THE WATERFALL OF GRACE

PHILIPPIANS 3:13 NKJ 13 ...one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,  Today IS the first day of the rest of your life. And it will be what you and God make it. Your past does not have to dictate your future. You can begin again. With God you really can have a fresh start. God can forgive your past -- and help you to forgive yourself. But most importantly, God can change you. He can make you into the kind of person you know you should be.  2 CORINTHIANS 5:17 NRSV 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! Your life can be different. But don't think it will be different if you continue to do things exactly the same as you always have. For your life to change -- you must MAKE changes.  If you want real change -- God's Word is the key. You must immerse yourself in the Word. What you feed in determines the output of you...

PROVERBS 4:20–21 My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; George Müller, who lived in the 1800s, cared for more than 2,000 orphans in his five large orphanages. But he never allowed his huge responsibility to take him away from the Word of God. He said that every day, he would set aside time to study the scriptures until his inner man was happy in the Lord. Once, Müller met a man who worked between 14 and 16 hours every day.  He told the man, “You are destroying your health. You don’t have time for your family and, most importantly, you don’t have time to nourish your inner man with the Word of God.” The man replied, “I hear you, but I can’t see how I can cut down my working hours and spend time in the Word because even with the 14 to 16 hours I put in each day, I still can’t put enough bread on the table for my family.” As the man walked away, Müller said, “He doesn...

JOSHUA 1:3 NKJ 3 "Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses.  God told Israel the promised land was theirs. Yet it was possessed by others -- some were even giants (which made it look impossible for them to possess.) God had given them the land, but they had to go in and take it. God would enable them to take possession, if they would only cooperate by believing Him. Yet they focused on the seemingly impossible circumstances and took their eyes off God's promise.  HEBREWS 3:19 NKJ 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Only one thing kept the people of Israel from taking possession of all their promised land -- unbelief! Maybe they felt incapable, but that was the devil's lie. Their capability was God! God had spoken! But they chose not to believe what God said to them. Today it is no different with us! The New Testament reveals many things which already belong to us because we are joine...

EPHESIANS 6:11 Put on the whole amour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  God does not need you to defeat the devil today. Jesus has already done it and given you the victory. (Colossians 2:15, Romans 8:37) Your part is to enforce the victory by simply standing your ground, which is victory ground. In other words, you “fight” from victory ground by standing. You don’t fight for victory.  In Ephesians 6:10–18, the passage on spiritual warfare, the word “wrestle” appears only once (verse 12), while the word “stand” appears four times—“stand against the wiles of the devil”, “withstand in the evil day”, “having done all, to stand”, “Stand therefore”. (Verses 11, 13–14) Four times the Holy Spirit tells us to stand. Yet, many Christians are focusing on wrestling their way to victory!  My friend, you are already on victory ground. You already have everything in Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:21, 23) You are already blessed with every spiri...

1 JOHN 4:16 ESV 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.  Although I have endeavored to walk with the Lord for decades, only in recent times have I started to really believe God loves me. My problem was that I kept focusing on myself, instead of God. I saw myself in my immaturity with all my faults and failures. I was not looking at Jesus the perfect sacrifice, but focused on myself and my shortcomings. Even though I preached messages on the love of God, I never had complete confidence that God truly loved me just as I was.  Instead I thought more in terms of God tolerating me, but not being too happy with me. I was trying my best to do what I thought God wanted, not really realizing that I could never earn God's love. Now I am realizing that God's love is not dependent on me, but is entirely dependent on God alone. He does not love me because I am lovabl...

ROMANS 4:16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all… God’s grace is His undeserved, unearned and unmerited favor. And because it is undeserved, unearned and unmerited, all of us qualify for it. But how do we walk in it?  Just as a password gives you access to a computer program, faith enables you to walk in God’s unmerited favor. Now, faith has nothing to do with what you do or what you can do. Faith is simply believing and declaring what God has done and is doing for you. When you believe that the favor of God is on you because of Christ’s finished work, His promises of provision, healing and restoration become sure to you. They are not just sure to the Jews, but also to you and me because we are “of the faith of Abraham”. Ruth was a Gentile widow who put her faith in God’s grace. Sh...

NAHUM 1:7 NIV 7 The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him,  God is not a bad guy. He is not against you. God is not your problem. He is the answer to your problems. The Bible reveals who is responsible for all the bad things that happen -- and it is not God! God is not guilty!  DEUTERONOMY 32:4 NLT 4 He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is! God has never done anything unfair or unjust. Everything He does is perfect!  LUKE 6:35 NLT 35 "Love your enemies! ... and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. According to Jesus, God even shows love to His enemies!  PSALM 145:8-9 NLT 8 The LORD is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. 9 The LORD is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation. God ...

DEUTERONOMY 30:19 NLT 19 "Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!  You have a choice. You can choose life and blessings. Or you can choose curses and death. You make that choice when you choose the words you speak.  PROVERBS 18:21 NKJ 21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.  Life and death are in the power of your tongue, so to choose life -- choose to speak words of life.  JOHN 6:63 NKJ 63 "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. Jesus spoke words of life, and when we speak in agreement with His Word, we are speaking words of life. But the world trains us to speak words of death. Our culture (influenced by the devil) has conditioned us ...

GALATIANS 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),  Many believers probably know that when Jesus died, our sins were forgiven because He shed His blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. (Ephesians 1:7, Hebrews 9:22)  But why did Jesus have to die on the cross, since the capital punishment of Israel during the time of Christ was stoning and not crucifixion? Jesus hung and died on the cross because He knew the law which says that “he who is hanged is accursed of God”. (Deuteronomy 21:23)  He wanted to redeem us from every curse of the law, so He went to the cross, “having become a curse for us”. Jesus took all our curses at the cross, so that we can take all His blessings! The moment you received Jesus, every curse in your life was destroyed. And the way you experience this is to simply believe and confess what Jesus has done for ...

MATTHEW 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.  “I am concerned about the big business deal that I have to close tomorrow.” “I am worried about tomorrow’s job interview.” “My medical test results will be out tomorrow. I am afraid it won’t be good.”  God does not want you to worry about tomorrow. He wants you to know that He gives you all the help you need for today, and when tomorrow comes, so will fresh help from Him. This is God’s principle even in the Old Testament.  When the children of Israel were in the desert, God gave them fresh manna from heaven every morning. (Exodus 16:13–16, 31) They did not have to worry about tomorrow because when tomorrow came, there was fresh manna again. He was their provision every day.  Today, God’s manna is the grace He gives you every day. If you are worried about a situation tomorrow, know that there will be sufficient grace...

JOHN 6:28–29 …“What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” When I was a young Christian, I attended a seminar on what we must do to “work the works of God”. I was told that we had to pray more, fast more, know our enemy and so on. I came away from the seminar confused. Then one day, I found the same question in the Bible. But the answer was very different! In the Gospel of John, we find Jesus being asked the same question by the multitude who had been awed by His miracles—“What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” The people had seen Jesus healing the sick, and feeding 5,000 men with only five loaves and two fish. Notice how Jesus answered them: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” My friend, the greatest doing is believing—believing in Jesus the sent one, who has done it all for you at the cross! If you are asking, “What must I ...

LUKE 8:11 NKJ 11 "Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.  A seed is much smaller than what it produces. The problem you face may seem huge. In comparison, a scripture may seem very small. But when planted, that Word will grow in you and overcome the problem. A seed always produces after its kind. Whatever you need, or desire, find scriptures relating to that. Then plant those scriptures inside you in abundance. Those seeds will grow up and produce a harvest of what you need or desire.  A seed is alive: it contains life. Your physical senses are incapable of judging whether a seed is alive or not. You cannot see, feel, hear, smell, or taste the life in a seed. There is only one way to prove a seed is alive -- plant it. A seed does nothing until planted. Seeds do not grow sitting in a sack on your shelf. They must be planted in the proper place. If you desire the Word of God to produce in your life, you must decide to plant the Word in your heart ...

ROMANS 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.  Do you feel misunderstood and forsaken by the people you love? Have you been falsely accused and stripped of everything, without a dime to your name? Maybe today, you feel that you have hit rock bottom and you wonder if you can ever rise again.  Joseph, who was sold by his brothers into slavery (Genesis 37:28), went through all these experiences and emotions. Still, he was conscious that God was in it with him every step of the way. Though his life was a “mess”, he believed that it was not an accident. Though the things that were happening to him were not good, he believed that God was making all things work together for his good.  And it was indeed so—Joseph eventually rose to occupy the most powerful position in Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. (Genesis 41:40) Probably, this consciousness that God was in it with him was the...

Would you like for me to reveal to you the name of the coming world ruler?  One of His names is Jesus Christ.  ISAIAH 9:6-7 NKJ 6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever.  The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. If you thought this article would be about the Antichrist, it reveals that you need to change your focus.  DANIEL 2:44 NKJ 44 "And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.  REVELATIO...

MARK 16:17 NLT 17 These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: They will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages.  Jesus has made available for every believer a supernatural way to pray. It is normally referred to as "speaking in tongues" because tongues is the old English word that was used for languages. It is simply a Christian believer speaking normally, in full control, but speaking in a fluent language unknown to them. You might wonder how that could be possible.  Without God, it would not be possible! It works this way. The Holy Spirit dwelling in you will give words to your spirit (which is the real you, the inner person), and your spirit will speak those words, bypassing your mind entirely.  1 CORINTHIANS 14:14 NLT 14 For if I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but I don't understand what I am saying. Your mind will not formulate the words, or decide what to speak. Yet you will always remain in full control, j...

EPHESIANS 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,  Some people think that the term “spiritual blessing” refers to only non-visible and intangible blessings like peace and joy. To them, God’s promise of “every spiritual blessing” excludes the tangible blessings of health, provision, a healthy marriage and so on. They say things like, “Don’t expect God to remove this tumor because our blessings are only spiritual.” Beloved, do you know what the word “spiritual” here means?  In the original Greek text, it is pneumatikos, which in this context means having properties and characteristics belonging to the Spirit of God. So if you have the pneumatikos blessing of health, for example, it means that it is of the Spirit of God, and therefore does not depend on your exercising or dieting.  A church member had high blood pressure which did not normalize even after he star...

God not only approved of everything Jesus did -- He was very pleased with everything Jesus did.  JOHN 8:29 NKJ 29 "And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him."  Why is it important for us to look at this? Many people are unclear what God's will is in many areas. There is much confusion over what many call "acts of God" which bring destruction. But if we understand that Jesus always did God's will perfectly, and that God was thrilled with everything Jesus did, then we can examine what Jesus did and see what God's will is.  Did Jesus ever make anyone sick -- even to teach them something? Did Jesus ever tell anyone it was not the will of God for them to be healed? Did Jesus ever tell anyone that God would not love them and help them? Did Jesus ever destroy anyone's property or steal it from them? Did Jesus ever kill anyone's family member? No. Never!  Jesus did what was ...

PROVERBS 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue…  Many things in life can cause us to fear—losing our jobs, deadly diseases, terrorist attacks and so on. When these things confront us, we tend to give in to worry and fear, and start talking about our fears. Job was no different. He constantly feared that God would punish him and his family because he kept thinking that his sons had sinned against God. He would get up early in the morning to offer burnt sacrifices, saying, “It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” And the Bible tells us that he did this “regularly”. (Job 1:5)  So Job kept confessing the sins of his sons and fearing that something terrible would happen to him and his family. In fact, his sin-consciousness didn’t just produce fear, the Bible tells us that he “greatly feared”. (Job 3:25) It is important that we understand that it was Job’s sin-consciousness that opened the door to Satan. His preoccupation with sins ...

 MATTHEW 6:9-10 NKJ  "In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.  LUKE 11:2 NKJ 2 So He said to them, "When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.  These verses make two things clear.  1. God's will is not automatically done unless we pray. Otherwise it is pointless for Jesus to tell us to pray that God's will be done.  2. It is God's will that things be done on earth as they are in heaven. By understanding these verses we can see that those who tell us God is sovereign and everything that happens on earth is God's will, are clearly wrong. It is true that God is sovereign. He can do whatever He wants to do. No one is higher than God and can tell Him what to do.  But God voluntarily and freely, without any rush or pressure, chose to speak words expressi...