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Imagine you were God – all alone – nothing but you and space. Wouldn’t you want to have others around to keep you company? So you decide to create some other beings. You want to have some intelligent conversation and relationships, so you create them with freedom of choice. Things are perfect. You have a wonderful universe with no problems. Then some of your created beings decide they don’t want to do things your way. They rebel and want to run the universe, instead of obeying you. Suddenly there is no peace. What do you do? Realizing you must preserve order and protect those who didn’t rebel against you, you decree judgment on the rebels. But they accuse you of unfairness – saying you’re not qualified to judge them – that you don’t know what it’s like to live under your rule. This accusation cannot stand unanswered if you want to preserve peace and order in the future. So you choose to allow a “jury trial” to decide the rebels’ fate. But who can be on the jury? It can’t be those in...

The answer to this question is that you should ask until you get the answer. When you believe you have the answer, it would be silly to ask again. But how should you determine when you get the answer? What evidence will you require to believe you have the answer? What will God have to do before you will believe He has granted your request? Will God need to send an angel to tell you your request is granted? Will you have to wait until all the circumstances change and everyone sees the answer show up in your life? Or, will you simply accept God’s Word as sufficient evidence to believe God has granted your request? Jesus said in Mark 11:24 that we are to believe we receive the answer when we pray. The key to receiving from God is not long praying, but faith. What we believe is what makes the difference. God gave us the Bible to change what we believe, so we could know His will, pray in agreement with His will, and therefore have confidence that our requests are granted. MATTHEW 6:7...

Pleading the Blood of Jesus is not begging – but a legal term. REVELATION 12:10-11 NKJ 10 … the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. The devil is our accuser. The only successful plea is the Blood of Jesus. Pleading our ignorance, our innocence, or our merits will fail. Only relying on the Blood of our substitute sacrifice, the Lamb of God, will win our case before God the Judge. When we pray, we should base our prayer on the Blood of Jesus – the price paid for our needs to be met – instead of on our need or our worthiness. When we resist the devil, we cannot resist him based on who we are or what we have done, but only on the price paid for our complete redemption – the precious Blood of Jesus. Faith in Jesus’ Blood, released in testimony against the devil, will always cause him to flee. We mu...

1 JOHN 4:4 ICB 4 My dear children, you belong to God. So you have defeated them because God’s Spirit, who is in you, is greater than the devil, who is in the world. This message is simple and has two parts: God is greater than anything, and because you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, He lives in you. How can anyone argue with the fact that God is greater than any problem? God, the Creator, is above ALL. Nothing is too difficult for Him. Most people believe this. The second part is more difficult to believe: God is in you. Yet, that is the message of the Bible to believers. JOHN 14:16-17 NKJ 16 “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever– 17 “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 1 CORINTHIANS 6:19 NKJ 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, a...

Imagine you were God – all alone – nothing but you and space. Wouldn’t you want to have others around to keep you company? So you decide to create some other beings. You want to have some intelligent conversation and relationships, so you create them with freedom of choice. Things are perfect. You have a wonderful universe with no problems. Then some of your created beings decide they don’t want to do things your way. They rebel and want to run the universe, instead of obeying you. Suddenly there is no peace. What do you do? Realizing you must preserve order and protect those who didn’t rebel against you, you decree judgment on the rebels. But they accuse you of unfairness – saying you’re not qualified to judge them – that you don’t know what it’s like to live under your rule. This accusation cannot stand unanswered if you want to preserve peace and order in the future. So you choose to allow a “jury trial” to decide the rebels’ fate. But who can be on the jury? It can’t be those in...

The answer to this question is that you should ask until you get the answer. When you believe you have the answer, it would be silly to ask again. But how should you determine when you get the answer? What evidence will you require to believe you have the answer? What will God have to do before you will believe He has granted your request? Will God need to send an angel to tell you your request is granted? Will you have to wait until all the circumstances change and everyone sees the answer show up in your life? Or, will you simply accept God’s Word as sufficient evidence to believe God has granted your request? Jesus said in Mark 11:24 that we are to believe we receive the answer when we pray. The key to receiving from God is not long praying, but faith. What we believe is what makes the difference. God gave us the Bible to change what we believe, so we could know His will, pray in agreement with His will, and therefore have confidence that our requests are granted. MATTHEW 6:7...

Pleading the Blood of Jesus is not begging – but a legal term. REVELATION 12:10-11 NKJ 10 … the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. The devil is our accuser. The only successful plea is the Blood of Jesus. Pleading our ignorance, our innocence, or our merits will fail. Only relying on the Blood of our substitute sacrifice, the Lamb of God, will win our case before God the Judge. When we pray, we should base our prayer on the Blood of Jesus – the price paid for our needs to be met – instead of on our need or our worthiness. When we resist the devil, we cannot resist him based on who we are or what we have done, but only on the price paid for our complete redemption – the precious Blood of Jesus. Faith in Jesus’ Blood, released in testimony against the devil, will always cause him to flee. We mu...

1 JOHN 4:4 ICB 4 My dear children, you belong to God. So you have defeated them because God’s Spirit, who is in you, is greater than the devil, who is in the world. This message is simple and has two parts: God is greater than anything, and because you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, He lives in you. How can anyone argue with the fact that God is greater than any problem? God, the Creator, is above ALL. Nothing is too difficult for Him. Most people believe this. The second part is more difficult to believe: God is in you. Yet, that is the message of the Bible to believers. JOHN 14:16-17 NKJ 16 “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever– 17 “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 1 CORINTHIANS 6:19 NKJ 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, a...

Imagine you were God – all alone – nothing but you and space. Wouldn’t you want to have others around to keep you company? So you decide to create some other beings. You want to have some intelligent conversation and relationships, so you create them with freedom of choice. Things are perfect. You have a wonderful universe with no problems. Then some of your created beings decide they don’t want to do things your way. They rebel and want to run the universe, instead of obeying you. Suddenly there is no peace. What do you do? Realizing you must preserve order and protect those who didn’t rebel against you, you decree judgment on the rebels. But they accuse you of unfairness – saying you’re not qualified to judge them – that you don’t know what it’s like to live under your rule. This accusation cannot stand unanswered if you want to preserve peace and order in the future. So you choose to allow a “jury trial” to decide the rebels’ fate. But who can be on the jury? It can’t be those in...

The answer to this question is that you should ask until you get the answer. When you believe you have the answer, it would be silly to ask again. But how should you determine when you get the answer? What evidence will you require to believe you have the answer? What will God have to do before you will believe He has granted your request? Will God need to send an angel to tell you your request is granted? Will you have to wait until all the circumstances change and everyone sees the answer show up in your life? Or, will you simply accept God’s Word as sufficient evidence to believe God has granted your request? Jesus said in Mark 11:24 that we are to believe we receive the answer when we pray. The key to receiving from God is not long praying, but faith. What we believe is what makes the difference. God gave us the Bible to change what we believe, so we could know His will, pray in agreement with His will, and therefore have confidence that our requests are granted. MATTHEW 6:7...

Pleading the Blood of Jesus is not begging – but a legal term. REVELATION 12:10-11 NKJ 10 … the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. The devil is our accuser. The only successful plea is the Blood of Jesus. Pleading our ignorance, our innocence, or our merits will fail. Only relying on the Blood of our substitute sacrifice, the Lamb of God, will win our case before God the Judge. When we pray, we should base our prayer on the Blood of Jesus – the price paid for our needs to be met – instead of on our need or our worthiness. When we resist the devil, we cannot resist him based on who we are or what we have done, but only on the price paid for our complete redemption – the precious Blood of Jesus. Faith in Jesus’ Blood, released in testimony against the devil, will always cause him to flee. We mu...

1 JOHN 4:4 ICB 4 My dear children, you belong to God. So you have defeated them because God’s Spirit, who is in you, is greater than the devil, who is in the world. This message is simple and has two parts: God is greater than anything, and because you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, He lives in you. How can anyone argue with the fact that God is greater than any problem? God, the Creator, is above ALL. Nothing is too difficult for Him. Most people believe this. The second part is more difficult to believe: God is in you. Yet, that is the message of the Bible to believers. JOHN 14:16-17 NKJ 16 “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever– 17 “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 1 CORINTHIANS 6:19 NKJ 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, a...

Imagine you were God – all alone – nothing but you and space. Wouldn’t you want to have others around to keep you company? So you decide to create some other beings. You want to have some intelligent conversation and relationships, so you create them with freedom of choice. Things are perfect. You have a wonderful universe with no problems. Then some of your created beings decide they don’t want to do things your way. They rebel and want to run the universe, instead of obeying you. Suddenly there is no peace. What do you do? Realizing you must preserve order and protect those who didn’t rebel against you, you decree judgment on the rebels. But they accuse you of unfairness – saying you’re not qualified to judge them – that you don’t know what it’s like to live under your rule. This accusation cannot stand unanswered if you want to preserve peace and order in the future. So you choose to allow a “jury trial” to decide the rebels’ fate. But who can be on the jury? It can’t be those in...

The answer to this question is that you should ask until you get the answer. When you believe you have the answer, it would be silly to ask again. But how should you determine when you get the answer? What evidence will you require to believe you have the answer? What will God have to do before you will believe He has granted your request? Will God need to send an angel to tell you your request is granted? Will you have to wait until all the circumstances change and everyone sees the answer show up in your life? Or, will you simply accept God's Word as sufficient evidence to believe God has granted your request? Jesus said in Mark 11:24 that we are to believe we receive the answer when we pray. The key to receiving from God is not long praying, but faith. What we believe is what makes the difference. God gave us the Bible to change what we believe, so we could know His will, pray in agreement with His will, and therefore have confidence that our requests are granted. MATTHEW...

Pleading the Blood of Jesus is not begging – but a legal term. REVELATION 12:10-11 NKJ 10 … the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. The devil is our accuser. The only successful plea is the Blood of Jesus. Pleading our ignorance, our innocence, or our merits will fail. Only relying on the Blood of our substitute sacrifice, the Lamb of God, will win our case before God the Judge. When we pray, we should base our prayer on the Blood of Jesus – the price paid for our needs to be met – instead of on our need or our worthiness. When we resist the devil, we cannot resist him based on who we are or what we have done, but only on the price paid for our complete redemption – the precious Blood of Jesus. Faith in Jesus’ Blood, released in testimony against the devil, will always cause him to flee. We mu...

1 JOHN 4:4 ICB 4 My dear children, you belong to God. So you have defeated them because God’s Spirit, who is in you, is greater than the devil, who is in the world. This message is simple and has two parts: God is greater than anything, and because you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, He lives in you. How can anyone argue with the fact that God is greater than any problem? God, the Creator, is above ALL. Nothing is too difficult for Him. Most people believe this. The second part is more difficult to believe: God is in you. Yet, that is the message of the Bible to believers. JOHN 14:16-17 NKJ 16 “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever– 17 “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 1 CORINTHIANS 6:19 NKJ 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, a...

Imagine you were God – all alone – nothing but you and space. Wouldn’t you want to have others around to keep you company? So you decide to create some other beings. You want to have some intelligent conversation and relationships, so you create them with freedom of choice. Things are perfect. You have a wonderful universe with no problems. Then some of your created beings decide they don’t want to do things your way. They rebel and want to run the universe, instead of obeying you. Suddenly there is no peace. What do you do? Realizing you must preserve order and protect those who didn’t rebel against you, you decree judgment on the rebels. But they accuse you of unfairness – saying you’re not qualified to judge them – that you don’t know what it’s like to live under your rule. This accusation cannot stand unanswered if you want to preserve peace and order in the future. So you choose to allow a “jury trial” to decide the rebels’ fate. But who can be on the jury? It can’t be those in...

Pleading the Blood of Jesus is not begging – but a legal term. REVELATION 12:10-11 NKJ 10 … the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. 11 “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. The devil is our accuser. The only successful plea is the Blood of Jesus. Pleading our ignorance, our innocence, or our merits will fail. Only relying on the Blood of our substitute sacrifice, the Lamb of God, will win our case before God the Judge. When we pray, we should base our prayer on the Blood of Jesus – the price paid for our needs to be met – instead of on our need or our worthiness. When we resist the devil, we cannot resist him based on who we are or what we have done, but only on the price paid for our complete redemption – the precious Blood of Jesus. Faith in Jesus’ Blood, released in testimony against the devil, will always cause him to flee. We mu...

1 JOHN 4:4 ICB 4 My dear children, you belong to God. So you have defeated them because God’s Spirit, who is in you, is greater than the devil, who is in the world. This message is simple and has two parts: God is greater than anything, and because you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, He lives in you. How can anyone argue with the fact that God is greater than any problem? God, the Creator, is above ALL. Nothing is too difficult for Him. Most people believe this. The second part is more difficult to believe: God is in you. Yet, that is the message of the Bible to believers. JOHN 14:16-17 NKJ 16 “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever– 17 “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 1 CORINTHIANS 6:19 NKJ 19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, a...

Imagine you were God – all alone – nothing but you and space. Wouldn’t you want to have others around to keep you company? So you decide to create some other beings. You want to have some intelligent conversation and relationships, so you create them with freedom of choice. Things are perfect. You have a wonderful universe with no problems. Then some of your created beings decide they don’t want to do things your way. They rebel and want to run the universe, instead of obeying you. Suddenly there is no peace. What do you do? Realizing you must preserve order and protect those who didn’t rebel against you, you decree judgment on the rebels. But they accuse you of unfairness – saying you’re not qualified to judge them – that you don’t know what it’s like to live under your rule. This accusation cannot stand unanswered if you want to preserve peace and order in the future. So you choose to allow a “jury trial” to decide the rebels’ fate. But who can be on the jury? It can’t be those in...