Tag Archive for: Christ

God’s Bosom

“No one has seen God at any time; the Only-begotten Son, who is in the BOSOM of the Father, He has declared Him.” John 1:18

What heaven is really like? It is to be in the bosom of your heavenly Father. You can catch a very fade glimpse of something alike when you are hugged by your earthly father or mother. The bosom of your parent is the place where you want to be. The bosom speaks of a great intimacy; Jesus is in the Bosom of the Father and in Christ you are in the same place, are you aware of this? I don’t want to sit on a throne in heaven just give me some space in the bosom of my heavenly Father and this is more than enough to me. The bosom of the Father can contain all of his children yet it remains intimate for each one. The bosom of the Father is the very center of heaven, you are in the heart of God, you are in a place rich in love for you night and day. You are in a place of security, protection, freedom, revelation, power and majesty. No word can describe the glory of being in the Bosom of the heavenly Father.

God longs for intimacy with you, many can hear God’s voice or see visions of the throne, this is wonderful and I want both but I long for something more, I long to touch him, to feel him and to worship him closely that I can be lost at my daddy’s feet. I want to be able to say with John the beloved: “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have TOUCHED–this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.” 1 John 1:1. In his bosom, you will be healed, restored and be made whole, in his bosom you will be victorious and stay victorious, in his bosom you will sense your great value unlike the prodigal son who reached the level of pigs and felt cheap and worthless when he abandoned his father. This place is so real to me and is so scary to the devil that he always tries to dethrone me out of it but no one can pluck me out of my Father’s hand but me John 10:29. Do you know this intimacy?

Glory to God
Tony Francis

The Truth about Prayer

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. (Romans 8:26-27)

It’s my firm belief that having a strong and a powerful prayer life begins with the revelation that I don’t know how to pray. This is what we just read in Romans 8:26 “we do not know what we ought to pray for” and scriptures always tell us the truth about ourselves. Bottom line, you and I don’t know how to pray God’s will. Then why would God tells us to have a prayer life if we don’t know how to pray? How can we respond to his calling and be successful in our prayer life as his priests?

I need HELP! Exactly! When you say: God Help! You are actually calling upon the name of the Holy Spirit for he is the Helper; he is your helper in your prayer life. One day, the disciples of Jesus woke up spiritually to the fact that they don’t know how to pray, thus they came to him asking to be taught how to pray, they wanted a prayer life like Jesus. So Jesus taught them by the Holy Spirit to pray the Lord’s Prayer according to their need at that time. I am not saying you can’t pray it nowadays, it is a wonderful pattern of prayer and we can learn much from it, what I am saying is that if you approach the Lord today asking him how to pray, I assure you he has something new to teach you by the Holy Spirit to pray forth. It is wonderful to pray the biblical prayers, but I believe that prayer is the outcome of a personal relationship with the Master; it is a personal encounter with the Spirit of Prayer.  If we only have written prayers to pray, then we don’t need the Holy Spirit. I believe in both, the Spirit and the Truth lifestyle. The time changed, the need changed, the prayer changed but the Holy Spirit has not changed. He is always here to pray through you, to birth prayers in you that will release the will of the Father on earth as it is in heaven. Let your attitude always be “Lord, what’s on your heart to pray? “ Prayer was never intended and designed by the Father for us to be done on our own, from one side. Prayer is a partnership with the Holy Spirit, it is being in agreement with him, and it is being tuned to his desires and his will. We don’t pray our will; we pray his will to be done. How can we know his will? The Holy Spirit knows God’s will and he reveals it to you. Heaven is waiting on you to stop depending on your resources and start cooperating with the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit is your prayer partner, you are not alone. Trust him to pray his perfect prayers through you.

Romans 8:27 “And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit”, did you notice in this verse that God searches our hearts when we pray, not our souls or flesh? This tells us that our prayers must come from our hearts, our spirit man where Holy Spirit dwells. Didn’t Jesus tell us when we pray to go to our secret chamber and pray from there? Prayers that are cultivated in intimacy with the Holy Spirit in your inner man will be rewarded openly by the Father.

These 3 revelations will revolutionize your prayer life: First, know that you don’t know how to pray. Second, know that you need to partner with the Holy Spirit in prayer. Third, know that you need to pray by revelation, prayers inspired by the Holy Spirit. We read in Exodus how God commanded Moses to build the tabernacle according to the heavenly map he showed him. This tabernacle is full of symbolic elements. In the Holy, where the priests used to minister unto God, you see the candlestick, the table of showbread and the altar of incense. God commanded Moses that the oil of the anointing which represents the Holy Spirit must be made according to his formula not to men. So it is for the incense! Incense must be God-made not Man-made. Incense represents your prayers (psalms 141:2). Your prayers must be God-made when you minister unto him. You can’t fabricate your own incense; it is non-sense to God. When you pray, let the Holy Spirit download to you his own formula of incense. Exodus 30:7-8 “Every morning when Aaron maintains the lamps, he must burn fragrant incense on the altar. And each evening when he lights the lamps, he must again burn incense in the LORD's presence.” Aaron couldn’t burn the incense to the Lord before he lights the lamps first. It is a must to pray by revelation, by illumination, this is not only for the prophetic people in the church, this is the ministry of the priests to all and in Christ you are one! The Holy Spirit will reveal to you what to pray but you do the burning by releasing it in faith “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” (James 5:16)

Glory to God
Tony Francis

The Heritage of a Son

“And if we are children, then we are heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17)

Is the heritage of a father-son based on the performance of this son, the color of his hair, the shape of his body, the style of his clothing, the grade of his exams, the beauty of his character or based on his identity as a son? Go travel the whole world, you will see that this is a fixed truth everywhere whatever the country was, or its culture or its language, a son always inherits because he is a son. The Prodigal son understood deeply his right to have the portion of the goods of his father that’s why he came boldly to ask him for it (Luke 15:12). Now we know that it wasn’t polite of the son to take his inheritance in this manner while his father lives but the father gave it to him. What I am talking to you about is also a kingdom principle and it is as real as this earthly principle is. The moment you become a child of God, you became his inheritor, now think of it for a moment: what is it like to be an inheritor of God? SELAH. God doesn’t withhold his goodness from you but for you. In every season of your growth in him, whether you are a child or a mature son you will inherit the blessings according to his timing and plans for you. A natural father prevents his car from his child to protect him; although this son will benefit of his dad’s car when he matures, but let’s say it is a postponed blessing! This child will enjoy other blessings for now. It is my firm belief that a blessing not in its right timing can be of no blessing. God deals with sinners with Mercy but deals with his children according to his covenant with them. Are you aware that you are a son of the Most High God? Are you aware of your inheritance with Christ? I pray that your eyes be illuminated with this revelation so you can tap by faith into the riches of his Glory stored up for you and enjoy the abundance that cost Christ everything to give it to you.

Glory to God
Tony Francis

The Language of Honor

“Would you pass me this cup of water please?” You can have the honor of serving someone in small things like passing a cup of water or in big things like going to the kitchen to pour it out and serve it with gladness in case there was none ready at the table! The greatness of your honor shows the greatness of your character, God Almighty showed you a big honor not by serving you a small cup of water but rather by giving all he is and all he has, rivers of living waters, through the sacrifice of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ on the cross.

When you invite a guest you honor greatly to your house, you show him honor by serving the best and the most expensive banquet you can set before him, honor costs! When God invited you to his royal banquet table he didn’t find what is more valuable to serve you than his own precious lamb to eat of his flesh and to drink of his blood. God’s honor for us, who are made of dirt, is extravagant; it is according to the greatness of his love for us. How much more should we honor him by living for him a life worthy to praise his holy name and by honoring greatly what he honors: People! Honor is the highest form of love expressed and when you are filled with God’s kind of Love you can start talking his language!

Glory to God
Tony Francis

My Testimony

“Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.” Hebrews 12:9-10

My father disciplined me for a little while as he thought best for me and I am thankful! Are you familiar with this verse “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”? (Matthew 7:11). What my father thought was best for me was in many ways evil and hurt me, but no blame, because he thought he was giving me his best and sincerely I appreciate his efforts in raising me up, God bless him. It isn’t always what people do to you that hurt you; mostly it’s what they don’t do for you while the bar of your expectations is so high, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick” and in many ways what my dad didn’t do for me made my heart sick.

For those of you who don’t know my dad, here is a little bit of background for you: my dad is so old because of his late marriage at the age of 50, so I grew up in an environment where my friends at school and my community around me used to tell me: “your grandfather is so funny” and with a bitter smile I answer: “he is my dad”. He’s now 84 years old, in a good health and I’m believing for his salvation. He was always there to provide for me, I didn’t lack any material blessing at all, in fact I lived in abundance, in a big prosperous house, with the best games, the finest clothes, the best school and education in town … while I was living as a rich boy outwardly, I lived a severe poverty inwardly, in my emotions I was a beggar for the fatherhood love & affections. I don’t remember my dad playing with me or affirming me especially in my most time needed of my shaping as a man, more than that he didn’t model to me this strong father figure, where he rebukes me in doing wrong or even slap me! He was tender in character all the time, trying to correct me always with gentle words, until I hungered to see him slap me just to feel his strength, funny huh? He didn’t train me to carry responsibilities nor to face challenges, thus when I grew up the storms of life swallowed me; even I couldn’t stand its slightest breeze. I was so naïve inside and emptiness in me was horrible. I won’t discuss here the consequences of such things but believe me I was mentally, emotionally and spiritually sick and handicapped from head to toe. I was a living dead, well not quite, a living dead doesn’t feel, but I was feeling all the pain of the world. I was raised in a very beautiful home but because of my dad’s absence in my personal life I felt like an orphan homeless, I was lost in the rooms of my life and later I made it my aim to seek for the alternative as soon as I grow up and the world was gladly waiting for me with open arms to embrace a sinful life to journey from pit to a deeper pit and from deception to another.

Did I choose all that? Well some of it, I was aware that some decisions I should not have made but don’t blame a sick hopeless person, blame those who tasted the glory and forsaken it for the lesser. I think the prodigal son was crazy, how could he leave such a wonderful Dad? In the prodigal son’s story, I think the son was bad, in my story my father’s absence was bad. After I came to Christ, and his glorious light shone upon my darkness, I learned about the heavenly Dad but it was mere theology and head knowledge rather than a radical life changing experiences with him. If you were to ask me some spiritual questions, I would have raised my chin up and answered you boldly about my solid sound doctrine. I would have answered the same if you were to ask me about the trinity and the Heavenly Father but did I know him by experience? Not really! My friend, I tell you the truth, everything bad and deformed in my experience with my earthly dad was projected in my relationship with my Heavenly Father, without knowing. I always thought that this up there Father is distant, uncaring and an old guy on the throne. I always felt disconnected with him, I know he’s there hearing me and providing but I was not able to connect intimately with him. I treated him the same way I treated my dad, I used to bring him my list of needs in prayer to provide and then leave. I didn’t express my love to him and I didn’t think he would say it back to me or even wanted to touch me. My perspective of this perfect Dad who is like no other was deformed with the filter of my imperfect experiences. Until the moment my Heavenly Father started to visit me to introduce himself to me … and here my story begins!

Glory to God
Tony Francis

When fathers abandon you

At noon, darkness fell across the whole land until three o'clock. At about three o'clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?” Then Jesus shouted out again, and He released His spirit. (Matthew 27:45-46, 50)
 

Our blessed Savior tasted all kinds of pain on his way to the cross and while he hanged on it there but the last pain he experienced just before he died was the pain of fatherhood abandonment. It was so dark around him; didn’t also feel so dark when your father abandoned you? Jesus shouted twice with a loud voice and released his deep painful sonship cry asking why? Why? I don’t get it, I am supposed to be your son, you can’t let go. A father-son relationship must not be broken at all. Jesus shouted twice with a loud voice and gave up his spirit because he could tolerate anything but this. Abandonment kills you!

Maybe you too have experienced in some way your father’s abandonment but you didn’t cry out loudly although you are suffering from the pain of rejection and your destructive lifestyle shouts this clearly. Drown in drugs, in alcoholism, in pornography, in failures? Maybe you doubt everyone? Maybe you are a workaholic, a perfectionist? You gave up on doing life healthily and the way you are living is nothing but a loud cry hoping that your father hears your big unanswerable WHY!

We live in a fallen world and our fathers raised us up the best way they know how, our leaders, our pastors, our friends and even you and I are the same but the heavenly Father is the only perfect dad in the universe. It was the huge penalty of our sins that separated him from his son for a while so you and I will never experience in Christ his abandonment. There’s nothing that can separate us from our heavenly Father because Jesus paid the price of abandonment once and forever. Today if you are in Christ, hear the heavenly Father declaring over you his glorious eternal unbreakable promises: “You are accepted in the beloved and I will never leave you nor forsake you”.

You can read this devotion also on Patricia King's website:

http://www.xpmedia.com/article/17386

Glory to God
Tony Francis