The Valley of Fruitfulness, Part 2

The Valley of Fruitfulness, Part 2
(En Español)
"How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion! Passing through the valley of Baca [weeping] they make it a spring" (Ps. 84:5-6).

The Highway to Zion
Has the enemy isolated you, causing you to doubt God's love? Do not forget, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Even the hairs on your head are numbered. He cares. It is His love for us that redeems our hardships, which not only brings good out of what was meant for evil but also trains us to deliver others.
Consider Joseph. He was the second youngest of Jacob's sons and his father's favorite. His walk with God began with dreams and visions. Joseph's life is a pattern for many who have had a genuine call from God. Our walk with God may also have begun with a "travel brochure" of dreams and visions where God gives us a picture of His destination for us. What we fail to see is the route to the fulfillment of God's promises.
Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and delivered up by them to die. He was unjustly accused when Potiphar's wife tried to seduce him. He was imprisoned and forgotten by all except God, who was patiently watching and measuring Joseph's reactions to difficulty.
Rich or poor, blessed or smitten, regardless of his circumstances, Joseph served God. He continued to pass his tests. Joseph was on trial before men, but he was found innocent before God.
Finally, at the right moment, the Lord suddenly connected all the loose ends of Joseph's life. Everything that he went through, as unfair as each thing was, God used to shape him for Heaven's purpose.
God alone sees the future and how the promises He gives us will unfold. Our task is to lay hold of Christ's integrity and keep faith in what God has promised. Just as He allowed Joseph to go through many trials, so He allows us to go through great conflicts as well. For He knows that our lives, tested as they are, will help others find the shelter of the Most High in their lives.
"Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, 'For,' he said, 'God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household'" (Gen. 41:51). God caused Joseph to forget the difficulty and pain of his life. There is something wonderful about the Lord's capacity to cause all things to work for good. With Jesus in our lives, a time ultimately comes when God causes us to forget all the troubles of the past.
"He named the second Ephraim, 'For,' he said, 'God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction'" (Gen. 41:52).
God made Joseph fruitful in the very land of his affliction -- and in the land of your affliction, in your battle, is the place where God will make you fruitful. Ultimately, the Lord will touch many others with the substance of what you have gained. In a world that is superficial, Christ will produce something in you that is deep and living.
God has not promised to keep us from valleys and sufferings, but He has promised to make us fruitful in them. Without a doubt we each will pass through valleys before we reach our final goal in God. As we remain faithful to Him in trials, the character and nature of Christ Jesus will emerge in our lives.
Lord, You are God of the mountains and the valleys. I know that Your faithfulness is my shield and my bulwark. Thank You for redeeming the conflicts of my life; I praise You for healing me and causing me to forget all the trauma of my past. Now, Lord, help me now to help others as well.

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The preceding excerpt is adapted from the book The Shelter of the Most High by Pastor Frangipane. This book with associated audio resources is available at www.arrowbookstore.com.

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The TRUE GOSPEL

The TRUE GOSPEL
by David Wilkerson

What is the true gospel of Jesus Christ?

The Lord told Peter, "If any man will come after me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Matthew 16:24).

Clearly, belonging to Jesus' Church means more than simply
believing in Him. Many Christians today merely "cast a vote for
Jesus." Their attitude is, "I voted for Christ. That makes me a
member of His party." But once they cast their vote, they walk
away and forget all about His lordship over their lives.

Jesus says belonging to His Church means committing to follow
Him. And that involves a life of self-denial and taking up a cross.
"He that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me is not worthy
of me" (Matthew 10:38).

Our Lord makes it clear: "If you're in My church, then be prepared
to suffer and be persecuted for your faith in Me. Be prepared to
deny yourself all fame, acceptance and worldly pleasure-seeking."

The fact is, Christ's Church has never been approved or accepted
by the world and it never will be. If you live for Jesus, you won't
have to separate yourself from others' company; they'll do it for
you. All you have to do is live for Him and you'll find yourself
reproached, rejected, called evil: "Men shall hate you, and . . .
shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you,
and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake"
(Luke 6:22).

Yet, Jesus adds, this is the path that leads to true fulfillment.
"Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will
lose his life for my sake shall find it" (Matthew 16:25). In other
words: "The only way you'll find meaning in life is by selling out
your all for Me. Then you'll find true joy, peace and satisfaction."
Christ tells us, "My Church is without spot or wrinkle. So when
you come to Me, you must be willing to lay down all sins. You
must surrender all to Me, to die completely to self, to all ungodly
ambition and ego. By faith, you'll be buried with Me. But I will
raise you up into new life."

-Source-

http://sermons.worldchallenge.org/en/node/34218

© 2015 World Challenge. All rights reserved. PO Box 260, Lindale,
TX 75771-0260, (903) 963-8626

Surrender of the Vision Keeper

Surrender of the Vision Keeper
(En Español)

To walk with God is to walk a path of increasing surrender and trust. Indeed, the time is at hand when the Lord Jesus shall confront our tendencies to control Him. Not only will we know doctrinally that Christ is Lord, but we will also serve Him as Lord.

Christ in Us
To better understand the changes God is initiating in the church, we are going to study the life of Mary, Jesus' mother. God had blessed Mary more than any other woman. She alone was granted the wondrous privilege of giving birth to the Son of God.

While the Lord's promise and purpose with Mary were unparalleled, in two significant ways His promise to us is similar. First, even as Mary received Christ into her physical body, we have received Jesus into our spirits. And second, as she birthed Christ, our quest is to see Jesus unfettered from the womb of our religion about Him. Our destiny is not just to carry Christ inside but also to reveal the fullness of His glory in this world.

Even now, abiding within our spirits, deeper and more profound than our church doctrines, is the actual Spirit of Christ. The consequence of this union of Christ's Spirit with our spirits expands the original seven days of Creation into the eighth day. We are new creatures in a new creation (Gal. 6:15). In this new beginning to God's eternal plan, Jesus Christ is the firstborn of a new race of men (1 Cor. 15:45).

As Jesus was both God and man, so the church is actually the dwelling of Christ in the temple of man. There is not a different Jesus in us than He who dwells in Heaven. He is Christ wrapped in glory in Heaven; He is Christ wrapped in our human flesh on Earth.

Our salvation is nothing less than the Perfect One dwelling in the imperfect ones, the Almighty abiding in the feeble, the all-sufficient God dwelling among insufficient people. This is the mystery and glory of our salvation: Christ in His completeness has extended Himself into our lives!

Crucial to the success of His mission is our receiving these truths with faith, determining that they shall be our reality, not just our theology. It is here, in this carrying of the actual presence of Christ within us, that we share with Mary the awe of God's purpose for us.

Jesus in Subjection
While Joseph was a good man, it was Mary who nurtured Jesus and continued to raise Him after Joseph died. In fact, we shall see that Mary became the matriarch of the family. Uniquely, under her spiritual influence, Jesus matured. It was natural that over time Mary would consider herself the Keeper of the Vision, Guardian of Him Who Is to Come, for in truth she was.

"And He continued in subjection to them" (Luke 2:51). This is an astonishing thought -- Jesus, Lord of Heaven, in subjection to a lowly carpenter and his wife. Yet if we think about it, is it not equally astonishing that the rule of Christ in His church is, at least in part, subject to our initiatives? He submits Himself to our schedules and to our service times. He works within the confinements of our weaknesses and temperaments. Yet we should honestly ask ourselves, is it a voice from Heaven or the traditions of earth that determines how long we shall worship Him on Sunday morning?

If the Lord so decided, in an instant He could reveal His majesty and draw trembling surrender from all mankind. However, He restrains Himself, choosing not to intimidate but to inspire our obedience. He has chosen to hide His glory not from us but in us. And then, in order to perfect our character, He subjects Himself to our initiatives of hunger and faith.

However, the fact that Jesus will accommodate and submit Himself to the conditions we offer Him does not mean that He has approved of our limitations upon Him. The standard of the church is not the church; it is Christ. This is our present dilemma: just as Jesus subjected Himself to Mary and Joseph and they became, for a time, the vision keepers, so we have assumed that Christ will continue to exist in subjection to us.

He will not. For as Jesus arises in His Lordship, to save us He must first deliver us from our efforts to control Him.

A Time to Let Go
It is significant that Mary still exercised matriarchal supervision over Jesus even after He was a mature man. At the wedding feast in Cana we find Jesus, His disciples, and Mary, the vision keeper. "They have no wine," Mary told her son. Jesus answered, "Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come" (John 2:3-4). In spite of what Jesus just said, Mary tells the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it" (v. 5). While I am amazed at the fact that the Father worked through Mary's orchestration of this miracle, the fact is, Jesus did not come forth to do the will of His mother but His Father. It was time for Jesus, Mary's son, to begin His ministry as Jesus, God's Son.

A significant and necessary reversal of authority was needed in Mary's relationship with Christ -- a change that she had not anticipated. In her mind, her sense of influence was simply a continuation of her God-given responsibility as vision keeper.

The problem of control worsened after the miracle at Cana: "After this He went down to Capernaum, He and His mother and His brothers and His disciples; and they stayed there a few days" (John 2:12). The verse reads, "He and His mother" went to Capernaum. Do you see? Mary, the keeper of the vision, has taken what she thinks is a legitimate position, an earned place of influence, with Christ.

In defense of Mary, she clearly has been with Jesus the longest; she has paid the highest price. More than anyone, she has heard the Word and believed it; her faith has borne Christ Himself! She has magnificently served the purposes of God. Perhaps she had every right to think that Christ could work the miracles as long as she remained a guiding influence. Her continued mothering was not evil but natural.

However, God had determined it was time for Jesus to be unfettered from all human influences of control. Jesus would now only do the things He saw His Father do.

This, I believe, is where God is jealously directing us: We are being emptied of our agendas, false expectations, and nonbiblical traditions so that Christ alone will be Lord over the church. God is requiring a fresh surrender of the vision keepers.

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Adapted from Francis Frangipane's book, The Days of His Presence, available at www.arrowbookstore.com. This message is also included in the In Christ's Image Training course - www.icitc.org.

"VICTORY over INGRAINED HABITS & STRONGHOLDS"

TWO YOUTUBE VIDEOS-

"VICTORY over INGRAINED HABITS & STRONGHOLDS"
by Andrew Strom


Do you know Christians who still suffer from depression, anger,
ingrained habits, abuse, addictions, strongholds of various kinds?
Is there really a practical way that God can literally destroy these
bondages overnight? As a teenager Andrew Strom suffered for
years from suicidal depression. And even as a Spirit-filled Christian
ten years later he still suffered from dark moods and anger caused
by the same issues in his life. But over a period of three days
God delivered him from every major stronghold.

In the two videos below, Andrew shares in a very practical way
how God delivered him from these things. And how you too can
be free in Jesus' name! Here are the videos below-

(1)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YRcIbT0UJ0

(2)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7MED4rf4Ew


If you know others who might be helped by these teachings,
please share the videos with them.

Special blessings to all.

AMAZING FILM TRAILER FROM TORBEN

AMAZING FILM TRAILER from TORBEN

A full-length film showing incredible healings and miracles and
baptisms out on the streets has been made by my old friend
Torben Sondergaard. People cry when they see the video clips.
Here is the first trailer for this amazing film-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1est65LcdI


Please pass it on.

Blessings to all.

More GREAT QUOTES

More GREAT QUOTES

"To silence a preacher from preaching judgment is like being
awoke from sleep by a fire alarm, and just silencing the alarm,
and going back to sleep."
--Unknown

"If I am content to heal a hurt slightly, saying "Peace, peace,"
where is no peace; if I forget the poignant word "Let love be
without dissimulation" and blunt the edge of truth, speaking
not right things but smooth things, then I know nothing of
Calvary love."
--Amy Carmichael

"Unless we have invested a great deal of time in our secret
ministry to the Lord then the shallowness of our public ministry
will be very evident. Today it is abundantly clear that not enough
time is spent ministering to the Lord, and way too much time
is spent ministering to people; hence, most of what is done in
the name of ministry is performed in a fleshly, human way
which never bears any lasting fruit."
--Chip Brogden

"It is now possible to live a "christian life" without doing the things
that Jesus commanded us to do. "We have hired people to go
into all the world, to visit those in prison, to feed the hungry, to
clothe the naked, to care for widows and orphans. The average
Christian doesn't have to do it."
-Cal Thomas

"Sympathy is no substitute for action." -- David Livingstone

The Stronghold of Christ's Likeness

The Stronghold of Christ's Likeness
(En Español)

God's Highest Purpose
Most Christians only engage in spiritual warfare with a hope of either relieving present distresses or attaining a "normal" existence. However, the purpose of all aspects of spirituality, warfare included, is to bring us into the image of Christ. Nothing -- not worship or warfare, neither love nor deliverance -- is truly attainable if we miss the singular objective of our faith: Christlikeness.

Let us recall that when the Lord delivered the ancient Hebrews out of Egypt it was so He could bring them into the Promised Land. Likewise, we are delivered out of sin, not that we might live for ourselves, but so we might come into Christlikeness. What we call "salvation" is the first phase of being conformed to Christ. If we fail to see this we easily become entangled in the same sins that oppressed us in the first place.

While we may not want to hear this, many of our spiritual conflicts simply are not going to cease until the character of the Lord Jesus is formed in our hearts. The Father's goal in delivering us is much more than simply seeing our burdens taken off our backs. Indeed, God is working all things in our lives to conform us "to the image of His Son." The Father's purpose in our salvation is that Jesus would become "the first-born among many brethren" (Rom. 8:29). In other words, to realize God's ultimate victory we must reach toward God's ultimate goal, which is complete transformation into the likeness of Christ.

When we are born again, the actual presence of the Lord Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, enters our lives. To the degree that we cooperate with God's will, God's glory will advance within us. Indeed, Jesus likened our salvation to the lighting of a lamp. He said, "If therefore your whole body is full of light, with no dark part in it, it will be wholly illumined, as when the lamp illumines you with its rays" (Luke 11:36).

This immediacy of the Lord's presence produces an indestructible defense, a fortress within us in which we are hidden from evil. Through Him, we enter the excellence of His ways in our relationships both with the Father and one another, thereby walking in immunity from countless satanic attacks. Indeed, as His fullness within us increases, then that which is written is fulfilled: "As He is, so also are we in this world" and "He who was born of God keeps [us], and the evil one does not touch [us]" (1 John 4:17; 1 John 5:18).

We must realize that it is not Satan who defeats us; it is our openness to him. To perfectly subdue the devil we must walk in the "shelter of the Most High" (Ps. 91:1). Satan is tolerated for one purpose: the warfare between the devil and God's saints thrusts us into Christlikeness, where the nature of Christ becomes our only place of rest and security. God allows warfare to facilitate His eternal plan, which is to make man in His image (Gen. 1:26).

Once we realize that the Father's goal is not just to save us but to transform us, we will continually find that God has one answer to all our spiritual problems: appropriate the nature of His Son!

Are you troubled by demons of fear or doubt? Submit those areas to God, repenting of your unbelief, and then yield yourself to Christ's faith within you. Are you troubled with spirits of lust and shame? Present those very areas of sin to God, repenting of your old nature, drawing upon the forgiveness of Christ and His purity of heart. It is a great truth that once the devil recognizes his assault against you has not pulled you from God but toward Him -- once he perceives that his temptations are actually forcing you to appropriate the virtue of Christ -- the enemy will withdraw.

Remember: your victory begins with the name of Jesus on your lips, but it will not be consummated until the nature of Jesus is in your heart.

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Adapted from Francis Frangipane's book, The Three Battlegrounds, available at www.arrowbookstore.com.

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In Christ's Image Training

Level I classes begin January 8, 2016

There are qualities of heart that actually attract the pleasure of God. If we possess unoffendable faith in our pursuit of Christ's likeness; if we walk humbly with our God; if we position ourselves in the intercessor's gap; and if we abide in Christ-centered unity with the local body of Christ -- we will attract the pleasure of God, and when we awaken His pleasure, His power soon follows. Sign up today for our next In Christ's Image Training course starting January 8. Registration closes Dec. 31, 2015. www.icitc.org.

In Christ's Image Training is a six-month, online course developed by Pastor Frangipane. It is based on 45 years of seeking God, study and revelatory insights. These are proven truths that break chains and lead to power in our Christian walk.

ICIT provides focused training in four essential stages of spiritual development:

The vision of attaining Christ's likeness
Possessing Christ's humility
Developing a strong prayer life
Becoming one with other Christ believers

The course comes right to your home via email and audio messages and is designed to lift one's focus toward the actual presence of Jesus Christ. The full course not only includes 44 lessons and 39 audio messages (sample audio), but the discerning student will actually find the Lord using the weekly lessons to stage opportunities to deepen the truths found in the training.

For those with limited funds, the entire text is free by email. Just enroll in the Free Lesson Plan.

Student testimonies   |   Francis presenting the course

Enrollment overview:

     1) Go to www.icitc.org and read through the Level I page, FAQ          page, Level I Syllabus page, and Tuition page.

     2) Choose an enrollment plan.

     3) Next, complete the Level I Registration form.

     4) Submit the registration form - registration closes Dec. 31. Class          begins January 8, 2016.

For more info, please see www.icitc.org.

Training also available in Spanish / Español

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