Glory Shine On Me... Jesus Lives

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

This book is written in the hope that those who do not know the Lord intimately will be drawn to Him; for those who have lost their way to be restored back to Him. Many people do not know that our God lives. Many have heard that Jesus died for us and was buried, but fail to understand that He rose on the third day and is now seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven, making intercession for us. God wants us to come into the complete knowledge of who and what He is. God’s unconditional love and desire for His people is that none should perish, but come to repentance and be saved.

Through scriptures taken from the Bible, teachings from Bishop Barbara Glanton of The Love of Jesus Family Church of Newark, The International School of the Prophets, Kingdom Family Worship Center Prayer line and my own personal experiences with the Lord, I have attempted to present what the Holy Spirit has revealed to me. I will explain how God moves in our lives, what He expects from us and what we need to do in order to achieve the best He has for us.

Over the years, I have had many misconceptions about God and His word. It occurred to me that there might be others out there who may have some of the same misunderstandings. When you come from the Caribbean and other cultural backgrounds, there are many things you grow up hearing that are either myths, traditions or folklore; you grow up believing these things and thinking they are all true and are from the Bible. Yet, in fact, they are not. There are many people out there looking for God in all the wrong places and have wound up in cults and wrong doctrines, needing a lifeline to come up out of those situations. They need a guide to light their path and show them the way out of darkness. It is my hope that this book will help to accomplish this task by showing people who and what God truly is.

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever wondered why you are where you are in life and why others are able to walk into their wealthy place? Why is it you still seem to remain in fear, poverty and lack? Have these questions ever troubled your mind? If so, let’s look at the reasons why. Plain and simple, this is because others have learned that you can have what God says you can, if you confess it with your mouth and believe in your heart. You, on the other hand, are confessing with your mouth and believing in your heart what the enemy has allowed you to think you can or cannot have. It is God’s desire for you to have the best and it is Satan’s desire to deceive you into believing you have to settle for a life of mediocrity; he tricks you into believing this is all you can have.

Satan is the enemy and the adversary has established road blocks in your mind to prevent you from walking into the abundance God has for you. As you go through life, stumbling over these road blocks, whose report are you believing? You can tell by what comes out of your mouth, your actions, and the results that have manifested in your life. There are promises God has made to His people, but if we are not in an atmosphere in which we are reminded of those promises, we tend to lose sight of what they are. You will find that you might be living the report the enemy has established in your mind without consciously realizing it. Take a look at what you are saying. What are the results? What can you do to develop a fresh spiritual way of thinking that will bring you into the abundance God has for you? Make up your mind to go God’s way since His way is the only way to all He has for you.

You have the power to speak blessings and/or curses over your life. And guess what? Every day you speak curses! You do it all the time without even realizing it. Without thinking you say things like, I am so broke, I do not have a penny to my name, or I am feeling so sick, I don’t have the energy to lift my head…This headache is killing me, or this food is to die for. Or, you exclaim, oh stupid me! Our words will either build us up or tear us down. You have to choose to use words that will empower and build you up.

Remember the scripture, in James 3:8, says, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. When you make such declarations, Satan, the enemy, takes it and makes it manifest in your life. Those negative words become alive and bring sickness, disease, poverty and lack. Negative words create an atmosphere of defeat that shape and determine the type of future you will have. What you speak today will determine what you have tomorrow. In Matthew 12:36 it says, but I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. Every time we open our mouths and speak, our words change our future, one way or the other, for our good or bad.

What is your desire? Is it to live a life of victory or one of defeat? In the tongue, there is the power of life and of death. Proverbs 18:21 tells us, those who love it, will eat its fruit. What this means is that, those who love to talk will reap the consequences of what they say. Whatever you say out of your mouth, will manifest for good or for bad in your life. The negative things you speak become a self-inflicted curse on your life and that of your family.

Whatever you speak out of your mouth, you give power to it. There are some people who just speak, rambling on and on just because they have a mouth and they love to hear themselves talk, not even paying attention to what comes out of it. Know that it is not what people say about you that matters; it is what you say out of your mouth about yourself because death and life is in the power of your tongue. Stop worrying about what people are saying about you and know that it is what God says about you that matters. You have to come into agreement with what God is saying about you as a child of God.

Examine yourself. Are you speaking life to what needs to live and death to what needs to die? It is up to you to declare out of your mouth, when you wake up in the morning, that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you (Philippians 4:19). It is up to you to pray, take authority over the atmosphere surrounding you, and bring into captivity and nullify all negative and evil words that have ever been spoken by you or against you and your family. It is up to you to toss those negative words right back to hell where they belong. You will find that this will be your first step towards something good.

God’s grace and love is renewed every morning. When you wake up each new day, command the blessings of God over your life instead of waking up complaining, speaking words of defeat and lack. There are people who, as soon as they awake in the morning, instead of having an attitude of gratitude and being thankful to God for a new day, they start off thinking and speaking words of defeat. Cast down every wicked imagination and do not allow words of negativity to settle in your heart and mind to bring dejection and defeat.

It is time to stop entertaining the devil and start looking to the Lord, where our help comes from (Psalms 121:1). Jesus is our greatest help in time of need. He is our Creator and our Savior who shed His blood and died for us; then He rose. He is our closest Friend; our Refuge and Strength and our Help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1). He is our Strong Tower. Jesus is the one we call on for every need we have ever had or will ever have. He is the Giver of salvation; the God who heals and restores. He is the Foundation on which we build our lives.

By putting your faith and trust in Him, you can expect a great turnaround in every area of your life. Just position yourself to receive from God. There is a time and a season for everything; this is your time and season to walk in victory and in the abundance God has for you.

All God is asking is for you to hold fast to your faith. Lean not to your own understanding, but trust and obey Him. Walk by faith and not by sight. No matter what it looks like in the natural, believe God for something supernatural, and for victory in every situation. God requires loyalty. He wants His people to love Him, and love and pray for one another. Jesus is Lord over all and desires that His people walk with Him, and partake of the abundance and prosperity He has in store for them.

You will find that your biggest challenge will be to let go of those old preconceived notions you have held all of your life and to let go and let God. Allow the Holy Spirit to open your mind and your heart to a new way of thinking, acting and speaking that will cause you to live victoriously through faith in Christ Jesus. Put God first in everything you do and you will see His manifested glory in your life. Jesus is the way to everything you desire in this life. Today, your journey begins.

The Covenant of God’s Commandment

A covenant is described as an agreement between two or more parties that, if upheld or broken; the consequences are either negative or positive. There is either a reward or a punishment for what we speak out of our mouths. Our words have the ability and power to change what is the predestined will of God for our lives, and can place us into an atmosphere of defeat that negates what Christ Jesus did on the cross of Calvary for our salvation over two thousand years ago. The negative consequences of what we speak place us on a path that God did not intend for mankind, which brings excruciating pain and suffering.

The covenant between God and His Son, Jesus—His dying on the cross of Calvary to make atonement by suffering for our sins and transgressions, being raised from the dead to make intercession for us, with God the Father in heaven—is what has kept mankind today from the wrath of God. Jesus’ suffering on the Cross appeased God’s anger towards mankind. All the wrath that was to come upon us; God poured it out on His Son. Jesus had to suffer the way that He did so that God’s grace could abound towards us. God’s promise of grace to mankind to receive salvation tells us of what He has done for us, what should be our obligations towards Him, and the consequences of our decisions and actions.

In the dictionary, salvation is defined as the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, or destruction, and this is what Jesus came to do for us. Luke 19:10 tells us that the Son of Man came to seek and to save, through salvation, those whom are lost. Salvation is the redemption or purchasing of the penalty for our sins; and the price that Jesus paid was His suffering and death on the cross of Calvary. Jesus paid a very high price for us, one that no one else can afford or will be willing to pay for us. The word of God tells us that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus; and the bible tells us that Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and God rose Him up on the third day and He is now sitting on the right hand side of the Father in heaven, making intercession for us. So we have a lot to be thankful to God for. He will take care of us, for we are the apple of His eye.

The Bible tells us in Romans 5:8 that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. He came to seek and to save, so that none should perish but come to repentance. Jesus did not come for those who are already saved, He came for us sinners:, the prostitute, the thief, the liar, the drug user and dealer, the murderer, the rapist, the idol worshiper, adulterer and fornicator, to name a few. God hates sin but He loves the sinner. The Bible tells us in John 3:16 that For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that, who so ever believes in Him, should not perish but have eternal life. What an amazing God. All you need to do is believe. Let’s look at what He has promised us.

God’s promises to us are seen in the Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai, which state and should dictate our moral characteristics, values, and behavior. God’s promises and the consequences of our obedience or disobedience to those commandments are stated throughout His word.

There are many promises that God has made to His people; however, there are ten things which God has commanded, to guide us into the life that He has chosen and ordained for us and, if we follow these commands, then the rest will follow. There are 613 commandments in the Bible, but we will focus on the top ten given to Moses to share with God’s people. In John 14:15, Jesus said, If you love me, keep my commandments. They are as follows:

The first few commandments deal with our love for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, which should be with all our heart, mind, and strength, and in which we are also asked to love one another as we love ourselves. The Psalmist David wrote in Psalm 103:1, Bless the Lord O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Everything within the Psalmist is crying out his love for the Lord. We have to love the Lord with everything within us. That does not stop us from loving others; in fact, it helps us to love others even more.

When we look at God’s love for us, we cannot help but to love Him in re-turn. God’s love fills our heart and it flows outwardly to those that we come in contact with. It is strengthened in what we do. We must not only love those who love us but we also love those who make it difficult for us to love them. So, we are to love the Lord to the point where we long and thirst after Him. We should desire to love the Lord with all of our being, and all that we are, then turn around and love each other with the love of God.

As children of God, we should be carriers of His love. We are meant to be the vehicles that God uses to transport and distribute His love throughout the world. God’s love should be felt and seen in and throughout the lives of His people. For the word of God tells us, as Christ is, so are we in this earth and God is love. God’s love should spread through the hearts and lives of everyone we meet, infecting everyone that we come in contact with until it becomes like an epidemic that spreads throughout the world, breaking the yoke of the enemy off of the lives of God’s people.

Love coupled with prayers should be the guiding force in front of every-thing that we do. Therefore, everything that we do should be done with love and with patience. For love conquers all. I tell you, my sisters and brothers, the word of God says in James 1:2-4 to Count it all joy when you fall into di-verse temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Everything that you do, do it with love; for the things that you go through are preparing and building you up for where God is going to take you and for whatever He has in store for you. Patience is one of those virtues found among the Fruit of the Spirit, which we want to develop because the word of God tells us, by their fruits, you will know them. For whatever comes out of a person shows and tells us who and whose they are. So, as children of God, we have to examine ourselves from time to time to determine the kind of fruit that we are producing.

We need to be like the woman in the book of the Song of Solomon, seek-ing after the love of God. We need to go about searching for our beloved, the one our heart loves and who dearly loves us, and do not give up, and when we find Him, we should hold on and not let Him go. He is the rose of Sharon to our hearts. He is the Lily of the Valley and the Bright and Morning Star. He is everything to us, or He should be. God shows great mercy to those that love and obey Him.

Because God first loved us, we ought to in turn love Him in the same way. We all know that Jesus is Lord. It is Jesus who rescued us and brought us out of captivity, out of a land of slavery, and we are commanded to have no other gods before Him! Anything that we idolize and love can become our god, and the Lord has commanded us to have no other gods besides Him.

Sometimes we have no intention of putting things ahead of God but the things of this world hold their own enticement that sucks us in (the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh), and before we know it, we are focused on things far longer than we had first intended. The problem is that it is time that we would have normally spent on the things of God— and this could be anything, it does not refer to any one specific thing.

Sometimes you find yourself just wanting to do something different or to go somewhere that you have not gone in a long time and, before you know it, you are visiting there more often and you do not realize how much time you are spending on things and in places that have nothing to do with God nor the things of God. This robs you of precious moments in the presence of God that, once lost, cannot be recaptured, because they cannot be replaced.

Take a look at where your focus is, and how much of it is on the Almighty God who created all things. Money, jewelry, drugs and alcohol, and gambling, can become our god; our cars and our houses, our husbands, wives, and children can also become our god. We have to be very careful because, whatever we focus on the most, that is what we will put first.

I encourage you to take a piece of paper and write down the things that you do in a week. For some, this will be simple and, for others, whose lives are so busy, it is going to be more involved. But the more busy you are, the more you are going to have to be careful and need to do this because you may not realize that you are too busy for