August 2008
The Monthly View is always a joy to share.
It is my prayer that God will use it to
speak to your heart. “For God to give
you complete understanding of what He wants
to do in your lives, and I ask Him to make
you wise with spiritual wisdom. Then the
way you live will always honor and please
the Lord, and you will continually do good,
kind things for others. All the while, you
will learn to know God better and better.”
1
A Time of Dryness...
So many of my Christian
friends are experiencing a time of dryness
in their lives. A friend wrote recently,
saying: “At times I wonder if I really
know God. You have a much better relationship
with God than I do.” Another said:
“I need the presence of God so badly.
I am full of guilt and shame.” Others
are going through times of troubles and
depression, asking “Where is God?”
Alfredo my barber, was
experiencing this same dryness. As soon
as I sat down in the chair, he said: “Charles,
do you have a book I can read. I need a
boost in my relationship with God. No matter
what I do, I feel so out of it.” He
went on to explain that he reads the Bible
and his devotion every morning, but it’s
like he’s just doing his duty. He
asked: “What can I do?”
Maybe it is the same for
you. Are you having a hard time relating
to God? Has your relationship with Him become
a ritual, without experiencing His presence?
You are not alone. We all go through these
times, but there is an answer. It will take
action on your part since God has already
done His part. He is waiting on you to step
out in faith. That is, act on what you believe
as a Christian.
A Pilgrimage through Psalms
This month I am meditating
through the book of Psalms. Many were written
by King David, a man after God’s heart.
Psalm 1 tells us that happy is the man who
meditates day and night in God’s word
[His covenant with us]. It states that the
one who meditates on the covenant”
…shall be like a tree planted by the
rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit
in its season, whose leaf also shall not
wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”
(vs. 1-3)
Psalms is full of precious
promises one after the other, but they are
conditional. Psalm 78 says that in the wilderness,
the children of Israel provoked, grieved,
tempted [tried God and found Him guilty,
did not believe the promises], and “…limited
the Holy One of Israel.” (vs. 40,
41) Could it be that you are limiting God
as well?
God told the children of
Israel in Psalm 81 to “Open your mouth
wide, and I will fill it” (v. 10).
Have you heard the clique, “A closed
mouth doesn’t get fed?” Picture
a baby spoon fed, who clinches his mouth
shut while his mother flies the spoon around
in the air making the airplane sound only
to crash into his lips. He refuses to eat,
similar to us refusing to feast on God’s
word. The Lord goes on to say: “My
people would not heed my voice, and Israel
would have none of Me. So I gave them over
to their own stubborn heart to walk in their
own counsels.” (vs. 11, 12). God cries:
“Oh, that My people would listen to
Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I
would soon subdue their enemies, and turn
My hand against their adversaries. The haters
of the Lord would pretend submission to
Him, but their fate would endure forever.
He would have fed them with the finest of
wheat; and with honey from the rock I would
have satisfied you.” (vs. 13-16).
The Lord had blessed the
children of Israel years earlier with the
covenant made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
but they turned their back on the promises
of God, refusing the blessing by not meditating
the covenant. 2 In
reality, they refused the finest of wheat
and honey out of the Rock [Jesus Christ],
who would have satisfied them. The promised
covenant to Abraham’s seed, 3
was fulfilled by Jesus Christ. 4
In their covenant we now share. “And
now that you belong to Christ, you are the
true children of Abraham. You are his heirs,
and now all the promises God gave to him
belong to you.” 5
Are you limiting the promise blessing?
The Lord says: “For
I will pour water upon him that is Thirsty,
and floods upon the dry ground: I will
pour my Spirit upon your seed, and my
blessing upon you offspring.” 6
The Blood of Christ
I had only one answer for
my barber, Alfredo. I brought to his remembrance
the blood covenant of Jesus Christ, something
we do each time we partake in Holy Communion.
I explained to him how we can partake of
the blood sacrifice daily by faith, which
the children of Israel failed to do. He
said, “I hear you teaching that years
ago at another prison.” I said, “Yes,
that message works and never changes because
it’s all about the blood of Jesus
Christ that breaks spiritual bondage and
frees us to experience the presence of God.”
I reminded him how the
covenant blood in Scripture always precedes
the outpouring of the Spirit. After the
fall of man in the Garden of Eden, the blood
of slain animals covered sin, then the glory
of God would come. One example is at the
dedication of Solomon’s temple. After
the animal sacrifices, the priests could
not stand to minister because “…of
the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had
filled the house of God.” 7
In the New Testament [Covenant]
2000 years ago, the blood of Jesus Christ
was shed at Calvary for the sin of all mankind
and then the Holy Spirit was given to us
on Pentecost. 8 The
blood of Jesus never loses its power, and
the love of God never ceases from being
“…poured out in our hearts by
the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
9 The message is the
same, even in the Millennium Kingdom to
come, the priesthood will be sacrificing
animals in remembrance of the blood of Jesus
Christ. 10 Under the
New Covenant, God desires the praise and
thanksgiving of His people rather than offerings
of animals or grain.
Remembering the Blood
As New Testament believers,
we are all priests, giving offerings of
praise and thanks to God. 11
For the past 30 years, I have given out
a brochure with thirty blood verses called
“The Blood of Jesus Christ.”
I gave a copy to Alfredo so he could easily
bring to remembrance the blood Scriptures
and confess them with his mouth daily. I
reminded him: “And they [the Saints,
us] overcame him [the devil, the accuser
of the brethren] by the blood of the Lamb
[Jesus Christ] and the word of our testimony
[confessing the blood Scriptures], and they
did not love their lives unto death [saying
“no” to self].” 12
I’ve known many Saints
who broke the bondage and power of the devil
by testifying the blood of Jesus daily.
At first, it may take 20 minutes affirming
the blood verses, but with persistence,
the bondage will break and the Holy Spirit
will flood your body, the temple of the
Holy Spirit. The time it will take to experience
God’s presence becomes shorter until
just mentioning the blood of Jesus will
cause the Holy Spirit to break through and
shine upon your face. “For it is the
God who commanded light to shine out of
darkness, who has shone in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ…always
carrying about in our body the dying of
the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also
may be manifest in our body.” 13
“Let us hold
fast the confession of our faith without
wavering; (for He is faithful that promised)
and let us consider one another to Provoke
unto love and to good works.”
14
Please affirm the blood
of Jesus with me out loud: “I believe
in Jesus Christ and partake in His body
and blood for eternal life. I belong to
God. He purchased me with the blood of Jesus
Christ. I am bought for God’s purpose,
causing me to reign as a priest in God’s
kingdom. I am made right in God’s
sight by the blood of Jesus and saved from
God’s wrath. I am free through the
blood of God’s Son and my sins are
forgiven. I have peace with God through
the blood of the cross. I am God’s
property, once far away from God, but now
I’m near to Him by the blood. I have
boldness to enter heaven’s Most Holy
Place because of the blood of Jesus. I have
a new and living way to enter into God’s
presence through the blood of Jesus. I am
loved and washed from sin by Jesus’
blood, Who made me a king and a priest.
I overcome the devil by the blood of the
Lamb and the word of my testimony for I
love not my life unto the death.”
For a complete list of the blood verses
to experience the presence of God, click
here. (Study Chart, B6).
“Therefore
by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice
Of praise to God, that is, the fruit of
our lips, giving thanks To His name. But
do not forget to do good and to share,
for With such sacrifices God is well pleased.”
15
A Prayer For You ...
Our Father in heaven, You
are the redeemer of our lives. You gave
Your son, Your only Son, Jesus, as the sacrifice
for our sins. His blood gives us permanently,
what animal sacrifice could only provide
temporarily. The blood of Jesus can redeem
all people, and we seek to tell the world
of this good news – that Your love
has provided the righteousness that allows
us to come boldly into your presence. Father,
we pray that we may love people as you have.
That we understand that we are not our own,
but have been purchased by You with a price.
That price is the blood of Jesus Christ.
It is therefore in His Name we can say:
Amen!”
News
Flash: To view a video of
where I live in prison done recently, click
here.
Scripture References:
1 Col. 1:9, 10
2 1 Chr. 16:15
3 Gen. 17:7, 8
4 Gal. 3:16
5 Gal. 3:29
6 Isa. 44:3
7 2 Chr. 5:14
8 Acts 2:1-4
9 Rom. 5:5
10 Eze. 44:15, 16
11 1 Pet. 2:5, 9
12 Rev. 12:11
13 2 Cor. 4:6, 10
14 Heb. 10:23, 24
15 Heb. 13:15, 16
Acknowledgement: A special thanks
to Sherry for transcribing this months view!
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