It’s time to shine bright! It’s time for revival to sweep across the nations! Then, it won’t matter what lame liberal laws are passed…When the hearts of people are revived, they will desire righteousness. Politics isn’t the answer, and neither is a newly elected president, governor or senator. Jesus is the answer…period! That’s me on politics.

I’m reminded of a question that one of Jesus’ disciples asked Him in John chapter 14:22; “…how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not unto the world?”

Personally, I’m very interested in Jesus being manifested to the world, and like this disciple, it’s not enough for me to have experienced myself, but the world must be made to know as well. The question is how? Well, Jesus gave us His answer in the verse that follows. He spoke of those who love Him and who obey His word; He said that they would become His abode. How will He manifest Himself to the world? Through His people that’s how; when we truly become His abode’s – when we become bodies wholly filled and flooded with God Himself (Ephesians 3:19 Amp).

Live there – dwell there – go ahead and get habituated to that glorious habitation! Oh yeah but wait, how? What does it really mean to dwell in the secret place of the Most High, and to subsequently unlock the powerful promises of Psalm 91 in our lives? I don’t know about you, but I want to walk in the reality of Psalm 91, and it’s clear that dwelling in the secret place of the Most High is the key. I’ve always kind of thought of the secret place as some sort of abstract place, not really understanding how to wrap my arms around it, but over the last three weeks of teaching on the subject, I’ve come to some powerful realizations.

 I believe that to dwell in the secret place of the Most High is nothing less than being led by the Holy Spirit. Yes, it’s that easy! If we’ll learn to follow Him; to look on the inside, where the Holy Spirit dwells, to truly live our lives out of our spirits; that friend is living in the secret place.

It seems to me that the secret place, the walk of love, the walk of faith, living in the spirit etc. all pretty much describes the same thing. And being led by the Holy Spirit really sums it all up. This is especially meaningful to me as I see what’s happening around the nation of India. With all the persecution that’s been going on, God’s people really need to make sure they’re in that place (inaccessible, verse 8 Amplified) ! It’s more than just going there…living there is the key.

God Bless!
Mike

Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

The thing I want to highlight is that part about “good works”. The Bible says that we were created to accomplish some good things, and that God had this in mind from the very beginning; He before ordained that we should walk in them.

I contest that accomplishing these “good works” is a major part of what it means to be a Christian. We must discover what God has before ordained for us to walk in, and then walk it out. What good works does He have for you to walk out?

There are:

• People to reach!
• Bodies to heal!
• Songs to write!
• Books to write!
• Things to pray out…

The list could go on and on. We must discover and walk out the good things God has for us to do. These good works are God works, and nothing is better or more excellent than accomplishing great things for God!

If you know Jesus, then you know that God’s way is the way of love – every time! God is love. He does not posses love or have love; He’s it!

No religion of the world can make the same claims about their God, guru or religious leader(s). Even in Islam, which boasts 99 different elite names for Allah, not one of them says that he is love.

Jesus showed us with picture perfect clarity just how much God loves, and the coolest part is that the very same love that God is, has been placed on the inside of everyone who believes. Glory!

Now we can fulfill God’s best. We do it by and through the love that He is and that is on the inside of us.

Proverbs 17:9, “He who covers and forgives an offense seeks love, but he who repeats or harps on a matter separates even close friends.”  

One thing I’ve learned over the years is that with God, there’s always more. There’s always the next step, and there’s always the next chapter. What I must do is stay fluid. I must remain in a place spiritually where I am always ready to move with him, and take the next step.

This principle applies to any one of God’s children in any place. In what new directions is the Lord moving you? What flow does He have you in? And remember: don’t get too comfortable because there is more. Remain fluid.

The other piece of this equation is making sure our "flow" fits inside what the Word says is okay. In other words, God is not going to lead us to take a step that does not absolutely line up with what His Word says. His word is the river bed, and the Holy Spirit always leads us accordingly. Remain solid.

The flame had fuel, which is a necessity for all fire.

What happens when a fire is left unattended, or the source of fuel is duly consumed? It dies.

How’s your fire?

How do you keep it burning?

There’s no better way to start a day, week, month or year than by seeking the Lord, setting your heart upon Him and surrendering fully to His will.

We are constantly presented with new opportunities, new changes, and many new possibilities; as well as new challenges. If we’re surrounded by His presence, we’ll always be in the right place at the right time. We’ll always know what to do, and how to do it.

Set you heart today to seek the Lord. Make it your goal this year to know Him in a greater, more personal way. With Him comes all the sweet blessings of heaven; everything you need to make your life all that it can be.

Remember: Whoever you surrender to, you will be surrounded by! And, if you’ll set your heart now then when the challenge comes you’ll already know what to do.

The coolest definition of grace that I’ve seen is straight out of the Strong’s concordance. It is this: the divine influence upon the heart, and its reflection in the life.

Did you catch that part about reflection? There absolutely must be evidence of the grace of God in every child of God’s life, and I believe that ultimately the reflection should be seen in every area of our lives. The simple key is this; turn up the influence, and you’ll increase the reflection.

So, you’ve got to ask yourself…”how do you turn up the influence of grace?”  Well, there are many things that God’s word says we can do, which in turn will cause grace to abound, and when grace abounds it is a wonderful thing.

I’m kinda deciding how much to blog about this…let’s see.

Along the same lines, check out 1 Timothy 4:15, it talks about our “profiting” being “evident". Again, some things just ought to be visible.

I’ve been spending a good amount of time teaching on the subject of Grace at our Bible School lately. Our Ambassador’s in training are getting a strong dose of this incredibly vital subject. Without a doubt, grace is definitely one of my favorite’s. One of the scriptures that really got me hooked on it is Romans 5:17. In that verse, you find the two key factors, which cause a Believer to reign in this life. They are #1 the gift of righteousness and #2 abundance of grace. Both of them must be received by faith, and when they are, a person will reign!

The idea of reigning in life is from God; that’s His will for His people, so I should settle for noting less than a life that is doing just that. God’s Word tells me exactly what it takes.

1. The gift of righteousness; something which is a gift that cannot be added to our taken away from, and…
2. Grace; but not just grace – an abundance of grace! You’ll find in the Word of God that grace absolutely is something that can be increased in a Believer’s life.

My advice to every child of God is this: do all that you can to abound in the grace of God! Then you will reign.