“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” Revelation 3:20.
“Blessed are those servants whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them.” Luke 12:37.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
I want to make clear that you are not opening the floodgates to heaven by what you do or do not do, Jesus has opened those and they are staying open. I know to the prophet Malachi I said, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be bread in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the LORD of hosts. “All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land,” says the LORD of hosts.” Malachi 3:10-11. This was written BEFORE Jesus died on the Cross. I still had to open the floodgates. But now they are open, and what Jesus opens, no man can shut. “He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this: ‘I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.” Revelation 3:7-8.
The floodgates of Heaven are open and they are pouring down the blessings of Heaven and answered prayers. Revelation 8:3-5. I have blessed you in Christ with every spiritual blessing in Heaven. It is yours. But you are blocking it. It is you who must open your gate to let the flood in. And yet most people who are not receiving are begging Me to open the windows of Heaven and give them the blessing they are seeking. But it is the other way around. I have answered your prayers and sent you all you are longing for in Jesus, in Him all My magnificent and precious promises are “yes” to you it is not that it is not there for you, even at your gate, but that you have shut your gate tight and I cannot get in. Jesus explained that, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” Revelation 3:20. And He will come in and wait on you. “Blessed are those servants whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and wait on them.” Luke 12:37.
I have made you righteous, be My righteous ones. The righteous live by faith. The righteous forgive by faith. The righteous walk by faith. And faith works by love. LOVE—My kind of love is your answer. I see good. My eyes are too pure to look on evil.
“For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:17. Once you receive the abundance of grace (My divine life flowing into you) and the gift of righteousness (My righteousness imputed to you), you are to be like My character and reign in life. In seeing you, people should be seeing Me. This was true of Jesus and as He is so are you in this world.
Always remember that you are not trying to get healing, you are trying to remove the hindrances in you that are blocking your healing from flooding into you, you are not trying to get prosperity, you are trying to remove the hindrances in you that are blocking your prosperity from flowing into you, and you will live very differently and guard your heart more diligently. Clear the pipeline. Enlarge your hearts. Hard, unforgiving, proud hearts have put gates of bronze and iron bars on the gate into their hearts.
What are the hindrances that close your gate to all the blessings pouring down from My throne of grace? Doubt, unbelief, unforgiveness, jealousy, pride, a bitter root, anger, offense, depression, fear, anxiety, and hatred. These are not of Me so do not touch or tolerate them. Answer them. Rebuke them. Cast out the unclean spirit in My Name, and then worship.
“Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.” 1 John 3:2-3.
Let us go on with the story of the early church in the Book of Acts. We left off when My apostle Paul went to Derbe and to Lystra. And it was at that time that I gave Paul a dear friend who was more like a son to him than any other disciple and one who would work by his side in the work of the ministry, a young man named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek, and he was well spoken of by the brethren who were in Lystra and Iconium. He had been raised on Scripture and was well rooted in My Word. Acts 16:1-5.
They passed through the Phrygian and Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia; and after they came to Mysia, they were trying to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them; and passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, immediately Paul and his companions headed into Macedonia, concluding that I had called Paul to preach the gospel to them.
The early church understood being led by My Spirit. And you must as well if you want to be doing your assignment everyday all day.
So they journeyed to Philippi, which was a leading city of the district of Macedonia, a Roman colony; and were staying in this city for some days. On the Sabbath day they went outside the gate to a riverside, where they were supposing that there would be a place of prayer; and sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled. And a miracle of grace opened the way to establishing My church in Macedonia. And her name was Lydia. She became the first to become a member of the Body of Christ in Europe. She was from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of Mine though she did not know Jesus and I opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. A heart of worship can hear. And when she and her household had been baptized, she urged Paul and his companions to stay in her home, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon the group and so what later would be a home church in her house began. The church had planted in Macedonia. Acts 16:6-15.
And then the devil stepped up to stop the spread of the gospel. It happened that as they were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met them, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. Following after Paul and his companions, she kept crying out, saying, “These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.” She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very moment. Acts 16:16-18.
I have told you to cast out demons in the Name of Jesus. Mark 16:17. In Jesus, you have the authority to tread on Satan and rout him out. And it is not complicated. Paul simply commanded the evil spirit in the Name of Jesus to come out of the girl. And it had to obey. Never permit the devil to stay. That was Eve’s mistake.
But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities, and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.” Acts 16:19-21.
This was not exactly what had been on the agenda of Paul and Silas for that day but it did not get them in depression or make them fear. Paul knew what to do and Silas was ready as well. They knew the key of David.
The crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods. When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely; and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. This did not even slow down Paul and Silas in their intense desire to bring the good news of salvation even to those who were persecuting them. They knew the Words of Jesus: “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:10-12. Paul called this momentary light affliction in comparison to the weight of glory that was to be his in My Kingdom for having served in the ministry of My Word. In fact, he would boast of his trials, “Are they servants of Christ?—I speak as if insane—I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches. Who is weak without my being weak? Who is led into sin without my intense concern?” 2 Corinthians 11:23-29. He would write to Timothy, “Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” 2 Timothy 3:10-12.
And what was the response of Paul and Silas when they were thrown into the prison cell? Did they beg Me to free them? Did they accuse Me of abandoning them? Did they grumble and complain like the Israelites in the desert that they should never have followed Me but stayed as they were in the slavery of Egypt? NO. Read on.
“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; and suddenly there came a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!” And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Acts 16:25-30.
There is much going on in the spiritual realm here. In the darkest hour of the night and in what looked like defeat and a victory of Satan, Paul and Silas were not daunted. They were about to do what Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego did when Nebuchadnezzar cast them into the furnace of blazing fire, they started praises and Jesus came and walked with them. And the same happened here. “I waited waited for the LORD (and you wait in worship for I am enthroned upon the praises of My people, it brings Me down and you up); and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; many will see and fear and will trust in the LORD.” Psalm 40:1-3. And that is what happened here. I brought them out of the pit by putting a new song of praise in their mouths—and the prisoners saw and trusted in Me. Those prisoners and the jailer became the first members of the church at Philippi who always remembered to send offerings to Paul to help him to go to more with the message that had saved them all.
When you are in pain and all looks dark and lost, sing praise. It is the praise cure. It is what took David from hiding in caves from Saul to ruling and reigning over all his enemies in his palace in Jerusalem. Praise brings you up to touch Heaven and Heaven down to touch you. And with Heaven comes the heavenly host. And they were busy here. “Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the believers on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the believers, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.” Revelation 8:3-5. There is your earthquake.
“The angel of the LORD encamps around those who worship Him, and rescues them.” Psalm 34:7.
The jailer asked Paul, “What must I do to be saved?” And Paul gave him the correct answer under the New Covenant, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Just that can give you eternal life, every spiritual blessing in Heaven, your own angel, and make you holy, blameless, and righteous before Me. And they spoke My Word to him together with all who were in his house. And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in Me with his whole household. Acts 16:31-34.
When was the last time you rejoiced greatly because you believed in Me?
The devil tried to knock Paul and Silas out of their assignment but instead it brought in a host of new converts who would then go out a witness to others of the wonders they had seen.
Now when day came, the chief magistrates sent their policemen, saying, “Release those men.” And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The chief magistrates have sent to release you. Therefore come out now and go in peace.” But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us in public without trial, men who are Romans, and have thrown us into prison; and now are they sending us away secretly? No indeed! But let them come themselves and bring us out.” Paul was right in this. The chief magistrates had discredited and shamed them before the people and had put My gospel to scorn, it was now up to them to repent and give My gospel a place of honor as well as those preaching it.
The policemen reported these words to the chief magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, and they came and appealed to them, and when they had brought them out, they kept begging them to leave the city. They went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia, and when they saw the brethren, they encouraged them and departed. This miraculous deliverance and the victory over those who had beaten and imprisoned them encouraged others to persevere under persecution. In fact, it became an honor to be so treated for My sake so they began to value as earning great reward.
I love you. Consider not the sins of the past, I am doing something entirely new with you. Awake to righteousness and live righteously. “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.” Titus 2:11-14.