God thinking X1 - Tough Truths 5

"In all of us there is a sense of expectancy that God will redeem our spoil with a touch of spiritual healing or financial healing or marital healing. 

We believe in divine’ healing, not magical healing.  Most of us know without a doubt that God does and can heal at will.  We gladly agree in faith with God’s Omnipotence.

But how reluctant we are to adhere to His plan for our lives when it calls for self-discipline, hard work, patience, perseverance or change.

 
When we are forced by physical impairment, we cling with hope that God will supernaturally intervene and save us from our current condition, but when all is well, we have a tendency to ignore the things that God placed here to keep us well and healthy."

Excerpt from God Thinking XI - Tough Truths by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2012

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"3 John 2, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in good health, even as thy soul prospereth.”

We have an entire generation of people who do not abide by the basic principles of nature, but they want all the blessings of nature.  We abuse our bodies and eat whatever pleases us.  We do not practice the natural laws of God concerning the foods we eat, the water we drink , or air we breathe.  We don’t always practice good eating habits that nurture healthy bodies. 

As the years quickly pass by, and the abuse continues, there comes a time when the flesh cannot keep fighting off the constant aggravation of poor habits.  

If there is no resolve to fight back and find a better way, a better diet, a more natural medicine or a more disciplined lifestyle, there will come a time when we will reap what we sow."

Galatians 6:7, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
 

Excerpt from God Thinking XI - Tough Truths by Keith C. Powell copyright 2012

God thinking X1 - Tough Truths 3

"God thinking proposes that true faith is knowing that within the mind of God rests the fullness of understanding.  And we are OK with that.

I know that many claim to have it all figured out and I have no dispute with them.  But I have something figured out too.  God is not pleased when you think you know all there is to know about God. 

God doesn’t want you to trade in your faith, (the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen), for a lordship of sorts, where God is all figured out and there is an answer to every question.

Some of us  want a Jesus who responds on command, like He is our slave.  No, the Jesus of the scriptures is the one who walked on water.  He is the one who heals the sick and saves souls.  He is the one who loves unconditionally.  He it is who gives grace.  I am going to put my trust In Jesus, without conditions.

Faith was never meant to force the hand of God.

Faith was meant to accept what God allows with thanksgiving.  Your understanding is found in your trust in God’s Sovereignty.'

 

Excerpt from God Thinking XI - Tough Truths by Keith C. Powell copyright 2012 

God thinking X1 - Tough Truths 2

"True faith trust’s God. (Period)

Remember the words of Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him:” Job 13:15

It is not your God nature that has to see the outcome always come out as you would have it.  God thinking matures you to understand that God will not be contravened, nor will He, nor has He disclosed all of Himself to you at any time. 

There is no question that there would be a great deal more healing if there were a great deal more faith. But true faith is about trusting God despite the outcome, (it is not in having to always get what you think should be the outcome)."
 

Excerpt from God thinking X1 - Tough Truths by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2012

God thinking X1 - Tough Truths 1

"God Thinking keeps “on top” the things that God blesses.  God Thinking believes God.  But God thinking takes us to a dimension that not only believes the impossible, which it does, but to be sound in our understanding, also. 

God thinking has expectations about God that only God can fill, and rightly so, but God thinking does not move with the trend or the wind, it is dependent on sound truths, truths that can be understood through our experience and by faith.

Healing or receiving anything from God must be understood the same way.  Some say that they have found a formula for being healed or receiving from God, and if you are not healed or do not receive what you want, it is because you do not have the faith to be healed.  Even though it is true that sometimes (healing or receiving) is held back by a lack of faith, even the most faithful of all don’t get everything they want, they can get sick, and they  will someday grow old and die, (in the flesh). 

When it comes to healing or receiving anything from God, God thinking reminds us that there will always be an undiscovered mystery surrounding God’s sovereign control."

 

Excerpt from God Thinking X1 - Tough Truths by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2012

God Thinking X - Deep Calls Unto Deep 8

"Matthew 20:33 V33 “They say unto Him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened.”

Is it spiritual to ask for something for yourself?  Of course it is.  And you should do more of it, according to the will of God.

Matthew 20:34
V34 “So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.”

Jesus opened their eyes.  I don’t believe that crying out is some kind of spiritual formula to get what you want from God, but I do believe that there have been many times in your life when you were in the presence of God and did not cry out because  there were people around you or because it might embarrass you, and because of it, you missed a brief and intimate encounter with God.  And you missed what could have been yours if you had cried out and asked.

God says ask.  God wants you and I to reveal your deepest thoughts and express your most precious goals to Him, (not so that God will then know what He doesn’t know, but so that you can show your love and trust and dependency in God.  Then God can fill your tomorrow’s with today’s prayer of faith.

 Excerpt from God thinking X - Deep Calls Unto Deep by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2012

God Thinking X - Deep Calls Unto Deep 7

"We all get confused sometimes about what to pray for, what to ask God for.  That’s OK.  Everybody does.  But a good rule of thumb is:

Listen to your Father in heaven.

Hear what God is saying to you.

It will help you to know what to pray for.

 

Allow the Spirit within to seek the deep things of God and follow your leading as it is revealed to you by the Holy Spirit.  The deeper the relationship, the wiser the prayer.

 

One more thing to remember - Don’t under-pray.  It shows little faith and trust in God when you under-pray.

 

Do you remember what James says about under-praying?

 

James 1:5-7

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

V6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.  For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

V7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.”

Two more things of great importance:

1      When you pray, you must be careful NOT to pray for what sounds good or what others want to hear.

We do that once and a while, but less is better.

Now take a minute and look back and you can see where God was telling you to pray one way about this or that, and you prayed another.  Even while you were praying, you could sense that what you were asking for didn’t seem right, but it sounded like the right thing to pray for, or it was what you thought you wanted. 

You need to follow the Spirit’s leading.  You need to quit trying to please men or say things to be heard.  God is looking for you to pray with wisdom.

2      No more teaching during prayer. 

We need to quit trying to instruct others while communing with God.  Prayer, all prayer is direct communication with God.

God is not pleased when you try to persuade others or put others down when you are supposed to be in pure reverence before God.

 

 

Luke 18:9-14

“And He spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others.

V10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. (Of the three sects of prominent societies of Judaism;  the Pharisees, Sadducees and the Essenes, the Pharisees were by far the most influential.  These were the religious leaders of the time.  And a publican was a local tax collector for the Roman government.

V11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.

V12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.

V13 And the publican , standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.

V14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

God thinking requires that you think about what you say when you pray to Almighty God.  You should be praying with faith directly to God, not trying to teach others or make others feel like they are of a lessor sort.  "

 

Excerpt from God thinking X - Deep Calls Unto Deep by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2012

God Thinking X - Deep Calls Unto Deep 6

"Matthew 20:32

“ And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do for you?”

If you recognize God in your midst and you reveal your insufficiency, (cry out), Jesus the Christ will answer and say, “What will ye that I should do for you?”

Don’t think it unusual that Jesus answers the plea of a contrite heart.  Jesus seeks the call of faith to reveal Himself.

Listen to the words of scripture.

2 Chronicles 16:9a

“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him...”

Matthew 7:7-11

“And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

V8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”

V9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

V10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

V11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto you children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?”

Hebrews 11:6

“But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”

Psalm 37:5
“Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass.”

Faced with the question, “What will ye that I should do for you?”  What would your request be?"

Excerpt from God thinking X - Deep Calls Unto Deep by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2012

God Thinking X - Deep Calls Unto Deep 5

"Matthew 20:31b

“but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.”

 

There is a thousand reasons why you do not cry out when you see Jesus passing you by, but all the reasons for not responding only serve to keep you poor in the things of God.

 

So many people fall short at that very moment when they could break through into a special union with God, because they are listening to the crowd that says, hold your peace.

 

Or they are listening to their own hardened heart, that says,

 

“You’ll embarrass yourself in front of these people.” 

Or, “if I cry out for Jesus, they will all know that I am a sinner.”

Or they will all know that I need something. 

 

Your in good company, we all occasionally fit the category of needing something from God.

 

Right here is where God thinking can really help the believer.  God thinking knows that God wants you to be whole and to be whole you will have to allow God to work in you and through you.

 

When you are blind, God thinking cries out for sight, to glorify God. 

 

When you see pride or a self-righteous spirit in yourself, God thinking cries out, break me, Oh Lord, that I might glorify you.

 

Whatever the need, God thinking cries out early and gets the need filled by God, despite the crowd.

 

You can never receive from God, what you do not have, unless you are willing to ask, (cry out) not just when it’s convenient, but when it’s inconvenient too."

 

Excerpt from God thinking X - Deep Calls Unto Deep by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2012

God Thinking X - Deep Calls Unto Deep 4

"Matthew 20:31a "And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace:”

 

What I’ve seen is, that when the hungry, the empty, the desperate man or woman see God in their midst, they want to cry out.  They cry out from a raw, natural void in themselves that see that they can be filled with just a touch of the Master’s hand.  They know that their blindness cannot be healed apart from a touch from God.

But there is two groups of people telling the two blind men not to cry out and to hold their peace.

1      The unbelieving, faithless and powerless.  Those who see Jesus as a nice man, nothing more, nothing less.  They say hold your peace, because they want to keep things the way they are.

2      The self-righteous religious.  Those who have made themselves comfortable under the blanket of religion.  This group also told the blind to hold their peace.  After all such blatant outbreaks could disrupt our plans.  Tell those blind men to shut up Jesus is here.  Keep those kids outside, Jesus is here.   

'When , Oh vain man, when will you seek me apart from man’s approval.'

We need to be careful in our thinking concerning our interpretation of (self-righteous religious).  Not everyone who is part of a Christian denomination is self-righteous religious. 

There are self-righteous religious in every church, denominational and non-denominational, but most people who attend church are not self-righteous.  They are genuinely seeking fulfillment in Christ.  Most church members are truly unaware of their denomination’s agenda.

They simply want to worship God and they do so, in spite of the self-righteous religious that are among them."

The self-righteous religious are those who think they are better than others because of what they believe.  They wield what God gave them as if they had earned it.  They forgot they were saved by grace.

It’s not just the grumpy, grouchy, stagnant denominationalist that are self righteous.  There are many free-spirited, even Pentecostal’s, who also take on this spirit of superiority.

Anyone who thinks themselves better than someone else, because they have something that someone else doesn’t have is full of pride and pride is the root of self-righteousness.

Excerpt from God thinking X - Deep Calls Unto Deep by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2012

God Thinking X - Deep Calls Unto Deep 3

"God thinking never has to look elsewhere to be fulfilled.  With God thinking you are fulfilled by your constant communion with Christ.

God thinking has a high and lofty view of God.

God thinking takes advantage of the moment and everyone benefits.

God thinking demands that you follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and that you allow God to move you, despite the unbelief that is ever present around you.

Matthew 20:30-34

“And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.

V31 And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.

V32 And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do for you?

V33 They say unto Him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened.

V34 So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him.

 Again let’s read verse 30

“And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.

First: Don’t ever think that you are not needed for the spreading of the gospel.  The great commission is not the great suggestion.

Had not someone told these two blind men about Jesus, Jesus could have passed by without their even knowing it.  Jesus is here, among us and you must tell the blind, (the blind in sight and the blind in spirit) that Jesus is here. 

Somebody, has told everybody, who has come to the Lord, that the Lord was passing by (near) and aren’t you glad for that somebody that told you Jesus was (near).

Second: When you recognize your total inadequacy (blindness) and you recognize God’s All-Sufficiency you cry out. 

You cry out for mercy to the All-Merciful God. 

When you see that God has what you need or desire, you should cry out.

In your blindness you too should cry out.  But I am not sure that we are that hungry for what God has that we do not have.

Healing a person’s blindness is not a difficult task for God.  Healing your blindness is not a difficult task for God. 

But if Jesus were coming to town (in the flesh) to hold a healing seminar, would you be there?  Would you push forward and cry out for a touch from God?'

 

Excerpt from God thinking X - Deep Calls Unto Deep by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2012 

God Thinking X - Deep Calls Unto Deep 2

"God thinking is looking to see what God is doing, right now,  right here, where you are at, today, and starts to do what God is blessing. 

 

How would you like to be doing what God is blessing? - To be totally in line with what God planned for this century, this millennium, this day, this hour.

God thinking puts you in the right place at the right time, because God thinking teaches you to walk in faith.  Faith trust’s that God knows what He is doing, and listens carefully to the voice of God and then moves on it without hesitation.

I am convinced that had you responded in faith early on, things would be different today, but even so, tomorrow is prepared to provide what faith believes today.

Your tomorrow’s are filled with the substance of things hoped for today.  What is your faith building?"

 

Excerpt from God Thinking X - Deep Calls Unto Deep by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2012

God Thinking X - Deep Calls Unto Deep 1

"Here’s an important precept of God thinking. 

God thinking doesn’t stop thinking God.

• Despite the negative.
• Despite the barriers.
• Despite the naysayers.
• Despite the dead ends.
• Despite the doubt.
• Despite the impatience.
• Despite the trials and tribulations.
• Despite the hypocrites.
• Despite our friends and family who shake their heads at us.
• Despite our sickness.
• Despite the impossible.

You will praise & worship and thank God, because faith doesn’t give up. 
God thinking perseveres in faith until your dream, goal or task at hand is fulfilled.

• Faith doesn’t quit, ever.
• Faith doesn’t stop believing God when things get tough.
• Faith doesn’t stop following God when mankind lets us down.
• Faith sets its eyes on God.
• Faith doesn’t look around to see who is looking, when God is present. 
• Faith doesn’t need to see the answer to know who holds the answer.
• Faith trusts God to work in it and through it until it is accomplished.
• Faith is the fuel that keeps God thinking aflame."

Excerpt from God thinking X - Deep Calls Unto Deep by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2012

God Thinking IX - Drawing Closer To God 10

"God designed the Church to be the one place where you could be moved by His Supernatural presence, without being embarrassed or ill thought of.  But over time, our leaders have led us to believe that we all need to worship God the same way, and so man decided how we should look and act when God is present, thus (denominations). 

Can I tell you that I do not believe I can tell you how to act when God is present.  When the Almighty visits you and speaks to you, please let go and let God have His way.  God desires such to worship Him. 

For too long, we have allowed the faithless, the unbelieving, and the lukewarm to set the bar by which we reveal our love for Christ.  You can start in the privacy of your home or some very special place to let God have His way with you.  Let go and let God reveal Himself to you.  Ask God to reveal Himself to you and He will, but be ready to fall like the prophets of old."

 

Excerpt from God Thinking IX - Drawing Closer To God by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2012 

Footnote: Denominationalism has its place.  All of the mainline Christian churches provide a safe and productive atmosphere to find your place and serve God.  You should find your place and serve God in your church and in most instances there will be no conflict between a genuine encounter with God and continuing to serve in your current denomination. But church affiliation was not and never will replace a personal encounter with God.  After you have had a personal encounter with Holy God you will be of greater spiritual service to God and man and that can be in your current denomination.  To be fully invested in a denomination without a personal experience with Christ has no spiritual value, nor does it have any eternal value, nor can you be grafted into God's kingdom through your religious affiliation or by any act of any priest or other spiritual representative.
 

God Thinking IX - Drawing Closer To God 9

"Your relationship with God is to be solely based on His revelation of Himself to you. 

Religion has through the centuries and throughout the world, even today, created doctrines of men, that have painstakingly reduced God.  It was and is a tragic mistake to see God as anything other than Himself.

But this one thing I know, when you do see God as He is, in Christ, by faith and revelation of the Holy spirit, God thinking becomes even more important. 

• You will revel in your relationship with God like never before. 
• You cannot help but bow to Him in humble adoration.
• You cannot help but worship Him and Praise Him.
• You cannot help but love His Church.
• You cannot help but want to be like Christ.
• You cannot help but believe His Word.

You must purge or push down any and all thoughts of God that you learned from man - and put “on top” revealed God. 

I cannot explain God, nor can I teach you what God wants to teach You of Himself."

 

Excerpt from God Thinking IX - Drawing Closer To God by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2012