The United States of America

Chapter 23

 

In Heb. 12:27-29 (NIV) we read,

 

"The words 'once more' indicate the removing of what can be shaken, that is, created things,so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire."

 

Jesus said in Luke 12:49-52,

 

"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three."

 

The fire is kindled! There are areas of fire going on in every church in the USA! In some churches it is just a spark, however, in other churches it is a full-blown raging fire. This fire is burning out hatred, bitterness, unforgiveness, and unbelief.

 

This fire is setting ablaze the crust of hardness of seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting, smelling and hardness of our hearts in order that we might rise up spiritually and see into the heavenlies where we are seated with Christ. It is cleaning our ears so we can hear the Spirit of the Lord! Paul said in Eph. 2:4-10,

 

"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, has quickened(Given us His life) us together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;) And has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God had before ordained that we should walk in them."

 

This is the God and Father that I know and the good news is that Jesus died on the cross for all of mankind and in the fullness of time every knee will bow and confess that Jesus is truly Lord and that all this time they foolishly bought into the ways of the world and allowed their hearts to be harden toward the gospel!

 

This was foretold by the Lord in Isaiah 45:23-25,

 

"I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself; the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, (void) That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the LORD shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory."

 

Paul quoted this in Rom. 14:11-12,

 

"For it is written, "As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So, then every one of us shall give account of himself to God." 

 

Paul also said in Phil. 2:10-11,

 

"That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

 

This fire of the Holy Spirit that is about to be poured out upon all men will purge them and burn up everything that is a lie in their thinking. Those of us who have been born again will be affected by this consuming fire, not only by having our unforgiveness, bitterness, hatred, and mistaken identity removed, but will also draw us nearer to our Father! In Matt. 9:9 we read this story,

 

"As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples."

 

This is a perfect example of the drawing power of Jesus. There was a supernatural magnetic power that drew Matthew to get up and follow Jesus! This same power is about to be poured out on all flesh!

We can hasten that day by believing what the prophets of our day are saying about this mighty out pouring of the Holy Spirit and declaring it to come to pass!

 

I hear Christians everywhere, praying and asking God to do things that He has already promised us that He will do. And many prayers are offered up to the Lord about things that He told us we have authority over. For example,

 

"God, we pray that you will heal our nation and make it to be like it used to be, if it be your will!"

 

You say, "Well, what's wrong with that?"

 

This is what is wrong with that! Jesus said in Mark 11:23-26,

 

"For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he says shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he says. Therefore, I say unto you, What things so ever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them. 

And when you stand praying, forgive, if you have something against anyone: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses."

 

WOW! I didn't say this, Jesus said this! Jesus had just come by the fig tree the day before and cursed it because it had no fruit on it. When they passed by it in the morning, the disciples were astonished that the tree had withered.

 

This passage of scripture really destroys our prayers of unbelief in asking the Lord to do things for us that He has promised we can do. He just said, "If anyone shall speak to a problem and not doubt in his heart but believes it will come to pass, he shall have it!"

 

I am someone, and you are someone and more important than that, we are children of the most high God! Our problem is and has always been, we doubt that it will come to pass by tacking onto our prayers, "If it be thy will!" Didn't I just quote to you words that Jesus said concerning the power we have if we believe what we say?

 

Paul said in Eph. 1:18-23,

 

"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way."

 

His power (authority) is for those of us who believe and it is measure by the power that it took for Him to raise Jesus from the dead because death could not hold Him! That power, authority, resides in His word and is what Jesus used to defeat the devil! If, only, we would learn to speak and declare His word! The results would be mind boggling!

 

Doubt is our biggest enemy! James said in Ja. 1:5-7,

 

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that gives to all men liberally, and upbraids (disputes) not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed." 

For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord."

 

We, as Christians, need to learn to declare what the word of God says about everything we want to pray about and when we are through, to thank Him that we have His promise concerning what we prayed about!

 

The great Apostle John said in 1 John 5:13-15,

 

"These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.
And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he hears us: And if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." 

 

Jesus said in Matt. 6:5-8,

 

"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full but when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.  And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words."

Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

When we were babes in Christ, we might have gotten by with many of these prayers asking the Lord to do things for us that He has already given us the authority to declare! However, a time will come when God expects us to mature and become sons of God, acting like our big brother, Jesus! I know that a lot of what I write to you is revelation knowledge and has to be understood as the Holy Spirit opens your minds to understand, however, the time is short and we must speak plainly.

Paul said in Hebrews, 5:11-14, (NIV)

"We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."

And again in Heb. 6:1-3,

"Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this will we do, if God permit."

 

We sing in church a song which says,

 

"I anticipate the inevitable, supernatural, intervention of God, I expect a miracle, I expect a miracle, I expect a miracle!" You can hear this song by going to YouTube and searching for "I expect a miracle!" By the Bill Gather Trio.

 

If we pray and declare what the word of God says, we can anticipate a miracle from Him!