Is It Ok To Promise or Should We Completely Abstain From It?

Regarding Promising By Keeping Hand On Bible

Question : I love a girl, its almost 3 years now, I am waiting for her to complete her studies to marry her. We both are from Pentecostal back ground.

Some years before we both have placed our hands on the BIBLE and promised in a usual way as during the marriage, like
from today we are husband and wife, with GOD as witness...I am her husband from today on wards, I will not cheat or leave her..etc and vice versa.

So I want to ask you...is what we have done is wrong? And Is it so serious, if any one break the promise will there be consequences from GOD, in case if any parents don't agree for our marriage in future?

Answer : Greetings in Jesus name! It is always good not to promise to God anything rashly if we are not intent in doing it.

Jesus said, " 33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ 34 But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one." (Matt 5:33-37). Jesus said this to remind us that in the Old Testament the minimum requirement was that we should not promise falsely to God something that we are not serious to fulfill it. But as for the Christian of the New Covenant, He has raised the standard to a higher level where our yes should be yes and no should be no. In other words, we should never allow ourself to be influenced by the evil one the devil who makes us promise to God rashly that which we are not serious to fulfill it. Jesus emphasized that God who is in heaven knows all our wrong motives even before expressing it on earth in which He rules from the centre of it. Such intergrity of truth in our speech and words is the kind of behaviour Jesus tells us to follow in the New Covenant by the strength and help of the Holy Spirit. Even the hair in our head we have no control over it actually to turn it naturally black or white with out using hair dye. So Jesus said that it is not good to swear by our head or the Bible or any other object refering to its sanctity as the guarantee for the fulfillment of the truth of our promise or words, because we do not have any ability on our part to change the circumstaces of our life if not for the help of our God.

When ever we tell people something, it is better to tell them, "if the Lord wills...we shall live to do this and this or that..." (James 4:13-17). The sin of ommision is equally sinful to the sin of commision.

Coming to your life it is good for you not to stir up love until it is time to stir, that is after both of you get married to each other (Sos 2:7). Do not get intimate until after your marriage, not only I am telling about physical intimacy which is prohibited according to the word of God (1 Cor 6:9-10), but also the emotional intimacy which many in our times think as though it is not serious. But our emotional life is as much equally important to God as our physical one (1 Cor 7:32, 34-35). It is good that you are waiting for the past three years, pray to the Lord that if it is His will for your life that you marry this girl which you have in your mind. Or else tell to the Lord that whatever girl he has in His mind to bring to you in your life. I tell you that this place of unconditional surrender to God's will is the best thing for your life. Let the Lord lead you with the plan that He has in His heart, it is always 100% better than yours all the time. You will thank Him the rest of your life for the blessedness of such perfect match that God brings in His perfect will.

First of all you should not have made a promise by keeping your hands on the Bible and uttering words that were ruled by your emotions rather than by your commitment, which starts only when the real marriage happens in the presence of all the witnesses and people who are present before God's Presence happens. Even if it was a casual thing, it should not have been done. But God understands that you have been ruled by your emotions at that time and therefore confess to God that you have sinned before him and also ask pardon to the girl to whom you have done it rashly and say to her if it is the Lord's will we will get married (Psa 32:5; 51:4; Jam 5:16; Matt 5:25).

Yes it is wrong to rashly make promise before God of which you both do not have control over it until the real marriage takes place. But God has promised that once you confess to him, He is faithful and just to forgive you and will clease you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Once God forgives itself, you know that there can be no condemnation (Rom 8:1), but after that because God promises to cleanse you through the blood of Jesus, your conscience will be made free in such a way that you will begin to feel as though you have never done this sin in your life at all (1 John 1:7; Heb 9:14). This is a glorious promise to avail it! Praise the Lord!

If you have done the above things, you have positioned yourself again in the perfect will of God. Whatever consequences that must have come to you in case for breaking the promise have been put on upon the Lord (Isa 53:6), and now you are made free to lovingly serve the Lord through prayer and show God's love to people with all your heart (Matt 22:36-40; Eph 2:10). So do not fill your heart with anything but the love for the Lord until your marriage and once you make a commitment through doing God's perfect will in your marriage, then stir up love until you are satisfied and enraptured in the love of your spouse (1 Cor 7:35, 33; Sos 2:7; 3:5; 8:4; Prov 5:15, 18-19). Let God decide the girl who is in His heart and I promise you, the rest of your life will more and more exciting as each day passes on. You will be blessed for generations down the line (Prov 20:7).

I can assure you that your parents will cooperate with you when you are doing His will for your life. Even if they do not understand immediately, later they will come to know that because of you doing His will, they too are blessed abundantly by God.

Much Blessings....

Why Jacob And Not Esau?

Why Should God Bless Jacob The Liar Than Esau The Genuine?

Question : I always wonder, why God blessed Jacob the deceiving son of Isaac, and not his genuine Son Esau who worked hard for him?? Is there any message behind it?

Answer : God blessed Jacob because even through he was a liar and a deceiver by nature, he valued God and His blessings more than anything in his life, while Esau despised the blessings of the Lord as something that is cheaper than the stew which he required when he was hungry (Gen 25:29-34). God sees the heart attitude while we look to the outward actions to decide whether someone is genuine or not. We have a lesson, all humans are sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23). Both Jacob and Esau were sinners by nature, none was better than the other in God's sight who says that "there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin." (Eccl 7:20). But those who value the Gospel of God's blessings will be blessed in their life than those who are good religiously but despise the Lord's blessings by their inward attitude of mind which rejects the gospel of belief (1 Cor 1:21). Jesus has not come to make good people better but to save the bad people who believe Him from sin and hell fire apart from their works (Heb 7:25; 1 Tim 1:15; Mark 2:17). No man is capable of saving himself through his works of righteousness in God sight as they are all like filthy rags in the eyes of God who seeks a perfect hundred percent righteousness (Rom 3:20; Isa 64:6). Jacob was a vessel of Mercy because he believed God's promise told through his mother (Gen 25:21-24), while Esau is considered a vessel of wrath because he tried to earn God's blessing through hard work (Rom 9:10-14, 22-24; Gen 27:-5). By taking the risk of Jacob's curse upon herself, Rebekah the mother of Jacob wanted Jacob to be blessed ahead of his brother. Even though what Rebekah did was wrong, yet her suggestion was for the good of Jacob as she believed God's promise to come to pass (Gen 27:6-17). God could have fulfilled his promise to Jacob if Rebekah had waited to get the promise of God get fulfilled righteously through righteous means. He would have spoken to Issac and make him bless Jacob instead of Esau consciously or even by bypassing Issac's natural mind, God could have put a direct word of His in his mouth and made him speak a word of prophecy by bypassing Issac's natural mind in order to bless Jacob or through any other thousand ways (Heb 11:20; 2 Peter 1:20-21). In this Rebekah did wrong as a human being trying to fulfill God's promise to her by her own strength which only brought a bad name to the Lord. But in spite of her mistake, here is a message for us, Jesus took the risk of getting cursed voluntarily like Rebekah so that we like Jacob who are deceivers by nature can get blessed by God (Gal 3:13-14). God allowed Jacob to be blessed through unrighteous means because Esau was already a spiritual fornicator who had sold his birthright for eating and satisfying his flesh for bread and stew of lentils (Gen 25:33-34; Heb 12:6). God will allow his true spiritual blessing to come upon those who are hungry for God and his righteousness (Matt 5:6; Luke 16:12-13).

In context to the present time, the Jews who tried to please God through keeping the law have failed to earn salvation through their work, but we the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness by the law and rigorous discipline, have attained the righteousness of God through our faith. We who have believed God's word through Jesus like Jacob believed God's promise through his mother, we have got blessed with all the highest spiritual blessings of heaven as the vessels of God's mercy, even though we are the most unworthy of all men because of our sinful nature and our inclination to sin (Eph 1:3; John 14:10). But the religious people who desire to live the righteous life by their hard work of keeping rules have rejected and despised the message of the gospel of belief, have thus become the vessels of the wrath of God. God has clearly in a nut shell revealed through this story of Jacob and Esau, the gospel of grace which he has given to the whole world and is watching to see all men who are naturally vessels of wrath become the vessels of mercy as He has called all men in to relationship with himself through belief in Jesus Christ (Rom 9:24; Acts 20:24; John 6:39-40; Matt 20:16; 1 Tim 2:3-4). If any man will try to work himself to righteousness of the flesh to earn God's blessing upon his life like Esau, Jesus Christ's death is of no use to him and therefore becomes a vessel of wrath in the sight of God (Rom 4:4; 11:6; Gal 2:21). IN OTHER WORDS, THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO BELIEVE GOD'S WORD NOW THROUGH JESUS WILL BECOME THE CHOSEN VESSELS OF MERCY WHOSE SINS THE LORD WILL LONG SUFFER TO FORGIVE AND CONSIDER AS NON-EXISTENT IN HIS SIGHT UNTIL THE DAY OF RAPTURE IN WHICH THEIR SINFUL NATURE WILL BE DISCARDED AND WILL NO MORE BE ABLE TO INFLUENCE THEM TO SIN (2 Pet 3:9, 15; Heb 10:17-18; Rom 7:17). Rest in the finished work of the Lord on Calvary Cross and see what kind of worker God is, who works all things in your life for your good because you love him and are called by Him according to His preordained purpose (Rom 8:28; Heb 4:3, 1-2, 9; Acts 13:48). The world says, God works for those who help themselves. God says, I work perfectly in the life of those who are helpless to help themselves. So rest in God and enjoy your journey with Him as His dear loving child...

Much Blessings...

God's Image Is Physical or Spiritual?

Why Aren't We Invisible When We Are In God's Image?

Question : If God made us in His image, then why aren't we invisible too?

Answer : When the Bible speaks about us being made in the image of God, actually it is speaking about the spiritual image of God in which we were created (Gen 1:27; 2 Cor 3:17; James 3:9). It exactly means we have also got the ability like the Trinity, to connect spiritually to God from our spirit-man like as the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit are interpenetratively connected to one another in the spiritual realm in oneness (Prov 20:5, 27; 1 Cor 14:2). Atheists will always foolishly take Scriptures out of context because they cannot grasp spiritual things and will not be able to grasp it until they believe God and His word like a child (1 Cor 2:14; Psa 14:1; Matt 18:3). Just because a baby is born in a garage doesn't mean it has to look like a car or a motor vehicle! To expect it is to be simply foolish. Blessings....

The Privilege of Being His Bond-servant!

Knowing His Will, How?

By Abraham Israel

"That ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will." (Col 1:9).

We can walk in the will of God only as much as we know God. There are different ways in which we can come to know the will of God in our lives. Firstly, there is a revealed will of God in the word of God. In other words, to know the will of God for our lives, we got to understand the word of God and walk according to what it says. This is the first major thing that the Lord begins to see in order to check whether a person is seeking Him or not. Jesus said to those who were questioning the authenticity of His authoritative words whether it was really from God or not , He said to them, "If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority." (John 7:17). To know God one must desire intensely to do His will. To know whether someone's doctrine can be believed or not, we need no big gurus to help us unravel its true nature. All we need to do is to be willing to do God's will in our lives. In these days of shallow spirituality, people find hard to understand God's will because they do not truly desire to walk in God's will in their day to day lives. I must say that, if someone doesn't have a sincere desire to walk in God's will first by seeking God through His word, then trying to find God's will just for fun sake is a waste of time with God because He will never bother to reveal it. God is not a joker, who can be used when ever we want something good. God is not a fortune teller to whet our spiritual appetite with a happy go lucky future prediction and a flesh pleasing prophetic word.

Knowing the will of God is a progressive journey with God, as we move on with God more and more with a sincere heart to please Him, God will begin to unfold His will for our lives progressively more and more in a deeper way. It all starts with the first level of knowing the word of God and walking in it in our day to day lives. So, BY ALL MEANS WE MUST STRIVE TO UNDERSTAND AND MEDITATE ON THE WORD OF GOD PERPETUALLY TO KNOW AND HEAR THE WILL OF GOD FOR OUR LIVES. God speaks through His written word and will always desire to reveal His will primarily through a quickened word in our spirit. For example, we might be in a severe depressive circumstances due to failure in our profession, but God might want to speak to us in that situation and reveal His will. At that time, if we know His word, God the Holy Spirit might use Php 4:4,"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!" to tell to us that we need to take a decision to release the joy which is in our spirit-man rather than expecting the outward circumstances to change immediately.

The will of God is in three levels, the basic good level, and the acceptable intermediate level, and the perfect best level (Rom.12:2). The basic will of God is something that can be searched in the Scripture and found, it is generally given to all those who seek God. For example, God says, "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality." (1 Thess 4:3), "16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thess 5:16-18), "15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— 16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God." (1 Pet 2:15-16), it is the will of God for us to obey our higher authorities who are appointed above us in our workplace, obeying not just when they are present but even in their absence, knowing that we are actually obeying God who has put us in that situation in our work place by appointing authoritites over us (Eph 6:6).

In fact the whole word of God is the will of God revealed. When we persevere in the first level, God starts to reveal His way for us in the second intermediate level. For example, in the second level He will give us godly choices to make within this zone. If we still persevere and hold on to God in love, God will reveal the best perfect will of His which will be His custom made and perfectly designed one that will only fit only us in the whole of the earth, which has been planned by Him before the foundation of the world. At this level, we will be a bondservant of God just like Jesus. Having no more choice but live to fulfill only the choice of God for us. Jesus walked always in this perfect will of God the Father all His life on earth and He was indeed a bondservant of God (Heb 10:7; John 6:38; 4:34; Php 2:7). We too have a choice given by God in this one earthly life of ours to do His perfect will by having no will of our own except to do the will of God for our lives. Are we ready? You are asking me for what? To do the perfect will of God and be a bondsevant of God in these closing time of the end times generation. Every one who does His perfect will, will be glorified along with Jesus in partaking the very nature of God for eterntiy ahead (2 Peter 1:4; Rom 8:17, 28-30; 2 Tim 2:12).

Every level of the promise of the relvelation of the will of God will be revealed progressively as we endure in the faith of God without giving up within our hearts (Heb 10:36). The more we pray for ourselves and others around us, the more we will be able to endure in the perfect will of God which is the best place a person can find himself in the entire planet earth (Col 4:12). May God help us all to be effective bondsevants of His and make us fulfill His perfect will for our lives which will always bring great Glory to God!

Blessings....

Permanent Solution For Witchcraft Problem?

Demonic Harassment, What He Should Do?

Question : One of my school friend called me and told that he wants me to pray for him. I asked him for what I should pray. He told that he is having severe head ache and he is feeling that some one is pushing from his back and he is forgetting things. Sometimes because of this headache and some problems in his family, he is thinking that it will be better if he will go and worship Hindu god. And when he went to pray to a pastor that pastor had told him that some one had kept witchcraft on him. In this situation what he should do?

Answer : Greetings! I believe that this person who is your school friend is seeking to find the true faith that is in Jesus. He also wants deliverance from the oppression of the evil one. One of the way Satan keeps people in idolatrous bondage is through fear of death, but Jesus came to free people from the fear of the power of the devil, your friend can choose to walk blessed with out any fear of death or harassment of the devil. Here is what the writer to the Hebrews says in the Bible, "14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Heb 2:14-15). In other words, Jesus who is God became human in the flesh like one of us so that He might destroy the devil who had the power of death and release the unbelieving idolatrous people and all humanity who are all for their lifetime are subject to the satanic bondage of the fear of death. So this is a promise of God that confirms that Jesus is willing to release your friend from this slavery of Satan.

In India, people worship idols from their childhood because of the tradition of the families who dedicate themselves and their families to some gods or local deities which are spirit of power which they believe are able to keep them in safekeeping. The kingdom of darkness thrives and flourishes in lies which is spiritual darkness (John 8:44), Jesus who is the embodiment of the light of God speaks the truth and wants to set people free through the truth of the light of God's words (John 8:45-47, 32, 36). The plain truth of Jesus must be revealed to this person who is fearful of death and oppression of demons and therefore set him free from it. The good news of the gospel that has the ability to give freedom to this person is, God loves him and so has sent Jesus to die for all his sins. If he accepts this truth and believes that he is a sinner in need of the Saviour Jesus by his own choice and invites Him in to his heart as his Lord and Savior, He will be freed from all darkness through this simple but eternal truth that changes people's destiny (John 3:16). Belief in Jesus is the key to bring freedom to him. It is not enough to believe Jesus is a God who is one among the 333 million god of their ancestors, but should believe that Jesus is the only begotten Son of the Creator God who sent Him to save him from the fear of death and demons, by this belief in his heart, he is promised by God a salvation from sin in which he will be receiving the very life of God within for eternity ahead (1 John 5:11-13; Rom 10:9-11, 12-13).

So the trick of the Satan and all devils as we have seen above is to keep these people in darkness and condemnation of sin by making them practice their evil of continuing without the true God of the Bible who has claimed to be their true Creator God of all human and spirits of all mankind (John 2:19-21; Jer 32:27; Num 27:16). Satan and his demonic cohorts will try to keep this person's mind from accepting the truth of Jesus that is in the gospel that is shared above (2 Cor 4:4). A Old powerful adage says, "Do the things you fear and the death of fear is certain." So true in this matter. If this person chooses to step out of the mental belief of lies that keeps him in fear of death and Satan, which continues to lead him and keep him in bondage by his own voluntary choice, straight away he will be free from this problem because once he accepts Jesus and becomes a child of God (John 1:12-13), God will put a spiritual seal of the Holy Spirit in his heart to acknowledge and guarantee that he has become a child of the Most High God, that sealing will stay with him until he dies physically and go on to be with the Lord (2 Cor 1:22; Eph 1:13-14; Psa 82:6; 2 Cor 5:8). From that time on by faith he will be able to resist the devil in the name of Jesus and stay in the shelter of the Most High God whenever the demons or devils try to come back and harass him physically (Jam 4:7; Acts 16:16-18; Psa 91:1). The spiritual seal of a child of God is universally recognized by all demons and therefore they know who is the child of the Most High God or who is a unbeliever who uses the name just for some publicity before men or relief from bondage temporarily (Acts 19:11-17). This is the only permanent relief for your friend.

Telling a pastor to pray will not bring permanent relief from this harassment from the devil. It temporarily frees them from the headaches, fear and torment of the devil because of the authority of the pastor who exercises it over these demons of harassment in the spiritual realm. In such cases, the devil which leaves a person temporarily, will go on wandering through dry places and will take some more powerful spirits with it to come and occupy the heart of people who have formerely revered and worshipped it because of fear (Matt 12:43-45). But for those whose heart becomes a abode of the Spirit of Jesus Christ will belong to Jesus and therefore become free from reoccupation of these harassing spirits, because the returning devils will find the place sold out to a new owner who is more powerful than all of them put together and is the ruler of the entire universe (Rom 8:9; 1 John 4:4). Once a person becomes a child of the Most High God, there is no witchcraft, fortune-telling, magic mantras, omen or any evil that can act against and overcome him because God guards his children like a hen gathers her chicken under her wings every time the danger of the enemy is felt in the horizon (Num 23:23; Matt 23:37). God puts a sovereign hedge of angelic guards to protect his children who fear Him and are devoted to Him, this supernatural fence which God puts around a devoted child of God, no demons of hell can be able to poke through and touch His children with out His permission (Job 1:8-12; 2:3-7). This school friend of yours is thinking it is better to go back from whatever faith of Jesus he has and worship idols because of the fear of the harrasment of the devil. No thug will ever want to free any person who obeys him because of the fear of dying under him, how much more the devil who is the master spiritual criminal against all humanity will leave his old slave or those who try to find God easily? It is better for your friend to boldly take a decision now and become a child of God first and then stand against the harassment of the devils to see victory and live in it as God's dignified glorious son (Gal 3:26; Rom 8:14-17), than to live under the power of Satanic oppression the rest of his life to suffer cruelly and die without God (Acts 26:18).

If your friend is already a child of God, let him feed his faith by learning the truth of the word of God and fear will flee away. Simply he needs to resist in faith his old owner Satan and his demons who owned him before, who is a spiritual criminal hell bent to still keep him under fear (1 Peter 5:8-10). If he is a child of God through believing Jesus, all the harrasment that comes from the evil one will be only for a season, it will be a bearable trial allowed by God which He expects him to resist every time inorder to be free (James 4:7; 1 Cor 10:13), after which he will be established by God in the blessing zone. God allows trials in the life of His children to teach them submission to Him all the time out of their own will and also to make them grown in faith and take their ownership position as the Sons of the Most High God against all the power, principlaities, rulers of the darkness of this age and the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Gal 4:1, 6-7; 1 Peter 1:6-9; Eph 6:12). I pray for God to help you to empower your friend and guide him through God's wisdom. May you as a child of God practice the power of God to share the gospel, pray and deliver people like your friend whom our Lord Jesus brings to you. May you be blessed to be a blessing to many in the coming days.

Note : Please tell your friend to read my Father's Testimony in the following link : http://apostolicrevelation.blogspot.in/2008/07/my-fathers-testimony.html, as he too suffered in a similar way initially before coming to Christ, of which God delivered him and made him to be a glorious minister of the gospel which delivered him from demonic harrasment and imminent death.

Much Blessings....