The Amazing Promise
The following may seem too incredible for you to believe. Just realize that our Creator is infinitely incredible Himself and far beyond our human comprehension. And so it shouldn’t be too surprising that His plan for restoring our relationship with Him, the relationship that was broken by our sins, is just that – incredible! This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
What you will find below is the very foundation of the Gospel. I believe that what I’m about to tell you has been hidden for a very long time and consequently has been overlooked by many. As a matter of fact, I’ve never heard what I’m about to tell you preached or taught by anyone, and I’ve heard a lot of preaching for 48 years – from pulpits, books, tapes, pamphlets, the internet, devotionals, and by word of mouth. This is truly an incredible mystery from God! And I want you to know that what follows radically changed my life! And I know that it has the power to radically change yours too!
The LORD confides in those who fear him (those who hope in the LORD alone, Psalm 33:18, Psalm 147:11, Psalm 119:74); he makes his covenant known to them. Psalm 25:14
God has given us an amazing promise that He guarantees with the honor of His Name. That’s why He has always protected the integrity of His Name.
Do not profane my holy name. I must be acknowledged as holy by the Israelites. I am the LORD, who makes you holy. Leviticus 22:32a
His name of LORD, YHWH, Yahweh, is the Name of His Amazing Promise to us, His Everlasting Covenant with us, that: “He is good; His love endures forever.” Who is He? He is “Good.” He is “Good” to us!
Approximately 100 times in the Old Testament His name of Yahweh is associated with “His love endures forever,” His “faithful love,” and His “unfailing love.” If He’s told us once, He’s told us a hundred times what His name means. And so how have we all, the scholarly and the uneducated, missed the full meaning of Yahweh’s name for so long?
Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness. Psalm 115:1
But you, O Sovereign LORD, deal well with me for your name’s sake; out of the goodness of your love, deliver me. Psalm 109:21
When we confess “Jesus is LORD” – when we repeat out loud and hear over and over His Promise that He loves us unconditionally and forever, we will come to place all of our trust, our faith, in His Promise to love us forever, in His Word, in Jesus, in Grace alone, to save us.
That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word (promise) of Christ. Romans 10:17
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods.
His love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords:
His love endures forever… Psalm 136
I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11
(“word” in this verse is NOT Hebrew “dabar”/law but is “imrah”/promise)
I have treasured your promise in my heart so that I may not sin against you. Psalm 119:11 (GOD’S WORD Translation)
Grace is God’s unconditional love for us. Truth is those things which will last forever because nothing false will ever be found in them. Jesus came full of Grace and Truth; Jesus came full of, fulfilled the promise of, “His love endures forever!” Jesus is LORD!
The Word (Promise) became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
“‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah… This is the Name by which it (He) will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.’” Jeremiah 33:14, 16b
The Bible says that the LORD’s Name and the Gospel both have the power to save…that’s because they are one and the same! All people, no matter when they have lived with respect to when Christ died, were and are saved only by faith in God’s Grace, in Jesus alone, beginning with Adam. This is how: when they believed in THE Promise of Yahweh (singular Promise, John 14:6), that Yahweh’s heart is always good toward them, that He loves them unconditionally and forever, they were placing their faith in God’s Grace – in Jesus alone!
When the people of the Old Testament prayed to Yahweh to send His salvation (“yeshua” in Hebrew), they were asking for God to send Jesus (Yeshua) – by name! They were calling on the name of the LORD, the name of the Amazing Promise!
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
And how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 3:15
(The apostle Paul was referring to the Old Testament!)
May your unfailing love come to me, O LORD, your salvation according to your promise Psalm 119:41
If you will stop trying to be good, good enough to be loved, and give up on everything you’re using to try to get love, that you’re doing in order to be loved, and humble yourself, and say this Amazing Promise, “I love you forever, [your name]” out loud, with your own mouth, and hear it over and over for several weeks, accepting it as God speaking directly to you, His love will move from your head to deep within your heart and you will be totally transformed by His amazing love, by His grace.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Psalm 107:1
Let the people the Lord defended repeat these words. Psalm 107:2
You can’t do anything to deserve God’s love – you can’t work for it, and you can’t earn it. You can’t even gain it. That’s because YOU ALREADY HAVE IT! God has ALWAYS loved you and He always will!!! HE ALREADY LOVES YOU JUST AS YOU ARE! There’s nothing you have done or can do, for that matter, to please Him enough to enter into a relationship with Him. If there were, then salvation wouldn’t be by Grace. And the Bible is very clear that salvation comes only by trusting in God’s unmerited favor for you, in God’s Grace, in Jesus!
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
You must trust His Amazing Love for you and then receive His Spirit, His Seal – you must be born again…His love, Jesus, must be born in you – in order for you to be, and to know you are, saved. When this happens to you, you will receive an amazing ability to say “NO” to sin, to resist temptation, like never before.
In reply Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” John 3:3
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word (promise) of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:13-14
For the Grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age Titus 2:11-12
Once your heart is filled with the LORD’s Amazing Promise, His grace, start actively looking for any ungodly things (idols) in your life that you’re using to give your heart the love it needs and desires that only the LORD can give you. And then, the next time you are tempted in any of those ways, stop, and surrender it to the LORD in prayer telling Him then and there that you’re tired of anything coming between the two of you and that you need His help, His Power, to avoid that temptation. And when you do this enough, to completion, allowing His Spirit to conquer all of your other gods, you will experience being filled with His Spirit, His Holy Fire, to the point where you won’t be able to keep from telling your family, your friends, and everyone about His amazing love and how they can receive it/Him as well.
Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. Jonah 2:8
But if I say, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. Jeremiah 20:9
Do NOT put your faith in your love for the LORD. Many good intentioned believers do that and it’s a trap. Put your faith only in the LORD: “He is good; His love endures forever.” I know from personal experience that saying the following words is speaking this Amazing Promise: “I love you forever, [your name].” Say this over and over until you completely believe it. And then simply respond back to the LORD from your heart each time. If your heart is right, if it’s broken and truly wants Him more than anything else, when you do this you will soon fall in love with Jesus, or you will fall much more in love with Jesus. This is so powerful! This is the Gospel!
I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. Acts 20:21
God wants everyone to hear this life giving message that He has been trying to tell you – that His love for you endures forever! What I’ve found in my own life is that this incredible promise has to be clearly heard over and over before you’ll place your faith, all of your hope and trust, in it. Unfortunately, the Gospel of Grace is very often mixed with some portion of works – things we’re told we must do to be acceptable to God. These are lies! Mixing in even a little works into the gospel of grace, “trying” to be good (enough), ruins the entire gift. Perverting the gospel makes it impossible for people to choose the real Jesus; to choose Grace. Their only recourse is to choose to live under law instead of under grace. No matter how good a person is, they are still lost if they are not fully trusting in God’s Grace to save them. It’s so easy for people to wind up thinking that they’re trusting only in God’s Gift of salvation while, unknown to them, they are partially trusting in what they’re doing for salvation. In addition, mixing grace with the Law rids the Law of its ability to bring people to the end of themselves so they can see their desperate need for Jesus. This is why the apostle Paul placed a double curse on anyone who perverts the Gospel of Grace.
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! Galatians 1:6-9
Salvation is always accompanied by the Holy Spirit, the Lord’s Seal on His people. Therefore, when a perverted gospel is preached, even if fully believed, it doesn’t have God’s power to save and it won’t result in people being filled with the Holy Spirit. A perverted gospel, even if fully believed, cannot save anyone and will actually prevent those who believe it, even entire churches, from receiving the Holy Spirit. So, the reason why churches are not exploding with the Holy Spirit, in many being saved, is because the one and only gospel is being perverted. Only ONE gospel is the power of God to save people – and no others are!
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. Romans 1:16
See to it that no one misses the grace of God Hebrews 12:15
Many people are familiar with what Jesus has done for us – with the Gospel Story of how God fulfilled His Amazing Promise to us by sending His Son Jesus to die for us. But many others have not heard THE STORY of ALL stories before. So, I would love to share it with you now. Here it is very briefly:
Jesus, God’s only Son, was conceived by the Holy Spirit and was born of the virgin Mary. He is the only one who has ever lived a sinless life, which is what God’s Law given to Moses requires. As a result, His blood was the only sacrifice that could pay the price for all of our sins. He was crucified by being nailed to a Roman cross and shed His precious blood. After three days He rose from the grave by conquering death, was seen by many witnesses, and ascended into Heaven where He sits at God’s mighty right hand. And one day He’s returning to judge the world and to take His Bride, those who have His Seal of the Holy Spirit, and complete the wedding ceremony with Her. She will be with Him forever to enjoy His Covenant of Love; it will truly be Holy Matrimony. His Holy Spirit blesses us who are His in countless ways and intercedes for us when we pray to our Heavenly Father.
If you fully accept God’s Love, His Salvation, His Grace, His Amazing Promise to YOU – Jesus – then it’s right and fitting for you to do those things the virgin Jewish bride did once she accepted the groom, his promise of love, and all of his promises that he had written down in the marriage contract, the ketubah, that he gave her. During the first half of the two part wedding ceremony, the shiddukhin, the couple shared a glass of wine (The LORD’s Supper, Communion) to seal the marriage contract (The New Covenant). By putting her lips to the glass and drinking the red wine (Jesus’ blood) she was saying to him “I do” – “I accept your promise to love me forever. I accept all of you and I give you all of me.” Then the groom returned (Ascension) to his father’s house (Heaven) to build onto it a home for her. While the groom was away, the bride would repeat the promises contained in her cherished ketubah (Bible) over and over and fall in love with the groom in his absence. She would also submit to immersion (Baptism) in water (God’s Love, which is the Holy Spirit) during the mikvah ritual leaving her old life under the rule of her father (Satan) behind (Repentance) and starting her new life under the leadership of the groom (Jesus). (Begin surrendering every unclean thing – every sin – by the power of the Holy Spirit, Begin the Sanctification process.) Until the groom came to get her (The Day of the LORD, Judgement Day) to complete the marriage ceremony, the huppah, she was to remain faithful and always prepared for his unexpected return. Note that the bride did none of these things to “earn” the groom’s love. His love was freely given to her (Grace), but the bride-price cost him dearly (Crucifixion and Separation from His Father) and showed her just how much he truly loved her (Infinitely). For Her to say that He didn’t pay it all, that She must earn some of the price Herself, is a huge disgrace to Him and in effect says She doesn’t want all of Him – it’s to turn down His offer of unconditional Love.
Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. Isaiah 55:3
One final point: God uses singing as a means for us to repeat His Promise of love and for us to never forget it. I’m sure you know how it is to hear a song and then not be able to stop thinking about it. It keeps playing over and over in your head. And if while singing you hear the LORD’s Promise of Love over and over, singing will prepare your heart to be filled with His Spirit of love. Daily singing of God’s love for me by singing along with contemporary Christian songs on the radio was a key factor in preparing my heart to receive His Love, to receive Jesus.
The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: “He is good; his love endures forever.” Then the temple of the LORD was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God. 2 Chronicles 5:13-14
(Note that the priests were unable to perform “works” of service. That’s because salvation is by Grace alone!)
This song by Matt Redman, Lord Let Your Glory Fall, describes how the LORD filled the temple Solomon built, as recorded in 2 Chronicles chapters 5-7. The temple is a detailed illustration of salvation! And what happened at the dedication of the temple is a clear description of how to be filled with God’s Grace and with the Holy Spirit’s Fire from above. The details of the two manifestations of God’s glory that occurred at the dedication of the temple totally agree with how I experienced the Holy Spirit in my own life. This song’s amazing, Holy Spirit inspired lyrics completely capture what I’ve been trying to tell you. So wherever this song is heard, the unperverted Gospel of Grace is truly proclaimed to all because Jesus is LORD; Jesus is the complete fulfillment of Yahweh’s Amazing Promise to love us forever. Instead of a building built by human hands, your heart is the temple in which the LORD longs to live.
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16
Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love. Psalm 48:9
There you have it – the very foundation of the Gospel of our LORD Jesus Christ!
Now you have a choice to make. You can agree, disagree, blow this off, or start right now putting these words “I love you forever, [your name]” into practice. What if I’m right? What if repeating these words will radically change your life just as they did mine? And I know they will! You have absolutely nothing to lose and EVERYTHING to gain by repeating the LORD’s Amazing Promise to yourself over and over! If it initially feels a little uncomfortable to say these words out loud, then you will know that they’re working on your heart! You will know that there is so much more room for His grace in your heart! So, will you have the faith of a mustard seed and do this one little (HUGE) thing over the next several weeks? I pray that you will be humble enough to say “Yes,” to say “I do,” and to start repeating it now! After several weeks of hearing this Amazing Promise, and nothing else, you will be astonished to find that you now have an unprecedented Power to say “No” to temptation like never before! And when you do, start using that Power, the Power of His Grace, to give up all of your idols and to surrender all of yourself to Him. Keep surrendering, by His Power, by His Grace that you will now have within you, until you have nothing left that’s not of Him to surrender. And then climb up on the alter yourself and He will send His Holy Fire on your sacrifice and ignite your heart and life for Him. When I fully surrendered to Him, by His Power, is when the LORD covered me with His Love from head to toe; and at the same time He gave me a tongue on fire to tell others of His love. How this happened to me is explained in the book I’m writing.
This clear, unperverted Gospel of Grace of our LORD Jesus Christ has the power to catch the whole world on fire with the Holy Spirit! But if we don’t share it with those we love, they may never clearly hear God telling them how much He really loves them or hear it enough to be radically changed by it. Besides repeating the LORD’s Amazing Promise yourself, all I ask is that you click the email button below and send this Amazing Promise to twelve or more people whom you know. It doesn’t matter if they are believers or not! Or better yet, click the “Share on Facebook” icon below and share it with ALL of your Facebook friends! Otherwise, this powerful message of God’s love, The Good News, The News of Him who is Good, will just stop right here instead of spreading exponentially. I’m asking you to partner with me in spreading the unperverted Gospel of Grace by simply clicking the email button below and sending this incredible message to at least twelve people. Why not send it to all of your family and friends? And then say a prayer that they will accept the unperverted Gospel of Grace. For the greatest impact, use your own email account and facebook account and send a link to this page to all of your friends and acquaintances. Let’s spread the only Word that has the Power to save – the unperverted Word!
If God’s Grace, Jesus, has come alive in your heart as a result of repeating God’s Promise of unending love for you (The Good News!) and if you have received the Holy Spirit’s anointing by using the power of God’s Grace to surrender every unholy thing within you to Him, please leave a comment here and describe how it happened to you as an encouragement to everyone! Also, I welcome all of your feedback and comments on this message from the LORD!
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the LORD Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:3
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All twelve chapters of the book are on Authonomy.com. Fourteen “chapters” have been uploaded, counting the preface and closing remarks.
Amazing Promise – How Sweet The Sound – Carl’s book on Authonomy.com
carlgarrettamazingpromise@gmail.com
I’m also available to speak or to preach. I may be contacted at 903-920-3416.
Carl
Amazing Promise-How Sweet The Sound 
“Amazing Promise” beautifully ties the Gospel of Jesus Christ together. It drives home the powerful message of how much God loves us and the importance that we surrender to Him. Only then can we begin to live the Christian life that he intends for us to live…free from the burden of trying to be good enough. Jesus’ sacrifice was enough…nothing more is needed for us to experience salvation other than to accept that gift.
Amen! HalleluYAH!
Excellent. Very good learning lesson for all of us. Something we can never be reminded of too much.
Yes and there’s no better way to receive His Grace than to hear it over and over by saying it out loud.
Hello my friend. I passed your information on to several friends and family. God Bless you my friend
Awesome!
Very nice reminder of God’s Grace and very interesting information about the Jewish wedding ritual and how it symbolizes our relationship to Christ. Looking forward to the book!
I just learned that there is a book by a Messianic Jew that explains the Jewish marriage and ties each event perfectly together with the words of Jesus as He taught. I’m looking forward to finding and reading it. I’ll post the title and author as soon as I find it out. Remember, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word, the Promise, of God. So I encourage you, and everyone, to NOT let this be just a single reminder of God’s Grace! Not hearing Him tell us nearly enough that He loves us forever is exactly one of the problems of our religious culture. I hope you’ll choose to repeat His Promise of unending love for you over and over, in your own hearing, and totally surrender yourself to it, to Him, until He sends His Holy Fire on your sacrifice.
The book my friend Glen gave me is The Ancient Jewish Wedding…and the Return of Messiah for His Bride by Jamie Lash. It’s only 38 pages, but well worth reading.
This is good! The name of Jesus has POWER! There’s no name in heaven or on earth that is greater than the name Jesus. Ever knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. If people will humble themselves and give God praise and receive His son Jesus as their personal savior. What a wonderful world this could be. This is awesome!
You are right; people need to praise the LORD’s Name over and over until they are willing to trust Him with all of themselves. May this message encourage many to make that decision and follow through! Amen.
Carl,
Your words have been given to you by The Promise, The Spirit of our God…Jesus our Lord! What you have said is indeed true. Your heart is on fire! Praise be to God Forever! I can see you in my minds eye singing and dancing and shouting Praises to God.
Your, and everyone’s, comments are so very kind, my friend. I feel like my tongue is on fire too because I can’t stop myself from sharing this amazing love, Jesus, with everyone I can! (Acts 2:3) It’s such a joy to me to be able to describe to others, even in so few details as this one blog, what happened to me (and how!) that totally transformed my life and caused my heart to overflow with this love and joy that I can’t keep inside! The most painful thing about writing my book has been waiting for it to get into people’s hands so they can understand the credibility i have for saying these things, believe this message, and put these words into “practice.” To Yahweh be all the glory!
Thank you for the link, Carl.This was awesome!
You’re very welcome, Tiffany. I hope it blesses you and yours immensely. Jesus is looking for bride-type hearts who will accept all of Him, all of His love for them, and in turn surrender all of themselves to Him. What I’ve written is exactly how it happened to me. That’s how I came to this realization, this revelation – because it happened in my life first and then I found it buried like a precious treasure in the Bible.
Psalm 119:162 – “I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil.” I just came across this verse once again since quite a while ago. Wow.
Carl thank you so much for this article you wrote,
There are so many false doctrines out there, and many of them look so good to the eye but do not add up with scripture… We need to let the Holy Spirit lead us in the scripture. Some scripture is “Not Literal” And so what happens is many take the literal and run with it and create a doctrine that suits their desire…
But there is only One Gospel!!!!!!
You’re welcome and Amen! Romans 1:16, Ephesians 4:4-6
Now the hard part is getting THE Word out to others.
I like what you said about having a song in your heart. It seems as if I’m always singing or humming a song. Psalm 100 says, “Come into His presence with singing.” Do you hear that? When we want to be in God’s presence and when we appear before Him in Heaven, we better be singing something. What song do you plan on singing? (And it better not be “You’re nothing but a hounddog” or “I’m bad”.). I’m going to sing “All glory and honor and praises to Him” or something like that. Revelations talks about the angel’s songs around His throne. Singing symbolizes a grateful,content and adoring heart. As the song says, “Lord, I lift Your name on High…”.That’s the Spirit we should always have. Peace be with you .
Thanks Michael. Since there was no “maker’s” tag in my very old fiddle when I bought it, I made one and placed it in my instrument using Psalm 100:2 and Judges 5:3b for my Maker. (Wow, I never said it like that before!)
And why should we sing? The answer is only a little further down: Psalm 100:5 – because the LORD is good and His love endures forever.
I’ve sung contemporary Christian songs for hours a day for years, but it wasn’t until I combined singing of His love with repeating His Promise to myself over and over that my life was radically transformed. And it wasn’t until later that I surrendered every idol and the LORD’s love literally covered me from head to toe and was perfected in me. That’s when I became fearless for Christ.
You’re right, Revelation 4 does reveal a beautiful image of the angels singing to the LORD. Revelation Song
Beautifully & powerfully said! Amen! It’s absolutely amazing to me how God reveals to us what we need in perfect timing. It’s also an amazing blessing that we get when we “dig” into the word of God. Thanks for sharing this!
He certainly does, although I could have REALLY used someone, anyone, to tell me this when I was a hurting 16 year old! It took 37 years of searching for Him and another 10 years of emptying of myself to “get it,” His Holy Fire. You’re very welcome. BTW, It amazes me how hard it is to get people to actually take the time to read this blog!…It’s JUST the Gospel. 🙂
Amazing Grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me….I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see…
I was lost before my late 20’s caught up in a polluted world and filled with my desire to achieve some level of corporate success…folly…I thought about my legacy and leaving some secular stamp on this world…meaningless….I set plans for amassing wealth and retiring early to suck in travel, etc. at some point down the road…for what purpose…I was all about me.
Then I lost my life only to save it! Others are now what is important…I am very small and my needs are few (soup at lunch and coffee in the morning for those who know me)….
I’ve denied myself (and carry the cross of my saviour Jesus Christ) and turned it over to God. That doesn’t mean I don’t work hard (in fact, I work harder in doing things for the kingdom and those who depend on me), I just do not desire success for myself. It amazes me how those of the world cannot understand that and perceive me differently…but God tells us this…those of the flesh cannot understand things of the Spirit.
Carl is an inspiration to me and a Brother in the Lord…I’m encouraged in his zeal and drive to spread the Good Word! God bless!
Blessings to you too, Eric! Thank you for your testimony. Your words are so very kind and inspiring as well. Thank you, Brother.
Truth… but I have a lot of questions about this… wouldn’t people take God’s love for granted…
at times I could say “fine God loves me,” but do I love myself? Am I all worth being loved? I know his love is unconditional and his love endures forever… but isn’t the age today’s definition of “LOVE” now indefinite and tarnished? If God says he loves us than what does it mean? 🙂 Thanks if ever you would answer… -tacticianjenro
Yes. People take His love for granted all the time. Everybody knows what it is to be accepted. But relatively few people know what it is to be accepted unconditionally, no strings attached. This is grace. This is true love. Totally unmerited and unearned, God completely accepts us anyway. If you don’t want Him more than anything, then the Gospel probably won’t do you much good. I’ve had people come back and actually tell me, and i’m talking about longtime dedicated believers here, those who have believed in Jesus all of their lives and certainly profess to be Christians, tell me that they have begun to put these words into practice and they feel uncomfortable initially saying it, that it’s a little embarrassing for them to say these words. I remember feeling uncomfortable myself when I began saying them. That’s the WHOLE point! That’s when you know that it has never always been about His grace toward you, that it’s been at least a little about what you were doing for Him. Try it and see for yourself. You won’t know until you do. I pray that you will begin saying it, hearing Him say it to you. Once you have the Power of His Grace inside of you, I pray that you will begin surrendering, by that Power, everything that’s not of Him. Keep taking what’s not of God and putting it on the alter and finally you get down to where nothing, no idol, is left and you climb up on the alter yourself as a living sacrifice. That’s when God sends His Holy Fire. And when you do experience Him, His love, His Spirit, it’s (He’s) nothing short of Amazing!
Thanks for that. Yes, it can be certainly uncomfortable…God loves me, this I know, and I know that it’s really not about me and what I’ve been doing for God. This gets me confused because all the preachers keep on preaching to do this and to do that, and to turn away from sin and pursue righteousness…to evangelize, to share the word of God. These are still part of the Christian life, is it? When you say it’s about His grace all along? Or is this just the first step, and everything else will just follow? To be honest I’m still really really confused… I feel weird because in these past times, I have been really declining from my previous spirituality a year back and am being tired of this, but I know He’s the only Way, but still I’m frustrated I can’t get myself to work into His will like all the others seem to do and have. I’m 17, and in the first year of college, by the way.
All of these things anyone (friends, parents, teachers, preachers, anybody) tells you that you have to do to be 100% acceptable and totally loved by God is a perversion of the Gospel, taking away its Power. The Bible tells us to rest in His grace because Jesus has already done it all, the work is finished! Yes, this is THE first step. Everybody tries to rush intimacy with the LORD by doing “works” instead of falling in love with Him first. Once you’re in love, you’ll do anything He asks because He’ll have your heart. “Man” tries to make it a lot harder than it really is. It’s all about having His Grace, His Power, first. And then utilizing that Power to surrender everything ungodly to Him. You can’t do it by your own power. That’s the whole point. Once you’ve surrendered everything, then He gives you His Fire which enables you to follow Him completely and truly be His disciple. It is NOT about us, about what we are doing or have done or can do for Him. 1 Corinthians 13 says that all the “doing” means nothing if you don’t have His love, His Spirit, inside of you first. But 1 Corinthians 13 never said that’s how you receive His Spirit – because it’s not. I urge you to begin repeating the Promise over and over until you place your faith in it. And then begin surrendering everything to Him.
Reread your comments… I’m being mislead again. I want to get back on track…
Interesting thoughtful examination of who we are called to be.
And the best part about it is that repeating The Promise actually works! First you receive a major outpouring of grace, and then by the power of that grace you’re able to surrender all that’s keeping you from receiving and overflowing with the Holy Spirit. I believe this is why the temple had two rooms; the Holy Place and the Most Holy Place. Note that the Holy Place is a larger room than the Most Holy Place. I think it’s because a lot fewer people will totally surrender and go from the Holy Place into the most intimate, Most Holy Place where the Groom is. They may be at the wedding feast, but they may not be the Bride.
Its sad to say it but the good news is hard to find these days. Especially in the groups of believers on Sunday mornings. No gospel no power. I enjoyed reading this. My personal experience was a little different in coming to Christ but at its core they are the same. I never repeated a certain phrase or sentence but the heart of the matter was knowing I was as lost and dead as I could be. Then asking for Gods forgiveness and that I would surrender everything to Him. For me the surrendering process is daily. Thats why Paul writes of being crucified daily. By all means I have not arrived at a place in time where I can just stop denying myself! I am learning that just because your married does not mean you are faithful. We as a bride are very dirty but we are called to be holy as God is holy. It is so good to know that not by works can anyone be saved. If this were the case then we would all be in a alot of trouble. By Gods grace through faith we are saved. Through our faith comes the works of God. We can not put the cart before the horse or the works before the faith by Gods grace. The promise my brother is alive and well and you are not alone. From creation till now God has been declaring who He is even the heavens declare His glory. Glory be to God for all those who recieve this precious gift of Gods love. Your fellow herald! Clint.
P.S. Hope those oil filters worked!
Amen! It was awesome meeting you and talking briefly with you about Spiritual things, Clint. You definitely “get it.” You are wise beyond your years. With so much of God’s love in you, I can tell you won’t stop sharing that love, Jesus. Herald on, brother! Philemon 1:6.
Today, I told Michelle that the Gospel is like a proposal for marriage. I was wrong. The Gospel is THE Proposal for marriage – Jesus’ proposal to us to become His Bride. And all marriages that ever were and ever will be honor and point to that Ultimate Marriage. Recognizing this and responding to Him with “I do” is not optional. To accept the Gospel as anything less than total surrender of one’s whole heart to Jesus is to risk Jesus telling you that He never knew you, that you never allowed Him to know you fully, intimately. It’s senseless to take that risk. “Trying” to do good works won’t do it. “Trying” to do His will won’t do it. Being filled with His grace, as I’ve described above, and surrendering everything to Him by the power of that grace is the only way to experience (know) Him intimately and to be prepared for the Ultimate Wedding! Neither of these two experiences of grace are head knowledge; they are real. For those of you who have experienced both of these, you know what I’m talking about.
Thanks for sharing this Carl. It is nice to know I have another fellow Christian to work with here at Trane.
YVW, Steve. I’m glad I was able to share it with you.
Amazinggrace
Thanx
Definitely amazing grace! YVW, Michelle.
This is a book that reveals God’s undying love, mercy and graciousness on a dying world. It is also a personal journey that you have shared with them and that’s what counts. Matthew 28:16-20 commands us to share and to disciple all nations. I applaud you for your hard work, dedication and love. Claire ~ Chasing Pharoahs.
Your comment is very kind, Claire. I wish for you much love and power from the LORD!
Amazing & beautiful. My eyes are filled w/tears. I will do what you said.
The part about singing, I don’t sing much but I find when I pray in tongues it turns into song. I’ve been finding this odd. Are you saying there is a reason for that?
One more thing, in seeking and developing a relationship with God, could a person be baptized by the Holy Ghost before verbally accepting Jesus Christ as their personal savior?
Thank You
Thank you Linda for your feedback that this description of the unperverted Gospel of Grace is impacting you so! It’s so very encouraging to hear of God’s Word impacting hearts (which results in impacted lives). Getting to your questions, I don’t have the gift of tongues so I can’t say anything about that. My gift is evangelism. I have heard someone say that God’s Spirit always manifests itself in some type of vocal expression of the Gospel. That makes sense. Concerning your next question, it’s clear that the Holy Ghost is not given prior to salvation, prior to someone placing their total trust in Jesus. All the way back to Adam we find that people called on the Name of the LORD (Gen 4:26). When someone calls on the Name of the LORD, it results in them accepting Jesus because Jesus is LORD! (Rom 10:9). And repeating the Promise contained in His Name of LORD is hearing the Gospel of the LORD Jesus – which is the only thing that can produce faith in that fulfilled Promise of Grace (Rom 10:17, Acts 4:12). I actually received God’s Grace by confessing this Promise (the meaning behind the phrase “Jesus is LORD”) even though I was not in a denomination that emphasized saying “Jesus is my Lord and personal Savior.” I think there are many, many who say “Jesus is Lord” and say a sinner’s prayer but are not fully trusting Him that He loves them unconditionally. And as such, they are not born again, they are lost and they wonder if they are doing enough for Him. It’s so sad. But when the seed, the Word (Promise), is born in you because you’ve heard it enough, unperverted, for it to cause you to place your faith, your trust, in it, you are given the Holy Spirit’s Power to surrender all of your other lovers, your sources of false love (idols), and receive true Love only from Jesus. In summary, you can’t receive the Holy Spirit without first placing your faith in Grace because the Spirit is the seal and proof of salvation and salvation is by faith in Jesus alone.
If Jesus be for me,who can be aganist me.
All because of his Love for me!!
Hello There. I discovered your blog using msn. That is a really well written article. I will make sure to bookmark it and come back to read more of your helpful info. Thank you for the post. I’ll definitely comeback.
I would like to be filled with the HOLY SPIRIT as I am currently going through a challenging phase in my life. May the LORD B my guidance in this routes in life.
A quality teaching, Evangelist Carl.
I like what you say about salvation always being accompanied with the Holy Ghost… God’s power and word being one and the same…
Many thanks for connecting like this
I think if a dozen Holy Ghost fireballs got together and done this with passion well… maybe we get to be included in the book of Acts part 2…. maybe!
Paul.
I have posted this post on twitter and connected on facebook
Paul, you definitely “get it.” There’s a good chance you’re going to love the book I wrote. I pray you will preach this message frequently and be one of the 12 fireballs. I am sharing it and will preach it from every rooftop as God gives me the opportunity. The Lord seems to be forming an army for a great spiritual battle. He’s beginning to surround me with Holy Ghost filled men now.
God bless you and I totally agree with you. I tell people I witness to all the time that THIS is the message that totally transformed Israel and all of Southern Europe in the 1st century – the entire known world at the time. And it’s still the same message and the only message that has the Power to do the same thing today. But if it’s mixed with works, it’s robbed of all of its power because then it’s no longer Jesus, pure Grace. After the Holy Spirit anointed me 2 years ago, my eyes were opened to the truth that there is no Power in a perversion of the Gospel by Joseph Prince’s book Destined To Reign. My brother gave me a copy at just the right time. My theology is roughly 1% or less what I learned in religious circles growing up, 2 to 5% influence by Joseph Prince, and 95% direct revelation from the LORD in the last two years.
This is cool; God leading people like you to me who recognize the Truth of God’s Word when they hear/read it.
I have been on a “spiritual journey” with our Lord Jesus Christ for the past month now. The more time I spend talking to him or reading his word the more I feel his “Holy presence” It is the most awesome feeling in the world! My whole body starts to feel a tingling/ burning sensation (but in a good way) nothing painful, in fact it is the opposite of pain. It is the best feeling in the world to know that the “holy spirit” is living inside of us! I can’t seem to come down off this spiritual cloud of heavenly bliss. All I can tell anyone is that there is a God. He sent his son Jesus Christ down to live and die for us on the cross. He wants for us to spend time with him and most of all to put him FIRST in our life. When we do, he will work everything out for us. We just put our trust in him and let him lead us where he wants us to go. When you feel him you will want nothing more then to do what makes him happy. All he wants for us is to try our best in this world and to spread the word that he is very much ALIVE! I wish for everyone to seek a relationship with him. This beautiful world that God created would be so much more of a wonderful place. Please people, we need to stop letting life keep us so busy that we forget about our spiritual self. We need food from him daily! For myself, I will no longer go without seeking his glory!