Mystery or Mastery 7

"Now this is the heart of the matter.

You are not comfortable when you recognize that to get closer to God, more of who you are must be revealed - while in drifting away more of who you are can be concealed.  Are you with me?   

I have come to believe that the great majority of us, once we recognize how God unveils more of our true person every time we draw closer to God - we become reluctant to drawing closer to God.

We have already got everybody believing what we want them to believe about us.

Oh how much joy and peace, comfort and blessing we forfeit  in order to appear to others to be what we are not.

Should I go on?

I believe that we live in a time of fakes.

I believe God wants to take you from one glory to another and many of you are choosing to keep God at bay, slowly drifting away because you have come to rely on the mystery of it all.

I don’t want anyone to continue to believe that a  commitment to God through fear, obligation or duty is the same as a commitment to God by willful submission. 

Even though fear, obligation and duty are motivators, people that draw near out of fear, obligation or duty - they don’t continue well.  As soon as things get better, they back off from their commitment to God. Are you one of these people?

They don’t continue well because God is not impressed if your heart is not in it.  You can tell when someone’s heart is not in it, So can God.  See, if you are just playing church:

Hearts won’t be changed. 

Lives won’t be transformed

Miracles won’t come to pass

Your treasure remains in the storehouse

You have become so self sufficient that the thought of total dependency on God (not only has not been well represented in the church) it is not expected or practiced as it should be - in what I call - this (self-actualization bent, materialistic society) that we live in."

   Excerpt from Mystery or Mastery by Keith C. Powell copyright 2016

Mystery or Mastery 6

" I hope this discussion helps to expose the mystery of the war between the flesh and the spirit.

Even though you can live out your life balancing your relationship with God between drawing close and drifting away - Your life is best served denying the flesh a great many things and agreeing with God on more occasions.  Can I have an AMEN?

I truly believe that you mean well.  You do recognize that God exists.  You do believe that God is alive.  You do agree that most cardinal Bible principles are best for tour life - But you prefer mystery over mastery. 

You prefer acting like you don’t understand God and you prefer acting like you don’t understand what God actually said.  

Note: Many believers today do not rely on the written Word of God for their understanding of right and wrong.  They have convinced themselves that if they don’t audibly hear from God they aren’t going to make any changes.  We’ve come along way with this freedom of ours.

You prefer the mystery of how you can stay saved while living away from Christ more than you prefer mastering your life in Christ by staying in God’s will.

You like to look at what you’ve learned from the scriptures, those things that you don’t practice; as good fodder for thought, but less than a requirement of God.

You still see the holy commandments of God as (God’s mysterious way of telling you not to do things) - that you have found through experience, you cannot or will not conform to.

Religion has made a mockery of God by tolerating what God does not. 

You have become comfortable relying on what others say you can or cannot do or be, in lieu of believing what God says about who you are and what you can be.  You are comfortable in keeping it all a mystery.

We are not as comfortable when God talks straight to you. Ouch!!!"  

   Excerpt from Mystery or Mastery by Keith C. Powell copyright 2016

Mystery or Mastery 5

"Right now, hearing these words, your spirit is excited - in that truth always allows God to enter into a situation to cleanse it and make it pure.

But your flesh does not respond the same.  Your flesh is angry, rebelling at the notion of being called out and called unto a higher walk.

But as uncomfortable as it is to be faced with this truth, it is

in understanding who you are in Christ, not in trying to hide from who you are in Christ, that empowers you.

Let’s go deeper.  Your spirit is eternal, your flesh is temporal.  And yet your eternal spirit is housed in this temporal flesh.  Your spirit seeks life eternal while your flesh seeks death.   

Your spirit seeks God’s approval while your flesh seeks no approval.

Your spirit listens to the Holy Spirit and is overwhelmed with gladness  - while your flesh is at odds with the Holy Spirit.

Your spirit brings honor to God through obedience while your flesh brings dishonor through disobedience.  “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  Matthew 26:41

Eternal properties elude the flesh.  Living for the purpose of something greater than self-fulfillment only comes through spiritual enlightenment."

    Excerpt from Mystery or Mastery by Keith C. Powell copyright 2016

Mystery or Mastery 4

Are you ready?   What I am going to say is simple, but for some of you this will be the turning point.  Have you had enough of what the world has offered???  I know I have.  Is you inner man ready to receive a Word???

LET GOD BE GOD and get on with what you were called to do.

These two truths, when agreed to by your inner man will reconfigure your entire way of thinking - and it will affect every aspect of your daily life.  When you abide in these two principles:

To let God be God

And to get on with what you were/are called to do.  Everything will be affected positively.

Your mountaintop experiences will be higher 

And your valleys - not as low. 

Your victories - more numerous

Your failures - fewer

All of your issues, under this truth become manageable.      

LET GOD BE GOD and get on with what you were called to do.

Quit trying to do God’s job in your life.

Philippians 1:6

 6.  Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

God made you and declared to you by His Word that you have free will.  This free will that God gave you can be used to draw closer to God and it can be used to turn or drift away from God. 

It is this drawing near and drifting away that you have experienced and will continue to experience (at varying degrees) as you pass through the fires of life and as you learn to walk in the spirit.

    Excerpt from Mystery or Mastery by Keith C. Powell copyright 2016

Mystery or Mastery 3

"You must - Quit trying to do it in your own strength!

You must - Quit trying to solve your problems with your own mind!

You must - Quit trying to figure it all out in your own wisdom!!

You must - Quit believing the lies of the enemy!

You must - Quit relying on the lottery to pay your bills!

If you communed with God as much as you commune with the world...................

You  must learn to trust God.  I wish you could really get this; Trusting God. 

I know the frustrations of this life can be tortuous, and many times unbearable, but you must learn to trust God. I mean trust God in this way:

You really don’t know what is best, but God does.

You must choose to operate under the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Once you really find your place, it will all come together.

Tell me, do you really want to receive all that God has for you?  Some of you would say you do, but you forfeit what God has in His time/timing for what you want in your time/timing. 

Well I am going to say something that can change the way you operate - the way you give yourself to God and the way you receive from God.

  

Get this down in your spirit and hold onto it with all your heart:

With all your might

With all your strength

With all your confidence

With all you hope

I hope you aren’t relying on your skills, talents, abilities to find your way.  You can’t do what God can do."

       Excerpt from Mystery or Mastery by Keith C. Powell                                          Copyright 2016

Mystery or Mastery 2

Do you believe that you have the Spirit of God in you?  How often did the Holy Spirit lead and guide you and you would not? But when you do yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit.........

And you will find out if you have not found out already - when you ask God and wait for the answer, your decision can be ordained by the Holy Spirit. 

And what you do under the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit has within it more than just a touch of the purity of God.  It has within it all the components to become God ordained, sanctioned by God and as the scripture declares. “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” Philippians 1:6

*Did you notice that the Word doesn’t say, ‘He who began good works in you?’  Can you see the difference?  The Word is talking about what you put your heart to.  If what you put our heart to is ordained by the indwelling Holy Spirit, God will do it."

Excerpt from Mystery or Mastery by Keith C. Powell copyright 2016

Mystery or Mastery 1

Can you to promise to receive what God has prepared for you.  If you cannot, you must agree to not continue with this treatise.

 

That’s right.  Listen to the Holy Spirit in your inner man.  Get your pen and paper out and write down what God says to you.  I’m serious.  God has a Word for you.  Write it down and so it.

“Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” Philippians 1:6

There is a mystery as to all that is available, by faith, through grace.  And there is also a mastery of what is available, by faith through grace. 

There is an effectual inner working that is revealed by your own relationship with the indwelling Holy Spirit.  There is a showing (so to speak) that the Holy Spirit resides within you.  In other words the Holy Spirit reveals Himself, that God is in you working through you, by you.    

Whatever you are in yourself, you are more with the indwelling Holy Spirit, Christ in you the hope of glory.

Whatever you think we can do, you can do more with Christ in you working His will.

Whatever you can overcome, you can overcome more with Christ in you.  And it’s not just more, it’s that the quality of the more is better.

Whatever you have made of this life or what you think you might make of it, it can and will be better when the Holy Spirit is in it with you.  And the Holy Spirit is in it if you (the body of Christ) are in it."

Excerpt from Mystery or Mastery by Keith C. Powell Copyright 2016  

God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads 12

"When you are at the crossroad of decisions, before you even consider making a decision:

7. You must make the right choice

Joshua 24:15

“...but as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah.”

At the crossroad of decision, the prepared person has a far better chance of making a wise decision, that fits God’s plan for your life more than the unprepared.

  

These are the attributes that must be present in your everyday life if you are to be prepared to make wise decisions.

1. You must already possess adequate information to

     make a well-informed decision

2. You must already operate under established parameters that you will not compromise on

3. You must know the Word

4. You must think on the things of God

5. You must exercise your faith (Not your spouses faith; this is something you have to find and believe for yourself.) 

6. You must bath it in prayer

7. You must make a choice

Prior to crossroad decisions, the direction you will take is not based on the decision you make at the moment.

In other words, the decisions that you are going to make are actually made prior to being in the position to make the decision.

When you are at the crossroad of decision and you have the truths of God’s Word embedded in your heart, making  decisions becomes a blessing in itself. 

The difficulty of being torn between the lesser of two evils is over with.  When you practice doing life God’s way, you no longer choose between the lessor of two evils, you choose the greater of many blessings."

  Excerpt from God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads - by Keith C. Powell                                                       Copyright 2015

God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads 11

"When you are at the crossroad of decisions, before you even consider making a decision:

4. You must think on the things of God

Philippians 4:8

 8.  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever

things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

  

When you are at the crossroad of decisions, before you even consider making a decision:

5. You must exercise your faith

Matthew 9:29

29.  Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your

faith be it unto you.

Hebrews 10:23

 23.  Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

When you are at the crossroad of decisions, before you even consider making a decision:

6. You must bath it in prayer

Philippians 4:6

 6.  In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God."

    Excerpt from God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads - by Keith C. Powell                                                       Copyright 2015

God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads 10

"When you are at the crossroad of decisions, before you even consider making a decision:

1. You must already possess adequate information to make a well-informed decision.

Proverbs 10:14

14.  Wise men lay up knowledge: but the mouth of the foolish is near destruction.

Proverbs 18:15

15.  The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.

How can we make a wise decision if you don’t have the knowledge to make a prudent decision.

2. You must already operate under established parameters that you will not compromise on.

Philippians 3:15-16

15.  Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

 16.  Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.

If you are to make the right decision, sometimes on short notice, you had better be making use of every bit of wisdom that you have already received.

When you are at the crossroad of decisions, before you even consider making a decision:

3. You must know the Word

Matthew 13:23

 23.  But he that received seed into the good ground is he

that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

2 Timothy 2:15

15.  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

    Excerpt from God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads - by Keith C. Powell                                                       Copyright 2015

God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads 9

"You are listening.  Even when you don’t know it, like when you were very young, or when your passions seemed to be making the decisions - you were receiving a message from your heavenly Father and you were receiving a message from your enemy.

You know it is true, and I am uncovering some of the tactics of the enemy that will keep you from God’s very best. 

God has been speaking to you about your situation and the decisions that you are about to make. 

If you have already made some decisions and you are not sure if they are God’s perfect will for your life - stop right there. 

There’s no reason for anyone to continue supporting the wrong decisions that were made in the past. 

There’s no reason to throw time and money at them, under the pretense that they might go away someday. 

The consequences of poor decisions in the past might plague you, and you know from experience that there are consequences and ramifications associated with your past poor decisions, but you can pull away from repeating them.

That’s what the crossroads are for - it’s time to make a change that will draw you closer to following God’s perfect plan for your life.

There are thousands of wonderful benefits for making a positive decision toward the things of God and all of them are alone worth any thing you might be giving up - but as I said earlier, I want to take you beyond what you are currently seeking."

    Excerpt from God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads - by Keith C. Powell                                                       Copyright 2015

  

God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads 8

"Another way your enemy wins converts is to convince them that to make a decision to follow after God means turning to a religious zombie or that you have to become mindless and follow after a set of rules like a lemming.  Again, nothing could be further from the truth.

Another way your enemy wins converts is to convince them that to make a decision to follow after God, means losing their freedom. 

The enemy convinces the decision maker that: 

• God is a tyrant
• That if they choose God’s way they will loose their personal freedom
•  That they will be trapped into living a life they don’t want
•  That they will have to give up everything sacred to them
•  That they will lose the intellectual edge
• That to decide to follow after Christ makes you less of a person
• That to make a decision that could better your health or your lifestyle in general, is just short-lived and that it is smarter, not to start something than to start and fail, and based upon past experience you will probably fail.

When at the place of a crossroad decision, the enemy has always and will always say the wrong thing to you.

When at the place of a crossroad decision, God has always and will always say the right thing to you. What voice are you yielding to?

    Excerpt from God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads - by Keith C. Powell                                                       Copyright 2015

God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads 7

"The seed of compromise. This is such an important subject. It is not the only negative seed planted by our enemy and others, but it sure has a lot to do with who we become in the future. Whatever your today looks like, try to remember that twenty years from now the things that you compromised on might not turn out so well. It takes long-term thinking to understand the devastating results of living a life of compromise.

The seed of compromise makes it difficult to decide what to do when you are faced with a crossroad in your life. 

When you are at a crossroad, and a decision is to be made, the truth is:

you are not left alone to fight this inner war

and the enemy isn’t holding you hostage.

But, because you have compromised before and survived it you have a false sense of security that you can compromise again and/or continue to compromise in your life, your decisions - your convictions, and all will turn out well.

Your enemy has planted many seeds over the years.  It’s not just the seed of compromise that affects your decisions when you are at the crossroad. 

How about:

The seed of complacency

The seed of unbelief

The seed of “all paths lead to God”

The seed of denial

The seed of “wait til tomorrow”

The seed of “anything in moderation is OK”

The seed of “I can’t stop”

The seed of “it’s too late anyway”

The seed of indifference

The seed of doubt

The seed of un-forgiveness

One way your enemy wins converts is to convince them that since a seed was planted it must be from God, and that is so far from the truth.   The wheat and the tares grow up together and they look very similar, but they are not the same and their end is also very different.

  
     Excerpt from God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads - by Keith C. Powell                                                       Copyright 2015

God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads 6

"The world clamors loudly and without sleep to draw you toward another direction, toward other inclinations than that of the Holy Spirit’s leading.

The Holy Spirit leads as a small still voice and the world leads as a boisterous and overtly egotistic voice.  The Holy Spirit gently leading and the world ruthlessly pulling, both knowing that the final decision is in the hands of the possessor of free will.

At each crossroad this battle goes on.  Each time you find yourself getting closer to the one direction or the other, you are either growing closer to God and leaning toward loving the things of God or you are growing closer to the world and leaning toward loving the things of the world. 

  

This notion of having to choose (of the things of the world or of the things of God) riles the uncommitted. 

The enemy has planted many seeds since Jesus left us here to do His Father’s will.  And one of the many seeds that our enemy has planted is the seed of compromise."

    Excerpt from God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads - by Keith C. Powell                                                        Copyright 2015

God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads 5

"At each crossroad of life:

I can’t make you choose what is God’s best for you

You can’t make me choose what is best for me

You can’t make your spouse choose what is best for them

Your spouse can’t make you choose what is best for you

You can’t make your friends choose what is best for them

And your friends can’t make you choose what is best for you

You cannot choose for each other at some of life’s crossroads.

If you have an open mind and an open heart to the leading

of the Holy Spirit, you might be re-considering some of the most recent decisions you’ve made. 

The Holy Spirit doesn’t cave in or condescend if you make a bad decision. 

God doesn’t go along with whatever you decide to do. No.  The truth is constant and God will wait you out, wait for you to return, turn back, repent.

As you receive new insight, you change “what you want” and “where you shop” to get it.

God designed you so that at each crossroad, God would speak to you in your inner self and lead you and guide you into receiving from God’s storehouse of blessings, all that God foresaw in His omniscience that you would or could receive. 

Exactly what is better than that?

   Excerpt from God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads - by Keith C. Powell                                                        Copyright 2015

God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads 4

"Back to the beginning, “What do you really want?” could be asked in a way to reflect the mind-set of a tare, or an adult tare, or the mind-set of infant wheat or the mind-set of adult wheat.

At each crossroad in life, there is a choice that will determine the next few miles or the next few months or the next few years or decades of your life.   That choice reveals the current condition of your relationship with God.

When you understand tour part of God’s equation of “why you are here?” “what you want” takes on a more important meaning than before.

Now the second part of this equation.  If you not know “why you are here,” “what you want” will be based on shooting in the dark, so to speak.

If you were given a chance to go through any store/show room, and you could choose as much as you wanted for twenty minutes, would it make a difference which store it was?  Of course. Would you choose the Dollar Store or a Mercedez dealership? A discount store or a bank? A drapery store or would you go house shopping?

As you became “who you are today” and as you become “who you are going to be” (different stages of your life) “what you want” and where you shop to get it matters. 

  
   Excerpt from God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads - by Keith C. Powell                                                        Copyright 2015

God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads 3

"Matthew 13:24-30

 24.  Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:

 25.  But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

If you ever wanted to know how you be sure that the Bible is true and relevant, statements like this one validate scripture.  Experience tells you exactly how the enemy works, but God tells you in scripture before it even happens.

Matthew 13:24-30

 24.  Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:

 25.  But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

 26.  But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

 27.  So the servants of the householder came and said unto

him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?

 28.  He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather

them up?

 29.  But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye

root up also the wheat with them.

 30.  Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

The point is: God in His infinite wisdom made you, so that as you proceed forward in life, you get to certain crossroads that are deciding points.  Some of them early on, some along the way and some left for a later date. Are you at a crossroad right now?

  
   Excerpt from God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads - by Keith C. Powell                                                        Copyright 2015

God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads 2

"Mark 8:36, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

You were designed to receive from God, God’s very best, under the anointing of a genuine relationship with God.  And everything that you receive under this anointing of God has in it the essence of God, pleasing you and making you at peace and giving you joy. 

But all that is taken or exercised or gathered apart from that which is given from God, brings trouble and pain, consequences and repercussions, not necessarily immediately, because some things do not show their origin until they mature. 

Remember the story of  the wheat and the tares (weeds), growing up together, to be threshed and separated at a later date.  Sometimes you can’t tell the wheat from the tares, especially early on.

But count on one thing, the wheat know who they are, (Amen).  It is the tares who are confused."

    Excerpt from God Thinking XCVII - Crossroads - by Keith C. Powell                                                        Copyright 2015