When God's Promises Don't Seem to Work for You

We have medicines, hospitals and doctors today. They help a lot. They're also part of God's solutions to our health problems. I use them when God tells me to. But nothing beats HIS powerful miraculous promises in the bible. I won't exchange them for anything in this modern world, not even for modern medical science. And God still wants us to use them today.

[Photo above by Nik Shuliahin on Unsplash]. 

God talked with Moses face-to-face as a man speaks to a friend. And God promised him that “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” God's promises worked for Moses in powerful ways. Moses didn't just talk or preach about God's promises or taught them in Sunday school to the Israelites. He demonstrated GOD's supernatural powers. When Moses asked God for anything, God literally moved in awesome signs and wonders. What more to us who are co-heirs with Christ?

God's awesome promises also worked easily for Joshua, Elijah, Elisha, David and the New Testament apostles, prophets and evangelists. Even in the ministries of Isaiah and Jeremiah, God did awesome wonders. As well as the minor prophets. The fact that they received God's prophecies supernaturally was an awesome sign and wonder. God's promise worked for them. But why won't the promises work as easily today? 

Tell me honestly--when was the last time a paralytic was miraculously healed in your church service or a few loaves of bread and fish multiplied to feed 5,000 with just a short thank you prayer in your church ministry? And when was the last time God's miracle promises worked powerfully for you? The few "miracles" that are reportedly happening today are often nothing but scams to make big money. This is why bible "experts" and teachers decide that miracles and signs and wonders are over. They're no longer of this "dispensation."

But they are not. As sure as God exists, miracles remain possible. Jesus promised that anyone who believes will be able to do what he did and greater works shall they do [John 14.12]. This promise has no expiration date. Jesus didn't put any. The only barrier to God's awesome miracles is the quality of faith---if we seriously believe with all our hearts. We have to have Jesus' own radical faith, no less. Does the church teach us how? NO. But  we all have to pursue this today! The church has got to go back to God's powerful ways through Jesus Christ.

THAT POWER CAN BE YOURS TODAY! 

Jesus promised that he himself will do "anything" we ask of him [John 14.14] and if we believe that anything we say or declare will happen without a shadow of a doubt, it surely will [Mark 11.22-23]. 

"...and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them."

Just imagine that! Nonetheless, many today still miss this opportunity to do ministry in God's awesome miraculous power. Why? Because of teachings and doctrines in church that insist miracles and signs and wonders are a thing of the past. It's their doctrine to trash GOD's miracles as a thing of the past. But we can make them a powerful reality again today by believing with all our hearts the bible principles behind signs and wonders and miracles. Do you know them?

If miracles worked in the ministries of the Old Testament prophets, it will work for us today because Jesus Christ is 100 percent in our bodies. HE is really alive and present in us. That's a sure fact. He is actually living in us (Christ in you the hope of glory), as the Apostle Paul testified that he no longer lived but Christ lived in him. Thus, the powerful miracles in his ministry. 

Unlike in the Old Testament when the Holy Spirit of Jesus didn't yet indwell believers. They were merely used by the Holy Spirit. Today, HE indwells us. GOD LIVES IN OUR BODIES! These are ideal times to replicate what Jesus, the apostles and prophets did in the bible. All we need to do is believe the bible principles on signs and wonders which is part of Jesus' apostolic teachings (lots of church and seminary people, titled and degreed, do not know Jesus' apostolic teachings. Apostolic teachings were what the Acts church focused on in their worship, fellowship and daily lives:

Acts 2:42: "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers"

Today, you can do the same works Jesus did if you know what makes God's promises work for you and what makes them cease to work aside from unbelief. Aside from sin, what other reasons hinder God's promises in the bible to take awesome effect in your life? Find them all out in this e-book, "When God's Promises Doesn't Seem to Work for You."

Know the powerful Kingdom principles as the Holy Spirit reveals them to you in God's Word. This includes radical and even "extreme" truths in the bible but which are often overlooked or simply ignored (or belittled or mocked)---or labeled cultic---by many today. 

The e-book topics and discussions are as follows: 

• Unreasonable Faith

• Why Jesus Had to Walk on Water

• The Need to Be Radical

• Start with Simple

• Ignore Discouragements and Negatives

• Getting used to the Kingdom

• Church mindsets that prevent you from connecting to God's power.

Plus More! 

Hospitals, medicines and doctors are God's blessings to us today. Avail of them when you can. I believe God uses them, too. But saying there are no more instant, on-the-spot miraculous healing today (and on a regular basis. In fact, this should be the ministry norm). They insist that God now uses medical science alone. Doctors, hospitals and medicines are good, but His supernatural promises and miracles still work! GOD's design for HIS church is to display HIS awesome supernatural power. Leave medical science and medicines to the doctors and hospitals. 

For only Php 800.00 get a PDF copy of the e-book now and support my house-church ministry doing so! I don't believe in begging money or soliciting to support ministry. I believe in what Paul said about God's servants "receiving their living from the Gospel," [1 Corinthians 9.14]. So I sell e-books instead. The P400 will help support the house-church ministry God gave me. Use the link below!

GO HERE TO BUY!

UNSEEN GOSPEL: And even if our gospel is unseen, it is unseen to those who are perishing. 

[2 Corinthians 4.3]

Why the Gospel is Veiled

They teach us the how-tos of local ministry. The how-tos of the denomination. Jesus taught his disciples the how-tos of the Kingdom, particularly how to connect and work with God in his heavenly realms. This is what the church terribly lacks today. [Photo above by Jo Szczepanska, Unsplash].

To most of us, Jesus' gospel is unseen. Yeah, church people read and memorize passages and pastors preach about them, but most of us don't really see it. It's a sign of a dying people that have been blinded by the god of this world. Paul declared the veiled Gospel in 2 Corinthians 4:3. It's an unseen Gospel. And you'd see why if you watch how churches operate today. Like in seminars.

How-To Formulas

In seminars, they teach us steps and formulas. How to evangelize. How to plant churches. How to worship. How to pray. How to minister to the lost or the sick or the hungry. They teach us steps and procedures, what we should do first and then next, and then the third step and so on. A funny formula invented by man is the prayer formula, particularly following the ACTS acronym. Jesus never did anything like that. He taught his disciples the protocols of heaven.

Jesus taught the protocol of heaven for prayer, showing us that relationship is crucial above all else. "Our Father in heaven," he said. From this, we do the rest. He showed us how we can simply "ask" God directly, and make things short but sincere (so sincere that we have to forgive others their trespass against us).

"Pray to your Father who is unseen." Jesus said. "Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." That is the Kingdom dynamics here, but people miss it altogether even to this day. They treat prayer as a show, and often believe it's the length that matters, "for they think they will be heard because of their many words." Nope, it's relationship. "Our Father..." 

So they emphasize the contents rather than the relationship.

And smart Alecks saw something else. They saw a formula for prayer. Your prayer should have the ACTS ingredients, they say. They suggest that each time we pray, we need to adore, confess, give thanks and supplicate. But we never see Jesus use the ACTS formula in his prayers. When he fed the 5,000 he didn't pray using the ACTS formula. He just looked up and thanked the Father.

The protocols of heaven is what so many church people (and leaders) do not understand. They just do ministry as they see fit. Worse, they copy from the world and apply it to ministry--like using sales and marketing principles. I was in this ridiculous pastors' seminar where they taught us how everything in ministry should be according to the SMART principle (especially when setting goals)--specific, measurable, attainable, relevant (some say reasonable), and time-bound (I thought it was time bomb).

The supernatural acts of God in ministry will never fit this SMART thing that smart Alecks believe in. Just look at "measurable" and "attainable," for instance. That's exactly how you put God in a box (and yet you hear them say we should not put God in a box). And goal-setting? Our only business is obey God. God sets the goals of what we can do and achieve. He reveals and we obey. Period. Moses could not decide to go either this or that way. He just followed the cloud. God decided where the Promised Land was.

Jesus' "Seminars"

Jesus did handle some "seminars" but they were very different from what seminars churches have today. An example is John 14. Jesus taught about the Father's house and the only way or path to it. This is so important--and it's far from being basic. Aside from Jesus being the only Way to the Father (and the only Truth and only Life), it teaches how knowing him makes us know the Father as well. This is a Kingdom fundamental we cannot do without (but which the church has been doing without).

Here is the powerful Kingdom principle. Anyone who has seen Jesus has seen the Father. Why? Because (watch this principle closely) Jesus said, "I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me." The same principle should work with us. We are in Christ and Christ is in us. Therefore, anyone who has seen us has seen (or should see) Jesus. Without this, it's impossible to take part in Kingdom building on earth. If you take this to heart, this will revolutionize your faith, worship and relationship with God and how you see yourself.

You mirror Christ. It's no longer you who live but Jesus who lives in you. Thus, the sick should think that by just touching the hem of your garment, they will be made whole--not because of you but because they see Jesus in you. Is this the case in church now? Nope, because the church has not pursued this. In fact, they don't believe this. You talk about it and they belittle you, thinking you're an idiot or a cult. So when someone in church feels sick, he opts to skip church this Sunday because he doesn't see it as a place where the sick gets miraculously healed by just touching garments.

It would be odd to hear someone say in Jesus' time, "I cannot come to Jesus' worship service today because my menstruation keeps flowing."

But church people and leaders don't get this. You look at them and you still see them, not Jesus. For one thing, they still stubbornly stick to their denominations and denominational doctrines. Christ never had them and never taught about them. And church pastors work so hard at becoming true to their denomination's creed. So when you look at them, you see their church denomination, not Jesus. You see a religious clergy doing his denomination's rituals, goals and policies. So people say of them, "He's a Baptist or Methodist or Pentecostal or Nazarene pastor." And they identify themselves the same way.

When Peter looked at Christ, he said "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." When John the baptizer saw Jesus, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" They saw nothing of man or of the world in Jesus. They saw only God and His Kingdom in him. This is the kind of seminar churches today need so badly--how people would see the same in them, not their denomination. They need to know how to connect and identify with heaven on a higher level, so that "it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work." Not steps or formulas or strategies or gimmicks. Not hermenuetics or homiletics which are all human formulas perpetuated by the church as things of the Kingdom. Not their clever theology.

"...whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

The Kingdom dynamics of greater things begin with doing the same works Jesus did. THE SAME WORKS. Again, this is the kind of "seminar" the church needs today. No church today follows this course. They're all doing their own works and even copying what they see is effective in the world, paving the way to the modern Babylon system in church. You look at most churches and you see corporations or cause-oriented (or "purpose-driven") groups, not Jesus.

We're given the hint that Christ doing what we ask in his name (to effect the greater things) is predicated on the church doing THE SAME things as Jesus did. This is the only way the greater things will come and church ought to be desperately pursuing after this in these last days. This is what their seminars should be all about. This is the sole purpose that should be driving them.

Then "the Father may be glorified."

Here's a special offer. I sell this at Php 800. But you can get a PDF copy of my e-book, "GOD's Flesh" for only P400.00 if you email me at godsfleshblog@gmail.com and place your order. I will send you a Paypal link for the payment and a link for the e-book download after you pay.

UNSEEN GOSPEL: And even if our gospel is unseen, it is unseen to those who are perishing. [2 Corinthians 4.3]

How Moses Brings You Closer to Jesus

Image from Twitch.

If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say? [Jn.5]

I find it odd that a lot of young Christians today barely understand what Jesus says in the Gospel. All they get from reading the Gospel are historic accounts of what happened to the historic Jesus, not real-time fresh and powerful Word from God for the present---the spoken Word of God that demolishes the strongholds of Satan. Jesus gave us a hint why---most Christians today don't take the Old Testament seriously. So, much of the Gospel remain Unseen Gospel to them.

Honestly, I haven't met any young Christian today who seriously studies the Old Testament, even those very active in their churches. And what the majority of them know in the Gospel is that God loves them, in John 3:16.  Yes, that passage is important and powerful, but it's a different thing if all you know about the New Testament is John 3:16 and other basics like it.

We have to meditate the Word day and night. That's God's will. And Paul told the Ephesians not to be foolish but know what God's will is. That means taking the whole bible seriously, not just John 3:16. 

And Jesus gives us a powerful hint in John 5---if we don't take the Old Testament seriously, we will never understand what the Lord Jesus Christ wants us to do. Taking Moses seriously means we also take Jesus seriously. Moses wrote about Jesus. I mean, yeah, Moses wrote about their 40-year journey in the wilderness, their experience at Mt. Sinai and about the Tabernacle, but it was really all about Jesus. If you don't see Jesus in what Moses wrote, you will have serious problems trying to know Jesus in the Gospel.

Much of the Gospel will be unseen to you.

A lot of church people never take the Old Testament seriously. It's because they don't believe it's important. They think living by faith, not by works of the law, means you can ignore the Old Testament altogether. But listen to Jesus tell it himself---not believing that what Moses wrote is important means not believing that what Jesus says in the Gospel is important.

It is impossible to believe wholeheartedly what Jesus is saying if we ignore the Old Testament. 

The details of the Tabernacle, for instance, and how it was to be constructed are all reflective of the works of Jesus. The animal sacrifices at the altar, the altar of incense in the Holy of Holies, the division between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, the lampstand, the shew bread, the table, the incense smoke, the ark, etc. all point to Jesus and his ministry.

When the curtain between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies was torn when Jesus died, for instance, it marked the beginning of direct access to the Throne. Hence, Paul said we should approach the Throne of Grace with confidence. Back in the Old Testament, this curtain was important because it kept the priests from seeing God's glory directly and dying. 

But that curtain was torn when Jesus died. Meaning, we can now go directly to God, see his glory and still be alive.

Yet, so many believers today remain in fear, not daring to approach God right at his Throne as sons and daughters and talk to him directly. This fear is expressed through the formal worship programs and rituals they do in church and the way everything is done with extreme religiosity that you cannot appear before God anymore as your free, happy, true self. I don't know why every face has to look serious and sad and formal. Even the way they speak is so formal, like how people in funerals would speak. And their voices have to be modulated.

They still do it as the priests and Levites did it in the Old Testament---one mistake and you're dead.

Of course, there should be reverence and awe in the way we freely approach God because he is God and holy and majestic. He is Almighty God. But that doesn't mean we have to look sad and formal and very religious. Paul tells us to rejoice in the Lord always. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but we should not remain in the beginning. Higher level of faith says, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. 

The Israelites dealt with God in fear so they didn't want to get close to God. But Moses was different. He approached God freely and just as he was, without the pretensions of religion. He talked with God as he would a friend. There was no formality or program or ritual. No modulated voice. No serious religious talk. And yet his respect and reverence for God was highly acceptable to the Lord. This was a harbinger of what Jesus would introduce to true worshipers who worship in spirit and in truth. 

Everything inside the Tabernacle and the Temple was of gold, but outside were of bronze---the bronze sea, altar, basins, and utensils. Bronze is a likeness of gold. You only see gold during worship if you are able to confidently access the Throne of Grace. If you remain outside, all you see is bronze---a copy or likeness of what is in God's very awesome presence. 

Today, church worship enjoys only a copy or pattern of what is in heaven. The way church is today---immature, carnal, divided, self-centered and earthly---church people might take God's gold and sell it for their denominations' sake if they are allowed inside. So all they are permitted to see is the bronze outside, for now. And they think that bronze is the highest worship already. They don't think there's anything higher. Most of them don't believe there's still a place deeper where everything is God's gold.

Christ is the end of the law. Meditate the Old Testament---it is very much a part of God's Word. Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament makes us see clearly the Unseen Gospel in the New Testament.

Checkout my e-books here!

UNSEEN GOSPEL: And even if our gospel is unseen, it is unseen to those who are perishing. [2 Corinthians 4.3]

Have Your Heard of Jesus' "Heavenly Things"?

Views of the Solar System

When Jesus came to earth, he presented people with his earthly things. And a glimpse of his "earthly things" can be seen in what he said in John 3. 1-12: God's love, eternal life, born-again, born of spirit and of water, being like the wind.

Though earthly (designed by God for easy understanding of people on earth) yet, many of those who heard them found it hard to believe them, including Nicodemus. To this day, churches and denominations still debate over the "earthly things" of Jesus Christ and still partly believe them. They also debate over speaking in tongues and eternal security and holiness which are also part of Jesus' earthly things.

Earthly things are those that benefit us while we're on earth---salvation, repentance, church administration, church ministries, spiritual gifts, etc. Heavenly things are those that we need or have when are in heaven already---unfading glory, ever-increasing glory, surpassing glory, immortality, perfection, our share in the divine nature, etc.

And the most wonderful part of heavenly teaching is how we should have the heavenly things now while still on earth---"your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." The church has not yet walked in this truth. They have stopped with denominational things which are nothing but worldly (not included in Jesus' earthly things).

Jesus told Nicodemus that unless we believe Jesus' earthly things we can never understand his heavenly things.

I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? [John 3.12]

As long as churches still have their differences in their denominational doctrines, they will never be fit for heavenly things. So all they have today are their beautiful church buildings, properties, church income, worship programs. worship teams, choirs, titles and degrees, denominational doctrines, human theology, and things like that. All earthly. All temporary and physical. What the physical eyes see are temporary and often just lies.

Join Unseen Glory on this spiritual quest and get past everything carnal and human to learn Jesus' heavenly things. Then you begin to see wonderful things in the Gospel, things earthly people will never see. To them, it's the Unseen Gospel. To us, by God's grace and mercy, it's Jesus' heavenly Gospel.

How Deadly is the Yeast of the Pharisees Today?

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Jesus always took time only for important things. So one day, he took time to tell his disciples to beware of the yeast, or teachings, of the Pharisees, One of their teachings is stressing traditions of men rather than God's Word.

And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? [Matthew 15.3]

Denominations are all fond of this--teaching their traditions (denominational doctrines, rules and policies) and putting in some bible verses here and there to support them and get more people inside their churches. Jesus never did this. He taught God's spoken Word to proclaim God's Kingdom, not any church denomination. He never preached the Word to increase his church membership and income. He did it to give people a chance for a true life with God in him.

I came that they may have life, abundantly. [John 10]

Men's teachings make you see only what men crave for--material possessions, money, positions, self-centerdness, titles, etc. Things the Pharisees and law teachers valued. Spiritually, you eat what Pharisees love, you later get their life, character and ministry. You become what they eat. You become what you eat. Thus, Jesus' admonition--beware of the yeast of the Pharisees.

If you want God's Kingdom and loathe men's church denominations, eat what Jesus ate and never eat food with the yeast of church denominationalism.

When Jesus mentioned about the yeast of the Pharisees (beware, just a little of it goes a long way), all the disciples could think of was food for flesh. Nothing more. They thought Jesus was referring to the fact that they forgot to bring bread. Years of eating nothing spiritually but that yeast made them like that--interpreting God's Word by always relating it to something of value only in the fleshly realms. Today, lots of churches can think of nothing but material blessings and how to succeed in this world when they read about God's blessings and promises in the bible.

For instance, They give their tithes so they can get back more and have more. They give so it will given back to them, pressed down, shaken together and running over. These promises are sure, but they're not intended like a business, like a money-making scheme to enrich givers so they can hoard more wealth for themselves.

God intends them so church people can give them all up (give up everything, not just a portion!) and the church can distribute the material blessings equally to all, especially those who have need. That's what the apostles did in Acts. That's God's will for your riches--and no one can change that Word.

But Peter, because he's been eating the yeast of the Pharisees for years before Jesus came, tried to stop Jesus from fulfilling the cross--the highest blessing of all but which is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the wise. Perhaps, because Peter was envisioning a kingdom where material blessings in Israel would finally be abundant again, as in the days of King Solomon (and probably why Peter gave up everything for Jesus), he didn't like the idea of the cross.

So, Jesus referred to him as "Satan" because he only had in mind the things of men, not the things of God. That's how deadly the yeast of the Pharisees was. That's how deadly men's teachings are today. You feed on it--even a small portion--and God sees you as Satan--just because all you value is what men value.

You think murder, robbing a bank, or adultery are the only sins that will get people to hell? Nope. If you have in mind only the things of men, then Jesus calls you "Satan." And I can't imagine anyone whom Jesus calls "Satan" ending up in heaven. Good that Peter was changed radically.

So, even if you are super active in church, involved in this and that ministry, in church planting and evangelism, a real tither and giver--but you have in mind only the things of men (church denominationalism and activities related to that), then you're nothing but a Satan to God. Remember, Peter was so "active" in Jesus' ministry and yet Jesus himself called him Satan.

I wonder how many Satans there are today who do excellently in ministry. highly respected in church circles, and even have mega churches everywhere?

Your Food is Your Medicine

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Your food is your medicine and your medicine your food.

Sounds familiar? It was Hippocrates who said it, Greek physician and father of Western medicine. But actually, it was God's original. God just made Hippocrates see this truth which the latter declared and made him historically popular for it. It's really God's idea that our food is our medicine and our medicine is our food.

And when God speaks, it applies to both the spiritual and physical realms--but the natural comes first, and then the spiritual, said Paul [1 Corinthians 15.46]. Just as the first Adam was physical, the second Adam spiritual. So natural food, too is your medicine and your medicine natural food. The same is true with spiritual food--it's your only spiritual medicine.

God's Food: The Only True Spiritual Medicine

When someone is spiritually sick, his only true medicine is spiritual food--the WORD of GOD. Jesus never mentioned anything more about spiritual food except that it's His spoken Word.

• "Man does not live by bread only but by every Word from the mouth of God."
• "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. The Father's will was for him to give his life for many and proclaim it through His Word.
• "For my flesh is real food." Jesus is the Word of God. His flesh is the Word.

Hence, when someone is spiritually sick or dying, his only real medicine is the Word of God. Not anything else.

But churches today administer various cures for people who are sick spiritually:

• They make them join their choirs or worship team to "encourage them."
• They make them head church activities, again to "encourage them" in church.
• They do church sports and concerts.
• They visit them in their homes to try to please them.
• They try counseling the way psychologists do it.
• They urge them to keep attending church on Sundays and listen to sermons.
• They urge them to attend Sunday school.

All these sound good but they're far from being food taken as medicine for healing. God's healing is simply through this: "He sent out his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave," [Psalm 107.20]. It doesn't say he sent his "concerts" or "church programs" or Sunday worship services." I know, the Word seems to be preached in churches on Sundays, but the question is, is it the Word God sent out to heal? Or is it the word man sent out, designed to keep people in church?

Eaten Word

Food as medicine should be eaten, not watched, smelled, or displayed. In a lot of churches today, the Word is never eaten. It's just watched, smelled, delighted in, made fun of (bible quiz), displayed, or promoted. But not eaten. Eating is different--it changes you radically, and radical change is what churches DO NOT WANT. All they want are cosmetic changes so the world would love the church.

Eating is when you get really healed. You look different from how you looked when you were sick. Have you seen people who take their synthetic medicines and get a little well but look just as sick? That's because synthetic is not for the body. The same with church. People "eat" synthetic religious food and feel a bit well but never get really healed. Why? Because synthetic is not for the body.

Here are some synthetic religious foods (which can prove toxic and acidic):

• Denominational doctrines
• Human theology
• Sermons designed to keep people in church
• Revival services that never amount to anything except temporary relief 

In some cases, the Word of God is really there in church, but it's just for display. People are actively sharing it with non-believers, they study it seriously, and even pursue high education. But it's all for display--for increasing church membership to attain mega church status. To be popular. But worse, there's no real radical change inside. If you took the bible out, they'd all look like the World.

It's useless to have the best nutritious food at home in your ref if all you do with it is keep it there for display. No matter how much nutritious food you have, you won't get healed.

Eating the Word makes you the Word, because you eat Jesus' flesh. You don't become Jesus Christ but the Word takes over you. Even without bibles, your life becomes the bible. That's eating Jesus' flesh and drinking Jesus' blood. 

Why Jesus Let the Devils Escape to the Pigs

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In Luke 8, Jesus faced a demon-possessed man at Gadarenes with about 2,000 demons. When he rebuked them, the demons asked to be sent to the herd of pigs instead of being sent out of the area or to the Abyss. The amazing thing is that Jesus approved the request which resulted to the destruction of a major piggery industry in the locality.

Why did Jesus grant the demon's request? Does God answer demons' prayers? Do demons pray to God?

The demons requested a plea from the Lord which the Lord granted right there and then. In Matthew 8, NIV says "the demons begged Jesus." And Jesus did what they wanted. If that's not answer to "prayer," what is it then? What else can you call it? A demand? Certainly not. Demons cannot demand from God. A plain request which shouldn't be considered a prayer? But a request is a prayer as we see in Philippians 4.6: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

Devils Pray to God?

You may find it repulsive and unacceptable, but that was what it was--a prayer. Devils pray to God and God sometimes answers them. In fact, in this instance, God answered it on the spot! It was a quick yes! This is how it happened:

"The demons begged Jesus, 'If you drive us out, 

send us into the herd of pigs.' He said to them, 'Go!'"

[Matthew 8.31 NIV]

How often do you get quick yes answers like that? And look at how God granted Satan's request in the Book of Job. Satan asked God to send terrible trouble on Job and God granted it right on the spot!

"'But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, 

and he will surely curse you to your face.'

The LORD said to Satan, 'Very well, then, everything he has 

is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.'"

[Job 1.12]

God answers requests (or prayers?) from devils when the requests go along with his will. But isn't that how he also deals with our prayers? Doesn't God answer our prayers only if they go along his plans? Does he deal with us in the same way he deals with devils? Aren't we sons and daughters and therefore should be treated differently?

If we examine Scriptures sharply with the eyes of the Spirit of God, we easily see spiritual details like this that allow us rare peeks into what really happens in the spiritual realms. Like how devils and demons also "pray" to God and sometimes get "yes" answers. Now, think how prayerless Christians would stand against demons who pray to God and get yes answers! No wonder Paul urged us to pray without ceasing because in the spiritual realms, prayerlessness will never stand a chance, especially against "praying" demons. 

Why God Would Say Yes to Devils?

It's unthinkable---why would a holy God with holy plans say yes to devils? God uses devils to bring about tests, revivals, and judgement. It's wrong to say that God needs devils to workout his plans, but since devils are there, he might as well make good use of them. Remember how God can workout everything for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose? 

God allows devils (or answers their requests) so that when they tempt someone, that person's heart is revealed or exposed and he or she sees how a hidden sin in him or her should be dealt with right away. Without temptation, that sin will remain a silent killer within him or her. Only temptations stir up and expose hidden sins lodged deep within you so that it rises up, manifests, identified and becomes easy to deal with. 

Get it?

Without temptation, you'll never know the sin hiding deep in your heart and you'll never realize what wickedness you're capable of until one day you get a major temptation and the full grown sin hiding in you explodes like crazy. Temptation is not from God but he allows it for a good purpose.

Once you see how you react to a temptation, you either:

1. Ask forgiveness from God and repent and be rid of the sin (Revival).
2. Or, go on with the sin and get God's wrath (Judgment).

If you choose number 2, God's judgment is given to give you more chances to repent. Judgment is God's love and his love is his judgment. If you go on still after given several chances (not just 7 times but probably up to 70 times 7), then he leaves or abandons you to it. 

"God gave them over to shameful lusts," [Romans 1.26 NIV]. Or, "God abandoned them to their shameful desires,"[NLT]. In other words, God just walks out the door and leaves you to your decision. 

So, my Jesus said yes to the demons' request and off they went to the almost 2,000 pigs and drowned them. He didn't send them outright to the Abyss--although he could do that--because the locality of Gadarenes was up for a test. And no group of demons knew the place and it's people more than the Gadarenes demons. They knew its greatest weakness--their piggery industry. 

The demons picked the pigs because they probably thought destroying them would destroy Jesus' image and God's plans as well. They didn't know what God was up to--that Jesus intentionally allowed them to destroy the piggery business so that the Gadarenes folks would be alarmed and decide on whether to accept or reject Jesus.

So, Gadarenes was up for a test. Would they repent of their uncaring attitude toward the demon-possessed man (they sent him to the cemetery and chained him there, naked, and without shelter for a long time). And, would they repent of their idolatry in loving their piggery industry too much?

They failed the test. They didn't like it when they saw the demon-possessed man healed, with decent clothes and in his right mind, and they asked Jesus to leave their place just because they lost their million-peso piggery industry. 

When you're up for a test, God allows trouble on the things, possessions, or people you treasure most. He watches what your reactions would be.

Since Gadarenes clearly showed their  preference for money than God and love for fellowmen, Jesus just left them. He didn't preach to them or correct them or explain the truth about what happened. He gave them over or abandoned them to their sins. Judgment had been made.

The Word and the Word Made Flesh

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Both are powerful, the WORD and the WORD made flesh. But the Word made flesh is powerful with LIFE. In the bible, the Word was given to Israel in the Old Testament, but the Word made flesh was given to the world to turn it upside down.

The Word is powerful to kill, and specifically to kill your spiritual life. The more you get the Word the more you are condemned to die spiritually. Many churches do not realize this. Look at what Paul said to the Romans:

“I found that the very commandment (the Word)

that was intended to bring life actually brought death,"

 [Romans 7.10]

If you're still living in sin and you read the bible, all you get is the Word. It is powerful, but powerful to bring you spiritual death, said Paul. Imagine if a lot of Christians study the bible while still enjoying sin and think they're being blessed spiritually! Yes, you get "blessed" by the Word. You get intellectual satisfaction. You can even go to the altar and weep because of it. But as long as you're not totally surrendered to God body, soul, and spirit, the Word brings you nothing but spiritual death. And the worse part is, you don't realize it because you feel blessed by it all. 

Paul added when he wrote to the Corinthians:

"..the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." [2 Corinthians 3.6]

Don't get it wrong. The original intention of the Word was to bring life through the knowledge of God that leads to Christ. Christ is the end of the law [Romans 10.4]. But sin and the Word cannot mix. If you mix them, the Word brings you nothing but spiritual death. The letter (of the law) kills.

God often gives non-believers a special grace to understand the Word while yet in sin. This grace gives them a chance to repent and get saved. But if they go on sinning stubbornly and ignore God's day of salvation for them, the Word produces death in them as well. The grace for salvation is withdrawn by God. But this grace is only for non-believers, not Christians. Christians who study the Word while enjoying sin gets nothing but spiritual death, even if they get smarter with God's Word.

But the Spirit gives life. The Word becomes life once the Holy Spirit enables you to understand it in your spirit. The Spirit of God won't do that if you're living in sin. But if you're living in God's will, the Word becomes flesh in you through the Holy Spirit. The Word is made flesh in you as the Word was made flesh in Christ. In other words, Jesus is "formed" in you [Galatians 4.19] so that you no longer live but Christ lives in you [Galatians 2.20]! It is given a new powerful meaning in you so that it produces LIFE in you, the LIFE of Jesus. The Jesus DNA.

The Word is powerful for death. But the Word made flesh is powerful for life.

I'll give you some examples how it operates. You read in the bible, "But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you," [Galatians 4.9-10]. Reading that, you understand intellectually that the Galatians, after receiving Christ, went back to human traditions. Then you conclude that it's wrong to be enslaved again by human traditions and religious celebrations. 

You got the Word. But the Word kills. Why? Because if you continue to observe "special days and months and seasons and years" when you're already in Christ, you die spiritually. And a lot of churches today still observe Christmas, Valentines, Easter, and even Sundays, which are all human traditions. When it's Saturday or Sunday, for instance, they think it's the Sabbath day for God. I've even seen some church people observe the year of the rabbit or snake or sheep--and things like that. They even put pompous Christmas trees in their churches and homes. If you think like this, you get the Word and it's powerful to kill you spiritually.

Now, when you get the Word and God turns it as Word made flesh in you, you get the LIFE of Jesus. What happens is something like this: You no longer observe special days or months or seasons or years. What's important to you is, everyday is the Lord's day, the Lord's Sabbath. You don't think that 6 days of the week are yours and God owns Sunday. You live daily as the Lord's Day! You don't celebrate the Lord's Day, as the world sees the word "celebrate." You live it. And no more Christmas, Easter, Valentines (some church folks change the name to Day of the Heart and think they've fooled God into believing they no longer celebrate Valentine's), church anniversaries, etc. 

No more birthdays either. If you want to thank God for your church or the day of your birth, just do it simply. Thank him. Worship him and offer him lavish thanksgiving. Don't make a big deal of it. You don't need a special program and presentations for it. You may eat a special meal with your family. If nobody remembers your birthday or greets you, fine. If you don't have money to do any of the above, don't do it. There's no need to celebrate any man-invented traditions. Actually, these traditions were the idea of businesses so people would buy stuff on those special occasions. 

You know what's the best way to thank God? A holy daily life in Christ. Offer your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship. Remember?

Word made flesh is when the Word of God radically transforms you to have the Jesus DNA in you. You begin to to think, live, and move like Jesus. No, the more accurate way of saying it is, Jesus begins to really live in your body! The Word made flesh! It turns the world upside down!

Another example is reading Luke 4.18, for instance: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

A lot of church people read that and see it as Jesus' call to ministry and a summary of what he was to do. That's all. They don't see themselves in it. If that's what you get, that's the Word. But Word made flesh will turn you and your ministry into that passage, and vice versa, no matter if you're not a pastor or church worker. When you see that, because you have received Jesus 100 percent in you, you see how the Spirit of the Lord has also anointed you with the same ministry, and you live it daily. 

LOSE WEIGHT WITH GOD: And Get Relevant Tips from Medical Science, Too!

Lose weight with God? I know a lot of people will raise their eyebrows at this, as if it's something God cannot do. If you believe nothing is impossible with God, then this ought not to be big deal, right? You can lose weight and be in tiptop health and shape with God as your weight loss coach! If you have the imagination to visualize yourself and God in your weight loss program, then we invite you to know more about this through our e-book, "How to Lose Weight with God's Word and Medical Science!"

God's Word is super powerful with mind and heart motivation. If it can motivate the sick to get healed supernaturally, it can definitely motivate anyone to get fit and healthy. What's more difficult for you to believe, heal the sick, raise the dead, or get fit and healthy with God's Word? It's often the second one that's difficult to have faith in--raise the dead. But God did that to Christ and Christ did that to a number of people. It should be a piece of cake for him to make you lose weight.

The e-book is not about magic--how you'd read the bible tonight and magically become slim the next day. It is more on motivating your heart and mind to aim well at your weight loss target and determine to hit it, come what may. Plus, how medical science supports the bible passages and tips on how to make it more practical.

With God and medical science on your side, how can you fail? If you still fail, then try again. And again. That's how faith works. If it doesn't happen now, then probably tomorrow, and the next day. and the next. and so on. Abraham kept believing even if his body was almost dead and Sarah was dead barren! Then one day it happened! I'm not saying your weight loss will happen a hundred years from now. I'm saying it can happen! Nothing is impossible with God!

You don't need to search the bible and see where the passages are. Just buy the e-book and save yourself the trouble of looking where the relevant verses are. Enough verses are found in the e-book plus medical findings to back them up!

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Word Made Flesh--God's Flesh

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God has done a lot of awesome moves in the bible, both Old and New Testament times. But the greatest he did was when the Word was made flesh and dwelt among men. The spoken Word that the patriarchs and prophets heard and which did signs and wonders--even created the universe and the world--was made flesh, given human form, and dwelt among men, the poor, weak, and despised in particular. They saw, heard, experienced and touched him. 

God literally emptied himself! No power on earth or in space can do that except the power of God. Humans cannot empty themselves. They hate the idea. They want to be great. There's not a powerful person on earth who has ever genuinely emptied himself or herself, not especially those who claim to have done so. They humbled themselves, but not from a position of genuine greatness and awesome power. From utmost supremacy, Jesus made himself nothing.

"..he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." [Philippians 2.7]

It's so powerful that GOD made himself nothing. The idea explodes in my mind when I stop everything to meditate on it. We all try to make ourselves somebody, someone recognized and applauded, someone great, and this is why we love attending seminars on leadership. They're all about leadership. I hope somebody would come up with a seminar on how to be nothing and a slave and let's see who attends it. But becoming nothing is not through any seminar, lecture or schooling, title or degree. It's endowed by GOD's grace. I also love the New Living Translation:

"Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form."

If GOD's promises in the bible don't seem to work, you may be missing 

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SEE THIS PAGE FOR MORE!

Gave up his divine privileges. I love that. We cannot give up anything and yet behave like we own anything substantial. We own nothing and yet we refuse to accept it. We believe that what we have now were had through our hard efforts. I've heard this from a lot of church people who claim to know GOD. If they don't actually say it (or if they deny it) they act it. Actions speak louder. And GOD didn't just say or claim it. He did it. He gave up his divine privileges, made himself nothing. 

That changed the whole course of the world. I always marvel at the fact how Jesus could choose to be a mere slave. Why not a law teacher or a Pharisee or Herod's son? Or at least a respected business man or even a decent employee like Jairus, the synogogue ruler? God showed us how the only way to really topple the gigantic world system is Word-made-flesh, or giving up everything and be a slave, everything from an extremely and radically humble standpoint. It's not leadership seminars or building mega churches and denominational empires.

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The least is the greatest in the Kingdom, he stressed once. But no one got the idea. Today, even the church wants prominence if not greatness, to achieve this and that and be ahead of the rest through material possessions, influence, power, titles--things approved by the world. No one wants to give up anything and assume meekness in the form of a slave. They all understand power from the viewpoint of the world.

Word made flesh doesn't stop with Jesus. The principle should live on in the daily lives of all true believers who have Jesus in them. The Word should be made flesh in us, given form by our person, given meaning by our lives. Reading "Christ in you" [Colossians 1.27] is powerful. But actually living it, realizing that the very Jesus Christ is 100 percent in you, and letting the Jesus LIFE manifest in you, is awesome. It is more powerful than 100 nuclear bombs exploding at the same time. Church and ministry without the bodily manifestation of the JESUS LIFE in the believers is garbage no matter how big, moneyed, and multi-ministry the church is. 

Word-made-flesh is what we should focus on, not church programs, activities or even "church planting," and Word-made-flesh is what we should share with others. It is the Good News of Salvation, the unseen gospel because very few see it, growing in ever-increasing glory, from glory to glory, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ!