GET THE DOUBT OUT.

The more we grow up spiritually in the Lord, we become more rooted and grounded in the faithfulness of our God. But sometimes doubt will try to creep in and attack our trust in the Lord. In order for us to not lose ground under the attack of the enemy, we must act decisively. Below are 4 steps that we must take to eliminate doubt.

Matthew 21: 20-22 says, "Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, " How did the fig tree wither all at once?". And Jesus answered and said to them, " Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, " Be taken up and cast into the sea' it will happen. And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive." (NASB)

The first thing we must do when dealing with doubt is to recall God's past faithfulness, and remember His promises. God has done so much for each of us, we have no reason to think that He won't help us in what we are going through now. When we spend time praising God for what He has done for us in previous situations, we are reminded of His Love and provision. Meditating on promises from scripture will reassure us that God will continue to meet every one of our needs.
Read Psalm 41:12, John 16:13; Eph. 3:16 for encouragement.

The second thing is that we must ask the Lord for scriptural guidance. The Lord will direct you to certain passages and make them a rhema word to you for your situation. Get these passages from the Lord down into your inner man. Meditate on them and give God thanks and praise for being active in your life. Prayerfully consider how to apply these verses from the Lord to your circumstances.

The third step is to choose to believe God and His promises. We are wise to put our confidence in Him.

And finally, we must place our trust and faith in what Jesus did for us at the Cross of Calvary. That is where the victory was won forever..

Our human nature is what makes us vulnerable to doubt. But we are also partakers of the Divine nature if we are born again.( 2 Peter 1:3-4) So when we choose to trust God, uncertainty cannot shrink our faith.
God bless you.

Dispensationalism Overview

Dispensationalism is a System of Theology that recognizes 3 basic things; 1- There is a distinction between Israel and the Church.
2- Scripture is to be interpreted by the literal method unless the text itself mentions a figurative or symbolic interpretation.
3- The purpose of God in this world is His Glory. The before stated beliefs are common to dispensationalists.

Dispensations are ways of dividing time responsive to a particular revelation of the will of God. A basic understanding of the dispensations is a must if the believer is to rightly divide the Word of God.
There are 7 dispensations.
1-] Innocence- From Creation to the Fall. Genesis 1:27; 3:24 2-] Conscience- Start of civilization to the Flood. Genesis 4:1; 8:14
3-] Human Government- leaving the Ark to the Tower Of Babel. Genesis 8:15; 11:32 4-] Promise- From the Call of Abraham to Egyptian bondage. Genesis 12:1; Exodus 19:2
5-] Law-- From the 10 commandments to the end of the Gospels. Exodus 19:3; Acts 1
6-] Grace- Pentecost to the end of the Tribulation. Acts 2; Revelation 19:21
7-] Millennium- Imprisonment of Satan to the Great White Throne. Revelation 20:1; 22:7

This is a very brief outline on Dispensationalism.

HOW THE ENEMY OPERATES

I realize fully that the title of this post is very broad indeed and that we are only going to be able to touch on a few high points in this brief article.
Ephesians 6:12 says, " For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
Even though our enemies are not people, satan constantly uses people to carry out his perverted dirty work. These ranks of demon spirits are always trying, through whatever means available, to come against the Child of God.

Satan has four big objectives when it comes to hindering the work of God in our lives.
1- Satan wants to cause us to doubt God's Word.
In the garden, he planted a seed of doubt in the mind of Eve and the results devastated the whole human race. See Gen. 3:1

2- Satan tries to distract us from spiritual matters. He wants us to put our focus earthly matters. He will use television, cell phones, computers, relatives, bad news, etc.. to get our mind off the Word and onto things with no eternal value.

3- The devil works very hard to disable us from the service of our Lord. Satan will do anything to stop us from making an impact for Christ. Satan rejoices if he can discredit us in any way. He wants to destroy our testimony. The enemy wants to keep us preoccupied with anything that prevents us from our callings before God.

4- And, satan wants to destroy us physically. One of his most effective efforts involves attacking our bodies. Sickness, stress, addictions, just to name a few, often consume a persons entire life. Of course, our adversary would much rather have us focus on our bodies than on spiritual things.

Satan wants to render you helpless and useless in the everyday battles that you face. He is looking for ways to destroy you. But you and I do not have to be destroyed by the devil. Jesus Christ defeated him at the Cross. You and I can walk in total victory on a daily basis. See Colossians 2: 10, 14, 15

Child of God, trust in what Jesus has done for us at the Cross. Put your faith in Him. Resist the devil. Depend on God;s Spirit. Plead the Blood of Jesus over yourself, your family, your life and your ministry.
In Jesus, we are victorious.

The roadblock of Pride

Often, there are many roadblocks to a person being blessed. One of the major roadblocks is pride. Pride is a really high opinion of oneself.

Lucifer fell because of pride. See Isaiah 14: 12-14. Pride caused Lucifer to attempt an overthrow of God's kingdom. He was cast down and lost his position. How could an angel think he could overthrow God's kingdom? Obadiah 3 says, " The pride of your heart has deceived you." You see, self-deception takes place when pride enters. Pride will cause a person to think they are smarter than God.

Lets look at some [ only some] of the manifestations of Pride.
1- Not seeking God in prayer and in His Word.
2- Disobeying God's Word and Spirit.
3- Refusal to worship and give to God.
4- Forsaking the assembling in church.
5- No repentance when there is sin.
6- More concern with the opinion of others than with God's opinion.
7- Pursuit of pleasure, comfort, and convenience instead of commitment and surrender to God's will.
8- Rebellion-- unwillingness to submit to spiritual, family, or secular authority.

Those are merely a few of the pride indicators that we could list. What is Gods solution? HUMILITY!
God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble. Casting our cares on the Lord acknowledges that our heavenly Father is the One who will take care of our cares... As we humble ourselves and resist the devil, God's grace will strengthen, perfect, establish, and settle us.

Faith and Faith alone can save

In the book of Romans Ch. 1 verses 16 & 17, the Bible says, " For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it is the Power of God unto Salvation to everyone who believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the Righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the Just shall live by Faith."
If a person is too proud to bend their spirit before God, then that person will never get to heaven. They may be a kind, gentle, loving person; they may even give to charity. But if pride keeps them from admitting their need for Christ, then they are not accepting His gift of salvation.

Many people are in hell today because their heart was too hard and they really believed that their mind was too smart for the God who created them. There is only one to make it to heaven. Holy God can not tolerate sin in His presence, and God decreed that the penalty for sin is death. " For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23 declares... And Romans 3:23 is clear that ALL men are sinners. So, God has provided a bridge between Himself and mankind. Merciful God sent His Son Jesus Christ to die in man's place. Jesus sacrifice is all that is necessary for a person to enter into a relationship with God.

A person does not work or reason their way into heaven. The bridge that spans the gap between each person and God is crossed only through an acts of faith. By acknowledging the need for a savior and by accepting Christ;s death on the Cross as the payment for their sins. The truly wise people of this world are the ones who have accepted this truth and have bowed at the feet of the worlds redeemer; Jesus Christ

NEW WORD SEARCH TOOL TO ENHANCE YOUR STUDY

Let me tell you about a brand new feature at the bottom of this Cross Focus Blog. It is a Bible Word search tool that will take you into the depths of God's Word. Simply type in a word or phrase that you wish to study, and this tool will take you into the Greek or Hebrew where you can dig out the great truths of the Word of God. I personally use this very tool in daily study and sermon preparation. I mean this is a great way to learn the Word and the original intent in the Word.As with everything on this blog, we have put this here for you. Please avail yourselves of this tremendous Bible Study adventure. You will be glad you did.

Thoughts on the Rapture

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

The rapture of the Church of Jesus Christ is the next great event on the horizon of time. Without going into great detail at this time, I want to give a few salient points as it pertains to this all important subject.

1] There are many signs of the times that point to the fact that we are living in the last of the last days.
+Restoration of Israel as a nation in 1948, fulfilling Bible Prophecy
+Wars and rumors of wars
+ Spiritual rebellion and outright apostasy
+ An emphasis on material prosperity and material and cultural influence
+ An increase of knowledge and fast paced travel
+ Many and various natural disasters
+ Perilous Times.
+ False Prophets will abound in the last days. For Example, the so called Kansas City Prophets that have fostered some of the worst false doctrine in the body of Christ. And now, we have Todd Bentley and his unbiblical angel craze, plus many more abberant doctrines.
+ Wickedness that beggars description
+ Demonic activity will continue to rise as we go deeper into the last days.
+Persecution of the saints will become more pronounced, even in the USA, as we get closer to the Lords return.
+ At the same time, the true Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ will be spread throughout the earth at a breathtaking rate.

2] Now lets look at the purpose of the Rapture.
+ To resurrect the dead in Christ, separating them from the wicked dead.
+ To take the Saints to heaven, where their works will be judged, they will receive rewards, and partake in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
+ At the rapture, we will receive our immortal glorified bodies.
+ we, the saints, will be presented before the Father.
+ We will be made whole in Spirit, Soul, And Body. The saints will.
+We, the saints, will escape the Great Tribulation.
+ The hinderer of lawlessness in the world, the church, will be removed.
+ The antichrist will then be revealed.

3] Who is worthy to escape?
Those who are in Christ. The Greek word for worthy is "Axios" meaning, "deserving to be fit, to be accepted." Meaning that our living, our walk with the Lord, our Faith, our lifestyle proves our relationship with Christ.

4] EXAMINE YOURSELVES.
2 Corinthians 13:5 admonishes us to " Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the Faith, prove yourselves...."
Examine means "to test, to try" ourselves to see whether Christ is truly living in our hearts. Paul is stating that there must be a true relationship between us and the Lord. Our actions are the actions of a true believer.
The great question of the hour for every believer is simply, "Are You READY?"
Those who are ready are listening for the trump of God.

we wish to thank Evangelist Donnie Swaggart for his insights on this topic.