Joining Forces with God in Prayer

by Phillip and Fern Halverson

We've been asked the question many times. "What are the 'secrets' of intercession."

At the heart of such a question was the belief that we had some sort of special, inside knowledge of how to pray
effectively. But the truth is, the "secret" of intercession is right out there in plain sight for all the world to see—in
Galatians 6:2. For us, this verse sums up the essence of New Testament Christianity and the heart of intercessory prayer;

Bear one anothers burdens and troublesome moral faults, and in this way fulfill and observe perfectly the law of Christ,
the Messiah, and complete what is lacking in your own obedience to it.(Galatians 6:2 Amp)

You see, the "secret" of intercession is giving of yourself to others.

There is no question about it, great blessing is available to us as believers. In fact, we've been blessed "with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." (Ephesians 1:3 NKJV) But we miss the mark when we become
centered on ourselves.

"I want to be healed...I want a new car...I want to be blessed...I want..." Yes, God wants to bless you. But He has a
different way than you might think! The key to God's highest blessings is in being a channel to bless others. And one of
the greatest ways that we can bless others is through intercessory prayer.

There are things that God is wanting to loose in the earth that will never be loosed but by intercessory prayer. There are
ministries needed in this day and time that will never come forth but by intercessory prayer. There are strategies of
Satan that will only be undone as we take authority in intercessory prayer.

We know by reading Genesis that Adam turned the earth over to Satan, temporarily making him "the god of this world."
But we believers have been transferred from the domain of darkness to the kingdom of God's beloved Son (Colossians
1:13).

Though our citizenship is in Heaven, we live here on this earth and through Jesus, we have authority in this domain. We
have a right to ask God to come down here and intervene for us.

Now, there are all kinds of prayer: prayers of faith, prayers of consecration, prayers of agreement, etc. But the prayer of
intercession is always for others.

The good news is, we don't need to worry about ourselves. If we will take care of others, God will take care of us. And
His Spirit is searching for those who will lay down their lives to join with Him in intercessory prayer.

God's heart is yearning over souls that are lost in darkness. Some have reaped the wages of sin, and are without hope.
Perhaps no human hand can reach them. Even the ministry gifts of the Church may not be able to reach them. But an
intercessor can reach out to them in the realm of the spirit through prayer, and snatch them out of Satan's hand. In
prayer, you can lift the darkness off of them and carry them back into the light.

It's so simple. The Holy Spirit is our teacher and all we have to do is walk with Him. He will gently lead you and teach
you everything you need to know.

It starts by simply knowing Him. Sometimes we can become so busy working for God that we never take time to just
fellowship with Him. It can be compared to a wife who cooks and cleans for her husband but never spends time with
him. Eventually they will hardly know each other!

The Holy Spirit is a person. He wants to know you intimately. Spend time talking to Him and let Him talk to you. You'll
get to know His voice, and the sweetness of His presence. Listen to what He says—and then obey. You'll find that
instead of working for God, you'll be working with Him and being used by Him in marvelous ways!

We also need to get our flesh out of the way. It's harder to hear His voice and obey it if we are bogged down with
earthly desires. God is looking for a pipeline that He can flow through, and nothing clogs that pipe faster than our
selfishness. But when He is free to flow through our "pipe," oh how that pipeline is blessed!

There was a time in our lives when we were frustrated in our Christian walk. We were always busy with church work
and trying to help people with desperate needs. But in spite of all our work, we weren't seeing the type of dynamic help
from Heaven we read about in the Bible.
We wanted to know God in a deeper way, to see Him move as He did in the book of Acts. There was such a strong
desire to abandon our lives to Him. We decided to step out in faith and prove to Him that we really "meant business."

We had been desiring an increase in our income so we could help more of the needy people in our church. (For some
people, just a few dollars can mean the difference between survival and shipwreck.)

We had always tithed but now we decided to increase our tithe, as if we already had the income we needed to help these
people. We were certain that God would honor our step of faith.

In response, God graciously met our needs, but the greatest miracle we experienced was not financial. Instead, it
seemed that a window was opened in Heaven, and the Holy Spirit came in like a flood. We felt the sweetness of His
presence in fresh and powerful ways. And He became very real and close to us.

Then He began to move in our prayer lives in an avalanche of unusual manifestations. The Holy Spirit began to pray
through us in power and demonstration, moving in words of wisdom and words of knowledge as we prayed.

Now don't misunderstand, this isn't a formula or a recipe. For each person the path may be different. But God is looking
at your heart. He is searching for a heart to serve others—one that He can flow through. He is searching for a pipeline to
reach those people that no one else can reach. He is looking for intercessors to be His pipeline. And when He finds
them, His Spirit takes hold with them in a mighty way.

Certainly, we can pray for others in our natural understanding. And when we don't know how to pray, we can pray in
unknown tongues. But there is also a type of prayer in the Spirit where the Holy Spirit takes over and He prays through
you!

When you step into this realm of prayer, there is a great anointing, great authority, and you feel overwhelmed by God's
love. You speak life to that which is dead. You speak God's words, and it is done;

For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered.(Romans 8:26 NKJV)

As the Spirit prays in this way, English words will often come forth, often the names of people or places that we know
nothing about. Sometimes we find out about these people or situations months later. We have seen people raised from
the dead and delivered out of prison. It is the Holy Spirit praying through us. We feel like spectators as we sit back and
watch with amazement what God has done through the simplicity of our prayers!

Let us give you just one example of so many we could cite. A very typical situation involved the name, "Justin." We
didn't know anyone by the name of Justin. Yet, for about a year, we would hear that name being spoken out by the Holy
Spirit as we prayed.

One day we were in the grocery store and noticed a young couple behind us with a baby boy about eighteen months of
age. They had no jackets, though it was a very cold day. Their purchase consisted of a quart of milk, a loaf of bread and
some bologna. We didn't need a word from heaven to figure out that these people were in trouble.

We had a twenty dollar bill, so we gave it to them and asked if we could pray for them. The young man shared that he
was out of work, so we prayed that God would give him a job.

(Note: You can't meet every need in the world. But you can meet those needs that God puts in front of you. There are
people on your block, in your neighborhood that only you can reach. God will position you in front of a need to see if
you will meet it. He needs you to listen to His voice, to be led by His compassion. He is searching for those who will
join forces with Him. It's not just in church, or even just in your prayer closet. It's a way of life!)

Three days later we contacted this couple and learned that God had provided the young man with a job. They also
wanted us to know that they had used that twenty dollars to buy a warm coat for their baby, Justin. We were amazed to
realize that for nearly a year the Holy Spirit had been praying for Justin through us!

Do you know how much God cares for these little ones? He cares more than we will ever know. He cares if they are
cold or hungry or hurting. He is searching for intercessors who will pray into areas where no one else can reach.

You may ask, "Would God really care so much about a child's coat when there are wars, plagues, unjust governments
and corruption in high places?" The answer is, "absolutely."
Certainly, God cares very much about our government. He knows every official and the thoughts and intents of their
hearts. In prayer, He has taken us to the highest places of the land—and also to the lowest hells. But whether people
have billions of dollars or are living on the street, the need of every heart is the same.

They all look the same to our Father, who loves each one and longs to draw them to Himself. His heart of love is
searching for intercessors to reach the unreachable.

Intercessory prayer is His love reaching out to the world through us. Will you join forces with Him?

Armed and Dangerous

by Lynne Hammond

Not long ago, the Spirit of the Lord spoke something to my heart that shocked me. He said the Devil had been holding a
great portion of the Church under house arrest.

I didn't know much about house arrest until a few years ago when I was watching a newscast about Saddam Hussein.
The newscaster said he was keeping his wives under house arrest. I thought, House arrest? What's that? I found out it
meant they could do anything they wanted to do, go anywhere they wanted to go—as long as they didn't go beyond the
walls of their house.

So when the Lord told me the Church was under house arrest, I knew exactly what He meant. He meant that the Devil
had somehow locked up the body of Christ inside the four walls of the church building. He didn't care what we did as
long as we stayed there. He didn't care if we preached to one another, or sang, or laughed, or shouted. He didn't care if
we prophesied or prayed. As long as we stayed within those walls, none of that would cause him any trouble.

Actually, I'm convinced that the Devil isn't even too concerned about us getting victory in our personal lives as long as
we keep it to ourselves. He knows as long as we're just using our spiritual energies selfishly, we are harmless. As long
as I'm using my faith just for my children, my finances, my house, my future, my…my…my…he doesn't have anything
to worry about. As long as I stay under house arrest and don't take that victory out to share it with others, I am not
dangerous to the kingdom of darkness.

Sent to Penetrate the Darkness

But, bless God, I'm supposed to be dangerous!

So are you if you are a born again, Holy Ghost baptized believer. Armed and dangerous!

After all, we are not only sons of God, we are soldiers on a mission for the Lord Jesus Christ. We are armed with the
life-changing Gospel of Jesus and the wonder-working power of the Holy Spirit. We are lights in the midst of a dark
world and we are here for one reason and one reason only- to penetrate that darkness. To rescue people who have been
trapped in it and bring them out into the kingdom of light.

But somehow, the Devil has blinded us to that mission. He's convinced us that our purpose is just to get our bright little
lights together in the church and shine on one another.

"Well, Sister Hammond," you might ask, "doesn't the Bible say we should get together?"

Absolutely, it does. But the reason we come together is so we can get trained, strengthened, and equipped to go back out
and penetrate the darkness. According to Ephesians 4, that's the reason God called ministers to preach and teach. Verse
11 says, "…he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry…" (KJV)

God didn't give us ministers just so we could have wonderful church services that bless us and make us happy. He didn't
send them so we could all have something to do when we got together on Sunday. He sent them to train us for the work
of the ministry, to train us so we could go out into the fields and bring in the harvest!

This may come as a surprise to you, but the fact is, the majority of the church's ministry does not take place in the
church family. That's not where the darkness is! The darkness is out in the workplace and the schoolroom. It's in the
grocery store and the beauty salon. It's in our cities and our neighborhoods.

Recently as God has opened my eyes more than ever to that truth, I've realized that some of the things I've been praying
and saying were really unscriptural. For example, I noticed in my prayers I'd pray things like, "Lord, pour out Your
Spirit on us… Let the fire fall…"
Now those things sound very spiritual. But the reality is, God already poured out His Spirit at Pentecost. If we've been
baptized in the Holy Spirit, it's our responsibility to keep being filled (Ephesians 5:18). It's up to us to continually
partake of the outpouring that has already come.

So we don't need to ask for it. We already have it.

What's the problem then? Why aren't we seeing signs and wonders and other manifestations of Holy Ghost power?
Because we haven't been going where that power is designed to flow.

You see, the outpouring of the Spirit was not sent so that we could run around the church and have Holy Ghost parties.
Don't get me wrong. I love Holy Ghost parties as much as anyone, but not just so I can get touched by God and get a
blessing. I want a Holy Ghost party to have the intended effect, and Acts 1:8 tells us what that effect should be. It says,
"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in
Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."

Jesus said we'd get power for one reason- to be a witness in the darkness. Where is the darkness? In the world.

Where in the world? Everywhere sinners are. Everyplace you can find people who don't know Jesus.

If you read Acts 1:8 again, you'll see that Jesus didn't say, "Go first to Jerusalem, then to Judaea…" No, He said, you'd
be witnesses "both in Jerusalem, Judaea and the uttermost parts of the earth." He didn't put in qualifiers and say one
place is better than the other. He just said, "There's the world—now go get 'em!"

Power When You Need It

You may be thinking, Well…I just don't know if I'm equipped to "go get ‘em." I mean, I speak in tongues and all, but I
don't feel like I have much of God's power operating through me.

That's not because you lack power. It's because you haven't gone out into the darkness where that power is needed. God
doesn't give us power to witness about Jesus, to work miracles and signs and wonders so we can sit in church and
entertain one another. He gives it to us so we can go to the world. And, it won't manifest until we do!

Think of it this way, and you'll see what I mean. If you know much about electricity, you know that a wire can be "live"
or connected to a power source and still not be giving out electricity. It can be a container of power yet not a conductor
of that power. When will it become a conductor? When it is connected to something designed to receive the power it
contains! The electrical outlet on your wall, for example, is fully equipped with 120 volts of electrical power, but it is
totally unproductive until you plug something into it. Then you'll be able to see the power in that outlet go to work.

The same is true for you. If you're baptized in the Holy Spirit, you are a container of supernatural power. But you won't
see that power truly go to work until you connect with someone who needs it. And who needs it most? Sister Supersaint
sitting next to you on Sunday morning? No! The sinner who stood next to you at the grocery store on Saturday night!

A Container or a Conductor?

If you want to see a scriptural example of this truth, just read the account of Philip in Acts 8. Although Philip was listed
as one of the deacons in Acts 6, we don't hear anything about him until two chapters later when, because of the
persecution brought on by Saul, the Church was forced to stop hanging out together in Jerusalem and scattered abroad.
That's interesting to me. It seems there was nothing spectacularly powerful about Philip until he was forced out of his
comfort zone of believers in Jerusalem and into the darkness of the surrounding area. But once he connected with those
in darkness, he definitely began conducting power!

In fact, verses 5-8 tell us that when he went down to Samaria "and proclaimed Christ (the Messiah) to them [the people]
… great crowds of people with one accord listened to and heeded what was said by Philip, as they heard him and
watched the miracles and wonders which he kept performing … For foul spirits came out of many who were possessed
by them, screaming and shouting with a loud voice, and many who were suffering from palsy or were crippled were
restored to health. And there was great rejoicing in that city."

If you keep reading in that chapter, you'll see another interesting thing that happened to Philip. When he was finished in
Samaria, an angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him to go witness to an Ethiopian man who was passing
through, returning to his home from Jerusalem. The man was born again, baptized, and afterward the Holy Spirit
actually caught Philip away and translated him physically to another location to preach the Gospel there!
Isn't that amazing?

"Yes, Sister Hammond and we're praying for that kind of thing to happen again!"

It's already happening! I've heard reports about it from places like China where believers are laying down their lives to
penetrate the darkness. I frequently hear reports of God translocating believers there, of God multiplying their food, and
working other signs and wonders. Why? Because they need it! They're preaching the Gospel everywhere they go even
though it may cost them their lives. They've given God their all and He is giving them the grace they need to get the job
done.

Remember this: God doesn't take His precious supernatural equipment and throw it out to people who just want to have
a little Christian fun with it. Signs and wonders aren't party favors! They are weapons designed by God to help us on
our mission of penetrating the darkness. If we aren't out there in the darkness giving our lives to that mission, quite
frankly, we don't need them. If we are, however, we can be absolutely assured that we will see the mighty operation of
the power of God flowing through us.

A Mass Production of Laborers

I used to sing a song that said, "Come harvest…" But I'm not singing that song anymore. I've realized that's not going to
get the job done. Certainly, I can pray prayers that will help push back the darkness so that the minds of the people can
be opened and they can hear or see the light. But if there is no one to take the light to them, that darkness will have been
pushed back for no reason.

I can't just sit in the church and say, "Come" and expect people to come to the light. Thank God, Jesus knew that. He
didn't just sit up there in heaven looking down at this dark world and say, "Come up here, people. Come up to My heart
of love."

No, Jesus came down into the darkness. The Father sent Him and He came to penetrate that darkness. He left His
glorious place in heaven and came into this sinful world to show us and tell us the way of salvation.

And when He finished that earthly mission, He turned and said to us, "…as my Father hath sent me, even so send I
you." (John 20:21 KJV)

Let that sink in, dear believer. Jesus has sent you!

Where are you sent? Into the world of darkness. You are sent to seek out sickness, disease, hopelessness, frustration,
anxiety, and every other work of the Devil because you have the answer to it. You have the power to dispel that
darkness and put the Devil to flight.

Does that mean you need to buy a plane ticket and go to some far-away place? Not necessarily. You may already be
living right in the middle of the mission field God has sent you to. It may be in the world right around you… in the
house next door… in the office across the hall… in the lives of those you meet every day.

Maybe you've never before stepped out into that world to share the Gospel. Maybe the very thought of penetrating the
darkness makes you feel frightened and inadequate. That's okay. All you have to do is ask and God will help you.

Say, "Father, I want to fulfill my mission. I want to penetrate the darkness and bring people into the light. Give me
boldness to do it and wisdom to know how. I commit myself to you, spirit, soul and body. Make me into the very best
witness for you I can possibly be. Help me watch for doors of opportunity to share the Gospel, and give me boldness to
step through them when they come. I believe I have within me the power to win souls today. I promise You, I will use it.
In Jesus' name, Amen."

A friend of mine who is a missionary in Italy was praying recently and the Lord told her, "In these last days, there will
be a mass production of laborers sent to bring in the harvest."

I believe it. We may have fallen short in the past, but I am confident that the God who started this Church knows how to
finish it. He knows how to equip us. He knows how to empower us. And He is mightily able to send us.

He simply needs us to say, "Here am I, Lord. Send me."

Ambassadors of Heaven
by Lynne Hammond
Something powerful is about to start happening when believers get together. Something that's never happened before.
Something so supernatural and so real that it will change how the world sees us—and how we see ourselves—forever.

If you knew what is ahead, you would understand why the writer of Hebrews said, forsake "not the assembling of
yourselves together…so much the more, as ye see the day approaching" (Hebrews 11:25). I'm just beginning to
understand it myself. I'm beginning to realize that in these last days, God is going to change us corporately. He is going
to do things to us and through us as we gather together that He could not do with us individually.

Each one of us can read our Bible by ourselves. We can pray by ourselves. God can deal with us to some extent when
we are by ourselves. But for Him to do in us something so big that it will shake the world, we have to be together.

Actually, He's already started to do it.

In the past few weeks as I've traveled to different churches and taken part in corporate meetings, I've sensed a change in
the atmosphere. In one meeting where people had gathered from all over the nation to pray together, we experienced a
spirit of prayer that was absolutely amazing. There was a power and a flow to it that enabled us to pray…and pray…and
pray. What's more, we prayed with a greater sense of authority. We began to pray not as a little group of believers on
earth entreating the God of heaven, but as a delegation of heaven representing God and enforcing His will on the earth.

Granted, I've known that's how we should pray for years. But knowing that and experiencing the spirit of it in a group
where hundreds are praying together are two very different things. And I don't mind telling you, I didn't want that
meeting to end.

I've also noticed a spiritual hunger in people that I haven't seen in 20 years.

When Mac and I first started learning about the things of God in the early 70's, we would go to meetings sometimes two
or three hours early just so we could get a front or second row seat. We weren't the only ones like that either. There was
a whole group of people who were that hungry. We'd go from one meeting where the Word was being preached to the
next. We'd sit on the edge of our seats, desperate to grasp everything God was saying to us. There weren't any spiritual
couch potatoes in that group!

Now I'm seeing that kind of excitement all over again. But this time the hunger is not for the Word alone—it's for the
Spirit and the Word. Hallelujah, I'm happy about that! Because it's the Spirit and the Word together that changes us. We
must have both.

I Don't Call This Home Anymore

When the Spirit and the Word come together, here's what often happens. The Spirit will quicken something from the
Bible, something you thought you knew inside and out. A scripture so familiar that you've underlined it, put stars by it
and nearly worn it off the page, will suddenly stand up in a new light and come alive in you again. Instead of being
simply information, it becomes revelation…and it changes you.

That's always happened to us in some degree but it's about to happen in a greater way than we've ever seen before. I
know that as well as I know my name. I can even tell you the kinds of scriptures that are going to catch our attention.
The ones that talk about who we are in Christ Jesus. Verses like 2 Corinthians 5:17, 18 and 20:

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new,
and all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of
reconciliation…Now then we are ambassadors for Christ…

I've read that verse thousands of times but lately it's become more real to me that I actually am an ambassador from
heaven. I'm a citizen of heaven. I carry the power of heaven and operate with the authority of heaven. I'm sent to bring
heaven to the earth!

I've stopped calling Minneapolis, Minnesota my home. Heaven is my home. Just heaven. No place else.

That may sound peculiar to you but if you'll think about it, that's how Jesus lived. Naturally speaking, He was from the
town of Nazareth yet He never referred to Himself as a Nazarene. He was raised as a carpenter's son yet when He said,
"I must be about my Father's business," everyone knew He wasn't talking about building furniture. He was talking about
doing the work of God. Jesus didn't operate on the basis of His natural heritage, He operated from the platform of His
spiritual heritage.

Someone might say, "Yes, Sister Lynne, but that was Jesus!"
Certainly it was and we'll do well to think and act just like Him. But Jesus wasn't the only one who operated that way.
The apostle Paul did too. In Philippians 3, he described his natural heritage—and it wasn't bad. Paul had an outstanding
upbringing. In fact, he says:

…If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the
stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal,
persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gain to me,
those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win
Christ, and be found in him…(Philippians 3:4-9)

Paul refused to even consider his natural background. He said it was nothing to him. He only considered who he was in
Christ!

Bless God, we need to think the same way. We must think that way to walk in the fullness of the power of God.

Why? Because there are things that will just cause your flesh to jump and run if you don't know who you are. If you
walk into a hospital and see somebody with the spirit of death on them, their skin cold and ashen, you won't be any help
at all if you're coming with the idea that you're just an ambassador from your church. If you walk in there just as Bill
Smith from Chicago or Susie Jones from Saint Paul, that spirit of death will scare the daylights out of you.

But if you walk in there with a living consciousness that you are an ambassador of heaven with the power of almighty
God in you and on you, you'll be able to change that situation. That's what men like John Lake and Smith Wigglesworth
did. They could take hold of someone at death's door—and sometimes, beyond—jerk them out of the bed and say, "Rise
up and be healed, in the name of Jesus!" And they'd get results.

They weren't over-awed by the work of the Devil. They didn't draw back in critical situations because they knew who
they were. They knew they were ambassadors on a mission. They were on a mission to take heaven everywhere they
went.

Trained to Reign

Over the years we've marveled at men like that. We've seen them as unusual and exceptional. But before Jesus comes
back, that's going to be the norm! Believers everywhere are going to live and walk just like those men did.

How is that going to happen? I'll tell you. God Himself is going to change us. He's going to move on us as we gather
together and open our eyes to who we really are. He's going to make us see that we are truly made in the image of God
and we are carrying heaven with us 24 hours a day.

Romans 5:17 says that those who receive the grace of God and the free gift of righteousness will surely "reign as kings
in life…" Up to this time, the Church hasn't known much about reigning like kings but we're about to learn. God is
going to teach us how to walk and talk and act like royalty.

Naturally speaking, I know a little about that kind of thing because I was raised in what some people would call high
society. In high society circles, when a young, unmarried lady finishes college, she becomes what they call a debutante.
And when I was growing up, they would bring all the debutantes together for a dance. All the wealthy people, city
officials and other influential people would come to see these young ladies make their debut. The greatest honor was to
be queen of one of those balls.

I wasn't a debutante because I married before I finished college but my twin sister was and I will never forget the year
she was queen of the Athenian ball. She had a dress with a train that was yards and yards long. It was strapped to her
shoulder and it was so heavy it took two men to lift it up and put it on her.

She practiced walking with that train for three weeks because she had to do it with dignity and grace. She had to learn
just how to wave at the thousands of people who would be watching her. She had to learn how to pull that train, wave
her wand, carry her flowers, smile and act like everything was just wonderful all at the same time.

What's more, she had to learn how to act at the luncheons she would attend. These luncheons were so fancy they had
about nine forks in addition to the main fork that normal people use and she had to learn just when to pick up each fork
and where to put it down. (Just because you picked up the fork from one place didn't mean you put it back in that same
place!)
Now just think for a moment. If it took all that training just for my sister to reign at the Athenian ball, what kind of
training is it going to take for us to reign as kings in life?

The truth is we are a royal priesthood. We are a holy nation. God has called us to show forth His own power and
perfection. (See 1 Peter 2:9.) We are going to reign as kings but we're not going to do it just any, sloppy old way. We are
going to do it according to divine protocol. We are going to do it exactly right.

Now my sister had lots of help learning to be a queen and we're going to have lots of help too. God is sending us help
from heaven. He's going to teach us more about Himself. Before Jesus comes to catch us away, we are going to look
like sons of God. Where we live, what we wear, how we act, how we talk—all of it will be an expression of God
Himself.

We'll be healthy. We'll have prosperity like no one has ever known or heard of before. We'll have power and authority
that will shake the world.

What Can You Receive?

Somebody might read this and say, "Well, I just don't know about that. I don't think I could ever have that kind of
prosperity. I don't think I'll ever be very kingly."

I can tell you right now, that person probably won't get in on this. These things can only come to people who will
receive them. They can only come to people who will say, "Yes, Lord. I'll take that! I believe I receive it in Jesus name!"

At times, there's been a lot of emphasis on what we have to do to obtain things in God. But that emphasis is about to
change. Now the emphasis is going to be on receiving. You can have whatever you can receive from God. So for you to
reign in life as a king, you have to receive who you are.

If you'll do that, there will be no limit to what God can do in you, through you and for you.

I tried this out just the other morning. After I got dressed and ready for the day, I walked to the mirror, looked at myself
and said, "Blessed be God, I am a queen. I am a carrier of heaven. I am a citizen of heaven and this planet is no longer
my home. And today, the supernatural will be working for me all day long. I believe I receive supply, resources, words,
answers…I receive it all because heaven wants me to have it."

Do you know what happened? Before that day was out, God had worked miracles for me. Miracles of supernatural
multiplication. I don't have space to tell you all about it here but I can tell you this, it was one of the most outstanding
and amazing days of my life.

There has never before been a time like this. So get ready.

How? First of all, get yourself to church every time you can. Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together
because the day of the Lord is approaching. Get into meetings where you know the Spirit of God is moving and you will
be changed.

Second, start expanding your capacity to receive by meditating on what the Word of God says about who you are. Look
up all the verses in the New Testament that say "in him" or "in whom." Put them in your heart and put them in your
mouth.

Hallelujah, God is going to change us! We are going to look like Him. We are going to walk with the consciousness of
God like more than conquerors.

As my friend, brother Halverson used to say, "We are marching into God." We are on a divine stairway and step by step
we are ascending into the glory. And by the power of God, we are going to make it all the way home.

Getting More of God

by Lynne Hammond

Have you ever read the book of Acts and wondered why the early Church had so much more power than the Church
today? As you scan those blessed pages so full of healings, signs, and wonders where 3,000 were added to the Church in
one meeting, 5,000 in another, while other believers were added to the Church daily, does it seem to you that those early
believers had more of God than we have now?
I'll be honest. It has seemed that way to me.

Sometimes in prayer, my spirit has so longed to see that 2,000 year-old standard in the Church again that I've wept
before the Lord. Many times I've so desperately desired to see it in my own life that I would cry out, "God, I want more
of you!"

I'm not the only one with that heart-cry, of course. I've heard it often on the lips of other Christians. No doubt, every
serious believer has longed for more of the presence and the power of God.

As I evaluate my own life and the life of the Church at large, I would have to say that longing has not yet been fulfilled
the way we have hoped. Certainly, there have been outbreaks of the Holy Spirit here and there. There have been seasons
of evangelistic success in this place or that. There have been miracles and even individuals with miracle ministries. But
when we compare today's Church as a whole to the Church in the book of Acts—people dragging the sick into the
streets of Jerusalem hoping even the shadow of Peter might fall on them and all of them being cured, Ananias and
Saphira falling dead for lying to the Holy Spirit, the deacon Stephen working great signs, wonders, and miracles among
the people, Philip preaching and working in such power of the Holy Spirit in Samaria that the entire city rejoiced—we
must admit in light of that standard we fall woefully short.

So, what should we do?

Do we simply keep crying out the same prayers again and again? Do we clamor the more loudly in the ears of God
hoping we will be heard for our much speaking?

I don't think so.

On the contrary, I sense something else is needed now. Something that will come as we wait quietly in the presence of
the Lord, knowing that He desires the Church to have His fullness even more than we do. Something He can teach us
when we get our bodies, minds, and souls quiet enough to hear His still, small voice telling us what the problem is.
Then, in obedience, we can make the needed corrections and get on with the business of being the New Testament
Church.

In recent days, we've been doing that very thing during prayer times here at Living Word Christian Center. We've sat
quietly together in the presence of the Lord, aware of Him and waiting before Him. During such times, He's begun to
reveal some very interesting things. He's shown us that our problem is not so much that we need more of Him as it is
that He needs more of us. We've seen that He cannot fill us with Himself when we are already full of other things. He
cannot lead us when we are already headed full-throttle in our own direction. He is waiting for us to give Him room to
move.

The Place of Honor

Somebody might say, "Now just wait a minute, Sister Hammond! We do give the Holy Spirit room to move in our
church. We have prayer times and worship times when we let God have His way. We ask Him to take over and do
whatever He wants."

Perhaps so, but let me ask you this: What do you do when you leave that service? Do you go into your life with the
same all-consuming commitment? Can the Holy Spirit have His way with you in the grocery store as freely as He can in
the church building? In the middle of the night when you're sleepy and He needs someone to pray, can He have His
way? On Saturday, when you have a day of entertainment planned and He needs you to set aside your plans and do
some work of service for Him, can He have His way?

I'll be the first one to admit, I haven't always let the Holy Spirit have control of my life. There have been times when I
wanted to do things my way. I would let Him move and do whatever He wanted through me in certain situations, but in
others I wasn't so open and yielded to Him. I was, quite simply, more full of myself and my own plans at those times
than I was of Him.

More and more these days, I'm realizing that we'll never enjoy the fullness of God's presence and power by living that
way. He can't fully release Himself through people who only give themselves to Him now and then. We must give Him
first place in our lives all the time. In Luke 14, Jesus told a parable that perfectly illustrates this principle. While
attending a gathering of religious leaders in His day, He noticed how they were selecting the places of honor for
themselves and He said to them:

When you are invited by anyone to a marriage feast, do not recline on the chief seat [in the place of honor], lest a more
distinguished person than you has been invited by him, and he who invited both of you will come to you and say, Let
this man have the place [you have taken]. Then, with humiliation and a guilty sense of impropriety, you will begin to
take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and recline in the lowest place, so that when your host comes in, he
may say to you, Friend, go up higher! Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit [at table] with you. For
everyone who exalts himself will be humbled (ranked below others who are honored or rewarded), and he who humbles
himself (keeps a modest opinion of himself and behaves accordingly) will be exalted (elevated in rank). (verses 8-11
Amp.)

This is the key to flowing with the Holy Spirit. We must give Him the highest place of honor and authority in our lives.
He must be the leader. All the time. No matter where we are. No matter what we are doing. Whatever He says goes.

In other words, if we are going to have more of Him, He must have more of us. We must decrease so that He can
increase, lowering ourselves so that He can occupy His rightful position in our lives. His plans must become more
important to us than our plans as we recognize it's what He wants—not what we want—that matters.

Possessed by the Holy Spirit

When we read about the people who moved in the power and presence of God in Acts, we see that the Bible says they
were full of the Holy Spirit. "Full" of Him. That means there wasn't any room for anything but Him in their hearts. You
could say they loved the Lord their God with all their hearts, with all their souls, and with all their minds just like the
Bible commanded us to do. (Matt. 22:37)

In other words, they didn't love golf, automobiles, or airplanes with part of their heart and God with the rest of it. They
didn't love interior decorating, clothes shopping, or movies with part of their heart and God with the rest of it. Their
love for God was so all-consuming that compared to that love, their attachment to everything else in their lives would
seem like hatred. That's a shocking statement in our day but it shouldn't be. Jesus Himself said, "If anyone comes to Me
and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be
My disciple." (Luke 14:26 NKJ)

Surprising as it may seem to us, the heroes of the book of Acts actually met that standard. They were whole-heartedly
devoted to God. As a result, the Amplified Bible says not only were they filled with the Holy Spirit, they were
"possessed by" Him. Recently, the Lord told me that's what He is preparing us for in these days. He is preparing us to be
so possessed by Him that it is truly no longer us doing His work but Him doing His work through us.

I want to be in on that, don't you? I want to be one of those who is possessed of the Holy Spirit! So I've determined to
use these days of preparation wisely. I've determined to position myself to receive all that God wants to do—to me, in
me, and through me.

As I've sought to put myself in that position, one person that has repeatedly come to my mind is a wonderful minister of
years gone by, Dr. John G. Lake. Although he lived in relatively recent times, his life was much like the lives of the
disciples in the book of Acts. He walked almost continually in the power of God, working signs, wonders, miracles, and
healing many thousands. Not long ago, I re-read a book he wrote called Spiritual Hunger, and one thing he said in it
stood out to me above all others.

He said, "All you have to do to get all of God is to want Him."

Notice, he didn't say that all you have to do to get all of God is to want His blessings. All you have to do is want His
power. No, what you have to want is Him!

You might think, Surely all Christians want God! But that's not necessarily the case. Most of us have been distracted
from our desire for Him. We're like my little grandson was this past Christmas. When he first began to open his
presents, my daughter-in-law noticed that he was attentive to the person who was giving him the present. He looked at
their face. He was interested in the giver not just the gift. But as the presents piled up, he lost interest in the givers. He
stopped looking at their faces and looked only to see what was in their hands.

My daughter-in-law pulled him aside at one point and said, "Son, I think you need to give away some of your toys." The
idea startled him. "Me? Give away MY TOYS?" he exclaimed.

Most of us would have that same reaction if the Holy Spirit told us to set aside (or even give up) some of the hobbies,
possessions, and other natural distractions that God's blessing has enabled us to accumulate. We'd exclaim in disbelief,
"Me? Give up MY TOYS!? Why? God gave these things to me. Surely you're not suggesting He'd want me to give them
up!"

Make More Room in Your Life

Quite frankly, that is exactly what I am suggesting and here's why. I believe that if we are truly going to be captivated
once again by the face of God and not just His hand, we will have to lay aside some things. If we are going to get
hungry for Him, we'll have to stop filling our souls with other stuff. God has this marvelous characteristic. He fills
empty places. Where there is a void, He rushes in to occupy it. He won't just slap aside those things we're so busy with
and demand we make room for Him. He will wait for us to set them aside, then He will move in.

In many ways, the Church today—especially those of us in prosperous, comfortable nations—is like the Church at
Laodicea described in Revelation. Jesus said of them:

I know your [record of] works and what you are doing; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot!
So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth! For you say, I am rich; I have
prospered and grown wealthy, and I am in need of nothing; and you do not realize and understand that you are
wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. (verses 15-17 Amp.)

I've noticed this. When we're hot for God, everyone knows it. When we're cold, everyone can tell. But when we're
lukewarm, everything on the outside looks pretty good. We still lift our hands in worship. We still sing in church and
say, "Praise the Lord." But inside, our hearts aren't burning for Him. They're more or less satisfied with the status quo.

It's not because we've sinned, either. It's because we've become like the thorny ground described in Mark chapter four.
We've let our hearts become overcrowded with "the cares and anxieties of the world and distractions of the age, and the
pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches, and the craving and passionate desire for other
things." (Verse 19 Amp.)

That happened to the church at Laodicea and it has happened to us. The solution for us is the same as it was for them—
to obey the command Jesus gave them:

Therefore I counsel you to purchase from Me gold refined and tested by fire, that you may be [truly] wealthy, and white
clothes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nudity from being seen, and salve to put on your eyes, that you may
see. (Verse 18 Amp.)

What is the currency we will use to purchase from Jesus this true wealth?

It is our time and our affections—in other words, our very lives. We will gain the gold of God by surrendering ourselves
to Him.

We don't have to do it on our own, thank heavens. The Holy Spirit Himself will help us. We can ask Him to show us
what we need to lay aside to make more room for Him. Then, when He shows us, we can receive from Him the grace
and power to do it. For, as James 4:6 says, "He gives us more and more grace (power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this
evil tendency and all others fully). That is why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives
grace [continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it)." (Amp.)

The Only Way to Live

by Lynne Hammond

Superficial Christianity has never been enough for me.

Some folks seem to be satisfied with it. It appears they only want principles and formulas that will help them get
"things" from God. I feel bad for people like that because they miss out on the best part of the Christian life. They settle
for blessings when they could have a deep and living relationship with the blesser. They stop at the promises of God
when they could go on and experience the God who made those promises.

As much as I enjoy all the good things God gives me, I enjoy God Himself a thousand times more. I love His manifest
presence better than any earthly blessing. And the more deeply I get to know Him, the more alive I feel.

I've found what the Lord Jesus said in John 17:3 to be absolutely true. And this is eternal life: [it means] to know (to
perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God, and [likewise] to know
Him, Jesus...Christ...Whom You have sent. (Amp.)

I've also discovered that those who want to know the Lord deeply must cultivate a deep, abiding hunger for His
presence in their life. They need to develop the kind of craving for God that the psalmist possessed when he said in
Psalm 42:1-2:
As the hart pants and longs for the water brooks, so I pant and long for You, O God. My inner self thirsts for God, for
the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? (Amp.)

Those words reveal a spiritual hunger so deep that it drives the hungry one to seek the presence of God until he finds it.
They speak not of casual curiosity or slight desire but of a hunger so great that it's almost impossible to think of
anything else until it is satisfied.

Verse seven goes on to say this:

[Roaring] deep calls to [roaring] deep at the thunder of Your waterspouts; all Your breakers and Your rolling waves have
gone over me. (Amp.)

When a person is truly hungry for God, something deep down inside of him begins to call for something deeper from
God. He might not even know what he is calling out for. But God knows and He will answer.

I can tell you that from personal experience.

My Own Journey to Find More of God

More than twenty years ago, before I'd ever heard of the baptism in the Holy Spirit, my soul longed after God. I had
never heard of speaking in tongues. I had never heard of demonstrations of God's power. Nevertheless, my heart cried
out for more of God. My spirit wept to know Him better.

I didn't know that what I was doing was cultivating a holy hunger. I didn't even know what I was asking for. I just
wanted to know Jesus more and more and more.

The only thing I knew to do was pray. I would pray as far as I could with my understanding. But when I finished
praying, I would sense something was missing, although I didn't have words for it. It was such a frustration to me. I
wanted more expression in my communication with the Father, but all I could say was "Lord, help me!"

I was hungry for whatever it was that I was missing. Later, I found out the missing element was the baptism in the Holy
Spirit, but at the time, I didn't know that. I didn't even know how to ask God for the baptism in the Holy Spirit. I simply
cried out to God day and night, asking Him to show me more of Him.

Then late one night, I couldn't stay in bed, because my longing for God had gotten so big in me. I was so hungry and
thirsty inside, I didn't know what to do. I thought it would help if I got up and went to our den to pray.

I hurried into the den, fell into an easy chair, and began to sob, "Help me, God. I'm so hungry for You. I just want to
know You, God. Please teach me how to pray."

That's all I said to Him. But the deep in me called out for something I didn't understand with my mind. I knew God was
bigger than what I had ever seen or experienced. I wanted that bigger part of God with all my heart.

As I sat in that chair weeping, it felt as if my spirit was being wrung out like a towel. I kept sobbing, "God, help me. I
just want to know You." Suddenly the power of God came into that room like lightning and started to shake me. It
shook me and shook me until I found myself down on the floor. Then waves of glory began to hit me again and again.

Next, the fire of God began to burn in me. It was so hot, I felt like I was burning up! I even looked at my skin to see if it
was on fire.

All of a sudden, a beautiful language began to flow out of me like a river. I'm not talking about five syllables of baby
talk. A great river of God flowed out of me in a full-blown language I didn't know or understand.

I stayed in the glory of that experience for a long time. Later I asked God, "Lord, why did You manifest Yourself so
dramatically to me that night?"

"Because you were calling out for it," the Lord told me. "You get whatever you're hungry for."

You Get What You're Hungry For

That's true for all of us. In other words, whatever is number-one (whatever is the biggest thing on the inside of us) will
eventually overtake us until we think of nothing else. And because of the power that is resident within us, we will
receive whatever our soul hungers after. If we're hungry for worldly things, that's what we're going to get. If we hunger
after a new car, eventually we will get a new car.

But I'm here to tell you, there is something better than worldly possessions. There's something better than a new car. It
is Jesus who made all the parts of the car! He's the one who knows everything about everything. And when you have
Jesus, you have everything.

The deep in you should be calling out continually for the depths of God. Don't just come to church to hear some
preacher put out a Bible truth that will apply a little salve to your conscience. Come to church because you're hungry for
God—hungry to hear His voice, hungry for Him to move on your behalf.

Don't Live on Past Experiences

One day I was reading the Song of Solomon, and I told God, "I want to be like that woman in the third chapter of the
Song of Solomon."

This woman said, "I decided to go out into the city, into the streets and broad ways [which are so confusing to a country
girl], and seek him whom my soul loves." (Song of Solomon 3:2, Amp.) She had just been with her beloved that
afternoon, but that wasn't enough for her. Her longing to be with him drove her out to look for him again.

People get in trouble in their spiritual walk, because they don't have that kind of lover's heart for Jesus. They experience
God's presence in a special way, and then think, That experience should hold me for a while. Instead of constantly
seeking after more of Jesus, they keep referring back to that one experience as their defining moment: "I remember
when God did something special in my life. Let me tell you about it."

No, don't let yourself live on past experiences with your Father. Live your life centered around Him every day. Be
grateful for what God did for you yesterday. Be grateful for what He did for you this afternoon. But don't be satisfied
with that. Keep your hand stretched out for more of Him.

Also, don't ever be content to settle for just the tinsel of God's kingdom. Now, I believe in prosperity. In fact, I'm a
prosperous person. But I don't seek after prosperity. I seek after Jesus, the one who is everything. And in my seeking,
He makes me prosperous.

I also don't seek for answers in my life. I seek Jesus, because He is the answer to every question. If I seek Him, I have
all the answers.

I seek after eternal life, the life that's in God. The world tells us all kinds of things about life. It tells us life is gusto and
success and prosperity. But I'm telling you, my friend, life is Jesus. When you find Him, you find life.

Get to Know the God of the Book

Some people think that once they are filled with the Holy Spirit, that's it. That's the epitome of experiencing God.

But that's just the beginning. We've only begun to explore the depths of God when we receive the baptism in the Holy
Ghost.

After I was baptized in the Holy Spirit, I was hungrier for God than ever. So I kept on seeking to know Him better. I
prayed, "Oh, God, You've got to reveal Yourself to me more fully. I want to know You!"

And in His wonderful, sweet way, the Lord spoke to me in my spirit, saying, "I am the God of the Book. I'll speak to
you out of the Book."

So what did I do? Well, I didn't walk by the Book on my nightstand every now and then so I could pat it and say, "God,
You're the God of the Book. Good for You!"

No, I got into the Book, and I started reading it. I began to devour my Bible, expecting all the while to find God in it.
And sure enough, I found Him there. I found out who He is. I saw that He is the God who created the heavens and the
earth. He's the God who split the Red Sea. He's the God who rained manna down from heaven for His children. He's the
God who healed the blind, the crippled, and the maimed. He's the power behind Paul's handkerchiefs and aprons,
Stephen's signs and wonders, and Peter and John's miracles.

I read and read and read the Book until I could finally say, "This God I read about is the God I know personally."

And now that the God of the Book lives on the inside of me, I cannot be satisfied until I see the things I've read in the
Book manifested in my life and in the church.

Too many times, I see the people of God sitting back in complacency. They've gotten lazy. They're not reading about or
praying to the God of the Book. Therefore, they're not hungry to have His presence manifested in their lives.

But God wants to be the God of the Book to every one of His children. He wants to be your healer. He wants to be your
miracle worker. He wants you to walk in the glory He has called you to walk in.

For you to experience God in those ways, however, you have to cultivate an insatiable hunger to know Him for
yourself. You have to spend time in His presence. You have to find and develop the place of intimate fellowship with
Him, for that is the place where He speaks to your heart and changes you from the inside out.

Hungering After Holiness

If you do that, you'll get so hungry for God you'll not only get more of God yourself, you'll start inspiring others to
hunger after Him too.

I remember a story about Dr. Lillian B. Yeoman, a woman doctor who later became a great evangelist. Her soul cry and
heart hunger was for the holiness of God. She desired to be holy more than anything else, so she always prayed in that
direction. She hungered and thirsted after holiness.

One day, she attended a meeting in someone's home with some other believers. At the meeting, Dr. Yeoman talked about
holiness, the sanctified life, and the grace and power of God. A man who was at the meeting later related, "Before I
heard Dr. Yeoman speak, I loved and respected God. But I was self-satisfied. I was happy and successful, possessing all
the things that accompany material success.

"Then Dr. Yeoman began to talk to all of us in that room about the holy life. And it wasn't her words or her logic of
argument that struck my heart so strongly. It was what I saw in her. There was something in her that made me hungry
for more of God. I saw the living Spirit of God. I saw the Spirit of holiness on her.

"I got so hungry that I fell to my knees and began to pray. From that day to this, all the people who were present at the
meeting remember me for that prayer I prayed."

Another person who attended that meeting reflected on that prayer and said, "He prayed until the rafters shook and the
fire struck, until the power came down and all our lives were sanctified by the power and grace of God in that instant."

That is what spiritual hunger will do for every believer. Oh, how we need to be hungry.

Blessed Are They Who Hunger

In Matthew 5:3 (KJV), Jesus said, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for their's is the kingdom of heaven. I used to ask God,
"Lord, who are the poor in spirit? Is that verse talking about those who don't have any money?"

I finally came to understand what that verse meant. Just think about what poor people have to do. Of necessity, their
entire quest in life is to find enough basic provisions to survive. All their energy and attention have to go toward finding
ways to provide food to put on their family's table.

In the same way, when we are poor in spirit, we constantly look for more of Jesus to feed our spirits. The Bible says we
are greatly blessed as we cultivate that continual state of spiritual hunger: Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst
after righteousness: for they shall be filled. (Matt. 5:6, KJV)

If you are not yet a diligent seeker of God, I recommend that you get on your face before God and pray, "God, make me
hungry." Get into the Word and find the God of the Book. Shut yourself away with Him in a secret place where He can
start talking to you about who He is.

Don't be satisfied with superficial Christianity. Take the time and make the effort to go deeper in the knowledge of the
one who loves you. Once you do, you'll never again settle for the blessings alone. You'll be in hot pursuit of the blesser,
and you'll find that in His presence is the only way to live.

Will You Live for Jesus?

by Lynne Hammond

In 1982, the Lord first began to speak to me about His glory. And in the years since, the vision of that glory has
fascinated my heart. Every day, I pray about the time when "…the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory
of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Habakkuk 2:14).

I constantly seek God for ways to access more of His glory. I ask Him for keys that will unlock it and make it available
to us in greater measure. Recently, during a time of prayer, He began to reveal one of those keys to me. He began to
speak to me about "consecration."

As I waited before Him, He brought to my mind a sermon I heard over 15 years ago. It was preached by a man who was
a missionary in Tanzania and it was taken from Acts 9:16 where the Lord said of Saul, "I will make clear to him how
much he will be afflicted and must endure and suffer for My name's sake."

I'll be honest with you. When that missionary first started speaking, I wasn't sure I wanted to hear his sermon. Back
then, I was used to hearing sermons about being blessed all the time. I didn't want to hear anything about suffering.

But he caught my attention because he began by telling us that just a few days before, he and his wife had put their three
little daughters on the bus so that they could go to another country and go to school. There were no schools for them in
Tanzania.

My heart was drawn to this missionary as he wept about the fact that he wouldn't see his little girls for many months. So
I listened intently as he talked about consecration. He talked about serving Jesus at any cost, putting Him first and
obeying Him no matter what. At the end of his sermon, he said, "How many of you here tonight would die for Jesus? If
you would, please stand."

Everyone in the auditorium stood.

Then he said, "How many of you will live for Him?"

In recent days, I've thought about that question a lot. I've realized that before we can have the fullness of the glory of
God, we as Christians will have to ask ourselves that question. We'll have to do some soul searching about it.

To some of us, it may seem like a peculiar question. After all, we've heard so many sermons on blessing and prosperity
that we might think, "Who wouldn't live for Jesus? It's wonderful! It's fun!"

But that's only partially true. Blessings and prosperity do belong to us as citizens of the kingdom of God. And it is
wonderful to follow Jesus and live in that kingdom. But it is not always fun. Sometimes it is difficult and painful to our
flesh. Sometimes it involves suffering

It's Different These Days

Now when I talk about suffering, I'm not talking about things like poverty and sickness. Jesus redeemed us from those
things and we do not need to suffer them.

The suffering I'm talking about is the suffering that sometimes comes to our flesh as we serve the Lord. I'm talking
about giving up natural pleasures and desires so we can obey Jesus as Lord of our lives. I'm talking about the kind of
suffering that missionary endured when he kissed his little girls good-bye, knowing he wouldn't see them for months, so
that he could stay on the mission field and do what God had called him to do.

One minister who began his ministry some 60 years ago, recently said to me with tears in his eyes that most Christians
today know almost nothing about that kind of consecration. "It's different these days than it used to be," he said. "These
days it seems like family is everything. It's as if family—not Jesus—is Lord. But when I started in the ministry it wasn't
that way. For example, when I married my wife, I loved her and she knew it. But I loved Jesus more. And she knew that
no matter what, I would obey Him. No matter what, my life belonged to God."

That minister was called of God to travel and preach much of the time. His wife said that many times she would cry on
her pillow all night when he left because she knew she wouldn't see him for weeks. But they were both willing to make
that sacrifice for the sake of the Lord. They were willing to put His interests above their own.

Someone might say, "Well, I don't know if that's really necessary. I believe we can be Christians without making those
kinds of sacrifices."

That depends on what we mean by being a Christian. If being a Christian just means wearing a label, reading our Bible,
going to church and singing the right songs…then that doesn't require much sacrifice. But if being a Christian means
following Jesus, then we'll have to be like Him—and He gave up His whole life to establish the kingdom of God.
The Principles of the Kingdom

Now when you establish any kind of organization or kingdom, there are certain principles on which that kingdom is
founded. Take the United States of America, for instance. It was founded on the principle that all men were created
equal and have been endowed by God with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Our forefathers not only agreed on that principle, they pledged their lives, their fortunes and their honor to defend that
principle. And many paid a dear price to stand by it.

In the same way, the kingdom of God is founded on certain principles. Jesus taught those principles in what we call "the
sermon on the mount." In that sermon He said:

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be
comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after
righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in
heart: for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they
which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for their's is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile
you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding
glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. (Matthew 5:3-12)

If you'll carefully examine each of the statements Jesus made there, you'll see they all call for a life of consecration.
They call for us to lay down our own interests, deny ourselves and our own personal desires and selfish tendencies—
and do what God wants us to do.

Look again at the first principle. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Since "poor in spirit"
isn't a phrase we use in modern English, that statement doesn't mean as much to us in the King James version of the
Bible as it should. So let's look at it in some different translations.

Blessed is he who regards the interests of the kingdom of heaven as paramount to every other interest in the world.
Blessed is he who regards the interests of the kingdom of heaven as paramount to his own personal interests. Blessed is
he whose interest in life, whose interest in the world is only used to extend the interest of the kingdom of God. Blessed
is he who hath lost his own identity as an individual and has become a citizen of the kingdom. Blessed is he who sees
the kingdom of heaven as the ultimate to be possessed. Blessed is he who forgets to hoard wealth for himself but who
uses all he has for the extension of the kingdom of heaven.

Not for Wimps

Jesus laid down this principle and He walked it out. He didn't just preach it, He lived it to the uttermost by giving His
life for the world.

Remember what He did at the last supper, just before He was crucified? He took the cup and said, "This is My blood of
the new covenant, which…is being poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:28). Then He gave
that same cup to His disciples and they drank it, making the same pledge.

If you'll read about the disciples, you'll see they kept that pledge too. They all suffered for the kingdom of God. Some
were crucified. Some were killed by the spear or sword. Some were tortured.

We need to think about that. We need to realize the price that was paid by those who went before us. I'm telling you,
those men weren't wimps. Their Christianity had strong character to it!

Sometimes we wonder today why we don't have the same kind of power those early disciples had. One of the reasons is
because we haven't had that kind of character, that kind of commitment…that kind of consecration!

There is a connection between power and consecration. I think about that wonderful saint of God, Brother John Lake.
He saw astonishing miracles in great numbers in his ministry and many have tried to figure out what his secret was. Just
look at his life and you will know!

In the early days of his ministry he preached at a church that was 20 miles away from where he lived. He had no way to
get there but to walk, so every time he preached, he walked 20 miles there and 20 miles home.

Some time later God called him to Africa. So he traveled from Indiana to Johannesburg, South Africa with his wife and
seven children. He took with him what money he had—$1.25—and believed God all the way. That is why the power of
God was so strongly manifested in his ministry. He had faith in God and he lived a consecrated life.

In recent times, most of us Christians haven't been famous for that kind of consecration. But, I'm telling you, before
Jesus comes back we are going to change.

In fact, we can start changing right now. If we'll truly repent of our selfishness and begin to ask God to move within us
and upon us, He'll do a consecrating work in our heart. If we'll begin to cry out for the same intensity of spirit that was
resident in those early Christians, He will give it to us. He will restore to us the fire of God and the commitment that so
marked their lives.

He will make us more than superficial people, wearing the label of "a Christian." He will transform us into true
followers of Jesus.

When that happens we'll see the glory and power of God flowing in our lives like mighty rivers. We'll see a great
harvest of souls because people will at last be able to look at us and really see Jesus.

Then the vision that has captivated my heart for so many years will at last become a reality. And the knowledge of the
glory of the Lord will cover the earth like the waters cover the sea.

Oh God, change us now!

The Hour of No Impossibility

by Lynne Hammond

"All things are possible to him that believeth."

Jesus said it. And, with our heads we believe it's true. If we're honest, however, we have to admit that for us the
impossible all too often remains… the impossible.

But, dear believer, hold onto your pew because that is about to change.

I know of a woman who visited heaven a few years ago. While she was there, she spoke with Jesus about the last days'
move of God, the move He called "the latter rain."

Later, when that lady was talking about her heavenly visitation, someone asked what the time of the latter rain will be
like. She answered with a phrase I will never forget. She said, "It is the hour of no impossibilities--where all things will
be possible in God."

That is the time you and I have stepped into now. It is the time all the saints from ages past have longed to see. It is the
hour of no impossibility.

We can catch a glimpse of what this hour will hold for us by reading the book of Acts because in the early Church, too,
God did the impossible. At that Gate Beautiful He healed a man who had been lame from birth. That man had never
taken a single step, yet when Peter said, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk," he suddenly began
walking and leaping and praising God (Acts 3:6-8).

On the road to Damascus, Jesus Himself appeared in power and glory to Saul of Tarsus, a man so full of murderous
hatred for the Church that he had dedicated his life to dragging believers from their homes, having them imprisoned and
even put to death. Yet in a single day, God changed that man's heart and turned him into one of the greatest apostles the
Church has ever known.

When a dear and godly woman named Dorcas died before her time in the early Church, her fellow church members
called for Peter. And though Dorcas had been dead for some time, Peter prayed and she arose alive.

It's wonderful to read about those things. But it will be even more wonderful when we are living them!

"Oh, Sister Lynne," you might say, "I can't even imagine things like that happening to me."

Well, it's time you got started. It's not just time for you to imagine them, it's time for you to add faith and begin
believing God for them. It's time for you to step into your hour of no impossibilities!

Your Impossible Dreams

The first thing you need to do is identify those impossibilities so you'll know what you should be believing for.
Exactly what is an impossibility?

God gives us a wonderful definition of it in the first chapter of Luke. There, the angel Gabriel is delivering to the virgin
Mary the news that she is about to become the mother of the Messiah. Mary responded to this amazing announcement
with a question. "How shall this be, since I have no husband?" (Verse 34).

The angel answered by saying, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow
you… For with God nothing is ever impossible…" (verses 35, 37).

We see here that an impossibility is something that causes you to say, "How on earth could that happen?" It's something
that you know is the will of God, yet it cannot be brought forth by natural or human means.

In Mary's situation, God was telling her that He was about to put a seed inside her supernaturally and that seed would
ultimately become the Savior of mankind. At first glance, that would seem to be a very unusual situation but when you
think about it, it's really not.

Spiritually speaking, God is putting seeds inside of us all the time. He causes us to conceive of things on the inside of us
that are totally impossible in the natural realm, things that can only be brought forth by the power of God.

For example: when I was a little girl, God put some things in my heart that I know must have been supernatural. I
wasn't even born again at the time. My family wasn't inclined to the things of God. My environment wasn't spiritual. Yet
God put spiritual dreams and desires within me. They were just little seeds for years. But eventually I got born again
because those seeds God dropped in my heart when I was young kept drawing me to Him.

What seeds has God dropped inside of you? What seemingly impossible dreams and visions has He planted there?

You may not even be aware of them right now. But they're in there.

If you'll think back, you'll probably remember the time God gave you those dreams. You may have been sitting in
church or just walking along fellowshipping with God one day when suddenly a plan of God flashed before you.
Suddenly, you saw yourself doing something for God. It may have exploded within you with such spiritual force that
you thought that vision was going to become reality right away.

But then nothing happened. And day by day, that dream seed was buried in the dirt and soil of daily living. Maybe your
life took a completely different direction. Maybe you started pursuing your own plans and purposes until that seed was
so completely covered that you forgot about it.

Perhaps when you do think about it, you just shake your head and say, "How did I think that was ever going to happen?
It would be impossible."

Praise God, this is the hour of impossibilities! It's time for you to dig that seed up, brush it off and start praying about it.
It's time for you to put some faith behind it so He can bring it to pass!

I'm telling you, the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is about to bring forth those impossible dreams. The conditions are
right for those seeds to sprout up. We're getting ready to bring forth a big crop for God.

Natural seeds can lie in the ground dormant for hundreds of years yet when the conditions are right, they'll grow. The
same thing is true of spiritual seeds and that is about to be proven during this time of the latter rain. Impossible dreams
and visions and callings of God that have been buried for years in people's hearts are going to come to life and bring
glory to God.

Impossible Healings and Miracles

Do you know what else we're going to see in this hour of no impossibilities? We're going to see miraculous healings!
We're going to see people with physical impairments restored and made whole!

It's difficult for most of us to imagine what it would be like for God to instantly heal the mind of a person who'd been
mentally retarded all his life. Yet Jesus did it during His earthly ministry. Commentaries tell us that the boy described in
Matthew 17 who had been plagued with seizures all his life was probably mentally impaired.

After healing the boy, Jesus turned to His disciples and said;
…If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it
shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you (verse 20).

Just think about that for a moment. Think what will happen in the area of physical healing as all things become possible
to us! Blind eyes will open. Limbs will grow. The maimed will be made whole.

Once when a friend of mine was praying about these things, God gave her a tremendous desire to see handicapped
people healed. As she prayed about that desire, in her heart she began to see a great tent where the Gospel was being
preached. One section of the tent was full of people who were deformed, retarded and in other ways terribly
handicapped.

Suddenly, the rest of the people in the tent began to sing and as they did, the Spirit of God moved like a whirlwind
through that section of handicapped people. As that wind of the Spirit hit people, they would be instantly healed by the
power of God.

We need to grab hold of visions like that. We need to latch onto them by faith and begin praying for them to come to
pass. We need to make a faith decision that we are going to see it and we are going to see it in this day because it's the
day of no impossibilities!

Impossible Uncle Charlie

Here's something else you need to stir up your faith for in this hour. You need to believe for seemingly impossible
people to be saved!

You know the people I'm talking about. They're the people who have resisted God so successfully for so long you've
given up on them.

It's a scriptural fact that when it comes to salvation, some people are practically impossible cases. Jesus once said about
the rich, for example;

…how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they were astonished out of measure, saying
among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible but not with
God: for with God all things are possible, (Mark 10:24-27.)

Material wealth offers a false fulfillment to people that almost always prevents them from coming to God. But in these
last days, we are going to see wealthy people come into the kingdom of God.

We're going to see other seemingly impossible people come to Jesus as well. We'll see criminals and mafia leaders.
We'll see Islamics and Hindus. We'll see entire cities won to the Lord just as the city of Samaria was in the book of Acts.

We'll also see people like Uncle Charlie or Aunt Edna give their lives to Jesus. Figuratively speaking, every believer has
an "Uncle Charlie" or an "Aunt Edna" who is so hardened to God that you can't come up with any way to reach them.

We had a relative like that in my family. We'd all shared with him about the Lord. Even my four-year-old nephew had
talked to him about Jesus. But he wouldn't budge. He was so stubbornly lost that sometimes when my sister and I would
talk about him, we'd just shake our heads and say, "It's impossible for him."

Yet one Sunday, after my brother-in-law and sister started their church, my sister looked up and saw him sitting at the
back of the church. He just came because he was curious. But halfway through the message (it wasn't even a salvation
message) that man started to weep.

He's a man who never cries so my sister thought he was in pain or sick or something. All through the service he wept
and when the altar call was given, he came forward and gave his life to Jesus.

Guess what my sister said when she called me about it? She said, "The most impossible thing happened today!"

Listen to me now. I want you to start praying again for those relatives and friends you've given up on. Turn in your
Bible to Psalms 2:8 where God says, "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance…" and write the
names of those people there. That's what I did. I put the names of my family on a sheet of paper and put it right over
that verse. Then every time I turned there I'd say, "Father, these are my possessions. These are the heathen and they are
mine in the name of Jesus."
Then get your faith in gear and get ready.

Get ready to call someone because some day soon you'll be bursting with good news. You'll be stepping into your God-
given dreams. You'll be seeing people around you healed and made whole. You'll be leading those sin-hardened aunts
and uncles, cousins and friends to Jesus.

Someday soon, you'll be calling somebody just like my sister did to me, "Praise God, the most impossible thing
happened today!…"

It's Your Move

by Lynne Hammond

What is the purpose of your life as a Christian?

Have you ever thought about that? I have. Back when I was first born again, I used to think the reason God saved me
was to keep me out of hell. As I grew up in the Lord and began to learn about His goodness, I upgraded my ideas. I
decided that God's reason for sending Jesus was not just to keep me out of hell, but to get me to Heaven. So my purpose
in life was just to get to Heaven.

In later years, however, I began to see that my purpose was much bigger than that. I realized that God had something
truly magnificent in mind when, through the blood of Jesus, He gave birth to the Church.

I saw in the Bible that God saved us so we could do the same thing that Jesus was sent to do — manifest God in the
earth!

Just as Jesus was born as a man so that He could make God to be seen and known by men, just as He was sent to
display God's righteousness, His character, His nature and His power, we were born again for the same purpose (See
John 17:18). God's ideal Christian is not just a person who is ready to go to Heaven. It's not just a person who lives a
good life and has victory over sin and sickness and the Devil. It includes all those things, but it's a million times more
than that. God's ideal is spelled out in Ephesians 4 and it is this:

…[that we] all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate]] knowledge of the Son of
God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the
standard height of Christ's own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness
found in Him. (verse 13).

That is where we are headed. God, by the power of the Holy Spirit working within us, has planned for us to keep
growing spiritually until we are just like Jesus.

Changing by Degree

"Well, Sister Lynne," you might say, "I just don't see how that will ever happen."

The Bible tells us how it will happen. It will happen a little at a time. God is not going to hit us with one big glory ball
one day and transform us in an instant. He is changing us by degrees. Second Corinthians 3:18 says it this way: And all
of us, as with unveiled face [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord,
are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to
another.

When we think about our lives being changed, we usually think about the changes that need to take place in our
attitudes and our actions. Certainly, those are things that need to be changed in all of us. But did you know that the more
we change, the more we will progress spiritually? As God takes us to new degrees of glory, we will grow keener and
more sensitive to the realm of the spirit. We'll be able to perceive things by the Spirit, just the way Jesus did.

When Jesus walked into a difficult situation (and He certainly walked into many of them), He never stopped and said,
"What's going on? Geez! What's the deal here?" No, He always knew what was going on, because He was spiritually
keen.

Do you think Jesus was born with that kind of spiritual sensitivity? Do you think keenness just hit Him automatically
like whiplash, because He was the Son of God? No, the Bible says He grew into that. It says, "Jesus increased in
wisdom…" (Luke 2:52).
If we had space here, I could take you through the accounts of Jesus' life and show you how He increased in spiritual
ability throughout His ministry. Think, for example, of how He increased in His ability to exercise authority over
physical death. The first time we see Him use that power is in Mark 5 when He raised Jairus' daughter who had only
been dead a few minutes. The next occurrence we see in Luke 12 where He raised the widow woman's son who had
been dead a few hours. Finally, we see Him raise Lazarus who had been dead four days.

So we see in His life and ministry there was a progression. The same is true for us. Our walk with God is truly a walk!
It is a step-by-step progression into higher places in Him. We don't leap into spiritual places. We don't pole vault into
them. We walk into them one step at a time.

The apostle Paul wrote about that progression and said:

[For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately
acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more
clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection…(Philippians 3:10)

Response: A Key to Spiritual Advancement

Now, let me ask you a question. If God's will is for us all to be continually progressing spiritually, if it's His will for us
all to be walking continually, step-by-step, up this glory road, why do some people stop? Why do they reach a certain
place with God and get stuck there?

There are two reasons. The first is this: they stop using their faith for spiritual advancement. Remember how much faith
it required for you to speak in tongues for the first time? Or raise your hands in worship the first time? You felt
uncomfortable, and you had to exercise your faith to stretch spiritually to that new place. But after a while, you could
speak in tongues or lift your hands without using an ounce of faith. It was familiar territory, and you weren't venturing
out into anything more. If you ever stop using your faith to advance in God, you will stagnate spiritually.

The second reason people stop making spiritual progress is the one I want to focus on most. It is this: they stop
responding to God.

I'm telling you, God doesn't want people who just routinely get their list of right things to do, and say, and pray - people
who just work their list without ever checking with Him. He wants a living relationship with people. He wants people to
respond to Him.

The principle of response is vital to spiritual progress. You see, our walk with God is kind of like a game of checkers.
He moves. Then we move. Then He moves again… and we respond to that move.

The moment we stop responding, the game is over. God can't take us any higher.

One person that always comes to my mind when I think about responding to God is Moses. He had an awesome call of
God on His life. He was called to be a deliverer of the Israelites. But the first time he set out to do that, he did it all
wrong and he ended up on the backside of the desert tending sheep.

Do you remember what happened in that desert? God started a fire in a bush. Actually, God Himself got in that bush so
it looked like it was burning. Now Moses didn't know that was God. He just noticed this bush kept burning without
being consumed. So what did he do? He turned aside to see it.

In other words, Moses responded to God in that bush. If he hadn't, that would have been the end of that story. But thank
God, it wasn't. Moses turned aside "And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the
midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses! And he said, Here am I" (Exodus 3:4).
Can you see the pattern? God moved. Moses responded. Then God moved again. He said to Moses, "Do not come near;
put your shoes off your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground…" (verse 5).

Notice, once again, Moses had the opportunity to respond. How? By taking off his shoes.

There's something significant in that. I've noticed over the years that many times when God prompts me in my heart to
do something it may not seem very spiritual at the time. It might be something very natural like taking a walk in my
neighborhood. But if I'll do it, God will open up something new for me.

Recently, I heard a well-known minister give a wonderful example of this. He said that a few years ago the Lord
impressed on his heart to get in his car, drive down to the church parking lot and sit there for a while. He didn't know
why. He didn't understand it. But nonetheless he obeyed.
That minister sat in the parking lot of the church all afternoon. He kept expecting something to happen. He kept
expecting God to tell him why he was there. But hour after hour went by with no hint as to why he was there. Finally,
the sun went down and the minister sensed a release in his heart that it was all right for him to leave and go home.

The very next day, God gave him the vision for a worldwide ministry. He showed this minister what to do and how to
do it. And in the years since, that vision has come to pass.

Do you know what God said to that man about the day he spent in the parking lot? He said, "If I couldn't trust you to
obey Me when I told you to go sit in that parking lot, I wouldn't have been able to trust you with the vision for this
ministry."

Natural Things Bring Supernatural Results

That may sound odd to you, but if you'll look through the Bible you'll find that time and again, God led people to do
things that were seemingly very simple and natural. But when they obeyed, their obedience opened the door to the
supernatural working of God in their lives.

Think about the Shunamite woman in 2 Kings 4, for example. She was prompted in her heart to build a room onto her
house for the prophet of God to stay in when he was in town. Building a room isn't a very spiritual thing. It takes wood
and nails and hard work. But when the Shunamite woman responded in that natural way to the leading of God, it opened
the door for her to have a son even though she was barren all her life. It also opened the door for that son to be raised
later from the dead.

Even in the New Testament, we see Jesus telling people to do very natural things. He put mud on a blind man's eyes and
told him to go wash it off in a particular pool of water. He told Peter to launch his boat out into the deep and let down
his net for a catch of fish. He told the servants at the wedding feast of Cana to fill six water pots with water.

Not one of those things brought any Holy Ghost goose bumps. None of them seemed at the time very spiritual. But all
of them opened the door for God to do the supernatural in the lives of those who responded.

So often we, as believers, miss what God is putting in our heart because we're waiting for Him to lead us to do
something tremendously spiritual. We're looking for a mountain to split. We're looking for angels to sing. But all the
while, God is moving on our hearts in some simple fashion, just impressing us to drive down the street, make a certain
phone call, or just pick up the Bible and begin to read wherever our gaze happens to fall.

How often do we fail to respond to those things? How often do we doubt those leadings and say, "Oh, that probably
wasn't God. It was probably just my own idea."

Listen, we have to begin using our faith to get past that kind of thinking. People who have truly amazing adventures in
God, people who progress to wonderful places in their walk with Him don't think that way. They don't think they're just
little natural people living little natural lives with little natural thoughts.

No, they actually believe that the God of the universe is living inside them. They believe the very same Holy Spirit that
set the stars in their courses and created the earth, is moving in their hearts. They believe He is talking to them and they
are listening and responding.

It takes faith to live like that. You have to actually believe that Jesus meant it when He said, "…the Comforter, which is
the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things…" (John 15:26).

It's interesting to me that Christians so often use their faith for natural things - like money or healing or changes in their
circumstances - but forget to use their faith for spiritual things like the continual leadership of the Holy Ghost. It takes
faith to walk in the spirit. You must believe the Holy Ghost is going to speak to you and lead you through your day, or
you won't perceive it when He does. You must expect Him to move on you so when He does, you pick up on it and
respond.

How do you build that faith? Get out your Bible and read about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Meditate on scriptures
that assure you of His leadership in your life. Then build yourself up on that faith by praying in other tongues (Jude 21).
Get yourself in a place of expectancy and when He leads you to do the slightest thing… respond!

"But what if I'm wrong?" you ask. "What if I do something and it isn't God?"

Listen, God knows if you're a beginner. He's not going to start out by telling you to sell your house and move to Africa
tomorrow. He'll start by telling you to do simple things like take a walk around the neighborhood and pray for your
neighbors, or call a certain person and encourage them. Even if you miss it a little in doing something like that, it's not
going to hurt anything. And by putting your faith into action, you'll open the door for God to take you higher!

I can tell you this, if you will dare to believe that God will lead you, if you will dare to respond to those leadings, you
will embark on the most exciting life you can imagine. There is nothing more fun, nothing more thrilling than a day-by-
day adventure with the Holy Ghost. You might start out taking tiny baby steps, but if you'll keep going, God will keep
changing you from one degree of glory to another until one day, you'll be walking in the very footsteps of Jesus!

Bring Your Best Love Home

by Tim Burt

You're kinder to strangers than to your own family."

Have you ever been told something like that? I was, several years ago—by my wife. At first, I was shocked she would
even suggest such a thing. After all, I was a pastor...a man of God...a shining example of Christ-like love and virtue.

But the more I thought about it, and the more I began to examine my behavior patterns, the more I realized she was
right.

To the rest of the world, I was patient, compassionate, and ever-willing to die to self to meet their needs. But to my wife
and children, I was often something less than those things.

In other words, I wasn't bringing my best love home. Of course, I immediately took steps to remedy that situation.

In the years since that disturbing revelation, I've discovered I'm not the only one with the tendency to "Mr. Gracious" to
everyone at work and "Mr. Grouchy" once I step across my welcome mat.

Every day, believers throughout the body of Christ fall into the trap of thinking that, once they're home, they no longer
need to extend the kind of courtesy and grace we offer automatically in the workplace and the marketplace.

God's Plan

Once my wife lovingly pointed out this negative pattern, God really began to deal with me about taking my family for
granted. He said, "You need to bring your best love home. Because, if you're not bringing your best love home, you're
really living a hypocritical love in front of your wife and children."

I think it's fair to say that often, the ones we love the most receive the lowest output of our love and affection. They're
the ones with which we're the least careful in expressing ourselves. And frequently, they're the ones to whom we're the
least polite and patient. Sadly, our children often begin to reflect some of those same traits.

Perhaps they're as patient as they can be with their best friends, but they pick on their own brothers and sisters. They
judge them. They tell on them. They won't give them the time of day. But if their friend comes over, there's all the
grace, all the patience, all the room in the world for their friend.

I used to think that this was normal behavior, because almost all kids act that way. But the Lord spoke to me and said,
"You know, there is nothing normal about that. Not according to my plan. There's nothing normal about siblings hating
each other or fighting with each other. And it's not normal in my eyes for you to be impatient or unloving toward your
family."

In actuality, the love and respect that you show for other people should be magnified for your wife or husband, children
and siblings. God's way is for you to bring your best love home. And in order to bring our best love home, we first have
to determine what love really is.

To that end, look with me in the book of Exodus where we see God descending in a cloud and standing with Moses:

And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and
abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no
means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation.
(Exodus 34:6-7)

Before the Lord revealed the ten commandments to Moses, he first wanted to reveal something about himself. So, the
first thing the Lord declares here to Moses is not law, but the attributes of His love, justice and mercy.

Of course, the attributes of God's love are widely known. But there's a difference between the attributes of love and
what love really is.

I Corinthians 13 describes the attributes of love, but verse three sums up its importance when it says, "And if I have not
love it profiteth me nothing."

According to the first three verses of this passage, you can be the most spiritual-acting human being on the earth, yet if
you don't have love, it won't profit you a thing. The truth is, God doesn't care nearly as much about your ability, as He
does your ability to love.

In the next five verses we see that love is patient, kind, doesn't get envious or jealous, and doesn't get prideful or
egotistical. It doesn't behave unmannerly. It isn't selfish or easily offended. It doesn't think evil about others, nor does is
rejoice in somebody else's misfortunes. It only rejoices in the truth. The Bible says that love protects in loyalty and it
patiently waits for the best in other people. Love never fails. These powerful scriptures are familiar to most of us, but
have we applied them to our relationships at home?

Through God's Eyes

Did you know that it's possible to walk in the attributes of love without necessarily having a heart-revelation of what
love really is? When we consistently shortchange our loved ones at home, yet extend love to the rest of the world, we're
merely walking in the attributes, not the true revelation of love.

In the world people love because they are motivated by need. They're looking for something in return. For example,
perhaps you're nice to your boss because he controls your paycheck. So, you put on the attributes of love in order to
bring home your paycheck. It's a transaction.

I John 4:10 we discover that genuine love is based on a different type of transaction:

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

As we see in this verse, love in its purest form comes from a revelation of God's love for us. The world portrays love as
some elusive emotion. You meet somebody and the sparks fly, the adrenaline flows, the chemistry gels, and there's such
passion that you cannot stand to be away from that person for a second. The problem with this type of love is that it is
temporary and fleeting. You fall in it and out of it.

That kind of love is also a discriminating love. It chooses whom it will and won't favor. But the Bible says that as God
loved us, so should we love one another. With every encounter we need to remember, God loves that person.

If this is true where our day-to-day acquaintances are concerned, it's doubly true at home. Husbands, when you think of
your wife, you need to say, "I know God loves everybody that I'm dealing with today, but He loves my wife just as
much and she's the first one I've been given care over. My first responsibility is to her. God loves this person and she is
mine! God loves her and I'd better take good care of her. She is God's property."

Practicing that kind of love will absolutely change you. At the same time it will transform your home into a peaceful
refuge. The good news is, if you'll exercise that kind of love at home, it will naturally spill out into all your outside
relationships.

The next time you walk through the door after a tiring and difficult day, remember the message of John 4:7-8:

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who
does not love does not know God, for God is love."

Make it a point to bring your best love home every day. Do so, and you'll find that your home life is blissful and that
you're carrying that love outward to a hurting world!

It Takes an Excellent Life to Live a Glorious Plan

by Kelly Lynnes

"God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life."
Those eleven familiar words comprise the first of the "Four Spiritual Laws"—a gospel tract that has been used to
present the plan of salvation to people around the world. They are words that carry a glorious and important truth. God
really does have a specific plan for your life that is consistent with your giftings, talents and God-given desires.

Many believers live out their entire life and never really seek God about their personal destiny. Others may have a pretty
good idea of what that plan is—at least in sketchy outlines. But what most Christians don't realize, is that it takes more
than just knowing the plan.

It's not enough to know what God wants you to do with your life. Simply knowing God's plan for your life will not
cause you to fulfill your destiny. It requires the proper perspective and a deliberate ordering of your day-to-day
acitivities.

This truth came jumping out at me the other day as I was reading a familiar passage in II Timothy. It's a passage in
which Paul is giving his protoge, Timothy, detailed instructions and advice on how to carry on the work of the ministry.
But he's also telling us what to expect and how to experience God's highest and best in these "last days." (II Timothy
3:1)

Notice what he says in chapter three, verse 10:

But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience,…

Here, Paul reminds Timothy that he has "fully known" some things about his mentor. Among these are two I want to
bring to your attention. They are purpose and manner of life .

Putting Them Together

Some people understand their "purpose" in life, but they're a mess in the "manner of life" area. They live sloppy, carnal
lives, never allowing themselves to be transformed by renewing their minds through the Word.

Others are living exemplary Christian lives—they're doing everything the Word says they should do—but they have no
God-given vision in their hearts.

The truth is, it takes both—purpose AND the proper manner of life—to realize God's highest and best for your life.
Your vision provides the impetus and motivation to live the kind of life that will cause you to finish you course in God.
That's why, if you've lost your vision, you've lost everything.

God wants to put a burning vision in your heart if you don't already have one. He wants to stir it up again if you've
allowed it to grow cold and dim. He wants that vision to wake you up every morning and propel you into a manner of
life that brings that vision into fulfillment.

What manner of life will cause you to realize God's high purpose? Paul told Timothy (and us) to observe his life to find
the answer to that question. Let's look to the life of Paul to discover four important truths on living a life that wins.

1. A Right Response

Some people think their dark and sinful past disqualifies them for a high calling in God's kingdom. Nothing could be
further from the truth. Paul is a living example of that.

In several places in scripture, Paul describes how he had formerly persecuted believers and had even endorsed their
imprisonment and execution. For example, in Acts, chapter 26, Paul says:

"I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is just
what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put
to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I
tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them." (Acts
26:9-11 NIV)

You may have done some bad things in your past, but you probably never had Christians killed simply because of their
love for Jesus. You, like Paul, can find forgiveness and restoration through the blood of Jesus. Once you've taken on the
very righteousness of God (II Corinthians 5:21), there is no limit to what you can do and be in God's Kingdom. Don't
judge God's plan for your life based on past failures. It simply doesn't matter what you've done in the past.

What turned Paul around? A head-on confrontation with Jesus Himself:

And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he
fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou,
Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he
trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? (Acts 9:3-6)

When confronted with the reality of Jesus and His call, Paul asked the right question. He simply said, "Lord, what do
you want me to do?"

This represents the first key to understanding Paul's manner of life. He always responded correctly to the call of God.
His first and foremost thought was, "What does God want me to do?" In other words, he stayed focused on the will of
God, rather than the preference of Paul.

That's where so many believers miss it. We're more concerned about what we want and need rather than God's plans and
purposes . If you want to fulfill your God-given purpose, abandon yourself to the will of God.

2. Seek Approval in the Right Place

In the first chapter of Galatians, Paul makes an interesting statement. He's talking about how God saved him and called
him to be an apostle. Specifically, he's referring to that day God knocked him off his horse on the road to Damascus:

But when it pleased God, who…called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the
heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood… (Galatians 1:15,16)

After his extraordinary encounter with Jesus—an encounter in which he received his direction and purpose in life—Paul
says, "I conferred not with flesh and blood."

In other words, Paul is saying, "I didn't go asking for anyone's opinion about what God had told me." If we would
follow Paul's example in this area, we would experience a lot more success.

Dear saint, if you want to get in trouble where God's plan for your life is concerned, start conferring with flesh and
blood about it. Ask your family what they think. Ask your spouse what he or she thinks. Ask your coworkers what they
think. I promise, you'll be confused, disheartened and defeated in no time.

When it comes to the deeply personal issue of God's individual plan for your life, don't immediately confer with flesh
and blood about it. Give God the time to clarify and solidify that plan. When the time is right, you can share it with
others as the Spirit leads.

3. Right Priorities

Another characteristic of Paul's manner of life that stands out sharply as you read his writings, is the beautiful way he
ordered his priorities. He bluntly describes those priorities in the third chapter of Philippians:

But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. (Philippians 3:7,8)

Paul took a hard look at everything life in this world could offer—fame, wealth, prestige, comfort—and recognized that
it all was less than worthless when compared to the joys of knowing Jesus.

Oh, if only more believers would recognize that truth. Instead, far too many Christians are wasting their lives away on
entertainment and meaningless pursuits. squandering precious time when there is a plan of God to fulfill in these last of
the last days.

We need to imitate Paul's manner of life in this area. We need to recognize the surpassing greatness of the riches that
come from knowing Jesus.

4. Straining Forward

As we read the New Testament, there is something else that becomes apparent about Paul's manner of life. He knew
how to press and what to press toward. We see this clearly in that same third chapter of Philippians:

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and
reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13,14)

The "one thing" Paul talks about in these verses actually has two parts to it. The first part is "forgetting what lies
behind." You'll never fulfill your purpose if you're clinging to things of the past. But that's not all Paul did. He also was
"reaching forth" for things which lay ahead.

Another translation says "straining forward to what lies ahead." One dictionary defines straining as "to make violent and
steady efforts." One element of straining is merely staying consistent. Comfort and relaxation are the opposite of
straining. And I don't have to tell you, your flesh likes to be comfortable.

It makes me ask myself, "Am I straining forward? Am I keeping a vigilant attitude towards the enemy and living a
consistent life before God? Or have I become comfortable?" That's a good question to ask yourself.

Paul's manner of life involved a constant straining forward toward the things of God. Why? Because he had a vision. He
had a clearly defined purpose that propelled him forward.

I've observed there are basically two reasons why believers don't press forward. Either they've gotten comfortable and
satisfied with the status quo (in other words they've lost sight of their purpose), or they've never known what to press
toward in the first place.

If you've had a clear vision of your purpose but have lost it for some reason, it's time to stir it back up. If you've never
really identified God's purpose and plan for your life, it's time to get into His Word and press into His presence until it
burns within you once again. . Without a purpose you'll never strain forward and win the prize of God's high calling for
your life.

Do you want to experience God's highest and best? Do you want to know and fulfill all of God's grand plan for your
life? Do you want, like Paul, to be able to say at the end of your life, "I have fought the good fight; I have finished the
course; I have kept the faith?" (II Timothy 4:7)

If so, begin to emulate Paul's attitude and manner of life. Because it's not enough to have the vision. To truly run the
race of life to victory, you must live victoriously.

Never forget. It takes an excellent life to live a glorious plan.

Kelly Lynnes serves on the pastorial staff of Living Word Christian Center and directs the Living Word Bible Institute.
He is a graduate of Rhema Bible Training Center in Tulsa, OK

LOVE REJOICES WHEN JUSTICE PREVAILS

1 John 4:8 says that, "God is love." 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 describes the nature of love and thus the
character of God.

People are always superimposing their weak, human nature and emotions onto God. They think that
God is who they think He is - but they are wrong.

God is who He says He is. God says that He is love and He says that, "Love endures long and is
patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or
vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily. It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with
pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God's love in us) does
not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or
resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it [it pays no attention to a suffered wrong]. It
does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail. Love
bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every
person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances, and it endures everything [without
weakening]. Love never fails [never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end]." (AMP)
God, Himself, is all these things and possesses all these qualities. It is these qualities that make Him
God. He is just and righteous and consistent. He never changes; never varies; never lies; and is
never selfish, greedy or manipulative.

He loves justice and He rules and judges justly and with the utmost integrity. If you are to be like
Him, you must also love justice and truth. When you love justice, you submit to justice in your own
life. You do what is right because it is right - and for no other reason. If you will be just and do
justly, you will prosper and fulfill every plan that God has for your life.

When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers. Proverbs 21:15 (NIV)

The righteous are filled with joy when justice is done, but evildoers are terrified by justice. Justice
will bring either rewards or punishments and each person receives justice according to their own
choices.

By justice a king gives a country stability, but one who is greedy for bribes tears it down.
Proverbs 29:4 (NIV)

A wicked man accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the course of justice. Proverbs 17:23 (NIV)

It is not good to be partial to the wicked or to deprive the innocent of justice. Proverbs 18:5
(NIV)

Justice, in the hands of a king or president, will affect an entire nation. A just and good ruler will
bring blessing to a nation, but a leader who is corrupt, greedy and allows his "justice" and his
judgments to be bought, will destroy his nation and pervert the course of justice.

The lips of a king speak as an oracle, and his mouth should not betray justice. 11 Honest scales
and balances are from the LORD; all the weights in the bag are of his making. 12 Kings detest
wrongdoing, for a throne is established through righteousness. 13 Kings take pleasure in honest
lips; they value a man who speaks the truth. Proverbs 16:10-13 (NIV)

Anyone who is in leadership in any capacity, from the king down, has a divine responsibility to be
honest and just. If they love justice and detest wrongdoing, they will establish and strengthen their
own longevity. Their justice will come back to bless them.

The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern. Proverbs
29:7 (NIV)

The righteous care about others - they take responsibility for those who are unable to take care of
themselves. Those who care about justice are generous and unselfish. They do not think of
themselves first. They make judgments according to what is right, not according to what feels good
to them, nor to that which is convenient for them. The wicked do not care for justice, but only for
their own care and gain.

Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD understand it fully. Proverbs
28:5 (NIV)

Justice is a mystery to those who love evil. They are not just and they have no capacity to be just.
They thrive on injustice and seek to profit from it. Even when their evil brings judgment down upon
themselves, they continue to blame the judge instead of those who made the wrong choices -
themselves. The righteous, on the other hand - those who seek God - understand justice fully. They
know it, they accept it and they walk in it, and as they do, they prosper their own way and receive
blessings from the Lord.

Wisdom says, "I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice, bestowing wealth on
those who love me and making their treasuries full. Proverbs 8:20-21 (NIV)

GOD'S GRACE AND HIS PROMISE

HAVE MADE A WAY FOR YOU

Genesis 13:14-17 AMP (click on the link to view the bible online)

The Lord said to Abram after Lot had left him, 14 Lift up now your eyes and look from the place where you are,
northward and southward and eastward and westward;

15 For all the land which you see I will give to you and to your posterity forever.

16 And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if a man could count the dust of the earth, then
could your descendants also be counted.

17 Arise, walk through the land, the length of it and the breadth of it, for I will give it to you.

When God chose Abram and set him aside, bringing him out of his own land and away from his family, he brought him
to the land of Canaan. God told him to look north, south, east and west because He had already given all this land to
him and his posterity-his descendants. God made a covenant promise to give this land to Abram and his posterity.

Genesis 15:12-16 AMP (click on the link to view the bible online)

12 When the sun was setting, a deep sleep overcame Abram, and a horror (a terror, a shuddering fear) of great darkness
assailed and oppressed him.

13 And [God] said to Abram, Know positively that your descendants will be strangers dwelling as temporary residents
in a land that is not theirs [Egypt], and they will be slaves there and will be afflicted and oppressed for 400 years.

14 But I will bring judgment on that nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with great
possessions.

15 And you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old (hoary) age.

16 And in the fourth generation they [your descendants] shall come back here [to Canaan] again, for the iniquity of the
Amorites is not yet full and complete.

God prophesied to Abram about events that would take place for hundreds of years after his death-his descendants
would not go straight into Canaan, but they would take a little detour. Before the time came to go in and possess the
land, they would multiply in number, they would become slaves, God would judge the nation who oppressed them, He
would bring them out with great possessions and in the fourth generation they would come back to Canaan again.

He says something significant at this time-Abram's descendants had to wait a while before they went in to take
possession of their promised land because "the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full and complete."

Deuteronomy 9:3-7 AMP (click on the link to view the bible online)

3 Know therefore this day that the Lord your God is He Who goes over before you as a devouring fire. He will destroy
them and bring them down before you; so you shall dispossess them and make them perish quickly, as the Lord has
promised you.
4 Do not say in your [mind and] heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out from before you, It is because of my
righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land-whereas it is because of the wickedness of these
nations that the Lord is dispossessing them before you.

5 Not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your [minds and] hearts do you go to possess their land; but
because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out before you, and that He may fulfill
the promise which the Lord swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

6 Know therefore that the Lord your God does not give you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for
you are a hard and stubborn people.

7 [Earnestly] remember and forget not how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day
you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord.

God did not drive all these nations out before Israel because Israel was righteous and upright-because they were hard,
stubborn and rebellious-He drove these nations out because of their own wickedness and because of His covenant
promise to Abram. God drove the Amorites out because their iniquity was now full and complete!

What can we learn from this? The Word of God says that He rains on the just and the unjust. God loves every man and
every woman from every nation. There is not one nation better than another. He gives every one of us an opportunity to
choose righteousness and be blessed or to choose unrighteousness and be cursed.

Every one of us, as individuals and as nations and peoples, must humble our hearts before the Lord. We must realize
that He has a plan for our lives and He has awesome things prepared for every one of us - blessings that exceed our
expectations - if we will submit ourselves to Him and allow Him to direct our path and lead us in the way.

God's blessing does not come from your own hand or worthiness, but it comes by His grace as we exalt Him in our
lives, as we give Him place and as we stand on the promises He has made.