If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

Isaiah 58:8b-12

Desire is the key to self-discipline.  If you want something, you are motivated to obtain it.

Consider the promises.

God will always guide you.  He will meet all your needs, even when in dry places.  You will never be in darkness–even in your darkest moments, it will be like noon day.  You will be well-watered, prospering in everything.  And, you will restore the things that had gone before, that have fallen, and been destroyed.  That which was from generations past, you will rebuild.

If that is the promise, what is God requiring?  The removal of the yoke.  The removal of the pointing of the finger.  An end to bad speech.  And, instead, to assist those who are oppressed, and to spend yourself on behalf of the hungry. If this is the requirement for that, shouldn’t we be devoted to it?

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Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

Matthew 7:24-25

The words of Jesus still speak to us today, directly where we need it the most.  In a day when things a shaking around us, and power ministries are reaching levels where the pressures cause great collapses in ministry, the “words in red” speak directly to the heart of the problem, as they have for nearly 2000 years.

Jesus said, if you have heard His words and do them, your house will be built upon the solid rock, and even when the storms come (and they will come), your house remains standing, no matter what pressures come.

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The Man of Faith in the Kingdom

1. Happy all the Time. The state of the man in faith is maximum happiness. Matthew 5:3, “Most Happy are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”  Not only this, but he is a prisoner of this happiness because of his faith. So long as he stays in faith, he remains happy. For poverty of Spirit, this can be described as “when you’re at the end of you’re rope, tie a knot in it and hang on, cuz God is on the way.” Or, “We start where most people let off”. We don’t have problems, we simply need faith in God.
2. Happy is a byproduct of faith. It is not worked up, it is not labored for. It comes as a by-product of simply believing in the promise. Matthew 13:44, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who found a treasure in a field, and for joy, went and sold all he had and bought that field.”  A great way to teach faith is to meditate on the promise, such as kingdom of heaven being yours, and when happy comes, what changed is called “faith”. Afterwards, if happy leaves, what changed is called “unbelief”. Focus on the promise again to return to faith, and we answer any doubts in the interim with the Word of God.
3. Happy is the promise of mature faith. Matthew 11:30, “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” As a natural offshoot of the other two premises. Happy doesn’t always PROVE faith, as happy can come from ignorance, but happy is assured when, in the face of being assured of the dangers, you are MORE convinced of the provision. When your spirit sees, and faith is, happy is.
4. The Kingdom is always “At Hand”. Isaiah 9:7, “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”  Only the first and the last beatitude promise a current reality, “Yours is the Kingdom.” The rest promise a future reality, such as “will see God”, “Shall be filled”, or “shall be comforted”. That means, for many, the manifestation of the good is at some time in the future. But, for the first and the last, the promise is now. The Kingdom always answers the immediate need, whether poor in spirit or persecuted for righteousness sake. It would stand to reason that the quickest way to the double portion is to be both at the same time. Jesus was this on the cross.
5. Happy is the motivation. James 1:2, ” Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” Paul was shown the trials he would endure, but he also knew the exceeding weight of glory. It was for the joy set before Jesus, that He endured the cross. We don’t seek poor in spirit or persecution. And, while we do seek purity of heart and meekness and do not shun hungering and thirsting for righteousness, it is the bliss of being with Him that makes us both willing and able to endure, no matter what the cost to obey.
6. Happy only works with a Father. John 15:10, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.”Whether these are literal promises or merely the principles of God’s heart, they work with simple reliance upon the heart of who God is, as the Father of creation. There is no favoritism, and what you do for others will be done for you, and then some. Trying to manipulate these principles will only result in you being manipulated by God Himself (Psalm 18:26).
7. This life cannot be your aim. 1 John 2:15, “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. … If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”  This teaching does not make one popular, it keeps you alive and going through. Maximumly happy, in its greatest form of course, is on the cross, breathing your last, and forgiving those who are mocking and spitting on you, when you’re innocent. It was this position that put Jesus on the Cross, and it is these priorities that moved the heart of the Father to take lift Him back up. But, He had to go through. So long as you can make it through, you win.
8. There is always a reason to be happy. Matthew 5:3-12, “Most Happy…  Most Happy…  Most Happy…  Most Happy…..”  In the pursuit of Jesus and His Kingdom, we can be guaranteed of persecutions and tribulations. But, according to Jesus, there is always a reason to be happy, because to be oppressed for doing good is honorable before God, and He will not leave you hanging. If one doesn’t fit, try the next one. Or the next one. Until you’re happy.
9. The happies are the proper commentary on the Old Covenant. Matthew 13:35, “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.” Think of the deliverances of the Old Testament. In general, they will fall into one of these categories. The Israelites were poor in Spirit in Egypt, and God heard their cry. When they felt comfortable, and no longer had the breakthrough of the Spirit, they backslid, and didn’t have the covering.
10. The Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  Matthew 18:1-4, “At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”  If you’re not on the edge, you’re taking too much room.  There is something about the constant drive of the Kingdom. You can stop any time you want to. You can choose to be a millionaire, but the moment you stop to enjoy what you’ve found, you run the immediate risk of losing the power. The Kingdom showed up not because you are something special, but simply because of Grace and Mercy. He showed up in mercy when you were poor in Spirit, and Grace when you were persecuted for righteousness sake. God is close to the broken hearted, and when God’s righteous law is broken, it is time for God to act (Psalm 119:126)! You could try to get out of the pressure, and you could say that you can’t survive the pressure, and it’s true, but God’s is able, and His strength is made perfect in weakness. What you are unable to do, when you reach consistently the end of yourself, you will consistently run into the provision of Him.

This is the promise of the Kingdom. These are the promises of Jesus. They are not the promises of today’s preachers or churches, but they are what the Kingdom is. They missed Jesus because He wasn’t the conquering King they expected, but we miss Him today, because He is still the same, Yesterday, Today, and Forever.

The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.

Matthew 13:33

Thoughts and beliefs are powerful things.  Jesus said that to look with lust at a woman was to commit adultery, and to be angry at someone without a cause is to murder him.  Ultimately, it is what you think and what you believe that will either deliver you or condemn you to an eternal judgement of hell.

We can tend to look at our actions primarily, in the Christian life, but the unsurrendered self is perhaps the most dangerous weapon against the Kingdom, even as a believer.  Yet one sinner can destroy much good (Ecclesiastes 9:18).

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You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.

Matthew 23:26

But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (1 Timothy 1:5).  Once we have purified our souls by obeying the truth unto the point where we can love for real, we should love each other fervently, as we ought to (1 Peter 1:22).

This is the point of the Gospel.  This is the work of the cross and the path of life.  If your gospel is not aimed at producing this life here and now, a life that is demonstrated by a visible, recognizable love (John 13:35), that does not tolerate sin so much to eat with an immoral brother (1 Corinthians 5:11), what are you living?

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 Who is blind but My servant, or so deaf as My messenger whom I send?
Who is so blind as he that is at peace with Me, Or so blind as the servant of the LORD?

Isaiah 42:19

When all around fades, and the only thing left is Him.  When all background noises, and all distractions are stripped away, and you are only His flame (Psalm 104:4).  When you see nothing but His purpose, and hear nothing but His voice.

There are many ways to move in the Kingdom’s power, but Jesus didn’t just come with a few simple nuggets, a few quick keys that might improve your ability to flow in the Spirit.  His teaching wasn’t “pointers” for ministry, it was a yoke (Matthew 11:30).

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Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

James 1:27

Paul wrote that the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love (Galatians 5:6).  True religion is a good thing, as opposed to the thing commonly called the “religious spirit”, aka, the demonic force of blindness, deafness, and mere rules.  True religion expresses faith through an attitude of love.  The word “expresses” here means it does something.  As James wrote elsewhere, faith without works is dead (James 2:26).  Religion does something, it is both forward and reserved, but always after some goal.

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A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.

Luke 6:40

In this life of hungering and thirsting for the Lord, when will it ever be enough?  Jesus answers this clear enough:

A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master.  It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!

Matthew 10:24-25

It is enough to be like him.  For the slave to be like the master.

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If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple

Luke 14:26

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  Heaven and Earth will pass away before any one of His words passes away.  Many people would like to interpret this passage into obscurity, equating it with similar, albeit, related scriptures, such as this one.

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An entire oak tree is contained well within a tight, easy to carry package.  It has it’s own leathery cover, and even a handy carrying cup attached to the top.  You could, in fact, carry a hundred complete oak trees just in your pants pockets alone (assuming you’ve got big pockets).  The only thing you need to add, in order to convert your easy to transport oak tree into an immovable pillar is some sunshine, a plot of dirt, some water, and a hundred years or so!

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, that when planted, it is the smallest of seeds, but when it grows, it becomes the largest of all garden plants, and the birds of the air make their nest in it.

Matthew 13:31-32

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