Are You Holding A Grudge Against GOD?

I believe there is nothing more dangerous to a Christian than to carry around resentment against God.

I am shocked by the growing number of believers who hold some kind of grudge against Him.

Why? They are convinced He does not care because He hasn't answered a particular prayer or acted on their behalf.

Jonah had a missionary call from God and he went to Nineveh to preach the message of judgment he had received.

After delivering the message, Jonah sat on a hillside, waiting for God to begin the judgment.

But forty days passed and nothing had happened.

Why?

Because Nineveh had repented and God had changed His mind about destroying them!

Most rage against God begins with a disappointment.

God may call us, burden us and send us.

Then, when things do not go as we had planned, we may feel misled or betrayed.

God understands our cries of pain and confusion. After all, our cry is a human one.

And it is no different from Jesus' cry on the cross:"Father, why have You forsaken Me?"

If we continue nursing a peeved spirit, it will grow into rage.  

And God will ask us the same question He asked Jonah: "Doest thou well to be angry?" (Jonah 4:9).

In other words, "Do you think you have a right to be so angry?"

Jonah answered, "I do well to be angry, even unto death" (same verse).

This prophet was so full of rage at God, that he said, "I don't care whether I live or die. My ministry is a failure. I have every right to be angry with Him."

God's Word says there is hope. "Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord" (Jeremiah 31:16).

In other words, "Stop complaining. I'm going to reward your faithfulness."

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord" 
(1 Corinthians 15:58).

Beloved, your cries and prayers have not been in vain.

All your pain and tears have been for a purpose.

God is telling you, "You think it's all over. You see only your failure and ruin, with no results. So you say, ‘This is the end.’  

But I say it is the beginning. I see the reward that I am about to pour out on you.

I have good things in mind for you-wonderful things. So, stop your crying!


~David Wilkerson~

One Heart Beat Away From Eternity

We are only One Heartbeat away from Eternity. Make sure your heart is Right with God in This Hour! Cry Out To Him....Jesus Christ.....He is our Salvation and our Deliverance! Praise His Holy Name! 

Heb 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 




                                                                             

In HIS Presence

                                                                             
No flesh should glory in His presence(1 Corinthians 1:29). This verse is not just a New Testament truth—it was true in Moses day, as well. Moses could not deliver God's people in his own strength. He had to be taught, once and for all, that God's work is done not through any human ability but by total trust and dependence on the Lord.

This is true for every Christian today. There has to be a putting off of all that the flesh tries to bring to God. Indeed, God says to us as He did to Moses, "There is only one ground upon which you can approach Me, and that is holy ground. You can have no confidence in your flesh because no flesh will stand in My presence!"

When talking to Moses, God put a focus on shoes (see Exodus 3:5) because our feet are two of the most tender parts of our body. And what are shoes, but a protection of our flesh? They protect us from the elements, from stones, from snakes, from filth and dust, from the hot pavement.

Do you see what God was saying to Moses here? He was using an everyday, ordinary thing to teach a spiritual lesson, just as Jesus later did when He used coins, pearls, camels and mustard seeds. God was saying, "Moses, you wear protective garb to keep your flesh from injury. But no amount of fleshly protection will be able to keep you when I send you into Egypt—that den of iniquity—to face a hardened dictator. You will be put into a situation that only I can deliver you from. So, unless you set aside all reliance on your flesh—your meekness, zeal and humility—you won't be able to do what I'm calling you to do. All your abilities will be worthless unless I sanctify them."

Indeed, Moses faced all kinds of tests and trials as he led some three million people into the desert. With no grocery stores, malls, or even a well of water, he had to depend wholly on God for everything.

Moses had already tried to act as a deliverer in the power of his flesh. Forty years earlier, he had taken sword in hand and killed a cruel Egyptian slave driver. And now God was saying, Moses, your zeal has to be sanctified or it will destroy you. Are you willing to put down your sword and place all your confidence in Me?

~David Wilkerson~

The Opposition Of The Enemy

                                                    
When you come into the burden you find you are in a realm of opposition, and that you are really in a battle. That is another common feature in these books; every one of them represents a situation of terrific opposition and antagonism, all combining to stop the work. Ezra - "Now our enemies." And you are not far in Esther before you find you are in a realm of conflict. And what about Daniel? The den of lions was for praying!

Now this is a stile to be cleared at once. If we are going to stand with God, for that which wholly represents His mind, we have to meet the most fierce antagonism, conflict, and pressure, from every quarter; there is going to be no method overlooked by the enemy for frustrating the end in view.

Why so much antagonism?

Why so much pressure?

Each time when something is in view which is to count for God in relation to His End-time purpose, there it is, you meet it all the time.

Where does the Devil get his information from? 

He finds out when we have a message from God that is going to count, and we meet this pressure from within and without when we are in the thing that is counting for God.

When it comes you must recognize that it is related to something which is to count for God. 

It will come through people, and if we blame the people and focus our attention on them, we have missed the point; if we begin to fight people whilst all the time it is something deeper.

Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies
 
People get cross with one another, and that gets on top of us, and we begin to direct our attention to them, and we get out with them and there is a distressing situation, and we see afterwards how foolish we are to allow the Devil to swing us off into a human track when it is a spiritual issue.

It has not really been the fault of persons, or just inconsequential happenings; there has been a spiritual issue at stake, and all these other things were brought about and used by the enemy to occupy us with the lesser, and so blind us to the real issue, thus keeping us out of prayer, and preventing our standing with the Lord for His rights which were at some point or other being challenged.

It is the realm of unceasing conflict, and it would seem that we have come into that part of the age when the enemy takes no rest, and we find we can take no off-times

Anything you do must be done deliberately with God, and you must never act out of, or apart from, God; that exposed movement has been watched for by the enemy, and you have to pay for it.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Satan Buffeted

                                                                             

We similarly see God's wonder-working way in the matter of physical weakness. How many a worker who is tried in health feels that much more effective service could be rendered if only he were free from the malady! Here again the lesson of Paul's life had been recorded for our comfort. Doubtless he felt that his loved ministry was much impeded by his "thorn in the flesh." He besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from him. 

Though his request was not granted, the Lord saw to it, not only that he should be comforted, but that all that was needed by way of explanation should be made known to him. There was both the preventive side of the trouble and the empowering side. Not only did he learn that it was inflicted lest he should be exalted overmuch through the greatness of the revelations he had received, but he also learned gladly to glory in his weaknesses, that the power of Christ might rest upon him.

Let us note, too, the abiding effort which the gracious word of the Lord had upon him. He records it not as a mere historical incident, but as something the comfort of which he had felt ever since, and was still enjoying. "He hath said (not 'He said') unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness" (2 Cor. 12:9). The consequence was that he could say, "When I am weak, then am I strong." That was the outcome of Satan's buffeting.

The hindrance became a help. Satan's messenger became the Lord's minister. Many and many a servant of God has been similarly tried. How blessed the comfort of this record of Paul's experience! And how wonderful will be the revelation, in the coming Day, of God's dealings with us in our service here below!

~T. Austin Sparks~

Character Through Conflict

                                       
The building of the House of the Lord, therefore, is not only a gathering of people but it is a spiritual and a moral building up, and that side of things is only done through conflict.

The Divine economy has so ordered that although the Lord Jesus has in Himself secured a universal triumph over all His foes, the foes are still left for us to deal with.

The enemy has, although been defeated, still been left for the saints to have something to do with, and the Lord has not put out of the universe our foes, though in Himself He has triumphed. He has left them for us to deal with in His triumph, and it is in that that you and I get our spiritual and moral development.

It is by conflict, by battle, by grim and terrible warfare spiritually, that the moral excellencies of our triumphant Head are brought out in us.

We triumph in His victory, but we know that faith is so tested in a conflict, so deeply tried in a battle, that it is something more than just objectively holding on, or believing in something in Christ.

That very exercise of faith brings out from Him, into our own souls, the strength of His victory so that we are made morally one with Him in His triumph by a test of faith which is so grim and so terrible that nothing that is not of Him in us would be sufficient to carry us through.

It has to be wrought into the very substance of our being, and that is done through conflict in which faith is drawn out; and so we spiritually and morally build through conflict, through adversity, in the Divine and sovereign ordering of our lives.

The moral side of things is that which comes out in exercise, and exercise of faith in the value of Calvary's victory. 

It is one thing to have a theoretical appropriation of Calvary's victory and say in an hour of emergency: "I take the victory of Calvary." But very often nothing happens, and although you take a position like that you find yourself called upon to hold on, and hold on, and hold on, and during that time of being called upon by the Lord to hold on, faith is being tested.

Calvary's victory is becoming something not objectively taken hold of but inwardly established, and at last that victory is in us as it is in the Lord. But it has become a moral quality in our being and in the next time it is not a trying to get hold of something, it is there with its roots in us, something has been done in us which is a part of us.

~T. Austin Sparks~

The Grace Of GOD And Money

                                                                                                        
If we have God's grace in us it will show itself in giving. If we want new grace, we must exercise what we have in giving. And in all we give we ought to do it in the consciousness of the grace of God that works it in us.

The Grace of God teaches to give liberally. "Their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality, for according to their power, yea, beyond their power, they gave of their own accord, beseeching us with much entreaty in regard of this grace." 2 Cor. 8:2. What a sight! And what a proof of the power of grace!  

These newly converted Gentiles in Macedonia hear of the need of their Jewish brethren in Jerusalem -- men unknown and despised -- and at once are ready to share with them what they have.
 
It is remarkable how much more liberality there is among the poor than the rich. 

It is as if they do not hold so fast what they have: they more easily part with all; the deceitfulness of riches has not hardened them; they have learned to trust God for tomorrow. 

Their liberality is not indeed what men count such; their gifts are but small. Men say it does not cost them much to give all; they are so accustomed to have little. And yet the very fact of their giving it more easily is what makes it precious to God; it shows the childlike disposition that has not yet learnt to accumulate and to hold fast.

God's way in His kingdom of grace on earth is ever from below, upwards. "Not many wise and not many noble are called. God has chosen the weak and the base things." And even so He has chosen the poor in this world, as they give out of their deep poverty, to teach the rich what liberality is.

Far beyond their power gave they of their own accord, beseeching us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift." If this spirit were to pervade our churches and men of moderate means and of large possessions were to combine with the poor in their standard of giving, and the Macedonian example became the law of Christian liberality, what means would not flow in for the service of the kingdom

The Grace of God makes our giving part of the Christlike life.

See that you abound in this grace also, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor." (8:9.)

Every branch and leaf and blossom of the mightiest oak derives its life from the same strong root that bears the stem. The life in the tiniest bud is the same as in the strongest branch.

We are branches in Christ the Living Vine; the very life that lived and worked in Him. Of what consequence that we should know well what His life is, that we may intelligently and willingly yield to it. 

Here we have one of its deepest roots laid open 

Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he become poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.

To enrich and bless us, He impoverished Himself. 

That was why the widow's mite pleased Him so; her gift was of the same measure as His: She cast in all she had. 

This is the life and grace that seeks to work in us; there is no other mold in which the Christ-life can be cast. 

See that you abound in this grace also; for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus, that he became poor.

How little did the Macedonian Christians know that they were, in their deep poverty, and in the riches of their liberality, giving beyond their power, just acting out what the Spirit and grace of Jesus was working in them. How little we would have expected that the simple gift of these poor people would become the text of such high and holy and heart-searching teaching.

How much we need to pray that the Holy Spirit may so master our purses and our possessions, that the grace of our giving will, in some truly recognizable degree, be the reflection of our Lord's.

And how we need to bring our giving to the cross, and to seek Christ's death to the world and its possessions as the power for ours.

So will we make others rich through our poverty, and our life be somewhat like St. Paul's: "poor, yet making many rich." 

~Andrew Murray~

SIGNATURE JUDGMENT

                                                                             
I believe God has provided us with a very specific promise for the hard times that are coming. It was given to Abraham and his seed as an oath.

The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life”
(Luke 1:73-75).

God has sworn to deliver us from every enemy, every fearful thing, so we can serve Him all the days of our lives without fear. Beloved, hunger is an enemy. Nakedness and poverty are enemies.

This oath from God must be the foundation of our trust in every crisis, calamity and fearful time. Memorize it! Let it be your holy argument at the throne of grace!

In Psalm 121 David has provided us with one of the most powerful Holy Ghost arguments ever given to man. The entire psalm tells us that all our help comes from the Lord alone.

Psalm 124 is yet another holy argument, your specific promise to enable you to build special trust.

Right now America is under a "signature judgment" of God. Signature judgments bear a special mark of God in that they mirror the sins committed against Him. As these judgments take place before our very eyes, our only answer is to have Jesus as our shield.

Run today to meet Him in the secret closet of prayer. 

Let your roots go down deep into Him and know that He will keep you in all circumstances.

Take hold of the following special promises in readiness for any and all calamities we may face:

Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. His heart shall be established, he shall not be afraid
Psalm 112:4, 7-8.

And he shall judge the world in righteousness. The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them thatseek thee Psalm 9:8-10.

~David Wilkerson~

Right On Time

                                                    
Years ago, after walking the streets of New York City—worn out, tired in soul and body—I developed mononucleosis. I ended up in the hospital for six weeks and developed a growth in my throat. I could not swallow and sometimes I couldn't even catch my breath. My weight soon fell to less than 115 pounds. Since I could not travel, all the income to the ministry quickly dried up and it looked like the end of Teen Challenge!

I remember the night I cried out in desperation, "Lord, I give up! Teen Challenge is all Yours. I am just going to trust You. If You want the ministry’s doors to close, that's Your business. But, please, God, get this thing out of my throat!" Within an hour I coughed up a fleshy growth the size of a large walnut.  

I left the hospital in a day or two and soon got my strength back. And I discovered that while I was away, Teen Challenge had survived! I do not know how the Lord did it, but while I was ill, the staff began to trust the Lord instead of looking to me. And that's what God was trying to accomplish!  

Beloved, your troubles are not unforeseen accidents. No matter what you are going through, no matter how deep your hurt, God is right on target and right on time.  

You may think the devil came in and interrupted God's plan for your life, saying, "Let me at him." But no, that is not the case. It does not matter if you did something stupid or careless. If you have repented, the Lord can harness everything meant for evil and turn it around for good.  

Don't focus on your past mistakes—get your eyes off the monsters. God promised to restore to you all the years the cankerworm has eaten. Encourage yourself with these words and let them become your life and hope: "My God can do anything. He has not forgotten me. No one can change His plans

No matter how bad things look, He has everything under control!"

~David Wilkerson~

Is This The Generation?

                                                                          
The whole world is frightened, perplexed and confused. Even the saintliest Christian must be wondering about all the prophetic events rapidly unfolding. I know that believers all over the world are asking themselves a question that I, too, am pondering: Are we in the last decade of human history? I do not know, but one thing is sure: We have seen an acceleration of world events. Suddenly, without warning, the Iron Curtain fell. Almost overnight, Eastern Europe was free. Seemingly in a flash, the Soviet Empire—once threatening the United States—was brought to the brink of disintegration and utter turmoil.

Could it be that in the same sudden manner, the antichrist world leader will be revealed? Could it also be that God has come to the end of His patience with the sins of North America, as happened with Sodom and Gomorrah?

Frightening bankruptcies in our savings and loan organizations, mounting national debt, diseases and nationwide plagues—are these all signs that our country is entering the corridor of a divine curse as outlined in Deuteronomy 28? Read what God does to the nations that sin against the light. You can see it happening right now!

Are we already in the early stages of the biggest depression in our history? The Great Depression of the 1930s has been regarded as the worst ever, but many economists believe we are on the brink of a depression that will make our worst look tame by comparison.

Is God even now beginning to cut off our supply of bread? Is He bringing ruin upon us, as He did upon Jerusalem and Judah because of their sins? In Isaiah 3:1-6, you will find that God does cut off bread and massive unemployment results. When judgment fell in Zion, "there was no hire for man, nor any hire
for beast" (Zachariah 8:10). Will there be massive unemployment as God judges America's sins?

There is a sense of danger in the air; every situation seems volatile. There is a feeling that the world is on a course from which there is no turning back. There is talk of wars, race wars, holy wars. Israel is feverishly preparing for war as never before, gearing up for a final conflict.

Is this the day that Jesus predicted when men's hearts will fail from overwhelming fear as they behold the frightening things happening on the earth?

Could it be we really are the generation that will behold the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ?

Have we come to such a point in human history that it can now be said, "This generation shall not pass away till all these things come to pass"? 

Will it indeed happen in our time?

~David Wilkerson~

Let Go To GOD

                            

Joh 5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.  

One of the most difficult lessons that the Lord's children have to learn is how to let go to God. Even in a matter that is right and in the purpose of God, there has to be the lessons which Abraham had to learn through Isaac.

It is not in our personal clinging to a God-given thing, whether it be a promise or a possession, but faith's restful and fear-free holding on to the Lord Himself.

If we had a thing from the Lord Himself we can rest assured that what He gives He will not take again without some larger purpose in view; and on the other hand, none can take from us what He has determined for us. But there are many dangers which arise from our own will in relation to a Divine gift or purpose.

The first is of making that thing ours instead of holding it in and for the Lord. This leads to fierceness and personal uprisings. Then jealousy will not be long in showing its ugly head, and jealousy with its twin – suspicion – soon destroy fellowship and spontaneity of communion.

Does not jealousy declare most loudly the fact of personal possession, personal interest?

If we realized how privileged we are to have even a very small part in the things of God, and how it is all of His Grace, surely we should be very grateful that we could just have the remotest connection with Him.

Then further, when we hold things received or as promised or believed to be for us as only unto the Lord, in restful trust, we make it possible for the Lord to save us from being mistaken in the matter.

It is not an unusual thing for a child of God to come to see that a thing which he or she most strongly believed to be God's will or way for them was not so, and it had to be surrendered. 

If there was any personal element of will in it the experience has proved terrible, and has left works of bitterness and mistrust.

Yet once again, a strong personal mind and will in relation to things of God too often makes us a law unto ourselves. That is, we get into an attitude which implies that we only know the will of God in the matter. We do not trust that others also may be led of the Lord in this thing, and so the corporateness of guidance so necessary to the house of God is destroyed or paralyzed.

~T. Austin Sparks~

 

WITNESSES

                                                                               
On judgment day the Judge, Jesus Christ, will call forth His witnesses and these will testify either for you or against you.

The first witness is the Word of God itself: "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day" (John 12:48).

For every sermon or gospel song ever heard, every Bible verse or tract ever read, account must be given.

Jesus says, "Every word I have spoken to you will judge you on that day. My Word will be the witness! Witnesses shall arise, such as the men of Nineveh, the men of Sodom, and the queen of Sheba.

Jesus says, "The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, a greater than Jonah is here. The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it" (Matthew 12:41-42).

When you stand before the Judge and your book is opened, vast multitudes of Ninevites will step forward. Those who died in the holocaust of Sodom and Gomorrah will come forth, as will those of Tyre and Sidon. These wicked ones will gather round, incredulous as they hear the list of all the opportunities you had to receive the Word of God: Bibles, radio, TV teachers, witnesses, friends, family.

They will cry out, "This man's judgment ought to be worse than ours. How could he reject so many opportunities and deny such powerful light? We had no Bible, no constant reminder, no second opportunity. But he had all this!"

Jesus says Sodom would have repented if they had heard a fraction of the gospel preaching you have heard: "For if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day"Matthew11:23.

Preachers and pastors will be called forth as witnesses. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations (Matthew 24:14).

We shepherds will have to stand and bear witness that you were in attendance in the house of God. You heard the witness of the gospel preached. And we must affirm before the Judge of all people every truth you heard either for you or against you.

~David Wilkerson~
 

A FAITHFUL Servant

                                                                          
The apostle Paul was one of God's most faithful servants. I believe there were three important motivations behind Paul's faithfulness: hope, love and fear.

Paul had a blessed hope of eternal life that motivated him to faithfulness. He also had a great love for Christ.

In 2 Corinthians 5:14 he says, "The love of Christ constraineth us," which means it compelled him to remain faithful to God. But Paul's faithfulness also was motivated by something else: the reverential fear of the hour when he would stand before the Judge of the world on judgment day!

Today, the vast majority of Christians possess only the first two motivations. Virtually every believer claims to have the hope of eternal life. And many say in all sincerity, "I know I love Jesus with all my heart."

Yet the Truth of a Coming Day of Judgment is the Very Thing that produces Serious, Godly Believers. 

Those who put it out of mind are usually cold, careless and indulgent.

But the fact remains that, sometime very soon, every person who has ever lived will be gathered to the place of judgment to be judged by Jesus Christ: 

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:10). 

So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God (Romans 14:12).

At this very moment, legions of angels stand ready for Jesus' command to gather from the corners of the earth both the wicked and the righteous:

The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity (Matthew 13:41).

All the rich, famous and powerful of all ages will be brought to stand before Him:

And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men . . . hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and the rocks, Fall on us, hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? (Revelation 6:15-17).


~David Wilkerson~

All That Is Earthly Is Being Shaken

                                                                             
In a dream I saw an army that refused to break rank for in the midst of all the wickedness and cruel violence that was around them, they were unperturbed.

They were going down into the Livings Waters Of Praise and Worship and coming out on the other side of the river with Perfect Peace and Rest. They are the redeemed of the Lord who have been given a peace that passes all understanding.

The meek shall inherit the earth and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace  
Psalm 37:11.

Joel saw an army of mighty men and said, "They shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks" (Joel 2:7).

God's people will not break rank nor run in fear, because they know they are secure under the precious blood of the Lamb. They know that in spite of all the violence and wrath of men, the body of Christ on earth is in excellent health and is growing stronger every day.

While all that is earthly is being shaken, and world governments are spinning out of control, the True Church Of Christ Is Solid And Unmovable.

The specter of devastating violence and potential destruction has robbed mankind of peace and security—while at the same time God is bringing His people into their greatest hour of rest and safety. While the ungodly cry for peace and safety and never find it, God's chosen are now possessing great peace and perfect security.

God's people who rest in Him can say with David the psalmist, If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us: then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us: then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul: then the proud waters had gone over our soul. Blessed be the Lord who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth" (Psalm 124:2-8).

~David Wilkerson~