Built accurately for God

One of the challenges faced by a new believer is finding the right church. There are so many. A faithful Sunday attendance to a church is no guarantee of a place in Heaven.

 

The three conditions for entering the Kingdom of God

 

1. Being born again  

John 3:3-5 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. 4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into mother’s womb to be born!” 5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.

 

This implies accepting the the sacrifice made by Jesus on the cross as a payment for our own sins, believing in Jesus and turning away from our sins.

 

2. The righteousness that surpasses that of Pharisees 

Mathew 5:20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

 

Pharisees were experts in law but like whitewashed tombs, they looked perfect and attractive on the outside but they were full of dead bones on the inside. God expects our hearts to be full of truth. Then out of the overflow of our hearts, our actions and words will be according to the truth. Man judges the actions. God judges the motives behind those actions.

 

3. Doing the will of God 

Mathew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." 

 

Obedience to God’s word is better than offering a sacrifice to God. If we love God, we obey.

 

Proverbs 16:2 All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the Lord.

 

These three conditions are where you start. But how do you finish? The key to successful Christian living is being led by the Holy Spirit. God is looking for a church without wrinkle, blemish, or blame. 

 

Ephesians 5:26, 27 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemishes, but holy and blameless.

 

Only by the help of the Holy Spirit, we will gain permanent victory. Those who are led by the Holy Spirit are called sons of God. Son-ship is not based on what you do but what you become. 

 

God is coming back for His sons, not members of a church.

 

The two types of churches we encounter would be 

1. The Blessing model

2. The Building model. 

 

The "blessing model" the church would emphasize God accepting you as you are. His love for you and how He is going to send blessing upon blessing. There is no call for accountability. There is no talk of a mature believer walking with a new believer until he/she understands how to walk with God. 

 

In short, the blessing model is - What can I do to get blessed by God? The center of focus is the man, not God. 

 

The "building model" church raises the standard right from the beginning. You may enter as a babe in Christ but you cannot remain an immature believer. There is a call for accountability. Someone mature in Christ should be allowed to talk into your life in areas such as your marriage, money, motives, and morality. 

 

In the building model, the pattern is – How can I make my life so attractive to God that the favor of His presence rests upon my life? It is our job to build ourselves accurately. It is God's job to fill it with His presence. 

 

Blessings are a by-product of this model because when the lord is with us we shall prosper in everything we do. 

 

Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.

 

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.

 

Starting right is a good thing. But the reward is not given for starting right. It is running the race consistently and having the endurance to FINISH the race that fetches our reward. We cannot do this alone. That is why the Holy Spirit is given to us as our comforter, our helper, the one who guides us into all truth. Truth sets you free. Truth changes the man.

When people get into the kingdom of God if they catch the building model they will finish the race. If they are after blessings they will fall away because they are not built to endure till the end. When we live life fully obedient to the Holy Spirit and fully obedient to the Word then we won't falter through periods of pain and suffering because God walks with us through the trouble and strengthens us. We will finish the race because God ensures we make it through. 

 

How to retain your first love for Jesus

The definition of first love is loving the First. God is first and He should remain first in our lives forever. 

The whole journey of walking with Christ through our lives is a journey from selfishness to selflessness, from pride to humility. What will keep us going down this path? This hard, narrow, painful path? The answer is - Our passion for the Lord.

At the beginning of our Christian walk, we are full of joy. As we go through various trials and temptations it is easy to lose our passion for Him. It is easy to lose our first love for Him.

The following is the first of a series of sermon named – “Your Spirit. Your Passion” taken by Pastor Clariss.

 God is seeking true worshippers. We are the last or the last but one generation before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.  2 Timothy 3 talks about how people will love many things and neglect the love for God. It also describes how apostle Paul went through persecution and yet stood strong for the Lord. None of the apostles wavered in their love for God. They did not become too familiar with the Lord. They did not grow lukewarm. They loved Him with a fervent passion. What can go wrong that we lose out this passion? 

Revelation 2:3,4 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Passion for the work of Christ can become greater than the passion for His presence. 

If your passion is set in the right place then everything else will fall in place. The things we do for God, the blessings we receive would all be a byproduct of our passion for God. 

So how do we measure our passion for the Lord? Do we measure by the things we do for Him? Eg. I clock in time with the Lord. I pray. I follow our pastor’s instructions. 

 David's passion for God was a hunger, a longing, a yearning for His presence. 

     Psalm 42:1,2 As the deer pants for the water brooks,
            So my soul pants for You, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;
            When shall I come and appear before God?

      

    Passion is powered by 3 things

1.    Desire – (A constant hunger for the favor of His nearness)

You must have a commitment towards Him; An attachment, a connection with Him. The key verse in my (Clariss maa) life. Mathew 6:33 "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.   Keep talking to God; at the level of your understanding. You may not know how to pray. Just talk. Pour your heart out. Without your spirit getting attracted to Him, He cannot come close to you nor can your passion grow. (Draw near to me and I will draw near to you.)     Throughout the day desire Him, thirst for Him, hunger for Him more, and more. Passion is expressive. When you express easily in your personal time you can express in public worship also. 

2.    Discipline – Passion for God is birthed by an intimate relationship with the Holy Spirit. You cannot become passionate about someone until you know the person. Passion is produced by quality time with Him. Exodus 34:14 —for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. If you give more time to children, work, etc you are making God jealous. Our time with Him cannot be disturbed. Fix it. Lock yourself in. Don’t allow any distractions. He is waiting, looking, longing for you. There must be order in our life (God is a God of order; not chaos).  We must be clean vessels (no bitterness or resentment). Passion sets boundaries. God sees how you stop calls, stop people from disturbing your focus on Him, and set aside exclusive time for Him. Psalm 37: 4 Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Those who diligently seek Him will be rewarded.  Matthew 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. Create your secret place where you spend intimate moments with Him alone. After your fellowship with the Lord, you leave that place filled and full of the Holy Spirit

3. Determination – Breakthrough prayer. Breakthrough worship. God is attracted to such people. He sees the spirit and passion. He sees how His people press through, passionate; breaking all barriers to reach the goal. Philippians 3:13, 14 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. You are putting your past away, leaving it behind, and pressing on. In the natural, we are willing to do everything to achieve success. That is determination. The same goes for loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. We must have the Spirit of holiness and righteousness living in us. Without it, we cannot enter into His presence. The onus lies on us to kindle the spiritual fervor and keep going.

WE ARE CREATED FOR HIS GLORY – THIS IS OUR PURPOSE

Psalm 150: 6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD! Breath is given to us to praise the Lord

    Isaiah 43:7 Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made." 

There is a step higher than worship – that is activating His glory in us. Jesus modeled a passionate, purpose driven life doing the will of God. John 4:34 Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work. 

The living word shows us how to manifest as the Son of God. The heavenly pattern should be activated and lived on earth. We have to be more of heaven and not earthly. Only then we can transform into His likeness. Righteousness will increase and the glory of God will come and dwell in us. 

Holy Spirit and God’s glory are connected. Only through the strength of the Holy Spirit, the power of Christ can increase. The presence of the Holy Spirit depends on your response to the Word of God. Ephesians 3:16-18 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 

Once you achieve spiritual stature it is impossible to stop you. You’ll be flowing like the river with the Holy Spirit. Spiritual stature is our destination. Like father, like son. Like Father, like daughter. Without passion, nothing can be established. 

Spiritual passion is for fulfilling the purpose of God. If the spiritual dimension is not there we have nothing to give out. Ministry without God encounter is dangerous. Then you depend on your own strength. Your talent and skill are not what He is looking for. He is looking at how your heart is.  

Spiritual passion is for warfare. 

     Psalm 149:6-9 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
            And a two-edged sword in their hand,

      7To execute vengeance on the nations
            And punishment on the peoples,

      8To bind their kings with chains
            And their nobles with fetters of iron,

      9To execute on them the judgment written;
            This is an honor for all His godly ones.
            Praise the LORD!

     This should be our identity

-        High praises in our mouth

-        Carrying His word and His presence

-        The power of the Holy Spirit

-        Anointed for service

-        We build passion first before we carry weapons of warfare

-        We function as the double-edged sword

-        We are the power against the enemy

    Are we there yet?

    How does passion fizzle out?

Only we can put out the passion for God by sin, rebellion, and procrastination. We may become lazy, undisciplined, or procrastinate (this is the worst of all because then He cuts you off) 1 Thessalonians 5:19 Do not quench the Spirit; Don’t put Him out. Don’t ignore Him when He comes to convict us. Acts 7:51 “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.  Identify areas where we are not yielded to the Holy Spirit. Have a circumcised heart. Return back. Rekindle the fire

Satan's plan for us
Satan hates the anointing of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Fire for God drives him crazy. Quenching it is his main assignment on earth. Satan knows this anointing because he had it once before when he was the closest to God until wickedness was found in him. All challenges set before us is known to God before it is executed on us. Luke 22:31 Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; God has to give satan permission before he can touch us.  Challenges are necessary. Then we are tried, tested, proven then taken by God

God's plan for us

     God is raising a generation that will not fail. Philippians 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. We are His prime property. He has all intentions to build us, build up our potential, help us finish what He has purposed for us. Mark of the unstoppable generation is passion set on Jesus Christ. 

How to know if our passion for God is growing? 

    Is the presence of God coming in increasing measure in our lives? When passion for God increases this will happen. More interaction with the Holy Spirit results in an increase in passion for God. How is your water level? Is it increasing? Has it become stagnant? Has it run dry? Our inner reservoir should never run dry. Learn how to go deep in God. Use the worship patterns shown in the Word of God. Are you growing more like His nature, His values, His principles?

    An example of a passionate worshipper is David

    Psalm 63:1-8 O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;
            My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,
            In a dry and weary land where there is no water.

   2Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary,
            To see Your power and Your glory.

      3Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
            My lips will praise You.

      4So I will bless You as long as I live;
            I will lift up my hands in Your name.

      5My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness,
            And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips.

      6When I remember You on my bed,
            I meditate on You in the night watches,

      7For You have been my help,
            And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.

      8My soul clings to You;
            Your right hand upholds me.

    David was a great leader. Passionate worshipper. A favorite of God. Even though He sinned, he never repeated the sin. He was the only one that God called – A man after my own heart. He gave the highest priority to worship. His spiritual eyes were opened to see God. He kept encountering God in an increased measure. 

In the wee hours the Holy Spirit comes in and communes with you; sleep will leave your eyes. Long for such experiences. 

    What are we really passionate about? Where is our heart? Let us strive to be called a man or woman after God’s own heart

Family Mission Statement

I have read somewhere that when a ship is first built, the different parts speak out their individuality. “I am a bolt”, “I am a sail”, “I am a bulkhead”... The voices are noise and every part thinks only of itself. When the ship sails, hits high water and every inch is pulled in different directions then slowly the parts merge; they give and take strength from each other. Then they become one voice.

God takes us through rough waters to forge a strong and unbreakable bond between the family members. God created the first family. He strengthens the family as the third cord in a three cord wire. He is the one who builds and unless He builds the builder builds in vain.

One of the toughest times in our family life made us take a stand and evaluate what exactly God wants from our marriage. God showed us a book – Seven habits of highly effective families to understand the need for a Family Mission Statement. A Mission Statement is a dream written down, a portion of our mental image of a Godly family made concrete with words and hung at a place where we can see it every day.

This is our Family Mission Statement.

Our Family Mission Statement

My husband and I found it hard to communicate with each other. This was due to us being introverts, our family backgrounds and sheer lack of time. Prayer helped us heal and open our hearts to each other. During prayer, we could speak in the safety and comfort of God’s presence without the fear of being judged. This has been our habit for over a decade. We pray together every night as a family.

The vulnerable part of being in a family is that our weaknesses are exposed. Instead of using the knowledge to pull each other down God taught us to cover each other’s weaknesses in prayer and help the weak with one's God-given strengths. We give each other space to be ourselves and grow at our own pace. This has brought us closer than we imagined possible.

Our God-given abilities are to be honed or fanned to flames for His glory. As a homemaker, it is easy to fall into a pattern of mundane boredom. As an employee, my husband can fall into the trap of routine humdrum. We break this by doing what we love and deliberately having fun. In my case - writing, trekking and drawing helps me rejuvenate. But I don’t do this automatically. It takes my husband’s constant encouraging voice to get back on track when I am tempted to fall off it. In his case, I encourage him to do his charcoal painting, play the guitar and go running. We need each other to help us remember our individualities. We should not have to run away from the family to have fun. Our spouse should be our best friend. Our family home our most favourite hangout spot. 

Both of us are highly ambitious, always coming up with a new plan to do something or study something new. The way we filter out these various ideas is this – Will it take our focus away from God? Will it take our time away from our children? These things narrow down what we do with our time and also who we spend it with. We have a select few close friends who respect us as a family, give us space and who are a positive influence in our lives. 

We understand the reason why my husband and I are brought together - It is to raise Godly children. It's a call for all parents.  Malachi 2:15 Didn't the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit, you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth. 

Our Family Mission Statement is God’s vision for our lives. It gives us clear roles and responsibilities. Although like a ship we sometimes go adrift during storms, this mission statement has helped us get our bearings, correct course and set sail to our God-chosen destiny. 

Praying in the Spirit

Romans 8:26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;

When we pray in tongues consistently and fervently, there are words going to come that will unlock many things in the spirit realm.

Our Spirit gets charged up and it becomes easier to hear the voice of God. Our spirit receives instructions and we heed the instruction. We pray in English and it is done in Jesus’ name. This takes effort on our part and is not automatic. We need to practice daily until we come to the place of hearing God’s voice.

 Tongues is a prayer tool. A language only you and God know. The devil has no access.

How to pray in tongues?

1.     Pray regularly until it becomes a lifestyle

2.    Pray consistently until it becomes a force

3.    Pray aloud, audibly until you are filled with passion and zeal and you feel the strength of the Spirit

4.    Pray progressively until it becomes a language

5.    Pray consciously until you catch what the Holy Spirit is saying/doing

6.    Pray abundantly, increase the flow of vocabulary until your spirit is buoyant

7.    Pray until it becomes an understandable language

8.    Pray in English

9.    Increase utterance, increase volume, increase abundance, increase bodily actions – let your spirit be free, increase the power of your voice, increase the control on the power of your voice, increase Spirit activity, increase integration ie., pray in tongues and English alternatively as led by the Spirit

Your frequency will change. You are becoming a warrior.

Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

So come to the Prayer War Room to wage warfare. We are built to bring up down the forces that are working against us.

The full message on Praying in tongues given by Papa Jonathan David can be found here.

 

Building the Personal Altar

As a child of God, our greatest challenge will be continuing to walk with God all the days of our lives. This is a top priority job. It is a major shift from our usual way of functioning. It requires discipline.

How to build this consistent intimate connection with God? How to build your Personal Altar?

The FIVE Ps of building your personal altar

• Praise, worship and focus heart and mind on God
• Power of Prayer
• Partnership with the Holy Spirit
• Prophetic intercession of Spirit
• Power of Word

1. Praise, worship and focus heart and mind on God

Learn new songs, learn the songs well and push in the spirit. Be a true worshiper. When you worship, something of the flesh dies and something of heaven is deposited in your life. Read the book of Ruth to understand what Jesus did for us. Ruth is the picture of the gentile church and Boaz a picture of Jesus. When we accept Christ's sacrifice He becomes our kinsman-redeemer. A kinsman-redeemer takes charge of your life, pays your debt, takes care of you, avenges any issue against you; assumes total responsibility for your life. In worship, you understand who He is, what He has done for you. Worship brings rain. God is seeking true worshipers. The devil flees from such water-filled places

2. Power of Prayer

Prayer is thinking, asking and expressing the intention of God. Maintain a prayer journal. Have a blueprint for every area of your life. Place your requests at God’s feet every day, faithfully until it comes to pass. Hang onto God in every situation in every step then the God of peace will crush satan under your feet. How does God crush satan under your feet? Satan always brings in negative emotions in your life. The way to crush him is to access peace

3. Partnership with the Holy Spirit

In Genesis chapter 1 God spoke the Word (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit brought it into existence. So now we are being made into a new creation according to the Word by the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is the author of the Word and where His word is accepted as a blueprint He starts creating anew. He cannot operate without the blueprint in place. If our mind is not renewed by the Word of God we cannot be led by the Holy Spirit. The blueprint of the world should be replaced by the Word. The Word of God should become our core values that determine our behaviour. As we partner with the Holy Spirit He will

(i)                      Establish us in our faith. He will impart faith

(ii)          He will establish us in our love for God. The fruit of which is the increase in our love for other people

(iii)                 He will always exalt Jesus in our life. He will reveal Jesus in our life

(iv)                  He helps us understand how great is God's love for us

(v)                     He will work in us to bring us to the full measure of Christ

(vi)                  Lead, teach, direct, guide us to live accurately in the Holy Scriptures

 

4. Prophetic intercession of Spirit

We receive Word through the Holy Spirit’s illumination of the scriptures. That rhema, that specific word that impacts our spirit will be the starting word for intercession.

The key to intercession is intimacy with God. Intercession is based on God’s character and nature. Intercession is based on knowing the heart of God.   

(i)                   Build up the atmosphere (make Him feel welcome)    

(ii)       Remove conflicts from your heart. Stay away from conflicts for God to enter. The more we are clean internally, God increases externally

(iii)            Taking the prophetic words to declare them into the atmosphere again  and again 

(iv)              Intercede until

-     sense of peace surrounds the place of intercession

-     an awareness of His Presence in thanksgiving

-    a deeper sense of faith in the heart–God has heard. He is in control

-    the grieving is replaced by a floating joyful spirit within

-   our spirit is charged and energized- new and increased flow of the Spirit

-    we feel refreshed and revitalized – we are quickened internally with strength from high above

 

5. Power of Word 

                          The primary purpose of WOG is to come and transform us. The Word comes to reflect what his demands are. The Word comes to set us free. The power of the Word is to transform us into Christ-likeness from the inside - Which is the GREATEST MIRACLE EVER. We received Word through the Holy Spirit’s illumination of the scriptures. The rhema opens our spiritual eyes to see first our weaknesses because it comes to deal the flesh. The Fear of the Lord will be experienced. Holy Spirit quickens our spirit to obey. The (dunamis) Power in Word is addressing us to repent, dismantle & demolish and return. We have to hear correctly and make informed decisions. We subject those things in our lives to the Word. Then the Holy Spirit comes in and adds strength. He has the power to sustain us because we have decided to obey the Word cause of our love for God. 

                     Ideally, the place to focus on God will be a quiet place with no distraction. Since I live in a crowded city and a noisy apartment I chose to walk in a quiet corner of a nearby park, after sending my children to school and worship God. After the pandemic started I was locked down in the house with my whole family. So I created my own quiet space by waking up at least a few hours before the others woke up. This became my personal spot with the Lord. 

I would start by reading the Word until I got the Word that touched me with new strength and vigour. A correcting word. An encouraging word. A word that uplifts my faith. A word that clearly shows how God is operating in my life. As soon as I catch that Word from our Father my heart will start singing with joy. Worship becomes automatic. I would push in the spirit with tongues and new songs from my heart. I would use songs that I already know. Worship led by the Holy Spirit leads us into the holy of holies; into the very presence of God. I worship until I feel a sense of satisfaction. A feeling of nearness to God. 

Then I start my prayer. My prayer war room is built on my mobile using two apps. YouVersion bible app and PrayerMate prayer app. Both the apps equip the user with ways to add scripture to prayer burdens. I keep praying, prophesying, proclaiming about all that I am led by the Holy Spirit to pray. I stop praying when a sense of calm and peace enter my heart and I get a clear direction to start my whole day.