The Kingdom of God!

 

Chapter 146

 

 

The world is promoting fear in order to control their people. FEAR has no place in The Kingdom of God. How did the Church of the Lord Jesus get sold to the place where we would let tyranny put a mask on our face. How could those washed in blood get so lost in a jungle of ideas that we won't even open the doors of our church to pray for the sick and get rid of this plague on the earth?

 

Paul said in 2 Tim. 1:7,

 

For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

 

In Isaiah 43:1-7, God said,

 

"Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.

Since you were precious in my sight, you have been honorable, and I have loved you: therefore, will I give men for you, and people for your life. Fear not: for I am with you: I will bring your seed from the east and gather you from the west.

I will say to the north, "Give up; and to the south, "Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him."

In the Bible, fear not, appears 178 times. Paul said in Rom. 8:30,

"What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?"

No matter what the world throws at us, we can be confident that He that is greater than he that is in the world. As a matter of fact, John said if 1 John 4:4,

"You are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world."

I believe all of you would agree with me on the validity of these scriptures. The problem we have is, walking by faith in these scriptures. It is one thing to believe and an entirely different thing to do what they say. Our problem is our carnal mind. It will fight us every time we attempt to walk out what the Lord has said!

Paul said in Gal. 3:11 & Heb. 10:38,

"But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith."

Living by faith requires practice. First you must make a decision to live according to the Lord's word. When you ask the Lord to do something for you, start walking in that direction and start knocking on doors because you know the Lord has heard you and if He has heard you, it gives you the confidence to know what you asked will come to pass.

I shared with you once before, that I was living in Kansas City in 1969 and had quit my job and we had gone home to WV on the Fourth of July to visit our family. As we were returning to KC, my wife said that I should put my application in at the plants of the Mid-Ohio Valley. I did not want to return to Parkersburg because I loved living in KC and had made a lot of friends there.

However, I did want our children to get to know their grandparents in PKB so I prayed and told the Lord that if it is His will that we move back to PKB just open the door for me. I was pretty sure that I wasn't qualified to work in chemical plants since my degree was in Electronics. So, we returned to PKB and I went down to Dupont late that afternoon and put in my application.

The vice President of Dupont came down from his office and told me that he had a job open for a design draftsman if I was interested. Well, I had been a Senior Design Draftsman for Wilcox Electric in KC designing electronic manuals. So, I told him I was interested, and not only did he meet my salary request, but he said that they would have a moving company pack us up and move us to PKB and unpack us. Not only that but they gave me a week off to return to KC and arrange the sale of my house. And when it sold, they gave me a week off to return to KC.

All of this happened because I dared to believe the Lord would open a door for me in PKB if it was His will. But I had to act on what I believed. And when the door opened, I had to honor My Lord's action on my behalf.

I told my wife that I wouldn't accept just any job, but it had to be something that I was trained to do. The Lord arranged a job offer for me that I couldn't refuse. We praised the Lord all the way back to KC and of course our family was happy because they thought I would never return to PKB.

When we went to KC in the fall of 1960, we had around $350.00 dollars in our possession, but we were determined to make a go of it and believed the Lord would help us. When we got to KC, we went first to the college and registered and paid the first month's tuition and then they gave us some directions to different apartments to look at. We found an apartment about five blocks from the college and paid the first month's rent and went to the grocery store and ended up with about $10.00 to our name.

The next day we went to look for my wife a job and put in her application at all of the TV stations because she had experience in TV. None of them had an opening at the time but we found her a job at the Vernon Law Book company not very far from where we lived. She worked there for about a month and then the biggest TV station in KC called her and offered her the job she wanted.

So, I shared this with you as an example that the Lord looks after His children and directs their footsteps. All we have to do is to be willing to follow His leadership and believe in Him and walk by faith.

I could tell you a lot more stories about the Lord answering my prayers and open doors for me that I could never have anticipated. All we have to do is walk by faith in what the Lord has told us in His Word. So many times, when we endeavor to do this, our carnal minds will oppose us and bring doubt and fear to our attention.

This is where our faith and trust in the Lord is put to the test! Are we going to do what the Lord has instructed us to do, or are we going to give into fear and unbelief? James said in James 1:3,

"Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience."

Faith is a verb and that means it takes action on our part to bring it to pass. Faith is something for which there is no proof! Faith will also work even if it is based on untruths. So many of our people in this nation have been lied to so many times about what our government is really doing and have bought into the lies that the evil government officials are putting out. The media are spreading these untruths and so many Christians have accepted it as truth and have applied their faith to see it come to pass!

Our faith, as Christians, must be based in what the Lord has said in His word and if what we are being told does not align up with His word, we should reject it as being lies and propaganda from the devil.

Again, this is why Paul said in Rom. 12:2,

"Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."

My prayer for you today is what Paul prayed in Eph. 117-18,

"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints!"