Abide in My Voice, Live in My Song

     An audio version of this message will be available soon at the link below:

michaelottministries.podomatic.com

     As I was praying for you today I prayed this prayer:

Father, please give me words of encouragement for my brothers and sisters. My heart breaks to know that struggles that some of them are in. I love them so much and would love to share something to lift their hearts today.


     Before I was finished saying “Amen” his voice sweetly came to me and he said:


     My little ones. I want you to take heart and be encouraged. I want to teach you about living in the present in my glory. So many of you are stuck in the past or in the future. Most of your thoughts are on past failures whether they were your failures or others' failures. Others are so worried about tomorrow that you forget you have this wonderful treasure called today. This is why Jesus told you to not worry about tomorrow and why Paul told you to forget the past and press on into today.


     There is a place of rest in me and that place only exists in the now. Today if you hear my voice you can enter my rest. This is how you learn to abide in my presence. It's by focusing on me right here and right now. Totally abandoning all worry and care and resting in my love for you. Jesus said “I only do what I see my Father doing.” See is present tense. His eyes were continually on me. You can learn to live this way also and even greater because of what He accomplished for you


     I told you I am with you always. This means you don't have to wait on me to arrive. I am always with you. I never leave. You were told to seek first my kingdom and all things will be added to you. My kingdom is within you right now. You live in today and trying to live in tomorrow doesn't work. 

     You were also told to consider the birds. They don't plant or sow or build barns. They just worship and sing and live in the moment. This is my rest. No more trying to plan your own future. Trust me to take you there one moment at a time. You don't have to make your own way. I already made it for you. You can rest and enjoy the journey one step at a time.


     You can know the future and still live in the now. Jesus lived that way. Most people look at prophecy and prophetic words they were given and they try to force their way into the future to get there. This is not how it works. Jesus said “ I told you these things so that when they come to pass you will know I told you.” This means prophetic events are like mile markers on your journey. I will take you into all the things I promise you but you can only go there one day at a time.


     One reason that things take so long is that people are so focused on the future that they make no progress today. Each day is a treasure of it's own to be enjoyed. No matter if you think it's a good day or a bad day there is good in each day. Those of you with loved ones who are here in heaven now know that already. Looking back at the time you spent with your loved ones you realize that even the days that were troublesome were still precious because they were spent with your loved ones.


     This is what I am trying to show you. Each day has it's own problems and victories. The journey to where you are going will seem much shorter if you spend every moment of it singing and worshiping and enjoying the journey. If you will learn to live with me right now then all the things of tomorrow will work out. I have great plans for your future. Today was once your future but you spent most of today worrying about tomorrow so it was lost.


     Learn to live in my presence. The reason it is called my presence is because I am with you presently. Jesus told you that Holy Spirit would lead you and guide you into all truth and show you things to come. It is by fellowship with my Spirit that you learn these truths. 

     You are shown the future so that you can trust me and you will know that there is nothing to fear. My perfect love casts out all fear. You can't live in love tomorrow. You can only live in love right now. Love is present also. I loved you long before you were born so why are you worried? Trust in my love and live in my presence right now. Besides if you don't learn how to trust we with the moment you are in how could you ever trust me for the future?


     My loved ones you are my delight and my grace is poured out in abundance to you. Paul asked time and time again for me to take away the thorn in his flesh. I told him that my grace was sufficient for him. In other words he was asking me to do something I already did. My grace was more than enough for the problem he had. He just wasn't applying the grace that was already given.


     The grace I poured out for you was more than enough for your future but you can live in my grace right now in this moment. You don't have to wait for me to do what I already did. This is what I was trying to teach the church in the letter to the Hebrews. Your high priest finished his work and sat down at my right hand. Most of the church believes in a future work and not a finished work. You can enter into my rest and watch the glorious finished works that you were ordained to do pop out of you like fruit on a tree. Or you can struggle and strain to try to produce a dead work that wasn't finished in Christ.


     This is what entering into my rest is about. My works are finished and I rested. You can rest with me and lay down all your struggles and plans and worries and enjoy my rest. You can put your future into my hands and let me take care of your tomorrow. You can learn to live one moment at a time and abide in my presence each moment. Jesus said that I was seeking those who would worship me in Spirit an in Truth. The truth is I am at rest. I want you to enter into the rest called worship and trust me.


     All things point to the resurrection of my son. All the old testament saints looked forward to it and you look back at it. All that you needed to secure your future was finished in Christ. You can't have hope or faith or love tomorrow. But you can have all of those right now. You can't have peace and joy tomorrow. You are not there yet. But you can have them right now. Soon all of your right now's will turn into tomorrow and it will be another glorious day of abiding in my perfect rest knowing that you put all of your life into my hands.


     Faith comes by hearing. Not by what you heard. Hearing is now. Heard is past. You must learn to live in the continuing voice that speaks to you constantly and reassures you that you are safe in me. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from my mouth. This is my constant voice speaking to you and telling you how much you are loved and how I will work all things together for you good. 

     My voice is my rest. Today if you hear my voice. Don't harden your hearts and think I can't take care of you and keep you in my promised land. I speak to you to give you peace. I rejoice with singing over you to give you comfort and rest just as a mother sings to her babies. As long as you hear my voice and listen to me intently you will remain in my rest.


     My beloved ones. Hear me today. Hear me right now. You are loved and you are safe in my hands. You are my plan and my hope and you exist because I love you. You were not created. You were born of my Spirit. You are my offspring. My children. My delight. Your problems don't tell you who you are. Your troubles don't define you. The cross tells you who you are. You are the beloved child that I sent my son to save and he came because he loves you. You are my child and I am always with you, loving you and speaking to you of my delight in you. But you must learn to listen and live in the now. You can't hear me tomorrow. You can only hear me today. Abide in my voice. Live in my song Rejoice in my love for you.




     This is what He spoke to me today and I hope you are as delighted to hear it as I am.
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

Sinner or Saint?

     An audio version of this message will soon be available at the link below:

michaelottministries.podomatic.com

First Corinthians Chapter One


1.This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Sosthenes.

2. I am writing to God’s church in Corinth,to you who have been called by God to be his own holy people. He made you holy by means of Christ Jesus, just as he did for all people everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.


Colossians Chapter One

1.This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and from our brother Timothy.

2. We are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful brothers and sisters in Christ. May God our Father give you grace and peace.

3. We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

4. For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God’s people,

5. which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you first heard the truth of the Good News.

6. This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.

7. You learned about the Good News from Epaphras, our beloved co-worker. He is Christ’s faithful servant, and he is helping us on your behalf.

8. He has told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.

9. So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding.

10. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.

11. We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy,

12. always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light.

13. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son,

14. who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.

15. Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,

16. for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see,
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him.

17. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.

18. Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body.
He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead.
So he is first in everything.

19. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ,

20. and through him God reconciled everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

21. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.

22. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body.

*As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. 23. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. *

Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.




     As I was reading this chapter over and over today I realized just how far we are from the original message of the good news in Christ. The early church understood that they were redeemed and they were perfect in God's sight. Holy and blameless without a single fault. How did we fall so far from this message?


     I know at least a dozen times a week I hear someone say “oh we are just dirty sinners saved by grace.” What an insult that is to the blood of Christ. If he is God, and he is, and he gave his life and poured out his blood to save you and you still think you are just a dirty sinner then you don't think much of what was paid for you. This is a lie and it is false humility.  Did Christ pour out his precious blood so you could be a better sinner? 

     This lie is also an excuse to live a sinful life because we assume we are powerless to live holy. We are made holy by the blood of Christ and just need to learn to live in the holiness he provided. We are not sinners, we are holy people learning to put sin far behind us and stop the old habits of sin.


     I believe this is the crisis in the church. We don't know who we are. We don't know that we are not trying to obtain perfection, we are starting there and learning to live in it. As long as we hear the lie and we don't believe the true message then we will never learn to live as Christ lives.


     We were washed in the perfect blood of Christ and we were once and for all perfected in the spirit and in Father's eyes we are just as perfect as Christ. If we only didn't have lying preachers always telling us different. Being a dirty sinner is not good news. Being born again in the image of God and in the likeness of his son is Great News!


     Isn't it strange how believers will tell you they have been born again and then tell you they are dirty sinners saved by grace. So you were washed in the perfect blood and baptized into Christ and you were raised in him and you are still a dirty sinner? So what was the point of believing if nothing changed? Once again, did Christ die to make you a better sinner? Did he redeem you from sin or didn't he?


     It's time we preach the good news again. You have been born again in the image of the risen Christ. We don't have to become that by works and struggling. We are that by the new birth. All that is necessary is to learn who we are and learn how to live as who we are and put away this identity crisis.


     We as a church have been kidnapped by religion and led to believe we are no different than anyone else. This is why we are powerless. We have believed a powerless gospel. We have believed the lies the religious leaders tell us that we are hated in our Father's eyes and that the best we can do is live a pure life so we can appease his anger. This is so wrong.  

     Here is the truth. For God so loved the world he sent his son. While we were yet sinners God loved us and sent his son to save us. This is not the work of an angry God. It the the work of a loving Father who loved his children so much he had not choice but to give all he had to save us. While we were his enemy he loved us and saved us.
     It's time to wake up. We were adopted into the family of God. We are his beloved children. We don't need to be re-adopted. We don't suddenly get thrown out of the family each time we make a mistake. We need to wake up and grow up. Remember the scripture we read above that Paul wrote to the Corinthians? Do we not all agree that they had some issues but they were still called holy. Holy is not what you do it is what you became by the blood of Christ. It is how Holy Spirit lives in you.


     I don't have to struggle and strive and try to live holy. Holy Spirit came to live in me to make me holy. Holy Spirit came to lead and guide us into all truth. The truth is that if you believe and are born again then you have been translated from darkness to light. You are no longer a citizen of this world but a citizen of heaven and a child of God. You are holy because you were born into holiness.


     By believing the lies of the enemy that we are just sinners we have lived up to what we believe. If you kidnapped the baby of a king and you told him that he was a poor, useless person who has no inheritance and no family name to live up to then he would grow up to be what he was raised to be. You could tell him that he came from a long line of sinners and thieves and immoral people so that he would never expect to be anything else. He would never live out his royalty because he didn't know who he really was.


     This is what religion has done to the church. They want to stand between us and God when scripture plainly says that there is only one mediator between mankind and God and that is Christ. 

     They tell us that we are sinners and say things like “you know brother, no one is perfect.” “One day when we get to heaven we will all be perfect.”Well that is not what my bible says. It says we were sanctified, justified and glorified already. We are accepted in the beloved. Not only that, but it says that we were chosen to be in Christ before the world was created. We are not poor orphans and we are not accidents. We are God's children on purpose because of his will.


     The scripture plainly tells us that we are what we believe we are in our hearts. It plainly says. “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” This is why religion has told us how terrible we are and how useless we are to heaven. They want us to believe that lie because when we believe the truth we will grow up into our head which is Christ. When that happens we will have no use for religion anymore.


     Once we awaken to who we are and why we are here then things will change. No more living like we are accidents. We will carry out the mission and plan of God just by being who we are. Jesus said “my Father in me does all the works.” So it's not striving and trying to be good that produces good works. It's just Father's nature empowered by his Spirit coming out of us naturally. Once you realize you are a good tree then you will bear good fruit.


     Once we awaken to the fact that we were born into perfection we will live in it. It's not something we have to attain. We started with perfection and are headed towards glory. I am not a sinner trying to become righteous. I am a righteous man learning to stay righteous in a sinful world.


     I am not trying to get clean, I was born clean. I was given a great white robe of Christ's righteousness to wear and I am keeping it clean through fellowship with him. This is what it says in First John Chapter One. It's by walking in the light of who we are and walking with each other in the truth of who we are that keeps the spots off our robe. As we walk in light together the blood of Christ keeps our robe spotless.  I don't try to hide my mistakes from him. I run to him and he reminds of who I really am and I shake the lies of sin out of my life like shaking dust off my robe.

     At church we sing the old song “Just as I am” and tell sinners to come to God just as they are. Then we tell them they better change because God hates the way they are. No wonder the world doesn't want anything to do with the church. We are schizophrenic. Which is it? I am washed in the blood or a dirty sinner. Can't be both at once. If any man be in Christ he is a new creation. Old things have passed away and all things are new. So how can we be in Christ and yet be sinners? This is how we put sin out of our lives. We realize that that old life is not who we are and we no longer want any part of it.


     My beloved brothers and sisters we have to choose. Do we believe the gospel or don't we? The true gospel of Christ has not lost it's glory. It's still the best news ever. The problem is that it has become mixed in with all manner of paganism and worldly beliefs. We must once again believe the truth. I was crucified with Christ but I am alive. He lives in me. My old man died on that cross with him and I was raised to newness of life. The dirty sinner died that day and a holy man came out of that tomb with Christ. We are in him. He is in us. We are children of God and it's time we believed the truth and lived the truth. We can put off the old man because that man is dead. He is not alive and fighting with us. He is dead and should be left in the grave.


     Here is the truth from Romans Chapter Eight:


29. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

30. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified



     All these things are in the past tense. This is who we are. We are not dirty sinners. We are beloved children. We are children chosen of God to bring forth glory to him in the earth. We must believe this truth and hold on to it. Don't be defined by what religion tells you. Be who God made you to be. Be holy, be righteous, be justified, sanctified, glorified. Be the beloved children of God that you are and lets fill the earth with the glory of our God and his Christ.


     This is what our savior died for and rose again for. Not so that we could be struggling sinners, but so that we could be glorious children who demonstrate his loving-kindness to all that are lost. Then they will want to be adopted also.

     Listen to Holy Spirit giving witness to your spirit that you are a loved child of God. Live in his love. Love with his love and be who he made you to be. God is love and you are created in his image. Live like it. Don't try to live in your own holiness. Accept the holiness he provides as a free gift of his love and walk in it. He is our righteousness, he is our life. He is our everything and we are his beloved.


     Remember to live in love and love on purpose. You are precious in his sight. You are holy and righteous and blameless. You are perfect because he made you that way. Wake up to who you are and wake others up also. Arise and shine for your light has already come.


     Thank you for hearing with your heart. Be blessed and thanks to all of you for your prayers and your kind words. It is truly a delight to share this journey with each of you.




     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

You're With Me

Psalm One Hundred Thirty Nine: Verses Thirteen Through Eighteen

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.

You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.

Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.

How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!

I can’t even count them;
they outnumber the grains of sand!

And when I wake up, you are still with me!




Hebrews Chapter Thirteen: Verses Five and Six

Do not love money, be satisfied with what you have,
for God has said:
“Never will I leave you, never will I abandon you.”
So we can say with confidence, “
The LORD is my helper, I will not be afraid, what can mere mortals do to me?”



First Timothy Six verse Twelve

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.




     I know that these verses don't seem to fit together but they will make perfect sense by the time you reach the end of this message.

     I know many of you are going through struggles in life. I feel your pain. I understand completely. I usually don't share many of my personal struggles on this post but I hope that in sharing them you find courage to face life with a smile. For we all go through struggles. I am glad we are going through and not staying in them.


     The last few months has been very difficult for all of us. I am included. Several people whom I love very much left us and moved to heaven. This was after many hours of hoping, praying and fighting with all our might to keep them here. Yes I did have many victories during the last few months but sometimes troubles have a way of piling up on us. Even those of us who are trying to live in faith and by faith.


     There are two kinds of people in this world. There are those who have struggles and there are liars. Anyone who tells you their life is a wonderland all the time is either dazed and confused or just outright lying. The so called faith message has tried to teach us that if we ever confess we have a bad day then we are in doubt. This is not true. Those who deny they have problems are only deceiving themselves.


     Along with all the heartbreak from the ones I lost, I recently fought many health problems. Most of you know that I had surgery to repair broken discs in my neck and have bone spurs digging into my spinal cord. I know Jesus is my healer and I know that it is only by his grace that I am walking and living and breathing. I have seen many miracles of healing in my body including overcoming death by heart attack years ago. I don't understand why we get some miracles easy and some we contend for. The moment I find out I will let you know immediately.

     So along with those problems a few months ago I fell off a ladder from six feet and landed on my back. Broke my sternum, another disc and busted my shoulder, but by God's grace I am still here and still moving forward.


     That is why I am telling you this story. I know it's easy to give up. I tried it. It doesn't help. A few days ago I was laying in my bed in terrible pain. One of the broken discs pressured a nerve that I never felt before. I understand pain but this was beyond bearable. I begged God to let me die and come home. I begged and pleaded and cried and asked him why he didn't take this pain from me. The only reply I got was from loving Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit said “ I am with you."  I replied. “I know you are but this hurts like hell and I can't take it anymore.” Holy Spirit once again said “I am with you.” Once again I said I knew that. This time Holy Spirit spoke to me once more and said “I am with you and that used to be enough for you.”


     Suddenly my heart broke and I remembered when I first encountered Jesus in what we call being born again. I was so full of joy and it didn't matter if you had burned me alive right there I would have died smiling. I was so in love with this person and I didn't need to eat or drink or live or die, I just needed this presence. I realized that my focus was not longer on Jesus, Father or Holy Spirit but my sole focus was on me and my problems. I knew it was time to return to my first love.


     So after weeping a few minutes I repented and said, “Oh my God, my savior, if you will only be with me it doesn't matter if I have to hurt forever. You are with me and that is enough.” In less than a minute I was fast asleep and woke up two hours later and the severe pain was gone and my pain level was bearable again.


     We know that Jesus told us that in this world we would have trouble but to be of good cheer for he has overcome the world. This is where we take comfort. Although we are spiritually complete in him we are still overcoming the physical world and putting things back in order. We can't stop until earth becomes just like heaven. 

     We will never get there if we quit. We must learn to take our joy from his presence and nothing else. Situations change and challenges come and go. We win some, we lose some but let's not lose because we quit. We are victorious because God is with us. If we win it doesn't prove we have faith. If we lose it doesn't prove that we are in doubt. We are in him and he is in us and that is our victory.

     So please my beloved brothers and sisters. Take courage. You may be in the fight of your life but you are not there alone. You may be in the dark but you are not without light. You my feel hopeless but you are not hopeless. You were loved before the creation of the world. You were formed by the hands of the almighty God in the womb of your mother. He wrote all your days in a book before you even arrived. All these hurts and pains are temporary and there will be a day when tears are gone and we are all together again. When every pain is forgotten and all things are complete. Set your minds on that day and be strong.

     So to finish my story. As I got up the next morning after my encounter with Holy Spirit a song came flowing out of my heart. The song is called “You're With Me” I hope you will learn it and sing it also. Thanks again for not being to critical of my homemade recordings. I do hope you enjoy.  

Here is the link to the song. I hope you get comfort from it as I do.

You're With Me Song


     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