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…