God is Compassionate

The psalmist declared in Psalm 145: 8 & 9, 'The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy.  The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all his works."

I have seen and lived the compassion, love, acceptance and faithfulness of God.  He has stayed with me in awful stuff and huge errors and sin.  There is NO ONE like Him.

Even in judgement, He repeatedly warns and coaxes us to leave the sin and wrong ways of our lives.  When He pronounces judgement, He is open to changing His mind if we (and even nations) repent (see the book of Jonah).  When God does judge and punish - bringing the justice required by our sin - He doesn't enjoy it.  Regarding his judgement and punishment upon Judah, God states in Micah 1:8: "Therefore I will wail and howl.  I will go stripped and naked; I will make a wailing like the jackals and a mourning like the ostriches..."

After Judgement, is a person repents, God is quick to redeem the consequences for good.  He sets the repentant person on a new foundation.  God will always use your own hard-won lessons to minister to others and make them useful for many.

God is not some mean old codger looking to destroy.  He is love and compassion looking to redeem a fallen world, a world He once called "very, very good."

Weavings

As mentioned int he first section of this book, there is a "spiritual fabric" to our lives.  We literally are woven into a spiritual fabric.  This fabric exists prior to our birth.  We are born into the fabric of our families, our ancestors, and their spiritual lives.  What happens to us, and out own actions, further sew us into that fabric and creates new fabric (good or bad).  Once we accept Jesus and understand good and evil and how the spirit dimension works, we can start consciously affecting the weave and begin weaving a new life, freeing ourselves from the undesirable parts of the old.

To expedite this process, it is useful to undo the old fabric with our words.  I do it this way; I say "In the name of Christ Jesus (or Jesus Christ) I rip apart the ungodly and un-useful fabric of my life and I speak and create a new fabric through and in Jesus Christ"

The greatness of God's creation

The greatness of God's creation regarding man is choice.  Unlike animals, humans have the ability to choose their courses.  You are no like the ant (pre programmed) or like a bear operation on instinct.  You are not like a dog that reacts to its environment and becomes the sum of it's input.  No matter what has happened to you, no matter how oppressed, you were given the power of transforming choice.  Our species alone can understand, reason, and make choices, the most important being to choose to forgive, to truly love.  In this regard, you were created to be God's image-bearer, to mirror love, forgiveness, grace and to choose that which is necessary for you to be just, true, pure, and holy. (Phil 6:4)

Faith

Faith is a force.  The Bible says that your faith, even faith the size of an almost invisible mustard seed (Matthew 17:20), is sufficient to move mountains.  As we can push and move things in the physical dimension, so faith pushes and moves things in the spirit world (dimension).  Great faith operates like a bulldozer or crane does in the physical dimension.  If it is big enough, obstacles are removed.

Faith is a conduit.  Faith is a passageway between the spirit and physical worlds.  The things (and works) of God that exist in the spirit world manifest in the physical by your faith in them.  Your faith is the channel that allows spirit things to manifest in your physical world.  Faith also is the interface where God moves on your behalf.

Faith, authority and actions.  Earlier I wrote that you have authority over Satan and his power.  Luke 10:17 and 19, respectively, say: "Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name'" and "Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you."  Matthew 18:18 says:  "Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed (let loose) in heaven."  Faith is your enabler; through faith you believe what He says; with it you exercise the authority that God has given you through Christ.  Through faith you take actions.  By faith you continue doing whatever "it" is until the results manifest, until they become solid and secure for you (i.e. you believe that your existence in God is as He says it is).  See Hebrews, chapter 11 regarding faith as an enabler.

Forgive

You and I are commanded to forgive.  When we receive God's forgiveness we lose the "right" not to forgive (anyone - even ourselves!).  If you don't forgive, God will allow you to remain in bondage until you do; the provision of freedom through the cross will be withheld until you forgive.  Matthew 18:32-35 discusses this.

As a parenthetical comment:  in order to forgive you may have to come to the understanding that God will replace what was taken, and also that forgiveness does not serve as an enabler.  Somehow God will free you even is you forgive!

God, through immense cost to Himself (the death on the cross of His only begotten Son), forgives you;  He expects you to do the same for others.  If you do not or seemingly cannot, you'll remain on the outskirts of God's Kingdom and blessings.  Oh you'll be looked in on constantly, but the decision to forgive remains yours.  T His is one "thing" God cannot do for you.  No matter how difficult it may be to let go and let God handle the justice part of the equation, you can do it through Jesus.  Forgiveness is a work inside your heart and spirit-and yes, it can be hard work!

Escape into praise and God

God has given us an escape, a "place" where we can be protected.  It's praising God.  As the enemy works to overtake us with fear, despair, doubt, and thought hooks to drag us into danger and sin, praising God is part of the way out of danger.

The Bible shows us the importance of praise for withstanding the enemy and receiving from God.  Judah (the son f Jacob) means PRAISE.  Of all the tribes of Israel, the tribe of Judah remained in the Promised Land longest and was principal in its restoration.  Jesus was a descendant of Judah and is referred to as the Lion of the tribe of Judah; that is, the Lion (King and Lord) of the tribe of Praise.  In fact, it may be said that Jesus is the leader of Praise.  He continually leads us in praising God the Father is we're able to hear Him.  The last Psalms (144-150) are all songs of praise to God.

I have lived the importance of Praise.  Praise in my life allows me to refocus on God.  Praise overcomes the worries and fears and cuts off the enemy.  When I praise God, I see things differently:  My perception of "reality" changes and I can see things as they are for me in God.

This is best illustrated by one of the few night vision dreams I've received from God.  In the dream, I was walking along a road with high walls on both sides.  As I approached an intersection I looked to the left and right.  In both directions the road was the same: paved, clean and with a high wall on each side.  I had little choice;  no matter where I walked, I was walled inside a sterile landscape.  IN my dream, as soon as I began to praise God, suddenly the walls disappeared and I found myself in a green, grassy field with pleasant vegetation and a 360 degree view.  All possibilities existed;  every direction was open to me.  Through praise, I escaped limited possibilities and walked easily into a verdant land and endless horizons.

Praising God is an important tool in your bag of spiritual weapons.  It will help you combat despair, help expand your vision, and carry you into God's presence.

The Kingdom of God

The Kingdom (rule, way and system) of God is based upon love and forgiveness.  It is comprised of love, compassion, forgiveness, blessing, and provision.  Through and in His government, He gives us authority an victory over the fallen world, fallen creation, and the devil.  God's kingdom is a government of wellness.

We receive the full benefits of the Kingdom of God through the cross of Jesus Christ.  There is no other way to reach and know God and receive all of His blessings (physical and spiritual benefits).  Because of sin the human race died.  All are dead, i.e. separated from God.  Christ died saddled with out sins, illnesses and pains to remove death and its effects;  He also paid the complete penalty for not obeying the law.  The kingdom of God is for all who have surrendered themselves to God by entering though the door (Jesus) that He opened.

Christ died to destroy death.  He resurrected to give us life.  Death to death, life to Life.  (2 Cor. 2:16).  God's kingdom is life, good things (spiritual and physical), provision and victory.

Christ is the only door through which we have victory over this worlds systems and Satan's way of doing things.  Because of the cross, we can leap from death to life.  We enter as sinners and condemned (separated from God); we come out forgiven and free.  We enter and emerge with the power and authority to be healthy and whole.  We enter filled with sin and come out clean and being filled with God.  We enter under the devil's authority and come out a conqueror over the devil, his ways of doing things, and the garbage that he has put in our lives.

The cross is the point of forgiveness, removal of sin and the stain of sin, and of power.  It is where we get united with God, and thorough Christ's death on it have access to the blessings, answers and the help that all human beings desire.  If we follow Christ in and with faith, we have access to all the blessings of His kingdom.