CHARISMATICA

There are many reasons why Christians should continue to remember Jerusalem in our prayers. First of all because I believe that we are commanded to pray for Jerusalem in Psalm 122:6. But beyond that we need to pray for the destiny of that land and people.

Those of us in America should be praying for Our President and his administration. VP Biden has been over to Israel recently and pretty much favored and was sympathetic to the Palestinian Muslims and their claim over the land. In fact he warned Israeli officials that their relationship with the US was in severe danger over settlements in Jerusalem.

It is my perspective that if this country does not support Israel and their right to Jerusalem then we are the ones that are ultimately in real trouble. So even for purely selfish reasons we do need to be praying. I just don’t understand why we would want to support violent dictatorial Islamic despots over the freely elected leaders of a democratic Israel. It doesn’t make sense to me on any level. Obviously we are battling against demonic powers here and spiritual blindness can be the only logical explanation. Prayer is essential for this situation.

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Matt 6:9-13
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.   -KJV

Becoming Naturally Supernatural

When we pray ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ in essence we are praying for the Kingdom and rule of God to become part of our lives. But then we ignore him so much of the time—at least I do. Even for those of us who are Pentecostals and Charismatics, the supernatural is still the exception rather than the rule particularly in America and the Western world.

It is time for us to more clearly understand that Jesus is our example. He demonstrated what it means to bring the Kingdom and rule of God into human experience. How to be naturally supernatural.

The time has come for Christians to stand up and be the ‘body of Christ’—be real representatives of Jesus just like we have always been called to be. It is time to do the works of Jesus and forget about playing church and putting all of our efforts into organizations. The church should never be an end but always a means.

Unfortunately the history of the Christian church places so much emphasis on the organizations and leaders that have come and gone. It is riddled with the dead shells of past revivals, by-gone ministries, fallen leaders, and those who don’t know that they are fallen. But Jesus Christ remains and he said that he would be with us to the very end.

It is time to go back to the future. Our future lies in doing the works of Jesus in the 21th century just like the first all over again.

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if Jesus had come in our century rather than the first and to America rather than Judea. Who would be his disciples?

I am fairly well convinced that the main-line churches would probably be like the Sadducees of old and many Evangelicals would act in similar ways to the Pharisees. Also, the secularists would probably be like the Romans and their puppet rulers who sought after riches and political power.

What if a revival came to America and the Western world that looked very much like the works and ministry of Jesus? What would the response be? How would the religious leaders in America respond? How would the secularists?

I believe that when revival does come millions of regular folks will be affected and they will experience a major change in world view. The supernatural will no longer be the exception but a natural expectation and result. Bringing the Kingdom into every day life in the 21th century would change it all.

If and when the works and ministry of Jesus become the norm among the faithful Christians in America there will be a major paradigm shift and the supernatural works of Jesus will become natural for the participants. Then we’ll end up with a new ‘Kingdom culture’ to rival and parallel the secular culture that is now dominating America and the Western world.          *Top

Related articles by Zemanta

• -Victory in ‘Living’ The Lord’s Prayer: “Thy Kingdom Come” (charismatica.com)
• -What I’m Looking For: A ‘Red Letter’ Awakening (charismatica.com)
• The path to knowing Jesus better (pastorpaulvbsblog.blogspot.com)

Matt 6:9-13
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.   -KJV

What is the Kingdom?

For years I have prayed- “Thy Kingdom come” with only a vague idea about what I was praying for. Usually I had in mind the end of history and the Second Coming of Jesus when he is going to come back and set up His Kingdom and rule the World.

I had the perspective that right now the Kingdom of God was “not of this world” but in Heaven. Other times I viewed the Kingdom as merely another word for the church.

However when you look at the original Greek word used here for ‘Kingdom’ it seems to offer so much more that could apply to this life. The Greek word is: ‘Basileia’. It doesn’t necessarily refer to a geographical location like a country, but means: ‘rule’. So wherever God rules there is his Kingdom. So when we pray for his Kingdom to come we are really praying for an extension of his rule and authority.

Here’s the actual Greek word order from the prayer:

“Let it come- the- kingdom (or rule)- of thee”

The Kingdom in the Teaching and Ministry of Jesus

It is in the teaching and actions of Jesus that the Kingdom is more clearly identified for us. Wherever Jesus went he proclaimed that the Kingdom of God was near:

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” –Matt 4:17

In fact Matt 4:23-24 tells us that where ever Jesus went he preached about the good news of the Kingdom and healed the sick. But what did he really mean when he said that the Kingdom was “near” and what did those listening to him think he was saying?

The Old Testament prophets talked about the coming of the Messiah and the Kingdom that he would establish and what it would be like. It was going to be an incredible life under the Messiah—no sickness, no more slavery or servitude, plenty for everyone and perfect justice. Totally different than the Roman Empire and the puppet kings like Herod they were suffering under.

When Jesus preached about the Kingdom and healed the sick the people received it in the context of a hope for the coming Messianic Kingdom of justice. In fact when the disciple of John the Baptist showed up asking if he was really the Messiah, he indicated that the Kingdom was being demonstrated in his ministry:

“Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.” –Matt 11:4-6

Then when he returned to Nazareth he was asked to read from the scriptures in the synagogue:

The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” – Luke 4:17-21

This was the context that the disciples and regular folks understood when they heard Jesus talking about the Kingdom. The Messianic Kingdom of freedom and justice, healing and no sickness, plus abundance for all.

Today when we read the words of Jesus about the Kingdom we think about the life to come in Heaven or about the millennium at the end of time itself. For us the context is mostly future and we are asking for the ideal future to come.

The Kingdom -‘Basileia’

However the prayer is not future, we are asking in the present for his kingdom to come now—Thy Kingdom come—let your Kingdom come right now. Let healing come, let oppression cease, let freedom ring, let abundance come to the poor, let God’s justice reign.

Again, the original Greek word for Kingdom – ‘Basileia’ actually means ‘rule’. So wherever God rules there is his Kingdom. So when we pray for his Kingdom to come we are really praying for an extension of his rule and authority.

I believe that it is our calling as the representatives of the Messiah—his body-to extend the ‘rule’ of God in this world. To bring healing and justice, and freedom and hope for the poor and oppressed. We are to be agents of the Kingdom in this world and the world to come.               *Top

Here’s a devotional by Smith Wigglesworth- “Incorruptible Seed“:

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. —1 Peter 1:23

You are born of an incorruptible power—the power of God’s Word—by His personality and His nature. Ye are begotten of God and are not your own. You are now incarnated. You can believe that you have passed from death unto life and become an heir of God, a joint heir with Christ, in the measure that you believe His Word.

The natural flesh has been changed for a new order. The first order was the natural Adamic order. The last order is Christ—the heavenly order. And now you become changed by a heavenly power existing in an earthly body; a power that can never die. It can never see corruption, and it cannot be lost.

I want you to see that you are born of a power which exists in you, a power of which God took and made the world that you are in.

Thank You, Lord, that I have the privilege to be born of Thy incorruptible seed, Thy Word. Amen.               *Top

Matt 6:9-13
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.   -KJV

The “Hallowed” part is something I glossed over quickly for years without understanding that it was really a declaration of worship. I knew it meant that God was ‘holy’ but never gave it much thought. I was always in a hurry to get to the “give us” part.

The actual words in the Greek text are in this order:

“Let it be hallowed- the- name- of thee”

It really is a statement of praise and worship of God. What it literally means is- ‘God let your name be known and consecrated and set apart as holy or sacred.’

In our culture today nothing is considered sacred or holy anymore and the name of God is commonly used in the marketplace and in many homes as an expression of surprise or worse yet in the form of a curse. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are some Muslim countries today where if the name of ‘Allah’ is defamed in any way heads will literally roll.

To put it all in perspective, Jesus taught that the greatest commandment of all is to Love God. Obviously if we truly love God we will treat his name with respect:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.” –Matt.22:37-38

Wow! This means that we should be thinking about God and that he needs to be on our minds and actually apart of everything we do daily.

For most of my life I have honored and worshipped God on Sundays and have prayed to him every day at least when I remember too. Also I have made a point of honoring his name and have not used it in ‘vain’. But have I really honored him daily by including him in my daily life? Not always, particularly at work where I have usually forgotten all about him most of the day even though I have always tried to be a ‘good’ Christian.

Obviously a change is way over due.

I believe that we are entering a time when ‘business as usual’ is no longer going to be an option for those who bear the name of Christ. In the dominant Western culture, God has been removed from the schools and the marketplaces, and many of our courts are removing him from the public square entirely. Now it is even a struggle just to keep him in our busy homes.

Nevertheless, I believe that we are called to honor God daily. In fact we literally need too for our own good. If God our Father is in our daily life then it becomes easier to receive his blessings, reject the temptations of the enemy, and receive of the happy abundant life that God intends for us to have. Sure we are still going to have ‘bad’ days, get sick, and experience a tragedy or two but for once we are not going to be alone.

Therefore, we actually need to think about God and His name needs to be set apart and consecrated or ‘hallowed’ in our daily living—if we truly love him.

But how and where?

Where? In our homes, at our jobs and work, on the freeways driving, and at the malls and shopping centers. Everywhere that life carries us we need to honor God and serve him in all that we do.

How? Jesus is really our example and he teaches us how to Love, worship, and honor God every day. More on that later, but we need to learn how to live a ‘red letter’ life and allow the very words of the Son of God to enliven us and inspire us to include His Father –Our Father–in our daily journey.               *Top

In spite of all of the reported secularization of the American culture, church membership in the United States actually increased in the last year. US church membership reported in the National Council of Churches 2010 Yearbook was up 0.49 percent over 2009 with 147,383,631 members.

Pentecostal denominations continued to grow including Assembles of God and the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee).

Mainline churches continued to decline including also the Southern Baptists and Missouri Lutherans. While unorthodox churches like the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses continued to grow.

Even the Catholic Church showed some growth this year probably due to an influx of new immigrants from Latin America.

Read the rest of my article along with my ‘Response’ and take that ‘Spiritual Gifts’ are an obvious factor in church growth: <<On my Apologetica blog>>           *Top 

Yesterday I had a terrible day at work but when I was complaining to the lord about it he said it was ‘Good’.

I said–but Lord, how can you call this a ‘good’ day—it was one of my worst days in sales that I can remember. Business was so bad that I ended up calling on 3 days worth of customers in 1 day with hardly any sales to show for it. How can that be good?

Then the Lord told me:

1. You could have wasted 3 days and 3 tanks of gas instead of just one.

2. More important you actually listened to me.

Then the Lord reminded me that around noon when I had run through all of the customers that I had originally planned for the day I was ready to quit but listened to His Spirit and kept on going instead and ran through all of the customers that I planned for the next day also.

By then it was 2pm and it started to rain and I was going to call it quits and put the lousy day behind me. After all I had a Bible study project I was working on at home that I wanted to get to. Then came the surprising impression to keep on going.

I kept on going thinking that maybe I would be rewarded with a big sale that would make my day but it never came. Instead I quickly ran through what would normally be another days work and was done by 4pm.

Normally I do 6-8 customer visits a day but this day I did 21 stops with very little in sales to show for it. Each call went rather quickly since business was so terrible for my customers that only a few needed anything at all.

Normally it would have been a discouraging day to say the least. But as I headed home I found myself praising God and being thankful instead.

After all I had saved 2 tanks of gas, gained two days, and had the Lord with me all day. It was a ‘good’ day after all, a very good day indeed. Praise God!                 

Here’s a good Bible study but also a right on prophetic message from  R. Loren Sandford:

The Cloud of Glory Has Moved

Here’s how it ends up:

We have entered into a strategic time when we must move beyond the focus on personal healing and restoration—which has been the emphasis for most of my life—to a focus on the kingdom of God. The cloud of glory has moved into the age of the kingdom of God, an age in which we must cross boundaries and minister the power of the kingdom of God to a world that doesn’t know Him. If you don’t pack up everything and move with it, you will stink up your house and die.

Destiny is at our doorstep.

Response: Amen. This is exactly what the Lord has been talking to me about lately-Thy Kingdom come on Earth and Seek ye FIRST the Kingdom. There is a major shift going on and we better not miss it!            *Top

What I’m looking for is a new ‘red letter’ awakening to spread across our land.

In the 70’s we had the ‘Jesus people’ move out here in California that spread across the whole country particularly among the young people. The emphasis was on salvation and Jesus coming back soon for his church.

In the 90’s in Toronto and at Brownsville in Florida it was the ‘Fathers Love’ which flowed into the churches and touched the lives of millions.

For nearly the entire 20th century beginning with Azusa Street in LA the emphasis was on reviving the work of the Holy Spirit and brings back all of the gifts and offices to the church. That one is still ongoing.

Nearly 500 years ago the Reformation began with Luther posting 95 Theses on a church door. That move was directed towards getting back to the Bible and making it available to everyone. There was an emphasis on Salvation by Grace, right theology, and the Letters of Paul.

Each one of these revivals brought back something that was missing in the church at the time.

Now I believe that we are soon going to experience a new ‘Jesus’ revival.

The Holy Spirit, the Father, and The Word has been brought back to the church. Even an expectation for Jesus coming back for his church is alive and well.

Now it is time for the Church to stand up and be the ‘Body of Christ’ to the world.

I believe that a new awakening is coming when the very words and teachings of Jesus in the Bible will be enlivened in a special way and leap right off of the page into the lives of Millions across our land. A move when Jesus will come to his church in a special intimate way and cause the church to stand up and be the representative of Christ and His Kingdom in the world.

The prophets said that The Messiah would bring justice and good news for the sick, the poor, the oppressed, and the enslaved in this life. That is the calling of the church also—to be the Body of the Messiah in the world.

For too long the church has relegated the good news of the Kingdom to the hereafter and the future. Now it is time for the church to stand up and bring The Kingdom to bare in this world just as Jesus taught us to pray: ”Thy Kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven”.

The Church is called to be agents of justice in this world and ambassadors or practitioners of the Kingdom of God in this life and the life to come.

Here’s a link to a must read article: Messianic Leader Says Revival Breaking Out Among Jewish People

Messianic leader Sid Roth believes that Revival is breaking out among the Jewish People in the U.S. and he sites some of the evidence he has recently observed.

He goes on to assert that he believes that a Jewish revival is the key to unleashing a major Gentile harvest:

"From a spiritual viewpoint, it’s going to cause an explosion. Or I like the way Paul says it [in Romans 11:12], if it was a blessing when Jewish people rejected their Messiah, how much greater blessing when they receive their Messiah. It’ll be life from the dead, resurrection power. I think it’s going to release a resurrection power and miracle-working power in the church like we haven’t seen in our lifetime."

"Paul says the reason Jesus came was to break down the middle wall of separation between Jew and gentile [and] to form a new species of being that will be the dwelling place of God. Well, I feel the church is incomplete without Jewish believers, and the church is incomplete without gentile believers. Each brings a special spiritual DNA to the table to make the complete dwelling place for God.”

"When the Tabernacle of David, or as it says in Hebrew, the ‘family’ of David is restored, or the Jewish people, [Amos 9] describes the greatest gentile revival the world has ever seen. So I see these Jewish people coming to the Lord, entering the church [and] forming the one new man to catapult the greatest gentile revival in history worldwide. That’s my vision. That’s what I believe."

Response: Wow, incredible! Let it be Lord and bring it on.               *Top