The Latter Rain

The Latter Rain Outpouring of the End Time
By Abraham Israel

What does it mean by latter rain?

Rain in Palestine [i.e. present day nation of Israel and its surroundings] falls abundantly during the wet season, or from November to April, but during the dry season, April to November; it rarely rains. The first rain after the drought of summer is called the “former,” because it precedes the seed-time and prepares the earth for cultivation. The “latter” rain falls in April, just before harvest, and perfects the fruits of the earth (Hosea 6:3; Joel 2:23).

God has a set time for blessing mankind with rain. He has set due season to pour it out because our God is a God of order (Luke 1:8; Heb 5:10; 2 Chronicles 8:14; Acts 13:22; 1 Cor 14:33). In the Bible God Himself has promised, “14 …I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.” (Deut 11:14). Here in the preceding verse we see that God has a set time and season for His pouring out His rain [i.e. the greater measure of His Spirit]. He sends his rain so that we may gather our harvest in its time. As a result of rain we can expect three things in the natural, (1) grain, (2) new wine and (3) oil. In the same way because of the outpouring of the latter rain in our generation we can expect three things to happen in the spiritual realm,

(1) We will receive our grain (revelation of the word) – “the seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11). The word of God will be quickened and made effective through the power of the Spirit and thus all manmade traditions will be broken (Mark 7:13). As we see even in the Pentecostal former rain outpouring, “…the word of God grew and multiplied.” (Acts 12:24) and again years later the result of Paul’s apostolic ministry was the same as the Bible says, “…the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.” (Acts19:20). The result of the latter rain outpouring in our generation will also have the same effect during which the word of God will grow mightily and prevail. During the latter rain outpouring the power of the word of the Lord will be manifested through the Church as God says in Isaiah 55:10-11, “ 10 “ For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, 11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” ” What a promise to hold on during the time of the latter rain outpouring of this end time generation!

(2) We will receive our new wine – new ways of the manifestation and filling of the Spirit over the whole congregation (Eph 5:17-21; Acts 2:11-13; 10:44-48). This wine will make the saints to be glad and joyful during the whole season of harvest (Ps 104:15; 4:7). This new wine will burst out of our innermost being (Job 32:19). Receiving the new wine of the Spirit is just one indication that we are starting to reap the harvest that has been set forth by God (Prov 3:10). We should carry this new wine in to the house of God and not forsake it (Neh 10:39; 13:5, 12). The “new wine is found in cluster” (Is 65:8). What does it mean? It means that only a united force of God’s people can carry this mighty joy and gladness of the latter rain outpouring and sustain in it. It also means that the ‘fruit of the Spirit’ when manifested through us as a cluster will help us receive the new wine in greater measure. When we are filled with wine our whole body will be under its influence strongly and it will control our very body moments, words and thinking, in the same way when we too are under the influence of the Holy Spirit we will be controlled by Him fully even to our very body moments, words, thinking and behavior. So only the people mistook the apostles bold and unrestrained behavior through the Holy Spirit to be as though it was a drunken behavior (Acts 2:13). The prophet Jeremiah himself who experienced such things even during Old Testament times spoke about such Spirit-drunkenness by saying “My heart within me is broken ….; All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of the LORD, and because of His holy words.” (Jeremiah 23:9). Boldness will always be an after effect of those who are drunk with wine. During the Pentecostal former rain outpouring in the first century, many experienced such great boldness as a result of Spirit drunkenness, even those who watched them confessed this peculiar characteristics of the apostolic company (Acts 2:13; 4:13,29-31; 6:10). This great boldness and Spirit drunkenness will again be manifested in a greater measure during this latter rain outpouring in our generation. This boldness will make the end time Apostolic Church to boldly declare the word of God with signs, wonders and miracles accompanying the message. Only this peculiar attribute of the end time Apostolic Church will make “the gospel of the kingdom” to be preached in the entire world as a witness to all nations because during this time lawlessness will abound (Matt 24:12, 14). Then will the end come [i.e. Seven year period of Antichrist and his one world government (Dan 9:27)].

(3) We will receive our oil – oil is the anointing to minister through the ability of God. Receiving our quota of oil will make us invincible against the works of the devil. This anointing also will have an effect of gladness rubbing our body, soul and spirit through it (Heb 1:9; Luke 4:18-19; Acts 10:38). This oil will literally make the faces of people who will receive it in great measure to shine like a face of an angel. During the Pentecostal former rain outpouring of the 1^st century, this oil made the face of Stephen to shine forth like the face of an angel (Acts 6:15). Even Moses’ face shone in the Old Testament because this glory anointing-oil got rubbed over him as he literally lived in the presence of God (Exodus 34:29-35). Apostle Paul challenged the 1^st century Apostolic Church asking this question to the make them ponder the infinite superiority of the present dispensation of the Holy Spirit’s personal ministry, “7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?” (2 Cor 3:7-8). Surely the latter rain outpouring will manifest with a very strong glory anointing-oil to make the face of those who will minister through the Spirit to literally shine in our end time generation (Ps 104:15). This glory anointing-oil over a person will also bring a strong bond of unity to come upon the whole congregation of people (Ps 133:1-3). So only the end time Apostolic Church will succeed in being a witness to the entire world because of this unique glory anointing-oil working through the ministers and the congregation bringing a strong bond of unity which will make the world know that these people are true disciples of Jesus Christ (John 17:20-22; Matt 24:12-14).

Once the latter rain starts, we will all receive the quota of all of the above according to our thirst after the righteousness of God (Matt 5:6; Luke 6:21). Using the metaphor of rain, God has often during the time of Old Testament promised through different prophets that He has planned a set-time to pour out His Spirit on all men of the earth (Isaiah 44:3-5; Joel 2:28-32). This also gives us the clear idea that God was already pouring out His Spirit on selected people [i.e. nation of Israel] but not on all flesh. These times of outpouring of God’s Spirit upon all flesh irrespective of their nationality, race, tribe, tongue, color, social status and culture only started during the day of Pentecost after Jesus ascended to the right hand of power (Mark 14:61-62; John 7:37-39; Acts 1:4-8). When Jesus told all His apostles to wait till the day of Pentecost for the outpouring of the Spirit to be received by them (Luke 24:49), they implicitly obeyed and “…all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication…”(Acts 1:14).

Let us see what happened further, “1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. 2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one [i.e. the Holy Spirit] sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” (Acts 2:1-4).

We see here in the above verse, when the Holy Spirit fills either an inanimate structure like a upper room or a physical body, always there will be a evidence of manifestation through the supernatural origin of sound from heaven [i.e. “…as of a rushing mighty wind…” or “…speaking with other tongues…”, etc..]. This is the first time after all men have forever fallen short of the glory of God because of First Adam’s transgression, the Last Adam [i.e. Jesus Christ] restored the breach that man made because of his lack of submission and disobedience to his Creator God (Rom 3:23; 5:12,19). Jesus regained the rights to receive the Spirit as a perfect Man and a Mediator between God and men (1 Tim 2:5). Because of His love toward every one of us, He started to pour out His Spirit on all flesh from the point of Pentecost onwards (Matt 3:11; Acts 1:4-5,8; 2:1-4).

Notice the reaction of the people to the occurrence of the sound from heaven as the Bible says, “5 And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. 6 And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard them speak in his own language. 7 Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? 9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” 12 So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?” 13 Others mocking said, “They are full of new wine.” (Acts 2:5-13). We see this magnificent scenario of the opening ceremony of the Pentecostal former rain outpouring. The apostles did not go from door to door and house to house inviting people to come and attend the outpouring opening meeting. Many of the disciples and apostles were afraid before this occurrence of sound from heaven. But after the Holy Spirit released a “sound from heaven” as a battle cry of trumpet sound before the war legally and spiritually started against the kingdom of darkness in this earth (1 Cor 14:8), He symbolically came upon each one individually [Acts 2:3 => Cross ref: Acts 1:8, here fire is a symbol of the person and ability of the Holy Spirit (Matt 3:11; Deu 4:24; 9:3; Heb 12:29)] and subsequently filled all of them with Himself, thus they became bold and ready to be a witness to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8). Even if they would have tried to organize such a big meeting because of their fleshly zeal, they would have utterly failed due to opposition and persecution against them. This is purely a supernatural invitation from heaven that went forth to all the people of the world who dwelt in Jerusalem for the festive occasion, devout men, from every nation under heaven. The invitation came to them as a blast of super natural “sound from heaven”. This is a sign from heaven. Think about it, if such invitation came to the people directly from heaven for the opening ceremony of the spectacular former rain outpouring. How much more such signs will happen in our generation to gather the people of the world to receive the latter rain outpouring of the end time, which will open up with a greater intensity of audible sound from heaven. The latter glory will always be greater than the former (Hag 2:9; John 2:10-11), according to this truth there will be greater supernatural occurrences and invitation of heaven through “sound from heaven” during this latter rain outpouring. Such signs will only gather the people of the world in our generation to hear the message of the gospel with amazement and perplexed excitement. In other words, heaven will align itself with the end time Church to proclaim the “gospel of the kingdom” with power during this latter rain outpouring, which will be greater in result, intensity and manifestations than the former rain of the first century.

The “former rain,” first falls after the drought of summer [i.e. the dry season, April to November during which it rarely rains] to precede the seed-time and prepare the earth for cultivation. After four hundred years of dark ages where there was hardly any manifestation of His Spirit through the prophets before John the Baptist and Jesus came, the former rain on the day of Pentecost was the first rain that started to precede before the apostolic seed sowing time and harvest. So also the latter rain will precede the end-time apostolic seed sowing and harvest at the end of the age.

The people who understood the apostolic upper room disciple’s language of tongues were all amazed and those who did not understand their supernatural language were mockingly perplexed. Apostle Peter stood out to explain this phenomenon because the Spirit must have brought in to remembrance the prophecies that Jesus must have taught from the Old Testament Book of Joel during his ministry time before His ascension (John 14:26; Acts 1:3). Here see what the Apostle Peter said to these people, “14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. 15 For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16 But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

17 ‘ And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.
18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
And they shall prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in heaven above
And signs in the earth beneath:
Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.
21 And it shall come to pass
That whoever calls on the name of the LORD
Shall be saved.’ ”” (Acts 2:14-21).

So according to this prophecy, the last days out pouring which started with the day of Pentecost, will be over only at the exact time Jesus will appear at “…the great and awesome day of the Lord…” to judge the nations and rule the earth with a rod of iron (Ps 2:9; Rev 2:27; 12:5; 19:15). Jesus exactly pointed that “29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Matt 24:29-30). Comparing the verses in Acts 2:20 and Matt 24:29 we see that this outpouring of the Holy Spirit will continue during the tribulation of the end time even up to the second coming (Zech 12:10). This is the reason this prophecy’s promise of outpouring of God’s Spirit comes with an open invitation of “…whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved….”. What does this really mean to us in this generation? It means just as thousands of souls were added to the church in a single day, and many more thousands in the successive days, months and years during the ‘former rain’ season of Pentecost, so will be during the ‘latter rain’ season of end time. But in greater intensity like never before seen or heard (Acts 2:41,47; 4:4). According to the natural meaning of ‘latter rain’, it will be the best outpouring of the whole seasons of the entire set time [i.e. year] so that it will perfect the fruit of the earth for the harvest. Just as in the natural, “latter” rain falls in April [i.e. In the wet season rain will fall abundantly- from November to April], just before harvest, and perfects the fruits of the earth, so also in the spiritual realm the latter rain outpouring will fall over all the field of the world and perfect the Church for rapture and then the second coming (Matthew 13:38-39). The believer’s are the one who are considered spiritually as having the first-fruits of the Spirit [i.e. in various level and order], hence they will be harvested at the time of rapture [i.e. Christ the firstfruits] and then the second coming [i.e. those who are Christ's] (Rom 8:23; 1 Cor 15:20,23). These will be the results of such latter rain outpouring as described in the Bible, when “ 26…He [i.e. Jesus Christ] will (might) sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” (Eph 5:26-27) so that “…we all [i.e. the Church] (will) come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;” (Eph 4:13). This is the Church that will be raptured when Christ will come for salvation apart from sin (Heb 9:28; 1 Thess 4:16-17). This is also the Church that will declare the gospel with apostolic authority followed by signs, wonders and miracles (Mark 16:15-18, 20; Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8; 2:5, 41). Jesus prophetically described the activity of this apostolic Church by saying, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the entire world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” (Matt 24:14). The main theme of this end time apostolic Church will be the “gospel of the kingdom”. This message of the kingdom will be the core emphasis of the glorious church. This proclamation of the “gospel of the kingdom” will be done by the glorious church during the summer harvest time which has been in sight, as the nation of Israel symbolically represented by a fig tree have started to come in to existence and become strong (Matt 24:32-35). Now that the nation of Israel has already become strong, I believe that we are in the verge of the mighty outpouring of the latter rain. But the secret to bringing this latter rain in to existence is in our hands because God has exhorted this Church of the end time to “Ask the LORD for rain in the time of the latter rain. The LORD will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field for everyone.” (Zech 10:1). If only we will ask and persistently keep on asking the Lord to send the latter rain by standing on His promise, surely we will begin to see the mighty manifestations of the latter rain in our generation! Praise the Lord!

It is true that God is the one who starts and supplies the latter rain as the Bible says in Jer 5:24, “They do not say in their heart, “Let us now fear the LORD our God, Who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.” At the same time He expects us to cooperate with Him to bring the latter rain of promise. The Bible says “…with God all things are possible” (Matt 19:26). This preceding verse shows that a man in partnership with God is a majority in this world because he can do all things with God in His infinite possibility zone. In other words it means, God will never do anything on earth unless a man participates in the divine endeavour to fullfill His eternal purposes (Ezekiel 22:30-31). Prayer is partnering with God and giving permission to the Lord to fullfill His purpose and promises, so that mankind as a whole can receive the goodness and favour of God, instead of judgment and wrath of God which we all legally deserve (Matt 6:10). Fear of the Lord will play an important role in ushering the latter rain outpouring as we have seen in Jer 5:24 above. The Church should pray for the mantle of the fear of the Lord to rest upon it in order to receive in the fullness of the latter rain outpouring (Isaiah 11:2). “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate (Prov8:13)”. The Church should start to delight in the fear of the Lord and should not judge one another by the sight of our natural eyes and decide by the hearing of the natural ears, but with righteousness [i.e. Lord our righteousness (Jer 23:6)] we should judge the poor [i.e. poor in spirit (Matt 5:3)] and decide with equity for the meek of the earth (Isaiah 11:3). O Church arise with zeal for the fear of the Lord! Thunder it from all the pulpits of the world and live in the mantle of the fear of the Lord! This is what is needed more than anything in our generation to reach the world through the King’s favor of the latter rain.

Spiritual harlotries with the world and its material pursuit have depleted the power of the latter rain that has been prepared for the Church in our generation. See what the Lord says, “1 “They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him and becomes another man’s, may he return to her again?’ Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; yet return to Me,” says the LORD. 2 “Lift up your eyes to the desolate heights and see: Where have you not lain with men? By the road you have sat for them like an Arabian in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your harlotries and your wickedness. 3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain. You have had a harlot’s forehead; you refuse to be ashamed. 4 Will you not from this time cry to Me , ‘My Father, You are the guide of my youth?” (Jer 3:1-4). See in the preceding verses, how God the Father’s heart is longing to pour out the latter rain, which has been withheld due to spiritual harlotry. Crying out to the Father as our only guide of our youthful generation, and persistently depending on Him for day to day guidance by asking Him for more of His Spirit will only bring the latter rain showers to be poured out in our generation (Luke 11:9-13). So only the apostle John specifically spoke to last hour Church saying, “15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15-17). The Church should move beyond mediocrity into sublime way of living in the love of the Father and in the mantle of the fear of the Lord (Deut 6:5; 11:22-26; Ps 31:23; 97:10; 116:1; Matt 22:36-40). Loving righteousness and hating lawlessness are the two sides of the same coin (Heb 1:9). Only the Lord can teach such fear of the Lord, it cannot be produced by man made efforts (Ps 34:11). When the fear of the Lord rests upon the Church and they desire to walk in it, then will the end time apostolic Church be greatly multiplied through the latter rain out pouring (2 Chronicles 19:7, 9; Acts 9:31). The fear of the Lord is actually a treasure which is resting upon the Church, it should be zealously preserved from the thieves and enemies of the Lord (Is 33:6). This is the message which will usher in the latter rain outpouring before the end time and will sustain it till the end of the harvest season even up to the rapture of the Church. How do we know that John the apostle spoke this message to the last hour Church which is the terminal generation in which we are presently living? Because He said in the succeeding verse, “18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming [When? At the end time terminal generation], even now many antichrists [i.e. many who claim, suggest and pretend as an original to the teaching and living of Christ the anointed one] have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.” (1 John 2:18). The Lord will allow the antichrists and the Antichrist to do sign and wonder to test you whether you love the lord and will depart from the evil of harlotries and religious fantasies (Deut 13:1-4). The evidence that we are on the verge of the beginning of end time today more than ever before is the steep increase in the antichrists like never before seen or heard, thus the great expectation of the world for that single person [i.e. Antichrist] to restore and prosper the world system of governance with the message of “Peace and safety!” (1 Thess 5:3; Matt 24:4-5).

After the rapture takes place the winter season will creep in as Jesus has prophesied saying, “18 And pray that your flight may not be in winter. 19 For in those days there will be tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be.” (Mark 13:18-19). Will the outpouring stop during tribulation? By no means, check out this promise that God has given to the Church, “23 Be glad then, you children of Zion [i.e. the Church (Heb 12:22-24)], and rejoice in the LORD your God; For He has given you the former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you— The former rain, and the latter rain in the first month” (Joel 2:23). Here we should notice that God has told in the preceding verse that “He has [already] given you the former rain faithfully…”. If we ask the question when? It is right at the time of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-21). Next the promise continues saying “…He will cause the rain to come…” If we ask the question when? The answer continues “…The former rain, and the latter rain in the first month”. The first month will be the seasonal starting point of the rain that will continue till the harvest gets fully over at the end of the summer season. The harvest will always come to fruition in the summer season (Gen 8:22; Prov 6:8; 10:5; 26:1; Is 16:9; Jer 8:20). So only Jesus prophesied and exhorted that when we notice the nation of Israel get restored and revived along with other nations around it, we should remember that the latter rain will already be starting to increase and move toward its zenith for the end time fruition harvest of the summer season (Matt 24:32-35; Luke 21:29-33) [Note: God has described the nation of Israel as the land of fig trees (Deut 8:8). Israel is symbolically represented in the scripture as a fig tree (Hosea 9:10; Jer 24:3, 5, 8; Joel 1:6, 12; 1 Kings 4:25). Other nations such as Babylon [i.e. present day Iraq] and other nations around Israel has been metaphorically shown and symbolically been called by God as tree in various places (Dan 4; Judges 9:7-21; 1 Kings 4:33)]. In the Bible Job says, “They [i.e. people who wanted to meet Job] waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouth wide as for the spring [i.e. latter] rain.” (Job 29:23). The above verse shows that we need to wait with expectation in prayer and supplication to receive the spring time latter rain. When it comes and is poured forth, we need to open our mouth and God will fill it as he has promised in Psa 81:10, “…Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it.” As the Bible says the latter rain will start with spring time [i.e. rebirth, revival and restoration of the strength of the nation of Israel] (Matt 24:32).

At the end time outpouring, both the former and the latter rain will together come as a package [i.e. one after the other]. As the latter rain [i.e. spring rain] pours out in full force and gets over with the summer harvest, so will be the latter rain outpouring of God’s Spirit (Matt 24:32). It will come out in full force till the end of harvest before rapture [which is the end of summer season and starting of autumn season] takes place, after the rapture takes place the former rain [i.e. autumn rain] will start and continue till the time of tribulation [which is the winter season] gets over before Jesus comes back the second time to this planet earth. According to the seasons of life, summer and winter will come together all the time. So also will be at the time of outpouring of God’s Spirit during the summer and winter season of the end time (Gen 8:22). This shows that the outpouring will continue in a lesser intensity than before rapture, during the tribulation time of the end.

Thus these whole times of manifestation of the Spirit and the outpouring which God has planned for humanity started on the day of Pentecost and will only end at the Second Coming of Jesus to this earth when He will defeat Anti-christ and his evil armies exactly in the final war of Armageddon (Rev 16:16; 14:19; 19:15, 19-21; Joel 3:2). The Lord calls this final war with the description of a harvest day in Joel 3:12-14, “12 “ Let the nations be wakened, and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat [i.e. the place where the battle of Armageddon will take place]; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. 13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, go down; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow— for their wickedness is great.” 14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.” The preceding verse in Joel 3:14 says that “the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision”. In other words it says that the day of rapture and the day of the second coming is based on the valley of decision, which is the former and the latter rain through the season of summer and winter in which billions of souls will take a firm decision either to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and Messiah or reject Him forever to be doomed with Anti-christ and Satan.

God the Father who is the real vinedresser is waiting for the fruit to appear in the earth through the latter rain outpouring (John 15:1-2, . How do we know for sure? Because the Apostle James said, “7 Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain.” (James 5:7). In the above verse, we see a set time that God has set in for both the ‘early rain of Pentecost’ and the ‘latter rain before the end [i.e. starts much before the peace accord that Anti-christ will make with the nation of Israel and will end before the rapture]’. God the Father Himself symbolically as a spiritual farmer of the world is waiting to pour out the latter rain so that the fruit of the Spirit can be seen in full fruition harvest at the time of the end, before the coming of Jesus to rapture the Church. This time of the latter rain outpouring will be a time of great favor for the whole church as the Bible says, “In the light of the king’s face is life, and his favor is like a cloud of the latter rain.” (Prov 16:15). The Church will not have to strive to bring in the harvest that God has set before us in this generation, but through God’s favor of His latter rain, souls in billions will be harvested through the power of the Spirit of God (Rom 15:18-20). Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

Israel as a nation will miss both the latter rain out pouring before the rapture takes place and also the former rain that will come during the tribulation of those days of Antichrist, except for a small minority of Messianic-Jews who will believe and receive Jesus Christ as their Savior and Messiah. Finally after the tribulation of end time will be over (Matt 24:29-30), these Jews will realize their folly of rejecting their Messiah Jesus Christ, then they will seek after Him by saying among themselves, “ 1 Come, and let us return to the LORD; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. 2 After two days He will revive us [i.e. revival of Messianic Jews]; On the third day He will raise us up [i.e. resurrection of the nation of Israel will happen when the millennium starts with the Jewish people mourning and repenting for rejecting Jesus during the first coming and receiving Antichrist as their messiah during the peace accord of seven years (Zech 12:10-11; John 5:43)], that we may live in His sight. 3 Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth.” (Hosea 6:1-3). Finally as the Jews realize their folly of rejecting Jesus as their Messiah, by then they will look behind them to the “latter and former rain” as their only reference point of the outpouring that revealed Jesus as the Messiah. The latter rain that got finished before the rapture and the former rain that got over after the end of tribulation must have surely revealed the might of the Lord Jesus as the Messiah of the whole world, so only these Jews because of the opening of their spiritual eyes look behind them to the “…latter rain and [then] the former rain…” out pouring as a testimony to God’s faithfulness to rescue them and build them in the future.

Just like in the natural sphere, in the spiritual God has set a time for harvest of souls at the end of the age. As Jesus Himself pointed out in the parable of the tares that “39….the harvest is the end of the age [i.e. this age is the present times of the Gentiles which started with Egypt and ends at the time of the reign of Anti-christ (Luke 21:24)], and the reapers are the angels. 40….as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 The Son of Man [i.e. Jesus the Christ] will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (Matt 13:39-43). The end of age will be a very short time period in which the kingdoms of this world which are under the strong satanic influence will reach its zenith and will forever be destroyed by Jesus Christ who will establish the kingdom of God on earth forever. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

 

 

praying for your kids salvation

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Is praying for your kids salvation a waste of time,

 since God doesn’t “force” His will on anyone?

By Abraham Israel

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It is true that God never forces His will over anybody, not even the kids. At the same time kids are put under the mentorship of the parents. In other words, God expects the parent to train the children up with the help of God (Duet 11:19; 32:46). This is the reason the Bible says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Prov 22:6). Training a child includes, teaching the child to pray, read the Bible, correct them when they do wrong, etc… it also includes praying for the little child to God who has put the parent as a trainer over the kids life. This is the reason God has given instruction for the parents to not provoke their children to wrath (Eph 6:4). Say a parent was upset a particular day, the child comes as usual naggingly for a simple thing. Suddenly the parent blows off and the child gets hurt. If this saga continues perpetually, how will the child be trained in a godly way for it to be saved? Here in this situation what does God expect? He expects the parent to pray toward Him for grace and wisdom to deal with the situation, instead of being reactive without prayer (James 1:5). The bottom line is, does God require the parent to pray for their children? Of course as we have seen above it is absolutely necessary.“But thus says the LORD:

“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away,
And the prey of the terrible be delivered;
For I will contend with him who contends with you,
And I will save your children.” (Is 49:25). 

“Arise, cry out in the night,

At the beginning of the watches;

Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord.

Lift your hands toward Him

For the life of your young children,

Who faint from hunger at the head of every street.” (Lamentations 2:19).

“The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,

To the soul who seeks Him.

It is good that one should hope and wait quietly

For the salvation of the LORD.” (Lamentations 3:25-26).

5) If a parent walks in the fear of the Lord, it will have a direct blessing upon their children (Proverbs 20:7; Ps 132:12; 103:17). When a child grows up to become an adult their parents will be the greatest role-model in their life to follow. Let the parent be an example to pray for their children, so that the children after they become adults will pray for their children and for their parents too. It is a blessing that will continue for generations down the line (Is 59:21; Zech 12:1). See here what Apostle Paul spoke about Timothy whose mother and grandmother were strong in faith, “…when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.” (2 Tim 1:5). Actually the faith that was in the grandmother got imparted in to her daughter and then in to her grandson. They both must have prayed much for the little Timothy when he was growing up, that he finally became an Apostle trained under one of the the greatest apostolic father of all time who is Apostle Paul himself. O what a privilege! Praise the Lord! 

 

6) If God really does not intervene in to the lives of His children’s, who will? He has the legal rights to correct them [i.e. our children] because they are called by His name and has been bought by shedding His very own precious blood as an blessed exchange for covering and cleansing of all their sins (Dan 9:19; 2 Chronicles 7:14; 1 Cor 6:20; 7:23). See what God says in Amos 3:1-2, “1 Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying: 2 ” You only have I known of all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” The New Testament also confirms this by saying, ” 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: ” My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.” 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.” (Heb 12:5-8). When we as a parent have dedicated our children’s in to the hands of God, they become His property. From that point of time God will intervene, teach them and correct them with chastening whenever they rebel and do things outside our parental zone of visibility.

7) If God does not really intervene in to the lives of our children, why did Jacob by faith prophesied accurately about the future of each of his sons before his death (Gen 49:1-33; Heb 11:21). It was a prayer of faith that he prayed to God telling Him about the plans that He had for the sons of Jacob in the future. God does have a plan for each one of our children individually. So by faith take it from the realm of the Spirit and then pray to God and decree it over the lives of each of your children individually. Surely God is pleased with such prayer of faith and will bring your children in to their individual prophetic destinies. This is what God says to you regarding the destinies that He has individually prepared for your children, “Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: “Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons; and concerning the work of My hands, you command Me.” ” (Isaiah 45:11). In other words God is saying, ‘Ask me about the plans that I have for My sons [i.e. your children] and you remind Me by speaking over them by faith.’ O what a privilege! Praise the Lord!

“Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
In the very heart of your house,
Your children [shall be]

like olive plants
All around your table.” (Ps 128:3).

1) The first reason we should pray for our children is, God’s promise of salvation comes as a package for the whole family unit. It does not separate the children as separate entities. Say for example, when the Philippian Jailer asked Paul, “What must I do to be saved?”, Apostle Paul said, “….Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:31). What does it mean? It means that when a Father of a house or a Mother of a house gets saved, God gets his spiritual hold over other members of the family too (1 Cor 7:14). They are the legal authority gateways that God has set forth in the natural physical realm through which either God or the Devil can have influence inside the family. The Father and Mother is like a shepherd over the sheep who are their children. So only Jesus said to His disciples ” ….All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘ I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ (Matt 26:31). The same Jesus as a faithful shepherd prayed for his weak apostolic sheep Peter and thus he was saved and became a great apostolic rock because his faith did not fail during the crisis (Luke 22:31-32). If the Father or Mother fails to pray, the whole family unit gets affected.

2) God expects the Fathers and Mothers to pray for their children so that He can answer their prayer work at the right appointed time. Prayer is a hard work that brings invaluable reward. God promised to restore the children of Israel in the future because Rachel as a mother wept for them,“A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children…..refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, says the LORD, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope in your future, says the LORD, That your children shall come back to their own border.” (Jer 31:15-17). What a wonderful promise to hold on for our children! Praise the Lord.

3) When a child goes astray, their parent’s will always get troubled. If you as a parent have already thanked God and prayed every day for the child’s well-being, when the trouble comes in that’s when God will step in to deliver your children from calamity at the moment you call Him. This promise can be claimed by any parent who has actively prayed with thanks giving for their children in advance. The Bible says, “Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High [Note: In advance].Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” (Ps 50:14-15). The main meaning of the word ’saved’ is ‘to get delivered from evil’. In this way our children will be delivered from evil if we by faith pray and thank God in advance which is equal to ‘paying our vows (promises)’ [i.e. promising to return the glory to God through your continuous thanksgiving]. If we as a parent do not fulfill the precondition, we will not see the promise of God’s deliverance that gets activated only for those who have taken the ‘vows of thanksgiving’ upon themselves.

4) The next reason we should pray the promises of God for our children is because God says in His word, “Put Me in remembrance; Let us contend together; State your case, that you may be acquitted [i.e. Justified]” (Is 43:26). The word ‘remembrance’ in Hebrew is ‘zakar’ which means ‘1) to remember, recall, call to mind a) (Qal) to remember, recall b) (Niphal) to be brought to remembrance, be remembered, be thought of, be brought to mind c) (Hiphil) 1) to cause to remember, remind 2) to cause to be remembered, keep in remembrance 3) to mention 4) to record 5) to make a memorial, make remembrance’. This reminds us that we are indeed building up a memorial [i.e. a visible structure to cause God to act on our behalf] before God by mentioning His promises which He has made regarding our children. When we spend time with God stating the case of our children through the promises of God, God then justifies them and brings them under His guidance and protection supernaturally. The following promises stand true for your children, so substitute your child’s name in it and pray to God.

“All your children shall be taught by the LORD,
And great shall be the peace of your children.” (Isaiah 54:13).

Fruit or Gifts – Part 2

Fruit or Gifts, which is more important? 

– Part 2

By Abraham Israel

To read more of my articles please visit :  www.apostolicrevelation.blogspot.com

As we have come to understand that the development of the fruit [God-kind of character] is more important than to just excel in the gifts that God has given to every one of us. We must also understand that the gifts of God should be active in our lives perpetually in order for us to be prosperous in every area of our lives. As the Bible says in Proverbs 18:16, “A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.” At the same time the Bible also says, “He who loves purity of heart and has grace on his lips, the king will be his friend.” (Prov 22:11). In other words, your gift will take you to a place of honor where only your love for the purity of heart can keep you in that elevated place. As Jesus Himself said in Matt 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Only experiencing the character and activity of God’s goodness, His nearness and the consciousness of His perfect destiny-purpose will keep a person with a passion for the purity of heart in this impure world. A person who loves purity of heart [i.e. development of God-kind of character in his life] will be positioned by God to be a leader and positive influence to the people in authority and governance (Genesis 39:9-10; 41:37-44; Dan 1:8-9,17,19-21; 2:45-49). Apostle Paul who was one of the greatest gifted person to live in the kingdom of God said to the Corinthian churches, “1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: 2 You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led…4 There are diversities of gifts [1 Cor 12:8-11], but the same Spirit [i.e. the Holy Spirit]. 5 There are differences of ministries [Eph 4:11], but the same Lord [i.e. the Lord Jesus Christ]. 6 And there are diversities of activities [Rom 12:3-8], but it is the same God [i.e. God the Father] who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:” (1 Cor 12:1-2,4-7). Ignorance will make the gift present within us to be dormant and will make us to be unproductive in all our ways. Next Apostle Paul was reminding the believer’s how they were powerless to oppose and act against evil spirits influence in the past but now Jesus as the Master over their lives, has given each one a particular manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all. When the Body of Christ comes together to minister to one another in unity, there will be no lack but only prosperity in the Body of Christ. It is up to us individually to strongly, earnestly and consistently desire after His spiritual gifts (1 Cor 12:31). There are no gifts less person in the Body of Christ because as Paul reminds us “the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one”. When the Spirit manifests all the above gifts, the Church will be the most successful, prosperous, beneficial and the most profitable to all its members. So the activity of all the gifts of the Spirit should be stirred up in each church individually in order for it to be relevant and profitable in its activity.

Without the gifts of God in our lives we cannot do much of all that we are called to do for in the kingdom of God. Without the fruit of God in our lives, God will not do much of all that he has promised to us in our lives. If God empowers a person with the gifts of the Spirit who has no desire to grow in the fruit of the Spirit, he will soulishly desire to bring glory to himself and not to God who has given him the gifts (Isaiah 42:8; John 17:22; 15:7-8). This is the main reason Apostle Paul advised the Corinthian church to “Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts…” (1 Cor 14:1). Here we see Apostle Paul exhorts in the above verse, Love should be the first and foremost fruit of the Spirit which should be pursued in our lives and then we should desire to strongly excel in spiritual gifts (Galatians 5:22-23). So the first priority in every believer’s life should be to develop oneself in fruit of the Spirit and then to excel in the gifts. Both fruit and gifts are equally needed in order to bring the full plan of God for your life to fruition. The following truth is one of the most important differences between fruit and gifts. Fruit can grow only as we earnestly surrender our own will to God and strongly desire for God’s will to be fulfilled in our lives. Producing the fruit of the Spirit takes a certain period of time in every seasons of life as we work in tandem cooperation with the Spirit of God day in and day out. Fruits are developed. God-kind of character will begin to come out of our lives as we start to do good by opposing evil consciously every time a trial, temptation or tribulation comes our way (Rom 5:1-5). Gifts can be acquired when we are boiling inside us with zeal to pray, receive, learn and use it with humility and love for the profit of all (1 Cor 14:13, 31, 12, 37). Gifts are more like a onetime transaction that comes to us through laying on of the hands and various other ways according to the call of God in one’s life (1 Tim 4:14; 5:22; 2 Tim 1:6; Deut 34:9; 1 Kings 3:5-15). Gifts are imparted. Those who operate with the spiritual gifts should do in a more excellent way of love towards others or else the gifts will profit others, but it will not profit those who use it and they will have no satisfaction in operating in the gifts (1 Cor 12:31; 13:1-3). Just operating in the gifts and manifesting the Spirit without the fruit of the Spirit is very dangerous because it will surely profit others as you operate in the gifts that God has invested in you individually but on the other hand it cannot profit your own Soul and will not bring you in favor [i.e. salvation from all evil] with the Lord especially if you are personally practicing lawlessness and living in sin (1 Cor 12:7; 13:3; Matt 16:26; 7:23). Your gifts will neither give you the power to live righteously, nor will it give you the rights to enter in to the eternal life of bliss which is given as a gift based on one’s living-faith relationship with Jesus (Matt 7:21-23; James 2:26).

A person may be very gifted in variety of areas to influence others, yet if he is not exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit [i.e. God-kind of character] consistently in his life, he may not be of much use to God. A person who does not exhibit the God-kind of character in his life will not bring glory to God with the gifts that He has given to glorify Him (John 14:13; 15:7-8; 5:41; 7:18; 1 Cor 1:31). Only when you are in Him and He is in you, you can truly glory in the Lord (John 17:22-23). Those who live their life in the glory-realm of God and speak the word of God can only truly give back the glory to God because the source of their words will have their beginning from the Holy Spirit of God who will release it through their spirit-man. Any words that have their source from the soulish realm of any man will always seek his own glory (John 7:18). Always the spirit of man is God conscious, the soul is self conscious and the physical body of every man is world conscious. God desires every man to live in the glory-realm [i.e. weightiness, consciousness and nearness of God’s tangible presence] of the Spirit of God through their inner spirit man, thus making the spirit man to strongly rule over their soul and body. This is original God’s order for man to live the God-life in this planet earth.

We see in Matt 7:21-23, Jesus said, “21 Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day [the great white throne day of judgment (Rev 20:11-15; 5:24-30)], ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”. If we ask the question, were these men genuine men of God and if so how could they give prophesy, drive demons, and do many miraculous deeds and finally end up with the unbelievers in the white throne judgment? The answer is yes but at one time in their lives past or else they could have never been able to operate with the power of God using the name of Jesus (Mark 9:39). Only delegates sent by God and called by Him through believing in the name of Jesus can operate with such power. When God gifts a person He will not immediately take back the gifts that He has given even if that servant of God uses it wrongly with a motive other than for the sole glory of God. The scripture also agrees saying, “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” (Rom 11:29). Instead of judging people immediately, He will either meet them at the marriage feast of the lamb or at the judgment of nations at the beginning of the millennium rule on earth during which He will reward those who have worked for Him and bore good fruit in various degrees (Rev 19:6-9; Matt 25:31-46; 13:36-43; 13:23; 10:40-42). For those who will work for Him with wrong motives and continue in lawlessness which is practicing sin, these He will meet only at the white throne judgment (Phil 1:15-16,18; 1 John 3:4, 6, 8-10). At the same time slowly and surely He will withdraw His precious anointing from that person who continues to sin without repentance perpetually, thus crucifying again for himself the Son of God and putting Him to open shame (1 Samuel 16:13-14; Judges 16:20; Psalm 51:11; Heb 6:4-8; 10:26-31). God will wait for that person to repent for a long period of time which only He will know, if those servants who are called by God still reject the voice of God continuously, there is only a very faint hope for them to be saved from eternal destruction (2 Peter 3:9; 1 Tim 2:3-4; Heb 6:4-8; 2 Peter 2:9-10, 12-17, 20-22; Matt 24:45-51).
As discussed previously, we see in Matt 7:21-23 that those who operated powerfully in the miraculous realm were standing in the final white throne judgment and were trying to justify themselves and asking for a passage in to the kingdom of heaven [i.e. a inter-connected new heaven and a new earth under the ruler ship of God the Father (Rev 21-22; 1 Cor 15:24-28)]. These people have got deceived by rejecting the voice and the word of God (Matt 7:24-29). Because of denying the Lord and His transforming power, these have got settled in to a religious work-mode where they have started to believe that because they were doing the work of God and experience the anointing of God over their lives, God will not judge them for their wrong doing because of the grace of God over their lives and the work they had done for God in their lives (Matt 7:21-23; 1 Tim 3:1,5-7; Jude 4; Rev 20:11-15). These people must have at one time must have been good men who must have started to reject the voice and the word of God by beginning to sin habitually and practice it without repentance. As they continue to do such things without godly sorrow, their very motive for doing the ministry will be driven for the fulfillment of the flesh (2 Cor 7:10; Gal 5:19-21). This is the time in which they will harden their hearts knowingly and these wrong decisions will lead them still further in to the mire of lawlessness, out of which it is impossible for them to come out and it will surely lead them to death eternally (1 John 5:16-17; Heb 12:16-17; Matt 27:3-5). Jesus told these people in Matt 7:23 “…I never knew you…” because they did not follow His voice and instead heard and followed the voice of Satan and his demons [i.e. strangers and enemies inside the kingdom of God] by practicing lawlessness in their personal lives (John 10:3-6; 1 Thess 4:3-8).

What we are is God’s gift to us (Eph 2:8; 1 Cor 15:10; Galatians 2:8-9), what we become is our gift to God (Rom 12:1; Matt 25:20,22; Rom 8:29). What we are is the gifts that God has invested in everyone of our lives, but what we become is the outcome of the fruit of the Spirit that we develop by letting God to work and live in through us day in and day out (Phil 2:13; 1:6). The reward that we will receive from God in the present and in the future will be determined based on the motivation with which we work. The Bible says that the motive of every man in doing anything for God and His kingdom cannot be know by anybody other than the spirit of man which is in the innermost being of every human (1 Cor 2:11). God judges everyman not by outward appearances [i.e. the physical appearances and activitives we do] but by the motives in the spirit of every man, and next to the spirit of man only God knows the motives of each human heart (1 Samuel 16:7; Ps 7:9,11-13). The work that we do for God will be tested by the fire of God’s word in the Judgment for salvation before we will receive the eternal glorious reward for it from God (1 Cor 3:13-15; Jer 23:29; Heb 9:26-28). God will check how much of work a believer has done by His own strength and zeal, how much of work he has done by the strength of God for His glory in obedience to His voice and reward each one according to it (2 Cor 12:7-10). At the same time those people who serve God with ulterior motives practicing lawlessness will not stand in the judgment of the righteous which will happen during the marriage supper of the lamb (Ps 1:5; Rev 19:7-9), these people will be judged only at the end of the millennium at the white throne judgment (Rev 20:11-15).

For example Judas was a man who was truly called by God to be one of the twelve apostles. Some people think that because Judas fulfilled the prophecies in the Old Testament regarding the Messiah, they think that Judas was pre-destined with fate to die as a traitor (Ps 41:9; 109:8). But the Bible nowhere gives a picture like this. Instead it says, “15 And in those days [i.e. after Christ’s ascension and before the day of Pentecost] Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples

(altogether the number of names was about a hundred and twenty), and said, 16 “Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus; 17 for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.” 18 (Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out. 19 And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem; so that field is called in their own language, Akel Dama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms:‘ Let his dwelling place be desolate, And let no one live in it’; and, ‘ Let another take his office.’ …… 24 And they prayed and said, “You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which of these two You have chosen 25 to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.” Here we see a lot of lessons to be learned regarding the life of Judas. The first underline in the preceding verses says “…the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas…” A lot of people misinterpret this line saying this shows that Judas was predestined to hell. In fact Jesus called and chose all the apostles at the beginning of His ministry, men who in the natural soulish way without Him all these were destined to Hell (Luke 6:12-16; Rom 3:23-26). These people who think wrongly about predestination and the unavoidable fulfillment of fate of Judas must read the scripture after this line and should the read the most important word ‘became’,“…Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus….”. This shows that initially Judas was as originally called to the apostolic ministry as any other eleven apostles, but he became a traitor. As an apostle He not only flowed with all the gifts of the Spirit and drove demons, cured diseases, preaching the gospel and healed the sick as any other apostles did, but he was also a gifted financial administrator who had the control over all the offering and contribution that was given to support the apostolic ministry of Jesus and His disciples (Luke 9:1-2,6; 8:1-3; 9:1-2,6,10). Judas is in fact a wonderful example for those people who tried for an entry in to the kingdom of heaven by their great spiritual works in Matt 7:21-23 at the white throne final judgment of the whole world. These men also were initially called and gifted with mighty ministry gifts [i.e. apostles, prophets, teacher… (Eph 4:11; 1 Cor 12:27-31)]. Yet somewhere down the line in their ministry life they began to be deceived in to thinking that their ministry works done for God using His name by delegated authority will give them a sure place in the kingdom of God. Because of this deceptive pattern of thinking these men of God began to practice sin and lawlessness as their way of life and began to nurture wrong motives in their spirit man as Judas, and deteriorated with the wrong motives until their final doomsday when Satan completely entered them and controlled them fully to fulfill his evil purposes to make them doomed forever (John 13:21-30; 12:3-6; Matt 7:23; Rom 6:16). This deception happened to these people because of neglecting to do the word which they professed and heard (Matt 7:24-27; 2 Tim 3:1-5). This is the greatest deception that is still today destroying many genuine ministries.  

The problem is not with the heavy anointing these great ministers flow in, but the problem is with their personal lives where many have started to practice sin and thus the overall ministry becomes doomed finally due to fruitless lives of these men. As time passes by without repentance in their personal lives, these ministers of God become as false ministers by consistently bearing bad fruit in their lives (Matt 7:15-20). So only Apostle James said, “My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.” (James 3:1). Finally they end up speaking all their own opinions and lies about the word of God and end up glorifying themselves than the truth which they were called to proclaim (John 8:43-45). Many times Judas was given chance to repent in His life, but he never took the exhortative words of Jesus seriously (John 6:64,71; 12:4; 13:2,11, 21-22; Matt 26:16,21,23,46; Mark 14:18; Luke 22:6). Judas love and strong desire for money made him to join in with Satan who plotted his evil schemes through the chief priests and Pharisees to fulfill the fore-ordained scheme which God planned before the foundation of the world (Gen 3:14-15; Acts 2:23; 1 Cor 2:6-8; 1 Peter 1:20; Mark 14:10-11; Luke 22:3-4; 1 Tim 6:9-10). In other words because Judas was practicing lawlessness and had hidden motives to follow Jesus, Satan used the opportunity to fill him and use him as a pawn for his evil purposes to be fulfilled (John 13:27; Luke 22:3).

Never forget that Satan can ask to God for a person to be used for his purpose, if a particular person has been growing Satan’s seed in the recesses of their heart (Luke 22:31-32; Matt 13:24-30, 36-43). He has the legal right to harvest if he has sown his seed in any man’s heart. Any apostle would have been targeted by Satan if they would have given him the opportunity; sadly Judas was the one who filled in the blanks of Satan’s selection process correctly. Thus the prophecies of the Old Testament and New Testament whether good or bad that God allows will be fulfilled based on people who choose to believe in the truth or reject it. In this case Judas rejected the truth [i.e. Jesus Christ who is the embodiement and the person of truth sent from God (John 14:6; 6:38)], so he fulfilled bad prophecies of the Bible. Judas loved money more than the God who has created him and called him, so he started stealing money from the money box of the apostolic ministry fund of Jesus and his fellow apostles. Judas did not truly love Jesus, and thus forfeited the only hope of salvation and redemption he had in his life (John 12:6-8). What a blunder he did by continuing with such a hypocritical lifestyle of practicing sin without rethinking the end result of condemnation that would doom his life forever (Matt 27:3-10; Rom 8:1,6-7; 1 John 3:4, 6-10; Matt 26:50). No amount of restitution, self-justification, worldly sorrow and desiring later for inheriting the blessing can be valid before God, who has been sort of mocked by the lawless lifestyle for years and years. In fact God cannot be mocked, a sin practicing person is mocking his own prosperous future life which God has prepared for him (Matt 27:3-5;2 Cor 7:10; Heb 12:16-17; Gal 6:7; Prov 1:24-28). Beware! Judas by transgression lost his apostolic ministry. Instead God took the heavy apostolic anointing which was originally placed upon Judas and placed it upon Matthias who was faithfully following the Lord’s ministry and His apostles (Acts 1:21-26; Luke 16:10-13; Prov 16:33). What a privilege for the faithful Matthias to receive such powerful apostolic mantle over His life! Faithfulness in itself is one of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

The other man who had a heavy prophetic anointing in the Old Testament who lost the favor of God because of His love for money and honor of men is none other than the prophet of God Balaam. Apostle Peter Himself called Him “…Balaam…the Prophet….” (2 Peter 2:15-16). Initially he was in fact a true prophet of God who had a genuine call of God in his life. The breath taking Messianic prophecies about the future that he gave seeing through spiritually with an open eye vision and then describing the content by putting them in to words have been very accurate. Sometimes God Himself put the exact words in to Balaam’s mouth as a mouth piece of God which are till today unparalleled in its richness and accuracy (Numbers 23-24). Even though this man was from a pagan country, still he had that God-connection and a heavy prophetic anointing like no other man described in the Old Testament (Numbers 22). Yet because of his love of money, riches and honor, his motive for practicing prophetic ministry became evil before the eyes of the Lord. He lost the favor of the Lord over his life because of his love for money. As Apostle Peter said, “15 They [i.e. ministers like Balaam who have been truly called by God but] have forsaken the right way and gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; 16 but he was rebuked for his iniquity: a dumb donkey speaking with a man’s voice restrained the madness of the prophet. 17 These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” (2 Peter 2:15-17). Truly Balaam the prophet’s madness for money was so severe that he did not even realize that he was conversing with his donkey. As we have read in the above verses, ministers of God who do not bear the fruit of the Spirit, but forsake the right way [i.e. pursuing the holiness of God-kind of Character] and go astray by loving the wages of unrighteousness [i.e. love of money, power and women], for whom only the blackness of darkness is reserved for ever. So producing the fruit of faithfulness and all the fruit of the Spirit is more important than just flowing in the ministerial anointing of God and practicing of gifts that we have received together with the calling of God (Rom 11:29). The constant desire and attitude of producing fruit in one’s life will make sure that we are following the right way of the Lord and His righteousness, we are safe and secure in God as long as we continue with this attitude of gratitude which will push us to live in the Holiness of God (1 Thess 4:3-8; Titus 3:8). Praise the Lord!

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Fruit or Gifts – Part 1

To read more of my articles, go to : www.apostolicrevelation.blogspot.com 

Fruit or Gifts, which is more important? –

 Part 1

By Abraham Israel

 

 

 

Both the fruit and gifts that we receive from God are given through the chief executive agent of heaven who is the Holy Spirit of God. In other words without the Spirit of God you cannot experience either the fruit or the gifts which comes from God the Father who is the source of all good things (James 1:17). This is the reason the Bible calls these things ‘fruit of the Spirit’ and ‘manifestation [gifts] of the Spirit’ (Gal 5:22; 1 Cor 12:4-11). The other meaning of ‘fruit’ in this context is ‘the pleasant or successful result of work or actions’. There must be somebody working in us 24/7/365 to produce all the pleasant and successful actions in our soulish realm. That somebody is the person of the Holy Spirit who works all these successful actions in us. We don’t have to strive to produce these works; we just have to be attached to Jesus in Heaven through the Holy Spirit who connects us in the now-realm of time (John 15:5). Jesus directly works from heaven to produce these works in us through the Holy Spirit (Eph 2:18; Mark 16:19-20; John 14:13-14). These varieties of successful actions or work by the Holy Spirit in our soul are listed in Galatians 5:22-23 as, “…love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…” If we are experiencing these works in our lives because of the God-connection we have through the Holy Spirit, it shows that we are living in the glorious realm of God’s Kingdom (Rom 14:17). This is the type of works or outward evidence of the inward work of God that Apostle James demanded from those who professed themselves of having faith (James 2:15-16, 21,25). He in fact said to them “….faith without works [i.e. fruit or character of God in manifestation] is dead…” (James 2:26). The works described here in the above verse is God’s character manifestation in us because of whole heartedly yielding our will to Him by His strength. It also means ‘the actions we do in obedience to His voice even though it might be dangerous or risky to our natural soulish mind, just by depending on the goodness of God’.

These fruit of the Spirit which we have seen is the very essence and character of God. In other words, as you allow God to control your soul more and more, His purity and holiness will begin to manifest through your life as His child. Just as a child in the natural world develops its character when it grows under the guidance and discipline of its father, we too as God’s children are disciplined and guided by God (John 1:12), so that all these above character of the Father God will begin to manifest in us (Heb 12:9-11). When the child grows up to be an adult it will begin to be a reflection of its father’s character (John 14:9). This fruit of God’s character that you bring forth in your life will only bring true glory to God and only this quality will make you inherit as much of God’s property of wealth both in the now and future realm (John 15:8; Rev 21:7). These fruit cannot be seen in an instant. Does a baby child grow to become a mature adult in a day? The baby grows under the comforting care of its mother and the discipline of its father for years constantly until it becomes a mature adult. In the same way these fruit will grow in us as we work together with Jesus [Jesus is metaphorically describing this relationship of believer’s life to Himself with a vine branch [i.e. believer] attached to a main stem [i.e. Jesus Himself] which is the reason for the production of fruit in the branches. Jesus also speaks and emphasizes this growth attachment of the believer’s life to Himself using the word ‘abides’. “…He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit…” (John 15:5). The Greek root word for ‘abide’ is ‘meno’ which means ‘to remain, abide a) in reference to place { to sojourn, tarry, not to depart, to continue to be present , to be held, kept, continually } b) in reference to time { to continue to be, not to perish, to last, endure, of persons – to survive, live} c) in reference to state or condition {to remain as one, not to become another or different, to wait for, await one}’. This word ‘abide’ points to a continuing living relationship of the believer with Jesus like the disciples had relationship with Jesus two thousand years ago when He was present on the earth. Just as a branch grows when the sap flows in to it giving it life and vitality, the words of Jesus spoken to our hearts personally from heaven will invigorate us with the fresh life and energy of God, cleansing us from all impurities constantly (John 15:3; Heb 12:24-25)] under the comforting care of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; Acts 9:31) and the discipline of God the Father (Heb 12:9,10) on a day to day basis for years together until we really become as a mature spiritual adult or son of God. The more we will yield our life to Him willingly, the faster we will grow and become as the sons of God.

We must not forget that the devil is also waging war against our soul 24/7/365 to destroy it completely though fleshly lusts, if we give space to him by not abstaining from it (1 Peter 2:11; John 10:10). These fleshly lusts which are demonic seeds when conceived through us will produce fleshly fruit, which will be bad in its taste and characteristics. If we yield our will to the earthly, sensual and demonic suggestion’s and let it influence our soul rather than be guided by the Spirit of God who resides in our inner spirit man intentionally and in a perpetual manner, we will soon be set in the pathway of the eternal destruction of our soul (James 3:14-16; Galatians 5:19-21). This is the essence of the message that Apostle Paul reminded the Corinthian believer’s who were playing with sin carelessly by exhorting them saying, “Do you not know that the unrighteous [i.e. those who willfully enjoy and practice sinning (Is 55:7)] will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals [i.e. of a male who submits his body to unnatural lewdness], nor sodomites [i.e. homosexuals and lesbians (Rom 1:26-27)], nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Cor 6:9-11). In the above verses, the literal Greek word for the English word ‘unrighteous’ is ‘adikos’ [pronounced ä'-dē-kos (Key)

] which means ‘descriptive of one who violates or has violated justice and is unjust, unrighteous, sinful, of one who deals fraudulently with others, deceitful’. This clearly describes a person who knowingly, intentionally and deceitfully practices and continues in sin, without a least bit of repentance, regret, remorse or godly sorrow for doing it. In other words Apostle Paul was saying to these sinning believers, ‘Let not the devil deceive you to sin habitually and willfully by saying that God will look over your sin even if you continue sinning. Instead know you were washed from all sin when Jesus was baptized taking all your sin upon Himself, making you free from the guilt of sin and because of Jesus, God has declared you to be righteous.’
 

 

 

 

From the above clear exposition, we see that God has freed us from evil and sin to help us live victorious lives and not to be again entangled in sin which is a bondage which leads to death spiritually, soulishly and physically (Gal 5:1). This is the reason Paul also asked the Roman believer’s this question, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Rom 6:1-2). In other words a true believer in Christ will hate to continue in sin because he cannot sin without restraint. The soul will feel convicted because of the guilt that will come to him from his spirit man the moment he sins (1 John 3:9; John 16:7-11). Guilt is a God-given natural mechanism that will make us and nudge us to confess the wrong things we do to God immediately, thus making us feel accountable to God (Deut 19:13). God is not mocked if a person decides to walk intentionally in sin by his own wrong willful recurring choices, because he is already deceived in to thinking that God does not care even if he sins intentionally (Gal 6:7). The enemy, who supplies those evil thought seeds to that person, will surely come to harvest it after a period of his deceitful lullaby is over. He will have absolute rights over that person at that time because it is his evil seed that has come to fruition harvest. After that time that sinning person will be used as a pawn by Satan to fulfill his wicked destructive intention from which that person cannot come out like Judas was, until he finally died in his wickedness (Matt 13:24-30;13:36-43; John 12:3-8; 13:21-30; Matt 27:3-10). Those who knowingly sow their strength, money, talent and time to the flesh “…will of the flesh reap corruption…” (Galatians 6:8). The corruption reaped in that sinning person’s life will be manifested openly during the harvest season, which will bring disgrace to him, his family and to the God whom he had professed, unless and until he humbles himself before God and repents by the mercies of God. “…Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal 5:19-21). Sin is like a deadly poisonous serpent which will bite and inject its deadly venom in to the body of those who play with it thinking that it is harmless as long as they handle it rightly and will cause them to die one day suddenly.

Christianity is not a religion to just profess with one’s mouth, it is a relationship that needs to be continued in order to inherit the kingdom of our Heavenly Father. This relationship with God the Father will grow in greater intimacy as we receive more and more of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. God has pre-planned a kingdom for his children who will rule over the earth in the future as the spiritual replicas of Himself who is ruling over the heavens and the highest heaven (Ps 115:16; Luke 12:32). So only when the rich young ruler asked Jesus, “16 …Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have [i.e. inherit (Mark 10:17)] eternal life?” (Matt 19:16). Jesus answered to him saying “….Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is God…” (Verse17). Jesus in other words told to him that we cannot be good and perfect unless we become the Heavenly Father’s children. And then Jesus pointed him to keep the commandments. When he again asked Jesus, “…Which ones?”. Jesus did not immediately point him to the vertical commandment of loving God which is the first and the greatest commandment which fulfills all commandments. Instead Jesus pointed to the horizontal commandments of loving his fellow men because Jesus wanted the young man to understand his inability to fulfill God’s commandments based on his own religious workings apart from God’s strength. Jesus wanted the rich young ruler to also understand that only with a relationship with God as His children, he will be able to inherit the kingdom of God and its power to do good things (Luke 10:25-28; 12:30-34; 11:20; Acts 10:38). Jesus pointed this rich young ruler towards horizontal commandments [i.e. vertical commandments (Man towards God) => loving God with all its related commandments, horizontal commandments (Man towards Man) => loving man with all its related commandments] because his deceptive wrong thinking was trying to do things for God rather than be in love with God as a loving Father. Actually Jesus knew that this young man’s heart was not in love with God and instead he loved his riches more than God (Matt 19:21-22; 6:19-21).

This young ruler was trying to justify himself and his thirst for God’s eternal life within him with his wrong thinking and religious pious life of doing for God. He knew in his heart that he was missing God inside him despite his strictly religious life from his childhood. He has become blinded to the truth that man can only have relationship with God as his children, because of his covetous heart attitude which blinded his view of God. When this young rich ruler somehow wanted to justify himself he said to Jesus, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect [(Matt 5:58; 6:9-13)], go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (Matt 19:20-22). Only perfect people can enter the kingdom of God. Those who have received Jesus Christ in to their hearts as their Lord [One Master (Matt 6:24)] and Savior of their life, and follow Jesus everyday are those who are considered as perfect by God because of a divine exchange of substitution that happened at the baptism of Jesus and got culminated at the cross. These are the people who will really love God in spite of the circumstances and the hardship they go through in their daily lives as the members of the family of God (Matt 19:23-30). Those guys who are truly living a religious life with riches have the last and least probability of getting qualified in the kingdom of God because of their utter dependence on their wealth and doings rather than in God. But with God working with them in their lives, it is possible for them to change their attitude towards God even being rich, but only if they seek after God (Matt 19:23-26; 6:31-33).

Only a true son or a daughter can inherit his father’s property in the future (Rom 8:14, 19; Gal 4:1-7). It is also the same with God. Heaven, salvation and its benefits cannot be earned because it is God’s property that can only be inherited [Note: Cannot be earned by working our way which always demands wages to those who have worked]. To inherit is to be legally born in a family or be adopted in to a family and then develop in the same characteristics of the Father of the house and become pleasing to him so that at the end because of his own benevolence he will give his property to his children as he wills. In the same way we can only inherit [Note: not earn our way as though God in indebted to us] the kingdom of God because Father God has only a family and not a religion. So only as the Bible says, We have been adopted in to the Heavenly Father’s family and He expects us to grow in His likeness so that at the end, he will reward us with his property which is the kingdom of God which will be established in the future (Rom 8:14-17,29-30; Matt 25:34). Jesus was the first person who exhibited the perfect character of the Heavenly Father on earth for us to follow after Him and be like Him in the family of God (John 14:9-11; 17:20-23; Rom 8:29; Heb 2:10-11). Jesus became like us humans physically [i.e. the image of the man of the dust] so that we can become like Him spiritually [i.e. the image of the heavenly Man] (Heb 2:17-18; Phil 2:5-11; Eph 2:5-6; 1 Cor 15:42-49). In other words Jesus put upon Himself an earth suit of dust so that we may be able to wear a heavenly suit of revived, God-connected dominion-spirit inside of us. This is the reason that the character of our Heavenly Father must be lived out by us essentially rather to just serve Him with the gifts [i.e. possessions] which He has given us. It is the Father’s character genes in us which gives us the right to enter His home in heaven as His very own child (Luke 15:11-32). To be separated [i.e. dead v32] away from our Heavenly Father symbolically represents those of us who practice sinning which God hates which is the state of the Heavenly Father’s Lost son before he was found alive, and those of us who live with the heart attitude of repentance everyday are those who are the once lost son who are found and are alive again (Luke 15:32; I John 3:9). The repentant son of God will not again go in to the sinning mode of life rejecting all the restraint of the restrainer who is the Holy Spirit of God (Ezekiel 36:27; 1 John 3:6-8; Gen 6:3; 2 Thess 2:7), leaving the Heavenly Father again who hates sin but loves the sinner (Isaiah 59:2).
    

The repentant sons who have returned to the Father God will start to hate sin and will start to love their Heavenly Father’s character (Prov 8:13; 14:2; 2 Cor 6:16-18). One has to start loving the head of the family and his loving character in order to continue in the adopted family which the father runs and provides. We too as the sons of our Heavenly Father need to train ourselves to love our Father’s character of righteousness and hate soulish evil, wickedness and lawlessness of Satan which He hates (Heb 1:9; 1 John 3:4,8). In this way, loving the character of our Heavenly Father and letting it out of our spirit to influence our soul is more important than using his gifts [i.e. gifts of physical, soulish and spiritual ability] and possessions that He has given. As we see that this character of our Heavenly Father is supplied by the Spirit of the Father who lives in us (James 1:17; 3:17-18; Matt 10:20). This is why the most essential thing in the life of a believer as a part of God the Father’s family is to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit for the glory of God the Father. This is the reason Jesus emphasized that He as the keeper of the vineyard of God revealed that God has come seeking through Him for fruit [Note: God distributed gifts of sustenance and nourishment for the growth of the tree though Jesus, but was seeking for fruit in return] in the nation of Israel (Luke 13:6-9). When God did not find fruit till the end of the ministry of Jesus, the nation of Israel got symbolically cursed by God through Jesus for not at all bearing fruit by rejecting Jesus as their Savior and Messiah (Mark 21:18-22, 42-43). In the same vein Jesus emphasized the need for fruit in John 15: 1-2, 5-8 saying, “1 I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit….4 As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me…5 He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” When we abide or dwell in the words of Jesus, we will bear much fruit. As the followers of Jesus, only when we bear much fruit, our Father is glorified. The branch [i.e. believer] that does not bear fruit, God the Father takes it away from the Vine and he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they [i.e. angels of God (Matt 13:40-42)] gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned (Matt 7:17-20). Every branch that bears fruit Father God will prune and cut it further. In other words the person who is obedient to God may find the going tough in His spiritual journey. But the tough goings will be working together for good in the life of a God-lover because he is called by God according to His purpose (Rom 8:28). As a true Father corrects his children in the natural world for his good so does Our Heavenly Father will allow trials in the life of His obedient children for building them up further spiritually (Heb 12:4-11). This will bring forth still much fruit in the lives of the sons of God. So we come to the conclusion that fruit bearing [i.e. God-kind of character development] in each person’s life is more important than the manifestation of gifts through their ministry in the Body of Christ. Praise the Lord! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christianity is not a religion to just profess with one’s mouth, it is a relationship that needs to be continued in order to inherit the kingdom of our Heavenly Father. This relationship with God the Father will grow in greater intimacy as we receive more and more of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. God has pre-planned a kingdom for his children who will rule over the earth in the future as the spiritual replicas of Himself who is ruling over the heavens and the highest heaven (Ps 115:16; Luke 12:32). So only when the rich young ruler asked Jesus, “16 …Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have [i.e. inherit (Mark 10:17)] eternal life?” (Matt 19:16). Jesus answered to him saying “….Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is God…” (Verse17). Jesus in other words told to him that we cannot be good and perfect unless we become the Heavenly Father’s children. And then Jesus pointed him to keep the commandments. When he again asked Jesus, “…Which ones?”. Jesus did not immediately point him to the vertical commandment of loving God which is the first and the greatest commandment which fulfills all commandments. Instead Jesus pointed to the horizontal commandments of loving his fellow men because Jesus wanted the young man to understand his inability to fulfill God’s commandments based on his own religious workings apart from God’s strength. Jesus wanted the rich young ruler to also understand that only with a relationship with God as His children, he will be able to inherit the kingdom of God and its power to do good things (Luke 10:25-28; 12:30-34; 11:20; Acts 10:38). Jesus pointed this rich young ruler towards horizontal commandments [i.e. vertical commandments (Man towards God) => loving God with all its related commandments, horizontal commandments (Man towards Man) => loving man with all its related commandments] because his deceptive wrong thinking was trying to do things for God rather than be in love with God as a loving Father. Actually Jesus knew that this young man’s heart was not in love with God and instead he loved his riches more than God (Matt 19:21-22; 6:19-21).

This young ruler was trying to justify himself and his thirst for God’s eternal life within him with his wrong thinking and religious pious life of doing for God. He knew in his heart that he was missing God inside him despite his strictly religious life from his childhood. He has become blinded to the truth that man can only have relationship with God as his children, because of his covetous heart attitude which blinded his view of God. When this young rich ruler somehow wanted to justify himself he said to Jesus, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect [(Matt 5:58; 6:9-13)], go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (Matt 19:20-22). Only perfect people can enter the kingdom of God. Those who have received Jesus Christ in to their hearts as their Lord [One Master (Matt 6:24)] and Savior of their life, and follow Jesus everyday are those who are considered as perfect by God because of a divine exchange of substitution that happened at the baptism of Jesus and got culminated at the cross. These are the people who will really love God in spite of the circumstances and the hardship they go through in their daily lives as the members of the family of God (Matt 19:23-30). Those guys who are truly living a religious life with riches have the last and least probability of getting qualified in the kingdom of God because of their utter dependence on their wealth and doings rather than in God. But with God working with them in their lives, it is possible for them to change their attitude towards God even being rich, but only if they seek after God (Matt 19:23-26; 6:31-33).

Only a true son or a daughter can inherit his father’s property in the future (Rom 8:14, 19; Gal 4:1-7). It is also the same with God. Heaven, salvation and its benefits cannot be earned because it is God’s property that can only be inherited [Note: Cannot be earned by working our way which always demands wages to those who have worked]. To inherit is to be legally born in a family or be adopted in to a family and then develop in the same characteristics of the Father of the house and become pleasing to him so that at the end because of his own benevolence he will give his property to his children as he wills. In the same way we can only inherit [Note: not earn our way as though God in indebted to us] the kingdom of God because Father God has only a family and not a religion. So only as the Bible says, We have been adopted in to the Heavenly Father’s family and He expects us to grow in His likeness so that at the end, he will reward us with his property which is the kingdom of God which will be established in the future (Rom 8:14-17,29-30; Matt 25:34). Jesus was the first person who exhibited the perfect character of the Heavenly Father on earth for us to follow after Him and be like Him in the family of God (John 14:9-11; 17:20-23; Rom 8:29; Heb 2:10-11). Jesus became like us humans physically [i.e. the image of the man of the dust] so that we can become like Him spiritually [i.e. the image of the heavenly Man] (Heb 2:17-18; Phil 2:5-11; Eph 2:5-6; 1 Cor 15:42-49). In other words Jesus put upon Himself an earth suit of dust so that we may be able to wear a heavenly suit of revived, God-connected dominion-spirit inside of us. This is the reason that the character of our Heavenly Father must be lived out by us essentially rather to just serve Him with the gifts [i.e. possessions] which He has given us. It is the Father’s character genes in us which gives us the right to enter His home in heaven as His very own child (Luke 15:11-32). To be separated [i.e. dead v32] away from our Heavenly Father symbolically represents those of us who practice sinning which God hates which is the state of the Heavenly Father’s Lost son before he was found alive, and those of us who live with the heart attitude of repentance everyday are those who are the once lost son who are found and are alive again (Luke 15:32; I John 3:9). The repentant son of God will not again go in to the sinning mode of life rejecting all the restraint of the restrainer who is the Holy Spirit of God (Ezekiel 36:27; 1 John 3:6-8; Gen 6:3; 2 Thess 2:7), leaving the Heavenly Father again who hates sin but loves the sinner (Isaiah 59:2).
    

The repentant sons who have returned to the Father God will start to hate sin and will start to love their Heavenly Father’s character (Prov 8:13; 14:2; 2 Cor 6:16-18). One has to start loving the head of the family and his loving character in order to continue in the adopted family which the father runs and provides. We too as the sons of our Heavenly Father need to train ourselves to love our Father’s character of righteousness and hate soulish evil, wickedness and lawlessness of Satan which He hates (Heb 1:9; 1 John 3:4,8). In this way, loving the character of our Heavenly Father and letting it out of our spirit to influence our soul is more important than using his gifts [i.e. gifts of physical, soulish and spiritual ability] and possessions that He has given. As we see that this character of our Heavenly Father is supplied by the Spirit of the Father who lives in us (James 1:17; 3:17-18; Matt 10:20). This is why the most essential thing in the life of a believer as a part of God the Father’s family is to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit for the glory of God the Father. This is the reason Jesus emphasized that He as the keeper of the vineyard of God revealed that God has come seeking through Him for fruit [Note: God distributed gifts of sustenance and nourishment for the growth of the tree though Jesus, but was seeking for fruit in return] in the nation of Israel (Luke 13:6-9). When God did not find fruit till the end of the ministry of Jesus, the nation of Israel got symbolically cursed by God through Jesus for not at all bearing fruit by rejecting Jesus as their Savior and Messiah (Mark 21:18-22, 42-43). In the same vein Jesus emphasized the need for fruit in John 15: 1-2, 5-8 saying, “1 I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit….4 As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me…5 He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” When we abide or dwell in the words of Jesus, we will bear much fruit. As the followers of Jesus, only when we bear much fruit, our Father is glorified. The branch [i.e. believer] that does not bear fruit, God the Father takes it away from the Vine and he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they [i.e. angels of God (Matt 13:40-42)] gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned (Matt 7:17-20). Every branch that bears fruit Father God will prune and cut it further. In other words the person who is obedient to God may find the going tough in His spiritual journey. But the tough goings will be working together for good in the life of a God-lover because he is called by God according to His purpose (Rom 8:28). As a true Father corrects his children in the natural world for his good so does Our Heavenly Father will allow trials in the life of His obedient children for building them up further spiritually (Heb 12:4-11). This will bring forth still much fruit in the lives of the sons of God. So we come to the conclusion that fruit bearing [i.e. God-kind of character development] in each person’s life is more important than the manifestation of gifts through their ministry in the Body of Christ. Praise the Lord! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We must not forget that the devil is also waging war against our soul 24/7/365 to destroy it completely though fleshly lusts, if we give space to him by not abstaining from it (1 Peter 2:11; John 10:10). These fleshly lusts which are demonic seeds when conceived through us will produce fleshly fruit, which will be bad in its taste and characteristics. If we yield our will to the earthly, sensual and demonic suggestion’s and let it influence our soul rather than be guided by the Spirit of God who resides in our inner spirit man intentionally and in a perpetual manner, we will soon be set in the pathway of the eternal destruction of our soul (James 3:14-16; Galatians 5:19-21). This is the essence of the message that Apostle Paul reminded the Corinthian believer’s who were playing with sin carelessly by exhorting them saying, “Do you not know that the unrighteous [i.e. those who willfully enjoy and practice sinning (Is 55:7)] will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals [i.e. of a male who submits his body to unnatural lewdness], nor sodomites [i.e. homosexuals and lesbians (Rom 1:26-27)], nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Cor 6:9-11). In the above verses, the literal Greek word for the English word ‘unrighteous’ is ‘adikos’ [pronounced ä'-dē-kos (Key)

] which means ‘descriptive of one who violates or has violated justice and is unjust, unrighteous, sinful, of one who deals fraudulently with others, deceitful’. This clearly describes a person who knowingly, intentionally and deceitfully practices and continues in sin, without a least bit of repentance, regret, remorse or godly sorrow for doing it. In other words Apostle Paul was saying to these sinning believers, ‘Let not the devil deceive you to sin habitually and willfully by saying that God will look over your sin even if you continue sinning. Instead know you were washed from all sin when Jesus was baptized taking all your sin upon Himself, making you free from the guilt of sin and because of Jesus, God has declared you to be righteous.’
 

 

 

 

From the above clear exposition, we see that God has freed us from evil and sin to help us live victorious lives and not to be again entangled in sin which is a bondage which leads to death spiritually, soulishly and physically (Gal 5:1). This is the reason Paul also asked the Roman believer’s this question, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” (Rom 6:1-2). In other words a true believer in Christ will hate to continue in sin because he cannot sin without restraint. The soul will feel convicted because of the guilt that will come to him from his spirit man the moment he sins (1 John 3:9; John 16:7-11). Guilt is a God-given natural mechanism that will make us and nudge us to confess the wrong things we do to God immediately, thus making us feel accountable to God (Deut 19:13). God is not mocked if a person decides to walk intentionally in sin by his own wrong willful recurring choices, because he is already deceived in to thinking that God does not care even if he sins intentionally (Gal 6:7). The enemy, who supplies those evil thought seeds to that person, will surely come to harvest it after a period of his deceitful lullaby is over. He will have absolute rights over that person at that time because it is his evil seed that has come to fruition harvest. After that time that sinning person will be used as a pawn by Satan to fulfill his wicked destructive intention from which that person cannot come out like Judas was, until he finally died in his wickedness (Matt 13:24-30;13:36-43; John 12:3-8; 13:21-30; Matt 27:3-10). Those who knowingly sow their strength, money, talent and time to the flesh “…will of the flesh reap corruption…” (Galatians 6:8). The corruption reaped in that sinning person’s life will be manifested openly during the harvest season, which will bring disgrace to him, his family and to the God whom he had professed, unless and until he humbles himself before God and repents by the mercies of God. “…Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal 5:19-21). Sin is like a deadly poisonous serpent which will bite and inject its deadly venom in to the body of those who play with it thinking that it is harmless as long as they handle it rightly and will cause them to die one day suddenly.

Christianity is not a religion to just profess with one’s mouth, it is a relationship that needs to be continued in order to inherit the kingdom of our Heavenly Father. This relationship with God the Father will grow in greater intimacy as we receive more and more of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. God has pre-planned a kingdom for his children who will rule over the earth in the future as the spiritual replicas of Himself who is ruling over the heavens and the highest heaven (Ps 115:16; Luke 12:32). So only when the rich young ruler asked Jesus, “16 …Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have [i.e. inherit (Mark 10:17)] eternal life?” (Matt 19:16). Jesus answered to him saying “….Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is God…” (Verse17). Jesus in other words told to him that we cannot be good and perfect unless we become the Heavenly Father’s children. And then Jesus pointed him to keep the commandments. When he again asked Jesus, “…Which ones?”. Jesus did not immediately point him to the vertical commandment of loving God which is the first and the greatest commandment which fulfills all commandments. Instead Jesus pointed to the horizontal commandments of loving his fellow men because Jesus wanted the young man to understand his inability to fulfill God’s commandments based on his own religious workings apart from God’s strength. Jesus wanted the rich young ruler to also understand that only with a relationship with God as His children, he will be able to inherit the kingdom of God and its power to do good things (Luke 10:25-28; 12:30-34; 11:20; Acts 10:38). Jesus pointed this rich young ruler towards horizontal commandments [i.e. vertical commandments (Man towards God) => loving God with all its related commandments, horizontal commandments (Man towards Man) => loving man with all its related commandments] because his deceptive wrong thinking was trying to do things for God rather than be in love with God as a loving Father. Actually Jesus knew that this young man’s heart was not in love with God and instead he loved his riches more than God (Matt 19:21-22; 6:19-21).

This young ruler was trying to justify himself and his thirst for God’s eternal life within him with his wrong thinking and religious pious life of doing for God. He knew in his heart that he was missing God inside him despite his strictly religious life from his childhood. He has become blinded to the truth that man can only have relationship with God as his children, because of his covetous heart attitude which blinded his view of God. When this young rich ruler somehow wanted to justify himself he said to Jesus, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect [(Matt 5:58; 6:9-13)], go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (Matt 19:20-22). Only perfect people can enter the kingdom of God. Those who have received Jesus Christ in to their hearts as their Lord [One Master (Matt 6:24)] and Savior of their life, and follow Jesus everyday are those who are considered as perfect by God because of a divine exchange of substitution that happened at the baptism of Jesus and got culminated at the cross. These are the people who will really love God in spite of the circumstances and the hardship they go through in their daily lives as the members of the family of God (Matt 19:23-30). Those guys who are truly living a religious life with riches have the last and least probability of getting qualified in the kingdom of God because of their utter dependence on their wealth and doings rather than in God. But with God working with them in their lives, it is possible for them to change their attitude towards God even being rich, but only if they seek after God (Matt 19:23-26; 6:31-33).

Only a true son or a daughter can inherit his father’s property in the future (Rom 8:14, 19; Gal 4:1-7). It is also the same with God. Heaven, salvation and its benefits cannot be earned because it is God’s property that can only be inherited [Note: Cannot be earned by working our way which always demands wages to those who have worked]. To inherit is to be legally born in a family or be adopted in to a family and then develop in the same characteristics of the Father of the house and become pleasing to him so that at the end because of his own benevolence he will give his property to his children as he wills. In the same way we can only inherit [Note: not earn our way as though God in indebted to us] the kingdom of God because Father God has only a family and not a religion. So only as the Bible says, We have been adopted in to the Heavenly Father’s family and He expects us to grow in His likeness so that at the end, he will reward us with his property which is the kingdom of God which will be established in the future (Rom 8:14-17,29-30; Matt 25:34). Jesus was the first person who exhibited the perfect character of the Heavenly Father on earth for us to follow after Him and be like Him in the family of God (John 14:9-11; 17:20-23; Rom 8:29; Heb 2:10-11). Jesus became like us humans physically [i.e. the image of the man of the dust] so that we can become like Him spiritually [i.e. the image of the heavenly Man] (Heb 2:17-18; Phil 2:5-11; Eph 2:5-6; 1 Cor 15:42-49). In other words Jesus put upon Himself an earth suit of dust so that we may be able to wear a heavenly suit of revived, God-connected dominion-spirit inside of us. This is the reason that the character of our Heavenly Father must be lived out by us essentially rather to just serve Him with the gifts [i.e. possessions] which He has given us. It is the Father’s character genes in us which gives us the right to enter His home in heaven as His very own child (Luke 15:11-32). To be separated [i.e. dead v32] away from our Heavenly Father symbolically represents those of us who practice sinning which God hates which is the state of the Heavenly Father’s Lost son before he was found alive, and those of us who live with the heart attitude of repentance everyday are those who are the once lost son who are found and are alive again (Luke 15:32; I John 3:9). The repentant son of God will not again go in to the sinning mode of life rejecting all the restraint of the restrainer who is the Holy Spirit of God (Ezekiel 36:27; 1 John 3:6-8; Gen 6:3; 2 Thess 2:7), leaving the Heavenly Father again who hates sin but loves the sinner (Isaiah 59:2).
    

The repentant sons who have returned to the Father God will start to hate sin and will start to love their Heavenly Father’s character (Prov 8:13; 14:2; 2 Cor 6:16-18). One has to start loving the head of the family and his loving character in order to continue in the adopted family which the father runs and provides. We too as the sons of our Heavenly Father need to train ourselves to love our Father’s character of righteousness and hate soulish evil, wickedness and lawlessness of Satan which He hates (Heb 1:9; 1 John 3:4,8). In this way, loving the character of our Heavenly Father and letting it out of our spirit to influence our soul is more important than using his gifts [i.e. gifts of physical, soulish and spiritual ability] and possessions that He has given. As we see that this character of our Heavenly Father is supplied by the Spirit of the Father who lives in us (James 1:17; 3:17-18; Matt 10:20). This is why the most essential thing in the life of a believer as a part of God the Father’s family is to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit for the glory of God the Father. This is the reason Jesus emphasized that He as the keeper of the vineyard of God revealed that God has come seeking through Him for fruit [Note: God distributed gifts of sustenance and nourishment for the growth of the tree though Jesus, but was seeking for fruit in return] in the nation of Israel (Luke 13:6-9). When God did not find fruit till the end of the ministry of Jesus, the nation of Israel got symbolically cursed by God through Jesus for not at all bearing fruit by rejecting Jesus as their Savior and Messiah (Mark 21:18-22, 42-43). In the same vein Jesus emphasized the need for fruit in John 15: 1-2, 5-8 saying, “1 I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit….4 As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me…5 He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” When we abide or dwell in the words of Jesus, we will bear much fruit. As the followers of Jesus, only when we bear much fruit, our Father is glorified. The branch [i.e. believer] that does not bear fruit, God the Father takes it away from the Vine and he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they [i.e. angels of God (Matt 13:40-42)] gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned (Matt 7:17-20). Every branch that bears fruit Father God will prune and cut it further. In other words the person who is obedient to God may find the going tough in His spiritual journey. But the tough goings will be working together for good in the life of a God-lover because he is called by God according to His purpose (Rom 8:28). As a true Father corrects his children in the natural world for his good so does Our Heavenly Father will allow trials in the life of His obedient children for building them up further spiritually (Heb 12:4-11). This will bring forth still much fruit in the lives of the sons of God. So we come to the conclusion that fruit bearing [i.e. God-kind of character development] in each person’s life is more important than the manifestation of gifts through their ministry in the Body of Christ. Praise the Lord! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christianity is not a religion to just profess with one’s mouth, it is a relationship that needs to be continued in order to inherit the kingdom of our Heavenly Father. This relationship with God the Father will grow in greater intimacy as we receive more and more of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. God has pre-planned a kingdom for his children who will rule over the earth in the future as the spiritual replicas of Himself who is ruling over the heavens and the highest heaven (Ps 115:16; Luke 12:32). So only when the rich young ruler asked Jesus, “16 …Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have [i.e. inherit (Mark 10:17)] eternal life?” (Matt 19:16). Jesus answered to him saying “….Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is God…” (Verse17). Jesus in other words told to him that we cannot be good and perfect unless we become the Heavenly Father’s children. And then Jesus pointed him to keep the commandments. When he again asked Jesus, “…Which ones?”. Jesus did not immediately point him to the vertical commandment of loving God which is the first and the greatest commandment which fulfills all commandments. Instead Jesus pointed to the horizontal commandments of loving his fellow men because Jesus wanted the young man to understand his inability to fulfill God’s commandments based on his own religious workings apart from God’s strength. Jesus wanted the rich young ruler to also understand that only with a relationship with God as His children, he will be able to inherit the kingdom of God and its power to do good things (Luke 10:25-28; 12:30-34; 11:20; Acts 10:38). Jesus pointed this rich young ruler towards horizontal commandments [i.e. vertical commandments (Man towards God) => loving God with all its related commandments, horizontal commandments (Man towards Man) => loving man with all its related commandments] because his deceptive wrong thinking was trying to do things for God rather than be in love with God as a loving Father. Actually Jesus knew that this young man’s heart was not in love with God and instead he loved his riches more than God (Matt 19:21-22; 6:19-21).

This young ruler was trying to justify himself and his thirst for God’s eternal life within him with his wrong thinking and religious pious life of doing for God. He knew in his heart that he was missing God inside him despite his strictly religious life from his childhood. He has become blinded to the truth that man can only have relationship with God as his children, because of his covetous heart attitude which blinded his view of God. When this young rich ruler somehow wanted to justify himself he said to Jesus, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect [(Matt 5:58; 6:9-13)], go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions” (Matt 19:20-22). Only perfect people can enter the kingdom of God. Those who have received Jesus Christ in to their hearts as their Lord [One Master (Matt 6:24)] and Savior of their life, and follow Jesus everyday are those who are considered as perfect by God because of a divine exchange of substitution that happened at the baptism of Jesus and got culminated at the cross. These are the people who will really love God in spite of the circumstances and the hardship they go through in their daily lives as the members of the family of God (Matt 19:23-30). Those guys who are truly living a religious life with riches have the last and least probability of getting qualified in the kingdom of God because of their utter dependence on their wealth and doings rather than in God. But with God working with them in their lives, it is possible for them to change their attitude towards God even being rich, but only if they seek after God (Matt 19:23-26; 6:31-33).

Only a true son or a daughter can inherit his father’s property in the future (Rom 8:14, 19; Gal 4:1-7). It is also the same with God. Heaven, salvation and its benefits cannot be earned because it is God’s property that can only be inherited [Note: Cannot be earned by working our way which always demands wages to those who have worked]. To inherit is to be legally born in a family or be adopted in to a family and then develop in the same characteristics of the Father of the house and become pleasing to him so that at the end because of his own benevolence he will give his property to his children as he wills. In the same way we can only inherit [Note: not earn our way as though God in indebted to us] the kingdom of God because Father God has only a family and not a religion. So only as the Bible says, We have been adopted in to the Heavenly Father’s family and He expects us to grow in His likeness so that at the end, he will reward us with his property which is the kingdom of God which will be established in the future (Rom 8:14-17,29-30; Matt 25:34). Jesus was the first person who exhibited the perfect character of the Heavenly Father on earth for us to follow after Him and be like Him in the family of God (John 14:9-11; 17:20-23; Rom 8:29; Heb 2:10-11). Jesus became like us humans physically [i.e. the image of the man of the dust] so that we can become like Him spiritually [i.e. the image of the heavenly Man] (Heb 2:17-18; Phil 2:5-11; Eph 2:5-6; 1 Cor 15:42-49). In other words Jesus put upon Himself an earth suit of dust so that we may be able to wear a heavenly suit of revived, God-connected dominion-spirit inside of us. This is the reason that the character of our Heavenly Father must be lived out by us essentially rather to just serve Him with the gifts [i.e. possessions] which He has given us. It is the Father’s character genes in us which gives us the right to enter His home in heaven as His very own child (Luke 15:11-32). To be separated [i.e. dead v32] away from our Heavenly Father symbolically represents those of us who practice sinning which God hates which is the state of the Heavenly Father’s Lost son before he was found alive, and those of us who live with the heart attitude of repentance everyday are those who are the once lost son who are found and are alive again (Luke 15:32; I John 3:9). The repentant son of God will not again go in to the sinning mode of life rejecting all the restraint of the restrainer who is the Holy Spirit of God (Ezekiel 36:27; 1 John 3:6-8; Gen 6:3; 2 Thess 2:7), leaving the Heavenly Father again who hates sin but loves the sinner (Isaiah 59:2).
    

The repentant sons who have returned to the Father God will start to hate sin and will start to love their Heavenly Father’s character (Prov 8:13; 14:2; 2 Cor 6:16-18). One has to start loving the head of the family and his loving character in order to continue in the adopted family which the father runs and provides. We too as the sons of our Heavenly Father need to train ourselves to love our Father’s character of righteousness and hate soulish evil, wickedness and lawlessness of Satan which He hates (Heb 1:9; 1 John 3:4,8). In this way, loving the character of our Heavenly Father and letting it out of our spirit to influence our soul is more important than using his gifts [i.e. gifts of physical, soulish and spiritual ability] and possessions that He has given. As we see that this character of our Heavenly Father is supplied by the Spirit of the Father who lives in us (James 1:17; 3:17-18; Matt 10:20). This is why the most essential thing in the life of a believer as a part of God the Father’s family is to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit for the glory of God the Father. This is the reason Jesus emphasized that He as the keeper of the vineyard of God revealed that God has come seeking through Him for fruit [Note: God distributed gifts of sustenance and nourishment for the growth of the tree though Jesus, but was seeking for fruit in return] in the nation of Israel (Luke 13:6-9). When God did not find fruit till the end of the ministry of Jesus, the nation of Israel got symbolically cursed by God through Jesus for not at all bearing fruit by rejecting Jesus as their Savior and Messiah (Mark 21:18-22, 42-43). In the same vein Jesus emphasized the need for fruit in John 15: 1-2, 5-8 saying, “1 I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit….4 As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me…5 He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” When we abide or dwell in the words of Jesus, we will bear much fruit. As the followers of Jesus, only when we bear much fruit, our Father is glorified. The branch [i.e. believer] that does not bear fruit, God the Father takes it away from the Vine and he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they [i.e. angels of God (Matt 13:40-42)] gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned (Matt 7:17-20). Every branch that bears fruit Father God will prune and cut it further. In other words the person who is obedient to God may find the going tough in His spiritual journey. But the tough goings will be working together for good in the life of a God-lover because he is called by God according to His purpose (Rom 8:28). As a true Father corrects his children in the natural world for his good so does Our Heavenly Father will allow trials in the life of His obedient children for building them up further spiritually (Heb 12:4-11). This will bring forth still much fruit in the lives of the sons of God. So we come to the conclusion that fruit bearing [i.e. God-kind of character development] in each person’s life is more important than the manifestation of gifts through their ministry in the Body of Christ. Praise the Lord!