Why Those Who Insist We Need Not Keep The Law At The Same Time Insist About Tithing?

Should We Obey The Law Or Not?

Question : We're hearing a lot of messages on the love and grace of God. There is no balanced teaching. They're saying condemnation is coming from the devil. Jesus has fulfilled the Law. We, the New Testament Christians are not under Law. Romans Chapters 6,7, and Galatians Chapter 3, are some of the Scriptures, their examples.....really confusing to me. They're preaching, 'you need not obey Law.' 'But I can't understand how could they claim 'tithe'? But I'm not against tithing.

Answer : We need a balanced spiritual food to stay hale and healthy. Too much of anything is good for nothing. As it applies in the physical so it is in the spiritual life too (1 Cor 15:46). Now there is no condemnation for all believers is true and the devil is the one who uses those opportunities of unconfessed sins to accuse us within to bring condemnation to us many times (Rom 8:1, 9; 14:22; 1 John 3:20-21, 22; 1:7, 9), at the same time this happens when we are not making a turn around when the Holy Spirit convicts us and give us a opportunity to turn to the way of God (John 16:8-9). We are not under the law of Moses now, but under the law of the Spirit which is greater to keep than it (Gal 4:6; Rom 8:15-17). The law of the Spirit is something that the Holy Spirit quickens the law and also gives the strength to believers to keep it (Rom 8:2). To say that we are free from the Law and follow nothing leads believers to a dangerous state of worldliness and destruction of their spiritual lives (1 Tim 1:19-20; 6:9; 2 Tim 4:10). In Galatians, Paul emphasizes the believers who are freed and live in the Spirit to walk in the Spirit which will keep them from the works of the flesh because He is the one who is appointed for all of us believers to do the tutelage faithfully until we become mature sons and daughter of God (Gal 5:25, 16). In other words, if we keep the law by our own strength we become religious and legalistic (Rom 4:4), if we fail to walk by any law because of claiming the freedom of liberty which Jesus has given to indulge in the flesh, we become worldly and fleshly (Rom 6:16). Only when we walk in the Spirit because of Christ freeing us from the law (Rom 6:1, 15), it will given us meaning and satisfaction to live a true spiritual lives for the Glory of God (Rom 6:22; 8:13; Gal 6:8).

In short, trying to keep the law with our own strength can be likened to taking a map which is the Law of God in our own hands and from it using our understanding to find our way to God where heaven is and walk pleasing to Him in our day to day life which is impossible to impeccably walk without mistake at all times because our strength is limited and our knowledge is also limited, walking in Law of the Spirit is like having a personal guide from God who knows the map of God inside out, and also as He is the One who designed it, He will tell us moment by moment how we should draw near to God, how we can walk pleasing to Him by avoiding and overcoming the lust and indulgences of the flesh, how we can live a victorious overcoming life of faith over sin, sickness and death and finally how to live this earthly life abundantly with joy, peace and righteousness of God and then helping us, lifting us and guiding us with his own eyes and hands whenever we have no strength to fulfill it. So it is a choice to make every day to walk by the Law which is the heavenly map or by the Spirit who is a personal guide to whom we give the map and trust him to lead us in the right way until we enter in to heaven.

Even tithe in the New Testament is not a demand, but out of love, thankfulness and cheerfulness for what the Lord has already done for us in every realm of existence, we give back to Him willingly what He has already given to us (Eph 1:3; 1 Chron 29:14; 1 Cor 4:7).

New Testament giving is (1) Cheerful Giving and constant habitual giving (2 Cor 9:7; Php 4:15-16), (2) Sacrificial Giving (Rom 8:32; Mark 12:44; Luke 21:4; 1 Kings 17:13, 15), (3) Liberal Giving (2 Cor 8:3), (4) Abundant Bountiful Giving (2 Cor 9:6, 8; Acts 2:45) and (5) Extravagant Giving (Matt 26:7; Luke 7:46).

None of these gifts in any way pressurize or coerce us to give to God out of compulsion. So in the Old Testament if people have given tithe out of the law, we give still in a greater way in the New Testament out of the strength the Spirit gives us to give out in the spirit of higher blessedness which Jesus described (Acts 20:35). If we really mean giving out our whole body as a living sacrifice to God, our giving in percentage will always be without doubt more than the Old Testament Tithe at any point of time in our life (Rom 12:1). We give our best to the one whom we love, and that applies to God (Rom 8:32), if we think about boasting about what we give it will be a mockery to even mention it again, and will be utterly despised as it mean to be not a genuine one out of true love in the heart of the giver (Sos 8:6, 7). In other words, the committed and loving heart towards God and men behind the giving is more important than giving itself (Mark 12:41; Luke 11:42; Matt. 6:1-4). God rewards us not according to how much we give, but with what heart of love we give towards Him.


Much Blessings.....

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What Does The Bible Say About An Out Of Body Experience / Astral Projection?

I Have A Few Experiences That May Be Considered Translation Experiences, Does It Mean God Would Give Me Test Runs Or Something Like That Now?

Question : I pray that you will receive, read and respond to this email. I feel that I have a few experiences that may be considered translation experiences, but am not sure.

1) I did not feel that I was in my body but I was traveling high in the sky at first I was nervous, because it was very dark and I could not see but there was another presence with me that brought me peace. As we were together I continued to look below and things became a little clearer I could see tree tops and power lines and then I returned.

2) Another I was flying through a city that did not seem to be built by man's hands although the buildings seem very contemporary.

3) I have been traveling at night long distance and was so tired, but do not remember how I got from one point in my journey to another decreasing the length of my trip.

4) Lastly a few nights ago, I experience being lifted up into the sky and among the stars, it was night. I was a little nervous at first but began to feel at peace and then I returned to myself or body.

I am saved, and believe the Word of God. Some of these things I experienced before I've heard people today testify to their experiences, in an effort to research more I ran across your site. My concern is that when others have testified of their experiences there seemed to be a purpose that they could attest to later and the prove that God was at work.

My question is why am I experiencing such (especially 1,2 & 4), or would God give me test runs or something like that. Thank you for your time and response. This can be a little embarrassing to ask, especially if there is no real meaning to it all in earthly terms.

Answer : Greetings to you in Jesus wonderful name!

It is good that you have shared your wonderful spiritual experiences that has taken place recently in your life.

I also had certain experiences just like you have shared during a certain period of a season in recent years past and I am amazed by the similarity of experiences children of God like you are having around the world.

We need to delve deep in to Scripture to find what these things really are and mean to us in these last minutes ticking towards the time of the establishment of the Millennium Kingdom of the Lord Jesus in which all of us will come to rule the world along with Jesus.

First let us get a reference point from which we will look in to this,

1) Jesus had come to redeem us from sin so that we could be sealed with the Holy Spirit who has guaranteed to raise us up with a glorious body on the day of Rapture just like Jesus had a glorious body after His resurrection (Gal 3:13; Eph 1:13-14; Rom 8:11).

2) Jesus had a metaphysical body after His resurrection that was not bound by time and space, but rather could travel any far any time with the speed of a thought, so that while He appeared to His disciples within a locked room without anyone opening the door to let Him in, they thought He was actually a Ghost or a spirit, immediately Jesus did two extraordinary things that is supernaturally natural to show that his body works just like our body works on earth but at the same time is actually heavenly in it ability to travel without any earthly limitation (Luke 24:36-38).

The two things Jesus told to test the reality of his glorious body was,

(i) He told his disciples to handle him and see that reality of his glorious body which was metaphysical in its nature, and then pointed out to them that a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see him have (Luke 24:39). Then He showed them His hands and His feet (Luke 24:40). I believe unlike earthly terrestrial body which works with flesh and blood to support human existence and life (Lev 17:11, 14), this heavenly celestial glorious body which actually has inherited the Kingdom of God works with flesh and bones in glory and power of heaven within it (1 Cor 15:40, 43, 50; Eph 6:12; Luke 24:39).

(ii) Then Jesus knew that to prove that his glorious body works just like any other humans physical body but without any limitation of the earth bound space and time to travel at will freely from heaven to earth at the speed of a thought, Jesus knew how he need to make his disciples understand that He eats normally like any other human being on earth but can choose not to live and survive by it as like the earthly body but rather live by the Word of the Lord which sustains the glorious body of His (Matt 4:4), he then asked his disciples, 'Have you any food here?', when they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb, He took it and ate in their presence (Luke 24:41-43). Hallelujah!

3) When Jesus comes with a cry of command in clouds with great power and glory, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God to take us all to the Father's house in the New Jerusalem the city of God during the Rapture event in which we will all rise up in a glorious body just like Jesus is (John 14:2-3; 1 Thess 4:16-18; 1 John 3:2), then we will with a twinkling of an eye or like a lightning strike that passes from one end to the other in a fraction of a second we will be taken up to enter in to the glorious city of God which was made without hands of humans but by God Himself which is New Jerusalem (Matt 24:27; 2 Cor 15:52; Heb 11:16; 12:22-23). We believers will all gather up like eagles and fly at will like them as the Spirit of God will blow and lift us up in to great heights literally by His power and strength to travel as fast as light in to all the universe and especially from heaven to earth and back and forth (Matt 24:28; Isa 40:28-29, 30-31; John 3:8).

4) We as children of God seek out for this city of God New Jerusalem in which we will live, and continue to work for Jesus from city to city on this present earth as the judges and rulers along with him in governmental position of our Father's Kingdom (Heb 13:14; Matt 25:21, 23; Luke 19:15, 17, 19; 1 Cor 6:2-3), the present earth which is going through the birth pangs now in this present time and then will have heavy pains through the time of Tribulation of the whole earth because of human sin will see a new beginning of restoration, regeneration and renewal of the whole earth which Jesus will do though us the sons of God to make the earth become like in the time before the fall of human in to sin where it was not affected by sin at all (Matt 24:5-7, 8, 20-21, 22; 19:28-29; Rom 8:18-19, 20-21, 22-23; Rom 12:5; Isa 43:19; Gen 3:8). For us to stay in New Jerusalem in heaven and serve with Jesus on earth at the same time we will be given a new glorious body by which Jesus will subdue all things on earth to Himself (Php 3:21, 20). O what a glorious God we serve!

Having now clearly seen the need of a glorious new body and the promise of us inheriting it which is actually the hope of every Christian, or at least as it should be according to the Bible (2 Peter 3:13), we can now understand why God is giving such dreams and visions about translation or supernatural transportation's to all his children as we are nearing day by day, hour by hour for this scintillating event to take place as it is at the door step of heaven where Jesus is standing and getting ready to open the doors of heaven one by one to descend to come and call us from the sky and to ascend with all of us believers back to the Father's house in heaven (Matt 24:32-33). You can almost hear the foot steps of the Messiah Jesus! Hallelujah!

A voluntary out-of-body experience, or an “astral [i.e. relating to a supposed non-physical realm of existence in which the physical human body is said to have a counterpart that is believed to have the ability to travel to outer space to which various psychic and paranormal are ascribed] projection,” assumes the existence of an "astral body" separate from the physical body and believes that it is capable of travelling outside it. A person trying to achieve an out-of-body experience in order to connect with spirits or the spirit world is practicing the occult which God hates and is abominable to Him which are practiced by people groups that do not know the true real God, and we as the children of God are expected to be blameless in this regard (Deut 18:9-13). There are other certainly medically verified out-of-body experience (OBE), in which people leave their body for sometime after or during a trauma or accident, in which God sees and hear their plight and mercifully gives them another chance to accept His truth and change their course of eternal destiny through which many get saved for eternity ahead. These make good stories to turn people towards the truth, but it does not give us truth as only the Word of God is the only truth that leads us to eternal life and transforms us inside out to make us live that eternal life from now on itself, thus getting us ready by doing the rehearsal on earth for heaven performance (John 14:6; 17:17, 3, 23, 26; 1 John 1:3-4; 3:2-3).

Apostle Paul shares his own involuntary what nearly seemed to be real out of body experience here in (2 Corinthians 12:1-4, Living Bible) where he says, " 1 This boasting is all so foolish, but let me go on. Let me tell about the visions I've had, and revelations from the Lord. 2 Fourteen years ago I was taken up to heaven for a visit. Don't ask me whether my body was there or just my spirit, for I don't know; only God can answer that. But anyway, there I was in paradise [of God's third and the highest heaven], 3 [See 12:2] 4 and heard things so astounding that they are beyond a man's power to describe or put in words (and anyway I am not allowed to tell them to others)."

Thus an involuntary out-of-body experience or a near-death experience we have in our lives as Christians, like the Apostle Paul's, are treated in the same way as a dream and vision of a unexplained phenomenon that may make a good story but is actually not fully describable by words, and therefore we can share with others if God wants us to or keep and cherish it ourselves to have that glorious hope which looks ahead if He doesn't want us to share the details of it as it cannot give others the absolute truth which only the word of God can. But to use it to brag about ourselves is foolish because God is the one who gave us such glorious experience and we did nothing to deserve salvation itself or the benefits of it which are these experiences, the reality of who we are is not the visions and dreams that we have seen or see in our lives, but our life and message of the cross of Christ that we live and demonstrate before others is the only thing we can show as our achievement to others by the grace of God (2 Cor 12:5-6; Titus 3:4-5; Eph 2:8-9; Gal 2:20-21; 6:14; 1 Cor 11:1; 15:10).

I can understand your sincerity in asking, does the dream mean God would give me a real life test run now?

We of course see in the Bible certain people who were given the privilege of test runs like this having their real body on earth itself which was suspended for a time to make it work like a glorious body for them to understand the awesome privilege they have to be sons of God now and in the coming days to come, and also for us to know that it can happen to us if God wills, but we should not long for it or desire for it intensely which may lead us to deception from the enemy (2 Cor 11:14; Col 2:18-19).

Enoch walked with God and he was translated from earth to heaven directly without ever seeing death (Gen 5:24).

Elijah was many times taken up by the Spirit and dropped in other places so that people were afraid of him that he might appear and disappear to make their words about his whereabouts foolish to others, and they were afraid of saying that they have seen him to tell it to the king of the nation of Israel, being concerned over their own life which might get executed if Elijah was not found at the spot where he was supposedly told to be present (1 Kings 18:7-8, 9-10, 11-12). At one time when Elijah promised Obadiah in the name of the Lord that he will present himself before the king that day and will not disappear, only then he went to tell the king Ahab that Elijah wanted to meet him (1 Kings 18:15-16). Even the sons of the prophets whom he trained in his prophetic school did not believe that he was taken to heaven after he left the earth once and for all time till his second coming in the future, they believed the Spirit of God might have lifted him up and would have dropped him somewhere inside or around the nation of Israel they believed (2 Kings 2:16-17, 18). Thus the Spirit of God suspended all the natural laws for a moment again and again and used Elijah in the way of supernatural translation in his life by transporting him from place to place where He wanted him to be in a fraction of seconds. GLORY!

Jesus walked on the water (Matt 14:25-26), passed through the crowd of people to vanish when they wanted to kill him (Luke 4:30) and when people wanted to seize him he slipped out of their hands supernaturally by Spirit transportation again and again until the time of God came for Him to die (John 10:39, 15, 17-18). On the mount of Transfiguration, Jesus' earthly body was suspended still for a moment of time and he was transfigured in to the original state of the heavenly Son of God whose appearance in his preincarnate state of his existence was revoked as the commander in chief of God's army, and was revealed to the disciples so that they can obey and follow Him reverently (Matt 17:1-9; Josh 5:13-15).

Peter the apostle walked on the water when Jesus called him to come to Him who was also walking on the water at that time coming towards them (Matt 14:28-29).

Philip the evangelist was supernaturally transported from one place to the other by the Spirit of God which were many miles apart in a fraction of a second (Acts 8:39-40).

What can we learn Scripturally from what we have seen above, our desire should be to walk closely in intimate communion with God the Spirit (2 Cor 13:14), if by His own will if he translates us like we have seen in the above scenarios (1 Cor 12:11), we should praise the Lord and give glory to God like many men and women of God in the previous generations whom I have heard and have told of such supernatural transportation happening to them. But if not also we should turn our attention to the Scriptures and believe the truth it tells us, because Jesus clearly told to all Church believers the greater blessedness waiting for those who do not see yet believe the truth of God in their lives (John 20:29).

And also coming to the out of body experiences, we have seen how God is revealing to many of God's children these days around the world about the soon coming future glorious life in the metaphysical celestial body that we are all waiting with hope and expectation to receive and experience for eternity ahead. Also these experiences are something that is given by God through the Holy Spirit to increase our hope of eternal life in the Spirit now and therefore should make us walk in the Spirit and be led by Him now more and more to practice ourselves as the sons and daughters of God in action (Gal 3:26; 5:16; Rom 8:14; 15:13). As our God of hope fills us with all joy and peace in believing the Scriptures (Rom 15:13), we may desire more and more sincerely for the soon coming of our Lord Jesus to take us to our Father's House where mansions and palaces are waiting to be filled by us and thus serve Him for eternity ahead as His dear sons and daughters, Maranatha, 'Come Lord Jesus!'(1 Cor 16:22; 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Peter 1:3-4; 2 Tim 4:8). You can almost hear the Trumpet sound!

Much Blessings.....

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Should We Use Anointing Oil While Appointing Ministers?

Are We Supposed To Use Anointing Oil To Heal The Sick And To Ordain Ministers In Churches?

Question : Are we supposed to use anointing oil to heal the sick and to ordain ministers in Churches.

Answer : Greetings to you in Jesus wonderful name!

It is a good question that we need to get in to the Word of God to find the appropriate answer.

The word in Hebrew for anointing is 'mishchah' and in Greek is 'chrisma', which in both language actually means 'anointing, anointed, ointment, anointing, unction.' But mainly through out the Scripture the Bible mainly speaks anointing as the symbolic representation of the coming, working and staying of the Holy Spirit, for which literal symbolic oil has been used by prophets to anoint and appoint the leaders of both the religious and political areas of the nation of Israel and the leaders by the apostles in the Church (1 Kings 19:16; 1 Tim 4:14). The word 'ordain' in English means 'make (someone) a priest or minister; confer holy orders on, order (something) officially.'

These words with minor adjustments are used in various places of the Bible literally, symbolically and metaphorically.

Usually God calls a person in to ministry and if they respond to the call of God, automatically the anointing of the Holy Spirit will start to work upon them to fulfill the ministry that God has planned for them.

Prophets such as Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel were called to do His service -- to serve Him -- there is no record or account of any of them having been anointed by any human agency or "hands" being laid upon them.

Abraham was personally called by God and as he responded to it, God blessed him more and more with His Spirit (Gen 12:1-4; Gal 3:14).

God selected and appointed Moses to lead His people out of Egypt, and to perform awesome miracles of plagues, at the burning bush he was called, ordained by Him (Exod 3:4-9, 10).

God revealed Himself to Samuel through the word of the Lord (1 Sam 3:7-8, 10-15, 17), when Samuel grew the Lord was with Him to let none of his words fall to the ground (1 Sam 3:19), automatically all Israel came to understand that Samuel had been established and confirmed as a prophet of the Lord (1 Samuel 3:20-21; 4:1).

Isaiah was called by God to become His servant, as he came forward in the vision to respond to the call, he was ordained and sent forth as God's mouth piece to the nation of Israel (Isa 6:1-7, 8, 9, 11).

God "ordained" Jeremiah as a prophet to the nations by APPOINTING him at the right time, after which he became God's messenger and mouthpiece to speak His Holy Word to the nation of Israel (Jer 1:4-10).

Ezekiel received the Word of the Lord in a vision of God and was thereafter commissioned to speak it to the children of Israel as the mouth piece and messenger of God (Ezek 1:1, 3; 2:1-4).

Daniel accepted the call of God for his life, and God in response poured out His Spirit and Wisdom to understand dreams and visions for him to become a eligible prophet and mouth piece of His (Dan 1:8, 9, 17, 20; Num 12:6).

John the Baptist was called and trained by God in the wilderness, and then sent fort to speak as the last of His mouth piece to speak his words and turn people towards the Son of God who is the Messiah Jesus (Matt 3:1, 4; 11:7-11, 13-14; Mark 1:1-6, 7-8; Luke 7:28; John 1:19-28).

It is not just in the Old Testament times, in the New Testament times, Jesus prayed to God to handpick and choose the 12 men to become apostles of the Lamb initially whom God chose beforehand (Luke 6:12-16; Rev 21:14). When a person was called by Jesus and he responded to his call, they became God's mouthpiece in training under Jesus' ministry (Matt 8:22; Matt 4:18-22; 9:9; Luke 5:8-11; Mark 3:14; John 1:43, 51; 2:2; 15:16). Even when Peter the chief apostle among the 12 found out later that Judas has become a traitor to betray Jesus and lose the apostleship to die hanging himself, yet Peter under the inspiration very carefully cast lots and picked another choice of God to replace Judas and continue in that anointed ministry (Acts 1:15-20, 24-25; Prov 16:33). As the lot fell on Matthias, he was numbered automatically with the eleven apostles and nobody laid hands on him to ordain him because it was God's choice to induce the right person of the same generation who was already trained by the Jesus and the Spirit of God to continue in this awesome apostolic ministry (Acts 1:21-23, 26).

Not only with the twelve, again Jesus chose 70 more disciples and sent them to preach, do miracles and tell people that the kingdom of God has already come to this earth through Jesus the King (Luke 10:1, 2-9, 17-20, 21).

Paul the apostle who acted as the enemy of the Church to persecute it, was chosen and called by God in a miraculous direct way which made him do a instant turn in the other direction to become a chosen messenger of God for the time to come in the Church (Acts 9:1-9, 10-19, 20-22). Nobody ever ordained him in to ministry except the supernatural encounter of God and was trained by Him in Arabian desert for some time (Gal 1:1, 11-12, 15), after three years when he returned to Jerusalem and continued in ministry the apostles were still finding it hard to trust Paul as he was a former enemy of the Church who was now proclaiming Jesus as His apostle, only later they accepted his genuine apostleship towards Gentiles (1 Cor 15:8-9; 2 Cor 12:11-12; Gal 1:22-24; 2:7, 8-9, 11, 14).

In other words, God calls whom He has already chosen, He equips them with the Holy Spirit anointing to empower them to fulfill His call for their lives to get fulfilled. No human agency is required for God to call a person and set him as His mouth piece or his messenger to speak His Word.

Yet we see again and again, once a particular ministry of a prophet or apostle has been set and used by God, if it continues for the succeeding generation after him, then He uses that same person who was used by Him in the past as His mouthpiece or messenger to ordain the next generation after him for that ministry to continue for the Glory of God. This does not mean that the prophet or apostle or a messenger of God can choose a person of his choice and put him in ministry after him, he can only recognize the person whom God has already chosen after him and train him to put him in to ministry through ordaining him by anointing him with oil and laying on of hands. Usually before laying on of hands, symbolically the messenger of God will dip their hands in to oil to say before all people, that the Holy Spirit who has used his hands thus far, now will go from his hand to the person whom He is ordaining officially as his successor to continue in that ministry of God.

We see this laying on of hands and pouring of the anointing oil in the following cases where these ministries were carried out under the dominant call of the sole ministry of these prophets in the Old Testament and apostles in the New Testament times.

Moses trained Joshua and laid hands on him to transfer the anointing of the Spirit and publicly ordained him before the people whom he was going to lead (Deut 34:9; 32:44; Num 27:18-19, 20, 22-23).

Moses also inaugurated the priestly ministry of Aaron and his sons by anointing them with anointing oil and also making special garments for them to wear specially for this purpose of ministering inside the tabernacle, to symbolically make them understand that a special Spirit of God has been poured on them by the Lord to represent people before God and God before people (Exo 30:22-25; 39:1; 40:12-15; Lev.8:12). The same special anointing oil was used to anoint the tabernacles and everything in it (Exo 40:9), including the altar and laver (Exo 40:10), to make these priests understand that they are treading in a Holy ground of God and they are specially separated for this ministry which no other person is allowed to do.

Also in the same way we see prophet Samuel anoint and inaugurate both Saul and after that David to become Kings (1 Sam.9:16-17; 10:1, 5-6; 16:12-13, 14). In the same way established priests and prophets later anointed to ordain and appoint Kings like Solomon, etc...after him in succession in this ministry (1 Kings 1:34).

Elijah the prophet was instructed to anoint his successor as directed by the Lord and he chose Elijah and trained him in the prophetic ministry, God also directed Elijah to anoint Hazael as king over Syria and Jehu as king over Israel (1 Kings 19:15-16). But Elijah threw his mantle on Elisha, he came after him and seeing the demonstration of the mighty works of his master, he by faith wanted a double portion of the anointing of Elijah which was impossible for him to do since he cannot give something he does not have, so under a supernatural word of faith and wisdom released from Elijah, Elisha received the double portion of anointing as he saw Elijah taken up to heaven at the last moment of time (2 Kings 2:9-10, 11-12, 13, 15).

Since Elijah concentrated to build his successor by faith, he delayed to anoint Hazael as king of Syria, but when Elisha rose up to be a mighty prophet, he released the word of faith and wisdom again to Hazael and it got fulfilled (2 Kings 8:9-15). I believe since Elisha knew that Hazael was going to torment and destroy Israel in the future, he disobeyed God's direct word to anoint him and therefore because of it he died of sickness later after sometime (2 Kings 13:14, 19-21). The prophets of Israel were so prejudiced against Gentile people, like Elisha and Jonah though they were great men of God, yet when God wanted to bless the enemy they disobeyed God and thus received the result of disobedience in their lives (Matt 5:44-48). But as for Jehu, Elisha sends the sons of the prophets to anoint him as king over Israel (2 Kings 9:1-13). From this we know that the very act of anointing is not something to be taken lightly as a ordination tradition that is optional to consider but rather is something which God commands and expects people to obey, even when man fails to do it, God faithfully according to his plan and purpose starts to anoint people spiritually and fulfill his blue print for them by their faith in His Word. So the anointed Word of faith that is released over people is not an end in itself, but the anointing with literal oil that accompanies the Word of faith and Wisdom is as important as the other, we should always understand that the full obedience to the Word of God is better than partial obedience which actually becomes disobedience.

We then see the twelve apostles choose seven men of good reputation who were full of Holy Spirit and wisdom, and then appointed them as overseer over the business of the Church by laying their hands on them, then we see that the word of God spread and the disciples multiplied greatly, so much so that even the great many priests became obedient to the faith (Acts 6:2-3, 5-6, 7).

The same thing happened when the eldership of prophets and teachers in the Church at Antioch were fasting and praying, ministering to the Lord, God told them to separate Barnabas and Saul for the apostolic work which He has called them to do, thus they as a elders, laid their hands on them and sent them away after which both officially began to operate in the gift of apostleship towards the Gentiles in their ministry (Acts 13:1-3).

We then see Paul and the elders of Ephesus laying hands on Timothy and giving prophecy about his future ministry and ordinating him before the Church to make him carry on the work that God has planned for his life (1 Tim 1:3, 18; 4:14). Then again we see Paul warning Timothy not to ordain any elder in the Church through laying on of his hands, unless they are experienced and have reputation with the Church and not a novice (1 Tim 5:22; 3:6).

So thus we know, many churches today practice a custom of having senior ministers and team of elders "ordain" others to the ministry by "laying on of hands," and sometimes also accompanied by "anointing" with oil -- meaning olive oil, coconut oil, etc symbolically like in the Old Testament times of anointing. Some churches also "raise" a minister in "rank" or in to the greater calling of the Lord for them by a similar "ordination service" involving laying on of hands to let these men in to either evangelist ministry or apostleship ministry or teaching ministry or prophetic ministry as we have seen above. All these thing have a Scriptural reasons for Churches doing things like these.

We read in Ephesians, "And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting" (Ephesians 4:11-14, NKJV).

Yet we see that these 5-fold ministers are only small percentage within the Church to equip the Church, when the ministry grows and the next generation continues with the practice of the gift of God's grace through faith as explained in Rom 12:3-8 and in the 9 gifts of the Holy Spirit as explained in 1 Cor 12:7-11, the most important thing in such a apostolic ministry of the New Testament Church pattern is to appoint the team of elders in each Church and make it self sufficient to run with only minimum spiritual support from the founding main Church (Acts 14:23; Titus 1:5; Rev 1:19-20; 2:1-2, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14). The churches which has not followed this pattern of the New Testament to ordain elders in each Church to run it independently, have again and again made the Church ministry to come to an end with scattering of souls because of not appointing and raising the next generation of elders to make the Church run independently. Those who have appointed people in Church by election and not by Divine direction, or have given patronage to the children of the eldership of the Church to take over it as though it is their property and family business, have again and again destroyed the Church in times past and in the present time it has been happening and it will also happen in the future too if the Lord delays his coming.

Finally coming to your specific question, should we use oil in ministering to the sick? I would say we should use oil in ministering to the sick as much as possible because that is the way Jesus taught his twelve disciples initially to practice faith by symbolically rubbing oil on the head of the sick (Mark 6:7-9, 12-13). Every great healing ministry must have all started wiht basic and then move on higher in to the realm of faith. And also we see apostle James clearly instructing the sick people in the Church to go to the elders of the Church and ask them to anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord Jesus to release their faith in God through this symbolic act of anointing them with oil, so that the elders prayer of faith will heal the sick one by the Lord raising the sick even if the sick has committed some sins it would be forgiven because of their authority to let go of these sins (James 5:14-15; John 20:23). Oil was applied to the sick generally for cooling the body, and also to wounds for faster healing (Psalm 109:18; Isaiah 1:6). As oil refreshes the body to gladden it and will make the face of human to shine, hence figuratively it is used as the "oil of gladness" in the Bible to describe the joy that our soul feels when the anointing of the Holy Spirit refreshes our body and soul through using our spirit (Psalm 45:7; Heb 1:9). Anointing was also an act of hospitality (Luke 7:38, 46). It was the custom of the Jews in like manner to anoint themselves with oil, as a means of refreshing or invigorating their bodies (Deut 28:40; Ruth 3:3; 2 Sam 14:2; Psalm 104:15, etc.). This custom is continued among the Arabians to the present day.

Why not freely use oil when oil has such great benefit spiritually and physically for all the people whom we pray for?

But when we are in a situation where we do not have oil at hand to anoint people or a lot of people are waiting to be prayed, by faith we can freely lay hands on the sick and expect them to be healed as it is not a sin to pray for sick without anointing them with oil (Mark 16:17-18). The anointing prayer for the sick is not a command to be obeyed but rather a good principle to be practiced so that we can freely flow with the healing anointing and get used to move in it easily by faith so that later on even we can do without it.

Should we use oil to anoint while ordaining ministers in the Churches?

I have dealt this topic thoroughly above, so we know the act of anointing was significant of consecration to a holy or sacred use; hence the anointing of the high priest (Exo 29:29; Lev 4:3) and of the sacred vessels (Ex 30:26). The high priest and the king are thus called "the anointed", the expected Messiah or the Deliverer is called as 'The Anointed One' (Lev 4:3, 5, 16; Lev 6:20; Psalm 132:10; Psalm 2:2; Dan 9:25,26). Jesus of Nazareth is this anointed One (John 1:41; Acts 9:22; Acts 17:2, 3; Acts 18:5, 28), the Messiah of the Old Testament. Anointing a king was equivalent to crowning him (1 Sam 16:13; 2 Sam 2:4, etc.). Sometimes even prophets as in the case of Elisha were instructed by the Lord to be anointed (1 Kings 19:16; 1 Chron 16:22; Psalm 105:15).

So what can we learn from all these above? While appointing elders, I do not see specific anointing with oil used in the New Testament even hinted one time, but as Christians we always look to the Old Testament to learn symbolism and carry on these things as a pattern which even the Lord values many times seeing our faith. But using oil while ordaining might not have spiritual value even one bit, but it has great symbolic value. So I believe you can freely use oil in ordination, so that a royal and priestly pattern can be carried on in the Church as we are royal priests of the Lord in the New Testament (1 Peter 2:9; Rev 5:10).

Again using oil while ordinating people as leaders in the Church there are no rules to keep, but using oil is a good principle to be followed especially under the subjective direction of the Holy Spirit and for the rich symbolism in general, even if we ordain just laying on the hands it is not wrong and the purpose of the symbolism is also done through it itself and I believe that it why no where in the New Testament this is specifically referred literally during appointment of eldership or ordination. It is used only metaphorically in the NT; by metonym, where instead of the direct reference of the name Holy Spirit the symbolism of anointing from the Holy one which is unction or anointing was used (1 John 2:20, 27). Thus we can just lay hands and ordain or appoint an elder, this is more than enough for the requirement of the act, but a little more flavor, toppings and tasty nuts can be added to the ceremony of it if we can use oil as symbolism to express the message of truth behind it.

Much Blessings.....

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Can You Tell Me How To Operate In The Spirit And Exercise In The Spirit?

My Gifting Is In The Prophetic Ministry, How To Increase In The Prophetic Outflow?

Question : My gifting is in the prophetic ministry. I would like to increase in this area. What are your suggestions. Can you tell me how to operate in the spirit and exercise in the spirit?

Answer : Greetings in Jesus wonderful name! If your gifting is in prophetic ministry, I would first want to take you to know the three variations of the prophetic gift that you can receive and practice from the Lord.

1) Gift of Prophet That Jesus Gives To The Church

This is a gift that Jesus gives to the Body of Christ. If you are called by God as a prophet to the Body of Christ, you will begin to see and experience the operation of this gift through your life. Just like apostles, pastors, evangelists and teachers, Jesus has also given prophets who are men given as gifts from Jesus to the Church to specifically  speak the heart of God to the Church (Eph 4:11). These gifts including prophets are given for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying or building up of the body of Christ till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph 4:12-13). Until the Church comes to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ and get Raptured on the day Jesus comes to take his Church, until then these gifts will operate. We see no withdrawal of even one of these gift any time in the past or in the present. Till the Church exist on earth, these gifts to the Church will exist. 
 
We have a classic example of a New Testament prophet in Agabus who foretold about a famine that was to come in the first century which also came exactly like he said and got fulfilled (Acts 11:27-28).

In the New Testament, no matter how mature a prophet is, he cannot be always 100% correct like in the Old Testament times, because in this dispensation of grace, God made people to know in part and prophecy in part to make them stay humble before Him and receive more grace to prophecy (1 Cor 13:9; 1 Peter 5:5-6).

Even we find this happening in the life of the great prophet Agabus of the New Testament, before Paul went to Jerusalem for the last time, he prophesied by taking Paul's belt and tied his own hands and feet, to even say "Thus says the Holy Spirit","so shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him in to the hands of the Gentiles." (Acts 21:10-11), but when things happened actually, the Jews did not bind him, but rather the Gentile commander was the one who through his subordinate soldiers bound him with two chains (Acts 21:32-33). This shows that even great prophets can miss certain specifics or even completely sometimes which shows that they as New Testament prophets can try their best to be accurate but their words can never be considered infallible. So Paul always says not to despise prophecies but rather test it first, and once they have a conviction and confirmation from the Word of God, then he says them to hold fast what is good (1 Thess 5:19-21). Again he says, if two or three prophecy, let others judge whether what is said is in accordance with the Word of God or outside the realm of it (1 Cor 14:29-33).

2) Grace Gift Of Prophecy Which God Gives To Some Believers

Paul the apostle said, "6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness." (Rom 12:6-8).

In the above verse we see that there are certain believers who will have faith to prophecy because that will be the member gift for the function of exercising these grace that has been specially given to them by God. So in short, if God has given you the ability to prophesy, then prophesy whenever you can--as often as your faith is strong enough to receive a message from God. Note among the 7 gifts for the believers that God gives, only one of the gift is the gift of faith received to prophecy.

3) Prophecy As A Gift Of The Spirit Given To Both The Ministers And Believers At Various Times According To The Holy Spirit's Will

The finally we see the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all, in which "prophecy" is given directly in the know language or at other times given in tongues and interpretation of tongues which again comes either with the same person or with another person according to the will of the Holy Spirit who works at various times as each person opens himself up to the working of the Spirit (1 Cor 12:7, 8-10, 11). Note among the nine gifts of the Spirit only two is related to prophetic word : Prophecy in understandable Language and prophecy that comes in tongues with the interpretation of tongues (1 Cor 14:5). One who prophecies in these two ways edifies or builds the Church directly (1 Cor 14:4). So if we know that a certain tongue is a message to the Church that God is giving and we see nobody else is there to interpret that message with the gift of interpretation of tongues, then Paul tells such a person to pray to God so that he himself may be used by the Holy Spirit to interpret the message that he knows has come to him in tongues ( 1 Cor 14:13-14), so that all may be able to say amen to the message of God that comes to the Church (1 Cor 14:16, 19).

So we have come to understand what are the different prophetic gift that Jesus gives, God gives and the Holy Spirit manifests.

If you like to increase in the prophetic area, I would suggest these following things to you,

1) Read the word of God and eat the word of God and sleep in the Word of God because they are "Prophetic Scriptures" (Rom 16:26) that God uses many times to prophecy to people, because all the content of the Bible is full of God's message to the hearers (2 Peter 1:20; 1 Peter 2:2; Col 3:16). Do you know that great prophets were told by God to eat the Word of God (Jer 15:16; Ezek 3:3;Job 23:12; Psa 119:103; Job 32:8, 18-20), before they became one? Eating the Word of God and meditating on it makes our spirit to burst forth with prophetic words (Jer 20:9; Psa 39:3).

2) Earnestly desire, covet and pray to God to flow in the gifts of the Spirit especially prophesy so that the Church may be built up (1 Cor 14:39). The best gift is one that which improves the believers mind spiritually, speaks the message of God again and again repeatedly and the message which supplies to the exact needs of the hearers and comforts their heart convincing them that God has spoken clearly to them and makes them believe that God will fulfill His word to them (1 Cor 14:3). This is why either directly prophesying or giving a prophetic message is the best gift according to apostle Paul (1 Cor 12:31; 14:1).

The same prophetic gift can be administered through revelation from Scripture, knowledge of Scripture, directly prophesying a Word from the Lord, or by teaching the inspired prophetic Word (1 Cor 14:6).

3) Get prayed over by the prophetic presbytery to know the exact gift that God has given within you, so that with those prophecies you may be able to wage warfare against the evil plans of Satan against you to discourage you and make you ineffective (1 Tim 4:14-15; 1:18-19).

4) If you have not yet received the gift of the Holy Spirit with the external evidence of speaking in tongues, seek for it and get it from God as soon as possible or through the laying hands of the apostolic ministers who are usually able to lay hands on you and impart the gift by faith (John 7:37-39; 14:16; Lk 24:49; 3:16; Matt 3:11; Acts 8:17-20; 19:6). Pray in the Spirit which is praying in tongues always, because to be more prophetic like Paul the apostle you need to speak more than all the tongue fanatic to flow in extreme prophetic grace towards the Church (1 Cor 14:18-19).

5) Grow in the character of the Lord Jesus by walking in the crucified knowledge that will make you logically consider and lay aside by good choice your fleshly mind (Eph 4:22; Col 3:5) and begin to grow close to the Holy Spirit by growing in the spiritual things which He teaches so that the mind of Christ could be constantly felt and expressed to others through your life (2 Peter 3:18; Rom 6:6; Gal 5:24; 1 Cor 2:13-15, 16; 2 Cor 13:14).

6) Join in teams to prophecy, because in it you will find easy to swim in prophetic waters as you get trained with a mature prophet how to do it (Acts 11:27; 15:32; 1 Cor 14:29, 30-31).

7) Above all, live your life pleasing to the Lord in all things by being a bond servant of Christ and never try to please people (Gal 1:10). Once you become pleasing to God and spend hours in worship towards Him, the very fiber of your being will be filled with a prophetic spirit. And then while you get established as a great testimony of Jesus you will fully understand that the purpose of all prophecy and of all the vision and dreams that God shows you is to tell to others about Jesus and that will make you stay humbly at his feet to glorify Him all the days of your life (Rev 19:10).

Once you exercise these things suggested above day in and day out, and day by day, soon you will start to operate in the spirit and exercise yourself towards a mighty outworking of the Spirit in your life. Recognize your call, concentrate on your call and begin to live out your call towards the people whom God has called you to minister, without fail you will fulfill the great purpose that God has for your life.

Much Blessings...

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Do We Need Constantly More Money To Do A Better Work In The Kingdom Of God?

Is Poverty A Curse For The Believer?

Question : Is poverty a curse for the believer? The word translated as Father in Greek means Provider and Creator.. that is why Jesus said, call no man your Provider or Creator (Father)...Poverty is a curse for a Believer... Jesus was never poor...He had what He needed... We are called to seek only desires of the Kingdom of God and as a result God has promised to provide our needs in this world. Does 2 Corinthians 8:9 emphasize, ‘we all need money and the more money we have the better work we can do for the Kingdom of God, money is essential in this world and without money we cannot be successful’. Did what the wise men gave from the East was enough financially and well provided for years to come for the whole family of Jesus (Matt 2:1-2, 11), so that the family was never in need or poor?

Answer : 2 Cor 8:9 says, "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich." Here it does emphasize that Jesus left His heavenly glory to become a poor baby in a manger which even the poorest of the poor will not choose and chose to die as like a sinner on behalf of us in shame (Luke 2:7), so that we poor sinful humans like us could believe in Him and become the sons of God receiving the rights of God's children as a gracious gift from Him (Rom 6:23; Gal 3:26; John 1:12).

Jesus left His glory and became poor so that we humans who were lost and have fallen short of the Glory of God might regain it. To speak in term of just material prosperity is a wrong interpretation of this very Scripture and a understatement that makes the value of being the spiritual children of God to become cheap, but at least we can say that is included in the package as God has promised to provide all our need in Christ Jesus (Php 4:19). In the NT, every penny God provides is for us to fulfill His purpose for our lives. To say that more the money we have, the better we can work for the kingdom of God and be successful without which we cannot be is a false statement that is made to look like the true. The apostle Paul said that the Kingdom of God is not in big words of eloquence or in money power, but rather in dynamite power of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 4:20). Great apostles like Peter and John together did not have silver or gold, they only had this dunamis [i.e. dynamite like] power of the Holy Spirit with which they were able to do great and notable miracles to make people flock in to the Kingdom of God (Acts 3:6-7, 8, 10). The apostle Paul who turned the world upside down for Jesus with this power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 17:6), was by his own word many times hungry and thirsty without enough food, many times he fasted by taking this situation as the will of God, he did not have enough clothes to cover himself from freezing cold, many times was caught up in disasters and natural calamities, were in great dangers of being robbed and killed by evil men, five times his back was ripped apart with 39 stripes for preaching the gospel, dangers in the wilderness, cities, sea and among false brethren who wanted to destroy them and frequently put in prisons and kept to die alone (2 Cor 11:23-27). All other apostles of Jesus who lived for Him with their whole heart also lived like these men with not much money but great power of God operating in them and through them. This shows that to be successful as the child of God, one need not have much money except what is needed to carry on the purpose of God for our lives. And that too God has promised to provide all our needs like what we need to fulfill God's will for us in a particular day including food and clothing progressively day by day (Matt 6:9-13), so that we might continue to seek the Kingdom of God first in our lives. There is that makes himself rich, yet has nothing to take for eternity: there is that makes himself poor, yet has great riches stored up for eternity by doing the will of God (Prov 13:7). These men of God who followed Jesus wholeheartedly were not ascetic by any means, but they were those who have learned to be content with whatever the Father provided for them to fulfill the will of God for their lives. They used what they had for the kingdom of God and made themselves poor, yet God provided them all their needs day to day in their lives to fulfill His will. Praise the Lord!

I believe the gifts that God provided for the baby Jesus through the wise men were enough for them to escape and live in the alien land of Egypt until they returned back to their own land in Nazareth in the region of Galilee (Matt 2:19-23). But this provision cannot be speculated to make the family rich without need because again after returning to their own land, the Father and mother of Jesus lived not as a royal family in great and extravagant riches but like all other people as in their times to work and survive through their lives day to day (Luke 2:24, 39; Lev 12:7-8; Luke 2:41-42, 43-44, 45, 48-49; Luke 4:22; John 6:42; Matt 13:54-57). In other words, Jesus lived the same, looked the same, talked the same and walked the same as a common man in the vicinity of Nazareth of Galilee region so much so that when Jesus started to perform His miraculous teaching ministry, they all felt very jealous about him and they were offended at Him. In fact if Joseph had much riches he need not even would have continued the simple menial job of being a carpenter. So this shows that Jesus grew up as a common man if not a poor man (Psa 37:25), and they were in need many times so that his father has to be a bread winner for them all.

Poverty cannot be a curse for the believer always because James the apostle said, " 5 Listen to me, dear brothers: God has chosen poor people to be rich in faith, and the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs, for that is the gift God has promised to all those who love him. 6 And yet, of the two strangers, you have despised the poor man. Don't you realize that it is usually the rich men who pick on you and drag you into court? 7 And all too often they are the ones who laugh at Jesus Christ, whose noble name you bear. 8 Yes indeed, it is good when you truly obey our Lord's command, "You must love and help your neighbors just as much as you love and take care of yourself."" (Jam 2:5-7). In other words, "God has chosen poor people to be rich in faith" means physical poverty can become a spiritual blessing to the same poor believers. The materially rich people unless God has broken them completely (Psa 34:18; 147:3; Isa 61:1; 57:15; 66:2), many times they get puffed up and start to depend on themselves and their riches rather than on God, which is a spiritual curse for them (Matt 19:24; Jer 17:5). And also the Bible says, "The rich and poor have this in common: The LORD made them both." (Prov 22:2, LB) which shows that God sometimes makes some people to be poor materially but rich in faith to show to the world which believes in riches that abundant life is more than possessing worldly wealth, it is actually possessing the heavenly life of God through Jesus Christ (John 10:10). In fact, apostle James told the leading leaders of the Church who are readers of his epistle to not show partiality to the rich within the Church as that is the natural fleshly mind of all humans in which the child of God should never remain in (Jam 2:1-4), but rather he told them to see themselves as God sees them spiritually and not materially as the world does. Here is what James says, "9 A Christian who doesn't amount to much in this world should be glad, for he is great in the Lord's sight. 10 But a rich man should be glad that his riches mean nothing to the Lord, for he will soon be gone, like a flower that has lost its beauty and fades away, withered--killed by the scorching summer sun. So it is with rich men. They will soon die and leave behind all their busy activities." (James 1:9-10, LB).

Also Apostle James rebuked the rich people who trusted in their wealth by saying, "13 Look here, you people who say, "Today or tomorrow we are going to such and such a town, stay there a year, and open up a profitable business." 14 How do you know what is going to happen tomorrow? For the length of your lives is as uncertain as the morning fog--now you see it; soon it is gone. 15 What you ought to say is, "If the Lord wants us to, we shall live and do this or that." 16 Otherwise you will be bragging about your own plans, and such self-confidence never pleases God. 17 Remember, too, that knowing what is right to do and then not doing it is sin." (James 4:13, 14-17, LB). In other words, James warns the rich self-confident people that they will not please the Lord as long as they act this way, but if they change their attitude to become God-confident to depend on God and His will each day to glorify Him, then they will not be in sin but rather enjoy the righteousness and favor of God each day of their lives.

Again before ending the epistle he warns the rich people of this world to cry for mercy before God and change their evil hearted self-confident behavior by saying, "1 Look here, you rich men, now is the time to cry and groan with anguished grief because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. 2 Your wealth is even now rotting away, and your fine clothes are becoming mere moth-eaten rags. 3 The value of your gold and silver is dropping fast, yet it will stand as evidence against you and eat your flesh like fire. That is what you have stored up for yourselves to receive on that coming day of judgment. 4 For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. Their cries have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts. 5 You have spent your years here on earth having fun, satisfying your every whim, and now your fat hearts are ready for the slaughter. 6 You have condemned and killed good men who had no power to defend themselves against you." (Jam 5:1-6, Living Bible). Again in the above verses we see clearly that a temptation of covetousness is a reality for all those who are rich in this present world and those love money will never be satisfied with any amount of it which will actually only end in more and many sorrows (Eccl 5:10; 1 Tim 6:10).

So we as believers should understand that there is a blessing of faith in poverty, and also a curse in the riches of materialism. It is better for us not to desire to be rich and then fall in to temptation and a snare, and in to many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition (1 Time 6:9). Always it is good to be wise, be content and be satisfied with food and clothing now in this short life, and seek after the Kingdom of God and immortality in the life to come and be blessed spiritually for eternity ahead and receive eternal riches for our spiritual life we lived on earth (1 Tim 6:6, 7-8; Matt 6:19-21, 33; Rom 2:7). In other words, the Bible through and through emphasizes the value of spiritual life lived for God is always better than a thousand life of all material riches and great wealth lived for ourselves which is worth nothing in the end as we will all leave everything to pass out of this world (Luke 12:13-21; Eccl 2:3-11).

At the same time if God has given riches in to our hands, it is our duty to multiply it and bless people with it and extend the Kingdom of God with it (Eccl 2:26; 3:9; 5:18-20; Matt 25:21, 23). Money in the hands of the believer is a test given to him by God, if they pass the test in using it faithfully in the way God wants them to use, only then the true spiritual blessing of heaven are given to them which has been kept for them to inherit (Luke 16:9-13; Rev 3:11). So people who think that they are materially blessed by God because of God's favor, should learn to be careful to use it the way God wants them to use or else fail in the test of God to lose their eternal riches which God has for them (Rom 12:8).

The best way to train our lives is neither deep poverty without having faith to receive the daily needs from the Father God who gives, nor indulge in riches so much so as to depart from true faith to forget the giver and use it for ourselves, but rather receive from God contentment in whatever state we are and then enjoy God's abundant life from heaven within to rejoice always and keep seeking and building the kingdom of God as long as we live on earth so that we will receive God's abundance now and in the age to come eternal life (Prov 30:7-9; Psa 37:25; Php 4:11-12, 13; John 10:10; Luke 12:29-30, 31-34; Matt 19:27-29; Mark 10:28-30).

Also the point of Father as the Creator and Provider is a wonderful example of how the believers must trust in God's providential care for them individually and receive it through living a life of faith (Matt 6:25-32). If we choose to seek to fulfill God's will for our lives by living in His joy, peace and exercising the right and righteous way of Kingdom living...automatically all the needs in our lives will be provided by God to fulfill His will for our lives (Matt 6:33-34; Rom 14:17).

If you ask me, as a believer how can I live full and die rich? I would say, have faith in God to provide all your needs, thanks Him always and learn to be content in everything, so that you will live full of joy and die full of eternal riches which God will provide for you to keep you rich forever eternally before Him through His riches that He will provide.

Much Blessings.....

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