‭The Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection is what we acknowledge before receiving the new birth experience. We become Christians based on the fact Jesus died for our sins, and was raised from the dead for our justification, (to be right with God). As we are united with Him in a death like His we become united with Him in a resurrection like his. Our dying is to our flesh (our body’s appetites). The unruly emotions, and inordinate desires must be kept under control. In order to keep this fallen demonic behavior under control in our lives we must die to self. The life we now live, we live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us (Galatians 2:20). Our resurrection is having been dead to God spiritually, and then being raised to a new creature in Christ Jesus (during this process of changing you spiritually, you may not feel anything). This puts us in right standing with God, positioned for heaven after our physical death. The life we should be living now after our rebirth should be a life of faith. It’s a whole new way of thinking and behaving in general. Our intentions our motives, and our thought processing should all be influenced by the word of God. We must learn how to live this new life. The enemy will fight us on this until we give up, so never give up! You can do all things through Christ (Philippians 4:13), so draw on His strength and be sensitive to His ability working in your life. We have been raised to a whole new level in life, if we act on what’s been given.

Approaching God with confidence is a sign to the Lord you are sure He’s there and listening, and will help you. The Lord loves when His children come to Him for mercy and grace, which shows the faith of that person in believing God will answer. God will move on the behalf of a faith believing person to give them what they need. Your tears will be collected, (Psalms 56:8) but will not cause God to move on your behalf, only faith moves the hand of God on planet earth. There is grace to help in times of need, but come boldly before God like you have the legal right, because you do once you’re a Christian. God is always looking for His faith believing children that trust Him, and simply take Him at His word. Once He has spoken, all things must line up to His command. Becoming familiar with God’s word positions us for the right now blessing. We become more bold about the things of God, and God Himself, especially after our hearts become full of the teachings and precepts of the Lord. Our behavior must be the living proof of our convictions and demonstrate the character and integrity of the Lord in our everyday lives. Once we’ve reached a maturity that’s pleasing to the Lord, we will instinctively come boldly to the throne of God expecting to receive mercy and grace to help in our time of need. Your fellowship with the Lord over time, will cause a tighter relationship with you and God, which He greatly desires.

‭Jesus washed the feet of His disciples in an attempt to set an example for us to follow. The physical act of washing another’s feet is a sure sign of humility, which without you can never enter the Kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3-4). Back in the day when Jesus washed the disciple’s feet, all roads were dirty, dusty and full of dirty feet. Walking was the basic option getting around back then. It was a great example because the greatest among them was showing such humility towards them. The Lord expects this same kindness from us towards others. We may not wash another’s feet these days, but keeping our pride levels way down low assures our increased humility levels to go up. The meek shall inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5), by living above the evil in it (John 17:15). Meekness lays on the bed of love in our new recreated human spirits, from which humility is present in seed form, but needs to be cultivated in our lives. The love of God was shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit at the time we got saved, ( Romans 5:5). So the fruit of our new recreated human spirits has such potential Godly qualities that need to grow. The message today is about climbing down off your high horse and becoming like a child again. The innocence of a child was restored to us when Jesus entered into our hearts. It is vitally important to allow that child in you to grow with all humility leading the way.

It may have been better that you were never born if during the course of your life you betrayed the Son of Man, who is Jesus Christ. To betray the Son of Man is to show the world and God, you don’t want Him in your life. It is impossible for those who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, knowing the goodness of the word of God, to be brought back to repentance (Hebrews 6:4-6) It is only our actions that can speak louder than our words or intentions. God is a God of the heart and He makes heart connections. Out of the abundance of our hearts our mouth will leak, or rather, speak (Luke 6:45). Judas betrayed Jesus and he was one of the twelve disciples. His fate in betraying Jesus was to go and hang himself, and he did. Judas realized after the fact that he made the biggest mistake of his life, and he couldn’t take it back. You may not physically go and hang yourself because you have been so deceived over the years not to believe in this religious God stuff. Our relationship with God is a personal one. We can’t get to heaven because Grandma was a Christian, but we all must receive Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives to win the true prize of the Zoe life of God (The God kind of eternal life). The text today was Jesus speaking in a third party way talking about Himself to His disciples. Woe to the man or woman who betrays the Son of Man.

‭‭Whatever we ask for in prayer, believing we received it right then, the second after saying amen, it is ours. Now the waiting game begins. During the waiting part of receiving into this natural realm the manifested answer, our thought life must be under control. If you have not yet renewed your mind with the word of God, you won’t know the lingo in how to keep your confession of faith positive. Through faith and patience we obtain the promises of God. Renewing our minds with the words of God will help us understand how to, and the importance of waiting on God for answered prayer. Our belief system (our faith) must be at an optimal level to get anything from the Lord. The fact of us asking someone we’ve never seen or met face to face means, we trust without seeing or touching or hearing with natural ears. Faith is faith, and our 5 senses are our 5 senses. Two completely different operating platforms for two completely different geographical areas. Our 5 senses are designed for earth, in our natural everyday functioning. Faith connects this natural realm and way of living to the supernatural realm where God, His Angels, and the devil are visible and reside. We can use our faith for this natural realm by pulling into existence that which we need for our God given purpose and destiny here and now. Whatever you ask for in prayer, as long as you believe you received it the moment after you’ve prayed, it is yours. Now wait patiently, and thank God as if you’ve already got it.

Jesus said, you will always have the poor with you but you will not always have me. Taking advantage of Jesus by gleaning all the disciples could from Him when He was physically with them was the point Jesus was making. He would die and go on to be with the Father in heaven, but the poor will always be here. Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life, no man goes to heaven except through Him. Because Jesus holds the keys of death and hell, we have those keys at our disposal, since we are the body of Christ. The keys represent authority over all demonic activity. We are all poor until we inject ourselves with the knowledge of the word of God unto all understanding and revelation of the Lord of Host. The Lord of Host means, the God of battles. We are equipped in the army of the Lord to fight the good fight of faith. Going on the offensive in the battle means you are far from being poor. Being poor is to let the enemy walk all over you. Why would you allow your enemy any advantage over you. We have the keys of death and hell, use them to unlock that door of your deliverance. Command peace, command order, command your situation to turn around, use the keys and unlock the victory that lies just behind that smokescreen of trouble where the door to freedom can be unlocked. Sometimes the poor are well off rich millionaires, but they are so lacking in character and integrity which makes them poor. In our hearts we will always have Jesus with us. The poor in material things and basic needs are here for us to help them too. When we lend to the poor we are lending to the Lord (Proverbs 19:17). We will always have the poor with us, both types.

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed are we when we come in the name of the Lord. Going forth in the name of the Lord is going forth with God’s stamp of approval. In that stamp of approval is the power to witness, strength to proceed, and direction to overcome. People are impacted through our faith in the name of Jesus. Once we have the revelation of the fullness of the Godhead residing in the name of Jesus (Colossians 2:9), we become more than conquerors through Christ Jesus. They took palm branches and went towards Jesus shouting, Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. They were all gung ho about Jesus being the One who came in the name of the Lord (in the name of Father God). But a few days later, some of the same ones shouting Hosanna blessed be the name, were shouting crucify Him. One thing in life we all must grasp is being constant and faithful to our God given convictions. Stay with your gut feeling concerning anything in life, it is our guiding light from above directing us from within. If you are luke warm I will spit you out of my mouth, is what God says about our indecisiveness and lack of stability in our decisions (Revelation 3:16). Know for yourself the importance of your decisions and beliefs. Conforming to God’s word in thought, purpose, and action will take care of all indecisiveness. Going forth in life understanding and trusting in the name of Jesus becomes a way of life through experiencing one day at a time, the truth, and power that’s in the name of Jesus.

There was a saying when I toured with The Isley Brothers. I was told concerning certain issues or major problems we’d have just being a part of this legendary band was to, lay dead and get ahead. Being with this band was a stepping stone of experience on to other things. But I had to go through the process of learning the animal of touring with a high profile band. Yes, it was exciting and wonderful and stressful and sometimes very grueling just to keep up with all the travelling and lack of rest. We had to still smile while signing autographs and be polite. This necessary, and constant demeanor was vital for the fans to continue following the band. Even a wild animal looking for prey knows to remain silent when stalking, and about to pounce on their potential meal. Many times if we as Christians would simply wait in silence before the manifestation of our help from God comes, we would receive more from the Lord. Through faith and patience we obtain the promises of God (Hebrews 6:12). As we wait on God there will be many adversaries assigned to get us out of faith believing God, and into our emotions that are unruly and the opposite of faith. Relief and deliverance will arise from another place. God’s thoughts are higher than ours, and His ways of delivering us is His concern AND HIS ALONE! Reading into how we think we’ll be delivered or saved, trying to help God out, is the worst thing we can do, totally taking us out of faith and into fear. If you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise from another place. Trust God.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God. Faith is believing without seeing. When we hope for something, our faith causes manifestation of what we’re hoping for, it is the evidence of things not seen with our physical eyes. We are all products of what we’ve heard in our lives. Since faith comes by hearing, what we listen to can be either good faith, or bad faith. When a child hears all his or her life, “You’ll never amount to anything in life, you’re just like your father, or nagging mother”. These words along with other negative verbage we hear can affect us in a detrimental way. The message that brings positive life forces to our doorstep is the message of the Gospel. The words of God are all positive life giving words that have the power to change circumstances and bad situations. We speak out the rightly divided word of God from the scriptures for our particular issues. Saying with your mouth out loud that which you truly believe in your heart, will bring things from the spiritual realm into this natural one (good or bad). Everything from God is received by faith, we simply trust the Lord to work things out on our behalf, and we wait for the promise. Guard your ears, some things are best left unheard of.

When someone asks you about your faith, your religious beliefs, are you uncomfortable? Do you immediately change the subject or get embarrassed about the subject of God. If you become uncomfortable and even shrink from the idea of having to verbalize your faith, your spiritual beliefs, then it’s a great indication that your God WiFi meter is registering a very low frequency for witnessing to others. Once we have the password for God’s WiFi service, which is the name of Jesus, we can connect to all levels of execution for participation in the great commission. We as Christians have been commissioned to go into all the world and preach, and teach the gospel. When we are not prepared to acknowledge, and defend the Lord at a moment’s notice, it is vital that we spend more quality time with Him. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17). Boldness to witness comes by faith, and faith comes by hearing and meditating, and hearing and meditating over and over again the living word of God. Anyone asking about God more than likely is looking for hope in this world. Give that reason for hope that you’ve experienced and therein completes the cycle of spreading the good news, fulfilling the great commission given to every christian. Now that you know what to do, go forth in gentleness and respect to those you’re winning over for the Lord.