PEACE OR A SWORD

If we look around the world today (much more than in the past) we find no peace, no civility, and no fulfillment. Now many Christians would say that is because of that mean old devil Satan (we will talk about him later), but this thinking (and the doctrines that are supported by this thinking) is so far from the truth. They say this because they do not know the truth of the word of God and need someone to blame for their greed, arrogance, and disobedience. What blame themselves for not doing what God wants them to do? Heaven forbid. What place the blame right where it belongs; on a sin sick heart that is in rebellion to God? But, this is nothing new blame shifting started in the Garden of Eden when Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent, but God wanted nothing to do with this and punished all of three guilty parties. So too God will punish us for blame shifting we must pin the rose on the guilty party and that party is us. Now do not think some of this chaos and confusion is by some accident, oh no my friend believe it or not most of this lunacy, confusion, and loss of peace in the world we see play our right before our eyes is from the hand of God. Jesus told the disciples, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 35For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 36And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. 37He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 39He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matthew 10:34-39) But you would say I thought Jesus is the Prince of peace and the King of all kings, well He is, but He Himself said, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” Jesus has come with a sword in His hand to cut those who love Him out of the world. He sticks His sword into our hearts to cut out all of the worldly affection and desires from our lives. Jesus will do whatsoever we allow Him to do in our lives to separate us from the world. This separation theme from the world runs all though out the New Testament. Paul in 2 Corinthians tell the church at Corinth, “And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 17Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:16-18) Did you catch that? We are to separate ourselves from the world even some people in the world, now it says “them” which is a pronoun for people. In the first Epistle of John we read, “I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. 15Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 John 2:14-16) John tells us, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.” How can we love God with our whole heart and love the world? Yet we Christians of today dig our heels into the earth desiring bigger houses, better cars, a bigger portfolio, a better retirement plan, a life of ease for what? In the world we will have no peace of mind God will see to that, yet the world offers us distractions (sports, cooking, TV, hobbies, traveling, reading, legal and illegal drugs, alcoholic drinks, and the list goes on and on) to give us some type of peace and fulfillment that keep our minds off of what God is trying to do in our lives. These distractions have even joined the churches of today. We focus on the cares of the day instead of the cares of eternity. We get so caught up in our favorite sports team, our favorite TV program, our favorite movie star, our favorite food, and the list is endless, but God desires we focus on Him and the things He wants to see come alive in our lives. When was the last time you just sat motionless and still for some time and meditated on the Lord? Or said no to a passion or desire you know in God is not healthy for you? Sadly God’s best for our lives will never be birthed in us unless we make a conscious decision in our heart and especially our mind not to get involved with things of the world.

Now there is an order, like all things God has ordained in our lives, we must follow to be able to be used by God; if not we disqualify ourselves for service through our disobedience. The order is this: we must first overcome the world, then our flesh (in that order) before we can overcome Satan. Do you know we give too much power to demons and Satan? Are they all not defeated? Yes, Paul tell us in Colossians through the precious blood of Jesus Christ, “And having spoiled principalities and powers (that includes demons and Satan), he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” (Colossians 2:15) If we are true Christians Satan and his minions have no power in our lives unless we give rise to it. Satan was defeated on the cross when Jesus died and for us to have the victory over him we must see him defeated, yet many Christian churches pray (in the open air) telling him what they are going to do to him in Jesus’ name. How foolish they are giving him power; who cares what Satan is doing or what we are going to do to him? My mother never wanted to speak his name, he is defeated and she knew it. My friend we must be more concerned with what God is doing instead of what Satan is doing. God alone holds our lives in His hands, God alone holds our future, our very breath, not Satan. If we never come to the place in God where we can overcome the world then we will never get victory over our flesh. Many Christians battle (do good, pray, and fast) sins of the flesh and wonder why they have no victory, well it is because they have never overcame the world and their worldly desires, thirst, and hungers have never been quieted in their spirit and still draws them into fleshly projections. Their love for the world gives rise and power to our flesh. For the flesh to be conquered first we must still the desires, hungers, and thirst in our soul for the world. It is the old crawl, walk, run scenario. We must see the world for what it is and allow God to break its attractions in our lives. Now I do not know about you my friend, but this is a consistent struggle in my life. The older I get the more I see and feel my life I am losing. The older I get the more I love my wife and family, but Jesus said, “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:37) The older I get the more I desire a greater life of ease, but Jesus said, “And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 39He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matthew 10:38-39) What we have to lose our life? Yes, so that we may find it. Please notice losing comes first then we find. We will never be able to conquer our flesh unless we allow God to cut us out of the world, our flesh will rule and reign over us as lord and king and most certainly we will never be able to conquer anything in the demonic in the spiritual realm if we cannot conquer our flesh. How can we? Our flesh will be tempted and we will succumb to our carnal desires. We see this spiritual principle play out in the 17th Chapter Matthew. The disciples prayed for a young lad to be healed (like in the past), but this time nothing happened. So the father brought his son to Jesus to be healed, “And Jesus rebuked the devil (a demonic spirit not a sickness); and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. 19Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? 20And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 21Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”(Matthew 17:18-21) Now many Christians think Jesus was telling the disciples they did not pray hard enough or fast long enough, but that was not what Jesus was telling the disciples. What Jesus was saying was they could not cast the demon out because they themselves had a love for the world that was still alive within them. The focus of the disciples always seemed to circle around earthly things; they rarely caught a glimpse of the eternal things that Jesus daily walked in. They were earthly while Jesus was heavenly. They even asked Jesus to teach them to pray. I wonder why? So they too could do the things Jesus did. They wanted the power, but not the requirements to receive the power. By telling them “this goeth not out but by prayer and fasting” Jesus was telling them you have to be more heavenly minded. Prayer is a direct address to the Father, a direct communion and communication with Him that will enable them to move and operate with God in the spiritual realm where demons (I do believe in them because I have cast some out and the Bible testifies of them) and such exist. And fasting; did you know fasting is good for the soul? Fasting is sacrificing one hunger for another. Fasting quiets our spirit and shuts our mouth where we can hear from God. Fasting kills our flesh. The longer we can fast the greater death we will experience in our flesh, but remember first we must get the victory over the world before we try fasting, if not it will be a waste of time.

The title of this article is really a question we all must answer. Do we want peace as the world gives or do we want the sword of the Lord stuck into our heart and lives? If we choose peace as the world gives we may have civility and happiness for a season, but contentment and fulfillment is far out of the question. Peace as the world gives is not the peace that “passes all understanding” as the Bible says, but a peace that keeps our thoughts and heart numb to the reality of the internal lack within us that cries out for more of God in our lives and what will satisfy our inward desires. The only way we can experience this peace, that passes all understanding, is if we allow God to work, through His dealings and judgments, in our lives. If we choose the sword (as Jesus did) our lives will be painful, frustrating, and confusing at times and we will experience loss in our lives, but that is okay my friend God measures our gain in Him by what we lose not by what we gain. Remember, “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” (Matthew 10:39) The world says have more to be more, well not so with God. God says, have less to be more. When we have less of the world we will be able to have more of God. Having more of both is impossible though many Christians try with all of their might. It is amazing how man is put in a vise between his desires and passion to save his life and God working in our life. I do not totally understand this. On one hand man is driven by his own lust and the other hand God doing whatsoever we allow Him to do in our lives to bring us to salvation and glory. But it is not God that decides the outcome, but man. The battle for our heart, mind, and lives is one of our will. Jesus prayed, “not my will, but thy be done.” Here Jesus had a will (not sure what it was) that was contrary to the Father, but He submitted to the Father’s will, what we all must do as we submit to the sword of the Lord. Written by avid Stahl

SELLING OUT TO GOD

Paul tells us not to be conformed to this world, but sadly we are or maybe it is just me. I often find areas in my life (that the Holy Spirit reveals to me) I think are insignificant, but in reality they are not. Do you know God is very concerned about the small areas in our lives? The Bible says it is, “the little foxes that spoil the vine” not the big foxes. Now we are concerned about the big areas, but not so with God, He is concerned about the little areas. And as a matter of fact the smaller the areas the more God is concerned about them in our lives. God ever watches us and He watches us in these little areas (not the big ones) how we operate in them; He closely scrutinizes us to see how we do things, our motives, and what the intent of our heart condition is. I seem to be so plugged into this world (maybe it is just me but I do not think so) in so many areas it just scares me. Verse after verse in the Bible warns me of this critical danger in our lives, yet I seem to ignore (maybe it is just me) them as I often hunger and thirst after the meager scraps of what the world offers as compared to what God offers. And why, because I have not sold out to God. God has really impressed upon me that I will need to totally sell out in 2011, if I am going to be able to walk with Him in the things He has for me and my family. Please pray for me in this area.

I always remember the words of (my teacher’s teacher) Walter Beuttler, “If you build God a tabernacle He will build you a ministry.” He shared these words with many Bible School students for years and time and choices bore out whether they built God a tabernacle by the extent of their effectiveness to minister God to the world. In Mark we read the very sad, but true story of one such student that could not totally sell out. Today we call him the rich young ruler, but I will not because the Bible does not call him that. But, he was young and he was rich. We read, “And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” (Mark 10:17) Please notice this student of Christ, came running, was respectful “kneeled to him” honored Christ by calling him “Good Master” he did all of the religious things, but that was not enough to answer his question, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” Please notice he did not say, “what must I do to go to heaven?” Did you know Jesus is not so concerned about us all going to heaven (we are) as much as He is concerned about us allowing the life of God to operate in our lives? I have learned words are cheap, but actions speak volumes to hurting and lonely hearts. And those who raise their hands in song services, pray the loudest, and speak in tongues the longest usually have little to no relationship with the LORD unlike those Christians who have allowed God to work in their lives out from experiences in God and through His dealings and judgments. Selling out to God will require hard times and persecution. God promises us that, “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2 Timothy 3:12) Selling out will even cause offense because the message of the Gospel does not make people happy. Paul tells us, “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18) and I believe it because I have seen, handled, and tasted of it. For those who understand the message of the cross it will offend them and they will get angry with us, but if we endure their anger and childish ways we will come to see the power and effectiveness of God’s salvation. “And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God. 19Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother. 20And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.” (Mark 10:18-20) This young fellow should have figured out by now something was up, but his presumption and arrogance blinded the truth from his eyes and heart like many Christians today. This lad went to church every time the doors were open and kept the commandants since his youth and even confirmed Jesus’ words to this, “all these have I observed from my youth.” He did all of the right church activities, but this still was not enough to have his question answered. He had to do more. “Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. 22And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.” (Mark 10:21-22) When this lad kneeled down he thought there was nothing he had to do, he had done it all for God, but Jesus said not so fast young man (if we walk with God long enough He will knock the zealousness out of us) “One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.” Now if Jesus would have said give the rich (or even the poor) a good deal on your goods or go sell all you have and give the money to the church he may have been able to do this, but that is not what Jesus said to do Jesus said go, sell, and give. Jesus was after (what Jesus is after in our lives too) his heart. Notice Jesus said if he sells and give to the poor he would have “treasure in heaven,” now he may have gone for this, but I believe he was so shell-shocked and stunned by Jesus’ words he missed this point. Sadly he could not sell out and missed out on eternal life and treasure in heaven, all because he could not “take up the cross” (die to his selfish desires and hungers) and follow (come after or become like) Jesus. Sadly this is the last time we read of this young lad in the Bible. He could not sell out to God and missed out on all that God had for him. My friend this is not just some true story in the Bible make no mistake Jesus today is giving us the same choice and we will either sell out to the world or to God. God’s intention is for us to sell out to Him, but the choice is ours. I know in my life my answer must be selling out to God because I have gone too far now and have too much to lose. How about you?

You know when we do not understand what the Bible is saying we must allow the words in God’s word to speak the truth to our spirit. Sadly most Christians go ask a pastor or friend what this or that verse means, well God wants to show us some things in His word by us cracking open the Bible and spending some time with Him. The truth of the word of God is in the words and for us to really understand what the Bible is saying we must understand the words as they were written from the oldest version you can find. And of course the best version of the Bible today, to do what Paul instructed Timothy to do, “to study the word of God” is the 1611 King James Version (KJV). Almost all of the recognized study references are based on and patterned after the KJV. The newer versions (NIV, ASV, NLT, NCV, NRSV, etc. what a vegetable soup) maybe be hipper and easier to read (in today’s language), but the words have been changed which changes the intent and meaning to what is being said. Newer versions make good sense now in 2011, they are easy to read, but the Bible says, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 14:12) The KJV is easily tracked backward the direction we must go to understand what the Old Testament Prophets and in the New Testament what the disciples, Paul, Peter, even Jesus were saying. And yes even further back to the Greek and Hebrew where the real meaning of God’s word is found. Now you do not have to be able to speak or read Greek or Hebrew, but to understand God’s word you will need to know what the words mean, for there is the heart of truth. The truth of the Bible is contained in the words as the Holy Spirit gives us revelation – the sign of our spiritual authority. Thus if we do not understand what the individual words mean in the Bible we will not have any authority in God to speak and do for Him. They say in the world understanding is power well that may be true in the world, but my friend in God understanding is authority and there is a huge difference between power and authority. I would rather have a smidgen of God’s authority then all of man’s power. To understand what I am saying in this article you will have to open up your spirit and brush up on your study skills to hear with the Spirit of God. Wise advice that will carry you all the days of your life.

Now many people think the 18 Chapter of Revelation is talking about the City of Rome well I am not so sure about that. Here John is talking about something in the future he saw in the Spirit (he could not explain) Rome was his present day world which he could easily explain. The mighty city of Rome, built on seven hills, fell from within from her idolatry, a promiscuous lifestyle, and just plain old open rebellion to God by not selling out to God. This selling out extends into so many areas of our lives and our culture. In the Book of Revelation we read about how the nations were deceived by the merchants of the earth. “And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 2And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold (of the place where captives are kept, a prison) of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 3For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication (Strong’s #4204: to permit one’s self to be drawn away by another into idolatry) with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.” (Revelation 18:1-3) How could this happen with mighty churches on every corner? How could this happen with the so called end-time revival that some say is to happen? Be not deceived by the liars on TBN and other Christians TV stations. All they want is your money (they are the merchants), just listen to their message: money, money, and money it is what moves their hearts. Please do not be caught up in this greed and deception of sowing seed. How could all of this happen that is easy the people did not sell out to God. How could the merchants of the world wax (grow) rich, that is easy the Christians spent their money on the things of the world instead of the things of God. Do you see that moving here? My friend either we will sell out to God or we will sell out to the world. We will either put on darkness or we will put on light. Paul lets us know these are our only two choices in life, “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 12The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” (Romans 13:11-14) We try so hard to be good and put on the light, but it is not really about being good and putting on light, oh no my friend it is about casting off darkness. If we cast off darkness we will put on the light of the glorious gospel. Notice casting off darkness happens first before we can put on the light. Order matters in the Bible. If we sell out to God He will make sure those things we need in our lives, to conform us into His precious Son’s image, will come our way. Let us not be like the young lad who did all of the right things, but in the end lost his soul and why? He could not sell out to God and was never heard of again, the choice is ours. Written by David Stahl

WHAT I LEARNED IN 2010

Learning often equates to spiritual growth and development, but not always. We hear the term spiritual growth and development or spiritual maturity, but what is the measure of spiritual growth and maturity? Is it a certain amount of hours spent working for God? Or maybe a certain number of hours spent in prayer? Or maybe it is a certain amount of money given to the LORD? Or maybe it is being able to operate in the spiritual realm in a supernatural way for a certain amount of time. Now all of these are good to do, but have nothing to do with the question. Believe it or not the answer to the question is how we handle the truth, especially the truth about ourselves. Do we do the right thing (unlike the last time) the next time we are faced with walking according to God’s word and will? I wonder why we as Christians say “happy new year?” Is it a wish or a hope that the new year will be happy? Well in God there is no happy new year, only another year and whether it is happy or not depends not on God, but on us doing the things we know to do, the things God told us to do. God’s intention (His desire) for us is for all of our years to be happy and fruitful, but whether they are depends on us, not God. God can do no more than speak His intention (He will not force us) in our lives so we can hear and make the choice for ourselves. Man is focused on happiness (happen-in-stance or situational) while God is focused on eternal things NOT dependent on situations and circumstances. A happy new year or a God centered new year, it is our choice.

The year 2010 was a great year for Family Stahl. It started off tough with the death of my father on 3 Jan, but you know in my heart I do not miss him because I have a hope that I will see him again. Oh I mourned his passing with tears and a great sadness (even still cry sometimes when I think of him), but the year ended with Noah David Stahl (my son David’s son) being added to Family Stahl. I made an observation about mourning. I have found out those who have dealt with the deceased in a dishonest or selfish matter seem to take the loss much harder. Maybe it is because of their heart being crushed for the dishonest dealings or maybe because of the financial or other loss they will suffer from the passing. I at all times treated my father with the utmost respect and honor; it was more than a father son relationship. We had a crimson tread that jointed our hearts together by way of military service to country. I alone of my brothers and sisters knew of the heartaches and selfless sacrifice my father made, this bound us even closer with duty, honor, and service. And of course what makes for a happy new year is if we moved closer towards the LORD. And to do this we must have learned some things about our nature and character as compare to God’s along the way that move us ever closer. God’s nature and character is always the standard we are measured against. Thus, I would like to share four major lessons I have learned in 2010 and will probably re-learn in the coming years:

The first lesson is good works does not mean a good heart. I cannot begin to tell you the number of Christians I have talked to that believe all we have to do is treat others good, take care (feed and clothe) of the poor and down-trodden, and God will look past the sin in our lives. My friend the sin in our lives must be dealt with. God does not forgive sin someone must pay a price for our sin and if the precious blood of Jesus Christ has not been applied to blot out our sin then we must pay the consequence of our disobedience with our eternal life. Our choice is crystal clear, but this weak kneed, free grace doctrine that is sweeping the world has blinded and blurred the truth to salvation; where all we have to do is have good thoughts, think positive, treat people kindly, and all will be fine. After all most churches (especially in America) do not believe in sin; I heard Joel Osteen say on CNN he does not preach against sin and he does not believe in hell, well my friend Joel and the 60, 000+ people of his church are deceived if they believe these lies. It does not matter what we do for God, but it matters what we become in God. Sin was the number one topic Jesus talked about during His earthly ministry. Our heart is changed only when we allow God to deal and judge in it. The more we allow God free reign in our heart and lives the more our heart will become like His. Good works (even though needed) will not change our heart condition only God’s dealings and judgments and our election for free reign and sway.

The second lesson is peace at the cost of Godly principles is devilish. In my family Karen and I have been shunned by my relatives because we have dared to speak to them about their souls; about them walking away from God, the lesbianism, and homosexuality that is alive and well in our family. This behavior has been condoned by my mom and dad (just love and prayer for them we were told) in the past to keep the peace, but in reality it was just more time given to provide cover for the open rebellion moving in our family against God’s word. And for this we have paid a price within the family. I can feel in my spirit the resentment and hatred they have for us even though they say they love us. The Holy Spirit does not lie. My friend I am here to tell you if you compromise the truth of the word of God to keep peace in the family there will never be peace between you and God. God will see to it that your spirit will be troubled until you submit to what He wants. As children of God either we stand for the truth of the word of God or we will go along to keep harmony. Harmony without truth is devilish. God’s word is truth and unless we align with His word we can have no peace, things will be okay until someone gets offended and then all hell will break loose. We must stand on Godly principles even at the cost of strife in the family. It is better you anger your dad, mom, brothers, and sisters then to anger God. Now do I want to see my relatives come back to Christ before it is too late? You bet I do, I pray for them all every day, but whether they do or not is not up to me or God it is up to them. I know Karen and I have taken the Godly approach with them and our prayer is for them to allow God to open their eyes to the truth of the word of God again before it is too late and that the heinous spirits of lesbianism and homosexuality would be stripped from our family forever before it is too late. There is no peace in compromise only loss and destruction.

The third lesson is if you draw back from God you will lose your motivation. Sadly I have seen this moving some in my life. Ever since we returned from Europe in 2003 I have seen a very very slow drifting and sliding back from where I was in God. Now I am not talking about turning my back on God, but just a slight and subtle drawing back; not fasting like I use to, maybe enjoying more of a life of ease, or maybe not so looking forward to getting on an airplane for 12-24 hours to travel to other parts of the world. The older we get the less we like to be inconvenienced, the more we like hot showers (maybe that is only me), and the more our lives seems to become more dear to us. Well if we have a desire to serve God all of these things must be dealt a death blow, if not we run the risk of losing our motivation to be used of God. We must take heed and guard against this from moving in our lives. The only way to prevent this is by recognizing what is going on and as Barney Fife said, “just nip it in the bud.” We must force ourselves in this area. It must not be a question of our desires and will, but a question of do we want to disappoint God and go against His will? We must not give our flesh any quarter, we must kill it no matter how much it screams to live. Our flesh must be put to death, if not we will lose our desire for the things of God. Being dead to our flesh is the requirement to know the power of God.

And the fourth and most important is our character must exceed our revelation of God. Sadly I have a friend (who has a deep understanding of God’s word) of over 30 years who walked away from our friendship in 2010. All because God used me to share a character flaw, he got offended, and broke off our communication. The really sad point is I really believe if my friend (I still consider him my friend, brother, and love him no matter his heart condition towards me) would have allowed God to show him these areas he would have a deeper and greater revelation of God’s word. Loss in our lives comes out of our disobedience to what God is bringing into our lives, no matter who God uses to bring it. Peter tells us, “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. 6Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” (1 Peter 5:5-6) Notice verse seven said, “care” not cares no “s.” Cares are earthly things (cars, homes, money, clothing, etc.) but, “care” is the attitude of caring. Peter told us to cast our attitude of caring for earthly things on God, because He “careth” for us. Do you see that? I hope so. But, humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God? I wonder what the mighty hand of God looks like? To Joseph God’s mighty hand was his brothers, Potiphar, and the Pharaoh of Egypt. What does the mighty hand of God look like in your life? The condition to be exalted is for us to humble ourselves. At the same measure (God always works on the same measure) we can humble ourselves; at that same measure we shall be exalted no more no less. Now I hope and pray my good friend can find enough of God in him to call or email me (I have tried) again, but if not well . . . that is his choice. No matter how much of the revelation of God we can behold the work of God is to be done in our character not in our ability to teach or preach. If one is a great teacher or preacher of the word of God, but treats people like they are not equal to them by expecting people to always do things for them, i.e. get their bags, pay their food, tell them how wonderful they are, and never consider themselves equal to anybody because they think they have a greater revelation of God. But is it not our revelation it is God’s! These are all human signs of arrogance and presumption. Did you know God is more concerned about our character than He is about how long we can speak in tongues, how much we work around the church, how well we can sing and dance, how fast we can run, how many points we can score, or even how much money we give to the church. God’s number one focus in our lives is how much we are like His dear precious Son Jesus Christ not the service we can give. This is God’s number one objective in our lives. God is not trying to make us happy (He really does not care about our happiness), rich, or popular, but will do His best (everything we will allow in our lives) to conform us into the character and nature of His Son Jesus Christ. If we really have a desire to become like Jesus Christ we MUST really internalize this truth because then we will be willing to endure tribulations in our lives, which I feel are coming more often and more intense in 2011. We are to be the expression of the Father as Jesus Christ was. Do you see that?

I hear Christian preachers and teachers on TV say, “send me money so I can help God bring in the harvest in the last days.” Well God needs no help to bring in the harvest. Or I hear them say, “a great revival is going to sweep over the land and many people will be saved.” Well the Bible I read (KJV and Greek) does not support such a lie. The Bible I read talks about a great falling away in the last days, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;” (2 Thessalonians 2:3) Did you know you cannot revive a dead body? No one in the Bible (even Jesus) ever revived a dead person, oh no they must be resurrected. You can revive someone almost dead, but then you will never know the resurrection power of God. But to be resurrected we must die and no one wants to die. Unless we die we will never be able to walk in the truth of Paul’s words when he said, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” (Philippians 3:10) Please notice the order here; knowing Him (God), His power, and His suffering so we can be made (a process) conformable (to look like) His death. We must know Him to know His power and we must know His power so that we can endure our suffering and die. In 2011 we must learn how to die in God. Not physically per say (well maybe so for some Christians outside America), but spiritually. If not we will never be able to “know him and the power” that brought Jesus back from the dead. How much faith will we need in 2011? Just enough to believe God can raise us from the dead as He did Jesus. What will we need to learn in 2011? How to die like Jesus. Written by David Stahl