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ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

 

So after 72 editions of my book report on the walk of

the spirit the walk of power……

IT IS FINISHED

 

This is the last edition on this book, and I think by now

that you can see just how extensive this subject of

praying in tongues for edification is.

 

I think it also is Gods timing, that I can know begin to

minister on some other things, as this world is changing

so fast in 2020.

 

It seemed to me as we were approaching 2020 that 20 +

20 is 40 and that is the number of testing or probation

in the Bible, and then after that EVERYTHING CHANGES

DRAMATICALLY.

 

So as I said before that I believed 2020 would be a year

of great change in all aspects of this world, I just didn’t

think it would happen so fast. But the changes are

already upon us and coming fast, and the wise have

been preparing for years and getting extra oil.

 

So starting next week I will be addressing what is going

on and what we can do to walk through this valley of

the shadow of death.

 

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My Purging In the Pursuit of Agape

Those six levels are the step-by-step progression God

uses to help bring us to a place of spiritual maturity

where agape love is a way of life. Throughout this

progression, the purging work of the Holy Ghost

continues.

How do I know? Because the Holy Spirit is still in the

process of purging me. I have prayed and sought God

for more than two decades to understand the price of

revival and of walking in His power. During that time I

have had wonderful visitations from God. But I have

also had times when the devil attacked me right after a

divine visitation, and I found myself one-quarter of the

way down before I was able to turn around and stop the

attack!

The Holy Ghost used those difficult times to help me get

a good look at myself, and I didn’t like what I saw. It

was after one of these attacks of the enemy that the

Holy Spirit took me to First Peter 5 to help me

understand what I was going through.

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of

God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your

care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be

vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring

lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.

— 1 Peter 5:6-8

What is the price of revival? The Holy Ghost took me to

this passage of Scripture and said,“This is it.”You see,

the devil is seeking people who are “devourable.” And

according to this scripture,those who fit this category

are people who did not get rid of all their care by

casting it on the Lord.

They pamper their cares; they bathe in their worries;

they let their anxieties promenade back and forth in

their imaginations until an anthill is an immovable

mountain. Thus, they remain vulnerable prey, easily

devoured by the strategies of the enemy.

But Peter says, “Go ahead and cast all your care on God.

To do so is an act of humility. It is an act of the power of

the Holy Ghost.”

‘After That Ye Have Suffered A While’

Then Peter goes on to say in verses 9 and 10:

Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the

same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren

that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath

called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, AFTER

THAT YE HAVE SUFFERED A WHILE, MAKE YOU

PERFECT, STABLISH,STRENGTHEN, SETTLE YOU.

When the Holy Spirit first took me to this passage of

Scripture, I thought, What in the world do afflictions

accomplish in a believer?And for the life of me, I

couldn’t understand why the God of all grace would

allow us to suffer for a while

I asked the Lord, “With the devil trying to devour me

and with all these afflictions and trials raging around

me, why didn’t You just reach down and deliver me out

of it all? What did it accomplish for You to let me suffer

awhile before coming in and helping me overcome the

situation?”

Now I can tell you exactly what afflictions and

persecutions accomplish. These trials cause your

impurities to float to the surface as you progress

toward a life of agape. Nothing will expose those

impurities faster. And notice, you’re not unique in this

uncomfortable experience. The same afflictions are

being accomplished by Christians around the world.

Every believer that desires to go on with God will at

some point experience the purging work that takes

place during a difficult test or trial.

However, it’s important to understand that God doesn’t

send you tests and trials. He said that Satan is the one

who comes to devour through cares, worries, and fears.

But when the devil engages you in conflict and causes

your weak places to be exposed, God expects you to use

the power of His Word to weld those weak places with

truth and make them strong.

Those difficult times of trial brought things to the

surface that had to be purged from my life so God could

establish, strengthen, and settle me. I didn’t

understand why God was letting me suffer through the

trial at the time, but I do now. I’ve seen the fruit of His

purging work in me!

After Purging, Peace

In the last several years, a deep peace has grown in my

heart that defies description and surpasses

understanding.

I have found a secret place in the Holy of Holies of my

spirit where I enjoy constant communion with the

Prince of Peace Himself. There in that secret place, He

has explained revelation knowledge to me that I

wanted to understand for years. This peace is an

aggressive weapon against the enemy because nothing

has made me more unmanageable for the devil.

When this peace began to dominate my life, the

worries, fears,and intimidation I used to operate under

gave way. Those deeds of the flesh literally died

beneath the power of this peace.

Established, Strengthened, Settled

Years ago if you had asked me, “Brother Roberson, what

are you asking God for?” I would have said, “I just want

to be used by God. I want Him to be able to anoint me to

bring about great revival. “I want the kind of revival in

which fifty deaf and dumb people are brought to the

service,and the power of God fills that section until

they jump up yelling, ‘I can hear! I can talk!’ Then those

who were healed infiltrate the city. Within ten days, the

entire city is trying to get into the meeting, and revival

is born! That’s what I want.”

Then if you had asked, “Do you think you can handle

that kind of anointing, Brother Roberson?” I would

have said, “Yes, I do. All the Lord has to do is give it to

me, and I’ll show you!”

But then the devil began to rage and fight me over this

revival I was desiring. Through the very attack, I was

thankful for the supernatural peace that sustained me.

After I suffered awhile, the impurities started coming

to the surface. I got a good look at a few major faults

and told the Lord, “Okay, God of all grace. I see what

You’re trying to purge out of my life. I will get right on

it.”

Did God stand by and let me suffer for a while? Yes, but

only because I had been asking Him to use me, and He

said, “These things are keeping you from being used by

Me.”

When I asked Him why He didn’t deliver me from my

struggles the first day, He said, “Because you didn’t

believe those things stood between Me and you the first

day.”

Afterward, I came to better understand why God

answered my prayer for revival the way He did. He had

to put to death whatever it was in my character that

had given Satan a foothold through intimidation and

fear. Otherwise, right in the middle of revival at the

opportune moment, the devil would have exposed

those weaknesses and used them against me.

But instead, God stepped in with His grace to establish,

strengthen, and settle me through the purging process

of praying in tongues. I was even ready for some more

purging toward agape love when it was all over.

 

The truth is, I don’t mind the purging anymore because

of the degree of peace I have attained by yielding to the

Holy Ghost in this process over the years. Besides, I

know God wants to exalt me above all my messy trials.

 

It isn’t His fault if I have to remain in the fire until I can

see the flesh that still operates in my life. I thank God

for every one of my weaknesses that is exposed by the

turmoil around me.

I want the God of grace to step in and deal with those

weaknesses. I don’t want to just keep living with un

purged weaknesses, going through the same suffering

and the same kind of trials year after year because I’m

unaware that they even exist.

I don’t want to take my place in history as one of those

who failed. I want to clean myself up so God can send

revival!I’m too hungry for God to just sit in church, pay

my tithes, and warm a pew with the seat of my pants

every Sunday and Wednesday.

I desire His highest and best too much to spend the

week on the golf course and then step up to the pulpit

with an intellectual discourse that tickles people’s

fancy. Revival is raging in my spirit. I don’t want to

remain on neutral ground until the devil comes and

steals what I have, making me just a nominal preacher

one step away from not even preaching on prayer

anymore.

If fasting and praying in tongues will cause my

impurities to surface, so be it. If the progression to

power includes praying in tongues to edify me up above

a carnal, sense-dominated walk,then let’s get on with it.

If the more excellent way to attain God’s highest and

best is to seek after agape, then go ahead, God of grace,

purge everything out of me that keeps me from walking

in love!

If it takes letting me suffer until I can see the problem, I

don’t mind, because I want to be established,

strengthened, and settled. I want to experience even

greater waves of God’s glory!

However, I have decided that I’m not waiting around

for a test or trial to reveal my weaknesses. I found out

that praying divine secrets and mysteries in the Holy

Ghost causes the lit candle of my reborn human spirit

to burn brighter and brighter, illuminating all my dark

places that need to be purged.

If I yield to the Holy Ghost’s work in me, those

weaknesses will come out on their own with-out a

difficult trial. That is called growth and edification on

purpose, just because I want to!

Tongues Will Cease

So the goal is agape, and the means for attaining the

spiritual maturity to walk in agape is tongues for

personal edification.

But notice what Paul says in First Corinthians 13:8:

Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies,

they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall

cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish

away.

Whereas agape love is eternal, tongues will cease when

we leave this earth. Love will cross the barrier of death

and go on to Heaven with you.

But you won’t need to supernaturally speak in any of

the languages of this earth once you’re in Heaven. The

diversities of tongues will cease. The only language you

will speak there is the common tongue of Heaven. You

will be able to walk up to anyone you meet and hold a

conversation with them in perfect clarity.

I remember hearing Rev. Kenneth E. Hagin speak of a

visitation he once had from Jesus Himself.

Witnesses say that Brother Hagin just seemed to be

looking at something they couldn’t see, speaking in an

unknown language. He seemed to be having a

conversation with some-one, because he would speak in

tongues for a moment and then stop to listen as if

someone was answering him.Later those in attendance

at that meeting found out that Brother Hagin had had a

vision in which Jesus stood there and talked to him.

Brother Hagin would hear the unknown language Jesus

spoke as English in his own mind, and then he would

answer back to Jesus in tongues. The two were holding a

conversation in the language of Heaven.

So the time for gaining the benefits of praying in

tongues is now, not after you die and go to Heaven. God

has given you this gift to use in this life for your own

good. But this precious gift will do you no good unless

you let the Holy Spirit create His super-natural

language inside of you and then speak it out of your

mouth. You have to give yourself to praying in tongues

so the Holy Spirit can edify you, purge you, and build

you up on your most holy faith, keeping you in the

agape love of God.

God Can’t Pour Out His Glory On an Unpurged People

Why does God want to set us free from everything that

hinders and binds us in our lives? Of course, He sets us

free so that we ourselves can be blessed.

But also, God wants us to serve humanity. He wants us

to be free from sin so that we can bring the lost to Jesus,

motivated by the agape love of God. We have a Great

Commission to fulfill: And he [Jesus]said unto them, Go

ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every

creature (Mark 16:15).

God wants us to be full of wisdom and empty of sin so

we can offer people the truth in love.You see, God

wants revival on this earth. You don’t have to coax Him.

He isn’t sitting on His throne, saying “Oh, I rather enjoy

sitting on My throne and watching people go to hell. I

just don’t feel like revival. I have a headache and don’t

feel like a big move of My Spirit.”

No, God isn’t like that. He is constantly searching to and

fro for a people to whom He can prove Himself strong.

He wants so desperately to pour out His anointing on

people for the purpose of revival.

But God knows that as soon as He does, Satan is going to

come in with a “mop-up operation” that puts intense

pressure on those operating in God’s power. And those

who can’t stand against the devil’s attacks will wish

they had never been born!

So God pours out His glory in a measure, and that glory

saturates our being. But the only part that makes it to

productiveness is the part that isn’t eaten up by dead

limbs that haven’t been pruned out of our lives. That’s

why it is so crucial that we continually yield ourselves

to the purging work of the Holy Ghost — not just for our

sake, but for the sake of a lost and dying world.

Walk in the Spirit

In this book I have outlined the ability of the Holy Spirit

as He works on the inside of us to guard us against

deception and to help program our spirits with that

very special plan that God has set aside for us.

Sometimes I feel like a voice in the wilderness crying,

“Pray, please pray!” Long and hard I’ve been crying out,

for God has ordained me to preach on how to walk in

the Spirit and how not to fulfill the warrings and lusts

of the flesh.

As much as possible, I have been faithful to do so. God

desires to lead you out of a walk dominated by the flesh

into a walk of maturity and son ship. This is His

priority, and it is your option. You have to choose to

accept the leadership of the Holy Spirit. You have to

choose to walk out of a life dominated by the flesh and

into a life dominated by the Spirit.

As God taught me, I have taught you that one of the

major keys to this walk in the Spirit is the edification

that comes to a person who spends any amount of time

at all praying in the Holy Ghost.

So are you going to pray in tongues a little more than

you used to? A lot more? If you are,then watch out, my

friend, because you’re going to take your place in

history! You’re going to find God’s compassion. You’re

going to find His power. You’re going to find His plan.

The time is short, so don’t delay in your quest to unlock

the greatest mysteries of all time— the mind of God for

mankind, for your generation, and for your own

personal life!

UNTIL NEXT TIME;

Larry

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ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

 

 

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Agape Love by Willpower Alone?

 

We will never walk in agape love to the fullness that

God intends by the strength of our own willpower. For

instance, have you ever noticed that people can only be

nice for so long to a person who is getting on their

nerves before their will snaps? Then they say, “Get out!

Get out of my house!” They stretched their will as thin

as they could stretch it — and when it broke, there went

their ability to act nice!

 

It’s easy to fantasize about agape. We can get this

faraway look in our eyes and quote,“Though I give my

body to be burned and give away all my goods to feed

the poor, but have not love….” But there is a deadly,

knock-down-drag-out fight for our lives out there in the

world, where people try to destroy other people and the

devil is out to destroy everyone. The prospect of

walking in agape love doesn’t look as nice and easy out

there as it does in church while we are under the

anointing.

Do you want to be just like Jesus? You may say, “Oh, yes,

I want to raise the dead, be the head of a big

organization, and become the best preacher in the

world. Oh, yes, I want to be just like Jesus.”

Okay, then, Jesus says to owe no man anything but to

love him (Rom. 13:8).

What does that mean? Well, it doesn’t matter how many

payments I make on my debt of love to you, I can never

pay that debt in full. You could slap me on the cheek,

and I would turn the other cheek. You could

despitefully use me, and I would pray for you. You

could hate me,and I would do good for you.

Those are all descriptions of agape. No matter how

many times you “do me ugly” and I in turn make

another payment of love to you, agape will keep me in

your debt.

Another thing about Jesus — He seeks not His own. And

He says that if a man sues you for your car, you are to

go fill it up with gas, polish it, and get it tuned. Then tell

the man, “I am giving this to you in the Name of Jesus. I

want you to know that you didn’t take it from me,

because the only thing that is taken from me is what

God allows. And if He allows it, I sow it. I’m sowing this

car to you, so I polished it, tuned it, and filled it up with

gas. The devil is stealing nothing from me.”

It is nice to admire someone who walks in enough

agape love to do something like that. But how do you

get to that place in your spiritual walk?

You might as well face it — you aren’t going to make it

to agape unless you find some way to let the Holy Ghost

purge you of anything that is contrary to agape love in

your life. If I were you, I would take His way!

The Progression to Agape

We have seen that in First Corinthians 12:28, the

government of God begins with the office of the mighty

apostle, the first operation, and ends with the

diversities of tongues, the eight hand final operation of

God. Then in First Corinthians 13:1-3, Paul reverses the

order.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels,

and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or

a tinkling cymbal.

And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand

all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all

faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not

charity, I am nothing.

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and

though I give my body to be burned, and have not

charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Starting with the eighth operation of diversities of

tongues, Paul builds us through six phases all the way

through mountain-moving faith and ultimate giving to

agape love.

So because the subject of agape love is so dominant in

First Corinthians 13, we have missed the sequence or

the step-by-step progression that would eventually

build us up through six levels of spiritual maturity and

deliver us to agape love.

At this point, you may be saying, “I’d sure like to see

that reversed order you’re talking about, Brother

Roberson.” Well, let’s take the first three verses of First

Corinthians 13 phrase by phrase and find out what Paul

was really saying. As we do, we’ll discover the divine

progression to agape love.

Six Steps to Spiritual Maturity

There are six distinct levels of spiritual maturity listed

in these first three verses that the Holy Spirit will work

in the life of any believer who will spend time praying

in the Holy Ghost.

Level One: Let’s look at verse 1 again:

Though I SPEAK WITH THE TONGUES OF MEN AND OF

ANGELS, and have not charity, I am become as

sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

When we received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and

began to speak with tongues, it automatically qualified

us for the first level of spiritual maturity, the unlimited

accessibility to tongues.

The term “tongues of men” refers to the supernatural

empowerment of the Holy Spirit to preach in any

language on the face of the earth of which we have no

previous knowledge.“Tongues of angels” is talking

about the language used in Heaven. I suspect that most

of the time we are speaking the language of angels

when we pray in tongues to edify ourselves and to pray

out the mysteries of God’s plan for our lives.

This verse isn’t discrediting tongues for the sake of

love. In essence it is saying this: Even though I am

baptized in the Holy Spirit and have the ability to speak

with other tongues, it will do me no good unless I begin

to employ that gift to build myself up on my most holy

faith, praying in the Holy Ghost and keeping myself in

the love of God (Jude 20,21).

There are multitudes of church congregations who

have been baptized in the Holy Spirit and speak with

tongues, yet the people are full of strife and

unforgiveness. And I have personally known so-called

Spirit-filled people who would destroy a person at the

drop of a hat.

So a person can speak with tongues, but those tongues

will not profit him unless he yields to the Holy Spirit’s

purging work that will deliver him to agape. It is

impossible to pray in tongues for extended periods of

time and not undergo change.

Level Two:Then in verse 2, it says this:

And though I have THE GIFT OF PROPHECY,and

UNDERSTAND ALL MYSTERIES, and ALL KNOWLEDGE;

and though I have ALL FAITH, SO THAT I COULD

REMOVE MOUNTAINS, and have not charity, I am

nothing.

Somehow praying in tongues produces in us the second

level of maturity, which is the use of the gift of

prophecy.

As you pray out the mysteries of Christ in your

spirit,God begins to answer them. Suddenly the Holy

Spirit latches on to one of those mysteries, pulls it out

of your spirit, and reveals it to your intellect so you can

release it through prophecy.

Level Three: As we continue to pray in tongues, we will

attain the third level of spiritual maturity through the

understanding of divine secrets or mysteries.

Level Four: The revelation of these mysteries will come

alive and begin to operate in our spirit, producing in us

the understanding and accumulation of knowledge, the

fourth level of spiritual maturity.

Somehow, then, as the mysteries of Christ are revealed

to me — the mystery of healing, the mystery of

righteousness, the mystery of love — I begin to erect

pillars in my spirit. As I pray mysteries up before the

Father, God answers those prayers by a supernatural

imparting of divine insight. Every time the Holy Spirit

causes me to understand a mystery, one more pillar of

that superstructure is erected.

One pillar is erected by a revelation of righteousness,

another by a revelation of peace, and still another by a

revelation of agape love. Finally, the entire edifice is

framed through praying mysteries in the Holy Ghost.

It is a combination of all these divine secrets revealed

to my spirit that will eventually construct an entire

library of knowledge, an edifice full of the revelation

knowledge of Jesus on the inside of my spirit. And

whenever I want to, I can reach in and pull out any

volume that I need!

Level Five: So the mysteries are prayed in pillars, but

the building constructed is knowledge. It is the

understanding of all these mysteries filling your inner

library of knowledge that produces the capacity for

mountain-moving faith in your heart as you are

transformed by the Word of God. This is the fifth level

of spiritual maturity.

It is the combination of praying in the Holy Ghost and

the meditation of God’s Word that produces the kind of

faith that moves mountains. Why? Because faith comes

by hearing the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit is the

One giving divine insight into the Word through the

supernatural language of tongues.

At this level, Jesus said that nothing shall be impossible

to you!

Level Six: First Corinthians 13:3 gives us the sixth level

of maturity:

And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and

though I give my body to be burned, and have not

charity, it profiteth me nothing.

Somehow our praying in tongues will help produce in

us the capacity for agape giving.

I always wondered how a person could bestow all their

goods to feed the poor and give their body to be burned,

yet still not have the agape kind of love. Then the Holy

Spirit revealed the answer to me.

Some Christians live off the self-exaltation that comes

from putting their giving on display.They even delight

in extreme sacrifices — especially the kind that puts

their humility on public display to be admired by men.

Some have even made the ultimate sacrifice of losing

their lives for the wrong reasons.

I finally began to understand that sometimes it takes a

lot more to stay and labor your entire life for the

Gospel’s sake than it does to die and go home to be with

the Lord. Agape love would rather be a living sacrifice

than a dead martyr.

I cringe inside when I think of how many times I have

given into an offering because of the lust of my flesh. It

wasn’t the preacher’s fault. I was the one who saw the

Cadillac in my mind and gave him my dollar to make

sure I would get it. But the Bible says that if I don’t give

out of agape love, it simply will profit me nothing.

However, when agape love becomes the basis for our

giving, God cannot and will not let us down, for love

never fails

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JUST INTERESTING THAT THIS IS PART 71 OF THIS SERIES AND I WILL TURN 71 IN A FEW DAYS.

UNTIL NEXT TIME;

Larry

 

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ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

 

 

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The Purging Before the Power

 

With great intensity I sought God for years for the gifts

that would equip me for my call. I would pray, “Oh,

Lord, please use me in Your power.

I’ll fast and pray — I’ll do anything I have to do so You

can move through me in Your power!” You see, since

the day I was born again, God’s call has raged on the

inside of me. Every time I get lost in the Holy Ghost

while I am in prayer, I see the Spirit of God moving in

revival. I see people running to the altar to be born

again and great miracles happening everywhere, such

as missing limbs growing out and eyes popping into

empty eye sockets.

This vision follows me; whenever I lapse into the Spirit,

I see it. It is a driving force. And I have determined that

I will keep yielding myself to the Holy Spirit until one

day I see with my own eyes the Presence of God move in

my life and ministry with magnificent glory beyond my

imagination.

So for years I sought God earnestly — begging, fasting,

and praying for an anointing powerful enough to cause

great revival. But I can testify now that had He

delivered to me what I was pressing Him for, it would

have destroyed me. There were faults and character

flaws that still had to be purged. If God had given me

the power before the purging, my life and ministry

would have eventually been destroyed.

This was actually the case for many men of God in the

past. They sought God and His power with just such

intensity, but then hidden weaknesses began to surface

as they yielded to the deceiving strategies of the enemy.

For instance, Alexander Dowie was so greatly used in

the miracle power of God at the turn of the century that

he was able to form an entire city called Zion outside of

Chicago with ten thousand of his followers. God’s power

operating through Dowie’s ministry caused raging

revival. But eventually Dowie began to believe that he

was the Elijah to come. That deception led to the

downfall of his ministry.

Learning To Hate Whatever Hinders

So instead of immediately answering my intense,

fervent prayers for an anointing that would cause

revival, God told me to pursue conforming myself to

agape love with that same intensity and fervency. He

assured me that as I pursued love, I would also be

pursuing His power in a more excellent way.

So I began to pursue agape love, and I learned to hate

those things that were wrong in my life with more

fervency than I had ever hated them before. It was a

godly anger that preceded their purging.

You see, when you get to the place where you hate with

an intensity those faults you know are keeping you

from a close walk with God, you will finally do

something about it.

So in pursuit of the most excellent way, I made it my

quest to conform to the agape kind of love. But my

efforts seemed to achieve the opposite results. The

more I learned about love, the more my knowledge

magnified the things that were wrong in my life. It left

me in a hopeless state, believing that I was the most

miserable of creatures who would never be able to

walk in the level of agape outlined in First Corinthians

13.

 

I didn’t understand that the Holy Spirit was bringing to

the surface for purging anything that the devil could

use to destroy me in my pursuit of agape. It was all a

part of the process to help me become yielded enough

to God for the full equipping of the office He has called

me to. I also didn’t know about the progression to

power outlined in this same chapter that would deliver

me to the agape love I was pursuing.

Agape Isn’t Learned Overnight

You see, all of us preachers love to preach on this

thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians.We love to

major on this agape kind of love.

Agape love doesn’t behave itself seemingly. It seeks not

its own, asking no recompense or reward for services

rendered. It isn’t given based on the reaction of the

other person. It isn’t easily provoked. It thinks no evil.

It rejoices not in iniquity but rejoices in the truth. It

bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,

endures all things.

This love never fails; you will take it to Heaven with

you. Tongues will cease. Prophecies will cease.

Knowledge will vanish away. You won’t need any of

these. But you will cross that heavenly border and

enter the Presence of God with agape.

Oh, yes, we preachers love to talk about agape love. We

break down the word in the Greek; we paint a picture

of this perfect Christian who is not easily provoked.

Then the next day we counsel someone, “Oh, yes, you

have your rights. Sue them!” God help us! We get so

engrossed in the subject of love in First Corinthians 13

that we miss the sequence of power that delivers us

there!

We think that we can preach on agape love one day, and

the next day everyone who heard the message is going

to be perfect and nice to each other. They won’t act ugly

anymore. There won’t be any more criticizing,

backbiting, throwing of fits, or stomping out of the

room in a temper tantrum.

We tell the people, “You shouldn’t do that sort of thing,”

and then assume that everyone will just automatically

stop. Why do we assume that? It seems like most of us

preachers were born yesterday!

When you start understanding all that agape love

encompasses, you realize that most Christians don’t

walk in this kind of love on a daily basis. Most never

will. That kind of love is difficult to conform to if you

have even an ounce of flesh that hasn’t been mortified.

So it is one thing to preach about this agape and say

that once we conform to it, we will never fail. But it is

another thing to understand the process by which we

can conform to that kind of love.

This process is what we have missed. It is a progression

through the edification of tongues that leads us to a

place in the Spirit where we are finally strong enough

to yield totally to agape love.

UNTIL NEXT TIME;

Larry

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ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

 

 

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PERFECT LOVE CAST OUT FEAR

 

As you clothe yourself with your new man by giving

yourself to the Word and to prayer, the Holy Spirit

through your spirit edifies, purges, and develops your

character until everything you say, think, or do is

governed by agape. Let’s look at First John 4:17,18 to

learn more about this powerful force.

Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have

boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so

are we in this world.

There is no fear in love; but PERFECT LOVE CASTETH

OUT FEAR: BECAUSE FEAR HATH TORMENT. He that

feareth is not made perfect in love.

That word “herein” points us to the next verse, which

tells us how we will know when love is being perfected

in us. Herein is God’s love perfected in us: Perfect love

casts out fear, for fear has torment. So when we find

ourselves being purged from torment and fear, then

love is being perfected in us.

 

For instance, if you decided to sue me, how could I

extend mercy to you if I had fear and torment about the

outcome of the situation? But when love has been

perfected in me, I know I can’t lose. Oh, you may take

everything I possess at the time, but Luke 6:38 says that

my Father is going to restore it all back to me, pressed

down, shaken together, and running over.He’ll give me

more than I had before!

So what is the sign that I am drawing nigh unto God and

approaching agape love? It is this: Along the way, I am

shedding torment and fear as I enter into rest and

refreshing.

I used to think love was a feeling, but it isn’t a feeling. I

used to think love was an attitude that would help me

survive through dealing with the unlovable. But it isn’t

an attitude either.

Encompassed within agape is an abiding presence of

peace. As you grow close to God and His love is

perfected in you, that peace begins to dominate as fear

and torment lose their hold.That is the first sign that

you are being purged from phileo to agape.

As a minister, I wish I could open up your heart and

just put agape in you in such strength that you would

forever lose all the torment and fear that has plagued

your life. I understand the process by which you can

attain that goal, but all I can do is teach you about it.

I can hammer it into your intellect. As much as

possible, I can teach with the anointing of God straight

to your spirit. But I can’t make that process toward

perfect love take place in your life.

However, if I can talk you into giving yourself to

praying in the Holy Ghost, then you will cause that

process to begin in your own life. You will start to edify

and build yourself up in your inner man through the

power of the Holy Spirit.

Then the Holy Spirit will begin the mortification

process by building up your inner man to purge all

those insecurities, intimidation’s, carnalities, and lusts

that have hindered your life.This is how God’s love is

perfected in you. As the Holy Spirit edifies your new

nature, torment and fear begin to fall off you and you

draw close to agape.

Covet Earnestly Agape Love

To discover more about the role of praying in tongues

in moving us toward a fuller revelation of agape love in

our lives, let’s take a look at First Corinthians 13, the

great “love chapter” of the Bible.

First, let’s look at this chapter in context to the chapters

that surround it. First Corinthians12 is a magnificent

chapter dealing with the eradication of ignorance

concerning the spiritual gifts, operations, and

government of God. Chapter 14 is a most phenomenal

explanation of spiritual forces as pertains to praying in

tongues.

So Paul goes from a discussion of the government of

God to an explanation of the operation of the Spirit and

of tongues. Then he nestles First Corinthians 13 in

between these two chapters. But first, he makes a

profound statement:

But COVET EARNESTLY the best gifts: and yet shew I

unto you A MORE EXCELLENT WAY.— 1 Corinthians

12:31

Paul was saying in essence, “I want to show you a more

excellent way. If you want to save yourself a lot of

trouble, then you need to covet this kind of agape love

with everything in you the same way you covet the best

gifts.”

Just how important is it to pursue agape love? Paul

makes this statement in First Corinthians 13:13:

And now abideth faith, hope, charity [agape love],

these three; but THE GREATEST OF THESE IS CHARITY.

If I had been the one to choose, I probably would have

said that faith is the greatest thing, followed by hope.

Hope encompasses the time you spend feeding yourself

with God’s Word,which causes your faith to manifest.

But Paul says, “Greater than faith and greater than

hope is self-denying agape.” That means there is

nothing more important in your life to covet and

earnestly desire than agape love.

The word “covet” in this verse is just as strong in

meaning as it is in the Ten Commandments, where it

says, “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife” (Exod.

20:17). When this word is used as an emotional

negative, it means a lust so powerful that it consumes a

man, causing him to relentlessly pursue what he covets

until it takes over his entire character.

 

But when “covet” is used in a godly sense, it means

pursuing something God wants you to have with a

heartfelt hunger until you apprehend it.

 

I never had a problem with coveting earnestly the best

gifts. I have fasted, I have prayed— I have done

everything I knew to do in order to be qualified for God

to use me.

So it came as a shock to me when God spoke to my

spirit, saying, “Go ahead and lust after My gifts with

everything that is in you. But I’m going to show you a

more excellent way to covet after the best gifts.”

I said, “God, You have the audacity to say that after I

have spent my life in fasting and praying and coveting

after Your best and highest, You are going to show me a

more excellent way?” The answer to that was yes, God

did have the audacity, and yes, He was going to show

me a more excellent way!

In Paul’s original epistle to the Corinthians, there was

no division between chapters 12 and 13. So right after

Paul’s statement about coveting the best gifts and

showing the Corinthians a more excellent way, he goes

on to introduce the subject of love: Though I speak with

tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity… (1

Cor. 13:1).

In other words, the most excellent way to covet

earnestly the best gifts is to go after agape with that

same intensity. When you do, you will be pursuing and

coveting the best gifts God has for you in the most

powerful manner possible.

What are the “best gifts”? Well, you are called to fill one

of the eight operations of God. For you, the best gifts

are those that qualify you for the office or operation

you are called to fulfill.

 

Until next time

LARRY

 

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ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

 

 

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The Divine Progression To Agape Love

 

I consider it the utmost honor to spend an hour in God’s

Presence with the third Person of the Godhead as He

creates a supernatural language on the inside of my

spirit. Why? Because with every syllable I speak in that

language, the Holy Spirit is working a miraculous trans-

formation within me.

You see, years ago I thought tongues for personal

edification had to do strictly with speaking mysteries

and divine secrets and building myself up with

revelation knowledge. Only later did I find out that it

has just as much to do with purging me so I can learn to

walk in agape love — the kind of love that seeks not its

own and denies itself on behalf of others.

Agape vs. Phileo Love

I have no higher goal in life than to learn how to walk

in this God-kind of love, so I want to know more about

it. I know a lot about “phileo” love, but I want to know

about agape.

I have yoked myself to Jesus, whom John revealed when

he said, “God is love” (1 John4:16). Jesus doesn’t just

love us; He is Love. He is incapable of anything else but

love. That’s why we haven’t understood Him the way we

should — because we haven’t understood agape love.

We usually don’t have trouble with phileo love. Phileo

can be a strong love, but it has its own interests at

stake, as well as those of the one loved. It’s more of a

conditional love that says, “I can love you if somehow

you bring me pleasure” or “I will love you, but I want

something back from you.”

So most of us know how to love people with phileo love.

But we haven’t done very well at walking in agape.

Agape is a self-denying love. Its total focus is the

interests and welfare of the beloved.

Phileo love may send me to war because I love my

country. I may even give my body to be burned for the

hope of a better life for my children. I will sacrifice my

life on that altar.

But if agape love goes to war, it is with higher motives. I

may still sacrifice my life so my children can live free

from threat of harm. But at the same time I have the

enemy soldier on my heart. My prayer is that the war

would cease and that my enemy would be born again.

Most marriages are based on phileo, not agape. The

spouses love each other for what they can receive from

each other. If marriages were always based on God’s

selfless, agape kind of love, there would be no more

divorces.

Agape Love Is Merciful

Agape love says, “Be merciful just as your Heavenly

Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). How merciful is our

Heavenly Father? Well, you and I were lost and headed

for hell. We had nothing to bargain with. We had

absolutely no right to approach God. We were not

capable of bridging the gap on our own.

But God had mercy on you and me. We didn’t deserve

and couldn’t earn His mercy; we had no way to

approach an infallible God. But He approached us in

His mercy. He crossed that void with Jesus’ blood.

So how do you obey Jesus’ command to be merciful

even as the Father is merciful? Jesus provided the

guidelines in Luke 6:27-38.

When someone sues you for your coat, you give him the cloak you are wearing. When he slaps you on the cheek, you turn the other cheek. When he takes away your goods, you give him more than he asked for. When he despitefully uses you, you pray for him and forgive him. When he hates you, you keep walking in love.

Why? Because you are having mercy on him. You are

bridging the gap with the blood of Jesus when the

person doesn’t deserve it. That is agape!

The result of walking in this agape kind of love is

revealed in Luke 6:38:

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same mea-sure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

Jesus was saying this: “If you will be children of the

Most High, who is merciful even to the evil and the un-

thankful, and give agape love to others, then My Father

will restore what ever you may have lost — pressed

down, shaken together, and running over. While the

thief is taking your money out the back door because

you extended mercy, My Father will march in the front

door with agape and restore to overflowing all that you

lost!” That’s why agape cannot fail(1 Cor. 13:8)!

However, walking in agape love is easier said than

done. For most of us, if someone came against us with a

lawsuit, our first reaction would be, “Oh yeah? Well, go

ahead and sue me— but you’ll know that you have been

to court, buddy!”

So how do we ever attain that place of agape where we

are merciful just as the Father is merciful? The

Scriptures teach us that praying in tongues is a major

key to help purge us as we journey through a

progression of steps toward the agape kind of love.

Feeding the Seed of Agape Through Prayer

Even though God has planted the nature and force of

agape love in your spirit, it may be so repressed and so

dominated by your soulish emotions that you hardly

know it exists inside of you. But when you pray in

tongues, you bypass the operation of the physical soul

and throw a lifeline to your spirit.

Soon the edification process starts feeding that seed of

agape in your heart, causing it to germinate and grow.

The force of love in your spirit grows bigger and bigger

until one day, it dominates the emotions of the soul

instead of the other way around. This is called taking

off the old man and putting on the new.

That ye put off concerning the former conversation the

old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful

lusts;And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And

that ye put on the new man, which after God is created

in righteousness and true holiness.Eph. 4:22-24

until next time

Larry

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ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

 

 

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Assimilating the Word Into the Soul

 

 

Your soul was created to assimilate. For example, if you

moved to a country where people spoke a language you

didn’t know, you would begin to assimilate that

language just by being in constant contact with its use.

Your entire soul would kick in to cause you to learn that

language automatically. You wouldn’t have to

deliberately sit down with a tape that told you to say

“Thank you” or “How are you” in that language over

and over until you finally memorized it.

In the same way, you can approach God’s Word in such

a manner that your soul — your intellect, will, and

emotions — automatically assimilates it and then

begins the process of transforming you according to its

truth.

For example, some men in my church who are called to

helps asked me what books of the Bible they should

meditate on in order to excel in their particular calling.

As businessmen, one of their main concerns was that

they could learn to possess money without money

possessing them.

So I told them, “Take the Book of Proverbs and read it

fifty times. Read it deliberately and precisely,

acknowledging what is in each verse. You may not

understand what the verse means, but at least

understand what it says.

“If you run across a word you don’t know, look it up in a

dictionary so that the next time you see it, you’ll know

what it means. But don’t do any studies or cross

referencing. Just read the Book of Proverbs fifty times.”

Why did I instruct those men to do that? Because by the

time they read Proverbs at least fifty times, they would

have assimilated the entire book into their soul!

Perhaps there are three verses — one in chapter 2, one

in chapter 5, and one in chapter 9— that will give them

understanding of a verse in chapter 14. But it won’t

come together for them until they’ve read the book fifty

times and assimilated it into their soul.

You see, when you read a book of the Bible over and

over, you set yourself up for day-and-night meditation.

You are feeding your spirit the raw material that the

Holy Ghost needs to illuminate the entire book for you!

Eventually the central theme will be born in you. Then

all satellite verses will be pulled in, along with the

understanding of how they relate to each other.

Understanding how verses relate to one another in a

passage of Scripture is an important part of the

meditation process. One of the first things the Lord

taught me regarding meditation was never to take a

verse out of context.

If there is a verse I’m trying to understand, the Holy

Spirit alerts me to find where the subject of the verse

begins and ends and then to read over that passage

many times. In this way,I assist Him in my meditations.

The assimilation process will happen automatically,

even when you go to sleep. For instance, suppose you

read First John one hundred times. (By the way, that’s a

good beginning assignment for offering your soul for

meditation. Anything in you that doesn’t love people

will go to war against that book!) Then suppose that

soon afterward, someone wronged you in someway, and

you made a mountain of forgiveness out of a molehill of

offense.

The mind of God that you assimilated from First John

will help you sort out what is and what is not important

while you sleep. It will magnify the truth you

assimilated regarding God’s love and level that

mountain of forgiveness.

That’s what I mean by day-and-night meditation. The

assimilation process will happen automatically, just as

it does when learning a new language in a country

where everyone speaks that language but you.

Your soul was designed to transform you to whatever

you subject it to the most. If it’s anew language that

everyone is speaking but you, you will automatically

begin to learn it. And if you’re giving yourself to

praying in the Holy Ghost and to the Word — reading it,

speaking it, rolling it over and over in your mind —

then your spirit man will automatically begin to be

illuminated by the revelation knowledge of God’s truth!

These guidelines I’ve given you for praying in the Spirit

are by no means exhaustive. They are just signposts

pointing the way to a more effective prayer life.

Remember, your key to unlock divine mysteries is

praying in tongues, your destination is God’s perfect

will for your life, and your Helper throughout the

journey is the Holy Spirit living within.

 

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Continue seeking My face so you can go from death to

death [of the fleshly nature]and from glory to glory.You

will see wonderful, wonderful things take place. Not

only will you be in the planting, but you will also be in

the harvest. For I have spoken, and it shall be so. So I

give you the keys, and I call. Come. Come. Come.Come,

saith the Spirit of Grace. (word given thru Dave)

 

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UNTIL NEXT TIME

Larry

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ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

 

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Confession:

The Highest Form of Meditation

God created you and me with a capacity not only to

believe, but to conform to whatever it is that we are

believing and continually subjecting ourselves to THE

MOST. Unfortunately, this ability can operate in us for

the bad as well as for the good.

That’s why God gave Joshua this instruction when

Joshua was about to lead the children of Israel into the

Promised Land:

This book of the law SHALL NOT DEPART OUT OF THY

MOUTH; but thou shalt MEDITATE THEREIN DAY AND

NIGHT, that thou mayest observe to do according to all

that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy

way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good

success.— Joshua 1:8

What an incredible set of instructions! First of all, God

said, “Don’t let the Word of God depart out of your

mouth.” That means there should never be a time when

the Word in your mouth is replaced by anything else.

When you let the Word depart from your mouth, you

set yourself in agreement with the circumstances that

are arrayed against you.

But if you continue to confess the Word, you are

operating in the covenant between you and God against

the adverse circumstance. And as you continually

subject yourself to the Word by confessing it over and

over, you are applying one of the highest forms of

meditation.

Circumstances are no respecters of persons. They will

come at you day and night. But when you stand face to

face with those situations that seem impossible to

overcome and keep confessing God’s promises over and

over, you are meditating day and night. Through

meditation,you are giving the Word of God the

opportunity to transform you and your thinking so you

can actually become that victorious person you are

meant to be.

You will eventually conform to what you continually

subject yourself to. That’s why God told Joshua to let

not the Word depart from his mouth and to meditate

day and night; He wanted Joshua to continually be

subjected to the Word.

Paint a Picture of Your Answer

Due to our busy schedules, most of us cannot read,

study, or memorize the Word day and night. But we can

meditate on the Word day and night. Reading, studying,

and memorizing can only assist meditation; they do not

replace it.

You can actually take a journey into a whole new set of

circumstances in your spirit and mind as you meditate

day and night on what God has said about you and your

problem. Soon you won’t be conforming to the problem

anymore. Instead, your faith, your thoughts, and your

attitude will leave the problem behind to embark on a

journey into God where every promise is yea and Amen

(2 Cor. 1:20).

You can find a place in God where your mouth has

described the victory so many times that it has painted

a picture on the inside of your spirit. That picture of

victory becomes so powerful, it replaces anything and

everything that spells defeat.

So whenever you face a problem or are about to charge

ahead to conquer something for the Kingdom of God,

start hearing and reading scriptures that address your

particular problem.Keep on doing that until there is a

huge reservoir of the Word on the inside of you.

Then meditate on those scriptures day and night, saying

them over and over. Roll them over and over in your

mind until the picture the Word paints in your heart

becomes stronger than the picture the obstacle paints

in your mind.

Pull the Word up out of your spirit and roll it over and

over in your mind while you are driving, cleaning

house, or working on your job. Whenever you can,

describe your victory out loud.Use your words to paint

pictures of your victory. Then God will do for you what

He promised Joshua: “For then you will make your way

prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

The Role of Meditation In Overcoming My Failure

I can attest to the truth of this vital principle from my

own personal experience. For example, I will never

forget the first time I tried to preach. It was a

Wednesday night service in a small Holiness church in

Oregon. Besides my wife Rosalie, there were only three

or four people present.

 

I was sure I could do it. Many times those same four

people had sat with my wife and me in coffee shops,

talking about Jesus. I would get so carried away

preaching and pounding on the table that I’d almost

spill our coffee!

But now as I stood up in church in front of those same

four people to deliver the Word in an official capacity,

something happened! I guess it was the fear of being

put in a position where I felt as if I had to produce.

Even in high school, I’d choose to take a lower grade in

English rather than to give an oral report. The blood

would drain out of my face; I’d turn white and get dizzy

just at the thought of doing it.

Yet here I was, standing behind a pulpit with an entire

page full of notes and everyone looking at me. Rosalie

said I turned white as I stood there, trying to gather my

courage to begin. Then the door suddenly opened, and

three more people came in and sat down. That did it!

They were perfect strangers!

I almost passed out as I leaned forward, gripping the

pulpit for support. I can still remember watching my

knuckles turn white as I stared down at them. I was

afraid to look at the people.

Finally, I pulled myself together enough to read my text

— but then my mind went completely blank! Earlier

that day I had thought of a hundred things to say, but

my mental “slate”had been wiped clean by panic.

So, as an emergency measure, I picked up my notes and

began to read. But the situation only grew worse. By the

time I had finished reading my notes, I had absolutely

nothing left to say. I was paralyzed with fear!

I looked sheepishly toward my pastor for help, so she

walked up to the pulpit to rescue me.I hurt so bad

inside I wanted to cry. It was a long walk back to my

chair. I sat down just in time to hear the pastor

apologize to the people, saying, “I’m sorry, folks. He told

me he was called to preach…”

The entire ordeal had lasted about seven minutes. That

night I buried my face in my pillow and cried until

some of the hurt was gone. It was a long time before I

stood behind a pulpit to preach again — almost two

years!

It seemed as though that night had confirmed

everything I had already known. I just didn’t have what

it took to be a preacher. My grandpa’s words rang in my

ears: “You’re never going to amount to anything!”

After being devastated by my first attempt at

preaching, I knew there was a mountain of bad

programming and poor images to overcome. But, glory

to God, in the months that followed,something

happened to break that deadly pattern. I learned about

the importance of meditating on God’s Word!

Two years later, I summoned the courage to make my

second attempt at preaching. But something was very

different this time.

Even though I hadn’t physically stood before a crowd

for any reason for those two years,through meditation I

had stood before crowds and preached hundreds of

times. I would close my eyes and see myself preaching. I

could even hear myself preach the message over and

over again in my spirit. I was painting a picture of

victory on the inside of me.

You see, I meditated on verses that described the image

of truth that I needed to conform to — verses such as I

can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth

me (Phil.4:13) and …greater is He that is in you, than he

that is in the world (1 John 4:4). I kept meditating on

those verses until they actually changed the way I saw

myself!

It was incredible. When the moment came, it was

though I had preached hundreds of times. I was amazed

at how easy it was to conform to the image that had

been created in my spirit through meditation.That’s

what makes meditation so powerful: It replaces the

problem with the Word and the fear of failure with

faith in every area of your life.

 

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Larry now, I can attest to this message 100 % because I practiced preaching what God had given me to share so many times in the truck that I tell people I am not bringing a message, I AM THE MESSAGE.

So when the time did come to speak publicly in a church setting, everything just flowed out like a river, because that’s who I was now. This is so powerful in transforming lives.

UNTIL NEXT TIME: LARRY

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ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

 

 

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The Benefits of Meditation on the Word

 

Meditation on God’s Word is one of the most important

guidelines I could give you for unlocking divine

mysteries through praying in the Holy Ghost. For more

than a quarter of a century, I have endeavored to pray

in tongues just as much as possible in my own walk

with the Lord, and I have reaped rich rewards. And

some of the greatest benefits I’ve experienced have

come from meditating on the Word as I pray.

What is meditation? Meditation is the process of

assimilating God’s Word into your soul and spirit. As

you meditate on the Word of God, the Holy Spirit takes

God’s counsel in the form of the Word and reconstructs

it in your spirit in such a way that it becomes your

insight, wisdom, and counsel.

Meditation can take you from simply acknowledging

that God’s Word is true to having the Word en-grafted

into your spirit. In other words, the Word not only

becomes a part of you, but as it becomes implanted in

your heart, you become a part of it!

 

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Meditation on the Word And Praying in Tongues

 

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I gave you some practical guidelines about what to do if

you only have three hours to spend with the Lord. But

that doesn’t negate the fact that the more you pray in

tongues, the more clear and definite the divine channel

becomes through which God communicates with you.

It is to your eternal benefit that you pray much in the

Holy Ghost, building yourself up on your most holy

faith.

As you pray in tongues, the Teacher of your new nature

uses the supernatural language He brought all the way

from Heaven to begin an illumination process inside of

you. Within that language resides not only the

mysteries of God’s plan for your life, but the

understanding of all Scripture.

Therefore, the Holy Spirit lives in hope of the day that

you’ll give yourself over to the meditation of God’s

Word. When you do, you make His ministry of

illumination so much simpler.

I consider it to be a blessing that my mind is unfruitful

while I spend three or four hours praying in tongues.

Why? Because I’ve learned to employ my mind with

God’s Word while my spirit is praying. It has become

automatic for me: When I sit down to pray in tongues, I

pickup my Bible and start reading.

My favorite practice is to take a book like Galatians,

Ephesians, or Philippians and just read that book over

and over again while I pray in tongues for hours. Often

I sit in a chair or lie on the floor and pray an hour or

two. Then I set my open Bible in a convenient place and

start walking around the room praying.

I pray for a while, my spirit listening in case the Holy

Spirit says something through that channel of

communication. Then I go back to the Bible and read

the entire book through again,still praying in tongues.

I’m glad that my mind and my spirit can receive from

God at the same time. The Holy Spirit takes all the

accumulated knowledge that I’ve deposited into my

mind through reading something in the Bible over and

over, and He uses it for the day-and-night meditation

process.This is where much of the revelation

knowledge I receive originates.

 

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Meditating on the Word In the Early Church

 

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Meditating on the Word while praying isn’t something

new or unique to me. Think back to the early apostles.

In Acts 2, the apostles were filled with the Holy Spirit

on the Day of Pentecost. Then in Acts 6, they faced a

problem regarding the fair administration of food

among the believers.

The apostles said, “Look, it isn’t right that we are

distracted from the Word of God to serve tables. Let’s

appoint some men who are highly esteemed among you

for this job so that we may give ourselves continually to

the Word of God and to prayer” (Acts 6:2-4).

Now, what part of the Word did the apostles give

themselves to? All of the Old Testament promises.

Remember, that’s all the Word they had at that time.

They couldn’t open a Bible and have the entire

foundation of the Church laid out before them on their

lap like you can!

So the apostles gave themselves continually to all the

Old Testament promises while at the same time giving

themselves to prayer. What kind of prayer would the

apostles be talking about? Well, what experience was

freshest in their minds? They had just received the

promise of the Father — the baptism in the Holy Ghost

with the evidence of speaking in tongues. So they were

praying in that new language the Holy Spirit had given

them!

The apostles prayed in tongues continually while

meditating on the promises of the Old Covenant. This

practice helped establish the foundation of the Church,

because God was able to bring forth the mysteries of

Christ.

We can also see the principle of meditating on the Word

while praying in the Spirit in the life of the Apostle

Paul. Remember, except for Jesus, Paul received more

revelation knowledge than any other man since Moses.

We already know one of his keys to receiving that

revelation knowledge: After he was filled with the Holy

Ghost, he made the statement that he prayed in tongues

more than anyone (1Cor. 14:18). But meditation on

God’s Word was another important key.

You see, Paul said he was a Pharisee, a “Hebrew of

Hebrews” (Phil. 3:5). That means he began to memorize

the Old Testament scriptures for seven hours a day

beginning at the age of three.

I believe that all of the Old Testament scripture stored

inside Paul, combined with his praying in tongues

“more than ye all,” were crucial in enabling Paul to

receive so much revelation knowledge for the

foundation of the Church. That revelation knowledge

brought the Old Covenant together with the New

Covenant.

As far as I can ascertain, Paul was the only apostle who

thoroughly understood the relationship between the

Law and our covenant with God through Jesus Christ —

the law of the Spirit of life: For the law of the Spirit of

life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of

sin and death(Rom. 8:2). Today that understanding

seems common place, but in Paul’s day, it was unheard

of. And two keys that enabled Paul to receive such a

depth of revelation knowledge was praying in tongues

and meditating on the Old Testament scriptures.

 

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UNTIL NEXT TIME

SERVANT LARRY

 

 

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ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

 

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glory to god

 

I just noticed today that I had started this blog in

January-2013 and so it has been 7 years now of doing

the ACTS 29 TODAY BLOG.

Usually I am much better at starting projects than

finishing them, but with a blog its like there’s no

finishing line, so I just keep writing about spiritual

truth every week.

I just want to take this opportunity to share for those

who might be new, or have never heard where the

name of my blog came from…Acts 29 today.

 

After some 20 years of GOING TO CHURCH, I was in a

great time of transitioning from just GOING TO

CHURCH…TO BEING THE CHURCH. As believers we

don’t go to church, because WE ARE THE CHURCH, SO

WE CANT GO TO SOMETHING WE ARE.

It was a very different time and I knew God was

beginning to send me to the nations, but with NO real

help from anyone except the Holy Spirit it was one

small step at a time.

 

I will never forget the day when I was driving home

from somewhere and the Holy Spirit spoke to me very

clearly, and said; LARRY, WHEN YOU GET HOME READ

ACTS 29 … TODAY.

As soon as I got home I went into the house and got my

Bible, opened it up to the book of Acts, and went

straight to chapter 29…WHAT !!! NO CHAPTER 29…LETS

SEE, 28 BUT YUP, THERE WAS NO CHAPTER 29.

WOW, well I was greatly disappointed to say the least,

and I ask the Holy Spirit, you did say Acts 29 right? YES

ACTS CHAPTER 29…AH, WELL, IN MY BIBLE ACTS ONLY

HAS 28 CHAPTERS, THERE IS NOT A CHAPTER 29.

 

Then the Holy Spirit spoke this to me, YOU CANT FIND

CHAPTER 29 ….. BECAUSE THAT’S THE CHAPTER YOU

ARE GOING TO WRITE.

Peter, James, John, and Paul, all wrote their chapters,

and now…ITS YOUR TURN…TO WRITE YOURS.

 

WOW, WOW, WOW, ANOTHER AMAZING

CONFORMATION ON MY WAY TO THE CALL OF……………

MANY LANDS AND MANY PEOPLE

 

That experience really stuck with me, and knowing that

it was time to write my chapter was such a

conformation to go to the nations.

Of course this was a result of the praying in the Spirit

many hours a day for those 2 years in the truck, as I had

prayed out the perfect plan of God for my life, and now

I was beginning to walk those plans out in the natural

world.

Because the spiritual world has authority over the

natural world, when you pray out the plan of God for

your life in the spirit, at some point the natural world

HAS NO CHOICE BUT TO LINE UP WITH

THE SUPERNATURAL PLAN THAT GOD

HAS FOR YOU.

 

THAT MEANS THE PEOPLE THAT SHOULD NOT BE IN

YOUR LIFE WILL FADE AWAY, THE PEOPLE THAT

SHOULD BE IN YOUR LIFE WILL APPEAR, THE DOORS

THAT WERE ALL CLOSED BEFORE NOW WILL OPEN,

ALL OF THE SUPERNATURAL PROVISION THAT YOU

WILL NEED TO FULFILL YOUR CALL WILL NOW BEGIN

TO MANIFEST (BECOME VISIBLE), AND YOU WILL HAVE

A HARD TIME NOT SEEING THE PLAN OF GOD FOR

YOUR LIFE AS IT UNFOLDS IN FRONT OF YOU….ALL

YOU HAVE TO DO NOW….IS WALK IT OUT.

So that is where the name of my blog came from, and

that was about 25 years ago, and since then I have gone

to many lands and ministered to many people by GODS

ABILITY AND HELP, ALL GLORY TO GOD.

THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU WHO READ AND FOLLOW

THIS BLOG, AND TO ALL OF YOU WHOEVER AND

WHEREVER YOU MAY BE WHO HAVE EVER HAD ANY

PART IN MY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY, WHETHER IT

SEEMED GOOD OR BAD, HAPPY OR SAD, IT WAS ALL A

PART OF MY DEVELOPING IN GOD TO THE POINT I AM

TODAY, THANK YOU.

 

I WILL ALSO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO SAY IF I

HAVE EVERY HURT, DISAPPOINTED, OR SINNED

AGAINST ANY OF YOU AT ANYTIME, (AND GOD KNOWS

I HAVE).

WILL YOU PLEASE FORGIVE ME

 

PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR ME AS I CONTINUE TO

PRAY OUT AND WALK OUT HIS PERFECT PLAN FOR MY

LIFE.

ALL MY LOVE…LARRY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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ACTS 29 TODAY

coming to the knowledge of the TRUTH

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Well happy new year from acts 29 today world headquarters in sunny warm Chiang Mai Thailand.

 

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I Just wanted to share a few things that Came into my Spirit while thinking about 2020, and I know most people equate it to 2020 vision.

 

I certainly see that and agree with that also, but another thing I immediately thought about 2020 was that 20+20= 40 and that is a number in the Bible that appears over 150 times.

 

 It is a number of great importance, just some examples

 

Jesus Temptation

Matthew 4:1-3a “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit

into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.  And

after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was

hungry. And the tempter came and said to him.”

Israel’s Testing

Joshua 5:6 “For the people of Israel walked forty

years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men

of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because

they did not obey the voice of the LORD; the LORD

swore to them that he would not let them see the

land that the LORD had sworn to their fathers to give

to us, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

The Flood of Forty Days and Nights

Genesis 7:12 “And rain fell upon the earth forty days

and forty nights.”

 

 

• Forty stripes was the maximum number allowed for anyone to be punished (Duet 25:3).

• The prophet Jonah prophesied of the impending destruction of Nineveh if they didn’t repent and gave them forty days to do so and they eventually did repent and the entire city-state was sparred.

• Moses sent spies into the Promised Land and they were there for forty days and forty nights before returning to give their report about the land (Numbers 13:25, 14:34).

• The prophet Elijah went forty days and nights without food or water while on Mount Horeb.

• Jesus appeared for forty days after His resurrection from the dead and the disciples and many others witnessed His appearance.

• When Israel disobeyed God, He gave them over to their enemies for forty years (Judges 13:1).

• King Saul reigned over Israel for forty years (Acts 13:21) as did David (2 Samuel 5:4, 1 Kings 2:11) and Solomon (1 Kings 11:42).

• The holy place of the temple was forty cubits long (1 Kings 6:17).

• Ezekiel bore the evil of the house of Judah for forty days (Ezk 4:6).

 

 

The one common denominator of all of these events is after the 40 days or years or cubits or lashes, everything CHANGED.

 

40 in the Bible refers to TESTING, TRIALS, OR PROBATION, and then EVERYTHING CHANGES AND MOST OF THE TIME IT WAS DRAMATIC CHANGES.

 

So simple put what I am seeing for 2020 is a time of great change, and in all areas of life all over the world.

The most important one being the Spiritual changes, the dramatic changes that will take place in the Church (GODS PEOPLE, NOT A BUILDING). Just like we won’t even recognize the world around us in 10 years from now because of all of the changes that are, and have, and will take place in those 10 years technology wise.

The true Church (we are the Church not a building) is going to shake off the dust of man made doctrines, doctrines of dEVILS, and all of the man junk that has made its way into the Church of today, (while they were sleeping the enemy came in and sowed the tares).

The true Church is waking up even now and even tho there is a great apostasy going on and all of the fake Christians are falling away from the true Christ, the remnant will STAND, SHINE BRIGHTER, AND NEVER LOSE THE FAITH.

THEY THAT ENDURE UNTIL THE END WILL BE SAVED, IT TIME TO GET YOUR E. S. P. ON MY FRIEND.

ENDURANCE…STEAD FASTNESS…AND PATIENCE.

next time will resume with the book report the walk of the spirit the walk of power.

 

until next time

servant Larry

 

 

 

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