Category: Sanctification

AWAKENING, Kingdom Business, Kingdom Thought, Sanctification, Spiritual Growth

THE LIGHT MAN

| THOMAS HART CLEMENTS

 

There once was (and still is) a man. An ordinary man. This man had a glimmer of light in his heart – in the center of his being. Faint it was, hardly noticed by anyone except his parents. It stayed that way for years and years but was obtaining a solid position in there – like a tree as it stretches out its root system to be able to stand even to reach the clouds. 

  

One day this nice gentleman was made aware of an outside source of light. One that was exterior to him but that is very much like the light which he owned. This Light is the greatest of all light. It is the Light of the world. It is the Source of all life in the universe. 

  

He somehow knew that that light was beckoning him to let It come into him. It wanted to join him and grow in him. This most powerful Light would be a co-laborer with the light of our friend whom we mentioned first in this little story. It would be a Helper. The Great Light is a source of Eternal information and Jethro; let us call our friend Jethro, can access this information and increasingly so as he builds his relationship with the Light. 

  

Once choosing to cohabitate with the Light – join his light with that Light – change was swift and exponential. The light that was in him was no longer just a flicker. It had grown, filling his abdominal cavity to an explosive ability. His cranial cavity became alive and radiant with activity because of the Light. He began to know things, to see and hear more clearly. His sense of right and wrong became keener. Key components of the two referenced systems are now more aware of each other and working together. Compassion and love are intrinsic in his personality. 

  

His thoracic cavity is also infiltrated by the Light giving him increased ability to spew out words of encouragement here and there and upon those whom he chooses or when he is petitioned to do so. His message is one of love. That Light shown throughout his whole body. His movement is more graceful and displays positive intent. 

  

The Light is no longer contained inside his body. It emanates from his body and becomes like a force field of love and all that is positive. Those meeting him senses this Power (that is what it is, power) not fully, if at all, understanding what it is. 

  

But that is not all. Remember that I said that that Light is external to that of Jethro. Well, the Great Light while it works within Jethro, it (He) also has a life and agenda all His own. That Light is always everywhere Jethro goes, even if the atmosphere is dark. In fact, there are times when the Light will pick, for example, to intervene in the ordinary course of nature to bring about some change. An example of this might be to open blind eyes or to cause a cripple person to walk. 

  

The Light (you noticed the upper-case L) now that He has opened a line of communication (communion even) with Jethro is able to conduct such work in the natural realm using a natural person. 

Kingdom Business, PROPHECY, Sanctification, Spiritual Growth

“GIVE ME WHAT BELONGS TO ME” A lesson about Tithing

| THOMAS HART CLEMENTS

This is an older dream of mine that I previously posted on the edreamsandvisions.com website.

A few days ago, I dreamt that I was gathering the mail from my now deceased father-in-law’s mailbox. The mailman had just delivered the mail. When I opened the mailbox, along with a few assorted pieces of mail there were two large stacks of money. There were thousands and thousands of dollars.

My first thought was “could this be my money?” Wasn’t my mailbox though. As I gathered up the money, two of Mr. A’s children nicked a few bills from the top of one of the bundles. They said, “daddy won’t mind, going to just get a manicure.”

As I went in to present the bundles to Mr. A, we determined that one of them was his and that he didn’t know who the other one belonged to. I guess this meant the other one was mine or at least my job to haphazardly try to find the true owner.

Meanwhile as I had been slow to slide on over to Mr. A his very large pile of green, he said to me sternly, “give me what belongs to me.”

Now, there were other persons in the room. Some were siting at the table where he and I were sitting. Now as I passed his bundle on over to him, he at once started to disperse the smaller bundles from his larger one to those is the room.

These folks were worker associates of his. They apparently did all the legwork and it was time to be paid. He slid money bundles to those at the table and I recall him tossing one over his left shoulder to a person sitting back in the corner.

I knew that this was a lesson about tithing. He went about remitting to those owed at once and fully. I had been asking the Lord to give me clarity about tithing and this was His answer. It was clear to me that I should go at once to the third chapter of the Book of Malachi. Malachi 3 is the go-to text at tithes and offerings time in the Church.

It is my intent to sort through the referenced scripture and to show you what I see but for now, in a few words, what God showed me is that tithing is a principle and mandate for now as it always has been (vs 4).

We are admonished that we will be thoroughly judge and that faithful giving is a thing of righteousness (vs 3).

In verse 6 He says, “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” “Ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” basically means that the tithes and offerings is not a thing of the past but is ongoing. No change.

Read Malachi chapter 3.

Kingdom Thought, Revival Forthwith, Sanctification

Biblical, Right?

| THOMAS HART CLEMENTS

What is right?  

Here is the way that one dictionary defines “right”:  

morally good, justified, or acceptable.  

synonyms:  

just, fair, equitable, good, upright, righteous, virtuous, proper, moral, morally justified, ethical, honorable, honest, principled; lawful, legal   

But, from a Biblical perspective, what is right? I.e., what is the right way to treat my neighbors, should I not regard those around me who deviate from traditional moral norms? Are some people superior to others? Are some sins justifiable in favor of a greater good? Who is really in ownership of one’s body? The merchant undercharged me — I get to keep the difference, right? It is okay for immoral and dishonest individuals to represent me before others and before God, right? I am a good person — I help the needy and contribute to the poor — I will go to heaven if there is one, right?  

I once heard a man say, “you don’t know what you know”. Sounds silly, right? Well, it is not so silly. You have heard me speak about the inner man, you know, our spirit man or human spirit.  

One of the three primary attributes of our inner man is conscience. The other two are communion and intuition. These on-board attributes of the spirit man all have additional attributes within themselves that represent things that we know but do not know that we know. For example, if we go into a country and kill off 43 million of the inhabitants and destroy their food source, we may not know that it is wrong, but we know that it is wrong because our conscience tells us that it is wrong.  

The same above reference but unnamed dictionary defines conscience as:  

an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one’s behavior.  

Watchman Nee says this about the conscience in his book The Spiritual Man:   

“The conscience is the discerning organ which distinguishes right and wrong; not, however, through the influence of knowledge stored in the mind but rather by a spontaneous direct judgment. Often reasoning will justify things which our conscience judges. The work of the conscience is independent and direct; it does not bend to outside opinions.”  

This scriptural passage makes my point:  

Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His (God’s) seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.  

In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.  

For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. (1 John 3:9-11 King James Version)  

 The Book of proverbs cites the word right or righteous ninety-one times in the KJV. Check them out here.  

  

 

 

Kingdom Business, Kingdom Thought, Sanctification, UTTERANCE

“I’m BATMAN”

| THOMAS HART CLEMENTS

You remember those words, right? A typical scenario for the utterance of the same is when a bad guy gets cornered by the hero and frustratingly requests of him as to who he is. “Who are you” the bad guy asks? The response that he gets is “I’m Batman.” 

So, Batman knows who he is. My question for you, though, is who are you? As you know, my current work is all about spiritual growth. Growing in the Spirit. Spiritual/spiritual maturity.  

The concepts and processes are multi-faceted. The gamut goes from the newly regenerated spirit to the Holy Ghost (Fruit) Filled and Holy Ghost Baptized human spirit. 

Given the question that prompts the title of this post, let me say that the reason for the post is to ask you “who are you“. More specifically who does the condition of your spirit portray you to be to others? 

You have heard it said that “the spirit is the real you”. You (we) are spirit. We have a soul, and we live in a body. Personality is an attribute of the spirit.  

The condition of the (your) spirit can cause you to present as a herd of elephants or as a gentle breeze, a cute little puppy, or a protective police officer. 

As we conduct our day-to-day business, we contribute to a world of quiet spirits, fervent spirits, oppressed spirits, contrite spirits, uplifted spirits, broken spirits, fresh spirits, stale spirits, light spirits, afflicted spirits, gentle spirits, haughty spirits, and these are only a sprinkling of the manifold assortment of spiritual conditions that present themselves all the time. What to do? 

My initial intent here was to name 25 spiritual conditions and give just a little background about each of them. What I found, though, is that there are hundreds out there and just talking about the characteristics of the conditions would fall short of looking into why they were manifest in the first place and what are some of the potential evolutionary consequences. 

As an example of an evolutionary consequence is, let us say that a person has a prideful or haughty spirit. That does not seem so bad, huh? Well look at this. 

I am finding that in presenting this cute little blog, I am opening a complex issue, for few of us know who we are. The dilemma obviously is to identify who it is that is at work in our hearts and to get him on the right track. Each condition is a track, so we must establish which are the right ones. 

This is way easier said than done but I think it to be a delightful journey. For the believer, the likely first step is to renew your mind. Renewing your mind by the Word of God will cause you to identify your condition (the condition of your spirit) providing instructions that will cause you to have an afflicted spirit and a lowly spirit and such as these that are acceptable to God. 

“It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud” (Prov.16.19) “He who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor” (Prov. 29.23). “And also, with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble” (Is. 57.15). 

So let me ask you again. Who are you? 

  

 

 

Kingdom Business, Praying In Tongues, Sanctification, UTTERANCE

Answered Prayer

| THOMAS HART CLEMENTS

Answered prayer is one of the basic privileges or rights of a Christian. A Christian is given by God the right of having his prayers heard. If one has been a Christian for three to five years and has not had one prayer answered, his Christian life must be quite questionable. For a child of God not to have his prayers answered is wrong. A Christian’s prayers ought to be answered.
“Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be made full” (John 16:24). He who prays often and has his prayers answered often will be a happy Christian. This is a fundamental experience that every believer must have. One may be careless in other spiritual matters, but in this matter of answered prayer a Christian cannot afford to deceive himself. It is either yes or no. He must seek to have prayers answered. (Watchman Nee)

Kingdom Business, Praying In Tongues, Sanctification, The End Time Church, UTTERANCE

WHAT IS SPEAKING IN TONGUES?

| THOMAS HART CLEMENTS

There is much controversy in the Church regarding Speaking in Tongues. What I will do here is explain Speaking in Tongues in as short a version as I can. 

Speaking in Tongues is flowing in the Power of the Holy Spirit. This Power is being poured out incessantly from Heaven by the Lord. 

Another way to put it is, Speaking in Tongues is God Speaking through believers.  

Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. (Acts 2:33) 

The purpose for such outpouring is to strengthen the believer and empower the Church. 

A person must repent (turn from) a life of sin and recognized Jesus Christ as the Resurrected Son of God, ask Him to be and accept Him as his Savior and be water baptized to move into this Supernatural activity. (See Romans 10:9) 

When a person receives Jesus Christ as his Savior the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit) moves into his heart bringing with him his foundational attributes. These are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. (See Galatians chapter 5). 

After having received salvation as outlined above a person becomes a candidate for the baptism in (some say with) the Holy Spirit with the evidence of Speaking in Tongues. 

Now comes that Baptism. This happens at the Hands of Jesus Christ Himself as verbalized by John the Baptist: 

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire. (Matthew 3:11). 

Baptism with the Spirit at the Hands of Jesus Christ will bring about the Speaking in Tongues by the believer.  

And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:4). 

Speaking in Tongues is a segue or the threshold to the Spiritual Gifts. The Spiritual Gifts is The Lord performing Supernatural feats co-laboring with the believers (the Church). 

In the Old Testament the Spirit of the Lord would come upon men as God worked miracles through them. That same phenomenon is at work today riding on the heels of Speaking in Tongues.  

But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (Acts 1:8). 

UTTERANCE, Speaking in Tongues and Spiritual Gifts