ANB 69, thoughts and encouragement (2-14-06)

As I sat down to write this email I felt a release of the Lord to just talk a little bit, to
deviate from our normal topic study and just share from my heart all that I see in the
Spirit and in God these days. So tonight I'm just going to go with it. I pray that these
words bless and encourage you.

Someone recently accused me of being very 'holier than thou.' Now this didn't offend me
as it is a common complaint against ministers, but it did get me thinking. A minister's job
is never to say I'm better than you are. A minister's job, however, is to exemplify the
Gospel in every area of life. And a minister's job is to preach this life of the Gospel. I
recently began thinking about the question, 'What do you do for a living?' For a Christian
there is only one correct answer, "I am a Christian." For, the just shall live by faith.

You see, faith in Christ is supposed to touch every aspect of your existence. You should
wake up thinking Christian, go to sleep thinking Christian, and all day long think
Christian. Now I don't mean always think about the Bible or God, for we have jobs and
spouses and other things God wants us to think about. But we should always be thinking
of those things through a Christian mental framework. The way we think about
everything should be according to God and His Word. And if all our thoughts are
structured in this manner, than so will all our actions be, and then our life will be one
literally living the Gospel and living for God.

Now this might all sound like a tall order? But what has to ultimately happen is we have
to have our minds renewed. Then you will see what it means to truly live Christianity.
From the moment you were born until you got saved you were educated in the world
system. This system is corrupt, the god of this world is the devil (2 Corinthians 4:4), and
this system's chief motive is selfishness. God's system is holy, the God of God's system
is Jehovah, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and this system's chief motive is
love. These systems are night and day, darkness and light, summer and winter. There are
no greater opposites than the ways of God and the ways of the devil.

We must now renew our minds to God's system and His plan for our lives. Read Romans
12:2 and Ephesians 4:23. To renew means to begin again or to make new again. Your
mind was originally created to be completely holy and totally in line with God's system.
When sin touched your mind it was infected, and like a cancer this sin spread to taint
your entire way of thinking. You renew your mind by planting the seed of God's Word
over every area of life in your head. This time with God and in His Word will help
transform your mind back to a holy thinking machine. Moreover, now Jesus Christ has
paid the penalty for your sin. And in Him we are free from the curses of sin and its
effects. But we have to truly appropriate what He did for us.

Salvation is a 'free gift' from Jesus Christ for us all. Salvation means salvation from
every effect of sin. You are saved from hell, for sure, but you are also saved from every
effect of sin in this life. Your 'heaven ticket' so to speak, you receive immediately. But
the other effects of this salvation often take effort and time. The word 'receive' in
the original New Testament Greek does not imply just catch, it means to actively reach
out and take. So we have to learn to actively reach out and take all that Salvation
provides for us. We do this by hearing the Word, claiming its benefits for our lives, and
receiving them by faith. (Please later read ANBs 22, 50, 51 and 52 at
www.exploitsforgod.com/anb).

Most ministers are not aiming to act holier than thou. Most ministers are people who
God has revealed Himself to. These ministers then devote their lives to walking in this
blessing of the knowledge of God. To walk with God means to develop in pleasing Him,
develop in receiving what He has given you, and then doing what you can to pass this
information onto others. I heard someone say that you can't really just teach someone
God as in book knowledge, God has to be revealed to a person. I believe this is
absolutely correct, this is the difference between revelation and information. Once God
reveals Himself to a person (Read Samuel 1-4), for most this marks the true beginning of
their lives.

So ministers take what God tells them to do, and the ways God shows them to work, and
preach these truths to their people. The Word of God is preached, God works through
people's mouths. This is His way. Read Romans 10:13-17. There is an apparent
inconsistency here you might have just noticed. Let me just put it like this, for this is
what I believe: God will personally reveal Himself to every person who is searching with
a faithful heart. I'm talking an experience where you come away with never another
doubt in your heart about God. However, much of God's communication to us will be
through the mouths of others, especially His ministers. So He works both ways, but
the true 'God revealing Himself to you' experience will come directly from Him.

So ministers take what they get and try to pass it on to you. Why? Because anything that
God shows a minister about Himself or His ways is true for every person. If God says
that if you praise and worship you will hear the Holy Spirit better, then this is true for
every single human being alive. So while preachers may seem self-righteous when they
say so many statements that begin something like, 'I do . . .,' they are not saying how
great they are. They are trying to instill faith in you so that you will do the same and then
get the same Godly results. This is the job of a minister: to help your relationship with
God. God is a God of order, He instructs the shepherd, the shepherd instructs the sheep.
(Note: I am not simply referring to Byron Howell, but whoever your pastor or local
minister might be).

So what do we, as church members or Bible study readers, have to do. "Believe in the
Lord your God, so shall you be established, believe His prophets, so shall you prosper."
2 Chronicles 20:20. We see again this aforementioned duality of Christianity. God
wants you to listen both to Him and to His ministers.

So when will you be established and prosper? When you begin aggressively and
faithfully doing those things that both God and your ministers lead you to do. You will
not prosper otherwise, I have to tell you. If you do not walk by the Word, you cannot be
established in the Word's blessings. If you habitually disobey Godly advice from the
ministers in your life, you won't prosper. God puts you under a specific church
leadership so you will receive and obey the Word. If you don't obey you are largely
wasting your time.

But the wonderful converse is so true. When you aggressively begin to believe the Lord,
trust his ministers, and do all that you believe God and His Word command, you will be
established and you will walk in prosperity like you never imagined. Read Genesis 1:28,
29 and Ephesians 1:3, these verses have so struck me lately. We were created blessed,
and we have been blessed with every good and spiritual blessing we could ever
want. We are already blessed. What we have to do is now walk out the blessing.

A blessing is largely an empowerment I believe. I am blessed to succeed and prosper in

all Godly living. I am not blessed to go out and live like a fool. If you will serve God
and live appropriately, trusting Him and His ministers, these blessings will manifest, and
life will be a walking manifestation of salvation from every effect of sin. You will live
Christianity, you will living God's provision, you will walk in prosperity and you will
live the abundant life (John 10:10). Glory to God.