by Electra Adams

The  elements of hierarchy hold inclusiveness; it also holds the element of exclusiveness. When we declare Matthew 6: 9 b…Our Father, we declare inclusively. He is our Father: all of our Father, if it is true that we are called as children by His name. The words, Your God imply the fellowship of a friend. A friend is, as Augustine says it, half one’s self.  He is studious and desirous of how he may do his friend good. He promotes his welfare as his own. Jonathan ventured the king’s displeasure for his friend David. God is our friend; therefore, He will turn all things to our good.
There are false friends. Christ was betrayed by a friend. God is a faithful, a permanent friend, and is known as The Best Friend. At a forecast of 90 degrees and cloudy, humans often fail the test. Many deal with their friends as some do with flowers. While they are fresh, they put them in their bosoms, but when they begin to wither, they toss them away. Accordingly, if prosperity shines on men, then friends will look upon them. But if there be a cloud of adversity, they will not come near them. But God is a friend forever! He will never betray you or remove His love from you.
Offenses and adversity will happen to all humans; sooner or later. But betrayal is a choice. It should never become the garments or shoes of a brother or sister. We must put on Christ, having our feet covered with peace, forgiveness and truth. No one makes you lie, become deceitful, or walk in betrayal; not even the devil. He did not have power to make you do anything!! It was in your heart all along; for out of your heart comes the issues of life.
This week let us walk away from legal lies and remember to do unto others as we will have them do unto us…for it truly won’t matter under any circumstance who started it, know that we do reap what we have sown. If you want to be forgiven you must learn to be merciful and forgiving! Get out of your comfort zone, there is a world of darkness waiting on your light!
Have a great week!

Understanding Revivification

You may have heard the story of three churchmen who were discussing what they would like people to say about them at their funeral?  One of the men said, “I want people to say I was a 
great humanitarian, who cared about his community.” The other man said I want people to say “I was a great husband, father and family man, an example for many to follow.” The third man said, “I want people to say as they look into the coffin, ‘look, he’s moving,’ because I would rather be seen then be viewed!!”
And so it goes. All of us want to get to Heaven but none of us want to die. And it is as it should be. Death is not a continuation of life as we know it on earth but a restoration of the soul, a rebirth of new life and a resurrection in God. The Book of Luke in the Bible has something to say on this point. Luke was written to strengthen the faith of all believers and to answer the attacks of unbelievers. Luke shows us our place as Gentile Christian in God’s Kingdom. It is in the 20th chapter of Luke that Christ declares His authority over Humankind and tells the parable of the vineyard and answers questions concerning paying taxes. Jesus tells the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection that marriage is an institution created by humanity and in the world to come we who chose to be saved need not worry about our love ones for we all will be revived in God. I heard a man wanted to visit a church on 29 Wesley Avenue located near a cab stand and a train station. He hailed the cab and said “take me to the nearest church in town.” The driver of the cab came out of the car very much annoyed because the taxi was standing at 29 Wesley Avenue. He opened the door and said to the man, “Mr., this is 29 Wesley Avenue! The man Said, “Okay, but next time don’t drive so fast!”
And that’s the way life is, always in the present. Before we know it we are knocking on death’s door. The truth is we only have the present and until we learn that we can only live in this moment, we will continue to sleep in the past and future and miss the essence of God. Why do we keep missing God? We lose God because we do not understand what it means to be truly revived, restored and reborn in Christ. And until we are born in God, our spiritual life will keep passing us by as we focus on the past that’s gone and the future that may never come.
Since I know this is not the way we want to live, especially as Christians, there are two things we need to understand. First, when we are revived in God we start seeing life as death and death as life. Revivification means being restored, reborn and revived by Christ through His resurrection and victory over death. When we are revived spiritually, we have an opportunity for the resurrection that Christ experienced. When we are reborn we are able to look directly into the truth of our salvation. If we don’t have spiritual understanding, we have to think about things in human terms and we can only have spiritual understanding when we have been revived, restored and reborn in the Lord. The Bible says, “And they can no longer die; for they are like the angels.” This does not make sense in human terms! “And they no longer die and are like angels! These are spiritual terms for spiritual understanding! Who is “they” that can never die? It is those of us revived spiritually in Christ! The “they” are those of us who have made a decision to allow God to transform our life! “They” are those of us who have found the Lord in real time! Why do I say, “real time?” Because until we stop dwelling on the past or future we will not and cannot truly find God! And the past and future dominates our mind and keeps us from finding our soul buried deep within ourselves. Our soul exists only in the present and living in the present is hard to do. When we understand the need for true revivification, we become ready to surrender our whole life to God. Not part-time, some of the time or when we feel like it but all of the time. When we become one with God we become who God intended us to be. This cannot happen without revivification. Again the Bible says, “They,” the same they, “Are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection.”
Unless we experience revivification, we are not able to recognize who God is in us and who we are in God. This is what it means to give our life to Christ! This is the meaning of repentance! This is what forgiveness of our sins is all about! God is ready through our surrender, prayer and meditations to revive, resuscitate and save us right here and right now.

… the day that Noah entered into the ark,
and the flood came, and destroyed them all…”

Our Lord’s Words
in Luke 17:27

Human Government covers the period of time from the Flood to the Dispersion at Babel. While many people refuse to believe the reality of the flood, the fact is substantiated not only by biblical account in Genesis, but by Job 22:15-16, Isaiah 54:9, and numerous New Testament accounts, such as Matthew 24:38-39, II Peter 2:5, and I Peter 3:20.
There are many physical definitive accounts through the ages confirmed by geological evidences that there took place upon this earth a great and sudden violent disturbance that swept over the earth and overcame all existing life. We who are saved have no problem believing God’s Word. Someone once said – “If God said it, that settles it whether you believe it or not.” I fall into that category of human beings. I find no difficulty believing God!
For you non-believers who do not search the scriptures for any reason, try reading about some of the archeological excavation activities at Ur of the Chaldees that turned up a layer of “deposited clay eight feet deep and beneath it the remains of a civilization older than Ur” (The Expanded Panorama Bible Study Course by Eade, Fleming H. Revell Co., New Jersey.) And this is just one example. Space does not permit elaboration.
God’s invitation to all the people of the earth at that time was to “come into the Ark” which symbolized His marvelous mercy and grace. Only Noah and his family took God at His Word and “came into” the mercy and protection He offered. The Patriarch believed God, took Him at His Word, and landed safely after the waters subsided (Genesis 13). Before beginning a new life after disembarking the Ark, Noah built an Altar and offered sacrifice to a Holy God, which pleased Him. God covenanted with Noah in Genesis 9:1-19, giving the human race a new beginning. Did this make them perfect? No! “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
Even Noah, who had found grace in God’s eyes, after having planted a vineyard, partook of the fruit of the vine to the extent that he became drunk and was naked in his tent. His youngest son, Ham, dishonored his father by looking on his nakedness and then calling to his brothers, Shem and Japheth. The two older brothers, with compassion and pity, backed into the tent and covered their father instead of humiliating him.
Eades encourages us to have that same compassion on our Christian brothers and sisters. Instead of criticizing and exposing them for who we think they are, we should follow the example of Noah’s older sons in protecting integrity, for “love covers a multitude of sins.”
So in all of this, God had to deal with Ham’s sin. He did not curse him directly, but his son Canaan was cursed of God because of Ham’s actions. Read it for yourself (Genesis 9:24-27). He then blessed Shem and Japheth. Something you should also read and understand is that Japheth was blessed with a physical (material) blessing and Shem received the spiritual blessing. It would be through Shem’s line that Messiah would come.
The Dispensation of Human Government ends with the Tower of Babel. God had formed the earth to be populated, not desolate of people. Because of man’s disobedience, things changed. Genesis 11:1-4 says the earth was of one language, and sinful men once again found a way to defy God. They built a city and a tower. Their cry was “let us!” We all know when men and women who know not God try to usurp God’s plan, things just go wrong.
The city was called Shinar, then Babylon. Read about Nimrod, the great warrior, the great builder, in Genesis 10, who used his power to lay the foundation of Babylon.
Men have always tried to “work” or “build” their way to Heaven. Genesis 11:15 says “…the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.” God is all-powerful; there is not a human on the face of the earth that can thwart His decisions and plan; and there is no way we can work our way to Heaven.
“So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth; and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth” (Genesis 11:8-9).
Hence, God’s judgment fell and man was scattered, ending the dispensation of Human Government. God’s Word never fails. We must trust Him in everything.

May you walk with the Lord in the Light of His Word.
Victor W. Baugh, Sr., Th.D., Ph.D.
Pastor, St. Luke AME Church
Havana, AL
Author of The Anchor Holds, Victor’s Story
http://www.thatgracemayabound.blogspot.com/ ©2012
That Grace May Abound Ministries International ©2014

I FALL DOWN-BUT I GET UP
This is a song for every follower of Jesus, and I want you to know this is true for all of the children of God. Why do you fall down, I suppose it is Adam-nature, and because of our being the seed of the man Adam his nature surfaces, although one has been born again, by the Spirit of God. The key is one does not have to live under the influence of the old man, because if you have been born again, you have the Spirit of God residing within your spirit, and He has overcome your old man, which is of Adam. AMEN!
Paul wrestled with the old and new, and he explained it in [Romans 7th Chapter]. When you fall, you call on Jesus, realizing your sin was paid for by Jesus, when He died on the cross once and for all. You may be thinking if my sin was paid I do not have any. Yes indeed, the price was paid. You are the one who allowed your enemy to cause you to sin. Therefore, you must say to Jesus, I thank you for paying such a price for me; I have sinned against You Lord. Forgive me. The Lord will forgive you, because He knows the enemy’s (Satan and all his demons), tricks. The Lord will forgive and restore, therefore, do not ever take your eyes off the cross of Jesus, because He paid the price for all your sins. “You fall down but you get up.” Never forget the price Jesus paid to purchase you out of your enemy’s territory. The old man is dead and the new man lives forever in the presence of Jesus and all His Holy Angels. AMEN!
Ephesians 4:17-29, explains to you how to put off the old man and put on the new man. Give close attention to Verses 22 and 24. AMEN!
www.thealmightyeyes.com.