Friday, 29 November 2013

Thanksgiving—A Time of Gratitude and Hope by Kenneth W. Hagin

KHM Thanksgiving


What does Thanksgiving mean to you? No matter what the past year held for you, Thanksgiving can be a time of gratitude and renewed hope!
When I think of the Thanksgiving holiday, my thoughts instinctively turn to spending time with family, enjoying home-cooked food lovingly prepared in celebration of the season, and participating in special times of thanksgiving and prayer with those I hold dear. However, as this holiday season approaches, I also can’t help but reflect on the past year. Despite the difficult times many in this country have experienced during the past year, there is still so much that we have to be grateful for.
Most of us know a little about the history of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. But I think it’s important that we understand that our first Thanksgivings were celebrated under very different circumstances than we celebrate them today. The first English settlers gathered to give special thanks to God for safe arrival in a new land. Just a couple of years later, a New England Thanksgiving was commemorated in the summertime after approximately half the settlers had succumbed during the harsh winter months. It was a time of thanksgiving, all right, but it was also a time of prayer and of hope for better days ahead.
The United States has seen many “better days” since that time, and the Thanksgiving holiday has become an integral part of our heritage as American citizens. For those of us who are Christians, how much more should thanksgiving—the giving of thanks and gratitude—be a vital part of our spiritual heritage. There’s so much said in the Word of God about thanksgiving. In fact, in a sense of the word, thanksgiving is a dominant theme that runs from Genesis to Revelation. When you read the Psalms, for example, you can’t read very many verses at a time without reading something about thanksgiving. Those psalms were Israel’s prayer- and song-book. And they were full of admonishments to give thanks to the Lord.
But thanksgiving should be more than just words. Not only should we speak words of thanks to God; we should cultivate a heart-attitude or feeling of thanksgiving to Him. When we truly realize what God has done for us, we can’t help but voice from the depths of our hearts our gratitude and praise.
Even if right now you’re not enjoying all the blessings He has provided, you can offer to God a heart of praise. No matter what country you’re a citizen of, if you are in Christ, yours is a heritage of thanksgiving. So purpose to make this special season one of gratitude, of prayer, and of bright hope for your future!

Tuesday, 26 November 2013

THANKSGIVING CAN RAISE THE DEAD! by Joseph Prince

JOHN 11:41–42
…And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me…
After Jesus had said these words, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” And the man who had been dead for four days came out of his tomb!

This is one of the greatest miracles that Jesus performed. Lazarus had been dead for four days when Jesus raised him to life. Wouldn’t you agree that death is indeed an extreme problem? Having no money in the bank, being sick and losing your job, bad as they are, are not as bad as being dead!

But what I want you to see is this: If Jesus, in the most extreme of problems, shows us that the solution is still, “Father, I thank You,” then how much more should we thank God in the midst of the less serious problems we face. If thanksgiving can raise the dead, then let us give thanks in spite of the negative circumstances and we will see victory.

Unfortunately, we tend to do the opposite—murmur and complain. But murmuring and complaining only magnify the problem. Thanksgiving, on the other hand, is the language of faith which pleases God. I am not saying that we give thanks for the problems we have. No, we thank God that He is our answer and that He has already given every blessing to us. (Ephesians 1:3)

“But Pastor Prince, what I have is so little.”

My friend, thank God for the little you have and it will multiply. Jesus thanked His Father for the five barley loaves and two small fish, a little boy’s lunch, and they were multiplied to feed more than 5,000 people with 12 baskets full of leftovers! (John 6:8–13) And notice that when the Holy Spirit talked about this event again, He specifically mentioned the Lord giving thanks—“the place where they ate bread after the Lord had given thanks”. (John 6:23) The Holy Spirit seemed to be more pleased with the act of giving thanks than the miracle of multiplication or the 12 baskets full of leftovers.

Beloved, the more you thank God, the more you please Him. What little you have will be multiplied and whatever is dead in your life will be raised to life!

Monday, 25 November 2013

Action Chapel Presents IMPACT 2013




Impact 2013, the 35th annual convention of the Action Chapel Intentional is here again. From the days of Association International school through to students hostel and then to the diplomatic shop at the Archbishop’s father’s house; on to Teachers Hall in Accra and the Trade Fair, ACI then went back to the International Worship Center (IWC) at the Diplomatic Shop and right back to Trade Fair in quick succession before finally the Action Ark of the our lord rested on its home grounds called the Prayer Cathedral on the Spintex road. Since then and till now, God has never relented in His pursuit to make ACI church members prevail in warfare and preserve in faith under the tutelage of their very own “Pastor Nick”, “Bishop Nick” and His Eminence, Most Rev. Dr. Nicholas Duncan-Williams the Archbishop of Action Chapel International Worldwide.

This year's theme is Back To The Cross, and will be joined by Ps. Paula White, Dr. Jackie McCullough, and Dr. Jasmin Sculark from the USA, and also our very own Rev. Dr. Robert Ampiah-Kwofie.

Launch Out Into The Deep

         Luke 5:4 When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.

         God wants to bless you big-time! It was for this reason that He said to Simon, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. The deep is where you will find a whole lot of fish. You wont find them near the shore in shallow waters. But to launch out into the deep is to move away from the comfort of the shoreline.


         My friend, God wants you to break away from your comfort zone and step out in faith to do what He has put in your heart. It may be something simple, but which you have never done before or only dreamt of, like attending a care group. A church member did just that and found love. Today, she is happily married.


         Now, our Lord Jesus who said, Launch out into the deep also said, let down your nets for a catch. Notice that He used the plural nets and not the singular net. Beloved, God wants to give you more than what you need. His dream for you is bigger than anything you can ever dream of. Dream big and God will exceed your dream because He delights in giving you exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think. (Ephesians 3:20)


         Another church member who was formerly working for someone else had wanted to start his own company. When praying with him, I received a word from the Lord for him to launch out on his own. When he did that, he made a handsome profit at the end of the first month alone! Today, he has more than one company and his businesses are flourishing. God is blessing him beyond his wildest dreams!


         Beloved, God wants to bless you beyond your wildest dreams. He did it for Simon who was astonished at the size of the catch of fish. (Luke 5:9) But it was not until Simon launched out into the deep that he ended up with the net-breaking, boat-sinking load of fish. (Luke 5:67) You, too, will be astonished at your catch when you step out of your comfort zone and launch out into the deep with the Lord!

Friday, 8 November 2013

The Holy Spirit and the Church.


 The Spirit constitutes the Church, which is the true Church according to the mind of God. Not what we call the Church, but what God calls the Church. He constitutes that and He constitutes it - as we have seen - a thing in which that testimony is placed in trust. The Church is here left on the earth but having a heavenly Life, in order that that Testimony may be here borne and upheld on the earth, that God has universal rights, these rights are secured in the Person of Jesus Christ, and that the Cross of Calvary was the scene and is the power of the establishment of that Testimony; the message of the Cross, Christ crucified, the power of God, the wisdom of God. The Church is here in trust for that purpose. The Testimony of all that Calvary secures in Christ is deposited in the Church, and in as much as God has not wiped the adversary out of the universe yet, but let him remain and given him so much liberty, is explained along this line that God is going to work out all the content of that Testimony in and through the Church. That explains why immediately there is an entering into the Testimony of Jesus in the power of the Holy Ghost, not in mind, thought, doctrine, teaching, human association, but in the power of the Holy Ghost, the enemy at once begins his terrific onslaughts and goes over the ground again to, by any means, device or scheme, wipe that Testimony out of the earth by wiping the Church out - if he can. Immediately God brings the Church to light other things are brought to light. The dark things are brought to light, the enemy is brought to light, the devices of the enemy are brought to light, and it is in the face of that the Church stands. Oh, beloved, we are here, if we are really members of His Body, not merely to present to men the gospel, that is a part, a great vital part of this whole, but we are here that "Now unto the principalities and powers in the Heavenlies might be made manifest the manifold wisdom of God by the Church," "NOW"! We have heard that many times that the vocation of the Church is not limited to flesh and blood, it reaches far beyond to other spheres. The testimony is universal, not local, even as to the earth, but beyond the earth. Otherwise, how are we to explain things? I think I can safely say that nine-tenths of the terrific spiritual conflicts through which we pass have no direct effect upon men and women. They seem to be without any virtue so far as people are concerned. It seems that men and women are only touched in a manner far short of commensurate with the terrific conflicts that go on. There is something more involved. Surely the nine-tenths are counting somewhere! Yes, 

Tuesday, 5 November 2013

HE IS THE GOD OF YOUR VALLEYS TOO BY JOSEPH PRINCE


1 KINGS 20:23
Then the servants of the king of Syria said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills. Therefore they were stronger than we; but if we fight against them in the plain, surely we will be stronger than they.

In 1 Kings 20, we find the Syrians being defeated by the Israelites. Then, some of the Syrian king’s advisers gave the king what they thought was the reason for their defeat. They said that they had fought on the hills and lost because Israel’s God is the God of the hills. So if they were to fight the Israelites on the plains or in the valleys, they would win.


What stupid advice! They thought that the God of Israel only helped His people up in the hills and mountains, and not down in the valleys.


Now, mountains refer to our good times, and valleys, our bad times. Some people have this idea that God is the God of our good times, but He is not there when we are going through bad times. They think that He leaves us helpless in the valleys, especially when the troubles are of our own making.


My friend, I want you to know that our God is the God of the mountains, but He is also the God of the valleys!


God the Son laid aside His crown of glory, His royal majesty and came down for us, stepping into a human body as a baby. He came down to where we were for the sole purpose of dying on the cross for our sins, so that He could bring us up to what God the Father has for us at His right hand. Jesus came down to crown us with glory and honor, to clothe us with robes of righteousness and make us His bride, sharing everything that He has with us. That is the grace of God. He came down to our valley.


So whatever you are going through right now, know that God is right there in your valley with you. He is holding you in His arms and carrying you through the valley. Victory is already yours. Just as the Israelites were also victorious in the valley (1 Kings 20:28–29), so will you be because the God of the valleys is right there with you!












Friday, 1 November 2013

Inside the Veil, Outside the Camp. by C. H. Mackintosh.

Hebrews 10; Hebrews 13: 9-16.

The power of our path — of our walk in this world, is the understanding, through the Holy Ghost, of our identification with Christ in all our ways, and our being set in the world to manifest Him, not merely to know that we have salvation, and the purging of our consciences through His most precious blood. The testimony of a Christian bears this character, he is treading in the footsteps of Christ. "To me, to live is Christ:" again, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." That puts each of us in the place of responsibility as to our ways, our habits, our feelings, and objects. Are we realizing the responsibility of living Christ? That is really what the Church of God is set in the world for — to be the expression of Christ in His absence. A Christian's conscience often satisfies itself with handing to the unconverted man the Bible, so that he may read what Christ was; but this is not the object for which Christ has left us here. — "Ye are the epistles of Christ, known and read of all men." Are we such an epistle as persons can read? It is not a person's coming to me, and saying, What is your creed? What views do you hold? and the like. If I am not an expression of the ways and feelings of Christ, I am a stumbling-block, rather than otherwise. The Christian should be the living, breathing expression of Christ — of the principles, features, graces, of the character of Christ. Alas! the whole of Christianity is often made to consist in a set of opinions: one gets his place and is characterized by what opinions he holds. We are called upon necessarily to live the Christ in whom we believe; we are one with Him, and are called to show forth what He is. But the whole power, by which I am to act and to show that, is the understanding that I am one with Him.
There are two great stages of Christ's path, and of the believer's, as identified with Him, presented to us in the Epistle to the Hebrews. The first ends (Heb. 10) where the soul is set in "the holiest." Up to that the Holy Ghost is conducting us along, step by step; there He sets us down in this blessed place, "having boldness to enter into the holiest, by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh."
The power of intelligent devotedness is the understanding of the perfect purging of our consciences Many do not understand this; they are aiming at getting it, and that is a complete reversing of God's order. I have a purged conscience; I go on, not to obtain it, but because I have it. How do I get it? Not by anything that I have done, by my frames or feelings, as a matter of attainment or experience; the Holy Ghost teaches us that it is by the blood of Jesus
He shows the glory of the person of Christ, as contrasted with angels and with Moses; that of His priesthood as contrasted with Aaron's; that of His sacrifice, as contrasted with the sacrifices under the law. And what is the result? We have a purged conscience. He has set us down within the veil. It is not what one Christian has, and what another is struggling after, but the common platform of all — we all have a purged conscience. Some suppose that the blood of Christ has put away our sins before conversion; and then, as to what becomes of those after, they are met by the priesthood of Christ; but this is not what He says: it is by the blood of Christ; we are within the holiest with a perfectly-purged conscience, with "no more conscience of sins." It is just worthy of the sacrifice of Christ to put me in possession of this, and nothing short of it; all my sins, not some of them, blotted out. There, where the High Priest could go in once every year, and only then, the simplest believer is set down.
When one comes to deal closely with souls, one discovers what doubts, clouds, fears, and anxieties, have possession of and distress them. If the blood of Christ does anything for us, it sets us there without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. "Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus . . . . let us draw near," etc. There is no difference here between apostle and others; the apostle Paul and the thief on the cross: in other words, all alike have a common place within the veil.
The priesthood of Christ comes in to maintain me practically where the blood of Christ has set me. As in the expression in the Epistle of John, "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous [Jesus Christ is at God's right hand on all principles of righteousness], and He is the propitiation [the mercy-seat] for our sins." "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." It is a much easier thing for a child to ask for pardon for some fault than to confess it. We may be asking for pardon for any special sin, and we have no Scripture warrant to know that it is put away; but when we confess it, it is a matter of faith to know that it is put away. I am speaking now of a believer: were it the question of an unconverted person, the blood of Christ meets that. God is "faithful and just (not gracious and merciful merely), to forgive us our sins," etc. The moment I have judged myself about it, I am entitled to know that it is gone.
What a very wondrous place to set the believer in at the very outset of his course of discipleship! — washed from his sins, his conscience purged, set down in the unclouded sense of the light of God's own countenance! But what to do? to rest there? No; that is the foundation on which the superstructure of practical devotedness is based. Legalism and antinomianism are alike met. What does the system of legalism say? You must work yourself up into this place of acceptance. The gospel says, Christ has put me there. I never could get there; the law has proved that. When God gave the law, what was He doing? "You shall do this," "You shall not do that," brought out what man's heart was; it was impossible he could do what God was telling him he ought to do, and impossible he should not be what God was telling him not to be: — "As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse." I can never, by works of law, get into the holiest of all. I am put there as the result of what Christ has accomplished for me on the cross; and this is stated at the very outset of the epistle: "When He had by Himself purged our sins, He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high " (Heb. 1: 3). Why does it say "sat down"? To evidence the completion of the work. Aaron never sat down; there was no seat prepared for the priest, either in the tabernacle or the temple.
What does antinomianism lead men to say? "I have it, I possess it all in Christ," and there it ends. But no! the gospel puts me there, to run the blessed race that is set before me, in ardent, earnest breathing of the soul to become like Christ.
If the first division sets me down within the holiest, the second places me without the camp. I find Christ, as it regards my conscience, "inside the veil." I find Christ, as it regards my heart, "outside the camp."
It does not become us to take only the comfort which flows from our knowing Christ to be within the veil — the comfort His sacrifice gives us, I must seek practical identification with Him outside the camp. Christ within the veil tranquillizes my conscience. Christ outside the camp quickens, energizes my soul to run more devotedly the race set before me. "The bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth, therefore, unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach" (ver. 11-13). No two points are morally more remote than inside the veil and outside the camp, and yet they are brought together here. Inside the veil was the place where the shekinah of God's glory dwelt; outside the camp the place where the sin-offering was burned — no place gives such an idea of distance from God as that. It is blessed to know that the Holy Ghost presents to me Jesus filling up all that is between these two points. I have nothing to do whatever with the camp. The camp was the place of ostensible profession (in type, the camp of Israel; in antitype, the city of Jerusalem). Why did Christ suffer without the gate? In order to show the setting aside of the mere machinery of Israel's outward profession.
We may be clear as to the work of Christ being done for us (and God forbid there should be a cloud cast across the blessedness of that), knowing the conscience to be made perfect; but is tranquility of conscience all I want? is there no responsibility? is Christ's voice from within the veil all? has He no voice outside the camp? It will be found that, after all, the joy, peace, liberty, flowing from our hearing Christ's voice inside the veil, is very much dependent on our listening to His voice outside the camp. Those who know most of suffering with Him, and bearing His reproach, will know most of the blessedness of His place within the veil. Our conduct, our ways, our path through the earth, must be tested by Christ. — "Would Christ be there? would Christ do this?" The Holy Ghost must be grieved if the saint pursues a course contrary to that which Christ would have pursued; and then the soul must be lean. How can a grieved Spirit testify of Christ — how can He give the soul the comfort and joy and peace of His testimony to Him? How can I be enjoying Christ if I am not walking in company with Him? We know that we cannot enjoy the company of a person unless we are where that person is — where then is Christ? "Outside the camp." — "Let us go forth, therefore, unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach." This is not to go forth to men, or to opinions, to a church, or to a creed, but to Christ Himself. We are not of the world — why? Because Christ is not of the world; the measure of our separation from the world is the measure of Christ's separation. "For here have we no continuing city;" do our hearts seek one? — some set of circumstances or the like, a something on which to lean? Are we saying, as it were, "Oh do leave me something"? like Lot pleading for Zoar, "Is it not a little one?" do not take it all away, "is it not a little one; and my soul shall live!" Lot's was a heart going out after a little of the world still. When the heart is filled with Christ it can give up the world, there is no difficulty in doing it then. The mere saying, "Give up this," or "give up that," to one loving the world, will be of no avail; what I have to do is to seek to minister to that soul more of Christ.
I am outside the camp, I am seeking a city that is to come, I am waiting for Him who is to come. In this condition, of dislodgement from the world and from its system, I find myself in two positions — one towards God, and the other towards man. The first, "By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name" (ver. 15). The second, the lovely development of the spirit of active benevolence of the next verse, "But to do good and to communicate forget not; for with such sacrifices God is well pleased" (ver. 16).
I am within the veil with Christ, — outside the camp in the world, "bearing His reproach;" and, whilst thus delivered from the profession around me, that is not of Him, I am engaged in worship and doing good to all.
In regard to my hope, it is not, as people say, the "holding the doctrine of the second advent," but "waiting for God's Son from heaven." This is not a dead, dry doctrine. If we are really waiting for God's Son from heaven, we shall be sitting loose to the world.
I have Christ for my soul's need, and I am only "waiting for God's Son from heaven," for Christ to come from heaven to take His Church unto Himself, that where He is we may be also, and that may be this night. I am not looking for antichrist, for signs, for movements amongst the nations, but for this one holy, happy thing, I am waiting for God's Son from heaven. Oh do not let us be inconsistent, do not let us contradict that — seeking to grasp Christ with one hand, and hold fast the world with the other. If we know our position "within the veil," we must know our position "outside the camp," reproached, it may be, scorned, hated, suspected, of all who are not outside, but in the joy of fellowship with Him. "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, we also then shall appear with Him in glory."