MEN OF JUDAH INTERNATIONAL

WHAT’S YOUR LEGACY

2009-10-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

“A good man leaveth an inheritance to his Children’s
Children: And the wealth of the sinners, is laid up for the just”

Have you ever noticed the ripple effects of a stone thrown into a lake or pond? The effects of that stone seem to just keep on going and going and going….

It is the same with our lives. The ripple effects of who we are and what we do and say also keep on going and going, in ways we could never imagine.

There are two different men whose lives after their existence speak volumes of the effects of their lives generations after them. That was the legacy they left behind.

Max Jukes lived in New York. He did not believe in Christ or in Christian training. He refuses his Children to go to Church, even when they asked to go. At last count, he had 1,026 descendants; 300 were sent to prison for an average of term of 13years, 190 were public prostitutes, 680 were admitted alcoholics, when this story was written, his family had cost the State in excess of $420,000. They made no contribution to the society.

By contrast, Jonathan Edwards lived in the same state, at the same time as Jukes. He loved the Lord and saw that his Children were in Church every Sunday, as he served the Lord to best of His ability. He had 929 descendants, of these 430 were ministers, 86 became university professors: 13 became university Presidents; 75 authored good books; five were elected vice President of his country. His family never cost but rather contributed immensely to the country.

What we do and how we live the life God gave to us echoes eternity. Every man will definitely leave some kind of legacy, directly or indirectly. If you must leave a legacy, leave a godly legacy.

The Reality Of Faith

2009-09-23T04:32:00.000-07:00

Many people think faith is acting like something is so when it really isn't so, and if we do that long enough, then it will become so. But that's not it at all. Faith is real.

Hebrews 11:1 says,
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Faith is substance. This is saying that faith is real. It is the evidence of things not seen. Notice it didn't say "things that don't exist." They do exist. They just aren't seen.

Even in the natural world, we've come to realize that there are things that do exist that we can't see. We can't see television signals, but they do exist. In fact, wherever you are right now, there are television signals right there with you. If you say "No there aren't" just because you can't see or hear them, that doesn't mean they don't exist. It just means you aren't very smart. They do exist, they are just unseen. They are unseen realities.

A television set can make unseen signals visible. When we see the images is not when they became real. They were already there. A television set doesn't generate images. The set just receives the signal and converts it into sights and sounds that we can perceive. But the television signals were already there, before we tuned them in.

Probably every person reading this letter has watched television when suddenly the picture went blank. What did you do? I bet you didn't call the television station and complain about them stopping their broadcast. The first thing you did was check and see if everything was working on your television set. Was the electricity on? Was it plugged in? Did a tube go out or did some circuit melt? You checked your receiver to see what was wrong with it. You trust that the station broadcasts 24/7. You don't question that until you eliminate all the possible problems with your set.

Likewise, God is real and does exist. He just can't be seen. He is broadcasting all His power and blessings 24/7. It's never God's transmitter that is broken. It's always our receiver that is the problem. If we ask God for something and we don't see it manifest instantly, most people question why God hasn't answered that prayer yet. They assume that because they haven't seen or heard anything, nothing has happened. That's all wrong. We need to have more faith in God than we have in a television station.

There is a very good illustration of this truth in 2 Kings 6. Elisha, the prophet of God, was revealing the Syrian's battle plans to the king of Israel. Every time the king of Syria tried to ambush the king of Israel, Elisha would warn the king of Israel, and he would ambush the Syrian's ambush. This happened so often that the king of Syria finally asked his servants to reveal who the traitor was. He knew that the king of Israel could not be maneuvering like he was without inside information.

When one of the king of Syria's servants said that Elisha, the prophet of God, was revealing the words that the king of Syria said in his bed chamber to the king of Israel, the king of Syria sent his armies to capture Elisha.

Second Kings 6:15 says,
"And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do?"

When Elisha's servant saw the Syrian troops, he panicked. He knew why they were there. They had discovered Elisha was the one telling the king of Syria's battle plans to the king of Israel. They were in big trouble. Look at the response of Elisha to this situation in 2 Kings 6:16: "And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.".

People who don't believe anything exists beyond their five senses would say Elisha was lying. He was confessing something was so when it really wasn't so, hoping that it would become so. But that's not the way it was at all. Elisha spoke the truth. There were more with him than was with the Syrian army. It's just that Elisha's forces were in the unseen reality.

The key to understanding this is to recognize there is another realm of reality beyond this physical world. Those who are limited to only their five senses will always struggle with this. They think Elisha was lying, and indeed, he would have been lying if all that exists is this physical world. You could count the Syrian troops by the thousands, and there was only Elisha and his servant. But Elisha wasn't lying because there was another world of reality. If you looked at the whole picture, the physical and spiritual world, then Elisha was right on. In the spiritual realm, there were many more horses and chariots of fire around Elisha than there were Syrian troops.

According to 2 Kings 6:17,
"Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And he LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha."

Gehazi's physical eyes were already wide open. God was opening his spiritual eyes. He was able to see with his heart into the spiritual world. And when the spiritual world was taken into consideration, then Elisha's statement was perfectly true.

Those who see faith as an attempt to make something real which isn't real will always struggle with those who see faith as simply making what is spiritually true a physical truth. Those who limit truth to only the physical realm would have called Elisha one of those "name it, claim it," "blab it, grab it" cultists. But in saying such things, they condemn themselves. They show they only consider what they can see, taste, hear, smell, and feel to be reality. They are what the Bible calls "carnal."

When Gehazi's eyes were opened, the Syrians didn't disappear. They were still there. The physical truth was still true, but there was a greater spiritual truth that emerged. True faith doesn't deny physical truth; it just refuses to let physical truth dominate spiritual truth. True faith subdues physical truth to the reality of spiritual truth.

Because Elisha believed in the realities of the spiritual world, he raised his hand and smote all the Syrians with blindness. Then he led the whole Syrian army captive to the king of Israel. Praise the Lord! That's not bad for an old prophet whom carnal people would say was all by himself.
Elisha was not just speaking some wishful statement, hoping that it would become a reality. He knew what was real in the spiritual world, and he controlled his emotions and actions accordingly. There is no indication that Elisha saw the horses and chariots of fire around him. He didn't need to. He believed it. Those who operate in true faith don't need to see with their physical eyes. Their faith is evidence enough.

There was a woman at a campmeeting who had a huge goiter on her neck. She went forward for prayer and knew that she knew she was healed. So, she got up in front of the audience and gave a testimony of her goiter being healed. However, the goiter was still visible. But the people praised God, thinking that the healing would manifest itself shortly.

The next year at the same campmeeting, the woman got up again and praised the Lord for her healing, but there still wasn't any visible proof. This concerned a lot of people, but they didn't say anything. Then the next year, the same thing happened. This was too much for most of the people, and it caused the leaders of the meeting to approach this woman and tell her she couldn't testify of this healing again until the goiter was gone.

The woman told the Lord that she knew He had healed her, and she didn't have to see visible results to believe it. But for the sake of the unbelievers, she asked the Lord to physically remove the growth. It disappeared and the woman showed them what she already knew was true. You can get that strong in faith. Your faith is substance and all the evidence you need. Faith is real.
I've experienced this in my own life. When my youngest son, Peter, died on March 4, 2001, my wife and I spoke our faith and said, "The first report is not the last report." We spoke resurrection life back into Peter's body, and then we headed into town. It was one hour and fifteen minutes from the time we got the call until we got to where Peter was. During that time, I was operating in faith. I remembered prophecies that had not yet come to pass in Peter's life, and therefore, I knew it wasn't time for Peter to die. I rejoiced by faith, seeing Peter alive and well.

My oldest son, Joshua, met me at the door and said, "Dad, five or ten minutes after I called you, Peter just sat up." Thank You, Jesus! This is the point: I didn't rejoice more once I saw Peter raised from the dead than I did while I was still driving. During the drive, I knew Peter was alive, and I was rejoicing with all my might. It was actually anticlimactic when I saw in the physical what I had already seen in the spiritual. Don't get me wrong; I was blessed and I rejoiced to see my son raised up after being dead for five hours. But the physical reality wasn't more real to me than the spiritual reality of faith.

This is the way I live. I know it's not "normal," but I'm not getting "normal" results either. I've been believing big, and there have been big results from that believing. When we moved into our new offices, and when we see the warehouse finished, that was, and will be, anticlimactic. I'm seeing all these things in the spirit now. When they manifest physically, others will be impressed, but I'm impressed now.

I'm not believing for something that isn't real to become real. I've seen into the spiritual realm by faith, and I'm simply making what I've seen in the spiritual world manifest in the physical world. All of the things I'm seeing with my physical eyes now, I have already seen in my heart. I saw it on the inside before I saw it on the outside. This is a wonderful way to live. This is the normal Christian life. This is walking by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7).

Understanding God

2009-09-04T02:31:00.000-07:00

I believe that I can hold conversations with God. In my dreams, he hears my prayers. His sweet words, they answer my questions.

I asked God why he allowed terrible things like natural disasters to kill so many innocent people? He answered me as follows.

“Because you do not understand, I forgive you.”

I do not understand dear God, Please forgive me.
God answered, “I know you do not understand. I see your fears. I know your prayers. I am always with you, but why do you doubt me?”

I doubt you because I do not understand? When will I begin to see the light?
God smiled. A flash of blazing glory crossed the horizon and he said, “Be of good faith. You must believe, then you will begin to understand.”

I find it hard to believe in that which I cannot see or understand dear God.

God said, “If you have enough faith you will learn to understand. And if you have enough faith you will recognize my glory that is within you.”

With this last pronouncement a warm glow of pure joy seemed to fill every fiber of my being and I said, “thank you dear God.”

And God said, “be not afraid because I am always with you. I have given you the ability to think independently. Use this gift wisely.

Thank you God, but how can I use your gift wisely if I do not understand?
God replied, “If you have enough faith you will begin to understand. If you have enough faith, all things are possible. Why do you question me?”

I have so many questions dear God. When will I begin to know the answers?

“When you are ready, when you have evolved into the thinking human being I meant you to be,” God replied.

I feel that I have been ready to believe in you my entire life dear God.

God said, “Than where is your faith? Why do you question me who has created you?
I do not have the answer dear God; all I have is more questions.

God said, “If you still question me than you do not have enough faith in yourself. For I have made you in my image.”

At this point I felt as if the whole world was shaking and trembling. I asked God if he was mad at me?

God said, I am not mad, I share your pain, I share your dreams, I know your frustrations, why do you still question me?

Dear God, I do not know why I am so insecure. I only know that I wish with all my heart to believe in you.

God chuckled and the whole nights sky seemed to light up with his merriment. He said, “You will, for I believe that you are evolving into a good and worthwhile person.”

I told God that I found it hard to believe that God had faith in me considering all the weaknesses of spirit that I suffered from.

God said, “You are entitled to be a Person of Faith because I created you in my own image just as all of these seemingly random acts of nature are part of my grand design for the evolution of your world in the interests of the greater good. Do not question my intent.

With this a feeling of pure bliss took hold of me. I felt a sense of contentment and peace of mind that I had never known before. All I could do was to murmur, “thank you dear God.”

God encompassed me and said, “Why has it taken you so long to find my grace? Why have you had to fight yourself to become a Person of Faith?”

I guess even God has questions when it comes to dealing with his own creation.

God must have heard me for he said, “It is all part of my grand design. As you begin to evolve into the thinking human being that I have created you to be, you will begin to understand. Tell all your friends that question their faith that they are all part of my creation. They are part of my grand design.

I didn’t want to tell God that I still didn’t understand why bad things happen to innocent people, so I decided to take his pronouncement as correct as a matter of faith. He must have heard my thoughts because He said,

“Now you are starting to get the message, spread the word.”