This is my dad. In 1 month’s time I get to see him again. (Along with the rest of the family of course.) I haven’t been home in 5 years. My dad is stronger than your dad. Haha. No, seriously. He is.

My Dad has made many extremely huge personal sacrifices in order for me to enjoy life and live out my dream and purpose. Admittedly, I was a typical teenager growing up and I am sure I made him grey before his time, but no matter how big of a mess I made, my Dad always helped me get out of that mess. We have also had our share of fights, arguments and disagreements (99% my fault…) just like any normal father and son do. But one thing that I will never forget about my Dad is that he found it extremely difficult to punish me. I think I can only remember 3 times in my whole life that he gave me a hiding. (And I gave him ample opportunity to improve on that number…) The school principal beat me more in a week than my Dad did his entire life.

Yet my Dad’s amazing love for me pales in comparison to my Father’s irrevocable love for me. If my Dad found it hard to punish me, how much more difficult was it for God to punish Jesus? Especially since Jesus was innocent! Far too many people see God as this vengeful angry God who lives for punishing disobedience and Jesus is just the poor punching bag who can take the hit for us. Jeff Turner uses the example to show how some see God almost like an evil step-father who comes home drunk and wants to beat his younger son but big brother Jesus pushes his little brother out of the way and lets drunk dad take out his anger on him. Jesus didn’t save you from the Father! The Father, in Jesus saved you from sin!

I think I need to say that again. Jesus didn’t come to save you from the Father. The Father was never out to get you, kill you or destroy you. The Father, in Jesus came to save you. His wrath and His anger was not kindled against you. It was kindled against that which was harming you, His wrath was against sin. Sin was punished in Jesus’ body. God’s wrath was poured out on sin. When the Bible says Jesus is our only mediator between God and man, we often think of God on one side, we are on the other and Jesus in the middle trying to hide us behind him so God won’t see our mistakes and switch over to kill-mode. That is utter nonsense.

For God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself! When you mess up God is not suddenly angry again and Jesus has to then quickly run and remind Him that you are forgiven.

Jesus: “No Father, don’t kill them, you already killed me in their place!”

The Father: ‘Oh, yes. That’s right. I like you. I don’t like them, but if they are in you I like them too. Thanks for reminding me. Phew! I almost killed them that time!’

Do people honestly think the Father and the Son have such opposing agendas? That God is out for vengeance and Jesus is just trying to hold Him back? No! If that were true there would be an inter-trinitarian breakdown of unimaginable consequence! The Father and Jesus have the same will! One is not reminding the other to not destroy and curse us because we just can’t seem to get it right.

If there is anything the church needs to repent of (change their mind about) it will be in regards to how they view the Father. They see God as the bad-cop out to get us because of His justice and Jesus as the good-cop trying to save us because of His love. Love and justice are not opposing forces! Love and justice work together in your favour! The Father justly punished sin because He loves you! And then He united His Spirit with your spirit to ever testify to that fact and to remind you of His goodness and favour every second of the day!

The goodness of God leads to repentance. That means when you realize how good the Father is you will change your mind about how you see Him, approach Him, interact with Him and live with Him! HE IS ALWAYS GOOD! And not only is He ALWAYS GOOD, HE IS ALWAYS GOOD TO ME!

This is my Father, and I love Him with my entire being! This is my Dad and I love him just as much!

Cornel

Aesop was a Greek slave who lived lived around 600BC. He is renowned for telling pretty awesome fables, some of which are known and retold all over the world to this day. You might recognize some of his fables actually. Ever heard of ‘The Tortoise And The Hare’ or ‘The Ants And The Grasshopper’ or ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’? If you haven’t, what is it like living under that rock? Just kidding. I recently started reading his collection of fables again. The very first one was enough to get me thinking for a few days. It’s called, “The Wolf And The Lamb”

“A Wolf, meeting with a Lamb astray from the fold, resolved not to lay violent hands on him, but to find some plea to justify to the Lamb the Wolf’s right to eat him. He thus addressed him: ‘Sirrah, last year you grossly insulted me.’ ‘Indeed,’ bleated the Lamb in a mournful tone of voice, ‘I was not then born.’ Then said the Wolf, ‘You feed in my pasture.’ ‘No, good sir,’ replied the Lamb, ‘I have not yet tasted grass.’ Again said the Wolf, ‘You drink of my well.’ ‘No,’ exclaimed the Lamb, ‘I never yet drank water, for as yet my mother’s milk is both food and drink to me.’ Upon which the Wolf seized him and ate him up, saying, ‘Well! I won’t remain supperless, even though you refute every one of my imputations.” – The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.”

The devil is exactly like this wolf. He will try to justify his tyranny with a pretext. He will throw every excuse at you to justify his attack. Here are his most common pretexts:

1.  ”Because you have sinned, I have a right to do this to you.” You probably did sin, but that is no justification for the enemy taking anything from you. If my car is locked in my garage with a satellite tracking and steering lock on, a thief could break in and steal it. If on the other hand I leave my car in a shady part of town at night with the windows rolled down and the keys in the ignition, a thief can still come and steal it. In both scenarios my car was stolen. My careless actions made it much easier for the thief in the second case, but it in no ways justified the theft. Similarly, a rape is not justified because the clothes the woman did or didn’t wear. (John 10:10)

2.  ”It’s not me, it’s God punishing you.” Some people are smart enough to not fall for the first pretext above. Obviously the thief has no right. ‘But God has a right to punish sin, so maybe He has something to do with this.’ Yes, God does have a right to punish sin, but what the devil wants you to not realize is that God already punished sin on the cross, even the very sin you just committed minutes ago. God already judged and punished Jesus in your place. If not, what was the point of Jesus’ death? (John 5:22, John 5:24, John 12:47)

3.  ”Of course Jesus died for your sins, BUT…” Your internal alarm bells should sound whenever anybody tries to add a ‘but’ to the Gospel. The ‘but’ is usually followed by some sort of measure you have to live up to in order to make the benefits of Jesus’ death applicable to you. … BUT you need to fast. BUT you need to tithe. BUT you need to belong to our church. BUT you need to live in this manner. BUT you you you have to do do do this this and that. Basically forget about Jesus and all He did, look at what you still have to do, not to mention what you are not doing. Excuse me, but does Scripture not say we are saved by grace through faith AND IT IS NOT OF OURSELVES? (Eph 2:8-9) Does it not also say we received the Spirit by Faith and not by law? That miracles and power work amongst us through faith and not our self-righteousness? (Gal 3:1-3)

Preaching a but-gospel? Look at what Paul had to say about that:

2Cr 11:4 For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or [if] you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted–you may well put up with it!

If you preach a but-gospel, you will have to put up with a it. If you preach bondage, you will have to put up with bondage.

Gal 1:6-9 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.

I think Paul said it clearly enough. Don’t fall for the enemies pretexts. Understand what Jesus did for you. Understand the covenant you live under.

Cornel

Click Here To Get New Posts by Email

Or Subscribe To Our RSS Feed

Why is it so hard to convince CHRISTIANS that their God is a good God? Why is it that those who believe in a God of love can think such horrible things about Him? When I get vocal and say healing is for everybody at anytime in any place regardless of your sin, situation, background, or convictions, the first people to tell me I am off my rocker, from the devil and a false prophet are those who seemingly represent a God of love. The problem with believing that God causes, allows or wills sickness and suffering (and I am not talking about persecution) is that it can’t be extrapolated to our own behaviour. If it is right for God to make somebody sick or allow them to suffer, then it would be right for us to do so too. If it is right for God but not for us, then God is a hypocrite who doesn’t live up to His own requirements yet judges us for breaking them.

If I were to go out and poison a town’s water supply, pretty soon the people will get sick. Then I can show up with an antidote and be the hero who saved everybody. I will only be the hero for as longs as nobody finds out I actually made them sick. The moment they find that out, I will be locked up and totally rejected by the whole town. That is just how people react. Now why would God try to use such an obviously flawed way of getting people to turn to Him? Easy, He wouldn’t. If the town’s folk would lock me up and utterly hate me for poisoning them, why would they react any different when “representatives of God’ tell them God is causing their sickness and suffering? Why on earth would that make you turn to God? “Behold, the God of love has caused you to have this cancer. Turn to Him so He can help you through it.” Why would I turn to the being that causes my suffering to be relieved of my suffering? If I am dumb enough to, that is called battered-wife syndrome: The wife just keeps going back to the husband that beats her to a pulp. JESUS DOES NOT BEAT HIS BRIDE!

Matt 7:9-11 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! NKJV

No father wishes sickness or suffering on their children. Why would God be any different? Jesus says it plainly right here that even our greatest desires to give good gifts to our own children do not even compare to the goodness that God has for us. If God gives, allows or wills sickness on anybody, then we can say sickness is a good gift based on James 1:7 which tell us every good and perfect gift is from God. This would mean that if God gave one person cancer as a ‘good gift’ that I can pray for people to receive cancer and I wouldn’t be outside the will of God because He is no respecter of persons. If it’s right for anybody, it’s right for everybody else.

Go up to any person in any hospital and tell them God willed their suffering to make them better people and count how many people rush to you for salvation. That is NOT good news! To believe that garbage you would have to reason: “Let’s trust this being, who doesn’t want my body to be well because he made me sick, to heal my spirit so I can go to heaven. He wants me to be sick but He also wants me to be saved. This doesn’t sound crazy at all! I am convinced Jesus wants to save me and give me life even though He gave me this cancer which is stealing my life. He seems pretty trustworthy and on top of things.” Hopefully somebody realizes how stupid that “gospel” sounds.

1 John 1:5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. (NKJV)

In Him there is NO darkness. STOP trying to put darkness in Him! If you are going to represent Him, you need to be shining light and not making excuses for darkness.

So again, WHO are you representing?

Cornel

Read more about Cornel’s book “So You Think Your Mind Is Renewed?” here!

Click Here To Get New Posts by Email

Or Subscribe To Our RSS Feed

Since I started preaching / writing / blogging about grace, I have been accused of many things and called by many not so nice names. I have been told what I am preaching is going to cause people to go out and live in sin because I preach ‘Irresistible Grace’. Irresistible grace means that it doesn’t matter what a believer does or how moral they live since the grace that saved them is NOT based on their right doing or lack thereof. We all know the famous question in Romans: “Should we sin more so grace could increase?” (Rom 6:1). Grace means favour. Where sin abounds, Divine Favour abounds MUCH more. In other words, the more you sin, the more grace there is to save you. To those people it sounded like Paul was saying favour from God is linked to sin instead of righteousness. If grace is linked to sin, should we keep on sinning to increase the favour of God in our lives? What was Paul’s answer? “God forbid.” Why then would they ask this? Well, who would be easier for you to forgive: Your kid who stole $10 to by himself some ice cream, or the stranger who sodomized and molested him behind the ice cream shop? It would seem that you would need much more grace to forgive the stranger (the pedophile) then your son (the thief). But to God there is no difference. Sin is wrong, no matter how ‘big’ or ‘small’ but His grace covers a multitude of sins. His grace is bigger than the biggest sin. That is why there is salvation for every person who wants it.

Now when you preach salvation by grace and not by works, there are actually 2 components to works. Good works and bad works. You are saved by grace, not because the amount of good works you did outweighed the amount of bad works you did. Both good and bad works were taken out of the salvation equation. It is easy to believe God doesn’t look at our good deeds, but instead looks at Jesus’ obedience on our behalf. It is not so easy to believe that God doesn’t regard our bad works or sins either. And if He doesn’t look at our sins, do we then have a license to do whatever we want? A license to sin? Only people who think of grace in a religious mindset will come to that conclusion. The religious mindset is this: If my good works outweigh the bad ones, the bad works get canceled. Believing in grace is not something good you do to outweigh the bad things in your life. If you think of grace in that way, you unfortunately have not heard what Grace has to say. If the voice of grace you listen to tells you it is ok to sin, then the grace you are listening to is the grace of the world, not the Grace of God. The world will tell you sin is ok. “You have favour to do whatever you want, be your own person, make your own choices, feel whatever you want to feel, experience whatever you desire.” The anti-grace of the world is not the opposite of the true grace of God, it’s only a pseudo-grace, a wolf in sheep’s clothing if you will. Like rat poison which is 99% good rat food and 1% poison, worldly grace is 99% good. It’s that 1% of deception that steals, kills and destroys. What is the difference between worldly grace and God’s Grace? For me the biggest difference is Independence vs. Dependence. Worldly grace gives you favour to become independent, to be in charge of your own life. Because you are in charge you can do whatever you want. You can even decide what is good and what is evil. God’s Grace on the other hand is an abandonment of independence and the pursuit of dependence upon Him, to let Him decide what is good for you, to make decisions for you, to let Him take charge of your life, to let Him be your Lord.

When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were embracing worldly grace. You eat of that same tree whenever you say, “I will decide what is good and what is evil.” If you decide adultery is not evil, you will be able to do it and not have any issues because you decided it was good. Divorce and broken homes therefore become part of life. It is born out of what the world has decided is not evil. I heard an advertisement for a “Divorce Expo” today. The world apparently thinks divorce is so good, it needs to be celebrated and promoted. The world will always promote and celebrate sin and independence. So when any person teaches you it is ok to sin, they are not teaching you God’s grace, they are telling you to eat of the tree of good and evil. “Do whatever you want, you will be like God.” God in His infinite wisdom and ability to see the beginning and the end knows exactly what the consequences of all actions are. He also knows better than any other being what is good and what is evil. If we trust Him to make decisions for us, we will never have to go down the path that leads to destruction. When God says, “That is evil, have nothing to do with it” it is not because He will love us more if we obey them, but because He knows if we do mingle with evil, we are in danger of being destroyed. Because of His love for you, He doesn’t want you to be destroyed. You don’t put a fence around a swimming pool because you think swimming is evil, you do it so your kids don’t drown. If they go there by themselves, independent of you, chances are good they might drown. But when they go there under your supervision, with dependence on you, they can enjoy it without worry because you are there.

So which grace are you listening too? It is easy to check. If you are in sin, you are listening to worldly grace. If you are struggling with sin, trying to stop but never succeeding, you are also listening to worldly grace. (You are failing because you are trying to stop by yourself, independent of God.) If you are struggling less and less with sin and seeing victory, freedom and restoration, you are listening to God’s grace.  God grace says this: “Sin is not something you have to overcome. My Son overcame it already. Trust Him and be dependent on Him, follow in His Way and you will live in His victory.” Worldly grace says this: “Sin is something you need to overcome. You have to get out of sin and stay out of sin before God will favour you. You have to get the victory, you have to find a way yourself. But if you don’t want to get out, that is ok too. Follow your way. Your way is right if you decide it is.”

Titus 2:11-15 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope — the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. 15 These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. (NIV)

If the grace you are listening to is not teaching or empowering you to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, you are not listening to the grace that brings salvation. If the grace you are listening to is not producing eagerness to do what is good, it is not God’s grace you are listening too. If this is you and you think you have been deceived by worldly grace, just turn and listen to what God’s Grace has to say. There is no condemnation, just turn and listen. You will hear, “Come, all you who are burdened and heavy laden. Come, and I will give you rest.” Independence of God is a very heavy burden. So heavy, you will never reach your destination carrying it. Let go. Surrender. Ask God to help you. Become dependent on Him.

James 4:6-7 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (NIV)

You can’t be humble and independent of God at the same time. Giving up your independence is the first step toward humility. The moment you give it up (yes, you have to give it up. God doesn’t take it away.) you become humble. Since you are humble, God no longer resists you and instead you receive grace and favour. When you resist the devil, the worldly passions or the sin in your life through independence, they will not flee from you. But when you submit to God, give up your independence and depend on Him for your strength, they will flee from you. There is no grace to commit sin. You do not have favour with God to sin. You have favour to get out of sin. The grace that makes it ok to sin, is not God’s Grace. God’s grace is irresistible. When you listen to it, you will not be able to resist changing from glory to glory.

“Jesus, I give up my independence entirely. I want to live dependent on You alone. You know far better what is good for me. I don’t want to be the judge of good and evil.  I am pleased and happy with what you decide is good and what is not. Be my Lord and show me where I need to surrender my independence, for it is there where I am still not under your Lordship. I reject the grace of this world that tells me to do what I want. I accept your grace by faith that shows me what you want for me, through me and with me. Thank you for destroying the power of sin and setting me free to live in you. Thank You for Your saving grace that teaches me to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions. In Jesus Name, sin (name your sin), I say to you NO! Worldly passions, NO! Ungodliness, NO! I choose to give up my independence and to die to self. I am dead to what I want. I am now alive to what God wants. Godly passions: Yes! Holiness: Yes! Righteousness: Yes! Freedom: Yes! Peace: Yes! Joy: Yes! Yes Yes YES and AMEN!”

Thank You Jesus!

Cornel

Click Here To Get New Posts by Email

Or Subscribe To Our RSS Feed

Phil 2:12-13 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. (NKJV)

What does it mean to work out your own salvation? In the Greek the word used means to finish or to perform your own salvation. That sounds a little strange at first since we know we can’t work for our salvation because it is received freely by grace through faith. Since Jesus also said “It is finished”, what do we have to finish or perform? He did everything on our behalf already. So what does this mean? This is how I see it: When you got saved, you became a new creation. That happened in your spirit. Your soul and body were also bought, but are yet to be redeemed. On the inside of you, you became exactly like Jesus (1 John 4:17). His Spirit lives in you and your spirit actually united with the Holy Spirit to become one spirit (1 Cor 6:17), Christ living in you. Your spirit is seated in heavenly places in Christ at the right hand of the Father (Eph 2:6) and you lack absolutely nothing (2 Peter 1:3, Eph 1:3). The same however cannot be said of our bodies or our souls. And that is where the working out comes in.

The ‘working out’ means to change your soul and body to line up with the salvation you received in your spirit. When you ‘work out’ your salvation, it means you move it from your spirit out into your soul and body. Working out your salvation into your soul includes mind renewal (Rom 12:2), deliverance (2 Cor 10:4) and taking charge of your emotions (John 14:1) while working salvation out into your body means receiving healing and life (Rom 8:11) as well as being able to transfer that life to another person who needs healing or deliverance (Mark 16:18). The thing a lot of people miss in this is that they have a major part to play in this.

1 Cor 3:9 For we are God’s fellow workers (NKJV)

2 Cor 5:20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us (NKJV)

Basically it goes like this: God worked for us and is now at work in us. Since He works in us, we partner with Him to let Him work through us in order to do His will and good pleasure. Without the partnering, co-labouring and co-working that comes through relationship, the working in and out parts don’t happen very effectively, which then means the working through (ministering to others) is not very spectacular either. A lot of people think because God worked everything on their behalf for their salvation, that they don’t have any part to play when it comes to ministering the life of God to others. You can’t be a co-labourer if you don’t have work to do. Not many people will get healed if we don’t go minister. Very little will get saved if we don’t go tell them the Good News. Why then, if we have a part to play in this, is there so much self-denial in the lives of believers? You always hear “It’s not me, it’s Jesus.” I understand what is usually meant through saying that, but if it was just Jesus, why did you have to be there? Why did you have to lay hands? Why were you instructed to go tell people about Him and why are signs and wonders to follow you? Look at these verses:

Phil 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (NKJV)

John 14:12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” (NKJV)

Paul said we can do all things through Christ. Jesus said we can do the same things and greater things than He did. The first thing you need to do before even trying to do anything is to realize that you have a part to play. Once you accept that you are involved, the self-acceptance will replace the self-denial and you will start to look for things in your spirit that you can work out into your soul, your body, and the lives of others. It is through the acknowledgment of every good thing that is in us in Christ, that our faith is shared effectively.

Philem 6 that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. (NKJV)

So how do we acknowledge all these things? One of the most effective ways is to declare them as often as we can. You can say something to this effect:

“Father, I believe Your Word. What Your Word says is true. I can do what Your Word says I can do. I am who Your Word says I am. I am going to do what Your Word says I can do. I am going to activate Your Power in my life and I am going to make my faith effective by acknowledging every good thing that is in me in Christ. It is not I who live but Christ who lives in me. I died with Christ, was buried and resurrected with Him. I sit in heavenly places in Christ far above all principalities and powers. That means far above all sickness and disease. I am no longer under the beggarly elements of this world, I am above them. They do not tell me what to do, I tell them what to do. I tell sickness and disease to get out and they leave. I lay my hands on the sick and they recover. I cast out demons and free the oppressed. I have power and authority over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt me, touch my family or come near my dwelling. When sickness comes towards me, I run toward it and it flees in seven directions because greater is He that is living in me then he that is living in the world. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free of the law of sin and death. I do not walk in sin, sickness or death but I walk in righteousness, holiness, health and life abundant. I have life enough for me and life enough to give away. I have life and healing in my hands and I give it away to whomever I touch. Signs and wonders follow me. I can do the same works Jesus did and greater. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I am an ambassador for Christ and a co-labourer with God. I am destined to reign in life and glorify my Father. I am anointed, equipped, empowered and fully able to accomplish everything God wants me to do because I have received the Holy Spirit of Promise. The gifts of the Spirit operate in my life and I use them to advance the Kingdom of my Father. I might be in this world but I am not from this world. I am from the Kingdom of Heaven. The fullness of God dwells in Jesus and He fully lives in me. I’m so full of God that there is no room left for the devil. There is no room for sickness or disease in me. I am so full of life that it overflows and touches the people around me. I live in the Presence of God every second of every day. Where the Presence of the Lord is there is fullness of joy and liberty to the oppressed Where I go, the Presence goes with me to heal, deliver and set the captives free. I have received freely, and I give freely. I am God’s son, man’s servant and the devil’s master. When I speak the Word of God, heaven hears and agrees, hell hears and obeys.”

This is just a short example of what you could start declaring over your life. There is so much more one can add to this! Enjoy working out your own salvation, there is nothing else like it!

Glory to God!

Cornel Marais

Subscribe to our RSS Feed by clicking on the icon below

Read a preview of Cornel’s book “So You Think Your Mind Is Renewed?”

In Part 1 I showed how scripturally milk refers to receiving teaching from the Word in order to form the foundation of our faith. The whole Bible is milk, Sunday sermons are milk and Christian books are also milk. Today I want to show you meat, so you go and get some to grow up further into the fullness of Christ. In John 4 we read the account of Jesus sending His disciples to buy food while He strikes up a conversation with the Samarian woman at the well. He asks her for a drink and ends up revealing to her that He is the Messiah. Before she runs to call everyone from her town, the disciples come back with food. Let’s pick it up there:

John 4:25-34 the woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. 26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he. 27 And upon this came his disciples, and marvelled that he talked with the woman: yet no man said, What seekest thou? or, Why talkest thou with her? 28 The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, 29 Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? 30 Then they went out of the city, and came unto him.31 In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. 32 But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. 33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat? 34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. (KJV)

Sorry for the King James, it is the only translation I know of that uses the word meat. All the others just say food. Jesus said His meat, His solid food, is to do the will of the Father. Meat is doing the will of God. And by will I mean heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, freely you have received, freely give. You can know all the doctrine on healing (the milk of healing), but you will only learn how to get somebody healed by ministering to them (the meat of healing). It’s like learning to drive a car. You can learn the principles and rules of the road in a book, but you have to get behind the wheel to learn to drive.

Matt 7:24-27 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” (NKJV)

This is a very famous parable and many people think Jesus was comparing believers (building on the rock) with unbelievers (not building on the rock). You can interpret it like that, but I believe Jesus was comparing two believers. In verse 24 & 26 He says, “Whoever hears these sayings” meaning both heard. Since faith comes by hearing, both these guys received faith. But one was wise and one was foolish. What was the difference? It is not the hearing and receiving the Word that makes you wise or foolish. “Whoever hears these sayings of Mine, AND DOES THEM” = Wise.” “Everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, AND DOES NOT DO THEM” = foolish. Hearing is important because getting the milk is getting the faith. But acting on milk, acting on the Word turns the milk into meat and grows you up! Let’s look at Hebrews 5 again:

Heb 5:12-14 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. 14 But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. (NKJV)

We looked at verse 12 in part 1, but we didn’t look at 13 & 14. Everyone who partakes on only milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness. The Greek word for unskilled literally means unable to do, unable to do well and being ignorant towards. In English unskilled means unable to do. The difference between babes and mature believers are in the ability to do what needs to be done. Verse 14 says solid food are for those “who by reason of USE have their sense EXERCISED.” Use and exercise (practicing how to do something) is what solid food is. The first few times I prayed for people for healing not much happened. That doesn’t mean healing is not real, it means I was unskilled in healing. The more I practiced healing, the more things started to happen and the more people started to get healed. Now I not only heal, I also teach others to also heal and some of the people I have taught have seen miracles greater than any of the ones I have seen personally!

James 1:22-24 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. (NKJV)

That is why James wrote to not stop at only hearing like the foolish builder, but to go over into action like the wise builder. He wasn’t teaching works as some often say to keep people passive.

James 2:17-20 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. 19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe — and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?  (NKJV)

Faith without action is dead, or has no effect in your situation. Believing is good, but even demons believe and tremble. So you shaking in the Presence is not so special, demons do it too… But when you start acting on your faith and casting out demons, healing people and setting captives free, you will start to grow up into Christ. You will resemble your big brother Jesus as you release the glory of God to change situations, lives, and the course of history. Let history be HIS-story, written on the living pages of your life!

The kingdom butchery is now open, go get some meat people!

Cornel

Click here to read a preview of Cornel’s new book, “So You Think Your Mind Is Renewed?” If you’re tired of religion, legalism and the traditions of man, this book will be a great starting block for you to starting living the life you were destined to live in Christ!

Have you ever heard this expression after a service? It generally refers to the ‘deep’ revelations, or a really challenging word that was spoken. It comes from the passage in Hebrews 5 about milk being for babes in Christ and meat for more mature believers. Surprise! Surprise! There is no such thing as a ‘meaty’ sermon. I will even go as far as saying you won’t find any meat in the Bible. There is nothing meaty in it. You cannot preach a meaty sermon and you cannot read a meaty book. But please don’t take my word for it, let’s look at scripture.

Heb 5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. (NKJV)

If you are in need of teaching, you are in need of milk. All teaching on the Word is milk. That is why you can’t preach a meaty sermon or read a meaty passage out of the Bible. You go to church to be taught, so because teaching is always only milk, you cannot get meat listening to a sermon. I know you might not be convinced yet, so please read on.

1 Peter 2:2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, (NKJV)

Peter refers to the Word as pure milk. Babes need it to grow. Just like in the natural, a baby lives on milk for the first stage of life and only starts taking solid food after having grown a bit. So again, the Word is at best only milk.

1 Cor 3:1-3 and I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; 3 for you are still carnal. (NKJV)

The Corinthian church was renowned for two things. The gifts of the Spirit and their sin. There was no other church in that time that operated in the gifts at the level of the Corinthians. They were also renowned for the utter decadence of their sin and it is recorded that there was sin amongst them that was not even found amongst the pagans. (1 Cor 5:1)

In the passage above, Paul calls them carnal, immature and babes in Christ. Yet these carnal immature babes were operating in the gifts very powerfully, better than any other church. This shows that your maturity is not something God looks at in order of Him to work through you. Secondly it shows that sin, no matter how vile, doesn’t stop the operation of the gifts or the Power of God in your life. God will use you with sin in your life, and He will help while you have sin in your life. Paul also said that he gave them milk before and that he did not give them solid food because they couldn’t receive it. Then he says that even now they are still not able to take in solid food. If they are still not able to take in meat, do you think Paul is going to give them any meat? He just said they can’t handle it yet, so why would he give it to them? If the rest of the letter is only milk, it is interesting that 9 chapters later we read about the gifts of the Spirit, their use and proper operation. All of that is just milk.

Before I tell you about what meat really is, I want to stress the importance of milk. Just like in the natural, we need milk to build our skeletons and keep them strong. Your skeleton forms your frame. The milk of the Word forms your foundation. Jesus is the rock we are built on and He is the Word. A solid dose of milk on a regular basis helps to keep your frame or your foundation intact. But if you feed a person too much milk, they throw up. You have to get meat eventually to continue growing. I am not against milk, my whole website is just milk. But if you only ever get milk, you have a problem because you are not growing more.

Milk is essential for mind renewal, revelation and receiving faith, so get as much as you can. But don’t only live on milk. People who just live on milk develop severe vitamin and nutritional deficiencies. If you only live on spiritual milk, your might find you have developed a few deficiencies already. And just like the Corinthians, you stay immature if you only ever get milk. If you are searching for more of the kingdom in power, you need to make the transition from milk only to milk & meat, with far more meat than milk actually. In the next teaching I will explain more about what meat is and how to go about getting it!

Who wants to say grace before we eat?

Cornel

Click here to read a preview of Cornel’s new book, “So You Think Your Mind Is Renewed?” If you’re tired of religion, legalism and the traditions of man, this book will be a great starting block for you to starting living the life you were destined to live in Christ!

We all know the fruits well enough, love, joy, peace etc., but let’s quickly look closer at those verses because I want to propose something that might upset a couple of people but be liberating to so many more!

Gal 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. (NKJV)

The thing that caught my attention when I read this a while ago was the last sentence. “Against SUCH there is no law.” That one word threw my theology about the fruits out of whack. It is the Greek word toioutos and means ‘of this sort’ or ‘things like these’. That would imply that this list is by no means complete and that there are more than 9 fruits of the Spirit. The fruits are the representations of the nature and character of God manifested through us. Obviously God has more than 9 characteristics! The works of the flesh have 15 fruits listed and we know that list is nowhere near complete. Don’t tell me sin and law can out-produce God and grace!

I believe any characteristic that was embodied by Jesus as the exact representation of God can be included in this list. I have tried to think of as many as I can and list them here. So far I have added humility, honour, courage, purity, compassion, forgiveness, hospitality, loyalty, fairness, righteousness, innocence, friendliness, mercy, favour, justness, integrity, empathy, dependability and politeness. I am sure there are even more. If you are wondering how to determine if a characteristic can be a fruit of the Spirit, the answer lies in “Against such there IS NO LAW”. This means there is no limit to how much of a thing you can have or how many acts of it you are allowed to commit. There is no limit on how much love you can have and how much love you can show and give away. Same goes for all the other fruit too. You cannot be too kind, too fair, too compassionate, too innocent, too hospitable or too Jesus. There is no law against the how much of Jesus you can have or against how much of Jesus you can give away!

Glory to Glory!

Cornel Marais

Click here to read a preview of Cornel’s new book, “So You Think Your Mind Is Renewed?” If you’re tired of religion, legalism and the traditions of man, this book will be a great starting block for you to starting living the life you were destined to live in Christ!