Post 7 Promise of Assurance

Post 7 Promise of Assurance

Romans 8:38-39 NLT

38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8: 38-39 NKJV

38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord

Some people preach that "Once saved always saved" is heresy and a false teaching. I would love to question those people about this verse. The scripture says neither our fears for today or worries about tomorrow can keep us from the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. No Satan, no  created thing, no power, no prince of the air can keep us from the Love of God.

I read a so called Christian book about hell and how Christians were suffering there and it deeply disturbed me for many years. It wasn't until the last six months when I had nine visits to Heaven to see my mansion up there, that I was finally convinced that I was going to go to Heaven. Stuck in an addictive sin, I could not seem to break, I thought Jesus blood could not cover my sin and I would go to hell if I never conquered this sin in my life. I was so tormented by my sin, my lack of ability to break out of the sin and the belief that I would not make it to  Heaven. I am having some success with this sin now, but I can still say I am not totally free of it as of writing.

It is important for us to have assurance of our future in Heaven. It is important to know that God will not let anything get in the way of His love for you. This verse shares that nothing can separate us from the love of God. As I was conquering my fear of going to hell, after I visited my mansion nine times, I read this verse and it bought me great peace.

Do you suffer from the thoughts that you could do something so bad that it would stop God from loving you anymore? Do you suffer with thoughts that if you don't get on top of any sin in your life that you won't make it to Heaven? Do you live in fear? This verse promises that God will always be with us despite what religious spirits and all the demons of hell say that says otherwise.

A verse we all know very well has assurance in it.

John 3:16 NLT

16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

If your believe in Jesus and have given your life to Him, you will not die and perish in flames, but you will live eternally with God and His Son Jesus in Heaven.

I love Jesus so much. Does sin that I have not been able to fully conquer in my life stop me from going to Heaven? I don't think that is true. The sin in my life vexes me and its only Jesus' blood that can cleanse me and His grace that can help me overcome it. I have tried on my own and have not been able to succeed and like other sins that have been lifted off my life that were really bad, I too have to rest in the grace of Jesus and cling to Him for breakthrough.

I have to say that whilst I have battled with this in my life, my relationship with Jesus and the Father have been getting stronger and stronger. It is taking less time after I sin to run back to God. I know He will restore me fully one day.

Now I have been so honest, what about you?

Have you got sin in your life keeping you from the love of God? Have you got thoughts you are not going to measure up the the standard people set  for you to get to Heaven? Do you struggle with knowing God will never let you go and will always be on your side?

My mother said once a parent has a child, what could the child ever do to stop the child being a son? Like that child, we are adopted through the death and resurrection of Jesus into the family of God and we are co-heirs with Jesus.

Rest in your assurance that God will never forsake you no matter what tries to say otherwise!

Prayer

Father,

This chapter is too short to give all the verses that are about assurance. If this reader is still troubled with their eternal assurance lead them to the books or resources that will assure them of your great love for them. There are many people saying we can't be assured of our eternal life. Bring truth to the reader. In Jesus name  I ask for this. Amen.

Post 6 The Promise about your Appearance

Post 6 The Promise about your Appearance

1 Samuel 16:7 NLT

7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:7 NKJV

7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

I think the whole world is guilty of this. We as a race place a very high value on outward appearance when we are placing value on a person. All of us, I feel, have been guilty of this way of judging people and this is not the way that God looks on us. We live in a world that judges you if you are not pretty. We live in a world that judges you if you are overweight. People make initial decisions at least on stature.

In this story Jesse brought all of David's brothers before Samuel and didn't even summon David to even be considered. It wasn't until Jesse had been told God had rejected all of David's brothers that Jesse even thought to mention another brother existed. In the world you will be overlooked by many things. It might be the doctrine you hold  dear, it may be the political party you hold dear, It may be the the job that you do. People are always judging people and weighing them up in ways that aren't really important.

We get so caught up in it. It has taken a lot of reviews and a lot of talks with people that have read my books for me to work out that I am a good writer.  Yet long before I was assured that I was a good writer the Holy Spirit led me to start writing. It has only been very recent as I write this book, my tenth book, that I have come to believe that I am good writer and I communicate things very simply to people. In the past month people have been telling me that they are ordering all my five published books so far. ( four are getting edited now and this one is being written) If God had to have me convinced that I was a good writer before I started my first book, I would have never started my first one. Yet God has seen my heart all along and inspired me to write and commence a journey of writing and self publishing. 

It is not what you look like. It is not the church you go to. It is not the car you drive. It is not how big your house is. It is not your husband and what he does. Its not your wife or your children. Its your heart and the state of your heart that God wants. He does not look at what the world looks as as good or successful. In my journey of writing, I have been healing more and more. As I write and speak to people who read my books, my pain is getting better and better. As I heal, my writing is becoming richer and more useful for the Kingdom. Writing is healing me as well as achieving what each of the books are doing to achieve God's purposes to the readers.

I am just a simple person. People who have called me weird and that they did not want to be my friends have said, "He's got a good heart. His heart is right, but I just can't be his friend." Slowly and surely this hurting heart is getting more and more whole. Yet with all the pain that is still there, God has seen my hearts cry and who I really am inside. No matter how good I look to people that know me, I know God goes to bat for me and shows me Jesus in visions and takes me to Heaven and allows me to impact thousands of people. Many people, if they were God would not allow me to have my anointing, my authority and my influence. If things were left up to the world, and not God's providence, I would never be able to have an impact. I am a nobody in many peoples eyes and yet I am a big somebody in my God's eyes.

So are you! You are important to God. It's not what you own. Its not  what you have done. Its you inside, that spiritual inside of you, that heart inside you that is important to God. Some may read what I say and think that my writing is anointed. Some may read this book and others of mine and think that I am a good writer and say that, "Well that is him. That's not me." But honestly, if God can anoint me, if God can use a man that failed English in High school and got 41%, and use me despite two mental illnesses, well he can use you too!. If God can help a beaten up person like me to have influence in my world and impact strangers all over the world without a professional publisher, He can also raise you up to shine also! It does not matter what church you go to. It does not matter how smart you are. Nothing matters but your heart. If you have a heart sold out to God, He can do anything with you!

Prayer

Father,

Through people, through You personally speaking to them, and through prophecy, show this reader who they are to you. Show them how much you love them and what you love about them. Show them in a tangible way that you love them just for the person that they are. I ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Post 5 Promise for anxiety

Post 5 Promise for anxiety

2 Corinthians 9:8 NLT

8 And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.

2 Corinthians 9:8 NKJV

8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

I have to confess I am really loving my New Living Translation Bible. It is just so helpful to see verses rendered in a different way than my New King James Bible does. I just love the way it makes things so simple for me. These verses may sound the same, but the meaning just seems so different to me.

How do you feel now those of you who worry and have anxiety about the supply from God? I heard it said once that abundance and prosperity is "having enough to share with others." Having plenty left over to share with others sums it up great. Do these scriptures mean that we are to share with other people? Sure they do!

Are you one to share with others? Or when you have spare money do you save it up to buy bigger and better things for yourself? Having a heart that wants to share with others that are less fortunate is a heart that pleases God. I am a big giver and do my best to help people that I see in need.

I have found through spiritual gifts tests that I have the gift of giving and the gift of poverty. I know I have said this in other books of mine. Having the gift of giving is the love of giving to other people. With this gift I find it  a pleasure to give to people's needs when they ask me or Jesus lays it on my heart to to give to a ministry. The gift of poverty means that I spend my money on the works of the Lord and the things of the Lord, rather than on myself. This gift of poverty gives me the ability to go without the best clothes, go out to restaurants often and do things many other people do. The combination of these two gifts in my life allows me to bless people a lot with my life, my books and my income.

This is a promise off God. He will supply you generously so you can have enough for yourselves and for you to share some money with other people. If this promise is not manifesting in your life and you are a person that would share, we need to pray for God to manifest this in your life.

For many years I had an addiction that took a lot of my money. I spent close to half of my money on this addiction each week. Today with this addiction out of my life, I have plenty of money to spend on getting books edited and published. With my love of God and doing things the way God has shown me, I make sure my books at 99 cents are cheap enough for any person to buy. Having my books so cheap and giving them away every month for a day or two on Kindle I find that my spare money these days is going to a great cause. What Satan sent to me, that addiction for many years, to destroy me, has conditioned me to live very cheaply so that I can be a blessing to others now with my books.

What can you do to help others? Who are people that you can think of helping? 

One great way to help people is by giving your money to people in micro finance loans so they can start a business in the third world. "Kiva" is a great organisation that allows you to pick the people that you want to loan your money to. When the people repay the money you can loan it out again. Your money can go on year after year pulling people out of poverty. I have money in this scheme all the time. 

God wants to bless you so you can be a blessing to others. If you are not being blessed like that I will pray for you.

Prayer

Father,

You have never allowed me to be in lack. I have always had enough money to have food, pay the rent and pay bills. I pray that you bless the reader and bring an increase in their financial lives from this prayer on if they are going to share their money with others less fortunate. I pray your blessing on them, better jobs, more security in jobs, more hours to work, more overtime. It's all in your hands God. In Jesus name I ask for this. Amen.

Post 4 A promise about anger

Post 4 A promise about anger

Proverbs 16:32 NKJV

He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

Proverbs 16:32 NLT

Better to be patient than powerful;
better to have self-control than to conquer a city.

How are you with this one? I have to admit that although I don't get angry very often I do sometimes get angry and I am not happy about that. Anger is not a really good thing to let get the better of you. I remember the last time I got angry I had just been told that I was lazy and I did not like it one bit. I had a steaming tirade and made quite a noise in our community centre in the Salvation Army that I am part of.

These verses commend the person that is patent and therefore slow to anger. Some people are simply a  great example when it comes to patience. Some people can have the most annoying people in their life and they just seem to float along with the grace of God and nothing seems to get them in a fluster. People like this are people that are greater than a person that conquers a city this verse says.

So much can be achieved by grace. Love and patience are such wonderful fruit and they can be used in a mighty way. Some people could really learn what patience is when it comes to terrible posts on Facebook. People would be best served to take a breath, pause, think and pray before they return a post on Facebook when someone gets nasty. I admire people on Facebook that simply ignore hurtful comments and have the patience just to let someone vent and not argue with them.

One time outside a bar in Brisbane a guy said that he was going to fight me. I had a lot of stored up anger and I rushed down the stairs at him and said, "I promised myself the next person I fight I was going to kill and it looks like it is you." The guys cousins quickly grabbed me and pulled me away and apologised for their cousin. They told me he had a big mouth and wasn't worth fighting with. Later on in the bar, one of the men that pulled me away came up to me and said that he was the cousin of the big mouth. He gave me fifty dollars and told me to have a good night on him. He said he was always pulling his cousin out of fights. I remember that night twenty years ago because I really meant what I said. I had gone through a lot of pain in my life and honestly wanted to do that man damage. That is a not way to be going through life wanting to kill someone.

Many people in leadership have to have a lot of patience. Satan likes to press the buttons of people who have anger issues and will use anyone to do that. To progress into any form of leadership in life we need to be able to be slow to anger. The good news is that once you begin to control yourself and work on your patience, God is sure to help you get better and better at it.

This is such an encouraging promise for me. As I have shown, sometimes I struggle with anger. It is not Satan's first attack in my life, he more often chooses depression and other things, but he has it in his arsenal to try me with. I can testify personally that it gets better and better over time, the more you  exercise restraint. The Holy Spirit can be a real and present help in your time of need and what may be impossible for you in more than possible with God.

Prayer

Father,

I lift up those that are reading that struggle with anger and lack patience. I ask that you mend their hearts and minister to the pain in their life and help with those things that make them angry inside. I ask that you do a work of patience in their life and show them little by little how to overcome in this area. In Jesus name I ask this. Amen.

Post 3 The Promise of Angels

Post 3 The Promise of Angels

Hebrews 13:2 NLT

2 Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realising it!

Hebrews 13:2 NKJV

2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.

Many might look at this verse and shrug it off as something that is in the Bible but not for them. This could be a very typical response as many people might think meeting angels is simply for people that are special. But promises are in the Bible for a reason, and a verse like this should encourage us to look out for strangers and show hospitality. Of course, our love for Jesus and strangers should inspire us in all our actions but if we are fortunate we might have a story to tell.

One day I was driving a taxi and I picked up what looked to be a businessman from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. When he got in my taxi I greeted him and we settled in to talk. He was going to the airport so we had about a forty minute trip ahead of us. I asked him how his day had been and he told me that he'd had a nice day so far, but rather than talking about him and his life we were going to talk about my life on the trip.

He started asking me about my life. I had been been separated from my wife and I was going through a messy divorce and it wasn't long before I was getting emotional. Every time I told him something, he said "the Bible says this about that…" Each thing I brought up, he had a Bible verse and an explanation for each of my issues I was going through. The forty minutes passed quite quickly and I got him to the airport. He signed a cabcharge cheque and I shook his hand and he said goodbye. I got back in my taxi, pulled off from the curb and shook my head. I thought, "That must have been an angel." I parked my taxi and ran back into the airport and looked all over. He had disappeared! I asked Jesus if he had been and angel and Jesus said yes he was.

I was in a country town in New South Wales once and my friend Tama and I befriended a homeless drinker and used to chat to him as often as we saw him. Both Tama and I had been homeless and we had an affinity with them. One day we asked the homeless man if he wanted some pizza. He sat down with us and ate some pizza. He went into a kind of trance and right away started to speak to us in the voice of Jesus. Tama started to cry which was a sign of the Holy Spirit that used to come on Him when God was doing something. Jesus spoke to us that day through this stranger that we had befriended. He spoke some very comforting words to us to let us know we were right on track with what He wanted us to do,

Another time I was in a church and Jesus was telling me that He didn't want me attending that church. I told Jesus, "I am not going to leave this church unless I see you come into the church and I see them kick you out." Right then a homeless lady we knew from the town came into the church with all her worldly possessions in a shopping cart. She started to sing to the worship and started to dance and run around the church. The people of the church kicked her out. This was amazing.

The next day my friend and I saw her in town and told her we were sorry she got kicked out of the church the day before. She told us she didn't come to our church. We insisted that she had, and she insisted that she hadn't. She then said, "See those stars in the sky Matthew?  My friend started to cry as we heard Jesus speaking through her. "My Father made those stars. When are you going to listen to me Matthew? I want to tell you things and simply have you obey. That church was not right for you and I wanted you to leave. Why didn't you just listen to me? She looked at my friend Tama, picked up a porcelain  angel from her shopping trolley and said, "Your mother gave this to me to give to you." My friend started to weep as he took the angel. She came out of her trance and said asked us, "Have you got any money for some smokes. Tama gave her twenty dollars. Tama told me after that experience that the angel was special to him because his birth mother was dead and in Heaven.

As you can see these two strangers manifested Jesus to us. If we were not kind to strangers then these events would not have happened to us.

I have met many angels in spirit form and they are constantly with me. I have three angels that I know by name that are always with me. One time in a prophecy God said to me that he loves the way that I treat his angels. I have a great relationship with God and He is always showing up in different ways for me.

It is not impossible to meet an angel. 

A book on angels that I really enjoyed that was not New Age was called "Angels are for real" by Judith MacNutt.

Prayer

I pray that my story and this post encourages more readers to be kind to the poor and the strangers in life. I pray that they too might have an encounter and be able to share with others and increase other people's faith. I pray that the reader my grow in their senses and be able to "feel" their angels with them. In Jesus name I ask this. Amen

Post 2 Promise for the Ambitious

Matthew 6:33

33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

Well that just has to be the very best thing that the ambitious among us could hear, God will give you everything you need. But in order to get everything we need, we have to do two things that most people in the Kingdom of God know little about. How do we seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and what really is the Kingdom of God? And how to we live righteously?

Well lets get down to basics.

Jesus shared a parable about the sheep and the goats. He said that the sheep went to heaven because they did things right, and the goats went to hell because they did things wrong. So for you that can't recall what that was let me refresh your memory.

Matthew 25:34-40

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’

These are the sort of things that make up the work of the Kingdom of God. To seek the Kingdom above all else would to be love God with all your heart, and love mankind with all your heart mind and soul. Now I know many people who live Christian lives and hardly ever do these things that are mentioned here. I am not preaching a works doctrine here, though some may accuse me of it. I am just saying that people seeking the Kingdom above all else would not be overlooking needs that they can address.

A stranger in this passage is in one translation called a homeless person. So seeing a stranger and taking them in to live with you or to show them hospitality is basically doing that for someone who is homeless. I live in a government apartment that only costs me $95 per week. It has two bedrooms and the rent for each bedroom is 25% of the occupants incomes. If no one lives with me the apartment is $95 per week and if someone lives with me along with my $95 they get charged 25% of their income. In the eight years that I have lived here, three times I have taken a homeless person into my place. I say this not to boast, but I say this because Jesus led me via his Holy Spirit three times to help out a person in need with no cost to myself.

Seeking the Kingdom is also knowing what you are born to do in this world for God and doing it with all your might.

Living righteously is loving God and loving your fellow man is the very best possible way that God's grace allows you to. Paul says that anyone that lives by the Spirit overcomes the works of the flesh. When we learn to walk with the power and leading of the Holy Spirit we can live a righteous life. It is not impossible to do a very good job of it. There is power in the cross of Christ, the blood of Jesus, and there is power, overcoming power in the Holy Spirit that can allow you to live a holy and righteous life.

So our verse says:  Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

If you seek the Kingdom above all else, you love your fellow man and God in word and deed successfully then God will give you everything you need. This does not say God will give you everything that your heart lusts after I am sorry. It says that you will be given everything that you need. That is enough food, enough clothes, enough for moderate living, and enough to have some fun with life.

Many of God's promises come with conditions. Having a Bible promise book can be helpful, but sometimes a verse like this needs the conditions explained a little better. Having basic needs met is a right from a child of God who is living right. If you are ambitious let your ambition be to be the biggest blessing to God and people that you community knows about. That is an ambition that God will see you rise to and achieve. 

Prayer

Father, 

Lead me to books that can teach me what the Kingdom is all about. Lord teach me and empower me through your grace to live a righteous life. And Father teach me how to live to be rich in treasure in heaven and not a person that has to be rich with earthly wealth. Change my heart, and do a deep work in me so that I desire only to serve you and provide for me and my family so we have no lack in our household. In Jesus name I ask. Amen.

Post 1 A Promise of Acceptance

Post 1 A Promise of Acceptance

Mark 9:41

41 If anyone gives you even a cup of water because you belong to the Messiah, I tell you the truth, that person will surely be rewarded.

Have you ever been in a position where you were literally desperate for water or something to drink and you finally got to a place where you had one. Didn't it feel so good to get that water or drink into you?  I don't live in a a place where I lack things to drink. Five days a week I am home and I have cordial, coffee and milk to drink at any time and so I don't lack.

But Jesus' disciples were taught by Jesus to go from village to village with no money in their purses, no change of clothes and no way of surviving really unless a person of faith ministered food and drink to them. They were sent to the Jewish faith to preach about a Messiah that was promised and they were to live literally by the faith that they professed. So in that day people were needed to feed them, give them things to eat, and to give them a place to sleep out of the weather. When people even just drew water for them because they accepted them and their message, and gave them a drink, Jesus said that this person would be rewarded.

We may be quick to forget when people do us a good turn. We might not even be thankful. Sometimes I forget my manners and do not say thanks when I should. Yet though we might not be thankful or we may forget the things that people do for us, one person that does not forget the littlest deed is the Almighty God of Heaven. God may forgive our sins and throw them into the sea of forgetfulness, but God never forgets one deed we do for our fellow man no matter how small and insignificant it may seem to us. God is a rewarder of all that do good and especially a rewarder of people who do good deeds for His people of the Christian faith.

These days I don't often carry cash. I do most of my purchases on my Visa Debit card. I do this because once every two weeks when I get paid my pension, I pay my bills, do my shopping, and  then live pretty much without spending anymore till the next pension. The only thing I really buy in that two weeks is milk. I go to church on a Friday night and after church I go out to Burger King with a good woman friend of mine called Claire. Each week, she buys me anything I would like to eat after church and anything I would like to drink. She has a really good attitude to money. She says all her money is God's and that she is simply spending Gods money on me. Jesus was speaking of her in this promise above, that one day she would get rewarded for all she buys for me, whether that be on earth or in Heaven when we pass on.

For years I carried cash and for over ten years I gave a lot of my spare money to the homeless and poor. God sees all this and I personally believe that all of this money one day will be stored up as treasure in Heaven. For any of you who read my books, you will hear me speak about the homeless allot. I love the homeless. These days when I carry no cash, I still say hello to them and when they ask me for spare change, they are thankful when I say I don't have any money on me. The homeless like to be looked in the eye and treated with dignity, the same dignity that you would treat a person in a suit. Last week Claire and I saw a homeless man going through bins and she took him out twenty dollars so that he could buy something rather then eat peoples discarded food.

I hear the words of Jesus ring out, "What you do for the least of my brethren you did unto me." Would we honestly let the Lord Jesus dig through a bin for food and not take him out any money?

I have a very big heart. Three months ago a good friend of mine on Facebook wrote to me and asked if I could help her and her family as floods had ravished their home in Manilla. At the time I had about $1000 that I had to spend on getting a book published so I told her I would pray for others to help her. Today as had published that book and finished my commitments to it, the Holy Spirit prompted me to put $100 US in my budget for my next pension to give to this lady. I wrote to her on Facebook and told her that she could count on me for $100 in two weeks when I get my next pension. She was overcome with joy and happiness as $100 US means a lot to a person in the Philippines.

If you are loved so much that God's Son promises to bless any person that blesses you with a drink of water, don't you think you also could bless others out of your abundance?

Prayer 

Father,

Remind me to be thankful for all the people that feed me. Remind me to thank my pastors for feeding me the Word. Let me be thankful for all that bless me in any way and I ask that you bless those people who bless me according to this promise. Help me to not to pass the needy but to acknowledge them, and even if I have no money to give to at least treat them with honour and respect. Help me to be a better giver and please bless me as I bless others according to your Word I ask. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.