continuation...Is struggling part of our penance?

Lucifer and his system, places a burden on your heart; and he wants you to come to the scriptures thinking "what does God want from me?' Is that why you have been avoiding the Bible lately? Maybe, you need to come with a new attitude; "what does God has for me today!" What are the blessings that He has for me?' Why is that? Because the scriptures are about Jesus. And Jesus said that He came to give us life abundantly. The Law came by Moses, but GRACE AND TRUTH by Jesus Christ.(John 1:17) So even when you read the Old Testament, you have to see Jesus in them. The whole Bible speaks about Jesus and what He did. If you read the Bible and all you see is condemnation, you are not reading the Gospel. There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ. On the road to Emmaus, after Jesus died and was risen, he appeared to two disciples. Luke 24:25-27

"25 Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27 And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself."

They then invited him to eat with them. After Jesus broke bread, then they knew him. But they said this in verse 33:" And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” When you see Jesus through the scriptures, your heart will get excited. The Holy Spirit that dwells in you will confirm the word in your heart. You will feel like, I knew this was it. Why? Because Jesus took all the yoke; and gave us his yoke, and His yoke is easy. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy. So whenever you hear a preaching or teaching, and you don't have the peace of God, or the joy of the Lord, beware of the serpent. He tries to imitate God, and will use the scriptures; but he will place a heavy burden in your heart.







What can refine you better? God, or suffering? God's way of refining us is through his word! You wanna do it the other way, via suffering, God will change things for your good yes, because he loves you. But thats not his first option for you. Oh and by the way, not everybody gets refined when they go through suffering. You can have two siblings, having been through hell in the family, yet, one will turn out refined, and the other in a a worse shape. So suffering doesn't necessarily refines. But God's word will surely refine anyone.

Where does it say in the scriptures that we are refine by fire? And what fire?

Abraham, Romans 12:1-3 says we are conformed by the renewing of our minds.
As i mentioned above, the word says in 2 Timothy 3:16 that the scripture is good for doctrine, for instruction; for correction.....this actually covers everything. Its not for sanctification only. Moreover, we are sanctified also by Jesus' work on the cross.

But the word says we don't need anything to be added unto us. Anything we need for life and godliness has already been given. Anything means everything; that includes "being refined".


There is no scripture in the whole Bible that says we are refine by fire.
Humanly speaking, we do learn from mistakes, yes. But mistakes are not the only tool to learn from. You can learn from other people's errors. If you've seen someone fall into a pit; all you need is avoid that pit.

There is however scripture that says our work will be tested by fire. Thats not the same thing.

How about the scriptues in 1 John 4:17 where it says:
Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.

Does Jesus needs to be refined? No way! And the scripture says that "AS HE IS, SO ARE WE IN THIS WORLD".





So my friend Abraham; tribulations and trials may come. But God is not the one ordaining them as a "tool to refine us". These things were a result of man's failure from God's presence. They will be here till the second coming. But with the coming of Jesus the first time, he equiped us to be able to withstand any affliction from the enemy.
Just think of God as a loving father. Would you do that to your children? Would you afflict your children with cancer, diabetes, poverty, or kill their brothers, .....for the sake of refining them? If you do that, I WILL BE THE FIRST ONE TO CALL CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES TO TAKE YOUR CHILDREN AWAY FROM YOU. That is abuse. And God the father is alot better than us.

And i doubt that you will do that to your children, even if you have prior knowledge that this will make them strong. Some people do die of sicknesses by the way. I don't see what they can learn after they die.

Isn't the Bible clear as to the source of all that? The Bible says the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. That is the enemy's job. And my GOD IS NOT A PARTNER-IN CRIME WITH LUCIFER!
So maybe you ask the question, why does God allow that then?
God is not allowing that. He gave a solution to the problem, and then gave us every tool we need to fight the enemy. Literally, every tool we need. Why would you still want to blame God for it. He says "submit to God, RESIST the enemy, and he will flee" James 4:7.
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. James 1:13

God does not tempt anyone. If you think this is contradicting the story of Job, thats your problem. It is not contradicting. The next verse after that says;
But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

That scripture says that we are tempted when we are drawn away by our own desires. Job 3:25 says: "For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me,
And what I dreaded has happened to me."
It is very obvious that Job had this fear in his heart that he will lose his children and wealth. That is why he said that. Go read that scripture again. Despite the fact that God has blessed him, in his heart he had fear. He didn't trust God to protect him. This shows that his own desires drew him to that temptations. Jesus said that "as a man thinks, so is he". If you have fear in your heart, that is who you are. Sooner or later your mouth will speak your heart. And just as the scriptures say "from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks". Whatever you say, comes from your heart. And we know the scriptures says "that we have the power of life and death in our mouth". The thing that you fear in your heart, will soon become the word of your mouth, and that will soon become your REALITY. That is exactly what happened to Job.
And if you continue thinking that God is the one allowing the suffering in your life; you may soon develope fear in your heart. and if you are not careful, that will become the word of your mouth! As a man thinks, so is he!
It starts eating away faith from your heart. On the one hand, you think God is a good God. And on the other hand, you think that HE MAY DO TO YOU AS HE DID TO JOB.
THAT IS A FAITH KILLER. Thats what Jesus faced when a father of a child who had epilepsy came to him. Mark 9:14-32.
You know the story. But look at verse 23:
23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe,[a] all things are possible to him who believes.”
24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

It is POSSIBLE TO HAVE FAITH AND UNBELIEF AT THE SAME TIME. Thats exactly what this father confessed to Jesus. This normally happens when someone suffers for a long time and there is no cure. They may see God healing other people, but they don't see it. So they believe God can do it, but not for me. If you continue reading that chapter of Mark 9, Jesus tells the disciples "this type does not come out without prayer and fasting. Normally people interpret that to mean "this type of evil spirit". But thats not what Jesus meant. Read that again. If the name of Jesus cannot cast away an evil spirit, NO AMOUNT OF PRAYER OR FASTING WILL. Jesus was speaking about unbelief. The spirit of unbelief. If you go to the original Greek, it is very clear and obvious. But if you look at the context of that chapter, Jesus was speaking to the man about his unbelief. Prayer and fasting does not affect God; it only affect us. It cures our unbelief. Because as far as God is concerned, He has provided the answer already. But the question is, DO WE BELIEVE?

This seems like I've detoured into another subject. But it is all interrelated. The father of the boy said that his son has had this condition from childhood. The longer you suffer without victory, the harder it is to belief. And specially when we see other people having victory. While we wait for years and years. Your mind will start overcoming your spirit, and tells you, God doesn't love you enough. And that will CERTAINLY LEAD TO UNBELIEF. You will still have faith; but your faith will say""SOME DAY, WHEN JESUS COMES BACK, THERE WILL BE NO MORE TEARS'. But now, i've gotta endure this pain. That is not scripture. There is no scripture that says that. This is just human philosophy. But the choice is yours: YOU EITHER CHOOSE WHAT GOD'S WORD SAYS, OR CHOOSE HUMAN PHILOSOPHY?


" But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man." Jesus (Matt 15:18)
Therefore, I can confidently say "You are a sum of the things you have spoken in your life." Everything that happens in your life, is a result of the things you have spoken, or things that have bee...n spoken about you; whether its your family, your friends, community, and infact generalizations or prejudices that you allow to shape your thinking.

We have a direct hand in the things that happen to us. But God has given us the choice. He fore-warned us. The scripture tells us that we have the power of life and death in our tongues.
So when you hear on TV "that this is the season for flu", and you just accept it; you will soon be sick with flu. You allowed the message being spoken upon your life "that is flu season" - as if everybody is expected to get sick. That is a tongue risen against you. Sometimes you hear statistics, and you start repeating them; they say Black people are more likely to have blood pressure. Now while this is a statement base on some studies, you don't have to have blood pressure. Isaiah 54:17 says: "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD."
The scripture says every tongue that rises against you in judgement "YOU SHALL CONDEMN". God is not going to condemn it for you. God has done His part. He says in James 4:7 "submit to God, RESIST THE DEVIL, and he will flee". God won't resist the devil for you. And neither will he condemn the spoken word against you.
THAT IS YOUR DOMAIN. You condemn EVERY WORD SPOKEN AGAINST YOU.
Yes. Even your own words. Sometimes you may find yourself speaking against your self negatively. You can't always control what other people say about you. But you can control what you say. Start speaking favorably about your self. SAY I AM THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST. SAY I AM BLESSED. SAY I HAVE A BRIGHT FUTURE BECAUSE I AM IN CHRIST. Believe me you, the things you say will soon catch up with you. They may not this year; maybe not next year; BUT SOON OR LATER, YOU WILL START REAPING THE THINGS THAT YOU SAY. And when that happens, don't blame God, or the devil. I believe sometimes the devil takes notes from us. The way we mess up our lives, it gives the devil ideas on how to use them on others. BUT MY FRIENDS, "THIS IS OUR HERITAGE" the scripture says. Did you know that the scripture says that "the inhabitants(of Zion) shall not say I am sick" (Isaiah 33:24)

Actually read from verse 20: Isaiah 33:20-24:
20Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.

21But there the glorious LORD will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby.

22For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.

23Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail: then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey.

24And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.

How beautiful. Look upon Zion the city of our gatherings/feasts(its a picture of the church) a quite habitation. Then verse 24 says, "the inhabitants of zion" shall not say I am sick. This is our heritage. This is a reality. We belong to a kingdom which was establish with words. God said "let there be......and it was". And we are created in his likeness. Ephesians 4:24 says "put on the new man which after God is created in true holiness and righteousness". Your new man, is identical to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our older brother. We are the fruits of God, born of God. I don't think God sits in Heaven and thinks that He might get sick. And if He is our source, we should not SPEAK EVIL BY SAYING THAT HE TEMPTS US. You know why are stressed this point. When the children of Israel came out of Egypt, Moses sent out spies to check out the land. Ten people came back with bad news. But Joshua and Caleb came with the better report. The scripture said that the ten people brought an EVIL REPORT: Can you believe that. When you bring report of unbelief, the Bible calls it AN EVIL REPORT;
Numbers 13:32:
"32And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature."

And because of that, THE WHOLE GENERATION WASN'T ALLOWED TO ENTER THE LAND OF PROMISE. Because of the words of their mouth. You see what words can do?