Faith is the Gift of God

Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. NKJV

This verse of Scripture clearly tells us that it is God’s grace that saves us from our sin. What about the faith mentioned in this same verse? Is this faith something that we have already and we bring it to God and then He accepts it and gives us His grace? I believe the Bible tells us to the contrary, it is the quickening power of the Holy Spirit that enables us to believe or to have faith. Paul tells us clearly in Romans 3:11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. NKJV Religion seeks after God but is destined to never find Him, but through the proclamation of the gospel, God the Holy Spirit enables the unbelieving soul to then believe unto salvation by grace. This then proves that no man or woman has any faith to bring to God without the Divine Intervention of God upon that person.

How then can one receive this gift of faith? Well, there are no steps or action plans that can be laid out and followed for a person. A gift can only be taken or received with no strings attached. We human beings give gifts to one another often in many different ways. For Example we may mail a gift to someone that has to open it up, or we leave a gift at a person’s workplace or home as a surprise, or we have the gift delivered to them by carrier, yet the person still has nothing to do to earn that gift. When Abram heard the Lord speak to Him to leave Haran, he simply believed the Word of the Lord and acted. Likewise in the New Testament Paul writes, “So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” Paul says here that the gift of faith only can come to a person by hearing the Word of God and specifically the gospel of Jesus Christ death, burial, and resurrection from the dead and then God the Holy Spirit together with the Word produce the greatest miracle in all of the Universe, regeneration and the new birth.

Romans 10:20 But Isaiah is very bold and says: "I was found by those who did not seek Me; I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me." NKJV

All who will not hear the Word of God and specifically the gospel will never be able to receive the gift of faith. Now after we receive the gift of faith that saves us from sin then we can increase our faith, as the disciples asked our Lord Jesus to teach them to do and we also exercise our faith to trust the whole counsel of God found in His Word. Finally, we are not born with faith or do we inherit faith from some relative, but we receive faith as the gift from God that it is. Amen!

“As ye are now brought into a state of salvation, your sins being all blotted out, and you made partakers of the Holy Spirit; and, having a hope full of immortality, you must not attribute this to any works or merit of yours; for when this Gospel reached you, you were all found dead in trespasses and dead in sins; therefore it was God’s free mercy to you, manifested through Christ, in whom ye were commanded to believe; and, having believed by the power of the Holy Spirit, ye received, and were sealed by, the Holy Spirit of promise; so that this salvation is in no sense of yourselves, but is the free gift of God; and not of any kind of works; so that no man can boast as having wrought out his own salvation, or even contributed anything towards it. By grace are ye saved, through faith in Christ. This is a true doctrine, and continues to be essential to the salvation of man to the end of the world.  But whether are we to understand, faith or salvation as being the gift of God?  But it may be asked: Is not faith the gift of God? Yes, as to the grace by which it is produced; but the grace or power to believe, and the act of believing, are two different things. Without the grace or power to believe no man ever did or can believe; but with that power the act of faith is a man’s own. God never believes for any man, no more than he repents for him: the penitent, through this grace enabling him, believes for himself: nor does he believe necessarily, or impulsively when he has that power; the power to believe may be present long before it is exercised, else, why the solemn warnings with which we meet everywhere in the word of God, and threatening’s against those who do not believe? Is not this a proof that such persons have the power but do not use it? They believe not, and therefore are not established. This, therefore, is the true state of the case: God gives the power, man uses the power thus given, and brings glory to God: without the power no man can believe; with it, any man may.” Adam Clarke

Sincerely in Christ,

Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle e-books now and will be available in a couple of weeks @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…                                    

Matthew Henry’s Method of Prayer

Pray for the Graces of Contentment and Patience

I must pray for the graces of contentment and patience, and a holy indifferency to all the things of sense and time.

Lord, teach me whatsoever state I am in therewith to be content; let me know how to be abased and how to abound; every where and in all things, let me be instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. Philippians 4:11-12(KJV) And let godliness with contentment be great gain to me, 1 Timothy 6:6(KJV) and a little with the fear of the Lord and quietness, be better than a great treasure and trouble therewith. Proverbs 15:16(KJV)

Lord, grant that my conversation may be without covetousness, and I may always be content with such things as I have, Hebrews 13:5(KJV)still saying, The will of the Lord be done. Acts 21:14(KJV)

Enable me in my patience to possess my own soul; Luke 21:19(KJV) and let patience always have its perfect work, that I may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. James 1:4(KJV)

Lord, give me grace to weep as though I wept not, and to rejoice as though I rejoiced not, and to possess as though I possessed not, and to use the world as not abusing it, because the time is short, and the fashion of this world passeth away. 1 Corinthians 7:29-31(KJV)

God is always Ready to Pardon

Nehemiah 9:16-17 But they and our fathers acted proudly, Hardened their necks, And did not heed Your commandments. They refused to obey, And they were not mindful of Your wonders That You did among them. But they hardened their necks, And in their rebellion They appointed a leader To return to their bondage. But You are God, Ready to pardon, Gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, Abundant in kindness, And did not forsake them. NKJV

The children of Israel over the many centuries rebelled over and over and yet the Lord because of His great mercy pardoned and restored them every time they would return to Him. It is only due to the Lord Jesus Christ’s mercies that today the earth is still rotating on its axis and men and women are still going about their business and able to draw breath and continue to live. All people of this world are living under the loving-kindness of God because Christ is slow to return and judge the earth because He wants souls to come to Him. The tragedy of our day is the misconception that lost men and women have toward the true God (Jesus Christ) thinking wrongly that because human beings suffer great pain, sorrow, and death that He must not be loving, because if He were He would prevent these things, especially those that are committed against children. Or on the flip side people wrongly think that because God is love (and He is) that He will in the end save everyone no matter what they believe (Universalism). Sin came to men and women because of Adam’s rebellion but Jesus Christ death, burial, and resurrection (the gospel) has made a full payment for Adam’s rebellion.

Hebrews 9:27-28 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 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, for salvation. NKJV

Before any man or woman can receive God’s gracious, merciful, and compassionate pardon they must first and foremost see and acknowledge their sinful heart and confess all their sin to the Lord Jesus Christ and turn from that sin and receive Jesus Christ by trusting Him alone as you would trust any chair when you go to sit down on it, resting everything on Jesus Christ. But surely God’s patience will one day be exhausted and Christ will come to execute judgment on those who know not God and obey not the gospel. Today God is not telling men and women to obey the Ten Commandments (because none of us can) but He has spoken in these last days through my Lord Jesus Christ bidding everyone to come to Him. Only Jesus Christ can forgive a sinner and cleanse and purify his/her heart.

Luke 11:13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" NKJV

Jeremiah 33:8 I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me. NKJV

“We are told what is necessary in order to seek God and to return to him, and the encouragement which we have to do it. The first step is for the sinner to forsake his way. He must come to a solemn pause, and resolve to abandon all his transgressions. His evil course; his vices; his corrupt practices; and his dissipated companions, must be forsaken.” Albert Barnes

“Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation . . . —2 Corinthians 7:10

Conviction of sin is best described in the words:

My sins, my sins, my Savior,
How sad on Thee they fall.

Conviction of sin is one of the most uncommon things that ever happens to a person. It is the beginning of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict people of sin (see John 16:8). And when the Holy Spirit stirs a person’s conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not that person’s relationship with others that bothers him but his relationship with God— “Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight . . .” (Psalm 51:4). The wonders of conviction of sin, forgiveness, and holiness are so interwoven that it is only the forgiven person who is truly holy. He proves he is forgiven by being the opposite of what he was previously, by the grace of God. Repentance always brings a person to the point of saying, “I have sinned.” The surest sign that God is at work in his life is when he says that and means it. Anything less is simply sorrow for having made foolish mistakes— a reflex action caused by self-disgust.

The entrance into the kingdom of God is through the sharp, sudden pains of repentance colliding with man’s respectable “goodness.” Then the Holy Spirit, who produces these struggles, begins the formation of the Son of God in the person’s life (see Galatians 4:19). This new life will reveal itself in conscious repentance followed by unconscious holiness, never the other way around. The foundation of Christianity is repentance. Strictly speaking, a person cannot repent when he chooses— repentance is a gift of God. The old Puritans used to pray for “the gift of tears.” If you ever cease to understand the value of repentance, you allow yourself to remain in sin. Examine yourself to see if you have forgotten how to be truly repentant.” Oswald Chambers

Sincerely in Christ,

Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle e-books now and will be available in a couple of weeks @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…                                    

The Divine Power of God

2 Peter 1:2-4 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. NKJV

Power as man sees it is intoxicating, alluring, and to be sought after and obtained. The office of President of the United States is understood by those in this country and even acknowledged by many nations around the world as the seat where the most powerful man in the world resides. Man defines power as follows: 1) Possession of controlling influence. 2) (Of a government or government official) the status of currently holding an official or elected position and having the corresponding authority. 3) Possession of the qualities (especially mental qualities) required to do something or get something done.

However, God’s definition of power for man on earth is the gospel of grace through our Lord Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. Faith in Him makes a man or woman a partaker of God’s very own nature. It is not power to rule over others or to have others in subjection or fear, but it is internal power in the individual heart of men and women to produce in them a new human creation able to overcome sin and evil still present in this world. God’s power given to man through grace produces reverence of God and awe of Him which will enable the soul (by grace) to walk in holiness as God is holy. The whole purpose of the new birth is to recreate every man or woman so that they can worship God rightly in reverential fear and awe through Jesus Christ our Lord. By receiving the life of God in us through regeneration, we are then empowered by God’s Divine Power to walk in newness of life. God came to the earth He created to reconcile men and women back to Him and thus make a new race of peculiar people down here on the earth by His Divine Power. Jesus Christ is the ever flowing well of this Divine Power whereby we are blessed with every spiritual blessings in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:3).

Ephesians 1:19 And what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power. NKJV

“God does not build up our natural virtues and transfigure them, because our natural virtues can never come anywhere near what Jesus Christ wants. No natural love, no natural patience, no natural purity can ever come up to His demands. But as we bring every bit of our bodily life into harmony with the new life which God has put in us, He will exhibit in us the virtues that were characteristic of the Lord Jesus.” Oswald Chambers

Dear Lord Jesus it is by Your Divine Power that all things were made that are visible and invisible and by that same Divine Power You hold all things together. Thank You for making me a partaker of Your Divine Nature that gives me the power to live differently on Your earth as sojourn and pilgrimage down here. I love You and give You all the glory Amen!

Sincerely in Christ,

Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle e-books now and will be available in a couple of weeks @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…                                    

The Thought Life

Proverbs 16:3 Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established. KJV

It seems even strange to refer to the thoughts of human beings as an actual life, but it is a life and the most difficult life for every human being to keep under control. This is the arena where my most fierce battles are fought in spiritual warfare every day. I lived for many decades pouring filthy images of sexual sin i.e. pornography into my mind that so corrupted it that it requires a constant washing or bathing in the Word of God in order to renew it and replace those pagan thoughts with God’s thoughts. There is a Christian rap song that I listen to entitled “Catch me at the Brook” and part of the lyrics are as follows: “Sometimes I want to erase my brain, cause 20 years as a pagan got my mind trained.” I feel that way often of my mind because of the overload of sensual junk that I have poured into it for the 3 decades I was bound in pornography and what I allow into it right now when I am not fighting the good fight of faith as I should. However all honor, praise, and glory to my Lord, Master, and Savior Jesus Christ who tells me through the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 10:5 that I can (by His grace) bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

We have an enemy that desires to intrude into our thought life and accuse, condemn, allure, and devour our devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. In my book entitled ““Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” I made this following quote: “Through surrender and submission to the leading of the Holy Spirit day by day we experience victory as He cancels Satan’s dominion, rule, authority, power, and control over sexually immoral behavior.

Many people have elaborate security systems for their homes and cars. It is necessary in this world to guard and protect ourselves and our families from evil and wicked people. There is nothing wrong with protecting the things of this life that you have worked hard to obtain. But, even more importantly, we must develop an effective security system for our spiritual lives and our hearts. We must protect our hearts from being invaded and corrupted by the ultimate intruder the devil just as we protect our material goods and our families from evil intruders.

Proverbs 4:23 (AMP): “Keep and guard your heart with all diligence and vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the issues of life.” If the heart be pure and holy, all its purposes will be just and good. If it be impure and defiled, nothing will proceed from it but abomination.”

The most important thing that we can do continually all day every day is to guard our heart/mind from things seen and heard that would affect who we become. This brings about a fight, battle, struggle, and we often lose some battles and make a mess of our lives because of wrong thinking produce by going away from Christ Word and not allowing that Word to wash our minds, invade our minds, and allow the Word of God to richly dwell in our hearts and transform our thought life. The soul that has been redeemed by the Blood of Jesus Christ has new desires and purposes to think and dwell on, but must always war according to Ephesians 6.

“The Bible does not thrill; the Bible nourishes. Give time to the reading of the Bible and the recreating effect is as real as that of fresh air physically.” Oswald Chambers

Lord Jesus I am humbled daily by the grace You give to me daily to be a vessel of righteousness for You. I love You, praise You, worship and adore You. Keep me in Your love and direct my steps by Your Word, in Your Holy Name Lord Jesus and by Your Blood Amen! Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Sincerely in Christ,

Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle e-books now and will be available in a couple of weeks @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…                                    

The Resurrection of Jesus Christ

Human history has recorded some spectacular events over the many years that changed the way man lived on the earth in very dramatic ways. I think of the invention of electricity, the light bulb, the automobile, airplanes, computers, and now the internet all have served to make the life of man much better on this terrestrial ball we call the earth. Today it is inconceivable to even think of what our lives would be if some of these things did not exist.

However, nothing that man has invented or will ever invent has done more to radically and forever changes the way men and women can live on this earth more than the Resurrection of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. His perfect sinless life of selfless sacrificial service to others and His gruesome death on a Roman cross caring the sins of all humanity were glorious, but apart from His utterly earth shaking Resurrection from His death the others would have been for nothing. It is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead that has done more than anything ever to dramatically change the way human beings can live down here on the earth.

Instead of a march on Washington D.C. espousing the eradication of the manufacturing of certain guns, the most effective march all over this country and the entire world is to make known to evil unregenerate hearts of men and women that Jesus Christ (the God-Man) was the only man to ever live and die and come back from the grave by the power of God and He offers new life to anyone who would cry out for it (repentance and faith). This new life is so dramatically different than all of humanities existing life that if every person were to receive this life there would be no more need for rallies against abortion or voting on whether marriage should be between a man and a woman only or marches to stop gun violence or any other civil campaign from men to alter the evil deeds of men against their neighbors because then and only then would men know how to truly love their neighbors. Therefore, Christ Resurrection is not like a “ho hum” period we place at the end of a sentence but it is the most miraculous, monumental, magnificent, and mightiest thing that ever happened in human history and it alone is the key to seeing a new humanity and not the world summits on peace or any other such thing.

Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. NKJV

“That this does not refer to the resurrection of the dead seems to be apparent, because that is not attributed to the Holy Spirit. I understand it as referring to the body, subject to carnal desires and propensities; by nature under the reign of death, and therefore mortal; that is, subject to death. The sense is, that under the gospel, by the influence of the Spirit, the entire man will be made alive in the service of God. Even the corrupt, carnal, and mortal body, so long under the dominion of sin, shall be made alive and recovered to the service of God. This will be done by the Spirit that dwells in us, because that Spirit has restored life to our souls, abides with us with his purifying influence, and because the design and tendency of his indwelling is to purify the entire man, and restore all to God. Christians thus in their bodies and their spirits become sacred. For even their body, the seat of evil passions and desires, shall become alive in the service of God.” Albert Barnes on Romans 8:11

Sincerely in Christ,

Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle e-books now and will be available in a couple of weeks @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…                                    

Winning the Lost without a Word

1 Peter 3:1-2 Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives, when they observe your chaste conduct accompanied by fear. NKJV

I must admit that this verse of Scripture is a rebuke to me because of the disposition it puts forth that has the ability to lead a lost soul to Jesus Christ our Lord. I all too often think that if I do not have just the right word from Scripture to say and in the right way to a specific person that I have failed miserably. Or I will desire to leave a gospel track and then pray that God would use it to pierce the heart and repentance and faith would take place. It rebukes my often half-hearted prayers for people that need Christ and my impatience in persistence in fervent prayer. I know that this word is true because it comes from God the Holy Spirit through Peter and surely Peter was speaking also of a truth that he had witnessed personally along his pilgrimage. I don’t think Peter is saying here that a person can be saved apart from hearing a clear gospel message and it being energized by God the Holy Spirit, but he is saying that much heart softening can be accomplished by a person living their life daily in reverence and awe of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I heard the following testimony that sums up every word spoken above by the great Apostle Peter and it goes as follows: A woman and her husband both were lost but the woman heard the gospel and got saved and loved our Lord Jesus dearly and lived in said reverence and awe before her unsaved husband day after day for many years. She would daily pray for his heart to be softened to hear the gospel for years. She would walk to Church every time she went and her dog would follow her there and sit underneath her seat during the service. Her husband despised her new found love for the Lord Jesus Christ and did not like sharing her affections with Him and it would make him very angry but he observed her chaste conduct and her submission to him as head of the house was much more evident after she knew the Lord.

Well, the woman became ill with some disease and she prayed for healing and fought the disease with all that she had but one day lost her battle and went to be with our Lord. Well, the husband was grieved and saddened for a long time after her death but he noticed that their dog would leave the house every Sunday at the same time and come back at the same time each Sunday. Finally, one day he decided to follow the dog and find out where he was going for this time period. He followed and found the dog would go to the Church and sit under the same seat that his wife sat in every time and he went and heard the gospel and was saved (born again) all because of a wife who loved him so much that she prayed every day for his salvation and our Lord Jesus Christ answered her prayer after her death.

Psalm 143:1 Hear my prayer, O LORD, Give ear to my supplications! In Your faithfulness answer me, And in Your righteousness. NKJV

“You cannot intercede if you do not believe in the reality of the Redemption; you will turn intercession into futile sympathy with human beings which will only increase their submissive content to being out of touch with God. In intercession you bring the person, or the circumstance that impinges on you before God until you are moved by His attitude towards that person or circumstance. Intercession means filling up "that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ," and that is why there are so few intercessors. Intercession is put on the line of – "Put yourself in his place." Never! Try to put yourself in God’s place.

As a worker, be careful to keep pace with the communications of reality from God or you will be crushed. If you know too much, more than God has engineered for you to know, you cannot pray, the condition of the people is so crushing that you cannot get through to reality.

Our work lies in coming into definite contact with God about everything, and we shirk it by becoming active workers. We do the things that can be tabulated but we will not intercede. Intercession is the one thing that has no snares, because it keeps our relationship with God completely open.

The thing to watch in intercession is that no soul is patched up; a soul must get through into contact with the life of God. Think of the number of souls God has brought about our path and we have dropped them! When we pray on the ground of Redemption, God creates something He can create in no other way than through intercessory prayer.” Oswald Chambers

Sincerely in Christ,

Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle e-books now and will be available in a couple of weeks @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…                                    

Christ removes Sins Dominion

Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. NKJV

From the very moment of human birth, the countdown to death begins. There is at work in this world a law of sin that leads to death. When Adam disobeyed God, immediately the law of sin and death entered into the world. All of humanity is under this law and bound by it. There is a principle in the law of sin and death that puts every man or woman under the controlling power of sin. Sin rules and reigns in every human life without exception. This is why the Apostle Paul could say earlier in the Book of Romans that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” and the little word “all” includes every person ever born from the poorest to the richest and the weakest to the most powerful. The Ten Commandments were given to mankind later on by God only to show man how utterly sinful we are and move us to look outside of ourselves for deliverance.

Now 2000 years ago a new law was introduced into humanity when Jesus Christ willing left Heaven, was born of a virgin, lived a perfect sinless life, allowed Himself to be beaten, crucified, and buried in a tomb, and He rose from the dead 3 days later proving that He was God (the God-man). The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is when He (Christ) raises a spiritually dead soul to life in Himself and makes that person a partaker of His Divine Nature. The Apostle Paul states it this way in Ephesians 2: And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. 

This law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus is so radical and transforming that it breaks the power of cancelled sin and sets the sin sick soul free from sins overriding dominion in the person’s life. Salvation is not what is so commonly referred to as being saved from hell, that is just the by product or the icing on the cake, true salvation in Jesus Christ only is being delivered (in this earthly life) from the gripping dominion of sin produced by the law of sin and death. The Lord Jesus proclaimed in His very famous Sermon on the Mount that He did not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets, but He came to fulfill the Law and what the Prophets spoke. The Law of God is holy and it is perfect and it bears no blame for it was not given to man to save him but to condemn him. The problem was never with the law but the law was weak on account of the weakness or sinfulness of human beings. Therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ had to take on human flesh and completely fulfill the law as a man which no other man ever did or could ever do, thus satisfying all of the law’s requirements in Him. This is where the GREAT EXCHANGE is made possible, we give Jesus Christ our sin to bear and He gives us His unsullied righteousness by placing His NATURE within all those who come to Him in repentance and faith Hallelujah!

“The covenant of grace made with us in Christ is a treasury of merit and grace, and thence we receive pardon and a new nature, are freed from the law of sin and death, that is, both from the guilt and power of sin - from the course of the law, and the dominion of the flesh. We are under another covenant, another master, another husband, under the law of the Spirit, the law that gives the Spirit, spiritual life to qualify us for eternal. The foundation of this freedom is laid in Christ's undertaking for us.” Matthew Henry

Sincerely in Christ,

Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle e-books now and will be available in a couple of weeks @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…                                    

Humanity Needs Divine Intervention

The A & E Network has along with all the other networks ventured into the realm of reality TV. One of the shows on their network is “Intervention”. This show is about people that are extremely addicted to drugs or alcohol. The producers do an extensive interview process to find legitimate people enslaved to a particular drug or alcohol and they make the drug addicted person believe that they will just be a part of a documentary of some sort about people with their drug or alcohol appetite. However, the friends and family of the person along with a drug or alcohol counselor will bring that person to a place with all of them present to confront them about their addiction. Each individual family member will pour out their hearts to the person afflicted imploring that person to receive the free gift offered to them for rehabilitation.

I watched two of the shows this past Monday. The first show featured a 19 year old girl addicted to shooting up heroin and in so doing this drug every day she would place herself in very dangerous places to purchase the drug. She would also dance in various strip clubs to support her habit. Her face and body reflected the toll the drugs were taking on her physically and spiritually. She accepted the free help offered and went into the rehab clinic. The program showed the young lady after she had been in rehab for a little over 3 months and she physically looked like a brand new person. Her weight was up, her skin was clearer, her eyes were brighter, and she turned into a different person right before our very eyes on camera. She had many members of her family praying for her to be delivered by the Lord Jesus Christ and He answered them.

The second show was about a 64 year old woman that was addicted to alcohol. This woman was so far gone on alcohol that she would begin every morning by drinking beer and then proceed from there to drink gin on ice until she would pass out at the end of each day. She would often berate her own family with cruel words of profanity. She was so obstinate toward change that everyone feared that she would not willingly accept the offer for rehabilitation. As the intervention session proceeded, she remained obstinate until she saw the anguish, tears, and broken hearted grief of her daughter and finally submitted and received the free in-house rehabilitation offered to her. This family never made any mention of God or the Lord Jesus Christ at any point in time during the documentation of their show. However, she went through the rehab program and they showed her after 3 months or so and she looked completely changed on the outside, a whole new woman.

The two women mentioned above are just like all of humanity needing an outside intervention for their sin condition, not just the sins that were a part of the reality TV program, but all of their sins. These human rehabilitation programs are wonderful and very necessary for people enslaved by these various addictions, but they can never do the eternally lasting work wrought by the Lord Jesus Christ through Divine Intervention. Because all of humanity is born with the disease of sin, we all then need an intervention. None of us human beings from the womb seek after God. We run from Him but we all need God to intervene for each of us to be made alive from spiritual death, which causes us to be dominated by sin and darkness.

1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. NKJV

Ephesians 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,

Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)

Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses

1 Peter 2:24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness --- by whose stripes you were healed.

Revelation 1:5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood

“To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.”” Oswald Chambers

Sincerely in Christ,

Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle e-books now and will be available in a couple of weeks @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…                                     

You Don’t Have to Be a Chip Off the Old Block

By James J. Holden

Recently, I was going through our family album. As I did, I noticed a lot of pictures of me and my dad. If he had a rake, I had a toy rake. If he had a wheelbarrow, so did I. I always wanted to be near him. I thought he did no wrong. He was my dad and I wanted to be just like him.

Most young children want to be with their daddy. Any amount of attention he gives them is like a pot of gold. That’s how I was. As I grew older, I saw that the man I had looked up to and modeled myself after was not the man I thought. More than that, he was not the man I wanted to be.

God began to show me how much of a “chip off the old block” I was. I had seen my dad’s actions and decisions leave my entire family ravished and devastated. Then I saw that I had become an abusive man who didn’t respect women. I was a rebellious and deceitful man. I was irresponsible and immature, especially in financial matters. I was a wreck, just like my dad. Realizing all of this made me want change. I had to learn to think, act, talk and live in a whole new way.

I don’t know where you are coming from. Maybe you had a great father, a godly father. I am thrilled if you had this blessing. Maybe you grew up without a father. Maybe you, like me, didn’t have a godly example of a father and you desire to live in a totally different way. Whatever your circumstances, you don’t have to become a man you don’t want to be. God can change you. He can teach you how to live, act, and make better choices than your father made. No man is ever doomed to repeat his father’s mistakes.

You can choose a different way. I did and so did a man in the Bible named Jonathan. He saw the kind of man his father was and decided he didn’t want to be that way. Jonathan became a man with a totally different heart than his father’s. This is evident in three areas we all face: His relationships to God, his family life and his work.

1. Jonathan had a heart for God, his father Saul didn’t.

Saul and Jonathan had different relationships with God. Saul had a surface relationship. He served God selfishly. He only wanted God when he needed something. Saul didn’t want to live according to God’s standards and ways. Saul lived a life of disobedience to God. As a result, God rejected Saul, taking his kingdom from him.

Jonathan’s heart was different. He was committed to God and His will. Jonathan knew God wanted David to replace Saul as king. Normally, Jonathan would inherit his father’s throne. However, he was so in tune with God that he went along with His new plan. Jonathan was so willing to submit to God’s will that he trained and mentored the man who was going to take his place as the king. Anything David knew about leading an army or being a king he learned from Jonathan.

Jonathan loved God and served him even when it cost him. Saul only served God when he wanted something from Him. Jonathan obeyed God no matter what he asked. Saul refused to obey God, and it cost him his throne.

I want this to encourage you. You can develop a heart that is completely different from your father’s. You can develop a strong, mature relationship with God. Jonathan did, and so can you.

2. Jonathan was a family man; Saul wasn’t.

Saul was a horrible example of a family man for Jonathan. He never put his family first. Instead, He used his family as pawns to suit his purposes. Saul was obsessed with killing David. He had no qualms in using his family to do it.

Twice, Saul tried to use his daughter to trap David so he could kill him. He didn’t love or respect his daughters. He used them. As we continue on, we see the same treatment given to Jonathan.

Jonathan confronted his father about his treatment of David. Saul lashed out at his son. Then Saul’s anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?” (1 Sam. 20:30, NASB).

How’s that for a loving husband and father? He totally degrades and humiliates Jonathan and his mother. It gets worse.

“Then Saul cast a spear at him to kill him” (1 Sam. 30:33).

Saul tried to murder his own son! He didn’t love Jonathan. He was not a family man. All Saul cared about was himself.

Jonathan was the opposite. He loved his family and wanted to take care of them. He made sure that they were safe and secure. We see this as Jonathan makes a covenant with David. He ensured the safety of his family after David became king. In those days, a new king would have all the former king’s family killed. Jonathan made David promise him that he would not do this. He loved his family and put their safety and needs above his own. This is the heart of a family man.

Like Jonathan, you can become a man who is deeply committed to his family. You can develop a godly heart that is committed to loving, honoring and protecting your family. Jonathan did and so can you.

3. Jonathan was faithful to his job; Saul wasn’t.

Jonathan was the prince of Israel. Saul was the king. These were their jobs. One of Saul’s main jobs as king was to lead his men to war. However, as his sin increased, his effectiveness as a military commander decreased. He wouldn’t fight the enemy.

Jonathan wouldn’t tolerate his father’s inaction. God’s people were being oppressed by a heathen nation. He couldn’t sit by and watch his father’s inaction any longer. He took the fight to the Philistines on his own. His father may have stopped depending on God to fight for him, but Jonathan knew that God could be counted on. He put himself in God’s hands. As a result, Israel experienced a great victory. This was possible because Jonathan knew his responsibilities as the prince, and he boldly did them. He had a different heart than his dad had, and it came shining through in relation to his job. 

I hope this article gives you hope that you aren’t doomed to repeat your father’s mistakes. You can be different. With God’s help and hard work, you can be a godly man, free from the chains of your generational sins. You can become your own man. You can develop a heart that loves and serves God and is committed to submitting to His will. You can begin a new generational pattern of godliness, one in which your children can have pride and will want to follow. You can be known as a worker who is good, loyal and dependable. There is no area of your life that can’t develop the heart of a godly man and succeed. It will take hard work and a willingness to make changes, but in the end it will be worth it. You can get started today.

Forbidden Fruit

Proverbs 6:27-28 Can a man take fire to his bosom, And his clothes not be burned? Can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be seared? NKJV

It is nearly impossible for men and women to be just friends or have a plutonic working relationship. History has shown us over and over and over again how men and women have failed to hear or understand the words of the above Proverb and plunged themselves into a sexual relationship due to burning from pure lust. Our hearts are so deceitful and wicked that it will take us places we never thought we would venture. The closer any man places himself to temptation the closer he is to opening the door to committing sexual sin. All women are drawn and attracted to three things in men and they are power, wealth, and looks. This is why our Lord came and elevated adultery to the heart, because what’s in the heart is certain to manifest itself in the outward life.

“The Cup of Iniquity Overflows”

David is a successful Accountant with one of the most prestigious firms in Los Angeles. By all appearances to his co-workers, family, and friends life is going great for David. He is often the one that carries the parties and other social events he attends. He has dated some of the city’s most eligible bachelorettes. His life is the envy of many men in his inner circle of friends and work associates. David works for one of the most powerful men in the business world (Gunther) and he often has to work closely with the man’s wife (Karla). He has been flirting with her and she has secretly desired to be with David intimately in her heart. David is well aware that his boss is a very ruthless man and that he would be signing his death certificate if he were to ever be caught in an uncompromising position with his bosses’ wife.

David was the coordinator of his best friends (Jonathon) bachelor party and he spared no expense. He went to one of the city’s most popular strip clubs and hired twenty (20) of its most beautiful and finest dancers to perform at Jonathon’s party. He rented out one of the finest meeting rooms in the Biltmore Hotel. He ordered an assortment of the best alcohol and had a vast array of XXX videos playing on the many TV screens throughout the venue. David desired greatly to have his bosses’ wife sexually, so he said within himself, I will invite my boss to this party and give him the VIP treatment and he will be so preoccupied with having fun and I will be able to sneak away early and spend the night with Karla.

Proverbs 6:32-35 Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; He who does so destroys his own soul. Wounds and dishonor he will get, and his reproach will not be wiped away. For jealousy is a husband's fury; Therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will accept no recompense, Nor will he be appeased though you give many gifts. NKJV

So it is Saturday morning and the radio alarm blast the beating drums and electric guitar of green day as the sun peeks through the half opened blinds in David’s bedroom. He knocks the radio onto the floor as he shuts off the alarm and Karla (naked) still asleep next to him. Gunther being a very jealous and insecure man would often have his wife followed when he was out of town on business and he decided to have someone watch her while he was at the bachelor party. Well, I guess we know the end of this story and here we see the cup of iniquity fills up three lives and destroys them all because of a desire for forbidden fruit.

“A person’s inner nature, what he possesses in the inner, spiritual part of his being, determines what he is tempted by on the outside. The temptation fits the true nature of the person being tempted and reveals the possibilities of his nature. Every person actually determines or sets the level of his own temptation, because temptation will come to him in accordance with the level of his controlling, inner nature. Temptation comes to me, suggesting a possible shortcut to the realization of my highest goal— it does not direct me toward what I understand to be evil, but toward what I understand to be good. Temptation is something that confuses me for a while, and I don’t know whether something is right or wrong. When I yield to it, I have made lust a god, and the temptation itself becomes the proof that it was only my own fear that prevented me from falling into the sin earlier.” Oswald Chambers

Sincerely in Christ,

Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle e-books now and will be available in a couple of weeks @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…                                    

   

TV, its Programming, and Our Mind

My generation has always known the thrill of watching television. The television invented in the late 1920’s opened up a whole new world to many people that would never afford to travel to other parts of the world. By the 1960’s (when I was a boy) the television had improved to show color pictures. There were only 3-5 channels available for viewing during that time and for many years later and all the programming was very family friendly.

Fast forward to 2013 and all who desire can bury themselves with 500 plus channels provided by some services. The problem does not exist with the volume of channels but with the programming content offered on most of the channels. We have interpreted our constitutional rights to afford us the ability to be offered programming that is highly violent and filled with vivid sexual content and profane literature and language, even in all of our commercials. This fascination with reality TV has every corner of society capable of getting their “15 minutes of fame.” The networks are readily exploiting children and adults as long as the ratings are positive the content, language, idolatry, sex, violence, hate speech, you name it matters not, only the number of viewers drawn to the programming.

Proverbs 21:27 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination; How much more when he brings it with a wicked mind! KJV

The visible brain and invisible mind we human beings have received from God was designed similar to the way we human beings designed computers except on an infinitely higher degree or level. The man made computers are capable of producing some very incredible end results, just look at our smartphones for instance and note all it can perform. However, it ultimately operates on the basis of what is introduced into it and that affects what proceeds from it.

Satan has found the one vehicle that works well to influence children and adults, sinner and saint to sin in all types of methods. The Word of God clearly states that, “As a man thinks, so is he”. The immersing of one’s brain and mind to images from TV that are violent, profane, and sexually charged can only make men or women desire to do things that are wrong and displeasing to God and man. Most of humanity believes that what they absorb through their brain into their mind does nothing to influence them in any way. I submit that if this were true then the major businesses or companies would not escalate the bidding wars that have inflated advertising time for 30 second commercials during the Super Bowl Football Game to the ridiculous cost of 3.5 million dollars. They are willing to pay this because their research tells them that people will go out and by their products and services due to the subliminal affect through the brain into the mind. However, for those of us who have been redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb we operate by Christ grace and are enabled by Him to sift through the mire on TV to search out things that will not lead us into temptation.

Romans 12:2 And 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. NKJV

“We are only what we are in the dark; all the rest is reputation. What God looks at is what we are in the dark—the imaginations of our minds; the thoughts of our heart; the habits of our bodies; these are the things that mark us in God’s sight.” Oswald Chambers 

Sincerely in Christ,

Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle e-books now and will be available in a couple of weeks @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…                                    

The Dominion of Sin

The bible consist of over 50 verses that include this word “dominion” and its definition or use is predominately used to convey rule over people, land, all the earth, a territory, etc. All of the human Kings and Dictators throughout the history of mankind understood this word dominion completely and they executed absolute power over the people of their individual nations. Any show of weakness from an earthly King could mean him being dethroned, replaced, and killed. All the Kings of the earth were compelled to rule with an iron fist, not showing compassion to transgressors of his authority, but on the contrary rendering swift judgment to keep his dominion in tack.

Matthew 20:25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. NKJV

Sin, which is the inheritance of every child born into the earth, holds a far greater dominion over people than any earthly King or Dictator that has ever lived. Sin is a cruel and a ruthless taskmaster that does not regard the family status, ethnicity, community status, place of birth, socioeconomic status, genetics, or any other human condition of men and women. In actuality, sin is an abnormality in the DNA of every human being. It is a spiritual disease that know human created medication, whether it be drugs for physical ailment or psychological ailment can cure. Therefore, due to our misunderstanding of what sin actually is it causes mankind always to seek outside solutions for the vile behavior that come out of every human being. The most difficult thing for every person to come to grips with is their being under the dominion of sin. This is because we all can look around us and sees others that are far more wretched than our own life. Self-righteousness is perhaps the most damming thing in the entire Universe and it will chloroform souls into Hell.

Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard it, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." NKJV

Today, in the 21^st Century, the human leaders (those void of the Spirit of God) of this country actually believe that new laws and regulations concerning guns will stop the rash of recent killings we have witnessed over the past few years. Since 1973, this country sanctioned the legal killing of over 1 million human beings every year (abortion) and these murders dwarf murders by guns many times over. I have been blessed by my Lord Jesus Christ to live for over half of a century and ever since I came of age to understand, I never once have witnessed an automobile drive itself (without a human operator) or witness any gun, from a BB gun to a machine gun fire itself without a human instrument. Anything that has been invented or manufactured by men has no power to function without men initiating its operation. The problem is not with manufactured things, but it is with the dominion of sin over individual human hearts.

“When a man’s heart is right with God the mysterious utterances of the Bible are spirit and life to him. Spiritual truth is discernible only to a pure heart, not to a keen intellect. It is not a question of profundity of intellect, but of purity of heart.” Oswald Chambers

Sincerely in Christ,

Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle e-books now and will be available in a couple of weeks @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…