God Thinking LVII - The In-between times 3

God has in mind that from today forward - the in-betweens, all the way to the ending, will be filled with joy and peace - loaded with blessing of every sort - more than enough money - peace in the household - joy in your spirit - fulfilled in your work - delighted with your circumstances - excited about your possibilities - able to overcome your obstacles - power over each and every thing that stands in your way to a quiet and peaceful life.

Don’t let another day go by, where you believe the lies and the deceit of the enemy.

We’ve seen enough of too little for too long.

Too little money

Too little peace

Too little joy

Too little willpower

Too little true happiness

Don’t believe the enemy. 

he is a liar and the father of lies.

There is no truth in him.

he has no authority that you and I do not give him, but I don’t need to tell you how many times we gave him fuel to work with or we gave him the authority to reap havoc in our life.

Life without God at the center of your being is like being sand in a windstorm. 

You know what it is like without God at the center of your being, without God in control of your daily walk.

Until you have come to the place where you truly believe that life is distinctly different with God in control of your life compared to when you were in control of your life - you will not seek for God to have pre-eminence in your life."

Excerpt from God Thinking XLVII The In-between Times by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2014

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"But the endings and the in-betweens......

I’m not going to talk about the endings much, because, I believe that a thorough examination of the in-betweens will give answer to the endings, but even if not, let’s leave the endings for the ending.

 Most of us have come to know the in-betweens of life as:

• Less than perfect
• Not quite what we thought it would be or not at all what we thought it would be
• Less of what we thought we were going to get and more of what we hadn’t even thought we would get
• We thought it would take less time to get where we are
• and we thought it would take a lot longer to get where we are, depending on how we look at it.
• At one time, we had in mind a stable and somewhat trouble free journey
• We thought that taking a vacation with our family or friends once or twice a year was something that our employer prepared for us and encouraged that we would pursue.
• We thought that war and terrorism and suicide bombers were something that happened elsewhere
• Some of us even talked of moving here or there to escape the violence as if there was such a place.
• Who would have ever thought that we would become dependent on prescription or illegal drugs ?
• Who could have ever convinced you that alcohol would someday rule our life?
• Who would have ever dreamed that priest, in charge of the sacraments of God would ever stoop to such disgusting and low behavior as we have recently heard about?
• Who started a business thinking that in just a few short years, the thing they loved to do would starve them out and cause them to go bankrupt?
• Who goes into a marriage thinking that someday their husband won’t be bringing them flowers anymore or that their wives would rather be with someone else.
• What teen or young person do you know thinks that they might someday have to work at a job they hate, marry somebody they don’t love and end up living in a run down ghetto?
• Who do you know goes into a marriage thinking that some day they might not be able to see their own kids.
• What teenager stays out late thinking that something really bad is going to happen to them?
• Who among us started a family with even the slightest inclination that someday it would be broken into pieces?
• Who starts out a relationship with someone, knowing that someday that person will become their enemy?
• Which one of us had any idea that we would turn back toward the thing that is destroying us?

Can you see what I mean about the in-between times now?

None of us started out thinking that our in-betweens would be so filled with - to be nice, - unpredictables and less than desirables.

Excerpt from God Thinking XLVII The In-between Times by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2014

God Thinking XLVII - The In-between Times 1

"Every now and then you need a fresh new look at life. 

• You need more assurance than before that everything is going to be OK. 
• You need to sense God in your everyday situation more than ever before.
• You need to be comforted in your loneliness, your despair, and in your time of need.
• You don’t need to hear hollow words that somehow are supposed to make you feel good. 
•  You need the power of God running through your spiritual veins, enlivening you and enlightening you and empowering you.
•  You need a fresh start on a new journey and this is the first day. 
• And you need to start it off right. 
• You need plenty of fuel, plenty of funds, good transportation, and a place to go that lights you up like a baby with a new toy.

You currently have everything you need to get started on a new and exciting journey:

A journey that brings a smile to your face, laughter in your heart and joy to your spirit.

A journey that has a beginning and an end and an in-between like no other in-between that you have ever been in.

Most journeys have a decent beginning. 

Things start out alright. 

Most of the time you start out thinking that even though you might not have perfect circumstances, things will be OK.  Usually you start out with some hope that what you started you will be able to finish and in most cases you hope that the journey won’t be half bad either. 

But the endings and the in-betweens......???"

Excerpt from God Thinking XLVII The In-between Times by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2014

God Thinking LVI - No Stale Bread Here 8

"We are not pawns in a battle between God and satan, little mindless people being manipulated without a will of your own, being tossed to and fro by demon bullies and comforted by elflike angelic beings.

You are children of the most High God, created in the image and likeness of God, heirs to the worlds and all their splendor.  You have at your fingertips the blueprint for building a full and satisfying life, alive with mystery and adventure and supernatural communication with Almighty God.

You were not abandoned by God when He gave you free will - you were empowered to overcome and to be renewed with wings like the eagle.

You were not called to seek the crumbs from the table - you were called to the feast by the Master Himself.

You were given your intelligence so that when you go to God in prayer, together you move mountains and alter destiny’s.

I tried to say this in so many ways, but every time God urged me to say it like this:

The beautiful things in life are found at the place of submission to God - that place where your inner man is in agreement with the things of God so that your outer man can reveal the shenikah glory of God.

Excerpt from God Thinking LVI - No Stale Bread Here by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2014

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"If you really want to be miserable, just mix up life by trying to be worldly on the inside and spiritual on the outside or worldly on the outside and spiritual on the inside.  It will eventually tear you apart. There will be constnt division, in your marriage, with your children, in relationships, with family, at your workplace, inside your own self.

James 1:8, "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways."

How do you get what’s on the inside and what is revealed on the outside to coincide?

How do we get the victory in the battle between the flesh and the spirit?

You speak words from your mouth, and you think thoughts in the meditation of your heart, that are acceptable in the sight of your Lord."

Excerpt from God Thinking LVI - No Stale Bread Here by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2014

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"Matthew 15:8-9

 8.  “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

 9.  But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”

Matthew 23:27-28

 27.  “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

 28.  Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”

You have learned how to reveal with your mouth what you want people to think about you - when what people think of you has no bearing on your eternal destiny.  But who you are inside, in your heart, has everything to do with your eternal destiny.

It’s not just your eternal destiny that is at stake, your quality of life is contingent upon the accurate linking of what is in your heart and what proceeds from your mouth. 

Romans 10:10

 10.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Your spouse knows who you really are.

Your children know who you really are.

Because when you are pressed, you are revealed.

You need to pray to God that you will yield your will, your inner man and your outer man, totally to the things of God.

You need to pray that what comes from your mouth (your outer man) and what resides in your heart (your inner man) is acceptable to God.

It is easy to get entangled in the world and tricked into thinking that you can be two people at the same time - (One Actively seeking God with reverence and awe and the other finding fulfillment in worldly pursuits.)"

Excerpt from God Thinking LVI - No Stale Bread Here by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2014

 

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"When you hide who you are from the body of Christ, three easily noticeable and measurable things also happen:

1     You remain in your current condition or move backward and further away from the will of God in your life.  (No exceptions for those who think they are spiritually better off because they are on their own private spiritual mission.)

2     You become powerless to affect change in your own situation partly because you were not created to grow in isolation, but in cooperation and partly due to your need for fellowship and collective prayer.

3     Your desire to be changed is gradually reduced and given time disregarded altogether.

There is no peace with God and your ability to grow spiritually is stifled when your outer man is not in agreement with your inner man.

You are at peace with God and you are able to move forward in God’s plan for your life when your outer man accurately reflects your inner man and your inner man reflects Christ."

 Excerpt from God Thinking LVI - No Stale Bread Here by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2014

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"Oh what distress to have your true self revealed and posted for all to see.  Not the painting of the one you painted for everyone to see, but the real person, the whole person, revealed and stripped of all the makeup that cover up the inner man.

Over the years many people have learned, become proficient, even professionals at hiding - covering up - not disclosing - even denying what they entertain and love - what they desire and seek after - what they strive for and purchase with their stewardship monies. 

 

The words of your mouth and the meditation of your heart reflect your relationship with God.  Inwardly you should be the same person that you are outwardly and inwardly you should love and adore the things of God so that outwardly you would reflect the shenikah glory of God. (The shekinah glory is that glow that is revealed to others when you have been in the presence of God).

Inwardly you should be the same person that you are outwardly, and when you are not (when your outer man and your inner man are not the same), three easily noticeable and measurable things happen:

1     You can and will fool some people into believing you are something or someone that you are not.

2     You lesson your ability to be renewed day by day, because you grieve the Holy Spirit and your ability to worship God in spirit and truth becomes lessened.

3     you separate yourself from God, thereby reducing or removing altogether God’s cooperative supernatural intervention in your life. (In other words what God does that you cannot do, that you know that God is doing on your behalf, because you are doing the will of the Father.) - God’s cooperative supernatural intervention.

Also it is just as important that you reveal your true self to the body of Christ (to those in the body of Christ who show genuine concern about you as an individual - those who care about you and your overall quality of life.)"

 Excerpt from God Thinking LVI - No Stale Bread Here by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2014

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""1 Samuel 16:7, “But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”

David found out through experience and through divine inspiration that it is easy to disguise ourselves, (to disguise the outer man or to disguise the inner man.) 

David knew a man who had toyed with God. 

This man he knew would praise God with his mouth and plan mischief and havoc in his heart at the same time. 

This man that David knew had trained his tongue to say the right things.  He knew the right buzz words of his era. 

He worshiped God and railed on others for their sin. 

Outwardly he revered God, but inwardly he sinned against God, not one time, but many. 

Over and over again this man that David knew would bow the knee and pray, while plotting the demise of another. 

When the sins of this man were revealed, David was appalled. 

He wanted to punish this man. 

He was so moved by the revelation of the sins of this man, that he quickly decided that the only punishment worthy of such a reprobate, could be death.  

He pronounced sentence and was ready to follow through and exact the fair and just punishment against someone who could be so shifty, when it was brought to his attention, that he himself was the man."

Excerpt from God Thinking LVI - No Stale Bread Here by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2014

God Thinking LVI - No Stale Bread Here 2

"God Thinking isn’t just about thinking high and lofty thoughts of God.  It’s also about growing up and taking responsibility for who you are in Christ. 

It’s about taking God’s direction and moving forward. 

It’s about abiding in Christ.

God Thinking sparks you to get on with life and make the next few years worth it all.

It’s about being so hungry for the things of God that you don’t want to ruin your appetite with anything else.

It’s about the words you speak and what you allow your eyes to see and what you think about and what you meditate on.

David says in Psalms 19:14

14.  “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.”

Can we say that together: “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.”

These two things - The words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart reveal who we really are and where we are in our relationship with the Lord.

James 3:9-11, "Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.

10. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
11.  Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?"

  Excerpt from God Thinking LVI - No Stale Bread Here by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2014

God Thinking LVI - No Stale Bread Here 1

Note: No Stale Bread Here is the culmination of watching modern Christians make light of Godly things and draw close to the worldly things all under the guise that it's all OK; after all everybody sins.  No Stale Bread Here takes the veil off of the throne of God (the one build by religion) and let's you into the Holy of Holies. If you have built your belief system around a particular persuasion, you might not be comfortable sitting at the feet of Jesus discussing the issues at hand, and you might not be comfortable meeting God unveiled.  Religion has made a way for people of all faiths to have God 'their way.'  If that is what you are after you will be insulted by this treatise.  But if closer than ever before is where you want to be with your Saviour, your soul will take solice in knowing that to bridge the gap between the flesh and the Spirit can be painful and that to do this you will have to be honest with yourself with who you are and where you are with God.       

"I am not here so that you can get some little tidbit of dried up or stale bread.  I am here to deliver the bread of life.

I am not going to add to or endorse our already too long of a list of ways that you can have it both ways.

I am not going to tickle yours ears with words that make you feel good about sin or indiscretions that you keep on courting.

I am here to deliver to you the unfailing Word of God. 

I am going to take the guesswork out of your situation.

I am going to help you to nail your problems down with pin-point accuracy.

If you have an obstacle or a barrier, get ready to leap right over it.

If you need a breakthrough, today is your day.

If you don’t think you have a barrier or an obstacle or you don’t think you need a breakthrough; If you have life so wrapped up that you don’t need some of God’s wonder working power, you won’t get a thing out of this message or the next one or the one after that.

God didn’t give you His Word so that year after year you would be without a clue.  Nor did God send His only begotten Son to die for you so that you could act like you never met Him.

It’s time that you grow up and quit tolerating the things of God and learn to love them and guard them and reveal them.  Oh that you had the same passion for the things of God that you have for other things."
 

 Excerpt from God thinking LVI - No Stale Bread Here by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2014

God Thinking LV - Life Is Like A Soufflé 8

"3     Quit seeking fulfillment outside of the will of God.

2 Chronicles 7:14

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

This third secret for having a fulfilled life seems as if it is not connected to the first two, but look closely and you will see that it can be no other way.

Catch this: If everything that God made was very good, and if everything that God does for you, in you and through you is good  - then if you are following God’s recipe for life, you will live a fulfilled life.

You have got to see beyond yourself to see the true implication of this prophesy. 

Think about this:

You have or have access to every material thing made

You live in the freest country in the world (If you live in America)

You have access to the newest and fastest technology on earth

You have the largest variety of quality foods on earth

You enjoy every comfort known to man

You have uninhibited opportunity

You spend hours and hours relaxing or resting or being entertained

You can come and go as you please

You have freedom to worship God

You have dozens of people every day taking your name to the throne of God, intercessors praying on your behalf

You have access to the best health care in the world

You have all that and more

You have good friends, family, instant travel

You have unrestricted communication

You have theme parks and time shares, some of you have two houses, new cars and boats

You know what?  Even with access to everything at hand, no matter how you mix it up - without God’s recipe for living, there’s just no way to make a soufflé (a fulfilled life). 

That’s why even if you owned the whole world and everything in it, it can’t bring joy and peace in your life, because - Contentment and happiness, a good attitude and genuine love, honor and integrity and self-worth, kindness and tolerance, patience and longsuffering, true joy and peace, all the things of God, aren’t found in things. 

Contentment and happiness, a good attitude and genuine love, honor and integrity and self-worth, kindness and tolerance, patience and longsuffering, true joy and peace is found when you follow God’s recipe for life.

Do you believe:

1     “Every thing that God made, was very good.”

2     Every thing that God does for you, in you and through you is good.

3     Quit seeking fulfillment outside of the will of God.

Excerpt from God thinking LIV - Life Is Like A Souffle by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2014

God Thinking LV - Life Is Like A Soufflé 7

" 1     “Every thing that God made, was very good.”

2     Every thing that God does for you, in you and through you is good.

You need the recipe of God for a fulfilled life, and this recipe has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with biblical truth:

• Religion teaches suppression, the Bbible teaches freedom.
• Religion teaches strict adherence to the letter of the law
• The Bible teaches freewill adherence to the Spirit of God
• Religion teaches that your eternal security is contingent upon your behavior
• The Bible teaches that your eternal security is contingent upon the blood of Christ.
• Religion teaches that you are ever striving to achieve a spiritual mind 
• The Bible teaches that you have the mind of Christ
• Religion turns its back on the unlovely, the defamed, the non-compliant and the rebellious
• The Bible faces them and calls them out, from darkness into the very light of God

If you have never heard this kind of teaching against religion, you haven’t read your Bible.  Jesus preached the same message. 

The God of the scriptures transcends religion. 

The recipe for a fulfilled life:      

We are looking at just three profound truths about God’s recipe for a fulfilled life.

1     “Every thing that God made, was very good.”

2     Every thing that God does for us, in us and through us is good.

3     Quit seeking fulfillment outside of the will of God."

Excerpt from God thinking LIV - Life Is Like A Souffle by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2014

God Thinking LV - Life Is Like A Soufflé 6

"If you take what you have and use God’s recipe for life, you will find: Let this speak to your spirit.

Immediate relief from the pressures of this world

Plenty of time to accomplish your goals in life

All the resources you need to get to the desired end

Wait there’s more, you also receive:

• Peace in your life that goes beyond explanation
• Comfort that comes with knowing that God is with you
• Joy in your spirit, because you understand God is for you and not against you like you have been taught for so many years.

If what you think is that the heavy hand of God pressing in on you and holding you down, and keeping you from an enjoying, productive and prosperous life; religion did that to you, not God.  God thinking demands that you believe the right things about God. 

If you have always thought or ever thought that it was God that was crushing you and raking you over the coals, tempting you to see if you will break, bringing trouble your way to see what you were made of - You need to be set free. 

2     Every thing that God does for you, in you and through you is good.

Excerpt from God thinking LIV - Life Is Like A Souffle by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2014

God Thinking LV - Life Is Like A Soufflé 5

"Of the three components that are necessary to accommodate God's recipe for a fulfilled life the secoond is:  Every thing that God does for you, in you and through you is good. James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

Not only was everything that God made good, but everything that God made that was good was made for His children to have and to use to be fulfilled. 

Everything that God has done and is going to do and that God has in mind for you is good and is to bring about a desired end that fulfills you.

Jeremiah 29:11

 11.  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

3 John 1:2

 2.  Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.

Hear this powerful truth:

Until you believe that it is the will of God that you are fulfilled you will not seek the will of God to be fulfilled and until you seek the will of God to be fulfilled, you will live (with and in) far less than what God intended for you. 

For if God made every thing good and He only gives good things to His children - then you need to be open to receive from God’s all sufficient storehouse whatever it is that God is giving you, because it is good. 

You open the flow of God’s provision when you exercise faith in His provision, and you close the flow of God’s provision when you do not believe what God has said about His provision. 

Too often you are looking for something other than what you have as the ingredients you think you need to make your soufflé.  But it is not true, you already have them all.  Not one of you will stand before God, and hear these words:

• Son, I just couldn’t find time to help you with your career
• Daughter, I really wanted you to suffer a little more
• Son or daughter, I didn’t have the resources you  needed to accomplish your goal. 
• Son, I couldn’t heal you, it just wouldn’t be fair to others

Please don’t wait until you are standing before God to see this truth.  Right now:

• with what you have
• under your present conditions
• with your circumstances in life
• with your current paycheck
• with your existing family
• at your current job
• with whatever resources you have
• without adding one thing

Youalready have the ingredients to live a fulfilled life.  If you think you need, even one more thing, or one more dollar, or one more anything, it’s because you have not used God’s recipe for a fulfilled life."

Excerpt from God thinking LIV - Life Is Like A Souffle by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2014

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"Life is a mess without God’s recipe for life.  Can I have an Amen.

“Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it:” Psalm 127:1a

I want you to catch the truth, the vision of God’s plan for you.  God’s recipe for a fulfilled life demands that you see God and what He has done for you from the proper light.  

God thinking is about having the right ingredients and following the right recipe.  Most people have the right ingredients, but they keep mixing them together without God’s recipe, and the results are always - discontent - miserable - depressed - lonely - unhappy - critical - mean spirited - easily irritated - easily disgruntled - unfulfilled - creating their own religion. 

You have the right ingredients for a fulfilled life

If you will use God’s recipe for a fulfilled life you will have a fulfilled life.

I just want to briefly discuss three things that have to do with God’s recipe for a fulfilled life.  These are worth writing down (or remembeing if you have one of hose minds).

11     “Every thing that God made, was very good

Genesis 1:31a “And God saw every thing that He had made, and, behold, it was very good.”

If you are to ever enjoy life and have access to the very best that God would have for you, you will have to get this one, simple truth correct in your thinking.  Every thing that God made was very good.  It is this “was very good” that you must understand.  When God created the worlds and every thing in them, every thing in them was good.  

Over time, and under the influence of the fall of man, by sin against God, every thing became skewed, fallen, full of iniquity, full of rust and decay.  Death, sickness, pain, sin, hate, lying, cheating, drunkenness, addictions, destruction of every kind, terrorism and every sort of evil has all stemmed from and is a direct result of the fall of man.  

What God made, God made good, and Adam and Eve, you and I have taken what God made that was good and made it into something less. 

Until you believe that God made every thing good - in your theology, ( the way you believe about God), you might believe that God made some things that weren’t good and that the things that God made that weren’t good are the reason why some things in your life aren’t good or that God meant for you to wallow in the mire, like pigs in slop.  

satan loves it when you blame God for your trouble - When you attribute to God what satan has done in this world.  

satan loves it when you don’t know a thing about your heavenly Father.  And he will pull out every stop to allure you into thinking wrong thoughts about your gracious and glorious, holy and omnipotent, great and mighty, sovereign and Almighty, just and righteous Abba, Father, God.

Can you remember this profound and unchanging truth:

1     “Every thing that God made, was very good.”

Excerpt from God Thinking LIV - Life Is Like A Souffle by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2014