you touch other Christians, you touch the God in those Christians. The order of God is to develop your gifts in the church and use them there.
Shepherding must be done because of a calling and because of an assignment. I don’t do this because of the money, I’ve always done this because of calling, assignment and because of what God required from me before I was even born. Our walk should not be to gain dishonestly. Do you see anything about my life that is trying to exhort money out of you? Money is a very big potential pitfall for pastors and Christian leaders. My life is dependent on my giving. Pastor Sharon and I are seed sowers, financial givers and Word sowers, we have faith for our finances. My reward is the victor’s crown of life for doing the job that God requires me to do as outlined above.
2 Corinthians 9
You have to make up in your own mind, in your own heart, in your own walk with God what you want to give. And then when you give, you must give it cheerfully. The only way that you can know how to live life in the order of God is to have the order of God taught to you. It sounds like maybe we’re asking you to part with your money, but I’m teaching you because God wants to get money to you. The only way that you are going to get to walk in faith is when you sow to the revelation. When you hear us talk to you about money we want God to reveal things to you so that you can get free. When you get free in your revelation you are going to be accountable before God for how you walk with the revelation.
I received that revelation and never turned back. I got a revelation that the Word of God is my source. The love of God is the foundation of the Word, that is my source. I sow my financial seed on the foundation of His love and His source. I know that my seed will return to me as harvest. The seed that I sow to my spiritual leader is never because of an obligation or need. It is all based on my desire to plant a seed and honour him with my seed. Because I’m actually honouring God. Honour is just a word if it’s not released. Honour can’t just be a principle that I understand, I have to do something and actually let go of something that is in my hands. The honour and the harvest will be returned in increasing harvests. This thing just continues to work, there is no downside to it. When we give on earth, God is receiving it in heaven as though it were a heavenly currency of faith, honour and the Word of God that is working as we recognize Him as the Source.
Pastor Sharon and I want to thank all of you who have sown into our lives. The amount of money is not the issue, it is what’s happening in your heart – that you honour God. To Jesus it was never about the amount, it was about the amount that someone was keeping. It is between you and God. Sowing is a living growing revelation that the more you grow in it, the more revelation you have in it, and the more you obey God in it, the more you are able to be an instrument He can use. You have to make a decision that you are going to place your gift, your calling in the hands of God. It’s a big shift when God is the recognition of your gift and not you.
1 Peter 5:5-10 (TPT, AMPC)
If I place myself as an arrogant dictator I am out of the order of God. I have to wrap myself with an apron of a humble servant. If I do that, then I’m being a disciple. My highest calling in life that I can lead is first to be God’s sheep; let Him guide me, lead me, and live after Him. The first thing I’ve got to do is learn how to submit to God shepherding me. God wants me to state a case before teaching about money so nobody is offended.
How many of you want grace and favour multiplied to you? Then what we must do is wrap ourselves with humility and say, “I’ve got what I’ve got because of God, not because of me. I am where I am because of what God gave me”. The focus is not how to be exalted and promoted. This thing is about how you can serve and how you can live with the Shepherd, how you can honour God and honour the people of God around you. Then, God exalts you and promotes you. Jesus was a humble servant. Your humility is not a sign of your power it is the reflector of your heart.
The literal Greek translation of the word ‘adversary’ is two words put together ‘against’ and ‘righteousness’. Your enemy is against your righteousness. The devouring is based on those who understand their righteousness or those who don’t. Now if you know who you are, that you are the righteousness of Christ, then you have something that the devil can’t steal. You have strength knowing that your walk with God is not based on what you do, it is based on what Christ has done. As a Christian you can depend on the favour, the blessing of
God, and the empowering life of God that is in you because it is not of your own strength. It is He that gives you His strength. You can live with His strength. You can make choices to be a servant and to let your gift work in the church. You don’t stand on your own recognition, performance, capacity, and capability. You stand on what Jesus has done for you. You then understand that you are the righteousness in Christ and you can do nothing to earn anything. You stand on what Jesus has done for you and His everything is what got you where you are.
The enemy comes against you and wants to shift you from being Christ’s righteousness to being self-righteous. Self-righteousness brings fear because you are out of the protection of righteousness. Someone who is in a self-righteous state is not going to be able to withstand the wiles of the devil. But in your protected righteous state; when he roars to devour you, he can’t touch you because you are behind Christ. Now, when he comes to roar against you, and he tries to shift you, don’t move, because if you move, he will destroy you.
You are either righteous or not. So, if you are, receive it, live by it, walk in it, use it, and stand behind it. If the devil roars with accusations, say, “No, I don’t receive it. I stand behind the Blood and Jesus’s righteousness. I don’t even look at the accusations. I stand behind Jesus who is the Author and the Finisher of my faith. I receive that grace.”
Criticism is based on performance and expectation. Make sure not to walk in the principle of accusation. Because the minute you walk in accusation, then everything is about the law and performance, then you cannot apply grace because the law demands an outcome. Anytime you hear words of accusation you can know that it is not the Spirit of Christ. Therefore, when your roaring lion wants to come against you, you can be sure it’s going to sound like an accusation. Make sure that in your heart, you’re always operating in forgiveness, that you’re always operating in the love of God because that’s how you know the Good Shepherd would behave.
Be firm in faith. How? Trust that His righteousness is your righteousness. So even though you might have a time of testing and trying and tribulation, when it’s done; God is going to come and settle you, establish you, grow you, make you unshakable and steadfast.
When people persecute you, say things against you or things happen in your life that don’t go according to what the Word of God says, just follow the Chief Shepherd – always. The minute you can walk like this and say “I’m receiving Jesus”, He pours His life into you, He pours His love out upon you, and He pours it out on you. Suddenly you find that that thing that you’ve had accusation, you find the strength building in you. Stand behind His righteousness. One breakthrough is enough to know that you can get lots and lots and lots and bigger and bigger and bigger. His love is enough.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon you to receive His love that is enough.
Say:
Jesus, I thank You that You died for me. I stand righteous because You are righteous. I receive my righteousness through Christ Jesus. Now, I stand whole and pure before You.
I walk in a complete and full revelation of God’s love. I understand that neither height; nor depth; nor breadth can separate me from the love of God. There is nothing that I can do that can separate me from the love of God, only my choice. Not my actions, only my choice. So now, I choose to not be separated from the love of God. I choose it now.
I pray that this revelation grows in me, I will walk in ever-increasing freedom and ever-increasing peace and ever-increasing knowledge of the wonder of Your blessing and favour that You bring upon me; because You love me. Not because of how well I perform, but because You love me. I pray, Father, that as I go out into the world that You don’t take me out of the world but that You save me from the evil one who will try and devour my walk with You so that he can get me and steal their lives. I pray, Father, that my revelation of Your love will continue to hold me and protect me and keep me and bring me to a higher level in every way, every day, in Jesus’ name.
© 2024 – Heritage of Faith Ministries International
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