Tag Archive for: salvation

Mary, highly favored

Why did God Almighty choose Virgin Mary, the little girl from Nazareth, to be the mother of his only son Jesus Christ? What was in her that attracted him to perform great deeds in her life and to entrust her? The qualities that prepared Mary for greatness can be imparted to you also because God is no respecter of man.

Humility

In his salutation and throughout their conversation, Archangel Gabriel mentioned to Mary more than once that she is highly favored by God. Why was she highly favored by him? Maybe because she was so beautiful that God wanted to bless his son with a beautiful mom or maybe because she was the only virgin in her town? No, Mary caught the attention of heaven because she was a humble vessel for such a high calling & mandate. She was favored because she was humble “God opposes the proud but favors the humble.” James 4:6. Mary also confirms this by saying: “For He took notice of His lowly servant girl” Luke 1:48. Humility is obeying and serving God and saying yes to all of his will not a part of it no matter the high price of it “Mary responded, “I am the Lord's servant. May EVERYTHING you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.” Luke 1:38. Jesus Christ is the highest model of humility and in the light of his humility other humilities look like pride, Philippians 2:7-10.

Treasuring God’s Word

Another great quality that was attached to Mary is that she was serious about God’s word, promises & prophecies. You often read this about her: “Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.” Luke 2:19. In her Magnificat, Mary recites the promises of God about the promised Messiah & the plan of salvation, she knew it well and she was expecting it. Because she disciplined herself all her life on meditating on the word of God she became a vessel of the truth, a vessel of the promise. God looked at her from eternity and said: “Man, this girl loves my word; she really knows how to meditate on it until she can get pregnant with it and birth it. I will reward her now with the LIVING WORD, Jesus himself”.

Mary was a great woman of God but in all her greatness she always knew her place & her position and never exalted herself like Lucifer did to be an object of worship, Isaiah 14:14-15. What a grace! When the wise men came to the house, it is written that they bowed to baby Jesus only “They entered the house and saw the child with His mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped HIM.” Matthew 2:11. In her magnificat, Mary clearly called God her savior “and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” Luke 1:47. Calling God your savior means you need salvation! Being virgin doesn’t mean you are not a sinner, my sister was a virgin before she got married but she is a sinner who needs God’s salvation, can you see the difference? Jesus died for all humanity on the cross including his mother who was the first to receive her salvation at the feet of the cross. Do you want to be like Mary? Be the first one at the feet of the cross and receive your salvation.

Are you highly favored? I mean, are you humble & do you treasure God’s word in your heart? If yes, then get yourself ready for greatness!

Glory to God
Tony Francis

Revival Is Coming

By Patricia King

A mighty wave of the Spirit is coming to the earth soon! It is going to be amazing and will have greater influence and spread faster than any other move of the Spirit in the history of the church. This move will sweep over the nations like lightning, with a level of grace (God’s favor and divine influence) that is unprecedented, manifesting the fruit of holiness, conviction, and a great harvest of souls.

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age.” Titus 2:11-12 NASB

The younger generation will be transformed by this move and many miracles, signs and wonders will mark the wave. Resurrections and creative miracles will be witnessed on a regular basis, and the presence of the grace of the Lord will fall upon gatherings of believers like a cloud filled with the dew of heaven.

How do we prepare for such a move? Biblical and church history reveals an important key. Having prophetic insight into what is coming is not enough. For example, Elijah heard “the sound of the roar of a heavy shower” (1 Kings 18:41) and immediately went to the top of Mount Carmel to give birth to the vision through watching and praying (see 1 Kings 18:42-45). Birthing revival through intercession is a key. He saw the cloud manifest firsthand and experienced the heavy rain and the accompanying power of God as he outran Ahab’s chariot.

Jesus prophesied to His disciples that they would be “baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now” (Acts 1:5). The disciples responded to that word by birthing it in prayer and intercession in the upper room. Like Elijah, they became partakers of the first fruit when the Spirit was poured out and three thousand were added to the church in the first day.

Prior to the Welsh revival, a strong focus of prayer prevailed. Evan Roberts, a pivotal individual in the birthing of the revival, committed himself to prayer and to gaining a more intimate relationship with God for a period of 13 years before the revival in Wales broke out. He went to prayer meetings almost every night of the week to intercede for a mighty visitation of God’s Spirit. The prayer birthed a season of personal visitation from the Lord for him and soon after the revival was launched. Even in the midst of the revival there was tremendous continued grace on prayer.

People were praying everywhere. Small prayer groups grew into large corporate gatherings of intercession at any time during the day or night. As a result of the prayer the revival spread like wildfire. Prayer meetings often lasted till the early hours of the morning and people hesitated to leave lest they miss out on a special move from the Lord.

Similar prayer focus is found prior to other outbreaks of the Spirit throughout revival history. Let’s birth revival. Let’s birth the next outpouring of the Spirit. We have the prophetic word and now we need the intercession. Let’s receive grace to come boldly before the throne and cry out to God to help us in time of need. Let’s humble ourselves before Him and ask Him to manifest His great mercy and power in this hour.

If we posture ourselves in prayer, we will see the glory of God. Revival is on its way.

Manifestations – What do they mean?

By Kathie Walters

The Holy Spirit always wants to demonstrate what God says. “God confirmed the word with signs following” and in Hebrews chapter 2 it says, “How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation – which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him. God ALSO BEARING THEM WITNESS both with signs and wonders and divers miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit … according to His own will.” Well we know for sure that God wants to do signs and wonders and confirm His own word because it just said so.

I don’t know why some Christians think is it so spiritual to say, “I don’t need signs and wonders.” Well Jesus actually relied on signs and wonders and manifestations. He went out of the way to make sure the Holy Spirit had an opportunity to demonstrate the words He spoke. Jesus said “I am the bread of Life” and fed the 5000. He said “I am the resurrection and the life” and He raised the dead. He said “I am the light of the world” and He opened the eyes of the blind. God always wants to do what He says The Apostle Paul said. “I came not to you in word only but in demonstration of the Spirit and in power (1 Thess).

So God talks to us through in different ways. He talks through the Bible which contains the word of God. He talks to us through the Holy Spirit who brings us life. The Bible was quite dead to me until the Holy Spirit showed up and made it come alive. Then the Holy Spirit started to speak through preachers, and prophets. Remember when Jesus was answering Satan? He said, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matt 4:4) you don’t just take any scripture and use it – you have to discern what God is saying to you NOW – TODAY. The proceeding word, the word or scripture that is coming to you now, today.

That is why signs and wonders are important… They are a part of what God does and says and we should pay attention to the manifestations of the Holy Spirit because GOD IS TALKING TO YOU.

Years ago well-meaning churches would preach the gospel message of salvation every Sunday night – even through the congregation of 50 had been saved for 20 years at least. While it was in the Bible it wasn’t the proceeding word to those people. They didn’t stop to listen to what God was saying today. That would have moved them to the next place God had for them. Instead they stayed where they were and “froze” in time.

When God is moving by His Spirit it is in order to demonstrate something or tell you something. The signs and wonders are not meant to entertain us although I must say it can be very entertaining… But we should take note and listen. Many people are smelling the different Aromas in the meetings (and out of the meetings). Each aroma is God speaking to you. I have a great book called “The Spiritual meaning of Aromas, flowers, trees and colors.” Many people have dreams and visions of different flowers, trees, colors etc. – but in all those things GOD IS TALKING. For dream and vision interpretation get a copy of THE DIVINITY CODE…

For example – aroma of strawberries means friendship with God. Apples – The Beloved’s breath smells like sweet apples, Jesus is breathing on you. Peppermint – refreshing and so on. They are in my book.

Signs… If you preach healing – the Holy Spirit will heal people because He will confirm the Word. Sometimes the anointing comes on someone and God uses them for a sign to say something.

One time when my husband David, was ministering in Florida the Holy Spirit was moving on people at the end of the meeting. One man was on the floor unable to move for a long time. He kept trying to get up – you have probably seen the same thing. I saw an angel sitting on the man’s chest. I said to him, “God won’t let you up until you listen to what He says.” After a while he did listen and then the angel got up and then he got up- a bit shaken. He told me later that he thought the power of his mind was as strong as the power of God Well I don’t think he thought that again.

In the same meeting a lady started running backwards. She ran backwards round the church. Then she ran backwards out of the door and across the parking lot. The elders very wisely decided to wait on God the next morning to find out what He was saying. God spoke to them and said, “You are not going forward in this move until you go back for the children.” The church had David come and bring all the children and youth into the revival and into the anointing. Then the whole church moved on in the move of the Spirit.

I got up to speak at a church a while ago… When I opened my mouth to speak it was as if my lips were glued together. I was not able to open my mouth. The Lord spoke to me and said, “My Lips are sealed.” We waited but then someone jumped up and took an offering so we didn’t wait to see what the Lord said by not speaking.

Sometimes when I am preaching my arm or hand or gets stuck – I have to wait until we “get it” before we can move on in the meeting. Tonight while I was speaking in the Gold Coast, Australia my left hand got “stuck.” My arm was slightly raised and my hand as turned downwards. It stayed like that for a couple of minutes while we waited to see what it was all about. Then my hand felt like it was resting on the head of small boy’s head, I could feel his hair under my hand I remember how Jesus blessed the children. In the original translation it means He laid hands on them to anoint them. The children are anointed too – they have the same Holy Spirit as any adult. Read some of my husband, David's material on my website. He has little kids praying for the sick and sees miracles happen all the time.

A pastor friend of mine in the Midwest once got frozen in the spirit in the front of a Dennys restaurant. She was putting her wallet back in her purse and the Holy Spirit came on her she got frozen with her hands half way in her purse. From past experience I know that can be 5 min or 5 hours so I stood by and waited. People came out of the restaurant to pay their bill and saw her. They asked me what she was doing and I told them she was talking to God. Well my friend stayed like that for 55 min and by that time a little crowd had gathered by the seat at the front of Denny’s restaurant. Eventually the anointing lifted and she “came back” so to speak. She noticed the crowd ( about 15 people by then_) I told her they had been there for 55 minutes so she went over and started ministering to them, She got a couple of people healed, and some saved and she prophesied over a few. She became a sign that made them sit there for an hour and wonder. So sometimes YOU get to be the sign and wonder. But God is talking! Listen and watch – don’t let things pass you by. God doesn’t always “speak” to speak. He speaks through signs and wonders and various gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Blessings

Kathie and David Walters
www.kathiewaltersministry.com

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