GUNTUR A.P. INDIA 1966

Max Solbrekken & Sadhu Vandenam, May, 1966

Thousands attend Freedom Park Crusade, Guntur, A.P.

40,000 attend 1986 Ahmedebad, Gujarat, India Crusade

Powerful Report of Manila, Philippines 1966 Crusade

WAITING FOR THE MOVING OF THE WATER

By Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.

    “Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for moving of the water.

     “For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.” (John 5: 3,4)

    From the account of Jesus Christ's healing of an impotent man who had waited for thirty eight years at the pool of Bethesda, we glean some great truths:

    We learn the great desire of our Heavenly Father to alleviate sickness and disease by sending an angel to trouble the waters to bring healing. It was a foretaste of His Son's miracle ministry to heal everyone who came to Him for His healing touch.

   It was also a picture of the Church healing the sick and suffering and pointing to freedom from sickness and death in the Millennial Reign of Christ. What strikes me so profoundly when studying this portion of God's Word is the great needs of the sinful, sick and suffering all around us, and their intense desire to be healed.

                        MIRACLES GET PEOPLE'S ATTENTION!

   Secondly, a supernatural move of God is necessary to get people's attention to “wait for the moving of the waters.” When authentic miracles begin happening in a Church or through a preacher's ministry, people will begin to congregate in that place. Wherever Jesus went He healed the sick and performed miracles and multitudes attended His meetings.

   The Bible records: “And a great multitude followed Him because they saw His MIRACLES which He did on them that were diseased.” (John 6: 2); “And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

     “And His fame went throughout Syria and they brought unto Him all sick people that were taken with diverse diseases and torments and those which were possessed with devils, and who which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy, and He healed them. And there followed Him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea and from beyond Jordan." (Matt.4:23-25)

   “Now when the sun was setting all they that had any sick with diverse diseases brought them unto Him and He laid His hands on everyone of them and healed them. And devils also came out of many, crying out and saying Thou art the Christ the Son of God. And He rebuking them, suffered them not to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ.” (Luke 4:40-41)

                      GREAT MIRACLES OPENED HEARTS!

    The same was true in the lives and ministries of the Early Church: “Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain lame man from his mother's womb was carried whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms. And Peter fastening his eyes on upon him with John said unto them, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something from them.

    “Then Peter said: “Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have, give I unto thee; In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.  And all the people saw him walking and praising God.

     “And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful Gt of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him at that which had happened unto him.”(Acts 3: 6-10)

    What was the outcome of that great miracle which God performed as Peter and John exercised faith in the Name of Jesus Christ to raise up that impotent man! Here it is: Howbeit many of them which heard the Word believed, and the number of the men was about 5,000. Hallelujah and Amen.

           ST. PAUL SAW GOD'S MIRACLES & REVIVAL!

    “For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed, through mighty Signs and Wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ.

     “Yea, so have I strived to preach the Gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon an other man's foundation.” (Rom. 15:18-20). What a statement from a former persecutor of believers in Christ!

    Here was a man who met Jesus Christ the Crucified, Resurrected and Glorified Son of God on the Damascus Road and who died as a MARTYR after founding Christ's Church in the Gentile world!

  Repeatedly, God has triggered genuine Revivals through Signs and Wonders and Gifts of the Holy Spirit. St. Peter writing about Jesus of Nazareth stated: 

    “How that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with POWER Who went about doing Good and HEALING all who were oppressed of the Devil for God was with Him.” (Acts 10:38)

    Who can forget the great Revival that God brought to the city of Samaria through the ministry of Philip, the deacon? St. Luke writes about it:

    “Then Philip went down to Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them; and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. And there was great joy in that city.” (Acts 8: 5-8)

                           JESUS USED HIS HUMBLE SERVANT!

    By God's great grace, I have seen this phenomenon in my own Ministry around the world for more than fifty years.

   When Jesus performed staggering miracles in the Manila, Philppines Crusade in 1966, word spread and about 1,100 souls joined Bethel Temple (now Cathedral of Praise). 

    When Sal Marisigan's leg - stunted by polio - grew out more that 12 inches, it caused 100 members of his extended family to come to Christ and join the Church.

     During our 1966 Gospel Crusade in the Freedom Park in Guntur, A.P. India, when Jesus Christ liberated a demon possessed woman in an awesome display of Holy Ghost power as I cast out the demons in His holy name, the crowds surged from 2,000 upwards to ca 15,000.

    And Dr. Serala Elisha the Head medical physician of the Kugler Lutheran Hospital publicly confirmed that a 13 year-old-boy who earlier had an eye removed by surgery, three days after prayer in Jesus' Name a new eye appeared in that empty eye socket and continued growing to normal size with perfect vision! The crowds continued to grow!

    One day, Six Circle Inspectors came to see me. They handed me an official letter with these words: “Rev. Max Solbrekken: We the Circle Inspectors of the Police Force request you come to the Guntur General Hospital to “Heal the Inspector General of the Police Force in the Name of Lord Jesus.”

    The Inspector General had suffered a stroke and was paralyzed on the right side. He could speak only with much difficulty, as the right side of his face was drooping. His right arm was drawn up in a ball on his chest. The six Circle inspectors stood at attention in his room. His wife and another lady were present, as well as my associate Thomas Tutyko.

    I pulled up a chair near his bed. I said, “Sir, you sent for me.” He spoke very slowly, “Yes. I want you heal me Name of Lord Jesus.”

    I said, “Since you want me to heal you in the Name of the Lord Jesus, I must tell you why His name is so powerful.” He nodded that he understood. For about fifteen minutes I expounded unto him the Holy Scriptures about Jesus Christ. I asked him to follow me in the prayer of repentance and confession of faith for salvation. He struggled but slowly got the words out.

    The anointing of God came upon me, as I commanded the evil spirits of sickness, disease and infirmity to leave him. I called upon Almighty God in the Name of Jesus Christ, to heal the Inspector General. When I was finished, I saw an immediate change in his face. I said, “God has healed you.” He spoke normally, and said, “Yes.”

     I took his right fist and pulled it out, saying, “In Jesus' name be loosed.” It became normal! I said, “Sir, you are healed. What are you going to do?” He said, “I'm going to get up and walk.”

    He threw back the blanket and I took his hands and helped him out of bed. He and I began marching back and forth. Then, he shook his hand free from me and marched back and forth perfectly normal.

    He marched up to me and saluted, saying: “Whom do I thank for this, Sir?” I answered, “Lift up your arms in the Royal Salute and say, Thank you Lord Jesus.” As He did, the six Circle Inspectors and other Policemen standing up and down the corridor, lifted their arms straight in the air, saying, “Thank you Lord Jesus.”

               GUNTUR CITY COUNCIL INVITES US BACK !

   What was the outcome of that miracle? Any policeman who had sick family members got the day off so they could bring them to me for prayer, And that is what I did throughout the afternoon. 

   The Guntur City Council begged us to stay another five days, but the weather was so hot (140 F and 100 F at night with no air conditioning) that we deferred.

    The Crusade in Guntur was so successful that the City officials formally invited us back to their city in December of that same year. Both Prime Minister Lester Pearson and the Right Honourable John Diefenbaker wrote me letters congratulating us for our successful time in India.

  During the December 1966 crusade in Guntur, AP India, we attended the Annual Police Sport's Day. They announced that the one mile race was open to anyone. Since I had won the Half-Mile for Saskatchewan in 1951, Bob Hoover, Thomas Tutyko and Missionary Lawson Barbour felt that I should compete to get exposure for the CRUSADE.

    I finally agreed and the announcer excitedly said, “You remember the Miracle Man from Canada who held the crusade at the Freedom Park in May. He is back for another crusade this week. He has not run for 16 years. If he wins it will be a miracle. If he does not it will still be a miracle. Rev. Max Solbrekken the Miracle Man is competing in the One Mile Race which begins now.”

   I was number three when we came around the track at the half way mark, when I decided to graciously pull out of the race. We got the publicity for JESUS and they were thrilled that I had participated. All glory to God!

                       WHAT CAN WE EXPECT IN THE FUTURE!

    Here are some very important questions: “Are the promises of God for only a limited duration or are they eternal? Does God change His eternal purpose and plan to conform to the whims and fancies of a jaded and perverted society who feel strongly that their opinions are on par with or greater than God's Word, the Holy Bible?

     And how much longer will the mercy and grace of God be extended to a lost humanity which has locked the Creator and Life - Giver out of their lives? Is there hope that righteousness will rule over unrighteousness and that the will of God will also become the will of His creation? And, how can sinful man approach a thrice Holy God, which demands repentance, faith and worship? Finally, how does Jesus of Nazareth fit into the Salvation Plan of Almighty God, the Ancient of Days?

     First, the promises of God are sure and certain. They are as reliable as God Himself. He has placed His Word above His Name. (Ps. 138: 2)

    He said: “So shall My Word be that goeth out of My mouth. It shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing where unto I sent it.” (Is. 55: 11)

    “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Word shall not pass away .”(Luke 21:33): “For the Word of God is quick (alive) and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”(Heb.4:12)

    “I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside Me: I girded thee thou hast not known Me. That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside Me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God and there is none else.” (Is. 45:5,6, 22)

    The Bible says: “The Lord is my light and salvation: whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion: in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me; He shall set me upon a rock.” (Ps. 27:1, 5)

  The Rock, of course, is Christ Himself. Jesus said: “Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built His house upon a Rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came and the wind blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.” (Matt 7: 24, 25)

   St. Paul believed God's Word: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which Above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things Above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ, in God.” (1 Cor.3: 1-3)

    Second, the Holy Bible says: “ But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags...” (Is.64: 6). There is nothing good within mortal man. The Bible says: “All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Is. 53: 6); 

   “As it is written, There is none righteous, no not one: there is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. (Rom. 3: 10, 11)

    St. Paul introduces the Saviour, Jesus Christ our Lord, Who paid the price for our emancipation from death to life, through His incarnation and vicarious death for us on the cursed tree, where He became a curse for us to meet the righteous demands of Divine Justice for our sins! He became the propitiation for our sins and for the sins of the entire world.

          JESUS' VICARIOUS DEATH SATISFIED GOD!

   The Bible states: “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Herein is live, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4: 9, 10). The word propitiation means satisfaction, mercy seat, expiation.

    The sacrificial, vicarious death of Jesus of Nazareth satisfied the demands of divine justice in the courts of Heaven to atone for the sins of Adam and Eve and their sinning progenitors, for all time. 

    John the Beloved wrote: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous: And He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2: 1,2).

    St. Paul wrote: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness; for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” (Rom. 3: 23-25)

     WILLIAM COWPER tried several times to commit suicide. He tried to drink a glass of hemlock but his hand trembled and he dropped the glass. He put a gun to his head but was unable to pull the trigger. He ran onto the bridge overlooking the Thames River in London to jump to his death, but “a strange power restrained me”, he said.

     He tried to hang himself, but someone rescued him. Finally, he was taken to St. Alban's Asylum. According to Gilbert Thomas: “William Cowper was melancholy and introspective believing he was beyond hope, believing Christianity was true, but was not capable by faith to believe for himself. He felt rejected. Then, one afternoon in the Garden of St. Alban's Asylum he picked up the Bible and read Romans 3: 25.

    He wrote: “Immediately, I received strength to believe it, and the full beams of the Sun of Righteousness shone upon me. I saw the sufficiency of the atonement He had made, my PARDON sealed by His BLOOD, and all the fullness and completeness of His justification. In a moment, I believed and received the Gospel...

“Unless the Almighty arm had been under me, I believe I should have died of gratitude and joy. My eyes filled with tears, and my voice choked with transport; I could only look up to Heaven in silent fear, overwhelmed with love and wonder.”

     This is a favourite Gospel Hymn by William Cowper:

There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel’s veins,

And sinners plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains:
Lose all their guilty stains, Lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains

The dying thief rejoiced to see, That fountain in His day;

And there have I, though vile as he, Washed all my sins away:

Washed all my sins away, Washed all my sins away;

Dear dying Lamb, Thy precious blood Shall never lose its pow’r,

Till all the ransomed church of God. Are safe, to sin no more:

Are safe, to sin no more, Are safe, to sin no more;

Till all the ransomed church of God. Are safe, to sin no more.

And now, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ

The Love of God the Father, the Fellowship and the

Communion of the Holy Spirit, be and abide with us all

Until Jesus Comes to receive us into His Heavenly Kingdom. Amen.

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A SAD DAY FOR ROMAN CATHOLICS: IT'S TIME TO FOLLOW MARTIN LUTHER, WHO FOUND THE TRUTH IN CHRIST ALONE! AMEN.             POPE FRANCIS & R. C. CHURCH   Is this the Mother of Harlots that John Hus, Martin Luther, Jan Calvin, Zwingli, Hugh Latimer, John Ridley, John Bunyan, Wycliffe, Cranmer, Isaac Newton, John Wesley, Tyndale, John Newton, Jonathon Edwards, Hudson Taylor, Spurgon, F.B Meyer,  D.L Moody and Charles Finney rejected and fled from!      AFTER GREED & PRIDE: DECEPTION!  Is this why some Prosperity preachers are forsaking the Gospel and identifying with the man who will not correct homo priests, and calls Muslims his brothers!

Pope Under Fire For Telling Gay Man That "God Made You Like This" Is the Catholic Church about to fundamentally change the way that it deals with the LGBT community? During that private conversation, the Pope reportedly told Cruz that he is gay because God made him that way and that he should be happy with who he is.   These comments by the Pope are making headlines all over the planet, and many are wondering if we are about to witness an enormous shift in direction by the largest religious institution on the entire planet. This is how the Los Angeles Times translated what Pope Francis told Cruz... Cruz was quoted as having discussed his homosexuality with Francis. "He told me: 'Juan Carlos, I don't care about you being gay. God made you that way and loves you as you are and I don't mind. The pope loves you as you are, you have to be happy with who you are.' " And this is how those same remarks were translated by a major British news source... Speaking to Spanish newspaper El País, Cruz said: "He [the Pope] told me, 'Juan Carlos, that you are gay does not matter. "God made you like this and loves you like this and I don't care. "The pope loves you like this. You have to be happy with who you are." There is some difference in wording between the two translations, but the meaning is very clear in both renditions. Those comments stirred up a lot of controversy at the time, but that controversy quickly faded. But now these latest comments from the Pope have a lot of conservatives up in arms.   For example, this is what Pat Buchanan had to say on the matter... The idea that God is responsible for homosexual orientations, that the pope and the Catholic Church are fine with men being attracted to one another, and that those so oriented should be happy with it, appears, on its face, to be heresy. It implies that what Catholics regarded for centuries as moral truth was wrong, or that moral truth has evolved and must be made to conform to modernity.  This is moral relativism: Truth changes with the times.

Four Ways Porn Is Destroying

America's Children

Porn is devastating an entire generation of young people and new studies show that first exposure is starting younger and younger.

The increase of pornography use and addiction among adults is a growing concern around the world. Sadly, it is far worse for today's children who are growing up in a fully connected world. Porn is devastating an entire generation of young people.

According to ChildLine founder Dame Esther Rantzen, "Young people are turning to the internet to learn about sex and relationships. We know they are frequently stumbling across porn, often unintentionally, and they are telling us very clearly that this is having a damaging and upsetting effect on them."

How bad is the problem?

Many studies report that the average age of a child's first exposure to pornography is at 11 years old. But security technology company Bitdefender's research states that children under the age of 10 now comprise 22% of online porn viewing for youth under 18 years old. The under 10 years-old group now accounts for one in 10 visitors to porn video sites.

As licensed clinical social worker Donald P. Huerta explains, "Many kids I have seen in my private practice who are struggling with an addiction to pornography were initially exposed to it through a friend, by newspaper underwear or swimsuit ads, on an ad that popped up while searching the internet or by an accidental click on the internet while doing homework. 

After the unintentional viewing and subsequently wrestling with guilt and shame, they secretively continued looking for the pictures or movies that held similar images and became more intentional in their searches for it."

Over a quarter (26%) of 13-to-17-years-old teenagers admit to viewing pornography at least once a week. And if you think the problem doesn't exist within the church, seventy percent of Christian youth pastors say they have had at least one teenager come to them in the last 12 months for help in dealing with pornography.

"Never before in the history of telecommunications media in the United States has so much indecent and obscene material been so easily accessible by so many minors in so many American homes with so few restrictions." -U.S. Department of Justice

Google Analytics data shows that pornography-related searches increase by 4,700% when children are out of school.

In view of such staggering statistics, how does porn harm children?

1. Viewing pornography affects their attitudes and values

Consider how easy it is for advertisers to influence our behavior to buy a product with just a short television commercial. Similarly, a very brief viewing of pornography can influence a child's attitudes about sex, women, and other values.

The American Bar Association reports, "Excessive media use, particularly where the content is violent, gender-stereotyped, and/or sexually explicit, skews children's world view, increases high-risk behaviors, and alters their capacity for successful and sustained human relationships."

Gail Dines, CEO of Culture Reframed, said, "If you're socializing a whole generation into porn sex, which is what we're doing because porn is the major form of sex education today, then what kinds of fathers, partners, lawyers, judges, policemen are they going to be when they've had their capacity for intimacy, connections and relationships hijacked by the porn culture?"

2. Porn interferes with their development and self-identity

There is a significant relationship between teens who use porn frequently and feelings of loneliness and major depression. They also have lower levels of self-esteem.

Pornography alters a child's normal personality development process related to their sexuality, their body, and sense of self.

"During certain critical periods of childhood, a child's brain is being programmed for sexual orientation", reports ProtectKids. "During this period, the mind appears to be developing a "hardwire" for what the person will be aroused by or attracted to. 

Exposure to healthy sexual norms and attitudes during this critical period can result in the child developing a healthy sexual orientation. 

In contrast, if there is exposure to pornography during this period, sexual deviance may become imprinted on the child's "hard drive" and become a permanent part of his or her sexual orientation. "

Children learn a considerable amount by imitating what they see other people do.

We have mirror neurons in our brain that help us to learn - when we learn to tie our shoe laces by watching someone else, that is those mirror neurons at work.

Neuroscientist, Dr William Struthers, who wrote Wired For Intimacy; How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain, says, "These mirror neurons are involved when someone views pornography because what they view, they vicariously experience and learn from."

By viewing pornography, the child's brain is being programmed to what they are seeing which forms their understanding of sex and intimacy.

3. Children are not emotionally or physically able to handle pornography

When children view unfamiliar people in sex acts, it becomes an overwhelming and frightening experience that they cannot comprehend.

According to the Association for Natural Psychology, "Pornography, as well as exposure to sexual innuendo, in movies for pre-teens, can evoke emotions of worry and confusion. More often than not, children have no one, with the exception of equally confused peers, with whom to discuss what they've seen."

"Pornography, as something that children and teens do not necessarily understand, becomes overwhelming and confusing for most children and teens. This can surface in ways difficult for parents or teachers to decode, such as oppositional behavior, preoccupation with sex, and inability to concentrate.

"Exposure or over-exposure can also lead to some symptoms associated with depression and ADHD, symptoms associated with bipolar disorder, or suicidal ideation."

According to Dr. Ted Roberts, the host of the Conquer Series, the prefrontal cortex of the brain is where reasoning, decision making and judgement take place and isn't fully formed until the age of 25. This means children are being exposed to pornography long before they can comprehend the dangers associated with it or make judgments on what they are seeing.

4. Porn may cause children to act out sexually

Since children often imitate what they've seen, some studies show that pornography may lead them to act out sexually among smaller and more vulnerable children.

ProtectKids explains, "Over 66 percent of the males and 40 percent of the females reported wanting to try out some of the sexual behaviors they had witnessed. And among high schoolers, 31 percent of the males and 18 percent of the females admitted actually doing some of the things they had seen in the pornography within a few days after exposure."

Young people are also more likely to engage in 'sexting' photos or messages on their mobile phones, which can leave them exposed to cyber-bullying.

Studies have also shown that boys exposed to a large amount of pornography before the age of 14 tend to be more sexually active as adults. Additionally, new research has found a link between exposure to pornography and sexual violence.

The challenge is clear

Pornography presents a major harmful assault on today's young people. They will have to deal with the negative impacts porn has on them into adulthood unless we take action now to help them avoid a lifelong porn addiction.

Thankfully there is a growing movement of parents and teenagers who are fighting for this generation and helping them break free from pornography. Churches are beginning to run the Conquer Series not only for adults, but also for father-son groups.

The Conquer Series, a 12-DVD cinematic production, will help you understand how the mind processes pornography and how you can learn to fight back and find freedom for your own sexual addiction, and also how to lead your children to grow in integrity amidst a porn saturated culture.

As the fathers go through the Conquer Series with their sons, they are not only dealing with pornography in their home, but seeing a transformation of the depth in their relationship with each other.

Teenagers as young as 15 and 16 who have seen the devastating effects of pornography in their lives and the students around them, are taking a stand and leading their peers through the series.

Today's children face a world saturated with sexual content, but the Conquer Series is a powerful resource helping them fight the battle.

Visit ConquerSeries.com to watch the film trailer and find out more.

                   THE SECRET OF POWER WITH GOD

                               By Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.

1. Through COMMUNION with God, we are filled with the life of God. Without the life of God we are in total spiritual darkness. The Bible says: "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.” (John 1: 4,5)

2. Through COMMUNION with God, the Holy Spirit reveals the will of God. The Bible says: “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Rom. 8: 26)

     Often, we do not know how to pray intelligently so are at a loss to know how to pray. But when we pray in the Holy Spirit, He comes to our rescue and prays through us to the Father. The literal Greek says, 'The Spirit Himself takes a hold of against our infirmities and prays through us to the Father.' This often happens when we pray in other tongues. The Holy Spirit prays through us to the Father.

3. Through COMMUNION with God, the Holy Spirit changes us into the image of God. The Bible says: “And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the pirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the  firstborn among many brethren.” (Rom. 8: 27, 29)

      “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed in the same IMAGE from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Cor. 3: 17,18)

4. Through COMMUNION with God, we are led by the Spirit to go forth with the power of God. It was the Holy Spirit that filled Jesus of Nazareth during His water baptism in the Jordan River. Immediately thereafter, our Lord was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. (Luke 4: 1-13)

IN THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT!

     “And Jesus returned in the Power of the Spirit into Galilee; and there went out a fame of Him through all the region round about. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Esaias. 

    "And when He had opened the book He found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor, He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.” (Luke 4: 14-16).

    St. Peter stated: “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with Power: Who went about doing Good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil: for God was with Him.” (Acts 10: 38)

      In His book titled Prayer, James H. McConkey wrote, “Communion is the daily looking unto Jesus for the continuous inflow of His divine life.” And that is the key to power with God. It is the mystery that our Heavenly Father had kept hidden for ages and generations but was given to St. Paul, who revealed it to the Church.

     Almighty God walked with Enoch, He communed with Moses as face to face, He called Abraham His friend and David was called a man after God's own heart, yet He did not reveal the Mystery to them. And when Jesus walked with His disciples and apostles, He did not disclose the Mystery to them, either.

                                  WHY SAUL OF TARSUS?

    He waited until He had the right man in place, a man feared by the church and revered by the enemies of the cross. Saul of Tarsus was a man God could trust, a man deeply committed and so dedicated to the Jewish Laws that he would put wrongdoers to death believing he was pleasing God. 

     Here was a man who would obey God, once he heard the truth. Here was a man who would carry the name of Jesus Christ and His Gospel to the Jews and who would establish the church in the Gentile world.

      St. Paul reveals the hidden Mystery: “How that by revelation He made known unto me the Mystery; as I wrote before in few words. Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit:

     “That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel. And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, Who created all things by Jesus Christ.” (Eph.3: 3-6, 9)

    What was this great MYSTERY which our Heavenly Father had kept hidden from the beginning of the world and was revealed to St. Paul? It was Christ living in the believer, His body. His Church would consist of Born Again, Spirit-filled Gentiles and Jews, making us into new creatures in Christ.

     “Even the mystery which hath been hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of His glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col.1: 26, 27)

     The Bible states: “And He is the HEAD of the Body, the Church: Who is the beginning, the first born from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell. And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in Heaven. (Col.1:18-20)

                                    TO BE LIKE JESUS!

     How is this possible? The Bible clearly gives us the process through which this is possible: “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Cor.3:7,8)

     James H. McConkey writes: “You have heard the story of the sea and the cloud. The sea looked up into the heavens and saw the beauty of the great white summer clouds, and longed to become a cloud. So it struggled, and strove, and tossed itself into the air, and dashed itself against the rocks, but all to no purpose.

     “And then the sun looked down upon the sea, and said: “Be quiet; be still; and just look unto me.” And then the tossing sea grew quiet, and ceased its striving, and lay there with open face beholding the glory of the sun. And as it did so, the sun steadily, moment by moment, drew and changed, and transformed the sea, until bye and bye, in the heavens was another cloud in all its beauty.

     “What the sea could not do with all its striving, the sun did, simply through the sea's looking unto it. And so too we struggle and strive, and work to be like JESUS, but somehow - we do not know how; we do not understand anymore than we understand how as we look to Jesus in the place of prayer; as we look unto Him in the place of communion; as our souls cease their striving and their vain struggles to make the old flesh life like Him – which can never be – and just look helplessly, to Him, somehow we are changed into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.

    “As we look unto Jesus we come to look like Jesus. Those who wait upon Him shine with His glory. When Moses came out of the mountain, his face was shining with the glory of God. Why? Because he had gazed into the face of God for forty days. And when he came down, he stood a transfigured man before the people, with the image of God in his face, so that he had to cover it, for they could not bear looking upon it.

     “How beautiful then is it that as we look unto Jesus, we are transformed into the image of Jesus. Then even down here in the dark night of faith, somehow or other, we GROW like Him. The moment a man perfectly sees Jesus, that moment a man is going to be perfectly like Jesus.”

                            WHEN JESUS RETURNS FOR US!

     St. Paul wrote: “Wherefore seeing we are also compassed about with so great a a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

     “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher (perfecter) of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb. 12: 1,2)

Let us seek God to be filled with the blessed Holy Spirit and power. Remember that Jesus had to pour out His BLOOD on the cross, so that He could receive the promise of His Father to pour out the Holy Spirit on His church!

     That Christ will return to take us all home is guaranteed. Jesus promised: “In My Father's House are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will COME again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14: 2,3)

   When we see Jesus face to face we shall truly be like Him. How wonderful. The Bible states: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall APPEAR, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3: 2)

“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” (1 Cor. 13: 12); “And now little children, abide in Him; that when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.” (1 John 2:28). Amen.

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