Encouragement

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Scripture: John 8:12, “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

John 8:31-32, “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, 32-You shall know the truth; and the truth shall make you free.”

Romans 10:17, “So then, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”

This word ‘light’ in the Greek is phos (foce) is where we get the word “phosphorus” from meaning, fire or light. It means, to enlighten, make known. You strike a match, the phosphorus in that match will give you light so you can SEE into the darkness around you. It’s the same thing when you turn the switch on in a darkened room. Once the ‘light’ is on, things that were in darkness that you didn’t know and couldn’t see before has now been revealed to you. You now have ‘revelation knowledge’ of the room and its contents because the ‘light’ has driven away the darkness that kept you blinded from SEEING.

This is what Jesus was saying, “I’m revelation knowledge come into the world to drive out the darkness of ignorance from your minds. The word ‘darkness’ in John 8:12 is also a Greek word, skotoo (skot-o’-o) and it means, ‘to obscure or blind.’ To be blinded by this darkness which means you can’t see whats going on---it could certainly be said that you’re in ignorance. And that doesn’t mean that a person is crazy. It means, that you’re uninformed. It means that you’re in the ‘dark’ about things that you should know about both in practical and spiritual things.

God doesn’t want His children to be stumbling around in the darkness of ignorance. He wants us to be informed. He wants us to have the light---the revelation knowledge of His Word so that we can better do His will in the earth. Doing our part to help establish His Kingdom of light while pulling down Satan‘s kingdom of darkness. In Genesis 1:1-3, verse 2 it said that “darkness was upon the face of the deep.” The same darkness of ignorance, being uninformed that Jesus is talking about in John 8:12.

But nothing comes apart from God’s Word, and in order to walk in the revelatory truth of God’s Word, it takes faith. And according to Romans 10:17, faith only comes by the hearing of God’s Word. A lot of people in the body of Christ have what I call ‘blind faith.’ That is, they’re trying to HAVE faith in the Word of God. They’re Bible-quoter’s, and they have a volumn of Word-knowledge. They can debate the Word with the best of them and usually have an answer to nearly everything thats put to them.

Thats impressive to those who are not as learned in the Scriptures and you have a tendency to think that these particular people must be right about all they’re saying. Not necessarily. Even though there’s a lot of truth in what they’re saying, much of it still may not exactly be in line with God’s answer’s. But the Word-quoter is convinced it is. They’ve been to Bible school---they KNOW the Word. So does the devil and he misquotes it all the time to get us off track with God and onto the wrong road.

There’s a difference in knowing what the Scripture says, and in knowing what the revelation of that Word is. It takes both working together to bring a complete picture to your spirit so you can understand what God is truly saying to you at any given time you sit down to read His Word.

The Holy Spirit is our Teacher, Who is here to lead us into ALL truth----all revelatory truth of God’s Word so that Word can come alive in our spirit’s and make us free, just as Jesus said it would. When you open your Bible to read God’s Word, you need to pray first and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and to lead you into the revelation truth of God’s Word. Expect Him to be there with you as you read and be sensitive to His voice, be listening with your spirit for Him to teach you some things about what you’re reading. And be ready to receive it by faith.

Knowing the revelatory truth of God’s Word can mean the difference between failure or success in your walk with Jesus. It can mean the difference between power of the Holy Spirit in your life and defeat. God said in Hosea 4:6, “My people perish for lack of knowledge.” He wasn’t talking about how much of the Word you can quote. He’s talking about how much of the revealed knowledge you have in your spirit of the Word. That Word revealed and made alive in your spirit by the Holy Spirit.

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FAILURE:
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Nobody wants to fail. Everybody wants to succeed in the things we do and God wants us to succeed more than WE want to. So, the question is, what cause the failure? How do we fail? First of all, we fail because we don’t keep God’s commandment to love. Jesus, before He ascended to heaven, He said, “I leave you with one commandment, love one another, even as I have loved you” (John 15:12). Galations 5:6 says, “Faith works by love.”

Faith operates by the Word of God, therefore, you take your stand on God’s Word to obey it---loving God first, then your neighbor as you love yourself. Faith, by the Word, is then activated, or you can say that faith is ignited, its motivated by love, which causes the Holy Spirit--the anointing, to get involved---are you following what I’m saying to you? Because of all the things you’ve done so far in obedience, the anointing will cause your faith to be lifted off with power from the launching pad, as it were.

Many times, our faith don’t even get off the launching pad because we fail to do those things needed to have ‘lift off.’ Along with walking in the love toward other’s, we also need to constantly be renewing our minds to God’s Word. Romans 12:2 says, “But be ye not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds...” We’re required to read and study the Word of God--this is how we gain spiritual strength, otherwise known as, ‘faith.’

2 Tim.2:15 says, “Study to show yourself approved of God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” In Joshua 1:8, God tells us to “observe to keep His commands, to meditate in His word day night and do it---He said, then WE would make our way prosperous and have good success.” So, it’s obvious that if we want to have less and less failures in our Christian walk, then its going to take submerging ourselves in God’s Word so that faith can come and we gain spiritual strength.

Being careful also to pray over the Word as we read as well as afterwards and making a good and sure confession of God’s Word. Making sure the words that come out of our mouths line up with God’s Word that He’s already spoken. James 1:22 says, “Be a doer of the Word and not just a hearer only, deceiving your own selves.” Hear the Word and move out by faith to be obedient to walk it out in your everyday life.

This is not just a Sunday thing to do so you’ll look good and spiritual at church on Sunday morning before everybody. This a Monday through Sunday Word. Its a 365 day a year word with no time off for vacations. If you go on vacation, you’re still being a hearer and a doer of God’s Word. Now the truth is dawning--the ’light’ is shining through the darkness---yes, this is a lifestyle. Its the lifestyle of righteousness and holy living---being a witness before others and bringing glory to God, your heavenly Father. This is where we gain our success in God and we cease to fail so much.

And when you move with God according to His will and you begin to SEE answers to things you didn‘t see before, it’ll cause you to stand steadfast and ummovable on that rock of revelation knowledge. Whatever has been made alive and dropped into your spirit because your Father-God doesn’t want you, His child to be in the darkness of ignorance. He wants you to know and see the truth so that truth can make you free.

Once your spirit and your mind has been enlightened with the light of God’s truth, you’ll be able to stand strong on that Word---all based on the Logos Word. But you’ll be able to stand on that revelation knowedge God gave you regardless of the circumstance around you that is telling you different. All truth is in Jesus and the devil is liar. Jesus said so Himself. He said, there’s no truth in Him, but Jesus said, I’m the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).

So, the circumstances going on around you at the moment, or somebody is telling you to just give up you’re never going to see daylight---praise God, you’re ve already seen the ‘light’ and thats why you’re able to stand and resist all the lies of the devil! Thats why whatever anybody says to you, you’re able to say, “God is truth and let every man be a liar!” You’re able to stand strong on that ‘rock’ with your faith on the line because you can say with assurity, “Lord, I see it! I see it!”

And by faith in your God who cannot fail, you’ll begin to call forth those things that be not as though they were! The blinders have come off your eyes of faith because you’re being obedient to walk in love toward other people as Jesus commanded. And because you’ve made the decision of your will and by your faith to do so, and because of the power of the blood, the Word and thr Anointing, you can cry out now, “I see it! Lord, I see it!”

The Holy Spirit brought revealed knowledge of the Logos Word so you could SEE the light of the truth and because you see it now, nothing or nobody can prize it out of you. You’re standing strong by the ‘seeing eyes’ of your faith---standing on that rock of revelation knowledge that LOVE directed you to because Love is a person, not a thing. 1 John 4:8 says, “God is Love.” God, the Father is a person---He is love. God, the Son is a person, and He is love. And God, the Holy Spirit is a person, and He is also love.

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THE ROCK:
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In the 16th chapter of Matthew, when Jesus asked His disciples who were people saying He was. He was told that some were saying He was Elijah, or John the Baptist, Jeremiah or one of the other prophets. But Peter said, “Thou art the Christ: the Son of the living God.” Jesus said, “Peter, I don’t want you getting a big head over this revelation so I want you to know that flesh and blood didn’t reveal this to you but My Father, which is in heaven.” And Jesus went on to say, “Upon this rock, I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

A lot of people say the rock is Jesus. Well, yes, He is. Jesus is the Word---‘in the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God and the word was God’ (John 1:1). He is the Rock of the ages and in this sense, if we’re standing on the rock of His Word, then we can also say that we’re standing on Jesus. But actually, when Jesus spoke of the ‘rock’ here in Matthew Chapter 16, He was talking about the ‘rock of revelation knowledge.’ The revelation from the Father by the Holy Spirit that Jesus is the Anointed One of God, come to destroy the works of the devil and set the captives free.

But we’ve been so conditioned and so traditionalized over the years with saying, “I’m just standing on the rock of Jesus. We did this because somebody misinterpreted the Scripture and began preaching it while we just sat back and agreed with it. Then before long, we were all quoting it because it sounded real religious---even spiritual. “Yes, brother. I’m just standing on the rock!” We’ve said this and said this and didn’t have a bit more understandingabout what we were saying than nothing. It just sounded good to our old carnal ear’s. Jesus said, if any man has ear’s to hear----that is, to hear with his spirit, and not with just his head, then let him hear from the Holy Spirit and receive by faith the revealed truth of God’s Word that’ll make him free.

Not everybody took this, “I’m standing on the rock of Jesus” as total truth. A few people in the body of Christ got serious enough with God to get before Him in prayer and find out what Matthew 16 was really talking about. When they found out the truth, then they began sharing it with the rest of the body. And even then, a lot of people acted like they’d commited high treason or something close to it. Thats because many people don’t want the truth, not if it comes to move them out of their comfortable traditions where they’ve been set in for 20 and 30 years. They’d rather continue to live with a partial truth and deceptions, nevering moving into the full revelation truth that Jesus guaranteed would make them free from Satan’s deceptions.

But many people in the body got offended when the full truth of Matthew 16 was shared, “Well, thats just not the way its been taught in our church.” These are the one’s who are what Jesus called dull of hearing and they harden their hearts against the truth. They don’t realize that God is trying every way He can to bring them out of the darkness of ignorance and bring them into the light---into the revelation of His Word so they can be free to embrace their destiny. To go on into the fuller and deeper things of God.

Oh, don’t you know this grieves the very heart of God? When we hang onto stale and lifeless traditions because they’re comfortable instead of seeking Him and His truth? Instead of getting a new hunger and a new zeal for God and for His Kingdom and allowing the Holy Spirit to generate some LIFE into us? You know it does. God loves His children and He wants us to know the truth. He wants us to be informed and not groping around in darkness running into this wall and that wall, never seeming to get anywhere.

The Holy Spirit brings revealed knowledge to our spirit’s so we can be free from all the unbelieving, man-made traditional trash thats contrary to God’s Word and stifles the Spirit. That old tradional stuff grandma believed and passed on down the line that kept her bound up all her life. And now, you’ve taken up where she left up, but you’re still alive and because you are, you still have a chance to break those Satanic traditions! You can throw them off by seeking the face of God and becoming a seeker of His truth that will make you free from ALL bondages.

God wants the darkness of deception to come off of you so you can SEE with the eyes of your faith, His truth and the devil’s lie’s that have kept you tangled up and bond for so long. Jesus said, if you’ll continue in My Word---see, thats important, be consistant in studing God’s Word. But Jesus said, if you’ll continue in My Word, if you’ll believe it, the truth of it will be revealed in your spirit and that revelatory truth WILL make you free!

Free to love as Jesus gave commandment. Free to be all that God created you to be here in this earth where He said that “the same works He did, you would do, and even greater works than these shall you do because I go to My Father.” You’ll be free to let the light of God’s truth shine forth from you through your witness so that other’s can be set free also.


Plain As Day Ministries

Shirley Williams

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