Fast of Daniel-Day 20

The Snowball Effect

Two kingdoms, two territories, two masters…
The Kingdom of Light vs. the kingdom of darkness;
The land of Good vs. the land of evil;
The Lord God—Father of His children vs. the lord and father of the children of the world.

Who is the master of your life? What kingdom do you belong to?

Your dreams might not have been realized yet, but if you belong to the Kingdom of God you will find shelter beneath His protection. Nothing can happen to you without the permission of the Almighty.

And if by chance something that seems bad should happen to you, down the road you will understand how it was for your own good.

"A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you."Psalm 91.7

Having said that, those who leave the Kingdom of Light no longer have this protection. This means they automatically enter the kingdom of darkness. From then on, any choices they make, even if they seem right, will still be wrong and will have serious consequences in the end—suffering, pain and worst of all, eternal death.

Jesus said, "I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness..."John 8:12

This means: those who do not follow Me, walk in darkness.

What kind of protection is there for those who walk in darkness?

Many ruin their lives by choosing to marry the wrong person. They eventually get divorced and marry someone else. Later on, they get divorced again and marry another person. In their frantic pursuit of happiness, they keep trading spouses but are never able to stick with anyone—a vicious cycle from hell.

Worst of all, while drifting down this path children are being brought into the world. What future will these children have? They have one father today, another one tomorrow, and the day after, still another...

These little ones will inherit this curse and pass it on to other generations—a snowball effect.

When the spirit does not think, the body and soul will reap the fruits of hell.

Fast of Daniel-Day 19

The Balance of Faith

works of the flesh:

Sexual immorality - the soul's desire to please the physical body;

Impurity - revolt against what the soul considers pure and righteous;

Lust - the soul’s excitement with sensuality; a desire to enjoy sex without any responsibility;

Idolatry - the soul’s worship of people, money, things or images. Worshiping or placing an importance on something other than the Lord God first;

Witchcraft - the practice of occult rituals involving spells, curses, incantations, sacrifices of food, drink, animals or even human beings, to witchdoctors or spirits. The celebration or commemoration of special days for particular saints;

Hatred - longstanding feelings of hostility, loathing, ill will or dislike;

Strife - arguments, endless disagreements, quarrelling, friction;

Jealousy - insecurity caused by suspicion, or fear of a rival, in love or some other area of life, a feeling of weakness;

Envy - distress, anger or sorrow for another's success or joy, greed for something good that is being enjoyed by others;

Anger - fury, rage, annoyance, a desire for revenge;

Discord - disagreements, disharmony, quarrels, differences of opinion, fights, etc.;

Dissent - disagreement, dissension, discord;

Factions - rivalry between religious groups, athletic teams, political parties, etc.;

Drunkenness - binge drinking, intoxication, the addiction to alcohol;

Gluttony - the act of eating too much, an insatiable appetite, exceeding the limit of your stomach, etc..

... and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I told you in times past, that those who practise such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God.Galatians 5:19-21

The Fruit of the Holy Spirit

...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.Galatians 5:22

I know what it’s like to be an ugly duckling. I experienced it as a teenager, among schoolmates, at work and even at the church where I came to know my Lord and Savior.

Thank God for humble origins and a lower-middle-class upbringing. If it weren’t for them, only God knows where I would be today.

I became acquainted with the difficulties of being poor. On the other hand, I learned the value of being humble, especially when it came to the value of keeping your word. My parents were my heroes. Later on, this helped when it came to believing the Word of God. If I valued my parents’ word, though they were flawed humans, imagine the word that comes out of the mouth of God.

Today, whenever I see people who are ragged, suffering, mistreated and abandoned, I am reminded of my past. Although, I was never ragged because my parents gave us everything we needed for our education. But truth be told, the only place I felt human and not like an ugly duckling was at home.

Right now you may feel ignored, empty, sad and like the world is falling apart around you. But Jesus came for people like you and me—life’s ugly ducklings. People who are simple, lost, and above all, humble in spirit. He found me and is certainly finding you right now.

I don’t even know why I’m writing this to you.

But I believe His Spirit has touched me and is now using me to touch you.

What you have or have not done does not matter, nor does your long list of sins and much less your sad and empty past. What others think of you does not matter either…What really matters is what He thinks of you.

He loves you and is showing this right now by embracing your whole being.

You know something: He has just found you right now!

While you are reading this, the Spirit of Jesus is rebuking the weight of your guilt, condemnation and past sins. Your thoughts are changing; your emptiness is being filled.

A new day is being born for you. Sadness is giving way to joy and at this very moment, you don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Something very powerful is happening inside of you. It’s the Holy Spirit creating a new life within you.

Praise God!

Welcome to the family of God.

This is what everyone hopes for, even believers in Jesus.

But can hope alone give you a new life in the New Year?

All we have to do to answer this question is look back in time.

People in the past had the same expectations at this time of year. The same hopes. And what happened? Nothing. For many, it got worse.

Why is that?

Because a new life doesn’t depend on emotions, it depends on an active faith. But in what way?
Let’s go back to biblical times. God called Abraham to raise up a nation that would be separate from all the other pagan nations. While in Egypt, Abraham’s grandson, Israel, multiplied and became a great nation. The Lord then delivered them from the slavery of Egypt and helped them build a strong and powerful nation.

But because of their rebellion, Israel returned to the spiritual state of Jacob. They went back to being slaves in a foreign land.

History repeats itself. When people are spiritually healthy, there is peace, health and prosperity, but when they are far from God, the devil takes charge of their lives.

Nearly 100 years had passed since their return to the land of Palestine, and yet, in the days of the prophet Malachi, Jacob had once again become spiritually lost. The priests were immoral and so were the people.

Dishonesty, infidelity, marrying people of other faiths, divorces, idolatry, sorcery, adultery, profanity, stealing and every other sort of immorality was being committed.

And when they cried out to the Lord, He replied: For I am the lord, I do not change. You have gone away from My ordinances…
Return to Me, and I will return to you.
But you said: In what way shall we return?

So the Lord gives the recipe for a new life in the New Year: Be faithful with your tithes and offerings. Malachi 3:6-12

Of course!

A marriage cannot be restored without first restoring the principle of marital faithfulness. The same applies to restoring a covenant with God.

This year, start the New Year by being faithful to God and testing His faithfulness to you.
See for yourself if His Word is true or false!

Tithes represent faithfulness. They are a sign of your partnership with God.

When we are faithful to Him, He is required to do the same to us. That is why He promises to rebuke the devourer.

Whoever wants to begin a new life must be faithful to God with their tithes. Otherwise, they‘ll be hoping for a new life until the day they die, and nothing will have changed.

Think about this!

Fast of Daniel-Day 16

Jesus kicking the legs out from under the soul

Some seek the recognition of others to massage the ego of their souls; Some use the glamour of the world to satisfy their soul;

Some spend their entire life in the pursuit of personal fulfilment;

Others even die for the glory that this world offers them.

But the glory that this world offers comes from below and ends when a person dies;Whereas the glory that comes from Above—from the Holy Place—is everlasting. It comes straight from the Source of Glory, and it never ends.

Jesus was glorified by the Father when He received the Holy Spirit, after His water baptism. That day, He heard a voice from heaven saying,

This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.Matthew 3.17

When the Holy Spirit comes He confirms that voice deep inside of those who are sealed with the Spirit.

It has nothing to do with feelings or emotions, and everything to do with assurance. On another occasion, in anguish of soul, Jesus did not pray for help, let alone relief from the situation He was about to face.

Instead, He used reason to confront the feelings (anguish) of his soul, thereby teaching us a lesson: And what shall I say? “Father, save Me from this hour?” But for this purpose I came to this hour.John 12.27-28

Then He knocked the legs out from under his soul by saying, Father, glorify Your name.

In other words: Father, I sacrifice the impulses of my soul in order to do Your will.

A voice was immediately heard from heaven: I have already brought glory to My name, and I will do so again.John 12.28 NLT

When the crowd heard this voice, some thought it was thunder, while others declared that an angel had spoken to Him.

But the most important point is that God the Father glorified God the Son before many witnesses.

The presence of the Holy Spirit gives us the strength to sacrifice the yearnings of our soul and fulfil the will of God. And when this happens, the glory of the Father is manifested in His children for all eternity.

Think about this!

May God bless you more and more.

Do this instead of strangling him (or her)

Uncontrolled emotions are relationship-killers. It may sound strange to you that the same energy that brings two people together can also break them apart. But that's exactly how it is.

When you love a person, what he or she does, thinks, or says, affects you a lot more than what other people do, say, or think. Why? Because you are emotionally attached. So when your boss says to you, "This report is crap", you may get upset but will quickly get over it. However, if your husband or wife says the same thing, you may take it with you to your grave — and bring it up in every other argument before you finally pack up.

Here's the advice: 

If your negative emotions are running high — anger, hurt, hate, shame, etc. — then don't pour them all out on your partner. It's not fair on him or her. What should you do about your feelings instead? Whatever helps you soothe and calm yourself down. Cry, if you must. Pray. Scream into a brown bag. Write three pages in your diary in a fury. Go for a walk. Whatever works for you, do it. 

Then, when your emotions are down and your brain is back in control, go and deal with the problem rationally. Emotions are the wrong tool to solve problems.

The flip side: If you find yourself at the foot of your partner's emotional mountain and an avalanche is coming at you, you'll probably have no time to run for cover — nor should you. That would only anger your partner even more. If that happens, here's what you should do:

Incarnate an exemplary customer service representative.

People who work in customer service know this: You can't reason with an angry customer. The best you can do when an irate, annoyed customer unleashes her frustrations on you is to empathize, apologize, understand, and fix her problem. The worst you can do is get upset yourself and respond in kind.

So when your partner behaves like that angry customer, understand there's probably a very good reason for his or her anger. Listen for what it is. Empathize. Apologize if you're responsible for all or part of the problem. And while keeping a cool head, decide what you can and will do to fix the problem. And if a customer rep can do it for the money, you can do it for the love. You just need to decide inside yourself that this will be your new way of dealing with your partner's emotions — and also your own.

Emotions are the wrong tool to solve problems. Your intelligence is the right one.

One thing you need to know about Christmas

 I boycott Christmas. But there's something you need to know about the birth of Christ:

Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be...?” And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you... For with God nothing will be impossible.” Luke 1.34-37

His birth was a miracle. All His life He did miracles. His resurrection was a miracle.

If you need a miracle in your life, He's the go-to person (person, not baby). Religions, traditions, and rituals may be bypassed.

Just as material sacrifices lead to material blessings, spiritual sacrifices lead to spiritual blessings. God invites those who believe to test Him in tithes and offerings. In return, He promises to open the windows of heaven and pour out such blessing, that there will not be room enough to receive it, in addition to rebuking the devourer. Malachi 3:10

Likewise, Jesus promised eternal life to those who would deny themselves, take up their crosses and daily follow Him. Matthew 16:24

In both cases, there is a need for sacrifice. However, the Apostle Paul takes it further when, directed by the Spirit, he pleads:

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.” Romans 12:1

This means that when there are no living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, there is no spiritual act of worship (remember: spiritual = rational). On the other hand, though many songs of worship are filled with messages of love, an emotional act of worship only floods people with feelings of excitement.

Some profess to feel God’s presence, others ‘speak in tongues’ and even ‘prophesy’. Let’s not even mention those who twirl around, fall to the ground and walk on all fours. If they had wonderful testimonies, this would not be so significant. But, they don’t! Much to the contrary, their lives are total failures: broken homes, adultery, paedophilia, sexual immorality, grudges towards one another, divisions—in short, a true kingdom of darkness.

Why is this? It’s because their spiritual act of worship is not rational, intelligent or conscious. How can the Creator be pleased with an emotional act of worship when He is Reason, Intelligence and Wisdom?

An emotional act of worship is similar to a decadent masquerade ball. Its participants wear costumes and masks to camouflage their hypocrisy and the works of their flesh. Who can preside over this spiritual farce? The truth is, in the absence of spiritual (rational) acts of worship there will be emotional and fleshly acts of worship.

“The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:19-21

It is interesting that Paul asks, pleads and begs the followers of the Lord Jesus to worship in a spiritual or rational manner, which requires that our bodies be living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. That is, when we praise, worship and contemplate on the Lord it must be done in a thoughtful way. This kind of worship is not restricted to church. If we are Temples of the Holy Spirit, there will be praise, worship and contemplation wherever we are.

Ideally, everyone in the church has the same faith and Spirit. There, our spiritual (rational) act of worship is united. There are appropriate hymns, songs of praise and individual declarations that exalt our Lord and Saviour.

While some praise, others worship, and still others contemplate the face of the Almighty. Everything is in perfect order and discipline.

Wherever there is this freedom, the Holy Spirit instructs, inspires and directs the praise, worship and contemplation of His Son in a generous, spontaneous and healthy manner.

Fast of Daniel-Day 14

The Kingdom of Heaven is for those who sacrifice

Readers may ask why we insist on talking about sacrifice.
It would be easy not to talk about sacrifice. We would not expose ourselves to criticism, the messages would be lighter, we would please both Greeks and Romans and no one would feel offended.

However, because we do not work according to the rules of this world, we are not merchants of the Word, we do not live off the selling of books, we do not run for political office and are not concerned about attracting religious people, we’ve chosen to follow the inspiration of the Spirit of God and proclaim the truth that sets people free.

Those who believe, go forward. Those who don’t believe, stay behind with the foolish virgins.

The truth is, when sin does not instantly kill, it slowly beats a sinner to death.
Many people, Christian and non-Christian, are groaning and don’t know how to get rid of their agony.

The spirit of sin is possessing mankind and leading them to a state of chaos.
Although many people know the Gospel, only a few have the courage to put it into practice and dwell within the shelter of God.
Most prefer to stick to a message of salvation and avoid the sacrifice of the flesh.

Meanwhile, deceiving and antichristian spirits are free to work, causing relentless suffering in those who believe in God.
These recent days are not very different from the days of John the Baptist. In those days, not only did he preach repentance, he led sincere Jews to confess and abandon their sins. Matthew 3:1-10

Right now, wouldn’t this be God’s will for your life? What’s the point of looking for God’s help in church when you continue to live in adultery, fornication, stealing, lying, etc…

Who do you think you’re fooling?
What do you think you’re going to accomplish?
How long are you going to keep this spirit of sin inside of you?
Sin is a spirit. Whoever says yes to sin, says yes to its spirit.

How can a person get out of this prison?
Sacrifice your flesh until it dies of starvation.
Obviously!

If you sacrifice your flesh, where will the spirit of sin live?

If you want an immediate answer from God, then sacrifice to Him immediately. However, if you do not abandon a life of promiscuity, adultery, lying, stealing, immorality and everything else that pleases the devil, how do you expect the Spirit of God to work in your life?