Woe to you!

The ministry of Jesus was characterised by lessons of justice, attitudes of compassion, and acts of faith. But the religious oppression that hypocrites had imposed on His people revolted Him beyond measure. He was so disgusted that He spoke to them in a condemning and violent way, saying:

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!"(Matthew 23:23,24)

Hypocrites can be characterised by their meticulousness. They pick on everyone and worry about every little thing, but in the end they neglect the things that are really important. They insist on pretending to be someone they are not. They like to demand from others what they themselves won't do.

It's interesting to note that in the Lord's speech, He judges them in advance. That is, they have already been condemned to the lake of fire and brimstone, along with the devil, demons, death, hell, the beast, the false prophet, and everyone else whose names are not written in the Book of Life. This is strong!

Strength in weakness

Those who live by faith are swimming against the currents of this world. There is no logic to Christian faith. If anyone were to try to reconcile faith and logic, they’d end up lost and confused.

The Lord Jesus said that the first would be last and the last would be first, the older shall serve the younger and whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for His sake will find it.

Even the power of the Almighty is perfected in the weak. Paul noticed that his weaknesses were signs of his strength. During his moments of pain and sorrow he heard a gentle voice say: “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

Assured by those words of faith, he then confessed, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12).

And so, because of his times of humiliation, Paul learned that whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. In the Kingdom of God, whoever is eager to gain, ends up losing; and whoever is unafraid to lose, wins. It’s exactly the opposite of the rules of this world.

So, dear readers, if you’re feeling down, weak, humiliated or embarrassed, know that all these things are a sign of God’s strength perfecting you in your weakness. Raise your head high, dust off your shoulders and keep on going because God is with you.

Tunneling through the rock

There is a mine for silver and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore... Job 28:1-11

Someone asked me once, "You were preaching the Gospel in Europe before you moved to Africa. Which place was easier?"

The same question a few years ago would have gotten a different answer from me. However I said, "I don't believe there are easier or harder places to preach the Gospel. I believe that a man of God seeks from God and from himself the appropriate tools to win souls - whatever the circumstances."

But I don't think she understood me. And in case you don't either, let me call on my old friend Job to help me explain - not about preaching the Gospel to Europeans or Africans but about why the level of difficulty to achieve something doesn't really matter.

Read carefully the above verses from Job 28 so you can understand what I'm about to say.

Job starts by asserting, "There is a mine for silver, and place where gold is refined." Gold and silver here represent what you want to achieve. Just as there are mines for silver and a place where gold can be found, what you want also exists and has ‘a place." Like undiscovered gold, it's waiting there to be found and claimed.

What you want exists. It's not a dream, and it's not impossible. There is a place where it lies. You can find it somewhere.

It's important that you believe this because I've seen too many good people returning from their journey with their heads hanging and confessing "It's too difficult, I can't make it" - only to see someone else come up behind them shouting, "I did it"

Like gold and silver, good things exist but obviously require effort and determination to be found.

Job said that the miner, who knows the value of gold, "puts an end to the darkness; he searches the farthest recesses for ore in the blackest darkness... he cuts a shaft... his hand assaults the flinty rock and lays bare the roots of the mountains. He tunnels through the rock... he searches the sources of the rivers and brings hidden things to light."

There ain't nothing stopping him!

So I say there is no such thing as easier or harder. There is only what you want and what you must do to get it. What is in between is only a temporary delay.

Instead of spending your time deciding which obstacle is easier and which obstacle is harder, spend it finding the solution to the problem and how you're going to get rid of it. In other words, instead of magnifying the problem, refine the solution.

Difficult and easy are in your hands. Or should I say, in your head?

Quote:

"There is no such thing as easier or harder. There is only what you want and what you must do to get it."

Bishop Renato Cardoso

Like a woman in labour

Conceiving your dream

"I have held My peace a long time, 
I have been still and restrained 
Myself. Now I will cry like 
a woman in labor." Isaiah 42:14

Anyone who has been close to a pregnant woman or who has experienced pregnancy for themselves knows that a pregnant woman does not behave normally. Her whole body is geared towards nourishing and protecting the growing child within her. Her sole preoccupation is to deliver this child into the world and into her arms - fit, healthy and well.

We should be in a similar state when we are "pregnant" with our dreams and goals. We have to nourish and protect the fragile dream growing within us.

The secret to receiving what you want is to become pregnant with your dream or idea in such a way that your sole preoccupation is in bringing this dream into existence. This process involves fighting our doubts and our fears.

A pregnant woman has to fight the doubts that her child might be born with some defect or health problem. In the same way we have to resist the doubts that something will go wrong with our idea or dream. We've got to ignore the (perhaps) well-intentioned advice we can get from others to just abort the idea.

One woman I know was told that the baby she carried had an 80% chance of being born with Down's Syndrome, and doctors recommended that she abort the child. She refused to listen to them. By her faith she told God that she knew that her child would be born healthy and she refused to kill the new life growing within her, seeing this as God's gift to her.

What was the outcome? Did this woman give birth to a child who would be a burden to her for the rest of her life? No, this woman's child was born perfectly healthy. She conquered her doubts by her faith and we need to do the same. When doubts assail us we need to fight back with faith, putting down the flaming arrows of the devil. It is now more than ever that we have to use the shield of faith to protect the yet unborn child within us.

Husbands, think. How would you behave if someone tried to attack your pregnant wife? You would jealously guard and protect her from all harm. So, we too need to jealously guard and protect the dreams within us, the dreams that we are pregnant with.

Pregnant women are well known for behaving irrationally and doing strange things, sometimes having bizarre cravings for unusual foods because they contain the necessary minerals and nutrients that the growing child requires. We too need to feed our idea - by faith.

Just as a pregnant woman visualizes a picture in her mind of one day holding her child in her arms and being rewarded for all the long months of painful waiting, we too need to visualize our own picture, the image of our dream in our mind, and not let go of it.

Pregnancy involves discomfort and inconvenience. Parts of a woman's body which would normally behave in one way, now behave in another - she cannot sleep at night, her appetite increases, her need for affection from her husband increases, her anticipation of the pain of childbirth increases.

All this because she is willing to carry and give birth to her child. She knows that the worst pain awaits her, the pain of childbirth. And yet she has the strength of mind to continue till the end, knowing that the pain will be forgotten when she holds her child for the first time. She draws strength from the faith that all will be well and that this day will come soon.

Take great care of the fragile dream growing within your heart. It is the Holy Spirit's gift to you - let it grow big and strong!

Fight the doubts.

Feed the baby.

Keep your dream in your mind!

Quote:

"Fight the doubts. Feed the baby."

The Math of Relationships

Reaction is everything

"When the people heard these 
distressing words, they began 
to mourn and no one put on 
any ornaments." Exodus 33:4

Who told them to worship the golden calf?" we might have asked if we had been there. "So, now let them face the consequences." This time the Israelites really seemed to have crossed the point of no return as far as God was concerned. God even said to Moses that He would destroy the people and then start a new nation out of him.

Moses' courageous intercession for the people was what saved the day - at least for a while. "Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people," he prayed. That was enough for the Lord to spare the people from destruction.

But being Lord of all past, present and future, God knew that the people's rebellion against Him was far from over. So He told Moses He would no longer go with the people as He might kill them on the way because of their stubbornness. "I will send an angel before you," He said. The Scriptures describe how the people received the news:

"When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments."

It's interesting how the people's reaction was so different from Moses'. After Moses pronounced God's judgment upon them, they began to cry and took off their ornaments. Now this is not the right way to react to a distressing situation. Instead, Moses began to complain with the Lord and refused to accept His verdict. He went to the point of telling God he would rather die in the desert than to go on without His Presence.

In the end, Moses got exactly what he asked for: "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you..." - said the Lord.

In other words, Moses, despite being the world's humblest man (see Numbers 12.3), reacted quickly and aggressively to God's decision to destroy the Israelites and to send an angel before them.

Sometimes this kind of reaction can make all the difference in life. Whether we are successful or defeated, take opportunities or lose them, get accepted or rejected - can all depend on reaction.

We can't always afford to think a situation over and over, or just let it be. Sometimes we need to react to it quickly firmly, and decisively.

There are many people in the church who are suffering from a terrible disease called passive faith. This disease makes their faith inactive, quiet, too patient - virtually worthless. The favorite expression of these sufferers is "I'm waiting on the Lord." They think they can just have faith in God and wait motionless for some lucky day when their situation will change. But it doesn't. Ever.

Such people never conquer or achieve anything, and usually they're the ones who are always complaining about their lives.

They have to realize that there is a time when we just have to say "Enough is enough!" There is a time when a man has to be a Man, and a woman must be a Woman, to make a decision about his or her life. Instead of mourning, thinking and asking questions, they should jump out of their inertia and actually USE their faith.

Dear friend, you cannot reap the fruit of your faith if you don't react strongly to the problems that are suffocating you. React quickly. React firmly.

React now. God will be pleased with you.

Quote:

"We can't always afford to think a situation over and over, or just let it be. Sometimes we need to react to it quickly firmly, and decisively."

God works in partnership with man

Twice a year, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God runs a Challenge of Faith, when we invite those who believe to use their faith and demand from God the fulfilment of His promises. As a result, they take possession of their dreams. It’s obvious that each person sacrifices according to his faith, and through this, we have seen extraordinary and wonderful things happen.

God inspires and gives us ideas; an idea given by the Holy Spirit that is put into practice works, for He works in partnership with those who are obedient.

Put sacrificial faith into practice and your miracle will happen.

Posted by Bishop Edir Macedo