Blessed to Be a Blessing
God's University
Planet earth is God's university for mankind. Each person is given the same university course. That course could be called Growing Up into the Fullness of Christ. Depending on how well you pass your tests in the course, conforming to the image of Christ, determines the level of your success in this earth realm and the rewards you will receive in heaven. You see, the more of Christ's deity is manifested through you, the greater success you will experience in this earth life and the greater your rewards will be upon entering heaven. It's Christ in you, the Hope of Glory!
It is most important to God that you graduate from His university as a mature Christian with honors. It is His divine purpose for you on earth to grow up into the fullness of Jesus Christ, a manifested son of God. Second in importance to God is your vocational or ministry calling. However, putting God first place in your life and endeavoring to grow up into the fullness of Christ qualifies you to become a money magnet as you learn and apply God's economic system of sowing and reaping.
Deuteronomy 8:18 explains God's purpose for you to have the power to get wealth. It is to establish His covenant in the earth, resulting in the salvation of souls and having your own needs and wants fulfilled.
How do you enter God's university? You enter God's university the moment you are born on earth. As His university student, you are automatically enrolled in His course designed to help you grow up into the fullness of Christ. To graduate, you must pass His curriculum tests.
Tests are a part of life and without them you can never grow up spiritually. Jesus Christ had to pass tests. Before He began His ministry to preach the gospel, God the Father allowed Satan to tempt Jesus in the wilderness. Jesus passed His tests, overcoming all of the Satan's temptations. If Satan tempted Jesus, he will tempt you. Therefore, you must trust in God's grace to help you pass your tests if you are to graduate.
But you might ask, "What about those people that have never heard the gospel? How can they ever graduate?" God says in Romans 1:20 that all have an opportunity to believe God because nature declares the glory of God. Romans 2:15 declares God's law is written in the heart of man. If a person follows the "moral compass" of his or her heart, then he or she will be saved. If they refuse to walk uprightly before God, they will be eternally damned.
Though God is just and must punish sin, He is merciful and fair, "not willing that anyone should perish" according to 2 Peter 3:9. God tells us in Deuteronomy 4:29 if we seek God we will find Him if we seek Him with all our heart and soul. Therefore, no one is exempt from seeking and obeying God. Everyone, whether they hear the gospel or not, has an opportunity to seek and know God, to graduate to maturity.
The Fire of God
What is the most important thing you should do once you discover you must pass God's curriculum tests to fulfill your purpose on earth to grow up into the fullness of Christ? Hunger, thirst, pray, fast, strive, do whatever the Lord leads you to do to be baptized in the fire of God. Why the fire? The fire of God burns out the fear, the timidity, the sin, the selfishness, the apathy and anything else that would hinder you from walking in the power, love and perfect will of God.
Yes, you should get plugged into a local church. Yes, you should be baptized in water. Yes, you should have a daily prayer time with God. Yes, you should daily read and study God's Word. Yes, you should be a witness for Christ. But most important, be baptized in the fire, power and love of God. John the Baptist put it like this, "He (Jesus) shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire" (Matthew 3:11b).
You want to please God? Want to do great exploits for the King of Kings? You want to be an effective soul winner for Jesus? You want abundance and no lack? You want to grow up into the fullness of Christ and graduate with honors? Get the Fire!
"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29).
"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing" (2 Timothy 4:7-8).
Like information on how to receive the fire of God? Click The Fire.
Like information on God's economic plan of sowing and reaping? Click Sowing and Reaping.
This article may be reprinted or used freely, but it must be in its entirety including the author's name: Philip C Jones.
Enjoy this video on how you were set free from the law of sin and death that produces poverty, sickness and death.
Watch this video on how to meditate God's word to release your faith in God's promises to see your dreams become reality.
The Book that Has Changed the Lives of Millions
Prison to Praise by Merlin Carothers. This book has changed the lives of millions including Pat Boone and Gloria Swanson. So changed by this book and desiring others to read this book, Gloria Swanson bought several copies of this book and stood on a street corner and gave them out for free! Click below to see and purchase this extraordinary book inspired by the Lord.
Want Mountain Moving Faith?
The Lord gave the following words to a Christian to speak out loud. The Lord encouraged the Christian to declare these words often until they became a reality in his heart. And of course the more time you spend declaring these powerful words,the quicker the results.
"There is no lack of faith with me. If I were to come to the end of my faith, then the Father gives me the very faith of Christ and it is impossible for me not to believe."
Testimonies to Spark Your Desire for the Fire
Rodney Howard-Browne
(Born: 1961)
Started 3 Revivals
Rodney Howard Browne “I cried out to God in sheer desperation. I wanted Him to manifest Himself to me and in me. I was hungry. As I prayed that day, I told the Lord, 'Either you come down here and touch me, or I am going to come up there and touch you.' I was desperate. I must have called out to God for about twenty minutes that day." Then one day "Suddenly the fire of God fell on me. It started on my head and went right down to my feet. His power burned in my body and stayed like that for three whole days.”
Smith Wigglesworth (1859-1947)
Raised at Least 14 People from the Dead
"Two stirring spiritual experiences changed him and his ministry forever: (1) In 1893 while attending one of the famous "higher life" conferences at the resort town of Keswick, the equivalent of an American camp meeting, he testified to being sanctified or baptized in the Spirit, as taught by the Keswick preachers. (2) A greater turning point in his life occured in 1907. He heard that people were receiving the Holy Spirit at Sunderland and decided to go and see for himself. Convinced that he had already gotten the Pentecostal Baptism, he grew discouraged while attending the services at All Saints' (Anglican) Church. Though "slain in the Spirit" several times, his spiritual hunger became even more intense.
"Finally, after 4 days of seeking to speak in tongues, he decided to head home but first stopped by the vicarage to say good-bye. Mary Boddy, the vicar's wife, said, "Brother Wigglesworth, it is not the tongues you need but the Baptism. If you will allow God to baptize you, the other will be all right." Although protesting that he had previously been baptized, he asked her to lay hands on him and pray that he would receive. After she did so and unexpectedly left the room, "the fire fell," he recalled. "The joy was so great that when I came to utter it my tongue failed, and I began to worship God in other tongues as the Spirit gave me utterance."
Charles G. Finney (1792-1875)
Started Second Great Awakening and Father of Modern Revivalism
“I returned to the front office, and found that the fire that I had made of large wood was nearly burned out. But as I turned and was about to take a seat by the fire, I received a mighty baptism with the Holy Ghost. Without any expectation of it, without ever having the thought in my mind that there was any such thing for me, without any recollection that I had ever heard the thing mentioned by any person in the world, the Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed to go through me, body and soul. I could feel the impression like a wave of electricity going through and through me. Indeed, it seemed to come in waves and waves of liquid love. It seemed like the very breath of God.
"No words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart. I wept aloud with joy and love; and I do not know but I should say I literally bellowed out the unutterable gushings of my heart. These waves came over me and over me and over me, until I cried out: ‘I shall die if these waves continue to pass over me. Lord, I can not bear any more!”
Key that Unlocks God's Power
Death to Self by Guillermo Maldonado will help you understand the importance of dying to self to walk in God's power and glory to fulfill your destiny.
"It is of no surprise to anyone that we live in wicked times in which the worth of human life has been lost, where moral integrity has crumbled, and where innocence is trampled in a seemingly cultural way. We live in times where the innocence of children is no longer protected, the moral integrity of our adolescents is not defended, and social responsibility of adults is not expected. What is bad we call “good,” and what is good we call “bad.”
"We live in an era in which Christianity is persecuted more each day. We have gone from religious freedom and tolerance to a time of open persecution and aggression towards anyone who confesses Christ as the Lord of his or her life. All Christian values today are being questioned and rejected by a society that only seeks not to hear that its conduct is displeasing to God. This generation only wants to hear what aligns with its carnal, selfish, and egocentric desires. It lives for instant gratification of “self” and refuses to accept limitations or restrictions.
"This is the reason why homosexuality is the right of each individual to decide how he or she chooses to live; why abortion is the right of women to choose what happens to their bodies; why divorce is the right to seek personal happiness; why the love of money is the right of every individual to achieve great accomplishments and to have anything that is desired; why false doctrines in the Church are the result of the right each individual has to interpret the Word of God according personal benefit. We live in a time in which the slogan: “If it is good for you, and it feels good, do it” is practiced regardless of the harm it might cause, the destruction it might leave in its path, or the inheritance of curses it might leave behind. The most important consideration is: “Feeling good.”"
Other Books on Walking in God's Supernatural Power
Walking in the Supernatural Power of God by Guillermo Maldonado. "The supernatural power and authority of God are available for today's believers—just as they were during ancient biblical times—for healings, miracles, and deliverances.
To help you grasp the full revelation of God's supernatural power, Apostle Maldonado shares biblically based insights and tremendous testimonies to show you how to:
Experience God's anointing to be more effective in ministry
Understand and operate in the supernatural
Minister healing to the sick
Hear the voice of God
Protect yourself from deception
Develop a faith for the miraculous"
Supernatural Transformation by Guillermo Maldonado. "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life." -Proverbs 4:20-23 The central organ of the human body is the heart. It circulates the blood throughout the whole bodily system, pumping oxygen and nutrients to the other organs and pulling toxins away from them. Yet we human beings have another "heart"-a spiritual one-that is the true center of our existence. Our spiritual heart is our identity. It is the foundation of our whole being, from which our desires, designs, purposes, will, thoughts, and attitudes originate. Yet, as a result of the fall and our sinful nature, we all have symptoms of "heart disease," and we need to know how to become spiritually heart-healthy.
As the Scriptures say, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). Every spiritual, mental, and emotional matter-and many physical ones-is rooted in the heart. The state of our spiritual heart affects all aspects of our daily living. Therefore, the condition of our heart will be the condition of our life. Join Apostle Maldonado in a journey of discovery into the purpose, motivations, and potential of our spiritual heart. God wants us to understand how, in Christ, our heart is designed to "pump" life to our entire being-producing mental, emotional, and physical health and removing the toxins of sin. We were created to reflect the heart of our heavenly Father. And God is ready even now to change our heart to be like His through a supernatural transformation!
The Kingdom of Power by Guillermo Maldonado.
"Apostle Guillermo Maldonado is a man called to bring God's supernatural power to this generation at the local and international levels. Active in ministry for over twenty years, he is the founder of Ministerio Internacional El Rey Jesus (King Jesus International Ministry)–one of the fastest–growing multicultural churches in the United States–which has been recognized for its development of kingdom leaders and for visible manifestations of God's supernatural power.
"Having earned a master's degree in practical theology from Oral Roberts University and a doctorate in divinity from Vision International University, Apostle Maldonado stands firm and focused on the vision God has given him to evangelize, affirm, disciple, and send. His mission is to teach, train, equip, and send leaders and believers to bring the supernatural power of God to their communities, in order to leave a legacy of blessings for future generations. This mission is worldwide. Apostle Maldonado is a spiritual father to more than 100 pastors and apostles of local and international churches as part of a growing association, the New Wine Apostolic Network, which he founded.
"Apostle Maldonado has authored many books and manuals, a number of which have been translated into several languages. His last book with Whitaker House was How to Walk in the Supernatural Power of God (Como Caminar en el Poder Sobrenatural de Dios). In addition, he preaches the message of Jesus Christ and His redemptive power on his international television program, Tiempo de Cambio (Time for Change), which airs on several networks, thus reaching millions worldwide."
Eternity Invading Time by Renny McLean. "In the Old Testament, God's people saw Him in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. In the New Testament, the religious world thought they had God in a box behind the veil. When Jesus died, the veil was rent and God went public.In an ever changing world where the darkness prides itself by proclaiming they have psychic insights for every person, the church has become anemic, without as much as a sign, a miracle or a wonder.Where do we go from here? Faith is at a level the church has never known before. It is a faith being seen in the "here and now". We must understand what Jesus meant when He said, "I only do what I hear and what I see My Father do and say."You are about to enter that eternal zone, where time is losing its grip on the earth. Eternity is Invading Time."
The Rest
Ever try to succeed at a number things, but fail at most of them? That was my testimony. I mean the success just wasn't there no matter how hard I tried. Ever try selling life insurance door to door? I did. Talk about failure. Talk about pathetic. How I mustered up the courage to go door to door selling life insurance to total strangers is hard to believe. However, there was one thing I did have going for me, persistence. That persistence paid off because eventually I discovered the key to unlocking an unlimited source of wisdom, power, and ability to fulfill God's purpose for my life and to succeed in every thing I do. I will share with you my discovery.
One day my friend in college came up to me at the outside eating area of the school's cafeteria and asked me if I would like to go to a bible study. From one to ten, my desire to go to a bible study was probably close to zero. I didn't go to the bible study. A few years later another Christian friend didn't ask me to go to a bible study, but instead he walked up to me and showed me his bible and told me that was the way to go. When he said that, it was like a light went on inside me and I knew what he said was true.
Some time later I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Correction. At the time I received Him as my Savior, but not my Lord. Making Him my Lord, surrendering to His will, would come later. Anyway, I started reading the bible on a daily basis and developed a prayer life. One afternoon while I was waiting for a bus, a sweet old lady named Betty invited me to her church. I went to the church, became a member and started sharing the gospel with people.
Eventually I started listening to Christian television ministers teaching on how to live by faith and not by sight. I learned the importance of reprogramming your mind with the Word of God. The unrenewed mind can have destructive thought patterns based on past knowledge and experiences that are contrary to the Word of God. We must renew our minds with God's Word to set our minds free from the slavery of wrong thinking. Using the power of God's Word, you tear down destructive mental strongholds of unbelief, selfishness, unforgiveness, lust, poverty, inferiority and any other crippling, oppressive stronghold.
Then it happened. While reading and listening to God's Word I discovered the key that unlocks God's unlimited wisdom, power and ability to succeed. What is the key? The key is to enter into Christ's rest. A rest where you cease from your own carnal works and allow the Creator of the Universe, Jesus Christ, to live through you unhindered by the flesh to do His works of righteousness. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).
How do you enter that rest to allow Christ's provisional grace to flow through you to be successful in everything you do? By faith. What is faith? Faith is putting your trust in what God has promised you. He promised you His rest in Hebrews 4:9-11. "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief" (Hebrews 4:9-11).
If God said He has given you rest, which He has, then you need to get that truth down into your heart by meditating on it. When I say heart, I don't mean the muscle in your chest that pumps blood. I mean that part of you that trusts God. Once that truth gets into your heart, your home free. You've entered His rest. To get you started, I have created for you below a scripture-based declaration you can meditate (think on, dwell on and speak and declare) until that truth gets into your heart and becomes a reality.
"By faith I have put on the light and easy yoke of Christ and I have ceased from my own works and entered into His rest. In that rest, His wisdom, power, ability and love flow through me unhindered by the flesh and things that were difficult or impossible have become easy. Therefore I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens, enables and empowers me to succeed in every area of my life." Matthew 11:28-30, Hebrews 4:9-11, Philippians 4:13.
So meditate (think on, dwell on and speak and declare) the above scripture-based declaration until you experience the glorious rest God has promised you in Christ. The more time you spend meditating on this scripture-based declaration, the quicker the results. Just be patient and the results will be forthcoming. Enter His rest and experience Christ's life flowing through you to catapult you to success in every area of your life. He lives in you and His spirit is one with your spirit. "But he that is joined unto Lord is one spirit"(1 Corinthians 6:17).
Christ's wisdom, power, ability and love flowing through you unhindered by the flesh will take you to levels of success and joy beyond your wildest dreams. Enter and enjoy His rest.
This article may be reprinted or used freely, but it must be in its entirety including the author's name: Philip C Jones.
You'll Need Faith to Enter His Rest
Books on How to Develop and Use Your Faith
The Tongue, A Creative Force by Charles Capps will reveal to you the importance of the words you speak. It makes clear what should be coming out of your mouth for you to live the victorious life God has destined for you. I gave this book to my Christian dentist and he emailed me back and shared how much he appreciated this book. It is a classic.
Faith and Confession by Charles Capps reveals how to activate your faith through confession of God's Word in your life. "Confessing what God said in His Word out of a heart full of faith will bring God's supernatural intervention. The balance of faith and confession working together is essential for living the abundant life that God has promised." Yes, releasing your faith in God's Word concerning His rest is essential for entering that glorious rest.
Framing Your World with the Word of God by Dr. Leroy Thompson Sr.. "In this empowering book on the influence of the spoken Word, Dr. Leroy Thompson Sr. shares that the A B C's of Scripture are to "think, believe, and say", and that we must do them in that order to receive potent results. Giving Scripture memory a new meaning, Framing Your World With the Word of God will encourage readers to speak the Word of God in faith as they believe it in their hearts. The result? Readers will witness the power of God's promises through His Word to change their circumstances and shape their world!"
Doubtless: Faith That Overcomes the World by Jennifer LeClaire. "Stop doubt in its tracks and build faith that overcomes the world with practical teachings that wil give you a new perspective on how to walk out God's Word."
Exceedingly Growing Faith by Kenneth E. Hagin gives you revelation knowledge teaching on how to develop and use the God kind of faith.
Faith Extenders by John Avanzini. This kit includes (5) books and (3) audio cassette tapes. The books titles are: Faith Extenders- Everyday Ways to Increase Your Faith, What Jesus Taught About Manifesting Abundance, Paul's Thorn, Money Talks, and The Defeated Foe. The three audio cassette tapes are: Faith In God & Faith Of God, Manifesting Super Abundance, and The Financial Statement of Jesus. All of the items are pre-packaged in a plastic case.
Book on Destroying Mental Roadblocks to His Rest
Winning the Battle in Your Mind Joyce Meyer
Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer. "Worry, doubt, confusion, depression, anger and feelings of condemnation: all these are attacks on the mind. If readers suffer from negative thoughts, they can take heart! Joyce Meyer has helped millions win these all-important battles. In her most popular bestseller ever, the beloved author and minister shows readers how to change their lives by changing their minds."
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