Friday, May 31, 2013

Journey through the Book of Romans


Paul’s Great Desire to see the Roman Christians
Romans 1:8-15 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established ---that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. NKJV

The History of the Roman Empire is a long and sorted tail laced with Emperors who (as mere men) would raise themselves to god status. Some of Rome’s Emperors tolerated Christians while others despised them to such a point of killing them in very brutal and violent ways. Most of Rome’s Emperors were worshipers of many Pagan gods and they would make decrees that all the citizens of Rome would be required to worship these false deities.  Epicureanism and Stoicism thrived also in Rome as religions for the Agnostic intellectuals. Epicureanism is a philosophy advanced by Epicurus that considered happiness, or the avoidance of pain and emotional disturbance, to be the highest good and that advocated the pursuit of pleasures that can be enjoyed in moderation. It is a devotion or adaptation to luxurious tastes, especially in drinking and eating, or to indulgence in sensual pleasures. Stoicism is the school of philosophy founded by Zeno (of Citium), who asserted that men should be free from passion, unmoved by joy or grief, and submit without complaint to unavoidable necessity. It is an indifference to pleasure or pain.
This was just a taste of what dominated the hearts and minds of sinful men and women in Rome and those living under Roman rule and authority. This is what the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ was up against in this huge and powerful city estimated to have a population of 1.5 million people during the first century. However, Paul was not deterred by such evil because he knew the exceeding great power in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and how it had power to break the hard sinful hearts of all men and women no matter what. It is clear that Paul did not establish the group of believers in the city of Rome and this is one of the reasons for his heart so yearning to get to them. Paul had heard from many reliable sources of brothers and sisters in Christ and no doubt non-believers of the great faith exemplified by those in Rome who had turned from all of the false gods and intellectual philosophies to Christ Jesus our Lord. The transformed lives of these Roman citizens bore great witness and testimony to the authenticity of their faith in Christ somewhat like those in Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 1:9).

Paul being the great prayer warrior that he was wanted them to know how much he prayed every single day for them as he did for all believers (Philippians 1:4 & Philemon 1:4 & 1 Thessalonians 1:2). Paul had many encounters with the enemy and knew of his tactics and always wanted to do all he could when present or absent from true brothers and sisters in the faith to keep them and himself alert always to the enemies devices used to come against the believer. Paul had been many times in the presence of false brethren (2 Corinthians 11:26), and like the Apostle John had great joy when he knew that others were walking in the truth of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wanted to be comforted himself by the great faith of these Roman believers and by the will of God alone he wanted our Lord to grant him the ability and means to be able to get to them (Acts 19:21). Paul was a man always desiring to be conscience and sensitive to the will of God in every matter and so only wanted to come to them in person if God the Father so willed him to do so.
Paul being legally a Roman citizen himself (Acts 22:27) knew that the Christians in Rome with their high code of ethics and morals were anomalies to the Roman rulers and the other non- Christian citizens. Paul knowing this and knowing the gifts bestowed to him by our Lord Jesus Christ wanted with all of his heart to get to them to impart some spiritual gift to them in order that they would be strengthened in their daily walk with our Lord enabling them to withstand all of the fiery darts that were surely being aimed at them every day (Acts 23:11). Paul knew that the inevitable clash between these Roman Christians and the non-Christian Roman majority would be a clash between monotheism (Christianity) and Polytheism (all other false worship) and also between the Roman Christians desire to walk in moral and sexual purity which is pleasing to our Lord Jesus Christ and the Pagan practices of the Epicureans and others who freely indulged the flesh to heights far from that of the will of God. Paul wanted to preach the gospel there in Rome that others might come to the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“The prayer of Paul that he might see the Romans was granted, but in a remarkable way. He was persecuted by the Jews, and arraigned before King Agrippa. He appealed to the Roman emperor, and was taken there in chains as a prisoner. Yet the journey might in this way have a more deep effect on the Romans, than if he had gone in any other way. In so mysterious a manner does God often hear the prayers of his people; and though their prayers are answered, yet it is in His own time and way; see the last chapters of the Acts.” Albert Barnes
“God is particularly a witness to our secret prayers, the matter of them, the manner of the performance; then our Father sees in secret, Matthew 6:6. God, whom I serve with my spirit. Those that serve God with their spirits may, with a humble confidence, appeal to him; hypocrites who rest in bodily exercise cannot. His particular prayer, among many other petitions he put up for them, was that he might have an opportunity of paying them a visit (Romans 1:10): Making request, if by any means, etc. Whatever comfort we desire to find in any creature, we must have recourse to God for it by prayer; for our times are in His hand, and all our ways at his disposal.” Matthew Henry

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. 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, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…                                    

 

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Journey through the Book of Romans


Paul’s greeting to the Roman Christians
Romans 1:1-2 “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures” NKJV

The Apostle Paul only writes this one letter to the Roman Christians so he begins by setting out to establish his Apostolic authority given to him by our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul knowing the persistent attacks leveled at him from the false apostles all over the region having dealt with such from the church in Corinth uses the English word called from the Greek word kletos, which means appointed to affirm his position in the true Church of God. Paul describes himself as a bondservant of Jesus Christ. Literally Paul is saying that he is the slave of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul’s life proved his words to be true because he was not like the false apostles seeking to receive financial gain from the people, but instead Paul was only concerned for the gospel and desiring to glorify our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wanted them to know that he was not nominated by some board or committee but knocked off his horse and blinded by the very Lord of Glory Jesus Christ who elected him to be His bondservant (Leviticus 20:26). Paul reminds them that he is just one of many our Lord Jesus has chosen to fulfill the promises He made to Abraham long ago (Genesis 15:5) and that He continued to speak forth through many of the other Prophets that lived well before him.
Romans 1:3-4 “Concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.” NKJV

Paul declares to them that the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is what God the Father has proclaimed through all of the men He used during various time periods of human history. God the Father first announced it when He said, Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” NKJV Of course the Father was speaking to the devil with this statement. By this statement God the Father promised that He would send His own seed to the earth and Paul is declaring now the fulfillment of the Father’s promise has been witnessed in our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 4:4-7). Paul affirms that our Lord Jesus came through the very earthly line the Father promised through King David (Deuteronomy 18:18 & Isaiah 9:6-7 & Jeremiah 23:5 & Matthew 1:6 & Luke 1:32). God the Father declared our Lord Jesus Christ to be His Son when He spoke from Heaven and said, Mark 1:11 “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” NKJV Paul always wanted to begin his letters to the saints, whether it was the 1st letter or the 3rd one exalting our Lord Jesus and reminding the brothers and sisters that nothing is about any of us but always all about Jesus. The final and complete proof or evidence to sinful mankind of the Sovereign Uniqueness of our Lord Jesus Christ is the fact of His Resurrection from the dead proving He is God.
Romans 1:5-7 Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. NKJV

Paul concludes his greeting by telling the Roman brothers and sisters that we all have received grace or divine influence from our Lord Jesus and we are commissioned by Him to be obedient to The faith once and for all handed down to all the saints of every generation. Surely Paul was not aware at the time he penned this epistle that millions all over the world would read and order their lives by the words given to him by God the Holy Spirit. However, he surely trusted our Lord Jesus with all his heart and knew He was a Big God capable of doing anything at any time through anyone because he considered himself so unworthy of this grace given to him as he told brother Timothy with these words, 1 Timothy 1:12-17 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. NKJV Paul was a man so in love with our Lord Jesus Christ and so grateful of the forgiveness he received from His hand that he (Paul) wanted all the saints to feel this way and to never abuse our Lord’s grace or neglect it or take it for granted seeing the heavy price our Lord purchased it by His own Blood. Paul greets them as the called by our Lord Jesus (Hebrews 3:1) just as he was called and they and we are now called to be saints and dearly beloved by God the Father because of our Lord Jesus Christ no matter what they or we were prior to our relationship with Jesus Christ.
“Observe the description here given of the Christian profession: it is obedience to the faith. It does not consist in a notional knowledge or a naked assent; much less does it consist in perverse disputing, but in obedience. This obedience to the faith answers the law of faith, mentioned Romans 3:27. The act of faith is the obedience of the understanding to God revealing, and the product of that is the obedience of the will to God commanding. Matthew Henry

“The Bible is a supernatural book and can be understood only by supernatural aid.” A. W. Tozer
“It does not require great learning to be a Christian and be convinced of the truth of the Bible. It requires only an honest heart and a willingness to obey God.” Albert Barnes

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. 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, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…                                    

 

  

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Jesus tells Peter his Death will Glorify God


John 21:18-19 “Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.” NKJV
The early Apostles were unique and distinct from us in one and only one way and that is they were able to see our Lord Jesus in His Humanity every day for 3 ½ years and feel and touch Him in His resurrected body. Actually witnessing the Man they walked with and talked with and ate with and lived with for those years be killed and then come back to life again surely gave them confidence and assurance that they too would be raised after the death of their bodies. Despite this truth these men still did not go about living in such a careless manner as to hasten the time of their deaths. They learned many things from His resurrection but they learned to trust completely that our Lord was the One who was Sovereignly in control over their lives no matter the danger seen or unseen by them. Our Lord had already begun to prepare them for what was awaiting them from the Jews after He went back to Heaven when He said to them, Matthew 10:16-17 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues.” NKJV

They had been constantly warned by our Lord at various times during their 3 ½ years together of the brutality, bitter hatred, and cruelty they would encounter from many Jewish religious men that would be hard and hostile to their message of grace over their works system in place. Our Lord Jesus never once as recorded by the Apostle John and the other gospel writers promised any of the disciples a life of health, wealth, and earthly prosperity. Here we find the Apostle John recounting the time he, Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, his brother James, and two other disciples went fishing after our Lord’s death and stayed out all night catching nothing. Our Lord Jesus came to them while they were down by the sea for this the 3rd time since His resurrection from the dead. Now after they all had finished eating their fish breakfast our Lord Jesus restored or forgave Peter of his sin of denying Him those three times the night of His betrayal and arrest. All of the gospel writers document for us how our Lord often called Peter out from among the other 12 disciples to go with Him privately into places where our Lord did some of His greatest miracles (example raising the 12 year old girl to life). Our Lord Jesus changed his name from Simon to Cephas (which is translated A Stone) the moment his brother Andrew brought him to our Lord for the first time. It was apparent early on that our Lord wanted to spend extra time with Peter to teach him, strengthen him, and prepare him for the things he would encounter and endure all of those years being a faithful and outspoken bond slave of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now here is our Lord not far removed from His ascension back to the Father in Heaven seizing a final opportunity to prepare Peter for his own death by telling him exactly what will happen to him, but at the same time exhorting and encouraging him that unlike his fearful denial of Him on the night of His arrest, that Peter will courageously and triumphantly bring Glory to God by the way he dies and by the cause of his death which is his steadfast proclamation of the gospel with no holds barred. Peter would be immovable always abounding in the work of our Lord Jesus and it will cause him to be imprisoned and then crucified. The same man that coward in fear and cursed using profanity denying he even knew our Lord Jesus would be so courageous in accepting his death though it was not for doing any evil but for his love for our Lord Jesus Christ and His Glory here on the earth (Philippians 1:20). It is the number one priority for every disciple of our Lord to be zealous for His Glory to be manifested here on the earth no matter the evil or ungodly rule we live under. It is the will of God for us to bring Glory by our lives to our Lord, Master and Savior Jesus Christ even in death. People die every day here on the earth and the current statistics say that 1.78 deaths occur per second, 107 per minute, 6,390 per hour, or 153,000 people die every day around the world. I would say that 90% or more of those deaths do not bring Glory to God and probably the same number end up in hell forever separated from God.

Our Lord Jesus knew this man the Apostle Peter with all of his weaknesses, sin, and imperfections would remain steadfast and faithful to Him all the way to prison and crucifixion. He was not telling Peter these details to frighten him but instead to make him stronger by knowing that He (Jesus) knew the details of every day of his life and his physical death. Peter’s physical death only ushered him into the presence of his Lord forever to never again be broken and so he went to that cross (the tradition or church history reports) requesting to be crucified upside down seeing himself unworthy to die upright in the same manner as his Lord (2 Peter 1:14). The first Christian killed for the Glory of God was Stephen as documented by Dr. Luke in Acts Chapter 7. Since Stephen and the Apostle Peter each died for and to the Glory of God there have been many millions of men, women, boys, and girls who have died and are dying right now around the world for the Glory of God. Will your death or my death be to God’s Glory?
Revelation 6:9-11 When He opened the fifth seal; I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed. NKJV

“At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the steps to the gallows, brave and composed. His death ensued after a few seconds. In almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man die so entirely submissive to the will of God.” Prison doctor witness to Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s death
“It is not only by acting, but chiefly by suffering, that the saints glorify God. Follow me - Showing hereby likewise what death he should die.” John Wesley

“Christ is the Son of God. He died to atone for men’s sin, and after three days rose again. This is the most important fact in the universe. I die believing in Christ.” Watchman Nee
“If life has not made you by God’s grace, through faith, holy--think you, will death without faith do it? The cold waters of that narrow stream are no purifying bath in which you may wash and be clean. No! no! as you go down into them, you will come up from them.” Alexander MacLaren
“If you live wrong you can’t die right.” Billy Sunday

“Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.” C. S. Lewis
“There is an essential difference between the decease of the godly and the death of the ungodly. Death comes to the ungodly man as a penal infliction, but to the righteous as a summons to his Father’s palace. To the sinner it is an execution, to the saint an undressing from his sins and infirmities. Death to the wicked is the King of terrors. Death to the saint is the end of terrors, the commencement of glory.” Charles Spurgeon

“You have been used to take notice of the sayings of dying men. This is mine: that a life spent in the service of God, and communion with Him, is the most comfortable and pleasant life that anyone can live in this world.” Matthew Henry
If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. 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, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…                                    

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Jesus’ Resurrection was Bodily


John 20:19-29
Larry King, the CNN talk show host, was once asked who he would most want to interview if he could choose anyone from all of history. He said, ‘Jesus Christ.’ The questioner said, ‘And what would you like to ask Him?’ King replied, “I would like to ask Him if He was indeed virgin-born. The answer to that question would define history for me’.” I pray that Larry King will find the answer to that question from the Word of God which is where he can interview our Lord Jesus Christ right now today and he will find the answer to that question to be yes and it would not only define history for him, but he could receive life form our Lord and have all of eternity defined for him. The unbeliever outside the visible church and the many unbelievers inside the visible church have been stumped by the beginning of our Lord’s earthly life and the end of our Lord Jesus’ earthly life for 2,000 years now. Of course the finite mind of man cannot understand the virgin birth or the bodily resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, but if a soul does not by faith accept both of these two events as true and factual as God has laid them out for us in His Word then there is no sacrifice for that souls sin and he will have to bear his own sin before a Holy and Righteous God.

Larry King is not alone in his skepticism for many Americans do not believe that after they die their bodies will be resurrected to stand before God to be judged. The most recent poll taken on this subject matter of the human body being resurrected was conducted in 2006. The poll was taken by two reporters Thomas Hargrove and Guido H. Stempel IIII. Their findings were as follows: “Only 36 percent of the 1,007 adults interviewed a month ago by the Scripps Survey Research Center at Ohio University said “yes” to the question: “Do you believe that, after you die, your physical body will be resurrected someday?” Fifty-four percent said they do not believe and 10 percent were undecided.”
The idea of our Lord Jesus Christ being unique scares most of humanity because if His beginning and His end was different from any other man, then surely He was and is not just Man but the unique God-Man and the only hope of heaven for every soul. This truth shatters every other form of religion and spirituality and exposes them for what they really are nothing more than man-made religions or satanic lies that has and is and will in the future lead many souls to hell. The denial of every person’s body being raised and that our Lord Jesus Christ was raised bodily from the tomb is not merely something that comes from outside the visible church, but it comes from inside many visible local churches and denominations. Retired Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong is such a man that does not believe Jesus Christ rose from the grave bodily. This man wrote the Book entitled “Resurrection: Myth or Reality” on the subject that has been read by many people no doubt. Marcus Borg is another denier of Christ bodily resurrection and he is an American New Testament scholar, theologian and author who also was a Professor of Religion and Culture at Oregon State University.

These are just two men of many men and women that have the Holy Scripture in hand and yet failed to do what Paul exhorted young Timothy when he said, 2 Timothy 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” NKJV This is so crucial in the life of every person that claims to know Jesus Christ and when one does not rightly divide The Word of Truth it can lead them and many others down a path which is the wide broad way that leads those souls to destruction/hell. The Apostle Paul affirms that one cannot even be saved unless they believe this in their hearts/inner man as he so clearly states here, Romans 10:9-10 “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” NKJV
In this Chapter 20 of John’s gospel, we find all of the Apostles perplexed and fearful after our Lord’s death. These men walked with Him for 3 ½ years but they too were unbelieving when Mary Magdalene first approached them with the news that she had seen our Lord and spoke with Him and touched Him (Luke 24:11). But then later that same day our Lord shows up in the room where they were hiding from the Jewish rulers (fearing their own death) and said to them, John 20:19 “Peace be with you” and then He showed them His hands and His side (John 20:20). I ask myself over and over how could someone have this Word from our Lord’s mouth and still deny His bodily resurrection. What further proof does one need? Well, our Lord knew the hearts of men and He would give one of the Apostles (Thomas who refused to believe the words of the others) even more concrete evidence of His bodily resurrection when He said to him, John 20:27 “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing” and Thomas was overwhelmed with awe and he was humiliated by denying and surely wept out these words, John 20:28 “My Lord and my God!” Surely Thomas did not reach his finger into the hand of a Spirit or the side of a Spirit but into the resurrected Glorified body of our Lord, Master, and Savior Jesus Christ.

Acts 1:3 “To whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” NKJV
“Death to the Christian is the funeral of all his sorrows and evils, and the resurrection, of all his joys.” James H. Aughey

“Let us consider this settled, that no one has made progress in the school of Christ who does not joyfully await the day of death and final resurrection.” John Calvin
“Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone but in every leaf of springtime.” Martin Luther

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. 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, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…                                    

 

 

Monday, May 27, 2013

Jesus Speaks to His Own from the Cross


John 19:25-27 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. NKJV
Many of us have been able to watch man’s adaptation of our Lord Jesus Christ vicious beating and His long hard walk to Golgotha bearing the cross as depicted in the movie entitled “The Passion of the Christ.” I must say that with the advancement in the movie makeup and special effects and camera work it is perhaps the closest interpretation of the real event that took place some 2,000 years ago. Yet despite all of that it still pales in comparison to the actual day itself. In our Lord’s Humanity, He was absolutely spent physically, in pain and agony much too difficult for any of us to imagine.

I believe that people like Cory Tin Boon (one of the holocaust survivors) could relate and understand our Lord’s physical pain, hunger, and exhaustion or many other beloved true believers around the world suffering physical beatings and torture because of their faith in our Lord Jesus. I just got the latest issue (June 2013) of the monthly magazine “The Voice of the Martyrs” that I am so fortunate to receive each month and I am always humbled and convicted of all of my sins of complaining of my lot in this life before my Lord Jesus when I read what happens to some of these truly beloved brothers and sisters in Christ. This issue has the story of a young girl named Susan only 13 years old at the time she heard an Evangelist preach the gospel in her school in Uganda and she turned to our Lord Jesus and was born again. Her father was so furious about her becoming a follower of Jesus Christ that he beat her regularly, but when he saw that this would not make her deny our Lord, he then locked her in a room in their mud shanty without feeding her for 6 months.
Our Lord Jesus preserved her life by moving the heart of her brother to sneak roasted banana’s under the door to her when their father would be gone. These are two people that can relate to the physical pain and anguish our Lord Jesus endured on some level, but none of us will ever relate to the spiritual struggle and wrestling our Lord endured as His perfect sinless soul was now being made into sin for all of us sinfully sick human beings. The sins committed against Cory Tin Boon and young Susan were part of humanities sin that our Lord was hanging on the cross for and He saw these two women and all the rest of us who would come to Him for our own personal spiritual cleansing and healing.

Now with all of this as a back drop and knowing that our Lord was in such agony physically and spiritually, it is such a vividly peculiar picture of where it all began with Him as He ruled and reigned from Heaven in all of its glory and splendor that He would agree to become His own creation and suffer such cruel treatment voluntarily and willingly. Sister Cory Tin Boon and young Sister Susan were not enduring their torture at the hands of sinful men voluntarily but it was surely against their wills. Knowing the Majesty, the Might, and the Monarch our Lord Jesus was in Heaven and to now see Him nailed to an old tree beaten like He was an animal it is so beyond our human hearts to understand that He was about to give His life for a creature He made that has now turned hateful and vile.
With all that our Lord was under, He thought so graciously of His Mother and the others standing beneath His cross crushed in their spirits seeing Him in this condition to show them how even at this most ugly and profane moment that He was most and more concerned with each one of them. His Mother as well as the others still had no clue that 3 days later they would see Him alive from the dead in a new Glorified body. Our Lord Jesus knew that they perceived they were seeing Him for the last time on earth and they were undoubtedly mourning in such a manner as that and He wanted them to be comforted with each other and in each other.

Our Lord though hearing the mocking and taunting from the crowd standing around was in complete and Sovereign control over the entire scene. It was by His Sovereign control that His Mother, the other women, and the Apostle John were able to be so close to His cross to hear His Words to them without any trouble from the Roman soldiers. It was He who certainly determined the very moment when He died.
Where else would you expect that any loving Mother would be but right by her son or daughter in their time of hurt, pain, and suffering and the Mother of our Lord Jesus was no different and so we see her right upfront grieving her beloved Son’s agony and sharing in His pain as her own heart is being pierced (Luke 2:35). Our Lord orchestrated this entire scene so that He could instruct John to take care of His Mother and treat her as his own Mother (Psalm 35:14 & John 19:27). Our Lord knowing the excruciating grief in the heart of His Mother as she was mourning and witnessing the death of her first born Son wanted to give her another son (John the Apostle) (John 19:26) that she would love and care for like she certainly did for our Lord. In His afflictions, He was binding up the wounds of those He loved who were being afflicted by witnessing His Passion and eventual death.

“We may justly admire the power of divine grace in supporting these women, especially the virgin Mary, under this heavy trial. We do not find his mother wringing her hands, or tearing her hair, or rending her clothes, or making an outcry; but, with a wonderful composure, standing by the cross, and her friends with her.” Matthew Henry
If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. 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, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…                                    

 

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Jesus Drank from a bitter Cup & So must His Disciples


John 18:11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?” NKJV
Imagine one of your very best friends or a close family member you have loved and trusted your entire life sleeps with your wife or husband. This is a very ugly picture but it is one that plays out in the affairs of human beings all over this earth since Cain killed his own brother Abel. It is the struggle or war between good and evil, righteousness and unrighteousness, light and darkness, Christ and the devil and it is what our Lord knew would happen to Him before He ever spoke any part of our world into being. Our Lord Jesus knew when He called the 12 disciples who His betrayer would be and how He would be betrayed (John 18:1-4). We human beings even those of us who have been redeemed by our Lord Jesus are prone to get angry, hostile, and frustrated when those that are so close to us betray our love and trust given to them. However, our Lord Jesus unlike us knew all things that were going to happen to Him during this time and He bore witness with these words, Luke 22:52-53 “Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize Me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” NKJV

It was the cup He prayed so earnestly and fervently to the Father to let pass from Him but it was not mainly the physical suffering that caused our Lord Jesus to shriek back, but it was the reality of sin in all its filth and disgust entering into Him that made His cup bitter. Our Lord also knew that separation from the Father must occur at that moment this sin was placed upon or in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). For us this was a glorious thing (although none of us knew it) but for our Lord it was bitter. Like our Lord was betrayed and treated with reproach and humiliated by the very people He loved and the very people He suffered such humiliating reproach for, so will we His disciples have our very own faith mocked, despised, and tested by some of our most loved friends and even family. Our adversary will even use our own flesh and blood family to set out to destroy or wreck our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Some things we must bear will be so gut wrenching that we will not understand how our loving Heavenly Father will even allow such things to occur. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ divides the light from the darkness and He is non-discriminatory in separating His own from those who belong to the enemy (Ephesians 5:11). No matter how much it hurts or pains our souls to find ourselves in opposite camps with our closest of earthly family (Matthew 10:34-39), we must stand firm in our Lord Jesus Christ no matter our own individual bitter cups. When we are blindsided with the occurrence of these bitter and hurtful things we must remember His Words, John 15:20-23 “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also.” NKJV (see the article, “He suffered many things; Therefore, we must suffer many things”, (http://www.faithwriters.com/article-details.php?id=92558).

I must confess and testify that I have let these words from my Lord Jesus escape from my mind/heart too often and stewed in destructive anger and bitterness over the betrayal and spiritual attacks that have come to me from the enemy through someone close to me. This was the result the enemy desired to gain. I have far too often accommodated him and plunged myself into hurtful, harmful, and hopeless despair and agony in my soul, it is always a result of me not listening to and thereby grieving the Holy Spirit. In stark contrast, our Lord took this time of hurt and betrayal as an opportunity to continue to extend an open door of reconciliation to His betrayer when He allowed Judas to carry out his signal to the soldiers by kissing Him on the cheek. Our Lord refused to act unkind and unloving even to this man who had given himself over to the evil one. Our Lord could have sent Judas to the pit of hell at that very moment (Job 4:9) and not allowed him to carry out his deceitful kiss (Proverbs 27:6) by taking his life from him because of such an act of disloyalty. This was a man chosen by our Lord to walk with Him for 3 ½ years in intimate fellowship and our Lord Jesus even gave him to be the treasurer for them all, but now he sold out our Lord Jesus for more money when he was in the presence of eternal riches untold (Psalm 41:9). Those of us who love our Lord Jesus Christ passionately desiring His Glory to be manifested in our daily lives will meet head on with our adversary and he will come to us in the form of our familiar friends and family.

Some of us will be dealt a hard hand from our Lord, but it is His Sovereign will working out all things together for our good and for bringing in His elect. Just as it takes 9 months before a baby is born into the natural world and into the human family, it may also take many years of prayer for family to be born into the Heavenly family of God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ. Likewise just as the Mother goes through excruciating pain during her often time many hours of labor, so will our Lord’s disciples endure some painful and bitter circumstances in this pilgrimage of ours as saints, but in the end some souls may pass from spiritual death to spiritual life in Jesus Christ as we remain faithful to the end knowing that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us as we faint not walking in the light of the truth of the Word of God. When our Lord Jesus sent Ananias to Saul of Tarsus, these were the words He said to Ananias, Acts 9:15-16 “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My Name’s sake.” NKJV We like to repeat the great stories of triumph we read about in the Old Testament like David and Goliath and Daniel and the lion’s den, but let us never forget the others listed for us in Hebrews Chapter 11 for this is the lot in this life that will be required of many of our Lord’s sons and daughters in every generation.
Hebrews 11:35-38 “Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented ---of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth.” NKJV

“Though poor in this world’s goods, though grieving the loss of loved ones, though suffering pain of body, though harassed by sin and Satan, though hated and persecuted by world lings, whatever be the case and lot of the Christian, it is both his privilege and duty to rejoice in the Lord.” A. W. Pink
“I have not suffered a lot for Christ, but I want to tell you that those times that I have suffered and I knew it was for Jesus, have been some of the happiest times of my entire life. I cannot tell you the indescribable joy that has come into my heart and my life.” Dr. Adrian Rogers

“Our sorrows are all, like ourselves, mortal. There are no immortal sorrows for immortal souls. They come, but blessed be God, they also go. Like birds of the air, they fly over our heads. But they cannot make their abode in our souls. We suffer today, but we shall rejoice tomorrow.” Charles Spurgeon
“A Christian is someone who shares the sufferings of God in the world.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“To choose to suffer means that there is something wrong; to choose God’s will even if it means suffering is a very different thing. No healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he chooses God’s will, as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not.” Oswald Chambers
If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. 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, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…                                

 

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Jesus Prays to the Father to Protect His Own


John 17:14-16 “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” NKJV
Our Lord now turns His heart upward and prays to the Father for Himself, His present disciples, and all of His future disciples. He is about to accomplish what He was born to do and that is die for man’s sin. Our Lord has been repeatedly reassuring these first disciples that He will return to them after His death, yet their hearts were unable to fully understand all that He spoke to them. He told them that He would leave them His peace, and that His joy would remain in them, and that He would not leave them as orphans, but would indeed return to live in them through God the Holy Spirit.

Now our Lord communes in intimate comforting prayer with the Father for perhaps the final time before His pending death. Although our Lord would later be agonizing in prayer to the point of blood dripping from His brow, He thinks of those first disciples and of us knowing the cost required for anyone to be His true disciple. Our Lord petitions the Father on our behalf to keep us protected from the evil one as we walk in the world bearing His Name a world that has rejected Him, despised Him, and hated Him. It may seem odd to some of us that our Lord had to petition the Father to protect us when He has already told these first disciples that it would be Him who would come back to them, but this is a demonstration of our Lord willingly placing Himself under the authority of the Father (1 Corinthians 11:3 & Philippians 2:6-9) though in reality He was and is equal to the Father in every aspect.
This our Lord did for the sake of the world’s sin that every one of His elect would be saved by His Blood. Our Lord knew from first-hand experience the relentless and merciless attacks that He had undergone at the hands of the evil one and He also knew how the evil one continuously requested permission from Him to sift Peter and the other disciples (as well as us today) as he did with Job long ago. Our Lord knew that the whole world still lays under the sway of the evil one and that those under his sway would hate all of His true disciples because it is our Lord Jesus who has taken us out of the world and recreated us internally making us not of this world anymore just as He is not of this world (John 17:14, 16 & 1 John 5:19). As we are able to look back upon what we know from the record in the Book of Acts, we may wrongly conclude that the Father did not do such a good job of protecting the early disciples as we see James get his head cut off by king Herod and Peter thrown into prison to receive the same death and many other beatings and imprisonments the Apostles endured for Christ sake.

However, our idea of protection from our Heavenly Father is marred by our remaining earthly, sensual, and carnal humanity because we associate protection with that of how a human body guard would protect his client from physical harm or injury. Our Father in Heaven’s protection of us is for our souls keeping us from the lies so commonly spoken by the evil one through his messengers, human and demonic (1 Timothy 4:1 & 1 John 4:1). Our Father’s protection is to keep us from becoming Apostates by buying into the prosperity gospel and by turning His grace into lasciviousness as the false godless people that have crept into the visible Church have done (Jude 1:4). We are the sheep of our Lord’s pasture sent out amongst wolves and this is why we need the protecting hand and grace of our Father in Heaven. We do not do warfare against flesh and blood but against principalities and rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12).
As Peter and Paul encountered witches, wizards, and sorcerers along their journeys so will we disciples today and those of every generation, but our weapons are not from ourselves but in God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:15). Our Heavenly Father has the evil one on His leash and he (the evil one) can go nowhere without our Heavenly Father letting the leash out or yanking it in. We should be comforted by what the Apostle Peter learned (and wrote about it) after his grievous sin of denying our Lord Jesus Christ he wrote from his heart and from his personal experience as he was led by God the Holy Spirit (1 Peter 1:3-9 & 1 Peter 4:12-14). We can rest that our Lord’s prayer is heard and being carried out by our Father in Heaven through God the Holy Spirit even when things don’t make sense to us we can know we are protected every moment of our sojourn from the evil one.

Psalms 121:7 The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. NKJV
Romans 12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. NKJV

Galatians 1:4 “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father” NKJV
2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. NKJV

1 John 4:4-6 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. NKJV
1 John 5:18 We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. NKJV

Revelation 3:10 “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” NKJV
“Those that receive Christ’s good will and good word must expect the world’s ill will and ill word. Gospel ministers have been in a particular manner hated by the world, because they call men out of the world, and separate them from it, and teach them not to conform to it, and so condemn the world.” Matthew Henry

“Put very simply, satans power in the world is everywhere. Yet wherever men and women walk in the Spirit, sensitive to the anointing they have from God, that power of his just evaporates. There is a line drawn by God, a boundary where by virtue of His own very presence satan’s writ does not run. Let God but occupy all the space Himself, and what room is left for the evil one?” Watchman Nee
“I would not utter what I believed to be a falsehood concerning the Lord, even though the evil one offered me the bait of saving all mankind thereby.” Charles Spurgeon

“We must recognize how the evil one is working in this world and take a firm stance against him. It means we take careful thought concerning what we put in our minds - what we listen to, what we watch, and how we use our time.” Chip Ingram
If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. 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, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…                                    

 

 

Friday, May 24, 2013

Jesus Sends the Helper


John 16:5-15
We saw how our Lord began to comfort, strengthen, and prepare these first disciples for His impending death on the cross at the hands of sinners by revealing to them that He would leave them His peace for comfort and His joy for strength. But now He tells them and us that the Heavenly Helper will be sent by Him to lead us (Romans 8:14) through the many pitfalls of the remainder of our lives down here as pilgrims and aliens. All of us that know and love our Lord Jesus Christ and desire to live a godly life down here on this earth as His redeemed son or daughter will be persecuted because our life serves as a witness and testimony against those who are still living according to the course of this world being led not by the Spirit of God, but by the prince of the power of the air fulfilling the lust of the flesh, the desires of the flesh, and the desires of the mind and are consequently under the wrath of God.

Our Lord wanted to reassure these early disciples that He in reality was never going away from them leaving them alone to deal with the hatred, hostility, and horror of an entire world bent against Him and these men who followed Him. They needed to know that He would be with them every moment of every day even if they were not able to fully understand it at the present moment. They had been eye witnesses of the many times the Jews would take up stones to kill our Lord because of some truth He spoke that was considered by them to be blasphemous. The disciples could not imagine walking in this world teaching and preaching the gospel without the presence of our Lord right there in the midst of them. It made them extremely afraid and sorrowful to consider this as a reality (John 16:6).
Our Lord Jesus had already told them earlier that the Helper (God the Holy Spirit) would not only be sent to them but that He would live in them (John 14:16-18), but their minds could not grasp it or lay hold of it to full understanding. One of the disciples even expressed what was certainly on the minds of them all when he asked, John 14:22 “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” NKJV They did not understand what would take place on the day of Pentecost (and our Lord never told them exactly how God the Holy Spirit would come to them), but they were eager to learn and this is the heart attitude our Lord desires from all of His disciples. Our Lord wanted them to know that it was the best thing for them that He would be going away from them as He was then confined in His earthly tent, flesh, or body (John 16:7) because He would then send the Helper to come to each one of them to live His life in them in the face of harsh and cruel opposition to His Name/Nature.

The world then and now hates our Lord Jesus not because He is cruel to the world (He loves the world), but simply because He testifies to the world of its evil and all who still love darkness and sin do not want His truth/light to shine amongst their dark sin and expose it in all of its ugliness. The Spirit of God is sent to the world to continue this work of our Lord Jesus of exposing sin and He will convict this world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8-11). We have said it many times in the past and we will continue repeating it and that is that every person born into this world is a sinner. Most human beings do not consider themselves to be sinners and in their own minds believe themselves to be good people. It is the work of God the Holy Spirit to smash that false belief similarly to when the Prophet Jeremiah speaking to the people of Israel in the power of the Holy Spirit said, Jeremiah 23:29 “Is not My word like a fire?” says the LORD, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” NKJV It is the Spirit of God that always uses the Word of God to bring conviction of sin into the heart of sinners and then regenerating that dead in trespasses and sins heart making it alive to God the Father through what our Lord Jesus did on the cross.
Every human being is born separated from God by the virtue of the wall of sin that stands between them and a pure, holy, and righteous God. Therefore, we human beings need a foreign righteousness that we ourselves do not have and only God the Holy Spirit can convince the sinner of this truth. As we said earlier the prince of the power of the air (the devil), who is the ruler of this world systems philosophy and thinking rules those still in their sin, but our Lord Jesus Christ has defeated him on the cross and taken away the keys of death from him and made reservations for him and all of the fallen angels in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:10). It is the Spirit of God that must convince the sinner that only a place in eternal torments awaits those who follow after satan and sin and reject or resist what Jesus Christ has done on the cross at Calvary.

For the first disciples and for all disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ the Helper has come to us to guide and direct us into all truth as it is He who illuminates the Word of God to each one of us (1 John 2:20-21 & 27) enlightening us and enabling us to live out our lives to the Glory of our Father in Heaven. When we don’t know what or how we should pray to our Father in Heaven it is the Helper (Romans 8:26-27) who breaks in for us bringing words into our hearts and minds that we would never have thought to say and He helps us to hide the Word of God in our hearts to keep us from sins defiling work in our daily lives. It is our Helper that unwraps or opens as it were all of the barriers in our hearts that keep us from seeing all that our Lord Jesus is to us and all that we have in Him now and for all eternity (John 16:12-15). As the Apostle Paul wrote, 1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. NKJV

“A mighty fortress is our God, A bulwark never failing, Our Helper He amid the flood Of mortal ills prevailing.” Martin Luther
“It is impossible for that man to despair who remembers that his Helper is omnipotent.” Jeremy Taylor 1613-1667

“The power of the Holy Spirit is completely opposite to the world’s power. The power of the Holy Spirit gives God’s children the ability to serve His purpose for our lives. The Holy Spirit’s power is unlike any other in the world. Only the power of the Holy Spirit can transform us, relieve our guilt, and heal our souls.” Dr. Michael Youssef
“If the faith whereby I have laid hold on Christ to be my Savior be altogether wrought in me by the Holy Ghost through grace, then I defy the devil to take away that which he never gave me or to crush that which Jehovah Himself created in me. I defy my free will to fling what it never brought to me. What God has given, created, introduced, and established in the heart, He will maintain there.” “A man is not saved against his will, but he is made willing by the operation of the Holy Ghost. A mighty grace which he does not wish to resist enters into the man, disarms him, makes a new creature of him, and he is saved.” Charles Spurgeon

“True faith, by a mighty effort of the will, fixes its gaze on our Divine Helper, and there finds it possible and wise to lose its fears. It is madness to say, ‘I will not be afraid;’ it is wisdom and peace to say, ‘I will trust and not be afraid.’” Alexander MacLaren
If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. 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, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reader, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…