Redefining Grace

Redefining Grace – Rob Coscia

If you’re one of those I keep seeing that focuses on the negativity of cities, states, and nations, pointing out all the wrongs that God must hate, I have a word for you. The dark cloud you keep pointing at isn’t a judgment from God. It isn’t even directly from the enemy. It’s from you. It’s the result of your retreat.

When you abandon your post of influencing the city in the fruit of the Spirit, you remove all the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, and hope that God has given to you, and you leave a gap. A gap you then judge as the sin of others, most of whom are living as best they can in the absence of a demonstration of something better.

Whether it came from an offense against you, or your own failure, somewhere along the way you listened to the enemy’s definition of grace, that it is conditional, limited, and must be earned. That kind of warped grace makes you insecure. So you protect your religious position by judging those who have experienced less of God’s presence than you, then punish them by removing all of yours.

I invite you to let God redefine grace for you. You are so completely, perfectly, unceasingly loved by your Father. You do not have to earn it. You don’t have to perform for it. You don’t have act perfectly, or stress yourself and everyone around you to the breaking point trying. As in Zechariah 4, cry out “Grace, grace!” over all that you are, including your past, and all that God wants to be for you.

When you know that Jesus’ love and grace toward you are unending, they will overflow to your family, your work, your city, your nation. You’ll remember that it’s not your job to curse the darkness. It’s your joy to transform it.

“Let your light so shine before others, that they may see the good things you do, and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5.16)

from: http://bit.ly/1NaqQzx

The Gospel of the Kingdom, or The Gospel of Salvation?

The gospel which we preach nowadays, which I refer to as “the gospel of salvation,” is largely about leading people to a salvation experience, typically in the form of “the sinner’s prayer.”

But such an experience is entirely lacking from the ministry of Jesus. Certainly, there’s nothing even remotely like a “repeat after me” prayer in scripture, but more, Jesus never called on people to perform any sort of act of conversion: no sinner’s prayer, no pledge card, no “with every eye closed, raise your hand.” Nothing.

But his first and strongest message was “Repent [which means “change the way you think”], for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand [which I interpret as “within reach”].” And then for three and a half years, he both taught on and demonstrated what the Kingdom was like.

And since He demonstrated it, regardless of what we think of His teachings, we have to admit that “the Kingdom” includes healing the sick and raising the dead. We watch Him in the Gospels, and it *looks* like it involves hanging out with tax collectors and “sinners” more intentionally than going to “church” (in his case, Temple).

And apparently, judging from the way he announced it, it involves thinking differently. Since he was talking to arguably the most religious people in history, apparently it meant “think differently than your religion.”

Adding His teachings into the description, the “good news” [“gospel”] of the Kingdom appears to also include loving people outside our comfort zone, and replicating ourselves (“bearing fruit”), and being treasured by God (as in the Pearl of Great Price).

It may be of some benefit to just look at every place that the Kingdom is mentioned in the gospels (follow this link: http://bit.ly/2pySuBb), and see what the Holy Spirit shows you. But take your time; there are 119 verses in that link, each with some revelation on the Kingdom. And I very much encourage you to discuss what you learn with Holy Spirit, and let Him separate the meat from the bones!

Does that offer any help understanding the difference between Jesus’ term “the gospel of the Kingdom” (Matthew 4:23) and our unscriptural term “the gospel of salvation”?

Here's a great (video) explanation;

The 50+ Generation

Are you over 50? God's up to something in this generation's saints.

Most of these clips include ads for a conference next month (or for last year's event), but these declarations are valuable apart from that event.













This post focuses on four video clips. If you have trouble seeing these, go to the website (http://apostlesprophets.blogspot.com) and watch them there.

Supernatural Diagnosis

For the supernatural Christian, there's nothing more frustrating than seeing one person after another healed and then praying for someone who isn't. You release power. You exercise authority. You kick out a demon but the symptoms remain. It's natural to wonder what happened. What am I missing? What am I overlooking? The keys to divine healing continue to elude you.

I'd like to offer an analogy that may shed light on the real nature of the problem:

When a patient arrives in the Emergency Department, whether they have a gunshot wound or a fever, a systematic evaluation is done to determine what their problem is and what should be done about it. A doctor does a physical exam and obtains a history from the patient. Vital signs are obtained and diagnostic tests are done. An X-ray or CT scan is obtained. An ultrasound may be done and bloodwork is ordered. The physician gathers as much information as possible then arrives at a diagnosis and puts together a treatment plan based on their findings.

This is the standard approach to emergency medicine. When used properly, it's an effective way to diagnose and treat someone you know nothing about. It's effective because it's systematic. The interview, assessment, and tests are standardized. There's little variability from one patient to the next. Which means a doctor is less likely to overlook something, accidentally.

Because this is how I was trained as a paramedic, I use a similar approach for healing.

Increasing our effectiveness in healing and deliverance is a matter of developing a standardized approach. We begin by creating a list of tools that we know are effective and then making sure we're employing all of them. The list of tools would include such things as identity, faith, power, authority, and emotional healing. 

Standardization doesn't remove the Holy Spirit from the equation. Quite the opposite. One of the tools is revelation from God about the specific problem we're facing.

A few years ago, I created a list of keys to divine healing. I wrote a blog post on the 8 that I had come up with at the time. The list soon expanded to 12 and then to 15 items. Today, it stands at 18.

I recorded a message where I discuss the keys to divine healing that I use today. If you know what they are and how to operate in all of them, your effectiveness in healing will dramatically increase.

The message is available as an MP3 download here on my website. If you'd like to check it out, click on this link.

-- Praying Medic

Father Son Theology

Father-Son Theology is a Bible- based perspective that focuses on seeing God as Father and ourselves as children of God. This results in a more relational view of God than that which is developed in Classical Theology.

 

Are You Going to Fellowship With Your Problems, Or With Me?

By Joyce Meyers

Are you facing challenging circumstances? Are you in need of provision in some area and not sure where it's going to come from? Many Christians today are dealing with serious hardships. Some have lost their jobs and benefits. Others struggle with critical health problems and live with constant concern about how to add the cost of medicine and doctor visits to simple necessities such as shelter, food and clothing.

There are many things in the world that threaten us. But our biggest enemy--fear--is not "out there." It is in our own hearts and minds. As fear tightens its grip, we struggle in vain to break free.

God wants us to be totally free from fear. He doesn't want us to live in torment, and He doesn't want fear to stop us from confidently doing what He tells us to do.

When we come to a deep understanding of God's unconditional love for us, we realize He will always take care of everything that concerns us. After all, we were created for His pleasure.

Reading and praying the Word and worshiping and praising God are ways we can fellowship with God as well as wield powerful spiritual weapons against the forces of darkness. Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that we are at war not with flesh and blood but with the enemy of our souls. We must not be confused about the identity of the enemy in our battles!

Difficult times can bring the temptation to give up and become negative, depressed and angry with God. But the psalmist said, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Ps. 119:105, The Amplified Bible). Whatever concerns you may be battling, the answer can be found in the Word of God.

When God promised Abraham an heir from his own body, Abraham stood in faith, believing what God had said despite his "impossible" situation (see Gen. 12-13; 15-18; 21). The Bible says he was "physically as good as dead" (Heb. 11:12).

But Abraham just kept praising and giving glory to God. As he did so, his faith grew strong, and ultimately God fulfilled His promise.

This same theme is repeated throughout God's Word: Worship wins the battle! Satan knows how dangerous we are with a heart full of faith. Worrying is an indication that we are not trusting in and fellowshiping with the Lord.

I remember a morning when I sat down in the chair I prayed in each day. I began to worry about whatever my current situation was and to consider what I was going to do about it.

Suddenly I heard that still, small voice inside my spirit say, "Joyce, are you going to fellowship with your problem or with Me?" God was more than willing to handle my problem if I was willing to forget it and spend time with Him.

Remember to worship, not to worry. Regardless of the difficulties you face, just keep praising God and giving Him glory. Faith will rise in your heart, and you will overcome.

Worshiping is actually fun and energizing, but worry makes our hearts heavy and causes a loss of joy.

Do you want to be sure all your needs will be met? Then start worshiping God. The Bible says there is no lack for those who truly worship the Lord with godly fear. Oh, worship and magnify the Lord with me! If God is for us, who can be against us?

Joyce Meyer

Our culture today has been impacted by the hippie movement of a generation ago, and the hippie movement - at least as it influenced "middle America" - was influenced by the Jesus People movement. Here are some clips that show a little bit of that bit of sub-culture or counter-culture.
This is your heritage.