This is an issue that bothers many people who have an incomplete understanding of three things: the nature of God, the nature of man, and the nature of sin. As fallen, sinful human beings, the nature of God is a difficult concept for us to grasp. We tend to see God as a kind, merciful Being whose love for us overrides and overshadows all His other attributes. Of course God is loving, kind, and merciful, but He is first and foremost a holy and righteous God. So holy is He that He cannot tolerate sin. He is a God whose anger burns against the wicked and disobedient (Isaiah 5:25; Hosea 8:5; Zechariah 10:3). He is not only a loving God—He is love itself! But the Bible also tells us that He hates all manner of sin (Proverbs 6:16-19). And while He is merciful, there are limits to His mercy. “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7).

Humanity is corrupted by sin, and that sin is always directly against God. When David sinned by committing adultery with Bathsheba and having Uriah murdered, he responded with an interesting prayer: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight…” (Psalm 51:4). Since David had sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah, how could he claim to have only sinned against God? David understood that all sin is ultimately against God. God is an eternal and infinite Being (Psalm 90:2). As a result, all sin requires an eternal punishment. God’s holy, perfect, and infinite character has been offended by our sin. Although to our finite minds our sin is limited in time, to God—who is outside of time—the sin He hates goes on and on. Our sin is eternally before Him and must be eternally punished in order to satisfy His holy justice.

No one understands this better than someone in hell. A perfect example is the story of the rich man and Lazarus. Both died, and the rich man went to hell while Lazarus went to paradise (Luke 16). Of course, the rich man was aware that his sins were only committed during his lifetime. But, interestingly, he never says, “How did I end up here?” That question is never asked in hell. He does not say, “Did I really deserve this? Don't you think this is a little extreme? A little over the top?” He only asks that someone go to his brothers who are still alive and warn them against his fate.

Like the rich man, every sinner in hell has a full realization that he deserves to be there. Each sinner has a fully informed, acutely aware, and sensitive conscience which, in hell, becomes his own tormenter. This is the experience of torture in hell—a person fully aware of his or her sin with a relentlessly accusing conscience, without relief for even one moment. The guilt of sin will produce shame and everlasting self-hatred. The rich man knew that eternal punishment for a lifetime of sins is justified and deserved. That is why he never protested or questioned being in hell.

The realities of eternal damnation, eternal hell, and eternal punishment are frightening and disturbing. But it is good that we might, indeed, be terrified. While this may sound grim, there is good news. God loves us (John 3:16) and wants us to be saved from hell (2 Peter 3:9). But because God is also just and righteous, He cannot allow our sin to go unpunished. Someone has to pay for it. In His great mercy and love, God provided His own payment for our sin. He sent His Son Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for our sins by dying on the cross for us. Jesus’ death was an infinite death because He is the infinite God/man, paying our infinite sin debt, so that we would not have to pay it in hell for eternity (2 Corinthians 5:21). If we confess our sin and place our faith in Christ, asking for God’s forgiveness based on Christ’s sacrifice, we are saved, forgiven, cleansed, and promised an eternal home in heaven. God loved us so much that He provided the means for our salvation, but if we reject His gift of eternal life, we will face the eternal consequences of that decision.

Most often its our sins that convict, condemn and torment us, not God. Being separated from God and living with sin for all eternity is what hell is all about. God does not send people to hell. They go there all by themselves.

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Speaking of the nation of Israel, Deuteronomy 7:7-9 tells us, “The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your forefathers that He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commands.”

God chose the nation of Israel to be the people through whom Jesus Christ would be born—the Savior from sin and death (John 3:16). God first promised the Messiah after Adam and Eve’s fall into sin (Genesis chapter 3). God later confirmed that the Messiah would come from the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Genesis 12:1-3). Jesus Christ is the ultimate reason why God chose Israel to be His special people. God did not need to have a chosen people, but He decided to do it that way. Jesus had to come from some nation of people, and God chose Israel.

However, God’s reason for choosing the nation of Israel was not solely for the purpose of producing the Messiah. God’s desire for Israel was that they would go and teach others about Him. Israel was to be a nation of priests, prophets, and missionaries to the world. God’s intent was for Israel to be a distinct people, a nation who pointed others towards God and His promised provision of a Redeemer, Messiah, and Savior. For the most part, Israel failed in this task. However, God’s ultimate purpose for Israel—that of bringing the Messiah into the world—was fulfilled perfectly in the Person of Jesus Christ.

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"Is anyone among you afflicted?  He should pray."  James 5:13

If you are in trouble, you need to pray.  That's what the Word of God says.  Notice it didn't say your pastor needs to pray for you or your friends need to pray for you.  It says, YOU need to pray.

Too often we try to find a quick fix to our problems by asking everyone else to pray for us.  There's nothing wrong with having others pray for you, but you will never get your life to a place of permanent victory until you begin to pray yourself.

The biggest church in the world is in Seoul, Korea.  It has more than 700,000 members and the pastor was asked how the church got so large.  According to Dr. Cho, the key is prayer.  Not just his prayers, but the prayers of his people. Praying is a way of life in that church.  They have a place called Prayer Mountain where thousands of people come every day to pray.  When the church members are in trouble, before they do anything else, the church members are told to go and fast and pray for 24 hours.

We need to quit running around asking others to pray for us and learn to do our own praying.   If I pray for God to solve one problem for you, you may enjoy success for a while, but then another problem will come along because you'll still be making the same old mistakes that got you in trouble in the first place.  But if you do that praying for yourself, if you discipline yourself to start searching out the things of the Spirit, you'll get permanent answers and you will learn to make adjustments in your life that will keep those problems from cropping up again.

If you have made Jesus your Lord, you have access to the throne of Almighty God.  He has every solution to every problem you will ever have and He's just waiting for you to come to Him, so He can give you the answer.  It may take some private time alone with Him for you to hear, but He will never disappoint you.  Don't depend on others to do your praying for you.  Go personally to the throne of God and obtain mercy today.
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• It is to close the doors opened to the enemy
• It is to damage the works of Satan in your life
• It is to undo heavy burdens
• It is to break evil yokes
• It is to possess one's possession
• It is to escape from every satanic prison
• It is to capture back what the enemy has stolen
• It is to be victorious in your dreams at all times
• It is to serve quit notice on every infirmity
• It is to kill every satanic embargo
• It is to break every evil covenant
• It is to destroy the chains of darkness
• It is to break curses and spells
• It is to hunt down and destroy destructive habits
• It is to send back evil arrows to the senders
• It is finding your place in the market square of life
• It is the destruction of satanic dreams
• It is release from the altars of affliction
• It is release from witchcraft cages
• It is correct positioning
• It is to break the chain of poverty

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God isn't against you having money. He's against money having you. He's against you making it your priority and putting your trust in it instead of in Him. Why? because He knows money makes a lousy god. Its power is limited. It will only buy so much. It will only go so far. If you need healing from an incurable disease, money won't help you at all. If your family is falling apart, ,money won't mend it. But if you'll seek God first, His prosperity will reach into every area of your life.

God is so generous that He desires for you to have the best on this earth, must as you desire the best for your children. His plan is for you to have all of your needs met according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Get in on that plan by keeping your priorities straight. Seek HIM first and HIS righteousness. Make pleasing God you No. 1 priority. Set your eyes on Him above all else and all these things will be added to you.

No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Matt. 6:23 [kcm.org] » Read More

The main difference between Christianity and religion is that religion requires you to please God in some manner (works, deeds, attitude, penance, proselytizing, etc.) to atone for your shortcomings or sins. In Christianity, God recognized that man could never do enough "good works" to please Him, so He sent His Son Jesus to make appeasement on behalf of mankind. By accepting Jesus' sacrifice as being done on your behalf, turning from your own life and efforts, and commiting to follow Jesus as your Lord, you become a Christian. At that point the Holy Spirit of God re-creates your human spirit causing you to be born again. The scriptures teach that you are then to renew your mind with the word of God and bring your body into line with what is pleasing to God. Any "christian" group or denomination that promotes salvation through our own efforts has turned from the Grace of God and become a dead religion. Good works are not done to become a Christian, good works are the result of becoming a Christian with a renewed mind.

The sacrifices, feasts, ordinances and other aspects of the Old Testament were pointing towards and symbolizing the sacrifice and work that Jesus did on the cross."

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Rest commands results. Trust commands your rest. Its when you hold your peace that God will fight for you. God only fights for you when you hold your peace. God only fights when you take your rest because while you are taking your rest, that’s when he can provoke a supernatural intervention to show up and to fight for you. When you can take your rest, when everything else is going on around you, and you’re in confidence and you had an expression of commitment and you’ve made God your source, and you’ve gotten to the point where you have ceased from your labor, and you have taken your rest, that’s when Jehovah will command supernatural intervention to show up and fight and he now fill fight your battle while you hold your peace.

Thank you Jesus.

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Some people stop  dreaming when times get tough.  Some people lose their vision when things get rough.  Why stop dreaming, because one of them didn’t come true when you thought it should? Why stop now? You’ve come so far. If you can make your mind line up with your spirit, and your dreams, then your dreams will become your reality. It has to. It has no choice.

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is of Joseph. Joseph had a dream and his brothers wanted to kill him for dreaming. Sometimes when you dream you will go through all kinds of hell to see it come to pass. When you share your dream with others, some people will get mad at you, call you crazy and eventually try to discourage you.

Right now in these tough economic times in our country there are lots of people who are wondering how they're going to pay the mortgage or the rent, or feed your families. And there are lots of people who have lost their houses and jobs and the very same people that brought over the house warming gifts are laughing at them now. I understand the hurt, but don't let it get you down.  I admire and respect people so much that have a dream and go for it. Don’t ever lose that GO FOR IT attitude because you will see your dreams come true as long as you don’t operate in fear. After you’ve done all stand and stand some more.

So what happens when you had this big dream and it seems to be falling apart? You seem to be losing it…what do you do? I look to this story of Joseph, and you really should read this Bible story. It’s fascinating. It is so parallel to what is going on right now in this country. But this is what happened. When his dream seemed to be falling apart he did something awesome. The Bible says Joseph dreamed another dream. Dream another dream. If one thing fails, try something else. Learn from your mistakes and try it again. So what if it got hard for a season, it will only be that way for a season. I cannot even begin to tell you all the times I failed, but every failure in your life will bring your dream closer to you. I know that sounds crazy but it’s so true. It’s okay to fail, now get up and keep dreaming. Don’t stop dreaming because you may have lost something. It’s hard to see a dream come to pass, but if you believe, it has no choice.

Everywhere you look you see all of this talk about the economy and gloom and doom. Turn that mess off. Stop letting that get into your spirit. Tune it out, watch things that will encourage you. Listen to things that will uplift you.

Now if you feel like you are being led by God to do something in these economic times that most people will think is crazy. Do it.  The ones who may not have a dime but are feeling like something great is about to break free in their lives. You are so right if this is what you’re feeling. I have a suggestion if you’ll take my humble advice
-- HAVE NO FEAR! ONLY BELIEVE! Give thanks for where you are. I know that may be hard to do, but there is a liberty in being thankful. And lastly, give, give, give. There is power in giving.  You reap what you sow. If you want favor from God, sow it into someone else.

God bless you and know that this too shall pass, and you will be so much better when it does.

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... when you give yourself to the will of God for things which are eternal. » Read More

Prophetic words of Kim Clement. 

From Dallas, TX- Changes with Petroleum

May 22, 2005 - Dallas, TX

"For the Spirit of God says, do you realize that there is a marked moment in time in the summer where there will be a divine transference of masses of amounts of money? Keep your eye on the gold. Keep your eye on that one substance. Also keep your eyes open for you shall see things changing with petroleum. You shall see things changing with something new that shall come forth. Invest into it says the Spirit of the Lord. You'd better listen some of you investors. This is not petroleum. This is not oil. This is something else that is safer and God wants to share a secret tonight. Go and study it. I don't have the words. The Spirit of the Lord has hidden it from me. But He tells me there's something other than petroleum or gas or whatever you call it, oil, that's coming forth that's gonna be used. Invest in it for it will bring some of you millions of dollars within a 14 month period says the Lord. It begins with an E. That's all I've got. Now if anybody wants to become very rich, get ready because the stock market's gonna open up. NASDAQ is opening up. There are things opening up in the public places that God says I'm gonna pour out and give to you what rightfully belongs to you if you want it!"

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