American Church

An audio version of this message will soon be available at the link below. There is also a link to the song at the bottom of this page.

michaelottministries.podomatic.com

     Today's message comes with a heavy heart. I wish things were different. I'll just begin with where this message was born. Recently while praying I had a vision. In the vision I was shown the golden arches of a world renowned fast food restaurant. Then beside the restaurant there appeared a beautiful church building and it's steeple was made of gold. I was wondering what this meant. I pondered for a moment and then Jesus spoke to me.

     He said: In one of these buildings you can get a meal. They are always open when you are hungry and they have the prices clearly posted for what it will cost you to eat. For those who have little money they have a meal that you can get for a dollar. It may not be what some call quality food but it is exactly as advertised. Out of the money they do collect they give to many charitable causes, especially for children.

     In the other building they will serve you when it's convenient for them. They are open on Sundays and sometimes on Wednesday and you can give them all the money you can earn and you may still leave starving. They don't want just the change in your pocket they want a percentage of your complete income. They want it all. Out of the money they collect they pay high salaries and buy nice homes and cars and even jet airplanes and take exquisite vacations they even call them ministry trips.

     As I continued to watch I saw the golden steeple fall and break into pieces. People gathered it up and went to the restaurant next door and bought food. Then the vision vanished and was gone.

     I kept thinking about these thing and I wondered on them. Later that day someone sent me a video of a well known television preacher. I won't mention them by name but you would all know the name and unfortunately the video is there for the world to see. In the video this preacher talks about having all those who don't pay their tithes to the church to be lined up and murdered by the ushers for not giving their part.

     When I saw it at first I was angry and then it turned to weeping. Oh the poor people who are trapped in this church. They don't even see that the only value the preacher puts on them is whatever money they can give. They are only worth what they can give to him and nothing more.

     Then the sadness came for the preacher. How could he walk with God and not know that people are God's treasure and when he redeemed us he didn't use money? All the money in the world would not buy one soul. He paid our ransom with the most precious substance in all of creation. It's with the blood of Jesus. This blood was poured out for each man, woman and child who was ever or will ever be born. This makes each person more valuable than the entire universe. It breaks my heart that those who call themselves preachers could not know this.

    And all of this plays out in front of the world who is searching for the way. They see this and all the greed that goes on in the churches and they don't want any part of this message. This hardens their hearts and when someone comes along with the true message of love and grace then they refuse to hear because they think we are only about money.

     It's time to wake up the church. You are being abused by those who say they care for you. If the man who says he cares for you has a fifty million dollar jet and he knows you don't have food for your children and doesn't help, then he is an impostor. If a man who says he cares for you has a twenty thousand square foot home and he knows you are sleeping on the street and doesn't help, then he is an impostor. It's time to stop the abuse.

     Those who have encountered the love of Christ don't need to be told when and how much to give of their money. They become givers by their new nature. It's not about building organizations and buildings and worldly things. It's about building up people and restoring their value to them.

     In the new covenant money isn't given to build organizations, it is given to help poor people and to preach the gospel. Consider what it says in Second Corinthians Chapter nine.

6. Remember this, a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. 7. You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. “For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.” 8. And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. 9. As the Scriptures say,
“They share freely and give generously to the poor.
Their good deeds will be remembered forever.”



     Maybe this preacher should have his ushers go into heaven and shoot the apostle Paul. Did you notice it didn't say anything about giving to build an organization and pay for jets for preachers? It was about giving to the poor.



     It's time to tell the truth to those who are being robbed by preachers who always accuse them of robbing God. They always want to use the scriptures in the Old Testament to guilt people into giving. But even in the Old Testament the tithe was always food and couldn't be money unless you lived too far away to carry the grain and animals. 

     It was food for the priests who couldn't work and for the widows and orphans. Besides it was based on your increase and not your total wealth. If you had one hundred sheep and you had ten sheep born that year you gave a tenth of the increase. Your increase was ten and your tithe was one.



     I'm not saying we shouldn't give. Most everyone I know who has encountered the true message of Christ gives much more than ten percent. They don't have to be encouraged or threatened to give. It's just their new nature to do so. God loves a cheerful giver so if you had to be shamed into giving then you didn't do it cheerfully. A person who only has ten dollars and gives two is much more generous than the preacher who collected a million and gave a hundred to the poor.


     I say these things because we must put the church in order. We will never win the world for Jesus if we live like Judas. It's the poor and broken who are the most abused. They think they will be cursed even more if they don't put their money in a plate. They are barely surviving as it is and church is the only social event they can afford to attend and now they can't go because they don't have anything to give. When they do go they lose the only thing they had and that is dignity. They feel useless because they don't have money to give and money to buy all the books and messages on the book tables.



     I am not saying it's wrong to pay preachers. He who preaches the gospel should live of the gospel and the ox that treads the grain should not be muzzled, but the ox doesn't eat the whole harvest or you would be eating the ox and getting a new one. That's why today preachers have jet planes and Lamborghini's just as Jesus in his day had Gold plated chariot's with thoroughbred horses pulling them and sent his apostles out with reservations at the Hilton. 

   Wait, he didn't did he? He had sandals and walked where he went. And at his meetings he didn't take up a collection but handed out food along with miracles. And, he had the nerve to tell his disciples to stay at whatever house they were welcomed into and not to move about from house to house to be more comfortable.



     Why are these things important? Because the world is watching and they are the ones we are sent out to reconcile unto God. How can we gather them in if we are driving them away? They see the greed and the excess. They are appalled by it and many of them were financially abused at the hands of the so called church. They were promised to give and it would be given to them pressed down, shaken together and running over. They were not told the truth that these scriptures were not talking about money but about giving forgiveness and mercy. Whatever it costs you to walk in love will be given back to you pressed down and shaken together and running over. This is why it says that men will give it unto your bosom. You don't give money to your heart. You give love.



     I know I have probably ranted for too long already. So I'll stop here except to tell you that these events, as they always do ended up in a song that I wrote. It's called American Church. I asked the Lord how he felt and I sat down to write and the song came out.
Thanks for not being too critical of my home-made music which is not recorded in a studio but in my closet or my van or wherever I happen to be at the time. Yes, I know this song is louder than most I write. It's that way on purpose,  hoping that it will be heard.



     Just remember my loved ones. All the gospel is about love. It never was about money. It's about a Father who loves his children so much that he gave all he had to bring them home. It's about a savior who came to save the poor and the lost and the broken and the abused. That is what it has always been and what it will always be. Know that you are loved and help me rescue those who are trapped in these organizations called churches. They are being abused and starved.


     Please also pray for their abusers. Some of them are also trapped in the system because that is what they were taught. With God's help this First American Church and Mercantile will come down and the kingdom will arise. Holy Spirit will once again visit our meetings and pour out signs and wonders of our Father's love. Maybe the reason God doesn't come to the meetings is because he didn't pay tithe to the pastor and he is not welcome. Just a thought.



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


PS: here is the link to the song:

American Church


For more information please click the links below:

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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

Lack is a Lie: Love is The Truth

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

michaelottministries.podomatic.com



First John Chapter Four

16. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

17. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.

18. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.

19. We love each other because he loved us first.




Genesis Chapter Three

8. When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the LORD God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the LORD God among the trees.

9. Then the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”

10. He replied, “I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”

11. “Who told you that you were naked?” the LORD God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?”




     As I was praying today Father spoke some things to me and asked me to write them down and share them with you.

He said:



     My little children. Don't you know that it's fear that separates you from me and from my best blessings for your life. If you will check any area of your life where you are struggling you will find that you have not completely surrendered that part of your life to my love.


    I made man and put them in a beautiful garden. There was no lack and lack was not even considered until fear came in. I didn't leave Adam, Adam was afraid and left me and I went in search of him. He thought he was naked so he became afraid. The thought of not having something brought fear and he hid from me.


     It is the same in each of your lives. If you suffer lack in any area it is because you have not considered my perfect love for you in that area. You must open up that area in your hearts and minds and let my perfect love change you from fear to faith.


     For example: If you are lacking money it is because you are afraid that you might not have enough and that is the cause of generational poverty. You have been taught to see lack and not abundance. 

     Yes there are people who are lacking, but lack is in the mind and heart. It is not actually the truth. For instance. How much food is thrown away each year? How much is wasted? Is there not more than enough to feed everyone? But people still go hungry. Lack is not the problem. Distribution is the problem. My earth grows more than enough to feed everyone. There is not a lack of food. 

     So why do people go hungry? There is no submission to my perfect love. If my whole church was living in my perfect love they would not allow anyone to go hungry. They would find a way to distribute what was needed to where it was needed.


     It's the same with money. The evil one teaches you that the more you make the more safe you are financially. This is a lie. You can be safe with a billion dollars or safe with one dollar because your safety is not in money but in me. Wealthy people go broke and poor people get rich all the time. There is no safety in money. This is where fear is so tricky. It teaches you to trust in riches and not in me. I am your supplier and your supply. How could you lack?

     

     Do your remember that my son sent his disciples out with money and then he sent them out with no money? They prospered either way. He was teaching them that I am the supply and not what you have in your pocket.


     My children, don't believe the lies. By believing that you could be lacking you enter into lack. Just as Adam believed he needed something else to make him wise and it caused him to enter into lack. You are complete in my son. You are not lacking but because you believe you lack you live in lack. You could surrender to my love and know that you are not lacking anything. I have given you all things that pertain to life and Godliness. You don't believe because faith works by love and you have been taught to trust your methods and not to trust my love for you.


     The so called “faith message” that crept into my church taught you rules and regulations. They teach you that if you do this you can have that and if you don't do that you will be lacking. But notice it always comes back to making sure that your money comes to them. The absolute truth is that I feed the birds and I clothe the flowers and I feed and clothe you because I love you. Until you are totally convinced of my love you will live in lack. Until your faith rests in my love it will never be real faith. I loved the world and sent my son to save you because of that love. I didn't save you because I needed your praise or your labor or your money. My only need is you because I love you too much to spend eternity without you.


     Love must be the basis of all that you believe and do. Until you know of my perfect love you will be tormented by fear. Look at how many in the church are tormented by the fear of tribulation and the last days. Most of what they have been taught about these things is a lie. But fear sells and churches use fear to keep their sheep. They built fences of fear to keep the sheep locked up.


     Think of what David said: Did he say, I give money and keep all the rules so I shall not want? No, he said that I was his shepherd so he would not lack. You must learn to trust me as Father and shepherd. The religious church has not shown you that I am Father and shepherd. They teach you that I am score keeper and judge.


    Those of you with children think of it this way. Do you look for reasons to punish your children or reasons to reward them? Look at your refrigerator door. Do you have a list of all the things they did wrong there? Or do you have drawings that you can barely tell what they are hanging there? You call it art because you love your child and you are proud of them because of who they are and not because of their artistic abilities.


     You must learn that I am a loving Father and have faith in my love for you. Once you know me for who I really am then you would never even consider that you could ever be lacking in any area. In any area where there is fear it is only because my love hasn't filled that area. Once it does that part of your life will change.


     Your enemy tells you lies. He shouts to you and tells you that you wont have enough. He tells you that I only loved you enough to save you but not enough to heal and prosper you. He tells you that I provided for you yesterday but today is different. He tells you that if the economy goes bad that you will suffer and do without. He tells you that these are end times and you know that it's the time of wrath and not the time for love. All these things are lies. If I don't take care of you then it makes me a bad parent. Do you really believe that I am a bad parent?


    I send the blessing rain on the just and the unjust. I told you to pray for your enemies and do good to those who hate and persecute you. Do you think I would not do the same? It is my goodness that leads men to repentance. It's time the church show the world just how much they are loved and then they will repent and come home to me. It's time to stop spreading fear and spread the love. But this can only be if you surrender to my perfect love for you. Freely receive and freely give but you can't give what you don't have. Once you understand my perfect love for you then you can share it with others.


     Lack is a lie and love is the truth. Live in the truth. Let my perfect love cast out all fear of lack and any possibility of torment. Know my love and then you live in what I spoke through my beloved Paul to the Ephesian church. You can know my love that surpasses all knowledge and be filled with my fullness. You can be full of all that I am full of only by knowing my love for you. You can't know it by works or by rules and regulations. It can only be known by a heart totally immersed in the love that I have for you. If I did not withhold my only beloved son but gave him freely because of my love for you, do you really think that I would hold anything back from you?


     My loved ones. Just surrender to my love and my love will remove fear and when fear is gone all lack and unbelief will go with it. I love you so much and I would never withhold anything from you. So meditate on my love for you day and night. 

     The cross is the proof of that love. Your circumstances don't prove anything. Just because you are in a dark room doesn't mean you are blind. Just because you are in deep water it doesn't mean you will sink. Just because you lost your house key doesn't mean you are homeless. Present circumstances may be inconvenient but they are not truth. Don't believe the lies of the enemy. If you seem to lack anything it is only because you have forgotten how much you are loved.


    Take a long look at the cross and how much that is eternal proof of a Father's love for his children. Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends. You are loved with the greatest love and the more you consider my love the more you will experience my blessings. Little ones, lack is a lie. Love is the truth.



     This was the end of the words He spoke to me just 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 on the links below:

michaelottministries.org

michael's podcast

michael's blog

michael on iTunes

Three Women

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

michaelottministries.podomatic.com

     Recently while camping and praying Father spoke to me and asked me to write down these words and share them with you.

He said:

     I am looking for a people who will give their whole lives to me. I am looking for a bride for my son, not a date for the weekend. A date goes out and has a nice time at a movie or dinner and then goes about her weekly life. Her heart is not committed and she can change her mind at any time. A date keeps her options open in case something she likes better comes along. She is thinking of clothes and shoes and the latest fashion and making all the right social events. She has no time to think of the things the bride thinks of, like a home to raise a family in, and groceries, cookware and baby beds.


     A true bride loves her husband and tends to him. She makes herself ready for him so that he knows her heart belongs to him. She listens to his words and speaks soft encouraging words to him. A bride is the delight of her husband. All that he does is to show her that she is loved and he cares for her and comforts her and encourages her. He shares his most intimate thoughts with her. He dreams with her of the life they will build together. They become one heart, one mind, one soul and one flesh. These are things you can't do for a date.


     I know this sounds insulting to the modern bride who wants to rule her husband and not rule with him. I am not just speaking about women here. Men don't want to be led by my son either. You are a new creation and there is not male or female. You are all one in spirit and one body of whom my son is supposed to be the head. He is the husband and the church is his beloved, but is he her beloved?


     This is the reason why our enemy attacked the home while you were guarding the church. Home is the best expression of what heaven is, and marriage is the example of my son and his church. In today's church the bride wants to rule it all. She wants the husband to give her what she wants and doesn't care if he gets what he wants. Just because he gave his life and poured out his blood and saved her from hell? What does he think he deserves? She wants the nice house the nice car but how dare he ask that she tell others of his goodness and witness of him and bring forth children in the spirit. He should hire someone to do that and not expect his wife to bear his spiritual children. Oh the nerve of that guy?


     This is how we got into this mess. Hired preachers trying to explain the goodness of a husband that only the wife who is loved can communicate with others. The hireling doesn't know how kind he is and the sweet words he speaks to the bride when they are intimate. He knows nothing of the husbands loving embrace and the strength of his arms around his bride. 

     The hireling doesn't care for the children he helps bring forth for they are just another job he got paid to do. The true bride sees them as babies who look like their father. Babies born out of the love and intimacy with the kindest person who ever lived. The hireling gets them born and he is off to another town to do another job. 

     The bride watches over the children and helps them to grow up into their father's image. She helps disciple them to be in the image of heaven. She delights in his children because her husband delights in her and her delight is in his delight.


     You are the beloved. Even if my son is not your beloved, it doesn't change the fact that he loves you all. Just because you refuse to be my son's bride doesn't mean that he doesn't want you to be. He cares for you deeply and wants to be one with you. So which of these three women will you be? Will you be the date, the modern bride or the true bride? Are you the one for my son or should we keep looking?




     This is 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 podcast

michael's blog

michael on itunes

Not Your Day To Drown

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

michaelottministries.podomatic.com

Isaiah Chapter Twenty Six

Verses Three and Four


You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.


     As I was reading these verses today Father spoke to me and asked me to write down his words and share them with you.
He said:


     My loved ones. Why do you worry? Why do you fret? Is it not because your minds are set everywhere but on me? I know you hear me tell you to focus very often but that is because it is easy to be distracted. You have so many voices and so many events and programs pulling your attention from me.

     You must learn to tune out the enemy and tune me in. You must change channels. Turn off the fear channel and tune in the peace channel.


     I know so many of you are facing struggles and it's hard to keep your minds from wandering there, but you must learn to do this. If you want to be a disciple then the first thing you must discipline is your mind. You must not let it wander into danger.


     For so many it's still the same thing. It's the fear of death that holds your thoughts captive. My son destroyed death. You are already passed from death to life. Your death was on the cross with my son. You are just camped in the hotel you call your body. Your real life is hidden with me in my son. You are not in danger. If you live you live for me. If you “die” as you call it you do not really die. You are in my presence immediately. You are really there now but the blinds in your hotel don't let you see out of the window into my world. It's time to open up the blinds and look into the eternal world that you already live in.


     I hear so many of my children say they don't hear from me or they don't have dreams and visions but it's because you are looking in the wrong place. You can look in your refrigerator all you want but unless your are really messed up your hammer is probably not in there. You can look at the news and into the programming of the world but you won't find my truth there. You must come to me for truth and then go change your world.


     I am the kingdom. The kingdom is inside of you because I am in you. I dwell in righteousness, peace and joy so if you are looking into darkness and gloom and depression you are not looking at me. You must learn to abide in my secret place at all times. My secret place never moves but your mind moves from safety to danger. You follow where your thoughts go. Whatever you think of most often will drive you into the direction of your thoughts. This is why the enemy tries to hijack your mind and your thoughts. You can learn to keep your mind on me and be at perfect peace.


     Consider when my Son and his disciples were in the boat and the sea grew angry. The disciples were focused on the wind and waves and drowning, yet Jesus was asleep in the storm. He had perfect peace. If you can walk on water you won't fear drowning. If you can walk on water then you can sleep on water also and will never sink. Jesus only did what he saw me doing. He knew he was going to the other side of the lake. He knew he had a command from me to do so. He knew he was not going to drown in a storm. He knew his mission was not finished.


     It's the same with you. You know your mission is not done. You know it's not your day to drown. You may be in storms and problems that are like howling winds, but you know you are going to the other side of these problems. You can get there in two ways. You can trust and rest knowing that I am taking you to the other side, or you can call upon the one who is at rest. He will use his peace to still your storm. He is the prince of peace and his peace is stronger than your storm. We would prefer that you would enter into our peace and watch your storm dry up.


     My loved ones. It's not your day to drown. You can learn to be at peace. What if the wind in your storm is not there to destroy you but to air up your sails so you can move forward in your journey? So please take your eyes off the storm and put them on me. Look at my greatness, not your weakness. I am all you need. You can set your mind on me and live in peace or you can look at the world and live in terror. There is nothing you should be afraid of. The most the world could do is send you home. What a horror to have to move out of your house on earth and into your mansion in heaven?What are you afraid of?


     Yet so many of my children think I am causing the storms when I have proved so many times that I am not. You listen to false prophets who tell you that I am judging you for the sins of your nation. They tell you I am destroying cities because of my wrath. Have you considered this? I told you in scripture that I was in Christ reconciling the world to myself not counting men's sins against them. I told you that my son was my lamb that took away the sins of the world. Do you not know that the only way I could hold your sin against you is to look my son in his face and tell him “sorry son, your blood was not enough.”


     Once again my enemy has deceived you. The wages of sin is death but my gift is eternal life. Who is death? When you do wrong you have an enemy who pays you for it. It's not me. How many of you who are parents got up today and decided that since your child told a lie that you will punish them by destroying them and all of their friends with them because they are all guilty? What kind of monster do you think I am? Jesus came that you may have life and that more abundantly. Not judgment and condemnation and punishment. These false prophets who speak the doom and gloom that you feast on are stealing your peace. Turn them off and look into my face and see if you are still afraid of the future.


     Bad days come and go but in every day there is a reason to rejoice. I am with you and never leave you. When my presence becomes real to you then you can live in heaven while going through hell. You can overcome the present trouble by looking into the joy that waits for you. You can build your life on the rock. Jesus is your rock. He came because he loves you. We love you and we are your future. So don't concern yourself with the evil in the world. It will soon cease to be. Look at me and forsake looking into the darkness.


     Consider what I said through my beloved David in Psalm Thirty Seven:


Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
be not envious of wrongdoers!
For they will soon fade like the grass
and wither like the green herb.

Trust in the LORD, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
For the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.

In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;
though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
But the meek shall inherit the land
and delight themselves in abundant peace.



     My loved ones, don't keep looking at the world and expecting to find peace. You look at me and let me deal with evil. Keep your eyes filled with my light and my love and my goodness. Don't worry about things to come. Trust me. Never doubt that I have your best interest in my heart and I hold you in my hand. I will never, ever, ever let you go. Set your minds and hearts to live in me and my peace. I am with you. I am with you in your boat, in your storm. I am here to give you peace. It is not your day to drown.


     This is 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

micahel's blog

michael's podcast

michael on iTunes