Weekly Wisdom

April 21, 2008

“God Will Increase You More and More!”

Psalm 1:1-3 says

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

Now as we study these verses, I want you to see the process of increase. For every adventure that ends up in success, there is a process that must be followed to bring about increase. God gives us a comparison in these verses. He compares a man of increase or prosperity to a tree planted by rivers of water. By this we can see that our environment has a lot to do with our success. The rivers of water represent the Word of God.

The process of increase must be followed completely, if we are to experience the increase God desires for our lives. If I embark on increase, I must sit down and count the cost. I must give up something to gain something. Unless the seed goes into the ground and dies, there will not be increase.

Time is part of the process of increase. Verse 2 tells us to meditate in the Word day and night. A person will not be much of a success in God unless they give their all. I am not saying that you do not give time to your family. You must learn how to balance out your life. God does not want you to neglect your job or loved ones. However, there is wasted time in most people’s lives that, if used for God, would result in tremendous increase.

Verse one tells us to pull away from people that want to draw us into an ungodly lifestyle. In America today, there is a major deception in the church; and this is entertainment! People believe they can be entertained and counseled by the ungodly simultaneously and still be blessed.

The television, in most Christian homes, is stealing the increase of God from the people. A person that is basically ungodly writes a script for a program or movie that is also ungodly. Remember that the writer and those actors are of another spirit. If they have not received Jesus in their heart, then satan is ruling in their lives. Most shows do not come out and blatantly blast Christians. That is because they would lose Christian viewers. The devil is smarter than that. He will just leave out the message of Christ and keep you watching.

As Christians, we must realize that we can not watch what the world watches or listen to what the world listens to. We must take a stand and be different!

God has told me to warn the body of Christ not to be entertained by the ungodly. Jesus said, the blind would lead the blind and both would fall into the ditch. It is time to turn your back on the things of the world. If they don’t sing for God, they don’t sing for me. Put God and His Word first place.

Pastor Paul Craig

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April 7, 2008

“Begging is Out…Believing is In!”

God’s children should not beg Him for things. The time of crying and begging God for what He has already promised must stop. Christians should not beg God.

Consider what it means to be born into a family. It means that in whatever manner the family lives, the child lives. We would think it child abuse if a millionaire treated his children as beggars. Imagine a child whose father is extremely wealthy. It would seem odd, even to the natural mind, if this child went into the streets of the city begging for money. Why is the church of the Lord Jesus living so far beneath the way God lives? In this newsletter, I believe God will help us answer this question.

To begin with, the Bible must be the way I think if I expect to live like what it says. We will never live any higher than our thinking. Let’s look in the Bible and find out how we should think. Galatians 3:26 says,

“For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.”

Galatians 3:29 says,

“For if ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.”

In these verses, we see that we are in the family of God. You might not really understand what this means, but let me share what the Holy Ghost revealed to me. In a spiritual sense, you are richer than your wildest imagination. We cannot fathom the fullness of that revelation. God, the Creator of all things, is more powerful than anything we have seen on this planet. He decided to call us His very own children. If we were billionaires (in the natural) and if we owned the USA and Canada, it could not compare to God’s gift of adopting us as His children. If all the wealth of the world entered into our control and we didn’t have God, we would really be poverty stricken. God has chosen us to be one with Him. We have actually become part of the ‘God family’.

Remember Galatians 3:26 says that we are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Why do God’s children beg Him for things that they already own?

In Romans 8:16-17, Paul writes,

“The Spirit (Himself) beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.”

In these verses, we see God telling us that we are joint heirs with Jesus. Romans 8:32 says,

“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things.”

I do not have to beg God to heal my body. It’s my inheritance. I’ve received Jesus; and by my act of faith, I have become God’s own child. When you receive that you are God’s child, you will no longer approach God with doubt. You will approach Him in faith.

In the Old Testament, God said to the children of Abraham that He gave them the land to possess it. How did they receive what He gave them? They had to have FAITH and POSSESS it! God has promised us a life full of Himself. Whatever we need, He is the Great I AM. We must stand up in Jesus' name and proclaim what is rightfully ours. We must first tell the devil of his inheritance, and that we don’t receive it. We will not live a life of sin, in Jesus name! We’ve received our inheritance by the Holy Spirit to live holy. When satan comes to tempt us, we will use the power of the Holy Ghost to crush his attack.

Secondly, we must recognize that it’s not right for a believer to be without God’s abundant supply. We want His children abundantly supplied. In God, there is NO LACK! God is in us. What we need: spiritually, financially, socially, physically, and mentally has already been supplied to us in God. We must receive it from God by faith!

Don’t beg your Father for what is already yours- BELIEVE!

Pastor Paul

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