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FISHIN’ FOR MEN
By Dickey
Porter
Unbelief
Matthew 17:14-21
Unbelief! That insidious disease of the heart, robs
us of our joy, kills our sweet fellowship with our Lord Jesus, and keeps us
under house-arrest like ordinary men and women who have neither power nor
influence.
All of our failures in this life can ultimately be
traced back to unbelief. It is a plague that has scourged the church from its
inception. We should be mounting up on wings as eagles, but instead, we find
ourselves with a ball and chain of unbelief securely attached to our ankles.
Even though we do reach up and attempt to soar, we barely leave the ground,
straining for the heavens, and then thud. We hit the ground with our murmuring
and complaining, wondering why God didn’t come through for us just like we
thought that He would or should or could.
The disciples had a problem casting out a devil one
day. They couldn’t do it and they didn’t know why. Only a few days before,
Jesus had given them power to cast out devils and to heal all manner of
sickness and all manner of disease. Now, suddenly and seemingly without warning
they had lost the power to cast the devil out.
They can’t even cast one demon out of a young boy.
After Jesus is summoned to cast the demon out, his disciples ask him the
question that we ask the Lord everyday. Why couldn’t we Lord? Why me, Lord? Why
can’t I cast the devil out or heal the sick anymore? I use to have great
success in ministry. I use to see great healing and deliverance in prayer
lines. I use to never have the problems that I face now. Why, Lord?
Jesus’ answer was short and cut straight to the
heart of the matter. "It is because of your unbelief!"
I could go on with this story and talk about
speaking to the mountains and commanding them to remove to yonder place and
they should obey us. I could go on and talk about faith the size of a mustard
seed and tell you that all things are possible to them that believe. I could
tell you that with God, all things are possible, but would you really hear what
the Spirit is saying to the church?
When Jesus said that this kind goeth not out but by
prayer and fasting, He wasn’t talking about devils. He was addressing our
unbelief. The whole subject of this passage of Scripture is about unbelief.
"Lord I believe! Help thou mine unbelief!" (Mark 9:24)
Okay, Brother Dickey, you have shown me the problem.
Do you have the remedy?
I’ve already told you what the remedy is. Read this
passage again. Let us meditate upon this until the Holy Ghost burns this into
our consciences!
About the Father’s Business
Dickey
Truth
is like a highway. It is from Everlasting to Everlasting. It has a destination
and a proper way to traverse the trail. The route begins at New Birth and
continues on to Perfection and points beyond…
The only entrance ramp is at
New Birth by the Grace gate. You get there through the Faith Toll road. (No
charge to get on; that’s already paid, but there is an awesome price to get
off.)
There
are rest areas along the way at posted intervals, e.g. Apostolic Avenue,
Baptist Boulevard, Catholic Causeway, Charismatic Circle, Church of Christ
Concourse, Full Gospel Gateway, Holiness Highway, Lutheran Lane, Pentecostal
Parkway, Presbyterian Pike, and many other rest areas. There are over 2800 rest
areas in the United States alone.
There
is some degree of difficulty getting back on the Truth Highway from many of
these rest areas. All rest areas have nursery facilities and qualified
babysitters to lend a hand for a nominal fee.
The
Truth Highway is a narrow winding road with mountain passes and valley vistas.
There is much rugged terrain at times and stormy weather to go through, but the
rewards at the end of the journey far exceed the stress and costs of getting
there. Jesus is at the end of the road, (He is also at the beginning) and you
can see Him in your fellow travelers along the way if you take the time and are
very observant.
There
are several Broad Ways that are parallel to Truth Highway and many are on these
roads. They are easier to travel, because they are all downhill, but they all
lead to Perdition, and not to Perfection. Although the names are similar, they
are vastly different places. It is not recommended to travel the Broad Way.
Disaster is its final destination.
Directions
to Truth Highway!
Follow
the Guiding Light of the Glorious Gospel to New Birth and walk in that Light
and you will be on Truth Highway. You will reach your final destination if you
just keep moving. The last leg of the journey is on Remnant Route. You won’t be
disappointed in your trip.
About the Father’s Business
Dickey
Our
Daily Bread
Scripture refs: Matt.
6:11,25,31; Luke 11:1-4
As Jesus was
delivering his Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7), he gave what has become to be
known as 'The Lord's Prayer'. (Matt. 6:9-13)
In some circles of
Christianity today, this prayer has been called 'The Disciple's Prayer' because
the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples in response to their request that he
teach them to pray (Luke 11:1-4), is very similar in structure and wording.
Actually, the
Lord's Prayer is a model prayer for all believers because of the 'Principles
of Prayer' that are contained within this very short profound prayer. Jesus
is teaching a step by step process of prayer that will bring results every time
we pray.
Being a laboratory
technician in the Research & Development department of a large chemical company
has taught me the importance of going through a process in a concise, step by
step method in order to obtain the desired product. Leaving out any part, or
getting the steps in the wrong order, always leads to failure.
There is one
principle in our model prayer that I want to expound on today. That is the
principle of asking for our daily bread. All of these principles
have been taught by some of our better known, greatly anointed teachers and it
is not my intention to add to or take away from what has already been said by
men of God with much more knowledge and experience than I. I just want to talk
about what God revealed to me about 'our daily bread'.
While reading 'The
Lord's Prayer' one day and meditating the Scriptures, the Lord pointed out
something to me that I knew had always been there, but seemed to be a paradox
that I had no explanation for. As I was reading Matthew 6:11 which says,
"Give us this day our daily bread", the Lord spoke in my heart and
said, "Look at verse 31". Verse 31 says, "Therefore take no
thought, saying, what shall we eat? or, what shall we drink? or, wherewithal
shall we be clothed."
When I read this
verse (31), then I heard a preacher's voice in my heart and mind saying that
the only prayer that we believers should pray for personally was to pray for
our daily bread, and the inference was for our daily provision. We recently had
had a guest minister in our church and it was his voice that I heard.
Now the Lord is
pointing out an obvious paradox to me and I'm getting excited because I know
that God is about to bring revelation to my heart concerning this matter of our
daily bread.
I re-read verse 11.
"Give us this day our daily bread." Jesus is teaching here and is
instructing us to pray for daily bread. Jesus is teaching us 'how to pray'.
"Give us this day our daily bread."
Then the Lord told
me to look at verse 25. "Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for
your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink: nor yet for your body,
what ye shall put on . Is not the life more than meat, and the body than
raiment."
Stop and think
about this for a moment. Jesus is teaching us how to pray. In verse 11, he says
for us to ask for our daily bread and in verses 25 and 31, Jesus is telling us
not to even take a thought concerning our life. (Daily provisions: eat, drink,
clothing). Is Jesus confused or is it possible that he is talking about two
completely different things?
The answer to these
questions came to me in a revelation of God's Word and in order for you to
"see the revelation" we will have to do some responsive reading. You
will pray Matt. 6:11, "Give us this day our daily bread", and I will
respond to your petition with Scripture. When you see the revelation, then you
will know the proper steps to take in our model prayer. Then our petitions will
be in alignment with God's will and our prayer life will become more powerful
and we will then begin to see the heaven opened and the heavenly hosts
ascending and descending and doing the work that only God can do and not man.
RESPONSIVE
READING:
"Give us this
day our daily bread."
"Our
fathers did eat manna in the desert: as it is written, He gave them bread from
heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses
gave you not that bread from Heaven: but my Father giveth you the true Bread
from Heaven. For the Bread of God is He which cometh down from Heaven, and
giveth life unto the world."
John 6:31-33
"Give us this
day our daily bread."
"And Jesus
said unto them, I am the Bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never
hunger: and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."
John 6:35
"Give us this
day our daily bread."
"Verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am
that Bread of life."
John 6: 47,48
"Give us this
day our daily bread."
"This is
the Bread which cometh down from Heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not
die."
John 6:50
"Give us this
day our daily bread."
"I am the living
Bread which came down from Heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live
forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the
life of the world."
John 6:51
"Give us this
day our daily bread."
"This is
that Bread which came down from Heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and
are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live forever."
John 6:58
"Give us this
day our daily bread."
"It is the
Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto
you, they are spirit and they are life."
John 6:63
In conclusion, what
Jesus is teaching us to pray for daily, is that close, personal, intimate
fellowship with himself that is so vital to our lives. It is during this quiet
time with God that we truly can hear His voice as we lay our head upon His
breast. We feel His heart's throb and we take on the mind of Christ. We
minister to Him as we "wait upon the Lord." We feed upon His Word and
from this "bread" we gain wisdom and understanding.
Solutions to many
of our complex problems come as we listen to God. His Word teaches us how to
deal with our fellowman (the source of most of our problems). All fear is gone
when we are filled with His Spirit. Great boldness becomes a part of our
character as we spend time with the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Our faith
pleases Him and He takes us from glory to glory.
"Man shall
not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
God."
Lord, give us this day, our daily bread. Give us our
daily portion of yourself.
In Jesus' Name, Amen!
About the Father’s Business
Dickey
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a
glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to
glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord"
II Corinthians 3:18
In the above text, "we all" is
referring to spirit-filled believers, not just believers who were once filled
several years ago, but believers who are continuously being filled with the
Spirit according to Ephesians 5:18.
We all "with open face" means that
nothing is hidden from us, but all things are revealed to us by the Spirit of
God (I Corinthians 2:10) as we are being continuously filled. The Old Testament
saints could not see and understand the things as we see and know because
everything (almost everything) was a shadow or type of that which was to come.
For example, the Passover lamb was a shadow and type of Jesus Christ, our
Passover lamb who took away all the sins of the world.
We are, without anything being hidden from us,
"beholding", or "seeing", or "looking",
as in a glass, or more properly "as in a mirror", the glory
of the Lord. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! We are actually observing, or as
I like to say, absorbing "the glory of the Lord". Now what do
we see when we look into a mirror? We see an image of ourselves. I will discuss
images just a little later.
In order for us to be balanced and not get into the
error that the New Age Movement is teaching , we must identify what the
"mirror" that we are looking into is. Some of the New Age teaching is
based on self-centeredness and the premise that we are all "gods".
They say that we are one with the "Christ consciousness" and
that we control our own destinies.
The "mirror", that we spirit-filled
believers, with nothing hidden from us, are "beholding", is
"the Word of God". Jesus said in John 17:17 – "Sanctify
them (spirit-filled believers) through thy truth.
(Parenthesis mine) Thy word is truth." Four times in John’s
gospel the Holy Ghost is called the "Spirit of truth". We
learn in 1 John 5:7 that the Father, the Word, and the Spirit are one. The Word
of God in II Corinthians 4:4 is called "the glorious gospel of Christ"
and from that revelation we get a clue to the "Glory of the Lord".
The more that we look into our mirror (the Bible)
and the more intently that we gaze upon the image that we see, the more that we
"are changed" by the same Spirit into the "same image"
that we see. The Greek word that is translated "changed" in
our text is the same Greek word – metamorphoo – that is translated "transformed"
in Romans 12:2. When we wrap ourselves in "the cocoon of God’s Word",
a metamorphosis takes place, and we may be a worm in our own eyes going in, but
if we will stay in the Word until transformation takes place, we will be
beautiful creatures when we come out and able to mount up on wings and soar
into the heavenlies. Hallelujah!
Now in our text it is written that we are changed
into "the same image". I Corinthians 15:49 says that "…as
we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the
heavenly." We "shall" being in the future tense
is speaking of the resurrection when we shall bear the image of God in our
bodies. "There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
" I Corinthians 15:44b. Romans 8:29 says that we are "to be"
conformed to the image of his Son." Again, "to be" is in
the future tense and is referring to our bodies being conformed to his image at
the resurrection.
However, notice Colossians 3:10 which says that we "…have
put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that
created him." "Is renewed" is present tense and
means that our born again spirits have already been transformed into his image,
II Corinthians 5:17. Now let’s look at I Corinthians 15:40. "There
are also celestial (heavenly) bodies and bodies terrestrial (earthly):
but the glory of the celestial (heavenly) is one, and the
glory of the terrestrial (earthly) is another."
Now in our text, it is written that we are changed
into the "same image" from "glory (terrestrial) to
glory (celestial) and how are we changed? By the Spirit of the Lord, at the
resurrection, in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. I Corinthians 15:51,52
We can only imagine what the glory of the celestial
body will be because the Lord will give us a body as it pleases him. We know
what the glory of the terrestrial body is now because we have his word in us in
abundance and nothing is hidden from us, as we are being continuously filled
with his Spirit, and "beholding" what our mirror (word) is
revealing unto us. The revelation is this: II Corinthians 4:6,7 – "For
God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our
hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ. But we have this "treasure" (terrestrial
glory) in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of
God and not of us.”
Hallelujah! Glory to God! Praise the Lord!
About the Father’s Business
Dickey