Allow Gays in Church
Are gays and lesbians welcomed into your church and accepted as members of your congregation? Do you welcome them into your small select community of christian worship or do you reject them and cast them out as sinners?
I remember a statement that was once issued from the pulpit in the charismatic church that I attended.
"We want to start some communities in the church. A support group for gays and lesbians. Sorry, let me change that. A support group for ex gays and ex lesbians. Practising gays are not welcome."
I still remember thinking, " How can you ever become a ex gay without Jesus, through the church, to help you."
So many churches that I know of reject the gays, lesbians and other sinners right out of their close and select little communities. "They are sinners you know, and they are going straight to the pits of hell. I want nothing to do with them."
Years ago, in the same church mentioned above, a guest preacher was invited to preach at a yearly conference. The preacher, whose name I will not mention, was one of the most down to earth and incredible preachers that I have ever heard preaching.
He spoke on how his own spirit filled church was filled with gays, lesbians, and sinners of every class, and how every single person was welcomed into his church without criticism or judgement and each and every soul was loved regardless of what they were involved in.
Now is that not how you would picture Jesus to be. Jesus rejected the upright and "righteous" people of the time and chose instead to spend his time in the company of tax collectors and other sinners.
Needless to say, that preacher was almost run out of town and every word that he preached was rejected by the church. Where was Jesus.
If you are expected to be washed and cleansed of all sin before you enter a church, how will anyone ever get to enter a church and meet with Jesus. If you expect a gay person to repent and give up his ways before he can come into your church to meet the living Jesus, then chances are he will never get to meet Jesus and accept Jesus into his life.
Were you free from all sin in your life before you first entered into your church and met Jesus? No - I did not think so.
Are you free from all sin in your life now - even though you have already been a christian for a long time? Again No!
Well if you are not free from sin, why do you expect a Gay or Lesbian or any other sinner to be free from their sin before they can enter your community? Is it perhaps that you consider that their sin is worse than your sin? As far as I am concerned sin is sin and there is no variation between sins. There is no single sin that is better than another sin. Sin is sin and in order to cleanse yourself of sin you have to go before Jesus, repent and be washed clean by His Blood.
Jesus does the changing .
Jesus loves you enough to accept you as you are, but loves you too much to leave you as you are.
When you come to Jesus and give your life to Him, crying Jesus help me please, Jesus opens his arms out to you and embraces you. He accepts you as you are, forgives you and washes you clean with His Blood. Slowly but surely He begins the process of changing you, your life and your passions. It is not an overnight or instant process. It takes time. He is the potter and you are the clay. Slowly you are molded into what He wants you to be.
In the case of gays and lesbians who are often some of the most hurting people in the world and who need the loving embrace of Jesus more than most, why do we reject them further and cast them out, expecting them to remove the sin from their lives immediately whilst we readily accept the fact that Jesus is still working in our own lives and has not yet completed the task of removing all the sin in our own life.
Take the log out of your own eye before you remove the splinter from your neighbours eye.
Before you judge and reject someone according to their "sin" and cast them out of your select community, simply ask yourself what Jesus would do if that person was standing in front of Him. Would He cast them out, or would He open His arms to them and love them. Sure I know that you are not Jesus, but then can you really claim to be a follower of Christ if you do not accept His ways and teachings.
Open your hearts and love someone today. Show them how the love of Jesus shines through you and help them to change their life simply by being accepted by someone like you. Your accepting someone for who they are could be the biggest thing that ever happened in their life and could make the real difference that will alter their lives forever.
God Bless
Blessings and Curses
Blessings and curses are old testament matters that have no real relevance in today's times - WRONG! Blessings and curses have as much power over your life today as they did in the old testament times.
If I had to stand before a packed church on a Sunday morning and ask the congregation if they are blessed, I am sure that at least 99% or more would put up their hands and say that they are blessed.
If I again ask the same congregation if curses exist in todays times, I would estimate from past experience that the huge majority would deny that curses even exist anymore and the rest would say that they have no power in todays times.
However, many Christians do not even understand the word "Blessed" and when asked exactly what it means to be blessed, you are likely to be met with blank stares and very confused faces. If you use the simple standards, as set out in Deuteronomy 28, to determine if you are blessed or cursed, you will find that at least 90% or more of the congregation that said that they were blessed, suddenly finds that they may not be walking in as many blessings as they thought that they were, and that it is indeed possible that they may in fact have a curse or two hanging over their life that they were totally unaware of.
Blessings.
The word "Blessed" is best defined as "To be Envied." If you are not envied by all around you, then the chances are that you are not walking in God's full blessings. Let me say right now that blessings have nothing to do with being rich. I know many rich people with whom I would never ever trade places with and whom I do not envy at all.
Riches have never brought happines into anyones life. Mostly, new riches starts to breed greed and the desire for even more riches. Money becomes an obsession in life instead of it being a means to obtain what you need in life. Money in itself is not evil, but the love of money is the root of all evil. When your love for money overtakes your love of God, you are in the clutches of the devil.
The first section of Deuteronomy 28 gives us clear instruction on how to walk in the blessings of God and what they are :-
" Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth.
And these blessings will come upon you and overtake you because you obey the voice of the Lord your God." Verses 3 to 14 continue to list the blessings. Take these verses, modify them to todays terms ( ie cattle increases refers to increases in your investments etc), and see if you have the full blessings of God in your life.
Although these are Old Testament scriptures, they stand true to today and unless you are walking in the commandments of God and in full and total obedience to Him, you can not receive the full blessings of God.
Curses.
There are many curses that exist in the Old Testament. These are curses that are directly from God and do not even involve satan or witchcraft or black magic.
Briefly, Malachi describes that you are cursed if you do not tithe. Zaccariah describes the curse that rests upon the liar and the thief. However, all of these sub - curses can be summarised by the main curse found in Deuteronomy 28:15
"But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:" Verses 16 to 68 continue to describe the curses that can come upon you if you are disobedient to God's word.
When reading these verses it is important to understand that times have changed dramatically and so you do need to modernise the scriptures slightly to adjust for modern times. There were no bank accounts and investments in those days so where it talks about your increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks, in modern times it would refer to the performance of your investments, etc.
Jesus came and set us free from the curse.
I have had many argue with me that curses have no relevance in todays world because Jesus took all curses upon himself when He hung on the tree. Jesus also took all sickness upon himself as well and yet many christians are dying daily from sickness.
Curses still have the ability to affect you today as much as they affected the Old Testament people in the past. If you are disobedient to God and do not obey His commandments, then you nullify the works of Jesus and the curses are able to rest on your life and affect you. As much as Jesus loves you and wants you to walk in total freedom from curses, the curses will remain in your life until you identify the curse and the cause of the curse, repent and turn back to obedience to God.
Are there other curses that can affect us?
Sure - there are many powerful curses that can affect your life today. Possibly the most powerful is the word curse. A word curse is a something that is spoken into your life usually by someone who is in position of authority over you. This can be a parent, a teacher etc, who says something like " You are stupid". You then accept these words as factual in your life and go through life being controlled by these words and believing that you are stupid.
Parents and teachers, as well as bosses, have to be extremely careful with their words that they speak over those whom they have authority over. Take care to confess only positive things over those whom you have authority over, knowing that your words can impact into their lives in a good way, or a negative way that can virtually make or ruin the rest of their life.
My brother was highly intelligent and very good with figures, but right the way through his life he was told that he was stupid with his hands. As a result, even though he was fully capable and able to tackle odd jobs around the house, he always believed that his efforts were useless and that he was never able to do anything good with his hands.
"What you believe with your heart and confess with your mouth shall come to pass."
Is it possible to break free from a curse?
Absolutely. In order to break free from a curse, you do need to first identify the cause of the curse in your life. If your problems are as a result of a word that has been spoken over your life, you must begin to reject that word and cast it out.
"Lord, I do not accept that word that was spoken into my life. I cast it out of my life in the name of Jesus and it shall have no power over me or my family."
If you have been disobedient to the word of God :-
" Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus. Forgive me for my transgressions. I turn away from them today and choose to follow your commandments carefully from this day forward. I break the curse that has resulted in my life in the name of Jesus."
Should you not know Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, then simply say "God help me please".
Victory in Jesus
"Blesssed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been proved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him", (James 1: 12).
We are in the midst of a war between good and bad. The war has raged for centuries and will continue to rage until the final hour when the earth is eventually destroyed and a new earth is created. This war consists of a series of battles.
Our war that we fight is not a physical war, but rather a spiritual war. It takes place mainly in the mind. On one side you know what is right and what is good. You know what Jesus would like you to do. On the other side, you have the Tempter - Satan, edging you and tempting you to do that which you do not wish to do.
Paul said in Romans 7:15 " For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practise; but what I hate, that I do."
Until the day that you die, Satan will continue to place temptations before you. It is his sole purpose to try and deceive you and lead you off the narrow track which is the way to life. Satan wants to see you fail and be destroyed.
Yes, you will fall and fail on Occasions.
Any person that tells me that they never fall and never fail is simply a liar in my eyes. If you are involved in the constant battles of life, you will at some stage become a casualty. You will get hurt and you will fall short of the Glory that God has set aside for you.
Jesus attaches no importance to how many times you fall and fail. Jesus will not judge you because you have fallen. He will not condemn you because you gave into temptation. You see Jesus is not the same as we are. We are quick to judge and condemn. Jesus is Pure Love.
It is not important to Jesus how many times you fall, but rather what is important to Him is how many times you get back up. In getting back up after a fall, comes the real victory in Jesus. Every time that you fall, Jesus is there right next to you, holding out his hands to pick you up and to nurse your wounds with His Love. As soon as you sincerely ask Him to forgive you, He forgives you.
Jesus not only knows that in every war there are casualties, but He also knows that in the end you will succeed and overcome through the strength that He gives to you. That is why you will receive the crown of life, for you will eventually be proved and will overcome temptation.
In humans there is the emotion of shame. With Jesus this emotion does not exist. Jesus is pure loved and He will never be ashamed of you.
The next time that you fall, instead of hanging your head in shame and hiding away from Jesus, rather lift your head up high and take the hand that Jesus is holding out to you and say proudly, " Jesus, forgive me for falling, but do not worry about me for I am getting back up with your help. We will carry on and win this war."
Do not judge your brother or sister when they fall, but rather be like Jesus wants you to be and hold out your hand, lift them up and encourage them to carry on with the good fight.
God Bless and may your day be filled with victory.
Delight In Jesus
Psalm 37:4 " Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart." (New King James)
The scripture above is well known by most that have a christian background. It is often, however quoted incorrectly by many who tend to leave the word "Also" out of the quote. The word "also" tends to change the meaning slightly in that the quote "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will.." means that this is the only condition necessary for you to meet the requirements that Jesus has to give you all the desires of your heart.
When the quote includes the word "also", the meaning changes and "Delight yourself also in the Lord..." becomes one of a number of requirements that need to be fulfilled first in order that Jesus gives you all the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:3 " Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the Land and feed on His Faithfulness." These are some of the other requirements that are needed in order that you should receive the desires of your heart.
1) You need to trust in the Lord - with all your heart and mind.
2) You must do Good - to others as well as to the Lord
3) You must Dwell in the land - we all live in the land - so this means somthing else - you must live in the word of God.
4) Feed on His faithfulness - receive your sustenance from Him.
The world teaches us that we are to receive all that we can from others and often when we come to Jesus and accept Him as Lord and Saviour in our lives, many come with the attitude of "what can I get from Jesus?". This attitude of GIMME GIMME does not work and when you come to Jesus purely to receive from Him, it is hardly likely that you will receive anything back from Jesus.
When you fall in Love with Jesus and your love for Jesus becomes the centre of your existence, then you start to truly live to serve Jesus and then all the provisions of the scripture start to be fulfilled and Jesus, in return, starts to provide you with all the desires of your heart.
In order to fully live in the love of Jesus, first invite Jesus into your life, then Draw near to God and he will draw near to you, and lastly live in the Law of Liberty that He has given you.
Keys to Heaven
" And I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be lossed in heaven," Matthew 16:19.
Jesus says in this scripture, that he will give us the keys so that whatever we declare unlawful on earth will be declared unlawful in heaven, and whatever we set free on earth will be set free in heaven. First a little on the theoretical side. There are some who believe that this was a power that was given to the disciples only. I believe that this was given to every christian who dares to rise up and take the authority that Jesus has given to us.
In Deuteronomy 30:19 "I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life." We are given many choices that we are able to make in our lives, and with each choice comes a consequence. One of the choices that we have to make is whether to believe the words of Jesus in the bible, or to reject them and say that they are not applicable to me. With that choice, there comes a consequence. you are able to choose to take up the keys of the kingdom of heaven and to walk in the total power that Jesus has given to us, or you can reject the words and say that they are not applicable and therefore be incapable of moving in the power of Jesus. Choose life!
What are the keys that Jesus has given to us, which are capable of opening the way for us right into the heavenlies, and which allow us to unleash the full power of God. When we use these keys, we already know that whatever we bind (declare unlawful, tie up) here on earth, will be bound in heaven. That means that the power of the Father stands behind whatever we declare! Very powerful if used correctly.
The keys can be found in many places in the bible, but I will show you and lead you to one place only. John 14:6 , "I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." A key is an item that unlocks a door, and here Jesus clearly indicates that He is the door to the Father. No one may come to the Father except through Him. This carries on in verse 14, " If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." The keys that unlock the doorway to the Father is the name of Jesus. You can walk in the authority of Jesus through the use of His name.
The Scripture of Matthew 16:19 can therefore be restated as saying, " You have been given the name of Jesus and all of it's power to use, and when you use the name of Jesus, the heavens will open to you and so therefore whatever that you may declare to be unlawful will be made unlawful by the Father, and whatever you require to be set free will be set free by the Father."
Taking up the name of Jesus and to use it's power is a personal choice. You have been given the most powerful key to use, but the choice of whether to use it or not lies in your hands. Remember that now that you have your own key to open the door, no one is going to come and open the door for you. You have to use your key. Choose to use the key in your life, not for self seeking purposes, but to increase the work of Jesus.
Alpha and Omega
"And He said to me, It is done! I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and He shall be My son." Revelations 21: 6 to 7.
The scripture above is deserving to have an entire book written about it, and not just a small article, and so I will briefly cover just a few small highlights of the scripture. "It is Done!" There is so much that has been done. Jesus has come to earth, conquered death and Hades, and has returned to heaven to sit at the right hand of the Father. The work of Jesus on earth has been completed and all authority has now been given to the believer. Also the new heaven and the new earth has been created and now sits in waiting for the time that the Father has allocated for it.
"I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End," God is the Beginning of all things and through Him were all things created. He created the heavens and the earth and all life contained within it. When we accept Jesus as Lord of our lives, we are made a new creation. God is our beginning in life. Without God there is nothing. God is also the End, and He is able to destroy or put an end to all things which He created. At the end of our own lives on earth, we will come face to face with God and all His Glory.
"I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to Him who thirsts." Jesus is the fountain of the water of life and all who come to Jesus, thirsty, will draw from the fountain and will never thirst again. Rivers of life shall flow from them.
"He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be His God and he shall be My son." Who is he who overcomes, but he who confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Jesus is the way to the Father and unless you have received Jesus into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, and have drank from the fountain of the water of life, which is the love of Jesus, you shall by no means enter the kingdom of God and experience the new heaven and new earth as revealed in Revelations 21.
Law of Liberty
James 2:12, "So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty," and James 1:25, " But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does."
James refers to the law of liberty. What exactly is the law of liberty? We all understand that liberty is defined as the quality or state of being free. However a law is usually something that binds us or prevents us from doing something. Why then is there a contradiction in this statement of the "Law" of "Liberty". You are being bound into freedom.
In order to fully understand the concept of this scripture, we have to start looking elsewhere in the bible. 2Corinthians 3:17, " Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty." Wherever Jesus is, there is total freedom and people are set free from that which holds them captive. When we invite Jesus into our lives, we become bonded to Him in love, and we are therefore bound to Him in freedom.
Galations 5:1, " Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." Christ came and set us free both from the law of moses, and the works of darkness that were in our lives and which held us captive. We are to fully understand the freedom that we have attained through Christ and we are to stand and remain in that freedom, resisting the calling that sin offers to us.
So what then is the law of liberty? The law of liberty is the freedom that we obtain from sin and the works of darkness when we turn from the world and accept Jesus into our lives. At the moment that we accept Jesus as Lord and saviour, we are immediately set free from the laws that held us captive and are released from the jail of sin, and are able to walk in total freedom.
James says that we are to speak and do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty. This refers to the fact that although we are set free from the law of sin, many choose to cast aside the freedom that they received through the love of Jesus, and return to the captivity to which they are accustomed to being in, and to give their lives back over to sin. We are to accept that we have been set free totally and that sin has no power over us, or any authority over us. The law that Christ has made, is that we are to be free. The devil has to respect this law, and therefore has no rights over us, and he has to flee from before us.
If you have been set free, then you are to confess your freedom, walk in your freedom, and enjoy the freedom that Jesus has given to you. Above all walk in the perfect love of Jesus, remaining in relationship with Him.
He Must Increase
"He must increase, but I must decrease," John 3:30. This is the key to improved christian living and to constant spiritual growth. When you accept Jesus into your life as Lord and Saviour, you begin the process of handing your life over to Him. The more that you hand over to Him the more that you grow and strengthen spiritually and the more effective you become as a christian.
Mostly people are programmed to being individuals, and into believing that they do things their way. We all like to believe that we have total freedom to do what we wish, when we wish. This is only partly true. We are all slaves in some form or the other, serving one of two masters, Jesus or Satan. There is no in between or grey area. Either you have chosen to give your life over to Jesus, or you serve satan.
Satan is the king of deception, and will have you believe that you are "free" to do what you wish. However, you are nothing more than a puppet on a string, bowing down to his wishes, and serving his purposes.
When you do truely break free from the ropes that bind you, and you invite Jesus into your life, you begin to know and understand true freedom. However you still serve a Master and the Master, Jesus, wants to take control of your life. He places His Holy Spirit within you to lead you and guide you into His way. The more that you begin to listen to and obey the Holy spirit within you, the more you strengthen and grow spiritually.
As a servant of Jesus, He fills you with love and joy and peace, and His wish for you is that you would prosper and be blessed. He does not want any of His servants to suffer, and He has a great reward for you in the form of eternal life in heaven. Accept the navigation of the Holy Spirit in your journey towards eternity in heaven, so that the road may be good, and smooth. It is when you disobey the Holy Spirit's direction that you end up on the wrong road.
Allow the power of the Holy Spirit to increase within you. Feed the Holy Spirit through constant prayer and by reading the bible. Allow the Jesus inside of you to grow strong. Spread the love that Jesus has placed in your heart towards others and reach out to them. Allow the Jesus inside of you to increase, and the old man inside of you to decrease, that you may grow strong in Christ.
Serving Jesus
Most Christians are quite comfortable with the fact that we have been called to be servants to the Most High. One of the things that many are not comfortable with is just what serving Jesus really entails. You have been called as a servant to serve and to follow the example that Jesus left for us.
What exactly is the example that Jesus gave to us? There are many instructions in the bible that were given to us to follow, but I am concentrating on one of the important instructions today, that of serving. This is one of the area's that many fall short in. You see, everyone wants to be a leader and everyone wants to be important, it is all part of the pride that lies within all of us, waiting to capture us and lead us astray. Yet no one wants to follow the real example and instruction of Jesus in this area.
Matthew 20:27 to 28, "And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave - just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." Whoever desires to be the greatest (Pride) needs to become humble (Counteracts the Pride) and must learn to serve his fellow brethren. Another scripture says that he who is least will become greatest.
Jesus did not only give this instruction to His disciples and us, but He also led by example. A little further in the chapter, two blind men cried out to Jesus, and Jesus replied to them ,"What do you want Me to do for you." He was prepared to serve them. This is also very evident when Jesus washed the feet of the disciples (John13). Jesus calmly got up from the table and began to wash the feet of the disciples. Now there were twelve disciples and only one actually took note and turned to Jesus and questioned why the greatest among them was doing the dirty work of washing feet. This shows that the disciples were mostly accustomed to the fact that Jesus did a lot of serving to them as well, and did not just sit around being served upon by them.
Many christians are filled with a sense of self importance, which makes them too good to serve the needs of others. While they may be filled with love for Jesus, they are not willing to follow the example of Jesus and to serve their fellow brethren. Start to get your hands a little dirty, and your reward will be great, not only here on earth through the satisfaction that you will gain in helping others, but also in the kingdom of heaven.
A story that touched me recently is about a local church that has a mission to feed the hungry. Every week they have a soup kitchen, to which hundreds of street kids and homeless people flock. Guess who are the people that are there serving the food and cooking for these people, they are all pastors and doctors and business owners. They are not too proud to serve, but through their faithful serving they are being blessed as a church and as individuals, like you can not believe. They are doing what Christ has called them to do - serve.
If you want to be great in the kingdom of God, it is time for you to put pride into it's place, change the way that you are accustomed to thinking by renewing your mind, and start to become useful by beginning to serve and help others.
Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve. You are not greater than Jesus, so your calling is to serve others, not that others should spend their time serving you.
If you have never had the chance to serve Jesus, why not invite Him into your life and accept Him as Lord and Saviour of your life.
Greater is He
"You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world," 1 John 4:4 .
"For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God," 1 John 5:4 to 5.
The promise has been made to you, through the scriptures above. You have the power within you to overcome all that the world will throw at you, because greater is He who is in you than He who is in the world. You are a child of God and Jesus lives within you through the Holy Spirit that fills you. You became a child of God on the day that you accepted Jesus into your life and started to confess that He is the Son of the living God. Please note the emphasis on the word you, because it is you that needs to take up the power. No one else can do it for you.
Jesus came to this earth and overcame all the powers, principalities, rulers and authorities, and spiritual wickedness in high places. Jesus then gave us the use of His name and the Holy Spirit within us, to carry this victory through. We have the greatest and most powerful name to use, and when the demons hear the name of Jesus they tremble and flee. As a child of God you have the authority to use the name of Jesus and the power behind the name.
Matthew 16:19 ,"And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." This is one of the most powerful scriptures. All authority has been given to you and you control the keys to to the kingdom of heaven. You have immediate access to the heavenlies through Jesus that lives inside of you through His Holy Spirit. Greater is He who lives inside of you, and through Him that lives inside of you, you have the power to overcome the world. You are more than a conqueror through Christ that lives inside you.
Take the authority that has been given to you, lay hold of it in your mind, renew your mind and your thinking to realise that the power of Jesus is within you, and then go out into the world in all the power and authority that has already been given to you, and start to overcome the world. Greater is he that is in you than he who is in the world.

