Praising God

You are my God, and I will praise You; You are my God, I will exalt You. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. (Psalm 118:28–29)

Scripture clearly expresses the importance of praising God, but if we do not understand the reason behind it, we lose our foundational basis for praising Him—praise without meaning is empty. We must be sure our foundation is the truth of God in every area, including praise.

 As I read the bible over and over, one thing is consistent throughout and that is the praising of God. Every prayer no matter what time of the day should start with praising God.    Following this example, I have incorporated praises to God prior to every prayer.  I praise Him in my morning devotion. I praise Him prior to prayer during the day, and night.  It is extremely important for me to praise him during first part of the church service.  I call on the Holy Spirit and worship and praise Him.  My position is that the praise portion of the service is the most important part of the service.  It is a time to thank Him, magnify Him, honor Him, glorify Him, bless Him, tell Him how much you love Him, and many other praises.  It is a shame that people come late or miss the praise and worship part of the service.

Thank Him:  Everything comes from God including His Son, our finances, hope, mercy, provisions, healing, etc.  We must show our appreciation by thanking Him over and over.  Ephesians 5:20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Magnify Him: To make Him bigger than anything in Heaven and on Earth.  That we should know that there is none greater than Him.  Ezekiel 38:23  Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.” Psalm 69:30 I will praise the name of God with a song, And will magnify Him with thanksgiving.

Honor Him:  All honor and praise belong to God and no other.  There are none like Him.  Revelation 4:11 “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created.”

Glorify Him:  The dictionary meaning of glory is praise, honor, worship and to give thanksgiving.  It also says renown which means a state of being widely acclaimed and highly honored.  1 Corinthians 10:31 Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Bless Him:  God showers us with blessings when we are obedient to Him.  We honor Him by blessing Him and thanking Him for our blessings.  Psalm 100:4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

Love Him:  Nobody can love us as much as God loves us.  He may hate our sin but God loves us more than you can imagine.  His love is the perfect love and we should embrace this and confess our love for Him throughout the day.  Deuteronomy 11:13 ‘And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

I start out my morning prayer list with the following and I encourage you to do the same with something similar:

My heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus I come before You with thanksgiving and praise.  I bless Your name.  You are great and greatly to be praised.  I worship You, I adore you, and I love You.  I thank You, Father, for clothing me in a robe of righteousness which covers me because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  I thank you God for being our only God.  I thank you for Your son Jesus who died on the cross for our sins.  I thank You for the Holy Spirit that You sent to be our Helper. 

We must recognize that God is our Creator; He is our Lord, and as a result, we should praise Him.  Know that the Lord is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Moreover, we should also praise God for His unending mercy. Salvation is from God, and He has given us many spiritual blessings. Our response should be one of praise and glory to God. After all, the Lord is good, and His mercy is everlasting.

Sadly, there are those who do not want to recognize God as their Creator, because they do not want to be accountable to Him. Their lips say they love Him, but instead, they worship the world. Matthew 15:8 ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.

Thank Him daily in prayer for supplying our daily physical needs. We should also thank Him for the satisfying and refreshing bread and water of life that we received because of His Son Jesus Christ. Songs of worship and thanksgiving also praise God. It is good to sing aloud at Christian gatherings. All are praising the same God with the same words, thinking the same thoughts, singing the same tune. All come before God in the name of the same Savior, filled with the influence of the Holy Spirit. Acts 4:24 So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them. This is Christian unity as it is commonly experienced at its sweetest. However, the child of God can experience even sweeter joys.

We declare He is God Almighty and we PRAISE Him.  Amen!

Fear Tidbits 3 - Lying

 Exodus 20:16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

To “Lie” is: 1. To make an untrue statement.  2. A statement known by its maker to be untrue that misleads or deceives.

We all know what a lie is and we have all lied and we continue to lie.  A lie is a lie is a lie whether small or large.  Why include lies as part of the Fear Tidbits series?  Because lies in one form or another are fear based.  We lie because we are afraid to tell the truth.

Rather than go into a lengthy dissertation, I want to focus on a few bullet points.

• We lie to avoid being found out.
• We lie to build up our credentials whether it is personal or professional.

• We lie to make us more important.
• We lie to deceive.
• We lie to gain an advantage.
• We lie to gain profit and especially in the financial and corporate world.
• You lie when someone asks you how you are doing.  You say fine, but in reality, you are broken.
• Fantasizing is a lie.  Example: fantasizing about winning the lottery.
• Exaggerating is a lie.  Exaggerating is making something larger or greater than it really is.
• We lie to get out of jams.
• Pretending to be what you are not is a lie.
• Making up stores is a lie.
• Making vows can turn into a lie when you don’t carry out your vow.
• We can lie to support your argument or justify your position.
• Gossip can be rooted in lies.
• Accusations can be a lie.  If the accusation is not 100% true, credibility can be forever tarnished.
• Contradiction can be a lie.  Many will come against you and say the opposite of what you say.
• A hypocrite is a liar. A person who believes one way and behaves in another way.
• Kidding/joking can be classified deception.  If you kid/joke too much, people cannot determine if what you say is real or not real.

Satan is the father of lies.  John 8:44 For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.  Satan’s whole existence is based on lies and his goal is to get us to believe in him and his lies rather than God.  Unfortunately, Satan is winning the battle necessitating the second coming of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Whether it is Satan, man and even ourselves, we cannot continue to partake with liars and go unpunished.  Proverbs 19:5 A false witness will not go unpunished, nor will a liar escape. 

 

Exodus 20:16 (TLB) “You must not lie

 

Exodus 20:16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Exodus 20:16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Exodus  23:1 “You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

Deuteronomy 5:20 ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Deuteronomy 19:16 If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing,

Deuteronomy 19:18 And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother,

Psalm 27:12 Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence.

Proverbs 6:19 A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.

Proverbs 12:17 He who speaks truth declares righteousness, But a false witness, deceit.

Proverbs 14:5 A faithful witness does not lie, But a false witness will utter lies.

Proverbs 19:5 A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who speaks lies will not escape.

Proverbs 19:9 A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who speaks lies shall perish.

Proverbs 21:28 A false witness shall perish, But the man who hears him will speak endlessly.

Proverbs 25:18 A man who bears false witness against his neighbor Is like a club, a sword, and a sharp arrow.

Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.

Matthew 19:18 He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’

Mark 10:19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’”

Mark 14:56 For many bore false witness against Him, but their testimonies did not agree.

Luke 18:20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ”

Fear Tidbits Part 2

Yesterday (WED), we went to service and during praise and worship the music leader was led to halt the music.  He felt that someone or more than one in the service had a word and asked them share.  Pastor Jason also encouraged those that had a word to share.  As I listened to three that shared a word, I was strongly led to furiously write down what I was given.  I did not share this in the service but, I want to share it now.

It went something like this:  I sent you my Love, My Son Jesus.  He came to die on the cross for your sins and teach you the ways that lead to salvation.  Yet, you continue believe only what you want to believe.  You continue to compromise My Word.  You have aligned yourself with the fleshly ways of the world and they are contrary to Me.  Your ways are not My ways and your ways will not lead you to My Kingdom.

Now, on to the second part of Fear Tidbits part two.

Fear Tidbits

Hebrews 11:6 (NLT)  And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.  Faith and Fear are equal in this dimension: both demand fulfillment.  Faith will always defeat Fear, because faith is a work of the Holy Spirit.  Fear is a work of Satan.  He now rules a kingdom determined to destroy mankind.  This kingdom consists of many principalities and powers, rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places.  Fear is from that kingdom.

Fear is Satan’s attempt to overthrow God’s plan in the earth, using you to do it.  Feelings of Fear cannot be trusted.

Your hopes motivate you because that is what faith is.  Faith involves God’s plan for you:  what He created for you from the foundation of the world.

Some churches preach what is called a faith message.  But no one can live up to the faith message, because it is really a system of works. Dr. Henry Wright says “It is a form of Witchcraft, due to the manipulation and control motivation.  They use the Word of God to manipulate and control their circumstances.”

There is nothing wrong with using the Word.  The Word of God is true and faith is true, but the faith teaching is based on works.  They teach your well-being is based on how much faith you have and how you are using the Word to get what you want.  Faith is not works.

Hebrews 11:1 (NLT) Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.  Faith is that simple.  Your hopes need to be based on the known will and knowledge of God for mankind in the earth, as revealed by the Word of God.  Knowing the will of God requires reading His Word, because it tells you what His plans are for mankind.

Fear is sin and it has consequences.  Your mind, body, and spirit are responders to your Fear.  Fear will bring torment (1 John 4:18) sickness, and disease (Deuteronomy 28).  Unfortunately, Fear is getting greater and greater and the church as a whole is losing the battle.

In conclusion: Fear will try to create your future.  It projects into the future, based on your past.  It is important that you learn to put aside everything you have been exposed to that controls you and tries to create your future for you.  That could include recognizing what is in your family tree, your memories, philosophies, idiosyncrasies (odd or peculiar habits), and any programming that causes victimization.

Amen.

Tony Sanchez 8-21-14

Fear Tidbits Part 1

Fear

There are several types of Fear in God’s Word.  One is Fear of man.  Others would be Fear of evil and Fear of Death.  In the world, there are thousands of Fears which the world labels as “phobias” or “stressors.”  What we worry about throughout the day is considered a Fear as well.  What does God say about worry?  Matthew 6:34 says “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”  So, if we worry (fear), and the Bible tells us not to worry, it is considered sin.

The level of fear is escalating in the world and the world sees our fear better than we can see our fears.  Fear is sin.  Not only do we sin by fears, but the world also sees our sin by fear. 

Being in the corporate world and the ministry of healing, I see many struggling with the Fear of man.  To fear man is to look to and regard people rather than God.  In other words, Fear of man makes man your god.  What man thinks and says is what is important to you.  In Romans 3:4 Paul says “…let God be true, but every man a liar.”

So if you are going to believe man before God, you are making God a liar and man true.  Proverbs 29:25 says “The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe.”

This scripture equates fearing man with not trusting in the Lord.  One way we fear man in our lives is to hold back from people, because we worry about how they are going to treat us rather than looking to God to protect us.  There is a close connection between the Unloving spirit and the spirit of Fear.

When you have Rejection and Fear of Rejection, you draw back from people.  You do not become transparent with them because you are afraid of Rejection.  Who you are depends on what other people think about you.

If you are looking for other’s approval, you are in trouble.  They think more highly of themselves than they do of you anyway!  That is pride and arrogance and they are not likely to show the love of God to you.

Fear prevents us from expressing God’s love not only to ourselves but to people including our family.  It can lead to us putting more stock in what people think instead of what God says in His Word.

Fear demands fulfillment and the enemy is always there to help bring about this fulfillment.  We need to stand against fear and hold every thought of fear captive and cast down every imagination.  We must take fear from the past, the present, and the future and cast it out in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth who came in the flesh.  In the name of Jesus, I pray and declare victory to the saints over fear.

Amen,

Tony Sanchez, 8-2014

What Do You Confess As Truth Part 5

This is the last in a series of what we confess as truth.  Realistically, we could write an article every week for years on this subject.  As I am exposed to people, I have come to identify an area of brokenness in many people mostly due to how they have been treated.  The first bullet point closely ties into the other bullet points I will share.  A key word attached to these bullets points is fear.  There are thousands of fears that affect our everyday life and if we would just trust in God we would be in a better place.  God says “Do not worry (fear)” Matthew 6:34.  Unfortunately, we constantly worry now and into the future.  We constantly deal with our imaginations on things that may never happen in the future.

 So, let’s get started.

• Rejection/Abandonment/Unloved - We all know the deep sting of rejection, because we are all born with an innate longing for love and acceptance.  The effects of agreeing with rejection can be physically and psychologically devastating.  Rejection that kids experience due to lack of love, lack of involvement of the parents, divorce, abandonment, and rejection from peers. Rejection that adults experience because our parents did not show their love.  Rejection that wives or husbands experience due to lack of communication and love.  Rejections from family and friends. Rejection from our places of employment for lack of recognition or gratitude.  Rejection from our church. Accepting rejection (real or imagined) disagrees with who God says we are.  It places man’s acceptance as more important than God’s and you are telling God that you don’t believe Him when He said that you are worthy. You are saying to God that you would rather believe what other people are thinking of me. Rejection and abandonment will lead us on a desperate search, striving for the love that will complete us.  This love cannot be found in people, places or things, but only in God. That is, in Christ, he chose us before the world was made so that we would be his holy people—people without blame before him. Because of his love, God had already decided to make us his own children through Jesus Christ. That was what he wanted and what pleased him, Ephesians 1:4-5 (NCV).  Believe that God loves you more than anyone can love you and He will not reject you.  Seek His love and use His love as your foundation.  Trust in man and understand that there is always a potential for rejection.

• Betrayal – The definition is to be unfaithful or disloyal.  How many times has your family, friends, and coworkers backstabbed you and it gets back to you?  It is very painful.  Most often we get offended when we should be praying for those who throw us under the bus.  Again, it comes down to whom do we trust.  Are going to trust in what man has to say?  Psalm 118:8 It is better to trust in the Lord Than to put confidence in man.  Easier said than done, eh?

• Self-Hatred – Do you know how many people do not like their selves?  Do you know how many people struggle with self-hatred, lack of self-esteem and guilt?  Are you able to look in the mirror and say I love myself?  How many of you hate to look at yourself in a picture?  How can you not love yourself if God loves you?  He is greater than you.  He, who is the greatest and holiest of all, God the Father, says he loves you.  Under what gospel do we have the audacity to say we do not love ourselves.  If we do this, we make ourselves in opposition to God.  We make ourselves a god unto ourselves.  We deny His statement of love and open ourselves up to the enemy to agree with us.  So instead of hearing God speaking to you, by His Word and by the Holy Spirit, telling you that you are loved and you are okay, you are going to hear this voice coming into your mind telling you how rotten, stupid or worthless you are.  God’s loved us so much He sent Jesus take away all the sins (including self-hatred) of the world.  God wants us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Matthew 22:39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  We love ourselves because God loves us.  Self-hatred is sin and we cannot confess this as truth.

A meme is a unit of memory.  Memes will include everything we have talked about in this series and most every negative memory in your life.  Memes have been programmed in your long-term memory by our enemy and he wants us to follow his thinking all the way to the grave.  Behind spiritually rooted sicknesses and diseases are always feelings, emotions and thoughts.  The enemy is banking on you having these sinful thoughts in your mind continuously.  He wants sinful thoughts to consume you every minute of the day so your thoughts are not centered on God.  He wants to use you as a medium of expression in what you feel, think or say.  Satan wants you to confess all sin as truth.

I think we are getting a clear understanding of what we feel, think, and say can affect us greatly.  We can reverse this by doing a better job of understanding, identifying and acknowledging sin.  We do this by building a stronger relationship with God through His Word and by using the Helper (Holy Spirit) that God the Father sent to us when Jesus left to be with Our Father in Heaven.

Going forward, what are you going to confess as truth?

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Final thoughts:  Many will come to offend us.  God loves all his children and we must understand that we need to love those who offend us.  We have to separate the sin in them and the person God created and loves.  We can love them and hate the sin working in them.

Thank you for taking time to read what I send out.

God’s blessings to you all,

Tony Sanchez

What Do You Confess As Truth? – Music Part 4

Recently, I removed all the music that I had on my phone that does not praise God.  I had many artists including the greatest rock and roll band ever, Led Zeppelin.  Some other included Al Green, Linda Ronstadt, Shania Twain, etc.  I had to determine if this secular music was what I confess as truth. 

Music is a large part of any culture.  Music existed from the very beginning of time.  God Himself is the originator of music. In Job 34:4-7, God speaks of when he “laid the foundations of the earth…When the morning stars sang together.”  Ezekiel 28:13 says of Lucifer “The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created.”  Lucifer had been had been an anointed cherub with immense musical ability.  But Lucifer wanted to like the most High.  He has devised many close counterfeits of God’s truth.  One of his most subtle perversions has been to corrupt God’s music.  He does not want anyone else to be a chief musician.  You can understand why Satan tries to bring down people in the music ministry.

God’s music will bring life and health to the body, soul, and spirit.

Isaiah 12:2 sums it up “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; ‘For Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song.”  In 1 Samuel 16:23 it says “And so it was, whenever the spirit (distressing) from God was upon Saul, that David would take a harp and play it with his hand. Then Saul would become refreshed and well, and the distressing spirit would depart from him.”  Satan’s music, on the contrary, seeks to “steal, and to kill, and to destroy (John 10:10).

God’s music will emphasize the melody, not the harmony or rhythm.

Ephesians 5:18-19 says, “but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.”  Isaiah 23:16 tells us to “Make sweet melody, sing many songs.”  There are three parts in a musical composition: the melody, the harmony, and the rhythm.  Melody is the essence of music.  The melody carries and reinforces the words; therefore, God’s music will emphasize the melody and its words, not the harmony or the rhythm. The word “music” comes from the word “muse” which means to “think.”  A song’s words make us think; too much harmony can distract from this.  A loud dominant rhythm sets the flesh moving, which in some cases can feed our fleshly nature.

The devil’s music emphasizes a loud, hypnotic rhythm, and has little melody and very little meaning.  It feeds the flesh and not the spirit.  Many of the secular songs out there have beat of the Shaman which has a trance effect on the mind.

God’s music will contain scripture references that teach and admonish.

Christian music is not entertainment.  Christian music is spiritual “food.”  The book of Psalm 98 verse 4 says to “Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.”  Colossians 3:16 says to “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”  A Christian musician should be a student of the Word of God!  Young people today can quote the lyrics of contemporary Christian music, but often cannot quote the Holy Bible. 

Much contemporary Christian music omits the Lord Jesus Christ and God with pronouns such as “he,” “him,” or “you.”  How can anyone writing God’s songs omit Jesus, Holy Spirit, and God?

God’s music will be spiritual, not sensual.

Ephesians 5:18-19 equates walking in the Spirit with singing spiritual songs.  It says, “but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.”  A Christian is born again of the Spirit.  In 1 Corinthians 14:15 Paul tells us, “I will sing with the spirit.”   Therefore, Christian music should feed the spirit, not the flesh.  The Sprit and the flesh are contrary and opposite (Galatians 5:17).  They are enemies.  God’s music will give us things to think about that are pure and godly. 

Godly music will praise God, and not draw attention to the singer.

Hymns are about HIM!   Psalm 28:7 tells us, “And with my song I will praise Him.”  Psalm 66:2 Sing out the honor of His name; Make His praise glorious.”  Praise redirects our thinking to God’s power and not our circumstances.

On the other hand, the devil’s music will redirect the worship to man (or false god), and not to the Lord.  You can hear the audience at a concert practically worshipping the singer.  John 12:43 says to such things, “For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.”  Have you ever felt in your spirit, a member or leader of a praise group was just putting on a show? The song can at times be almost irrelevant.  The focus is on the person and songs have become performance driven, rather than a message.  Christians are to draw attention to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, not to themselves.

God’s music will be sung and played by Christians who live by the book.

In the Bible, God did not allow just anybody to be his musicians.  When He chose his musicians in the Old Testament, he specifically chose the Levites, who were separated for the service of the sanctuary.  The priest were also chosen from the Levites.  1 Chronicles 15:16 tells us “Then David spoke to the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers accompanied by instruments of music, stringed instruments, harps, and cymbals, by raising the voice with resounding joy.”  We cannot choose ourselves to be in the music ministry.  You must be chosen by God.

Music is an expression of the heart.  Beautiful voices are a “dime a dozen,” but beautiful hearts are more precious than gold.  Your music, singing and worship must be led by the Holy Spirit and it must praise God.

Again, what do you confess as truth?

Blessings to you all,

Tony Sanchez, 5-22-14

What Do You Confess As Truth – Un-forgiveness, Part 3

We all are all offended on a regular basis and many times the offense can cause bitterness and anger which results in un-forgiveness.  God says to forgive their trespasses and He will forgive you.  “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  Matthew 6:14

Forgiveness means dismissing a debt.  When you grant forgiveness, you dismiss the debt owed to you.  When you receive forgiveness, you debt is dismissed.  (You are released from any requirement for repayment).  When you grant forgiveness, you dismiss the debt from your thoughts.  Jesus expressed the heart of forgiveness when he said “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you” (Luke 6:27).

Forgiveness is dismissing your demand that others owe you something, especially when they fail to meet your expectations, fail to keep a promise, and fail to treat you justly.  Jesus said, “If someone strikes you on the right cheek turn to him the other also” (Matthew 5:39).

There many misconceptions when the word forgiveness is mentioned.  Some think forgiveness is the equivalent of excusing sin, saying that what was wrong is now right.  To correct any confusion, we need to know what forgiveness is not!

• Forgiveness is not trying to avoid complying with God’s justice.  It is allowing God to execute His justice in His time and way.
• Forgiveness is not waiting for the “time to heal all wounds.”  It is clear that time doesn’t heal wounds.  Some people will not allow healing.
• Forgiveness is not letting the guilty “off the hook.”  It is moving the guilty from your hook to God’s hook.
• Forgiveness is not the same as reconciliation.  It takes two for reconciliation, only one for forgiveness.
• Forgiveness is not excusing unjust behavior.  It is acknowledging that unjust behavior is without excuse, while still forgiving.
• Forgiveness is not explaining away the hurt.  It is working through the hurt.
• Forgiveness is not based on what is fair.  It was not “fair” for Jesus to hang on the cross, but He did so that we could be forgiven.
• Forgiveness is not being a weak martyr.  It is being strong enough to be Christ like.
• Forgiveness is not stuffing your anger.  It is resolving you anger by releasing the offense to God.
• Forgiveness is not a natural response.  It is a supernatural response, empowered by God.
• Forgiveness is not denying the hurt.  It is feeling the hurt and releasing it.
• Forgiveness is not being a doormat.  It is seeing that, if this were so, Jesus would have been the greatest doormat of all!
• Forgiveness is not conditional.  It is unconditional, a mandate from God to everyone.
• Forgiveness is not forgetting.  It is necessary to remember before you can forgive.
• Forgiveness is not a feeling.  It is a choice – an act of the will. 

To forgive means to release your resentment toward your offender. 

• To release your right to hear “I’m sorry”
• To release your right to be bitter
• To release your right to get even

 

To forgive is to release your rights regarding the offense.

• To release your right to dwell on the offense
• To releaser your right to hold on to the offense
• To release your right to keep bringing up the offense
• To release the right to keep a record of wrongs they have done to you.

To forgive is to reflect the character of Christ.  Just as God is willing to forgive us, we are called to forgive others.

• To forgive is to extend mercy.  The same mercy God extends to us over and over again.
• To forgive is to give a gift of grace.
• To forgive is to set the offender free.  Most importantly, to set you free.

If you struggle with forgiving others, understand how much God loves you and continually forgives you.  I pray that you will be compelled to forgive others as God has forgiven you.  “The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against Him.”  (Daniel 9:9)

Forgiveness is dismissing, canceling, or setting someone free from the consequences of falling short of God’s standard.  Un-forgiveness is sin and the penalty for sin is spiritual death.  The penalty for sin (our debt) was paid for Jesus through His sacrificial death on the cross. “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:14). Therefore, instead of being separated from God, we can have our debt dismissed by God and experience eternal life in heaven.

I pray that you would stop what you are doing this very second and ask yourself who you need to forgive so God can forgive you.  Matthew 6:14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

Again, we need to ask the question, “What do you confess as truth?” 

God’s blessings on you all,

Tony Sanchez

Reference:  Forgiveness – The Freedom To Let Go by Jane Hunt

What Do You Confess As Truth? - Accuser of the Brethren

Who is the “Accuser of the Brethren (Revelation 12:10)?”  Job 1:6-2:7 gives you an idea of who Satan is.  Satan is an opponent, or the Opponent; the hater; the accuser; adversary; enemy; one who resists, obstructs, and hinders whatever is good.  Since Satan is the Hater, he is totally opposed to God, who is love. 

We must understand that Satan the Accuser makes every attempt to push his agenda on us and our culture.  In other words, he wants us to be like him and I must say that he is doing a good job because many of us don’t think that we accuse.  I like to call this agenda the spirit of accusation.

What does the dictionary say about accusation:  It means to blame, to charge with a fault or offense.  Some related words are:

Defame – to harm the reputation of someone

Slander – making a false spoken statement that causes people to have a bad opinion of someone (Prov 19:9)

Incriminate – to cause someone to appear guilty

Blame – to find fault.  This is prevalent in our culture.  Blame others instead of looking at self.

Condemn – to say someone is bad or wrong

Reproach – a cause of shame

Can we take time to retrace our steps and review what comes out of our mouth?  Have you on occasion when talking to another person judged, slandered, gossiped, offered your negative opinion, accused, blamed, caused shame, or condemned someone or something (Church) no matter how slight?  Do these words represent the spirit of accusation in you?  Are we any better than the “Accuser of the Brethren” if we confess this as truth?  For those who have spouses or best friends and think that you can do these things in the privacy of your house, you may want to search the Bible to see if you are exception to what God says.

The things that come out of our mouth affect the physical causing sickness and disease.  Pleasant words are health to the bones (Proverbs 16:24 Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones).  Bones hold the marrow that produces white cells that fight sickness and disease.

We have all been guilty of being the accuser of the brethren.  It is time to examine ourselves and change our ways (Lamentations 3:40 Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the Lord).  If what we say does not bring Glory to God, then don’t say it.      

Revelation 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.

So, it comes back to this question:  What do you confess as truth?

Many blessing to you all,

Tony Sanchez

What Do You Confess As Truth?

I want to do a series of tidbits on the subject of what we confess as truth.

Your Words:  What comes out of your mouth establishes life and death to us.  We can be thinking in our heart, and it can be just temptation.  When we speak it out of your mouth, you establish it in the heavenlies.  The only one that can tear these words down is you.  Your words are either life or death, blessings or curses (Deuteronomy 28).  You shall reap what you sow.  If you sow unto death, you shall reap death.  If you sow unto life, you shall reap life.  Your reality is established by the words of your tongue.  Luke 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Take time to listen what is being said on television, movies, and real life conversations.  Evil words are being spoken and it has become normal to a point of us not recognizing what evil we are speaking.

The Bible says every word that has been spoken shall stand against you in the Day of Judgment.

Matthew 12:36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.

What you speak must match your heart and God knows what is in your heart (Psalm 44:21 For He knows the secrets of the heart).  What is in your heart should be the Word of God.  What you say in your heart should be what God has said about every matter.  The way you think on the inside should be what you speak out of your mouth.

Example:  When you say to someone, “I hate you,” you have established a spiritual dynamic that needs to be dealt with or else it stays there forever, waiting to be fulfilled.  It may have started as an offense to you but progressed to anger, un-forgiveness, hatred, and to a point of murder of the tongue or the physical.

The only antidote to the evil words we say is true repentance,

God, I repent.  I pull down from the heavenlies all the evil words I have spoken.  I put them under the blood of Jesus for forgiveness of sins, and I ask to be delivered from the curse of my words, Amen.

That is the only way that we can be free of those words standing in condemnation and judgment against us in the judgment day.

Blessings to you all,

Tony Sanchez

Healing in the Name of Jesus

Isaiah 61:1 (TLB) The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed (chosen) me to bring good news to the suffering and afflicted. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted, to announce liberty (deliverance) to captives, and to open the eyes of the blind.

I am part of two healing ministries as I have shared with you recently.  The most recent is the Healing Room at Faith Bible Chapel.  This is not something I decided to pursue just because I made a decision to join this ministry.  I’ve had a heart to bring healing to God’s people for many years, but I had to wait for God’s timing to allow me to be part of the healing ministry.  God is in control, not me.

God had to prepare me for this ministry.  Over the course of the past eleven years He allowed me to receive teaching, training, education, and experience needed for this ministry that included:

• Spiritual Warfare – Knowing the enemy in the spiritual realm and how they come to destroy for 11 years.
• Pastoral teaching – Pastor Lou and others for the past 11 years.
• Spiritual root cause of disease – Three and one half years.
• Learning the love of God and how His love came in the form of His son who is the great healer.
• Being brought into brokenness for 3 years that allowed me to experience humbleness to do this work.

So, although I wanted to heal people, it took 11 years of preparation before God presented the opportunity.  First with the healing team at the altar prior to service at Redeemer Temple the last 4 months and now with the Healing Room Faith Bible Chapel. 

The key to where God wants us to be in ministry is to wait on the Father to put us where He wants us to be.  He knew the passion I had for the needy, but He had to prepare me and I thank Him for doing this for me.  Praise Him.

I go out into the world and know without a doubt that God can and will heal and allows us to heal.  He gives us power to and authority to do this as it says in the Great Commission. 

Mark 16:15-18 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.  He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.  And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

He tasks every one of us as disciples of Jesus Christ to carry out the Great Commission.  This is not an option.  Why are there so few when we need all the help we can get for all that are suffering? 

Thank you for hearing my story.

Tony Sanchez

The Coming of the Lord. Are You Ready?

My favorite part of the Bible is the Old Testament prophets.  I was reading in the book of Isaiah and the following Scriptures is the subject of this piece.

The Day of the Lord

Isaiah 2:5-22 (TLB) 5 O Israel, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord and be obedient to his laws!  6 The Lord has rejected you because you welcome foreigners from the East who practice magic and communicate with evil spirits, as the Philistines do.  7 Israel has vast treasures of silver and gold, and great numbers of horses and chariots 8 and idols—the land is full of them! They are man-made, and yet you worship them!  9 Small and great, all bow before them; God will not forgive you for this sin.  10 Crawl into the caves in the rocks and hide in terror from his glorious majesty, 11 for the day is coming when your proud looks will be brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted.  12 On that day the Lord Almighty will move against the proud and haughty and bring them to the dust.  13 All the tall cedars of Lebanon and all the mighty oaks of Bashan shall bend low,  14 and all the high mountains and hills,  15 and every high tower and wall,  16 and all the proud ocean ships and trim harbor craft—all shall be crushed before the Lord that day.  17 All the glory of mankind will bow low; the pride of men will lie in the dust, and the Lord alone will be exalted.  18 And all idols will be utterly abolished and destroyed.  19 When the Lord stands up from his throne to shake up the earth, his enemies will crawl with fear into the holes in the rocks and into the caves because of the glory of his majesty.  20 Then at last they will abandon their gold and silver idols to the moles and bats 21 and crawl into the caverns to hide among the jagged rocks at the tops of the cliffs, to try to get away from the terror of the Lord and the glory of his majesty when he rises to terrify the earth.  22 Puny man! Frail as his breath! Don’t ever put your trust in him!

In this Scripture we have a warning and unfortunately we, as the Body of Christ, are not heeding this warning.  We are in the last days and we must understand that there is a duality in this prophecy.

Many people find the subject of prophecy to be the most fascinating aspect of Bible study, and they show an intense interest in it. Some scour the newspapers, books, magazines, television for the latest tidbit that fulfills their favorite prophecies.  Unfortunately, few understand the vital keys to understanding the prophecies of the Bible, and causing many of them to be wildly misunderstood.

One of these keys to understanding prophecy is the fact that most prophecy is dual in nature. Throughout the Bible, we see duality in many things. God made a material creation and a spiritual creation (Genesis 2:1-4 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.   And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.  Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. This is the history[a] of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens). The first Adam was physical, and the second Adam, Christ, is spiritual (I Corinthians 15:45-47 And so it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being.”  The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual.  The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven). The Old Covenant was based on physical descent and physical blessings and cursing. It was followed by the New Covenant, which is spiritual (Hebrews 8).  At the first coming of Christ, He came in the weakness of flesh; when He comes again, He will be a powerful spirit Being.

A list of everything in the Bible that demonstrates duality would be a very long list. So it is with the prophecies, most of which consist of two predictions: a type and an antitype. The type, usually a relatively minor event in history, symbolizes a major, often end-time event that will occur later. The major event is the antitype.

However, we must keep in mind that not all prophecies are dual. God's predictions regarding the fate of ancient city-states such as Tyre, Sidon, Ashkelon and others do not appear to have an antitype. In general, it seems that God has chosen to use the duality principle in those prophecies which deal directly with His people Israel or with the church (spiritual Israel).

The principle of duality in prophecy is especially important to God's church today. Many prophecies in the New Testament predicted the great apostasy which took place in the church toward the end of the first century

Acts 20:29; For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

II Thessalonians 2:3-12; 3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.  Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?  And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.  For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.  And then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.  And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

II Timothy 3:1-8; But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:  For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,   unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,   traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!  For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts,   always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.  Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith;

4:3-4;  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;  4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables

Jude 3-4; Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.  For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ

All of these prophecies are dual. The falling away from the revealed truth of God that occurred in the first century is a type of what is happening today in the church. We are witnessing some of these prophecies being fulfilled!  Duality in prophecy is being demonstrated in our lifetimes before our very eyes!

Today, we understand that the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 was a type of the Great Tribulation which will occur in the time immediately preceding the second coming of Christ. We can see that He actually prophesied two events. Jerusalem's destruction was the type, and the Great Tribulation is the antitype.

For this reason, we must be keenly aware of this important principle of understanding God's Word. We must be constantly on our guard, watching prophesied world events, as well as those unfolding in the church, lest we be caught unaware. Listen to the urgent warning that Jesus Christ gave to all of us who are living in the end time.

I see a Church that is a “Feel Good Church.”  We wake up each day and do what feels good to us according to our understanding.  Some days we read the Bible, praise God, and pray a little.  Many days we don’t.  We fail to grasp the importance of reading His word constantly and how it relates to our Salvation.  The Salvation that allows us to enter into the Kingdom of God.

You can see the church of today in Revelation 2 and 3.  It describes the seven churches: Loveless, Persecuted, Compromising, Corrupt, Dead, Faithful, and the Luke Warm Church.  Unfortunately, all seven reside in the church we attend.  Which of these churches described in Revelation will ensure your entry into the kingdom of God?  What church pertains to you?

Blessings to you all,

Tony Sanchez