What Do You Think About Holy Laughter In The Light Of The Scripture?

Is Holy Laughter From God Or Satan?

Question : What about Holy Laughter, is it from God or the Devil? I think because of the disorder it might be from the evil one to break God's order in the Church. I have seen yoga guru's of the east trying to whip up laughter in people, and also great men of God laugh for three months in a row fully with Holy Laughter in the Church and say that it is a new move of God in this generation. What is your opinion from the Bible about it?

Answer : "Joy and laughter" go together, if we are joyful, we smile. We should not come to judge all laughter as demonic, like as you say the yoga fella trying to laugh can be fleshly, unspiritual and demonic which will look usually as if the devil is trying to laugh through him (Jam 3:15), as he will have no real joy in his face at all without Christ Jesus in his heart. Such foolish laugh of the flesh is like as the crackling of thorns under a pot, because it is the laughter of the fools who do not believe God and His Word; this also is vanity because there is no life and reality that will be present in it (Ecc; 7:6). The end of fleshly joy that comes by whipping up emotion is only grief (Prov 14:13).

There is no joy in a unbeliever really because demon cannot really give joy which is the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23), but Kenneth Hagin is a great man of God, and because of God's joy was able to carry on in his life with all the problems of life he faced. We should always understand that the manifestation of the Spirit is as diverse as His gifts, and to each one in variety of ways He acts through them (1 Cor 12:4-6, 7), but at the end of it all does it profit anybody in their spiritual lives and growth? That should be our question? If it has profited for the Glory of God, then we should rejoice with those who rejoice (Rom 12:15).

The truth of his life is seen all around the world, and many many millions have been blessed through His ministry of the Word. I think there is not a better man to bring revelation of faith deeply out of the word of God. He has been tested by God for more than two decade of hardship after which God blessed His ministry.

When there is original, always there will be counterfeit from the enemy. No one fearing a counterfeit should ever consider abstaining from embracing the real one. If you do so, the enemy will succeed in his mission of confusing God's people from abundant joy filled lives.

In this I choose to disagree as God is a God of order that doesn't mean that God cannot manifest in ways out of the ordinary through the manifestation of laughter, in fact because God laughs and expresses his faith that His future planned for the wicked will soon come to pass, he laughs uncontrollably expressing his joy that His righteousness will prevail no matter what. The Bible says, "But the Lord just laughs, for he sees their day of judgment coming." (Psa 37:13). "The one enthroned in heaven laughs. The Lord makes fun of them." (Psa 2:4).

Laughing is a sign of our faith in God's destiny rather in the depressive work of the devil around us. Then what about the verse that says, "Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; in thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." (Psa 16:11). Fullness of joy can only be expressed through smile and laughter. In other words, when God's Presence comes, laughter comes and revelation comes after which pleasures of God are felt all over us as the above verses reveals. So spontaneous laughter and unspeakable joy is a natural manifestation of God's victorious faith that is supernaturally expressed in the natural realm by the Holy Spirit (1 Peter 1:8-9; Acts 3:19; 13:52). Satan has neither joy in himself, nor has the ability to produce joy to give to other, the only sadistic ability of Satan and his cohorts is to steal joy from people when they allow them to control their lives, especially from the people of God who have the joy and enjoy life abundantly with it through smile and laughter which God graciously gives to those who seek Him (John 10:10; Eccl 2:24-26).

I believe in this, that without knowing the difference between Holy Laughter and Demonic Laughter, we should not pass judgment because of lack of understanding it. Because of its unusual way of manifesting from the ordinary way of regular life, joy is expressed through laughter which is the natural outward expression of the inward feeling of joy, even smile is a mild expression and laughter is a strong one. What do people experience after such Holy Laughter, bondage or freedom from self, sin and Satan? That is the crux of the matter. I have seen people's face glow like being in heaven and the freedom that they feel after such Holy Visitation of the Lord. Even if Brother Kenneth by the Holy Spirit has laughed for three months, He has spoken the Word for a life time with clear revelation that others never had in their life which shows the fruit of the Holy Laughter (Heb 13:7; Acts 16:32; Mar 4:33).

Laughter is one way to see happiness and hear it; it’s happiness made visible and audible. It’s the sound of joy (Jer 33:11). It’s not joy’s only sound; there is joy in sorrow, in tears, underneath sobs, and in silence. And there is laughter — this happy treasure — to cherish as a gift from God. God gives exhilarating joy unspeakable through our mouth because he wants to heal us spiritually and physically from all crushed experiences of our past times which the enemy has done to us to make our bones dry with sorrow, God's joy turns sorrow in to laughter through joy unspeakable (Prov 17:22). When God's joy hits our tongue, and we try to speak praise and thanksgiving, and then God suddenly increases the intensity of joy further, then we break out in to laughter which is joy inexpressible with words (Psa 126:2).

Apostle Peter said, "You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible JOY." (1 Peter 1:8). Note the word "rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible JOY", and this is what pearls of laughter crackling as a thunder when it comes out of us, with vigor and faith of what God is doing and going to do because of our love and trust towards him, really is explained as a natural outwards expression of our inward faith in the God whom we do not see yet believe from our heart. So such laughter is a holy laughter that only God can give to us to recharge us with the atmosphere of heaven within and around us.

Many who say, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8), use this one verse to make us reject the laughter of the Lord, but they are mistaken and deceived because having a long faced look, with external piety of repentance, having deathly sorrow without life and expressing our religious unsatisfied anger through our stern look never glorifies God and is not holy at all. In fact when the Israelite's expressed themselves with such a attitude to God's conviction that came through His Holy Word, immediately Nehemiah told them, ...“Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Neh 8:10). In other words, if the wisdom of the Lord stays within us to make us understand that we can never do anything spiritually pleasing to the Lord except through by faith in the strength of the Lord, it will give joy to our heart constantly and make us rejoice in God's goodness which He freely gives to us, then the sternness of our face will go away and it will bubble up with joy, laughter and gladness instead (Eccl 8:1; Prov 27:19). Actually to be sober and vigilant is to be careful in our thought, word and actions that leads us to sin. Peter warns us not to give in to sin when the devil tempts us with it, when we given in to it, we are giving the devil an opportunity to devour us in to defeat and discouragement spiritually. This does not mean to keep ourselves serious with a long faced seriousness that will make us seem foolish before the Lord with pride, and also turn others from receiving the Gospel of Jesus Christ when they see no joy or laughter in our lives.

Did Jesus ever laugh?

Perhaps no one is clearer on Christ’s laughter and joy than Scottish theologian, Donald Macleod:

Much has been made of the fact that Jesus is never said to have smiled or laughed. Linked to the description of the Servant as ‘a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief’ it has furnished a basis for the idea that Jesus’ life was unremittingly joyless and stressful. But this is a serious over-simplification. Apart from all else, a joyless life would have been a sinful life. Would Jesus have been guilty of the anxiety he forbade in others (Mt. 6:25)? Would he have fallen short of Paul’s attainment as one who had learned to be content whatever the circumstances (Phil. 4:11)? Or of the precept to ‘rejoice always’ (Phil. 4:4)? Could he have been filled with the Spirit and yet not have know the Spirit’s joy (Gal. 5:22)? Could he have given rest and relief to others (Mt. 11:28) while remaining depressed and disconsolate himself? . . .

There can be little doubt that, apart from the brief (although indescribably intense) moment of dereliction on Calvary, Jesus was serene, contented, and happy. He rejoiced, doubtless, in the being of his Father, meditating on him as an object of wonder and admiration; in his Father’s love, approbation and constant help and presence; in the beauties and glories of his Father’s creation; in doing his Father’s will, promoting his glory and saving his people; in the friendship, company and conversation of those the Father had given to be with him; and in anticipating his return to the glory he had with the Father ‘before the world began’ (Jn. 17:5). Such joy was an indispensable element in the psychology of his obedience. He served not as a slave but as a son. (The Person of Christ, 171)

Jesus is said to have rejoiced again and again with great joy and exhilaration in the Scripture. Jesus was never long faced, boring and dull, but was always bubbling with the joy of His Heavenly Father. "Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit" (Luke 10:21), Jesus said about the joy of serving the Father and forgetting the natural hunger to eat because of the infilling of joy inexpressible that came as a substitute food for a sinner repenting towards God as "I have food to eat of which you do not know" (John 4:32, 34; Luke 15:7, 10, 23, 32). This shows that joy in itself is a food that sustains us physically (Prov 17:22). Can you see that joy which the Bible writer ascribes to God as something tangible more than the effect of joy we have after eating food in abundance, "You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound." (Psa 4:7, ESV). God Himself should be the source and object of our joy (Psa 43:4).

Was Jesus joyful with laughter? The writer to the Hebrew speaks prophetically of Jesus' life saying, "You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than Your companions." (Heb 1:9), which reveals to us that Jesus with this immeasurable [anointing] oil of gladness broke the yoke of heaviness, sadness, grief and loneliness to stay in joy, laughter, praise and rejoicing in fellowship with His Heavenly Father all the time, truly the anointing breaks the yoke (Isa 61:3, 7; 10:27). Joy strengthen us physically, spiritually and literally in all other areas of our lives. The prominent emotion in the Kingdom of heaven is joy and joy only, and the reward for obedience to God is also joy only, such is the importance of joy (Rev 21:4; Luke 15:7, 10, 23, 32; Rom 14:17; Matt 25:21, 23; Jude 1:24). To take away the effect of suffering for Christ and lighten our heart with heaven's fuel of strength to carry on, God fills us with His joy at the right time consistently in our lives (1 Pet 4:13). Joy is something that God gives us as a anointing ointment to soothe us of the earthly pains we receive, so that through it we might experience a little heaven now and expect for more of what is coming (Hab 3:18). Joy and laughter takes us out of the present and fixes our heart on future reality that assures that the future that God has for us is a reality that will come to pass soon. If Jesus not only overcame difficulties with joy of the Lord, but also had joy as the incentive to work on earth for God and look forward to it as a reward, then we must also design our lives with joy and laughter just like Jesus did by choosing to rejoice at all times through praying at all times and thanking God for all things no matter what happens around us (Heb 12:2; Php 4:4; 2 Thess 5:16-18; Psa 32:11).

The end result of all the spiritual learning that we do and increase is to learn to "be joyful at all times, pray continually and be thankful for everything." (1 Thess 5:16-18). If a person can be joyful not just three months, but all times irrespective of the circumstances we go through in our lives, we have really learned the first greatest lesson for spiritual stability in our lives, that is why I say it is not just inside the Church that the joy of the Lord, spontaneous holy laughter and smile should be found, but rather it should continue outside the Church in our daily lives for heaven to invade our homes and make our homes to be a former heaven before the real latter heaven we will go on to enjoy. The fruit of such joy will improve our mind, strengthen it in faith and will enlarge our spiritual life or else it is not the real thing of heaven. So rejoice in the Lord always, laugh as much as possible and smile at every one, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:4). Maintain your order in the Church, by expressing as much as possible of the joy in Christ and at the same time avoiding dramatics by the flesh before others which can easily come in if we are not mature in our spiritual life. This is the new move but of the old and it will be new every morning as only heaven can really give us joy and thereafter holy laughter spontaneously in this depressive world around us.                  

Thanks and Blessings...

Can A Saved Christian Lose His Salvation?

Once Saved Always Saved? / Is Eternal Security Biblical? / Can A Christian Lose Salvation?

Question : Once saved always saved? / Is eternal security biblical? / Can a Christian lose salvation?

Answer : Greetings to you in Jesus wonderful name! We must come to a mature understanding in our doctrinal belief of salvation to know that we are either saved forever or unsaved. There are no middle ground that the Bible ever speaks about.

First we will dig a little in to the way we are saved Biblically. Apostle Paul the leading apostle who wrote nearly one third of the entire New Testament reveals that a unsaved person gets saved when he/she confesses with their mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in their heart that God has raised Jesus from the dead, then they will be saved individually by the word of faith that was preached by preacher and was believed by the hearer (Rom 10:8-10).

In fact Paul affirms the Ephesian believers about the present fact of their salvation saying, "13 It's in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free--signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. 14 This signet from God is the first installment on what's coming, a reminder that we'll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life." (Eph 1:13-14, MSG). In other words, the moment we have come to confess with our mouth Jesus as our Lord and believe Him in our heart as the one whom God has raised for our justification from sin (Rom 4:25), that moment itself we have found our home to be heaven being delivered from the kingdom of darkness, and God signed a guarantee and gave a signet ring of evidence which is the sealing of the Holy Spirit to remind us always that it is the first installment on what's coming, a reminder that we'll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life now and also in the future time.

No where in the Bible God speaks about a unsealing of the Holy Spirit because of our behavior, which shows that once we are saved we are always saved until the day of redemption which is the rapture of the Church. The day we will be unsealed will be the day in which we will get a glorious body for eternity like Jesus (Luke 24:38-39; 1 John 3:2), in that body again a sealing is not needed because it will not have sin nature and therefore in the natural state of new life itself will perfectly hear and obey the Holy Spirit, and will be one in spirit, soul and body with Him (1 Cor 6:17, 13; Acts 4:32; 1 Sam 18:1; Luke 15:10).

Jesus didn't have to love us but He chose to love us, that is why Jesus told His disciples, "You didn't choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name." (John 15:16, NLT), which clearly reveals to us that Christ did not save us by His choosing to leave us on the way because of our non co-operation in the salvation he has called us to fulfill as a partner to Him, it is absolutely rubbish to think in such a sacrilegious way and to say that God needs us, our cooperation to finish the salvation He has started in us. In fact, God has guaranteed that the salvation He started He will finish it until the end in which our glorious body will rise up with out sin during the time of the rapture of the Church, and that He needs no help from us to finish it (Php 1:6; 1 Thess 4:14-15, 16-17). Jesus saves us by His very own life from sin so that we can produce fruit of God's character that might please God to make Him answer our prayer in Jesus name (Rom 5:10).

Salvation in itself does not bear fruit, but the effect of salvation bears fruit to make us glorify God (Heb 6:7, 9). Christ has not chosen us to partner with us to fulfill our salvation, as salvation past, present and future is through and through the work of Christ on the Cross which fulfilled all the requirements of God for the sinners, that at the end of it all He said, "It is finished! Paid in full! The price that God demands to free the sinner from the punishment for sin has been paid completely!". But the same Christ partners with us after we are saved to work through us the Character of God (Gal 2:20), so that God might be glorified through our lives lived through Jesus Christ (John 15:7, 8). This proves that once saved is always saved for a believer who has believed Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior to get saved from sin and death.

Even if we come to say that God might throw us away for our non-cooperation in salvation when we continue to indulge in sin, we are actually accusing God that He has invested salvation in certain people whom He did not foresee to know that they will keep on sinning willingly, and we are also saying that God is not omniscient. How dare we pronounce such a thing on God! But the truth of the matter is, Christ Himself said, "27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and My Father are one.” (John 10:27-30). So we come to know from the above verses that when we become a sheep under our chief shepherd Jesus Christ, we will hear His voice because we have become a new creation in Him and we will come to understand that we no more belong to the world but to Jesus Christ who has bought us with his very own life and He is our Lord and Savior (2 Cor 5:17; 1 Cor 6:20; 7:23). Jesus as our shepherd knows us intimately, even our name and all the details of our past, present and future. As we come to understand more and more that we belong to Jesus, we will willingly come to follow Him with a greater commitment and love for Him. When we become a follower of Jesus as a believer who believes Him and receive Him in to our heart to become a child of God (John 6:39, 40; 1:12; Rev 3:20), Jesus gives us eternal life of friendship with Himself and the Father for eternity ahead (John 17:3), and thus once we are saved we shall never perish for eternity ahead, and above all neither sin, self or Satan can ever be able to snatch us away from the hand of our Lord Jesus under whose control we will be led for eternity ahead. When Jesus was the Son of God in the flesh, just as no one was able to snatch Him out of His Father's hand because of the Father ruling over the entire universe as the first person over it, so will also those who will be under the control of Jesus will not be able to be snatched out of Jesus hand because soon He took over the reigns of rulership over the whole world after His death and ascension to heaven, to be the first person to rule over the entire universe as its God along with the Father as like Jesus existed before the world was (John 17:5; 16:28; 19:30; Luke 23:46; John 20:17; Matt 27:50-51, 52-53, 54; Eph 4:8, 9-10; Heb 4:11). From the above verses explained, we come to know once saved is always saved, and no one can fight against Jesus to kidnap a single believer back to hell fire because He is God now over the entire universe and holds the omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience power in his hands.

Jesus has promised that not even one word of promise from God will pass away or return void without fulfilling the promises of God (1 Sam 3:19; Matt 24:35; Isa 55:11), so the promise of Jesus giving eternal life may be one word (John 10:28), but there is enough authority of Jesus behind it for the Word to stand on its own to help us authoritatively say that a Christian cannot lose his salvation, no matter what may happen to him/her in this life (Matt 28:18).

Then further the Bible declares that, "...love covereth all sins" (Prov 10:12). After we become a child of God, apostle Peter says, "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." (1 Peter 4:8). In other words, imperfect as we are, apostle Peter understood that we have the power to love because God of love stays with us to help each other love deeply (1 John 4:8, 16), so that it will cover all sins, weaknesses, inadequacies of each other to continue in fellowship in the Spirit in one mind for the Glory of God (Php 2:2).

If God expects such love from us humans, how much more the love of God covers the sins of us all who are His children? First of all the love of God is an everlasting love (Jer 31:3), which means once we receive God's love in Jesus Christ through believing Him (John 3:16), God forgives not only our past and present sins, but also our future sins to cover it all and thrown it all to a infinite distance (Eph 4:32; Col 3:13; Psa 103:12), and then cleanses our mind from the guilt of it to love us forever and ever as a Father (Psa 103:13-14; Heb 9:14). When we are saved this union with the Lord happens where we are already forgiven of all our sins past, present and future once and for all time (Heb 10:17-8). Yet because our Father in heaven is holy, we ought to be holy in order to have continual fellowship with Him, and we cannot continue with conscious sin and be in fellowship with Him at the same time (1 Peter 1:16; Psa 66:18; Isa 59:1-2). God and sin cannot go together because it is very much unlike His Character, so God expects us to confess our sins and come back in to fellowship with Him as soon as possible (1 John 1:7, 9). Sins must be confessed to the Lord continually as long as we are in this earth because we all have a sin nature that makes us to sin in thought, word or deed (1 John 1:8; Heb 10:23-25; Prov 28:13-14), and a soft and sensitive heart we must maintain to hear the voice of the Lord continually and live for His Glory (Heb 12:25).

Thus a lack in fellowship with God for God's children through sin will affect our abundant life on earth, but not the eternal life that God has promised forever (John 10:10, 28). That is why the great and the most eminent apostle of all who is apostle Paul explained in his writing, " 38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom 8:38-39). If a believer can never ever be separated from the love of God which has covered all his sins once and for all time forever, and now that the blood of Christ also cleanses all his sins after he/she confesses to the Lord to keep him/her in fellowship with the Father and the Son, then no sin can ever separate any believer whatsoever to make Him lose the salvation that God has given to Him as a gift to enjoy for eternity ahead (Rom 5:18-19, 21; 6:23). Truly for a believer sin shall not have dominion over them because the grace of God has already achieved their victory in Christ Jesus for them personally and individually, when ever they use it they will see the victory and if they do not use the grace of God, they will experience temporary defeat against sin because we are all more than conqueror in Christ Jesus (Rom 6:14; 8:37). More than conquerors are those who do not have to fight and defeat a foe at hand, but only declare that the enemies they face are their subjects and that their enemies have to submit to them, because they have the authority over them already as the conquerors group captain and king has defeated their enemies already. Saints, if you are saved, you are more than a conqueror forever in Christ Jesus. Jesus has already defeated Satan, sin and self. You are saved for eternity ahead!    

Eventually, each believer will not be left by themselves, but rather they will be constantly pruned by the Father for further growth, and chastised if they do not move further and choose to stay in spiritual stagnation which is not good for their spiritual health (John 15:2-3, 8; Heb 12:6-7, 9-10, 11). Salvation is not a fruit bearing process, but rather a instant personal event where one's soul is saved which was lost in the past (Luke 15:7, 10, 32; Acts 3:19; Jam 5:20), where in a moment a person is delivered and transferred from the Kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of the Son of His Love (Col 1:13), in a moment the eyes that was blind suddenly get opened and could see Jesus as its Lord and Savior, a person who was in darkness suddenly is turned to stay in the light (John 3:19-21), in a moment a person is taken from the power of Satan to stay under the power of God (Acts 26:18), a person on whom the wrath of God stays suddenly in a moment receives forgiveness of sins (John 3:36, 18-19), a unsanctified sinner suddenly become a sanctified saint by faith to avail the inheritance of God as his child (John 1:12; 1 Cor 1:2; 1 Tim 1:13, 15-16; Eph 1:11; Col 3:24; Heb 9:15), in a moment of time from having no assurance of any future life suddenly we get sealed with the Holy Spirit as a assurance of a future life with God that is awaiting us in the life to come (Eph 1:13-14), all these things are the benefits of the event of salvation that we received as a gift from God, in a moment of time when we believed Jesus as our Lord and Savior we came to know that we were saved for eternity ahead to the praise of His glory (Rom 6:23; Eph 2:8-9; 1 John 4:13; 3:24)! I believe that we are not saved by good works, but saved for good works which means the fruit of holiness we bear through us is an effect of salvation and not a prerequisite for salvation. Thus eternal security of salvation is not only Biblical but is the only truth we see in the length and breath of the whole of Scripture (Heb 5:9; 7:25; 12:2).

Believers are born again (regenerated) when they believe (John 3:3; Titus 3:5). For a Christian to lose his salvation, he would have to be un-regenerated. The Bible gives no evidence that the new birth can be taken away.

The Holy Spirit indwells all believers (John 14:17; Romans 8:9) and He baptizes all believers into the Body of Christ when they are saved (1 Corinthians 12:13). For a believer to become unsaved, he would have to be "un-indwelt" and detached from the universal Body of Christ which is registered in heaven [i.e. not just the physical body of the local Church]. But we see no warning or any talk of Holy Spirit leaving a believer when in fact only a promise that He will never leave nor forsake the believer is only there on the contrary (Heb 13:5), even though the Holy Spirit can be grieved, quenched and resisted by a thankless life of a believer (Eph 4:30; 2 Thess 5:19; Acts 7:51; Rev 2:29).

Also John 3:15 states that whoever believes in Jesus Christ will "have eternal life," for example if eternal life does not continue for eternity then it means those persons who believe the same dispute the promises of eternal life in the Bible by saying that the Bible is in error. The Bible can never be in error and only our human understanding many times will stay in error when we believe the Scripture wrongly. So all misinformed person should change one's thinking to believe Scripture rightly and receive the joy of believing rightly (1 Peter 1:8).

Christ love is the end of sin, self and Satan, who had the power to separate us from God in the past. Now Paul the apostle asks us, "31 What can we ever say to such wonderful things as these? If God is on our side, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son for us but gave him up for us all, won't he also surely give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has forgiven us and given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? Will Christ? No! For he is the one who died for us and came back to life again for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us there in heaven. 35 Who then can ever keep Christ's love from us? When we have trouble or calamity, when we are hunted down or destroyed, is it because he doesn't love us anymore? And if we are hungry or penniless or in danger or threatened with death, has God deserted us? 36 No, for the Scriptures tell us that for his sake we must be ready to face death at every moment of the day--we are like sheep awaiting slaughter; 37 but despite all this, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us enough to die for us." (Rom 8:31-36, LB). Paul asked, "Who will bring a charge against God's elect?" No one will, because Christ having forgiven all our past, present and future sins positionally in the eyes of God forever, now acts as our advocate by speaking on behalf of us to cover our present sins and weaknesses before the Father by His own shed blood for us, whenever we confess our sins to Jesus to make us continue in close fellowship and intimacy with God (1 John 2:1-2). Who will condemn us? No one will, because Christ, the One who died for us, is the one who will judge the world and will condemn all sinners through His Word alike in the future on the day of White Throne Judgment for their lack of repentance and wickedness in continuing in their evil ways (John 12:48; Rev 20:11-15; John 5:22, 27). So because we have both the advocate and judge Jesus as our Savior, let us avoid sin and live for the Glory of God knowing that we are saved eternally, and that no one can do anything to take away our precious salvation from us which God has given to us as a gift.

But as for now as we come to know for sure that we are in right standing with God, and Christ is interceding for us at God's right hand by having died for all our sins once and for all time to forgive us forever and to keep us in constant fellowship with God and Himself, the next logical and scriptural conclusion that apostle Paul comes to is, "38 For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels won't, and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep God's love away. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, 39 or where we are--high above the sky, or in the deepest ocean—nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when he died for us." (Rom 8:38-39, Living Bible). Hallelujah! Glory to God!

In other words, Paul is saying to us that the same God who saved us is the same God who will keep us secure forever. Once we are saved we are always saved. Our salvation is most definitely eternally secure!

So the bottom line is not to worry about whether we will lose salvation or not, which in fact as we have seen in details we will not lose it according to the Bible. But rather, we should honestly check whether we are truly saved and have the assurance of the Holy Spirit within us (1 Cor 13:5-6; Rom 8:9; 1 John 3:14, 24; 4:13; John 5:24). Because once we are saved truly, we are saved for eternity ahead! Eternal security of a Christian is not only a Biblical fact, but it has also been proved above and expounded in details that a saved Christian cannot lose their salvation by anything they do in this life or in the life to come as salvation is completely a gift of God which is safely in God's hands, so that no one can take it away from them including the believer who is saved and who is on the way to heavenly bliss and glory! Salvation if God's gift, it cannot be earned even in a million years. But humbly it can be received by any repentant sinner who looks to God for salvation. A person does not do anything to receive this free gift of forgiveness of sins and assurance of an eternal life of friendship with God through Jesus Christ, so also a person who has received salvation cannot do anything to take away salvation from himself as it is already in God's hands. Thus we can be sure that the one choice of receiving salvation by believing Jesus Christ will affect our eternity forever! Praise the Lord! Glory to God!

Much Blessings....

I Need To Hear From The Holy Spirit!

Can You Pray For The Eyes Of My Heart To Be Opened?

Question : I need prayer for THE EYES OF MY HEART TO BE OPENED?

I am born again Bible believing firm follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even I serve the Lord by preaching, teaching new converts, prayer group members and being a discipleship trainer. I need to go deep in to the things of God but it seems that there is a veil in my spiritual life which is hindering my spiritual sight. Can you pray for the EYES OF MY HEART TO BE OPENED?

I am whole heartedly willing to hear any Godly advice because I need to hear any word or advice from the Holy Spirit. So if there is any advice do not hesitate to tell me. God bless you abundantly.

Answer : Greetings in Jesus wonderful name! Derek Prince the great man of God who has left a great legacy to follow in the Body of Christ, had the following conversation that he had with the Lord after nearly two to three decades of working for the Lord in the mission field.

Here is how that animated conversation of him with the Lord goes on, the Lord said to me, “Are you satisfied, or do you want to go further?”

This is what I said, “Lord, if there is anything further, I want to go further.”

He said, “If you want to go further, there are two conditions. First of all, all progress in the Christian life is by faith. If you’re not willing to go forward in faith, you cannot go forward. Secondly, if you are to fulfill the ministry that I have for you, you will need a strong, healthy body, and you’re putting on too much weight!”

Well, when I responded to God, without fully realizing it, I made a commitment. In a sense I said, “All right, You take over. I’ll go where You lead.” And it entirely changed the direction of my life.

So what do we learn from the above conversation the man of God Derek Prince had with the Lord, without faith we cannot make spiritual progress in our lives. I mean making progress in our spiritual lives with faith is to deny the feeling of our five senses and venture in to the unknown things confidently trusting God to do what He has promised to us, and what we have believed Him to do in our lives (Heb 11:6).

Yes we all need now and then to ask God to "OPEN THE EYES OF OUR HEART", but that in itself is not enough, we need to hold on to the promises of God that He had previously given to us in faith, and with that we also need to hear God further and move on in faith and ask His help to further make progress in our spiritual lives. Once we dare to hear God through prayer and may be fasting (Isa 58:6-9), because that will subside the voice of our flesh from the spirit and bring clarity to God's voice and direction (Heb 12:22, 25).

Once we hear the voice of God, we should choose to humble ourselves and let the Lord break us, so that He could be able to make us and reshape us in the exact way He wants us to be (1 Peter 5:6).

Then when the going gets tough, only the tough in faith gets going. The Bible further reveals that when you are feeling that the going is getting tougher and tougher, "Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you." (Psa 37:5, NLT). The only way we can experience a consistent spirituality is through committing our life and ministry and everything to the Lord constantly, to get His help in going forward. Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you (1 Peter 5:7).

Have a daily quiet time of reading or hearing the Bible, and let God quicken His word to you and speak to you the need that you have in your life on that particular day. Then have a set time of prayer and worship daily. Even if you miss one day, try the next day to keep the time up with the Lord. Even if you miss two days, on the third day rise up from your slumber and spend your time in the Presence of the Lord, pouring your heart to Him. Ask the help of God by committing your day to the Lord. Take life on one day at a time basis and not more than that.

Confess your sins to the Lord before the day ends, and do not continue to be angry for what people have done to you. Forgive the offenders in the name of Jesus, and let go of all the evil that people have done against you in to the hands of the Lord, because He will take care of you and will bring something good out of it all at the end of all ordeals without fail (Rom 8:28).

Develop a lifestyle of repentance where you ask the Lord to break you and turn you from all sinful paths, step by step your spiritual progress will be know to all people around you. You will start to live a abundant life that Jesus had promised to give all those who will come to Him and follow Him (John 10:10).

Remember, it is not just doing for the Lord that fills us with God's strength and faith and vigor, it is being in Him realizing what He has already done for us will only keep us always spiritually high at all times. Keep yourself fit with good physical exercises and also fast regularly to keep yourself fit spiritually and physically (1 Tim 4:8, 7).

This is the will of God for your life : "16 Always be joyful. 17 Always keep on praying. 18 No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." (1 Thess 5:16-18, LB).

If you develop a lifestyle based on the above will of God for your life, your spiritual eyes will always be open enough to see what God is doing in your life, and also see what the enemy is trying to do in your life which you must resist and overcome by faith (Rom 12:1, 2; Jam 4:7). Renew your mind with the Word of God constantly, then automatically you will walk in the will of God. When you are more and more sanctified in your spiritual life, doing the will of God becomes a delight more and more. In doing the will of God, we reveal God to all people around us and glorify God through our lives. Just like Jesus had relationship with the Father to do His will, we have relationship now with Jesus who has sent us in to the world just like He was sent by the the Father God, to do the will of Jesus as His disciples.    

In Christ Jesus already the veil over your heart has been ripped apart, now you are free with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, therefore you are being transformed in to the same image of the Lord from one level of glory to another level of glory, by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor 3:14). Do you believe it? Say Amen! Be patient with yourself, when you are hit with spiritual boredom. Then continue to do what you have learned already which is the basic routine you need to hit again when some resistance to your spiritual progress happens to pull you down, then you will keep growing in the Lord and will never be fruitless in your spiritual life because of your faith (2 Peter 1:5-8, 10). Apostle Paul calls this kind of spiritual growth as growing from one level of faith to another level of faith (Rom 1:17). Your faith is the victory, so read, hear, eat, sleep and live in the Word of God, you will be victorious against all the enemy plans of Satan and his demonic minions (1 John 5:4).

Once you feel alone, immediately say, 'The Lord is with me, the Lord is leading me and the Lord is guiding me.' (Heb 13:5). This will drive away the spiritual boredom and discouragement, and will rejuvenate your faith in the Lord and live in the power of His promises.

I will be praying for your growth in your spiritual life so that you might be a blessing to many more people in the coming days.

Much Blessings....

Is Salvation Experience The First Blessing And The Baptism With The Holy Spirit The Second Blessing?

Does The Filling Of The Holy Spirit Happen With The Salvation Experience Automatically Or Separately?

Question : Does the Baptism with the Holy Spirit for the Believer happen together when we accept and believe the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior? Thanks and God bless.

Answer : Greetings in Jesus wonderful name! I know most people from the evangelical background, and even Pentecostal and Charismatic background confuse the salvation experience with the succeeding experience of "Baptism with the Holy Spirit." The Bible clearly says that "There is salvation in no one else! Under all heaven there is no other name for men to call upon to save them." (Acts 4:12, LB). So we know calling upon the name of Jesus only saves us from sin to make us receive eternal life supernaturally from God (Rom 10:12-13; John 3:16).

Let us see what happens further during salvation. Apostle Paul wrote, "13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory." (Eph 1:3-14). Here in the above verse we see that each believer when they believe in the gospel, immediately they are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise who is the guarantee until the rapture happens for the praise of His Glory in which we will all receive individually a supernatural metaphysical glorious body without sin which can be used for both celestial and terrestrial living. But the main point we should notice is that we are only "sealed with the Holy Spirit" during salvation, and we are not "filled with the Holy Spirit" which is actually a second and the greatest blessing of God after our salvation.

For example if the disciples of Jesus had received the filling of the Holy Spirit at the time of their salvation when Jesus breathed on them, why then did Jesus again have to tell them to wait for the Holy Spirit (John 20:21-22, 23; Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8)? This should help us to reason out the error of many people who believe that there is no second blessing for a believer and continue to speak their assumption as truth saying that during salvation itself they receive the Holy Spirit and his infilling. These uninformed people should understand that while receiving salvation only a fountain measure of the living water of the Holy Spirit starts to come within a believer, springing up in to everlasting life to sustain them spiritually until their physical death (John 4:14), but when the second blessing after salvation is asked from Jesus and is received by a believer, then a river capacity of living water will not only feed that person to the full, but will make many others to drink from them that same living water flowing through them (John 7:38). How do we know that the river capacity that Jesus was speaking about is pointing to the "filling with the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues" as a external evidence of the internal infilling? Because in Acts 2:33 Peter the apostle said that Jesus after being glorified by his ascension to the throne of God, have thus promised to pour out the Holy Spirit which they were able to see and hear on that day of Pentecost (John 14:16; Luke 24:48; Acts 2:3-4, 6). Jesus has promised to give the Holy Spirit as a second blessing only to those who obey Him by keeping His commandments which is a sign of their love towards Him (John 14:15-16; Acts 5:32).

Once a believer is filled with the Holy Spirit, God will use them to lay hands on other people who are waiting for that infilling and get them filled with the Holy Spirit too, this is the river of the living water that flows out of them (Acts 2:38-39). Another good example that the salvation experience and the baptism with the Holy Spirit experience is different is seen when Philip the evangelist preached the gospel message and baptized people who believed it in water, even after they were saved, they did not still receive the Holy Spirit. So the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that these people were saved and came to Samaria to lay hands on them to make them receive the Holy Spirit, which they did receive during that supernatural experience (Acts 8:14-17). Apostle Paul was converted and received salvation on the road near Damascus where Jesus met him face to face in a heavenly vision encounter (Acts 9:3-6), and only after three days the second experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit happened when a disciple named Ananias laid his hands on Paul (Acts 9:9, 17-18). Here also we must question the uninformed people, if Jesus had already been called by Paul as "Lord" which shows that he was already saved by Jesus and had received the filling of the Holy Spirit at that time itself (1 Cor 12:3), why should Jesus again redirect Paul to go to the city and wait there till he was "filled with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 9:6, 9, 17-19), which clearly shows that the filling with the Holy Spirit is a second blessing and has always been like this for all believers which Jesus willingly gives to all those who ask and seek and knock desperately for it (Luke 11:9-13). Only in the house of Cornelius we see a corporate infilling of the Holy Spirit happening just like in the day of Pentecost, where without laying on of the hands of any apostles or disciples, God in His sovereignty moved over the thirsty people and fell over them once the gospel had been shared for them to believe it and be saved (Acts 10:43, 44-46; 11:13-14, 15-16, 17-18; 15:7-8, 9). Here also we see that when the people in the house of Cornelius heard the gospel and were saved, then immediately the succeeding second blessing of "the filling with the Holy Spirit" happened just a split seconds after that. Again this confirms that the sealing of the Holy Spirit during salvation is different from the filling with the Holy Spirit.

Finally, when some believers were not properly saved by believing in the Lord Jesus but only came close to hearing John the Baptist and believe the coming Messiah, Paul the apostle shared the Gospel with them and when they believed it then he baptized them in water. Once they were saved, Paul laid his hands on them all and immediately they received the second blessing of being filled with the Holy Spirit to speak in tongues which is the external evidence of the internal infilling (Acts 19:2-3, 4-5, 6; 10:46-47; 11:15-16, 17). Salvation is a free gift, receiving the infilling of the Holy Spirit is also a free gift that God gives succeeding salvation that none of us can ever boast as though by our own piety we have received it because we do not deserve both of it which has come to us because of what Jesus has done for us on our behalf by giving His life on the Cross (Acts 11:17; Eph 2:8-9).

So we should never confuse the first blessing of salvation experience in which we were all automatically sealed with the Holy Spirit when we believed the gospel, with the second blessing of receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit after our salvation for which we need to ask, seek and knock till God gives us His Holy Spirit without measure. Always only as a person get saved, he gets eligible to receive the gift of God's second blessing which is receiving the Holy Spirit, or baptized in the Spirit or filled with the Holy Spirit which are all the different names for the same experience used interchangeably in the Scripture.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit never happens when a person is saved or before a person is saved, but only after a person is saved. It is called a "second blessing" in which a believer is empowered by the Holy Spirit and that: “receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is always accompanied by speaking in tongues” which is always the external evidence of the internal infilling of the Holy Spirit.

Don Basham, a leading Charismatic writer, says that this: ". . . Experience is a second encounter with God (the first is conversion) in which the Christian begins to receive the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit into his life."

In the Biblical way as the Charismatics and Pentecostals teach, this experience usually comes when one prays for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Clearly apostle Paul revealed to all believers that the promise of the Spirit which is the blessing of Abraham can come to all individually only when they ask in faith to our Lord Christ Jesus (Gal 3:14, 2). Jesus is the Baptizer to whom all believer must ask to be baptized with Holy Spirit and Fire (Matt 3:11). It is a very emotional experience many times in which the person "feels" the presence of the Holy Spirit enveloping them or sometimes silent without anybody's touch the fire of tongues will start to come out of the inner most man. The Holy Spirit will give the utterance but only the person who receives the Holy Spirit must cooperate with Him to speak the other tongues out loud without any inhibition for the Glory of God (Acts 2:4). The evidence or sign that a person has received the Holy Spirit is said to be authenticated by that person speaking in tongues.

Basham describes the experience as follows: "His (the Holy Spirit) presence may come as a warmth enveloping you, or as a silent powerful Presence enfolding you. You may experience a tingling sensation or a gentle vibration as if touched by an electric current. But even if you feel nothing, rest quietly in the confidence that the Holy Spirit is now coming upon you in power and is about to furnish you with a new language of prayer and praise to God." (Don Basham, A Handbook on Holy Spirit Baptistm, Monroeville, Penn.:Whitker Books, 1969. p.10 )

After having this experience “they are then empowered” by the Holy Spirit. Basham further states: "The average Christian, although truly professing Christ, operates largely on his own power, making his own decisions, living by his own strength, and controlling his own life. But through the baptism of the Holy Spirit the Christian steps out of this natural realm into a realm where he can begin to experience the supernatural gifts and powers of God's Holy Spirit."

It often comes when other Spirit filled disciples who are called as Charismatics, who have had the experience of speaking in other tongues, lay hands on the person seeking the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. But there were times when God used believers without the baptism of the Spirit themselves, had laid hands in faith and they who wanted to receive it have received it with the evidence of speaking in tongues for the Glory of God. This shows that God can fill a thirsty disciple with or without human agency within a corporate or private seeking time of fellowship with God through Christ Jesus. Often with the laying on of hands there is a great deal of coaching in which the person is told to make verbal sounds without inhibition if he/she feels it is coming from within her heart through the utterance that the Holy Spirit gives, which is supposed to help the person begin to speak in tongues. But ultimately coaching cannot fill them with the Holy Spirit, at the end of it all the Holy Spirit has to fill them with the evidence of speaking in other unknown tongues, usually coaching is done for them to throw away the inhibition that keep them from uttering the words that the Holy Spirit utters within them. The Bible clearly reveals and teaches that when one receives the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, they will speak in tongues which is the “evidence” that they have received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

In the following presentation of the table, we will see : (1) Who is doing the baptizing, (2) the element the baptizer is using to perform the baptism and (3) the physical evidence of the baptism having been completed. It will give you a clear understanding about the three distinct Baptisms in the life of all Christians.

	Salvation	Water Baptism	Holy Spirit Baptism
Baptizer	Holy Spirit     1 Cor 12:13	Pastor/Minister Acts 8:35-38	Jesus Christ    John 1:32-34
Element	Body of Christ    1 Cor 12:13	Water (H2O)    Acts 8:35-38	Holy Spirit   John 1:32-34
Evidence	Changed Life     2 Cor 5:17	Getting Wet     Acts 8:35-38	Speaking In Tongues        Acts 2:4

Thus we should never ever confuse the sealing of the Holy Spirit we receive during salvation which is the first blessing for a saved person with the infilling of the Holy Spirit, Baptism with the Holy Spirit, receiving the Holy Spirit which are all the same that always comes with the evidence of speaking in other tongues which is the external evidence that the believer had received the internal infilling as a second blessing after salvation.

Much Blessings....