Put Down That Chisel

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Psalm 119: 116

Sustain me according to your word, that I may live and do not let me be ashamed of my hope.



    I would like to take a few moments today and thank all of you who have been praying for me. I ask that you continue to do so as I pray for each of you also. Today's message is called. Put down that chisel.

     I have been fighting sickness for a long time and have seen many miracles that have kept me from going on to heaven. It is because of your prayers that Father had mercy on heaven and kept me on earth. Serious about your prayers but just kidding about the mercy on heaven part.


    A few weeks ago I began to get weaker and weaker and along with the normal pain that I endure most days I got to the point of hopelessness. Recently the pain was so awful that even my heart began to skip and miss several beats at a time. Even though I've seen the healing hand of God so many times, on this day I just decided it was easier to give up than it was to fight it off.


     I managed to crawl out of bed and decided that if I was going to die I wasn't going to do it laying down. Maybe it's the way I was raised or maybe it is just stubbornness.
So I got up and I set out to my favorite home store to die on the lumber aisle. I'm not a great carpenter, not really even a good carpenter, but I do love to do woodworking as a hobby. I love the smell of lumber and like most men I love power tools. 

     So I walked among the boards for a while and then managed to drag myself around the corner to the tools. My heart kept sputtering and I fully expected that I was done and would get to clock out and go home any minute. But what I expected was not what I got. I had an encounter with God alright. But not the call to come home I was expecting.

     As I stood in the tool aisle a wood chisel caught my eye. I already have wood chisels and don't know why I was drawn to this one in particular. I reached out and picked it up off the shelf and I heard the voice of Jesus so loud that I thought surely the tools would fall off the shelf. Usually Jesus speaks to me softly and gently and kindly. On this day I got the kindly part but not the soft, gentle version. He shouted “PUT DOWN THAT CHISEL! 

     It scared me so bad that I jumped and scared the people next to me.I threw that chisel toward the rack it used to hang on and stepped back. I asked Lord “what is wrong with that chisel.” Then he answered in the soft kind voice he usually speaks to me in. He said “not that chisel my son, but the one in your mind that is carving your name on your tombstone. Put that thing down because it's not time yet. It's not time to come home. You have many things left to do and many people to share my love with.”

     I stood there for a moment and began to feel much better. He spoke to me again and gave me the words to a song, so I rushed out of the store and wrote it down. He asked me to share these words with you because many of you are just like me. You are facing odds that doctors tell you can't be beat. Many of you know your only hope is in God, but where else should it be? Many of you face pain and impossible situations every day.

    Don't let others condemn you and tell you that your faith is broken or you wouldn't have problems. There is no shame in having illness or trouble. Don't be condemned, be comforted by Holy Spirit who came to comfort us. Maybe Jesus knew we needed comforting so he sent us The Comforter. Who needs comfort but those who are uncomfortable? Go and read Hebrews chapter eleven about all the ones whom the world was not worthy of. They lived in caves and holes in the ground and even though they died they didn't give up their hope or their faith.

   The main thing is to remember that if you are born again your life is in the hands of your heavenly Father. Even when you become like I was and didn't have the strength or faith to fight another day, he is still faithful. Your life, your healing, your deliverance from your problems is all in him.

      This is why the scripture says to have faith “in God.” Don't have faith in your prayers, don't have faith in the methods you have been taught that attempt to get God to do what he already gave us when Christ rose from the dead. Have faith in him and in his love. Believe the message of Christ but don't forget he is not a message, he is a person with a message. That message is that you are loved and no matter what your facing today, it is not over until he says it is.

     He is not saying it's over to you right now or you wouldn't be hearing these words I am sharing with you. So I will tell you what He told me.

PUT DOWN THAT CHISEL!


     Here are the words so you can sing along and if you click on the link that says “song” you will hear the song called “Put Down That Chisel.


Song


Verse one,

You may think you're old, but you're not through.
My kingdom still needs building and I was hoping I could count on you,

If your heart's still beating then you ought to be preaching.
Get off your blessed assurance and start spreading my good news.

Chorus

Put down that chisel, put away that stone,
there's way too much that needs doing for you to think about going home,
Put down those funeral plans, pick up your bible.
Stop planning your departure, start preparing for revival.

Verse Two.

No you haven't seen your better days,
You've got my Holy Spirit and you've got my amazing grace,
I know all your problems and I bore all your pain.
There's still power in my blood, there's still healing in my name.

Repeat chorus

Bridge

Don't go writing your name on a cold, hard stone,
it's not the time to be thinking about sending your saddle home.

Put down that chisel, put away that stone,
there's way too much that needs doing for you to think about going home,
Put down those funeral plans, pick up your bible.
Stop planning your departure, start preparing for revival.


     I hope you are encouraged by these words.
Until next time Grow Rich in His Grace,
I love you all,
michael

     For more information please click the links below:

michaelottministries.org

michael's podcast

michael's blog

michael on iTunes

Where is Your Anchor?

For an audio version of this message 

please click the link below:

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Hebrews Chapter Six

10.  For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do. 

11. Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. 

12. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.

13. For example, there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying:

14. “I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number.”

15. Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.

16. Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is binding. 

17. God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. 

18. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. 

19. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. 

20. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the order of Melchizedek.

     While praying today Jesus spoke to me and asked me to write down these words and share them with you. He said:

     My children. Where is your hope anchored? Is it anchored in your situation or your abilities, or is it anchored beyond the veil in heaven with me? 

     This is why so many of my children lose hope. It is because they anchor their hope in the wrong place. Many anchor their hope in a better job or promotion or in their ability to survive in hard times.. Many anchor their hope in other people and believe they can succeed if they have the correct people in place. All this leads to disappointment.

     You should anchor your hope in me and my unchangeable character. I cannot lie. It is not possible for me to do so. My hopes and dreams for you are not changing. I plan for you to have a great life on earth and an even better eternity. 

     I didn't promise you that you would never have problems. I actually told you quite the opposite. I promised that in this life you would have tribulations. I also said in the midst of your troubles you can have great cheer. You can laugh your way through your problems if your hope is anchored in the right place.

     I will do everything I promised you that I would do. Here in lies the problem. So many people try to take other peoples' promises and make them their own. There are common promises of salvation, healing, deliverance and blessing that are common to all my children, but each of you has a different call and different promises according to my plan. The reason I call them precious promises is because they are for you only. You must come to me and ask me what I want to do for you and I will give you a promise for you and I will keep my word.

    You can't live on other peoples' promises and you can't live on their hope. You must anchor your hope deep inside me so that you know I will never fail you. So many of my people see one person succeed so they try to follow the plan I gave to that individual. Then they set out to build their lives on someone else's promise and someone elses' hope. Then they fail miserably and wonder why I didn't come through for them.

     You must anchor your hope in me and the promises I make to you. This is why I told you that whatsoever you desire “when you pray” will be given you. The key is to pray first and wait on my desires to fill your heart. Then you can put your hope in me and know that I will grant that desire because it was birthed in me, and was given to you in a moment of intimacy known as prayer. 

     Prayer is not asking. Prayer is drawing your heart near to me and becoming intimate with me. While in this intimacy we share secret desires. You tell me what you want and I tell you what I want. This type of prayer brings hope because it's not just a list of things you want, it's a list of things born from our love.

     Those of you who are married, look at it this way. When you get home from work do you want your spouse to spend time loving you, and giving you attention, or do you just want them to hand you a list of chores they need done? What if they told you that if you get all their list of wishes completed then maybe we can have some intimate time later? 

     Is this not the way my bride treats me? They rush into prayer with a list of things they want me to do, and then they leave me the list and they are gone. Their attention is back on the things of the world and not on me. What I wanted from them was intimacy. I wanted to whisper to then how I longed to give them much greater things than the things on their list; but they didn't stay around long enough for these desires to be birthed. This is why so many of your wishes aren't granted.

     My sweet beloved ones. I want your hearts and I will fill them with hope. With the hope that is built on a trusted relationship and on truth. Not built on things that change or circumstances. Not hope built on promises to someone else. Come to me and get your promises from me to you. Come to me and let me restore your hope and let's take your hope and anchor it deep inside me and my truth.

     Then,  when your hope is tested, you can say that your hope is not in situations or circumstances, your hope is in the one who cannot lie, and the one who promised you and will not let you down. Then when storms come against your promise you can stand strong with your hope anchored in me. Just as Abraham, who didn't consider his circumstances of an old body, and a wife beyond child bearing years. His hope was in me because he knew that I was able to do what I promised him, or I wouldn't have promised him.

     Trust me my loved ones. Those of you who have been given promises by me hold on to them. No matter what it looks like. I never fail. If you were in prayer with me and I told you that I would do something then I will do it. It is my delight to do so and to keep my word. I keep my promises throughout all generations.

     I am your high priest. I entered the holy place with my own blood. All your answers and promises are not based on your performance but they are based on me and my blood. 

     I entered into the holy place once for all,  and I sat down because all that was ever needed for your salvation was complete. My blood was enough sacrifice for all people for all time. Another sacrifice will never be needed again. Your promises are based on that sacrifice and are not determined by your ability or the works of your hands. I came beyond the veil of heaven and I stand here waiting for you to give me your anchor of hope and let me secure it for you.

     Will you come to me my beloved. Will you give me your hope so that I can secure it. No more hopelessness. No more wondering if my promise to you is true. I am your living hope. Put your trust in me.



     And this was the end of the words he spoke to me a few moments ago 

I hope you are encouraged by these words.
Until next time,
Grow Rich in His Grace,
I love you all,
michael

   For more information please click the links below:

michaelottministries.org

michael's podcast

michael's blog

michael on iTunes

Where Are You?

For an audio version of this message
please click the link below:

michaelottministries.podomatic.com


     As I was praying today Father spoke to me and said:
My son, write these things down and share them with my loved ones.

He said:

     My children. Where are you? Do you feel out of place? Do you feel like you are supposed to be in one place or another and no matter where you go you still feel as if you are not where you are supposed to be?

     I know you feel this way. I understand your wonder and worry because you have looked for yourselves in all the wrong places. So let me tell you where you are.

     You are in my heart. You are in my thoughts and my delight all the time. No matter where you find yourselves you are always with me. You are in my love. You are in my dreams and I dream all the time about the day when you are totally awake and you can know me as you are known.

     So my beloved ones. Here is what I want you to do. I want you to stop at least once an hour and see yourselves in me. Do this as often as you can. Don't let others tell you where you are. Listen to my words. You are in me. You are in Christ and Christ is in you, and Christ is in me and I am in Christ, and Holy Spirit is in me and in you. We are already one spirit.

     Once you see yourselves in me then you will never feel alone or misplaced again. This doesn't mean that I don't send you from one physical location to another. I have ordained the times and seasons and places where you should dwell in the physical realm. Once you know where you are in the spirit then you will not struggle to be where you are supposed to be in the physical world.

     I tell you these things my beloved ones for a multitude of reasons. I want you to always feel at home in me. You opened the door and invited me to dwell in you. I took your invitation and made my home in you. So I opened the door for you also. You live in me and dwell in me and have your being inside me. You are never alone my loved ones. You are always safe in me.

     I want you to become fully aware of Christ in you and you in Christ. I told you through Paul's letter to the Ephesians that you are already seated with me in heavenly places. I want you to become fully aware of this fact. No more seeing yourselves as earthbound. You cannot be bound. You are my free ones and no one can chain you unless you put on their chains voluntarily. Stay free my loved ones. Stay free with me. No more bondage to those who would lie to you and tell you that I am angry with you or separated from you. He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit. We are one my loved ones.

     So take time as often as you can. Recenter your location in your heart and mind. See yourselves in me at all times. My eyes are never off of you not even for a moment. You are my delight and I did all that I did for you because of my great love for you. As you believe in this love your lives will change and you will never go back to the darkness of being apart from me again.

    As you begin to see us not as two but as one then my power can work through you. The power you seek to heal the sick and raise the dead and make earth look just like heaven comes from the revelation of who you are.

     Think about this for a moment: What happened to Jesus when he was on the earth? He was baptized and my Spirit came upon him and then I told him who he is. I said “ this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.” This revelation launched him into his ministry. It's knowing who you are and where you live that gives you the power to do what you do.

     See yourselves as one with me. Understand that you are my children already. I am well pleased in you because you believe in my son. When you understand these things then you will settle into a life that comes natural to children of God. You will mature into this revelation and then you will change the world.

     You will be the ones who bring heaven down to earth. You are a channel for heaven to flow through. You are containers of living water. You are my temple where people of earth meet the God of heaven. You are the containers of my glory and light. You are the city on a hill. You are my chosen and ordained ones. You are my army and my mighty ones. But most of all, you are my beloved. You are the one whom my heart sings to and the ones who my love desires. It was my great love for you that sent my son to save you.

     Now you know who you are and you know where you are. Never forget these things. Always know that you are my beloved and you dwell safely in my heart and I dwell in you so that neither one of us will ever have to miss each other again.

     I love you my children. Please love each other as I have loved you.



     This was the end of the words he spoke to me at that moment.
I hope you are encouraged by these words.
Until next time,
Grow Rich in His Grace.
I love you all,
michael

     For more information please click the links below:

michaelottministries.org

michael's blog

michael's podcast

michael on iTunes

The Separation

For an audio version of this message

please click the link below:

michaelottministries.podomatic.com


Second Corinthians Chapter Six NLT.

14. Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?

15. What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?

16. And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said:

“I will live in them, and walk among them.

I will be their God, and they will be my people.

17. Therefore, come out from among unbelievers,

and separate yourselves from them, says the LORD.

Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you.

18. And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters,

says the LORD Almighty.



     I woke up this morning with these scriptures in my heart. I asked the Lord what he was saying and he spoke to me. He asked me to write down the following words and publish them for his loved ones to read and to hear.

     He said;

     My children, it’s time to divide the light from the darkness. It’s time for those who call themselves my children to separate themselves from the darkness of the world. I am not calling you out of the world but calling you to live holy in the darkness of the world.

     It is hard right now in most places to know who is following me and who is following my enemy. My church is so ingrained in the ways of the world. You sing the same songs, watch the same programs, believe the same lies and burn with the same passions.

     These things shouldn’t be. I am calling you out by my love. I am singing a love song to you and hoping you will hear my voice and come to the sound of my heart pouring out for you. It’s time for my prodigals to come home.

     Have you forgotten what price was paid for you? Have you forgotten how much you are loved and returned to a world that really hates you? This world that you follow only wants your time and your money. They publicly ridicule you any chance they get and you still give them your time and your money and more than that. They are devouring your soul.

     Some days it’s hard to tell if it a zombie apocalypse movie or just a church meeting. The world has lights and cameras and actors and the church has lights and cameras and actors. The world has those who stumble around like mindless zombies and the church has those who stumble around like mindless zombies.

     You spend lots of money to purchase their entertainment so they can go on television and tell you how stupid you are for believing in me. You are paying them to rob you and these things must stop.

     How would you feel if your children went to school and bought toys from the bully who was beating them up? What if they came home from school and told you that it’s okay, the bully beats me up and takes my money but they have good toys and all the latest gadgets, so it is worth it.

     What if your child said, Yes, they ridicule me at lunch and playtime, and in the class they tell me I’m stupid, but I want to fit in so I get along with them? I know they curse me and hate me, but they also make me laugh and keep me entertained so I don’t want to do anything about it? Besides, everyone else does the same thing?

     My loved ones, do you see how the world is stealing your joy? Do you see how they are stealing your life? They seek to divide you from me and divide you from each other. I am calling you to wake up. As I said in scripture, “awaken to righteousness and sin not.”

     There is great blessing in living in holiness and righteousness. I know you want the same houses the world has and the same cars and the same clothes. I want to give you these things and much more, but it’s how you go about seeking them that makes the difference. You don’t have to bow down to the world to get these things. You can seek me first and seek to live in my righteousness and I will make the world deliver these things to your doorstep. You don’t have to enter into their ways to have them.

     Once again my loved ones. I am calling you out of this slavery. I am calling you to freedom. I am calling you to holiness and righteousness and purity. It’s time to get the darkness out of my church and purify my people.

     I dwell in pure light and if you are going to dwell in me then you will become light also. This is how you separate yourselves from the world. You step into my light and into my love. You keep your focus on me. Don’t look at the world. They have all the money and all the toys and all the fun, and are all miserable. Set your mind on things above. Think about me and how much I love you. Keep your eyes on the eternal and get them off the temporary.

     I am all you need. If you really take time to get to know me and to experience the true love and joy I have for you, then the world could not compete. There are riches and blessings far above all the things of the earth.

     You give them billions of dollars a year to entertain you and you are still bored. You give them billions of dollars for their medicine and they can’t cure a cold, and you give me one once of faith and I can raise the dead. Which is a better choice?

     Once again my beloved, it is time to come out from them and be separate. Let your light shine in this dark world. Take off the cloak of darkness and let your light shine. I have called you to be light in this world so that others can see your light and run to it. I am your light and others need to be able to see me in you so they will come to me.

     Will you do this my loved ones? Will you set your attention on me and take your eyes off the world? Does it really matter what movie they make or what clothes they wear? Are you so excited by the movies they make that you don’t even see that your lives are living movies and the script was written in heaven?

     Does it matter if your car goes from zero to sixty in four seconds or six? Are you in that much of a hurry that you can’t leave a minute early?

     Are you impressed with a new phone every six months, and never think about how in the spirit realm you are connected to me and to each other, and could learn to communicate with me and each other, without any devices at all?

     Are you impressed with a CEO who sits at a desk and not impressed by the king of heaven who sits on the throne of heaven? Are you impressed by your bank account or by the account you have in heaven that pays eternal dividends?

     My children, wake up and realize that all you see in the world is a distraction to keep you from seeing me. They are blinding you with deception so that you can’t see how much you are loved and how precious you are.

     Take just a moment and close your eyes. Look inside your own heart. Here I am. I live in you. Living right here inside you longing for your attention. Patiently waiting for you to take your eyes off the world and look into my eyes. Don’t you see me with your heart my loved one? Yes, you do. Look at me. Take a long look at true love and true wealth and know who you are.

     You are not like the world. That is why you can’t fit in there. You are my righteousness and my holiness. You are loved and chosen and a holy nation. The world has told you that you are just like them, but this is a lie. You know in your heart you are not like them and no matter how much you trust them and buy what they are selling you will not fit in with them. Light does not mix with darkness.

     They deceive you and bully you because they are afraid of you. They know who you are and they are terrified that you will learn the truth and tear down their kingdom. Well my loved ones, it’s truth time. Wake up and see who you really are and come out from them.

     You are not of this world. Your citizenship is with me in heaven. You are an invading force that is about to mobilize. You are about to tear down the enemy’s house of cards that he built upon sinking sand of lies and deceit. Once you are awake you will laugh at how easy it is to tear down his kingdom.

     Look into my eyes my beloved, and turn your hearts toward home. I am calling you and singing to you and pouring my grace into your lives so that you can find your way home. I am your home my children. I love you and I long for you to be safe with me. I will teach you how to live holy in an unholy world. Lean on me. I am all you need.



     This was the end of the words he spoke to me at this moment.
I hope you are encouraged by these words.
Until next time,
Grow Rich in His Grace,
I love you all,
michael

     For more information please click the links below:

michael's podcast

michael on iTunes

michael's blog

michaelottministries.org