Good Afternoon Brothers,
I hope you and yours are doing fantastic. I’ve wanted to get some things out to you earlier, but God has continued His blessing of the two businesses. Work is coming in as fast as we can receive it. Praise God for His grace and faithfulness to His Word, His promises. We’ll be faithful to bless others as our part of the covenant with our Father.
I’m going through an incredible study of “Vengeance and Recompense.” The Father led me to this topic, and He has shown me, through others and His Word, this has not been taught in the Church for 400 years and because of it, the majority of Believers don’t know of it, don’t understand it, and are victims of the enemy. It has really opened my spiritual eyes and heart to yet another spiritual law that has existed since the release of the Holy Ghost into the earth at the Feast of Pentecost in Acts 2 – the “latter rain” of Joel 2:23. Christ came to heal, deliver, and save (Luke 4:18-19), not to condemn or judge. However, God sent the Holy Ghost at the Feast of Pentecost in Acts 2 to execute “vengeance and recompense” (Isaiah 61:2-9) in the world for Believers. However, as we’ve learned, God can do nothing for us unless we believe, confess or decree it, and receive it. I plan to teach this topic at our next Caleb’s Promise meeting, which I still have to set a date and will do so early next week.
One thing God has made me very sensitive to is “who I am.” Today as I teach and have conversations with many Believers, one thing I hear, and I myself said it all the time and believed it, is “I’m just a sinner saved by grace,” or “I’m so unworthy, but God has had grace on me,” or “I’m just a nothing, a worm, but God has blessed me with salvation and eternal life.” God has shown me that He HATES when Believers say these words or anything related to them. When God first chided me about this, I was actually offended. “But God, I am just a sinner saved by Your grace, I’m not worthy of anything You’ve given me, but I’m thankful to you.” My Father said, “yes, it sounds ok, it sounds humble, phrases of humility. However, it is very offensive to My Son and Me.” I did a spiritual doubletake. You’re offended? How can this be?
I will quickly share what He has taught me through other men and through His Word. God showed me this is pride. I know, I had a hard time accepting it, too. But, I’m smart enough now to know God is always right, no matter how much it seems strange, out of place, uncommon, or against the way I’ve been taught or lived. There are two types of pride: self righteousness and shame:
Pride
Self righteousness Shame
Pride Condemnation
Conceit Defensive
Superiority Complex Inferiority Complex
We see “self righteousness” examples in the Word exhibited most often by the “religious,” the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes. A pride that is rarely spoken of, but is just as bad as self righteousness, is shame. Why is this, you ask? The Father made it very clear to me: both forms of pride focus on your works and not solely on what My Son did in the death and resurrection. Wow!! You can imagine how quiet I suddenly became as the full effect of what the Father said hit me squarely in my pride. The Father said to me, “you’re not humble, you’re proud, and I hate pride (Proverbs 8:13).” He said, “I love you dearly, but I hate your pride.” Talk about tears once I realized how I had offended someone I love dearly.
If you’ve accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior, your King and Redeemer, you’re NOT a sinner anymore, you’re NOT a worm anymore, you’re NOT unworthy anymore and for you to believe you are is to say that what our Lord and King did for us on the cross, in hell, and in the resurrection is NOT enough – that He needs to be beaten again, scourged again, crucified again, and suffer hell again. Now, if you love Jesus, and you believed this way, just as I did, you need to repent of these thoughts and of the words you said that agreed with this wrong thinking. And, you need to begin to understand who you really are in Christ.
As Believers, we are the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ (II Corinthians 5:21), we are children and heirs of God (Romans 8:16-17), we are joint-heirs with Jesus Christ (Romans 8:17), we are the seed of Abraham through the Seed, Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:29), we are seated in Christ, spiritually, in Heaven at God’s right hand right this moment (Ephesians 2:6), we have the mind of Christ (I Corinthians 2:16), we are just as Christ is this very moment on the throne at the right hand of God – in this world (I John 4:17), we have the same power in us that God used to raise Christ from the dead (Ephesians 1:19-20), we cannot sin in God’s eyes (1 John 3:9), we were made rich (materially) by Christ (II Corinthians 8:9, II Corinthians 9:8), we were healed by the stripes of Christ (I Peter 2:24), our Father’s will is we are physically in great health, materially rich, and spiritually rich (III John 2), and on and on and on.
God loves you dearly. You can’t even begin to understand the length, the breadth, the height, or the depth of God’s love for you. He loved you, us, so much He gave the greatest treasure in all existence in exchange for us – His Son – who knew no sin, but was willing to take sin upon Him and be the sacrificial lamb for us (II Corinthians 5:21). The Father wants you to study and understand His Word so you can be set free from the bondage many Believers still walk in every day (Romans 8:15). Yes, they are saved, yes, they have eternal life, but most have no clue of the promises and blessings already given to them by God through Jesus Christ. We live well below God’s standard of health, deliverance, protection, and prosperity for us.
I’ll leave you with this. Who persecuted Jesus the most for His teachings, His miracles, His signs and wonders? The religious. Who came to Him willingly and freely, without reservation? The sinners. The sinners weren’t steeped in the religious mumbo jumbo of the day – today we would call this denominations, religions, and the like. There was one church – based on the inerrant Word of God – not interpretations or opinions. God wants so much to bless us. My challenge to you – are you willing and obedient to be blessed (Isaiah 1:19) or do you want to turn back, like the children of Israel, and believe the evil report and live a substandard life, compared to what God has for you, NOW, in the Promised Land called the Kingdom of God, which is on this earth? Me, well, I’ve made my choice. I want the very best God has for me – now on earth, in Heaven, when we return for the Millennial Reign, and for eternity. I want to fulfill His assignment for me on this earth (yes, you have an assignment and if you don’t know what it is, I suggest you start studying), and I want to hear Him say to me, “Well done my good and faithful servant” when I look into His eyes at the Bema Seat in Heaven. God meant for us to fulfill our assignment with His very best for us.
I pray you have an awesome rest of the day and week. Wake up each day expecting your Father to bless you with healing, deliverance, protection, and prosperity. Hey, it’s all in the Word. But, you have to seek to find, knock to open, and ask to receive. Jesus made it very simple and very clear to us because He wants you to have all of it – NOW!
In Christ,
Larry