How do I know the will of God? Where is the will of God revealed? The answer is in His Word. The great revelation of the will of God is the Word of God. And the Word of God is packed from beginning to end with divine promises.
The great revelation of the will of God is the Word of God. And the Word of God is packed from beginning to end with divine promises.
At this point God taught me another important lesson: He would do for me what I could not do for myself, but He would not do for me what He required me to do for myself. God had responded to my cry and delivered me from the spirit of heaviness, but after that He held me responsible to exercise scriptural discipline over my own thoughts.
Every word is true. It is filled with God's own power and authority.
Yet the change in terminology in no way affects the real nature of such an act. Someone has asked, 'What hope is left for a society in which mothers kill their own babies?' God's attitude toward abortion is not affected by a change in terminology. He classifies it quite simply as 'murder'-and deals with it accordingly. In nation after nation around the world today, millions of lives are being blighted by the curse that follows this act.
How strange that people who are active in the fight against racial prejudice and injustice-and rightly so-actually condone and promote the practice of abortion! Strange, too, that people who would never think of raising a hand in violence against a small child feel no compassion toward an even smaller child in its mother's womb. Somehow the substitution of the word fetus for infant dulls people's consciences.
Everyone who repents of sin and trusts in the sacrifice of Jesus receives forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life. It is important to emphasize that the Gospel centers.
Jesus Christ is the divine, eternal Son of God, who became a member of the human race by virgin birth. He led a sinless life, died on the cross as a propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of humanity, was buried and rose again in bodily form from the grave on the third day. He ascended into heaven, whence He will return to earth in person, to judge the living and the dead.
And that is why we sometimes have to push through enemy territory when we pray. It is not that we are praying out of the will of God, or that God is unwilling to hear us, but that we have to penetrate a hostile kingdom in the heavenlies in order to reach Him.
Ten of the twelve spies focused on the problems, not on the promises. Two of the twelve spies, Joshua and Caleb, focused on the promises, not on the problems. Joshua and Caleb said, 'We are well able.' The other spies said, 'We are not able.' Each got exactly what they said. They all settled their own destinies by the way they used their tongues.
To be able to worship God in this way-first on earth, and then in heaven—is the goal of salvation. It is the highest and holiest activity of which a human being is capable. It is only possible, however, when the soul and the body come into submission to the spirit and in harmony with it. Such worship is often too profound for words. It becomes an intense and silent union with God.
For now let me say that the contemporary Church has little understanding of the nature of worship, mainly because we do not discern the difference between the spirit and the soul. Worship is not entertainment. That belongs in the theater, not the church. Nor is worship the same as praise. We praise God with our souls, and it is right to do so. Through our praise we have access to God's presence. But once we are in His presence, it is through worship that we enjoy true spiritual union with Him.
God does not look for success as the world understands it. He looks for faithfulness. 'Who is that faithful servant?' Success is accomplishing faithfully the task allotted to you by the Lord.
It is unscriptural to pray for the sick if one is not prepared also to cast out demons. Jesus did not separate one from the other.
No weapon that is formed against me shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against me in judgment I do condemn. This is my heritage as a servant of the Lord, and my righteousness is from You, O Lord of Hosts.
For those whose outlook is limited to the material realm, contentment and security must be measured in terms of material abundance. But for those who have learned to look in faith to God, there is another Source, inexhaustible and unfluctuating.