Does God speak through dreams and visions?

I  strongly believe in dreams and i do think God speak though dreams. I don’t dream  a lot so  i can not say it is something that i  know so much  on. But i believe the Lord is kind in speaking to us though many ways.  Through impression, prophecy, dreams and visions but i believe the word is the most accurate way to know if He is speaking to us or not. even though we may have a dream  we must go the word of God and see what has a biblical meaning of foundation.

I believe The lord will appear in dream  to unbelievers and review who He is.  He may give direction to someone or even  speak of something that is yet to come, but i believe he will always confirm it by other ways.

But we as believers must not only count on dreams for the Lord to speak to us, for Jesus said it would be better for him to leave so that we would receive the Helper, the Holy Spirit. He reviews all things to us,  those hidden in  Christ, and far more that which  the Father is trying to communicate to us.

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.(John 14:26)

The Bible indicates that God revealed His will to selected people through dreams or visions in Scriptures such as Genesis 37:5-10; 1 Kings 3:5-15; Daniel, chapters 2 and 7; Matthew 1:20; 2:13,19; and Acts 10:9-16; 16:9.

I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. Joel 2:28 (NLT)

Further confirmation of God speaking through dreams to His children is found in the book of Job. In Chapter 33, Job is confronted with the reality of God’s voice in our lives – whether we hear it or not.

For God speaks again and again, though people do not recognize it. He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds. He whispers in their ears… Job 33:14-16a (NLT)

God may communicate through dreams or visions even today, but we need to carefully check any such guidance we receive with Scripture and godly counsel to be sure it is from the Lord. Anything which contradicts Scripture is not from God. Our minds and even Satan are capable of producing great deception in such subjective areas.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 shows that God has revealed His will to us primarily through His Word. It says, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Should Christians repent?

 

Repentance is a subject that is often taken lightly by our generation due to the grace message being preached now days, therefore we tend to not repent from our sins when we should. It is important to consider how the gospel affects and transforms the act of repentance. In ‘religion’ the purpose of repentance is basically to keep God happy so he will continue to bless you and answer your prayers. This means that ‘religious repentance’ is a selfish, self-righteous and bitter all the way to the bottom. But in the gospel the purpose of repentance is to repeatedly tap into the joy of our union with Christ in order to weaken our need to do anything contrary to God’s heart.

The dictionary definition says repentance means “to feel sorry, remorseful, or contrite for a past action, attitude, sin or wrongdoing; to remember or regard with self-reproach or contrition.

In the Bible times, repentance was often accompanied by fasting, weeping, and sitting in sackcloth and ashes. Interestingly, the Hebrew word for repentance was to be penitent but also to be “comforted, eased,” and also to “turn back.”

In the New Testament, the word for repentance, “metanoia,” meant to “have a change of mind.” I believe this goes along with the Old Testament definition of turning back. In other words, having a change of mind, turning away from sin and rebellion, and turning back to God.

Everyone knows they are not perfect, but for most sinners that is consolation, not condemnation. But the Bible declares all sinners are already condemned:

“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:17-18).

The problem is “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom.3:23). Man, in his lost, sinful, condemned state, has failed to glorify God. Until a person becomes personally exceedingly sinful in his own eyes, he will never see his need for repentance. Eph.2:1 says man is spiritually dead; Rom.3:10 and Isa.64:6 tells us no one is righteous before a holy God; Rom.3:19 says all stand guilty and condemned before God; Eph.4:18 declares all sinners are separated from God whose hearts and minds are blinded so that they cannot understand God or the things of God.

Repentance basically involves two facts: the fact of sin and the fact of God’s grace. If a person is not a sinner, he would not need to repent, and if God was not the God of all grace, it would do no good to repent. Repentance implies sin, sorrow for it, and a changed attitude towards God about it.

It should also be stressed that repentance itself is not a human act, but comes only from God (Rom.2:4) — it is a divine gift of God (Acts 5:31; 11:18; 2 Tim. 2:25).

Repentance is not a one-time deal. From the time you turn your life over to God through belief, repentance is a lifestyle. As God makes you aware of ways that your heart has been led away from him to other affections (called idols), or you have disobeyed Him, He wants you to repent-over and over if necessary.

“When they sin against you–for there is no one who does not sin–and you become angry with them and give them over to the enemy, who takes them captive to his own land, far away or near; and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their conquerors and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly’; and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward the land you gave their fathers, toward the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your Name; then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their plea, and uphold their cause.” I Kings 8:46-49

Therefore as Christian we should always repent from our sins, we should like David pray: Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting. And when we see our faults and wrong ways, we must confess it in words, truly repent and turn from it,  walk out our repentance in our doing. We must  walk worthy of Him who made repentance possible to us sinners who were separated from God and now have peace with God though Jesus Christ.

 

How can you determine true repentance?

The answer to that is found inActs 26:20 “First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and to the Gentiles also, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds.”

 

Prayer:  Lord open  the eyes of your church, let the light of the knowledge of Christ shine upon our heart, to understand your ways, so that we may turn from our wicked ways and walk worthy of you in this life. I surely know that your grace is sufficient but i ask that we would not take your grace lightly as we face our faults and failures. Come and wash us with the waters our your word, let your word run swiftly in our hearts and bring us closer to you though true repentance, in Jesus name.

 

M

 

 

 

 

What is justification, sanctification and glorification.

This is a very dear subject to me that I have been knocking on the door, seeking and asking the Lord to make it clean to me and let it settle in my heart. I say this because I have understood that this is the journey I said yes to go on, it is a lifetime journey that Jesus did not say it was going to be easy but He would be there with us.

We were fashioned from the very fabric of God and, in that image, He pronounced us good.  This goodness, Wesley believes, indicates that we were free from “sin and filled with righteousness and true holiness.”  But we did not remain in that state.  Committing sin against God through disobedience, humankind fell from this position and lost “both the knowledge and love of God.”  Through this loss, we became unable to reflect the full image of God that we were created with, and death entered our lives.  This death is understood first to occur as a spiritual death, then, eventually as bodily death.  This death is not dependent upon our sinning, but upon our birth into the family of Adam. This fallen, sinful nature separates us from God and leaves us without hope.  Original sin, therefore, is the state of humankind that cries out for salvation.  Therefore, the need for salvation is based upon the current, desperate state of humankind.

From the despair found in original sin begins our first step of salvation to be justified. Justification is the pardoning of our sin, the new birth of an individual who recognizes his or her sinful nature and see her or his need for God.  It is making us righteous and just before God.  It was only possible because of an act of God through the atoning blood of His Son, Christ Jesus.  It is not something we do for ourselves but is something God does for us, for He loved us first before we could ever love Him, we were blind in our transgressions and He opened our eyes with an act of love. Justification is not a denial of truth or of God deceiving us by calling us something we are not.  Rather, God recognizes the truth of what He has done for us through Christ and therefore loves us openly.

Justification deals effectively with our sin. A repentant sinner before God becomes justified through the merits of Christ imputed to us.  However, though sin no longer rules the newly born Christian, it still inhabits in our lives.  We may soon find that sin has not been destroyed, but only suspended, is not dead, but only stunned, and that is where justification come in the picture effectively acting in our lives.

Sanctification is the process of change in our lives from sinfulness unto holiness, the word in the new testament means to separate or make holy for God.  It is also the process of becoming “more dead to sin” while we become “more and more alive to God.” However, this holiness is holiness of living and is distinct from the righteousness reckoned to us by God through Christ. The holiness that we receive from God through Christ cannot be improved upon or added to. That is perfect, absolute and effective holiness. However this holiness is holiness in living that day-by-day is worked in us, transforming us in the image of Christ.  2 Corinthians 3:18 says: And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.  This is the process of being perfected in Christ, where our ashes are turned into beauty. Sanctification also included good works, works of mercy and a rejection of sinful living.  And just as we are justified by faith, we are sanctified by faith. Entire sanctification is full salvation from our sins and thus what the Apostle Paul described as perfection.

The third and final step in salvation is glorification. This is the end result of our Christian life. It includes the changing of our mortal state to become “like him” (1 John 3:2). Glorification is not only the changing of the state of humankind but of all creation that was corrupted by the fall of Adam. In that day, not only our salvation, but also the redemption of the entire universe will be complete.

More specifically, when God glorifies a person, he gives that person a new and glorious body. In Romand 8:21-23  says: “The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.”

When Paul refers in verse 21 to the “freedom of the GLORY of the children of God,” he means the freedom from groaning that comes from the glory of our new bodies. For now we groan awaiting the redemption of our bodies. But then our bodies will be glorious, like the resurrected body of Jesus.

No more pain. No more frustration with weakness and weariness. No more disability or wheel chairs or crutches or braces or allergies or addictions or diseases. On that day everyone will be strong and radiant with the beauty of Christ.

 

M

What part of the law of Moses are we still under?

the Mosaic covenant was made between  God and Moses as a representative of the whole nation of Israel. God spoke to Moses at mount Sinai where God gave moses the 10 commandments. It was a conditional covenant, the condition being obedience and the punishment for breaking the covenant was death, meaning all men  had to dye for their sins committed before society and their God.

The Mosaic covenant is referred to as the Old covenant in the New testament. We see Jesus and the apostles referring to it as the old.  In Matthew 5:17  Jesus says: “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.” Jesus is speaking about the Old Testament principles and authority of rule and revelation.  When Jesus said that He came to fulfill the law, He came to establish it and demonstrate how it pointed to Him and how He would live it perfectly.

Some of the specific laws of the old covenant are still valid, but many of them were set aside when Jesus came and fulfilled them by his life, death and resurrection. Matthew 5:17 is not a “proof” of any particular law, because this verse does not tell us which specific laws are still valid or which have been changed or set aside.

Old covenant laws (such as the laws of sacrifice) have been set aside precisely because Jesus has fulfilled them. He did not come for the purpose of destroying those laws, but for fulfilling their meaning. However, by fulfilling their meaning, he made it unnecessary for Christians to keep those laws. They are unnecessary because they have served their purpose by pointing to Jesus. He is the reality to which they could only point. Now that he has come, they are no longer legally binding.

The law of God has been  stablished from ages, however it is displayed in different ways. God intended to display His law though the Mosaic law and being fulfilled in Christ does not mean  we are not under the law anymore because the term  law is bigger than the Mosaic legislation.

We are now under the law of Christ, for Jesus gave continuation to the Mosaic law changing and adding commandments that we should walk in our christian life to draw near to God and love Him with all of our hearts, mind, soul and strength.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31

 

What is the Glory/ light of God? is it a communicable attribute? how?

The Glory of God

The glory of God is the beauty of His spirit. It is not an aesthetic beauty or a material beauty, but it is the beauty that emanates from His character, from all that He is.

Moses request on the mountain of God. Moses asked: Please, show me Your glory. Exodus 33:18.
The Hebrew word for “glory” used by Moses in this instance was kabowd. It is defined by Strong’s Bible Dictionary as “the weight of something, but only figuratively in a good sense.” Its definition also speaks of splendor, abundance, and honor. Moses was asking, “Show me Yourself in all Your splendor.” and God’s response was: Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you.” —Exodus 33:19

Moses requested all His glory, and God referred to it as “all My goodness . . . The Hebrew word for “goodness” is tuwb. It means, “good in the widest sense.” In other words, nothing is withheld.

We see then that the glory of the Lord is everything that makes God, God. All His characteristics, authority, power, wisdom literally the immeasurable weight and magnitude of God are contained within God’s glory. Nothing is hidden or held back.

Communicable attributes are those attributes of God that are possible for humanity to seek to  emulate such as wisdom, mercy, holiness, righteousness and the glory of God.

I believe the Glory of God being a communicable attribute because it speaks of God’s nature and character something that is communicated to us.
In Colossians 1:26, 27 says:  the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

God has chosen to review who He is and what He is like to human kind though His son Jesus Christ. And not only that but we can behold this Glory, experience who God is and be transformed in His image Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:18: And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Prayer:

My Prayer is that God may speaks to our hearts who He really is, His nature and how He feels towards us. This moves the human heart to draw near, draw close to a God we can actually know and interact. May we know Him and be transformed in His image.

Emi

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What is sound doctrine and why is it important?

 

When we hear about sound doctrine we tend to think that is something for theologians to  know, to discuss and to live. But in the new testament, specially in the letters of Paul we see it being addressed as Healthy teachings to  all believers. Teachings of the word, to be applied in their lives so that they might live and walk worthy of the Lord. 
I believe that as Christians we tend to give more attention to our salvation and the salvation of souls rather than the process of knowing more of God. Being saved is surely the beginning point of our walk with the Lord but there is a journey of maturity that we must enter in, having the right perspectives of basic versus of the bible, and that is applying ourselves to the healthy teachings of the word. The elementary teachings such as repentance, faith, baptism, laying out of hands, resurrection, eternal judgement are fundamental basic teachings that we as believers must have but there is a greater place to be in God in the aspect of knowing Him more and understanding His word better that we as believers must mature into. It is so important to give ourselves to sound doctrine so we may grow in the knowledge of Him and in revelation as disciples of Jesus. 

Daniel: God’s Process in Establishing a Prophet

billyhumphrey.com

When Daniel shows up in Babylon he’s sixteen and a stranger in a strange land. During his young life he had seen Judah in its worst of times. As early as he could remember he’d heard stories of God’s impending judgment coming to Judah. The threat of the Babylonians had been very real for the last several years and now they had sieged Jerusalem, fettered the king, and taken many precious articles from the temple of God. Not to mention they had taken Daniel and many of his friends, young people of the aristocracy of Judah, captive to Babylon. The nightmare had become reality.

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GUEST BLOG – Dave Sliker on Gay Marriage

billyhumphrey.com

David Sliker is a Senior Leader at the International House of Prayer Kansas City and the Director of Elijah Revolution.

Here’s the problem with gay marriage: there is no such thing. It doesn’t exist.

How could I say such a thing? I am by no means attempting to be inflammatory or sensational. Simply truthful: marriage is not a man-made institution; thus man has no right to define, redefine, or transform what God has ordained and established sovereignly. Marriage is from God, belongs to God, and is a prophetic declaration that He wants to make to the human race about His relationship with us. Therefore, we need to tread carefully and fearfully around this subject. It is precious to Him.

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Presence Worship

Chapter One – A Passion for the River

We have been created to thirst, the longing for more, and the desire to know the depths of God. We were made to swim in a river that can satisfy the longings of our soul and the cravings of our heart. God intended that we would never be fully satisfied and fulfilled by ourselves. Our maker intentionally deposited a longing, a deep desire in every human heart. As children, as adults, as grown up believers, no one finds rest unless we drink from this fountain of life. As a young lady, the desire of belonging somewhere overwhelms my heart. A desire of fascination, a desire to feel that there’s more than just what my eyes can see. Everyday, everywhere, our flesh cries out for Him, so many times we redirect this craving to worldly pleasures and miss out on the fullness God created us for.

We were made to enjoy and to be enjoyed by this maker that will not rest until He has all of us. His kindness, His gentleness and love would never take care our hearts by force. One needs to willfully come to the river of life and find its delight in Him.

The Bible says that from His throne flows a river, and it makes glad the city of out God (Psalms 46:4). In His very pleasure, for His very gladness, our God created all things, not as an egocentric divine but as a lover who displayed in His creation the love for the sons of men. The Godhead, in perfect harmony, invites us into an adventure that starts today, on this life of eternity. The very God who made us has come to dwell not just among men, but also inside of men. The Holy Spirit invites us to experience nothing less than GOD!

We can experience this river today! It’s incredible how many of us think salvation is the end of a journey on this side of eternity that will continue in the age to come. So many of us look at this Lover and think of “the day” when we will experience this deep satisfaction. We have been told for far too long that eternity is not yet. However, in a sense, eternity lives in us, eternity is the very uncreated God dwelling in human vessels and inviting us to swim in a river that is much more satisfying than any pleasure the world and even legitimate things can offer us.

 This journey starts today, this river is available today, and this God is longing for thirst children, He doesn’t want us to wait for when we receive our glorified bodies to start enjoying his depths and to be glad in His river. In light of eternity this is a very small window, it’s a very short but glorious opportunity to experience joy, gladness and fulfilment while being weak and broken people who look at Him as the only source of gladness and fascination.