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Monday, June 20, 2011

May 2011 Newsletter

Dear friend in Christ,

We are living in an hour when all of creation is waiting for the “manifesting of the sons of God”, when the power of God is seen through the Church. The entire universe is crying out for the climax of the ages and the return of Jesus Christ. And we are here to do business on behalf of our King, Jesus, and as His Ambassadors, we are here to manifest His Kingdom. We’re not here to take sides, we’re here to take over! But we can’t do that as long as we are still infants and toddlers.

The Father wants us to grow up, and if we’re grown up, that means that we are no longer carnal. If we are still carnal that means that we are still subject to the flesh, and God wants us to grow up into a spiritual man and have our flesh take a back seat. That’s when we’ll walk in the fullness of His power and anointing, and do the works of God.

Legally through Jesus Christ, we have inherited all things. Jesus has been appointed heir of all things, and because we have received Him as our Lord and Savior, we are now children of God, so then we are now heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. And the blessings that God has planned for us to enjoy legally belong to us now. Jesus bought and paid for them through His death and resurrection, and satan cannot legally take our inheritance from us. But when we fail to appropriate the promises of God, we are actually handing them over to the enemy.

Galatians 4:1-7, “Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is the master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children were in bondage under the elements of the world, but when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father”! Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” Verse 2 tells us that as a young child we were under a tutor or someone who has been placed in a position of teaching and training us until we are ready to take full responsibility. But until that time, even though you are an heir of the entire estate, you are not yet ready to totally take possession with all of the rights and full privileges.

In the Book of Hosea, God spoke through the prophet saying, “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.” And He was speaking of Israel, but the same truth applies to the church today. Israel was not only destroyed because of a lack of knowledge, but also because they rejected that knowledge and refused to listen to the laws of God and obey them. They were in rebellion! And because of this lack of knowledge that still exists in so many of God’s people today, many have been deceived and act as though there is nothing that can be done about the attacks from the enemy, and somehow they have to accept them and learn how to live with all of the adverse circumstances in their lives. But their eyes have been blinded from seeing their true position of strength and power in Jesus Christ, because they haven’t grown up.

One of the satan’s strategies in this hour is to bring God’s children to a place where they have hardened their hearts against God and against His government, and those He has placed in authority over them. Eventually they are led to a place where they are totally alienated from God. And Paul warns us that satan will lead us, step by step into a deep, dark pit of spiritual darkness, where we are not only alienated from God, but we are unable and unwilling to hear His Voice and we become calloused, disobedient, and totally unrepentant. And this does not happen overnight. It is a gradual progression of steps.

If you remember, Israel refused to hear God’s voice and instead they murmured and complained against God and against Moses. They were filled with unbelief; they didn’t believe that God would do as He had promised and so they rebelled against Him, refusing to obey the charge He had given to them to go in and take possession of the Land. They chose instead to follow after their own will. And as a result of their disobedience and sin against God, they were not allowed to enter into the Promised Land. And the Apostle Paul drew a parallel.

The children of Israel were given covenant promises and an inheritance that was theirs based upon their faithfulness and obedience to God. And just as they had forfeited their inheritance, Paul warned the believers of the possibility of losing their position and inheritance through the sin of unbelief and the hardening of their hearts. Hebrews 3:12-14, “Take heed brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief…lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end.” And although Paul wrote this to the early Church, he is actually exhorting you and I to examine our hearts to see if there is any unbelief, because it is through that sin that our hearts become hardened toward God.

The Father wants to build you up. He wants you to go in and possess the land. Every place that the sole of your foot shall thread belongs to you. He expects you to rule it and to govern it; He does not expect the enemy to come in and tell you what to do. He wants you to rise up on the inside so that you will become the master, and as the master, you will no longer fall for the lies of the enemy. When you get strong, you are not weak in any area of your life. You’re “meek” because we are told that the “meek shall inherit the earth”, but being meek does not mean that you are weak.. The definition of meek in the dictionary means: to be patient and mild; not inclined to anger or resentment. It also means that you are teachable.

As Ambassadors of God, we are to advance the Kingdom, and society in general is supposed to reflect our influence, but something has happened. It’s exactly what happened when the children of Israel were coming out of Egypt out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land. They had an identity crisis. Israel BECAME the product of their environment. But we have something they didn’t have in that Jesus prayed that the Father would keep us above all of the evil that is in the world. Israel became a product of their environment, but the Father has provided everything we need to keep us from becoming a product of our environment. We are IN the world but we are NOT OF the world.

When you are grown up in God, you are no longer carnal but have become a spiritually mature man or woman of God, and the devil will no longer be able to pull anything on you that you can’t see first. If you stay up there with God, He’ll show you everything that is coming on this earth. Scripture tells us that “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” And the scripture also tells us, “How can they hear without a preacher?” The body of Christ has been waiting for the shepherds to feed them the right food, because the quality of intake will determine the strength of your output. In other words, as an infant we were told to “desire the sincere milk of the Word”, but as we begin to mature, we now have teeth and we need to be fed meat. The quality of the Word that you take time to put into your heart will determine the strength you walk in. We are called to stand in the gap, not make gaps in the wall. We are supposed to take our place on the wall and do the impossible. But to do that, we have to grow up.

If you would like a complete copy of this 5 part series entitled Growing up in God, ask for CD110510-CD110522. Please allow fifteen days for delivery.

Love,

Paula

P.S. I want to thank my Internet listening congregation located in the United States, France, Italy, Canada, China, Latvia, the Republic of Korea, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Poland, and Romania, the United Kingdom, Africa, Australia, Kenya, Zambia, India, Uganda, and the Philippians. As you sow your financial seed this month, know that you are a part of reaching the Nations for Christ as partners with this ministry, and sow it from that place of victory as an overcomer and one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God and has taken care of all of your needs. We have over 511 connections in the United States; 396 are in TEXAS, and the remainder is in other Nations throughout the world.

We are still working on the 24 hour a day Internet radio that will broadcast teachings and Christian music that are prevalent to the hour we live in; that will uplift and encourage you. Prayerfully it will be ready by the end of April. Also, if you live in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, Knowing Your Covenant is back on KDKR at 91.3 fm, 92.1 fm, and 97.5 fm on your radio dial at 7:45 every Sunday morning. We are also on KXEG, 1280am on your radio dial, in Phoenix, Arizona at 7:45 a.m. We are also in prayer and making plans for our first mission trip to Africa!

Join us live at www.knowingyourcovenant.com at 10:30 a.m. (CST) on Sunday mornings. Click on the “Listen Live Audio” button on our website for audio only. Or you can click on the “Live Video Streaming” button for the live video for those of you that want to see a live video.

• I would like to receive the complete series on "Growing up in God" for a love offering of $25.00.
• I would like to receive the single CD on “How To Survive In Tough Times” for a love offering of $7.00.

If you can’t afford to make a love offering at this time, please contact our ministry. It’s important that we get the Word of God into your hands, and the Lord will provide for our needs according to His riches in glory! Please allow 15 business days for delivery.

The Word tells us: “If two of you shall agree as touching anything on earth, it will be agreed in heaven.” Please contact us via the website if you are in need of prayer.

June 7 at sundown marks the birth of the Church. It is the Feast of Weeks, or what we know as the Feast of Pentecost, and I will be holding a private conference for the Spiritually Mature Women of God. For information, contact the ministry office at 972-517-1418.

If you would like to hold a conference or seminar in your hometown, or if you would like more information about this ministry or how you can be part of the outreach of this ministry, please contact our office during business hours, Monday through Friday, or go to our website at www.knowingyourcovenant.com.

April 2011 Newsletter

Dear friend in Christ,

As we prepare to celebrate both the Feast of Passover and the Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ, I would like us to spend a few moments to understand what we are actually celebrating.

Many people believe that the feasts that God instituted were only observances for the children of Israel and are no longer relevant to believers today. But the truth is, they are very significant. They reveal important truths about the relationship God wants us to have with Him today, and His supernatural provision for every area of our lives. The feasts that God established as His feasts reveal to us the manifold blessings He provided for us, and He wants us to keep His feasts, not only through the outward observance and rituals, but by fully recognizing what they represent, and then taking hold of His blessings by faith and appropriating them in our own lives today.

These feasts are what the Bible calls “holy convocations”, which have been established by God Himself. Two very important Hebrew words appear in the Book of Leviticus, chapter 23, and each word is translated as “feast” in the English language. Leviticus 23:1-2, “And the Lord spoke unto Moses saying: ‘Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, concerning the feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be “holy convocations”, even these are My feasts.”

The Hebrew word “miqra” is translated as “convocation” and it means: “a rehearsal”. So, we can see from this that God gave these festivals to be yearly rehearsals of the future events in the plan of our redemption. He gave us these times of rehearsal to teach us about the major events in the redemption of mankind, and if we want to understand those major events, then we need to have an understanding of what God was teaching us BY and THROUGH these rehearsals.

The word “mo’edh” means: an appointment or a fixed time; a fixed season or an appointed time. God Himself delivered Israel from the bondage of slavery and He commanded all of us to observe this “appointed” holy day, the feast of Passover, throughout all generations as a memorial, beginning with Moses and the children of Israel.
God spoke to Moses and told him: “I will use you to bring My people out of the land of Egypt; out of bondage and slavery, and you will be an instrument in My hands to redeem My people and bring them to freedom.” Now, the curse of sin was brought upon mankind through the disobedience of Adam, and there was only one way the curse could be removed. It had to be bought and paid for by the shedding of blood. So God told Moses to take a lamb to be slaughtered. But how could an innocent lamb have anything to do with the deliverance of His people? How could a lamb provide the necessary strength? But God said: “….that the lamb shall be their means of escape… And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses; ….the blood shall be to you for a “token” upon the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you…”

It was not just in the killing of the lamb, but in the shedding of the blood that is a parallel of The Blood that would one day flow on the Cross at Calvary. They were to kill that lamb at sundown right in the doorway of their home. The blood was to drain into a basin, and then they were to take the blood of the lamb and cover all of the doorposts on the three sides with it. So, the entire doorway to their home was covered in that shed blood. And God told Moses that the blood was to be a sign to Him, that when the death angel brought destruction, He would pass over the homes with the blood coverings. That blood provided their protection and their escape from death, and would also provide their victory! That innocent lamb became their substitute, making it possible for the Lord’s judgment to pass over them, and so it was that God Himself instituted the Passover as “A night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt.”

On the night before Jesus was to lay down His own life for the sins of the world, He celebrated the Feast of Passover with His own disciples. When the day had come that the sacrificial lamb was to be killed, He sent Peter and John to make preparation for them to celebrate that appointed time together, and the disciples did as Jesus had instructed them to do and prepared the Passover meal (Luke 22). When everything was prepared and they were seated around the table, Jesus, KNOWING in a few hours HE would suffer and die, told them, “I have earnestly and intensely desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer….”(Luke 22:15) And as they were eating, Jesus took the bread, blessed it and broke it, and gave it to His disciples saying: “This is My body which is given for you; this DO in remembrance of Me.” And then He took the cup in His hands and said, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is My blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26) Luke 22 says; “This cup is the New Testament in My blood which is shed for you.”

What a glorious moment it was as they celebrated this Passover meal. There in that Upper Room, as He was preparing to lay down His life and to give Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the world, and shed His own blood, He was celebrating this “appointed” festival and Covenant meal with His disciples. This would mark the end of the Old Covenant and the establishment of a New and better Covenant with God. This was the hour that God had ordained from the foundation of the world! This was the day that HE would enter into a blood covenant relationship with man, and it would be sealed with the Blood of His only Begotten Son. In just a few hours Jesus Himself would become that spotless sacrificial Lamb, Who was slain to take away the sins of the entire world. He would be that ONE perfect sacrifice that would be offered on the Altar of Almighty God! The following day He would become the sacrificial offering; “The Lamb of God” without spot or blemish. Can you imagine the emotion that welled up inside of Jesus as HE ate the flesh of that lamb? That lamb signified His own sacrificial death. And He drank of the fruit of the vine that represented His own blood. Through His death, Jesus fulfilled the Passover Feasts. As the sacrificial Lamb of God was slain, His blood was shed for the remission of OUR sins.

This was the hour for which He had waited when the purpose of His coming to the earth would be fulfilled. Hebrews 10:5-7, “Sacrifices and offerings You have not desired, but instead You have made ready a body for Me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings You have taken no delight;….Lo, here I Am come to do Your Will, O God, to fulfill what is written of Me in the Volume of the Book.”

Isaiah 53:7, tells us that: “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened NOT His mouth; He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened NOT His mouth.” As we celebrate Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday right up until Resurrection Sunday, I want you to realize that this is OUR celebration! And the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is the very day that changed the course of history; this is the day that left its mark on all of eternity! And this is the day of all days! Glory to God!

The blood of the sacrificial Passover lamb applied to the doorposts, kept the children of Israel safe from the destroying angel of death and was the means that God used to deliver them out of Egyptian bondage. The Blood of Christ that was shed on the cross, when it is applied to your life, cleanses you from sin and has the power to completely destroy every bondage of satan. The blood of Jesus is the basis for your release, and you are no longer a slave to sin, because you are a child of God. Throughout His death, Jesus fulfilled the Passover feast, and as the sacrificial Lamb of God was slain, His blood was shed for the remission of our sins.

If you don’t know the Lord as your personal Savior, or you would like to have a deeper relationship with the Father, you can send me a personal note, or you can email me at pastor@streamsoflifechurch.com, and I will personally write you back and pray with you.

Love,

Paula

P.S. I want to thank my Internet listening congregation located in the United States, France, Italy, Canada, China, Latvia, the Republic of Korea, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Poland, and Romania, the United Kingdom, Africa, Australia, Kenya, Zambia, India, Uganda, and the Philippians. As you sow your financial seed this month, know that you are a part of reaching the Nations for Christ as partners with this ministry, and sow it from that place of victory as an overcomer and one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God and has taken care of all of your needs. We have over 511 connections in the United States; 396 are in TEXAS, and the remainder is in other Nations throughout the world.

We are still working on the 24 hour a day Internet radio that will broadcast teachings and Christian music that are prevalent to the hour we live in; that will uplift and encourage you. Prayerfully it will be ready by the end of April. Also, if you live in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, Knowing Your Covenant is back on KDKR at 91.3 fm, 92.1 fm, and 97.5 fm on your radio dial at 7:45 every Sunday morning. We will also be on KXEG, 1280am on your radio dial, in Phoenix, Arizona beginning May 1, 2011 at 7:45 a.m.

Join us live at www.streamsoflifechurch.com at 10:30 a.m. (CST) on Sunday mornings. Click on the “Listen Live Audio” button on our website for audio only. Or you can click on the “Live Video Streaming” button for the live video for those of you that want to see a live video. You can also contact us via our “blog” at www.streamsoflifechurch.blogspot.com.

• I would like to receive the complete series on “Righteousness” for a love offering of $25.00.
• I would like to receive the single CD on “How To Survive In Tough Times” for a love offering of $7.00.

If you can’t afford to make a love offering at this time, please contact our ministry. It’s important that we get the Word of God into your hands, and the Lord will provide for our needs according to His riches in glory! Please allow 15 business days for delivery.

The Word tells us: “If two of you shall agree as touching anything on earth, it will be agreed in heaven.” Please contact us via the website if you need prayer.