Author: hillturnfs

We have to believe in the spiritual ream before we can engage in the spiritual battle going on all around us.  Most Christians either dismiss the spiritual battle we’re in or they stick their heads in the sand and don’t want to know about it.  Whether we like it or not the spiritual battle has come to us and we must defend ourselves or perish.  This struggle has been ongoing since Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden when Satan became the god of this world.  Just because we can’t see the spirit realm doesn’t mean it’s not there. We can’t see gravity or magnetism but we know they’re real because we can see their effects in physical ways we can see. We have proof that Jesus came, that God exists and that the Holy Bible is God’s Word.  The spirit realm is mentioned all through the Bible so we can know with certainty that it exists and who our enemies are.

God informs us that Satan and his fallen angels (demons) are our adversaries and they are out to utterly destroy mankind. They hate God and oppose Him at every turn. Since we are God’s special creation we take the brunt of that wrath because the powers of darkness can’t touch God so they lash out at us. The demons can’t touch us physically but they can influence our minds and emotions from the spirit realm.  Demons are spiritual beings who continually attack our minds and emotions. They stir up hatred, cause strife in our lives and try to convince us God doesn’t love us and we have no hope. The demons prey on us by influencing us, confusing us, frustrating us, and leading us away from the gospel of truth to quench the peace and salvation that God has promised us. We must learn hand to hand combat for the spiritual realm.

Do you want proof? The Jewish people are God’s chosen people so Satan hates them the most. Satan has inflamed the emotions of the rest of the world against the Jews for centuries. There is no other logical reason for the Jews to be persecuted like they have been. Some people accuse the Jews of killing Jesus but it was actually the Romans. The Romans are really just Italians so why aren’t Italians persecuted like the Jews?  Human beings are such easy prey for the forces of darkness. We’re blindsided because we aren’t even aware we’re in a fight. The first thing to do is realize we’re in a fight for our lives and we aren’t strong enough to win this fight on our own strength.

The demons are simply too powerful for us. We must lean on God through prayer and His Word.  Since the demons are spirit and we are flesh and blood the only person who can protect us is God.  The only weapon that will protect us is the Bible.  God has given us His Word, the Bible, which is the ultimate spirit weapon, the Sword of the Spirit, with which to defend ourselves against the forces of darkness. Countless times in the Bible God tells us to study the Bible for knowledge, understanding and wisdom so we can protect ourselves from evil and do the will of God.  Obey God by knowing your Bible in depth by reading Scripture every day.  The best defense is a strong offense. Knowing we’re in a fight is half the battle and God gives us everything we need to be victorious with His Word.

1 Peter 5:8 – Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

James 4:7 – Therefore submit to god. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

God in His mercy, grace and love gave us His Word that we may know Him, that we may know what is to come, and that we can have eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. God’s Word, the Holy Bible, is 28% prophecy, and prophecy is the writing of history before it happens.  God did this to prove that He is the Author of history and by fulfilling prophecy God also proves He not only exists, He is sovereign over His creation.  All other religions combined have not fulfilled even 1 prophecy.

2 Peter 1:21 – For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

The underlying theme of every book of the Bible is the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. God came to earth in the flesh to redeem fallen man by His death on the cross as payment for our sins.  Every book of the Bible also confirms God’s love for us, His special creation, and God’s desire that we live with Him in heaven forever. Praise God for His love and faithfulness!

Ephesians 1:4-5 – Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.

God planned every cell of our being, every hair on our head. God knows us because He made us. God made us how He wanted us. Be at peace with who you are and what you have for it is God’s will for you. We’re only visiting while we’re on the earth. Our citizenship is in heaven. We will be royalty in heaven one day as sons of the Most High God. We are joint-heirs with Jesus to the kingdom of God.

Scripture says we cannot comprehend the riches God will give to those who love Him. You prove your love for God by obeying His commands for our lives.  God’s most important command is to witness for Christ, sharing the gospel with unbelievers.   In Scripture Jesus says those who obey His commands are those who love Him.  We show our love for God by our obedience.  In the Bible God speaks the truth and He is not given to hyperbole or exaggeration. Those who witness for Christ can look forward to the following:

Daniel 12:3 – And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

The number of Christians who are actively looking for ways to witness is vey small. Only 10% of Christians who regularly attend church have read the Bible in its entirely even once and this is something each of us should do yearly.  The Christians who actually study God’s Word make up a much smaller percentage.  Fewer and fewer Christians read their Bibles every day.  Most Christians depend on their church or pastor to tell them what the Bible says.  They are being spoon fed their faith which is always a dangerous thing in these end times when false teachings and false prophets will abound.  Know what you believe and why you believe it.  Devote yourself to the study of God’s Word.  Don’t put it off another day.

The better you know God’s Word the better your witness will be. Our mission for God is spelled out clearly in the Scriptures for everyone to see but only a few are obeying God’s command as they should. I feel like the Lone Ranger here working all by myself.  I need your help.  I’ve made the decision to follow the commands of my Lord to the best of my ability for as long as I live and trust in Jesus for the increase. My motto is and always will be “One more for Jesus.”  My goal in life is to help save one person from the gates of hell.  Once that is accomplished my new goal is to save one more, and then another.  My focus is on saving “one more for Jesus,”  one person at a time, for as long as I can.  I’ll only stop when God brings me home and not before.

John 15:5 – He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

Galatians 6:9 – And let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Matthew 10:32 – Whosoever shall confess Me before men, him will I also confess before My Father which is in heaven.

Psalm 19:7 – The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

Romans 1:16 – For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile.

1 Corinthians 9:16 – Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!

John 4:36 – And he that reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit unto eternal life; that both he that sows and he that reaps may rejoice together.

Isaiah 52:7 – How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things.

Luke 14:23 – And the Lord said unto the servant, go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that My house may be filled.

Isaiah 58:10 – If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday sun.

One thing is certain.  Every believer will one day stand before the bema judgement seat of Jesus to receive their reward for works done in the body. Once we died to sin through faith in Jesus we became soldiers of Christ and our life is no longer our own.  As troopers for the Lord we are left here on earth to praise God and glorify His name by emulating Christ Jesus in all we do.  Our orders are to witness for Christ to the ends of the earth to all the unbelievers. This is our prime directive, the first command from God to the saints and the thing that is dearest to God’s heart. It’s the main reason God has left us here on earth. Of secondary importance is doing good works.  When we witness we are also emulating Christ. 

Jesus came and died on the cross to save sinners. Jesus ascended back to heaven and left it up to us to share the “good news” of the gospel with the world. Jesus is depending on us to be workers in God’s harvest field to save some for the kingdom of God.  Someone brought God’s saving grace to us and we owe it other lost souls to pay it forward. How can you live with yourself knowing you didn’t do everything possible to keep a brother or sister out of hell for eternity? They must be warned!  They must be won!  Imagine you’re standing before Jesus for your reward and you’ve never saved anyone, witnessed to anyone, or sown the gospel seed to anyone. You never did the main thing God asked you to do! What do you expect Jesus to do?  Are you expecting Jesus to say “well done”?  I don’t think so.  No matter what other works you do it all goes up in flames as the Scripture says, like hay, straw and stubble. Jesus will be displeased with your effort.

You’ll get into heaven by the skin of your teeth but you won’t receive a reward for works done in the body from the Father which will impact you forever, and we’re talking about an eternity of billions and billions of years. The Bible contains dozens of verses where God is telling us to witness for him so we are without excuse.  So you see, I have no choice, I must obey my Lord’s command.  I must find a way to impact God’s kingdom with the time remaining to me on this earth. You have the same challenges I do now that you know. You have your orders!  I have my orders!  Let’s do it!  Let’s roll!

Isaiah 32:20 – Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, who send out freely the feet of the ox and the donkey.

Ecclesiastes 11:1 – Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.

Mark 16:15-16 – Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

Matthew 9:37-38 – The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.

Acts 1:8 – But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

Daniel 12:3 – And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

Proverbs 11:30 – The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.

Matthew 4:19 – Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.

Mark 1:17 – Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.

MORE CONCEPTS FROM THE TONGUE BY CHARLES CAPPS:

Continually affirm what God’s Word says.
God’s Word is forever settled in heaven.
Satan’s ability is limited to what he can get you to say.
The human body has God-given natural healing ability.
In the Word God it says you can have what you say.
God wants you to be well and prosperous.
Establish God’s Word here on earth.
Satan came to steal the Word.
God’s Word is His wisdom.
A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth.
God will perfects that which concerns me.
The Word is a sword to defeat the devil.

Your words can either release the ability of God within you or the ability of Satan to control you.

Once you’ve prayed the solution shut up and stand there. Things will work out if you have believed in God.

Any thought that comes into your head, if it doesn’t agree with the Word, is from the devil. Don’t quote it! Satan doesn’t have any power over the believer other than the ability to deceive.

Fear activates the devil and faith brings God onto the scene. Faith is the victory!

Jesus is the go-between to transmit our prayers to God, as long as they conform to the Word in faith.

Jesus delivered us from the curse of the law (poverty, sickness and spiritual death).

God’s Word is the only true knowledge. It will make you stable even in an unstable world.

Speaking God’s Word will bring God on the scene, “I am watching over my Word to perform it.”

No weapon formed against me shall prosper and whatever I do will prosper.

My God supplies all my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

MORE CONCEPTS FROM THE TONGUE BY CHARLES CAPPS:

The God kind of faith works by the words of your mouth. It is released by the spoken word.

Everything produces after its own kind in both the natural and spiritual worlds.

The Word is what works. Jesus said you can have what you want through the knowledge of God. God never did anything without saying it.

The Word is the final authority so be motivated only by what you believe.

If you don’t stumble with your words you are a perfect man and able to bring your whole nature into obedience.

Only the Holy Spirit can tame man’s tongue. The Holy Spirit works on man from the inside out.

Since we are the body of Christ we can drive sickness and disease out of our body with the words of our mouth.

Learn to operate in the, “Ability of God,”  by releasing it through faith-filled words from your mouth.

The body will obey words. The body has to be trained to act upon the word. Your body obeys the commands of your mind.

Jesus bore our sickness also…”with His stripes we are healed.”  The enemy can’t put anything on you without your consent.

In the beginning was God, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. God and His Word are one. God wants us to be well and prosperous. Pray in the name of Jesus to make it so.

God’s Word is filled with faith. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. Where His Word is (your heart) so is your faith. God’s words produce faith in your heart and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

That which is formed by the tongue and spoken out of the mouth, those words, will either create good or evil. Words have creative power.

This is a book by retired preacher Charles Capps, first published in 1976. I purchased this paperback a long time ago in a Goodwill thrift store for 50 cents, thinking it was about public speaking. The book turned out to be real gem on channeling the Christian faith to be more effective in our walk with God. The Bible affirmations I have on index cards and repeat regularly are from this little book.  I gave my original copy away to someone I thought needed to read it. I recently went on Amazon and bought it again for my reference library. This is an interesting book that will get you thinking about your relationship with God. In my old files I kept notes on the concepts from this book which I’ll put in my blog.

CONCEPTS FROM THE TONGUE BY CHARLES CAPPS:

God’s Word is spiritual law.
The spirit world is controlled by God’s Word.
The spoken Word of God is creative power.
Spiritual law is for your good.
Pray the desired outcome and not the problem.
Walk by faith and not by sight.
Don’t pray to Jesus. Pray to the Father in Jesus’ name.

Pray according to the Word of God. God’s Word will produce after its kind.

Prayer is your spiritual right to use faith-filled words to bring God on the scene on your behalf.

If the Word is in you then faith is in your words. God wants to answer your prayers because God is glorified when our prayers are answered and our needs are met.

Your faith will make prayer work. Faith will work without prayer but prayer will not work without faith.

God’s Word is all-powerful and has creative power. The universe was created when God spoke words.

God gave the earth to Adam and after he ate the forbidden fruit Satan became the god of this world and held Adam and Eve in spiritual bondage.

God can do anything and upholds all things by the Word of his power (i.e. God’s power is in what He says).

Jesus came to take back authority over this world from Satan.

Whatever the Word declares comes to pass with faith.

Upon salvation God gives every believer the same measure of faith and it’s up to us to develop it.

When praying in faith those things you say will come to pass. Start praying the answer and start believing and confessing what the Word says. Invoke the name of Jesus.

The Apostle John wrote his gospel in exile on the Isle of Patmos off the Turkish coast around 95 AD when he was a very old man. John became a disciple of Jesus when he was a 17 year old teenager and became a part of Jesus’ inner circle along with Peter and his brother James.  John was once sentenced to the prison mines for preaching the gospel and evil men even attempted to boil John alive but he was rescued by God so he could write the book of Revelation. John was the only Apostle to die a natural death in old age.

As an eyewitness to the life of Jesus John wanted to write his personal account while he was alive. John read the other three gospels first and wanted to fill in the areas that were omitted in the ministry of Jesus. John is not a synoptic gospel because it didn’t focus so much on the life of Jesus as much as His divinity and His office. John also wanted to dispel the rumors by some sects that Jesus was only a man and not God in the flesh.  John was illiterate so he dictated his gospel to a scribe.  The gospel of John was written in Greek for the whole world. Consensus is that John was written around 95 AD give or take a year or two. The Encyclopedia of the Bible says 90-100 AD, Nelson’s Bible Facts says 90-100 AD, and the Bible Handbook says 80-90 AD. John’s goal was to show that Jesus is the Word of God send down from heaven and came to draw all people to faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

The other three gospels are set in Galilee but John’s gospel is set exclusively in Jerusalem. The teaching methods of John’s gospel do not use parables but instead rely on longer conversations by Jesus to His disciples. There is more personal teaching of the disciples in John’s gospel.  The gospel framework of John utilizes seven miracles and seven sayings to show Jesus is divine which show the only way to eternal life is through faith in Jesus Christ. The gospel of John kind of ties up all the loose ends of the life of our Savior and the truth set before us in all the gospels shines like the noonday sun!  Praise God in heaven for providing us with His written Word for our salvation!

Luke was a Gentile physician and disciple of Paul who accompanied the Apostle on many of his missionary trips. Luke made it plain at the beginning of his gospel of the life of Jesus that he never knew Jesus personally but had interviewed those who did know Jesus, like Paul, and he investigated all the evidence available and his gospel is an accurate account of the truth.  Luke heard the preaching of Paul everywhere Paul went and wanted to preserve what the Apostle taught. Luke also wrote the book of Acts which was about the activities of the early church. As a believer and disciple of Jesus Luke also preached the gospel message to the nations and was preaching in Greece when he was martyred by hanging.

As a Gentile, Luke wrote his gospel for them and in Greek. There is a dispute about whether Luke or Matthew was the second gospel to be written but they were written about the same time.  The consensus is Luke was written in 64 AD, give or take a year or two.  The Encyclopedia of the Bible say 60-85 AD, Nelson’s Bible Facts says 58-63 AD, and the Bible Handbook says 60-61 AD.  Luke is the fullest and most well-rounded account of the life of Jesus Christ and 60% of the material in this gospel is not found in the other gospels.  Luke focuses on the humanity of Jesus and has more information on the birth, youth and ministry of Jesus.  Luke stresses Jesus was the perfect human who rose from the dead to save sinners.  Luke focuses on the humanity of Jesus.

Luke stresses that Jesus, as Savior, brought people back to God and out of their sins.  Even thought Jesus died unjustly, God still worked His salvation plan for man.  Luke highlights the fact that Jesus came first to save the Jews, as heirs of God’s promise.  When Jesus was rejected He took salvation to the Gentiles.  Luke’s gospel begins and ends in Jerusalem with the focus on the final journey of Jesus from Galilee to Jerusalem.  Luke contains the only ascension story in the gospels.  Luke alone contains such well-known Bible stories as the prodigal son, the good Samaritan, the death of Lazarus and hades, the Pharisee and the tax collector and Zacchaeus along with other resurrection stories.  Luke was with the Apostle Paul when Paul was imprisoned in Rome and Luke wrote his gospel there around the time Paul was beheaded by the Roman Emperor Nero.

The gospel of Mark was penned by John Mark, a Jew from Jerusalem, who was an associate of both Peter and Paul. Mark wrote his gospel while he was in Rome as a disciple of the Apostle Peter. Mark never knew Jesus but wrote the account of His life based on the teachings of Peter as he preached to the Jews and Gentiles in Rome.  Since Peter was an illiterate fisherman it fell to Mark to record the eyewitness testimony of Peter about the life of Jesus. Mark did this at the request of the Christians living in Rome. Mark wrote his gospel in Greek, which was the universal language of that day.

The consensus is Mark was written around 55 AD, give or take a year or two. The Encyclopedia of the Bible says 60-70 AD, Nelson’s Bible Facts says 60 AD, and the Bible Handbook says 50-60 AD. There is consensus that Mark was the first gospel written and it was used as a reference for the writers of the other gospels.  Mark is a synoptic gospel, which is just a fancy way of saying it chronicled the life and actions of Jesus Christ. Matthew and Luke are also considered synoptic gospels. Mark was written to help the Christians in Rome witness to unbelievers. Mark was also active in the church in Jerusalem from the early days.

Mark was a disciple of Jesus in his own right and went on to preach the gospel of Christ to the nations just like the Apostles. For his preaching in Alexandria, Egypt, Mark was martyred by being drug through the streets of the city by a team of horses.  Mark’s focus was showing Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah foretold in Scripture. Anyone who openly declared themselves to be God in those days would be stoned to death as required by the law. Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man to hide His identity from the Gentiles.  The Jews understood that moniker was the one used in the book of Daniel to describe God coming to earth on his Shekinah glory cloud looking like, “a Son of Man.”  The Bible uses this term  in Daniel to say God will look like a human being when he arrives in His glory.

Jesus was saying He was God but not in a way that would get Him stoned to death.  Jesus was also making reference to His Second Coming when He called Himself the Son of Man, which the Jewish people never understood.  Mark shows Jesus as a suffering servant of the Lord and a man of action. Mark focuses on three main points, the Galilean ministry of Jesus, Jesus’ last journey to Jerusalem and the passion week leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus in Jerusalem during the Jewish Passover.  Mark spent more time on the last eight days of Jesus’ life than any of the other gospels. The purpose of Mark was to call on all people to repent of their sins and follow Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.