Abiding

He Must Increase [podcast]

Paula White Exposed [video]

THAT’s My King! Pastor Lockridge [video]

Powerful Prayers from Children-This Will Shake You [video]

The Fear of the LORD is to Hate Evil: Pride, and Arrogancy #shorts [video]

Dear LORD Jesus, please capture my heart for Thee!

THOSE WHO WILL BE IN HEAVEN will be those who dared to daily seek God, to pray sincere prayers on earth as they loosed (let go of) their lives from their own control over into the hands of the Holy God they chose to trust and fully rely upon.

“And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend (submit) my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.” Luke 23:46

You are going to one day give “up the ghost” and go to be with God as you cry with Jesus “Father, into thy hands I commend (submit) my spirit.”

What does this really mean? Well, you are giving GOD the preference, the reigns, to reign in and of your life on this earth. You are preferring Him above your sinful broken self. You are declaring with John the Baptist—“He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).

Enduring to the end means truly abandoning our lives in this fleeting sinful world to a loving merciful enabling victorious LORD and God (1 Corinthians 15:10, 57-58).

No matter what you may face in this brief life, God is going to be with you, to power you through it all with His divine influence in and on your heart and His divine empowerment in your life. His grace truly is more than “sufficient” in all things (2 Corinthians 12:7-12)!

“And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: 23 Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. 24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.” Acts 20:22-24

God’s Love for Us

“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. …19 We love him, because he first loved us.”1 John 4:9-10, 19

“1 John 4:9
In this was manifested the love of God – The mission of Jesus Christ was the fullest proof that God could give, or that man could receive, of his infinite love to the world.
That we might live through him – The whole world was sentenced to death because of sin; and every individual was dead in trespasses and sins; and Jesus came to die in the stead of the world, and to quicken every believer, that all might live to him who died for them and rose again. This is another strong allusion to Jhn_3:16: God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life; where the reader is requested to see the note on Jhn_3:16.” Believer’s Bible Commentary

“1 John 4:10
Not that we loved God – And that he was thereby induced to give his Son to be a propitiation for our sins. No: we were enemies to God, and yet Christ died for our ungodly souls. (See Rom_5:6-11, and the notes there.) So it was God’s love, not our merit, that induced him to devise means that his banished might not be expelled from him.” Believer’s Bible Commentary

“1 John 4:19
We love him because he first loved us – This is the foundation of our love to God.
1. We love him because we find he has loved us.
2. We love him from a sense of obligation and gratitude.
3. We love him from the influence of his own love; from his love shed abroad in our hearts, our love to him proceeds. It is the seed whence our love springs.” Believer’s Bible Commentary

The “Everlasting Love” of God

“The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” Jeremiah 31:3

In John 3:30, notice that by divine design first it says “HE must increase” and then, secondly, only thereafter it says “I must decrease.” So we must yield to His initiating call for us to let Him increase and we correspondingly decrease as we are giving preference to the LORD. We are saying “Jesus, You reign in this life you created and died to save unto Yourself!”

“He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30

The LORD is the Creator and then the initiator and enabler. Paul says that it was the grace of God that labored in him.

“But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.” 1 Corinthians 15:10

…. He is the first and the last, right?

“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8

ALL, every life came from Christ, including ours—yours and mine. We are His creation.

“1:8 There is a change of speaker. The Lord Jesus introduces Himself as the Alpha and the Omega (the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet), the Beginning and the End. He spans time and eternity, and exhausts the vocabulary of excellence. He is the source and goal of creation, and it is He who began and will end the divine program in the world. He is and was and is to come, eternal in His being and the Almighty in power.” Believer’s Bible Commentary

Dying to self is not to be approached as a work of the flesh but rather a surrender—as a falling into the LORD. Without Christ we can do nothing, right? Right (John 15:5).

“3:30 The entire object of John’s ministry is summarized in this verse. He labored ceaselessly to point men and women to the Lord, and to make them realize His true worth. In doing this, John realized that he must keep himself in the background. For a servant of Christ to seek to attract attention to himself is really a form of disloyalty.

Note the three “musts” in this chapter: for the Sinner (Jhn_3:7); for the Savior (Jhn_3:14); and for the Saint (3:30).” Believer’s Bible Commentary

“He must increase, but I must decrease: John the Baptist understood it was good for him to become less visible and known, for Jesus to become more visible and known. In even larger aspects, this should be the motto of every Christian, especially leaders among God’s people. Jesus should become greater and more visible, and the servant should become less and less visible.” David Guzik

“John 3:30
He must increase – His present success is but the beginning of a most glorious and universal spread of righteousness, peace, truth, and good will among men.
I must decrease – My baptism and teaching, as pointing out the coming Messiah, must cease; because the Messiah is now come, and has entered publicly on the work of his glorious ministry.” Adam Clarke

Jesus, I am crucified with You. Thank You for anointing my life to be dead and buried and raised up in Your grace and power! In Jesus’ name. amen!

Of John 3:30, Crystal Dixon writes:

“This is one of my favorite scriptures in the Bible. It is a few, powerful words, spoken by a humble friend and servant of Jesus.

John the Baptist was different than most in appearance and habits. But he was also somewhat different from many other Christ followers, then and now. John knew Jesus was the Messiah. John the Baptist also realized he had been anointed by God to tell others about Jesus. He was to tell others to follow Jesus, not him. In order to do that, John had to decrease; he had to humble himself as a servant, telling others to follow someone else rather than his own ministry. That was the only way to accomplish the work he had been called to do. The presence and identity (The Light) of Jesus had to increase. John had to decrease. This is why John said He must increase, I must decrease.

It’s Not About Us: Like John the Baptist, we must remember it is about Jesus. We must trust Him. And, we must be bold in love toward others, and in our service for Him; asking the Holy Spirit to guide us each moment of the day so that all we do, honors and glorifies God. The presence and identity (The Light) of Jesus must increase. He must increase, I must decrease.”

Beloved of God, going downward today, surrendering afresh is the key to your Savior raising you upward …. into His bless-ed victory—and HE sure will, as you go down, He will raise you up (James 4:10). This is the divine economy which is a cross economy as we read about and are assured of throughout His bless-ed Word. Romans 6 has your fuel, your fix, and your flourishing. Today is your day to “taste and see that the LORD is good” (Psalms 34)!

Cry out, declare now with the beloved John the Baptist:

“He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30

Here’s a treasury of cross truth for you – Camping on the Cross !

There are so very many hurting people saints.

YOUR PRAYER: Father, please forgive, change, prepare me…. and use me, Your vessel, to reach those who are without You. Right now, You must increase but I must decrease. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Abiding

WHAT’S On Jesus’ Prayer List? [podcast]

What Did Jesus Pray for His People?

John 17 – knowing Him. Being one with Him and the Father and one another.

Jesus prayed the highest priorities of the Father for His people as is recorded in John 17.

Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer – John 17

“Jesus’ prayer in John 17, often called the “High Priestly Prayer,” is a profound discourse to God before His crucifixion, focusing on His own glorification, the protection and unity of His disciples, and the future unity of all believers, emphasizing eternal life through knowing God and Christ, and asking for believers to be set apart in truth and one, just as He and the Father are one.

Having offered His precious, sinless blood to the Father for the redemption of the fallen race, Jesus Christ is now seated at the right hand of the Father making intercession for all of His saints.”

“But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood. 25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. 26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;” Hebrews 7:24-26

Due to His perfect sacrifice and redemption of fallen mankind, we who are His, are invited to “come boldly…”

“Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16

As we “come boldly unto the throne of grace” the LORD is going to fill us with His grace and love.

Those most powerfully used by God to help others, are those who are set apart to Him, crying out to the LORD to be filled with His gracious Holy Spirit and to be made more and more one with Him.

Debbie Lord writes:

“GOD is our sustaining force via prayer:

The Holy Spirit praying for us from within,

Jesus, our risen Savior and High Priest praying for us at the right hand of God, Brothers and Sisters in Christ praying for us on this earth, and us praying for believers everywhere,

even those we’ve never met. Ephesians 6:18

Each member of Christ’s body should be assured of the constant prayer of other believers as well as lifting up in prayer other believers themselves.”

Memory Truth:

“For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” James 1:20

We grow in Christ’s grace to realize that our own misguided, unwarranted, self-righteous attitudes and actions of wrath on sinners, is not of God.

Pray to “grow in grace” (2 Peter 3:18). When we are growing in His grace in that abiding oneness, His ministry of grace will flow through us. It has been wisely stated that “We can never lead someone else to a place we aren’t ourselves walking in.”

“For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace…” Hebrews 13:9

WHEN we see something in God’s Word, such as the verse above, let us pray it – pray He will bring it fully into our lives.

WHO has God Used to Truly Minister to Us?

Did God use vessels of self-righteous wrath?

Or, has the LORD used crucified vessels who were full of His love?

Can we not reflect back on how God used others to minister to us? Who did He use? It wasn’t the harsh self-righteous ones He used but rather the vessels of His love – who when they spoke His truth, did it out of His concern and desire for us to truly come to Him… right?

There is so much evil in this fallen world. We are bombarded with words, attitudes, and images daily with the iniquity of fallen mankind. That will not change till Jesus returns. For now, we must abide in Christ, to seek Him to make us one with Him and the Father who are one in agreement, unison, etc. It’s only in being made one with the Father and Jesus that God’s love will fill and flow from us. May God settle us at His feet, truly.

YOUR PRAYER: Holy Father in Heaven, I come to You in the name of my LORD Jesus Christ. Please teach me Your ways and make me, and Your body, one with You. In Jesus’ holy Name, amen.

Pouring prayerfully over the prayer of our LORD Jesus recorded in John 17 would greatly benefit us saints.

John 17: Jesus’ Prayer, the Real “LORD’s Prayer”

The High Priestly Prayer of Our Savior: Beholding the Highest Divine Priorities in the Prayer of Jesus

“1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.

5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.

7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.

8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.

9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.

10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.

11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.

12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.

13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.

16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;

21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.

26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

The Gospel key to walking in God’s love is the cross. The Bible teaches us that “God is love” and it’s only the crucified vessel that will be full of God’s love and used effectively by the LORD.

“And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” 1 John 4:16-18

All ungodly fear is cast out when we are full of the love of God. Being full of the love of God requires that we seek His face and become one with him (John 17). Fear is ejected when God’s love permeates our hearts via fellowship with Him (1 John 4:16-18).

Ministry from Heaven can only come out of a crucified vessel.

“Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.” 2 Corinthians 4:10-12

Love is at the top of the divine list of priorities and can only come out of the oneness our Father desires us to have with Him (1 Corinthians 13). Are we asking Him to be made one with Him? (See John 17.)

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8

Sister Debbie Lord offers us the opportunity to pray this Scriptural prayer: “Lord, I pray for your saints world over, that You would draw us closer and closer (increasingly) to Yourself as time grows short. Please help us give up and let go so that You can live in us fully and minister to us, in us and THROUGH us. I ask this in Jesus’ Name. Amen.”