Fathers we should follow

People always say walk by faith. Sometimes they say they are walking by faith to excuse a lack of humility. You may ask them, "Have you heard from God", "Have you prayed and asked God?", and they may reply, "I have free will", "God is not concerned, I walk by faith". Well, I do believe that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the WORD OF GOD. There are somethings that are scriptural and we just walk by faith believing them, there are other things that pertain to our personal walk with the Lord that we need a WORD from God first. James said to the business not to "say" I will go in do this or that but instead, "I will, if the Lord WILLS".  Abraham was the father of Faith and it says that we are his children if we walk in the same faith of Abraham. Lets see, so did Abraham just conjure up an idea to go find the promise land or did God reveal Himself to Abraham and tell Him there was a Promise Land, and then did God give him a command to depart and go find it? To often we conjure up ideas and just tell ourselves to walk by faith. We say, "well God wants to give us the desires of our own hearts". All that is in the world is the Lust of the Flesh, Lust of the eyes, and the pride of Life, be careful that these desires that are deep within don't deceive you. You have no need for a 80,000 dollar car or a 2 million dollar house when you are single or have no kids. Even beyond that, if you make these things your goal then you have missed the mark.

Father Abraham, if he is your father, understood we are just pilgrims and sojourners here on earth, he seeked a heavenly homeland although he was searching here on earth. He found no place to make/build a house. No dwelling place here on earth was meant for him. He spent all his days in tents and moving around on the earth from one place to the other (nomadic). He had money(lots of money), he had servants, he was wealthy and was like one of the Kings, but he didn't live his life in pleasure. He continually searched for the Promise, dwelling in tents only. He was not of this world and declared to be a pilgrim and a sojourner. He died in faith; not living as if he obtained the promise. So remember God is not concerned about making every Christian the next Bill Gates, which is on the mind of tons of Christians. Wealth is Ok, but it shouldn't be seeked as a number one calling in life. We are to seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and everything else falls into place, if you happen to be the next Bill Gates then you are blessed of the Lord. If you seek His Kingdom before everything else and you happen to be the next Paul you are blessed of the Lord, who was condemned to death, made a spectacle to the world, a fool for Christ's sake, weak while you were strong, dishonored, hungry and thirsty, poorly clothed, beaten and homeless, laboring and working with his own hands, reviled and persecuted and was made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now (1 Corinthians 4). This is all in Chapter 4 of 1 Corinthians, first Paul tells the Corinthians that they are rich and that they are "already" living as kings, yet he declares that they are not truly reigning because if they were Paul would be too, but instead Paul decided to tell them how he lives which I listed above briefly. Verse 14 Paul says he didn't write any of those things, which I listed above, to make them feel bad about there life but as a father in faith he was "Warning" them. And then in verse 16, Paul urges them after his warning to instead live like him, to "Imitate" him (as he listed in detail). Paul understood that even if God had blessed him above and beyond with earthly wealth as He did to Abraham, that he should still live a life seeking God's Kingdom above all else and to not live with worldly pleasures. Not to make a kingdom here on earth when there is a Kingdom ready for us to reign in the heavens as Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you".

I am not saying this in a impure religious way condemning the prosperity gospel as if Gods principals are not true, but I am saying that if you are sowing for the purpose of being rich and that is your earthly focus then you have truly missed the mark. God didn't put seed time and harvest here on earth to make you a King but to bring forth a harvest. He is the King. In Israel, the tribes were led by God and the judges that God gave the oracles too. There was no King until man rejected God as King and Saul was given in His place; with a "warning" I might add. Then God choose David as the next King and it wasn't because God was saying OK to having a King but instead David was a man after God's own heart. God warned man what Kings would do to them. God gave them the choice and the warning. They suffered the consequences, even till this day they are reaping what they sowed. We don't need to be ex-halted by our own measures but in Humility brought low until the time is right for God to to let us reign.  Anyone who temps you to make a Kingdom for yourself here on earth is not speaking with the Words that come from God. We are to seek His Kingdom above all else. Don't worry about making one for yourself. Why would you, when it is promised that Jesus Himself is preparing yours already. Your mansion is already being prepared. You will have it in the right timing. This life is but a vapor why spend that vapor building your pleasures when you can't take them with you. But instead spend that vapor seeking God's Kingdom, making Christ known. Let that be your number one goal. If you happen to be the Next Bill Gates then don't live like Bill, but instead live like Abraham, and with your wealth take care of the less fortunate, sow into the mission field, give, give, give. You will be happier in the end when you realize none was worth it. The car, the house,  the fancy this and fancy that, none is eternal but what was built in the Kingdom of God. Don't let people speak into your lives that take your focus off of God's Kingdom and make it a self-gospel. If they make your focus withing yourself than how could it be based on LOVE. If you become a Bill, I suggest you spend the majority of your money on clothing and then give it all away to those who are naked. Spend it all on food and then what you can't eat, give it all away to the hungry. Spend it all on houses that you can't live in, then give them all away to the homeless. You will be blessed on earth and in heaven. Live like a servant and not a King. Rich or not, leave your pleasures far behind you so they don't hinder your Kingdom WALK here on earth. Abraham never stopped his search, never stopped to build his kingdom, never stopped to indulge in many pleasures. He was focused on finding the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. Now it is here in our days, we have God's grace, we have His Spirit to empower us, His Kingdom is all around us. Focus on it, live in it, not your own. Expand it, pray for more of it on earth. 

You can't walk by faith and only be building a place for you to Reign when it is not time for you to Reign. If you do you will be very unhappy in the end, because you would have only reigned for a vapor, it will all be gone in no time and you would not have had time to enjoy it. None will pass through fire and remain, but those who endure till the end as bond-servants will reign for eternity. Servants are not kings, but they serve their Master and obey His word. Abraham is the model of our faith. God sent him blessings but he was faithful and felt no need to be the first Hebrew King but instead the father of the Hebrew/Christian faith. Walk in His footsteps. If God tells you to be a King then by all means make yourself a kingdom and live your life in pleasure like the Rich Corinthians were doing. God blessed them and they began to reign before their time according to Paul. Instead I suggest you get a vision from God, a true vision from God, and when you have it, run with it. Keep focused on it, walk by faith with it. Don't be afraid of wealth but don't make it your focus either. Remember Abraham was given a promise and i am sure that he had temptations with all the wealth he had to be a the first King of the Hebrews but instead he was called to be the first Father of the Hebrews. He focused and focused and never stopped believing, He was made righteous because of this. 

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Enough is Enough!! No More being a YES MAN!

One thing I have learned from past mistakes is this. Always follow the Leading of the Spirit no matter how stupid or how foolish you may be. I still don't always do it, but I still feel more like a fool when I choose to disobey. But another thing that I have learned that is even just as important is this. It is better to obey God rather than man. In the 5th chapter of Acts you will see scriptures that speak of the mighty works Jesus did through the Apostles. Many miracles it says were performed and as a result many people believed in Jesus. The Apostles were doing the work of the Lord but when you do the works of God there will always be the oppressor sent to bring opposition on your grace walk with the Lord. Just so happened that the religious leaders of that day became Jealous of the the Apostles because people were talking about them everywhere. So they arrested them and put them in the public jail out of pure hatred and jealousy. But what is great about great oppositions is that there is sometimes a great grace for deliverance. Not always the case but in this case the Angel of the Lord opened the doors of the Jail and brought them out and commanded them to go to the temple and tell the people about the wonderful life they could have in Christ. Long story short. They found out they escaped, found them and brought them before the court and wanted to know why they still taught about Jesus. Boldly their reply was. 

Acts 5:29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!

This should be at the foundation of every Christians heart established in His Grace. No mans opinion is better than Gods. No mans thought toward you are better than Gods. No man should be looked up to more than God. We have no reason to obey man before we obey God. We live in a country were our freedom always allows us to speak freely about the Grace of God found in the person Jesus. In other countries people are literaly skinned alive, stabbed to death, hung, shot, stoned, whipped, limbs torn off, and the list could get more gruesome and keep going on and on. This happens today. Why? Because people realize that even without our American freedom they still have freedom in the Spirit to obey the unction of the Spirit and speak freely about the man Jesus Christ. Eventually it cost their life. We, on the other hand, are completely free by the law but somehow feel as if we can't speak like this. Why is this, it is because we care to much of what others think. The people don't want us to speak. They are going to get mad at us. On and on the list goes. But it is better to obey God rather than man. 

I learned this from another lesson one time. People thought that I would be the perfect person to play the role in there ministry which wasn't God's plan for my life. They pressured me and pressured me and I gave in(I felt it wasn't the Lord from the beginning but my spiritual leaders felt it was the Lord). I gave in for months and was doing the ministry but then I knew what I had to do. I had to humble myself before the Lord and tell them that God didn't want me doing these things and that He had a different plan for me. Unfortunately a lot of people were let down. I lost a ton of friends. I left my Church. I become like an orphan child of the kingdom with no Christian family, but I have this one thing; I may have let man down, but ultimately God smiled. God saw the heart of mine and the brokenness that it brought. The emotional roller-coaster that was disturbing me from within my soul. But I felt more free that day than I felt in a long time. You see I use to be the YES MAN. Everything that was asked of me, I would simply just say YES. That day I learned to say, Enough is Enough and i will no longer say Yes to man but instead to God. Don't be the Martha's who miss the blessing of being at Jesus feet. There is a time and a place for hospitably but when your Lord has summoned you be a Mary and sit at His feet, don't pass up the impartation. It is there that you will hear the Word of the Lord. It is there where you will feel His mighty presence. It is there where you will be imparted His Glory. And in His Glory, when it shines upon your face, like Moses when he came down the mountain and His countenance shined, so will you. That is where you will begin to Shine. That is where you are ultimately transformed into the very image of Jesus Christ. 

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