In this presentation I shall concentrate on the church and on what is happening in, to and for the church today and I shall cover much territory. I shall deal with current events in the light of prophecy, of opposition, the emergence of a new kind of ministry for such a time as this, and of how those who are healers often need healing themselves.

Please pause for a moment and invite the Lord to do what He did to two of His apostles on the road to Emmaus after His resurrection. They were having a heated theological debate but did not recognize Him until He opened up the scriptures to them! May the Lord open our eyes and ears and our hearts like that to hear truth. May He open the Word of God to us in ways that we may not have considered before.

 The Lord Jesus Christ made a powerful and very accurate statement concerning His Church, having asked an important question about His identity.

But you,” he said to them, “who do you say I am?” Shim‘on Kefa answered, “You are the Mashiach, the Son of the living God.” “Shim‘on Bar-Yochanan,” Yeshua said to him, “how blessed you are! For no human being revealed this to you, no, it was my Father in heaven. I also tell you this: you are Kefa,” [which means ‘Rock,’] “and on this rock I will build my Community, and the gates of Sh’ol will not overcome it.
Matthew 16:15-18

This was a personal question. Our relationship with God is personal. He knows us by name and we are His.

When Jesus prayed in John 17:1-3, as follows:

After Yeshua had said these things, he looked up toward heaven and said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, so that the Son may glorify you—just as you gave him authority over all mankind, so that he might give eternal life to all those whom you have given him.
And eternal life is this: to know you, the one true God, and him whom you sent, Yeshua the Messiah." 

The Church (I usually capitalize the words when talking of The Church that Jesus is building, not “churches” as we know them) is a “mystery” to many if not most people without such understanding and Paul spoke much of this in his epistles, especially in Ephesians.
His prayers for us are on such lines.

Jesus stated that He would build His Church, not man and He stated that no power in all of creation could stop it.
This is great news for me.

The Church of which He spoke is not what we call “church” today.
His Church is a living body of individual members who are all are all priests and kings—His Holy Temples and each individual member has a specific place and part to play.

You fit in there somewhere and without you, His Body is incomplete.

This Church is wonderful indeed and it is more important than many people think. It is said that we are “the Bride of Christ” but the bible also speaks of another “bride”—a “wife” as seen in Revelation twenty-one.
This wife is the Heavenly Jerusalem”, the capital of Israel; the City of David.
It is very important to God and Isaiah spoke of her as follows:

Because I love Zion, I will not keep still.
Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem, I cannot remain silent.
I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn, and her salvation blazes like a burning torch.
The nations will see your righteousness.
World leaders will be blinded by your glory.
And you will be given a new name by the Lord’s own mouth.
The Lord will hold you in his hand for all to see—a splendid crown in the hand of God.
Never again will you be called “The Forsaken City” or “The Desolate Land.”
Your new name will be “The City of God’s Delight” and “The Bride of God,” for the Lord delights in you and will claim you as his bride.
Your children will commit themselves to you, O Jerusalem, just as a young man commits himself to his bride.
Then God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.
O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen on your walls; they will pray day and night, continually.
Take no rest, all you who pray to the Lord.
Give the Lord no rest until he completes his work, until he makes Jerusalem the pride of the earth. }
The Lord has sworn to Jerusalem by his own strength:
“I will never again hand you over to your enemies. Never again will foreign warriors come and take away your grain and new wine.
You raised the grain, and you will eat it, praising the Lord.
Within the courtyards of the Temple, you yourselves will drink the wine you have pressed.”
Go out through the gates!
Prepare the highway for my people to return!
Smooth out the road; pull out the boulders; raise a flag for all the nations to see.
The Lord has sent this message to every land: “Tell the people of Israel, ‘Look, your Savior is coming. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.’ ”
They will be called “The Holy People” and “The People Redeemed by the Lord.”
And Jerusalem will be known as “The Desirable Place” and “The City No Longer Forsaken.” Isaiah 62:1-12

There are times in our  lives therefore when we may feel as if we are under attack. The world system can react for the simple reason that we are here! If they are in darkness, our light disturbs them. If they are in fear, doubt, unbelief and negativity, our quiet and confident assurance troubles them. They are not disturbed by religion, because the world is full of it. That’s why there are so many denominations and other forms of religion. The devil does not mind at all if anyone goes to a church but He dislikes it we are full of the Holy Spirit, know God’s word intimately and speak it, when we worship in the manner God accepts and when we start to act like Jesus. The devil can read a bible and quote from it, because he did so to Eve in the garden and spoke portions of scripture when he tempted Jesus.

This is the difference between pure theology and knowing truth. When the “real Church” stands up, he is then disturbed and wants to shut us down.

I dislike that term when Christians say that the devil has been attacking them. It is probably an apt description, as it may feel that way, but is it really correct? There was a time years ago when the Lord spoke quite angrily to me about the matter, saying that, to Him, it was like “worshiping the devil by default”. He stated, “That’s tantamount to telling Me that Calvary was not good enough”. Jesus nullified the enemy’s “power and authority”.

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 1 John 3:8

And it is in union with him that you have been made full—he is the head of every rule and authority.
Also it was in union with him that you were circumcised with a circumcision not done by human hands, but accomplished by stripping away the old nature’s control over the body. In this circumcision done by the Messiah, you were buried along with him by being immersed; and in union with him, you were also raised up along with him by God’s faithfulness that worked when he raised Yeshua from the dead. You were dead because of your sins, that is, because of your “foreskin,” your old nature.
But God made you alive along with the Messiah by forgiving you all your sins. He wiped away the bill of charges against us. Because of the regulations, it stood as a testimony against us; but he removed it by nailing it to the execution-stake. Stripping the rulers and authorities of their power, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by means of the stake. Colossians 2:10-15

Scriptures indicate that we do wrestle, but it is not against flesh and blood. It is against principalities and powers that have a structured hierarchy.
It has a fully trained, well-equipped and well-structured army—often more-so than many Christians.
 

The devil does not possess any of God’s attributes however. He is not all knowing, all powerful and able to be present everywhere, so how can he be “attacking” someone in England, another in America and someone else in China simultaneously? His evil emissaries are indeed sent on assignments everywhere, but the Lord has given us delegated power over them. This is why God gave us His armour and listed in Ephesians 6-10-18. It is not a defense mechanism as is often intimated, but a totally complete body suit that is to be continually worn as a one-piece unit—an offensive weapon!
For more detailed information please visit the page The armour of God.

The enemy does probe according to 1 Peter 5:8-9:

Be well balanced and always alert, because your enemy, the devil, roams around incessantly, like a roaring lion looking for its prey to devour. Take a decisive stand against him and resist his every attack with strong, vigorous faith. For you know that your believing brothers and sisters around the world are experiencing the same kinds of troubles you endure.

We need not fear and succumb. Scriptures reveal that we can resist him and one cannot resist a more powerful foe. I often say, “If you are in a submarine, don’t open a porthole”, or do not give the devil a legal right to do anything as Job did. It requires more in-depth analysis, but Job was his own worst enemy. The devil found an opening of some kind like evidence to present before a righteous judge who had to rule accordingly on a legal precedent.

James 4;6-8 says:

“God opposes arrogant people, but he is kind to humble people.” So place yourselves under God’s authority. Resist the devil, and he will run away from you. Come close to God, and he will come close to you. Clean up your lives, you sinners, and clear your minds, you doubters.

I conducted a little search on the matter and was surprized at how often the word of God reveals how to avoid falling into traps. This is not a matter of Legalism and “keeping the law” but basic common sense. In 1 Corinthians 10:14, we are told to flee from idolatry, so flee from it. In 1 Corinthians 6:18, 1 Timothy 6:11 and 2 Timothy 2:22, we are encouraged to flee from what might harm us. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 tells us to abstain from all appearances of evil. 1 Peter 3:11 tells us to despise it. This is an attitude of the heart, not the legalistic approach. Jesus said:

That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.
Mark 7:20-23

According to the Lord,we need not literally commit adultery, but think...
We need not actually murder someone but having hatred in our hearts is like doing so.
Thankfully, He said, as many of the epistles also reveal, that He can set us free. It is a matter of wanting to and a matter of making a choice—and God has provided everything we need to choose and win.

The answer is simple... flee from it. If God says not to go somewhere, do not go there. If He tells us to get away from certain people, do it. If He tells us not to meet a certain person, don’t meet them.
We might not understand the reason initially, but God knows best. It is not always easy however and struggles are involved. No one can win a war if they do not fight, but the battle has already been won.

We often do not know that we can do something until we try. Several years ago my wife and I had thought of buying a large motor-home and that meant we had to obtain a heavy truck drivers’ license. She is a little lady and we did not know if she could even see over the top of the instrument panel, but we agreed together that we can do this thing. When we took lessons, they put us in the worst truck of all and she drove it better than I could!

When I became a member of the sea rescue organization, one of the tests to obtain a crew member’s license was to swim for several minutes fully clothed with shoes and then to put on a life preserver when in the water! It’s very difficult! Try it!

Another test was to swim fully clothed, again with shoes whilst wearing a life preserver and go to one of those inflatable life rafts that was upside down in the water. We had to turn it upright and then climb aboard and it is hard to do. I had to do it twice, because of a problem with the life preserver provided (not my personal issue) and it rode up against my throat constricting my breathing. I had to be pulled aboard!
After a rest and donning my own device, I repeated the test again and succeeded.

I learned from practical experience that day what it means in the literal sense what Hebrews 12:1-2 means.

So then, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us, too, put aside every impediment—that is, the sin which easily hampers our forward movement—and keep running with endurance in the contest set before us, ² looking away to the Initiator and Completer of that trusting, Yeshua—who, in exchange for obtaining the joy set before him, endured execution on a stake as a criminal, scorning the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Wet clothes constrict movement and weigh a ton! If things in the natural can do that, sin and unbelief is worse, but God has provided us with the solution and the ability to succeed! Sometimes achieving real success means to stop trying so hard in our own strength! Life preservers must be put on correctly and tested regularly. There is a spiritual lesson here also. When wearing one, the “secret” is to lay on your back and allow the life preserver to do what it is designed to do and keep your head above water.

All a wearer needs to do is to lay back in it!

Some have a pull ring that opens a CO2 bottle to inflate and some inflate automatically. We can learn a spiritual lesson in that also. Jesus is our life preserver and our labouring is not to struggle in our own strength but to enter into His rest.

I did not know if I could do those things when I joined up, but succeeded and am now licensed.

How do we know you can do something until we try. The significance of this is that other people’s lives may be at stake. Their eternal destiny may depend on you...

Tests can be good things and God does test us! He also chastizes us if necessary. When he does, we would do well to learn the difference between a test and being chastized, but what does a test mean? A few definitions include:

• A procedure intended to establish the quality, performance, or reliability of something.
• It is an examination of a person’s proficiency or knowledge.
• It is an event or situation that reveals the strength or quality of someone by putting them under strain.
• It is a way to check acceptability before proceeding further.
• It is a process used for separating gold or silver from impurities. It is a measure to check the quality.

Ancient goldsmiths used certain tests when refining gold. They placed the raw, impure product in a crucible and heated it by fire until it melted. The impurities rose to the top and were skimmed away. The goldsmiths peered down at the metal and heated it again, repeating the process until no impurities were found. What they looked for was their own reflection and this is like the process we go though when tested. God refines us until He sees Jesus in us.

In Zechariah thirteen, God reveals that He deals with falsehood, saying:

“Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is close to me,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the young ones.
In time, throughout that land,” says Adonai, “two-thirds of those in it will be destroyed— they will die, but one-third will remain.
That third part I will bring through the fire; I will refine them as silver is refined, I will test them as gold is tested.
They will call on my name, and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘This is my people’ and they will say, ‘Adonai is my God.’ ” Zechariah 13:7–9   

Paul further states in Colossians 2:6-15

In the same way you received Jesus our Lord and Messiah by faith, continue your journey of faith, progressing further into your union with him! Your spiritual roots go deeply into his life as you are continually infused with strength, encouraged in every way. For you are established in the faith you have absorbed and enriched by your devotion to him!
Beware that no one distracts you or intimidates you in their attempt to lead you away from Christ’s fullness by pretending to be full of wisdom when they’re filled with endless arguments of human logic. For they operate with humanistic and clouded judgments based on the mindset of this world system, and not the anointed truths of the Anointed One.
For he is the complete fullness of deity living in human form. And our own completeness is now found in him. We are completely filled with God as Christ’s fullness overflows within us. He is the Head of every kingdom and authority in the universe!
Through our union with him we have experienced circumcision of heart. All of the guilt and power of sin has been cut away and is now extinct because of what Christ, the Anointed One, has accomplished for us.
For we’ve been buried with him into his death. Our “baptism into death” also means we were raised with him when we believed in God’s resurrection power, the power that raised him from death’s realm. This “realm of death” describes our former state, for we were held in sin’s grasp. But now, we’ve been resurrected out of that “realm of death” never to return, for we are forever alive and forgiven of all our sins!
He canceled out every legal violation we had on our record and the old arrest warrant that stood to indict us.
He erased it all—our sins, our stained soul—he deleted it all and they cannot be retrieved! Everything we once were in Adam has been placed onto his cross and nailed permanently there as a public display of cancellation.
Then Jesus made a public spectacle of all the powers and principalities of darkness, stripping away from them every weapon and all their spiritual authority and power to accuse us. And by the power of the cross, Jesus led them around as prisoners in a procession of triumph. He was not their prisoner; they were his!

God is not seeking infants who do not realize such things. They rise no further than an endless cycle of repentance. This does not give us license however to start sinning again. We may correctly say that we are His people now, because of Jesus, but the new birth experience is only the starting point. Until we leave this place, we live in a contaminated world and are being exposed.

Our sins were forgiven, but until we leave, we can and do err, so thank God for 1 John 2:1.

He desires mature believers and so there is a refining process involved.

The new birth is the beginning, not the ultimate. We have embarked on a journey in life at the end of which we shall be united with the Lord in glory.

For those who are in relationship with God, He will ensure we make it and this requires purification and testing.

When so purified, He will then say that they are His people.

There is a good reason for such refining that may not always be evident and it is revealed in Isaiah 48:9-11.

For my name’s sake I’ll be patient.
For my glory’s sake I’ll hold my anger back from you, rather than destroy you. 
I have refined you, but not like silver. 
I have tested you in the furnace of suffering.
I am doing this for myself, only for myself.
Why should my name be dishonored?
I will not give my glory to anyone else^..

The refining process or testing of our faith is not just for our benefit. There is something in it for God! He is the one who wants this refining. His honor is at stake. Isaiah stated:

“Look, I have refined you, but not [as severely] as silver; [rather] I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
For my sake I will do it, for my own sake.
I will not let [my reputation] be tarnished; I will not yield my glory to anyone else. Isaiah 48:10-11

One essential character requirement throughout Scripture is endurance, but this is not a popular subject. Endurance is an essential element of victorious Christian living and it can only be cultivated by enduring. Once we accept this fact, we can begin to respond rightly to each “test” that comes our way. We may liken this to a marathon race or a steeplechase, when the athletes have to jump over hurdles. They encounter several in their event, but look forwards to the final sprint home in the straight to win the gold medal. See 1 Corinthians 9:25

James told us that we can count it all joy, knowing that the testing of our faith produces patience or endurance.

Such testing may take time, so even if we do not like it or perhaps understand it, the best course of action is to keep going until God’s purpose has been fully worked out and He brings it to a conclusion.

He rarely tells us in advance something like, “This test will last six months.” That’s approximately 180 days, so imagine what may happen if we say, “I can’t take any more of this; I give up!” and quit on the 179th day.

There are two possible outcomes. What God wanted for us may never come, or we may have to undergo another test.

I actually believe that God will not withdraw His tests until His purpose has been accomplished. The sooner we learn the lesson and to endure, the more rapid will be our spiritual progress.

When conducting my research, I read the book of James in most of my translations (I refer to 24 versions selected from all versions I possess that I have installed on my computer) and came across this, taken from the Message translation:

When Christian believers gather in churches, everything that can go wrong sooner or later does.
Outsiders, on observing this, conclude that there is nothing to the religion business except, perhaps, business—and dishonest business at that.
Insiders see it differently. Just as a hospital collects the sick under one roof and labels them as such, the church collects sinners. Many of the people outside the hospital are every bit as sick as the ones inside, but their illnesses are either undiagnosed or disguised. It’s similar with sinners outside the church.
So Christian churches are not, as a rule, model communities of good behavior. They are, rather, places where human misbehavior is brought out in the open, faced, and dealt with.
The letter of James shows one of the church’s early pastors skillfully going about his work of confronting, diagnosing, and dealing with areas of misbelief and misbehavior that had turned up in congregations committed to his care.
Deep and living wisdom is on display here, wisdom both rare and essential. Wisdom is not primarily knowing the truth, although it certainly includes that; it is skill in living.
For, what good is a truth if we don’t know how to live it? What good is an intention if we can’t sustain it?
According to church traditions, James carried the nickname “Old Camel Knees” because of thick calluses built up on his knees from many years of determined prayer. The prayer is foundational to the wisdom.
Prayer is always foundational to wisdom.

Please note the reference to hospitals and illness. In our modern society, what is often known as “the church” is, sadly, like a hospital with a mixture of patients and medical staff of varying degrees of training and competence.

The day will come and is indeed upon us when we might not be able to trust all doctors or hospitals and must rely on ourselves before God to live safely and in good health. There are many good practitioners of course and I am not denigrating the medical profession in any way. External influences upon them by governmental agencies and the financial controls by “big pharma” may exert unwanted influences upon us.

Conduct your own research and see what is in the medications being used, what chemicals are being introduced into our food chains and water supplies and compare your findings with “end time prophecies”such as Revelation chapter 18, especially verse 23 where it speaks of pharmakeia. It means enchantment by drugs. A derivative of this word is pharmacy!

Read the labels on our foods in supermarkets! Check the shelves and see what is empty and what is full.

The first sign Jesus gave us about prophecy in Matthew 24 is deception.
This is increasing rapidly in our day and is everywhere—everywhere! I am not being alarmist and negative. On the contrary, I am looking at biblical trends or precedents, such as the plagues in Egypt prior the Exodus of God’s people and this excites me, because I see distinct pattern emerging that indicate Jesus’ return is imminent. If this is correct, then His bride—The Church will need to be without wrinkle, spot or blemish.