Dear One,

God bless you!

This weekend is our first FIRE HOUSE – EVERY COMMUNITY NEEDS ONE – CHURCH CONFERENCE in Laguna Woods, CA Friday night from 6pm to 10pm, and Saturday from 9am to 5pm.

You can join us live, or you can livestream the conference. Livestreamers can watch the videos for up to three weeks after the conference. You are going to want to see exactly what’s going on because house churches, small bodies of two or three or more, are a key part of the wave of the Spirit moving all over the world right now!

Use this link to register for live participation or for livestream: lightbearers-ministries.com/fhcc

Get ready to get blessed! See you there…

CHOOSE LIFE

I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live…

What does it mean to choose life? For the unsaved it is to choose to enter into a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ, without which there is no life. John said, He who has the Son has life, and he who does not have the Son does not have life (1Jn 5:12). The universal salvation heresy, which is the bitter fruit of Catholic purgatory doctrines which are nonbiblical, is a deception to keep the saved from making the sacrificial effort to reach out to the unsaved. For the unsaved, to choose the Son is to choose life!

…that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days… Deut 30:19-20 NKJV

How do the saved ones choose life? What’s at stake here is the manifestation of the promises of God, the more abundant life that Jesus came to make available. If Siri and GPS can lead us from point A to point B, then what about the Spirit of God leading us from where we are right now to the promises of God? Since I come from a business background, I always look at the bottom line, practical fruit, in all the things of God. I want results, not just good intentions.

…much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Rom 5:17 NKJV

My friend Dale called the other day! He was all excited about a key to helping people receive from God, which was the understanding of the receiving of the gift of righteousness. Now, I know God works in Dale, so when he suggests something, I heed it. I was going on a ministry trip to SoCal the next day…

Quite providentially the next day I found myself in a situation where we are trying to use art to prophesy over one another.  We have no idea what the other person needs but we are to draw something to prophesy into their lives. So, I’m paired with this woman, and I draw a picture of her receiving the gift of righteousness. When she shares about it, the Spirit of God hits her like a ton of bricks and she doubles over and collapses down. Its like that wherever I go on this trip when I share about receiving the gift of righteousness!

Do you want to know what it means to receive the gift of righteousness? It quite distinctly pertains to our subject as well.

Righteousness is your perfect standing of sinlessness before the Father. Jesus became the sin offering for us so that we could be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor.5:20). It manifests as His perfect acceptance of us in our new state as sons and daughters, that we become worthy of His goodness in spite of anything and everything in our past, including the current machinations of our flesh. He made us worthy, acceptable, lovely in His sight.

Now, we have to receive that gift!

…casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7 NKJV

If we don’t, we are like the little boy who says to his mother, Mom, I don’t deserve to eat the food you prepared for me tonight because last week I failed to brush my teeth on Thursday like you asked me. Mom says, Son, you are mine and no silly failure of yours can change that reality. I prepared the food for you because I love you. Now shush your mouth and eat!

We go hungry for the promises of God because we don’t receive the gift of righteousness.

…for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. Matt 17:20-21 NKJV

Now think about this…the gift of righteousness lays the foundation for us to believe for the impossible to come to pass. Why? Because we realize that nothing separates us from the Father and His love. Let your heart receive right now the gift of righteousness that you might enter into the limitless possibilities of God! Dare to imagine God doing exceeding abundantly above all that you can ask or think as you realize its all by grace, and He has made you worthy, acceptable and lovable.

Now, with that understanding, let’s go a little deeper in our understanding of how to choose life. Receiving the gift of righteousness positions us to receive revelation which is the practical crux of the ‘choose life’ principle. Revelation shows us how to receive the promises, and then it imparts faith to produce the miracle – the promise manifested.

How do you recognize revelation? Talking with my God is like talking with my wife.  We have spent so much time together that I know her voice instantly, and could pick it out of ten thousand voices. Do you see where we are going here? Let me say too that the Lord will speak to you in ways that are unique to you, and you should guard that relationship just like how you guard your relationship with a spouse.

As we choose life, lets choose how to live today.

The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to hear as the learned. Isa 50:4 NKJV

God speaks in the morning. You ought to take advantage of those moments and even hours before our carnal lives demand our attention. You can present your schedule to Him, and He can talk to you about each item on your schedule. He can add items, or show you how to cancel items that are not in your best interest. Like a father with a son, the Master seeks to shape our lives so that every day glorifies Him and blesses us to the greatest possible degree.

Make a check list of the things you want to ask and listen to God about the night before so that when morning comes, you are there ready to speak with Him and hear from Him. This practice may also precipitate dreams where God answers in the middle of the night. There is ridiculously bad teaching out there that says you never use your brain when you are led by the Spirit. Then what did He give us a brain for? To cause us to stumble? No! The simple reality is that you keep your brain thoughts subordinated to the thoughts and leadings of the Spirit. The mind is a good servant but a lousy master. You think things through the best you can and then you submit them to Him for refining, for confirmation or cancellation, for the anointing to succeed.

Choose life daily. You do this consistently, and you are going to be blessed amazingly. Love you!

Remember dear ones, we must be about our Father’s business…