GOD'S PLAN FOR U


Being trained to be a king  
                                            
1.                                             Kings need to be trained
2.                                             The Lust of the world that holds the kings of this world.
3.                                             In incubation of hatred
4.                                             Forgiveness heals
God has called us to be kings and priests ( Revelation 1:6) who would rule the kingdoms of this earth and minister to God. The place of a king is the place of power and authority. He is looked upon with great reverence, is feared and is greatly honoured. A king’s judgement and his decisions not only effect him but also every person in his kingdom. Every king ( who holds places of authority and power) needs to be trained by God. If the king is not trained, he will be filled with the Lust of the world. The root of lust is desire. What we see, we desire. When we see people prospering around us, we want to attain those things in our lives. We invest our time, energy, money and even pray to God to have them in our lives. Every person who is not trained to control his desires is connected to the lust of the world. As Satan rules over all the world’s system, he thus controls every person who is filled with desires. Desires that don’t have boundary, turn to covetousness. When covetousness increases, it turns to lust.
Generally the kings ( the people of power and position ) in this world are held by the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life ( the victories, wealth they possess etc..) They want to gain more things in this world. They are filled with desires that are formed from their forefathers, which are passed through generations and run in the blood. The son looks at what the father desires and how he is achieving things and wants to get things in the same manner in his life. These desires become habitual in our lives, thus enslave us and make us feel that we cannot come out of them.
      If any person speaks against what we desire or speaks negative, we don’t like to connect with them. We develop hostile feelings, immediately conclude about the person and will begin to hate them. The meaning of hate is extreme dislike towards something. The Bible says in Proverbs 10:12 “Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all sins.” We are habituated to quickly conclude in our soul. In any given situation our soul begins to take in what is presented through our heart, mind or our senses. So, what our heart, mind speaks during a negative situation is based on the good and bad that is accumulated in this world. When we do the word, the word pauses our conclusions and teaches God’s way of concluding things. In this way we pass on the right judgements. A king needs to learn the principles of God to make right judgements in this world. When we do the word, the word settles inside us and during the time of judgement, God controls our conclusions so that we can judge the things of this world according to the standards of God. According to the Bible, pride ( Proverbs 13:10), wrath ( Proverbs 15:18), hatred ( Proverbs 10:12), transgression ( Proverbs 17:19), contentions ( Proverbs 17:14) all stir up strife. So everyone who is not trained in these is directly linked with Satan.
Everyday as we have to face many negative situations, hatred accumulates within us. One has to prepare not to get connected to hatred. God looks at the truth in our preparation: the truth that prevails, the truth that will be put into action, the truth that will definitely brings forth results and changes within us. We need to forgive people or situations that hurt us. Forgiveness is not limited to words. We have to remember the person or situation that has hurt or angered us and speak it before God that we are forgiving those words, actions and incidents etc.. Forgiveness is a process. Jesus said we need to forgive a person 70 times 7 in a day. So, it is evident that we will be reminded of the hurtful or angered situations and we have to keep forgiving whenever those incidents pop up within us. When we truly forgive the person, we don’t feel hostile or hurt when we see people or remember those incidents. This is God’s way of forgiveness. So if we don’t have the habit of forgiveness and eliminate hatred within us, God cannot use us as  His kings and ministers like Esther, David, Joseph etc..to rule and save His people. Instead we fall into the hands of Satan and he uses us as a weapon to trouble the people of God and things of God. Therefore stop contentions, pride, wrath, hatred, transgression and practice forgiveness so that we become His sons to carry His purposes on this earth.

Nothing is difficult to over come cause the Bible says in Revelation 12:11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony..”

 
Walking in the Light                                                 
1.         Lukewarm Christians
2.         Walking in the Light
3.         Restrainer of Iniquity – the Holy Spirit God
4.         Quenching the Spirit – turns on the wrath of God

Spirituality is not determined by habitual prayer or reading the scriptures everyday. We can know God only when we present ourselves in truth and do His word. When God speaks His Word, there is a timing. God gives us the understanding in the word and we need to hold on to
it all through the day and work on it, If we make any thing or work or relation bigger than the Word, His understanding leaves us and we will only be left with the reference. Understanding makes us continue in the word of God all through the day. Therefore we need to guard the
understanding that God has given to us.. Only then Jesus becomes the foundation of everything in our life. There will be a change in the decision making ( The soul begins to prosper). But Christians are used to live a lifestyle that is inclined to this world. They run to
fulfill their desires in the world rather than obeying the word of God. They are called Luke warm Christians. Jesus explained about them in Mark 4: 18,19 “…they are the ones who hear the word, and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other
things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” As said in I Thessalonians 5:3 “…sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman.”, Christians who remain lukewarm  will be stirred up more by their desires, and so they run to the
world and will be destroyed. But people who do the word according to I Thessalonians 5:4 “are not in darkness”. The people who practice the word don’t live in darkness. They walk in the light. The Bible says in John 6:63 “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are
life.” When we hear the word and prepare to put away our desires and interests of this world in truth, the word becomes spirit and enters our spirit. According to Proverbs 20:27 “The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, Searching all the inner depths of his heart”. As our spirit is the lamp, the word that has entered our spirit forms the light in the Lamp. The light shines on our heart. It darkens all the areas that belongs to this world and Satan, and falls only on those things that are right and acceptable in the sight of God. Thus everyone who walks in the light, walks according to the things of God and grows spiritually. So whenever a person walking in the light has to choose between things, he has a restrain, that pulls him to walk and decide only according to the will of God.
       If we walk in the light, we will know the seasons and the timing of the Lord’s return to pick up His Bride. Such people will be not have the feeling that God is going to come like a thief in an unknown time for they will know the hour of the Lord’s return. The light inside them makes them see things spiritually. But to everyone who doesn’t have the light of God within him is filled with fear and is condemned  of his sin. He is not assured to be caught up with the Lord and
therefore the day of the Lord will overtake them as a thief in the night.  Jesus said about the Holy Spirit in John 16:13 “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come”. It is the spirit of God who reveals the word of God to us.                       In John 14:16,17 Jesus said “…He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, … He dwells with you and will be in you.” The Holy Spirit ( is the third person in the Trinity) has come down to the earth on the 50th day after the ascension of Jesus into Heaven, called the day of the Pentecost. Everyone who is born again, has the Spirit of God dwelling inside them. Jesus said the Holy Spirit is our Helper and our Comforter as long as we live on this earth. He is the restrainer of iniquity              (II Thes 2) who restrains us not to get connected to the things of world. The Devil has no power until the Restrainer is present on this earth, striving to make a man focus on the things of God. But most of us who are born
again and are baptized by the Holy Spirit dont heed to the restraint that the Holy Spirit gives, and we walk away from the things of God. We work in the things of this world in delusion ( a persistent false  belief regarding the self or God despite of the revelation of the truth through the word of God) believing that God is with us. Lukewarm Christians push away, quench and  let down the Spirit of God whom Jesus has given as a Helper. So according to II Thessalonians 2: 7 it is the Lukewarm Christians who take Him out of the way and then the end comes. God doesn’t allow the Spirit of God to be quenched or to be pushed away. In the very beginning during the time of Noah the Bible says in the book of Genesis, that God has given His Spirit to the sons of God ( who are of the lineage of  Seth -who was like Abel)) so that they walk obedient and do things that are acceptable in the sight of God.
 But the sons of God were too captivated by the things of this world that they put aside the restraint of the Holy Spirit and made their own choices. The Bible says in Genesis 6:2 “sons of God saw the daughters of men( who are of the lineage of Cain), that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose.”  This angered God and He said in Genesis 6:3 “My Spirit shall not strive[a] with man forever.” The meaning of striving is restrain.  God becomes angry when His Spirit is restrained and everyone who restrains the Spirit of God will be left behind and will have to face the wrath of God.
Therefore, prepare your heart, crush your SELF, continue to hold the understanding in the Word through the day so that you walk in the Light. And stand in obedience to the restraint of the Holy Spirit so that you lead a life that is acceptable in the sight of God on this earth and will be prepared to be caught up with the Lord during His second coming.

COME OUT OF YOUR LUKEWARM STATE

 
Peace of GOD                                                                

God brings all His will and all what He wants through a packet of integrity. That packet is a gift given to you by God. That gift is only for a farmer who works and brings a harvest. That harvest is a great life to you and your family, your office and wherever you go. There is a peace which God has promised to give us as an integrity that continues with us.        Many people in this world don’t know how to get peace in their life. They try to get peace by doing some exercises like meditation ..etc., so that ,they can reduce tensed situations in their lives. All these things may give a feeling of relief but can not solve your problems. The problem lies in your heart, in your mind , it is right in your soul. If you want to be free in the inside of you, you must open your heart to God and allow the word of God to be planted inside your heart.
The Word of God says  “ Fear of the Lord : is
1.     To keep your tongue from evil
2.     Your lips from speaking deceit,
3.     depart from evil and do good.
4.     Seek peace and pursue it ”
In the first three verses God is saying  to observe and guard , but in the fourth phrase He is saying what you have to search. Pursue means , searching continuously ( nonstop ) till you reach it . That should be your goal and nothing should stop you till you find it.How much you get the peace of God, that much you know His will. Peace makes you to settle in the will of God, and to know the heart of God.
            In John 14:27, The Lord says, “ Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled , neither let it be afraid.” It says that there is a difference between the peace of this world and peace of God. The peace of this world is going to give you a kind of assurance which you develop over a period of time and that which stays only for a while. Whenever a problem comes, when you are depressed, you try to get peace from your friends , parents,or by meditation. This peace that comes from the world that will fade away. But the peace that comes from God is a guiding peace which will not leave you. It makes you to feel joyful in the midst of trouble. It makes you to know the heart of God supernaturally . You can fight every battle, because , Jesus makes you victorious and you are a winner in Christ.
            How to experience the peace that comes from God?      The Lord says In John 14:27 “ ..Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid”. That means the Concluder is the Lord Jesus Christ so let not your heart be troubled. You need strong preparation, to do the Word by making your heart to stay where it has to be . In you preparation you must crucify your self and has to make plans to control your heart based on the Word of the day.In John 16:33 the Bible says “ These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” When God is giving you His peace, He is leaving something of  His molecules in side of you, which are Holy and precious and beautiful. These molecules will not allow the contaminated molecules in your body to overpower you. What for peace? It is because trouble will be there. We are living in the world where the devil is working to let you down by placing traps and snares everywhere in your life. But God gives you His peace to overpower any problem and to break the snares of the enemy, so that you too can overcome the world just as He. Colossians 3:15, “ And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.” When you feel that your brother or sister in Christ is not liking you, the peace of God says hold on. You know that God would take over the relationship. If your own brother or sister  is not living a right life, the Lord brings His peace , and He will let you know that the Lord will bring something marvelous into his or her life.
PEACE IS AN EXPERIENCE
            In Judges 6:23,24 the bible says,“ Then the Lord said to him, peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die.” So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it The- LORD- Shalom. ( Jehovah Shalom ). It was Gideon's experience with peace of God, through which his fear was removed and he was filled in the inside . If you have an experience , you know how to choose things , and based on this peace you begin to make decisions , peace of God becomes the ruler of your life and you will keep winning day by day.
Jehoiakim – King of Judah
He has no experience with the peace of God, he took decisions based on the words of the false prophets and the people, which led to the destruction of himself and his kingdom.
King David -: He has an experience of peace of God. He says in Psalm 120:7  “ I am for peace, but when I speak they are for war.” He is mentioning that he is for peace , but when he speaks it is bringing war , it is because he is dwelling with people who hate peace.
Disciples: Had an experience of peace. The first mission which God gave to them is peace mission. The Lord sent His disciples into the world teaching them , that they have to stay with those who are sons of peace.
            In James 3:17,18 the Bible says “ But the wisdom that is from above is first pure , then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
When wisdom comes , then you have the peace, you have the seeds of wisdom to sow, that brings you a supernatural harvest. For any problem, in anybody's life , you can sow the seed in righteousness that brings solution to their lives. So keep your heart with all diligence , for out of it spring the issues of life .The issues of life are - peace of God , wisdom and all the things of the seven Spirits of God .
In Matthew 5:  The Lord says  “ Blessed are the peace makers, for they are called the sons of God.” So be the son of peace to operate His kingdom to get things by preparing your heart, crush your self and allow the Word of God to be planted in your heart which makes you to experience the peace of God. Let the peace of God be the ruler of your life.
 

        
Understanding                                                          

Every one of us wants to succeed in life. We all need solutions for our problems. We need the understanding of God in our lives, to bring solutions for our problems. E.g.: If you want to bring a flavor in your coffee, you need to have an instruction; you should have an understanding to bring that taste. In the same way you need an instruction from God to succeed and to bring God’s solutions in your problems. God sends His Word, that Word, is an instruction for your success. Understanding is the strength to apply that instruction. As you begin to meditate on the word and work with his word; God sends His understanding which enables you to bring the word in to your situations so that you will see victory in your problems. If we do not have the understanding of God, we can not grasp what God is speaking to us and we will operate with our own understanding, because we are opinion oriented people.
            Opinion means that which fall short of positive knowledge .Opinions will be formed inside us, because of the accumulation of self and they will be according to our own good and evil in the world, which was stored in us. Your opinion is the slave of your desire. When you see a person speaking right about your desires, that person becomes good for you. If the Word of God is against to your desire, you become against to the preacher by bringing your opinion out. Based on your opinions you mould the Word of God and begin to link with your desires in the world, in which Satan is the ruler. You will not hear and understand the Word which God is speaking to you but will throw the Word aside and begin to draw opinions that God has to do things for you and will add faith to this, which is not right in the sight of God.

            John 8:43 says, ---The whole world is under the sway of the wicked one. This world has put a lot of desires in your fore fathers, they began to run and work to get those desires, and the same running after desires is passed into your life. Here comes the hand of Satan. John 8:44 says that Satan is the father of lies,. He will come and present everything good and right and deceives us like how he spoke to eve in the garden of Eden with his lies. So Jesus says in Luke 8:18 therefore take heed how you hear the Word.

Heed : Take notice of , pay attention to ;
So, you need to check yourself with what opinions you are hearing the Word, and prepare yourself to break those opinions. When you come to receive the word, your heart should be open to God -.you need to hear in such a way that you should take notice of what you are and careful to think of what is Gods heart for you,

I John 1:5,6 says , If we don’t prepare and obey the Word, even though we pray to God to forgive our sins, we will forget everything after sometime and our own old sins clings to us again.
Acts 3:19 – When you heed the word of God, you will come to know your truth.Then you will say to God ” God your word is true and I did not do it. I feel sorry for it. I will change myself and show to you “. The one who has this conviction will repent and get converted to a new person. 
 When we repent (Confess & Forsake our sins) and convert (Breaking our former opinions, set them according to the Word) – The Blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all our sins and will keep the devil away from our lives. Then God sends us the refreshing times, to refresh our spirit. God is going to clean every sin in your life. You can’t feel sin any more. You feel refreshed when you are cleaned of your sin like how you feel fresh when you take bath every day. When you are refreshed you feel you can do anything. So you can take decisions with the Word rather than with your opinions and you will love your own soul.
Proverbs: 19:08 – He who gets wisdom loves his own soul;
                              He who keeps understanding will find good.
Soul is the place where you make decisions. 3John 2: 1 Says when we prosper in our soul we prosper in all things. The person who heeded the word kept his opinions, his desires and interests aside and begins to walk in repentance: This is the person on whom God releases His understanding. When you begin to guard that understanding you can find the wisdom of God. His wisdom is the refreshing power. The level of your preparation determines the level of your refreshing. As long as you stay in the word you will have these refreshing times with you.
So abide in the word all the day.  Proverbs: 4:20 – 22 Says
  1. We need to give attention ( No matter how busy you are, make yourself time to check with the Word )
  2. We need to incline our ears to His sayings and cut short all other inclinations which
we have in the world and making the Word as the top priority for the day.
  1. Do not let them to depart from your eyes: There will be scene changers in your heart and your mind begin to show pictures according to it. We are habituated In changing scenes in split seconds, so we should build an attitude not to change the scenes in between the work but picturise the Word and keep working with it.

So check with your opinions, repent and be converted and experience the refreshing times of God.
The Mind                                                                      

  1. Prepared heart that controls the mind
  2. The Light of God that directs us
  3. Whom does God direct?
  4. When does God direct?
  5. How does God direct?
Mind is a place of imagery. What we watch with our natural eyes we capture it in our mind. Thus the mind is filled with lust, wickedness, evil, incidents that we hate and love and all the worldly things. In the mind, we start to imagine and picturize things. Heart is a slave of what the mind dictates. The devil controls our mind. God sends His word and we need to prepare our heart with the word of God. A prepared heart in turn controls the mind. It will not allow the mind to entertain anything which is out of the word of God. When Jesus was explaining about the purpose of God , that He must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again, Peter said that he will not allow it to happen. Then Jesus rebuked Peter by saying,“Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” - Mark 8:33. A person who hasn’t prepared his heart with the  word of God is mindful of the things of men. Peter’s heart was not with the word of God and hence was not connected to God. He couldn’t understand the purpose of God. His mind was imagining things of world. We need to setup our mind. When we prepare our heart, the word erases all the worldly things that are accumulated in the mind. The word draws borders in the mind as on what to think, see and imagine. A restrain is created in the inside that doesn’t allow us to see what God doesn’t approve. Such people will be mindful of the things of God and running with the purpose of God. When the mind is not connected to the things of God we like to associate with people who have the same kind of mindset as we have. We can never connect with people who are mindful of the things of God and are purpose driven.
There are 2 kinds of eyes in us. One is the physical eye: through which we see things, the other is the eyes in the mind: we view the images that are already captured in the mind. The Bible says in Job 31:1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman?” Job has drawn borders to his physical as well as his eyes in the mind. II Corinthians 4:2 says, “..whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” Satan has blinded the mind, but not the heart. The heart has become wicked because the mind is continuously relating to see, to connect, to think, to device whatever it wants to the heart. The mind inside is dangerous when it is not connected to God. But when the heart is prepared, the mind becomes stable, and the light of the Gospel will fall upon the mind. When the light falls we can see  where to place our steps and find solutions to everything in our lives. But if we look around we will lose the sight on where we have to place our step. People, rather than focusing on the word, gaze at the things of this world and waste time. When the connection with the word (Gospel) is lost, the light is lost, eyes are blinded and there is no direction for our steps.
Proverbs 19:8 says “He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; He who keeps understanding will find good.” The meaning of ‘get’ is succeed in bringing. Job got the wisdom of God and so he loved all his decisions that he made during his adversity, when he said in Job 27:6 “My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go; My heart shall not reproach me as long as I live.” He was clear with his connection with God. The person who is in understanding  - has to apply instruction in his work.. When his mind is working on instruction, he cannot deviate for his desires, friends, interests, fascinating things etc.. When we stay in the understanding, the Bible says, we find good. The Psalmist says in Psalms 37:23,24 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way. 24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the LORD upholds him with His hand.” Though the good man slips and falls down, God upholds him. This is an experience all of us need to have. When we feel impossible, God comes into that place and makes the impossible possible. God starts His miracle power only with people whose mind is stayed on Him.
The Bible says in Proverbs 4:20 :
My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings.
Attention is getting connected by stopping everything and giving prominence to something else ( Word of God) than what we are going through. Paying attention is the key for the Gospel. Gospel is not only hearing in the church or a prayer meeting. It is when we are on the road, spending time with friends, in our wickedness, evil, in our lust, we pause all that is influencing us and recollect and meditate on what the Word has spoken to us.
Inclination is bending our hearing ability. There are 2 kinds of ears: our physical ear ( in the outside) and the ear in the inside of us. Our ears should be given to what the Lord spoke and to people who speak knowledge in our work. It shouldn’t be given to the voices that speak with us or to people around. This is called inclination.
The Bible says in Proverbs 4:21:
Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep then in the midst of your heart;
 The meaning of depart is to oppose to arrive and never to return back again. When the words of God go away from us they don’t return to us again. No matter we pray, cry to God the understanding that God has given in the word will be lost forever. So the Bible warns us to be careful not to allow the words of God to depart from our eyes. Even though the devil is showing fascinating things the word of God should not depart from our eyes. This needs a very strong preparation in the heart.
When we give attention, incline our ear, guard the words of God by not letting them depart from our eyes, the direction of the God begins in our life. We will learn how to consider and differentiate the things of God and men. Else whatever comes to our mind, we judge and decide with it. God guided Job in all his businesses and thus was blessed in everything that he had.
Proverbs 5:21-23 : says,  21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, And He ponders all his paths.22 His own iniquities entrap the wicked man,
      And he is caught in the cords of his sin. 23 He shall die for lack of instruction,
      And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
Path is the sequence of steps we take to reach something. There are number of paths that we may take in a way. Taking the right path determines our success. God watches at all our paths. He looks at the path we are going to take when pressure comes, during contentions, desires, lust, anger etc and the areas where we slip and fall for the temptations that come across our paths. And therefore when all these come and attack us, we never reach what we have thought. God comes into our path and directs us, only when we connect with Him. The Bible says in Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;  6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct[a] your paths.” When we prepare our heart with the word of God, we will see God coming and directing, leading, blessing and supplying all the needs in our lives. We needn’t plan for them ( food, water and shelter), God has already purposed them in our ways.

 Therefore, prepare your heart and be mindful of the things of God, stay in understanding so that you will see God’s direction and be victorious in your life.

 
Change your Treasure   
                                                 
1.             What’s your real treasure?
2.             The heart follows the treasure
3.             Preparing the heart changes our treasure
4.             The Mind that is set
5.             Wisdom gives power
All of us want God to come into our problems and bring solutions. But God will not come according to our imaginations. He comes according to His word. God is not looking for any of our talents to bless us. He looks at our heart. The Bible says in Matthew 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”. Treasure is something which is precious in the eyes of a person. A treasure can be treated as a man, woman, business, career, beauty etc… Anything that we get fascinated and spend time day in and day out is our treasure. Bible speaks about the rich young ruler who came to meet Jesus. He had great treasures in this world like – Money, properties, man power etc.. He comes to Jesus, praises God for His goodness and asks Him how to get into eternal life. Jesus tells him to sell everything and follow Him. This makes the ruler very sad. He gets disappointed and doesn’t obey the words of Jesus because his treasure is not God. He only followed a habitual form of religion but he never gave his heart to God. In the same way, we speak great words about God, but we despise Him when it comes to obeying His word. Respecting God is obeying Him under any circumstances. If we don’t respect and honor God and neglect Him by giving importance to other things like office, friends, own desires, problems, we are making God as a second priority in our life. God will never take the second place. He needs to be given the prime importance than anything else in our lives. Only then God becomes our treasure.
            Whatever we treasure in our lives, our heart is set on it. These treasures have great value, respect and honor in this world. The Bible says in Matthew 15: 18-19 “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” All these are present in our heart and get connected to the treasures present in the inside of us. We get connected to the people of similar interests and desires that we have. The treasure begins to influence our words, actions and decisions. We throw God aside just as the rich young ruler did. But on the contrary, if we have Jesus as our treasure, all these ( Matthew 15:18-19) will be eliminated. Until we change our treasure we cannot see a change in our lives.
Preparation is the key for the change of treasure in our lives.  If we don’t prepare we will begin to consider every thought that comes out of our heart. So if we change our heart the treasure will change. Heart is just the follower of the treasure. God gives us His word so that we don’t fall down for the treasures which this world offers. We are supposed to prepare our heart every morning, planning on how we are going to behave, how we are going to restrain our words so that we don’t get connected to evil, by foreseeing the kind of people or situations that are going to come through the day. Such a person will come out of evil habits and will change his treasure. He focuses on the word alone, sets his thinking on what God said and does it. But the person who doesn’t prepare, bows down for 2 minutes in prayer, feels that God is along with him and walks off. But the person who is preparing and is letting go of all his treasures though he is  warned by people around him of losing things in his life,  the Spirit of God inside him assures and encourages him to move ahead. God re-assures him of the amazing things that He has in stored for him and fills him with faith. So as said in Romans 12:3 “… but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.”. As a man walks soberly (balanced and temperate), according to the word of God, he begins to walk by faith. The Bible says in John 14:1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.” While changing the treasures of our heart, we may feel  painful and troubled of losing things. But we must understand that He is in control of everything. 
There are 2 kinds of mindsets: The Spiritual mind and the Carnal mind. Romans 8:6 says, “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Mind is a place of imagery and gives an elaborate picturization of what is present in the heart. According to the word of God, if our mind is set according to the things of the Spirit, we will experience life and peace. When we make God our treasure, during hard times, He fills us with peace, joy and gives wisdom. Moses threw all the worldly treasures, made God his treasure and followed Him. So when people of Israel were stuck up at the Red sea and were facing the danger of death, God came to their rescue and split the Red sea. When our heart is prepared and the mind is set, we will recognize the things that will deviate us from God. So, a mind that is set with the word, brings life and peace. When one has come into a spiritual mind, he experiences power.
The power is the wisdom of the God. Ecclesiasts 7:19 says “Wisdom strengthens the wise, More than ten rulers of the city.”  Wisdom of God gives us the power than 10 rulers in the city. It gives us the power of dominion to crush the power of Satan, as well as the understanding to find solutions, so that we lead a victorious life. Proverbs 14:33 says “Wisdom rests in the heart of him who has understanding, But what is in the heart of fools is made known.” The understanding of God comes upon a person who has prepared his heart, crushed his self. When a person continues in the understanding, wisdom comes and rests in the heart. That wisdom directs the person to victory for the day. But fools ( who have forgotten their holes), will love to discuss their treasures with people around them. They love to express as said in Proverbs 18:2 “A fool has no delight in understanding, But in expressing his own heart.” And all the fools have the same heart. They get united with each other and run after the treasures of this world. They can never experience peace, life, joy and power of God.
Therefore change your treasure, by preparing your heart and make God your treasure, so that you receive understanding and power which is called the wisdom of God. And that that wisdom will make you lead a victorious life on this earth.
 
GOD’S WAY OF VICTORY

1.    The secret things of the Lord
2.    The ‘ Cosmos’ that attracts you
3.    The perfect way of winning
4.    Building your house on the Cornerstone

God has created the heavens, the earth and everything on this earth. John 1:3 says “…All things were made through Him( Jesus)”. Jesus is the word of God. When God created the earth, He created it with a purpose. While He was laying foundations of the earth, He kept some things as a secret. He created the Garden of Eden and every living thing inside it. He made man and woman in His image. They had the power to speak to lions, wild creatures and to all living things: and everyone obeyed them. They enjoyed the dominion power over everything on this earth. They had access to the secret things of God. But, God also placed the tree of good and evil in the Garden of Eden and commanded them not to eat the fruit of that tree. Satan deceived the woman and they (Adam and Eve) sinned against God by eating the fruit of the forbidden tree. The result was that they lost the image of God, and entered the world of flesh. They gave the ruler ship (dominion power) to Satan. They lost the connection to the secret things. Therefore they didn’t know the secret things of God. Now, God has revealed those secret things to His children (who obey Him) and His children will reveal it to the world. Jesus said in Matthew 13:34-36 ““I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.”  God has revealed those secret things through parables. Parables are not understood by common people. They are for the disciples as Jesus said Matthew 34:11 “……..it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given..” for there were huge multitudes who came to hear from Jesus but Jesus spoke only to the disciples. Disciples are the people who abide in the word of God and wholly follow the Lord under any circum stances. Adam and Eve didn’t know the secret things and were working in this world. Similarly, everyday, every person works through certain principles by which they are going to get life and victory. They want to be successful in their lives. In this pursuit to reach the endpoint in their work, they encounter many unknown areas. These unknown areas are the ones where people don’t know how to find solutions. But they want to reach their success point by hook or crook. So, they derive their own solutions and follow many deceptive things like bribery, connecting to wicked things and somehow reach the endpoint and claim their victory. So, everyday we are learning victory from Satan.

Before ever we were born into this world in our generation, Satan has already prepared the worldly system. The Greek meaning for the world is cosmos. It means beauty and adoration.It is order of arrangement i.e. the beauty that is already put in order of arrangement for our generation by the devil. Matthew 4: 8 reveals how Satan tempted Jesus showing the splendor of the world and asked Him to bow down before him. But Jesus rebuked Satan saying that everyone was ought to bow down only before the Lord, but not to the cosmos (the beauty of the world). And Satan continues to allure us with this cosmos in our generation. Do we recognize the beauty of this world that is attracting us and is driving us to run after it? Lot got driven to Sodom, looking at its splendor during his time. But the place was full of sin and people lived there without a character. Lot had great victory in his business and everybody during that generation hurried to that place. Lot sought the same things that the world was seeking after. On the other hand, Abraham who also lived in the same generation tasted victory that God has given him. When Lot was captured by the five kings of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham had a supernatural victory over the five kings and rescued Lot. Despite of being unskilled as warriors and having very few people along with him (around 331) he won over all the 5 kings. Similarly in every trouble he faced in his journey that he started by heeding to the word of God (to get of his father’s country) God made him victorious. In the same way,Joseph, who was the only person who had the understanding of the dream that was given to the Pharaoh. He was the one to whom God revealed about the famine that was coming ahead in the future. And it was David who had the power to kill a lion, a bear with bare hands and the power to kill 10000 with this sword. It was to Daniel the lions heeded when he was put into the lion’s den. Similarly there were many children to God who tasted the victories that God has given. Those unknown things of the world are the secret things of the Lord. A common man cannot be blessed until he obeys God.
God has given us His word. That word is for our spirit. The word of God is in the spirit form (John 6:63). But the things that we learn in this world like education...is not in the spirit form. We are born again in our spirit. Before we are born again we lived in flesh of this world and derived all our solutions according to the things of this world. Even after we are born again we carry the same fleshly things with us and try to reach our endpoints. So, in this course whenever we encounter these unknown areas, we fall into the flesh, snares and traps and exhibit foolishnesses. We fall into snares and traps when we are perverse. Perverse is doing contrary (opposite) to what God has spoken to us. The Bible says in Proverbs 22:5 “Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; He who guards his soul will be far from them.” Therefore every person who is not trained by the word of God to come out of perversity will fall into snares and traps. Foolishness is found in the high places in this worldly system. It lies with people in great positions who make crucial decisions. Proverbs 15:21 says “Folly is joy to him who is destitute of discernment, But a man of understanding walks uprightly.” Discernment is looking deeper into an area. Discernment comes when we do His word. God gives us discernment to overpower foolishness when we reach the higher places. In this way in every unknown area, God teaches us His wisdom. The people who get this wisdom of God are called wise. They overpower all the wobbling areas in their work by learning the secret things of the Lord. They are not revealed to anyone except to the children of God. God teaches us the way to win and it will be straight, strong and perfect. There will not be any unknown area or doubt in the way. We will know exactly where we are going. When King David was making war with countless army, he knew that he would win because he learned to the secret things from God. He trained 36 people and passed on those secret things to them. They were filled with power of God. One of his valiant men was able to kill the entire army in the war. That power has come from God alone. The Bible says in Proverbs 22:17 “Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise...” The wise are the people who know the unknown areas. In those words lies the power of God that will teach us how to win. Our endpoint will always be excellence. Proverbs 22:29 says “Do you see a man who excels in his work?  He will stand before kings; He will not stand before unknown men.”  David, Joseph, Samson tasted excellence in their victory.
 In 1 Peter 1:17-25 Bible speaks about work and everyone works to achieve something in their lives. But the Bible warns us not to work with the silver and gold (1 Peter 1:18) i.e. the brightness of this world, great positions and splendor which is the cosmos of the world arranged by the devil. God wants us to desire the pure milk which is the word of God ( I Peter 2:2) after being born again into the kingdom of God, by laying aside all the flesh, stopping all desires of the world and choosing the things of God. Then the word teaches how to overpower the flesh, come out of snares, traps and foolishnesses of this world right from the common man to the kings that rule on this earth. Every day, we construct our house. We are the builders of our house. A house is a place where we plan, we decide, we feel secure. The Bible explains the prophecy in I Peter 2:6 ““Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious,   and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” The cornerstone decides the structure of the building. Once the structure is decided, all the measurements for the structure are measured by a measuring stick. The Word of God is the measuring stick for our building. When we measure it we will come to know the unknown areas. God brings us great victories because our structure is built on the cornerstone. People who want to build their houses on the cornerstone will regard the word. But people who are disobedient – who don’t do the word reject the cornerstone and build their own structures for the Bible says 1 Peter 2:7 ““The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,”. God is warning the people who have rejected the cornerstone and are building their houses with the foundations of the Devil, - that they would surely stumble and will fall into the snares and traps laid by Satan. Therefore heed to the word of God for in Matthew 21:28 God speaks about the parable of 2 sons to whom the father asks to go and work in his field. One denies it in the first but later regrets and goes and works in the field. But the other son says he would go, but doesn’t go to work in the field. Check where do you stand? Are you working with the field that God has given you?
Have you reached the top by connecting to wicked things of this world? Then, even though you reach the endpoint you don’t sense the real winning. The perfect way of winning comes from God alone. He teaches you how to win so that you will always be a winner in every work that you do. Therefore reject the cosmos and cling to the word everyday and get trained by it, so that God makes you victorious.

 
            VALUES AND INTERESTS                                    


1.             Recognizing values in life
2.             Do not trust your own heart
3.             The importance of valuing any relationship
4.             People of values

  We live in a community and are surrounded by people. We connect with them and form relationships. All of us want our relationships to be blessed. But for every relationship to be blessed, the most important ingredient is recognizing values and beliefs. Value is something that is held precious in one’s sight. Belief is something that we represent through our actions. Our family customs, traditions in which we grew up form values in our lives. If people don’t value what we value we feel hostile towards them. But if they value what we value, we feel good to connect with them. Our values and beliefs destine our decisions. Therefore our soul is a slave of our values and beliefs. If we have to connect with others, our values and the other person’s values have to be mixed along, else there will be collision ( contentions will arise). In Luke 9:50-62 the Bible says Jesus set His face to go to Jerusalem to offer Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of all the mankind. In between He was passing through Samaria. He sent messengers ahead of  Him to tell people about His journey through Samaria, but the people of Samaria didn’t receive Him. The disciples expected the Samaritans to honor Jesus, but none cared for Him. This angered the disciples because Jesus has done many miracles, cast out demons and healed people in Samaria. The disciples wanted to destroy them and asked Jesus to grant them permission to bring fire from heaven and burn up Samaria. But Jesus rebuked them saying “ You don’t know what manner of spirit you are in” The disciples valued, people’s attention and honor toward Jesus, while Jesus valued His work ahead of Him in Jerusalem. Similarly, today God wants us to set our face in a particular area in our lives. He values it. So we are supposed to value what God values so that we will see God coming into that particular area. What God doesn’t value we are not supposed to value them. For Eg: if we consider a person who is preparing for an important exam. He is not going to give in to any of his desires or interests. Even though his friends speak about his desires and try to influence him, he will restrain and will not listen. He sacrifices his desires, his time and sets his face to reach his goal. When we set our face towards something we value it more than anything else in our lives. A person has to recognize what his values are, what are the values of his spouse, his children etc.. so that there will not be any collision in his relationships. But if a person cannot recognize values, it means to say that the person is not trained up in his values to recognize them.

 The Bible says in Proverbs 28:26 “ He who trusts in His own heart is a fool, But he who walks wisely will be delivered”. Heart consists of desires and interests. These desires and interests are protected by our opinions. Opinion is something that falls short of positive knowledge. An opinion is formed based on what we feel good or bad. The good and bad inside us is formed by the things of this world, and are not taught by the Spirit of God. When we form an opinion we connect to our desire. Our desire takes the support of our opinion. If anyone speaks against that opinion or the desire we don’t agree with them. Jesus said “ No one is good except God” The disciples of Jesus had their own opinions about the people of Samaria based on what they felt ( their own good or bad ) and they valued those opinions. According to Proverbs 28:26 the person whose heart is not placed in the Lord will not be delivered. The meaning of walks is the habitual sphere of action or a chosen profession. It is the habitual work we do throughout the day i.e waking up in the morning, doing our daily chores, going to our workplace, spending time with our family, and hitting the bed in the night. This is called our sphere of action. This is every person’s ‘walks’ of his life. The way a person walks decides his desires and interest in his life. We are not supposed to trust in our heart ( desires, interests, opinions ) but trust in the Lord and work in His wisdom so that we will be delivered from every problem.

The person who recognizes values inside him and others, knows what to speak, what to think, and how much to connect. So, this will not allow him to get into arguments. The whole world is going to connect in the name of good or negative values. These negative values will deteriorate us from the things of God. Therefore we have to learn Godly values which God is going to teach us through His word. Only then we will understand God’s values, His ways, the boundary in which He works etc..If our considerations of values is  less, then our opinions and our thinking is not up to the standard, so we cannot connect with people who have higher values. Wherever we are beginning to form a relationship (ex: wedding) if we are considering the areas of interests or desires but not values, then we will have problems in that relationship. The Bible mentions of Daniel, David, Esther, Joseph etc.. who served as kings, queens, ministers, governors etc..They learned the values of God and know how God connects in those values.

            Abraham: Abraham has got some values in His life. He valued his family, his family customs, his father etc.. God said to Abraham to get out of his father’s country and follow Him. There was a clash between the values of God and himself. But Abraham recognized the value of God and gave importance to God’s value rather than what his mind, heart, his desires were speaking to him. So, he obeyed the call of God in his life. When Abraham had to chose a bride for Isaac, he didn’t select one from the people of Canaan but he sent Eleazar to go his country to select the bride for Isaac. He knew that his people will possess the same values as he has. His priority was not beauty but values inside the woman. So Eleazar found Rebecca in the same value that Abraham had ( entertaining strangers and taking care of them) Rebecca gave water to Eleazar and his camel even though he was stranger. She had the same value that Abraham had. God, The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit also visited Abraham in the same value. Therefore values form the base for any relationship in life.

            David: David was hiding in the cave of Adullam and the Philistines were encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.. David longed to drink water from the well of Bethlehem. When the three chief captains of David came to know about this, they broke through the Philistines camp, jeopardized their life and brought water to David from the well of Bethlehem. When David came to know about this, he valued the water so much that he poured it down as an offering to God. Though David was not raised in a king’s family he recognizes what a value is. He recognized the anointing on Saul and even though Saul was doing wicked things, he did not rise his sword against Saul. These values are key for a king.


            Ruth: Ruth and Orpah were daughter-in-laws of Naomi. Naomi lost her husband. The husbands of Ruth and Orpah too died. Naomi belonged to Israel, while Ruth and Orpah belonged to Moab. So they were returning from Moab to Israel and Naomi said to her daughter-in-laws to return to their country so that they might have a better living. Orpah left Naomi while Ruth clinged to Naomi. She recognized Naomi as a woman of values. The values of Naomi blessed Ruth. The Bible says in Ruth 1:16-17 ““Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.”  Because of her decision is honoring the values of Naomi, she got married to a king ( Boaz).

Therefore every decision that we make will be based on what we value. So, recognize the values you have inside you, know based on what they are formed and look at the endpoint of each value. Are they really taking you to what you want? Take time to learn and recognize right values in life through the word of God so that you will blessed in your relationships and will see your God working on your behalf in those values.


GOD’ MEASURING ROD       
                                                  
1.     A standard measuring rod
2.     God is greater than the condemnation of our heart
3.     Dishonest scales and weights are an abomination to God
4.     God teaches His measuring scale to us
5.     The Favor of God
Most of the time, we try to measure and judge things, problems or people around based on our own understanding. Our measurement is based on what our ‘self ‘ speaks to us. Our measurement is not based on the standards of God. Matthew7:1-2 says “Judge not, that you be not judged.  For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” According to the word of God, if we judge others, we will be judged by God. What measure we use to hear the word of God or to measure people, the same will be measured back to us. If we have to measure God’s things, we have to understand His measurement. Without this knowledge we cannot understand what God is speaking to us. For eg: If we don’t know the number line in Mathematics, we cannot understand the measurement in a scale. A scale is a standard that is used to measure things on this earth. The scale should be of a standard with approved measurement on it. Only then we can measure distances and things correctly.  In the similar way we have a measurement in our thinking.  The measurement in our thinking is based on our ‘self’ but not on what God says. When we have a problem, we measure the problem with our own understanding and derive our own solutions for the problem. Thus, each one of us has a measuring stick within us and we measure everything and everyone around us with it. Paul has learned the things of God by the expenditure of his effort. Paul says in II Corinthians 10:12 “For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.” When we look at people or our own problems, we measure them with our own measuring scales and they are based on our self. There are God’s permissible things that God is going to answer. Paul is speaking of the sphere God has given to him. If he goes beyond this sphere which God has given to him and asks God’s help, God doesn’t answer him neither he is going to work with him in that area. So, therefore when we work in the sphere God has given to us, He comes into our place and solves our problems.
I John 3:20-21 says “For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.” Our heart condemns us at times because of the way we think, the way we work, of our sins, of our foolishness, sins and iniquities in our lives. Our heart tells us that we are sinners, dictates our walk with God and it decides what we will do. If our heart condemns us, God is greater than the condemnation of our heart. God is greater than what our heart is saying that we are. The scripture in I John 3:20-21 implies that the measuring stick that John has applied is by the power of God but not according to his own measuring stick. That measuring stick inside him is given to him by God. He couldn’t see that measuring stick when he was condemned while Jesus Christ was training him. But once the training period is over and when he is working with the Holy Spirit that is when he recognized that something was different. Even though he had condemnation, God removed it and freed him, so that he can work with clarity and he needn’t keep worrying about what he will lose or what will happen in the future. When the power of God comes into a place, the greatness of God is revealed and the condemnation is broken. If the power of God doesn’t come, condemnation doesn’t leave us. How do we know God’s measuring stick inside us? We have felt condemned yesterday in a particular area, and later we set our self in truth and spend time in the presence of the Lord the next day in the same place even under more pressure, we don’t feel condemned. It is because God removed it. That is how we realize God’s measuring stick within us. He is teaching His way of measuring things. Next time we needn’t be worried about condemnation because God is greater than our condemnation. That word comes alive in our lives. Everyone condemned the woman who was caught up in adultery. They made her stand before Jesus. According to the Law of Moses, she is supposed to be stoned to death. But God is greater than the condemnation. Jesus spared her life with the wisdom and the power of God. The Bible says in John 8:10-11 “He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”  She said, “No one, Lord.”  Jesus removed all her condemnation. Proverbs 13:21 says “Evil pursues sinners, But to the righteous, good shall be repaid.” The people who were working with their self pursued the woman who was a sinner. But God made her righteous, by His word. He removed all the condemnation of her sin and good is repaid to her. When God makes us righteous, we don’t feel condemned; we don’t feel we are wrong. The difference lies in the way our mind works and the way God works.
The Bible says in Proverbs 11:1” Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD, But a just weight is His delight.” The meaning of abomination says “extreme hatred” towards something. God hates dishonest scales. If dishonesty is inside us then our scale is wrong. To recognize dishonest scales one has work with the word called upright. The meaning of Upright says : Honest and honorable. The meaning of honest says not stealing, not cheating and not lying. The meaning of honorable says deserving, bringing or showing honor. The meaning of honor is adherence to what is right and the nobleness of mind. The meaning of noble says belonging to the king’s family and of excellent character.  God removes dishonest measurements inside us and places his measuring stick within us. Anything that we measure using it is perfect and God supports our measurement. God approves our judgment, because our measuring stick is perfect, it belongs to God and it is God Himself. Proverbs 16:11 says “Honest weights and scales are the LORD’s; All the weights in the bag are His work.” God is teaching us honest weights and scales. He is teaching them in our spirit. Proverbs 16:2 says “All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the spirits. “How does Samson know that the Spirit of God has left him? When the Spirit of God comes and manifests, he weighs it in his spirit. The Spirit of God helps us to differentiate and recognize God’s weights in our spirit.  Upright is the word that will make us learn the measurement of God. Upright people are called the sons of God. As they learn being honest, once they deviate from the honesty, God alerts them that they are using the wrong measuring stick.
Proverbs 20:10 says “Diverse weights and diverse measures, They are both alike, an abomination to the LORD.” The Bible also says in Proverbs 20:23 “Diverse weights are an abomination to the LORD, And dishonest scales are not good.”  Ezekiel 40:1-5 speaks about Ezekiel watching God’s measurement for the construction of the Temple of God. He saw the angel of the Lord, holding a measuring rod of six cubits of length. The cubit measurement in the rod is equal to the 1 cubit and a hand breadth for Ezekiel i.e. he could recognize that his measurement is smaller than that the angel was showing him. God was revealing it to Ezekiel so that his measurement will be perfect. Zechariah 2:2 also speaks about angel having a measuring stick in his hand. Any work that we do begins with a measurement. We make an approximation to go from one place to another in the appointed time. It is called measuring. But we have dishonest scales and dishonest measurements.  That is the reason God says that we are not supposed to judge the other brother. We are not supposed to speak about others, by pointing the speck in the other person’s eye for there is a plank in our own eyes. But if we get trained by God, we can judge anything, heaven back it up and heavenly wisdom comes into that place.
The Bible says in Proverbs 12:2 “A good man obtains favor from the LORD, But a man of wicked intentions He will condemn.“  Intention is the settled direction or bent mindset towards doing something. Our mind is already settled based on our interests and desires. This implies that the self is very strong in the inside of us. We need to clean ourselves (prepare and get connected to the presence of God) to do the word. If the self is going to interfere, God is not going to come into that area. The meaning of favor is the kindness or a benefit which is given by a person or by God or by a man of authority through which the person cannot claim or ask for it. It is totally under the part of God or of the person’s authority. When we are doing the word of the Lord the first thing of God’s heart is that he wants to show favor to us. He cannot do that as long we hold onto our self. But once the self is put aside, he begins to teach us His things and even in the pressure when we continue with the Lord, then He shows us His favor.  Proverbs 13:15 says “Good understanding gains favor, But the way of the unfaithful is hard.” When we have good understanding we will be able to access the favor of God very quickly. If we want to gain the favor of God and the favor of kings we need to have the right measuring rod with us. God lifts us in the very place when we know His measurements. That is how He blessed Joseph, David, Daniel, Esther. The favor of God and kings rested on them and God lifted them into the highest ranks in authority. The Bible says in Psalms 103:1-4 about God’s benefits to man. A benefit is God’s favor coming upon the man.
Therefore stop judging people and circumstances, and learn the right measurements from God so that you will be free from your condemnation and God’s favor comes upon you to lift you up and bless you in every area of your lives.   
 
                        GOD’S WORDS OF EXCELLENCE                  
           
1.             The Certainty of the words of truth
2.             Conviction without character is dangerous
3.             Character determines God’s strength
4.             Discernment reveals God’s deeper thoughts

From the smallest to the vast creation of the universe, God’s work exhibits excellence. God’s things ( His wisdom, His knowledge, His work) are always excellent. God wants His children to exhibit this quality in their everyday lives. The Bible mentions in Proverbs 22:17-21 “Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, And apply your heart to my knowledge; For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you; Let them all be fixed upon your lips, So that your trust may be in the LORD; I have instructed you today, even you. Have I not written to you excellent things Of counsels and knowledge, That I may make you know the certainty of the words of truth, That you may answer words of truth To those who send to you? “Excellence always stands at 99% or above. Any person who reaches that level is considered to produce excellence in his field. Excellence comes inside a person who is trained by the Word of God. One has to change his thinking, restrain his words, actions, desires and come to a single mind and obey the word of God to learn the excellence which God is teaching. The words of the wise are always excellent. Wise people are the ones who learned through the word to recognize how God comes, when does He come, where does He come, what does God answer and what He doesn’t. Wise people can identify when God comes into that place. ‘ Certainty of the words of truth ‘ is the definiteness that the words will not fail but will come to pass. Truth always sets a person free. A person experiences freedom in the inside of him, in the midst of problem, pain ,trouble, adversity etc.. That is the power that lies in the truth. God has promised to give that power to people who abide in His word, for the Bible says in John 8:31 “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Whenever the truth is coming and setting us free we can recognize it. Generally, when we are facing adversity, we get into anxiety, fear and worry about our situations. But when the truth comes we experience freedom right in the midst of the problem. It is a spiritual experience that comes from God alone. Even the people of this world speak about the problems we have to face in this world. We have to either overpower them with our strength or stay with them if our strength fails. But they don’t know the secret of knowledge of God’s truth. The truth sets us free and therefore the words or the incidents that are happening around don’t trouble us anymore. That experience makes us to wait on God, not for solution to the problem, but for the word of God, because in the word lies the truth that sets us free.

God knew that we have to face troubles in this world, and so He sends His word through His ministers. As we learn His word, we experience freedom in small areas in our everyday lives. Words of truth ought to be the foundation, in every believer’s walk with God. The words of truth will never fail. For example : When a drunkard comes and says to his wife that he is going to be sober and will quit consuming alcohol, his wife believes in him and accepts him. But when that man gets into frustration, he drinks again. He cannot stand on what He said. He was only filled with conviction, but he doesn’t have a character. A character is what we represent. It is the action that we represent in pain, frustration, when situations are not favoring us etc.. What we represent during our adversity decides our character. If action remains constant ( positive) in pain or frustration, it indicates that we have a good character. Character is always built during adversity. A person cannot change without building character. Saul was pursuing David to kill him. During his pursuit, he went into relieve himself in a cave at Ein Gedi. Now David and his men were sitting in the inner recesses of the cave and David had a chance to kill Saul. Instead he cut off the edge of Saul's robe secretly. When Saul came to know what has happened he gets convicted, weeps and pleads David to return to him. But David didn’t believe in Saul’s conviction, because he lacked character. David knew that Saul would kill him. Character always determines what a person is going to do. Without building a character it is impossible to receive a blessing from God. Bible speaks about this character in terms of integrity. Character is the foundation on which integrity is built. The meaning of integrity is not diminishing in quality, strength or value. Such a person will be stable in the midst of any problem. God observes such a person and notices the integrity he is exhibiting and begins to bless him. Then God gives him another problem, which is deeper and checks whether the person is stable in his action. When we are building our character in an adversity, God gives us the understanding and the strength to deal with the problem.

Proverbs 24:5 says “A wise man is strong, Yes, a man of knowledge increases strength;” According to the word of God wise man is a strong man. The wise man is the one who recognizes the things of God. Wise people choose things according to what God wants but not according to what they want. The more information they get in that particular area, they increase in their strength. In this way God trains a man through His knowledge, until he reaches a level where is going to be strong enough to face the problem. Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ[a] who strengthens me.” Strength is the ability, to tackle with any force or power that comes against us. That strength comes from God through His anointing. If the strength of God is not revealed in that particular area it indicates that our character is weak. Strength is coming from the truth that sets us free from the pain that comes across our path. The level of freedom inside us, decides the ability to work in any place. The level of our ability decides what we will do in any given work. i.e how deep our thought goes. This is called discernment. The thought goes deep inside because of the strength that God has placed inside the person in the problem. If we don’t possess the strength of God, we cannot discern the things of God.

Proverbs 15:21 says “Folly is joy to him who is destitute of discernment, But a man of understanding walks uprightly.”. The meaning of destitute is lacking or having nothing. A fool is a person who forgets his hole. Hole is the ‘self’. A fool listens to what his self speaks, thinks accordingly and gets depressed and prays to God. Foolishness is the wisdom of this world.  The Bible says the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God. The person who lacks discernment will have his joy in the wisdom of this world. Discernment is spiritual i.e the person can grasp something in his spirit. David experienced that discernment when he killed Goliath. None of his family members or his people encouraged or strengthened him to kill the Giant. He possessed the strength of God within and when he looked at Goliath he felt he could kill him. He discerned God’s weapon to kill Goliath was a stone but not Saul’s armor. The strength within decides the level of discernment inside a believer. Strength is how long we can stay when the same old situation surrounds us. Proverbs 22:29 says “Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before unknown men.” The work that the man presents always stands up to the mark of 99% or above.” The Bible says such people stand before kings, because of the excellence they exhibit in their work. They possess the strength, discerning power, that takes his work ahead. Whatever he does, he wins because God works with him. Proverbs 24:10 says “If you faint in the day of adversity, Your strength is small. Ecclesiastes 7:19 says “Wisdom strengthens the wise More than ten rulers of the city.” The Bible says
Jesus grew up in wisdom because wisdom is strength. When Jesus is going to the cross, the strength inside Him was wisdom. He had the strength to face the Pilate, bear the pain, rejection of His people and the high priests and continued to do the will of God. Being in human form, he possessed the strength to face that day.

Therefore it is clearly understood that the words of God are excellent. So, build your character, to receive the strength and the discernment of God so that you excel in everything you do and you receive the blessing of God.                                   .    
      
 
            Unto the upright there arises the light of God         
 

1.             The presence of God
2.             Forming the character called Upright
3.             Light of God is for the Upright
4.             The Lord is our everlasting light

We face many tough situations everyday. Most often we try to handle them with our own intellect or our own strength. But at times when life becomes too hard to handle, we make wrong choices, decide with the pressure and will mess up our lives. God wants to help us to find solutions and wants to fill us with His peace. The peace of God lies in the presence of God. Presence of God makes way for a man to make decisions in God. We know how to pray but we don’t have an experience of His presence. Praying in the presence of God is different from making a nominal prayer. The presence of God determines a man’s ability to think, work and bring the things of God in his life. The presence of God always fills a man who obeys the word of God by preparing and allowing the word of God to settle in his heart. Generally for any thought that comes out of the heart, the mind gets tuned to it. It shows all the images related to that thought and we do exactly what the mind shows us. We may think good for a little while but when we get a phone call or somebody puts words at us we get disturbed and all kinds of evil thoughts comes out of the heart. This is because the heart is not immersed into the word of God. If we allow the word of God to settle in the heart it forms a mesh around the heart so that evil and wickedness that is present in the heart does not come out. For the mesh to stand powerfully all through the day around our heart we need the presence of God. When the presence of God flows we do exactly what God wants us to do and will flow in the will of God. The presence of God picks us up into His thoughts. But if we don’t experience the presence, even though we want to do the will of God, we cannot..

Upright is the key character of a Christian life. It determines the person’s connection with the God of light. Jesus said ‘I am the Light of the world’. Seeing the light of God during our dark times is an experience. The meaning of upright is being Honest and Honorable. The meaning of honest says not stealing, not cheating and not lying. The meaning of honorable says deserving, bringing and showing honor. The meaning of honor is adherence to what is right ( in the sight of God) and nobleness of mind. Upright man sticks to what is right in the sight of God in his actions, thinking and behaviour. Upright is a character that is formed by integrity. Character is what we represent in that very instance of time (Character is action).The person who is adhering to the word of God doesn’t give any excuses (that he is weak and he wants recreation in his life etc..) Uprightness eliminates laziness out of a man. The meaning of noble says thinking, acting like a king. The thinking of such a man is not bound up to foolish imaginations filled with worldly things such as fun and frolic, but thinking with responsibility. It is connecting with other people to take care of them. An upright man shows responsibility to his family as well as to people who are under him. When a person is thinking like a king he is careful in what to speak with people, how to behave with others etc.. The level of his responsibility makes him to take decisions. Nobleness of mind is God approved mindset.

            Psalms 112:4 says “Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness;
                                        He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.”
Light is to see things. Darkness refers to a confused state where one does not know what to do and where to go. When we are going through a problem we are in darkness. In the darkness, we pray because we don’t know what to do. But when the light shines, we can see things clearly and work our way out of the problem. The people of God who have an experience of the light of God, don’t get into anxiety or worry, but know that the light will shine and they will find definite solutions in their problems. Many a times, David found himself in darkness when he had to face problems. He didn’t get into anxiety, but kept speaking to his mind that God will come and shine His light and he will find a solution to his problem. Such level of control in the mind during the time of pressure comes by practicing the word everyday. The faith that comes from the word of God, controls the heart and the mind. Psalms 97: 10 says “You who love the LORD, hate evil! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.” Evil is the injurious kind of thinking, behavior and activity which is promoting devil’s hand in our lives. Soul means decision making. When we get into darkness, we don’t know what to decide. James 1:21 says “ The implanted word saves our soul” .All we have to do is to prepare with the word and bring the heart and the mind into discipline. If we do it word gets inside the heart, moves into the soul and thus saves our soul. Thus the Lord preserves the decision making of the saints. God comes across our paths and keeps delivering us from every snare put up by the enemy and that is a experience every Christian ought to have. Psalms 97:11 says “Light is sown for the righteous, And gladness for the upright in heart.” The righteous man is an upright man who is practicing the righteousness of God ( doing what is right in the sight of God). Upright man has already practiced and has got righteousness of God with him. God sows light for the righteous and the upright in their hearts. What we sow we reap. The light that is sown in the heart, arises and shines as a light in our dark times so that we can see things clearly.

Isaiah 60:19-20 says “The sun shall no longer be your light by day, Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; But the LORD will be to you an everlasting light, And your God your glory.
Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself, for the LORD will be your
your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended.”
During the day the sun gives light and in the night the moon gives us the light. The person who is working through the sun and the moon (things of this world) believes in the light of the sun and the moon and therefore doesn’t know the light of God. God is going to become an everlasting light to the person who obeys Him. He will be the light of his heart, mind, soul and of his future. When the light doesn’t shine on the future we are not supposed to think about it. That’s how David, Abraham and all the children of God lived by it. In John 9 when the disciples saw a blind man, they began to conclude on why the person was blind. People who don’t have light will try to find reasons for the problem and waste time. But the light of God was revealed in the place, the miracle happened and the blind man was healed. I John 1:5 declares “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” Know that the Father is full of light and one glimpse of the light erases all the past and influence of the problems.
The Bible says in Proverbs 15:19 “The way of the lazy man is like a hedge of thorns,
      But the way of the upright is a highway.” A lazy man is the one who does little work or no work at all. The thinking, speaking, decision making everything is very hard for a lazy man. But for the upright the Bible says it is the highway: it is easy to travel, right and quick decisions are made, his way is very peaceful and comfortable. When we learn uprightness, God connects and performs things in our lives very easily. II Peter 1:19 says “And so we have the prophetic word confirmed,[a] which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;” The meaning of heed says take notice of, pay attention to. When we practice giving heed to the word of God, we will know the prophecy in the scripture for the future of what God is going to do for us in our lives or what will happen to this world at the end. It acts as a morning star that will arise in our dark times and will shine by guiding all through the problem, until the dawn (till the problem is solved).

Therefore God has promised us to never leave us nor forsake us at any time. Obey the word of God by building the character called “Upright” and wait on the Lord, for the light will come and will shine. And it is that light that will lead and guide us to the end until we come out victorious in the problem.

THE SPIRITUAL PROSPERITY                                          

1.     The Mind controls the soul
2.     The spiritual Vs Carnal connection
3.     A importance of soul prosperity
4.     The Word of God ignites spiritual gifts
God has purposed us to prosper in all things. But how do we prosper? Prospering in this world demands fame, money, good education, talents etc..But according to God, prosperity starts in the soul. III John 1:2 says “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”  We are spirit, soul and body. The spirit is the breath we take ( called the neuma). When we die our spirit leaves the body. The soul is the place where we take decisions. The body is physical being that is connected and dwells in the world. All that we see, hear and sense are experienced in the body through the world. The things of this world are called flesh. All the things of the world are captured in the mind in the form of images. So the mind is set according to the things of the world (flesh). The one who controls the flesh is Satan. The playground of the devil is the mind. If we are convinced in the mind about something, we do exactly for what we are convinced. If we are not convinced we don’t do it. Convincing is the key for any person to force himself to come in agreement with a plan, purpose or a decision. So the decisions in the soul are based on our mind. Therefore a carnal mind that is connected with the enemy, is forced to make fleshly decisions. A carnal mindset cannot do the will of God. Since, the mind doesn’t get convinced by the word, it doesn’t allow to decide and work with the word of God. So the person can never experience a spiritual blessing.
God works through the spirit and influences the soul to make right decisions. When we are born again, we are born new in our spirit. So the new man is in the spirit form and is in our spirit. The Bible says in John 6:63 says “..The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” The words of God are in spirit form. They are aimed at our spirit. The new born spirit babe in our spirit is to be fed with the word of God  so that he grows and become strong and will be able to see, hear, and recognize spiritual things. For eg: If a baby doesn’t grow, he/she  doesn’t recognize the things in this world. Similarly if the spirit man doesn’t grow he cannot recognize the things of the kingdom of God. When we hear the word, we hear it through the physical ear. But the word of God is not meant for the fleshly areas but for the spiritual areas. We are not supposed to reason or analyze the word of God with our mind. For the word to enter into our spirit, it has to penetrate through the mind. Therefore the mind has to be set with the word of God. For the mind to be set the heart has to be prepared before ever we hear the Word of God. The carnal mind ( which is under the control of Satan) stops the word from entering our spirit. When the word enters our spirit, it reaches  and settles in our soul. The word of God ( Jesus) sits in the soul and opposes every carnal decision that would be made. This happens only  when we obey His word. When the soul decides with the word the body follows those decisions. Therefore God operates through the spirit, prospers the soul and controls the body. So every person who is grown spiritually will act, speak, think and decide not according to this world but according to the kingdom of God. But  Satan acts from the body ( develops desires, interests from the world in our body), forces the soul to decide and finally quenches the spirit.

Matthew 16:21-23 says ‘Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”  But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Peter’s mind was connected to the flesh and was not allowing the will of God to be fulfilled. A carnal mind can never do the will of God Therefore our soul is a slave according  to what the mind is set. The Bible says in James 1:21 “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” The word of God is for our soul prosperity. God heals our body and sends His word so that we give Him our soul. When the word comes, some of the fleshly areas are easy to let go but some areas ( of our desires ) are hard to let go and decide with the word of God. The Bible says in Luke 21:19 “By your patience possess your souls.” God will lift us from the very state we are in and will bless us in everything that we do. To experience such a blessing,  we need to operate  spiritually.
Even though we habitually read the Bible, pray everyday, when we connect to the people or the things of this world, we enter into sin. The reason is lack of preparation. God is training us with His word to such an extent so that we will be able to overpower every temptation. This requires a definite preparation for the heart and the mind. Preparation makes us overpower sin that is going to come across our path. We need to check the areas where we have connected to foolish things. Even though we pray, and ask God forgiveness, those connections will come back again. So we need to seek the Spirit of God for information on how to avoid them in the best possible way. Spirit of God is our helper and helps us to grow spiritually. Our spiritual life is not decided based on the number of spiritual gifts we possess. It is decided based on how we are trained by the Spirit of God in Jesus Christ( Word of God). If Jesus ( Word of God ) is not found in our spirit then we cannot operate on the spiritual gifts. For eg: If we have the gift of prophecy, we cannot prophecy unless we have the word of God inside us. Therefore the word of God ignites the spiritual gifts inside us. So for everything that comes from God, the word of God is the key. The word of God is the foundation for every believer.
Therefore prepare your heart and set your mind with the word of God, so that you grow in your spirit, prosper in your soul and thus prosper in all things.

EXPERIENCING THE KINGDOM OF GOD       

  • The Kingdom of God and the Kingdoms of this world. 
  • Seeing the Kingdom of God within us
  • The demonstration of the power in the kingdom
  • Error of the wicked 
  • Spirit of truth and spirit of error
The word of God in I Corinthians 4:20 declares “For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power.” God has a kingdom which is not of this world. God made it available to all of us through Jesus Christ.  While Jesus was on this earth, He preached and demonstrated the power of this kingdom.  In Luke 17:20-21, when the Pharisees asked Jesus about the Kingdom of God,  Jesus said , “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!”. In this world there are Engineers, Doctors, health care professionals, software professionals, lawyers, teachers, business men etc.. All these are the kingdoms of this world. And the people receive wages for laboring in these kingdoms. All these kingdoms operate with certain rules and regulations.  In the same way, God gives us His word, that explains us about the rules and principles through which His kingdom  operates. In the kingdom of God there is no partiality, fleshly knowledge, worry, fear, anxiety, foolish talk and thoughts. There is liberty and freedom from all the holds of  Satan in our lives. Jesus is the king of this kingdom. The kingdom of God demands our obedience to the rules and regulations in it. As we are going to form our language, our character, our relationships, our friendships etc.. in these rules, the king uses His ruling strength and power through our lives to touch other people around us.  That is why God has called us as “ Salt of the earth”. Just as the salt adds up to the taste of the dish that is prepared, God’s children demonstrate  God’s excellent wisdom in any work, business or relationships in this world. But when the salt loses its flavor ( connection with God and His word), the people of this world will trample the children of God.
What we see, we believe. The more pictures we see of this world, the more we believe in the kingdoms of this world. Therefore all of us believe in the kingdoms of this world rather than the kingdom of God.  The Kingdom of God cannot be seen with our natural eyes . Jesus said in Luke 17:21 “] For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” When we are born again, the kingdom of God comes with us. There are spiritual eyes that will be birthed inside us as we are born again spiritually. When a baby is born in this world, the baby cannot recognize the parents, or things around. But after a while, as the baby is being fed, the baby grows, the eyes  get fixed and eventually will begin to recognize the parents and things around. Similar, after being born again, if we are not fed with the word ( doing the word) we cannot see or recognize the kingdom that is present within us. The King of the Kingdom of God was tortured, was put on the cross, and was left alone. The people of this world have given Him no glory or honor. Therefore the kingdom of God cannot be recognized by the people of this world. The Kingdom of God will be seen by us only when we obey the word. The word reveals the knowledge of truth that sets us free. If we don’t get that knowledge, we live in distress and in pain everyday. God doesn’t come into the kingdoms of this world, but everyone who believes in His kingdom, enters it and enjoys the blessing of the kingdom. The more we obey the word, the less will be the influence of this world.

The Book of Daniel speaks about the end times, where God reveals to Daniel the dream of Nebuchadnezzar.  Daniel explains of a stone that is cut without hands from a mountain, and hits the great statue at the feet , that the king has seen in the dream. The statue collapses and the stone begins to grow, becomes a mountain and fills the whole earth. That mountain represents the kingdom of God, that is going to come after the 7 years of God’s judgment ( tribulation and great tribulation) on this earth. But for now the Kingdom of God is within a believer. One can see and operate in it only by faith. The believer grows in the word and in faith, he sees the demonstration of God’s power of that kingdom in his life. When David saw the lion taking his sheep, he feared it greatly. But when Samuel anointed David and he received the Holy Spirit, when he  saw the lion, he experienced absence of fear. He felt that he could kill the lion. As he ran towards the lion, the Spirit of Might came upon him and he tore the lion to pieces. In the next instance, when he had to face the bear, he felt the same courage within him. That strength and power was coming from the kingdom of God present within him. He operated in it through faith. Those experiences made him to concentrate more on the knowing the Kingdom of God.

In II Peter 3:14-17, Peter speaks about people who twist the Gospel according to their own desires and interests. They twist the Word of God, because the kingdom of this world and its beliefs are strong inside them. Peter calls such people as untaught and unstable. The new born babe is untaught and unstable. Even though we have been coming to church for many years, if we don’t drink the milk ( do the word) but only collect and store the milk ( only hear the word and forget it) there will be no growth inside us. In the kingdom of God, only when we drink the milk, we grow. Steadfastness represents the integrity that we show in the way we work, speak, behave according to the word in our everyday lives. Everyone around us can see it. Peter warns us of being led away from our steadfastness into the error of the wicked. Error is generally used in small and minute areas. For example, the language of a Microbiologist is a microscopic language. His readings are calculated, according to the microscope. Error is a word used in micro areas. The wicked are the people, who fall from the range of disobeying the word of God to the people who murder and destroy the lives of people. Error is a place where we are mistaken or will be in the wrong. It means we will be led astray, will be strayed,  or will  wander  from the truth of the word of God. When we don’t have a goal or a purpose, we don’t know what to focus in the day or in the hour i.e we get easily deviated . The person is not ignited with the passion to do the work. The person has a loose mindset. Such people waste time by recreating, or thinking about the their problems.
 I John 4:6 “He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” People will be either in the spirit of error or in the spirit of truth. According to I John 8: 32 says everyone who “abides in the word will know the truth and the truth will set us free.” Such people who abide in the word of God are of  the spirit of truth.  Proverbs 19:16 says “He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul,  But he who is careless[a] of his ways will die.”  When we guard the commandment,  we will be capable of not yielding to the pressure of the problem. But when we don’t guard the commandments, we succumb to the pressure and take decisions according to the pain or the problem. The way consists of a person,  a situation, a circumstance, a friend etc..Being careless in their ways relates to people who deal in their work with slack hand.  The Bible says in Proverbs 10:4 “He who has a slack hand becomes poor, But the hand of the diligent makes rich. “  The meaning of slack consists of being careless in duty. Being careless in the way is called the error of the wicked. When a careless wicked person comes and speaks to us and we get deviated to such talk, we get influenced by his words. Thus we are in the spirit of error. Spirit is an influence. Influence makes us to do things regardless of our will. Anyone or anything can influence us. The Bible says in Proverbs 16:2 “All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,  But the LORD weighs the spirits.“  We plan our way and think that we are going to reach it. But what decides our destination are the influences that will come upon us in the way. To overpower these influences, we need to understand the error: We need to have a microscopic level of measurement in our preparation. First identify the right path,  track the deviation that will force us to make a mistake. Imagine the situations, circumstances, and people who are going to take us away from the word and plan accordingly. The Lord will show us the spirits that are influencing us and making us stray from the word of God.
The Bible says “Whom the Son sets free is free indeed”. Therefore obey the word of truth by having a microscopic level of preparation so that you stay in your steadfastness and will be able to see and experience the power of the kingdom of God.

 
The Knowledge of GOD         
                                    
1.     Gaining the knowledge of God
2.     Soul experiences the Knowledge of God
3.     Knowledge of God gives life
4.     Knowledge of God saves our soul
5.     Knowledge of God gives prospect and hope
All of us work  hard, invest time, energy, money to gain many things in this world, that give us pleasure, name, fame, honor etc.. We feel that they will satisfy us and we can live life to the fullest.  Paul says in Philippians 3:7-9 “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;” Paul counts all things that give us pleasure, joy and happiness in this world as loss in order to get the excellence of the knowledge of Christ. Watching good programs, movies, spending time with friends, working in our desires: all these are gain for us because they make us enjoy our life. But if we have to know God and receive the knowledge of God, we need to forgo all these things. But people concentrate more on miracles and getting their problems solved, instead of seeking the knowledge of God. Therefore the word of God says in II Timothy 3:7 that people are “...always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Everyday, we need to prepare to crucify our self (our desires, interests, relationships that draw us away from God etc..). Thus, when we prepare our heart we make way for God to reveal His knowledge to us. The knowledge of God swims through our spirit and enters our soul. Just as the  tongue make us experience the taste, when God’s knowledge enters the soul , the soul experiences the taste of that knowledge. The soul begins to recognise the knowledge of God. God’s power begins to control our soul. That experience reveals the will of God. The more we work in that direction, the more we are pulled into it. The Psalmist says in 34:8 “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!”
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7:11-12 “Wisdom is good with an inheritance, And profitable to those who see the sun. For wisdom is a defense as money is a defense, But the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it. “. The knowledge of God gives life to those who have it. Whenever there is an issue if death: a situation or someone that lets me down or causes trouble, the knowledge of God that is resting in the soul begins to come out and produce life in those areas. This is the life that Jesus has given to us on the cross. We will never be a loser but always come out as a winner in every situation.
 The Bible says in Proverbs 19:2 “Also it is not good for a soul to be without knowledge,
      And he sins who hastens with his feet.” To enter into sin, we decide in the soul. Heart gives the thought and the mind shows us all the imagery related to the thought. This imagery begins to effect the soul. If the soul is weak it becomes a slave, and it decides what the heart and mind speaks to us and thus enter into sin. But when the soul is filled with the knowledge of God, it restrains the habitual pattern of entering into sin, fills the soul with power to decide according to the word of God. The Bible says in James 1:21 says “Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” No matter we have sinned or made a number of mistakes, when we excercise the word of God, it gets into the soul, saves it and gives life to it. Therefore we are always in a position to upbeat the enemy fully.
The Bible says in Proverbs 24:13,14 “My son, eat honey because it is good, And the honeycomb which is sweet to your taste; So shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul; If you have found it, there is a prospect, And your hope will not be cut off. “ The knowledge of God is revealed to us by one of 7 Spirits of God: The Spirit of knowledge. The knowledge of God gives us prospect and a hope. Prospect is present indicator for future blessing. Whenever we have trouble or a problem, the indicator  ( prospect) begins to glow in the inside of us. That indicator makes us recognise the future blessing that God has instored for us in that particular area. God never allows His children to be discouraged. Hope is the expectation with a desire of fulfilment. Hope is something that we have when we lose everything. In any situation if we lose hope, we think of ending up the relationship or work or even commit suicide and die. God has given us three important things : Faith, Hope and Love and the greatest of all of them is love. Faith is used to move mountains, but when we fall short of faith, hope makes us stand. In the midst of extreme adverse situation, we will still believe that something will happen ( the problem will be solved). Hope is silent and it is the anchor to our soul not to conclude or make hasty decisions. Hope will never make us lose our ground. When we experience the knowledge of God in our soul, we will never lose hope in any area of our lives. Hope and prospect are packed in the knowledge of God. Paul was in prison, trouble, danger, shipwrecked a number of times, but he always spread the Gospel and assured people around him. Even in his adverse situations he spoke life to himself and to the people around him. Paul was real winner in his life. The Bible says in Jeremiah 17:7-8 ““ Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD.”
Therefore, let go of all the things that appear as gain for you and seek the excellent knowledge of God that saves your soul, gives life, hope and a prospect of your future, so that you will always be a winner in any situation in your life.      


 
The Mind                                                                   

  1. Prepared heart that controls the mind
  2. The Light of God that directs us
  3. Whom does God direct?
  4. When does God direct?
  5. How does God direct?
Mind is a place of imagery. What we watch with our natural eyes we capture it in our mind. Thus the mind is filled with lust, wickedness, evil, incidents that we hate and love and all the worldly things. In the mind, we start to imagine and picturize things. Heart is a slave of what the mind dictates. The devil controls our mind. God sends His word and we need to prepare our heart with the word of God. A prepared heart in turn controls the mind. It will not allow the mind to entertain anything which is out of the word of God. When Jesus was explaining about the purpose of God , that He must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again, Peter said that he will not allow it to happen. Then Jesus rebuked Peter by saying,“Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” - Mark 8:33. A person who hasn’t prepared his heart with the  word of God is mindful of the things of men. Peter’s heart was not with the word of God and hence was not connected to God. He couldn’t understand the purpose of God. His mind was imagining things of world. We need to setup our mind. When we prepare our heart, the word erases all the worldly things that are accumulated in the mind. The word draws borders in the mind as on what to think, see and imagine. A restrain is created in the inside that doesn’t allow us to see what God doesn’t approve. Such people will be mindful of the things of God and running with the purpose of God. When the mind is not connected to the things of God we like to associate with people who have the same kind of mindset as we have. We can never connect with people who are mindful of the things of God and are purpose driven.
There are 2 kinds of eyes in us. One is the physical eye: through which we see things, the other is the eyes in the mind: we view the images that are already captured in the mind. The Bible says in Job 31:1 “I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why then should I look upon a young woman?” Job has drawn borders to his physical as well as his eyes in the mind. II Corinthians 4:2 says, “..whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” Satan has blinded the mind, but not the heart. The heart has become wicked because the mind is continuously relating to see, to connect, to think, to device whatever it wants to the heart. The mind inside is dangerous when it is not connected to God. But when the heart is prepared, the mind becomes stable, and the light of the Gospel will fall upon the mind. When the light falls we can see  where to place our steps and find solutions to everything in our lives. But if we look around we will lose the sight on where we have to place our step. People, rather than focusing on the word, gaze at the things of this world and waste time. When the connection with the word (Gospel) is lost, the light is lost, eyes are blinded and there is no direction for our steps.
Proverbs 19:8 says “He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; He who keeps understanding will find good.” The meaning of ‘get’ is succeed in bringing. Job got the wisdom of God and so he loved all his decisions that he made during his adversity, when he said in Job 27:6 “My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go; My heart shall not reproach me as long as I live.” He was clear with his connection with God. The person who is in understanding  - has to apply instruction in his work.. When his mind is working on instruction, he cannot deviate for his desires, friends, interests, fascinating things etc.. When we stay in the understanding, the Bible says, we find good. The Psalmist says in Psalms 37:23,24 “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way. 24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the LORD upholds him with His hand.” Though the good man slips and falls down, God upholds him. This is an experience all of us need to have. When we feel impossible, God comes into that place and makes the impossible possible. God starts His miracle power only with people whose mind is stayed on Him.
The Bible says in Proverbs 4:20 :
My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings.
Attention is getting connected by stopping everything and giving prominence to something else ( Word of God) than what we are going through. Paying attention is the key for the Gospel. Gospel is not only hearing in the church or a prayer meeting. It is when we are on the road, spending time with friends, in our wickedness, evil, in our lust, we pause all that is influencing us and recollect and meditate on what the Word has spoken to us.
Inclination is bending our hearing ability. There are 2 kinds of ears: our physical ear ( in the outside) and the ear in the inside of us. Our ears should be given to what the Lord spoke and to people who speak knowledge in our work. It shouldn’t be given to the voices that speak with us or to people around. This is called inclination.
The Bible says in Proverbs 4:21:
Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep then in the midst of your heart;
 The meaning of depart is to oppose to arrive and never to return back again. When the words of God go away from us they don’t return to us again. No matter we pray, cry to God the understanding that God has given in the word will be lost forever. So the Bible warns us to be careful not to allow the words of God to depart from our eyes. Even though the devil is showing fascinating things the word of God should not depart from our eyes. This needs a very strong preparation in the heart.
When we give attention, incline our ear, guard the words of God by not letting them depart from our eyes, the direction of the God begins in our life. We will learn how to consider and differentiate the things of God and men. Else whatever comes to our mind, we judge and decide with it. God guided Job in all his businesses and thus was blessed in everything that he had.
Proverbs 5:21-23 : says,  21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, And He ponders all his paths.22 His own iniquities entrap the wicked man,
      And he is caught in the cords of his sin. 23 He shall die for lack of instruction,
      And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray.
Path is the sequence of steps we take to reach something. There are number of paths that we may take in a way. Taking the right path determines our success. God watches at all our paths. He looks at the path we are going to take when pressure comes, during contentions, desires, lust, anger etc and the areas where we slip and fall for the temptations that come across our paths. And therefore when all these come and attack us, we never reach what we have thought. God comes into our path and directs us, only when we connect with Him. The Bible says in Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;  6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct[a] your paths.” When we prepare our heart with the word of God, we will see God coming and directing, leading, blessing and supplying all the needs in our lives. We needn’t plan for them ( food, water and shelter), God has already purposed them in our ways.

 Therefore, prepare your heart and be mindful of the things of God, stay in understanding so that you will see God’s direction and be victorious in your life.

           
God's Plan

Some things are beyond planning.

And life doesn't always turn out as planned.

You don't plan for a broken heart.

You don't plan for a failed business venture.

You don't plan for an adulterous husband

or a wife who wants you out of her life.

You don't plan for an autistic child.

You don't plan for spinsterhood.

You don't plan for a lump in your breast.


You plan to be young forever.

You plan to climb the corporate ladder.

You plan to be rich and powerful.

You plan to be acclaimed and successful.

You plan to conquer the universe.

You plan to fall in love - and be loved forever.


You don't plan to be sad.

You don't plan to be hurt.

You don't plan to be broke.

You don't plan to be betrayed.

You don't plan to be alone in this world.

You plan to be happy. You don't plan to be shattered.

Sometimes if you work hard enough, you can get what you want.

But MOST times, what you want and what you get are two different things.



We, mortals, plan. But so does God in the heavens.

Sometimes, it is difficult to understand God's plans especially when His plans are not in consonance with ours.

Often, when God sends us crisis, we turn to Him in anger. True, we cannot choose the cross that God wishes us to carry, but we can carry that cross with courage knowing that God will never abandon us nor send something we cannot cope with.

Sometimes, God breaks our spirit to save our soul.

Sometimes, He breaks our heart to make us whole.

Sometimes, God allows pain so we can be stronger.

Sometimes, God sends us failure so we can be humble.

Sometimes, God allows illness so we can take better care of ourselves. Sometimes, God takes everything away from us so we can learn the value of everything He gave us.



Make plans, but understand that we live by God's grace.
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