a letter to my young friends: overcoming dangerous times!

Having had long discourses with young friends and relatives lately, I realize how close the last days are and how unaware our young people are of the dangerous times. Subconsciously they have been alerted by their spirit and they desperately need help with seemingly no help in sight for them in their own world, mainly virtual and unreal. Even in the real world of their own home and neighborhood the grown-ups seem living in another distant world which they cannot reach. Indeed these lonely youth daily surf the internet to find answers to the many questions they are encountering in futility. What can a spiritual watchman do in this vast virtual space of emptiness? What do we have to fill the void? Today I am led to read Apostle Paul’s letters to young Timothy. Timothy was an exemplary godly youth in his time well brought up by his godly grandmother and mother. Yet, Paul was led by the Holy Spirit to write to him and alert him of the requirement to pursue godliness and holiness. Why? Because Paul knew the end times will come and even godly men will fall. What is Paul’s answer to this great danger? Here is my quote of his timeless letter to my young friends.

Dear young friends, princes and princesses of God:
I am writing with an urgency compelled by the love of God. I pray you read what my friend Paul has written. His timeless letter has helped many young people in his time and throughout the history of mankind for nearly two thousands years. Believe me, I was a young person once .

“Difficult Times Will Come”
3 But understand this, that in the last days dangerous times [of great stress and trouble] will come [difficult days that will be hard to bear]. 2 For people will be lovers of self [narcissistic, self-focused], lovers of money [impelled by greed], boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane, 3 [and they will be] unloving [devoid of natural human affection, calloused and inhumane], irreconcilable, malicious gossips, devoid of self-control [intemperate, immoral], brutal, haters of good, 4 traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of [sensual] pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of [outward] godliness (religion), although they have denied its power [for their conduct nullifies their claim of faith]. Avoid such people and keep far away from them.
(2 Timothy 3:1-5)

Let us all be vessels for honor!
Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God [which He has laid] stands [sure and unshaken despite attacks], bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord stand apart from wickedness and withdraw from wrongdoing.”

20 Now in a large house there are not only [a]vessels and objects of gold and silver, but also vessels and objects of wood and of earthenware, and some are for honorable (noble, good) use and some for dishonorable (ignoble, common). 21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things [which are dishonorable—disobedient, sinful], he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified [set apart for a special purpose and], useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

22 Run away from youthful lusts—pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those [believers] who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
(2 Timothy 2:19-22)

In summary: Let us run away from the bad, and run towards the good! It means running away in both our thoughts and in physical actions. We do not act unless we have been there in our thoughts. Guard our thoughts. Don’t let our thoughts go to places we should not go. Keep our thoughts pure by reading the pure words from God together with our godly friends. Bombard our ears with good songs based on the words of God from godly singers. Pray in tongue without ceasing just as the Apostle Paul taught us.

Love from your dear friend,
Watchman J
3/21/2017

Footnotes:
2 Timothy 2:20 Like Rom 9:20-23, the analogy here has its roots in OT poetry (e.g. Ps 31:12; Prov 26:23) and prophecy (e.g. Is 45:9; Jer 18:2-6). Paul speaks of believers and unbelievers in Rom 9, but here he seems to be describing God’s household or family, in which all the vessels (containers, utensils) represent believers. While the objects in Rom 9:21 do not change, the vessels here are capable of changing their status and the use to which God puts them by keeping themselves from sinful behavior and influences (v 21).

Bible verses are quoted from Amplified Bible (AMP)

A testimony: You’ve Already Got It!

I have encountered a number of cases in which even Christian believers felt helpless and had no means to overcome their physical and mental illness. On the other hand I have seen many testimonies of victorious Christian living! I have been personally helped by listening to the following Bible teacher’s audio teachings. Here is an article which I pray will encourage readers to visit the website and listen to his audio on the subject. His teaching of the Bible is clear enough for even listeners who speak English as a second language. There are many testimonies of healed witnesses. Find out more yourself.

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You’ve Already Got It!
By Andrew Wommack

On March 23, 1968, I had a miraculous encounter with the Lord that changed my life forever. Instantly, I received “revelation knowledge” that I’m still trying to understand and communicate today. This knowledge didn’t come through the normal channels of study and education; the Spirit of God supernaturally imparted it to me.
When I came heart to heart with the Lord, I just knew things about Him intuitively. One of those revelations has become a mainstay for what the Lord has accomplished in my life, and it’s one of the most important and foundational truths of the Gospel.
It’s the knowledge that God has already done His part. When Jesus cried “It is finished” (John 19:30), He meant just that. His work on earth was done. The Atonement was complete. He provided everything we could ever need. We aren’t waiting on Him to give; He is waiting on us to receive.
The book of Ephesians is written from the perspective of everything already being ours in Christ. It starts in Ephesians 1:3 by saying,
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (emphasis mine).
Any blessing you could ever need or desire from the Lord is not something to strive for but something you already have. God made the provision before you had the need. It is just a simple matter of receiving what He has already done.
The benefit of understanding and being assured of this is enormous. It kills legalism and the performance mentality, and that takes a huge load off of you. How could you doubt that God will give you something if He’s already given it to you?
When Jamie and I first pastored our little church in Seagoville, Texas, in 1973, I didn’t even have a complete Bible. The one I had taken with me to Vietnam was all mildewed, and entire books were missing. I decided that believing for a new Bible wasn’t an option—it was a necessity.
I had to start seeing results somewhere and it was here. I would get a new Bible or die trying. If I couldn’t trust God for $20 to get a Bible, how could I trust Him to minister to people about eternal things?
The devil knew how important this was to me, and he fought me “tooth and toenail.” It took me months to get enough extra money to buy that Bible. During that time, not ten minutes would pass that I didn’t have to deal with some thought of unbelief. The devil was telling me, “You’ll never get it. Some man of God you are! You don’t even have a whole Bible! How can you pray for people to be saved or healed when you can’t even pray and get a new Bible?” The battle was intense.
The day came when I had the money. I bought a brand-new Bible, had my name engraved on it, and walked out of the store with it under arm. I had won! And you know what? Instantly, my doubts ceased. I had been fighting negative thoughts constantly for months. But once I had the Bible, I never doubted that I would get it.
You are probably thinking, Of course you didn’t doubt once you had it. That would be crazy! That’s my point. Have you ever prayed to be healed and then in your next thought wondered if you would ever really get healed? That’s because you don’t view healing as something that has already been done but as something that has yet to be accomplished.
First Peter 2:24b says,
“By whose stripes ye were healed” (emphasis mine).
It’s already a done deal. It is actually incorrect to pray for healing. Instead, we should just receive the healing that the Lord has already provided. There is a difference between fighting to get healed and fighting because we have been healed. That difference is the difference between success and failure.
In Ephesians 2:8, Paul said, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves.”
We aren’t saved by grace alone or by faith alone;we are saved by a combination of the two. Actually, faith isn’t true biblical faith unless its used in receiving what God has already provided by grace.
Grace is what God has already done for us, independent of any worth or value on our part. If it’s tied to some goodness of ours, then it’s not true grace. God, by grace, has already provided everything we will ever need.
Our faith doesn’t move God. If God hasn’t already moved by His grace, then your faith can’t make Him. Faith simply appropriates what God has already provided by grace. If He’s already provided your needs by His grace, then faith is just your positive response to what He has already done—not something you do to get God to respond to you.
It takes a revelation from the Holy Spirit to make these truths become alive on the inside. Many people just can’t grasp them, because they are trapped in their five senses. If they can’t see it, taste it, smell it, touch it, or hear it, they don’t think it exists. Therefore, when you say they have already been healed, they check their physical bodies with their five senses, and if they don’t look or feel healed, they say they aren’t.
Many things exist that we can’t perceive by our physical senses. For instance, there are television signals wherever you are right now. You can’t see or hear them, but they are there. All you have to do is turn on a television set and tune it in to the signal, and then you will see and hear that they do exist.
The signal doesn’t begin broadcasting when you turn on your set; it was already being broadcast before you tuned in. That’s just when you began to receive. Likewise, the Lord has already blessed you with ALL things. Your life may not reflect that, but it’s not because the Lord hasn’t given; it’s because you haven’t received.
If your television set was to suddenly go blank, what would you do? Would you immediately contact the station and urge them to fix their transmitter? I don’t think so. You would check your set first. Yet in the spiritual realm, Christians are constantly going to the Lord and asking Him to fix His transmitter instead of asking Him to work on their receivers.
If they don’t see an instant manifestation of their healing, they just automatically suppose that God hasn’t healed them. They seldom take into account that maybe it’s their reception that’s the problem.
Daniel prayed two prayers in Daniel 9 and 10. He saw an answer to his first prayer while he was still praying, within about three minutes. But in the tenth chapter, it was three weeks before he saw his prayer answered. Some people would think, Why did God answer the first prayer in three minutes and the second prayer in three weeks?
The answer to that question is that God didn’t answer one prayer in three minutes and the other one in three weeks; He answered both prayers instantly. In Daniel 9:23, the angel Gabriel told Daniel that at the beginning of his prayer, the Lord gave him a commandment to go explain the answer to Daniel. Yet it took Gabriel approximately three minutes to get there.
Then in the tenth chapter, the messenger who came to Daniel told him that on the first day of Daniel’s prayer, the Lord sent him, but he had been hindered by a demonic power for three weeks.
God wasn’t the variable in these instances! He answered both prayers instantly, but what the Lord had commanded in the spiritual realm was hindered from manifesting in the physical realm. Still, the answer had been given. The truth is that the Lord has already provided everything we will ever need, but His provision is in the spiritual realm.
“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).
God moves in the spiritual realm. Whether or not we see manifest in the physical realm what He has done in the spiritual realm is not dependent on His giving but on our receiving.
One of the variables is the devil’s opposition. However, people give the devil way too much credit. Some think that the devil never misses a trick. They aren’t sure about the Lord’s faithfulness, but they are absolutely convinced that the devil is always there to wreak havoc.
However, the devil blows it all the time. Sometimes the physical manifestation of what God has already done comes with little effort. Other times it can be delayed, not because God changes, but because the devil just misses it sometimes. Other times, there is major demonic opposition that hinders the manifestation of what God has commanded.
We have to know that God has already done His part and that any delay in our manifestation is not His fault. That will keep us in faith. Remember that faith is our positive response to what God has already done by grace.
This leads us to spiritual warfare. It’s a hot topic in the body of Christ, but in my opinion, spiritual warfare is the most abused teaching in the church today.It’s true that every one of us is involved in spiritual warfare. Denying the battle doesn’t stop it—it just guarantees that you will lose. But Satan’s only power is deception.
Satan doesn’t have any physical power or authority except what we give him when we yield to his lies. That’s a radical statement that is completely contrary to popular spiritual warfare teachings. Many proclaim that demonic powers are holding people in bondage and that the way to break through is to intercede, bind those powers, and set the people free. That’s not what God’s Word teaches.
The Bible says,
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).
Knowing the truth, not binding the devil in prayer, is what sets people free. There isn’t one scriptural model for spiritual warfare the way that it is being taught today. Neither Jesus nor His disciples ever sent teams of prayer warriors into cities to prepare the spiritual climate. They never motivated the body of believers to spend their lives binding demonic powers. This is a very controversial subject and one that I don’t have time to deal with properly in this letter. But I have gone in depth about this in my teaching entitled You’ve Already Got It!
If you aren’t experiencing the abundance that you know the Lord wants you to have, then I can guarantee you that the revelation you need is in this message. This is the type of teaching that you will want and need to read or listen to again and again until it becomes true revelation knowledge to you.
This message will forever change the way you think about receiving the blessings of God. It’s the knowledge of this truth that will set you free to receive from God.
http://www.awmi.net/extra/article/already_got
http://www.awmi.net/extra/audio/1033